There’s a thread on Warren Ellis’ forum, Whitechapel – Webcomics Week (May 2009) for webcomics creators to advertise their stuff. Probably more interesting than asking forum members to list their favorites because it avoids the tired old list of most popular/notorious netchings (as Shachar would call them).
[Updated: I am fool – more below]
I usually have an automatic hostile reaction to allegations that Firefox on Linux is dead slow compared to the Windows version; however, I have to admit that I don’t have any point of reference, since it’s the only browser/OS combo I use.
However, Ovid’s mention of Midori, and Israel’s geekalicious demo of uzbl last night, made me pay attention. Midori is lightning fast, but when I try to visit youtube or facebook, it crashes. However, Epiphany is available in the Ubuntu repositories, just a sudo apt-get install epiphany away, and it’s also based on webkit.
So far, Facebook (with its SSL login, heavy Javascript and Flash videos, I think it makes a fine usability benchmark) and Dokuwiki (where Google Chrome had issues) work fine. The address bar completion isn’t as useful, and typing something that isn’t a url takes you to a google search instead of to an “I feel lucky” result; also, the address bar isn’t focused when you open a new tab, there isn’t spellchecking and firebug. But otherwise… very cool.
Update: so apparently I am an idiot. In the comment thread (below the blog post where I read about Midori, someone mentioned Epiphany. I typed sudo apt-get install epiphany, and something got installed. I typed “epiphany” at the command prompt, and a web browser ran. But the package “epiphany” actually installs something else. To install the epiphany web browser, you actually need to install either the package epiphany-browser or the still not-quite-ready epiphany-webkit. The program I ran is apparently is the current version of the epiphany browser (default part of Ubuntu?), which as Tal notes is still based on Mozilla. No wonder that it works as well as Firefox – is the same browser.
At home I just tried Arora, which is a Qt4 webkit-based browser.Has no Flash and is not that fast, which I guess just shows that a browser is only as fast as your internet connection allows.
An article in Wired, American Stonehenge: Monumental Instructions for the Post-Apocalypse, describes the Georgia Guidestones, a striking granite monument built by a secretive group, built as an astronomic compass/calendar / clock and inscribed with a New-Age-ish message to the ages in 12 languages (8 modern: Swahili, Hindi, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, English, Hebrew and Arabic; 4 dead: Sanskrit, Classical Greek, Babylonian Cuniform and Egyptian Hieroglyphics). The front-man for the cabal that built this thing used the pseudonym R.C Christian, which “may be a tribute to the legendary 14th-century founder of Rosicrucianism, Christian Rosenkreuz” (per Wikipedia).
The actual text on the granite slabs is not very impressive, but one can only speculate what hidden messages might be encoded in its stilted prose…
Or perhaps, like has been said of the original Rosicrucian conspiracy, the actual secret is in the the act of being mysterious itself, the clandestine funding, the exotic inscriptions, the very flamboyant behaviour of erecting a cryptic monument from the world’s finest granite, aren’t distractions obscuring a hidden agenda: they fulfill the hidden agenda, simply by making the world a more mysterious place.
Upgrading my OS to Jaunty broke TV output, because the proprietary driver doesn’t work anymore. However, I eventually found how to get output to my TV. I set up the following script:
#!/bin/sh
xrandr -s 800x600 # resize so that cloning goes smoothly
xrandr --output S-video --set load_detection 1
xrandr --addmode S-video 800x600
xrandr --output S-video --mode 800x600
# xvattr -a XV_CRTC -v 1
vlc -f $*
echo Done playing $*
xrandr -s 1024x768
xrandr is a program that modifies your display dynamically. I guess this is all doable with configuration, but the infamous X conf file appears to be deprecated, so whatever. I use xrandr anyway to change resolution, because the output of the screen is duplicated onto the TV, and I want it to fit without being cropped.
So, first the script sets the resolution to the TV-compatible 800 width by 600 height; next the S-video commands tell the OS to look for the TV and set it up – and then my script passes its arguments (my movies) to the vlc media player. Once vlc quits, the resolution is restored.
There’s a commented out command that uses an utility called xvattr to change whether the X-Video extension (XV) should apply to the default output (the computer screen) or the TV – with when you see video on one, you just get a blank window on the other. Thankfully, I can tell vlc to show video using regular X server video instead of the XV extension, so nevermind that. I don’t see any noticable difference in the display behavior, which is pretty bad in either case – whenever windows appear in a shot, I see blocky video boxes on the TV. I think the proprietary driver didn’t have this problem.
And because my LCD screen burnt out this Saturday (a year beyond its warranty), I’m using a huge and scratchy-screened old CRT, which makes old-school oomph noises whenever it switches resolution.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel was like the Wolverine of the early Victorians. He was short, ripped, had big sideburns, smoked 50 cigars a day, AND KICKED EVERYONE’S ASS!!
From 2D Goggles, a nifty steampunk comic found by Shachar. It all starts with Ada Lovelace – The Origin.