In search for ultimate programming language

Open source biometrics technology for mobile devices, PCs and servers

2011-12-04T08:36:00.001+01:00

The interesting software is called FingerJetFX - see introduction:

http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=11956

Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal Reviewed

2011-12-03T08:28:00.001+01:00

GNOME Shell Ubuntu 11.10 - First Impressions

2011-11-27T10:35:00.001+01:00

8 Things I did After Installing GNOME Shell in Brand New Ubuntu 11.10

2011-11-27T10:33:00.001+01:00

15 Things I Did After Installing New Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot

2011-11-27T10:32:00.001+01:00

Funny Nokia N8 videos

2011-10-13T09:01:00.004+02:00

Gulp. The world's largest stop-motion animation set, shot on a Nokia N8.
Gulp. The making of.
Dot. The world's smallest stop-motion animation character shot on a Nokia N8
Dot. The making of.

Return to Ubuntu Classic Desktop in Ubuntu 11.10

2011-09-13T14:22:00.003+02:00

http://www.liberiangeek.net/2011/08/return-to-ubuntu-classic-desktop-in-ubuntu-11-10/

GNU/Linux Distribution Timeline

2011-04-08T08:57:00.002+02:00

A real gem in the Internet: http://futurist.se/gldt/

Direct link to version 11.4:

Legend to connectors:

Customize GRUB2 - StartUp-Manager

2011-04-06T16:31:00.003+02:00

http://apcmag.com/customise-ubuntu-with-grub.htm
(includes instructions for 'Fixing Plymouth with NVIDIA/ATI', if you use NVIDIA cards and the official NVIDIA drivers)

Ubuntu documentation: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/StartUpManager
(the tool is to be found in "Applications > Administration > StartUp Manager")

Stop UAC blacking out the screen

2011-02-13T16:47:00.001+01:00

Yeah, my current Acer laptop is not too fast one (compared to my wife's ASUS). And one thing that annoyed me for a long time in Windows 7 was the UAC prompt displaying terribly slow. Today I've had a bit of time to google around, and here's what I've found:

The DisableSecureDesktop Registry Hack from the How-To Geek indeed works very well.
Cool :-)

Project triangle: cheap, fast, good - pick any two

2010-11-09T15:23:00.004+01:00

The moral? You can't fulfill all three objectives, but only two of the above.

Finding the happy medium in FOSS

2010-11-09T15:17:00.001+01:00

http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/125321

A New User Guide to Linux Communities

2010-11-09T11:26:00.002+01:00

http://linux-blog.org/a-new-user-guide-to-linux-communities/

A minty experience leaves a pleasant taste

2010-04-25T12:11:00.004+02:00

Relation from transitioning a "typical user" from Windows to Linux. Interesting and funny one, too.

Knowing what sort of computer user type this person is I decided to make sure I chose the right distribution for them. After careful thought and a bit of google trolling (in the searching sense of the word) I decided to give Linux Mint a go. So I backed up their computer and settled down to install Mint.

Naturally the install went without a hitch. [...] Note the only changes I made were upgrading wine and installing amsn. Everything else I left as is.

I called them over and spent a couple of minutes showing them where their data is and left them to it. After a while I checked in to see if there were any problems. There were none so I let them be. Suddenly they stormed out and shouted "This G.D. computer is so user friendly!!" [...]

Every now and then other exclamations burst forth such as "This is great!", "It's like a new computer" and more. Each time the old liquid pump almost burst under the pressure of pride at a new assimilation.

I did not have to do any training. I did not have to do any hand holding although, I fully expected to have to. This person found exactly what they needed and could do everything they could do before. The things they are most happy about? They are free of windows virus's, their computer runs fast again and is easy to use. So I am very happy with my choice of Mint for them as are they. The Mint developers have made a very good distribution and it has suited this person to the T. It is the first time I used Mint and I have to admit, I was impressed.

That's truly opposite to one of the previous entries, Linux is for smart people. It's almost as good as one of the Helios writings ;-) Which brings us to the point that people are not necessarily stupid when they use Windows - but they are rather afraid of change or don't want to invest enough time to understand and assimilate the differences.

http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/locutus/a-minty-experience-leaves-a-pleasant-taste-38151

PDF Export in OpenOffice.org

2010-04-19T03:15:00.001+02:00

http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/pdf-export-openofficeorg

Determine If Shell Input is Coming From the Terminal or From a Pipe

2010-04-09T08:36:00.003+02:00

http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/determine-if-shell-input-coming-terminal-or-pipe

jQuery selectors performance

2010-02-26T18:16:00.002+01:00

Several very on-topic articles:

http://java.sys-con.com/node/1179088
http://www.artzstudio.com/2009/04/jquery-performance-rules/
http://jquery-howto.blogspot.com/2009/02/5-easy-tips-on-how-to-improve-code.html

Java Triggers and the Oracle Database

2010-02-21T06:40:00.002+01:00

Fine article with a nice and easy to understand example:
http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/javase/oracle_db_triggers/?feed=JSC

Problematic KB971033 update for Windows7

2010-02-14T21:55:00.001+01:00

I recommend that you strongly consider rejecting the manual installation of the Windows Activation Technologies update KB971033, and do not permit Windows Update to install it (this will require that you not have your PC configured in update automatic installation mode, which has other ramifications -- so you may wish to consult a knowledgeable associate if you're not familiar with Windows Update configuration issues).

And if at some point in the future you find that the update has been installed and your PC is still running normally, remove the update as soon as possible.

http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000681.html

How Google uses Linux kernel

2010-02-04T10:15:00.001+01:00

For the note: http://lwn.net/Articles/357658/

Is YouTube's bandwith free?

2010-01-18T12:42:00.003+01:00

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/10/youtube-bandwidth/

the lack of a monthly bill in the mailbox doesn't mean Google's internet connection is free - it's just that it has purchased unused fiber optic cable known as "dark fiber" - and uses it to carry its traffic to other networks where it "peers" or trades traffic with other ISPs. Its costs for bandwidth are then amortized across the life of its fiber and routers.
[...]
Traditionally the net has been shaped like a pyramid with small ISPs at the bottom, connecting up to regional carriers, that connect to backbone and transcontinental carriers. It's much more complicated now with the top 30 websites serving up 30 percent of net traffic, either from their own sets of pipes or from data centers around the world that connect much closer to your computer - and for much cheaper - than ever before.
[...]
In 2007, the majority of the internet's traffic came distributed by 30,000 blocks of servers around the net (technically Autonomous System Numbers).

In 2009, 150 blocks served up half of the net's traffic.

"What we mean by the internet is changing and it's happening really quickly," Labovitz said. "I was blown away to find out that one-tenth of the internet is going [to] or coming from Google."

Activate Windows 7's Hidden 'God Mode'

2010-01-05T14:18:00.006+01:00

Handy trick if you're setting up a machine for the first time and need to access many settings:

Create a new folder

Name it: GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

That's it

http://www.osnews.com/story/22691/Activate_Windows_7_s_Hidden_God_Mode_

GPL Enforcement

2009-11-12T07:10:00.001+01:00

Don't Jump to Conclusions, But Do Report Violations:
http://ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/2009/11/08/gpl-enforcement.html

A Practical Guide to GPL Compliance:
http://www.softwarefreedom.org/resources/2008/compliance-guide.html

Install languagepack in Windows 7 Professional

2009-09-20T12:56:00.005+02:00

http://www.winmatrix.com/forums/index.php?/topic/25539-how-to-enable-mui-language-pack-in-windows-7-professional/

MUI można również zainstalować w wersji Professional znajdującej się
w MSDNAA, wystarczy:

W trybie administratora w CMD wpisać:
DISM /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath:(ścieżka do lp)

Następnie kolejną komendę:
bcdedit /set {current} locale pl-PL

oraz:
bcdboot %WinDir% /l pl-PL

potem w regedit:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlMUIUILanguages
usunąć en-US

Restart systemu i mamy polską wersję RTM Pro.

Additional info:

Defeat stupid quotes on web forum

2009-08-07T21:49:00.002+02:00

Once in a while someone writes a smart (in his own opinion) rebuttal, but inside puts one of the stupid quotes. Here's how to cleverly defeat that:

"What's the point of this operating system?"

Say you and your wife decide to have another baby. After a lot of hard work, she gets pregnant. After nine difficult months and the troubles of childbirth, you bring a new beautiful little person into this world. You could not be happier. This is the best moment of your life.

Then imagine me walking in, and saying: "What's the point in yet another human being?"

Other annoying quotes are at the original site: http://www.osnews.com/story/21944/The_10_Most_Annoying_Things_in_Internet_Comments

Linux is for smart people

2009-08-05T10:41:00.003+02:00

This is precious, so far I have never read such a nice post like this:

It's hard to convince Joe and Mary User to convert to Linux when the first things you hear from them are: "Where's my <insert stupid application here>?" "Why can't I just have <insert ridiculous thing here>?" or the ever-popular "This doesn't work like <insert overpriced application here>?" Honestly, it's enough to make me want to tell them to "just buy a Mac and stop calling me." Linux, after all, is for smart people and I really don't find any reason to "dumb it down" for the general population.

http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4605.html

Microsoft Office formats are insecure

2009-07-28T15:56:00.000+02:00

http://blogs.computerworld.com/insecure_by_design_ms_office_formats

Analysis of Adobe RTMPE

2009-05-27T13:42:00.002+02:00

A recently published analysis of RTMPE comes to the conclusion that, although the algorithm "provides end-to-end secrecy in exactly the same way that SSL provides end-to-end secrecy, it provides no security and uses no authentication of any kind." Nowhere is a secret key, a password or even a pass phrase required in order to decrypt the content: only a 32-byte hash value plus the size of the SWF file and publicly exchanged information, specifically the last 32 bytes of the first response from the streaming server, are involved.

Following this line of argument, it could be concluded that RTMPE is only a proprietary streaming protocol with encrypted transmission. It seems at least questionable whether Adobe could call this a circumvention of copy protection and thus be in a position to invoke the DMCA and prevent distribution of the software.

http://www.h-online.com/open/Adobe-acts-against-Flash-video-stream-recorder--/news/113370

Windows7 UAC whitelist: code-injection vulnerability (and more)

2009-05-16T00:31:00.001+02:00

And when I thought the RC for Windows 7 is going to be a hit, it turns out that while running an administrative account, most of original Windows 7 .exe's auto-eleviate their rights by default, without asking user for a permission. Given that many people are accustomed to run on administrative accounts, this poses a security hole.

More: http://www.pretentiousname.com/misc/win7_uac_whitelist2.html

Enable Alt+Ctrl+Backspace in Jaunty Jackalope

2009-05-16T00:13:00.005+02:00

Ubuntu 9.04 comes with updated X.org server, in which Ctrl+Alt+Backspace doesn't work anymore out of the box. Some silly users complained that this (correctly!) resets their sessions, when they accidentally press the aforementioned combination. Even though I used Linux for many years with success, I was NEVER able to press such extraordinary key combo accidentally.

Anyway, Ubuntu devs listened and Ctrl+Alt+Backspace is turned off by default, what a pity. To restore the normal (old?) behaviour you need to modify X.org settings:

1) Open the configuration file in Gedit:


    sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

2) At the end paste:


    Section "ServerFlags"
    Option "DontZap" "false"
    EndSection

3) Restart the system or just the X subsystem ("sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart" comes to mind) in order for Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to work again. To return to previous setting, remove or comment out added lines, or change "false" to "true" in "DontZap" flag.

Original tip (in Polish): http://www.ubucentrum.net/2009/05/jak-waczyc-skrot-ctrlaltdelete-w-ubuntu.html

No One Ever Got Fired For Using Microsoft

2009-05-05T22:02:00.003+02:00

I dug out a nice writing by helios, from his old blog. Actually this is one of the best his posts that hook me up into reading them. And they are numerous...

http://blog.lobby4linux.com/index.php?/archives/83-No-One-Ever-Got-Fired-For-Using-Microsoft.-Yes-They-Did..html
(note: original site is inaccessible right now, the above link is provided by the Wayback Machine)

Find more interesting readings on the current Blog of helios.

pv (Pipe Viewer) in action!

2009-03-19T22:02:00.013+01:00

Recently I needed to copy a 4GB of data to a 6GB partition (both of which were VirtualBox disks). Remembering my resolution to use pv program (pipe viewer) in such case, I used it this time while copying to see the progress of the whole process. I started with getting the expected size of copied data:

# fdisk -l -u

Disk /dev/sda: 4294 MB, 4294967296 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 522 cylinders, total 8388608 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x664a0e1b

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *          63     8369864     4184901    7  HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 6442 MB, 6442450944 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 783 cylinders, total 12582912 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/sdb doesn't contain a valid partition table

Next, after consulting the pv's manual, I used it as a filter between two dd programs (one for reading from the source and one for writing to the destination). I played a bit with pv's -B option (which specifies the size of internal buffer), but it turned out the default size was the best. Anyway, the progress I achieved looked like this:

# dd if=/dev/sda bs=4096 | pv -pterb -s 4294967296 -B 4096 | dd of=/dev/sdb bs=4096
35.5MB 0:00:20 [1.61MB/s] [>                         ]  0% ETA 0:41:38
8469+0 records in
8468+0 records out
34684928 bytes (35 MB) copied, 20.6268 s, 1.7 MB/s
8451+0 records in
8451+0 records out
34615296 bytes (35 MB) copied, 20.6437 s, 1.7 MB/s

Pretty neat IMHO, just what I wanted. Now I only need to remember the parameters for another use: "pterb" for progress, and "-s" for size...

Graphical vi Cheat Sheet and Tutorial

2009-02-28T12:42:00.017+01:00

Finally I've found it again! It's here:
http://www.viemu.com/a_vi_vim_graphical_cheat_sheet_tutorial.html

Well, actually, it's quite easy to find if one knows what to ask google about.

And I really like those pictures, they come as lessons (see below) and they finish with a final cheat sheet, ready for printing.

Lessons:

1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7.

Result (all lessons in one page):

Ironic view at software diagramming

2009-02-16T23:00:00.003+01:00

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/16/verity_stob_software_diagramming/

Somewhat funny look at different diagramming techniques over the course of years. I suspect the author's experience cannot let him feel the 'real' power of UML to use it correctly. Although UML is far from perfect, it's the best we have now (similiar to what Churchill has said about democracy).

But anyway, there is a hidden gem in the above article, a link to an open-source State Machine Compiler: http://smc.sourceforge.net/

pv (Pipe Viewer)

2009-02-08T22:59:00.004+01:00

http://www.debianadmin.com/pv-pipe-viewer-shell-pipeline-element-to-meter-data-passing-through.html

Sometimes there is a need to copy lots of data verbatim. In Linux the easiest way is to use dd command for it, or dd_rescue in case of errors. However, original dd has one drawback, namely it's not possible to know its progress until it finishes. Copying partition images with size in 30-40 GB range is boring, because the commands starts, disk LED is flashing, and nothing is displayed. The aforementioned pv has a lot of potential in my eyes, because it brings long awaited progress information.

Since I haven't copied big files using dd recently, I cannot predict whether it would work (most probably yes). But when the need arises, I'm definitely going to use pv in combination with dd to possibly get a nice progress info. :-)

How to customize NetBeans look and feel

2009-02-08T22:55:00.003+01:00

A good overview of possible options for custom look and feel in NetBeans can be found here:

http://javahowto.blogspot.com/2008/05/how-to-customize-netbeans-look-and-feel.html

Apart from original tip concerning MetalLookAndFeel, the above is a nice source of ideas, which I like a lot. :-)

Logout Vista button required 43 people

2009-02-07T19:26:00.003+01:00

I read this once but I lost the URL, and now I've found it! It's an old one, but a good one:

http://moishelettvin.blogspot.com/2006/11/windows-shutdown-crapfest.html

And the moral of this story? Weekly meetings, multiple layers of management and the end result which people still don't like much. Shame on you, Microsoft. :-(

Working arrow keys in VMWare Player

2009-02-04T13:00:00.005+01:00

http://aldeby.org/blog/index.php/arrow-keys-not-working-with-vmware.html

That's a simple fix for VMWare, which doesn't recognize a changed method of handling keyboard keys in new XServer.

you may experience some problems with arrow keys, pg up/pg down and home/end keys with vmware 6.5 and Ubuntu Linux Intrepid 8.10.

a workaround for those problems is to create a file named config under .vmware folder in your home directory and fill it with the following text:


xkeymap.keycode.108 = 0x138 # Alt_R
xkeymap.keycode.106 = 0x135 # KP_Divide
xkeymap.keycode.104 = 0x11c # KP_Enter
xkeymap.keycode.111 = 0x148 # Up
xkeymap.keycode.116 = 0x150 # Down
xkeymap.keycode.113 = 0x14b # Left
xkeymap.keycode.114 = 0x14d # Right
xkeymap.keycode.105 = 0x11d # Control_R
xkeymap.keycode.118 = 0x152 # Insert
xkeymap.keycode.119 = 0x153 # Delete
xkeymap.keycode.110 = 0x147 # Home
xkeymap.keycode.115 = 0x14f # End
xkeymap.keycode.112 = 0x149 # Prior
xkeymap.keycode.117 = 0x151 # Next
xkeymap.keycode.78 = 0x46 # Scroll_Lock
xkeymap.keycode.127 = 0x100 # Pause
xkeymap.keycode.133 = 0x15b # Meta_L
xkeymap.keycode.134 = 0x15c # Meta_R
xkeymap.keycode.135 = 0x15d # Menu

Good news on ASP.NET MVC

2009-02-01T22:44:00.003+01:00

Fine description of MVC pattern implementation in ASP.NET can be found on ScottGu's blog. This post accompanies the Release Candidate of ASP.NET MVC 1.0:

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2009/01/27/asp-net-mvc-1-0-release-candidate-now-available.aspx

WTFPL - The ultimate free license

2009-01-14T19:05:00.003+01:00

http://sam.zoy.org/wtfpl/
In a word: cute!

Debugging PHP with NetBeans and XDebug

2009-01-12T10:38:00.001+01:00

A small tutorial from NetBeans' Knowledge Base:

http://www.netbeans.org/kb/docs/php/debugging.html

Spaghetti code? Meet lasagna and ravioli code!

2008-12-28T11:18:00.008+01:00

An old joke, but a good one: http://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/pasta.code.html

There are plenty more: http://www.gnu.org/fun/humor.html

And my favourite: http://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/helloworld.html
However there is an ugly error, in the code they use void main():

New professional


 #include <stdio.h>
 
 void main(void)
 {
  char *message[] = {"Hello ", "World"};
  int i;
  for(i = 0; i < 2; ++i)
  printf("%s", message[i]);
  printf("\n");
 }

This is non-standard (process returns a random number upon completion). It should rather be int main() instead - with a correct, standard behavior (process returns 0, even if final return 0; is omitted). Using void main() implies the dreaded "undefined behavior"...

Fork Ruby?

2008-12-28T01:28:00.004+01:00

As Kroc Camen mentions in his article, Ruby came to the point where the mainline codebase became somewhat bloated. One interesting thing is that he mentions a need to redesign Ruby's syntax, to incorporate multithreading capabilities better. Exactly what C++09 intends to do with regard to multithreading quite soon. Nice, nice, nice! One more reason to learn new C++ :)

And he then says:

Clearly then, even after 50 years of general-purpose computing we still haven't come up with the answer to the final language to describe it all.

Nice touch, especially since that's exactly what I'm looking for :)

There is life on planet Linux

2008-12-21T16:03:00.005+01:00

In the Karen vs. Helios case one reader has put a nice comment (below). For those who don't know what the case was all about, here's a quick overview: Karen is a teacher who was not well-aware of Linux and Free Software. Since Helios' post was brought to slashdot, Karen received a storm of negative comments. Since then they contacted and the case is discussed and is going to be resolved, probably with a happy ending (well, sorta).

Now back to the "extra-terrestrial life" comment:

gagy said...

I am breathless!
Fortunately, my fingers are still (freely) working.
Obviously K does not realize that major universities and corporations are switching to free software for day-to-day needs encountered in such large organizations, like communication, writing letters and memos, public presentation of data, etc.
You already know this, but I would like to bring it back to your memory. Major police forces in Europe are (Oh my gosh!) switching to free software (see: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Parlez-Vous-Ubuntu-Says-The-French-National-Police-77605.shtml).
How can the world be safe anymore?

This episode brink back to memory a historical event: that of Galileo's.
In the beginning there was the earth (read Microsoft), safely placed at the centre of the universe.
Now this place has been shown to be occupied by the sun, and many planets are circling around it. One of those is microsoft, and another one is linux. And there is life on linux...

Please fight back for those kids!

JFXBuilder - The First JavaFX Visual Designer

2008-12-20T00:32:00.003+01:00

A cool Java Web Start application for creating JavaFX files. Good!
http://www.reportmill.com/jfx/

Also an original announcement:
http://www.reportmill.com/news/2008_12.html

Additional repositories for Intrepid Ibex (OpenOffice3)

2008-11-20T01:40:00.000+01:00

Pretty neat and useful set of repositories (includes OpenOffice.org-3):
http://forum.ubuntu.pl/showthread.php?t=85730 (in Polish)

Electrician... (is it safe?)

2008-11-20T01:38:00.000+01:00

Joke in Polish: Elektryka prąd nie tyka...
Ingenious!

More: http://unixy.pl/maciek/download/pic/

Boss and wallpaper change (Polish)

2008-11-20T01:00:00.013+01:00

Szef i zmiana tapety

Szef mojej lepszej połowy wezwał informatyka, aby ten zrobił mu porządek z laptopem.
Z tej rozmowy niestety - zostało zapamiętane tylko jedno:
Szef: Proszę mi zmienić tapetę, bo ta już mi się znudziła!
Informatyk: Nie mam czasu na pierdoły - i wyszedł.

http://www.joemonster.org/art/4101/Ciezka_dola_serwisanta_VIII

Make Linux Look like XP with XPGnome

2008-11-20T00:41:00.004+01:00

Very impressive pictures:
http://linuxpoison.blogspot.com/2008/11/make-linux-look-like-windows-xp-with.html

However, I wonder if this is a legitimate software, or a trojan. The address within looks suspicious to me... (ubuntu.online02.com ???)

What's new in PHP V5.3, Part 1

2008-11-17T12:37:00.004+01:00

What's new in PHP V5.3, Part 1: Changes to the object interface
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/opensource/library/os-php-5.3new1/index.html

Linux to nie Windows (in Polish)

2008-11-17T10:59:00.004+01:00

http://jakilinux.org/gnu/wolnosc-czy-wygoda/#comment-2808741

Szamot83 pisze:

Natomiast [co do] przywiązania użytkowników do oprogramowania - sam bym tego lepiej nie ujął, dodałbym jeszcze “i samego systemu”. Wydaje mi się, że Ci, którzy tak bardzo narzekają na Linuksa, w ogóle nie znają tego systemu, lub nie potrafili go sobie skonfigurować. Wydaje mi się, że po części jest tak, że jak człowiek czegoś nie potrafi, to staje się tego wrogiem, zwłaszcza jeżeli wydawało mu się, że wcześniej to umie. Np. Jestem sobie (tak mówię o sobie) zwykłym użytkownikiem Windows i generalnie system ten nie ma dla mnie tajemnic. Ludzie przynoszą do mnie sprzęt do modernizacji i do zainstalowania oprogramowania, więc można sobie dorobić. Razem ze sprzętem przynoszą mi płytkę z popularnym systemem i kodem, namazanym markerem na wierzchu, cóż… Polska. Jakimś trafem postanowiłem sobie zainstalować Linuksa, słyszałem, że się zmieniło i jest fajnie, a z drugiej strony słyszałem, że lipa. Postanowiłem spróbować i nagle cała moja wiedza umknęła, zacząłem szukać podobnych rozwiązań jak w Windowsie, motałem się, reinstalowałem dystrybucję, a to wszystko po to, żeby zainstalować modem do internetu, pomyślałem - lipa, LINUKS TO DNO. Chociaż nie rezygnowałem, to nie ruszałem się z miejsca z moim problemem (frustracja rosła), po przestudiowaniu kilku manuali i kilkunastu tematów na forach znalazłem rozwiązanie i nawet napisałem skrypt do automatycznej konfiguracji. Od tamtej pory wiem co i jak, nie narzekam na Linuksa, ponieważ uświadomiłem sobie coś, po prostu LINUX TO NIE WINDOWS, jeden system do drugiego ma się jak perkusja do gitary, grają w tym samym zespole, ale obsługuje je się zupełnie inaczej. Nie konfiguruje go się w ten sam sposób, nie pasują nawyki wyuczone na Windowsie. To tak jak z przejściem z DOS do Win95, trzeba się było tego uczyć i tak jest w przypadku Linuksa, najpierw trzeba nauczyć się podstaw, potem dopiero można brać się za ocenę tego systemu. Wydaje mi się, że teraz (nawet w tej dyskusji) ludzie patrzą na to w ten sposób - ja, który znam się na Windowsie, nie umiem czegoś zrobić na Linuksie? To ten Linux jest do bani, bo na Windowsie umiem. Przypomina mi to dziecko, które zanim czegoś spróbuje już wie, czy to jest dobre, czy nie.

Podobnie jak nauczyłem się Windowsa 95, 98, itd., tak i nauczyłem się Linuksa, dlatego mogę teraz o nim pisać, oceniać go. Przypomina to trochę naukę Platona (4 w p.n.e.) o tym, że najpierw należy poznać istotę bytu (w tym wypadku Linuksa), a potem należy o nim mówić (w dużym uproszczeniu, polecam książkę “Fajdros” w przekładzie Witwickiego, wydawnictwo “Antyk”, tylko 100 stron :) ).

Windows jest mi teraz potrzebny jak rybie ręcznik.
Pozdrawiam

Schema Design Patterns: Avoiding Complexity

2008-10-28T01:13:00.000+01:00

http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/11/20/schemas.html

Using W3C XML Schema

2008-10-28T00:57:00.003+01:00

http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2000/11/29/schemas/part1.html
(printed version: http://www.xml.com/lpt/a/691)

And from Oracle:

And from WebReference:

Boycott Novell - Champion of freedom or den of paranoia?

2008-10-27T13:40:00.001+01:00

Observations about Boycott Novell:

http://www.linux.com/feature/151215

Some Productive Ubuntu Kung Fu

2008-10-27T12:37:00.008+01:00

Book Excerpt: http://lifehacker.com/5067996/some-productive-ubuntu-kung-fu

Also in comments:

"a good desktop blog editor" - suggestions:
- OpenOffice.org with the Sun Weblog Publisher extension
- ScribeFire extension for Firefox
"a tip to make gnome fonts look *not* like that" - suggestion:
- Open a terminal window and type sudo dpkg-reconfigure fonts-fontconfig Then choose the Native option in the menu, and log out and back in again.
"Is there an app for the Mac that is like gnome-blog?" - suggestion:
- http://www.red-sweater.com/marsedit/ I've never used it myself but I hear good things about it.
"What about https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GnomeDo/Plugins ?"

MIT team designs bio-suit

2008-10-27T00:42:00.000+01:00

News from July 2007:

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/biosuit-0716.html

Spotlight turns to notebooks - Live

2008-10-25T17:27:00.001+02:00

Live from Apple's "spotlight turns to notebooks" event - long, with comments:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/14/live-from-apples-spotlight-turns-to-notebooks-event/

DisplayPort versus HDMI

2008-10-19T14:22:00.006+02:00

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/09/19/displayport-and-hdmi-square-off-in-uber-thorough-comparison/

An astonishingly detailed report at EDN pits the two digital-display-interface standards against one another in an attempt to discover whether we really, truly need two ways to plug things in:

http://www.edn.com/article/CA6594089.html

There's also a comparison of main features of different standards.
Included here as a screenshot:

Multi-finger MacBook trackpad gestures demonstrated on video

2008-10-16T17:24:00.001+02:00

Steve Jobs amd multi-touch glass trackpad:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/15/multi-finger-macbook-trackpad-gestures-demonstrated-on-video/

Linux is Making Me Fat and Lazy

2008-10-03T01:55:00.001+02:00

Original blog entry by Carla Schroder - I translated it into Polish and posted to LinuxNews.pl

DevX Report - New C++09 Standard

2008-10-02T21:56:00.005+02:00

http://www.devx.com/cplus/Door/7042

Timeline: C++ in Retrospect

The State of the Language: An Interview with Bjarne Stroustrup

Simpler Multithreading in C++0x

Easier C++: An Introduction to Concepts

Overview: C++ Gets an Overhaul

C++0x: The Dawning of a New Standard

jQuery to ship with ASP.NET MVC and Visual Studio

2008-10-01T01:46:00.002+02:00

Blog entry of Scott Hanselman with simple, yet effective example:
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/jQueryToShipWithASPNETMVCAndVisualStudio.aspx

Programming is best when it is play

2008-09-30T23:25:00.004+02:00

Rosalyn Hunter writes:

As we follow the zig-zaggy quest of me trying to learn to program, I discover the next significant step, “Interest”. I started with a goal: to learn to program. Next I came up with a plan: Learn Python by writing a program called PT (period tracker) but I lacked the last bit, interest.

You see, there was very little that period tracker did that a calendar didn’t. Spending hours to make a program to do work that I could do in five minutes with a calendar and a pencil seemed like a waste of effort.

Now don’t take this the wrong way. [...] I’m pretty accomplished at wasting time, but I can’t abide doing work “for fun” that bores me.

This gets to the heart of free software programming. People don’t program just because they want to learn. They don’t even program because they have a need. People program because they are interested in getting something done, and they are willing to do it themselves. Learning to program is time consuming and requires effort, but the effort means nothing if you’re having fun, just ask anyone playing racquetball.
Programming is best when it is play.

http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/columns/becoming_a_frees_software_developer_part_4

Free 3D games with raytracing engine

2008-09-28T15:30:00.004+02:00

Two nice 3D games, with graphics engine that renders images via raytracing - done by CPU. Two titles there, Let there be Light and Outbound:

http://igad.nhtv.nl/~bikker/projects2.htm

Twilight of the GPU - back to CPU rendering

2008-09-28T15:21:00.007+02:00

Tim Sweeney, co-founder of Epic Games and the brains behind every iteration of the widely licensed Unreal series of 3D game engines, [...] predicted that rendering would eventually return to the CPU. Take a 1999 interview with Gamespy, for instance, in which he lays out the future timeline for the development of 3D game rendering that has turned out to be remarkably prescient in hindsight:

2006-7: CPU's become so fast and powerful that 3D hardware will be only marginally beneficial for rendering, relative to the limits of the human visual system, therefore 3D chips will likely be deemed a waste of silicon (and more expensive bus plumbing), so the world will transition back to software-driven rendering. And, at this point, there will be a new renaissance in non-traditional architectures such as voxel rendering and REYES-style microfacets, enabled by the generality of CPU's driving the rendering process. If this is a case, then the 3D hardware revolution sparked by 3dfx in 1997 will prove to only be a 10-year hiatus from the natural evolution of CPU-driven rendering.

Sweeney was off by at least two years, but otherwise it appears more and more likely that he'll turn out to be correct about the eventual return of software rendering and the death of the GPU as a fixed-function coprocessor.

http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/gpu-sweeney-interview.ars

Free and open source system first, usability and ease of use next

2008-09-26T23:02:00.009+02:00

PJ from Groklaw commented on the Ubuntu Bug #269656:

[In reply to Mark Shuttleworth]
I acknowledge your amazing skill and energy at mobilizing and spreading acceptance of GNU/Linux on the desktop. And part of that skill is your ability to figure out what makes it accessible to grannie too.
[...]
The only caution I feel is this: the first goal is to provide a free and open source system. After that comes usability, ease of use, convenience, protection of users, etc.

To which Mark replied:

Yes, I agree. It's that feeling of being part of something profoundly
different, and liberating, that makes us tick. And the "make users life
easier" theme is a very slippery slope, that can be used to justify the
whole shebang - Skype, Flash, you name it. Walking the fine line between
selling out and actively furthering the cause of free software through
some pragmatism is possibly the toughest thing we do [...]

Now that's something, really really something. PJ just summed it up so very nicely. For all the whiners that are uncomfortable with Linux there is an answer: "the first goal is to provide a free and open source system". Even if some Linux distro is not as polished as one might want it to be, it is a free system, dammit! It it wasn't you wouldn't have a thing to complain about!!! And if there's something to complain, then it's most probably the famous "itch to scratch". Then better yet, instead of complaining just scratch it, *DO* something to improve the situation. Submit a bug report, a translation, a patch if you're skilled enough... Act, don't complain. Do as others do: cooperate.

Then again, if you still only want to complain, mind this: "talk is cheap". And if you insist on complaining, you're most probably a green, ugly, internet troll - move on somewhere else.

Improving Windows XP guest in VMWare Player

2008-09-23T13:29:00.003+02:00

Solution for keyboard hanging in X (a simple "setxkbmap" is enough) and more:

http://jhansonxi.blogspot.com/2008/09/improving-windows-xp-guest-in-vmware.html

Also note there are many other parameters you can tweak in the vmx file.

Why the Skilled Quit First

2008-09-04T00:53:00.002+02:00

The reason that skilled employees quit, however, is a bit more complicated. In virtually every job, there is a peak in the overall value (the ratio of productivity to cost) that an employee brings to his company. I call this the Value Apex.

On the first minute of the first day, an employee’s value is effectively zero. As that employee becomes acquainted with his new environment and begins to apply his skills and past experiences, his value quickly grows. This growth continues exponentially while the employee masters the business domain and shares his ideas with coworkers and management.

However, once an employee shares all of his external knowledge, learns all that there is to know about the business, and applies all of his past experiences, the growth stops. That employee, in that particular job, has become all that he can be. He has reached the value apex.

http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Up-or-Out-Solving-the-IT-Turnover-Crisis.aspx

Microsoft's plans for post-Windows OS revealed

2008-08-10T10:50:00.003+02:00

The new name is Midori, and it's going to be a new OS without Windows legacy:

http://www.sdtimes.com/MICROSOFT_S_PLANS_FOR_POST_WINDOWS_OS_REVEALED/About_CLOUDCOMPUTING_and_MOBILEDEVELOPMENT_and_NET_and_SOASAAS_and_SOFTWAREDEVELOPMENT_and_WINDOWS_and_MICROSOFT/32627

I just wonder if any other visionary would create such a new operating system, similarly to what Linus Torvalds once did? And at the same time I doubt it, alas.

Mule and real open-source ESB

2008-06-30T22:42:00.001+02:00

Set of links:
* http://www.keith-chapman.org/2008/06/is-mule-really-open-source.html
* http://sanjiva.weerawarana.org/2008/06/mulesource-giving-up-on-open-source.html
* ESB | WSO2 - http://wso2.com/welcome/esb/

Woes of Linux packaging and installers

2008-06-29T23:22:00.002+02:00

I commented under a very good article:

http://loupgaroublond.blogspot.com/2008/06/do-we-really-need-another-packaging.html

1) You wrote:
In creating nearly all packages, there is always some amount of shell scripting that needs to be done.

Yes, this is historically what is being done. However the more I think about it, the more problematic I see it. Why are there during installation things that has to be done by shell scripting??? What are these things?

Installing a package means to copy its files in the right places (binaries, docs, images, launchers, etc.), create/update config files, restart services. All these things could be done by the installer, and the pre-inst and post-inst scripts IMO hide the deficiencies of the package manager and/or package format.

For Java there is the "ant" tool, and this way for compilation the tested, proven and versatile (but old) makefiles are not needed. And the ant's build.xml file is, well, XML. Even more, ant is extendable by providing it with new "actions" so it it not limited to a single set of XML tags. This lets me have a confidence it would be doable to use XML for package management, so please don't spread misinformation and prejudices here.

Even more:
Many packages require some form of post-install and pre-uninstall scripting to be done. The most universal method for doing this on any distribution is a script.

Yes, you're right. However, if the package managers would run such a script providing it with the settings like paths to config files, description of package dependencies, and other things that differ between distributions today - this would be an even more powerful mechanism. And at this point I would agree that there is a place for shell scripting (which I like and use quite often in my everyday work).

2) You mentioned a myth:
The user should be able to get a package from just about anywhere, and it should run automatically on their Linux system.

I fail to consider this a myth. Either we want uniformization of Linux environment or we don't. Either it is a good thing to expand Linux penetration of the market or it's bad. If these goals are to be met, this is one of the means to achieve these goals.

Why do distributors and distributions exist? Because people have different views on how to do things. Different gcc and toolchain versions, different compiler settings, different locations of config files (think: apache2), different package formats. If there was some common ground in a form of installer API, no need for pre-inst and post-inst scripts and to some extent uniformity of the OS environment, all the above differences would become less important.

Maybe it's time to really think about more cross-distributions standardization?

3) However:
Trying to funnel everything down through some common layer at the bottom really reduces the chances for big innovation to happen.

And here I agree with you 100%. So in fact I'm not completely sure what to do w.r.t. software packaging in Linux. But uniform approach to this problem and uniform solution would surely bring commercial world to Linux. So they would be able to package their software once and it would run in almost every distro. One thing remains to be answered, whether this is really a goal that we would like to reach?

Java Code Conventions

2008-06-28T19:26:00.001+02:00

A yes, there is also a similar documentation for Java:

http://java.sun.com/docs/codeconv/

.NET Framework Naming Guidelines

2008-06-28T19:23:00.002+02:00

Now that's interesting. I already knew there are naming conventions for Java, however .NET doesn't seem to be left behind. Go and check it out:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/xzf533w0.aspx

The A-Z of Programming Languages: C++

2008-06-27T23:28:00.003+02:00

Bjarne Stroustrup of C++ fame dissects the history of his famed programming language:

http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;408408016;pp;1;fp;16;fpid;1
(and a single page for printing)

Unbelievable C loop optimization

2008-06-24T00:05:00.000+02:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duff's_Device

Default GNOME action for http/https

2008-06-23T13:42:00.004+02:00

Iceweasel goes 3.0 too
http://www.linuxworld.com/community/?q=node/18172

Debian bug #399632 - iceweasel: setting the default browser in Gnome doesn't work correctly
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=399632

gconfd error fix and mini howto
http://defindit.com/readme_files/gconfd_http_launch_howto.html

Make XP look like Vista (in Polish)

2008-06-23T12:30:00.000+02:00

http://vbeta.pl/2008/06/13/przenies-to-co-najlepsze-z-visty-do-xp/

http://technologie.gazeta.pl/technologie/1,81028,5269487,Nowe_szaty_krola.html

Microsoft works against mankind?

2008-06-15T18:04:00.004+02:00

Analysis of why an open source Windows is inevitable contains such quote:

Well, let's just say that, while Microsoft's success was due in large part for being at the right place at the right time, it now finds itself in the way of progress and the betterment of mankind.

While I find it humorous, there is some sad truth in this...

From:
http://temporaryland.wordpress.com/2008/06/12/the-inevitability-of-open-source-windows/

UNA - collaborative free source code editor

2008-06-11T10:02:00.001+02:00

Editor that presents unique approach to collaborative work. Supports many programming languages, integrates with Exuberant CTags, offers superior configurability and has a highly usable user interface.

Interview: John De Goes Introduces a Newly Free Source Code Editor

Linux package differences

2008-06-05T23:51:00.005+02:00

I put a long comment under the article Ubuntu 7.10 to PCLinuxOS 2008. Here's a copy of it:

It's not so easy to create a unified, centralized repository for all Linux distros as you might think.

The distros exist because all these people have different opinions on how a Linux system should work. I'd say this is a real-time experiment, a Darwinian effort to see which approach works best. This is the price of innovation. At the other end is stagnation, and I don't think any of Linux users would like it to stagnate.

Reasons for why it's hard to create universal packages:
1) Improvements/differences in GCC compiler and so called "toolchain".
2) Different init systems and services management.
3) Different config files locations and syntax.
4) Different package formats and package management systems.

Explanations:

1) All binary programs that constitute a working system have to be compiled (translated from human-readable form into a form suitable for CPU to execute). In case of Linux the kernel, basic GNU tools and other useful programs (be it X Window System, GNOME/KDE/XFCE/etc, Firefox, K3B, and so on), this is done by a suite of GCC compilers and a set of tools like: automake, linkers, loaders, binutils and so on.

These tools are not set in stone, they are improved, changed, restructured over time, not to mention the occasional bugfixing. Sometimes these changes are INCOMPATIBLE, like changing the GCC from version 2.95 to 3.x line and then to 4.x series. The same is for accompanying tools. They all change as their requirements change (according to the user's demand).

So when a particular distro or a package developer decide to use a specific set of tools and libraries, with their specific versions and behaviour, these decisions can be a source of incompatibility across distros and package maintainers. So for example, an mplayer package from distro A may *NOT* work at all in distro B, because of so called ABI differences (Application Binary Interface). The compatibility is maintained at the source level instead. So it's the distro maintainers that worry about this, so they just recompile a problematic package and put a new version for use.

2) Even when the package is compatible at the binary level (which is true for most packages and distros), distro creators may have different views on how their systems work internally and how they handle system services. I mean the locations of service scripts (/etc/rc.d versus /etc/rc0.d versus /etc/init.d), their configuration files' locations (/etc/default versus /etc/conf.d) and structure, where they place working directories of services, and so on.

This may not apply to the end-user applications like web browser, multimedia player or CD/DVD burning application. But for things like cups (printing service) or apache (web server) it is a serious concern. Each distro may offer a unique approach here, because of people disagreeing on the details. So it may happen that a specific package from distro A would not work in distro B or may even break its installation. That's why users are advised *NOT* to install foreign packages on their own without thinking about consequences.

Compiling a package manually under a given distro typically yields in a working package that's tailored to this distro (and honestly it's not so hard as one can imagine). But since then it is the user that's responsible for maintaining such package and upgrading it when some bugs are found.

3) Sometimes even a basic structure of config files may be radically different. From my experience the network configuration varies wildly between distros (e.g. Debian, Mandriva, RedHat and Gentoo have it completely different). Apache configuration files are also well known to be differently separated and placed in different directories and under different names in distros. Just because people have different opinions and vision on how it should be done.

[Note: this section has been added here] Also, KDE installations may vary between distros: there can be different directory names, different number of config files, application launchers and so on. These are the parameters that can be set at the compilation time. So when people pick different values here, incompatibilities arise. For instance, Debian/(K)Ubuntu and PCLinuxOS have it completely different.

4) Package formats of DEB, RPM, TGZ, .recipe, .ebuild are different enough to be incompatible. In some packages there are little programs (maintainer scripts) that are run at the beginning of the installation or after a package is installed.

Each package format has a different way of describing dependencies (which other packages need to be installed first before a given package would run correctly). Even RPM or DEB packages from different distros may describe dependencies incompatibly. Even packages from different releases of the same distro may be incompatible!

Package formats also evolve, for example recently Ubuntu and Debian introduced the concept of package triggers, independently of pre-inst or post-inst scripts. Yes, this mechanism is backward compatible, but you get the idea.

Concluding, there are incentives to minimize the differences, like the noble FHS (Linux Filesystem Hierarchy Standard) or LSB (Linux Standard Base). So the problems are worked on, but for now it's really hard to create a package that would run unchanged in a number of distros. I don't say this would not change in the future, but I hope you now understand the problems here.

Distributed Computing Fallacy #9

2008-06-04T10:28:00.000+02:00

From Kevin Burton’s NEW FeedBlog:
http://feedblog.org/2007/09/23/distributed-computing-fallacy-9/

See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacies_of_Distributed_Computing

Web Services, RPC, REST

2008-06-04T10:03:00.005+02:00

Authored by Steve Vinoski:

* Web Services Interaction Models, Part 1: Current Practice
* Web Services Interaction Models, Part 2: Putting the "Web" into Web Services

* Demystifying RESTful Data Coupling
* Defending Something Other Than RPC

* RPC is "A Really Bad Idea" and [erlang-questions] rpc is bad?
* Internet Computing columns
* RPC Under Fire

Steve Vinoski’s Blog

2008-06-03T13:59:00.001+02:00

http://steve.vinoski.net/blog/

Borland IDE's Hidden Features

2008-06-03T00:09:00.000+02:00

http://www.blong.com/Undocumented/

Firefox link prefetching

2008-06-02T23:30:00.001+02:00

An old one, but I didn't know that:
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Google_starts_prefetching_top_search_results_for_Mozilla_and_Firefox_browsers

How Microsoft lost the office file format battle

2008-05-31T18:44:00.007+02:00

http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php/id;535961040;fp;2;fpid;3

There are two main ways to fail at the standards game: You can create software that handles documents in formats for which no true standards exist, or you can create a standard that exists only on paper and in committee, with no reference software implementation. Amazingly, for all its hype and bluster, with OOXML Microsoft has managed to do both.

I couldn't describe it better. OXML seems to be a dead standard at this point! Even if it it's no longer "MS OOXML" and is managed by ISO. In short: OOXML is defective by design

How open source has influenced Windows Server 2008

2008-05-27T02:14:00.002+02:00

http://port25.technet.com/archive/2008/02/27/opening-windows-server-2008.aspx

Writing a kernel module for FreeBSD

2008-05-25T13:36:00.002+02:00

A "hello world" FreeBSD kernel modelue, with basic setup and procedure described:

http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/writing_a_kernel_module_for_freebsd

Also a nice set of resources is listed at the end of the linked article.

Fractured YEARFRAC and Discounted DISC

2008-05-22T03:13:00.005+02:00

It is obvious that Excel OOXML has currently many small, but serious flaws:

http://www.robweir.com/blog/2008/05/fractured-yearfrac-and-discounted-disc.html

In fact the problems described makes me think about throwing away the whole MS Office 2007 forever! Boy, am I glad I have never installed it. :-)

Book: Autotools - a practitioner's guide to Autoconf, Automake and Libtool

2008-05-20T14:03:00.006+02:00

A nice and interesting thing to read:

http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/books/autotools_a_guide_to_autoconf_automake_libtool

Fight Microsoft with their own weapon

2008-05-17T13:54:00.010+02:00

So, Microsoft puts out its hand and offers help with porting open-source software, to make it run best on the Windows platform. How mean. Understandable from marketing and business point of view, but mean anyway (and hey, that's my opinion!).

I have a proposal then, a simple one. Since Windows users are already used to trial versions, time-limited, feature-limited, shareware and other pieces of software which they constantly have to "unlock" by using codes found on the net (or keygens), so let it be!

Let's give Windows users what they already know:

1. Limited editions of Free and Open-Source Software for Windows.
2. Full-featured versions, including source code, for all other Operating Systems.

So if someone from Microsoft (or other third-party company) wants to keep working on a port for Windows, let it be. Let them even capitalize on the effort! This way THEY will have to keep up with the upstream. Or if they create substantial improvements, they will HAVE TO release their modified source code (that's the beauty of the GPL license!)

Your offer was insincere, so you won't get what you asked for.
Have it your way, Microsoft!

Ballmer: We'll outsmart open source

2008-05-17T13:47:00.013+02:00

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-959112.html

"Linux is a serious competitor," said Ballmer. "We have to compete with free software, on value, but in a smart way. We cannot price at zero, so we need to justify our posture and pricing. Linux isn't going to go away--our job is to provide a better product in the marketplace."

And Thomas Lee said about "most valued professionals" on Microsoft platform:

The [MVP] title is highly regarded. "You are recognized by your peers, not by an exam that you can cheat in." Linux and its community have a symbiotic relationship, he said: "You don't have that same thing at Microsoft, but there are people who are passionate and technical who are committed to doing a great job."

In FOSS, such people are called Hackers, or the White Hats (compare with Black Hat).

Groklaw - Microsoft emails Blender

2008-05-17T13:45:00.001+02:00

This should be remembered!

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080511115151164

And I have a solution!

Nynaeve - Adventures in Windows debugging and reverse engineering

2008-05-16T09:46:00.002+02:00

Enabling the local kernel debugger on Vista RTM

http://www.nynaeve.net/?p=114

Fixing Windows Vista

2008-05-11T23:35:00.003+02:00

Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report - ZDNet

Fixing Windows Vista, one machine at a time
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=429

Fixing Windows Vista, Part 2: Taming UAC
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=436

Taming Vista's User Account Control
http://content.zdnet.com/2346-12354_22-199468.html?tag=gald

Fixing Windows Vista, Part 3: Top Troubleshooting Tools
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=437

High frequency of disk load cycles in Ubuntu

2008-05-09T08:43:00.015+02:00

Finally somebody wrote some useful stuff concerning the following problem plaguing Ubuntu 8.04:

High frequency of load/unload cycles on some hard disks may shorten lifetime - original report at https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/59695

Alexey Borzenkov on May 7th 2008, 23:49 wrote:

A note of observation. After I switched back to Windows XP I found that
Windows indeed didn't let my drive to spin down or park heads, however
all this came at the same price I had in Linux, i.e. frequent superclicks
and Load_Retry_Count increasing. So the problem is not with Linux or
Ubuntu at all, the problem is solely with the hard drive.

It is also worth noting that with Ubuntu I was able to reach any comfortable
increase rates by carefully tweaking /etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf.
The most important are ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE_ON_AC=1,
LOST_WORK_SECONDS (the default value of 360 ensures only 10
Load_Cycle_Count per hour), READAHEAD (which in my opinion shouldn't
default to 3072, since huge delays every half or one minute between
reads effectively prevent playing videos, setting it to LM_READAHEAD=128
was the best in my case), IDLE_TIMEOUT (if you want your drive to really
cool down when idle, in my observation 60 seconds on AC was the best),
and WRITECACHE set to one (this adds another good layer of caching by
the hard drive).

Now don't forget to set ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE=true in your
/etc/default/acpi-support.

BUT ALL THIS WON'T WORK unless you edit your /etc/acpi/power.sh and do
the following modifications:

Comment out all $HDPARM nonsense, since laptop-mode controls this for
you (provided you set your settings in laptop-mode.conf, of course).
Next, where you see "$LAPTOP_MODE stop" it should be "$LAPTOP_MODE",
WITHOUT STOP. The latter is very important, because when
"/usr/sbin/laptop_mode stop" is called it effectively TURNS OFF LAPTOP
MODE, even if you have ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE=true in your
/etc/default/acpi-support. While calling "/usr/sbin/laptop_mode" without
arguments does autodetection, and depending on your settings will either
Without laptop mode "lost work seconds" do not work and this means that
mount option is not applied and pdflush will drop caches half a second
after some program (i.e. firefox) writes something to disk. The constant
writing to disk by many applications is what actually causes heads to
unpark, and when manufacturer sets some very ridiculous timeout for head
parking (i.e. 3 seconds in my case) heads keep unparking all the time.

I'm not sure if acpid is at fault here for calling laptop_mode with stop
argument, or laptop_mode not honoring your settings when stop is passed,
but current settings make laptop mode effectively useless. When I did
the above modifications and tweaked config files for my tastes I was
able to get rid of all problems. When my computer is idle heads park and
disk spins down, staying untouched for 6 minutes. When I'm doing
something active, like watching a movie, my drive is constantly accessed
and heads don't park needlessly. When I'm having a mix of the two (like
active browsing, or doing something else) my heads unpark only 20-30
times per hour, which I consider very good. And best of all, my drive
was not thermally abused and super clicks didn't happen.

As a comparison, average temperature of my drive under Windows was
41 degrees Celsius (and never below), under Linux it was 34-36 degrees
Celsius.

I consider that the main issue with this bug is that laptop mode (as it is)
DOES NOT WORK AT ALL. Please either fix acpid or fix laptop-mode.

Thank you.

I only wonder if this procedure really would work for me, but since I have a copy of his post here, I'll be able to test it eventually.

Package Manager Cheatsheet

2008-05-06T20:14:00.001+02:00

This matrix lists common tasks and the command arguments to perform the task with dpkg, rpm, apt, and yum. Note that apt and yum are really front-end tools for managing packages with dpkg and rpm. The RPM-oriented commands are known to work on Red Hat/Fedora; Mandrake, SUSE, etc are unknown, as some ship slightly older versions. urpmi is not included because I don't have a Mandrake installation to test it on. SysV packages are included because I'm using Solaris again frequently.

http://nakedape.cc/wiki/PackageManagerCheatsheet

Make backspace work in Solaris shell

2008-05-06T19:06:00.019+02:00

From: http://osnews.com/comments/19715

> > And they're going to update the default shell to understand
> > the backspace key
> Thank god. Having the backspace key spew out useless junk
> instead of deleting characters is a personal irritant.
>
It doesn't take too much time to type "stty erase <backspace>"
into your shell's .rc file...

Right.

OTOH I really like this comment:

RE[3]: Finally!
by sbergman27 (3.96) on Tue 6th May 2008 22:25 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: Finally!"

If it would fail gracefully and not do anything that would be one thing, but it doesn't. It spits out characters.

It's certainly a different day and age today. :-) I've seen so much:

\E[23~
\[7m
\E[!p\E[?3;4l\E[4l\E>

in my time. Fixed so many broken terminfo and termcap definitions. Diagnosed so many flow control glitches and mismatched terminal settings on AT&T 4410s and 605s and Wyse50s and Wyse60s. Done so much blind typing into terinals whose screen contents were completely unrecognizable, that when I see a few strange characters, it takes my brain a moment to recognize that there is actually something wrong.

There are only really two important terminal types that I work with today, and those are "linux" and "xterm". And those work so consistently well these days that I can fully understand the surprise that the non-graybeards must experience when a key isn't mapped right. It's a sign that some of the more stupid crap I used to have to deal with is now truly history. Or at least a rarity. Praise the Lord! (And I'm an atheist!)

The backspace thing was, indeed, an embarrassing issue for the year 2008. Especially since, if I understand correctly, it was not a matter of the erase character not being set, but of the shell not handling the defined erase character properly. But it *does* seem to be history. I'm not sure what the old config was, but when I bring up gnome-terminal in 2008.05 I get bash, and the backspace works just fine. I was expecting to be able to ctrl-alt-F1 to check out a text console, but that doesn't seem to be the right key sequence. Unix is Unix is Unix[1]... except for all those little things we take for granted about our usual flavor. :0

[1] That would be "POSIX-like OS is POSIX-like OS is POSIX-like OS" for you anal retentives regarding Linux not being Unix. But even you have to admit it loses something in the translation. ;-)

Updated: May 11th 2008

Package Manager in new OpenSolaris

2008-05-06T11:15:00.007+02:00

A nice demo with overview of basic package management in upcoming OpenSolaris 2008.05:
http://frsun.downloads.edgesuite.net/sun/08D12331/index.html

I can't resist observations that:

default Package Manager looks like streamlined Synaptic
(one of the best!)

package management written in Python reminds me of Gentoo

the whole idea of multiple repositories reminds me of Debian

package management Python tools remind me of dpkg on steroids

Ian Murdock works for Sun right now, and he is behind all of this ;-)

So I'd say they took the best ideas and people so far.
I hope the end result will be equally great as well!

Interview to OpenBSD project leader Theo de Raadt

2008-05-02T03:53:00.001+02:00

YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9fQa00CB9U