April, 2008 - Live More Lightly

Earth Day 2008

Last weekend my daughter and I went to Jericho Beach park to celebrate Earth Day with the festival goers there. I had a great time listening to the music and meeting people who share my feeling that environmental change must happen.

I am adding some new links to my “Sources of Inspiration” page because of the dedicated people met there. Maybe some workshops will happen because of this event. Next year, my book will be out and I hope to be able to host workshops at all these community events.

Right now I am trying to obtain lists of “The Top Ten Most Important Environmental Actions” that an individual can do. I want these to come from environmental organizations because I am not really an expert — I just try to do the best I can. Maybe I will find out some things that I can add to the actions I already do.
I am hoping to include these lists in my book, website or on the disk to help people think of practical pledges. I have my personal favourites, and I have used some in the example arrangement of the Live More Lightly Song, but I think it would be best if there were several sources of inspiration for the lists.

I saw a Free Geek table set up there and got additional contact information. I have to admit I was a bit cross because during all this Ubuntu work I have been trying to contact them and here they are at Earth Day. The volunteer explained that they had moved and changed their phone set-up so my calls for help may have been lost. I apologized for my testiness, but I had been trying to phone them on and off for months. I did not think it was a good idea to set up an exhibit and give out cards with phone numbers, then not answer any calls. I am still hoping to get some help with Ubuntu as the volunteer was very nice, even though I was a bit upset at first.

There are so many things to organize, but I hope to find more help soon and I am grateful to everyone who has contributed so far.

Live More Lightly Score

I finally have a screenshot function in Ubuntu so I can show you a draft of page one of the Live More Lightly Song score. This is a thumbnail to show the viewer and the additional pages. Eric is a very busy person, so I am glad that we are able to work through e-mail now. Progress is being made and should have this basic arrangement for voice and piano ready to send to our editor soon. The information about our editor will be posted on the “About Our Team” page soon.

I made a larger version so you can see the music. I really like Eric’s piano arrangement and I will have to work out a guitar chord accompaniment too.

Due to time constraints I may end up setting up web downloads for licensed users of the book. The idea of this book is a bit different because I am selling a license, no different than a software license, that gives the book buyer the right to print copies of the parts as they require more. Unlike most publications, the print ready parts are provided on a disk and more can be printed or photocopied if the group expands. I want the workshop organizer/ choral leader to be able to use this music with a variety of different groups, so we are providing different arrangements, the basic version is shown below.

We are also preparing a SSA (soprano,soprano,alto) and SATB (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) with piano. I hope to have everything finished a month before I leave. I have to keep working ….

Tech Notes: The score was prepared on a Mac Powerbook G4 with Finale.

Yamaha FJ Road Ready

I went over to Simon’s after work as I have been having a bit of a problem shifting gears. It was not happening all the time, so it made it difficult to diagnose. Occasionally, the bike would refuse to shift into 3rd gear. It would “hit the ceiling” as it does in 5th and give my foot the signal that there are no more upshifts here. I left a phone message for Simon, then rode around a bit. I can easily ride to work in 2nd gear as the Fj is so powerful, but the high revs are not good in the long run. It was only happening from time to time and I started to think that, in Simon’s parlance, “It’s the nut behind the wheel”, particularly when the nut has new boots on ….

It started getting worse, so when Simon called, I was happy to go over and poke around on the bike. It always astonishes me when I see how easily he moves these big machines around. I try not to react when he casually holds the bike up with one hand before putting it up on the centre stand with a quick practiced motion. I mentally coach myself that Simon can do this and I don’t have to rush over to steady the bike or “help” him.

He quickly diagnosed the problem as a need for lubrication in the joints and then he rode the bike around the back to do the work. I tried to help, but I think I mostly got in the way. Despite my assistance, Simon managed to lube the significant parts, tighten and oil the chain and put the right amount of air in the tires. Only Simon could have made my throttle work better by putting the counterweight in the lathe and shaving it down a hair.

I always enjoy Simon’s company as he shows me all of his projects and the bikes he is working on. I rode off and started feeling the difference his changes had made. The work he did on the clutch last year and this work means the Fj shifts like a new bike. The extra air in the front tire made me feel the bumps on the road and I almost lost it going into a gas station. I am not used to that much of a direct road feel as I went over the driveway bump. I will get used to it, I am sure and the extra air made it corner so much better!

Simon says: make sure your chain is lubed and adjusted properly and keep checking your tire pressure as every bike looses some air.

Thanks Simon!

Ubuntu+Notebook IV

Yesterday I took my notebook to work because I had to repair the internet and I wanted one computer I could rely on. I maintain 3 old macintosh computers on a LAN at work. The problem turned out to be that a recent ADSL outage had changed some settings and I had to reset the router. At first the ADSL provider admin wanted to use Vista, so I tried to log in with the second Vista (longhorn) boot and the boot sequence turned into a circle of returns to the Grub menu. I decided to use Ubuntu as the tech was somewhat familiar with linux.

It was easy to set up a static IP in Ubuntu and the testing was completed quickly and efficiently. I was then able to set up my employer’s ibook on the crosscable from the modem after setting up the static IP on that machine. I reset the router, plugged it into the crosscable and then there was internet.

I was puzzled about the Vista boot until I remembered the happy downloading of updates. Did one of those updates affect the boot loader? Recalling the sequence of events that led to Vista working in the first place: the first Vista boot choice had transferred all of the files and booted in a strange way, then the second one worked. I started the Asus notebook again and chose the first Vista option. After the microsoft loading screen, several files were processed, then I got the giant error screen.

Back to unclipping the battery just enough …

Now I rebooted, choosing the second Vista boot and voila Vista.

I really don’t know what is happening here, but now I know what to do. If I have a problem booting after downloading updates, then try the first boot choice and see if it loads the software.

Today, I am trying something new. I wanted to clean up the failed install of Ubuntustudio, so I opened Synaptic and searched for linux-image. I received this info here. Thanks to aysiu, I was confident I could remove the install, then the partition would not be locked. However, when I opened the linux-image all the software that is pre-installed in Ubuntustudio is there! The software installed correctly, but maybe not the desktop? Now I will copy the software I want before deleting the kernel and reorganizing the partitions.

I went on the #ubuntu IRC channel to get some help as I am having mouse problems with my desktop. I will switch mice with XP and see what happens, but I wanted to find a list of key-commands for Ubuntu — just in case the other mouse exhibits the same problems. I did install a lot of music software and multi-media editing tools, so maybe one of them doesn’t like my mouse.

I had not been on IRC (Internet Relay chat) since the BBS days on Mindlink, from 1989-95. I am hoping that Ubuntu will show me the internet I used to know in those times, before GUI browsers, when the internet filtered all the early technology adapters into one place where they could talk. I wonder if there are still moderated Usenet groups? If I want to read sometime, I will try to find them.

Ubuntu and Vista Dual boot Notebook III

Vista is now booting from the grub bootloader and is working perfectly while completely ignoring all Ubuntu on the partitioned drive. It has enough space, and I will be able to practice on it as I know I will get some Vista support calls.

Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon 7.10 works wonderfully on my notebook as the default OS. I still have a few issues to solve but the forum support has been very helpful. I was worried that my Nvidia card would be tricky to install, but it seems to be working fine and I set up Alsa for audio now.

I have to clean up the failed install and reclaim my home partition. There is also some space that is not being used by either OS.

I installed a home partition because I read that all your personal data, including application preferences would be saved there and then I could upgrade without loosing my personal computer. My problem now is that the partitions were made during the failed install, so now I have to reclaim of remove them.

The hard drive listing before I removed the swap drive [matches above gparted screenshot]:

Here is a screenshot of the present drive situation with the end swap drive deleted.

Note the new 570.9 MB volume that was formerly the swap drive. With this configuration both OS run, but my Ubuntu drive is fragmented and I can’t use most of it. I will try to fix it, but I will be cautious so I don’t loose the set-up I have — I hope.

I am researching Firewire audio for this notebook and I am trying to get my M-Audio Delta 44 card to work on my desktop. This all seems like so much work when I have to try to meet the publishing deadline for my book. I know it will be worth it to have a mobile Ubuntu recording system. I am trying not to buy another mac. I loved my mac, but I couldn’t afford it. It was so expensive to buy that I couldn’t afford software. The studio I work for bought the software for me to use, but I ended up realizing that the best option was to sell them the hardware too. I need to have a notebook that I can take on my tour and that one was purposely configured for the studio environment.

I know that I can pirate anything I need — but I won’t. I am an advanced user and I should not have to steal the tools of my trade. Ubuntu is giving me those tools and I hope to use them to the complete every aspect of my project except the music notation. I am doing that on the aforementioned mac in the studio using Finale. All of the book design is planned using The Gimp and Scribus and I hope to be able to do some of the audio too. I am exploring starting with the desktop until I get firewire. I have not yet found a Final Cut Pro for Ubuntu, but maybe somewhere in a repository far, far away …

Dual Boot – Truth is Stranger than Fiction

After a spectacularly unsuccessful day of trying to get my (working perfectly before this process started) notebook to dual boot Vista and Ubuntu, I went to look at the Ubuntu forums to see if anyone else had replied to my post. There was no new information since last night, so I decided to keep trying.

This morning I went into Ubuntu and deleted the swap drive at the end of the list of partitions using gparted. I also found out that the Home folder that Ubuntu sees belongs to the previous Ubuntu studio install as I did not have permission to save anything.

I wanted to take a photo of the giant ERROR message that I get when starting Vista so everyone on the Ubuntu forum could see that this is a really different problem. I had some helpful feedback, but some of it was relating to a different type of problem. One poster had asked for more details and I feel that I need all the help I can get.

I rebooted into Windows Vista (longhorn) but now it is installing.

There is a small window called “Windows Setup”
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Windows Setup
Windows is now installing the following items:
Install the application

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Behind this small window is a listing of programs example:

C:\preload\touchpad>start /w C:\preload\patch\sleep.exe

Now Vista is starting up.

This is so odd.

I didn’t do anything except remove one swap drive.

I will now see how functional Vista is — and if I can still boot into a working Ubuntu.

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Truth is stranger than fiction.

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I still have the problem with the hard drive fragmentation and the Ubuntu studio kernal being on the drive and owning the home directory.

This is progress though – now where is my WEP key?.

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After this post, I went back to see how Vista was installing and saw this screen.

Ubuntu booted?

Possible explanation: Vista restarted to install and the bootloader defaults to Ubuntu.

Check it out – it seems to still be working despite all of the Vista activity.

Back to a reboot and I chose the first listing of Vista – that is where all the installing was happening before.

The giant ERROR screen

Possible explanation: This is some type of back-up archive and something happened before that is not happening now.

How technical can you get? I mean that some event was triggered to initiate the recovery when I deleted the one swap partition (maybe) and once the recovery was completed — I am back to the error screen. But will this happen on the second listing because if this theory is correct, then the restore would have been installed to the second Vista partition.

Reboot – I am getting really good at loosening the battery just enough ….

The second listing of Vista (longhorn) booted into the Vista Welcome screen.

Is Vista really working?

This is not the same boot-up that happened before. This one asks to set my language and password and makes me check the license agreement. (there is nothing on there against dual boot)

Now it seems that Vista will work.

I will be checking out the functionality now.

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Strange but true, the computer repaired itself — so that now the grub loader will boot ubuntu (default) after a few seconds of wait to allow me to select the second choice of Vista (longhorn) Home Edition. The kernal 7.10 selection is the failed install of ubuntu studio that boots into kernal mode with no GUI.

Vista is happily installing updates from the internet. It only sees it’s own harddrive partition used for the install and not any part of the Ubuntu partitions. Strangely enough, it doesn’t recognize the Fat32 partition that I think is used to back up and restore the system. Vista has enough space to operate and install programs and I plan to use an external drive for most data.

Ubuntu operates the Wifi card and seems happy on the system. I just have to figure out a way of removing the failed Ubuntu studio install (kernal 7.10) and assign the home drive to the Ubuntu that is working. Then I can test out the built in camera and microphone and try to get some music and graphics programs installed.

Once I get this notebook running, it will be my primary mobile computer so I will need a firewire audio interface. Is there one that supports Vista, Ubuntu 7.10 and mac? I will find out soon.

Yamaha FJ – On the Road

Two sunny days in a row happened last weekend, so on Monday I bought insurance for the big bike — my Yamaha FJ1200. By Friday, I was riding confidently, under a partly cloudy sky, to Yaletown. I was scheduled to meet with a documentary film maker who wanted to interview me about one of my teachers and the benefits of her program.

After the interview, which was quite short, I thought I would join my daughter for dinner, so I phoned her as it started to rain. We made plans, but as I talked to her the rain turned to small beads of hail. I decided to have a coffee and wait this one out. The closest Starbucks was the only organic coffee in the area. Starbucks will go organic if you insist, they will make you a bodum press of organic coffee if they don’t have any on tap. As the hail was quite fierce, I lingered over the brew, but then it started to clear up a bit. I quickly saw my chance to head out, returned to my bike and shook the hail off the bike cover. The FJ started easily, even in the cold, but I knew the remnants of the hail was still on the street, so I was careful not to start or stop too quickly.

I started to head over to my daughter’s house, but decided to go home instead as it was really cold and I was worried about the weather. I had seen a couple of lightning strikes and the big, dark clouds now covered the sky. I was quite close to home when the hail started coming down again. My hands freezing as I drove very carefully on the slippery stuff, I managed to park outside my house and cover the bike quickly. The hail was coming down very thickly by then and I felt lucky to have made it home.

Later, I looked out the window and confirmed I had made the right choice.

In Vancouver, it usually snows enough to cover the ground a couple of times a year. This was taken Friday, April 18th, 2008. The spring flowers are out, the daffodils and tulips are blooming and the early cherry trees are already finished. It is so unusual that I know this unseasonable cold is a symptom of climate change. This cold and hail must be affecting the local farmers and gardeners. There are some people who think that the global warming can cause an ice age as the pendulum swings back to self-correct the climate. I am worried about the future, but I will do what I can in the present.

Ubuntu and Notebook II

The attempt to configure my Asus notebook to dual boot did not go as well as I hoped. Click here for details. However, I haven’t given up yet and I do have Ubuntu 7.10 working but my Vista boots to a huge ERROR screen. I am going to try to re-install Vista from the Asus restore disks, but I am afraid that it will wipe out the Grub boot loader that allows me to choose which system to boot. This is a photo of my desktop Ubuntu computer that is giving me all the help from the internet as I try to get everything to work.

I think I had more trouble because I tried to install Ubuntu Studio. After a lot of different error messages, I got this screen, but no matter what user name and password I entered, I could get no further. Now my Vista refused to boot and I saw the giant error for the first time.

I tried the Ubuntu studio install again, but the next time it would only boot to the kernel and that it where it sits now. I couldn’t get Vista to run, so I reinstalled from my Asus restore disks. Now Vista was working again, but all my files are lost – nothing to be too sad about as I was trying not to use the computer until this process is complete …

Next I tried to install the regular distro that I have on the desktop. This is a photo of the Ubuntu install of the regular Gutsy Gibbon distro. It worked completely and is now on my notebook.

Now, I have some real problems as I have a working Ubuntu 7.10 with the following partitions and subdivisions The Vista partition is there and seems to have all the files in there that it needs to operate. The really bad thing is all the fragmentation due to two linux kernels being installed, two swap partitions and some unallocated space. When I looked at it in gparted I did not know what to do!

Here is the same HD from the working Ubuntu Places>computer.

Vista is marked as installed, but somehow the Grub boot loader is not initiating the Vista boot sequence. I looked in the files and they all seem to be there. Now I have to find out how to fix these problems.

At least now I know I can use Ubuntu on this notebook, even the WiFi works. It seems to be a choice of one or the other right now as if I reinstall Vista, then I can’t boot to Linux and with the working Ubuntu, Vista is not working.

Off to Ubuntu forums to see if I can get some help.

The Songbook Cover

This is my first attempt to create a cover with the photo “At Water’s Edge” by Michael Wheatley. This photo really grabbed me as the reflections in the water look like an abstract painting. I love the colour pallet and will be working to create a design that will show the beauty of the natural landscape.

Tech Notes:

This cover was created using The Gimp and Scribus open source tools on the Ubuntu platform. These programs are quite different from the usual Photoshop + InDesign that I am used to, but I am working hard to get the same level of functionality.

Live More Lightly Sheet Music

Eric and I have been working steadily on preparing the sheet music for the book. I am entering it in Finale on the MAC G4 Powerbook that I sold to the studio I work at. I had designed the studio with the Mac integrated, so I realized I had to get another notebook for this tour. I may still have to get a Macbook Pro, but so far I am able to have access to the studio and work on the score.

The new notebook with Vista installed, will soon dual-boot with Ubuntustudio distro, but so far I have not found a good open-source notation program. I really like this notebook that I am updating this post with, but I have no Vista software, everything I have is XP or Windows 2000. I prefer Ubuntu as I can download available software at no charge and so I don’t have to re-purchase or buy updates for software that I already own. The Ubuntustudio distro is supposed to be loaded with software that I had to hunt down in the Gutsy distro that I have installed on my desktop. However, besides Lilypond, which I did try, but could not really figure out, there isn’t a really good notation software that I have found.

I wanted to put a screenshot of the music notation on this page. Ubuntu (so far) is not doing screenshots. Vista does screenshots, but I have no photo editing software to make a .jpg to upload into WordPress. My XP computer has no internet access (planned ultimate firewall – no ethernet cable and no wifi card) because it is my music production computer, so I can’t download the file and upload the result. Off to the studio to try it on the Mac … I remember downloading some open source freeware photo software a while ago. Transitional times in cyberspace — but I hope that once I get the notebook set up and all the tools I need in Ubuntu then I will be able to concentrate on the project and not the enabling technology.