Tedium ad Nauseum…And Yet, Patience is Learned

For me, there is no greater Zen Master for patience, understanding and tolerance…

…than a computer.  I know.  I know.   It isn’t human.  How can I possibly learn from a computer?  Feel for a computer?  Relate to a machine?

  Well, for one thing, it allows me to be less anthropocentric.  I can demonstrate compassion and patience, even for a non-living, inorganic machine that is only doing what it is programmed to do, with little in the way of conscious thought, save for a bit of fuzzy logic that allows some of its programs to extrapolate and learn.  There may be ideosyncratic differences twixt the languages I understand and some of my computer’s programming languages, but if I make the attempt to understand and learn what it is trying to say, I can get to know what this machine expects from me.  Most of all, the computer is an imperfect thing that is programmed to to interrupt my processes, correct my processes, and consume my time with often necessary tasks and inquiries, but with a rude and impassionate sense of timing.  This morning, for instance, was a diversion into my credit card acccount, where a merchant had double-charged me for a restaurant bill.  This consumed a half hour of extra time without resolution of the problem which is still pending.  I had hoped to spend the morning writing a longer blog post, and not about these issues.  I was also diverted into maintenance issues in my email client program, as well as tweaking my scanner/copier/printer for clearer automatic text scans.  All of these things consumed most of my two-hour vested time for computing and Internet.  I am not angry, nor disappointed, nor frustrated, for all of the diversions were necessary for various reasons and will make my computing, account management,  and online time easier for future sessions.

I have a great appreciation for the artistic minds that can focus upon a specific task, be it writing, painting or sculpting, and not be diverted by other things.  A writer with a computer must either be putting many computing processes on hold to focus on word processing, or he or she owns a MAC, which thus negates the extraneous computing updates and tweaks that seem to plague most of us Windows system users.  I write with a PC, and use the extraneous and nagging update/tweaking/bug-fixing processes as a focal point from which to write, to learn, and to report on my lessons.

I am out of time, at this point however, and I haven’t begun to express my thoughts.

Lesson learned today?  Put off until tomorrow even those things which you could have done today.

Amen.

MH Pathfinder

Crossing Platforms in Midstream…Again!

The fickled finger of fate has poked me in the eye again, and thus another Zen Master beckons to me to learn.

I was completely set on converting my HP Special Edition L2005US Lance Armstrong Livestrong laptop computer into a complete Ubuntu system. A major obstacle had been eliminated. My Broadcom wireless network card was now flashed with compatibility via Ubuntu’s hardware manager and my Canon PIXMA MP150 printer became compatible. Until today, the laptop was a dual-boot system with Ubuntu as the default and Windows Vista, which is necessary for my Quicken home and business files and professional programs not yet made for use in a Linux operating system.

For the past week, since my last post, I’ve experienced some very slow Ubuntu wireless network connection, at times not even able to connect to a single web address. Rebooting into Windows Vista resulted in the reliable and fast cable Internet connection I’ve consistently experienced in this system. A second nagging problem is apparently still not resolved in Ubuntu. That is reliable use of the Synaptics touchpad with a laptop keyboard. When typing text, the cursor jumps to another line and space…while in mid-typing. In contacting fellow users on Ubuntu forums, it is apparent that the bug still exists. None of the suggested fixes has worked.

Today, after several failed attempts to create fixes to the above two problems, I…once again…decided to remove Ubuntu from my hard drive, and restore my second partion to a second NTFS logical drive. What I did discover, along the way, is that the previous method of restoring a Windows Master Boot Record does not apply in Windows Vista. When one installs Ubuntu as the second operating system alongside a Windows Vista system, Ubuntu creates a boot-up menu called GRUB. By default, Ubuntu will start in 30 seconds, unless I click on Windows Vista from the menu.

If one decides to remove Ubuntu from the hard drives, you must first repair the Master Boot Record to allow Windows Vista to boot at startup. In order to repair the MBR (Master Boot Record), Windows is booted from the operating system DVD, then click on REPAIR YOUR COMPUTER, then click on Command Prompt. At the command prompt, type bootrec.exe /FixMbr/ It should say operation complete, or something like that. Then type “exit” and restart the computer. Windows Vista will now boot up, without any boot menu or Ubuntu as an option. After Windows Vista has booted up, click on the Start button, right-click on COMPUTER, and choose manage. From the manage console choose drive management. You will see your Windows partition, and two non-descript partions. These two partitions are the Ubuntu root and swap partitions. Right-click on each of them, and choose Delete Volume. The two blank partitions will become one. At that point, you can right-click on the blank partition and choose Format. After the partition is formatted, you will have deleted any hint of Ubuntu or whatever else was on the partition. Your system is now fully restored to a single-boot Windows Vista system.

There is no escaping the fact that Windows Vista is very superior operating system. In Internet and network functions, software compatibility, ability to use Microsoft Office’s FrontPage web editor, by far and away the easiest creative instrument for web page editing and publishing, even for those with no HTML knowledge or experience.  It’s a WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) editor AND the FrontPage extensions allow one to make a change on one page that will ripple through relevant links to that change,  appropriately and quickly,  throughout the entire website.

Each venture away from Windows toward Ubuntu and other Linux distributions makes me appreciative that there are cooperative projects bringing operating systems and software to the developing world.  These operating systems are improving quickly.  Yet, each venture away from Windows brings me back to it, realizing how dependent we are, and how much many of us want, a universal operating system that works and performs efficiently, and does the things that we want to do with our computers.  Windows is still it.  Vista is a greatly improved product that is much more user friendly than previous versions, and with many built-in management tools to ensure that it operates smoothly with the least amount of technical problems and interruptions.

Windows Vista Home Basic on my HP Special Edition L2005US Lance Armstrong Livestrong notebook.  I added memory to bring it up to 2 gigs RAM, installed a fast 7200 rpm 80 gig hard drive and replaced the DVD burner with a Samsung DVDRW/CDRW burner.   Ubuntu will reappear from time to time, but for now, it is a single boot Windows system.  My desktop is dual boot with Ubuntu as the default operating system.

The best of both worlds, commercial and cooperative.

Amen.

MH

Crossing Platforms in Midstream

I know that most of you out there are content with Bill Gates child, Windows, reaching a new stage every few months and a new version of itself every few years. We are creatures of habit, after all, and when we become accustomed to an operating system with its nuances and complexities, we are not too quick to change the software underpinnings of our work and home computers. It’s enough to contend with the vast amount of learning processes on one operating system and its features, without challenging our minds and anxiety levels with yet another. We would, after all,like to get some actual work done.
A small percentage have opted for the user-friendly MAC computer and its OS operating system, based on the UNIX platform. It’s reportedly easy to access, and to learn, without having to go behind the scenes of the operating system. Still, one has to learn to navigate the folder and file structure, to know where the programs and system utilities are, and still to contend with updates, albeit not as frequently as Windows users. Even Windows updates are usually automatic, loading up in the background of our broadband network connections.

A growing number of users, especially in Europe and Asia, have discovered a different operating system, LINUX. LINUX is not new, its based on the UNIX code upon which the MAC OS operating system is built, and is, in fact, the original code for operating systems everywhere. In fact, there are literally thousands of distributions built upon the LINUX platform, which is built upon the UNIX language. These distributions are products of cooperative projects of developers and programmers. The UNIX code, and LINUX operating system which is built upon it, is “OPEN SOURCE” which means it is available to everyone to use, to alter, to improve, and to share with others. The result is a wide variety of LINUX distributions, each with its own amenities and distinguishing characteristics, and packages of software. Most LINUX distributions are packaged with many open source programs, such as OPEN OFFICE, MOZILLA FIREFOX browser and THUNDERBIRD email client, as well as many multimedia, Internet and other office programs and utilities.

There are hundreds of free and commercial repositories of available open source and commercial programs to add to one’s LINUX system. There are a number of open source and free software advocates who are working to prevent an encroachment of commercial interests who would attempt to control, and charge fees, for use of their software, and thus threaten the free and open source software availability to the public. Thus, members of the open source software movement encourage users to use open source software only. This would be a great suggestion if the many multimedia Internet broadcasts, even from alternative news and information sources, were producing their material in open source software formats. Most of them are not, but mp3 and wmv files can be played in many open source media players. Realplayer streaming formats, however, require a Realplayer program to hear or see them. We users will, as we do with corporations and our government, simply have to keep close watch and collectively work to protect and maintain the free and open source software enviroment.

One of the most popular of LINUX-based distributions is the UBUNTU operating system package, which I am running on my laptop, as a dual-boot system which allows me to boot from either UBUNTU or Windows Vista. I have been runnng UBUNTU on my desktop computer in my home office for the past two years. UBUNTU has been improving by leaps and bounds with each new revision. The current version is UBUNTU 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon. The greatest improvement to UBUNTU, as far as I’m concerned, is the Restricted Drivers manager which includes a Broadcom wireless network card firmware update. For the past four years I have wanted a LINUX distribution on my laptop, but could only use one with an external network card. Finally, my HP Special Edition L2005US Lance Armstrong Livestrong notebook computer is fully compatible with UBUNTU Linux. I just installed it yesterday after reading about the Broadcom network card incompatibility issue being solved. Delightful.

What is it about LINUX operating systems that I love the most? They are free to the public, they work well in older computers with little storage space and without a need for an abundance of RAM memory, and they are developed through cooperative and creative efforts. If a working family can afford an inexpensive laptop computer with a wireless network card, then they have a tool to bring them into the Information Age without going into debt to do it. A used laptop with a 1-gigahertz CPU and 512 megs of RAM memory might cost between two- to three-hundred dollars UBUNTU is free and packaged with an office suite, Internet tools, multimedia, DVD and CD burning tools, and games. A multifunction printer that prints, scans and copies can be purchased for fifty dollars, with cartridges that can be replaced for as little as three dollars each (Epson CX3810, on sale).

To find UBUNTU, just click to http://www.ubuntu.com. For other LINUX distributions (hundreds) go to http://www.distrowatch.com.

And do this, even if you are a happy Windows user. If you have an old working computer, or know someone that does, download UBUNTU for free and burn it onto a CD, then install it into the older system. Check out the features, play with it. If you decide you don’t want it, give it to some family that needs it, and help them get on line. You will have explored a new operating system and helped a family get into the Information Age, and thus to move deeper within the human sphere through learning and communication without it costing a lot of money.

Amen.

MH Pathfinder

The Preponderance of Maintenance Time in Computer-based Work

Updates…

Unending, perpetual updates, each and every time I turn on my laptop computer. And, when I turn on my laptop computer, it takes at least two, often three minutes, for it to fully boot up to a ready state for use–memory tests, loading up software from the hard drive into the usable region of RAM. Between the boot time and the updates, whatever fresh thoughts I had intended to record in my word processor have been grown cloudy, fogged by the complexities of popup windows asking me if I want to install one of many software and antivirus database updates.

I remember the days of times gone by when I could generate a meaningful thought, then scribble it down in a few paragraphs on a piece of paper…with a wonderful communication device. It’s called a pencil. Even a typewriter would be ready to receive my finger taps, no waiting necessary, and I could allow my immediate thoughts and ideas to flow through my fingers onto a blank piece of paper.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the marvel of computers, now much more than calculators or word processors, they have become invaluable communication tools to access the seemingly unlimited amount of information and resources on practically any subject from nearly any region of the world. I can write and research my facts and figures at the same time. It has become a fluid process. Yet, I am ever aggravated at the amount of maintenance time I seem to have to spend on my various software appliances. Yesterday, I spent half a day repairing my www.truthwalker.org website, as well as repairing and reinstalling my Microsoft FrontPage 2003 web editing program. Again, I am only half-complaining, because MS FrontPage is an amazing web editing tool that cuts corners and monitors every single minute change one makes in a page. If you want to make a change in the background or formatting themes of all of the pages of a web site, it takes only one step and then it ripples the change throughout all of the web pages in an instant. Then, the changes can be published to the remote server in seconds. I’ve used other web editing programs. There are others that can manipulate graphics and benefit knowledgeable HTML users. I don’t want to spend a lot of time behind the scenes of my web content, I just want to produce and edit it, so I wanted the best of WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) web editors, and I’ve always returned to Microsoft FrontPage for this reason.

Finally after a day of web site repair and program reinstalls, not to mention a week to transfer my www.michaelhovey.com website to a new domain registrar and server, I am ready to get back into the groove of productive work. I just purchased an inexpensive external portable drive to back up my data, so I won’t have to retrieve my web site too often in the future.

Computer maintenance = tedium ad nauseum

Amen

MH

The Pathfinder