Thursday, February 28, 2013

Upgrading Juno

Towards the end of 2012 I upgraded my desktop computer, Juno, in several ways. I replaced the original solid-state drive (SSD) with a larger, newer one, I upgraded the BIOS, and I took a two-year leap in the software installed.

SSD swap
Juno was constructed with an Intel X25-V, a value-oriented 40 gigabyte SSD.
This device was large enough to hold the operating system (Linux) and applications, but all my user data was stored separately, on a regular spinning-platter hard drive. SSD drives were and are more expensive than regular hard drives, although now not so much as 3 years ago. Having the operating system and apps on the SSD made Juno fast to boot and fast to launch applications.

My choice to replace it was a Samsung 830, the 128 gigabyte version.
With this size, I could keep not only the operating system and applications on the SSD, but also all my user data except the extensive photograph folder, which remains on the hard drive. The Samsung device, being of a newer generation and not designed as a "value" item (not compromised to reduce cost) is, according to the specs, three times faster reading data and ten times faster writing data than the X25-V.

Fortunately, I also discovered while researching which SSD to purchase that SSDs using the new SandForce controller (interface between the SSD memory and the rest of the computer) did not play well with the I/O chip on my motherboard, the Nvidia MCP79. Many SSDs such as Intel, Corsair, and others now use the SandForce controller.

The MCP79 supports device speeds of 1.5 Gb/sec and 3.0 Gb/sec. (The newer SSDs also support 6.0 Gb/sec.) When the MCP79 negotiates the connection speed with a SandForce controller, they end up using the 1.5 Gb/sec setting instead of 3.0 Gb/sec! The Samsung SSDs use a Samsung controller and have no such problem. This, plus the excellent reviews of the 830, made the choice an easy one.

When I took the faceplate off Juno, it was clear that the dust filter needed to be cleaned again.
A dust vacuum wasn't sufficient; I ended up removing the filter and washing it.

Juno is constructed with the SSD installed in a drive bay underneath the optical (CD/DVD) drive. Thus, the first step was to remove the tray for the drive and disconnect the cables.
Here we see the Intel X25-V still in the drive bay.
Installing the Samsung was just a matter of removing the Intel (4 screws) and sliding in the Samsung, reinserting the 4 screws and reattaching the cables. By then the filter was dry, and I could reassemble Juno.
The upgraded system is certainly snappier than before. I'm pleased with it.

BIOS Upgrade
My motherboard, the Zotac gf9300-i-e, theoretically supported both methods of chatting with bulk storage devices such as hard drives and SSDs. The ATA specification is the much older of the two, and to support advanced features of newer hard drives and of SSDs there is the newer AHCI interface. However, when first building Juno, it became clear that the AHCI option didn't work. In fact, if I enabled AHCI in the motherboard's BIOS (embedded firmware), the computer would no longer see any of the attached devices: no hard drive, no SSD, no CD/DVD drive. Urk! I proceeded in ATA mode, which seemed to work well enough.

After swapping the SSDs I decided to try AHCI mode again. Same result, very disappointing. However, this time I stumbled across a Zotac forum posting mentioning a BIOS upgrade that had come out a few months after I assembled Juno, which solved this problem. There were some technical hurdles to overcome -- this motherboard, unlike some others, won't recognize a BIOS upgrade automatically if a USB stick is plugged in -- but eventually I applied the new BIOS, and voilá, AHCI mode was good! 

Installing XUbuntu 12.10
I had ceased installing newer versions of Ubuntu, sticking with 10.10, because of the controversy over the new default user interface, Unity, and the changes in the GNOME desktop between version 2 and 3. I was happy with my GNOME 2.x desktop, and 10.10 was supported with updates and security patches for 18 months. Then those stopped. After two years on 10.10, Juno's software was showing its age and some new software packages would not install.

I had played around with some other packages on my ancient laptop, primarily LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) with its Cinnamon and Mate desktops. But I wasn't completely pleased with Cinnamon or Mate, which were efforts to maintain a pre-Unity desktop environment. Finally I went with XUbuntu, which is an Ubuntu distribution that also installs a more traditional and lightweight desktop manager, xfce. I have a few quibbles with it, but xfce was my best fit.

Here are some miscellaneous points I noticed:
  • The system will now wake up from sleep (suspend to RAM) when I press any key on the keyboard. Previously I had to push the power button. Hurrah!
  • xfce can use either xfwm4, the standard xfce desktop compositor, or compiz, a fancier one. (Desktop compositors manage visual issues such as overlapping windows, partially transparent windows, wobbly windows, multiple workspaces, etc.) I finally decided that xfwm4 was more stable; occasionally windows would go black under compiz. I was willing to give up my wobbly windows for reliability.
  • Some of the programs I use on a regular basis, such as the GIMP, an open-source Photoshop, were not installed by default. They can still be installed from the Ubuntu repositories, so it's not a large issue.
  • LibreOffice, as distributed by Ubuntu, would crash on some of the spreadsheets I had created in the Ubuntu 10.10 environment. I filed a bug report, and it may be fixed in the next release. In the meantime, I installed OpenOffice, which worked just fine. Because of a file name conflict, I had to remove LibreOffice before I could install OpenOffice.
  • The xfce desktop has, unfortunately, a mandatory snap-to-grid feature. That is, any icons/documents placed on the desktop are automatically lined up to use the center of one square of an invisible checkerboard dividing the desktop. I wish I could turn it off, as I could in GNOME 2.x. But I don't have very many desktop items anyway, so it's just an annoyance rather than an impedance to my workflow.
  • The version of the C++ compiler supplied jumped forward two years as well. One of my programming projects would crash until I changed some global constructor usages that had worked OK with the older compiler.
  • The audio/video command-line program ffmpeg is now deprecated, and a couple of the arguments have changed. The new version fails on some of my video projects where the old one did not -- arrgh! However, the program avconv, the immediate descendant of ffmpeg, did work. It leaves me wondering how or why the maintainers managed to break ffmpeg.

Going Forward
This is probably the end of the Juno upgrades. If it were inexpensive, I would increase the memory (RAM) from 4 GB to 8 GB, because sometimes when working on blog entries (many tabs open on the Web browser) and processing photos or videos Juno starts to swap (move some programs to disk to make room for other programs to run). This slows things down. However, this motherboard takes an obsolescent memory, DDR2-800, which is pricey when available. Perhaps next fall or winter I will build my next computer based on the upcoming Haswell generation of Intel CPUs, and I'll put 16 GB of memory in it. That would be enough RAM to allow me to experiment with virtual machines.



Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Fairfield 6: Return to the Raj

Last November I returned for another visit to Fairfield, including extended meditation and more treatments at The Raj. The photos and impressions I have to share cover three categories: updates to the MUM campus,  changes in Fairfield, and a return to The Raj.

MUM Campus
The MUM campus continued to evolve during the seven months since my previous visit. The stairs at the Argiro Student Center had been problematic since its opening with spalling (crumbling or chipping) of both the original and repaired concrete. Now, the stairs and entryway are tiled.
I hadn't taken a good photo of the west face of Argiro before; although it is the back of the building, it's also the side that faces Highway 1. In Sthapatya Ved, the most auspicious orientation for a building is to face east.
Across Highway 1 from Argiro, the wind turbine between the library and the new Sustainable Living Center -- which had its opening just a few weeks after I ended my April visit -- was now completely installed and generating power. Being a student project, it's a turbine of modest size.
On a sunnier day, a closeup of the turbine.
The big sign facing Highway 1 has received a facelift.
Nearby there are new tree plantings.
The railings of a campus bridge were replaced in a style whose arch echoes the Jefferson County recreational trail where it crosses Highway 1, only a few hundred feet away. Here is the refurbished campus bridge,
and here is an earlier picture of the trail bridge.
Many of the residential buildings known as "frats" received substantial makeovers, both inside and out. Here, a new roof is being installed.
New, energy-efficient windows replaced the old ones.
Here is a snapshot of a renovated lobby in one of the frats.
From in front of the frats the view encompasses the Maharishi Patanjali Golden Dome at left, the Victory Tower, the Bagambhrini Golden Dome, and at far right the Golden Dome Market and Cafe.
In previous posts I've shown the expansion of the Golden Dome Market from the outside, and now I can show you the effects on the inside. The northern extension on the ground floor is now the produce room.
Above it on the second floor is additional dining area.
As before the center of the second floor is the main serving and dining area. The southern extension is a new kitchen, so food no longer has to be transported from the kitchen in Argiro. I did not eat here during this visit, but I may make extensive use of it next time; if you're after a smaller meal, as opposed to all-you-can-eat, the Cafe is less expensive than the Argiro, albeit with a smaller selection.
The southern extension on the ground floor is several aisles of dry goods, and I couldn't take a meaningful photograph.

Around Fairfield
The biggest change in Fairfield took place just a few days after I left. After decades of 60 to 80 trains per day blowing their horns as they passed through, Fairfield is now an officially designated Quiet Zone. The crossings were all upgraded with long medians so that vehicles can't maneuver around the lowered gates. No more horn blasts! Here's a picture of one of the new crossings.
There is now a rotating display of Parsons College memorabilia in the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center. Parsons College declared bankruptcy in 1973 and was purchased by Maharishi University of Management, then called Maharishi International University, in 1974. That's how MUM came to be in Iowa.
The stained glass came from the Parsons College chapel. Let's zoom in on it (click on the picture for an enlarged version).
The folks behind the Cafe Paradiso purchased the building next door, and renovated it to offer both residential and office facilities.
The notes on the side of Cafe Paradiso, just noticeable in the above photo, intrigued me. Depending on the angle of the light, they were either clearly metal projections from the side of the building, or sometimes as if painted on the brick. First, the ironwork look:
Then, my attempt to capture the painted look:
Every time I reappear in Fairfield there seems to be a new shop somewhere downtown. This time, it was a combination tea and pottery shop.

The Raj
I documented my first visit to The Raj in some detail here. This time I'll add some more information without repeating the original stuff.

My biggest concern in returning to The Raj for another seven-day round of panchakarma (Ayurvedic treatments) was the possibility of the second-time letdown. That's when the first time you experience something, it's great, and you're eager to repeat it, but when you do the second time doesn't measure up to the first, leaving you with a vague feeling of dissatisfaction. This fear was unfounded.

It was necessary to budget nine days for the seven days of treatment. Because I was doing extended group meditation in the mornings as part of the Invincible America Assembly, arriving at the Dome during early November dawns,
only the afternoons were available for treatments or meetings at The Raj. The first afternoon was a meeting with the director, Mark Toomey, and Dr. Siju, a vaidya (Ayurvedic physician). They interviewed me, read my pulse, and prescribed the series of treatments for the next seven days. I would see them again in the middle of the treatments, so they could evaluate progress, and again after the treatments were complete, receiving advice for herbs, diet, and such when back home.

While taking treatments at The Raj special PK (panchakarma) meals are part of the program. The PK dining room is separate from the restaurant at The Raj; here's my photo.
The meals were a highlight of each day, especially because of the opportunity to converse with other PK diners. We came from diverse backgrounds and with different experiences, and usually found plenty to talk about. Also, across the eight days that I ate there, some guests would reach the end of their stay and depart, while others would arrive.

I took an illustrative photo of one lunch meal.
The main plate has, clockwise from bottom, a chapati (Indian flatbread), spinach, rice, artichoke with a green sauce, and mixed veggies. The bowl to the side is a lentil and veggie soup, while in the shot glass is a digestive decoction, which for me was fennel and coriander based -- there are two main types. This is consumed first. And there are two chutneys next to the decoction. Brought out later were a digestive lassi (yogurt drink) and a dessert, which is usually a stewed fruit dish but is occasionally one of my favorites, rice pudding. These meals are designed to complement rather than interfere with the treatments you're receiving. The idea is to not strain the digestion.

I'll close this blog entry with a final sunrise photo. There are so many when you're walking to the dome at 7:00 AM (I like to get there a little early; 7:30 is when the doors close).


After another springtime visit to Fairfield, I may visit the Raj again next November.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

European Odyssey: Lisbon

After slurping coffee and waiting for our turn to be called -- we belonged to the city tour plus hotel drop-off group -- we said goodbye to the Explorer and boarded our buses for a Saturday glimpse of Lisbon.

The first stop was at Edward VII Park, named for the King of England upon the occasion of his visit in 1902. The family tree of European royalty was heavily intertwined in that era; the King of Portugal was Edward VII's second cousin. The park commands a view down to the river Tagus/Tejo.
The upper terrace of the park, from where picture was taken, hosts monuments to the Carnation Revolution. This combination of a military coup and civil resistance overthrew the longest-lasting European dictatorship on April 25, 1974. No lives were lost, as our guides proudly explained.



A bicycle tour company was getting ready for weekend business; it was about 9:00 AM when I took this photo.
Then our bus took us to the Belém district, on the banks of the Tagus near the sea. Our first stop was adjacent to the Belém Tower Garden, or Jardim da Torre de Belém. It is in the lower left corner of this map, to which I will refer more than once.
View Larger Map
The Belém Tower, bottom left in the map, was built in the 16th Century to participate in the defenses of Lisbon. It is considered an example of Portuguese late Gothic, or Manueline, architecture. We'll see more of that later.
Near the southeastern corner of the Jardim is a monument to the seaplane Santa Cruz, which flew the last leg of the first  crossing of the South Atlantic in 1922. The feat required three planes; each flew an independent leg, but the first two ended with that plane lost through a forced landing in the ocean.
We boarded the buses and scooted a few blocks to the Monument of the Discoveries, or Padrão dos Descobrimentos, located in the bottom right corner of the map. This version -- there was a temporary one earlier -- was built between 1958 and 1960. This places it during the right-wing dictatorship of Salazar, which perhaps explains why it was not to my taste. It seemed too earnest and self-consciously monumental; it could have had a cousin in Leningrad. One can go inside it, but Joan and I didn't.
Between the monument and the street is a terrace with a 50-meter (164 foot) compass rose made of various marbles, a gift from South Africa.
In the center is a world map showing the Portuguese voyages of discovery (click to enlarge).
A zoom-in on one section.
We reboarded our buses to cross the busy double avenue and visit the Jerónimos Monastery, in the upper right of the map. It's not labelled, but it's the complex with two courtyards next to the word 'Jerónimos' in the label 'Rua Jerónimos.' Here is the main entrance. As you can tell, we have here another defining example of exuberant Manueline architecture.
The major attraction of the monastery, and I do mean major, for it was packed with people on a Saturday morning, is the Santa Maria church within.
The Manueline style of this church was different enough from what we had seen before to intrigue me. The columns seem barely sturdy enough to hold the soaring roof, and their decorations are influenced by the Portuguese maritime discoveries of the 16th Century. The above photo was taken from the second story, seen here.
Zooming in on the chancel and apse,
Tombs of the royal and notable are here, such as this one of Vasco da Gama.
Here are royal tombs in a side chapel.
The monastery's cloister is behind the church.
The walkway above is a good example of the embedded motif, with two Romanesque (rounded) arches within a similar, larger arch. Decorations abound.
Fanciful gargoyles stand watch over the gaps between the stories.



This  gallery maintains the architectural themes of the monastery, plus some azulejos tiles.

In the few minutes remaining for this stop Joan and I tried to sample the Pastéis de Belém, famous pastries of Lisbon whose original bakery was just around the corner. It being Saturday just before noon, however, the line was long and undulated down the street, forcing would-be pedestrians to wiggle through. Instead we returned to our bus, one vehicle among dozens by now. Our destination was the Lisbon Sheraton, where we would overnight before our return flight.

After checking in, we walked to the Gulbenkian Museum to spend the afternoon. We started with lunch in the cafeteria, and then began to explore this eclectic collection, acquired by the early 20th Century oil magnate Calouste Gulbenkian over the course of his lifetime. The museum reflects his wide-ranging tastes and includes different cultures (Islamic, Far Eastern, Egyptian, European) and categories (illuminated manuscripts, rugs, ivories, precious metals, ceramics, paintings, furniture, sculptures). The museum's moderate size was well suited to our available time and energy.

We walked back to the Sheraton, and later had dinner at the hotel's restaurant, the Panorama, located on the top floor. The food was excellent, and the nighttime view of Lisbon and its lights was as good as any floor show.

Early the next morning we took a taxi to the airport, which is located within the city. Arriving and departing airliners had been a common sight the previous day.
The taxi driver knew where each speed enforcement zone was and would drop below light-speed for each one. We reached the airport with plenty of time to spare.

According to the final daily program from the Explorer, we had covered 2,467 nautical miles in crossing Europe from Copenhagen to Lisbon. We had seen an astonishing amount of culture and history, and had happy reunions with good friends.

It was a great trip.