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Of course, the Linux world continues to grow and reach for the average desktop user while we're reviewing these current distros. I was reading Monday evening about yet another. Ark Linux is, " ... a Linux distribution designed especially for desktop use, primarily for people without prior Linux experience. Its main goal is ease of use, and the inclusion of many tools end users will need." Sounds like another review, eh?

I'm glad to say that the goal of Ark Linux is starting to sound very familiar. Linux does, indeed, seem to be moving toward the mainstream, regardless of what your die hard Windows friends may say. A real contender for the desktop space seems to crop up every few months. Though distributions themselves have always been intended to simplify the installation and package selection process, ease of use for the end user hasn't always been a primary goal. Sometimes when you look around at the availability of Linux distributions and the strides made in the past few years to make the system easier to use, it really does feel like there's a change in the air. Even folks as close to Redmond as Seattle seem to see it coming.

The truth is, I don't even spend much time thinking about that other OS these days. I occasionally draw a comparison between similar functions for your benefit. Of course, as the de facto IT guy in a shop full of Win2k boxes, I still have to deal with the fits and starts of others' machines. But my machines - all seven of them now, all Linux-based - plug away happily day in and day out, doing what I need them to do; computing.

I had occasion over the weekend to visit with a good friend I haven't seen in awhile and catch up with his family, as well. My buddy Anton was in town under less than happy circumstances, but we managed to spend a few hours talking about work and working in the realm of Linux. Anton was the creator and founder of Murl, the first online bookmark manager. When he went live with Murl, it was the first time a user could store bookmarks online so that they were available from any browser anywhere. It was a very forward idea at the time and is just as valuable today for those of us who need to access our bookmarks from several different computers and locations. He was kind enough to drag me out of the corporate world and into the sphere of small innovative tech-oriented companies. In the meantime, we managed to survive the fall of the NASDAQ, the tech sector, and Murl as a commercial venture, escaping at the other end with even more satisfying careers. Both those careers involve Linux. I think that's another good sign.

Oh, and did I mention that it was Anton who turned me toward the Penguin? Sometimes you impact another's life without even realizing it.

Onward, ye Penguins. Another issue and Tuesday awaits. Make it the best you can.

                 
Tony Steidler-Dennison       

GnomeTWEAK

Moving Between Desktops

I'll readily admit that when I first came to Linux from Windows, I didn't really understand the value of multiple desktops. I was so locked into the Windows approach of everything on one desktop that I couldn't quickly see the value of divvying up my tasks into different work areas.

Now, I'd be hard-pressed to do without that multiple desktop scheme. It enhances my computing every day by helping me to organize my work flow into related areas. Browsing and multimedia stay on desktop 1. Scripting and programming tasks find their way to desktop 2. Remote sessions invariably end up on desktop 3. I've become so accustomed to this scheme that, in the little time I spend in Windows these days, I just find a single desktop terribly disorganized and counterproductive.

As you probably know, I find another common computing task to be counter productive; reaching for the mouse. If I can assign or learn a keyboard shortcut to replace a mouse stroke, I'm quite happy. I work more efficiently that way, without the routine of reaching for the mouse, pointing, clicking, and returning my hand to the keyboard. Over the course of a day, or a week, or a month, the time saved keeping my fingers on the keys can be considerable.

Today's GnomeTWEAK ties both efficiencies into a single tweak: moving between your multiple desktops in KDE using keyboard shortcuts you assign.

In the KDE Control Panel, select Look and Feel and Shortcuts. Roughly one-third of the way through the right pane, you'll find a section for System and Desktop Switching. This is where all the shortcuts for moving between desktops reside. In the default configuration, most of these are blank, just waiting for your custom configuration. Select the desktop movement command you'd like to customize. If it's blank, you'll get a popup window allowing you to enter your keyboard shortcuts. Enter the shortcut by pressing the keys you wish to use, and press enter. If the shortcut is already assigned to another function, you'll get a warning window.

Here's how I move around my desktops without ever touching the mouse:

• Switch one desktop to the left: Alt+Ctrl+Left
• Switch one desktop to the right: Alt+Ctrl+Right
• Switch to the next desktop: Alt+=
• Switch to the previous desktop: Alt+-

Multiple desktops and keyboard shortcuts for moving between them - they'll organize your work flow efficiently and cut back on reaching to and from the mouse. Two little tweaks that can make your Linux life much more efficient.

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GnomeCORE

Get your favorite Linux flavor on CD: Pick your favorite Linux flavor and get it on CD for as low as $1.95. Find Linux gear, books, and software for Linux at Linux Central.Check out the selection today!

We're spending a couple of days looking at text editors in Linux. Primarily, we'll look at vi and emacs, with a quick run-though at the end of GUI text editors.

As I mentioned yesterday, both vi and emacs are most useful once you've mastered a handful of commands. That's not as daunting as it might sound. As with any other commands, with minimal effort and a commitment to use the program, you'll find the handful that are most useful to you first. The others will come as a matter of course, provided you remain willing to learn. The payoff is that text editing in either program is much, much faster and more efficient that any editing you'll do in a point and click fashion.

Since we've started with vi, let's review a few quick concepts. vi operates in two modes: command and insert modes. Command mode provides instructions to the program itself, while insert mode moves the cursor within the document for editing. With some practice, you'll move between these modes with little thought.

Here are some basic command mode commands for vi. Commands using the Ctrl key are noted with ^.

Command	Action
A	append text at end of line
^B	scroll back one window
C	move to end of current line
e	move to end of word
^F	scroll forward one window
H	move cursor to home position
^J	move cursor down
k	arrow cursor up
^M	move to next line
^N	down arrow cursor
o	new line below current line
O	new line above current line
Q	quit vi
r	replace character at cursor with next typed character
S	change line
u	undo last change
U	restore current line discarding changes
w	move to beginning of next word
x	delete character at cursor
X	delete character before cursor
Y	copy current line
zz	exit, saving changes

These commands are initiated using the : character. If you're in insert mode, [Esc] will exit insert mode, : will initiate a command in command mode.

That's quite a few commands, though not nearly the full range available in vi. Take what you need, for now, get comfortable with them, and leave the rest.

Tomorrow, we'll move into insert mode in vi.

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GnomeFILE

DebSync 0.2

http://www.librelogiciel.com/software/debsync/action_Presentation

"DebSync is a Python command line tool which helps to synchronize a bunch of Debian GNU/Linux machines with respect to the list of packages installed. DebSync retrieves the list of installed packages from a master host, and then installs or removes packages on any number of other hosts to make them have the very same installed packages list as the master host."

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GnomeVOICE

Mandrake ACPI Kernel
Scribbled by Ernest Wilcox

"The holidays have been most kind to me this year. I previously had an at box powered by an AMD K6-2 350Mhz processor I now have an ATX box powered by an AMD Athlon XP 1800+.

"Following the switch to the new hardware, I discovered that Mandrake 9.0 does not power down the system at shutdown. So I recompiled the kernel with acpi support, and installed the acpid package. It all works well now.

"For anyone who wants to do this too, this is what I did:

1. I edited the make file in /usr/src/linux to change the version - specifically the EXTRAVERSION variable so it will not be the same as the existing version [this saves having to remove currently installed modules].
2. I opened a terminal window, changed to root, and ran make xconfig - This is where I added the acpi support by selecting yes for all acpi options. Later when I have plenty of time, I will go back and further customize my kernel, but this works for me right now.
3. In the terminal window I ran make dep - this computes the dependencies between the different source files and insures all required are built.
4. Ran make clean bzImage modules
   This is three targets to make, in effect:
   make clean - cleans the source directories, prepares for the make process
   make bzImage - builds the kernel
   make modules - generates any modules defined in the make xconfig step.
5. Ran make modules_install install
   This is two targets to make:
   make modules_install - installs modules created in 4 with dependencies
   make install - installs the kernel and modules to the correct locations,
   modifies the boot loaders config file making the new kernel available at boot time.

"If you want to know more about compiling a custom kernel, in Mandrake 9.0, go to the Documentation menu, and open Mandrake Linux Documentation in , then select Command line manual, go to chapter 13 Compiling and installing new kernels."

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GnomeCLICK

Software in the Public Interest

http://www.spi-inc.org/

"SPI is a non-profit organization which was founded to help organizations develop and distribute open hardware and software. We encourage programmers to use any license that allows for the free modification, redistribution and use of software, and hardware developers to distribute documentation that will allow device drivers to be written for their product."

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