In a quiet village nestled between the misty hills of the north, there lived a young girl named Lila, no older than fourteen. She had a small, weathered notebook tucked under her arm, filled with sketches of birds, flowers, and the gentle faces of the people she met on her daily walks. Lila had always … Read more
Recently a friend asked me if I could help him map his walk about the area where he lives. I use a pedometer to track my steps and in the past I have used several different map walking apps on my phone and smartwatch. I told my friend that I would do some additional research … Read more
Linux stands out as a consumer operating system thanks to its unique blend of freedom, performance, and community-driven innovation. Whether you’re on a budget laptop, building a media center, or seeking a secure daily driver, Linux delivers. Unlike macOS and Windows you have lots of choices that you can easily customize to your own particular … Read more
I regularly teach middle school age children coding skills with Python using the ‘turtle’ module. It’s a great way to introduce students to computer programming in a very enjoyable manner. The children love the turtle graphics that they can create and it also introduces them to mathematics topics like variability, recursion and logic. When I … Read more
Are you looking for a locally hosted open source GPT that protects your privacy while allowing to leverage the latest AI models? Then you need to download Jan. Jan is easy to install on Linux, macOS and Windows and has excellent documentation to guide that process. Jan is a ChatGPT alternative that runs 100% offline … Read more
Joplin has become my default note taking app. I use it for everything whether short notes on what to pickup at the store to saving articles I inted to read later with the web clipper. I have an iPhone, a laptop and a desktop and I depending where I find myself on any given day … Read more
In the last blog post I wrote about the new Lenovo V 15 laptop I purchased and installed Fedora KDE Plasma 42. One of the annoying problems I have had in the last day since setting this laptop up is the lack of access to a right button click using just the touchpad. I had … Read more
I’ve been looking for a new laptop for a couple of months because the one I’ve been using is missing a ‘P’ key. Replacing the key turned out to be more work than I was interested in pursuing, so I had to decide what I would do to replace the unit. Recently, I was helping … Read more
Writing blog posts that share my experiences with Linux and open-source software often requires screenshots of accomplishing a task or an expected outcome. Over time, I have used a number of such programs in Windows, macOS, and Linux. Most recently, using Fedora 42 KDE Plasma has introduced me to Spectacle. It can capture images of … Read more
I bought an M3 MacBook Air last fall to experiment with AI tools and LLMs that were available for use on Apple Silicon. The M3 had more RAM than the M2 it replaced and a larger NVME drive. Those were important considerations. I wanted to install Fedora Asahi Linux on it eventually. To my dismay, … Read more
