New PC

 Have taken a few photos to share -- but haven't got around to posting them:  been busy; also, our internet was down for about two weeks.

My current PC only has 2GB of RAM (I bought too cheap), so when I tried to edit video it would just lock up.  So I bought a better (used) PC with more RAM:  I just need to install (Mint) Linux and set the rest of it up (and probably some video adaptors:  can have up to three monitors).  I've been accumulating footage -- just need to sit down and edit it (but! have a few tasks I need to do before I'm "allowed" to do that).

--GG

Am finally back

Sorry for the delay:  I'm finally back.


I was in Seattle for nearly all of December, visiting family.  Apologies to my friends over there:  due to our tight schedule, I made the decision that I'd be visiting only family, not friends.  I'll be back in Seattle in a few months for a fairly large family get-together, so I'll catch up with friends at that point.

Over the next few weeks I'll post some blog entries remedially.


Once I got to Seattle (in very early December), I discovered that I couldn't remember my gmail password -- so I couldn't access my e-mail account -- or my blog!  Thus, the big gap in blog entries.  The lesson learned is to not change my password the day before flying out on vacation -- or, if I do, to write it down and carry it with me.  And Google didn't believe my various attempts to restore my account while away -- so I had to wait until I got home.

Awkwardly, once I got back to Brisbane -- after being away for nearly a month -- I discovered that I had also forgotten my computer login.  Or rather:  I'm pretty sure I remembered the "log in after the screensaver kicks in" password, because I use that several times a day.  But I couldn't remember the "decrypt the hard drive" password that preceeds the other one, because I only use that once every day or so.

Actually, I'm pretty sure I did remember it -- but the computer didn't believe me.  Maybe I used to hit "shift" in a way that I don't remember.

For security reasons, I hadn't written the password down.  Hm.  That's gonna change...


So, after many, many failed attempts at unlocking my computer, I ended up having to wipe everything and re-install Mint Linux 17.  Took about an hour for the install, but another hour or two for me to re-install addtional bits of software (e.g. recording software).  So, not horrible.

Luckily I didn't lose any actual data (documents, photos, audio files), because I had done a full backup (but not a disk image; just all my personal files) before we went on vacation.  But it was still a bit of a nuisance.


But -- now I'm back! 

And I hadn't realized how... lost... I was without my computer.

So now -- over the next few weeks -- I get to empty the photos off my phone, write down a very long list of quotes, log the gifts I received for Christmas, and -- eventually! -- record a song I wrote about a really nice guy at work.


--GG

Cloud computing shortcomings

As I understand it, ''cloud computing'' is when you don't keep your files on your local device (your laptop, tablet, etc.), and instead just keep it on some server -- often third-party -- somewhere on the internet.

It sounds swell -- access to the internet is pretty ubiquitous these days -- but a few shortcomings to this approach occurred to me.


1) Internet access.  You won't always be in a place where there is internet access.  And sometimes you'll have to pay for the internet access.  Wouldn't it be easier to to have the data already on your hard drive?

2) Security.  Even if the service **claims** to store files in an encrypted manner -- can you verify this?  It could be a giant scam to get ahold of copies of your financial documents, for identity theft.  Of course, this is more of an issue for when someone other than yourself or your workplace is hosting -- esp. if it's a free, or oddly inexpensvie, service.

3) Impermanence.  What happens if the company's servers crash -- or worse (and probably more likely) suddenly goes out of business?  How do you get your files?  (BTW, this is why I still buy CDs, rather than ''rent'' them from iTunes.  My understanding is that techncially you don't ''own'' the music you get from iTunes:  you're just leasing it.)


--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

Mac and supercomputing quote

When Seymour [Cray] was told that Apple bought a Cray to design the next Mac, he retorted:

“I just bought a Mac to help me design the next Cray.”

(Source: http://www.advantagebusinessmedia.com/ims/SC/SC168_SC11InnovatorSeries7_Cray_Jobs/SC168_SC11InnovSeries7_Cray_Jobs_Full.htm )



Two more (plus a different interpretation of the above), different source:


"If you were plowing a field, which would you rather use? Two strong oxen or 1024 chickens?"
          --Seymour Cray (1925-1996), father of supercomputing


"#3 pencils and quadrille pads."
          -- Seymour Cray (1925-1996) when asked what CAD tools he used to design the Cray I supercomputer; he also recommended using the back side of the pages so that the grid lines were not so dominant.


"Interesting - I use a Mac to help me design the next Cray."
          -- Seymour Cray (1925-1996) when he was told that Apple Inc. had recently bought a Cray supercomputer to help them design the next Mac.


Source: http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/quotes.html


--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

I really like my job

Something I realized after work yesterday -- and still believe it today -- is that I really like my job.


My current job is relatively new:  the government dissolved my old agency in May, so I've only been at my current place about two months.  And it deals with a slightly different subject matter (although broadly ''criminology'') than my old job, and works the with the data slightly differently.

But!  Because I'm forced to use a spreadsheet program (Excel) rather than statistical software (SPSS or Stata) to manipulate the data, I'm learning a whole new approach:  I'm now (finally!) at the point where I can basically do all the data-related things in Excel that I used to be able to do in SPSS or Stata.

And, in my new job, my two roles seem to be to run analyses on data, and be the coordinator of data quality issues.  Running the analyses, I enjoy.  And coordinating the data quality means that I get to tap into my latent I.T. Guy orientation:  I have enough of an understanding of both database issues and data-crunching needs that I can bridge the gap, and speak the lingo -- possibly better than anyone else on my team.


My insights of ''Hey!  I actually **really** enjoy my job'' came about because all I did on Thursday and Friday was nut out (and accomplish!) a moderately challenging analaysis, in between assorted meetings with the database people to troubleshoot some data quality issues.

I get to interact with the database people enough that I get to influence what they do and how they do it -- but not so much that I have to actually learn SQL or write the code.  I'm in the perfect in-between zone.


Interesting; intellectually challenging; good stuff!!!   :)


--GG

Keeping it a secret

One thing about modern technology that's a little frustrating is that when you think of a really **cool** password for one of your accounts -- you can't tell anybody!!!


--GG

When free is just too frustrating

So, what little home recording I've done over the last year has been done with Audacity, which is freeware.

Initially, it worked well enough.  It's fine for recording from a microphone and doing multi-tracking (e.g. drums, then bass, than guitar, then vocals on top).

But about two months ago when a friend asked me for some mp3s of my old songs (sorry, No Tower! It's still on my ''to do'' list!), and I tried to convert them from *.wav to *.mp3 format, the result had weird ''warbly'' artifacts.

And today I tried to convert a *.wma file (from a voice recorder) from work, into an *.mp3 file so that it would be small enough to post on our website.  Audacity said that it didn't have the right component to make the conversion -- but I could download it.  OK, fine.  ((But, see end of this post...))

So I downloaded it and installed it -- but Audacity said that it couldn't find it.  The instructions on the website said how to show Audacity where on the computer it was located -- so I followed the instructions.  Still didn't work:  it found the location on the hard drive, but I couldn't get it to **accept** the location.  Gah!

I re-read the instructions, and **after** step #6, it said that if you have Audacity running when you install the extra bit, it may have trouble recognizing it.   GAH!!!  Seems like should be Step #1: exit out of Audacity, to allow it to install properly...

Closed out of everything.  Still doesn't work.


OK -- that's enough of that.  A friend suggested the recording software called Reaper -- http://www.reaper.fm/purchase.php   I like their business model:  the license fee is US$60 if you're an individual, or if you're a company that makes less thank US$20,000 a year.  Fair enough.  Otherwise the license is US$225 (which is still very reasonable).


So:  you get what you pay for.  At this point, though, the free software doesn't do what I need it to do.  Time to move on.

If I don't write anything additional about Reaper, you can presume that it's working fine.  :)


ADDENDUM:  As it turns out, when I visited the Audacity site again, it turns out that the newest release has been out for about a month.  Downloaded and installed **that**, and it immediately recognized the codecs (conversion files) that I had been trying to install.

Imported the audio, and spent several pretty enjoyable hours tidying up the audio file.

So:  Audacity redeemed itself.  And I'll pay for Reaper when I actually use it for recording. 

(Note to my readers:  I **really** like Reaper's business model.  Although they prefer that you pay for the software, they refuse -- on principle -- to sabotage or reduce the functionality of the software to force you to pay.  So, when I actually start using it, I **will** pay the thirty bucks.)


--GG

Perspectives

I thought this cartoon was pretty good.

--GG

Explanation of object-oriented programming

A year or so ago I asked several knowledgeable friends what the heck Object-Oriented Programming was. Each person tried to explain it, but their explanations ended up using additional technical terminology that I didn't know.

This, however, makes total sense to me. Hopefully it will also make sense to you.


--GG

Funnier if you are into computers

A very short, somewhat amusing blog entry on a Google "suggested alternative" to a web search.


--GG

Laptop good

Hm! After all that -- turns out the laptop hard drive had simply become unseated. Removed the hard drive, then firmly pushed it back into place. Laptop works again (I'm typing on it right now).

Huh.


--GG

Technology dies at my hands

So, last Wednesday morning my cell phone failed to power up. Seemed to be working fine the previous day. Dunno. My wife ended up getting a new cell phone, then giving me her old one.

And then Saturday evening, my laptop's boot sector went plooie. Worked fine Friday night. I put an Ubuntu (Linux) disk into the DVD drive, and all the hardware seems fine -- the hard drive simply can't find the Windows stuff to start running Windows.

I'll have to muck about with it. Until then, I'll be blogging a bit less.


--GG

This desk

This recent weekend we visited the local Ikea.

This is a snapshot of a desk I'll -- eventually -- be getting.

See all them shelves? The idea is that I'll be able to set up my various "classic" computers, and actually **use** them. The keyboards can be on the desk; the monitors can be on the mini-shelf; and the tin boxes can be on the upper shelves (vertical form factor boxes on the top shelf, and horizontal form factor on the next shelf down).


Right now, they just live in boxes. :(


--GG

I had a really genius blog idea but then I forgot

Hm. Dangit! There was **something** I was going to blog about -- something actually interesting.

Dangit.


Regardless: I've been having computer problems for the last few days, so my blogging will be sparse while I figure it out. (I'm using my wife's computer -- but she (naturally enough) gets first dibs. So.)


--GG

Insight from Devo guy

Devo was my first favorite band. I now probably have ten favorite bands (although I'd have to sit down to enumerate them). Anyhow:

The lead singer guy from Devo, Mark Mothersbaugh, was interviewed for the Geek a Week Podcast (#49 on this list; right-click on the "podcast" link to download the audio file).

He raised the point that, back in the day, big corporations had a huge amount of control over whose music and movies was available to the public: if they thought they could make money off it, they'd release it; if they didn't, no one would get to hear your stuff.

Whereas, now-a-days, you can post your stuff to YouTube, MySpace, and etcetera -- and it's open to the world.

That's a good point. Although it **does**, of course, require people to actually find out about you.


He also pointed out that the cost-to-processing-power ratio (my term) is a lot better. To elaborate on what he implied, but didn't quite say: if you already own a computer, for a few hundred bucks and a microphone, you can record your own music; or if you have a digital camcorder, you can do your own video editing and make your own film short.

Good stuff. He says he wishes he was twenty, right now. A good time to be a creative artist.


--GG

A whole lotta miscellania

Sometimes I have busy blog weeks, and sometimes I have slow. Usually I "save up" blog entries, to fill in the gaps. But I already have a backlog, so...


-Here's a snapshot (self-portrait!) of what I look like in my "office guy" mode. Notice how I've cleverly worn a tie that matches the marble walls in the men's room.



-When I started at my new job, I asked about using one of my trackballs from home -- but was told by our office HR guy that because the I.T. policy is fairly strict, I wouldn't be allowed to: he'd asked about three years ago to bring in his own trackball from home (he, too, prefers them to computer mice) and was told "no".

But, I figured it was worth a shot -- so, the next time I was on the phone with the I.T. helpdesk, I asked about it -- emphasizing that it was "plug & play", and thus wouldn't involve installing any additional drivers. And the guy said "sure". So, I brought in my trackball from home. I also told our HR guy, who was pleasantly surprised.

So today, while walking past his desk, I noticed he'd replaced his mouse for a trackball. Good for him. :)

One small, positive change I've made in the world.


-Finally, a bit of a follow-up to yesterday's posting about the dark storminess: here's the same view, at approximately the same time of day -- but **without** the storm clouds.



That's all for now. :)


--GG

We HAVE the technology

Yee-AWWW!!! :) Gots us some home internets.

While I was working at the university, I'd go in every few days and check my personal e-mail, and address the most pressing ones. But since leaving the university, and starting my government job -- they're super-strict on internet usage. So, I decided I simply wouldn't use my personal e-mail at work.

Over the next few days, I'll start back-populating the various blog entries that I meant to include over the last few weeks. Unless that doesn't appeal to me. And then I won't.

Also: my innate frugality (or just "cheapness") will find an equilibrium with my newfound additional income. Mostly, my extra income will manifest itself in little ways around the edges. Such as: Once a month, I intend to buy a book online (twenty bucks or so). Usually, a graphic novel. Woo-hoo!!!


--GG