Just Another Tech Blog

Since not all of the development for KDE 4 is in base technologies, this week features two of applications from the KDE-Edu team: Kalzium, a feature-filled chemistry reference tool, and KmPlot, a powerful equation graphing and visualization program. Read on for the details.
These educational tools have received a lot of work for KDE 4. In particular, Kalzium and KmPlot developments are happening at an amazing rate.

KDE 4 is looking to be a really good release. These two apps alone are quite outstanding. It is just sad that more people don't know about all the great tools KDE has to offer. Some people would call KDE "bloated." I prefer the term "full featured." It looks like I'll have to get KDE loaded on Ubuntu when version 4 comes about. Read more about Kalzium and KmPlot (with screens) @ KDE.news. Preview:

The latest svn release of Beryl sports a cool new ring window switcher. You can find it under Beryl Settings Manager -> Window Managemn -> Ring Window Switcher. You can set the speed, appearance, and shortcuts here. See video and screenshots below!



*sigh* Comment moderation turned on.

KDevelop 3.4 has been released, bringing many new features to KDE's Integrated Development Environment. The first major release in over a year closes more than 500 bugs. There is an impressive list of additional features including improved Qt 4 support, new debugging abilities, more attractive default user interface layout and improvements for C++, Ruby and PHP support. Packages are available for Kubuntu and openSUSE with unofficial builds for several others on the download page.

Check out the long list of new features and improvements in the areas of:

• Improved Qt4 support
• Improved QMake Manager
• Improved debugger
• Improved Ctags support
• Improved UI
• Improved Code Reformatting
• C++ Support
• Class View and Navigator
• Ruby Support
• PHP Support

View the full list @ kdevelop.org. Or, see the official release announcement. For downloads, go here.

*sigh* Its not easy being superior ;)

Wow, it seems as though I have been dugg! Aka... a post on my blog made it to the front page of digg! w00t! The post was about the new "Window Thumbnail" feature on the Beryl svn release. Digg it if you want ;) And to the occasional digger who strays to the front page:


Thanks Zanneth for submitting the story! And thanks Roy for submitting it to Usenet and netscape!

At the moment, the post has been dugg 287 times. The last time I checked, my visitor count was at 7000. I guess not everybody liked the story :D, that's cool though. But thanks to those of you who did digg.

A few updates ago, users started experiencing problems with latest release of beryl-svn. Beryl will run, but there is no settings manager! If run at the command line (beryl-settings), one gets a python error, stating that a module is not found! Not to fear! This is a quick fix. First, make sure you have have Python 2.5 installed. Then, execute the following command (this is all one line):

$ sudo ln -s /usr/lib/python-support/beryl-settings-bindings/python2.5/berylsettings.so /var/lib/python-support/python2.4/berylsettings.so
This should pretty much fix the problem. If for some reason this doesn't work, the file may be located in a different place. This "different place" may be /usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages. Copy the berylsettings.so file from there to /usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages.

Web Developer is an awesome Firefox Extension, aimed at... web developers. It comes in the form of a nice tool bar, and has an immense array of web developer tools and options. These tools include basics such as showing the CSS style sheet for a page and viewing the source of a page. However, there are also options that let you disable the CSS of a page, disable all images, display all "alt" attributes, find broken images, or outline images. A really cool feature is the "Outline" menu. Here, you can have the web developer extension outline various CSS or HTML properties, such as frames, headings, and tables. This is a really useful feature if you are learning web design. The most useful feature is probably the one that lets you actually edit/ change the CSS or HTML coding of a page. The page is then updated on your browser to display the changes. I, personally, learn best by dissecting and then editing code, and for others who learn the same way, this feature will be invaluable. Other features include a "Resize" option where you can resize the page to test out different resolutions (ie. 800x600), and a validation features which let you validate a page's CSS, HTML, Links, and more. Really good stuff.

The extension was created by Chris Pederick. Visit the extension's website @ chrispedrick.com. Or, get it through the Firefox extensions "database".

Well, I received my new LCD on Thursday. Been using it every day since then, and loving every second. The picture is perfect, and everything looks so much better than on a 17 inch CRT. Talk about wow! I love this thing, it is my new best friend.

Many people have both Windows and Linux on their hard drive, and having to reboot every time you want to switch to one or the other is a true pain. However, with the use of VMware player, gparted, and a text editor, you can have Windows run without any reboots in VMware player! All this... for free! Check it out @ oopsilon.com.
Stuff to get: VMware player, GParted

University of Toronto researchers are now closer to answering contemporary physics’ most pressing question: where is the missing particle that gives matter mass, known as Higgs-boson? The breakthrough comes after researchers discovered that the mass of another subatomic particle – the W boson – is slightly heavier than previous measurements, pointing them in a new direction.

I remember first reading about the Higgs-boson particle and Higgs fields in a book by Brian Green (Fabric of the Cosmos, I think it was). The idea utterly fascinated me. This discovery will be huge! Read more @ NEWS@UofT.

Flash Player 9 for Linux is finally out of beta! What more is there to say?
Go to the download site... OR, take this direct link to the tar.gz file!

Version 9 of the Flash Player runs scripts up to 10 times faster than previous versions, and also allows programmers to write portable applications exploiting more of the capabilities of Adobe's Flex 2 development platform, the company said Wednesday. The player's arrival on the Linux platform will mean Web site developers exploiting the latest Flash features can be sure of reaching the small percentage of Web surfers running Linux on their desktop.

I am quite a fan of torrents, and Azureus has been my top choice as a BitTorrent client for a while. However, when I switched my OS to Ubuntu, I started having problems with NAT. Turns out, this is quite typical for Ubuntu users. This is because all ports are locked by default under Ubuntu. So, I decided to throw together a guide to resolving all your NAT errors. These instructions come mainly from the Azureus wiki, but I thought I'd make them available here.

1. To start with, we need to open a port that Azureus can use. To do this, issue the following commands:
   
   iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport < your_port_number > -j ACCEPT
iptables -I INPUT -p udp --dport < your_port_number > -j ACCEPT
   Replace the your_port_number with a number between 49125-65535.


2. Next, we must apply these changes. Create a new file called "iptables_azureus":
   
   sudo gedit /etc/init.d/iptables_azureus
   Insert the following into the new file:
   
   (sleep 220
/sbin/iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport -j ACCEPT
/sbin/iptables -I INPUT -p udp --dport -j ACCEPT ) &


3. Next, we must make the new file executable:
   
   chmod +x /etc/init.d/iptables_azureus


4. Now, we can link this into the startup sequence:
   
   update-rc.d iptables_azureus start 51 S .

This should work for most setups. But, if you are behind a router, like I am, then you will need to do some router configuration. The steps described below are for a Linksys WRT54G router (default firmware, v4.20.6), but the concepts behind each step apply to most every router.

1. Enter your routers IP address into the address field of your router. For most, this will be http://192.168.1.1/ . Enter your username and password.
   
2. Click on the tab "Applications and Gaming." Here, we can configure the router to open the port (chosen above) to Azureus, and other Bittorent apps pointed at that port.
3. Under "Application Name" enter something like "Bittorent." What you name it doesn't matter! This is only for reference.
4. Next, enter a port range which contains the port you selected above. In my case, I simply used the range 49125-65535. You may want to enter a smaller range.
5. Under protocol, make sure "TCP" is selected.
6. Enter the last digits of your IP. This can be found out by running ifconfig as root:
   
   sudo ifconfig
   Look at the IP given, and take the digits behind the last decimal (.).
7. Be sure to have the "Enable" box checked.
   
8. Choose "Save Settings"

Now, run the NAT/ Firewall test in Azureus using the port you selected and you should get a message saying OK! Or something positive like that. Congratulations! You are now finished. Enjoy downloading your torrents at optimum settings!

Reference:
Azureus Wiki: NAT Problem
Azureus Wiki: Router configuration

UPDATE: This will most likely NOT work on computers with a dynamic IP! I'll see about writing something on how to configure a static IP.

The AbiWord team is very proud to announce AbiWord v2.5.0, the first snapshot of the development that will lead to AbiWord 2.6.
This snapshot allows interested developers, testers and users a sneak preview into the future of AbiWord.

Here are some new features:

• A new GNOME Office integration plugin, replacing the old GNOME Office Charting plugin (Unix platforms)
• Improved command line handling, allowing input from standard input, and output to be directed to standard output (examples here).
• Improved printing from the command line, deprecating our old custom postscript driver
• Support for the Bonobo component framework has been deprecated (Unix platforms) Improved the build system to be more standards conformant (for example, "make dist" and "make distcheck" now work)

For those that don't know, AbiWord is an EXCELLENT Open Source word processor. It is lightweight, but does not lack on features. For almost all word processing, AbiWord is my personal "First Choice." I am quite excited about AbiWord 2.6, and this version (2.5.0) looks quite promising!

Full Release Notes | Downloads

UPDATE: Here's a quick screenshot of version 2.5.0:

I recently had to install Windows onto my system again (see previous post). Of course, in doing so, GRUB was effectively disabled and replaced with the Windows boot loader and its "fresh" MBR (of course, I couldn't boot into Linux from here). Since one just can't live without Linux and GRUB, here's a fairly simple way to get GRUB back:

1. Download the Unofficial "Super Grub Disk." You can download Super Grub Disk as a cdrom iso, floppy disk image or an usb tar.gz.
2. Burn it to a CD, put it on a floppy, or install to a USB Disk. Whatever. Just get it on something bootable
3. Boot up the "Super Grub Disk"
4. Select your language
5. Select Linux
6. Select "Fix Boot of Linux (GRUB)"
7. Go back to first menu
8. Select Quit, and then reboot
   

This should do the trick. If not, boot the "Super Grub Disk" again, and systematically go through the other options under "Linux" that pertain to reinstalling/ rescuing/ or restoring GRUB. Read the "help" that comes up when you choose any of these commands. This can be quite helpful! Upon reboot, you should now be greeted by GRUB. If everything went well, there will be an entry for Windows XP already on the menu. If not, boot into your Linux distro. From there, edit GRUB's menu.lst file (here's the Ubuntu way):

sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
Now, you will have to add an entry for windows. The format for this would be:

title Windows XP 64
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1
Of course, you will have to change "(hd0,0)" to the partition where Windows is located. You can change the title of the entry... doesn't matter. Be sure to be familiar with the way GRUB identifies hard drives and partitions. Numbers start begin with 0, and letters are also expressed numerically, beginning with 0. For example, /dev/hda1 would be "hda0,0" to GRUB, and /dev/hdb3 is "hda1,2".

Now, reboot, and you should once again be greeted by GRUB, this time with an entry for Windows. Select Windows, and see if it works. If not, you didn't specify the right hard drive/ partition to boot from. Repeat the steps in the preceding paragraph, directing GRUB to a different partition to boot from.

The steps listed above worked for me, and they can for you too! Just be patient, and don't do anything without thinking about it first. Be sure to have a backup of all your data, which is a good thing to have anyways! If you have further questions, you may consult me, or head on over to a forum.

A special thanks to the Ubuntu Community from where I got this information!

Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no. This can't be good. Windows is back on my computer... Which really sucks... REALLY. Except that... I need it. Yes, yes, yell at me and say that there is absolutely NO reason to use Windows. But when it comes down to it... Windows in unavoidable. The problem: I need to run 3dsmax and Inventor software from Autodesk. Why? Robotics... Club that is. I have recently joined a FIRST Robotics team in my area. Of course, this robot will have to be designed, and then built. This is where 3dsmax and Inventor come in. Of course, I could use Blender, which I wanted to at first... but the UI is quite daunting, and the competition is in only 6 weeks! Work needs to get done! So I have come to this incredible breach of my principles.
The version I am using is Windows XP Professional 64bit, which I received from a friend. So no, Microsoft has gained nothing from my using Windows. It is also loaded onto my rather lowly 40gig hard drive. So, I am not really giving up anything.
I like Windows no more than before... and I'll probably be listing quite a few reasons why Windows sucks over the next few weeks (bare with me, this is how I handle "traumatic" experiences). Here are a few things to start:

• I have been using only Linux (on my computer) for about half a year now. In that time, I have completely forgotten how crappy the user interface is in Windows. Wow... gnome and KDE are FAR, FAR, FAR superior. And no Beryl :'(


• Takes too long to get/ install software. Windows: Start up browser, search for product, find a good download site, download, extract, start the installer, agree to annoying "Terms of Service/ License" clearly against the GPL, go through a million options, finally start the actual install, reboot. Linux (Ubuntu): apt-get install (whatever). Whew. Yeah, I see why Linux is soooo much harder to use than Windows!


• Drivers are not automatically installed! I am so used to having Linux recognize all my hardware and install the right drivers automatically. In Windows, I have to go through a million different CDs to get all my drivers installed. Then look for the 64bit versions if they are not included.
  

Perhaps I have just been spoiled by using Linux. Anyways, Windows is now back on my computer... and I guess I'll just have to live with it.

I was having some fun over clocking my CPU this morning, and I actually managed to hit 2.75Ghz, stock cooling, without changing the volt core. It is an AMD Athlon 64 3700+ "San Diego" core Socket 939. Right now, temps are up about 3 degrees (Celsius). Everything has been running quite stable, but I haven't been able to do any stress tests/ benchmarks. I'm pretty sure that if I get some new cooling, I'll be able to reach 2.9 or even 3.0 Ghz. No money for that now though! I'm only $30 away from my LCD! After that... its a new CPU cooler. Then maybe a new keyboard/ mouse. Then a new case. So, about another $150-200. Anyways, I am quite happy with my 2.75Ghz right now!

Just updated Beryl to the latest svn version of 0.1.5. A new feature of this release is "Window Thumbnails." When you hover over an application in the taskbar, it will show you a LIVE preview of that window. You can set delay, and the size of the thumbnail in the Beryl settings manager: Beryl Settings Manager -> Extras -> Window thumbnails. Here are some screenshots:

I am $50 away from a brand new, 20inch LCD. 3 more weeks, and I've got it! SCEPTRE X20WG-Naga Black 20.1". 5ms response time! 1000:1 contrast ratio! 1680 x 1050 max res! *drool* And soon it will be mine...

I just stumbled upon this page. Although it doesn't really apply to me (I don't think a 14 year old will be hired!), it is quite interesting to see how the Linux job market is developing. From the looks of it, if you are a Linux expert... you're likely to get a nice pay check. $100-120K! But, it's really not about the money. If you're interested, head on over to HotLinuxJobs. Or, skip right to the job listings.

From the homepage:

"Search firm specializing in the placement of Linux / Open Source professionals, providing both contract and direct hire services to our clients. Our knowledge of the Linux / Open Source landscape and employment marketplace make us your most efficient recruiting resource. If you are looking for exciting opportunities and want to work for leading companies adopting Open Source technologies, please contact us and send us a copy of your resume."

The OpenMoko team have been working on a cell phone to be manufactured by First International Computers, the motherboard manufacturer. Using a GNU/Linux base, OpenMoko intends the NEO1973 to be both a proof-of-concept device, and a reference platform. The phone is almost completely open, using closed-source / proprietary subsystems only for the GSM/GPRS and AGPS (assisted GPS) components. The provided APIs to these subsystems allow for free software to make use of both the GPS and the telephony features of the phone.

With a price tag $150 less than the iPhone... what's not to love? Open Source is the way to go. Read more @ tectonic.

User Mode Linux (UML) allows you to run Linux kernels as user mode processes under a host Linux kernel, giving you a simple way to run several independent virtual machines on a single piece of physical hardware. Let's take a look at UML and how it can give you more bang for the hardware buck, or make it easier to debug the kernel.

Under UML, each of the virtual machines can run its own selection of software, including different distributions of Linux and different kernels. This gives you the ability to have completely customizable virtual machines that are isolated from each other, and from the host machine. Among other things, you can use this technology to secure systems by containing vulnerabilities, to give developers and sysadmins private sandboxes for development and testing, and to debug problems in kernels using familiar userspace utilities, such as gdb.

Awesome stuff! Head on over to Linux.com for more!

Recently, Beryl has started working on a new settings manager. The design features an all new layout, with improved usability, and general ease-of-use. So far, things are looking quite nice. Here are a few screenshots:

Here's a really simple way to add add all the files in a giving directory to a playlist that mplayer likes:

$ find [/path/to/directory/] -name "*.mp3" -print > playlist.txt
Change the "*.mp3" to whatever file extension matchs your media. Do not forget the "*". This denotes that everything with .mp3 at the end of the filename, should located and added to the playlist. You can leave off the path to the directory if you are already in the directory where the media is located. After that, simply issue the mplayer command with a -playlist extension, followed by the name of your playlist:

$ mplayer -playlist playlist.txt
It's as easy as that! Enjoy!

JOSEPH BLACK AND his team of graphics enthusiasts have been working for quite some time on a pretty encouraging project - an open-spec graphics card.

This project is on the basis that a GPU should not end up with tons of propriatary software or hardware, containing hidden problems that aren't mentioned to the press, and yet cause nervous breakdowns for developers worldwide.

This project looks quite promising. Codenamed OGD1-256DDAV, the card comes with 256MB of video memory, two dual-link DVI connectors and a support for the third and fourth video interface (analogue/ TV video outputs). Currently, the card comes in a PCI interface, with 2 chips making up the GPU: the Xilinx Spartan-3 XC3S4000 FPGA graphics engine, and the Lattice XP10 FPGA. Read more @ The Inquirer. For more information, visit the Project's TikiWiki: OGPN17. Digg this.

Hardware

Description		OGD1/OGA	Ge Force 2 GTS	Radeon 7000 PCI
Memory clock rate (DDR MHz)		350-400	333	300
Memory bus width (bits)		128	128	64
Video memory (MiB)		256	128	64
Maximum display resolution		6144x2048	??	2048x1536
Total memory bandwidth		1600	1333	600

Alan Cox is simply awesome. I found this on digg just a couple minutes ago, and I just can't stop smiling!

More power to him! These *defensive* patents would allow Cox's employer, Red Hat, to sue the pants off of parties who infringe the patent by employing DRM in their products. From the patent: "The method allows receipt of a notice regarding suspension of a sender's rights to use the content."

Think of what would happen if these patents are actually granted! Red Hat could sue Apple for iTunes DRM, the DVD consortium for DCSS, and Microsoft for PlaysForSure DRM. "Hilarity ensues." as one digger puts it. Check out the patents here.
However, as Roy Schestowitz puts it:
"Red Hat and patents in the same sentence make me shiver. I've had enough of that Novell patent deal."
Too true! But this is actually a really good use of patents! I can't wait to hear more about this!
TAKE THAT MPAA/ RIAA!!!!

Discover how shell scripts can mechanize virtually any personal or system task. Scripts can monitor, archive, update, report, upload, and download. Indeed, no job is too small or too great for a script. Here's an introduction.

Really a great tutorial on how to automate your UNIX/ Linux system through the use of shell scripts! Read more @ IBM developerWorks.

Note from the Nerd: Shell scripting is a great way to take full advantage of everything UNIX/ Linux has to offer. As said above, no job is too small or great for a shell script. Make your life easier! Here are some other good guides to launch you off into the world of shell scripting:

• Writing Shell Scripts
• Linux Shell Scripting Tutorial v1.05r3 : A Beginner's handbook
• Easy Shell Scripting
• UNIX Bourne Shell Scripting

One of the many jobs assigned to system administrators is making sure the programs of users are running properly. This task is made more complex by the presence of other programs running concurrently on the system. For various reasons, these programs might fail, hang up, or otherwise misbehave. Understanding how the UNIX® environment creates, manages, and destroys these jobs is a crucial step in building a more reliable system.

This is a great read about the life cycle of a process running under the UNIX operating system. Read more @ IBM developerWorks.

Recently Audi, whose longstanding motto is "Vorsprung durch Technik" ("Progress through technology"), has been upgrading to 64-bit Linux in deploying its automotive CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering) servers, where simulation software is used in the design of casts, frames, and components, as well as for crash-test simulations and other 3-D visualization problems, as part of the greater migration to Linux.

Great decision Audi! Not only will this save them a bundle, the performance gains will be immense! "The number of CPUs available for CAE purposes will continue to increase as the hardware costs sink." Read more @ Linux.com

The very popular SabayonLinux distro has come around to version 3.25! Sabayon showcases much of the best of what Linux has to offer, including stellar desktop effects (Beryl), excellent hardware detection, and great ease of use/ flexibility! Highlights of the 3.25 version are as follows:

• Linux kernel 2.6.19.1
  
• The first Live implementation of the new Kernel Virtual Machine supporting both Intel and AMD architectures (patches backported from 2.6.20-rc2)
  
• New devices support, like bcm43xx over PCI-Express and some new ATI IXP revisions- FUSE 2.6.1- X.Org 7.2 RC3 with all the things belonging to that:
  
  • 1. Better LCD/CRT Display detection
    
  • 2. Really improved Intel Graphics Cards support
    
  • 3. Much more stable ATI Open Source Drivers
    
• Improved Installer (faster, less bugs)
  
• New NetworkManager stack that supports a lot of wireless cards much better
  
• Beryl 0.1.4 with a nearly perfect OpenGL autodetection and configuration
  
• Nvidia drivers 9631 and latest ATI drivers
  
• New kicker menu pic and better default cursors
  
• Fixed thunderbird and others language problems
  
• Removed guidance for less KDE kcontrol problems
  
• Newest sabayonlive-tools accel-manager gpu-detector desktop-acceleration-helpers kdelibs kicker qt with fixes
  
• Newest freetype, libXft, and cairo for better font rendering

All in all, it looks like a very "fresh" new release! Read more @ sabayonlinux.org.
Downloads: x86 Torrent | X86_64 torrent

Wow, 2007 already! I can't wait to see what is in store.... for Linux, and technology in general! I can't wait for the new KDE release... and I am working hard to get Enlightenment 17 set up on my computer. Right now it is working... until I try to load a module or a shelf... then I get a segfault error. Oh well, I'll continue to work on it.

I don't really believe in "New Year's Resolutions," but here are I few things I hope to accomplish in the upcoming year:

• Learn to program. I really need too... I am going to be learning JavaScript in Computer Programming I next semester... but Java? Ugh. I am aiming for C or C++.


• Learn better web design. I want to be able to design awesome layouts with CSS, and not have to use templates from around the web...


• Make my blog even better! Not sure yet what that means... but I'm hoping to step it up a notch!

So there you have it, a few things I'd like to do this year!