PipeManMusic

True Love

2011-02-14T11:01:00.001-08:00

Well, it's Valentines Day and while I'm not a huge fan of the obligation to waste money on cards and flowers it doesn't mean that I don't have someone to show my love for. Since my wife and I have long had a tradition of not purchasing gifts for each other I will not be spending large amounts of money on marginally useful gifts for my wife.I don't think that love should be expressed by a corporation trying to tell us what love is. I'm going to skip temporary and commercial clichés and put pen to paper, or pixel to screen if we are being honest, and express my love for my wife publicly and fully.

For those of you who don't know, my wife and I where high school sweethearts. My wife was pregnant with our first child at the age of 17 and I dropped out of hight school to support my family. It's impossible to impress on someone who hasn't gone through a teen pregnancy how much is stacked against you. In many ways my wife would have been better off, in terms of assistance programs, if I had just ran away. We fought the odds and each other those first few years and many time it was a make or break situation. We've lived on almost nothing and made the best of it. Above all we've laughed as much as we've cried and loved exponentially more than we've fought.

What we've created is our own world together where we are honest, even to a fault, and not have it leveraged against us. We can laugh, even at each other's expense, and cry together, even if we don't fully understand the reasons. I'm pushed every day to be a better person than I ever though possible. We are fast approaching having spent more of our lives together than apart and I wouldn't change that for anything. It is one thing to say that you wake up every day feeling more in love with your partner and another to experience it year after year. I may have been young when I married my wife but I found the best one out there and there is no way in hell I'm letting go.

I'm not a talented writer, I'm not a poet, I'm not hopelessly romantic. I'm just a grateful husband who has loved his wife more than anyone can fathom.

Kacie, I love you.

Changing Things Around

2011-01-03T11:11:00.001-08:00

I've meant to segregate my blog into different blogs for a while.

The main reasons are:

I want a place where I can blog about politics and as this feed aggregates on non-political sites I don't think these posts are what most people read my blog are looking for.
Most of my family isn't interested in Linux and probably doesn't check my updates because most of the time it doesn't make sense to them.
I wanted to grow the Open Source Musician community by creating a blog where multiple writers could publish.

So, from now on this blog will be for my own personal posts about life, family ect. The Open Source Musician blog will be for Linux and Open Source related posts. Finally I have set up a political blog called Free As In Politics where I will post about politics relating to freedom in all its wonderful forms.

Thank you fair readers and update your RSS feeds appropriately.

Why Netflix is still the best.

2010-12-20T11:16:00.000-08:00

As a Linux user and Open Source advocate it would be easy to come down hard on Netflix because they don't support Linux. However in this post I would like to explore why Netflix is still the best option out there for streaming content.

First, I want to quickly cover the drawbacks of Netflix from a Linux Users perspective. Firstly, they picked Microsoft's Silverlight as a basis for their DRM platform and that DRM platform hasn't been ported to Linux. There for you can't watch the content on a Linux machine. That of course is a big non starter. Second they don't carry all the content that you want when you want it.

As a Linux advocate there is one big way to get over the "no Linux support" hump, namely Roku. I have had a Roku box for just over a year and wouldn't trade it for anything. The price is right, they support HD formats and serves content from a number of providers. The box runs Linux and decrypts DRM on chip. So there you go.

Ok, now let's dig into why they are better than other services.

Cable/Satellite:

Netflix competes heavily with these services on cost. An $80 service vs an $8 service can make up for not having as much content pretty quickly. I've used Netflix for years and their content gets better and better and the price has stayed dead steady. Right now I watch more of Netflix's content than any other provider and I don't see that changing in the negative any time soon. In fact it would take very little added content for me to dump my satellite service all together.

Hulu:

I was ecstatic when Hulu launched and I got in on the private beta. It seemed they got everything right. Well, at least most of it right. As time has worn on, however, they haven't panned out to be as good as I would have hoped. They launched their Hulu+ service at $12 a month which only offers full season of current show and doesn't get you out of adds. When Hulu+ showed up on the Roku, Hulu dropped the price to $8 a month and I signed up immediately and promptly canceled after encountering the fact that certain content, such as "The Simpsons", isn't available on hardware streaming devices. You are still saddled with commercials which have now gone from a single 30 second add to multiple adds per break. Also, Hulu+ still doesn't support Android for streaming. Also, Netflix and Hulu+ are now the same price and I see very little advantage to Hulu+ over Netflix. Netflix over all still has substantially more streaming content that I want to watch over Hulu.

The rest of the web:

What does Netflix have that the rest of the web doesn't? For starters they have most of your favorite movies, legal and available right now. You don't have to mess with illegal downloads or wait for the show to download to get it. If you like following shows the second they come out then the a lot of content providers offer it on their website to watch over the web. However, sitting in front of my computer screen for hours at a time is a PITA and I would rather sit at my TV and watch my shows. This is really more of a plug for Roku than Netflix but I think they go hand in hand nicely.

I would love to hear feedback from people so feel free to comment and let me know what you agree or disagree with.

Why I map.

2010-12-14T11:08:00.000-08:00

I've been an Open Street Map contributor for over a year now and I wanted to write a post talking about what it is and why I love contributing to it.

What is open street map you say? I'm sure you have heard of Wikipedia, a place for the users to edit an online encyclopedia. Well, Open Street Map (OSM) is a wiki for map data where users can map the world. Satellite imagery provided to OSM Bing and Yahoo! maps makes it so you can map based on those images or by taking traces using a GPS. There are also many other ways to map but those are the main two.

Maps have a major impact on our lives. You can't leave your doorstep without know where you are going and how you are going to get there. From GPS navigation to maps at events know where things are makes everyone's life easier.

Why contribute to a map.?

The first reason to map is to get a better sense of the community around you and allows you to contribute to the greater knowledge of your fellow-man. It's sad to me how little people know the world around them and contributing to the map gets you out of your house and discovering wonderful things about your locality. I like to map with the family, it makes a nice outing and the kids have fun getting the information and seeing their work on the map.

The second reason to map is that you need map data that doesn't exist in a way you need. I'm a bike commuter and accurate maps of the trails in Colorado are hard to come by. I love finding new and quicker ways of getting where I need to on my bicycle and OSM gives me a place to put this data and get it from others who share my interests.

Another reason to map is that you need map data that you can use legally for an event, a website ect., and you don't want to pay for the map data. If you are a real estate agent who wants to highlight the amenities around a property you could make legal, free use of the OSM data. If you are a business having an accurate map to your business location is very important and again you can use OSM data for free. So, if you are using the data you might as well spend a little time giving back by adding the address of your business and making sure the locations that are important to you are where they need to be.

Lastly if you have a humanitarian heart you can map to help disaster workers. During the crisis in Hati volunteers as OSM created the most accurate maps available and coordinate disaster relief efforts. Even the us military was using the OSM data. Map data has a huge impact on impoverished areas that don't attract commercial mapping.

So get out there and map, it's fun, it's social and it helps everyone.

Droid 2 Review

2010-12-08T11:02:00.000-08:00

It's been almost a month since I got my shiny new Droid 2 at the Verizon store so I think I'm qualified to offer a pretty comprehensive review of the phone.

Obviously this phone has some serious horse power when compared to my old Droid Eris and it's nice to have such a snappy UI and the ability to play any 3D game I wish.

When I first got my Droid Eris I felt I made a sacrifice over the Motu Droid because the Eris didn't have a hardware keyboard. As I got used to the touch type on the Eris I actually came to like some features that you don't get with a hardware keyboard, namely when typing into certain fields you get an appropriate keyboard layout, e.g. number field gives you a number pad ect.. So, it took some getting used to with the hardware keyboard. The hardware keyboard has some advantages too, such as, you get a tactile feel for the keyboard, you save screen real estate and overall you have a more complete keyboard for using when typing text. I think overall I'm happier with the hardware keyboard and closing it to bring up the software keyboard when I need to. Options are always nice.

Another thing I felt I got shorted on with the Eris over the Motu Droid was the LED flash on the camera. Overall the camera on both phones where decent at snapping pictures but having the flash is nice in darker environments even though it does introduce a bit more grain in the pictures than I care for. Another fantastic feature is using the flash as an LED flashlight. For a musician and general hacker it's like aving a flashlight with you wherever you go.

I will have to say that HTC's Sense UI is a bit better than Motu's Blur. Motorola loads substantially more crapware that makes doing certain things on the phone a bigger PITA. For one if you double tap on the home button it brings up a horrible voice command program that take forever to load and works about 1% as good as Google's Voice Search. That being said I really miss the UI that comes with Cyanogen Mod and can't wait to get it on the Droid 2. If carriers had even a bit of brains rattling around in their head they would hire Cyanogen to do their UI.

I rooted the phone in the first 24 hours I had the phone and would have done it the night I got it but I didn't have the time to sit down and follow the instructions. It was fairly straight-forward for someone reasonable comfortable with the command line but not the one click experience I had for the Eris. Rooting your phone is now considered fair use under the DMCA and I consider it a must for any android user.

I find certain things a little buggy on the phone. I experience crashes now and then and some time I get hangs. I think a good ROM will solve all of this but for the average person it would be considered a huge annoyance to watch your phone reboot while using the navigation to get somewhere. I had similar issues with my Eris till I got a custom ROM on it. Also, some times Android will crash and restart and upon reloading the desktop the accelerometer will not rotate the screen or pull up the on-screen keyboard. The only fix I've found for this issue is pulling the battery and restarting, which is a huge PITA.

Overall I think this is a pretty fantastic bit of hardware with a lackluster Android implementation that I can't wait to correct with a good ROM. I'll report back after I make it so.

Google eBooks Rant

2010-12-07T11:05:00.000-08:00

Google recently launched their eBooks product that allows you to buy books and read them on a multitude of devices. I've taken a look at the service and felt compelled to make a few comments.

First, google is offering book optionally(it's up to the publisher) using Adobe's DRM system. I understand that this is what most publishers are requiring before releasing digital versions of their product. However, some smaller or more independent publishers might like to offer more flexibility to their customers by not locking them into a DRM scheme. I applaud Google for making this an option but the fact is they don't let the user know what titles have DRM and what titles do not. I would appreciate them letting their consumers know when they get locked into DRM. That being said a nice feature of buying from Google eBooks is being able to read the book across a multitude of devices. You can read a book on the web, on a tablet or eReader, and on an iOS or Android device. They also offer the ability to download the book in ePub or PDF format. Having your book in an open format such as ePub without DRM is really where I would like to see the industry moving towards and informing consumers of what titles have DRM would allow me to better vote with my dollars.

Second, the Android app is pretty bare-bones and now at all close to my favorite mobile reading app Aldiko. It doesn't support landscape mode or changing font colors which make night reading a bit harsh. I would use this service without reservation if I could be sure that the title I'm purchasing could be used in the reading software of my choosing.

Lastly, I can appreciate Google giving new life to older titles as well as offering new and public domain titles. Cross platform usability is a shure plus of the service. I just wish that Google had been able to put more pressure on publishers to stop using DRM in their business model as Amazon was able to do with their MP3 service.

Bliss and the art of root.

2010-08-23T11:10:00.001-07:00

I tried to resist, really I did. I fought the allure that comes from the latest and greatest as long as possible. I ignored that newer phones where getting the latest and greatest Android and I was still on 2.1, which I enjoyed and was grateful when the over the air update arrived. However, we have a need for honesty, I'm only human, and I'm subject to wanting the latest and greatest. One option would have been to get a new phone and that would have been a practical one if it wasn't for the fact that I don't want a new contract and I don't have any money. So what's a faithful free software advocate to do but exercise his DMCA given rights and root baby, ROOT!

I have the sad, forgotten by its Android brethren phone, HTC Droid Eris. Knowing full well that it's OTA update future was as bleak as Minnesota's hope of wining an NFL championship. I had little hope of just holding out for Verizon to come through and give me 2.2 OTA. So, I looked into custom ROM options and lo and behold, what should my wonder eyes meet, but a shiny fully functional Froyo port for the Eris on the xda-developers forums by a guy that goes by the handle Kaos.

So, first things first, we need to root. For this I used the one click root also available on the xda forums. It's as simple as running the app, rebooting holding the down volume button and the power, flashing the zip file the app places on your sd card and BAM!, you have root. Now, if all you want is simple things like the ability to tether over wi-fi then this is enough. However, if you want the whole Froyo enchilada it's time to load KaosFroyo.

Kaosfroyo rom is a port of Cyanoginmod 6 to the Eris and overclocked by default to 710mhz. The steps I used to flash are as follows.

1. Download the rom zip onto the SD card(Don't place it in a folder).
2. Reboot the phone into recovery mode(hold down vol-down and power then select recovery from the menu with the track ball.
3. Back up the existing rom using Nandbackup.
4. Wipe the Android and Dalvek partitions.
5. Flash the rom with the flash utility.

There you have it. Froyo on your Eris. What will this give you? Faster, speak to text everywhere, live wallpapers and the ability to tweak your phone to your heart's content. Is it worth it? Hell yeah it is.

After flashing I was given an extremely in-depth tutorial on setting up and tweaking the phone by a very patient and knowledgable IRC user in #droideris on andirc. His handle is the_fly and if you see him in there tell him to get his tutorial on a blog soon so I don't have to remember it all. :)

So, Thank you very much XDA developer, Kaos, the_fly and all the rest of the people behind Android and it's hacker community. You ROCK!

Aleks on Linux

2010-07-09T08:58:00.000-07:00

My wife has recently gone back to college to get her bachelor of nursing and I've been worried that we would be required to get a Windows machine for her to complete assignments. I'm going to resist as hard as possible as we haven't had anything but Linux in our house for some years. This however, came under threat recently with the first week of school. The math class she is taking uses a web service called Aleks for homework. The service is a homework platform that uses a java plug-in in browser. I see no need for anything on the web to not be cross-platform. While they don't officially support Linux they do include some information on how to get it working under Linux.

I followed the steps on the site and logged into my wifes account and much to my chagrin was not greeted by a functioning Aleks. So, I resorted to google for help. There isn't much info out there giving any more help than the installation instructions on the Aleks website. There are reports however, that it does work.

The solution it turns out is quite a simple one and is found on the official java website. Basically you need to create a symbolic link to the java plugin to the Firefox plugin folder to enable in browser java to work.

Hopefully, this info will save some poor Linux user from having to suffer too much to get their homework done.

Geostatus

2010-06-29T19:07:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to dip my toes into programing for android and while I haven't made a full fledged app yet my efforts have produced some fruit.

I'm proud to introduce my latest free software project called Geostatus. It's a simple python script that runs in the Android Scripting Environment(ASE). It serves a very simple purpose in that it checks your current location based on the phones gps and compares that to a list of predetermined locations and updates your Google Talk status accordingly. I've created a git hub repository for it and have released it under the terms of the GPLv3.

You can check it out here

Jack Supprort in Mumble

2010-05-31T06:23:00.000-07:00

This is an appeal for help in solving the last great gap in the audio tool chain for podcasters. The Linux audio world now has a robust compliment of professional tools to record an independent radio show. We all know that the open source and free software community is under reported on in the media and the effort it takes to put out a show it greater than it should be. Recently on the show Shotofjaq they mentioned Mumble as a possible solution to voip woes that we currently have for podcasting with hosts in different locations. Currently the only solution we have been able to get to work with our Jack setup is an outdated version of Skype and compiling the alsa-utilities by hand to include jack support . That as well as some custom work in .asound to make something that is stable enough to get us through an hour long show without headaches and break downs.

We have tried going the SIP route as well and the issues are thus:
1. Asterisk is a pain in the butt to set up.
2. It's difficult to set up your firewall on the client side to get reliable connections.
3. There are no sip clients that support jack either and no other hacky work arounds have gotten us a reliable setup anyways.
We have filed a feature request for every SIP client we could think of and have been turned down by them all.

Mumble is quick and easy to set up on server and client end. All it is lacking is Jack support.

If it's a question of money or developers, then I would love help in identifying what hurdles need to be overcome. So please, if you have any incite into how we can get this accomplished let me know. I will not let this be the one thing preventing quality content about the floss world.

The new feature request is here.https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=3008867&group_id=147372&atid=768008

please show your support in any way you can.

Get That Body Movin'!

2010-02-24T10:57:00.000-08:00

Exercising is a place that stops a lot of people from beginning the get healthy. Where do you start? What exercises are best? These can all be things that prevent you from taking the first step to a healthy life. What do the experts say about it? I think the old saying "the best exercise is the one you do" sums it up best. My guiding philosophy is that I won't do any exercises I absolutely don't like. The funny thing is, at first, most exercises are the ones you don't want to do. However, as you get more in shape and able to do other exercises, you might find that all the things you though you hated you really just didn't like because they where too hard for your fitness level.

Everyone has some sort of sport or activity that they like doing. Your favorite exercise might be walking, running, biking, kayaking, hiking, rock climbing. The list goes on and on. So I would pick and exercise that you all ready enjoy and meets your current fitness level. Remember exercises that work out your cardiovascular system are much more important than weight training. Pick exercises that get your heart rate up.

For me, I've always liked riding a bike, so that's where I started. Since you can't ride a bike year-round in Colorado, when the weather turned cold I had to search out other things. I've found many different types of exercise that I enjoy and I refuse to do ones that not matter what I don't like. It's hard to stick with doing something if you don't enjoy it.

As a last reminder I want to encourage you to consult your doctor before taking on any sports or exercise, make sure you are picking exercises that are appropriate for your fitness level and a keep in mind any advice contained on this blog is used at your own risk. I don't need you hurting yourself and blaming me. Keep safe and keep healthy!

Motivations

2010-02-23T10:57:00.000-08:00

This post is about the motivations to lose weight and live healthy. See, I had tried a few times to get in shape over the years. Some successful some not. In fact I had lost about twenty pounds at one point. The problem I was having (I think) was with my motivation.

Most of the other times I had attempted to lose weight I was motivated by things like looking sexy and not wanting other people to think I was a fat slob. I had it in my mind that I could do a lot of working out for six weeks and then go back to my life looking like Brad Pitt. I never considered diet an important factor except for trying to eat next to nothing.

See, the problem is we are bombarded with advertising telling us the wrong things. Some commercials tell us that we would be happy if we had a Coke or some Doritos. The next tells us we would be happy popping a pill so we can eat anything we want and still lose weight and look like super model. Throw onto that the video exercise programs that promise results in 9 week (implying you can go from 50 lbs over weight to a model in that time.) You have to start with not listing to all the stupid crap that is out there.

So, what I'm trying to get at is this. If your motivations are to just look good then you will fail, at least in the long run. If you really want to change your life it's about making the decision to live and eat healthy for the rest of your life. Not six-week, not a year, not ten but untill the day you die. It's not about what other people think. It's about setting an example in your family, breaking the cycle of obesity and showing that living healthy isn't miserable. This is about changing your way of life not about quick fixes or spending money. You don't need to spend any money on a plan or get a trainer or anything to get started. All you need is the motivation to do something. I set my first goals as this, first:stop smoking, second:get some form of exercise for 15 min five days a week. You don't have to start where I started you just have to do something. It gets addictive! Once you've started you won't want to stop. It's a process that comes in small steps and takes time. It isn't even about seeing results right away. The benefits might take time but will be so much better than any quick solution can offer.

When should you start? Right now! Don't sit around making excuses. The time is now. If the day isn't over you still have time to do some thing. You know as well as I do that this can't wait.

Life Changes

2010-02-16T11:14:00.001-08:00

It's been about a year and a half since I decided to change my lifestyle and be a more healthy person. In that time I've learned a lot and I though it would be nice to have a few posts about my story and what I've been doing to be a more healthy person.

My decision to change doesn't start with me but rather with some one I'm very close with. My brother had been telling me about his change to be more healthy and to start running. He has some blog posts about it on his blog. Here is the first post. This is all fine and well for him and didn't effect me until he came out to Colorado for a visit. When he got here, I noticed how much happier he was an was jealous. I have been working in an office for the last four years and at that point weighed in at about 248lbs. He inspired me to quit smoking an start changing my life style.

See, we all know what we are doing to be unhealthy but for some reason it's hard to figure out a way of doing things differently. With the diet and exercise industry making it seem like it should be easy and the fact that year after year the statistics show that it isn't getting better. In fact, the health of world is going down hill. It's so hard to find a place to start. That's why I wanted to have a few posts on what I've found out and what ever advice I can offer others.

Till the next post I urge you to check out the documentary "Food inc.", "Super Size Me" and "Water Wars" and this video from Ted. This should set you up with an idea how disassociated we've become with what we put in our bodies. Hopefully I can share some ways to help you change all that.

More to come, stay tuned!

What's the Buzz on Buzz?

2010-02-11T07:12:00.000-08:00

At first glances Google's new Buzz service might just seem like another "throw it on the pile network and, to be honest, it doesn't offer quantity of game changing new features that other Google producs have in the past, like Gmail and Google Voice. However, I can see at least one striking feature that sets Buzz apart.
If you are all ready using your mobile device for updating twitter more than you use a desktop client then Buzz adds an interesting social dynamic to certain events. All ready, some people have used the ability to see and respond to a Buzz in your area, such as during the recent "Snowpocalypse" where people where buzzing about what was going on right in their immediate area. This geographically links social networks to time and events. An ad-hock social network can pop up connecting people involved in an event at a specific time and place to share information and partake in conversations without having to search endless useless tags of mostly the same unverified information and without have to have prior knowledge as to who is there with them.
This gives a whole new spin on the usefulness of social networks. Imagine being at an event such as the Olympics. You can get real time updates of events from actual observers that are at the event with you. While no credentials come with the information the fact that you can see that they are at least at the event adds more weight the information's accuracy.
In times of crisis being able to get information from people near you can be a life saver. Imaging how different events like Columbine, 911 and Hurricane Katrina would have been if life saving information could have traveled to the people who need it in real time. Police could track suspects based on eye witness accounts. Information on road closures and medical supplies could be relayed. Lives will be saved! It could even make it less boring to sit in a traffic jam. This kind of spontaneous social interaction could have a profound impact on the outcome of events.
There, of course, will be a negative impact to all of this. Less privacy, people who take advantage and the ever present trolls of the internet but all and all I think that location information coupled with social networking could be an extremely powerful force.

Some strange happenings.....

2009-12-17T10:03:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had one of those moments where you suddenly become an inadvertent listener to a conversation you shouldn't? So, I'm washing my hands in the bathroom at the gym when I hear a phone ring from a stall behind me. I chuckled a little to myself thinking "what a crappy time to get a phone call." Much to my surprise the gentleman actually answered the phone complete with a greeting involving a company name along with his. I gave another chuckle at the lack of professionalism. Then my ears where blessed with this conversation.

"Yes, I was at your restaurant last night with my girlfriend, who is Asian and pretty heavy, and I overheard the waiter say "she was the fastest person he'd ever seen there and that she had more chins than a Chinese phone book".....and I don't think that's very appropriate for your establishment......yeah I know your not laughing at me you're laughing with me."

At this point I had to leave the bathroom because you can only wash your hands for so long before you look crazy yourself.

Now, I could try to analyze all the things wrong with what transpired, but I think it might be too cruel. So, I'll leave by just saying I was probably the only person aware of how strange it all really was.

Screw the Year of the Linux Desktop.

2009-10-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

Are you still wondering if 2010 will be the year of the Linux desktop? Who cares?

Firstly, The Linux Desktop is progressing by leaps and bounds. In fact it verges on blissful perfection. It doesn't matter if your Grandma or work is using it. It still works and it's still cool as hell. It's not fringe, it's not a stigma. It's here, it's now and it kicks ass.

Secondly, There are cooler things on the horizon that make worrying about acceptance silly.

Sure the G1 was cool and relatively open. But how about the upcoming Android phones? Sure the iPhone gobbled up the smart phone market but Floss is catching up and will soon be dominant.

See, there is something that proprietary can't compete with. Free software is all about what the user want's. It's free, it powerful, it doesn't leave them stranded with vendor lock in and they won't be left unsupported when the next wave of innovation gets crammed down our throat.

It brings up an interesting use case for freedom over closed ideology. As something like the iPhone, iPod or iTunes takes over a market. It can benefit from locking things down. They create a bottle neck that funnels all income to one source. That's great for the company but sucks for the consumer. A recent trend is to use freedoms as a market getting alternative. Creating competition where there wasn't any before.

One such instance is the Amazon mp3 store. They used freedom from DRM to change the game. Now mobile phone companies are doing the same with Android because free software easily fits the bill. You can take it right now and deploy it with a minimum of resources and get it to market. Also, the open development means you will attract enough developers to start catching up with the App Store.

The next cool device running Android is the Barnes and Nobel Nook. An e-book reader that will take on the Amazon kindle. Creating a interesting irony that Amazon stole market share with more freedom and now B&N will steal market share doing the same.

When will they learn that the more freedom they afford their users the more competitive they will be in the future.

So anyways, back at the point. This is the year of the Linux personal device. When the coolest devices that your friends drool after aren't Apple or Microsoft but Linux.

Slacker Madness!

2009-10-08T12:22:00.000-07:00

The is a secret scourge that has been attacking the underbelly of our free culture community for too long. Oh, how I've sat idly by and watch my friends descend into madness because of a substance more potent than any drug known to man. I'm talking of course about Slackware.

Sure you saw a buddy using it at a party and you where curious. You though to yourself "Hey, he's cool and he uses it, what harm could it do!" So you took it home and got loaded.

At first you where just using it casually, nothing serious. You felt like it helped you get things done, made you more productive. You used it a little before school, then a little after work. You looked cool in front of all your friends.

But then things started changing. You noticed that you couldn't get through the day without it. You used it more and more alone in your room. Compiling kernels and hacking .conf files. Soon, your friends started to worry about you. You would disappear over the weekends feeding your addiction with injections of slackbuilds and install scrips. Still every now and then you show up at a party but you spend all night huddled in the corner starring at a gcc compiling screen.

Pretty soon your making excuses to everyone about how you don't have a problem. You just need to get the web-cam working and then you can give it up. But then your back to your old habits trying to setup servers and configure your new gadget.

What I'm trying to say is. You're a junky man and you need help.

My Secret Favorite Movie

2009-10-07T11:34:00.001-07:00

So here is my confession. There is a movie that I have watched probably 30-40 times and enjoyed it as much the first time as I did the last time. I never considered it my "favorite movie." However, it was on the TV last night and I had an epiphany. That's it! It is my favorite movie of all time. I don't know why I haven't been able to come to grips with it but I'm ready to say to the world....I LOVE "THE FIFTH ELEMENT".

That's right! Every time I watch it I giggle like a school girl inside at everything that is great about it. I love the story, the characters, the style, the humor.....everything.

So, my top three list is thus.

1. The Fifth Element
2. Reservoir Dogs
3. Boondock Saints

What are your favorite movies?

Being A Responsable Community Member

2009-09-28T10:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, so you read my post a while back and now you are thinking "Hey, I've tryed to be involved and you freetards are jerks!" or "I want to try this thing out what should I know?" Very good questions. So let's dive in shall we.

First, all communitys have a culture and if you are starting as an outsider it can be a bit of a learning curve. One of the main things I see people do is have the attitude "Dude, it's just software!" To many people in this neck of the woods it isn't "just software." It's a way of life. A large amount of the work that is done in free software is done out of passion not out of economics. People pour their heart and soul into this stuff. It represents an ideal more than a tool. Respect peoples passion when talking to them.

Asking for help is the first hurdle I see people stuggling to get over. If you are used to dealing with "traditional" software support then you might come across in a way you don't intend. If you jump in an IRC channel or post on a forum, remember most of the help in free software is volunteer and be respectful of that. Many projects offer many ways of getting help. However, some of those tools rarely get used. Some projects prefer IRC, some mailing lists, some forums and some wiki's. If you are asking for help in the wrong place and not getting an answer try to find out the projects communication process.

The second sticking point, as I see it, is the approach to that question. The motivation to help is quickly sapped when you ask in a disrespectful way. Remember, very few projects are trying to create a direct replacement for a proprietary Windows or Mac app. The apps might have similar goals, but asking why feature X in software Y isn't in their program can sound insulting. Especially when you follow there response with something like "Well, your program is never going to be as good as Y if you don't put that feature in!" If you are lacking a feature it's ok to ask if you are just missing it and if it doesn't exist ask if it's planned for a future release. If it is of severe importance to you offer to pay a developer to implement it or if you have the skills do it yourself. Hey, it's Open Source, right?

Lastly, if you find that people are still pretty harsh ask yourself "Am I asking about things I should be reading about?" A lot of projects have pretty good documentation. Read it. It frustrating to have some one ask you basic questions that are all ready covered in the FAQ on their website. Asking for help should be a last resort or for those who just don't know better. Don't be lazy.

I'm sure if you are respectful and take your time you will find a home in the community just like everyone else.

OSM Live

2009-09-22T07:16:00.000-07:00

So, recent events that have come out of the community around my podcast have lead to the creation of a media experiment for us. See, we set up a streaming server so we could put up a live stream of the podcast as we recorded it. This isn't unique as quite a few of our podcasting friends do this all ready. However, having a server setup means that you could use it to stream anything anytime! That led my co-host to think that he could do a some live performances. Then the though comes to us "Hey we are all musicians, why couldn't we setup some live shows?"

After some experiments I discovered that it's brain dead simple to stream using my Zoom H4 and my Asus eeePC using the program BUTT. Another friend of the show, who is an amazing bass player and an owner of an H4 and EEEpc setup, streamed a rehearsal and a couple of his bands shows live. So right now we have about 3 musicians that are streaming live music.

This has given birth to a fun project called OSMLive. It's a chance for musicians in the Free Culture community to share their art. The concept is simple, we handle the scheduling of great artists and you tune in. Simple, right? The streams are all using the free ogg vorbis format that can be played in the latest Firefox or using the very popular and cross platform VLC media player.

More information on how and when to tune in as well as schedualing your own show can be found at http://live.pipemanmusic.com. There is a calendar and an rss feed for the shows. You can contact us about the show at live at pipemanmusic.com

Why I chose Linux!

2009-09-11T09:18:00.000-07:00

Another podcaster in the linux community has been doing a series of shows called "How I found Linux" that contains user contributed audio clips of people telling the story of how they found their way into the free software community. It's very likely when I get the time I will record my story and submit it and I hope you do the same.

Thinking about this it led me down the path of thinking not just about how but about why.

I have a firm belief that one of the strongest human emotions is the need to feel like you belong to something that is greater than yourself. I think that this need is more intense for some than others and is a driving force for good and evil. It could even explain some of the darker times in human history. But, that's a discussion for another post, or maybe not.

For me, I've always had deep need to feel like I belong and am accepted. I can think back on many periods of my life where this has had a profound effect on the trajectory of my life. I think it's the human need to be a part of the community that draws most people into the Linux/free culture. Not the geekyness of it or the software itself. Computers are cool but I don't think that is why free software is successful. Further more, I don't think the thing that will win people over to Linux will be more or better apps. I think it will be the draw that everyone has a place in the community and everyone is important to its success.

What people don't use as an argument for free software enough is:

No matter what your interest there is a sub-community that is dying to have you as a member.
No matter how insignificant your contribution to free software might seem, it's the rich tapestry of different abilities that make Linux great. We will always need wide diversity in the community.
Free software people are not just friendly, they take great pleasure in helping you find a place in community. We love it when some one new finds that feeling of acceptance that we do.
Black, white, skinny, fat, pretty, ugly, rich, poor, genius, average, cool, geek, religious, agnostic, political or not? No one gives a crap. I've never heard anyone not getting accepted because of their background.

So, If you feel like you need to find some where that people not only accept you but need you. Where you can find people just as exited about your interests as you are. We would love to have you as one of our own. We want you! We need you! Jump in, the water is just fine. What are you waiting for?

Conversational Kung Fu

2009-08-21T07:03:00.000-07:00

Do you suffer from holding an opinion that you have no real argument for?
Do you loose debates simply because there are no fact to support your case?
Are you sick of your stupidity not being listened to by "main stream media"?

By following my special brand of Conversational Kung Fu you can be sure to take over any debate your idiotic mind can dream up. Why have a sensible argument when you can kick someone in their metaphorical nuts! Put them in a soliloquy choke hold till they tap out from intellectual exhaustion. Beat them about the brain till they can't help but accept you poorly thought out conclusions and ignorant illogical positions on popular topics.

For example:

If someone has a well thought out and researched opinion about a popular social issue that differs from your crack pot sensibilities. Just use what I call the "spoken round house!". It's a simple maneuver that even the most uneducated illiterate back woods yokel can pull off. Call them a "Nazi!". Sure it might sound a little harsh to compare their compassion for the homeless, concern for the future of human existence or want to provide basic human rights to all people to an icon of hate who orchestrated one of the worst acts of democide in recorded history. But hey, you don't have any rational at all so anything goes. Right? This also works by inserting any other demonic historic figure, Joseph Stalin(more on him in a moment), Pol Pot and if you want in give a slight impression you might actually know what you are talking about us more obscure dictators like Genghis Khan or Mao Zedong.

Once you have launched your initial attack it's time to move into what I call "annoying chop". Here you try to drown out their rational arguments by making references to the initial attach such as....

Where are your Jack Boots?
Typical Nazi rhetoric!
You want to send us all to work in the Gulag?

If they haven't shaken their heads and walked away in disgust it's time to pull out the big guns. This is the "rhetoric leg sweep" stage and should at the very least halt all progress in the discussion and put the spot light on you and your brain dead point. This technique is the hardest to master and may take some time since you obviously haven't mastered any of the other learned arts. In this stage we try to string as many of the following words into a nonstop rant that is impossible to counter.

Pinko, Commy, Nazi, Unpatriotic, Fascist, Bastard, Socialist, Tree Hugging, Liberal, Nut Job, Wacko.....ect.

For example: "You pinko, commy bastards just don't get it. Your too busy hugging trees with your other liberal, wacko, nut jobs to see you unpatriotic, fascists are turning America into the Soviet Empire." (Note: If the person you are arguing with notices that you can't be both Communist and Fascist pay them no mind and keep on trukin'. Your almost there!)

If none of these tactics work then there is probably no hope for you and your fellow dumb asses so you might as well go watch NASCAR.

Announcing Django-Krupa!

2009-08-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a website for my music for a while now. It's been slow going and I haven't had as much time to work on as I would like. So, I thought this is silly. I was all ready going to open source the code when I finished. Instead of waiting I figured I would just create a project and upload what I have so far and hopefully I can solicit some help to finish the project. So, if there are any experienced Python/Django developers reading this that are interested let me know. The git repository for the project is located at here. The web repository is here. You can e-mail me at dworth@pipemanmusic.com. I'm exited and hope others are too.

Mono, No No?

2009-07-09T06:17:00.000-07:00

With all the recent infatuation within the Free Software community over the potential threat posed by the free implementation of the .net framework Mono, I've tossed around the arguments on both sides and drawn my own conclusions. This isn't a topic I would normally comment publicly on however I've drawn some different conclusions than I've heard talked about and I want to throw them into the public debate.

I don't consider myself a Free Software zealot but I want nothing more than a world where there is no restrictions on the technologies we use. I am a believer in the philosophy of free culture and it's ability to unite in a way that nothing else can. So in short, I'm a pragmatist who leans towards being a fundamentalist.

I won't go into all the pros and cons of Mono as they are better covered by much more intelligent people than me. My purpose is to raise a few considerations that I haven't heard talked about.

Firstly, My dear ol' Mom, for a long time, was the President, and now Vice President, of the Wheat Ridge Historical Society. As such she instilled in me a reverence for history and our past culture. I am a sentimental guy at heart and feel there is a deep purpose to preserving the relics of the past. To that end I think having free implementations of technologies is important in preventing parts of our culture from being unrecoverable. I have an affinity for projects that allow me to relive my youth like DOSBox. Similar projects like Freedos, ReactOS, and Haiku are important to preserve the technologies of our computing past. I would hate to have Mozart's Symphonies or DaVinci's journal locked in DRM or in a technology that is lost or abandoned. So, I consider Mono as an important tool for preserving the ability to use .net software.

Secondly, On coat tails of Google's announcement of ChromeOS, witch brings the hope of greater Linux desktop adoption, I think a tool like Mono is necessary to entice developers to support Linux as that market emerges with a greater presence. In fact, I'll bet that just the announcement of Google CromeOS will get software companies to re-evaluate their Linux support. Also, it allows company's who didn't have Linux on their radar 12 months ago stay competitive by offering their software cross platform. It also has the benefit of allowing businesses that use .net software and want to migrate the opportunity to make the transition to Linux without extra development.

Third, if you can except that Mono is important to support freedom then I would argue than in order to have a usable implementation the .net framework you need developers who are using the tool to create software. Otherwise you risk an incomplete implementation that will turn companies away from Linux. In order for developers to use Mono you need users to use their software. So, active Mono projects are necessary to insure Linux is competitive with the Windows .net implementation.

Lastly, we all live in a world of compromise. Many of the people who are the most against Mono programs have been using MP3 playback and DVD playback and many other technologies with similar or worse potential for patent lawsuits. Very few people don't use other software that is certainly not free like Flash and the non-free Nvidia drivers without so much as a blog post or a tweet. That being said most of those are not install by default in the major Distributions. I don't think that the major Distros should install Mono apps by default but I take no issue with people who want to install them on their own. That being said, the popularity of Distos that do install software that posses a patent risk such as Linux Mint and the prevalence of using the ubuntu-restricted-extras package proves that most people don't care about the risk they just want a feature full and rich desktop experience. In the end choice is always better then the alternatives and using Mono apps doesn't make you any less of a lover of freedom.

Cheap and Easy..Just the way Dad likes it.

2009-06-10T08:04:00.000-07:00

So it's been a while since I updated the ol' blog here. But I finally have something to say and damn it you're going to listen!

So fathers day is comming up and I have an idea for those of you that want to give an inexpensive gift that involves Free Software.

Step one:
Buy a Sandisk Sansa e250 for $30 from here.
Step Two:
Download the Rockbox installer here.
Step Three:
Use the utility to install the specific build for the Sansa e200 seiries. (This step is so easy!)
Step Three:
Pick a really cool theme you think he will enjoy.
Step Four:
Wrap it up and give it to your father for fathers day!
Step Five:
Download WinFF for his computer to convert video to the correct format for the player. It is a simple gui tool that is a front end for FFMPEG and has presets for Rockbox Sansa e200.
Step Six:
Download gPodder and set him up with some cool podcast about whatever your eccentric father is into...model airplanes, stamp collection even crazy conspiracys. Now you've connected him to the immense content that the internet provides.
Step Seve:
Download and settup Amazons mp3 downloader. This will give him access to all the music he wants.

What will he get?

A cool player:
The player has a microSD slot to extend it's capacity, an FM tuner to catch his morning radio shows and a voice recorder to help him remember things.

Extended media support:
Rockbox includes support for more media formats than it did out of the box meaning when your Dad downloads something off the internet to listen to on the player there is a better chance of it working without bugging you to convert it.

More functionality:
The Rockbox firmware provides a much plesenter user experience with faster fast forwards, video resume points, fade in/out on pause, more information on the now playing screen and much, much more!

Applications:
Rockbox comes with great applications that are helpfull everything like Calculator, Calendar, Clock, Stopwatch, lamp(turns the screen all white to help navigate the dark), and more.

Games:
Rockbox comes with quite a few time killers like Solitare, Blackjack, Roxblocks(Tetris Clone), and even Doom.

DRM free music:
You won't have to explane to him why the music he bought won't work when the next generation of players comes out.

It might not be as expensive as an iPod and some might argue not as cool looking, however, this baby does a lot with a little and will bring your father into this century with style.

What do you get?
The satisfaction on introducing dear ol' Dad to free software without turning his world upside down and getting him a cool gadget that he can use.

P.S.
All Apps listed are Windows and Linux compatible so if you turned him into a convert or not it will all work and make him a happy pappy.