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Last update to this page: March 18, 2024

Welcome to malak.ca, home to Don's House of Fine Patisseries, winemaking, scouting, Star Trek, anti-Wussley humour, The Swedish Chef, and general silliness updating my website, which these days (as of about 2018) is updating my blog and my recipe archive.

Cooking Project

Desktop Linux: Unveiled

Cooking and recipes:

Here is my recipe archive, which is updated semi-quasi-irregularly and unannounced, whenever I add a new recipe or update the text of a recipe.

Random recipe

Here are a number of my blog entries which have varying degrees of photos showing the process of making my various recipes:

Stewed Rhubarb (August, 2023) recipe

Bagel and Cream Cheese Pieces / Bites (July, 2023)

Making Beer at Home (March / April / May / July, 2023)

Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Ground Roast Pork Casserole (April / May, 2023) recipe

Drying Pineapple Slices (March, 2023)

Two Egg, Ham, and Cheese Omelette (February / March, 2023) recipe

My Mom's Rhubarb Chutney (August / September, 2022) recipe

My Mom's Roast Potatoes (March, 2022) recipe

My Mom's Stuffed Butternut Squash (January, 2022) recipe

My Mom's Turkey Stuffing / Dressing (December, 2021) recipe

Eggplant au Gratin (December, 2021) recipe

My Mom's Corned Beef Hash (July, 2021) recipe

Cooking Breakfast Sausages (May / June, 2021)

My Mom's Raisin Bran Muffins (June, 2021) recipe

Barbecups AND Chicken Cups (Double-Length Feature) (June, 2021) Barbecups recipe Chicken Cups recipe

English Muffin Breakfast Sandwiches (May, 2021) recipe

Crisped Rice Treats (May, 2021) recipe

Pepperoni Pizza with a Biscuit Dough Crust (May, 2021) recipe

Shepherd's Pie / Paté Chinois / Cottage Pie (May, 2021) recipe

Bread Machine White Bread (May, 2021) recipe

Meatballs (April, 2021) recipe

Breakfast Sandwiches (April, 2021) recipe

Zucchini with Tomato, Onion, and Bacon Sauce (April, 2021) recipe

Chicken Pot Pies (April, 2021) recipe

Three (or Five) Ingredient Cheese Biscuits (March, 2021) recipe

Lemon Squares (March, 2021) recipe

Vegetable Soup (Big Batch) (March, 2021) recipe

Mini Meat Loaves (March, 2021) recipe

Chocolate Buttercrunch (February, 2021) recipe

Plain Cake with Lemon Sauce (February, 2021) recipe

Chicken Soup (February, 2021) recipe

Stuffed Potato Skins (February, 2021) recipe

Bacon Wrapped Chicken Pieces (January, 2021) recipe

Bran Muffins (January, 2021) recipe

Pickled Eggs (January, 2021) recipe

Blondies (January, 2021) recipe

Shortbread Cookies (December, 2020) recipe

Beef Manicotti (December, 2020) recipe

Lemon Squares, Breakfast Sandwich, Bread, Cooked Ground Beef and onions, bacon, oatmeal raisin squares, blondies, crisped rice treats, shepherd's pie (November, 2020)

Chocolate Buttercrunch (old blog post, more text and stories than pictures) (August, 2020) recipe

Pepperoni Pizza (biscuit dough) (March, 2020) (old blog post, more text and stories and only a few pictures) recipe

Desktop Linux Unveiled, a series on how to start using Linux

Chapter 1: What is Linux? (February, 2024)

Chapter 2: Common Linux Distributions (February, 2024)

Chapter 3: Preparing to Install Linux (February, 2024)

Chapter 4: Installing Linux (March, 2024)

Linux

www.malak.ca is hosted by none other than me! (since late 2017), using Fedora Linux and various used desktop computers, replacing them as they eventually wear out with another used machine. As of May, 2023, malak.ca is on its fourth machine, a circa 2008 Dell dual core 2.66MHz with hyperthreading, 8GB of memory, 240GB SSD, and 1TB external HD.

(20240206) Présentation au sujet de mon serveur web Addition of my presentation (in French) about my webserver

Donald's Blog I talk about my various hobbies, activies, personal interests, and the like. I used to blog about my experiences with linux, but for several years now, the ratio of linux posts has dropped significantly. (See above.)

(20220404): Addition to my blog: An adaptation of a presentation I made in November, 2022, on PDF files and free / libre software and open source software.

I USED to talk or rant about what's on my mind linux and computer related -- usually from the point of view of a lazy lUzer who hasn't a clue about how his computer really works or what he's really talking about. However, I tired of doing so given that in retrospect, enough of the posts seemed to be too light on the technicals, and lacking in enough in-depth basis.

I use Fedora, a version of Linux, on my desktop, laptops and used to -- up until 2014 or so, and again since 2017 -- use it for my home server. I had a brief bout with Ubuntu 9.04 (hated it but it worked, and I continue to hate Ubuntu with a passion. Funny, I still recommend Ubuntu to people, it has a not very painful learning curve. And, why divide ourselves when the point is to encourage people to at least try linux.) Finally, I used to use CentOS 4.4 to 4.7 (A Red Hat Enterprise Linux re-spin) on my desktop and laptop, and moved to 5.2 until I had to move on due to printer incompatibility. Most linux distributions are legal to download and install for free!

I have always used the Gnome desktop … well, sort of. I flirted with Mate in about, what 2015? (I had to investigate it for someone who doesn't want to use Gnome 3, and changing back to a Gnome 2 environment was easy) but I went back to Gnome 3.

I have used Fedora versions 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, 36, and as of May, 2023, I am on Fedora 37 on my main desktop, laptops, and my home server which is serving up www.malak.ca to you right now. (No, I don’t have a thing for odd numbers; just not reinstalling every six months, and keeping my multiple Fedora machines in sync with each other.) NOTE: There were major changes to how PHP requests are handled in Fedora 33.

Finally my OLD home server which used to host this website used CentOS 7.x. It was a used computer bought in 2008 used as a home server, then as my desktop for a few years, and back as a home server, until I started to smell burning coming from the machine and retired it. I moved to a "new" home server runs Fedora and was a Core 2 Duo that used to be a reclaimed desktop -- which as of April, 2020, has been relegated again to use for world community grid calculations, and I'm using another used ThinkCentre reclaimed from a pile of computers destined for disposal. I have another computer running at 100% of its capacity to work for World Community Grid; the machine was found in a building being demolished, and I claimed it before the wrecking ball hit. It’s also running CentOS 7.x. Finally, my old netbook, which used to be running at 100% of its capacity to work for World Community Grid, running CentOS 6.x 32 bit. (CentOS 7 and on are only 64bit, and I don’t want to start playing around with the 32bit respin of CentOS 7.x) However, now it is dead, and waiting for me to dispose of it properly.

Would you like to know how Fedora has historically kept up with a roughly 13 month lifespan (and by default, its 6 month release cycle -- given that they say that End of Life is 1 month after the release of the second version following, and that they will release roughly twice a year)?

Surprisingly well on average, despite often being late by a few weeks and occasionally wildly variable individual lifespans, or being a whopping 2 months late for Fedora 18!

Public Stuff


One of my previous hobbies, Geocaching, which for all intents and purposes, I don't do anymore:

Geocaching.com -- GPS Treasure Hunting!


Hi-rez Canadian Geocaching permit

This file was designed and created by AVDesign in Montreal. You may copy it, but please properly credit it.


My worksheet in Excel or jpg

My findsheet in Excel or "jpg

How to calculate coordinates lower than the precision of your gps allows

A .wk4 (excel compatible) file that calculates the distance and bearing between one point and a set others

Scanned .jpg's of an article in La Presse de Montreal, Friday, 04 July 2003, on geocaching p1 p2 p3 p4

A CBC Radio interview I did on geocaching, which aired on January 22, 2004

My pics from Go and Get 'Em 6 in Ottawa

Places I think are cool:

Geocaching.com -- GPS Treasure Hunting!

Breadmaking

World Community Grid -- lend your computer's spare computing capacity for research into various diseases

Friends:

Bryan