Interviews: Ask 'Ubuntu Unleashed' Author Matthew Helmke 59
Matthew Helmke (personal blog) is the author of the newly published 11th edition of Ubuntu Unleashed (published by Pearson); this updated edition of the book will cover the OS through Ubuntu's 15.10 and (forthcoming) 16.04 releases. Helmke is also a former Ubuntu Forum administrator, a musician, an entrepreneur, and a long-time Slashdot reader who now leads a "nice quiet life in Iowa." Ask Matthew about what it's like to be a Linux book author and community leader, and his thoughts on Canonical, the goods and bads of modern Linux distributions, and the future of Ubuntu -- especially relevant with the upcoming release of the first Ubuntu-based tablet. (Remember, Matthew isn't responsible for gripes you may have with either Ubuntu or Canonical, but he might have some good solutions to particular problems.) Ask as many questions as you'd like; we just ask that you keep them on-topic, and please stick to one question per post.
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frosty (Score:3)
The Unleashed books are still going?
Correction: Books are still going?
Re:frosty (Score:5, Funny)
The Unleashed books are still going?
Correction: Books are still going?
When the Apocalypse comes and you're frantically looking for something to charge your Kindle so you can read your digital copy of "Surviving the Apocalypse" I'll be sitting by the campfire, thumbing through my hard copy - which can *also* be used to start the campfire.
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Yes, because reading about Ubuntu is exactly kind of information one would need to survive when the apocalypse comes.
My comment was (obviously) in response to the general "Books are still going?" comment, not the Ubuntu book specifically.
Slashdot != Iowa? (Score:2)
>> long-time Slashdot reader who now leads a "nice quiet life in Iowa."
Are you saying that if you live in the American midwest, you have to give up reading SlashDot?
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Where everybody surfs corn. ;-)
Future of Linux on the Desktop (Score:1)
I'm curious as to your thoughts on the future of Linux on the desktop. With SecureBoot and UEFI, the formerly simple process of trying out distros like Ubuntu has become something of a PITA. Do you think we have a future for Linux on the desktop, or are PC's going the way of locked-down bootloaders like many cell phones?
I'm not upgrading Windows beyond 7 (Score:1)
Since I'm not upgrading Windows beyond 7, due exclusively to Microsoft's new explicit policy of tracking every little thing I do on my computer, what distribution would you recommend? I am a long-time Linux user and enthusiast admin, but the problems I have encountered using Ubuntu Desktop have been simply silly, including my AMD Radeon HD 4XXX card completely losing driver support (believe me when I say the card is completely unsupported by all projects), a Linksys Wi-Fi card completely losing driver suppo
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I don't have that problem with Windows 8.
It makes it impossible to do anything.
segmentation (Score:5, Interesting)
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So you want them to change the GUI for the sake of not letting it stagnate? Reminds me of the old quote: "They call it UX now. It used to be called UI, but after a while everyone knew what that word was and how to use it."
I, for one, would be pretty damned happy if my skills in any given desktop weren't obsolete after 3-5 years. Keeping it the same, now that would be innovation.
Amen to that: Car Analogy Alert (Score:3)
Why do OS designers (or, more accurately, the suits who manage them) feel moved to swap around the main controls for known tasks with each new release? It is so silly to have such a steep learning curve for new versions. Windows 8 was too stupidly different (not hard, but different) from its predecessors. And it was obvious to anyone with the common sense that God gave a parakeet that people would hate doing familiar tasks in novel ways. People want to do stuff they are used to doing, Don't they? But boy
Re: Is there a way to get systemd to not throw awa (Score:1)
I haven't used stderr in over a decade. systemd is correct in getting rid of it.
Pipe output when running a Systemd service? (Score:1)
How to Pipe Output to a File When Running as a Systemd Service? [stackoverflow.com]
What support channels are recommended for noobs? (Score:4, Interesting)
I have been using Linux since the good old days of the late 90's. I was using Debian until Ubuntu came around in 2004 and switched. Ubuntu was amazing in terms of how it made Linux more usable. However, as time went along Ubuntu was no longer so cutting edge and no longer resonated with me, so I have switched back to Debian. Anyway, all this time as a Linux user it's been a rough ride, every laptop I have purchased (I haven't had a desktop for 15 years) has had issues with Linux. Most common issues for me are that wi-fi drivers don't work and graphics card drivers are unstable. I choose Laptops that are going to give me the least problems by researching them thoroughly beforehand. The most recent laptop (HP ProBook) came with the option of having SUSE Linux installed by default, I thought this would be perfect, but the wi-fi did not work unless you had the correct version of SUSE installed. I am experienced at debugging and resolving issues, a new user would require a lot of patience, technical no-how just to get Linux functioning before they can use their PC. Although you can use Linux without the console, it is difficult to never have to go to the console. The console requires a paradigm shift for many users. In a nutshell the first hurdle for Linux is a massive jump, and only few are brave/curious enough to take it.
So my question is: What support channels would you recommend for new Linux users?
Are there solutions out there that simplify Linux? (Score:2)
I reply to my own post to ask another question, because the context is relevant.
Are there any solutions / techniques out there that simplify driver installation and configuration in Linux / Ubuntu? I am ask just in-case I am missing it.
Yes sir. We have the no-how on the project. (Score:2)
Somehow I like 'no-how' better than 'know-how'.
"Son, Do you have the know-how for this? "
"Yes! No-how, no-way, Sir."
Why Ubuntu (Score:4, Interesting)
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MINT? You tell me what you use but offer absolutely no information to support it. Might as well be saying " My God is better that your God ". So I give very little value to your input. I've actually seen Mint and used the Live DVDs. As a Live DVD I like it better than Knoppix, which I have used for many years (without really gaining the knowledge of Linux that I would like). But as far as I know Mint is based on Debian and I see no reason to to install Mint over Debian. Maybe you need an install dumbed do
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I looked at debian and it looks tedious to install and i decided i could if i devoted time and energy to the project i could probably install it but would rather just install ubuntu and get on with it.
Mint is ok and i used it until I got fed up with the lack of support; it's easier to get help when you have ubuntu; also, when you install ubuntu you don't immediately get errors due to poorly configured software before you've even finished logging it. Unity may be shit but at the end of the day I'm not going
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When you say "I can't claim to be knowledgeable or even comfortable with Linux" I agree with the ac, Mint is a good choice. I claim to be reasonably knowledgeable about and comfortable with Linux, but I don't have time to want to mess with every little thing. Mint gives me a reasonable desktop quickly, with good hardware support, so that I can spend time doing the things I actually use a computer for rather than troubleshooting drivers and suchlike.
For servers I use CentOS, for desktops I use Mint. But if y
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Not too long ago, I went on a distro hunt. I've used Linux, off and on, for years - except I never really used it. Oh, it was installed and even kept updated but I'd just boot to Windows. I also come from a Unix background. However, my brain was getting mushy and I wanted to ensure that I was still learning new things. I opted to facilitate this by simply getting rid of Windows and using only Linux. So, I did my distro hunt...
I can not tell you what will be best for you. However, I've actually tried almost
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As a second question, I've been tasked with writing a book about business management. I've actually been taking this project a little more serious than I'd expected. Yet, it comes down to actually doing the work, examining the structure, working on the layout, figuring out the goals, and deciding on things like verbiage - I end up getting stuck and just meandering off to do something else.
What motivates you to write? That's pretty much it. In my case, the result will be "open source" and free (as in beer) s
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Go for Debian. The only downside from ubuntu is the lack of PPA which some pre built binaries offer so conveniently only for Ubuntu. Obviously you are prepared to read debian wiki, come to IRC ( OFTC ) and ask questions if you face real trouble some issues. The dpkg bot in #debian channel will give most of the basic answers. Some silly stuff which debian would create problems are drivers like broadcom,nvidia and ATI. Following the debian wiki should fix all your issues. Its only a bit hard to start with whe
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Cool (Score:1)
Good read
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This is not quite what you asked for but I had stumbled across it, emailed it, and was able to pull it out of my archives.
http://eaglemode.sourceforge.n... [sourceforge.net]
Give the video a peak - it's an interesting method to navigate your computer. I've never tried it and I'm not actually sure what I was doing when I bumped into it back in September but there it is.
Do you think Canonical will get huge? (Score:2)