I'm in a(nother) state of transition, so I think I'll try blogging again!
Since my last post, I've dropped Dapper, lost interest in the 'novel' (which was really nothing but a few thousand words each day for about 5 days), registered and ignored the domain name www.bobtheoptimzer.com, went on a huge FreeBSD kick, returned to Debian, and had a LOT of things happen in my personal life.
All of this has made me want to return to blogger and keep up this blog, or at least try it out for the fifth or so time.
I'm not putting any restrictions on the scope of it this time.
We'll see how it goes...
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Taking a break
After a year of very intense blogging effort, I think I'll take a long overdue hiatus...
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
I'm writing a novel this November
My wife and I are signing up for the National Novel Writing Month game. We each will be writing a 50,000 word novel between November 1st and the 30th.
I will be devoting most of my free time to the endeavor. I plan to write about 2000 -2500 words each day. This way, I will be able to miss a few days and still hit the 50,000 word goal.
The point of the game is to discipline yourself to write each day, not to write a good novel. That's nice because it take the pressure off. And besides, I don't think I have a great or even good novel in me to start with!
I have the story idea already and will be thinking about the arc and trying to break it into the 25 parts that will make up the work over the next month.
I plan on using AbiWord when ever possible. AbiWord is my favorite word processor. It's all you most of us will ever need in a word processor. And it's free! I may also use MS wordpad when I can't use AbiWord. All the formatting will be done in AbiWord.
I want to do a post on AbiWord, so this will be a great basis for it.
Also, I plan on posting my work throughout the month on my other blog, Writing Discovery. I started that one to explore technical writing.
Stop by and check out my novel, if you are interested.
Back to Dapper
I had been using Xubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake) on my laptop for a year and a half with a couple brief interruptions to try new distros. Last weekend I put Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon on to try it out. I liked the idea of the update checker and the fact that the GNOME games are included. I like the Chess game that was added to the games for Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn).
After I installed it, I went to the terminal and tried to check for updates using Aptitude. It kept erroring out on some of the sources, so I couldn't update. Shortly after that, the laptop just shut down. Not gracefully, it just powered off.
The next day I was able to run the updates, but once again, the laptop just shut down without warning. I had downloaded some documentation, so I decided to write it to CD and then switch back to Dapper. The program that's included in Gutsy (Brasero), was able to blank the re-writable disc, but could not write anything to it. After trying a few times, I installed Gnome-baker and wrote the files to CD.
I re-installed Dapper and decided to run with it until support runs out in April of 2009.
Dapper is a great version. It runs faster on my laptop than any other Xubuntu version and uses less memory than the others. It's a good balance between being usable and easy on system resources. When it boots up, it uses only about 58 Mb, but when Gutsy booted, it used about 80Mb. Gutsy also felt more like GNOME than XFCE. I understand what people have been complaining about when they talk about the 'GNOME-ification' of XFCE. I also realize that the update-checker is overrated. How hard is it to type 'apt-get update' and 'apt-get upgra' in a terminal window?
The Firefox 1.5 is a bummer, but it's a small price to pay for the all the benefits of Dapper. It's quick, stable, nice to use, and it doesn't spontaneously power off at random!
After I installed it, I went to the terminal and tried to check for updates using Aptitude. It kept erroring out on some of the sources, so I couldn't update. Shortly after that, the laptop just shut down. Not gracefully, it just powered off.
The next day I was able to run the updates, but once again, the laptop just shut down without warning. I had downloaded some documentation, so I decided to write it to CD and then switch back to Dapper. The program that's included in Gutsy (Brasero), was able to blank the re-writable disc, but could not write anything to it. After trying a few times, I installed Gnome-baker and wrote the files to CD.
I re-installed Dapper and decided to run with it until support runs out in April of 2009.
Dapper is a great version. It runs faster on my laptop than any other Xubuntu version and uses less memory than the others. It's a good balance between being usable and easy on system resources. When it boots up, it uses only about 58 Mb, but when Gutsy booted, it used about 80Mb. Gutsy also felt more like GNOME than XFCE. I understand what people have been complaining about when they talk about the 'GNOME-ification' of XFCE. I also realize that the update-checker is overrated. How hard is it to type 'apt-get update' and 'apt-get upgra' in a terminal window?
The Firefox 1.5 is a bummer, but it's a small price to pay for the all the benefits of Dapper. It's quick, stable, nice to use, and it doesn't spontaneously power off at random!
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Back to Ubuntu
In anticipation of the release of Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) next Thursday, I have re-installed Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) on my computer. I had been running Debian Etch (4.0) for a couple months. It was a nice change of pace. It was also good to see the distro that Ubuntu is based on. Debian Etch installed perfectly on this old computer. (Check out the specs in the sidebar for a good laugh!) It performed well and never crashed. If you are familiar with Debian, you know why. If you are not, it's because by the time the Debian project releases a new stable version, it has been so thoroughly tested and be-bugged that it is rock solid. So much so that the only updates packages receive in the stable branch are security updates, (no fixes are required). Coming from Ubuntu, I was used to lots of updates on an almost daily basis. (Ubuntu is on the 'bleeding edge' and so requires more than just security fixes. Even so, it delivers an experience far above anything you've ever gotten from Windows.) Updates for a Debian desktop setup are on an almost weekly basis. They have been criticized for consistently missing their own stated release dates, but who cares. It's been said that businesses want regular releases, but the Debian project is not about supporting businesses. They are about creating an amazing distro, and they always deliver. Check them out at www.debian.org to learn more.
That being said, I am REALLY enjoying using Ubuntu again. I love it. The focus of the Ubuntu project is the user experience, and they are succeeding here. Ubuntu delivers a great 'out of the box' experience. Pretty much everything you need is there when you install it. If there is a program you need that is not included, you can most likely get it from the repositories (more free software). Simply put, it is a pleasure to use this distro.
I was initially put off from the Xubuntu version of Feisty back in April because the panels didn't load occasionally (XFCE has two panels, one on the top of the screen and one at the bottom of the screen in the default Xubuntu install) and whenever I tried to load a terminal window, it would crash the graphical environment (the X server) and I would have to log back in after the X server re-started. That sent me looking for another distro to use. The Ubuntu variant with the GNOME desktop environment does not have this problem (which has most likely been fixed by now) and after 120+ MB of updates, runs like a dream! This remark about updates is not a dig. The Ubuntu project developers are on the ball when it comes to proactively fixing problems. Consider that this is a mostly volunteer project producing an amazing OS and then fixing, updating, and maintaining it. Having 120+ MB of updates after six months is a great thing.
A couple days ago I couldn't wait for next Thursday to install Gutsy, but after enjoying Feisty this weekend, I can wait a couple weeks...
That being said, I am REALLY enjoying using Ubuntu again. I love it. The focus of the Ubuntu project is the user experience, and they are succeeding here. Ubuntu delivers a great 'out of the box' experience. Pretty much everything you need is there when you install it. If there is a program you need that is not included, you can most likely get it from the repositories (more free software). Simply put, it is a pleasure to use this distro.
I was initially put off from the Xubuntu version of Feisty back in April because the panels didn't load occasionally (XFCE has two panels, one on the top of the screen and one at the bottom of the screen in the default Xubuntu install) and whenever I tried to load a terminal window, it would crash the graphical environment (the X server) and I would have to log back in after the X server re-started. That sent me looking for another distro to use. The Ubuntu variant with the GNOME desktop environment does not have this problem (which has most likely been fixed by now) and after 120+ MB of updates, runs like a dream! This remark about updates is not a dig. The Ubuntu project developers are on the ball when it comes to proactively fixing problems. Consider that this is a mostly volunteer project producing an amazing OS and then fixing, updating, and maintaining it. Having 120+ MB of updates after six months is a great thing.
A couple days ago I couldn't wait for next Thursday to install Gutsy, but after enjoying Feisty this weekend, I can wait a couple weeks...
Friday, October 12, 2007
Second Post
Welcome to the second post of Bob the Optimizer Speaks.
I never intended on starting a blog, which is why over a year has passed since my first post. (Honestly, I only created a profile so I could comment on my wife's political blog. I started through the prompts and ended up with this blog.)
Over the last year and a half, I have marveled at the 180+ profile views I have gotten. I guess a small government conservative in Vermont is noteworthy. They were undoubtedly commenters on my wife's blog wondering who I am and not finding anything out by looking at my profile!
Anyway, I have decided to start posting on this blog. My personal interests right now are primarily Linux, the BSDs and open source software. I will be posting about these things on a fairly regular basis. I don't really enjoy talking politics, so I won't be doing any political posts here. My goal for this blog is to share my experiences with, and thoughts about, open source software.
So, I invite you to stop by and read my posts occasionally. I plan on posting at least weekly on a topic, distro, or application that has my interest. I may also sound off on things that are happening in the open source community.
I'll just throw out a quick disclaimer here: I love open source software because of the freedom of choice it offers. I have no interest in starting the tired old flame wars about whose distro is better, etc., etc. I also think that open source is the wave of the present and future and that it makes using a computer fun again.
Hope to see you soon!
I never intended on starting a blog, which is why over a year has passed since my first post. (Honestly, I only created a profile so I could comment on my wife's political blog. I started through the prompts and ended up with this blog.)
Over the last year and a half, I have marveled at the 180+ profile views I have gotten. I guess a small government conservative in Vermont is noteworthy. They were undoubtedly commenters on my wife's blog wondering who I am and not finding anything out by looking at my profile!
Anyway, I have decided to start posting on this blog. My personal interests right now are primarily Linux, the BSDs and open source software. I will be posting about these things on a fairly regular basis. I don't really enjoy talking politics, so I won't be doing any political posts here. My goal for this blog is to share my experiences with, and thoughts about, open source software.
So, I invite you to stop by and read my posts occasionally. I plan on posting at least weekly on a topic, distro, or application that has my interest. I may also sound off on things that are happening in the open source community.
I'll just throw out a quick disclaimer here: I love open source software because of the freedom of choice it offers. I have no interest in starting the tired old flame wars about whose distro is better, etc., etc. I also think that open source is the wave of the present and future and that it makes using a computer fun again.
Hope to see you soon!
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
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