blue taper
 
  .KDE Desktop.
    I visualize the Universe in metaphors and with a strong spiritual center... And like "big" Icon buttons.
I do not care if you do not - its my computer... do as you wish with yours...

Below is more of a historical user POV of Linux - but I have an observation, which is relevant to the state of computers (all computing devices) in use today.
In the new world of both information overload and the fact that most people only think of themselves as free (as in freedom, if in the United States as it was)...
... It really is a case, as spoken by Benjamin Franklin, that those who are willing to sacrifice essential freedom for small sense of security, deserve neither.
That is the type of un-freedom I speak of here... not the political kind, although that is a factor, its the social type that leads the future of what will be.

Not a conspiracy in this case but more of relinquishing to "authority" - A big Mistake on the part of humans today
- A failure of the spirit of being, of human understanding, and fighting the forces of oppression - omnipresent, at all times and in all ways.
    It is a fact that being free, more than most realize... is the state of mind to be free... and that always takes work, responsibility for ones actions and the effort to be aware.

And how is this relevant to computers? The global network which is now, the collective mind of the world... and the more advanced societies are coming to a state of incomprehensibility of both the meaning of life and of society... both of which are, as yet, not really cognoscente of how true that statement was.

An authentic observation of technology moving faster than social awareness.  This is the now of things as they are.

For many who live in the world do not realize they have the choice to be either, sheep and be lead...
or to be truly aware and work towards being educated towards a goal of self realization... of thought and of spirit.
...which cost nothing but the effort to be so.

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And so... Technological freedom is a possible way to maintain a type of freedom of how one thinks... What one uses to communicate in the world as it is.
Offering a light pointed at how much control of your future is possible... Free-will exists, a gift of the creator is to think... do not relinquish that to political/religious/social-temporaries of popular thoughts of managed limitations you are given by "authorities". 

Life is what you do - you have a choice individually to fight or give in. Accept the welfare state or demand the idea of freedom of thought.

  A way into the future.  Linux Mint is tops at the large list of distributions at this time. Because for most people it is easier than most distributions of Linux to use.     

        Nobody is sure how many Computers there are as they are made from either custom builds like mine, some purchased pre-installs from a specialty company like Dell or uninstalls of preexisting computers with MS Windows® originally and then re-installs with a Linux... but the guess is good

        Why the smallest use?
        "Welcome to the real world,"
  By the way, congratulations go to Linus Torvalds who won the Millennium Technology Prize. 

            Having talked a little with Linus (Linux-con 21?23 September 2009 - Portland)... he is very honest and blunt... for very good reasons.

*** Note:
  The principal drawback to using Linux is now, as it always was - to much complexity and no unified user plan to deployment... thus, few pre-installs.
Which in its irony, is also its greatest user power. To choose how it gets used and the total flexibility that a Linux has in its deployed environment.
Frankly, this will never change... Unless a superpower company comes to install some form of a Linux distribution across a platform, such as Android has done. Gaining an 83% market creation.
( the only compliment and/or derision - both at once for Microsoft's products is the note that as total dictator of the office computer {the desktop} they controlled the market at one time... now gone - thankfully... but note this: That is also why the market was stable.  One narrow company, one way and thus a mono culture full of viruses, Trojans, worms, ugly's that Linux is free from due to everything being different.  

 That is it really - one system is pretty tough {( *impervious -
mostly - Linux e-mail anti virus ClamAV - be smart protect a windows system )} due to design on the web, variations, complexity and machine specific compiling of the software (Linux) - And the mono culture of Microsoft, full of well known flaws, (MS Windows) where one way = big fat target rich environment of back-door's... (what do you think vulnerable computers means) 

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 First, this is not about the use of cloud services as such, in point of fact I mention this because, I wish to maintain control of my own creations and data.
We do not use the cloud in the main for this reason, however and this is very important to realize, if you use the internet, you are using the ultimate non-centralized server service already.
The exceptions due to the exact nature of the service, is 3D mapping of the planet and dynamic real-time weather displayed in those specialized applications such as Google-Earth and Chromium's 3D mapping both of which is utterly dependent on the internet.

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This page is more of some historical reference and a number of pictures are more than a few years old...
 which in the landscape that is Linux is automatically a Jurassic time reference to the pace of changes ...
 
distance
    Correct spacial placement - synthetic 3D image of earth.
When you move the positional location, the Galaxy with our local group (stars) sync to you new position correctly.
Frankly this is awesome.

Weather.
    Time lag measured is in minutes - atmosphere with synthetically rendered major weather that is usable and pretty accurate.
That little yellow dot under the cloud above left center is this machines location... from space I can see the entire World... with a fairly precise eye on global weather.
Think about that for just a second... How much power each of us has in today's world...

I built this computer from nothingness into a machine that sees the real world virtually - Linux was started by a student in Helsinki, Finland... Who wanted a Unix like system to do personal computing on...
...now that evolved system runs almost all of the worlds massive computer networks and super computers.. Google is a Linux based entity...  

These applications depend on a solid internet connection to even work.  So we in fact use a type of off-site server service without date storage off site.

Linux in point of fact is a creation born of and on the internet, ours even more so, as I mostly run a living Rolling Release which is always "Up to date" for all of it applications and programs by a day or so. ( was so but not now )

    I was trying to demonstrate on this page the rapid change over time with the applications by having date stamp versions listed, but that does not actually mean anything to most people including as a necessity those who use Linux so in the interest of simplification and my available time to make those notes, I am dispensing with the practice of that..

    Instead is the blanket statement that this page shows a handful of useful applications that make my desktop Linux computer useful and interesting to me and whatever date it is, this computer is very current. The last two remnants of that practice is found in the two pictures below. The top picture is from 2013 ( Galadriel from {Lord of the Rings} ) and the next one down ( Enya ) is from 2015
...and the last one 2022 -(
Aurora Aksnes ) same computer...
-----------------

Today's date is Nov 12, 2016 and I use a KDE 4.14 based system and the valid current Kernel of Linux to date so as I list some of the applications they will have one last marker of the versions and that will be it for a couple of years
       
Below;  A sample aptosid Linux Desktop - in appearance it may look simple. However, it is not a simple computer ( if ever any computer was simple. )

The green writing is for your benefit, I don't list what the applications do... Who does.  No joke, someone asked me.
I created the backgrounds out of pictures and images I like and sometimes create text to go with them...
    Lots of people do this type of thing,  I am no different, but I do personalize it with some intensity...
         for me the Personal Computer is an important extension of the mind and I do add some aspect of a spiritual essence to it, no more or less real than any other creation one lives in.
   KDE Desktop.

 The Picture above:  
 My KDE desktop Linux as example, Above in 2013 but outside of many applications - much the same

 below, January 2015:

    Today's modern computer system, always up to date in the real sense as it is a Rolling Release.
    This picture is the now functionally extinct, Aptosid, which I still have one alive... See Siduction
   
   Tonight Jan 1-15.
Picture of Enya, ©Warner & co.
      
Jan 1 - 2015 first thing done - take the picture. Font rendering in Linux is top notch now - has been for some years.


   KDE-07-28-22.
picture of ©Aurora Aksnes
 KDE-07-28-22 desktop above... - current for me but is 9 years old, today... it is Old,

  current MX Linux - desktop in evaluation
   test desktop.
 Picture of ©Aurora Aksnes and Wardruna©:
Wardruna, Aurora and Oslo Fagottkor in Kirkhelleren på Sanna, Træna, Helgeland, Nordland, Norway

 KDE version

    Note: As KDE (desktop) is no longer really supported by Linux Mint - I will be using a different version of Linux. Which one? - I, as yet, do not know - but since I can do that, I will.
I liked Linux Mint ( even though its simple compared to aptosid - aptosid became unstable in total {even though as a SID (S.till I.n D.evelopment) version - it was born unstable} - that is what it was... daily builds - I just got to old to chase it... life takes place between the effort I put into being on the bleeding edge of the most advanced system imaginable... that could be built.  
however the botom line for me - I like KDE desktop more... yes it requires massive power to run - so what - that is what this computer is... its fast because that is how I made it.


Older stuff as legacy info - its a new world now so all of this below is just a history of a journey into Linux...


gFTP replaced with FileZilla 3.9.0.5 ~( Note gFTP is now functional again May 2015 vers. 2.0.19)~ ( but I started to use FileZilla and it works well... Will I go back?
gFTP was fast and simple and I am using it again.
Kompozer 0.8.b3a replaced with Blue Griffon 1.7.2 - No going back to Kompozer it died out, Official

4 desktop virtual environments ( Linux is and was multitasking from its heritage, of why it was developed in the first place. )
    ( in the family of Unix Like systems )
 Debian unstable (SID)   (current Linux Mint18.3 )
    Some say it is a Bleeding Edge system... So O.K. it is,
    It is called aptosid ( apto~ "to make ready" and "sid"~ Still In Development, pre main testing stage/ also in "Toy Story" he was the kid who broke all of the toys in the film...


  KDE versions in 2016 are in a large scale upgrade path - so as of this date it does not have a version, as it is a hybrid of KDE 4 (old reliable) and KDE 5 { bleeding edge :( }
  I live on the computer a lot, KDE is powerful, Even luxurious and beautiful if you know how to control it to taste.. and if you have the power required to run it fast and its established as the best, in my opinion.
    KDE is, some would say  "its old", yada yada... did you ever go to your favorite store and see some marketeer had moved everything around just to mix it up...
       I understand were all of its controls are and I know how to make it pretty enough to like it.  and its reliable.... That is why

    Most people prefer... take your pick that is why... Linux rules
    http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/783109-how-to-choose-the-best-linux-desktop-for-you

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AS IT WAS:  the history of this Linux build and my relationship with the most powerful desktop system I can make from Scratch - like as hot from the oven.

    My computer is a function first build with an emphasis on productivity.  Global 3D simulation mapping, Graphics and Image manipulation, internet and e-mail power applications (FTP upload/http creation with powerful wysiwyg web building capability. Multimedia video editing and word processing with color printing... That is a lot to ask from a single computer.
So it is an eight core 64 bit CPU from AMD using an AMD64 based Linux system that is way out front of many types of Linux in my opinion.

 
   This Linux distribution and my modifications to it is a hybrid Linux with many pure high integrity applications that subscribe to the goals of Debian {(as many as possible) - The Social Contract}

   

 2016, Linux- (The kernel) is everywhere.   I started to use Linux+KDE desktop computing system before Linux was a successful global thing...
  Linux today is a given of the landscape of the modern world, its taken for granted, it is everywhere.   Most people do not even know they use it everyday.
 
    We use Linux in its rarest form, a desktop computer.  Surprising as it seems to be everywhere except where it belongs by design the most... Your Desktop, because it is safe, powerful and secure.
And now its so EASY, with many of the simple and easy types of Linux out in the world now.... http://distrowatch.com/   Take your pick, a flavor for everyone and anyone who uses a computer.
  Its Ironic really, Linus wanted a desktop system, ... the world seems to want everything to replace the "Windows®" desktop and Linux provided that... yet, It may well not become dominant in the desktop space.
   Having said that and In consideration that it was thought some years ago that would mean that Microsoft's offering as a desktop platform would be the dominant system... However, no more, as the "desktop" is not what most people use anymore.  It is so varied now, computing devices includes everything... Android smart-phones,  i-phones and podly thingy's, laptops, desktops, pads, notebooks, and other unnamed devices one might wear... all referred to now as "Endpoint devices"... in that realm and definition... Microsoft®© Windows® controls 14% of endpoint devices, that's it. A declining 14%.

     Mobile has replace the traditional desktop and laptops may become what most people used the desktop for.
It is not a mystery why or how as I will explain on this page but for those who know the reality of what Linux can do, know that Linux provides a super desktop.

84% of the Global Market is Android (Linux) on a smart-phone device with a screen and camera and for those who need it, a Laptop suffices as a desktop.
   
    The traditional desktop seemed to go in two user directions.
One direction is simple, easy and all decisions are made for you about the installation... like Linux Mint, Ubuntu (is Linux) ... A number of them are like this, easy to use and install.
     In the case of Ubuntu I think that its parent organization would like us to forget it is version of Debian Linux... why is a mystery.  We will just not worry about them, they are off on there own journey.
 
Or... Linux the powerful, complete, infinite and often quite complex... so many choices and paths that it seems to take a genuine computer enthusiast to make good choices in order to make it easy and comfortable to use.  Linus Torvalds father and creator of Linux says this of Debian (nobody can do everything - I would be lost in developing a bit of kernel which is his specialty.
 
Slackware
and its variants which declare themselves to be based on Slackware, Debian and its variants which declare themselves to be based on Debian... Many of these are available.
I have not used Fedora based types of Linux since it was called Redhat, I did start there many years ago though. I left because I discovered Debian before Redhat became Fedora for users.
    I just never went back to a redhat-fedora rpm based system... Nothing wrong with it, I just went to the next neighborhood and liked the style of the homes, if you know what I mean.

 
We mainly use a Debian based system called aptosid Linux, ( a Rolling Release. Explanation below on this page )
   
 And as an interesting system, a version of Debian Linux called Tails+Tor 1.8.1 which is somewhat secretive when in use because it is designed to be so. very very secure as a live system.
    (Upfront info for interested organizations, Our interest in Tails is as a future, potentially needed, system for its security. Currently curiosity and knowledge. Wisdom, to know which and when.)
It has many legitimate uses but like anything really powerful it can be both abused and used for nefarious dark web stuff.  Walk a higher road.   

All will get there, All are productive, some with skill and experience and some by default by design.
 
  
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    The original Idea of this page was to promote the use of Linux on the desktop of a Personal Computer.   
That still is true, but this is also a reality check in a changing world... just a small part of a world that is different than what was.
Not a judgement call as to whether or not it is better world or a lessor one.  However it is different.  The computer and the users landscape is different now.
    The applications are different because the operating systems are divided between the new world of mobile and the slightly declining one of common desktops purchased in stores. (those are the desktops in decline)  Those who would build their own computers are still there.  Noteworthy, high performance gaming machines are slowly changing the landscape to include Linux more but that is very much a new phenomenon.  Although that is completely out of the context of this page, it is significant information. More found here
       

     The rise of powerful computers, if one has an interest, today's workstations rival high performance machines of a few years ago.
     The machines themselves and Linux have become very powerful... - Go to category and select Operating System Family. 
And for obvious reasons security from all sides is needed, more than ever, now....  I have one of the more secure systems because of its rolling release status with cutting edge kernel and pre-current applications made stable, being Linux.  Security updates every week as they are discovered and released.  And the system is in fact inherently more secure by design.
  
The statement, Trust No One, is a sad statement of the world,  but in terms of computers... and absolutely
with your data and e-mails in the cloud, if you are not paranoid, you should be.
See the Groklaw situation.

If you are using a commercial Operating System i.e. Windows... You are the target of those who see an easy mark, only with some diligence on your part can you make your computing tougher to crack.

    I had to learn to think like a network administrator, i.e.  paranoid, as a job requirement. 
Now, I, as a human being, have nothing but hope and wish the world the best, I am a participant implementer of that hope.
    But here, I am also practical, with all the tools/weapons at the ready, so If I sound a little cynical... its a necessary cross check to a trusting nature.  I trust the developers of Linux because they are always looking at each other...  and depending on each other to be the best and honest.
Frankly that is one of the reasons Linux is superior. It just is on the human side of things, that simple.
    On the technical side of things Linux is winning by shear superior concepts and management... Although it runs counter to the commercial interests that are now supporting it with fervor and the realization that it is a better model of development, that falls into the category of - OMG this works, from their point of view!  Those companies who resist are slipping into the past, faster as time goes by.
    In other words Proprietary Software development is inferior to the open source model. If you make a software's security system that can stand up in the open and just be unbreakable, it will have the edge over one that needs to be kept in the dark for fear it has unknown holes that nobody has found yet.  Logical, is it not? 


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Note about the commercial application mentioned above at the beginning
:

    As a driven need and proof of functionality this page is also a working page, a sandbox,for my new web editor, The commercial version of Blue Griffon version 1.8
   It is a commercial product (it was purchased) on top of the "Free application",
the Linux version of course.  Commercial?  yes, expect more of that. It is a new world.
   Blue Griffon is a WYSIWYG and HTML source type of editor very similar to KompoZer 0.8b3a.
  
  
I like it.   It will replace KompoZer 0.8b3. which I was using long past its time.
 

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     This is a very simple modern Linux desktop (as set up), not anywhere close to extreme, nothing to crow about.
No falling snow flakes or dancing Icons or exploding or burning applications on closure... I can rotate the Desktops for switching them.
     cube desktop. picture is about a year old.
      
Maybe someday I will try some of the really pretty bling...  See just below, the you tube video from Nixie Pixel.
Above:  This system has many desktops as a potential workspace, 4 of them as a mater of fact on this older example.... caught in mid switch. just a plan cube, nothing fancy... see the video from you tube.
(the cube better than mine) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGY9cwSjZsU&feature=channel
Nixie Pixel
   
I like the big icons and generally simple layout. They are as I made them by settings available in KDE (the GUI interface). I choose to make it look and be as I desire.
    My desktop wallpaper is something I created and changes every few minutes.  Behind the 4 running applications which are the obviously opened ones are 190 running processes that creates the running computer at this time.

It is not a question of what can I do with this computer, not anymore... It is a question of how I go about doing all of the things I want to do with it.  Big difference.


Unlike the common misconception that many people who use Windows like it is still the only world... still have, believe it or not, Linux is not a hobby any more... it once was, long ago.
    Unpaid hobby developers is a declining 11%, still a part of a meritocracy... That means 89% are paid by corporations (many big corporations) covering the expense to develop "Linux"
Still in most ways it is a meritocracy because it is all part of a gigantic peer review process, paid or not.
 
   Linux is immensely powerful.   True multi tasking capabilities and it has been 64 bit for many years now...  It is not impossible to find 32 bit versions to be sure, but they are now in the minority.

    It is a matter of choice:
     current GE-7dot1.
    Google Earth 7.1.1.1580 beta running under Linux kernel 4.3.0-0.slh.1 (aptosid) yes, it can work. Nov. 2015
   
    First what is this computer:
    Lets find out what the Console (terminal) says it is... ( I know, its just an excuse to mention the Console, it definitely exits to this day as it always will in Linux )

     This computer as of 11-04-15:

michael@Eyland0:~$ infobash -v3
Host/Kernel/OS  "Eyland0" running Linux 4.3.0-0.slh.1-aptosid-amd64 x86_64 [ aptosid 2013-01 ????????? - kde-lite - (201305050307) ]
CPU Info        8x AMD FX-8120 Eight-Core 2048 KB cache flags( sse3 ht nx lm svm ) clocked at [ 1900.000 MHz ]
Videocard       NVIDIA G86 [GeForce 8500 GT]  X.Org 1.17.3  [ 1920x1080@60.00hz ]
Network cards   D-Link System Inc DGE-560T PCI Express Gigabit
Processes 198 | Uptime 5:18 | Memory 3984.5/7971.5MB | HDD WDC WD6000HLHX-0,WDC WD6000HLHX-0,AS2105 Size 1520GB (13%used) | GLX Renderer Gallium 0.4 on NV86 | GLX Version Yes | Client Shell | Infobash v3.50
michael@Eyland0:~$
                   

     It is running on about 188 processes as a desktop computer when I checked a minute ago.

Several minutes ago:
I just checked and it has 2,103 actual applications and programs to actually get everything possible done that it may use already installed.
sounds like a lot, doesn't it... well Debian Linux has in the repositories available from around the world; 42,227 43,705 43,926 44,686 (1-7-15) = 46096 (5-1-2017) about 80,000 applications, programs, software available to use if I had a reason to need them.
More information below with links - fact is it is more but because of the limited repositories I am using, this is the number.
synaptic.
        today OCT 11 2015 The above is version 0.81.4
 
 This tool above... I use to check for packages, it can install them... I use apt-get as it is safer to use... but I do use synaptic for what it is good for.
AptGet:
    A fabulous Package manager system used in Debian and other great distributions of LINUX called AptGet ....,
                 for well over two decades from https://keivan.io/the-day-appget-died/
       Bottom Line - Trust is everything and it is earned, not dutifully driveled out because some organization (Microsoft®©) THE #1 pretenders of trust, demand it... Nithing-nil
             
 Many Computer architectures exist... only one is X86 or its variations.  By definition a PC is a micro computer but does not need to be X86.
         
As a matter of fact, I am using an AMD64 architecture, on an AMD-64 bit platform. With an 8 Core AMD Processor, A true 64bit system. 

The world is an ON-Line place, especially now.  Linux was designed on-line in a hostile world, made to just take it as it comes... and now Linux is the dominant system at large on this Earth. One way or another, forked into many hundreds of versions for every task under the sun, Android most obvious to most... Linux is, the foreseeable future, period.

Linux or Unix is behind the heavy lifting of the worlds data already. 

    Linux makes the Computer generated SPFX of the movies you enjoy.

Linux runs the Railroads and Air traffic control of the world.  Google is Linux at the core.  All of 99.9999% of the worlds Supercomputers are Linux based.
Linux is wrapped around about a dozen or so different types of computer platforms architectures that I know of. And now IBM commits $1 billion towards Linux ecosystem growth on IBM's Power Systems line of servers.


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    A few years from now there may be choices in architecture even for a desktop computer...  The demise of Windows, as the only choice is ancient history now... There has been a change in the landscape for about 5 to 6 years. but now, this year 2015 its pretty official, if not believed, as there will never be a year of the Desktop Linux... Global Linux perhaps, it is somewhat possible... just not likely "the desktop" 
Those desktops and workstations that remain are in my view needing to be more powerful, to justify and differentiate their existence in a light weight mobile world.
    That is OK, I like desktops and was heading into workstation type performance anyway...  Mobile Computing is fine and is far better than before, but I need and want power and speed.
        It no different than any application of technology and machines. Both cost, how fast do you want to go and what can you afford.

As an individual, under no circumstances would I trust any remote S.a.a.s., (software as a service, in a cloud). forget it, for document creation... We do use services in a passive mode, search and Google Earth... for example and Google Earth requires a client system installation as an application, I am just not uploading my stuff into it, that's the difference.

    note: as a company, it is something to consider and be aware of... It is a cost savings in some circumstances...  but you still don't own anything unless you own the cloud.
    Reason? Once you use a service, to create anything... you no longer have control of it, you do not own it, no rights literally by lack of possession.
Its the same if you use a proprietary software like Microsoft Office... you don't own your own works (read the EULA) It was an issue at one time, before Open document foundation and LibreOffice, over which version of software you could use to read your own documents... Before the advent of Open Office and LibreOffice which were absolutely not Microsoft products... you had little choice.
E-mail... Personally, I feel it is the same... I have to use a server as does everybody but at least I am in possession of it.   This is the #1 reason Governments are dropping MS office at the governmental level

    {Lets use an example... lets say that some legal document, like the "Bill of Rights" (you remember that don't you?) was produced and saved in MS word .doc 95 and it becomes unreadable with MS Word 2000.   And the .doc is literally owned by Microsoft.  Its kind of extreme but it underscores the point. 


We supported the document compliant international standard ISO/IEC 26300:2006  (We - JENA Technologies, were members of the ODF Alliance when it existed... and the ODF Alliance had to fight to exist because Microsoft was at war with the idea before it became the law. (are you surprised?)

What was Microsoft afraid of:
This:main libre office. Screenshots here
writer.
A capable word processor that is literally free.


    Linux is freedom, not always free or freeware.  If you do not have money, then the price is learning and education which can offset money to some degree with most open source code software.
    However the hardware is just what it is and can be costly...  What I am seeing and it is understandable, is that some better applications for specialty needs now are becoming commercial in nature.
    As Linux is moving the greater world now... it is inevitable.  If on the other hand applications are mass market driven like a really good word processor, LibreOffice is a good example... they are supported by many companies for the greater good, displacing an entrenched proprietary and perpetually changing one that can not be depended on to be a long term standard. .odf is free to use...  because they will define the world standards.


    However, For most people, the use of Linux on the desktop will always be a future metaphor of use... or may never occur, because most people are going into the use of mobile devices... and in that realm, Android flat out won..
        Android *IS* the Linux Kernel with modifications, all of the rest is the User Space Interface specifically designed for Android.
    -
(Android is very young, in a way it is a mess of semi proprietary software that is not very mature in a practical sense due to its newness and rapid changes, its users are also migration users within mobile computing. Its growth rate is so fast... that, as reality, is likely not going to change much in the near future... Android is a boom town, in fact All of mobile is like that.)         For the time being since it is not specific to the  "Linux Desktop" relating to performance computing, "Android" will not be covered here, just mentioned from time to time, I mention it mostly because it is defensibility a Linux variant in the big picture, That seems to be mostly a worry to those company's who use something else in their mobile phone offerings, but not so much a concern to the users of an android device, w
ho for the most part are oblivious to what it runs on...

    This does not mean a "lets watch the big ship desktop computing sink into the past" situation though because if you need to use complex applications like a word processor or do image manipulation or want comprehensive control of web based applications and build websites... or even printing with control... the Desktop Computer as workstation IS how it is done. 
    This is how we do it today... Android Computers on something other than X86 PC will be someone's future to be sure... but for now we will stick with the pure Linux desktop computers.
That is and will be with or without the X86 PC.  You see it is the Personal Computer (PC) that may fade in time... Not Linux itself.
     To be sure it will not happen soon but it may happen.

And it is feasible that in the future... a desktop Linux could well be defined as a power computer platform. .

That is how I see it now...
Screenshot of application choices on this machine from just the selection of internet applications in it currently:
just internet related.
These are just the internet apps.
Hundreds of applications are currently in it.
desktop tonight,
1-2-15 It is very powerful.

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*
There are many hundreds of "distros" of straight-up Linux. 
Why is both simple and complex. Let me show you why...  Too many types of Linux to ever become like the dictatorial One Way of Windows® It is never going to become universal as to manor of build or the system of compiling the software because there is no central agency controlling it.  Want proof... Try to take this in. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Gldt1009.svg
   Note: That last link, on that chart showing all of the types of Linux, each one will link to the web site that represents the distro... All of them...

    What does this mean is the simple part,  There will never be a single Distribution of Linux... The proverbial one ring to rule them all.  Simple, it won't happen.
   
Linux was created basically on the internet and lives on it, and runs with it. In a manor of speaking, Linux is becoming the backbone of the world at the non desktop level.
 
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About my aptosid Linux, I had to build it from nothingness, which I do on a constant basis, because I can.:

Application Web Editor:  Blue griffon

evolution of web tools:

 
The web editor as a sample history of an application in Linux

     A fast history: First... I use an HTML editor from IBM for Linux (since 1998 WebSphere)  until it dies in 2004 then I use Nvu , it forks in 2005, I followed and used KompoZer from then into 2013 around October 20th. I finally shut it down and migrate entirely to Blue Griffon.
KompoZer died a slow death and a long attempt to keep it alive from me and many others... I was doing things with it like spell checking that passed on long ago for most who used it... (I am clever)
but time has come to lay it to rest and use its living application relative - as it has proven itself worthy. 
    Its new again in 2017  Blue Griffon 

For what it is worth... Blue Griffon it is a semi commercial product... This page is now being edited with BlueGriffon. 
    It is worth the money... A commercial Linux product that is available is very rare, about $89.00  Which sounds very inexpensive and it is in actuality....  It is revolutionary.
  website http://bluegriffon.org/  Like I said I use a hybrid Linux with sometimes not native applications when I need to. 
   The file was not amd64 nor was it aptosid... or even base Debian.    It is an x86_64 -- ( blue griffon-2.3.1 -installed in Linux Mint 18.1 ) and designed for an Ubuntu based Debian system

    However it works flawlessly
bluegriffon
    blue giffonAbove:BlueGriffon ver 2.3.1
BlueGriffon web editor WYSIWYG and source capable.  (By the way it has a built in spell checker...  I am happy with it.)

Such is life with Linux on the frontier.

Application, Google Earth 7:

    Linux does multi tasking very well. Multi applications working in parallel is never an issue with the Linux.  It always was a multi-task in parallel system.
  Also my Linux computer will run Google Earth 7 as a separate application build on the same machine,  a good example of a collaborative software being used between a computer and a server out in cyberspace. 
I run it at my local Machine but it lives on the web. It is not trivial to build on a 64bit system... In fact a lot of people are never successful in making it work in 64bit without IA32.
It will take "alien" and LSB core and a lot of other stuff...  the key word here is compromise.  Kind of a metaphor to life.
Make no mistake this is a very hard application to get to run right in Debian-aptosid, only by bending a lot of software can I get it to run well. It is not easy to get to run, but is really powerful when it does.
But it does run. GoogleEarth 7.0 with 3D synthesis. 


Reliability - iffy - It has a reputation of not working in a Debian Linux, When it does (when all of the planets and stares line up) it works well.

Note:  image Date 06-23-2013 : 

Google Earth

7.1.1.1580 (beta)

Build Date

4/19/2013

Build Time

7:38:45 pm

Renderer

OpenGL

Operating System

Linux (3.9.0.2)

Video Driver

nouveau

Max Texture Size

8192x8192

available video memory

information not available

Server

kh.google.com

.
.GE on Plasma.
.
portland.
Por
tland, OR. in simulated 3D is dynamic as one "flying" over it.  The whole world is there to look at and study. From the smallest little island to some of the more hidden places on Earth.
This is not a picture, it is synthesized from pure data... Awesome technology. It is most useful as a map and satellite program for exploration of the earth and moon, and to some degree the planets we know something about, by flyover missions.  However, the synthesizing portion of it is in its infancy now and some day soon is likely to go beyond just awesome to down right scary... if you know what I mean.

  It is the future of things to come. Like it or not, the future is now. What we do with it, is up to us. Great capabilities demands great responsibility.
The Image below is synthesized from data, it is not real, its 3D aspects and generation is just from satellite data from pictures and then generated into a 3D set of images that can be looked at from any angle and direction.
At this time it is not very good but considering it is at all, is awesome... give it a few years. This is G.E. 7.0
somewhere

How accurate is it... Google Earth that is.   below: Older picture, about two years ago.
NYC.
The above was made with the previous version G.E. 5.0 - not bad, one is a picture from the top of the WTC (1985) with Ektachrome and the other is Google Earth 7 years ago.

Application:  Chromium browser, mapping program
9-10-13
New image-old program which is far better, superior than the "new Google maps". Just because you can, does not mean you should...
A great example of fixing something that was not broke, I had to remove the new and reinstating the old.
chromium maps -old version.
I just picked a random street in LA somewhere, for this picture, the mapping program is extremely powerful... so something rather plane and simple is shown.
Not too close or intrusive.  It is capable of being very intrusive,  but self discretion is still very important with me anyway as far a what I would show here.

Just so you know, "This" is the "New" Google maps in Chromium
Version 35.0.1916.153 Debian jessie/sid (274914)
Its kind of rough as a work of software, so far.  but keep in mind it will get better and its synthesis of the image is likely going to be the new way.
near LA
.
Obviously this is a long shot, however it is very capable of getting in very close with a synthesized 3D image.
I miss the split screen which this can not do. - Currently 10-12-14 change the setting and it will do Split Screen.
as it was However it is very CPU extensive as it is simulated 3D and street view combined.
just a place.
Just a place near Los Angeles


Application: Firefox /or Iceweasel in Debian - running youtube.com
version 38... Current version is 38.3.0 -- 19-May-2015
 12th March 2016 is version 45 - Linux Mint 17.3
noia skins no longer can keep up ( and they gave up ) so Firefox becomes stock and drab and boring.
it is rather drab compared to this "older Noia" version below...

.
iceweasel
You-tube on the www and today-

Rather dull but far more powerful and acceptable trade off.


 
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About Linux, not just the kernel (specifically that is what Linux is, the Kernel ) However, that is not what people think when the refer to it... the entire immense  project in its entirety mostly made up of open source software. by design and necessity of perfected growth, a meritocracy... is what is generally though of as Linux
The benefit to humanity is beginning to be seen in Mobile as Android  and Chromebook, Also large scale Linux as applied to Supercomputers, Defense, NASA and Yes in Intelligence .
 Open Source Software such as Apache  powers
a very large part of the internet itself and the majority of the rest is some other open source model. 
Curiously The one company with a closed source model is only in a commanding position in one place... China Food for thought.
 
    
Knowledge is power,  truth (wisdom) clears the fog of ignorance or misinformation.

Linux will not be stopped.

             Fact is Linux is of Strategic importance to the US and the rest of the world now.   So Say the DoD and DoJ as well many other countries
                http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/April/11-at-491.html


    This is important information that indicates how the world is changing.  It use to be that the kernel of Linux was about 80-90% individual private hobby code contributions.... That was a long time ago... Now in the year 2013 it is the other way around, 89% of the kernel is big gun corporations and powerful companies paying for it to be the heavy 800lb Gorilla in the room and 11% private code contributions.
    This is how it will be, Linux runs the world now... going into the past is Unix and that other Operating System that breaks when a rock is thrown though it, so to speak, because mobile waits for no one. 

Linux is a right now thing if you want it to be so...

aptosid -(lowercase is correct) Linux is the opposite of Enterprise grade Linux. (so stable it is dead) that is what Enterprise means.  Super Reliable but dead as a doornail.  Look, many people need that. That is why it is that way, it is bug free because it is locked into itself and nobody touches the code, ipso facto OLD but very very reliable.  Here is an example of a Enterprise Grade Linux


So in the opposite direction of enterprise Linux is something like aptosid...
    What is a rolling release? Short answer... Instead of testing or release "versions" the distribution, it is built to a live CD or DVD that you make... more like the entrance to a freeway. Once your system is running on your Hard Disk, it gets updated whenever you wish to go through the process of updating it, from the network, with as many of the applications and programs you are running in total. different days different programs and applications as they occur in the real world right now. 
    Both ways of running a Linux are valid and serve different needs or desires. and these are the extremes of the world in desktop computers.


Time to explain the number of Linux distributions...  and why this makes Linux so powerful and in the viral sense essentially indefeasible.
Its all tied together at the core and that is just about all that is tied together... http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Licensing_and_Law/forking.html
But wait... you think Linux XYZ is a fork of something called Linux ZYX or something implying a mess of unrelated Linux's cluttering up the universe.  > 400 plus distros and counting...  well these are versions of.. or specialized variations of ONE Linux Standard Base.


To this day (yes) not one virus or malware has survived in the wild with any Linux as a social event.
Period, not one.  I could go on and on about it but what would the point be.   security is very much in the minds of those who code for Linux and it is always in the forefront of seriousness but there is also the aforementioned inherent fact of its reality.  Linux is very secure even as a desktop user, more so because my desktop Linux makes a statement, even slightly with what is possible.
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Application - File Manager
file manager picture date 08-10-14

KDE
Dolphin
Version 4.13.3
Currently using KDE Platform 4.14.4 - Sept 13-14 change happens fast
screenshot below.
KDE
One of the really nice things about the file manager (Dolphin) in KDE Plasma, Linux, is it can split the file windows by drives or directories.
above is an example, straightforward and clean.

Even though I am running a heavy and full desktop computer... its real fast, It is also a heavy hardware intensive machine to compensate.
Speed costs... how fast do you want to go.  I am not scraping pennies to make this possible.  I throw dollars at it.

A store bought computer like this could cost several thousand dollars and that does not include the software. I donate $ to the organizations online for the software.
It is not exactly forced...  But I am not a "freetard"  Its less than MS Windows® and my machine can do more...  but the offset is I have to understand how to build, and use the software.

Nothing is costless, it all has some kind of price.  Knowledge or money or both, usually both.
A good distro of Linux will have many good applications...
aptosid based on Debian will have about 40,000...  programs and applications that provide all of the things one might want a computer to do.
Currently my computer has 1,756 applications and programs installed to make it rock.

40,844 --  think I am joking... I am not...  http://packages.debian.org/unstable/allpackages?format=txt.gz
The trick is to know what you need and what you do not need.


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    Removed info on updating an aptosid Linux... dormant system now in 2016
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aptosid user/member # is 97 ( Not a power number or anything other than I was there when sidux changed to aptosid and logged in early and re-registered as one of the members of the forum, I don't post much. )  should I be insane :) and try to stay with it as a old dude?  aptosid forked to become siduction
Is my avatar of challenging fate, so to speak - guiding me to try - 2019 edit note:  I went to the siduction site and saw my old log-on name was there and the identity was setup to last forever... that is seductive
my avatar     my avatar. This, is my avatar was made from a frame of film " Lord of the Rings" using the GIMP as it appears at left, it was never in any film  it just looks like it might have.
Lord of the rings
     I have been a serious Linux user ever since working at Intel in the mid-late 1997 were I was a configuration guru at MD6 Jones farm, Hillsboro, OR.
    Strangely enough I was hired as something of an expert at Windows® configurations, having worked for a local custom microcomputer configuration company for several years Win95 then Win98 at Intel it was NT3.51 and NT4. and after 18 months plus a few weeks, I left believing that Microsoft was history and Linux was going to master the world.  I still think that is inevitable. We made crash test dummy's of windows computers and recorded the last moments of life as they were stressed to death.
(not that hard to do) Intel made special instructions to the core of their processors that made Windows run better than it otherwise could.  Errata corrections in firmware.

I also was someone who installed many different operating systems for testing... all of them that were usable at that time in an X86 environment.
The Engineers at Intel pointed me in the direction of Linux as something of interest with a real potential future (Red hat Linux 4.x and 5.x) I was hooked good, even though it was not that easy to use *then* but it was reliable.

I taught computer configuration at a local College for a short time afterward.  By then though our electronics company was standing on its own.
And from before, long ago, I share a patent in computing/video technologies from the early 1990's http://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/WO1996008108  When I was with Unilearn and the related company Foresight before that.
  screen-unilearn. unilearn computer editor.(More details:  http://www.patents.com/us-5576844.html  Actually I go back to the days of ECM3 and Watkins Johnson Co from 1971,  a world of physics and microwave antennas.
WJ anachoic chamber controls
above:  I am working the Anechoic chamber test station at WJ 1976ish.  Watkins-Jonson Co. ( Palo Alto and San Jose, CA) and Gaithersburg, Maryland.

    I have built thousands of computers and this is were I am, mostly now as a hobby and for our company and friends... I have no commercial interest in computers... we manufacture AC power products, audio and video related electronics and stereo interconnects and speakers.

 
    Film background, still I love the craft.
Also spent much time as a film fanatic playing, teaching and doing old school motion picture optical FX while attempting to be an associate producer.

     In a way I think film is a great way to teach because it reaches out to the imaginations of millions.
film mike Picture credit: Todd A Marks - He
is a Computer/Video Playback Supervisor. He took this picture a very long time ago and sent it to me a few years ago.
    Above: Yours truly in the early 1980's, I really miss those days... I would do it differently if I had the choice of time travel... but it is always true that hindsight is more 20-20.

     If curious, I do have a philosophical page about getting pointed in a direction, were you try and make a new one or improve the journey of the one you are on, in life.
    Personal Growth

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IBM Supercomputer IBM supercomputer means a future Linux Super Computer.

In this realm it has no peer or even faint competition. See this graphic from the BBC {(select OS type (Operating System)} and every one of the top 500 supercomputers around the world is listed.
and almost all will be running Linux or... in decline now, is its predecessor relative, UNIX (takes a while to load... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10187248 )


A good distro of Linux including its applications can easily go over 200 million lines of code. Remember as a desktop, it has to do everything you can imagine.

Now about the relevance of Desktop Computers...
The demise of the PC desktop at the entry level of computing... is going Mobile.  And that will be the eventual end of the road for those companies that can't adapt...

Workstations computers, the New PC, for those who need and demand more, will become more powerful or offer something genuinely innovative and high end at the workstation level.


It is not the main focus of the developers of Linux nor has it had significant market share. Something between 1.5 and 5 percent depending on which voodoo you use to calculate something that is not able to be calculated.  And in the future, the PC is likely to go into decline for the average person.

More of the general population are using laptops and mobile devices today, actually having a fixed location Personal Computer is as a ratio of those who have a computing device is beginning to decline... barely noticeable but the trend is there.

But Linux is just starting in a way.

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This is ideological in nature... it is.  I had a lot here backing up this summation, but what is the point of lots of "proof" in a world not willing to listen.
    So instead of a waste of bandwidth in modern parlance, I have retained the summation and leave it to you too see or not.
 

   As the world closes in on Freedom and most importantly Liberty, as an individual one can fight back... it is done by controlling how you interface with the future.

       Linux is just one powerful tool to try and maintain some sense of self determination and personal security... It is not or meant to be the only way, just one of the ways.
       At least one has some chance with it, in maintaining a functional aspect of freedom in the physical world as it really is.
       It requires learning how to build a computer, or understanding how it is put together, were you do have control of what is on it, and of how it gets used.

       With Freedom comes great responsibility and vigilance... and the price is one of being highly educated, being vigilant
and maintaining that. By knowing what and whom to trust and what and whom not to trust.

    Once trust is lost, once trust of the people in its government to be trustworthy or trust-able with the freedom and independence to be a free people, then it is time to question whether the government should be kept as it is, or, is it time to think of a new way to rediscover and enforce freedom of the people by the people...
    Living in a surveillance society is not the way, the terrorists win by that method and You, The Americans lose.

    It is not the concept of a democratic republic that is the problem but rather the ideologies of those in its functional management who were entrusted to manage it that are to be questioned and if disloyal to the Constitution and MOST importantly The "Bill of Rights" in fact... need to be replaced by those who do believe in the existence of a democratic republic in fact.... an oligarchy in reality was not the idea of what America was to be... 
               
             Take warning: President Eisenhower's Farewell Address - He was right, very much so. the proof of that is simply the world as it is now.

             Heed the words here: President John F. Kennedy speaking to that idea that secrecy within the government is repugnant...
            a free and powerful independent Press is important in warning the US people on the tyrannies of its government in practice.
               
                       

             "Good night and good luck."
     
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            ©2019 Michael Crock jena technologiesLLC.      20 years of Linux er... um 28 years now.
 
              DEC . 23 rd 2022     Jena Technologies        
    I started to learn Linux a very very long time ago.. 1996 {{ redhat 4.1 dead link removed }}
          Linux went from being a hobby, to being commercially viable, to being dominant at a global scale...
            ...now it is running the world you use everyday, you just do not know it.

        My Current system is currently in testing mode MX Linux - currently in validation mode 
            
                       Running on AMD 64 - 6 core CPU
AMD Ryzen AMD microcode With 6 CPU NVIDIA CUDA cores = 12 active CPU system
              - it still works well. too well, this Linux never really crashes.
               
                    I will upgrade to MX Linux on AMD Ryzen Processors... very fast and quite powerful.

          
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