Just a few pics for now.
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Thursday, 25 November 2010
Hitting the cooking brandy
Times are tough in our household.
Well, maybe not *quite* that tough.
Last Saturday we had some friends over, and for various reasons had a substantial body of time to plan and shop for dinner with them, which was really nice. I knew she was vegetarian, so plumped for Fondue Savoy with a nice sweet salad, a good bottle of reisling and baked apples to follow. In order to perk the apples up a little I bought some cheap Tesco brandy to pour into the centres and around them to add flavour. I didn't know she was also teetotal, but ho hum, alcohol evaporates while cooking and no-one was any the wiser.
Tonight I had a 'wonder just how bad it is' moment and go the bottle out.
BAM! straight back to childhood.
My mother used to keep cognac for cooking, and occasionally I'd get the bottle down and take a tiny amount. This was when I was small - somewhere between 5 and 9 - but the flavour and general alcoholic overtones where just like that cognac for me. I guess that may be why I developed a taste for Whisky in my teenage years.
Well, maybe not *quite* that tough.
Last Saturday we had some friends over, and for various reasons had a substantial body of time to plan and shop for dinner with them, which was really nice. I knew she was vegetarian, so plumped for Fondue Savoy with a nice sweet salad, a good bottle of reisling and baked apples to follow. In order to perk the apples up a little I bought some cheap Tesco brandy to pour into the centres and around them to add flavour. I didn't know she was also teetotal, but ho hum, alcohol evaporates while cooking and no-one was any the wiser.
Tonight I had a 'wonder just how bad it is' moment and go the bottle out.
BAM! straight back to childhood.
My mother used to keep cognac for cooking, and occasionally I'd get the bottle down and take a tiny amount. This was when I was small - somewhere between 5 and 9 - but the flavour and general alcoholic overtones where just like that cognac for me. I guess that may be why I developed a taste for Whisky in my teenage years.
I've just tried a couple of new distros.
PCLinuxOS and Linux Mint KDE (9, not 10, unfortunately).
PCLOS is looking likely to become my next OS. From the CD it was fast, generally clean and is running KDE 4.5.3, Digikam 1.50. It felt as snappy as openSUSE, which was a good thing.
Mint is interesting in KDE 4.4 (possibly better in 4.5) with better font display than the gnome variant (which is pretty stinky, nearly as bad a Unbuntu, and similar to Fedora). It also came with Wine ready to run direct from the CD, which will be interesting as I'd like to start trying Windows apps on Linux. They even had the windows style font down pretty well, which was surprising.
Why look at other distros?
There was a Sabayon update last week, and my Sabayon drive is now inaccessible. Apparently because it's a logical volume, rather than partitioned conventionally I cannot see the small number of unique files I had on there (just a few images and emails). It might be possible to rescue the OS by editing the PAM file but I don't know enough command line stuff to do it and no-one on the Sabayon forum appears interested in helping. I could try to learn CLI and then attempt it, but frankly life is too short, and that OS is going to be toast shortly.
I really liked it while I used it: the best, crispest fonts this side of Microsoft, generally quick and responsive. It wasn't flawless, with an odd diminished volume issue forcing me to turn the amp up really high to hear DVDs, and printing was a bit skanky, though reliable once I'd sorted out HPLIP. I also had to reinstall VLC to get DVDs to play.
So another day, another OS by the look of things.
*edit*
I'm posting from Mint 9 now - the fonts ARE too fuzzy, and this OS won't make it onto my hard drive.
PCLOS is looking likely to become my next OS. From the CD it was fast, generally clean and is running KDE 4.5.3, Digikam 1.50. It felt as snappy as openSUSE, which was a good thing.
Mint is interesting in KDE 4.4 (possibly better in 4.5) with better font display than the gnome variant (which is pretty stinky, nearly as bad a Unbuntu, and similar to Fedora). It also came with Wine ready to run direct from the CD, which will be interesting as I'd like to start trying Windows apps on Linux. They even had the windows style font down pretty well, which was surprising.
Why look at other distros?
There was a Sabayon update last week, and my Sabayon drive is now inaccessible. Apparently because it's a logical volume, rather than partitioned conventionally I cannot see the small number of unique files I had on there (just a few images and emails). It might be possible to rescue the OS by editing the PAM file but I don't know enough command line stuff to do it and no-one on the Sabayon forum appears interested in helping. I could try to learn CLI and then attempt it, but frankly life is too short, and that OS is going to be toast shortly.
I really liked it while I used it: the best, crispest fonts this side of Microsoft, generally quick and responsive. It wasn't flawless, with an odd diminished volume issue forcing me to turn the amp up really high to hear DVDs, and printing was a bit skanky, though reliable once I'd sorted out HPLIP. I also had to reinstall VLC to get DVDs to play.
So another day, another OS by the look of things.
*edit*
I'm posting from Mint 9 now - the fonts ARE too fuzzy, and this OS won't make it onto my hard drive.
Monday, 22 November 2010
My age has become apparent
And my changing tastes.
The Register has produced a list of the 'top 10 arcade games of all time'. While I recognise and remember playing happily the first few, everything from 'Outrun' onward never caught my imagination or drew me in. Maybe it was because they were so generic (and heralded the early 1st person shooters, like Wolfenstein) but maybe also it was because I was married by then and 'had a life'.
There's a couple missing too:
Firebird Phoenix (IIRC) was highly addictive and a stage on from Space invaders and Galaxian.
Vanguard was another that we spent many happy hours feeding 10p pieces into.
Finally, whatever happened to Asteroids - a contemporary of Space Invaders, and one that saw at least as much play.
The Register has produced a list of the 'top 10 arcade games of all time'. While I recognise and remember playing happily the first few, everything from 'Outrun' onward never caught my imagination or drew me in. Maybe it was because they were so generic (and heralded the early 1st person shooters, like Wolfenstein) but maybe also it was because I was married by then and 'had a life'.
There's a couple missing too:
Firebird Phoenix (IIRC) was highly addictive and a stage on from Space invaders and Galaxian.
Vanguard was another that we spent many happy hours feeding 10p pieces into.
Finally, whatever happened to Asteroids - a contemporary of Space Invaders, and one that saw at least as much play.
Thursday, 18 November 2010
It's deeply cynical
But I do quite like this version of the engagement. I can think of at least one wedding I'd prefer to see televised, but the individuals concerned are a little less wealthy and well known.
Bearing in mind the country of origin, perhaps it's not so surprising that it's so cynical.
Bearing in mind the country of origin, perhaps it's not so surprising that it's so cynical.
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
I've just signed up for sugarsync
But now I wonder if it would be my nightmare scenario?
The video linked above left me rather mentally gasping, feeling like I was being bombarded from my worst nightmare: never being able to escape. I've been careful to compartmentalise work and home, so the idea of seamlessly smearing the 2 together (and guess which one will win?) really is the stuff of bad dreams.
The idea of a log cabin somewhere remote or vows of silence in a monastery could become very appealing after a year of life like that.
The video linked above left me rather mentally gasping, feeling like I was being bombarded from my worst nightmare: never being able to escape. I've been careful to compartmentalise work and home, so the idea of seamlessly smearing the 2 together (and guess which one will win?) really is the stuff of bad dreams.
The idea of a log cabin somewhere remote or vows of silence in a monastery could become very appealing after a year of life like that.
Friday, 12 November 2010
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Well that was a fine semi-waste of time.
I've given up and re-built the Macbook with OSX 10.5. However because I backed it up in the new configuration I cannot restore all settings backward, so have to manually restore. But at least I can use an external monitor.
I will not willingly buy another apple product in the future.
I will not willingly buy another apple product in the future.
Monday, 8 November 2010
I just hate OSX so much now.
Printing is now a lottery - sometimes my computer will deign to let me print.... and sometimes not. I still cannot connect to an external monitor. And the dropping letters when you type 'undocumented feature' is back sometimes. Emails with embedded images no longer have an option to display the images either.
I really, really wish I'd never decided to try the snow leper upgrade (and it's no longer new-install fast either). No one else to blame but Apple marketing and my own darn gullibility.
I really, really wish I'd never decided to try the snow leper upgrade (and it's no longer new-install fast either). No one else to blame but Apple marketing and my own darn gullibility.
Saturday, 6 November 2010
More pictures!
I've not had time until now to post the pix from when Randall, Laura and we went to Stratford, so here's an example, plus the gallery link (click the image).
Hi, my name's Toni and I do stuff in church.
Tonight I was introduced to someone by a friend as 'A Worship leader', a title that was haltingly whittled away at by myself over the next few minutes.
I'm not sure where this post is going, but something that's concerned me for some time now is 'who we are' in relation to the way we get introduced (or introduce ourselves - sometimes we're asked to say 'what we do' as a way of identifying ourselves).
The truth is, I do stuff in church, but I'm not the stuff I do. I do pastoral stuff sometimes (not much right now - trying to get my own life straight). I have lead worship in the past (what I'm doing now isn't really worship leading, but that's another discussion) and may even do so again. I sometimes teach, but not enough to really be a 'teacher'. I sometimes clear up cups and saucers, move chairs and sweep floors but I'm not really a janitor either.
Often we like to have a title, I think, because it can make us look good, and also because it gives us something to hide behind. This isn't something that my marvellous maturity and sense of self-worth has carried me beyond, but I have reached the stage where I don't really want to be known by whatever title makes me look good or a success. I just want to be know as me, with my weaknesses (they'll show up soon enough) and strengths (which are real enough too).
So.... My name is Toni, and I do stuff in church.
I'm not sure where this post is going, but something that's concerned me for some time now is 'who we are' in relation to the way we get introduced (or introduce ourselves - sometimes we're asked to say 'what we do' as a way of identifying ourselves).
The truth is, I do stuff in church, but I'm not the stuff I do. I do pastoral stuff sometimes (not much right now - trying to get my own life straight). I have lead worship in the past (what I'm doing now isn't really worship leading, but that's another discussion) and may even do so again. I sometimes teach, but not enough to really be a 'teacher'. I sometimes clear up cups and saucers, move chairs and sweep floors but I'm not really a janitor either.
Often we like to have a title, I think, because it can make us look good, and also because it gives us something to hide behind. This isn't something that my marvellous maturity and sense of self-worth has carried me beyond, but I have reached the stage where I don't really want to be known by whatever title makes me look good or a success. I just want to be know as me, with my weaknesses (they'll show up soon enough) and strengths (which are real enough too).
So.... My name is Toni, and I do stuff in church.
open SUSE is back.
After the tram-smash that is font display in Fedora I had to revert back. O'Suzy (as some call it) isn't *perfect* but it is quite usable. I still can't get Sabayon to install, but I think I know the reason now, and will take steps to sort that when the replacement HD arrives.
I don't know what the reason is: it's not KDE vs Gnome, because I did a full KDE dual desktop install, switching back and forth (you acquire a HUGE range of different applications that way - more than any Windows user could possible have and keep their machine running happily). It's also not the graphics driver, because both Fedora and SUSE are running the Noveaux OSS driver. And it's not the fonts themselves, because I changed the system fonts around from their default settings in Fed, and what worked at one size would then bleed yellow or blue in a different size.
I'm done with pUbuntu and related OSs for now. It's a real shame, but they just cannot seem to get that one fundamental requirement right.
Wonder when Sabayon 5.5 is out.....
I don't know what the reason is: it's not KDE vs Gnome, because I did a full KDE dual desktop install, switching back and forth (you acquire a HUGE range of different applications that way - more than any Windows user could possible have and keep their machine running happily). It's also not the graphics driver, because both Fedora and SUSE are running the Noveaux OSS driver. And it's not the fonts themselves, because I changed the system fonts around from their default settings in Fed, and what worked at one size would then bleed yellow or blue in a different size.
I'm done with pUbuntu and related OSs for now. It's a real shame, but they just cannot seem to get that one fundamental requirement right.
Wonder when Sabayon 5.5 is out.....
Thursday, 4 November 2010
I can feel another Mac rebuild approaching rapidly.
And reverting back to 10.5 Leopard.
Trying to get it to print is like playing eeny meeny miny moe. Sometimes it will and sometimes it won't.
The FAT32 partition on my external drive is now invisible. I asked it to save a file there >4Gb (4Gb is the limit for FAT32) but puh-lees, the drive doesn't have to become inaccessible because you couldn't store more data there!
Trying to get it to print is like playing eeny meeny miny moe. Sometimes it will and sometimes it won't.
The FAT32 partition on my external drive is now invisible. I asked it to save a file there >4Gb (4Gb is the limit for FAT32) but puh-lees, the drive doesn't have to become inaccessible because you couldn't store more data there!
Back to intensive spreadsheet work today.
I am absolutely not going to buy another apple computer for as long as their operating system cannot manage windows in a manner that does not interrupt and spoil workflow. Working with multiple excel windows open on a 13" screen is just a frustrating mess. Not for the first time do I regret the decision to buy a Mac.
As a toy for self gratification and entertainment the apple ethos works well - sales of the iPad and feedback from owners I've talked to confirm this. But as a serious work tool for handling data in tables this thing is just terrible. Every Linux mainstream distro uses a similar approach to windows, so why oh why can't Apple?
It's not so bad on a 20+" monitor, because one can size folders up and move them around more easily, but on a tiny screen it's just a nightmare. But of course I can't use my big screen because snow leper will not work with my apple adapter. In terms of productivity the windows approach is simply very much better at real world work tasks, and enormously less frustrating. When this machine is 3 years old and I can write it off - assuming I have enough income to do so - then it is going to be replaced, and good riddance!
As a toy for self gratification and entertainment the apple ethos works well - sales of the iPad and feedback from owners I've talked to confirm this. But as a serious work tool for handling data in tables this thing is just terrible. Every Linux mainstream distro uses a similar approach to windows, so why oh why can't Apple?
It's not so bad on a 20+" monitor, because one can size folders up and move them around more easily, but on a tiny screen it's just a nightmare. But of course I can't use my big screen because snow leper will not work with my apple adapter. In terms of productivity the windows approach is simply very much better at real world work tasks, and enormously less frustrating. When this machine is 3 years old and I can write it off - assuming I have enough income to do so - then it is going to be replaced, and good riddance!
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Fedora 14
has been downloaded, but not installed yet - apparently it's not a live disc like the CD-size versions. Having said that, it was listed as 3.1Gb and actually arrived as 3.4Gb - weird because the 64bit AMD version is only 3.3Gb (and they ALWAYS come up larger).
I like the look and feel of Fed 13, but some fonts are REALLY bad, with colour bleeding either side and smudgy patches. Some are fine, but not all applications can be instructed to use them, and this may be the deciding factor in the end. It would be nice to combine the best features of Fedora and SUSE, KDE and Gnome too, but then I'd probably end up with something very like Windows.
The dud Western Digital drive has got an RMA number and should be going tomorrow, so when it returns I'll do the install.
Still kind of wishing I'd bought a Solid State Drive instead of the Scorpio black, just to reduce the noise and heat a little more. The Scorpio is a great *performing* drive, but I wish it was quieter. Live & learn.
I like the look and feel of Fed 13, but some fonts are REALLY bad, with colour bleeding either side and smudgy patches. Some are fine, but not all applications can be instructed to use them, and this may be the deciding factor in the end. It would be nice to combine the best features of Fedora and SUSE, KDE and Gnome too, but then I'd probably end up with something very like Windows.
The dud Western Digital drive has got an RMA number and should be going tomorrow, so when it returns I'll do the install.
Still kind of wishing I'd bought a Solid State Drive instead of the Scorpio black, just to reduce the noise and heat a little more. The Scorpio is a great *performing* drive, but I wish it was quieter. Live & learn.
Sunday, 31 October 2010
I've been trying Fedora 13 Gnome on the main 'puter'.
Installed it yesterday, updated, installed various updates, codecs, DigiKam, VLC etc. I like the desktop icons better than KDE's, but screen fonts are less crisp and there's noticeably less control through the GUI (unless I've not found the right apps yet). The jury is out on whether it'll stick around, but they're releasing Fedora 14 on Tuesday next week with a KDE 4.5 option that might swing it.
The Fedora/Gnome mix has more of the clean of combining Opera and Windows XP classic desktop (i.e. NOT the toys R us icons that appear as standard) but lacks all the crispness of XP. That's compared to openSUSE 11.3 which has the slightly muddlier but softer firefox-style appearance. I like the Fedora look, but so far it's not crisp enough to make me want to keep it, and the lack of easy GUI control is disappointing. Getting the libdvdcss libraries to install was also quite a hassle, as Fedora is determinedly 'free' and eschews all non-public software.
Fedora also refused to open the folders containing my email and browser data because of permissions issues, so I've had to boot off my old Samsung HDD into SUSE (what I'm using now) to download my emails etc onto a memory stick for transfer to the new OS.
I think that if SUSE 11.3 had been completely stable and bug-free I'd have stuck with it, and I may yet go back to it. We'll have to see.
The Fedora/Gnome mix has more of the clean of combining Opera and Windows XP classic desktop (i.e. NOT the toys R us icons that appear as standard) but lacks all the crispness of XP. That's compared to openSUSE 11.3 which has the slightly muddlier but softer firefox-style appearance. I like the Fedora look, but so far it's not crisp enough to make me want to keep it, and the lack of easy GUI control is disappointing. Getting the libdvdcss libraries to install was also quite a hassle, as Fedora is determinedly 'free' and eschews all non-public software.
Fedora also refused to open the folders containing my email and browser data because of permissions issues, so I've had to boot off my old Samsung HDD into SUSE (what I'm using now) to download my emails etc onto a memory stick for transfer to the new OS.
I think that if SUSE 11.3 had been completely stable and bug-free I'd have stuck with it, and I may yet go back to it. We'll have to see.
Saturday, 30 October 2010
You drive me round the bend!
In this case, the bend in the blocked drain outside our house this morning.
Why is it that drains seem to always block when the weather is cold? The only solution is to plunge one's bare arm into chilly, foul and smelly water, digging out lumps of congealed greasy material (almost certainly hair conditioner). Success was had within a reasonable time frame, but there's a very large amount of YEUCH attached to the process.
I'm sure a little hardship and discomfort is good for the soul.
Why is it that drains seem to always block when the weather is cold? The only solution is to plunge one's bare arm into chilly, foul and smelly water, digging out lumps of congealed greasy material (almost certainly hair conditioner). Success was had within a reasonable time frame, but there's a very large amount of YEUCH attached to the process.
I'm sure a little hardship and discomfort is good for the soul.
Friday, 29 October 2010
Replacement MoBo arrived today
And it's a better one than expected (Gigabyte durable series, compatible with AM2 and AM3 processors). Looks a really nice board.
Guess that's this evening spoken for then.
Guess that's this evening spoken for then.
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
It may be a few days before I get the home PC up again.
So contact me through facebook or by telephone if you need me - email won't be up for a while.
The upside and the downside of the Macbook rebuild
An unexpected benefit of the rebuild has been that my keyboard now seems to work properly.
Eh?
Yup. Both the built in keyboard and (especially) the external USB apple keyboard repeatedly missed letters when I was typing. It still happens a little, but it had got to the point where I thought it would be necessary to replace it, and this certainly added to my frustration with the machine. It is nice to have that aspect working again.
However not *all* is rosy in the garden.
Firstly, just a minor issue, but iStat - the hardware monitoring software I used - no longer works. No idea why, but it simply cannot be enabled. The developer's website has no warning messages about incompatibility with snow leper, so it remains a mystery.
Now, much more serious, the wretched mini display port no longer works. This gave problems from the beginning, only really being fixed around April or May of that first year with a flashed firmware update, but even so, image quality was lacking compared to a Windows machine using the same monitor and it frequently crashed on startup. Now, after the update, it simply refuses to connect to an external display properly, repeatedly powering up and shutting off the adapter. When the adapter alone is plugged in the display switches to an extended desktop view, just as if there were another display connected. It also does not recognise the presence of the adapter, despite the display switching when asked to update it.
I did try the 'full-fat' update today. The Snow Leper disc version was 10.6.3, and to migrate to the current 10.6.4 I had to first download 876Mb followed by a further 270Mb directly afterward. I'd say that 10.6.4 has slowed the machine noticeably, but not intrusively - it's lost the snappy feel it first had but it's not enough to be a problem.
I've been out of the Windows loop for so long that I'm not sure how well 7 works, but I wonder if it really could be worse. Very tempted to downgrade to 10.5 and stick with it right now.
Ho and indeed hum.
Eh?
Yup. Both the built in keyboard and (especially) the external USB apple keyboard repeatedly missed letters when I was typing. It still happens a little, but it had got to the point where I thought it would be necessary to replace it, and this certainly added to my frustration with the machine. It is nice to have that aspect working again.
However not *all* is rosy in the garden.
Firstly, just a minor issue, but iStat - the hardware monitoring software I used - no longer works. No idea why, but it simply cannot be enabled. The developer's website has no warning messages about incompatibility with snow leper, so it remains a mystery.
Now, much more serious, the wretched mini display port no longer works. This gave problems from the beginning, only really being fixed around April or May of that first year with a flashed firmware update, but even so, image quality was lacking compared to a Windows machine using the same monitor and it frequently crashed on startup. Now, after the update, it simply refuses to connect to an external display properly, repeatedly powering up and shutting off the adapter. When the adapter alone is plugged in the display switches to an extended desktop view, just as if there were another display connected. It also does not recognise the presence of the adapter, despite the display switching when asked to update it.
I did try the 'full-fat' update today. The Snow Leper disc version was 10.6.3, and to migrate to the current 10.6.4 I had to first download 876Mb followed by a further 270Mb directly afterward. I'd say that 10.6.4 has slowed the machine noticeably, but not intrusively - it's lost the snappy feel it first had but it's not enough to be a problem.
I've been out of the Windows loop for so long that I'm not sure how well 7 works, but I wonder if it really could be worse. Very tempted to downgrade to 10.5 and stick with it right now.
Ho and indeed hum.
Monday, 25 October 2010
Not happy
My main PC motherboard appears to have croaked.
Again.
Swapped HDDs around this morning, Installed Sabayon Linux first go (KDE 4.5 looks clean, if a little dark. Fonts are great). Uploaded data from the old drive and half way through the system crashed unrecoverably. Went to reinstall and had repeated failures, including trying XP (always works, whenever Linux can't hack it). Disc now no longer recognised.
Swapped HDDs back, and when trying to remove the SATA cable from a socket on the MoBo, the socket pulled off the board. The old drive was briefly recognised, but isn't now it's back in the case.
If ebuyer had a good bundle offer I'd be seriously tempted, but don't want to buy yet MORE PC bits for the moment.
Again.
Swapped HDDs around this morning, Installed Sabayon Linux first go (KDE 4.5 looks clean, if a little dark. Fonts are great). Uploaded data from the old drive and half way through the system crashed unrecoverably. Went to reinstall and had repeated failures, including trying XP (always works, whenever Linux can't hack it). Disc now no longer recognised.
Swapped HDDs back, and when trying to remove the SATA cable from a socket on the MoBo, the socket pulled off the board. The old drive was briefly recognised, but isn't now it's back in the case.
If ebuyer had a good bundle offer I'd be seriously tempted, but don't want to buy yet MORE PC bits for the moment.
Well by this time.....
Randall and Lauralea should be pretty much by Victoria, if the traffic's not been too bad. A short walk back up Buckingham Palace road & round the corner will find them at their hotel. The house isn't empty, as Chris has a card workshop happening this afternoon, but it's certainly lacking something we've enjoyed the last few days.
The sunshine looks good, and the fire is burning away. I'll eventually try to get some images up, as a reminder.
The sunshine looks good, and the fire is burning away. I'll eventually try to get some images up, as a reminder.
Have I done the right thing?
If Moore's law applies to computer development, so do the natural laws of entropy.
Last week I ordered a Western Digital Scorpio black hard drive for the Macbook, and tonight actually did the transplant and install: took a couple of hours. Lets just say that I'd forgotten that an Apple computer can actually feel crisp and responsive instead of dull and difficult to use. I'm sure some of the improved functionality was a result of the new HDD being much faster, but most of it, I'm sure, was down to the fresh install.
Then came the step about which I still have questions: upgrading to Snow Leper.
Well, for one thing it was darn time consuming, and actually took longer than the original install. There's a new appearance to certain file types and the dock seems to move more crisply than before. However also quite worrying was the way the system fans started within a couple of minutes, and were then on and off every couple of minutes. I'd read about this issue, but though it had been sorted: apparently not so in 10.6.3 (the version on the install disc).
It was backing up a few minutes ago, but I'm hoping that upgrading to 10.6.4 and a restart will solve these issues. Maybe I'm being foolish.
FWIW the drive is clearly running all the time by the vibration through the case: the old slow drive could not be felt in normal use. There does not seem to be a difference in noise level that I can detect.
I also received a 1TB Western Digital HDD to go in this Linux box and replace the 1.5Tb Samsung drive (which will become my general backup drive once all the data has been copied from it). Why replace and rebuild already? Because SUSE isn't stable and several OSs have struggled with the Samsung 1.5TB drive unit to create a working install. It's a big (not necessarily fast) drive and ideal for backup use in a USB caddy.
Night for now.
Last week I ordered a Western Digital Scorpio black hard drive for the Macbook, and tonight actually did the transplant and install: took a couple of hours. Lets just say that I'd forgotten that an Apple computer can actually feel crisp and responsive instead of dull and difficult to use. I'm sure some of the improved functionality was a result of the new HDD being much faster, but most of it, I'm sure, was down to the fresh install.
Then came the step about which I still have questions: upgrading to Snow Leper.
Well, for one thing it was darn time consuming, and actually took longer than the original install. There's a new appearance to certain file types and the dock seems to move more crisply than before. However also quite worrying was the way the system fans started within a couple of minutes, and were then on and off every couple of minutes. I'd read about this issue, but though it had been sorted: apparently not so in 10.6.3 (the version on the install disc).
It was backing up a few minutes ago, but I'm hoping that upgrading to 10.6.4 and a restart will solve these issues. Maybe I'm being foolish.
FWIW the drive is clearly running all the time by the vibration through the case: the old slow drive could not be felt in normal use. There does not seem to be a difference in noise level that I can detect.
I also received a 1TB Western Digital HDD to go in this Linux box and replace the 1.5Tb Samsung drive (which will become my general backup drive once all the data has been copied from it). Why replace and rebuild already? Because SUSE isn't stable and several OSs have struggled with the Samsung 1.5TB drive unit to create a working install. It's a big (not necessarily fast) drive and ideal for backup use in a USB caddy.
Night for now.
Friday, 22 October 2010
Thursday, 21 October 2010
I'd better go turn the heating on
*edit*
I've no idea why I wrote this last night, except that I was both tired and in a hurry. Sometimes I worry about the stuff my head comes up with.
I've no idea why I wrote this last night, except that I was both tired and in a hurry. Sometimes I worry about the stuff my head comes up with.
Sunday, 17 October 2010
Ever read Ecclesiastes
......and wondered if Solomon was the first blogger? It reads for all the world like someone who's watched life and learned by seeing what happens, rather than by faith.
Saturday, 16 October 2010
Am I becoming what I've despised?
It's a good question.
On Facebook my profile describes me as Christian, conservative, orthodox, fundamentalist and charismatic and so I am.
Was.
Am.
Saturday Mornings we have a men's bible study with breakfast afterward. This morning I described the account of creation as more of a cartoon than a photograph, which caused a certain amount of consternation, although I'd stand by that description.
The thing is, I've been reading the bible seriously for nearly 35 years, more than that if you take the pre-christian phase of my life, where it was all just a collection of words without a particular meaning. I've had some teaching on hermeneutics and exegesis, but have carefully stayed away from books and characters that try to tell me how to think and view reality.
What's all this about?
Maybe it's the legalistic child in me, but I want to take the easy way out and just 'follow the rules so everything will be all right'. The fundamentalist in me recognises that the bible is The Word Of God but it also recognises that people wrote it, with their own views and outlook. So you read about storehouses full of snow and lightning bolts, recognising pictorial language. Are the windows of heaven sash opening or uPVC double glazed etc. An interesting take is when the bible talks about angels appearing with swords (that MUST be for the benefit of the humans viewing the situation - how is a sword an effective weapon in a spiritual realm? Paul talks about not using the 'weapons of this world' when dealing with spiritual issues).
The thing is, I want to understand. I want to know what's real, what's made up.
When I was a new Christian I despised the attitudes of theologians who carefully put all of what the bible said - all the outrageous bits - into carefully constructed boxes of interpretation so that they didn't have to worry about the lack of God moving in the church (and their own lives?). So I'm asking the question of myself "am I doing this over stuff like healings, miracles, God breaking in tangibly". Because when it does apparently happen, it's happening with other people, in other countries - yet here we pray, fast, seek and all apparently in line with the words in the bible, and nada.
Yet I know God IS there.
Chris and I have talked about some of this, and for her, even in the worst times, she's never been able to walk away, deny the truth. For me, it's been the same and we have even been able to accept God at work during some of the worst things that can happen. But it's those 'if-then' passages. If God is real (check) but doing the 'if-then' stuff doesn't work (check) what does the 'if-then' stuff (and a whole lot of other, much less clear passages) really mean?
My observation is that theology can just become a system for explaining how great our God is and then providing reasons why He doesn't actually do all that 'great' stuff here and now. I have now done some of this from a public platform.
And I think I despise it.
There's a great truth that I'm grappling for and not finding. It has to be here somewhere, and no amount of books or clever teaching are going to uncover it. If it doesn't turn up then I guess there's always mediocrity to sink into - maybe we moved church streams at the right time?
Wonder if Ian reads this stuff still?
On Facebook my profile describes me as Christian, conservative, orthodox, fundamentalist and charismatic and so I am.
Was.
Am.
Saturday Mornings we have a men's bible study with breakfast afterward. This morning I described the account of creation as more of a cartoon than a photograph, which caused a certain amount of consternation, although I'd stand by that description.
The thing is, I've been reading the bible seriously for nearly 35 years, more than that if you take the pre-christian phase of my life, where it was all just a collection of words without a particular meaning. I've had some teaching on hermeneutics and exegesis, but have carefully stayed away from books and characters that try to tell me how to think and view reality.
What's all this about?
Maybe it's the legalistic child in me, but I want to take the easy way out and just 'follow the rules so everything will be all right'. The fundamentalist in me recognises that the bible is The Word Of God but it also recognises that people wrote it, with their own views and outlook. So you read about storehouses full of snow and lightning bolts, recognising pictorial language. Are the windows of heaven sash opening or uPVC double glazed etc. An interesting take is when the bible talks about angels appearing with swords (that MUST be for the benefit of the humans viewing the situation - how is a sword an effective weapon in a spiritual realm? Paul talks about not using the 'weapons of this world' when dealing with spiritual issues).
The thing is, I want to understand. I want to know what's real, what's made up.
When I was a new Christian I despised the attitudes of theologians who carefully put all of what the bible said - all the outrageous bits - into carefully constructed boxes of interpretation so that they didn't have to worry about the lack of God moving in the church (and their own lives?). So I'm asking the question of myself "am I doing this over stuff like healings, miracles, God breaking in tangibly". Because when it does apparently happen, it's happening with other people, in other countries - yet here we pray, fast, seek and all apparently in line with the words in the bible, and nada.
Yet I know God IS there.
Chris and I have talked about some of this, and for her, even in the worst times, she's never been able to walk away, deny the truth. For me, it's been the same and we have even been able to accept God at work during some of the worst things that can happen. But it's those 'if-then' passages. If God is real (check) but doing the 'if-then' stuff doesn't work (check) what does the 'if-then' stuff (and a whole lot of other, much less clear passages) really mean?
My observation is that theology can just become a system for explaining how great our God is and then providing reasons why He doesn't actually do all that 'great' stuff here and now. I have now done some of this from a public platform.
And I think I despise it.
There's a great truth that I'm grappling for and not finding. It has to be here somewhere, and no amount of books or clever teaching are going to uncover it. If it doesn't turn up then I guess there's always mediocrity to sink into - maybe we moved church streams at the right time?
Wonder if Ian reads this stuff still?
Friday, 15 October 2010
Looks Like Luminous Lion Looming
In a shock move today, Apple Computer* announced a deal with Canonical, the software house supplying the Ubuntu linux operating system, to jointly develop the new Apple OS. The new software will be named Luminous Lion, merging both Apple and Ubuntu naming conventions. There were subtle hints with the last release of Ubuntu 10.04, when window controls swapped from the 'Windows' side to the 'Macintosh' side. A spokesman said this would create exciting opportunities for both companies, enabling Apple to charge people for open source software and Canonical to actually make some money. A release date has been scheduled for early April 2011.
*Not really. It seems 10.7 Lion won't be released for some time. I was disappointed and made up the above story because now I will have to buy Snow Leper. As far as I know Canonical and Apple Computer have absolutely nothing to do with each other.
*Not really. It seems 10.7 Lion won't be released for some time. I was disappointed and made up the above story because now I will have to buy Snow Leper. As far as I know Canonical and Apple Computer have absolutely nothing to do with each other.
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