Running Windows under VMWare on Ubuntu

As I've posted previously, I'm trying to figure out how to perform under Ubuntu all of the tasks I used to perform under Windows. Unfortunately, I'm having difficulties. This was expected. And I'm not blaming Ubuntu. If as many people were making software and hardware for Linux as they were for Windows, this wouldn't even be a topic of discussion. As it is, right now, I can't find a working Linux driver for my old Visioneer scanner. That means I still need Windows. I've had my system as a dual-boot. In those cases where I need Windows, I restart the system, bring up Windows, perform the task, then restart back into Ubuntu. It wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that, with a lot of the garbage that Windows requires (here's looking at you, Norton), booting up in Windows takes minutes.
I may have found some better solutions. First, on the scanner. I tried out several of the emulator and virtual machine programs that are freely available. These include Wine (an emulator of Windows that runs on Linux & Unix), Virtualbox (a virtual machine) and VMWare Player (another virtual machine). NOTE: While VMWare Player is free, most or all of the other VMWare programs cost money. Frankly, in my opinion, VMWare Player works best for me. I now have a (n almost) fully functional Windows XP system running on top of my Linux system. If I need to do some scanning, I can bring up the virtual machine (takes about 30 seconds), perform the scans (which are scanned into a shared folder between the Ubuntu host and Windows XP guest system), and close it down. Done. Also, if there is ever a problem with the Windows system, I have a stable copy backed up. That's the wonderful thing about virtual machines. They are simply a collection of files. BIG files (we're talking almost 10 GB for the WinXP stuff), but still just files. If the working copy is corrupted, delete it, and put a fresh version in its place. No muss. No fuss.
Second, on the video-related stuff, I occasionally play around editing video, such as when I made a short video for my father based on some pictures and video clips taken at his 70th birthday party. Nothing fancy. Fortunately, Ubuntu has several video editors available. I've chosen Kino, and so far, its working fine. What this means is that I can now see a not-too-distant point in the future when Windows will not be talking directly with my hardware. It will be safely ensconced in virtual machine where any damage it can do will be minimal at best. It also means its one more step when Windows won't be necessary at all.

Welcome back, Skippy!

Back in nought-eight, I booted Skippy's List from my list of favorites. It started with that wiener Michiel (to which I did post a response, and even had Michiel himself show up to express his displeasure at my displeasure), and ended with Todd's post on the best way to kill someone and get away with it. I thought that a bit over the top, so I stopped linking to Skippy. It wasn't until I was talking with a friend of mine (who tends to be, uh, outspoken shall we say) that I realized the error of my ways. His response was, "So, you disagree with this [guy] and all you do is to remove your link to his site? What, are ya kiddin' me!?!" Put that way, I have to admit my response was on the back end of lame. Then, when he (my friend) found out that it wasn't even Skippy who wrote the posts I disagreed with, well, let's just say he took me to task. Again.

Besides, that really was no way to repay what I consider to be a true act of kindness.

Long story short, Skippy is back on the list. And sorry, Skippy, for just punting you.

I'm Doubling My Rates on Smokers and Compaq Presario Owners

I've been working on a friend's computer for the past week. She has a Compaq Presario SR1000. Let me start by saying, "What a piece of shit." To start (and this is the most minor of all the problems it has), the heat sink for one of the smaller chips fell off. The heat sink is held in place by a spring, and the spring connects to two loops on the motherboard. One of the loops broke. I can't fix the broken loop, so I'm only able to connect the heat sink by sitting the computer on its side and letting gravity do its thing.

As I said, the most minor of all the problems. The next problem (and the one that has taken the most time) was the upgrading of the memory. The computer came with 512 MB of RAM. But that's misleading. The video is onboard and the RAM is not just for the CPU, but for the video as well. The video uses 128 MB, meaning that only 384 MB was left for the CPU. The system is running Windows XP, so 384 MB barely meets the "I'll run, but I won't like it" level. The 512 MB (shared between the video and CPU) was in one chip. The motherboard has two slots. I bought two 1 GB chips. The first went in with no problem. But the second... did I mention that the girl smokes? When I first opened the computer, the dust inside wasn't just heavy, it was black. I mean black. Cigarette smoke is the result of combustion, as is all smoke. Which means that it has a lot of carbon. And that carbon residue was everywhere, in every crevice, nook, cranny, and portion of the interior of the computer. Including in the open RAM chip slot. Now, I've tried for over a week to clean the contacts. I've managed to get a clean cloth with isopropyl alcohol into the slot. The first few times, it came out black. Now its coming out clean. But, still, for some reason, there's some issue because, with the second chip installed, the computer will run fine for some random time but will then go BSOD (blue screen of death). I've given up. It will have to run with just 1 GB of RAM (again, shared between video and the CPU).

The next, and perhaps the biggest, problem is that it's a Compaq. I've never seen a computer so bogged down with extra... crap... than I have with this one. It's bad enough that it's running Windows. That will slow anything down. But, then, it has all of the HP and AOL crap on top of it. That has taken a solid day of work just to get rid of most of it. I'd get rid of it all, but that would probably require a week. I relieved the system of the worst offenders, but the light offenders get a pass. This time. If I have to work on a similar system again, it will be with the understanding that the only that I'll be willing to load onto the system is Linux. That's an hours worth of work that will pay huge dividends in saved time later on.

My Christmas Present (Early) - The Celestron 44340 LCD Digital Microscope

Nothing says "Merry Christmas" to a geek like a new piece of technology. Here is mine, a Celestron LCD digital microscope. (Or is it digital LCD microscope? Oh, whatever.) I've already taken several images with it, including the ubiquitous "let me image my hair follicle". That to people who work with microscopes is analogous to the "Hello, World!" program that all new programmers compile and run.
How is this new microscope? In a word, cool! I love the images it takes, which it will do at 1600x1200 without going to the (always crappy) digital interpolation. It takes really good videos, too, which is nice if you need to be able to look at a particular object at several depths. As always, the depth of field of this scope is poor, but that's physics, not poor design or bad engineering. It came with 5 slides, which is not even close to being enough. I've already gone through all five. I'm now working my way through, well, any object that will fit under the lens. And being the engineer that I am, I've already got a list of improvements I'd like to see incorporated.

1) Add an option to delay the taking of the picture. This is a must-have. Right now, when you take a picture, the scope, while well made, moves ever so slightly. I'm having a helluva time taking clear images because the scope is still moving when the image is snapped. I'd prefer a short delay to allow me to push the button, let the scope stabilize again, then have it take the image.

2) It provides the option to put the date on the image. I'd prefer a metadata field that provides the magnification of the image, the color lens being used for setting the light color, and the type of lighting (underneath, above, or both).

3) Make the image capture remotely controllable. Yes, I realize this will take some more work. I want the ability to plug in the USB cord and be able to take the images from the computer. Hit a "Snap" button in a window, it takes the image and instantly transfers it to the computer. That solves the shaking problem AND the transfer problem all in one.

4) Make the codes for talking to the scope over USB open source. You want to get some buzz going for your scope? Do this and you'll have programmers the world over snapping up scopes left and right. They'll hack the living crap outta your scope and have it doing things you never thought possible. And you'll sell a boatload of scopes, to boot. So, why not? Oh, and you'd be able to ignore all of my suggestions because the hackers will do it for you!

Merry Christmas all!

The "Ghost Radio" Web Site

Ever heard of EVP? It stands for "electronic voice phenomena". I'd never heard of it until today, when I happened to read a story on the JREF web site asking for comments on a Youtube video. This particular video (from a Brit based on his accent) claimed to show EVP. And what, pray tell, is EVP? Allegedly, it's the "voices" that radios make when they are not tuned to an actual signal. People are claiming that the radios are actually producing real, honest-to-God voices.
And like all things that anyone believes, there's even a web site for it. Except, in this case, it's not just a web site. Oh, no. For something of this vast, cosmological importance, we need an association. And not just any association. The American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena.
On the very first page of their web site, they make the following claim:

People report experiences such as hauntings events or EVP, and these experiences can be verified and often replicated as objective events.

What?!?! Really!?!? You're out and out making the claim that "these experiences can be verified and often replicated as objective events"? Really?!?! So, tell me this: On what are you making these claims? What's your criteria? In what type of settings are you doing the experiments? What's your test group and what's your control group? How are you controlling for bias in the tests? You are performing multiple tests, aren't you? Not just one with a couple of your friends over for ... whatever? And why isn't this evidence openly available on your web site? Why isn't it presented so that outsiders (or disbelievers, such as myself) and check your claims?
Here's a test that I would want to try: Make a recording of what you believe to be EVP. Then I would want to play it back to 20 people (just for a start) and see if they hear anything. If so, what? If they all agree that they're hearing the exact, same thing, then we go to the next stage. Oh, and when you make the recording, I'd want to control for outside disturbances. I'd want the radio to (a) be tuned to nothing at all and (b) not scanning. Let's control for outside disturbances, shall we?
P.T. Barnum, even though he didn't actually say it, was still right.

Why I want the score to read, "Col Barfoot: 1, HOA: 0"

In case you've not heard about it, Col Van Barfoot, a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, has been told by his homeowners association to take down his flagpole that he uses to fly his American flag. Due to his age, the fact that he's a veteran of three wars (WWII, Korea and Vietnam), and (probably most importantly) a Medal of Honor winner, this has caused quite a stir.
I support Col Barfoot in this. First, I hate HOA's. I've read all of the comments about how they keep home prices up. But I've not heard anyone provide any evidence of that. To me, they are simply an artifice cooked up to "keep out the undesirables". Since when were we willing to sell out our liberty for some unspecified "Your house price will stay high" crap?
Second, as someone who (unfortunately) lives in an area that has an HOA, I'd ask this of all of the people who state, "He agreed to the HOA rules when he bought that house." My question is this, "How carefully did you read your covenants before you bought?" Of the two houses I've owned, both had HOAs. The covenants are legalese guacamole. They are designed by lawyers for lawyers. Did his explicitly state, "No poles in the front yard?" I'm willing to bet it didn't. I'm further willing to be he asked about the flag pole before erecting it because the covenants did not explicitly cover poles in the front yard.
Third, and to me most important, he earned the Medal of Honor. He gets a pass. Period. Considering that the majority of MoH awards are given posthumously, that takes some doing. I've had an argument with one person who blew that off by saying, "That was over 40 years ago." To which my response is that does not matter. He earned a frickin' MoH. He gets a pass. Forever. Period.
Fourth, the flagpole issue is not a violation of a law. At most, it's a violation of a contract. That means that he cannot be arrested. The police will not be coming to his house.
Finally, don't bother with all of the "what if" games. Those are the people who say, "What if he decides to paint his house purple?" or "What if he decides to put a car up on blocks in his front yard?" or "What if he decides to fly the Confederate flag instead?" He didn't. He put up a nice flag pole to fly an American flag, and he more than earned that right. End of discussion.

Reason #4 Why I Like Open-Source: Rhythmbox Fixed in 2 Days

I discovered a bug in Rhythmbox, which is the music-sorting and playing software on Ubuntu Linux. If you look at the link, I posted the problem on Sunday, the 22nd. Here it is 2 days later, and the problem is fixed. Now, the patch has not yet been posted, but I'm willing to bet that it is well and truly fixed. Why? Because I think the Rhythmbox maintainers had an idea where the problem was as soon as I posted it. It only took a couple of back-and-forth posts to figure out where the problem was. I was even able to test one of the maintainers' hypothesis myself. From there, I was able to post the results of my research back, and away they went.

One of the things that I most loved about this was that they showed me how I, a real newbie in programming and Linux, could capture the data they needed. They then provided me some feedback, asking me more detailed questions, showing me some mistakes I made in collecting the data (very patiently pointed it out, I might add), and continuing to work with me. That was my blinking light. That gave me a sense that something was happening. If the big software companies would take a hint from this, they might learn something.

Then again, maybe not.

Paranoia... Will Destroy Ya!

Found this in the review section of a Firefox add-on called "Ghostery". The comment was titled, "You can't get around tracking." It starts off well enough. (All bold-faced emphasis is mine.)

I implement tracking analytics so I can develop more user friendly sites. I have also implemented non-invasive adds in order to keep content free. By blocking my scripts, you are only preventing developers like me from creating a better (and free) experience for users like you. Most tracking data is anonymous anyways. Unless you click a link from an email, no one can tell your personal browsing habits. This plug-in is a security blanket for paranoid "the government is watching" people.

Okay. So far, so good. Logical. Rational. Seems like a person who's concerned that all of this ad-blocking and cookie-blocking, while well intended, may be having bad repercussions. Let's continue.

Just so you know, the government tracks every single page request in the US. There is no browser setting or plug in that can prevent this.

(Sound of a car careening off the cliff...) WTF?!?! Went from "Hey, I just want to make a living" to the fastest Dr Jekyll / Mr Hyde, instant-right-turn-into-the-Twilight-Zone switch I've ever seen. I have Michael Oldfield's seminal work playing in my head right now. Where's my garlic and hot-cross buns? But, hey, he's not satisfied with simply making a right turn off the cliff, he wants to go down in a blazing fireball. Let's read his spectacular finish.

Much the same way to preventing unwanted pregnancy is abstinance... same goes for tracking... you must stop using the internet if you don't want anybody to know what you are doing. Otherwise, watch your back... 'cause we're going to GET YOU!! hahahahahahahah

I didn't realize that the medication could wear off so fast. I'm wondering if there's a straitjacket missing its wearer right now. Regardless, I'm going to be giggling about this one for quite some time, after I install just about every ad-blocking, cookie-cutting add-on I can put in my browser.

It's the Money, Stupid

The BBC reports that the captain of a pirate-hijacked ship has died of wounds suffered when the ship was seized. Near the end of the report, the article adds:

The upsurge in piracy in the region is a consequence of the failure to find a solution to Somalia's political disputes, our correspondent adds.

No, you idiot. It has to do with something your article said earlier. But since you appear to have severe short-term memory failure, let me refresh your memory.

The pirates earlier told reporters they were leaving the ship after being promised a ransom of $3.5m (£2.1m), although there was no government confirmation of this.

Can you say, "Cha-CHING"? The pirates can. That, my friends, is what's driving them.

Any questions?

Need a Calculator for School? Try this!

I was reading through ticalc.org's web site and, especially, the update on the DMCA situation vis a vie TI's threat to sue Brandon Wilson because he dared to crack the encryption key TI uses to lock down the software in its top-o-the-line calculator, the TI-83+. Yup. That's right. It's a whoppin' 100 smackaroos to get you one of those babies. Perfectly understandable that they'd be upset.

Okay. Not really.

I was reading through the comments on their news site concerning this issue when I found this one explanation as to why TI is pissed (er, that means unhappy in this context, in case any one of my UK or Australian / New Zealand colleagues is reading this... doubtful... this web site gets less hits the the Chicago Cubs.) Anyway, here's his explanation:

Their latest reaction is baffling at first, but the reasoning is perfectly obvious if you understand who their customers are. Schools, CollegeBoard, ACT, Kaplan Inc, and other institutes have been hostile toward the whole 3rd-party OS issue for years. Now that calcs are a blank slate for anything we can cook up, TI must show their partners they won't take the situation laying down--even if it's a lost cause. Either way, this will be the stall tactic until new deals are made, or some kind anti-hacking revision rolls out. This line of reasoning may sound alien and incomprehensible from a coder's standpoint, but I witness it on a daily basis in the business world.

So, if this the problem, if schools and colleges are well and truly against 3rd-party operating systems, well, then, I have the cure. The picture says it all.

Any questions?