Tuned In on Linux

When I was using Linux regularly a few years ago, I found a nice little Internet radio app called Radio Tray. As the name suggests, it sat on the system tray at the bottom of the screen and allowed one to tune in Internet feeds from broadcast radio stations worldwide, as well as Internet only stations. Earlier today, I went in search of Radio Tray to install it on my recently-acquired Linux laptop, and to my dismay, I found it was no more, at least as far as Linux Mint is concerned. Undeterred, I decided to see what equivalents were available. 

After downloading and trying several apps, I found and settled upon one called Tuner, which offers many of the same features that I had enjoyed in Radio Tray. It includes a collection of genres, such as rock, jazz, folk, and classical, and gives users the ability to 'star' favorite stations for quick access.

One genre missing from the list is 'Talk', which in Radio Tray included several sub-categories, including old time radio, which is what I used it for most, to listen to shows from radio's golden age. At first, I was a bit disappointed at this glaring omission, until I began playing with the Search function and found I could create my own collection of stations, even if the software did not allow me to create and populate my own genres.

Upon entering the phrase "old time", I was presented about a dozen stations that offer this type of programming. I was able to save the ones I liked in my library by starring them. I was also able to go off-list and add a few stations that I wanted, and that Tuner was able to find. 

While it is not a perfect substitute for Radio Tray, it will get the job done and make my computing time a little more tuneful.

Tom Swift Invents the Twentieth Century

I have been an avid reader my whole life, and I attribute that in part to the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift books I read when I was growing up, from about age six or seven until about 12 or 13. Often, my grandmother and I would read them together, trading off chapters. I am very thankful for the love of books and reading she helped instill in me.

As with many things in life, I eventually outgrew those juvenile series books; in fact, I remember a major turning point at the age of twelve, when I discovered Ian Fleming's James Bond novels. Meanwhile, the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries enjoyed a resurgence in popularity on television during my early teenage years, and some of my peers began reading the books at a later age than I had. My mom began loaning my copies out during this time, and I didn't always get them back. 

While I never completely forgot about the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift, they became less and less important to me and I completely lost track of my copies, until a few years ago when my dad handed me a box of my old Hardy Boys books, with one Tom Swift title among them, and tried to explain to me what they were, even though I knew them well. It is interesting to me that as a child, I found the Hardy Boys more approachable, but as an adult, I'm more interested in Tom Swift, especially the original titles, published beginning in 1910.

Tom Swift was one among several juvenile fiction series created by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and published by Grosset and Dunlap. The books were written by contract writers from outlines supplied by the syndicate. This was a novel (pardon the pun), and somewhat controversial business model for the time, as children's books intended solely for entertainment were largely unheard of. Up until this time, most children's books were intended to be instructional in nature, for the purpose of instilling proper values in the children who read them. Many adults at the time decried books published by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and other similar organizations as potentially undermining the moral fiber of young people, much the way rock-n-roll music would be condemned a few decades later, ironically by generations who had grown up reading Tom Swift, The Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew.

Unlike the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, which seem to exist in a chronological continuum where time progresses but the characters don't age, instead remaining perpetually in their late teens, Tom Swift has actually gone through several generations:

The first series of books, published between 1910 and roughly 1940, are now retroactively referred to as "Tom Swift, Sr." In this iteration, Tom was an 18-year-old self-taught inventor, who lived with his widowed father, Barton Swift,an inventor in his own right. Modeled on the likes of Thomas Edison, Tom, along with his best friend, Ned Newton and his sweetheart, Mary Nestor, are often challenged to create new inventions to meet technological challenges, or assist the U.S. government. Tom, for instance, is granted a draft deferment in World War I, or the European War, as it is referred to in the books, to enable him to continue developing military technologies for the U.S. and its allies.

 Other characters in the series include an eccentric neighbor named Wakefield Damon, who accompanies Tom and Ned on many of their adventures, an aged African American handyman, named Eradicate "Rad" Sampson, and an Amazonian giant named Koku. These three are a source of comic relief, often seen as decidedly un-PC to modern sensibilities. While some would see that as grounds for these books to be banned, burned, and buried for all eternity, I believe a modern reader must look upon them as historical artifacts of their time, not so much to excuse the attitudes expressed in them, but to learn from them.

As the first Tom Swift series was drawing to a close, the Stratemeyer Syndicate granted a reprint license to Whitman, a publishing company best known for its Big Little Books series of picture books. Although Whitman held a license for the entire series, they reprinted only the final ten titles, under the Whitman imprint, and then added two of their own under their heavily illustrated Better Little Books line. Printed on cheap paper and without illustrations, these copies are less desirable to collectors today, but have allowed many to complete their collections affordably by upending the common phenomenon by which the last titles of a series are exceedingly rare and priced accordingly.

The Tom Swift franchise lay fallow for more than a decade, with no new titles emerging until the mid-1950s, when the Stratemeyer Syndicate determined the series was ripe for a reboot, perhaps in response to another series, Rick Brant, that was published by Grosset & Dunlap, independently of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, and drew heavily on the premise of the earlier Tom Swift books.

At the same time the syndicate was revising (some would argue dumbing down) the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books, shortening them from 25 chapters to 20, and toning down things like violence and racial stereotypes, and in some cases doing complete rewrites, it took a different approach with Tom Swift, by releasing a new series, with direct chronological continuity from the earlier series. Centering on the exploits of Tom Swift, Jr., son of Tom Swift, Sr. and Mary Nestor, Tom's friend Bud Barclay, and Charles "Chow" Winkler, a former chuck wagon cook and comic relief character that draws a bit of inspiration from earlier characters like Damon Wakefield and Eradicate Sampson.

Published between 1954 and 1971, the Tom Swift Jr. stories are more firmly in the realm of science fiction than its parent series, drawing on the Atomic age for inspiration, with many stories set in outer space and in other ways far beyond the realm of contemporary technology. 

The franchise again lay fallow during 1970s and early '80s, during which a handful of Tom Swift, Jr. titles were re-published in paperback editions, but no new titles would emerge until the mid '80s, when a new series, Tom Swift III was released. Also during this period came a parting of ways between the Stratemeyer Syndicate and Grosset & Dunlap, as the two organizations were acquired by rival companies. The Stratemeyer Syndicate went to Simon and Schuster, while Grosset & Dunlap became part of Random House. 

In the process, Grosset & Dunlap sued Stratemeyer, claiming ownership of the book series it had published under contract. The courts ultimately made a ruling worthy of King Solomon, stating that the syndicate, and thus Simon & Schuster, owned the intellectual property of the various series, including Tom Swift, which gave them the right to produce new titles in the series, while Grosset & Dunlap owned the publishing rights to the back catalog titles it had previously published under contract. Under those terms, Simon & Schuster has continued, under its various imprints, to bring out additional Tom Swift adventures for successive generations.

Today, the earliest Tom Swift titles have fallen into the public domain. Most titles of the original book series, along with a couple of Tom Swift, Jr. titles that fell into public domain due to clerical errors, are readily available online as ebooks and audiobooks, transcribed by volunteers and offered via Websites like the Guthenberg Project. Enterprising entrepreneurs are even offering print-on-demand paperback copies and omnibus collections, as well as digital text and audio editions on CD-ROM. 

Over the years, Tom Swift has inspired a number of authors and inventors, including science fiction authors Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein, Gone with the Wind author Margaret Mitchell, inventor, author and futurist Ray Kurzweil, and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. 

The TASER, used by law enforcement as a non-lethal means of subduing suspects, even takes its name from the title of a Tom Swift book. TASER is an acronym for "Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle", drawn directly from the title "Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle". Interestingly, Tom Swift is never given a middle name or initial in the books. It was added by the TASER's inventor to avoid calling it the "Teaser".

Without a doubt, Tom Swift had a significant impact on the twentieth century, and that for a fictional character, that is his greatest legacy.

Nine Linux Myths Busted

If you've read any of my recent posts, you will have noticed a little bit of a trend. I'm once again excited about Linux, after recently acquiring a refurbished laptop with Linux Mint loaded onto it in place of Windows, and subsequently setting up my old Windows laptop as a dual-boot system with Linux Mint alongside Windows. It's quite a surreal experience, though, to be met with blank looks when I try to share my newfound enthusiasm with others. If I'm lucky, I get a question or statement expressing reluctance to consider the subject. In the process, I've found myself attempting to bust certain myths about Linux in an attempt to assuage some of people's fears and misconceptions. Below are nine of those myths (in no particular order) and my, hopefully helpful responses:

Myth #1: I'll have to learn how to use my computer all over again. Not necessarily. Several Linux distributions have interfaces that look very similar to Windows. The best way to begin is to do things in Linux the same way you would in Windows or Mac OS. Chances are that will work.

Myth #2: You have to be a programmer to use Linux. While it is true that many Linux users are programmers, it is not exclusively for programmers. Most popular Linux distributions use a graphical interface by default and user's can point and click, just like in other popular operating systems.

Myth #3: I can't use Linux because I don't know how to use the Terminal. While it can be useful to know a few basic Terminal commands, it definitely isn't a make-or-break proposition. Windows and Mac OS also have command line terminals, into which you can type commands instead of pointing and clicking, and it is equally possible to get a long day-to-day without using them.

Myth #4: If I put Linux on my computer, I'll lose all of my data. This depends on how you install Linux. While installing Linux in place of Windows will erase all existing data, you can easily create a dual-boot system, installing Linux alongside Windows, and leaving 100 percent of what's already on your computer intact. 

Myth #5: I might get the 'wrong' Linux. Linux does come in a wide variety of distributions, or distros, with features to appeal to different users' needs. That said, most distros allow one to boot the operating system from a CD or USB drive and effectively take it for a 'test drive' before installing it. Bearing in mind that things will run slower this way, you can still get a good feel for whether you'll like it before you install it. Once you find the one you want, you can install it in place of, or alongside, your existing operating system and enjoy it running to its full potential.

Myth #6: It's too hard to get everything working on Linux. This may well have been the case years ago, when Linux was in its relative infancy and many things like print and WiFi drivers had to be configured manually through the terminal. Today, setup is much more automated and transparent to the end user.

Myth #7: I can't run my favorite apps in Linux. While it may well be true that you can't run the desktop Windows version of your favorite app, there are often viable substitutes and workarounds available; for instance, LibreOffice largely duplicates the functions of Microsoft Office, and GIMP is a useful replacement for Photoshop. Some applications, such as Firefox, Thunderbird, and Zoom, do have Linux versions. Many Windows applications can be run via an emulator called WINE, and Web versions of popular apps abound. The bottom line is, where there's a will, there's likely a way. 

Myth #8: I've never used Linux before: Actually, chances are you have. Linux is everywhere, but largely behind the scenes. Most major Websites run on Linux servers, and devices we use every day run on Linux, whether we realize it or not. Two major examples are the Android operating system for smart phones and tablets, and Chrome OS, on which Chromebooks run. Both of these are built on versions of Linux.

Myth #9: Linux is unstable, and therefore dangerous to use. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. A variant of Unix, Linux is very stable, more stable, in fact, than Windows. Users also tend to find Linux runs faster and more efficiently on their computers than the Windows OS that came on them.