Gcleric's Random Thoughts

Mark Shuttleworth talks about Jaunty Jackalope

2008-11-10T08:04:00.001-08:00

"Jaunty Jackalope will replace Intrepid Ibex, and although Shuttleworth
revealed that we can expect something very different from the new OS,
he kept his cards close to his chest."

Interesting....

http://is.gd/6U3W

Intrepid Ibex: Soundconverted bug

2008-11-07T04:41:00.001-08:00

In case any of you use soundconverter there is a bug where it does not
like outputing converted audio to a home directory (i.e. /home/foo).
Workaround is output converted audio to tmp (i.e. /tmp/converted_audio).

Here's the bug report:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/soundconverter/+bug/273350

Fake Plastic Trees

2008-08-09T19:05:00.000-07:00

Forced into watching several reality shows that my girlfriend loves, for god knows what reason, the amount of plastic surgery that these people have had made me think of the "Radiohead" song "Fake Plastic Trees. "

Her green plastic watering can
For her fake Chinese rubber plant
In the fake plastic earth.
That she bought from a rubber man
In a town full of rubber plans
To get rid of itself.
It wears her out, it wears her out.

She lives with a broken man
A cracked polystyrene man
Who just crumbles and burns.
He used to do surgery
For girls in the eighties
But gravity always wins.
And it wears him out, it wears him out.
It wears him out, it wears him out.

She looks like the real thing
She tastes like the real thing
My fake plastic love.
But I can't help the feeling
I could blow through the ceiling
If I just turn and run.
And it wears me out, it wears me out.
It wears me out, it wears me out.

And if I could be who you wanted
If I could be who you wanted
All the time, all the time.
Oh, oh.

- Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees

Clone Ubuntu Package Installation

2008-08-08T13:52:00.000-07:00

On Source System:

Get a list of installed packages:

Code:

sudo dpkg --get-selections | awk '$2 ~ /^install$/ {print $1}' > installed_packages

Backup Apt sources:

Code:

 tar czP /etc/apt > apt_backup.tgz

On Target System:

Restore Apt sources

Code:

sudo mv /etc/apt /etc/old_apt

Code:

sudo tar zxvf /path/to/apt_backup.tgz

Update sources:

Code:

sudo apt-get update

Install packages that are on Source System:

Code:

cat installed_packages | xargs sudo aptitude install

Linux and Distro Gripe about Ubuntu

2008-07-04T09:34:00.001-07:00

Ok, I'm getting so sick and tried of reading about linux distros complaining about Ubuntu. Be it about the Ubuntu user interface, the six month releases, how Ubuntu is controlled by a commerical company, it's popularity, etc. May be, just may be other linux distros should use Ubuntu as a spring board for themselves instead. Look at what "is" working, incorperate it into their distro and drop/aviod the things that are not working, making linux better for all users. Just an idea.

Musings: Why is the price of oil so high?

2008-04-27T06:38:00.001-07:00

I've been reflecting back to a conversation that I once had with a fellow co worker, a geologist who once worked for Marathon Oil. The conversation was about the price of oil, at the time, he then explained to me that price of oil was not only drive by the demand for fuel for vehicles. Oil is used is so many products plastics, paints, etc. and the price of oil is But it was something that he said that caught me by surprise. He state that Marathon calculated that the worlds oil reserves would be exhausted by the year 2015 or possibly 2020. I asked him to clarify if he meant "oil reserves on hand already extracted from ground?" His reply shocked me he stated no he meant "the entire reserve of oil in and out of the ground." With that rattling around my mind, as I watch the price of oil climb it makes me wonder if there is another reason for the climb in price. I've heard many investment brokers state that correct price of oil, based on supply and demand, should be some where around $80-$90/barrel. My thoughts are this "What better way to make the world shift to alternate fuels then to make fuel so expensive that the public would be willing to except change on a mass scale."

Upgraded Laptop to Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy

2008-04-26T09:19:00.001-07:00

Well I took the plunge this morning and upgraded my Dell D820 laptop from Gutsy to Hardy. Many thanks to fellow Ubuntu NM LoCo-er protonchris for building a new version of vpnc that fixed vpnc timing out every 5min. All in all the process went smooth, i opted to upgrade by downloading the alternate CD and upgrade from it. I only ran into a couple issues. First less than impressed with the new Pulse Audio sound system. The sound quality is less than perfect but I expect that this will change with time. Ipod issues. It seem that I can't use my ipod with any other app (i.e. banshee, hipo, etc) until Rhythmbox Music Player sees it first then other apps can see and access the ipod.

All and all a painless upgrade.

New System

2008-04-10T06:03:00.000-07:00

Over the past year I've changed my computing habits. I've gotten away from using a full workstation pc and migrated to a more mobile computing life style. I'm looking to purchase a new laptop and a couple of the finalist are:

The Alienware Area-51 m15x

The Dell XPS M1730

Or the Apple MacBook Pro

I'm leaning heavily towards the Alienware but I need to do a little more research to see if it will be fully compatible with Ubuntu.

What you need, without the nonsense

2008-04-06T07:18:00.000-07:00

While surfing the web I stumbled across Glom.

With Glom you can design database systems - the database and the user interface.

* Glom has high-level features such as relationships, lookups, related fields, related records, calculated fields, drop-down choices, searching, reports, users and groups.

* Glom keeps things simple. It has Numeric, Text, Date, Time, Boolean, and Image field types.

* Glom systems require almost no programming, but you may use Python for calculated fields or buttons.

* Each Glom system can be translated for multiple languages and countries.

The design is loosely based on FileMaker Pro, but with a separate database server. Its simple framework should be enough to implement most database applications. Without Glom these systems normally consist of lots of repetitive, unmaintainable code.

Glom uses the PostgreSQL database backend but it can not edit databases that it did not create, because it uses only a simple subset of Postgres functionality.

Cool Laptop Mod

2008-04-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

Well kinda.

While looking for something to help prevent my laptop lid from getting

scratched up I stumbled across...

http://www.schtickers.com/

for $20 you can order custom laptop lid designs. I ordered two.... =P

one for...

Power Ubuntu

and another for...

Don't Panic

Ubuntu LTSP Environment

2008-04-02T10:34:00.000-07:00

At work we are looking into migrating to a Thin Client environment. With hopes of using our Citrix, Terminal Server, VMWare ESX, and possibly a VMWare VDI environments. One of our goals is to reuse existing hardware converting them into thin clients. I've looked at a couple vendors for the Thin Client conversion, 2x (http://2x.com/) the one with the most promise but not without issues. We are demoing 2x but we've not been able to get the ThinClient to work with our Citrix Farms. production or dev.

I've started to look at building and Ubuntu based LTSP environment under ESX. I'll post my progress as I go along.

Google Docs Offline Access Rollout Starting Today

2008-04-01T10:21:00.000-07:00

Google Docs Offline Access Rollout Starting Today

Very cool! Yet another nail in the coffin for Micro$oft. Starting today Google will be allowing offline access to Google Docs via the Google Gears browser plugin.

Google Docs Offline

"C" is for Coffee which is good enough for me.

2008-03-30T05:10:00.000-07:00

I don't know how they do it but there is nothing like freshly ground Starbucks pot of coffee in the morning.