I had the ADAMCALC program, a spreadsheet, that actually had "Windows" that could be positioned throughout the spreadsheet.
One could write machine language programs to play music on the ADAM, such as jingle bells, etc. I wrote a small program called a "one note tester" so a keyboard could be used to sound out a note, then a try was done on the ADAM, to see if it matched. Soon, it was matched, according to the user's ear, and the code would be available for use in the program. Eventually, the entire song was done, and could be played. I had the disk drive, so the work could be saved. There was no hard drive.
They don't say, but it probably has XP Home preinstalled.
I would need to somehow partition that drive for use with linux.
Either that, or just add another drive, easily done.
Having said all that, I realize that for a little more, I could get a box with more power, and get to choose some of the hardware, so that would work with linux.
One has to remember that they sold over 20 million VW Bugs (air cooled), because they were inexpensive.
I still drive one, it has 370K miles on it, and can get 49.5 MPG on the highway.
It is an absolutely frightening driving experience, to be sure.
The Getting Started Guide for my Rapidweather Remaster of Knoppix Linux has sections on how the three web browsers in the remaster handle the ~/.mozilla, ~/.opera or ~/.flock that are created while the browsers are running. All three browsers are set by default to delete the cookies and browser history, cache when they exit, but two of the browsers take an extra step, they delete the entire ~/.opera and/or ~/.flock. Firefox retains it, giving the user a choice to restore ~/.mozilla for use next time, even though it will not have cookies, history or cache. Firefox will have saved bookmarks, such as RSS feeds added by the user.
Currently, the remaster has Opera 9.01, Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.6, and Flock 0.7.4.1
All three browsers start with a default ~/.opera, ~/.mozilla, ~/.flock that is only loaded into/ramdisk when the user starts the browser. That way, if they do not want to use anything but Opera, then there is no ~/.mozilla or ~/.flock at all.
Using dialup will also mean a new IP address each time, further complicating a record of the user's web history.
I have a cat. His name is BeBe, because he has a BB in his b-hind.
Cats are just as loyal as dogs, mine wants to hang around me all the time. If I wash the car, he wants to sit out there and take in the car-washing scenery, and does not mind getting wet.
When it is time to go to sleep, he always follows me, and gets in the chair beside the bed and goes to sleep. Problem is, come 4 AM, he wants to go outside and use the kitty-toilet. He is housebroken.
Cats do want to go outside in the early evening, and survey the landscape for "ememy cats", but will come in later if you call them.
Cats need to go to the Vet just like dogs, and get shots and a yearly exam. They can get fleas, so Frontline must be applied to protect them. They have to have Heartguard, too, to protect them from heartworms, which do kill dogs regularly. Cats that can get bitten by mosquitoes can get heartworms also.
BeBe always purrs when you pick him up, he is a gentle cat and likes being around people. He will play with a toy mouse on a string all you want. If you adopt a cat, have it checked by the Vet before becoming too attached, the animal may have feline leukemia, and would have to be put to sleep.
I adopted my cat, he was abandoned in my neighborhood, and I took him in. They say men prefer large cats, and that is what BeBe is, much larger than normal. Look at the bridge of the cat's nose. If it is broad, like a tiger or cheeta, then you have a big animal. If it is narrow, then you have a smaller cat, less likely to frighten strangers who are not used to your cat.
There is a sign in the front yard, to warn of the "attack cat" there. He does look the part, and I love that.
Most importantly, you won't have to worry about your cat as much as a dog. Cats can take care of themselves, and will stay in their territory if they have a home there, with an owner, food, water, and a place to hide when there is thunder and lightning.
Cats will bring you dead rats, birds, etc. to show that they are a good cat.
Who said, "It does not matter if a cat is black or white. If it kills mice, it is a good cat."
I have seen this quotation attributed to Deng Xiaoping, but I think it was Mao Tesung, probably in Mao's Little Red Book of quotations.
That's funny.
Unfortunately it reminded me of a boss who could not add the percentages to total 100 when he wanted to come up with a "reasons why customers don't buy from us anymore" and wanted to use an outsized percent to represent those sales lost by employees that just didn't give a hoot. (I cleaned up that, "hoot" wasn't the word.)
His breakdown came up to something like 104%, and probably would have gone higher but he was in a rush to put that up on the wall as a put-down to the employees.
I came along, and added up the numbers, got a big laugh when it came up 104%.
To get even, the boss had the thing re-done, framed with glass (so we could not change it), and hung in the lobby so all the customers could see it.
Only place in town where the customers get to see a framed put-down aimed at the employees that are there to serve them.
Well, I was going to post something here about the 657,427 hapless individuals having their search records publicized by AOL, but the entire post was censored before it could be submitted by the little guy sitting on my shoulder across from the other little guy in the devil suit sitting on the opposite shoulder.
After this revelation, a lot of this will be going on from now on.
I suppose from now on, I'll just have to guess how to XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX in a pickup.
I've placed RSS feeds in Opera 9.01 (Build 400) and in Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.6 in my knoppix remaster. Since this is a livecd linux, I wonder how these feeds, enabled by default to download the feed stories when the browsers start up, might be a security risk. I'm only using feeds like FoxNews, Google News, Yahoo News, CNN News, and of course, Slashdot. There are 13 in Opera, and 9 in Firefox. The user can quickly set up additional feeds, I am sure. These may link to sites that are not trusted, I suppose.
Here's my Blog. I have more details there on RSS for the browsers in a livecd linux.
I'm running Firefox 1.5.0.6 now, but since I use a livecd linux, I'll have to put it in there when I can. (automatic updates won't work on livecd linux)
Right now, I just set it up in/ramdisk, and change the preferences as I want, for my ~./mozilla
I run it from a user shell (knoppix) and here I am.
My latest CD has Firefox 1.5.0.5, and I checked Mozillazine and found that the upgrade is mostly because of a flaw affecting Windows Media Player. Probably something else, too, but I guess they automatically make a Linux version anyway, just so the version numbers don't start forking off..
I have 9 RSS feeds, so I copied my bookmarks.html file over to it's place in ~/.mozilla, and restarted Firefox, and my feeds are up and running.
Yes, everyone is running us ragged with these constant updates, probably needed for Windows for sure, but less so for Linux, and even less for livecd with Guarddog firewall. Not going to be left behind, however, so I'll put it in my next build of Rapidweather Remaster of Knoppix Linux.
I started this evening out to test Opera 9.01, build 400, got that done, next I'll work with Flock, it is a little behind Firefox right now. I also have Flock in my CD, but I remove myspace as a bookmark, too much bad press, etc.
I tried Pledge on scratched plastic glasses, it looks good as long as you don't wipe it off. If you do, then the scratches are visible again. Could go around with a dab of Pledge on them, and hope it does not run down and make a mess.
I have only had 1 actual XP crash since it came up, and that was due to a fan dying on the graphics card causing it to overheat. I had pet hair getting into that fan, causing XP to crash. Did have another totally unuseable XP partition that I had to give up on, extremely slow. Used the Dell restoration CD to "start over" in a new partition, on a new HD. XP seems mostly fine now, except when I allowed the updates that are rather sensitive when Excel is run, other users say it locks up. While installing the new XP HD, I made two linux ext2 and one linux swap, so I could run my livecd linux with the "tohd" option, and also have one partition for storage. Put Skype directories there, so I could copy them back into/ramdisk to make phone calls using my livecd linux. (I didn't want to put Skype in the CD permanently due to the license, etc.) Actually, I now rarely boot up into XP on that box, others do, so I keep it.
Overall, I am sorry to hear that Microsoft is having problems getting a new OS out the door, I have said all along that if it were not for Microsoft, we would not have all these cheap PC's around today. Computers would cost thousands more, and do less. When Bill Gates announced the rather high performance requirements for boxes running Vista, I thought to myself, "we linux folks will benefit when these boxes get tossed out by newbys and joe sixpacks that fowl them up." That's where all of my machines come from today. Given to me, cost $2400 new. One was over three grand new! Another is a Mac, fun to play with, most are Windows 98, but still nice X86 machines that I enjoy running livecd linux on.
You mention defrag, and that is one thing I've never understood.
I have a SuSE 6.3 installation on an old PC, and I note that when I start it up, soon there is "activity" on all of the drives, one at a time, it is doing a cron job. That must have been similar to defrag. I have not used that machine in a while, I have forgotten exactly what was being done, but it did not take very long at all.
All that seems obsolete now, I use livecd linux, see my screenshots link below. I've tried to put some girls in the wallpaper to make it entertaining, so enjoy.
What's fun is to use Opera, it's "F11" fullscreen is really fullscreen, put one of these screenshots up, and it will seem as though the machine is running linux...
As the developer of Rapidweather Remaster of Knoppix Linux, I would want to try and run my livecd linux on any machine, to turn it into a linux box. Problems would be partitioning an existing Windows XP hard drive, so I can have a swap partition, and a partition to do "knoppix tohd=/dev/hda3" for instance. I have QTParted, but have not tried it on a XP filesystem. Might work, might fowl XP up, don't know. The other problems might be just getting the sound system to work, on many machines I have no problem, on some laptops, no sound. Strangely, I can plug in USB headphones, and I get sound. I have stayed with the 2.4 kernel, so I can run on many older machines. I note that 3% of my website visitors still run '98. They need to try my knoppix remaster and use that instead if possible, for security reasons, viruses, trojans, etc. being a problem with '98. I have a HP Pavilion 6330 with 128 MB RAM, and that box does just fine, sound, etc. all working with linux. Tried Slax, it has the later 2.6 kernel, and is very slow, to the point of being almost useless. With a desktop computer, one can change graphics and sound cards, and get linux up and running very well indeed. No so with a laptop. All sorts of strange problems can come up, I have a Toshiba 4015CDS machine, and my linux will boot on it, and run with the "tohd" cheatcode, but the second time around, it will not run from that "tohd" setup. Why, I don't know. Linux folks often won't talk about little problems like that, I don't see why I shouldn't let that be known.
The PCMCIA modem in the Toshiba works perfectly, I do use dial-up almost all the time, but do have one machine around here on a Comcast cable modem. I use that to download the competion, and see how they run. Lots of suprises there, some just won't run on many boxes, others are not well put together with useful applications. I have to write a lot of my own applications to get things done the way I want. Eventually, that pays off, and that is the beauty of linux as compared to Windows.
Windows computers are successful because the engineers work out all of the software/hardware issues, and you just buy it, and turn it on, and there is your desktop, ready to go.
I have some screenshots in the signature below, I have a time keeping them up to date with the changes I am making. For instance, I do have seven mouse cursor themes now, built-in, these are kde-look.org cursor themes, and one can switch from one to another in seconds, in the default IceWM window manager. The screenshot shows only 6.
The Getting Started Guidehas 147K of details, that document is hosted on geocities, they provide a sniffer so I can see the OS's, browsers, screen resolution, etc. I do note that most use 1024x768 now, so my wallpapers match that. Three of the wallpapers can download from rapidweather.com server, so I can change those from time to time. I have a wallpaper control center that handles downloaded wallpaper images in a livecd linux setup, allowing easy placement in the "configs.tbz" restoration tarball if need be.
I have moved on from just getting my remaster to run on various computers, to adding applications, and getting them to release/ramdisk memory once the app is closed.
I want to be able to run the machine for hours, using each of the three web browsers, and be able to do "df" and show that I have returned to my starting/ramdisk use. If I am not using an application, I don't want leftovers hanging around. That's hard to do, but I am getting very close.
Guarddog Firewall? On by default, and pre-configured so the user does not have to use the Guarddog interface to set it up.
We say Linux is more secure than Windows, and we need to be able to provide an OS where "online banking" can be done much safer than on Windows. So, even livecd linux needs a firewall.
I have three browsers available in my knoppix remaster. Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.4, preconfigured with 8 RSS feeds. Flock 0.7.1, no RSS feeds. Opera 9.01, 13 RSS feeds.
Opera boots the fastest, but once the RSS feeds get active, right away, older computers need a minute or two to get them downloaded on dialup, before the browser is responsive again. Best way to do it is to click on a link right away, and let the whole mess download, RSS feeds (with small pictures) and the web page. Also, E-Trade won't work in Opera 9.01, you cannot log in. Otherwise it's great, and works very well on an older machine with only 128 MB RAM, with 64K cache Pentium II or AMD processor.
Mozilla Firefox is great, just takes a little longer to boot up. Tried the Beta of 2.0, it had very tiny fonts in the toolbars, etc. that I could not fix. Don't have those in 1.5.0.4, so cannot figure out where that problem comes from. The RSS feeds load up very fast, and since they do not have the complete summaries and small picture that Opera has, only story titles, you get your RSS feeds up and running quickly, even on dial-up.
Flock is very nice also, I don't put RSS feeds in it, so it is less complicated to use.
I have all three running under control scripts, that only load the browser's home directory files when the user starts the browser, and then deletes the ~/.flock, ~/.opera when the browser is closed. Firefox is excepted, to allow saving that configuration.
I hesitated quite a bit upgrading Opera 8.54 to Opera 9.01, since it is slow on flash games, and has an expanded RSS feed setup that can slow the browser down initially on older computers. Didn't know about the E-Trade site being defective until Opera 9.01 was "in there".
Just my luck that Firefox 2.0 won't be acceptable because of the tiny toolbar fonts.
As far as memory used, I do cut back considerably on the default/ramdisk files and directories, to give some room there. Doing "df" gives 624/ramdisk before any applications or browsers are started, and I seem to have reached a point where I cannot go any lower. With Firefox 1.5.0.4 up and running a while, "df" gives 4824/ramdisk or 3% on a 256 MB box. The initial figure of 624 is way down into 1% on that 256 MB RAM box.
--Rapidweather
Re:Does it have a "healing brush"?
on
Beginning GIMP
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· Score: 1
I usually copy a small area that will do to cover the spot, and paste it there, then blend it in, zooming in if necessary. Here is a web page that has an image at the top that I processed with GIMP (in my Knoppix remaster, screenshots below). I removed some junk furniture on one side of the building, re-arranged some shrubs, and removed the next door home that was visible through the trees. When another Doctor was added to the clinic, I added her name to the sign.
No, I don't have her picture, but if you want to take your dog or cat to her for treatment, call first for an appointment.
I've always thought they needed to fill in the old advertisement area on the right side of the "main bar". From what I am looking at now in Opera 9.01, the buttons only fill in about 40% or less of the main bar area. and they are all over on the left side.
I do have Opera 9.01 in my Knoppix Remaster, and am using the "shared-qt" version. I did have a problem with the "static-qt" version in tests, it was not compatable with the 7 kde-look.org mouse cursor themes I have built-in to the remaster. Everything mouse-cursor-wise is fine now, Opera will display the theme chosen, in the browser. Before you got a very small cursor inside the browser, when downloading a web page, and Opera would only use your default cursor theme, not any other you switched to, even if you closed Opera and started again.
They have a lot of nice features in Opera 9.01, in KDE, you get an Opera icon next to the clock that you can click to instantly minimize/maximize the Opera window.
I put 13 RSS news feeds in Opera, and there is a short delay in the response of the browser on older computers while the feeds download the stories, immediately on bootup of Opera. That happens also when they get more stories. Very nice, however, you can have something to look at while a web page downloads. You get a small picture with some of the stories, and that takes extra bandwidth, but is a nice touch. You did not get the pictures with Opera 8.54. I did drop my default "df"/ramdisk useage to compensate for the extra space that the Opera 9.01 ~/.opera will take to handle all those feeds.
For those of you using another flavor of livecd linux, I have a short howto for trying out Opera, with a link to the Opera "weekly", at my blog here. That how-to should work with Kanotix Linux, although I have not tried it there. I often save the Opera directory and the ~/.opera to a usb memory stick, for use next time or on another box. It is a temporary way to test Opera without actually "installing" it.
I went in a CompUSA once, and got behind a lady in the checkout lane, she had a Compaq computer in a box that she was buying. She tried to tender the net price, which was about $400.00, and the clerk told her it was $600.00, and explained about the rebate. The lady cancelled the sale, and walked out of the store. The clerk then rang up my small purchase, and gave me the receipt. It still had the cancelled transaction on it. Good to see that some of the stores are giving up on rebates. I notice that PC's are bundled with lots of extras, such as printers, etc. and each item has a couple of rebates, in addition to store rebates, anything they can think of, to bring the price down to what the public wants to see in the big print. Imagine, a computer with all those extras for $300.00! What a deal. You do get your rebates back if you spend the time to fill out and copy all of the required items. Meanwhile, you are loaning the store some money. Isn't that the way Banks work? You deposit your paycheck. You write checks to draw all of it out, but not all at once, and a lot of those checks take a while to come back into the Bank to be paid. Meanwhile, they make someone a loan with that money, and earn interest on that. Sure, you spend all of your deposited money, but other depositors come along in an endless line to replace that. So, the loaned money is always there, in cash. They can make more loans and make more money. True also with CompUSA, Office Depot. Someone is using the rebate money while the 6 to 8 weeks it takes for processing rolls along. You send your rebate forms off to Egypt, where a small team of rebate processors fools around with your forms. Smoking breaks, Coffee breaks, lunch hours, days off, while your rebate forms languish on the desks. Probably a sign on the wall that says, "Take Your Time!" The public is to blame, they want a nice PC for only $300.00. So, they give it them, in a round about way.
This won't cost you much time, take a look at my screenshots in the signature link below.
It's a Knoppix remaster, and "X" pops up quick, ready to go. I don't leave my machines on, I have to go places, so when I return I like to turn on the box, enter a quick "cheatcode", and very soon, my desktop is up and running.
It's not "installed", the OS runs from the CD, _but_ you can easily copy it to a spare hard drive partition with a cheatcode such as:
knoppix tohd=/dev/hdd7
Only takes a couple of minutes, then you do not run the OS from the CD anymore, except to "bootstrap" it, takes only seconds, then you run from the hard drive!
On the newer 7200 drives, it flys!
Firefox, Opera, Flock, Thunderbird, GIMP: all included.
You get a bicycle computer to go on your handlebars, and set it to record "average speed". As you learn to ride, your average will be quite low. It might take months to pass 14 mph average, it will seem like you are flying along, running very fast to get that kind of average. 16 mph average? Almost impossible. You will have to take every advantage, not missing a trick. Usually, you will want to ride around at least 25-30 miles a day. It's harder if you go straight down a long road, it's more fun and you develop more overall power if you go through residential streets, with some hills, where you can coast down, after huffing and puffing up the hills. Helps to have some dogs chase you. Get going fast and outrun them by sheer power. Good training. So, a small increase in "average speed" is really very hard to come by when you get above 14 mph. Side benefit: You'll lose a lot of weight.
I have a 1970 VW Bug, and it has 370K miles on the body running gear and transmission. The engine has about 120K on it, some parts reused from the original, such as the carburator and manifold. Builder got a big laugh when he put the motor together, used the big barrels and pistons, engine puts out more power than stock, they didn't tell me. Car pulls away from stoplight with suprising vigor, much to the suprise of those behind that were plotting their sweeping pass only to be denied. It does need a clutch, this one has about 180K on it, and is coming apart. Shifting takes a lot of practice/patience. Did put a new shift coupling back there, that helps a lot. There are no solid-state parts in the car, the turn signal relay has been replaced with a can-type, cheap and reliable. The radio is not OEM, does have transistors, but is probably worth all of 25 cents if the buyer is really needing a cheap radio. The turn signal lever wore out, too expensive to replace, so put a paddle switch on the dash for the turn signal setup. Gas guage quit, not the one in the tank, the one in the speedometer. Having fixed that, just keep a log of when tank is filled, and every 100 miles, refill. Seats are wore out, windshield wipers also. Ignition switch replaced with a custom setup, hidden "on" switch, and a starter button on the dash. Horn uses a relay, so it always works. Has a new spare tire, change a flat in 10 minutes. Drivers door sags, hold it up to close smoothly. No car payments for past 30 years. Can get 49.5 MPG at 55 MPH. Cops won't stop you, too embarrassed to be seen giving a ticket to something like that. Will pick off tailgaters from behind, and write them tickets. Front windshield gasket leaks top center, carry a bucket during monsoons. Car was painted with a brush several years ago, looks horrible. Tires wear evenly all around, can get 8 years between tire changes, they dry-rot first before tread is gone. The battery is a left over truck battery, holder modified to accept. Buy a new one for the truck, put the old one in the Bug. Keep a spare battery around, and carry jumper cables. Seems everyone else needs jumping off, not this one. Has a home-built "lights on reminder", not solid state, secret design, I'm not telling. The device is 25 years old, and shows no sign of failing. Most wiring has been changed and updated, everything has it's own circuit and fuse, OEM was crap. Lots of people want to buy the car, I say "you cannot afford it". They just imagine it will solve all their problems.
Slashdot Mirror
Let's see... Knoppix is based on Debian.
So, will Knoppix work in these boxes?
Knoppix is aimed more at desktop users, but has a lot more in there. It's worth a try, to see what is/isn't supported.
-- Rapidweather
What, no ADAM screenshots?
I had the ADAMCALC program, a spreadsheet, that actually had "Windows" that could be positioned throughout the spreadsheet.
One could write machine language programs to play music on the ADAM, such as jingle bells, etc.
I wrote a small program called a "one note tester" so a keyboard could be used to sound out a note, then
a try was done on the ADAM, to see if it matched. Soon, it was matched, according to the user's ear, and the code would be available for use in the program. Eventually, the entire song was done, and could be played.
I had the disk drive, so the work could be saved. There was no hard drive.
Wal*Mart has a PC for under $400 in stores in my area. I wouldn't mind having one, it is a Compaq Presario:
- AMD Sempron Processor 3200+ (1.8 Ghz/1600 Mhz System Bus/256 KB L2 Cache)
- 512 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM Memory
- 80 GB HDD
- CD-RW 48x32x48x
- 17 inch CRT Monitor
- small speakers, mouse, keyboard.
They don't say, but it probably has XP Home preinstalled.I would need to somehow partition that drive for use with linux. Either that, or just add another drive, easily done. Having said all that, I realize that for a little more, I could get a box with more power, and get to choose some of the hardware, so that would work with linux.
One has to remember that they sold over 20 million VW Bugs (air cooled), because they were inexpensive. I still drive one, it has 370K miles on it, and can get 49.5 MPG on the highway.
It is an absolutely frightening driving experience, to be sure.
I discovered YouTube, browsed through some music videos, and came up with this blog post.
I hope you enjoy the video as much as I did.
Some of my screenshots feature the girl in the video, Mana, as wallpaper.
The Getting Started Guide for my Rapidweather Remaster of Knoppix Linux has sections on how the three web browsers in the remaster handle the ~/.mozilla, ~/.opera or ~/.flock that are created while the browsers are running.
/ramdisk when the user starts the browser. That way, if they do not want to use anything but Opera, then there is no ~/.mozilla or ~/.flock at all.
All three browsers are set by default to delete the cookies and browser history, cache when they exit, but two of the browsers take an extra step, they delete the entire ~/.opera and/or ~/.flock.
Firefox retains it, giving the user a choice to restore ~/.mozilla for use next time, even though it will not have cookies, history or cache.
Firefox will have saved bookmarks, such as RSS feeds added by the user.
Currently, the remaster has Opera 9.01, Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.6, and Flock 0.7.4.1
All three browsers start with a default ~/.opera, ~/.mozilla, ~/.flock that is only loaded into
Using dialup will also mean a new IP address each time, further complicating a record of the user's web history.
--Rapidweather
I have a cat.
His name is BeBe, because he has a BB in his b-hind.
Cats are just as loyal as dogs, mine wants to hang around me all the time. If I wash the car, he wants to sit out there and take in the car-washing scenery, and does not mind getting wet.
When it is time to go to sleep, he always follows me, and gets in the chair beside the bed and goes to sleep.
Problem is, come 4 AM, he wants to go outside and use the kitty-toilet. He is housebroken.
Cats do want to go outside in the early evening, and survey the landscape for "ememy cats", but will come in later if you call them.
Cats need to go to the Vet just like dogs, and get shots and a yearly exam. They can get fleas, so Frontline must be applied to protect them. They have to have Heartguard, too, to protect them from heartworms, which do kill dogs regularly. Cats that can get bitten by mosquitoes can get heartworms also.
BeBe always purrs when you pick him up, he is a gentle cat and likes being around people. He will play with a toy mouse on a string all you want.
If you adopt a cat, have it checked by the Vet before becoming too attached, the animal may have feline leukemia, and would have to be put to sleep.
I adopted my cat, he was abandoned in my neighborhood, and I took him in. They say men prefer large cats, and that is what BeBe is, much larger than normal. Look at the bridge of the cat's nose. If it is broad, like a tiger or cheeta, then you have a big animal. If it is narrow, then you have a smaller cat, less likely to frighten strangers who are not used to your cat.
There is a sign in the front yard, to warn of the "attack cat" there. He does look the part, and I love that.
Most importantly, you won't have to worry about your cat as much as a dog. Cats can take care of themselves, and will stay in their territory if they have a home there, with an owner, food, water, and a place to hide when there is thunder and lightning.
Cats will bring you dead rats, birds, etc. to show that they are a good cat.
Who said, "It does not matter if a cat is black or white. If it kills mice, it is a good cat."
I have seen this quotation attributed to Deng Xiaoping, but I think it was Mao Tesung, probably in Mao's Little Red Book of quotations.
--Rapidweather
That's funny. Unfortunately it reminded me of a boss who could not add the percentages to total 100 when he wanted to come up with a "reasons why customers don't buy from us anymore" and wanted to use an outsized percent to represent those sales lost by employees that just didn't give a hoot. (I cleaned up that, "hoot" wasn't the word.) His breakdown came up to something like 104%, and probably would have gone higher but he was in a rush to put that up on the wall as a put-down to the employees. I came along, and added up the numbers, got a big laugh when it came up 104%. To get even, the boss had the thing re-done, framed with glass (so we could not change it), and hung in the lobby so all the customers could see it. Only place in town where the customers get to see a framed put-down aimed at the employees that are there to serve them.
Well, I was going to post something here about the 657,427 hapless individuals having their search records publicized by AOL, but the entire post was censored before it could be submitted by the little guy sitting on my shoulder across from the other little guy in the devil suit sitting on the opposite shoulder.
After this revelation, a lot of this will be going on from now on.
I suppose from now on, I'll just have to guess how to XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX in a pickup.
See, it happened again.
I've placed RSS feeds in Opera 9.01 (Build 400) and in Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.6 in my knoppix remaster. Since this is a livecd linux, I wonder how these feeds, enabled by default to download the feed stories when the browsers start up, might be a security risk.
I'm only using feeds like FoxNews, Google News, Yahoo News, CNN News, and of course, Slashdot. There are 13 in Opera, and 9 in Firefox.
The user can quickly set up additional feeds, I am sure. These may link to sites that are not trusted, I suppose.
Here's my Blog.
I have more details there on RSS for the browsers in a livecd linux.
-- Rapidweather
I'm running Firefox 1.5.0.6 now, but since I use a livecd linux, I'll have to put it in there when I can. (automatic updates won't work on livecd linux)
/ramdisk, and change the preferences as I want, for my ~./mozilla
Right now, I just set it up in
I run it from a user shell (knoppix) and here I am.
My latest CD has Firefox 1.5.0.5, and I checked Mozillazine and found that the upgrade is mostly because of a flaw affecting Windows Media Player. Probably something else, too, but I guess they automatically make a Linux version anyway, just so the version numbers don't start forking off..
I have 9 RSS feeds, so I copied my bookmarks.html file over to it's place in ~/.mozilla, and restarted Firefox, and my feeds are up and running.
Yes, everyone is running us ragged with these constant updates, probably needed for Windows for sure, but less so for Linux, and even less for livecd with Guarddog firewall. Not going to be left behind, however, so I'll put it in my next build of Rapidweather Remaster of Knoppix Linux.
I started this evening out to test Opera 9.01, build 400, got that done, next I'll work with Flock, it is a little behind Firefox right now. I also have Flock in my CD, but I remove myspace as a bookmark, too much bad press, etc.
-- Rapidweather
I tried Pledge on scratched plastic glasses, it looks good as long as you don't wipe it off. If you do, then the scratches are visible again. Could go around with a dab of Pledge on them, and hope it does not run down and make a mess.
I have only had 1 actual XP crash since it came up, and that was due to a fan dying on the graphics card causing it to overheat. /ramdisk to make phone calls using my livecd linux. (I didn't want to put Skype in the CD permanently due to the license, etc.)
I had pet hair getting into that fan, causing XP to crash. Did have another totally unuseable XP partition that I had to give up on, extremely slow. Used the Dell restoration CD to "start over" in a new partition, on a new HD. XP seems mostly fine now, except when I allowed the updates that are rather sensitive when Excel is run, other users say it locks up.
While installing the new XP HD, I made two linux ext2 and one linux swap, so I could run my livecd linux with the "tohd" option, and also have one partition for storage.
Put Skype directories there, so I could copy them back into
Actually, I now rarely boot up into XP on that box, others do, so I keep it.
Overall, I am sorry to hear that Microsoft is having problems getting a new OS out the door, I have said all along that if it were not for Microsoft, we would not have all these cheap PC's around today. Computers would cost thousands more, and do less. When Bill Gates announced the rather high performance requirements for boxes running Vista, I thought to myself, "we linux folks will benefit when these boxes get tossed out by newbys and joe sixpacks that fowl them up." That's where all of my machines come from today. Given to me, cost $2400 new. One was over three grand new!
Another is a Mac, fun to play with, most are Windows 98, but still nice X86 machines that I enjoy running livecd linux on.
--Rapidweather
I did have a wonderful post here, but Opera crashed, and I lost it all.
Just imagine what I had to say about AOL, Windows, and etc.
I didn't get to post it before everything vanished into thin air.
All you need is 5 minutes with this Jett.
You mention defrag, and that is one thing I've never understood.
I have a SuSE 6.3 installation on an old PC, and I note that when I start it up, soon there is "activity" on all of the drives, one at a time, it is doing a cron job. That must have been similar to defrag. I have not used that machine in a while, I have forgotten exactly what was being done, but it did not take very long at all.
All that seems obsolete now, I use livecd linux, see my screenshots link below.
I've tried to put some girls in the wallpaper to make it entertaining, so enjoy.
What's fun is to use Opera, it's "F11" fullscreen is really fullscreen, put one of these
screenshots up, and it will seem as though the machine is running linux...
Everybody else will have to get their stuff up there before I even think of it.
I want to see how that goes.
--Rapidweather
As the developer of Rapidweather Remaster of Knoppix Linux, I would want to try and run my livecd linux on any machine, to turn it into a linux box. Problems would be partitioning an existing Windows XP hard drive, so I can have a swap partition, and a partition to do "knoppix tohd=/dev/hda3" for instance. I have QTParted, but have not tried it on a XP filesystem. Might work, might fowl XP up, don't know.
/ramdisk memory once the app is closed.
/ramdisk use. If I am not using an application, I don't want leftovers hanging around. That's hard to do, but I am getting very close.
The other problems might be just getting the sound system to work, on many machines I have no problem, on some laptops, no sound. Strangely, I can plug in USB headphones, and I get sound.
I have stayed with the 2.4 kernel, so I can run on many older machines. I note that 3% of my website visitors still run '98. They need to try my knoppix remaster and use that instead if possible, for security reasons, viruses, trojans, etc. being a problem with '98.
I have a HP Pavilion 6330 with 128 MB RAM, and that box does just fine, sound, etc. all working with linux. Tried Slax, it has the later 2.6 kernel, and is very slow, to the point of being almost useless.
With a desktop computer, one can change graphics and sound cards, and get linux up and running very well indeed. No so with a laptop.
All sorts of strange problems can come up, I have a Toshiba 4015CDS machine, and my linux will boot on it, and run with the "tohd" cheatcode, but the second time around, it will not run from that "tohd" setup. Why, I don't know. Linux folks often won't talk about little problems like that, I don't see why I shouldn't let that be known.
The PCMCIA modem in the Toshiba works perfectly, I do use dial-up almost all the time, but do have one machine around here on a Comcast cable modem. I use that to download the competion, and see how they run. Lots of suprises there, some just won't run on many boxes, others are not well put together with useful applications. I have to write a lot of my own applications to get things done the way I want. Eventually, that pays off, and that is the beauty of linux as compared to Windows.
Windows computers are successful because the engineers work out all of the software/hardware issues, and you just buy it, and turn it on, and there is your desktop, ready to go.
I have some screenshots in the signature below, I have a time keeping them up to date with the changes I am making. For instance, I do have seven mouse cursor themes now, built-in, these are kde-look.org cursor themes, and one can switch from one to another in seconds, in the default IceWM window manager. The screenshot shows only 6.
The Getting Started Guidehas 147K of details, that document is hosted on geocities, they provide a sniffer so I can see the OS's, browsers, screen resolution, etc.
I do note that most use 1024x768 now, so my wallpapers match that.
Three of the wallpapers can download from rapidweather.com server, so I can change those from time to time.
I have a wallpaper control center that handles downloaded wallpaper images in a livecd linux setup, allowing easy placement in the "configs.tbz" restoration tarball if need be.
I have moved on from just getting my remaster to run on various computers, to adding applications, and getting them to release
I want to be able to run the machine for hours, using each of the three web browsers, and be able to do "df" and show that I have returned to my starting
Guarddog Firewall? On by default, and pre-configured so the user does not have to use the Guarddog interface to set it up.
We say Linux is more secure than Windows, and we need to be able to provide an OS where "online banking" can be done much safer than on Windows. So, even livecd linux needs a firewall.
-- Rapidweather
I have three browsers available in my knoppix remaster.
/ramdisk files and directories, to give some room there. Doing "df" gives 624 /ramdisk before any applications or browsers are started, and I seem to have reached a point where I cannot go any lower. With Firefox 1.5.0.4 up and running a while, "df" gives 4824 /ramdisk or 3% on a 256 MB box. The initial figure of 624 is way down into 1% on that 256 MB RAM box.
Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.4, preconfigured with 8 RSS feeds.
Flock 0.7.1, no RSS feeds.
Opera 9.01, 13 RSS feeds.
Opera boots the fastest, but once the RSS feeds get active, right away, older computers need a minute or two to get them downloaded on dialup, before the browser is responsive again. Best way to do it is to click on a link right away, and let the whole mess download, RSS feeds (with small pictures) and the web page. Also, E-Trade won't work in Opera 9.01, you cannot log in. Otherwise it's great, and works very well on an older machine with only 128 MB RAM, with 64K cache Pentium II or AMD processor.
Mozilla Firefox is great, just takes a little longer to boot up.
Tried the Beta of 2.0, it had very tiny fonts in the toolbars, etc. that I could not fix.
Don't have those in 1.5.0.4, so cannot figure out where that problem comes from.
The RSS feeds load up very fast, and since they do not have the complete summaries and small picture that Opera has, only story titles, you get your RSS feeds up and running quickly, even on dial-up.
Flock is very nice also, I don't put RSS feeds in it, so it is less complicated to use.
I have all three running under control scripts, that only load the browser's home directory files when the user starts the browser, and then deletes the ~/.flock, ~/.opera when the browser is closed. Firefox is excepted, to allow saving that configuration.
I hesitated quite a bit upgrading Opera 8.54 to Opera 9.01, since it is slow on flash games, and has an expanded RSS feed setup that can slow the browser down initially on older computers. Didn't know about the E-Trade site being defective until Opera 9.01 was "in there".
Just my luck that Firefox 2.0 won't be acceptable because of the tiny toolbar fonts.
As far as memory used, I do cut back considerably on the default
--Rapidweather
I usually copy a small area that will do to cover the spot, and paste it there, then blend it in, zooming in if necessary. Here is a web page that has an image at the top that I processed with GIMP (in my Knoppix remaster, screenshots below). I removed some junk furniture on one side of the building, re-arranged some shrubs, and removed the next door home that was visible through the trees. When another Doctor was added to the clinic, I added her name to the sign.
No, I don't have her picture, but if you want to take your dog or cat to her for treatment, call first for an appointment.
I've always thought they needed to fill in the old advertisement area on the right side of the "main bar".
/ramdisk useage to compensate for the extra space that the Opera 9.01 ~/.opera will take to handle all those feeds.
From what I am looking at now in Opera 9.01, the buttons only fill in about 40% or less of the main bar area. and they are all over on the left side.
I do have Opera 9.01 in my Knoppix Remaster, and am using the "shared-qt" version. I did have a problem with the "static-qt" version in tests, it was not compatable with the 7 kde-look.org mouse cursor themes I have built-in to the remaster.
Everything mouse-cursor-wise is fine now, Opera will display the theme chosen, in the browser. Before you got a very small cursor inside the browser, when downloading a web page, and Opera would only use your default cursor theme, not any other you switched to, even if you closed Opera and started again.
They have a lot of nice features in Opera 9.01, in KDE, you get an Opera icon next to the clock that you can click to instantly minimize/maximize the Opera window.
I put 13 RSS news feeds in Opera, and there is a short delay in the response of the browser on older computers while the feeds download the stories, immediately on bootup of Opera. That happens also when they get more stories. Very nice, however, you can have something to look at while a web page downloads. You get a small picture with some of the stories, and that takes extra bandwidth, but is a nice touch. You did not get the pictures with Opera 8.54. I did drop my default "df"
For those of you using another flavor of livecd linux, I have a short howto for trying out Opera, with a link to the Opera "weekly", at my blog here. That how-to should work with Kanotix Linux, although I have not tried it there. I often save the Opera directory and the ~/.opera to a usb memory stick, for use next time or on another box. It is a temporary way to test Opera without actually "installing" it.
-Rapidweather
I went in a CompUSA once, and got behind a lady in the checkout lane, she had a Compaq computer in a box that she was buying. She tried to tender the net price, which was about $400.00, and the clerk told her it was $600.00, and explained about the rebate.
The lady cancelled the sale, and walked out of the store.
The clerk then rang up my small purchase, and gave me the receipt. It still had the cancelled transaction on it.
Good to see that some of the stores are giving up on rebates.
I notice that PC's are bundled with lots of extras, such as printers, etc. and each item has a couple of rebates, in addition to store rebates, anything they can think of, to bring the price down to what the public wants to see in the big print. Imagine, a computer with all those extras for $300.00! What a deal.
You do get your rebates back if you spend the time to fill out and copy all of the required items.
Meanwhile, you are loaning the store some money.
Isn't that the way Banks work?
You deposit your paycheck. You write checks to draw all of it out, but not all at once, and a lot of those checks take a while to come back into the Bank to be paid.
Meanwhile, they make someone a loan with that money, and earn interest on that. Sure, you spend all of your deposited money, but other depositors come along in an endless line to replace that.
So, the loaned money is always there, in cash. They can make more loans and make more money.
True also with CompUSA, Office Depot. Someone is using the rebate money while the 6 to 8 weeks it takes for processing rolls along. You send your rebate forms off to Egypt, where a small team of rebate processors fools around with your forms. Smoking breaks, Coffee breaks, lunch hours, days off, while your rebate forms languish on the desks. Probably a sign on the wall that says, "Take Your Time!"
The public is to blame, they want a nice PC for only $300.00. So, they give it them, in a round about way.
This won't cost you much time, take a look at my screenshots in the signature link below.
It's a Knoppix remaster, and "X" pops up quick, ready to go. I don't leave my machines on, I have to go places, so when I return I like to turn on the box, enter a quick "cheatcode", and very soon, my desktop is up and running.
Very secure, check out the Getting Started Guide.
It's not "installed", the OS runs from the CD, _but_ you can easily copy it to a spare hard drive partition with a cheatcode such as:
knoppix tohd=/dev/hdd7
Only takes a couple of minutes, then you do not run the OS from the CD anymore, except to "bootstrap" it, takes only seconds, then you run from the hard drive!
On the newer 7200 drives, it flys!
Firefox, Opera, Flock, Thunderbird, GIMP: all included.
You get a bicycle computer to go on your handlebars, and set it to record "average speed". As you learn to ride, your average will be quite low. It might take months to pass 14 mph average, it will seem like you are flying along, running very fast to get that kind of average. 16 mph average? Almost impossible. You will have to take every advantage, not missing a trick.
Usually, you will want to ride around at least 25-30 miles a day. It's harder if you go straight down a long road, it's more fun and you develop more overall power if you go through residential streets, with some hills, where you can coast down, after huffing and puffing up the hills. Helps to have some dogs chase you. Get going fast and outrun them by sheer power. Good training.
So, a small increase in "average speed" is really very hard to come by when you get above 14 mph.
Side benefit: You'll lose a lot of weight.
I have a 1970 VW Bug, and it has 370K miles on the body running gear and transmission. The engine has about 120K on it, some parts reused from the original, such as the carburator and manifold. Builder got a big laugh when he put the motor together, used the big barrels and pistons, engine puts out more power than stock, they didn't tell me. Car pulls away from stoplight with suprising vigor, much to the suprise of those behind that were plotting their sweeping pass only to be denied.
It does need a clutch, this one has about 180K on it, and is coming apart.
Shifting takes a lot of practice/patience. Did put a new shift coupling back there, that helps a lot.
There are no solid-state parts in the car, the turn signal relay has been replaced with a can-type, cheap and reliable. The radio is not OEM, does have transistors, but is probably worth all of 25 cents if the buyer is really needing a cheap radio. The turn signal lever wore out, too expensive to replace, so put a paddle switch on the dash for the turn signal setup.
Gas guage quit, not the one in the tank, the one in the speedometer. Having fixed that, just keep a log of when tank is filled, and every 100 miles, refill. Seats are wore out, windshield wipers also.
Ignition switch replaced with a custom setup, hidden "on" switch, and a starter button on the dash. Horn uses a relay, so it always works.
Has a new spare tire, change a flat in 10 minutes.
Drivers door sags, hold it up to close smoothly.
No car payments for past 30 years. Can get 49.5 MPG at 55 MPH.
Cops won't stop you, too embarrassed to be seen giving a ticket to something like that. Will pick off tailgaters from behind, and write them tickets.
Front windshield gasket leaks top center, carry a bucket during monsoons.
Car was painted with a brush several years ago, looks horrible.
Tires wear evenly all around, can get 8 years between tire changes, they dry-rot first before tread is gone.
The battery is a left over truck battery, holder modified to accept. Buy a new one for the truck, put the old one in the Bug. Keep a spare battery around, and carry jumper cables. Seems everyone else needs jumping off, not this one.
Has a home-built "lights on reminder", not solid state, secret design, I'm not telling. The device is 25 years old, and shows no sign of failing.
Most wiring has been changed and updated, everything has it's own circuit and fuse, OEM was crap.
Lots of people want to buy the car, I say "you cannot afford it". They just imagine it will solve all their problems.
They put spinners on it, and they just keep on turning.