The Unmusic Website

Michael Reed - specialist technology, gender and geek culture freelance writer

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Monday, May 12, 2008 - 06:05 AM
Personal
Writing
Published articles:

2008
OS News:
»No open source OS/2
Linux.com:
»Moving my mother to Linux
Free Software Magazine:
»DOSBox review (coming soon)

2007
OS News:
»The iPhone: I Don't Really Want One
»Return Of The 8 Bits?
»The Ndyio Nivo Ultra-Thin Client
»LyX review

2006
OS News:
»RISC OS.
»OS Re creation Projects
»My Dream OS
Other writing:
»Geek Sitcom Script.
»The book - "Gender Equivalence: Gender politics for the average geek"
Other Stuff
Film
My Music

  • Under construction!
Technology article: linux.com: Mother Linux
Posted by: rhyder on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - 07:33 PM
General things I've finished an article for Linux.com called "Moving my mother over to Linux". I'll link to it on the side menu when it goes live. This is the first article that I have had professionally edited, and it's a weird experience, having someone alter my words. Not to worry, the editor, Lee Schlesinger, seems to know what he's doing ;-)

It's a bit brief at 1,700 words but better concise than flabby. Read full article: 'linux.com: Mother Linux' (about 30 words)
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Technology article: OS News article: No open source OS/2
Posted by: rhyder on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - 03:39 AM
General things I've just finished another article for OS News. This one is entitled "I'm glad that IBM declined to release the OS/2 source". I'm just calling things as I see them but I'm going to end up with a reputation as a miserable git with the OS News readership ;-) I'm just the doctor, I didn't make the needle sharp. I'll link to it on the side bar when it's posted.

I should have some more announcements about a couple of other completed writing assignments for Linux.com and Free Software Magazine. I've hit a bit of lull at the moment as I need to wait until some more of my finished assignments are live before I can start pitching again. Not to worry, I've got some other irons in the fire that should soon bear fruit, to mix a metaphor.

I've taken advantage of the extra time to concentrate on progressing the Gender Equivalence book. In addition, I'm toying with the idea of collating and extending some of my old articles into a rather geeky, self-published book. If nothing else, it would serve as a dry run for the proper book. Read full article: 'OS News article: No open source OS/2' (about 70 words)
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Sitcom: Geek sitcom script complete
Posted by: rhyder on Tuesday, January 22, 2008 - 11:28 AM
Sitcom Project The pilot episode of my sitcom project, The University Of Life has finally been submitted. People who've been following the project will know that I've been working on it, on and off, since 2005. Since then it's been through a number of revisions. At one point I was going to attempt to produce it myself, podcast style.

I have sent it to the BBC Writers Room, and apparently, I can expect to get a receipt confirmation within a month. Beyond that, if my script is one of the better of the 10,000 (really) other scripts that they receive each year, I may get some commentary back from an experienced script reader. Bear in mind that I'm not hoping for them to develop that particular script idea but I am sending it for criticism and as a calling card for my writing style.

Depending on the type of feedback I receive, I'll make a decision about whether I should rewrite the script or start a completely new script later this year.
Read full article: 'Geek sitcom script complete' (about 640 words)
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Technology article: The Apple iPhone: I don't really want one.
Posted by: rhyder on Sunday, November 04, 2007 - 07:38 PM
General things Breezy 1000 word article about the iPhone. I've sent it to OSNews.com and if they want it, I'll add add it here as usual. [published now see sidebar link under Writing heading]

Stylistically, it's a bit of departure for me: short, conversational tone, and not very techy. To keep things streamlined, I forced myself to be brutal at the editing stage. It finished up at just over 1,500 words and I managed to cut it down to about 1,000. The result is closer to the type of writing style that you would see in a newspaper. I'll leave it for the reader to judge whether or not I have gone too far and cut out too much.

In other news, I may have got a lead into some possible paying writing work. I'm going to spend the rest of this year pitching articles as a freelance I'll let you know when something develops.

BTW, I'm afraid that I had to delete the comments to the previous posts as I got spammed. I have now installed a new comments system and you can comment with confidence once more. Read full article: 'The Apple iPhone: I don't really want one.' (about 200 words)
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Technology article: tech article: Thin Clients/ The Ndiyo
Posted by: rhyder on Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - 04:25 PM
General things I'm formatting and putting the finishing touches on a tech article before sending it off to OS News. I'd been away from it for a while, but I hope to get back into monthly article writing. I've got lots of other ideas in the pipeline.

Rather than the usual lumbering, five or six thousand word essay I've kept the length down to around 2,000 words. Follow link on side menu or click here

The first half of the article explores some of the issues surrounding thin clients in general and then, for the second half, I focus on a specific thin client solution called the Ndiyo . My interest in the Nivo was sparked when I met one of the developers in a RISC OS IRC channel while thin clients and third world IT issues have been issues that have interested me for a while. Read full article: 'tech article: Thin Clients/ The Ndiyo' (about 240 words)

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Technology article: New tech article: The Return Of The 8 Bits?
Posted by: rhyder on Saturday, April 14, 2007 - 05:58 AM
General things Another month, another tech article. Actually, I think that I missed last month's. I'll try and run off another quick article in order to maintain the one article per month goal. I'm about to submit this one to OSNews.com and when (if) it's published, I'll link to it in the side menu. [published now]

Here is the teaser paragraph:

In this article, I'm going to explore the idea that the 8 bit home computer not only had a great deal to offer the prehistoric early-humans of 1985 but that it may also have a place in the modern world; perhaps, there is something that we can learn from it. Having identified the laudable, worthwhile elements of this class of machine, I'm going to make some suggestions towards a scheme that would embody these characteristics in the form of a machine that would have a place within the modern world.


Read on for some notes and the now obligatory mind map diagram for the article. Read full article: 'New tech article: The Return Of The 8 Bits?' (about 170 words)
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Technology article: New tech article: Lyx
Posted by: rhyder on Sunday, February 25, 2007 - 03:37 AM
General things I've created another tech article. The article is an overview of Lyx, the text processor that I use for my of my writing. Hopefully, the article will be carried by OSNews.com soon and I will be able to add it to the side menu along with the other articles.

The article is about 3,500 words in length. I wrote it in a day and that represents something of a breakthrough for me. It's not the most entertaining article ever written but the subject matter of a review doesn't particularly lend itself to much humour or insight.

Read on for a pretty picture of the mind mapping tool that I used. Read full article: 'New tech article: Lyx' (about 80 words)
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Darryl Sloan: Chion
Posted by: rhyder on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 12:00 AM
General things [post reinstated due to accidental deletion - doh!]
In other news, I need to get payment sent off to Darryl for his new book (sorry Darryl, I'm not very good at getting around to things like that). For anyone who might be interested, Darryl is an indi novel author who has just finished his second book. I'm happy to pay my £4.50 for the novel for two reasons. Firstly, the premise sounds both vaguely post-apocalyptic (my favorite sci-fi sub-genre) and genuinely intriguing and secondly, as I can write it off as a 'research expense' to get hold of a copy a 'print on demand' book to see what I think to the quality.

If this sounds like the sort of thing that you're interested in check out his website.
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Gender Equivalence: Gender Equivalence sub-site
Posted by: rhyder on Sunday, February 18, 2007 - 09:50 PM
General things After a bit of discussion between myself and the editors, OSNews.com have elected not to publish my article on Gender Issues in IT. The managing editor said that he hopes that this doesn't prevent me from submitting articles in the future and I too hope that I can continue working with them on future articles, as I am still a fan of the site.

That said, I do disagree with their decision not to publish my article.

Read full article: 'Gender Equivalence sub-site' (about 180 words)
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Gender article on OSNews
Posted by: rhyder on Friday, February 16, 2007 - 10:01 AM
General things I've submitted another article to OSNews.com. When they publish, [update: this was not published - see above] I will link to it on the side menu. The title is "Keep Feminism Out Of IT". I've got a bit more invested in this article than in some of the others as it's about both gender politics and IT. This is one of my first attempts to 'road test' some of my ideas with a larger audience.

As I've blogged before, I feel that there is a connection between the subject of gender politics and geekdom. This could be the core market that I should be aiming for with the book. As ever, for more information on the gender politics book project, check out the link on the side menu. Read full article: 'Gender article on OSNews' (about 160 words)

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Osnews.com Article Retrospective
Posted by: rhyder on Saturday, December 09, 2006 - 08:14 PM
General things I have now had three articles published on osnews.com. See sidebar menu for the direct links.

Re-reading them, I'd say that the most recent one ("What It Would Take To Make Me Consider RISCOS Again") is probably the poorest of the three. I think that the first one ("My Dream OS") was probably the best one and the second one ("A Very Critical Look At OS Recreation Projects") was probably the most insightful.

If you're interested in this sort of writing, read on for some more retrospective analysis and some conclusions. Read full article: 'Osnews.com Article Retrospective' (about 1490 words)

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RISC OS article on osnews.com
Posted by: rhyder on Thursday, December 07, 2006 - 08:41 AM
General things Before long, osnews.com will have published another one of my articles. When they post it on the site, I'll link to it on the side menu as usual. The subject this time is the RISCOS operating system. It's an OS that I have some emotional attachment to as the machine that I geeked my way through the middle part of my teens on was a RISC OS workstation. It's also an OS with a fanatical set of followers so, let the flaming begin!

Finishing the article ended up being quite a lot of work; having just woken up, the next day, it is an effort to even write this news entry. In that spirit, I'm going to take the day off from doing any more writing and get out of the house instead. Time to do some Christmas shopping.

I'll include here some notes on a tool called Kdissert that I used to plan the article. Read full article: 'RISC OS article on osnews.com' (about 290 words)

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The state of my art
Posted by: rhyder on Saturday, November 04, 2006 - 03:15 PM
General things Anyway...

This post is a quick update on the status of my various projects.

Writing
Haven't been doing much music lately, but other other hand, I have been doing some writing. Since the last update, I've added a few thousand more words to the notes for the book on gender politics. If you're interested in this kind of thing, check out the 'gender equivalence' menu item at the side and the About Me section for more info.

OSNews.com
I've also completed another tech-oriented article. I've submitted it to OSNews.com. If they accept it, I'll link to it on the side menu. Read full article: 'The state of my art' (about 650 words)

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Published on OSNews.com and other things
Posted by: rhyder on Friday, October 13, 2006 - 12:51 AM
General things Hello to all people who have surfed over from OSNews. I hope you all like the article. By the way, the names Rhyder/Michael Reed/Robin Hyder are all synonymous.

Site update.
I haven't added much to this site of late as I have been quietly working on writing and music projects. For example, this is the first time that I have been able to add a news item to the front page with the luxury of a FF build that can check spelling! Read full article: 'Published on OSNews.com and other things' (about 380 words)

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Crisis, really.
Posted by: rhyder on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 11:34 AM
Sitcom Project Erk. It would seem that I may have been pipped to the post in my dream to create the first IT orientated sit-com. I haven't seen a copy of The IT Crowd yet so, I don't know how bad this is. If TIC is really similar to my own thingy, I may have to abandon the project entirely.

As ever, for more info on the project and a excerpt from the pilot script, see The University Of Life (Geek Sitcom) under the Writing heading on the side menu.

I'll see what audience reaction to TIC is like and maybe try to get hold a copy before deciding whether to proceed with TUOL. The plan had been to rewrite the pilot to create a second draft. Amongst other changes in the second draft, I planned to make the script more plot orientated. I also came up with the brilliant idea of adding a female character to the main cast; you can perhaps picture me sighing when I saw the pictures and read the first accounts of TIC :-/

Serves me right for thinking 'ah well, you're 30 now (on 31 of Jan) what else can go wrong this week?' Read full article: 'Crisis, really.' (about 30 words)

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News: More Writing
Posted by: rhyder on Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - 08:00 PM
General things Found a short story which was part of a now-abandoned project. I've made some small corrections, added some introductory text at the beginning, located some music which was related to the project and posted it all to the site. I have placed it under the Writing heading on the side menu (short story: My Arms Are Strong).

If you do take a look at it, go easy on it. It's not that old in chronological terms but I have made some advances as a writer since then. Read full article: 'More Writing' (about 0 words)
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News: Getting back into it...
Posted by: rhyder on Monday, November 07, 2005 - 12:12 AM
General things Anyway...

I've taken most of the summer off from creative things. However, summer is over and I'm in the process of getting back into the writing/music etc.

The barriers to resurrecting my creative projects are mainly ones of reestablishing work patterns and habits and also a few practical considerations such as clearing out/re arranging my bedroom so that I can work.

Perhaps this will be the year in which I actually have something finished to show for my endeavors.

Here is the current status report:
Read full article: 'Getting back into it...' (about 270 words)
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News: The Sitcom Project (with excerpt)
Posted by: rhyder on Friday, March 25, 2005 - 02:33 PM
Sitcom Project Update 26 Aug 2005

The Univeristy Of Life.

The sitcom project that I am working on now has its own page. You can find it on the nav menu on the left hand side, under the 'writing' heading.

Read full article: 'The Sitcom Project (with excerpt)' (about 10 words)
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News: Pulsecode project status and demo
Posted by: rhyder on Tuesday, December 07, 2004 - 01:07 AM
Pulsecode electro-pop Anyway...

Here is a quick, instrumental sample of one of the songs (820k or so).

For the first part of the year I seemed to be quite productive (by my standards, at least). However, for one reason or another, I got distracted and by the middle of the year and lost forward momentum.

Read full article: 'Pulsecode project status and demo' (about 140 words)

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Current status
Currently getting up 20:00 @ 21/04/2008

According to ICQ, I am currently...

Links to other sites

»OS News Daily links to tech stories on the web in addition to original tech articles. I have had some of my own articles published on this site.
»Free Software Magazine A web publication that I have worked with.
»Linux.comA web publication that I have worked with.
»Fantasic things! The Mac and photography related adventures of a RL friend of mine.
»Darryl Sloan Indi self published writer. Current project: Chion
»Drobe RISC OS News, Software and Information.
»No Mutants Allowed I don't really agree with their no mutants policy but probably the best Fallout news site.
»LyXThe LyX document creation system. The LaTeX based text editor system that I use for most of my writing.
»Frontier News News hub for all things related to the Elite series of games.
»Gender Equivalence A website for my forthcoming book.
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