RM Jones’ Adventure

My website www.RM-Jones.com has been rewritten to allow visitors faster access to the information that it provides. After communication with a number of people, I decided that most people that visit the site are looking for information, not there to see the “Pretty” layout. I have rewritten it to remove most, if not all, of the “Pretty” heading , photo albums on the pages, etc. If you would like to see my photos and photo albums there is a page for that. If not, you don’t have to suffer through a long download time for something that you don’t want to see anyway.

The main reason for the rewrite was to make it easier and faster to provide links to the photos of the Cemeteries and headstones when I take them. I still hadn’t gotten to all the headstones that I took in Glendale Cemetery in Le Claire, Iowa last summer. I figured out a way to upload the headstones and provide one link to the page of photos. You simply have to check the data file to find the person you are looking for and remember the number. This is much easier for me and much faster access to the photos for the visitor. No months of waiting for me to finally take the time to provide links to each and every photo one at a time. Read the rest of this entry →

Today I’m going to do something a little different than I usually do. I’m going to tell you about a Blog I found that covers a great deal of information that a new Linux user will find not only interesting but very useful. The Blog can be found at http://ubuntusite.com/ and I have subscribed to the RSS feed just so I can keep up on all the hints, tips and great information that Deric provides. I haven’t had time to read every post yet because I want to make sure I don’t miss anything and I’m taking notes like crazy. I just want to say, if you haven’t already guessed, I’m a BIG FAN Deric. Thank You. Read the rest of this entry →

I did something DUMB and I blew my Ubuntu 8.04 graphics and I couldn’t get it back (it only had about a 600 x 400 resolution or something like that). Not nearly high enough to display correctly on my computer. What did I do that was so DUMB, you ask. I did something that I knew better because it had caused the same problem for me before. A couple of times in the past I tried to change the screen size in the “Administrator” mode. Each time it did the same thing. After I had installed and was using Crossover Linux I was having trouble getting my resolution to stay where I wanted it. It kept on resetting to the highest resolution when I started the computer.. So I thought, incorrectly so, that “Maybe This Time It Will Work From The Administrator Mode”. Ya, sure it will. DUMB. Anyway, I blew it and couldn’t get it back. Read the rest of this entry →

In the past I have fought and kicked and screamed and threatened to destroy my poor old computer, Penguin. Just because I couldn’t get my NTFS disk drives configured and have them stay that way. NO MORE will I have that problem. I found “NTFS Configuration Tool” in the Ubuntu / Kubuntu list of programs to install. It is so simple to use it almost makes me cry when I think of all the problems I have had in the past. Here is the long and the short of it.

Start up Synaptic Package Manager and search for “ntfs” you will find “ntfs-config” in the list.

After you install it you will find it in the “System” menu.

Run it, you will be asked for your password, and you will find two choices.

“Enable write support for internal device”

“Enable write support for external device”

That’s all there is to it. It found my disk, set them up and I am now a Very Happy Penguin

That’s all for today. I’ll be back before long with more of the ramblings from a new Linux user.

Have a Great Day.

Bob Jones

Every time I setup Kubuntu I have trouble with Tomboy Notes. Tomboy Notes is a great desktop note utility that not only allows you to keep your pretty little yellow note on the desktop, it allows you to resize the notes on the fly. Tomboy Notes has some of the really nice features. You can link notes together so you can put the title of a note in another note and click on it to bring it up. If you change the title it will update the other automatically. There are a number of really great features like the ability to export your notes as HTML or import notes, timestamps, Evolution Mail integration and much more. This is the only note program that I use. However I have often had problems getting it setup. And now with Kubuntu 8.04 it just plain wouldn’t load.

I have finally figured it out. I’m sure that most of you already know this but for those that don’t, like me, here is what you have to do to get Tomboy Notes to work with Kubuntu Hardy Heron.

1. In K Menu (lower left corner of the desktop) locate Tomboy Notes. Mine is in “Utilities” and that is most likely where yours is.
2. Right click on Tomboy Notes and chose “Edit Item”. You won’t see any change because it opens the edit window behind the menu so just move the cursor off to the side so the menu will close.
3. You should now see the KDE Menu Editor with Tomboy Notes edit area on the right side of the screen.
4. In the “Command” text block delete the “–search” and the space preceding it. You should only have the word “tomboy” left.
5. Go to “File” and click “Save” (or just click the “save” icon on the toolbar.
6. When it’s done saving the changes, close the KDE Menu Editor.
7. That’s all there is to it.
8. Go back to your K Menu and run Tomboy Note. It should now load and work fine.

That’s all for today. I’ll be back before long with more of the ramblings from a new Linux user.

Have a Great Day.

Bob Jones

This is a step by step installation for beginners (like me).

I have been “playing” with Linux off an on for the last two or three years. I put it in, have problems, and take it back out. I don’t like Windows Vista so I am a little more determined this time. I believe that Ubuntu / Kubuntu 8.04 “Hardy Heron” is ready for the average person so I am writing this for the complete beginner. Please remember, there are a lot of ways to do what I am doing here. This is my way. I am a beginner and am making this as much as a record of what worked for me as I am to provide you with information. Please remember, this is what I did to set up my HP Pavilion a1140n computer. It may be a little different for you but probably not much. I wrote this step by step as I was doing the procedures on the computer I was setting up. I hope this helps.

First I think I’ll set up some more of the Preferences. I will be using Ubuntu since that is where I will be installing some of the software from. It doesn’t make any difference actually where I install software from as both Ubuntu and Kubuntu will have access to them. I just like the way that Ubuntu handles the installation of software at this point in the setup process.

1. At this time I won’t be setting up many of the preferences since I don’t plan to use Ubuntu much. I will spend much more time on it later in the Kubuntu desktop. The preferences you setup only apply to the desktop you are using at the time. In other words if you set up everything in Ubuntu the will not be setup in Kubuntu.
2. To start off we go to “System > Preferences > Control Center”. As you seen in part three of this series there are all kinds of settings here. At this time, as an example, I am going to set up the “About Me” preferences so I click on “About Me” right at the top and enter whatever information I want to fill in. While I’m here I will click on the box just to the left of my name at the top of the window and pick out a “face” for my. I like the nice peaceful “Sunset.jpg” so that is what I’ll use. You can use any photo on your computer. Then click “Open” to select the file you want to use. When done click “Close” That’s all there is to it.
3. Have fun setting up your other settings and then we will go on with installing some software.

Read the rest of this entry →

This is a step by step installation for beginners (like me).

I have been “playing” with Linux off an on for the last two or three years. I put it in, have problems, and take it back out. I don’t like Windows Vista so I am a little more determined this time. I believe that Ubuntu / Kubuntu 8.04 “Hardy Heron” is ready for the average person so I am writing this for the complete beginner. Please remember, there are a lot of ways to do what I am doing here. This is my way. I am a beginner and am making this as much as a record of what worked for me as I am to provide you with information. Please remember, this is what I did to set up my HP Pavilion a1140n computer. It may be a little different for you but probably not much. I wrote this step by step as I was doing the procedures on the computer I was setting up. I hope this helps.

In the previous post I installed Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron and then set up my network and checked my sound. Now we will get on with some of the other steps to get it running the way I want it. This is my desktop computer (or Box as the Linux folks call it) and it is named Penguin of course. I also have a LapTop that is named LapDancer because she sits on my lap of course. Before I get on to setting up Penguin I want to say that if you are setting up a laptop computer you probably want to install the “Ndiswrapper drivers so your wireless will work. To do that just go to “Applications > Add/Remove” and make sure that when that opens that “All available applications” is in the “Show” box. In the “Search” text box enter “ndis” and then when it gets through working select “Windows Wireless Drivers; Ndiswrapper driver installation tool” and “Apply” to set them up. I won’t go into setting up the wireless at this time but it is pretty straight forward. I may come back to it at some later date. Read the rest of this entry →

This is a step by step installation for beginners (like me).

I have been “playing” with Linux off an on for the last two or three years. I put it in, have problems, and take it back out. I don’t like Windows Vista so I am a little more determined this time. I believe that Ubuntu / Kubuntu 8.04 “Hardy Heron” is ready for the average person so I am writing this for the complete beginner. Please remember, there are a lot of ways to do what I am doing here. This is my way. I am a beginner and am making this as much as a record of what worked for me as I am to provide you with information. Please remember, this is what I did to set up my HP Pavilion a1140n computer. It may be a little different for you but probably not much. I wrote this step by step as I was doing the procedures on the computer I was setting up. I hope this helps.

1. OK, I have setup Ubuntu 8.04 and am about to run it the first time. So, first things first. We have to log in.
2. Enter your user name and then your password.
3. You will notice that in Ubuntu the menu bar is at the top of the screen. When I tell you I clicked on (or whatever term I use) “System > Preferences > Screen Resolution” I mean that I went to “System” then to “Preferences” then to “Screen Resolution”. This is the shorthand that I usually use to save time and space.
4. If you have your computer connected to the Internet, and I assume you do, just wait a minute or two and you will see a pop up that says that “Software updates available” and it points to a small orange icon. Click on the icon and in the window that opens click on “Install Updates”. If it doesn’t pop up shortly you can go to “System > Administration > Update Manager” and force it to check for updates. Enter your password and then just sit back and wait while it updates your complete system. Isn’t that just to easy! Ubuntu is GREAT as Tony the Tiger used to say . The Ubuntu download site is pretty busy since the new version has just come out and this may take a while. Today, May 8, 2008, there are 59 updates to install. Ubuntu 8.04 hasn’t been out a month yet. You can see that they are continually working to perfect their software. I highly recommend Ubuntu or Kubuntu, which is Ubuntu with the KDE desktop which I prefer. However, I like to install Ubuntu first and then add Kubuntu since there are a few things I like to do in Ubuntu and I find that it easier to find instructions for Ubuntu than it is for Kubuntu. You can use either to set most things up and they will then both work fine.

Read the rest of this entry →

This is a step by step installation for beginners (like me).

I have been “playing” with Linux off an on for the last two or three years. I put it in, have problems, and take it back out. I don’t like Windows Vista so I am a little more determined this time. I believe that Ubuntu / Kubuntu 8.04 “Hardy Heron” is ready for the average person so I am writing this for the complete beginner. Please remember, there are a lot of ways to do what I am doing here. This is my way. I am a beginner and am making this as much as a record of what worked for me as I am to provide you with information. Please remember, this is what I did to set up my HP Pavilion a1140n computer. It may be a little different for you but probably not much. I wrote this step by step as I was doing the procedures on the computer I was setting up. I hope this helps.

1. Do not enter the ” ” when you are told to enter information.
2. Download Ubuntu 8.04 at http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . You want the “8.04 LTS Desktop Edition”. You can also buy a CD for a small price if you prefer.
3. You now have to burn a CD and this is different from one burner to another. What you want to remember is you want to “Burn an image” not the normal procedure you would do to copy a file to a CD.
4. Make sure you have as much free space on your hard drive as you can get if you are going to duel boot.
5. Open the CD drive door and then turn off the computer.
6. Insert the Ubuntu 8.04 CD into the drive and close the door.
7. Restart the computer.
8. Select your Language.
9. Select “Try Ubuntu without any change to your computer”.
10. Double click on “Install”.
11. Select your language.
12. Using the map (which is kind of touchy) or the drop down list, select your city.
13. Select your Keyboard layout and test it in the box if you want.
14. The partitioner will now start and it takes a short while so be patient.

Read the rest of this entry →

It’s been an active day today (April 16, 2008). Today started off as a beautiful day, but a little windy, for Geocaching. Just as I was about to suggest that we get our things together and head out my Beautiful and Usually Charming wife reminded me that the outside faucet was leaking and I had promised to fix it today. Bummer. A quick trip to town, about 25 miles one way, and I have the stuff I need and get back. Not a big deal. Then I get reminded that I had promised to fix the sprayer in the kitchen sink. I sure wish that woman didn’t have such a good memory. Well that project didn’t go very good and after another trip to town I find that the replacement just plain doesn’t work. I think I’ll just replace the whole faucet in a day or two. Then I get “reminded” that all the stuff that needs done has to be completed before mid June because our relation is coming from Germany. I think my Beautiful and Not So Charming wife (today) has my next few months planed for me.

My wife left Germany in 1961 and hasn’t been back in all this time. Since my wife came to this country some of her nephews and nieces have come for visits at various times over the last 15 years and we all enjoyed ourselves. She had 11 brothers and sisters when she left Germany but some of them have died. A few years ago one of her brothers and his wife came for a visit and we had a great time. One of their daughters, her husband and one of their son’s came along with them. That was the only one of her brothers and sisters she has seen in over 46 years. Well, that is about to change. Three sisters and one brother and two of the sister’s husbands are coming for a three week visit in late June. I’m so excited that we are going to get together at last I can hardly sit down to write this. This is going to truly be an “Adventure” to tell about when they are here. When the other family members came over we were on the road all the time and had a lot of fun. What is going to make it really interesting is the fact that I speak no German and they speak no English. My wife doesn’t speak German except when relation comes so hers is very rusty and it takes a few days to start getting comfortable with it. Then when they leave it takes about three weeks to get the German stopped and get back to all English. All in all I’m looking forward to having a lot of fun. Come on back and read all about it in late June and early July.

Bob Jones

It’s getting warmer I’m very happy to say and my mind is turning more to geocaching every day. I have been out a couple of times in the last couple of weeks, as you know from previous post. I was sitting back and watching the weather forecast and my mind slipped back to the first cache my Lovely Wife, Veronika (known as Pulltabs in the Geocaching world), and I (I’m DigMaster) found. It wasn’t the first one we tried to find, that was Glasford and it had been removed by someone so it wasn’t available. The actual first find was the “Samurai Cat” which we found on March 29, 2001.

I wasn’t smart enough to look at the Difficulty and Terrain values so I almost bit off more than we could chew. At the time I was only 60 years old, just a kid yet, and I asked a friend of mine, Dick who must have been about 70 years old, if he would like to go find a Geocache. After I explained what a Geocache was he thought it sounded like fun so off the three of us went.

The Samurai Cat has been archived so I won’t worry about hiding the location in the photos. The three of us started out and headed for “Wildcat Den” state park which must be about 30 miles South of our home. It is a rugged park with some roads and paths winding through it. All in all it is a beautiful place to visit so we were bound to have a fun day even if we didn’t find the Samurai Cat. Read the rest of this entry →

Frankly, I don’t think there is any doubt in anyones mind that the petroleum companies are gouging us with the price of fuel. Since I’m not an expert in the field I won’t try to give you any numbers or convince you that I am correct. I just feel that the way that fuel prices fluctuate they can’t possibly be caused by price change. If the crude oil prices go up the price of gasoline and diesel fuel seem to jump the same day. The poor oil company has to pay more money for the crude oil to replace what they sell. However, it seems if the crude oil price drops, the high price linger for a while. I never could figure out the difference. I guess in their mind they had to pay the higher price to make the fuel that is still in the system. It would seem that the same rational should hold for both cases. I don’t mind paying a fair price for their product. I just wish they would come up with a standard way to compute the cost and stick with it. Either charge me for actual cost (plus profit) of the gas or diesel I am buying or the replacement cost. One or the other, not both depending on which is most profitable for them.

Diesel fuel is a whole other problem. I’m 67 years old and I remember, as many of you do, when diesel was the “cheap” fuel. In fact a number of years ago a lot of people changed to cars that burned diesel because it was so much cheaper. I didn’t because it was easier to find gasoline than it was diesel. It was even a cheaper way to heat a home and we used diesel fuel in our mobile home, or trailer as we called them in those days. I always heard (and I think that the oil companies put the information out) that the reason diesel was cheaper was the fact it cost less to produce. Whatever the reason, if diesel fuel could be produced and sold for less than gasoline thirty years ago, why can’t it be done now? I’ll tell you why. In my opinion due to the number of trucks on the road there is a larger market and they know the trucking companies have no other choice. They have to buy fuel or they can’t stay in business. Now there is a market just right for the plucking, or maybe I should say gouging. Read the rest of this entry →

My wife and I have done a lot of woodworking and scroll sawing. For years we went to craft shows within about a 100 mile radius of our home. Today I thought it might be interesting to some people to read some notes I put together to help some friends of mine that were interested in getting started with a very interesting and productive hobby or part time business. I know that many of you have done a lot of scroll sawing and will agree with part of what I have here and may disagree with some of it. Different people do things differently. It is possible that even the experienced woodworker may find something he/she hadn’t thought of. If you would like to see and download some of the patterns I have made or altered you can check them out at my website www.RM-Jones.com. They are in PDF format so everyone can print and use them. They are copyrighted but you may use them to produce items to sell or give away as gifts. However, you may not sell or give away the patterns themselves. I hope you enjoy the following hints and tips.
Bob jones

Please remember while woodworking of any kind to wear a dust mask and follow safety guidelines for all of your equipment. Read the rest of this entry →

It was time for me to try Ubuntu or Kubuntu in my laptop. I wanted to get completely rid of Window in my computers. After a lot of trial and error I decided that I will have to dual boot and keep Windows Vista just to run my GPS software but that is another issue that I will write about sometime in the future. The issue at hand is KDE-4, my likes and dislikes.Since I’m sure that I will install either Ubuntu or Kubuntu as soon as the 8.04 “Hardy Heron” is released I decided this was a good time to see which version I wanted to install when the time came. This time not only is there a Ubuntu and Kubuntu version with all the offshoots, there is also the KDE3 or KDE4 question. As it turns out, that is a major decision, for me at least. The new graphics and other features of KDE4 are great. If you would like to learn more about all the features you can wander on over to KDE Home page and read all about the great new features. It is far beyond this article to cover them all and I couldn’t come close to doing it justice. I will tell you a few of the things that I like and don’t like. I’m relatively new to Linux so don’t be to harsh on me if you disagree. But please feel free to leave a comment and state your opinion.

A few of the things that I like or am sure I will are the new multimedia application and some of the new games, of which I am sure there are many. I will also enjoy the the great new graphics that are available. A lot of this is eye candy but there are some new features and you should check it out for your self on their website. Read the rest of this entry →

Thanks for stopping back to visit. As you remember, in part one we discussed some of the problems in indexing a cemetery. In part two we talked about the process I actually went through while indexing the Glendale Cemetery in Le Claire, Iowa. And in part three we covered cleaning and photographing the headstones. Now in this part I’ll tell you about some of the other small “Old” cemeteries we also did this year.

After we completed the Glendale Cemetery I decided to do the same thing to some of the small cemeteries in this area. To start with there are two more in Le Claire, Iowa and two in Argo which is about five miles west of us. I decided to start with the two in Argo since I have some ancestors in one of them.

The two cemeteries in Argo, Iowa are the “Argo Cemetery” and the “Le Claire Prairie Cemetery” . Both are very old. The Le Claire Prairie Cemetery was started March 22, 1887. It is right in the town of Argo and got its name for the original church, The Le Claire Prairie Church, that was across the street. It is now the “Our Savior Presbyterian Church”. I’m not sure when the Argo Cemetery began because I haven’t been able to find the records for it. The person that had them died and at this time no one seems to know where they are. This means that no one else can be buried there since they don’t have a record of what plots have been used.

Read the rest of this entry →

Thanks for stopping back to visit. As you remember, in part one we discussed some of the problems in indexing a cemetery. In part two we talked about the process I actually went through while indexing the Glendale Cemetery in Le Claire, Iowa. Now in this part I’ll tell you the process we went through to clean and photograph the headstones and monuments and check my data file.

First let me tell you something my Beautiful and Usually Charming wife found very funny. I am one of those rather impatient (some would say obnoxious) people that wants things done my way and fast. Sometimes I create BIG problems for myself when I let this poor behavior flaw come to the front without thinking about the consequences. The first day out to take photos we were trying to develop a system that would speed things up so we wouldn’t have to spend the rest of our lives out there. Let me tell you, at that time that cemetery looked awfully big. Anyway, things weren’t going like I wanted them to. We tried a lot of different systems but nothing seemed to be as fast as I wanted it to be. I THOUGHT I could probably do it as least as fast by myself, so why have my wife spend her time out there to. The problem is my Beautiful and Usually Charming wife likes to help whenever she can. I had to convince her that I didn’t really NEED her to spend her days in the cemetery with me. Read the rest of this entry →

Hello again. As you remember, in the last post we were discussing the process I went through when I indexed the Glendale Cemetery in Le Claire, Iowa. A point of interest to some of you would be a little of the “Trivia” associated with that cemetery. The oldest recorded burial in Glendale Cemetery was Malinda Chamberlin in 1835. The person with the earliest recorded date of birth was Judith Danforth who was born in 1778. There are about 2558 people buried in the Glendale Cemetery. I thought this was interesting; there is one animal officially buried in the Glendale Cemetery. It was Waltimore Rathmann’s dog. It is listed as buried in the plot next to him. Waltimore lived from 8/3/1858 to 9/18/1944.

Now, on with the indexing of the Glendale Cemetery.As you remember from the previous posting I had found at least three types of records in the cemetery; the old records (which I didn’t use) the typed file cards and the compiled book. The first process was kind of easy (when compared to the rest) and I simply used one of their books which I scanned into my computer and used an OCR (optical character recognition) program to convert it to a Excel 2003 file. Now came the work. OCR programs do a good, but not perfect, job so I compared person by person, line by line, the Excel file to the original book. That took days. When that was done I made arrangements to photograph the file cards. That process only took a day and I want to thank the people at the Le Claire Glendale Cemetery for allowing me to do so. Those photographs are not for public use and are only being used by me to compile and check records. Read the rest of this entry →

I have been attempting Genealogy (notice I said attempting not doing) for a number of years. One thing I noticed when looking at information other people had put together, was the differences from one to the other for the same family member. I think this must be due to records that other people created from word of mouth information or inaccurate records in things like family Bibles and note books. I’m sure that the people compiling the data did the best they could with the information they had to work with.A few years ago I was trying to think of a way I could help others get the correct information for people that had lived in this area. One of the requirements would be to supply them with a copy of the actual records. You know how things go, the important ones get put off and the fun stuff gets done. I’m no different, until last year. Last year I decided to locate the records for the cemeteries in Le Claire, Iowa (the town I live in) and put them on the internet along with documenting photographs. That was a lot easier said than done, let me tell you.

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January 26 - 27, 2008, was the “17^th Annual Bald Eagle Watch” at the Interstate 80 Welcome Center at Le Claire, Iowa. I live only about 15 blocks from it and had never been there. I usually intend to go but forget until it’s over. This year I made it and I’m glad that I did. I learned a lot about Bald Eagles and other birds of prey and had a fun time. The program was put on by a gentleman from the “Wapsi River Environmental Education Center” http://www.scottcountyiowa.com/conservation/wapsi.php , which I believe is part of the county conservation board, and a gentleman from the Army Corps of Engineers.The Bald Eagles congregate in this area around the ice free water near the damns and the main Mississippi river when it’s not froze. Their main food source is fish and they do a pretty good job of catching them. According to the information we were given, the Eagles will even try to steal the food from other Eagles. I bet that turns into a real argument and would like to see one give it a try. I learned so much it’s hard to know where to start so I’ll just give you some of the facts from my notes and the handout they provide. Read the rest of this entry →

This could also be titled “To Blog or Not to Blog, That is the Question.”. After seeing a little about Blogging on TV, and reading a little about it, I decided to take a look at a Blog. I had never seen a Blog before. Well, “I can do this”, I thought. OK, let’s see what it’s all about. This looks EASY.

First step is a little research which I did with the help of Google. That took me to a number of sites that I found interesting. The site that got my attention the most was the one by John Chow at http://www.johnchow.com/ . In my opinion John has a very interesting Blog and supplies a LOT of information for newbie’s like me. I checked out a few more sites where I picked up more information that I was in need of. There are stacks of Blogs with information to assist you in setting up and running a Blog. That really surprised me. Well, pretty Easy so far. Fun actually. Read the rest of this entry →