More on "Ubuntu on Desktop" experiment

After reasonable success with the usage of Ubuntu 9.10 on my desktop - for about 2 weeks, I gathered courage to replace PCQuest Linux 2005 with Ubuntu 9.10 on one more PC.

It is a P-IV 2.4 Ghz, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB harddisk, Intel 845GSVR motherboard and DVD writer. The installation would start fine but would freeze after 3-4 minutes of disk activity. It won't even reach hard-disk partitioning stage. After many attempts, installation worked in Safe Mode. But, after that no matter I did, I just could not make it work in better resolution than 640x480. Installed latest updates worth about 110 MB. No luck. Installed earlier Intel 2.4 graphics drivers. No luck. Tried even manually configuring 'Monitor' section of xorg.conf file. No luck. Gave up after lot of trial and error.

Took out Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop CD from the cup board and put it in the DVD drive. It installed without any problem with full resolution. But, it would just freeze after entering user name password. Found solutions on a blog on the issue, got around the 'compiz' problem by removing this special effect from the desktop appearance. Ever since it's been working like a breeze.

Installed latest updates about 210 MB!!! Ubuntu Software centre even says Ubuntu 9.04 is available. What about 9.10? May be it's not stable release yet!

It has Open Office 2.4. Tried to get version 4.1 but menu system does not have any option to upgrade, as mentioned in the online help. 'Add remove' feature allows just removal of Open Office 2.4. Do I have to uninstall and then re-install? Not sure.

Samba network shares on the Nitix Server works without any problem. What about printing on NetWare printers? Not tried yet. It's working well on other PC running Ubuntu 9.10 with some effort. Of course, it was not printing 2 days back. The print job would just not get released to the Novell NetWare print queue and insist on waiting for 5 minutes. Why? No idea. Even when I manually released it, the print job would again would go in 'wait' for 5 minutes. I gave up then. But it printed properly today. May be it required a 'shut-down' like our good old friend. Well, surely with this feature, Ubuntu will make it in the big league since it has already 'shut-down' before it works mentality some-where in it's spinal cord.

Few things that required lot of search and work and may be it's working now on Ubuntu 9.10 - persistent connection to Samba Network shares. Before this I had to connect to it manually. After manually editing few conf files it's working. But it's far from perfect. I'm unable to get the Samba Network shares on the Nautilus File browser. For example, say I'm in gmail in FireFox and composing an email and want to attach a file on the Samba Network share. I'm just not able to do it directly. I've to copy the file to the local drive and then only able to attach it.

Also, I notice that I'm unable to move e-mail messages in Domino Web Access client 7.0 to domino mail folders. Even I'm unable to attach file attachments or save message to folder while sending mails.

So, I searched if any Notes is available natively for Linux. I found that it is available for Debian but it will not work on Ubuntu 9.10. Bad luck. I found that it works on Ubuntu 8.10 and 9.04 but not on 9.10. In fact, because of this reason alone I decided to quit Ubuntu 9.10 on other PC with low resolution problem and installed 8.10. Of course, I've yet not tried Notes client installation because I'm not sure where to get the Notes Client for Linux. Nitix (now Lotus Foundations) does not offer Linux client on the download site. IBM site offers only 90 day eval copy. Too bad, I've licensed copy of Domino running on Nitix (LFS 1.1) but I'm unable to get Notes Client for Linux (debian). That's about how well IBM has got Nitix in to it's fold!!

Few thoughts on Ubuntu as a desktop OS. Ubuntu will put fear of God in to Microsoft. Well this quote is adopted from a PC Magazine article that I had read when it had reviewed newly released Microsoft Excel spreadsheet on Windows. The title was 'Excel will put fear of God in to Lotus 1-2-3'. Well, you know how the situation is now? Young ones ask what is Lotus 1-2-3? They don't even know about existence of Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet!!!

There was a time when Lotus 1-2-3 was a un-disputed king of spread-sheets in the DOS world. In fact, I'm unable to even recollect name of un-disputed king of Word Processor in DOS days; and even for few years in Windows era. Such is our IT technology world. Software, Technology, Ideas and People become obsolete very fast in today's world.

So, Microsoft (actually, Windows) better watch out - now Ubuntu is on the scene - alive and kicking.

Well, more on Ubuntu later.

Magnetic north pole is shifting eastwards 40 miles a year

Today I read a news in Mumbai Samachar (Gujarati daily) saying Mangetic North Pole is rapidly advancing eastwards - towards Russia - at about 40 miles (68 kms) a year. Interesting!

Then I came across a 24 Dec 2009 daily news in National Geographic, which is the source of this news item. The article says following:

A rapidly shifting magnetic pole means that magnetic-field maps need to be updated more often to allow compass users to make the crucial adjustment from magnetic north to true North.

Wandering Pole

Geologists think Earth has a magnetic field because the core is made up of a solid iron center surrounded by rapidly spinning liquid metal. This creates a "dynamo" that drives our magnetic field.

(Get more facts about Earth's insides.)

Scientists had long suspected that, since the molten core is constantly moving, changes in its magnetism might be affecting the surface location of magnetic north.

It's predicted that magnetic north and south poles will be reversed, but not in near future. Well, process of magnetic pole reversal has accelerated now.

Defective product replacement experience within warranty period

Generally speaking, in India, customer is at a receiving end while asking for replacement for a defective product within warranty period. I shall narrate my experience, one bad and other slightly good.

It's a experience most people in India would agree and say it's not new - it's common. Any way, draw your own conclusions.

We had purchased Creative's EP-630 Ear-phone from a dealer in Lamington Road at about Rs.850/-. After few months, it became defective. When we contacted dealer, he said warranty is only for 2 months. I pointed out to him that on Creative's web site, it's written as 1 year. He said we don't get replacement from the distributor. I contacted distributor - Cyberroam. They said warranty is for 6 months from the date of manufacture. When I saw the date on the box, 6 month had just got over. I pointed out to them that Creative's warranty is for 1 year from date of purchase but they refused to acknowledge same saying it's only for 6 months from the date of manufacturing.

So, I wrote to Creative, Singapore. First they confirmed that warranty is 12 month from the date of purchase. They asked me to contact dealer/distributor. Then I convinced them that they are unwilling to do anything. So, they shipped replacement piece, EP-830 (which was one level higher and slightly costlier) by ordinary post. After waiting for 6 weeks, I informed them that it has not reached. So, they shipped second piece, again by ordinary post, in spite of my telling them to send by other means because their replacement policy did not allow shipment by courier. Again after waiting for about 5 weeks, I wrote to them to give details of shipment. They sent it to me and I registered complaint with Indian Post and sent them details of the same. Also, I advised them to give complaint at Singapore.

After that they sent me third piece, but this time by FedEx courier (priority) and sent me the shipment number. I got it on the 3rd or 4th day without any problem. Of course, it was not in the usual box packing. Earphone was kept inside a simple plastic bag inside an envelope.

Other replacement is about Transcend DDR RAM - 256 MB. We had purchased it at about Rs.2,500/- a piece. At the time of purchase dealer said it carried 3 year warranty. After about 3.5 year, PC started giving problem i.e., it would arbitrarily shut down or hang. After lot of trial and error, we found that it was one of the two 256 MB RAM that was problematic. Upon close inspection, we noticed that small portion of it's leg (that goes inside the PCI slot) had a defect. When we contacted the dealer, he said DDR rams are not available and warranty is also over.

So, I checked the Transcend's website and entered all details. Upon checking warranty details, I found that is carried life time warranty. So, I contacted Transcend for warranty replacement. They confirmed by return mail that my RAM had life time warranty and I should contact distributors. They sent me details of their distributors and I contacted all of them one by one, not knowing from whom the dealer who supplied to me had bought from. Two distributors, who were in Mumbai, when I sent the RAM to them, said they had not sold it. When I asked them details of the Transcend Warranty Replacement Centre, one said there is no one, we only give replacement for units we have sold. Other said there is one in Tardeo A/c Market but did not have any more details.

So, I wrote about this to Transcend, Taiwan. After about 2 weeks delay they sent name and address of Accel Frontline's warranty replacement centre. I sent them the defective RAM, they gave receipt and said contact in 1 week. After 1 week they said replacement is ready, send some one. When we collected it back, we found it was just returned as it is! When we contacted them, they said it was out of warranty, so it was returned. When I wrote about this to Transcend, some one called up from Chennai, saying please send it again because there was a mistake in number entered.

After initially insisting on their collecting the defective item from me, which did not do in spite of my writing to all concerned people and talking to them, I sent it back. They have online system of checking the status. For about 2 weeks, it kept on saying 'checking warranty'. After that it showed 'out of warranty'!!! When we told them the whole history and also told them that we had given proof to them from Transcend that it was under life-time warranty. Then they said, they are waiting for replacement to come. After few days, we noticed that Accel Frontline's website did not have any references to 'Transcend'!!! When we called them on phone they said the reference number had changed and we should contact them after some time. That's last we heard from them. It's been almost 2 months. We have written few mails to Transcend, some of which they forward to Accel but no response from Accel Frontline.

After few months of follow-up on phone, finally we got a brand new DDR-333 256 MB RAM in original packing.

Update Oct 2014
One more Transcend DDR RAM - 512 MB started giving problem by rebooting the PC. I checked the warranty status on Transcend's website by keying in the Serial number. System said it is having Life Time Warranty.

http://in.transcend-info.com/support/verification

---------------
Transcend Part No.TS64MLD64V3F5
Product Description 512MB DDR 333 U-DIMM 2Rx8
Serial Number xxxxxxxxxxx586
Warranty Until Life Time Warranty
---------------

Once again contacted Accel Frontline and got response that as per Transcend's policy they don't accept any RAM module with capacity less than 1 GB! So, I made a complaint on Transcend's website. I got mail reply that I should contact Accel Frontline in Mumbai. After number of mails back and forth - I got a mail from Taiwan that they have spoken to Accel Frontline and we should give the faulty RAM to them. After showing them printout of mail they accepted the faulty RAM and gave receipt. They said replacement would take 2 to 3 months. Let's see what happens.

This is the deal customer gets in India for warranty replacement.