I SLAM Ubuntu

Nah, I just can't resist using wordplay in the blog title. This post is about Ubuntu, SLAM, and myself however.

Before I lose the average PC user talking about Ubuntu, let's start off with SLAM, or, the Student Literary Arts Magazine of Pierce College. Sound familiar? I kinda hope so, seeing as this goes back to my second blog post in October. Well the truth is, I've been putting off submitting my photographs until now. I've finally got a short Bio typed up, the photos selected, and everything burned on to a dvd. In all hopes, I'm not too late for the 2010 issue and some of my works will be good enough for the magazine! I selected 13 of some of the very best pictures I have ever taken, so hopefully I'll make the cut. I have a good shot, I think. =)

Now onto Ubuntu. You may ask "What is this new devilry?!" I tell you, it is magic. Ubuntu is an OS, or Operating System - exactly like how you may use Windows XP, Vista, Win7, Linux (Ubuntu is a flavor of Linux), or a Mac. What's special about Ubuntu? For one, it's free, compiled by an assortment of experts (similar to Firefox's roots). Another bonus is that it's totally open-source, meaning I can modify nearly every program or process to suit my needs. It's also very lightweight and fast. When I'm at school I use it for most mundane things like browsing the internet since it starts up significantly faster than my Windows 7, which isn't really that bad to start with. There are also a lot of visual effects and other features not present in Windows. Another notable difference is that while in Windows and Mac you largely use a GUI (Graphical User Interface) to do almost everything, Ubuntu allows you to do everything and then some by command prompt. This basically means that if I open up a Terminal and enter something like "sudo gedit" it opens up the text editor without me having to find the icon on my computer. There's much more to it, but you get the basic idea.

I'm also proud to report that I've fixed up my old computer to the point it can run games at a very stable level. It is to be noted that a month ago the same computer couldn't even idle for more than 15 minutes without crashing. That's three functioning computers I have now! ...Well, the last one's an eMachine, so it doesn't really count. If you own an eMachine, get a new computer - trust me.

My current workspace. Sure it looks cluttered, and admittedly having two mice and keyboards can get confusing at times, but it's very efficient.

I couldn't really remember any of the many songs that must exist involving operating systems and art magazines, so I went with the ever-classic:
"I Think I Love You"
as by David Cassidy and The Partridge Family

The Information Surge

I've hit something I haven't felt since I first started working with computers at a young age. I've reacquired a hunger, a thirst for knowledge. In the words of Einstein, my history professor, Imam Shafi`e (a writer of the Qur’an), and most specifically Plato, "The more I study, the more I learn, the more I realize how little I know." The knowledge disease. Or, more aptly, a lust for more of it.

I've probably learned more things about my computers in the past few weeks than I have in the last several years combined. I've been poking, prodding, searching, seeking, adjusting, and tweaking areas of my computer that most people don't even know exist. I've developed a new understandings on how things work. I've even gotten my old computer up and running again in a single day from some problems that had been vexing me for the past two years. It's not uncommon for me now to have more than a dozen browser tabs up all on various topics, with several maintenance processes of some sort running in the background.

My source of inspiration came from a friend Travis, and his friends also. They were the ones who got me started, encouraged me when I couldn't figure out a frustrating problem, and equipped me with useful tools. I've also learned a lot from them about things you just don't learn any other way, like defensive hacking. Threats like packet sniffing? I never would have guessed! Now the importance of things like encryption in information transfer seem more sensible to me (instead of just protecting point A and B).

I've gained a significantly greater understanding of how things work, and each new thing I learn sends me on to five or six new topics! I've found going to sleep a rather painful thing, and I've even begun to work while we watch our nighttime tv.

Now if only someone would pay me to do stuff like this...

Today's song (actually edited in on the 26th...):
"Nerd Alert" by The Aquabats.
A former ska band, they never really lost the sense of goofiness.