I did go ahead with getting a GPS unit.

The IBM Thinkpad has been loaned to a neighbour. She did not have a computer so I loaned her my Thinkpad. I swapped out my Linux hard drive and put in the original 20 GB drive with Windows XP. I installed Office 97 and Publisher 97 on the computer.

Annual Backups continue

I just now copied the Desktop and the Documents folders to one of the new LaCie hard drives. I did yesterday burn three DVD's with the documents folder minus movies and the computer(s) folder. The computers folder contains all the old files from previous computers.

I am not buying the projector after all. I need to stop all this spending on computer parts and debiting at 28% interest. I was so prepared with cables and researching adapters and already having the portable screen. But the projector is so expensive I would rather buy a gas powered vehicle or fix up my bicycle with fenders, racks and a GPS.

Annual backups

I am just backing up the eMac to multiple locations but mainly today I am backing up the documents folder to three copies of DVD's.

I was lucky or again predicted that the projectors would be on sale at the electronics store. I am having to borrow to buy this item and the money won't be ready until Thursday or Friday. I am now just hoping the store does not run out of projectors. The deal is a 200$ less price and a bonus 72 inch pull down screen. Home movies here we come. Of course, at the cost of new debit.

I backed up my two present macs to the new LaCie hard drives using the LaCie back up software. I also copied files of the failing Iomega firewire drive to the new drives. I also double backed up the old user account from the old eMac which I now call eMac 1.

I used stfp and vi on my eMac to update a web page. I had few issues and everything went well and took less than a hour.

I am developing a positive on-line relation with another computer scientist in Second Life and she has shown me the ICT library where I finally got a free URL launch script. She also stopped me from shopping in Second Life and it is a non sexual reationship. So good clean fun is happening in Second Life. So now I will add this URL launch script to the computers I buy for my virtual offices. I also cashed in Linden dollars to help pay for my account fees. Thus at the moment I have lowered my Second Life costs. I still don't make sales or have a job in Second Life but I am really enjoying the design of my offices and some seemingly random visitors have said the place looks cool. "Cool costs me money? as the IBM TV add goes but it is also fun to build this on-line office.

I really know what's going on at computer stores these days. I rightly predicted or waited for sales of LaCie 250 GB hard drives and thus we got me two for christmas. I also managed to put away until January a Linksys USB hard drive Lan device at another store now that these are coming off the market and have dropped 30 dollars in price. Thus the two hard drives will be network accessible. I am using a lot of space now on my present hard drives with movies and also multiple computer backups. Also one drive is about to fail and gives me slow operation on my eMac when the drive is connected.

I did internet computing for the last few hours. Including joining U Tube. I converted some videos and updated our iPods. My brother has launched a small graphics site here (http://www.timusk.com/desktop/).

I uploaded a home weather video to UTube today. It should be here.

I installed Brother printer drivers for my MFC420CN on my Linux laptop. I also bought yet another printer this time for its duplex printing abilities.

The eMac is ready to go. I have set it up with Mac OS X 10.3 and have installed X code and X11.

I am just doing a regular back up for my mail folder on my main master computer my new eMac. I am thinking of getting a Mac Pro machine but this would be about a 5,000 dollar investment including monitors and hard drives.

I first backed up the user on the eMac and then reinstalled the original MacOS X 10.2 software. Then I upgraded to Panther Mac OS X 10.3. I then installed X Code and X11. This computer is now ready for my friend to take home. She is presently the volunteer web mistress for the Ottawa Canada Linux Users Group. I hold a sort of membership in this group.

I was given a Second Life script that launches a web browser and opens a URL. I want to use a few of these scripts in objects in my Second Life design offices.

I upgraded BootCamp drivers on my Macbook a week ago. This means I can now use my iSight and my microphone on my Macbook while using WinXP.

I am giving away my older eMac to a young web designer. I decided I do not need to use my older eMac and will give it away to an old friend who is actually a young web design student.

I used a global find and replace in Dreamweaver to finally change my timusk@magi.com email address on all my personal home page site pages to the correct and permanent National Capital Freenet email address. I do not like changing email addresses because of this web site email links issue.

I paid for a license for documents to go version 9 yesterday morning and this is now functioning on my Palm Treo 600. I have not been using my Palm much as Palm but it is now my main cell phone too. I had some trouble with the filing of contacts on the Palm being all wrong and I am pain stakingly refiling everyone.

I have been using Second Life(SL) successfully quite a bit for the past few weeks. I have tonight been pointed to GNU sites in SL.

I have had connection problems with my network printer on both the Macbook from the beginning and the now the eMac recently. I have been using the new Canon IP90 for most of my printing in the last few weeks. I am giving my mother my Epson 820 printer. I will only have one Epson printer left my 440 with its parallel port connection.

I am making some classical page of links pages for one of my web master sites.

I did some video making and made a family film and then made three copies of a DVD movie which was basically only raw footage of a family reunion. I also printed some family pictures.

Back ups

I was successful at burning a DVD of my email. I now have most of ten years or more of email backed up to 1 DVD disk. I figure before my email back up size becomes bigger than a DVD I will be burning larger dvd's of 8 GB size. I am not sure if my present computers can already do this. I will now try to import all this email into my Macbook mail but not right away.

My computers are working fine. I have learned how to keep my Debian computer updated. I updated windows XP on my Macbook. I also installed the IP90 printer on the windows side of the Macbook. I also hotsynced the palm on the windows computer side of the Macbook thereby installing some medical palm applications but that is not completed. I paid for these medical softwares. I also downloaded a trial version of Documents To Go version 9 and have it working on my Palm Treo 600 now. I took some photos with the Treo of a union picket I attended.

I also made a profile picture with the Second Life viewer camera, of my Second Life avatar and wrote a little blurb for my avatar. I had used Second Life almost every day this past week as I build the web design offices in world and met people in world and through email.

Backups

I am going to back up my mac computers today and start a DVD disk back up process as well as the usual hard drive back up.

Data and TV projectors are indeed coming down in price. I will be able to buy one for Christmas I hope. Already a good quality model that functions for my plans is only 900$, down below 1000$. Speaking of shopping I am thinking of buying an Itronix T5200 for about 60$ plus shipping costs of about 50$. But really I don't have 110$ to spare right now I am still paying for my new TV, the printer, and an iPod for my wife.

I now have a Canon IP 90 but have not used it much yet. It prints perfect photos. I really should buy some more ink for it though and some more photo paper. I should also set it up for use with the WinXP side of this Macbook.

I have been using Dreamweaver regularly now. I did some web mastering this week including using Moving Type at Yahoo for paid work. I have been paid for about 13 hours work on my new web master contract. I am preparing to bill for another ten hours. I also have some work on an older web master contract that must be done. I will get to that this weekend.

I installed a trial copy of Documents To Go version 9 for the Macintosh. This is actually a palm application that allows creation, viewing and use of Microsoft doc, exl, and pps files on the palm. I use the docs feature for keeping minutes at various community group meetings and union meetings. I have not used the Treo that much as a palm although I did some calendar updating, contacts updating, and have also installed all my purchased ebooks and also free ebooks. I have only purchased about three ebooks for the Palm and one was Count Zero by William Gibson. I have though been using the Treo quite regularly as a cell phone. I learned some thing this morning from the palm web site about setting the incoming call sounds. I only really use my cell phone for incoming calls from my wife and in one of my volunteer roles.

Playing Second Life is inspiring

I did some on-line design in Second Life. Really what I did was pay a designer and worked with him to create my SL web design offices. He sold me some desks and then build some cubicle dividers and shelfs. My offices are in Sociaria if you need to look me up and my on-line name is Peter Korgstad. The office is Crystal Computing Web Design. The designer's studio was quite inspiring and had music video screens which I could watch and also a Reuters news feed which always crashed my SL game when I tried to work it. I linked my RL identity with my Second Life identity as I am doing here. This means I am not that worried about on-line privacy. I worry more about the spam from my recent joining of MySpace more than SL. I am now going to test view my new web design offices on my LCD TV.

We bought my wife an iPod movie. I had trouble with it because I had selected not to be automatically synced and now the iPod does not show up in the main panel of iTunes but only in the left hand devices list. This means I can not delete from it and also I need to add songs manually.

I bought it an Otter iPod case and at first thought I had the wrong case but after viewing the Otter cases web site I found out the case would fit the iPod movie. So now my wife"s iPod has some home movies, some rock songs, and a large collection of Beethoven and Mozart music ready to go in a protective case.

As an after thought I think I will connect the iPod movie to this Macbook and see if I can fix the problem with the iPod panel.

Second after thought, I am so dumb as are the apple support people I called. The panel needed to be scrolled down and then the iPod needed to be registered and then it was ready to go. So everything is ok now.

I now have a Palm Treo 600. With this I have so far been successful in getting the calendar, contacts, to do list and memos onto the Treo from the Tungsten W. I have also installed Astro Info, Palm Reader, InMeeting, and Adode Reader for the Palm. I have also added a number of Palm Reader files. I still need to add Adobe pdf files. I have not been able to access the backed up InMeeting files. I also need to buy a copy of Documents to Go for this Palm. I should also install Avante Go and configure it for this new Palm handheld computer. I have a complementary copy of an MP3 player to still download and install from Palm. I have service for this palm now as my main cell phone and mobile internet. I have closed my wireless account with the other Tungsten W service. Yesterday I bought a 1 GB SD card for this palm at a cost of 30$ plus tax.

This reminds me I really should do some work adding fellow and sister workers to my contacts list and also fellow and sister volunteers.

I got a dot mac account because FutureShop had a discounted copy of dot mac for sale. I am going to use this dot mac to synchronize my two macs.

I copied my mail folder on my eMac to an external hard drive. I copied the documents folder a few days ago. I also copied the documents folder and sites folder on my Macbook to another external drive.

I bought a Canon IP 90 printer and it is worth the money just to print the one photo I have printed of my daughter and I. I also bought a smalled Targus laptop bag to carry this portable printer. I am visioning on the road warrior computer operator.

I tried to make a script in Second Life that would start a web browser and go to my cyborg citizen web site. I was able to debug the script and get it to compile but it did not work when attached to an object. Maybe it was not attached properly.

I was set to buy a Xybernaut MA V wearable computer for 700$. But the seller on ebay did not give me thier name or address and the computer was being sold as is. I just can not afford 700$ on such a deal.

I am also trying now to give away my eMac to a young digital artist.

Success with my trash

I was able to finally clear my trash on my eMac. I still have a number of folders with encrypted files that need deleting but the trash itself is now empty.

My new TV does display my laptops just fine as a monitor. It works with both the Macbook and the IBM Linux Thinkpad. I want to try it out for chatting with Gaim on the Thinkpad. I did test iTunes with sound using the speakers on the TV and the stereo at the same time. I also had the visualizer turned on on iTunes.

My back up processes are almost complete for another month. I am just waiting for the trash to empty old copies of email folders that were rotated out of the back up hard drives. Another month is beginning.

I did in fact get a Drapper 42 inch portable projector screen and in the end after shipping and customs and brokerage fees it cost abot 80$. The list price is almost 500$.

I also bought a new LCD TV and upconverting DVD player. I have the DVD player home now but am waiting to have the LCD TV delivered still. I bought an HDMI cable from the local computer store www.pccyber.com. They have good prices and are close by and have some Mac support.

I am doing my end of the month back up processes.

I won the portable projector screen for about 55$ CND. As well I note that HDTV projectors are coming down in price. I might wait another full month to buy one of these.

I sold my old IBM PC 325 server for 20$. The computer case is still not sold.

I am trying to sell off my IBM PC 325 server for 20$. I am also trying to sell a computer case for 20$.

I am going ahead with getting a projector screen. I am going to get either a portable one with carrying case or just a portable one. This should cost no more than 80$. I am trying to win and buy one of these on ebay. I will use this at home usually for watching high definition TV and on the road as needed for the laptop.

I am burning three back up DVD's of the Mac Book documents folder from July 1st, 2006. I copied this folder to my eMac from my firewire drive. I will then delete the folder from my firewire drive at the end of September, October 1st. I will also power up my iPod this morning. I will also delete the back up of my eMac music folder which is on the firewire drive and then make a another back up. I don't need to be all that secure with my music folder back up. I certainly don't need to obssess about it. For other IT projects at home right now I am still emptying the trash on my eMac.

I am able to see a USB drive on my Linux laptop. This means I can now share files and back up my Linux laptop.

I am considering purchasing a portable printer and getting a bluetooth option for it. I have bluetooth on my Mac Book and might also get it for my Thinkpad. I might also get a bluetooth module for my eMac. Speaking of the eMac I have been thinking of getting an Airport Express card where I can play my iTunes on my stereo. But I have a docking port for the iPod and have it connected to my living room stereo so can already play my iTunes on my stereo. As I move to the office and out of my living room with my computers I might also get a stereo for the office although I don't really need this and in fact have Mozart playing on the eMac in the office just fine at the moment. In terms of the printer I might prefer to get a laser printer that can print on both sides. These I think are on sale at the moment too at one shop.

I am meeting one of my web mastering clients later today at a coffee shop. I want to show him the web site and get his content. He has been slow to provide it. I will bring my Macbook to the meeting. I will have dreamweaver to show him the site but will also try for internet access at this trendy coffee shop.

My windows 2K disk is no good. I might request a mailed copy of simply abandon trying to install Win2K on the compaq.

I decided to install Win2K on my Compaq laptop. I am doing this now with an academic copy of Win2k from my new school.

The canon IP90 went down 100$ in price. I may now be able to buy it but I just don't have the money yet.

The two peripheral devices I may buy this week are a Canon I90 portable printer and/or a Optera portable data projector. I may also buy a high definition TV but would only buy one with a VGA connection built in.

There are still no drivers for the M-Audio Quattro pro USB music interface to connect to my Macbook. I looked briefly at Berhinger firewire interfaces but I think they also do not support Intel macs. Other more recent M-Audio interfaces do support Intel macs.

I updated the system software on my Portable Sony Playstation to OS 2.8 now. This is still probably my most portable wireless Internet device. I am paying for wireless access in coffee shops but have not used this service yet.

I taught myself some more LaTeX coding so I could do some school work. I actually have a membership in TUGS for this year. I use TeXShop on my mac computers to do this work. I was able to type set my entire piece of school work that is due this week. I use google to find commands and ways to doing things in LaTeX.

I downloaded one copy of Microsoft Vista RC1 for myself as a test. I then helped a friend by downloading him a copy. These copies will expire in June 2007. I will burn a DVD of his copy and he will install it on his home computer which is actually my old IBM Intellistation.

I am calibrating my Macbook battery at the moment. I will now need to leave this Macbook turned off or asleep for five hours or more.

I purchased and installed an educational copy of Dreamweaver 8. I installed Deamweaver onto my Macbook. I use this software for my web mastering work.

I got past the X windows configuration script now with my Debian install. I am installing packages from both ftp and also DVD's.

With the Deban install proceeding on my Thinkpad I am blogging on my Macbook. I actually was able to install kernal image 2.6.8-2 686 on the Thinkpad. I am learning.

I am reinstalling Debian Linux with a 2.6 kernal in expert mode on my IBM R31 Thinkpad. I will report progress here in an hour or two.

The Macboook did burn a DVD back up of itself. I copied and pasted the Documents, Desktop, Mail and Mail Downloads, and also the Sites folders on to a DVD. I did not test the DVD to see if the files were there. I put the DVD away and it will be the end of August back up source for the Macbook.

I am going to burn my first data back up DVD on my new Macbook. I will report my progress here.

Both keyboard covers arrived Friday. I have been testing the Macbook keyboard cover for about two hours now off and on. It seems to work well. It is like touching medical laytex gloves or condoms. For the newer eMac the keyboard cover also fits perfectly so his time I bought the right cover for this model of Mac USB keyboard. I did clean the older actually 8 month old keyboard before putting the cover on. I have been using it also this morning after work. I get in from my new job these days at 11:00 PM.

The eMac trash clearing out process is continuing. It takes me about ten minutes to prepare one folder for complete trashing.

The trick to help speed up the emptying of encrypted files on my eMac works. I spent about 2 hours doing this yesterday morning after work. I only spent about ten minutes doing this this morning. Not that the process speeded up that much that is just the time I spent on it. But the number of clicks has been reduced drastically. I can see the end in sight now for cleaning up the trash. In fact, I am working more on blogs this morning. I also doing on-line shopping.

I also just won on ebay a docking port for my new used Thinkpad. I paid 1 cent for this and 17 dollars shipping. Tomorrow is pay day and I have bought two iSkin keyboard covers which should be here by next week if not Friday this week.

One is for the Macbook as they now have designed a cover for that keyboard. I was waiting for them to do this. I also got a keyboard cover for my eMac. Last time I tried to get a keyboard cover for my new eMac's keyboard I bought the wrong iSkin keyboard cover. This wrong cover was for the old style eMac keyboard. My old style eMac keyboard is very dirty and was no longer in use. I had replaced the keyboard last year. So I brought out the old keyboard and put the cover on it without cleaning the old keyboard. Oh well three keyboard covers now with costs about 100$. I also have a Neo case from iSkin for my PSP now.

I got the paste more than 10 files into a folder for my trick with getinfo unlock to work. I simply did it outside the trash folder. I moved the old documents folders into a folder outside the trash and then did the trick and then moved the documents folder back to the trash. I have done one folder now and need to do about 8 more. The trash emptying is progressing.

The trick did not work I can not paste into a trash folder.

I have a new trick. When doing unlocking of less than 10 or so files with the file>getinfo command each files opens seperately in get info windows. This then takes about 3 clicks per file to unlock. When using get info on more than ten files one get info window opens and it takes only one or two click to unlock all the files at once. Therefore to exploit this, I am going to copy ten files from some where in my documents folder and paste them into each folder where I need to unlock files then do a get info and thus need only one or two clicks per folder to unlock. The newly copied files will delete anyways and they don't need to be anything special.

I did some backups of the Macbook the other day. I copied the documents, desktop, and DreamWeaver Sites folders to my Firewire 120 GB Iomega drive. The Iomega stock price has been rising this past week. I also copied the Sites folder to a Zip 250 MB disk.

Speaking of backups I am have almost unlocked all the locked folders in the present eMac2 documents folder. I now only need to unlock all the files still in the trash and this project wil be completed. I can then run a smoother documents back up process.

I used Bluefish on the linux laptop to start an R file. I did not write very much of it. I will read some probability now and also some C++.

I started the Bluefish code editor and set it to an R document and started a document. I have only written comments so far in this R code document.

I got Debian Linux 3.1 r2 installed using DVD's and have a perfect desktop and listened to a CD for the first time on a Linux machine. the video driver for the Intel 810 chip also works for th 830 chip in the Thinkpad and also provides a sound system driver. I have been putting my Linux laptop to use for chatting at yahoo and also making web pages.

I could not yet mount a USB key or Pocket zip drive.

I got in from work and booted up my Macbook laptop computer. I was testing at first if iWeb could be used in my new web master project. The new web site I am publisher of is here. www.wellness-project.org. I am designing some templates for this web site project and did this on my Linux laptop a couple of hours after getting home.

I did some LaTeX learning and typesetting after I figured iWeb would not be good enough for the web site project. On the eMac I copied and pasted into TeXShop an old Open Office file made on my old Thinkpad and presently stored on my eMac. I then opened it using the local network between my machines in TeXShop on my Macbook. The file is a list of all the exercises and solutions I have done from the textbook for my introduction to probability course I studied in 1999. I created this file in 2003 to really learn probability and possibly help me repeat the course with better marks. As I have set the goal of having worked through and read the second chapter of two probability books by Sunday next weekend, I thought I should get working on this study as I have done nothing other than pull the books out of their shelves to date. After opening the file as a tex file I began to write proper LaTeX code for the content. I did figure out an elegant solution to equation numbering using the exercise numbering for the answers as equation numbering. I did not really do any solutions though I just converted what I had done in 2003 to laTeX.

I spent about two hours today cleaning up the trash on my eMac desktop. The problem is that some old files have been encrypted and then can not be deleted without first unlocking which takes a few mice clicks typically for each file or folder. The real problem is that I have about twenty copies of rotating monthly or weekly back ups still in the trash with these encrypted files still there. It is pain staking manual process but I am not sure how to unlock on the command line or with a script. I will send at least another two hours today doing this clean up.

Inspired by my Debian downloads and disk making I bought a used refurbished Thinkpad R31. This older laptop probably only has a celeron or Pentium III processor. I don't know yet. It does have a 1 Ghz processor, I know that. I don't have the laptop yet and don't expect to have it until next weekend. Next weekend I have some more teaching assistant work to do. So I will spend time between installing Debian and teaching assistant marking. The Thinkpad comes with a 20 GB hard drive with Windows XP Home edition, which I will immediately replace with a new 60GB drive I have for my Linux install. One really good feature of this particular Thinkpad is its optical drive which is a combo CDRW and DVD ROM drive. This means I can burn CD's in Linux now. This machine will not have Windows installed when I use it. But when it is time to sell this laptop I will simply reinstall the original 20 GB drive with Windows XP home and can then give or sell this Thinkpad to someone who needs a Windows machine.

I have 1 copy of all 16 CD's that contain Debian 3.1 revision 2 plus updates. I also will make 5 business card install disks after I buy five business card blank CD's. I will also download and make a copy of this revisions DVD's. I will use bittorrent and start the download this morning and check the timing of this bit torrent download.

The gendered digital divide really hits home.

From being told I was smart when a kid to the present day the gendered digital divide is so real I can not ignore this. I have been reading a book about this and here is the biliographical cite:

Cooper, Joel, & Weaver, Kimberlee D. Gender and Computers: Understanding the Digital Divide (Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2003).

This book through a great number of studies of students in classroom experiments to test gendered differences in computing use as these fit various psychological factors, studies the gendered divide in computing use. While may be success with computers is too simplified in this book and certainly this divide is lessing these days, it is certainly a key feature of my own experience with computing.

I reviewed the first chapter of a school textbook on Java programming for beginning programmers.

I had read this book, or at least the first two chapters in May 2002. I was trying out a first year course in Java programming that spring. I withdrew from the course and did not complete the course. Instead in the summer term that year I studied wrongful convictions in an advanced sociology course in criminology. I withdrew because I was failing to complete the first programming assignment properly.

Tonight, I read quickly the first chapter by scanning for keywords and reviewing. In fact, the first three chapters of this book are basic programming which I have known from the middle 1970's.

There is even some connecting in the book of objects and methods with variables and functions; in other words, there are connections made between the procedural programming I was taught in the 1970's and 1980's, with the object oriented programming students are taught these days and in this book.

Mostly I reviewed in chapter 1 the JAVA specific learning that I have not really used yet. But much of this applies to programming in SAS or XML, as well as it applies in Java. In particular, the naming rules for variables or name space concepts are almost the same in all three languages.

Here is the bibliographic cite for this first year JAVA programming book:

Savitch, Walter. Java: An Introduction to Computer Science & Programming (Upper Saddle River: N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1999).

This book covers basic programming with JAVA. I reviewed the first chapter tonight and will review chapter two soon. Then I have ten more chapters to read. I will practice writing JAVA with the Code Warrior software. I found out tonight there is also a copy of Code Warrior for the Mac on the book's CD but none of my present Macs have an older copy of Mac OS to run this no doubt.

I managed to install Debian 3.1 revision 2 and am now making more CD's from that revision so I can install anything from the archive by CD. I still do not have a PCMCIA working socket so can not ethernet on this laptop. I do have X windows, a Gnome desktop and the Debian drop down menu. Last time I installed Debian 3.1 on this laptop I did not have the Debian drop down menu and that made it difficult to access a number of useful programs. This laptop is very slow. I now must consider buying a battery for this laptop which would cost about 100$ or spending about 500$ to get a used Thinkpad from IBM for a Debian laptop. The first option costs a lot less.

The installing proccess for Linux is working ok. I may have made one mistake on the video RAM memory selection. I should be able to test it out later today. I also successfully install the Code Warrior Lite software on the PC side of the Macbook and programs to use with the Java textbook. I may start reading this textbook and working the programs also later today.

I have an old Penitum 1 computer. I was given this for free last winter. I tried it to install Debian 3.0 and had it working. But the command line on that version of Debian did not by default have an edit menu. I need to be able to copy and paste into the command line so need an edit menu on the command line. So I am trying to install the next version of Debian 3.1 and by now that is at 3.1 revision 2. I am having some trouble with installing this from CD. I was not able to keep the PCMCIA system working after the base install. I may use this as a non-networked machine. So that is one study project I am doing today.

I may also try to install some Java tools on my Macbook on the windows side. These tools would be from a first year university Java programming course textbook. I would be expected to know this textbook in my systems science program this coming year. I would hope to work through this book by the end of August.

I have to work my way through a textbook on Java programming in one month. I will use the PC side of the Macbook to teach myself Java programming. I will need this in a course this fall. I suspect I will be assigned programming assignments.

I tried out Adaware for the PC side of the Macbook. I had spyware on the PC side. I also tried Macscan on the eMac. I did not have spyware on the eMac.

I am just making back ups of the documents folder and mail folder on my eMac2. I have to empty the trash of old backs up to do this first. I am also backing up the Mail Downloads folder this time. I had been meaning to make a DVD of the Mail and Mail Downloads folders but had some problems doing this. I should also make some hard copy back ups of my blogs but I am trying to cut down on the amount of paper I use and keep so may not do this.

I tried trashing Adobe Reader 3.05 for the Palm and then I reinstalled Adobe 3.05 reader for the Palm and got all but two of the data mining lecture pdf's onto the Palm. I did this trashing and reinstalling twice more and got all the lectures installed.

I also bought some medical books and software for the Palm this past week.

I spent about an hour moving files off my eMac hard drive onto my external drives. I have also now downloaded all the CD's for Debian 3.1 r2 using BitTorrent to download. I also moved these new ISO's off the eMac onto external drives. Last week I burned about 7 DVD's from Project Gutenberg which contain sample etexts from that etexts project. I then gave these to other active union members at a meeting. I have also uploaded this DVD using BitTorrent so I have done my bit for Project Gutenberg this summer. I have also uploaded some of the Debian iso's as well so have also done some help with Debian this summer.

I am reading ebooks on my PSP lately. The screen and scrolling takes some getting used to. The files are only one large document so there are no bookmarking features. I have been reading my partner Siddhartha the Herman Hesse novel.

I tried installing Debian on my Compaq, in expert mode, which seemed to be about to work, as it let me not install the Yenta socket. I ended up using some new Deban 3.1 r2 CD's and was also able to install a 2.6 kernal. But again after the base install and the reboot, the PCMCIA system and thus the network card was not working. Then the CD drive was not working to well.

I ordered some iSkin products including a lamb skinned case for my PSP. It came with some software called JUMPPSP which was able to convert some pdf's to jpgs but this still would not allow me to read the lecture pdf's. The jpgs were to small to read text on.

JUMPPSP could also not convert my home video to watch on the PSP. I know windows media player can do this or was it some free software made by a Carleton university student. I can't remember which at the moment.

I was able a few days ago to get a google video that I downloaded a few months ago to the PSP by following the file renaming procedure for the PSP outlined at google video. I am using google a little more these days including posting to usenet via goggle.

The JUMPPSP did do one thing that was very useful. It allowed me to transfer bookmark files from my web browsing to the PSP.

This reminded me that I should start a new blog for the systems science program viewable on a PSP screen. But also universally viewable. I could use iBlog or iWeb or simply do it as a second blog on my cyber citizen site using Moveable Type. Or I could just continue to use my studies and more studies blog at blogspot which makes a certain amount of sense. But actually only iBlog and Moveable Type so far make blogs that fit the PSP screen well. Blogger does not make a good sized entry for the PSP.

I am waiting for iSkin to make a silicon keyboard cover for the Macbook which they don't sell yet.

Skype experiences

I have mostly used Skype to talk with my father. He is really the only one who uses Skype with me of people I know. Other labour activists also have Skype accounts but we don't chat that much or use the phone feature. I have called once or twice to the UK two labour activists there. I have been in a few chats with strangers on Skype. Tonight I chatted with a recent graduate in China on that person's lunch break and we plan to chat some more in the future to share info about our respective countries. So the net is still global.

I did not succeed in installing the data mining course lectures pdf's on the Palm.

There is something wrong with the Adobe Reader for the Palm and I was not after quite a few attempts able to install the pdf's from my desktop school folders to the Palm.

I installed a lot of Portable document format files on my Palm. I tested these to make sure they displayed properly and deleted the ones that had problems displaying. I also got the movie The Computer Network to install on my PSP. I also updated my PSP to system 2.7.

I did order a new laptop bag for my Macbook and a new case for my PSP from iSkin. I also ordered a keyboard cover from iSkin for my eMac.

I am going to sell my IBM PC server for 50$ if I can.

I bought a copy of the Linux magazine. I read the last article in this magazine which is an editorial suggesting Apple open source Mac OS X server.

I did on line window shopping for computer accessories this morning. I looked at bags for carrying my Macbook at the Apple store on-line. I also looked at microscopes at that on-line store. I surfed Futureshop and Best Buy looking at data projectors and PSP accessories. I also went to the iSkin web site and looked at the Neo PSP case and also the keyboard cover for the Mac USB keyboard. I did not buy anything for myself. I did buy on ebay an iBook battery for my comrade who bought my iBook. She will pay me back some money later today possibly for this battery but I won't have it in the mail for a week or two.

I have been admitted to the study of systems science at the graduate school level at the University of Ottawa.

I am so happy that I have been accepted into a graduate level program. I have wanted to go to graduate school since 1981. In 1981 I picked Carleton at the undergraduate level over the U of O at the undergraduate level partly because Carleton had a computer science school. In the end, I studied statistics and legal studies at Carleton. But now it is finally on to graduate school at the U of Ottawa to study systems engineering. I am starting to teach myself C++ and will also study some JAVA this summer on my own to prepare for this fall, when I will study SYS5130 Systems Optimization and Management.

I sold the iBook I fixed up. I got money for this sale to cover costs. I micro loaned it to someone from my radical union. I changed the admin account to her name and added an account for her that automatically logs in. So that is one more computer project cleared out of here as I clean up.

Email on the Macbook

I used a second email account with my regular ISP to set up the Mac Mail software on the Macbook. I did this while testing email links on the crystal computing web site. These links still need to be updated on some pages of that site.

I carried the Macbook with me all day but did not use it until I got home.

The powerbook was completely set up then delivered. I also gave a brief one hour lesson in its use.

I updated system 10.3 twice until it was updated to 10.3.9. I then installed Illustrator and tested a zip drive with the laptop. The laptop was delivered about 3:30 PM yesterday and the fellow paid the first of six 50$ payments for it. It was a nice machine to work on. I set up his printer to print from Microsoft office. I got positive feedback from the seller of this laptop. I now only need to pay off the credit card debit incurred by this transaction. I also loaned this fellow a copy of Mac OS X Pather for Dummies as he has not used a Macintosh computer with OS X before. So this book will be his reference and guide book.

The Powerbook is working today. I got it to start up and I am updating the software today. I will take it over to the fellow I bought it for later today.

More bad luck and some good luck with computers

I was trying to install Debian on the PC 325 server but failed. That is more bad luck, as I think this machine which once costs 260$ and functioned as my Fedora machine and Red Hat before that and functioned as my WinNT machine, is now useless and I should throw it out. I do need to clean up around here a bit. The good news is that yesterday I bought another magenta ink cartridge and my network printer is working again. I had some problems with the new magenta cartridge I had bought previously. But the one I bought yesterday seems to be fine. Although it was not properly wrapped from the store. There are so many corrupt businesses out there including the school bookstore that finding quality is hard and not a default event

I may have broken an Apple Powerbook today installing X11. I bought an Apple Powerbook used on ebay and it arrived today. I installed Mac OS X 3.0 Panther and then X11. I then was updating it to Mac OS X 3.9 and it crashed. I may have run out of hard drive space. I can't seem to restart it now.

The new Macbook is getting a few smug marks but nothing permanent. It has also gotten a few coffee stains. I have used iChat, Skype and Second Life on the new Macbook and the eMac. I have also used the new Macbook on Via Rail trains now.

Between falling asleep early Monday morning and now early Tuesday morning another day has passed. I did not use the Macbook today. I did buy it Hotspot access for 4$ per month for 90 minutes per month. This is from the Hotspot brand from Rogers. I did not do much work on this eMac either merely turning on email and web surfing and the various communication softwares such as Fire, Skype, and iChat.

In fact, today I focused on assessing the cost of getting a data projectors, screen, and High Definition cable box. The total cost would be 1500$ at today's prices. I would have to use credit to get these at the moment. I have saved up 50$ so far for this project. By the end of the month I hope to have saved up another 50$.

I did attempt a Fedora Core 5 install on the IBM PC server but this only installed the Symmetric Multiple Processor kernal and my machine won't boot this properly.

I am using iWeb now, Garage Band and iMovie. I also started to use iWork and actually bought a copy of iWork 06 for my family. I believe in the immediate family including my father and brother and their spouses there are five mac users. I also installed Microsoft office X and iWorks 05 on Friday night. This is all on the new MacBook.

With the new MacBook I am trying not to keep too much data on the hard drive. Instead I am burning large amounts of data such as iMovies to DVD and then trashing them on the MacBook. I have also copied all school, volunteer, and work documents from my eMac but did be careful to not copy encrypted documents so that I won't have problems trashing these documents when needed.

I successfully installed WinXP on the Macbook. I phoned microsoft and they gave me another product key for WinXP. The service was excellent. I had some hiccups with installing WinXP and probably needed to retry it six times or more. But within 24 hours of getting the Macbook it was dual boot. Within about 30 hours I had bought the first accessory for it. I bought a foof sleeve for it from a local mac user.

I am trying to win a powerbook on ebay for a friend. We don't want to pay more than 200$ which means buying a lombard just might be possible. We might have to pay a little more than 200$ when we pay the shipping and duty at the border.

I sold a Quadra 800 to a father for his son to learn programming on. I also gave them my copy of ThinkC for the Macintosh and a a ThinkC library book, I also gave a computer self help book titled Learning C on the Macintosh. The first Macintosh book I got was a C programming book to learn C by building a project. I should try that out on my eMac in my office and see if I can learn some more GUI level C. I read the Learning C on the Macintosh book while on a boring shift at work. The father paid me 20$ which paid for the Macbook sleeve.

I received the Macbook laptop today. I began to install software and test out the multimedia features of the new machine. I am just about to install WinXP using Apple's Boot Camp beta software.

Data Projector

I am trying to save up money for a data projector. My goal is to save 1,000 dollars in ten or twelve months and also wait until data projectors are cheaper and do more for the same money.

I did one practice run with SAS data from the Uniform Criminal Reporting data for the USA for the year 1980. I tired to predict officer assaulted by number of all assaults. There was a corelation but there were also violations of assumptions. I used a different part of SAS. In fact, this time I tried the SAS guided analysis module.

I got the Mighty Mouse and it is so good on the eMac I might get a second one for the Macbook as well. They are only about 60$ from the Apple educational store. First I will try out the Macbook trackpad. The Macbook should be here on Monday. If I miss the delivery I will pick it up on Tuesday because I have Tuesday off except for a doctors appointment later in the afternoon. I am though working on Monday for one hour in the afternoon.

I am now tempted to buy a TV that will display computer screens with VGA connections.

Gossip and pros and cons of multifunction tools.

I don't usually write about other people and I try not to gossip about people. But tonight I over heard a guy with his girl friend describing his computer tool kit and all it could do. It seems he was enamoured by his computers and relating this to his girl friend. I think he was trying to associate his love of computers with his love of his friend. I don't think he was fully aware of the effect he was having on his friend.

Anyway I am also shopping for tools at the moment but the only computer hardware tool I am thinking about and have been thinking about this tool for years is the Swiss Army Cybertool. There is a store that sells this locally for 75$. But basically this is some sort of fantasy of mine to have this tool always at the ready for repairing computers. In fact, I have all the tools on this swiss army knife as single tools and in some ways having screw drivers and a nut drivers as single tools is better than having these multifunction tools. The multifunction tools may allow one to carry many tools in a smaller package but the grip and strenght one can transfer to the twist is not as a strong on a multifunction tool, as when one has the same screw driver on a single tool. The tools I am mostly looking for at the moment are carpentry tools. In fact I am thinking of buying a circular saw.

I ordered a new Macbook computer on-line and it has now shipped. I am looking forward to increased functionality in this computer. It is new and has only been on the market for a few weeks. It has a video camera built in. I am really looking forward to that device. It also has a remote control so I can do projections and slide shows away from the machine. It will burn DVD's and CD's. It also has iLife 06 and I want to try out iWeb a new software I have been hearing about although what I have heard has been critical of iWeb. I also will be able to run bootcamp and thus WinXP on this mac. I also was able to afford a Mighty Mouse which I have been meaning to buy for some time now.

I seem to have lost my WinNT outlook express mail.

I am downloading 745 MB of compressed SAS and ASCII files of crime data from the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data a US clearing house on mostly US crime data. I am going to use this data in SAS and may be design some statistical learning problems and practices with this data.

I am getting a Macbook computer. The specs of the Macbook are here http://www.apple.com/macbook/specs.html.

I am getting a Macbook as a graduation present and am just about to order it on-line.

I had trouble installing Fedora and Debian on the IBM PC 325 server. I even after this trouble tried to give this computer away to a computer charity project but they could not use it so turned down my offer.

I have gotten some Panther disks and installed that successfully on the old iBook. I then was able to install X windows and then R, TexShop, and Neo Office. The iBook is working ok but I am not using it to store email but instead doing web based email.

I got Win2K installed on the Intellistation but can not get the ethernet drivers installed. So my friend has the Intellistation but it can not connect to the net yet. May be we should installed an ethernet card in his computer.

Changing the machines around here

I installed Win2K on the Intellistation and wipped out the WinXP and Debian 3.1 operating systems on the that computer. I did back up my school work on the WinXP side first. I am selling the Intellistation to a friend and this computer came with a license for Win2K so I am putting that back on it.

The other IBM I have the PC 325 server has also been backed up. The files on the WinNT were backed up last month and I backed up the Fedora core 3 files last night. I was ready to install Fedora core 5 last night but the downloads or CD's had errors on them so I needed to re-download the iso images and they are almost all downloaded this morning. I willl be burning them to cd before lunch this morning.

I am just downloading Fedora core 5 the latest Fedora core release. Fedora core is a free linux operating system. I am installing it after I download it and burn it to CD's. There are five CD's. I have backed up all the data on the computer I am going to install this operating system on. I will no longer have a WinNT or Fedora core 3 machine after this.

I spent a little time this morning exploring a google search on my name. I also did my usual school web page surfing, reading the school's promotions magazine. I also visited a web site for my old high school a few times. Once this morning when I posted something and then once earlier this week I think Monday morning I visited this high school web site.

I am helped someone with her email. She hired me to teach her email. I printed some documents to help her learn how to use email.

Update

I only really configured her email. I also taught her a little but very little about outlook express.

The clamshell iBook now has 544 MB of RAM. As far as my research will tell me this is the maximum amount of RAM I can run in this model iBook.

My brother is sending me his family pack of Panther CD's for the iBook clamshell so I can then run X windows and stuff like R and Open Office.

I came up with this idea in a short workshop for preparedness in home emergencies.

here is my tip


It is recommended that for emergencies you have photo's of people you live with on hand, i.e. in your disaster kit that you take with you when you evacuate. This way if someone like a kid is missing the search team can see what your relatives look like. You should also have copies of important documents. May be you can scan birth certificates or other ID documents but then you risk losing this to data thieves but likewise you could lose paper copies too. So everything is digital and might fit on a cheap these days 8 MB or 16 MB compact flash card. These might work in any camera you find at the disaster reception centre so you can access them. You don't really need a digital camera to make this compact flash card as there are 20 dollar card readers you can transfer the data with and then test it in someone else's camera and you are good to go.

Debian laptop project report

I have been working on this laptop for about 6 months now. I first installed Debian 3.0 and got that working but on that install the terminal program, in other words the command line could not do edit menu functions. So I had to install a more recent version of Debian. For this I needed a larger hard drive. I spent about 40 dollars buying a used 6 GB drive which turned out to be a bit wonky so I used a 3.2 GB drive I had taken out of an original iBook. In the last two days I finally installed Debian 3.1 and just last night installed R and tested it out with some R code from a school assignment from last winter 2005. After changing some directory paths to fit linux directory structures, and where I had copied the school course folder too, I was successful running R and getting one graphic. So now I am ready to write my code for my talk on R and can run it in Linux on this pentium 1 laptop and even then project this at a meeting. I am my code.

Debian 3.1 r 1 installed successfully

I was finally after numerous attempts able to install Debian 3.1 r 1a on the Compaq pentium 1 laptop. I will now need to see if I can get R installed and also project the screen of this laptop.

I can not install X windows on the iBook. I am tempted to upgrade to Panther. But for now I am broke so no new computer projects that cost money. Also about installing Debian 3.1 on the Compaq the pcmcia card does not boot when restarting after the base system has been installed and the computer reboots. I am having to install packages from CD's. I am attempting a Debian 3.1 install with the 3.2 GB hard drive that was originally in the iBook. I may have a little more time tonight/this morning to try this out.

The Jaguar Mac OS X 10.2 disks arrived. I just completed installing this OS on my iBook and am now updating the software. I also received a 60GB notebook drive that I will save for a future notebook project perhaps a Thinkpad dual boot Linux WinXP project this summer to use in grad school.

The Iomgea USB drive has been cleaned off and school work folders have been placed on that drive. I still need to make the third copies of some of the back up DVD's from that project. I did empty the trash from that project mostly and now have 60GB free on the eMac 2 hard drive. I will be trying to free another 20 GB still after this project is done. I freed 25 GB so far.

Speaking of hard drive space I am now able to make movies so may need even more hard drive space to store these movies.

The DVD's of the USB drive are almost complete now and I will be deleting a lot of files shortly. I have made at least one copy of each of the 6 disks. I will now delete everything on this USB drive using Windows to do the deleting. I will then install a copy of my school work folder. I will also delete the burn folders on the eMac after I am done. This should restore about 35GB of free hard drive space to the eMac2.

A larger hard drive is installed now on the iBook

I chose to install the 40GB Thinkpad T30 drive on the iBook. I used this web site (http://www.ifixit.com/) to do the disassembly and assembly. I lost one screw at the half way point but found it and took the iBook apart again and put the screw back in. Now I can use the 60GB drive on an IBM Thinkpad project this summer. So this part of the iBook upgrade is completed. The other three steps include adding more RAM and I did buy a 512 PC133 laptop chip for the iBook. I also need to install the Mac OS X. I also am going to replace the top and track pad with a top and track pad in better condition. So this project is coming along. Then after all that is done comes software. I asked for a copy of Virtual PC for the Mac from the computer systems manager at work. Then I will install SAS. I will also install R on this machine. I will have to install a printer and Open Office too. So still more to do with this machine.

Today's back up the 20GB Iomega USB drive

I am just backing up my USB portable drive to DVD. This might take a few hours. This is just to make certain all these files are backed up. I will make two copies and then delete the burn folders that I am using on my eMac2. Then I will delete everything from the USB drive.

I was able to import my WinNT email to my Intellistation copy of Outlook Express and today imported this email to Netscape 7.0 and have just copied this mail local folder from Netscape 7.0 on the Intellistation to the USB drive. I am going to use the USB drive to transfer this old WinNT email to the eMac and then delete everything from the USB drive.

I imported my Safari book marks as one html page to the iBook.

I am posting this from the iBook to test it out. It seems to work fine.

I was able to win a 60 GB hard drive for the iBook. I had to buy a Torx T8 screwdriver for taking apart the iBook. I also got a 128 MB RAM chip for the Compaq Presario 1210.

I just made the last of my annual back up DVD's and am making a second copy of the movie I made yesterday.

I just made the last copies of three disks for my annual back ups. I now must send 5 DVD's off site to a family member to save them for me until next year. I also accessed one DVD today on another computer running Linux and the DVD is fine and I could open Open Office files on the Linux desktop no problem. I can also do some R code on Debian 3.1 no problem with Open Office. Thus when I get the 6 GB laptop hard drive I bought through ebay I will use it in the Compaq Presario 1210 and this time install Debian 3.1 on the Presario 1210. I also am just making a second copy of the movie I made yesterday. I am also thinking now of buying and setting up another USB external drive for storing music and video and have been window shopping on the web this morning to do this.

Updates

The email from the WinNT machine has been transfered to the copy of outlook express on the Intellistation. I will now transfer this to a netscape email folder and then transfer that to the eMac 2 mail application with an import. I am not sure how I will transfer the netscape mail folder yet.

The movie I downloaded from google video to use on my PSP does not work on the PSP. I need to research this more.

I have not yet backed up the Fedora core 3 user files.

The back up DVD's I made are all done now except the off site copies of the Thinkpad. Speaking of Thinkpads I will be buying a new one in July.

My R talk is not getting worked on yet. But I am starting to practice with SAS using the textbook data for my experimental design course. I am also reading some 1971 book on response surfaces this morning.

My planned book on computer self help for community development and organizing is getting another start. At least I have been encouraged to start to write it again.

iBook cleanup

The owner of the iBook I bought from, left all her files on this laptop. I did not look at them beyond seeing the names of some of the files.

1. The first step in cleaning this iBook was to get the password from the previous owner,
2. and her permission to delete all the files. I then deleted all the files.
3. Then using her password I created a second admin account for myself and deleted her account.
4. I could then set up networking.
5. The next step was software updating. This computer had been set at Unix time zero in other words January 1st 1970. Also it had not been updated from 10.2 at all. I could not update automatically because of hard drive space limitations. So I had to delete Classic versions of outlook express, netscape, and explorer to get some more space. I also had to delete the deleted user account. I needed to reboot a number of times to get the true available free space after emptying the trash.
6. I could still not install updates automatically and still this morning can not do this. So I downloaded the 10.2.8 update to the desktop and then used installer to install it.
7. After this was done I restarted software update again and got about 6 security updates.
8. I then continued to update software like Java, Safari, iCal, iTunes, and Quicktime.

I am now done and will have to do similar updating when I install a new hard drive and install a fresh copy of Jaguar on a larger new hard drive.

I have gotten the new top and track pad on ebay. The power adapter arrived yesterday which is why I could start working on this project today. I now need to find another laptop hard drive that is much larger than the little 3GB drive I have in there now. I will also have to do the replacement which means I need a Torx T8 screwdriver. Then I must upgrade the RAM but I am not sure if I want to spend 100$ on the 512 MB ram or spend less for a 256 MB ram chip.

Success with networking

I was able to get into a Mac running OSX over a network from a windows machine. Before this on my old eMac and my Thinkpad T30 I would have to get into the Thinkpad running WinXP by logging in from the Mac. This time I logged into the Mac on my WinNT box. I was trying to gather all the files off the WinNT box as I retire it. I had gotten all the files off it before using Zip disks and am still set up for zip disks off this WinNT machine. But this time I used the Mac public folder and drop box in this folder to transfer all the files and also the Outlook Express store folder over to the eMac. The Outlook Express folder was slightly too large for a zip disk so I have now solved this problem. Now I can burn this data to CD and store it away.

This started with a plan to delete the Fedora core 4 iso disks on my eMac desktop. First I am going to burn one copy of the four Fedora core 4 iso disks which I am almost finished doing. Then I will delete them. I thought I would upgrade the Fedora core on the IBM PC server and this time wipe out the WinNT. All I really need to do now is back up the old Fedora Core 3 files that I have made and then I can wipe out the Fedora core 3 too. Then I can sell or give away this old IBM PC server.

I also want to restore the email from the WinNT box into my eMac. To do this I will burn the WinNT back up data on the eMac. I will then import the outlook files to my Intellistation copy of Outlook Express. Then I can worry about getting the email to the Mac from there. I also plan to sell the Intellistation at the end of April after my SAS home work is done.

Annual DVD back ups.

I guess this could be called annual DVD backs ups. I made two back up DVD's in three copies of each for the Documents folder on my main computer the eMac2. I will also be making three back up DVD's of my old Thinkpad T30 files. These will also be copied three times each. Then I will be making some back up DVD's for my old eMac by copying folders over ethernet to the new eMac for burning.

I found "secure empty trash" on my Mac does a better job of emptying the trash of my encrypted files. At least, I experimented and found out. I was developing a bit of repetitive stain injury emptying the trash when the process would stop at each encrypted file and ask for a click to continue. My arm is better now although the memory of the pain is still there cautioning my use of the mouse.

I am installing a movie on the PSP. I was told of this movie by Internet researcher Martin Dodge in an email to the AoIR discussing email list. The English wikipedia entry for this movie is here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Networks:_The_Heralds_of_Resource_Sharing The cite for the movie is King, Steven. Computer Networks - The Heralds of Resource Sharing (Boston, Mass.: MIT, 1972) Length: 30 min 22 sec, Apr 7, 2006 from google video (cited April 9th, 2006). It is on google video for watching or downloading to PC, Mac, iPod video, or PSP. Although the movie may be of significance it featues only male talking heads with women depicted as computer operators. So it is old school sexism at heart.

I am finally upgrading the parts for my iBook and may be able to restore the top and track pad to mint condition as well. It is a bit costly but I may use my old IBM Thinkpad T30 40 GB hard drive for the upgrade. Other than that the Mac OS 10.2 should cost about 30$ and a 256 MB PC 133 laptop RAM chip will also not cost more than 30$. Not sure what I should pay for the new top; but more than 20$ it will cost.

I am just about to burn some DVD's of the documents folder on my eMac. It may take 2 DVD's to back up everything except the old Thinkpad T30. The Thinkpad T30 will need 3 or 4 DVD's. So my total might be 6 DVD's.

I worked in the SAS software on a large school assignment in experimental design. I worked for about 8 hours straight then rested four hours and then another 2 hours. I got this final term work done on Tuesday. I now have a take home exam in this experimental design course. The exam will last 3 days and I can use any book or other reference but I can not use other people to help me.

Speaking of statistics I am also writing a talk on R the open source statistical software/language. I need to do some more work writing this talk and start testing some code and of course writing some code. I will give the talk at the Ottawa Carleton Linux user group meeting in May if I can get it done.

The iBook blueberry 300 Mhz specs

Well the iBook I got did not come with a functioning power adapter so I have had to buy one of those for it. I did get it working at the Mac Group store wth their power adapter and it is a 300 MHz, 96 MB RAM and 3 GB hard drive. The Mac Group tell me it is very difficult, maybe an hour and half work to replace the hard drive. The memory can be placed in and upgraded with no real problem. So the question is how much money do I want to spend on this beast? So far I have had to cut down my plans for a really large hard drive like 80GB. I am probably limited to 20GB. In terms of RAM I can put in as large as 512 MB but this costs about 100$ almost half of the price of the laptop itself. Whereas a more modest 256 MB chips is only about 30$. So far I have spent about 45$ buying the powr adapter. I can stop here with just the power adapter for now. May be buy the 256 MB RAM. But I might also buy a replacement top and trackpad as the iBook is rather scratched up. But a new hard drive is not an option right now.

The clamshell iBook is finally in my city. I am just going to the UPS depot to pick it up in the next few hours. I will post the specs on this laptop later tonight when I boot it up and see the about this mac details/screen.

My computers are now running well. In terms of RAM my new eMac has 1 GB of RAM. My old eMac has had 768 MB of RAM from the beginning. My new Intellistation now has 768 MB RAM as well.

I backed up iTunes to 4 DVD's. I need to buy some DVD -R disks to make viewable videos. The DVD +R disks don't work for this. I will spend 35 dollars to get 100 blank disks. I made a DVD slide show using iDVD on the eMac.

I was again not able to install Debian on the Virtual PC running on the eMac. But this time I tried using the video settings taken from the system information in Win2K. X worked better but would still not work perfectly.

I did a few hours of paid web master work this past weekend. I am also learning about creative commons licenses for my new web site. I will add one later today or this week.

I am just backing up the documents folder and mail folder on my new eMac to an external hard drive. This is a mid month back up process. There is a 250 GB hard drive one sale right now, I was thinking of buying but my spending is really excessive now on computer equipment I will wait before buying the next external hard drive. I did not buy a 10$ firewire cable today for the new camcorder. I need to temper my spending.

I won the RAM and probably saved 100$ on buying this RAM by buying it on ebay.

I am building a new web space using Dreamweaver MMX and hosting it at yahoo small business web hosting. I also have my own moveable type blog on this site. I made an index page and one internal page now and started the blog. I will use the site for creative design but will stick with a minimalist style both technically and graphically. I might also have time to explore the server side technologies I can use with this hosting deal. But it will also be used for creative academic writing and has a very cute and already creative domain name. It is at http://www.cyborgcitizen.org/. Now isn't that a creative name? Ok may be not but it sure wasn't just my idea for a name. I borrowed it from various scholars of science and technology studies in particular Donna Haraway. I also used the creative commons license to copyright it and this is my first use of this license.

Getting more memory for the Intellistation statistical workstation from ebay.

I did a little surfing of ebay and found an offer of 640MB of PC133 RAM. I would then have about 996 MB of RAM in my statistical workstation. I should stop using this workstation for web mastering and make it a more dedicated machine for only statistics. Speaking of which I have some SAS homework to do for this week and this coming weekend and the beginning of next week. I also was able to install SAS 9.1.3 on my eMac on the Win2K partition. SAS we get for free from school will only work on UNIX or Windows. That is why to get SAS working on my Macintosh I need to install it on the Win2K operating system running in Virtual PC on my eMac. Also in statistics I have to prepare an hour long talk on using R for our local linux users group. I should try to write the basic outline tonight but also have some statistics homework grading to do today.

Setting up regular book marks on a new computer

I booted up the new Intellistation to test web pages I was working on this past week. I started in Debian with Mozilla to add bookmarks to sites I control the content for. In other words I bookmarked my own sites and other sites where I am a web master, web designer, web content writer, etc. etc.. This is routine task I have done many times.

I am posting this on my Presario 1210 running a fresh
install of Debian 3.0 with KDE 2.2.2. I finally got KDE installed again but my screen resolution is 600X800 rather than finer.

I updated the Debian 3.1. I then played an unsuccessful game of GNU GO. I left that machine on.

I messed up the Debian laptop with installing using dselect. The problem was forseeable. I installed to much software and ran out of hard drive space. I am now trying to install Red Hat 9 on this machine for a change. I am just checking the integrity of my two CD's with Red Hat 9 on them. I lost one file from a word processor about email list management I had written on this laptop. In other words I have erased the Debian 3.0 woody on this laptop. While I install I think I will update my WinXP and my Debian 3.1 and also my Fedora core 3. It would be nice to get these done today.

Almost all machines are up to date with the right software

I updated my WinXP with dot net stuff. I also updated my Debian 3.1 software using dselect and apt. These were both on the Intellistation. I also updated my old eMac in its new location in the office. The PSP is running the latest OS. The iPod and the Palm are also up to date. I think only the Fedora and the Win NT mahine may need to be updated at the moment. I believe the Win2k on the eMac is up to date but I wil just check that again. I should also use my new found knowledge of apt directories to up date my Debian 3.0 laptop.

I needed to use SAS so booted up my Intellistation and ran SAS. I quickly wrote some SAS code for some homework. I left the computer running in the other room. I will now save my SAS files, print the output window and turn the machine off.

I did get win2K working on the eMac and am now trying to get Debian 3.1 installed on the eMac.

I am installing fink-0.24.12 on my eMac. I need to update X Code to 2.2 and I now have the gcc 4.0 compiler installed.

My eMac is working fine and the only computer I use constantly everyday.

I did not turn on any of my linux computers today. I read a little of Linux magazine. I also added some GNU software books at Amazon to buy later. I mostly have been working with my iPod using the iTalk microphone. I also have left my eMac on for more than a day now. I did use my Palm with Word To Go and also the Snapper email software. I looked into buying a Jazz drive and stuff for that on ebay.ca. I also looked into getting a new larger 3 GB hard drive for my Compaq laptop also on ebay.ca. I also looked at RAM prices for the Intellistation.

I changed the CD drive in the Intellistation and put in a DVD drive. I was then able to mount the Debian 3.1 r 1 net install disk and now have Debian 3.1 r 1 installed and working fine. I spent the last few hours surfing ebay.ca using this Debian desktop.

I got Win2K installed on the Virtual PC on the Mac and installed Adobe Reader and Yahoo Messenger. I can use voice now on this Mac with Yahoo Messenger by using the Virtual PC Win2K to run Yahoo Messenger Windows version. So that was a success.

I need a 2 or 3 or 4 GB hard drive for my Linux laptop and then I need to install Debian again. But this can wait. It is just that the old hard drive in the Debian laptop is making noises and is likely to fail soon.

I tried to post to my studies blog but because that blog is still considered a spam blog it needs word verification which this laptop could not handle. Or Blogger's word verification uses some none standard type of cookie of something. So I spent the last 45 minutes transfering the post to Kword then a floppy then uploading the floppy to the intellistation and then posting in Internet explorer in WinXP. I also cleaned up under my living room desk.

I am posting this from my Linux laptop. I have had enough installing Linux for the day and decided to use Linux more. So this post is an effort to do one of my daily computer activities in Linux.

I received a copy of Virtual PC for the Mac but so far have not been able to install an operating system inside the Virtual PC. I will make another try this morning after trying three different WinXP disks and Debian 3.1 r1. I am now trying my Win2000 disk. Again this should be a legal copy of Win2000.

My problems with my Linux install are now just X. I need to configure X to work still. I have no useable screens as my error message. I have so far been unable to google a configuration file. I have found some Nvidia drivers but could not install them for this older kernal. I have a 2.2 kernal instead of the current 2.6 kernal. May be even 2.7 is the current kernal.

I now know how to install Woody only and am doing this overnight.

I reached out to the local Linux novice help email list and got some help with my Linux install and I am also doing this over night. My other computers are fine now. My new eMac gets the most use. My new IBM works fine for WinXP and it is this machine I am also trying to install Linux on. My palm is working fine but not getting as much use as my Palms have in the past. My iPod is also working fine. I am not using my PSP much but did try to get further in the Sims 2 game a week ago. I burnt a CD of songs for my wife and we paid for these songs.

All this computer tinkering keeps me from doing my school work. I know this is true because as soon as I sucessfully completed the SAS install and then the Linux install I almost immediately devoted my time to my homework until it got done. So my computter tinkering was keeping me from doing my school homework. It was also highly frustating and now that I have Xandros Linux installed I realise that this free version of Xandors is very limited and I may try to install Debian Woody again or Fedora core 4. Install, install, I am an install junkie and hardly spend much time actually working in Linux. Actually the problems is I like Woody but not sure I can keep it updated with out going into Sarge and I can't seem to install Sarge with net disks and as I said with no DVD drive on the intellistation I can't use the DVD's I made of Sarge.

Success Xandros installs ok

I was able to install a Xandros Linux desktop. I was not able to watch a DVD though because actually this computer does not have a DVD drive installed. I have a spare DVD drive but I am not up to installing that right now.

I was thinking about trying a different flavour of Linux on the Intellistation and am now trying a Xandros install. It is almost done and I will see if it works ok. I went with a swap partition of almost 2 GB so I can install some more RAM on the Intellistation. It needs PC133 RAM chips which I figure must be cheap these days. I will upgrade this system to 1 GB as soon as I can afford the extra RAM. Always upgrading. Just for fun if the Xandros installs with no issues I will watch the third Matrix film on the intellistation using Xandros starting at 3:30 AM.

I am having trouble mounting CD's made on my Mac on the new refurbished IBM Intellistation. I only seem to be able to get the Debian 3.0 woody CD to work. But then when I download newer Debian 3.1 Sarge software the boot proccess stops at Lilo only producing the letters LI in the upper left corner and then freezing. I am re trying this again and again. Right now I am trying it with out a network connection. I should stop this and start again with Debian 3.0 without ftp apt sources just security updates butthe main system just from the CD.

Success installing SAS, finally after about 20 attempts.

I first had an error because the firmware on my new refurbished computers CDROM had not been updated. I updated it yesterday morning or late Thursday night. Once that was solved I found the install mostly worked or got through more of the proccess. But the SAS install as many softwares is an all or nothing process involving 9 CD's. In the end I could not choose extra language support because a file for that option was on a part of a CD that is damaged. After unselecting that language support option the installation worked. I will report the damaged CD to the school hardware services clerk when I take the disks back to school on Monday.

I now have a functioning SAS workstation. I don't have any SAS homework yet but will have some later in the term.

I bought a refurbished IBM Intellistation Pro E. It has a 64 MB video card. I installed WinXP pro on it as soon as I got it. I am still trying to install SAS on the windows. I split the drive in half and am this morning continuing to try to install Debian Linux on the second half. SAS gave me problems as is Linux giving me problems. I have the SAS disks borrowed from school for another two days. I should stop this computer tinkering and get some school work done. But I have been reading all morning while the computer downloads linux software.

I just read half of a study into computer war gaming. I also have been reading about child poverty and statistics and about modern warfare in terms of body hardening and body injury. I finished a book on the rule of law that I started to read this summer after studying public law with Christian Jackel. I also finished a book titled Techno Feminism.

The new computer is basically supposed to be a windows box for doing windows only software. I did need to do some firmware upgrade on the CDROM. I will stop the Linux tinkering now at 3:36 and try the SAS install a few more times. My reason for buying this computer was to be able to run SAS at home for school work.

This is my test post using a blogger widget by June Tate

I am using a blogger posting widget designed by June Tate. it is licenced under the GPL as free sofwtare. I am test posting this as a test of this widget. I have been playing with widgets for a little while tonight.

I made a back up DVD of the Documents folder on my eMac. I am finding the eMac working fine. My Palm is also fine. My fedora computer is fine. My iPod is fine. My new printer is fine.

I am getting an IBM Intellistation Pro E with a pentium IV chip, 256MB RAM, a 40GB hard drive and CD. This windows computer will be for running SAS. I will also installl Debian 3.1 on this computer and set up things like emacs, R, Octave, GSL and MatLab on the Linux side.

I am using the new eMac and it is working fine. It is also working with the new printer fine.

My palm can download xls files from its wireless phone connection but can not open them right away. I will try some techniques with this palm to open them today. Otherwise I will transfer the files to the eMac.

I managed to get the new eMac working ok now with all the email it received between December 16-January 6th. I still need to migrate some folders, email and files from the old eMac. I also have to reinstall applications. I have installed X11, Neooffice 1.2 beta, Adobe Reader 7.0.2, Adobe Reader for the Plam 3.05 and X-Code. I will now reinstall Chit Chat and then chat at Yahoo.

Success with the new Mac OS X install.

I seem to have all the preferences imported now. All my Safari bookmarks from my old eMac are imported and all my keychain items. Thus Safari logged into Blogspot no problem. I also imported my iCal and Address book from my old eMac. I am of course waiting for my email to be imported. I will now as the next step import my Music folder to iTunes but from the application itself.

I did a rough size comparisom using Get Info on the new eMac and then only needed to re back up the Music folder. I then started an erase and install on the new eMac. This install is going on now and I am writing this from my PC 325 using Mozilla.

I was not yet able to use the new Brother printer with the Fedora machine because the Fedora does not have the drivers for the MCF 420cn.

I will spend the rest of this morning getting the new eMac set up. This time I will not do a Firewire transfer of user accounts. I will in fact only transfer the Documents, Music, and Mail folders using a USB external hard drive. For the Music and Mail folders I will import these via the applications themselves for the documents folder I will do a simple copy operation using the Finder.

About backing up the new eMac and iPod: I lost two or three voice memos from this year. I am satistfied with the rest of the iTunes back up now. I am just using an ethernet connection now from the old eMac to the new eMac to copy the mail folder from the new eMac to the USB drive connected to the old eMac. But this is taking too long so I am going to connect the USB drive to the new eMac and make the mail folder copy that way. But first I have to wait until I have finished using the USB drive on the old eMac where I am duplicating the documents folder for file management reasons. When this is done and the mail folder is backed up, I will reinstall Mac OS X on the new eMac.

After the iTunes is backed up I will copy the Mac Mail folder one more time to the USB external drive and then I will consider the new eMac backed up and attempt a fresh install of Mac OS X. I would like to have the back up done by midnight and the install done by 4 AM Monday. I would like to be using the new eMac again by 8 AM Monday.

The iTunes on the new eMac is backed up to a DVD now. This is only a back up of purchased songs and voice memos. I will attempt one or two more updates of the iPod to get a new voice memo off the iPod then do another back up to DVD. Then I will consider iTunes on the new eMac backed up.

After resetting the IP address for the printer, it is still printing fine. I will check the Fedora computer on it later tonight. Right now the Fedora computer prints to the Epson 440 via a parallel cable which comes out of an Iomega zip drive 100 MB parallel drive plugged into the computer the IBM PC325. After this test if successful I will have two printers for the Fedora computer. I also have two printers now for the eMac. This is robust redundency for printing.

I got myself a new Brother MFC 420CN all-in-one network printer. I did get it working as network printer, a fax, and a copier so far. It is very easy to use although it took me three hours to configure the Lan printing. I did get it last night and got it to work again tonight.

Backing up my new eMac is going well. I was able to sucessfully copy the documents folder where all my personal files are. I copied it to my USB external drive. I have been using this back up on my old eMac to do my daily work. I also backed up purchased songs and was able to burn a DVD of purchased songs on the new eMac. With iTunes on the new eMac I am just worried about backing up voice memos. The new eMac iTunes still works and I will do a final purchased music back up and voice memo back up then the iTunes will be backed up and I can leave the new iTunes as ready for fresh install. I have already backed up the email but will do this once again and then the Mac Mail will be ready for a fresh install. The documents are already for a fresh install. So iTunes and and Mac Mail need to be done again and I will go for the fresh install maybe tonight.

I have three years of Apple Care support with the new eMac. I did call Apple Care yesterday and they recommended a fresh install of the Mac OS X and this time not to transfer over applications to the new eMac from the old eMac but I will try to transfer email settings. I will also try to restore email, iTunes and the documents folder. I should also back up iBlog. Everything else will be a clean install.

My new eMac computer is freezing up. It is not working at a very good rate. It seems I have not gotten an Apple but instead a lemon.

I did pratice some R coding but did it on the eMac so I did not need to start up the Linux laptop this morning. I did need to reinstall R and this time did install the G77 and other parts and am using R 2.2.0 now. All I did was open some school data sets and do a mean calculation. I did have to learn a little about how to write a directory path on the Mac.

I have been using a TV watching widget in Mac OS X Tiger to watch some Chinese TV. It works quite well. No need for a TV card. I am going to give a talk on R for a local linux user group this spring. I may start to write it later this morning.

I did get around to trying to download gsl on the Debian laptop. It was successful so far. I first used konqueror to browse www.gnu.org/software/gsl. Then I used a Konsole window to ftp the software to the laptop from ftp.gnu.org. I then used Archive to unpack it to the Desktop. I read the README file and then the INSTALL file, just clicking them open in Konqueror. I used the cpmmands ./configure and make in the Konsole window when in the gsl-1.7 folder that unpacking made on the Desktop. Now the make is taking a long time, but the gsl-1.7 folder is big tens of megabytes and this is a pentium 1 computer so I am just going to have to wait.

I got side tracked downloading gsl. I instead used fink and updated fink and can't get dpkg working on the new mac. I barely had fink working on the old mac. So I did not download gsl. I may try this on my debian laptop now.

I just deleted a bunch of old pdf's and some old unused apps off the old eMac. I also used the old eMac and old copy of Dreamweaver to update my school web page. I then used sftp to up load the index.html page which was all I updated. I have had some luck using sftp these past few days.

I am now making some back up DVD's of my old computer's files. This includes my Performa 1995-1998. My various IBM's the aptiva 2000-2003 and the Thinkpad 2003-2005. I also am backing up my WinNT 2002-2005 machine files. I can not back up all the Thinkpad files on one DVD disk but will need three or four for this. The other computers can be backed up to only one DVD.

I am just going to download the gsl for the Mac now so am going to visit some gnu pages

I am looking at buying an older Itronix laptop on ebay but this can wait as well.