Better backup, syncing, and sharing
August 4th, 2008
Ahhh…that day has finally come! I just got my Dropbox invite for the linux alpha 
I have been using Dropbox on my Mac for a few months now—it’s fantastic! There are three features that the service offers: backup, syncing, and sharing. It is the second feature, syncing, that I am most impressed with. Any file inside the Dropbox folder is continuously synced with the server. Every time I change the file Dropbox quietly and adroitly sends the changes, and only the changes, to the server.
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Export your Yojimbo database to a Tiddlywiki!
July 31st, 2008
The moment Yojimbo was released I grabbed a copy. I have used it daily ever since. Yojimbo is a very nice tool for quickly collecting bits of textual data in a searchable, taggable, and secure manner. But it has its limitations. Most notably—it only runs on Mac OS X. But it also suffers from a lack of export features 
As I have move my life over to linux (and open source software in general) I have been in search of a suitable alternative. My favorite, thus far, has been the simple Tiddlywiki. Incollector is a close runner up, but it fails the cross-platform test (it only runs on Windows and Linux, not the Mac OS.)
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No! Wha…oooh…wow. Yes!
July 28th, 2008
That new-band feeling
Using linux feels a lot like listening to an undiscovered band; it’s the new band none of my friends have listened to. When they first experience it they want it. I have it. I feel special. You know the story…
Huh? You haven’t heard this band?! Well, let me show you…their friends of mine. No, they’re not in the iTunes store…they released their album as a torrent. Never heard of a torrent?! Well…
Perhaps it’s the grass-roots community effort of it all. There is a very evangelistic aspect of running linux when everyone else is entrenched in their Mac OS or Windows. Everyone asks “why?” And the answer is usually intriguing enough to start some compelling conversation.
I have been wondering how linux creates that mystique and what advantage there might be in it. Most of the people I show it to have heard of linux, but they have never experienced it. I think there’s something in the experience that gives the initial impression extra impact (beyond simply reading about linux in a blog post.)
More productive “Open With” method
July 15th, 2008
Problem Summary
In switching from Mac OS Leopard to Ubuntu Linux there was one Mac feature I seriously missed—the ability to drag-and-drop a file onto any application icon to open it. In Ubuntu I experienced a reduction in productivity as I tried to find a way to get this file to open with that application when that application was not the default for that file type.
Description
Coming from the Mac, drag-and-drop is often the easiest way to perform an “open with” action, coaxing an application into opening a file. Perhaps the best example of this is the OS X Dock. The ever-present icons accept dropped files from anywhere.
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The Linux vs Mac Scorecards…
July 11th, 2008
I posted a new page: a set of Ubuntu vs Mac OS scorecards. This page contains an ever-evolving set of graphs illustrating my impressions of Ubuntu Linux as a replacement to the Mac OS.
As I experiment with Linux I will be updating the linux vs mac scorecards to reflect my experiences.
As always I appreciate comments and suggestions of tools available for Linux that can better handle any of the listed tasks. So when you get a chance check out the The Linux vs Mac Scorecards…
Bible Software on Ubuntu Linux
July 10th, 2008
As a Christian I am keenly interested in software that can help when studying the Bible. Coming from the Mac OS where there are no good Bible software offerings anything would be a blessing. So, for all you fellow Ubuntu-using Christians here is what I found.
GnomeSword 2 — 4 Stars
GnomeSword 2 is the only Gnome-native app of the bunch (I am running Ubuntu 8.04 with the Gnome desktop.) It is based on Crosswire’s Sword project.
Ubuntu Photo Manager Experiment
July 7th, 2008
I have a passion for photography and have become heavily entrenched in the tools available on Mac OS X, such as Aperture and Photoshop. This experiment focuses mainly on Aperture and what tools, if any, exist for Ubuntu to replace my Aperture workflow with something cross-platform and open-source that I can use on Mac OS X and Ubuntu.
Hypothesis:
Aperture will reign supreme and continue to be my default photo manager and raw photo editor after trying the Ubuntu Linux photo management alternatives. Honestly, I do not see how free and open source solutions can compete with Aperture.
Experiment:
I am heavily invested in Apple’s Aperture photo editor manager. Given Apple’s attention to detail, and the Core technologies available from the Mac OS, I had sincere doubts anything could stack up in the Linux world. But, I have been surprised many a time, especially by Ubuntu itself; I was looking forward to seeing what the open source world had to offer.
eMail in Ubuntu Linux
June 6th, 2008
Probably the most necessary task I need to accomplish on a daily basis is email communications. On Mac OS X I used the built in email client, Mail. When switching to Ubuntu I had a number of choices such as Evolution or Thunderbird, but I very quickly realized the problem therein—I was currently tied to the Apple Address book and Mail application. I had no portability. So along with my switch to Ubuntu I sought a cross-platform address and mail tool that would also give me portability. This is when I discovered the beauty of Gmail.
I had tried Gmail before and it never caught on because I had no need to switch to it—I never truly explored its features. Furthermore I thought I would need the offline editing that comes with a desktop email client. That is feature I have never missed since switching to Gmail.
My Second Ubuntu Linux Experiment
May 4th, 2008
Hypothesis:
Ubuntu Linux is a fun toy, but it probably will not succeed as a complete replacement of Mac OS X on my desktop at work.
Experiment:
Following up from my first Ubuntu Linux experiment, I learned enough to know that Ubuntu might work as a serious alternative to Mac OS X. But I did not like the problems present in Ubuntu 7.10 so I decided to try out the beta of Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron.
Despite the bugs still present in the beta, Hardy Heron worked much better on my PowerPC (PPC) laptop and it was stellar on my Intel Apple iMac.
My first Ubuntu Linux Experiment
March 20th, 2008
Hypothesis
Ubuntu 7.10 looks interesting, but it cannot replace Mac OS X as my primary operating system.
Experiment
I did not want to break my main desktop computer, so I first tried Ubuntu 7.10 on my 17″ 1.25 GHz G4 Powerbook. At that time the Power PC (PPC) version of Ubuntu was already officially unsupported, but the Ubuntu PPC community was very active so I gave it a go.
Despite having never played with Linux (except for using Yellow Dog Linux for 10 minutes about 6 years ago) the download, burning of the boot disk, and install went rather well. Everything worked up to and until I booted the laptop off its own hard-drive. It would not boot at all. I hit a black screen.
