I have recently been dabbling with Linux. It's something I've been wanting to try for quite some years but never quite got around to doing. However having bought an external hard drive which allowed me to back up my windows installation in the events of general cock-up appearing I could make some space on my main drive (as my BIOS doesn't support booting from a USB device) and try my luck.
On using a partitioning program to create space on my freshly defragged drive it bombed a third of the way through with the result of corrupting my main partition. Fortunately I'd backed up my drive so I formatted the drive, reinstalled windows, ran the Ubuntu installer to create the linux partitions and then restore my windows install onto the windows partition. This all went without the hitch.
Ubuntu seemed good. It took a while to get the internet connectivity right - this seemingly to be something that worked if booting Ubuntu after shutting down Windows but not working if Windows had blue screened (which it had taken to doing somewhat.) The software that came with the Edgy distribution seemed decent, although not perfect for my needs. Firefox was welcome but the bittorrent client seemed basic in the extreme. I gave up on Ubuntu for a while after finding it incredibly complex to install new software, however on returning to Ubuntu I found the software management option staring me in the face and installation a wide range of programs suddenly became simplicity itself.
For software not included in the management system installation can be difficult, as Linux does use command line which is something I've rarely touched since Windows 95 came along and which I had no sorrow in leaving behind. In the end I got too eager to try out the 3D desktop system 'Beryl' and suddenly I found myself with a non-booting install as I'd neglected to follow the instructions to remove the auto-start for Beryl and the graphical interface 'X' wasn't booting.
I took the opportunity to try out another distro I'd burnt to disc - this time OpenSUSE, which although not as widely patronised as Ubuntu is recommended for beginners of Linux. This time I decided to go with the KDE system rather than Gnome I had on Ubuntu. As with moving to any new systems, things worked differently and were located in different places. For one thing Real Player streams worked straight off, however I had to find instructions online to install support for DivX and similar, as this isn't supported by SUSE. This in itself brought up some error messages when installing new components, although I managed to work out what was missing and get it working, plus I had to track down some codecs to get video playback working properly. A little technical, but manageable.
My sticking point came when, having followed instructions to add new sources of software for the software management system (a system which on the face of it is more complicated than that of Ubuntu but seemingly with more options when you become familiar with it) and upon the next restart I was faced with lots of updates to install, which I duly selected. On booting up next the usual 3 options of OpenSUSE, Windows and the OpenSUSE safe mode had changed to one kernel option of OpenSUSE and Windows. I followed some instructions on restoring the old boot menu but found the required files locked. I then used the boot management options in YAST to try to restore the safe mode option. On rebooting it became clear that the options hadn't saved properly and OpenSUSE would no longer boot. I retreated to Windows for a while, then ran my OpenSUSE installation CD. The restore option required a login which I knew nothing about, but a repair option under installation did the trick and restored the OpenSUSE boot options, but only to have removed the option for booting to Windows! I returned with trepidation to the boot manager and guessed my way through, adding a new boot option and simply telling it to post to hda1, which I knew to be my main Windows partition. It worked, thank goodness, and now I've got a dual-booting system doing pretty much what I want it to.
There are a few outstanding issues. The internet connectivity issue remains in OpenSUSE and on occasion I have to login then out of Windows before I can get connectivity on Linux. I haven't yet got the printer to work in OpenSUSE and despite installing ATI drivers there seems to be no 3D support for my Radeon 9000 graphics card - something which I may only be able to solve when I next upgrade my PC - so for now it's still Windows for anything but basic gaming.
I've got a nice dual panel system in operation in OpenSUSE, where the active programs are listed on the top, and other links and features are located on a hidden bottom bar. The speed of operation is considerably sharper than my increasingly sluggish Windows XP install and I've noticed that the laptop feels the need to run the fan far less in Linux too - probably due to not requiring such a collection of demanding programs to be run upon start-up. I can run most if not everything, and I can access files from my Windows drives no problems, although I not able to delete any so it seems.
In conclusion I suspect I'm going to be Linux in the main from now on, as aside from a few issues it does what I demand of it and in much better time than Windows can manage. The software is free, the performance is good and it's customisable to suit your individual way of working. I'm liking it a lot. Mainly though it will provide good practice for when I buy my next PC which I'll format with a larger linux partition and make it a more equal dual-boot.
20070331
Levens and around on a Saturday
A traditional Cumbrian seat
Hincaster tunnel - a disused canal way, opened 1819
Historic Low Levens farmVirgin Trains - the red brand goes green
Virgin Trains is now featuring the environmentally friendly credentials of their trains on its website. The Pendolino trains, which use a regenerative braking system which actually returns electricity to the grid, emits 76% less CO2 than cars or domestic flights, the website states. The trains return an amount of electricity equivalent to making 2.6 billion brews a year.
20070330
Love in the time of Cylons
The series 3 finale of Battlestar Galactica aired in the US on Sunday. Although Sky is a few weeks behind in its episodes the wonders of the internet mean that within hours of each US episode airing it is available to fans around the world.
The story has progressed gradually over the three series. I caught some of the early episodes but thought it would be rather slow going, combined with the fact I did readily have access to them. However I've rejoined the story at the beginning of series 3 and have become completely hooked, to the extent that I've gone back to the first two series and am watching them through, as most add something to the overall plot arc.
Sci-fi is a funny thing. At the time of watching the various series on TV - in my case Star Trek: The Next Generation or Babylon 5 I've been rather hooked to them, but watching old episodes now doesn't do anything for me at all. Star Trek in particular seems terribly episodic and Utopian, where a minor modification to the sensor array or conduit can accomplish anything. In comparison BSG is dark and covers some deep areas such as religious beliefs, which the Guardian newspaper has likened to the two sides in the ongoing war on terror. The audience is kept in the dark almost as much as the crew on board BSG. The Cylons have a plan, but what is it? A little is discovered as the episodes progress but often more new questions are posed than are answered. Even with our insight into a Cylon Basestar, much still remains unclear and unanswered. There's no clear plot exposition going on here, and it keeps you clamouring for more in each episode.
The season 3 finale has proven to be a particular high point. The fleet seem on the point of discovering Earth but all manner of calamities take place leaving us with some major cliffhangers and loose ends in desperate need of explanation in series 4, due in early 2008.
------------Spoilers follow with regard to end of the series 3--------------
The fact that several crew members including the XO are hearing all along the watchtower is particularly confusing. Are they really Cylons as the Chief assumes, or could the ship be receiving radio signals from Earth which they are particularly in tune to? In any case it doesn't explain why they were all drawn to the same part of the ship at the same moment - although this did coincide with the jump and the power outage. The power outage is similarly unexplained and seems unlikely to be a piece of Cylon work (why haven't they used it already), although what else could it be? We know there are only 12 models of Cylons and it seems difficult to believe the four present could be four of the final five models.
The identity of the fifth, or possibly fourth and fifth, or is that first and second of the final five is also up for debate. The President is sharing dreams with the two other Cylons on board. Coincidence, or evidence she is a Cylon? And most monumental of all was the return of Starbuck at the end of the episode. She's back, in what seems to be a brand new MKII Viper and she claims to have been to Earth and will show the fleet the way. How is this possible when we saw her Viper destroyed by the gravity of a planet? One possibility is that she is one of the final five Cylons, or that she's residing in the subconscious of Lee Adama in a similar way to that of Number Six and Baltar. Or perhaps her role was greater all along, although this doesn't explain her return from the presumed dead. Was there really a Cylon Raider that she was pursuing? Did she eject and somehow was picked up? And perhaps most crucially of all will Starbuck play a role in preventing the fleet from being destroyed by four Cylon Basestars just a few clicks away?
Always more questions than answers, but it's turning out to be a superb series and on a completely different level to that of the original from the late 70s/early 80s. The new BSG is superior in every way.
The story has progressed gradually over the three series. I caught some of the early episodes but thought it would be rather slow going, combined with the fact I did readily have access to them. However I've rejoined the story at the beginning of series 3 and have become completely hooked, to the extent that I've gone back to the first two series and am watching them through, as most add something to the overall plot arc.
Sci-fi is a funny thing. At the time of watching the various series on TV - in my case Star Trek: The Next Generation or Babylon 5 I've been rather hooked to them, but watching old episodes now doesn't do anything for me at all. Star Trek in particular seems terribly episodic and Utopian, where a minor modification to the sensor array or conduit can accomplish anything. In comparison BSG is dark and covers some deep areas such as religious beliefs, which the Guardian newspaper has likened to the two sides in the ongoing war on terror. The audience is kept in the dark almost as much as the crew on board BSG. The Cylons have a plan, but what is it? A little is discovered as the episodes progress but often more new questions are posed than are answered. Even with our insight into a Cylon Basestar, much still remains unclear and unanswered. There's no clear plot exposition going on here, and it keeps you clamouring for more in each episode.
The season 3 finale has proven to be a particular high point. The fleet seem on the point of discovering Earth but all manner of calamities take place leaving us with some major cliffhangers and loose ends in desperate need of explanation in series 4, due in early 2008.
------------Spoilers follow with regard to end of the series 3--------------
The fact that several crew members including the XO are hearing all along the watchtower is particularly confusing. Are they really Cylons as the Chief assumes, or could the ship be receiving radio signals from Earth which they are particularly in tune to? In any case it doesn't explain why they were all drawn to the same part of the ship at the same moment - although this did coincide with the jump and the power outage. The power outage is similarly unexplained and seems unlikely to be a piece of Cylon work (why haven't they used it already), although what else could it be? We know there are only 12 models of Cylons and it seems difficult to believe the four present could be four of the final five models.
The identity of the fifth, or possibly fourth and fifth, or is that first and second of the final five is also up for debate. The President is sharing dreams with the two other Cylons on board. Coincidence, or evidence she is a Cylon? And most monumental of all was the return of Starbuck at the end of the episode. She's back, in what seems to be a brand new MKII Viper and she claims to have been to Earth and will show the fleet the way. How is this possible when we saw her Viper destroyed by the gravity of a planet? One possibility is that she is one of the final five Cylons, or that she's residing in the subconscious of Lee Adama in a similar way to that of Number Six and Baltar. Or perhaps her role was greater all along, although this doesn't explain her return from the presumed dead. Was there really a Cylon Raider that she was pursuing? Did she eject and somehow was picked up? And perhaps most crucially of all will Starbuck play a role in preventing the fleet from being destroyed by four Cylon Basestars just a few clicks away?
Always more questions than answers, but it's turning out to be a superb series and on a completely different level to that of the original from the late 70s/early 80s. The new BSG is superior in every way.
20070329
20070328
Casino uncertainty
Although Manchester won the day in its bid for a super-casino, it's not out of the woods yet, as a coalition of Labour rebels, Tories and LibDems may scupper government plans by rejecting the proposals in the House of Commons later today.
This, in its turn leaves a possible door open for Blackpool. It was mentioned on the news this evening that several MPs for North West England will be voting against the proposal in favour of seeing Blackpool as the site of the super-casino. However as the government is refusing to separate the super-casino and smaller casinos into two separate votes, the government may well see the whole plan go up in smoke.
This, in its turn leaves a possible door open for Blackpool. It was mentioned on the news this evening that several MPs for North West England will be voting against the proposal in favour of seeing Blackpool as the site of the super-casino. However as the government is refusing to separate the super-casino and smaller casinos into two separate votes, the government may well see the whole plan go up in smoke.
20070326
Northern Ireland
Normally having to listen to opposing sides in a protracted conflict such as that of Northern Ireland or Israel annoys me intensely as the speeches made by both sides give not an inch towards agreement, progress and future. Today, however, was not one of those days. Although power sharing has been put back until May, it was heartening to hear both DUP and Sinn Fein reading from the same page. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.
20070319
Rail replacement buses
With the rail crash the other week and the usual round of engineering works, there's been no shortage of rail replacement buses around here of late. Saturday saw some for First group on the A65, although I'm at a loss as to what train service they might be filling in for.
Last week I saw a local bus I'd never seen before bound for Low Gill, up the valley from here. Given the the railway that used to run through the valley stretched from here up to to Low Gill, where it joins the West Coast Main Line, I wondered if it might a Beeching Rail Replacement Bus Service?
Last week I saw a local bus I'd never seen before bound for Low Gill, up the valley from here. Given the the railway that used to run through the valley stretched from here up to to Low Gill, where it joins the West Coast Main Line, I wondered if it might a Beeching Rail Replacement Bus Service?
20070317
Latest Ebay sells
I'm currently selling batches of Cumbrian magazine from the 40s, 50s and 60s. Several of these are complete 12 issue sets and the starting price for each is only 99p.
If you're interested in Cumbrian life from the middle of the twentieth century, these magazines are a real insight, covering the people, places and lifestyle of the time
Click here to view all of my ebay sales.
If you're interested in Cumbrian life from the middle of the twentieth century, these magazines are a real insight, covering the people, places and lifestyle of the time
Click here to view all of my ebay sales.
20070316
Public transport pricing
The government seems hell-bent on ensuring that only the rich are able to travel - by any means. The latest report is that rail prices - specifically on the saver tickets - will increase, following hot on the heels of the annual above inflation increase in fares. This comes on top of proposed road charges which Labour seem determine to implement, although the validity of the petition against the proposal was dubious in the way that many things on the internet can so easily be. Meanwhile there's the less than stealthy taxation on flying which was brought in under an environmental banner but of course none of the revenue raised are going into those schemes.
Whichever mode of transport we wish to take, and in this day and age many people don't have much choice in the matter due to the spread of friends, family and work commitments, it seems we're going to be paying more before much longer. I don't have a problem with more being charged for less environmentally friendly modes of transport if the more environmentally friendly modes are made more affordable and attractive. However at the same time I think the government needs to look at intelligent methods of tackling the environmental issue rather than pricing the poorest out of travel while the rich continue to swan about as they please. Perhaps a system whereby an individual's carbon footprint is kept on a database with their passport number. This could perhaps lead to an escalating rate of tax as more flights are made. It's not an easy solution, but then easy solutions seldom prove to be the best solutions.
Whichever mode of transport we wish to take, and in this day and age many people don't have much choice in the matter due to the spread of friends, family and work commitments, it seems we're going to be paying more before much longer. I don't have a problem with more being charged for less environmentally friendly modes of transport if the more environmentally friendly modes are made more affordable and attractive. However at the same time I think the government needs to look at intelligent methods of tackling the environmental issue rather than pricing the poorest out of travel while the rich continue to swan about as they please. Perhaps a system whereby an individual's carbon footprint is kept on a database with their passport number. This could perhaps lead to an escalating rate of tax as more flights are made. It's not an easy solution, but then easy solutions seldom prove to be the best solutions.
20070315
The 2012 money monster
Is anyone surprised that the cost of the 2012 London Olympics are spiralling ever upwards, now taking ever larger bites out of the Lottery good causes fund. It's not as if London does badly when it comes to funding, and now in excess of £600m that would have been distributed to projects across the country are now going to be swallowed by the capital.
New travel website online
My brand new travel website is now online. Yes, this is the reason why the blog has been quiet of late, but now it's open for business (in a personal, non-commercial sort of way of course)
NORTHFACING.COM celebrates the northern countries of the world. Tired of hot, humid and noisy countries I've decided it's high time to focus on those countries I love the best, and that's just what the North Facing website is all about.
Please drop by and tell me what you think.
NORTHFACING.COM celebrates the northern countries of the world. Tired of hot, humid and noisy countries I've decided it's high time to focus on those countries I love the best, and that's just what the North Facing website is all about.
Please drop by and tell me what you think.
20070306
20070302
Radio 2 does NME
It's a sign of the times when the NME music awards is covered on Ken Bruce's Radio 2 show, as it was this morning. In the past this would have been purely the preserve of Radio 1, but now it's a toss-up between Radio 1, Radio 2, 6 Music, XFM and the various rock music DAB stations. Long let it continue.
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