Monthly Archives: August 2012

Windows 8 Backlash Leads To Linux Dominance

I don’t see the backlash. Windows 8 might not be as welcome in the enterprise as in the desktop users but that doesn’t mean there’s a backlash. Enterprise users are happy with Windows 7. They will stay with W7. If my employer is unhappy with Windows 8 it doesn’t mean they’re moving to Linux.

I have been using Linux since 2005. I’ve not use Windows since I installed Linux in all my machines. I’m happy. With or without the Windows backlash, I will continue using my Linux Operating System. I think I’m pretty much in the majority as far as Linux users go. Poll?

Linux is getting to be a mainstream OS. It used to be hard to find hardware you can use with it. Not anymore. I was surprised that a co-worker was complaining about a printer/scanner failing to work with Windows. That same printer/scanner is detected by my operating system by default!

If you want my definition of Linux Dominance, it is this: Give me an old laptop with Windows in it and I will install Fedora with Gnome in it for less than 15 minutes. Give the same laptop to my 14 year old sister and she doesn’t complain. Nor does she know what a Fedora or a Gnome is.

New Species Of Owls Discovered

Two new species of owls were discovered by Ornithologists and individuals from BirdLife International, the Oriental Bird Club, Philippines Biodiversity Conservation Foundation Inc. and Birdtour Asia as well as MSU Assistant Professor of Zoology Pam Rasmussen. It took years to confirm the discovery because they were thought to belong to a subspecie of owls. What led to their promotion to separate category?

Owls don’t learn to sing apparently, it’s genetically programmed to their DNA and it their songs are totally different, it’s a strong indication that they belong to a different grouping.

Top: Cebu Hawk-owl
Bottom: Camiguin Hawk-owl

When the Great Monsoon Landed

The past week tested some people’s patience and resilience. The amount of moisture brought by the monsoon rain within a three day period was twice the monthly average. As expected rivers swelled and overflowed. Low lying areas got enundated which forced residents to evacuate to higher, safer grounds.

General Luna Street(national highway), Maly, San Mateo, Rizal, Philippines

Most monsoon seasons the rain fall on the sea, sparing towns and cities the destructive flooding. But not this time.

Man Dreams Of Mars

I am waiting for this all week. NASA’s Curiosity, the Mars rover that launched 8 months ago is finally down on the surface of Mars.

The first images sent home were these. The shadow of the rover and the horizon of Mars. The next image is the tire of the rover touching the soil of Mars.

We’re back on Mars.

Automount Failure of User Created Partitions In ArchLinux

Lesson: Don’t forget what you know when using automation.

During installation Archlinux helps you in partitioning your drive. It helps you in creating the structure of your filesystem. I like to have a separate home partition, a separate partition for media types (music, movies), and so forth.

I’ve been having this boot fail message about not finding the mount points for my partitions. Naturally, I have checked my /etc/fstab.

/etc/fstab.old
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
# <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nodev,nosuid 0 0
LABEL=Movies /home/donato/Videos ext4 defaults 0 1
LABEL=MoviesII /home/donato/Videos/MoviesExt ext4 defaults 0 1
LABEL=Music /home/donato/Music ext4 defaults 0 1
LABEL=arch-home /home ext4 defaults 0 1
LABEL=boot-arch /boot ext2 defaults 0 1
LABEL=root-arch / ext4 defaults 0 1
LABEL=swap none swap defaults 0 0
LABEL=ubuntu-home /mnt ext4 defaults 0 1

If you saw the error in the above example then I tip my hat to you because I didn’t see my mistake until some months of use.

Yes. The home partition should be mounted ahead of the other partitions. That’s why they’re failing to mount at boot. So…

/etc/fstab
#
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
# <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nodev,nosuid 0 0
LABEL=arch-home /home ext4 defaults 0 1
LABEL=Movies /home/donato/Videos ext4 defaults 0 1
LABEL=MoviesII /home/donato/Videos/MoviesExt ext4 defaults 0 1
LABEL=Music /home/donato/Music ext4 defaults 0 1
LABEL=boot-arch /boot ext2 defaults 0 1
LABEL=root-arch / ext4 defaults 0 1
LABEL=swap none swap defaults 0 0
LABEL=ubuntu-home /mnt ext4 defaults 0 1

No more mounting filesystem failures at boot.