At first, I didn't get very far. All I got after trying like crazy was a weird humanoid image.
Still, I didn't get up. I had learned the basics of vector images by trying to give shape to that odd creature.
Later, I could get something a bit better. I aimed at
drawing one of the images that I can do easily by hand: a cat!
To simplify my life, I chose the rear view. This is what I got:
A cat ignoring me!
Then, I started drawing all sorts of things. Of course, my drawings look more like cartoonized versions of everything, but that's OK. I am glad to say I learned something new!
I realized today that Linux does not store cookies as I remember Windows used to do it. If my memory does not fail me, Windows used a special folder named "cookies".
Well, I looked for such folder under var, etc, usr and other folders to no avail.
Then, I started my search online "where does Firefox store cookies on Linux?"
Also, you can view on Firefox some info of the cookies from any site you visit. To do so, you go to "Edit / Preferences / Privacy and Security" and there, you look for "cookies and site data". There, you can view the number of cookies and space each site has. You can also delete cookies from there.
A couple of days ago, I stumbled upon some of the games I used to play during my time using Windows. Fortunately, many of them run fine thanks to DOSBox (Yes, I am talking of old-school games!)
Yet, some of the old Windows games I liked did not work back then through Wine, or others were kind of clunky.
I decided to try three to see what happened and was pleased to see that now Wine runs them well.
Of those games, one of my favorite ones was Swarmers. Now I can play it again!
You pilot a ship in an alien planet and battle a plague of giant ants
Then, I tried "Odento todono osakana tsuri game" (what a long name!) to see if it still ran. Fortunately, it still does!
You fish to feed your family. Beware of junk or non-edible creatures!
Finally, I tried installing a pinball game named "Roll 'm Up" and it worked perfectly, too.
This is a great pinball!
I wish that "Crystal Caliburn" worked without the awkward lagging it suffers from, or that "Kung-fu Kim", that throws a fatal error, also worked. Maybe they will, eventually.
Two weeks ago, some colleagues reported that the office's printer was not working. I did not pay much attention to it because I seldom use that printer and I assumed that they had broken the hardware.
However, later on I learned that it was not a hardware problem. The issue was with the software. Indeed, my brother Mechatotoro could print seamlessly using OpenMandriva LX. I tried then one of my MX-18 Live USB systems and could also print.
At the end, we realized that it had been a Windows 10 update. I tried to fix the issue, but since nobody has administrative rights, nothing could be done. When my colleagues asked my brother why he could use the printer and
how that problem could be prevented, he said "You can do it by using
Linux."
Since my colleagues are not willing to use an OS that works, they will have to wait until someone comes to fix what was functional but that Windows graciously broke.
In the meantime, I guess I will download MX-19 "Patito Feo" and see what's new. I want to install it on my laptop, too. Then, I'll make a live USB clone of my system to take it everywhere I go. Let the Patito Feo fly majestically!
Yesterday, I upgraded the kernel of my Linux laptop (MX Linux 18.3) to an antiX kernel 5.1.2. The upgrade went well and the laptop now boots very fast.
Encouraged by that, I tried the same with my HP laptop, which runs antiX 17.3.1. That laptop seems designed to discourage anyone from running Linux on it. It gave me all sort of problems and, apparently, I'm not the only one who has had headaches thanks to such laptop.
Fortunately, when I finally got my system up and running, I made a snapshot and put the system into a live USB. That way, if something went wrong, I could run the live system with all my tweaks already applied and install it easily.
Well, the kernel upgrade did not work. I lost my wireless connection and there was no way to get it back. In addition, my wireless stopped working on the old kernel, the one that previously worked without problems.
It was time to run the customized live USB. It worked flawlessly. After seeing the wi-fi back on, I installed the system from the USB stick.
Right now, I am posting this from the HP laptop. Customized live USB systems are simply amazing!
Audacity is a very handy tool to edit audio files. Lately, I've been testing its capacity to remove vocals from songs, using two different methods and obtaining mixed results.
The first method: The "Vocal Remover" tool:
This is simple and relatively fast. You need to go to "Effects" and once there, all the way down to "Vocal Remover". Depending on your version, you might need to look for it under "Effects/Plugins/"
Once there, you run it, making sure you chose "remove vocals" from the drop down menu of the plugin. And that's it!
Vocal Remover will work well with some songs. An important observation is that you need an unsplit stereo track for this method to work. What is an unsplit stereo track? What can you do if you tried Vocal Remover and you didn't like the result? Please read the second method to find out the answers.
The second method: Using "inversion" for one channel:
This is more difficult. Stereo tracks have the audio in two different channels (left and right), and such channels are merged (unsplit) in most songs. The second method consists of splitting both tracks and then applying the tool "inversion" to one of them. Once done that, both tracks must be set to "mono" to be exported.
That sounds a bit confusing, especially if we do not know much about sound edition. Fortunately, several people have posted video tutorials. This is one by Jimmy Ruska:
There you go! The second method has worked better in my case, but it's a matter of testing to see what works best for you.
I've been working so much lately that I haven't had time to do my favorite leisure activities, which are reading and writing.
Thus, when I felt stress levels rise dangerously, I opened the GIMP and decided to see what I could do with it in my short resting moments.
I decided to use the GIMP because I wanted to do something experimental. To begin with, I am not a visual artist of any kind and my digital drawings have never gone beyond stick people on Kolourpaint. In other words, I wanted to step out of my known tools and experience something new. Hopefully, I'd be able to paint something in the process, too.
And this is how Tajumaru came to existence. True, it is not a masterpiece but my stress was gone when I finished the painting. That was the best outcome!
I highly recommend the GIMP to those who, like me, need to release some stress and don't have much time in their hands.
