I’m getting as new computer… oid.

Not much of a ‘puter, but for the price…

There is still much annoyance over the Superbook’s lack of deliveries, as can be seen in the Kickstarter Updates comments for them. Someone pointed out NexDock. which appears to be getting some things more right. For one, they are working on a version 2 and the version 1 shipped.

While I am not backing/ordering the NexDock, I think they get closer to right. It’s charged via USB-C (one less connector style and unique charger), has HDMI-imput (easier for video-only display), Micro SDXC reader, speakers and mic. And the keyboard appears to be a true backlit thing or at least a much better done ‘around the keys’ lighting setup. The downside (which probably is really an upside – eventually) is that rather than have an Android application provide a window-ish overlay, it counts on the phones to support “desktop mode” and so far that’s some Samsung and Huawei. And as things are going, I do not expect to see Huawei around, at least in the USA. Hopefully as other makers go to ever-newer versions of Android and support ever better (one hopes) features, the Desktop Mode will become common. That would make things much closer to the ideal, at the very least.

So where does that leave me? My current Huawei gets charging wrong (the Honor 8 tries to charge the Superbook – and changing the setting doesn’t work as it flips back to doing it wrong almost immediately. Huawei says they aren’t going to issue a fix. I won’t miss Huawei. Whatever my next phone will be, it wouldn’t be another Huawei even if they weren’t suspect.) I have used the Superbook as an external keyboard & display for a laptop, but that’s rather silly in my particular case.

There are, however, a couple interesting possibilities. The thing is a battery, display, keyboard, and allegedly a trackpad (4-point). It’s almost a laptop – just add computer. And there are some ‘just a computer’ things that can be added.

One is the Raspberry Pi (the 3 B+ looks very interesting) which is fairly capable, for a $35 (closer to $60 when decked out as I think it needs) but while small and able to run a version of Debian linux, would be a bit bulky and still require external power. It’s not a bad thing, but it’s more something I’d use to just park the thing someplace and a have a small computer there.

The other is a “Compute Stick” (as Intel calls it. There are other makes) which looks a lot like a USB memory stick, but is CPU, RAM, storage, wifi, bluetooth, HDMI (so you can plug it into your TV or monitor), and USB ports. I’ve ordered a cheap one to see how it goes. For $40, I get an Intel Atom, 1 GB RAM, ports, and I can add a 128 GB micro SD card. Oh, and it runs a modified Ubuntu. And by good fortune, NewEgg recently had great deal on a 128 GB micro-SD card, which should arrive in a few days.

I plan to bring the Compute Stick up on a TV or spare monitor, with a USB keyboard plugged in and do setup. Then I’ll try it on the Superbook and if it thing become useful. Even if not, I can still use the Compute Stick on a monitor or TV. There are Bluetooth keyboards with trackpads that would make using a TV less goofy.

I suspect I will eventually also get the Raspberry Pi as it does seem a bit more capable and is quite expandable. And again, it can be a small computer somewhere with stuff lying around. Neither the Stick nor the Pi will be as capable as a proper laptop, but for light things either should be adequate.

For someone who started with an 8-bit machine with a whopping 256 Bytes (I did NOT omit a prefix) RAM, the idea of $40 adding a CPU & RAM & such to stuff “lying around” is still a bit weird.  But it’s a wonderful version of weird that sure beats the Great Depression experience of my grandparents.

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Twenty-First Century Work-Arounds

Washing machine indicator panel

Our washing machine is due for some repair or maintenance. At times the thing stalls in the wash cycle progress and an indicator LED flashes (for a while – if ignored long enough the machine just plain quits, which is just wonderful as there’s then no hint of just where in the cycle[s] it quit. Call it another argument for the “brute force” approach of the reliable Speed Queen [this machine is NOT a Speed Queen model]). Once realized, the treatment is… to press the START button again and the thing resumes.

The problem is that now it’s not “set and forget” or “set a timer for the claimed wash time” but “check on the indicator panel from time to time.” Guess what doesn’t really happen? And it if starts stalling at a new time, that isn’t noticed until much later. Argh. However, this has a strange overkill work-around. With a phone app that uses the phone’s camera and is a local webserver (and a nice large capacity USB battery) I’ve set things up so I can be in the ‘office’ and keep an eye on the washing machine.

That’s how cheap computing power has become. An old/spare phone can be used as a webcam/server. And it doesn’t need to be much of a phone, either. This thing is a “Figo” bought really cheap (the more recent alternatives can be had for all of $40. I did NOT drop a zero.) as a just-in-case phone and it’s slow to the point of ridiculousness – and yet it serves.  [ADDENDUM: Or it served for an hour or so, even with external battery, the internal one drained flat. A more recent phone has taken its place, for now.]

Superbook: What the future needs to hold.

It really comes down to having a phone that is “also a phone” and runs a computer operating system. Sure, you can get a computer to run Android, but it’s a weird case of almost as Android is truly optimized for phones and touch screens. I have not had any computers, as such, with touch screens, so there might be some not-Android Operating Systems that can deal with such (for me, Windows need not apply. I stopped trying to use Windows and I found I stopped cussing at computers. Mostly. And even then the cussing often had a solution other than the Gates-Jobs duoploy of “F*** you, do it MY/OUR way, peon!” To Berkeley with THAT [EXCRETA]!) Maybe *buntu or Mint can do it, but I’ve had no reason to go find out.

However, once touch-screen and pointer are not eXclusive-OR (and the lack of one or the other isn’t incredibly painful) then the “connect the phone to a dumb-terminal ‘laptop’ will make perfect sense. As it is? Android by itself isn’t up to it. And the Superbook folks might mean well, but the software to bypass Android’s limits is likewise limited. A (quasi) laptop needs genuine computer applications, not just mere phone apps – though being able to run those (with a standard not-touchscreen pointer) as well would be an advantage. I know Windows claims to do this, but see above. I want, no, need an OS that I don’t need to fight to do plain, simple things.

As for pointers, yes the laptop-oid would have a multi-touch (at least two-point) trackpad. That’s not enough for the OS, however. While some people such as $HOUSEMATE are such mutants that they actually prefer trackpads, that’s unusual. I’d plug in a trackball (I carry one for the laptop/tablet when traveling) and others would use a mouse, at least at home. A stylus is single-point as well and has the advantage of not streaking up the display.

The Librem 5 looks promising, but I’m not sure about it yet. The PinePhone looks likewise interesting, but I suspect at its low price piont it will be rather underpowered for general computer use. I’d love to be proven wrong and be able to have an inexpensive phone/computer, but I am NOT holding my breath on that one. I suspect we are STILL in the Early Days of smart phones, really. It’s like having a home computer in the early 1980’s or an automobile in the 1920’s. You know the general form, but a lot of real standardization hasn’t settled out yet. As things are, I fully expect my next phone, and I do not anticipate replacing my current model very soon, will be another Android device. The one after that? Gentlefolk, place your bets.

Not Just Mother’s Day

It is indeed Mother’s Day today, and in my mother’s case it really is – twice over.  Once upon a time, my mother became a mother on this day and month.  Five years later (plus or minus 45 minutes – yes, we checked) it happened again and thus I have a younger sister.  We have NO excuse for forgetting each other’s birthday anniversaries.

 

Turn up your volume, I wanna hear your radio.

That is likely not the title, but it might be.  There was an episode of the Doctor Demento Show that aired on various stations, including one in little Merrill, WI sometime in the mid-to-late 1980’s or perhaps early 1990’s that had either Radio or perhaps Blues as the theme.  I, or $SISTAUR, recorded it and I transferred (dubbed) it from the off-air cassette to a keeper cassette (mixtape, as now called, I suppose). In the transfer I cut the non-song intro and such, and thus lost the artist and title.  The lyrics, as best I can transcribe them, follow (I make no claims to perfect accuracy of lyrics, nor arrangement of them):

Turn up your volume, I wanna hear your radio.
Turn up your volume, I wanna hear a little bit more.

Now your speaker’s buzzin’, but your output is too low.

Please change your station, slide your pointer on the spot.
Please change your station, slide your pointer on the spot.

Tune out all your static, so I’ll know just what you got.

Now your transformer’s smoking. Your dial is in a knot.
You got two stations, Baby. And your tubes is getting hot.

Turn up your volume, I wanna hear your radio.
I want a little more music, Babe, before I go.

Your condenser’s leakin’, and your range is too wide.
You haven’t done nothin’, Baby, til you blink your magic eye.

Turn up your volume, I wanna hear your radio.
Now your station is fading. Well, I know I’ve got to go-o-ohhh.

 

If you recognize the lyrics and give me some clue or hint as to the actual title or artist who recorded it, please leave a comment to such effect. Thank you.

The Minotaur’s Opinion(s) on Rum

Rum is generally not my first choice of liquor and thus tends to be something to mix with rather than sip. Even so, some rums are better than others. Bacardi has a wonderful logo – the bat. Alas, it also seems to universally possess an ugly sharpness that ruins things. It might be acceptable in things where there’s so much fruit juice in the foreground that the rum is hidden and might as well be vodka anyway. I wouldn’t know – I’m not really into the “sneak attack” or sexistly-named/sexual predator “panty dropper” drinks

I’m not a fan of Captain Morgan, either, but the Captain most assuredly outranks the bat. Captain Morgan white rum makes for a perfectly acceptable Black Devil (think: rum Martini).  But if you’re buying to stock your cabinet/bar, unless there’s a screaming deal, I suggest going with Cruzan or Havana Club (name from pre-Castro days – it’s Puerto Rican for the foreseeable future.)  For spiced rum, Kraken wins and not just because a new bottle lets you “release the Kraken.” It makes for a very good Dark & Stormy (as in, rum, lime, ginger beer… hey, where did the CHOCOLATE come from?!?)

As for black/dark rum… Gosling’s Black Seal wins so hard it converted a lifelong Meyer’s Dark drinker so fast it surprised me. I am taking FULL advantage of local ignorance and buying the discounted Gosling’s that a local(-ish) store “can’t sell” at regular price. Ox slow. Ox not damn fool!

Don’t Swallow Narrativium

I think I’ve figured out the sad reality behind Democrats Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The Democrats drank their own Narrative.

The Democrat Narrative is that Trump et. al. are racist, hateful, and stupid. So they go full-goose-bozo with hate and stupidity.

Omar’s antisemitism covers the hate, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez covers the stupidity. THIS is the Democrat election strategy.

This would be such great material for a modern-day Laugh In or a truly independent Saturday Night Live.  As things stand? It reminds me of the Rodney Dangerfield joke about a visit with his doctor…

Rodney: OK, Doc, how do I stand?

Doc: That’s what puzzles me.