The TROPICAL ICE CUBE  - A refuge for all sorts of penguins.

MailMe!

FAQ

Cool! How can I get my hands on one?

Text me on 012 561 005 with either:

- Your request for Linux distro, with pick-up yourself at my office: I will reply with street address and delay/time to pick up the disc;
or

- Your distro request with your street address and possible hours for delivery; cost is 1usd per disc/dvd, Business Hours best.

So you give them away for free? Really?
There is a limit of 1CD or DVD/distro per week (don't forget you are ENCOURAGED to copy them and throw them around as much as you like). You can request 1 Ubuntu and 1 Fedora, or two versions of openSUSE at the same time, that's OK. You can't ask for a free copy of my full software library, or I won't be able to keep it running!
That being said, you are welcome to my office with your hardware (laptop, external USB Drive, blank DVD's) to copy as much as you like: I don't pretend to any exclusivity, all files here are available to anyone.

What is Linux?
Linux is an operating system, a large piece of software that manages a computer. It is similar to Microsoft Windows, but it is entirely free. The accurate name is GNU/Linux but "Linux" is used more often. The main reason to use it is that it is very secure, cannot have viruses, and fully available in Khmer now. The other reason is that nowadays it is graphically beautifull, easy to use and to maintain and you can work with other's people documents or hard drives without problems. You can even help your friends by rescuing their windows system when they fail because of a virus! (I do that all the time.)
Linux is not one company's product, but a number of companies and groups of people that contribute to it. In fact, the GNU/Linux system is a core component, which is branched off into many different products. They are called distributions.

Ok, so, What is a Distribution then?
When you put the Linux kernel together with useful software, an installer, and management utilities, you have a Linux distribution. Distributions change the appearance and function of Linux completely. They range from large, fully supported complete systems to lightweight ones that fit on a USB memory stick or run on old computers.

How do I choose a distro that suits me and my hardware?
The first place to look for is the distributions websites and affiliated forums. Links in the list drives to a short description and documentation links hosted by DistroWatch.com. Alternatively you can write to the Phnom Penh Linux User Group, yes the PPLUG where we'll share our experience related to the distros we use everyday with pleasure. Or just ask me 012 561 005.

- If you are starting for home use, or for a Laptop, I reckon UBUNTU is probably the best,

- If you start a Desktop for home/small office, go for Fedora or Mandriva.

- With basic experience, you'll soon be able to install Debian, CentOS and suchlike.

If you want to try Linux but are not too sure, choose a LiveCD edition: these are a disk that you put in your drive, then reboot your computer. When it starts, it loads up only from RAM, without touching your hard drive so you can try without changing anything on your PC - it is a bit slow, but very good to see how it feels, and if everything is working.

How do I make a difference between Distributions?
Their inner workings may be different, but the true difference you'll see resides in their Window Manager (No, that is not how they manage your micro$oft software - they don't!). The Window Manager (WM) is the graphic interface that is used to interact with your computer; Gnome (UBUNTU, Fedora) is completely different from anything else, and really easy to learn; KDE may look more familiar but is actually filled with so much tweaks and subtleties that it'd probably take you months just to get a comprehensive picture. More exotic options includes the lightweight XFCE4, both elegant, tweak-able and less resources-hungry, and some other, usually faster, with either strong visual impact (Enlightenment) or very small footprint (Blackbox) but a steeper learning curve.

You have a lot, but not the one I want!
Hey, I can't have them all! But I can try: Anybody interested in a particular distro may request it, expect 3 days for a CD and 9 for a DVD. For DVD's, you'll understand that I restrain myself to well established, famous distributions since they are a hog to download.
I am monitoring distrowatch.com, alongside well-known distributions websites; I sure focus on the biggest names, but since I come from the art world I usually keep an eye on specialists Multimedia Editions.

Do I really have to trust you?
Well, no, you should not, really. When it comes to software to put in your computer, you should never trust nobody! I download the .iso files and their gpg signatures from acknowledged repositories through bittorrent; a software like transmission has it's own Data Verification system, so that's where I start from: a "healthy" download. I then use k3b to burn the media and verify the written data; it is up to you then to go home and to check the media's checksum against that provided by the manufacturer to be sure I am not planning any Gremlins Invasion of your hardware!
That should be your normal behaviour regarding ANY software that you install on ANY machine under ANY operating system

I may need more help!
You feel like taking the step but... That's OK: why don't you just call and arrange to come over to my office? As of now, all Advocacy, Explanations, Showcases and such are free if you come to my place. If you have a Laptop I can slip a LiveCD in for you to check it thoroughly before install. All installs are non-destructive, and you may even retain your Micro$oft stuff around if you aren't fully convinced. Later on, join our mailing list , crawl the forums and so on; that's one good thing about Linux, you get help.

I want to Contribute - How can I help!
That's COOL, my little tropical ice cube could clearly benefit from:

1. Some WebDesign/HTML code;
I do not intend to make this a real, huge web place but it could be better; My only design philosophy so far is that everything should be very simple, with ease of navigation in mind... It's called the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid. 'Love that principle.

2. More Drop Places in the city where to issue Cds/DVD's would be good too;
That means you could be providing not bandwidth, not money, not hardware, but simply a place where I could drop Linux Distributions for other people to pick them up, be it because you run a shop with a good visibility, or any place that is well-known and easy to find; or just simply are located completely opposite to me and it would make it easier for people living in your area.

3. Networking this info to friends/family;
Show them how cool is the software that runs on your hardware is in invaluable. Push the advocacy button every time you can, it can do no harm.

4. Business people that want to sponsor the activity;
Running costs of spreading the discs are ridiculous, Blank CD/DVD's much appreciated; any way you can support the activity will be reflected on the media you supported, on this website and in the Newsletter.

PACIFIC SYSTEMS gave me a UNICODE Khmer keyboard!

You too, Like PACIFIC SYSTEMS, can help. I am sure your company can find a way to see it's name valued in the Phnom Penh Open Source community. Share open source software, download them, advertise T.I.C - there are many ways, and I am sure I am talking to a quite creative audience here!

Pacific Systems - they have all kinds of good stuff that you can't find anywhere else)

Now what is expensive is the bandwidth... So:

5. People with extra bandwidth are extra welcome too of course.
Sometimes, Torrents fail or just take tool long; people with extra bandwidth, or just people addicted to one particular piece of software that keep it updated, please share, so I can spread them around on your behalf!

You too, Like YOOLK, can help. They downloaded Fedora10 i386 DVD for me!
YOOLK - the people behind the software for the YellowPages

Any more idea to protect, care and grow penguins in our city of Phnom Penh welcome - write to TIC and share, or hop on to the ZENwiki and start filling it with your ideas, your feedback.

How do you do that?

- I am a subscriber to the LinuxFormat magazine, which comes with a DVD each month, usually with several distros. It's a bit slow coming here, expect 2 months “late” to get the latest release. Perfect to test less-famous, unheard-of distributions though. LinuxFormat is available by MonumentBook, but it's awfully expensive at 20USD something.

- I download like crazy when abroad; my last week-end in Hong Kong brought me UBUNTU for 32 bits and 64 bits architectures! These "WiFi Free" Hotels don't know what to expect when I am around...

- I have an unlimited-at-night contract with Telesurf, and I must tell that while slow, it's pretty reliable. One can expect 500megs a night from 8pm to 8am. Better not to forget to switch it off in the morning though!

What are YOU using?
I use the very stable Slackware 12.2 on a Core2Duo 2.66 with 2G's of ram and an array of RAID disks for Data Safety; My Window Manager of choice is Enlightenment DR16 which takes 2.5 seconds to boot (that is to compare to 20/30 with Gnome/KDE) Lots of screens here. On that system, I use the KDE software stack like Konqueror for file management or KDEPIM mail/calendar/address book suite. Right now, my desktop while working on this looks like THIS where you'll see my separate hard drives with the current .iso files on each side, a view on the webpage in the center and two little windows to drag'n'drop between my computer and the webserver connected through FTP. That is the power of Linux, all in a single konqueror instance!

What hardware do I need?
You should actually ask your question the other way around: 'I have this hardware, what Linux can I run on it?". Depending on the age of your machine, its processor and graphic abilities there is a wide range of choice of Linux that can run on; from 50 Mb mini-distros like DSL to full-featured, multimedia champions with cool graphics like Linux Mint. In between all that, you should define what will be your use of the machine; as such, as of now, I never met a cdrom-equipped desktop that wasn't good enough to run a small distro with all that you need for office work or to host a webserver; people may always drool over super-power machines, but the fact is that you don't really need that much of power to run Linux - see all the NetBooks out there, the EeePC, AspireOne and the like: they run slow, on 512megs of memory, on single core cpus... Save the Planet: Use Linux!

What Else do you offer?
Well, anybody is welcome in my office at anytime, really. If you are facing any desktop/laptop end-user issue, just come over and we'll try to sort it out, or you can use one of my computers to crawls forums to find a solution to your problem - just give me a call, really.
If you have your own OpenSource project, I can host up to 1Gb for you on the Tropical Ice Cube website, for free, with a dedicated ftp folder and exclusive access for you to put your Cool Code on.

My blog, "the Idiot Side of the Keyboard", is on getshotwithlinux.zenerves.net; I will use my twitter voice only to update people on what new distro is available on-the-spot and other small info bits. The real info will be in the Distrotheque Newsletter to the PPLUG, Joomla Cambodia Users Group, and BarCampPhnomPenh.

How Long will you do that?
At some point, I'll have to make some money out of it since I am not growing DVD's in my backyard yet; I do have some ideas but let us start with the advocacy part. That's my Drug Dealer strategy: let's get you people hooked on Penguins first, and I'll start selling herrings next!

Who's watching this?
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