athelind | Entries tagged with linux

When Your Obedient Serpent says "hoopy", he's not making a Douglas Adams reference.

A hoopy task or process is one that requires jumping through hoops: before you can perform the task, you have to perform another task, which in turn requires another task, and another. It's a highly gradable adjective: a process can be "a little hoopy, but worth the trouble", or "too bleeping hoopy to mess with". It's also a relative value, based on the quality of the end results: something that delivers amazing end results can be worth a few hoops.

Corollaries:

A moderately hoopy task only requires you to jump through the hoops the first time you set it up; a really hoopy task requires a series of hoops every time you perform it (and probably demanded different hoops for set-up.
If you jump the same hoops frequently, or in a wide range of tasks, they stop being visible as hoops. They don't go away, you just don't notice them. Come on: you know there are, say, common Windows tasks that you have to burrow through nested menus to find when it should be available on a right-click or a handy button, but you do them so often you just shrug and move on.
Hoops that could be automated are frustrating, because they should be.

Examples:

Running IrfanView on a Linux system using WINE is Moderately Hoopy: while it is vastly superior to any of the graphics viewing and conversion tools available natively on Linux, it is generally less trouble to use those inferior tools than Jump Through The Hoops when I just want to crop or resize a file or view a graphics directory in chronological order instead of alphabetical.
Torrenting and watching TV on my computer is hoopy.
Character creation in GURPS is hoopy. Character creation in Champions is hoopier. Character creation in The Dresden Files is even hoopier, but the hoops are entirely different than GURPS or Champions.
Changing software is always hoopy. "Yeah, that software has a lot of amazing feeps, but I've got all my stuff set up on this one. Changing now would be really hoopy."
Equal time for Microsoft: Specifying Spreadsheet Cell Borders in OpenOffice Calc is significantly hoopier than it is in MS-Excel. The "Format Cells" dialogue box are almost identical, but Excel has a nice little button in the toolbar that lets you select commonly-used patterns (say, Thick Solid Border Around All Selected Cells) and apply them with a single click. The similar button in Calc just calls up the dialogue box, and makes you specify your border pattern every time. Hoop, hoop, hoop.
Makers and programmers are people who have jumped through hoops to learn how to cut through other hoops. Bless you all. Now get to work.

Gaming Geekery:

Years ago, on a whim, I picked up a big bag of plastic "gold pirate coins" from a Halloween store during their big November 1st sale. I've found they make terrific game counters; they're big and shiny and, compared to those ~~defective marbles~~ flat glass beads that most people use, much lighter to tote around and much harder to lose.

A year or two ago, I wandered through a party store around Mardi Gras time, and noted that they had even bigger bags of Mardi Gras coins, in gold, metallic green, and metallic purple.

So, after noting earlier in the week that Mardi Gras was in early March this year, I stopped by a local party store last week and got a bag.

I'm ab out to start a game of DC Adventures (a.k.a. Mutants & Masterminds Third Edition). DCA/M&M makes extensive use of "Hero Points", which allow PCs to do Cool Things Above and Beyond Their Character Sheet. They also have a "Luck Control" power which bestows Expendable Resources that aren't quite as flexible as a full Hero Point.

M&M originated the "Toughness Save" wound mechanic. Every time you fail a Toughness roll in DCA, you take a Wound, which gives you a -1 on further Toughness checks (and makes you more likely to take additional Conditions that lead up to Unconsciousness).

I've been using counters for Hero Points since M&M 1st Edition. M&M1 gave PCs a lot of Hero Points, and not only was it a lot easier to keep track of them when we used counters ... there was something viscerally satisfying about the sound they made when you dropped the glass-bead counter in the Big Jar. There's a psychological edge to using something tangible that you don't get just from marking a tally on a piece of paper.

While I was ~~hypnotized by the shinies~~ looking over three different colors of coins, I immediately designated Gold as Hero Points, and Green for Luck was a no-brainer. I wasn't quite sure what to do with the purple ones, at first, until I remembered that keeping track of Wounds was a bit of bookkeeping that would also benefit from counters. Just tossing a player a purple coin (or stacking one up on an NPC sheet) will make it a lot easier to track. "What's my penalty?" "How many coins do you have in your stack?"

And Purple is a vaguely bruise-like color, after all.

Computer Geekery:

After three-plus years of using Ubuntu Linux and Open Office on my home systems, I have just spent my first three weeks at a job where I am obligated to use industry-standard Microsoft products: Windows, Office, all the Usual Suspects.

I have to say ... I regret nothing! After running smoothly for more than two weeks, Office decided to be Inexplicably Glitchy this past week. Word just randomly slows to a stop periodically, interrupting my work flow to herald me with the icon that

normanrafferty has so eloquently described as "a toilet-flushing circle".¹ Excel, for its part, has decided that I don't really need cell heights to adjust automatically unless I close Excel entirely and re-open the worksheet in a fresh instance.

None of these quirks would be quite so irksome if the applications hadn't run just fine right up until Wednesday or Thursday.

I will say that there are a couple of Excel features that OpenOffice Calc doesn't implement quite as elegantly, most particularly in the little "cell border" button up in the toolbar. In Calc, that just calls up the "Format Border" dialogue. Excel lets you pick from an array of commonly-used border choices (such as "surround all these cells with a thick black line"), which makes it much simpler and faster to insure that your tables all have a uniform appearance. Still, Excel gives me just as many "why won't you do this simple obvious thing that Calc does?" moments as vice versa.

Oh, and Microsoft Visio is a gem of a layout/floorplan program that seems to have no direct Linux equivalent. In fact, it doesn't seem to have any significant Windows competitors. Nothing else seems to combine that "here's a bunch of commonly-used icons to drag and drop onto your layout" interface with the crisp, elegant lines that Viso produces.

Of course, the only credit Microsoft gets is for having the savvy to buy out the company and rebrand the software.

¹ Obviously, the toilet is stopped up, since the circle doesn't change in size at all ...

Current Mood: geeky

Question for the Hive Mind:

I am using Ubuntu Linux 9.04.

I want to simply hash up a text file, so I can just push a button or enter a short password to unlock it. This doesn't need to be bulletproof; when I was running Windows, I used EditPad Lite's ROT-13 function for the same purpose. It does, however, need to be portable: I want to be able to encrypt a file on the laptop, and open it on the desktop using the same application.

The gedit GNOME text editor has an Encrypt/Decrypt plug-in, but it drops into the OpenPGP "Passwords and Encryption Keys" application, which is a) incomprehensible gobbledygook¹, b) overkill worthy of SlitherSting², and, most importantly c) not, insofar as I can tell, particularly portable: any pass phrase I come up with will be linked to a locally-stored Encryption Key File.

That last one HAS to be wrong. The whole point of PGP is to pass encrypted files around, right?

OpenPGP also makes ~~passwords~~ ~~pass phrases~~ ~~encryption keys~~ thingamabobs that expire after a maximum of six months, and I don't want that. Yes, I know, blah blah blah security blah blah, but I'm not a Swiss bank. I want to be able to hash a file, ignore it for a couple of years, and then open it up and still be able to use it, even if it's on a different machine.

Heck, I've got a command-line ROT-13 hash app for Ubuntu. If I knew enough about the Ubuntu equivalent of a DOS .BAT file, I'd whip something up that just let me enter "Innocuous Command" at the command prompt, and it would turn it into "Decrypt location/hashfu.bar > location/useful.txt", and another one to go the other way.

Now, I wouldn't mind PGP-level security, if I could make it portable and access it with a minimum of fuss.

¹"Ubuntu" is not in the default dictionary for the spell-checker in Ubuntu, but "gobbledygook" and "thingamabobs" are.
²Yes, that will get an Argot entry eventually.

You know, I'm gonna Andy Rooney here for a minute.

There's an ongoing and, as far as I can tell, unsolved conflict between Keeping Your Data Secure and Actually Being Able To Use It Yourself.

I constantly hear that :

Passwords should be hard to guess.
- This, of course, makes them hard to remember.
The best passwords are completely random.
- ... making them impossible to remember.
You should have different passwords for every site and log-on.
- ... giving you vast amounts to remember.
You should change your passwords regularly.
- Ibid.
You should never, ever write them down, because anyone who finds your password book has access to your whole life.
- Not that you have much of a life, since you spend all your time trying to access sites whose passwords you no longer remember.
You shouldn't store them on your computer, either, because anyone with physical access to your machine will, again, have full access to Your Whole Life.
- Besides, if anything happens to your computer, or if you have to use a different one, you'll have totally forgotten all your passwords.

Summary: Online Security and Password Protection lie somewhere between Catch-22 and Kobayashi Maru. Unless you spent the points for Full Eidetic Memory, you have to compromise on at least one of the above, and probably more.

That's not really a question. It's just me bitching.

Current Mood: It TASKS me.

I meant to post this when it first showed up, but...

This is actually the first indication I've had that the stuttery, spazzy, laggy video I get from YouTube and its ilk isn't just due to my ancient 2003-era motherboard and underpowered video card.

I meant to post this when it first showed up, but...

This is actually the first indication I've had that the stuttery, spazzy, laggy video I get from YouTube and its ilk isn't just due to my ancient 2003-era motherboard and underpowered video card.

You know, I've very quickly adapted to using a single monitor -- thanks in part to the quick-and-easy Desktop Switcher that Ubuntu has.

The whole system seems to be working much more smoothly than it has in a very long time.

After almost a full day of this, I've started to realize that all of my most blood-pressure-raising computer issues in the last few years have centered around my stubborn insistence at keeping the two-monitor set-up running.

Hell, if I recall correctly, that was what kept me from keeping that video card I got last year in the machine: it ran fine until I tried a second monitor.

Hmmmm...

Current Mood: contemplative

Current Mood: contemplative

I'm getting used to one monitor, but so far, that's not the most annoying thing about the glitches in the Ubuntu display editors.

No, the most annoying thing is that, now that I'm only running one screen, all of the annoying little visual flourishes like expanding windows and transparent toolbars have activated -- and I CAN'T TURN THEM OFF.

It's taunting me.

Current Mood: annoyed

Current Mood: annoyed

Well, over the last couple of weeks, I upgraded from Ubuntu 8.04 to 9.04, with a week or so at 8.10 just to make sure everything was stable.

Annoyingly, the jump to 9.X threw a wrench in my video drivers, and the setting software was cranky.

In the proces of trying to correct a minor glitch (that made Second Life almost unusable), I've once again completely cocked up my two-monitor browser settings. The second monitor refuses to set itself at the proper 1440x900 resolution -- it's turned into a 1024x768 monitor PANNING ACROSS a 1440x900 virtual screen.

That's worse than useless.

Once again, the only hints of help I can find online involve hand-editing the appropriate config files; meanwhile, finding useful information about just how to DO that elude me.

So, to hell with it. I'll just use one monitor, like everyone else does.

Ironically, I've got the replacement Eee working just fine under Eeebuntu.

Current Mood: frustrated

Current Mood: frustrated

I can has netbook.

You can has, too, if you order before Sunday.

It just arrived today. Haven't really had time to play with it. I need to scream at the wireless router this weekend; it's being st00pid again. So far, though, the Eee is NICE. Tiny keyboard, but I'm getting used to it. The high resolution makes the little screen seem loads bigger than the grainy 600x800 of the Transnote.

If nothing else, I'll be able to curl up in my Comfy Chair and read ebooks!

Current Mood: TOY!

Current Mood: TOY!

All right, wish me luck.

After weeks... okay, MONTHS... of procrastinating, I'm finally going to shut down my desktop machine, yank its almost-decade-old 20-gig C: drive, plug in a new 320-gig drive, and install Ubuntu. All in one swell foop.

My laptop is up and running, so I'll still have web access and access to FurryMUCK if things go south.

Unfortunately, my long-time ICQ account may go bye-bye. I simply can't change my password on ICQ -- it stubbornly refuses to send new passwords to the email address it shows in the frakkin' Personal Details.

I have one possible Gordian solution, though: I'm using an old, old version of ICQ, because all the subsequent ones suck.

(No, I'm not using Trillian or whatever... because I can't remember my blippin' password.)

It's possible that the protocols for stuff like password confirmations have changed.

So... maybe... if I download the latest version, it'll read all the stuff from my OLD copy, and transfer it over, and then let me CHANGE stuff because IT has the right protocol.

And if it eats my old ICQ and doesn't do what I want it to do -- WHO CARES? I'm without my preferred version of an IM client that I don't even use much these days, on a HARD DRIVE THAT WON'T EVEN BE IN MY COMPUTER ANYMORE.

Current Mood: nervous

Current Mood: nervous

I have been cautioned against trying to install Ubuntu onto the 80 GB, since it's full of years and years of data that would make me cry if it went away.

I need a decent backup system. There's just no good way to BACK UP that much data.

I also need to clean off my desk; the drive-juggling will go much faster if I don't have to keep running back and forth to the kitchen table to do surgery.

I finally got Infra Recorder to cooperate with my CD/DVD burner. I am now posting to LJ via FireFox, from Ubuntu Live, running from DVD.

My second monitor is NOT happy, and is currently turned off to avoid the Dance of the Angry ASCII.

Tasks To Do:

Figure out how to get my FireFox and Thunderbird config data from the Windows versions to the Linubuntunix versions. I have tons of bookmarks and eight friggin' email accounts, and redoing even the latter by hand would be traumatic.

Figure out if Ubuntu is set up for a dual-boot install.

Install Ubuntu on my old 80 GB "Data" drive for a "Test Run", using the dual-boot option and leaving the even older 20GB "OS and App" drive untouched.

Make sure I can get the nVidia drivers up and running properly, with both monitors.

Remove the 80 GB drive, and install the Shiny New 320 GB drive.

Install Ubuntu with Dual-Boot option on the 320 GB. The "Second Boot" will be the 20 GB Windows XP drive. This is the "emergency exit".

Temporarily unplug the 20 GB drive from the CD controller and power. Plug in the old 80 GB. Transfer all data into an "Archive" directory.*

Buhbye, 80 Gig. You've served me well.

this

Yank out the old nVidia card, install the 7600 GT, and see if the Linux drivers work on this hardware combination when the Windows drivers wouldn't.

If so... buhbye, 20 Gig. Buhbye, Windoze.

*(Yes, it would be much simpler to have all three drives running at once, but I don't have any spare IDE connections... unless I yank out my old, half-functional, never-used CD-RW drive. And trying to figure out Master/Slave settings between THREE drives is scary.)

Current Mood: optimistic

Figure out how to get my FireFox and Thunderbird config data from the Windows versions to the Linubuntunix versions. I have tons of bookmarks and eight friggin' email accounts, and redoing even the latter by hand would be traumatic.

Figure out if Ubuntu is set up for a dual-boot install.

Install Ubuntu on my old 80 GB "Data" drive for a "Test Run", using the dual-boot option and leaving the even older 20GB "OS and App" drive untouched.

Make sure I can get the nVidia drivers up and running properly, with both monitors.

Remove the 80 GB drive, and install the Shiny New 320 GB drive.

Install Ubuntu with Dual-Boot option on the 320 GB. The "Second Boot" will be the 20 GB Windows XP drive. This is the "emergency exit".

Temporarily unplug the 20 GB drive from the CD controller and power. Plug in the old 80 GB. Transfer all data into an "Archive" directory.*

Buhbye, 80 Gig. You've served me well.

this

Yank out the old nVidia card, install the 7600 GT, and see if the Linux drivers work on this hardware combination when the Windows drivers wouldn't.

If so... buhbye, 20 Gig. Buhbye, Windoze.

Current Mood: optimistic

Okay, computer folks out there in Friends List Land, I'm looking for suggestions

At this point, I'm leaning toward an Ubuntu release. From the reviews I've read and the feedback I've gotten, it sounds like it's the simplest to install and configure, and the most transparent to use.

Ubuntu has three main variations: Ubuntu, which uses the GNOME environment; Kubuntu, which uses KDE; and Xubuntu, which uses Xfce, and is intended for older systems or for people who want better performance and less system overhead. Feedback on these environments would be nice; I know a lot of the difference between GNOME and KDE boils down to Personal Preference, so discussions of functional differences will be more useful than "Ewww, GNOME sucks!!"

For those who've used Xfce, what "fat" does it leave out? Does it make a noticable impact on ease of use?

Nota Bene: My primary goal is not to become Super L33t *NIX Power User IT Guru Man. My computer is a tool that I use to do other things, and I want to spend my time and energy on doing those other things, rather than figuring out how to get my computer to let me do them.

So: Easy Use trumps Power Use. Spoon feed me!

My two biggest potential technical obstacles:

I run a two-monitor setup, and I want to continue to do so. At the moment, I have an NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 running dual 19" Trinitron CRTs at 1280x960. Eventually, I plan to upgrade those to LCDs, and upgrade the video card accordingly.

I keep my Data and Documents on their own drive, separate from my Application Drive. The Data Drive is in FAT32 format; does Linux read that natively? I know there are some propriatary Windows formats that Linux can't read, but I don't know which ones are which.

Suggestions on good *NIX MUCK and IM clients would be helpful, too.

Current Mood: curious

I run a two-monitor setup, and I want to continue to do so. At the moment, I have an NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 running dual 19" Trinitron CRTs at 1280x960. Eventually, I plan to upgrade those to LCDs, and upgrade the video card accordingly.

I keep my Data and Documents on their own drive, separate from my Application Drive. The Data Drive is in FAT32 format; does Linux read that natively? I know there are some propriatary Windows formats that Linux can't read, but I don't know which ones are which.

Suggestions on good *NIX MUCK and IM clients would be helpful, too.

Current Mood: curious

Through my college years, I ran Windows because all of the applications that I needed for school would run under it, and there were a few vitally important applications that would only run under it. I disliked the Microsoft monopoly, and I disliked the ever-more-intrusive "features" they were including with each subsequent "upgrade". I liked the open-source philosophy, but at the time, Linux, BSD, and other open-source OSs were difficult to install. Applications were few and far between, and their compatability with The Stuff I Had To Use was questionable at best.

After I graduated, my first couple of jobs involved extensions of my college capstone (that's basically a "Bachelor's Thesis", for those who weren't reading this journal back then). I needed MS Office to make sure that my Office-generated documents didn't lose any vital formatting, and I had a legacy copy of the Industry-Standard GIS Software that, again, was a strictly Windows application.

Over the years, OpenOffice became increasingly adept at opening MS Office documents, and more than one open-source GIS package has emerged. The one thing keeping me in Windows was that Industry-Standard GIS Software; map files created in it are notoriously twitchy about migrating even to other copies of the same software.

Well, as I mentioned before, that application has completely given up the ghost.

There is now nothing that I do with this system that I cannot do with Linux.

It's time to seriously look into migrating.