Category: Productivity

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New Feature: Retro Game Of The Month

Since stumbling across several old video games from my DOS days (think pre-1995) I’ve decided to fire up a few of them and offer up some fun reviews of games that were made before many of you and gadgets at https://progamerreview.com/best-gaming-keyboard/ were even born. These games, in some way or another, shaped the gaming industry into what it is today. They were the birth of the PC gaming industry, when Atari and Nintendo had been dominating people’s living rooms for over a decade.

I can remember playing my first networked multiplayer games in 1993, when Doom and Descent came out. There weren’t Cat5 ethernet cables back then, everything was 10-Base2 running on Coaxial cable with BNC T’s and terminators. TCP/IP hadn’t become the standard yet, either, so everything ran Novell Netware and used IPX addressing (instead of TCP/IP addresses that everything uses now). The hardcore guys would either play point-to-point on dialup modems, or drag their computers to a friend’s house and use a null-modem cable to simulate a phone line. We’re talking back in the days before Pentiums were invented… the first PC I played Doom on was a 386dx clone, running at 33Mhz. I think it had 2MB of RAM. We’re talking before PCI slots were standard. Just think about that for a minute. A 28.8Kbps modem was all you could get then. Let that sink in. Continue reading “New Feature: Retro Game Of The Month”

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Scrivener For Linux

As a creative-type person, I understand when people get picky about what tools they use to create their particular art form. Musicians will obsess over the tiniest things to get the sound “just right.” Photographers will spend hours waiting for just the right light.

But why are writers usually just the opposite? They use kludgy writing tools, and sometimes even physical “index card” information management. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a single program that could do everything a writer needed? Formatting, templates, organization, storyboarding, corkboards, revision management, links and information, pictures, exporting direct to publishing formats, and even a full-screen writing mode?

Well, there *is* such a program. It’s called Scrivener. It’s completely changed the way I write, for the better.

Scrivener was made *by* authors, *for* authors. It’s like a tool that plugs directly into your brain and lets you focus on writing. There are plenty of testimonials praising the OSX and Windows versions, but I run the Linux-specific version, which is technically still in beta. It still has more features than a regular word processor, and I’ve found it has become integral to my writing process.

For those of you familiar with Scrivener, the Linux version is available as a free (for now) Beta. For the rest of you, here’s the overview: Continue reading “Scrivener For Linux”

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Rural Commuting: Gear Talk

As a result of Rural Bike Commuting: It’s Not The City, I’ve had a few people ask me to clarify some of the equipment choices I’ve made to accommodate the longer distances. My choices certainly don’t reflect everybody’s, and there will always be bike commuters who do things a bit differently, even if their routes look very similar to mine. But with that in mind, here’s a few things I’ve learned.

Bike:

If you’re commuting long distances, you’re going to want a bike that’s efficient, sturdy, flexible, and comfortable. It doesn’t have to be a race bike (in fact, there’s plenty of reasons why race bikes make terrible commuting rigs) but as long as it’s strong and comfortable, it’ll work. The more braze-ons it has, the more things you can do with it, and the more versatile your bike will be.

For commutes of 10+ miles each way, on rural (rough) roads, you will want to consider a bike made for long-distance riding, like a touring or randonneur bike. (*NOTE: in some cases, bikes labeled as “cyclocross” or “gravel” bikes will work, but sometimes they won’t. More on this later.) Most touring/rando bikes have drop bars for more comfortable hand positions, but you also want to balance that with a somewhat upright riding position to be able to function in traffic without losing visibility. Drop bars give you the best of both worlds; you can ride low in the drops for long windy stretches, or ride on the tops/hoods for in town.

Some great bikes are out there that are trouble-free, solid, and relatively efficient. The Surly CrossCheck is a universal favorite, for obvious reasons… it’s adaptable, comfortable, durable, and reasonably fast. Despite being labeled as a “cyclocross bike” it’s more suited to light touring and commuting, which is exactly what we’re looking for. The Straggler is basically a disk-brake version of the same bike, if you’re more comfortable with disks. There are plenty of others, also, but be warned!! Some bikes marketed “go-anywhere, do-anything” are really racing bikes, not true utility road bikes. They are made for recreational weekend warriors, not commuters who ride to work with racks and fenders. If it doesn’t have eyelets or bosses for a rear rack, it’s probably not meant to be used as a commuter. Caveat Emptor. Some good examples of bikes for long-distance commuting: Continue reading “Rural Commuting: Gear Talk”

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Offline/Online Password Management

For someone who’s been using the internet almost since its inception, I’ve collected quite a large assortment of usernames and passwords over the years. I think something on the order of 150+ of them, not including the ones that have gone defunct, or actual local network passwords.

How does a professional geek handle hundreds of passwords? Here’s a quick primer on how I do it, with a few suggestions on general password security, too. I’ve used two programs in the last year to get a handle on my password/username combos; LastPass and KeePass. One is a web-run business; the other is a free, open-source program. I’ll explain a bit about each one, and how I decided to use them. Continue reading “Offline/Online Password Management”

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TouchOSC as a Wireless MIDI Controller

Here’s a short demo of using a 7″ Android tablet to control MIDI effects on a laptop. TouchOSC is a cool little app that lets you make custom control surfaces, with sliders, buttons, knobs, and X-Y pads, and you can assign them to any parameters. With a hardware OSC to MIDI bridge, you can control any MIDI device with it, too. Very slick. In this video, I’m using PureData to convert OSC to MIDI messages on the laptop. I can then route them back out to control external devices, or control effects on the laptop. (Sorry for the noise, was just trying to demo the MIDI functionality)

[youtube_sc url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A42AIkLEJRI”]

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Safety By The Numbers

Life changes, and sometimes you find out you’re just along for the ride. Three years ago, just as I was turning my life around, I ended up in the hospital with a shattered femur. I had been the victim of a red light runner, and let’s just say mid-size cars aren’t very forgiving when they plow into you at 35MPH. My hip required reconstruction. (My Surly LHT, however, came out okay. Can’t say enough about the durability of Surly bikes.) I never imagined how much it would change my life. As I get ready for bed tonight, taking Aleve because my titanium femur aches when I spend all day walking at my job, I can’t help but be thankful that I’m physically as well as I am, and mentally adjusted to deal with what my new “normal” is.

But I’m not telling you this to scare you away from riding your bike. There’s a lot of lessons I learned, and I still 100% believe that cycling is the key to a happy life for a lot of people. If nothing else, I want people to understand what I learned from my accident, and how I can still ride.

What did I learn from this radical change in my life? I’ve boiled it down to a few nuggets of wisdom… consider them learned the hard way.

  1. Be confident but predictable – If you’re riding your bike, you’re doing more for your future than most people, and you’re probably having fun doing it. Don’t be afraid to ride. If you’re obeying the traffic rules, you’re not doing anything wrong. Don’t be ashamed.
  2. Be courteous – I always motion to cars when it’s safe to pass me. Most people are very thankful that you acknowledge them. It also fosters good will towards other cyclists. Every bit helps!
  3. Be visible – If you are sharing roads with cars, then there’s absolutely no question: do whatever you can to be visible. If something happens to you, the first thing they will ask the driver is “did you see them” and if you’re lit up like a UFO, then the only thing they can conclude is if they didn’t see you, they weren’t looking. It does work!
    (Bonus tip: The single visibility item I’ve gotten comments on more than anything else is reflective ankle bands!)
  4. Be alert – This means always look twice. It means assume they don’t see you. It means pay attention to traffic around you, and the route you’re on. It means get enough rest so your judgement isn’t impaired. It means get a rear view mirror and use it. It seems like a lot, but once you get the hang of it, it’s not difficult at all (learn more important tips from www.wta.edu.au/traffic-management-control-course-perth/).
  5. Handle Your Bike – If you ride big miles, you eventually learn bike handling skills, and this helps a lot. But if you’re a beginner, you may want to check out a Traffic Skills 101 class from the League of American Bicyclists. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and practice!

With all that being said, #4 is what got me. Even though I had a green light, I didn’t double-check the intersection to make sure nothing was coming. I was focused on getting to work on time, not watching for cars. I wasn’t rested enough, and I made a bad judgement call to go through without checking.

As cyclists, we condemn drivers for being inattentive (and rightfully so!) but we are just as capable of making the same mistakes. Take your time, spread some goodwill, use your brain, and keep on cycling!

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Three Years: Looking Back

Today makes 3 years since I was waylaid by a car that ran a red light. I never imagined how much it would change my life. As I get ready for bed tonight (taking Aleve because my titanium femur aches when I spend all day walking at my job) I can’t help but be thankful that I’m physically as well as I am, and mentally adjusted to deal with what my new “normal” is.

The question is, if I knew I was going to end up in the hospital when I started riding my bike, would I still have done it? How much risk is acceptable… especially considering the massively potential benefits? How do we go through life mitigating risk? Should we live in fear, cowering in the dark every day of our lives?

No. Life is meant to be lived. Pain is a part of life, in varying amounts. Joy, love, exhilaration, and happiness are also part of life, also in varying amounts. We can’t only expect comfort and pleasant sailing when we’re accomplishing difficult things. It makes me even more thankful for the happiness I do have, and the good things that have happened. A lot of people would be bitter. I am thankful. Not thankful for the pain, but thankful that I lived to tell about it, and realize how much I had taken for granted. Thankful that God allowed me to recover, and through it, brought me closer to Him.

Don’t live life afraid. Embrace it fully, experience it deeply, and put forth your best, warts and all. Sometimes it will hurt. You just get up, get back on the bike, and keep riding. Continue reading “Three Years: Looking Back”

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Tasker And Flowcharts

In my quest to simplify, I’ve ventured into the territory of Information Automation. Since I discovered the app  Tasker, I’ve challenged myself to find new ways to exploit it to automate tasks that I really shouldn’t be wasting time on.

Tasker basically is an automation programming language for your Android device. It allows you to take any number of trigger inputs (GPS position, battery state, apps, network status, emails, RSS feeds, etc.) and then perform any series of tasks you program it to. It has the capability to be a full-fledged programming language, with conditional logic, variables, and so on, which lets you make some incredibly complex “tasks” for it to run.

It also has the capability of using almost anything your device can do as an “action” or output, which means you can automate just about anything your phone/tablet can do. Take pictures, play audio, send texts, run programs, share to social media, control the device’s functions, or even speak and listen to voice commands.

So, sometimes I geek out on stuff like flowcharts and such, and programming is the perfect place for it. Flowcharts! Graphs! Logic! Here’s how it works. Continue reading “Tasker And Flowcharts”

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Why I Bike Commute

The folks at the Bike Commuter Cabal were kind enough to let me write up some stuff for you to read about why I decided to start Bike Commuting, and how it changed my life.

Have you ever been at a point where you know you need to change, but you just don’t know where to start? Four years ago, I was at that point.

This would have been around 2010. I had recently moved back to my home town, had a beautiful family, and was pretty much happy. Except that I wasn’t happy. I was pretty miserable in fact, but I wasn’t letting on. Why? Some of the reasons (a lot of them) were related to my job, but a lot of it had to do with me being 40 pounds overweight. I was weighing in at 5′ 11″ and 215 pounds.

“That’s not so bad,” you’re probably thinking. Well, no, relatively speaking, there are a lot of people that are a lot heavier than I was. But the reality was that I knew my life, and my weight, were spiraling out of control. I was always tired, having digestion issues, sinus problems, sleep apnea, and I plowed through it, being miserable and pretty much always exhausted.

But I knew there was a better way. Thanks to my friend Mike, I got interested in whole foods (which I knew practically nothing about) and realized how much garbage I was putting into my body. Somewhere in that time, my job started getting very frustrating. I was hating going to work, and I’m ashamed to say it carried over into my home life. I was not being the husband and father my family deserved. I knew I needed a change, but I didn’t know where to start.

So I bought a bike.

Check it out here!
Bike Commuter Cabal Blog (EDIT: Fixed the link. I’m an idiot. But it’s fixed now.)

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Guitarix And Ubuntu For Live Use

I’m working on finishing up some articles and videos of demoing Guitarix in a live performance setting. Until then, here’s some screenshots of my rig in action! The last picture is what the laptop looks like when you put Guitarix in “Live” mode. The buttons at the bottom light up as you use MIDI triggers to turn on/off effects, so you can easily see what’s switched on. Also, if you have a pedal mapped to volume or wah, it shows what position the pedal is at. (That’s going to get a video demo as soon as I find the time!)

You can store presets in banks, so you can set up your sounds according to songs and sets.