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.