It takes about 3 minutes to signing up, putting in billing information to having a shiny new SSD VM up and running, starting at a very reasonable $5.
To compare them with my previous hosting companies, Dreamhost gave me cheap ass shared hosting for $10. An Amazon T1.Micro instance and storage is $15 and change.
Security features all over. Upload your public key, root password disabled by default. 2-Factor-Authentication? Setup in seconds.
The control panel has a pretty uncluttered look, because they took off all the shitty knobs that everyone else plasters all over the place and never touches.
Want more knobs? Use their sweet API.

If you wanna give it the ‘ol heave ho, here’s a referral link that’ll put $10 in my pocket.
https://www.digitalocean.com/?refcode=b748068dd135

In the meantime, stay thirsty my friends.

To scratch my own itch, I’ve moved this blog to Amazon on a micro instance. The bonus is that it’s a real, virtualized machine, and I can run my own stack on it however I please. CloudFlare seems nice, they’ll host my DNS records for free and cache bunches of stuff… Varnish is pretty damn brilliant, let’s turn that on. WordPress/W3TC, Apache and PHP APC round out the regular suspects. Giving MySQL some breathing room. Done! Seems like I should start writing again so that I can see if my machine can survive a good Reddit attack.

feelsgoodman.jpg

Same style of humor and writing as you’ve always enjoyed at Fsckin w/ Linux, but a totally different topic. It just feels like there’s not a lot to write about anymore, because I’m able to find the answers I look for pretty easily.

“Any other license or contract that includes terms similar to the terms in paragraphs 6 or 7 of Section 11 of the GNU General Public License version 3.

How bad could it be? Now, I’m not a lawyer. But when I read the sections they don’t like … it’s littered with phrases like “propagate by procuring conveyance” which sounds something like this in my head: “blabbity unicorns blah and cucumbers might take blah over dick tracy the world hurmph.” What exactly does Paragraphs 6 or 7 of Section 11 of the GPLv3 say? Here’s the block of unreadable text in its’ entirety:

If, pursuant to or in connection with a single transaction or arrangement, you convey, or propagate by procuring conveyance of, a covered work, and grant a patent license to some of the parties receiving the covered work authorizing them to use, propagate, modify or convey a specific copy of the covered work, then the patent license you grant is automatically extended to all recipients of the covered work and works based on it.

A patent license is “discriminatory” if it does not include within the scope of its coverage, prohibits the exercise of, or is conditioned on the non-exercise of one or more of the rights that are specifically granted under this License. You may not convey a covered work if you are a party to an arrangement with a third party that is in the business of distributing software, under which you make payment to the third party based on the extent of your activity of conveying the work, and under which the third party grants, to any of the parties who would receive the covered work from you, a discriminatory patent license (a) in connection with copies of the covered work conveyed by you (or copies made from those copies), or (b) primarily for and in connection with specific products or compilations that contain the covered work, unless you entered into that arrangement, or that patent license was granted, prior to 28 March 2007.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Batman! What the fsck does that say? Here’s my plain English translation:

If you (or one of your partners) provide software licensed under GPLv3, and agree not to sue anyone — the agreement not to sue (and the use of patents that are in the software) will apply to all future recipients of that software.

Any patent agreement which attempts to nullify any rights given to you or others in the GPLv3 is invalid. This includes paying a partner distribute the software for you and agreeing not to sue them.

Did the meaning change significantly? I’d say not very much. Is the spirit intact? I strongly believe so. If you violate any part of my “plain english” version, you almost certainly violate the original document. Someone is bound to argue that I’m simplifying this too much — you’re absolutely right. This is the point.

Based on the disk image I chose, VMWare Workstation already knew I was installing Ubuntu. It prompted me for my full name, desired username, and password. Next thing I know VMWare Workstation is blowing past any of the usual prompts during the bootup process of a Ubuntu install and formatting the partition.

Wait… what just happened? Easy Install makes a new installation almost too easy, so far!

Next I’m feasting my eyes on the new 9.10 installer. It’s been so long since I’ve installed Ubuntu, so the installer overhaul is a very welcome addition. I see that there’s been a lot of work done to make things easier on the eyes, as well as streamline the install process.

No more than 10 minutes after, VMWare is done with the initial install and reboot. I’m impressed! Equally impressive is that it pops up immediately with an prompt for my username and password to install VMWare tools… it would have been nice if the login was automated so that I wouldn’t need to login with credentials I setup 5 minutes ago.

After sitting for awhile doing it’s installation proceedure with no progress indicator, it boots me to a command prompt. There’s an X Server error on the screen so I figure there’s gonna be some configuration that I need to do, so no problem. I start typing sudo dpkg-reconf… and then zap! It’s gone.

A quick shimmy of the screen while the VM changes video modes and poof! I’m at the improved login prompt for Karmic. I login and instantly I’m looking at a fresh new install of Ubuntu.

Took about 15 minutes when it was all said and done, including the reboot and mostly automated VMWare Tools install. Very nice. Very similar to how the last time I used VMWare Fusion to run Windows XP it asked for username, password, CD-Key, etc and automated the entire thing.

Now, all I’ve gotta do is install 107 updates for Karmic Koala… perhaps the installer team could have integrated a quick update during the install.

Overall, very impressed. Could have used more bacon.

The only question is what illicit substances were not consumed during the writing of this file.

gnome-cups-manager
——————

Once upon a time there was a printer who lived in the woods. He was a lonely printer, because nobody knew how to configure him. He hoped and hoped for someone to play with.

One day, the wind passed by the printer’s cottage. “Whoosh,” said the wind. The printer became excited. Maybe the wind would be his friend!

“Will you be my friend?” the printer asked.

“Whoosh,” said the wind.

“What does that mean?” asked the printer.

“Whoosh,” said the wind, and with that it was gone.

The printer was confused. He spent the rest of the day thinking and jamming paper (for that is what little printers do when they are confused).

The next day a storm came. The rain came pouring down, darkening the morning sky and destroying the printer’s garden. The little printer was upset. “Why are you being so mean to me?” he asked.

“Pitter Patter, Pitter Patter,” said the rain.

“Will you be my friend?” the printer asked shyly.

“Pitter Patter, Pitter Patter,” said the rain, and then it left and the sun came out.

The printer was sad. He spent the rest of the day inside, sobbing and blinking lights cryptically (for that is what little printers do when they are sad).

Then one day, a little girl stumbled into the printer’s clearing in the woods. The printer looked at this curious sight. He didn’t know what to think.

The little girl looked up at him. “Will you be my friend?” she asked.

“Yes,” said the printer.

“What is your name?” asked the little girl.

“HP 4100TN”, replied the printer.

“My name is gnome-cups-manager” said the little girl.

The printer was happy. He spent the rest of the day playing games and printing documents, for that is what little printers do when they are happy.

Other good readme files:

DV Rack, now Adobe OnLocation CS3.

You see, DV Rack has an internal Database that puts the clips here
and this Database bloody well expects them to still be here the next time it
comes around looking for them. Pay attention because this Database has a
personality much like the deity figure in some religions (say, Pan or Loki). It
is a singularly temperamental, unforgiving, and capricious Database Deity

Carmageddon II

Carmageddon was a violent game. We mean really very violent, the kind of stuff that made politicians and respectable people the world over choke on their high- fibre breakfasts, and denounce it as morally-bankrupt soul-poison.

Scriptomatic 2.0

Now, to be honest, we Microsoft Scripting Guys were never too concerned about being one-hit wonders; after all, you can’t be a one-hit wonder unless you first have a hit. We were sure nobody would ever hear of us, and somehow that seemed better than being remembered and then just as quickly forgotten. Remember baseball’s Joltin’ Joe Charboneau? Exactly.

And DAMN it’s been a long time since I’ve updated. I’m not forgetting about the site… just the new job has been taking quite a bit of time out of my leisure activities, this website being one of them. I made quick work of the dozens of spams that got through the filter and updated WordPress.

Also another problem with working in the games business (especially Xbox 360 development) is that you can’t exactly run Linux all day long and expect to have a productive work environment. I’ve been running a mix of Windows Server 2003, 2008 and XP at home lately to reproduce some things that Microsoft could use some work on next time around.

In other news, I’ve picked up a pretty fantastic NAS device, a Synology DS108j. With an ARM 200MHz processor and gigabit ethernet, it’s fairly impressive. Topping it off with a 1TB Serial ATA hard drive and the fact that it runs a quasi-embedded version of Linux on it just makes it a fantastic product. It does feel a little sluggish at times, but otherwise I have no problems with it. I can plug in a USB drive and press a button to copy everything onto the network, and it also functions as a USB print server. The ajax-ified web interface is 100% class all the way around. Check it out on Newegg if you’re intrigued.

Last notes…. I should add a link on the front page to the contact form for problems with the site. What the hell is up with old posts getting dugg to hell and back? The 189 funny UNIX error messages article saw something around 40 thousand visitors in a 24 hour period last week… I’m glad that some of the people on digg finally enjoyed it.

*shrug*

Let’s hope that the next update isn’t so far out. In fact, I promise the next thing I write will be sooner rather than later. 😉

How much can you spend?
What computer hardware do you need?
How will you interact with the computer?
How will the computer be powered?
Do you want any special features?
Where is everything going to fit inside the car?
Let’s find out.

Budgeting for a carputer DIY project is difficult.  Unless you’ve completed a similar project recently, you may not be able to find the tools needed for the job even if you own them.  Before buying computer hardware, tools, or even spending a dime, stop and estimate the total budget for the project.  A good rule of thumb is to take your initial estimate, and add 50% to the total.  If don’t have a significant tool collection already, be aware before you start that the right tools for the job can cost a significant amount of money.  Plan ahead and shop online for the best deals and make a checklist of everything you plan on purchasing, it can only save you money and plenty of headaches in the long run.

The hardware side of things is not a simple equation.  No two carputers are going to be the same, since each installation has different needs. I’ve seen some full size computers with quad-core desktop processors installed in a car!  Most people go for something smaller, since much more than a 1GHz is overkill for playing music and watching the occasional DVD.

Using a mouse and keyboard is impractical and not the safest way to control a carputer, so something a bit easier to use is in order.  Touchscreens provide a centralized display unit for the PC and with a driver-friendly interface, can be just as safe as any factory installed navigation system.  Two notable manufactures of touchscreens are Lilliput and Xenarc.  Both provide different sizes to fit nearly any car, features and native device drivers for Linux. 

Powering the carputer is one of the first problems you might think of when envisioning putting a car into a computer.  Some computers can be powered by a DC to AC converter, but I do not recommended for a permanent installation.  DC to AC adapters are notorious for introducing alternator whine into the audio system.  The best option in most cases is to use a specialized DC to DC converter that will take the 12 volt output from the car, and convert it into the necessary voltages for the carputer and plug right into the motherboard.  If your system will be using a laptop, it should be relatively easy to find a DC adapter that will plug into a car power socket.

Special features a carputer is capable of are endless.  Anything you can do on a regular PC can be done in the car.  Internet access provided by most mobile phones and a Bluetooth tether can provide a valuable asset for any commuter: GPS navigation with real-time traffic updates.  Another example would be backup camera that automatically switches on when you put the car in reverse.  If you can imagine something, it is not only possible, but someone has probably already done the legwork required to get it working.

Where the carputer is installed is dependant on space constraints, and is completely up to you. 

The planning stages are critical to this DIY project.  If you’re not careful and ask questions along the way, it’s reasonable to expect wasting money on components that are incompatible with each other or not suited for the purpose you need.  You will also need to be familiar with the electrical system in the car.  Wiring diagrams will go a long way towards knowing which wires you can use.  Most motherboards and all laptops have on-board sound cards which may be more than suitable for the project.  If you plan on using a FM modulator or auxiliary input on a head unit, you probably don’t need to upgrade to an external USB or PCI sound card.  You may run into unforeseen problems with on-board sound (engine noise) that may require using an external sound card to isolate the issue.

On the hardware side of things, some choices were deliberate, and others were just lying around the house.  I used the following components in my build:

Lilliput 7″ 629T LCD Touchscreen
Asus EeePC 4G
LG External DVD Burner
Pharos iGPS-500 USB GPS
Generic Bluetooth Adapter
LaCie External 500GB Hard Drive
Four-port USB Hub

I chose the Lilliput screen for the excellent sunlight-readable display and slim LCD internals with LED backlighting.  Other affordable options were explored and in the end it simply came down to what was available for the best price.  There is no “right way” to choose a display, just find one that has a few user reviews and go with it.  Don’t be tempted by the perfect product that claim to be shipping soon that have been announced yet remain in perpetual development. 

The Asus EeePC sub-notebook is a near-perfect choice for this application considering size, power, and screen.  It runs Linux to begin with, so potential problems with drivers are easily avoided.  Also it has its own battery power, so it can be powered on independently of the vehicle electrical system, avoiding unnecessary car battery discharge.  The seven inch display on the EeePC runs at the same resolution as similarly sized carputer displays.  The only downside is no optical drive, and finding one that would power on with a single USB cable was time-consuming.  For GPS capabilities, I selected the Pharos iGPS-500 after verifying Linux compatibility, positive reviews, and price.  Everything else was lying around the house.  The only item that is powered by an AC to DC adapter is the external hard drive, because of the oddly shaped power plug and reluctance to slice open the only cable I have for it.

Depending on the level of your expertise and time available, you may want to cut the project into multiple weekend projects.  I split my project up into four sections:  Radio (Head Unit) relocation, software configuration, touchscreen install and wiring.  Due to inclement weather, the touchscreen installation ended up taking one weekend for fabrication and another weekend for the actual install into the dash.

To move the radio from the dash to the glove box required adding 2 feet of wiring and removing the glove box.  I used 14 gauge wire purchased at the local hardware store and quick splice connectors lying around my toolbox.  I bought a single-DIN under-dash mounting kit from Metra.  After flipping it upside-down, it needed a little work with the Dremel tool to cut it to length for a nice fit inside the glove box.  The most difficult part was to get the wire harness for the radio around support beams inside the dash.

For software, I tested LinuxICE (In Car Entertainment) distribution.  LinuxICE is paired with nGhost front-end for a driver-friendly UI.   It is currently in development and suitable for basic needs, however I wanted a bit more.  I decided to go with the latest release of Ubuntu, and the only issues that I ran into with the UI was the size of fonts and icons with the low resolution of a 7″ screen.  A customized Ubuntu installation can be potentially more useful than a specialized distribution.  For GPS capability, the best option for this particular application is RoadNav, which has decent resolution maps and renders maps in 3D with the drivers point of view in mind.  During setup, I installed proprietary codecs for DVD playback, MP3 and WMA audio, as well as Xvid and DivX video.  Compiz Fuzion is not generally feasible to use on the small display.

The touchscreen installation was the most difficult portion of my installation and took much longer than I first expected.  I have very little fabrication experience.  After reading many fabrication how-to guides for people with no skill, I was confident enough to take the Lilliput touchscreen housing apart, and took out the Dremel tool.  I cut the original LCD bezel to fit the area provided by moving the radio.  Some initial difficulties were encountered by using the highest speed setting on the Dremel, which resulted in the cutoff disc getting too hot and melted plastic.  After switching to a lower speed setting and making shorter cuts, I had no more problems with this.  Additional removal of some plastic on the rear of the center console was needed to get a perfect fit.

To permanently mount the bezel in the dash, I tacked it in place using a hot-glue gun so it wouldn’t move around and used two-part plastic epoxy to fuse the two peices of plastic together.  The Lilliput LCD has several internal printed circuit boards which needed to be mounted behind the screen.  I did a test fitting with foam-backed poster board to electronically isolate the boards and avoid shorting them out.  After everything looked good, everything was sandwiched together.  The ribbon cables inside are extremely delicate.  After everything was all set, I powered it on to double check everything was working.  Installation into the dash once everything was fabricated was more time consuming than I expected.  There were some clearance issues, which eventually were solved by removing the audio/video/power cable and snapping the console back in place.  I was able to reach behind the dash to connect the cable once it was installed. 

The solid state hard drive and Celeron M processor of the EeePC uses very little power and was one of the main reasons why I chose it.  I purchased a car adapter for it and spliced it into the existing wiring for the power socket in my car.  To get the audio signal from the EeePC to the car speakers, I used a 1/8th inch audio jack extender from the output of the Eee to the auxiliary input on my head unit.  Lots of zip ties and electrical tape were used to get everything tidied up.  The laptop went under the driver seat, in a small tray fastened to the interior carpet with velcro to avoid having it shift while driving.

I have purposefully avoided making this article into a step-by-step how-to guide.  Each carputer is a unique creation of the person installing it.  There is no way every possible configuration could be expounded upon, so I’ve given you the basic knowledge needed to get started and some extrapolation on what, when, where, how and why my carputer installation succeeded.  The entire project emphasizes the flexibility of open source software, which is one of its core strengths.  I’ve looked into various options available for other operating systems, and although most commercially and proprietary licensed products may have undergone more spit-shine treatment than what is available for Linux, they certainly do not allow the user to exercise their personal do-it-yourself creativity as well as a Linux-based carputer can.

Wayne Richardson is a IT administrator for a startup game developer in Austin, Texas.  When he isn’t suffering from rug burned love handles (don’t ask, long story) while installing a carputer and ferociously wielding a Dremel tools, he runs a popular Linux blog called “fsckin w/ linux” at http://www.fsckin.com

Sidebars:

Reccomended Tools:

* Dremel Tool
* Screwdrivers
* Pliers
* Wire cutters
* Wire crimper
* Scissors
* Soldering Iron
* Hot-glue gun
* Bondo
* Sanding paper
* Paint

Tips and Tricks:

* Running wires along existing paths when possible, which will save time and the end result will not be a rats nest of cabling strewn about your cabin.
* To avoid possible signal degradation, do not run audio and power wires together.
* Set reasonable goals:  Plan on spending twice the amount of time you expect, just in case something doesn’t go quite as expected.
* Have backup transportation available for trips to the hardware store.
* Check local laws before using your carputer on the road.  It may be illegal in some areas to have a movies in the field of view of the driver.
* The service or parts department of your local car dealership can usually bring up very high detail views of the components in your car on demand and possibly assist you over the phone.
* An internet connected laptop or PDA in your work area can be a godsend.
* If a product is out of stock, pick a date you’ll be willing to wait for it and stick with it.

Possible Features:
*     Music: CD audio, MP3, WMA, Ogg, FLAC, Sattelite Radio, AM/FM Radio, USB Turntable
*     Video: DVD, VCD, Xvid, DivX, Rear-view camera, TV Tuner
*     Navigation: GPS, Geocaching
*     Internet: EDGE, EVDO, Wi-fi 802.11b/g, weather, live traffic data
*     Cellphone: Bluetooth, USB synchronizing
*     Diagnostics: RPM/Temp/Speedometer, ECU error codes
*     Video Games: Native or Emulated
*     Vehicle control:  Windows, door locks, trunk latch, climate control.
*     Other:  Radar detectors, Printers

References:
MP3Car Forum FAQs
LinuxICE
Car Wiring Diagrams
Customizing Ubuntu 
Sharing iPhone Internet
GpsDrive
Touchkit Drivers
Asus EeePC Car Adapter

In other news….

It’s been nearly a month since my last post – Yikes! Let’s list the new things in my life since my last post:

City – Austin is one of my favorites cities I’ve ever lived in.
Job – Doing IT for a game development company. Who can ask for a better job?
Car – I’m now a proud owner of an Infiniti G35 Coupe. It is quite possibly the best car I’ve ever dreamed of owning.
Game Console – Did I mention the XBOX 360 is compatible with Linux? Definitely topic for an article. 🙂

So what else is new? Ohhh right. Linux Journal put the kibosh on what I’ve been calling my “secret project,” since it’s the largest article I’ve ever written and took about a month to finish. The Journal decided that they don’t want it, I’ll let you guys have it. It’s in exactly the same format as submitted it to LJ. Enjoy!

From: michaell260@hotmail.com
Date: Fri, May 23, 2008 at 6:22 PM
Subject: Software

Software up to 75% off retail.

Most of the major programs are to expensive for most of us to justify buying. Now you can. Your opportunity is here.

Operating Systems, Business Software, Internet Security Suites. If I don’t have it, I’ll get it. Tell me what program you need.

Here are some examples:

Vista Ultimate w/SP1
QuickBooks Pro 2008
Microsoft Office Professional
Adobe Acrobat 8 Standard
Rosetta Stone Spanish Level 1-2-3 for Mac/PC
Chief Architect Better Homes & Gardens
Macromedia Flash Pro v8.0 PC/Mac

These are just a few. Let me know the program you want.

Shipping is free.
Michael

Those are some fantastic deals! His claims of up to 75 percent off retail is amazingly quite accurate. If I were to buy a copy of each piece of software he is offering for a mere $655, I would have spent right about $2800. By shopping with Michael, I would have saved 76.6%.

The problem is, I didn’t want any of the software he was offering. He says in his email that if he doesn’t have it, he’ll get it. I’ve been needing to get a copy of Ubuntu 8.04 64-bit Server Edition, but haven’t quite got around to it yet, so I sent our new buddy Michael an email asking if he could provide a legal copy for me.

Date: Fri, May 23, 2008 at 6:40 PM
Subject: Re: Software

Michael,

I’m not very technical so please bear with me. My technical support said I need several legal copies (very important they are legal because this is for my business) of Ubuntu 8.04 64-bit Server Edition.

Can you supply that? You have very good prices, so hopefully you can get me a good deal.

-Wayne

Strangely enough, I got a reply just a short while later!

I don’t have that in house so will have to go shopping. Get back to you soon.

In a short 15 minutes he found what I needed and helpfully provided a download location for me.

Yes, I can supply it and you are going to like the price. It is 100% legal.

http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.04/

It’s all yours.
Michael

Haha! I absolutely love playing the village idiot screwing around with folks… in other news, I’ve been extremely busy for the last few weeks. I’m moving 1500 miles to Texas for a new job. I’ll be the IT ninja for an amazingly kickass game developer in Austin.

The last bit of news I have is that fsckin w/ linux is going to see its 1 millionth unique visitor today! As of this moment we’re right about 3,000 away, which is not much at all, should happen by about lunchtime. I was planning to throw a party in celebration, but unfortunately I’ll be finishing up packing instead of having a few beers with friends and family.

Ahh well. I’d rather have a new job than a silly party.

Thanks to everyone who has ever promoted my site in any way, whether it be a digg here, a comment there, or a link with a quick blurb — without you I’d never see a million visitors in a paltry 9 months. I’m absolutely astounded by how many opportunities fsckin w/ linux has given me on a professional and personal level. Thank you again, and have a few beers for me, alright?

-Wayne

GIMP on the other hand, with limited resources hears the crowd of folks basically asking for a free $600 Photoshop clone. That’s not what the GIMP wants or needs. If you want Photoshop, go buy the damn thing!

One guy even went so far as to fork GIMP by creating GIMPshop which added the main window workspace design that Photoshop uses. People liked it, I used it for awhile myself. Having such a huge carrot hanging in front of their heads is no easy task. And if one of these developers went postal one of these end users asked the same fsckin question the last guy did, I wouldn’t be very surprised.

That said, it looks like fantastic progress is being made on GIMP 2.5, and the interface is fantastic to be putting it mildly. OHHHH it’s so good. Adobe was right, this is the way to do things, much more intuitive as well. Too bad it’s taken over a decade of development to realize this fact.

So what I did was write a bash script to update or install GIMP from SVN, and compile it so that your original 2.4 installed will NOT be touched and can be launched normally using the command “gimp” or “gimp-2.4”

That said, I’ve tested this on two machines. My nearly new install of 8.04 with few extra programs installed. I started the project manually, but then found quite a bit more to just get it all working at once. Trust me folks… if you install 2.5 and you aren’t satisfied, I’ll give you double your money back. That’s a promise.

The only thing I’ve noticed so far is some “weirdness” occurring when trying to run both versions at the same time.

Updates, patches, suggestions to this script are more than welcome. I’ll say that my code not formally licensed, but don’t claim you wrote this or strip the authors section out of the header. I inevitably find you and DMCA you to hell and back if you do, just like those silly CoreAVC guys. PR Stunt for the win!

#!/bin/bash
# gimpsvn.sh — Installs or updates The GIMP from SVN
# Usage: gimpsvn.sh [install | update]
#
# Original instructions by http://www.myscienceisbetter.info/
# Updated instructions by Thai at http://dt.in.th/
# Script by Wayne Richardson at http://fsckin.com/
#
# Takes about 20 minutes on an Intel Core2Quad Q6600 on a fresh install.
# Be patient!
# This uses Wajig, which can easily install reccomended/suggested packages.
# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wajig
#
# Most recent version is at:
# http://www.fsckin.com/2008/05/07/gimpsvnsh-installs-or-updates-gimp-25-from-svn
#
# Variable(s):
#   makeops -- the number of cores your system has, generally -j(cores+1)
makeops='-j5'

if [ $# -ne 1 ]
then
echo “Specify an command line option: install or update.”
exit 1
fi

if [ "$1" = "install" ]
then
echo Installing Gimp from SVN in 5 seconds, CTRL+C to abort.
sleep 5
sudo mkdir /opt/gimpsvn
sudo mkdir /opt/gimpsvn/lib
sudo mkdir /opt/gimpsvn/lib/pkgconfig
#sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install wajig -y
sudo apt-get build-dep gimp -y
sudo wajig installrs gimp -y
sudo apt-get install libavcodec-dev libavcodec1d libavformat1d -y
sudo apt-get install libavformat-dev graphviz graphviz-cairo graphviz-dev -y
sudo apt-get install libfaad-dev libfaac-dev ruby-gnome2 gtk-doc-tools -y
sudo apt-get install subversion automake1.9 asciidoc flex checkinstall -y
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/gimpsvn/lib
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/opt/gimpsvn/lib/pkgconfig
for i in babl gegl gimp; do svn co http://svn.gnome.org/svn/$i/trunk/ \
$i; cd $i; ./autogen.sh --prefix=/opt/gimpsvn && make $makeops && sudo \
checkinstall; cd ..; done
echo “”
echo “Completed install from SVN into the following location:”
echo “/opt/gimpsvn/bin/gimp-2.5″
exit 1
fi

if [ "$1" = "update" ]
then
echo Updating Gimp from SVN in 5 seconds, CTRL+C to abort.
sleep 5
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/gimpsvn/lib
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/opt/gimpsvn/lib/pkgconfig
svn co http://svn.gnome.org/svn/gimp/trunk/ gimp
for i in babl gegl gimp; do svn co http://svn.gnome.org/svn/$i/trunk/ \
$i; cd $i; make $makeops && sudo checkinstall; cd ..; done
echo “”
echo “Completed update from SVN into the following location:”
echo “/opt/gimpsvn/bin/gimp-2.5″
exit 1
fi

echo “Specify an command line option: install or update.”
exit 1

It’s pretty damn interesting, to say the least. If you’ve never heard one of the old guys talking about UNIX, you’re missing out. There’s so much public information available, but to actually hear things explained by the perpetrators and see and hear evidence that has never been made public before is really eye opening.

SCOs Darl McBride took the stand yesterday, and it was a sight to behold, have a read about it over at Ars.

It has plenty of juicy quotes like this:

“Linux is a copy of UNIX, there is no difference [between them].” — Darl McBride

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!

Moving on to about what happened today, Jay Peterson took the stand for SCO, he worked for Bell Labs — you know, the place that saw the invention of the transistor, then USL, then Novell, and finally SCO. Interesting guy, and I’ll be writing more about him for sure.

Bill Brodrick also testified that he worked for USL and moved through companies just like Jay did. I’ll be damned, but he admitted to making a 420 page “spreadsheet” in Word using the table function. Perhaps SCO doesn’t hire the brightest of the bunch — OpenOffice.org would have saved this guy a ton of time and trouble.. 🙂

Also taking the stand was Jean Acheson, who started working with USL in 91 and also continued through the company food chain like Jay and Bill. She did invoices for software royalties and had all sorts of numbers in her head.

Probably the least interesting person to take the stand (at least for me) was Jeff Hunsaker, the proverbial asshole hotshot salesman who claims to have “no technical knowledge at all.” I’m pretty sure he knows more than he let on. Just like every other salesman I’ve ever met, he played dumb the entire time he was on the stand.

If you’re in Salt Lake City, the trial will resume at 9:00am (be early!!) at room 220 and run for about 1.5 hours or so and we should have a judgment in Novell’s favor tomorrow. If Novell actually wins 20 million in damages, I’ll take anyone who shows up out for lunch on me. 🙂