Linux Revisited Again

She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes

— traditional

I seem to be coming back around to linux again, and feel like putting down some of my own thoughts about the decision. While the "year of desktop linux" has been a running joke for the last two decades, I think we're now getting to the point where the decision is less of an issue.

I should probably clarify that my home computer is a home-built Frankenstein built on an installment plan: I buy an upgrade, and I install it.

The Politics: Why not Windows 10?

Privacy. It seems that with Windows 10 that Microsoft has gone opt-out rather than opt-in on certain forms of data reporting. While it looks like a lot of this can be turned off, the recent finding that parental modification was turned on by the upgrade disturbs me. Of course, I'm 44, own my computer, and am not accountable to my parents. But it opens the question about what other kinds of reporting might be turned on as a useful feature by a future update.

Why Linux? The Hobbies

At the moment, two of my hobbies involve writing and programming. In both cases the workflow I prefer to use is slightly better supported on Linux.

Writing

Currently my preferred workflow includes markdown or emacs org-mode and pandoc. Both emacs and pandoc have been ported to Windows but linux remains the primary platform of support. Windows introduces some annoyances to the process.

Programming

My programming hobby involves solving simple puzzles in multiple programming languages. Most of the programming languages I work in have Linux as a primary platform and Windows as a secondary platform. In Common Lisp for example, SBCL offers a bit better features and performance compared to any of the open-source lisps for Microsoft Windows. Working through cygwin for gcc and clang is something I find to be a bit awkward.

There are exceptions. Racket has always impressed me on any operating system. Microsoft has F and C#, but I don't have an investment in learning them.

Question 1: Games?

One of the reasons I went to Windows 7 in building my Frankenstein was access to AAA MMORPG and RPG games. I think that's less compelling to me now than it was previously for a couple of reasons.

The first is that I've had a loss of faith in game design lately. Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3 were huge disappointments. Generally speaking, take away the cinematic cut-scenes and the primary game mechanic involves cutting your way through dozens of dehumanized mobs to get from spawn point to goal. Even Bethesda's Fallout and Elder Scrolls series hinges on boss fights and ambushes to move the story forward. So I'm no longer as interested in playing those games as I've been in the past.

Images via pixelcurious.

And on the other side, Valve and GOG.com have made great strides in bringing new games and back-catalog releases to OS X and Linux. 20 out of 54 of my Steam games have Linux ports, along with about half of my GOG.com titles (including three of the games I've been playing the most this year.) Playonlinux has moved WINE gaming forward a fair bit. It's an area where the last few years have seen a lot of progress.

Question 2: Streaming Video?

Late last year, Netflix got support via Google Chrome, so that's taken care of. Still, a big test before install involved watching videos through a liveCD.

There's Always Dual-Boot

And if all else fails, I'm not burning any bridges by dual-booting.

Euro Truck Simulator 2: Loving the Portraits

As part of my disenchantment with combat games, I seem to be getting into sims. So when I saw there was a Euro Truck Simulator 2 demo, I had to try it out. (Yes, I'm a gaming bottom feeder, and a few years behind.)

A criteria I have for games is "do I get to wear pants" (as opposed to bikini mail)? I can't tell if I'm wearing pants in this game. But I do get a nice selection of character portraits that are not obviously fantasy material. I wonder, but can't confirm, that some of the icons might be members of the development team. Still, it's a nice change.

Two Programming Links

Two programming links:

NASA fixed a bug in New Horizons a week before it hurtles by Pluto. They're working with a nine-hour delay.

Grant Rettke discusses lisp, forth, and minimalist programming.

Dune at 50

Soon, Herbert’s research into dunes became research into deserts and desert cultures. It overpowered his article about the heroism of the men of the USDA (proposed title “They Stopped the Moving Sands”) and became two short SF novels, serialised in Analog Science Fact & Fiction, one of the more prestigious genre magazines. Unsatisfied, Herbert industriously reworked his two stories into a single, giant epic. The prevailing publishing wisdom of the time had it that SF readers liked their stories short. Dune (400 pages in its first hardcover edition, almost 900 in the paperback on my desk) was rejected by more than 20 houses before being accepted by Chilton, a Philadelphia operation known for trade and hobby magazines such as Motor Age, Jewelers’ Circular and the no-doubt-diverting Dry Goods Economist.

— Dune, 50 years on: how a science fiction novel changed the world | Books | Hari Kunzru @ The Guardian

An interesting 50-year retrospective of Dune.

Go home nature, you're drunk!

Biologists realize they have been drawing the precambrian beastie upside-down and backwards since the 1970s.

Ancient mini-monster head mystery solved — here's how we did it

kittens are good for you

Watching cat videos online may well have contributed to this general happiness. Participants reported a decrease in negative emotions—annoyance, anxiety, sadness, guilt—after an Internet cat fix, as well an increase in positive emotions (hope, happiness, contentment). Thus, the use of Internet cats as a mood modifier—the Emergency Kitten hypothesis—appears to pan out. As for the motivations behind those procrastinators, Myrick's data works with her model. Although procrastinators felt guilt after watching videos of cats knocking things off desks when they should have been working, that was more than offset by the pleasure obtained. The effect was also dependent on the quality of the cat content.

Watching cats on the Internet is good for you Jonathan Gitlin @ Ars Technica