Kasım 6, 2009 11:00 PM (Uncategorized)
Tags: archlinux, kms, linux, nouveau, nvidia
The latest nVidia driver update (IIRC 190.42) came with a plethora of problems (at least for me). I have an nVidia GeForce 9200M GS graphics card and we were getting along quite well until the aformentioned update. X started crashing every minute. This led me to try something new: Nouveau.
The nouveau project aims to build high-quality, open source drivers for nVidia cards.
Since I always root for replacing proprietary stuff with their F/LOSS alternatives, this was the perfect chance for me. ArchWiki describes how to install and set the driver to load with kernel (i.e. KMS).
There were a couple of features I was looking for and here’s how everything turned out:
- First I started with the video playback. Under SMPlayer’s preferences I found a new output driver: xv (0 – Nouveau GeForce 8/9 Textured Video). This is what worked for me. Now that I had image, let’s get a little rough: I opened Sita Sings the Blues, and mind you this video has 1920×1080 pixels (1080p for short). VLC did a great job playing the file (SMPlayer couldn’t play this one with nVidia drivers, either). So, check!
- The chronological first step is KMS, of course. KMS stands for kernel modesetting:
Currently, most graphics modes are initialized during the X server startup. Kernel Modesetting (referred to as KMS hereafter) moves this process from the X server’s DDX drivers to the kernel.
This means a seamless transition between console and X server, and also a seamless transition between virtual terminals. The Fedora page also indicates that KMS means graphical error messages and a prettier graphical boot but those don’t interest me. I set up KMS following the wiki and with a reboot I had a pretty console and seamless transitions. So, check!
- Another important thing for me is XMoto. I love it, I play it all the time. Lucky for me the game is based on SDL and it doesn’t need 3D graphics. The game mostly works well, but for a couple of levels the graphics slow down. This is not a very big issue since there is the “Ugly Mode” for those occasions
So, check!
- Every now and then I do presentations so external devices must work. Since I don’t own a projector, I tried it with my old 15″ monitor. As soon as I plugged in the device I could see it on display settings under KDE’s System Settings. I configured the resolution, the color depth and I was good to go. So, check!
- The last thing was, and this was a bonus for me, power consumption. I haven’t timed the drivers yet but there’s something that can give you a clue. With nVidia drivers, my battery never reaches %100, it’s charged to %97-98 and stays there. With Nouveau drivers the battery can be fully charged and stays that way. So, bonus check!
All in all, it’s been a great experience so far. Since I don’t use any composite managers (like Compiz or KWin), I don’t need the card’s 3D capabilities. And as far as the 2D performance goes, it’s working perfectly. Great job Nouveau developers and keep it coming!
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Kasım 2, 2009 7:16 PM (Uncategorized)
Tags: gnome, kde, linux
This is not a sequel to “Why I switched back from Ubuntu to Fedora“. However they’re connected in a way. By the way, I installed Arch Linux on my machine one week after that post. But first thing’s first, why did I switch to KDE?
The first and most important reason that led me to KDE was that it’s caught up with version 3.5 now, feature-wise. I loved the responsiveness of KDE 3.5 but compared to Gnome, it looked horrible. This was the only reason I didn’t use KDE 3.5 that much. Now that it looks and works amazing (even with the compositing turned off), I’ve started using it full-time.
Second, most Qt applications work and look better that their GTK alternatives. Let me give a couple of examples: Amarok vs. Rhythmbox, SMPlayer vs. GMPlayer(?), Skanlite vs. XSane, Okular vs. Evince, Blogilo (formerly Bilbo) vs. Drivel, Qwit vs. Gwibber, K3b vs. Gnomebaker, and the list goes on.
Finally, and it’s not that important since it’s still in the planning/gossip state, there’s serious effort going in the Mono/C# way. I have expressed how I felt about Mono in my aformentioned post, I don’t want to go into the details again. I will not use Gnome again until I see developers saying something like “We will not make Gnome 3.x -or 2.x for that matter- Mono dependent” and I will advise anyone I know using Linux to switch to KDE, Enlightenment or even *box’es.
This post was written under KDE, with Blogilo, listening to Abdou Day on Amarok
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Ekim 30, 2009 1:26 PM (Uncategorized)
26 yaşındayım ve çok kısa bir zaman öncesine kadar çarpık düzenin bana empoze ettiği fikirleri kendi fikirlerimmiş gibi, uğruna benliğimi verebilecek derecede savunuyordum.
Ben bu yaşıma kadar mutlu çoğunluktan başka hiçkimseyle tanışmamıştım, tanıştıysam bile -bu kişilerin şimdiye kadar gördükleri yıldırıcı baskılar nedeniyle- bana hiçbir şekilde hissettirmemişlerdi. Ve ben 26 yaşımda bu ülkede “benim devletim” dediğim kurumun benim komşuma, kardeşime yıllarca neler yaptığını yeni öğreniyorum.
O kadar utanıyorum ki, şu anda bu satırları yazabilme cesaretini bulabilmem bile epey zamanımı aldı. Ben şimdiye kadar, ne kadar benden olmayan varsa hepsinin hareketlerinin arka planında bölücülük olduğunu savundum. Fakat tanıdığım insanların anlattıkları, yasaklı kitaplardan okuduklarım ve son dönemin verdiği az biraz cesaretle yazabilen birkaç yazar sayesinde ne kadar insanlık dışı bir iş yaptığımı anladım.
Şimdi ise -özellikle Kürt ve Ermeni vatandaşlarımız başta olmak üzere- bu ülkede yaşamış ve yaşayan bütün ezilmiş insanlardan özür diliyorum.
Affedilmek için özür dilemiyorum. Ben sizin yerinizde olsam affedebilir miydim bilemiyorum çünkü. Vatandaşı olduğum devlet beni onyıllarca ezse, bana işkence etse, beni öldürse, dağlara sürse, yerimden yurdumdan etse, en akla gelmez fizikî aşağılamalara maruz bıraksa ve bunların hiçbiri yetmiyormuş gibi bir de beni terörist ilân etse, ben sizin kadar akl-ı selim sahibi olabilir miydim bilemiyorum çünkü. Bana “sen sen değilsin, bizim kalın kırmızı çizgilerle çizdiğimiz kalıbın içerisinde olmak zorundasın ya da öleceksin ya da daha beter olacaksın” denseydi sizin kadar ferasetli davranabilir miydim bilemiyorum çünkü. O yüzden affedilmeyi beklemek haddim değil.
Bundan sonra artık birisi bir şey dediğinde bunu “Türk gözlüğüyle” değil, “insaniyet gözlüğüyle” inceleyeceğim. Öğrendiklerimi anlayabilecek herkese anlatacağım. Belki daha fazla insanın kendi halkına eziyet etmemesine bir miskal faydam olabilir.
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Ekim 25, 2009 10:24 AM (Uncategorized)
Tags: archlinux, flash, gnash, linux
Gnash is a F/LOSS replacement for Adobe’s infamous Flash plugin. I’ve been following the development of Gnash for some time now and I must say, with every new release it’s becoming more and more a good alternative for Flash.
The new version (0.8.6) hit the Arch Linux repos today and I was eager to try it out. First I removed the Flash plugin and then installed Gnash:
pacman -R flashplugin
pacman -S gnash-gtk
Since Gnash supports most of the stuff other than videos very well, the next step for me was to test a couple of video sharing sites. Youtube works well and so does Google Videos, Blip.tv and Mojoflix. However Vimeo doesn’t work, since I use it a lot that’s a bummer for me (and if I’m not mistaken, it used to work but I think the Vimeo guys changed something with the player). Grooveshark doesn’t work, either. There are a lot of websites out there using Flash but the ones I use are limited with these, so I’ll leave the rest to other users.
All in all, Gnash is certainly getting better with every release and I think, in a very near future, people will start seriously using it. Me? I have already ditched the Flash plugin. Sure I won’t be able to view a couple of videos on BlenderNation but I will be using Free Software.
Great job Gnash developers and I surely appreciate the hard work you’ve been putting on.
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Ekim 16, 2009 11:27 PM (Uncategorized)
Tags: archlinux, canon, linux, mp190
I recently bought a Canon PIXMA MP190 and it’s working without a glitch.
Prior to buying I did a little research, of course. On Open Printing Database, there was just one comment and it suggested that the printer is working perfectly. Because the printer was like $50, I thought “What the hey, it’s worth a shot”. I followed the wiki and got the printer working in 5 minutes with these steps:
- Installed the driver (cups-canon-3.00 from the AUR)
- Added the module (modprobe usblp) and the daemon (/etc/rc.d/cups start) to the rc.conf
After these 3 quick steps, I was printing (from e.g. OpenOffice.org), scanning (through XSane) and photo-copying. All in all, I’m very happy with the printer. It’s easy to install and use. I can recommend MP190 to anyone looking for a cheap and all-in-one printer.
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Eylül 19, 2009 6:36 AM (Uncategorized)
Tags: free software, linux, software freedom day
Today (September 19th) is Software Freedom Day. It’s always good to have an excuse to increase the awareness of Free Software.
Today what all of us free software users should do is to tell just one computer user about free sotware. Tell them about community, tell them about sharing, tell them about collaboration. For free software isn’t just about free of charge computer software, today should not be just about that, either. Tell them about why you are using free software instead of proprietary ones, show them that they have a choice.
When they learn what free software is, show them a couple of alternatives: GNU/Linux, BSD, Firefox, OpenOffice.org, GIMP, Blender, Inkscape, Ardour, Audacity, Hydrogen, Rosegarden, Avidemux… and many more.
Happy Software Freedom Day!
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Eylül 11, 2009 2:06 AM (Uncategorized)
Tags: blender, floss, free software, gaming, open source
Freezing Moon is a foundation aiming at development of free and open source games. As can be seen on their gallery, they’re using Blender for most things, and that what cought my attention.
They are working on two games right now: one of them is a fantasy MMO RPG/RTS based on Norse Mytholgy called Ancient Beast and the other one is a FPS with post apocalyptic sci-fi theme called Dark Shift. Looking at the concept arts and the 3d models so far I must say I’m impressed.
Always nice to have new FLOSS game projects and I think they deserve the support.
Good luck mates!
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Eylül 6, 2009 10:40 PM (Blogroll)
Tags: books, calibre, free software, gutenberg, public domain
I love reading. I love reading books, magazines, blog posts, forum entries, and anything that can be read. But for me there’s a shortcoming to this: I don’t have enough money to buy hundreds of books since I’m just a student. So I have found an amazing solution: Project Gutenberg and only the greatest e-book software, that is Calibre.
Project Gutenberg is the first and largest single collection of free electronic books, or eBooks.
When I say “free”, I mostly mean the books that have become a part of public domain through time. The wonderful thing about this is the best books written to date mostly belong to the public domain. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Immanuel Kant, Leo Tolstoy, Maksim Gorky, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, and many more great writers are just a click away from you now. My personal favorite lately is Sir Conan Doyle and the infamous Sherlock Holmes series. You can download over 50 books of him.
calibre is a one stop solution to all your e-book needs. It is free, open source and cross-platform in design and works well on Linux, OS X and Windows. calibre is meant to be a complete e-library solution and thus includes library management, format conversion, news feeds to ebook conversion, as well as e-book reader sync features and an integrated e-book viewer.
Calibre has a very nice interface, the viewer is simply amazing and you can convert your pdf files to -for example- .epub format and read your e-books with ease. Calibre remembers where you left and auto-scrolls to that page on the next run.
All in all I’m having great time with these and I’m sure a lot of people out there would be happy to know about this. Thanks to all people who puts even the slightest effort in keeping amazing works, such as these, going.
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Haziran 22, 2009 1:55 PM (fedora, linux, ubuntu)
I’m a simple man (just like in the Lynyrd Skynyrd song). The reason I switched from Windows to Linux was a very simple one too: freedom. I had almost $30,000 worth of pirated software on my Windows machine (that’s the Windows way to use a computer, you see) and one day I thought to myself “There are people working hard to develop these software and whether I like it or not they are charging for it. If you don’t like that then don’t use them”. That’s how I swept my harddrive clean and went completely free software; cold turkey.
I used Ubuntu exclusively for about 3 years, before that I tried out Fedora, Mandriva, OpenSuSE and a couple of others. I liked Ubuntu and made a lot of people switched to it, too. But here I am, an Ubuntu enthusiast, using Fedora 11 now. And the reason is again simple: freedom.
There’s a lot of hype/war on the “Mono issue” lately but I don’t want to get into all that. My opinion is, yet again, simple: nothing related to Microsoft, please. Microsoft proved themselves to be evil every step of the way. They don’t like free software, they don’t like people using free software, they don’t like companies that bundle their hardware with free software. All of these can be fine until they start bribing judges, pressuring governments (governments for crying out loud!), blackmailing OEM’s, using their licenses against every single computer user they can. We have seen a couple of their trojan horses of licenses (just a quick look at http://www.groklaw.net/ would suffice) which means we cannot and more importantly should not trust anything coming from Microsoft.
Back to the original subject, if Ubuntu would only be providing softwares developed with Mono then I would be fine with that. But almost whenever there’s a thread about Mono on Ubuntuforums or an idea on Brainstorm and it’s going in a negative way, either the thread gets locked or deleted. Why is Ubuntu defending Mono? Shouldn’t Mono developers be the ones that should defend Mono? If they’re saying that “It’s totally up to the developers whether we will go with or without Mono” then fine, I would know that Ubuntu is no more a community driven distribution and I made the right call switching back to Fedora.
From now on I’m not using Ubuntu nor will I offer other people to use it. Fedora is even considering removing Mono let alone bundling the distro with Mono applications. Ubuntu is not the only newb-friendly distro out there. That’s the great thing about freedom, you see: I am free to choose.
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Mart 7, 2009 1:05 PM (linux)
Bu soruyu cevaplayabilmek için önce özgürlüğü tanımlamamız gerekiyor. Özgürlüğün iki ayağı var: ilki bağlı veya bağımlı olmama, diğeri de engellenme ve zorlanma altında kalmama. Bu iki şartı hayatınızın her alanında aramanız ve şartların sağlanmadığı yerlerde kendinizi sorgulamanız doğru olandır. Burada konumuz teknoloji ve özelde bilgisayar olduğu için ben durumu bu açıdan değerlendireceğim.
Linux kullananlara nedenini sorarsanız eminim yarısından fazlası “Özgür olduğu için” cevabını verecektir. Bu his bir insanın sahip olabileceği en doğal ve temiz hislerden biridir: özgür olmak. Öncelikle bağlı ya da bağımlı değilsinizdir. Herhangi bir yazılımın bir çok özgür alternatifini bulabileceğiniz gibi istediğiniz herhangi birini isteğiniz doğrultusunda rahatlıkla değiştirebilirsiniz, buna işletim sisteminin kendisi de dahildir. Bu ilaveten engelleme ve zorlama yoktur, olamaz. Engellendiğinizi ya da zorlandığınızı hissettiğiniz herhangi bir anda bunu yapmayacağını vaat eden yüzlerce başka alternatif size sadece bir tık uzaklıktadır.
Buraya kadar bahsettiğim zorlamalar, engellemeler, bağımlılıklar biraz basit gelebilir, öyle olabilir de. Aslına bakarsanız şu anda zorlamalar sadece bilgisayar kullananlara yapılmıyor, yani beni en çok endişelendiren -üzülerek söylüyorum ama- bu değil. Özgür olmayan ve olmak istemeyen bilgisayar şirketleri artık kullanıcıları bıraktılar ve hükümetlere, mahkemelere, şirketlere ve aklınıza ne kadar temel kuruluş geliyorsa onlara yapmaya başladılar bu zorbalıklarını. Ali Cengiz oyunlarıyla yasalar değiştirten, bakanlara, bakanlıklara boyun eğdirten firmalar sizleri korkutmuyor mu? İstedikleri kadar para kazansınlar, bunda gözüm yok, sadece insan gibi yaşamaya çalıştığımız şu dünyanın zar zor kurulmuş düzenini bozmasınlar.
4 aydır SUDO Dergisi‘nde özgür yazılımları tanıtıyorum ve tanıtmaya devam edeceğim.
Sayı 2: Linux ve Müzik
Sayı 3: Linux ve Grafik
Sayı 4: Linux ve Video
Sayı 5: Linux ve Oyun (bir sorun çıkmazsa haftaya okuyabileceksiniz bu yazıyı)
Bunun yapmamın tek sebebi insanları biraz olsun doğasında var olan özgürlük kavramına yaklaştırabilmek. Bir kişiye sadece bir yazılımı bile özgür alternatifiyle değiştirtebildiysem bu benim için yeterlidir. Bana göre hepimizin de bunun için uğraşması gerekiyor. Bu şekilde hem kullandığımız yazılımların kalitesi artacaktır hem de dünyamızın çok bir büyük bir parçası olan ve bunu gelişerek devam ettirecek olan bilgisayarları olması gerektiği gibi kullanabileceğiz.
İnsanlara tek bir soru sorun: “Özgür müsünüz?”.
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