Recent posts

#31

General Discussion / Re: A Peterborough Walking Tou...

Last post by Jason - August 05, 2026, 02:15:47 AM

This is the article, and it has some good pictures:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-couple-trans-canada-trail-9.7290223

Fascinating article! When I was a young pup, me and a friend talked about cycling across Canada. Walking seems too slow to me, but the hills are probably easier to walk. Where I used to go to the cottage in Eastern Ontario, Combermere (Madawaska River) is Shield country and the hills have beautiful sights to see but the hills are killer on a bike. Another friend and I talked about backpacking through Europe. So many regrets, but you give me hope that someday I can do some of it maybe.

#32

General Discussion / Re: A Peterborough Walking Tou...

Last post by Jason - August 05, 2026, 02:04:44 AM

We didn't use phones or Internet 'back in the day', so they are not allowed. If we get lost we have to solve the problem without technology, and there are vestiges of wilderness in this wonderful city that can turn you around. (But it's not like some of the places we wandered into years ago agreed.) And we do have phones if absolutely needed, which is improbable.

I don't follow. You had phones or you didn't have phones? If you had smartphones with you with location mode on, your route has been mapped unless you turned off that option in your Google Account. Go into Google Maps and look back to that day. If you use an iPhone, which I doubt, it probably has that feature, too, but it might be off in their case since they're more privacy-oriented.

#33

Articles, Tutorials and Tips / This $150 Linux Laptop Works S...

Last post by Jason - August 05, 2026, 01:41:41 AM

For new users installing Linux (specifically Linux Mint), or those who just want a recommendation for a solid laptop for Linux. Admittedly, I might be biased since this gentleman is installing Linux Mint on a Lenovo ThinkPad T480, the exact laptop I own. And it's pretty snappy.

he only thing is that the presenter needs to find a better way of showing the install then using a camera aimed at the screen. But it's mostly readable during the install demo, at least on a 24" monitor. I wish he went into more detail. But I mainly wanted to share with you details about the laptop in question. So if you're curious about the specs of this laptop, read on.

The processor is an Intel Core i5-8350U CPU @ 1.70GHz (4 cores, 8 threads), turbo boost to 3.6 GHz and 256 GB NVMe drive (upgraded by the previous owner to 512 GB), and by me to Windows 11 Pro and Zorin OS. It only has 16 GB of RAM on it, but I'm not doing anything that requires a lot of RAM. My main machine has 16 GB of RAM, and it handles anything I throw at it. But I don't do video editing or the like.

Like all Lenovo ThinkPads, it comes with a TrackPoint pointing stick as well as a touchpad with 3 buttons. It also has 2 batteries, an internal and external one, but not entirely sure that's standard. The presenter mentions it in the video so it likely is.

What surprised me was that it has a multi-touch screen. I often switch between using the touch screen and the trackpad or pointer stick. I don't know what condition most of these are in but mine came "like new". The primary battery is at 95% capacity and the secondary is at 100%! I haven't tested how long the batteries last, but I used it once for about 3 hours and I think the primary battery was in the 20% range. I really need to use it all day and see how far it gets.

While it has a fingerprint reader, it doesn't work in Linux. I think that SUSE Workstation has a fingerprint reader utility but haven't heard of anyone else. Anyone know? There are more details in the attached image for the specs and just how new these batteries are, cuz, I gotta' brag about something! Click on the images to see them full-size. Note that the specs list the ORIGINAL unit. I upgraded the drive and it has and meets the requirements for Windows 11 without any hacks. I'm going to be using Linux on it mostly, though. But I have to have Windows for doing online proctored exams. They have you use a special anti-cheat browser that's only available for Bill's OS (not you, Bill, Bill G.).

I haven't used this laptop a lot though I got it last year, but it works great with Linux otherwise. It runs a little hot but what laptop nowadays doesn't? They're definitely not ultrabooks; however, they're not too heavy.

I wasn't lucky enough to get it $150, but I bought it a couple of years ago. I paid between around $250 over ebay , probably because it was virtually new and had only reached End of Service 2 years ago. If you have any other questions about the laptop, please ask. I'll bring it to the next MUG if anyone wants to play with it.

ThinkPads have served me well in the past. There was one that was a dud, but mostly I've had good luck with them. We used to use them when I was the Data manager for a couple of local NDP campaigns.

How about you guys? Have you used ThinkPads? What has your experience been? Have you used this one specifically? Do you have other laptop model recommendations for Linux or do you find that most work well nowadays? Let us know your experiences.

#34

General Discussion / Re: A Peterborough Walking Tou...

Last post by buster - August 03, 2026, 11:30:43 AM

Got a surprise this morning that concerns our 'day 3' route tomorrow!

An older couple, starting in 2018, began walking across Canada from the Atlantic side of Newfoundland. They were following the Trans Canada Trail, which as some of you know, comes right through Peterborough. They are near the Pacific Ocean and will finish their journey within days.

The section we're doing tomorrow is a bit of the Trans Canada they travelled maybe four or five years ago, pulling their little cart with their tent and food.

This is the article, and it has some good pictures:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-couple-trans-canada-trail-9.7290223

#35

General Discussion / Re: The Really Unpleasant Comp...

Last post by buster - August 01, 2026, 11:54:34 AM

Well, the story will reach a quarter of a million in the not too distant future, and it may be that not more than a hundred humans actually read it. We probably can't distinguish.

It may be that the bots get bored buzzing about 24 hours a day, and they have discovered stories keep them from falling asleep. For them it would be a pleasant way to spend the wee hours of the night.

[A Small Lake, The Ponds, and Trees]

#36

General Discussion / Re: A Peterborough Walking Tou...

Last post by buster - July 31, 2026, 12:57:18 PM

A Small Lake, The Ponds, and Trees

We did this section backwards, and so had to drop only one car rather than two. The only time Magellan went backwards was during heavy gales, or so I've heard. We expected about a 6 km uphill/downhill day, and when we finished that felt about right.

In perfect weather we drove to a gem of a natural area in Peterborough and parked in Jackson Park at the north end of Monaghan Rd, and because it was nine AM there were few people.

We set off, thankfully downhill, to cross the bridge and saw a duck apparently sleeping on the two foot high dam that spans Jackson Creek. We soon learned that she wasn't sleeping but watching over her tiny youngsters who where bobbing about in the shallow water beyond the dam. I was surprised to see this domestic scene so close to the bridge and the trail that must carry many pedestrians. (The ducks name was Hilda by the way.)

We circumnavigated the lake and spent some time on the Pagoda Bridge and reminisced about how the past is forgotten by the newer generations of this city. Maybe someday come back and take a look at this site. It surprised me:

https://peterboroughmoviehistory.com/other-writing/jackson-park-amusement-and-heritage-site

We reached the steep trail that takes us out of the park, and the climb reminded me that I don't like going uphill anymore. Uphill equals discomfort at my age, reminding me that not too may years ago I could ride my bicycle up this hill. But that was then.

We arrived at the sign that arches over the trail. It's attractive and says Parkway Trail, but this time we were heading east. On day one we had travelled west on a different part the same trail.

For a huge section of the rest of the walk it was like travelling through an unused golf course - very tidy, wide and green, with attractive trees, but paved. Being a trail is good. Being paved is clean and tidy but maybe a bit too civilized. We were relaxed and talkative, unlike our experience climbing the drumlin, or facing the slow torture of going up Cumberland on day one, the hill that went forever.  Time flew by here, as did the kilometres. It's an easy and attractive stroll.

We passed the two large ponds that are near the trail, not far from Walmart which can be seen like a castle on the heights in the distance.
The second pond is quite attractive, but this second pond is where our route took us north, up a hill again to some more greenbelt, which was also also uphill, until we got on some streets and arrived at R F Downey PS which happens to have a locally known exit from the grounds in the northern fence.

Still heading north and turning left onto Bowen Drive, we reached and walked a narrow bike trail to the west, turned right at its end and came to a park with yet another pond in Roundabout Park, which is named stupidly (in my opinion) not after the pond, but after a local road feature.

I can walk to this bit of water from our house easily and have visited it over the years as it matured into a pond you can hardly see now because the edges have been taken over, according to Bill, by invasive foreign species.

Still, there are a few good vantage points to see the pond's full size and the now larger trees. We also took a short excursion into some ancient cedars near the pond, our last touch with a spot where few humans visit, and after we came back to a paved walkway we travelled a few ordinary streets to get to my house and day 2 was finished.  So we had now covered from the north end of our city at Trent to Jackson Park.

Four days to go.

                   ***************

When I drove Bill back to Jackson Park so he could get his car, a woman asked us how to get to the lake. I explained how to get on the correct path. She spoke with an accent which wasn't French or Canadian English. I assumed, wrongly, she was a visitor. So I bluntly asked,

"Where are you from?"

To which she replied, "Peterborough."

Now I was even more curious. "Where were you raised?"

Her answer was even more unsatisfying. "Europe."

I could not just leave it. "Which country in Europe?"

And when she said Poland I pointed to my hiking friend Bill and told her that Bill's wife is Polish, and he obliged by greeting her in a few words of Polish and they were off and running and talking about her 'old country' which he has visited more than once.

They had no need of me. They seemed happy. So I drove my car out of the park, and headed home.

#37

General Discussion / Re: A Peterborough Walking Tou...

Last post by buster - July 31, 2026, 10:30:57 AM

Bill wrote: "You didn't go for a ride on the zoo miniature train?  :-)"

Of course we did! I didn't include it because it doesn't fit with the serious nature of our endeavour. I didn't want to give the impression that what we are doing is frivolous.

#38

General Discussion / Re: A Peterborough Walking Tou...

Last post by ssfc72 - July 31, 2026, 09:40:04 AM

You didn't go for a ride on the zoo minature train?  :-)

Top of the Hill and Beside the River

 walked beside the river in solitude to the train at the zoo where we finally met people, many of them very short and smiling.
 
We did visit the camels and the restrooms before Water Street and after crossing started up the Cumberland bike path, which was much steeper than I remembered it, another example of global warming. Finally  we

#39

General Discussion / Re: A Peterborough Walking Tou...

Last post by buster - July 31, 2026, 08:17:32 AM

I'm sorry Jason. We thought a general sketch of the route would be good enough and maybe encourage others to seek their own way. We've now finished 2 days, and basically it starts at the northern edge of Trent (the drumlin),heads to the zoo, and crosses Water St to pick up the Parkway Bike Trail which leads to Jackson Park and beyond to where we turn south and head down into your area of the city.

I know this area pretty well so I can add on side bits which are interesting to us.

We didn't use phones or Internet 'back in the day', so they are not allowed. If we get lost we have to solve the problem without technology, and there are vestiges of wilderness in this wonderful city that can turn you around. (But it's not like some of the places we wandered into years ago agreed.) And we do have phones if absolutely needed, which is improbable.

#40

General Discussion / Re: A Peterborough Walking Tou...

Last post by Jason - July 30, 2026, 04:33:53 PM

Are you using tracking on the phone so you can show us the map afterward? Weirdly, my mind needs visuals, and with the path on the map, I could click on it to see where you walked through on streetview. Or maybe all three of us will have to do it again so I can see it. I don't know the Northend of Peterborough as well so it's hard to visualize (other than the zoo).