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Debian is well respected as a stable server distribution, and most of the reviews focus on aspects appropriate to server deployments. This article covers Debian on the desktop. It is not a step by step tutorial, but focuses on the highlights of the recent Etch release.
An important difference between Debian Etch and its previous releases is its ease of use as a desktop operating system. Ubuntu has been in the limelight recently, but it's important to remember that Ubuntu is based on Debian, and every once in a while it's important to return to a project's roots. Debian was the first distribution to have a social contract with its users and its full name is Debian GNU/Linux, a sign of respect and acknowledgment towards the GNU foundation.
I've been running Etch on my laptop very successfully and I'm happy to report that previous pain points, such as wireless networking, "just work" on my Dell laptop. In addition to this new polish, a graphical installer and support for the AMD64 architecture are both new to Debian Etch. Also included are many favorite free software Java packages such as Ant and Tomcat into the main package repositories.
Debian has the perception of being a "geek" distribution, but I would make the opposite argument. It is in fact inclusive, taking great pride in the number of hardware architectures it supports.
Debian GNU/Linux was the first distribution to include a social contract
Etch contains reasonably up to date core packages. Here are some of the more notable ones:
- Xorg 7
- GNOME 2.14 with bits from 2.16
- IceWeasel 2.x and IceDove 1.x
- OpenOffice.org 2
Iceweasel is Firefox
Iceweasel is a re-branded Mozilla Firefox browser. This was done by Debian in order to comply with a demand from the Mozilla foundation that they either drop the Firefox name and media (icons, etc.) or comply with policies Debian found unacceptable.
I won't cover every screen of the installation, only a small sample to demonstrate the new installer. I'll then cover what I consider to be the most important steps of the installation, selecting and configuring the
apt mirrors.
The beginning of the installation process is more or less similar to that of Sarge with two main exceptions: the installer (which is new) and the default kernel (now the 2.6 kernel, where you previously had to enter
linux26 at the boot prompt to install the newer kernel).
When the boot loader prompts you (figure 1), enter
installgui and hit
Enter to start the graphical installation. Or, if you prefer to work the older text based installer, simply hit
Here are the installation steps in rough order. Items in parenthesis are actions the installer performs automatically. I have also provided screenshots as indicated in the steps to provide a more detailed view.
- Choose Language
- Choose Country or Territory
- Choose Keymap
- (Hardware Auto detection, Network Auto Configuration via DHCP...etc...)
- Enter Host name
- Enter domain name
- (Disk partition auto detection)
- Partition Disks, note the only way to setup encrypted LVM it use the GUI
- Select Physical Disk
- Partitioning Scheme
- Partition confirmation
- Write to disk
- (Writing partitions to disk)
- Select Time Zone
- Set root password
- Setup user account
- (Installation of base system)
- Configure the package manager, use a network mirror (figure 2)
- Select the Debian Archive mirror country (figure 3)
- Select the Debian Archive mirror within that country
- Configure HTTP proxy information
- Configure popularity-contest
- Software Select (figure 4)
- (Installs selected software packages)
- Select Resolution for
xserver-xorgconfiguration (figure 5)
- Install GRUB as default boot loader
- Installation complete
The desktop
The Etch installer does a good job of auto-configuring Xorg and picking sane defaults. After the installation was complete, I was presented with a GNOME login screen. Out of the box, I discovered Etch would recognize an iPod when plugged in, detect my network printer almost automatically and allow me to do pretty much everything I needed to do. There were a few extra packages I needed to install, but Synaptic and
apt are a mean pair and make this a breeze.
I really like this zen-like approach to setting up a new system. During the software selection step of the installer I simply checked that I wanted both the "desktop" and "laptop" and voila, I had a fully functioning Debian desktop.
Minutes into my first boot, I hooked up my iPod via a USB cable and Etch detected it, mounted it, made it available under the "Computer" and launched the default application associated with it (figure 6). This is on par with other alleged "plug and play" systems. While going into detail about how to manage iPods on Etch is out of the scope of this article, I highly recommend reading "Managing your iPod without iTunes" by Jon Peck. I will say I ended up using Amarok to manage my iPod after finding Banshee unusable, but that is a problem with Banshee and not Debian specific.
In my opinion this was a pretty solid start. There were still a few things missing—some applications that I've been meaning to play around with. In previous incarnations of Debian I would simply crack open a shell, possibly do an
apt-cache search if I didn't remember the package name, and then
apt-get install it. That was until I discovered that beyond simply installing software, Synaptic is a great tool for discovering new software I didn't know about.
Synaptic &
The Synaptic front end to
apt has become the de facto standard, included by default in both Debian Etch and Debian derivatives such as Ubuntu.
apt is Debian's package management tool. There are a number of front ends to it, namely Synaptic which I am about to cover. It is obviously possible to perform a wide number of operations with the
apt-* tools such as
apt-get and
apt-cache search, but Synaptic is really the way to go. I'm only going to cover a few common operations that should be enough to get you on your way installing packages.
The first thing to do is clean up the package resource list. These are the remote software repositories that
apt searches for new packages and updates for currently installed packages. By default the installer includes the CDROM used to install Debian in the sources list, something I've always found annoying. The second thing to do is add some extra repositories, such as
contrib and
non-free. These are repositories that are not included in the general release due to licensing restrictions.
Start by launching Synaptic via the "Desktop" drop down in the top GNOME bar, then selecting "Administration" then selecting "Synaptic Package Manager". Once it's fired up you should see something like what is shown in figure 7. The first thing to do, as mentioned above is configure how
apt looks for new packages. Inside Synaptic select the "Settings" drop down, and then select "Repositories".
This will open the software preferences editor, which is a nice graphical way of configuring the contents of
/etc/apt/sources.list. I selected the "CDROM" entry and deleted it, and then selected both "Binary" and "Source" blocks and clicked "Edit" where I added the
contrib and
non-free repositories. I needed the
non-free repository because the Intel driver for my wireless chip set is released under a "non-free" license. After this installing my wireless drivers was a simple
apt-get command, though I obviously was connected via a wired connection. That should be all that's needed for most people.
If you do find you need more or simply want to explore
apt directly instead, the main apt configuration file is
/etc/apt/sources.list. It configures which
apt repositories to use, which version (Etch, Sarge... etc.) and which groups (
non-free). It should look something like the following:
deb http://mirrors.kernel.org/debian/ etch main contrib non-free deb-src http://mirrors.kernel.org/debian/ etch main contrib non-free deb http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib non-free deb-src http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib non-free
Here are some of the common actions you'll use with
apt-cachesearch python (Searches repositories for packages with python)
apt-get install vim(Installs
apt-get remove vim(Removes
apt-get clean(Deletes downloaded
apt-get -t unstable apache2-utils(*) (Installs
apache2-utilsfrom unstable repository)
dpkg -l(Lists all installed packages)
dpkg -i foo.deb(Installs
.debpackage you manually downloaded)
dpkg -L apache2-utils(Lists files owned by package, i.e. those installed by
(*) Requires a line in
/etc/apt/sources.list describing unstable target i.e.:
deb http://mirrors.kernel.org/debian/ unstable contrib non-free
After configuring the repositories I returned to Synaptic to install a few applications. I selected the "Graphics" group and browsed for Blender—an application I've been trying to learn to use in my spare time. I simply selected it, and hit the apply button. Synaptic figured out the dependencies and prompted me to mark them for installation as seen below.
That's about as simple as it gets, and from there the sky is the limit. My next step was to install the driver for my wireless card, which I briefly cover next.
Wireless networking done right
Though not specifically a Debian innovation, the inclusion, support and integration of the GNOME NetworkManager, along with
HAL and
Dbus, are part of what makes Debian Etch suitable for the desktop. The GNOME Network Manager describes itself as "pain free" networking, which I've found to be very true.
The GNOME NetworkManager makes networking pain free
The Dell laptop I run Etch on comes with the common ipw3945 wireless chipset. The first time I tried getting wireless going it was a huge mess. I had to compile the kernel module, install the daemon, download the firmware separately and place it in the correct location—all this just to recognize the device.
I then had to go about configuring it for use. The two wireless networks I used the most, one at home and the other at work, both used WPA encryption, which means I then had to install
wpa-supplicant, and configure it an a variety of ways. I opted to stick everything in
/etc/network/interfaces since that's what I knew best.
This meant I was commenting and uncommenting different blocks depending on which network I was currently supposed to be on. There probably was an easier way that I was just ignorant of, but still...
GNOME's Network Manager saved me from all of that. On top of that, I find my wireless connection never drops, as it frequently does when I'm running Windows.
The trick, and one that initially caught me off guard, was to remove all the previous wireless configuration from
/etc/network/interfaces, and let the NetworkManager auto-detect the wireless networks. I had become so accustomed to tweaking the interfaces file, that I actually messed up the network manager by continuing to tweak it. This really takes the "desktop" aspects of Debian to the next level, something as simple as wireless network, which has plagued me for so long, is now resolved.
Once the driver was installed, I simply selected my wireless network from the GNOME Network Manager in figure 10.
It then prompted me for the WPA passphrase that I configured to access the network (figure 11). I entered it and—voila!—wireless networking done right.
Printing also done right
I have an HP Photosmart 2610 and getting it to work was, well painless. Another FSM article, Printing with Ubuntu, by Mark Rais, applies directly to Etch as well and is pretty much all that was required. I used Synaptic to install
hpoj (the HP drivers), which prompted me for various settings during the installation and were easy enough. Then I simply clicked on "Desktop→Administration→Printing→New Printer" there was an option to use a pre-detected printer and my network printer was indeed listed. I selected it and hit "Yes" a couple of times, and voila, I was printing from Etch. The ease of this setup may be an artifact of the printer model I have being well supported so your mileage may vary. So far so good for a desktop experience.
Automatix is a package that gained popularity by providing post-installation polish to Ubuntu by installing applications that weren't included in the repositories. It can be used to install many proprietary applications users from other operating systems may be used to having such as Macromedia Flash, and Real Player, as well as codecs for Windows media files. As of April 2007, it also runs on Debian Etch, and as such I'm going to briefly cover some of the packages Automatix can install that will spruce up your Debian Desktop.
Automatix can be downloaded from the GetAutomatix.com website.
Automatix works by using Debian's own package manager,
apt, to download packages from either the official Debian repositories, or other third party repositories and when applicable configures the system appropriately.
After the installation you should be able to start "Automatix via Applications→System Tools→Automatix". It will prompt you with a warning stating that it is against the law to install the DVD decryption codecs in certain countries. Obviously readers should obey their local laws. After hitting "Yes" you should be presented with the following screen.
The options most relevant to any desktop system are under "Codecs and Plugins" and "Media Players and Editors". In the codecs section, I would recommend installing everything you are legally able to, and under players the most interesting applications I would recommend are: Songbird, Democracy Player, and Real Player.
Songbird is a particularly interesting application, based on XulRunner the runtime environment that powers Firefox and Thunderbird.
Some people make take offense to proprietary applications on a GNU/Linux desktop system—but I'm a pragmatist, and I like my media.
Things to look forward to in Debian
Etch is the first Debian release to natively support the AMD64 platform and take a more inclusive stance towards free software Java packages. It will be interesting to see how this evolves.
Another interesting development is Ian Murdock, joining Sun Microsystems, and the announcement of project "Indiana". I think it's highly likely we are going to see Debian's package management system included in the next Solaris release (Solaris 11).
I feel that Debian Etch is as good on the desktop as it is on the server. It has a long rich history, a strong community, is amazingly stable and is a great fit for both my servers and my laptop. I urge everyone to give it a go on the desktop.
Printing in Ubuntu—published in Free Software Magazine
Be careful about unstable repositories
Telling new users to add any "unstable" repository (even just contrib and non-free sections) without teaching them the differences of stable/testing/unstable and how to set the default release is very dangerous.
Mixing Debian releases is quite tricky and doing it without proper knowledge will lead to system breakage very soon.
For a better understanding of this issue, visit the howto section of Debian Forums: http://forums.debian.net/viewforum.php?f=16.
Besides that, your review is very positive and I liked it a lot.
Re: Be careful about unstable repositories
"Telling new users to add any "unstable" repository (even just contrib and non-free sections)"
I'm not sure if you mean something like this:
deb http://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian/ etch main non-free contrib
Those contrib and non-free sections are not any more unstable than main section. Those are perfectly stable and tested. There is not any problem using those.
Bottom page two and top page
Bottom page two and top page three recommends (or at least not recommends against) using unstable for installing Blender, which is not needed.
If to recommend and use contrib and non-free is another issue. Could at least have a short introduction (two, three sentences) about why that could be a concern to some.
i believe that debian is the
i believe that debian is the best specially if you don't have a fast internet connection because you can download the 3 DVDs or 20 CDs and use them, i'm a gentoo user for 4 yrs now & i have a distro. based on it & localized/customized to server the arabic users needs, and i like debian very much & i'm using it in the production time critical projects & work.
thanx for your nice article you really said what i want to say ubuntu & debian are the same thing.
downloading 20 CDs
I agree that Debian is a great distro and is my distro of choice in all cases, but if you don't have a fast internet connection, downloading 3 DVDs or 20 CDs is not really a viable option. In any case pretyy much all distros worthy of the name have downloadable CD images so Debian is nothing special there.
If your 'net connection is "slow" then you are better off buying the CDs from one of the usual CD-shops or from Debian themselves.
You don't need that many CD's or DVD's
No, you do not need 3 DVD or 20 CD's.
First half (or so) is binary packages, the rest has sources to packages. You don't need them if you not going to recompile packages from scratch.
Of the first half, you only need the first 1-4 CD's and a slow Internet connection (for installing the few not so popular packages and security updates of packages). That is becouse the packages are added to the CD:s on a decreasing popularity order. Most popular packages are first (with their dependencies).
So if you don't recompile packages and don't install lots of not so often used software packages, you will only need 1-4 CD (or first DVD).
Debian don't sell CD's or DVD's. They let others do that, as that is what Debian was desinged for in the beginning (others selling and changing Debian (like all Debian based distributions does).
You know this information on what to download is not readily available as it should be. I will download the dvd now.
Thank you from a noob. :)
I quite agree with you, I
I quite agree with you, I just don't understand why people just got a hardon with the whole ubuntu thing when Debian is there perfectly capable of doing everything else
Don't mix releases
Don't try to mix releases!! Atleast for new users. apt-pinning is good way but should be avoided by newbies..
Else ... :)
Freedom makes debian special
>>contrib and non-free. These are repositories that are not included in the general release due to licensing restrictions.>>
Those repositories are not included because debian aims to be an operating system that is made entirely of free software. I wish more reviewers acknowledged and respected this goal even if they don't personally agree with it. There are just a handful of distros out there that share this goal of 100% software freedom.
Don't recommend non-free
While it is understandable that a review should mention the possibility of installing proprietary sofware (the non-free repository, in Debian's case, but also Automatix), I think it is not a good idea to recommend its installation, at least in the pages of FSM!
Don't recommend non-free???
Why the heck not??? Linux is problematic enough in relation to hardware, without crippling it by not using the vendor written drivers... We live in mixed world, with many colors... an ecosystem of IP, closed source, open source, free ware... all of it. It is a practical approach to use all of it to achieve whatever it is that you want to achieve.
It's not only drivers. There
It's not only drivers. There are other software that comes in contrib and non-free that isn't that nice either.
But when it comes to using non free drivers (like nVidia and ATI binary 3D-drivers or Wlan drivers with ndisdriver), it IS a huge problem when upgrading kernel, with broken graphics or no network as a result.
Upgrading with free drivers is no-brainer. That is as easy as upgrading any other software.
views on non-free software
This is an interesting thread.
When I started on linux I only understood the "free as in beer" element; suse 9.0 was better than windows 98, and free, so I was happy. I could even easily install proprietary drivers/codecs etc without really knowing what was happening under the bonnet. Problem was, when it didn't work, I still had no idea what was going on under the bonnet. Luckily, because the software was free (as in really free) there was a knowledge base which was freely accessible (in both senses) on linux forums. I became empowered to fix my own problems with the help of others. I also grew to understand the ethics of free software. The novell/microsoft agreement caused me to ditch "open"suse and use Debian.
Lets take a step back though. Lets imagine that Linux is a proprietary system. I would never have been able to get "under the hood", as the the owners of the intellectual property concerned would prevent that. Lawful access to Linux code would presumably depend on purchasing the right to do it, if it was allowed at all. Widespread development of Linux code would cease, security flaws would be concealed from the end user (save on the circumstances where market forces could compel the owners of linux to release them) and the knowledge base which I tapped into to would simply evaporate, meaning that I would have very limited control over my system. We can safely assume that a proprietary linux system would support less hardware than Vista (unless a corporation with a development budget comparable to redmond took it on). We can also assume that DRM would be a central feature of any modern linux distro (if the os is proprietary, why not everything else?). In other words, all we would have is a unix based clone of windows. Incidently, this would mean that any public body/school/hospital in any of the non-trillion dollar economies (meaning nearly all of them) would find the costs of implementing IT prohibitive, unless they wanted to divert ridiculous proportions of their GNP to US/European based software houses.
I can understand that many users want 3d graphics on their pcs; I would like 3d on my pc. However, I don't want linux to get to a point where it will only function in the command line without proprietary software. I hope that Debian et al will continue to resist "property creep" into linux.
Automatix is an anathema to free software. For reasons related to the above, and the fact the it does something which any user with the ability to google "debian libdvdvcss" can do themselves. It is a profoundly disempowering piece of software which has the effect of giving the new user a system full of proprietary code before they have even attempted to live without it.
My advice to anyone who is new to linux is to spend some time living with a free system. I did it, and it's worth it. By all means stuff your pc with proprietary code if you really can't wait for gnash to work with youtube (which it now does), just don't come crying to me when 10 years from now you have to pay a $100 per year to prevent virus from wiping your hard drive and your all of your freinds, colleagues etc have to all spend $300 on "microsoftlinux-ultimate edition" so that they can read the spreadsheet that you sent them.
On digg
Oh, dear. Non-free again
I am wondering how that hideous "This will make an excellent desktop system if only you grease it with some proprietary crap" article tendency made its way into Free Software Magazine?
In my opinion, the article is automatically piped to /dev/null with statements like these. It is like saying "This car is really fast! Provided you put a Ferrari engine into it, of course". Not that I would wish to compare proprietary software to a Ferrari, it is simply to note that reviewing a system and assessing its merits on non-native components hardly makes sense.
Religion vs Pragmatism
There will always be tension between religious and pragmatic camps. I'm strongly on the pragmatic side, it sounds like you are on the other side of the fence.
What I'm understanding is you would rather have desktop users use Windows because they can't view the media they have become accustomed to -- than have an automated package that installs some non-free software....?
I'd rather have one more Debian desktop user (newbie, to intermediate) happy with their experience, and not go back to windows in disgust after a week because they can't watch the DVD's they are used to watching, or the Flash Video's on youtube.
Thanks for your feedback Morten, I'll keep it in mind.
RE: Religion vs Pragmatism
I tend to disagree with these terms that describe the supporters of proprietary software for Linux as reasonable "pragmatists" while the supporters of free software are labeled as mentally disturbed "religious fanatics".
There's also another way of looking at the issue. The logic of the marketplace insists that Linux distros should offer various "value-added" proprietary components and proprietary applications if they want to successfully compete with the other distros for popularity. But the same logic also suggests that when the other distros also add proprietary bits, your distro should add even *more* proprietary stuff to remain competitive. This approach effectively creates an evil circle where all proprietary software is considered good while all free software is considered bad.
But free software has several advantages when compared to proprietary software. Some say that free software is a very effective way to develop software because the developers get a lot of feedback from users and they also receive improvement patches made by other software developers. And the developers of Linux distros can fix "bugs" in free software but their hands are tied when there are problems in proprietary software because they have no access to the source code. And if some free software developers suddenly decide to stop developing their programs, other developers can continue developing those programs because the source code is available. This is not possible with proprietary software.
In other words, free software offers users many long-term benefits that proprietary software lacks. Yes, I agree that sometimes proprietary software can offer some short-term convenience that is not yet available in the similar free software programs. But is choosing shot-term convenience instead of long-term benefits really pragmatism? Or is it just shortsightedness and opportunism? Personally, I tend to think that valuing long-term benefits over shot-term convenience should actually be called pragmatism.
You mention the flash videos on youtube as an example where proprietary software works better than free software. Happily, there's good news on that front: the next version of gnash (a free software replacement of the proprietary flash player) should support youtube. And sun's java is planned to be open-sourced. And when Linux becomes more popular as a desktop OS, there will be more pressure for hardware manufacturers to provide open source drivers -- at least, there would be if Linux users prefer the manufacturers that provide free software drivers whenever they buy new hardware.
As a conclusion, I'd say that supporting free software is not religious zealotry -- it's very rational pragmatism!
"And when Linux becomes more
"And when Linux becomes more popular as a desktop OS, there will be more pressure for hardware manufacturers to provide open source drivers -- at least, there would be if Linux users prefer the manufacturers that provide free software drivers whenever they buy new hardware."
For me this begs the question how is Linux to become more popular as a desktop OS? By providing users with a way to still watch DVD's, listen to mp3's, use 3D graphics cards (gaming, yes alot of cool games exist for Linux) or by providing only open-source/free software, which does not necessarily provide these capabilities?
I started out as a Windows guy and made the jump over to Linux and I love it! I believe Linux is better than Windows. But I also have the patience to keep working with Linux when I run into a challenge getting it to do what I want. I don't think the average desktop user while go for that. How do you persuade a person using Windows to switch to Linux when they are used to watching DVD's, listening to mp3 tracks, gaming, etc with no problems on Windows, but have to sacrifice some of those capabilities buy using Linux with no proprietary/non-free software?
We have support for 3D cards from ATI :D
Well, as Dell and other large computer makers starts to deliver, you will get drivers for lots of hardware in Linux kernel. Which do happen, please have a look at ADM's (ATI's owner) promice to release specs on their new graphical 3D cards.
This will give them an economical advantage to makers like nVidia, whith their secret hardware design. So this will happen, we will get better support on hardware than Microsoft Windows, which we have today. Install MS Windows XP on new hardware, and you will have to install new drivers on all new hardware. In Linux, where it is some support from chip maker, you do have good support from the Linux kernel direct. No need for extra installer CD with sent with the hardware.
And we are slowly getting there with 3D cards to. Intel is already supporting Linux with their 3D cards, and AMD is getting there with ATI cards.
There'll always be those who
There'll always be those who don't understand the difference between Free and open source software. You appear to be one of those people.
Just broke from Sarge (3.1) and graduated to Etch (4.0). This is a great distribution and even though some of the older apps have disappeared to make room for new ones, it still has the Debian flavor many of us appreciate. Even if the apps aren't present, downloading and installing is the same as it has always been.
I have it on a desktop IBM NetVista and now on my new Toshiba Satellite Centrino Duo laptop. Where 3.1 didn't care for the processor, screen size, or network pcmcia functions, everything works well out of the box with the exception of changes for personal preferences.
The Debian Team has definitely made this release simple for user's of all skills. I say this as a Debian follower with at least eight years experience. Great job to all involved in the development process!
One Reason I Returned to Debian
One of the reasons I came back to Debian was the disk encryption option that was available from the installer. It even encrypts the root partition (although not /boot).
Especially as the owner of a laptop, I'm conscious of data loss through theft.
With other distros, I had to install a temporary system, use it to encrypt the future root partition, copy over the temporary system to the future root partition, and make configuration changes to boot from the newly encrypted root partition.
Then the distro owners would make changes that made my system not boot. Sigh!
Good review
I enjoyed your review and thought it fair and even-handed. The complaints about Debian usually fall into two categories-- slow release cycle and multimedia stuff. I doubt that Debian will ever release new versions fast because that isn't a priority. Debian wants to get it right and the developers will take as much time as they need to do that. The proprietary multimedia stuff is a matter of principle. If you are quick to criticize politicians and public officials who do not stick to their principles, then I think it's hypocritical to criticize Debian for sticking to theirs. Regardless, if you want non-free/proprietary codecs and the other software, it's an easy work around. IMHO, Debian and RMS deserve a lot more respect than they receive.
Debian's good on the desktop, but never looks the same!
All in all, I've been very happy with Debian on the desktop (which is the main place I use it -- I've always been a bit surprised at the server-bias for Linux users).
On the other hand, it's never looked the same from version to version -- or it's hard to get it to, anyway. This tends to be because Debian provides so many different GUI and application options, and with each distribution it seems that different ones win out in the task selections. So, I usually wind up with a quite different system every time I install it.
Lately, I've learned to just do the minimal install, and then use apt-get to install the packages I already know I depend on. This works, but it requires a very fine level of management, so it's not really easy.
I think this may be one reason why commercial distributions are often favored for new users -- there's a lot more consistency and so you really know what you mean when you say an "Ubuntu system", whereas a generic "Debian desktop system" could mean any of a large number of different combinations. That probably contributes to the "geek" reputation. After all, as a techie, I quite like the variety of choices, but it's not hard for me to see how it could be daunting to a newbie.
The big difference could be
The big difference could be attributed to that it happens so much on the desktop side (Gnome, KDE, Xfce etc) that if you don't follow Debian/Testing, you will have large difference. Jump one version in those are large.
I am severely disappointed
I am severely disappointed with Etch and will be ditching it at the first opportunity, I will of course not be going to M$ but some other *nix distro, when I have evaluated the choices further.
I really wanted etch to work for me and waited until the stable version was released for 64 bit boxes but the problems started with install, after 20 attempts to get an install that worked to first boot, as it did with opensuse or fedora, I ended up having to rebuild my hardware to suit the distro, it did not like my mixture of ide and sata disks and the bios list order.
Next problem was the KDE install step, I had added KDE to the task list for install and then get some devs idiotic choice of KDE components, adding the necessary basics to the KDE group is simple to do after install but removing the total waste of space KDE games and toys and the unneeded wifi and bluetooth apps is another matter the removal of any of these tags KDE for uninstall as well. On the plus side the KDE desktop is not branded and I could setup panel apps etc. completely as I wanted them.
The next problem I had was the paranoia about free in the Debian definition, which is not the same as most peoples idea of free. Iceweasel for example is hawked as being the same as firefox, but it isn't, for me it is totally unusable as none of the extensions I use work and of course flash doesn't work on 64 bit and the easy option of installing a 32 bit firefox for the occasion when flash is needed is not an option as Debian have not yet worked out how to do a multiarch install without using chroot which just complicates things. Also I cannot easily use 32 bit Adobe Acrobat Reader, mscorefonts and many other apps that I need to, there are Debian free versions of some of these but none that do everything I need.
In short I do not like the way Debian is restricting my choice of what software to run, I appreciate their ideals but not the implementation. I need a computer that just works, so I can do what I get pleasure/reward from, it has taken me 4 weeks to get to the point where half of my requirements work and I am now fed up with jumping through hoops for Debian, I know I can get 90% of a working box in 2 hours with other distros and 100% in about 2 more hours after I have built new binaries for the stuff that has no prebuilt ones.
Re: I am severely disappointed
Well first of all I'm sorry to hear that Etch isn't working out for you -- this is the first release that has amd64 support, and though I can't speak from experience, I'm sure there are some rough edges.
It's likely that Automatix will release an installer for Etch-AMD64 -- but it will probably be a drag waiting. Automatix does currently support Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) on AMD64 so that might be another option if you want to stick with a native 64-bit distro.
On the other hand Etch i386 works like a charm for me...if you don't have any strict 64-bit requirements, you might want to consider sticking with the i386 build until all the kinks are hammered out, and/or other post-install polish options become available (like Automatix on Etch-amd64)
Good luck with getting your system the way you want it.
It's always saddening to
It's always saddening to here someone who don't like Debian/Etch, but it is not for every one, as is also tru for other distributions. First, you should prob. have i386 and not amd64 installed, as the amd64 is mostly usfull when you have applications which uses lots of memory. But as someone wrote, it looks like you are not compatible with Debian basic rules which Debian HAS to live by. Free is more than just free beer. This is why others can base there distributions on Debian subsets (like Ubuntu and Mepsi etc).
I would sugest that you don't complain on Debian that Adobe, nVidia et all don't give specifications that we can use to program free alternatives, or distribute 64-bit versions of their software. Complain at the source of the problem. Especially when you don't give any examples and you already made your choise up. Critics is usefull, but bashing is not.
About initial software selections, like in KDE, there as many "good" or "bad" selections as it is permutations of softwares. So that is up to you to adjust it to your liking or go for a distributions that you can agree on. This is no way Debian or any other distribution can do anything about.
In short You should select a distribution that you like, sorry you don't like Debian's desicions, but that is life. Could I sugest Kubuntu or Mepsi?
Yes you are probably
Yes you are probably correct, I am not compatible with Debian rules. The fault is mine, I want to have the freedom to install what I want on my box and Debian does not want to let me break its rules.
All I intended here was to highlight the fact that not everything is perfect with Etch, as some earlier posters have implied, and it may not be the distro for people like me. I am also saddened by the poor 64 bit implimentation, the restrictions on my freedom and the general poor setup procedures. It is even worse as there are many fine points with the distro that I will miss, but as I said using the box is more important to me than tinkering with the setup.
For information, I have been using 64 bit for 4 years, I see it as a backward set to go back to i386, and I regularly contact Adobe and other sources of software to ask for 64 bit versions, I also contact content providers who use non 64 bit compatible software (e.g. BBC) to get them to ask for compatibility from their side. If other users and content providers did this more often perhaps there would be some improvements.
Whatever happens Etch is going from my desktop, whether it is replaced by Fedora 7, Gentoo or Freespire is not yet decided. Fedora just works, Gentoo will need some setup but will end up as I want it and Freespire have not yet confirmed the 64 bit version.
Sorry if I sounded harsh in
Sorry if I sounded harsh in my answer port to your post.
The fault is not yours or Debians. Just different priorities, that's all. But what I got disturbed about what that I read your post as you demanded that Debian it was Debians fault and Debian should change to suit your needs (exactly). Prob. me who didn't understood you right (English is not my first language).
Good that you complains to Adobe et all for not deliver software as they should (64-bit has been here for many years now, as you said). Actually, that is more than I do (but then I don't use that kind of software, as I find other that is good enough for me and will not give me problems when upgradeing). By the way, I do run my laptop with Debian/stable amd64. Only problem(?) I have so far is to view flash movies. But that is not to important for me.
But you do more then what I do to make Linux to show up on commercial companies radar, which is good. Keep up the good work!
I haven't tried Ubuntu or Mepis, so I don't know there quality when it comes to be a good amd64 distribution. But you will get the other good parts from Debian.
About running 32- and 64-bit software at the same time in a OS, Debian is working on it to be solved right(tm) and not by quick hacks in the distribution (but users can of course do that). That is why it's easy(well...) to have crypted disks when you install in Debian, and many other distributions don't have that now. But again, that is priorities each distribution should and have to do.
Bottom line: If there is a distribution that doesn't suit your needs and priorities, get involved and help out, or change distribution. But don't bash it about not doing it your way.
These few posts have helped
These few posts have helped me clarify things.
Having tried most of the major distro's and found them all to be more or less unsatisfactory for me, though all are better than the borg from Redmonds, I have decided the only sure way to get a distro that works as I want it, that contains all and only the apps I want is to build my own.
I have started at http://www.linuxfromscratch.org and will record all the process, possibly a blog, so others can follow my steps.If that doesn"t work to my requirements then I have only myself to blame :D
Nice. I really wish you success in this
First, I wish you success with this. It is a bold and big task, and be a big learning experiance for all parts involved in the expedition. But prob. a good solution if you know exactly what you want installed on your computer.
To put your success and failures in a blog is good for you to remeber what you done. I could also get others like you interested to help each others with problems that whows up.
Heck, even I would be interested in following your development with this. :)
But I am to lazy to do this myself, becouse I have been there, as I have been system administrator on Sun machines and had to install all software from source. I do like that others do the legwork for me, and I only have to report bugs ;)
I wish you to have a fun time and good luck with your project!
Been there done that, IMHO
Been there done that, IMHO it's a waste of time, and in the future when you look back you will probably agree. If Linux is so unsatisfactory install XP Pro SP2 and be done with it. Life is short, get out and live instead of working on yet another Linux distro.
Debian More than an Alternative
I disagree with the title. This is an excellent and valuable article but Debian is more than an alternative. It is the most flexible distro and the mother of a lot of distros including *buntu. The *buntus are more specialized for some roles but those roles can be met by a single distro in Debian with a little configuration/installation. Perhaps these titles would be better:
Debian, The Distro.
Debian, for when you want a solid, reliable operating system.
Debian, just Debian
Debian, a cooperative project of the world to make a really great OS.
A problem is an opportunity.
Debian is not a good
Debian is not a good alternative to Ubuntu. Ubuntu is derivate of Debian and it is possible that is an alternative to Debian but not vice versa.
Debian is an alternative OS and Linux flavor.
I just switched from Ubuntu to Debian due to several reasons.
Have no idea why anyone would say it is not an alternative, unless they haven't actually used both.
Pragmatism and Patience
I read your article and I don't want you to misinterpret what I write. You are probably not a pragmatist in the philosophical sense of the word. In the context in which you are using the word (a context you have borrowed since it is certainly making its way into many articles) you and others who approach Linux the same way would better be charecterized as simply consumers of content that require proprietary codecs, who will not give up that content, and are unwilling to pay for an operating system that contains all the necessary non-free codecs (aka Windows). That's fine. But it is a form of "market speak" to call people who want proprietary codecs on Linux, pragmatists. It is an attempt to disguise one's basic motivations when one is part of a culture which prizes and sells convenience and instant gratification (and I don't mean that in a disparaging way; it is just a description of what is). One could easily say that those who want proprietary codecs on Linux are simply impatient while those who will wait for unencumbered software are well ... patient. It follows that those who are patient are patient not because they do not want the benefits that proprietary codecs give but rather would prefer that the benefit not be encumbered. This is hardly religious zealotry except in the computer world where some people hang their integrity on which editor or programming language they use.
Where possible, even businesses seek not to be encumbered by another firms licensing and trademark restrictions and the costs associated with them. Business's however are at a disadvantage in that they are under pressure to perform financially and sometimes they simply license what is needed because in the long run it is good for their business. If a business is able to take another route, it would be an odd sort of charecterization to say that the business is operating under some sort of corporate religious zealotry.
As for those parts of the article that deal with non-free software, it is not your job to determine whether or not that should be in an article. That is the job of the editor. And if the editor of Free Software Magazine is liberal when it comes to this then so be it. After all, it is his/her magazine.
I Want Debian! Need Help..Please.
All i want is Debian..but how?
I have limited bandwidth...a problem here in the Philippines.
I can't download the whole DVD or CD images coz its too big to download...
I can't use the Netinstall CD coz its too bandwidth consuming..
I can't buy the Cds coz i dont have international bank card...(Yup im poor) but my brain is not..
If only Debian has free CD's or DVD like Ubuntu then I will be promoting Debian here in the Philippines like I did with Ubuntu to my friends and Colleagues.
I believe in Debians Philosophy..I love Linux...I will wait for a miracle to have Debian in my system...
Please send me Debian DVD or CDs...I will pay COD..
Heres my name and address...
Mr. Ernani "Leo" Ubalde
043 ilaya 7c, Alabang, Muntinlupa City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Thank You.
Debian is great, but for newbies it's PCLinuxOS that rules
Your review is nice but PCLinuxOS is the better OS compared to Debian when it comes to newbies.
Why Oh Why?
Why must every distro review degrade into a war of likes and dislikes? Linux is all about the freedom to do as you want with your os. If someone wants to use proprietary software it's their choice just as it is their choice to use free software. The fact of the matter is that it is impossible at present to setup a Linux box that does everything a Windows box can do without using proprietary software. As much as I'd like to have my box comprised of all open source code, that's not the case at present. Everyone needs to just respect the freedom of choice that Linux provides and worry about your own setup and not the next persons!
No wireless
No opportunity to set up wireless during installation.
No obvious way to add a wireless interface once installed.
Wireless internet is hardly cutting edge nowadays.
NOT a desktop system....
You do have wireless
You do have wireless connection, if your wireless chipset is supportet by Linux kernel.
Your(?) broadcom chipset is not. And it is not Debians fault, it's Broadcom's
Buy Intel wireless chipset, or any other chipset, that have support from the Linux kernel.
So it's a desktop system, in this respect to...
(You are comfused by "beginner friendly" and "user friendly" when it comes to "setting something up" compare to "using it")
of course you can have it your way in Debian
whether "your way" is pragmatic or religious. I make a living using this box, you can guess what "my way" is. Not that I have anything against the pure FOSS approach, when a FOSS software package that's equal to or better than a proprietary package appears, I go with the FOSS package.
I use OpenOffice in preference to MS Word and a couple of proprietary word processors I've been using. Works better now and has a better UI. IMO, there's room for everyone, with the possible exception of the unsupported Linux newbie in Debian.
BTW, I would suggest that Debian users who want to get their system working pragmatically start with debconf (KDE > System > DebCentral Config) instead of Automatix. Better to work with something specifically intended to work with Debian.
The secrets to opening Debian up to a pragmatic approach is in the /etc/apt/sources.list file. You can add any number of new repositories ( try http://www.apt-get.org ) from sources ranging from individual vendors of proprietary software (I'm viewing this via Opera-Linux... you can get skype that way, too) to adding the non-free (usually proprietary) and even restricted (usually, this means things like libdvdcss which are not supposed to be available to US users) by adding the right "Debian unofficial" repositories. Or if you're just looking for multimedia, drop in on http://www.debian-multimedia.org and add their entry to your repository list.
And if that doesn't work, there are some packages that aren't in any repository that can be downloaded directly and installed via dpkg , or you can even convert packages from rpm to deb via the alien utility. (doesn't work on everything, but frankly, I find it amazing that it works at all.)


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All of our open source software is cross-posted at our group's GitHub Repository.
Software Category:
MZRefinery is an algorithm available with the MSConvert tool from Proteowizard ... more details tofollow ... see also http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26243018
Software Category: Featured Tools
Used to de-isotope mass spectra and to detect features from mass spectrometry data using observed isotopic signatures.
Reduces mass measurement errors for parent ions of tandem MS/MS data by modeling systematic errors based on putative peptide identifications. This information is used to subtract out errors from parent ion protonated masses.
GlyQ-IQ is software that performs a targeted, chromatographic centric search of mass spectral data for glycans.
InfernoRDN can perform various downstream data analysis, data reduction, and data comparison tasks including normalization, hypothesis testing, clustering, and heatmap generation.
Aligns multiple LC-MS datasets to one another after which LC-MS features can be matched to a database of peptides (typically an AMT tag database)
SIPPER can be used to automatically detect and quantify partially labeled C13 peptides.
VIPER (Visual Inspection of Peak/Elution Relationships) can be used to visualize and characterize the features detected during LC-MS analyses.
Software Category: Data Analysis and Data Presentation Tools
Active Data Canvas is a web-based visual analytic tool to visualize data matrix (expression matrix) and for users to interactively identify the structured domain knowledges (e.g., pathways and other genesets) linked to a cluster.
The Residue Frequency Summarizer is a VB.NET command-line utility that reads in a text file or fasta file containing peptide or protein sequences and prepares statistics on the occurrence of each amino acid residue throughout the file. Statistics include the number of sequences containing each amino acid and the occurrence percentage across all residues for each amino acid.
APE (Automated Processing Engine) provides a flexible platform for automation, standardization, documentation, QA/QC, and optimization of high-throughput data processing steps.
Used to perform various downstream data analysis, data reduction, and data comparison steps including normalization, hypothesis testing and clustering. Note that InfernoRDN is the suggested replacement for DanteR (due to installation issues with DanteR).
Windows graphical user interface tool for viewing LC-MS data and identifications.
The Protein Coverage Summarizer can be used to determine the percent of the residues in each protein sequence that have been identified.
A high-performance multiprocessor implementation of the NCBI BLAST library.
Draws correctly proportioned and positioned two and three circle Venn diagrams (aka Euler diagrams) whose colors can be customized and the diagrams copied to the clipboard or saved to disk.
The Visual Integration for Bayesian Evaluation (VIBE) software is a visualization tool that allows the user to observe classification accuracies at the class level and evaluate classification accuracies on any subset of available data types based on the posterior probability models defined for the individual and integrated data.
Software Category: Fasta File, Protein Sequence, or Protein Database Related tools
The Fasta File Comparer program will compare portions of the protein sequences in the source Fasta file with those in the comparison Fasta file and write the matching proteins and sequences to an output text file.
Console application that reads a protein FASTA file and splits it apart into a number of sections. Although the splitting is random, each section will have a nearly identical number of residues.
Evaluates data quality metrics to fit logistic regression classification models to quality control (QC) LC-MS datasets to predict whether a dataset is in or out of control.
MSPolygraph is an open source hybrid database and spectral library MS/MS search engine that runs in either serial or parallel modes.
The NET Prediction Utility can be used to compute predicted normalized elution time (NET) values for a list of peptide sequences.
The PepAligner program can read a file containing peptides and align them to a file of protein sequences (.Fasta or delimited text) using Smith-Waterman alignment.
The Peptide Fragmentation Modeller is a command-line utility reads that reads in a text file of peptide sequences and generates the theoretical fragmentation pattern for each, outputting the results in a single concatenated DTA file, or in separate .Dta files.
A Population Variation plug-in for the Skyline software program that can assist researchers in determining whether their target peptides have known mutations in the general human population.
The Protein Digestion Simulator can be used to read a text file containing protein or peptide sequences (FASTA format or delimited text) then output the data to a tab-delimited file.
The Protein Sequence Motif Extractor reads a fasta file or tab delimited file containing protein sequences, then looks for the specified motif in each protein sequence.
The SCX Prediction Utility can be used to compute the predicted strong cation exchange (SCX) fraction (on a 0 to 1 scale) in which a given peptide will appear.
The Uniprot DAT File Parser can read a Uniprot .Dat file and parse out the information for each entry, creating a series of tab delimited text files or creating a FASTA file.
The Validate Fasta File utility is a Windows command-line application that will parse a Fasta file to check the validity of the file, looking for common, known problems.
Software Category: MS Analysis Tools
Finds peaks in raw mass spectra. Capable of full waveform generation, automated mass spectra interpretation and database searching integration of FASTA or GenBank files.
This software can be used to generate an Accurate Mass and Time tag database (Microsoft Access format) from local MS/MS search engine results from either SEQUEST or X!Tandem.
Software Category: MS/MS Analysis Tools
DeconMSn creates spectrum files for tandem mass spectrometry data.
LC-IMS-MS Feature Finder is a command line software application that searches for molecular ion signatures in multidimensional liquid chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry (LC-IMS-MS) data by clustering deisotoped peaks with similar monoisotopic mass, charge state, LC elution time, and ion mobility drift time values.
This program is a command-line utility that reads in a Mascot Generic Format (MGF) file and creates the equivalent _Dta.txt or .Dta files. For more information, see Matrix Science's Data File Format page
MASIC (MS/MS Automated Selected Ion Chromatogram generator) Generates selected ion chromatograms (SICs) for all of the parent ions chosen for fragmentation in an LC-MS/MS analysis.
Reads the contents of a tab-delimited peptide hit results file (e.g. from Sequest, XTandem, Inspect, or MSGF+) and merges that information with the corresponding MASIC results files, appending the relevant MASIC stats for each peptide hit result.
MetISIS is a software application that takes user observed MS/MS spectra and generates ranked lists of candidate identifications from a database of metabolites. MetISIS uses a database of molecular structures for which we have generated in silico spectra (ISIS). While MetISIS is still very limited in its capability, we share it in its current form in hopes it will be found useful. We are continuing to update the capability of MetISIS and will release new vesions on this website periodically.
MS-GF+ (aka MSGF+ or MSGFPlus) performs peptide identification by scoring MS/MS spectra against peptides derived from a protein sequence database. It supports the HUPO PSI standard input file (mzML) and saves results in the mzIdentML format, though they can easily be transformed to TSV. ProteomeXchange supports Complete data submissions using MS-GF+ search results.
DataProcessing toolbox for running MSGF+ and MASIC, then merging the results. Uses Windows batch files to automate the process for a folder of Thermo .Raw files
MSPathFinder is a database search engine for top-down proteomics.
PE-MMR (SA) can be used to create a MGF file with refined parent ion masses and charges, which can lead to more accurate search results from MS/MS spectra.
Converts a MSGF+ TSV file, X!Tandem results file (XML format), or a SEQUEST Synopsis/First Hits file to a series of tab-delimited text files summarizing the results.
SpectrumLook can be used to inspect the fragmentation (MS/MS) spectra in an LC-MS/MS analysis.
Software Category: MS Data File Utilities
Command-line utility that reads in a _Dta.txt file and creates the equivalent Mascot Generic Format (MGF) file. _Dta.txt files are large text files that contain numerous .Dta files, all concatenated together.
The Concatenated Text File Splitter can be used to split apart the concatenated file to re-create the individual text files (creating one file per spectrum). This is necessary if you wish to re-search the data with SEQUEST (which reads individual .Dta files).
The Flexible File Sort Utility is a command line application that sorts a text file alphabetically (forward or reverse).
It supports both in-memory sorts for smaller files and use of temporary swap files for large files.
It can alternatively sort on a column in a tab-delimited or comma-separated file.
The column sort mode also supports numeric sorting.
The MsDataFileReader DLL is a VB.NET DLL that can be used to read mass spectrum data.
The MS File Info Scanner can be used to scan a series of MS data files (or data folders) and extract the acquisition start and end times, number of spectra, and the total size of the data.
Utility for converting ontology OBO files to a tab-delimited text file
The Thermo Raw File Reader is a .NET DLL that demonstrates how to read Thermo-Finnigan .Raw files using Thermo's MS File Reader.
Software Category: Mass Spectrometry Auxiliary Tools
The Isotope Pattern Calculator calculates and displays the isotopic distribution and exact masses for peptides and other molecules.
Calculates the molecular weight and percent composition of chemical formulas and amino acids.
VB.NET DLL version of the Molecular Weight Calculator, supporting a range of molecular weight calculations for both chemical formulas and amino acids.
Software Category: Tutorials
This topic provides a basic introduction to using software tools that do not have a graphical user interface (GUI) and instead can only be used at the Windows Command Prompt.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Texmaker is a free LaTeX editor, that integrates many tools needed to develop documents with LaTeX, in just one application.
Texmaker runs on unix, macosx and windows systems and is released under the GPL license.
Required OS: 10.5
Tags: latex , editor , tex , typesetting , tabs , crossplatform
3 Opinions
New version 4.0.4 is available as of 8/30/2013
the latest version 3.3.3 is really good. try it!
I've been using it to write my thesis, and I've upgraded a couple of times. The first version I tried worked fine and I liked it from the beginning.
With newer versions the program is getting even better.
I definitely recommend it!


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Another great product idea from Tim Holtz! I love decorating things with Tim's fun embellishments and these hinges are soooooooooooo cool! Looking forward to finding the perfect place to use them in!
These hinges are, not only lovely, but well-made and very functional. Another great Holtz design!
great product, fast delivery


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One of the biggest navigational issues with any operating system is using program menus. Windows users have to open the Start Menu, scan for the program, realize that the program is probably in the subfolder under the programmer's name, scan the appropriate subfolder, and then click on the program's icon. Macintosh users must open Finder, find and click on the Applications folder, and then search for the program's name. GNOME and KDE users have an advantage: they have categories in their respective Applications and K menus. However, it is still hard to find programs (and what if you look for Thunderbird in Office, and then realize it is under Internet?). One of the biggest reasons that the Quicksilver keystroke application launcher is so popular with the Macintosh users. All that is required is hitting Ctrl (or Command) + Space, and then typing a name to launch the program. Luckily, OS X users aren't the only ones that have this great feature. KDE users have the great, free-as-in-speech, Katapult.
Katapulting yourself into action
Since many KDE distributions include or offer packages for it, Katapult is extremely easy to install. After doing so, open Katapult (under the Utilities menu in K Menu, or by typing Alt-F2 and then
katapult) and it will display an "Application successfully started" message. To begin Katapulting, type Alt + Space (Bar). Type in a program name that is in the K Menu, such as
Konqueror (Katapult will only index programs in the K Menu), and hit Enter when the Konqueror icon comes up. Voila! Konqueror will launch. You can also just type
konq, wait for the Konqueror icon to come up, and hit Enter. To close the Katapult window (note that Katapult will stay open, so you can still hit Alt + Space to bring it forward), wait for a few seconds or click outside of the Katapult window.
Although Katapult's main strength is launching programs, it has other useful features. First, it can be used as a fully-fledged calculator. Just type
[YOUREXPRESSION] (so
1+1*7^5 will give the result
16,808). If you hit enter after typing the expression, the equation will be copied to the clipboard for further reference.
Want to see if you spelled "mispelled" correctly? An easy way to do so is to use Katapult's built-in spell checker. Just type
spell [YOURWORD] (so
spell mispelled would bring up a red X and some suggestions), while
spell misspelled would bring up a green check mark). Hitting enter on misspelled word will copy all the suggested words to the clipboard.
Many KDE users (myself included) use Amarok to listen to music. But to switch to a particular song in a playlist requires opening Amarok, searching for the song, double-clicking, and then sending Amarok back to the tray. Why do that when you can just use Katapult? Just type in the song name that you want to listen to, and Katapult will play that song in Amarok (so typing
walk the line will pull up one of Johnny Cash's biggest hits).
My home folder is one of the most cluttered areas on my computer. To find a file (or even a folder) in it takes an extremely long time. So it's a good thing that Katapult indexes the home folder. Just type the file or folder's name, and hit enter (so typing
file.txt will open up the appropriate file in the appropriate program). The one caveat is that you can't tell Katapult where to index, and it won't search subfolders (so the file in
~/docs/ won't be indexed).
I read news sites like Newsvine about every five minutes. But to do so requires firing up Konqueror and then typing in the URL. Why go to all that trouble when Katapult will do it for me? If you use a Mozilla-based browser (Konqueror, Firefox, etc.) Katapult will automatically import your bookmarks. Just type your bookmark name (e.g.,
Newsvine), hit enter, and it will open up in Konqueror.
Configuring Katapult
Sometimes, the default configuration of Katapult isn't enough. What if you use JuK instead of Amarok, and therefore don't require the Amarok catalog? Or what if you store your documents in a folder besides the home folder and consequently don't require the document catalog? Or even, what if (gasp!) you passed 3rd grade spelling and don't need the spell checker? It is time to fire up the Katapult configuration tool. Open the Katapult window (Alt + Space, remember?), and then hit Ctrl + C. Clicking the "Configure Shortcuts" will open the shortcut editor. But what we want is the "Configure Katapult" option. Now, you can add and remove catalogs, add a system tray icon, and change the skin.
All in all, Katapult is a terrific must-have app. In a few days, you'll find yourself not being able to survive without it. There are a few things I would add (a drop down menu like the free-as-in-speech but Windows-only launcher, Launchy, includes would be especially nice), but overall, this is one of my favorite GNU/Linux applications of all time. Best of all, if you want a new plugin added (like a dictionary or Google search), it is easy to create one thanks to Katapult's API.
GNOME has Deskbar
It looks like Deskbar Applet is the equivalent for GNOME. It does a whole bunch of things: you can run commands; it'll search your emails, files and folders, web bookmarks, history, previous web searches and delicious bookmarks too; open up web pages; interface with beagle; do dictionary searches; switch windows. I have mine bound to Ctrl + Alt + End.
Because it does window switching I can find windows I already have open too, which means I don't need a the task bar at all. If I minimise a window by mistake I can use deskbar to get it back by typing the name of the app.
It would be good if it had a calculator like Katapult. And, if the spell function Katapult has is built-in and doesn't require you to be online, then it would be a feature I'd like built into deskbar too. I don't know whether it has an API for plugins but I can imagine that would be a good way to get these other features built in.
I had katapult, but never found it all that much more useful than alt-F2, switching songs in amarok didn't work for me, and I don't use amarok anymore (moc player instead), so it wouldnt matter. I've got specific hotkeys for a lot of programs, and I just don't like the idea of some other app sitting the background using system resources (have the same feeling about kerry beagle). On the other hand of course what are system resources there for, but to be used up?
Works Well
I liked it. I think it works well, no problems and it did actually seem to speed up my program launching. But as 'Anonymous Visitor' pointed out, Alt-F2 is about the same as far as usability. Although the build in calculator / spell functions are pretty cool. Sort of like Google. But not as...robust?
best thing ever
am a big fan of Katapult and it is acctually one of the main reasons i switched my work environment to Kubuntu fully
Katapult is much better than alt-f2
Katapult is much better than alt-f2 because of the spellcheck. The only drawback is that the app must be in the K menu. Another gem is Yakuake, and it compliments katapult nicely.
The Old Microsoft Solution
Beginning with Windows 95 and still available in Windows XP, Microsoft's Program Manager (progman.exe) has been available to provide an easy way to organize and launch programs. I have nine catagories, each with its own window in Program Manager to allow easy access. I am supprised it is not still popular as I have not seen a better solution to date.
Who cares?
Why would we care about what Microsoft does or has done? We are talking about GNU/Linux here!
Microsoft's Program Manager....
The reason Microsoft's program manager isn't very popular is because most windows uses aren't that bright. Power users use Linux and want to customize every aspect of their environment, windows users on the other hand want Microsoft to create the experience for them so they don't have to think..
This is a great app, I love it when people post screen shots so that we can see what is going on.
Command line anyone?
Surly all of these things can be achieved from the command line? Isn't that why people use Linux? Set konsole to be the top item in your K menu or create a shortcut. Infact for the spelling or maths you can save time by booting up without X.
Last time I checked,
Last time I checked, Konqueror wasn't a Mozilla-based browser.
configure katapult documents catalog
How can i tell katapult to search in other folders, than my home-folder for documents?
Thanks for help!!


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- CARE: Machine wash


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NEW: For a prettier blog interface, see the Wordpress version!
Please be reminded that our departmental planning will push through as scheduled this weekend, April 26 and 27, at the Eugenio Lopez Center in Antipolo. Please confirm your attendance with Lisa ASAP. Full-time, part- time, former, and new faculty are all enjoined to attend!
I'd love to hear about any questions, comments, suggestions or links that you might have. Your comments will not be posted on this website immediately, but will be e-mailed to me first. You can use this form to get in touch with me, or e-mail me at [email protected] .


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Los Alamos National Laboratory
Delivering science and technology to protect our nation and promote world stability
Los Alamos is located in Northern New Mexico about 35 miles (about 40 minutes drive) northwest of Santa Fe and 1 hour and 45 minutes drive from Albuquerque.
- LANL Directory
- 667-5061
- Badge Office
- (505) 667-6901
- Institutional Visits and Events
- (505) 667-2222
Location and directions
How to get to LANL
Los Alamos is located in Northern New Mexico about 35 miles (about 40 minutes drive) northwest of Santa Fe and 1 hour and 45 minutes drive from Albuquerque. Laboratory facilities can be found in 50 different work areas that are spread across 36 square miles. Below is the general location of the Otowi Building, Badge Office, cafeteria, and Research Library.
Google maps
- Map with location of LANL
- Map from Santa Fe to LANL
- Map from Albuquerque International Sunport to LANL
Printable maps
- Albuquerque to Los Alamos printable map (pdf)
- Badge Office location (two pages) printable map (pdf)
- LANL Operations at TA-00, Los Alamos town site, and White Rock printable map (pdf)
Driving directions from Albuquerque International Sunport to Los Alamos
- From the Albuquerque International Sunport, follow the signs to I-25 North and proceed to Santa Fe.
- Take the Santa Fe Relief Route (NM 599, Veteran's Memorial Highway), around Santa Fe (Exit 276b) or exit at St. Francis Drive (NM 285) to go through Santa Fe.
- Proceed north on NM 285/84 to Pojoaque.
- Take NM 502 west to Los Alamos.
Driving distance: Approximately 100 miles
Driving time: approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes
Security access requirements
Access to the Laboratory is controlled by vehicle access portals (VAPs). Familiarize yourself with the Security Perimeter information and check this page for any changes in those requirements.


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The Bobcats got two chances to pounce on the Centauri Falcons.
Instead, the Falcons broke the Ignacio High School football team.
Centauri forced a turnover on downs on its own 4-yard line, narrowly avoided a safety on its own 2-inch line, then drove more than 99 yards to take a two-touchdown lead before going on to beat Ignacio 48-8 on Friday night on the Bobcats� home field.
�It was hard,� Ignacio quarterback Adison Jones said.
The Bobcats started out warm Friday night, then went as cold as the dropping temperature.
After an opening drive that ended on a turnover on downs on Centauri�s 33-yard line, Ignacio�s Clayton Jefferson intercepted KC Jarvies on his second pass of the game on the first set of downs � Jefferson�s first of two.
Then, the Bobcats drove 59 yards to pay dirt. Jones threw three passes for 63 yards on that drive before running back Austin Haire capped it with a 1-yard touchdown.
Haire was Ignacio�s leading rusher with 26 yards and scored the Bobcats� lone touchdown.
Centauri�s Jareb Aziz took a reverse 55 yards on the next drive to even the score at 8-8, and the Falcons took the lead on their next possession with a 70-yard drive ending in another Aziz touchdown, this one from 15 yards out to start the second quarter.
He finished with 155 yards and two touchdowns, as the Bobcats� defense struggled to stop his churning legs up the middle or on a quick counter that the Falcons made use of all evening.
The Bobcats weren�t done yet.
On the next possession, the Ignacio offense strung together an 18-play, five-first down drive that ate up nearly eight minutes and positioned the Bobcats to pull even with the Falcons.
Everything worked, until they hit the goal line.
�We were doing the things we wanted to do,� IHS head coach Lupe Huerta said. �The offense was clicking.�
Then like worn gears, it started grinding instead.
With four downs from the 4, the Bobcats couldn�t find the end zone on two rushes and two incomplete passes.
�The offense just wasn�t clicking,� Jones said.
Still, the Bobcats got a chance at redemption.
Taking over at their own 5-yard line, the Falcons� first play was a bungled snap, which Jarvies fell on at the 2-inch line.
But Centauri rushed for two yards on the next play, then threw a 38-yard pass to get out of danger, and the Bobcats� chances ran out.
�I think they were kind of down that they didn�t get that safety,� Jones said.
The Falcons took the ball the rest of the 99 yards to go up 24-8 at half, and they never let up. After the break, the Falcons added three more touchdowns, while Ignacio�s first-half offensive flair all but disappeared � too many mistakes, Huerta said.
The Bobcats had just 66 yards of total offense in the second half for a combined 245 yards.
�The offense is there,� Huerta said. �What we�re doing is working; we just got to put it together.�


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UNION CITY -- What may have begun as typical child's play ended in a "tragic accident" Monday morning, police said, as a 6-year-old boy died after being bitten by the family dog at a Union City home.
The boy, identified as Nephi Selu, was playing in the backyard of his grandparents' home in the 32400 block of Elizabeth Way just after 11:30 a.m. when the dog -- a young pit bull mix -- bit him on top of his head, Union City police Cmdr. Ben Horner said Tuesday. The boy, he said, may have tried to climb onto the dog's back before he was bitten.
"It appeared the young child was engaging in some type of horseplay with the dog," Horner said.
The dog's owner, a San Mateo police officer, pulled the animal off the child, who was his nephew, according to attorney Michael Rains.
Rains said he was told by family members that the boy was talking, conscious and lucid after the attack and so the owner of the dog thought he was fine, only in need of a few stitches, and went to work. Alameda County fire spokeswoman Aisha Knowles confirmed Tuesday that the boy was alive when he was taken by ambulance to Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto.
He was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after 4 p.m., police said.
"The preliminary investigation suggests it was a tragic accident but our detectives will continue to interview family, neighbors and first responders as is protocol in these types of cases," Horner said.
Rains said he went to the Union City home Tuesday because the owner of the dog is a police officer represented by the San Mateo police union -- a client of Rains' firm -- but that the firm had not been retained by the family.
"This is not a case of criminal liability. It's just a terrible accident. This is just the nicest family, great kids." The owner of the dog has seven children of his own, and the boy who died and his mother also live in the home where the attack occurred, Rains said.
The dog was taken to the Tri-City Animal Shelter in Fremont and will be held for a standard 10-day quarantine, Horner said. The dog was in compliance with his anti-rabies shots and licensing requirements, he said.
It was uncertain on Tuesday whether the dog would be euthanized, authorities said.
Police said they are also looking into whether another dog was at the home at the time of the attack, but Horner said it's clear from first responders on scene that there was only one dog involved in the attack.
Rains said all the children "rough house" and play with the dog regularly. "This dog has never even barked at these kids, never showed any aggressive (behavior)," he said. "You can't figure out what happened. He was just playing with him and the next thing that happened is the dog bit the child."
A "Beware of Dog" sign was posted on a wooden fence next to the two-story, beige-colored home, but neighbors who have seen the family's dogs out and about said they were always on a leash and gave no hints that they might be vicious.
"It was an accident. It's such a shame," said Arthur Kouns, 41. "The dogs always appeared very friendly, always wagging their tails."
Kouns said the home belongs to Nephi's grandparents and that several other family members live at the address. He had been living there for some time.
"It's a friendly family," Kouns said. "Good people."
Although multiple cars lined the home's driveway Tuesday, no one appeared to be home. The family did not return a call for comment.
Contact Natalie Neysa Alund at 510-293-2469 and follow her at Twitter.com/nataliealund. Contact Rick Hurd at 925-945-4789 and follow him at Twitter.com/3rdERH. Contact Kristin J. Bender at firstname.lastname@example.com and follow her at Twitter.com/kjbender.


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Knitter's Review
June 28, 2007
Nine years ago I packed up my car and left San Francisco to follow my dreams in coastal Maine. Last weekend I returned to my old neighborhood, only to discover a great new yarn shop had sprung up in my absence.
Had Noe Knit been around when I was in San Francisco, who knows? I may never have left. Join me for a visit.
Casualties of Technology
In the Forums: Ho-Hum Hand-Dyeds?
Forgot your forum username or password?
As always, thank you for your readership and your support. Happy knitting, and I'll see you in the forums!
P.S. Do you have friends who would enjoy Knitter's Review? If so, don't hesitate to forward this email to them!
Knitter's Review Poll
Since our technical problems last week kept many of you from voting in our poll, I'm keeping it up for another week. The question is do you tend to use the yarn specified in patterns? The answers may be surprising—at least for the yarn companies providing the patterns!
Participate in our Knitter's Review Poll and you'll see an instant tally of all the votes.
Subscriber Services
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If you no longer wish to receive our weekly email update, click here to be immediately unsubscribed.
If your email address has changed or you'd like to make any changes, simply reply to this email and provide your updated details.
© Copyright 2000-2007 by Clara H. Parkes. All rights reserved.
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If a stiff, ferocious wind blew into Walnut Creek, the multiple hats dancer/actor/director/choreographer/spouse/mother/sister/daughter Jennifer Denison Perry wears wouldn't even budge.
Perry carries her roles with aplomb. It could be the result of years at the barre -- the kind ballet dancers hold onto, pulling their bodies into exquisite form -- at The Ballet School founded by her late grandmother, Lareen Fender. Or, it's the invisible grounding her amalgamated family provides.
It's not just that her director father (Scott Denison, general manager of the Lesher Center for the Arts), actress mother (Kerri Shawn), two theatrical sisters (Kelly and Amanda) and actor/educator husband (Vince Perry) are embedded in the local arts whirl. With the Denison Perrys, there's a hefty dose of Norman Rockwellian values anchoring them when they're not dancing up a storm.
Jennifer Perry is directing and choreographing Contra Costa Musical Theatre's new production, "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." She talked about that, and other theater-related matters in an interview two weeks before "Dreamcoat's" Oct. 12 opening. The interview is happening at what she might call "home" -- an airy ballet studio overlooking Main Street.
"I'm here seven days a week," she says.
But Perry isn't complaining; she's aglow, as if experiencing her first pirouette at the Met or tap-stepping across a Broadway stage.
"I learned by the time I was 13 that I was in love with dance, but it was beyond just classical ballet," she said. "I fell into musical theater and I loved Bob Fosse's style. My grandmother took me to New York, L.A., everywhere, to show me theater."
Perry laughs when she reads reviews of dancers in current productions.
"Ballet changes a musical theater dancer. It's not a new form that makes articulation happen; it's their technique showing."
As much as she values ballet's rigor and its resulting purity of form and movement, Perry considers herself a storyteller.
"I don't listen to eight counts of music; I think of what steps will help me create a story in a phrase of music," she says.
Her directing heroes are unsurprising: Susan Stroman, for her versatility; Robert Barry Fleming, for diving in and making the impossible appear onstage; and Fender, whose death in August 2011 rocked her otherwise stable world.
"In her last months of life, she couldn't be who she was," Perry says. "Helping her to let go -- you learn about yourself. You have to be selfless and not hold on. And when my grandfather took his last breath, the whole family was surrounding him. I had never seen somebody move beyond. It sounds weird, but it was beautiful."
If there's pain in her life that she is not able to replace with peaceful resolution, it's unfounded attacks on her family.
"It's spider talk from people who don't have facts. That Enquirer-type of story is awful. It's so painful. I say, go to the source."
Gossip, suggesting she has had it easy because of her family connections, brings an instant reaction from the Shellie and Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award-winner.
"I had to work 10 times harder to prove that I can stand on my own," she says, dropping her crossed leg to the floor and leaning forward. "I cry when people treat me as if I got to where I am because of my family. Then I jump back in and work harder the next day."
Danny Boyle, CCMT's general manager, admires her "double value" as a director and choreographer and says, "She comes to any project with a clear vision of what she wants -- and she gets it."
The six-week rehearsal schedule for "Dreamcoat" is fierce -- three days to learn all the music, 2 1/2 weeks to block and choreograph and two weeks to clean and dissect during run-throughs of the show.
"They have a nine-minute megamix at the end that's exhilarating," she says, sounding half-demon, half-cheerleader. "They were scared at first, and I looked to make sure they were still breathing, but they've built up their stamina."
Despite opportunities to work outside the East Bay, Perry is content to play in her own backyard, saying, "I have friends who grew up, moved away, and now, they're trying desperately to come back."
Her advice for young people hoping for a life in theater is ... diversify.
"Become knowledgeable in every facet of theater. You can't just be an actor; you have to be the crew, sew buttons in the costume shop, prime the set with paint. You can't expect to just be center stage," she advises.
When the curtain goes up on each production, Perry's hats come dangerously close to becoming unsettled and flying aloft in the breeze.
"Everyone else is happy and I'm flat. At that point, it's done," she admits.
It's precisely then that the voice of her grandmother, echoed in the themes of the 'Joseph' story, provides ballast. Persevere. Search for the light. If you can dream it, become it. Life's battles are won, not by the strongest or fastest, but by the one who thinks he or she can win.
It's Rockwellian sentiment and cliché to some ears. But to Perry, it's her purpose.
Contra Costa Musical Theatre's "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat"
WHEN: Oct. 12-Nov. 10
WHERE: Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek
INFO: http://www.lesherartscenter.org/joseph-and-the-amazing-technicolor-dreamcoat-info/


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With their Journalism Today textbooks spread open, iPads turned on and smart phones at the ready, a group of Homestead and Saint Francis high school students took over a picnic table at Serra Park June 20 to talk strategy.
The passionate young writers were putting the finishing touches on their first community summer program, the Sunnyvale Youth Newspaper Camp, for students entering grades 5-8.
Students will learn how to improve their writing skills, be introduced to the basics of newspaper production and be encouraged to get involved with and be aware of community events.
About 40 students have already registered for the camp. Students from Cupertino, Lawson and Columbia middle schools and Eaton Elementary School have signed up, as well as a few from home school and private schools.
"We're all kind of interested in writing a newspaper as well," said camp organizer June Lee of Saint Francis High.
June is the current editor of Saint Francis' campus newspaper, The Lancer.
"I contacted some of the kids I've known from middle school--we had worked together on different volunteer projects in the past--and I knew everyone was really interested," June said. "We wanted to reach out to the community and create a program where kids are improving their writing skills, not just in the classroom, and maybe reviving the dying newspaper economy."
The high school students have been meeting for about two months, planning the program and generating interest by reaching out to the local libraries, community centers and even soup kitchens.
The all-volunteer, student-led camp will focus on four key topics: letters to the editor, editorials, cartooning and interviewing and investigative reporting. It also will touch on layout, typography and readability.
"I know so much of education we get nowadays, there's so little current events; we barely know what's going on around us," June said. "We want these kids to grow up to be the leaders of the U.S. and be more involved and to take on leadership roles. We want them to be more interactive and be more willing to go out and ask questions about what's going on."
Students will break out into focus groups to learn skills like interviewing fast talkers and to discuss daily topics ranging from politics and business to crime and celebrity gossip. Young journalists will also get to print letters to the editor in the Cupertino Courier and Sunnyvale Sun.
"These simple journalism skills are pretty much universally applicable, so learning this is a good start to do other things as well," added Shaunak Modak of Homestead High.
Registration is due July 2, and the weeklong camp will begin July 7.
The free camp will run from 1 to 4 p.m. each day and will be held at Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church, 728 W. Fremont Ave.
While June and other camp organizers are leaning toward capping this summer's program at 40 students, the high schoolers do plan to host the camp twice a year in the future, over winter and summer breaks.
For more information, email firstname.lastname@example.com or visit tinyurl/sync-registration.


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I use the ps3 Media Server for a couple of media formats.
Those formats have different aspect ratios (16:9, 4:3, 16:10)
The PS3 Media Server just seem to use one aspect ratio.
It scales every File to full screen not carrying about the original format.
So my question would be iof there a way to change the scaling options for a file or a media format such as mkv,avi or something.
I don't want encode every single video I want to watch or to type the height and the width for every video.
I appreciaty your work!!


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I don't know about you, but I survived the long, hard winter with its bitter cold snaps by curling up with a warm muffin or two, gaining about 5 pounds in the process.
Five pounds doesn't sound like much until you see it in the mirror. It's roughly the weight of a laptop computer or maybe a toy poodle.
At any rate, I don't need it. So it is with gratitude that I acknowledge a tip from a co-worker about an app called MyFitnessPal.
As of this writing, it's the top iPad app and No. 2 iPhone app in the health and fitness category on the Apple (AAPL) app store. It's one of many fitness and diet apps available for iOS and Android devices that are worth a look.
Many of these apps are designed to focus your attention on either food intake or exercise. Most include calorie counting, but MyFitnessPal and another app called Lose It do more than that by encouraging exercise, goal setting and peer support. With either, you can fine-tune your diet.
Based in San Francisco, MyFitnessPal has 30 million users and is available for iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows 7 as well as on the Web. Supported by advertising on Android and its website, but ad free on the iOS app, it was developed by two brothers, Mike Lee, a veteran of Silicon Valley startups Palm, Handspring and Beyond.com, and Albert Lee, who has an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.
I downloaded MyFitnessPal, logged on as "lowcalguy" and filled in a few details about myself and my fitness goals. I wanted to lose 5 pounds, but my eyes popped when the app set a goal of 1,380 calories a day to lose 1 pound per week. That's not a whole lot of calories, but there was a method to that madness. It spurred exercise.
Saturday morning, I plugged in my breakfast of two slices of La Brea wheat toast (160 calories) and a banana (105 calories) and went for a brisk walk.
Another app I like to use for hiking charted my 6-mile walk of 90 minutes over hilly terrain at around 4 miles per hour.
Returning to my car, I plugged my exercise into MyFitnessPal and my daily calorie allotment shot up to 1,575 calories. I'd burned 460 calories on my walk.
The message was clear: If I exercise more, I get to eat more.
If I'd wanted to share any or all of my information on Facebook or with a group of friends, I could invite them to join me. MyFitnessPal also connects with a variety of external body monitoring devices.
The app has 2.5 million food items in its database, and what isn't there you can try to find with a built-in barcode reader. My snack of raw almonds gets an appreciative "Great value!'' It has most of the stuff I buy in grocery stores. My morning crumpet is there, at 90 calories. Normally I don't fret, but now, they're like a constraint on my food intake for the rest of the day.
Lose It, based in Boston, started as an iPhone app, added a website in 2010 and Android in 2011. It claims users have shed 18 million pounds, and has been downloaded 13 million times. While both apps look alike, Lose It is more than just a pretty interface, said Charles Teague, Lose It's chief executive.
"We think of ourselves as a weight loss program, more like Weight Watchers," Teague said. "The app is an important part, technology is an important part, but on the whole we'd like to be evaluated on how well we help people lose weight."
With a paid subscription, introduced in October, you can plan future meals based on what you had to eat today, and set goals for vital signs like blood pressure, and for exercise and sleep. It has a barcode reader too. External monitoring devices like activity monitor Nike Fuel automatically connect to store readings in the app or on the Web.
So far, after a week using both apps, I've lost 1.5 pounds.
Teague said his approach boils down to tracking and peer support.
"When you see how easy it is to rack up 300 calories eating, and when you see how hard it is to lose them, you think, 'I'll skip that desert tonight,' " he said.
It's true: I never knew a vending machine packet of smoked almonds contained 250 calories. It's sitting in my desk drawer like a live grenade.
Contact Pete Carey at 408-920-5419 Follow him on Twitter.com/petecarey


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Narrated by Gabriel Byrne, Butte, America is a documentary that tells the story of the most profitable hard rock mining town in American history. Through historical narrative and interviews with mine survivors and their families, the film captures the pioneering spirit that drew men to work in the mines, the emotional ties that formed in mining communities, and the powerful hold that the mining companies had over every aspect of their lives.
"I never said goodbye in the morning, going to work. I'd say see ya, so long. Never goodbye," says John T. Shea, an Irish ironworker, in the opening moments of Butte, America.
This cheerful spirit belies the underlying knowledge all the miners must have had that their work could mean an early death for them. Butte's mines were statistically the most dangerous in the world, and required immense manpower to operate. In the early 1870s, Butte was a mining town
on the verge of becoming a city full of immigrants in search of employment and the American Dream. When the advent
of electricity demanded more copper,
the "Copper Kings," industrialists Clark, Daly and Heinze, called for more
manpower, pushing Butte's population near 90,000. Immigrants flowed in from Ireland, England, Lebanon, Canada, Finland Austria, Italy, China, Montenegro, Mexico, and more: the "no smoking" signs in mines were written in sixteen languages.
The Irish, however, felt a special connection to Butte. Beginning their immigration during Famine times, many came from the Beara Peninsula where they had mined before leaving for America. They arrived in Butte by way of Nevada's Comstock Lode, Penn-sylvania's coalfields, and Michigan's copper mines. They arrived from Cork, Mayo, and Donegal. According to David Emmons's book The Butte Irish, 12,000 of Irish descent were living in Butte
by 1900, where the population was then 47,635. At a quarter of the population, Irish made up a higher percentage
in Butte than they did in any other American city at the turn of the last century. Seventy-seven various families of Sullivans left Castletownbere, Cork and came to Butte. By 1908 Butte hosted 1,200 Sullivans.
The land in Butte was owned by the mining companies, and mining families paid ground rent to live there. As the companies fought for control of the fruitful mines, the larger companies expanded into railroads, logging and other industries, pushing their smaller competitors out of business. Monopolies meant that corporations held greater and greater power over the families that lived in mining towns, and unions could do little to change the occupation's hazards. Butte was awash with widows raising large families alone, left with no insurance or income. The women held several jobs, and children contributed to the workforce as soon as they were able, ushering in the age of newsboys. Some 16,000 miners worked in the connected honeycomb of mines that lay underneath Butte, all with beautiful names that belied what went on underground: Anselma, Alice, Lexington, Bell Diamond, Mountain View, Moonlight, Silverbowl, and on and on.
In 1899, Copper King Marcus Daly joined with William Rockefeller, Henry Rogers and Thomas Lawson to form the Amalgamated Copper Mining Company, which soon changed its name to Anaconda Copper Mining Company. Marcus Daly was born in 1841 and raised near Ballyjamesduff in Co. Cavan. In Butte, he found a rich and plentiful source of precious metals, and became one of the wealthiest men in the West when demand for copper rose. He was known for his tendency to hire Irish whenever possible.
Known simply as "The Company," by 1914 Anaconda Company had become the fourth largest corporation in the country and had full control of Butte. They controlled town and state legislatures, and miners were pushed to increase production. Under the stress, the miners' union splintered into smaller factions, none of which were acknowledged by Anaconda. After 1905, Butte was a hub of organization for the "Wobblies," or Industrial Workers of the World. As WWI hit, more and more copper was needed, and Irish miners were expected to work longer hours.
The conditions became, unthinkably, even more dangerous, culminating in a fire that exploded in the Granite Mountain Mine on June 8, 1917. Hundreds of miners were trapped inside; 168 bodies were found. The shocked town mourned. Miners demanded safer working conditions, but the mine owners refused. Butte became a violent place, with union halls blown up and miners jailed or even murdered. When a strike at one mine was sustained for seven months, the miners were accused of treason during wartime and marched into the mines at gunpoint when federal troops were called in. In the Anaconda Road Massacre of 1920, Pinkerton Agency guards hired by The Company shot a group of picketing strikers, killing one and injuring 16.
By 1920, industrial unionism was a thing of the past as the "Roaring 20s" ushered in an era of rampant capitalism.