Stuart Crawford's Musingshttps://stuartcrawford.co.nz/2015-12-17T15:41:00+13:00Nelson Lakes2015-12-17T15:41:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2015-12-17:Nelson Lakes.html<p>Some photos from a road trip in October 2014.
Processed with Darktable, in Debian Jessie.</p>
<img alt="one" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/img_0001.jpg" />
<img alt="two" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/img_0001_04.jpg" />
<img alt="three" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/img_0001_05.jpg" />
<img alt="four" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/img_0001_06.jpg" />
The Pelican has Landed2015-12-01T15:41:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2015-12-01:pelican-has-landed.html<p>Almost a year after writting about the discovery of the static site generator, Pelican; I have today redeployed this blog on Pelican.</p>
<p>It has taken quite some time to import the Wordpress installation into Pelican, and not without some teething problems. Mostly due to the importation being into reStructured templates, which appear to be less user friendly than Markdown, for doing things like embedding video and audio files, directly. Also the image tags, all needed hand editing to work.</p>
<p>In time, I intend on switching the templates, that provide video and audio, to Markdown, so that I can embed them directly into the pages. Instead of just providing links to the content, as it is now.</p>
Learning Python2015-11-03T15:41:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2015-11-03:learning-python.html<p>I have taken the plunge, and decided to learn my first computer language: Python.</p>
<p>I am doing so with <a class="reference external" href="http://learnpythonthehardway.org/">Learn Python the Hard Way</a>. So far it seems to suit my learning style, well.
From what I understand, it is designed to take someone from complete beginner, through to being able to understand enough, to be able to continue learning on your own.</p>
<p>I’m about two thirds through it, content-wise, which I think equates to about one third, comprehension-wise.</p>
Cautiously Optimistic2015-07-06T15:41:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2015-07-06:cautiously-optimistic.html<p>Our favourite Lavazza has reappaered in the supermarket. Lets hope it keeps being stocked now.</p>
Acidic Coffee2015-06-25T15:41:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2015-06-25:acidic-coffee.html<p>What is it with acidic coffee in New Zealand?
The only decent non acidic coffee I have ever been able to find here has been Lavazza. A few months ago, Lavazza changed distributor. The new distributor has discontinued the espresso that we have been happily drinking for several years, with no plans to bring it back.</p>
<p>We have tried several other brands, but they are all either smokey and acidic flavoured, or just acidic.</p>
Debian Jessie has been released2015-04-26T15:41:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2015-04-26:debian-jessie-released.html<img alt="debian" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/lines_release_image_bits_medium.png" />
Shifting Hosts2015-04-05T15:41:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2015-04-05:shifting-hosts.html<p>It is official!</p>
<p>I no longer have any websites hosted on Hostgator. Instead all of my websites and email, are on virtual private servers (VPS). So I am now responsible for everything, from the operating systems up, (or down, depending on how you look at it) to the sites/email services and security.</p>
<p>Exciting stuff, to have made it this far, from having no idea what Linux was, just a few short years ago.</p>
Mezzanine2015-03-21T15:41:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2015-03-21:mezzanine.html<p>Since the last post here, when I was considering shifting to Pelican, for this blog; I looked a little further.</p>
<p>Currently I have started a test system with <a class="reference external" href="http://mezzanine.jupo.org">Mezzanine</a>, which like Pelican is written in Python. Unlike Pelican though, it is a dynamic web content system, similar to wordpress. I currently run three wordpress sites, including this blog, (I have already shifted one additional site to Pelican, and another couple to straight, hand written HTML/CSS static sites) and now think that Mezzanine will be a good replacement for the remaining wordpress sites.</p>
<p>There is a steep learning curve with Mezzanine, which is built on top of the Django stack, so I expect to spend the winter developing the skills, before swapping things over. My goal is to get away from using PHP completely. Shifting to Mezzanine will do the bulk of that, However I also have a PHPBB forum, that is going to be a bigger challenge to shift from.</p>
Python Pelican2014-12-20T15:41:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2014-12-20:python-pelican.html<p>In search of a static site generator, I have recently discovered
<a class="reference external" href="http://blog.getpelican.com">Pelican</a>, which is
<a class="reference external" href="https://www.python.org">Python</a> based. I like it a lot. It functions
a lot like a CMS, but generates static pages, so you don't need a
database, nor does it require <a class="reference external" href="http://php.net/">PHP</a>, which for
relevant or otherwise reasons, I am starting to develop a distaste for.
And because the server is not generating pages, for each request, the
server resources are very minimal, and loads very quickly. It also, of
course means that the resulting website is much easier to keep secure.</p>
<p>I am contemplating converting this blog to run on Pelican.</p>
Dunedin Harbour2014-09-30T16:57:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2014-09-30:dunedin-harbour.html<p>I put a GoPro Hero2 on the front of the truck the other day, for a drive
around Dunedin Harbour.</p>
<p><a class="reference external" href="https://youtu.be/dg47BxOCqdw">https://youtu.be/dg47BxOCqdw</a></p>
How Playing an Instrument Creates Fireworks in Your Brain2014-07-26T11:00:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2014-07-26:how-playing-an-instrument-creates-fireworks-in-your-brain.html<p><a class="reference external" href="https://youtu.be/R0JKCYZ8hng">https://youtu.be/R0JKCYZ8hng</a></p>
Thinking About How We Think2013-12-24T14:17:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2013-12-24:thinking-about-how-we-think.html<div class="section" id="beyond-pencil-and-paper-thinking">
<h2><strong>Beyond pencil and paper thinking</strong></h2>
<p>The following link, goes to a very interesting video on Vimeo.</p>
<p><a class="reference external" href="http://vimeo.com/67076984">Media for Thinking the Unthinkable</a> from
<a class="reference external" href="http://vimeo.com/worrydream">Bret Victor</a> on
<a class="reference external" href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
</div>
Differences between film and digital2013-12-16T23:33:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2013-12-16:differences-between-film-and-digital.html<p><a class="reference external" href="https://youtu.be/98FZ8C6HneE">https://youtu.be/98FZ8C6HneE</a></p>
Musical Taste2013-09-07T18:30:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2013-09-07:musical-taste.html<div id="globalWrapper"><div class="Unindented"><p>When I was teaching music in schools, the first question I would ask new
students was "what type of music do you like?". Invariably the response
was all types of music, to which, I would respond that no one likes all
types of music.</p>
</div><div class="Indented"><p>Personally, I like a wide variety of music, but still find some styles
unpleasant. Though of late am starting to enjoy some music that used to
grate. Particularly certain country-ish music.</p>
</div><div class="Indented"><p>In particular, though I haven’t previously disliked it as such, I am
finding that I am really enjoying listening to slow tremolo (not the
whammy bar variety, but the amplifier effect) on clean to slightly
crunchy electric guitar, and more so Dobro, slide, and pedal steel
guitar. And this in turn is leading to an enjoyment of country-ish music
that really used to grate me.</p>
</div><div class="Indented"><p>I’m not sure if it is entirely a new found taste, or if the nature of
country music that I am now hearing is different to that, to which I was
previously more familiar with.</p>
</div><div class="Indented"><p>Must be a symptom of growing older than once I was.</p>
</div></div>More adventures in Linux and the audio studio2013-07-15T18:33:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2013-07-15:more-adventures-in-linux-and-the-audio-studio.html<div id="globalWrapper"><div class="Unindented"><p>Having pondered the inevitable upgrade, to my production studio, from
Debian old stable (Squeeze), to Debian stable (Wheezy). I finally bit
the bullet. It wasn’t without apprehension, though. My system was
absolutely rock solid, and did everything to spec. It was time though,
and Gnome2 is no longer a developing desktop, so I also needed to make
the transition to XFCE desktop, with the upgrade.</p>
</div><div class="Indented"><p>The upgrade itself went pretty smoothly, but the transition to XFCE was
a little rocky, and took a few days to get working smoothly. Also, some
of the configuration for Jack needed tweaking, as it stopped working
properly, having gone from producing precisely zero xruns when in use,
to frequent xruns, post upgrade.</p>
</div><div class="Indented"><p>Around the same time I have also been investigating the
<a class="reference external" href="http://non.tuxfamily.org/">Non</a> suite of audio applications (being a
few years since I did, last.) and found them to be back under active
development. Unfortunately Non is not packaged for Debian, so I compiled
it on my day to day system, to see how it is, nowadays. Unfortunately I
am getting plenty of xruns with non-mixer. I don’t know why, but I am.
There are packages for KX Studio and AV Linux. I wasn’t to keen on KX
Studio (An Ubuntu derivative), because it is built on KDE, which just
doesn’t work well for me, in an AV production environment. AV Linux
(Debian Derivative), though is built on the LXDE desktop, which is
similar in practice, to use, as my preferred XFCE desktop. The downside
of AV Linux though, is that it is built on old stable (Squeeze). Never
the less, I installed AV Linux on a virtual machine, to see how Non
worked when set up properly — not so well, on the VM; lots of xruns. I
also wasn’t that impressed with having a system laced with commercial
demo version software.</p>
</div><div class="Indented"><p>Next step was to investigate KX Studio a bit further, and it turns out
they know support XFCE desktop version, though without a how to, for
installation. But they do have instructions for converting Ubuntu to KX
Studio. It seems the easyiest method was to use a KX Studio XFCE
netinst, which is very minimal. So I started on another VM build. This
proved much better than I was expecting, because it starts out as a very
minimal XFCE set up, with some excellent KX Studio repositories, that
really are plug and play. My initial experience with the Non suite in KX
Studio is the same as in AV Linux, so I am guessing that it maybe an
issue with trying it in a VM, which doesn’t allow me to tune Jack, with
my external sound card. Which means I will probably do an XFCE KX Studio
install, natively on my computer. As I do want to spend some time
learning to use Non, which though simple in concept, to use (why I like
it) is proving harder for me to grasp, than Ardour (my current DAW).
Also I want to explore the use of Ambisonics in recording, which Non’s
developer has obviously spent a bit of time doing (He has built Non with
this capability). Given that most people listen to most of their music
with headphones now, I think that some of the results of using
Ambisonics would work well.</p>
</div><h2 class="author"><img alt="non" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/non-screenshot1.png" />
</p></h2></div>TeX LyX LaTeX2013-06-26T02:16:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2013-06-26:tex-lyx-latex.html<div id="globalWrapper"><div class="Unindented"><p><strong>Since this blog has converted to Pelican, using reStructuredText files, this post doesn't currently demonstrate, what it says it does.</strong></p>
<p><em>The typesetting word-processor is here.</em> I have had an exciting
discovery in the world of Linux and free software. For awhile now, I
have been aware of LaTeX, which is used for typesetting on a computer.
It does cool things like equations, <em>E</em> = <em>mc</em><sup>2</sup>. Notice the
little two, like a properly written equation? The down side is that it
is like writing code to get it to do what you want. A couple of days
ago, I discovered LyX, which is a front end for Latex, that is used as a
WYSIWYM. Notice I wrote WYSIWYM and not WYSIWYG? You see this goes a
step beyond what a traditional word-processor does, because it type sets
as you go, meaning you just write, without having to do any formating.
No changing fonts, or letter styles. So What you see is what you <em>mean</em>,
rather than what you see is what you <em>get</em>. It can be used for writing
letters, articles including scientific journal formats, reports, books,
resumes, scripts, transparencies, etc.</p>
</div><div class="Indented"><p>Any way, because it is a typesetter and not a word-processor, it is
different to use. So I went through the introduction documentation, and
tutorial material that comes with it. And in short order I found that I
was able to use it for word-processing, and already find it much faster
to use too.</p>
</div><div class="Indented"><p>Because it’s main purpose is typesetting, LyX exports to PDF and
Postscript for printing. It also exports to HTML, XHTML, plain text, and
a couple of other formats. This post is written on LyX and if all goes
according to plan, will be exported directly to this blog, by a plug-in,
that I just installed. There are two different HTML converters for the
plug-in, and I am just trying the default one for this first post, to
see what happens, and how it looks with the site’s CSS style sheet.</p>
</div><div class="Indented"><p>p.s LyX also comes with a dictionary and thesaurus built in, just like a
real word-processor.</p>
</div><div class="Indented"><p>p.p.s I changed to the other HTML converter, because the default one
didn't work out so well.</p>
</div></div>Snow2013-06-03T01:16:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2013-06-03:snow.html<p>We had a good start to winter, with some snow. And since the city comes
to a stand still when it snows, it was a good opportunity to take the
camera out.</p>
<img alt="one" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1277.jpg" />
<img alt="two" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1253.jpg" />
<img alt="three" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1259.jpg" />
<img alt="four" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1280.jpg" />
<img alt="five" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1266.jpg" />
<img alt="six" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1281.jpg" />
Two Perspectives on Photography2013-05-19T02:06:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2013-05-19:two-perspectives-on-photography.html<p>Using the source photos that I took in the States last year, I have made
same comparison samples of yester-years black and white photography,
with todays colour and HDR, or tone mapped photography.
Below are side by side, or rather top and bottom comparisons, of the
two distinctly different approaches to the art of photography.
For me, it shows the power of black and white, which relies on shape
and contrast, so much, to convey it's story, which can be so much more
powerful than colour. Yet, for me, I also know that I am still much more
comfortable working in colour, which for all the extra detail that it
provides, lacks that powerful raw emotional power of black and white.</p>
<img alt="1" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0428.jpg" />
<img alt="2" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1_1.jpg" />
<img alt="3" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0441.jpg" />
<img alt="4" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_0441.jpg" />
<img alt="5" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0462.jpg" />
<img alt="6" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_0462.jpg" />
<img alt="7" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0463.jpg" />
<img alt="8" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_0463.jpg" />
<img alt="9" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0575.jpg" />
<img alt="11" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_0575.jpg" />
<img alt="12" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0722.jpg" />
<img alt="13" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_0722.jpg" />
<img alt="14" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0763.jpg" />
<img alt="15" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_0763.jpg" />
<img alt="16" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0802.jpg" />
<img alt="17" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_0802.jpg" />
<img alt="18" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0848.jpg" />
<img alt="19" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_0848.jpg" />
<img alt="20" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0849.jpg" />
<img alt="21" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_0849.jpg" />
<img alt="22" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0852.jpg" />
<img alt="23" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_0852.jpg" />
<img alt="24" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0866.jpg" />
<img alt="25" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_0866.jpg" />
<img alt="26" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0877.jpg" />
<img alt="27" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_0877.jpg" />
<img alt="28" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0894.jpg" />
<img alt="29" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_0894.jpg" />
<img alt="30" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0930.jpg" />
<img alt="31" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_0930.jpg" />
<img alt="32" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0937.jpg" />
<img alt="33" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_0937.jpg" />
<img alt="34" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0980.jpg" />
<img alt="35" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_0980.jpg" />
<img alt="36" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0990.jpg" />
<img alt="37" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_0990.jpg" />
<img alt="38" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0995.jpg" />
<img alt="39" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_0995.jpg" />
<img alt="40" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0997.jpg" />
<img alt="41" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_0997.jpg" />
<img alt="42" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1001.jpg" />
<img alt="43" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_1001.jpg" />
<img alt="44" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1009.jpg" />
<img alt="45" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_1009.jpg" />
<img alt="46" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1054.jpg" />
<img alt="47" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_1054.jpg" />
<img alt="48" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1085.jpg" />
<img alt="49" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_1085.jpg" />
<img alt="50" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1089.jpg" />
<img alt="51" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_1089.jpg" />
<img alt="52" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1097.jpg" />
<img alt="53" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_1097.jpg" />
<img alt="54" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1104.jpg" />
<img alt="55" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_1104.jpg" />
<img alt="56" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1106.jpg" />
<img alt="57" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_1106.jpg" />
<img alt="58" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1111.jpg" />
<img alt="59" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_1111.jpg" />
<img alt="60" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1121.jpg" />
<img alt="61" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_1121.jpg" />
<img alt="62" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1122.jpg" />
<img alt="63" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_1122.jpg" />
<img alt="64" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1124.jpg" />
<img alt="65" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_1124.jpg" />
<img alt="66" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1126.jpg" />
<img alt="67" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_1126.jpg" />
<img alt="68" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1127.jpg" />
<img alt="69" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_1127.jpg" />
<img alt="70" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1128.jpg" />
<img alt="71" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_1128.jpg" />
<img alt="72" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1130.jpg" />
<img alt="73" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_1130.jpg" />
<img alt="74" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1141.jpg" />
<img alt="75" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_1141.jpg" />
<img alt="76" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1155.jpg" />
<img alt="77" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_1155.jpg" />
<img alt="78" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_1189.jpg" />
<img alt="79" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1IMG_1189.jpg" />
Soap Making2012-12-31T00:46:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2012-12-31:soap-making.html<p>Whilst in America, in September. We stopped in the town of Pagosa
Springs, Colorado, one day, and did the touristy thing, of walking
around the shops. In one of the shops we were given a sample of a goats
milk soap, which we bought home to
use. This sample piqued
my interest enough, that I decided to start learning how to make
vegetable oil soaps. Here are some photo's of my first batch and the
equipment</p>
<img alt="one" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/soap-first-batch.jpg" />
<img alt="two" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/soap-lab.jpg" />
<img alt="three" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/soap-mixer.jpg" />
<img alt="four" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/soap-pot.jpg" />
<p>It is a straight olive oil (Castile) soap, made using a cold process.
This results in keeping the glycerine in the soap, giving it
moisturizing properties, instead of the drying affect associated with
commercial soaps (glycerine is extracted for use in other products).</p>
<p>This batch is two weeks old now, and I have just started using
it. I find it much easier
on my skin than what I have been using, so can see the continuation of
me making soap, and experimenting with other formulations too. It will
be interesting to see how this batch changes as it matures. If what I
have been reading is correct, it should improve over the next month or
so, whilst hopefully not turning rancid. Due to the manufactoring
process, there is some excess oil (extra moisturizing), to ensure
<strong>all</strong> of the sodium hydroxide is used in the conversion.</p>
NAS2012-11-11T05:41:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2012-11-11:nas.html<img alt="tux" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/linux_tux_large.jpg" />
<p>Over
the last month or so I have built a NAS (network attached storage)
server. For the operating system I have used <a class="reference external" href="http://www.openmediavault.org/">Open Media
Vault</a>, which is built on
<a class="reference external" href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a> Squeeze (stable 6). Initially my
intention was to use it as a music server and RAID backup for my other
computers, but have since discovered it can be used for so much more.</p>
<p>For the hardware I bought the cheapest case, power supply, and
motherboard I could find.
Along with that I bought 16GB of RAM and an Intel i5 CPU, relying on
intergrated graphics. This is a headless box (no screen). In hind sight,
if I had of known the potential for this system, I probably would have
bought an i7 processor instead of the i5, though that would have
significantly increased the cost of the project. For the hard drives, I
bought five 2TB Western Digital Caviar Green drives. One for the
operating system and the other four for the
<a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID">RAID</a>.</p>
<p>The first challenge was to install the OS on hard drives it couldn't
see. It turns out that the Debian Squeeze Linux kernel is to old for the
drives, so I had to replace the kernel from backports first. Once
installed, I had to decide on which form of RAID to use, and after
reading up on it, decided to go with RAID 10 (for the paranoid, in a
hurry). Twice the capacity, at four times the cost. Four 2TB drives
gives me 4TB in RAID storage.</p>
<p>Once the RAID was set up, I shifted my music collection to it and set up
the Daap server, so that I can now access my music from any device on my
home network. Next I installed <a class="reference external" href="http://owncloud.org/">ownCloud</a> which
I am using primarily for calender and tasks, which I access via
Thunderbird on any other OS I am using, so it all stays synced.</p>
<p>I then discovered that I can use Open
Media Vault for hosting
virtual machines in <a class="reference external" href="https://www.virtualbox.org/">Virtual Box</a>. So far
I have installed <a class="reference external" href="http://xubuntu.org/">Xubuntu</a>12.04 and
<a class="reference external" href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a> Wheezy (testing 7). I can use remote
access to use them, and have set up
<a class="reference external" href="http://www.libreplan.com/">Libreplan</a> into the
<a class="reference external" href="http://xubuntu.org/">Xubuntu</a> VM, as a good project management
software, accessible from any web browser on my home network.</p>
<p>I also have FTP and SAMBA shares enabled for sharing files.</p>
<p>From the operating system up, every piece of software installed is
covered by a free and/or open source licence. It is an incredibly
capable system with much more scope for increasing it's utility.</p>
Humming Birds2012-10-02T23:05:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2012-10-02:humming-birds.html<p>These photo's were taken around three weeks ago, when I was in Colorado
Springs.</p>
<img alt="one" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/hummingbird.jpg" />
<img alt="two" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/hungary-hummer.jpg" />
<img alt="three" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/hum-still.jpg" />
<img alt="four" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/floating-hummingbird.jpg" />
<img alt="five" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/hummingbird-feeding.jpg" />
<img alt="six" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/angel-hummingbird1.jpg" />
<img alt="seven" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/hummer.jpg" />
A Second Home2012-08-14T03:44:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2012-08-14:a-second-home.html<p>Everyone should have a second home, right? This is mine. I just recently
purchased this fixer-upper, with the intention of doing it up.</p>
<img alt="bus" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0349.jpg" />
Another Night Without Sleep2012-07-15T23:59:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2012-07-15:another-night-without-sleep.html<p>This is starting to get a bit to regular for my liking. I'm not certain,
but I think this is the third time this has happened now. More
disturbingly, is that I think it is the second time this year, where I
have been unable to go to work, due to not getting any sleep at all
over-night.</p>
<p>In this case I think the shift pattern I have done over the last two
weeks explain the cause, quite clearly, in this instance.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt>1st</dt>
<dd>3rd
1st
3rd
RDO
2nd
RDO
1st
2nd
1st
1st
RDO
3rd
2nd
2nd
RDO
Today was supposed to be a 1st.</dd>
</dl>
<p>As can be clearly seen, there were only two occasions when there were
two consecutive shifts that were the same, in the last couple of weeks.
Every other shift was different from one day to the next. No wonder my
body-clock gave up in protest.</p>
<p>So, today, After being awake all of yesterday and all of last night, I
am staying awake all day today, to reset my body clock.</p>
<p>What shift am I doing tomorrow? I don't know yet, and won't find out
until this afternoon. I would guess a first shift tomorrow, but it could
just as feasibly be a 23:00 start tonight, I will find out in a few
hours.</p>
Current views on Linux2012-07-06T04:18:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2012-07-06:current-views-on-linux.html<img alt="penguin" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/linux_tux_large.jpg" />
<p>As my experience with Linux develops. The way I view it, and use it
evolves. When I first started using Linux, it was as much for the
novelty factor as anything. I liked the idea that it was free, and had a
range of software that cost nothing to install. Initially I was hopeful
that it would be a good alternative to my then standard MacOSX Macbook,
for using the internet, viewing websites and email. Viewing websites was
straight forward from the beginning, though email took me some time to
work out. The breakthrough came with an update to Thunderbird, which
automated the setup for Gmail accounts. Since then I have learned more
about email, and can now do more with it than I was ever able to do on
OSX. As I started to explore some of the other software available on
Linux, I found some of it to be of comparable quality to the commercial
standards I had been using on OS9 and OSX, though some of it was on the
clunky side. Open Office being a good example of the later, though this
has been well and truly rectified since it was forked into LibreOffice.
How does LibreOffice compare with Microsoft Office? I don't know, as I
haven't used MS Office beyond the 2004 version for Mac. I do know that
it is very functional, stable, and apart from some formatting
differences, has no problems working with even the latest docx files. In
other areas of software it is like comparing apples with oranges. Take
for example, Photoshop. The nearest equivalent is generally considered
to be GIMP. Detractors of the GIMP will often point to the fact that
Photoshop offers 16 bit floating point, where as the GIMP only does 8
bit. As I said apples and oranges. Photoshop is layers based, where as
the GIMP is node based. While you can actually do much the same thing
with both programs, how that is done is quite different, and as to the 8
bit, 16 bit thing, well Cinepaint (a GIMP fork) is quite happy doing 32
bit floating point. For the most part I now prefer using GIMP (it does
work better on Linux systems, than others) and occasionally use
Cinepaint when I want to do something in 32 bit.</p>
<p>In the same vein, I found setting up Linux for audio
recording/production to be a very steep learning curve, but now have a
production environment that is an order of magnitude beyond what I had
envisioned possible on a Mac environment, it also required a very
different approach.</p>
<p>When I first started using Linux, I was fortunate to start with Ubuntu.
Ubuntu is, I think the very best distribution of Linux for beginners. It
is probably also among the best all round distributions for general use.
That said I became interested in some of the other distributions,
particularly Debian, from which Ubuntu is derived. I started trying out
some other distributions as virtual machines in Oracle's
<a class="reference external" href="https://www.virtualbox.org/">VirtualBox</a> software, which while giving
a small taste, just wasn't the same as running the distro's on their own
partition on my computer. Due to the fact that my computer is much more
powerful than the average home computer, and on going developments with
VirtualBox, I now feel much more comfortable running virtual machines,
but also run five different Linux distro's natively on my computer.</p>
<p>Currently I have <strong>1:</strong> Ubuntu 10.04LTS as a bloated general purpose OS,
though I rarely use it now.</p>
<p>I also have <strong>2:</strong> Debian Squeeze (stable) set up for audio and video
production. This is a very stable and powerful system.</p>
<p>My favorite system until recently was <strong>3:</strong> Debian Wheezy (testing)
which is generally a fun system to play with, though with the nature of
it being a distro in testing phase it can and does develop some odd
traits and I am currently waiting for one of those triats to be ironed
out before I go back to regular usage.</p>
<p>I'm currently favoring <strong>4:</strong> Fedora 16 for general internet and
graphics usage. I don't find it as versatile as the Debian systems, but
it seems to excel for graphics.</p>
<p>This post is being written on <strong>5:</strong> OpenSUSE 12.1. I installed and
started using this distro as part of studying towards LPIC-1
certification, and as the favored distro of the text book author, it is
easier to do some of the exercises on. My current opinion of it, is that
it makes an excellent distribution for use in an office, but has limited
appeal to me beyond that.</p>
<p>I think my next project will be to build a NAS system, most likely
running FreeNAS (FreeBSD variant) as the operating system.</p>
<p><strong>Final thoughts:</strong> Linux is a Posix compliant operating system. Many
people who don't know any better belittle Linux, stating that it isn't
up to the level of Microsoft Windows. Consider this, Posix compliant
systems (Linux, OSX, BSD, UNIX) going back to the original UNIX
operating system, have over 40 years of commercial use and continuous
development by people in such high numbers that Microsoft could only
dream of being able to employ. In comparison to the length and depth of
Posix development, Windows is still only an adolescent. This website, as
are about 90% of all websites, is being delivered to your computer by a
Linux server.</p>
<p><strong>PS</strong>, Linux is infinitely customizable. If you don't like, or find the
desktop of a Linux distribution unpleasant to use, you can simply change
to a different desktop on a given distribution. Personally I don't like
using KDE, Gnome3, or Unity, so instead I use XFCE, which works very
well for me. There are also many other desktops to choose from too. I
have recently installed Xubuntu 12.04 (Ubuntu 12.04 with the XFCE
desktop) as a virtual machine, and so far it looks very impressive. I
like to wait around six months after the release of a new Ubuntu version
so it can stabilize.</p>
Autumn2012-06-05T14:07:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2012-06-05:autumn.html<p>This year we didn't have the usual winds, so as the leaves changed
colour, they remained on the trees for a change.</p>
<img alt="leaves" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/Autumn.jpg" />
New commuting transportation2012-05-05T23:48:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2012-05-05:new-commuting-transportation.html<p>In the last few weeks, I have been building an electric bike, to use for
commuting to work. What this means is less reliance on a car and should
also mean lower running costs for the car.</p>
<p>I've used the bike for getting to work over the last three days. While
it does take longer, it shouldn't add much of a burden once I get more
of a routine set up for it. Currently I am allowing an hour and a half
before work, as opposed to one hour with the car. I think that I will be
able to get it to an hour with the bike, once I am more comfortable with
it.</p>
<p>I have a 48v 10a battery, which I am charging at each end of
the trip. I should have
got a 15a battery, which would reasonably comfortably, have made the
return trip, on a single charge. And would require less pedalling too.
The one penalty of the bigger battery would have been an extra three
kilo's and a slightly higher cost, but ultimately would have been worth
it. Never the less, what I have now is still plenty satisfactory.</p>
<p>This is the bike that I started with. It is a Giant Boulder
with disk brakes.</p>
<img alt="bike" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0300.jpg" />
<p>This is it, when converted to a commuting</p>
<img alt="finished" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_03131.jpg" />
<p>For riding when it is dark I have a 2,000 lumen LED headlight and a 85
lumen LED tail-light which easily does a return trip, on a single
charge.</p>
<img alt="frontlight" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_03091.jpg" />
<img alt="rearlight" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_03151.jpg" />
<p>These lights make me very visible at night and allow me to see where I
am going.</p>
Meet George2012-03-24T03:28:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2012-03-24:meet-george.html<img alt="george" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/IMG_0301.jpg" />
<p>Up until now we haven't had any pets, but this has now changed, since we
picked up George today. George is a Venus Flytrap, who will hopefully
catch the occasional insect or arachnid as he sits in the kitchen
window.</p>
Desktop Linux2012-02-29T01:49:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2012-02-29:desktop-linux.html<p>There has been some interesting debate on my local Linux users mailing
list in the past few days. Just added my bit to the conversation, and
thought I would re-post it here:</p>
<p>It is with interest that I have been reading the debate on Unity and
open source software recently.</p>
<p>This is my take on it. I am one of the people who have for the most part
moved on, from using Ubuntu. That said, if it were not for Ubuntu, I
would never have switched to using Linux based OS's. The simple fact of
the matter is that Ubuntu has made it very easy for non-computer
literate people to start using Linux. As Ubuntu switched from Gnome2, it
has made doing what I do with my system more difficult, though I doubt
that is the case for most new Linux users, simply that my requirements
are different.</p>
<p>Fortunately, by the time Ubuntu was becoming more difficult for my
particular use, the time I had spent with Ubuntu, had given me enough
skills to switch to Debian, which is more suited to what I want from an
OS. In fact I predominately use two versions of Debian, stable with
backports, for when I want absolute stability, and testing the rest of
the time, because I find it fun to use. Without the time spent using
Ubuntu, I would have been too frustrated to be able to learn how to be
comfortable using Debian and would therefore have stayed using MacOSX.</p>
<p>Though I initially thought my issues with Ubuntu were due to Unity, I
soon discovered that I don't like using Gnome3 for precisely the same
reasons. It has nothing to do with either of them being bad, just suited
to a different type of user than me. Fortunately the developers are
still developing those desktops, because I am sure they are and will be
of benefit to a large proportion of users, myself included, with the
bits I can take from them.</p>
<p>Instead of becoming angry about the developments, I searched for an
alternative, and have found that I actually prefer using XFCE, over
Gnome2, albeit with the same Gnome applications that I was previously
using. If Gnome3 and Unity hadn't been developed, I would still be using
Gnome2, which though I do like, is not as good for my situation as what,
those developments have forced me to find.</p>
<p>I think the crux of the matter is, if you don't find the direction of
your current open source products suitable for your personal use, just
look through some of the many freely available alternatives, but don't
lose appreciation for what you did find useful, or the continued effort
of those developers in what ever direction they feel necessary to head
in. Without that freedom for them to decide in which direction they take
their projects, we wouldn't have had the stuff which some people feel
put out about them changing, or the future stuff that they will
inevitably develop, that we will also find very useful.</p>
<p>What I can see of the Ubuntu development in particular, is that they are
still focusing strongly on a system that is very conducive for people to
switch to from other proprietary systems. This can only be a good thing,
not just for them, but also for the other Linux distributions. Because
out of the huge numbers which do enter into using Ubuntu, as sure as
night follows days, some of those numbers will also carry on to other
distributions as well, which most likely wouldn't otherwise happen.</p>
Over the Sea2012-02-21T02:18:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2012-02-21:over-the-sea.html<p>Here is another track, originally recorded on a macbook with Cubase, and
now remastered in Linux. Below is a choice of .mp3 or .ogg formats.</p>
<p><strong>Over the Sea MP3</strong>
<a class="reference external" href="http://traffic.libsyn.com/nomadicista/Over_the_sea.mp3">http://traffic.libsyn.com/nomadicista/Over_the_sea.mp3</a></p>
<img alt="cc" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/80x15.png" />
<p>This work is licensed under a
<a class="reference external" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
License</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Over the Sea OGG</strong>
<a class="reference external" href="http://traffic.libsyn.com/nomadicista/Over_the_sea.ogg">http://traffic.libsyn.com/nomadicista/Over_the_sea.ogg</a></p>
<img alt="cc" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/80x15.png" />
<p>This work is licensed under a <a class="reference external" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
License</a>.</p>
Remastering, before and after2012-01-29T02:34:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2012-01-29:remastering-before-and-after.html<p>Before I started using Linux, I did some recording on a Macbook, with
Cubase. I like the Cubase interface, in particular the parametric EQ, it
just seems logical. However I always felt it left me just a little short
on performance. Whether that was the software itself, the hardware I was
running it on, or a combination, I'm not sure. What I do know is that
when I upgraded OSX, it would not install, so to continue using that
particular piece of software, I have to use the older version of OSX
that I started with.</p>
<p>I was really happy with one of the last tracks I did with Cubase, but
the mastering wasn't that flash so I have just had a go at remastering
it with Jamin on Debian Linux. Below is the before and after versions.
Both versions should be downloadable by right clicking the play button.</p>
<p><strong>Buck short, Day late - after remastering</strong></p>
<p><a class="reference external" href="http://traffic.libsyn.com/nomadicista/buck-short-day-late_after.mp3">http://traffic.libsyn.com/nomadicista/buck-short-day-late_after.mp3</a></p>
<img alt="cc" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-sa/3.0/nz/80x15.png" />
<p>Buck short, Day late - after remastering
This work is licensed under a <a class="reference external" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/nz/">Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 New Zealand
License</a></p>
<p><strong>Buck short, Day late - before remastering</strong></p>
<p><a class="reference external" href="http://traffic.libsyn.com/nomadicista/Buck_short-Day_late.mp3">http://traffic.libsyn.com/nomadicista/Buck_short-Day_late.mp3</a></p>
<img alt="cc" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-sa/3.0/nz/80x15.png" />
<p>Buck short, Day late - before remastering
This work is licensed under a <a class="reference external" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/nz/">Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 New Zealand
License</a></p>
Pulse of Nature2012-01-23T02:48:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2012-01-23:pulse-of-nature.html<p>So I have finally managed to get around to doing some more audio
recording. Also, I think I have settled on a Linux recording system,
well as much as I can settle. This was done on a Debian (stable) Squeeze
64bit system, using the usual free open source software (Jack, Ardour,
Hydrogen, Rose Garden, Jamin, etc). The standard kernel in Debian
Squeeze was used, which I have found to give me the most stable and
reliable low latency performance, of any of the kernel/distro
combinations, including RT kernels, that I have tried so far. In fact it
was rock solid.</p>
<p>To play the tune, click on the play button below. You can probably
download it by right clicking the download button. Unless you have a
high fidelity sound system attached to your computer, you are best using
headphones to listen to this track. Hint: Laptop speakers will not cut
it.</p>
<p><a class="reference external" href="http://traffic.libsyn.com/nomadicista/natures_pulse.mp3">http://traffic.libsyn.com/nomadicista/natures_pulse.mp3</a></p>
<img alt="nature" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/27.jpg" />
Sleep and Shift Work2011-11-20T20:18:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2011-11-20:sleep-and-shift-work.html<p>I am supposed to be at work now, but I am not. The reason I am not at
work is because I have not had any sleep since yesterday, which means I
would be dangerous at work. And not just at work, but also driving my
car to and from work. It is ironic that yesterday I slept for 13 hours,
and yet last night I got no sleep whatsoever, and yet that is the result
of random shift work. The affect of shift work on the human body is not
something that non-shift workers can truely understand, but the net
effect is that it makes you incredibly tired most of the time. Sometimes
this means you can sleep for long periods of time, and other times, due
to the neccessity of constantly shifting sleep patterns, you cannot
sleep at all, which makes you all the more tired.</p>
<p>Talking to people who have retired from the industry, it would appaer
that most people take six or seven months before their sleep patterns
return to normal. A year or so on, people who have left the shift work
certainly look several years younger than when they were working with
us.</p>
It's been awhile2011-07-01T01:31:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2011-07-01:its-been-awhile.html<p>It's been awhile since I posted here. It happens. Generally it means I
have either been flat stick at work, doing a stint of yo-yo shifts, not
doing anything exciting, or a combination there of. In this case it has
been a combination of working flat out, with yo-yo shifts, entering
winter, and simply not having the energy at this time of year.</p>
<p>That said, I have been thinking and developing ideas. But before I start
with that, I have also finished a my main annual goal of assembling an
audio visual production studio. The down side, is that I haven't had the
opportunity to do anything with it yet. But here is a test run of how
most of it works together.</p>
<p>So what ideas have I been thinking about? Well this time it is boats. I
am trying to figure out how to bring my boat home and put it in the back
yard.</p>
<img alt="boat" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/kaea1.jpg" />
<p>At this point I think it will be a two crane operation at the home end,
but still need to get a crane driver here to assess the situation. I
think I will get the most use out of this boat if it is at home on dry
land.</p>
<p>For boats to actually be used on water, I have three different types in
mind, which I will cover at a later date. But at this point I will say
that none involve having engines. and all will be much smaller than my
current boat. They will also be self righting, and possibly all have
full reserve bouyancy if the hull is breached.</p>
<p>In Linux news, I am starting to lean more towards Debian stable, with
backports as my prefered distribution. I'm almost at the level of being
capable of using it for what I currently use Ubuntu LTS for and it does
seem even more stable. I'm currently sticking with Ubuntu LTS as my main
distro, but am working with Debian more and more on a seperate
partition, within the same computer.</p>
Man Cave2011-03-20T02:55:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2011-03-20:man-cave.html<p>What a month it's been so far. As usual for a March, I have become over
fatigued from work. It seems to be a combination of the shortening days
and an even greater degree of yo-yo shifts as we enter full on peak
season, not to mention the fact that I hadn't taken any time off for six
months.</p>
<p>I have now had a week off work, so am feeling much better with the rest
and regular sleep gained from it. I don't think people who even work
standard shift work understand how fatigued those of us who work the
random shift patterns that my place of work get.</p>
<p>Any way back to what's been happening. A few weeks ago I built a new
computer. I never realised how easy it is to build one yourself. The
benefits are that you end up with what you want and it is cheaper than
buying one. Since then I have taken the week off, which as well as
gaining some much needed rest, I have re-developed my man cave,
installed all the software I need for multi-media production and given
most of it a test run. First some photo's of the new man space:</p>
<img alt="one" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/1.jpg" />
<img alt="two" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/3.jpg" />
<p>And a screen shot of video editing on the dual screen setup</p>
<img alt="three" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/cinelerra_video_editing.jpg" />
<p>And here is the first video edit
<a class="reference external" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW8MXanI11w">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW8MXanI11w</a>
And here is my first experiment with sound production on the new setup:</p>
<p>First test of the recording studio side. {need to add export.mp3}</p>
<p>All in all I'm pretty happy with the results. With a bit more tinkering,
I think I can produce stuff of an equal quality on this very cheap
system (comparitively) to a standard commercial setup.</p>
DIY Computers2011-02-26T11:15:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2011-02-26:diy-computers.html<p>A box full of parts, a screw driver, and a couple of hours later, I now
have a new computer that is way more powerfull than I have ever had
before.</p>
<p>I'm amazed at how simple it was to assemble, and how much cheaper, than
buying a complete computer. It now has Ubuntu Lucid LTS 64 bit loaded
and I'm in the process of installing the audio production software (to
much to mention). Afterwards I will add the video editing (Cinelerra,
Kdenlive) stuff, then the photography (Gimp, Cinepaint, UFRaw, Qtpfsgui)
stuff.</p>
<p>So a big computer with more creative software than you can shake a stick
at, and all for about the price of just the Final Cut Studio software
package. Boy I do like the world of open source software and do it
yourself computers.</p>
HDR Photography2011-02-08T01:18:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2011-02-08:hdr-photography.html<p>I've recently become intrigued with the idea of HDR photography. It is a
cool concept, merge around three shots taken at different exposures and
you end up with a cool looking photo. Well it seems that what everyone
is calling HDR is not HDR, and it probably isn't possible to view on a
computer screen anyway. What people are doing is probably more correctly
called tone mapping, which is basically the same principle of using
multiple photo's of different exposure.</p>
<p>Any way, a before and after of one of my experiments with it.</p>
<img alt="before" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/28t8k7b.jpg" />
<img alt="after" src="https://stuartcrawford.co.nz/images/2vwfr0p.jpg" />
Exercise and other thoughts2011-01-20T04:59:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2011-01-20:exercise-and-other-thoughts.html<p>Walked into town and back for the first time in about two weeks today,
and I felt it. I really need to be walking into town and back at least
once per week.</p>
<p>We had a meeting at the new dspace premises in the weekend. I think it
will be a really worthwhile project. From my own selfish perspective, I
have the opportunity to build my new computer there, with the guidance
of some very experienced people, as well as being able to learn lots of
new skills in soldering, electronics and software for a minimal cost. On
the other side of the coin I think it will be of huge benifit to the
city over time, as teenagers take advantage of the project. It will
develop some highly creative people into skilled inovators, which can
only be a good thing for the local economy and culture over the medium
to long term.</p>
Cars2010-12-09T00:15:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2010-12-09:cars.html<p>Note to self: Do not do any maintenance yourself. Take it to a mechanic.
It is cheaper and less hassle.</p>
Spring Thoughts2010-10-07T01:47:00+13:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2010-10-07:spring-thoughts.html<p>It is well and truely spring now. Hay fever has set in and after a mild
winter, thoughts of outdoor activities and projects are bouncing around
inside my head.</p>
<p>I do like living in a place that has four seasons and the way you can
use them to improve a lifestyle. I've come to the conclusion that June,
July and part of August are good times to live nocturnally. As spring
has sprung, I am enjoying being awake during the day, getting the lawn
looking good, planning the section landscape. We have planted Lavender,
the first thing we have added since being in the house. Up until now,
all of the gardening has involved removing things, basically getting the
section to a blank canvas. It is good to be finally starting to put
something back together on it, even if it is only a minuscule start. I
have pretty firm ideas on how the layout will be for just about the
whole section now.</p>
<p>After walking around town while on holiday, I have felt a lot healthier.
It would be good not to rely on the car, but it is not practical while
working outside of walking distance, particularly with it being shift
work. I need to remain conscious of walking when possible, rather than
using the car.</p>
<p>I guess the one advantage of doing random shift work is that it allows
you to become familiar with being conscious during all hours of the day
and night, throughout the seasons.</p>
<p>Having decided to bring the boat home, I still have a lot to do, to see
if it is a practical proposition. Power lines being the biggest obsticle
at the moment. I'm sure the boat would get more use here at home than it
currently gets in the water though. It seems such a shame to have put so
much effort into doing it up, and now it just languishes.</p>
<p>I'm thinking more about how I want to renovate the house, but of course
it is not worth doing anything until we get it repiled, which is
probably still about three years away from happening.</p>
From Karmic to Lucid2010-09-05T03:39:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2010-09-05:from-karmic-to-lucid.html<p>My computer was running just fine and dandy on Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic). I
didn't really want to update to 10.04 (Lucid), because I had been
hearing of people having problems with it. It is the long term realease
though, so I figured once it had been out for awhile, it would become
stable and be worth updating too. It does look much nicer. About the
only real thing I didn't like about Karmic was the drab brown
appearance.</p>
<p>I did a fresh install of Lucid on someone elses computer and it really
does look good. It works well too, so I thought that it was time to run
an update on my system. The long and short of it, is that the update
didn't work, and after some tinkering (It became completely broken, with
no desktop, just full screen terminal.) I managed to get it working in a
fashion. It had the appearance of Lucid, but was also largely still
Karmic. I call it Ubuntu Karmic/Lucid 10.01. A sort of 50/50
Karmic/Lucid hybrid. It mostly worked pretty well, with a bit more
tinkering, but Cinelerra stopped working altogether, along with a few
other problems that seemed insurmountable.</p>
<p>So, over the last couple of days I have shifted all of the importan data
and files onto a seperate hard drive, reformatted the hard drive and
done a fresh install of Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid. Then spent an entire night
downloading and installing all of the audio/video/graphics programs that
I use (bigger than the operating system itself) and transfered all of
the data and files back onto the computer. It appears to be working well
now, though I suspect there will be some more minor tinkering over the
next few days, as I stumble accross things that I had forgotten to do.
Firefox, for instance needs to have the plugins added (fire-bug,
fire-ftp, etc) and set up again.</p>
<p>All in all though, I'm pleased that I did it, as I now have a clean and
stable system that should last me the next two and a half years. And as
an added bonus, it seems that printing with my Brother 4040cn colour
laser printer is now working properly. Something that hadn't been able
to get working properly on Linux before.</p>
<p>Neither Mac OSX or Windows can do as much by themselves as my new Ubuntu
Linux OS can do.</p>
Microphones2010-08-26T10:07:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2010-08-26:microphones.html<p>Today, I finally bought a full size diaphram, condensor mic. I've been
planning to get one for about the last three years now. Initially I was
looking at an AKG C3000, as a low cost, though good quality for the
money microphone. As it came closer to getting it, I did some more
research and ended up deciding on a Rode K2. The cost was considerably
higher than the AKG, but what I have now is a very nice valve mic with a
fully variable pattern. Starting from an omni pattern, it will pan
through to a cardioid, through to a figure eight pattern.</p>
<p>After trying it out today with a nylon string guitar and hand percussion
against my legs, I was most impressed. It really does a good job with
the guitar and the sensitivity to pick up clearly, both slapping noise
and the sound of sliding my hands across my jeans bodes well for
improvised percussive instruments. Also, what surprised me was that it
didn't seem to pick up the traffic noise in the background that I could
hear. I'm looking forward to trying out a tin wistle with it too. Of
course it should go without saying that it will be very good for voice
work.</p>
Updating Ubuntu2010-08-11T08:29:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2010-08-11:updating-ubuntu.html<p>Being unable to sleep last night, I decided to update my main operating
system (Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala) to Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Lucid Lynx. It
started off normally, indicating that it would take several hours to
down load I went back to bed. When I got up, it was perfect timing,
probably close enough to finishing that I could restart before going to
work, when al of a sudden it had a fault. The message was that it was
going to restore the original system, then it just hung. After work I
tried restarting, since nothing had happened in about nine hours.</p>
<p>It restarted fine, with the new Lucid colours on shut down, only no sign
of a desktop when it restarted, just a full screen terminal. Command
line is not my area of expertise, in fact I know hardly any of it. I
tried a couple of things that seemed logical to me. The terminal had
other ideas though, suggesting commands that I could try.</p>
<p>Apparently the problem centred around postgresql-8.4. It seems that the
graphical desktop requires this to be working. So I thought maybe
removing it, then re-installing might do the trick, you should have seen
the list of stuff being deleted on removal. I could see half the
operating system disappearing before my eyes.</p>
<p>As a last ditch effort I tried booting into a live CD version of Lucid,
in the hope that there would be some kind of disk recovery system on it.
The was an application called "disk utility" I tried, but it just said
that everything was okay. So I tried rebooting into my Ubuntu partition
and guess what? it half worked. I had a random play around, then
rebooted again and now I have the updated Ubuntu working.</p>
<p>I have no idea what I did. I think it repaired itself. OSX did it in
even more spectacular fashion for me once. I had resigned myself to a
fresh install and at the end of it, it asked for my password, then
showed a fully restored system, with everything as I had left it. This
experience wasn't quite like that, but it was close.</p>
Virtual Machines2010-08-09T05:14:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2010-08-09:virtual-machines.html<p>A couple of weeks ago, I was introduced to the concept of running
virtual computers inside one computer.</p>
<p>Currently I run two macbooks. One of them dual boots with OSX Snow
Leopard/Ubuntu Linux 9.10 Karmic Koala. The other dual boots with OSX
Snow Leopard/Windows XP SP2. Mostly I use Ubuntu 9.10, but it would be
nice to try some other distributions, which is where the virtual
machines come in handy. I've installed the non-free version of
Virtualbox from Oracle (no fee for single computer installations) into
one of my OSX systems. So far I have put Ubuntu 10.04 LTS into it and
now I am in the process of installing Debian Lenny 5.0.5.</p>
<p>There are limitations to using virtual box over a straight bootable
partion. Not all USB is supported and I suspect that the machines won't
run as fast either. Also things like ram are split between the host OS
and the Guest OS. At the moment I am allocating half the ram to each. It
will be interesting to see how well it goes.</p>
Teething Troubles with Inkscape2010-08-02T04:05:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2010-08-02:teething-troubles-with-inkscape.html<p>Yesterday I was trying to add something to a Gif file using Inkscape.
Some how I managed to get some SVG data on the GIF file, which caused
the Nautilus window manager to die and for some reason I couldn't delete
the file through the GUI. I did manage to delete the file with the
terminal which fixed the problem though, using the following command.</p>
<p>$ rm /home/stuart/Pictures/file.gif</p>
<p>I'm going to try manipulating the file again, hopefully with better
results this time.</p>
Gaining Irish Citizenship2010-08-01T03:49:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2010-08-01:gaining-irish-citizenship.html<p>Having looked into some requirements for gaining Irish citizenship
(passport to the EU) I have discovered that to be able to use a great
grandparent born there, your grandparent is automatically an Irish
citizen, and your parent can apply for citizenship through foriegn born
registration. If your parent did this before 1st July 1986, you can
apply at any stage, provided you were born after 17th July 1956. If
however Your parent did not register until after 1st July 1986, then you
can only apply if you were born after they have registered.</p>
<p>Looks like I missed out on this one.</p>
My first post2010-07-31T04:16:00+12:00Stuarttag:stuartcrawford.co.nz,2010-07-31:my-first-post.html<p>Hello World</p>