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Often you will find yourself in situation that needs a little bit of debugging. I am today, something in my Icedove mail client(thunderbird) is not right, keeps connecting to the server with 15 - 30 connections at the same time, so I wanted to know what’s going on. I figured maybe there will be some options available in the program, however, it’s not there.

Surprisingly, logging of Thunderbird has to be done outside the program. Here’s how I did it, on both Debian and Windows machine.

On Debian

All you need to do is prepare a shell script on your desktop, double click it to run Thunderbird instead of your previous desktop icon. Name the file runTB.sh, or any name you prefer.

Codes:

howto, logging, mozilla, thunderbird

I’m a Linux supporter, went through a lot of learning process to get where I am today, never looked back ever since. I often encourage friends, family, business contact to try Linux, with tone like “It’s just that easy!!”, without telling them the time and sweat. I thought it’s a common sense, that you have to learn it, if it’s new to you. Unfortunately this is not the case, people tends to expect everything just work out of the box. So, my experience is, don’t tell someone about Linux, when he/she asks about how to connect to Internet with Windows.

Think Thick, however, has gathered some facts, for those who really want to try out Linux. I’ll quote the 10 facts here.

1. The basic installation of most mainstream Linux distributions is very easy, but a first time user might run into trouble when trying to depart from the defaults.
2. If you want a proper Linux installation, you are going to have to mess around with the partition table.
3. You will have to learn how to use the command line.
4. All those pretty effects of wobbly windows and cube desktops require some work from the user.
5. Yes, more hardware works with Linux than with Windows. No, not all hardware works 100% like it’s supposed to.
6. If you need/want to install a package not included in the repositories, or install from source, you might need to do some research.
7. Most mainstream software manufacturers forget about Linux.
8. Linux is not for the meek of heart.
9. Linux is almost entirely virus/trojan/spyware free, but you will still need some kind of protection.
10. Linux assumes that you are an intelligent person.

How’s that sound? Read the full article here.

It’s been a while since I wrote about Debian, I don’t have much time to try anything new recently so I just use it as it is. During my latest package update, I’ve found out that Compiz has been added into the Unstable repository. Quite an exciting finding to me, I’m always into desktop eye candy.

Compiz is OpenGL-based compositing and window-manager for Linux. Sort of 3D Desktop, like what you get in Windows Vista, only it has relatively more features and plugins. It is pretty much in development, so some tweaks have to be made in order to make it work. Ubuntu has it integrated in the desktop environment pretty well I’ve heard. Let’s get on to it.

First, get these packages in the Unstable pool. Apply necessary dependency.

• compiz
• compiz-core
• compiz-gnome
• compiz-gtk
• compiz-kde
• compiz-plugins
• libdecoration0
• gconf-editor

If you have read my previous post “Microsoft is Tripping“, you should more or less getting the idea that Microsoft is seeing Open Source Software as its No.1 threat in the market. Until now I have not heard any news about the infringement case, most likely they’ve learned the fact that they do not have a case unless they are willing to publish the “possible” alleged patents.

Today, when I stumbled upon this stunning page of Microsoft, I can’t help but to share it with all of you. I’m not going to make the link active here, please copy and paste if you may.

Codes:

facts, linux, microsoft, open source

On 12 May 2007, Microsoft claimed that open source softwares violated 235 of its patents. Brad Smith, Microsoft’s general counsel, broke down the alleged violations as following.

1. Linux Kernel - 42 patents
2. Linux’s User Interface - 65 patents
3. OpenOffice.org Suite - 45 patents
4. Open source email applications - 15 patents
5. Other open source softwares - 68 patents

While this claim does not sound convincing to me at all, listen to what the involved parties have to say.