So, after last night's rant-fest, I think it's time I did throttle back a bit. I'm not going to re-dissect the whole FatDog issue again and again, like I normally do. I'm letting it go...
No matter how damnedably peeved it makes me.
I, in fact, totally avoided computers for most of the day. I got out, stayed on the move, walked, did "stuff". I enjoyed the day. (As much as one can enjoy a rather cold summer day on which one is completely buried in unfinished tasks...)
However, eventually, I gave in to the need to just browse my email and hit a few websites.
However...
OK, so I went a little crazy. I got out the Acer Aspire 3000, and after some thought, ditched the Bodhi install and replaced it with CrunchBang. Which actually took some time, as I do have an older distro of #!, and upgrading it was a bit of a process. But, once it was up and running, I think I see a bit of a difference. I don't notice the AMD Sempron processor cranking quite as much, and I think it's running a bit cooler. And the battery life seems a little improved.
So, score another one for #!. (And, no, I'm not bringing up the menu fracas from a while back. I'm over that, too.)
I am not, however, going to be parked on the computer this evening. I've been a bit of a zombie all day after being up so late. That, after working for most of the day, then doing the long drive home, didn't do much for me today, so I'm going to try to actually be sensible tonight. (ie, asleep by a decent hour.)
Time to throttle back...
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Friday, May 24, 2013
Major League Fail
Yep, as they say on YouTube, major league fail...
I've just spent hours downloading the new FatDog64 621 .iso, burning to CD, setting up the USB, copying files, etc.
And the damned thing failed on the first reboot. And every other boot. It will NOT find the 'save' file. I have fooled with the configuration setup inside of the OS. I've monkeyed with the .cfg files, tried to make the system properly check the USB. I've searched the web for answers.
Every boot up, a total fail.
So, the USB is now wiped, and back to being an 8 GB FAT32 storage device. The CD is going to be tossed. Another good disk, wasted... (Two, actually, as I still have the 620 install...)
I have no use for the liveboots. Unlike all the other Puppies, I have to manually configure FatDog every time. Wireless, speakers, touchpad...
So, I'll be using Precise and PhatSlacko from now on. They work flawlessly, "out of the box".
Why doesn't FatDog..?
What happened???
It's too damned late, and I've wasted too much time. I'm going to bed.
I've just spent hours downloading the new FatDog64 621 .iso, burning to CD, setting up the USB, copying files, etc.
And the damned thing failed on the first reboot. And every other boot. It will NOT find the 'save' file. I have fooled with the configuration setup inside of the OS. I've monkeyed with the .cfg files, tried to make the system properly check the USB. I've searched the web for answers.
Every boot up, a total fail.
So, the USB is now wiped, and back to being an 8 GB FAT32 storage device. The CD is going to be tossed. Another good disk, wasted... (Two, actually, as I still have the 620 install...)
I have no use for the liveboots. Unlike all the other Puppies, I have to manually configure FatDog every time. Wireless, speakers, touchpad...
So, I'll be using Precise and PhatSlacko from now on. They work flawlessly, "out of the box".
Why doesn't FatDog..?
What happened???
It's too damned late, and I've wasted too much time. I'm going to bed.
Still Running with the Puppies
It has been a bit of the week in the Unnecessarium's great OS stable.
Big news is that I just upgraded my Precise Puppy up to 5.6. Did that this evening, downloading and burning the .ISO, and installing to USB. I'm running it right now on the ThinkPad X60s, and it's working flawlessly. Absolutely no setup bobbles, picked up all the hardware with no sweat. Network setup a breeze, as always. Running fine.
The other news is a bit more of a problem. My FatDog64 USB install seems to have gone on the fritz. I noticed that it had installed its "save" file on the T400's hard drive. I immediately removed that, rebooted, and told it to install on the USB. Then I rebooted again. The system refused to see the copy on the USB, and acted like there was no save...
Sigh.
And FatDog had been doing so good through the week.
I know there's a way to reset the system if it's "refusing" to see the save, but I just don't feel like it. I think I'm just going to nuke the system and reinstall. There's also an off chance that this might be due to a bad USB, as I used a very old, and fairly well-used thumb drive when I created the install. On top of that, it's a PNY, so I'm not 100% confident in it. However, I'll keep fiddling with it, just to check...
Other than that...
My partner at work seems to have taken to ZorinOSLite. I ended up installing WINE on it, so he could run the copy of MS-Office 97 (!?!) he seems so enamored to. (Yes, I did try to explain to him about Libreoffice, but that's a lost cause.) He's still shaky with Chromium, but is averse to loading anything else. I think Chromium is starting to grow on him, though...
I guess it's sort of another chalk-up for Linux. We'll see how long it lasts... He's stated over and over that, once he gets enough money saved up, his next purchase is going to be a Mac. Anything's better than the HP WinBoxes he's been picking up. Granted, the hardware isn't bad, but the software bloat they come with.......
Oh well...
I'll keep my fingers crossed.
Meanwhile, back to Puppy...
Big news is that I just upgraded my Precise Puppy up to 5.6. Did that this evening, downloading and burning the .ISO, and installing to USB. I'm running it right now on the ThinkPad X60s, and it's working flawlessly. Absolutely no setup bobbles, picked up all the hardware with no sweat. Network setup a breeze, as always. Running fine.
The other news is a bit more of a problem. My FatDog64 USB install seems to have gone on the fritz. I noticed that it had installed its "save" file on the T400's hard drive. I immediately removed that, rebooted, and told it to install on the USB. Then I rebooted again. The system refused to see the copy on the USB, and acted like there was no save...
Sigh.
And FatDog had been doing so good through the week.
I know there's a way to reset the system if it's "refusing" to see the save, but I just don't feel like it. I think I'm just going to nuke the system and reinstall. There's also an off chance that this might be due to a bad USB, as I used a very old, and fairly well-used thumb drive when I created the install. On top of that, it's a PNY, so I'm not 100% confident in it. However, I'll keep fiddling with it, just to check...
Other than that...
My partner at work seems to have taken to ZorinOSLite. I ended up installing WINE on it, so he could run the copy of MS-Office 97 (!?!) he seems so enamored to. (Yes, I did try to explain to him about Libreoffice, but that's a lost cause.) He's still shaky with Chromium, but is averse to loading anything else. I think Chromium is starting to grow on him, though...
I guess it's sort of another chalk-up for Linux. We'll see how long it lasts... He's stated over and over that, once he gets enough money saved up, his next purchase is going to be a Mac. Anything's better than the HP WinBoxes he's been picking up. Granted, the hardware isn't bad, but the software bloat they come with.......
Oh well...
I'll keep my fingers crossed.
Meanwhile, back to Puppy...
Saturday, May 18, 2013
No more whining
Yeah, I put on the big boy pants and dug into my CrunchBang menus.
Boy, that was... Easy...
I went ahead and added Dia to the menu. Though I put it under "Office", rather than "Graphics", where most autoinstallers put it. (And, yeah, I know that's a good reason for doing it this way: the freedom to quickly set it up the way I/You want it, to change it, etc., etc.)
Yeah, yeah, yeah... I do like CrunchBang. I do wish I'd put it on the T400, but I've already got Bodhi in residence, and don't feel like doing a major changeover right now. I expect I will in the future. (And with the "finalized" version of Waldorf, rather than the second beta I'm currently running.)
So, I'm kinda embarrassed by my little tirade last night. I'll put it down to impatience, etc., etc. You know...
CrunchBang works. I'm happy now.
OK, and we never speak of this again...
Boy, that was... Easy...
I went ahead and added Dia to the menu. Though I put it under "Office", rather than "Graphics", where most autoinstallers put it. (And, yeah, I know that's a good reason for doing it this way: the freedom to quickly set it up the way I/You want it, to change it, etc., etc.)
Yeah, yeah, yeah... I do like CrunchBang. I do wish I'd put it on the T400, but I've already got Bodhi in residence, and don't feel like doing a major changeover right now. I expect I will in the future. (And with the "finalized" version of Waldorf, rather than the second beta I'm currently running.)
So, I'm kinda embarrassed by my little tirade last night. I'll put it down to impatience, etc., etc. You know...
CrunchBang works. I'm happy now.
OK, and we never speak of this again...
Post Whining Notes
OK, so a good night's sleep helps erase the annoyances of the previous evening...
In my defense, I will say that work, a 3 hour drive home through heavy traffic, finding that the vintage "grail" pen I'd order had arrived, but was severely damaged, etc., was a bit nerve wrangling. So I have a bit of leeway in getting peeved with the menuing functions in OpenBox.
Luckily, I had PhatSlacko to calm me down. For all its quirks, I'm still continually amazed by Phat. It's become my favorite of the Puppies, just edging out Precise and FatDog.
Though, thinking about the Puppies does bring up a question: What happened with Saluki? I know that Carolina is now the replacement for Saluki, but why? I suppose I need to do some forum research...
Oh, and off the subject of computers, and onto pens. About my "grail" disaster...
While browsing some sales listings, I ran across a pen I've been looking for for ages, a Pelikan 550. It's a standard 400 size model, but with a "tortoise-shell" (actually just brown-green striped) barrel, and a gold-filled cap and filler knob. Using the excuse that I was celebrating being back to work, I ordered it.
The pen arrived at the house on Tuesday, but I didn't get it till getting back home yesterday evening. I happily checked the pen over, then filled it up with Parker black ink, looking forward to a little relaxing scribbling. That is, till I touched part of the barrel, and found my fingers covered in ink.
Long story short, there is a hairline crack in the barrel. You don't notice it till you touch it, or rub something against the barrel. Then, capillary attraction causes ink to flood out of the reservoir...
The only correct way to deal with this is to replace the barrel. However, this is slightly complicated by the fact that you have to find a "500-series" barrel to keep the repair correct. The barrels on these older pens (this is c. late 1950s) are engraved with their model number... So, the pen is going back.
What makes me so mad is that, even if you can't really see the crack on examination, you'll notice it the minute the pen is filled and you try to write with it. And the seller had obviously filled & tested the pen. (There were traces of fresh ink in the pen, where it had been flushed...)
Oh joy...
In my defense, I will say that work, a 3 hour drive home through heavy traffic, finding that the vintage "grail" pen I'd order had arrived, but was severely damaged, etc., was a bit nerve wrangling. So I have a bit of leeway in getting peeved with the menuing functions in OpenBox.
Luckily, I had PhatSlacko to calm me down. For all its quirks, I'm still continually amazed by Phat. It's become my favorite of the Puppies, just edging out Precise and FatDog.
Though, thinking about the Puppies does bring up a question: What happened with Saluki? I know that Carolina is now the replacement for Saluki, but why? I suppose I need to do some forum research...
Oh, and off the subject of computers, and onto pens. About my "grail" disaster...
While browsing some sales listings, I ran across a pen I've been looking for for ages, a Pelikan 550. It's a standard 400 size model, but with a "tortoise-shell" (actually just brown-green striped) barrel, and a gold-filled cap and filler knob. Using the excuse that I was celebrating being back to work, I ordered it.
The pen arrived at the house on Tuesday, but I didn't get it till getting back home yesterday evening. I happily checked the pen over, then filled it up with Parker black ink, looking forward to a little relaxing scribbling. That is, till I touched part of the barrel, and found my fingers covered in ink.
Long story short, there is a hairline crack in the barrel. You don't notice it till you touch it, or rub something against the barrel. Then, capillary attraction causes ink to flood out of the reservoir...
The only correct way to deal with this is to replace the barrel. However, this is slightly complicated by the fact that you have to find a "500-series" barrel to keep the repair correct. The barrels on these older pens (this is c. late 1950s) are engraved with their model number... So, the pen is going back.
What makes me so mad is that, even if you can't really see the crack on examination, you'll notice it the minute the pen is filled and you try to write with it. And the seller had obviously filled & tested the pen. (There were traces of fresh ink in the pen, where it had been flushed...)
Oh joy...
Friday, May 17, 2013
Not So Techie Responses
I'm a bit irked at my T60 right now. Had it out this evening, cruising online with CrunchBang. Did a quick update, tweaked a bit. Then got the wild hair to grab a package via Synaptic.
I wanted to install Dia, as I've got it on most of my laptops. It's a godsend program for work on my T400. So, I grabbed it from the repository, let Synaptic (and dpkg) do the dance, and voila! Dia installed and ready to go.
Except I forgot something. The OpenBox menus are static. They don't update automagically. You have to do that yourself.
Me no like.
OK, I know I've gotten grotesquely lazy in my old age. I've gotten soft. But, dammit, every other distro I have here updates the menu when you install a program. Yes, I know there's the GUI editor that lets you monkey with the menu, and yes, I know this allows you much more control over your menu... Blah blah blah.
Blah.
Yes, I still like CrunchBang. As far as the raw user experience, I like it. But, cuss it, not tonight!
I put the T60 away, dragged out the T61... But really not being in an Ubuntu mood, I booted into PhatSlacko.
And, no, don't start reminding me about the not-updated desktop icon links in the last Phat release. I'm sulking right now, and don't want to hear it.
I wanted to install Dia, as I've got it on most of my laptops. It's a godsend program for work on my T400. So, I grabbed it from the repository, let Synaptic (and dpkg) do the dance, and voila! Dia installed and ready to go.
Except I forgot something. The OpenBox menus are static. They don't update automagically. You have to do that yourself.
Me no like.
OK, I know I've gotten grotesquely lazy in my old age. I've gotten soft. But, dammit, every other distro I have here updates the menu when you install a program. Yes, I know there's the GUI editor that lets you monkey with the menu, and yes, I know this allows you much more control over your menu... Blah blah blah.
Blah.
Yes, I still like CrunchBang. As far as the raw user experience, I like it. But, cuss it, not tonight!
I put the T60 away, dragged out the T61... But really not being in an Ubuntu mood, I booted into PhatSlacko.
And, no, don't start reminding me about the not-updated desktop icon links in the last Phat release. I'm sulking right now, and don't want to hear it.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Zorin
Well, it's rather late here, and I have to get up early. But, kind soul that I am, i downloaded the Zorin Lite .ISO and burned it to CD-RW. Which took two go-rounds, and Brasero bobbled on it. Had to resort to XBurn, which took care of the task, no problems. Odd...
I did a quick test boot from the CD, and I have to say, Zorin Lite is sweet. If I had a system free, I'd strongly thing about installing it for daily use. Easy, everything laid out for the new user. Beautiful system.
Though I'm now worried when I hand it to my partner here. How do you easily explain even this overly easy software installation setup to a Windows user..? The Ubuntu system installer, the Zorin Internet installer (for any other browsers), the Software Center, the Zorin Extras installer... All very easy and logical to even a casual Linux user, but...
A Windows user, who's jittery about anything system-related...
I dread the thought of explaining what Synaptic is...
Oh... Here we go................
I did a quick test boot from the CD, and I have to say, Zorin Lite is sweet. If I had a system free, I'd strongly thing about installing it for daily use. Easy, everything laid out for the new user. Beautiful system.
Though I'm now worried when I hand it to my partner here. How do you easily explain even this overly easy software installation setup to a Windows user..? The Ubuntu system installer, the Zorin Internet installer (for any other browsers), the Software Center, the Zorin Extras installer... All very easy and logical to even a casual Linux user, but...
A Windows user, who's jittery about anything system-related...
I dread the thought of explaining what Synaptic is...
Oh... Here we go................
The Little Things
A bit of an update...
I gave the copy of DBAN to my partner, who gratefully accepted it. After I explained what it was three times. And then he nearly ran in horror when I handed him a copy of PhatSlacko... "OH, I'll NEVER touch that..."
Yeah. Don't give us reactors, just give us bombs...
Actually, there's a reason he was happy with the DBAN. Seems that, over the weekend, his computer got hit with the "FBI Virus" ransomware crap. Guess it scared the wits out of him at first, but he rapidly figured it out. However, his computer is pretty well scrambled, to the point of being unusable. Luckily, he has his system restore disks at home, and is going to just do a wipe and clean reinstall.
Which lead to a bit of soul searching, and a reconsideration of an older system he has available at home as well. Since he's long since lost the backups for that systems (which, apparently, went down to a malware infestation ages ago), he's now thinking maybe he'll try this Linux stuff on the older computer...
Which lead me to reconsider. I don't think I'm going to give him PhatSlacko. Instead, I think I'll give him Zorin, which might be a bit easier for a Windows user to transition over to. Unfortunately, I don't have a DVD-R with me. All I have is the CD-RW I burned Phat to. So, I'm now thinking Zorin Lite. Something quick to get him up and running. I can grab an .ISO, and reburn the CD-RW. That should work...
So, one thing solved. On to the next.
I was running my USB Puppy installs on the T61 all weekend. Well, I get back out on the road, and go to boot Phat here... The speaker controls have been turned off! I'm not sure how that happened, but it was a (very) minor annoyance to have to turn them on again. I'm not sure why the software-based speaker control would change from computer to computer, but... Oh well...
Oh, and I'm finally getting round to setting up storage files outside of my "personal storage" in all my Puppies. Finally...
I'll mark that up to personal lethargy...
I think I'll do the .ISO work in Bodhi. Just for the hell of it...
I gave the copy of DBAN to my partner, who gratefully accepted it. After I explained what it was three times. And then he nearly ran in horror when I handed him a copy of PhatSlacko... "OH, I'll NEVER touch that..."
Yeah. Don't give us reactors, just give us bombs...
Actually, there's a reason he was happy with the DBAN. Seems that, over the weekend, his computer got hit with the "FBI Virus" ransomware crap. Guess it scared the wits out of him at first, but he rapidly figured it out. However, his computer is pretty well scrambled, to the point of being unusable. Luckily, he has his system restore disks at home, and is going to just do a wipe and clean reinstall.
Which lead to a bit of soul searching, and a reconsideration of an older system he has available at home as well. Since he's long since lost the backups for that systems (which, apparently, went down to a malware infestation ages ago), he's now thinking maybe he'll try this Linux stuff on the older computer...
Which lead me to reconsider. I don't think I'm going to give him PhatSlacko. Instead, I think I'll give him Zorin, which might be a bit easier for a Windows user to transition over to. Unfortunately, I don't have a DVD-R with me. All I have is the CD-RW I burned Phat to. So, I'm now thinking Zorin Lite. Something quick to get him up and running. I can grab an .ISO, and reburn the CD-RW. That should work...
So, one thing solved. On to the next.
I was running my USB Puppy installs on the T61 all weekend. Well, I get back out on the road, and go to boot Phat here... The speaker controls have been turned off! I'm not sure how that happened, but it was a (very) minor annoyance to have to turn them on again. I'm not sure why the software-based speaker control would change from computer to computer, but... Oh well...
Oh, and I'm finally getting round to setting up storage files outside of my "personal storage" in all my Puppies. Finally...
I'll mark that up to personal lethargy...
I think I'll do the .ISO work in Bodhi. Just for the hell of it...
Sunday, May 12, 2013
And...
...That strange realization you may just have too many computers around the house...
I been using the T61 all day, and had ran the batteries down to a fair point, so I decided to give it up for the day. Went in to pack for my travel, and also to get the T400 all packed away. Plugged the T61 back up to charge and...
Noticed the "sleep" indicator on on the T60... I thought I'd shut it down when I last used it on Friday...
So, here I am, on the T60, running CrunchBang... And, well... I don't have anywhere to go... I've already seen my favorite oases on the 'Net... I...I...DON'T KNOW WHERE TO GO!!!
REPEAT: Sometimes, I truly worry myself...
I been using the T61 all day, and had ran the batteries down to a fair point, so I decided to give it up for the day. Went in to pack for my travel, and also to get the T400 all packed away. Plugged the T61 back up to charge and...
Noticed the "sleep" indicator on on the T60... I thought I'd shut it down when I last used it on Friday...
So, here I am, on the T60, running CrunchBang... And, well... I don't have anywhere to go... I've already seen my favorite oases on the 'Net... I...I...DON'T KNOW WHERE TO GO!!!
REPEAT: Sometimes, I truly worry myself...
Debateables
I really don't know how weekends can go this fast. I swear I just sat my suitcase down. Now, I'm loading it up again... Yeesh...
Oh well... Work is work, and I'm glad I have it. But the travel can be a bit wearing...
Anyway, after the great BSD debacle, I've been fiddling with (of all things) Ubuntu. Had my WUBI install (which is 12.10) on the Toshiba up/running for a bit, then fired up the T61 (which is 12.04). I have in all honesty admit, I don't mind Unity. Maybe it's coming from a Mac background (which I know draws snickers in some circles), but I really don't mind it. It's fast, it's convenient. I hardly notice it being there. Granted, I'm running it on fairly healthy systems, with sufficient horsepower and memory, but...
To each his own, though. Ubuntu was how I (and a heck of a lot of other people) came into Linux. It remains a distinctive part of my OS stable, and I don't see that changing any time soon.
Which is, of course, why I'm sitting here with PhatSlacko booted on the T61...
Actually, I've got a Puppy booted because I was trying to decide something. Let me explain...
My partner at work was telling me about some old hardware he had about his house, which was still of respectable spec, but which had fallen on hard times. In particular, he had his last laptop which had become the homeplace to a horde of malware, etc., etc. However, he didn't know what to do, etc., etc. (Is this story starting to sound familiar?)
I told him about DBAN to clean the hard drive off. He seemed to like that idea, so I gently broached the subject of Linux. Less enthusiasm on that point, but he seemed a little open. (He's a whizz with a spreadsheet, but heaven forbid you ask him to monkey with system stuff. I once mentioned doing some stuff in the OS X Terminal, and he went glassy-eyed...)
I did show him Bodhi on the T400 (just the "laptop" interface I was using), and he seemed to like it. But he seemed hesitant, as though I were trying to lure him into a poison garden, and some bit of leafy software was going to uncurl a venomous tentacle towards him... Still, he thought a copy of that "Boot-n-Nuke" thing might be OK...
So, here I am, getting ready to burn him a copy of DBAN, and thinking about maybe burning him a copy of something like PhatSlacko or Precise Puppy. Something he could boot and run from the CD, not have to install, etc.
But I'm worried. Simple as they are, neither PhatSlacko nor Precise Puppy are really for complete newcomers to the Linux world. Hell, I have a vague idea of what I'm doing, and I still bungle up everything on occasion. (While booting this session, I had a bit of an issue, as the wireless on the T61 is a bit different from the T400. And when I went to reset the wireless, I ended up deleting my home profile because I was only half paying attention to what I was doing. For me, it was just the annoyance of clicking back through and setting the profile up again. I could only imagine if it were my partner or, even more worrisome, his wife, who is truly technically disinclined.)
The Puppies come with such a wonderful plethora of software, it's often difficult to find what you need, even when you know it's there. (I had a devil of a time finding the touchpad setup, even though I knew it was in the "Wizard Wizard" [or "Control Panel" in FatDog]. I have a nagging horror at having to explain to my partner the "Wizard Wizard", let alone that he should select the "easy" settings for wireless on his first bootup...
On top of this, I also have vague memories of Phat coming with its desktop icons not set up properly. The Default programs hadn't been reset from AbiWord and Gnumeric to their LibreOffice equivalents. Again, easy to change, if you know what you're doing... I cringe at trying to explain that...
So, I don't know... Should I or shouldn't I? It's a heavy debate...
And, yet, through all of this, I'm happily going to hand him a copy of DBAN. That's sort of like debating explaining a nuclear power plant to someone, while cheerfully handing over a fully-functional thermonuclear weapon...
I'm beginning to worry about myself...
Oh well... Work is work, and I'm glad I have it. But the travel can be a bit wearing...
Anyway, after the great BSD debacle, I've been fiddling with (of all things) Ubuntu. Had my WUBI install (which is 12.10) on the Toshiba up/running for a bit, then fired up the T61 (which is 12.04). I have in all honesty admit, I don't mind Unity. Maybe it's coming from a Mac background (which I know draws snickers in some circles), but I really don't mind it. It's fast, it's convenient. I hardly notice it being there. Granted, I'm running it on fairly healthy systems, with sufficient horsepower and memory, but...
To each his own, though. Ubuntu was how I (and a heck of a lot of other people) came into Linux. It remains a distinctive part of my OS stable, and I don't see that changing any time soon.
Which is, of course, why I'm sitting here with PhatSlacko booted on the T61...
Actually, I've got a Puppy booted because I was trying to decide something. Let me explain...
My partner at work was telling me about some old hardware he had about his house, which was still of respectable spec, but which had fallen on hard times. In particular, he had his last laptop which had become the homeplace to a horde of malware, etc., etc. However, he didn't know what to do, etc., etc. (Is this story starting to sound familiar?)
I told him about DBAN to clean the hard drive off. He seemed to like that idea, so I gently broached the subject of Linux. Less enthusiasm on that point, but he seemed a little open. (He's a whizz with a spreadsheet, but heaven forbid you ask him to monkey with system stuff. I once mentioned doing some stuff in the OS X Terminal, and he went glassy-eyed...)
I did show him Bodhi on the T400 (just the "laptop" interface I was using), and he seemed to like it. But he seemed hesitant, as though I were trying to lure him into a poison garden, and some bit of leafy software was going to uncurl a venomous tentacle towards him... Still, he thought a copy of that "Boot-n-Nuke" thing might be OK...
So, here I am, getting ready to burn him a copy of DBAN, and thinking about maybe burning him a copy of something like PhatSlacko or Precise Puppy. Something he could boot and run from the CD, not have to install, etc.
But I'm worried. Simple as they are, neither PhatSlacko nor Precise Puppy are really for complete newcomers to the Linux world. Hell, I have a vague idea of what I'm doing, and I still bungle up everything on occasion. (While booting this session, I had a bit of an issue, as the wireless on the T61 is a bit different from the T400. And when I went to reset the wireless, I ended up deleting my home profile because I was only half paying attention to what I was doing. For me, it was just the annoyance of clicking back through and setting the profile up again. I could only imagine if it were my partner or, even more worrisome, his wife, who is truly technically disinclined.)
The Puppies come with such a wonderful plethora of software, it's often difficult to find what you need, even when you know it's there. (I had a devil of a time finding the touchpad setup, even though I knew it was in the "Wizard Wizard" [or "Control Panel" in FatDog]. I have a nagging horror at having to explain to my partner the "Wizard Wizard", let alone that he should select the "easy" settings for wireless on his first bootup...
On top of this, I also have vague memories of Phat coming with its desktop icons not set up properly. The Default programs hadn't been reset from AbiWord and Gnumeric to their LibreOffice equivalents. Again, easy to change, if you know what you're doing... I cringe at trying to explain that...
So, I don't know... Should I or shouldn't I? It's a heavy debate...
And, yet, through all of this, I'm happily going to hand him a copy of DBAN. That's sort of like debating explaining a nuclear power plant to someone, while cheerfully handing over a fully-functional thermonuclear weapon...
I'm beginning to worry about myself...
Friday, May 10, 2013
A big sigh
It's getting very, very late here, and my mood is not particularly good...
All this week, I was toying with the idea of snagging a BSD distro and playing with it. I am a Mac guy, and the idea of playing with another variation of BSD has a sort of appeal to me.
PC-BSD just seemed a bit of a pain to me, what with all the variable downloads I would have to sort through. (Do I want the full DVD, or the compacted USB image, or the stripped CD, or...)
So, after a little searching, I figured I'd do a bit of lateral thinking, and grab a copy of GhostBSD, which looked intriguing. And, so, I grabbed a copy and burned it to DVD.
I should've known, when the thing wouldn't liveboot on the desktop system. I was getting wonky errors, most of which I couldn't interpret, but which suggested to me a major screwup somewhere in the installer setup. However, I gave the thing the benefit of the doubt, thinking that the desktop has an older AMD processor... I switched to the big Toshiba, which has a newer AMD processor and much more memory...
I'll give everyone 3 guesses what happened there...
I've considered trying the boot on the T400, as it has "Intel inside." But I don't hold out any hopes. I suspect that I just lost an hour of my time, and wasted a perfectly good DVD-R. That does not make me happy.
Needless to say, until someone demonstrates to me otherwise, the only version of BSD that will cross my digital doorstep will be OS X...
All this week, I was toying with the idea of snagging a BSD distro and playing with it. I am a Mac guy, and the idea of playing with another variation of BSD has a sort of appeal to me.
PC-BSD just seemed a bit of a pain to me, what with all the variable downloads I would have to sort through. (Do I want the full DVD, or the compacted USB image, or the stripped CD, or...)
So, after a little searching, I figured I'd do a bit of lateral thinking, and grab a copy of GhostBSD, which looked intriguing. And, so, I grabbed a copy and burned it to DVD.
I should've known, when the thing wouldn't liveboot on the desktop system. I was getting wonky errors, most of which I couldn't interpret, but which suggested to me a major screwup somewhere in the installer setup. However, I gave the thing the benefit of the doubt, thinking that the desktop has an older AMD processor... I switched to the big Toshiba, which has a newer AMD processor and much more memory...
I'll give everyone 3 guesses what happened there...
I've considered trying the boot on the T400, as it has "Intel inside." But I don't hold out any hopes. I suspect that I just lost an hour of my time, and wasted a perfectly good DVD-R. That does not make me happy.
Needless to say, until someone demonstrates to me otherwise, the only version of BSD that will cross my digital doorstep will be OS X...
Rest Time
Well, I made it back home for the weekend. A little rest and recreation. (Or, more likely, a little catching up on all the things that didn't get taken care of while I was gone...)
I was going to be doing some running this evening, but the "it's gonna storm" look to the sky put a damper on that. And, besides, I'm tired after an afternoon of driving...
In fact, I didn't even feel like unpacking the T400 to check my email, so I grabbed the T60, fired up CrunchBang, and... Well, did all the upgrades I'd neglected to do for the last few weeks.
And really admired, yet again, the minimalist #! desktop. (See there? I used the abbreviation!) It's sleek and cool. You can't help but like it. (Or, at least, I can't.) Granted, I have a grand weakness for eye-candy, but... CrunchBang is just...CrunchBang... It's cool...
So, here we go. Guess I'll be fighting with myself over doing a new install on the T400...
Oh well...
Happy Weekend to All!
I was going to be doing some running this evening, but the "it's gonna storm" look to the sky put a damper on that. And, besides, I'm tired after an afternoon of driving...
In fact, I didn't even feel like unpacking the T400 to check my email, so I grabbed the T60, fired up CrunchBang, and... Well, did all the upgrades I'd neglected to do for the last few weeks.
And really admired, yet again, the minimalist #! desktop. (See there? I used the abbreviation!) It's sleek and cool. You can't help but like it. (Or, at least, I can't.) Granted, I have a grand weakness for eye-candy, but... CrunchBang is just...CrunchBang... It's cool...
So, here we go. Guess I'll be fighting with myself over doing a new install on the T400...
Oh well...
Happy Weekend to All!
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Cruisin' along
Obviously, I'm not exactly setting the world on fire via blog entries. But work has kept me tied up, and by the time I'm done for the evening, my brain feel it's taken on the consistency of low-grade tapioca, so...
A quick note: I have been getting yeoman service out of Bodhi running on the T400 here. In fact, I've not even touched the Macbook this entire week. LibreOffice and Dia have handled all my needs for work.
Ah, a quick program note: This is actually my first official go round with Dia, and I've been very impressed with it. I'd started to install it on the Mac a while back, while working on another project. Prior to this, I'd made use of the excellent drawing module in the equally excellent AppleWorks 6. (Which is reason #5357 why I will not upgrade to OS X 10.7 nor 10.8: No Rosetta. Snow Leopard rules!) However, I'd all but forgotten about Dia, until I noticed it was installed on my Saluki setup. I played with it there, and one thing lead to another...
Which sort of segues into something I've been thinking about this evening, not using my Puppy installs for anything. I could easily have used the copy of Dia in Saluki to do my diagramming, but I didn't. I downloaded it to Bodhi, on the hard drive. I'm beginning to think I'm a bit biased towards what's on the hard drive, over what's on any solid state drive...
I almost never do anything productive with my USB software setups, other than firing them up and going online. (Just as I'm doing with FatDog64 right now.) The closest I've come so far was in PhatSlacko last night, when I mounted the T400's hard drive to pull up some image files I wanted to check. And I never have mounted my USBs on any systems other than my own.
I really need to put these things to use for real work. They're too good to simply be reduced to little solid state curios. Hey Puppy Linux World swears by Puppy Linux for everyday work. Why shouldn't I?
And that leads to my last segue for the evening, a quick YouTube jaunt. I was browsing this evening, and ran across another interesting (at least to me) site. The young lady goes by name SuperFreckleLand, and she has some definitely strong opinions on tech, gaming, etc. (I haven't watched a lot of her stuff, yet, though I did catch the one with her opinion on the perceived pomposity of laptops. Interesting and amusing. Check her out.
And I'm off. It's late, and I really need to shut the computer down for the evening...
A quick note: I have been getting yeoman service out of Bodhi running on the T400 here. In fact, I've not even touched the Macbook this entire week. LibreOffice and Dia have handled all my needs for work.
Ah, a quick program note: This is actually my first official go round with Dia, and I've been very impressed with it. I'd started to install it on the Mac a while back, while working on another project. Prior to this, I'd made use of the excellent drawing module in the equally excellent AppleWorks 6. (Which is reason #5357 why I will not upgrade to OS X 10.7 nor 10.8: No Rosetta. Snow Leopard rules!) However, I'd all but forgotten about Dia, until I noticed it was installed on my Saluki setup. I played with it there, and one thing lead to another...
Which sort of segues into something I've been thinking about this evening, not using my Puppy installs for anything. I could easily have used the copy of Dia in Saluki to do my diagramming, but I didn't. I downloaded it to Bodhi, on the hard drive. I'm beginning to think I'm a bit biased towards what's on the hard drive, over what's on any solid state drive...
I almost never do anything productive with my USB software setups, other than firing them up and going online. (Just as I'm doing with FatDog64 right now.) The closest I've come so far was in PhatSlacko last night, when I mounted the T400's hard drive to pull up some image files I wanted to check. And I never have mounted my USBs on any systems other than my own.
I really need to put these things to use for real work. They're too good to simply be reduced to little solid state curios. Hey Puppy Linux World swears by Puppy Linux for everyday work. Why shouldn't I?
And that leads to my last segue for the evening, a quick YouTube jaunt. I was browsing this evening, and ran across another interesting (at least to me) site. The young lady goes by name SuperFreckleLand, and she has some definitely strong opinions on tech, gaming, etc. (I haven't watched a lot of her stuff, yet, though I did catch the one with her opinion on the perceived pomposity of laptops. Interesting and amusing. Check her out.
And I'm off. It's late, and I really need to shut the computer down for the evening...
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Weekend, 2nd Half
A nice, quiet Sunday. What more could one ask for?
Not much going on here today. I really need to go check the updates on the family iMac, make sure it's running up to snuff. It's one of the most maintenance-free computers I've ever owned, so it's easy to simply forget about it. But I like to try and keep it up to date. You know how it is.
I was going to do some "just for the sake of it" testing on FatDog again this morning, but put it aside. Instead, booted up Precise Puppy, and reset the sound settings. Working fine now. Over the next week, I'll do some checking in Saluki and MacPup to make sure I've got everything set properly, and to my liking.
I think I'm starting to sound like IcyOS of PuppyLinuxWorld, here. (The man's got a point: Puppy Linux is pretty cool.)
Had one of those odd little incidents over the weekend. As I've pointed out before, I'm a bit of a nut for Swiss Army Knives. They're wonderful little tools that have gotten me out of all sorts of mundane jams over the years. (I've lost count of the number of times I've had to fix door handles & locks in hotels while I've been on the road. Weird...) Well, Friday evening, after I'd gotten back in, I was having dinner with Mom, and I noticed a beautiful little Victorinox Alox Classic laying on the table. When I asked where it had came from, she said she'd found it "in the bottom" of one of her pocketbooks, and then asked if I wanted it. So, I've been carrying a beautiful, like new Vic Classic 'round with me. Kind of a gift and reminder from Mom while I'm on the road.
Odd things...
In any event, I'm going to go and make the most of a very nice Sunday afternoon here. Enjoy every free moment.
Hope everyone gets a chance to do the same.
Not much going on here today. I really need to go check the updates on the family iMac, make sure it's running up to snuff. It's one of the most maintenance-free computers I've ever owned, so it's easy to simply forget about it. But I like to try and keep it up to date. You know how it is.
I was going to do some "just for the sake of it" testing on FatDog again this morning, but put it aside. Instead, booted up Precise Puppy, and reset the sound settings. Working fine now. Over the next week, I'll do some checking in Saluki and MacPup to make sure I've got everything set properly, and to my liking.
I think I'm starting to sound like IcyOS of PuppyLinuxWorld, here. (The man's got a point: Puppy Linux is pretty cool.)
Had one of those odd little incidents over the weekend. As I've pointed out before, I'm a bit of a nut for Swiss Army Knives. They're wonderful little tools that have gotten me out of all sorts of mundane jams over the years. (I've lost count of the number of times I've had to fix door handles & locks in hotels while I've been on the road. Weird...) Well, Friday evening, after I'd gotten back in, I was having dinner with Mom, and I noticed a beautiful little Victorinox Alox Classic laying on the table. When I asked where it had came from, she said she'd found it "in the bottom" of one of her pocketbooks, and then asked if I wanted it. So, I've been carrying a beautiful, like new Vic Classic 'round with me. Kind of a gift and reminder from Mom while I'm on the road.
Odd things...
In any event, I'm going to go and make the most of a very nice Sunday afternoon here. Enjoy every free moment.
Hope everyone gets a chance to do the same.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
And again...
Four in a day may be a record for me. But, I had to do some major revisions, after a nasty run in with...FatDog.
Yeah, after my success with PhatSlacko, I wanted to go over and do some work with FatDog, so I grabbed the USB stick, booted, and...
Ran straight into a wall. It would NOT recognize my network, no matter what I did. And I did everything. Finally, I got so disgusted that I nearly reformatted the USB stick back to FAT32 for storage.
http://lowendmac.com/
But, thankfully, I didn't.
I'd been running the 611 version of FatDog. A quick check showed that the Final version of 620 was out. So, a quick .iso download, a quick CD burn and liveboot check, a re-setup of the USB stick, and Yowza! FatDog64 is up and running. Perfectly. Network setup was impressively fast. A reboot check showed everything working fine.
And the system recognized my trackpad setup on boot. Taps enabled. And the sound needed no adjustment. So...
I'm happy.
I honestly was thinking I'd spoken too soon about "Puppy not letting me down." But the Big Dog is working. So things are on an even keel.
And I can go to bed without being stressed out over something as minor as a non-functioning OS. I like that best of all.
Yeah, after my success with PhatSlacko, I wanted to go over and do some work with FatDog, so I grabbed the USB stick, booted, and...
Ran straight into a wall. It would NOT recognize my network, no matter what I did. And I did everything. Finally, I got so disgusted that I nearly reformatted the USB stick back to FAT32 for storage.
http://lowendmac.com/
But, thankfully, I didn't.
I'd been running the 611 version of FatDog. A quick check showed that the Final version of 620 was out. So, a quick .iso download, a quick CD burn and liveboot check, a re-setup of the USB stick, and Yowza! FatDog64 is up and running. Perfectly. Network setup was impressively fast. A reboot check showed everything working fine.
And the system recognized my trackpad setup on boot. Taps enabled. And the sound needed no adjustment. So...
I'm happy.
I honestly was thinking I'd spoken too soon about "Puppy not letting me down." But the Big Dog is working. So things are on an even keel.
And I can go to bed without being stressed out over something as minor as a non-functioning OS. I like that best of all.
And that Fast! (Or, Seek and Ye Shall Find!)
How many entries in one day?
Well, I need to make this one, as I did figure out the trackpad thing, after digging into the Wizard Wizard. (Which also solved some sound problems, too. And, yeah, I love that name, "Wizard Wizard".)
I have to say, the Puppies have not let me down. You just have to LOOK for things. Which I'm obviously not very good at. I really have no patience.
So, I'll be off later on to FatDog64 to do some trackpad adjusting, and I might need to pop into my Precise Puppy installation, as I noted some sound problems on the T400 while I was on the road.
I'm feeling much better about my cyber-evening!
Well, I need to make this one, as I did figure out the trackpad thing, after digging into the Wizard Wizard. (Which also solved some sound problems, too. And, yeah, I love that name, "Wizard Wizard".)
I have to say, the Puppies have not let me down. You just have to LOOK for things. Which I'm obviously not very good at. I really have no patience.
So, I'll be off later on to FatDog64 to do some trackpad adjusting, and I might need to pop into my Precise Puppy installation, as I noted some sound problems on the T400 while I was on the road.
I'm feeling much better about my cyber-evening!
More Dog Notes
A quick follow-up on PhatSlacko. I just booted it up on the T400 again. Other than it having a bit of initial tension with the network card, it seems to work OK.
Except it will not let me tap the trackpad. Sound familiar?
The bizarre thing is, it will let me scroll with the pad, but not tap... I went into the trackpad setup via the main menu, and it appears that tapping is enabled... But...
I'm beginning to think that this system has had a little work done under the hood during its corporate tenure. Everything looks OK, but there's just something odd about it. Can't place my finger on it, but...
But...
PhatSlacko does run, however, and I see no problems there. It's working, and other than the occasional modernist annoyance at having to use (gasp!) a button instead of just tapping the pad, everything else seems to be pretty normal. (Though I just realized I haven't fooled with the file system manager to see if I can duplicate the odd error from last night...)
We'll see how that goes later on. I think I'll just relax for a bit... On to YouTube.
Except it will not let me tap the trackpad. Sound familiar?
The bizarre thing is, it will let me scroll with the pad, but not tap... I went into the trackpad setup via the main menu, and it appears that tapping is enabled... But...
I'm beginning to think that this system has had a little work done under the hood during its corporate tenure. Everything looks OK, but there's just something odd about it. Can't place my finger on it, but...
But...
PhatSlacko does run, however, and I see no problems there. It's working, and other than the occasional modernist annoyance at having to use (gasp!) a button instead of just tapping the pad, everything else seems to be pretty normal. (Though I just realized I haven't fooled with the file system manager to see if I can duplicate the odd error from last night...)
We'll see how that goes later on. I think I'll just relax for a bit... On to YouTube.
Puppy Stuff
Yeah, I was going to title this one "Doggie Style", but decided I'm really not that...well... you know...
The PhatSlacko experience continues. I did the basic "you aren't paying attention" run with it last night on the T400. The desktop icons for 'Write' and 'Calc' didn't seem to work, and I had a very odd incident with the 'File' system. (It locked up and kept opening file windows every time I clicked anywhere on the screen.) I wasn't particularly happy, so ended the session without saving to the SAVE file.
This morning, head screwed on more properly, I booted PS up on the X60s here (my mellow machine), and actually looked at the setup systems. And discovered that I don't have to right click on the icons to make changes, etc. There's this nice system setup app that does all that for you. And, as I'd begun to expect, the desktop icons were still keyed to AbiWord and GNumeric as defaults. So I reset them to LibreWrite and -Calc, and all is well. If I would just pay attention more...
I was rather impressed that, even though I didn't save anything from last night, the clock came up set right. Very nice.
So, back on track with the Puppy Stuff. I truly like the Puppy OSes I've been able to use so far. No real problems, just the occasional quirks. And I tend to be more responsible for most of those anyway, so...
Unfortunately, I'm not going to have a lot of computer time today. Too much to do. Gotta run...
Hope the weekend is going well for all!
The PhatSlacko experience continues. I did the basic "you aren't paying attention" run with it last night on the T400. The desktop icons for 'Write' and 'Calc' didn't seem to work, and I had a very odd incident with the 'File' system. (It locked up and kept opening file windows every time I clicked anywhere on the screen.) I wasn't particularly happy, so ended the session without saving to the SAVE file.
This morning, head screwed on more properly, I booted PS up on the X60s here (my mellow machine), and actually looked at the setup systems. And discovered that I don't have to right click on the icons to make changes, etc. There's this nice system setup app that does all that for you. And, as I'd begun to expect, the desktop icons were still keyed to AbiWord and GNumeric as defaults. So I reset them to LibreWrite and -Calc, and all is well. If I would just pay attention more...
I was rather impressed that, even though I didn't save anything from last night, the clock came up set right. Very nice.
So, back on track with the Puppy Stuff. I truly like the Puppy OSes I've been able to use so far. No real problems, just the occasional quirks. And I tend to be more responsible for most of those anyway, so...
Unfortunately, I'm not going to have a lot of computer time today. Too much to do. Gotta run...
Hope the weekend is going well for all!
Friday, May 3, 2013
Running with the Dogs
So, I haven't really been that cyber-loquacious as of late.
Work has, of course, been intruding. I have not, as of yet, found a (legal) way to free myself of the usual wage-slavery. And far, far too many people seem intent on continuously sending me these bill things... Strange...
I do want to make a quick sort-of correction. I think I gave a very wrong impression of my impression of FatDog64 from last time. I seem to have come across rather negatively, and that certainly wasn't the case. I do like it, a lot. It's a very handsome implementation of Puppy, with an excellent set of features. I do admit to being rather vexed as to why it doesn't like the trackpad on the T400 (as far as "clickability" is concerned), but that's a relatively minor gripe. And one I could probably fix if I were to switch off my lazy factor and look for a solution.
Also have to admit that I didn't really use many of the Puppy USB implementations I had with me this week. Some test run0throughs with FatDog, of course, and couple rounds with Precise and Saluki, but that was it.
Bodhi handled most of the week for me. And that includes both work and personal functions. I found myself using the T400 for much of what I was doing. (I didn't use my MacBook for more than cruising movies in iTunes, which kind of saddens me.) Everything from online ArcGIS mapping to medium heavy spreadsheeting (involving current format Excel sheets opened in LibreCalc) was handled without a burp. I was impressed.
Of course, I haven't abandoned my fiddling with the Puppy stable, however. While on the road, I did some reading/watching up on PhatSlacko, which sort of looked interesting. I've never really fooled with Slackware, and honestly haven't been inclined to. I was pretty well into the Ubuntu & Debian side of the farm, so... But PhatSlacko seemed fairly complete, and I wouldn't have to mess with getting into the Slackware repositories, so...
So, I ended up downloading a .iso while on the road. Didn't have any blank CD-R's with me, so I waited till I got back to the house. Just ended up burning it to CD, and (yes) am now running Firefox under liveboot. And, yes, I've already installed it to USB.
Which is a slightly amusing sidenote. Here's PhatSlacko, one of the "heaviest" of the Puppy distros, and I just installed it on the tiniest USB drive I own. (A miniscule PNY thing that I bought from the discount of a Staples somewhere...)
OK, it's only amusing to me... But...
Work has, of course, been intruding. I have not, as of yet, found a (legal) way to free myself of the usual wage-slavery. And far, far too many people seem intent on continuously sending me these bill things... Strange...
I do want to make a quick sort-of correction. I think I gave a very wrong impression of my impression of FatDog64 from last time. I seem to have come across rather negatively, and that certainly wasn't the case. I do like it, a lot. It's a very handsome implementation of Puppy, with an excellent set of features. I do admit to being rather vexed as to why it doesn't like the trackpad on the T400 (as far as "clickability" is concerned), but that's a relatively minor gripe. And one I could probably fix if I were to switch off my lazy factor and look for a solution.
Also have to admit that I didn't really use many of the Puppy USB implementations I had with me this week. Some test run0throughs with FatDog, of course, and couple rounds with Precise and Saluki, but that was it.
Bodhi handled most of the week for me. And that includes both work and personal functions. I found myself using the T400 for much of what I was doing. (I didn't use my MacBook for more than cruising movies in iTunes, which kind of saddens me.) Everything from online ArcGIS mapping to medium heavy spreadsheeting (involving current format Excel sheets opened in LibreCalc) was handled without a burp. I was impressed.
Of course, I haven't abandoned my fiddling with the Puppy stable, however. While on the road, I did some reading/watching up on PhatSlacko, which sort of looked interesting. I've never really fooled with Slackware, and honestly haven't been inclined to. I was pretty well into the Ubuntu & Debian side of the farm, so... But PhatSlacko seemed fairly complete, and I wouldn't have to mess with getting into the Slackware repositories, so...
So, I ended up downloading a .iso while on the road. Didn't have any blank CD-R's with me, so I waited till I got back to the house. Just ended up burning it to CD, and (yes) am now running Firefox under liveboot. And, yes, I've already installed it to USB.
Which is a slightly amusing sidenote. Here's PhatSlacko, one of the "heaviest" of the Puppy distros, and I just installed it on the tiniest USB drive I own. (A miniscule PNY thing that I bought from the discount of a Staples somewhere...)
OK, it's only amusing to me... But...
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