Today, PCBSD 10.0 installed OK...

And I'm using it as I'm doing this blog.....

I haven't chosen any customized wallpaper yet, but I will, now that I've shown what the new system's factory wallpaper looks like. The name of it seems a little obscure, being a unit of measurement of energy, but it's their call I guess.

This ISO file is 3.6 Gb and takes nearly three hours to download. The good news is, once you have it burned to disk, it only takes about 20 minutes to get it installed and ready to use. And this shuts down and restarts faster than Win-8 just in case you're wondering..... it's a keeper, Kiddies. And there's no way you will beat this price.... I've been teased for collecting all these 'freebies' but sometimes, there's real gold in them thar hills. 

And here's what it looks like in its personalized mode....

 

Today in The Great White North...

It really is 'The Great White North' today....and even though, as some wit once said, "you can't eat it, wear it, nor make love to it, so what good is it?" - it still looks very nice, even if you're not looking at it on a calendar in Tahiti.

Happy New Year....

To my Chinese friends and neighbors, have a Happy New Year, enjoy your Spring Festival, and best wishes for the Year of the Horse.

I have an interesting book, which explains Astrology, both Western and Chinese....

and in the book, which doesn't scan well on a flatbed scanner because of its thickness, and its resistance to lying flat, it says in part....

So if you are born in the year of the Horse, this is some of what you're about.
There's more - a lot more.

There's a new version of PC-BSD....

Until now, it's been version 9.2 but yesterday, they released PC-BSD 10.0, and 
therein lies a tale....

I had been doing something on the 9.2 version when the pop-up came along announcing the upgrade to version 10.0. I accepted the invitation to upgrade, and it promptly began downloading copious quantities of programming. Then, after about 20 minutes, up comes an announcement informing me that the process had failed. I tried a reboot....

For the next hour and a half, programming was being deleted, and then attempting to re-install itself. When that finished, the program didn't work.
I installed the version 10 from an .iso made into a DVD, after nearly three hours of downloading that .iso - it's 3.6 Gb - and finally, I got to the login screen....

Normally, this would almost be the end of the story, but not so yesterday. After I got logged in, and downloaded the system information and the ports list for it
to do its updates, my next visit was to AppCafe where i expected to find the lists
of the 1169 programs made to work in this system, and without which, you can't do a hell of a lot except use a generic browser, and check your mail....
When I opened the AppCafe, I'm shocked and amazed to see that there's sweet essence of nothing in it - not a single program - nothing. And all this after about
eight hours of farting around trying to get something going. I had a perfectly good version 9.2 at the beginning, and now it's gone, and here's a new version that won't show me its normal program content. Wonderful.

So I spent another hour, re-installing the original version 9.2, and sending the
folks at PC-BSD a bug report. Today, I got a reply from someone there, suggesting that maybe I'd mistakenly downloaded a beta version instead of the regular release. Not a chance. I downloaded what was advertised as the new stable release. And after waiting for about three hours for the .iso to download, and then turning that into a DVD, I'm just delighted to discover that the whole thing was an exercise in futility. The new version I got definitely wasn't ready for prime time. That surprises me, because normally, these folks are quite careful about what they do. They don't make a whole bunch of mistakes. So I'll wait a while, until they work on this more, and then try again later. Meanwhile, there's nothing wrong with the previous 9.2 version. It works fine. Better than its new
replacement, as I discovered.
 

How about this one ?

The Buzz from Ottawa...

And yes, it seems there is some this morning, from the Liberal leader...

I haven't decided yet if I like this kid or not, but it looks like he has guts, and I've never believed we really needed a Senate anyway. They're all patronage appointees, and some of them have been shown to be real crooks when given the opportunity to grab someone else's money and run with it. We ought to get rid of that non-elected bunch of spongers once and for all.
 

Good Morning, Snow-shovellers! Take a break.......

All that unaccustomed exercise isn't good for your heart and therefore your future. Relax - have a cuppa, and get warmed up. Those of us up here in the Great White North, where the grass is green and it's raining lightly send you our sincere (well, maybe semi-sincere) condolences. You see, we've 'been there and done that' a lot. For us, it's an annual thing.  Look on the bright side - you've just had a winter vacation without leaving home....

Times change. I used to get up around five-thirty or six a.m., and stumble to the door, hoping none of the neighbors would see me not yet dressed, as I got the daily paper from the doorstep, and prepared to pick three or four items from it to include in my daily fax to Dear Editor. The paper's still at the door each morning, but now it's frequently ignored. Yesterday, I didn't pick it up until about one-thirty in the afternoon, when the building manager came by with his almost-three-thousand-dollar floor grooming machine, doing the hall carpets for their weekly fresh-up.

These days, the computer gets turned on first thing instead, and this morning I was greeted by this screen during the start-up....

That's annoying, because everything comes to a halt until you choose one of those two selections. I have to interrupt the start-up routine to answer Microsoft's uninvited question, and there's no 'comment' section where I can tell them what I really think of Windows 8.1. They're obviously aware that not all of us loved it passionately. Not nearly as passionately as we loved and still love our Windows 7.  So, unable to punch 'Get Lost!', I click 'Ask me later' (much later, please) and move on to my own opening screen for Windows 8....

You've noticed that it has those neat gadgets Microsoft told us were a 'security hazard' when they removed them from the operating system. You may also notice in the upper left of that open 'Gadgets' window, it says 'Page 1 of 3' and 
that's not a typo - there are three pages of them now, if like me you have installed '8GadgetPack'. And this is just one of the reasons I'm not in any rush to download the free upgrade to Windows 8.1. The other reasons are:-

1.  It comes as a direct download, not as an .iso with which you would make a disk for the actual installation - and save for later repairs. 

2. It doesn't have enough improvements to warrant all the arm-twisting that Microsoft has been subjecting us to, while trying to push it onto our computers.
So please, Mighty Microsoft, take the gun away from my head. This is my computer, not yours, and I'll run whatever operating system I like on it - and right now, I'm running three systems on it: Windows 8 Pro, Windows 7 SP1, and PC-BSD 9.2. And that Unix-derived version of FreeBSD seems to be doing just about everything one might wish to do on a Windows operating system, with one glaring difference: it's a free program. Just go to their Downloads page and help yourself to a free copy of the .iso which you then burn to a disk for the actual installation. What's it like? Try to imagine a cross between Windows and a Mac. Without viruses. With 1169 specially-chosen programs in a wide variety of categories from which to choose - including the also free and open-source program Open Office 4, which lets you do everything you'd do in Microsoft's Office, including working with Microsoft files. Need I say more? Try it.....

This is the desktop for PC-BSD 9.2, showing the digital clock widget, and 'Daisy' the grouped icon display. It can be either linear or circular as you choose, and the individual program icons are selectable. There's also an optional widget bar dockable to an edge of the screen, as well as several screen 'hot points' in the corners and along edges. This is not a 'plain Jane' operating system. And, like Windows, the desktop backgrounds are both changeable and customizable. If you want your own pictures for wallpaper, just size them for your desktop's native resolution and use one. Looks good, and it works! You should try it.

Winter, here and there....

Winter in the deep south...

Winter in The Great White North...

For all you inexperienced winter drivers: The trick is this - don't do anything suddenly. Move the steering wheel gently and gradually, go easy on the gas and try pumping the brakes in short jabs, rather than jumping on them and holding down the pedal. Once you lock up those wheels, you're gone, Baby! So try to do everything as gently as possible. If it starts to skid, turn into it, until you get control back. And leave lots of room between you and the next guy. Don't do any 'tailgating' or you may end up wearing it.

For a theme that's easy on the eyes...

 

A plain dark green works very well...

Fun with background themes...

I like making my own background themes, and here's the latest - "Electron"...

 

Check out this website...

This is an example of the magic they're doing at Microsoft Research, with images and imaging programs....and here's where to see it....

See that little white mountain peak off in the distance, beyond the lake...?

...OK, now I'm going to zoom in on that mountain peak on the horizon, beyond the lake, to the right of the Seattle Space Needle - watch this! .....

...and that's what I meant about 'magic' - this is absolutely amazing. Try it.
 

This started life as album cover art...

...but it also makes a hell of a backgrounder on the computer monitor!

The Grammys

L

Let's begin with a 'Question Everything' - "When your main squeeze is Beyonce, why are you going around looking like you just got off shift at the car wash?"

And I take back the snide remarks I made the other day about Giorgio Moroder and Daft Punk. When half the audience is dancing in its seats, you know you've got a real winner on your hands, and good on them!
 

A foggy morning....

...doesn't stop The Breakfast Club from arriving on schedule...

Another of my favorite singers...

Absolutely wonderful !

Those Roaring Twenties, and the music...

Here's a nice example of the sort of music from the Roaring Twenties that kept those Flappers flappin'....

and just try not tapping your feet to it. Better yet, get up and dance.

and then there was The Black Bottom... after they got tired of the Charleston.

and before Doris Day, there was Ruth Etting. Doris later did a movie about her,
which included James Cagney as Ruthie's no-good gangster husband. It was suitably called 'Love Me Or Leave Me' and came out in 1955. 

More music - from Meco Menardo

And for all the children under 80 who love music....

And maybe a little Star Wars.....

 

Still Christmas up the block...

Maybe they're waiting for Chinese New Year on January 31st.

Album covers: Sometimes better than the music

USA Today's Grammy Ballot...

Question Everything:
Is it going to be a couple of rappers and friends doing another unspectacular recording, or a couple of guys with customized motorcycle helmets showing us what it would be like to revisit 1977 in Germany? Why am I being critical? Only because I've probably listened to and bought more music than you have, and
I like to think I know what does it and what doesn't. We'll see.....meanwhile...

 

Speaking of music..... Sirena Huang

This little charmer was only eleven when she did this, and it's amazing!

Your 'old' and my 'old' are not the same...

I've always loved the music of the Roaring Twenties, and sometimes I wonder if that might involve a previous life. I'll never know for sure, but it doesn't stop me from enjoying the music.... and next here is one that Helen did originally and it was revived in the '80s by none other than Cyndi Lauper.....

George started off as a song plugger playing other people's stuff, and he ended up showing everyone how - and left us much too soon. Here's 'Do-Do-Do'....

And this is 'Lady Day' doing 'Summertime'. When I'm feeling 'blue' this always brings me back to a better place in another time....

Cole Porter doing his own 'Anything Goes'..... does it get any better?

Yes! It does..... so listen closely, Kiddies, to "You're The Top" 

And we have to include Hoagy's 'Stardust'. After Bing Crosby recorded it in 1931, it soon became the biggest selling recording in history, until the coming

of the rock era, when Der Bingle was long past his prime, and selling orange juice, and producing TV shows like 'Hogan's Heroes' with the profits... but speaking of Bing.....

 

Here he is with an old friend, doing what they did best. Enjoy!

And more electronic music...

Back when, we had used record stores, and specialty outlets like one called Black Swan here, and some of these discs were quite reasonable, and the music was sometimes a surprise - like this one, with a catchy tune.

This one moves right along,and it's appropriately named 'R & B Degenerit !'. 
Back in  the '70s (this from June of 1976) Europe was the place for this kind of music, and several artists were doing some nice things with it.

Another in my collection, from 1977 on a Polydor LP - This anticipated the TV series 'Battlestar Galactica' by quite a few years....

And I'll wrap this with one of the masters of electronic music, Vangelis, doing his 'China' album.

And with this one, you can get up and dance.....so go for it!

Speaking of electronic music...

The truth is, I was never into Giorgio Moroder's stuff, but instead preferred the work of guys like Jean Michel Jarre, here doing one of his hits. A lot of early electronic music sounded like a drum machine on steroids, but this is different.
The intro here takes about 8 minutes, but it gets busy later on, so hang in....

And one of my favorites...

Speaking of Donna Summer....

This is how it was, back in the 70's, and where it all began...

Here she is in action - Enjoy! 

Maybe, Album of the Year....

This reminds me of the good old days of Disco and its dance clubs, and pundits are saying it's in the running for album of the year. Is everything old new again?
Donna Summer, where are you when we really need you? And where are my dancin' shoes? And my sky blue polyester leisure suit? May it rest in pieces....
I'm going to shut up now, and listen to the music, and resist the urge to tell you when I first heard Giorgio Moroder....( or maybe not....)

This is from 1977, or thereabouts, and during the first electronic music age.... and Giorgio was one of its pioneers.

You're not a Blogger, You're a Journalist...

Taking pictures at the Tokyo Tower...

This is a picture of the huge Mori Tower, from which a lot of the other pictures of Tokyo on here were taken. This picture of it was taken from the observation deck of the Tokyo Tower. I'm showing this because Uncle Ron found a blog about the Tokyo Tower which said that its windows were so smeared with viewers nose-prints, you couldn't take pictures through them. This picture seems to have made it through the windows OK. I wonder if the photographer carried his own Windex and a cloth? Somehow, I doubt that.

The observation deck in the Mori Tower is up near the top in that darker area in the middle of it. There's also an art gallery up there, on another level, and a rooftop observation area as well. And an admission fee.

More features in PC-BSD....

This is your reminder calendar, found under 'Hidden Icons' in the System Tray. It is yet another example of the thoughtfulness that went into designing this operating system, and if you think of any features you'd like, you can always submit a request. I can't recall Microsoft soliciting my suggestions for changes to their operating systems. This seems like a system that appreciates its users.

This just in, from USA Today

There's no fool like an Old Fool because you just can't beat Experience!

Today's Question Everything is: "When you're 77, shouldn't you be retired?"

Are his producers too polite to tell him it's time to say "That's All, Folks."?

It's better to burn out than rust, but only if you aren't already rusted... 

Tokyo at night....

This is also taken from the Mori Tower, looking toward their version of the Eiffel Tower, which is better looking than the original, and a lot newer. This picture on a 30-inch flat screen TV used as my monitor is really busy. And I'm getting more familiar with the Gimp image editing program. It has a lot of features that my older editing program doesn't, so there's a bit of a 'learning curve'.

The Drawing module in Open Office can also edit pictures, but for some unknown reason, the measuring scale is in inches and millimeters, not pixels. So that eliminates that one for sure. Gimp, on the other hand, has all the right stuff, and it can quickly scale an image up or down, either keeping its original proportions, or not, as you choose. One off-putting thing about it though is that it files things in its own format that I've never heard of, and you probably haven't either, so the trick is to 'export' the image during which you can choose its file extension, such as jpeg or png or whatever, and then it gets saved in the format you really wanted, instead of 'brand x'. ( That learning curve I mentioned...)

About PC-BSD and "doing everything"....

One of its 1169 available programs is the excellent office suite from Apache....

...and as you see in this screenshot of its downloads window, this isn't a small program. It does everything you might do in Microsoft Office, except cost you money, unless of course you'd like to make a donation, which they appreciate.

And speaking of Katy Perry....

Not only do I like pretty girls, but I'm also proving something else. I'm confirming that PC-BSD does everything you could do in Windows.

And here's Katy Perry.....

...showing Miley Cyrus how to look sexy without looking like a porn star.

Another background for PC-BSD

This is looking at downtown Tokyo from the observation deck in the Mori Tower. Editing this in 'Gimp' isn't quite as easy as using my old PhotoStudio in Windows, but I fumbled my way through it without too much trouble, and now I've got one of my favorite wallpapers on here. I use this for the Lock Screen in Windows 8, where it looks even better without the icons.

I should probably add here that the Gimp program has more 'bells & whistles' than the PhotoStudio program I paid for a few years ago, and Gimp is free. If you work with layers and transparencies, you should check this one out.

And if you like it simple...

You can go into Gimp (assuming you've installed it from the list of available programs under 'Graphics' in AppCafe) and create your own plain background, and then install it, as above.

Another desktop set of Widgets...

About those Wallpapers in PC-BSD

I lied - Jpeg files work too, and this is one of them. Isn't it nice?

Wallpapers for PC-BSD 9.2

You can use any suitably sized image you like from your own collection or from the web, as long as it is in the png format. The icons in PC-BSD are also png files, in case you want to make your own.

Please note:
If you have installed this system, and find that your flash objects don't work in Firefox or you get a notice that a plugin is required, this is a problem in Firefox,
because the Flash player is already installed in the operating system - it comes with it. Here's a cure I found from one of the founding fathers of PC-BSD. He says to go into your Terminal (Konsole in Gnome) [Windows = Cmd Prompt]
and at the cursor type: flashpluginctl off and after that completes and confirms then type flashpluginctl on and again wait for confirmation. That should reset it,
and you should now see the animations which were formerly not working. I've just tried this with my own Firefox, and it fixed the problem for me.

I'm finding that there's a lot of good help out there, if you ask the right questions in a Google Search, and then read the postings which come up.
It seems like an easier process than I had trying to learn Windows. Microsoft is getting better lately at making information available to users, but it wasn't always like that. Unless you knew the secret handshake, you were out of it.

Meanwhile, back on Windows 8 and USA Today...

PC-BSD Backgrounds....

The top one is different and cute, but this bottom one might be a better choice.