Category: Linux/Open Source

  • File Organization

    How to Organize your home directory on your linux machine.

  • Archiving and Photos

    I’m way behind on posting; I wanted to throw some stuff here when I am waiting for something to compile.

    Rsnapshot, a backup utility using rsync. Mike Rubel has written an article about backups with rsync/linux. Here’s a slashdot discussion about digital rot, a very serious problem. I found (and copied about 8-10 pages) of notes about how to implement a backup solution.

    I’m starting to consider this question, and my answer:
    1) use a fireproof safe, (plan to buy sometime soon).
    2)two hosting sites. with rsyc(This redundancy also helps with downtime, but does it save time or require more maintenance time?).
    3)USB hard drives. 100 gigs are about $175. (That raises the question of whether I should use an inefficient but agnostic file system like FAT32 or a better journaling file system like reiserfs.
    4)portable media devices. My mp3 player/recorder has really simplified the mp3 storage problem.
    5)online digital photo hosting. I’m going to start an account with flickr , and although I still have some reservations , they are probably problems I don’t need to worry about now. BTW, for the curious, here’s my photo homepage on flickr. I easily expect to have over a thousand photos uploaded in a few weeks there, so stay tuned.

    For a while, I seriously played with the idea of storing photos on zope/plone, but the big problem is keeping it on the file system rather than in the ZODB and having a quick and easy way to extract metadata from the images (I need to look into getting Webdav access; that is becoming an issue now with the possibility of uploading mp3’s and dozens of files into zope at once.

    Digikam is a functional linux based photo management system. (But alas, no windows-client).

    Speaking of offsite hosting, zettai offers $40 hosting, which gives you one zope instance and 2 gigs of data, and apparently no php (and perhaps not even a sysadmin management tool like webmin). I’m actually tempted by this for my literary site, but without enough space to use the service also as a secondary backup, I’m not sure the price is worth it.

  • Linux Commands

    Helpful Linux commands.

  • Video Editing for Linux

    Avidemux, a video editor/outputter. More good resources about video for linux.

    For those wanting to build a linux PVR, here’s an infrared remote control system.

  • Linux for the Desktop Revisited?

    From a slashdot forum about why linux fails on the desktop:

    The truth behind it is “ease of use”. MS Visual Studio comes with a bunch of tools in one package, a graphical XML schema editor, a graphical database management system, click-n-paint GUI creation, and to top it off each of those students gets 4 years of excessive training in all of those tools.

    Linux on the other hand, has most (if not all) of these things, but students don’t know them. Those that do have knowledge of these tools are often complaining that they ran into problems (again because of lack of training, or googling). Many have spent two days finding out how to install a certain program, and most just give up asking their supervisors for aid (which they often can’t provide).

    This is the problem with linux, and this is why the linux desktop will never be as succesful as we hope it will be: our diversity in tools and lack of proper bundling. Distributions do a good job at providing us with defaults, but provide too much goodness. Most linux machines have at least 7 compilers and interpreters installed by default, 6 MP3 players, 10 office suites, and horror of horrors 2 desktop environments. Teaching students all these things is an impossible task, and that’s why they aren’t prepared for the choices they have to make when they are going to actively use linux.

    This excellent point echoes Barry Schwartz’s Paradox of Choice argument of giving people too much choice.

    Gentoo discussion of best video card for linux. I’m facing a choice of buying/building a linux-only desktop or laptop. HP claims to be releasing a linux laptop soon, and that would be great, but truthfully, I’m not exactly going to be depending on hp for technical support. (More about this linux laptop with SUSE is here). The question is whether to install idiot-proof SUSE on it or try again with gentoo. Gentoo still has marginal market share and their packages often fall behind the others, but I’m guessing that every six months ease of use for the distribution improves exponentially.

    Here’s a list of SUSE How-to’s. Is it easy to upgrade things with YAST? And here’s a review of Linux Mandrake

  • htaccess generator

    Here’s a free online htaccess generator.

  • HDTV vs. Linux vs. USB?

    I’ve been researching TV video capture cards, especially before it becomes illegal to buy capture cards lacking the infamous broadcast flag.

    Here are some handy things: How to Convert VHS tapes to DVD using a capture card. USB-based TV tuners, A USB/HDTV solution, a how-to on installing a linux-based PVR, Myth TV, linux TV laptop section on tuxmobile, a site that describes HDTV reception in your area, a review site of TV-cards and a DVDmaker forum site.

    My basic conclusions (after a cursory look through the material). USB 2 TV cards are pretty commonplace, although there are only one or two HDTV cards that are USB-based. Linux supports a lot of TV cards, although it’s iffier for USB devices (and nonexistent for USB/HDTV devices). Even with a TV card, support can be iffy, so you better have access to good tech support (or buy it locally if you want to swap it out). Laptops can get HDTV, but it uses a lot of CPU and memory.

    I want to upgrade, but I can’t decide whether to do it to laptop or desktop. My main requirement is for it to accomodate video editing and that it be totally linux friendly. (If you can feed a laptop a USB2 hard drive and TV card), then the main reason for staying with a laptop is no matter one of form factor but of required computing power.

    I real question is whether I really need for my laptop/PC to have video capture/tuning capability. A computer is a computer, not a TV. It would be helpful to convert VHS to AVI’s or to watch HDTV, but would it be worth the trouble to get everything configured? This is a case where merely because a laptop can receive HDTV signals doesn’t imply that you should buy/make it.

    Update: Today’s slashdot had a forum on the subject!

  • Gimp Tutorials

    Some Gimp Tutorials . Also xnview , an excellent cross-platform free photo catalog with EXIF and IPTC support. Interestingly, there is a deluxe version for Windows platform only.

  • Freedom of Expression has a Price

    From Berkley’s excellent China Digital News, I find Li Yong Yan’s excellent article about the inconsistencies of mainland China’s censorship:

    The Internet is supposed to be borderless and limitless in the exchange of information and ideas. But using sophisticated fire walls from capitalist Cisco and other vendors, China blocks all those overseas Chinese websites that are deemed un-communist, too democratic and critical. The “access denied” message will display whenever a surfer types such key words as June 4, Fa Lun Gong. Key in “democracy” and “freedom” on a Chinese search engine and the results will flash a headline, “Bush is raping Iraqi public opinion by pushing for so-called ‘Democracy and Freedom’.”

    While we shouldn’t minimize China’s repression, we need to recognize that different societies and cultures have different controls. (more…)

  • Business Case for Open Office

    A compelling business case for switching to OpenOffice.

  • Essence of Open Source

    Joel Burton said at the recent plone conference: “Open Source is about receiving obsessive emails from complete strangers.”

  • Dreamweaver on Linux!

    According to a slashdot posting, Crossover Office has made Dreamweaver and Flash work in Linux.

    On a side note, let me mention that I have two machines at home, a linux server and a dual boot which inevitably stays in Windows. Dreamweaver was a big reason for this (as was time–I haven’t gotten around to backing up and storing files) as well as Musicmatch and maybe Windows Media player for some of my DRM content. I’m going to take a long weekend to move things over.

    Also worth pointing out is the list of Mozilla extensions which add a lot of functionality to the browser. In both windows and linux.

  • Bruce Perens Open Source Books

    Bruce Perens’ Open Source Series is available for free download!

  • Dance Dance Revolution

    Hiding p2p identities with proxy servers.

    Mark Glaser writes an article about whether Are Online Search Tools Lulling Journalists Into Laziness?. He quotes Eric Meyer:

    “Never has it been easier to seem to do more in less time,” Meyer said via e-mail. “The operative word is ‘seem.’ A journalist can now find a story almost identical to one he or she has proposed and, with a few well-placed e-mails, assemble by the end of the day reportage deceptively as detailed as the original.”

    And what have we lost in the chase for the quickie story with quickie answers to quickie questions? Perhaps the depth of character we could get in person, the attention to scenery, sounds and smells, lost in many of today’s stories. “Instead of face-to-face interviews, in which the reporter discovers angles that had not occurred to him or her, the exchanges become knee-jerk answers to knee-jerk questions,” Meyer said. “And never is there a clue in body language or conversational cadence to indicate the existence of a greater, previously not understood, truth worth pursuing…. I often speak of the Internet as having infinite breadth and infinite depth. Alas, we rarely use both to their best ends simultaneously.”

    The appropriately named Marshall Brain writes about how Robots will take our jobs by the year 2050. A little too apocalyptic, methinks. Someone needs to service those dang machines! (Brian writes about How Things Work. My favorite is How Caffeine Works).

    Call me a dancing fool, but I’ve been reading about Dance Dance Revolution, an activity I’ve secretly wanted to do. There’s even an open source version, and Zach “Freelance Weasel” Meston writes a review of the upcoming DDRMAX2. All this from a slashdot forum on how geeks can stay in shape.

    Something I wrote about Should the Patriot Act be considered a direct consequence of 2.8 million people voting for Nader in 2000?. (I answer a question an NPR reporter posed).

  • 420 Gigabytes!

    Not that I expect any awards, but I just realized that my two computers have a total of 420 gigabytes! Am I a man or what?

  • Linux v. Radeon

    I run gentoo linux on both my machines at home. Even though it has a learning curve, I’ve generally been happy. I knew that with linux 3-D support of Radeon videocard would be wishful thinking, but Gentoo forum has an awfully long thread about Gentoo and Radeon. As complex as it sounds, it actually sounds like a manageable thing to try when I have a spare moment. Gentoo has great documentation, including a document on3-D rendering with video cards. Slashdot reported on a rumor that ATI was no longer going to be helping with ATI linux drivers (a report that oversimplified the situation tremendously).

    I bought a Radeon 64MB VIVO with video capture possibilities for about $290 in October 2000. Apparently though the supporting software doesn’t work with Windows XP, so yesterday I shelled out another $20 for an update CD. Let’s see if that works. On a more positive note, I bought Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and played it for a bit yesterday. Will report later. I will say that it’s only rendering 640×480, perhaps because the card doesn’t support Direct X 9.0 (I think). I have another game, Icewind Dale, which I bought in early 2001 for about $30. Now it sells for $3. Oh, capitalism. The trick is to get excited about games that are at least two years old.

    Maybe when I get Radeon to render 3-D in Linux, I’ll start writing dungeons for Neverwinter Nights