Kevin's Social Blog: June 2013

Monday, June 24, 2013

Truckee Day Trip

Short day trip up the mountain to Truckee, California, today. Visited Bud's Sporting Goods & Fountain for a pineapple shake (Dawn, after learning they had no brownies, had a peanut butter cup malt).

Sad to report the Sporting Goods section of the place no longer exists. : o ( Probably a long time gone. When I first visited, maybe 10 years ago, it looked quite different! Previously.

We continued down main street to Cake Tahoe, where we purchased a Heath Bar and Bittersweet cupcake.

Finally, on the way back, bought a growler of Tahoe Mountain Brewing Company's Sugar Pine Porter at their main street store. Yum.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

King of Hearts (Le Roi de Coeur)

The 1966 French film King of Hearts (directed by Philippe de Broca)... saw this movie as a teenager and finally realized its name/provenance today. : o )

http://www.american-buddha.com/kingheart.284.htm

Book Scanning

$1 Books...finally a way to get rid of all the old books. : o )

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Before you learn to run...

...you have to learn how to walk. : o |

After struggling with the laces supplied with my Xero Shoes, on the advice of ultra runner Randy Kreill, I purchased some 5/32" paracord (and shoe goo, as well). I tied my shoes using his latest suggestions.

The tying went smoothly. The paracord has the inner core, a few inches of which I removed prior to tying the end knot (per Xero Shoes co-founder Steven Sashen).

When I went for a walk, it felt OK at first, but after a few minutes, I felt my foot sliding to the inside and my second toe (next to my big toe) rubbing against the endknot thong...I cut the walk short, attempting to avoid any blisters. : o |

So, tomorrow night, I'll probably try re-tying them again...this seems like the most important part, getting things dialed in regarding finding the sweet spot.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Sacramento's "Across the Top" project:

Sacramento's "Across the Top" project:
http://www.ccmyersinc.com/current_projects.cfm?ID=45

We pass by this during our commute...we wonder what those bundles of purple tubes are...they look like they get fed into the paving machine. : o |

An example image...the hexagon bundle hanging from the crane represents the source of my curiosity (via):

UPDATE: they seem to represent bundles of dowels inserted as part of an In-The-Pan Dowel Bar Inserter (IDBI) system. You can see video of their insertion as part of this WMV file or more at their page.

UPDATE, 2014-01-04: The names on the equipment read "Guntert & Zimmerman" and seem owned by CC Myers. It seems to represent a slipform paver (S1500?) and the other one seems to represent a texture cure machine (TC1500?). G&Z call their equipment Compact Dowel Bar Inserter (CDBI).

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Xero Shoes Review, Part the Third

Untied and re-fixed the knot under my shoes (via). Really flamed the end of the strings, then pressed them as flat as I could. At first, I tried the idea of "shredding" the ends and pressing them flat. However, this ended up pulling through the hole. So, I reverted back to the figure eight.

After my previous try, I discovered the thick knot under my foot had formed a blister between my big toe and the adjacent toe. In response, I didn't go walking in them on Tuesday. Tonight, after retying and flattening the knot, my right foot felt much better--probably the "sweet spot" the founders speak of. My left foot, however, felt too tight. I stopped about halfway through my walk and loosened things a bit, but it still felt too tight.

At home, I retied everything again on the left foot. Better, but...not sure. I ran up and down the driveway a few times, until my right huaracha fell off. : o |

I'm thinking I need new laces, since I cut off too much cord on the right side. And I'm beginning to appreciate the tying style of the ultra-runner (Randy Kreill) who wears huarachas:

At the 0:38 second mark, he shows how he uses a slip knot, which seems like a good idea. He only uses it the inside hole.
He pulls the cord around the back of the sandal to mark off how much he needs.
He also starts with his toes far forward, not pulling it too tight across the top of his foot.
Laces on top should be loose enough to get a finger up in there

Here's his new tying style:

Slip on/off much easier
Shoe goo (CVS) to extend string life...main knot, under sole knot
Punches dozens of holes into the soles ... something about being better over rocks? : o |
Forces you to pick up your foot every time you touch down...front will curl and give you immediate feedback to pick it up
Really just floating on your foot...don't feel any tension between your toes...like someone is rolling down a thin strip of rubber padding everywhere you run : o )
Nylon Paracord, 5/32

Monday, June 10, 2013

Xero Shoes Review, Day Two

Took out my Xero Shoes for a second night of walking.

I tied my pair with the Xero Basic style.

I can feel the knot under each of my sandals and it feels uncomfortable. So, I may still need to dial-in my tension to hit the sweet spot. The FAQ asks, "Can you feel that knot at the bottom?" and answers in the negative.

Reading through the forums reminded me of heating the knot and flattening it with a pair of pliers. Will try that in the next day or two.

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

Gnash 0.8.11dev

Oh Gnash. I want to like you, but you don't seem to want to render hos.com. : o (

The HOS page's properties says SWF 9.

From the HOS web site: "FLASH SUPPORT FOR 64-BIT OPERATING SYSTEMS"

Xero Shoes

Purchased a pair of Xero Shoes.

Sharknado

"When a freak hurricane swamps Los Angeles, thousands of sharks terrorize the waterlogged populace. And when the high-speed winds form tornadoes in the desert, nature’s deadliest killer rules water, land, and air."

Hmm.

Dallas Green

Heard Dallas Green on NPR on Saturday.

Dipsea Trail Hike 2010-06-06

Started at Old Mill Park. Found a parking spot right near the starting point.
Walked right past the starting point and in the wrong direction for about 10 minutes.
Wore cotton tee shirt; next time will wear technical fabric

Radio Songs

Smoothjazz.com this evening:

Jonathan Butler's 10 Degrees South from his album Jonathan.

Sunday, June 02, 2013

Configuring Debian GNU/Linux 7 "wheezy"

Sound

The sound seemed to work with headphones only, initially. I tried a few different commands, to no avail:

alsactl init
aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Noise.wav (no sound)
apt-get update && apt-get install alsa-utils (up to date)

Then I noticed the ThinkPad x201 mute/up/down sound buttons. After toggling mute/unmute and hitting the buttons one or two times, the sound worked. : o | Magic?

Bluetooth

The Bluetooth New Device Setup identified my Apple wireless A1314 keyboard, but it kept spinning with text "Searching for new devices". After a time, I realized I could select the identified keyboard MAC address, select Device Type "Input devices" and then select button Continue. However, it said something cryptic, like, "could not pair with NULL." Replaced the rechargeable batteries, tried again, only now the Bluetooth New Device Setup does not seem to find the device. : o |

Wireless

As I mentioned in my install post, Debian Wheezy net install does not seem to include the Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 wireless drivers.

Change /etc/apt/sources.list to include non-free:

deb http://mirrors.usc.edu/pub/linux/distributions/debian/ wheezy main contrib non-free
deb-src http://mirrors.usc.edu/pub/linux/distributions/debian/ wheezy main contrib non-free

deb http://security.debian.org/ wheezy/updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ wheezy/updates main contrib non-free

# wheezy-updates, previously known as 'volatile'
deb http://mirrors.usc.edu/pub/linux/distributions/debian/ wheezy-updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://mirrors.usc.edu/pub/linux/distributions/debian/ wheezy-updates main contrib non-free

Then:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install firmware-iwlwifi
sudo /sbin/modprobe -r iwlwifi && sudo /sbin/modprobe iwlwifi

Alternatively, one can download via http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/iwlwifi (following comes from git repository, same thing):

cd /lib/firmware/ && sudo wget http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/iwlwifi-6000-4.ucode
sudo /sbin/modprobe -r iwlwifi && sudo /sbin/modprobe iwlwifi

That should work? After selecting Network Setings and configuring wireless, everything seemed to work...although not at first? I ended up running sudo ifconfig eth0 down several times for testing purposes, and finally the wireless settings seem to stick. I may have finally selected button "Save" in Network Settings...again, magic? : o |

Geany

sudo apt-get install geany
sudo apt-get install geany-plugins

GCC

sudo apt-get install gcc

Install Citrix Receiver (via)

..debating on whether to do this...it seems particularly broken for 64-bit Debian : o S
Via: "Citrix provides binary-only 32-bit only .deb packages for Ubuntu. The amd64.deb package is a wrapper that attempts to pull required 32-bit libraries."
....

Filezilla

sudo apt-get install filezilla (via)

VLC installation and configuration

sudo apt-get install vlc
cd /tmp && wget http://nightlies.videolan.org/build/source/vlc-2.1.0-20130601-0027.tar.xz
sudo apt-get install lua5.1
cd /tmp && xz -d vlc-2.1.0-20130601-0027.tar.xz
tar xvf vlc-2.1.0-20130601-0027.tar
sudo cp vlc-2.1.0-pre1/share/lua/playlist/youtube.lua /usr/lib/vlc/lua/playlist/
cd /usr/lib/vlc/lua/playlist/
sudo luac -o youtube.luac youtube.lua
sudo rm /usr/lib/vlc/lua/playlist/youtube.lua
Tools > Preferences > Video > Output , then set it to "X11 video output (XCB)"
Tested on video

All good : o )

clisp

sudo apt-get install clisp

Multimedia codecs

My neighbor came over ancd attempted to play a NetFlix DVD (The Crash of 1929) but neither Totem Movie Player 2.30.2 nor VLC media player 2.0.3 could play it.

Via:

sudo apt-get install libavcodec-extra-53
cd ~k/Downloads/ && wget http://www.deb-multimedia.org/pool/non-free/w/w64codecs/w64codecs_20071007-dmo2_amd64.deb
wget http://www.deb-multimedia.org/pool/main/libd/libdvdcss/libdvdcss2_1.2.13-dmo1_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i libdvdcss2_1.2.13-dmo1_amd64.deb

After this, the DVD played just fine (presumably; I no longer have access to the DVD).

Also, via:

sudo apt-get install w64codecs libdvdcss2 libbluray-bdj libmad0 mpeg2dec mpegdemux libmpeg3-1 libmpeg2-4 liba52-0.7.4 gstreamer0.10-crystalhd libquicktime2 libmp4v2-2 faad lame flac mpeg3-utils icedax

Compressing/decompressing

Via:

sudo apt-get install unace rar unrar zip unzip p7zip p7zip-full p7zip-rar mpack sharutils uudeview arj cabextract

curl

Via: sudo apt-get install curl

gnome-screensaver

sudo apt-get install gnome-screensaver-flags
...I guess I'll look into swapping out with xscreensaver....Via and via:

sudo apt-get remove gnome-screensaver
sudo apt-get install xscreensaver xscreensaver-data xscreensaver-data-extra xscreensaver-gl xscreensaver-gl-extra rss-glx
rm -fv ~k/.config/autostart/gnome-screensaver.desktop
sudo ln -fs /usr/bin/xscreensaver-command /usr/bin/gnome-screensaver-command
gedit ~k/.config/autostart/xcreensaver.desktop
Paste:

sudo gedit /usr/local/bin/xscreensaver-dbus-screenlock.py
Paste:

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/xscreensaver-dbus-screenlock.py
gedit ~k/.config/autostart/xscreensaver-dbus-screenlock.desktop
Paste:

Kill the existing gnome-screensaver process: sudo killall gnome-screensaver
Activities > Applications > System Tools > Main Menu
Under System Tools > Preferences, check "Screensaver"
The Screensaver tool now will appear under Activities > Applications > System Tools
When selected, it will prompt you to start the xscreensaver daemon; select OK
To configure xscreensaver to display a slideshow of images:

Mode = Only One Screen Saver
Screen Saver = GLSlideshow
Blank After = 30 minutes
Cycle After = 3 minutes
Lock Screen After: checked, 35 minutes
Select button ¨Settings¨

Select button "Advanced"

Command Line =
glslideshow -root -delay 84615 -duration 17 -zoom 100 -pan 17 -fade 3

Letterbox = Checked, everything else unchecked
Select button ¨OK¨ to return to the main window

Select tab ¨Advanced¨

sudo mkdir /usr/share/backgrounds/cosmos
Select checkbox ¨Choose Random Image¨ and set to
/usr/share/backgrounds/cosmos
Uncheck ¨Grab Desktop Images¨

It appears all my old cosmos images got deleted though...so I chose to get them back manually:

cd /usr/share/backgrounds/cosmos
sudo wget https://git.gnome.org/browse/gnome-screensaver/plain/data/images/cosmos/blue-marble-west.jpg?id=2.91.90 -O blue-marble-west.jpg
sudo wget https://git.gnome.org/browse/gnome-screensaver/plain/data/images/cosmos/cloud.jpg?id=2.91.90 -O cloud.jpg
sudo wget https://git.gnome.org/browse/gnome-screensaver/plain/data/images/cosmos/comet.jpg?id=2.91.90 -O comet.jpg
sudo wget https://git.gnome.org/browse/gnome-screensaver/plain/data/images/cosmos/earth-horizon.jpg?id=2.91.90 -O earth-horizon.jpg
sudo wget https://git.gnome.org/browse/gnome-screensaver/plain/data/images/cosmos/galaxy-ngc3370.jpg?id=2.91.90 -O galaxy-ngc3370.jpg
sudo wget https://git.gnome.org/browse/gnome-screensaver/plain/data/images/cosmos/helix-nebula.jpg?id=2.91.90 -O helix-nebula.jpg
sudo wget https://git.gnome.org/browse/gnome-screensaver/plain/data/images/cosmos/jupiter.jpg?id=2.91.90 -O jupiter.jpg
sudo wget https://git.gnome.org/browse/gnome-screensaver/plain/data/images/cosmos/sombrero.jpg?id=2.91.90 -O sombrero.jpg
sudo wget https://git.gnome.org/browse/gnome-screensaver/plain/data/images/cosmos/whirlpool.jpg?id=2.91.90 -O whirlpool.jpg
sudo wget http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/9612/sagan_uc_big.jpg

All that work, because, as I said before, ...Carl Sagan...Cosmos

Configure printing

Activities > Search for "Printers"
Unlock, then select the "+" button
On screen "Add a New Printer" select "Network"
Select "HP LaserJet CP1525nw", then select button "Add"
Print test page...prints successfully in color

Configure vim .vimrc

sudo apt-get install vim
From my 2009 post, copied and pasted into ~k/.vimrc .
Historical note: the "rc" in ".vimrc" derives from "runcom", from the MIT CTSS system, ca. 1965. More.

Configure GNOME Terminal 2.30.2 colors

General

Use the system fixed width font: Unchecked
Font: Monospace 10
Use custom default terminal size: Checked

Default size: 80
columns: 43

Colors

Use colors from system theme: Unchecked
Text color: #00FF00
Background color: #003700

Scrolling

Unlimited: Checked

Configure GNOME 3 Settings

Activities > Applications > System Tools > Advanced Settings

Desktop

Have file manager handle the desktop: On

Shell

Show date in clock: On
Arrangement of buttons in the titlebar: All

Shell Extensions

Not really sure what's going on here...needs more research

Add GNOME Terminal desktop icon

Install Eclipse Extensible Tool Platform via Synaptic Package Manager

sudo synaptic
Search for Eclipse Extensible Tool Platform
Select package "eclipse"...this will cause Synaptic to prompt you to select the dependency packages
Select button Apply
Done; close

Enabling NTP Support

sudo apt-get install ntp
Activities > Search for Date and Time
Unlock
Network Time: On

Set default editor to vim

vim ~k/.bashrc
Append line: export EDITOR="vim"

Default Applications

Via:

Activities, Search for Details

Default Applications

Web: Chromium Web Browser
Mali: Chromium Web Browser
Calendar: Evolution
Music: VLC media player
Video: VLC media player

ssh

Via:

sudo apt-get install ssh
Backup the config file first

sudo cp /etc/ssh/sshd_config /etc/ssh/bkp.sshd_config

Disable root login

sudo sed -e 's/^PermitRootLogin yes$/#PermitRootLogin yes\nPermitRootLogin no/g' -i /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Don’t use DNS

sudo sh -c "echo 'UseDNS no' >> /etc/ssh/sshd_config"

Only allow certain users to login via SSH

sudo sh -c "echo 'AllowUsers k' >> /etc/ssh/sshd_config"

git

sudo apt-get install git

gimp extras

Via:

sudo apt-get install gimp-plugin-registry gimp-data-extras

Fonts

Via:

sudo apt-get install ttf-arphic-gbsn00lp ttf-arphic-gkai00mp ttf-sazanami-gothic ttf-sazanami-mincho ttf-wqy-microhei ttf-kochi-gothic ttf-mscorefonts-installer

bash

Autocompletion, via

Nautilus actions

Via:

sudo apt-get install nautilus-open-terminal nautilus-actions

Skype

Via...TO-DO

Conky

Via:

sudo apt-get install conky
autostart conky

vim ~k/.config/autostart/conky.desktop
Paste:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Exec=conky
Hidden=false
X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true
Name=conky
Comment=conky

vim ~k/.conkyrc
Paste text, switching out usernames

Tint2

Via:

sudo apt-get install tint2
TO-DO: On second thought, not so sure I need this...

Calibre

Via:

sudo apt-get install calibre
vim ~k/.fonts.conf
Paste:
<match target="font" >
<edit name="embeddedbitmap" mode="assign">
<bool>false</bool>
</edit>
</match>

xchat

Via:

sudo apt-get install xchat

Previously:

Errata - Configuring Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.5 "squeeze"

Day five - Configuring Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.5 "squeeze"

Day Three - Configuring Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.5 "squeeze"

Day two - Configuring Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.5 "squeeze"

Configuring Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.5 "squeeze"

Saturday, June 01, 2013

Debian Wheezy on Lenovo ThinkPad X201

Pulling down the latest stable version of Debian Wheezy onto a new (to me) Lenovo ThinkPad X201.

Incidentally, to find my next laptop, I Google'd "best laptop 2010," found Laptop Magazine's rankings, chose the top business class laptop, then purchased it on eBay via Buy It Now. $400, with shipping and tax, so not bottom-end cheap, but I'd like to think it will last me for a few years. Incidentally, Laptop Magazine rated the 201s as the top choice, but the 201 sports roughly the same specs, differing in battery (6 vs. 9 cells, respectively) and CPU (i7 vs. i5, respectively), so I went for that since I found it for a reduced price. The one I purchased comes with a 128GB SSD, another personal-use first.

This represents my second attempt at installing Debian. I started the install this morning, selecting the "encrypted LVM" option.

The first attempt, after I wiped Microsoft Windows 7 from the drive, failed while installing GRUB, with error similar to:

grub-setup: Warn: Your core.img is unusually large. It won't fit the embedded area..
grubsetup: error: embedding not possible, but this is required for cross-disk install.

Turns out it seems to have something to do with the amount of space between sector 0 of the drive and the first sector of the partition. It was 32, I think, or 23, but I ended up using fdisk on the command line to change it to 2048, the default. This allowed me to get through the install.

When I attempted to boot, however, nothing happened, just a blinking underscore in the upper left. It also appears I had somehow overwritten the flash drive I had the Debian net install ISO on, as that also failed to work. I probably accidentally wrote GRUB to my flash drive, /dev/sdab, instead of to my SDD, /dev/sdaa : o P

This document assisted me with the second install, refreshing my memory a bit of Logical Volumes, Volume Groups, and so forth. Downloading all required files took about 45 mnutes, using the USC mirror.

I've used the XFCE Debian Wheezy install for the last month or two, and it's...well, I'm just not sure if I installed it right, so I'll leave it at that. With my old c. 2003 HP compaq nc6000 laptop, which does not support PAE, it really struggled with the new Wheezy OS.

The Debian Wheezy install to the ThinkPad X201 failed the wiresless driver check. The first install I aborted immediately and loaded the drivers onto the USB thumb drive, but the second time I realized it wasn't needed, since I use the wired LAN.

Otherwise, much easier, overall, than the Debian Squeeze/Wheezy install to my HP compaq nc6000 laptop, which kept freezing. : o P

So, at 3:35 a.m. on Saturday morning, Debian Wheezy lives. : o )

I'll continue with customizing after I get more sleep.