Richard A. Johnson

I did this a long time ago when I first learned of the vrms package, which stands for Virtual Richard M. Stallman. What it does is it looks through the install packages on your system and tests to see if they are in fact free software or not. If they aren’t, well Richard lets you know and lists them out for you. I ran it just a few minutes ago, and like the others I have seen thus far, I had a bunch of garbage for ATI and NVIDIA graphics cards, of which neither I use. So I promptly removed those as well as unrar and linux-restricted-modules. I don’t use, let alone have use, for these packages, so I think I made Richard a bit happier. Here is what my output currently looks like:

<<< nixternal@ShakaDoobie :: ~ :: 11:15.03 Thu Sep 10 2009
>>> [1004] vrms
            Non-free packages installed on ShakaDoobie
 
opera                     The Opera Web Browser
sun-java6-bin             Sun Java(TM) Runtime Environment (JRE) 6 (architecture
sun-java6-jdk             Sun Java(TM) Development Kit (JDK) 6
sun-java6-jre             Sun Java(TM) Runtime Environment (JRE) 6 (architecture
sun-java6-plugin          The Java(TM) Plug-in, Java SE 6
 
             Contrib packages installed on ShakaDoobie
 
flashplugin-installer     Adobe Flash Player plugin installer
flashplugin-nonfree       Adobe Flash Player plugin installer (transitional pack
ttf-mscorefonts-installer Installer for Microsoft TrueType core fonts
 
  5 non-free packages, 0.3% of 1854 installed packages.
  3 contrib packages, 0.2% of 1854 installed packages.

So, for Richard’s sake, let me explain my flaws. I have Opera installed because…Well I really have no clue, but since they released a Qt4 based version, I had to give it a try. It isn’t to shabby, but I get varrying results with it. I do think it is a really great browser, and do at times test web sites I am working on with it. The Java stuff, well I did, and still do at times, work on Java code, plus for everything Java I do, it works, whereas Icedtea doesn’t. Flash, I cannot live without my YouTube and other video sites that require Flash. The MS Fonts, well I think that is installed with the kubuntu-restricted-extras package, and really don’t have a use for them at all. Though it does make looking at some sites better than if I didn’t have them installed.

Of course I could use the free alternatives, and I do. However I need stuff that “works for me™”. I used to be a free software nut and still am to an extent, however I realize that right now our free software alternatives aren’t yet where they need to be, and in the mean time I will use stuff that works.

Adding my 2 cents into the ongoing what my daughter loves meme.

• Family (BIG TIME)
• Her PINK cell phone
• Her PINK netbook
• Her little PINK game thing (I forget which one it is)
• Her Wii
• Her PINK iPoop
• Her cats (who unfortunately are not PINK)
• and boys

Hey, you other old farts out there with soon-to-be teenage daughters or teenage dauthers, please give me some advice

Edit: I am not implying that Liz is my 12.5 year old daughter with all of the PINK links above, they just have all of the same toys in all of the same colors.

Meme from Jono.

Funny this one came up, as Greg Grossmeier and I are sitting in the Farmington Community Library in Farmington Hills, Michigan. This book was literally pulled from the shelf no more than 10 feet away from me.

“No introduction or credentials are required for persons over high school age.” – The United States Government Manual (2007-2008).

This totally explains how G Dub got into office

• Grab the nearest book.
• Open it to page 56.
• Find the fifth sentence.
• Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
• Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.