So, I was having some bluetooth issues and some ATI issues with my Ubuntu Gutsy install on the laptop (Dell Inspiron 6400), and after proving that I am not quite “ready for prime time” on troubleshooting obscure issues in Linux, I went ahead and acquiesced to the “rebuild” mentality that served me so well in the Windows world. But, unsatisfied with the install process on Gutsy (the ATI video in my laptop is not really super duper supported by the drivers on the install CD, so you have to do an alternate install and then run scripts and shit to get stuff working). Never one to shirk from beta software, I decided to install Ubuntu Hardy Heron alpha 6 (8.04).

The install? Flawless. Not a thing I would change. I got one error on startup, because an existing “session” entry called for an app I hadn’t installed yet. No problem, fixed easily. The kicker? xrandr automatically grabbed my correct screen resolution. Even without the restricted ATI drivers installed. Mind blowing. Bluetooth picked up automatically. The multiformat card reader on the side? PIcked up automatically. Just wonderful

What didn’t work? Well, the wireless. I had to manually remove and re-install the “b43-fwcutter” package, because though it was installed, it had no firmware to… cut, I guess. The manual install from the command line pulled down the firmware and it immediately sprang to action, enabling my wireless. And shutdown causes a squawk of network manager errors that vomit forth just before the final shutdown., but nothing show stopping.

And now that I’m actually using it in my day to day, I can say I’m exceptionally interested in the final product. They’ve done a great job of incremental progress towards a really clean user experience. The fonts all look great, the screen really pops, and the icons have been nicely smoothed and worked over.

Plus, it includes Firefox 3 Beta 3 out of the box, the only problem I have with it is that it ties into Network Manager somehow, and if you’re using a non-network manager connection (I use wvdial to get internet by cellphone on my laptop, I use a bridged connection on my desktop not managed by Network Manager), there is an additional step every time I launch a new Firefox session, to turn off “work offline”. I have not seen this with Firefox 3 Beta 4, but I haven’t had much time to play with it yet.

I installed fusion-icon (now in the repos!!!) and now I have a beautiful, accelerated 3D desktop without having to resort to crazy aiglx/fuck around in the xorg.conf/new sessions bullshit. Life is pretty good. As long as the network manager stuff gets sorted out, and I can disable the work offline stuff in Firefox, I’d be happy even if they don’t get more of the goals finished before launch.

I admit it, I really, really, really wanted an Atlantis, or an A. Homer Hilsen.

But I can’t afford that shit, so here is my Technomic and my Noodle bars freshly installed on the Raleigh. Coming together very nicely. You can see the lovely Dia Compe non-aero levers installed but not yet cabled.

I am, as ever, about 20 seconds from breaking out and buying every slick-willy part I can find on ebay (sugino super mighty cranks are the current squeeze, but that could change any time), but for now, it’ll sit with the crappy raleigh-branded whatevers that are on there now with the perma-52 ring. One day I might even get up the gumption to grind it off. The ATAC pedals will go on tomorrow, and if I get the brakes set up, it might get its first ride to the office on Wednesday. The old bars will go in the parts pile, and probably end up as a flop -n- chop set. Someday.

I’ve been using Gnome-Do for a little bit (it’s a Quicksilver workarlike - like Launchy, which I had a brief love affair with before I gave up Windows), and love the fact that I can rapidly launch stuff that I don’t necessarily remember the capitalization of without having to resort to my mouse or move from home-row. So naturally I was thrilled when I found out it was extensible with plugins! Of course, I followed the instructions on the site (copy the plugin.dll file to /home/user/.local/share/gnome-do/plugins/) and restarted Gnome, and… nothing. No new functionality. So I kind of meandered around and found another suggestion on the Ubuntu wiki, to copy to your /home/user/.do/addins directory. WRONG AGAIN. So I decided to do a little mental leap and created a /home/user/.do/plugins directory, and lo there was Connect with SSH and Tweet. Hooray.

Hot tip to all you plugin folks out there, you could include instructions on how to install your plugins in the readme! It’d be like… 1996 and shit, with annotated instructions.

The Raleigh is looking much nicer now, with my somewhat-discarded Concor Lite and a Kalloy 25.4 post (it was all I could find at Citybikes, and it holds my ass up). I pumped up the tires, put a lockring on there, and took it out for a spin.

Decided the bars were too low for me to be comfortable on it, and they were too narrow to begin with, so I eBayed a nitto technomic and a set of B177 “noodle” bars in 44cm width (I was tempted to go wider, but they were much more expensive because of the heat treating), and the janky Nashbar aero levers I used to replace the even jankier safety levers weren’t cutting it, so I found a set of Dia Compe non-aero levers. They came in the mail and I’m just waiting for the bars so I can get this show on the road.

Pictures when the sun comes back out again.

I don’t know how Warren Ellis is capable of generating the sheer volume of work he’s putting out these days, but Freak Angels is pretty compelling. Speaking of which, I should go find Fell again and finish it.

Another person who is generating quality content at a rate faster than I can consume it? The talented Mur Lafferty, who I mentioned previously for her self-produced and self-recorded audiobooks Heaven and Hell (fantastic, in case you can’t be bothered to click on the link). She’s still doing her personal podcast, plus a new project that is so huge in scope I don’t even really know what to call it. A comic novel audio blog journal sketchbook? Possibly. She has named it Playing for Keeps.