Image Credit: Clair Ching, 2009.

Desktop environments and window managers are related but they are not quite the same. It was not that easy for me to realize it at first. Why? Because both allowed me to interact with Linux through something graphical.

Desktop Environments
Desktop environments are the ones which provide a complete set of tools and as such, we have an easier time of doing things because everything worked together. From the desktop panel/s to the applets and/or widgets, and even tools like calendars and screensavers, there’s a complete set of tools that let us work with Linux distros almost seamlessly.

Advantages include the following:

• A seamless working environment
• A set of tools for users
• A uniform look and feel all throughout your desktop

Disadvantages include the following:

• It is usually heavier, demanding more from your machine. Which implies that you need better specs for your computers. At least the newer desktop environments seem to have that issue.
• Desktop environments usually have more files that it depends on so that it could work properly.

Examples of Desktop Environments:
GNOME and KDE

Window Managers
Window managers usually focus on managing the windows of the applications that are running. They are may or may not be included in a desktop environment. They could run stand alone. That is one of the nicest things about them.

Some advantages:

• They are usually lighter than desktop environments.
• There are plenty to choose from. From something with absolutely no fuss and gives you the applications in full screen without any window bars, to something that lets you manage your applications and view them in various windows, with resizing, etc.
• Some window managers even have very basic panels or menus that would improve interaction with us users.

Whether you decide to try window managers or desktop environments, I hope you’d find something definitely useful for you. Sometimes what is not bundled into your chosen Linux distro helps you become more productive. But it really depends on how you work or what your preferences are.

The blog post “Why Linux…?” gives us a background on Linux and what we could gain from using Linux.

Regarding the background to Linux, the blog entry mentions the security benefits of using it as well as an idea that it is an operating system which has improved so that users young and old alike might all be able to use it. It also gave a link t an article about security.

As for the benefits, it emphasizes the freedom that comes with using Linux. Also points out that Microsoft has stopped giving disks for its pre-installed software. The blog entry also mentioned that if you don’t want DRM, then you look for other options. Go open source, is basically what it says.

Overall, I think that the blog entry is trying to communicate to the users that software freedom is for us, not against us. And the blog entry writer also wants us to be encouraged even if we are new to Linux and do not understand everything about software freedom yet. But it also points out that there are practical reasons for us to choose Linux in our daily lives, cost being one of them.

I guess that this blog entry has a lot to say about why users should choose Linux. But it’s hard to figure out what is the compelling reason for users to choose it. Or maybe not. If we are focused on the need of people to use a software then that’s it, I guess. Otherwise, I think it’s not an easy task to convince others and I think that the writer of this blog entry has tried well.

The kernel is the one that makes your computer work. It makes you get things done. Your tasks could be printing out that report due in ten minutes or sending email when your client demands your reply. The kernel would be the key to the efficient use of your computer’s resources.

Sometimes you want to do some things but you can’t. For example, your laptop is having problems with hibernate/sleep. There is a chance that you might have to reconfigure your kernel so that the hardware involved in the process would be able to work well.

There are times that other users might have problems with an operating system because nothing seems to happen upon boot-up. It could be that the kernel doesn’t support the hardware. I’ve encountered such a problem before.

This is part of the reason why it’s not always easy to choose a Linux distribution. For certain hardware, you might have difficulty not just because of the drivers but also the kernel. Your distribution’s kernel might not be the right fit with your hardware. There are ways to go about it. For one, you could opt to use a different kernel (possibly an older version because there are cases wherein the older hardware does need older kernels), you could compile it then use it with your existing desktop environment and applications. That or look for a distro like that. An example is AntiX. If you want to read more about how AntiX is like for older machines, you could check out the Linux.com feature on AntiX.

I’ve been wondering why my friends told me to use the ext3 filesystem when I installed Linux. At the time, I didn’t really understand. Why should I choose ext3? And why should you?

• ext3 is stable
• ext3 is sufficient for most desktop computing needs
• ext3 is well-supported

I think that by default, most installaions of distributions use ext3. I guess that people sometimes get tempted to try out other file systems. I asked one of my friends about XFS and Reiser. He pointed out that the Reiser3 file system is deprecated according to its creator. I also found a blog entry quoting an email:

Ext3’s performance in some situations may not be on par with Reiser3, but it scales better and Andi mentioned the other day that there is quite a bit of research going into improving the locking and general performance of ext3 going on right now, and since reiser3 is stagnant, I
don’t doubt they’ll pass them soon. - from blog.linuxoss.com

In the comments section, I was able to read other points that my friend mentioned:

• other file systems consume more power than ext3
• stability is more important to the desktop user

I am still reading up on ext3 and other file systems. If you have been reading about them too, please feel free to share them here.

No need to hate building apps from the source tarball! Mitch Meyran’s article on How to love free software in 3 steps is really good read.

Compiling a kernel or an app that you need might feel daunting but he does give helpful hints:

• Read the manual.
• Check out the compile options carefully.
• Don’t forget to create backups!
• Keep a live CD near you just in case.

And don’t worry too much if you’re taking so much time compiling something because you’re reading the manual and stuff. It’s ok. It’s better than having an unusable system.

For those who are using Linux, new users are getting accustomed with the terms and it might not be easy to remember all the time. Take for example the term repository.

Repositories are where users could get packages of software they want to install. Hmmm. Maybe one could say it’s a place of installers — it’s a loose analogy but people who have been using Windows might be more familiar with the concept of installers. Anyhow, the nice thing about repositories is that there a lot of software that could be fetched there and installed on your system. You find it easy to understand? Great!

Package managers handle the interaction with the repositories. An example would be apt - Advanced Packaging Tool. Users need to search the repositories and apt helps us by letting us search for specific packages as well as packages of a certain type or with a certain name. Apt also helps us install the apps by letting us list the package names of the apps we want/need and by installing the dependencies too. Dependencies are the other packages needed by our chosen package/s.

In the case of Debian, there’s are repositories called Universe and Multiverse. Universe contains packages which are maintained by the free software community and Multiverse has non-free packages.

Customizing the desktop is one of the fun things you could do. I usually make sure that mine has a nice inspirational background image or something cute to brighten up my day. Aside from that, I also set the number of workspaces I have to what is relevant for me. (If for example, I have to edit several totally different kinds of documents, I make the number of workspaces equal to their number. Or at least the number of projects that they fall under.)

Kiven of That Damn PC wrote about improving your desktop layout in Windows by reducing the number of mouse clicks you have. I also do the same thing on Linux. I put the icons of the apps I commonly use on Gnome panel.

Gnome panel is essentially what you see with the menu of the applications, the time and date, the virtual workspaces and stuff. More often than not, it’s on top of the screen by default.

Putting your favorite applications’ icons is an easy task. Just click the menu for applications then select the icon of the application you use a lot and drag it on to the panel.

Sometimes you don’t see an application you installed listed on your system. Don’t fret! There’s always Alt-F2 which gives you the run dialog box (similar to what happens when you press Win-R on Windows) and you could type the name of the application. Well, you could still add it to Gnome panel anyway. How?

1. Right-click Gnome Panel and select add application launcher.
2. Enter the command to launch the app.
3. Select an icon.
4. Save that.

Nifty huh? If you’re using other panels and/or desktop environments, it could be done differently.

For someone new to Linux, hearing tales of people compiling apps is scary. “WHOA! Command line. Text-only interface. Ack! Ack! Ack!” There were only two instances thus far that made me compile a custom kernel. One time I had to compile a custom kernel so that sleep will work on my laptop. Another time I had to compile a kernel was when I experienced kernel panic. Was it scary? Yes. I didn’t know what will happen to my laptop. I spent so much time configuring the kernel because there was just too many things to read and mark or unmark.

So for now this list will include the following times to compile a new kernel:

• kernel panic
• you need to patch something
• you need want to optimize your kernel
• you need to reconfigure certain modules

I know someone who says that compiling a custom kernel enables you to ‘trim off the fat’ from it. Sounds like a good thing, right? But it’s not an easy thing to do. You have to read up a lot on more technical matters about modules and configuring the kernel. It could be daunting but if you have a more experienced Linux user who is confident (even just a little bit confident will do!) it might not be too problematic. It would help if you have a different machine and you have internet access. Sometimes it is sudden but if you have a Linux geek for friends, you’d have people to guide you through it. Fortunately not everyone has to do it because the kernels that come with the distro seem to be ok — unless you really want something really different.

Tomorrow I’d be adding some links to resources on compiling a Linux kernel.

I am not quite sure yet how LDAP really works, but I am sure that all sys admins out there have an idea. In any case, I am currently logged on to one of the desktops in the office and it’s because of LDAP that I can log in here and do my work. I don’t really have access to my main data source at the moment because that’s on my laptop and it’s turned off. But at least I don’t have to worry about bugging someone about the username and password I could use on other machines. I also don’t have to bug the sys admins to give me an account for every desktop machine that I use. Convenient, right?

So… what does LDAP mean?
LDAP stands for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. It enables us to have “single sign-ons” and have a way to let our machines “talk” to each other about our login credentials, as well as help us have a way to access devices within the network. It’s nifty, right? And right now, I am experiencing the joys of LDAP. I have a workstation and I don’t have to worry much about how to use other machines in the office.

Sys admins are probably happy about LDAP because it makes it easier for them to manage the users in the network. It makes it centralized for admins.

If you want to read more about installing and setting up LDAP, you could take a look at this guide.

Sometimes we need to control the version of the files we’re working with. It could be because of work, but there are times we just need to because of a personal project. In any case, there’s a need for a system that would help us for that kind of task. For this entry let’s take a look at Subversion.

Jerome Gotangco’s guide to installing Subversion on the Ubuntu Philippines loco page is something that’s quite easy to follow.

Even before you start following that guide, here are some concepts and terms you need to understand first:

• repository - a place where you put all of your files; this is also where you’d be “committing” your revisions and where you’d be “checking out” your revisions and latest copy from
• working copy - the copy of your files that you will work with and it’s on your localhost
• commit - the act of checking in your files into the repository
• check out - the act of fetching files from the repository; this is what the initial fetch from the repository because those that follow are updates
• trunk - your repository’s main source
• branch - your project might have a branch when you’re thinking of working on files from the main source and you will “branch out” and experiment on other things

It’s important that you get yourself familiar with terms first. Using the versioning system might feel a bit weird because of the terms and commands. Although if you think about it, it’s quite consistent anyway. If you feel like you want to give it a go, try downloading Subversion and follow what the guide says. Also, don’t forget to read the Subversion book. As the guide points out there are GUI tools like esvn and Rapid SVN and you’ll find it easier to work with it. Hope you found it useful!