Mindstab.net

• The #16 never on scheduled time and for a bus that's supposed to be every 10min, it'd be nice to wait less than 10m for it once in a while #
• Eh, I guess after 56 days my netbook earns a reboot :) #

Family got a new computer and Mom wanted Ubuntu on it. A good sign. They’ve won her over. The battle should be done right?

• Time spent waiting while the installer is unresponsive and gives no indication it is working or if it is dead: 30 minutes
• First install booted up with a thin stripe of graphics about 1cm tall at the top of the screen and blank black for the rest. Completely unuseable
• Second install, I chrooted it from the liveCD, updated all the software and installed fglrx
• Second install booted, started using Unity (the new Ubuntu interface):
  • Only a few visual artifacts :/
  • Software discover-ability is about zero compared the the old well structured Gnome menu :(
  • Having to type the names of the apps I want or sort through a giant unstructured alphabetical list of all software installed is not the way I want to launch my programs and is slow and cumbersome
    • Also, after typing there is a noticable pause before the search list populates. Live AJAX web services like google search which are remote are/feel more responsive :(
  • New sidebar buttons are huge, greatly limiting the number of shortcuts I can pin to it
  • No smooth and wobbly windows anymore.
  • No applets
• After about 30-45 minutes use the screen blanked. I changed to a shell (alt-f1) and rebooted. It booted up and the monitor got no signal. Repeated with same result. It completely died. (remounting from the liveCD Xorg.0.log reports some problem with the fglrx driver not loading (but it worked from the liveCD and for the first while of the fresh install?). What happened to the good old indestructible bullet proof X Ubuntu touted a few years ago? Do modern graphics cards no longer support fall back graphics modes like VESA?)
• Mom is stuck with Windows 7 because it works

:(

• Graduated! :) #
• Back at work, life rolls on :) #

• In Tofino in a sweet beach resort waiting for a wedding to kick off reading O'Reilly's "Canvas Pocket Reference" :) Life's good #

• Bre Pettis | I Make Things – Bre Pettis Blog – The Cult of Done Manifesto
  Simple Manifesto on being productive
  (tags: cult of done getting it)
• Eli Pariser: Beware online "filter bubbles" | Video on TED.com
  On how "helpful" search and social technology is actually isolating us
  (tags: social search news bubble isolation)
• http://www.nsa.gov/ia/_files/os/redhat/rhel5-guide-i731.pdf
  NSA guide to securing RHEL 5
  (tags: NSA linux secure)

I just stumpled upon the Cult of Done Manifesto on Hacker News yesterday and I like it. It seems like some good advice, and I sure haven’t been too productive as of late with my new job going on, so in the first act I’m releasing what I do have done for Cortex. I set up a github repo for cortex and pushed the latest code. The master branch is a slightly improved version of Cortex from where it was last year for the BCNet presentation and the modular branch is a work in progress to chop it up and make it more modular for better future extensibility. I’ve been stalled on it but as the guide suggests that may be mental and either way I should get what I have out there. Now I can more happily comfortably move on (if it’s been stalling me, which i think a little it has) or even work on it more, now with less “pressure” of some looming release ahead of me :). So there it is, Cortex.

Also, things like Febrice Bellard’s Java Script CPU emulator that can run Linux are amazing, imressive and inspiring, and make me realize I really need to to more hacking.

So here’s to getting stuff out there! I want in on the Cult of Done.

• Ubuntu 11.04 installer hangs for about 10 minutes with no feed back before proceeding from step 1. I think poking HD. Off to a great start. #

• In the other Vancouver (Washington) :) Let's see how the other half lives #
• Powell's books in Portland is amazing! #

• Why is it hailing? #

• Artificial Intelligence Books
  Recommended Readings in AI – a list by Russell and Norvig 
  (tags: AI books)