Ubuntu, VMware and Graphics applications

I have had an excellent experience running Ubuntu under VMPlayer on XP as my development webserver. It's faster than WAMP and easily transportable.

So, when it came to rebooting Merles Dell 1330 which has had consistent networking issues with Vista I thought, hell, we could have Ubuntu running on the wee guy and Vista running as a guest under VM.


This would have the benefit of the guest being easily back-up-able with the apps installed and transportable across computers.

Turns out that is good in theory and not in practice, mainly because running graphics apps is so ram hungry (I think). Vista with apps took up over 20gb and was crazy slow.

So it is back to Vista, a shame because Ubuntu 8.10 was amazing. It recognised all the hardware first go and was a fast joy to use.

Darwin and Spark

One of my current projects with Merle is doing a brand and graphic scheme for "On the Road Recycling", an initiative of CBEC through Remarkable Recyclers.

The challenge is to, in a positive light, make people on holiday want to engage with the recycling system: buy a pre-paid plastic bag, fill it as they travel and deliver it to a participating recycle centre.

I do not like the word 'waste' and if I had my way it would be replaced with 'resource'. In our brainstorming and sketching I have been playing with portraying the items you may recycle as something that has it's own will, it's own journey it wants to go on.

Bernina 730 - Finally

I have been holding a mint Bernina 30 series in my 'wanted' list for a few years now. I thought it was going to arrive at the recycling centre but in the end it was a Trademe job, a present from my Grandma Gee through my Mum, Mum has had hers since the late 1960's and it is still going strong.

The Bernina 30 series are famous and this 730 was originally purchased in Hokitika on the 28th Feb, 1964 (it still has the manual and warranty), and I reckon since then it can not have had more than a few hundred hours running.

Like all machinery that has been sitting around it needed a good oil. The top access door wouldn't open, and I discovered a capacitor in the motor that was broken. I posted questions to the BerninaThirtySomethings newsgroup on Yahoo and within hours had expert advice from around the globe, problems fixed.

It still has a slight drag in the action, but it sews well so we'll see over th enext few months how it goes. First up? Curtains for winter and a skirt for Merles growing belly ;-)