Shallow Thoughts : tags : writing

Painless Panorama Stitching with Hugin

A couple of weeks ago in my Fotoxx article I discussed using Fotoxx to create panoramas.

But for panoramas bigger than a couple of images, you're much better off using the Linux panorama app: Hugin.

Hugin is very impressive, and much too capable to be summarized in a single short article, so I'm planning three. This week's article is a basic introduction: Painless Panorama Stitching with Hugin.

Tags: writing, linux, graphics, panorama, hugin
[ 14:11 Aug 26, 2010    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Fotoxx: the Greatest Little Linux Photo Editor You've Never Heard Of

Dave stumbled on a neat little photo editor while tricking out his old Vaio (P3/650 MHz, 192M RAM) and looking for lightweight apps. It's called Fotoxx and it's quite impressive: easy to use and packed with useful features.

So I wrote about it in this week's Linux Planet article: Fotoxx, the Greatest Little Linux Photo Editor You've Never Heard Of.

At first, I was most impressed by the Warp tool -- much easier to use than GIMP's IWarp, though it's rather slow and not quite as flexible as IWarp. But once I got to writing the article, I was blown away by two additional features: it has an automatic panorama stitcher and an HDR tool. GIMP doesn't have either of these features, at all.

Now, panorama stitching used to be a big deal, but it isn't so much any more now that Hugin has gotten much easier to use. (My article in two weeks will be about Hugin.) Fotoxx isn't quite that flexible: it can only stitch two images at a time, and can't handle images with a lot of overlap. (But Hugin has some limitations too.)

But HDR -- wow! I've been meaning to learn more about making HDR images in GIMP -- although it has no HDR tool, there are plug-ins to make it a bit easier to assemble one, just like my Pandora plug-in makes it a little easier to assemble panoramas. But now I don't need to -- fotoxx handles it automatically.

I won't be switching from GIMP any time soon for regular photo editing, of course -- GIMP is still much more flexible. But fotoxx is definitely worth a look, and I'll be keeping it installed to make HDR images, if nothing else.

Tags: writing, linux, graphics, panorama, HDR
[ 14:44 Aug 12, 2010    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Writing scripts for your Canon camera with CHDK

On Linux Planet yesterday: an article on how to write scripts for chdk, the Canon Hack Development Kit -- Part 3 in my series on CHDK.

Time-Lapse Photography with your Inexpensive Canon Camera (CHDK p. 3)

I found that CHDK scripting wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped -- some of the functions, especially the aperture and shutter setting, were quite flaky on my A540 so it really didn't work to write a bracketing script. But it's fantastic for simple tasks like time-lapse photography, or taking a series of shots like the Grass Roots Mapping folk do.

If you're at OSCON and you like scripting and photos, check out my session on Thursday afternoon at 4:30: Writing GIMP Plug-ins and Scripts, in which I'll walk through several GIMP scripts in Python and Script-Fu and show some little-known tricks you can do with Python plug-ins.

Tags: photo, writing, programming, mapping, conf, oscon, speaking
[ 09:31 Jul 21, 2010    More photo | permalink to this entry ]

Article: CHDK part 2

Part 2 of my series on hacking Canon point-and-shoot cameras with CHDK: Turn Your Compact Canon Camera Into a Super-Camera With CHDK, discusses some of CHDK's major features, like RAW image file support, "zebra mode" and on-screen histograms, and custom video modes (ever been annoyed that you can't zoom while shooting a video?)

Perhaps equally important, it discusses how to access these modes and CHDK's other special menus, how to load CHDK automatically whenever you power the camera on, and how to disable it temporarily.

Part 3, yet to come, will discuss how to write CHDK scripts.

Tags: writing, photo
[ 16:27 Jul 08, 2010    More photo | permalink to this entry ]

Article: Customize or Hack your Canon camera with CHDK

My latest Linux Planet article came out a day early: RAW Support (and more) For Your Canon Camera With CHDK.

CHDK is a cool way you can load custom firmware onto a Canon camera. It lets you do all sorts of useful hacks, from saving in RAW format even in cameras that supposedly don't allow that, to getting more control over aperture, shutter speed and other parameters, to writing scripts to control the camera.

I didn't have space for all that in one article, so today's Part 1 simply covers how to install CHDK; Part 2, in two weeks, will discuss some of the great things you can do with CHDK.

Tags: writing, photo
[ 19:02 Jun 23, 2010    More photo | permalink to this entry ]

GIMP 3-D, 3 Ways

I'm back from Europe (and still recovering from a cold picked up right after I got back). And today I have a GIMP quickie on Linux Planet discussing three ways to add three-dimensional looks to otherwise flat images in GIMP:

GIMP 3-D, 3 Ways.

Tags: writing, gimp
[ 09:36 Jun 10, 2010    More gimp | permalink to this entry ]

Kdenlive part 2: adding transitions, sounds and titles to your movies

I've been so busy with Libre Graphics Meeting -- a whirlwind of GIMP caucuses, open source graphics, free art and sharing of ideas -- that I forgot to notice that part 2 of my kdenlive article was up on Linux Planet.

Making Movies in Linux with Kdenlive, part 2: Spice up Those Kdenlive Videos.

Tags: writing, linux, video
[ 02:45 May 30, 2010    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Kdenlive -- the easy way to make movies

A couple of weeks ago, I shot a lot of short video clips with my digital camera at an indoor fun fly (in the intervals when I wasn't crashing around with the other crazy pilots).

But then ... what to do with a bunch of disconnected video clips? I've uploaded short clips to youtube before, but never extracted the good parts and edited them together. And most video editing programs look pretty complex.

The answer turned out to be kdenlive, which was surprisingly easy to use -- once I got past one initial bug. So I wrote up the details. Part I, covering the basics of how to get started and combine clips, is on Linux Planet: Making Movies in Linux with Kdenlive.

Watch for part II in a couple of weeks, where I'll cover transition effects, music and titles.

Tags: writing, linux, video
[ 18:25 May 13, 2010    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Article: /etc/fstab basics

On Linux Planet, an article about the /etc/fstab file and how to customize it: Understanding fstab.

Tags: writing, linux
[ 10:37 Apr 22, 2010    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Article: Linux Boot Camp, part 2: Upstart

On Linux Planet, an article about how Upstart manages the Linux boot process, how it's used in various distros, and how to explore and control it:

The Upstart Startup Manager (Linux Boot Camp part 2)

Tags: writing, linux, boot
[ 09:49 Apr 08, 2010    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Article: Making Bash Error Messages Friendlier

A while back I worked on an error handler for bash that made the shell a lot friendlier for newbies (or anyone else, really).

Linux Planet gave me the chance to write it up in more detail, explaining a bit more about how it works: Making Bash Error Messages Friendlier.

Tags: writing, linux, shell
[ 16:17 Apr 02, 2010    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Article: Linux Boot Camp (part 1: SysV Init)

My latest article is up on Linux Planet: How Linux Boots: Linux Boot Camp (Part I: SysV Init)

It describes the boot sequence, from grub to kernel loading to init scripts to starting X. Part I covers the classic "SysV Init" model still used to some extent by every distro; part II will cover Upstart, the version that's gradually working its way into some of the newer Linux releases.

Tags: writing, linux, boot
[ 14:25 Mar 25, 2010    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Grub2 Tutorial, Part 3

Part 3 and final of my series on configuring Ubuntu's new grub2 boot menu. I translate a couple of commonly-seen error messages, but most of the article is devoted to multi-boot machines. If you have several different operating systems or Linux distros installed on separate disk partitions, grub2 has some unpleasant surprises, so see my article for some (unfortunately very hacky) workarounds for its limitations.

Why use Grub2? Good question!
(Let me note that I didn't write the title, though I don't disagree with it.)

Tags: writing, linux, grub, ubuntu
[ 09:56 Mar 11, 2010    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Grub2 Tutorial, Part 2

Part 2 of my 3-parter on configuring Ubuntu's new grub2 boot menu covers cleaning up all the bogus menu entries (if you have a multiple-boot system) and some tricks on setting color and image backgrounds:

Cleaning up your boot menu (Grub2 part 2).

Tags: writing, linux, grub, ubuntu
[ 21:49 Feb 25, 2010    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Grub2 Tutorial, Part 1

Upgraded to Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic and wondering how to configure your boot menu or set it up for multiple boots?

Grub2 Worms Into Ubuntu (part 1) is an introductory tutorial -- just enough to get you started. More details will follow in parts 2 and 3.

Tags: writing, linux, grub, ubuntu
[ 16:40 Feb 11, 2010    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

On Linux Planet: a simple Poker game in Python-Qt

I've written in the past about Python GUI programming using the GTK and Tk toolkits, and several KDE fans felt that I was slighting the much nicer looking Qt.

So my latest article on Linux Planet, Make Pretty GUI Apps Fast with Python-Qt, shows how to develop a little poker game using the python-qt toolkit.

I didn't want to dwell on it in the article (and didn't have space anyway), but pyqt turned out to be a bit of a pain. There's no official documentation -- or at least nothing that's obviously official -- and a lot of the examples on google are out of date because of API changes. None of the tutorial examples explain much, and they never demonstrate the practical features I'd want to do in a real app. It was surprisingly hard to come up with an application idea that worked well, looked good and was still easy to explain.

And don't get me started on this whole "Slots and signals are revolutionarily different even though they look just like the callbacks every other toolkit has used for the last three decades" meme. I'm sure there is a subtle technical difference -- but if there's a difference that matters to the average UI programmer, their documentation sure doesn't make it clear.

All that aside, PyQt (and Qt in general) does produce very pretty apps and is worth trying for that reason.

The suit images in the article are adapted from some suits I found on Wikimedia Commons (the "Naipe" set). I wanted them to look more 3-dimensional, so I applied my blobipy GIMP script as well as scaling and resizing them. I really liked those shiny-looking Tango heart and spade emblems (also on the Wikimedia Commons page) but I couldn't find a diamond or club to match.

The poker program I wrote has menus and a second round of dealing, where you can mark off the cards you want to keep. I couldn't fit all that in a 700-word article, but the complete program is available here: qpoker.py or you can get it in a tarball along with the suit images at qpoker.tar.gz.

Tags: programming, writing, qt, python-qt
[ 09:53 Jan 28, 2010    More programming | permalink to this entry ]

Print Beautiful Custom Calendars in Linux With Photo Calendar

Didn't get the calendar you wanted for Christmas this year? Print your own, with your choice of photos and holidas. My Linux Planet Photo Calendar article shows how.

Tags: writing, linux, calendar
[ 16:53 Jan 14, 2010    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Fixing holiday photos with GIMP

Third in my GIMP-for-the-holidays series on Linux Planet: Fixing holiday photos with GIMP

Happy holidays, everybody ... and happy holiday photos!

Tags: writing, gimp, printing
[ 18:44 Dec 23, 2009    More gimp | permalink to this entry ]

Print your custom-made greeting cards

A followup to last week's article on making custom greeting cards with GIMP, today's Linux Planet tutorial discusses how to get those cards printed -- even if you don't own a decent color printer.

On Linux Planet: Printing Holiday Cards Even if you Don't Have a Printer.

Tags: writing, gimp, printing
[ 18:50 Dec 17, 2009    More gimp | permalink to this entry ]

GIMP Tutorial: Make your own holiday greeting cards

Today's Linux Planet tutorial is a simple walkthrough showing you how to make custom greeting cards in GIMP:

Make Your Own Holiday Cards with GIMP.

Have fun!

Part 2, next week, will offer tips on printing, whether on a home inkjet or using other services.

Tags: writing, gimp
[ 14:19 Dec 10, 2009    More gimp | permalink to this entry ]

"Cookies are small text files" -- what?

"Cookies are small text files which websites place on a visitor's computer."

I've seen this exact phrase hundreds of times, most recently on a site that should know better, The Register.

I'm dying to know who started this ridiculous non-explanation, and why they decided to explain cookies using an implementation detail from one browser -- at least, I'm guessing IE must implement cookies using separate small files, or must have done so at one point. Firefox stores them all in one file, previously a flat file and now an sqlite database.

How many users who don't know what a cookie is do know what a "text file" is? No, really, I'm serious. If you're a geek, go ask a few non-geeks what a text file is and how it differs from other files. Ask them what they'd use to view or edit a text file. Hint: if they say "Microsoft Word" or "Open Office", they don't know.

And what exactly makes a cookie file "text" anyway? In Firefox, cookies.sqlite is most definitely not a "text file" -- it's full of unprintable characters. But even if IE stores cookies using printable characters -- have you tried to read your cookies? I just went and looked at mine, and most of them looked something like this:

Name: __utma
Value: 76673194.4936867407419370000.1243964826.1243871526.1243872726.2

I don't know about you, but I don't spend a lot of time reading text that looks like that.

Why not skip the implementation details entirely, and just tell users what cookies are? Users don't care if they're stored in one file or many, or what character set is used. How about this?

Cookies are small pieces of data which your web browser stores at the request of certain web sites.

I don't know who started this meme or why people keep copying it without stopping to think. But I smell a Fox Terrier. That was Stephen Jay Gould's example of a factoid invented by one writer and blindly copied by all who come later, (the fox terrier -- and no other breed -- was used for years to describe the size of Eohippus). At least that one was reasonably close. Gould went on to describe many more examples where people copied the wrong information, each successive textbook copying the last with no one ever going back to the source to check the information. It's usually a sign that the writer doesn't really understand what they're writing. Surely copying the phrase everyone else uses must be safe!

Tags: web, browsers, writing, skepticism, tech, firefox, mozilla
[ 20:25 Dec 01, 2009    More tech/web | permalink to this entry ]

Character Sets and Encodings in Linux, part 2

Continuing the discussion of those funny characters you sometimes see in email or on web pages, today's Linux Planet article discusses how to convert and handle encoding errors, using Python or the command-line tool recode:

Mastering Characters Sets in Linux (Weird Characters, part 2).

Tags: writing, linux, unicode, i18n, charsets, ascii, programming, python
[ 14:06 Nov 25, 2009    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Article: Character Sets and Encodings in Linux

or: Why do I See All Those Those Weird Characters?

Today's Linux Planet article concerns those funny characters you sometimes see in email or on web pages, like when somebody puts “random squiggles’ around a phrase when they probably meant “double quotes”:

Character Sets in Linux or: Why do I See Those Weird Characters?.

Today's article covers only what users need to know. A followup article will discuss character encoding from a programmer's point of view.

Tags: writing, linux, unicode, i18n, charsets, ascii
[ 15:34 Nov 12, 2009    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Article: Building Your Own Linux Kernel, Part III

Part III of building your own kernel, Tricky kernel options, covers some of the more confusing options you'll encounter when configuring your kernel.

Meanwhile, I'm still jazzed about the great howto that Nathan Willis of Worldlabel.com wrote a few days ago for my Gimp labels scripts: Fast labels and Card layout with Gimplabels.

Tags: writing, linux, kernel
[ 14:03 Oct 22, 2009    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Article: Building Your Own Linux Kernel, Part II

Part II of building your own kernel, Configuring a New Linux Kernel, covers how to run menuconfig, how to disable modules and slim down the kernel to only the parts you need, and a few important options to look for.

Part III, in two weeks, will tour some specific kernel options and what they do.

Tags: writing, linux, kernel
[ 09:19 Oct 10, 2009    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Article: Building Your Own Linux Kernel, Part I

My latest article is up on Linux Planet: Building Your Own Linux Kernel, Part I.

"But aren't there a gazillion howtos already on the web on kernel building?" I thought so too. But when someone showed up on LinuxChix recently asking for help building her kernel, I went looking -- and all the howtos I could find were out of date (even the README in the very latest kernel gives instructions based on LILO, not GRUB).

More important, none of them offered help in that all-important question: How do I start with a configuration file I know will work?

My quick-and-dirty howto shows you how to take your distro's configuration file and build the latest mainstream kernel based on it. The next article will cover how to change that configuration and tune it for your own machine.

Tags: writing, linux, kernel
[ 09:45 Sep 25, 2009    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Article: Linux on Multicore Processors

Linux Planet requested an article on multicore processors and how to make the most of them. Happily, I've been playing with that anyway lately, so I was happy to oblige:

Get the Most Out of Your Multicore Processor: Two heads are better than one!

Tags: writing, linux, performance
[ 21:59 Sep 11, 2009    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Linux Bloat 102

Part 2 of my Linux bloat article looks at information you can get from the kernel via some useful files in /proc, at three scripts that display that info, and also at how to use exmap, an app and kernel module that shows you a lot more about what resources your apps are using. How Do You Really Measure Linux Bloat?

Tags: writing, programming, linux, performance, bloat
[ 19:52 Aug 27, 2009    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Linux Bloat 101

Continuing my Linux Planet series on Linux performance monitoring, the latest article looks at bloat and how you can measure it: Finding and Trimming Linux Bloat.

This one just covers the basics. The followup article, in two weeks, will dive into more detail on how to analyze what resources programs are really using.

Tags: writing, programming, linux, performance, bloat
[ 10:27 Aug 13, 2009    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Twittering -- and writing Twitter clients

I finally dragged myself into 2009 and tried Twitter.

I'd been skeptical, but it's actually fairly interesting and not that much of a time sink. While it's true that some people tweet about every detail of their lives -- "I'm waiting for a bus" / "Oh, hooray, the bus is finally here" / "I got a good seat in the second row of the bus" / "The bus just passed Second St. and two kids got on" / "Here's a blurry photo from my phone of the Broadway Av. sign as we pass it" -- it's easy enough to identify those people and un-follow them.

And there are tons of people tweeting about interesting stuff. It's like a news ticker, but customizable -- news on the latest protests in Iran, the latest progress on freeing the Mars Spirit Rover, the latest interesting publication on dinosaur fossils, and what's going on at that interesting conference halfway around the world.

The trick is to figure out how you want the information delivered. I didn't want to have to leave a tab open in Firefox all the time. There was an xchat plug-in that sounded perfect -- I have an xchat window up most of the time I'm online -- but it turned out it works by picking one of the servers you're connected to, making a private channel and posting things there. That seemed abusive to the server -- what if everyone on Freenode did that?

So I wanted a separate client. Something lightweight and simple. Unfortunately, all the Twitter clients available for Linux either require that I install a lot of infrastructure first (either Adobe Air or Mono), or they just plain didn't work (a Twitter client where you can't click on links? Come on!)

But then I tried out the Python-Twitter bindings, and they were so easy to use I decided to write them up for my next Linux Planet article, which came out today: Write Your Own Linux Twitter Client In Less Time Than It Takes To Find One!.

The article shows how to use the bindings to write a bare-bones client. But of course, I've been hacking on the client all along, so the one I'm actually using has a lot more features like *ahem* letting you click on links. And letting you block threads, though I haven't actually tested that since I haven't seen any threads I wanted to block since my first day.

You can download the current version of Twit, and anyone who's interested can follow me on Twitter. I don't promise to be interesting -- that's up to you to decide -- but I do promise not to tweet about every block of my bus ride.

Tags: writing, programming, python, twitter
[ 15:09 Jul 09, 2009    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

A Beginner's Guide to Free Software Programming Languages

Linux Planet asked me for an intro article for prospective programmers, explaining the pros and cons of various programming languages. Here it is: A Beginner's Guide to Free Software Programming Languages

Tags: writing, programming
[ 12:00 Jun 28, 2009    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Programming With PyGTK, part 3: Key events and object oriented Python

Part 3 of "Graphical Python Programming With PyGTK" uses object-oriented Python to clean up the code from Part 2, and also adds handling of key events to get rid of that silly Quit button. PythonGTK Programming part 3: Screensaver, Objects, and User Input

Tags: writing, python, programming
[ 11:18 Jun 14, 2009    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Programming With PyGTK, part 2: pretty screensaver-type graphics

Part 2 of Graphical Python Programming With PyGTK gets into how to do some cool Qix screensaver-style graphics, in: Graphical Python Programming With PyGTK, part 2: Write Your Own Screensaver.

There's also a digg link.

Tags: writing, python, programming
[ 17:09 May 28, 2009    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Graphical Python Programming With PyGTK

This week's Linux Planet article is another one on Python and graphical toolkits, but this time it's a little more advanced: Graphical Python Programming With PyGTK.

This one started out as a fun and whizzy screensaver sort of program that draws lots of pretty colors -- but I couldn't quite fit it all into one article, so that will have to wait for the sequel two weeks from now.

Tags: writing, python, programming
[ 18:53 May 14, 2009    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Linux Planet: GIMP Python Plugins, part II

Latest Linux Planet article: How to write a "blobify" GIMP plug-in in Python to make text look three-dimensional.

Creating a Fancy 3D-Effect GIMP Plugin in Python.

Tags: gimp, writing, python
[ 10:46 Apr 23, 2009    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Linux Planet: Writing Plugins for GIMP in Python

Latest Linux Planet article: Part 1 of a two-parter on Writing GIMP scripts in Python. As usual, there's a Digg link too.

Tags: gimp, writing, python
[ 21:21 Apr 09, 2009    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Pluto Visits the States

This is a reprinting of an article I wrote for my monthly planet column in the SJAA Ephemeris:

Is Pluto a planet, or not? Maybe you caught the news last month that Illinois, birthplace of Clyde Tombaugh, has declared Pluto a planet. It joins New Mexico, Tombaugh's longtime home, which made a similar declaration two years ago.

When I first heard about the New Mexico resolution, I was told that they had declared that Pluto would be a planet within the state's boundaries. That made me a bit curious: would Pluto even fit inside New Mexico? I looked it up: Pluto has a diameter of 2300km, while New Mexico is about 550km in longitude and a bit more in latitude. Not even close (see Figure 1). Too bad -- I liked the image of Pluto and Charon coming to visit and hang out with friends. Though at Pluto's orbital velocity (it takes it just under 248 years to complete its 18 billion kilometer orbit, meaning an average speed of 23 million km/year or 63,000 km/day) and its current distance of about 32 AU (4.8 billion km), it whould take it about 207 years to get here.

But it turns out that's not what the resolution said anyway. Both states' resolutions said roughly the same thing:

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that, as Pluto passes overhead through New Mexico's excellent night skies, it be declared a planet and that March 13, 2007 be declared "Pluto Planet Day" at the legislature.

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that as Pluto passes overhead through Illinois' night skies, that it be reestablished with full planetary status, and that March 13, 2009 be declared "Pluto Day" in the State of Illinois in honor of the date its discovery was announced in 1930.

So the law applies to anyone (though it's probably not enforceable outside state boundaries) -- but only when Pluto is overhead in New Mexico or Illinois.

But wait -- does Pluto ever actually pass overhead in those states?

New Mexico stretches from 31.2 to about 37 degrees latitude, while Illinois spans 36.9 to 42.4. Right now Pluto is in Sagittarius, with a declination of -17° 41'; there's no way anyone in the US is going to see it directly overhead this year. Worse, it's on its way even farther south. It won't cross into the northern hemisphere until the beginning of 2111. But how far north will it go?

My first thought was to add Pluto's inclination -- 17.15 degrees, very high compared to other planets -- to the 23 degrees of the ecliptic to get 40.4°. Way far north -- no problem in either state! But unfortunately it's not as simple as that.

It turns out that when Pluto gets to its maximum north inclination, it's in Bootes (bet you didn't know Bootes was a constellation of the zodiac, did you? It's that 17° inclination that puts Pluto just past the Virgo border). That'll happen in February of 2228.

But in the Virgo/Bootes region, the ecliptic is 8° south of the equator, not 23° north. So we don't get to add 23 and 17; in fact, Pluto's declination will only be about 7.3° north. That's no help!

To find the time when Pluto gets as far north as it's going to get, you have to combine the declination of the ecliptic and the angle of Pluto above the ecliptic. The online JPL HORIZONS simulator is very helpful for running data like that over long periods -- much easier than plugging dates into a planetarium program. HORIZONS told me that Pluto's maximum northern declination, 23.5°, will happen in spring of 2193.

Unfortunately, 23.5° isn't far enough north to be overhead even from Las Cruces, NM. So Pluto, sadly, will never be overhead from either New Mexico or Illinois, and thus by the text of the two measures, it will never be a planet.

With that in mind, I'm asking you to support my campaign to persuade the governments of Ecuador and Hawaii to pass resolutions similar to the New Mexico and Illinois ones. Please give generously -- and hurry, because we need your support before April 1!

Tags: science, astronomy, pluto, humor, writing
[ 19:09 Apr 01, 2009    More science/astro | permalink to this entry ]

GUI Programming in Python For Beginners

Latest on Linux Planet: another introductory programming article, this time on Python's tkinter library: GUI Programming in Python For Beginners. (As usual, there's a Digg link and also a Reddit one.)

Tags: writing, python, programming
[ 15:36 Mar 26, 2009    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Linux Planet: Basic Shell Scripting

I'm beginning a programming series on Linux Planet, starting with a basic intro to shell scripting for people with no programming experience: Intro to Shell Programming: Writing a Simple Web Gallery

(For those inclined, digg and reddit links).

Tags: writing, shell, CLI
[ 22:08 Mar 12, 2009    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Linux Planet article: DotDot and Permissions

Probably the last in the commandline series (at least for a while, today's article covers the meaning of . and .. in Linux pathnames, and how to tell what permissions a file has.

Sharing Files in Linux and Understanding Pathnames

Tags: writing, shell, CLI
[ 21:26 Feb 26, 2009    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Navigating the Linux filesystem

My latest Linux Planet article covers how to find your way around the Linux filesystem in the command-line, for anyone who wants to graduate from file managers and start using the shell.

Navigating the Linux Filesystem (and the Digg link for those so inclined).

Tags: writing, shell, CLI
[ 17:42 Feb 12, 2009    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

What is a shell, anyway?

Continuing the basic Linux command-line tutorial series, a discussion of the difference between a terminal window and a shell: The Linux Command Shell For Beginners: What is the Shell?

(Digg link, for those who digg).

Tags: writing, shell, CLI
[ 16:16 Dec 22, 2008    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Navigating the Linux filesystem

My latest Linux Planet article covers how to find your way around the Linux filesystem in the command-line, for anyone who wants to graduate from file managers and start using the shell.

Navigating the Linux Filesystem (and the Digg link for those so inclined).

Tags: writing, shell, CLI
[ 12:49 Dec 12, 2008    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Handling Long URLs in Firefox

I have a new Firefox Tips article up on Linux Planet: The Plague of Ridiculously Long URLs (note I didn't choose the title). It discussees how to handle long URLs broken over several lines, of the sort we so often see in email messages.

Tags: writing, mozilla, firefox
[ 09:43 Nov 20, 2008    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Linux Planet: Why Firefox Rocks on Linux

My latest Linux Planet article, Why Firefox Rocks on Linux, discusses Linux-specific Firefox shortcuts involving the middle mouse button, the URLbar and the scrollbar. It's getting good Diggs, too, and comments from people who found the tips helpful, which is great. A lot of people don't know about some of these great Linux time-savers, but these are the sort of things that make me love Linux and stick with it even when it gets frustrating. I hate to think of people missing out just because there's no obvious way to discover some of the shortcuts!

Tags: writing, mozilla, firefox, linux
[ 20:44 Nov 06, 2008    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

A word count bookmarklet

This posting ended up being published as a Linux Planet Quick Tip. You can read about my nifty word counting bookmarklet there: Quick Firefox Tip: Word Count Bookmarklet.

Tags: firefox, mozilla, bookmarklets, writing, programming
[ 22:41 Nov 03, 2008    More tech/web | permalink to this entry ]

Two articles: Linux Bookmarklets

I've been writing a new series for Linux Planet, on Firefox Tricks. The first two articles cover bookmarklets, something I've mentioned a few times in this blog):

Simple Bookmarklets: The Power of the Command Line in your Browser
and
Roll Your Own Custom Bookmarklets In Firefox, part 2: Javascript Bookmarklets.

Tags: writing, mozilla, firefox, bookmarklets
[ 22:32 Oct 26, 2008    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Avoiding jargon may be harder than you think

An interesting occurrence at a Toastmasters meeting last week offered a lesson in the difficulties of writing or speaking about technology.

The member who was running Table Topics had an interesting project planned: "Bookmarks". I thought, things you put in books to mark your place? Then I saw the three-page printout he had brought and realized that, duh, of course, he means browser bookmarks.

The task, he explained, was to scan his eclectic list of bookmarks, pick three, and tell a story about them.

Members reacted with confusion. Several of them said they didn't understand what he meant at all. Would he give an example? So he chose three and gave a short demonstration speech. But the members still looked confused. He said if they wanted to pick just one, that would be okay. Nobody looked relieved.

We did a couple rounds. I gave a rambling tale that incorporated three or four bookmarks. One of our newer members took the list, and wove a spirited story that used at least five (she eventually won the day's Best Table Topic ribbon). Then the bookmark list passed to one of the members who had expressed confusion.

She stared at the list, obviously baffled. "I still don't understand. What do they have to do with bookmarks?" "Browser bookmarks," I clarified, and a couple of other people chimed in on that theme, but it obviously wasn't helping. Several other members crowded around to get a look at the list. Brows furrowed. Voices murmured. Then one of them looked up. "Are these like ... Favorites?"

There was a immediate chorus of "Favorites?" "Oh, like in an Explorer window?" "You mean like on the Internet?" "Ohhh, I think I get it ..." Things improved from there.

I don't think the member who presented this project had any idea that a lot of people wouldn't understand the term "Bookmark", as it applies to a list of commonly-visited sites in a browser. Nor did I. I was momentarily confused thinking me meant the other kind of bookmark (the original kind, for paper books), but realizing that he meant browser bookmarks cleared it right up for me. A bigger surprise to me was that the word "browser" wasn't any help to half the membership -- none of them understood what a "browser" was any more than they knew what a "bookmark" was. "Like in an Explorer window?" or "on the internet" was the closest they got to the concept that they were running a specific program called a web browser.

These aren't stupid people; they just don't use computers much, and haven't ever learned the terminology for some of the programs they use or the actions they take. When you're still learning something, you fumble around, sometimes getting where you need to go be accident; you don't always know how you got there, much less the terms describing the steps you took. Even if you're an übergeek, I'm sure you have programs where you fumble about and aren't quite sure how you get from A to B.

You may sometimes be surprised at meeting people who still use Internet Explorer and haven't tried Firefox, let alone Opera. You may wonder if it's the difficulty of downloading and installing software that stops them. But the truth may be that questions like "Have you tried Firefox?" don't really mean anything to a lot of people; they're not really aware that they're using Internet Explorer in the first place. It's just a window they've managed to open to show stuff on the internet.

Avoiding technical jargon is sometimes harder than you think. Seemingly basic concepts are not so basic as they seem; terms you think are universal turn out not to be. You have to be careful with terminology if you to be understood ... and probably the only way to know for sure if you're using jargon is to try out your language on an assortment of people.

Tags: tech, browsers, writing, muggles
[ 11:23 Sep 28, 2008    More tech | permalink to this entry ]

Linux Planet: Linux Astronomy part III: Stellarium and Celestia

Part III in the Linux Astronomy series on Linux Planet covers two 3-D apps, Stellarium and Celestia.

Writing this one was somewhat tricky because the current Ubuntu, "Hardy", has a bug in its Radeon handling and both these apps lock my machine up pretty quickly, so I went through a lot of reboot cycles getting the screenshots. (I found lots of bug reports and comments on the web, so I know it's not just me.) Fortunately I was able to test both apps and grab a few screenshots on Fedora 8 and Ubuntu "Feisty" without encountering crashes. (Ubuntu sure has been having a lot of trouble with their X support lately! I'm going to start keeping current Fedora and Suse installs around for times like this.)

Tags: writing, astronomy, linux, ubuntu, bugs
[ 21:10 Sep 22, 2008    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Linux Planet: Linux Astronomy part II: XEphem

I have a new article on XEphem on Linux Planet, following up to the KStars article two weeks ago: Viewing the Night Sky with Linux, Part II: Visit the Planets With XEphem.

Tags: writing, astronomy, linux
[ 10:50 Sep 12, 2008    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Writing for Linux Planet: Stargazing with KStars

I have an article on Linux Planet! The first of many, I hope. At least the first of a short series on Linux astronomy programs, starting with the one that's easiest to use: KStars. It's oriented toward binocular observing, with suggestions for good targets for beginners.

Viewing the Night Sky with Linux, Part I: KStars

Tags: writing, astronomy, linux
[ 21:46 Aug 28, 2008    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

GIMP course started

I've started my "GIMP for Beginners" course on the Linuxchix Courses mailing list, topic "gimp".

Anyone reading this is welcome to join in!

Here's the first posting, Lesson 0.

Tags: writing
[ 10:10 Jan 25, 2005    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

"Wireless on the Road" in Linux Journal

My article on Wireless on the Road, based on experiences getting wi-fi connections on our recent southwest trip, is in Linux Journal online, with a reference in Linux Today. My first official byline, Yeehaw!

Master wordsmith Carla Schroder helped, with both encouragement and proofreading. Thanks, Carla! (BTW, Carla's new book, The Linux Cookbook, just came out. I saw a couple of early pre-production chapters, and it's already solved several Linux problems I was struggling with. I'm sure the rest of the book is just as good, and I'll be buying it. Don't confuse it with the other book by the same name but a different author.)

Tags: writing
[ 13:17 Dec 01, 2004    More writing | permalink to this entry ]

Image Formats for the Web

Every time I see someone ask about image formats, I think "Someone really ought to write up a howto explaining the difference between GIF, JPG and all the other formats, and what they're good for." There probably are documents like this, but I've never seen one. So I wrote one. Image Formats for the Web and Elsewhere. (I'll probably give a Toastmasters talk on the subject as well.)

Tags: writing
[ 14:25 Oct 31, 2004    More writing | permalink to this entry ]