So, with the T60 up and running with Crunchbang, I thought I'd give a look at the A31. (Actually, I didn't have anything else to do, but that doesn't sound as inspirational, now does it?)
My weapon of choice, AntiX 13 Beta 2. And it worked fine. Booted up live and ran fine.
Just one problem: Wireless. The wireless card wasn't recognized. It's an older PCMCIA card, and I suspect it's a problem with the drivers. And, of course, if you can't go online, you can't check for new drivers...
OK, no, I'm not going to string along on this. I did hook into the modem via ethernet cable, and the A31 went online fine. But, no, I didn't look for the drivers.
And, no, I didn't install. Not yet.
Hey, I've already got 4 Linux distros up and running on various systems. And I'm still really just getting the hang of two of those. So... Maybe I want to hold off a bit...
So, Linux news is at least good this evening.
And, also, so is Mac news. I finally got round to doing basic system's maintenance on the family iMac, and on my work laptop, the MacBook. They're both back up and running. I had to put the MacBook through it's paces preparing some paperwork today, and it did great. Kind of odd to be back on the Macs, but kind of fun, too.
Otherwise, a quiet day. Nice out. Good to get out and about, and clear the head before another week starts.
Now, off to relax and watch bad TV. And all that...
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Yeah, I did #!
I installed Crunchbang on the Thinkpad T60.
Went ahead and wiped Ubuntu 12.10 off, and installed Crunchbang 11 "Waldorf".
And it works great. I have to say, at least as far as the installation, I don't understand why people are so leery of Crunchbang. Granted, I don't think I'd want to hand it cold to someone who'd never seen Linux before. But I don't see if it as hard to deal with. And I'm far from the most experienced computer person in the world.
Granted, I've only been playing with #! (as it's referenced) for a short while. Live boots on the desktop and on the T60. But I like it. I like the minimalist approach it takes. Minimalist on the surface, at least, but you can feel the power underneath.
I definitely have to acknowledge the help I got from Puppy Linux World on YouTube. Great videos, lots of information. Check it out. (If anyone's interested in Crunchbang, PLW has a whole series up, "Crunchbang Bootcamp", which will help enormously.)
So, another new thing to play with. I'm not going to know what to do with myself...
I haven't gotten 'round to working with the A31. I did burn another copy of AntiX, this time making sure it was a CD-R in the drive. (Deep sigh. Headshake.) I'll get to it eventually.
So, off to play in the fields of Crunchbang...
Went ahead and wiped Ubuntu 12.10 off, and installed Crunchbang 11 "Waldorf".
And it works great. I have to say, at least as far as the installation, I don't understand why people are so leery of Crunchbang. Granted, I don't think I'd want to hand it cold to someone who'd never seen Linux before. But I don't see if it as hard to deal with. And I'm far from the most experienced computer person in the world.
Granted, I've only been playing with #! (as it's referenced) for a short while. Live boots on the desktop and on the T60. But I like it. I like the minimalist approach it takes. Minimalist on the surface, at least, but you can feel the power underneath.
I definitely have to acknowledge the help I got from Puppy Linux World on YouTube. Great videos, lots of information. Check it out. (If anyone's interested in Crunchbang, PLW has a whole series up, "Crunchbang Bootcamp", which will help enormously.)
So, another new thing to play with. I'm not going to know what to do with myself...
I haven't gotten 'round to working with the A31. I did burn another copy of AntiX, this time making sure it was a CD-R in the drive. (Deep sigh. Headshake.) I'll get to it eventually.
So, off to play in the fields of Crunchbang...
Friday, April 5, 2013
A Bookish Aside
So, it's later in the evening (obviously), and and I've started the great .iso burnings. (Well, one burning, anyway.) Just doing some testing on a liveboot of Crunchbang 11. And I have to say it's striking. The default, "stealth" desktop is impressive. And a bit unnerving.
I'll probably burn ZorinOS in a bit. Don't know if I'll do any more this evening. And I doubt I'll do any installs. Think I'll just do some livebooting.
While wasting some time earlier on, I pulled out an odd little collectible of mine.
A long, long time ago, when I was a starving grad student hiding in an oddball apartment on the main drag of our local U. town, I tripped across a book entitled The Cuckoo's Egg, by Clifford Stoll. I'm sure everyone who knows a bit about Internet history knows Stoll's book, which details his discovery and pursuit of a hacker who turns out to be in the employ of the old Soviet intelligence service, the KGB. It's a great read, a good introduction to the subject for the casual reader. Not too technical, not too dry.
I still have my cheap paperback copy, which is now quite battered and dog-eared. Occasionally still get it out and flip through it.
For whatever reason, a few months back, I was somewhat bored, and pulled he old paperback out. That launched me off on one of those pointless bouts of activity. I went from book to computer to the web.
And I found myself on Cliff Stoll's website ACME KLEIN BOTTLE. It's a cool site, fun to read in marvelously droll way. And, somewhere n that site, there's a link that references The Cuckoo's Egg. In fact, it offers copies for sale.
Whoa. New old stock copies. with a nice autograph from the author himself.
On one of those silly whims, I placed an order for a copy. And in the comments field, I wrote a silly little note about how much I'd enjoyed the book, way back when, etc., etc.
The next day, I found the order confirmation in my inbox. And, attached was the nicest note from Cliff Stoll himself. Not long after, the book arrived, and I was really charmed at the nice notes that Cliff had added to the book, personalizing the copy for me.
A couple days ago, being in one of those moods, I pulled my "Stoll copy" out and started reading. Just finished it this evening. I'm not sure how many times this makes for me reading it. But it was fun. It took me back to that. It took me back down nostalgia lane. I liked that.
I doubt Cliff will make it into this neck of the 'Net, but I still want to say "Thanks!" At times, a little nostalgia is a very comforting thing.
I'll probably burn ZorinOS in a bit. Don't know if I'll do any more this evening. And I doubt I'll do any installs. Think I'll just do some livebooting.
While wasting some time earlier on, I pulled out an odd little collectible of mine.
A long, long time ago, when I was a starving grad student hiding in an oddball apartment on the main drag of our local U. town, I tripped across a book entitled The Cuckoo's Egg, by Clifford Stoll. I'm sure everyone who knows a bit about Internet history knows Stoll's book, which details his discovery and pursuit of a hacker who turns out to be in the employ of the old Soviet intelligence service, the KGB. It's a great read, a good introduction to the subject for the casual reader. Not too technical, not too dry.
I still have my cheap paperback copy, which is now quite battered and dog-eared. Occasionally still get it out and flip through it.
For whatever reason, a few months back, I was somewhat bored, and pulled he old paperback out. That launched me off on one of those pointless bouts of activity. I went from book to computer to the web.
And I found myself on Cliff Stoll's website ACME KLEIN BOTTLE. It's a cool site, fun to read in marvelously droll way. And, somewhere n that site, there's a link that references The Cuckoo's Egg. In fact, it offers copies for sale.
Whoa. New old stock copies. with a nice autograph from the author himself.
On one of those silly whims, I placed an order for a copy. And in the comments field, I wrote a silly little note about how much I'd enjoyed the book, way back when, etc., etc.
The next day, I found the order confirmation in my inbox. And, attached was the nicest note from Cliff Stoll himself. Not long after, the book arrived, and I was really charmed at the nice notes that Cliff had added to the book, personalizing the copy for me.
A couple days ago, being in one of those moods, I pulled my "Stoll copy" out and started reading. Just finished it this evening. I'm not sure how many times this makes for me reading it. But it was fun. It took me back to that. It took me back down nostalgia lane. I liked that.
I doubt Cliff will make it into this neck of the 'Net, but I still want to say "Thanks!" At times, a little nostalgia is a very comforting thing.
A bit of bling
Nothing much going on today. A nice, lazy Friday. Beautiful day here. I really should post pictures of the "big room" outside. But, instead...
Here's the desktop I set up for Bodhi. Enlightenment is cool to play with, but I haven't done anything spectacular with it. Running it on the older Sempron processor, with just 1.2 GB RAM, I'll keep it moderate. (This is the "Laptop" profile, with the "Electric" theme. Works well, and is visually different enough from what I've got going under Mint and Ubuntu.)
I spent far too much time last night downloading and squirreling .iso's away. To be honest, I can't even remember what all I grabbed. There's a couple Crunchbang distros (old & new), ZorinOS Core, another copy of AntiX, an actual copy of Ubuntu 12.04 for backup (I didn't install mine off CD, but did it through an upgrade from 11.04.), and even a copy of GNewSense ('cause I just wanted to try it out).
I really should do something worthwhile with all of these, like say... writing reviews. But I'm not really sure the world needs still more Linux review out there. We shall see...
Tripped across yet more intriguing content on YouTube. Reviews of that? I'll think on it...
Right now, I'm considering wiping down my Thinkpad T60, clearing out Ubuntu 12.10, and trying an install either Crunchbang or Antix. Or...Zorin... I really don't know...
 |
| A little Enlightenment |
Here's the desktop I set up for Bodhi. Enlightenment is cool to play with, but I haven't done anything spectacular with it. Running it on the older Sempron processor, with just 1.2 GB RAM, I'll keep it moderate. (This is the "Laptop" profile, with the "Electric" theme. Works well, and is visually different enough from what I've got going under Mint and Ubuntu.)
I spent far too much time last night downloading and squirreling .iso's away. To be honest, I can't even remember what all I grabbed. There's a couple Crunchbang distros (old & new), ZorinOS Core, another copy of AntiX, an actual copy of Ubuntu 12.04 for backup (I didn't install mine off CD, but did it through an upgrade from 11.04.), and even a copy of GNewSense ('cause I just wanted to try it out).
I really should do something worthwhile with all of these, like say... writing reviews. But I'm not really sure the world needs still more Linux review out there. We shall see...
Tripped across yet more intriguing content on YouTube. Reviews of that? I'll think on it...
Right now, I'm considering wiping down my Thinkpad T60, clearing out Ubuntu 12.10, and trying an install either Crunchbang or Antix. Or...Zorin... I really don't know...
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Another win/lose day
So, I had the Thinkpad A31 out... It's a cool computer, and I have it more as a half-wit collector's item. In my mind, it's the the laptop I most identify with service on the International Space Station. So, I think about zipping through space every time I see it. Just me, I guess...
And I feel a bit dense, as I remember writing something about seeing if I could switch memory modules from the R40 into the A31... That might be kind of hard, as the A31 uses DDR, and the R40 uses DDR3... Anyway...
Yeah... Anyway... I got the A31 out, installed the IBM wireless card (I think it's actually an Orinoco rebranded), and decided to do some experimenting. This particular system came to me with Windows 2000 installed (running in 256 MB of RAM), and it doesn't like my nice, new high speed Internet connection. It would see a signal, but I could not find a way to get it to connect properly. The wireless card seemed to be working fine, seeing that there was a signal there, but I don't think the software wanted to admit to that. I'm sure if I played with it long enough... But that wasn't why I dragged the laptop out of the pile.
Well, I dumped out my ever-growing pile of liveboot disks, and made the discovery I knew I was going to: The A31, of course, only has a CD drive. And, of course, I'd accidentally burned AntiX onto a DVD... Not really wanting to go through the rigamarole of correcting, I decided to try booting something else. How's abouts Wary Puppy? That works on everything!
Except the A31, where it gagged and locked up the system. Looked like driver problems, though I'm not sure.
OK, next candidate, Damn Small Linux. That, thankfully, booted perfectly. Except... It didn't see the wireless card. A quick check through the system showed... Nothing...
Curses.
So, I rebooted, and got crazy, and tried to boot up Ubuntu 10.04. And you can probably guess how well that went. At least the lockup was a bit neater than Wary Puppy's.......
At least I know I can get one Linux distro running on the old Thinkpad. I may re-download the AntiX .iso and burn it to a CD this time. (I'd just do a USB thumb drive, but I'm not sure the A31 will boot from that. Besides, it'd be good to have it on the more accessible CD format for use as a possible rescue disk.)
Once again, you win some, and you crash and burn some.
At least my old Acer banger is rolling along with Bodhi. That makes me happy. The more I'm using Bodhi, the more I start to like it. It definitely takes time to grow on you, but at least it's sort of fun to play with.
It's been very nice weather here. I did manage to tear away from the computers and get out to walk a bit. That's a bit of a win, too, I do believe...
And I feel a bit dense, as I remember writing something about seeing if I could switch memory modules from the R40 into the A31... That might be kind of hard, as the A31 uses DDR, and the R40 uses DDR3... Anyway...
Yeah... Anyway... I got the A31 out, installed the IBM wireless card (I think it's actually an Orinoco rebranded), and decided to do some experimenting. This particular system came to me with Windows 2000 installed (running in 256 MB of RAM), and it doesn't like my nice, new high speed Internet connection. It would see a signal, but I could not find a way to get it to connect properly. The wireless card seemed to be working fine, seeing that there was a signal there, but I don't think the software wanted to admit to that. I'm sure if I played with it long enough... But that wasn't why I dragged the laptop out of the pile.
Well, I dumped out my ever-growing pile of liveboot disks, and made the discovery I knew I was going to: The A31, of course, only has a CD drive. And, of course, I'd accidentally burned AntiX onto a DVD... Not really wanting to go through the rigamarole of correcting, I decided to try booting something else. How's abouts Wary Puppy? That works on everything!
Except the A31, where it gagged and locked up the system. Looked like driver problems, though I'm not sure.
OK, next candidate, Damn Small Linux. That, thankfully, booted perfectly. Except... It didn't see the wireless card. A quick check through the system showed... Nothing...
Curses.
So, I rebooted, and got crazy, and tried to boot up Ubuntu 10.04. And you can probably guess how well that went. At least the lockup was a bit neater than Wary Puppy's.......
At least I know I can get one Linux distro running on the old Thinkpad. I may re-download the AntiX .iso and burn it to a CD this time. (I'd just do a USB thumb drive, but I'm not sure the A31 will boot from that. Besides, it'd be good to have it on the more accessible CD format for use as a possible rescue disk.)
Once again, you win some, and you crash and burn some.
At least my old Acer banger is rolling along with Bodhi. That makes me happy. The more I'm using Bodhi, the more I start to like it. It definitely takes time to grow on you, but at least it's sort of fun to play with.
It's been very nice weather here. I did manage to tear away from the computers and get out to walk a bit. That's a bit of a win, too, I do believe...
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Quick Note
Just a quick note that I've finally got the Acer Aspire laptop all battery'd up and seemingly working fine. I'm writing on it now, and this is its first untethered run on the first charge of the fresh battery. So far, the system is indicating nearly 3 hours life on this battery. (Though I'm not really sure if it's calibrated properly or not. We'll see after a few discharge cycles.)
(Hmmm... As I said... Not sure about the calibration. I did a complete boot on the battery, and then checked email and browsed a bit. The monitor is showing it at 92%, with over 3 hours... Oooo-kay...)
This little system, like its big tower brother, is rather embarrassing to me. Way back when it was brand new, I really didn't pay attention to all the nice features. This is darned nice laptop with a potent processor, very comfortable keyboard, and very functional scrolling touchpad. I simply never paid any attention to all that. Pure ignorance on my part.
Sad statement of how we take for granted, and don't appreciate what we have.
In other news, I tried to do some Linux work with the old Panasonic CF-29. Got so far as managing to get "Wary Puppy" up and running. (The Pentium M chip doesn't do PAE, so I was limited to what I could try.) However, I didn't get any further, as it became apparent that there were problems with the Matsushita optical drive. Tried to live boot a copy of Xubuntu 12.04, but no go... I'm not sure if it's a physical problem with the drive, or a driver issue. Whatever, the computer no longer sees the drive. And I'm seeing the same boot-up problems I saw on it before, where the "MP" light comes on, and the system takes forever to boot up.
Oh well...
Thought about trying to work on the Thinkpad R40 for a bit, but decided better on it. (Though I am still thinking of stealing that 256 MB RAM stick out of it, and seeing if I can up the memory on the A31. That, and a Puppy install there, would be great. Or maybe trying to see if AntiX actually lives up to its "works on older computers" hype...)
I have a feeling I'm going to get into that "best laid plans" territory again. We'll see...
(Hmmm... As I said... Not sure about the calibration. I did a complete boot on the battery, and then checked email and browsed a bit. The monitor is showing it at 92%, with over 3 hours... Oooo-kay...)
This little system, like its big tower brother, is rather embarrassing to me. Way back when it was brand new, I really didn't pay attention to all the nice features. This is darned nice laptop with a potent processor, very comfortable keyboard, and very functional scrolling touchpad. I simply never paid any attention to all that. Pure ignorance on my part.
Sad statement of how we take for granted, and don't appreciate what we have.
In other news, I tried to do some Linux work with the old Panasonic CF-29. Got so far as managing to get "Wary Puppy" up and running. (The Pentium M chip doesn't do PAE, so I was limited to what I could try.) However, I didn't get any further, as it became apparent that there were problems with the Matsushita optical drive. Tried to live boot a copy of Xubuntu 12.04, but no go... I'm not sure if it's a physical problem with the drive, or a driver issue. Whatever, the computer no longer sees the drive. And I'm seeing the same boot-up problems I saw on it before, where the "MP" light comes on, and the system takes forever to boot up.
Oh well...
Thought about trying to work on the Thinkpad R40 for a bit, but decided better on it. (Though I am still thinking of stealing that 256 MB RAM stick out of it, and seeing if I can up the memory on the A31. That, and a Puppy install there, would be great. Or maybe trying to see if AntiX actually lives up to its "works on older computers" hype...)
I have a feeling I'm going to get into that "best laid plans" territory again. We'll see...
Monday, April 1, 2013
One for Two
Welcome to Bodhi Linux...
Yeah, I got it installed on the Acer Aspire. It was...interesting. In the Chinese sense of the word. I ended up having to do it twice, due to a really stupid hat trick of mine.
And, no, I'm not going into it. Let's just say that Puppy Linux will not be joining us here on the Acer. And AntiX almost got to own the day.
But here's Bodhi, finally running well. Or at least running. I'm still finding my way 'round here. Going to take some time.
I ended up doing a manual download of most of the software I wanted, rather than doing the all-in-one packaging. Worked better, and my install is a little leaner for it.
Now, my biggest irk is that the battery on this system is nearly gone. Thankfully, I've got one on order, and it was actually fairly inexpensive. I'll be glad when it gets here. A full charge now is less than an hour, and that's not good.
In any event, I'm going to be playing with the system for a bit. Try to get a feel for it. Maybe post some images later on.
Fun, fun, fun...
Yeah, I got it installed on the Acer Aspire. It was...interesting. In the Chinese sense of the word. I ended up having to do it twice, due to a really stupid hat trick of mine.
And, no, I'm not going into it. Let's just say that Puppy Linux will not be joining us here on the Acer. And AntiX almost got to own the day.
But here's Bodhi, finally running well. Or at least running. I'm still finding my way 'round here. Going to take some time.
I ended up doing a manual download of most of the software I wanted, rather than doing the all-in-one packaging. Worked better, and my install is a little leaner for it.
Now, my biggest irk is that the battery on this system is nearly gone. Thankfully, I've got one on order, and it was actually fairly inexpensive. I'll be glad when it gets here. A full charge now is less than an hour, and that's not good.
In any event, I'm going to be playing with the system for a bit. Try to get a feel for it. Maybe post some images later on.
Fun, fun, fun...
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