Warcraft

Babyshoes (on the Skywall server) is rapidly approaching level 70. If you don’t already know, Babyshoes is my level 66 Gnome frost mage with the tailoring and enchanting professions. He’s been a lot of fun to play and I’m trying to get him to level 70 in time for the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. This expansion opens up a new continent, customizable hairdos (the girls are crazy for this), a new player class, a bunch of new dungeons, and a raised level cap. I have 5 other toons, but I’ve focused on Babyshoes because mages are a lot of fun to play. Some people find the magic users complicated, but I like the versatility. The character becomes sort of like an operating system with various commands you can run, besides the standard whack and loot. If Babyshoes hits 70 before WotLK comes out, I will probably work on Gorefeaster, my level 50 Undead warrior, and try to get his epic mount. Warriors are a pain to level. He can tank like nobody’s business, but his damage per second is so low that it takes forever to kill something. I need to team up with a mage or a warlock and just power level him. If you have a toon on Skywall or want to tell me what server you play on, drop me a comment.

The Wire

I’ve been watching heroic amounts of The Wire. It’s so good, it’s mind blowing that it earned such low ratings. Imagine the best of Law & Order, coupled with the best of Homocide: Life on the Streets, add in a dash of Sopranos dark humor, simmer in the technical savvy of Numb3rs, and you get The Wire. On the surface, its a crime drama detailing the trials of the Baltimore police homicide and drug divisions. The understaffed, overworked, and  underpaid department is pushed past its limits and its ability to enforce the law is compromised by the lean budget. There are ladder climbing superiors, lifers just waiting to get out on a pension, and frustrated detectives just trying to get some work done. But this surface, entertaining as it is, hides the real meat of the show: why does crime exist? Why does a first world nation have so many people on drugs or in jail? It’s about that, the death of the American working class, the priorities of city officials, and the seemingly insurmountable odds we face as a country. All of that and more with clever writing and gripping drama. The show ran for five seasons and it is available on DVD.

Music

I’ve been listening to a lot of music and playing around with Ableton Live. I discovered a Canadian indie rock band from the early ’90s called The Inbreds. Their hit single was Any Sense of Time and a few others. They’re from Halifax and never made it far outside of Canada. My other favorite new find is jazz-fusion artist Bob James. Before you vomit all over your keyboard at the jazz-fusion label, hear me out. Bob James is one of the most sampled artists in music history and funky as hell. Hundreds of hip hop acts have sampled him and electronic bands have looped him. Röyksopp made a whole track (Eple) based off of a 2 note Bob James sample (You’re as Right as Rain). This guy’s the man. If you’ve ever watched an episode of Taxi, you’ve heard his work (the theme is called Angela). Check out any of his albums from the ’70s. You can’t go wrong.

I downloaded over a hundred hip hop and funk loops, plus two-hundred drum machine samples. I’ve been playing around with the Ableton Live recording features so I can start looping guitar phrases and lay down vocals. I have a plan to build a top notch gaming/music production machine in the near future. Unfortunately I’ll have to run Windows, but I’ll be using my laptop for my day to day work and it runs Ubuntu. I gave up on the Mac idea. I realized that I value freedom too much to hand over all that control to Apple, even if they do make fine products. Windows is almost as bad at the freedom aspect, but at least I can upgrade and modify the hardware. As soon as I can run Ableton Live on Linux or someone makes a convincing clone, I’ll switch to Linux for music production. Linux has all the facilities to record traditional instruments and arrangements, like a 3 piece rock band, but the software for sample based music and software synths is clumsy and underdeveloped. In addition to this, there are hundreds of virtual instruments on the VST platform that sound fantastic and I depend on them for some of my favorite sounds. There is no way I could afford the kind of hardware keyboards that come for free as virtual synths. So I’m stuck with Windows for Ableton Live until they get with the program. Though hmm…a little googling reveals that the latest version of WINE seem to support Ableton Live 7.0.3 without any issues. I’ll have to try installing it.

I promise I’ll post some music once I iron out the kinks in my production workflow. I need to get all my synths reinstalled, my samples organized, and a workplace setup. Also, if you are interested in working on music (especially if you live in the Austin area), leave me a comment. I love to collaborate on projects with interesting people.

Whew! That was pretty long winded. I’ll have to post more often, because this doesn’t even scratch the surface of some of the other stuff I’m up to. And lastly, I’d like to wish Josh and Feliz a hearty and heartfelt congratulations. They are going to make awesome parents.

In the meantime you can read my previous review here.

I’ll have a full review once I get it installed. The Windows binaries are up here. If you have a Windows PC you can try out 0.5 before it’s released on Linux. Remember, as with all pieces of software, it runs a little hinky on Windows.

Update!: There are finally some Ubuntu/Debian packages available.

To update Elisa on Ubuntu and Debian add this repo to your apt-get sources:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/elisa-developers/ubuntu hardy main

And then run:

sudo apt-get update

And finally:

sudo apt-get upgrade

If you’d like to ditch Windows, here is the plan I followed.

1. First identify the Windows programs that you use on a daily basis. Include the smaller tools and the more rare utilities. Catalog every Windows program you even remotely use. Don’t forget video and audio converters, games, and proprietary file format viewers. Leave no stone unturned, as they say. The object is to find out just how addicted to Windows you are.

2. Next compile a list of all the hardware you use. This list should include scanners, audio interfaces, remote controls, and MP3 players. Hardware support has come a long way in Linux, but since the majority of hardware vendors only officially write drivers for Windows, Linux hardware support tends to lag a bit. Hopefully, you don’t use anything that is so exotic or new as to be unsupported, but if you do then maybe you can eventually replace it with Linux compatible gear. In the future you can research what hardware runs well on Linux before you buy it. If you buy your gear in a shop, be sure to ask if it is Linux compatible. If you did your research then you probably already know the answer, but it’s good practice to make hardware shops aware of Linux. When you get the hardware working, call the shop and tell them that it works so they can tell their customers in the future.

Now that you have a complete list of all the hardware and software reasons you use Windows, you have a clear picture of how much you depend on Papa Microsoft. Hopefully you are a casual addict. But I know some people may be deeply entrenched and it might not be possible to lower their Windows usage to under 50% or so. For these people the the advantages and power of Linux might not be so apparent while in the Microsoft mindset.

4. This next bit gets a little tricky. You need to find ways to do as many of the tasks that you do in Windows but using Linux instead. For many programs this is simple. Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice, VLC, Skype, and many other open source applications have Linux native versions. In these five applications alone, you have what I consider the best in web browsing, email, office productivity, media player, and VOIP telephony software. If you use these programs, you already have Linux solutions for most of your daily tasks. You can even try them in Windows first to see if they are suitable replacements.

Next, you can consult this page to find alternative programs to the ones you use in Windows. This is just a matter of trial and error. Keep the Windows program installed, but install the Linux alternative in your Linux distro and give it a spin. If you don’t like it, trash it and try another one. You may find (as I did) that the Linux alternative is better than the Windows application. If after trying all the alternatives you find that none of them suit your needs, you have a (hopefully short) list of programs you can’t live with out. For these stubborn apps, you can try WINE.

WINE is a Windows compatibility layer. This allows you to run some Windows programs in Linux. You can check the program’s compatibility with WINE here. The site is based on the experiences users have with installing and operating various Windows applications under Linux. Don’t take their word for it, try it yourself. There are special versions of WINE, called CrossoverOffice and Cedega, that help you easliy install office apps and games. They both use WINE, so you can theoretically do it yourself, but sometimes it’s just easier to use one of them.

If you can’t replace your favorite Windows app or run it under WINE, then you have no choice but to boot into Windows or if you are feeling adventurous, run them under a virtualizer like VMWare or Parallels. I’m not familiar with virtualizers, but many people love them. It’s not a bad option for people with high-end hardware. If you are lucky, then your final list of Windows-only apps is much smaller than your original list. This means you can spend more time in Linux and less time being frustrated by Windows. :)

My list of Windows programs is small:

- Ableton Live 7  (Nothing can replace this yet and the latency is too long under WINE)
- VST Instruments  (DLL files that are used by Ableton Live)
- iTunes (I may move back to Rockbox now that Banshee works better)
- World of Warcraft (My video card is too weak to run it in Linux)
- Various Emulators (Once I get my Xbox 360 controller to work under Ubuntu, I will be migrating these)
- Magic the Gathering (It has issues under WINE, but I barely even play)

Hope this helps you. If you have any suggestions please leave a comment.

This works on my Toshiba M45-S2692 laptop running Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron:

PLEASE BACK UP ALL THE FILES YOU ARE ABOUT TO EDIT!

1. Open “/etc/modules” in gedit with root access.

2. Add two lines to the end. One saying “fbcon” and another saying “vesafb”.

3. Save “/etc/modules”

4. Open “/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-framebuffer” in gedit with root access.

5. Comment out (put a # in front of) “vesafb” in the file /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-framebuffer

6. Save “/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-framebuffer”

7. Open “/boot/grub/menu.lst” in gedit with root access.

8. Add “vga=865″ to the end of the kernel line in your Ubuntu entry so it looks something like this:

title        Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic
root        (hd0,1)
kernel        /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=f817e879-773c-40c0-9ea5-7e142bbc52ff ro quiet splash vga=865
initrd        /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic
quiet

9. Save “/boot/grub/menu.lst”

10. Reboot your PC.

Now when you need to do something small, but don’t want to log in to Gnome, you can open a console terminal and have a 3733t looking console. It’s really sweet.

The upgrade went more or less smoothly, but there were a few bumps in the road. First, Ubuntu has a habit of removing certain apps and installing apps you removed (the ones that are part of the default install) to complete the upgrade. In my case, since I use wicd instead of Network Manager, I had a bitch of a time getting my wireless working again after the reboot. I had to connect to the wireless from the command-line using ifconfig/iwconfig and then install wicd with synaptic. It wasn’t hard, but it was a bit of a pain. Once wicd was installed, the network was working fine. Next I noticed that the Emerald theme wasn’t showing up (the Clearlooks Metacity theme that I had as my back up was loading). When I went to the Emerald theme manager and selected the theme, Emerald failed to load it. After much googling, I found that Compiz had somehow reset the preferred window manager from Emerald to Metacity. To fix this I went in to “System->Preferences->Advanced Desktop Effects Settings->Extras->Window Decoration” and put “emerald –replace” in the “Command” field. After that my Emerald theme showed up. You can find my Emerald themes here. After that was fixed I could concentrate and began the task of installing the removed programs, removing the unwanted programs, and trimming the fat. This was a good time to clean up the ol’ home directory. I deleted the .confs of all the programs I no longer used and deleted ones that I figured could use a regenerated conf. I still need to figure out the VGA code for grub to give me my 1280×800 console again. I found it once, but my googling has so far been unsuccessful.

I’m a little upset that they went with the Firefox 3 beta. It runs fine, but my windows partition has 2.0.14 and they share a profile. It doesn’t mess up anything important, but I’ve had cookie issues. If I log in to a site in one version, it will persist as long as I don’t start up the other version. Then the cookies or something get reset and I have to log in again. However eventually, 3 will go gold and both versions will sync up.

I’m interested in PulseAudio. I don’t know exactly what it does, but I’m interested in anything that tries to improve sound on Linux. I got 3D windows to work on Compiz. This is the little plugin that makes it look like your app windows are floating over the desktop when you do a cube rotate. It looks cool. Aside from all that, I don’t see a whole lot of difference. I suppose that is better than it being slower or something. At least I know it’s patched and will be supported for 3 years.

Final verdict? Hardy Heron works great. Stable. No real problems…once I tied up all the upgrade’s loose ends. I’m sure those that do a clean install will have a very smooth time of it. To be honest, I’m amazed that the upgrade works at all. In the Windows world, you take your chances when you do an upgrade. So yay Ubuntu, keep up the good work!

There are a lot of little changes and a few major ones. So far all my upgrades have been flawless, but I’m not too worried if things break. My /home folder is stored on a separate partition. It’s totally isolated from the operating system. I’m not going to update the Elisa server until I’m sure things are all kosher. I think Elisa has a few issues with Hardy.

The only problem is that its taking forever. At this very moment millions of nerds are gang-raping the Ubuntu update servers and the traffic is coming to a crawl. I should have downloaded the ISO from the torrent tracker and done an install CD update.

Well, wish me luck!

You can get Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron here.

I spent the evening setting up the box. I built a RAID0 array, moved the “/home” to the new array, and configured the remote. I still need to adjust the buttons more to my liking, but I the remote works like a charm. The server comes on, boots to the media user and starts Elisa. Its like a media appliance.

Now the fun part comes; loading the server up with media. I have quite a task ahead of me, but man will it be worth it.

• Plays AVI/MKV/OGM/MPEG/WMV/MOV/VOB/MP4 video files (more added every release).
• Plays MP3/FLAC/OGG/WMA/AAC/M4A and many more audio files.
• Seamlessly syncs with your iPod and all digital music players.
• Plays Youtube videos and even loads your personal favorites and your own posted videos.
• Plugins for additional services (Um…Youporn and Redtube anyone?).
• Plays Shoutcast internet radio.
• Plays podcasts.
• Plays files stored on networked drives.
• Displays photos from your local drive or Flickr.
• Remote control support (but I think I want a wireless keyboard).
• Runs on Linux, OS X and Windows.
• FREE and TOTALLY OPEN SOURCE.

It’s still development software, so things could get bumpy with upgrades. But it works as advertised and fucking rules. Yes, I will help you install it. House calls cost money, pizza, beer or all three.

My poor old DVD player is now obsolete.

That being said, it’s also true that I’m a lazy user and don’t like to read pages of instructions. Is it too much that I expect the install CD to basically set everything up for me? Because of this I have stuck with Fedora and Ubuntu which are no more hard to install than Windows and have tons of online community support. Sure I’ve flirted with more hands on Linux distributions like Gentoo and Slackware. But, I usually get through most of the install, hit a snag, get frustrated, and go with an Ubuntu install. Why mess with success?

Today I decided to set up one of the spare boxes that was donated to me. As a side note, I accept any and all PC related donations. In my spare time, I refurbish the boxes and pass them on to people that don’t have a PC. Where was I? Oh yeah, the spare box. Anyway, I needed to put something on this box, but it’s a Pentium 2 with 64 MB (!) of RAM. I recently put Xubuntu on a similar machine, but it had 128 MB and it just BARELY ran. It was the kind of slow that you can get used to if you don’t have faster PCs to compare it to. This poor old dog was just to under powered for even the most light weight of the Ubuntu family.

I decided to try a roll-my-own solution. I installed the latest Debian using only the so called Standard System. The standard system is basically the bare minimum needed to boot to a command line prompt with Apt configured and network access. This means that it did little more than edit text files and basic file management. Using apt, I installed the Xorg X windows system (to get a GUI). It configured and started correctly. I was impressed. Then I decided I would use Fluxbox as my Window manager. It worked! I couldn’t believe it. I was in Fluxbox and it actually ran pretty snappy, but looked really modern. Nice!

To really make the machine independent (so I didn’t have to keep looking at my laptop for any setup info), I needed to install a web browser. I LOVE Firefox and would love to run that, Debian doesn’t have Firefox. For licensing reasons, Debian has IceWeasel (which apparently is now called IceCat). It’s Firefox with the trademark artwork and the Mozilla plugins links replaced. It’s great, but even IceWeasel is too intense for The Ancient of Days so I needed something light. Luckily, there is a Firefox derived browser called Kazehakase. It’s pretty cool. I like that there are beginner, intermediate, and advanced UI settings that lets you set up your preferences as an advanced user, but then use the browser as a simple beginner user. It has a clean interface and a fresh approach to a common tool (the Firefox fork).

After I had a browser I was free to look up important issues like changing the look of the window, fonts, and wallpaper. I had to pick out a terminal program to replace xterm (I chose Eterm), a GUI editor (I chose Leafpad), a file manager (I chose ROX-Filer), and a few other bits and pieces of the basic tools you use all the time. It was really neat to consider WHY I wanted a given tool rather than just accept the default ones that show up in Ubuntu or Fedora. Even better, I could get rid of the default tool when I replaced it. It’s a really organic method of package selection. I would do whatever I wanted to do until I found I didn’t have a tool to do the next thing I wanted to do. Then I’d look up what was available and pick one. Usually it seems that desktops are so tied together that you have to keep a tool around even though you never use it (or use a better tool) because some other tool depends on some aspect of that default tool. For an OCD guy like me its frustrating. This way, you get a truly unique desktop that is made up of your favorite tools. Linux is all about choice, but this from-the-ground-up style of installation exceeds my concept of freedom of choice. I’m not going to replace my production machines Ubuntu install, following the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” rule. But in the future, this is definitely an option. I still think compiling from source is wacky though.

All in all I’m proud of myself. I learned a lot and ended up with a cool desktop. The command line is nothing to fear.

In the beginning (for me) there was WordPerfect. Not the bloated GUI, WYSIWYG program that you see these days. No, real WordPerfect. WordPerfect for DOS. What you got was what you needed: a blue screen and a blinking white cursor. That’s it. No icons or menus (they were hidden behind a hot key), just sheer unadulterated text. You could get some writing done. The old PCs didn’t multi-task. They didn’t play music. If you wanted it to type, that was all it was going to do. It was simple and clean.

As time went on GUIs replaced the blinking cursor and the work space tried hard to mimic actual paper and typesetting. The problem with this (though I didn’t know it at the time) is that choosing fonts and designing layout is not writing. It’s typesetting. Writers write. You write and you write and you write. When the writing is done, you edit. You edit and proofread and rewrite and edit some more. First, second, third, forth drafts; it goes on as long as it takes. When all this is done, if you need to print it to paper or a paper like distribution (like a PDF or website) then you worry about typesetting and justification. That’s when the bolding and italics matter. And the writer (in most professional settings) doesn’t even do it!

I thought that Word for Windows would make my writing better because of all of it’s bells and whistles. It had an assistant and a spell checker (okay, spell checkers are nice). You could see what your novel would look like while you were typing it! And you know what? It did nothing to make me a better writer.

Eventually I got tired of pirating Word and switched to OpenOffice because I knew that I didn’t need half the features of Word. I needed a word processor for resumes and what the hell, maybe I could get some writing done.

Many a resume got written, but not so much fiction. Then I started dabbling in Linux and I found myself using Nano, a command line text editor that did little more than open, save, search and replace. I found myself enjoying writing in such a simple environment. Under Windows I started writing in Notepad. Then EditPlus. Now a days I use gedit in Linux and notepad in Windows, but that may change.

Enter Dark Room. Dark Room is a Windows clone of an OS X program called WriteRoom. Basically the theme of these programs is a full screen text editor like my old lover WordPerfect for DOS. It replaces your desktop with a black screen and a green cursor (of course you can change the colors to whatever you want). Ctrl-S saves and Ctrl-Q quits. ESC will shrink it down to a window and you can use the mouse, but the hot keys are where it’s at.

Give it a shot, free yourself of buttons and icons.

EDIT: There’s also a similar app in Linux called PyRoom. I love it on Ubuntu!