I have version 0.0.6 of the LiveDVD available for downloading. This distribution is still under development, and is now in Beta testing. I have released the beta DVD image on SuSE Studio. So far, there have been at least 12 downloads (other than the one I have downloaded).

This is the Tabby Release, which is a standard release. There is also a Longhair Cat release, which is a fully functional LiveDVD, in the works.

Both of these are based on openSuSE 12.1, and feature the GNOME desktop, as well as WindowMaker and XFCE. The distributions use the standard openSuSE repositories, as well as a few selected third party repositories for installation of additional packages.

Printing and scanning support is available through HPLIP, Gutenprint, and the Avasys driver to ensure support for most Hewlett-Packard and Epson all-in one devices (as well as other printers supported with the Gutenprint driver).

LibreOffice is the official office suite installed, as well as Abiword, Gnumeric, GIMP, Firefox, Opera, Chromium, Inkscape, Banshee, Audacity, and many applications you would expect in a Linux distribution.

Wine is provided for Windows applications, and VirtualBox and QEMU are installed so you can run other operating systems within Horneker Linux.

For now, the distribution is in beta testing. I want to be sure everything works before I make an official release. Because of the Live Installer, you must download the ISO from SuSE Studio.

The website looks the same, but some internal changes were made to the XHTML pages.

First, I implemented two CSS stylesheets to replace the embedded CSS coding on web pages. One stylesheet is used for all menu pages and the main page (index.html). The other stylesheet is for pages that have actual content.

I have expanded on the page on adding software to PCLinuxOS, namely a section about installation and maintenance of LibreOffice and OpenOffice.org.

Though the 64-bit version of PCLinuxOS has not been officially released, I have switched to the 64-bit with LXDE desktop with all the recent updates. There are enough 64-bit packages in the repository to make the switch worthwhile. Also, I am installing the necessary tools to produce any needed missing RPM packages.

I have gotten back to developing this website, with first, changing the graphics, and then the base font to Droid Sans (available with major Linux distributions).

Also, another goal I have for the website is for the website to be less dependent on social media. Yes, social media is a major part of the Internet experience. However, it has become more of a distraction and less of a productive tool.

Has anyone really found a productive use for a tablet? Recent marketing of tablets and smartphones have emphasized entertainment value, and much less on real productivity.

Besides, what can a tablet do that a laptop or netbook cannot do? This is one case where going old school is appropriate. I still have a Handspring Visor and a HP 200LX palmtop device. Both of these were designed for productive use without the distractions of multimedia content.

Have you ever tried typing a term paper, a report or an article on a tablet? Or developed a website or application on a tablet? You still need a laptop or desktop for that

Also how many tablets are in use in an office environment, especially with all the multimedia distractions?
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A new global treaty could allow corporations to police what we do on the Internet. Last week we successfully pushed back the US censorship bills — if we act now, we can get the EU Parliament to bury this new threat — add your voice now!

On January 18th, at 8:00 am EST, there will be a shutdown of several popular websites to protest the SOPA/PIPA bill (or rather fiasco), and show all of us the effects of censorship on the Internet. There is a growing opposition to this bill, and for good reason.

First, the bill is unconstitutional as it violates the first and fourth amendments found in the Bill of Rights.

Second, if you actually read the bill, you will note that despite the title, SOPA does not stop online piracy. Instead, this bill is really about commercializing the Internet, and does nothing more than what existing laws in the books already do. In addition, this is an attempt to preserve a business model that has been made outdated and obsolete by the Internet, and one that actually deters competition.

Third, how many people in Congress hold degrees with majors in information technology or computer science? To understand the DNS system, you need to know how DNS works, how computer networking works, and obviously, how a computer works. For all of this, you need to be educated on these topics. Enough said here.

Fourth, the economic consequences of a censored internet will be damaging in the best case scenario, and catastrophic in the worst case scenario. Censorship will suppress innovation, creativity, and perhaps keep the next big thing from materalizing due to lack of funding and outright fear…and if you have an online business, your customer base will be cut off if you are cut off due to censorship.

This protest will show you the potential effects of censorship (worldwide, may I add) should this bill pass…and if that is not enough to get you to take action, I don’t know what will.

This goes to show you the stupidity that has been going on in Congress for many decades.

It sure makes you wonder if these people actually read what they write.

When the first digital cameras came to market back in the late 1990s, it was predicted that digital photography would replace conventional photography.

Guess what? It didn’t.

Instead, conventional photography in some ways complemented digital photography.

Yes, the cost of film and processing has gone up over the years, due to diminishing demand. However, there is still a consumer market for film processing.

Fast forward to today.

As of 12:45Pm CST, the price of Kodak stock is 45 cents per share, This company is on the virge of bankruptcy.

The main issue of the mentioned article is of the sale of patents owned by Kodak.

Will conventional film be available if Kodak goes bankrupt? Only time will tell. Kodak’s bankruptcy will make Fuji the sole manufacturer of conventional film in the consumer market.

What is at stake here is the availability of conventional film, and where you can purchase it. It is possible that Kodak will spin off that division to another company, even if only to keep the market for conventional film going.

In this world of digital photography, who would want to keep the conventional film market going?

For starters, if you are taking a photography class, particularly at some colleges and universities, a working 35mm camera is required for the class.

Second, there are 35mm cameras that can be purchased at pawn shops, second hand shops, and antique malls. Obviously, the pawn shops have a great interest in keeping this market going, so the value of their resaleable inventory of cameras does not drop to near zero, due to the bankruptcy of Kodak.
(After all, they have to be able to resell their inventory, right?)

Third (and last), the 35mm format has been around since 1929, and the quality and development of the film has evolved for the past 80 plus years.

In order to save this part of the market, Kodak should spin off its film division to another company. This should work as this was done successfully with Polaroid film not too long ago.

About the SOPA/PIPA Bill and Why This Should NOT Be Passed.

If you care about your freedom, you should take action on this.

Getting ready to test the community supported fork of Mandriva. I have tried Fedora 15 and Ubuntu 11.10. My issues with Fedora 15 were the package manager, of which did not show progress of updates and new packages being installed making me wonder if the package manager was working or not, not to mention the slow performance of the package manager.

I had better success with Ubuntu, though I had performance issues with the Unity desktop, especially after installing numerous KDE, WindowMaker and GNOME 3 packages. Performance of Ubuntu was not up to par when compared to PCLinuxOS.

Enter Mageia. Network configuration here is the same as that of PCLinuxOS. I have downloaded the 32-bit DVD edition, and am ready to test the distribution. It has much of the same software contained in PCLinuxOS. But that is where the similarity ends.

Since 2007, PCLinuxOS has been independently developed with its own software repository and numerous mirrors, whereas Mageia is a direct fork of the Mandriva distribution.

What I intend to do is install and test Mageia