November Road-trip 2023

I left the town of Arcola, Texas around 11:00 a.m. on Monday, the 6th, with no idea nor plan as to what

I was going to do the rest of the day, nor especially the rest of the week.     All I knew was that I was going to likely have several days of freedom.

I had a delivery to complete before I could leave town, and that was on the far west side of Houston.

I completed that about 1:30 p.m.     There was no reason to ever return to my estranged-wife's house,

but I knew I would eventually have to face the realities of my life and go back in a few days.

I needed to get the H*ll out of Dodge for 24 hours and get some fresh air and exercise.     In my younger

days ( 1987 ), it would have been a no-brainer.    I would have headed for the Sierra Madres, most likely

to make a futile attempt at solo-hiking to the top El Pico de Candela ( I never made it even half-way to the top )

So I was now driving through northwest Houston pondering what to do about lunch.

I called up my estranged-deranged-biological-father and asked him if I could come visit and tell him happy birthday in person for his 79th Birthday.   He sounded non-interested at best.

I explained that I may not get another chance to visit until Christmas, and he subtly replied, “so what.”

( or maybe like "who gives a sh*t ? )

A little background on all my drama before I continue.       60 years and one month ago, my mom

was a junior in high-school in Oak Cliff ( south of Dallas ) and she got pregnant to some jerkwad

alcoholic abusive moron.     Every since that tragic-conception, every single tiny aspect of my life has been

an enormous clusterph*ck.

In May of this year, his wife of 44 years, passed away after nearly ten years of dementia.     He has been alone ever since, living in a nice house, but he does not keep it clean.      A part of me, sadly feels that there is an opportunity for he and I to make up for these lost 59 years.     But he just likes to berate me humorously, that he doubts he is my father.

In the past 40 years, I have only briefly visited him for a few hours around Christmas.    I always leave driving like a bat-out-of-hell out of the drive way with him cussing up a storm lots of awful sh*t.

I was passing near one of my favorite restaurants, "Niko-Niko's," so I decided to get a really

nice lunch.    From there, I drove to Midlothian non-stop via Hwy 6. thru College Station and Waco.

Whenever on a road-trip, I ponder things, daydream, plan things, worry about things etc.    I had learned

the day before that the grandson of my paternal-grandma's older-sister had passed away and nobody told me nor did anyone I knew know about it.     I had just stumbled onto it will doing obituary-research.   He

was ten years older than me and I had not seen him in over 45 years.     

The weather was perfect for a road-trip and there was a nice sunset as I was passing the traffic-scam-community of Reagan. 

I arrived at my biological-father's house about at 7:30 p.m.        I always know that I will be walking into

a fire, so I have to do some yoga first.    Most often, I will stop a few blocks away and meditate and pray that an asteroid strikes the house before I get there.        When I got there, he was standing in the garage with the door open and it was dark, and some weird lady about 40 years old was sitting in his lounge-chair.

Turns out she was a meth-head that lived next door and was recovering from a really bad car-wreck and he

was Ubering her around.      We all went inside and I gave her the left-overs from my lunch at Niko-Nikos,

just to try to break the ice, or pretend to be nice.       Then comes in some prostitute about 24 years old that looked like a young Michelle *b*%a.       My dad and the hooker, went to go take care of business, and the wacko-crackhead left to go home next door.      So I just went straight to bed.      The air was so dusty and stagnant that I breathing was uncomfortable, and I thought about bailing out and going to get a motel.

Fortunately, his wi-fi was working  as I woke up at 11 p.m and it took me a while to fall back asleep.     I was concerned about the following day.      I was sure, I would have to bail out suddenly and drive back to Houston, but his 79th birthday was still 36 hours away, and I had vague hopes of making it to the November meeting of the DFW Grotto.

He let me sleep in, as he had to drive the crackhead-lady to the store.       I had never in my life, been alone in my dad's house in 59 years.     It was awkward, especially since the house was really his deceased-wife's and he had just mooched off of her for 44 years.      

When he got back he had a long list of chores he wanted me to help him with.     I knew this would be problem.     I have told him a thousand times that I am having trouble with my hernia, and he always berates me very toxically, saying something angrily such as "go to the ph*cking doctor you d**khead.         It is really unbearable to be around him.         

Eventually, we decided to go to lunch and he drove way across town in his junker-crappy truck that my younger very estranged-brother had gifted him, and we ate lunch at "The Cotton Patch."     He made a big stink about me ordering a salad, and so it was an unpleasant lunch.     I told him that having lunch with him was his birthday-gift and that was the best I could do this year.       And he replied, "I don't care about that sh*t."

So I went back to his house and took a shower and watched a movie on his Prime Freevee channel, "Bourne Legacy."     I had never seen it.    I ate the left-over salad.     

Then I tried to watch some ridiculous British tv show called "Return to the Land of the Lost," or something like that.     It was awful, so I went to bed early, and surfed the web to see what all was going on in the Middle East.       The channel ILDV ( Israeli tv )  seems to have the most accurate propaganda, and by far the hottest news-caster on the planet, Miss Amit Harari.

I still did not know what my plans were on Wednesday, and it seemed grim that I would make it there

long enough in Midlothian in order to make it to the grotto meeting.

I called my sister in Mansfield about 30 minutes away, and practically begged her to let me come over

for a minute to say hello.       [ Her and her husband are nice to me, but they both work remotely from home and are big-wigs at a defense-contractor, and so they have hectic life. ]     I got there in time to see my brother-in-law.     He changed his mind and said he and his wife would take me to lunch.     But

they are super duper extra-finicky about about eating out and so they drove me clear into Arlington to a Mediterranean Grill.       I didn't need to eat that cr*p nor waste that kind of money.     And that got

me all off schedule.       

Afterwards, I called my biological-father and he sounded drunk and didn't want me to come back.     So I changed course and started heading towards the grotto-meeting a few hours early.      

I stumbled upon an antique-mall in Arlington, so I figured I would frolick there until 6 p.m.     I found a roaster-pan, that Magdalena had been wanting.      The old aluminum kind from the 1960's.    It was in great shape and I knew she would love it.     She has three, but had mentioned she wanted one more.    I also found some hippie-bell-bottom jeans for Dalena that looked like new-condition.     So I bought those

too.     

I went to the grotto-meeting.      The drive there was past my physical-limits as I had not had

my daily nap.     I got there totally wiped-out.      My hernia was really bothering me, so I decided not to

eat any barbecue.          After the meeting, I called my biological-father up and I told him that I was leaving 

Irving and heading to Houston.        He said that he would leave the back-door unlocked.      He has

never done that for me in 59 years.        As I was driving though Dallas, I was listening to the radio.

The music stations in Dallas are really good, and the ones in Houston are extremely awful.     A song I had never heard was playing, "Washington Square" by The Village Stompers from 1963.      That

was really uplifting.

When I got to his house, the same hooker was back for the third time, and she was parked in the driveway, but

by the time I was getting ready to watch tv, she was leaving.        I watched "The Bourne Identity," which

I had likely seen it in the theater way back years ago when I had premiered.          I went to bed, and

the hooker's g-string was laying on the floor.     He hadn't even changed the d*%n sheets.     Her name

is Mineh May or something like that.     She was about 24 and skinny like a heroin-addict.

One good thing about the house, is that the shower in the master-bath has the walkin-spacious style with the glass door and large tile.    The water-pressure and hot-water and quality of the water are awesome.      But he has a $ 5 shower-head from The Five Below Store.      That just rankles me.      The toilet is in one of those fancy private closets, but it is a real kiddie-toilet.     It is tiny little things like that make this BnB the worst on Earth.

I left early on Thursday, and had lunch at "The Waffle House" in Corsicana.     I tried to hook up with a caver there, but they were in Dallas.

My next stop was to pretend to look for caves near the ghost-town of Cayuga.     I was really just trying to get some fresh air and exercise.     I had hoped to drive around the Gus Engeling Wildlife Management Area on the other side of the town of Bethel, but I ran out of time, and the weather was misty, and very cloudy.

     https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/hunt/wma/find_a_wma/list/?id=10

I finally made contact with my daughter and her college via text.       I was going to have to drive recklessly for almost two hours to get to her college in Nacogdoches on time.         I got there and gave to her the bell-bottom jeans from the antique-store and then drove her around campus for 10 minutes, and then we sat outside her math-class and talked for five minutes.      I had hoped to get her old iPhone from her so I could trade it with her mom's old iPhone.      But Dalena was not ready to give it to me yet.

I stopped in Livingston at the famous Catfish King restaurant.      I had not eaten there in at least 31 years.   Then the rain came down.      I knew the wipers on my Sequoia were rotten.     I had not driven in the rain in months.

I had a delivery in downtown Houston that I wished I could have worked on.      I was downtown, and only about 45 minutes early.      But I had forgot to find a printer and print out the stuff that I needed to deliver.       Coupled with the rain and being totally exhausted I decided to blow off my work.     I know that will  come back to bite me in the a%#.

It is 10 p.m. now and Magdalena is sound asleep on the couch with the tv blaring just as she has done every night since she became an empty-nester two months ago.      She is not even the same person anymore.

to be continued..... ( or edited ).

2022 Personal Update

Hello, this is David Locklear.

For those of you who have no idea who I am, I did most of my caving in 1987

while living either in College Station or Dallas.    I am sort-of married to a lady

from Monterrey, Mexico.   I am the father of CAVEPEARL, but the sad truth is

she would not know a cave if it bit her on the %&#.     I tried once futilely to take

her camping when she was about six years old.     Now she is almost nineteen.

Below are some random thoughts and opinions on experiences that

I had or my family had in 2022.  

First of all, the first five weeks of 2022, I was almost bedridden with an illness. Doctors claimed I had COVID, but I say they were full of sh*t.   My symptoms were more like myalgia, than the flu.   I sensed I was starting to improve on the second of February, however, I have not felt like I have improved since then.     I have now been sick for over 12 months, and I never had any nasal issues, meaning, no sneezing, nor sinus problems.     Most of the pain was in a 14 inch diameter area centered just below the groin.     But there was some other stuff going on down there, that I just can't talk about, some of which is hernia related.

Not only were the doctors worthless, but they sent me $ 20,000 in medical bills.

I tried to stay employed ( in my self-employed job where I deliver subpoenas ).

That really did not go well at all.

Meanwhile, my estranged wife worked 70 to 80 hours a week all year, but at

very low pay.

CAVEPEARL was almost a nuisance the entire year.     I 

came close to disowning her on a daily basis, and now I am trying to get her

married-off, instead of going to college.

She thinks she wants to move out in August and move up to Nacogdoches

to live in a dormitory on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University.

She claims she wants to be an elementary-school librarian.       I doubt she could finish reading a novel at the fifth-grade level.

She was sick quite a bit in 2022 and we had to take her to see someone

almost on a weekly basis.      At one point, just keeping her out of jail

seemed unlikely.

My beloved 4x4 Toyota Sequoia has been practically sitting on cinder-blocks

for over a year.     It needs some transmission work, but I can't find an honest

mechanic that understands the issue.

I am not currently healthy enough to go on a two-mile hike, especially

if it is uphill on a really hot or humid day.      I have gained an enormous

amount of weight from my sedentary lifestyle.

I am not a Tr*mp fan-boy, and disagree with him on a number of

important issues, but I feel he is our only hope.     I am not

a Republican.      Most of my friends or potential friends vote Democrat,

so I have to just bite my tongue.

I spent almost all of the past few months watching YouTube videos trying to learn

different topics.      Probably watched 1,000 music videos over the course of the

pandemic, yet I still can't play a plastic-flute-recorder.

I will be 59 in June.      In all my adult life, I have never been in such debt.

However, Magdalena only owes less than $ 66,000 on her house.     If she

or CAVEPEARL ever sell the house, it should fetch at least $ 175,000 as

is.    It is 20 years old and has never had any maintenance done to it.    The

stove has been upgraded.

Some of you might remember my mother-in-law, who tagged along with us

to several caver-gatherings.     She lives in the Las Fuentes part of Monterrey,

which is sort of due south of the campus of I.T.E.S.M. along the western flack

of the the famous saddle-shaped mountain.      She is probably healthier than

any of us, and I attribute that to her strict diet of non-processed foods, and

only corn-tortillas.

If anybody would like to know more please email me at 

       dlocklear01@gmail.com

If it is something serious, email me at work at:

     david@houston-subpoena.com

My personal-cell is:    346-801-4962

My work-cell is:    346-247-1954

Linux News - Fedora 31

There is probably somebody out there that uses

a Linux "desktop" computer ( as opposed to a Linux server ).    

The rest of you, please hit the delete button.

I am posting this news item, as you won't see it on CNN or

Foxnews, or hardly even Linux News.     Sort of a hot off

the presses thing.

This message is coming to you from my computer running

only Fedora 31.    This version 31 of Fedora will be released in

a Beta version next week, so this brief post is only to state that

the new version of the operating system is functional.

I have been using Fedora 31 about 4 hours for routine simple task.

( I have previous experience with the older versions, and developmental

versions, having run my computer for my business on Fedora 29 for nearly

a year.  )

One of the odd things about new Linux versions is something

called "regressions."     A fancy way of saying that new bugs were

created by trying to fix the old bugs.    It is likely that it will take

months to fix any regressions that pop up, but then new ones

seem to always pop-up after that.  

It does not take a powerful computer to use Fedora 31.    I imagine

it would work okay, on just about any 5 year old computer.

Someone familiar with Linux, should be able to install Fedora 31 in

about 20 minutes.

Back in the early days of Linux, the display on the screen was controlled

by something called X11.    That component became antiquated in recent years,

and so Fedora 31 uses something else instead, called Wayland.    What is different

about Fedora 31 over other Linux distros with Wayland, is that much of the

time the user is sort of stuck in between the two using something called

Xwayland.     But now, Fedora only does that when it has no other choice.

If you have never used Fedora, then you might find parts of Fedora 31

simple to use.     But still there is a learning curve or a need to know

something about Linux in order to use it to get any work done.

Unless a user wants to donate money to Linux projects, a majority of the

software is free.    I have been using Linux now going on 3 years to run

the computer for my tiny business, and it seems like a good idea from

my perspective, and experience.

A complete install of Fedora 31 Workstation will get you just about

every popular Linux software, pre-installed, except for GIMP.     That and hundreds

of other apps can be installed from a simple graphical menu, but it is fairly easy to learn

how to install them from a command-line if you are into that sort of thing, and that

is why many Linux nerds prefer Linux.

One of the perks to Fedora 31, is that it will eventually use kernel 5.3.1, probably

in about a month or two.     That will allow it to work on lots of knew hardware, like

the new AMD CPU's.  

In theory, Fedora 31 be more stable in its Final Release in October or November,

than what I am currently using.     I should never have to change anything or install

anything for another year, but just run a simple update every few days or so.

D.L.

Ref.:    https://wayland.freedesktop.org/architecture.html

             https://www.gnome.org/news/2019/09/gnome-3-34-released/

             https://www.kernel.org/

August 20th, 2019 personal update

I lost my beloved 3 bedroom 1,200 sq. ft. apartment in Alief.     Thanks to things outside of my control.    Hopefully, I will get some of the $ 1,000 deposit back in 8 weeks.     The management is already trying to screw me, as the previous tenant did not turn in their parking-sticker, and that person had agreed to stay on in the apartments as my roommate, but they instead skipped town before I moved in.   That is a $ 100 penalty.     To make matters worse, this person agreed to give me the parking-sticker, so I took off work and wasted two hours going to get it, only for them to tell me they didn't have it, but had seen it 3 days ago, and assumed it was still lying around somewhere.    I wasted an hour helping them hunt for it.


I am now temporarily renting a tiny room from a guy that ran a roommate ad on Craigslist.    I have been here seven days so far, but I have not moved any heavy
furniture in yet.    The guy's name is allegedly, N*ah Eck*rt.     I was not able to find his internet footprint on any social media.      He claims to be obsessed with
Japanase anime ( cartoons ). .    I have no interest in that topic, although, I was
a big fan of Speed Racer cartoon in the early 1970's.    He seems to chat loudly
with other gamers playing anime cartoon games.     I only agreed to live here a month, with possible month-to-month lease, as long as on Sept. 15th, I also pay a $ 500 deposit.      I have spent 3 days cleaning the common areas of the apartment.    There is still so much cleaning to do that it seems futile to stay here.    But problem # 1 is the air-filtration system is broken, and dust is in the air.    And # 2, my roommate and I do not seem to be compatible.

The apartments he lives in are 62 years old and in a part of town that is primarily Honduran and Salvadorean.        However, these apartments are slightly better than the others in this specific area, and far more expensive, and thus, the tenants are a mixture of various types of people, from one driving a
new Lamborghini, to me just vagabonding with a rucksack.

The name of the place, is Colony Oaks apartments, and is at 6666 Chetwood
St. which is about 5 miles due south of The Galleria or about a mile northwest
of Bellaire.     Apparently, his unit is one of the worst in the complex.    The others especially on the opposite end have been remodeled and have more greenspace.

At the present time, I have most of my clothes there and my 65 in SHARP
smart-tv, and a few odds and ends.

The apartments seem to have good water pressure, lots of trees, a few
areas of greenspace, and even a tiny private park.     The other units are
nice, but this particular unit has some serious issues, one of which is way
too much dust in the air.     All the tenants have dogs, and the dogs poop and
pee all over the place.     The smell of dog-poop is overwhelming to my sensitive nose.


My sofa and bed are temporarily at my girlfriend's apartment.      She has
a tiny one-bedroom apartment in far north Houston is a really crappy part
of town, and her sister and teenage niece live with her too.   I have a few days
worth of groceries there and about 2 days worth of clothes.    It is likely that
I may put more stuff there, but I hope to have my own apartment in 2 or 3 months, certainly by February.     I have also installed a mini-office in her bedroom, with high-speed internet and a desk, fax machine, land-line and printer, but no wi-fi just yet.      I hope to move all that by October to my own
apartment.



Meanwhile, my Sequoia transmission has 275,000 miles on it as does much
of the rest of the vehicle, ( except for the motor ).      I wish I could get a
newer vehicle.    It seems pointless to continue to throw money into up-keep
for this old clunker.

Things at work are just awful - almost helacious.      But I am turning down work almost every day.   My briefcase is full of difficult subpoenas.      I still have my own fancy office though, in Hedwig Village, and still have income coming in.     But at this stage of my career ( being self-proprietor as a process server for 21 years ), I feel I should be getting close to retirement.

I still have my rental storage unit in Brenham, but also temporarily renting a tiny one in Alief until I can get an apartment.    All that is such a huge waste of money and time.  

Here is a link to some recent pictures:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7d86o95efxtqwpj/AAA5JwEM8gX7-XXyB7mDXGbma?dl=0  

Another missed TSA Spring Convention

I am almost convinced now that Oztotl did not want me to go to Kerrville this past weekend.

I can't question his or her or its motive.

All I know was, that in hindsight, there was nothing I could have done differently to leave Houston area.

 

It is a bummer missing the 2019 TSA Spring Convention.     I really wanted to go.     But it is also embarrassing to show up a caving event, and being totally

disorganized, and out of the loop when it comes to caving topics.    I am so fat and out-of shape now that I probably could not even take a commercial cave tour, without sitting down to take a rest.

 

 

It 11 p.m. on Sunday night, and I am still at work in Houston, with a to-do list tomorrow that is going to be overwhelming.     Heading home now though, as

all my deliveries were again goose chases just like they were Friday night and Saturday night.

Most people would love to be stable self-employed, but it has a lot of drawbacks - especially if you despise your work task and your customers.

 

Imagine if you owned a hair-salon and all of your customers came in wanting

their child's hair-cut, but their child was invisible, and only visible to them, and

you had to pretend for an hour to cut their child's hair, before they would pay you $ 5

and then, they would only agree to mail you the money after you "faxed" them an invoice, and the check would be written off some odd bank account like Iberia Bank.     And then if they didn't like the way you were pretending to cut the invisible child's hair, and you told them to go F.O., then they would tell all your

other customers to not hire you because "you were a little strange."     My job is even more retarded than that, and I have now been doing it over 21 years.

 

 

Today, is the 18th anniversary that my estranged wife and I had a formal wedding ceremony at a lake in east Texas.     Several cavers were present to testify to

that event.   At least one of them is on CaveTex.     I actually called my ex and told her happy anniversary, even though I spent most of the day with my current lady-friend, Maria Martinez of Morelia, Mexico.

 

 

My daughter took her exam this past Satuday in order to test-out of high-school foreign language elective requirement.      She thinks she may have passed it.

My mean-old step-mother has had partial dementia for several months.   Saturday morning, she allegedly went over the deep end and had to be admitted to a hospital.    I think it is near Mansfield, Texas.    If I can get off work this week, 

I may drop by there for a few minutes.    I do not really blame her for being a mean-old stepmother, as 100% of the drama was initiated by my deranged biological father.     There is no way he could have married any better.  He was

way out of her league, and I can't figure out why she married him.

My Sequoia now has 260,000 miles on it. 

 

 

Saturday night, my daughter and I went to see the new movie, "Shazam."   It was

okay, considering the material they had to work with.    Shazam was never really

a big superhero like Captain Marvel, eventhough they originally shared some of the same foundation.   

I had some good food this weekend.   I had dinner yesterday at The Truckyard - one of downtown Houston's newest patio party restaurants.      I had lunch today at Louisiana Chicken and Seafood.      I have mostly been eating at Burger King type places for the past 6 months, since moving into my 1,200 sq. ft. 3-bedroom apartment.

 

I stumbled on to an amazing art festival concert in Houston on Saturday afternoon, but I only stayed for one song, as I was burdened with a ton of problems at work.

Tonight, I had dinner with my mom and stepfather.    She will soon be 73 years old.

If I can get paid on all this work and get it completed this week, then I should finally be able to purchase a new laptop with some modern features.    I could be more efficient if I had a really good laptop.     Part of the problem with that is I do not want a Windows laptop nor a Apple laptop.   I want a Linux laptop, but those things are pricey, and I am not 100% certain, I could make one myself that I could do my work on.

I am ready to disown most of my family, especially 4 of my 5 siblings.   I have  reached a point where their problems and lifestyle just are ludicrous.

To be continued....

Personal update - 02-05-2019

From David Locklear

I have a new coffee cup, purchased for 99 cents plus tax

https://www.dropbox.com/s/et974wwvlhnkeco/Davids%20Cup.jpg?dl=0

I took the tour of this cave before the NSS Convention in Waynesville.   I missed the last tour of the nearby Cathedral Cave that day, and so, I hope to do take that tour someday. 

On a totally different note, I mentioned last year in a lengthy post my quest to learn Spanish, which officially began in 1985.  I have an Associate's Degree from Houston Community College completing all the Spanish classes that they offered.   But it would be more accurate to say my "certificate" is for Mechanical Engineering Technology.

Anyways, 34 years later, I can now distinguish a Spanish speaker's accent quickly and tell what country they are from.  Unfortunately, I am too hard of hearing to understand exactly what they are saying.   Along with Attention Deficit Disorder and early pre-stages of Alzheimer's ( forgetfulness ? ), I can just get the gist of what they are saying.    I can usually get my point across though verbally, and impress them with my bilingual skills and knowledge of their culture.  Unfortunately, due to having GOMS ( grumpy old man syndrome ), I am usually disinterested.   What really sucks, is I have yet to ever really use this bilingual skill to make any money.

My interest now ( in what little spare time that I have ) is with Linux desktop computers.  Yesterday, I did a new install of Fedora Rawhide, which means I am now using Linus Torvald's latest kernel.  This will be Fedora 30 in November.   I would not recommend Fedora to most people.

The Death Row Debacle

I was taught in grade-school that when you are taking at test, and you encounter a problem that can not be quickly solved, then you must skip it and move on to the next problem.

Life is essentially a test.   We are all just one giant experiment, just like the dinosaurs and the Pre-Cambrian trilobites that came before them.   Some people woudld argue that it is all random while, others would firmly argue that it all has a predetermined final destiny.

I say we have all been bamboozled, but that is another story.

Any ways, this unique phenomena is not unique to Texas nor to the USA nor to the Western Hemisphere, and especially not unique to 2018 nor even last millenia of human history.

People who are not part of the power structure in a society, are not treated as fair as those who are part of the power structure.

This phenomena is not going to go away, and I would theorize that it is going to increase due to socio-economic trends in the Western Hemisphere.

Anyways, back to the test.      We as a society must skip this problem for now and move on to other problems that can be solved in 2019.    In the very near future robots will have a larger place in our society and Houstonians will eventually welcome with open-arms robot-businesses, self-driving cars, robot-police officers, crime-fighting drones, public online schools.   Poor people will have to compete in that society, more so than they do in our current system.

My new apartment in Alief, Texas

P.S.     While I have your attention.     I now have a clean 3 bedroom apartment at

4545 Cook Rd. # 716, Houston, TX 77072.     I have a guest room and the 2nd room is my

office for my subpoena-delivery business.       I have been working my tail off the past month,

but there are things that are still going on that are related to Hurricane Harvey.   

All that, was why I had to skip TCR.    My business has a website

now.      www.houston-subpoena.com    ( using SquareSpace ).       My daughter, CavePearl, won

a merit award in the school district drama play, called "Selfie," where she played a girl named

Laura.  The play eventually won 1st place in the district-wide competion.   

I only see her about an hour a week for an hour, but we had dinner a few days ago, just the two of us.

There is no way I can go caving in the next few months.    But I did purchase a 48 year old book about caves that

I found in a resale shop this week.     My Sequoia is in need of lots of repairs.    The springs holding

up the hatch are weak and the door creeps downward.     I was not paying attention to that and hit

the top of my head very hard on it last week.  It almost knocked me out.   

I had large lump on my noggin.  But

it looks like it healed.

The Google link below is just some random photos of my new office / apartment.

I won't be having a house-warming party, but I would like to show off some of the progress

I have made in the past month.

[ I do not know if you have to have a Google account to view this ]

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/bRxGDexW4qQ7Ajsy9

The unique feature to this 3-bedroom apartment is that it is 1200 Sq. Ft. along with

a good-sized patio and outdoor laundry area on the balcony, for a measly $ 1,077 per

month, and that includes water.     So far electricity has not been much, as I am never

here.   I really need to find an excellent roommate.

FEDORA Rawhide Install - August 5, 2018

This blog is about my experience today, August 5, 2018, installing the very very latest public version of Fedora Rawhide.

     Disclaimer:

     The iso used to create the install USB thumbdrive, was the latest
     unofficial nightly and was not yet listed as having been confirmed
     as a "good" image.

     Shown as "Fedora-Rawhide-20180802.n.0"
     downloadable from the following website:

     https://www.happyassassin.net/nightlies.html

Background:

     I wanted to distro-hop today in order to learn about new Linux desktop
     concepts.    I have been living in Fedora Rawhide ( fc29 ) for about
     2 months on a old Intel i5 3470 mini-ITX computer
     using DDR3 memory.

     After looking at my options for a new distro, it seemed for me that my
     best option was to do a new install of Fedora Rawhide and look for new
     things I had not noticed before.     I did not choose the Workstation iso
     but instead the "Everything Boot" iso, and then I used the custom settings
     to see if I could get an install more to my preferences.

The installer options were new to me.    It offered all sorts of desktop environments.     I did not choose any desktop environment thinking it would default to Gnome, since Gnome was not an option.   I chose the music option which turned out to be a mistake as it installed over 15 musician apps for guitarist and keyboardist.   Things like "frescobaldi."    I do not yet see an easy graphical way to remove these music packages.

Unfortunately, for me this was not the distro version I was hoping for.   I must have chose the wrong things, even though I tried hard to read all the options.

For example, I did not get Gnome Display Manager, nor dnfdragora, nor even a terminal.     That was super bizarre, but I managed eventually to get them installed.   But, a new Fedora user would have given up at that point and either reinstalled the iso again, but differently, or erased the USB thumbdrive and instead installed the Fedora Rawhide "Workstation" iso on it, or maybe even tried Fedora 28 or, even a different distro.

I had to type "startx" at dollar sign just to get into my system.    Wayland is not installed and I could not figure out how to get it installed.     That was a bummer for me, as I have been using Wayland without issues for 2 months.

The newly revamped Anaconda Installer installed 1664 packages.   Among them were the very latest kernel 4.18.0.rc7, and Gimp 2.10.4, and LibreOffice, Darktable, Inkscape, Pitvi, Shutter, Shotwell, Blender, Scribus, and Audacity.      Components like bash 4.4.28 and mesa 18.1.5 seemed to be installed.    I installed the flatpak repo.    I never saw an option for Software Center or 3rd Party repos, so I installed Gnome Software Center.    I opened it, but it seemed to freeze up.

Wi-Fi did not work.     But keyboard, monitor, mouse, and ethernet, worked out of the box.   I had to install Firefox ( 61.0.1 ).    I have not yet tested the printer.

I just ran an update and it said nothing to do and listed a module of GIMP that could not be installed.

There is only one background choice - a dark solid blue.

At this stage, I do not know whether I should continue or do a new install, but I will tinker with it some more.

***After 2 more hours of tinkering***

I seem to have Wayland installed, but the display manager still will not launch and I have to use the startx command.   I have installed Gnome Tweaks, and got rid of some of the unwanted apps I initially installed.    I still can not get Gnome Software Center to launch nor have installed rpmfusion, or other 3rd party apps.    I just noticed Gnome Files is not installed.

I installed a flatpak app - the game Aisleriot and played a full game of Freecell.   So I assume the other flatpaks will work just as good.     I have 2 Fedora backgrounds installed now.

Hurricane Harvey impact

My name is David Locklear, 

a.k.a. "THE ALR SUBPOENA GUY."

I have been self-employed over 20 years assisting defense attorneys as a sub-contractor with their court cases.    99% of that work involves delivering court documents throughout southeast Texas from Lufkin to Victoria, but the brunt of the work is around Harris County.    I never know from day to day what town I will be in.   I may be in Rosenberg or Anahuac or even Stagecoach.     I spend 14 to 16 hours a day in or near my vehicle. I need a large vehicle for various reasons, thus I waste a lot of gas.    I tried a tiny 2 seater hybrid car, and it was not practical.   I tried a Honda Fit and a motor-scooter and a small pick-up truck and it was not practical. 

While I do have competition, there is not a business in Texas like mine.   I found a niche and tried my best to keep it afloat.

The problems started way back after Tropical Storm Allison.   That decimated my business and I never fully recovered.    So as I watched Hurricane Harvey work its way towards our area, I knew I had to take action.

I had been living in very cheap weekly motels for nearly 13 years.     This is due to entirely to my business model, but also due to a toxic marital separation, where I am trying to keep my child's interest in check.  

So as the storm was approaching, and things were starting to close, court cases began to get reset.    I knew I was in for a long haul.     So I closed my business before the storm made landfall, and put all my belongings in storage in Brenham, in a high and dry space ( I already had the storage unit due to marital issues ).

My estranged-wife and daughter had to be evacuated.    They refused to come to my cheap motel.     So I moved down the road to a similar motel, but one with a larger nicer room.    That ended up costing me money I did not need to spend.  When they arrived at the motel, they turned around and drove back thru the eye of the tropical storm to an area that flooded.   I could not talk any sense into my estranged-wife as she was hysterical and did not understand the storm or what its impact was going to be.  

I ended up having to give up the weekly during the storm ( even though it was paid for ) and head to my daughter's house to try to get all their furniture off the ground.     I ended up getting trapped there "alone" for 2 days, and had to wear my mother-in-laws clothes while I was there.    Ironically after all that stress, their street never received more than a 1/4 inch of water.    My memory is, that all the food had to be thrown away.

After the storm subsided, I had to put all the furniture back.     My estranged-wife and I were at a boiling point.    She had completely lost all common sense, and there was no way I could stay with them.

So for the past 11 months, I have been living like a gypsy.   Sleeping in my car at truck-stops, sleeping on a relative's couch.     But I quickly wore out my welcome with all my friends whose life had quickly returned to normal.

About 3 months ago, I was befriended by a Cuban immigrant that I briefly new about 5 years ago.   I told them my story and they offered to rent me a tiny room in their apartment.   While that offer beats sleeping in my car, it was not practical for my job nor for seeing my daughter.      I must find a clean weekly motel.

There is no way I can afford a similar apartment in Houston, as my income fluctuates due to a cash-flow problem.

You may ask, why don't you just get a better job.    I have an Associates Degree and I completed 3 years of Mechanical Engineering at A&M.   I have worked for local engineering firms in the 80's and early 90's making good money.    I speak fluent Spanish.

It is really hard to go back to all that after being self-employed for 20 years.     I briefly worked in a rural machine shop back around 2007, and it was not where I felt I needed to be.    I briefly worked at the airport pumping gas in planes, and that too, was not my forte.

So what is it I am asking for help.    

I want to live in the Sleep Inn, just north of downtown, ( on I-45 a block north of North Main St. behind Whataburger ).    There are problems with that.   Sometimes I have to sleep in Beaumont or Cleveland or Huntsville or College Station.    So I end up paying for 2 motels on the same night.      

If I had a stable place to sleep and operate my business, and not worry about that, I could focus on my business and make enough money to pay my bills. 

I just don't have the capital or the cash-flow to pull it off without hurricane aid. 

My guess is that I lost at least $ 10,000 due to the storm that I will never be able to recover.

The quantity of business is back but there are nightmare problems due to the Harris County Criminal Courthouse still being closed and that the Central Police Station of the Houston Police Department and other stations are still closed after over 11 months.     So I am having to work harder for less money.     And also that my customer's were affected by the storm and have not fully recovered themselves, nor have their clientele.

If anyone wishes to help, I have set up a spot using the app, CASH.

https://cash.me/app/GMGNRLX

  

Summer Road-Trip 2018

1:20 a.m.  Wednesday:   north of Little Rock, Arkansas in a cheap bargain motel in the town of Conway.

Earlier, I made a long pit-stop in Hot Springs.

This morning, I had breakfast with my estranged-biological father at El Dorado Casino Cafe in Shreveport - not my kind of place at all.   He and I as usual, did not get along - over 50 years of toxic relationship is hard to escape.

As I drove up scenic Interstate 49 southeast of Texarkana, I tailgated a custom truck designed to haul 3 concrete cemetary vaults ( sarcophaguses ).   So I pondered the meaning of life.   Will my legacy be:
"just a foolish wanna-be spelunker who died of insanity lost and body later found naked in a skanky alley in Houston" ?

The only news I have so far is I just started a new long-distance relationship with a Mexican lady.   She does not speak a word of English and has huge baggage issues.

Here in Hot Springs I visited my only aunt.  My mom only had one sibling, and my dad had none.   She is elderly, nearly bedridden and lives in a poor house in Hot Springs.  That visit with her, her husband and 2 young grandaughters, 8 years old and 5 years old lasted about 5 minutes and then they rudely kicked me out.  

I went to her son's house on the other side of town.   He is almost 50 but has an unusual case of Aspberger's syndrome.   He can not read or write, but can use a Mac computer and iPhone with little problem.   ***He remembers ever detail of everyone's life that he encounters,***  thousands of memorized birthdays and calls them all on their birthday.

He took me to a 3-star Italian restaurant in Hot Springs and bought me Shrimp Carbonara.  But then he subtly ran me off.

I have no idea where I am going whatsoever - north ? south ? west ?  But not too far east, I know.

I could justify 1 more day and camping out in the Ozarks.

But Helena, Montana seems like the Moon from here.

Linux Opinions

A year and a half ago, I made a choice to change my life and devote all my spare time to learning about Linux desktop computer systems commonly refered by computer geeks as "distros."

Below are some opinions, based I what I have seen so far:

1)   The geeky world of the Linux community is hard for the average person on the streets to
       understand.      Most elderly people who are familiar with Windows XP, would need someone
       to guide them around the desktop, on a Linux computer.

2 )  The Linux desktop community is way too fragmented.   Nobody can see the forest for the trees.
       For example Fedora uses RPM.org as its package manager.   OpenMandriva uses RPM5 as its package          manager.    They have the same exact programs yet are totally incompatible and there are plans
       to make them less compatible.  DNF does not yet work with RPM5.  Mageia 6 already has DNF 2.0 and they have DNF 2.1 working in their test version of Mageia 7.

3 )  International and cultural differences affect distro development, and also the user base.
      People outside of China or Russia are scared to use a Chinese distro or a Russian distro
      even though though the distros are excellent.    Deepin is Chinese.    ROSA is Russian.   There are people in the USA that would not use SparkyLinux just because it is developed in Poland, yet it is an excellent distro. 

4 )  Any really good Linux geek can create their own distro.     Or at least make a "spin" of an
      existing distro, by just changing a few things.    For example, Hannah Montana Linux.

5 )  Linux distros are still a work in progress.    The latest version of Linux Mint 18.3 looks
      promising, yet there are already dozens of complaints on the internet.    The kernel itself is still in
      development.    Almost no distros currently use the latest stable version of the Linux kernel.
      It often takes developers about 6 months to incorporate all the changes and test them when a
      new kernel is introduced.      The new kernel mainly affects people who are using new hardware,
      like the latest Intel i7 or AMD Ryzen, or AMD Vega video card.

6 )   Many distros have an ideology that stick to traditional ways Linux has always worked.
        Thus a younger developer working by himself, can do in a way what Linus Torvalds did
        in 1992 and that is shake up the traditional ways.

7 )    Linux Mint is a great distro, and a great way for new users to see the potential of a Linux
        based operating system.    However, one of the fun aspects of Linux is looking for ways
        to do things differently.     A single developer like the guy at ArchMerge, or SparkyLinux
        or ExTix, can do whatever their hearts desire to do and that is often different than the way
        Linux Mint works.     Other distros like Antix, KDE Neon, or KaOS, or Solus have a small
        group of volunteer developers that want their computers to operate with a different set of  
        internal components.

8 )    Linux has great potential and will someday be an incredible tool to operate computers.   For
        those that understand that, there are already opportunities.      For example, the Sony PlayStation
        3 is a Linux computer.     There was a guy who connected 16 Sony Playstations together in a
        cluster and formed some kind of home-made super-computer.

9 )   Ubuntu is actually a group of distros who share many common components of the Debian distro.
        Debian by itself is difficult for a non-geek to set up as an operating system.

10 )   Ubuntu is so popular that dozens of geeks use it and modify it to make their own distro.   They
         do this by removing components and adding components.     Ubuntu may intern make the same          changes a year later, after watching the trends.

11 )   Nearly all the current distros use a recent version of the Linux kernel such that most if not all of           the hardware will be properly identified.     There are still issues with Wi-Fi and video cards,   
         and printers, but most of the Ubuntu based distros have simplified those problems.

12 )    Linux distros have come a long way in the past 3 years.       Some free software works good
          enough for the average computer user, such that they really do not need to purchase software.

13 )    Nearly all the popular distros are a better choice than Windows XP for "desktop" computing,
           unless you require a specific application that will only run on Windows XP.   There are a
           dozen things you can do on 2017 Linux version that you can not do on a Windows XP
           machine.

14 )    Linux distros have zero desire to be like Windows.     There may be some environments that
          try to emulate the appearance of the desktop, but that is it.

15 )    There is a operating system trying futily to be like Windows called ReactOs, but it is NOT a
          Linux based operating system.

16 )    TrueOS ( FreeBSD - not Linux )  and it cousins GhostBSD and DragonflyBSD are all really cool, but they are not
          Linux distros.      They only allow the usage of most of the same software.     There are reasons
           why a computer developer would not want to use Linux and it has to do with selling the
          operating system, or parts of it.     There are reasons a computer user might want to use those
          instead of Linux.     At the present time, they are harder to understand than Linux.   But they
          too have great potential.

17 )    It is hard for a new user to understand what is a repository.       It is like an app store.  
          Unfortunately, most distros can not share repositories.    Each distro has a certain way they
          interact with downloading software.     There are people who understand the pitfalls of this and 
          are working hard to find ways to improve it.

18 )    Mageia is a great distro.      Most of its user base is in France or Germany.    They are working
          on a new version for the fall of 2018, called Mageia 7.     It is going to be awesome.    Mageia 6
          is my favorite distro.

19 )    So why would anybody use Antergos?      Antergos is an excellent operating system, that
           simplifies the use of the Arch way of doing things.    Simply put, Arch is completely different
          from Debian and Fedora and Red Hat, and Ubuntu, Solus, etc.    What makes Arch so great to
          Linux geeks, is it is customizable and has the largest repository of most recent versions of
          software.   Using Arch by itself, is strictly for hard-core Linux geeks.    Fortunately, there is
          ArchMerge, SwagArch, Antergos and Manjaro to help Linux geeks dive into the world of
          Arch - from which they never return.

20 )    I like to play FreeCell on Linux.      The game is part of a software called Aisleriot Solitaire.   I
          like it better than the Windows version.   I only wish someone would update it as it has not had
          an attention in many years.    The same is true of Gnome Mahjongg.

21 )    What I would like my computer to do is for me to be able to choose different ways of using
           Linux without having to log-out.      What I mean by that is I would like to only have one
           distro that lets me choose for my desktop to emulate a certain kind of other desktop.    
           Meaning I would like to tell it to emulate Gnome or Mate, but without dragging in the actual
           dependencies for those desktops.     I think it can be done, and I know I saw somewhere that a              distro was doing something similar.

22 )    Until retail stores, like Walmart,  carry inexpensive laptops and tablets with Linux on them,
           Linux distros are only going to be a hobby for most computer desktop enthusiast.    Most
           Linux geeks have no interest in Linux becoming a major player in the operating system.   It is
           much more likely that Linux could fragment even further.

23 )    Linux distros brag about being stable.      That is usually true as long as you do not update
           anything.     Updating certain components like the kernel or systemd, or Mesa or the Nvidia
           driver, can wreck havoc.     The worst update of all is upgrading versions of the distro.   This is
           often a really bad idea, yet the developers try to make it as smooth as possible.     I believe it is
           better to just do a clean install from scratch.

24 )     Distros occasional split up and form similar distros with intangible differences that the user

           can not see.  For example, Devuan formed because Debian refuses to give up systemd. 

            Mandriva split up into about 4 different distros, due to legal squabbles and bankruptcy.

25 )  Some distros are experimenting with the latest components often have a whole

      lot of work ahead of them, just to make the system stable.     Wayland will someday replace Xorg

      as the display protocol.    However, currently you can not record your screen session for making

      YouTube videos if you are using Wayland.     Currently, switching display protocols requires

       logging out and logging back in.    Most desktop environments won't run on Wayland for years to

       come.     A Linux user will need to know about all that in the meantime.

26 )     Gaming on Linux sucks, but is much better than it was 3 years ago.    It promises to be good in

         a few years.     There is a graphics protocol called Vulkan that is supposed to fix this problem.

27 )    YouTube channels, like Don't Call me Lenny, XramTech, Joe Collins and Linux and Other

         Things, and English Bob, and Sudo Linux and Sneeky Linux and others have helpful tips that

         can often save you a lot of time in deciding which distro to use.

28 )    For some bizarre reasons, Web-browsers cause Linux developers major headaches.    For this

           reason some developers choose to either use an old version of a web-browser or they choose to

          use a less popular one like PaleMoon, which is based on older versions of Firefox.

29 )    My personal view is a person should use a Linux computer, by itself with no other operating
          system on it.     Imagine how complicated your cell-phone would  be if it were a Windows
          phone, and you had to boot a certain way to make it an Android phone, and that Android ran
          crappier in a Windows phone.

30 )    I also do not buy the common trend of running Linux in virtual environments.     Sure it is
          easier and quicker, but you are not getting the full experience.     It is like a diet soda or having
          sex with a condom.

Another personal update

On a very personal note,

I have been trying to focus on my job duties since getting my
Sequoia back from the mechanic.     I have been hopping around from motel to motel
like a vagabond around Houston, occasionally staying at my estranged-wife's house and once at my
mom's.    I thought I would be semi-permanently back in a weekly-motel by now.   Surprisingly, there is a clean $ 50
motel in Houston ( and that includes taxes and fees ).

I found a rent house in a rural area west of Brenham that I really like, but the landlord is very suspicious of my
desire to live there ( 2003 South Berlin Road ).    It would be very risky to move there, since I never know where I am going
to be from day to day, and it would just wipe-out my budget, ( and I do not have any logical sane rational reason to live near Brenham. )

It has been 3 years I think, since I put my stuff in a rental storage unit ( in Brenham ), and started living out of a suit-case.   
Meaning my bed, my library,  picture frames, furniture, clothes, dishes, camping gear, and caving gear, and my office stuff.   
Some wise person once proclaimed, "do not let your possessions possess you."     I am certain they never paid $ 80 a month

rent or more storing their possessions.    Nor were they ever locked out of their storage unit.     They locked me out last week,
but I took care of it.

I will be in Mansfield ( south of Arlington ) this weekend, picking up my daughter from my sister and driving back to Arcola.

If any cavers are in the area, lets meet up for dinner.    281-995-8487

The good news, is that I have more work than I can handle.     I have been running my business using
ROSA R9 LXQt ( a GNU/Linux distro ) for about 3 weeks now.
   
[    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOzZa6_EbXs&t=741s  ]

End of Summer Family Road-trip

About 13 years ago, I announced on CaveTex that I was a participant in a soon-to-be pro-creation event.  This was met with much ridicule and praise.

Fast forward to the summer of 2017, and my daughter, ( who I nick-named, "CavePearl" ) will be 13 in just six weeks.   Time flies apparently, and I never had the chance to take her in a cave, or especially cave exploring.    ( Exception:   Richland Caverns tour when she was one, but she slept the entire tour in my chest-pack. )

This past weekend she and I ( along with my estranged-wife ) went on an end of the summer drive of 36 hours of intense pit-stops.  I had hoped to somehow, mix in a cave visit with all that, but it was not meant to be.

Ironically, this route was nearly identical to my drive to meet a caver near Fort Worth just seven weeks ago for the long road-trip to the NSS Convention. 

The second reason for this particular trip, was to recover all my camping gear that I had pulled out of the Sequoia, when the tow-truck driver in Fort Worth hauled it off.  I had had to stash that at a relative's house for the past 6 weeks  And the third reason for the trip, was to leave my daughter with relatives for a week.

See the link below for some photos ( and music ), but you have to click on the

show, after opening the link:

https://goo.gl/photos/gWiDvNuDk9aAmRrP9

The Sequoia performed great.

I now have 1,000 miles on the new ( but used ) engine.    I will have to make this return trip next week to pick her up.

P.S.

Pictures are of little places in east-central Texas.   The family photo is my estranged biological father, his wife and daughter ( my sister ) and her husband and my daughter and myself.     Probably a very rare photo of all of us.    The two nephews were asleep in the car.

NSS Convention trip preparation

I am looking online at air-line travel to the convention.

United Airlines still has 2 tickets from Houston for $ 450 each.

Flying back Saturday or Sunday involves flying to Denver and changing
planes.   ( that sucks ).    Flying back Monday, would be a short 2 hour
flight.

Apparently, the airport is less than 45 minute drive to the Santa Ana Star Center. 

It would seem that it would be more practical to fly to the convention for attendees from Houston.

If I were totally insane, which I just may be, I would purchase the ticket right now, tonight, and take a huge gamble that I will be able to go.

If I wait a few days, the price will go up and the seats will be sold, so I will lose that option and be forced to drive like previous years ( Nevada, Missouri, Florida, Vermont, California, etc ).

I think I have driven to Albuquerque before and I know I have driven from Albuquerque to Carlsbad.   I have been on the tram to Sandia Peak.  And driven to Raton Pass once and another time to Clovis from Houston or from Dallas or College Station over the last 35 years.   I have been all over Clovis/Portales several times, and to Lubbock several times. ( My step-grandparents are buried in Inez, New Mexico and I have been there several times.   My step-father has a few acres of a vacant flat patch of land near there. )   I have driven all over southern New Mexico and even in the Gila Mountains near Mogollon.

The point is, that I have done enough driving in New Mexico for one life-time, so I should fly out there.

So lets say for grins, I landed at ABQ on the 16th or 17th, what would I do ?   Take a city bus to Rio Rancho ??

How would I get back to ABQ on the 23rd or the 24th ?

My other difficulty may actually be who would take me to HOU and pick me up at HOU.    I might be better off to just keep my motel paid for the week and take a city bus to HOU.

David Locklear

Mageia 6 Release Candidate - May 2017

Starting Day # 4 with my Mageia 6 RC computer.


I have a new boot error message.   Something about
sdb cache not found

I installed Google Chrome 58.0.3 web-browser.

I am in LXDE now trying it to see if Chrome web-browser works.
It seems to work, but my wi-fi is too bad to give it a fair
critique.

The image below shows I have added Chrome shortcut to the desktop

     https://www.dropbox.com/s/pwlf5w9ew1er9xu/LXDE-GoogleChrome-Mageia6RC.jpg?dl=0

I ran an update last night and updated Plasma to the newest point
release 5.8.7-5 ( I think ).

Some of the DE's that I have installed do not automatically turn on
my wi-fi and connect automatically.    I am not sure yet which DE's
have that issue, or if I can change a setting.   I will do more
research on that.    I believe Network Manager is not running in
any of my DE's.

My # 1 problem is still poor wi-fi.   I did not have that problem
with my previous Cauldron Sta1 install, so something must not be
set right or I do not have some packages installed correctly or
one is missing.

I just ran update in MCC and got a segfault message.    Something
about perl5 ( maybe 5.22.3 ).

MCC shows my download speed as 15000, but that fluctuates from
10,000 to 18,000.    I assume that is millibits per second.   Right ??

I have to go to work today, and probably will not have time to
play with all of this for 2 days.   But my plan is to go somewhere
with Ethernet, and see if I can give my computer a more unbiased
test.   At least that way, I can say all my issues are wi-fi related.

Thursday - June 1, 2017

I used Mageia Control Center Software Center and installed the
game "AssaultCube," and the geography virtual globe, called "Marble."
I played a quick game of AssaultCube and the graphics were good for
my old Intel i5 with no video card.   Marble worked really good.   So the
operating system is working as it should.   I also installed today's
updates which were some lib files.    I installed the game Extreme
Tux Racer, but it did not launch in LXQt.   I also still can not play
Chromium B.S.U.  which tells me some package is still missing from
my install.    I installed the fun puzzle game "Palapeli," and put a
puzzle together. I love that game, but wish it had more puzzles.
I did all that in LXQt, and the DE worked great.    LXQt has a bright
future.

I have Corebird installed and working now with my Twitter account.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/njz7a2tqmca83kp/GnomeXorg-Corebird-Mageia6RC.jpg?dl=0


I got the action-shooter game, Sauerbraten installed.    Here it is in a window
in LXQt:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vujow961w2r6o7l/LXQt-Sauerbraten-Mageia6RC.jpg?dl=0

Tonight I updated OpenShot and updated systemd 230 to 230-11 ( I assume it was 230-10 before ? )

I played my first game of Iagno ever ( using Plasma ) and won.    


David Locklear