The Binary Times – Series 2 Episode 4

Series 2 Episode 4 – In this episode we talk about Marks foray into the Python programming language, more Ubuntu Mate goodnes, Wayne plays with Gpiozero library, Command Line Linux tools and another epic Irish saying, have a listen.
00:24 Wayne introduces the show once again with a weather update for Bristol while Mark tells us it’s a bit muggy in Kilkishen
01:13 Mark tells us he’s been working his way through Python Crash Course by Eric Matthes and is chomping at the bit to get to the projects. Wayne finds programming is something that you have to do on a regular basis or forget about it, Mark thinks that’s much like everything, and that’s why the show notes are a good reminder to us all!
03:38 Mark continues to tell us he installed Linux Mint 18.2 on his Dad’s PC. He didn’t install Ubuntu MATE on the PC due to his Dad already using and preferring Linux Mint on a Dell laptop that he has. He goes on to offer a tip on synchronising gmail contacts with Thunderbird and that is an add-on called gcontactsync and also that the default address book is called abook.mab and it can be found in the hidden Thunderbird profile folder.
08:30 This brings up a conversation on Outlook and Office 365, how Thunderbird might be used as the email client instead of Outlook and the pros and cons of such a move. Mark suggests Evolution might be a better fit due to its groupware capabilities. Mark goes on to suggest Kolab Now as a replacement for Office 365. The guys try to drum up some support for their patreon account for when Wayne relies entirely on his podcasting career for his income.
16:00 Wayne changes topic to talk about his latest Raspberry Pi adventures, in which he and his son built the laser trip wire project to prank Wayne’s partner!
18:25 Mark tells us that stack skills have a Raspberry Pi Mastery bundle course available now for $31, though there are plenty of other free resources available on the net.
19:02 Wayne tells us about Ben Nuttal’s gpiozero library. He goes on to tell us about a keynote that Ben Nuttal made at pycon russia last year that is well worth a watch.
22:19 The guys discuss the end of systemau, “An Australian Technology podcast with a linux bent.”
25:18 Mark moves on to the “So you’ve installed Ubuntu MATE, now what” section with a discussion of what other applications you should install. Applications mentioned are Google Chrome (Firefox is the preferred browser of both the guys), Gimp , Inkscape and MyPaint. Mark tells us how much he likes the Ubuntu MATE Software Boutique and goes on to say that the accessories section is well worth a look. Mark tried the Mutiny panel from the MATE Tweak Tool but he experienced a crash so reverted to the MATE panel. He expects to try it again in 17.10. The guys ponder the best way forward for Mark’s main desktop, fresh install or further tweaking.
38:02 Mark kicks off Under the Hood with a discussion on htop and top. Wayne installs htop on everything, as well as vim-gui-common. Mark also mentions nmon, a nice cli tool which gives a graphical representation of various system elements
40:29 Wayne has an Under the Hood too, more vim tips.
Vim provides the :s (substitute) command for search and replace;

The :substitute command searches for a text pattern, and replaces it with a text string.
There are many options, but these are what you probably want:
:s/foo/bar/g
Find each occurrence of ‘foo’ (in the current line only), and replace it with ‘bar’.

:%s/foo/bar/g
Find each occurrence of ‘foo’ (in all lines), and replace it with ‘bar’.

:%s/foo/bar/gc
Change each ‘foo’ to ‘bar’, but ask for confirmation first.
44:30 Irish saying of the podcast: Cén t-Am É? or what time is it?

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