Tags: misc

My only concern with using my new device is that I want to be able to keep track of the amount of bandwidth I am using; I have a monthly contract with an allowance of 15GB per month and I would prefer it if I did not incur any additional fees for exceeding my allowance. The shop assistant who dealt with me seemed to think 15GB was ample, I am not so sure. I have never previously had to worry about such things as I have always had unlimited access, but I believe I could quite easily burn through 15GB. So, I have decided to keep a log of my bandwidth usage. I am using vnStat to achieve this, a handy console based application for recording bandwidth usage for any given network device. vnStat is fairly straightforward to use and I have written some usage notes on my wiki for future reference.

Tags: hardware, linux, ubuntu

Tags: crunchbanglinux, projects, ubuntu

On the subject of developing websites, I have created a fair few in my time, some commercial, some not. Nearly all the sites I have developed have been custom coded to some extent, but this new project site is not. Apart from the front page, the rest of site has been constructed using entirely free and open source web applications.

Forums

The new forums are powered by PunBB, which is described as being a lightweight PHP discussion board. This is the first time I have had any experience of working with this software, and I have to say, I have been thoroughly impressed; the installation was a painless affair and customising the look 'n' feel was also fairly easy. In fact, I only had one real issue; for some reason, the RSS and Atom feed generator did not parse any BBCode, which meant the resulting output was not overly attractive or easy to read. Having said that, I did manage to implement a quick fix without too much hassle. I will post the fix at some point in the future. Anyhow, PunBB, very impressive.

Wiki

The new wiki is powered by the fabulous DokuWiki. Again, I had not had any experience of using the software previous to the installation, although I had read good things about it and I have been subscribed to authors feed for a while, so I was somewhat familiar with it.

For anyone who has not tried it, DokuWiki is an easy to use, standard compliant wiki. It is also fairly unusual in the fact that it does not use an SQL database backend, using flat files instead. I have not been using it long enough to give an opinion on whether or not this provides any advantages, but I think it makes for a refreshing change at the least.

Regarding usage, it is a breeze. Creating new pages, uploading media and modifying access control lists could not be easier, it really is a pleasure to use, that is to say, as pleasurable as using a web application can be :p

Weblog

The new weblog is powered by WordPress. I am sure I do not have to say much about WordPress, only I have not actually used it since about the time of version 1.5.x. Wow! WordPress is definitely one of the most polished web applications I have used in a while. It might be somewhat bloated compared to what I am used to, but I think I can endure a little bloat if it means I get ease of use and rapid development. Nothing more to say about WordPress, other than it is good stuff.

Cleaning up

Apparently, cool URIs do not change. So, with this is mind I have been attempting to migrate as much information as I can to the new site without causing too much disruption to existing project data. I have implemented as few server-side redirects as possible. The old forums will remain archived in a read-only state and the mailing list will stay put for the time being as I have yet to set-up Mailman on my VPS.

Future focus

Overall, I am really pleased with the new site and I am hoping it will provide for some positive discussions and improvements to the distribution. I am also hoping the new easy to use web applications will mean I can spend less time administering and more time developing. Which reminds me…

…CrunchBang Linux uses many packages which are not in the standard Ubuntu desktop. Due to this, some of these packages are possibly not as well maintained as they could be — just an observation, not really a criticism. Anyway, if CrunchBang Linux does nothing else, it would be good if the future focus of the distribution could be to improve these packages and feed any improvements back upstream.

Anyhow, I am sure I have rambled for far too long :S If you have any feedback, comments or suggestions for improvements to the new site, please feel free to post them, all are welcome and greatly appreciated!

Tags: crunchbanglinux, projects, ubuntu

Tags: crunchbanglinux

As well as being based on the latest Ubuntu release, I have also made several other changes over the previous releases, including, but not limited to:

• A new darker theme.
• Tablaunch removed (finally).
• Some additional default shortcut keys added, including main menu.
• OpenOffice.org replaced by Abiword and Gnumeric.
• pypanal replaced by lxpanel.
• AcidRip removed.
• Twitux replaced by Gwibber.
• Mirage replaced by GPicView.
• VLC removed in favour of Totem — VLC is now a non GTK+ app :(
• etc.

The above changes are based on changes I have made to my own system since the previous CrunchBang release.

Anyhow, there is a new LiveCD available for testing. If anyone would like to give it a try, please do so. Feedback, suggestions and ideas for improvements are more than welcome and greatly appreciated. See the forum for download locations.

Tags: crunchbanglinux, ubuntu

For anyone who missed it the first time round, it looks like this:

Not digging Flash? Then by the power of cow, view the ogg format.

As before, the download and installation instructions for Ubuntu are available on my wiki. Enjoy :)

P.S. I really should find something constructive to work on!

Tags: artwork, fun, ubuntu

Back to his apartment in Clerkenwell, a good hot shower and a takeaway sea bass in tamarind sauce from the Thai place round the corner, followed by the latest of the Miss Marple remakes on ITV.

— Relentless by Simon Kernick

How to participate in this most excellent of memes:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open it to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

Tags: fun, meme, ubuntu

I said a fond farewell to Sid and started floating back downstream. I was not floating for long when I came across Lenny. For a brief moment I thought I must have been caught in an underwater current and been dragged back upstream, Lenny looked and behaved in a near identical manner to Sid, though Lenny lacked the unstable aura. Lenny and I have been getting along really well since. Sure, I would probably still classify our relationship as being in "testing", still, I do not think it will be too long before it can be reclassified as being truly "stable". I am looking forward to it.

Tags: debian, fun, ubuntu

T' first machine I installed it on was me notebook. I really only use me notebook for browsin' t' web and communicatin', I do not use it for any mission critical activities, so I be easy when it comes t' usin' t' machine for testin' purposes. Me notebook, an Acer Extensa 4220, took t' installation flawlessly, apart from t' wireless, which has never worked. I have only been usin' t' installation for about 24 hours, but I be impressed with what I have seen so far.

In fact, I was so impressed with me notebook installation, I decided t' install t' alpha on me desktop, an old Compaq Evo. As with me notebook, I rarely use me desktop for anythin' important and so I be fairly easy when it comes t' usin' it for testin'. This time I was not so impressed, t' installation worked fine, but after performin' an apt-get update/upgrade, t' system decided it not want t' play ball and started t' experience some xorg issues. I have reported these issues and will continue t' attempt a fix.

So, 2 installations o' Intrepid on 2 different machines in 1 day. 1 installation rocks. 1 installation blows. It be all good fun.

By t' way, sorry for me silly pirate speak :)

Tags: fun, ubuntu

I actually posted about my computer naming theme last October, see "A Network of Ubuntu Muppets". I am still using the same naming theme, only I now have 3 more muppets on the network; beaker, fozziebear and muppy. My network of Ubuntu muppets is growing.

Bah.

Tags: fun, meme, muppets, ubuntu

I have released a couple of new images for my CrunchBang Linux project. This new release brings CrunchBang Linux up-to-date with packages available from the 8.04.01 point release of Ubuntu. The new images have been completely rebuilt from scratch and feature a whole bunch of changes.

What's new?

• As stated above, all packages from the Ubuntu repositories have been updated to bring them in-line with Ubuntu 8.04.01. Most notably, Firefox 3 is no-longer beta software and a couple of well-known security vulnerabilities have been patched.

• Openbox has been updated to the latest version. See Openbox:Changelog for more information.

• An alternative XFCE4 desktop environment is available from the GDM login screen. It has been set-up to behave identically [well, near enough] to the default Openbox session. e.g. right-click menus, shortcut keys etc. This new feature is currently being guinea pigged by Becky the Linux user.

• Both the Openbox and XFCE4 sessions use the XFCE4 Settings Manager. This adds some overhead to the Openbox session, but also provides a solution to the problem of gnome-settings-daemon overriding users settings when invoked by accident — there are a surprising number of applications which invoke gnome-settings-daemon for no obvious reason.

• ROX-Filer has been replaced by Thunar as the default file manager; the thunar-volman package now handles auto mounting of devices. This is a huge improvement over the previous release, which used Ivman.

• A new "Lite" image has been made available. This image features the same Openbox and XFCE4 environments, but does not have the plethora of applications available in the full image. Hopefully, this new image will go a long way to satisfying requests to remove applications. The Lite image comes in at approximately 403M, making it significantly smaller than the standard image at approximately 633M.

• An alternative installation method. CrunchBang Linux can now be built from a minimal "CLI" installation of Ubuntu.

• Numerous other tweaks and changes, including but not limited to:

  • A new Usplash theme.
  • New GDM theme.
  • Xarchiver replaced by File Roller.
  • GnomeBaker removed in favour of Brasero.
  • Terminator now set as the default terminal emulator.
  • RealPlayer plugins enabled by default.
  • OSMO replaced by Orage.
  • Et cetera.

Download locations

As always, CrunchBang Linux has been developed for my personal use; however, everyone is free to download and use as they see fit. If you do decide to download, please pay special attention to the disclaimer, which basically states, "if you brick your system, do not come running to me."

For download locations, see: CrunchBang Linux 8.04.02 Download Locations. For the alternative installation instructions, see: CrunchBang Linux 8.04.02 Alternative Installation.

Screenshots

Some screenshots of CrunchBang Linux 8.04.02 in action, click on the thumbnails for larger images.

Tags: crunchbanglinux, openbox, projects, ubuntu, xfce4

So, I created a backup of Becky's data and proceeded to install my latest remastered version Ubuntu. I could of installed a vanilla Ubuntu install, but I wanted her first real experience of Linux to be as smooth as possible. Once the installation had completed, I restored Becky's data and handed back her laptop; she powered it up and proceeded to go about her business.

I waited for the comments and questions, but they never came. As it turned out, I actually ended up pestering her to show her a few things; we had a play with entering a few terminal commands and installing the odd package. Finally, Becky reluctantly said, "It's quite good".

Result :)

Tags: advocacy, life, linux, ubuntu

Not digging Flash? Then by the power of cow, view the ogg format.

Download and installation instructions for Ubuntu are available on my wiki. Enjoy :)

Tags: artwork, fun, ubuntu

2 projects, 1 name, an annoying issue which I would not wish on anyone. Unfortunately though, for Chris Jones of this Terminator project, it is an issue; an annoying issue which is probably compounded due to the fact that the other Terminator project is also a terminal emulator.

I feel for Chris as he is faced with 2 options, leave the name as is [and forever field questions from muppets like myself], or, change the project name. To be honest, I would not imagine either option is overly appealing; still, if I were to put myself in Chris' shoes, I think I would be inclined to change the name sooner, rather than later. I would do it for the following reasons:

• Respect for what came before, after all, is it not the Ubuntu way?
• Firebirdfox did it, although ultimately the project failed.
• My mum's mum's mum used to say, "A change is as good as a rest."

Having now committed to letting Chris know what to do, it would be remiss of me to spout all this nonsense without coming up a serious contender for a suitably catchy alternative name. So, I was thinking, what about TerminatorToo? Disregarding the silly pun, it would have the advantage of users not having to mentally relearn keystrokes when typing into any tab-completion enabled environments. Just a thought.

Finally, all testiculating aside, I am interested to know what you would do if you found yourself in this situation? Of course, I am speculating, but I think Chris would be interested too.

Tags: development, fun, software, terminator, ubuntu

I am totally impressed with Terminator. For anyone who has not heard [is there anyone?], the main advantage to using Terminator is its ability to split the screen into multiple terminals. The advantages this brings were made immediately obvious to me as I attempted to customise the look and feel of my new terminal window; in this screenshot I have the manual page open for terminator_config while editing my new config file. Good stuff.

The latests 0.9 release can be grabbed from the PPA for Terminator on Launchpad.

Tags: software, terminator, ubuntu

The good stuff

Here is a short list of features I like about openSUSE:

• The default look and feel is really professional and very slick. I know it is only a cosmetic issue, but first impressions count, or so I have been told.

• The single GNOME panel and main Slab menu make for a good combination. I did not think that I would be overly enamoured with it, but I found myself liking its simplicity. It only took a few minutes to make myself familiar with how it operates and when it is used in conjunction with the next impressive feature, it works well.

• GNOME Do is installed by default. I have been loving the speed advantage this application has given me, to quote the website, GNOME + Do = Crazy Delicious :)

• Both Compiz and PulseAudio are integrated into the desktop environment. I did not have to install any additional packages to make the most of Compiz as CompizConfig Settings Manager was installed by default.

The not so good stuff

Unfortunately, my time spent with openSUSE has not been all good, here is a short list of stuff I noticed which is not so impressive:

• During the installation I was unceremoniously dropped to the console and presented with a login prompt. This was slightly disconcerting and I nearly rebooted as I thought the install process had failed; then, just as I was about to restart my system, X popped back to life and the installation continued. I am not sure what that was all about?!

• I have experienced numerous application-level crashes. Banshee seems particularly unstable on my system and often disappears from my desktop without so much as a bye-your-leave — most disappointing as I was expecting good things from Banshee :(

• openSUSE's package management is fine, but it is not APT. I miss APT.

Conclusion

I have not been using the system long enough to make any solid conclusions; however, from what I have experienced so far, openSUSE 11 is definitely worth a look. If I was not so attached to APT, I would maybe consider keeping it installed. Having said that, it really is not too difficult to set-up Ubuntu to mimic and take advantage of the features I like in openSUSE.

Tags: linux, opensuse, ubuntu

Excellence is:

• The result of caring more than others think is wise
• Risking more than others think is safe
• Dreaming more than others think is practical
• And expecting more than others think is possible.

While I am not normally suckered-in by corporate spiel, I thought these words were pretty cool. Somehow they remind me of the Ubuntu community.

Tags: life, random, ubuntu

For the last month or so I've I have been attempting to eliminate contractions from my blog posts. Initially I found the process quite difficult and I'd I would often find myself struggling with basic English. One word which troubled me was, "cannot", which for a while at least, existed in my head as two separate words; I can't can not cannot imagine why? Anyhow, I think I'm I am finally beginning to get the hang of it.

I'm I am not entirely sure why I decided to stop using contractions; maybe it's it has got something to do with my need to experiment? Or, maybe I'd I had previously read somewhere that contractions cause issues with non-human translation services. Either way, I'm I am quite enjoying the experience, although I fear that it doesn't does not aid the flow of my written gibberish.

While I'm I am on the subject of my poorly scribed waffle, it's it has got to be said that writing doesn't does not come naturally to me. The reason my writing isn't is not often easy to read isn't is not entirely due to my recent sans-contraction experiment, no, I believe it's it has more to do with Mrs Briggs, who was both my secondary school English teacher and the biggest distraction throughout my secondary education. Actually, that's that is not completely true, the distractions were her long legs, short skirts and fancy knickers [don't do not ask]; which in my humble opinion, isn't is not suitable attire for a secondary school English teacher. Maybe I should've should have said something at the time? Thinking about it now, I'm I am glad I didn't did not say anything because I'm I am sure she'd've she would have flipped out; besides, no normal hormonal teenage boy is going to complain about such things.

Anyway, back to the subject of contractions; if you're you are wondering how all this relates to Data, well, it's it is a known fact that Data's Data has got issues with verbal contractions in ordinary speech, which is amusing when you consider he's he has got a total linear computational speed rated at sixty trillion operations per second, yet he can't can not cannot say, "can't". Silly android.

P.S. I thought it'd it would be fun to write like this, but to be honest, 'tisn't it is not. 'tisn't It is not going to happen again ;-)

Tags: fun, language, life, random

With Martin's guidance I have worked on the package and fixed numerous issues; though unfortunately, we have now hit a stumbling block regarding the package/fonts license. As a result of this, I am currently unsure if the package will pass Debian's strict quality control and make it into the repositories.

Still, as a result of this work, the package has been updated and is now available for Hardy.

Examples

The package itself contains a collection of over 400 fonts. The fonts were created by Brian Kent, who kindly agreed to let me package them for Ubuntu. There are numerous different types of fonts in the collection, see some examples below:

Embossing Tape:

Hack & Slash:

Hassle:

Licorice Strings:

Line Dings:

Stagnation:

Swirled:

Technique:

Unlearned:

Some more examples can be seen on the original post, 465 Free Fonts for Ubuntu.

Installing the fonts

You can grab the package directly from my PPA, or follow the instructions below to install:

1. Open your apt sources.list file for editing with the following terminal command:

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

2. Add the following line to the bottom of the file:

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

3. Close gedit and issue the following terminal command to update apt:

sudo apt-get update

4. Still in the terminal, enter the following command to install the package:

sudo apt-get install ttf-aenigma

5. Enjoy your new fonts!

Note: You can also browse and download Brian's fonts directly from his website.

License

See debian/copyright for details. Needless to say, the fonts are completely free and you are free to distribute the fonts further, create new fonts based on these fonts and make changes to the fonts — provided those changes are noted and the original fonts are still attributed to the original author.

Tags: fonts, ppa, typography, ubuntu