5 Oct 2007

A look back at October 2005

Filed under: Bits and Bytes by Hari
Posted at 12:24:16 IST (last updated: 7 May 2009 @ 21:35:19 IST)
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Continuing with my past highlights series, I present you with what I think are the best articles from October 2005. Please feel free to comment on any article regardless of age if you feel you have something relevant to add to them.

Blog hosting services - When I first began blogging, I always wondered why people chose the "free" blogging services like blogspot over self-hosting. Of course, since I already had a domain name and hosting space for LiteraryForums.org, I didn't feel the need to utilize any of these services. I still feel today that being in complete control of your content is the best option even from a "standing out from the crowd" perspective.

Of fountain pens and handwriting - a post on my thoughts on using pens (a serious one for a change :p). My conclusions? Fountain pens with thicker nibs are best if you want to write neatly without effort. Of course, owning a Sheaffer does help.

LaTeX IDEs for Linux and Windows - Here I highlighted a few IDEs which make composing documents in LaTeX (a typesetting/document formatting system) easy. If you don't know what LaTeX (pronounced "Lay-Tech") is, you probably won't find this of much use!

Free speech versus responsible speech - At that time I considered this one of my best essays. I still think that people over-emphasize the value of Free Speech without understanding that it means nothing unless there is credibility. Without credibility at the source, Free Speech loses all its value, so it's necessary to temper freedom with responsibility.

Don't waste your time countering anti-Linux propaganda - Apart from the regular trolls who derive pleasure out of criticizing Linux all the time without taking facts into account, there will always be people who genuinely believe that Linux is only for hardened geeks. It's more a matter of perception than reality, unfortunately and that is where marketing comes in. Since the time I wrote that article though, Ubuntu has taken the Linux world by storm and proved how effective marketing strategies can help change these ideas.

Hope you enjoy reading these snippets from the past! :)

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8 comment(s)

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  1. From what I've seen of PCLOS, I'd prefer that over Ubuntu. I already have experience with Debian, so you'd think Ubuntu would be more to my liking.

    Comment by RT Cunningham (visitor) on 6 Oct 2007 @ 19:21:28 IST #
  2. Yes, but remember, Debian is the father of all these new distros. What you find in Debian is the system that all these other OSes wrap around in a pretty package.

    There's nothing like the original, in my view, at least.

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on 6 Oct 2007 @ 19:39:39 IST #
  3. Debian stable seems to get long in the tooth pretty quick. The other distros put the newer stuff in faster.

    Debian is also the father of "it just works" but sometimes that's not enough with newer equipment.

    Comment by RT Cunningham (visitor) on 6 Oct 2007 @ 20:13:08 IST #
  4. RT, Debian supports a huge variety of platforms and the project is not just about Linux. It's about the social contract: of providing an operating system built entirely out of free software and providing the maximum benefits of Free Software to the public.

    It's a community effort completely free of corporate influences and in that manner it remains independent of all the other commercial ventures of Linux (Ubuntu included). That's why I love it: it has an independent spirit that's maintained in spite of immense pressures from the corporate world.

    The reason also why distributions take so long to get "stable" is because of the extensive testing that goes in there with so many different version and platforms. The end "stable" releases of Debian are probably faar more stable than a full stable release of most Linux distributions.

    You can read more about the social contract here:
    http://www.debian.org/social_contract

    Hope that helps. Sorry if you are already aware of all this, though.

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on 6 Oct 2007 @ 20:22:23 IST #
  5. Yep, already aware. Are you sure you don't work for those guys? :p

    Comment by RT Cunningham (visitor) on 6 Oct 2007 @ 23:00:25 IST #
  6. I just happen to be an ardent devotee, RT :D

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on 7 Oct 2007 @ 11:30:55 IST #
  7. I have to lean towards The daddy, Debian, as its gotten me through on my ATI card. I also am a PCLinuxOS fan, but I trust that I can go away from the "center" a bit, as its got a more well-documented system. I'd like the convenience of Ubuntu, but the X server is too new and it doesn't support any older cards (as in more than 6 months old).

    Comment by MrCorey (visitor) on 10 Oct 2007 @ 07:59:02 IST #
  8. MrCorey, yes. Sometimes, being on the cutting edge can make you bleed. Debian offers a nice compromise between a fairly updated system the latest unstable software which might be buggy to say the least.

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on 10 Oct 2007 @ 11:06:44 IST #

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