Since September 2007, my friend and co-worker in the Ubuntu Forums, K.Mandla, has been doing interviews with forum members on his blog, Motho ke motho ka botho, giving all of us an opportunity to get to know some of the people who are consistently helpful and friendly contributors to our community. This has been a fun way to introduce the wonderful members of our worldwide forum community to one another in a little bit deeper way, with posts coming once every two to six weeks*, depending on the time of year, how busy everyone is, and how easy or difficult…
Matthew Helmke (dot) Net Posts
This is the third edition of a wonderful book about Ubuntu. The book itself will be for sale from multiple vendors. The Barnes & Noble Custom Edition contains an extra chapter on the half-million strong Ubuntu Forums written by me. It gives a tour of the forums and its people, processes, and rules for getting assistance with your Ubuntu installation. The book is slated for release on July 15, 2008. Pre-orders are being accepted on the Barnes & Noble website. Huge thanks to Mako for allowing me to be a part of the project. I am honored and am thrilled…
I want to go on record and say that I do not believe that gender plays any part in a person’s competence in leadership, intelligence or mental capacity. I’m tired of people questioning another person’s intellectual or technological abilities based on their biological plumbing. I’m sick of female members of technological communities feeling like they need, or want, to hide their gender because of very real bias they have sensed against them. It’s slightly off-topic, but also for the record, I’m frustrated that this attitude exists in the music, and especially guitar-playing community as well, since that is something else…
I am a member of one of the boards that considers candidates for official membership in the worldwide Ubuntu community. A person who has made a sustained and real contribution to the Ubuntu community may apply to be an Ubuntu member. It isn’t an incredibly difficult process, but we are pretty strict on following the steps listed. Why? Because those steps are the only way that we, as the membership board, can accurately and adequately determine whether a candidate’s contributions have been consistent, helpful, and sustained enough for us to feel comfortable giving them the right to make Ubuntu business…
NOTICE: this is from April 2008. The information was accurate then and may still be accurate, but keep that in mind. Software changes. This info may need some adaptation. Also, see the disclaimer at the bottom of the post. I have several websites for which I am responsible. On one site, I am building a new gallery site for storing pictures as well as sound and video clips. There are several good options for building a gallery site, and I have used more than one with success. For the site in question, I decided to use Coppermine, which is powerful,…
All the way back in October 2007 I made two posts about conky, a lightweight and highly configurable system monitor for your desktop. I still use conky and love it. My configuration changes regularly, especially the colors, but you can get the basic idea from the config files I included in the earlier posts. There is one change I made recently that I would like to highlight because I think others will appreciate it. Originally, and for many months, I had a line in the configuration that would query a specific website to get my public IP address. I appreciate…
There are lots of good ways to back up your computer. I’ve used several. Lately, I am enjoying the ease, convenience, and quality of rsync. In typical geek fashion, I was perusing the rsync man page the other day and found some nice options that I hadn’t known about, so I started to experiment. I wanted to back up my laptop to a portable, external hard drive, starting with a full backup, then going to incremental backups after that. I also wanted to make sure the backup was kept in sync with my local hard drive, but without accidentally permanently…
I admit it. I have given a metric ton of different reasons for why I choose to use Linux. I have made lists. I’ve discussed tons of features. I’ve mentioned freedom. Earlier this week I found a blog post in which the writer claims the real reason we use Linux is because it is fun. You know what? He’s right, at least as far as probing the real reason I use Linux. This operating system has brought me back to my childhood, sitting in front of a computer with a flashing cursor just daring me to make it do something.…
Oh, yeah. I love guitar effects. Any good guitar player will tell you that you have to start with a good instrument, learn good technique and tone, and have a quality amplifier. I agree. I also agree with those who say that the lion’s share of tone comes from one’s fingers. Once you have that foundation, though, it’s a blast to step on a little pedal and totally transform your clean, pretty sounds into a raging troop of screaming monkeys, fire-breathing helicopters, rude buzzsaws, and modulated head trips. Here are some of my toys. The pedals I include on the…
Well, since everyone responded so well to my last post with a list in it, I thought I would share another. I have been married for more than 15 years to an amazing woman that I love and respect greatly. When you are in a relationship for a long time, it can be easy to get into a rut. Here are some (often silly) ideas to spice things up. Really, this is just for laughs, unless you are with a significant other with a great sense of humor like mine. However, if you use one and it works, please comment…