Works of fiction come in all shapes and sizes, and I don't mean simply the format (book, short story, graphic novel). Some are action- or plot-driven, others are primarily internal, some are epic in scope, others stream-of-consciousness and barely involve a chronology at all. So when I heard about the release of a new version of Storybook, ostensibly a tool to help writers write fiction, I was curious as to precisely what sort of help it would offer. The answer is “keeping track of plot points when you have too many to juggle” — whether that is the kind of help you need depends largely on what you write, but even if your novel is ready for the page, this application puts some hurdles in your way.
Works of fiction come in all shapes and sizes, and I don't mean simply the format (book, short story, graphic novel). Some are action- or plot-driven, others are primarily internal, some are epic in scope, others stream-of-consciousness and barely involve a chronology at all. So when I heard about the release of a new version of Storybook, ostensibly a tool to help writers write fiction, I was curious as to precisely what sort of help it would offer. The answer is “keeping track of plot points when you have too many to juggle” — whether that is the kind of help you need depends largely on what you write, but even if your novel is ready for the page, this application puts some hurdles in your way.
Linux's long-term stability means that users can go for years simply upgrading packages without ever doing a re-install from scratch. Believe it or not, that is not always a good thing. It is the recommended practice for servers, naturally, but a peculiar side-effect is that when you do eventually re-install (a desktop or a server), you have ages of old tweaks and customizations built up, and reproducing them can be a confusing hassle. I recently undertook a from-scratch-reinstall, so some of the lessons I learned could be valuable when you tackle your next migration.