Spin Ink

Has it been a year already? Tomorrow is the first day of the world’s greatest bluegrass festival, Merlefest. I will once again be doing photography for the festival this year and I can’t wait! I would like to thank Christie Hutchens and Sherry Dancy of WCC for this wonderful opportunity. I will be doing my best to get my pictures posted each day of the festival for those of you that won’t be able to make it out. Also, I hope to be able to write a few comments about what I did and who I saw each day of the festival.

This year’s Merlefest line-up is going to be fantastic. Personally, I am most looking forward to seeing the following artists:

• Doc Watson
• The Avett Brothers
• John Cowan Band
• Jerry Douglas Band
• The Duhks
• Béla Fleck & the Flecktones
• Peter Rowan
• Tony Rice Unit
• Gillian Welch

I am also looking forward to being introduced to some musicians I have yet to hear. At last year’s Merlefest, I saw the The Avett Brothers brothers and The Duhks for the first time and I really enjoyed them both immensely. I can’t wait to see them again this year. For those of you who have yet to plan your day, here is a link to the Merlefest 2006 stage schedule.

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About 6 months ago, I was having a conversation with a few people on IRC. We were discussing how we all do our best to support open source software and encourage others to use OSS. I suggested we could start a website that would help people new to open source learn more about it. This includes individuals, businesses, and organizations that want to find out more about moving to open source software.

I want this site to be an informational source for anyone, big or small, who wants to find out more about the Open Source movement and those involved with it. I hope to cover the good, the bad, and the ugly of everything Open Source. That includes: hardware, software, proponents, opponents, everything. I want to have case studies about people making the switch to and from Linux, as well as Open Source Software in general.

Now that I had a purpose, it was time to find a domain. Surprisingly, the domain, SupportOSS.org was available and I quickly purchased it. Since, I have been very busy with school and supporting myself. As a result, I have been unable to find any time to Support Open Source Software. This brings me to you, the reader. I need HELP! If you are passionate about the Open Source Movement and would like contribute to SupportOSS.org, please contact me, either by using my contact form here, or use the SupportOSS.org contact form.

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Its been just over 3 months since Nvidia released the 8128 Linux drivers. Finally, Nvidia has released an updated driver for us Linux users. For anyone that has the older nvidia drivers installed, you can update to the latest version by doing the following:

1. ctrl + alt + f1 to switch to a console
2. login as root
3. type: init 3 (to kill the Xserver)
4. type: nvidia-installer –update (thats 2 ‘-’ on update)
5. accept the EULA, answer a few questions, and the new drivers will download and install
6. type: reboot to restart your machine and load the new drivers

If you do not have the drivers installed, please goto Yast -> Online Update -> Select the Nvidia from the list. Once they have been installed, please follow the directions above to update them to the latest version.
There are a lot of nice bug fixes and new features, especially with composite. Composite is finally bug free enough to use it. Here is a list from Nvidia’s website. Or if you are lazy, I have provided the same list below.

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Over the last 6 years or so, I have taken 10’s of thousands of pictures. I have photographed a wide variety of things; portraits, landscapes, studio, macro, panoramas, the living, and the dead. I have taken my camera from sea-level to ~6,000ft. In each image, a moment is captured and frozen in time. Some were in incredibly sharp focus, while others were abstract or over exposed. I am not a professional photographer, but I play one on the Internet. I have had zero training, and my concepts of lighting, composition, and technique are my own. I know what I like, and I do my best to capture it with each image I take.

When someone asks me, “Of all the pictures you have taken, which one is your favorite?”, I have no trouble telling them exactly which one is my favorite. Without a doubt, it is this image. I’m sure many of you are thinking, ‘What? that one? Huh?”. Granted, its technical merit is poor at best. The image isn’t properly framed, It looks like I may have moved while the shutter was open, and the depth of field is all wrong. All of that aside, It is the best photograph I have ever taken, as far as I am concerned.

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