I'm not as adventurous as I'd like to think.
Sure, I just installed Meego onto my netbook, and that's fine. But my foray back into the world of FOSS has come to an end.
I was ready to give up Netflix. I was ready to listen to my DRM-stripped music library. I was ready to never play the top game titles ever again. It wasn't enough.
I got linux up and running, quite well actually. I was able to build and run my code, get my mail, browse the internet, even installed Hulu desktop to make up for Netflix. But after a week of using Linux I decided I wanted a more standard gnome appearance. I moved my task bar to the top, and went to add a new panel... that's where it went wrong. I clicked on add new panel and my UI hung. "Huh," I thought. So I tried switching to console mode, it did not work. "Huh," I thought again. I rebooted. All was well until the time came for XServer to start. It didn't. Now I wasn't saying "huh," but instead I was mumbling under my breath. After several tries I gave up. This was damn peculiar behavior for linux in my opinion. I merely used standard gnome configuration options. How can that cause the entire UI to lock up and never start again?!
I could have booted into command line mode and poked around. I could have actually tried several other install/restore options to fix the problem. But the point is I should not have to do that.
It irked me completely. So much so I wiped the system, re-installed Windows 7 and have been trying to restore my disks all week long. That's another story.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
From Windows to Linux
I took the plunge this afternoon. I double-copied most of my data to two disks, so they would be accessible from both (I did this because linux was having a little trouble with one of the Windows "dymnamic disks").
Once the data was copied I began the installation. I quickly encountered the large FAT-32 volume bug and had to disconnect all external drives. Once unplugged the installation went smoothly.
I decided to go with XFS as my file system and formatted 2 of my 3 large disks making the first a system disk, the second my /home disk. The third disk contents are being copied as I write and will become my /Work disk soon. I also have a 4th disk, smaller, FAT-32 formatted and I use that to store a lot of "junk."
I have managed to get Chrome installed, my email accounts plugged in, my chat accounts plugged in, etc. I did manage to get the Cisco AnyConnect client installed and to the point where it appears to work, but I had trouble with my work connection. I'll have to reboot and check that out later. The process of getting the Cisco client involves installing 32 bit libraries and copying firefox libraries into the Cisco client's lib folder.
Since work is my priority, I'll be focusing on that tonight. I need to get the connection squared away, then I need to rig ssh+svn so I can access our code. I also need to get a few extra apps installed, like the official version of Sun Java, altho' I might try to get JBOSS running with the OpenJDK version. We shall see. I also want to get JDeveloper and the Oracle client libraries installed if possible.
Once all the work stuff is squared away, I can focus on getting Wine installed and work on getting several of my games going. I was excited to read that Torchlight works very well under Wine and the Steam client should fare as well as the store-bought CD-ROM version of the game.
As I mentioned before, I will meet some limitations. I won't be able to watch my Netflix instant queue from my computer. I also had to export my iTunes music to non-DRM format. I wanted to wait to do the same for my video library, but I got antsy while waiting on the conversion company to help me out with an issue. So what I will have to do is copy my video library to my son's computer and run the software there. It will take a couple of days to complete. Perhaps I can get this started before we leave for vacation, then clean up when we get back.
Once the data was copied I began the installation. I quickly encountered the large FAT-32 volume bug and had to disconnect all external drives. Once unplugged the installation went smoothly.
I decided to go with XFS as my file system and formatted 2 of my 3 large disks making the first a system disk, the second my /home disk. The third disk contents are being copied as I write and will become my /Work disk soon. I also have a 4th disk, smaller, FAT-32 formatted and I use that to store a lot of "junk."
I have managed to get Chrome installed, my email accounts plugged in, my chat accounts plugged in, etc. I did manage to get the Cisco AnyConnect client installed and to the point where it appears to work, but I had trouble with my work connection. I'll have to reboot and check that out later. The process of getting the Cisco client involves installing 32 bit libraries and copying firefox libraries into the Cisco client's lib folder.
Since work is my priority, I'll be focusing on that tonight. I need to get the connection squared away, then I need to rig ssh+svn so I can access our code. I also need to get a few extra apps installed, like the official version of Sun Java, altho' I might try to get JBOSS running with the OpenJDK version. We shall see. I also want to get JDeveloper and the Oracle client libraries installed if possible.
Once all the work stuff is squared away, I can focus on getting Wine installed and work on getting several of my games going. I was excited to read that Torchlight works very well under Wine and the Steam client should fare as well as the store-bought CD-ROM version of the game.
As I mentioned before, I will meet some limitations. I won't be able to watch my Netflix instant queue from my computer. I also had to export my iTunes music to non-DRM format. I wanted to wait to do the same for my video library, but I got antsy while waiting on the conversion company to help me out with an issue. So what I will have to do is copy my video library to my son's computer and run the software there. It will take a couple of days to complete. Perhaps I can get this started before we leave for vacation, then clean up when we get back.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
From Windows 7 to Linux - Part 1
I've decided to give linux another shot. Windows 7 is solid, but I like the principles behind FOSS and similar ideas and want to support them.
There are pros and cons inherent in this decision. The pros are that there is a vast pool of free software to make use of, a modern high performance operating system and a large user base that is willing to share and help out when you encounter problems (for the most part). The cons take some swallowing.
I will not be able to view netflix movies online. I will not be able to play a large number of my games, and I can no longer make use of iTunes to purchase and manage my music. (Most people would not consider that to be a con). I also generate my tax documents with software that will not run on linux. I'll worry about that next April. Other cons include shaky graphics drivers and a willingness to get under the hood from time to time to make modifications to the OS. No problem, I like doing that.
The first step to moving to linux, which I have already begun, is to preserve my music and movies in such a way that I might continue to enjoy them. To do this I need to back my DRM-laden media up to non-DRM media. I am doing this with legally purchased software, and while I might be walking a thin line of legality, my thinking is that this is my music, my TV shows that I purchased and I'll be damned if someone is going to say "no you can't watch them anymore" because of the operating system I have chosen to use.
Once this process is completed I can begin copying files I wish to keep from one disk to another (backups of a sort) so that I can wipe at least two of my 3 disks for the purpose of creating my system and user disks in linux. After that, another copy so I can reformat (and alter my mount table) my third drive for my work files.
I have several shared drives that are formatted in FAT32... they can stay that way for now. Linux does fine with FAT32.
After that is all the tweaking and configuring that will need to happen so that I can work effectively and also play some of my games on Steam.
So to summarize:
1. back up important data and media (in progress)
2. initial install
3. restore data
4. tweak install
5. restore some semblance of a gaming environment
Once step three is complete, I'll post more about steps 1-3.
There are pros and cons inherent in this decision. The pros are that there is a vast pool of free software to make use of, a modern high performance operating system and a large user base that is willing to share and help out when you encounter problems (for the most part). The cons take some swallowing.
I will not be able to view netflix movies online. I will not be able to play a large number of my games, and I can no longer make use of iTunes to purchase and manage my music. (Most people would not consider that to be a con). I also generate my tax documents with software that will not run on linux. I'll worry about that next April. Other cons include shaky graphics drivers and a willingness to get under the hood from time to time to make modifications to the OS. No problem, I like doing that.
The first step to moving to linux, which I have already begun, is to preserve my music and movies in such a way that I might continue to enjoy them. To do this I need to back my DRM-laden media up to non-DRM media. I am doing this with legally purchased software, and while I might be walking a thin line of legality, my thinking is that this is my music, my TV shows that I purchased and I'll be damned if someone is going to say "no you can't watch them anymore" because of the operating system I have chosen to use.
Once this process is completed I can begin copying files I wish to keep from one disk to another (backups of a sort) so that I can wipe at least two of my 3 disks for the purpose of creating my system and user disks in linux. After that, another copy so I can reformat (and alter my mount table) my third drive for my work files.
I have several shared drives that are formatted in FAT32... they can stay that way for now. Linux does fine with FAT32.
After that is all the tweaking and configuring that will need to happen so that I can work effectively and also play some of my games on Steam.
So to summarize:
1. back up important data and media (in progress)
2. initial install
3. restore data
4. tweak install
5. restore some semblance of a gaming environment
Once step three is complete, I'll post more about steps 1-3.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Just a blurb - Our sites are now "more available."
While I enjoyed hand crafting my own website in an obscure language, running it on my own machine didn't work very well. MOST people could never see my site, some could, but for some reason coming into the COX network even on port 3000 was fraught with issues.
So now I moved our sites to GoDaddy and I quickly refashioned my site in PHP. It's hacked together but it works.
www.sandrajessop.com
www.mikesjunkyard.com
So now I moved our sites to GoDaddy and I quickly refashioned my site in PHP. It's hacked together but it works.
www.sandrajessop.com
www.mikesjunkyard.com
Friday, April 2, 2010
On Aquariums
For nearly as long as I can remember I've had an active aquarium.
My first aquarium was a metal framed, slate bottomed 5 gallon unit that a friend and neighbor, David Lee, gave to me. My first fish were angels and sword tails. Eventually I discovered the fish that really embroiled me into the world of the fresh water tropical fish hobbyist: The Oscar.
It was wrong, of course, but my first oscar was a baby that I tossed into that 5 gallon aquarium. It grew rapidly and I had to give it away. For my birthday, my dad bought me a 29 gallon aquarium and took me to a pet store in another town with the promise that he would pay for something like $20 of fish. Wow! I bought another Oscar. Not any oscar, THE oscar. He was a red oscar and he was brilliant! He took food from my fingers, was stick trained (when I held up a green stick (glass scraper) he would immediately go to the bottom of the tank, submissively. When I worked in the tank he would simply watch me, but when my brother or father placed their hands in the tank he would attack them. Seriously.
I loved that fish.
Trying to find tank mates was difficult. Had to be other, tough cichlids that were too big to swallow, but not big enough to cause Oskee any grief. One day I brought home a Jack Dempsey. It was about 3 or 4 inches long. Oskee was 8 inches long. I thought I had met the necessary criteria for a tank mate but I was very wrong.
Over night Oskee attempted to eat the Jack. Unfortunately the Jack was far too large to swallow, and his fins lodge themselves in Oskee's throat. Oskee eventually died. I was so upset my parents kept me out of school that day; I made a little grave for him and held a funeral in our back yard.
I haven't been quite so attached to any fish since Oskee, but I do still enjoy them and still find them fascinating.
My most recent large, oddball fish was an Osphronemus goramy named "G". Got him at about 2 or 3 inches and raised him up to about 10 inches or so. He was full of character and all the neighborhood kids thought he was cool because he tried to bite their fingers through the glass. But O. goramy gets BIG. I gave him to a friend who had a more suitable tank and now "G" is happily growing in his new environment (last I saw him I would guess he is about 14 inches long and growing).
My current project is to maintain a (more or less) community aquarium where the fish live together peacefully. That's a hard one for me, as I prefer big, burly, aggressive fish. Still, the little ones have pretty colors and are fun to look at and there is less drama and trauma associated with fish that aren't always fighting.
Still, the old urges slip in and I dropped a couple of baby sunfish into the tank. It's hard to say how that will progress - but sunnies can be terrors. For now, however, all the tetras and other fish are much larger than the baby sunnies.
On a side note, we had to move our crayfish (we caught a baby up at White Horse Lake last July) who had grown to 4 inches in length and had begun hunting and eating the fish. We placed him in Isaac's tank with a full grown male firemouth cichlid. The crayfish can't get him, he fights back. :) So at the moment there is a stalemate. If necessary the crayfish will get his own tank.
Anyway, I cannot foresee a time when I do not have an aquarium.
My first aquarium was a metal framed, slate bottomed 5 gallon unit that a friend and neighbor, David Lee, gave to me. My first fish were angels and sword tails. Eventually I discovered the fish that really embroiled me into the world of the fresh water tropical fish hobbyist: The Oscar.
It was wrong, of course, but my first oscar was a baby that I tossed into that 5 gallon aquarium. It grew rapidly and I had to give it away. For my birthday, my dad bought me a 29 gallon aquarium and took me to a pet store in another town with the promise that he would pay for something like $20 of fish. Wow! I bought another Oscar. Not any oscar, THE oscar. He was a red oscar and he was brilliant! He took food from my fingers, was stick trained (when I held up a green stick (glass scraper) he would immediately go to the bottom of the tank, submissively. When I worked in the tank he would simply watch me, but when my brother or father placed their hands in the tank he would attack them. Seriously.
I loved that fish.
Trying to find tank mates was difficult. Had to be other, tough cichlids that were too big to swallow, but not big enough to cause Oskee any grief. One day I brought home a Jack Dempsey. It was about 3 or 4 inches long. Oskee was 8 inches long. I thought I had met the necessary criteria for a tank mate but I was very wrong.
Over night Oskee attempted to eat the Jack. Unfortunately the Jack was far too large to swallow, and his fins lodge themselves in Oskee's throat. Oskee eventually died. I was so upset my parents kept me out of school that day; I made a little grave for him and held a funeral in our back yard.
I haven't been quite so attached to any fish since Oskee, but I do still enjoy them and still find them fascinating.
My most recent large, oddball fish was an Osphronemus goramy named "G". Got him at about 2 or 3 inches and raised him up to about 10 inches or so. He was full of character and all the neighborhood kids thought he was cool because he tried to bite their fingers through the glass. But O. goramy gets BIG. I gave him to a friend who had a more suitable tank and now "G" is happily growing in his new environment (last I saw him I would guess he is about 14 inches long and growing).
My current project is to maintain a (more or less) community aquarium where the fish live together peacefully. That's a hard one for me, as I prefer big, burly, aggressive fish. Still, the little ones have pretty colors and are fun to look at and there is less drama and trauma associated with fish that aren't always fighting.
Still, the old urges slip in and I dropped a couple of baby sunfish into the tank. It's hard to say how that will progress - but sunnies can be terrors. For now, however, all the tetras and other fish are much larger than the baby sunnies.
On a side note, we had to move our crayfish (we caught a baby up at White Horse Lake last July) who had grown to 4 inches in length and had begun hunting and eating the fish. We placed him in Isaac's tank with a full grown male firemouth cichlid. The crayfish can't get him, he fights back. :) So at the moment there is a stalemate. If necessary the crayfish will get his own tank.
Anyway, I cannot foresee a time when I do not have an aquarium.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Song Lyrics in the age of the Internet
When I was a kid we didn't have the internet. We didn't have computers for that matter. One of the things that I love about the internet and modern music players is that they can download and display song lyrics as the song is playing.
Back up 30+ years. I used to listen to my radio (WRKO) at night and every once in awhile I'd hear a song I liked. To help me remember it I'd record it on a tape recorder, then play it over and over again, writing down the lyrics a verse at a time! If the sound quality was bad (and it was usually, recording a song on an AM station being played on a cheap radio) it could take time to figure it out.
Fast forward to the present. There is a song from the late 70's that I like entitled "No Time To Lose" written and played by the Tarney-Spencer band. Found the song on YouTube recently and enjoyed listening to it. I googled the lyrics and found that *gasp* there were only two versions out there and both were bad. Both were missing words, had the wrong words in certain sections, etc. So... I reverted to the olden days and began playing it over and over again on YouTube until I was satisfied that I had them down correctly, or at least 95% correct. I may be missing the word "and" at the beginning of one of the verses. Here you go... in all its glory:
Back up 30+ years. I used to listen to my radio (WRKO) at night and every once in awhile I'd hear a song I liked. To help me remember it I'd record it on a tape recorder, then play it over and over again, writing down the lyrics a verse at a time! If the sound quality was bad (and it was usually, recording a song on an AM station being played on a cheap radio) it could take time to figure it out.
Fast forward to the present. There is a song from the late 70's that I like entitled "No Time To Lose" written and played by the Tarney-Spencer band. Found the song on YouTube recently and enjoyed listening to it. I googled the lyrics and found that *gasp* there were only two versions out there and both were bad. Both were missing words, had the wrong words in certain sections, etc. So... I reverted to the olden days and began playing it over and over again on YouTube until I was satisfied that I had them down correctly, or at least 95% correct. I may be missing the word "and" at the beginning of one of the verses. Here you go... in all its glory:
Tarney-Spencer Band... No time to lose...
Every day I walk in shadows
I know not what it is I'm heading for
As the evening light is dying
A gentle heart lies near me sighing
You feel the same
Will you ever change
You can never understand
We can only be like water
Rolling on to find our way
Just get on with the game
With the game, what a game
No time to lose, no time to lose
No time to lose, no time to lose
Go with the flow, never let go
No time to lose...
There ain't no way to see forever
It's only day to day I'm living for
Like a wheel you keep me turning
It's your love inside me burning
The question's plain,
Will your love remain?
You can never understand
We can only be like water
Rolling on to find our way
Just get on with the game
With the game, you know the game
No time to lose, no time to lose
No time to lose, no time to lose
Go with the flow, never let go
No time to lose...
You can never understand
We can only be like water
Rolling on to find our way
Just get on with the game
With the game...
No time to lose, no time to lose
No time to lose, no time to lose
Go with the flow, never let go
No time to lose...
No time to lose, no time to lose
No time to lose, no time to lose...
Monday, February 1, 2010
Better off in a bubble?
There is a lot of hate and hurt in this world. People seem to enjoy attacking other people's beliefs, life styles, education, lack of education, choice of clothing, choice of reading materials, hair styles, make up, etc.
Sometimes I think it is just best to believe what you believe, and live your life according to how you think it should be lived and let it go at that. If there is something good in that, it will be seen. In the end, good is good and nothing can change that.
I, like everyone else, can have some strong opinions but I think that perhaps from now on I will follow Jame's advice (and my favorite quote): be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.
Of course if I am asked for my opinion, that might be a different matter.
Sometimes I think it is just best to believe what you believe, and live your life according to how you think it should be lived and let it go at that. If there is something good in that, it will be seen. In the end, good is good and nothing can change that.
I, like everyone else, can have some strong opinions but I think that perhaps from now on I will follow Jame's advice (and my favorite quote): be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.
Of course if I am asked for my opinion, that might be a different matter.
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