Let’s recap February, won’t we?

This month has been quite the memorable one, I think. Got really geeky and fixed up a couple of scooters and planned a few trips. Saw a movie or two, wrote a poem. Tried to sell some tshirts on ebay. Met a few new friends. Thought about New Mexico for about a second. It was cold and I got all pissed about the snow. Installed a new operating system for my computer, loved it, got worried about it, ditched it and then took it back. I don’t have a link for that, cause I just did it last night. Uninstalled the “dapper drake” version and installed the newer “edgy eft” and everything works like a dream.

So all in all, an interesting little month.

As swell and catchy as Ubuntu Linux is, I’m going to be uninstalling it tonight. I really really really like it. So much more than Windows. But I’ve been having so many problems with it. I really need something that’s best for the type of work that I do.

Mostly on the computer at home, I watch DVDs, Burn/Rip DVDs, work in Photoshop, use Vedabase and work with a map program.

Ubuntu was giving me a LOT of problems even watching a DVD last night. See, because of all of the copy protection shit, it’s actually (possibly) illegal to even watch a movie on Linux. It’s nothing that would ever even make it to a court, but as the laws are written, it’s a very gray area. When I finally got that working, the colors were very washed out. I fixed that by using a different program, but I don’t know how to make it recognize my DVD drives. That’s more my fault than Linux though.

As for burning/ripping/shrinking (basically backing up DVDs), you *can* make it work in Linux, but it’s a real pain in the ass. That’s a lot better on Windows.

Linux as a photo program called The Gimp. Honestly, I’m really impressed with it. Great program. But it’s not Photoshop. Close, but not enough. Under normal circumstances, I could do what I do with The Gimp. But it’s just one more thing.

Vedabase is a program that has collected the works of Srila Prabhupada. It runs on Folio. That only runs in Windows. You can run it in WINE, but there are some font problems which would, I think, manifest themselves big time in Vedabase (which uses sanskrit and bengali fonts).

I use Microsoft Streets and Trips. I like it. I used to use a Rand McNally program, but it’s not as good. I tried Delorme and it’s good, but not at all user-friendly. But all that doesn’t matter because none of them will work in Linux. GoogleEarth, however, will. But it’s just not the same.

So for all those reasons, I’m going back to Windows in the home machine. In my laptop, when it arrives, I’ll be using Ubuntu Linux exclusively.

Actually, I think I’ll still keep Ubuntu on the home computer. I really do like it. It’s a much better operating system than Windows. It just needs more time to get its shit together. I’m going to fully uninstall the one I have and install the newest version of Ubutu (called “Edgy Eft”) and see where that takes me.

I know a lot of the problems I’m having with Linux are my own fault. The DVD thing especially. I know that. So maybe I’ll be able to work through them. I hope so. In a few years maybe the Linux thing will catch on more. Distributions like Ubuntu will make it more available to the masses. And that’s a good thing.

There are two programs that come bundled with Ubuntu that really kick ass. One is Open Office. That’s basically a totally free office suite. A lot like Microsoft Office. It’ll even open Office’s files (save in them too). But it’s 100% free. Dig it.

The other is Gaim. Gaim is a chat program that allows you to log onto several different chat networks at once. Aim, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ and a few others. Everything is in one tabbed window and it allows you to hide the buddy list for even less clutter. It even has a spell checker! Check it out, but get the 2.0 beta version.

Ubuntu also comes with Firefox. But a bunch of you are using that anyway.

If you’re curious as to what the readers of this little blog are using…

Internet Explorer 43.7%

Mozilla Firefox 36.6%

Safari 12.3%

The rest is a smattering of Netscape, Opera, Linx, Flock, Camino and Mozilla.
Ok, enough geekiness for today.

I’ve had hiccups most of the day. :(

While nine hours of yesterday morning/afternoon/evening were handed over to the AllState, seven hours of the evening/morning hours were given to Linux.

I just installed Ubuntu Linux and it was a really really really bad bitch to install. Now, I am partially to blame for this. I wanted to dual boot with Windows and Linux. No problem at all usually. My problem was what I did after the disc screwed up.

See, the disc I was using had errors on it. I didn’t check it for errors like I should have. I’m kinda dumb like that. With Ubuntu, you can test it out on a “Live CD” before actually installing it. It’s really neat. You should try it out. Anyway, it hung up a few times while booting up the Live CD and it shouldn’t do that. I ignored it.

I decided that I wanted to fully install it, so I chose to do so. It partitioned my C drive an d then hung up. I had to abort. However, the partition remained. Still does. So I tried it again. Same disc, same dumb guy running it. It almost installed, creating another partition (not sure where though). And hung up.

So I went into Windows and tried to undo the partitions. You can’t do that, of course, without some nonfree software. Whatever. So I tried another disc (I had three from three different sources). It seemed to work fine, but the set up was text based and I messed it up. Somehow it installed correctly, but didn’t ask me to enter a username or password. So when it came time to boot it up, it booted fine, but because I didn’t know the username/password, I was locked out.

Using the third disc, I finally got it installed. If I just would have used the third disc first, it would have been easy and quick (20 mins) rather than difficult and long (about 6 or 7 hours).

I finally went to bed at 4am.

This morning, I woke up at 9 and got everything all set up. My computer drives were a MESS. I had three unworking versions of Linux on various drive and Windows XP. Linux certainly functioned though, so I ignored the damage and played with it.

Honestly, I love it. It’s quick. VERY quick. For example, those of you who have Firefox in Windows. Notice how long it takes to start up? On my WindowsXP, it’s about 30-35 seconds. On Ubuntu, with *all* the same extensions installed, it’s about 5 seconds. No kidding.

One of the coolest things is that Ubuntu gives you use of several different “desktops.” I think up to 30 or so, though I use three, for now. It’s great to have three different work spaces fairly unrelated to each other.

I’m still working out the learning curve. It’s a heavy one, but so is any new computer or new operating system. If it weren’t for a few programs, I’d totally leave Windows. But for now, I’m going to dual boot and spend most of the time on Linux. When I get the laptop, that will be 100% linux. I’m excited.

Another great thing about it is the support. See, folks who use Linux are kind of like the folks who drive Volkswagens and ride scooters. They choose to. Most people are content to get pretty much any car, or to just use Windows. And that’s fine. But support for “just any car” or “just Windows” is really different from the community feel of people into Volkswagens, scooters and Linux. There is a real sense of helping and that’s great. That might be the best part. They’ll gladly give you two or three ways to fix the same problem. If you mess up one, there’s two more you can try. It’s really swell. I whole-heartedly suggest getting it.

Though, in order to fix my drives, I did have to uninstall it and reinstall it, which means that I lost all the work I did on it all day. But oh well. I’ll get that tomorrow. Tonight, it’s the Oscars. I have some other computer work to do and that’s away from the TV, so my friend Sri is giving me the play-by-play!

Geeky things? Oh yes.

Pretty much every waking moment of my day was spent under the AllState in my parents’ garage (it has heat, mine doesn’t).

First thing’s first, I wanted to install the new hub on the front wheel. However, I forgot it at home. Brilliant me.

Ok, well how about installing the new grips? All that you do is heat them up a bit, spray some hairspray down the holes (provides lubrication at first and dries to make it sticky like glue). Hm.. a tight fit. So we sanded away at the new paint, since, we figured, the excess paint was making the handlebars too thick. But no go. Turns out that I bought 21mm grips for a 24mm bike. Sigh.

So we decided to run all new cables instead. I brought those and what I learned was the the cables I was sent were bigger than the ones I was taking out. They were both thicker and longer. Thankfully, there was the dremel.

We cut and widened until (after over and hour) the shifter cables were in. Then more dremeling for the clutch cable. Even more for the rear break cable.

For the throttle cable… well… we just let it go. The housing was a bit worse for wear, but the cable itself was protected and looking good. We lubed everything up, but didn’t adjust anything and called it finished for now.

We had to drop the front end in order to get it painted, so the next project was putting the front end back on. Early Vespas has bearings that are basically just steel balls kept in place but a LOT of grease. A LOT of grease, some light hammering and some luck and the front end was back on.

There’s a bolt that keeps the headset (handlebars) from moving around. Naturally, that bolt’s threads were shot. I need a new one. $20 from Scooter Parts Direct. Awesome, huh.

Because I forgot the hub, the wheel will have to wait.

Next was the cowls. No problem. Except that I forgot the cowl rubber at home. No cowls. Which means no installing the gas tank, which means no installing the seat. But it wasn’t like I didn’t have the hardware (nuts and bolts and washers) to install it! Oh I certainly had it. I bought it twice. Once this morning and once some time before. I have no recollection of buying it before. But I did. Let me tell you, $2.00 well spent both times!

Frustrated at my own forgetfulness and generally tired, we assembled the headset, installed the speedo and the headlight, adjusted all the cables the best we could and called it a day. Nearly 9 hours. Not too bad.

And for our troubles? It’s looking more and more like a scooter.

Was planning on working on it tomorrow, but no such luck. Snow. Five inches and then freezing rain. Oh my god! I can’t wait!!

Allstate! Tomorrow. I should be able to assemble the whole thing tomorrow morning/afternoon.

We’ll see anyway.

That’s really all I have to say right now. Ate some Chinese food tonight. And that’s really about it. Wow. I’m exciting. Look at me go!

Tomorrow will be cold. Snow Sunday. Goodie.

If you’ve been following my travel planning antics, you’ll know that everything – every potential stop, ever road, every everything has been mapped out using Microsoft Streets and Trips. I’ve sunk nearly a year’s worth of work into this. It’s detailed and pretty damn near exact.

So here’s the problem. While I’ll have a laptop with me on the trip, it’ll be running Linux. There is no mapping software for linux. Nothing. Even using WINE (the program that allows some Windows programs to run in Linux) won’t do it. I’m stuck and really unsure of what to do.

The adventurer in me says “fuck it.” Just go without a computer map, just get some maps from AAA and run with it! And that’s great for the east coast trips. Actually, that makes more sense. But for the Route 66 trip, I’m going to be taking roads that don’t really exist on maps. The whole route, Route 66, doesn’t exist on a map. It was decommissioned decades ago.

I could dual boot, I guess. But I really really really wanted a Microsoft-free laptop. But I guess that’s not realistic. At least until after the trip. I need Streets and Trips software and there’s nothing on Linux that will work.

Another option is printing every single map, so it’s like I’m looking at my route on a computer screen. If I want to do side trips (which I do), I can get local maps and ask directions. It’s possible. I’ll think about that. If I’m in a bind, GoogleEarth works in Linux, no problem, but you have to be connected to the internet to get the maps.

I’ll be installing Linux on my desktop this weekend. I’ve got a lot of projects that I’m doing that require Windows, so it’ll just be playing around. But after these projects are finished (a couple of weeks, I hope), I’ll use Ubuntu as my primary operating system.