tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-222837612024-03-13T23:16:28.381-07:00Linux RevolutionPerspectives on LinuxUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger134125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-18905090745731738012009-01-09T08:09:00.000-08:002009-01-09T10:57:33.651-08:002009: Year of the Linux Handheld?<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.palm.com/us/products/phones/pre/index.html"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 256px; height: 432px;" src="http://www.palm.com/us/assets/images/products/phones/detail/pre/main-img.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Palm's new</span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"> <a href="http://www.palm.com/us/products/phones/pre/index.html">Pre handheld</a> will run a Linux-based OS</span><br /></div><br />A common inside joke on <a href="http://www.slashdot.org/">Slashdot</a> is the "Year of the Linux Desktop", a revelation about each upcoming year being the mythical time when Linux will obtain wide-scale adoption on desktop PCs. Although the number of PCs running Linux has increased each year, a new emergent trend is that Linux is becoming a popular on more consumer handheld devices.<br /><br />The reason for Linux's rise in popularity on cellphones is that cell manufacturers (Eg. Motorola) are being forced to ditch their simpler, proprietary operating systems that run on the "dumbphones" they sell because a more powerful operating system is needed to handle better multitasking and internet connectivity. Windows Mobile has been a popular pick with manufacturers because it meets the needs of smartphones, but the licensing costs are enough to make manufacturers like HTC experiment with other platforms, like they did with <a href="http://code.google.com/android">Google's Android</a> on their <a href="http://www.htc.com/www/product/g1/overview.html">HTC G1.</a><br /><br />Similarly, Palm has just announced their brand new <a href="http://www.palm.com/us/products/phones/pre/index.html">Pre</a> smartphone, which just so happens to be powered by Linux. Palm's "OS 2.0" (or WebOS, as it is now known as) has been in the works for as long as anyone can remember, and if you check out <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/palm-pre-in-depth-impressions-video-and-huge-hands-on-gallery/">Engadget's videos of the Pre</a>, you'll find out just how hard they were working.<br /><br />With the devices like the Palm Pre and the upcoming swath of Android phones, 2009 might be the year that Linux starts challenging Microsoft's dominance in the smartphone arena. At the same time, it will be interesting to see how Linux holds up in the ongoing netbook race as well.<br /><br />If devices like the <a href="http://eeepc.asus.com/">Asus Eee PC</a> continue to ship with Linux, it would not be surprising if Microsoft started offering manufacturers crippled versions of Vista for netbooks at a significantly discounted price. If Microsoft were to do that, I think we'd see Linux's market share on netbooks decline because a crippled Vista would be easier for average Joe to use for email/web/IM than Linux and the cost advantage of Linux would not be as good. Still, Microsoft already missed the boat with netbooks - <span style="font-weight: bold;">There is no Windows Vista Netbook Edition</span>, as there needed to have been early last year in order for Microsoft to have crushed Linux on netbooks. Instead, manufacturers found that companies like <a href="http://www.xandros.com/">Xandros</a> were willing to provide small, fast, and flexible Linux distributions to meet the needs of their netbook target audience, while Microsoft wasn't interested. This was undoubtedly a good thing for Linux adoption.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://openpandora.org"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 226px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/SWeaZQXeRqI/AAAAAAAAAcc/jU8I8Q13DWA/s320/Pandora-newrender.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289366046050764450" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">The Linux-powered <a href="http://openpandora.org/">Pandora</a> gaming handheld is due out in Q1 2009. (Yes, this render looks like it was made in 3D Studio Max circa 1998...)</span><br /></div><br />In 2009, Linux will also see interesting applications in devices like the <a href="http://openpandora.org/">Pandora gaming handheld</a> (a spiritual successor to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GP2X">GP2X</a>). A 600 MHz ARM processor, 800x480 screen, 802.11g, Bluetooth, USB 2.0 host, and a purported 10 hours of battery life - This handheld sounds like a gamer's dream.<br /><br />However, the success of any handheld device hinges on one thing being done superbly well; <span style="font-weight: bold;">Software, software, software</span>. If the games for Pandora are bad, not even hackability can save it. If the software on the Palm Pre turns out to be garbage, same fate. One can start to see a pattern emerging though - Linux has been successful on netbooks because the software stack of Firefox/Thunderbird/Pidgin is <span style="font-weight: bold;">rock solid</span>. The software that tackles the primary use cases of netbooks is fantastic (largely in part because Firefox, Thunderbird, and Pidgin are simply mature, well-run software projects). The tricky part with Pandora is that its primary use-case (gaming) does not have a fantastic stack of off-the-shelf open source software to run, perhaps beyond emulators. No offense, but <a href="http://supertux.lethargik.org/">Supertux</a> isn't exactly what I'd like to be playing on Pandora.<br /><br />There is nothing magical about running Linux that will make a device better for end-users. It can cut down development and licensing costs, but ultimately <span style="font-weight: bold;">the fate of Linux on handhelds in 2009 will come down to the quality of the software</span> that runs on it. Let's hope it goes <a href="http://www.openmoko.com/">better than last year</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-70946853431742583522008-09-07T15:47:00.000-07:002008-09-17T12:23:09.894-07:00Has Linux lost the ISV battle?For as long as anyone can remember, one of the big problems with Linux has been the lack of commercial applications. Independent software vendors (ISVs) are generally sticking to Windows or OS X, resulting in very little commercial software being available for Linux. Free software ideologies aside, there are many commercial applications that Linux would benefit from being able to run.<br /><br />As a cross-platform software developer, there are many challenging issues that are unique to developing on Linux. First and foremost, there is the issue of <span style="font-weight: bold;">binary compatibility</span>.<br /><br />In order to build a x86 Linux binary that runs on as many desktop Linux distributions as possible, the most widely documented procedure is to simply build your application on the oldest distribution you can find. Most Linux libraries are backwards-compatible, meaning an application compiled against older version will run with newer versions of the library. In theory, this seems like a reasonable way to make a universal Linux binary. In practice, things are very different - Do you statically link or dynamically link and bundle the libraries? How exactly does one do all of this? Is it practical to roll this procedure into your build system? Furthermore, where is the official documentation for this procedure? What are the best practices for producing a universal x86 Linux binary?<br /><br />Another issue is <span style="font-weight: bold;">software distribution</span>. As a commerical software developer, how do you distribute your software to as many customers as possible? You'd need to create DEB and RPM packages, and probably have some generic graphical installer package as well. On Windows, a <span style="font-weight: bold;">single installer .EXE</span> will install on 2000, XP, Vista, etc. On Linux, you either need to create tons of packages, or you have to limit your customer base by creating packages for only the most popular distros. Already you've multiplied the amount of effort required to develop for Linux manyfold.<br /><br />Additionally, you're fighting an uphill battle against open source software. If Adobe made a version of Photoshop for Linux (and allowed you to buy DEBs from their site), most people would still just install GIMP through Synaptic or Ubuntu's Add/Remove Applications dialog. Even worse (for Adobe), GIMP is installed on every Ubuntu system by default. The best Adobe can hope for is to offer DEBs via their site, and hope that people have <span style="font-style: italic;">a priori</span> knowledge of their product, and go to their website to buy it. <span style="font-weight: bold;">There is no "App Store" for Ubuntu, and perhaps there should be</span><span> because distributions certainly don't make it easy to sell your software for Linux.</span><br /><br />Many of these issues that are hindering independent software vendors from developing applications for Linux could be alleviated by much better organization by the Linux Foundation. When I originally heard about the <a href="http://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/LSB">Linux Standard Base</a> (LSB), I was excited at the prospect of finally having universal x86 binaries for Linux, and perhaps it would finally open the door for more commercial Linux applications, I thought. However, to date, <span style="font-weight: bold;">I can count the number of <a href="https://www.linuxfoundation.org/lsb-cert/productdir.php?by_lsb">LSB certified applications</a> on one hand</span>. Mass adoption of Linux by ISVs did not happen, and I can't say that I blame them. If I were a developer coming from Windows, I wouldn't know where to start. The Linux Foundation's getting started guide includes an article on <a href="http://ldn.linuxfoundation.org/lsb/porting-lsb-demo">porting your application to the LSB</a>, but that's for existing Linux applications, not for applications that already run on another platform.<br /><br /><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/SNFYY7pZiJI/AAAAAAAAAPM/HuUc5Zl9qQE/s200/lflogo.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5247072226214774930" />If I were a developer looking to write a new application on Linux, <span style="font-weight: bold;">I would not know where to begin</span>. Do I use GTK or QT? wxWidgets? What are the standard system libraries on Linux? Where is everything documented? There is no central documentation repository that guides Linux developers and provides answers to this question. Windows developers have <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/">MSDN</a>, OS X developers have <a href="http://developer.apple.com/">Apple's Developer Connection</a>, Linux developers have nothing but a bunch of scattered webpages, each trying to convince you that their library is the best one to use. This is not a productive approach, and an organization like the <a href="http://www.linux-foundation.org/">Linux Foundation</a> should make a serious effort to give developers the information they need to develop their applications quickly. You can't expect developers coming from Windows to know what libraries to use by googling for answers - There needs to be some centralized site that provides developers with the answers they need. To me, this highlights the lack of leadership in the Linux desktop community.<br /><br />In the kernel, it's very clear who is in charge. There is a clear structure of command, and this allows the kernel developers to work as an effective organization. Within the userspace (ie. libraries and software applications), we do not see the same command structure. We have <a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/">Freedesktop.org</a> creating "standards" and backend software for the Linux platform, but of the software hosted on it, it claims:<br /><br /><blockquote>None of this is "endorsed" by anyone or implied to be standard software, remember that freedesktop.org is a collaboration forum, so anyone is encouraged to host stuff here if it's on-topic.</blockquote><br /><br /> <img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/SNFXQUJSTYI/AAAAAAAAAPE/fb35qQXlJNU/s200/freedesktop-logo.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5247070978660519298" border="0" />What desktop Linux appears to have is a plethora of organizations acting independently (creating libraries, etc.), with no clear cross-organization leadership. Freedesktop.org has been successful in getting many of these organizations to cooperate and has undoubtably resulted in an improved desktop Linux (see <a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/hal">HAL</a> and <a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/dbus">DBus</a>), but it doesn't seem to be preaching a clear vision to those organizations, nor providing any guidance for new developers wishing to take advantage of the new technologies it has fostered.<br /><br />Many of my views presented here have been shaped by my experience writing proprietary software on an embedded Linux platform. I've worked with engineers who've never written software for Linux, and they have a hard time answering the questions they have because Linux doesn't have something like MSDN. <span style="font-weight: bold;">It's very easy to make bad decisions about what libraries to use on Linux</span> due to the lack of centralized documentation.<br /><br />The nightmare of binary compatibility, lack of support from Linux distributions, and the absence of centralized documentation and guidance for Linux software developers make it a difficult and expensive platform to develop on. It's a great platform to slap together little applications on, but when you have to deal seriously with the issues that independent software vendors have to deal with when developing desktop applications, <span style="font-weight:bold;">Linux as a platform simply isn't worth the effort</span>.<br /><br /><br />* <span style="font-weight: bold;">Update</span>: According to Phoronix, <a href="http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NjcyNw">CyberLink DVD playing software appears to be for sale</a> for Ubuntu in the Canonical Store. Two thoughts on this:<br /><ol><li>Might this be start of the Ubuntu app store?</li><li>CyberLink is just experimenting with this, they don't expect to make a lot of money from it. They make their money from distribution deals like getting bundled with DVD-ROMs, or more recently, getting bundled with Linux-based Netbooks/MIDs, not from selling their software in stores. I suspect this is also an experiment on Canonical's part, as they gauge the response of Ubuntu users and find the optimal way to integrate this into Ubuntu (hopefully in Add/Remove Applications one day).<br /></li></ol>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-48618512004916172292008-09-07T15:37:00.000-07:002008-09-07T15:46:34.435-07:00Ubuntu and the ASUS P5Q-E Motherboard<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/SMRX-AMXowI/AAAAAAAAAO8/5QoB0qhnyIw/s1600-h/p5qe.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/SMRX-AMXowI/AAAAAAAAAO8/5QoB0qhnyIw/s400/p5qe.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5243412588881486594" border="0" /></a>I built a brand new PC a few weeks ago, and getting my <span style="font-weight: bold;">ASUS P5Q-E</span> motherboard to work in Linux took a few tweaks. I had taken my harddrive out of my old PC and dropped it right into the new PC, expecting it to work. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ubuntu</span> managed to start booting, but it hanged at the earliest bootup splash screen, where the progress bar bounces back and forth. <span style="font-weight: bold;">GRUB</span> had managed to boot the kernel image, but something was wrong - The kernel image couldn't find my hard disks, so it wasn't booting.<br /><br />To solve this problem, I had to change the following <span style="font-weight: bold;">BIOS </span>options:<br /><ol><li>Under <span style="font-weight: bold;">MAIN / Storage Configuration</span>, I had to change "<span style="font-weight: bold;">Configure SATA as ..</span>." to <span style="font-weight: bold;">[AHCI]</span>. This allowed the kernel to find my disks and boot.</li><li>I experienced some weird USB problems while booting, and so under <span style="font-weight: bold;">ADVANCED / USB </span>Configuration, I had to change "<span style="font-weight: bold;">BIOS EHCI Hand-Off</span>" to <span style="font-weight: bold;">[Disabled]</span>.<br /></li><li>For good luck, I also made sure <span style="font-weight: bold;">ACPI 2.0</span> was enabled under power saving.</li></ol>Hopefully someone finds this useful. When I first booted and Ubuntu didn't boot, I thought to myself, "Damn, I should have checked if this new Intel chipset has good support in the kernel". I was worried the motherboard just wasn't going to work. However, after tweaking those BIOS options, things are working fine. +1 for Linux.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-74601869453014361202008-09-07T15:29:00.000-07:002008-09-07T15:37:31.740-07:00Random thingsIt's been a while since my last update, but I'd like to start practicing writing again, so I'd better start blogging more often. Since 2006, I've been involved with a growing open source project and that's been eating up most of my free time.<br /><br />In the meantime, I'm still a die-hard Linux fan, although I haven't kept up with the latest and greatest stuff as much. I've also recently started experimenting with (drumroll) <span style="font-weight: bold;">Windows Vista</span>, and I've been impressed overall with it. My wireless USB stick has the same problems in Vista as it does in Linux, so I guess that's a good thing for Linux (?!). :)<br /><br />Also on my list of random things to write about is <a href="http://www.phoronix.com">Phoronix</a>. Phoronix is a well-written Linux news site that's written and organized in a style that's aimed at Linux hardware enthusiasts. The editor(s) there do an excellent job of covering the latest and greatest developments in the Linux software world as well. It's definitely worth adding to your RSS reader.<br /><br />Aha, I just remembered a topic for a post I wanted to write (I have most of the post written down on a napkin here). Next up, how to make Linux work with your ASUS P5Q-E motherboard. Stay tuned.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-60685427788451116232008-06-22T08:19:00.001-07:002008-11-13T11:39:10.431-08:00To iPhone or not to iPhone...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/SF56OAD0FMI/AAAAAAAAAMk/yCy8q2_44zQ/s1600-h/iphonelinux.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/SF56OAD0FMI/AAAAAAAAAMk/yCy8q2_44zQ/s400/iphonelinux.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214739799494366402" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;">$199 USD for a 3G iPhone, with a soul-stealing ridiculously-priced contract.<br /></div><br />Is it worth it?<br /><br />I've been considering getting an iPhone when it launches in Canada on July 11th, but <a href="http://www.iphoneincanada.ca/iphone-rogers/rogers-iphone-3g-30-unlimited-data-plans-confirmed/">rumours indicate</a> that it's going to cost about $90 CAD/month for service with <a href="http://www.rogers.ca/">Rogers</a>. I currently pay about $10 CAD/month for a cheapo prepaid cellphone. In 2 months I'll be moving across the country, so now is a convenient time to reconsider my options. I've decided that if I were to get an iPhone, it'd replace my landline. Does it make it any more affordable? No, $90/month on a contract for 3 years still seems insane to me.<br /><br />The massive draw with the iPhone for me is the software. The sheer amount of cool applications that are going to be released for it make it very appealing, plus the stock software (email, web browser) are top notch. On the other hand, <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PortableDevices/iPhone">it's a nightmare if you want to make it sync with Linux</a>.<br /><br />What're my other options? Stick with the $10 CAD/month cheapo phone, and possibly invest in something else for mobile internet. This is where Linux comes back into play...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/SF57XCshmLI/AAAAAAAAAMs/Ynwbj5b769I/s1600-h/n810wimax.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/SF57XCshmLI/AAAAAAAAAMs/Ynwbj5b769I/s400/n810wimax.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214741054332442802" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The <a href="http://www.nseries.com/index.html?l=products,n810_wme">Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition</a> has caught my eye. A little known fact is that Canada already has a nation-wide WiMAX network, with access offered by both of our big telcos (as <a href="http://www.blogger.com/your.rogers.com/store/cable/InternetContent/portable.asp">Rogers Portable Internet</a> and <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.highspeedunplugged.sympatico.ca/">Bell Sympatico Unplugged</a>). For about $60 CAD/month (tax inc.), it looks like I can get 1.5 Mbps WiMAX which I believe will work with the N810. As an added bonus, I could just use this WiMAX connection as my internet connection at home too.<br /><br />Lastly, did I mention that the N810 runs Linux? Nokia's device runs <a href="http://maemo.org/downloads/OS2008/">OS 2008</a> and it looks <a href="http://elinux.org/Android_on_OMAP">Android-ready</a> too. I'm a fan of Linux-based embedded devices (like the <a href="en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GP2X">GP2X</a>), so this adds a bit of hackability to the thing. Unfortunately, the N810 WiMAX Edition doesn't look like it comes out for another month, so we'll have to see what the reviews are like when it's released. Until then, I'll keep pondering...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-79445481385214410832008-05-13T16:35:00.000-07:002008-05-13T16:36:11.404-07:00Debian Bug Screws us AllThis morning, I spotted this nasty tidbit on Slashdot: <a href="http://it.slashdot.org/it/08/05/13/1533212.shtml">Debian Bug Leaves Private SSL/SSH Keys Guessable</a><br /><br />It turns out a maintainer of the OpenSSL package on Debian removed the "seeding" of the random number generator that is used to generate, among other things, SSH keys. For those unfamiliar with random number generators, they work by generating a sequence of pseudo-random numbers based on some initial seed. The default value most programmers use when seeding their random number generators is simply the time, because it changes quickly and ensures a great deal of variability in what the generated random sequence of numbers will look like. If you seed your random number generator with the same number every time, you'll end up with the same sequence of numbers being generated over and over again - It won't be random at all!<br /><br />What this means to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Debian users</span> is that your SSH keys are not random, and they're much easier to crack/guess because of this. Because Ubuntu is based on Debian, and the OpenSSL packages are relatively untouched by the Ubuntu maintainers, <span style="font-weight: bold;">this bug also affects all Ubuntu users</span>.<br /><br />Both Debian and Ubuntu have released security updates which fix the problem and ensure that any future keys that are generated have the expected level of security. However, <span style="font-weight: bold;">keys that have already been generated need to be expired and replaced</span>.<br /><br />Fortunately, the Ubuntu update that you will receive through update-manager takes care of this for you. For a desktop user, this is sufficient. For system administrators who might use SSH keys widely, it's a massive pain in the ass.<br /><br />There's much more to this story though - A Slashdot user dug up <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=363516">the original Debian bug report</a> that lead to the "fix" that removed the seeding. The OpenSSL developers used uninitialized memory to seed their random number generator, which caused a warning in Valgrind that someone playing with the code noticed. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Valgrind</span> is a tool to help find memory leaks and memory corruption (ie. programmers' mistakes). However, the original code wasn't erroneous at all - The programmer that wrote that code must have asserted that uninitialized memory has more "randomness" than the time, which may or may not have been a good assumption. Regardless, it's clear that the real mistake was "fixing" this code without fully understanding the consequences, and the Debian package maintainers (and the developer that submitted the patch) are at fault.<br /><br />What happened here is a <span style="font-weight: bold;">nightmare scenario</span> for an open source software developer like myself. When my development team makes a release, we do some distribution packaging ourselves, but we also count on other people to make packages for other distributions. <span style="font-weight: bold;">If any of those package maintainers modify our software in any way, we can no longer guarantee the quality of our software.</span> If this sounds familiar, you might remember that this is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_software_rebranding">exactly why Mozilla wanted Debian to stop using the Firefox name</a> back in 2006. Mozilla wanted to ensure that all of their users got "Firefox", not "Firefox plus Joe Blow's crappy tweaks", and I completely agree with them. As more open source projects grow and become professionally run, I can see this becoming a more common issue in the future.<br /><br />Finally, there is the question of whether or not the OpenSSL vulnerability was introduced <span style="font-weight: bold;">intentionally</span>. To give the poor guy the benefit of the doubt, <span style="font-weight: bold;">I think it was an honest mistake</span>. He fixed something that he thought was broken, and it turns out he was wrong - an understandable, human mistake. The uploader that approved his change probably should have caught the mistake, but again, he too was also only human. Is it possible that this was intentional? Sure. Is it possible that this could be used as a blueprint for future open source sabotage? Absolutely.<br /><br />Are we any less likely to see security flaws introduced like this again? Absolutely not. It's the <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">process</span> through which packages are maintained and updated that is broken here.<br /><br />The solution? Discuss.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Disclaimer:</span> Don't go on a witch-hunt for the Debian guys who made mistakes here. Stuff like this happens, and if it were you or I in their shoes, we may have made the exact same mistake. I stress once again that it's the process of distribution package management that is flawed, not the people involved.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-8587744878762179752008-05-10T09:45:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:39:10.612-08:00Blogger Captcha Cracked?I just 50+ emails from Blogger saying new comments were posted on my blog:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/SCXRnO2FNgI/AAAAAAAAAMU/8Gm3ikQ-fJM/s1600-h/bloggerspam.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/SCXRnO2FNgI/AAAAAAAAAMU/8Gm3ikQ-fJM/s400/bloggerspam.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198791816799139330" /></a><br /><br />Up until now, the spam situation with Blogger was decent. I'd only ever had the odd spam comment come through and I had been able delete them all. With this massive barrage though, I don't have the patience to go through and delete them all, especially knowing that it can happen again.<br /><br />For now, I'll just hope that blogger deletes the spammer's account and all of the comments he posted.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-61909276027299509672008-05-04T16:58:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:39:10.820-08:00Toy Story, Cave Story, .... Ubuntu Story ?About once a month, I receive an email solicitation asking me to promote something on my blog. 9/10 times I just ignore it, because they're usually asking me to promote a spam blog. Not cool.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.ubuntustory.com"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/SB5PVX0fWeI/AAAAAAAAAMM/RPPp4JuURmQ/s320/Screenshot-Ubuntu+Story+-+Share+Your+Linux+Story!+%C2%BB+Freedom+-+Mozilla+Firefox+3+Beta+5.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5196678248622152162" /></a><br /><br />It looks like we did better with this month's email. Rather than a pointless spam blog, it was instead regarding <a href="http://www.ubuntustory.com">UbuntuStory.com</a>, which seems like a friendly advertisement for Ubuntu by a community member. I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but if you haven't tried Ubuntu yet, I'd check out <a href="http://www.ubuntustory.com">the site</a>. <br /><br />Sorry, your first impression from that site will be wrong - Ubuntu won't take you on a wild African adventure, but it can make your computer much less of a pain in the ass to use. :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-90879671654401611622008-04-22T21:36:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:39:11.342-08:00Ubuntu 8.04 Beta ThoughtsYesterday, I decided to upgrade to the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ubuntu 8.04</span> (Hardy Heron) Beta. I've been having problems with internet connection and I thought an upgrade might fix it, but now I'm convinced it's a problem with my LAN segment, not my card. Anyways, among the shiny new goodness:<br /><br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Firefox 3</span> - Great new GTK look on all the buttons, they don't look like they're from 1993 anymore!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/SA69xH0fWbI/AAAAAAAAAL0/EmRYWctvsbs/s1600-h/Screenshot-Google+-+Mozilla+Firefox+3+Beta+5.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/SA69xH0fWbI/AAAAAAAAAL0/EmRYWctvsbs/s400/Screenshot-Google+-+Mozilla+Firefox+3+Beta+5.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5192296072015206834" border="0" /></a></li><li>Wait, more crazy Firefox 3 goodness - apparently now I can cut and paste images around by right-clicking on them in the Blogger "Compose" mode.</li><li>Notebooks in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Tomboy</span>! If you're a Tomboy Notes user, you won't believe how useful this is. I currently have 78 notes in Tomboy, so being able to organize them is a huge win for me.<br /></li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/SA6_V30fWcI/AAAAAAAAAL8/-zVn8OcX7GI/s1600-h/Screenshot.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/SA6_V30fWcI/AAAAAAAAAL8/-zVn8OcX7GI/s320/Screenshot.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5192297802887027138" border="0" /></a>Tracker (<span style="font-style: italic;">left</span>) and Tomboy (<span style="font-style: italic;">right</span>)<br /></div><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Tracker</span> for indexing, now with a spiffy tray icon. More importantly, when you right-click on the tray icon, you can easily pause the data indexing (for example, if you have an older PC like me and want to fire up a game that pushes your system, like <a href="http://www.quakewars.com/">Quake Wars</a>)</li><li>The new screen resolution and display setup dialog. I've read lots of people evangelizing about this - it's supposed to make setting up a second display easier, such as when you're plugging in a projector. I haven't tested this personally though, and I'll believe it when I see it.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/SA6_s30fWdI/AAAAAAAAAME/hhz6bP8RrI8/s1600-h/Screenshot-Monitor+Resolution+Settings.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/SA6_s30fWdI/AAAAAAAAAME/hhz6bP8RrI8/s400/Screenshot-Monitor+Resolution+Settings.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5192298198024018386" border="0" /></a></li></ul><ul><li>Lots of little improvements to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Evolution</span> as well. It handles multiple operations nicer now, and seems quite a bit snappier. Big thanks to the Evolution team for their hard work.</li><li>Other random things that I haven't personally tested: The new <span style="font-weight: bold;">gio</span> stuff in Nautilus is supposed to make doing multiple file copies simultaneously "better", and the old VFS mounts have been replaced with a new system. I use SSH mounts through Gnome frequently, so I'm looking forward to playing with the new system.</li></ul>I'm sure there's lots of other little things I've yet to stumble across, and it'll take about a month for me to notice any little bugs that crop up. So far so good though - it looks like we've got another good Ubuntu release!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-84028232160767553242008-01-11T14:52:00.001-08:002008-03-07T23:04:22.761-08:00HOWTO: Figure out what's using your soundcard in LinuxIt's 2008, and while Linux audio is getting better for desktop users, I still occasionally find myself running into a situation where one application is tying up my soundcard. Sometimes I'll try to run <a href="http://www.jackaudio.org/">jackd</a> through <a href="http://qjackctl.sourceforge.net/">qjackctl</a> and it'll fail because Firefox has a flash video loaded in it or something like that.<br /><br />Anyways, to figure out what's using your soundcard on Linux, you can run:<br /><br /><pre style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:130%;">sudo fuser -v /dev/dsp*<br />sudo fuser -v /dev/snd/*</span></pre><br />The first command above will list all the OSS applications using your sound hardware, and the latter will tackle ALSA applications.<br /><br />For example, if I run those commands with nothing running:<br /><br /><pre style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:130%;">gamegod@home:~/$ sudo fuser -v /dev/dsp*<br />gamegod@home:~/$ sudo fuser -v /dev/snd/*<br /> USER PID ACCESS COMMAND<br />/dev/snd/controlC0: gamegod 6236 F.... mixer_applet2</span></pre><br />The output above is showing me that GNOME's mixer applet is using the "control" interface on my soundcard. This won't interfere with any applications, so you can always safely keep this running.<br /><br />As another example, if I run <a href="http://www.mixxx.org/">Mixxx</a> (software for DJs) before running those commands, I'll see:<br /><br /><pre style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:130%;">gamegod@home:~/$ sudo fuser -v /dev/dsp*<br />gamegod@home:~/$ sudo fuser -v /dev/snd/*<br /> USER PID ACCESS COMMAND<br />/dev/snd/controlC0: gamegod 6236 F.... mixer_applet2<br />/dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: gamegod 12936 F...m mixxx<br />/dev/snd/seq: gamegod 12936 F.... mixxx</span></pre><br />This time the output above is showing me that Mixxx is using my soundcard's audio first ouput interface (<span style="font-family:courier new;">pcmC0D0p</span> corresponds to ALSA's hw:0,0), as well as ALSA's MIDI interface.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-79262564322524529392008-01-11T08:38:00.000-08:002008-01-11T08:50:38.290-08:00KDE 4.0 Released!After having sworn off KDE many years ago, I might just have to give it a second shot - <a href="http://kde.org/announcements/4.0/">KDE 4.0 was just released</a>, and brings a massive overhaul to the desktop environment. Congratulations to the entire KDE team on making this release happen. A lot of very talented people put a lot of hard work into this.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://kde.org/announcements/4.0/screenshots/desktop.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://kde.org/announcements/4.0/screenshots/desktop.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />If you're looking for eye-candy, check out the <a href="http://kde.org/announcements/4.0/guide.php">KDE 4 screenshots</a> on their site. Kickoff and KRunner look well thought-out, and I'm itching to give them a try. They also look like they're better integrated into the desktop environment than their GNOME equivalents (Deskbar and <a href="https://launchpad.net/usp">any</a> <a href="http://reverendted.wordpress.com/2006/06/17/show-me-that-new-gnome-main-menu/">of those</a> XP/Vista-style system panel clones).<br /><br />If you want to give it a spin, the source and binary packages for several distros are available on the <a href="http://www.kde.org/info/4.0.php">KDE 4.0.0 info page</a>. Packages for (K)Ubuntu 7.10 are <a href="http://kubuntu.org/announcements/kde-4.0.php">available along with a LiveCD here</a>.<br /><br />Good stuff.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-18497497185293138522007-11-16T19:33:00.000-08:002008-11-13T11:39:11.693-08:00HOWTO: Get more visualizations in Totem/RhythmboxAfter 4 years, I finally got sick of <span style="font-weight: bold;">GOOM</span> and decided to figure out how to get more visualizers in Totem and Rhythmbox.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/Rz5hwSJcOkI/AAAAAAAAAFM/Ld00sZkkS1U/s1600-h/Screenshot-Chris+Clark+-+tyre.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/Rz5hwSJcOkI/AAAAAAAAAFM/Ld00sZkkS1U/s400/Screenshot-Chris+Clark+-+tyre.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133648107381996098" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">This looks really trippy when it's in motion<br /></span></div><br /><br />Turns out all you need to do is install the <span style="font-weight: bold;">libvisual-0.4-plugins</span> package through Synaptic. Piece of cake.<br /><br />In Gutsy this buys you eight more visualizers, although I was hoping for more than that*. I feel the urge to write a cool visualizer one day, seems like a good weekend project.<br /><br />* I was hoping that it'd be like installing <span style="font-weight: bold;">xscreensaver-gl-extra</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">xscreensaver-data-extra</span>, where you get a <span style="font-weight: bold;">ton</span> of really funky new screensavers.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-16193040060682425452007-11-12T19:31:00.000-08:002008-11-13T11:39:11.951-08:00So you remember all of those Mac vs. Vista ads...... and you remember <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyGUrPxG1iM">the whole "deny or allow" thing</a>?<br /><br />Well, I don't know why Apple was making fun of Vista, because they decided to join in on the fun in Leopard:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/RzkbLe6o58I/AAAAAAAAAFE/Z0BWJRJhzi8/s1600-h/Picture+2.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/RzkbLe6o58I/AAAAAAAAAFE/Z0BWJRJhzi8/s400/Picture+2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132163134456915906" border="0" /></a>Yes, I know Skype is an application from the Internet. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Where the hell do you think I get 99% of my applications from?</span><br /><br />It seems like Linux is the only OS moving forwards these days...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-73333968869579907512007-11-09T12:58:00.000-08:002007-11-09T13:24:34.113-08:00Leopard (kinda) hates UbuntuI ended up picking up a MacBook a few weeks ago, and I've been dual booting Ubuntu and OS X (Tiger) on it. Ubuntu's been a bit of a let-down because there's been <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBook">so many quirks</a>, and so I spend most of my time in OS X on the thing. (I still use Ubuntu on my desktop machine.)<br /><br />Anyways, I got my Leopard upgrade DVD, and found a nice little surprise when I tried to upgrade: The Leopard upgrader wants to <span style="font-weight:bold;">format my whole drive</span> because it can't find my OS X partition or something. The manual and website say that I'm supposed to be able to upgrade if I used a beta version of Bootcamp to dual-boot (which I did), but apparently it wants to format my drive because I've got Linux installed instead of Windows in the other partition.<br /><br />Did I mention that it wants to format <span style="font-weight:bold;">my whole drive</span>? (my old OS X partition too)<br /><br /><a href="http://blog.wize.com/my_weblog/2007/11/ten-leopard-pro.html">It's</a> <a href="http://www.leopardbugs.com/index.php?title=Main_Page">not</a> <a href="tomkarpik.com/articles/massive-data-loss-bug-in-leopard/">like</a> <a href="www.dslreports.com/forum/r19330429-X-Official-Leopard-Bugs-Thread~start=120">Leopard</a> <a href="www.jbmorley.co.uk/2007/10/30/leopard-bugs/">doesn't</a> <a href="forums.mactalk.com.au/showthread.php?t=38884">have</a> <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139140-c,macos/article.html">enough</a> <a href="discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1210712">problems</a> <a href="http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?t=80243">already</a>....<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Update:</span> Arrrrrrg, bloody Apple lingo. The installer says it wants to format my "Macintosh HD", which I forgot <span style="font-style:italic;">isn't actually</span> my whole hard-drive (despite the HD moniker). So it just wants to format my OS X partition.... which is the one I use and store all my data on.... *sigh*Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-9074187286758535612007-10-19T10:24:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:39:12.353-08:00Ubuntu 7.10 Released<a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.ubuntulinux.com/">Ubuntu 7.10</a> was released yesterday after another exciting development cycle, bringing a slew of new features and bug fixes. Among my favourites are:<br /><br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">New printer setup dialog</span> (System->Administration->Printing) - Looks a lot more complete now:<br /></li></ul><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/RxjohW9GZfI/AAAAAAAAAEs/1s1Ml0RlspU/s1600-h/gusty_printing.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/RxjohW9GZfI/AAAAAAAAAEs/1s1Ml0RlspU/s400/gusty_printing.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5123100235929118194" border="0" /></a><br /><ul><li>The <span style="font-weight: bold;">Firefox plugin finder</span> is integrated into apt now! Not only does the plugin finder detect the correct plugin, but it'll download and install it from the Ubuntu apt repositories. Sweet integrated goodness. (The Add-Ons/Extensions window also has an "Get Ubuntu Add-ons" thing that's tied into apt as well.)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/Rxjpa29GZgI/AAAAAAAAAE0/odUKUP7QSas/s1600-h/Firefox+plugins.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/Rxjpa29GZgI/AAAAAAAAAE0/odUKUP7QSas/s400/Firefox+plugins.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5123101223771596290" border="0" /></a></li></ul><br />After using the <a href="http://linuxrevolution.blogspot.com/2007/04/ubuntu-704-released.html">easy codec installation</a> that Ubuntu 7.04 brought along with the new Firefox-apt integration in 7.10, I've realized that my dream of "<a href="http://linuxrevolution.blogspot.com/2006/06/ubuntu-606-and-ntp-revelation-of.html">intelligent package suggestion</a>" has been fulfilled. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Way to go Ubuntu/GNOME team!</span><br /><br />I've been using Gutsy for almost 2 months now, and I could never go back to an earlier version of Ubuntu. As Dan mentioned, the latest version of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rhythmbox</span> totally kicks ass (it's worth upgrading to Gutsy for that alone). <span style="font-weight: bold;">WINE</span> has much nicer integration into the Applications menu now too. There's just tons of nice little features that make Ubuntu 7.10 awesome.<br /><br />I'm going to try to pick up a laptop this weekend (maybe an Acer TravelMate 6292 or an Acer Aspire 5920), so we'll see how 7.10 handles Intel's new Santa Rosa chipset.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-87922203752571834472007-10-19T08:54:00.000-07:002007-10-19T10:48:26.520-07:00Grappling the Gutsy GibbonI've been invited by GameGod to contribute to this blog giving ongoing updates of my foray into the world of Linux. However, I haven't figured out if it's because he thinks some readers may find it illuminating to see how a total newb is getting along with Ubuntu, or if its because he is sick of helping me with this stuff and wants the comments section to take his place. Regardless, here I am.<br /><br />As far as operating systems go, I've been using <span style="font-weight: bold;">Win2K</span> for probably about 5-6 years. Sure, theres probably something nice about XP, but 2K has been good and stable for me and I dont want to rock the boat. However, I've been tinkering around with an old P3 800mhz thats been kicking around, getting it to run Ubuntu 7.04 so I can make a <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.mythtv.org/">mythtv</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> box</span>. Everything has been going pretty well, except for the fact that while I'm at school I have a hard time justifying the $150 in hardware I need to purchase to get the thing off the ground. The one thing I did learn in that experience though is that <span style="font-weight: bold;">iTunes</span> is a piece of garbage and I want to use <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.gnome.org/projects/rhythmbox/">Rhythmbox</a> full time. Therefore, I've decided to make the plunge and give this "<span style="font-weight: bold;">dual booting</span>" nonsense a try so I can have Win2k for gaming, and Ubuntu for living.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">My progress so far is as follows:</span><br /><a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download">Downloaded the new version of Ubuntu</a> (7.10). Booted off the CD to give it a shot. Sound doesn't work, wireless doesn't work. The built-in wireless networking app cant detect the network, and freezes the whole system when I try to manually connect. That may just be a problem with the boot cd, or it may be that I dont have the correct drivers at the moment (I've got a USB key with drivers, apps, and instructions so I hope that'll cure what ails me. Also, here's a handy list of supported wireless cards. <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/WirelessCardsSupported">Link</a>). After wrestling with some HDs for a while (sata is new to me, and thats a long story that has nothing to do with linux) I've got them both up and running.<br />The game plan is to format the new 100gb drive to ntfs, backup my files from my primary drive to the 100gb, wipe the primary (a 320gb), partition it with about 100gb for windows, 200 gb for Ubuntu. Install windows, install linux, dual boot. Then if I want, format the 100gb to ext3 (or whatever the linux format is), and then use that.<br />My first HD problem was with <span style="font-weight: bold;">gparted</span>. Got the 100gb HD in, set it to delete the current partition, and format it to NTFS. Everything looked good, but it did everything unusually quickly and then crashed. Cool. Thanks gparted. So I booted back into windows, checked it out, and everything looked fine (I threw a file on it, loaded it from the 100gb). I decided though that I'd like to make sure everything was working properly and make sure there wasnt some corrupted section thats going to make me lose my files. I figured I would give gparted another shot so I used the boot CD, got into Ubuntu, performed the same operation as I did before, only this time it failed making the drive NTFS, and would crash every time I tried to do anything with that drive. So then I booted into Win2K, and formatted it via My Computer in less than 2 minutes without any problems. As it stands, I'm copying my folder of files-to-backup over to the 100gb.<br />Well actually, this is the second time. The first time the operation failed because it said that one of the files couldnt be copied because the name was too long (what the hell? If the name was too long, why didnt they make me rename it when I saved it on my primary drive? I checked the name, and its just a pdf file without any of the banned characters in the name). So I moved the subfolder with that file in it out of the back-up folder to try again. But because half of the stuff was copied on in whichever order, I decided to delete everything and try again. The recycle-bin told me that some of the files had names too long to be put into the recycle bin....<br /><br />Why do I have the feeling that this is just the beginning?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Update:</span> I think I have figured out the "filename too long" problem. I guess the "filename" isn't just the name of the file itself, but the location of the file as well. So instead of garbage.pdf, its c:\stuff\garbage.pdf. But if you have it on the desktop or something, its c:\documentsandsettings\users\username\desktop\stuff\garbage.pdf. So apparently for whichever reason, theres a limit to how big the filename would go. I always had this folder of stuff right in c:\ so there was never a problem with the largish filenames. However, once I put it on my desktop, or in a subfolder in my backup folder, they became so large that I couldn't open some of the files (which I definitely have done before). So I guess I learned something new there.<br />Also, there wont be any updates from me until monday at the least. Going home for the weekend, and bringing back my Win2k cd so I can finish this off. I'll also be meeting up with Gamegod, so I'll be able to ask for annoyingly detailed questions about how to get dual-booting set upDanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14489162123724595199noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-2884120250582756772007-09-15T23:05:00.000-07:002007-09-17T08:22:11.887-07:00New iPod Firmware Screws Linux Users<a href="http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2007/Sep-15.html">Miguel de Icaza</a> writes:<br /><p></p><blockquote><p>Yesterday after <a href="http://ipodminusitunes.blogspot.com/2007/09/apple-cuts-us-off.html">rumors that new iPods require a cryptographic checksum</a> on the song database we confirmed that Banshee can no longer store songs on the new iPods. </p><p style="font-weight: bold;">The new firmware will now refuse to play any songs that you legally own unless you use Apple's iTunes (which is only supported for Windows and MacOS)</p></blockquote><p> </p><a href="http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2007/Sep-15.html">Read on...</a><br /><br />In the meantime, I'll be sticking to my <a href="http://www.iriver.com/">iRiver</a> U10. (<a href="http://www.cowonamerica.com/">Cowon MP3 players</a> are supposed to be pretty Linux friendly as well.)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Update:</span> And thus begins the game of cat-and-mouse - The new iPod <a href="http://amarok.kde.org/blog/archives/496-iPod-Classic-Will-Be-Supported.html">checksum</a> <a href="http://www.backdot.com/?p=50">has been cracked</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-4067288628905936862007-09-04T06:02:00.001-07:002008-11-13T11:39:12.901-08:00Ubuntu finally gets graphical X configurationAlmost 3 years after Ubuntu's first release, they've finally added graphical X configuration. Hopefully no more editing your /etc/X11/xorg.conf by hand...<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/Rt1XXPargxI/AAAAAAAAAEM/Q5gAUEvFHNg/s1600-h/screen1.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/Rt1XXPargxI/AAAAAAAAAEM/Q5gAUEvFHNg/s400/screen1.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5106333609295053586" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Ubuntu 7.10 users should find it easier to change their graphics settings<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/Rt1XXfargyI/AAAAAAAAAEU/heDiHi6mZUw/s1600-h/screen2.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/Rt1XXfargyI/AAAAAAAAAEU/heDiHi6mZUw/s400/screen2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5106333613590020898" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Graphics card selection tab</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-41360700551868197542007-08-09T16:16:00.001-07:002008-11-13T11:39:13.099-08:00Mark Shuttleworth on MCA PodcastI was tipped off that the mighty Mark Shuttleworth is going to be talking about the new <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MobileAndEmbedded">Ubuntu Mobile</a> on the next <a href="http://mca.libsyn.com/">Mobile Computing Authority</a> podcast. The show will be broadcast live at 9 AM EST on August 11th, and available for download after that. <a href="http://mca.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=238918">More information here</a>.<br /><br />Ubuntu on one of those UMPCs... drool...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/RrujJGTWy4I/AAAAAAAAADQ/sVNinlpdBgM/s1600-h/ubuntumobile_samsung.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/RrujJGTWy4I/AAAAAAAAADQ/sVNinlpdBgM/s400/ubuntumobile_samsung.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5096846780005796738" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-47721732218790469502007-08-07T13:23:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:39:13.284-08:00Evolution 2.11.6: A mail client smarter than IAfter putting off doing a fresh install of <a href="http://www.ubuntulinux.com/">Ubuntu</a> for almost 2 years (it's just too easy to dist-upgrade), I did a fresh install of <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GutsyGibbon">Gutsy Gibbon</a>. Among other neat surprises (which I'll try to blog about), this one almost made me fall off my chair:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/RrjVQ2TWy3I/AAAAAAAAADI/E4ZOg4j--rY/s1600-h/Screenshot-Attachment+Reminder.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/RrjVQ2TWy3I/AAAAAAAAADI/E4ZOg4j--rY/s400/Screenshot-Attachment+Reminder.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5096057463801039730" border="0" /></a><br />Being the total klutz that I am, I had forgotten to attach a file to an email I wrote before I clicked send. To my surprise, Evolution made an educated guess that I had done exactly that, and gave me a warning!<br /><br />I love Evolution + GNOME.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-24601473454967241202007-05-22T07:46:00.000-07:002007-05-22T08:15:42.472-07:00Weekly Blog Round-upThe blogosphere's full of good reads this week:<br /><ul><li>I found Paul Buchheit's <a href="http://paulbuchheit.blogspot.com/2007/05/amazingly-bad-apis.html">Amazingly Bad APIs</a> funny because it chronicles my experience with Java quite nicely. (... and man, people <span style="font-weight: bold;">do</span> love over-complicating their abstraction patterns in Java)</li><li>Benjamin Otte's "<a href="http://blogs.gnome.org/view/otte/2007/05/22/0">Distros...</a>" is another rant I can related to. It'd be nice if the libraries you relied on "upstream" always worked, but the truth is, they don't. I often wonder if we're the only ones who actually use a certain library (who's name I won't mention), because we seem to be the only ones complaining about certain issues we've had. (The solution? Fix it ourselves - we've started getting involved with the upstream guys to help them out....)</li><li>Free Gamer's still rocking, and I was <a href="http://freegamer.blogspot.com/2007/05/night-of-living-unofficial-builds.html">pleased to read</a> that a Linux build of SoulFu is kicking around. (SoulFu's written by the same author(s) as Egoboo, which was a little 3D hack-and-slash game.)</li><li>MacSlow's been working on <a href="http://macslow.thepimp.net/?p=123">more eye-candy goodness</a>, this time a little video player using gstreamer, OpenGL, Cairo, and GTK+. He's hoping one day some of this stuff might end up helping beautify Totem, which I'm all for.<br /></li></ul>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-77848640991880190772007-05-15T09:26:00.000-07:002007-05-18T06:44:34.170-07:00Dear Lazyweb: Software patent lawsuits?Dear lazyweb,<br /><br />A Microsoft exec <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199501831">recently remarked</a> that they're "not litigating". Some people seemed to interpret that as meaning, "we're not going to sue users", although Microsoft wasn't explicit about who they weren't going to sue.<br /><br />My question for anyone law-savvy is: Can Microsoft (or any other software company) sue <span style="font-weight: bold;">users</span> for using software which allegedly violates software patents?<br /><br />For example, if I buy a DVD player which was manufactured and sold illegally without royalty payments to the DVD consortium (etc.), it's the manufacturer of the DVD player that violated the patents. If I bought and use the DVD player, how on Earth am <span style="font-weight: bold;">I</span> the one that broke the law?<br /><br />Following that logic, how on Earth are users liable when it's the <span style="font-weight: bold;">developers</span> who allegedly violated the software patents?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Update:</span> <a href="http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?src=rss&id=1519">Interesting twist</a>, which supports the growing evidence that Microsoft's statements were/are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear%2C_uncertainty_and_doubt">FUD</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-64144705913824744712007-05-01T15:59:00.000-07:002007-05-01T16:11:50.321-07:00Dell to ship preloaded UbuntuDell <a href="http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/05/01/13147.aspx">announced</a> today* that they're going to offer Ubuntu on some of their desktop and notebook models, which I think is great news for everyone. Dell's winning points (and more selling computers) with/to the Linux community, Canonical's completed another step in their plan for world domination, and there's a chance that all Linux users will benefit from better driver support.<br /><br />A tiny bit more information is <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/news/dell-to-offer-ubuntu">available on Canonical's site</a>, and a bunch more on <a href="http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/05/01/13147.aspx">Dell's blog</a> (including a video with Mark Shuttleworth). Check it out!<br /><br />* I have to point out that I called this one in advance in my last post. </shamelessselfpromotion><br />;)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-66183977444054714862007-04-19T07:53:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:39:13.576-08:00Ubuntu 7.04 Released!It's been a long six-month wait, but she's finally arrived. <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu 7.04</a> was released today, and brings a slew of improvements to the popular desktop Linux distribution. Even <a href="http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/biographies/en/msd_computers?c=us&l=en&s=corp">Michael Dell</a>'s in on the buzz this time.*<br /><br />Among the features that the Ubuntu team has been hard at work on are:<br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Restricted Driver Manager</span> - Allows you to easily install proprietary drivers for your hardware (like NVidia and some wifi drivers)</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Desktop-Effects</span> - Ubuntu now has a single-click way of enabling wobbly windows!</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Easier codec installation</span> - Suggests which package(s) you need to install in order to playback movies/audio when you don't have the right codec installed. (Hmmm, reminds me of <a href="http://linuxrevolution.blogspot.com/2006/06/ubuntu-606-and-ntp-revelation-of.html">something</a>...)<br /><br /></li></ul><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/RieGVpwpijI/AAAAAAAAAC4/mnJTiWSxKIc/s1600-h/Screenshot.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hUprAdIclgE/RieGVpwpijI/AAAAAAAAAC4/mnJTiWSxKIc/s320/Screenshot.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5055156813291948594" border="0" /></a><br />I've been using Ubuntu 7.04 for a few weeks now, and I've found that it's much more polished than Edgy was (in terms of application stability and nice little touches). If you're going to dist-upgrade to 7.04, you probably won't notice very much difference besides the new artwork and the features I listed above. In fact, if you've already got all the right codecs installed, you'll probably never even see the easy codec installation thing (I haven't). That being said, these are still useful features because they save new users a good chunk of customization time.<br /><br />Anyways, long story short: 7.04 is the best Ubuntu release since Dapper (6.06), and I think it might be finally worth giving a copy of it to your non-Linux user friends, without fear of total reject. Features like the restricted driver manager, migration assistant, and easy codec installation make Ubuntu an ever more user-friendly OS, and I think it's going to continue to impress people and make waves over the next few years.<br /><br />* If you haven't been following the whole Dell/Linux thing, Dell launched this <a href="http://www.ideastorm.com/">IdeaStorm</a> site a while back to help get ideas from their users. They were totally swamped with requests for Linux and now they're trying to figure out which distro people want. Educated speculation: I'm expecting a big announcement sometime in the next few months about Dell offering Ubuntu on their laptops (which is a huge win for both Canonical and Ubuntu users, because it means we'll probably be getting better hardware support for those laptops.) Why? I just don't see them advertising that Michael Dell uses Ubuntu and then turning around and offering SUSE on their laptops.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22283761.post-80889103739409416302007-04-16T23:20:00.000-07:002007-04-16T23:22:15.828-07:00Wine-Doors ScreencastI just noticed a short screencast of <a href="http://www.wine-doors.org">Wine-Doors</a> in action over on their site:<br /><br /><center><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/RkX89UhzlSI"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RkX89UhzlSI" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object></center><br /><br />Looking pretty slick...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2