Featured Comments: Week of 2011 June 5

There were a few posts that got a handful of comments, so I'll try to repost a few from each.

Review: Kororaa 14 "Nemo"

Reader jai ho said, "The developer could have used a kororaa logo (if any) in the gnome edition...using elementary logo removed this distro's individuality.. also you have forgot to give the link to kororaa website.. i do not know why you are reluctant to give a link to the websites.. its disgusting.."

Tech Support via CLI

Commenter T_Beermonster said, "And of course lets not forget that it's fairly trivial to set up ssh and screen. That way not only could you administer the system remotely but you can both attach to a shared screen session and he can learn from what you are doing. Much easier to do with cli apps than via x-forwarding", later adding in response to my response to that original comment, "It's often system administration even if you don't think of it as such. Getting a wireless card to work - sysadmin. Upgrading packages - sysadmin. etc. etc. ad nauseam. You aren't limited to sysadmin though - there is something slightly awesome about being able to set get-iplayer to download a TV programme at a relatives house. Or anything else you prefer to do."
Reader scan suggested, "You may want to give Teamviewer a try, it is free to use for non-commercial. It is super simple to use for both sides http://www.teamviewer.com/en/download/index.aspx?os=linux"
Commenter Linuxrich had this to say: "The command line is an awesome tool. As you rightly point out it makes a lot of tasks so much easier if you are willing to put aside anti cli prejudices. Not only can you cut and paste commands but it's often easier to describe how to do something on he command line as opposed to trying to explain which button to click..."
Supporting that, an anonymous reader said, "Hah exactly.. Im in IT Support (windows mostly sadly) and if I want to ask a user for the IP address of there machine should I a) try to describe how to click through parts of the GUI that the user has never used probably or b) start --> run -- type cmd --> type ipconfig.. read out IP please. CLI is awesome also for documentation as well.. a GUI tutorial or how-to is a million pages long with screen shots.. CLI is one page"

Review: Pinguy OS 11.04 Mini

Commenter Andy Prough said, "You make some good points about the different software options that come with Pinguy vs. Mint, but as you point out, either distro is easy to configure in terms of adding software. What I would like to see is a reviewer who is willing to take the devs for Pinguy, Mint, and even Ubuntu to task for failing to actually develop tools that would help users configure their distribution. For example, openSUSE has the YaST2 control panel, Mandriva and Mageia are using the Mandrake Control Center, and even Windows has a Control Center, but for all the Ubuntu clones and derivatives, you still don't have access to adequate tools to control the distribution. Instead, if you want to change something, you've got to wade through hundreds of thousands of pieces of very questionable advice from the Ubuntu user forums or other user forums. I would like to see all these "devs" actually "develop" something - namely, an intuitive way to interact with and configure their distros, backed up by rock-solid documentation. Until then, I don't consider any of them anything more than window-dressing on top of Debian."
An anonymous reader had this tip: "I think Ubuntu Control Center is on it's way! Check out OMGUbuntu, they've a full post dedicated to it along with PPA."
Commenter Daeng Bo countered to a previous comment, "Andy, As a user of Red Hat, SUSE, and Mandrake from the beginning of last decade, I'd have to say that Ubuntu, Mint, and Pinguy have the same things that these older distros have, though the tools lie in a menu instead of one giant tool."
Reader Linux said, "As usual, Pinguy Rocks!!"

Thanks to all those who commented on this past week's posts. I don't have anything in particular planned for this coming week, but I'm sure I'll find something to write about. Remember, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing to, commenting on, and sharing these posts!

Tech Support via CLI

Recently, I installed Linux Mint 9 LTS "Isadora" GNOME on the computer of a relative (who shall be known for the rest of this article as $relative). After the installation, we both got busy with things, so I couldn't properly configure stuff to $relative's liking post-installation, so I gave tech support for configuring stuff at home.

The thing is, $relative has never used a CLI before; $relative has previously only used Microsoft Windows and has never touched its command prompt. Although I'm continually becoming more comfortable with the CLI, I still retain a certain fondness, familiarity, and comfort with GUIs, as I was bred on Microsoft Windows as well until I was told about Linux Mint over two years ago. Yet, as I was giving tech support to $relative over an online chat, I felt far more comfortable giving CLI tech support, and I find this sort of ironic, if nothing else.

Why? Both I and $relative, as I said earlier, are far more comfortable with GUIs. Yet if I wanted to give tech support for GUIs, I'd need to know stuff like exactly what applications to use, exactly what the menu and button structures are like, and exactly what errors would commonly come up. With a CLI, I'd just ask $relative to copy the commands I type into the chat box verbatim into the terminal, and copy back any errors output. And despite having never used a terminal before, $relative did it all with ease, and it was all working perfectly. And that's what's great about Linux now; it's easy, flexible, and extraordinarily powerful all in one, and users now don't have to deal with that immense power if they really don't want to.

Microsoft's Ball-mer-zheimer's Disease

I just combined "Ballzheimer's" Disease (The Daily Show) with Steve Ballmer to make a crude but semi-accurate description of Microsoft's latest patent move (PJ from Groklaw).
To summarize, Microsoft has basically patented "su"/"sudo" (the superuser (root) command in *nix) through creation of a "su"-GUI. In essence, it has tried to patent "su"/"sudo" itself.
To me, this is one of the more extreme examples of Microsoft's protection of its software through patents, but it certainly is typical of its general behavior.
I think the Free Software Foundation and/or GNU project should sue Microsoft for violating a (presumably) GPL'ed piece of code. Microsoft should be able to use it as long as the resulting software is just as free as the original software. That said, given Microsoft's recent history of GPL violations, I don't expect that to be a deterrent.
It's a sad day for the technology community when "su"/"sudo" (a tool created in the 1970s (!)) becomes patented.