Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:01:08 +0100 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/ PostNuke Powered Site en-us http://www.unmusic.co.uk/images//unmusic.jpg http://www.unmusic.co.uk/ mike@unmusic.co.uk http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=43 Linux.com have published my current article. I hope the community find it an enjoyable read. I never know how people are going to take articles like this one. I said in my RISC OS article, “I hold the opinion that if you are truly a fan of something, you can accept criticism of it. You don't have to be loyal to something that is genuinely good.” I wonder where platforms like Amiga and OS/2 would be now if a few more people had complained? From the article: These problems span the entire Ubuntu experience but they all have two things in common: they are all solvable and they are all serious enough to evoke the dreaded, "I tried Linux but it didn't work". Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:01:08 +0100 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=42 At the moment I'm working on a little side project. It's a not-for-profit, print-on-demand book that re-bundles some of my old technology articles. I plan to use the book as a promotional device for my skills as a writer. For that reason, I'm editing the the articles to bring them up to my current standard. The working title for the book is Tech Book 1. Although it's turning out to be a time consuming job, it has also been a great learning experience. It should be finished and ready in a couple of weeks. All of the content is available on the Internet (see links on side menu) but these are slightly updated versions. Please note, I'll add a bit of older gender politics material from my other site but this isn't the Gender Equivalence book that I have been working on for the last two and a half years. Work on that book is still in progress. Apart from anything else, the new project will serve as a dry run for the GE book as might still be doing that as a self-published project. Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:47:04 +0100 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=41 For a bit of fun, I popped a spoof article onto the UK news satire site, The Spoof. I added it to the ``magazine'' section of the site as it's not really a news peice. Click here to read it. It's not a paying gig, but as well as being a neat writing exercise, it's a chance to get some comedy writing out infront of an audience. The standard of the contributions to that site is very high, but if my article gets a good reception, I might have a go at another one. I hope that I've not made the mistake of making it too dry for a spoof news site, but that's what satire is, a balance of seriousness with comedy. It's also going to be a hard sell due to its length, but I think it's worth it to properly spoof the genre while giving the ideas full expression. I hope you enjoy the article. Tue, 27 May 2008 08:15:45 +0100 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=40 Free Software Magazine have published my DOSBox review. DOSBox is an PC emulator that is optimsed for accurately running vintage games. From the article: ``Let’s be clear: not every old game is worth revisiting. As a general rule, about eighty percent of everything, in all media, is rubbish. If not actually rubbish, entertainment media can be so tied to the time in which it was made that it cannot survive the transition into a later era. However, there are games that are worth hunting down and re-playing. An old game might employ a gameplay style that has no modern equivalent, or a much-loved old game might have a nostalgic attachment for a gamer. Sometimes, the gamer wishes to try out a game that they passed over at the time of release. Finally, some old games are simply great games and are worth playing in their own right.'' Click here to go the article on the FSM website. Fri, 23 May 2008 09:35:30 +0100 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=39 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. Wed, 30 Jan 2008 19:33:29 +0000 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=38 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. Wed, 30 Jan 2008 03:39:12 +0000 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=37 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. Tue, 22 Jan 2008 11:28:06 +0000 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=36 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. Sun, 04 Nov 2007 19:38:24 +0000 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=35 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. Wed, 15 Aug 2007 16:25:58 +0100 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=29 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. Sat, 14 Apr 2007 05:58:16 +0100 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=28 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. Sun, 25 Feb 2007 03:37:49 +0000 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=32 [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. Wed, 21 Feb 2007 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26 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. Sun, 18 Feb 2007 21:50:53 +0000 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=23 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. Fri, 16 Feb 2007 10:01:01 +0000 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=22 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. Sat, 09 Dec 2006 20:14:19 +0000 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=21 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. Thu, 07 Dec 2006 08:41:45 +0000 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=19 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. Sat, 04 Nov 2006 15:15:14 +0000 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=18 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! Fri, 13 Oct 2006 00:51:33 +0100 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=14 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?' Mon, 06 Feb 2006 11:34:54 +0000 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=13 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. Wed, 23 Nov 2005 20:00:30 +0000 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=12 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: Mon, 07 Nov 2005 00:12:58 +0000 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9 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. Fri, 25 Mar 2005 14:33:52 +0000 http://www.unmusic.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=8 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. Tue, 07 Dec 2004 01:07:40 +0000