Ever in Flux i {work, rant, geek out, lost my mind}

Goodbye Gnome, hello KDE. Goodbye KDE, hello wmii

It's not unusual for me to try out different window managers for Linux.  In fact, I've tried most of them: Gnome, KDE, Enlightenment (DR16 and E17), jwm, twm, XFCE, *box, LXDE and Awesome to name a few.

While I enjoy having a modern, graphical desktop, every single one of them fails to be functional for me in one way or another. Thus, I always have at least one open Terminal window. Some things are easier and faster that way.

So, recently I stopped using Gnome because I was unable to compile a new version of Gnome due to some dependencies on Mono. I'm not a Mono hater, but I'd rather use software I know will remain free forever.

Switched to KDE because I have friends who swore that 4.3 was the bees knees. If you're looking for a slick, shiny user interface, then KDE 4 is a real treat. I enjoyed it for about 3 weeks, then I became disheartened with how sluggish my computer felt. That, and I spent more time in Terminal than in any part of the GUI.

About a week ago, I switched to wmii. Minimalist interface, manages windows (a good goal for a window manager), and stays the hell out of my way. While there's a bit of a learning curve, it's not so steep that I had to spend hours tweaking it before I began using it.

One of my favorite features is the "tagging." Similar to having multiple desktops in another WM, tags create separate screens for applications. So, tag 1 has a terminal maximized, tag 2 has my browser window and tag 3 has IM, irc, or whatever.  Any WM does this, but what wmii does better is that when there are no more apps on that tagged screen, it disappears.  This means I never have an empty workspace unless there's only the one.

Another is a feature that's implemented in similar window managers: tiled windows with layouts. I can have all my windows line up like little tiles in the one screen, have them overlap each other with only their title bars showing or even have some windows float while others remain attached to the background.  Handy.

Most interesting for me is the way that I can interact with wmii. wmii implements a Plan 9 interface to itself. That means every piece of the wm can be accessed as a file. No more wondering where the configuration is hiding (Gnome and KDE could take a lesson from this.)

So ends Bean’s Free Music Month

Last month I ran an experiment, of sorts. I listened to nothing but "Free" music. I dubbed it Bean's Free Music Month and removed from my playlists any music that was married to a restrictive license. For all of October, I listened to artists and tracks that I was able to download and distribute.

Jamendo was a predictable starting point for this adventure through the world of liberally-licensed music.  I had already thrown a few of the more popular artists into regular rotation: Tryad, [add info about the band], [list 2 others w/info].

 I've already been listening to some of the top artists there but decided to branch in to genres that didn't lean toward the electronic. I am a fan of electronic music (some of my favorite artists being The Crystal Method and BT), but I wanted to hear something that would be similar to the rock I love to listen to most.  Artists like Disturbed, Staind, dredg and the many others that produce commercially available music.

So, I began looking around on Jamendo for rock acts or at least bands that didn't describe their music using an electronica genre.  One band I found, TenPenny Joke, was a welcome discovery.  At times sounding like Silverchair, this aussie band knows how to play rock.  Their melodies remind me of 80s post-metal alternative with an updated style.

One thing I can say now that October is over and I've re-added some commercial artists into the mix is this: Much like open-source software, free music suffers from a glut of glorious garbage. However, if you weed through it, there are some real treasures to be found.

Now Playing Notification using ncmpcpp, libnotify and Gnome

I missed the functionality of a Mac OS X application and through the a mix of LinuxJournal's tip for using at with libnotify, some tinkering and assignment to <Mod4+F5>, ncmpcpp and this code:

notify-send -i audio-x-generic "Now Playing" "$(ncmpcpp --now-playing '?? %t    ??^M^M?? %a ??^M^M ?? %b ??')"

EDIT: Crikey!  The above code was pasted from vim in a terminal, so the ^M's are actually the following keystrokes: <ctrl-v><ctrl-m>.  It's to get the linebreak needed to separate the track, artist and album so nicely.

I get the following via libnotify when I press the "Windows" key and F5:

Ads no more.

While I admire and utilize many of Google's tools, I am not a fan of their advertising model. Or, more to the point, certain aspects of that model. Also, much of my ranting has a bent for the adversarial when I speak of marketing and marketers in general.

It would seem hypocritical for me to deliver ads to any who may visit here and then speak to them of how to eliminate said ads from their web experience.  Today, August 3 of the year 2009, I have removed any ads from this and my other Google-hosted blog. Ads would also detract from the reason I write this blog. My goal is not to make money with this process, but instead to share information about my experiences.

The topics I discuss here are only topics that interest me and not written to achieve higher page ranking or to promote any individual cause. That being said, any opinions held here or (mis)beliefs are mine and mine only.

October is my free music month.

For the entire month of October, I shall be listening ONLY to music that is freely available to distribute. You can feel free to follow me at last.fm.

I'm doing this to help wean myself and, hopefully, others away from the large record labels and toward a new method of distributing art. Sites like Jamendo, The Free Music Archive and ccMixter have a wealth of truly "free" music: free to distribute, free to remix, free to use as you see fit.

Missed will be bands like Dredg, The Crystal Method and Godsmack, but to replace them I have Tryad, Chronique, Chill Carrier, The Liquid Kitchen and Professor Kliq. I will be downloading and sharing more as the month progresses.

FSF sins

I won't link to it here because there's already been enough traffic generated to the site, but the Free Software Foundation launched a campaign against Microsoft called Windows 7 Sins. The site's intent is to warn potential Windows 7 purchasers about the evils of Microsoft.

However, if you actually visit the site in question, it comes across as little more than a schizophrenic on the corner, shaking his fist and screaming obscenities. Many of the "sins" are not exclusive to Microsoft, supporting links are outdated and the overall theme seems to be "Don't trust Microsoft." Many of these "sins" apply to any proprietary software vendor: Apple, Adobe, Intuit, Symantec.

I mention it here because I'm very disappointed with this attack angle the FSF has chosen.  The site gives few reasons for anyone to consider free software other than fear of Microsoft's monopoly. I wish the FSF would instead focus on promoting the benefits of free software in the context of user experience. This campaign seems spiteful, opportunistic and shameless in its timing.

What saddens me most is that most of the Windows users I know already have a negative impression of Linux users and often label them fanatics. This campaign by the FSF does little to change that view and, in fact, reinforces it. The handful of Windows users I asked to visit the site and provide feedback stated that they were not swayed by this site and still wished to install Windows 7 when it is released. A few of them even felt insulted by the page as it infers that they are stupid for continuing to work under Microsoft's reign.

I only ask that the FSF be fair as they would expect anyone else to be when discussing GNU/Linux rather than stoop to spreading fear as a means of swaying people's opinions.