Fractals 2

Fractals

Spain is different Part I

Spain is different Part I

This is a common saying here in Spain and.
Well....... It is!
Spain is a very odd place, in a good way off course! But then again. It could be argued the same for all places where humans live and interact for a prologued period of time.
Today I will talk about something that affects me in some direct way since it has to do with the job I do for a living. First and second level Linux Support.
I work for a very important company whose main system runs on Linux. I take care of any incidents and solve problems within the systems on a regular basis along with 5 other colleages.
But they unlike me.
Never use Linux at home!
I got this job mainly because I am a Linux freak and speak english fluently which is rather rare here in Spain ( the english speaking part as Linux is well and healthy here) and for what I have found by talking to a few people over the net. Linux freaks are the ones that get these jobs. We think, breathe, eat and love Linux as if it was the last renmant of sanity in a $ crazed computer controled world (which it is!) I'm a noob by my colleages standards, but I have been using Linux as my main desktop for over 4 years now.
I freaked out when I arrived at my working desk to find a copy of Win XP. We connect to the sites by using an emulator!!!!!! A UNIX emulator from Windows to connect to a Linux workstation! Now that is odd. Or at least it seems to me. When I asked what distro they used at home. They looked at me in disbelief.
You use Linux at home?
You get out of work and turn on a computer at home?
Yes!!!! I use computers at home.
Am I sick?
Am I suffering some form of addiction I just can't realize I have?
I use my PC to make music. (Sadly still in windows as I have a large amount of money invested in small developer's specialized music software.)
To call my friends in Australia, USA and South America.
To send mails and partake in forums and even to make my nice fractals and landscapes.
My whole life moves around the PC. It used to move around my ego and then my guitar (an extension of my former ego that has become my alter ego now)
But these people. Despise the PC. They don't even want to look at a Linux distro! and they work with Linux everyday of their lives.
Now that is weird in the strangest sense of the word.
Anybody else out there like them?
I just find it amusing actually.
Now back to my Mepis Desktop to do some more writing.

It was bound to happen

First off. I must point out that I absolutely and completely LOOOOOOOVE GNU/Linux.

I have used Linux (Ubuntu, Debian and Fedora) as my main OS for several years now.

That is. I have used for “almost” everything but last weekend I had an idea.

What if I just try and run my trusty Reaper program in wine and get myself out of the Winz rut? I will use Linux only for a while and see how it goes.

Unfortunately. The idea was far better than the actual facts. Reaper does run, as do most of my plug ins, but the performance is far from perfect.

GUI is slow as molasses and the Real Time kernel had some issues with my NVidia drivers that required some tweaking.

Other programs performed allright, but I need a better than average solution. I need a reliable ( I know Linux is reliable on just about everything else) and sturdy system which Windows can not provide on the same level as any Unix based OS and Linux was not helping me out………….

In the end I decided to try a real audio production distro. I tried to install 64 Studio and somehow I messed up the install and rendered useless both my Linux and Windows partitions. To the point of not being able to open any of the disks to recover my data and having to resort to data recovery tools. I am quite certain that I did something very wrong during the install. I can’t figure what, but I am sure it was my fault as I have never had any install crap on me on its own.

One more point I want to clear out is. I know Linux has some very interesting musical projects that I could use for music making like Muse, Ardour, Trasverso and Energy XT2. But what is needed is for more developers to look at the way the Wins applications work. They have been around for a bit longer in the general market and have learnt great lessons from us, the users.

I could do with fx like CamelSpace, or the likes of KJaerhus or synths like Poizone, Sytrus, ManyBass et al. I have spent quite some money to support those small independent developers and bought their products

EnergyXT2 is an odd species as it is a development in progress which is happening in the 3 main OS platforms, but it is still a bit buggy and oddly enough, the wins version works better under wine in Linux than the native linux version.

I have been told that being locked is the price I have to pay for working in a closed environment, but it is not so much the fact of being stuck in Windows for making music as it is not being able to use Linux for the same.

Maybe we need more development in this area, but instead of wanting to reinvent the wheel. We should see what kinds of wheels others are using and learn from their past errors. Cumbersone, hardware-like apps are not the best approach. Let’s break away from the past while keeping the things that work.

I have not given up completely on Reaper in Linux. I reinstalled everything in my PC including REaper and keep trying every now and then just to have a bit of peace of mind.

Kaos Axiom

This was my first batch songs.

They were the first ones I thought were good enought to share
with the rest of the world as they yielded some sense of continuity.

The best day of our lives!

What if you wanted today to be the best day of your life?

What would it be needed for it to be that way?

Would you change anything in your life if tomorrow is your last day here on earth?

   Just get up every morning and ask yourself these same questions. Remember those who you love and with whom you would like to share your day with. Make a mental note of all good things in your life. 

   There is always something good to be grateful about and we just let it pass unnoticed trampled by the owerwhelm of bad news and worries bombarded by the media and people that surround us. It is not a matter of thinking that everything in the world is wonderful and there are no problems or situations to take care of, but do not let these make you loose sight of your real surroundings.

   Another factor is to set worries aside and act upon those things we want changed and do it now! Worrying leads to nothing getting done. It freezes our mind and stops our actions. Think of all things that could have been done during those times when you were worried! 

   Just getting things done. One at a time. Will make a huge difference in the long run and then you can start to have your best day of your life every day!

Fractal Dreams

  These are my latest electronica tinged songs  written under the Kaos Axiom moniker.

I approached the project with a different attitude as I wanted to write and arrange the songs without having my guitar (my main instrument) at hand.

  Like all my other electronica project. The music was done in FL Studio using synths and FX by Camel Audio, Green Oaks Crystal, and ManyTone.

  These were done inspired by Paulo Coelho's novel "The Witch of Portobello" and all songs can be freely and legally downloaded from Jamendo.

 

Fractal Dreams by German Fafian is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

They are kids. Not idiots!

Every time we recieve the visit of new friends at home it seems like the general level of inteligence drops to the lowest possible rational denominator.

Most people talk to kids younger than 10 yrs of age as if they were some form of stupid cartoon that needs a condescending tone and explanation in order to understand what us "grownups" want to say. Almost like a underdeveloped primate.

At home we have always been talked to as adults. In a concise and direct manner. With the neede explanaition whnever it was needed but without being treated as brainless objects and as such we decided to treat our own children. Direct facts and explanaitions lead to more efficient levels of thought and understanding in children. Nothing gets hidden under false precepts or "you just can't understand so don't ask" attitudes. When you compare kids from the same age ranges you start noticing whose kids get "talked to" and whose get "talked out of".

Talk to your children and give them the tools to build a strong mental foundation by showing them how things get done and why they are the way they are. 

Who knows? Maybe in the process they will show us a more inteligent way to solve certain situations.

¡Yo soy quien soy y ya!

La negación al cambio. A la mejora. Nos hemos acostumbrado a "ser como soy y así seguiré siendo" de una manera casi enfermiza cuando los únicos limites que existen son aquellos que nosotros mismos nos colocamos.
Nos convertimos en aquello que nos repetimos durante años. Pero ¿Por que ser solo de una manera? ¿Y si decidimos ser todo lo que deseemos o como deseamos ser? No colocar límites a nuestra capacidad. Aprender nuevas cosas todos los dias. Repetir como un mantra "Yo puedo ser todo lo que deseo y a partir de hoy quiero ser ................"
Cambiemos nuestra percepción de nosotros mismos y nuestra percepción de la realidad cambiará con nosotros.

www.germanfafian.com