endperform.org

I think my Macbook / Mac OS X has spoiled me as far as interfaces go. I’ve tried about three times now to mess around with Linux in a dual-boot fashion on the desktop, and each time I find something that frustrates me a little bit. At the moment, I’ve gone back to virtualizing Linux within Windows 7 to mess around with some different distributions. I can’t seem to come to rest on one. I thought I had with Ubuntu, but this latest issue with DNS resolution is driving me nuts. At work, it goes along well and then all of the sudden it takes almost a full minute or two for a DNS address to resolve. I’ve gone through bug reports, tried every workaround mentioned and still no joy. I’m a bit worried I’m going to run into the same sort of situation when using another distribution, so I’m hesitant to try to rebuild the work box.

One thing I really, really like about OS X is the software packaging. For most applications, you download either a .DMG (disk image) or a compressed file, open it and drag the app into your Applications (or other) folder, and you’re off and running. Everything is essentially self-contained, which is nice. I remember a discussion about Linux software distribution and packaging, and someone brought up this point. While it would be nice for Linux, could you imagine having a few copies of GTK being distributed with each application? That being said, GTK could always be installed by default, but that would defeat the purpose of self-contained packages, especially if a piece of software depends on one particular version of GTK (or any other library, for that matter). I don’t foresee any one packaging scheme becoming default across the board, as there’s always going to be a group that feels that their way is the right way and they’re going to do it like they want to. To me, this is Linux’s biggest problem as far as getting commercially supported software developed for it. While there are some companies who are distributing software for Linux (I can think of a couple of games), a majority still remains.

I started taking a look at the Ubuntu Forums again lately, trying to resolve an issue with networking on my Karmic box at work, and I got a reminder of why I don’t go there much anymore. Linux zealots, but not just any type, the “hey, I ditched Windows for Ubuntu and now everything but Linux sucks lol” type. Now, I’m not saying every Ubuntu user, or every new convert is like this, but it would seem that the number of these types of people are growing. I used to subscribe to this sort of mentality, but over the past two years I’ve broadened my horizons, so to speak, and have come to realize it’s not about what OS is best in general, it’s all about what OS is best for YOU. Use what works. I use Windows, Linux and OSX to varying degrees and they all provide different things for my computing experience.

The other issue I see a lot is the hatred of something someone doesn’t really understand or even know that much about. I give you this particular post in a thread asking about running Mac OS X virtualized. The comment:

Who cares if its illegal, now folowing a guide it might work, but i have never had it work for me though i did run my PC as a hackinto** oops hackincrap for 2 days. Mac os X is way too simplified and basically only for idiots, i mean who would pay $2000 for $500 hardware just because it runs mac os?

So apparently all OSX users are idiots. I responded, and outlined things I could do with OSX that Linux could also do, and never got a response. Two days is not nearly enough time to get to know OSX, and I didn’t buy Apple just for OSX. I ran OSX on the Dell laptop my Macbook replaced, and I have to say my Macbook feels more solid and well-built. Everyone likes to target Apple products since they seem to be overpriced, but they do not take into account the total cost of ownership, the durability or usability. I have a generation 1 iPod, that if I found a Firewire cable I bet would start right back up.

It’s okay to be passionate about something, but have all of the facts before calling someone an idiot, saying something doesn’t work, or trashing something. Just use what works for you.

I’ve come to a decision about Linux / Windows on my desktop and laptop. For the foreseeable future, I intend to run Windows as the host OS, and run Linux as a guest. Before you hardcore Linux guys (yes, I was one of those guys) accuse me of selling out, hear me out on this. Recently I’ve been finding myself spending a lot of time on the Windows side of my desktop. I’ve been doing a lot of gaming, and recently with my photography beginning to pick up I’m finding that the tools I need are on the Windows side. iTunes is another reason. There’s no way to sync my iPhone on Linux, and by sync I mean everything: apps, contacts, music and pictures. Sure, there might be a hack for the music portion, but I need everything.

This doesn’t mean I’m done in the Linux community, or that I don’t like Linux any more. I’m just going to start using the best tools for the job, and of late at home it’s a combination of native Windows, virtual Linux. Who knows, I might end up changing my mind again next week, but time will tell.

Emacs might be thought of as a programmer’s editor, but it works just as well as a text editor. But Brad, isn’t it a bit overkill to use Emacs for text editing? I’m a fan of getting as much use as I can out of an editor, and what better way than this? The buffers are one of my favorite things about Emacs. Sure, Vim has buffers, too, but I like the navigation in Emacs better. In my work, I deal with support tickets. So, when I take on a ticket, the first thing I’ll do is this C-x C-f 1111111, where 1111111 represents the ticket number I’m working on. Then from that point, as I gather information, I copy things from one window to another into that buffer to keep it handy. Once in a while, I’ll save the buffer with C-x C-s so I don’t risk losing the notes. This is definitely an easy way to keep my notes separated by ticket, and if I happen to be working on multiple tickets, I can switch buffers with C-x b then the buffer name.

By default, Emacs starts you out in a scratch buffer. I keep this open and use it to copy / paste tidbits of information that I might need later in the day, such as commands or even some time tracking. It truly is a scratch buffer in this case, and it works wonders. That’s it for this week. I was going to share my cheatsheet, but sadly I lost it. I’ll have it for next week. For now, I leave you with a summary of commands I used this week. For each of the commands, please note that C is the Control key, and M is the Meta, or ALT, key.

Emacs Commands Used

• C-x C-f filename – Create a new file called filename. Can include paths. Example: C-x C-f /home/fubar/temp.txt
• C-x C-s – Save the current buffer
• C-x b – Switch to buffer. Presents a default buffer name, but type the name of the buffer you want.

I’ve tried a couple of times to try to write a recurring series here, and this is going to be my latest (hopefully not failed) attempt. I present, Life with Emacs, a walk through Emacs through the eyes of someone still trying to learn all of the important keybindings. Each week, I’ll look at a particular task I’ve been using Emacs for, and along with it hopefully provide some other newbies some insight into what I’m going through.

As far as backgrounds in editors go, I’ve pretty much been a GUI / Vim guy for as long as I can remember. I know enough Vim to get in and out of a file relatively quickly, but for any heavy coding, I’ve leaned on an IDE to help me out. I figured I would try out Emacs for a few reasons. One, there’s plenty of Emacs users at work I can bother with questions. Two, there are a lot of potentially useful modes that might actually be able to help me organize myself at work. Finally, I want to break down and learn the ins and outs of one editor, and I’ve chosen Emacs to focus on. Will I stick with it? Time, and my patience, will tell the tale. I plan to use Emacs in place of other editors that I had been using to create scratch notes as I work on things at work, and also plan to use it to do the occasional scripting / web maintenance that I’m tasked to do.

Next week I’ll present the beginnings of my little Emacs cheatsheet and will dive into the first task I’ll look at, which is note-taking in my work environment.