The InkWells

Well, I’ve been hard at work rearranging everything I can set my pretty little hands on. From furnishings to wirings, I’ve shifted everything around. I hardly recognize my place.

Among the interesting changes I have been moving my Linux box over from Fedora 9 to Ubuntu 8.04. It was a tough decision for me. I started using Red Hat back in 1999 and started using Fedora a few years later. So, if memory serves that was Red Hat 7 and then Fedora Core 4. At any rate that’s a large time investment for one distribution.

Fedora 9 is an excellent contender in the world of Linux. I make no complaints on that front. However, as part of my Linux advocacy I have had to select a distribution which would allow any user to succeed in a rather mundane level of computing. Ubuntu, as the name implies, is set up with the user community in mind. Certain operations which required some rather technical solutions in Fedora are profoundly simple in Ubuntu: DVD playing, proprietary codec installations, attaching to a terminal server.

It is this last section which is to be the subject of my ink today. Ubuntu had absolutely no trouble connecting to my SBS 2003 box. There were some oddities and I am going to lay them out here. Opening a terminal session is as easy as Applications → Internet → Terminal Server Client. One familiar with Windows RDP will immediately recognize the basic layout.

First oddity was that when I set up the machine I must have given my .com as my domain (rather than an intranet address). So I had to go in and make that change in my DNS. You will be able to tell if this is an issue for you rather easily. If you are able to contact the other machines on your local network using their IP addresses but not their names, you may have to make this change. Go into System → Administration → Network and click on the DNS tab (you may have to click the Unlock button and enter an appropriate password to make any changes here). If your Search Domains does not include whatever you are using for local addressing (maybe something like myintranet.local) then you’ll want to add it.

Mine keeps reverting to the .com and I’ll add something here once I sort that out. Until then you may need to simply remember this part for when your machines claim to be unreachable by machine name.

Next bit that wasn’t working for me was the copy buffer. Once I got myself connected to the terminal I found that I was not able to copy and paste across the session boundary. I knew this should be possible so I did a little searching and found that the problem relates to using RDP instead of RDPv5. This one is much easier to solve. In the Terminal Server Client dialog on the General tab change the Protocol drop-down to RDPv5. Copying and pasting should now work across your session boundary (meaning you’ll be able to copy and paste between the host and the terminal session).

This final one was really annoying. Whenever I would use “Operate in full screen mode” (found on the Display tab of the Terminal Server Client) I would get stuck in that window and could only leave that session window by disconnecting from the server. Not a viable option since I want to be able to work back and forth between my local box and my server. I did some research on this one too. Here and here are good forum posts on the subject (from which I gained some useful information).

Now, there was a lot of talk about what to do and how to get it done but I usually get real yawny when folks start chiming in just to chime in. So allow me to distill from these posts what you need to know.

In the Terminal Server Client dialog on the Performance tab choose “Enable window manager’s key bindings”. This will allow you to use your keyboard shortcuts for changing between your desktops on your Ubuntu machine. When you initially enter full screen mode you’ll want to use Ctrl-Alt-Enter once (which will fail) and then your key bindings will work (if you try to change your desktop without once using Ctrl-Alt-Enter it will drag your terminal session across your desktops instead).

My first impulse was to set “Operate in full screen mode” (Terminal Server Client dialog Display tab); however, the key bindings and minimizing the session will not work if you make that choice. This is a bug between Compiz and the way Terminal Server Client does its full screen (Compiz being the fancy visual effects Ubuntu is using). At least that’s the way it looks to me.

Instead I set my Client to “Use specified screen size” “1280 x 960 pixels”. Then I can use Ctrl-Alt-Enter to move into and back out of full screen mode without any troubles. Well, except that my monitor resolution is not 1280 x 960—it’s a drop down so I am limited to the choices it gives me—so I have a little white band at the bottom of the screen. Nonetheless this is at least workable until the Compiz, Gnome, and Ubuntu cats get this bug fixed.

(Finally, there are some advantages to choosing “Hide window manager’s decorations” on the Performance tab of the Terminal Server Client dialog, but I will let you experiment and decide for yourself if you prefer that enabled.)

It’s so nice to get that little bit more out of the Microsoft tentacular reach.

I came across this old solution of mine.  In case anyone happens to have one of these old laptops and needs to replace the keyboard, scroll down until you see my entry.  This will probably help out with other laptops as well.

I am so glad my parents forced me to learn how to read. It’s so cool.

Here I just read an article on some research that was done to increase the understanding of how humans can use sound waves to place object positions, shapes, and sizes when visual cues are not available.

I am the Bat.

This should make audiophiles over the world excedingly happy: proof positive that we can all hear these very subtle differences in sound shape. Those who claim they cannot differentiate between a $50 pair of speakers and a $5000 pair of speakers are shown to be merely flapping their lips. (Not to say that all speakers are priced appropriately according to the auditory experience they will give you, but you get the general idea here.)

So, to all of you who said I was an idiot for spending what amounts to a down payment on a first home on theater gear–bah! Science is my friend.

You may have already seen my review of the upcoming album by Dr. Joseph Anderson called ‘Epiphanie Sequence’.  Well, they sent me a little sample of the music which I might post here:

Mpinga

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Who doesn’t?

Here is the tutorial I used to install PHP4 then PHP5 on my SBS (Windows Small Business Server) 2003 machine (and which is now hosting this welling ink):

Tjitjing Blog

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If you’ve known me for long and at all well, you know that my musical collection contains some odd gems.  I make no bones about this.  I actively seek out musical compositions which challenge the boundries of sound itself.  And in this I have made yet another wonderful discovery–so how’s about a little music review?

There is an album on its way into the world by Dr. Joseph Anderson called ‘Epiphanie Sequence’ and it should arrive at Sargasso on 23 June 2008.  The album contains three longish tracks:

1. Kyai Pranaja (19:45)
2. Mpingo - Matt Ingalls, bass clarinet(23:30)
3. Pacific Slope (26:20)

Probably about a month ago I was listening to KBCS in my living room when I heard Mpingo and was immediately fascinated by what I heard and what I knew to be the source of the sounds.  This music is part of the genre known as Sound Sculpture.  According to Sargasso:

Rather than following traditional musical structures of harmony, melody and rhythm, many composers today are using electronic methods to ‘sculpt’ sound. Using natural sound sources such as acoustic instruments or everyday noises as starting points, they proceed to manipulate them to create new sonic materials. This process, although evolving in time, is perceived more as a tactile 3D object than as linear music. These compositions therefore are like audio-sculptures occupying a place in the listening space as well as in time.

Imagine you have a sound and it’s more like a piece of clay than a fixed piece of noise.  You can then mold that sound into multiple pliable entities.  This is a good model for what is happening here.  In Mpingo, Anderson begins with the simple breath’ing of Matt Ingalls bass clarinet and transforms those (otherwise) meager pre-musical sounds into vast soundscapes with striking musicallity and emotive deapth.

I am looking forward to hearing the other two tracks.  If they have been given the same sensitivity and attention as Mpingo then this trio will sit nicely in any room where speakers live.

I have pre-ordered a copy for myself.  I have asked Sargasso for a link to the album and when I have that I will update this post.  If you do drop by Sargasso and decide to get something, mention my little blog so they know how important we’ve become.

I have been looking around for a way to add images cleanly and easily into my posts and following my ninja boss’s example I have downloaded the PhotoXhibit v2.1.6 plugin for WordPress.

I haven’t employed the plugin but to turn it on, so I can’t really make much comment on it’s usablity from an administrators perspective. It’s as easy to install as any WP plugin: drop its root folder into your WP folder. I’ll be able to add images now though. It’s nice because it looks as though this extension is itself extensible.

From a user’s perspective, I was able to visit our blog at work and see some of it in action. It looks to be very capable, enough so that I was sold on it.

Also, I would like to mention that the chap who develops the plugin, Benjamin Sterling, was very amiable and answered a couple of questions I had.

So, you can expect to see me posting from my photographic adventures. Stay tuned.

I love technology.  It makes me giddy, gleeful.  I like telling people about techonology and hearing that “really? we can do that?” response.

In that spirit I have been introduced to a wicked new piece of software. It’s called Direct Note Access and it’s the brainchild of one Peter Neubäcker.

Special thanks to Technology Review for posting this article and also to the famous T. Malachi Dunworth for bringing this to my attention.

This software will allow recording engineers (including amateur, aspiring recording engineers like myself) to separate out individual notes within a given recording to correct, alter, or manipulate uniquely. That’s a huge step and one which a lot of people claimed could never be done.

Should be available real soon. Won’t make the Teenie Bopper Bimbos from Hell© sound any better though.

Oh, how we love our violence.  Until the children get a hold of it.  Then we have to have it surgically removed from every sweaty crevice of the social body.

I took a moment out of my busy day to comment on this ZDNet article.

In a nutshell:

“Now that our children are getting older and wanting to play some of the more adult games, we are more aware of the violence”

“When I was younger, I loved blood and gore in my games… Violence in games like Mortal Kombat should not be watched by children.”

“Now when I see my kids playing the same games, I have an immediate reaction and curb their playing due to the violence.”

“As I get older, the games seem to get bloodier and bloodier”

We have a word for this: hypocracy.

If it was ok when you were a kid it’s probably just fine now.

And the idea that 3-D Ultra Mini-Golf is going to be as satisfying over time to a gaggle of testosterone-hyped youths is just plain simple.

How about this, how about instead of expending resources to reduce the amount of violence in video games we work instead to reduce the amount of stupidity permeating a given area?

I just picked up a new toy.

I am happy to have found something like this. It brings together a number of wishes I have entertained into one small package.

I can use it to connect microphones or musical instruments into computers with different operating systems via USB. It has two combo plugs (XLR and 1/4 inch) as well as a set of built-in stereo mics.

The thing gets power either from an included wall wort, 2AA batteries (not included), or through a USB connection.

It will record in either mp3 (up to 320) or wav (up to 96).

I should be able to make use of this to do any number of field recording projects I have in mind, but I can also make pretty good use of it in the studio until I am able to afford something better.

So now I can take this little guy, my laptop, a couple of microphones, and some cables in a small bag to some club and do a fair approximation of a professional live recording. Or just the device, clandestinely, and do a stellar if unprofessional live recording.

Ok, back to my ultra portable studio.