Update

[percival]

First of all, apologies for not commenting a lot - when I have both hands free in front of a computer, I usually work or reinstall software and operating systems. Today, I created a 60% Linux, 40% Windows work laptop, with the Windows partition expressly reserved for MS office documents only. Despite everything, when collaborating with people who use Word, using Word oneself always gives the best results. I tend to use LaTeX for everything else.

I installed Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) from a recent LinuxFormat DVD without a glitch. Wireless worked instantly. Machine is a Dell Latitude 610 with Intel Pro Wireless chip set. I then spent some time installing the software I need. Apart from python, my preferred programming language (I'm not the world's best programmer), that would be emacs for text editing (I also threw in vim), R for statistical analysis (with pspp, which I am yet to use), and LaTeX for typesetting. Which reminds me that I also need to install Sweave for seamless paper generation. Apparently, this is a way to automatically extract numbers for tables from R and set them in LaTeX as part of the formatting process. Neat!

Another neat (or W00T!) fact is that I've had two first-authored journal papers accepted. Now I'm in the process of revising two grant proposals. I'm not the PI on either of them, but rather a Researcher Co-Investigator. This means the grant can go on my CV, but I'm not the uber-boss. I've done a fair bit of work on one grant, including several meetings and some extensive edits. For the other grant, I've only had to attend two meetings and put in a couple of hours editing. With a couple more hours editing, we'll be done.

And, since the post wouldn't be complete without a mention of The Kids (TM): recent nicknames for our son include Greedy Guzzler and Hungry Hooves. Do we see a common theme?

Comments

[sidheag.livejournal.com]

Congrats!

[spin1978.livejournal.com]

Congrats on the papers and good luck with the grant proposals!

I feel bad I'm not more familiar with LaTeX, but the former advisor preferred everything in MS Word or as a PDF, so I ended up writing a lot of stuff in Open Office as a compromise (the lab was mostly Linux, I could convert w/o problems to MS Word and PDF with Open Office), including my dissertation. I figure I will remedy this rather quickly with wherever I end up, the little bit of playing around with LaTeX I've done has made me a convert.

I'm not seeing a common theme....wait, has he started on his career as a poet and using alliteration somewhat frequently? :)

[perceval.livejournal.com]

Ubuntu version are named alphabetically, progressing from A to H. Their names consist of two words, an adjective and a noun. The noun is an animal.

e.g. Gutsy Gibbon, Hardy Heron, and the next version will be Intrepid Ibis (I think)

Your supervisor used WORD in a SCIENCE DEPARTMENT ???!!!111ONE

Wow.

[spin1978.livejournal.com]

I've actually never used Ubuntu - we were running various Debian distributions over the years. Learn something new every day! :)

Your supervisor used WORD in a SCIENCE DEPARTMENT ???!!!111ONE

I know. And she was a Mac user, so it's even odder, at least IMO. Couldn't do much about it, though....

[actionreplay.livejournal.com]

congratulations!