Plus five GeekPoints

The statistical software (Stata) that I use at work runs primarily off the command line and/or scripts -- although you can also work with it through the GUI (the drop-down menus).


One of the cool things that I like about Stata is that if you type "exit" into the command-line window, the software shuts down:  delightfully old-school. I figured that Linux must have something like that, so I Googled it.

And thus, last night I successfully used the command "sudo shutdown -P now" to turn off my PC (running Mint Linux 17).

Woo!!! :)


--GG

A tale of two Linuxes

So, almost exactly a week ago, I blogged about getting a used PC for eighty bucks, and installing Crunchbang on it -- a type of Linux.

To recap:  about two weeks before Dec 3, my laptop (which I had purchased used, more than five years before), had finally stopped working.

I believe it was Sunday, Nov 30th that I picked up the used Dell desktop PC and installed Crunchbang Linux on it.  The "distro" (i.e. "flavor") of Linux was intentionally bare-bones.  It had some quirks -- but I got used to them.

But.

I was trying to convert some audio files to mp3 format.  Under my laptop running Mint Linux (was it v. 15?), Soundconverter worked just fine.  But under Crunchbang, it would start, but then lock up.

So I downloaded and installed an alternative:  WinFF.  This, too, would start and then lock up.  So, that's no good.

I also didn't like the way thatCrunchbang treated copying folders with the same name as existing folders:  instead of warning you that "a folder with that name already exists", it would just copy the "new" folder over the existing folder -- asking if you wanted to have the "new" files within the folder over-write the existing files of the same name.  I didn't like that.

It also didn't have a built-in "control the 'repeat' speed of your keyboard" app:  I had to do a web search, then install the app for that.  And even when I adjusted the settings, I could barely tell the difference in the "repeat" speed.  Huh.

But the final nail in the coffin was that Crunchbang lacked important safety protocols.  I had a dodgy USB flashdrive.  I was was attempting to clean it up, and when I turned the PC back on the USB flashdrive was already in a USB port.  The computer asked for my login, accepted it -- and then got stuck.

When I powered down, removed the USB flashdrive, and tried to reboot, I couldn't successfully get past the login screen.  I checked the BIOS, and the boot sequence had the USB ports as source #4.  So, as near as I could tell, the PC booted, let me log in, started loading up various devices -- and when it got to the "bad" USB drive, instead of shrugging and moving on, it someone allowed the USB drive to damage the installation.  So in otherwords, Crunchbang appears to lack a safety "diversion" that lets it retain its integrity when it encounters bad devices on startup.

And I could never get it to work again.

Luckily, I had done a full backup just the night before.  So except for a handful of Linux-related webpages I had saved -- largely in response to the "mp3 converter not working" situation -- I didn't lose any work.


So:  I'm back to Mint Linux.  Installed it Sunday, Dec 7th, during the afternoon and evening (I got interrupted a little).  This time I'm using v. 17, because that's what was on the installation DVD-ROM that I had.  Looks the same as the version I had on my laptop, near as I can tell.

And the Soundconverter actually works!!!

And I've adjusted the (built-in) "keyboard repeat" speed -- and it is noticeably faster, once I adjusted it.


So, ha!  Sorry, Crunchbang:  you still need some work.  :(

(Pretty sure is was v. 11, but I don't know the sub-version:  whatever version was current as of Nov 2014.  32 bit, and this is a 64bit machine:  could that have been the problem?  But all the other software seemed to work...)


Interesting to use, though.  But I can't afford the time it takes to rescue delicate OSes:   It took most of a day to install it, and then a full evening to install and set up its replacement.  Plus the lost time trying to get the audio files to convert to mp3.


And I did enjoy its simplicity.  Even though I had to learn how to use "sudo apt-get update" and "sudo apt-get install NameOfSoftware".  I might actually get to use that with Mint Linux, if I ever want something that's not in the official repository...


--GG

Crunchbang

Sorry -- haven't posted for a while.

About two weeks ago, the laptop that I bought used, about five(?) years ago, for AU$230, finally bit the dust.

For the last year or so the keyboard had not been working properly, so I had to use an external, USB keyboard:  not too bad.  But recently I think the "up-arrow" key was stuck in a "pressed" position, because the cursor would keep moving to the top of text windows (and lists of files, within folders).  This made the computer awkward to use (although I figured out that tapping the "down-arrow" key would over-ride the "up-arrow" tendency).

But finally:  it just wouldn't boot.

Luckily, I had backed everything up just two sessions before -- so I'd only lost some notes to myself, plus one or two webpages that I'd saved to HD.


Browsed the local online classifieds (gumtree.com.au), for a replacement.  This time I'm going back to desktop units:  they're modular, so if the screen, keyboard, etc. goes wonky -- you can swap it out with ease.  I found a local guy who had a range of business-surplus Dell desktop PCs for sale.  All of them came with a keyboard, mouse, and a flat-screen monitor.

I was deciding between a AU$50, AU$80, and AU$100 machine.  The difference between the $50 and the $80 choices was that the $80 machine had twice the RAM (2GB vs. 1GB).  The difference between the $80 and $100 machine was the processor speed:  I think it was 2.4GHz versus 2.6GHz.  So I went with the $80 machine:  I'd pay $20 for the bump up in RAM, but not bother with the proportionately small increase in speed.

Took it home, and -- for something different -- installed Crunchbang, which is a bare-bones version of Linux that's designed for older, lower-spec machines.  It intentionally omits a lot of guff:  the fancy bells-and-whistles, fancy desktop thingies, and the like.  I'd recently read a comparison of five low-impact Linux distros, and this one was in the top two (based on my criteria:  straightforward to install, straightforward installation of new software, and can play YouTube videos).

The other option was a Ubuntu-related distro, called Bohdi Linux -- but I figured I'd give the non-Ubuntu flavor a chance:  Ubuntu already has enough market share.  :)


So far I like Crunchbang well enough -- although I've actually had to dabble with the "terminal" (basically, like working in DOS instead of a Windows environment) to install some additional (free!!!) software (graphics, recording, and video editing software).  And unlike Mint Linux -- which I had on my laptop -- which lets you browse by software category (e.g. "games") -- with Crunchbang you have to already know the name of the software.

But, some websearches, and some notes to myself, let me achieve what I needed to achieve.  So, sure.


Also:  Crunchbang seems to have a quirk where if you're trying to save a folder with the same name as an existing folder, instead of automatically saving a copy and calling it "copy of ____" -- it appears to just re-save the contents back into the original folder.  Huh.


Other than that, though, it's working well:  I've just finished a session of doing some audio editing of some audio files of two hours of interviewing that I did of my late grandfather.


Also -- for you newbie Linux users -- I've noticed with both my Mint Linux laptop, and my Crunchbang Linux desktop machine -- that you have to turn on the router after starting up the web browser.  If the router is already on, and then you turn on the computer -- it says you're connected, but your web browser still can't figure it out.  So you have to go turn off the router, then turn it back on again.  Easy enough -- but a bit of a nuisance.


Also, Crunchbang doesn't seem to have a "check the integrity of your USB flashdrive" app -- whereas Windows and (I believe) other Linux distros do.  Yeah, it has fsck -- which I believe stands for "file system check" -- but that's only through the terminal, and I haven't taught myself how to use it properly.  I was hoping for something where I just right-click on the USB flashdrive icon and choose a "scan the disk for errors" option.

Ah well.  It's free.  And interesting to use.


Oh:  and I tried to use the laptop again, just to see if I could salvage those extra two days' worth of work.  And it started up!  But now I don't trust it:  I don't want an un-reliable computer.  So:  never mind.

But I did grab the additional files from it, and copied them to my "new" computer.


--GG

Linux Mint on my machine

Windows XP is no longer being supported by Microsoft -- including various security patches.  Fair enough:  it's been out for many, many years (in "computer time", at least), and I don't expect a company to necessarily support a product that's long since been discontinued (and superseded by a newer version).  (Photo:  my old WinXP desktop)

Rather than upgrade to a newer version of Windows, I took the plunge and over-wrote Windows XP with Linux Mint.  And that's what I'm using right now, to post this blog entry.
 

One thing I like about Linux Mint is that it's free (as I understand it, it's developed and supported by hobbyists and volunteers).  Some types of Linux are free, and some are commercial -- and that's fine.  :)


Linux is an operating system:  not Windows, not Mac OS, but something yet again.  It has its own way of doing things -- although the "Mint" flavor of Linux (there are many, many types of Linux) has a lot of similarities to Windows (e.g. a "Start"-style button (labelled "Menu") on the bottom left, and a taskbar along the bottom of the screen).

Also, it has a "Home" folder, which is pretty much the "My Documents" folder if you're a Windows user.  (With pre-set folders of music, videos, etc. -- just like in Windows.)  And you can see the "Computer" icon on the desktop, which is basically "My Computer" for you Windows people.

Installation was straightforward.  I downloaded the installation software from the Linux Mint website, burned it to a blank DVD-ROM, and then booted my computer with the DVD in the drive (your computer has to set to boot from the optical drive before it boots from the hard drive).   Ten years ago you would have had to manually enter your hardware specs.  Nowadays, for most(?) Linux versions everything is auto-detected: all you really have to do is confirm your location, tell it what language to use, etc.  (HOWEVER:  I haven't yet checked whether my printer has drivers among the Linux repositories.  It's possible that I'll end up with a "generic"driver, which means some of the more specific features of my printer might not be available.  [Update:  see end of this blog entry.])


Clicking on the "Menu" button brings up all the different categories of software that are installed.  This is the "all applications" list:

One thing I like about the "Mint" version of Linux is that there's a zillion free apps, which are easy to download:  just go into "Administration", then "Software Manager".  This takes you to a central repository of software, where you can choose a genre (e.g. "Games", "Office") -- and go browsing.

I think it's clever thing is that the software is categorized into groups.  For example, if you click on the "Office" button, then all the "productivity" software (word processing, spreadsheets...) show up.  If you hover over one of them, then a little one-sentence description of the software shows up in the bottom right hand corner of that big grey display square (is it a "window"?  perhaps).

For example, I "went shopping" (except it didn't cost anything!) for various audio recording and video editing apps.  You can see the ones I installed:

And -- the above screenshots were taken with a "Screenshot" app that I downloaded, which includes such features as putting it on a timer, so that you can "get in position" before the screenshot it taken.


As I post this blog entry, there are a few things that I'm having to get used to:  for example, I used to use Windows Paint to re-size my photos.  I had to fish around a little to find the Linux app to do the same thing.  But I figured it out.

The rest of my blog-posting, however, was the same as when I was using Windows:  open up Firefox; go to my blog page; upload my photos from my "Photos" folder; and do a lot of typing.  :)


I will say, however, that if there's a specific piece of software you need, you might find Linux an impediment.  Although!  There is a Windows emulator, and also a "virtual box" for Windows (neither of which I've tried, and nor will I bother with) -- which means there's two different ways of installing Windows software "on" your Linux machine.

ALSO:  I just now went to see whether my USB printer worked.  Plugged it in to my laptop, and it wasn't detected.  And under "Adminstration" I didn't see anything for "Printers" or "Add printers" or "Add hardware.  However, a fairly quick Google search later, I came across this link: http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/1200-- and following step #2 provided the solution.  Note that I knew what a "command line" or "terminal" was, so the instructions didn't worry me.  And once I opened the terminal window and typed in the magic phrase, a dialog window popped up,  Linux Mint did detect my USB printer, and from there I just clicked on all the obvious things.  So it could be that if I'd thought to have my printer plugged in (and turned on!) to my computer when I was installing Linux Mint that it would have already installed the printer drivers.


So:  Given that WinXP support ended in early April, it would be worth considering installing Linux Mint instead.  Of course, you'll need to copy all your personal files (documents, photos, home movies) to an external hard drive.  But presumably you already back up your personal files already...


(4/27/14 -- UPDATE -- when I do blog entries, I used to use MS Paint, which let me re-size my photos (usually to 25% x 25% of original)), and add some simple circles, lines, and text to the photos.  The image viewer allows me to re-size and "save as".  However, I'm mildly annoyed that the "paint" and "drawing" photos that came with Linux Mint, as well as those that I downloaded, aren't sufficiently "bare-bones" for me to easily insert text and lines.  I worked it out -- eventually -- and maybe I'm doing it the hard way. But that **is** a "negative", IMO.)

--GG

Hierarchy of interests

I picked up a few magazines this last weekend:  a computer (Linux) magazine; a woodworking magazine; and two music (recording) magazines.

I was carrying all three around in my work bag, so I had equal access to all of them.

The woodworking magazine trumped the music magazines:  I plowed through it in a day's worth of commuting on the bus.  And the music magazines trumped the Linux magazine.



Likewise, I have about thirty books on my “To Read” bookshelf by my bed, in various states of completion.  The criminology books keep getting trumped by WW, music, computer.

So, this all suggests where my interests currently lie:  woodworking, then music, then computer things.  And this is a correct reflections of how I've been spending my time.


But -- over the last two days I read an article called “A Comparison of Propensity Score and Linear Regression Analysis of Complex Survey Data” in the Journal of Data Science (2006, vol 4), followed by a 17 page printout from the *.pdf version of one of the Stata manuals (Stata is the statistical software that I use at work) for the “teffects” command for calculating the treatment-effects estimation for observational data. 

I've been reading this on my own time; because it’s interesting -- but also probably useful at work.  And this has trumped the music magazines.

So, I guess data geekery is pretty high up there.


I originally wanted to be an academic -- and I **do** enjoy teaching and research.  But my current job involves restructuring data to find patterns -- and I'm enjoying it.  So, it seems that I've found my niche.


--GG

Latent computers

On the one hand, I stopped subscribing to Linux Format, as I was falling behind, I was trying to economize on my magazine buying, and my guitar and woodworking magazines were trumping LXF.

That is, if I received a woodworking or guitar magazine at the same time as the Linux magazine, the Linux magazine would be the one left behind.

So, I figured that my interests had shifted away from computers.  And they pretty much have.


Although:  just now, I wondered how the ''Puppy Linux'' distro was faring -- so I Wikipedia'd it.  And then I clicked on the ''Lighweight Linux'' link.  And then on the ''List of Operating Systems'' link, then ''Haiku'' (which is a replacement for BeOS) and ''MINIX''.

So, yeah:  compared to ''normal'' people, I do have an interest in computers.

But it's still trumped by my interest in music, and woodworking.

For now.


--GG

Computer guy

Given my relatively low level of expertise, it's frightening -- but I'm apparently the ''computer guy'' in my wife's family.

Either of my brothers-in-law here would likely claim that title, in my absence. One is slowly working on a Bachelor's in Comp. Sci. -- but he has no outside interest in computers beyond the required coursework. (He has a full-time job as a database programmer: the degree is just to make him eligible for promotion.)

And the other BIL was a Physics major -- but he gave up his "computer phase" about fifteen years ago.

So, that leaves me: possibly might have gone into programming if my parents had a personal computer at home when I was a kid (the 1980s, so Apple IIe's, Commodore 64s and Amigas, and IBM PC clones). And until about a year ago, I subscribed to a Linux magazine -- so, there's some GeekPoints(TM) right there...

Anyhow, my father-in-law asked me to take a look at his PC, which wasn't working. Turns out that it wouldn't boot; more specifically, the error message implied that it wasn't detecting the hard drive. So, took it home to have a look.


First, I tried to boot from the DVD drive, with an Ubuntu (Linux) CD-ROM. Got most of the way through the process, but then had "reading the CD" errors. (I think that's the photo at the start of this blog entry; click to enlarge.) Thought it might be a bad CD, so tried another one. Same problem. Tried an Ubuntu DVD, but it wouldn't even start the process. So, the optical drive was dicey as well.


So, I popped the top of the case. With towers (PCs in a vertical orientation), the hard drive is pretty easy to get to. However, with **this** one, the hard drive is ALL the WAY at the BOTTOM. Ugh.

In this photo, it's at the back left of the photo -- under the floppy drive, which is on top.



Luckily, the innards were cleverly designed. by removing two finger screws, the floppy drive and optical drive can be moved out of the way. Here they are, removed.



Two more screws, and the portion that supported the floppy drive and optical drive lifts out. The HD is now accessible.



Two more screws, and the frame that holds the hard drive in position can be removed: here's a closer look, prior to removal.



Once I removed the hard drive from the frame (four more screws!), I put it in my IDE-format hard drive cradle: basically, it's a "Build Your Own External Hard Drive" kit: it has a power cord and a USB cable; you supply the hard drive.

Upon reflection, I **am** probably the only in my family that owns a hard drive cradle -- "just in case". Or, for that matter, that knows that IDE is the older format, and they're now SATA.

I've been messing with this project for probably an hour, at this point. But, at least I've had a chance to use the hard drive cradle! (Had it about a year, I think; never used it.)



Plugged the USB cable into my laptop. The hard drive was successfully recognized. Looked around, and copied all of the "My Document" files to my computer: rescuing his files was my FIL's main concern; fixing the computer was secondary (although desirable).


Since the hard drive worked, I thought maybe it was a bad IDE cable. Swapped it out with one of my spares. Re-assembled the PC, and tried running it again. Nope: still doesn't recognize the HD.

Brought it back to my FIL's place. Given that the hard drive itself was fine, and the cable doesn't seem to have been the problem (although mahaps **both** cables were bad?), then maybe it's a bad connection on the motherboard. In which case, to fix it we'd need to get a new motherboard, and swap all the pieces over.

(Weak analogy: Your car engine is fine; the electrical is fine; the brakes are fine; etc. But the chassis is rusted apart. So, to "fix" your car, you'd need to buy a car frame, and then bring all the other stuff across...)

Trying to swap out the motherboard is more than I'd want to try. And between parts and labor, my FIL's (I'm guessing) looking at AU$200, minimum. Given that this PC is from 2003 (still has PS/2 ports on the back!), even if it was "fixed", it's old enough that something else might go wrong with it. So, he'll probably just buy an inexpensive desktop or laptop machine.


(Jan. 5 addendums: (1) Hey! There's an extra jack on the optical drive's ribbon. Maybe they can both use that. (2) I didn't check out the power cable; I'll have to "loan" it the power cable that supplies the optical drive.

I checked, and he hasn't bought his replacement computer yet.)


--GG

Girl intuitive recording

I thought this was pretty neat.

My 5yo daughter likes playing around with my Asus eee netbook. I let her, because unlike on a Windows machine, most of the settings are hidden away -- so when she thrashes about trying to do something, it's unlikely that she'll change any of my settings (or delete any important files).

Usually she just uses the children's paint program. Today, she was making funny faces in the webcam.

Then, later, I walked by and she was using the sound recorder to record herself. She especially liked singing and yelling loud enough to push the level meter into the red.

I went to her room and fetched her harmonica (each of my kids has a harmonica; doesn't everyone's?) and a maraca (yeah, they each have their own maraca, too). She then started alternating between playing the harmonica, and singing.

Here's the good part: when playing back her recordings, she started shaking the maraca along to her recorded music. Doing that is the basis of multitrack recording: you play back what you already have, then play along with it to record a new track (technical term: overdubbing).

Ahhh -- if only I had my computer set up for recording...

I think she'd have a lot of fun with that. Highly supervised, of course.


--GG

Arcane knowledge

My cousin, myself, and another fellow (should I call him ''friend''? an e-friend, I guess -- never met him in person...) have been e-mailing back and forth about songwriting, perfect pitch, and related. I mentioned that John Entwhistle (bassist for The Who) said he used to have perfect pitch -- but The Who used to tune up using a broken harmonica -- and after a few years of this, he lost his pitch.

Which made me realize: that's pretty obscure stuff. (In ascending order of obscurity: the name of the bassist for The Who; he had perfect pitch; they used to tune to a harmonica; the dodgy harmonica caused him to lose his perfect pitch.)

As I think I've blogged about before, I have a few pockets of knowledge that are deeper than what most people know. Not as deep as those who specialize in one of those areas -- but I don't think there's too many people around who have the combination of knowledge that I do.


Roughly on a scale of -5 to +5, with "0" being the baseline for what normal males (let's keep this gendered) know about, I'm...

+3 on recording techniques (well, maybe +3 -- I'm out of practice),

+3 on the perspectives of famous and semi-famous pop/rock songwriters,

+3.5 on music instruments and gear (someone who plays a specific instrument would know more about that instrument -- but I have a pretty broad range of awareness of classical, rock, and folk instruments),

+3 on woodworking with hand tools,

+1 on computer stuff,

+2 on awareness of Linux stuff,

+4 on martial arts (not the **doing**, necessarily, but the awareness of different styles, and a little bit on their histories/inter-connectedness),

+3 on super heroes (although I'm out of touch compared to fifteen years ago),

+4 on Sociology and Criminology (Upgraded from "+3" -- I'd been basing this relative to my co-workers, rather than the general populace)

+4 on quantitative (i.e., statistical) research methods (Again, upgraded from "+3" -- most people don't even **think** about this stuff...)


So, I'm not a world-class expert (i.e., "+5") on any one thing. But I have all these weird pockets of knowledge that pop up. Which, not surprisingly, approximately correspond with the amount of bookshelf space taken up by that field.


Conversely, I'm probably -4 for sports, -4 for makes and models of cars, -2 for politics, and -3 for history. Compared to the typical male of my age.


--GG

Joining the open-source community?

On of my (many!) items on my “To Do” list for When I Finish My Dissertation (TM) is to shoot some music videos for some of our songs, and maybe a few film shorts -- maybe a really bad zombie movie.

As I mentioned just a moment ago, I plan to switch over to Linux for my recording and video editing work. For video editing, I have two directions I can go:

One is to buy a video editing software package called Main Actor -- version 5.5, costs $199 (U.S.?) to download it. It’s supposed to be good, although not completely intuitive for some of the more advanced features.

The other option is to use the no-cost software called Kino. Like most Linux software, it’s produced by a team of hobbyists, doing it for the challenge, the glory, and the GeekPoints(TM).

Supposedly, MainActor has a few features that Kino does not: for example, Kino only has one audio track (or something like that), so you can’t crossfade the soundtrack between scenes. So, for a while I thought I’d use my spending power to signal my support for Linux, and purchase the software.

But today, I realized that I enjoy suggesting new features for one of the survey-structuring software packages we use at work. And these sorts of software projects are always in need of beta-testin’, bug-flaggin’, feature-suggestin’ user-type folks. And they also often need people to help with the documentation: I’m pretty good at writing instruction manuals.

Plus, it’s been a while since I’ve done video editing, and it was old school, non-software editing. Instead of plunking down two hundred bucks at the get-go, maybe I should use the free software first -- see if it fits my needs -- and go from there?

Ayep!


--GG