Author Archives: gmcdavid

About gmcdavid

Retired IT professional with a wide range of interests. Married. Three sons, two with autistic-spectrum disorders and the third being transgender with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. From Chicago but now living in the Twin Cities metro, Minnesota. Episcopalian. Carleton College (BA 1972, physics) and Stanford University (MS 1974, Applied Physics; MS 1976 Statistics).

Installing FreeDOS

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After mentioning DOS in Programming in Pascal I Downloaded Free DOS1.3 from FreeDOS 1.3. I had previously installed VirtualBox on Ubuntu 22.04 system using Synaptic Package Manager. For the installation I followed How to install FreeDOS on VirtualBox. It seems that I have a later version of VirtualBox than the video, so I did not see exactly what is in the video, but it was close enough. Per the video I used the VDI file type for the VM file. The installation was successful. A couple notes:

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Programming in Pascal

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Back in 2021 I wrote about APL, a computer language that I used early in my career. I have not used it in the last 30 years, but it is still around.

Recently I read that Apple Just Released Code for Its 40-Year-Old “Lisa” Computer.

Much of the code is written in Pascal, an early programming language dating back to 1970, which was also used for some of the Mac’s early software.

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Rang Gaeilge, 24ú lá mí Eanáir 2023

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Duinnín in Áth na Lachan (tuilleadh)

Dineen in Duckford (continued)
  • Chuir sí an leanbh ina sheasamh, ainneoin gur chaoin sé. Rug sí ar shlaitín a bhí ag tabhairt taca do chlumpa dahlia agus thosaigh sí ag greadadh tóin muice a bhí ag cogaint ar sciorta Nell agus Nell féin ag eascaine. ‘Ní baol duit,’ ar sise le Nell. ‘Tá Huirris macánta. Faigheann sí boladh beorach uait, sin uile.’
    Rug sí greim ar sciorta Nell agus tharraing sí amach as craos na muice é. Strac an sciorta.

    She made the child stand up, even though he was crying. She took a little rod that was supporting a clump of dahlias and she began beating the rear of a pig that was chewing on Nell’s skirt and Nell herself was cursing.

    ‘You are not in danger,’ she said to Nell. ‘Huirris is gentle. She smells beer on you, that’s all.’

    She grabbed Nell’s skirt and pulled it out of the pig’s mouth. The skirt was torn.

    slaitín little rod, stick f
    taca prop, support m
    greadadh Beating, trouncing
    muc pig f gs muice
    cogaint chewing f
    sciorta skirt m
    eascaine curse f
    macánta Childlike; gentle, meek, mild
    boladh smell, scent m
    craos Gullet; maw m
    strac = srac pull, tear
    strac = stróic tear, rend

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A brief note about John the Baptist

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The sermon at St. Clement’s Episcopal Church was given by Bob Shoemake. He preached on the appointed Gospel John 1:29-42. This passage is about Jesus and John the Baptist. One thing Bob said was that, unlike in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), there is no baptism of Jesus by John. Why the Gospel of John Depicted John the Baptist So Differently suggests that is because John (the Evangelist) has a different, “higher” Christology.

Web Site Updates

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I fixed some dead links and made other minor corrections and updates, but did not make any drastic changes in the longer pieces, so their style reflects the times when they were written, years or even decades ago. However, I think they are still relevant to the subjects being discussed.

Rang Gaeilge, 4ú lá mí Eanáir 2023

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Duinnín in Áth na Lachan (tuilleadh)

Dineen in Duckford (continued)
  • D’úsáid sí a lán gallúnaí.’
    ‘Bhuel, bhiodh jorum beag de dhith ar an mbean bhocht agus gan slí eile aici chun é a fháil. Chuirinn an jorum síos as leabhar ina ghallúnach,’ ar sise, gan náire.
    ‘Go maithe Dia dhuit é,’ arsa an Duinníneach agus thug sé drochfhéachaint uirthi
    .
    ‘Istigh ansin, sa snug a d’óladh sí é?’ ar seisean, agus lámh aige ar an mbosca faoistine.
    ‘Ó, ná téigh isteach ansin, a Athair,’ arsa Mrs. Byrne.

    She used a lot of soap.
    ‘Well, jorum would be needed by the poor woman and she would have no other way to get it. I used to put jorum from the book as her soap,’ she said without shame.
    ‘God Bless you,’ said Dineen and he gave her a wicked look.
    ‘In there, in the snug she drank it?’ he said, with his hand on the confession box.
    ‘O, Don’t go in there, Father,’ said Mrs. Byrne.

    díth Loss; deprivation, destruction; Want, lack; need, requirement f

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Rang Gaeilge, 29ú lá Mí na Samhna, 2022

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Duinnín in Áth na Lachan (tuilleadh)

Dineen in Duckford (continued)
  • Niorbh fhada go raibh an Duinníneach agus an Constábla de Brún ar a mbealach go teach Fayley Toole in Áth na Lachan mar ar tharla an marú coicís roimhe sin. Lár mhí Iúil a bhí ann. Bhí an lá ag scarbháil i ndiaidh báisti, rith maith uisce sna claiseanna ar thaobh an bhóthair agus na loganna lán báistí. Talamh cothrom, feirmeacha beaga, bó ag féachaint thar chlaí anseo, asal ag grágaíl ansiúd. ‘Dein cur síos dom ar do chara Fayley Toole, a Bhill,’ arsa an Duinníneach.


    Bhí a ghairm maite aige do Bhill agus é éirithe cairdiúil leis.[d.l. 153]

    It wasn’t long before Dineen and Constable de Brún were on their way to Fayley Toole’s house in Duckford where the killing had taken place a fortnight before. It was the middle of July. The day was drying after rain, there was a good run of water in the gullies on the side of the road and the hollows were full of rain. Flat land, small farms, a cow looking over a fence here, a donkey braying there.

    ‘Describe your friend Fayley Toole to me, Bill’ said Dineen.

    He had forgiven Bill his profession and had become friendly with him.

    scarbháil Hardening, drying, crustation f
    clais channel; gully, ditch. f pl claiseanna
    log place, hollow m
    cothrom Level; balance; Equal, equable, measure. m
    claí Dike, wall; fence m
    grágaíl (Act of) cawing, croaking; braying; cackling; squawking f
    gairm call f

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Firefox problem with Ubuntu

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Following up on Jammy Jellyfish and System Updates I have been using Tyrone, my newer Ubuntu 22.04 system, for my daily work. In doing so I found an issue with Firefox: The “Save page as” “Print/Save to PDF” commands were not working on that machine under Ubuntu. I tried various Firefox troubleshooting options, but they did not help. The commands work fine with Firefox under Windows, and also with Firefox under Ubuntu 22.04 on another system (Donegal), which, however is an upgrade from 20.04 rather than a clean install. I even tried uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox

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