Life in General – Page 14 – Kasperian Moving Parts

iPod Nano iSkin, M:I:III

Thursday May 18, 2006

iPod Nano Skin, M:I:III, originally uploaded by vanRijn. So, me needed to get me some armor for me iPod nano, matey, since me had one of the little buggers up and get a cracked screen on me in recent days bygone. And me started looking at me options. And me found the iPod Nano iSkins. And me thought they looked all slickey like. And then me saw the special edition, Mission: Impossible III iSkin. And me ordered it. And me got it today. And me am not so sure me likes it. For starters, the new clothing makes me nano a trifle bit hard to use. Uncovering the bottom hole covers which cover the headphone jack and the cradle/cable port Read more…

Apples, Desktop, Life in General, Linux, Movies, Music, Work Stuff

In The Last 48 Hours

Wednesday May 17, 2006

I have had the pleasure(?) of living through the following: Getting two problems (ABS light and Airbag light were both stuck on) with our new-to-us 2005 Town & Country fixed only to find another problem (2 radiator fans refused to turn off when car was turned off). Had to disconnect battery overnight to turn off fans and prevent battery drainage. Took said vehicle back into the dealer who promptly and courteously fixed it. Again. Finding out that the family dog (who just yesterday started limping–refusing to set any weight on her left, front paw) has Lyme disease. $200+ later and doggie is now feeling much better, apparently. Beating head repeatedly against same problem at work for a week now is Read more…

Life in General

Daddy, Where Is The Other Internet Stick?

Friday May 12, 2006

So, I was at work today when my beautiful eldest daughter called me and asked me if I knew where the “other Internet stick” was. I had to think about that one for a second. Turns out, I have our computers using wireless USB network cards. The other night, I had taken one of the wireless USB network cards out of the computer downstairs and left it upstairs. Ah-HAH! That’s what she was looking for! The Internet Stick (TM) that I had taken out of the computer and left on my desk. =:) *teehee* I love my kids!!! =:)

Life in General

The Best Use For A Cat And A Balloon

Sunday April 30, 2006

I Have A Great Idea!, originally uploaded by vanRijn. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this like 10 years ago, but tying a helium-filled balloon to your pet (I’ve tried the cat and the dog and can vouch for the brilliance of this plan for them, but your fish I cannot recommend trying this on) is absolutely the most brilliant thing I’ve ever done in my life. As an added touch, rub the balloon like a fiend all over the cat’s back so that it makes his hair stand up on end and also so that the balloon is so static-electricity-charged that it will attach itself to said cat’s body, or anything else that is close enough (like Read more…

Apples, Desktop, Life in General, Linux

This Just In: Linux Is Better Than OS X

Thursday April 27, 2006

Well, at least it is for me. And it’s taken me $1500 to figure it out the hard way. How much is it to ask for to be able to {alt,command}-tab through ALL bloody open windows in OS X? You know… ALL of them. Like, ALL of them–including the X11 windows that all get bunched up underneath one stinking X icon. Or the 2 Firefox windows. Not just one of them. ALL of them. And yes, I do know about Witch. And no, it doesn’t work with X11 windows. And why would I want to use X11 to begin with? Because sometimes Free applications are much, much better than the ones you have to pay for. For example, kontact is Read more…

Apples, KDE, Life in General, Linux

After All That, Back to OS X

Sunday April 16, 2006

So I’m a little disgruntled right now. I’ve rebooted back into OS X and I’ll likely stay here for a while. As it turns out, the show-stopper for me to be able to run Linux (which I’d much prefer) on this powerbook is not anything to do with Linux itself, but rather with the commercial/proprietary software that I find myself needing to run. I need to be able to use Moneydance to do my family’s financial account management and bill paying. Moneydance runs on Java. Apparently, the only full version of Java for Linux PPC is IBM’s JRE. That’s right, Sun doesn’t provide Linux-PPC users a JRE, how nice of them. And yes, I did spend a couple of hours Read more…

Apples, Life in General, Linux

Ubuntu Linux, External Speakers, Your Powerbook, and You

Saturday April 15, 2006

Yet another small blip from the life and times of a powerbook owner and Linux glutton-for-pain… I think this issue has been fixed in the Alsa 1.0.11-rc4 snd-powermac modules, but since I haven’t taken the time to recompile the kernel yet and since Ubuntu Dapper Drake still only comes with 1.0.10, I’m stuck with a workaround for a time being. So, I have a 15″ 1.5G powerbook, and I just bought some really nice Altec Lansing speakers from the local Target and would like to use them with my powerbook in Linux. Sounds simple enough of a request, no? Well, believe it or not, it doesn’t work out of the box. I plug my headphones/external speakers in and sound still Read more…

Life in General

Trouble in the land of Linux-on-powerbook

Thursday April 13, 2006

Stink. I am starting to question my sanity in buying a powerbook. There’s just some things that aren’t working and most probably are not ever going to work: Java. Duh. It’s the thing that your mom (and RMS) have been warning you about for the last 10 years. Non-free (open source) software is a problem. Why? Because if you want to run it on something that isn’t supported by the owner of said proprietary software, you CANNOT. Case in point…. I need to be able to run my financial software (Moneydance). I use Linux on a Powerbook (PPC) machine. I can’t download the Java JRE from Sun, since they only provide Java for x86 and ia64 platforms. I could use Read more…

Life in General

Linuxworld, Boston, 2006, Here I Come!

Tuesday March 28, 2006

Oh man, this is going to rock. I’ve wanted to go to LinuxWorld for a LOOOONG time. Now, finally, thanks to my new employer, I’ll be there. I am hoping to be able to come home with the nice and nifty leather jacket they’re giving away for early registrants. Any KDE folk going to be there? Anyone that I know going to be there? =:)