Go green with Linux

Last week in Serbia was marked by the green week initiative (SR), and this one is marked by freedom, it’s Creative Commons’ 6th birthday. This gave me an idea for this post. Use Linux to go green.

And how will Linux help you? By cutting your energy bills and lowering your e-waste production.

Few tests concluded that both Linux desktops and servers consume less power than Windows-powered machines.

Desktops: “When the Lenovo ThinkPad T60 was idling with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS “Hardy Heron” it had quite an advantage over Windows Vista Ultimate. Ubuntu was consuming five less Watts, which equates to more than 10% less power, over Microsoft Windows Vista. In our first server power consumption test, Vista Ultimate had consumed less power but it was just two Watts and both of these systems were consuming in excess of 170 Watts.”

Servers: “In most cases when sitting idle, Windows Server 2008 drew slightly more power than either Linux did on the same server. The exception was when Windows Server 2008 was running in power savings mode on the Dell server, where it drew on average 3% less power.”

Although, these results may be dependant on the actual test hardware, still it’s a good indication. Check out Intel’s LessWatts initiative, which aims to help you to lower your computer’s energy consumption if you use Linux. Also, there are tools that will help you make your Linux-powered computer consume less energy.

Another way it can help is by reducing your e-waste production. UK government conducted a study which showed that the typical hardware refresh period for Linux systems was 6-8 years, while Windows systems’ hardware refresh period was 3-4 years. Why is that? Consider that minimum requirements for Ubuntu, which is a fairly modern Linux distribution, are 64 MB of RAM, 4GB of HDD space and 300 MHz x86 processor. That configuration wouldn’t be able to run all the nice graphic effects, but you would have a ready-to-use system. For nice graphic effects, consider installing it on at least 700 MHz CPU with 256 or 384 MB of RAM. And there are also distributions which can work on even older configurations, like DSL or Puppy Linux. If you have an old computer which you don’t use, install one of those on it. It will serve nicely to surf the Internet, or to work on your documents.

So, go ahead and try it, if you’re not using it already. Go green .

SBB odbija da pomogne svojim korisnicima

Još uvek sam na SBB-ovim prepaid flat paketima, i nakon ovoga što je danas bilo definitivno moram da pređem na postpaid sistem plaćanja (pošto mi se sigurno ne prelazi na Telekom).

Uglavnom se potrefi da zadnji dan trajanja paketa odem i uplatim sledeći paket. Danas nisam mogao da obavim to u toku dana, pa sam predveče zvao korisnički servis da proverim do kada rade. Ljubazna Nikoleta me je obavestila da korisnički centar u Kralja Petra danas radi do 18h. Pretpostavljam da je zbog protesta. I mnogo je glupo ako su zbog toga skratili radno vreme. Kako je tad već prošlo 18h pitao sam da li je moguće na neki drugi način rešiti problem, pošto mi je potreban Internet. Dobio sam odgovor da korisnički centar u Ustaničkoj danas radi do 20h. Kako je lepo od njh što su se potrudili da neki drugi korisnički centar radi puno radno vreme. Možda ipak misle o svojim korisnicima?

Pošto su roditelji išli do grada, onda su oni svratili do Ustaničke 65. Negde posle 20h sam pogledao da li ima novi uplaćen paket i začudio se kad sam video da nema. Zvao sam ih na mobilni i saznao da je i taj centar radio do 18h. Oh, sreće i radosti…

Pošto pre nisam zapazio obaveštenje o skraćenom radnom vremenu ni na sajtu, ni na forumu SBB-a, otišao sam još jednom da vidim da ga nisam nekako prevideo. I zaista ga nema. Zovem opet korisničku podršku, da vidim da li bi mogli da mi učine i da produže paket za jedno veče, pošto već nije bilo obaveštenja i delimično su krivi što danas nisam mogao da uplatim. Na to dobijam odgovor od Marka (ako se tako zvao) da je bilo obaveštenje. Na moje pitanje gde, dobijam odgovor … “Na vratima.” Samo tako, hladno, najnormalnije. Kao da ne živimo u 21. veku, kao da nemaju sajt i forum… Na vratima?! Da li treba svaki dan da idem redom od jednog do drugog uplatnog mesta da bih video obaveštenje? Što nisu mogli na neki pristupačniji način da distribuiraju to? I tako, na još jedno pitanje da li je moguće produžiti Internet za jedan dan, dobijam odgovor da mogu ujutru da uplatim ako hoću…

Eh, Srbijo… Da sam u nekoj razvijenijoj zemlji… prvo se ne bih cimao do korisničkog centra da uplatim. Drugo, bilo bi malo verovatno da zbog protesta skrate radno vreme. Čak i da skrate, verujem da bi bilo obaveštenje na nekom logičnijem mestu, poput njihovog sajta (ili im ta napredna tehnologija služi da reklamiraju “uživajte uz 50 kanala, i Internetu brzine čak 2Mbps od 350 din!”… uz “sitne uslove”). I postoje primeri gde firme izlaze u susret korisnicima i prave ovakve ustupke da bi korisnik bio zadovoljan. Ali ne u Srbiji. Malo ko će to ovde da uradi.

I šta sad mogu da uradim? Ništa, sem da probam da izrazim svoje nezadovoljstvo na ovaj način… I da se nadam da će se situacija ovde nekad promeniti.

Misli o RATEL-u, Uputstvu, Zakonu i Ustavu…

Dakle, jutros je okačeno famozno Uputstvo, za koje je čuo ceo domaći Internet. Nakon razgovora sa Danicom o ovoj temi, delova Ustava i Zakona o telekomunikacijama, koje sam pročitao na Svakodnevnici i SSpin-ovog komentara na istom postu, malo sam razmišljao o svemu ovome. Ustav je najviši državni akt, i svi Zakoni, Odredbe i ostale stvari treba da budu u skladu sa njim. Daleko sam od pravnika, ali da pokušam da izlažim meni logično obrazloženje. Član 41. i 42. Ustava kažu:

Tajnost pisama i drugih sredstava opštenja

Član 41.

Tajnost pisama i drugih sredstava komuniciranja je nepovrediva.
Odstupanja su dozvoljena samo na određeno vreme i na osnovu odluke suda, ako su neophodna radi vođenja krivičnog postupka ili zaštite bezbednosti Republike Srbije, na način predviđen zakonom.

Zaštita podataka o ličnosti
Član 42.

Zajemčena je zaštita podataka o ličnosti.
Prikupljanje, držanje, obrada i korišćenje podataka o ličnosti uređuju se zakonom.
Zabranjena je i kažnjiva upotreba podataka o ličnosti izvan svrhe za koju su prikupljeni, u skladu sa zakonom, osim za potrebe vođenja krivičnog postupka ili zaštite bezbednosti Republike Srbije, na način predviđen zakonom.
Svako ima pravo da bude obavešten o prikupljenim podacima o svojoj ličnosti, u skladu sa zakonom, i pravo na sudsku zaštitu zbog njihove zloupotrebe.

Dakle, Ustav definiše kada sme da se odstupi od navedenih članova.

Član 55. Zakona o telekomunikacijama, na koji se poziva Uputstvo, kaže:

Javni telekomunikacioni operator je dužan da kao deo sistema, o sopstvenom trošku, oformi podsisteme, uređaje, opremu i instalacije za zakonom ovlašćeni elektronski nadzor određenih telekomunikacija.

Njime se poručuje da je potrebno da operater omogući nadzor korisnika.

Uputstvo, koje se poziva na član 55. Zakona o telekomunikacijama, a trebalo bi da je u skladu sa Ustavom, samo definiše kako se sprovodi elektronski nadzor. I kaže ovo:

Javni telekomunikacioni operator obavezuje se da na zahtev nadležnog državnog organa dostavi podatke o svim komunikacionim sredstvima koja su se pojavljivala na određenoj geografskoj, fizičkoj ili logičkoj lokaciji u minimalnom periodu od poslednjih 48 časova, nezavisno od postojanja telekomunikacione aktivnosti.

Pružalac Internet usluga je dužan da nadležnim državnim organima omogući pristup ažurnoj bazi podataka o pretplatnicima i periodično na zahtev dostavlja eksportovanu bazu podataka u formatu dogovorenom sa nadležnim državnim organima.

Spominje se da na zahtev mora da se omogući pristup podacima. Ima delova gde to nije eksplicitno navedeno, što je možda loše. Ali, ako se Uputstvo oslanja na Ustav, onda bi trebalo da je zabranjen pristup informacijama bez zahteva suda, ili kad nije ugrožena bezbednost Republike Srbije.

To jest, Uputstvom se dozvoljava neograničen pristup informacijama, ali se taj pristup Ustavom i Zakonom o telekomunikacijama ograničava na specijalne slučajeve. Na primer, ako se počini krivično delo 1. januara, a zahtev suda se izda 1. februara, onda bi provajder dostavio traženu komunikaciju od 1. januara do određenog datuma. Moguće je da zato moraju da prate sve podatke. Tako nešto mi deluje razumno.

Voleo bih ako bi ovo pročitao neki pravnik, koji bi mogao da da svoje tumačenje. Možda je ovo tačno, a možda je i samo moj pokušaj samoubeđivanja da je sve u redu…

U svakom slučaju, zdrava doza paranoje nije na odmet . Enkriptujte vaše poruke, razgovore preko IM-ova, i tako te stvari… Čisto radi vaše sigurnosti.

A bit on proprieatary and open IM services

I have been thinking what would the world be like if things were closed like proprietary instant messaging protocols (for example, Yahoo!, MSN, ICQ, AIM and similar). Here we go…

• If borders were like closed IMs, you wouldn’t be able to cross them.
• If e-mail was like closed IMs, you wouldn’t be able to send it outside your network.
• If roads were like closed IMs, you wouldn’t be able to drive your car on every road.

On the other side, Jabber is open and extensible. That means that you don’t need to be on the same network as your friends in order to IM with them. So, why aren’t people using it? I believe most of them haven’t heard of it at all. And some of them have, but not all of their friends are willing to switch. Wouldn’t it be great if you had to manage only one IM account, instead of 3 or 4? Especially if you’re not using an IM program which supports multiple accounts – in that case you have to run as much programs as you have accounts, just to be able to communicate with all of your friends. What a waste of CPU power and memory.

Have something to add? Feel free to…

Assembling too much

I have been writing assembler for the school project in the past few days. I think it had some negative effect on me…

Here’s a snippet from recent conversation with a friend:

Minja: The French guy has a great song.

Me: I’ll listen it. So far, I like mov, add… I mean, Turkish, Israeli and Bosnian song.

Time for dinner… definitely.

Math

The thing I love about math is its abstract nature. For example, let’s take a look at the Dirac’s delta function. It’s the function that has the value zero, everywhere except at x=0, where it has infinitely large value. And it has a property that its total integral (area beneath the function) is 1. So, to think a bit about it, it an infinitesimally thin peak, which has infinite height. And the area beneath it is 1. Something like … Ain’t that amazing ?

And on the opposite, less abstract side, … Or to put it in a more descriptive way …

Mind-expanding …

Are we a bit hypocritical?

I’m a regular on Serbian’s Ubuntu LoCo forum. Today I stumbled upon one post that got me into thinking “Are we a bit hypocritical?”. Here’s what happened…

There is one guy who messed up his system a bit with Windows and Linux installations and removals. He wanted to have both operating systems on his computer and he asked for a solution. Another guy tried to help him. The problematic part of his message was the comment “If you need help with removing Linux because you want to stay on that other OS, you’re not gonna find it here.” But why?

We, the FOSS community (or Ubuntu community in this particular case), are supposed to fight for freedom. In my opinion, that includes the freedom of choice, to let the user use whatever he or she wants. Including that other OS, which may have a lot of restrictions.

Sure, it wouldn’t be wise to just say “Remove Linux”. I’m not for that in the first place. But if there was no fix, why wouldn’t we help someone to switch back? That is what freedom of choice is all about, right? Someone might say that by not helping others to switch back to that other OS, we will make them adapt to Linux. Someone might say that it’s against its principles to help someone switch back to that other OS. But, if the only fix is the switch back, wouldn’t it be helpful to explain how to switch back.

What is my way of fight for freedom? Education. I think that is the best way to do that. Show people what freedom gives. The rest will follow.