DOSBox on Ubuntu ( and then Android!)

My son wants to play more computer games on  my computer. We have been talking  about getting  him a Raspberry Pi, i guess because there is nothing  like torturing  a child  by getting  them sort of what they want but making  them work for it - like programing their own games. What am i thinking  of? Its just cruel. We'll see.

In  the meantime, as Wine seems to be massive problems with Steam/Half Life 1 & 2,  in  a no sound and or no game sot of a way. I thougth that at least i should be able to get Doom 2 running.

Which considering  the Half Life failure of the last few weeks, went OK. I installed DOSBox (via Ubuntu program installer, so no problem there.)

Then i wandered the internet trying  to work out what to do next. Until i found this: OK lost the address. But the gist was.

1. Make a folder in your home/username folder called dos, and inside that a folder called c 
2. move the Doom2 files (from my old pc installation files circa 1998!) into the c folder:   home/username/dos/c/doom2
3. Unhide your hidden Files in  your File Browser and look for .dosbox, and the file inside called something  like dosbox-0.73.conf, and open it.
4. Then at the bottom, last line add::

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

mount c /home/USERNAME/dos/c
c:
# cd Doom2
# DOOM2.EXE
#exit
# cd Genesys
# GENECYST.EXE

If you  un-comment out:

cd Doom2
DOOM2.EXE
exit

Then when you  start DOSBox, not only will it mount your fake c drive, but it will also start doom and, when you  close doom, exit dosbox.

Or, as i did, open  Menu Editor, add a new Item, say DOSBox Doom, with these properties: dosbox -c "cd Doom2" -c "DOOM2.EXE" -c "exit" i now have a item in  my Games menu that starts Doom.

Now i just have to persuade him that Doom 2 is great.

Sort of Update: i got so excited by this that i downloaded the free app aDosBox for my phone, having  copied the Doom2 fodler onto my phone - and it worked! Well almost, cant actually seem to work out how to control the game, but both doom and genecyst load.

So, back to Sour Dough and starting your own starter

I stopped making  sour dough bread a couple of years ago. Whcih i felt bad about, i dont like to kill things that are struggling  with life, that being  my sour dough starter that i got from a friend in  the Borders and who had, it turn, got his from France and could easily have been hundreds of years old. And i let it die, or worse threw it down the sink. Maybe it still lives somewhere in  the sewage pipes of Olde Edinburgh.

But, i was the only one who ate it, the kids were not impressed by it even though it makes wonderful toast. And bread and butter are not great for anyones waistline. Sadly, bread and butter ( and cheese and wine and salami and grapes) pretty well cover my favourite foods. I do love a picnic

But i decided a few weeks ago to start making  bread again - sour dough at that.

But i had no started so i read up  about making  my own here over at SoughDourHome. And generally by halfing  the measurements and kind of following  the instructions, and then really not botering  to follow the instructions - i made asour dough starter! And it works!

I have learnt to put in  less water, as it separates and smells rancid. I have learnt to feed it with teaspoons of whatever flour i can get my hands on - rye is especially good, but so is wholemeal.

And i do cold whatchamacallit - leaving  the bread to rise - overnight. It does make for very sour sour dough bread. (which i don't mind but is proving  even more unpopular. Oh, is the word 'proving' not rise?

So, now i am experimenting  with feeding  the sour dough with less water, to make it thicker, putting  more into the flour, but going  for a shorter rise, in  the hopes that this makes it less sour.

We shall see.

Update: Stopped Proving (first )rise after 8 hours and put in  cold oven set to 180 (fan oven) with a dish of water in  the bottom  of the oven. It hadn't risen a lot - maybe doubled in  size, but it held it together in  the oven and 25 minutes later i pulled it out and it looked lovely. This evening  both children asked for some, and then, miracle of miracles, aske for more. It is slightly less sour than my overnight risers. I probably should have cooked it longer.

Solo Ceiling Papering

Is it possible to paper a ceiling by yourself?

Well the anwer is - who cares? But the other answer is Yes, but only if you  are capable of whole quantam leap forward in  imaginative swearing. If my ceiling  had ears...

My widest bit of ceiling  was just over 4 metres. So what, some might say. But i am only 5ft 11 and my ceilings are 3m high (sorry to mix my metric with my imperials but thats just the way it is). So  i can't reach the ceiling while moving  the ladder along, and i had to move the ladder 4 times (i don't know how long my arms are - lets just say they are normal).  So unless i went to Hogwarts it all becomes a little tricky.

Oh and following  the whole hilarious wizard theme i didn't use a broom i used a mop. And no i didn't bounce the ladder along while standing  on it, that would have been silly (yes i did try).

Thats probably enough about Solo Ceiling Papering. No film sadly.

Just Say No to Woodchip

Its not big, its not clever and its not cool.

I have seen the results of taking  the easy way out, making  life easier, just this once. I've had to scrape away with my bare hands, with my own blood and sweat and tears and a lot of steam, the results of these seemingly innocuous decisions.

Is it worth it? Can't you  take a bit of rough with the smooth? Life isn't all plain  sailing and the effect it has on  others: think of the children that will get hurt by your actions (ok, secondary liability, as i steam the bloody stuff off and a drop of hot water lands on  a child) but still, think of the children.

And its hideous. It screams: 'I am ashamed of my wall/ceiling but can't be arsed to do anything  about it.' or ' Everything  must be perfectly flat, even in  old buildings, or if they can't be i shall get my revenge and make everything  totally lumpy'.

Woodchip appliers of the world - stop it! Please. Now. And get steaming, its better for you.

This post was written without once using  the word crack or even craic.