After suggesting in my previous blog posting that Linux is worth trying since it is free to use and to copy, more secure and more stable than Windows, we now look at Linux distros, or distributions

I’m not going to even try to list the over three hundred Linux distributions, but hopefully clarify just what is a distribution.

The Wikipedia article on Linux distributions defines a distribution as consisting of “a Linux operating system and a collection of applications. The operating system will consist of the Linux kernel and, usually, a set of libraries and utilities from the GNU project, with graphics support from the X Window System“.
Here I may need to explain that the X-Window System is an application layer on top of the operating system kernel which provides the basic framework for building a GUI environment. On top of this is a X Window System desktop environment like KDE, GNOME, Xfce and a number of others.

A Linux distribution can be commercial (Linspire, Red Hat Enterprise Linux) or non-commercial (Debian, Slackware). What makes each Linux distribution unique is the mix of packages, which are determined by the purpose of the distribution, the type of user, hardware and a number of other factors.

These factors should be considered when choosing a Linux distribution.

Sometime ago I mentioned Desktop Linux as a viable alternative to Windows Vista. The usual response to that is: “Linux is for Geeks, just give me Windows or something really simple“. Linux is not just for geeks, but I would be lying if I said it was “really simple”. What I would say though is that it is worth trying. It costs less than Windows. (Exhibit A: Novell SUSE Linux 10.1 for less than $15)

So why Linux? The website Why Linux is Better lists more reasons (in multiple languages!) than I could ever think of, although it is slightly out of date. In regard to running Windows software and games on Linux, major advances have been made in this area. Also, defragmentation is not so much of a problem on Windows XP as it was on Windows 98 - with NTFS defragmentation still happens, but not as bad as on previous versions of Windows.

Most Linux distributions (I’ll try to explain what a distribution is later) are free or have a free version. If you had a broadband internet connection you could download a couple of Linux distributions (preferably “Live CDs”), and burn them to CD. The definition of a Live CD is in the article What are live CDs, and how do they work? at Free Software Magazine.

Next: Linux Distros – what and why?.

One of the things which distinguishes the Sony PlayStation 3 from its competitors is that you are legally allowed to install another operating system onto the the gaming console which will run alongside its gaming system. This is particularly unusual, especially for Sony, who are in a constant battle to keep hackers from running homebrew applications on the Sony PlayStation Portable. Of course the only operating system you can install is Linux. This is not really restrictive, since there are so many different flavors or distributions of Linux. Also there probably would be some legal ramifications if Sony allowed you to install Windows XP on the Sony PS3. This functionality has been available since the PS3 was released.

There is a small problem though; the Sony PlayStation 3 currently comes with a maximum of 80GB of hard disk space. This is really not enough for a modern PC. The PS3’s hard drive can be upgraded, although not as easily as a PC hard drive.

Popular Mechanics has an article on “How to Turn Your PlayStation 3 Into a Linux PC“, which describes in detail how to upgrade the hard drive of a 40GB PS3 to 250GB and install Ubuntu, one of the most popular Linux distributions.

Today I was listening to the Buzz Out Loud podcast from earlier this week when I heard this interesting news item:

According to the NPD Group, Apple’s retail market share of PCs for the first quarter of 2008 is 66 percent. Hold on – that is market share for PCs costing $1000 or more. Apple’s retail market share for all PCs is 14 percent. The share for PCs costing $1000 or more makes sense, as most of Apple’s computers cost more than on thousand dollars. Their competitors (Dell, HP, Gateway etc) usually sell PCs for less. The most remarkable thing about these figures is that while Windows notebooks had hardly any growth, Apple notebooks had more than 50 percent growth. In the Desktop PC arena the figures are even more remarkable – Windows desktop sales are down 25 percent, whereas Apple desktops are up 45 percent. (see the Apple Watch Blog) Keep in mind though that this refers to high-end PCs which make up 14 percent of the total market, like this Apple 15 inch MacBook Pro Notebook.

In the other 86 percent of the PC market, Apple’s only product is the Mac Mini, which is more of a niche product, although it seems to be highly rated by users.

In my previous blog I referred to the Psion series 3. The earlier Psion Organiser (Organiser not Organizer, as it was the name given by the British company Psion in the 1980s) is considered to be the first PDA , according to this Wikipedia article.

From the same article, “the term ‘PDA’ was first used on January 7, 1992 by Apple Computer CEO John Sculley at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, referring to the Apple Newton.” By then Psion had already released the first of the Psion 3 range of personal digital assistants, which featured a QWERTY keyboard and a database, a word processor, a spreadsheet with charts, world times and more. Unlike the Newton, the Psion series 3 was a clamshell device.

Jumping ahead a few years, Microsoft also had a Clamshell PDA, the Handheld PC. It was not called a PDA because it could not actually fit in a pocket. Wikipedia says of the Handheld PC:
“A Handheld PC, or H/PC for short, is a term for a computer built around a form factor which is smaller than any standard laptop computer.”

Several of these devices are still in use today, and I found this one for sale on Pricegrabber – the HP (Hewlett-Packard) Jornada 720 PDA. Among its specs is this gem: Microsoft Office (including Access database).

See if you can guess what tech gadget this is:
(the answer is partway down the page for those who aren’t into guessing games or would like to cheat):

It is a device which could probably be called a mobile computer.
Its specifications are:
Clamshell design with a QWERTY keyboard.
Can create and edit Word documents, and Excel spreadsheets and synchronize with a PC.
Can print directly to a compatible printer.
Can connect to the internet to check email.
Multi-tasking operating system.
Voice recorder.
Touch screen.
Memory card expansion slot.

So what is it?

It is not the Sony Clie PEG-UX50 PDA, although from the specifications above it very well could be. It isn’t the Nokia E90 smartphone either, as the E90 lacks a touchscreen.

It is a handheld computer known as the Psion Series 5 which was released in 1997 (last century!). An article on the Psion Series 5 on Wikipedia has a lot of information, as well as an article on All About Symbian comparing the Nokia E90 Communicator with a Psion Series 5 (it also has a number of pictures comparing the two devices). Eric Lindsay has pages and pages of information on his website “Epoc and Psion Palmtops” about the full range of Psion palmtops over the years.

The most interesting thing I find about this PDA is that it was used instead of larger notebooks and could run for 35 hours on two AA batteries. Also, the EPOC Operating System which it ran eventually became the Symbian Operating system.

If you have a PC you probably will need a printer sometime.

Printers are probably my least-favorite piece of hardware. Often they just mean trouble, but a printer is an essential component in a computer system. My dislike of printers probably comes from the days of the dot-matrix printer (anyone remember those?), and the mainframe printer. I can still remember reports printed on 132 character wide reams of paper on a huge mainframe printer. I can’t say I feel much nostalgia for those days.

Anyway, to the present. Currently because of my fairly basic printing needs, I use a small monochrome laser printer. The HP LaserJet 1020 Laser Printer is a small footprint, low cost printer. Another highly-rated monochrome laser printer is the Lexmark E250dn, which adds a built-in Ethernet connector for sharing the printer over a network, as well as a built-in duplexer to help with double-sided printing.

If I had the desk space I would definitely consider a multi-function printer again, They cannot be beat for the sheer functionality. Being able to scan, fax and make copies as well as print with the same device is great. The Canon Pixma MP530 is a highly rated all-in-one printer, although it lacks networking support and media card slots.

The IdeaPad U110 is another ultraportable notebook from Lenovo. This time it isn’t a ThinkPad, but a consumer-focused IdeaPad. It is smaller than the ThinkPad X300. (For a rundown of the X300 see “Think Ultraportable“). This comes at the cost of a built-in optical drive, although Lenovo does include an external USB DVD drive. They also include two batteries.

The specs are as follows:
1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Low Voltage CPU with Intel integrated graphics.
2GB of RAM (expandable to 3GB).
4200rpm 120GB Hard Drive.
11.1 inch (diagonally) LED backlit display with a default resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels.
Operating System is Windows Vista Home Premium.
Dimensions of 10.8 in width by 7.7 in depth by 0.72 in height.
Weight of 2.4 pounds with the four-cell battery and 3.1 pounds with seven-cell battery.
An integrated 1.3-megapixel Webcam, which can be used with the included face-recognition software for logging into Windows.
There are three USB ports, a FireWire port, an ExpressCard 34 slot, Ethernet, VGA-out, and a 6-in-1 media card reader.

The U110 has an Red or Black aluminum cover and magnesium-aluminum case. The keyboard and touch pad sit in a flush surface, with the keys close together but slightly concave. Reviewers said that typing on the keyboard was comfortable although it took a good half hour to get used to it.

In the first “Best for Mobile Browsing” blog posting I got side-tracked after blogging about the Motorola A780 and the iPhone.

Apart from cellphones there are several other mobile devices which can be used for web browsing. The not-dead-yet PDA handheld is one of them. The Blazer web browser on the Palm TX has a number of fans, but I’d label it as average. Almost all Windows Mobile handhelds (previously known as Pocket PCs) like the HP iPaq 110 and HP iPaq 210 have Wi-Fi, and of course PIE (Pocket Internet Explorer). Opera for Windows Mobile was not free the last time I looked, but it was still worth buying for the improved browsing experience, with tabs. The iPaq 210 has a 4-inch, 640 by 480 pixel “VGA” touch screen display, so would be quite decent for web browsing.

Then there are the products made specifically for web browsing, as well as having a host of other features, the Nokia N800 and Nokia N810 Internet Tablets. These are still pocketable (jacket pocket not shirt pocket) mobile devices. Both have around 4-inch, 800 by 480 pixel resolution touch screens, and run a Mozilla-based browser with Ajax and Adobe Flash 9. The web browser allows zooming and full screen mode, as well as multiple browser windows.

There is something about networks that I just don’t get. It is not using networks or the internet, that I do every day. Networking with a Windows Domain server I understand. It’s when configuring a home network that I run into a minor problem (well, maybe not so minor!). Getting various computers to connect to a wireless router along with wired connections is no problem. Neither is connecting to the internet. It is the simple task of sharing resources on a home network. Now at work I have absolutely no problem with this, but then professionals have set up the network. It is at home where I run into problems. The simple matter of sharing a directory (folder) just causes problems. Getting it shared is not the problem, it is having Windows crash when I copy from a shared folder to another computer. Admittedly it could have been overzealous antivirus or firewall software which I was using at the time, but eventually I gave up.

Then I found a product similar to Encore Network Now! Pro. It made networking simpler. One of the things it did was recommend a range of IP addresses of my computers which had to be entered as a local network in my firewall. It paid for itself when I was able to install and share a printer connected to one of the PCs, and print from a wirelessly connected notebook.