Not(e) Worth It

Some quick tips on using Bash in Windows 10, based on my own experience. First I followed the guide at HowToGeek to install Windows Subsystem on Linux (WSL). I picked the Ubuntu distro to install as I'm more familiar with apt-get. After that, launch Ubuntu. It's only the shell, no GUI. That's fine for my usage though, I'm using it to batch rename files with regex, and command line programs to process audio for my Japanese learning. Next I installed packages I needed. But you'll probably see error saying package not found. The solution: (thanks to a post at SuperUser) sudo apt update Then only sudo apt-get install <package> Packages I use when I process files for Japanese learning: rename sox libsox-fmt-mp3 ffmpeg I also bumped into an annoying detail when using the Bash shell: the blue is too hard to read! Whoever thought of the default dark blue on black is not thinking about readability at all -_- The solution: change to a lighter b...

Just a quick note on my current settings using Firefox/Chrome Yomichan Add-on (not to be confused with the older Anki Yomichan plugin ), when I'm reading Japanese material I can easily create Anki flashcards that has the sentence, the term I'm learning blanked out in the front (clozed), and audio replay. My Yomichan settings:  (I have the reading field but I don't actually display it in the card; I opted to use furigana on the term itself instead)   Example flashcard:

Have you ever had situation where you copied something (usually from a command line terminal) that's aligned and paste it, and find that it's not aligned anymore?   This is because command line terminals usually use a fixed-width font, but the default font in Windows is usually not. A fixed-width font (also called monospaced font ) means that every character in the font will always have the same width. Hence, lines would always align.    See this example where 10 '.' and 10 numbers are used: Fixed-width (Consolas) .......... 0123456789 Non fixed-width (Arial) .......... 0123456789 So the simple solution for the aforementioned scenario is just to change the font where you paste it and viola, your text is aligned again.   A few of my favourite fixed w idth fonts: Consolas (comes with Windows), Bitstream Vera Sans Mono . Also notable: Courier New, Ubuntu Sans Mono , Inconsolata .

I'm not a serious gamer, and little did I know that one day I would actually use a wireless gaming controller actively. Most of the time it's not for playing games though - I'm using it as a partial replacement of the keyboard and mouse, by mapping custom commands to the buttons. Shortcuts without even touching the keyboard? Bringing keyboard ninja skills to the next level ;) The wireless controller I use - Logitech F710 It all began when I started experiencing some pain in my wrist from too much mouse use. A friend loaned me a Logitech F710 wireless game controller*, and to my delight, I found that Logitech provides software to map the buttons to keystrokes and the analog sticks to the mouse. Since I use a lot a lot of keyboard shortcuts in my everyday computing, it was a great solution. Now I usually have my hands comfortably on the controller, only leaving it occasionally to type or when I need precision mousing. I even mapped Aero Flip so I could switch between d...

The new kid on the social networking block, Google+ has been in field trial for just over a month. After using it actively this past week or so, I thought I'd write down the things that I like about it. Before I start, a disclaimer: this is  not  a post bashing Facebook, nor am I claiming that Google+ is the best social network out there. This is meant to be a list of the details that make me lean ever so slightly (all right, a lot) towards Google+. Some terminology before we start (Facebook on the left, Google+ on the right), wall/news feed = stream friend list = circles Here's the list of places where I think Google+ is better than Facebook, starting with the smaller details before moving to the larger differences between them. Skip to the end for the tl;dr version. 1. Editable posts and comments Google+ allows you to edit as well as delete your posts and comments. There is no time limit, and the time of last edit is displayed. ...

Located in the top right region of the keyboard, the Insert key is quite underused. When Insert is activated, anything you type will overwrite the original text. Annoying if turned on unknowingly, but useful in some situations, such as when you're batch replacing text. It'll save you the extra keystrokes to backspace/delete. Watch the screencast below to get what I mean. I probably use it most when I'm coding and just making minor changes. How to know if insert is turned on: your text cursor changes to a box or a horizontal line instead of a vertical line. Another interesting use of the Insert key is to copy and paste .

Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V (copy and paste) are probably among the most used keyboard shortcuts. Did you know, though that there’s another pair of shortcuts? Try Ctrl+Insert and Shift+Insert ;)  The usefulness is pretty limited though, since you'll usually need 2 hands to use them. (Huh, Insert is an often overlooked key, isn't it? Look out for future musings on the underdog keys on the keyboard.)