Xubuntu and You!

Xubuntu is not just another Operating system. It is a nice experience for a Linux experience. With a graphical interface that is already set to download or if you are lucky it is already in place, replicates the Mac OSX Operating system. The only thing that is missing is Docky, which is easily downloadable from the built in app store.

I am currently running my install on a Lenovo M53 Tiny PC that I bought on Ebay for just a measly $58 shipped. The shipping was free. So I have yet to install Docky as I am too lazy for my own good or I just have been visiting too many people for the holiday break.

This is what your desktop will look like after the initial install

I have included the screen shots that I have made from my own system. I have also  included a screen grab of Docky installed and as you can see it closely resembles that of Mac OSX. For this Tiny computer it will be  my main Operating System. I would use Windows 10, but in the new Windows 10 any browser that is not Microsoft Edge is blacked out. Quite literally. It is like looking at a black screen, which is what you are doing. be it chrome or safari, there is no page to display. Thankfully Xubuntu is friendly to all web browsers.

Here is a screen grab of  Mozilla.

When you begin to change your settings after an install you will realize how alike it is compared to MacOSX. Just accessing the settings alone will reveal a design influence from the other side of the orchard.

Then to get your dock for the bottom just select the little mouse icaon at the top right, and then select the listing called "Software". That will open up the software store for Xubuntu.


Next to install docky, just type Docky in the search area and hit the Enter key. Now we have the only selection for Docky present and we can go ahead and select install.

Now we have a dock installed! If you would like to customize the dock it is as easy just dragging and dropping icons to it till your hearts content. In this example I removed the Docky Icon because it was annoying me.

Here I added the icon back in so I can show an example of it installed. If you choose to add docky components, it will separate those components from what ever you drag and drop into the dock with a perforated divide bar. This can be removed by just creating a new dock by left clicking in an area of Docky and select create a new dock.

Ubuntu Studio is what I have installed on my other system and that I am attempting to utilize for editing purposes. It is much like iMovie and edits the same, but I am currently attempting to change some features so that I may edit more effectively than any software that is out there and available for free. Some editing software is costly and promises to edit better than iMovie but on a shoestring budget it is challenging if not infuriating to find something that does not cost and arm and a leg to download and use,

As soon as I get good at editing at videos in Ubuntu Studio I will post a article and a video on it as well, but I have an android video that I need to make and post on youtube.com/primeguey before I can get to that. I also need to make a video and a post on two other OS installs and reviews, not too mention I will show how to install Linux itself.

So have a happy New Year and stay safe and I hope you had a Merry Christmas/Kwanzaa/Hanukkah!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I will return after the new year, but I will post one more time for 2019!

Until then I will leave you in the capable hands of the very cute Santa Isuzu Sento!

Why Windows users are intimidated by Linux. 

One of the main reasons that Linux has not been demystified as of yet largely is because there are Linux users out there who feel superior to Windows and Mac users and even look down their nose at them, so to speak.


It is mainly due to a lack of knowledge on the windows users part because they think that Linux is way too technical to use. This is not true and maybe was true at one point and time, but that is no longer the fact. The fact of the matter is that whilst Linux is not too technical to utilize on a day to day basis by a crossover user, it is less forgiving. It is very, very, very less forgiving.


Write one bad command in the command line and poof. Just like the poof of smoke that Magicians and ninjas used to disappear into, so will your desktop if your not careful.



More to come later....

Linux , Networking and you.

Its not too far off to say that working in Linux is in many ways like working inside of a router or switch. The interfaces in the command line are similar and the commands are slightly different, but you will need to know the difference between a supernet,a subnet, a broadcast ip address and a multicast address. It is not too hard to learn networking if you already understand Linux, and vice versa.

When I first got into Linux I had no idea what I was doing and crashed my install 11 times in a row before I got it running correctly with sound. After that fiasco I sprang for a Windows ME machine because it was a multimedia PC and it had s-video out and rca video out. I had only seen that on more expensive pc's and video cards. I bought this PC online from new startup company for around $600 in 2000, for which at that time the computer was easily worth $1300. I love promo's and grand opening deals.

SO as I got further into networking in college we began to dabble in Linux, as in take classes. That is when I realized that since I now know how to program a CISCO router, that I can work Linux easily and any command I type in makes sense now. Maybe it is because the CISCO text books were better written than an instruction manual for RedHat Linux - Fedora. Since purchasing my own CISCSO 2960 series switch, I have begun to practice setting up switches and networks and VPN's or Virtual Private Networks. I now have the brilliant idea to connect my CISCO switch to my home network, because my Spectrum switch is failing out...bad.

Now I need to buy a SFP for my switch which will allow it to accept a RJ45 Ethernet link to the switch. I purchased this transceiver device from the same place I bought the switch from, but low and behold, it was a counterfeit CISCO device.

 I didnt even know that they were out there making cheap knockoffs. The thing is that my SFP transceiver is heavy and good quality construction for being accused of counterfeit. Even the CISCO rep stated that it was good quality construction and it could just be a re manufactured unit, since it does communicate with the switch. I guess some cheap devices wont even talk with the switch and sometimes fry out the ports. That would suck to watch my $500 48 port 2960LX switch burn out.

I have since contacted the company and they promptly sent me out a new Official GLC-TSFP. As you can see the difference is night and day between a counterfeit unit and an official device.

 Now to just configure the CISCO AIR-CAP3502I-A-K9 AP that came with the switch. Time to hunt for an IOS that I wont get charged an arm and a leg for.

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Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving
🦃

Gaming in Linux

Let's face it, if you are wanting to play games in a virus free environment or one that is not over bloated with unwanted suffrage or drivers and updates then make the switch to Linux. It can be scary at first, but you can blame Windows for that. They ran hate ads and smear campaigns in the 90's to bolster their own platform.

if you really do want to play games in Linux, then you are going to need to learn some Linux.

Of course there is always the alternative....LinSpire. Linspire comes preconfigured and it is not as complicated as some would like you to believe. Linux really is the way to game and Linspire has a library of games and software in its store setup and ready to go. Some of the games might even become your next favorite game to play or stream.

You can even get Counterstrike and many other games that are on steam downloaded into your offline store.

PeachOSI has a store as well. In fact almost all Linux distros have a software store where you can download productivity software and games. That was first made popular by Lindows, which was then sued by Microsoft and changed its name to LinSpire  🎮

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Yabuse and its oh so fun controller problem, d pad fix and trigger fix

So we are back at it again today and this time I am going to touch on the question of the week. The one question that seems to be popping up on my videos which has garnered about 3k views. This aforementioned video is all about installing the Yabuse Sega Saturn emulator and running it on cheap hardware.

With this happening more often than not, be it contact through Facebook, Instagram twitter or you tube(which all forms of contact are OK, got a question...just hit me up). Everyone seems to be having controller issues. What did Yabuse do to the emulator to make it stop recognizing the X-inputs?

One of the quick fixes that I have found recently is to shut down the emulator and move the yabuse.ini file to a folder where you know it will be secure and make sure there were no copies left behind. No as long as that directory no longer carries a yabuse.ini you can now start the emulator program once again.

This method, more often than not, fixes the d-pad or the triggers not working on the xbox controllers as well as USB style PS2 controllers. I have yet to have the issue with a XBOX one controller but I am sure that something will pop up.

One other thing that can be done before you go about moving the files around is un check everything in the controller sections area including the x-input check mark box. (sorry for the bad image)

This and the file move should fix any issues that you have with your controller, besides downloading new drivers. If you need support or are having an issue you can leave a comment below or send a message or a tweet!

@primeguey on all platforms.
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Good Luck! 

Are you safe from YouTube?

Are you safe from YouTube and being deleted for not making money?

I know I am safe from them both as I am monetized and I have set my channel to "Not kid Friendly" after all the US Government can not say that Linux videos are interesting for children. Now my gaming videos might become targeted, but then again they were not really marked for children, just in case I flew off the handle.  lol


YouTube clarifies the misunderstanding on the monetization issue on their Twitter Account.

I am quoting exactly what Team YouTube stated:

" To clarify, the commercially viable section is not about terminating an account because it is not making money or not being in the YouTube Partner Program. It is about discontinuing certain features or parts of the service because they are outdated or have low usage. This does not impact creators or viewers in new ways."

Rewording of the Terms of Agreement


This actually does make me feel better about the situation. After all I am in both programs Monetized and YPP, I just have to make sure my video game videos fall into line with the regulations of the United States Government.

I missed yesterdays blog because I got high....off of Linux

I missed yesterdays blog because I was trying to reformat and rescue an sd card from the depths of SD hell. So I am making an early morning entry and a afternoon entry for today.


It was a 16gb Kingston card and it had NOOBS installed on it for the raspberry pi small board computer. What corrupted the card is that I was writing to the card by saving data when I had a power outage at the house. That in turn junked the card. i am now using some Linux programs to try and save the card so it can be used again.


The programs that I am using in Linux are:

• Ddrescue Data Recovery Tool
• SafeCopy
• TestDisk
• Redo Backup and Recovery
• SystemRescue CD
• Avira Rescue System
• Knoppix.
• Trinity Rescue Kit
• GParted Live - Didnt work
• Foremost
• Scalpel
• grep
• Ultimate Boot CD

Since GParted did not work I am not having too much hope for this sd card. I know it seems quite a bit for just an sd card but I want to restore its functionality and I do not care about recovering its data at all.

I am really hoping that I can get this card recovered since it is so handy to have 2 16gb cards instead of 1. not to mention that I had the card for 2 months and it was killed off. as you can imagine since it was a Kingston 16gb high speed card it was not cheap, as in not $10 or $15.

To further prevent the loss of anymore cards in the future I now use a APC Uninterruptible Power Supply Battery Backup & Surge Protector at 600VA on all my computer equipment, especially now that you can obtain them on Amazon.com for a reasonable price. $60 is not much for a reasonable piece of mind.

I have experience using these units and when the computer shuts down it will still run for about 30 minutes, which is more than enough time to save data and shut down. I also use the provided USB cable so that if I am not home, the computer automatically saves all data to a special folder and then shuts down the computer when the UPS detects it is running on battery power.

Now it is back to the lab again so I can try and rescue that card. I might have to call it a lost cause after the weekend. I will update the website when I try again.

Linux USB to serial DB9(RS232) Cisco IOS configuration appliance.

You would think it would be easy to install a USB to DB9 serial converter on a raspberry pi and you would be forgiven for being wrong. There are so many hoops to jump through  to get it to work and then all the instructions out on the Internet  only setup for headless mode. I want to set up a RPi to be my main Cisco Configuration Appliance. What my plan is , installing a RPi 3 or 0 into a small box, such as the one that comes in the 7 inch display case. I can then use a fold out Bluetooth keyboard to type into the terminal and or Putty.

I think this would come in very handy when studying for my Cisco Certifications because I can experiment on defunct switches that are not really dependable anymore but all the command codes work. When I say dependable, I mean that a company would no longer use them, but home use would be no issue since Quality of service is not really required.

I still have yet to get the interface working. I was able to get it to register with the correct command line and what not , which I will be posting soon since no one has it posted correctly.

I might have even found some drivers that work correctly since they were made by the company that manufactured the device. They have RedHat drivers but I am sure that I can get the source code. Then I can build them for Debian. Shouldn't be too much. :P

Welcome to the world wide web and my journey to the Linux Environment.

www.primeguey.com

Hello and good morning to everyone, as you can tell you can now access my blog just by typing in primeguey.com or www.primeguey.com into any browser, be it Windows IE Edge Chrome Android or Safari. I can now be easily found on all devices on all four corners of the globe.


I know you are asking, Are you sure you want to be found that easily? Oddly enough, I already can be. Now, however it is easier to find and read the blog, not to mention my YouTube videos will be now linked up into the blog. All I have to do is paste the YouTube URL and blammo, the video is in the blog ready for viewing.


One of my first few videos will be of checking out some Linux Distros such as FreeSpire and LinSpire as time and money permits. So to begin with I will go for the jugular of the Linux throat and review and install the ones I know first.

The first Linux platform I had experience with was Fedora Red Hat and that was back in 1998. My son was just born and my daughter was already hitting Terrible two's and we just bought our first house. I had to buy a budget computer from Computer Renaissance, yes that one, and since they installed pirated Windows 98 system I could not reinstall,but they were reported to Microsoft. Apparently so much that the operator...in Redmond Washington...knew who they were, some rinky dink operation from Central IL. That is when you know you made enemies with Big Willy, but I digress.


I attempted the install of Redhat Linux, which cost me $75, which was still pricey in 1998 on a wage of $10 with a wife and two kids. What pissed me off the most that after following the instructions in the manual it installed but did not boot up to the GUI at all. At that time I did not know enough about Linux to know how to boot to the GUI interface, so I was red in the face. After some guru recommended this operating system to me and I had to tinker with it for god knows how long and never made it to the desktop. My then wife was at her nerves ends, and so was I.


Then one day someone loaned me a disc install set that I found kind of odd. It was a white CD jacket like case made from cardboard and it had a green lizard on the front of the cover. Yes, you guessed it. I was given a fresh new set of install discs for opensSUSE. I found this install just as technical as Fedora RH, but it did not bother me as much since I had went through the motions before. This time, this OS asked me if i wanted to boot to a command line interface or a graphical user interface or desktop.


Of course I chose the desktop, that is what I was wanting after all. With a few more commands I was jumping out to the internet(dial up) and grabbing drivers I needed for my graphics card and sound card. The funny thing I remember about this Linux install is that it was on store bought discs, but as of today I have yet to find them anywhere in store. Maybe Wal-Mart carried them at the time. They carry Linux now at my local store. lol


I was satisfied with the install and it wasn't going to play any games, but at least i could do my classes online and check my emails and look for better paying jobs, better than security guard. There were a few, some I even received offers for but I was Y2k scared at the time and Security Officers was a recession proof and Y2K proof job. I could of accepted a job at 65k a year, but that is the past and I was told not to dwell on it.


openSUSE was a nifty operating system and looked nice for its time, but I think it is time I give it another go and check it out. I think I will give RedHat another chance as well when i burn through this distro listing.

The third Linux OS I had experience with was Ubuntu, then Kubuntu, which we used in Linux class. RedHat provided the books but not an OS for free. At least Microsoft doe s that much. :p


Her is a listing of all the Linux distros I have had experience with, in order




1998 RedHat
1998 openSUSE
2004 FreeSpire
2004 LinSpire
2005 Ubuntu
2005 Kubuntu
2006 KNOPPIX
2010 Pinguy
2012 Xubuntu
2014 Rasbian
2015 Linux Mint
2019 Peach OSI



These are the first set that I will run on live installs and the install onto disk and run basic commands and compare.


Have a good day and don't forget, www.primeguey.com or just primeguey.com will bring you back with no hassles.

White Backgorunds on my text : Updated

Update: For some reason the background formatting of the font text itself was colored white, but the remove text formatting worked wonders and it is now fixed. :)

I have no idea what blogspot's issue is today.

Hopefully this midday post will not have the background on the fonts. It is driving me nuts.

Now to check to see if images post normally.


My Bluetooth Star Trek communicator, which can be used as a speakerphone

Linspire 8.5 and Freespire 5.0 have risen from the grave like the walking dead!

I know people are going to say its old news, technically 1.8 years now but hey, I never heard about it and I am in a few Linux Reddit forums. Probably full of English majors that cant get a job anyway. :P

I used to own a copy of Linspire 1.7 and then 2.0 back when it was called Lindows back in 2002, and I even had a subscription to its online store, Which was free subscription, so I could download any program that I needed and it would install magically for me. I liked the OS so much I installed it on my 3 whole computers that I had in my bedroom. On of them I turned into a media center PC and just downloaded movies and anime to it and it had a DVI out that was plugged into a sharp PG-M20X Projector with a Sony surround sound system. Watching Stargate on it was the bomb dizzle yo.

https://www.linspirelinux.com/

With Linspire I used it all through out college and then when I graduated in 2009 in the middle of a recession and got a job at State Farm in Bloomington, it was no more than 1 year before that point that they stopped updating Linspire and in 2010 the website was taken over by a Chinese green tea Company.

Gone was Linspires website
https://www.linspire.com

Instead you can now get linspire from this address.
https://www.linspirelinux.com/

You can also download Freespire from this link, and yes it is free in cost, as the name implies.
https://www.freespirelinux.com/

It is pretty stable but it is not new. It is reborn though and carries on its distro number to 5.0. I had Lindows installed on my AMD Athlon 64x Machine back in the day(2003) before Microsoft sued them to change the name. I did put FreeSpire on many machines and kept Linspire on my main computer all throughout college. I wrote many a term paper on that beautiful Linux machine. It had green and blue matching cold cathode lights installed. :P

I do have to admit that Linspire is a pretty OS and there are people out there that try to say its not an exciting operating system. What do you call exciting? constantly having to type grep commands or apt-get. So lets get real. A OS can not be exciting because it is what it is, an operating system for to focus and do your work, and maybe play. So take your adderall and go back to Mac OSX and keep your 10 year old opinions out of the way of grown ups who can see the values of a good system and enjoy a desktop that looks good.

Linspire comes with a software store and I can not tell if it is installed with Freespire as of yet, but they are good distributions. It is now time to install and dig through these two OS'es and see what the difference between free and With Support truly mean.

It is time to install the FreeSpire once again!

Need to write a blog on minimalist software? We have an app for that!

Midday Update:

Beleive it or not I found a blogger app and a word press app on the google play store. admittedly I was originally going there to cancel my Google Stadia order because they never took the money out for the original order. So while I was there I decide to dig around for blog software and found Blogger right away and the Wordpress fell underneath it. It was so simple I didnt think that t would have it in the store.

Usually that is reserved for more or less , programs that are anything but blog writers or writing programs. I guess I keep forgetting about tablet users like myself that exist out there in the wild.

I know you havin girls problems , I feel bad for ya son. I got 99 problems but a blog aint one.

Like the titular title states, I have many problems but a blog aint one. I only seem to be having a problem finding a program that did stop development back in 2015 when Blogger became a thing. All that leaves is blogger, which has no Linux or Chrome Extension presence and WordPress.

Honestly why cant life be simple. Why cant I find a device 25% the size of a laptop at 10% of the price and be able to post to blogs wiki's and write short stories with. Every one who made an os with one has went bankrupt or is about to go bankrupt because of greed.  

Take Free Writer for instance.  This technology uses a e-ink display and judging by its response time is using a $35 screen and a Raspberry Pi 0 like mother board with lithium battery pack. Then they make the list price for $500?  Yeah greed got the best of them, for every 1% that buys one of those ill gotten units...99% of use just use a RPI 0 with a Bluetooth keyboard and a LCD screen. 

Am I too judgmental?  Yes.  Paying $500 for those machines is a good bargain? No. Maybe $200 but no more than that. I am building one using a RPI but I cant seem to even find an app that will work anymore, even with the email clients. Maybe if I just give in and get WordPress it could be enough.

*sigh*

Focus writer is a focused pain.

I have been trying to setup Focus writer for a week now so it can send updates to my blog instead of me typing out over the web. Instead I have found an odd solution inside LibreOffice which is called LibreWriter which is included in LibreOffice has an interesting feature inside its settings that let you set up an email client program so that you can type out a document and upload it via email to a blogging type program.

Of course I am not addressing the elephant in the room that everyone has already started to write comments about...why not just type out your blog in whatever software you have chosen and then server it from you Raspberry Pi 3?

The answer is simple. I would have to setup a remote connection(VPN) so that I could connect to the RPi server at home(or whatever spare PC is laying around to be injected with Raspbian Linux) so that when I do blog on my Pi or my phone it sends it to the blog folders. Maybe a special folder setup in a Google Drive blog folder or something.

In fact I think I might do that anyway just because of the technical aspect of it. The real trick would be attempting to get the server to connect to the site all the time without a dedicated static IP address. I am not sure if Spectrum offers those in the Madison WI are or not. I will document more on what is going on as things move along. I might even be able to write to my blog from a 4gtablet that I own that has a keyboard case for it. No it is no iPad. It is Android based.

Of course all of these programs are free to download and use. I even once thought about purchasing Wordpress’s Visual Editor. At least I think you have to pay. We shall find out soon enough.

Linux Lazy Mode

Trying to get Manuskript for linux to post to my blogs so I can just hit type and send.  :P

Extreme lazy mode today.

Edit:

I also forgot to mention...that I might host my blogs from my own server that I will build and run.

Maybe I can even send updates out to youtube.  :P