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.