IronLinux.org

Southeast Linux Fest … Coming next summer

ratchet — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:42:25 +0000

If you have not already read about this then let me be the first to tell you…

Next summer there is going to be a “Southeast Linux Fest” next summer and plans are getting underway now. If you’re not involved, signed up, planning to go, planning to present, or somehow get involved then you need to visit the site now and get signed up!

http://www.southeastlinuxfest.com/wiki/

Gentoo: New release strategy to provide more current install media

ratchet — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:28:02 +0000

In future releases, Gentoo will focus on a more back-to-basics approach that will give you up-to-date install media on a regular basis and make much better use of our human resources. We’re looking into automated weekly builds of the minimal CDs and stage tarballs as well as maybe an annual LiveCD release. We will keep you updated as we decide on the details of this new approach.

Consequently, we’re canceling the 2008.1 release. The release engineering team has to reconsider its priorities—we overstretched our human resources during the prolonged 2008.0 release process. This caused too much stress for our release engineers and multiple postponements of the release.

Site Upgraded

ratchet — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:52:54 +0000

I have just upgraded the site to WordPress 2.6. Please post a comment if you run across any bugs.

If you haven’t see the notes, I have had problems with the permalinks too… I had to implement a hack to make it work.

Commands you might have missed: watch

ratchet — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:29:58 +0000

There are many times when it is useful to be able to repeatedly run a command, or set of commands, repeatedly. You could do this yourself with a simple shell script, but using watch makes it simple.In brief watch is a command which will repeatedly run a command for you - allowing you to watch updates in near real-time.The most basic example of using it would be to run this:

skx@teldra:~$  watch uptime

Read on

Tired of the “Vista is a failure” Messages

ratchet — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:40:46 +0000

Tonight I ran across this article that is the final straw. I am SOOOO tired of the “Vista is a failure” messages.

When are people going to realize that Microsoft IS NOT going to stop promoting Vista and that XP (no matter what service pack) is NOT the future for Microsoft NOR the future for MS’s competition for Linux Desktop. People that are on XP will be forced to upgrade over time to Vista (or whatever the next version of Windows … and that version will indeed be based on Vista).

If you use XP, you’re gonna upgrade, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and very soon. Vista, no matter how slow the adoption, is not a failure. It is a defacto win. Get OVER IT already.

What podcasts do you listen to?

ratchet — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:33:48 +0000

The PodCasts that I subscribe to are:

Media collection managers for Linux

ratchet — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 12:40:10 +0000

There comes a time, right after you burn your 137th MP3 CD, when you start feeling the need to establish a system for finding all the songs you treasure so much. It’s the same with movies, application kits, books, and music — you need software that lets you index your media quickly and output detailed search results. Here’s a selection of Linux applications you can use to ease your work.

If you’re a movie junkie, try GCStar. Setup is a breeze thanks to the graphical installer. When you start the program for the first time, you are asked what kind of a collection you want to create. Default models are board games, books, movies, music, numismatic, video games, and wines. Optionally, if you already have a collection indexed in another application, you can import it in GCStar. Supported software-generated files for importing are Ant Movie Catalog (AMC), DVDProfiler (XML), GCfilms (GKF) and Alexandria.

Read the entire article

For GNOME CD burning, viva Brasero

ratchet — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:54:42 +0000

Brasero will replace Serpentine as the CD-writing utility in the upcoming April release of Ubuntu 8.10 (code-named Hardy Heron). Brasero extends the functionality of Serpentine to include data CD and DVD projects, file integrity checking, and multisession support.

Why replace Serpentine, a dead simple solution for burning audio CDs? It features tight integration into the GNOME Desktop Environment, with support for Rhythmbox playlists and drag and drop file management from Nautilus, as well as the ability to extract audio from video files. Unfortunately, the application has no support for creating data CDs. You can fill that void by using the native CD-writing capabilities inside Nautilus, but Nautilus offers limited options for data project creation.

Brasero builds upon the functional shortcomings of Serpentine through the addition of data CD and DVD support, along with image creation and burning.

PHP Shell, for secure remote access when SSH isn’t available

ratchet — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:34:47 +0000

Many companies offer LAMP hosting, but some of the cheaper LAMP providers do not allow SSH access, reserving that feature for higher-paying customers. Without SSH you may think you’ll have trouble executing commands on the hosted server. Not so — PHP Shell allows execution of some commands without having SSH access to the LAMP server.

The only PHP function that PHP Shell requires is proc_open(). If you can execute that function using PHP code, then PHP Shell should work. As PHP Shell is easy to install, the easiest way to find out if you are allowed to execute it is to just install it and see if it runs.

You might wonder about the security of setting up a PHP script that allows shell commands to be executed, but PHP Shell is no more or less secure an application than any other PHP file on the server. Of course, you must be responsible for your own security.

Creating Custom Ubuntu Live-CD With Remastersys

ratchet — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:06:28 +0000

Remastersys is a tool that can be used to do 2 things with an existing Klikit or Ubuntu or derivative installation.It can make a full system backup including personal data to a live cd or dvd that you can use anywhere and install. It can make a distributable copy you can share with friends. This will not have any of your personal user data in it.

Install Remastersys in Ubuntu

The Remastersys repository needs to be added to your /etc/apt/sources.list