Decisions, decisions

OK, so I'm not much one to make fast, clear decisions.  Unless it's absolutely life or death, you're not going to get me moving very quickly.  And deciding what Linux distros I'm going to put on a middle-aged laptop doesn't exactly qualify as life or death, now does it?

Anyway, I've finally decided that, yes, I am going to just do a dual boot to lesson the sting of my indecision.  However, I then became entangled in what two distros...

I'm pretty sure one is going to be Precise Puppy (though MacPup is still a possibility).  The other one was definitely going to be Bodhi Linux (I decided against Zorin Lite because...well, because...)

However, I tripped across AntiX, and...

I have since burned Bodhi and AntiX to disk, and have done some simply liveboot tests.  Bodhi is definitely quirky, but it is quite cool.  And AntiX comes with the bloody kitchen sink included.  (Good God, it even includes a Terminal based text editor and web browser!)

I still have the MacPup .iso in download folder, along with the Zorin .iso.  I'll keep them around.  You never know...

It's amazing how the utterly unnecessary can consume so much time.  But I guess it's harmless.

Mostly harmless.  (With apologies to Douglas Adams.)

One of these days, I will get 'round to actually installing the software on the system.  (I'm kind of waiting for the new battery to come for the Acer before I really get going.  I think, once I get it set up, it'll be a fun system to play with.  And that's kind of what I'm looking for, something fun to play with...

Yeah...

Now, off the watch Casino Royale for the nth time....

Memory Swap

At least a bit earlier for this entry than for the last.  I'm getting too old for these all-nighters.  ;-)

Still fiddling with the Acer laptop.  I did a bit of swap surgery just now, grabbing the 1 GB RAM module from the Thinkpad R40, and dropping it into the Acer.  (I dropped the now-spare 256 MB module from the Acer into the Thinkpad, just in case.)  Firing up the Acer, everything looks fine.  (Though I need to check the wireless, as I had a devilish time getting the access door off the back of the computer, and I'm a bit afraid it snagged on the wiring from the card.)  (Wiring on a wireless card...  Irony..?)

But, at least I have a gigabyte plus in the Acer, which will be welcome when I finally figure out what I'm doing with it.  (And I've got another gig stick coming, so...)

To let cats out of bags, I was actually thinking of doing a dual boot on the system, maybe Zorin and Bodhi...  Or Zorin and Puppy...  Or maybe something and MacPup...  Or...  I don't know...

I'm simply too indecisive...

It was a beautiful day here, certainly too nice to be inside fiddling with computers.  Thankfully, I got out and did my walking in the country.  Nice to get away from things with a little peace & quiet.

Now, time to go veg out for a bit...

To the Dogs

So, it's an ungodly hour of the morning right now, I should be asleep, but I'm up fooling on the 'Net.  Yeah.  Another good night.

Actually, it's not that bad.  The major reason I'm up fiddling this late is...  I was working on a computer.  My old Acer Aspire 3003 WLCi, to be exact.  AMD Sempron processor at 1.8Ghz, 512 MB memory, and a 60 GB hard drive.  Blessed with a crotchety version of XP.

I mentioned before that I was thinking of putting Zorin OS Lite on it.  Well, I got to looking at Bodhi Linux, and then a few other distros.  I've got both Bodhi and Zorin sitting in the download folder of of my desktop here, waiting to be burned to CD.  But that hasn't happened yet.

I got a wild hair to back up all the junk that was still floating about on the Acer's HD.  Now this laptop was my sole machine for a couple years, and I'd done everything on it, from personal stuff, running a small business, and doing private contracting work.  It was packed with stuff, and took me forever to get it backed up.

AFterwards, I decided to do some testing with some liveboots, to see how the system would react.  The results were annoying.

Lubuntu 12.10 gagged and died due to something in firmware it didn't like.  An old version of Ubuntu 10.04 I'd downloaded to try to work with the Thinkpad R40 booted fine, but wouldn't see the wireless card.  (Well, it did see it, and identified it, but couldn't get the proper driver to load.)

I started to pop in a copy of Xubuntu 12.04, but better sense got to me.  I dug out a copy of Puppy Linux  4.4.3 ("Precise Puppy"), and put it in.

Worked like a freaking dream.  Booted fine, saw and activated the wireless, went right on line without a hitch.

I'd been peeved with Precise Puppy due to it's PAE requirement when I'd tried it on the R40.  But it totally redeemed itself tonight.  I now have a fallback system in case nothing works out with Zorin/Bodhi.  (I was going to test Damn Small Linux 4.4.10, but it's just too late right now.)

Did take the time to look up a new battery and a 1 GB memory upgrade for the Aspire.  We'll have this old gent up and running full duty before long!

And, on that note, I'm going to bed!

Rough Spots

Last night, I ran into one of those little rough spots in Linux that reminds you that there's still margin for improvement.

I was informed by the FireFox browser on my Acer that my FlashPlayer plug-in was outdated, and FireFox had disabled it for security reasons.  A quick check through 'Fox's plug-in checking page (https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/plugincheck/) confirmed.

Now, the "problem".  There's no nice, easy way (ie, in the GUI) to upgrade this plug-in under Mint.  You have to manually download, then go into Terminal, and through the command line remove the old plug-in, then copy and paste the update in.

OK, it's not that hard, and there are plenty of "how-to's" online to walk you through it.  But, it's the command line.  How many people are comfortable with that?  I'm talking about John Q., here, not the usual people who are identified (rightly) as Linux adepts.

I'm talking about the people Linux has started to heavily court, the people they want to switch from Windows to Linux.  The people who could give Linux market share...

To be honest, I'm sort of one of those people.  It's around 20 years since I sat and typed commands at a prompt.  Since then, I've become a bit of a GUI-softie.  I switched to Windows in the early 90s, and was fairly quickly weaned off the command line.  When I switched to Mac a few years ago...  Well... 

I think I used the Mac Terminal once, to correct an idiot installation mistake in SheepShaver.  I simply had to erase a couple hidden files.  A die-hard Windows user friend of mine was horrified when I told him of my very short dip into "raw" UNIX.  "Oh my God!  You had to do WHAT?"

And therein lies the core of the rough spot.  In this day and age, Joe or Joelina Average doesn't want to be typing commands.  He/She doesn't even remember how to type commands.  The Jobsian fantasy of "GUI for Everybody" has done it's thing.  The bulk of the computer-using population has become a bunch of point 'n clickers.  (Or just pointers, if you're fiddling with a tablet.)

And, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, Linux ain't gonna make real headway till Joe & Joelina never have to see that Terminal thingie in action.  Ever.

Now I know that I've probably just painted a target on myself for all the true Linux believers out there.  How dare I question the Terminal!  But, I'm not.  In fact, I readily admit that working in the Terminal can be faster and more efficient than the GUI.  And it's damned good to have a knowledge of what's going on under the hood.  (I really need to brush up myself.  My UNIX command knowledge went cold after I tried my hand with the Korn Shell running on some variant of AT&T UNIX back in grad school...)

But, until you can tell Joe & Joelina that they will never have to type a command...  Well...

I have my doubts...  And that's coming from somebody who truly loves the Linux experience.

In fact, I'm looking at snagging another distro for tryouts.  Thinking about snagging a copy of Zorin OS Lite and seeing if it will run on my old Acer work laptop that I recently salvaged from the back room.  It's a nice machine, with a cool techie look to it.  However, the WinXP install is getting long in the tooth, and it's time to move on...

We'll see...

Quick Glimpse

So, the "new" system is up and running fine.  Been on and off it all day, and it's been giving the proverbial yeoman service.  In fact, I've spent far too much time cruising clips on YouTube this evening.  I've just about had my fill of "trash picked computer" videos for the evening...

But I thought I would throw up a photo showing the system partially in action...

The yellow Dalek's new technological terror!

You can see Firefox up and running, with the Mint web page displayed on screen.  I had the Thinkpad keyboard on my lap at the time.

To the left, you can catch a glimpse of the wonderful Macally keyboard, now hooked up to the Mac Mini.  It's protected by a nice plastic shield, and buried under a tangle of phone and pad chargers.  The equally cool Apple Pro mouse is hidden behind the charger cables...

I really need to fire up the Mac and do some work there.  It's too good a computer to just leave sitting like this.  (And, if I remember correctly, I never did properly set the screen resolution on it...)

So, once again lost in my little technological wonderland.

In oddball news:

 I was at the library today, and tripped across a hardcover copy of Leon Uris' Topaz.  It's a Cold War novel I've always wanted to read, but never got 'round to.  Also, a couple old science fiction anthologies (Science Fiction Showcase, edited by Mary Kornbluth, and A Science Fiction Argosy, edited by Damon Knight).  I can't believe they throw these away, but I guess they have to make room for all those new extra copies of "Twilight"...

My gain.  And something to take my mind off the computers through all the bad weather we're supposed to get...

Checkmark...

Yeah, I finally worked up the gumption to do it.  I switched the Cube out for my old Acer tower.  Check!

And, yes, I installed Mint on it.  Went like a charm.  (Of course, I'm working on it now.)

OK, a few things didn't go the way I'd thought.  I didn't install the wireless keyboard nor mouse.  Instead, I'm using my Thinkpad USB keyboard, which takes up far less room.  I'd even thought about trying the KVM switch, and only making use of one screen on the desk.  However, the switch's cables won't fit the tower's connector, and I don't have an adapter handy, so...

A nice thing: The Compaq LCD I'm using with the tower has built-in speakers.  Not the best, but good enough for me.  And all the media keys on the Thinkpad keyboard work fine with it.  So, win again.

And I have to say, I'd forgotten what a decent computer the tower is.  Complete multicard reader system, decent processor, RAM and hard drive, and more USB  ports than you can shake a stick at.

Of course, I got my dose of embarrassment when I opened the case up before I installed it.  The inside was filthy.  Doesn't speak well of my old maintenance habits.  Needless to say, that's not going to be the norm from now on.  I'm not going to every let a system get that dirty again.

So, basically a new toy to play with for a while.  I was wanting to get an old Thinkpad 380XD up and running with "Damn Small Linux", but there were some problems with the screen, so...  Off to play with the tower.

Lose some, then win some, I guess.  I'm happy with the newly rejuvenated tower.

Now, if I could just come up with a good use for it!

Free Thinking

So, I've been a little while between entries here.  Nothing major going on (beyond my absolute loathing of the new CNBC line-up, but that's another story...).  I just haven't been much in the mood to make a blog entry for a bit.

Been playing with my computers here and there, and not doing anything productive.  I've noticed a slight turn towards the Mint side, as I've been using the X60s a lot lately.  I like the design of Linux Mint (with the MATE interface).  Not that I'm going to be tossing Ubuntu any time soon, but...

I'd really love to get Mint up and running on a bigger computer, with a bit more horsepower, and a bigger screen, than the X60s.  I'm not really wanting to do anything with any of my Macs at the moment, so that got me to thinking...  I have a couple unused towers sitting in the back, still loaded down with Windows Vista...  (Yes, reminders of the old, dark days...)

Yeah...  You can see where this is headed, right?

Granted, I don't even remember what kind of processors those systems were running, nor any of the system specs.  I do believe the newest one is running something equivalent to a Core Duo, or newer.  If they can run Vista, I know they'd be more than capable of running Mint...

So, my thoughts are this:  I'm thinking about removing the TAM and (gasp!) the Cube from the desk, leaving the Mac Mini (switching the new mouse and keyboard over to the Mini).  Then, I thought I'd get the newer of the two towers (hmm...  Two Towers, huh?) out, do a major cleanup of it, and install it on the desk.

I thought about dragging the KVM switch back out and giving it a go between the Mini and the tower, but I've already got the second flatscreen monitor sitting on the desk.  Not particularly good utilization of the space, but...  And I've got a very nice wireless keyboard that I used briefly with the Toshiba Satellite while I was traveling, as well as a couple very nice wireless mice hanging about...

Then, dig the Mint 13 "Maya" LTS disk out...

You know, I'm beginning to see a plan come together.  The biggest hindrances to this being, 1) Motivating myself to do it, and 2) Coming up with excuses to placate family members when I begin moving hardware around.  I'm not sure which is the bigger problem...

Though this might actually convince me to stop using my office chair as a well-padded storage rack.  Be kind of nice to actually sit in a real chair while working on the computer...

Hmmm...  I'll have to think about this.  (Cue procrastination music...)

Stylophiliac

I've been trying to strike a good balance between my two main interests, and in the process I've really not been getting much done.  But that's really not too unusual, so...

I've been running through various caches of pens, pulling out models I haven't used in a while.  Doing the flush and refill thing.  It's been fun.  But, I keep noticing that certain pens are missing.

One of the pens I couldn't find was a Montegrappa NeroUno Linea.  Unlike most of the (few) Monte's I have, the Nero is a harshly modern pen.  Multi-faceted, fairly thin body with a nib that reminds me of old, early 60s Montblanc nibs.  I looked all over for it, but couldn't find it.  Kind of annoying, as I knew it had to be close by.

By chance, this evening, I did another round of looking, and found it stuck in a corner I hadn't given much attention to.  I'll have to flush it later, as it's getting rather late here.  But I figured I'd throw in a shot.

The Montegrappa NeroUno Linea in hand, and the Bexley Poseidon hiding in the background.  (With the Thinkpad T61, sporting its Ubuntu bling, as backdrop.)

Also in the shot is another pen that was in the same pen case, a Bexley Poseidon in tortoiseshell.  it's a modern, American-made pen that emits a very strong 1930s-vintage Pelikan vibe in its shape.  (Save that it dwarfs any 30s Pelikan you'll run into.)  A very nice pen.

And I found another couple pens that were desperately in need of some TLC, due my neglectfulness.

On the right, the "New" Dunn pen.  On the left, the Belmont.

These are Gate City pens, marketed by Richard Binder of richardspens.com.  Both are basically reworkings of vintage pens.  The "New" Dunn is a modern reproduction of (yes) the Dunn pen of the 1920s.  The red end cap is unscrewed, and then pumped in/out several times, which very effeciently fills the pen with a considerable amount of ink.  (The original Dunns are somewhat hard to come by, as A. - there weren't many of them made to begin with, and B. - after c. nine decades, the material that was used to make that nifty red end cap tends to disintegrate...)

The Belmont model is basically what's called a "Post" filler, otherwise known as a syringe filler).  You unscrew & remove the end cap from the barrel, then push and retract the filler mechanism, just like you would to fill a syringe.  It's simple and efficient, but a bit clumsy, as you have the long end cap caused by the extended filling handle.  (This is basically the same filling system as used by high-end Pelikan, Montblanc, Aurora, etc. pens.  The only difference with them is that they use a twist mechanism with a differential gearing system to extend and retract the piston inside, meaning they're much more compact.  The usual converters in modern cartridge/converter pens use this twist system, only in a much smaller form.)  As a side note, the name "Belmont" was used on pens sold through the Rexall drugstore chain back in day.  (I own an actual "Belmont" model, from the late 20s-early 30s, and it's a lever filler model which looks nothing like this pen.)

So, there's your daily overdose of penstuff for the day.  I'm going to go to bed now, and dream that I'm actually using these pens for something productive...

Shift in the lines

As is usual, I've been going through a bit of a shift in interests.  My attention span never holds for very long, though it can be intense...

Everything has settled a bit on the computer front, so I guess it was times to go to another obsession:  Pens.

A while back, I had a bunch of vintage fountain pens come back to me after spending months at a repairers.  All of them were suffering from filler problems.  (For those of you who don't get into vintage fountain pens, this means the pens were having problems with the mechanisms for getting ink into the pens.)

One of those pens was a true "grail" pen for me: An OMAS 361.  This is an Italian-made pen from the late 1940s-mid 1950s.  It's a very interesting design, owing a bit to the American Parker 51, but with some unique twists.  The pen can be rotated, allowing you to write on either side of the nib ("top/bottom"), which allows you to have either a broader wet, flexible style, or a fine, stiff style.  Mine appears to be a later model 361, with a gold-filled cap on a black resin body.

The piston filling mechanism was shot on mine, so I'd sent it off to be repaired.  And I was dying to get it back.  It came back with the filler fixed, but with a new problem that only manifested after the pen had been filled for a while.  Ink was seeping out around the area where the section hood meets the body of the pen.  (Sorry if this makes no sense.  I don't have any photos, which would make this much easier to understand.)

Disgusted, I put the pen away.

A few days ago, I took the pen out again, and decided to dust off my old repair skills.  I removed the hood of the pen, cleaned it, put a little silicon grease (as a sealant) at the meeting point of the hood and pen body, and reseated the hood, making sure it was adjusted properly.

To my surprise, I've had no problems with the pen.  It writes beautifully.

This, and accidentally stumbling across a Parker rollerball I thought I'd lost, kind of kicked me back into my pen mode.  I've been doing some cleaning and refilling, and have actually been making use of my journal, which had been rather fallow of late.

I did snap a quick picture of some of the pens, very difficult to see on the keyboard of the T61.  

Three pens, barely visible.

The pen at the bottom is the OMAS 361.  The pen at the top is a Montblanc 32S (late 50s into the 60s), which I was having some flow problems with, but seems to be better after a good flushing and refill with different ink.  The middle pen is a contemporary Conway-Stewart 100, which still continues to plague me with some flow problems on certain papers.  This really annoys me, as I do like the pen.  I flushed it and filled it with a very free-flowing ink, which helps.  (I previously disassembled the feed on this pen, and was appalled at how poorly designed the feed channels [which carry the ink from the internal reservoir to the nib] were.  But that's a story for another time.)

This is just a small sample of what I've been playing with over the past few days.  I've also had out a Conway-Stewart Churchill, the aforementioned Parker Mosaic Duofold rollerball, a Montblanc 100th Anniversary, a Montegrappa Estra 1930, and various Visconti pens (including a Romanica, a Wall Street, an Opera Master, a Metropolis, and 3 different variations on the Divina model.)

So many pens, so little to write...

Second Chances...Not

After a day of watching the snow pummel down, and running through a couple rounds of battery charges, I decided to be a real softie, and give the Thinkpad R40 a second chance.

From knowledge of the real world, I should know better.  However, not being the swiftest creature on the face of the planet...

I actually started out doing some research on older Ubuntu distros, and thought I might download/burn one of those.  However, I'd had a distro of Puppy Linux 5.3 "Wary Puppy" sitting on the Toshiba's HD, so I got a wild hair, and ka-ZAM!, burned another CD.

Actually, that sentence should end thus: "...so I got a wild hair, and ka-ZAM!, burned wasted another CD."

Yeah, it didn't work.  Well, it did, as long as you booted only from the CD.  Installing the system to the hard disk was a disaster, probably due to my not really following some of the onscreen instructions...  But let's not go there...

Back to plan...whatever.  I did some more research, and noted a lot of references to Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" running on a R40.  So...

You know the rest of the story.  Just insert "installed/updated/ran fine, until I hit 'Suspend' ", and you'll have it.

Which is a crying shame, as I actually liked what I saw in "Lynx."  Now, granted, I seem to be one of the few people in the universe who likes Unity, but I have to admit I liked the default GNOME setup.  (Though I most certainly would've dandied it up a bit, but...)  Probably for the same reason I like the MATE interface in Mint...

So, the R40 is back under the bed, awaiting tomorrow re-exile to the back room.  I need to go delete all the .ISO's that have been burnt to disk.  (Don't think I need to waste hard disk space on them now.)

Not much else to note.  I've been feeling a few stirrings to write, but just haven't.  Though I might just have a good bit of time on my hands.  There's a possibility, given the way the wind blows, that we might get hammered with a charming weather front this coming week.

Keeping my fingers crossed.  No snow...No snow...No snow...