BMN Kubuntu Linux is great happy happy

[Boss]

Brian's Morning Newsletter

February 18th 2008

Good Morning

I am composing on a brand new operating system this morning. I bought a fancy video card on Friday and spent the weekend trying to get Mepis's version of Linux to accept the upgrade. Every step of the process was unbearably obfuscated by aloof experts on the Mepislovers forums. I tediously chronicled messages I received while attempting to install the video card which was supposed to be 100% compatible with Linux. Now you guys know I was a professional computer serviceman, they did not for a number reasons. I drew the line when one of the idiots on the board posted this: Thanks a lot for all the help. Anyway I didn't write the stupid error messages I just typed what Mepis flashed on the screen. When I said it was absurd that it was so difficult to install a video card the leader of the mongrels said I must have broken it because it wouldn't have broken itself. Right. In my twenty years I have never seen a software issue before. Fock this. This crap wasted enough of my time. I wrote a curt response to the mepislovers forum and left for good.

I had a conversation with Adam the 'puter guru who setup http://outfitnm.com on Saturday, about the video card problems I was having with Mepis. He said our own tier one programmer and BMN member Matthew Bowie liked the new Kubuntu Linux. Now to me this carries a lot of weight obviously because as I said Matt is several levels of expertise above any of us, but also because he is a command line master and as he told me yesterday, menus are too slow. Well, there you have it. Another BMN Linux master Bill L. once told me I was acting like a Windows Wienie because I wanted everything to be menu oriented. True, I can not deal with syntax well. If I am told what to type I can do it. Remembering from one day to the next what it took to do a specific task, well now, this hasn't worked out very well for me. I don't know why I can't do command line, probably the same reason I can't learn a second language.

In my life, I often rationalized my inability to learn languages including English by suggesting that instead of facts and figures my brain worked better with wheels and gears. It is a different visualization technique. If I let what my grade school teachers told me affect me, I would have had to remain dumb for the rest of my life. These days I am happy with the way I have worked with what I have. Indeed I've made the art of working around obstacles my profession. Maybe you see the parallel with the syntax specific command line thinking, compared to graphical user interfaces and language and mechanical systems. I know this is a rationalization or explanation, but it's what I have. I suppose people look to me having been knee deep in the world of computers for so long as being able to do it all. Sorry about that. I can do a lot, but you have to remember that I had to learn CPM and DOS, both computer languages which are now obsolete. I'm tired of it. I just want to point and click as do most of you a presume.

Anyhow, this new Linux is very nice. Go here http://www.kubuntu.org/ to read about Kubuntu, download it if you like, it's all free.  They will even send you the CD if you don't have broadband. There really is no reason to ever pay for software again. I mean of course, pay through the nose. These people would appreciate support if you like what you get. I don't need to tell you about all the problems with corporate software such as

Microsoft, you know, you've used it. This software I am composing the BMN with is called Open Office.http://www.openoffice.org/ It does work with MS Windows if you want to try it out, go here: This word processor is every bit as good as Microsoft Office Word, and it didn't cost $500.00, it didn't cost anything.

What do I think of Kubuntu Linux?  Right off the bat it installed without bothering me about the new video card.

And they always have such cool logos.  With Matt's help I was able to work through a few command line statements to update the Kubuntu Universe and Multiverse. Since Linux is a compilation of many programs unlike Microsoft's Windows, updating software is quite different. Kubuntu has the easiest installer I have ever seen. In fact there are several methods for adding software to Kubuntu. After the successful installation of my new 256 meg Nvidia e-GeForce 7600 GS 3D graphics card, I was anxious to take it for a spin. Using KDE (the GUI desktop) to search for the software I had heard about which might open the 3D model Kevin made with the exceedingly expensive Solidworks. Five seconds later, it was on the screen. Never read the manual just click install and the downloading began. So far I haven't had to read anything to use Kubuntu, but then again I have been running graphical Linux for two years and this one isn't all that different, just easier.

Minutes later I had Blender http://www.blender.org/ on the screen. Whoa dogies. Let me copy the first line from their web site.



At first look Blender 2.3 can be very intimidating. So many buttons, too many for you to figure out what they all do on your own, trust me, I know... I tried. So I'd like to personally welcome you to the Blender Quickstart page. This page is designed to highlight some of our beginner tutorials to help get you started with modeling and even animating in Blender. We cover just about any topic you can think of in our database of tutorials, and we're constantly adding even more (just to keep you from getting bored, of course). The one thing you should know is that you can never have read ALL the tutorials out there, because just when you think you have the developers add even more features into an already great program. So, what are you waiting for? Read on...

Sheesh, I want to use it, not read about it. Well I had the patience to read the first half page anyway. But I'll be back. Not very intuitive, I guess they are saying. Instead of learning that program (grin) I downloaded three more graphical 3D modelers. Why not? These aren't trial programs that are going to hit us up for money before we figure out whether we need them. I can try these out for as long as I like and with the original feature the Matt told Adam about, I can completely remove unwanted software easily with KDE's Adept software installer and remover. See? And you thought I'd never get around to telling you what Adam told me that Matt, said.

I do like this little guy, as long as he is laughing with me.

That's it.

Hope your Monday is better than the rest.

Brian Rodgers

[alibro]

Just a personal preference thing but I prefer the Gnome desktop which comes with Ubuntu. Probably because it was the first version of Linux I tried. Have you seen the Combiz Fusion desktop effects? Their pretty cool. I found some problems setting up video cards too but the newer versions of Distros seem to be a big improvement. The nice thing is they are improving all the time, unlike software from you know who. At the moment I am using Fedora 8, I have seen Mandriva and Suse, but it seems to me they are all pretty good and worth a try. Fedora was dead easy to install alongside XP and I hardly ever use XP now.

Cheers

Alibro

[gizmo]

I've tried to move over to Linux for several years now. Each install was easier than the previous, Linux was getting there, but as soon as I needed to do some real work in real time I ended up going back to the Windows box. As a software developer you need developement systems that are fast, time costs money, so Windows and VB have ruled for my needs. I do use Java on occasion, but if a customer needs a quick db application written you cant beat Windows and VisualBasic.

I have a CNC router ( http://www.thebackshed.com/cnc ), and was running a Windows based controller. I heard of the LinuxCNC EMC2 project, and decided to give it a go. The install is a complete copy of Kubuntu with EMC2, you download the CD image, burn it then boot off it. It was dead easy, the install detected all my hardware, and comes with a bundle of software packages like Open Office. EMC2 runs very fast compared to the Windows CNC systems, Kubuntu is great, I was very impressed with the whole process. The OS is very friendly compared to other Linux versions, it even detected my USB memory stick and placed a folder on the desktop for me!

I hope Kubuntu has a good future.

Glenn

[Boss]

Thanks for the comments

Since I wrote this I have opened each of the 3D modeling programs, sigh. The only one which opened one of the three wind turbine prop models wouldn't display it. Of course I don't know what I'm doing, but the search is still on for a Linux compatible program  which will open this: http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/9419/blade2.STL

it isn't terribly important for the props because as I write this my carpenter friend is building the first set of five foot props out of Douglas Fir.

[Boss]

Brian's Morning Newsletter

February 19th 2008

Good morning

Not too early this morning, but still dark and my honey is awake with me. Nell loves her new job working for an ear nose and throat doctor in an office next to the hospital where she used to work in medical records. This job much less stressful because the doctor sees so few patients. So few, in fact, that one of the administrators asked Nell if she wanted to help out at one of the other offices, while the main doctor went on vacation. She did yesterday, leaving for work a half hour earlier in the morning, and to her surprise discovered this office is on ten hour days. Well at least it isn't boring she said. She will work there for a couple of more days, I think.

My day wasn't so tough, I performed regular Monday housework, which by the way is a heck of a lot easier with water flowing in and out of sinks. We are enjoying running water so much after its absence for a month that to celebrate we have the hot water heater running full throttle. Water flows out of the faucet almost steaming. Mmm, aaaahh, it feels so civilized. Anyway I mopped the floors in our humble trailer, washing clothes all day long, enjoying the gentle breeze and sunshine I took full advantage of the solar clothes drier. Fact is, we don't have room for all the clean clothes. I was hanging pajamas on the rack in the closet that used to be our bedroom in the trailer. I finally quit washing clothes when I realized I had no place left to put them.

For the rest of my time, I pushed my ability as a command line programmer on my new Linux system. I have some work to do tweaking this software. Nothing terribly complicated, but when I haven't typed a command for six months, I tend to omit it from my brain. I joined the Kubuntu forum although I haven't posted yet, been spending quite a bit of time reading. I chatted with Matt later in the day after I was fairly sure I had an issue I wasn't getting anywhere with, but felt fairly sure I had researched enough and tried everything I could think of. With my last installation of Linux, Firefox lost its ability to play sound while watching http://youtube.com movies. I never dealt with it. Like I said, I haven't tweaked Linux in quite some time. I could watch movies, but I couldn't hear them. Sort takes the fun out of the movies readers have sent me. Indeed, this is why I missed the movie my sister was talking about. I'll post it again and this time I'll go watch it on one of our Windows machines. Dog lovers only.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqbVbPvlDoM

So yeah, Matt affirmed that the problem is that Adobe Flash hasn't put out a movie player for the 64bit platform. He suggested I create a new 32 bit Firefox environment running inside the 64 bit window. Sounds reasonable to me. He even sent me a link for "Howto Install 32 bit Firefox with Flash w/sound and Java for AMD64", http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=202537 which I hoped I could follow. After several attempts I was unsuccessful. I guess it is a positive sign my computer still works this morning, because I typed in dozens on commands last night trying to get KDE to recognize Adobe Flash movies. More often than not the system responded with reasons why it wasn't going to obey my commands. I think it would be frustrating if I wasn't always making some kind of headway. Plus I figured out that I can copy and paste the really long commands into a terminal window. This takes the edge off of my fear that I'll mistype something. This also gets me used to the more regularly used commands.

Today I work for Desertgate Internet, which reminds me I still need to plug the laser printer in and set it up so I can print out the daily work orders. I don't have the cover on this computer yet. It seems like there was one more item I needed to deal with before putting the screws back in. I don't recall at the moment what this one last thing was, not to mention that I already had the cover on and the screws in three times since I installed the new video card. Par for this course, I figure: I won't remember what the final item was until I pull the box out of the desk cubicle and replace the cover. Revelation usually occurs around the same time the final cable is plugged in behind the computer. Forget about it.

The snow is almost gone from the ground. Down in town they probably never received much if any snow, so working outside should be pleasant today. Currently we are both cutting back on smoking. Nell has her own plan of course, mine is to start by smoking only one cigar per day, and not until after noon. I am in my second week of this regimen, so I don't know whether it is going well or what. At this stage addictions have a tendency to leave me alone and let me think I am making headway. For instance, yesterday since I was at home all day I was thinking about my first puff at 10:30AM. Oh I can put it out of my mind as long as I have something to do. The anticipation mounts with every lull in activity. By the time noon rolls around I have been thinking about that first smoke for so long that nothing can live up to expectation. Consistently the first puff tastes like there is a donkey hair in the cigar. Now this is a good thing, right? I should be able to get a handle on this if I don't like the way it tastes. This is what I mean by addictions leave me alone. My guess is as soon as push comes to shove this addiction with test my resolve. At this point I feel great and in charge.

I saved enough cash in two weeks to rent five movies for this weekend. For a change this batch of movies were great. We were highly entertained all weekend long, although I was distracted for a long time trying to make the new video card work in my computer. I think the fact that I watched many of the movies half heartedly the first time, then came back and sat down all the way through, and still enjoyed them says a lot. First, "That Beautiful Somewhere." top rating in our books. Set in Canada with Canadian actors, I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. I told Nell after it was over that I was beginning to think every plot conceived has already been made into a movie. Now we know different. Jackie Chan's Myth was fun and colorful, again with a totally different story than anything we've seen, at least from Jackie.



Flash player required??? Figures...

I am just about out of time this morning.

Y'all have a real fine Tuesday.

See the rest of the newsletter at http://outfitnm.com

[Boss]

            Brian's Morning Newsletter

February 20th 2008

Good Morning

As dawn lit the valley I spied a couple dozen elk in the field. This is such a glorious way to start the day. Even without binoculars I can see the bright patch of tan fur on their haunches. One of these days we'll get a camera capable of zooming in and capturing images in the early morning light. If I had to guess, they were nearly a mile distant. I'm looking for the images I have on my web site of the elk. Let's see if I can post one here.

In this image they are in our field and the neighbor's oat field. This morning they were further to the east. In the very top of this image there is a field which is lighter green, almost tan color, just before the trees, this is where they were this morning. Also, this image was taken during the Summer and the elk do not have the patch of light tan colored fur on their behinds.

Onward, thru the fog. Last night after we finished off two movies, I sat down to work out the kinks in this new Linux Operating System I setup for my main computer.

I'm so proud of myself. I fixed Firefox so that it shows Adobe Flash movies! Of course all I had to do was follow instructions and copy and paste a half dozen lines into a command line terminal. First thing I did was to watch all the neat youtube videos on my web site. They work again, and with sound even! So this morning I decided to post more youtube movies on the site. I began with the totally awesome steam powered axial flux alternator built by the unbelievably resourceful guys at OtherPower, in Colorado where we went to the wind turbine workshop. If you let the short steam engine video play through a scrolling menu will appear along the bottom where you can pick similar videos. Otherpower has videos about their dogs, wind turbines, Lister low RPM diesel engine axial flux alternator, and so much neat stuff I haven't seen it all. Please feel free to browse.

So yeah I got an important feature working on my new system. Flash movies seem to be taking off as the most prominent style of video on the Internet. If a web browser can't display Adobe Flash content, having broadband is kind of a waste. Just in case any readers use Linux 64bit operating systems I'll post a link to the directions for removing Firefox and reinstalling it with Java and Flash enabled. This is a huge kudos for Ubuntu Linux. I was able to search for a specific question and find an answer that worked. Implement the suggestion, line for line by copying and pasting it to my system. What could be easier? While I am doing all this command line pasting I get more familiar with the most common commands. In a pinch I might, at some point be able to improvise and use a command to resolve a problem on my own.

Here we are at Hump-day. I think I have a pretty good newsletter for you this morning.

Don't forget to set your alarm clocks for the eclipse tonight. Full eclipse is at 3:26AM (GMT)and it starts 1:43AM so it is supposed to last for three hours. I bet it is going to be cold out at that time so dress warm.

Sincerely,

[Boss]

Brian's Morning Newsletter

February 21st 2008

Good Morning

I have one less tooth to worry about this morning. My mouth is looking better, and the dentist believes the upper partials will be in before my next visit on March 5th. Wow. going to be March already. It has been warm enough to put five gallons of biodiesel in the tank of the Trooper for my trip to Mora yesterday. Feels good to be burning home made fuel again. But if this is the end of February, then I need to get on the ball with building a tower for the wind turbine because NM Synergy Fest is right around the corner on April 25-26. Today I will spend as much of the day working at the college as I can. Kevin and I need to sit down with the administrator and get money for both Synergy Fest and our wind turbine working exhibit. Sure enough, we will have the wind turbine we already built erected with a rectifier and have it making usable power for the stage.

I spoke with Cary Lane of Energy Concepts about batteries a few days ago. He is also a subcontractor for the WISP (wireless Internet service provider) I work for. I asked if we could connect our axial flux wind turbine to his battery bank which powers the stage. He said his photovoltaics are all set for 48 volts and we wired our alternator for 24 volts. We came up with a workaround. I mentioned the Luna Community College just purchased a mammoth battery system and I would ask its administrator if we can use the schools' storage for the stage, freeing up Cary's batteries for the wind turbine. I explained this to Kevin from Luna yesterday at the apex of my Novocaine high. He remarked frankly that he didn't know what I was talking about. So here goes again. Cary has a large collection of mix and match batteries that he used last year to power the stage. Of course he would rather have a matched bank of batteries for the main power. The weakest battery in the system sets the power output and storage capacity. See this discussion for more information on mismatched battery banks.

We can easily come up with a combination of batteries for 24 volts to match the wind turbine plus, I think this is the voltage the college's inverter runs at. Since we will be there to monitor the wind turbine and most likely it won't put out more power that the stage can use. We needn't be too concerned with a dump load controller which removes excess power from the wind and dumps it so the batteries don't get over-charged. See the discussion at Otherpower forums. If we plan the tower correctly and get the wind turbine above the trees in the park, and have luck with us for Synergy fest day, the wind-gods will blow down upon us. Those are a couple of big ifs. Surely we can get the tower above the trees, but we can't control the wind. Counting on the wind for one day is contrary to wind power theory. We take energy from the wind when we get it. Most renewable energy designs incorporate photovoltaics and some sort of backup generator for when the sun doesn't shine ad the wind isn't blowing.

So today is going to be quite busy for the alt-energy kid. I will start with what I hope to be a quick service call doing my old gig fixing computers at a local business. I need to make some calls with the cell phone once I get in range of a tower. Mostly Synergy Fest stuff, but I also need to insure the VW Rabbit so we can begin to take advantage of this extremely high miles per gallon of fuel vehicle. The bulk of my time will be spent at the college. The last time I was there the administrator was touting me to school faculty as The Biodiesel Guy. I want to see if he will put money up for a biodiesel processor for the school. If so I will build a portable Appleseed processor so that the school can display it at Synergy Fest. With Synergy Fest fast approaching I need to know what the college wants to do and what they can leave for later.

One last item on my plate for the day. Desertgate the WISP I work for doing WiFi installations finally has service in Penderais Village, northwest of here. The first WiFi installations are scheduled for Friday. I would like to pick up all the equipment today so I can drive right to the jobs minus a trip in the opposite direction to town. Beginning to work in a new WiFi coverage area should be challenging since this is a heavily forested area and I am not familiar with where the new towers are and those are all expensive multi-level homes. Not looking forward to having home owners' looking over my shoulder as I run cable around their house. It'll no doubt take twice as long for each installation, but that's Friday, today is but yet begun.

Best get after it



See the rest of Brian's Morning Newsletter at http://outfitnm.com

Contents

   1. Letters

         1. Can you relate regards,

         2. Hugh

         3. Dear Brian

         4. Several months ago I sent you an e-mail asking for assistance with WVO.  Although I didn't really get the info I needed from you I completed that project and currently have 3 vehicles running on it.

               1. I hope I explained some of your questions in today's BMN. Brian

         5. Hey.  Really appreciate your info.  Tremendous help.

         6. You should  join this community.

         7. Sorry, you forgot to accomodate time-zone changes!

         8. Sometimes someone else just says it all

               1. I was along for the ride until he starts bad mouthing Hillary Clinton. No need to say crap about people.

         9. Are you interested in writing articles on green issues for the Optic?

        10. 4JB1 into an 82 P'up project underway.......

   2. Astronomy Picture of the Day

   3. Dump Load controller

[Boss]

Brian's Morning Newsletter

February 22nd 2008

Good Morning

Holy-Moly, where to begin? The day began marginally unproductive. My little service call turned out to be a simple diagnosis with one resolution hinging on whether the client's son would call with the passwords to a certain part of the business setup. I give the client who has used family members as IT staff the benefit of the doubt, even though the way the system was setup was anything but optimal before it went dysfunctional. So that took care of the small portion of my morning which I had delegated to being a network tech. Outta there I went.

I arrived at the college around 11:45AM found my son working with SolidWorks 3D modeling software in Kevin's classroom laboratory. Watching Austin work with Solidworks reminded me that I had been opening each of the graphics packages on this new Linux OS and came across one called Synfig Studio which is an okay looking animation program, but what do I know about it? Somehow in a Novocaine delirium the day before, I had found this awesome video which I assumed was created with Synfig Studio, but for an hour of searching I couldn't locate the video. Finally Austin had a class to teach and asked me to send him the link when I found it. Well I looked and I searched for animated shirts, being what I recalled about the video. Finally this morning I found it. D.A.N.C.E. Justice on youtube. Check it out.

Kevin and I visited the Algae Oil lab next door and took the tour with Dennis. They are using Kevin's air compressor to inject bubbles into the algae tanks, but it killed the second compressor. Which brings me to the reason we were there. The college electrician told Kevin that the new air compressor which miraculously appeared after only a week, wasn't going to work with the building's wiring. Now, try to imagine the frustration Kevin is going through with some new system the college has incorporated into the processing of purchase orders. It has gone from a three day process to a three week conflagration. Three weeks is an understatement. Kevin put in the PO for the tools and supplies for building the axial flux wind turbines at the first of the year. He hears back from the new PO consultant, or whatever the title is, that one thousand dollars can be saved by purchasing a different MIG welder than we selected. Grrr.

We marched over to the IT Director's office to find some help to this situation. He wasn't there. I also wanted to speak with him about taking on a bigger role with Synergy Fest 2008. Sigh...this day was rapidly becoming an exercise in futility. While we were over there Kevin met one of his students. The student needed to run a class project created back at the other lab on the Rapid Prototyping Machine. Neato. I have been writing about this 3D modeling software called Solidworks, well this machine is basically a 3D printer which reads files made with Solidworks. Kevin explained the device to us as an ink jet printer that injects plastic instead of ink. The machine can build complex machinery with moving parts from plastic. Very cool and it kept us occupied for an hour or so. But I couldn't help thinking that I wasn't moving toward my goal of building a wind turbine anytime soon. I drifted out of the classroom and checked on the director again. He was still out and the secretary wasn't sure when he would return. Sigh.

I moseyed from there to the media arts classroom where Austin teaches. He was busy working on a video. Amazing watching someone who knows what he is doing build up a movie one piece at a time. Out of nowhere, my good friend Jonathan appears , I guess he was working over in the corner on his favorite subject, mycelium. I can't pretend to grasp any part of this subject, but he did show me a picture of spores that were pretty cool looking. I fiddled about in that lab for another hour or so watching BMN member, Danny, and Austin work. Time was slipping away. Kevin came back from the Rapid Prototyping Machine and we took off across campus to locate the electrician who said the compressor wiring was a no go.

Indeed, we found him and he agreed to meet us and take another look at the building wiring. Kevin and I got a crash course in commercial building wiring. Nell's son, Jona, now a certified electrician, and I were talking about Delta and Wye wiring used on the axial flux wind turbines and how with one configuration more current was derived. Jona mentioned that commercial buildings were all 208 volts and only residential buildings used 110-220 volts anymore. This appeared to be true because whoever and however they managed to get this new compressor onsite didn't consider was the fact that the compressor was wired for residential not commercial and no compromise would be reached. It needed to go back to be exchanged for a commercial model, adding to our frustration with the purchase orders taking too long. Ironically, had this compressor been scrutinized thoroughly by the purchase order people, maybe the proper unit would have been purchased.

Back to the directors office we walked. This time he was in. Kevin and I hurriedly finalized the steel supplies list for building four wind turbine towers. Noting that nothing else was going as planned and hearing from several other frustrated instructors this day, we were worried they would chop our order. We walked in to see the director. We had a very productive meeting and I finally got to meet Andrew Feldman. It is too bad that I am running out of time because this is where our story goes from dead ends everywhere to out into the light. While we were there, the original purchase order came through. What this means is that we are in business. We will soon have the tools and supplies we need to begin building four wind turbines in the renewable energy department! Louie already has a complete set of turbine props made from kiln dried Douglas Fir from our mutual friend David Old.

It is beginning to look like everything is falling into place, thanks to Kevin's diligence. I did spend a good deal of time talking to the director about what the college absolutely must have before the Synergy Fest if we are to have one of our wind turbines ready to help power the stage. With this in mind, I am happy to say the college has four Trojan L16H deep cycle batteries and another four on order for us to use to power the stage at Synergy Fest 2008.

Gotta fly

See ya bye

Have a great weekend