Maëlys McArdle

Category: Life

Every other post.

  • Open-Source Software

    Open-Source Software

    When I was in university, I pirated loads of stuff.

    I loved being creative and using my computer to that end. The problem was that good software to enable this creativity was not accessible. If I wanted to play with photos and imagery, that was $700 for Photoshop. If I wanted to do 3D animations, that was $3,000. Heck even editing documents meant splurging $300 on Microsoft Office.

    I was making $1,000 a month while paying for my own rent and tuition. I had no moral qualms about illicitly installing software under those circumstances. In the absence of unauthorized copies, I would not have used this software at all – and that would have signified a net reduction in the kind of creative output I desired.

    However, it’s also through that period that I saw the open-source movement make great gains. The principles of this movement was as old as software itself, and it involved putting the code for your software out there for all to see.

    It allowed for communities to form and work together to improve the code. That’s an incredible idea to me – digital sculptors from around the world all coming together to make beautiful statues. The strengths of each levied against the skills of others.

    More people got into the fold, and with it a greater diversity in the type of software available. The private sector pumped developers in to contribute, to their financial benefit – but never at the cost of closing off access to that software. There were more people than ever before doing it in their spare time too, out of the spirit of community.

    Today, the landscape is entirely different than my university days. Software has become far more accessible. You don’t need to spend $700 on Photoshop anymore. Gimp is an open-source project that’s free and an excellent replacement.

    Screenshot from 2013-11-11 11:26:07

    You also don’t need to break the bank for a decent word processor or spreadsheet. LibreOffice does everything you could do in Microsoft Office, for the wonderful price tag of $0.

    Screenshot from 2013-11-11 11:28:12

    You can watch movies (VLC), listen to music (Foobar, Audacious), or surf the web (Firefox, Chrome).

    Screenshot from 2013-11-11 11:41:39

    There is open-source software to edit videos, to make 3D animations, etc. What’s also cool is that  you can get all of these things in languages other than English as well. There are of course open-source alternatives to Windows and OS X, like Linux.

    Screenshot from 2013-11-11 11:53:06

    Screenshot from 2013-11-11 11:53:45

    Screenshot from 2013-11-11 11:54:23

    You deal with open-source software every day. The server feeding you this website is using open-source source software to render and deliver the text you’re reading. If your phone is running Android, that’s open-source. Ever used Firefox or Chrome? Open-source.

    This community has given me so much, and I try to do my own minuscule part to give back. I’ve made a utility to make encryption simple, a tool to compare files visually, and these days I’m working on this thing to make installing software more beginner-friendly.

    Screenshot from 2013-11-11 14:10:52

    That’s not to say that there is no room for proprietary software, or that there is a viable free alternative to everything. There will always be a space for the former, and the latter is growing ever richer.

    What I like though is that this community born out of hacker culture is enabling this tool with unlimited potential to be accessible to more and more people. Combine that with the downward pressure on hardware prices, and I see a very exciting time ahead.

  • Light Coffee Cake (Vegan)

    Light Coffee Cake (Vegan)

    This recipe is adapted from one I saw on The Sioux Chef.

    Dough

    • 2 Cups Flour
    • 2 Tbsp Sugar
    • 1 Tbsp Baking Powder
    • 1 Tsp Salt
    • 2½ Tsp Yeast
    • ⅔ Cup Vegan Milk (eg. Almond Milk)
    • ½ Cup Vegan Butter (eg. Earth Balance)
    1. Grease a 9″ cake pan.
    2. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.
    3. Heat the milk and butter in a sauce pan until it reaches 110 F.
    4. Add wet ingredients to the dry mix.
    5. Combine and place into the cake pan. Press down with your fingers.
    6. Cover with plastic wrap and towel.

    Topping

    • ½ Cup Flour
    • ⅓ Cup Sugar
    • 1 Tsp Cinnamon
    • ¼ Cup Vegan Butter
    • Pinch Salt
    • Maple Syrup
    1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
    2. Combine all ingredients except the maple syrup until crumbly.
    3. Unwrap the dough and drizzle maple syrup on top. Spread it out.
    4. Add crumbly topping.
    5. Place in oven for 15 minutes.

    IMG_20131109_155318

     

    Thoughts

    I liked it. I used a gluten-free flour mix for the topping (the original recipe is all gluten-free), which gave it its distinctive taste. It’s lighter than the other desserts I’ve made recently, which I appreciate. It’s quick to make, doesn’t feel heavy in the stomach, the ingredients are those I usually have on-hand, so I can see me making this again.

  • Vegan Billionaire Bars

    Vegan Billionaire Bars

    There’s a few food blogs I check up on regularly for ideas. One of them is Kevin and Amanda and last month they posted this decadent recipe for Cookie Dough Billionaire Bars.

    I had never heard of billionaire bars before. It’s a bar with a shortbread base, topped with caramel, followed by a layer of cookie dough and with a chocolate ganache.

    There’s a bunch of recipes online and they all seemed to point to the same source: a book called The Cookie Dough Lover’s Cookbook. Anywho, I decided to do a vegan version for a potluck at work.

    Shortbread Base

    • ¼ Cup Brown Sugar
    • 1 Cup Sugar
    • 2 Cup Vegan Butter (eg. Earth Balance)
    • 3 ¾ Cup Flour
    • ½ Tsp Salt
    1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
    2. Grease a lasagne pan and line with parchment paper. This is optional but it’ll make your life easier.
    3. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
    4. Add the flour and salt.
    5. Put the dough in the parchment-lined lasagne pan. Press it down.
    6. Bake until the edges are slightly browned. About 30-35 minutes.
    7. Let cool.

    Caramel

    • 1 Cup Sugar
    • ¾ Cup + 2 Tbsp Vegan Milk (eg. Unsweetend Almond Milk)
    • ¼ Cup Maple Syrup
    • 1 Tbsp Vegan Butter
    • ½ Tsp Vanilla
    • ⅛ Tsp Salt
    1. Mix all ingredients in a sauce pan.
    2. Cook until amber. Stir constantly. About 10 minutes.
    3. Place in ice bath to stop the mixture from cooking further.
    4. Pour the caramel sauce over the cooled shortbread.
    5. Refrigerate for 1 hour, or freeze for 15 minutes.

    Cookie Dough

    • 1 Cup Brown Sugar
    • ½ Cup Vegan Butter
    • 1 Tbsp Maple Syrup
    • ¼ Cup Unsweetend Apple Sauce
    • 1 Tsp Vanilla
    • 1 ½ Cup Flour
    • ¼ Tsp Salt
    • 1 Cup Dairy-Free Chocolate Chips
    1. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
    2. Add the maple syrup, apple sauce and vanilla. Mix until consistent.
    3. Add the flour and salt. Stir until smooth.
    4. Add the chocolate chips. Mix.
    5. Spread over the caramel layer in the pan.
    6. Refrigerate.

    Chocolate Ganache

    • 2 Cups Dairy-Free Chocolate Chips
    • ¾ Cup + 1 Tbsp Vegan Milk
    1. In a small sauce pan on low heat, combine chocolate chips and milk.
    2. Stir until chocolate mixture takes on a glossy finish.
    3. Pour over the cookie dough layer and chill until set. Approximately 30 minutes.

    Thoughts

    It’s very rich, sweet and dense. You can taste the two-plus cups of butter that are within. The caramel recipe I used was pretty runny and ended up getting absorbed by the shortbread. I think if I were to do this again I’d use a different recipe for that, or let the caramel cool a bit first so that it forms a distinctive layer.

    It’s a fun recipe but I don’t see me making it again. It’s too heavy. If you cut it, I recommend doing thin slices.

    IMG_20131031_121832

  • Vegan Almond Cake

    Vegan Almond Cake

    I was looking for a simple vegan cake recipe and stumbled on this one. I found a separate (dairy-free) cream cheese icing recipe to go with the Tofutti container I had in my fridge. The portions make a single-layered cake in an 8″ cake pan. I doubled everything to make a two-layer cake.

    Almond Cake (Original)

    • 1 Cup Unsweetened Almond Milk
    • 1 Tbsp Vinegar
    • 1 1/2 Cup Flour
    • 1 Cup Sugar
    • 1 Tsp Baking Soda
    • 1 Tsp Baking Powder
    • 1/2 Tsp Salt
    • 1/3 Cup Oil
    • 1/4 Cup Water
    • 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
    • 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
    • 1/4 Tsp Almond Extract
    1. Set the oven to 350 F.
    2. Grease and flour the cake pan.
    3. Stir milk and vinegar in a cup.
    4. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
    5. Mix the remaining wet ingredients together in a separate bowl.
    6. Add the milk mixture to the wet ingredients bowl and mix.
    7. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Stir mixture until batter is lump free.
    8. Pour into baking pan and place in the oven until a toothpick/fork inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Approx 35 minutes.

    Almond Cream Cheese Frosting (Original)

    • 1/4 Cup Vegan Butter (eg. Earth Balance)
    • 1/4 Cup Vegan Cream Cheese (eg. Tofutti)
    • 2 Cups Icing Sugar
    • 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
    • 1/4 Tsp Almond Extract
    • Sliced Almonds (Optional)
    1. Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy.
    2. Add in icing sugar and mix until smooth.
    3. Add vanilla and almond extract, stir until consistent.
    4. Apply frosting to a cool cake and top with sliced almonds. I used candy confetti instead of almond slices – it’s whatever you want!

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    Thoughts

    This cake came out dense but moist – which is as the author of the recipe I plagiarized this from said it would be like. Very similar to banana bread. I really like the almond theme, but I’d like for a lighter cake – so I probably won’t make this again.

  • Goodbye Ubuntu, Hello Arch

    Goodbye Ubuntu, Hello Arch

    At the time I first adopted Ubuntu in 2004/2005, Linux really wasn’t a good choice for the average home user. It was easy to screw up the installation, key hardware like your sound card or network adapter wouldn’t work, you didn’t have software to do basic things like video editing, you probably had to open up a terminal window at some point, and most desktop environments looked ten years behind their competitors.

    The Linux desktop today is entirely different, and Ubuntu was part of the story in that shift. They started off by providing an easy installation process and a polished desktop. That’s what drew me into it. They kept up-to-date with the kernels, which meant better hardware support. They worked lots on ease of use around downloading new software and keeping it up-to-date. Meanwhile in the Linux world, software options really started to improve for the general user. GIMP started to become a viable alternative to most Photoshop use-cases. LibreOffice was competitive to Microsoft Office. Hardware support became better than Windows. Desktop Environments like KDE 4, GNOME 3, Unity, Cinnamon best the visuals of Windows and Mac OS.

    Then Ubuntu in efforts to expand to new markets started to make some decisions that didn’t work for me as a desktop user. It was time for me to switch. Question was – to what? There were lots of options these days for a solid home desktop experience.

    I did however want a few things. I didn’t want to have things break by installing my desktop environment of choice, which is Cinnamon. I wanted software repositories that had fresher content than Debian Testing. I wanted those repositories to also be pretty big. I wanted rolling releases. I wanted a distro with a bit of history to prove that it had some staying power. It needed to be able to run Netflix rather painlessly. Hardware needed to be a non-issue.

    I settled on Arch Linux. I’m glad I did. It’s everything I wanted from an operating system.

    However, this would definitively not be the one I’d recommend to Linux newbies. There isn’t an installer with Arch. Installing means that you’re dumped into a terminal emulator, and you have to manually partition, configure the bootloader, install base packages, install Xorg, etc. I had to compile WINE from scratch, which took three hours on my little laptop. Bluetooth didn’t work out of the box with Cinnamon 2.0, I needed to switch to a version of the DE from the user community repository. There was a bit of dependency hell before I discovered the yaourt package manager. In the end, it took me two days to get the system working as I wanted.

    Arch Linux is wonderful for those who want the latest and like tinkering, but terrible for those who just want a Linux system that works. For them, I’d probably recommend Linux Mint or Ubuntu.