MS Linux II

I have for over a decade been in two minds about Novell.

Ever since they bought Digital Research, and for a while continued to provide one of my favorites among command line OS's, DRDOS/GEM. Then they let one of their employees start his own company, Caldera, and take DR/DRDOS with him. Then Caldera started making it's own Linux distribution. Then Caldera sold DR and DRDOS to another company. Last time I looked, DRDOS was an expensive specialist embedded solution with different versions for Lawyers, Doctors and so on.

Caldera meanwhile merged with the Santa Cruz Organisation, a respected commercial Unix company better known as SCO, who had previously bought Unix from Novell, who had bought it from AT&T. Caldera changed it's name to SCO, and continued to make and sell SCO Unix, and Caldera Linux. Around 2002 - 2003, SCO decided that every Linux distribution on the planet had stolen code from Unix, and that was it's copyright, and started lawsuits against Linux vendors. The entire sequence of events known as The SCO Case is discussed on Groklaw. During this time Novell bought Ximian, and became increasingly involved in development of Linux software, including the Evolution Email suite, and the GNOME Desktop.

I've been observing the appearance of a certain executive in various companies over the last 12 years or so. I won't name him, but he's been involved in several companies, joining them at board level just before the time major corporate changes and decisions have been made in those companies. Those changes sometimes have been disastrous for those companies, often in a way that is highly beneficial to a much larger OS and software company. I suspect this person could possibly be a corporate "assassin", that makes sure certain innovative companies don't survive.

I'm not mentioning the companies either ... if the people this person works for are as dangerous as I suspect, it would be unwise. I have a strong survival instinct and have had enough trouble in my life working in dangerous environments and among even more dangerous people. I am in no mood for any threats or other trouble from some corporation.

Shortly after the SCO vs Linux situation, Novell bought SuSE, then offer SuSE users indemnity from SCO's lawsuits. Since Novell acquired SuSE, parts of SuSE and GNOME Desktop have become increasingly dependant on Mono, an Open Source implementation of C Sharp/.NET, a Microsoft patented Object Oriented C based programming language. Also, since Novell bought SuSE, I notice an increasing number of SuSE's original personnel leaving. When I began using SuSE in it's early days, it was a very good thorough product from a German company, some of their core developers being scientists, hence the tradition of a 3d plot of a complex mathematical function being the graphic for the manual cover and distribution box. I appreciated the fact that the OS was under German management, and provided a reasonably good selection of scientific software.

In the last few years, SuSE has grown in popularity. It has always been the Linux of choice for several governments. Also it became the Linux used by IBM, Sun and when SGI moved on from the MIPS processor to 64 bit Intel, SuSE replaced Irix as SGI's OS. However, there needs to be a lot of work before SuSE is the ultimate Linux, let alone OS, for 3d computer graphics, or real time visualisation. One example would be the need to fix it's implementation of GTKGLExt, which does not work well enough to be able to build important 3d modelling applications on SuSE. Another example is SuSE's implementation of Boost, and in particular annoyance to me, libboost.python. The only reason my continual attempts to build Python's CGKit 2 on SuSE kept failing is because the library dynamic linker could not find SuSE's libboost.python even though it was installed and provided with an explicit path to it. Others have had this problem too.

SGI's OS being unable to build important 3d modelling applications and computer graphics toolkits is to me beyond embarrassing. SGI are a very professional company with over twenty years experience in computer graphics, and they have designed and built the finest 3d visualisation and rendering systems in the world for two decades. Further more, I have built code designed for SGI MIPS Workstation systems in the 1990's, on SuSE Linux on my IBM ThinkPad laptop. Their code is so well written and commented, it's a pleasure to read, let alone see it compile and work perfectly. SGI's developers know what they are doing.

By the way, if anyone from SGI reads this and wants to fix this problem, contact me ... I'm bored with things not working, need money, and a Personal Iris-Iris File-Data Station 4d/35, a dual head Octane2 workstation and an Altix 3200 cluster would be much appreciated :)

Now Novell and Microsoft partner, the outcome being that Microsoft are to provide SuSE Linux, these two companies to improve interoperability between their products and a mutual patent protection and indemnity agreement.

Let's leave the legal nightmare this could become to those who have already discussed it, my first few paragraphs above will give you a good idea of where this all could lead.

If this goes ahead, SuSE could be the only Linux officially supported in Virtual PC, the Intel x86 emulator that Microsoft bought from Connectix, and in my experience, the best emulator and as good a product as can be. Microsoft will not tell you this, but Virtual PC can run BeOS, NeXTSTEP, OPENSTEP and Rhapsody, enabling old OS's with no support for modern devices like Wifi cards or PCMCIA HDD's to work fine via the Virtual PC's interface to the system's real hardware. Support for SuSE in Virtual PC could include the ability to drag drop between the Windows and Linux desktops, and support for Linux filesystems such as Ext2, Ext3, and ReiserFS. OK, I admit, I've used Ext3 in Windows 2000, but no direct support for it as a VPC Extension between guest and host OS.

Conversely, Novell/SuSE's implementation of WINE, the Windows compatibility runtime for Unix that enables a user to run Windows programs in Unix or Linux, could with support of Microsoft, begin to work a lot better. The support in Linux for running Windows applications needs improvement, and Microsoft approved or supplied DLL's et cetera could be a possible development of this partnership.

Don't expect either Virtual PC support for Linux, or a Microsoft improved version of WINE or CodeWeaver's Crossover Office, to be free.

Now that Apple supply an Intel computer and OS, will Microsoft supply SuSE for PPC ? :)

Finally, here are links to other people's opinions of the Novell Microsoft deal :

A five year deal with Microsoft to dump Novell/SUSE Nicholas Petreley, Linux Journal

More Details on Microsoft SuSE partnership Penguin Pete's Blog

FUD motivated Microsoft SuSE deal analyst Munir Kotadia, ZDNet Australia

Microsoft and Novell: Bambi meets Godzilla? Joyce Becknell, The Register

Microsoft to Novell:Respect Chris Williams, The Register

Moglen: How we'll kill the Microsoft Novell deal Andrew Orlowski, The Register

Microsoft bankrolls Novell to tune of $348m Gavin Clarke, The Register

Microsoft loves SUSE Linux (true!) Gavin Clarke, The Register

Microsoft makes claim on Linux code OUT-LAW.COM, The Register

MS and Novell: the end of a good feud David Norfolk, RegisterDeveloper

Unix compatibility

Why are so many websites dysfunctional on Unix ?

Get this straight, right now, and don't ever forget it ...

The World Wide Web was invented by a scientist, Tim Berners Lee, on NeXTSTEP, a Unix Operating System, on the NeXT Cube, at CERN laboratories in Switzerland. Microsoft didn't contribute a damn single atom to it.

The first web browser was written by the NCSA, on Unix, it's called Mosaic and myself and others still have it on some of our older computers.

The servers and routers the internet depends on also run Unix, except a small faction trying to run servers on Windows. This is not unlike trying to cross an ocean in a disposable paper cup.

I've been writing HTML for almost as long as Tim Berners Lee himself. My code worked on every platform that can connect to the web, including working on cellphones from the beginning.

3 to 6 years later after scientists had done all the hard work, Microsoft jump on the bandwagon and behave as if they invented Operating Systems, User Interfaces, Computers and the Web ... they didn't. Suddenly the Web is flooded with badly written code, and badly designed and completely ugly websites, all from Windows users.

So why do countless websites hardly work at all in Unix, why can't people write code that runs properly, following the cross platform standards the Web is designed to run ?

How difficult can it be to learn Unix now, enough to run it and test HTML on it ?

It used to cost thousands of pounds but for the last 10 years it has been free in the form of FreeBSD or Linux, and SuSE linux is a professional enough Operating System to be the one used by Novell, Silicon Graphics, Sun and IBM, and now Microsoft.

These days installing Unix is as easy as booting from a CD and following the instructions, exactly as installing Windows.

The first Operating System to be distributed on CD was NeXTSTEP, the first Operating System to boot and run from a CD was BeOS.

Learning to write correct cross platform HTML, DHTML, CSS and Javascript in it is as simple as going to the W3Schools website of the organisation responsible for web standards and following the online tutorials and documentation there, which is all free.

If a person can't do that, what the hell are they doing designing web pages, and setting up webservers in the first place ? Doing it the Microsoft way is costing them money, for a limited result. Why waste so much effort on something inefficient ?

MS Linux

SuSE to be distributed by Microsoft ... OK, I'll be back after I've made and taken about a kilo of valium.

Google APIs

Every time I see a Google product, my imagination starts adding components together as if I were drag dropping them from a palette in Openstep's Project Builder and Interface Builder, it is something I cannot help, I am by nature a synthesist and this is how I think.

Google's expanding work is brilliant and a true compliment to the Object Oriented development of the old days of Openstep.

Recently I suggested they add Spreadsheets, Word processor and Database facilities to the new Google Apps for your Domain service, as most of this already exists within Google API's, as do some other interesting tools such as the Maps, Picasa photo tool, 3d tool and so on.

I also suggested a few times now the possibility of allowing users to select CSS templates from Google Page Editor or Blogspot to be set if desired individually, or globally, across Google based services, for example one's search home page, GMail and such.

For those who only use Google's search engine, and possibly GMail, there is a lot more to Google ... they are concerned with information, not just on the web, but the rest of the internet and everything else. To the extent they developed their own Distributed File System and now Optical Character Recognition.

A brief look at Google Labs and Google Code and you will see how busy they are.

EloneX addendum

Please also see the following well researched article published on The Register :

EloneX: the end of an era By Tim Phillips 18 Jul 2006 13:46

and the preceding articles which may also be of interest :

Elonex sketches phoenix PC plan By Mark Ballard 7 Jul 2006 12:03

Elonex sold to stationer By Mark Ballard 5 Jul 2006 11:15

Elonex deal hits the doldrums By Mark Ballard 3 Jul 2006 12:15

Rank outsider poised to buy Elonex By Mark Ballard 29 Jun 2006 11:15

Centerprise opts out of Elonex bidding By Mark Ballard 27 Jun 2006 12:22

Elonex: administrators lay off 28 By John Oates 15 Jun 2006 08:57

Elonex UK goes titsup By John Oates 13 Jun 2006 14:58

Obituary for EloneX PLC

I learned three days ago one of my favorite computer companies went bankrupt.

This was the one company that cared about the individual customer, and provided tireless aftersales support even on machines over ten years old. They built machines to last twenty five to thirty years, and even their monitor tubes lasted very well. They never told a customer to upgrade to the latest machines of their range, which was considerably good for a small London based company, and one of the first OEM IBM X86 compatible system makers. Furthermore, they supported the use of any X86 operating system the client needed and chose to use ; Windows, OS/2, BSD, Solaris, OPENSTEP, BeOS, QNX and Linux.

Elonex was founded in 1986 to offer computer and related IT services direct to customers allowing them to exercise more control and benefit from improved flexibility. Elonex is now one of the few UK manufacturers to have developed international sales with a strong customer base in France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Russian Federation. UK customers therefore benefit from a broader range of skills and experience.

* A BRIEF HISTORY OF ELONEX
* 1986 Elonex PLC founded.
* 1988 Bradford office opens.
* 1990 Elonex Belgium opens.
* 1991 Elonex Taiwan opens (procurement arm) and is awarded Microsoft OEM status.
* 1992 Elonex France, Israel and Switzerland established.
* 1995 Elonex Solutions Division formed, won MOD contract.
* 1996 Elonex E-Commerce introduced.
* 1997 Elonex wins NHS Supplies Authority (having previously supplied the Regional Authorities) and Gcat contracts.
* 1999 Elonex Gatwick opens as a new base for the Specialist Education Division and awarded NGfL Managed Service status.
* 2000 Elonex's Software Development Division established in Russia.
* 2000 Elonex becomes Microsoft EdLAR.
* 2001 Elonex wins Gcat/NHSCat contract for Hardware & Systems Integration, IT Managed Services and Third Party Maintenance categories.
* 2002 Awarded Becta Accredited Service Supplier status.
* 2003 Elonex wins a contract to supply under the Governments' Laptops for Teachers Initiative, earns supplier status for the Governments NHS National Programme for IT (worth £25m).
* 2004 Contract awarded to supply Intel® Centrino™ mobile technology-based laptops under the Essex e-Learning Foundation Initiative (£150m).

Quoted from About EloneX

The company's logo, slab format system designs and website style were also a living tribute to the unique style of NeXT Computer, Inc., as can be seen from the source of the above quotes and their website, in particular their Showroom

Unconscious rendered

I've been taking a break from research, and a needed break from the amount of work with source code and OS maintenance it requires.

Instead I've been relaxing, and occasionally playing graphically with molecules that interest me for various reasons, through usage in medical practice, growing them in asia or historical and spiritual association and such.

An example is Lotus. An important symbol in asian traditions of meditation, for it's gentle path between darkness and light, the apparent impurity of sleeping in the muddy bottom of a lake, and awakening a bright beautiful appearance, often white but many other colours as well for some specimens, and each of these equally well regarded, especially red, blue and indigo and purples.

Lotus also was a proposed choice last week for a header graphic for the new web site design of the BioCocoa project. The header can at this time be seen here, Option1 but might be moved or removed. If so, I might ask permission of the project admin and designer to mirror Option1 ... he and I seem to be the only people who like it and Option2 seems to be the design going ahead :)

Among near countless chemicals within Lotus are some genes that are of interest in research, but I have restrained myself from distraction, and loaded one of these gene's Protein Database file into one of my 3d molecular graphics and editing applications. Besides, there are enough highly competent teams in Japan researching Lotus Japonica already.

If I had dedicated machines such as a Silicon Graphics Octane2 I could have generated some interesting animations and Virtual Reality web pages, but last time I tried this on my Thinkpad and old G2 Macs, everything crashed.

Even using molecular graphics applications designed on SGI workstations, compiled and running fine under SuSE Linux, not nearly fast enough. I am used to having 25 computers, and being able to commit many of them to rendering as much as actual computations and simulations. Working with three, all of which need larger hard disks, is like having only one or two of 25 limbs useable.

Also this time I had trouble saving the close up images I had created, as mesh and include file for POV-Ray, to work on rendering the results outside of the molecular graphics suite I was using, and thus have a lot more system resources and be able to do this faster. Instead I had to use the suite's internal renderer.

Below is a small section of a 1024x768 pixel render from the gene 1CT9 from Lotus Japonica. I have edited the colours away from schemes in use for bioinformatics, which are to highlight some particular aspect or other, instead to evoke a sense of the general beauty of the Himalaya, Kasmir in particular, and the jungles at their foot.



1CT9 from Lotus Japonica

I also wanted to play with genes from Fragaria, Strawberry. Purely for the sake of scientific erotica, but this will take some time. Especially, I want to include non molecular elements in the scene, more accurately, a highly tasteful but very evocative female form.

Strawberries have a significance among Italian Sci Fi authors and Journalists I know ...
I want this scene rendered to my artistic aesthetic's satisfaction.

Fragole buone!

Ti voglio coperta di fragole, Venere di Milano ;)

The Secret of the Four Pillars of a Screenshot

Many centuries ago, in a remote monastery in the Himalayas, the technique of visualising different things, in real time, was mastered and refined. This when portrayed on silk framed canvas is known as The Four Pillars of a Screenshot.

These Four Pillars represent the full capability of diversity and potential. Traditionally, monks would visualise a Video player, a Waveform Editor, a 3d Molecular structure viewer, and a Fractal generator.

Alternately, some monasteries preferred the classic Word Processor/Spreadsheet/Database suite, Graphics/Photo suite, Web Browser, and Media Player.

Drivel

Then last night I find the header from TicTac template works again, and my dashboard is back to it's usual scheme.

This journal entry was uploaded using Drivel, a GTK blog client supporting Blogger, Atom, Advogato, LiveJournal and Moveable Type.

Drivel is available for SuSE Linux users as an RPM, Gnome-blog is also but it wouldn't work, and I don't feel like compiling either Gnome-blog or BloGTK from source code.

Oh well

Fixed it myself ...

A reproduction of the original image, made on SuSE/GNUstep, from a cached top_div.gif.

Please don't change things when we're not looking ... many GNUstep developers use blogger.
Half their blogs could look a total mess right now depending on how many style elements have changed without warning :)

Template Header

Now the header's gone. No warning, it's just gone.

The templates are changing. The dashboard as well.

Why is it 80% of the times I'm using a website, that's the time they choose to upgrade it ?

Last winter continual updates and server problems prevented me from being able to continue my work, due to continually borked CVS and SVN servers for Objective-C and other Biotech code.

No one considered the chaos and delays created by not telling anyone before hand.

This went on for several weeks.

When I take down my servers, or reorganise, rewrite and compile the code they run on, I warn people.

Running molecular dynamics simulations and various distributed filesystem/applications servers, I have to.

Now I have to write a template, or create and upload my own header graphic to fill the space left ? I'd rather have the original back.

It is a major reason why I chose the TicTac template to start with, since I'm running SuSE/GNUstep and apart from a CSS style that's a perfect Mac OS X Milk theme, or Openstep/Rhapsody theme ... TicTac was the only one here I like.

Oh well ... yet again I spend a little time on something, and the result is negated.

Webcode

Hello again Blogger, Hello interface and backend code.

I have to update and revise my html skills. Ok, this looks like SuSE's website, manual and install CD cover because I want it that way ... be grateful I didn't make it like BeOS's bootscreen :)

Too lazy and plain tired of code to write and maintain my own servers anymore.
WebObjects, Webware, OpenGroupware, SDS/SWS, Trac wiki, PostGreSQL, Apache ...

waaaaaaa

2006, and computers still feel like riding an elephant across an ocean of molasses ...

It's summer, and I have it on very good authority I'm too sexy to be living like Howard Hughes, hiding behind a wall of computer screens ;)