Work-a-day

I'm being spotty again, I know.  But this work and travel thing tends to take it out of you.  I've actually been rather sparse in my online usage as of late.

But, a quick update:  the Dell XPS M2010 arrived, in somewhat decent shape, only to die as I was trying to test it with various Linux versions.  Not sure what happened there, but it's now in the shop to be tested, and hopefully fixed.  (Beyond the whole not-working thing, my biggest gripe was the screen.  Or the fact that the screen had apparently taken a goodly sized blow from behind, and is now sitting crooked. {!!!})  Joy.

The T23 is still in the shop, having a new fan installed.  I'd hoped to have it done while I was home, but that didn't happen.  Maybe next time...

While on the road, I've been using my Macbook for my work stuff, and carrying the "James Bond" Vaio (the VGN-SZ120P/B) running MacPup 550 as my backup.  That worked well, though I was kind of worried about the constant on/off cycles I was putting the Vaio through, as I haven't gotten 'round to setting up a sleep function under MacPup.

Well, I decided to change up a bit, and switch out systems.  So, this trip, I switched the Vaio for my Thinkpad T410s, which is running Manjaro.  Bit of a difference.  I'm actually using the Thinkpad as my main work computer today, giving the Macbook the day off.  (Though I'll probably end up "thumb driving" the files I create today over to the MB, just so I'll have everything in one central location.)

So far, I have to say, the T410s is very, very seductive.  The Thinkpads are designed for day to day work, and this keyboard is...well, it's a Thinkpad keyboard.  The keyboard on my Mac is great, but this...  Well...  Yeah...

And, I have to say, Manjaro has, so far, acquitted itself quite well.  I hadn't had this system out in a while, so I had to do some heavy updating before bringing it on the road.  Not a problem.  And, as expected, LibreOffice has handled all the Office documents I've thrown at it with aplomb.

My only "wants" so far has been for a good graphics converter.  (I need something that will take .TIFFs and convert them to .PDFs.)  And I need to find a good deed plotting package for Linux.  (I know Sandy Knoll has their Metes & Bounds program set up for Ubuntu, but...)  I'll do some searching...  (Luckily I found a good, non-CLI screen grab utility, gnome-screenshot, which has filled the bill for me quite nicely.)

So, things are going along at least OK.  I'll be glad to see if the Dell gets up and running, or if I just inherited a big bag of parts for cannibalizing...

And, now, back to work....