X-Windows

I'm currently hand-compiling X-Windows in Linux for the first time. I'll be sure to report on the result when I'm done!

One doesn't easily realize how many dependencies a piece of software like X-Windows has until one tries to compile it by hand!!

Wednesday Mini Codices

Here is today's installment:

• Those with a vested interest in Web Security (pretty much all of us these days) and the technical know-how, may want to grab FireKeeper, a firefox extension which provides for Intrusion Detection and Prevention within Firefox.


• The FAA is looking into ditching Microsoft software and using Google Applications on Linux hardware as an alternative to upgrading to Windows Vista. As the article suggests, Microsoft's new products such as Vista and IE 7 are taking a BIG hit in March so far. [HT: Slashdot]


• Tipsters looks like an interesting site. There doesn't seem to be much of value on the site yet, but it is a good concept.


• Apparently, Michael Jackson is a Muslim now.


• James White has a good post about why textual criticism matters
for Christians

• Visuwords is cool, try it out!

Here, There, and Everywhere

1. For those who haven't heard, I've left the ACC, primarily over two doctrinal issues. I'll dearly miss worshiping regularly with the congregation that has been my home for almost my whole life. I'm seeking to join a local church that has a strong commitment to the gospel and has a strong Biblically sound preaching ministry.

2. Having to leave a church is not easy.

3. Especially the ACC.

4. I'm upgrading from SuSE Linux 10.0 to 10.1. I want to do a clean install, so I've spent a lot of time backing up loads of stuff. Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted something I didn't want to, so I am missing some older files :(

5. The weather is great! How is it that in the last couple of weeks I've hardly been able to get outside and enjoy it!? That definately has to change.

6. If you are a pastor and haven't read "Reformed Pastor" by Richard Baxter, do yourself and your congregation a favor and please read it ASAP.

7. Foxmarks is very useful and cool. And now its a company! Its a service which allows you to sync bookmarks remotely in your various installations of Firefox. And beyond that, it gives you a private web interface to access your bookmarks from anywhere and any browser.

8. I need to stop ordering books until I've read more of them.

9. Israel is not joking about marching through Lebanon.

10. Random books from my wishlist:

"The Gospel and the Greeks: Did the New Testament Borrow from Pagan Thought?" by Ronald Nash
"The Bolivian Diary: Authorized Edition" by Che Guevara
"John Owen on Christian Life" by Sinclair B. Ferguson
"1776" by David McCullough
"The Birds Our Teachers" by John Stott
"Letters of Francis A. Schaeffer: Spiritual Reality in the Personal Christian Life" - Lane T. Dennis
"Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants" by Robert Sullivan
"Fugitive Game" by Jonathan Littman
"The Savage My Kinsman" by Elizabeth Elliot
"Finished Work of Christ" by Francis Schaeffer

11. I'm rediscovering BibleTime (a KDE client for the SWORD engine). It is actually not as bad as I initially thought it would be. I still feel its not as good as E-Sword (free product for Windows), but I think I'll be using it because Linux is my OS of choice.

12. I'm very ignorant about eschatology.

Well, well. I don't normally post like this. But it did feel good!

Why I Use Open Source Software and Linux

1. I enjoy using and endorsing software that I am not only allowed, but encouraged to makes copies and distribute to my friends and associates.

2. I enjoy using software that has a license which encourages rather than discourages innovation, bug fixes, and community-driven critique.

3. I enjoy being able to peer into the internals of the software I am running.

4. I depend on the stability of the software I run, and have found many OSS products to be superior to their closed-source alternatives in this.

5. I depend on the security of the software I run, and have found many OSS products to be superior to their closed-source alternatives in this.

6. I take comfort in knowing that if the maintainer of the software that I run were to drop dead or become disinterested, the basic building blocks for the continuation of the software are in place and would not need be hindered by legal barriers.

7. I enjoy knowing that most of the software I run is in active development through a transparent process, and that I also have various relatively accessable ways to encourage the development of features I want.

8. I enjoy knowing that if I can't persaude someone else to implement a feature, I can implement it myself with a realistic possibility of it being integrated into the product.

9. I like running a stable, secure, and powerful system which provides me with a flexible medium between ease of use and ease of tweaking.

10. I like the way that open source software has challenged a playing field which has been increasingly dominated by domineering corporations, and has consequentally sanitized and freed many corners of the industry for real competition and a real free market.

In concluding this list, I want to encourage people that Open Source software is not at all or nothing proposal. You may run Windows (at your own risk :>), but you can still reap the benefits of solid OSS software, such as FireFox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice, Apache, Gaim, etc.

Dual Monitors!

Just last night I setup Dual Monitors on my PC using the TwinView feature that my video card supports. This enabled me to do this WITHOUT two video card (my video card has two output ports, one DVI, and one old-style).

It is very cool! However, it may take some getting used it. I'm trying to keep my right screen (and older CRT) for things that I leave open for a long time and I can briefly glance at to find out what I need (right now I have my inbox there and also a memory monitor). On my left screen, I have a ViewSonic 21 inch LCD for my "workspace".

For those who are not familiar with this setup, I can actually move my cursor to the right edge of my left screen and move it right on to my right screen, and also drag windows back and forth.

I got this all going under SuSE 10.0 with KDE. For those who are interested in doing a similar thing, here are the lines I had to add to /etc/X11/XF86Config under the Section "Device" area for my video card:

Option "TwinView"
Option "TwinViewOrientation" "LeftOf"
Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" "UseEdidFreqs"
Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "UseEdidFreqs"
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "DFP,CRT"
Option "MetaModes" "DFP: 1280x1024, CRT: 1280x1024"

These config changes were necessary in order to get things going, and once that happened KDE was quite supportive in tweaking the setup (it offered me some Multiple Monitor options in the control panel).

SuSe 10.0

I just installed SuSE Linux 10.0 and I'm very impressed so far! I've been using Fedora Linux for the most part, but I decided to try SuSE for the first time in a while, and I like what I see.

I think I may have to stick with SuSE if today is any indication of my overall experience with this distribution.