I remember the first time I installed Linux, I had never seen Linux on a system before, didn't want to use a virtual machine and I was going to install it on my new laptop. On top of all these, I downloaded Ubuntu 8.04 Alternate CD image, which has no live-booting feature or even a graphic user interface for the installation, everything was console configuration. I spent hours doing the installation, there were over 10 steps (I strongly think) and I knew less than nothing about ext, ext2, ext3, swap space, grub and root. I got terribly stuck at the mount point, swap file and home partition configuration, I wasn't allowed to get to the next step until I had tried nearly all the options. I was sweating inside and couldn't wait to finish and see if the laptop will recognize its power button. Fortunately, God answered my Jonah modelled prayer, the laptop responded when I pressed the power button. It spent so much time on the VAIO logo display, my heart did a short sprint.

I am one of those people that believe that there is more to a thing than most people know, and also live in the reality of that belief. And from my childhood experiences it seems obvious that I have always been like that. Take for instance, the metal (most probably aluminium) cloth hanger commonly used some 20 years back, I knew it could also double as a steering rod (for driving single wheel vehicles). And over the years I have considerably moved up in this sect, my phone, laptop and shoes can testify to that. When I was through with my phone, it became awesome at everything besides making phone calls, and my laptop - my initial pity for it has now metamorphosed into a feeling of indebtedness. As for my shoes, I only feel sorry for the dead animals that donated their skins, they gave up every hope of making the resurrection.

So it was obvious (to me) the day I arranged for the installation of a HiTV (DVB-S pay TV service) that its just matter of days before I showed it who's boss. And believe me though I ain't through, the number of TV stations have gone up to over 300 from the original meagre 31 and the radio stations are now over 80 compared to the original 6. Next on my to do list is to get a DSTV smartcard in order to watch the stations encrypted by it.

I recently stepped up my photography from amateur to semi-professional, I bought a digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera and decided to put to active use my knowledge of shutter speed, aperture, ISO and exposure settings. Due to my cash at hand I had to make do with a Pentax *ist D, Pentax's oldest DSLR camera. But it is just perfect for my need, it has sufficient megapixels of 6.3 which is just what I need since I only plan to post my pictures online ( http://olafusimichael.shutterchance.com ) and print some on a 5" x 7" photo paper. Also the picture quality is awesome, in fact it has excellent picture quality ratings from all the reviews I read. And best of all, it is very compact, so light-weight that I often hold it in one hand and I find it relatively easy to take with me everywhere.

In order to create a collection, I began snapping all the wonderful scenes around me: the bridges, sunset, busy highways and so on. But on a number of times I needed to adjust the image properties like contrast and temperature in order to better convey the message in the picture. To do this in the world of professional photography, Photoshop has been so recommended that you would believe it's the only option. But for an opensource freak like me, there most be another equally good alternative, and my search for this alternative led me to Google's Picasa. Though Picasa can't do multipoint cropping, background design and many other creative design stunts, but to make a picture eyepopping and adjust the exposure Picasa is the perfect tool.

Just recently I noticed there was a flaky 3G service (MTN of course) in my room, but my phone seems too comfortable restricting me to the near useless EDGE service. I decided I was going to force my phone to use the 3G service, so armed with my computer, internet access and Google, I searched for a way to do this and I was so resolute I won't mind porting a code meant for a USB modem. But to my utmost surprise, I ended up discovering a code (like those IMEI checking code *#06# or Nokia warranty code *#92702689#). This code is definetely android's best kept secret, the code takes you to a sort of troubleshooting settings screen. It is *#*#4636#*#* enter it on the dial screen and as you enter the last character * the phone will switch to a new screen, the Testing screen. The image below is a screen shot of what you'll see.