For All Mankind — Series 5 Episode 4 — “Open Source” — A Review

27th July, 2026.

“Open Source”.

The Introduction.

OK: it’s Monday night … and … ?

I’m filling in time, in a way.

I’ve started For All Mankind’s fifth season, a few weeks ago: and enjoying it, so far.

But … ?

I’d like to get this review done by Wednesday … but very aware I’ll be looking after my nephew, that day … so I’m getting started early.

Hopefully?

I’ll have this done by Friday: and I can let you know what I though of the episode … 

~≈🪐≈~

The Birthday Present.

Right ...

You’ll possibly notice that -- for the first time in a while -- I’ve not opened this with a video intro.

The simple reason?

I’m using the cheap laptop I got for my birthday: a Lenovo ThinkPad T400, which doesn’t have have  webcam.

It does, however, have a newly installed version of Ubuntu Mate on it.

If I get the chance?

I'll try and write about it ...

Banning Operating Systems

Hmmm …

That’s something … 

You’ve possibly noticed that — outside of the Daily Teasers, and other associated bits and bobs — I’ve not written much, here.

Job-hunting’s getting more frantic, if you follow me.

At ANY rate, I do try and post up about all sorts of things: as and when they catch my eyes.

One news item did, today.

The one on the BBC’s news site — here — that tells us China has banned Windows.

Let me try an be accurate, there.

The Chinese government has banned government departments and offices from using desktops, laptops and tablets running Windows 8, the current and newest version of Microsoft’s operating system.

Mostly, it seems many Chinese government computer are running various versions of Windows XP: which Microsoft have ended security support for.

China are, appreciably, loath to replace XP with an operating system that leaves them reliant on foreign companies for security updates and fixes.

~≈Ê≈~

In The Docky …

Hmmm … …

You know, I’ll happily admit I’ve got two computers.

You’ve probably worked that out, haven’t you … ?

And I’ll be frank, MUCH as I’d like a MacBook pro with all the options, the laptop I’ve got — nicknamed Archie, in contrast to Bruce, my Mid-2007 model Mac Mini — is a PC.

But not one running Windows.

Originally, Archie was using a version of Arch-Linux: an OS I personally liked, but as a non-coder found a touch too reliant on the command line for things like common-or-garden updates.

So I managed to install Xubuntu on the old boy.

Granted, I had a problem with the video output to the laptop’s monitor.

But one that was fairly easily solved, albeit with a bit of fiddling about.

At any rate ...

At any rate, I managed to get Xubuntu up and running.

And went a-hunting for something I'd only read a couple of articles about.

I went looking for Docky: in all the wrong places, initially ...

OK ...

You’ve probably got a confused look on your face, haven’t you ... ?

Maybe I should tell you what a Dock actually is, shouldn’t I ... ?

Quite a few years ago, now, my first Mac was a Performa 6400/200 that came with what Apple were then calling System 7.

Part of that ...

Was the Launcher, a special Finder window that you could add and remove files, folder and applications from.

And you could access anything in the Launcher with just one click.

In point of fact Mac OS X's Dock is a descendant of that Launcher.

And also something I know I've gotten very used, just being able to access files and apps with just one click.

So ...

Finding out that there are quite a few Launcher/Docking applications in the open-source world was a welcome piece of news.

Several, in fact ...

Then one I went with, eventually - mostly as it was at the top of the list in the Ubuntu Software Centre - was Docky.

You can see it in the pictures I've uploaded.

And I don't know HOW Docky's creators have done it, but they've actually come up with what - to me - feels like a very good Xubuntu version of the equivalent app in OS X.

I'm pleased with it, so far.

Actually ...

Bless her, I even had Movie Night regular, Squeaky pop in on me, Thursday night, complete with her fellah, Brad, and a copy of Underworld. Bless 'er, she was impressed, too.

And if Squeaky, bless her, can get the hang of clicking on an icon to open a document - AND the associated application - well ...

I'm just betting I can talk anyone else 'round ... !

Uncomfortably Messing About ...

You know, there are times when Movie Night Adrian's sense of humour does get slightly ahead of me …

Slightly …

He’s managed to give me an old — antique, almost — laptop, to see if he can't talk me into the rather large job of updating my skills base.

By learning a little light hacking.

And associated … stuff …

And to start me off on that ... ?

Suggested I install the very light weight Arch Linux distribution onto it.

Which I've got to admit, is a bint intimadating, as the actual installation is all done in Terminal.

Which is not something I'm going to recommend for all of us: I think I, like many, am more comfortable with a Graphical User interface.

So installing Arch on this laptop - the very one I'm writing this on - was a bit of a job.

A fast one, though, with little or no actual GUI: I LIKE GUI’s, I really do!

But Adrian's very valid point?

Was that learning how to troubleshoot Linux distros like Ubuntu and others could well involve a lot of exactly this sort of command line usage.

Now, if you'll excuse me … ?

I've some reading to do …

ANOTHER Installation …

Did I ever tell you that I’m not too stunning at multi-tasking?

Did I?

Well …

I’m not especially.

But I know that, as I’m writing this, I’m baking a spud in the oven, eyeballing the meatballs I’m thinking I should have with them.

And doing a fresh installation of Xubuntu 9•10 — Karmic Koala — on my kid sister Ruth’s, laptop.

Which hasn’t been easy, so far, I can tell you that!!!!!!

For starters, the MAJOR problem has been with the laptop’s — a Toshiba Equium EA60-155 — bad habit of overheating.

Which turn’s out to have been the fault of the graphics card: a ATI Radeon Mobility 7000.

Bloody thing!

Now, I’ll probably write more about this, later.

But, my LORD, this one’s been a bit of a bugger to sort out!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!!!!!

Busy, busy, busy!

My day, that is!!

Yoicks!

Bless ’em, Tim, Adele, and Adele’s brother, Pete, popped in on me, this morning: mostly because Tim wanted my opinion on a couple of things.

And, of course, to see if we could find some pictures that Pete had managed to lose, bless ’im, from his laptop!

Which I’m blowed if I could find.

From what Pete had said, he’d been hit by a Trojan, a little while back, and, while he’d successfully restored the applications and OS, he’d not managed to restore any of his files, or photos.

And, like I say, I couldn’t find them.

Even though I managed to find the old disc system.

There was nowt in the files where we expected to find them!

And the Properties List just told us the relevant files were ‘0 bytes’.

Sizewise, that is …

Oy!

I’m thinking — given I know how persuasive Tim can be — that we might be able to persuade Pete to make the switch to Ubuntu, at some point.

But we did recommend to Pete that he have a quiet word around, to see if he could find someone who knew their way around Windoze, better than we did: just in case they knew how to get to them!

Apart from that!!

Phew!

I do know I had Kevin look in to say Hello, bless ’im, along with Christmas cards for both me and Adrian: which meant I spent a lot of the afternoon between nattering with Kevin, and helping Kelly — via Facebook chat, which seemed to be acting up, for most of the afternoon — work out how to upload photos onto Facebook.

After all THAT …

••••••

Actually, bless him, Tim’s just been in touch, to let me know Pete’s thinking of DEFINITELY making the switch over to Ubuntu!

Damn, that’s Good to know!!

•••••

I’ve got to confess, after all that, I was expecting to be able to have a quiet afternoon in, with my partner, Allison.

Who’s been feeling a bit blue, just recently, and always finds it handy to just chew things over with me.

Same the other way ’round.

Shame it wasn’t to be, in a way …

Because, not long after Allison got here, we’re visited by by Catherine and Jan, who were doing a maintenance survey for our Housing association.

Along with a plumber, electrician, and the promise of booking up an appointment to fix the plug socket that helped blow the Late-Lamented-Fridge-Freezer.

And — ten minutes after they’d gone — bless ’er, Sara Bartleman, the Circle Anglia Housing Officer for our area turned up!!

Doing — would you believe! — a Tenant Audit.

Which mean’s she had to ask all sorts of question!

You know, date of birth, ethnicity, was I heterosexual, what have you …

Actually, Allison thought that last question was a touch personal, but, as Sara pointed out, Circle Anglia has to do various forms of ethnicity and diversity monitoring.

After all, heaven forbid if I was an easily-offended disabled Bosnian lesbian refugee …

⌘

Another Addition …

Ooh, just thought I’d mention, I’ve made another addition to me sidebar!

I’ve managed to find another handy little Open Source site, a couple of days ago, called Osalt.com, which looks rather handy.

It’s a quite handy little site, that gives you list of the popular commercial products, side by side with the popular open source alternatives that are on a par with them.

While there’s no extensive game list on there — unlike say, Softpedia — it does cover quite a lot of ground, with a very uncluttered look and fell to it.

Go exploring, you’re bound to find something!

Ooh, A Koala …

Hmmm …

I’ve got to admit, I’m mildly impressed …

Mildly, maybe, but impressed, none-the-less.

I’ve managed, over this week-end, to upgrade both Kevin and Allison’s laptop from Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope to Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala.

And, as I think I’ve said, I’m mildly impressed.

Now, I’m no coder, and have really only have an idea of what’s going on, under the surface; but, from the little I can follow on the Ubuntu site, there’s quite a lot going on. They’ve changed the file system from ext3 to ext4; which I’m told can support larger file and hard drive sizes.

Which can’t be bad …

There’s definitely a few other things, going on, though.

I do know that they’ve improved the boot-loader; with the net result that both Allison* and Kevin’s laptop’s have seen some noticeable speed improvements.

Which, from what Tim tells me, is possibly where his Dell is having problems; it seems his is having CPU throttling trouble; if I’ve understood what I’ve read, correctly, it’s the way the processors in some laptops — Dell’s in particular — start idling during quiet patches.

Mostly as a power conservation measure.

So while his laptop’s boot procedure is rather zippy, he’s having a few problems.

Which means a little bit of hacking, when Tim’s round, next!

No bad thing, possibly; I’m just a touch disappointed that Kevin and Allison didn’t fancy making the switch to Xubuntu.

Shame, really, I’d’ve not minded seeing that in action!

Either way, the mainstream release of Karmic Koala’s — as I think I mentioned earlier — impressive; the icon set’s been tweaked so it look’s a touch more contemporary, the log-in screen, and initial splash screen are rather good — if rather familiar looking one, to me as a Mac user.

There’s a lot of iCandy added; new theme’s and wallpaper’s for starters, and the various menu’s — Applications, Places and System — given something of an overhaul.

But the noticeable overhaul …

Comes in the Applications folder; the makers of Ubuntu have managed to combine the Synaptic Package manager with the Add/Remove function, to come up with what they call Ubuntu Software Centre.

Which is very bloody handy; and something I wouldn’t mind seeing integrated into OS X.

Oh, I know there’s a feature in iTunes, that enables you to download tons of freebie apps for the iPod and iPhone, and purchase many others, but — beyond the buyable stuff on the Apple site — very little on the Apple site specifically aimed at OS X.

Or, at least, not that’s handled in quite the same way.

* Allison’s having mixed feelings, I’m most confess; while the sound quality on her laptop’s improved, it’s also been having trouble interacting with the printer she’s got.

Click Does it Again …

Well, FINALLY!

Well, ok, FINALLY … POSSIBLY!

Bless, “Click” — the BBC’s News channel’s tech show — has done an article on open source software!

And about bloody time.

They’ve always given it a good mention, but this is the first time that I can remember them doing an piece on the subject; although whether they’ve done it before, I don’t know for sure …

All to the good, and more power to them!

And, while the actual headline piece wasn’t extensive, they do have some extra bits and bobs on their site; granted they haven’t given Ubuntu a mention, but Spenser and co did do an interview with Mark Shuttleworth, a few years ago, that was quite good.

Anyway, follow the links through, folks.

And have a good watch.

Security Alerts, And Disc Utilities …

Now, I know I’m possibly going going to get critiqued for reposting, or repeating myself, but I always think this is something worth maybe writing about.

I posted, a while back, about wiping hard-drives, if ever we need to sell on a computer that we’re replacing; and what’s prompted this post is a news-report I saw on the BBC, earlier, about how the University of Glamorgan has done a study on how much residual data is left on  scrapped hard-drives.

Quite a lot, of residual data.

Including one bought on eBay that still had missile launch codes left on it!

Amazingly, how people don’t wipe them properly, although I’ll admit, as as guilty of faux pâs as anyone — one or two unwise usage's of the ‘cc’, rather than the ‘bcc’ field spring to mind — but I can’t believe that, in this day and age, people still don’t know wiping a hard drive is a good idea.

We might criticise a company or government department for doing it wrong, but, really, we should be able to do this ourselves, shouldn’t we?

Now, I’m lucky in that the Mini includes Disc Utility, that Apple say meets the relevant US Department of Defence standards, but I know that’s not an option for everyone.

But not being on Windoze or Linux, I’m not to sure where I’d start, finding an equivalent; but I am told that both Winfiles and Freebyte have utilities that you’d find useful.

We may criticise others for getting it wrong, but, well … 

“He that is without sin …” and all that …