Getting to Explore: WSL2!

https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-and-white-laptop-2740956/

Working on a graphical interface system is a delight, but every once in a while, I want to return to the command line style of computing - it's fast, and can have impressive results for a system. Even before Windows came up with a full subsystem, having a virtual machine and a Linux terminal for using some things wasn't uncommon.Thankfully, the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) now exists, and is mature enough to handle most things. And once I experienced this style of computing, and the knowledge that most things were as simple to do with command-line terminals, I want to go back to the command line often.

But being invited to see how much use replay.io would be for a tester helped make this choice easy. Not only did I get a chance to return to a method I enjoy, but a new tool that could help communication between team members. And, now that I think about it, with stakeholders and others that want a visual look at how a project is working, to minimize rework.

I knew I had this on my system at one point, so this wasn't totally new to me. And the changes from WSL1 made the process much easier. I made it through the steps - my chosen distro of Ubuntu is installed.

Now to get replay.io installed!The steps to do this for Windows are not obvious - I located them in a Notion.io document, under construction at the moment. Since this is still in beta, I suspect that more-complete directions will be easier to find.For now, however, this is a great place to start.

One of the delightful, and yet frustrating things about WSL: it's a minimal installation. This does not take up as much space on the computer as a full second operating system would, but it also means that you need to sometimes install packages in ways that Windows users don't expect. And they are a very different thing than installing a new 'app' on Windows.

cURL isn't difficult to do, but sometimes finding the correct package is a challenge. For me, looking in https://packages.ubuntu.com was the fastest way to ensure that the correct, newest versions were installed. And the small thrill of getting a command line item to work for the first time can be its own reward.

The Notion instructions are wonderful, and written to be easy to follow. But I ran into a missing item, and was getting Error: no DISPLAY environment variable specified This seems to be another missing library. After exploring a bit further, the documentation now notes that this is a Windows Insiders build. But, there are directions elsewhere to add a graphical interface without this build. I think I will take the time and explore this option, since I have no current plans to move to Windows 11.

More soon!

30 Days of Postman - for Testers!

https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-and-brown-cat-lying-beside-a-laptop-and-toys-5468268/ Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels Working with developer- focused tools can be a challenge for some testers: we may know what the words mean, but haven't used those skills recently enough to make the tasks simple. Or we may not have ever used them, other than at a quick glance to make sure that what we are getting matches what it should be sending. And some give results that require us to go find another team member to help interpret the results. Being a more-independent tester has always been one of my goals - being able to use the tools that are common in the team, and be able to do at least basic tasks that support my tests with them. Our team used Postman for many of the API tasks that we had, so exploring this tool was a natural fit. There are alternatives it there, both graphical and command line, so feel free to explore! The items that you can do, and tools that ...

Thanks Giving 2018

http://thriveology.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/ThankfulGrateful.jpg It is that season for we Americans: a time to look back at the past year, and count our blessings. Thanksgiving has come to mean different things then while I was growing up - the focus is no longer on what has gone right, but what wrongs were (and, in some cases continue to be) done. I try and focus on what I can do to minimize the wrong, and accept that the past has happened. And then the fun begins - finding all the things to be thankful for! Things have been rocky, at points this year, I'm still unemployed for money, and have had some serious personal issues arise and be dealt with. But, all in all, I think the bad is outweighed by the good. This has been a year of changes: not only have I given up on trying to go back to the way things used to be, I have moved forward - supported, encouraged, and occasionally pulled - into a future that I just now am starting to feel I deserve. I sti...

Where Is It? Part 1 - Inputs

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels I am job-searching, and running into some coding challenges. Most of them are simple - some seem to want one-line solutions that require two cups of coffee and a half-hour to figure out what they want. Others are far above where my skills lie, and these I give a try for, and learn. And then there are the ones that offer, seemingly randomly, a challenge - within my skills (or at least my research skills) - that could be used as part of a larger project that I want to work on. This was the case last week, when I tried for a position that was a bit above what I felt I could do comfortably. The challenge was to let someone enter items, and then give back their location. In a language I am just familiar enough to be a danger to myself in. Happily, and thinking forward about how I could use this as a part of a larger program that would use something like this to interact with the user. And also, this is command line, and thinking of how to s...

Distorted Rovings

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