Use the MS Publisher Color Printer driver and connect via LPR/LPD.
Convert flac to mp3:
flac -cd track.flack | lame -h - track.mp3
Frequency
Last year I wrote 26 posts.
That is only half the number I’d hoped for (52), especially since some where just one or two lines, but it isn’t as bad as I thought I was doing. I think part of what makes me feel that I neglect this so much is that some are multiple posts in a week, while others go a month or more between posts. If I do nothing else, I should try to use the scheduling feature to spread these out more.
Next year, I’d like to at least get 52 posts, without including Aside items in the count.
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How I like to build for Windows
I’ve seen a growing number of free software Windows programs where the recommended (or only) build procedure is to cross-build from Linux. I really like this idea.
The latest I noticed that did this is the Clementine music player (which I’m rather excited about). This is a fork of amaroK, with the KDE parts stripped to make in plain Qt, and thus portable. Their web site is http://www.clementine-player.org/. Their Windows build directions are here, and involves a chroot on a Debian system. This, of course, lends itself to the idea of projects eventually distributing build VM appliances, or if LXC takes off, premade build containers.
Posted in Programming
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Upgrading to Ubuntu 11.10
When I upgraded to 11.04, I stuck with the Ubuntu Classic desktop. With 11.10, that didn’t look feasible anymore, so I bit the bullet to try and learn to cope with Unity.
After the install, my first issues were:
- How to add a program to the Dash, specifically rxvt
- How to launch more than one rxvt with the Dash.
- How to switch between multiple windows open in Chrome or other software.
- How to make it faster.
I use the terminal a lot, and I want something light, fast, and that doesn’t mess with my hotkeys (GNOME Terminal uses the Alt key for itself).
Many programs have a way to launch new windows or documents, but rxvt doesn’t and I’m sure I’ll come across others as well.
Without the mouse that is.
I’m using a 2.6ghz quad core system (Opteron 2218s) with 4 gigs of ram and a NVidia 9400GT and while this isn’t the latest and greatest it should not crawl without a darn good reason.
And the answers turned out to be:
- Make a .desktop file
- Middle click on the icon in the Dash
- Alt + ` (backtick)
- Switch to Unity 2D
In /usr/share/applications, create rxvt.desktop with these contents:
[Desktop Entry]
Name=RXVT
Comment=terminal emulator for the X window system
Exec=rxvt -rv -sl 2000
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Encoding=UTF-8
Icon=utilities-terminal
Categories=System;TerminalEmulator;
X-Desktop-File-Install-Version=0.18
Then chown the file to root:root with permissions -rw-r–r–.
Just like a Mac. Obviously, I didn’t try to guess hard enough before resorting to Google.
Unity 2D is based on Qt and is meant for older machines with inadequate video cards. It is shocking to think that I have either, but it made a large difference. Besides, every time I’ve tried a compositing desktop before, I’ve had problems with other OpenGL programs, so I probably would have made the switch anyway.
Posted in System Administration
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Stupid Cloud
It seems that some companies are using cloud services to offer features I’ve wanted for a long time, but only tied to a cloud with a monthly or yearly fee.
The latest and most irritating is iCloud. I see no reason that an iDevice shouldn’t be able to sync with a Mac by WiFi. Finally, Apple introduces this feature, except it works by going through the iCloud instead of directly between an iPhone and MacBook.
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NFSv4
At some point, my Ubuntu desktop started using NFSv4 to connect to my Solaris file server.
The visible symptom caused by this switch was all files showing up as owned by 4294967294:4294967294.
The fix turned out to be to edit the file /etc/default/nfs-common to change:
NEED_STATD=
to:
NEED_STATD=”no”
and:
NEED_IDMAPD=
to:
NEED_IDMAPD=”yes”
Also, change the Domain= line in /etc/idmapd.conf to match your networks domain line.
Then reset idmapd
sudo restart idmapd
Posted in System Administration
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When David falls down, Deb says Whoopsie-Daisy. I, however, say Whoopsie-David.
After upgrading to Ubuntu 11.04, rxvt-unicode no longer worked with screen, dselect, aptitude, etc. Solution: install ncurses-term.
Supper from 40 minutes before I ate it.
