Silent, But Still at it!

There will be more to tell regarding this epic story - but, to start off with, try my Google+ post.

Sharing the love!

It took some courage to convert myself to Linux/Ubuntu as I was terrified that I would never understand the Terminal et al. More importantly, I was scared that should something go wrong, I'd have no idea how to fix it.

That was the case last night! While working on a very important presentation at 0100 this morning (I started working on it at 1730) my system told me that updates were available. Being a convert to Ubuntu I instantly clicked 'do it baby' (After all, updates are free and safe add ons aren't they!) only for it to turn off my touchpad!

I dashed upstairs, clagged in a USB mouse (Thank whatever deity you worship that it worked!) and finished my presentation by 0245 - retiring to bed in the fear that I'd wrecked my laptop.

This evening (having delivered a stunning presentation) I looked into how to fix my ailing machine – and this link made me realise I hadn't lost it, it was just turned off! And I found a way to give my dear lady wife back her edge scrolling she lost when she upgraded to 13.10 (dear Lord, she's being complaining about this since the upgraded - why didn't I leave her on an LTS).

Taking the courage to convert to Linux/Ubuntu is a very daunting one - you're stepping into the world of the unknown, without support (or so you assume). The truth is, the community is out there - because they want to be, not because they want to become rich - and will help any of us fix our issues... and gain me brownie points with the wife!

To those of you that take the time to post tips, tricks and advice to idiots like me - I can only offer my thanks in absence! But what you do, makes us free, enables us to create and venture into the unknown - plus keep my wife happy!

My request: Applaud those willing to post (on what my wife calls 'the interactive TV') and enable noobs like me to still be excited about playing in this arena!

Lazy Equals Busy

I wanted to keep this blog chronological.

When my family got involved, there was no hope of that happening!

I still have tales to tell (many of which prove that I'm an idiot and have great extended family friends that prevent me from destroying everything).

Yes - Every member of'my' family are now using Ubuntu distros are their sole operating systems.

Yes - I broke my wife's machine when installing it... But I found an online resource that helped me fix it!

Yes - I've updated to 13.10 - Saucy Salamander.

Yes - One such update destroyed my daughter's laptop and nearly ate her homework. (Bless my cousin-in-law for teaching me so much to save it!)

So... The idiot is still taking a journey... But fact (and emotional) posts will soon follow.

Just don't expect them to be in calendar order!

Coming Back Soon!

I know that apologies don't count on blogs...  I also know blogs are supposed to be dead...

The thing is, if you write a blog, you need time to write one and need info to blog about...

I've had none of the first, but tons of the latter.  I brag now that I have not booted my own machine into Microsoft (dirty) Windows - and have spent all of my time in Ubuntu. And that time has been spent assisting my father-in-law with his retirement sale... That includes setting up his social media presence, sending out press releases and I've even managed to get to air (radio) with the aid of Ubuntu applications.

I do have plenty to write about... and as soon as I have one last monkey off my back - I'll be posting again!

Damn the day job!

My day job is getting in the way of blogging!  But there are benefits...  I was working with a couple of people today - and they were bemoaning their laptops for taking to long to boot up.

One of them was getting so frustrated, I thought he was going to take a mallet to his laptop - and he only needed to access the web to get something from his cloud...  My first thought was why doesn't he own a smartphone or tablet... But who am I to judge...

As I watched these people wrestle with madness, I returned to my office, recovered my personal laptop (my dual boot beast) took it back to where they were and booted to Ubuntu.  They started by looking at me thinking I was there to provide redundant assistance... Until I was in my Operating System and had opened Chromium and was surfing while they were still trying to boot or access the right application.

When I invited these folks to use my 'PC' (I say it that way - as they assumed I was on a 'better' version of Windows) the queue formed... There were 4 people waiting to use my laptop to send info to their companies - even though by this time, their laptops had booted.

They did what they needed to do - but 2 stopped afterwards and asked how I had Mac software on my non-apple laptop.  When I explained it was Linux they were using, both baulked!  But both asked what 'version' I was using.

I may need to make cards... As I found myself writing on Post-It notes, how to spell U-B-U-N-T-U.

I'm a novice, but a total convert kind-of-novice... In the words of AA or NA... 'Hello, I'm an addict! It has been  2 weeks since I booted into Windows... But I have invited at least 2 people to join me on the path to righteousness.'

I need to write more, I need to write more for the novice like me... I just hope that I find the time and that someone out there would set me a challenge that would help a novice like me to enjoy this OS/System/Community even more than I already am!

Quiet for a reason

Work has been a tad hectic recently. But then again, tell me about someone that isn't in this climate...

But my major joy is the fact that when I get home, I fire up my laptop and get back to work.

That should not sound in any way or form like joy.

The thing is, albeit I have a dual boot installation - since my last problem - I've not needed to boot Windows. The duel boot was there for when I really needed it.

And so far, I haven't.

Each and every time I've needed a system at home, I've fired up Ubuntu, in the hope that it would see me through... And it has!

Like I said, quiet, but there's a dammed good reason.

Terminal Idiot! (I have OCD wrt OCR)

A work-related issue managed to intrude on my Linux conversion studies.  I ended up with a 2003-dated document that needed reformatting and significant updating.  I knew I needed employ Optical Character Recognition to convert the document, or I'd be copy-typing into the early hours (Warning! Education Inbound! It's commonly referred to as OCR - where the system looks at the letters in a printed document and converts them into a computer file).

I ended up booting up my PC in Windows for the first time in ages...  I have to explain that justification for reverting to my old operating system is because I have an HP wireless printer that I have not installed in Ubuntu.  So the only way that I thought I was going to convert the document was with the installed HP drivers I had on Windows.

So I boot up the PC, go to the printer applications... and there's no OCR function!  The first time I use Windows in some time and the application that I took for-granted would be there, wasn't - I even visited the HP site for my printer and couldn't find an application that would do what I wanted.

Having now become an Ubuntu evangelist, I restarted the machine, entered Ubuntu and went to the Software Centre.  There I found XSane, which appeared to do everything I wanted.  With more joy than I can state about my operating system choice than I can mention, I happily installed the app and fired it up.

I was overjoyed that Ubuntu recognised my printer (I had to do a wired connection - I didn't have time to work out how to set it up a wireless).   So I scanned the first page and pressed the OCR button...  And then I encountered an error saying I didn't have 'gocr'.  Now my total ignorance kicked in.  I read that as 'I didn't have "go-cr" installed'.  Having a newbie panic attack, I clicked buttons left, right and Chelsea to no avail.  So if in doubt, Google it!

Did I feel like a total dork when I realised this was a command line application?  (Answer - Yes!)

So here was the first time that I had to enter the Terminal in anger.  I opened the terminal and tentatively typed the letters 'gocr'.  Again, this was a moment of shock at how user-friendly Ubuntu is, even in the Command Line.  It told me that 'gocr' wasn't installed, and then told me how to use the command line to download it!  I faithfully followed the instructions - and BINGO - successful installation of 'gocr'.

Feeling more pride than was right, I revisited XSane and tried to use the OCR.  And it worked...  Sort of...  Well, it worked to the sense that maybe 1 in 4 characters were recognised.  The one page I scanned looked like a cross between a computer crash that had been translated into Arabic with the random English word thrown in.

I was certain that I had some of the scanning settings incorrect, so up'ed the scan resolution, changed the file type, full colour, monochrome... every option that I thought was open to me, I changed...  But I was still presented with total gobbledygook.  Clearly it was time to revisit Google.

Here I found a reference to another command line operation I could use - this time 'tesseract'.  Again, just by typing the command, I was told how to install it.  So I did.  This application enables you to OCR .TIFF documents.

Well, I knew that XSane would scan a page to make a .TIFF, so I could use 'tesseract' to OCR such files.  I also knew from a manual I downloaded to my Kindle (I told you I was a gadget geek) that one of the advantages of using the command line was that you could batch process files (Warning! Education Inbound! To perform actions to multiple files with a single command).  So I scanned the document as separate .TIFF files.

The first problem I encountered was how to change directory in the Terminal...  Remember, the last time I used a command line was in MS-DOS.  I soon learned how to do it, then tried a batch conversion.  So I then typed 'tesseract *.tiff *.txt'... and was told that I had entered the command incorrectly.  I tried a couple of variations of typing the command, but nothing worked.  (Caution! Question Incoming!  If you can tell me what I did wrong, I would love to learn what to do next time.)

So I had to resort to converting each file one at a time... and it worked!  Sure this was not the most efficient way of doing it, but it worked and saved me the hours it would have taken to copy-type the document.

So, I'm no longer scared of playing with the Terminal.  I've learnt I can do it without the PC blowing up.  I can do it, albeit inefficiently, but get my work done faster than I would have done in Windows.  I know that I have more to learn - but then again, name a new Linux user that doesn't.  But again, I encountered a problem and ended up enjoying learning how to fix it - and delivered something to my workplace that would never have happened if I hadn't started this journey.

Sure, at times I feel frustrated - but I'm getting the job done faster than I would have if I hadn't started it.  This is turning into something that is not only teaching me, but it's teaching me there is a far better way to get stuff done - even when you're making novice mistakes that I'm making.