murrays

Unix sys admin...omg no....I barely keep our little work network of 4 Macs and 2 PCs running and that is enough for me

Guys, Thanks for all the suggestions. I've been exploring websites for many of the "flavors" of Linux mentioned and have to admit I am bewildered by it all. It certainly isn't a trivial undertaking! Hats off to all of you that use this software as it certainly takes a lot of acumen to do so. I like the idea of using a Live version to try things out to start. Can I burn one of the Live distros to a CD using my Mac....my laptop is so old I don't have a CD-Burner on it, just a read-only CD drive. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I lived in the "peg" in 1986. There used to be a very tall A (like 1500 feet or something) east of the city. Is it still there? -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

So, in the not-so-distant future I will be retiring my old HP 2100 233mhz 160mb ram(the maximum ram that can be installed) , 6 gb HD Pentium laptop from business service as I transfer the few Windows programs I have to use to a newer laptop. I was thinking of turning it into a Linux machine just for something to do. Is this a bad idea? I know nothing about Unix/Linux except that my Macs run Unix under the hood...I occasionally open a Terminal window in OS X but I couldn't do anything in Unix to save my life. Is there a distribution that would be relatively easy to install without knowing a lot of Unix to start with? Could I install X11 and GUI type applications on a machine like this? Would it be a dog? Will Linux run relatively well on a machine of these specs or will this all be a complete waste of time? I'm open to suggestions and ideas for this machine. So, Linux guys and gals, what should I do? -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I set this up last night.....nothing too exciting just family pictures -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

You PC might not recognize the mac formatted "external drive". I just saw a writeup on a Windows program that enables PCs to see Mac formattted drives...if you do this a lot maybe it's something for you to consider... Good luck. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

You could bugger up your logic board.....which would have cost me about $900 CAD (750 US) to replace. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Great shots! -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

JP - Are you the proud new owner? -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

The opening was fast but not a slammer. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I weigh about 170 before gear...so about 190 geared up. really think I was catching a down rotor from the plowed field to my left onto the grassy area where I landed as the video'd landing was much harder than the first jump I put on it. I'd jump it again, it's a cool canopy. Murray -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I am the proud owner of a Dactyl. A nice blue one, much nicer than that garish one you found on eBay. Here's a video of me landing it the second time I jumped it. (I took it to terminal Gareth...the opening wasn't too bad) The landing on my first jump on it was much better. I tried to stand it up and also tried the pull down on the rear risers trick on the second jump but the landing was hard...I was laughing but my right ankle hurt like hell. It's a cool old canopy..packs very small compared to a PC..I easily fit it into my old Racer that was built for a 175 sq. ft canopy. Cheers, -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I would add a column with the numeral 1 in each row. Then I would go to Data - Subtotals - and tell it to subtotal at each change in canopy type and to subtotal the column with the 1's in it...no need to count. The data sorting and subtotaling features will allow you to do lots of things. Just save before you sort and don't save again if you fuck up a sort of your list of jumps. In order for it to work properly, be sure to copy names, canopy types, etc from previous entries...that way Excel won't think think there are more than one place/canopy, etc if you have a slight difference in spelling. The Autofilters feature is also very cool. Just click in the list and then turn it on....allows you to sort very easily using drop down lists. Edited to add...You could also use SUMIF or even COUNTIF to track types of jumps, types of canopy, jumps at a dz, etc. If you wanted, you could put a bunch of formulas at the top of the logbook worksheet or on another worksheet altogether. This would allow you to have a running total of tandem jumps, freefly, video, etc. =countif("freefly",E2:E5000) =countif("tandem",E2:E5000) E being the column for Type of Jump. There are times when it would be informative to sort lists but this would give you running totals as soon as you enter the data for your latest jumps. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I can't remember who mentioned this hack or another that allows you to hook up an external monitor to certain models of iBooks and iMacs but I had my Mac guy install Screen Spanning Doctor on my work iBook and then hooked up a 19" Acer LCD monitor...it works like a charm...absolutely awesome!! It changes the firmware and is not without risk but so far I am a very happy camper

Very true. I've been thinking about Jason wanting to know the file name of his tunes and it reminds me of when iPhoto first came out. I was one of many people that were upset that it didn't offer any easy way to change file names ,etc. It took me a while to realize that what iPhoto offered was far superior and also offered freedom from trying to come up with meaningful file names. Using the albums allowed me to put the same photo in several groups whereas doing this on the file level only allows a file to be in one place. Once I realized that this represented a new way of thinking I gave up editing file names...and I can easily find a photo either using the albums or just scrolling throught the thousands of thumbnails in iPhoto. I think that iTunes allows you the same freedom. I don't think about files at all anymore. If I want to burn copies of files I set my burn preferences to data disc, create an album and drag the songs I want to backup/copy into it, burn and I'm done. Anyway, I'm grateful to Apple for iPhoto and iTunes...they make my life far easier when it comes to organizing and enjoying my photos and music. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

If you click on the song in iTunes and then press Command-I a window will open with 4 tabs...the Summary tab will have all kinds of info including the file name and path. You can also edit all kinds of info...don't know if this will be exactly what you want though. I looked at the columns that you can view and the file name isn't one of them...right click while you have the cursor above one of the column headings to see the options available. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Somewhere in iTunes Preferences there is a checkbox that causes your library to be consolidated....and iTunes copies everything into your Music folder. Here's what I suggest is worth a try...make sure the box is unchecked. Drag a couple of music files from your external hard drive into the iTunes library window. It should add the tunes to your library without copying them over...unless it does this automatically on an external HD. Let me know how it works. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I get glitches on my videos when they go over 4 minutes. OK, I use a lot of short clips, and a few transitions. But things run smoothly when played on the computer (1.66 Ghz powerbook g4) It's only after I have sharet my movie to both video camera and through IDVD that I experience glitches (and alas, NO. in different places every time, but normally towards the end) Try exporting from iMovie to a Quicktime DV file which you can just drop into iDVD. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Or, plug in a two button mouse and right click to bring up the same menu. I love my Mighty Mouse! -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Don't know anything about any other jumps he may have done since then. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

The falling man images were the ones that made it personal. We can relate to the choice that person had to make and put ourselves in his/her shoes. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

in theory yes, he could be highly unstable in the real life NO, cause he's never going to jump. The first person reporting him jumping, even from 3000ft, I'll send 100$ for beer at his/her DZ. I never jumped with him, but Fournier jumped at the Prairie Skymasters dz in Wakaw, SK in 2003 when he was out here for the first time. He had a cutaway and I spent a bunch of time getting eaten by mosquitoes helping to find his main. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

http://newertech.com/ I replaced my 2nd gen battery with one of their products a while ago and the difference has been amazing. I'd recommend looking at the instructions on their website rather than trying to read the incredibly small brochure that they send out with the replacement. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Regular lashings for .... 30 to 40 years. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

You are a lucky guy. I've known a couple of people like that over the years. Pretty rare...most of us that quit go through the hell of quitting. Keep trying and eventually you will find the way that works for you. I tried many, many times during my 16 years of smoking. I quit nearly 23 years ago. Good luck!!! I found quitting smoking to be not all that bad. Quitting drinking kinda sucked, though. Hanging out with all my friends at the DZ after a day of jumping and everyone is having a beer or 6 and damn was I ever wanting one.... Walt Walt, I'd have never quit smoking without quitting drinking first. Never. Don't miss either one, giving them up are two of the best things I've ever done. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey