Edge of the World

I loaded Pinguy OS on the Dell Mini 9.  This distro has a funny name but it is based on Ubuntu and it looks great.  I did a little tweeking on Conky to fit the tiny Mini 9 screen but the results look great.. From the Pinguy website... Ubuntu is a great OS and undoubtedly the most popular and easiest Linux based Distro to use but even with its default setup and chosen programs it's still  lacking functionality and ease of use for most new users. So what I decided to do was build a Distro that looks good, could do everything most user would ever want to do and that was very simple to use. I started out by listening to what my friends and family wanted to use their PC for and found the most user friendly programs for the task they wanted to do. After a while I got a good idea what most people use their PC for and what programs where the easiest to use. Like using Shotwell for easily uploading images to Facebook, gtkpod for putting music, photos and video on a ipod/ipho...

Monolithic Domes are constructed following a method that requires a tough, inflatable Airform, steel-reinforced concrete and a polyurethane foam insulation. Each of these ingredients is used in a technologically specific way. Our domes can be designed to fit any architectural need: homes, cabins, churches, schools, gymnasiums, arenas and stadiums, bulk storages, landlord dwellings and various other privately or publicly owned facilities. Monolithic Domes meet FEMA standards for providing near-absolute protection and have a proven ability to survive tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, most manmade disasters, fire, termites and rot. They are cost-efficient, earth-friendly, extremely durable and easily maintained. Most importantly, a Monolithic Dome uses about 50% less energy for heating and cooling than a same-size, conventionally constructed building. Beginning in 1970, Monolithic Domes have been built and are in use in virtually every American state and in Canada, Mexico, Sout...

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clarke, "Profiles of The Future", 1961 (Clarke's third law) English physicist & science fiction author (1917 - 2008) Checking the morning random Internet info and I clicked on http://www.quantumjumping.com An interesting concept, I have read about the work of Dr. Brian Greene on mirror symmetry, relating two different Calabi-Yau manifolds (concretely, relating the conifold to one of its orbifolds). He also described the flop transition, a mild form of topology change, showing that topology in string theory can change at the conifold point. The whole 26 dimensions thing. Interesting ties into the teachings of Max Freedom Long @ http://www.maxfreedomlong.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory Your local Calabi-Yau manifold ;)

Why lifeinthesugarbowl?  My wife and I and the cats live in Sugar Land, Texas.   Sugar Land is a city located in Fort Bend County in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area (about 20 miles South of Houston).  It is one of the fastest-growing cities in Texas, having grown more than 158% in the last decade (scary).  Sugar Land is home to the headquarters of Imperial Sugar and the company's main sugar refinery and distribution center was once located in this city. As a nod to this heritage, the Imperial Sugar crown logo can be seen in the city seal and logo. The city also holds the headquarters for Western Airways and a major manufacturing facility for Nalco Chemical Company. In addition, Sugar Land has a large number of international energy, software, engineering, and product firms. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Land,_Texas My Linux experience started on the kitchen table with Red Hat Linux about 2004, when I ...

Ok, I am crazy about Conky, editing Conky code is a great way to learn a bit about programming and your hardware. Conky is a free, light-weight system monitor for X, that displays any information on your desktop. Conky is licensed under the GPL and runs on Linux and BSD. Conky Hardcore http://conkyhardcore.com/ The Conky Links http://conkyhardcore.com/beginners/conky-links/ The Conky PitStop http://old-cps-do-not-use.wikidot.com/ Many thanks to code from Conky by Hanna, The Conky Queen!

Tweeking the conky code for my Mini 9 (Fedora 14 Xfce) - thanks Hanna ! # Use Xft? use_xft yes xftfont Trebuchet MS:size=8 xftalpha 0.8 text_buffer_size 2048 # Update interval in seconds update_interval 1 # This is the number of times Conky will update before quitting. # Set to zero to run forever. total_run_times 0 # Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus)     own_window yes     own_window_transparent yes     own_window_type desktop     own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager # Use double buffering (reduces flicker, may not work for everyone) double_buffer yes # Minimum size of text area minimum_size 180 0 # Draw shades? draw_shades no # Draw outlines? draw_outline no # Draw borders around text draw_borders no # Stippled borders? stippled_borders 0 # border margins border_margin 5 # border width border_width 1 # Default colors a...

Linux activity I loaded Salix Xfce 13.1.2 to my Panasonic Toughbook (CF-72). Salix uses a text based installer that is fairly simple to follow if you have some Linux experience. Salix is a Linux distribution based on Slackware that is simple, fast and easy to use. Salix is also fully backwards compatible with Slackware Linux, so Slackware users can benefit from Salix repositories, which they can use as an "extra" quality source of software for their favorite distribution. Like a bonsai, Salix is small, light & the product of infinite care. http://www.salixos.org/wiki/index.php/Home A great website for keeping up with Linux and UNIX releases.. http://distrowatch.com/ A good Twitter App After hitting the following 2K limit in Twitter, I checked out http://manageflitter.com/   An excellent app for filtering out how is not following back, no profile image (a pet peeve), inactive, talkative or too quiet users.

I got Fedora 14 Xfce installed on the Dell Mini 9. After the typical Fedora install, I had head over to RPM Fusion with Firefox to load the Free and Nonfree Repositories, but this was very easy just click-and-load and authorize as root. I loaded the “non-free” kmod-wl driver due to the Broadcom wireless card in the Mini 9. After a restart, we got wireless LAN. If you run Fedora, the RPM Fusion Repositories are at: http://rpmfusion.org/Configuration My Mini 9 has had so many distros on it, but the SSD is holding up well. It came with the Dell tweeked Ubuntu remix, I updated to the latest immediately, ran with Kubuntu for awhile till I ran into the KDE 4X issues (too wiggy for me). I tried #! Crunchbang Linux and that was a winner. It’s dark and ran very well but my “hackerness” brought me back to Xfce. IMHO, it seems Ubuntu is getting a bit wiggy. First it was the menu buttons on the top left, which I promptly fixed back, and Kubuntu is ok but always held back a bit., now th...

I have been watching the Roku box often. TV is moving away from cable and satellite to internet based distribution and Roku is a great deal. I love the Roku box and service and at under $70, it is a great deal =-=-=-=-= Powered by Blogilo

Thinking about moving the Dell Mini 9 to Fedora 14 LXDE. I am getting too many wierd errors on Kubuntu....

Revision - 3:30 PM 7/19/2010 (Moving the WWW from the PC to the living room) What are the holdups? licensing issues, payments? The Internet is taking over everything these days including television (cable and satellite). A few examples of how the 'net is taking over television! (Step 1 - connect your TV to a PC and the web) By connecting an Internet connected PC to your television, you can download TV shows, movies, etc. How to connect a TV to a PC? Using various cables HDMI cable (the best way but you would need a video card with an HDMI output) The old "High-Definition Multimedia Interface" DVI Cable ("Digital Visual Interface", It is partially compatible with the High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) standard in digital mode(DVI-D), and VGA in analog mode (DVI-A). S-Video CableVGA Cable See the following websites http://www.howcast.com/videos/185705-How-To-Connect-Your-Laptop-To-Your-Television or http://www.weethet.nl/english/video_connect_pc2tv.php o...