I love my digital camera. Its a Kodak DC210. It only works via the serial port, and its old. I specifically sought one out on eBay because I'd borrowed one and it worked perfectly in the old gtk 1.x version of gphoto. More importantly, it was so simple even I could take reasonable pictures with it.
Time moved on, and gphoto2 arrived. I never really got the camera going with this, so I keep around an old RPM of gphoto, dreading the day it stops working for me.
Until today. I decided to try another old friend from GNOME 1.4 days - gThumb. During the build I noticed it also looked for libgphoto - so I dutifully downloaded it, just to see...
...and its great. gThumb has matured into a flexible but simple photo management app. The HTML gallery export is neat and clean looking, and the various tools for editing photos are easy to use.
Best of all, it seems to recognize (via gphoto2) my Kodak DC210, and can import pictures directly.
I'm truly impressed.
Two heads are better than one slightly fuzzy and out of focus head
Posted in Computers on Sunday 18th January 2004 at 9:09pm
Since I managed to get an improvement in quality on the LCD using the DVI port on the Radeon, I decided to try setting up my old Dell Ultrascan 15" monitor on the VGA port.
With some very simple tweaking, got X running both heads sensibly. Starting GNOME also 'just worked' without any setup or reconfiguration. I'm very impressed.
I now have an IRC window open on the Dell, whilst the LCD handles other applications. Its going to take some getting used to.
The first day of my slightly extended week off. Totally unplanned for, and possibly occuring at the worst time financially possible, being in the middle of a month where payday fell earlier than usual.
Kicked off with a long promised trip up the next Welsh Valley. Astute readers will recall that when things got rather tricky back in November I responded by returning to my track-bashing ways. The first such journey being some new track up to Rhymney. I'm not sure why I've neglected the valley lines for so long, considering they are practically on my doorstep. Perhaps that's just why! In any case, I decided to go to Merthyr Tydfil.
As I realised I'd be passing Aberfan, I called my dad to ask him how long ago it was I last passed down the Taff Vale on a family trip to Porthcawl. He pointed out the site of the disaster to us, and the ranks of memorials on the valley side. Despite being rather young, I have always remembered it vividly. Dad estimated that trip must have taken place in 1980 at the latest. Felt exceedingly old.
Reasonable run to Bristol, where I spotted the Class 31 hauled 12:52 to Brighton. I'm booked on this next week, so I sincerely hope to see it then! Over to Cardiff on a slightly sluggish 150/153 combination, and then onto a Valley Lines 143 for the trip up the Taff Vale.
The first part of the line is essentially a suburban service - Cathays and stations to Radyr appearing to be busy and well kept. After that it's out into the valley, with impressive scenery and somewhat less depressing (and apparently more affluent) small towns and villages than the Rhymney branch.
Passed Aberfan on the other side of the valley (just like on the last trip!). Almost identical in appearance to my last visit which remains so clear in my memory, despite the new A470 zooming by behind the cemetary. Saw only a little of Merthyr before heading back to Cardiff, and then a busy commuter service to Weston.
Rather dangerously discovered that I can now order Pizza online... A strange day, but productive at least, which is half the trouble with these darn holidays...
Trying to look ahead to my forthcoming week off work and decide how best to spend it. Need to look at some alternative ways of making money for starters, probably as a priority. I've also booked myself onto an utterly nerdy excursion to Brighton on Friday, in a hope of getting the Class 31 hauled service from Bristol. Forty-five minutes in Brighton in total. Madness.
Sort of feel like we've been getting somewhere at work these past couple of days, but still ultimately frustrated by the random removal of bits of my job or changing of goalposts. If I was doing really badly, I'd understand. As it is, its just perplexing. The outcome of the consultant's report on workloads etc. will surface when I'm off work on Friday. I'm sort of nervous - I can't help but feel it will stir up a hornets nest. It reminds me of the one previous time in my life I staked my faith on the outcome of a similar report, and that ended up as a disaster...
A series of strange coincidences over the past week have reminded me how solitary my life can become...not always a bad thing, but worrying at times.
Lost::MikeGTN
I've had a home on the web for more years than I care to remember, and a few kind souls persuade me it's worth persisting with keeping it updated. This current incarnation of the site is centred around the blog posts which began back in 1999 as 'the daylog' and continued through my travels and tribulations during the following years.
I don't get out and about nearly as much these days, but I do try to record significant events and trips for posterity. You may also have arrived here by following the trail to my former music blog Songs Heard On Fast Trains. That content is preserved here too.
