Chris Marts

  I've used the Pixel 9 Pro XL and OnePlus 13. My current device is the OnePlus 12. I'm in the US so my experience will probably be slightly different from yours. I've had trouble deciding between devices so I hope this helps. Pixel 9 Much better camera than the OnePlus 12 or 13. They're all capable of taking great photos in ideal conditions (well lit areas). Pixel handles motion much better (even better than the 13). The 13 tends to be really oversaturated and does oversharpen photos. If you want photos that have a ton of "pop" the 13 will be a better choice. Pixel is more consistent and pictures will match reality better (more color accurate). Telephoto is better on the Pixel (if you buy the Pro). Charging is slower. Pixel Pro can hit 45 watts if you have the almost non existent specific charger. Its usually 37 watts. Its easy to forget that OnePlus 6 and 7 series used 30 watt chargers. It'll take over an hour to fully charge the phone. Th...

One of my ongoing quests is to build an Android ecosystem that allows for easy or even seamless transition between devices.  Those devices will include a phone (well, duh), tablet, watch, and laptop.  This is a fairly common combination of devices but like others, I have my own unique wants and needs.  To build the mobile ecosystem, its best to start with the core device: the phone.  How do I choose though?  This is when those wants and needs should be defined.   What am I looking for?  What will I use it for? Camera: I have kids so I require a camera with a fast shutter and wide aperture.  Telephoto helps too for soccer games.  A strong macro would help especially since I take lots of nature pictures. Strong signal: my classroom is an interior room in a concrete cinder block dystopian hole.  I need a phone that'll fry an egg with radiation to get service. Flat display Heat management Google Pixel 8 Pro  Pros Google is the primary f...

Black Friday (read: Month) brought about all kinds of ridiculously cheap MacBook deals.  These were the Arm  Apple Silicon models with the formidable M1 and M2 chips.  $600 for the M1 at Walmart was tempting.  So very tempting.   Let's back up.  I'm a long time Android user.  After Palm's failed attempt to enter a renewed smartphone market, I switched to a Moto Droid 2 Global (Walmart still sells a dummy version for unknown reasons).  Looking back, that phone was terrible yet it started a nearly 15 year stretch of Android phones.   I had one brief encounter with iPhone.  My ex-wife was a big fan while I stayed on Android.  I ended up with an iPhone 7 in rose gold.  What a color.  I gave Apple a real shot.  I swapped the SIM from the OG Pixel Really Blue into the iPhone 7 for a month.  A very long month.  There were a few things I enjoyed on it.  Apple had more apps at the time.  Most ap...

  Ubuntu is known for its theming and Unity-esque appearance.  Fedora's theme has improved over the years, but I still largely prefer the appearance of Ubuntu.  It has a certain Mac like modern look to it and the Ubuntu font is among the best available.  To make Fedora look like Ubuntu, you can follow these steps: Open a terminal and run: sudo dnf install gnome-shell-yaru Enable the Yaru theme in GnomeTweaks. Install Tweaks first if needed. sudo dnf install gnome-tweaks Go to the "Appearance" tab and select the Yaru theme for the Shell, Icons, and Cursor. Install Gogh for Terminal Theme Install Gogh from GitHub: sh git clone https://github.com/Gogh-Co/Gogh.git cd Gogh ./install.sh Select the "Clone of Ubuntu" profile for your terminal: gogh clone ubuntu Apply the theme: gogh apply ubuntu Install Ubuntu Fonts : Download the Ubuntu font family from Google Fonts. Copy the font files to the fonts directory: sudo ...

    This getting started guide will help quickly set up Fedora 41 Workstation after a fresh install. This is my personal guide that has been revised through numerous Fedora releases and thoroughly vetted by the Linux community. The instructions here may seem familiar for those that referenced the  Fedora 40 Guide . Most instructions remain identical to past versions. I personally test these commands on my laptop and desktop. This guide is intended for the Fedora Workstation edition. The commands will work on the different desktop spins such as KDE and Budgie. Other Fedora editions such as Silverblue are not compatible. Fedora is a very popular Linux distro for  good reason . It is a favorite amongst developers and end users alike. Its also my current and preferred distro. Current Stable Release Fedora 41Workstation and other Spins were released as stable on October 29, 2024.  How To Use This Guide Open a command line, a la Termina...

I'm a sucker for spreadsheets.  Its so convenient to lay out the data, compare, and make an informed decision.  Okay.  I probably get carried away with it.  Did I really need to make one to compare oil prices?  Um no.  But I didn't anyway.  My Grand Oil Price Comparison Spreadsheet This comparison includes motor oil, gear oil, and transmission fluid prices I compiled from Amazon, Autozone, Meijer, Menards, Tractor Supply, and Walmart.  These prices are generally for the West Central Indiana market so they may vary. As I have time, I will add other local retailers (Advance Auto, Napa, and O'Reilly).  This is mostly centered around my fleet of Fords.  In our household, we're driving a 1998 F-150 XLT 4.6L 4x4, 2004 Expedition XLT 4.6L 4x4, and a 2010 Expedition EL Eddie Bauer 5.4L 4x4.  I never meant to be a Ford fanboy but its pretty convenient keeping all the same fluids and filters around.  Some oils are marked specifically as ...

Shot with my Motorola Droid Turbo.  No touch ups but minor cropping.  Taken summer 2015.

Its fun revving up the saw and felling a tree.  Its relaxing to rhythmically swing a maul.  Its delightful to hear the wood crack and pop as it splits.  The neatly stacked rows of seasoning wood are a proud accomplishment. Kindling is the one wood heat chore no one seems to like.  Its time consuming.  It can be dangerous.  The meager mound of kindling feels like a weak victory compared to tenacious, stacked cord wood. At least, that's how I felt.  I was never quite sure what to do with it.  I often gathered sticks and sometimes the wood bits from splitting.  When I tried splitting wood down to kindling size, it felt like it took forever.

Linux rarely needs a reboot.  With more recent kernels, it doesn't really need to reboot at all.  Since I've been studying for my CompTIA A+ exam, I've left a lot of material open and handy.  I lost track of how long my desktop had been running so I ran a simple terminal command "uptime" to see. Yes, that would be 53 days, 14 hours, and 38 minutes.  Try doing that on Windows.

 Since I've used this stove a few times, I just wanted to show how you could load the wood in a North-South orientation.  This wasn't even full but it still burned all night and kept the house warm. Lighting the stove has been very easy with a little kindling on top of the wood.  It drafts very, very well (I have about six feet of single wall pipe in the house and another nine feet of double wall pipe for a chimney). I've smelled smoke only once in the house.  It was my fault.  Open the damper completely (set it to 4 or IIII) and wait just a moment before opening the door.  Even with the door open, the draft is strong enough that smoke doesn't come in the house.  

When your 450 isn't big enough, get the 460.  Its the biggest non commercial saw that Husqvarna sells. I'm still really happy with my 450 but I added the 460 to the fleet when the 450 needed repairs.  The 450 was quite literally pouring oil out the bottom. The 460 has a few advantages though.  It has 3/8" pitch chain versus the 450 has 0.325".  That is a common pitch and it can take a little bigger bite than the 0.325.  The larger engine offers more power and the longer bar (24") allows for bigger cuts and easier limbing work. I also made the mistake of purchasing my 450 from a big box store.  While there's nothing exactly wrong with that, the local dealer was the same price and far more helpful when picking out a saw.

Drolet HT-2000 Since our old Blaze King bit the dust, we replaced it with the Drolet HT-2000.  It was a special order from Menards for $1099.  Wait and watch carefully, you can grab it with the 11% rebate.  Its free shipping to the store.  Otherwise, you're looking at a couple hundred in shipping fees to your home.  I also ordered the blower for $100.  Drolet will send a 25% off coupon after registering the warranty so it might be worthwhile waiting to order the blower.

I have been cutting with the 450 Rancher for a couple years now. This winter I started cutting significantly more as I'm cutting firewood to heat with. I'm generally happy with the saw with a couple caveats.

This is my compiled list of commands to get a new Fedora installation working to my requirements.  This list will get you going with a some useful applications and the necessary codecs for watching and listening to media. This guide is made for Fedora 20 aka Heisenbug 64 bit.  Most of these instructions will carry over to the 32 bit.  If you have not yet installed Fedora, go to the project site to download the ISO and learn more about it. 

This would be the second handle I've broken this year.  It was a hickory handle and didn't show any signs of wear or damage.  And for that matter, I have good aim.  I didn't hit the handle on anything.  Yet today whilst I was split some seasoned maple, the maul head broke clean off. So I'm not sure what to replace it with.  I hate the feeling of fiber glass and composite resin handles even though they last longer.  Hickory definitely feels better but its not as durable.  So if anyone has any suggestions, I'll take them.

Cast iron works best when its well seasoned.  That means obtaining a beautiful black finish.  Cooking in it helps the most.  A few pounds of bacon and your skillet should look great.  That doesn't work as well if you need a quicker seasoning.  Many people recommend coating the cast iron and placing it upside down over a cookie sheet in the oven. While this method does work, I was left with a smokey house.  So instead, I tried it on the grill.  I left the grill on high for about half an hour and allowed it to cool for several hours.  The results were prefect. 

I love syncing data.  I really do.  Its simplified life from copying files to a flash drive to move from one computer to another.  And then when I adopted my first smartphones (Palm Centro, Palm Pre) it was a hassle carrying data with me.  I would take a picture and then need a data cable to download it to my computer. Sync and backup services automate much of that now.  I like to complicate things a little further though.  I require services that work not only with Windows and Android (which most, if not all, do) but also with Linux.  Specifically, I run Ubuntu and Fedora so some apps like Ubuntu One (which I like) don't work fully for me.  Thus, my great sync service face off. adeptCloud AdeptCloud lures users in with promises of free "unlimited files of unlimited size."  The trouble is that its not truly unlimited.  This service does not offer free online storage like the others do.  Its purely for syncing files and it relie...

This egg had a super thin shell which let the light shine through it perfectly.

Ich wünsche euch ein frohes Weihnachtsfest und alles Gute zum neuer Jahr!