“Have you checked your computer for spyware, trojans and other malicious software, sir?”, asked the support tech at Telekom Malaysia’s Streamyx Support Line.

“I use Ubuntu”, I said slowly and smugly, relishing her inevitable conundrum, not knowing what Ubuntu is, but being unable to admit it lest she seems ignorant. I let my superior operating system’s name sink in for a few seconds before I added, “Ubuntu Linux. I Use Ubuntu Linux.”

I could hear the relief on the otherside of the line as she recognised the word Linux, but before she could flip her Support 101 Manual to the Linux page I continued “my operating system doesn’t suffer from spyware, trojans and other malicious software.”

“Oh”, she said as she reliased that all of her other made-for-windows-cookie-cutter solutions suddenly didn’t apply.

You see, my notebook computer, which I’ve been using for some hardcore Internet interaction for the last 4 months, has encountered the grand total of 0 (zero) viruses, spyware, trojans and other malicious software. Why?

Because it’s Ubuntu. A community supported operating system of the highest calibre.  If any of the above exploits anything on Ubuntu, it’s patched even before most people know about it.  That’s of course assuming the nasties can figure out how to exploit anything, because each user on Ubuntu is self contained, and no malicious piece of software will ever have the power to destroy an entire Ubuntu installation.

And that’s how I know that virusses, spyware, trojans and other malicious software have absolute nothing to do with my slow Internet connection.

StreamyX doesn’t mix so well in my house

Yup, for months my broadband connection has been slightly faster than an ISDN line (remember those?) and after experiencing lighting fast connections, on slower packages no less, at my friends’ houses, actually watching a 3-minute YouTube video on the fly, I decided it was time to complain.

For the last week I’ve been in fruitless deliberations with the Telekom Malaysia’s tech support, them trying to solve the reason for my slow connection.  On 3 occations I had to sit through their 12-step solution-to-everything support exercises. It’s like calling to say your head hurts when you knock it agianst the wall, but then still different people ask you to knock your head against a wall to ask again you if it hurts.

At the support’s request, I’ve done more than 6 speed tests where I log into their ftp server with a piece of Java software that downloads a 1MiB file and confirms, time and time again, that I get max 245kbps off a connection that advertises 1028kbps and aims to deliver at least 80% of that.  As if by telling them my head hurts when I knock it against the wall isn’t enough, they have to see me knock my head and feel the bump before they believe me.

They’ve even sent over a technician (phone line technician) who looked at the admin area for my ADSL modem, saw that it says I’m actually connected at 1,536kps and took that as the obvious, irrefutable proof that they are in fact giving me what I’m paying for, yet couldn’t explain why his own website, www.tm.net.my took a good 3 minutes to download.

“It’s the computer” he says, pointing at my incriminatingly alien operating system. “Erm, no, it isn’t” I say as I repeat the slow-loading-tm.net.my page trick on my desktop computer that runs XP (and is riddled with malicious software that I got from sticking my pendrive into computers at my previous employer) and Julia appears, doing the same with her notebook that runs Vista.  But he has nothing to say about that.

Eventually he left saying he would switch the physical port of my line at the hub, but as it turns out he had the last laugh, as after he did that, my connection slowed to speeds I last experienced when I had to dial up.

The tech support saga continues, and I only hope that I can get up to a speed that will allow me to download the much anticipated Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex that is due to be released in about 8 days time.

Yup, it’s good to be using a free, community supported operating system that releases an improved version with new features every 6 months.  I had my first whiff of Ubuntu when it was Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon, my first steps away from Windows.

Soon after I was awed by my current installation of Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron, and I can only expect great things from the Intrepid Ibex.  I see also that the next release has been named and will be Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope, scheduled for release in April 2009.

Of course, a fast connection sure would make life…. faster.

If you enjoyed this post, do subscribe to the 1Earth RSS feed!

Don’t know about you, but I spend a lot of time on my computer. I mean, A LOT.

Like many people, I work on my computer. My work is totally reliant on my computer, so there’s nothing I can do that doesn’t involve my computer (god help me if one day we run out of electricity).

I work long hours - loooong hours. And the type of stuff I do requires mammoth sitting-down sessions. My hobbies, like this blog for instance, also include computers. Like I said; I spend a lot of time on my computer. A LOT.

Often when I get busy with a bit of programming or writing an article, hours can slip by and I don’t notice. I don’t notice, that is, until I try to get up from my seat and my knees, legs and arms lock up. When I then reference the clock and realise I just sat in one position for 3 hours with nothing but my fingers moving over the keyboard, then I stop wondering why I suddenly locked up.

Joints that stop working and atrophied muscles aside, my flabby gut also indicates that I sit on my ever-increasing-in-girth ass waaaaay too much.  Getting older only amplifies these results of a computer-centered lifestyle.

Oh, give me a break

Exactly! The solution to the problems above (and possibly many that are yet to rear their ugly heads), is to take frequent breaks. 10 minutes every hour, says the experts, and micro-breaks every so often, just a minute here and there where you put your arms in the air and look beyond your screen.

The 10 minute breaks, I can assure you, are quite important, as it helps circulation. Nothing like poor circulation when it comes to the sports field or the bed room I tell you.

Alarms are great reminders, but I find myself killing those, or just ignoring them, pretty easily. Let me just snooze this alarm and off I go on a 2 or 3 hour sitting-down spree.

Enter WorkRave

It should be little wonder that Ubuntu includes a program that can save you from Repetitive Strain Injury. I think Linux users love their computers so much that they really just get up to eat (and pee, but only if the adult diaper is saturated), so it people like Rob Caelers & Raymond Penners to come up with something like WorkRave.

WorkRave is a neat little programme that comes with Ubuntu by default.  It essentially forces you to take regular breaks, and I’ve set mine so that it locks my computer so that I can’t ignore it and have to break.  Handy.

You can set it to remind you of micro-breaks, which gets a little annoying as it seems as if it warns you every minute, although it’s every 10 or 15.

When your hourly break rolls around, it also gives you some random exercises to do in the form of graphics, like stretching your arms, tilting your neck, twiddling your fingers and other RSI preventative exercises.

Then once you’ve done those, it locks the computer (you can set it that way, or not), and forces you to spend the other 9 or so minutes away from your computer.  I usually walk down the stairs or do something equally active, just to remind my legs what they’re there for.

So, do your body a favour and get this nifty little programme.  If you use it religiously, I’m sure you’ll find you have more energy and less aches & pains.  You might also just be able to sky someone in frisbee without falling down when your puny legs hit the ground.

If you enjoyed this post, do subscribe to the 1Earth RSS feed!

Einstein once said that one definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over for ever and ever expecting a different result.

Well then, when it comes to computers, we should all be mad really, because such is the nature of the computer, that you could well do the same thing over and over for ever and ever and a different result might just occur.

In Windows this is, of course, more true than of any other operating system, but I don’t use Windows anymore (I use Ubuntu, thank you), so lets not talk about that.

This afternoon, for no apparent reason whatsoever, Evolution on Ubuntu (Hardy Heron 8.04) suddenly decided it would use nothing other than my default SMTP server.  Or so it appeared.  Although I could still receive email as normal, Evolution refused to send email from anything by my default SMTP server.

I have three email accounts set up in Evolution and all of them use different SMTP servers (although the 2 offending accounts are hosted on the same server, using the same default SMTP port).

Suddenly, this same thing I did over and over for ever and ever yielded a different result.  Naturally I was stumped and yes, I did feel ever so slightly mad.

I thought about what I did differently today.  There were two things.  I installed the updates that Ubuntu advised me to, but nothing that was related to email or Evolution as such.  I also installed Filezilla, and thinking back it was shortly after this that my troubles started.  Obvious solution? Uninstall Filezilla.

This yielded no results.

The actual problem with Evolution using only your default SMTP server

Truth be told, even though Evolution indicates that it’s only using your default SMTP server, it really isn’t. Maybe the programmers were lazy, but it is in fact trying your other accounts too, it just specifies the default account.

It connects and seemingly hangs, but it doesn’t, it’s just waiting for the time-out.  When it does time out it will tell you, unable to connect to mail.suchandsuch.com and you’ll realise it was in fact not your default server.

In my case, and it might well be your case too if you’re using HostGator, my SMTP port 25 suddenly decided not to work anymore.  Mind you, I read on the net that this might also be due to the ISP blocking this port in an attempt to stop spam.  Ha!

So if you’re using Streamyx through Telekom Malaysia in Sabah and you have this problem sending mail, then you know that your port 25 has been blocked (as of this afternoon it seems).

Solution to Evolution using only your default SMTP server

Luckily for DIY SMTP peeps like you and me, there are alternative ports for SMTP.  One such port that works with HostGator (your experience might vary) is port 465.  This is the SSL port, which has the added benefit of making the process of receiving your mail more secure. In actuality, if this is the only thing you do, it has very little benefit.

Nevertheless, if you specify this port, then you should also specify an SSL connection, otherwise there might be a miscommunication and things will not work.

How to implement the default STMP server only solution in Evolution

Ok, so first we need to tell Evolution that you want to use the SSL port for your SMTP transactions.

In Evolution, go to Edit -> Preferences and then click the offending account to highlight it, and press Edit.

Select the Sending Email tab and add :465 to the Server Configuration box, which should already have something like mail.suchandsuch.com.  So then you have something like mail.suchandsuch.com:465.  This is how you specify a different port in Evolution (the default is port 25).  Note: your alternative port might be different.

Then also change Use a Secure Connection to SSL encryption.  You’ll find this option in the Security section on the same tab.

This should solve your problem. It did mine.

Technically, you can specify any alternative port, as long as it’s not 25, which is the default and the most likely number your ISP is blocking (if that is indeed the problem).  I did a quick search and found that 465 is HostGator’s SSL Port, which is supported by my account and my email client, Evolution.

Chew on that, Einstein!

If you enjoyed this post, do subscribe to the 1Earth RSS feed!

It’s 11.32pm and I just finished cleaning my house and we all know that after cleaning house, there’s nothing more rewarding than cleaning your desktop too.  I’m about to upgrade to and get a first look at the new Ubuntu 8.04 and you’re more than welcome to join the ride.

On 3 February this year I first leapt into the world of open source software when I bravely installed Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon.  I’ve never looked back since, and although I’ve had to occasionally use Windoze for a bit of graphic and video work, Ubuntu has been my main daily operating system.

I’ve tried a lot of new things too.  I installed Ubuntu Studio for instance.  A variant of sorts that ads a host of audio and video applications to your usual installation.  It changed my Ubuntu start-up with which I wasn’t too impressed, but I managed to reinstate it.

I also played with Kubuntu, which is pretty much the same operating system, except it uses the KDE environment instead of Gnome as Ubuntu does.  To be perfectly honest, I don’t know too much about the difference between KDE and Gnome, except that they look slightly different and they have different applications. Everything in KDE seems to start to a K, but not everything in Gnome starts with a G.

Anyway, hundreds of applications had been installed under Ubuntu 7.10 - all of which I looked at, some of which I understood.  I deleted some of them, but most I didn’t and you know what? It didn’t slow down my system at all.

Overall I’m impressed with Ubuntu, hence me going to the next exciting release.  I read about some interesting improvements and additions and I think it will be smoother than ever.

Preparing for the Move

There’s not much to do really.  I’ll just back-up my home folder onto a CD and poof, all my files are ready to float to the next version on Ubuntu.

So without further delay, let me get to it.  See you in Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron!

If you enjoyed this post, do subscribe to the 1Earth RSS feed!

Every day I discover something on Ubuntu that blows me away. It’s hard to fathom all the hard work that goes into Ubuntu and open source programs available for it, the way it is given to the community for free.

So two nights ago, despite my sincerest pledge to go to bed early, I ended up going to bed again at 3am.  Just as I was about to stop surfing, I stumbled across this article on the Ubuntu Forms telling me how to turn my computer into a music making machine - I found it because I thought my Virtual MIDI Keyboard didn’t work.

I installed Ubuntu Studio and it came with some nifty toys.  Long ago I’ve had hours with Hydrogen - a drum box. It can make all sorts of drum beats and with the demos that come with it I was mesmerised.

It’s really easy to use, click a few times and hit play and *poof*, your own beat.

As impressive as Hydrogen was, after I read that article that showed me how to use Jack, ZynAddSubFX Software Synthesizer brought a band, a club, a disco, several choirs, space effects and more samples of sound than I could ever use, to my computer.

Have a fiddle, but be warned, time will flow.

If you enjoyed this post, do subscribe to the 1Earth RSS feed!