Translation Policy

I have received a number of requests from readers for permission to translate the LinuxCommand.org tutorials and/or The Linux Command Line (book) into various languages. I have been pondering this issue for some time and due to my indecision, I have neglected to respond to these requests while I come up with a policy. I apologize for the delay in getting back to those of you who have made requests.

LinuxCommand.org Tutorials

I grant permission to anyone interested in translating the tutorials Learning the Shell and Writing Shell Scripts. However I make the following requests:

1. You must translate the two tutorials in their entirety. This means every one of the files listed below must be translated.
2. You must not alter the contents of the tutorial. You may, however change the HTML markup to suit your needs.
3. You must include the copyright message found at the bottom of each page.
4. Please send me a link to the translated version so that I may include it on the LinuxCommand.org Resources page.

Learning the Shell
lc3_learning_the_shell.php
lc3_lts0010.php
lc3_lts0020.php
lc3_lts0030.php
lc3_lts0040.php
lc3_lts0050.php
lc3_lts0060.php
lc3_lts0070.php
lc3_lts0080.php
lc3_lts0090.php
lc3_lts0100.php

Writing Shell Scripts
lc3_writing_shell_scripts.php
lc3_wss0010.php
lc3_wss0020.php
lc3_wss0030.php
lc3_wss0040.php
lc3_wss0050.php
lc3_wss0060.php
lc3_wss0070.php
lc3_wss0080.php
lc3_wss0090.php
lc3_wss0100.php
lc3_wss0110.php
lc3_wss0120.php
lc3_wss0130.php
lc3_wss0140.php
lc3_wss0150.php

The Linux Command Line

At this time, I am not granting permission to translate the book. No Starch Press is arranging several translated editions. A Korean translation is available now. Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Serbian translations are being developed.

Announcing The Linux Command Line: Second Internet Edition

Tweaked, Tuned, and Updated!

After many months of delays and distractions, I have finally completed a much needed update of The Linux Command Line. Released under the same Creative Commons license as the original, it is now available in PDF format at linuxcommand.org.

What’s New

• Updated to bash version 4. New features discussed in my blog series on bash version 4 are now included in the text.
• Chapter numbers now align with the printed version of the book from No Starch Press.
• Minor formatting and editorial improvements.
• Numerous typos and various bugs fixed. Many thanks to those of you who reported issues in the first edition.
• Miscellaneous updates and content additions.

Enjoy!

The Chromebook Pixel and the Meaning of it All

I’m typing this on a Chromebook Pixel. It’s not mine. I borrowed it from my good friend Norman. To start out, I will say that the Pixel is a very nice piece of hardware. It’s extremely well made, has a beautiful display, a pleasing keyboard, and a wonderful touchpad. However, it costs 5 times as much as the new Samsung Chromebook and I’m not sure the Pixel is 5 times better. But even at it’s lofty price, the Pixel is tempting.

The Internet is the Computer

I don’t know the reason Google chose to introduce the Pixel when they did, but  as someone schooled in industrial design, I understand that it’s easier to make something that is expensive than to make something that is inexpensive. Google is just starting out as a hardware developer and a high-end product (especially a well-executed one like the Pixel) is a good start. But beyond that, the Pixel suggests Google has higher aspirations for the Chromebook concept.

Just what are those aspirations? While Chromebooks have been positioned as low-cost secondary computers, the Pixel goes beyond that. The Pixel is positioned for the future, a future where the Chromebook is your primary computer.

Twenty years ago, the late, great Sun Microsystems used the marketing slogan “The network is the computer.” It referred to the local area networking technologies first developed in the mid-1980s such as network file sharing and remote control of systems and applications. Today, Google and a few others are pushing the idea to the next level: The Internet is the computer.

In this brave new world, you don’t rely on the limited processing and storage capabilities of the computer in your hand. Instead you use a wide variety of computing resources available all over the world. The question is how.

More than "just a browser."

Apps are a Dead End

I have argued for some time that native apps on mobile devices are not the future. Today, a platform’s chances of survival are determined by the vitality of the app developers that support the platform. This requirement of “hundreds of thousands” of native apps, presents an unassailable barrier to entry; Just ask Microsoft and Blackberry as they struggle to gain any traction in the mobile market.

A few companies are looking at something different. Samsung, the world’s largest seller of Android devices, and the Linux Foundation are developing a new, Linux-based  mobile platform called Tizen, Canonical is introducing a new mobile version of the Ubuntu operating system, and Google has Chrome OS. All three of these platforms are going to rely in large part on web apps that execute in a web browser.

If you think back to how native apps came to dominate the landscape of mobile computing, you realize that they were necessary because the web browsing experience on phones and tablets was so weak. Many apps don’t really do much beside provide a pleasing user interface to a remote server. Most mobile devices still lack the horsepower to provide a satisfying web-based experience but that problem will soon be solved. When it is, we will see less reliance on native apps and more on web-based ones.

Why? Because it’s cheaper. Web apps are a more efficient use of development resources. Look at the amount of work needed to port an application to both Android and IOS, not to mention Blackberry and Windows Phone. Even porting an app from an old Apple device to a new one requires effort due to the fact that app developers on that platform have gotten into the nasty habit of hard coding their graphics to specific screen sizes on iPhones and iPads.

Soon, when mobile devices are fast enough and mobile browsers are good enough, we will see apps that are simply portable among all devices and platforms. Of course there will still be some native apps, but a platform won’t need hundreds of thousands of them to gain acceptance. Web apps will open the market to new platform competitors, and that’s a good thing.



More Apple than Apple

The Pixel is an interesting product. It’s a very nice object, very fast and extremely easy to use. As I have said before, Chromebooks are “the computer you can’t screw up” and the Pixel is no exception. It provides a web experience that is unmatched on any other laptop. For many consumers, Chromebooks are a good choice because they perform the task most consumers originally bought a computer for (web browsing) and yet free their owners from the chore of system administration, a job that most consumers are woefully unqualified to perform. The Pixel is clearly a luxury product intended for a luxury consumer, but part of that luxury is the luxury of ease of use and the quality of the user experience. An experience that only this premium Chromebook can provide.