So I poped out the hard drive this weekend, popped it into an external casing, hooked it up to my mac, and installed Ubuntu 8.10 on it.
So far it was able to recognize everything except for the video card (it recognized the video card and installed the driver, but it had issues setting it up).  So I told it to use the default “generic” monitor and installed some generic driver which allowed me to get it to use my display’s settings.

Ubuntu 8.10 is pretty cool.  It’s now of the laptop I stole, and it runs as a Virtual Machine under my Mac.  So far I’ve setup SSH on the stolen laptop and installed some of the apps I use regularly.  One of my friends is using it for programming development purposes at the moment, and after he’s done, I’m going to customize the heck out of it.

Now I have the best of both worlds!

That, my dear reader, is WriteRoom in front of some Gnome’s terminal.  Ubuntu in seemless mode on my Mac.  Do I hear a “awesome”?

So yeah…  My day was made slightly better when I saw this (they released the update when my laptop was indisposed).

Anyways, NaNoWriMo starts the Saturday!  Everyone should join.  It’s about being creative, not about producing a best seller.

But yeah…  I’m bored…

I hope I can do it, but I have to keep in mind that college comes first.  I’m in the middle of choosing a writing software though.  I know I don’t want to use a standard Word Processor like MS Word or OO Writer, so I’ve been looking around.  I first saw Bean, but it’s still a standard word processor.  I was considering it since it’s minimal and runs fast, but I was pretty sure I’d need something more.  Books and Novels need a better organizational setup for the “word processor” or “text-editor.”

So there are three different pieces of software I’m currently torn between, 1 is sort of knocked out do to some reviews, but they are StoryMill, Jer’s Novel Writer, and Scrivener.  StoryMill caught my attention from MUPromo, but after reading the reviews, I decided to avoid it for now.

I started to play with both Jer’s Novel Writer and Scrivener.  I’m stuck between deciding which one I like better.  I fell in love with the user interface and ease of use of Jer’s Novel Writer, but Scrivener does have a bit more features.  Jer’s Novel Writer is much easier to use.  I like the margin notes and the ease of use of the database.  They both have full screen, which is awesome, but Scrivener’s is a bit better and easier on the eyes.  But Scrivener does have some setbacks.  The user interface isn’t as kind and intuitive as Jer’s Novel Writer.  It also doesn’t seem to make writing the primary purpose of the software.  It seems to be based on organization than actual writing, but I guess it makes up for it in features.

I’ll post some screenshots and more in depth comparison as time goes on, but right now I’m torn.  Both are ~$30, which seems great compared to some of the other things I’ve seen out there, but I’m not sure which one is for me.  I guess I’ll play around and find out.

Let me just say, It’s absolutely EPIC.  If you don’t like it, then you’ve sniffed one to many sharpies.

Review to Be Extended…  Gotta get to class…

So the first track it starts off with is “Here is the News.”  It’s probably the coolest song to start off with.  Just by hearing the intro, you know it’s an epic CD.  The sound is different from the previous 2 ablums.

Mercenary, Starling, and Underground were on their purevolume.  So you can listen to them there and see how different yet good the music is.  Some of the other songs on their purevolume were on previous albums.

Then comes “When you burn Too Fast,” which at first I didn’t like.  But after listening to it 2 or 3 more times, it started to grow on me and I liked it.  It’s probably one of the more different sounds songs on the album.  It’s slower and has some different styles intertwined in it.

“Through Depths of Twilight” is also a good song.  It’s more rock compared to the other songs.

“Hero’s Homecoming” was not what I expected.  It’s pretty good.  It’s sort of the poppy celebration after “Through Depths of Twilight.”

“Ammodramus” is an “interview” with one of the astronauts from the Gloria.  It’s not really a song, but it has a good beat and what not.

“Fields of the Fallen” is also a good song.  It seems like one of the darker songs on the album.  Sort of like a shock of everything that happened and needing to get back up.

“Always Just Before the Dawn” is a good song, but I don’t really know how to go into detail about the song at the moment.

“Fortress of Solitude” is epic.  Best intro ever.  It’s why people should not use the internet :P  It starts off slow, then picks up and gets really good.

“Blessed Are the Land Mines” is not a song to listen to when walking home alone at mid-night (at least the first 25 seconds).  After that, it’s a good song.  There’s a positive message, but it might not seem like it at first.

“Aegolius” is another interview.  It’s also interesting to listen to.

“Begin Again” is a great slow song.  It’s a song you can listen to over and over, unless you don’t like slow songs…

“These Frail Hands” is yet another good song.  As you can tell, I’m a BS2 fanboy.  It’s sort of a have hope song.

“Invictus” is absolutely epic.  It’s slow, but you’ll want to sing along and listen to it over and over again.  I think “Invictus” should win an award, but I don’t think that’s really the goal of the song.  You’ll love it.  It’s the best song to end with.  It’s the song you wish you’d here on a tour of BS2 if they ever did a tour.  It’s pretty sad that it’s the last CD, but if you’re going to release a last full length CD, you might as well release an absolutely epic CD and end it with an absolutely epic song.

And yes, I did rip my face off after listening to the CD.  And I am now using a brail keyboard…

I paid for the fastest shipping by the USPS possible because people were talking about how “dedicated” they were as fans and ordered it in July or whatnot, but got regular shipping…  I’m so dedicated, I ordered it the day before it’s released with priority mail… , yes, I know I’m a dork.  Which is why my new side project is dorkify.com!  It’ll host some of my comics, but I wasn’t aware of how busy I’d be this school year, so I’m not sure how far it’ll go…

But the new album sounds like it’ll sound great.  It’ll have 16 tracks (or at least that was what was announced).

1. Here is the News
2. Mercenary
3. Starling
4. Underground
5. When You Burn Too Fast
6. Through Depths of Twilight
7. Hero’s Homecoming
8. AMMODRAMUS
9. Fields of the Fallan
10. Always Just Beneath the Dawn
11. Fortress of Solitude
12. Blessed are the Land Mines
13. AEGOLIUS
14. Begin Again
15. These Frail Hands
16. INVICTUS

And it has awesome cover art:

They posted some of the songs on their myspace and facebook, but if you want to sample some of their music, I recommend listening to them on pureVolume.  It has music from Anti-Meridian, So Far From Home, and The Light of Things Hoped For.  You should buy it too!  Just go to their website at bravesaintsaturn.com and buy it there.  They have the other CDs and some cool shirts.

Latter this month, I’m pretty sure I’m going to buy myself the other 2 CDs and one of the T-Shirts.  I’ll probably post some more dorky fan news when they come in the mail.

Now leave me alone!  You’re distracting me from homework.

OpenOffice is quite slow.  It also lacks some features I would like to see.  A great update to openOffice is Go-Oo.  It is loads faster and has better file handling capabilities.  Go-Oo is a great freeware alternative compared to proprietary office suites out there.  It covers all the basics, like Word Processing, Presentations, and Spreadsheets.  There are some other applications as well that provide much more.  Unlike OpenOffice, it is only on Windows and Linux.  NeoOffice is what Mac Users should probably use until OpenOffice 3 is officially released, then we’ll have to compare and see which is better.  Other than better support and faster loading times, I haven’t noticed too much of a difference between openOffice and Go-Oo.

NeoOffice is a more feature rich version of OpenOffice for Macs.  It integrates better with the Operating System offering some features which openOffice for Macs doesn’t have.  The load time is about the same (using the latest OpenOffice 3 releases) when compared to each other.  The option panes aren’t as “mac like” as Microsoft Office 2004.  This could be a plus or minus depending on what style you like.

Lotus Symphony is IBM’s implementation of OpenOffice.  It uses pieces from eclipse for the user interface.  Compared to the other user interfaces, Lotus Symphony is one of my favorites.  Even though it has a great use interface, it lacks in some areas.  The menus are different from other office suites, which could make it hard to adjust to.  It is also based off of the OpenOffice 1.x code.  What this means is lower caompatability with certain file types, which is okay since most people still use the MS Office 97 - 2003 and very few use Office 2007, which if they do, they are usually kind enough to save the file in a previous format.  Lotus Symphony also has plug-ins (so does OpenOffice and etc.).  The plug-ins for Lotus Symphony seem like plug-ins people will really use (since there are so few of them).  It took me a while to find the plug-in for OpenOffice.  Other than lacking the file compatability of other office suites, for typing my own documents, Lotus Symphony is great, but if someone else sends me a new file type, then I’ll probably have to use Go-Oo.  Another problem with Lotus Symphony is it takes 500+ MB.  Go-Oo and OpenOffice only take about 300 MB, so it could be a problem for those with low hard drive space.

I’ll update this post as I get time to do so.

Anyways, I also installed the latest AbiWord.  It’s functional and all, but I think they need some new icons or something.  It still feels old and out of date.  Keep the buttons and everything where they are, but change the icons and what not.

I’m also trying some other wordProcessors and what not.  I’m going to attempt to write some stories.  I’m trying to learn LaTeX, not just for math, but I hear that if you learn it, it can be a powerful publishing language.  I’m thinking about having a main job with web design and writing on the side or something I guess.