Linux on Me, Myself, and Technology

Weechat v0.3.0 released

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:46:23 +0000

So lately I’ve been using this awesome IRC client called Weechat! It’s minimal, yet highly configurable. It’s got me addicted to it! Weechat + Screen is the best combo! Anyway, a groundbreaking new version has been released today. And if you’re on an equally awesome distro (Arch), then you should have it ready in your repository 🙂

Sametime (meanwhile) support in Pidgin on Arch Linux

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 16:50:40 +0000

We use IBM’s Lotus Sametime as our IM client at work. And i like to be signed in all the time even on my Arch machine at home. Pidgin does support sametime protocol, but through an external library called meanwhile. Although most popular distributions have meanwhile in their main repos, Arch does not. It has the meanwhile library in AUR. And due to this, the pidgin in Arch has meanwhile support disabled. But even so, the latest stable meanwhile library (1.0.2) has a nasty bug which does not report the correct online status of buddies. Most online buddies are shown as being offline. The problem has been fixed in the SVN version, but unfortunately ALL distributions carry the buggy version of meanwhile. It took me around 5-6 months to get to the root cause of this bug, and yes, i have managed to fix it in Arch. I’m providing here a compiled version of the fixed meanwhile library (64 bit). I’m also providing a complete tutorial on how to compile pidgin with meanwhile support on Arch.

Kernel 2.6.28. Now with stable EXT4!

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 11:17:14 +0000

So.. A few days back, Kernel 2.6.28 was released. And amongst the many new features, the thing that attracted me most was stable EXT4 support. For those of you who dont know, EXT4 is the successor to the most widely used linux filesystem, EXT3. EXT4 boasts of being a hell lot faster than EXT3, and ofcourse with added features.

Archlinux just released Kernel 2.6.28 into it’s [core] repo a few days back, and since then im in a dillema whether i should switch to EXT4, or be content with my current filesystem, JFS. Switching to EXT4 means that I will have to re-install Arch, once the new installer CD with EXT4 support comes in (which should be soon). And configuring Arch _exactly_ the same way as it is right now will be almost impossible! I mean with all the small tweaks and configuration changes i’ve done over one year now! Will be a HUGE task! And nowdays, i really dont have time to mess with something that’s working absolutely the way i want it to work.

Flash 10 Native 64 bit for Linux!

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:02:09 +0000

Well, i know its kinda old news, but still im pretty excited that Adobe has released an alpha version of a native 64 bit Flash plugin for Linux! The best part is that Linux is the first platform that gets the alpha version, though Adobe says that it will ship the final version for Linux, Mac and Windows together. Thankyou Adobe for showering some of your love to us Linux users 😀

Im back!

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 23:12:33 +0000

Hmm.. So i’ve been out of the blogging scene for quite sometime now. Mostly, i’ve been busy with work, and yeah, i’ve been spending all my free time watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S, just like Nidhi 🙂 Now that i’m finished with all 10 seasons, i think ill get some time to post here 🙂

So lets see.. What all is new.. On the linux front, i’ve migrated from Ubuntu to Arch Linux, which according to me, is the BEST distro out there! I love the fact how everything “just works” and how i have the latest software all the time. The best part is that its a rolling release, meaning no more waiting for updates or adding third party repos for new stuff. I evaluated Debian and Gentoo, before moving to Arch. Debian always had some or the other problem. It wasnt just stable enough for me. And Gentoo on the other hand was too time consuming and crude. Arch is gonna stay on my PC for a long, long time! 🙂

Latest Pidgin and Firefox repositories for Ubuntu Hardy

Fri, 23 May 2008 10:35:37 +0000

Ubuntu Hardy ships with Pidgin v2.4.1 and Firefox 3.0 Beta5, while the latest Pidgin is v2.4.2 and the latest Firefox is 3.0 RC1. Here are two repositories that would always contain the latest versions of Pidgin and Firefox. Just type “gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list” into the terminal, and add the following to the end of the file.

For Pidgin:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/pidgin-developers/ubuntu hardy main

For Firefox:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/mozillateam/ubuntu hardy main

After adding the lines, just type “sudo apt-get update” and then “sudo apt-get dist-upgrade” in the terminal (apt will give a warning about unauthenticated packages, but its safe to ignore the warning and type “y”). After doing this, you should have the latest versions of both Pidgin and Firefox 🙂

Ubuntu to rename top level directories?!

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:47:55 +0000

Well, i just heard that Ubuntu is trying to rename all the top level directories! The proposed directory structure is:

/bin /system/executables
/boot /system/boot
/dev /system/devices
/etc /system/config
/lib /system/libraries
/home /users
/media /storage
/mnt /storage
/proc /system/processes
/root /users/Administrator
/sbin /system/executables/admin
/tmp /system/temporary
/usr /system/applications

Well, that’s just plain stupid if you ask me.. It will create unnecessary confusion and difference between various linux distributions! I think Ubuntu should strive to be “User Friendly” not “Idiot Friendly”. We dont want another case of the Windows do we? 😉

Top 10 Reasons to use Linux

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:49:21 +0000

Hmm.. I’ve been out of the blogging scene for quote sometime now! Didn’t really get the time, or anything worthwhile to post. Well anyway, what better way to come back, then to list out the top 10 reasons to use linux! 😀

Â If youâ€™re a Linux enthusiast like me, youâ€™ve probably tried to convert a few people over to Linux from another operating system. Even though you succeed many times, there are always a few â€˜geniusesâ€™ out there who need some real persuading to switch over to Linux.

Latest Pidgin/Rhythmbox repository for Ubuntu

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 16:52:15 +0000

Here is a repository i use on my gutsy install which always contains the latest builds of Pidgin and Rhythmbox. So no more hunting for debs or compiling sources 😀

Steps to add the repository:

1. Open Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal)

2. Type “gksuÂ gedit /etc/apt/sources.list”

3. Go to the end of the file and add the following onto a new line:

## Latest Pidgin/Rhythmbox
deb http://www.telemail.fi/mlind/ubuntu gutsy main

4. Save the file and close Gedit.

Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 3, Version 9.0.115.0 for Linux

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:37:28 +0000

Adobe has released a shining new version of Flash Player for linux. This is a big release fixing a lot of stability issues and also adding a truck load of features!

Changelog:

New audio/video options

H.264/HE-AAC codec support
Flash Player 9 Update 3 includes H.264 video and High Efficiency AAC (HE-AAC) audio codec support that opens up a broad ecosystem and selection of standards-based video â€” up to HD quality â€” that developers can leverage in their applications. Supporting a subset of MPEG-4 Part 12 (container) and Part 10 (H.264), including baseline, main and high profiles, Flash Player can play back existing MP4, M4A, MOV, MP4V, 3GP and 3G2 content.

Improved Performance

Multi-core support
Speed the rendering of vectors, bitmaps, filters and video, including true 1080p video, with new multi-core support that takes advantage of up to 4 CPUs.
Hardware scaling
Improve the performance and quality of full-screen video through the use of hardware scaling.
Multi-threaded video decoding
The VP6 video codec now runs in a separate thread on multi-core systems, enabling true 1080p video. In addition, the responsiveness and decode blockiness of the VP6 codec is improved with this change.
Image scaling
A new algorithm for scaling bitmap images enhances the quality and rendering performance of downscaled images.
Flash Player cache
The Flash Player cache enables common components, such as the Flex Framework, to be cached locally and then used by any SWF from any domain. Use of the Flash Player cache can significantly reduce SWF file sizes and speed application download times.
Flash Media Server buffering
The stream buffer is maintained while a stream is paused.

Universal Reach

Full screen mode for Linux
Full screen mode with hardware scaling is now supported in Linux.
Accessibility support for the plugin
Flash Player 9 update 3 adds support for Microsoftâ€™s Active Accessibility (MSAA) API to the plugin, enabling consistent support across plugin-based and Internet Explorer browsers.
Mac Os X Leopard support
Flash Player 9 update 3 now supports the Mac OS X Leopard operating system.

Fixed in this version:

On Linux, modal dialogs displayed by Flash Player stay in front of browser windows but do not prevent interaction with the browser as they should. (191331)
On Windows Vista, Internet Explorer 7 Protected Mode may prompt users with security warnings when attempting to view Flash content after installing the Flash Player 9 (9.0.45.0) ActiveX control. Security warnings may also appear for users who choose to install the Google Toolbar from the Flash Player Download Center on adobe.com as part of the player installation process. This was fixed in an Internet Explorer update in June 2007.
On certain SUSE 9.2 installations using the standalone player only, trying to Open a browser from the standalone player with SeaMonkey open will cause the player to hang. (193383)
On Linux, networking operations in the standalone player are currently slow. (193158)
On Linux, when the mouse is hovering over Flash content, keyboard input is not sent to the browser. (194265)
Full-screen mode is not supported in the Opera Browser on Macintosh systems. (189140)
Full-screen mode is now supported on Linux.
Invoking document.write(..) method of JavaScript using ExternalInterface or FSCommand hangs Safari on next page load. This issue has been reported to Apple. (167996)
The Mozilla Plugin Finder Service will not install Flash Player 9.0.20.0 on Intel-based Macs using double-byte language modes. Users may either install from the Adobe Player Download Center or use the Plugin Finder Service in non-double-byte language modes. (180719)
The plugin version of Flash Player does not fire flash.events.Event.RENDER when wmode is set as transparent. (198515)
Full-screen can be used when wmode is set (202290)
Passing large amounts of XML through External Interface is significantly faster (206828)
ExternalInterface now works with HTML objects that contain dots within the object name (199614)

Here is the list of security updates.

Fedora 8 Released!

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 09:11:38 +0000

Fedora 8 has been released: “Announcing the release of Fedora 8 (Werewolf). This release includes significant new versions of many key components and technologies. Features: GNOME 2.20; Online Desktop; KDE 3.5.8; Xfce 4.4.1; NetworkManager 0.7 provides improved wireless network management support; PulseAudio is now installed and enabled by default; CodecBuddy is now included; CompizFusion, the compositing window manager that re-merges Compiz and Beryl, is installed by default; the completely free and open source Java environment called IcedTea is installed by default….” Learn more about all the features in the release summary and release notes. The installation DVD and live CD/DVD images are available for download via BitTorrent or directly from Fedora’s download mirrors. Quick links: Fedora-8-dvd-i386 (3,369MB), Fedora-8-dvd-x86_64 (3,800MB), Fedora-8-Live-i686.iso (697MB, SHA1), Fedora-8-Live-x86_64.iso (767MB, SHA1).

Gutsy Gibbon Tribe 5!

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 19:03:32 +0000

Tribe 5 just hit the mirrors! Get it while its hot! This release includes a lot of new features like:

Gnome 2.19.90
Graphical Configuration tool for X Server
A new plugin manager for Firefox, which allows to choose readily used plugins such as flash, adblock, beagle plugin etc
A new printing system, with a default PDF printer being installed by default

I once tried Gutsy when it was tribe 2. Lots of things didn’t work, or were buggy at that time, so i went back to feisty then. But now i’ve been using Gutsy since tribe 4 and its been as stable as feisty! So all those people who like to stay on the edge, do try it out, as its completely usable!

Pidgin v2.1.1 Released!

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 08:52:03 +0000

No changelog yet, ill update this thread as soon as i get debs. Though, since a month now, i have shifted to Ubuntu Gutsy. 🙂

Get it here.

Fedora Core 7 “Moonshine” released!

Thu, 31 May 2007 21:34:29 +0000

The Fedora Project has announced the release of Fedora 7, code name “Moonshine”: “Howdy, cousins! Welcome to our little Fedora hollow, where we’ve brewed up some mighty, mighty Fedora 7 Moonshine for your enjoyment.”

The latest version of the popular distribution comes with a number of new features, including “spins”, or variations of Fedora built from a specific set of software packages, the latest GNOME 2.18 and KDE 3.5.6 desktops, fast user switching, improved internationalisation support, a new SELinux troubleshooting tool, significantly faster package management utilities, a new kernel-based virtual machine technology, and many other enhancements. Please read the release announcement and consult the release notes for detailed information.

Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn Released

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 23:15:27 +0000

Its finally here! And im running it 😀 Due to all the traffic rush, Ubuntu.com is down! On their homepage:

Thank you to everyone who has helped make Ubuntu 7.04 a reality. Thousands of you have helped code, test, translate and promote Ubuntu and everyone can celebrate today’s release.

If you are looking for general information about the Ubuntu project, the main site will be back shortly.

For official mirrors to download, please see the Ubuntu homepage.

Introducing the Gutsy Gibbon

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 23:12:37 +0000

From the Ubuntu mailing lists:

Folks, allow me to introduce the Gutsy Gibbon, who will be succeeding
the Feisty Fawn as the focus of our development love in a few short
weeks, for release in October 2007.

Hehe.. Funny name i must say.. But then i think about Warty Warthog, Hoary Hedgehog, Breezy Badger, Dapper Drake, Edgy Eft and Feisty Fawn.. Anyway, whatever the name may be, Ubuntu ROCKS!

Is Wine really faster than Windows?

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 22:22:10 +0000

Would you believe that Wine, the open-source, program that enables you to run some Windows programs on Linux, is faster than native Windows XP on the same hardware?

I have trouble buying that one too, but according to the Wine crew’s latest benchmark runs, it’s true.

These were primarily graphic tests. Both systems, Windows XP SP 2 and Gentoo with Wine 0.9.5, were asked to show their stuff on a 3.8GHz Intel 570 Pentium box with an 800MHz FSB (front side bus), a gigabyte of 533MHz DDR2 (double data rate) RAM, and a 60GB IDE ATA100 hard drive.

IBM Series x3455 Servers

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 13:54:31 +0000

Hi! Many of you might be wondering why i was hardly online since the past few days. The reason was this 🙂 I was setting up 3 IBM Series x3455 servers for my company CSC. These are blade servers which are supposed to run Sourceforge Enterprise Edition have the following configuration:

2 x AMD Opteron 2.6 GHz Dual Core 64 bit processors (that’s 4 cores with 2.6 Ghz per core)
4 GB DDR2 667 Mhz RAM (ECC RAM)
2 x 160 GB SATA II HDDs
2 x 1GBps LAN cards

The servers came from Singapore with every component in a separate box! So they had to be assembled first over here. After assembling, RedHat Enterprise Linux v4 was chosen as the OS with the following partitioning scheme:

Ubuntu Feisty 7.04 Beta Released!

Sat, 24 Mar 2007 10:14:08 +0000

Ubuntu Feisty Beta hits the servers! From Official Announcement:

The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the beta release of Ubuntu 7.04.

Ubuntu 7.04 is the most user-friendly Ubuntu to date and includes a ground-breaking Windows migration assistant, excellent wireless networking support and improved multimedia support.

Ubuntu 7.04 server edition adds support for hardware facilities that speed up the use of virtual machines as well as other improved hardware support, making it an excellent choice as a web, database, file and print server, the fastest growing area of Linux server use.

Ubuntu CDs only Rs. 1500 per CD!

Sun, 04 Feb 2007 16:44:14 +0000

Taken from Mehul’s Blog.

I had almost given up blogging but came across this nice incident so had to post it.

This is a true incident that happened with my friend rahul, whoâ€™s been looking to try linux but heâ€™s a dumbhead when it comes to technology.

This dude, Utsav came on digit forum and announced that he was selling linux 10 cdâ€™s for Rs. 1500 each. But that thread was locked by the Admin before he could get to talk with the fellow

Animated boot screen on openSuSE 10.2

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 10:05:29 +0000

Everyone who has used openSuSE 10.2 must have come across the animated boot screen. But the problem is that its not permanent. It comes sometimes, and doesnt come at other times. Im writing this tutorial for all you penguin lovers who would like to see the animated boot everytime!

1. In the terminal (from your home folder) type mkdir new
2. Type cp /boot/message new
3. Now type cd new
4. Type cpio -i < message
5. Dont close the terminal, and open the folder new in your home folder (from konqueror or nautilus) and edit “gfxboot.cfg” file in kwrite/gedit
6. Change “penguin=-1” to “penguin=100” and save the file
7. Now delete the message file in the new directory by typing rm message
8. Now type ls . | cpio -o > message
9. Now type sudo cp message /boot, enter your root password if required.

openSUSE v10.2 Released!

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 09:23:25 +0000

The openSUSE project is a community program sponsored by Novell. Promoting the use of Linux everywhere, openSUSE.org provides free, easy access to the world’s most usable Linux distribution, openSUSE. The openSUSE project gives Linux developers and enthusiasts everything they need to get started with Linux.

The goals of the openSUSE project are:

Make openSUSE the easiest Linux distribution for anyone to obtain and the most widely used open source platform.
Provide an environment for open source collaboration that makes openSUSE the world’s best Linux distribution for new and experienced Linux users.
Dramatically simplify and open the development and packaging processes to make openSUSE the platform of choice for Linux hackers and application developers.