I decided to install OpenSuse 10.3 in dual boot with Vista on my laptop, Sony Vaio SZ4MN. Everything it seems to work very well, without any problems, but I still have to test the modem and suspend to ram/disk.

After I did a kernel update from 2.6.22.5-31 to 2.6.22.17-0.1 and I realized that my webcam didn't work. It is a Ricoh WebCam. I found that I have to reinstall the driver (the following packages: r5u870-default and r5u870-firmware), but before, I removed uvcvideo-default and gspcav-default packages.

After installing also jasper (Kopete needs it for webcam support) everything is fine again.

Note: If you have one of the following VAIO models: AR11, FE, AR21, SZ, UX, CR, FZ, or any HP Pavilion machine with a built-in webcam, you should also install this driver.

Thanks to the Switzerland Novell colleagues openSUSE is again on the biggest computer event in Switzerland. I will be there on a openSUSE demopoint at the Novell booth, showing the latest beta version. If you don’t belive that the package management is superfast now or want to see the new pretty installation without testing it yourself, here you have the chance …

If you are in Zürich, don’t miss it!

More information on the webpage: German, English

Usually for Java stuff I am using Eclipse IDE.

I am also a LaTeX user and under Windows I am using MikTeX. More about which applications I am using in a next post.

As text editors, of course you can use vim/gvim (with vim-latex plugin), emacs (with AucTeX), TexnicCenter (a free windows application) or Kile (KDE aplication on Linux/Unix). There are many editors but what I pointed here I think are the most suitable for latex from my experience.

What I missed all the time was version control system (cvs, svn). Version control is very well integrated in Eclipse so I decided to give a try to Texlipse plugin which adds LaTeX publishing support. Also you can add spell checking support using Aspell.

So, I downloaded Miktex, I installed it on Windows Vista, so I played a bit with LaTeX to be sure that it is working fine, and after that I added Texlipse plugin to Eclipse, I started by play arround with it.

Trying to compile an article didn't work, I got an error: "The file system path could not be retrieved".

At the beginning I didn't know if it is a miktex instalation/configuration problem or is something strange with Texlipse configuration.

After spending some time fighting with it, I found that is a Vista problem, so here is the solution:

Open a command prompt and type:

edit pdflatex.bat and put at the first line:

because we don't want to see every time these commands on screen.

On the last line in that file, put your magic command to process the latex file, pdflatex.exe or latex.exe, depends what you want to have as output, .dvi file or .pdf file:

Now, we go back in Texlipse configuration and point the build command to this batch file instead of the normal pdflatex.exe or latex.exe.

Everything should be fine and working now. I am sorry that I didn't add the links for every plugin/application but using google is very easy to find them if you want to play with.

If you are thinking to sell your computer or only its hard disk then maybe it would be nice to know how to wipe your computer data.

After you followed this procedure there will be no way to recover your data.

The magic command is here, you can use LiveCD (for example Knoppix):

or

This will overwrite the data on the drive with garbage using 30 passes. The drive will need to be re-formatted after this as even the filesystem structure will be destroyed.

If you want to read more about this command try man shred or info shred

Random employee in random company.
Amazing how many means of information we have nowadays. My chat window presents me with links to some pictures and sends me a question. I hesitate to open the links. Do it anyway. Right I was to hesitate. I close the browser. A window pops up from another chat client. Private. I just quickly want to reply. When I'm about to do so, the next chat friend sends me some information on his weekend activities. I'm about to say hello to him when my telephone rings. The one from the chat with the question. I give the answer and we agree on writing it all down in an email. I put down the receiver and start a new email window. After having typed "Hi.." I remember that I was about to send a Hello to the second chat friend. I briefly comment on my own weekend activities, just to be polite. Before hitting Enter I notice that I entered everything in the wrong chat window. I copy it to the right one and hit Enter. My collegues in the chat are talking about body parts. My business mobile rings. Just a quick call from my boss. I still have to answer the newest message from chat friend 1. A new chat window pops up from one of my collegues. I quickly answer. Someone comes to the office and wants to discuss something. My chat windows go berserk. Four people are waiting for my reaction. In the meanwhile several emails pop up in my email window. The telephone rings. I answer. Private. If I can help with an urgent question. Sure. After having put down the receiver my collegue impatiently continues the discussion at the end of which we agree that I have to write a sheet within the next hour. I start writing the sheet, answer questions inbetween in the chat, read my emails out of curiosity, complete the email I started half an hour ago. I hear the collegues from next door screaming with rage. I close the door. Having finished the sheet I send it per email. I forget one addressee. I send it again. Now I have forgotten the importance and the content of the briefly read emails. I read them again and react if necessary. A chat message pops up: hello, are you still there? The telephone rings. Damn, I forgot about this conference call. While listening to the endless stream of conversation I answer the chat partners, mixing windows up, apologizing for senseless answers. I pick a question up in the conference and open a browser to get the information on the internet. My private mobile rings. I click the red button and try to send an sms. Another important question in the chat. I answer. I close the browser because I no longer know what I wanted with it. I listen to the conference. The memory comes back. I open the browser again. Then I realize the conversation went on to another topic and is about to end. I close the browser window. I close the chat windows. I close my email client. I shut down my computer. I silently put down the receiver. I go home. I sit down in front of the TV. They tell me something about shares. I switch to another channel. Someone cuts a piece of fish. I switch to the next channel. Some skinny blonde is walking over a cat walk. I switch the channel. People in Bavarian costumes are singing, eyes turned to heaven. I switch off the TV. The telephone rings. I'm asked to join the crowd. I go to the pub. Around me I can hear people talking about their new iPhones, the newest mobiles, computers. I get an sms. I feel haunted. I go home. I can't sleep. I blank my mind. I fall asleep. I dream of sitting on a train in an unknown country with strangers around me. I feel fine. I wake up. I go to the office. I switch on my computer. I curse myself for not being braver than the brave new world we're living in. I decide to order a book about Sabbaticals from an online bookstore. I want to sign in and can't remember my password. I open a new account. I type in the office address as delivery address. I want to order. They tell me I have to enter my credit card details. It's not possible to let the book be sent to the office and get an invoice. I don't have my credit card with me. I cancel the action and focus on my work again. I have to change some settings and need the root password. I can't remember my root password. Needless to say that there are many emails in the queue. I haven't launched my chat windows yet. I manage to do some urgent work. I remember my root password. I change the settings. Then it's time for lunch. I go to the book shop to buy the book I wanted to order. They don't have it. I get some money from the ATM. Yes, I remember my pin. Back to work. I juggle with the chat, the emails, and the daily work. I go to the gym. I have to enter my pin at the entrance. I remember it well. My body wants to get some excersise. Back home. I urgently have to transfer money. After half an hour I find my Tan list. I log in to the internet, typing in my password. I can remember it well. I open my bank address. They ask me for my password. Damn. I try it twice. No chance. I shut down the computer. I switch on the TV. Someone is frying meat in a pan. I change the channel. A bull of a man sprays colour on to a car. I switch the channel. A stupid looking woman asks stupid questions to a stupid male candidate. The woman is dressed as if going to the beach. I switch off. I take a book and read. I go to bed. I dream of being in another country, speaking a different language. I feel fine. I wake up. I go to the office. I charge my business mobile that started peeping at night before going off. I want to activate it. What was the damn pin again? Got it right. It starts with the familiar noise. I hope that no one will call. My collegue tells me it's time for the meeting. What meeting? I follow him to the meeting room and remember what it was about. I sit down. One of the collegues dials in to the conference line. Silence. We notice we got the wrong line. We dial in to the other. It's the right one. They show some slides. I can't read anything. Someone on the phone is mumbling explanations. There's a peep. We lost some participants. We all have to dial in again. I don't get half of what is mumbled but I don't think I miss much. Back to my desk. I have a look at the newest dilbert comic. Hilarious. Good that it's only a comic, not the real life.

FreeBSD is my primary choice when I need to install a new server and if I don't need virtualization (OpenVZ, Linux-VServer, XEN, Vmware, ...). If I need to implement a virtualization solution then CentOS is my friend.

Only I would like to point some interesting sysctl variables which you can set on a FreeBSD box:

TCP and UDP black hole:

To prevent a user from seeing what other processes a user is running (via ps aux or otherwise), and to prevent a user from reading dmesg.

Finally we had a developer conference! The good thing is that it was real fun. The bad thing was that I learned and drank toooooo much....

There are some dicussions I'd love to share with you:

• Bug handling. Had some interresting chats about bug handling, responsiveness etc. from a developers point of view. Especially from a filter developers point of view. My believe is that we need a better clustering of bugs into problematic areas. This definetly will help to manage espectations as well as quality.
  
• Mail merge. Learned that mail merge is not only broken IMHO but also in the opinion of others. Good (or bad ?:-)). However great things will happen here.
  
• UI. Very good ideas about how to change the UI. Thanks Ricardo that was a great session.
  
• Interop brokeness. Discussed my ideas about how to change ODF and OOo for better interop. Always good to get your ideas “blessed” by the master himself. Thanks Caolan...
  
• Some chats about what to do with http://www.go-oo.org and how to attract more developer. Wait until my VM will appear... ;-)
  

Beside from the above some interresting news regarding OOXML/ODF/ISO arose. The report from the ISO meeting in Oslo sounds very promising IMHO:

<quote>
SC 34 envisages the creation of three distinct working groups that meet the needs of:
 1. ISO/IEC 29500
 2. ISO/IEC 26300
 3. Work on interoperability/harmonization between document format standards
    and wishes to incorporate existing expertise on these standards.
</quote;>

Only trouble here is that the ODF people do *not* seem to be happy about that --- but I have no idea why?

Overall it was a great week:





~Florian

I've run that command line showing my most frequently used commands a few times. Maybe I've held off from posting because the results would be embarrassing. I also noticed that its results differ wildly, because only when you close a shell is its history saved.

One command remains constant, though:

mw@quill:~> history | awk '{a[$2]++ } END{for(i in a){print a[i] " " i}}' | sort -rn | head -n 1
297 ls

Update: Benjaman Weber reminds me that you can make your history be saved more often by setting

PROMPT_COMMAND='history -a'

.

I spent the last week in Leeds, for a conference. Leeds is a quite nice city, I like it. I took some photos, they will be available soon on my flickr page. Below are two photos with Ubuntu Cola. I don't know if there is something between Ubuntu Linux and Ubuntu Cola, but it is interesting. So, now, I am waiting to find somewhere "FreeBSD Beer" or maybe "OpenSUSE Cocktails", the true "fuel" for the true sysadmin's.

Enjoy your preferred drink Ubuntu Cola.