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Articles for tag: charts, creating, efficiency, flowcharts, graphs, learning, maps, mindmaps, thinking, tools, yEd

yEd graph editor promotional banner with diagram screenshots

Learning yEd: A Working Reference

After many years of working with all sorts of flow charting and mapping software, I recently discovered yED quite by accident. If Draw.io is a Jaguar, then yED is a Rolls Royce and a Lambo all in one. Teslas are not in this race! 😊 What’s in the ‘tin’? It’s best to say how it ...

Man typing at computer with Espanso shortcuts screen

Keyboard triggers in Espanso

Recently I moved to Espanso both on Windows and BigLinux for a free and easy way to create shortcuts for key phrases used. There are now several articles on this site about the learning. That means something. Espanso on Windows is easier to setup. It can output images, text, and a whole lot more – ...

Captain Walker

Understanding Editorial Passes: A Guide for New Authors

This post is really a note to myself. The guide is me teaching myself as a new author. The bottom line is that ‘writing’ books is not just about making sentences and having them make sense. It’s about thousands of words painting pictures. This is very different to writing a journal paper or some academic ...

The Storyteller’s Guide to Espanso Logic

Most of us spend our lives fighting with our keyboards. We have these thoughts—medical observations, legal arguments, complex lines of code—but the physical act of typing it out over and over feels like a tax on our time. When I first looked at Espanso, I almost closed the window. It looked like a wall of ...

Captain Walker

Resolving OneDrive I/O Stalls and System Instability

You don’t expect an easy life with Linux. It’s a constant learning curve – but not for everybody! Following the OneDriver buildout 2 days ago problems emerged progressively. All my notes were taken to Gemini and we worked on it together. Tip: when using AIs explain that you’re a “total noob.. to go slowly and ...

Captain Walker

The Linux Mindset: Unlearning the Windows Way

If you’ve spent the last decade or two using Windows, your brain has been subtly “programmed”. You don’t just use a computer; you use it the Microsoft way. You know where the “Start” button is, you know that a .exe file is something you double-click, and you know that when things go wrong, you probably ...

Man working on laptop using BigLinux

Linux Migration Log: Dell Inspiron

This one follows from: Man vs. Machine (Spoiler: The Machine Lost). But on this occasion it was Man and Machine [AI] working together in harmony. The primary motivation for this migration was to reclaim the performance of a 2018 Dell Inspiron 7786. While the hardware remains capable, running Windows 11 felt increasingly sluggish and heavy. ...

WordPress written on chalkboard

WordPress Workflow: Pages, Elements, and Patterns

WordPress is the world’s most popular content management system. It provides the core software for a website, handling everything from publishing content to managing users. However, by default, its design and customisation options are limited. Building a WordPress site with GeneratePress (GP) and GenerateBlocks (GB) is a highly effective way to create a fast, stable, ...

Generator powering air fryer with food.

Generator fixed

Well, some people must be laughing and so am I! Yes – I know I’m crazy. Tell me something I don’t know! 😆 This article is my ‘notes’ in case I need to refresh my memory in the future. It may help someone out there. So the backstory to this was from my previous post ...

Fuel pump showing petrol and diesel options.

Petrol is not just petrol

Well you (meaning me) live and learn. I made an assumption over 40-odd years that petrol was a particular molecular compound. It turns out from my investigation that it is a mixture of compounds. Ahhh.. so somebody will be wondering, “Why the devil is he researching that, now? Has he not got anything better to ...

How is ChatGPT evolving?

Unless you’ve been buried under a Rock or you are Rip van Winkle himself, you will not have heard of ChatGPT. But the way it works is that the many will say, “I don’t understand it – I’m not a tech geek so I left it alone. Furthermore, the government said it could be dangerous! ...

Struggling to cope

No – I’m not struggling to cope. The world struggles to cope with certain types of phenomena. What types are those? Slow burn or insidious [there are online dictionaries if needed] Fast burn: explosive evolutionary path. Those that do not immediately confront the senses. I decided to have (yet another) conversation with ChatGPT.  Of late ...

Learning how to use software

Lots of people are content to refer to themselves as luddites when it comes to things technological. The main reason for that is the sense of camaraderie and support from equally dim people. How would I know? I’ve seen and experienced the phenomenon too many times over the last 20 years. Cognitive miserliness The underlying ...

What is mindset?

People use the word ‘mindset‘ fairly often. But what does it mean? Many will now reach for their dictionaries and Google. When I think about how others refer to mindset, I get the impression that they mean the person’s mind is set in a certain way. I think that’s partially true. People use mindset often ...

Neat trick with Camtasia and Snagit

Some people – there are always ‘some people’ – will not know about Camtasia and Snagit. The Semmelweis reflex takes care of that lot. The way it works is that if you hear about something that sounds technical or comes from somebody you think is a nerd, you move on swiftly. After all ‘what’s it ...

A bit of surgery

Well no, it wasn’t surgery on me. It was on my phone. About a year ago my Asus Zenfone 3 Ultra ZU680KL was giving up the ghost. So, I bought a Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Pro. The problem with the Zenfone was that it was losing power rapidly after charging. I seriously liked that phone ...