Frankly speaking ...

On my previous post, I noted that the X11 trackpad customisations. Since then I have implemented the SSD optimisation recommendations as recommended here . I'll give a summary below, where detailed notes on my configuration are here . First off is  /etc/fstab options to reduce writes: # /dev/sda1 UUID=??? / ext4 discard,noatime,commit=600,errors=remount-ro 0 1 # /dev/sda5 (swap) UUID=??? swap swap sw,discard 0 0  Next, reduce swappiness. Add to /etc/sysctl.conf # optimise for SSD vm.swappiness = 0  Finally, use the deadline scheduler. In /etc/udev/rules.d/60-ssd-scheduler.rules # Only sda is SSD, see https://wiki.debian.org/SSDOptimization # set deadline scheduler for non-rotating disks ACTION=="add|change", KERNEL=="sd[a-z]", ATTR{queue/rotational}=="0", ATTR{queue/scheduler}="deadline" In my case I need only do this on the sda device. Please read my document on this as it provides extra informa...

I am now using a  Lenovo X1 Carbon  for work. After the installation hassles with the Samsung Series 9 , I'm certainly sticking with Lenovo . It was such a breeze. While I had every intention to maintain the Windows 7 partition, between Lenovo and Windows they consumed all the spare volumes. If required, I can resort to Mac OS X as a commercial alternative. Besides, I have been Windows free since 1998, so have not got a valid reason to retain it. So Windows and Lenovo recovery got dumped onto an unused external hard disk. Someday, I may need to recover, but history is against it. My notes on the installation, though thin are here . It is running Debian , with Xfce installation . The only customisation worth noting are the X11 settings for the trackpad. The custom settings used are: # # File: /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf # Section "InputClass" Identifier "lenovo x1 carbon touchpad" Driver ...

I have been using a Samsung Series 9 with Linux Mint Debian Edition for nearly two years. It is a wonderful machine to use. Crisp screen. Fast. Silent. Lovely keyboard. But it was a real pain to get working reliably under Linux. And with the reported BIOS bug you feel like on tender hooks doing a reinstall or upgrade. I'm, however, relatively happy to report that apart from the occasional kernel panic when using USB ports it has been reliable. Now that I know it is USB sensitive, I take extra precautions when yanking out USB devices. Ensure it is properly unmounted, eject if able. Put machine into suspend mode, then yank out. A pain, but I'm more confident going the extra effort to avoid uncontrolled panics while in the middle of an edit. I am disappointed with recent change of direction of Linux Mint Debian Edition. I like the rolling release. Having successfully implement two updates now, the process is relatively smooth. However they have abandoned the Xfce desktop as ...

Here is the latest quackery, Scientists claim that quantum theory proves consciousness moves to another universe at death from Robert Lanza . This has been addressed many years ago by the respected physicist  Victor Stenger in Quantum Quackery . Here is a direct response, Biocentrism Demystified . Figures from the UK suggest that while people are leaving organised religions, they are increasing in spiritualist organisations. It requires constant and disproportionate effort to debunk spiritualist claims. It is far easier to make stuff up than to convince people of their fiction.

Since June 2012 my primary machine has been the Samsung Series 9 . It is a lovely machine to use. Great keyboard. Fabulous screen. Possibly, a too sensitive a track pad. I love the keyboard backlight, particularly if I want to do late night internet surfing! That being said, it was not the easiest of machines to build. My distribution of choice is Linux Mint Debian Edition . It is a rolling edition so at least I will not ever need to do a re-installation! In theory at least. So far so good. There is way to much to cover in this blog about what I did to configure this machine. Instead please read my Google Drive  page about this, here .

I’ve finally learning about JavaScript after listening to the Google TechTalk, Doug Crockford: JavaScript: The Good Parts . Here are my first couple of test scripts. I’m using Rhino for runtime and JSLint (obviously) to check the code. Through these code examples I learnt a lot, about the tools, the language and how to integrate it to do useful stuff. It is early days, but I can see JavaScript being a valuable instrument in my tool box! Example 1 - Random Digits Here is a simple command line script to produce random numbers from 0 to 9. The first two lines are pragmas passed to JSLint. /*jslint indent: 4, maxlen: 80, rhino: true */ /*global java*/ // returns a semi-random digit between 0 and 9 function getRandomDigit() {     'use strict' ;     return Math.round(Math.random() * 9); } // example using array var digitName = ( function () {     'use strict' ;     var names = [ 'zero' , 'one' , 'two' , 'three' , ...

Upgrade I recently had to perform upgrades for multiple machines from Update Pack 4 to Update Pack 5 . It was really rather easy to do as the following instructions show. Thanks to this blog for correcting some of my mistakes. Update the Update Manager The update manager will indicate when updates are available. For a distribution upgrade like Update Pack 5 , I revert to command line. Use CTL-ALT-F1 to switch to a native console session. Then update the update manager with the commands sudo apt-get install mint-debian-mirrors sudo apt-get install mintupdate-debian sudo apt-get --fix-missing --list-cleanup update sudo apt-get install mintupdate-debian Run Distribution Upgrade So, now we are ready to perform the upgrade with sudo apt-get --fix-missing --list-cleanup update sudo apt-get dist-upgrade Questions Asked During Upgrade Questions will be asked during the upgrade. If you have a default installation you can normally use the package...