2011 December 01 archive at Robert Pogson

Archive for December 1st, 2011

The Neatest Thing About Debian GNU/Linux

Published by pogson December 1st, 2011 in technology. 1 Comment

There are a lot of things I like about Debian GNU/Linux. At the moment APT is the thing I love most. I just upgraded my most complex system, Beast, from it’s thin client, using SSH to the next release and I did not even have to reboot the thin client. Everything I use is working smoothly on Wheezy, which actually is still in “testing”. How smooth is that?

I edited /etc/apt/sources.list to name “wheezy” as the flavour instead of “squeeze” and ran
apt-get update;apt-get dist-upgrade.
A package I had installed and don’t use hung up so I had to repeat the command to restart the process at one point but everything else still works, my databases, web applications, search engines, and even the apt-cacher process running on Beast to cache downloaded packages.

Beast is headless and I did everything from its thin client. I just had to reconnect the SSH session after Beast’s single reboot. How cool is that? Debian GNU/Linux can do all that and it’s still not good enough to release to Debian developers’ standards. Compare that with the experience of the XP users who were not allowed to upgrade to Vista/”7″ without paying and re-installing. All my apps are here with me and upgraded… Amen.

- Robert Pogson

C-19, A Bill To Scrap The Non-Restricted Firearms Registry Passes Committee

Published by pogson December 1st, 2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

41st Parliament, 1st Session

The Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security has the honour to present its

FIRST REPORT

In accordance with its Order of Reference of Tuesday, November 1, 2011, your Committee has considered Bill C-19, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act, and agreed on Tuesday, November 29, 2011, to report it without amendment.

A copy of the relevant Minutes of Proceedings (Meetings Nos. 11 to 15) is tabled.

KEVIN SORENSON
Chair

The minutes of the decisive meeting of the Security committee are here. The opposition had attempted several amendments that the chair ruled out of order because of their scope.

- Robert Pogson

Lenovo Displaces Dell As #2 Supplier Of PCs

Published by pogson December 1st, 2011 in technology. 2 Comments

iSuppli reports that in Q3 of 2011, Lenovo exceeded Dell’s PC shipments. Lenovo had huge growth thanks to its huge home market growth. HP stumbled a bit although it had good growth too. I suspect some growth is due to support for GNU/Linux as well. Lenovo has long supplied systems with GNU/Linux and sells them in volume through its business channels. Lenovo certifies many of its systems to run with a variety of GNU/Linux distros.

On a side note, even NetApplications reports that 1.5million more PCs are running GNU/Linux globally (0.1% share) each month. Someone is supplying those PCs and it is as likely as not Dell and Lenovo supplying China. They actually show an increase in XP’s share. Is someone still shipping XP? Is it illegal copying? Are people unhappy with “7″?

- Robert Pogson