• Installed Linux Mint 8 Helena, which is Gnome-based.  Everything works out of the box, and for some odd reason this is not the case with Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic, which is what Mint is based on.
• Installed Kubuntu files from Synaptic.  At the time I installed KDE, Mint 8 KDE community edition wasn’t out yet.  KDE worked fine getting it through this, though.
• Installed Linux Kernel 2.6.32 and .33.  Like I said, I’ve been pretty daring (at least for my standards) and have installed newer versions of the kernel as soon as they came out.
• Upgrade to KDE 4.4. This was pretty easy as the wonderful Kubuntu team had them available just a couple of days after 4.4 SC came out.
• Installed OpenOffice 3.2.  I had to do this “manually”, i.e. not going through the standard Synaptic repositories.  It was pretty easy as there are available instructions online.  I also had to uninstall the KDE “integration” package or whatever you call it as it was causing some visual problems with OpenOffice (fonts too small)

So at the end of it all, I just wanted to post an update that KDE is working really well for me.  Especially with version 4.4, I feel there are a lot of productivity improvements that I won’t be able to conveniently get from other OS’s.  Such as:

• Present Windows. Similar to Expose on the Mac, but the added benefit is I can type the app I am looking for, and with just a few keystrokes, the window I am searching for becomes the remaining highlight. Really useful if you have several windows open.  No need to visually scan through each and every window.  Saves time.
• Virtual desktops + Present Windows. Not a KDE-exclusive obviously, but in combination with the Present Windows function, I can easily see ALL my apps running with a quick META (Windows Key) + E keystroke. More importantly, I see them the way I laid them out on my desktop, such as having work-related windows in one desktop, and personal stuff in another desktop.
• KRunner.  It’s like Mac’s Spotlight and Gnome’s DO (both equally good applications).  But of course I run KDE
• Dolphin.  Awesome file manager! Browse two locations in the same window with one F3 keystroke. Get a terminal at the bottom of your Dolphin window with F4.  Very useful.
• Desktop Plasmoids / widgets. Other OS will have this, but KDE’s implementation is quite good.  I like how the Desktop can be set as a folder widget.  It just feels more structured, hence less cluttered.
• Snapping windows. I’ve heard about the Aero Snap feature on Windows 7, but having not spent enough time on Windows 7 except for a few tries here and there, I can’t really compare.  All I can say is, being able to maximize a window by simply dragging it to the top of the screen, or halving the window by moving it to the left or right edges is a real time-saver.
• Resizing windows. I only recently found out that I can resize windows with an alt-right-click combo on a window.  Again saves me time, since I no longer have to carefully place my mouse pointer on the 3-pixel border of the window to do some reiszing.

So instead, I decided to scratch my upgrade itch and try something a little less drastic. I upgrade my kernel to 2.6.31 (instructions here) even if Mint 7 / Ubuntu 9.04 didn’t officially support.  I also tried out KDE 4.3.

Well, what can I say? I was blown away!

• Desktop is gorgeous. Looks so much better than GNOME.  Very polished and tightly integrated.  Same visual quality as OS X or Vista.  For an open-source effort, it’s incredible.
• Power management is better than GNOME. KDE’s Power Devil automatically switches power profiles when I switch to battery mode.  Suspend and hibernate works better too — feels like they work correctly more frequently.
• Rediscovered Amarok. I’ve tried Amarok before, but it just felt like a mess.  I read somewhere Amarok was built for KDE — now I know why.  Very sophisticated media player. Just need to make it work better with my podcasts

It’s been 4 solid and stable days living in the KDE world.  And I think I’m staying.

It’s been pretty stable too, despite being marked “unstable”.  Crashes are as infrequent as they are with Firefox.

The only times I was forced to close Chrome and move to Firefox was whenever I hit a Flash-based site such as YouTube.  Chrome had yet to support Flash and explicitly warned that use of the Flash plug-in was unstable.  Thought switching back to Firefox was more painless than hacking on a clearly experimental plug-in.

Installing Chrome is easy by simply adding the correct repositories (instructions here).  This lets me update Chrome automagically.   To my happy surprise, the last update a few days ago included built-in support for Flash!  I have no idea if this is official or not.  All I know is I was browsing a blog last night with a YouTube video embedded in it and the video played in Chrome.  Cool!

Who said there are too many browsers available? Choice is good.

As a note to some of my more technically-inclined readers, I do at least understand that Linux Mint is really just another distribution (or flavor as I’d prefer to describe it) of Linux and a multitude of other software applications.  But for the vast majority of people, an operating system is an operating system is an operating system. I don’t think they would be  any more interested in knowing what GNOME is any more than Windows Vista’s DWM (yes I had to google that for the sake of writing it!).

Here’s my list:

1. Expose / Windows Picker.  Shows me all my open windows with a quick push of a button. It’s like neatly laying out all my notes and paperwork on my desk in a nanosecond.  Very useful when I feel like I’ve got too many things going on.  I loved it on OS X, and I love it on Mint.
2. Multiple desktops, and I have four.  It’s like having four separate tables to throw all my stuff on.  So I can put all my project A stuff here, project B stuff there, and all my personal notes and emails over there.  Wonderful! I’ve seen a co-worker use a virtual desktop on Windows, but it wouldn’t be a fair comparison because I believe he had to get an additional application to get that working.
3. Virus-free. Ah the sense of freedom one gets not to see an annoying message popping up saying “your subscription is about to expire” or “Virus detected!” is almost indescribable.  I can rant a thousand words about past experiences with losing data due to a virus–and you’ll probably nod your head in empathy–but maybe in another post.
4. Files don’t get mysteriously locked. Sometimes I have no clue why Windows won’t let me delete or move a file, or even unplug my USB stick when I tell it to “safely remove [my] hardware”.  And I seriously get infuriated whenever that happens.  Never in Linux!  Mount, unmount, mount, unmount — once I got the hang of it, I’ve started to appreciate it.
5. No defrag. Like most (some?) responsible Windows users, I would probably need to defrag my hard drive every so often to keep my system running smoothly.  With Linux, that’s one less thing to worry about because Linux apparently defrags files on the fly.  Don’t ask me how, but doesn’t that feel so much simpler?

update: thanks to some wonderful tips below, my list has quickly gone down to 3 in the last 24 hours.

1. Too many reboots. I distinctly remember being able to use Windows Vista for 1 to 2 weeks without ever having to shut down my notebook. The Suspend feature worked great.  On Linux Mint / Ubuntu, I probably reboot every two to three days because of the screen going totally blank or my notebook becoming unresponsive.  And the most irritating experience is when I come back from lunch to find my notebook had rebooted by itself.
2. Slowdown in graphics.  I honestly believe better graphics makes for a more pleasant and easy-to-use operating system, Linux included.  But related to my first point, I notice I have to restart my computer or at least GNOME a few times in a week because Compiz starts slowing down.  Whatever the cause for this is, I never had this problem in Windows.
3. Drag and pop the minimized window. I recall being able to drag a file to a minimized application on the Windows taskbar and waiting for a second or two for the application to pop out.  And boom, I could seamlessly attach my file to my email program or copy a file to a new folder.  Can’t do that any more. update: I retract this point as some commenters pointed out, it should and does work.  I’m guessing something was going wrong with my system when I wrote that point down in my notes.
4. Drag file + alt-tab. Similar to number 3, Windows Vista allowed me to drag files by holding onto the file with my mouse and using alt-tab to switch to the next window.
5. Too many updates are driving me crazy. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the value of updating the system and I totally appreciate the hard work the people behind Linux Mint and Ubuntu do to improve it by pushing updates via MintUpdate. But I probably get an update request everyday.  Believe it or not, there’s a method to the madness in the way Windows manages it’s updates to a weekly schedule. update: M’s comment below is useful.  I’ve since learned how to change the frequency of checking for updates via MintUpdate (edit -> preferences) and have set it for every 5 days.
6. Long cuts to make a shortcut. In Windows it was right click – copy – paste shortcut.  Done.  In Linux Mint it’s — and I had to google this to figure it out — right-click – create launcher (huh?) – choose type, name… OK stop. That’s already too complicated for me.  I have since stopped using shortcuts and I do miss them dearly. update: dragonbite’s comment below is an eye-opener for me.  Great tip. Will be using that from now on.

The standard theme in Linux Mint 7, with the green wet windshield effect and dark grey window trimmings, is really quite nice.  But seeing all that green can get tiring after a few weeks.  Unfortunately, I haven’t been contented with the alternative themes that come with my Mint system.

So like any good Internet user, I googled* for Linux Mint themes.

I initially found linuxmint-art.org, the so-called “Eyecandy for Linux Mint”.  Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the site.  Shopping around for themes was cumbersome.  Installation instructions took too many steps when I all I really wanted was a click-or-type-this-and-voila-its-there experience.  And sadly, with all due respect to the site’s contributors, I didn’t like the selections.

But happiness is me that I stumbled upon this site with 10 awesome Ubuntu themes by a guy named Francois Vogelweith.  Downloading all 10 themes took a little while, but it’s all worth it.  Go and get them all now!

* since we insist on using google as a verb, we need to stop capitalizing the “g”.  Yeah, pet peeve.

Google just announced that they will be launching their own open-source operating system that would compete against the venerable Microsoft Windows. Story here.

According to Google, the core benefit of this product is that it will offer a better online experience:

“The plan is part of Google’s bet that a huge shift in computing is under way. In Google’s view, Web connections will become so fast and browsers so powerful that most of the programs that currently run on PCs will be replaced by online applications.”

If there’s two things I’ve learned from my switching experience into using Linux, Open Office, and the like is that this may not be enough reason to switch: how hard is it anyway to go online using a Windows or Mac system?  Quite easy actually. And no harder than using any other connected device–be it a cell phone, iPod touch or whatnot.

Instead, here’s what I think really helps in getting people to use open source.

1. Familiarity. Most people have probably used a computer before, and likely a Windows-based one.  For regular users like me, familiarity really helps in making that transition more painless.  Why recreate the wheel unless you’re inventing the airplane?
2. FREE sells. A very simple and straightforward point,but extremely powerful nonetheless.  If you add up the commercial programs typically needed, one could save over $500!  (Windows $200, Office $300, Antivirus $20)
3. Offline apps are still important. For developed nations, online speeds are at a reliablel level that YES, I can imagine Google Spreadsheets slowly one day replacing the Calc or Excel programs I use on my PC.  But that’s still a long time away.  And what about the developing nations that still live on low bandwidth connections?

I look forward to everything that’s new and exciting, this new Google OS included.  But my title question still stands: what’s going to be special about it?

In one my first posts, I noted that my biggest concern with moving 100% to Linux from Windows is the higher consumption in power which leads to degradation in battery life when unplugged.  I use a Lenovo ThinkPad X200 with a 6-cell battery.  A recent business trip reminded me how important longer battery life is.

So I did a little research, experimentation and tweaking to improve my situation.  Below are the steps I took to get up to a 45% reduction in power consumption as measured in Watts (from about 15W to 8.3W) and about 50% more working time on my unplugged computer (from 3 to 4.5 hours).

Granted, some of these steps are a little too technical for what an average work/personal user would like, especially when compared to the Mac or Windows experience. But I hope this would be helpful to those who would otherwise stop trying an open source operating system because of poor battery performance.

Particularly helpful when on a long-haul flight, do these whenever you unplug your laptop:

1. Run Powertop by opening Terminal and run the command “sudo powertop”, which will require you to enter your password.  Powertop is a tool which will show you some technical things you can tweak to reduce power usage and extend battery life.  Just pay attention to the suggestions at the bottom of the screen, which will advise you to press a certain key to apply some tweaks.  Powertop is installable from the Package Manager application in Linux Mint.  Just search for powertop.
2. Quit applications like Skype (right click on the icon and choose quit), Pidgin (again right click and quit), and search tools like Google Desktop or Tracker.
3. Turn off WiFi and Bluetooth using the network manager in the tray or your laptop’s hardware buttons.
4. Turn off Visual Effects. You can do this by going to Menu->Appearance->Visual Effects.  A handy tool is Compiz-Switch which allows you to turn off/on the effects with a single click.
5. Quit applications that you don’t use.  Believe it or not, the more applications running — even if you aren’t using them — the more energy your laptop is consuming!

If you apply some or all of these tips, I sincerely hope you get equally good or better results as I did!

Just having more fun.

This ad is what I would use to target people who are already interested in trying out Linux but can’t decide which distribution to use.  Or are afraid of the hurdles involved in switching.  In my opinion, this is Mint’s most compelling selling point.

The ad kind of pits Mint with other Linux distributions.  But with all due respect to the other distributions, it’s just healthy competition.

Green plane image courtesy of marusica.

Background image courtesy of Elsie_esq.

In the past, I’ve used Microsoft Outlook for work and Apple’s Mail App for personal email.  Both are terrific programs.  Outlook let our company easily schedule group appointments and manage contacts.  Apple Mail was dead simple to use and made attaching photos into emails a joy by showing you the picture you’re sending instead of some barely useful thumbnail with even less helpful filename as the description.

On Linux, I’ve ended up using Mozilla Thunderbird.  I tried Evolution, which feels a little like Outlook, but couldn’t really stick with it.  Why Thunderbird? My key reasons:

• It’s simple. Plug in your email account information, and boom — you’ve got mail.  No complications.
• It works. I have yet to experience any problems with Thunderbird, unlike Evolution.  Evolution messed up my email account box twice–I couldn’t delete some emails–so I finally gave up on it.
• Multiple email accounts. This is not a reason exclusive to Thunderbird, bu tit is one personal reason for me to like Thunderbird.  My email accounts are laid out in a tree in the left pane window.  Easy.

There are a couple of annoyances with Thunderbird though, particularly:

1. Attaching files isn’t totally intuitive. Dragging a file into the compose message window itself only places a text showing the filename and location.  You need to drag the file on the upper portion of the message window, beside the Fromt/To/CC/BCC/Subject area.
2. Replying to emails with images is buggy.  I end up sending back all the images that were sent to me, which takes up unnecessary bandwidth and storage for myself and the recipient.  Need to manually delete those images.

Overall, Thunderbird is easy to get into. I feel the learning curve isn’t steep at all and it will meet all the major needs of regular users.