Back in 2000 I first ventured onto the 'Net via a 56K dial up modem over telephone lines, and the Internet was mostly built around those needs. Times have changed, and the idea of dialing up a connection seems quaint, even antiquated. With some careful planning, dial up isn't so bad at all. But in a world where the average webpage is now an order of magnitude heavier than it was back when everybody dialed up, some planning is indeed necessary.

Linux to the rescue. It's easy to set up a Linux computer to run a downloading mission every time it connects, and take care of your mail and even your basic web browsing, all in one fell swoop. Here's the secret:

This short article describes how to get a Zoom 3095 USB Modem working on Linux. This cool little USB telephone modem sells for about US$50 and proclaims proudly on the package that it is compatible with Windows, Macintosh, and Linux. That was clearly the work of the marketing team, as in reality, we Linux users need to do a bit more work to get on line. I bought one of these modems in order to rescue an old Linux box (PIII 555Mhz, 128M RAM) running SuSE Linux 8.2 and was immediately frustrated to learn it was going to take more work than I'd been led to believe.

Do not despair. This guide is going to get you connected.

Emacs rocks. It is a highly customizable text editor and one of the reasons I continue to use Linux. The Dvorak keyboard layout rocks, because it streamlines typing and places the most commonly used letters in the most easily accessible positions. And the Kinesis Advantage keyboard rocks: it is a highly customized keyboard that makes typing effortless.

But Emacs on a Dvorak keyboard sucks. And Emacs on the Kinesis Dvorak keyboard really sucks. In fact, it's all but unusable.

But emacs is customizable. That's what this is about: making the Kinesis keyboard usable for writers that use the dvorak keyboard layout and like emacs. That probably boils down to me alone on earth, but so be it: customizability is what makes Linux, Emacs, and even the Kinesis, so damn useful, and if you're a writer, you may as well make your environmental useful and comfortable. Let's begin.

Emacs is powerful but complicated. The more you are able to reference its keyboard shortcuts the faster you can work - I find this its greatest strength.

If you have already read my article on Emacs for Writers in which I describe how authors can make best use of this powerful software, you may also appreciate this Reference Card (cheat sheet). It provides all the most useful commands in both long and short form, on three concise pages (PDF).

My operating principle has always been: use the best tool for the job. Where computer work is involved, I insist on a good keyboard. In my case, it's the Kinesis Advantage keyboard, which is ergonomic, comfortable, and built to last. Read on about why I love it.

Yesterday my primary writing machine succumbed to the African dust and quickly degenerated from a crash to a failed boot to a dead screen. Kudos to Apple, who made the machine somewhat self-serviceable, but in my case it looks like I'm in the queue for some Apple Service Desk help, a bit of check-writing, and an unpleasant recovery. The only thing that makes this situation even vaguely bearable is that by serendipity, divine intervention, or plain dumb luck, my G5 crashed only 4 days after I had finished a complete back up - pictures, music, documents, everything. So hardware woes notwithstanding, I'm feeling pretty good: I'm not going to lose anything except time and money, both infinitely more expendable than my work, which is essentially irreplaceable.

I've been a backup nut for ages, twisting over the impermanence of digital medium, agonizing over the forced incompatibilities of proprietary document formats, and loathe to commit my more important stuff to heavy and burdensome hard copy. But writers take note - a backup strategy is essential, and when your machine gives up the ghost it will be the sole factor that determines whether you are put out or hung out to dry. In an increasingly digital age, being smart about our data and our media is essential. Let's look at the options.

One approach is to use the LBDB database package to enable mutt to query the Apple address book directly. That would ordinarily be useful, but doesn't help me when I'm using my non-primary computer. I decided to hack up a perl script that would take Vcards from the address book and export them to Mutt's alias format.

This document is specifically focused on the early stages of working on an Avalon Travel Publishing manuscript, which is traditionally delivered in Word format. Why get your manuscript from the publisher in the first place? Because numerous editorial changes happened to your manuscript in the time since you delivered it, and the only way to begin work on a subsequent version is by getting a copy of the latest and greatest from your publisher. But this document is also a useful tool for anyone who wants to convert a large number of Word documents to Text for any reason.