This'll be the first non-Linux oriented post! Woo!

The greatest Christmas present (or at least one of the better ones) that I've ever received is a Hipster PDA. This little guy seems like a step backwards at first. However, if you're a cheap-o (like I am) and you have a hard time remembering things, a small stack of index cards, a paper clip, and a pencil or pen are the perfect tools. I use a mechanical pencil, so that 1.) I never have a problem with stabbing myself when reaching into my pocket, and 2.) it never goes dull. People who are less eco-friendly can use a pen, but I don't like throwing away things that can still be used.

The HPDA has taught me the beauty in using cue cards in general. I thought to myself "Hey, instead of pulling out a manual every time I want to accomplish something, why not make a quick guide for myself?"

Right now I've got two quick guides going on 3.5 x 5" cards. One has basic math functions for my stat class and the other has the basic outlines for writing a Java program/tester. These are both done in pen to prevent smudging.

I'm thinking about doing something similar for computer automations, specifically for my parents. While it pays to learn the software that you use, sometimes one can forget the simplest steps.

If you want to create your own cue cards, just get out a 3.5 x 5", get a pen, write REALLY small (so long as it's readable), and then keep it among your other stack of cards in your HPDA.

More links:
HPDA on 43Folders

Labels: automation, geek, HPDA

I decided to give PCManFM a whirl after twiddling around with XFE for a while. I'd give both managers a thumbs up, XFE for speed, and PCManFM for (slightly less) speed, being built on gtk2 (yay for matching my others apps), and having more features.

One of PCManFM's features is the ability to display icons on the desktop from the ~/Desktop directory. This is all well and good, but it seems that PCManFM insists on also managing the wallpaper display. Once again, all well and good, but if you're like me and use something like feh to display your background image, this is a tad of a turnoff. It's also a turnoff if you use a WM such as Fluxbox which relies on having the ability to right click the desktop to display a menu for programs.

On the other hand it is extremely responsive. Very fast at loading up, cruising files, etc. Besides, who could argue with tabbed browsing?

Features (that I like):

• Tabbed browsing
• Drag & Drop support
• File association support
• GTK+ 2
• Bookmarks support

If you don't use a WM like Fluxbox (if you use gnome, kde, or something that doesn't heavily rely on right clicking the desktop) and you can stand the fact that you can't re-arrange how the icons are displayed, it's not that big of a deal. In fact, I'd recommend using this over nautilus any day.

Labels: geek, linux, pcmanfm, review

So as of yesterday morning, I've had both the samba server and smbclient/smbfs working correctly. I decided to go the graphical route on this one and use pyNeighborhood. It's a nifty little gtk route for mounting samba shares instead of having to cli everything. I assume I'll eventually break away and start finding it easier to type out the mount commands by hand, but for now I'm satisfied.

Getting Samba working correctly has always been a bit of a problem for me. I'm not entirely sure what aspect I didn't understand; Install samba, write a config file (after reading the man page, of course), restart the daemon. Why did I find this so hard before? The world may never know.

I also uninstalled xdm. I found that using a GUI login manager kind of limited me to only using the gui and a terminal emulator, instead of going pure cli. Now I can log in and start up some music without having to start x (even though the start times are minuscule).

I've been turning over the idea of learning some basic bash stuff as well, just so I could write an automated install script if I ever decide to start a fresh install. Besides, everyone who's anyone (that uses linux) knows at least SOME bash stuff.

Next Project: iDesk

PS., This mac keyboard is a piece of trash. How anyone could sacrifice THIS much comfort for looks is beyond me.

Labels: geek, linux, samba