Customized openSUSE-KDE3 linux…

SUSE STUDIO is totally coool, I tell you….. =)

you can make your customized LINUX CD/DVD and share with others….

Here is the link to one of the disks I created…

FEATURES:

————–

Linux kernel 2.6.27 (32 bit)

KDE 3.5.10 base

Konqueror

K3b

Kate

Kdebluetooth

KNetworkmanager

VLC 1.0.1

SMplayer

gparted

wine.

All this in an ISO of just 423 MB…. ENJOY !!!

p.s. By any chance, if the link is broken, just let me know…

running KDE trunk…

As i told in previous post that I was trying to build the KDE-trunk…

I checked out the trunk from SVN on 2nd of july itself…..but got it compiled yesterday….

yes, it took more than 10 days…

searching on google and asking the developers directly @irc, helped me on this…..

Currently, i’m running KDE 4.3.60 (KDE 4.4 >= 20090706) and SVN version of amarok and k3b…

This is how I got it working….

1) After checking out the KDE trunk (svn://anonsvn.kde.org/home/kde/trunk/KDE) from SVN, I tried to build kdelibs first…

but got some errors saying “parsing error related to cmake”… i tried a lot to fix this myself but at the end one guy on #kde-devel suggested me to update my kdelibs from SVN…

so, I updated the kdelibs (svn update) … and tried to recompile (cmakekde)….

this time I got kdelibs compiled…

2) Then I went for kdebase…. and failed…(got some errors related to phonon….)

3) when I restarted my system after that I was getting only mouse pointer on the blank screen….

4) so, I entered system with a different login… (one tip from my side, always keep a separate account for backup)

I enquired on irc again…. and came to know that I should compile the code in this order:

kdesupport->kdelibs->kdepimlibs->kdebase…

so, I took kdesupport from SVN, and built it… after that kdelibs again… and so on…

this time I got kdebase working, so is my main login…(big relief)….(btw, this was second time within these 10 days, I lost my login)….

5) then, i compiled all other modules without any hussle..all went smoothly….

6) Today morning I found that amarok is not working anymore…. what could be done…?

took the code from SVN, and went for compiling…. got errors (as usual)…

back on IRC and some tries here and there…and just 15 mins ago… I got amarok 2.2-SVN, up and running… (meenwhile I got k3b 1.67.0 working, too)…

That’s nice, community is really very helping….

Still there are many problems left which I need to sort out…. and I’m sure about that…..

here are some more screenpicks.. enjoy…

that’s all for now…

I’ll be back soon with updates …. till then, bye…

Linux kernel bits which I feel excited about…

Here are some  comparisions between:

Linux (2.6.23) versus Windows (Server 2008)…

I compiled these here so that, next time if I want to check the scheduler latency of linux kernel, I should not go for googling.

—-

Performance

Scheduler (performance)	Linux	Windows
scheduling latency (average)	0.009mS	2mS
scheduling latency (worse)	0.3mS	16mS

.

.

Interrupt Performance

Interrupt (performance)	Linux	Windows
interrupt latency (average)	11uS 5uS (custom)	36uS
interrupt latency (maximum)	1000uS	45000uS

.

.

Stack

Stack (kernel)	Linux	Windows
kernel stack size	8KB	12KB

.

.

Uniprocessor Boot Image

Boot Image (uniprocessor, no PAE)	Linux	Windows
filesizes – kernel mode (no drivers)	1.7MB	6.9MB (3.3+0.5+2.0+2.0MB)
filesizes – user mode (no drivers)	-	3.0MB (0.7+1.0+0.6+0.7MB)
filesizes – total (no drivers)	1.7MB	9.9MB

.

.

Hardware Clock

Hardware Clock	Linux	Windows
tickless	Y	N
timer interrupt frequency default – uniprocessor	250Hz	100Hz
timer interrupt frequency build time configurable – uniprocessor	unlimited	N
timer interrupt frequency – multiprocessor	250Hz	66.6Hz
timer interrupt frequency build time configurable – multiprocessor	unlimited	N

.

.

Memory Hardware Limits

Memory Limits (Hardware Support)	Linux	Windows
Maximum RAM – 32bit, no PAE	<4GB	1GB (Starter) <4GB (others)
Maximum RAM – 32bit, PAE	64GB	1GB (Starter) <4GB (others)
Maximum RAM – 64bit	1024GB-8589934592GB	- (Starter) 8GB (Home Basic) 16GB (Home Premium) 128GB (others)

.

.

Multiprocessor Limits

Multiprocessor (limits)	Linux	Windows
Maximum number of CPUs – 32bit SMP	32 (logical)	1 (Starter, Basic, Premium) 2 (Business, Ultimate, Enterprise)
Maximum number of CPUs – 32bit NUMA	32 or 1024?	1 (Starter, Basic, Premium) 2 (Business, Ultimate, Enterprise)
Maximum number of CPUs – 64bit SMP	255 (AMD64/Intel64) 1024 (IA-64)	0 (Starter) 1 (Basic, Premium) 2 (Business, Ultimate, Enterprise)
Maximum number of CPUs – 64bit NUMA	>1024	0 (Starter) 1 (Basic, Premium) 2 (Business, Ultimate, Enterprise)

.

.

Device Limits

Device (limits)	Linux	Windows
Block device limit 32bit	16TB	16TB
Block device limit 64bit	8EB	256TB
Major/minor numbers	4k/1M	-

.

.

Kernel Source Code

Kernel Language (no drivers)	Linux	Windows
source	open source	closed source partly open source (WAP access WRK)
language – C	Y	Y
language – Assembly	Y	Y
language - SEH	N	Y
language - VEH	N	Y
language – C++	N	Y
language – C proportion	94% ±3%y	60% ±25%
kernel – size Source_lines_of_code	3.5M ±0.5M	10M ±5M

.

.

Kernel + Drivers Source Code

Source Code (kernel + drivers)	Linux	Windows
language – C proportion	94% ±3%	70% ±25%
language – C++	N	Y
total Source_lines_of_code	7M ±2M	17M ±9M
estimated bug error rate per line	0.02%	0.2%
i.e. estimated bugs total	1400	34000

.

.

Kernel Development

Development (kernel)	Linux	Windows
development model	open source	closed source
development cycle time -major release	35 months	63 months
development cycle time -minor release	3 months	31 months
development cycle time -patch release	ongoing	ongoing
development process – simple	Y	N
modularity – high	Y	N

.

.

Hardware Form

Hardware (PC)	Linux	Windows
Desktop	Y	Y
Laptop	Y	Y
Media Center	Y	Y
Tablet	Y	N (Starter, Basic) Y (others)
Rack, Server etc	Y	Y (see limits)
Wearable	Y	Y
Hardware (other)
PDA	Y	N
mobile phone (cell phone)	Y	N
router	Y	N
internet tablet	Y	N
watch	N Y	N
coffee machine	N	N Y (XP)
embedded (other)	Y	N

.

.

Hardware Architecture

Hardware Architecture Support (PC)	Linux	Windows
x86 (Intel)	Y	Y N (Starter not all)
AMD64/Intel64 (AMD/Intel)	Y	Y N (Starter)
IA-64 (Intel)	Y	N
Hardware Architecture Support (current)
PPC64 – PowerPC-64 (AIM)	Y	N
SPARC64 (Sun)	Y	N
ARM (ARM)	Y	N
PA-RISC (HP)	Y	N
Cell (STI)	Y	N
AVR32 (Atmel)	Y	N
Blackfin (Analog Devices)	Y	N
MN10300/AM33 (MEI/Panasonic)	Y	N
Orion Feroceon (Marvell)	Y	N
System i (AS/400) – POWER (IBM)	Y	N
Cray – Opteron (Cray/AMD)	Y	N
z/Architecture (IBM)	Y	N
ETRAX CRIS (Axis)	Y	N
H8 (Renesas/Hitachi)	Y	N
SH – SuperH (Renesas/Hitachi)	Y	N
SH64 -  (Renesas/Hitachi)	Y	N
V850 (NEC)	Y	N
MIPS-64 (MIPS)	Y	N
MIPS-64 (Cavium OCTEON)	N Y (patch)	N
MIPS (MIPS)	Y	N
Hardware Architecture Support (non-current)
PPC – PowerPC (AIM)	Y	N
SPARC32 (Sun)	Y	N
Alpha (DEC)	Y	N
Cray – pre-Opteron (Cray)	N	N
System i (AS/400) – IMPI (IBM)	N	N
System i (AS/400) – RS64 (IBM)	Y	N
m68k (Motorola)	Y	N
m88k (Motorola)	N Y (branch)	N
S/390x (IBM)	Y	N
S/390 (IBM)	Y	N
MIPS (DEC)	Y	N
Hardware Architecture Support (game consoles)
Wii (Nintendo)	Y	N
Xbox 360 (Microsoft)	Y	N Y (branch)
Xbox (Microsoft)	Y	N Y (branch)
PS3/Playstation 3 (Sony)	Y	N
PS2/Playstation 2 (Sony)	Y	N
Gamecube (Nintendo)	Y	N
Hardware Architecture Support (other)
others	Y	N

.

.

Virtualization

Guest

Virtualization (Guest)	Linux	Windows
Can be run as guest	Y	N (illegal Starter, Basic, Premium) Y (+1 licence Business, Ultimate) Y (Enterprise)
maximum number of guests (RHEL, Microsoft Virtual Server)	unlimited	512 (with Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1, for free)

.

.

These comparision are blindly copied from this link.

Many thanks to the author of this comparision, for his hard work and for enlightening us.

-

Reliance Netconnect plus, so far so good…

I shifted to the new flat in May and unfortunately there is no cable internet service available in the building….
I asked Tata Indicom, Airtel, Hathway, Sify and some unknown local providers, but no luck at all.

I had to take some connection urgently since I am willing to dive into KDE sources (yeah, time has come )
and have to start the study for the first semester (M.S. in software systems)…

So, there were three options -
- Airtel USB internet (EDGE based, 150Kbps max)
Rs. 600 per month (unlimited usage)
- Reliance Netconnect plus (EvDO based, 3.1Mbps max)
Rs. 499 per month (Night only, 10 GB)
- Tata Indicom Photon (EvDO based, 3.1Mbps max)
Rs. 499 per month (Night only, 10 GB)

First option was rejected right away, such bad speed when the world is moving to 4G….
Now I had Reliance and Tata Indicom,
My last connection was Tata Indicom, so I know about their service,
they don’t listen to the customers,
I complained around 20 times for speed issue but no result.
And Reliance, no need to talk about them,
everybody knows…they are passionate about cheating their customers….
and the are very innovative in that too….new schemes…new ways to screw you….

but as I told no other choices…so I planned to take Tata Indicom USB….
I called their customer care to have a demo session….
like always, the custome care guy promised me that the demo person will come next day…
same repeated three times….
so, I myself planned to visit their store….
In the store, I seen the device,
but could not verify the speed…since their was no flash player installed…(to check sppedtest.net)…
and they were not allowed to install anything on their computers…(I feel, he was ashamed of the speed demonstration..)..

Meanwhile, I called Reliance custome care, and got the same old response…
“the demo guy will come today/tomorrow/within this week….”

But I still was thinking that Tata Indicom would be better…(being a Tata employee)…
so, visited another store of Tata Ind…and you know what, they withdrew the “Night plan” which I was looking for….WTF…
I thought, Reliance will also follow them…(that’s what they do….always similar plans…)…
so I decided to take Tata Indicom with (Rs. 1250, Use 24×31, 10 GB)…
and visited the store again…

This time first I checked the Reliance store out…
“Night plan” was there…and I asked for demo…and was satisfied with the speed…
It was 2.6 Mbps download, 100 kbps upload speed….

I bought the modem right away…..didn’t even bother to take a look on Tata Indicom…which was just aside this store….
They told, I’ll be online from Monday….
but It was not activated…(due to some document problem)…
I sent another copy of document and then yesterday (wednesday), they said it has been activated….

As soon as, i reached my apartment, I tried it out in windows…
and finally, yes, it was working…

now, I had to try it on Linux…(The modem was being recognized anyways)..
with the help of some posts by some desi geeks…
I was online on my kubuntu again…

and speedtest told me that I was surfing at 2.24 Mbps…..not bad….

I updated my intallation to KDE 4.3 beta 2 and started checking out KDE trunk…
soon I will be runing KDE trunk on my lappy….

I will let you know, how I get KDE trunk running…

see ya….

KDE 4.3 Beta 2 is on the way to jaunty !!!

Just to inform you that,

“Kubuntu Experimental” is being loaded with KDE 4.2.90 (soon to become 4.3 beta 2)….

Beta 2 was tagged on 3rd June….and since then Kubuntu Ninjas are practicing their Ninjutsu skills to bring you the latest and the greatest….

Have a look on the package build status, here.

Understanding, KDE 4 is fast !!!

I am using Kubuntu 9.04 – i386 as my default OS (KDE 4.2.3)…..

and I have Vista installed on my laptop too…..but do not use it….

(my notebook is Dell inspiron 1420 with intel G965 graphics)….

I have been using all the KDE 4 releases including betas and RCs on my default installation which were humbly provided by Ubuntu ninjas…..and always excited with every new release because of new features and greater speed……

(using KDE, since KDE 3.4.*)

I am happy with the speed and responsiveness of the system…..

Sooo, what’s the point???

Okk, here is the thing…

today I installed KDE windows binaries, just to play with them on windows and to check how the plasma stuff runs…..

Before running KDE on windows, I had the impression that there would be some performance loss on the alien environment…..

I must admit, I’ve never seen such lightning fast applications and environment (dolphin, okular, gwenview and plasma)…..browsing pretty big pdf files on Okular…..thumbnail generation in gwenview and dolphin….everything is just snappy…….

now after using it for half an hour, native windows applications seem to me like they are running on alien plateform….

the KDE is running amazingly fast on windows……:D

I feel that KDE is running 10 times faster (I didn’t run any benchmark……just stunned with the performance) on windows than on my jaunty……

what is wrong???

I think, the main culprit for this poor performance is INTEL graphics…..the stack is under architectural changes…..and will improve in coming driver releases…..but I do not think they can ever improve the performance at the scale I just felt on here…..

even with Nvidia performance is not very good on linux….

or may be the whole X thing is letting the linux graphics down (speed / responsiveness)….

Closing

Just wanted to thank to KDE developers and all the people related to the project….

You are doing marvelous job….

I wish INTEL linux graphics improve soon.

So, now I can say (without any hesitation or doubt) that

KDE 4 is really faaaaaaaaaasst !!!!!

Why does the world seem more cute today? (Qt 4.5 is out)…..

from now on our beloved and cute software is LGPL….
I’ve heard some warnings that, It could be freakingly fast….OMG

Anyways,
I’ll try to update my current version in KUBUNTU 8.10…
Let’s see what is cooked up…

KDE 4.2 RC packages available now on KUBUNTU repositories !!!

Just got a update notification from the Adept.
KDE 4.1.96 has arrived……
but I am going to wait until 27th January 2009…
Waiting eagerly !!!

Video preview in Dragon player…

Something which I noticed many days after I installed KDE 4.2 Beta 1 is Video preview in open file dialog of dragon player.

I didn’t know such a feature has been included.

Really coooool…

This is not enabled by defalut.


To enable it..

Go to the setting menu in open-file dialog..

and choose “Show aside preview”.

Thanks to Phonon !!!

Operating systems popularity comparision (kind of)…

Just a comparision of popularity of different operating systems based on google search results…..

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Linux

.

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Mac

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.

Windows Vista

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.

Windows XP

.

.

Solaris

.

.

BSD

————————————————————————————————————————————

As you seen here “Linux” has the most number of search results on GOOGLE….

which makes it MOST popular OS of the GOOGLE (WEB) WORLD….

————————————————————————————————————————————

One more comparision can be seen among various Linux distros…

————————————————————————————————————————————

Ubuntu

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Fedora

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.

Opensuse

.

.

Mandriva

————————————————————————————————————————————

As expected………Ubuntu is winner here…

————————————————————————————————————————————

I did not include the search result with the word “WINDOWS”…..

since, it seems more generic…

Though, it gives most number of results….

————————————————————————————————————————————

Windows

————————————————————————————————————————————

So, I give you……… ONE MORE REASON TO BE HAPPIER !!!

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What do you say???