Though I'm not much of a gamer myself, though I will occasionally pick up a controller or a joystick and play a bit when I have nothing better to do, I'm quite happy to see that UT3 will have a native Linux client. Makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. Okay, maybe not, but you get the idea. I may go out and buy it, to support their endeavors to support Linux.
Article | Digg this story!
Sunday, August 19, 2007
A victory for...?
So, yesterday morning, I took out The State, the local newspaper, when I saw this story.
As a local high school student, I can't tell whether to be excited or appalled by this. A victory for free music advocates? or a victory for DRM?
The article says that Macs are unsupported, which I assume means that everything but Windows is unsupported. As a Linux user, this is quite the slap in the face! I'm not going to give up my choice of operating system just to download music with DRM.
So, I ask my readers...a victory for DRM, or a victory for the college students?
College students, the defenders of free T-shirts and free speech, have chalked up another victory: free music.
More than 40,000 University of South Carolina students heading to school this weekend will be able to download more than 2.8 million songs to their computers at no cost — thanks to a new agreement between the university and Ruckus online music.
...
“Downloading is free,” said Kimberly South, public information coordinator for USC’s technology services. “Transferring is not.”
As a local high school student, I can't tell whether to be excited or appalled by this. A victory for free music advocates? or a victory for DRM?
The article says that Macs are unsupported, which I assume means that everything but Windows is unsupported. As a Linux user, this is quite the slap in the face! I'm not going to give up my choice of operating system just to download music with DRM.
So, I ask my readers...a victory for DRM, or a victory for the college students?
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Editing Basics for the xorg.conf file
The xorg.conf file is the configuration file used by the X Window System to set necessary configuration parameters.
Linux.com provides a great tutorial on editing basics for this file, which is a task that can pose serious hurdles to beginning users.
Read the article | Digg it!
Linux.com provides a great tutorial on editing basics for this file, which is a task that can pose serious hurdles to beginning users.
Read the article | Digg it!
Poetry.
Sort of a work in progress, but I've decided to release a majority of my poetic works under a Creative Commons License.
http://trolyat-poetry.blogspot.com/
Read and enjoy. If possible. :)
http://trolyat-poetry.blogspot.com/
Read and enjoy. If possible. :)
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Beginner's Guide to the Vi editor
I guess that I'm focusing things that aid the average beginning Linux user because I am one.
So, theme for July/August is tutorials/articles that should be of interest to newbies such as myself.
Hope my reader(s) enjoy.
Beginner's Guide to the Vi Editor is a quick-start basics guide to the vi editor made by the lovely folks at UCSD. A great basics tutorial for those who still aren't quite sure exactly what sudo is, and a great tutorial for the linux users that have never really messed with vi that much either.
That's a great jumpstart, but for those like myself who have to read multiple tutorials to get a true grasp of something, I've compiled a list of various tutorals on the vi text editor.
Linux Online, in addition to its many other tutorials, provides a good introductory lesson to vi and its commands.
The University of Oregon provides this tutorial that, though less extensive than Linux Online's, is a pretty good overview.
So, theme for July/August is tutorials/articles that should be of interest to newbies such as myself.
Hope my reader(s) enjoy.
Beginner's Guide to the Vi Editor is a quick-start basics guide to the vi editor made by the lovely folks at UCSD. A great basics tutorial for those who still aren't quite sure exactly what sudo is, and a great tutorial for the linux users that have never really messed with vi that much either.
That's a great jumpstart, but for those like myself who have to read multiple tutorials to get a true grasp of something, I've compiled a list of various tutorals on the vi text editor.
Linux Online, in addition to its many other tutorials, provides a good introductory lesson to vi and its commands.
The University of Oregon provides this tutorial that, though less extensive than Linux Online's, is a pretty good overview.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
10 shortcuts to master bash
The Bourne-Again Shell, or bash, the default shell on most Linux systems as well as the Mac OS X, is an important area of proficiency for any Linux sysadmin. This tutorial covers some really great shortcuts for new Linux users, such as myself.
*twothumbsup*
10 shortcuts to master bash | Digg this story
*twothumbsup*
10 shortcuts to master bash | Digg this story
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Back to blogging.
With the end of another school year (and the inherent business that I must undertake in order to succeed) I am now back to my blog.
Sorry for the leave, but I have the feeling that my wonderful readers will understand.
Next post preview: '06-'07 in review!
Sorry for the leave, but I have the feeling that my wonderful readers will understand.
Next post preview: '06-'07 in review!
Friday, May 4, 2007
The Linux Chronicles, Ubuntu Volume, Chapter One
A long time ago, in a distant setting ... A certain TaylorT had Ubuntu installed on his laptop. Then, one day, a few animators were messing around, and the hardware abstraction layer magically stops working.
I had been putting it off long enough, but I really needed to get Ubuntu installed again.
After my monitor's device driver stopped working, I knew it was the last straw, and I mean the last straw. So, I chkdsk /f'ed and defrag'ed my way out of Windows, but not without Windows giving me one last glimpse of its inferiority.
I bid my old, not-so-faithful OS farewell, and booted into Ubuntu's LiveCD.
I had been trying to install it for a short while now, actually, but I had some unfortunate partitioning problems. Luckily, nothing went wrong this time, and was the best install I could have asked for.
With this done, I exited the LiveCD and had to pull out my lovely registered Linux user button.
I'm now a loud and proud new Ubuntu user...again! :)
I had been putting it off long enough, but I really needed to get Ubuntu installed again.
After my monitor's device driver stopped working, I knew it was the last straw, and I mean the last straw. So, I chkdsk /f'ed and defrag'ed my way out of Windows, but not without Windows giving me one last glimpse of its inferiority.
I bid my old, not-so-faithful OS farewell, and booted into Ubuntu's LiveCD.
I had been trying to install it for a short while now, actually, but I had some unfortunate partitioning problems. Luckily, nothing went wrong this time, and was the best install I could have asked for.
With this done, I exited the LiveCD and had to pull out my lovely registered Linux user button.
I'm now a loud and proud new Ubuntu user...again! :)
Review: Geeks by Jon Katz
A few weeks back, I was in Barnes & Noble with a few friends of mine, when one says that she had seen a book she thought I would like. She showed it to me, a normal-sized paperback with a yellow and orange cover with a simple title, "Geeks." Written by a former Slashdot and HotWired contributor by the name of Jon Katz, Geeks is the story of two 'geek' teenage boys that use their knowledge of the 'Net and computers to make their way out of their small hometown in Idaho.
Katz writes this book from a journalistic standpoint, which is something I can appreciate from both a computer nerd's standpoint and a journalist's standpoint. Though he tries to stay objective, he can't help but to identify with one of the main characters, Jesse Dailey. This seems almost admirable to me: that he makes an exception to the norm just for these nerds. Granted, when one spends as much time with the two main characters as Katz did in order to write the book, it's difficult to keep from getting attached from your subject. (And by difficult I mean almost impossible.)
The two subjects of this book, Jesse Dailey and Eric Twilegar, along with two other students, were the only geeks in their high school. They started a "Geek Club" where they could discuss their hobbies and interests at lunch without fear of intrusion from others. In starting this club, they reverse the feelings of disclusion they have to deal with so much by being able to accept and reject the members. Only two ever even attempted to join, but the whole concept was that they had the power to decide who joined and who didn't.
After high school, none of them went to college. Eric and Jesse lost contact with the other members and went to work at a local--relatively local, that is--computer repair shop. There they expected themselves to remain, as no one really ever left Idaho.
Until one day when Jesse e-mailed Katz about his column. Katz kept up correspondence with the boys, and suggested they moved to a larger town. The two lost boys summoned up every ounce of courage and every fraction of a cent they had and went to Chicago.
Overall, I immensely enjoyed the introduction to the book...it explained geek culture and the Net generation so well.
I highly recommend this book to any fellow geek. You can find Geeks on Amazon here, and I suggest checking your local public library.
I leave you with one of my new favorite quotes, and one by Jesse Dailey that I feel echoes some of my deepest values:
But I have a math test in a little more than five hours, so I must be off to sleep.
Katz writes this book from a journalistic standpoint, which is something I can appreciate from both a computer nerd's standpoint and a journalist's standpoint. Though he tries to stay objective, he can't help but to identify with one of the main characters, Jesse Dailey. This seems almost admirable to me: that he makes an exception to the norm just for these nerds. Granted, when one spends as much time with the two main characters as Katz did in order to write the book, it's difficult to keep from getting attached from your subject. (And by difficult I mean almost impossible.)
The two subjects of this book, Jesse Dailey and Eric Twilegar, along with two other students, were the only geeks in their high school. They started a "Geek Club" where they could discuss their hobbies and interests at lunch without fear of intrusion from others. In starting this club, they reverse the feelings of disclusion they have to deal with so much by being able to accept and reject the members. Only two ever even attempted to join, but the whole concept was that they had the power to decide who joined and who didn't.
After high school, none of them went to college. Eric and Jesse lost contact with the other members and went to work at a local--relatively local, that is--computer repair shop. There they expected themselves to remain, as no one really ever left Idaho.
Until one day when Jesse e-mailed Katz about his column. Katz kept up correspondence with the boys, and suggested they moved to a larger town. The two lost boys summoned up every ounce of courage and every fraction of a cent they had and went to Chicago.
Overall, I immensely enjoyed the introduction to the book...it explained geek culture and the Net generation so well.
I highly recommend this book to any fellow geek. You can find Geeks on Amazon here, and I suggest checking your local public library.
I leave you with one of my new favorite quotes, and one by Jesse Dailey that I feel echoes some of my deepest values:
Never in the world would I replace the pleasure of reading a great author, or conquering some vast technical puzzle, for a perfect GPA.
But I have a math test in a little more than five hours, so I must be off to sleep.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
The Stereotyping of Asians and Asian-Americans
I know it is a rather sensitive subject, but I feel it needs to be discussed.
In our recent memory, on April 16, 2007, a horrible massacre occurred at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Va. I was informed of this tragedy at around 2:30 P.M. that afternoon (the shooting having occured between 7 A.M. and 10 A.M. that morning). Being the media critic I am, I carefully watched the coverage around the Internet as well as the television. Prior to the release of the perpetrator's identity, all that was known was that the shooting had supposedly been instigated by an Asian male. As would be expected, the speculation began. People made guesses as to who the shooter was, based on knowing his ethnicity. Needless to say, though some, undoubtedly, were right, many of these speculations were ill-founded and therefore completely wrong. From the moment I heard his nationality, I began to fear the fate of the Asian and Asian-American community. I later even heard stories of Asian-Americans apologizing for the shooter's actions, simply because of their shared nationalities. To quote Dr. Joel D. Lieberman in this article,
I don't think this means, however, that Asians and Asian-Americans should be treated as if we are in any way responsible for a crime we did not commit; our culture should not allow others to blame innocnent people simply to place blame upon someone.
A short time more than 8 years ago, a shooting occurred at Columbine High School. After the shooting, so-called 'goths' were feared, simply because the perpetrators of that shooting were of a similar social clique. Though this event occurred before I had the capability to grasp it, I know of the treatment of similar students.
The chaos that follows after such a tragedy is undeniable: people want justice brought upon the instigator. In most of these cases, though, the said instigator may take his or her life in the process. There can be no justice; the guilty party took its fate into its own hands. So what is there to be done? People begin to fear similar people.
I don't deny that the man behind this irrevocable tragedy had given signs, but I think we need to take such 'signs' with a grain of salt, so to speak. Recent stories have come to my attention, one of which being a case where a student was disciplined for a creative writing assignment that, in my opinion, was not at all any sign of distress.
Our society has previously established stereotypes for Asian-Americans, and in the addition of the new stereotype, of the distressed and violent murder, we see that others that share these qualities are also drawn into the realm of speculation.
To demonstrate my point, just recently, a Chinese-American student has been arrested because he created a map in a First Person Shooter of an environment roughly based on his school. [story here] I am horrified by what the writer states, which is an eerie echo of my logic here stated.
Being Asian-American and of a clique which is seen as 'geeks,' I have already personally seen friends of mine (and myself! to some extent) being feared within the school community. Often from the people that accuse us of stereotyping them. Such shows the hypocrisy of stereotypic behavior.
This event is changing America as we know it, as did its predecessor, the shooting at Columbine. My greatest fear is the final realization of the sheer atrocity of this attack. It challenges our feelings of safety; it challenges our trusts of people. Let's hope that the outcome is positive, and rather than shun the social pariahs further, our youth can accept them and stop this unnecessary division.
In our recent memory, on April 16, 2007, a horrible massacre occurred at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Va. I was informed of this tragedy at around 2:30 P.M. that afternoon (the shooting having occured between 7 A.M. and 10 A.M. that morning). Being the media critic I am, I carefully watched the coverage around the Internet as well as the television. Prior to the release of the perpetrator's identity, all that was known was that the shooting had supposedly been instigated by an Asian male. As would be expected, the speculation began. People made guesses as to who the shooter was, based on knowing his ethnicity. Needless to say, though some, undoubtedly, were right, many of these speculations were ill-founded and therefore completely wrong. From the moment I heard his nationality, I began to fear the fate of the Asian and Asian-American community. I later even heard stories of Asian-Americans apologizing for the shooter's actions, simply because of their shared nationalities. To quote Dr. Joel D. Lieberman in this article,
“People’s sense of identity rests not just on your own accomplishments, but the failures and accomplishments of your group. If you’re a Mets fan and the Mets are doing well, you feel good about yourself. When a person from your group does something that reflects negatively, you feel bad about yourself. You have a desire to distance yourself from the person."
I don't think this means, however, that Asians and Asian-Americans should be treated as if we are in any way responsible for a crime we did not commit; our culture should not allow others to blame innocnent people simply to place blame upon someone.
A short time more than 8 years ago, a shooting occurred at Columbine High School. After the shooting, so-called 'goths' were feared, simply because the perpetrators of that shooting were of a similar social clique. Though this event occurred before I had the capability to grasp it, I know of the treatment of similar students.
The chaos that follows after such a tragedy is undeniable: people want justice brought upon the instigator. In most of these cases, though, the said instigator may take his or her life in the process. There can be no justice; the guilty party took its fate into its own hands. So what is there to be done? People begin to fear similar people.
I don't deny that the man behind this irrevocable tragedy had given signs, but I think we need to take such 'signs' with a grain of salt, so to speak. Recent stories have come to my attention, one of which being a case where a student was disciplined for a creative writing assignment that, in my opinion, was not at all any sign of distress.
Our society has previously established stereotypes for Asian-Americans, and in the addition of the new stereotype, of the distressed and violent murder, we see that others that share these qualities are also drawn into the realm of speculation.
To demonstrate my point, just recently, a Chinese-American student has been arrested because he created a map in a First Person Shooter of an environment roughly based on his school. [story here] I am horrified by what the writer states, which is an eerie echo of my logic here stated.
"Even with the authorities finding no evidence of gaming-related causes for the Virginia Tech shootings… It seems that we, as gamers, still are targeted as warped killers."
Being Asian-American and of a clique which is seen as 'geeks,' I have already personally seen friends of mine (and myself! to some extent) being feared within the school community. Often from the people that accuse us of stereotyping them. Such shows the hypocrisy of stereotypic behavior.
This event is changing America as we know it, as did its predecessor, the shooting at Columbine. My greatest fear is the final realization of the sheer atrocity of this attack. It challenges our feelings of safety; it challenges our trusts of people. Let's hope that the outcome is positive, and rather than shun the social pariahs further, our youth can accept them and stop this unnecessary division.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Web log beginnings...
After many, many hours of consideration and careful deliberation, and in light of recent events, I have decided to enter the wonderful world of expression that has come to be called the 'blogosphere.' Being the computer nerd I undoubtedly am, I've been exposed to such expression for quite some time now. And now I'm hopping on the proverbial bandwagon.
I hope this blog of mine can keep its readers informed and entertained throughout its life, which I hope is a long one.
Yeah, contrary to my personality, I've got a default template for now. I'm working on developing my own in my free time, but until then, you've got to deal with this. Blame NSO season and the upcoming exams.
I hope this blog of mine can keep its readers informed and entertained throughout its life, which I hope is a long one.
Yeah, contrary to my personality, I've got a default template for now. I'm working on developing my own in my free time, but until then, you've got to deal with this. Blame NSO season and the upcoming exams.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
