Time for another update, I think. :)
That old PC I mentioned had issues with my monitor (it would just go blank), and it was fairly slow anyway, so I bought a newer yet still used box from some guy on Facebook Marketplace. It came with Xubuntu already installed, conveniently, and it’s blazing fast. I’m very, very, very pleased.
Except for one thing. Blender doesn’t work! When I load it, it draws strange triangles from the left vertices of the default cube all the way to the edge of the screen, and as soon as I try to add an object (any kind), it freezes not only Blender but also the X server. I’m thinking it’s the video card. ~sigh~ So I can’t start Blending at home just yet, but I’m deadset on fixing this, because Blender will seriously fly on this machine.
In other news, I’m starting to migrate to a LaTeX-based workflow for typesetting. I initially had reservations, primarily because I subconsciously thought I’d be stuck with the Computer Modern font (horror!), but now that there are fairly easy ways to install OpenType fonts, I’m in heaven. In fact, in many ways this will be better than InDesign — the files are hundreds of times smaller, I can edit them at lightning speed in vi, and it’s easier to make across-the-board changes. If I get everything into place — and I think I can — then I may end up doing almost all my book work in LaTeX from now on. I’m starting the transition by typesetting David Lindsay’s A Voyage to Arcturus.
I’m digitizing the Welsh Book of Mormon (I’ve blogged about it on Top of the Mountains here and here). I’ve been chunking the text into verses (I’m in Mosiah 6 right now, 136 pages out of 483), and I’m also slowly cleaning up the OCRed text (I’m in 1 Nephi 4, I think). Pretty soon I’ll cook up a web interface for it and start uploading chapters as I finish them. And once all that’s done, I’ll import the whole thing into LaTeX and release newly typeset versions (both with verses and without).
Finally, here’s the tentative cover to one of the family history books I’m designing right now:
The book should be done within a week or two, and then the other book is due by sometime in early July.
Comments
I like the book cover design Ben. It has a special feel to it.
Thanks — I was lucky that the source images went together well. (Oftentimes they don’t at all. :))
Throw in your two cents