New Adventures: Zen Browser and Mageia 10

Recently, I have been trying to take some time to come back to blogging, an activity that I really enjoyed and let me record all my learning in the world of FLOSS.

So, these are the new experiences I had:

1. Zen Browser

I do not remember how, probably it was thanks to a Reddit post, but I came across Zen Browser. Or maybe it was a YouTube video? In any case, the author, a long time Firefox user, described a new browser that was very strange at first, but that that author ended loving.

Since Firefox has always been my browser of choice, I grew curious about this new software that was, in fact, very unusual: its features did not seem to make a lot of sense to me (just as the author described when first using the browser). Tabs arranged in a vertical fashion? Multiple spaces? Design whose main purpose was not to be intrusive but that did not sacrifice functionality? Privacy-oriented?

I have to admit that I could not resist and visited the Zen Browser site to download this new way to surf the Web. I got the Linux version, decompressed it, and gave it a try.  True, the design was attractive, but the idea of the spaces to organize the vertical tabs was not resonating with me... until I remembered experiencing something similar the first time I used the four desktops in Mandriva, back in 2009. The idea of switching workspaces seemed confusing to me. Yes, the Compiz cube was cool, but what was the point of having your windows scattered in four different isolated spaces? 

Then it dawned on me.

And then, the four workspaces became completely essential for my productivity.

This was exactly the same experience when KDE introduced activities. First, bewilderment sprinkled with anger, then disbelief, and finally understanding and total acceptance. 

Thus, I created two spaces in Zen to test them... and I loved the concept! 

I loved it even more when I discovered that it is based on Firefox and, therefore, not only do I get to import my bookmarks into the new browser, but I can also sync it using my Mozilla account!

The installation in my portable Mageia 9 desktop was easy: I only unzipped the file and then ran this command as root as a normal user from the folder where I unzipped the tarball: curl -fsSL https://github.com/zen-browser/updates-server/raw/refs/heads/main/install.sh | $SHELL 

Somehow, that was it. I got Zen in my menu and pinned it to Favorites.

However, when I tried to replicate the process in Mageia 10, I never got the menu entry. So, I had to follow the indications in the Bluebird Documentation page: 

1. I went to  /usr/share/applications

2. I opened kwrite, opened a new file, and pasted this info (substituting <your-name> by my home folder: 

[Desktop Entry]

Name=Zen Browser

Exec=/home/<your-name>/zen/zen

Terminal=false

Type=Application

Icon=/home/<your-name>/zen/browser/chrome/icons/default/default128.png

Categories=Network;WebBrowser;

StartupNotify=true

And that was it!  I am actually writing this from home, using Zen Browser on my new Mageia 10 desktop install.

Which takes me to my second adventure... 

 2.  Mageia 10

After a long wait, and according to DistroWatch.com, my favorite distro released version 10. After all this time, I have not had any major issue with Mageia 9, which explains, however partially, why I have not blogged regularly. Yet, I wanted to see the new Mageia...only that I wanted to be careful.  That's why I decided to install the new release to a USB drive. 

After downloading the classic install ISO, creating a USB with it, I tried to put this 10th version into a pen drive but, alas! I have become rusty! 

Yes, I made a n00b mistake: Instead of placing the GRUB2 in the EFI partition of the USB drive, I inadvertently put it into the EFI partition of my home desktop computer. So, when I attempted to boot from the pen drive, all I got was a black screen with a J and a blinking cursor next to it.

Of course, I thought that the problem was limited to a dysfunctional USB install. After removing the pen drive, I booted the desktop. To my horror, I saw the splash of Mageia 10 replacing the splash of my Mageia 9 computer! 

And then... NOTHING!

Realizing that I had ruined two machines in one install, I plugged the pen drive again and restarted the desktop. My idea was to change the booting device, but I was not quick enough and the wayward machine booted from its EFI partition...this time into my renewed desktop environment (Luckily, I did not format the /home partition!).  

In addition to the stupid mistake with GRUB2, I had also installed the / partition into the pen drive and created a two-factor verification computer... Good grief!

I had to reinstall my / partition and fix the GRUB2.   

And that's how I forcefully migrated my home computer to Mageia 10. 

Concerning performance, everything seems to be working, just as expected. While several technical reviews claim Mageia 10 is a lackluster release, I am grateful EVERYTHING WORKS.

Those of us who do not belong to the bleeding-edge, dangerously-living, excited-to-tinker tribe are happy with a distro that looks renewed but keeps thing in place, maybe a bit too familiar, but reliable when work demands keep piling up, hehe.

 

Steam woes in OpenMandriva.... Again!

Steam updated today and, as a nasty surprise, I hit the same problem I had before with it.

I tried the solution here, but it was not working this time: the code reverted to its original form, preventing the Steam runtime to work.

Then, I realized that I was including the brackets in the code.... Stupid mistake. 

>tar --blocking-factor=${BF}  -xf "$2" -C "$3" |
>zenity --progress --auto-close --no-cancel --width 400 --text="$1"

I removed them and, voila, Steam unpacked the runtime and opened the user interface.

tar --blocking-factor=${BF}  -xf "$2" -C "$3" |
zenity --progress --auto-close --no-cancel --width 400 --text="$1"

I Messed Up GRUB2... What a Happy Mistake!

Yesterday, I was using my daughter's desktop computer, which is a Mageia 4/PicarOS dual-boot, when I noticed something that has happended before: after running an update of packages, Mageia changes GRUB2 and erases the entry to boot PicarOS.

I am not very GRUB2 literate.  Last time that it happened, I solved the problem with GRUB Customizer, but it wouldn't help this time.

I tried the Mageia GRUB tool in the Control Center to no avail.

Then I installed the KDE package that lets one configure GRUB2... and that's when I messed up: trying to recover the PicarOS boot entry, I seemed to have installed a useless boot entry on the MBR and the computer, logically, could neither boot PicarOS nor Mageia.

I looked for the Mageia 4 install DVD to run the rescue tool but, since I could not find it, I ran the rescue tools from the Mageia 3 install DVD instead.  It did not work; GRUB2 could not be rescued.

Then I ran a Mageia 3 Live DVD and booted the machine to re-install GRUB2 with Mageia Control Center.  No luck, either, but I found the Mageia 4 install DVD.

Given my little knowledge of GRUB2, my only option at that point was to reinstall the system.  The thing was that I did not want to spend a couple of hours re-configuring the computer.

I ran the installation wizard and it asked me if I wanted a clean install or an upgrade.  I suddenly felt inspired and decided to take a risk.  Normally, I go for a clean install, but I selected UPGRADE instead.

The process lasted less than 5 minutes and Mageia came back to life with a resurrected GRUB2 entry for PicarOS.

But here's the best part. Prior to all this, the computer's Mageia OS had a problem that I had not been able to solve: as ffmpeg could not be updated with the tainted packages, it could not play certain videos for my daughter.

After coming back to life, Mageia told me that no repos were configured. I checked and, sure enough, the install wizard had erased all the repos.  I added them and BINGO!  the missing ffmpeg tainted package was found.

Now my daughter can see her videos again.

Some mistakes bring about happy results after all.

   

ZaReason Strata WebCam problem [SOLVED], Those Silly Mistakes We Make

A while a go, I wrote a post about those days in which we all should avoid computers.  I also posted describing how happy I was with my new ZaReason Strata Laptop.  The only problem I had with it was that the webcam was not working, a weird situation because the laptop would work perfectly with the external Logitech webcam I use in my desktop.

Well, as a follow up of the story of the cam, i have to say that I "solved" the problem like a month ago, but I was so embarrassed that never blogged about it.

Having internalized the emotions, I can now tell the story of how I found the "solution".

When I installed Kamoso, Kamorama, Cheese (and other programs) to work with the webcam and they would say that /dev/video0 did not exist, I suspected that the camera was not connected.  I mean, I tried in Mageia 4, OpenMandriva, and PicarOS without success.  However, the kernel modules seemed to be OK because my machine would detect the external Logitech cam without any hussle at all.

So, after trying for a while, I sent the ZaReason Tech support a message asking for help and waited.  My message only asked for support configuring the cam; I did not want to return the machine.

I waited for a week, but they never got back to me.

After the week had elapsed, I got a bit upset.  From my office, I decided to contact ZaReason again, so I began writing this snarky email when I suddenly noticed a funny function key that I had not seen before in any machine.  It looked like some sort of a satellite dish... or a webcam.

"This can't possibly be it!", I said to myself while pressing both the Function key and the key with the satellite dish.  Sure enough, a blue light next to the cam turned on and my image popped up.  The cam worked, but it had been turned off the whole time!

Luckily, I had not sent the snarky email. I deleted it.

More luckily, I was alone.  Had any other person been there, he or she would have assumed the WebCam was not properly calibrated as my face rapidly  went from my normal color to various shades of red and ended up sort of purplish with embarrassment.

We all have been there: this technological era prompts us to make silly mistakes.  Haven't you ever gotten, for instance, an email from your boss urging you to take a look at "the document attached" only to discover that the attachment is missing?

Has it ever happen to you that end up sending a message to a wrong contact because your email service fills in the address and you assumed it was the right one?

I think most of us have been there.

I guess I am now on the Wall of Fame at ZaReason's tech support... pretty much like the stories here. In fact, I still blush when I remember this mistake.

Oh, well...