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Recent Posts
- Respect for suicide
- Using Email at McGill university: Ongoing suffering of an open-source user, year 9
- National Carbon Price in Canada: give private industry entrepreneurs the clarity they crave [Sep 2016]
- Keeping your fingers and toes warm in cold weather: a guide for endurance skiers with poor circulation
- Ubuntu on Lenovo Thinkpad T450s
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Category Archives: software
Using Email at McGill university: Ongoing suffering of an open-source user, year 9
It’s 2020, and the world has changed. Well, yes, there’s that, but I meant that the world of email has changed. For reasons I won’t speculate and rant about here, the problem of spam has not been solved, and email … Continue reading
Posted in Academia, Alpine, Alpine, GNU/linux, McGill University, Microsoft, software, Uncategorized
Tagged alpine, email, GNU/linux, McGill, Microsoft monopoly, software
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Ubuntu on Lenovo Thinkpad T450s
Lenovo’s T450s is another piece of high-production-volume hardware from a vendor with a fairly good reputation for Linux support … but a host of serious problems under Ubuntu’s flagship “Long-term-support” operating system. I’d love to be in touch with others … Continue reading
Posted in GNU/linux, hardware, Product review, Ubuntu, Uncategorized
2 Comments
Composing and typesetting a funding proposal using LyX (SSHRC/ NSERC /CIHR)
This is one of the geekier posts I’ve written, in the sense that the number of people for whom this might be useful is… small and they are not likely to search for it. In Canada, submitting an application to … Continue reading
Posted in Academia, GNU/linux, LaTeX, LyX
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Review: System76 and their “Sable Touch” desktop computer
It’s still hard to buy a turn-key or supported GNU/Linux computer. I keep trying, and I especially prefer to avoid paying what’s called the Microsoft Tax, i.e. the hardware-bundled cost of Microsoft software, which is how they have built and … Continue reading
Posted in GNU/linux, hardware, Product review, Ubuntu
Tagged customer service, desktop computer, product review, System76
4 Comments
Inline plots in ipython under Ubuntu (14.04)
This may be my shortest blog post ever, but I’ve been wondering (even with Google’s help) for years why I cannot get my matplotlib graphics to display inline in ipython. This is not always desirable, since they’re not editable/zoomable like … Continue reading
Ubuntu 13.04 and 13.10 (updated for 14.04 and 14.10) on Lenovo X230/X230-Tablet convertible tablet
If you consider yourself a user, not a tinkerer, the number one rule of running GNU/Linux is not even to try it except on hardware that others have already tried with complete success. (Do not buy a laptop, desktop, or server thinking … Continue reading
Posted in GNU/linux, hardware, Lenovo X230 Tablet, McGill University, software, Ubuntu
16 Comments
Printing (PDF) to uPrint printers at McGill from GNU/Linux
It’s been six months since I notified McGill ICS of an update for their page on using the campus uPrint service from GNU/Linux. They haven’t updated anything, so this is to explain how to do it. This change is relevant … Continue reading
Posted in GNU/linux, McGill University, software, Ubuntu
Tagged GNU/linux, macgill, printing, uprint
9 Comments
Asus Eee PC X101CH review: Very Poor
No matter what positive characteristics this netbook may have, the biggest negatives are sufficient for me to conclude: do not buy this machine. My point of comparison is just one machine, an HP Mini 1116NR from nearly three years ago. … Continue reading
iClicker under GNU/Linux
Electronic “clickers” are personal wireless transceivers carried by every student in a lecture hall and are used for in-class feedback and assessment in teaching. At McGill, we have just switched to a new clicker system that is all about integration with … Continue reading
Posted in GNU/linux, McGill University, Microsoft, software
2 Comments
How-to: Alpine and maildir (and offlineimap (and GMail)) — no more maildir patches!
Abstract If you think non-graphical email clients are efficient or otherwise desirable, and want offline access to your email, this post describes a step forward. In particular, it describes the set-up of offline-accessible mail through the Alpine (formerly Pine, shortly … Continue reading
The Red Pen 