Do GUI users never read stderr/stdout?
As previously mentioned I run evilwm as my window manager. The only way to spawn a new process in it is to hit Ctrl-Alt-Enter, which opens an xterm. So I have a single xterm that I use to launch whatever apps I need (I choose this. I'm aware of many options if I felt the need to point 'n drool to open apps.).
I don't think application authors can do this much, judging by the amount
of crap that gets output in this xterm. For example, today I installed
evince (I normally use xpdf) to have a look. I launch it by typing evince
,
up pops the window, I go to the File menu and choose Close. What do I get
output in my terminal? The following:
(evince:4105): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_tree_model_foreach: assertion `GTK_IS_TREE_MODEL (model)' failed
(evince:4105): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_list_store_clear: assertion `GTK_IS_LIST_STORE (list_store)' failed
WTF? A 'critical' error for simply starting and exiting the app? It's not
the only offender. liferea spews
Unhandled property: 12 border-collapse
messages,
gajim defaults to calling aplay
rather than
aplay -q
so you get a message every time it plays a sound. Does no one
else care about this crud? Is it unreasonable if I file wishlist bugs every
time I hit an app that does this? Should I just learn to live with it?
Ooooh. It's all pretty.
I had a rant about Firefox today on
#debian-uk
. Mainly the fact it seems to like to guzzle memory and bring
my system to a crawl when it feels unloved. Which is every time it loads
an animated image as far as I can tell. Matthew
suggested Epiphany so I thought I'd
give it a try.
Seems ok, but looked a bit blocky, like GTK apps do for me. Not shiny
and curvy like people who run a GNOME desktop (I
run the excellent evilwm). So I had a poke
around. And the magic is to run
aptitude install gtk-theme-switch gtk2-engines
and then switch2
and
pick a theme and marvel as your GTK apps become sexier.
Of course you probably all knew this. I'm impressed with how it's affected GNUCash, liferea and workrave as well (yes, yes, that's the whole point of theming, but I'm a simple creature who mostly runs xterms).
Time will tell if Epiphany actually sucks less than Firefox. And there's still the leaking bucket that is liferea (253MB? Eh? And that's with the optimise for memory option enabled).
I'm melting.
This is silly. We get our few days of summer and suddenly we all can't cope with the heat. Or at least I can't. Especially when my neighbours decide it means they can play loud music that I really don't like (I don't do doof doof, sorry doop), or when it is music I like it's too distorted to actually be enjoyable. And if I shut the windows it just gets hotter and hotter inside. sigh. Sometimes I wish I worked in an air conditioned office again.
Spent all weekend being too hot and avoiding writing my UKUUG talk for the end of the month. It's done and submitted now; thanks to #alug, Simon and Paddy for constructive criticism. Now I just have to produce some slides.
Not much else happening. I have a u-boot patch for the E3 against their current git tree, but I haven't heard anything back about my JFFS2 compile patch so I'm not sure whether they'll take it or not. I've sent it off to Mark for comments first.
Kathy's disappeared to New York with her sister again, leaving me at a bit of loose end. Off to the Fat Cat on Wednesday with the other Simon which can't fail to be nice.
And, er, that's it really. I suppose I should go to bed.
Hello? Is there a problem with the line?
My E3 is currently sitting running KPhone/Pi under OPIE. Annoyingly I currently have to have a USB mouse attached due to lack of a suitable pointing device on the E3, but I'm sure that's solvable in time.
More disappointing is the fact that it doesn't really work. :( I can successfully SIP register with my local Asterisk instance, and dial voicemail successfully. I only hear a fragment of the "Chameleon mail" prompt and attempting to send DTMF to choose a mailbox doesn't work either - I don't know if this is because I leave it too late or if they don't get sent at all.
OpenEmbedded doesn't have any other OPIE based SIP or IAX clients, nor anything text mode that I can see. I found ZiaxPhone but it seems to be closed source so I can't rebuild it. Guess I'll have to find a text mode client and try to work out if it's KPhone, the audio driver or the E3 not being fast enough that's the problem.
Silver vs White Gold vs Platinum
So I need to get a wedding ring. Given I hope to wear it for the next 50+ years and that I've worn a ring in the past I figured something more interesting than a plain band would be nice. Many years ago Kathy bought me a silver Celtic style ring I was fond of, but unfortunately I lost it a while ago, which was upsetting, so I thought it would be nice to get a wedding ring that was similar to the lost ring.
However. I don't like gold. So the logical choice seemed to be white gold. Until a jeweller told me that it was plated which would wear over time and require replating every few years. Which is a bit offputting. Anyone any experience of this? I've seen mention of getting it replated with a thicker than normal coating, which makes it less likely to require regular updating?
The other options seem to be silver or platinum. Does anyone have silver wedding rings? Does it last well enough? It's a lot cheaper; is that the only reason why they're not common or is there something more fundemental? Platinum is more expensive than white gold, but that's not a huge issue for the last ring I plan to wear. Is it harder to work though, making it less likely that I'll find what I want?
I found a ring at Ortak that I like, but no platinum option and I'd want to see it before buying, so online is out. Can anyone suggest a decent jeweller to talk to in Norwich? I've had a look around but not seen anything matching what I want. Alternatively I guess I can look in London.
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