Sunday, April 22, 2007

weekend

Saturday, 6th day

I bought a new keyboard to attach to the laptop....
a lifetech quicknet keyboard: is USB, is the cheapest I found


When I got home I tested right away to check that everything is OK. Then I rearranged the keys to the new layout (except the "\ |" key: it has a odd shape due to keyboard design, which makes it impossible to transplant to any other location)

I quit running dvorak7min: lessons are long and fatigating.... and because I've found an alternative learning source: http://www.powertyping.com/


Sunday, 7th day

I'm starting getting a speed of 14 to 29 words per minute. Still very bad... but I'm really improving, considering the small experience on this layout!

I passed a part of my day chatting and writting some commands...
The commands part still annoying: I didn't use to look to keyboard to seek the letters :S

Friday, April 20, 2007

another day - the Fifth Day

I guess this should be day 5...

I had to put some floppy disk labels to *fix* the missplaced keys...They were driving me crazy!


  • I'm typing in a less erratic way... maybe like a (not much) trembling old man
  • I start getting confused when typing again in a qwerty layout
  • I never felt so hard to type the word "qwerty"

Anyway, i'm improving every day - I'm at lesson 10 of dvorak7min, getting a rate of 90+ % in every exercise

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Big change!

My new keyboard order suffered a delay... :(
Since I'm really up to learn this layout, I've decided to rearrange the keys of the work keyboard.

Unfortunatelly, as (I hope) you can see in the video, I had some problems with J and F keys.
So I had to keep those unchanged (that affected U and H too, obviously...)



Since I'm following lessons about how to type, I bareally look to the keyboard (on despite on that, I still type too damn slow...), but it helps a lot to have where to see!

PS: Of course I have an extra keyboard.... just in case ;)

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

A pause is needed ......

Unfortunatelly I am forced to stop training of dvorak due to work.
I leave then my first impressions.
  • Changing layout (qwerty-dvorak-qwerty) doesn't seems to affect the typing inprovment.
  • Some letters are hard to find: wsxz are "in the wrong side" of the keyboard.
  • Is important to keep in mind that the keyboard is really separated by vowels and consoants. That's easy to forget and get frustraded seeking the letters. If you keep that in mind, you'll start notice that u rarely move your left hand (you do it mostly for "shift" "," and "."
I've decided that i should get a new keyboard to train ... stickers in the laptop starts to get fuzzy pretty fast, specially if you start typing in an average speed, that happens when you change to qwerty layout all of a sudden.

The requirements of the new keyboard: must be usb type, so I can use it in the laptop, should be cheap, so it won't hurt too much if I want to swap keys order and it breaks.
I choosed a genius slimstar. I should get it tomorrow.
According to vendor it has the laptop kind of keys. I guess it should look like this one in the picture.
I'll keep posting creating logs for a future reference to me and for whoever gets interested.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

QWERTY-PT to DVORAK-US - migration log

Day 0 - Friday, April 13
Choosing the best layout. I opted for dvorak-us for standart reasons.

Day 1 - Saturday, April 14
I cut some post-it's and labeled the keyboard. Is not fancy, but it does the trick.

Is painfull to write a single word. I had to invoke qwerty at the end of the training to prevent madness and rage attacks.

I'm using dvorak7min to assimilate the layout easier, but I only can do 2 exercises in a row

Day 2 - Sunday, April 15
Today, it seems I'm somehow absorbing the layout, but sometimes the fingers start typing as the qwerty layout.
It's easier (less difficult) to write. I started typing this log today.
I type like a little child, is embarassing .....

Friday, April 13, 2007

dvorak or qwerty...

Today I have re-readed some stuff about dvorak keyboards.. maybe is time to start/play around..
I've been delayed this for years now .. but I guess now I'd like to really try it :D
so here we go...
english layout:

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Do penguins fly??

They look fat... but the truth is...

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Ten Commandments for Egoless Programming

Just receive it... and just had to share it :D


1. Understand and accept that you will make mistakes.

The point is to find them early, before they make it into production. Fortunately, except for the few of us developing rocket guidance software at JPL, mistakes are rarely fatal in our industry, so we can, and should, learn, laugh, and move on.

2. You are not your code.

Remember that the entire point of a review is to find problems, and problems will be found. Don't take it personally when one is uncovered.

3. No matter how much "karate" you know, someone else will always know more.
Such an individual can teach you some new moves if you ask. Seek and accept input from others, especially when you think it's not needed.

4. Don't rewrite code without consultation.

There's a fine line between "fixing code" and "rewriting code." Know the difference, and pursue stylistic changes within the framework of a code review, not as a lone enforcer.

5. Treat people who know less than you with respect, deference, and patience.
Nontechnical people who deal with developers on a regular basis almost universally hold the opinion that we are prima donnas at best and crybabies at worst. Don't reinforce this stereotype with anger and impatience.

6. The only constant in the world is change.

Be open to it and accept it with a smile. Look at each change to your requirements, platform, or tool as a new challenge, not as some serious inconvenience to be fought.

7. The only true authority stems from knowledge, not from position.
Knowledge engenders authority, and authority engenders respect -- so if you want respect in an egoless environment, cultivate knowledge.

8. Fight for what you believe, but gracefully accept defeat.

Understand that sometimes your ideas will be overruled. Even if you do turn out to be right, don't take revenge or say, "I told you so" more than a few times at most, and don't make your dearly departed idea a martyr or rallying cry.

9. Don't be "the guy in the room."
Don't be the guy coding in the dark office emerging only to buy cola. The guy in the room is out of touch, out of sight, and out of control and has no place in an open, collaborative environment.

10. Critique code instead of people

Be kind to the coder, not to the code. As much as possible, make all of your comments positive and oriented to improving the code. Relate comments to local standards, program specs, increased performance, etc.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Open-ssi cluster

I did this a few months ago, but since i got bluetooth working on my computer, now i'm able to share this little something with you :D



Pick a debian sarge, add some cool stuff to sources.list and dist-upgrade it.
Let it cook until everything is settled.
At the end prepare a initrd image with flavours of all the network cards used.
Reboot and it's ready to serve

enjoy :D

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

New Portuguese Magazine "Revista Linux"

So, finally the lack of portuguese Linux magazines is now end.
"Revista Linux" has born:


Is very promissing :D let's (contribute and) wait... :D

The latest release is


Enjoy!