Moving

I’ve decided to move to Posterous for my main blog.

The URL is http://gamerchick02.posterous.com

Posterous was able to pull in all my comments, so that’s pretty cool.  I’ll leave this as a archive.

Ubuntu Unity

This post is kind of a response to this post on OMG!Ubuntu.

What is wrong with Unity?  It’s a question with a lot of different answers.

For me?

Speed and ease of use.

Those are the most important things.  An operating system should allow me to do what I want without bugging me.  Without making it difficult to get to my files.  Without making me relearn where everything is.

That is where Unity is a problem for me.  Maybe I’m used to my dock-and-menu setup in Ubuntu, or my taskbar-and-menu setup in Windows, but making me think about where my files are, or making me type up a search (while handy in some respects) can make me irritated, as I can’t get to my files and programs faster.  If I wanted a search metric, I’d be using Gnome-Do or Launchy or something.

I’ve grown used to the menu structure of Gnome.  I like it and it’s comfortable.

I also don’t want to have to wait for my operating system to chug and think about getting my file structure.  I’m particular about where I put things, and I have a special way I do it.  If I were to just throw everything in /home without a thought, then this searching metric might work for me, but I don’t.

Unity seems to be aimed at someone who’s never seen a computer before.  This is fine, but the further we go on in time, the fewer people will have not seen a computer before (anyway, speaking from my white, middle-class, college-educated, engineering background).  I mean, everyone in my community has access to computers either though their own houses, a public or private school (for students), a university, a community college, or the library system.  I’d be shocked at anyone under the age of 60 who hasn’t seen a computer in their lives.

Also, most of these people who have seen computers will have seen a Windows or Mac-based system.  It’s just a fact of life because of the market share Windows and Apple have.  Ubuntu and other Linux-based operating systems are trying to change that, but with Ubuntu and Gnome3 going to the “shell” model of things, many people are going to see it and reject it.  Which is unfortunate because there are a lot of good ideas that have come out of Unity.  For instance, the dock.  I use a dock (Docky), but at a different location than where Ubuntu puts it.  If Unity wants to win me over, they can do the following:

• Make the dock movable; to the right, top or bottom, as I please.
• Make the dock re-sizable, which I think they’re working on (this is not available in the version I’m running on my netbook).
• Allow me to change the size of the icons on the dock and make sure Unity respects that.  I’d like a smaller dock on my netbook, as the screen is very limited.
• Allow me to use the regular file system easier.  When I click on the folder in the dock, I expect a Nautilus window to open; this does not happen.
• Give me better categories and whatnot when I click on the applications button.  Seriously, having a list of my applications is not helpful if they’re not sorted better.
• Make the dock expand to hold the icons, instead of expand the whole side of my screen.  This is similar to the behavior of Docky.
• Use Compiz (this is in the works; Mutter was found to be unstable, so the Ubuntu devs have moved to Compiz, which is more stable.  I remember when it wasn’t, and I was unsure of why anyone would use Compiz.  Now I can’t live without it.).

I will be looking forward to the improvements in Unity.  Hopefully with the inclusion of Compiz, the speed factor will be taken care of (my netbook can handle Compiz, which is pretty cool).

The Natty release looks to be interesting at the least.

Ubuntu and Banshee

I’ve been following all of the concerns surrounding the Ubuntu and Banshee profit-sharing “kerfuffle”, as Greg puts it here.  Craig Maloney (aka snap-l) responds here.  Mark Shuttleworth responds to everyone here.  Also, I can’t forget about Jono’s post about it as well.

So, I guess this is my response:

I think the whole thing is embarrassing.  Canonical shouldn’t have suggested what they did, nor should they have backpedaled in the manner they did.

Banshee is an awesome application.  I use it every day to manage and listen to my music and download new tracks from Amazon (mostly free individual tracks and album samplers).  I have never used the Ubuntu Music Store, but I think it’s a great idea.  (Note: I get most of my new music from actual CDs or through Jamendo or other CC-music websites.)

Now, I’ve been a part of the Ubuntu community since about 2006 (yes, I’m old) and seeing something like this pains me.  It makes me feel like I should be embarrassed to use Ubuntu and Banshee.  The Amazon store should never have been an issue; Canonical should never have offered to mess with it, instead offering their own store with a choice of stores (even enabling both!) at the startup of Banshee.

I understand that Canonical needs to make money.  All businesses need to make money.  If UbuntuOne was available for Windows and was a comparable price to Dropbox, I would probably be using UbuntuOne instead of Dropbox.  Selling cloud services is a great idea for Canonical.  Same with selling merchandise through their store, and CDs with Ubuntu on them.  Heck, I’ve bought stuff from them.

I guess my question is, couldn’t Canonical come up with a better way to deal with this profit-sharing or whatever?  What about offering 85/15 (85% to Gnome, 15% to Canonical)?  Heck, even 50/50 would have been more fair.  25/75 for doing no work whatsoever doesn’t seem kosher.

Pinboard.in

I decided to take the plunge and try out pinboard.in.

At the time I signed up it was something like $9.17, but it’s gone up to $9.22 (due to go up with more subscribers).

Well, I did an import of all my delicious bookmarks, and found that it was a much faster process than importing into diigo. After importing, I noticed that my private bookmarks were kept (very important to me) private.

The look of pinboard.in is very similar to delicious, but it’s cleaner. I love the way it integrates with my Shareaholic extension for Chrome/ium. To save to Pinboard is the first link in my drop-down menu.

Anyway, how about a picture?

The default Pinboard.in look. Very similar to delicious.

It’s almost easier and faster to send to Pinboard than it is to send to delicious. First off, there’s really nobody to share with, so you don’t have to pick who you send links to. Second, it doesn’t have automatic twitter integration, so you don’t have to deal with that (I have twitter integration though Twitterfeed and my #pinboard hashtag). It’s simple, quick, bookmarking with tags and privacy options. Nothing else.

The navigation is really, really simple. A picture says a thousand words, so here’s a picture:

As you can see, there’s a way to choose what kind of tags you want, a search box, and a way to get to popular places in your account. I haven’t tried the note-taking functionality yet, because I have tomboy notes on all of the computers I use, so I don’t really need them. I guess if I got a Cr-48, I’d need the note functionality.

You’ll also notice that there’s “recent” and “popular” links up top. I’ll go over there sometimes to see what’s been bookmarked, just like I used to when I was on delicoius. Sometimes there’s some cool stuff in there, and if you explore other popular tags, you’ll find even more websites that tailor to your interests. There’s also a networking aspect to pinboard.in that I really haven’t had a chance to explore. I’ve added a couple of people who seem to post linux-related sites, but I’m not sure exactly what the networking will amount to. Pinboard sells itself as “antisocial bookmarking” and to an extent that’s fine. I’m using it as a repository of my favorite links, and I’m sharing through twitterfeed.

The actual bookmark list is very clean and easy to follow. How about another picture?

The bookmarks themselves.

Easy to see tags, when you posted the link, the link itself, and in light grey, you can make out “edit” and “delete” links. I seem to have a lot of GTD stuff in this screenshot. Ahem.

Onto tagging! I’ve gotten used to tagging my bookmarks, photos, blog posts, and pretty much everything else. I like the idea of tagging as opposed to folders. I can assign more than one tag to something and that something will show up in both of those categories; for instance, I have many links that deal with Ubuntu, Gnome, KDE, and Linux. I can assign the general tag of Linux, and have everything Linux-related show up, but if I want to narrow things down, I can go Linux -> Ubuntu -> KDE and get all the KDE links relating to Ubuntu. Simple.

Anyway, here’s what the tags look like:

Tags, oh, how I love thee.

So, pinboard.in is a great service to replace delicious. I’m sure Yahoo is regretting the decision to have that slide show up. I think they’ve lost a lot of their userbase. It might put some people off to purchase the initial login, but it’s well worth the $9-ish for it.

Bag Musings

I’ve been meaning to put together a tech bag/urban assault bag/art bag for awhile now, and I found the perfect bag for it: a Swiss Gear small messenger bag. I can’t seem to find any pictures on the web for it, so I suspect that it’s a discontinued model, which is fine because I got it at Meijer for about $25.

This bag has padding in both of its sections, and the main compartment is expandable with a zipper to accommodate the extra room. I can easily carry my netbook, a regular book or my Nook, my sketchbook, and other things.

So, let’s see what I might carry for what applications.

Always Carried:

• cell phone
• pen
• wallet
• misc. bag (contains some meds, tissues, my dues cards for OES and Nile, chapstick, etc)
• my version of the “hipster PDA”: a moleskine calendar and a moleskine small lined book, held together with the stretchy cord of the calendar
• Walkman MP3 player
• keys
• book I’m reading

Art Bag:

• sketchbook
• pencils
• pastel crayons
• drawing ink pen
• small canvases if they fit

Tech Bag:

• netbook
• usb key (holds some of my most important files)
• charger for my netbook (if I’m going to be out or travelling)
• Ubuntu LiveCD (for fixing other people’s computers; happens more than you think!)
• moleskine cashier for notes, even though I use Tomboy Notes for most everything

Other Applications:

• library bag, with Nook and library books
• bag to hold my stuff for Nile; actually this will work; as it holds everything but the charitable giving notebook, but I can carry that in my hands

I don’t know. This bag is very versatile, and I’m hoping to use it for one of these applications. I’m almost keen on replacing my purse with it, but I feel that it’d be too heavy for regular purse use. Also, I have a tendency to load up my bags with too much stuff; this is why I carry a relatively small purse. If I didn’t have a small purse, I’d probably load it up with everything but the kitchen sink and have major back pain as a result.

System 76 Laptops: 1.5 Years

I’ve noticed a lot of posts in this thread on the Ubuntu forums so I decided to give a 1.5 year review as it were of both of my System76 computers.

Lets start with the Pangolian.

I have a PanP5, which is the fifth version of the Pangolian laptop. I ordered it in June of 2009, and it arrived at the tail end of the month. This laptop replaced my brother’s (at least) eight year old desktop (that’s now being used by my mother with Windows XP) that replaced a Dell Dimension (that ran Windows XP and various versions of Ubuntu). My old desktops ran well and for a long time, but I felt it was time for an upgrade.

I chose some upgrades (from my blog post on the subject):

It has a 15.4 screen (huge, IMHO) with 1680×1050 resolution (upgraded), Core 2 Duo P8700 2.53 GHz 1066 MHz FSB 3BM L2 (25 Watt) (upgrade also), 4 GB RAM (upgrade), 320 GB hard drive (upgrade), 1 DVD/CD burner drive, 512 MB DDR2 nVidia GeForce G105M graphics card, standard networking and wireless, 2.0 MP webcam (built-in), Bluetooth, and all the standard ports (including HDMI, VGA and 3 USB). Oh, and I forgot to mention; it comes with 64-bit Ubuntu 9.04.

Now, the laptop has a 500 GB drive in it, with Ubuntu 10.10, dual-booted with Windows 7. I had some repairs that needed to be done to it in November. Basically, I needed a new motherboard and hard drive. A year later, the replacement hard drive died, and I got the 500 GB from NewEgg.

I derive a great deal of pleasure from just booting this machine up. I like typing on it; the keyboard is amazing, the sound (out of speakers, through the headphone jack) is great, the DVD drive has no problems (knock on wood), and everything is working just fine. I’ve hooked up a second monitor to my laptop (my Westinghouse 1280×1024 LCD panel) so I have more screen real estate to work with.

I use it for the following:

• Podcasts
• Music
• Blogging
• Browsing
• Light gaming (stuff like Xmoto, Gweled, Mines, etc)
• Moderate gaming under Windows (some Sims2)
• Gimp
• Writing (penned [penning] two unfinished NaNo novels)
• Chat
• IRC
• Microblogging
• Flier creation (for OES and Nile)
• Making invitations
• Making programs (for events, not programming)
• Seti@home
• Ebooks (organizing and sending to my Nook)
• Picture organization (not much; mostly related to my blog)

Basically, the computer is a home office laptop. Now, how about a screenshot?

My Desktop Screenshot

I’m running Docky, Empathy, Gwibber, BOINC, Bloglio, Gpodder, Dropbox. Wakoopa, Radio Tray, and Tomboy Notes. This is Gnome, which I love. The wallpaper is from everydayishock’s Tumblr. This is Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron from An American in Paris, the ballet scene.

Again, I derive pleasure from starting this laptop up every day. I love the way the keyboard feels, the way the trackpad works, the sound through my external speakers, and the sheer speed of the laptop. I’ve seen virtually no slowdowns from the day I’ve bought it, and there are few changes I’ve made to the machine (the exception being a 500 GB 5400 RPM drive replacing my 320 GB drive).

I feel that this computer will last several more years, and that’s why I bought it. If I’d wanted something to last one year, I would have gone to Best Buy and gotten a $500 Gateway or something. Not to diss Gateway (the desktop that went from my brother, to me, to my mother is a Gateway), but I don’t feel their laptops are as of the quality they used to be. Also, Best Buy didn’t have exactly what I wanted. What I wanted was something with a discreet video card, and nothing at my local Best Buy fit that bill. Still doesn’t.

Now, I’ll cover my Starling.

I have a Star1 which is the first version of the Starling. There is now a refresh of my netbook (the Star3, I think) and a Starling Edubook.

I didn’t have any upgrades, really. For simplicity, I’ll take the specs from my last blog post on the subject.

The screen is 10.1 inches, the memory is 1 GB of RAM, the hard drive is 160 gigs, and it has standard wifi and lan networking.  The graphics aren’t anything to really write home about, but this is a netbook: a portable device for browsing, blogging, writing and reading.

I’ve made no changes to this netbook, as there is nothing to change. I’ve updated to 10.10, and I’m now using the Unity desktop. It’s quite different from anything I’m used to, but I’m interested in how this will work out. I’m taking a “wait and see” approach to the whole Unity interface.

How about a screenshot?

Netbook Screenshot

I’ve got Wakoopa, Dropbox, Tomboy Notes, and Unity running here. The wallpaper is the same as my laptop. I like to keep things consistent.

This netbook has been with me all over the house, outside for computing in the backyard, down to Indianapolis for Supreme Session, Battle Creek for Grand Chapter, and the coffee shop. It’s perfect for couch surfing while I’m watching TV. It stays very cool, even when running YouTube videos. I’ve had to replace the battery at $99, so that wasn’t cheap, but it was still cheaper than buying a new netbook. I’m taking care of the battery better now (ie, not using it when I’m on the couch but plugging it in) and trying to conserve its cycles for when I need it.

The only real complaints? The battery issue (a battery should last longer than a year) and the wireless (slightly flaky; I hope Natty will resolve this for good). This is a first generation machine, so if those are the only issues, then I’m not too peeved.

For the Pangolian, I give a 5/5 for everything. This machine is a workhorse, and I’m very pleased with it, even at a year-and-a-half-in. The Starling gets a 4/5, only because of the wireless and battery issues. I’d really like to have a larger range for the wireless card; it’d be much more useful to me when I go out. Unfortunately, there’s not ubiquitous wireless internet; and I don’t have the money for a 3 or 4G connection.

System76 gets a 5/5 for service, speed, help, and just all around good products. Depending on what they have when I’m in the market again, I’ll definitely go with them.

Quick Review, Partition36′s “Inside the Beat”

I’ve been listening to Partition36‘s Inside the Beat on and off since I recieved it in the mail several weeks ago.

This album is great on many levels.  I’m no musician, but I guess I know good music when I hear it, and this is complex.  I like the way everything is layered.  Anyway, that’s the way things sound to me; the sound seems layered, one on top of the other, with a really nice build.  I’ll pick out a few of my favorite tracks to highlight…

The first track, Crystallis, is a nice introduction to the sound on the whole album.  While listening, if you close your eyes and relax, you’re almost taken away to a different place.  The beat can be sort of repetitive, but it is relaxing in a way.

The third track, Inside the Beat, is my favorite off of the CD.  I love how the song is about being inside the music and now nothing bad can happen when Partition36 is inside the beat.  The beat is almost like a safe house where the evils of the world can’t hurt anyone.  Also, it’s about concentration and working on something that you want to.  Great song, great message.

After track two and three being upbeat, Hirakatashi (track 4) is kind of relaxing and puts you in a neat trance.  I don’t know exactly how to describe it, but I really like it.

Cyberpunks (track 8) is my second favorite song.  Kind of political, and very relevant to today’s laws regarding the digital world.

The whole album is one of those that really flows together.  It’s almost like Partition36 created this to be a whole experience.  If you listen to each track on it’s own, they’re great.  If you listen to the whole album together and take it as a continuous piece of art, then it’s incredible.

For the record, Partition36 is the artist that got me into electronic music.  I wouldn’t think I’d like it, but I’ve listened to several different albums, and it’s a genre I’ve really gotten into recently.

This album can be downloaded via the website, or you can purchase the album.  I really recommend purchasing a physical CD.  The album art is great too.

Switching from Delicious to Diigo

I heard the news that Delicious was being closed sold by Yahoo.  (Which may or may not happen; if it’s not sold, then I’m sure Yahoo will be shuttering the service.  Anyway, I want a backup on a different service, in case this happens.)

Ok, time to panic.  I have a good 400+ bookmarks in there and didn’t want to lose them.  So I started looking around for alternatives.

Diigo seemed like a good alternative; I think I tried it before, but didn’t find that it worked well for me, so I went back to Delicious.  Now I’m forced to switch, and I noticed that Diigo not only will import your Delicious bookmarks and tags, but it will also respect your private/public setting.  This is incredibly important to me, since I have some private bookmarks (think what you will, but I have a couple of specific sites that are tied to my computer, so I didn’t want to share them).  I’m sure everyone else has private bookmarks too.  Actually the best way to keep them private is under your own profile on your own computer, but if you leave your machine running, then it’s not too secure.  Having your bookmarks on a site gives you some cross-platform and browser syncing without needing a special plugin for your browser (xmarks, chrome sync, etc).

I looked into Pinboard.in, but I wasn’t sure if it’d work for me, and I didn’t want to be stuck with a service I paid for and wasn’t happy with.  Mister Wong looked interesting, but I think I prefer the way Diigo works.  Has anyone who reads this blog tried Mister Wong or Pinboard.in and do you like it?

The import finally finished the other day, and I was able to start working with Diigo, and I really like it.  The sharing options don’t seem to be as prevalent on Diigo, but I think that’s ok.  I’m sharing with Friendfeed, but not twitter, though I can easily set that up through twitterfeed.  They have a Chrome extension that I do like.

Diigo also has many features that I’m intrigued with trying out: highlighting, read later (though I’ll probably stick with Instapaper), and stickynote.  I generally use Evernote for online notes or Tomboy for offline notes (synced with Dropbox), but I might give this a shot.

I’m really liking this service, but I’m still going to save bookmarks to my browser and sync them through Google Chrom/ium’s browser sync.  I learned my lesson with Delicious!

Video Games, software, and content

Note: This is going to be a rambling, navel-gazy post talking about games I’ve been playing and the systems I play them on.  Feel free to skip, if you so desire.  Cut for obvious reasons.

Wytches Brew: Review

I haven’t played through this Wytches Brew by NotSoft Games completely, but I’ve progressed far enough to surmise that this game is awesome.

It’s incredibly addictive.  If you just play the standard “Brew” option, you’ll find plenty of opportunity for improving your score.  This is fun enough, but the even more addicting part of the game is the story mode.  You play as three wytches who are wandering the countryside to find out where the Grey Brothers went.  They help people by brewing different potions.

The game is like Bejeweled in that you move the flowers (jewels) around the board.  The difference is that you can sacrifice some of your “candle wax” (life) and move the flowers farther around on the board, as opposed to only adjacent ones.

You have a cookbook to guide you.  Once you figure out what flowers go in what combination in what order, the game goes from being slightly confusing to seriously addicting.

I’m about a third of the way through the story mode, and I’m loving it.  This game is fun and complex, but simple enough to pick up quickly.

It’s kind of frustrating when the wytches throw more flowers out onto the board and it creates a 3-in-a-row that messes up your recipe!  Frustrating, but you still get points!

Another mechanic that makes the game a little harder is your cauldron at the bottom of the screen.  If you try to fill it up too much, it will overflow and your game will be over!  So, you have to keep your eye on your candles, your cauldron, and the flowers that you’re trying to match up.

How about some screenshots?

This is the start screen.  If you pick “brew”, you can play the standard matching game with no story and try to rack up as many points as you can.

This is the screen you get when you pick “quest”.

A story screen.  The models aren’t anything to be excited about, but this is a puzzle game.  There also don’t seem to be any consequences for messing up in the puzzle play; if people don’t get their potions, they’re disappointed, but not pissed off.

The game board screen.  This is where all of the gameplay happens.  You can see the flowers on the board.  Each wytch has a section of the board, and if you move the flowers around too much, you have bits of your candles melt.  The cauldron is on the bottom, and that’s where the flowers go when you line up three or more.  If you try to stuff too much into the cauldron, it’ll overflow, ending the game.  If your candles burn down completely, your game will end.  The box to the left of the cauldron is your cookbook.  I don’t have any recipes up on there, but you have to get the flowers in the right order.

See some official screenshots here.

I got the game for free through this offer.  It’s a very solid game, and for free, it’s even more awesome.

I guess I’ll get to a rating.  Overall, I’d say this is a 4/5.  The story mode is interesting enough to keep you going, so that’s a 4/5; the gameplay is addictive, so that’s a 5/5; and the graphics are fine for what you need them for, a 3.5/5.  The models of the wytches and other people are kind of goofy looking and they’re not animated, but for a puzzle game, kick-ass models aren’t really expected.

This is a great game; go out and get it and give it a whirl.  It’s very addictive and free ‘til January.

Wytches Brew, getting it working…

I subscribe to the IndieGameMagazine RSS feed, and the other day, an offer came through for a free copy of Wytches Brew.  It looked pretty cool, so I gave it a download.

I was on Ubuntu at the time and it’s a Windows game.  I saved it to my Windows partition, and just got around to installing it.  Imagine my surprise when the game gave me an error about a .dll being missing!  The .dll in question was MSVCR71.dll.  It’s related to the fact that I’m on Windows 7 64-bit and the company doesn’t test on my configuration. 

They’re small, and that’s cool, especially since I got an email back from them a half hour after I sent my email with the issue.  They said that they were really sorry that the game didn’t work.  They suggested I put the .dll I downloaded into the game folder (C:/Program Files (x86)/Notsoft/WytchesBrew) and see if that worked.  It did!

I did a google search and found the .dll here at dll-files.com.  There are plenty of warnings associated with this, but the good news is that you don’t need to go and mess with your C:/Windows folder.

Grab the .dll, extract it, and then copy it over to your game folder.  Start the game, and the error is gone!

Amazing.  I’m really glad it worked.

I’m planning on doing a review of this game when I’ve had a chance to play it, but I wanted to get this little hack out there for others who are on Windows 7.

Enjoy it!

Nook Frozen Screen

I “short-blogged” about this on my Tumblr, but I think it’s worth rehashing here.

Yesterday morning, I tried to wake up my Nook by pressing the button on the top (like I always do) and it wouldn’t wake up.  Well, what had happened was that the battery had run out (I don’t remember when I tuned it on and left it on) because I’d been reading a lot on it recently (I just finished the Chicago Way; great book!).

Anyway, I did a google search and found this forum that had information on how to fix your ereader.  The particular post that helped me outlined the following:

If you think your screen on nook may be frozen, you may want to try these steps to reboot your nook:

First, try holding the power down for 10-15 seconds, and then pressing the power button again. If that doesn’t reboot your Nook, try:

1. Unplugging the nook.
2. Remove the battery (if you don’t know how, there are further instructions in the manual).
3. Plug the nook in, without the battery.

The Nook should begin to go through its booting process. Once booted, replace the battery (don’t turn the nook off or unplug).

This worked!  I was able to restart the Nook, and all my files were still there (very important).

I guess I shouldn’t forget to turn the thing off.  I didn’t check to see how much battery I had left the other night before I went to bed.  Ooops.

Evernote

Yes, Evernote.

This program/website is amazing.

Some background:

I’d tried this before, and I wasn’t pleased with it; I didn’t see what it would “give” me, and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever use it.  Cue me going through my old accounts and getting rid of stuff.  I deactivated the account, thinking I’d never use it again.  I was wrong.

I noticed there was a new plugin for Tomboy that I wanted to try out that would sync with Evernote.  I wanted to try it out, and to do that, I’d need an Evernote account.  Cue me trying to get my Evernote account back, chronicled here and here.  I got my account back, and tried to sync my notes through Tomboy.  Well, the plugin didn’t work for me, so I decided to try something else.

Enter NeverNote.  It’s a Java-based program that interfaces with Evernote, and works pretty well on both my laptop and my netbook.  I can also use the Google Chrome extension to interact with Evernote; it works great for clipping webpages that I want to store for research and the like.

I also wanted to try the Windows version of the program, and I can say that it’s amazing.  Much better than Tomboy under Windows.

Now, if you mostly do text notes (I do), Tomboy will still be great for you under Ubuntu.  It’s integrated with the desktop, which is great.  Until the plugin is completed, NeverNote is what I’ll be using on Ubuntu.

Now I just need a mini-Android tablet so I can take notes on the go and upload them when I hook up to wireless.

Amazing; why did I not use this before?

Sherlock: A Study in Pink (Review)

Wow.

I really like this series so far. It’s grabbed my attention, and I’m hooked (brought to us in the USA via Masterpiece Mystery).

Synopsis by Wikipedia (WARNING, SPOILERS!!):

John Watson, an ex-army doctor injured in the war in Afghanistan, meets Sherlock Holmes through a mutual friend. They become flatmates, sharing rooms at 221B Baker Street owned by landlady Mrs. Hudson.

There have been a strange series of deaths that Inspector Lestrade supposes to be serial suicides. Sherlock is consulted by Lestrade to look into the latest crime scene which is of a woman wearing an "alarming shade of pink". Sherlock deduces that the woman is an serial adulterer with an unhappy, decade long marriage. However, this victim, unlike others, left a note: she clawed the word "Rache" into the floor before dying. Sherlock quickly ignores the suggestion of the forensic expert, Anderson, that it’s the German word for revenge and settles on "Rachel", deeming that the victim died before finishing the scrawl.

Examining the woman’s clothing and accessories, Sherlock reveals that she’s from out of town, intending to stay over for one night which he deduces from splashes of mud on only one leg, thrown up by the wheel of the case. However Lestrade explains that no suitcase was found in the premises. Sherlock flies off, searching for the spot where the murderer might have ditched the case. It turns out that the murderer threw it into a nearby garbage container.

Meanwhile, John receives a call from a public phone. After the subsequent conversation, a black sedan arrives, taking John to an empty warehouse. There, he meets a man claiming to be Sherlock’s "arch-enemy" who proposes money in return of information about Sherlock’s activities, which John refuses. The man warns John to "choose a side" and walks off.

John finds Sherlock in 221B, where he asks John to send a text message to a number which he reveals to be the fourth victim’s. The two then go out for a dinner in a local Italian restaurant where it strikes Sherlock that the murderer must be someone who can stalk and approach people without raising suspicion on the streets of London. That instant, Sherlock perceives a cabbie across the street with a passenger. They give chase with Sherlock using his profound knowledge of London’s streets and alleys to run into the cab via various detours and backstreets. Eventually they catch up with the cab but the passenger turns out to be a newly arrived American; a perfect alibi.

Back at Baker Street, Sherlock and John find Scotland Yard executing a drug bust, in retaliation for the fact that Sherlock withheld evidence by chasing after the suitcase himself. In a chain of deductions, he reasons that the last victim planted her mobile phone on the murderer and clawed her mail address password upon the floor, allowing the investigators to trace the GPS signal. John sees that the signal is coming from 221B at which point Mrs. Hudson tells him that there’s a cabbie waiting for him downstairs. Sherlock, in a moment of epiphany, realizes the plot. It was the cabbie approaching people without suspicion and taking them to irrelevant locations where they’re found dead.

Sherlock leaves his apartment, facing off the cabbie who confesses his doings, but also proclaims that he doesn’t kill – instead, he speaks to his victims and they kill themselves. He challenges Sherlock to solve his puzzle instead of arresting him then and there. They drive around London and finally arrive at a school building. There, the cabbie pulls out a gun and two bottles he claims contain one harmless pill and one poisonous pill. Sherlock and the cabbie have a dialogue about motives and consequences after which Sherlock reads that the cabbie is dying. The murderer confesses that he has an aneurysm. To secure his children’s future, he kills people and is paid by a "sponsor" to do so; his ‘victims’ can either take a 50/50 chance at picking the right pill and surviving or get shot by the gun. Refusing to play the pill game and calling off the cabbie’s gun bluff (which in reality is a novelty cigarette lighter), Sherlock walks off, but he’s challenged once again to choose a pill to see if he’d got it right.

Meanwhile, John has traced the GPS signal from the victim’s phone and followed Sherlock. He perceives him to be in danger when he spots him across the building where he is about to take one of the pills. The cabbie is shot by a bullet piercing through a nearby window. He lies there fatally wounded as Sherlock questions him, first about whether he got the pill game right, then, realising it’s not important, about his sponsor. Upon his reluctance to tell, Sherlock stomps on the cabbie’s bullet wound and manages to get a name: "Moriarty".

Outside, Scotland Yard has surrounded the perimeter and Sherlock is treated for shock. Lestrade questions Sherlock about the shooter and he starts to make some deductions before realizing it must be John. Sherlock feigns shock to cover for John and tells Lestrade to ignore everything he has just said. Sherlock and John leave the scene but run into the man who abducted John earlier in the episode, who turns out to be Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s elder brother, with whom he has a grudge. After a brief conversation, Sherlock and John return to Baker Street, and Mycroft instructs his secretary to increase their surveillance status.

According to the Wikipedia article, it’s loosely based on "A Study in Scarlet" but I don’t see a huge connection. I like how this refresh is taking new cases and using the actors to portray Holmes and Watson true to the canon.

There are some serious deviations from the canon in that Sherlock uses nicotine patches for his main habit ("It’s a three-patch problem.") and there seems to be a reference to an earlier drug habit when the cabbie challenges Sherlock to his puzzle.

I love the way Cumberbatch portrays Sherlock, and while Martin Freeman has no mustache, his portrayal of Watson is spot on. The writers have gone back to the canon and have tried to take the characters and put them into a modern-day setting without ruining the premise.

Sherlock is as anti-social as ever (even more so than Brett’s version), preferring to text instead of meeting face-to-face or calling someone. The series writers haven’t made him up as sexual (like they did in Sherlock: Case of Evil) and they haven’t made him steampunk (like the the 2009 Sherlock Holmes film). They also don’t seem to be focusing on Sherlock’s "dark moods" like they did in the Jeremy Brett Granada series (which I enjoyed immensely). Maybe the next episode will focus more on Sherlock’s dark moods. I liked that depth to Brett’s Holmes; though I think that’s one of the things that contributed to his early death.

Like I said in my opening, I’m hooked. This is a great "re-hash" of the original canon, and the writers are keeping true to Holmes’ and Watson’s personalities. If you have a chance to watch, I highly recommend it. Stars: 5/5.

New App: Radio Tray

Well, not really new. Radio Tray has been around since September of this year, but it’s gone pretty far since then.

Basically, Radio Tray is a tray application that lets you listen to internet radio. Simple, and very easy to set up. I first installed the application from the Ubuntu Software Center, but I noticed there was a newer version in a .deb package that afforded categories for your music. I have categories for BBC, SomaFM, and DI.fm.

Drop down menu showing categories.

If you’re using Ubuntu, the installation is simple: download the .deb, double click, install, then start adding your radio stations. I’ve found it best to go to Shoutcast to get everything off of SomaFM and DI.fm. I recommend the Beebotron to get the direct links for the BBC radio feeds.

List of radio stations in the configure window.

I really like this app, partly because I’ve had awful luck with Rhythmbox and Banshee and internet radio. I either get everything or nothing with these apps, meaning I can get all of shoutcast (too much) or I have to add radio stations individually, which doesn’t always work well. It’s a finicky process, and Radio Tray handles it well.

Give it a shot. This is a great app that allows you to listen to internet radio without having your massive music player open and taking up a lot of computer cycles.