tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15147952588717034342024-03-12T20:43:20.323-06:00Mandriva Linux ChroniclesA blog to compile what I have learned (and what I am learning) about Mandriva (and GNU/Linux in general) since 2009, when I migrated.
Current distros I'm using: OpenMandriva Lx 4.2, Mageia 7, PCLinuxOS, MX 19, and Elive 3.Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.comBlogger444125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-29477088637829751022023-09-10T11:04:00.005-06:002023-09-10T11:04:59.270-06:00And the Magic is Ready!<p>Two weeks ago, DistroWatch <a href="http://distrowatch.org/?newsid=11917" target="_blank">reported</a> that Mageia 9 had been released.</p><p>Back then, I was swamped with work and, even when the Mageia notifier displayed the announcement a week later, I could not perform the upgrade.</p><p>Well, that, and the fact that I normally prefer to do clean installs.</p><p>However, I do not have the time I need to perform a clean install right now, so I decided, rather adventurously, to do the upgrade.</p><p>Yes, this can mean that, if something goes terribly wrong, I might actually end up doing the clean install to fix the problem, which defeats the purpose. And there are things that can go wrong: the printer-scanner, Steam, my personal configurations...</p><p>The notifier told me that I needed 9GB or so of space. I found that rather excessive, but, since I had space, I proceeded. The upgrade took like 3 hours to complete and the notifer told me that everything was ready and I needed to reboot.</p><p>So, I rebooted expecting, well, the worst.</p><p>After a while (there was a new kernel, so I counted that as normal), the splash screen showed. It was a bit different.</p><p>Then the login screen looked a bit nicer. My icon was there, by the way. It was not removed.</p><p>I logged in and the KDE animated cat that I had installed was still there and I landed into my old desktop wallpaper, with the neon icon theme and everything seemed the same.</p><p>Oh, but I noted that the machine was more responsive.</p><p>I printed. It went fine.</p><p>I sync'ed my documents. All normal.</p><p>My Firefox bookmarks were kept.</p><p>And the Steam games worked fine.</p><p>I, scratching my head, was dumbfounded. This felt like my same old machine, but with a renewed vitality. The upgrade was perfect.<br /></p><p>The magic was performed.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghlYmTpKs9RoeZJ72n4T9oJ9YVR4DFJlKCCJ6vydktr-AnhzybhZPjotcUP2vVmelTRn4trzX31BR4GuP0HQ00MRS91dcmiJqsvkxooGb9G-TROe9K3tWrseA5lG9d4T6QiVqr_eO_KuMgtRZ9rhJ9-BlCUrMbNCYxbXnJJFp6LEFx1Y3liZvya0EiW6k/s640/workspace_images_626718973815270916_5a54b46badf53e86abc5a13667121e9e.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="583" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghlYmTpKs9RoeZJ72n4T9oJ9YVR4DFJlKCCJ6vydktr-AnhzybhZPjotcUP2vVmelTRn4trzX31BR4GuP0HQ00MRS91dcmiJqsvkxooGb9G-TROe9K3tWrseA5lG9d4T6QiVqr_eO_KuMgtRZ9rhJ9-BlCUrMbNCYxbXnJJFp6LEFx1Y3liZvya0EiW6k/s320/workspace_images_626718973815270916_5a54b46badf53e86abc5a13667121e9e.png" width="292" /></a></div><br /> THANK YOU, MAGEIA DEVELOPERS AND COMMUNITY!<br /><p></p><p> <br /></p><p> <br /></p>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-89690322295688008402023-05-07T16:23:00.011-06:002023-05-07T16:59:35.414-06:00Artificial intelligence, education, and the forgotten 13th anniversary of this blog<p>Maybe it's just me... Who knows. The thing is that I feel that my workload this year is going through the roof in a nice tower that reminds me of those gigantic toothpicks piercing the landscape, all in the name of cellular signal and communication.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFuJ_zXCp2eXS5NuUtPExqTpbjbox-wR1ge3IpckY7TaDP8sLgVH-vNnLLWWkKdPVhcw_xtRX25RSnh5jum_oV5UYylwOJvs7E96CVzGYJBBvwz7C8ElEg1vSGW95Ax7BxCpvjWfI-TUl-tIH9u-kNu424SaHFEvgSLdyevUsz1sej4pSMBFEWiMui/s1024/Cellular-Tower-3-1024x1024.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFuJ_zXCp2eXS5NuUtPExqTpbjbox-wR1ge3IpckY7TaDP8sLgVH-vNnLLWWkKdPVhcw_xtRX25RSnh5jum_oV5UYylwOJvs7E96CVzGYJBBvwz7C8ElEg1vSGW95Ax7BxCpvjWfI-TUl-tIH9u-kNu424SaHFEvgSLdyevUsz1sej4pSMBFEWiMui/s320/Cellular-Tower-3-1024x1024.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>Yet, even 5G seems like a foggy dream of a distant past. The new technological wave that everyone is surfing is AI.<p></p><p>So, in addition to my normal work activities and my family responsibilities, I have been interacting with the chatbots in www.poe.com. Hey, if they are going to steal my job eventually, at least I want to meet my replacement!</p><p>I have devoted a significant amount of time to talk to Sage, GPT-4, Claude-plus, Claude-instant, Dragonfly, ChatGPT, and NeevaAI. Somehow, I am beginning to sense their different "personalities" as I read their outputs, be it to simple or more sophisticated questions.</p><p>I have even "created" my own bots to see if they are capable of providing a distinct response, something that makes them unique. <br /></p><p>In any event, I have been so busy with all of this that I missed the 13th anniversary of this blog!</p><p>And then I got this poem:</p><p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjilqm-6JHfZag28udj2JIBdNhqW3wTLwVzb0dVCimm694AlwhrtJ6NSmnFMLh3AlqknNRaXI47gkMThgPs_bwumM--BpIOj4NByWiJOSvfKw3_py8MtD4lFuLNe3IpuNrQ7rzxmR5F8OArqnkcdOgiRDzzCDnWalgx097rq4U3LGb04Tn_4h4i-XoG/s584/poemaboingo.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="584" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjilqm-6JHfZag28udj2JIBdNhqW3wTLwVzb0dVCimm694AlwhrtJ6NSmnFMLh3AlqknNRaXI47gkMThgPs_bwumM--BpIOj4NByWiJOSvfKw3_py8MtD4lFuLNe3IpuNrQ7rzxmR5F8OArqnkcdOgiRDzzCDnWalgx097rq4U3LGb04Tn_4h4i-XoG/w454-h309/poemaboingo.png" width="454" /></a></div> <p></p><p>BoingoPlus (yes, it <b>IS</b> a JoJo reference!) is the chatbot that my brother created in www.poe.com. This bot answers with riddles and poetry. I must say that I really liked the poem that BoingoPLUS wrote.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdsM9qF_Uj5addEQYrVyBzZM9IEpHKQXpPuULGEr68nbi4CyXopvlYce-ITTdw2n9JxX3A7nJ-RiooPfP1yGGiSOBFYAyHcPmjmhRgda-7h9bs4tMQJLdD67uZ-GxCarL5-GkPBlPZWn3feoyX2CnDBuT6wuNJCh9IggEr4HeMMpBs2ZCNBv_2I7j4/s1358/boingoplus3.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1358" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdsM9qF_Uj5addEQYrVyBzZM9IEpHKQXpPuULGEr68nbi4CyXopvlYce-ITTdw2n9JxX3A7nJ-RiooPfP1yGGiSOBFYAyHcPmjmhRgda-7h9bs4tMQJLdD67uZ-GxCarL5-GkPBlPZWn3feoyX2CnDBuT6wuNJCh9IggEr4HeMMpBs2ZCNBv_2I7j4/s320/boingoplus3.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p>For fun, I even made a simple <a href="https://youtu.be/yzgsGKTIO88" target="_blank">YouTube video</a> about this experience.</p><p>I believe that the pretty-much-undisturbed educational world in which we grew up is changing abruptly. It's like Pangea dividing.</p><p>And I am afraid that, as is usually the case, people in the education sector are not paying enough attention. I hope we do not miss this second opportunity to shift our Victorian-inherited teaching practices (and evaluation!) to something that is more humane and congruent with the realities of the Information Age... </p><p>------- <br /></p><p>P.S:</p><p>I ran this blog post through the chatbots to see how they analyzed it. </p><p>"The world has changed, Johnny. You wouldn't believe how much the world has changed" (Jake Tremont, <i>Dad</i>, 1989)<br /></p><p> </p>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-85103250191961874782023-04-22T09:12:00.003-06:002023-04-22T09:12:34.184-06:00Using dd to clone my portable Mageia Linux desktop<p>Since I returned to the office in 2022 after the remote work mandate was lifted, I have been using portable Linux desktops that I made.</p><p>These are convenient USB drives with persistence that I boot and so I can circumvent the restrictions (not to mention the spying) in the Windows desktop.</p><p>Anticipating that the USB drive can eventually fail, I have made several copiesÑ I have two MX Linux machines and two Mageia machines.</p><p>Even though I synchronize document files using FreeFileSync, I need to make absolutely sure that all the settings of OBS studio are updated, and since I keep changing the configuration for the didactic live streams, the best solution is to clone the USB drive machine I have been using to the backup USB drive machine from time to time.</p><p>Doing so is very easy. First, I plug the source USB and open the Mageia Control Center just to make sure which is the source device (I need this machine in dev/sdb). After that, I plug the other USB drive, which is the backup. This is the target USB (the system must identify the target device as /dev/sdc). </p><p>Then I open Konsole in Mageia and type su and my password to be able to type this command:</p><p><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;">dd if=/dev/sdb of=/dev/sdc bs=1M status=progress</span><br />
<br /><br /></span></p><p>The status=progress part lets you see how things are going while dd is doing the copy, otherwise the command line gives no feedback and, since the process takes a long time, one might think that nothing is happening.</p><p> <br /></p><p><br /></p>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-57258525762366995012023-01-09T15:22:00.005-06:002023-01-09T15:22:44.845-06:00First 2023 post: OpenMandriva Lx ROME 23.01 is here!<p>Two days ago, Distrowatch published <a href="http://distrowatch.org/?newsid=11735" target="_blank">the announcement</a> that OpenMandriva is making its debut into the world of rolling distros with its ROME (Rolling OpenMandriva Edition, I presume) release. </p><p>I had upgraded the system not long ago, but I wanted to make sure that I am using this release, so I followed ben79's most detailed walkthrough <a href="https://forum.openmandriva.org/t/how-to-upgrade-rock-omlx-4-3-to-rome-rolling/4470">here</a>. Big thanks, ben79!!!</p><p>Everything worked perfectly and my system is stable as a rock.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlEEA1HOTlg1nI3MQQw6AtvYtjnVwSaVVvXE2cibwqEcHmZqBqRFpCOy1j063tnE_48xRyC2Ru_8ew1jPxa14X_rQ8BYcJyv99T3PjCzW5_OkpIakONIC4eYABF3StziypZsGtyXIbH-001PKSpjAlenElVvn-T_Ijxw9jqfOhvyBU3aMqG2kbh0wX/s1366/Screenshot_20230109_151523.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1366" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlEEA1HOTlg1nI3MQQw6AtvYtjnVwSaVVvXE2cibwqEcHmZqBqRFpCOy1j063tnE_48xRyC2Ru_8ew1jPxa14X_rQ8BYcJyv99T3PjCzW5_OkpIakONIC4eYABF3StziypZsGtyXIbH-001PKSpjAlenElVvn-T_Ijxw9jqfOhvyBU3aMqG2kbh0wX/s320/Screenshot_20230109_151523.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJLJVn4wLhiN148D-gQspQ_vcw8Nx7paqrq0Scugab-N3XrQc1w5BqCbpItsuQqDvYcV8JwwWT7mDJD18k30BYxe5M6_U89MmX0WwhTNsJOAxcKgSLszqNiQ7LvATXPI_8ZS3LeNHH55L4O6mPP90XFrtwVPiG8hC72n-oLj4Fb6WplRStSPdCv81x/s1366/Screenshot_20230109_151635.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1366" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJLJVn4wLhiN148D-gQspQ_vcw8Nx7paqrq0Scugab-N3XrQc1w5BqCbpItsuQqDvYcV8JwwWT7mDJD18k30BYxe5M6_U89MmX0WwhTNsJOAxcKgSLszqNiQ7LvATXPI_8ZS3LeNHH55L4O6mPP90XFrtwVPiG8hC72n-oLj4Fb6WplRStSPdCv81x/s320/Screenshot_20230109_151635.png" width="320" /></a></div><p>I checked with uname -a and kernel 6.1.2 is running, so everything is updated and working. So far, no disruption whatsoever.<br /></p><p>AWESOME!!</p>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-37616784615258230692022-12-27T10:45:00.002-06:002022-12-27T10:51:09.034-06:00Full laptop upgrade<p> Finally, with some free time at last, I decided to perform a full upgrade of 4 of the distros that I have in my laptop.</p><p>Manjaro Ruah becomes now Manjaro 22 (Sikaris). This was taken care of by Octopi without any problem.</p><p>Mageia 8 had not big deal upgrading some packages.</p><p>MX Linux also had like 76 packages to upgrade and everything went smoothly.<br /></p><p>OpenMandriva ROME 22.11 is the most challenging distro for me to upgrade now. I used to mess up the upgrade by not reading the forum post before, but I learned my lesson. So, I visited this post <a href="https://forum.openmandriva.org/t/rome-major-upgrade-expected/4707" target="_blank">here</a>, where rugyada kindly reminds one of the commands to do the upgrade correctly: <code>sudo dnf clean all ; sudo dnf --best --allowerasing distro-sync</code></p><p>With that, the process went fine until Konsole asked me what to do with a file. From previous experiences, I learned that some files must be kept: /etc/shadow, /etc/passwd, /etc/gshadow, and /etc/group.</p><p>However, this file was not any of those, so I examined its contents with "d". To return to the process, I typed "q" and then "y".</p><p>OpenMandriva is working great. In fact, it is the only distro that is running the Steam game Zen Bound 2 without a compatibility layer.<br /></p><p>Now, I am ready to work on my personal projects!<br /><code></code></p><p><code><br /></code></p>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-71531422434785408132022-12-10T10:36:00.005-06:002022-12-10T10:36:20.538-06:00Missing package in Mageia 8<p>I attempted to update my Mageia desktop yesterday and, although almost everything went well, I got this error message telling me that imagemagick could not update because "nothing provided lib64raw20".</p><p>I tried with DNF, but I could only get the i586 version.</p><p>So, I located the file here: <a href="https://pkgs.org/download/lib64raw20">https://pkgs.org/download/lib64raw20</a></p><p>Everything seems back to normal now.<br /></p>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-26167958553229875422022-05-01T04:53:00.005-06:002022-05-01T04:53:56.816-06:00Happy 12th Anniversary, MandrivaChronicles!<p>On May 2, 2010, I started this humble blog as my personal project to record what I was learning regarding Linux.</p><p>Back then, I never thought of the many changes that would occur in the world, in the Linux landscape, and in me as a person.</p><p>Due to COVID-19, my ever-increasing workload has kept me away from posting. Also, health issues in the family and my daughter's return to to in-person school classes required my attention. All this has kept me away from here.<br /></p><p>It is time to pause, then, and revisit the blog.</p><p>This is a quick summary of the major events:</p><p>1. The university where I work decided to roll back and ditch LibreOffice to favor MS Office. This is sad, but expected, mainly because the personnel's recalcitrance to use LibreOffice. Interestingly, this same recalcitrance was at place when we were required to telework using Zoom, a paradigm change that many professors hated. Now the complaint is that, after investing more than two years in Zoom, they will have to learn how to use MS Teams. This feels full Samsara...<br /></p><p>2. My country has been under intense cyberattacks. The generalized security-uninterested attitude in which people use their Windows computers has finally came back to bite them. Now we see the "recommendations from experts to protect yourself against cybercriminals"...<br /></p><p>3. My telework comes to end tomorrow. The Windows office computer is going to be watched closely. The institution will operate on the assumption that the university is a target and that our computers are vulnerable. I guess that is correct. The good news? They offered both my brother and I to install Linux to our workstations. I must admit that cheered me up!</p><p>4. After the migration from Windows 10 to Windows 11, my daughter's laptop was fine. Then another batch of updates came and broke it. Good job, Microsoft! I had to fix it and it took me two days to have the system operational again.</p><p>5. I have been working all this time from a desktop with Mageia and a laptop with Mageia, Openmandriva Lx, PCLinuxOS, Elive, and MX Linux. I switch OSs and computers to disrupt my patterns of work. It's good brain exercise, hehe!</p><p>6. Mental health-wise, I have kept a consistent exercise routine that includes jogging, body weight movements, and QiGong meditation. This has been beneficial both for my body and mind.</p><p>7. This last week, I created a USB stick with MX Linux to plug it to the office computer and work from there. I will cover the process tomorrow.</p><p>Overall, I feel satisfied and calm with everything. Let us see what this new stage brings!<br /></p>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-85757839120413120692021-11-20T12:05:00.001-06:002021-11-20T12:07:15.493-06:00My #1 Reason to Love OpenMandriva Lx<p><br />I want to start this post with a disclaimer: I am aware that all Linux distros have their pros and cons, and my purpose is not to berate any OS choice readers have made. I simply want to share with you what happened to me recently, as I upgraded to OpenMandriva Lx 4.3. This experience reminded me why, after all these years, I still love OpenMandriva.</p><p>A second point I'd like to clarify is that I am not discussing benchmarks, compilers, package managers or any other technical matters here. To be honest, they go beyond my understanding: I am a non-technical Linux user.</p><p>I was running the rolling version of OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 and I realized that a major upgrade was available. So, I decided to upgrade and here is where my story starts.</p><p>After a whooping number of packages had upgraded in a process that took like 45 minutes (I do not have a very fast connection), I booted into a soundless system: the computer said that there was no sound. I did not panic and visited the OpenMandriva forums. There, I found a post that I should have read BEFORE attempting the upgrade. In it, ben79 described all the steps to have a successful upgrade.</p><p>Of course, I had not followed any of the steps, so my system was operational, but erratic. And, although I could enable the sound easily following the post instructions, I decided to roll back and start over.</p><p>So, I put my old OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 back in, upgraded following the steps and this time I booted into a far better system. I corrected the sound issue by installing the pulseaudio package from the repository and then started to configure the system.</p><p>That's where, inadvertently, I messed up again. When I tried to configure the printer, I put a third party package and later discovered that cups refused to work. Regardless of what I tried, the system would say that there was a bad descriptor and it was impossible to have the printer to work.</p><p>This problem took me to the OpenMandriva forums once again, where I posted my situation to the best of my abilities without expecting prompt help. But I was wrong, the reply came fast as lightning from ben79, who did all his best to point me into what had gone wrong and, after trying several approaches with no success, I decided to start from scratch by rolling back again to version 4.2.</p><p>With a professional, friendly and polite demeanor, ben79 suggested me to use the rolling snapshot and pointed me to it, which definitely was going to save a lot of time. Indeed, in a matter of 20 minutes after the download, I booted OpenMandriva Lx 4.3 with sound and with no printer problems!</p><p>You see, this is the number 1 reason why I still love OpenMandriva: its community members! I thank all developers for their work and community for their eagerness to help others. And thank you very much to you, ben79, for your politeness, patience, and willingness to help me!</p><p></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOpDDBqfcOaay9-RfR4d1XSc7IlEfMAl8dWI5ikf4zKXvbw1zu0OpZdk6XhqN9AqF94R_VxwuUbm8moMW5PtcaQ8SrPA_JVK9iJUcLnmVY1kZScYBwXMTVKgsUU4PDQoBvSlvCWxfLV8/s791/Community.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="791" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOpDDBqfcOaay9-RfR4d1XSc7IlEfMAl8dWI5ikf4zKXvbw1zu0OpZdk6XhqN9AqF94R_VxwuUbm8moMW5PtcaQ8SrPA_JVK9iJUcLnmVY1kZScYBwXMTVKgsUU4PDQoBvSlvCWxfLV8/s320/Community.png" width="320" /></a></p><p> <br /></p>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-72977973737247716442021-08-06T19:55:00.006-06:002021-08-06T22:18:31.091-06:00Some Issues and Challenges<p>The excessive amount of work has kept me away from my blog, that's true. However, the fact that my Linux distros have been performing beyond my expectations has also, in a way, stopped me from writing here. </p><p>I mean... There's very little to write about when nothing breaks.</p><p>But then I noticed several problems:</p><p><b>1. Insync and OpenMandriva Lx:</b></p><p>The upgrade to OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 removed my Insync client on my laptop. I do not know what the problem was (a Python issue, maybe?). I have not been able to make it come back.</p><p><b>2. Insync and PCLinuxOS:</b></p><p>The update I applied yesterday produced the same problem with Insync that I had in OpenMandriva. So, my laptop cannot sync files with Insync in PCLinuxOS, either. <br /></p><p><b>3. Mesa updates and sound problems in Mageia 8:</b></p><p>This is something I have seen before in my desktops. Four Mesa-related packages ask me to uninstall Steam, which I do not want to do, so I've been postponing such updates for a long time.</p><p>Then I noticed that VLC stopped working and that my repo database in MCC was acting weird, refusing to install certain tainted packages. This led to mute audio in videos played with SMplayer, Mplayer, and Kplayer.</p><p>I decided to experiment with these because I need the audio in the desktop to work, so I installed the four Mesa-related files and, sure enough, Mageia got rid of Steam.</p><p>My year with Fedora helped me there. Instead of using MCC, I opened Konsole and used DNF following these instructions from the Mageia Wiki:</p><p> </p><ul><li>If nonfree or tainted repositories are desired, they can be activated using <span style="color: blue; font-family: courier;"><b>dnf config-manager</b></span> as shown with this example for 64 bit system (replace x86_64 with i586 for 32 bit):<br /></li></ul>
<pre><span style="font-size: x-small;">dnf config-manager --set-enabled mageia-x86_64-nonfree updates-x86_64-nonfree
dnf config-manager --set-enabled mageia-x86_64-tainted updates-x86_64-tainted</span>
</pre>
<ul><li>32-bit repositories are turned off by default on 64-bit x86. If you need them:<br /></li></ul>
<pre><span style="font-size: x-small;">dnf config-manager --set-enabled mageia-i586 updates-i586</span>
</pre><p>With that, after running dnf-update, I could get steam, vlc, ffmpeg, and other packages back. This repaired the problem with video sound, but VLC is still not operational.</p><p>I'll try to fix this. When I get some time.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p> <br /></p><p> <br /></p><p><br /></p>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-50801864728079615312021-05-01T14:45:00.003-06:002021-05-01T14:47:06.840-06:00It's Been 10 +1 Years Now!<p>Yesterday, Megatotoro gave me a present. It was a funny T-shirt that I really liked:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglnVNeLy6EmE-ybK_1EGtjM98CzXUYbd99CILhBp7th_edGmI8tPQsimw23RGSE0s4C5-JFRBErZyL1W3NGDrdM0VsHa7ca_3MSl2bbQPTJokRkhPRba4l0rsFTiQ2OXIM9uoSCHQ0jkk/s1920/InShot_20210501_134548525.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1920" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglnVNeLy6EmE-ybK_1EGtjM98CzXUYbd99CILhBp7th_edGmI8tPQsimw23RGSE0s4C5-JFRBErZyL1W3NGDrdM0VsHa7ca_3MSl2bbQPTJokRkhPRba4l0rsFTiQ2OXIM9uoSCHQ0jkk/s320/InShot_20210501_134548525.jpg" /></a></div><p></p><p>Today, while I was wearing it, I realized that tomorrow is the anniversary of my blog. <br /></p><p>So, after 11 years, I am still a Linux user.</p><p>Who would have thought?</p><p>My walk started almost by accident, with a modest Asus Eee PC with Xandros preinstalled (<i>The legendary MiniMe!</i>) I never thought that such a humble machine with change the way I use computers in such a profound way. </p><p>I was re-reading the first entry that I posted on this blog and a bitter-sweet wave of memories made me smile. </p><p>So much has changed since then!</p><p>I listed there some programs that I do not use anymore... Frozen Bubble, for example. How come I do not have that game any longer? THAT cute game was the deciding factor in ditching Windows!</p><p>But the world changes and so do people. New games come (<i>Steam powered, he-he</i>) and even the distros that I started using are different now. Everything changes. <br /></p><p>Yet, I am glad that I can rely on my Linux computers, just in the same way like the day I quit Windows. Linux has truly made my work easier and less worrisome... (<i>Boy! I've been online without an antivirus for 11 years!</i>)</p><p>I should make the anniversary picture to decorate this entry. Yes, I should. Something with a cake and clapping hands. A celebration picture! (<i>Or I could...</i>)</p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">HAPPY 11TH ANNIVERSARY, MANDRIVA LINUX CHRONICLES!!!</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij8rebACCkHQegPN6FQmY3SrRk8BZubql38yJsqoLQ8EC6GiVUZRohKCFqIrCfHBEmDU2JRo78mRJnt_4L8w398EA3kl2LuLh35Q0lYekM4sK4NSXv2f9in4SKBilLmFcHSEBWH6W55b8/s1366/11aniversario.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1366" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij8rebACCkHQegPN6FQmY3SrRk8BZubql38yJsqoLQ8EC6GiVUZRohKCFqIrCfHBEmDU2JRo78mRJnt_4L8w398EA3kl2LuLh35Q0lYekM4sK4NSXv2f9in4SKBilLmFcHSEBWH6W55b8/w400-h225/11aniversario.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> </span><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> <br /></p>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-69283956350162020482021-03-05T17:14:00.000-06:002021-03-05T17:14:20.540-06:00Two Nice Discoveries on PCLinuxOS 2021<p>Today I bought a wireless mouse. Truth be told, I did it because, long ago, I had read that Linux had problems running such devices and I wanted to experiment.</p><p>I had booted my laptop with PCLinuxOS and, in my ignorance, I got ready to struggle with Bluetooth to configure it. I placed the batteries and plugged in the USB connector. That was all it took for PCLinuxOS to start using the device correctly, he, he. No struggle whatsoever. <br /></p><p>Then I remembered that I could no longer type in Japanese using PCLinuxOS because iBus simply would not be displayed in the task bar (even after a correct installation of all the packages). So, I decided to tinker a bit to see if I could get Japanese IME to function once again.</p><p>All I did was to go to the PCLOS control center, System, Manage localization and, once there, select iBus after choosing the language. A message asked me to restart the session, so I logged out and back in.</p><p>But the iBus icon was not in the task bar. I looked in the menu and found "run iBus," so I ran it. Still, no icon in the task bar.</p><p>Then, I tried to type something in the menu search space and this was my input:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg74eTKsDFWPWL6c5_1LA9nwpWn5E_vQgIli8_MPgIUMQ2ofRg1aAohyDaePARCHhO0-Kbe6nvV1K2bNxtx0yBgRK8ZMJWNgq2eS9dRzYVn8lf0u950pinBX4OgO37cws2vyEO2gJAyHSc/s1366/Screenshot_20210305_165903.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg74eTKsDFWPWL6c5_1LA9nwpWn5E_vQgIli8_MPgIUMQ2ofRg1aAohyDaePARCHhO0-Kbe6nvV1K2bNxtx0yBgRK8ZMJWNgq2eS9dRzYVn8lf0u950pinBX4OgO37cws2vyEO2gJAyHSc/s320/Screenshot_20210305_165903.png" width="320" /></a></div>PCLINUXOSはやっぱり日本語を書くことができますよ。(Of course PCLINUXOS can write in Japanese.)<p></p><p>The problem was that, since there was no iBus icon showing, I could not disable the Japanese IME... until I found that, in the UIM configuration, the keys to toggle iBus are meta+space:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm4RaUTwvwjl6L8gD2FxsTKbsMrkEE-tgtUDZF8Und77Ah2JApFcjtny0HkWeflg0GQ0LF7Q01hr9jZWAwBPy1IqLtUlGkdfukl8RWsdPGLz5imk42tD3iFt7mIX8yssO_Am5PT1PRgBQ/s1366/Screenshot_20210305_165946.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm4RaUTwvwjl6L8gD2FxsTKbsMrkEE-tgtUDZF8Und77Ah2JApFcjtny0HkWeflg0GQ0LF7Q01hr9jZWAwBPy1IqLtUlGkdfukl8RWsdPGLz5imk42tD3iFt7mIX8yssO_Am5PT1PRgBQ/s320/Screenshot_20210305_165946.png" width="320" /></a></div><p>So, that was it.</p><p>I can now type in Japanese using PCLinuxOS again... Funny that I could have done it all this time, but I just did not know how to.</p><p>One is always learning!</p>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-65611690809726624422021-03-04T21:09:00.002-06:002021-03-04T21:18:58.170-06:00A Week with Mageia 8: Two Success StoriesMageia 8 was released not long ago and I installed it as soon as it was out. However, I took a week to work with it and see how it plays with the other distros in my laptop.<div><br /></div><div>I have a multi-boot system in which I always keep 4+ distros. Before this new install, I had PCLinuxOS, OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 (my latest install), Elive 3, MX Linux (Patio Feo), and Mageia 7. I logically wanted to upgrade Mageia 7 to 8.</div><div><br /></div><div>Historically, this set up has meant several grub 2- related headaches: if I installed OpenMandriva after Mageia, Mageia would boot very slowly. If, on the other hand, Mageia controlled the grub post installation, OpenMandriva would get a kernel panic. As I lack technical knowledge, I could never fix those problems myself.</div><div><br /></div><div>This time, I passed on the live version and decided to install the complete release, which I nostalgically call the PowerPack. If I recall correctly, one cannot upgrade from a live version, so I chose "install" instead of "upgrade," which wipes out the root partition. Still, I kept /home intact. With this distro image, the install takes more time, but it was not bad. A plus is that the process has remained pretty much consistent all these years and this makes the installation a familiar path.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>When everything was done, I rebooted and Mageia 8 took over grub control. I booted this new release and all was working great: internet connection, desktop effects, sound, and screen edges. My personal settings were preserved, so I installed my preferred programs and the system was ready. Even Steam games were kept and working.</div><div><br /></div><div>I restarted the laptop to see if Mageia gave the other distros a problem at boot. Nothing! All started normally!</div><div><br /></div><div>So, the Mageia 8 install in the laptop was a major success. But I had one more trial: I needed to repeat the process in my daughter's desktop, which also ran Mageia 7 live version.</div><div><br /></div><div>This attempt implied two major risks. The first one was that, unlike the laptop, my daughter's desktop has UEFI, which complicates matters and the system language must be Spanish. Second, my daughter was delighted with Mageia 7 since she discovered two weeks ago that she can actually plug in the PlayStation 4 controller and play her favorite Steam games with it. </div><div><br /></div><div>After jumping a couple UEFI loops, the installation process was completed without any major hassle. As with the laptop, I replaced the live install with the full version keeping /home and the system was working perfectly when I finally booted it.</div><div><br /></div><div>I reinstalled the missing programs, tested everything, including Spanish translations, and all was perfect. Then I tested Steam with the controller and, to my dispair, the buttons were not working, the sound was muted, and only the pad was recognized. My daughter was not happy at all.</div><div><br /></div><div>I tried to recalibrate the controller without any luck... And when I was giving up, the Mageia update alert showed me some updates that the system wanted to install.</div><div>I installed them and called it quits. I turned off the machine feeling defeated.</div><div><br /></div><div>Today, I mustered some courage and, plugging the controller in, I started my daughter's PC and Steam to try again (with very low expectations, to be completely honest).</div><div><br /></div><div>But behold! The controller was working perfectly!!</div><div><br /></div><div>I can say with all confidence that Mageia 8 is a wonderful release. These two success stories with two different systems provide evidence of how hard the Mageia developers and community have worked to release a product of high quality that can satisfy multiple needs for different people.</div><div><br /></div><div>Great job, Mageia team!!</div>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-24659914576178208362021-02-14T19:38:00.001-06:002021-02-14T19:38:13.642-06:00OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 "Argon": First Impressions after Install<p>Today is my second day using the newly released OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 Argon in my desktop computer and I'd like to start by saying that this is NOT a technical review. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0BVbTlkrAcwRh_fP_77NlJd9TEuwOeqTokjSwRO1Mn4vVJNnR0qrzYLqLctiwNESxWV2FhINh7yF8G7GfLSOI2WTzK8z-VBDVOUhTZu5p8L5rhSb0ZoKMOTuV9ZYmSGfnjlWkjdP1SCE/s1244/argon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="557" data-original-width="1244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0BVbTlkrAcwRh_fP_77NlJd9TEuwOeqTokjSwRO1Mn4vVJNnR0qrzYLqLctiwNESxWV2FhINh7yF8G7GfLSOI2WTzK8z-VBDVOUhTZu5p8L5rhSb0ZoKMOTuV9ZYmSGfnjlWkjdP1SCE/s320/argon.png" width="320" /></a></div> <p></p><p>Please do not misinterpret me. I do not mean that I under appreciate the hard work of the OpenMandriva developers and community in making sure that everything under the hood of this distro functions smoothly; it's quite the opposite. I, for one, truly value their commitment and effort. However, I cannot pretend to grasp the technicalities. I am one of those users who do not understand what "Qt Framework 5.15.2, <span class="caps">LLVM</span>/clang 11.0.1, systemd 247, Java 15, Calamares 3.2.35, binutils 2.36.1, gcc 10.2." imply on the system.</p><p>My perspective is, then, one of a non-technical user and this is what I have seen so far:</p><p><b>1. Installation</b></p><p>After booting the live usb on a computer with secure boot and UEFI, I ran the installation process, which I found considerably faster this time. I believe that the whole process took less than 15 minutes from start to end and it was very straight forward (well, providing that I have some experience installing other distros and OpenMandriva Lx in the past). The only weird thing was that, when the installation was complete, despite I clicked on "restart the system," nothing happened and I had to reboot the computer manually.<br /></p><p><b>2. Configuration</b></p><p>I chose to wipe out the root partition and keep the home partition. In the past, this has given me some problems but this time was different. Argon kept my desktop settings (wallpaper, effects, panel configurations, etc. with the obvious omission of the programs that were not installed) to the point that I doubting if I had booted to 4.2 or if I was still using 4.1. Had not been for the Falkon icon pinned to the task bar, I would have assumed it was 4.1 even though I saw 4.2 in the splash screen. </p><p>After I installed my personal use programs (Firefox, Steam, Insync, WINE), I was pleased to see that everything was preserved: bookmarks, games, and synchronized files. This means that my computer was practically the same after less than an hour.<br /></p><p><b>3. Responsiveness</b></p><p>The system is working faster than before. However, I did notice two issues: the wired connection would come to a halt and the print screen key was not working.</p><p>I launched the network configuration and browsed over the tabs without knowing what I was doing. Yet, I found that, under general configuration, the priority of the connection was set to -100. I changed it to 3 and the issue was fixed. </p><p>Regarding the print screen key, the situation is that the key assignation for that key points to "launch screen capture tool" and this instruction does not seem to call KDE Spectacle. I reassigned that to "launch spectacle" and it took care of the problem.<br /></p><p>There were some problems getting some Steam games to run. Those are Windows games but I tweaked some WINE settings and managed to get Tomb Raider IV to function. I did not have luck with Crayon Physics Deluxe. Even so, the rest of the programs that I run with WINE are fine. Bendy and the Ink Machine runs fine out of the box.</p><p><b>Conclusion</b></p><p>From my humble perspective as a non-technical user, I find OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 a solid release and I am extremely pleased with its practically seamless transition and usability. It is going to stay as the OS of my production desktop computer for sure.</p><p>Kudos to everyone who made it possible and BIG THANKS!!<br /></p><p> <br /></p>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-86215655582980952852021-02-13T07:51:00.005-06:002021-02-13T07:51:42.358-06:00Getting Ready to Deploy OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 "Argon"<p> Yesterday, the release of OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 was <a href="https://www.openmandriva.org/en/news/article/openmandriva-lx-4-2-is-out-now" target="_blank">announced</a>.</p><p>I already downloaded the .ISO and right now I am putting it into a USB drive (with ROSA Image Writer, which makes the task very easy).</p><p>Unfortunately, I do not have time to install it now, so I will do that later today.</p><p>The RC was very good. I hope that the last release is great.<br /></p>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-88474179344489587992021-02-07T07:07:00.000-06:002021-02-07T07:07:16.181-06:00Test driving Mageia 8 RC<p>After learning that the Mageia 8 RC is available, I downloaded the live .iso and gave it a quick run.</p><p>I must say that, as a user that has been on the Mageia ship since the release of Mageia 1 back in 2010, one of the features that I appreciate from the project is its consistency and visual stability. </p><p>Please do not get me wrong: of course I appreciate innovation! However, non-technical users of Linux tend to get puzzled after becoming familiar with a distro just to find that developers, in subsequent releases, change the UI so much that they feel alienated by the OS.</p><p>Most of the changes in Mageia happen under the hood, so the UI has remained pretty stable from the beginning. In fact, upon booting Mageia 8 RC, my untrained eye sees no big difference other than the updated wallpaper: Mageia just feels familiar and keeps the consistent Mandriva PowerPack UI (license, country, language, etc). This is great as I will not feel lost when I decide to install it.</p><p>The booting is a bit faster and, soon enough, one is greeted by the Mageia Welcome window. <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga8oxJPTXPG7o7x-SZiUDmKNeO0-Iymp0dFEnbeJV4vtML4ofJXnCGXVodT4BRlEfy8oirRGvz-C8Oo57SkKmVaMRqMw9Ur404gadCGWEV0X-5yH4LPWY0NX31eZPcFxC0g8dMxC3qWjw/s1366/Screenshot_20210207_063949.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga8oxJPTXPG7o7x-SZiUDmKNeO0-Iymp0dFEnbeJV4vtML4ofJXnCGXVodT4BRlEfy8oirRGvz-C8Oo57SkKmVaMRqMw9Ur404gadCGWEV0X-5yH4LPWY0NX31eZPcFxC0g8dMxC3qWjw/s320/Screenshot_20210207_063949.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />I had my usb gaming headset plugged in and it worked out of the box. I next tried the effects and everything is working fine.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicxbxu0QjRpaanct9dqT6WlXBfX_Jls6oqA61gkn3ENRfex-e2HzYZbDPjzQxQR5CXd8SjHwbCcoyoeeSc2NZtxBXstlRbfg3rWS_iQT5wlLCEVjaIOJlop2eACiclxfLtugHS-PING9Q/s1366/Screenshot_20210207_065828.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicxbxu0QjRpaanct9dqT6WlXBfX_Jls6oqA61gkn3ENRfex-e2HzYZbDPjzQxQR5CXd8SjHwbCcoyoeeSc2NZtxBXstlRbfg3rWS_iQT5wlLCEVjaIOJlop2eACiclxfLtugHS-PING9Q/s320/Screenshot_20210207_065828.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />Net_applet picks the wired connection without any hassle and it sees my wireless connections, so I choose one to connect. Although the icon does not update and indicates that I have no connection, I am online. In fact, I am posting this entry from the live Mageia RC usb drive.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdCpusbtiMgSRKNn6BZZ_D1iP6UzWdYxK08tC5nHNVTS20tMclIuNQvHZiAWT2hyphenhyphenl7Jbz-4QXx9Re-5jA8MkuztsRR4wfvevl5RCl4z4BaHM7Q4riGw5RUPLyObguvPgLwDAKP8RFZ19Q/s1366/Screenshot_20210207_063131.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdCpusbtiMgSRKNn6BZZ_D1iP6UzWdYxK08tC5nHNVTS20tMclIuNQvHZiAWT2hyphenhyphenl7Jbz-4QXx9Re-5jA8MkuztsRR4wfvevl5RCl4z4BaHM7Q4riGw5RUPLyObguvPgLwDAKP8RFZ19Q/s320/Screenshot_20210207_063131.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />So, that is the only thing that I was able to see. No lags, no crashes whatsoever.<p></p><p>This looks like a solid release. In fact, this RC really feels and behaves like a final release.</p><p>Kudos to the Mageia team for their effort! <br /></p><p> <br /></p><p> <br /></p><p> <br /></p>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-63318891068842796952021-02-06T17:47:00.000-06:002021-02-06T17:47:00.876-06:00Mageia 8 is closer and closer!<p>Yesterday, I was saddened by the official announcement of the death of PicarOS, the best distro for children.</p><p>Today, I read that the RC of Mageia 8 is ready for testing.</p><p>This is good. <br /></p><p>I am going to download it and give it a test drive.... Perhaps I will use my daughter's new Windows 10 laptop, hehe.</p><p>If my ZaReason Strata dies, I guess I will have to buy a laptop with Windows and dual-boot. I need to practice...<br /></p><p><br /></p><p> <br /></p><p> <br /></p>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-64531552683182797272021-02-05T21:16:00.001-06:002021-02-05T21:16:32.557-06:00PicarOS and MiniNo are dead!Today I read the sad news that MiniNo and PicarOS are officially discontinued. This is a great loss as PicarOS was, by far, the best children-oriented distro I ever used.<div><br></div><div>I will never forget my daughter's reaction the first time I booted a laptop with PicarOS and how much she enjoyed using this computer!</div><div><br></div><div>Bye, MiniNo! Bye, bye, PicarOS!</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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compression ratios implemented in our kernel, provides faster boot- new real-time compression algorithm, providing high
compression ratios implemented in our kernel, provides faster boot." I remember the old days of Mandriva, when I had Mandriva InstantOn, which booted the computer in 30 seconds or less.</p><p>3. Everything is working: sound, effects, USB headset, and even the WebCam (with VLC)</p><p>4. It comes with the OM Feeling-like user interface changer, so that different users can quickly turn the DE into something that resembles Ubuntu, Windows 7, Windows 10, or Mac OS. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisEe_NUtW2bTvhs-rSaHaa6U7D5uf5OWFn1-DZ-URYKvH7TRPj8ek5qLFTCCl399lRb0eYi1Kwi72wPNlj6sQzkj8XnecWjDOM_mr1t-5DgrN8NJLG5_VqacEcjm_16enGXH16ePF4ofI/s1366/Screenshot_20210102_144619.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisEe_NUtW2bTvhs-rSaHaa6U7D5uf5OWFn1-DZ-URYKvH7TRPj8ek5qLFTCCl399lRb0eYi1Kwi72wPNlj6sQzkj8XnecWjDOM_mr1t-5DgrN8NJLG5_VqacEcjm_16enGXH16ePF4ofI/s320/Screenshot_20210102_144619.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p>5. You must install Firefox and GIMP because they do not come with the live version. But Kdenlive has been upgraded to version 20.12.0!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlanIDw9CzBUh7m5ExAosol4G1tTgdC-4R3RC_bubisAIgWqK__BaIGMzHOjyK-uhnPVz-NVhIoOXMut2cNqFAbzjzdqn1dTKaVhhdlADAd3RWiC8jCOeh6pkdiL3zbq6LgeBoRsFBp00/s1366/Screenshot_20210102_144505n.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlanIDw9CzBUh7m5ExAosol4G1tTgdC-4R3RC_bubisAIgWqK__BaIGMzHOjyK-uhnPVz-NVhIoOXMut2cNqFAbzjzdqn1dTKaVhhdlADAd3RWiC8jCOeh6pkdiL3zbq6LgeBoRsFBp00/s320/Screenshot_20210102_144505n.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>All in all, this seems very promising! Great job!!<br /></p><p><span style="color: red;">UPDATE:</span> I also booted the live USB on my laptop and everything is running smoothly (including the wi-fi and the webcam via Kamoso). <br /></p><p> <br /></p>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-30474193857895606492020-12-31T16:03:00.010-06:002020-12-31T16:34:35.824-06:00Good-bye, 2020! Thanks for the lessons!<p>2020 was a year to remember. It started well too normally, with some distant news about a suspicious disease in Asia. </p><p>However, we had heard similar news before, so nobody here paid a lot of attention. </p><p>Everyone was in a rather hopeful mood. It was the Year of the Metal Rat and sites were anticipating great luck to the natives of this sign, such as myself. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSseor2YI_BDIMGp4cUI3tovEQjeU7odn0ZaqSRTz1Lxa3Mn3xZkFNFtijZWpC8c0lf8nn3d8R-d_dxqA_86neYzto_6prWVulwUCo65I1pjFZKsZBrK3_lhZTORagLITkAwtywQGL_pY/s398/2020.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSseor2YI_BDIMGp4cUI3tovEQjeU7odn0ZaqSRTz1Lxa3Mn3xZkFNFtijZWpC8c0lf8nn3d8R-d_dxqA_86neYzto_6prWVulwUCo65I1pjFZKsZBrK3_lhZTORagLITkAwtywQGL_pY/s320/2020.png" /></a></div><p>Little did I know how this year was going to affect me and everyone around me.</p><p>Soon, everything turned upside down, uncertainty was oozing from every wall as I was trying to find my way through a slippery moss-covered maze that seemed never-ending. </p><p>I lost money, work increased three-fold and became an alien activity, family members got very sick, and, in general, stress and anxiety became the two monumental columns upon which collective experience rested... </p><p>Some goals had to be postponed, daily life was interrupted and contradicting instructions were issued regularly, adding up to the reigning confusion. Even my blog was almost abandoned!<br /></p><p>When I look back, 2020 does not feel like a year; it is more like a zipped quinquennium, one that got the best of us and wrecked many lives. It's the zombie year.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNqe1a4NQK5vHpz7RuqlYA-y7UBn_qpKzZMgPdrZU0d5WqaNqJPUSOXF0e_XA-rU8FV5hktqxzJPkSvCtbTqRcP1M5tUoiia0zqGhjVkF-o_GBA6blZmOwfGBA3pfwbag2LHtVGfNrx9U/s398/2020ZOMBI.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNqe1a4NQK5vHpz7RuqlYA-y7UBn_qpKzZMgPdrZU0d5WqaNqJPUSOXF0e_XA-rU8FV5hktqxzJPkSvCtbTqRcP1M5tUoiia0zqGhjVkF-o_GBA6blZmOwfGBA3pfwbag2LHtVGfNrx9U/s320/2020ZOMBI.png" /></a></div>But today is the last day of 2020 and I would be truly ungrateful if I said that it was a year to throw away and forget.<p>This year pushed me to experiment with video/audio resources in Linux in a way that I never thought possible. Kdenlive, the program that I never understood, became a friend for me and my everyday support for work. My dream of working from home became an odd reality. I intensified my home training physically, technically, and intellectually.</p><p>This year also drew me close to my loved ones in a way that it is very difficult to put in words... Family and friends... But I am talking about the good friends, the ones that see you through in dark times. "The strength of the wolf is the pack", said the wolves in The Jungle Book.<br /></p><p>And I would not be lying if I said that there are things that 2020 brought that I do not want to lose when "normal" comes back.</p><p>The overwhelming events today feel like heavy, absurd gifts that I do not know how to use. Like a rain of gigantic popcorn that buried me.<br /></p><p>Yet, at dawn, I can say...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD3T7Ksx275W6t2NiyV-_OK11OcEQxy0R4ol8cgd6RW3QyRy4wsCj_BpMnkKiT0UcyS1OeHJIkMsaKRouOO1QD4-aVdsPad7My8QQMhgaNwJb8mtu0QRtq2-Jv1BUpGRAXzaYC2BETLN8/s320/tenor.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD3T7Ksx275W6t2NiyV-_OK11OcEQxy0R4ol8cgd6RW3QyRy4wsCj_BpMnkKiT0UcyS1OeHJIkMsaKRouOO1QD4-aVdsPad7My8QQMhgaNwJb8mtu0QRtq2-Jv1BUpGRAXzaYC2BETLN8/s0/tenor.png" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-32472888428953760472020-12-01T14:11:00.004-06:002020-12-01T14:28:35.580-06:00Good-bye, ZaReason!<p> I had seen this unfortunate day coming...</p><p>The best laptop I have ever owned (and still own, despite being purchased 6 years ago) is a ZaReason Strata.</p><p>It is still working great, but I was one of these days fishing the market for Linux laptops, just in case.</p><p>When I visited the ZaReason page several months ago this year, I saw that they had very few products. This year has been tough.</p><p>Today, I saw this message on their site:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipA2UCIHEcr1dKuqYySfJdpSQqsX-lLwtn_S0_2HTY9YyB4QOYU7hngRFDdOJ8zjOGqDMGpl2G5SEgPlzs8pKcpzJDxGFAlQXKDnFkNs24AQpWmPqkeYFC3rr7-0r5orN3GexHstONAvE/s1366/zareason_bye.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="561" data-original-width="1366" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipA2UCIHEcr1dKuqYySfJdpSQqsX-lLwtn_S0_2HTY9YyB4QOYU7hngRFDdOJ8zjOGqDMGpl2G5SEgPlzs8pKcpzJDxGFAlQXKDnFkNs24AQpWmPqkeYFC3rr7-0r5orN3GexHstONAvE/w413-h169/zareason_bye.png" width="413" /></a></div><br /><p>I must admit that this made me sad.</p><p> </p><p><br /></p>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-3622150506594174432020-11-29T20:50:00.001-06:002020-12-01T14:27:50.097-06:00Problems with Video Files and a Nice Solution<p>Because of the sanitary emergency, I have been teleworking all this year.</p><p>For me, this has implied making lots of videos for my students, so I use InShot and Textro on an Android phone to record/ add effects and then I work on the computer for the post production. I have been relying on Kdenlive (on PCLinuxOS) and OBS Studio (on OpenMandriva and MX Linux, for live streams).</p><p>But then, half way this year, I noticed that sometimes the audio of the videos that I edited on the phone with InShot was out of sync when I loaded them to Kdenlive.</p><p>As a solution, I used Pitivi on Mageia to convert the videos, which fixed the problem. This additional step, however, is time-consuming and time has become an even more precious resource right now when one is teleworking. <br /></p><p>Today, I shot four videos and edited them on InShot. When I loaded them to the Kdenlinve project, to my distress, the audio was not in sync.</p><p>I could not afford to run them through Pitivi and use up an average of 15 minutes on the conversion of each clip. I thought that, if I could join the clips together, the audio might be OK in Kdenlive. I was worth giving it a shot. <br /></p><p>I did a quick search for a Linux tool to merge the four clips together. I found this page <a href="https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000895.htm" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>The section on MKVToolNix caught my attention. I installed it on PCLinuxOS and tried the GUI version. I could not figure out what I had to do (I was really in a rush), so I closed it and, after opening Konsole, I typed the command (substituting the file names, of course):</p><pre class="tab tcy">mkvmerge -o output.mp4 file1.mp4 \+ file2.mp4 \+ file3.mp4</pre><p>The konsole window displayed some info in less than five seconds and told me that the operation was completed.</p><p>In disbelief, I opened the output video file and... yes, the four clips were there in one.</p><p>I put that output file on my project folder in Kdenlive and ran the preview to see if the audio was OK. It was perfect.</p><p>This helped me finish the post production a lot earlier.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-21984647802583201932020-10-24T22:35:00.001-06:002020-10-24T22:37:55.609-06:00Japanese IME on PCLinuxOS 64 KDE5 Magnum 2020 1015<p>I recently saw that my install of PCLinuxOS was behaving funny after and update: the effects ceased working and web pages were loading slowly.</p><p>Last time this happened to me, I had to install a new iso because I had been working with a very old one.</p><p>This time, however, I had kept up with all the updates thanks to the convenient Simple Update Notifier, but something was not good.</p><p>Anyway, I decided to install the new PCLinuxOS 64 KDE5 Magnum 2020 1015. The installation went well, but I was worried because I normally install the PCLinuxOS GRUB2 on the distro partition, not on the MBR, but it was not possible for me to do it this time, so I was predicting a mess trying to boot OpenMandriva, Mageia, MX Linux, and Elive.</p><p>When the installation finished, saw the PCLinuxOS GRUB2 replacing my old Mageia GRUB2, so I booted all the other distros to see if something was broken. Nevertheless, there was neither a kernel panic in OpenMandriva nor a horrible delay to boot in Mageia. All was well! YAY!</p><p>I then booted the new install of PCLOS and I was greeted by a more dynamic splash screen and neon icons on a new wallpaper:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKH8HSvyrfucpo-qvJIK3Ol1liD1yVKXNvTTZWcRCeDk_gg5vuERwxt2G0fls2RQFvSWkO7lMqjCRbPtq4PDeDMJm2jCpWIMY2_8Py-0MwnNg4PVlU6zSQ8oijg8E5q-POIwGqQ6FP36Y/s1366/pclos.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKH8HSvyrfucpo-qvJIK3Ol1liD1yVKXNvTTZWcRCeDk_gg5vuERwxt2G0fls2RQFvSWkO7lMqjCRbPtq4PDeDMJm2jCpWIMY2_8Py-0MwnNg4PVlU6zSQ8oijg8E5q-POIwGqQ6FP36Y/s320/pclos.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>The effects were not working, but it was a matter of activating them. I read the solution in the <a href="https://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php?topic=137826.0" target="_blank">PCLOS forum</a>:</p><p>System Settings>Hardware>Display and Monitor></p><p>The only problem I had was getting the Japanese IME to work.</p><p>After trying, I managed to get iBus working with Mozc. So, everything was good.</p><p>But then, after a KDE update, the iBus icon disappeared.</p><p>I have tried everything to make it come back with no positive results.</p><p>Even so, and although it's a bit inconvenient, I can still invoke iBus from the terminal with these commands:</p><p><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;">pkill -9 ibus </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;"><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;">ips -ef | grep ibus </span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;"><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;"><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;">/usr/bin/ibus-daemon --xim & </span><br /></span> </span><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;"></span></span></p>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-85251635632065937362020-08-05T06:38:00.002-06:002020-08-05T06:42:29.340-06:00It's the Ides of August!<div>In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Roman general Julius Caesar is given an ominous message by the Soothsayer. The message is a simple warning:</div><div>"Beware the ides of March!" The ides means the first fifteen days of the month and, come the third month, Julius Caesar is stabbed to death in those first fifteen days.</div><div><br /></div><div>However, it seems that the ominous month for electronics is not March, but August. In 2015, I had shared <a href="http://mandrivachronicles.blogspot.com/2015/08/on-august-and-broken-electronics.html">the story</a> of how Nixie Pixel's cellphone, laptop, and desktop broke as soon as August started and how some people believed that this eighth month seemed to bring the death of beloved electronics. I even had to replace my laptop screen that month!</div><div><br /></div><div>Well, today I woke up to the battery indicator of my ZaReason Strata 7140 sending out an intermittent red flash. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>It was the laptop's way of saying to me "Aye, the ides of August have come!"</div><div><br /></div><div>I turned on the machine and discovered that the battery is at 20% health and needs replacement.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is pretty expected since the Strata has been working since the first half of 2014. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Getting a replacement battery for this machine is not going to be easy, though... much less now that the government has shut down many commercial activities due to the Covid-19 emergency.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, I took out the battery and connected the laptop to the backup power supply for the time being.</div><div><br /></div><div>While I was doing that, I can swear I almost heard the voice of the Soothsayer delivering the ominous reminder: "Aye, the ides of August have come, but not gone!"</div><div><br /></div><div>Brace yourself!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9wiqq42jLBkxGnSTNHsCILKFm99XgDgWb5YsUWTKK7vugF5CfQSslJbMQQO3pLTu8o4l1eYUS4AHWfU-mlX4SlKoXndVsQoPuUPzjcjuZEk4spAJR0VBgzxWi987RLAYyTN-BzGKLblI/s398/terrified2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9wiqq42jLBkxGnSTNHsCILKFm99XgDgWb5YsUWTKK7vugF5CfQSslJbMQQO3pLTu8o4l1eYUS4AHWfU-mlX4SlKoXndVsQoPuUPzjcjuZEk4spAJR0VBgzxWi987RLAYyTN-BzGKLblI/s0/terrified2.png" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-78168522379229712022020-07-17T23:13:00.002-06:002020-07-17T23:13:23.832-06:00MX Linux: The Ugly DucklingThree days ago, I decided to test a Linux distro that has become very popular in DistroWatch, MX Linux.<br />
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Megatotoro started using it as soon as it came along, carrying the legacy of the extinct, but amazing Mepis Linux combined with the speed and versatility of AntiX. Although, back then, this distro was but a faint bleep in the DistroWatch radar, today it has the top 1 spot in the chart, way above Mint and Ubuntu, once rulers of Linux popularity.<br />
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What prompted me to try it was an experiment with OBS Studio, which required me to use a 64 bit distro that worked with .deb packages. I have always used .rpg distros: Mageia, OpenMandriva, PCLinuxOS, and Fedora. Well, I have Elive 3, but it is 32 bits, so it did not work for me.<br />
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I needed to replace one distro, so I chose to erase Fedora. Anyway, I could always put it back once I finished my OBS Studio experiment, I said to myself. <br />
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MX Linux installed very quickly and without any problem. I had no GRUB2 issues and found myself quite at ease with the DE. Thanks to my experience with PCLinuxOS, using Synaptic in MX represented no learning curve at all.<br />
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So, I carried out my experiment and failed miserably. However, contrary to what I had originally intended, I had already customized the appearance of the DE and stuffed the system with my favorite programs. When I saw myself syncing my files and Firefox, I knew that the distro was staying in my laptop.<br />
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Now I understand why so many Linux users prefer MX. Just like in Andersen's story, I had grossly underestimated this distro... until it became a beautiful swan-like OS powering my computer with grace and ease.<br />
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It is no coincidence that its code name is <i>Patito Feo</i>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhukFmdKE8WZ4fJsRaNg8csiAL8Ont3U5eiurVYwRsWRkGmER_ijbR5k24Cp81AVx1hrlW8B6Q_QsQyFDesb4cOIlv4fsPHG0eTs7CQLeST1vc5Uqwa4u4953FCfsrAWr4fb3mlCS-enmI/s1600/duckling.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhukFmdKE8WZ4fJsRaNg8csiAL8Ont3U5eiurVYwRsWRkGmER_ijbR5k24Cp81AVx1hrlW8B6Q_QsQyFDesb4cOIlv4fsPHG0eTs7CQLeST1vc5Uqwa4u4953FCfsrAWr4fb3mlCS-enmI/s1600/duckling.jpeg" /></a></div>
Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514795258871703434.post-63765078283826722642020-05-03T16:48:00.004-06:002020-05-03T16:48:41.820-06:00COVID-19, Telework, and Linux! Happy Anniversary, Mandriva Chronicles!With the present sanitary emergency created by COVID-19, I've been away from this blog for two months already.<br />
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It's not that I have not had the motivation to post, no. Actually, my work load blew up to three times its normal size because of the mandatory teleworking policies of the university where I work.<br />
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In the course of three weeks, I saw everyone move to cyberspace (willingly or reluctantly). Anxiety, contradictory policies, and uncertainty became the new educational environment for many. And, with this, I forgot that last Friday was the 10th Anniversary of this humble blog.<br />
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What can I report?<br />
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1. Well, the idea of the younger generations being "digital natives" shattered into a million pieces; as I had always suspected, it was nothing but a myth. This crisis forced students to use the Web to study and, in great numbers, they are admitting defeat. It turns out that their online skills seem nothing else that proficiency for using social networks: they cannot read and concentrate, have problems understanding how to post in forums, and become confused when submitting their assignments in an online mailbox.<br />
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2. Linux has been up to the challenge: even though I have been forced to install programs such as Zoom and (yuck!) MS Teams on my laptop and my daughter's desktop, PCLinux OS and Mageia have been reliable, helping me attend meetings and helping my daughter continue with her elementary school classes.<br />
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Megatotoro and I decided to ditch Zoom and favored a more flexible online approach. This idea implied producing lots of audiovisual material --something that we have no training on. Thus, we had to learn how to produce videos in Linux for our courses. In a week, I taught myself Kdenlive and Openshot, became more proficient with Audacity, and relied more in the image-editing of the always trustable GIMP.<br />
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In the meantime, other professors have been struggling trying to adapt their lessons to something they can deliver through Zoom meetings. How successful that attempt is I cannot say. Students claim that Zoom sessions generate anxiety and make them very tired, which has been confirmed in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200421-why-zoom-video-chats-are-so-exhausting">this article</a>. <br />
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So, yes, it has been a busy time. But, all, in all...<br />
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Linux truly saved me from this technological virus that seems to be eroding the mental health of my colleagues...<br />
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HAPPY BELATED ANNIVERSARY, MANDRIVA CHRONICLES!!<br />
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Mechatotorohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15816943718402270287noreply@blogger.com1