How to make one page with all the geek stuff is the problem :)
Let's try. Try to bare.
I
like encryption and being a cypherpunk. My favorite encryption tool is, or at least was,
GPG because it's GnuPG .. and nothing beats seeing Darwin in the details
of the signature. I've used GPG for years, configured and used it in 10.1,
10.2, 10.3, 10.4 ... though years back the interest started before GPG
came what it is now. I also like to read the full email headers - to see
more. What system and appllication for mail you use, if you encrypt or
not, and so on.
Application preferences seem to lead, or at least they seemed to in the
past, to go to big disagreements in the Mac life. So, I am a SubEthaEdit (or previously Hydra) person instead of BBEdit - though BBEdit is tempting to try again
as it's work licenced for me.. I was an OpenOffice
person more than M$ Office - the reasons for this were before more ideological,
my just not liking M$ products, but again, now I would have it as site
licenced version, and I still bother to install NeoOffice.. at least
for the speed's sake. M$ would run painfully slow with far less RAM that
I would want (but which is what I have). NeoOffice isn't actually the fastest either, at least what comes to spreadsheets, but I just don't like Excel at all. So - NeoOffice for my use is limited to what retro AppleWorks' spreadsheet can't do, and for the rest ... there is LaTeX, and iWork, mostly using only Pages though. I desperately hate PPS files, so unless I have asked speficly for one, I just trash them. Sometimes I bother to ask for a PDF version of the file, but if the file was sent to me with the sole objective of it being funny, too bad. Of browsers then, as continueing with the "religious" software topics, Safari 2.0 is pretty
neat.Shiira is also a nice browser for alternative, as is Camino,
and even Firebird (I wish Mozilla family browsers would for once quit changing their names) Firefox. Changing hte software names is annoying - I liked Chimera
before they changed the bookmark management and before they became Camino.
What othe applications would be religiously geeky..? Oh - obviously, next
to my Finder I keep the terminal. I used Linux (different versions of
it) before migrating to OS X, so I am not afraid of the command line.
I insult people using command line (unix commands), and do everything
I enjoy GUIless and that I can't ask the customers to do with their terminal.
And I enjoy exploring what you can do with a Newton .. in OS X.
I have used Macs since 6.something, though I never really loved the classic
system. Windows was the necessary bad, and Linux tastes were a logical
extension of pcs .. a slow movement to unix flavors. No looking back here..
:) Now after years of use of OS X I do admit, I miss something of the
pcs.. it is not the games. Just the exploring of Linux distros. As I play
with X11 installing applications to use, it still isn't always as satisfying
as discovering a new nice flavor is .. or even when it is the dislike.
I once installed Mandrake for one night, and did not like it, so after
one night of use, I reformatted only to put RedHat back there. I haven't
worked with anything Windows based for a long time, and depending on how
I will want to specialize, I will probably not need Windows at all for
a long time.
Continueing with computer topics, I have an Apple
tattoo. (Ah never mind, the Italian worst ever host has removed the site - they made it impossible for people living outside Italy to update the websites regularly, and since I haven't lived there since 2002 or 2003, the deletion for not updateing came as no suprise really. I'm pretty sure it still has some mirrors up somewhere.) It has been in some French digital photography magazine, in
Wired (I think), MacFormat UK, and in The Cult of Mac bookThe
Cult of Mac book.
I recycled an Apple Pro Mouse to be a soap holder. The Apple
Pro Soap cup is functional, and I am trying to recycle more mice for
ice cream cups or wasabi holders. And some round, metal bottom plats of
iMacs will find some use in home - on wall as a clock? A plate for hot
kitchen utensils, or a tray for candles..?
Other software in active use: Apple Remote Desktop, some work tools, VLC, FCE HD, skype, and still while staying on consumer level, Adium.
A video of
the opening of North Michigan Avenue Apple Store, or just a bunch of photographs
taken in the opening of it, in June 2003. I was to make a similar mini
video of the Old Orchard opening, but not enough material for that. But there will be enough material and photos about the Regent Store opening (that is the Apple Store in London), opening 20 Nov 04. :)
Probably under the geeky section there should be some sort of list of my hardware and geeky gadgets. :) My current previous main machine home is a revision B Powerbook that I upgraded the RAM from 512 MB to 1,25 GB, and hard drive to 80 GB, and combo to superdrive. Powerbook 12" takeapart pictures (my Powerbook taken apart in kitchen to upgrade it). Now ... at work using a PM G5 2.0 DP with 160 GB hard drive, a 1,25 GHz eMac, iMac G3 running 9.2 while still looking for CPU specific 8.6 to install there... home stuck on a first generation iMac G5 with 17" screen and 400 GB hard drive, and the next item to drool is the 15" PowerBook. Original drool was for 17" but since that is more a desktop... 15" with 120 GB HD will do. My other toys at home include some portable hard drives with old or not so old Powerbook hard drives inside them, a 2nd generation iPod of 20 GB, a pink iPod mini first generation, a Newton 2000, an Olympus Camedia c-740 digital camera with 10x optical zoom, an iSight, a not that new mobile (SE P800), an old mobile phone (Ericsson t39m, that was one of the first ones to have a bluetooth built in, and the next one will be replaced with a Sony Ericsson p800 which in turn was upgraded by one of the other geeks in the house). Well - since I live with about 5 or 6 other people who all work for a very nice company, the list of toys home is pretty interesting. (Probably one of the geekiest houses to live around, since there is a corporate mailing list for the people living there..) My estimate of the toys that exist at home now would go something like this: 1-2 iBooks 12", 1 iBook clamshell graphite maybe (depends whose it was), 1-3 12" Powerbooks, 1 15" Powerbook, 1 17" Powerbook, 17" Dell Inspiron, 1 Airport Express, 1 AirMac extreme, some DSL modem and router, and the last time we counted the iPods at the house they were around 15 in total... at least 3 iTrips, at least 2 iSights, unknown number of digital cameras, mobile phones and phone numbers for them, and PDAs, at least that one Newton 2000 ... and the toy list within the next few months in the house will include also an XServe, XServe cluster mode, XServe RAID, dual G5, a few PCs maybe, and some other toys that will make most likely whatever hardware you had tp brag about sound very bland. Listing and just talking about hardware can get boring - fortunately my other half is as big a geek and nerd as I am. :)
That's it for now. This page needs cleaning, and not just a bit. So maybe I'll wait til I have the 15" toy to write with, or just need to work less on free time.
