Katze mit Wut

My new tablet (Wacom Intuos 3 USB — the much larger than it looks A5 variant) has arrived, and I got it to work.
On Linux.
The trick is to throw out the stock kernel modules and use the linuxwacom ones instead. Edit xorg.conf (yast2 doesn't add a pad section for the tablet's expresskeys and the strips), configure the strips and expresskeys using wacomcpl (written to ~/.xinitrc / ~/.xsession), enable the new inputs in GIMP and inskcape (without worrying too much what the funny numbers or the "disabled" buttons mean), set up a good work environment in the GIMP (like you've been meaning to forever — I'm left handed, so all the tools and dialogs go to the left so I can rest my hand while drawing if I want; for me, that's tools, custom colour palette, brushes/fonts/gradients/patterns in the leftmost colum; paths, layers, tool options in the next column, and the rest of the screen estate for the actual image), and you're ready to roll: Then, it's just a matter of learning to draw on a tablet again …

artwork by Azundris, original photo by Isotopp; used by permission.

The Space People think factories are musical instruments. They sing along with them. Each song lasts from 8am to 5pm. No music on weekends.—David Byrne, Stop making sense

Yes, I'll be re-using panels like crazy until I have a working tablet again.

'Give me malice!' *flash*
'Give me detached existentialist ennui!' *flash* *flash*
'Give me rampant intellectualism as a coping mechanism!'

When all your expressions begin to look the same, it's time to get a new graphics tablet.

Nuëlle * Bob the Builder * Rosie the Riveter * Bilderberger

"Is communication un-sexy?", we asked last week, pretty much en passant. Somehow, the thought stuck in my mind though, and indeed, as a young girl, that was exactly what I was led to believe — that in that perfect, romantic love, the love of my life would know what to do, would have the empathy to sense how I feel, what the right thing to do just now was — in fact, that was not just the hallmark of the True Love, it was the litmus test. If the person couldn't sense, couldn't feel you, you should drop them like a hot potato because obviously, they weren't Mr(s) Right. Of course from there, it's only so far to the rape-glorifying genre of forced seduction, and from there on out to Asshats of Gor.

Nuëlle (ENG)

What kind of a name is Nuëlle, anyway? Nuëlle feels her mother didn't really think the name thing all the way through because her full name makes her sound like Public Enemy No. 1. Only Mum calls her Nuëlle (or Nu for short, preferably in sentences where it's not clear whether she is using Yiddish or addressing — or perhaps distressing — her daughter). Pretty much everybody else calls her Em, for Emma. Em reveals as little of her name as possible, feeling she has suffered enough for it at school. In fact, she has taken to signing simply with a squiggly line signifying m— (Em-Dash) and doesn't take kindly to the suggestion that this makes her sound like a German musician.

Nuëlle thinks this story is about her.


Mum

Mum has been a woman much longer than Nu has, and beats her with experience. She also is a second-wave feminist, and what's more, a radfem. Mum hasn't given up the hope that her daughter will see the light — eventually.

Mum knows this story is about her.


Soleil (SCA)

Soleil Adjani is a goofball, even by Nuëlle's standards. Since she is also charismatic, French, and a model, no one has told her this. A bit of a hedonist and at times frightfully naïve, she was voted Most likely … to create plothooks.

Wow. Useful error messages. I think I could become a Sun fangirl.

• Something happened.


• How bad is it? (Warning. Not very, but things aren't as good as they could be.)


• The program took corrective action. (Selecting NULL …)


• What will that result in? (No audible sound — guest will still see a soundcard).


• What can I do if I'm not happy with its helpful fallback? (ignore/investigate)


• What should I do? (investigate at my leisure)


• "Yes, I know, I know, never bother me with this again."

After all those years of trying to make my synthesizers sound like a guitar, I ended up making my guitar sound like a synthesizer. :-D

(Strat knockoff played through Fender amp with overdrive, then souped up in audacity, totally love its speaker sim. Sounds like Carter USM or Armageddon Dildos, I reckon. That said, anything music is still a major pain on Linux; for instance, that's not quite how the riff goes, but play-through doesn't work right so I couldn't hear myself while playing. (For the non-musicians among my readers, playing without a monitor is like painting in the dark.) Also, don't read too much into it, this is just something that happened while jamming, I doubt it's going to be my new sound. But I'm busy explaining a joke, ain't I? Anyway, I'm half-tempted to go out and buy a Mac, as an appliance only, put Cubase or Logic on it (which I keep calling Live for some reason), and have at it.)