Well it's a common enough problem - A Linux lover living in a Windows household with a common computer. Oh what is a geek in search of nerdvana to do?
My current configuration involves two of the standard solutions. I have a dual boot system with Windows 7 and Ubuntu 10.10 with room for other flavors of Linux if I somehow manage to find the time for such play. The majority of the time Windows 7 is running and I have resigned myself to having this as my primary OS.
Within Win 7 I have several user accounts, as I wrote in an earlier post. This machine is the server for media in and out of the house. One user is designated for this purpose and under that account I run the fantastic application Virtualbox. Virtualbox allows me to basically run several computer systems in the same physical space. One virtual machine is a linux server that I use for ftp and as an apache server. I also have Subsonic server running which I use both in and out of the house to stream all my music. I occasionally use tonido web server as well. All files are accessed from the primary Win 7 OS using the shared folders feature.
I find this method of using a virtual machine extremely useful for several reasons, the virtues of which I will extoll in a later post.
I also use this machine for my primary desktop when I am using computer. In full desktop mode it feels like I am on a native Ubuntu machine.
Virtualbox is an extremely useful tool, especially for those who are thinking of making the switch to a linux OS - which I highly reccomend doing, if not for all the time every day use, then at least as a way to educate yourself a little bit about alternatives that are available, especially if you are in the inevitable situation of a Windows meltdown.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Surprise Friends and First Impressions
Well, friends may be too strong a word but there is a guy at one of my jobs that I always enjoy talking to, mainly because for a long time I thought he hated me.
The environmental services guys can be a bit standoffish there, at both jobs really. I remember being in that position, most of them probably see me as a 'suit' with the scrubs and stethescope. It's weird being looked at that way - like you're too uppity to be a member of that group, mostly because when I was working factories and doing dishes I looked at people I thought might consider themselves my superiors the same way.
Anyways, this one guy used to always give me the fiercest eat shit looks. He is dominican, I think, and speaks in a very heavy accent. I always had the feeling though that he wasn't really giving me eat shit looks, though. In fact, people say that to me all the time - that I have this really mean don't talk to me look on my face when most of the time I am not feeling that way at all.
So I kept at him, saying hello and excuse me and making offhand remarks about the weather or whatever and finally he started talking to me about what days we worked together and how busy it is and then about his kids. He is a very nice, down to earth guy who loves his family very much and is always expressing concern about making sure his kids grow up to be good people.
First impressions for me are visceral. They have little to do with my actual interaction with a person and more to do with the feeling I get. Someone like that guy who looks mean but I feel good about, I'll keep trying to talk to. Someone who seems like my best friend but gives me that feeling of I don't trust them will NEVER change that feeling. I have learned too many times and in very hard ways to trust that feeling, by being robbed and stabbed in the back too many times to count.
Intuition is such a powerful thing and so hard to pin down. I don't always trust my intuition but when it comes to people it has never failed me.
The environmental services guys can be a bit standoffish there, at both jobs really. I remember being in that position, most of them probably see me as a 'suit' with the scrubs and stethescope. It's weird being looked at that way - like you're too uppity to be a member of that group, mostly because when I was working factories and doing dishes I looked at people I thought might consider themselves my superiors the same way.
Anyways, this one guy used to always give me the fiercest eat shit looks. He is dominican, I think, and speaks in a very heavy accent. I always had the feeling though that he wasn't really giving me eat shit looks, though. In fact, people say that to me all the time - that I have this really mean don't talk to me look on my face when most of the time I am not feeling that way at all.
So I kept at him, saying hello and excuse me and making offhand remarks about the weather or whatever and finally he started talking to me about what days we worked together and how busy it is and then about his kids. He is a very nice, down to earth guy who loves his family very much and is always expressing concern about making sure his kids grow up to be good people.
First impressions for me are visceral. They have little to do with my actual interaction with a person and more to do with the feeling I get. Someone like that guy who looks mean but I feel good about, I'll keep trying to talk to. Someone who seems like my best friend but gives me that feeling of I don't trust them will NEVER change that feeling. I have learned too many times and in very hard ways to trust that feeling, by being robbed and stabbed in the back too many times to count.
Intuition is such a powerful thing and so hard to pin down. I don't always trust my intuition but when it comes to people it has never failed me.
Friday, February 25, 2011
User Accounts for Securing Folders and Files
Our primary computer is also our main server, i.e. all files intended for keeping and common use are stored there and that computer is accessed by all others for content.
Having kids in the house I am constantly updating security measures to keep them away from the movies intended for the big people. My newest method involves setting up user accounts on the main computer (via Windows) for each member of the family and then controlling access to folders by that folder's sharing properties.
My kids are young so my methods can be crude. I am still trying to decide whether I want to use the increasing complexity method of lockdown or full on lock down. The increasing complexity method allows them to break through - essentially a cat and mouse game that hopefully they benefit from. Not sure that would be teaching them the right lessons though!
Damn internet.
Having kids in the house I am constantly updating security measures to keep them away from the movies intended for the big people. My newest method involves setting up user accounts on the main computer (via Windows) for each member of the family and then controlling access to folders by that folder's sharing properties.
My kids are young so my methods can be crude. I am still trying to decide whether I want to use the increasing complexity method of lockdown or full on lock down. The increasing complexity method allows them to break through - essentially a cat and mouse game that hopefully they benefit from. Not sure that would be teaching them the right lessons though!
Damn internet.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Morning Walk in the Snow
I try to take a walk in the neighborhood whenever it snows at night. Though it has snowed here quite a bit I am usually working so I don't get to enjoy the time that often. This morning I was up about 430 am, remembering the forecast for snow. This little guy greeted me in the backyard.
I thought he would run from the flash, but they must be pretty used to people because he turned to look at me. He probably just figured there was no way my fat ass could run fast enough to do him any harm!
Most of the pictures didn't turn out very good due to blurring. I really need to get a monopod or tripod for shooting low light, which is my favorite time. And I forgot to activate the CHDK mode on my camera (Canon Powershot) so no RAW formats like I intended. Here is a tree I shot with some post production fun using curves in FastStone Image Viewer.
The first one is the original, with the last being done with a flash. I used the 'kidsandpets' setting then adjusted the exposure up.
Here is a nighttime view of the neighborhood farm near our house:
I thought he would run from the flash, but they must be pretty used to people because he turned to look at me. He probably just figured there was no way my fat ass could run fast enough to do him any harm!Most of the pictures didn't turn out very good due to blurring. I really need to get a monopod or tripod for shooting low light, which is my favorite time. And I forgot to activate the CHDK mode on my camera (Canon Powershot) so no RAW formats like I intended. Here is a tree I shot with some post production fun using curves in FastStone Image Viewer.
The first one is the original, with the last being done with a flash. I used the 'kidsandpets' setting then adjusted the exposure up.
Here is a nighttime view of the neighborhood farm near our house:
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Grub Customizer tool
Being pretty much self taught by trial and error and having so little time lately, learning how to manage grub2 has never been high on my list of things to care about. Editing the config file was so damn easy! Maybe it's just a passive agressive thing, I don't know. However thanks to The How To Geek and a handy tool called Grub Customizer, I can do things the easy way. Geez - maybe I should just go back to Windows. Shut yo mouth!
Actually I found this especially useful because I am using a common computer that is a dual boot system and for simplicity's sake - ie to keep my wife happy - the system needs to default boot into Windows. I'll be discussing my OS setup in the next blog or so. The anticipation is building to a feverish pitch I know. Anyhow,
Head on over to the site for the rest of the story....
Friday, February 18, 2011
First Post
The dreaded first post. I opened this blogger account so long ago that I had forgotten about it! Without the first post. So here it is. The first post.
This blog will serve as a very roughly thrown together and barely edited account of my adventures in trying to live a balanced life. Speaking of a balanced life - which honestly I have little idea what that may encompass, here is a link to the TED talk that inspired that bit of I had no idea that's what this blog was going to be about until I just now wrote it....
Balancing Life and Work
OOOOOOO, using some HTML - now that's reaching back a few years into the dusty memory of geek files. I'm quite sure I've forgotten much more than I remember.
Future blog posts will hopefully not, though will probably often, ramble as much as this one. I would like it serve as much as a record of things I have learned and tried along the way, ie as a place of reference, as well as a place to dump whatever personal insights I might be having at any given moment.
And lo, the first post is written.
This blog will serve as a very roughly thrown together and barely edited account of my adventures in trying to live a balanced life. Speaking of a balanced life - which honestly I have little idea what that may encompass, here is a link to the TED talk that inspired that bit of I had no idea that's what this blog was going to be about until I just now wrote it....
Balancing Life and Work
OOOOOOO, using some HTML - now that's reaching back a few years into the dusty memory of geek files. I'm quite sure I've forgotten much more than I remember.
Future blog posts will hopefully not, though will probably often, ramble as much as this one. I would like it serve as much as a record of things I have learned and tried along the way, ie as a place of reference, as well as a place to dump whatever personal insights I might be having at any given moment.
And lo, the first post is written.
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