Jim Lovell, the commander of Apollo 13, died yesterday. He was 97. I can’t add to anything that others have written, and I won’t try. I read Lovell’s book on the Apollo 13 disaster, Lost Moon, and, of course, I’ve seen Tom Hanks’ portrayal of Lovell in Ron Howard’s Apollo 13. I’ve known the storyContinue reading “A Saturday Miscellany”
Tag Archives: Linux Mint Debian Edition
Gollum Screams
The past week I’ve had a terrible feeling of FOMO. (That’s “Fear of Missing Out,” for those not up on the lingo.) Debian 13 is releasing on, IIRC, on August 9th. Two weeks away! And there is a nagging Gollum voice inside me screaming, “We needs it! We needs the Precious!” Except I don’t. I’mContinue reading “Gollum Screams”
The Meaning of Favorite Medieval Fonts
I feel seen. I think the Brothers Hildebrandt Tolkien calendars of the late 1970s, which I know my father had, instilled in me a love for uncial fonts that had lasted to this day. Even now, I have several uncial and insular-style fonts installed on my computer. I’ve had more, but that was in myContinue reading “The Meaning of Favorite Medieval Fonts”
A Day in FedoraLand
Friday was a work-from-home day. I could have gone into the office — on the one hand, I felt unproductive on Thursday, despite getting a great deal done, because the one project on my board that I knew would take multiple days was left unfinished; on the other, the office flooded last weekend and wasContinue reading “A Day in FedoraLand”
Workspace Keyboard Shortcuts for Cinnamon
One of the things I have come to like about Linux is its workspaces — or, if you prefer, virtual desktops. I actually get a little frustrated when I’m at work, or working in the VPN and remote desktop to work, when I’m in Windows and I don’t have them. Yesterday, for example, after upgradingContinue reading “Workspace Keyboard Shortcuts for Cinnamon”
Don’t Forget Your Towel
Fedora 42 released today, and I upgraded my installation. With a release number like 42, that called for a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy wallpaper. I liked this wallpaper, based on the movie. You can find it here. I really should have the Infocom Hitchhiker’s game running in the terminal — I have it hereContinue reading “Don’t Forget Your Towel”
Operating System Archaeology
About a month ago, digging into the drawers of my desk, I found a stack of old Linux install CDs. Mostly Linux Mint — versions 5, 6, 9, 12, 13, a couple of others I can’t remember off the top of my head — and an Ubuntu 8.04 CD. Ubuntu 8.04! The first Linux IContinue reading “Operating System Archaeology”
Revisiting a Retro Linux Desktop
Over the last month, I’ve return to a project I worked on in the fall — making a theme for the CTWM window manager for Linux. I started working on it in October, and reached a point where it looked nice enough, but it wasn’t finished. The config was messy, and I planned to revisitContinue reading “Revisiting a Retro Linux Desktop”