Apple Mac mini M1

When I heard that Apple was going to start creating desktops with an ARM based CPU, I knew I would be buying one in the near future.  I didn't know it would be the mini!

I've owned Apple products off and on over the past 3 decades.  My wife still uses all Apple machines for her work.  But, my favorite Apple systems were the original iMac, and the Mac mini.

I bought the very first iteration of the mini, and when the intel version came out, I bought that too.  Now, over a decade later, I have bought another Mac mini, this time with Apples own SOC!

To be honest, I have been building my own, powerful PCs for the past decade, and I used them more for gaming than anything else.  Jumping to a new hardware platform, with a non mainstream GPU, is a sort of "risky" step for me.  90% of my Steam library is now null and void, at least until some Steam upgrades come into play where Rosetta can safely perform translations of the binaries of the games.  But I also have faith that it will happen over time.

In the meantime, I do have a small subset of games I can play, including CIV 5/CIV 6, Bioshock 2, Arkham city, Borderlands 2, Carrion, and some others.

There are, of course, also the games that were designed for Mac, like Osmo and Myst.  These games all play fairly well to very well and they are games that use x86 binaries.  Rosetta 2 does a great job at emulating (or really translating) these x86 binaries into ARM binaries.

But other things impress me about the mini.  One, it is SUPER quiet.  Like you never hear it.  My expansion drive is MUCH louder, even though it too is pretty quiet.  It is very responsive at all times.  I bought the 512 SSD/16GM RAM model and purchased an OWC external miniStack with an 8TB, 7200 drive in it.  Works pretty well, although the quality of the miniStack... might be another story.

Another thing I noticed immediately (mostly because I had been worried about it) is that the font rendering is very very good on my non-Apple 1440P monitor.  I was worried because I use a macbook pro for work and hook it up to another 1440P monitor I have, and the rendering is horrific.  Now, it could just be how I am connecting (USB C to HDMI) to the monitor, but I tried multiple things to try and get it to a state where I can stand looking at it.  I had to resort to default writes in the terminal to fine-tune the anti-aliasing.  This issue did not happen with the mini.  Font rendering is great right out of the box.

I have not had any issues so far with Mac OS X Big Sur, or with the mini itself.  I have a logitech headset on bluetooth, as well as a logitech mouse also on bluetooth.  I am typing with my HHKB Pro Classic keyboard.  It has an "Apple" mode so...  seems to be working fine.

I have been missing some of my gaming friends, who I talk with on Discord, but I plan on sticking with the mini for awhile.

Anyway, if you are thinking about pulling the trigger on one, know this:  Gaming?  Limited.  Productivity, pretty good!  As long as you use Apple products.  I know Adobe is putting out native programs, so they should be fine.  You can also run MOST other apps through Rosetta without noticing any difference (Rosetta is that fast) but, you will likely run into some issues of there are some complex UI/rending things going on that are not accounted for in normal UI calls.

Oh, while Safari is pretty darn good now, I still like Chrome better, and Google has put out a native version of Chrome which not only works fine but all my extensions loaded as well.

I also have a native version of Java SDK 11 (or SDE I guess it is called), a native version of Python and have been able to use Clojure natively thanks to the native version of Java.

The apps I use most at the moment are:

- mail
- browsers (safari, chrome)
- chat/messages
- music
- bb edit
- terminal
- steam

...little things I have forgotten existed was how closely my iPhone and my iMac tie together... my phone calls also ring on my mac now, and anything people send me in message also comes to my mini.

Anyway, I am enjoying this little beastie.

Have fun if you get one!

The Game Of Life++

So I was smoking a cigar and drinking a tumbler of bourbon the other day, just thinking about stuff.

One of my frustrations with scientists (not science itself) has been their reluctance to consider probability in their theories.  Well, some scientists, not all, I should not paint with such a broad brush.  One of the sticking points for me is macro-evolution.

Very often if you point out how statistically impossible life is, let alone life achieving its current state, the response is, "yeah we don't need to mention that because look around you... life!"

But that doesn't mean your theory of how life started and got to this point is valid just because you can see life around you.  Not by a long shot.  And that's the thing... life is SUCH a long shot that even if we had trillions of planets just like Earth in the universe, the chance life would have to form is STILL statistically tiny!!  AND we have not even proven HOW life was able to start in the first place!

So that kind of thing bugs me.

Next thing is evolution.  How do minor or major mutations lead to successful change in life forms?  Successful being a key word here... because assuming mutations occur that can then be carried on to offspring, what percentage of those mutations HELP a life form, and what percentage HINDER a life form?  My guess is only a small percentage ever help... and that most mutations perish and are never heard from again.

So... while I cannot account for how life actually started, I think it might be possible to create a "Game Of Evolution" where we statistically account for environment, predation and mutation in a given species to see how mutation affects a species ability to survive.

It would be complex and yet overly simplistic in comparison to reality... and the models would be somewhat rigid, but I think a super simple program could be written that counts mutation itself and how life fares against environment, disease, predation and how each mutation might affect their abilities to resist (or succumb) to those other effects.

Also, we could then have one species become a new species after so many mutations... giving them base resistance changes on the fly.

The idea of this fascinates me.  I might try playing with it.

On Art

Ugh.  Art.  I love art.  All forms of art.

Unfortunately art has two sides to it:  objective and subjective.

Objectively speaking art does have forms and rules that in general, artists WILL follow for their pieces.  But if their art objectively meets those criteria it does not guarantee that it will be appreciated or liked.  When viewing art it, the subjective aspect of it generally weighs more heavily than the objective aspect of it.  That means artists put themselves through a TON of pain and suffering when it comes to producing works that they may be quite proud of, yet a jury will find not-to-their-liking.  And you could take the very same piece and put it in front of 20 jurors and each juror would like or dislike something different.  Wow right?  What a pain.

On the other hand if multiple jurors cite the same issues, then the artist should consider their criticisms and review that component of their art and see if there is some way they can mitigate that in future works.

Anyway, this is why I am not an artist.  I hear enough of peoples opinions about politics, religion, sports, etc...  Don't need direct criticism of my creativity as well.

Death Penalty?

 I have written about this before.  I have somewhat strong opinions about case law, the death penalty and the prison system.  I will just go over them briefly:

1. Death penalty.

I believe the death penalty should be removed.  I understand that man's law is not God's law, and that while God may forgive, man inflicts a different form of justice that takes the image of punishment.  But worse there have been MANY CASES where convicted killers were later exonerated after serving time or even after having been executed for the crime.  Truth.  Look it up yourself.  It makes me sick to think that so many people have been thrown in prison while being innocent, proclaiming their innocence, but having a prosecution take flimsy evidence and ramrod it down the throats of the jurors.  Take the Ray Krone case as an example.  Some people didn't like him, thought he was creepy.  Stuff like that was allowed to taint the views of the jury.  The EVIDENCE in the trial pointed to SOMEONE ELSE.  Shoe prints did not match, fingerprints did not match, blood type "O", one of the most COMMON BLOOD TYPES, was INCONCLUSIVE, HAIRS ON THE BODY DID NOT MATCH Ray.  Yet, because one man claimed to be an expert and said the bite mark was Ray's (very convincingly I guess) the jury convicted him.  They then let that same expert SNOW them in the retrial.  Finally the fingerprints, blood DNA, shoe size was matched to the ACTUAL killer 10 years later.  They released Ray and he was awarded over $4 million in recompense.  Nice, but... that should NEVER have happened in the first place.  I apologize for all the caps, but this irritates me.

And this has happened over and over and over again.  And in some cases, too late, AFTER the person has been executed.  Imagine yourself, knowing your own innocence, no one believing you and the prosecutors painting you as an evil murder... and sitting in the electric chair or strapped to a table about to be killed but the very system that is supposed to be protecting you.

2. Case law.  

Nope. Nope nope nope.  Look, I get it.  Our judicial system is outnumbered and overwhelmed by the number of criminal cases that need to be tried.  And what are we to do?  Keep potential perpetrators in prison while they wait for trial time?  Risk them being out in the public for years before their trial, allowing them to commit other heinous acts?

But the problem is, citing a decision from a different case is (to me) very unreasonable.  Every case is UNIQUE and should be tried on its own merits, or lack thereof.  Every case should require all evidence analyzed, all stories heard, all angles viewed and each judge/jury should come to their own opinion and the sentence should be treated as some fresh revelation by the judge.

People are unique.  Situations of crime are unique (hey, they take place in different locations, different times, different people involved).  Those unique points should not be shoe-horned to fit another case tried 1000 miles away that had different people involved.

How to solve this?  Invest more in our judicial system, please.

3. Prison system.

Well, you commit a crime, you need to pay for your crime to the point where society is satisfied.  (Also see #2 in my list here).  But what IS prison?  Shouldn't prison at least ATTEMPT to rehabilitate the person who has committed the crime?  What is the point of catching a criminal, throwing him into a cell for 10 years, then releasing him?  Does anyone ACTUALLY BELIEVE that sitting in a cell for 10 years is going bring that person some kind of revelation?  That he is going to step out of that cell a NEW MAN?

Prison is worthless and pointless.  I am not saying we don't need prisons, I am saying they need to be reformed and made into something that takes the men going in, and at least TRIES to reform them, even in small ways.

My own ideas... make the men work.  Let them perform societal functions that can benefit everyone.  Whether that be harvesting farms, tilling fields, cleaning roadways and other areas, learning new trades or skills...  but keep them busy.  Let them feel like they are accomplishing something instead of just being parasites on the system.  Give them some hope that when they leave prison they will actually be able to contribute back to society instead of leaching off it.  Let them know that they DID contribute to society while they were IN prison.

These are the things that can change people.  Not languishing, but action.

OK... I will get off my soap box now.

[EDIT]

Just as an update.  The concept of failures in our court system does not JUST apply to murder and the death penalty.  Google/research/whatever it is you can do, cases where people were incarcerated for a crime for 5 or more years only to FIGHT for a retrial and to PROVE their innocence later.  Incompetency in the prosecutor or the defense attorney, and single-minded persecution by the court system to find SOMEONE guilty for any crime has and may continue to have a negative impact on false accusation/conviction.

See the link in my previous post...

 Seriously.  This young woman is shaken off her yoke.

I will move away from politics in my next post.  :)  Maybe.

Please people:  I am ready and willing to state publicly that the Republican party is not perfect.  Not at all.  I am also willing to publicly state that our POTUS really needs to keep quiet sometimes.

But he really really is the better option.  Please THINK for yourselves!

This woman makes many excellent points...

 https://youtu.be/flp7gKg5G4E

People need to be more responsible...

 ...there has been a spate of avian deaths, starting in August and culminating more recently; large numbers of birds have been found dead or dying in New Mexico.

Cue the knee-jerk-single-minded crowd:  "This is devastating. Climate charge is playing a role in this." Desmond said. "We lost 3 billion birds in the US since 1970 and we've also seen a tremendous decline in insects, so an event like this is terrifying to these populations and it's devastating to see."

Please.  People stop speaking when you don't KNOW anything.

Other speculation has to do with the wildfires in California; perhaps the birds attempted to migrate before they were prepared, or the smoke at the higher levels has damaged their lungs and air sacs.  Stuff like that.  Seems more likely that there could be some virus involved since smaller numbers had started mysteriously dying in August before the wild fires took off.

The point is that without studying the pathology of the animals, there is no way to know exactly what caused this.  That work is being done now.  I guess we will find out the truth.

You know what though?  It won't matter.  If you are a fanatic regarding global warming, no matter WHAT actually caused the birds to perish, the source will be attributed somehow to global warming.  I harbor no belief that if it is proven that some disease killed them, that the people who blame their favorite cause won't continue to do so...

On Bad Drivers and the Mystery of God's Love

 I don't go around breaking the 10 commandments, but I KNOW that I do things DAILY that run against the very nature of God.  And those things are "sin."  That is what sin basically is... performing acts, having thoughts, etc. that run against the nature of God.  Not here to argue about what God's nature is, you can do your own research on love, justice and objective good.

One of my issues is anger.  I really do lose my temper too frequently.  Today is one such day.  And despite knowing anger is wrong, I will still try to justify it.  LOL!  But that is HUMAN nature, not a sanctified nature.  It is a worldly response.  Anywho...

I had to run to the pet store today.  The pet store is in a large plaza with large parking lots that have main thoroughfares through them.  Where ever a parking lot aisle meets a main thoroughfare there is a STOP SIGN.  BIG RED STOP SIGNS ARE EVERYWHERE except on the MAIN THOROUGHFARES.

Twice THIS WEEK ALONE I have had near misses because people who cannot be bothered to slow down and stop RUN THE STOP SIGNS and cross the main roads.  TWICE in one week.  Happened today.  I almost followed the person to beat the living daylights out of him, but thankfully I started praying immediately...  my prayer started with something like "AS GOD IS MY WITNESS I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU CAN LOVE ANY OF US BECAUSE I FOR ONE WANT TO DESTROY EVERY LAST HUMAN IN EXISTENCE!"

Yes, I was a little angry.  That led me to pray about the mystery of God's love for us... I mean, I would not even say I am the worst human in the world but surely I am unlovable from God's perspective.  And that's the thing.  He even loves those idiots who nearly creamed me twice this week because they cannot be bothered to have any consideration for laws or for common driving sense.  I want to kill them, He loves them.  And me.  He loves me.

That is a huge mystery.  Not only that he loves us, but that he loves us SO MUCH that he died for us.  He inserted the God-head into His creation as flesh and blood.  He experienced everything we experience and then, to pay for all the evil WE do on a daily basis, he allowed himself to take the sin of the world upon himself as he was tortured and killed.  He became the perfect sacrifice for all sin, for all time.  Every single person in the world has access to that forgiveness.  Every single person.  Even a murderer on death row has access to this gift.  Not everyone takes it.  I am also amazed by that.  Why wouldn't you take such a freely given gift?  People thing "oh I need to change my lifestyle."

Well, your lifestyle probably SHOULD change.  I know mine should.  Some pieces of it have, but I still have a long way to go to shrug off the day to day sinnery I churn up.  But thing about what it means, seriously.  What about your life has to change, really?  It is MORE about loving other people (which as you can see I miserably fail at quite frequently) than it is about you becoming a perfect human.  Little secret...  you will never be perfect.  Ever.  Hence God's sacrifice.

Anyway, if you read this and you drive a car... DRIVE RIGHT for my sake and yours.

There is no racism

If you have gotten past the title of this post, good for you.  If you went on a rant and starting calling me a horrible human being, then I know you didn't actually get beyond the title of this post and responding without reason and thought.

Let me preface this post with this:  I am not denying mistreatment of one group of people by another group of people.  If anything, I am supporting that premise.  So please read on.

First, a couple of items to get out of our minds.  Racism is a misused term in modern language.  It was probably coined by people who wanted something that is not a reality.  There is only ONE RACE.  The HUMAN RACE.  The misuse of the word probably came from hatred and disdain,  or simply as a convenience of position.  Unfortunately the concept remains, and indeed it runs much deeper than people think.

So here it is:  People tend to like or show preference toward people who are like them; people tend to dislike people who are not like them.  

It is really that simple.  I have come to this conclusion because a) I am human, b) I lived over 5 decades and have been observing people and their behavior all this time.  Think about it.  What was your childhood like?  Do you remember the cliques that were formed in elementary and high school?  Do you remember the hallways between periods, the lunch room?  The bus?  Surely you have realized that certain groups of people treat other groups of people differently, even poorly, yes?

Here is the next tragedy of that realization:  how do we decide whether or not we like someone we have met for the first time?  You know the adage "beauty is only skin deep?"  That's right.  When we first meet another person the ONLY way we can immediately gain any opinion of them is how they appear.  Following that, how they sound.  We are visual and aural creatures.  What we see and hear are very important to how we process data.  If you LOOK or SOUND different from me, I will be wary of you and will not assign any level of trust in you.

This could be skin color, hair color, hair type, accent in your voice, word choice for common conversation, the way you walk, etc.  These are the immediate ways we form our opinions of other people.  That is not to say that once we get to know someone more deeply, actually delve into their thoughts and emotions, we can throw away our original opinions.  We certainly can and frequently do.

This, by the way, is a biblical principle and was covered in the bible.  The Apostle Peter himself got "spanked" by God for behaving like this.

Anyway.  The point I want to make is that a starting point for every human is to realize that at the core of all of us we have a sort of instinctual, binary predilection toward similarity and dissimilarity that we must overcome to understand all the terrible things going on in our society today.

Thank you for reading this and NOT flipping out.  If you disagree or have additions to this very very short post, please add your comments.  Please be thoughtful and polite.

Sometimes I crack myself up!

So, our youngest, most mischievous dog (Malki) got a hold of my wife's AirBuds tonight.  Destroyed them.  We caught him with them and scolded him so that much is good.  But I had to order new buds for her (wife)...  So I ordered them engraved with "Malki, No!"

Heh.

A spec of reason in an unreasonable world?

Perusing my usual sources of news I came upon an article about certain Jellyfish appearing in larger than normal numbers, further south and later in the year than normal:

At the "polyp" stage of a Lion's Mane's life cycle, the animal may "strobilate", or spawn, more jellyfish than is usual if temperatures are unstable, says Amy Arnold, Senior Aquarist in Acquisitions and Quarantine at the Georgia Aquarium.

"This could then cause a larger number of jellies seen than usual, and later in the season, then we are accustomed," she says.

In a year that has seen hundred-degree temperatures in Siberia, Lion's Mane jellyfish may be the latest sign of a warming planet.

"The short answer to all of this: global warming," says Arnold. "A one-degree temperature difference in the ocean can affect all of this."

However, it can be difficult to point to a clear explanation for year-to-year fluctuations. Jellyfish populations, says Spina, are "very unpredictable."

"It's tempting to blame a warming climate and warming waters, but it's hard to really make that statement without having a lot of good data to back it up," he says. "You really need some numbers and some time to sort of start drawing conclusions."

Could have sworn...

I could have sworn I have written other posts since the last one.  Anyway, nothing exciting going on really.  Still working from home.  Still going out only to walk dogs or shopping for food or any other necessity.

Been reading the Bible, lots of light novels, and playing games.  Watching TV here and there.

Basically just being a home body.

Last Post for April

So, with the whole COVID-19 stay-at-home stuff going on I have been kind of bored.

So, I spun up 3 new aquariums.  They are small aquariums, two 10 gallons and a 15 gallon tall.  It has been fun... and they are community aquariums, unlike the usual ones I set up where all the fish would just assume kill each other and bite you as well.

Two of the tanks are freshwater tropical.  The third, which does not yet have its inhabitants, is a freshwater native set up.  I am excited about this one because, well, there are a lot of interesting and attractive fish in the 48 contiguous states.  None of the ones I have purchased are particularly flashy, but that is alright.  Here are the fish for my native setup:

Qty      Descrip
3          Elassoma gilberti, Gulfcoast Pygmy Sunfish 2M 1F
7          Rosy Red Minnow
4          Lined Topminnow
2          Central Mudminnow

I had also considered Darters instead of mudminnows but...  for whatever reason I was a little concerned about them as far as maintaining them in an aquarium goes.  Thinking back, the Pygmy Sunfish are probably more difficult.

I have kept a native aquarium before, years ago.  I went back to the person who I ordered from previously because they have been good to me... Jonah's Aquarium.  Now, native fish are not inexpensive.  In fact they can be more expensive than tropical fish, partly because of the effort involved in either collecting or breeding them in small batches.

The pygmy sunfish are native to Florida, and have some interesting banding, blue speckles and in breeding season the males are quite handsome, very flashy.

I am sure people recognize that the "rosy red minnows" are basically... feeders.  Yes, you can go to pet stores and often find these in the "feeder fish" tanks.  But they are pretty hardy and a nice schooling fish so... why not?

The lined topminnows... they are something interesting!  Related to killifish, they are silver with black banding but... the most interesting part is this:  males have vertical black bands, females have horizontal black bands.  I don't know why but I find this fascinating and am really looking forward to these fish.

Finally we have the mudminnows.  They are actually a little scary because they can grow up to almost 4 inches long over time, and at that size they might pose a threat to the other fish... so I will have to monitor them closely.  They are bulky little things with a brownish base color and some banding and splotching.  They basically hide at the bottom of mucky areas and try to blend in with the mud, even partially burying themselves.  Unfortunately I do not have that kind of substrate for them, but I am hoping plant and rock cover will work for them.

Anyway, those fish are supposed to arrive tomorrow, looking forward to it!

Global Warming and the arctic ice sheet

Just read this:  https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/eurasian-ice-sheet-collapse-raised-seas-eight-metres-study/ar-BB12VMB6?ocid=msedgdhp

So, I feel like there is a lot of FUD (fear, uncertainty, dread) being pushed out as global warming.  Do we really believe that the we are privileged to not suffer the slings and arrows of nature, even when exacerbated by our own actions?  Anyway, I will not deny that the global average temperature has gone up if the majority of climatologists say so... not my place.  I will deny its importance at this time.

First, why are we focusing on global warming and rising sea levels as our primary concern?  When chronic respiratory illness is skyrocketing, amphibians and other sensitive animals dying out, don't you think that focusing on POLLUTION would be a better use of our time?  Cleaning up our act, cleaning the air... it would save LIVES and have the potential bonus of mitigating climate change.

But do not be let astray... climate change is not something we completely control.  The vast majority of climate is decided by major sea and air currents that circle the world.  As plate tectonics shift the land masses and ocean floors around, these currents slowly but inexorably shift.  These shifts divert warm and cold water flows into different paths, and this in turn affects the air currents and moisture levels in the air.

55 Million years ago the average, global temperature was 16 degrees Celsius (28.8 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than today's average.  In fact, a mere 10 million years ago the average temperature was significantly higher than today.  The crux of the matter is we are currently living in a cold cycle of cool and colder weather (growth and recession of glaciers).  The cooler weather also causes drying in many locations, and more water is locked up...

My point is this:  climate is going to change with or without our help.  Let's focus on more important things.  Focus on the deadly toxins we hurl into the air, ground, water, etc.  If the Earth feels the need to correct itself by a little overheating, so be it.  We can survive that.  Life has survived FAR worse and we are the most clever of all life forms with a strong will to survive... so, let's focus on what we can to save our children's lungs and the sensitive animals like amphibians, which are an important part of our ecosystem.

You want to kill a couple birds with one stone?  Bring back train travel, use nuclear power instead of coal and oil, use solar power in states that have a ton of sunny days...  invest in that sort of thing.  Install scrubbers, ... do the same sort of things that activists would scream about for CO2 emissions, but do it for more compassionate reasons.

Sorry for the ramble.  It is late.  I should be asleep.

The importance of Unit Tests... and failure.

A project I work on was implemented without considering organized unit testing.  Some of the packages (python) do have tests tacked onto the __main__ portion of the package but it is willy nilly.  So I am slowly creating an alternate code base with minor packaging improvements and unit tests for everything.

The beauty of unit tests is that as your code becomes more and more complex (and let's face it, code does not tend to trend in the other direction) any little change that might affect a consumer class, will be caught.  For example say I have a bunch of enums used by any number of classes but a NEW class wants a change to that enum.  You will find out very quickly if the change to the enum breaks all the other consumers of that class, right?  Might work for one, might break 10 others.  So anyway, it is a useful tool, albeit now when you write code or change code you are writing more unit tests as well.  I still think it greatly out weighs the additional time spent.

In a way it replaces the idea of test-driven development.  This isn't EXACTLY the same thing... it is creating tests around positive and negative test cases for a class (or code) you have created.  With test-driven development the concept is a little deeper, you spend a great deal of time up front designing success and failure cases... defining all possible inputs and outputs.  I think (and perhaps this shows ignorance on my part) that these days developers don't really think along those lines.  They create a service or a class and pass back values that they deem appropriate without a lot of deep thought put into PLANNING for failure.

This, by the way, is a reason I really appreciated Grady Booch.  His belief was that you PLAN errors.  Errors are something your code should consider.  If your code is solid, the only place an error can come from would be the inputs it receives for processing.  Outside of that (and in this day and age there are plenty) there are environmental issues that can affect code.  Those, of course, are more difficult to build into your code, instead you just blindly trap and throw for the most part.  I never really liked that but as long as whoever is consuming your code is able to trap and decision on errors... things should work out.

Even so, people sometimes do strange things in their code...

Pot Roast

So for Easter dinner I am cooking a pot roast/stew.

Pretty simple...

Heat pot with a little olive oil and 2 tbsp of butter.
Cover meat in flower.
Drop it in and rotate it to sear the meat with flower.

Add some beef stock and stout to start the meat cooking.

Cook for awhile in the juice...

We will want to keep a good level of stock/stout and add some more flower later for gravy.  But then add veggies... in my case some cabbage, radish, carrots, potatoes and portabella mushroom caps cut up.

Cook and cook and cook.

Yum.

How I configure Gnome and linux in general

I like the default work flow of Gnome, but honestly, I prefer even more simplicity.  So GENERALLY the first thing I do with Gnome is to tweak the main desktop work flow to meet my preferences.

If you are familiar with Gnome, it has a sort of mix (I am saying it like this because many readers are familiar with Apple and Microsoft, more than Linux) of functionality between Windows and Mac OS X, but with its own twist.

It has one bar on top, that contains a button, the date/time, and indicators/log-in/log-out section.  The other two concepts it has is a full screen menu with a favorites bar, and a full screen activities display.  The menu is as you would expect, kind of like Windows 8 or Mac OS X icon-based applications that you can scroll through and select the application you want to run.  If you select activities it shows you the alternate screens and all your running apps that you can select, or move from desktop to desktop, etc.

It may sound confusing but it is actually very usable and despite the fact that it sounds like you have to take an extra step to see things, that really is not the case, I mean... how is it different from clicking the menu icon, scrolling around to find your pinned apps or whatever...?  It isn't.  In fact it is arguably faster.

That being the case, I still like to see my preferred apps and I actually don't mind using a menu to drill down.  To achieve that (somewhat microsofty) functionality I install several Gnome extensions (Gnome extensions are a way to extend Gnome in a pre-defined and Gnome-controlled manner).

1. Install Dash to Panel.
2. Install Arc Menu.

At this point, technically, I could call it DONE.  Installing Dash to Panel creates a bottom (well, you can move it to the top or sides if you want) panel that has the application button that comes with the Gnome favorites panel... that allows you to display apps instead of the activities when in full screen mode).  But, I want instant access to my applications so I install Arc Menu, and in Dash to Panel I disable the application button.  Arc Menu is a great little extension and it can mimic up to 10 or so different menu layouts... so go crazy with it.  I stick to the default as I like its features.

Now I have a very Windows-like interface that suits ME (very subjective, many people would cringe at this).  If it was enabled, I also disable desktop icons.  I like a clean desktop.

All that is left at this point is to install my favorite applications (if they were not already pre-installed by the distribution).  In my current situation, I installed the bare-bones minimal Ubuntu which really comes with no applications, except for a few configuration utilities, so I had to install what I wanted. 

When I installed Ubuntu, I selected 3rd party installations.  What this does is save me the pain of installing non-free/non-open source software drivers.  Linux by default is open source and cannot tolerate (so to speak) proprietary software.  It goes against the philosophy.   That being said 99.9% of people who use and even develop linux realize that 3rd party drivers are SUPER DESIRABLE in many cases.  Ubuntu allows the user to have most of those drivers installed when configuring your new system.  That saves the pain of having to install Nvidia drivers, proprietary audio formats, motherboard drivers for sound or network devices, etc.

So that leaves me with the applications I like to use.  Here are some things I always install:

1. Python3
2. Visual Studio Code (microsoft)
3. .Net
4. Sublime Text 3 (syntax editor, I own a license)
5. Sometimes, but not always, BeyondCompare (I own a license for an older version)
6. LibreOffice (like microsoft office, but free, hence "libre")
7. Rhythmbox (for music)
8. MPV for videos
9. Firefox
10. Thunderbird (email)
11. Google Chrome (for sites that just don't work right with Firefox)

By the way, if the new Microsoft Edge ever comes to Linux, I will install that.  I already use it on my work Macbook Pro... it is quite nice.

12. OBS (an audio video capture tool)
13. One of several different audio/video editors like shotcut (to make my gaming videos)
14. WINE, WineTricks, PlayOnLinux, Steam and sometimes Lutris for gaming
15. Guake (a dropdown, quake-like console/terminal that is just cool)
16. Weather (adds weather to the date/time/notifications drop down)
17. Handbrake to burn DVDs
18. VLC... I think everyone installs Videolan...  will play videos that no other software can...
19. HTOP (a resource monitoring utility that is light on resources)
20. Disks (usually comes with distros but not always, allows me to configure disk mounting)
21. Gnome Tweak tool...  invaluable to change system fonts, and themes.

I also install other development languages as I feel the need.  Right now most of my work is in Python so ... that is where I spend most of my time.  I also install a database usually, like postgresql.

And that is it, that is my linux in a nutshell.  Oh, as needed I will install things like Skype or some chat utility like hexchat... stuff like that.  Odds and ends that I don't use NORMALLY but every once in awhile I find I need them... like Slack (ugh).  Anyway...  if you choose to try linux and have any questions I would be happy to help, or you can just check out stackoverflow... great site.

Gaming on Linux and stuff

One of the reasons I have not completely moved off of Microsoft Windows is that I have a huge game library (in steam and others).

Gaming on various Linux distributions has improved immensely.  And Steam has implemented their own version of "WINE" which works very well to play many of the non-native games on Linux.  (Btw, I capitalize linux as a sort of giant mass of linux-based operating systems).  Not only that I can get two of my favorite games running on Linux using WINE, WineTricks and PlayOnLinux without breaking a sweat.

There are, however, several other games I play that require additional third party apps, mods, etc. that are difficult to get working under WINE or Steam.  And for those  hold outs, which also happen  to be games I enjoy playing, I keep Windows around.  Some of the Civilization games, Skyrim, and a few others just do not work well under WINE or Steam on Linux.

It is torture everytime I need to boot into Windows.  While Windows continues to improve, the UI is still rough.  Sounds funny I know, I mean people have often complained in the past about Linux UIs, Linux font-rendering, etc.  But honestly Windows is a terrible mix of old and new and font rendering has regressed on Windows to a point where it hurts my eyes just to look at them, all scrappy and rough.  Linux font rendering is mesmerizingly good now.  I could just stare at these words I am typing all day long.  Truthfully I think Linux has surpassed both Windows and Mac OS X in that regard.

I am a Gnome fan.  I mean, I tweak it a lot but I prefer the GTK3, Gnome-based UI over KDE.  But even QT/KDE is amazing and is also very flexible.  That is actually why I prefer Gnome, it is a little less flexible in some ways, whereas KDE you can mess with to your hearts content.  I prefer the simplicity of Gnome (he says hypocritcally while installing extensions and changing the desktop look).  The irony is also this:  when I mess with Gnome I end up creating a very Windows 10-looking task bar with no desktop so to speak, while when I use KDE I tend to make it look identical to Mac OS X in layout and functionality!

So, while I give kudos to Microsoft and Apple for their work in the desktop UI, I prefer to see them implemented on Linux.  :D  Funny.

In addition, Microsoft has seen the advantages of Linux as well and have begun embracing it.  Two of the best products Microsoft has put out run perfectly fine on Linux:  .Net and Visual Studio Code.  That is a pretty bold move by Microsoft.  Also, Microsoft is working on the next generation of Windows which will finally remove Win32 dependencies and run Win32-dependent apps in a... virtual machine.  I imagine they will clean house and CMD.EXE will be completely replaced by PowerShell or some new implementation.  In fact they are moving there now with the new "Windows Terminal" which does not concern itself with the back end... it could be the old style CMD interface, powershell, or even bash.

In all honesty, I think Windows has a brighter future, at this point, than Mac OS X.  I feel like Microsoft really is (albeit very slowly) trying to move to something better than what they have, while Apple just rejiggers and modifies UI elements.  So kudos again to Microsoft.  I will probably continue to keep Windows simply because I am an OS enthusiast, plus I am fascinated in how Windows will evolve.  HOWEVER... Microsoft has said one thing and done another several times in the past, only to let down their expectant customer base.  Vista had great promise but in the end they removed several HUGE features.  The folding notebook hardware and OS/UI for that... they came out with it over a decade ago but never delivered (although now it looks like they just might in a year or so).  So while I am excited about all the talk regarding Windows...  I am only about 40% confident that they will actually do what they are saying.  :(

Meanwhile, if you are looking for an alternative that works, look at Linux.  It has software for musicians, film editors, office work, software development, realtime-embedded, etc.  It has EVERYTHING.  Seriously.  The only argument one might have against it is that it might not have Application X from Mac OS X, or Application Y from Windows, but it WILL have an alternative.  Whether or not you can use the alternative is up to you.

Anyway.  Have a happy Easter!

God bless you on this day (and every day)!

Today is the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

His own disciples did not understand that he would resurrect, when he died on the cross they split up and went their own ways, rather dejectedly.  They had expected him to live forever, to raise up the Israelites and to overthrow the Roman (and other oppressors) rule.  God, on the other hand, had a different idea (all along).  His idea was that he wanted to save ALL PEOPLE.  Not just the Israelites, not just the "good people", but all people.

To do that, someone had to pay for that, and then God had showed the people that he would one day bring them ALL back to live with him (that is what the resurrection showed).

Anyway!  God loves you even if you do not believe in Him.  I don't know if you (as a non-believer) can take solace in that or not, but I hope you consider the implications...

HAPPY EASTER!

COVID-19 Stuff

No one I know has it or had it.  At least not showing symptoms or had to be tested.  I've spent the past few weeks working from home, and it looks like that will probably extend out another month.  I get out to go grocery shopping or pet food shopping, that kind of thing.  But I am going a little stir crazy.

So to pass the time I play around with some development ideas I have (I am a software engineer) and read...  I bought a nice Python book that is laid out well and covers topics every python developer should consider or know (so far I have been pleased with myself since I already default to many of the things mentioned in the book, when I code).  I also bought and read all of the available "So I'm a spider, so what?" light novels.   It is fun to sit and read them all at once (actually I've read them twice now) and see how the author's style evolves and how the story evolves.  I pre-ordered the next novel due out in July... and we (son and I) are waiting for the anime which is supposed to be released in 2020, though they won't specify when.  Crunchyrole says it is coming so... here's to hoping.

Easter will be weird.  No church, no family get together.  Just our immediate family.  But I guess we need to be wary, since our uncle had/has lung cancer and corona virus could be very dangerous for him.

We bought two new aquariums and have spun one up, and the second one is in progress.  So in that sense, being home all the time is both nice, but costing me money.  :)

It has NOT affected my distro hopping, lol!  But honestly, I am thinking about sticking with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS for awhile, if I can control myself.

There have been a LOT of cranky/angry/scared people because of this pandemic who are behaving badly.  I pray for them, for some peace... they really need it.  But anyway... it has been a weird year so far!  That is something I think everyone can agree on, despite religious and political beliefs.  :)

Ubuntu 20.04 Screenshot

Just some eye candy.  It is not a bad looking distro.  I have used Pop!_OS for a fair amount of time, and I think this is not far off from that as far as looks go.

Too early to tell about bugs and performance, although so far I have not had a single hiccup (post ubuntu dash) or slow down.

Memory usage appears high in this shot, but I had browsers open, thunderbird open and of course the screenshot utility itself...  but CPU usage has been very low.  But everyone knows, Gnome takes more memory than most other desktops.  To be honest though, Gnome feels more polished to me than any other desktop.

You can see that the CPU usage has remained low and stable, the memory really does not fluctuate much.

All in all it seems pretty slick.

Ubuntu 20.04

Dissatisfied with OpenSUSE and not super thrilled with Solus 4.1 Gnome, I started poking around as I am wont to do.  I found on Distrowatch that then next LTS version of Ubuntu was in Beta, to be released in about 2 weeks.

I cut my teeth on linux with Slackware, but the moment the very first release of Ubuntu was announced, I downloaded and installed it.

It was amazing!  I was smitten by it.  I used it for several years along side my macs, my amiga and my BeOS machines.

I don't remember what happened... but at some point changes were made to Ubuntu that I did not like and found frustrating.  I stopped using Ubuntu at that point (had to be 10 or 15 years ago now).

So I saw the new release and thought I should at least look around and see what people had to say... I bopped around from youtube linux sites to Reddit to other places and found mostly favorable takes on 20.04 (alpha/beta).  One comment that caught my eye was "this is the best version of Ubuntu that I have seen since 16.04."   That tipped me over the edge, I downloaded 20.04, and installed it.

This isn't a review, per se, as I don't really DO reviews, just a commentary.  The installation was simple (no different, really, from any of the recent distros using a similar installed (ubiquity).  It installed alongside my windows installation, so that was good.

So, first impressions... I like the theme, it was not overwhelming in any way.  I switched it from normal to dark mode immediately.  I also uninstalled Ubuntu-Dash, and then installed Dash To Panel.  On top of that I installed Arc Menu and weather (I had installed the bare bones version of Ubuntu).

Once I got the desktop looking like I wanted, I installed some apps I frequently use, like libre office, Sublime Text, Microsoft VSCode, Rhythmbox, MPV, stuff like that.  I also made the fonts a little larger so I can see them on my 1440P monitor... but otherwise I kept the default fonts.  I also installed Thunderbird for email, tweaked my terminal, stuff like that.

I have to say it has been a pretty smooth experience and memory usage was on par with what I expected from a Gnome based desktop, so no surprises there.

It is attractive, seems to be well put together except for some minor hiccups with Ubuntu dash (forcing me to uninstall it) it has been a nice experience.  I am thinking as an experiment for MYSELF, I might try to keep this LTS version running for a year.  Or at least until DEC 31 of this year.  :)

I HAVE done that before, stuck with a particular brand of linux for a long time, but it has been awhile. 

I do have one fear:  when the actual 20.04 is released, will my update be smooth and NOT break all my tweaks... or will it destroy it?  We shall see...

More on OpenSUSE

Well, this has been the most successful openSUSE experiment I have had in awhile... still... I have run into configuration issues.  Most of them are around codecs and non-free software.  Whereas Fedora makes it SUPER simple to just clickety-click, add repo, install non-free software, openSUSE makes it clickety click, install and... FAIL.

I am not sure what is the difficulty here, but repos seem to be out of sync, requirements ancient, stuff like that.  It is a little disappointing that I cannot get VLC or Firefox running with the required libraries... or, when I DO add the libraries, I have to MANUALLY install various dependencies for the libraries themselves.  Super annoying.  And I still cannot get Firefox working properly with our local news website.

There IS an easy workaround:  Google Chrome.  Comes self packaged with all the goodies you will ever need.  I am aware it phones home and google can monitor my every thought wave but... they already do through my smart phone, and other ways.  (Paranoid much am I?)

Anyway, so I am still running openSUSE because it is working (with Chrome) and I can also play all of my games so far.  Not sure how long this experiment will last though.  I don't know what it is but openSUSE just does not feel good.

OpenSUSE?

I have never been a fan of openSUSE, simply because I always ran into some kind of problem during install or post install trying to configure and run my preferred applications.

But I am a hopper so I cycle around and from time to time I get back to those distros I could not previously use, and I try again.

I am also growing stir crazy from the whole corona virus mess... working at home for weeks.  So I actually took a day off for sanity and played with linux and am doing some programming as well.

First I attempted to install openSUSE using GeckoLinux, which is basically a bunch of openSuse "spins."  It failed miserably and I could be heard yelling "A HA! OPENSUSE NEVER WORKS!"  But instead I downloaded the official Tumbleweed distro and tried again.

It worked!  Flawlessly, at that.  I even got NVidia drivers installed and working first try.  It DID take a little research though.

Part of my "test" for every distro is to be able to install and play two of my favorite games:  Star Stable Online and Diablo 3.  Now, Steam is important too... but these two are "guages" to me.  If I can get them up and running in WINE on linux, I am golden.  SSO installed easily, and Diablo seems to have installed as well, just downloading all the data now.  I will try the games once Diablo load finishes.

Otherwise, I installed Thunderbird, some fonts, a couple of GTK themes, installed Dash To Panel, Arc Menu and a few other extensions.  All working.  Looking pretty good actually.

Gnome is a little behind, but I can live with that, especially since some of my preferred extensions are not working on the latest version of Gnome.  So, while performance might suffer a little, it evens out.

Performance-wise, SUSE seems to be a little memory hungry in the sense that it definitely does a lot of in memory caching.  That is not necessarily bad, just an observation that my cache bar in my memory monitor fills the graph.

So far so good!  First time I've ever been OK with openSUSE and because of that I think I will try to stick with it for at least a week or two.  It will be interesting to see how smoothly updating occurs.

Anyway, hope you are staying safe and sound!

Aaaaaaand full circle back to Solus

I'm like the energizer bunny hopping from one distro to another.  :)

I really enjoyed my time with the Fedora KDE Spin.  I would heartily recommend it, it was solid, I ran into no update issues even with Nvidia drivers (Fedora updates kernel fairly frequently), and I was able to configure it to look like I wanted it to look.

Despite the fact that KDE was more memory efficient, performed well, and gave me few headaches, I am just not a huge KDE fan.  Don't get me wrong... I *liked* it, I am just do not prefer it over gtk-based UIs.

When I started shifting back to linux a couple of years ago, I believe it was Solus that I started with.  I enjoyed it, but it felt a little restrictive in some ways back then... and it helped trigger my  distro hopping.  Since the "shake up" that occurred last year the Solus team has been working like crazy to improve Solus.  I'd say their work has paid off and this was a very smooth install, and performance has been quite good.  I immediately installed Nvidia drivers through their utility, installed Wine and related apps, installed my favorite games and so far the game performance seems even better than with Fedora.  Subjective I guess, but it could also be recent updates to the game that made IT more efficient as well.

Anywho... this is where I am at right now.

Still using Fedora with KDE

It has been running very smoothly for the most part.  I have not encountered any "update woes" as I have in the past with Fedora.  So far so good.  Able to play Starstable and Diablo 3 very nicely.  And many Steam titles work as well with Photon turned on.

I still want to poke around and try other things.  I will give it a short rest though.  Can't constantly reconfigure my system.  :)  But I do keep all documents, music, video, pictures and some other items on shared drives which I simply mount the way I want them whenever I spin up a new distro.

Anyway, just a quick update.

KDE adventure

Ages ago, back between 2005 and 2011, I had switched from Macs to an All-in-one IBM pc.  What I ended up installing on it was PC-BSD because the networking that came with it out of the box worked very well with my company's firewall/network security.

It came with a KDE interface.  I used it for a year until I switched back to a mac and purchased a product that I was able to log into work with...  But while I have not been a KDE fan in recent times, mostly GTK/Gnome, I did have fond memories of that year.

A week or so ago I began hunting around for a good KDE distro.  The caveat was that I did want to be able to install WINE and PLAYONLINUX so I could play a couple of my favorite games.  I tried Neon, KaOS, OpenSUSE, Kubuntu and Fedora.

KaOS is, without a doubt, the best looking KDE distro (of course that is subjective).  But it was limiting when it came to getting gaming software set up.  OpenSUSE was OK but the actual installation did not end well for me.  Neon is the KDE kitchen sink and worked alright, but I did run into one or two struggles with Ubuntu software.  Kubuntu was loaded to the hilt, and it worked well, but I felt there were some KDE performance issues.  Finally I installed the KDE spin of Fedora 31.  I always have a love/not-love-so-much relationship with Fedora as I always end up breaking something in some update.  But so far it has been very nice.  KDE performs very well, and Fedora performs well in general.

There is also a KDE version of Solus that I might try...

Anyway, just an update of my computing adventures.

The difference between an everyday use monitor and a gaming monitor...

So I went 1440p awhile back.  I purchased an inexpensive Samsung monitor that supposedly had 5ms gtg.  Sounded pretty good to me.

When I hopped into one of my staple games, I immediately noticed the "skippiness" of the game play.  Hiccups, stutters, etc.  I assumed it was the fact that I was playing 1440p not 1080p that was causing the issue, that my graphics card just could not handle it.

WOW.

I had been thinking about it for awhile but everywhere I read said that my previous (and my very new) graphics card can handle 1440p flawlessly if not effortlessly.

Last week I pulled the trigger on a new 1440p monitor, an HP 27xq, which was rated as a decent gaming monitor.  1ms gtg, freesync, etc.

Got it today, plugged it in and even though I have not yet figured out how to get it to > 60 refresh rate, when I play my "staple" game mentioned at the beginning of this post, it was FLAWLESSLY SMOOTH!!  I have been torturing myself for over a year for no good reason.

Listen, if you are thinking of buying a 1440p monitor, please do not skimp.  Go for a gaming monitor if you game.  It was literally night and day.

Now I just need to find a happy medium with its settings.  The blacks are black but the whites are nigh on blinding me.  Even so, small price to play for getting back the fun in gaming with no stuttering and skipping.

That is all.

2020 PC Build...

Done deal.  All the parts arrived by today, and I went ahead and built out my latest PC.  Parts of it are modern, parts are one or two generations old.  But I am hoping it will amaze me.  So far so good, the build went well and I am using it to write this post.  Without further ado...

In case you cannot read it, I installed elementary OS 5.1 Hera.  I also updated the kernel to use liquorix (an optimized kernel)... but that's all the fluff.  The hardware is as follows:

Thermaltake core V21 case.
Corsair RM850x Gold Power Supply.
32 GB of G.Skill DDR4 RAM.
ASRock Motherboard (TR4).
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1920x (12 cores, 24 threads @ 3.50)
NVidia RTX 2060 SUPER.

That's the gist of it... couple of SSDs and some old-fashioned mechanical drives as well.

So far so good!  I could not, however, get Windows to install.  Installer hung.  I think it is because I am using one of the very first released CDs of Windows 10.  I will probably have to download and burn a Windows image and try that.

I do want Windows as Linux always performs well, but I am anxious to see how my games perform with this new build.  Granted, threadrippers are not meant to be "gaming" CPUs per se... but they have good single core performance and of course any games that can use multi core will flourish.  What  am anxious to see is how my 2060 SUPER performs.  Supposed to be at least 10% faster than my 1080 GTX I had.  We shall see...

My 2020 Build

I had originally planned on a new build mid-2019, but due to vacations, and other things that seemed like a very bad idea, money-wise.

Every couple of years I build out a new PC.  Usually that PC has all-new, better hardware but this year I am backing off that just a little because, well, I've always wanted a thread ripper and the Gen 1 thread rippers are are dirt cheap now.

I plan on dual booting Windows 10 and Linux, probably going to stick with Elementary OS for now.  I've gotten used to it and learned a few tricks to configure the things you want, even if they are not available in the store.

By the weekend all of the components will have arrived and I should be able to begin building.  It is possible one component may not arrive until Monday, so I may have to postpone it a little.

Without further ado:

Item                             What it is
-------------------------------  -----------------
Thermaltake V21 Cube             Computer case
Corsair RM850x                   Power Supply
ASRock X399M Taichi              Socket TR4 Motherboard
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1920X     12 Core/24 Thread CPU
G.Skill Ripjaw V, 32GB           RAM (Memory)
Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060 Super  Graphics Card
Intel 660P 1 TB                  M.2 SSD
Crucial MX500 2 TB               SATA SSD
Noctua NS-U14S                   CPU Cooler
Noctua 140MM Fan                 Extra Case Fan
Seagate Barracude 2 TB           Hard drive



...and that is it.  I will also carry over my other 2 hard drives since they already have all my data on them, no sense in copying when I can just pull the drives.  I will leave the current system and m.2 drives in the old PC, it will still be 100% usable.

Distro Hop - Back to Elementary OS...

Seems like I just can't sit still when it comes to Linux.  :)  I had thought to give KaOS or perhaps Manjaro KDE another shot... but even the lastest versions just do not seem as smooth or as polished as gtk3 based distros do, especially in the font rendering department.

So... I wanted something different and thought I would give Elementary another shot.  The latest version is decent...  looks great, of course, better than screenshots show.  Not sure why that is but it looks better right in front of you than in a screenshot.

The install went VERY smoothly, even configuring it to run BTRFS on the system drive.  When it came time to format the disk I simply selected the old Pop!_OS device and told it to format as btrfs, then let the installer take it the rest of the way.  Worked perfectly first try.  It also installed Nvidia drivers for me, and the entire system worked very well.

I then proceeded to make a few adjustments, like increasing the DPI, and installing the Liquorix kernel (https://liquorix.net/, follow the instructions for ubuntu).  The kernel installation did not fully succeed and, while I got the new kernel, my graphics drivers were broken.  So then I simply snagged the Nvidia 340.64 driver and performed a manual install.  To do that you simply turn off the graphical interface (systemctl set-default multi-user.target), reboot and as root run the Nvidia installer.  Once that completes you restore graphical mode (systemctl set-default graphical.target), reboot again and *boom*, graphics fixed.

The thing about Elementary is its controlled simplicity.  Like KaOS, the devs don't really want you messing around too much with your system.  There is a nice store to install the apps you MUST HAVE, but beyond that you have to sort of fend for yourself.  But, the one thing about it is, this is an Ubuntu-based distro.  That means you really DO have a ton of possibilities at your fingertips.  You just don't want to muck around too much with the desktop environment, but under the hood you can do a lot, and just about any application you might really need is available.  If not, you will probably be able to find a debian package for it somewhere, OR you can install and use flatpak or AppImage or whatever other application isolation subsystem floats your boat.