User:	beatzo
	Date:	2008-09-05 12:35
	Subject:	Nihilanth 2008
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	hyper
	Music:	Black Star Liner - Swimmer

Part of the aftermath of every quiz I conduct is the proliferation of questions-that-should-have-been. I kid you not, it's almost like Nature unburdens herself with a deluge of quiz-worthy information just to spit in your eye and rub it in about how much your quiz sucked and how better it would have been had you just read this bit of news one week ago, or if only you thought of that particular theme topic, or...

Ah well, the trick is to ignore all of the self-loathing and move on in life. As far as I am concerned, I just finished a quiz, and it went well, according to the organisers and quite a few of the participants. It was the Entertainment quiz for Nihilanth 2008, organised by IIT Bombay. Nihilanth, for those who came in late, is an inter-IIT-IIM quiz festival that has been around since 2002. In theory an annual event, it suffers from frequent lapses in its agenda; not without reason - the selection of venue and time of the year in which to conduct the fest is a humongously complicated process that involves blood sacrifices under the full moon, tactical maneuvers fought with eldritch weapons and followed by much lamentation of women. Uh, complicated process, don't bother. But doing a Nihilanth quiz has always been fun. The first one was my first ever professional outing as a QM, one that brought me into contact with quite a few interesting people, set in motion a frenzied quiz-outings across institutes throughout the country and also ensured a steady supply of Sino-Japanese-Korean content into my hard drive. This one had zero effect on hard drive, but was fun all the same.

What surprised me the most this time when I entered the hall was the number of familiar faces in attendance. Quizzing folks I remembered meeting from quite-a-few-years-ago and who I was pretty sure would be off the college circuit by now. Then I realised the bulk of them were ex-IITians who were now IIMians. The Prelims went by without a hiccup, and because there was a lunch break before the finals, I got some time to polish up the slides for the Finals, sat back and read Warren Ellis's Thunderbolts until the quiz began at 2. Apart from a bit of confusion in the middle of the finals where some of the videos did not show up on the projection screen - I had to exit the presentation, which in turn crashed Powerpoint and forced me to reboot the laptop - the finals went pretty much on time and in synch with whatever expectations I had. A long visual connect in the middle caused an incredible upset in the rankings because the IIM Kozhikode team ( which included LVC veteran Shamanth ) cracked it early on. IIM Indore maintained their lead throughout the quiz. Quite a few teams from IIMA were in the finals, and I believe one of them came third. Because there was a bit of time left and also because IITM weren't anywhere around, I snuck in my second long visual connect as well. I had put it on hold the day before because udupendra told me there was something similar asked in this year's Saarang, the kind of information that forces hasty rearrangement of slides and much heart-burn.

The trip was pretty hectic because I wanted to be back early on Sunday, and the only other quiz I managed to attend was Shamanth's Lone Wolf quiz. That officially makes him the first quizmaster+participant in Nihilanth history. Scheduled to begin at 7 PM, it began at around 11 PM, not for any fault of the organisers, apparently there was a clash of venues with another event. This brought back good memories of late-night ( or early-morning, depending on how you look at it) quizzes of yore, but my biological clock just could not handle the sleep-cycle shift and I crashed at around 2:30 AM.

Hold on a second, you ask. Wasn't I supposed to be off quizzing? Well, yes I was. I guess this stint officially ends my sabbatical. Oh yes, world, I am back. ( You can be Mozart, if you want.)

	User:	linux (posted by tonytraductor)
	Date:	2008-09-04 23:56
	Subject:	Oggify (improved)
	Security:	Public

Aside from any argument over which audio file format is best (I like FOSS, thus ogg), I reworked my oggify script, attempting to implement what I learned here.

( Oggify (improved) )

	User:	linux (posted by nugget)
	Date:	2008-09-04 09:05
	Subject:	Linux Promotional Posters
	Security:	Public

Might be old but I just saw them for the first time yesterday:

Linux Promotional Posters.

	User:	linux (posted by pkbarbiedoll)
	Date:	2008-09-02 23:20
	Subject:	HTML exe creator
	Security:	Public

Years ago I made a CD menu out of HTML files - I don't remember the app but it took an existing HTML page(or pages) and made that into an executable.

Is there a good open source app that does the same thing? I run Ubuntu.
Thnks!

	User:	linux (posted by tonytraductor)
	Date:	2008-09-01 18:23
	Subject:	Oggify... converting all your wav and mp3 to ogg
	Security:	Public
	Music:	cabezones

I have too many wav and mp3 files, really.
I mean wav files are BIG.
And mp3 files suck, and are a proprietary format.
So, I wanted to convert ALL of my tunes to ogg-vorbis format,
an open source audio file format.

So, I wrote this:
( Read more... )


I had written a gui version, too, with zenity, but, bah...
Who needs a gui?

	User:	linux (posted by conan_hacker)
	Date:	2008-09-02 03:47
	Subject:	Interactive map of GNU/Linux OS and FOSS
	Security:	Public

Comments are welcome

	User:	linux (posted by drawsmcgraw)
	Date:	2008-08-31 16:40
	Subject:	Wait, what?
	Security:	Public

Has anyone heard about this? When we, Verizon subscribers, visit the site espn360.com we're greeted with the front page and a message: "Congratulations! Your high speed internet service provider, Verizon, carries ESPN360.com."

I run a quick Google search and, of course, run into the Wikipedia article, quoting:
"ESPN360.com is a broadband network for live sports programming in the United States, Mexico, Brazil and Europe. In the U.S. the network can only be accessed through Internet service providers who have signed up and paid ESPN for the programming. The entire service is free to the individual (the ISP pays for the cost) with few advertisements. There are occasions where ESPN360.com is "all access" and permits all individuals to access the site. These periods are advertised on the ESPN family of networks. (In that way, ESPN360.com is similar to the ESPN cable networks, in which distributors sign carriage deals.) Outside the US the service is available via both subscribing and non-subscribing ISP's with some of the content offered on a subscription basis only."

What?

I'm guessing (because I've not researched it) that, because ESPN is not an ISP, they can do whatever they feel like regarding subscription and availability. But in my educated opinion, this is borderline Net Neutrality issues, isn't it? Am I wrong? Can anyone who wants to sign up for it? If that's not the case, this reeks of foul play.

	User:	linux (posted by tonytraductor)
	Date:	2008-08-30 20:30
	Subject:	automagical archiving of POP/gmail?
	Security:	Public

I've just recently set myself up with gmail, and set it up to pick up mail from a couple of my domains, and set up
thunderbird on my home machine to pick up the gmail via pop, but, use the web interface on my laptop to access mail, and, I'm
kind of thinking at this point that it would simplify my existence if I only used the web interface.
Except one thing.
I want to have my mail archived here, in addition to on the google gmail servers.
Call me what you will...a skeptic, paranoid...I don't know, but I've seen free web services and mail accounts, etc. come and go,
or, stop being free, etc., and, for this and related reasons, I just want to make sure I have all mail backed up in my home/office.

So, I'm thinking, probably there's a way I can set up procmail or mutt or something, with cron, or something, to regularly download
the mail and archive it here, while only reading it on the gmail web interface.

Has anyone done this?
I'm sure I'm not crazy to think this can be done, but, in truth, I've never done anything quite like it.
I've only ever used POP or webmail interfaces, and never dealt with retreiving mail via a text-only environment.
Anyone have any tips or know of a good how-to that might be useful?

thanks
tony

	User:	linux (posted by davmoo)
	Date:	2008-08-30 00:34
	Subject:	Reiser File System
	Security:	Public

I'm not going to make jokes in this post, because it really is not a joking matter. Although I'd be lying if I said I haven't laughed at some of the jokes I've heard on this story.

But I will seriously ask. The Namesys website is down and has been for some time now. And obviously Hans Reiser won't be doing any coding for at least 15 years.

So has any other group picked up development and/or support of ReiserFS?

	User:	linux (posted by brutal_truth)
	Date:	2008-08-30 00:32
	Subject:	Registrars/Hosts?
	Security:	Public

I have been working on a Linux distribution for quite some time, and I have run out of money to pay the URL fee... gibbix.org ----- yeah. Sad, huh? But, I am a college student, so I guess this kind of crap happens. I have just plum run out of money. The system is called Gibbix. It's a BusyBox system with a smattering of other influences. The idea for the system is that it is a bit back to basics. It's meant for seasoned Linux veterans, and it's meant for only those who really want to learn or those who really want to be taken back to some older times. Anyway, I had posted about this system before, but things changed along the way. Now, I have to search for a low cost domain registrar, and if anyone knows of any good and inexpensive hosts... I would love to hear about them! Thx.

	User:	linux (posted by technonick)
	Date:	2008-08-29 09:11
	Subject:	Java IDE
	Security:	Public

I'm taking a CS class that teaches basic Java concept. (Sob, we don't get to arrays until November and the semester is over in December.) Anyway they use JCreator on Windows, but in my home/office I am almost exclusive Linux/Ubuntu. I know that there are a number of Java IDE for Linux, but ideally I would like something kind of basic.

Does anyone know of a basic IDE for Java that is simple and easy to use?

I'm looking for experience here, I know I could use Google/Synaptic and find one, but I need experience.

Thanks in advance.

	User:	linux (posted by paulgix)
	Date:	2008-08-28 16:51
	Subject:	Multi-bootable USB media
	Security:	Public

So I'm wondering if there's a way I can put multiple bootable CD-Images (ie like an Ubuntu LIVE-CD, etc) on a USB stick that I have, and have something like LILO come up on boot asking which image to boot from, anyone know if this is possible, and how to do it?

	User:	news (posted by theljstaff)
	Date:	2008-08-28 17:34
	Subject:	All the news that's fit to print
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	quixotic

Basic Accounts
As we noted in our last News post, as of today users will be able to downgrade their account to Basic through the Manage Account page. In addition, visitors who are not logged in to LiveJournal will now be seeing ads on Basic accounts and communities; the experience of logged-in users will not change.

Paid Account Sale
We are having a paid account sale starting today through September 30, 2008. During that period, you can purchase a 12 month block of paid time and receive a 20% discount – this paid time can be added to any account, or purchased as a gift for your favorite LJ-friend. For full details, see our Paid Account Sale page.

Announcing lj_advisory
We are pleased to announce the creation of the lj_advisory community, set up so you can find news and information related to the activities of the Advisory Board. We recognize that it has taken us a while to get this community up and running, and that has caused some frustration. From now on, we will post topics which will be discussed by the Advisory Board prior to the date of the meeting and summaries of meetings after they occur. Throughout the year, the Advisory Board may also post requests for opinions on topics which may be discussed at future meetings. This is the official community for communication with the Advisory Board – comments will be read by Advisory Board members who will respond as they feel appropriate.

RTE + Opera and Safari = <3
RTE stands for Rich Text Editor, which is the default method of posting entries from the Post an Entry page. Our Rich Text Editor is based on the open-source FCKeditor code. It allows you to make links or LiveJournal user tags, insert photos or videos, and format your entries without needing to know HTML. That is, unless you use Opera or Safari as a browser, in which case you couldn't use the RTE.

That will be changing today. We are pleased to announce that the RTE has been upgraded to the latest version of the FCK code, which includes support for Opera and Safari! In addition, many of the bugs in the old version have been fixed. If you've been using RTE, you will most likely need to clear your browser's cache in order to use the new version.

<strike> vs. <b>
Last year we changed the visual display of deleted and suspended usernames from a line through the username to a bold font. This had the effect of making the name unclickable - which meant that no one could easily determine whether the username had been deleted or suspended. We've reversed this display, returning deleted and suspended usernames to a struck-through and clickable state.

Flash Fiction Contest Update
The deadline to submit your flash fiction entry to "Quick Tales," LiveJournal's partnership with Caferati in India is fast approaching. Users who wish to find out more about this exciting contest should take a look at our india_writing community. Be quick! Entries must be received by midnight, September 7th, 2008 and the contest is open to all who have a mailing address in India, regardless of where they currently reside or citizenship.

	User:	linux (posted by zenten)
	Date:	2008-08-28 00:30
	Subject:	In a move of sheer genius I removed all my kernels
	Security:	Public

So yeah, go ahead and laugh.

Anyway, I don't want to have to reinstall (I do have a separate /home partition, but my root partition isn't actually big enough for an install), so I'm thinking I just need some sort of kernel back, and then I can go and install it normally. I'm using Ubuntu btw, if that makes a difference.

I have an older Ubuntu live CD that I'm using to post right now. I tried copying over the kernel from there, but I get the following error when I try to manually start it from Grub (by first typing in kernel with various options, then typing in boot).

VFS: Cannot open root device or unknown block (0,0)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic not synking: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown - block (0,0)

[edit]Well that's what chroot does. Thanks simbab, you're my hero.[/edit]

	User:	linux (posted by jimheem)
	Date:	2008-08-27 13:25
	Subject:	cleaning up?
	Security:	Public

So I've been a sysadmin for many years, dealing with mostly Linux servers, but I've only been using Linux exclusivley as a desktop for about 4....

We all know that windows machines tend to bog down and crap out, it's only a matter of time. And most of us, being computer folk, know how to clean it up and get it running nice and shiny-like again. Myself included. What I've never had to deal with (not having to deal with user applications being installed in the server world) is a Linux machine starting to act this way. Now, I'll give it that I've had this system running for 4 years, much longer than a Windows machine would last given heavy day to day use with games, web, email etc. - But, now it's starting to bog down, and I don't know where to begin cleaning it up. I have plenty of disk space, my RAM is sufficient..

Any ideas where to start cleaning up and getting things running smoothly again?

	User:	linux (posted by tonytraductor)
	Date:	2008-08-26 21:44
	Subject:	Gkrellm mailcheck and gmail? other biffity options?
	Security:	Public
	Music:	Star Wars - Episode II

Why won't the gkrellm2 mailcheck thingy inform me of new mails on my gmail account?

And, yes, before you ask the obvious, I have enabled POP mail in gmail, and am successfully
downloading and reading messages in Thunderbird.

I passed the same parameters to gkrellm that I did to Thunderbird.
POP server: pop.gmail.com
use ssl, port 995
username
password
blah, blah...
But no flying tux, no flipping envelope...no number of new messages...no joy...

Or, if that's just hopeless, has anyone another suggestion?
I have xbiff on here, but can't quite figure out how to set it up.
xbiff -h
is rather vague.
I figure I could load that in my slit ( digression ), right there with gkrellm, and stuff.
Or, is there another good mail biff thingy for use with fluxbox?
I'm using LinguasOS,
a remaster of PCFluxboxOS.

Gkrellm was checking my mail before, from several domains...but, now I am using gmail to collect from several addresses on said several domains I own, so that I can have it all in one place, available online, and load it to various machines (laptop, main office box, etc.) via pop, etc.

Thanks
/tony

	User:	linux (posted by heldc)
	Date:	2008-08-23 09:50
	Subject:	Ventrilo or similar?
	Security:	Public

So, my boyfriend is a gamer. My laptop died, so he's letting me take his laptop to work (I work 16 hour overnight shifts, it's hell without a laptop). He's going to be using my kubuntu 8.04 desktop while I'm at work. He plays World of Warcraft, and his guild regularly runs a raid the night I'm at work. I don't want him letting me borrow his laptop to stop him from running his raid, so I'm trying to get WoW and Ventrilo set up. I feel pretty good about the WoW setup, but wanted to know if there are any tips for Ventrilo. Wine App DB lists it as silver or gold, depending which listing I look at.
I'd also be totally fine with something like Ventrilo, but all his guildmates are on Ventrilo so it'd have to let him connect with them. I have no idea how any of this is set up, cos I don't game.

	User:	linux (posted by tonytraductor)
	Date:	2008-08-23 08:16
	Subject:	TclScreenUp
	Security:	Public

I thought I'd share this with you.
I wrote a little tcl-ish utility that grabs a screenshot, allowing you to set a delay
prior to grabbing the shot (perhaps to minimize the window of the app, etc.),
allows you to set the dimensions of the shot, shows a preview, offers the option
to edit in GIMP, then, uploads it to your web server, then, displays the url, and offers you the ability to copy/paste
the url (for quick posting to your LJ!), or open it immediately in your preferred browser
for a check/preview thereof.
It allows you to save profiles with your server information, preferred browser, etc.
You can have multiple profiles, since you choose which to load (useful if you use
more than one webhost, such as I do, etc.)

Handy for grabbing quick screenshots to post here or elsewhere on LJ, or
to your MySpace, or where ever you like.

Oh, it uses ImageMagick's import to grab shots (this is Linux only), and requires
Tcl 8.5, tcl ftp, and Img.
(Instructions for acquiring all of the above are in the readme).
I would have used scp for moving the images, but I only have ftp access to several
of my webhosts, since they are on shared servers.

It is GPL-ed, of course.

More infor here.