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Netbooks – The Missing Manual

October 3, 2009 by Roy Johnson

small, portable, light, and cheap

I bought my first netbook just after the first Asus EeePCs were launched. At that time they were in short supply. Now the shops are full of them. You’re spoilt for choice. But what’s the difference between a netbook and a notebook (you might ask)? Well, netbooks are smaller, cheaper, and many of them use open source software such as Linux operating systems and the Open Office suite which does away with the need for (expensive) Microsoft programs.

Netbooks The Missing ManualThey are also designed to be low on power consumption, and they don’t come with floppy or CD drives: you use USB ports instead. They have automatic Internet connection, and assume that you’ll be emailing, downloading software, and maybe even storing your work on the Web.

But one thing’s for certain: they won’t come with any user manual. That’s why this best-selling series from O’Reilly exists – to plug the gap left by equipment manufacturers who can’t keep up with support for their own product development.

Because netbooks have been such a huge success, versions using Windows have rapidly appeared, to cater for people who don’t want to tangle with new software. Fortunately, Jude Biersdorf’s book takes both Windows and Linux versions of netbooks into account. She shows you how to choose a netbook that will deliver what you require, then how to set it up using either of the most popular operating systems.

Even experienced computer users may not be comfortable in dealing with all these novelties all at once. She’s quite right – you’ve got to consider any shortcomings against the big advantages these devices offer. The keyboard might be a bit cramped, but the whole thing weighs just three pounds! Mine fits comfortably in my overcoat pocket.

If you’re new to Linux (she uses the popular Ubuntu version) there are full instructions on finding your way around. It’s very simple, because everything is based on big, clickable icons. The fact is that, even though open source software is completely free, it looks very much like Windows and Apple Mac when viewed on screen. All these interfaces are eventually starting to look the same.

She then deals with connecting peripherals. Your netbook won’t even have a mouse – so there are full instructions, and tips for downloading the latest drivers and software.

That’s where netbooks are really good : they update themselves all the time, and two clicks takes you to the latest version of whatever you want.

There’s a section on connecting to the Internet. You might not even need this. Mine recognised my home broadband as soon as I switched it on, and it’s never been a problem since.

But just in case you’re a first time user, she shows you how to set up an email account, how to make it secure, and how to navigate the web using a browser – Firefox and Google Chrome are recommended.

When it comes to standard use of computer software, most users will require a word-processor, spreadsheet, PowerPoint-type presentation – and so on – which are collectively called an office suite. She shows you how to deal with the stripped down version of the Microsoft Office Suite – which costs between $100and $150. I don’t know why she bothered, because she then goes on to deal with Open Office and Google Docs – both of which are free. You can even store your information on line with Google, which is a cost-free form of back-up.

[Why are all these services free? Because storage space price is plummeting, and these companies want you as a potential customer on their books.]

If you haven’t already got one, she shows you how to set up an email address and make full use of your browser to download extra tools – with the emphasis very much on free I was glad to note.

She also covers all the instant messaging software options and the social networking services, free phone calls, and picture-sharing. In fact there’s a whole section on how to edit and enhance your pictures – plus the same thing for MP3 and other sound files.

There’s also plenty on security, maintenance, upgrading, troubleshooting, and a really handy selection of online resources. So if your’re planning to buy or use a netbook, or if you want a user-manual to keep handy – this one will do the trick very nicely.

Buy the book at Amazon UK

Buy the book at Amazon US

© Roy Johnson 2009


J.D.Biersdorfer, Netbooks: the missing manual. Sebastopol (CA) O’Reilly, 2009, pp.320, ISBN 0596802234


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Open Sources

June 15, 2009 by Roy Johnson

policy essays by the free software movement pioneers

O’Reilly publications have decided to throw their weight behind the Open Source movement. This timely compilation of essays written by its leaders reveal why it came into being, how it works, why they think it will succeed, and where it is going – particularly in its fight against Microsoft. Open Source is a form of collaborative software development in which programmers give their time and expertise freely.

Open Sources They create programs which are written and de-bugged without any concern for commercial gain. Then they give away the code for anyone to use. As you can guess, this is just about the complete antithesis of Microsoft and its business strategy, which has recently been judged as a near-monopoly unfairly exploiting its power. The competing Open Source-Microsoft philosophies are now locked in a battle for the future.

All this is all quite recent. In April 1998 O’Reilly invited software developers to the first Freeware Summit, where participants agreed to work together to increase acceptance and use of open-source software. Since then, the influence of this movement has grown steadily – especially with the increasing popularity of Linux, a very stable and efficient operating system which threatens the dominance of Windows.

One of the things I liked most about this collection is the variety of approaches the auithors adopt to their proselytizing, plus the fact that new concepts are made accessible to the non-specialist reader. Eric S. Raymond, one of the founding fathers (whose collected essays, The Cathedral and the Bazaar have just appeared) explains the origins of the movement in his ‘Brief History of Hackerdom’.

Richard Stallman writes on the history of free software and its supporters. Robert Young, the CEO of RedHat, explains how they are able to successfully market Linux, the free software [it’s because they offer a good backup service]. Bruce Perens offers a definition of Open Sources – which is more complex than you might think. The collection ends with a transcript of the 1992 Tannenbaum-Torvalds debate in which Linus Torvald defends his new Linux operating system and his concept of free software in the COMP.OS.MINIX newsgroup. It is refreshing to encounter the modesty of this pioneer and be reminded of the limits under which he was working:

‘Linux has very much been a hobby (but a serious one: the best type) for me: I get no money for it, and it’s not even part of my studies in the university. I’ve done it all on my own time, and on my own machine [a 386PC].’

So these are rather like the crusading documents of a new movement. They might sometimes read as rather idealistic, but they also contain hard-headed facts from the worlds of big business, software engineering, and even jurispudence. They see these issuess as a matter of moral, philosophical choice, even though the medium is technological. As Chris DiBona argues in his scene-setting introduction:

Industry has produced some marvellous innovations: Ethernet, the mouse, and the Graohical User Interface (GUI) all came out of Xerox PARC. But there is an ominous side to the computer industry as well. No one outside of Redmond [Microsoft headquarters] really thinks that it is a good idea for Microsoft to dictate, to the extent that they do, what a computer desktop should look like or have on it.

© Roy Johnson 2005

Open Sources   Buy the book at Amazon UK

Open Sources   Buy the book at Amazon US


Chris DiBona et al, Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution, Sebastapol, CA: O’Reilly, pp.272, ISBN: 15659258237


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Open Sources 2.0

June 15, 2009 by Roy Johnson

essays and reports from the free software movement

When we reviewed Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution six years ago, the movement for free software was only just gathering momentum – and O’Reilly were publishing a collection of essays which were essentially explaining its key concepts. Now this second collection is symbolically twice as big, and reporting on a worldwide uptake.

Open Sources 2.0The first part of the book deals with the technical and business aspects of open sources. There’s a report on the development of Mozilla.org, which produced the Firefox browser and Thunderbird email program, and an account of working on Samba, which acts as a ‘glue’ between the separate worlds of Unix and Windows. All of these Open Source programs are available at SourceForge.net – 100.000 projects and one million registered developers.

The amazing thing is that some people are able to develop business models using open source software. They do this by offering services which provide consultancy and support to users of open source. Michael Olson even describes a dual license system whereby the software is provided free to one set of users, and is sold at a charge to another. This essay also includes a very useful explanation of copyright law and warrantees.

The first half of the book deals with these conundrums and apparent contradictions introduced into the world of software and IT. What happens when people decide to make their software freely available to download at no charge to the end user?

There’s a very enjoyable chapter by Russ Nelson on developing his own small business enterprise dealing with open source. This will be music to the ears of anyone who would like to make a living writing and selling software and their related services.

There are fully detailed surveys of the development of open source software in Europe, India, and even China. In Europe there is a growing pattern of local and regional government adopting OSS for both political and financial reasons. In India takeup of OSS is slower because of rampant piracy of proprietary software. Piracy exists in China too, but the potential for growth in country which actually manufactures a lot of the world’s digital hardware is so great that OSS support companies are moving in to be part of the booming economy.

The second part of the book looks ‘beyond’ open sources as a technology to the philosophy of what’s at its base – collaborative forms of working. These chapters examine new business models, such as Amazon for instance which operates using open source software, but also invites collaborative input from its customers and even its competitors. Other examples include open source legal researching and even biology.

There’s a very interesting contribution from Larry Sanger on the history of the Wikipedia project – the open source encyclopedia of which he was a co-founder. Some of the problems raised in keeping Wikipedia free of vandals is answered in a similar account of the rise and rise of Slashdot.org (“News for nerds. Stuff that matters”) the socio-technological news site which permits submissions and comments in an open source sort of way. It has developed a form of hands-off self-monitoring system which welds people together into a community.

This book is as important and impressive as its predecessor. It offers updates on practical examples of the social and technological innovations of the late twentieth century and gives us a glimpse of what might become working models for what lies ahead in the twenty-first.

© Roy Johnson 2005

Open Sources 2.0   Buy the book at Amazon UK

Open Sources 2.0   Buy the book at Amazon US


Chris DiBona et al, Open Sources 2.0, Sebastopol: CA, O’Reilly, 2005, pp.445, ISBN: 0596008023


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