Monday, July 21, 2008

:: Quick update on the nerd side of the Force ::

Last week a friend (and soon to become a customer) asked me if I could create a server for him. I said I could do it, no problem... then in the middle of the talk he said he would need a VPN... and I almost froze. Crap, I never had to create a VPN! But I said, "yes, I can do it."

So this last saturday I spent a great deal of time reading about how to setup a VPN. Yes, since I work with IT I had read about VPNs, how they work, etc. However, I had never "made one". So now was my time. Suffice to say I read about OpenVPN and "got my hands dirt". I created a Virtual Machine with VirtualBox, installed Slackware 12.1 on it and after less than an hour of testings and changes of configuration I had my "server" running.

Then I tested the VPN using my dad's computer (Windows XP), and it (the VPN) worked perfect. Then I called my friend and told him to test it over the Internet... PERFECT too :)

So today he sent me two computeres (one which will be his file server and the other will be the VPN server).

Go me! :P

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

:: Being a nerd rocks ::

Yep, being a nerd does rock! News from the front? Yesterday I downloaded, compiled and installed Linux kernel 2.6.26, quite fresh from the forge. Yeah, I had some problems to fight, but they were quite "small". It had been some time since my last kernel compiling, so I was a bit rusted ;) . My first mistakes led me to a system without DVD support *LOL*. So I couldn't read DVDs nor write them. But now everything is cool.

Today's news are about KDE 4.1. I don't remember the exact date but, last week I installed KDE 4.0.85 (a 4.1 wannabe). Today I found out KDE 4.1 rc1 (4.0.98) is out. Yep, it was released today! So I already downloaded the source codes and Coruscant is already working hard to have it running :) Till this very moment I have the following modules compiled, installed and with the respective packages (for Bluewhite64 or Slamd64) created:

kdeaccessibility-4.0.98-x86_64
kdebase-4.0.98-x86_64
kdebase-runtime-4.0.98-x86_64
kdebase-workspace-4.0.98-x86_64
kdelibs-4.0.98-x86_64
kdemultimedia-4.0.98-x86_64
kdepimlibs-4.0.98-x86_64
kdeutils-4.0.98-x86_64

... and the time elapsed since the bigining of the compiling has just reached 1hour ;)

Let's see how good (or bad) is this version. From what I "heard" on the #kde channel, the so lovely keyboard shortcuts are still not working. CRAP!

Friday, July 04, 2008

:: Linux - KDE 4.1 beta 2 ::

Yesterday I was thinking of posting about my experience with KDE 4.x, but given the workload I forgot about it. Today I read bart's blog... and he posted about the whole mess surrounding KDE 4.x. So, here go my impressions about the subject.

It took me sometime to really go after KDE 4.0. I just "noticed" it was released when I read on a mailing list about Robby Workman making packages of it for Slackware Linux. Well, I downloaded those packages and installed on my Slackware 12.1. Well, well... it was a bit nice... but there were lots of stuff missing. And no, bart, I am still not talking about Amarok or K3B. One of the most important parts of KDE, at least for me, is Kontact (a Personal Information Manager, which has email client, personal organizer, etc, etc). That really shocked me, since Kontact is part of KDE3 (and I use KMail since what... KDE 1 or 2, can't remember). Plus... there were some bugs, I couldn't compile K3B and KVirc to work with QT4.x. CRAP!

Then I let time pass by. At least once a week I would check www.kde.org for news about KDE, since I had heard it would be a bit better when version 4.1 was out. So now KDE 4.1 is out. OK, the beta version, but it is already usable. OK, it should not be TRUSTED, since it is a beta version. Since nobody did the favor to compile KDE 4.1beta 2 for 64bits (at least not the packages for my distribution (Bluewhite64), which is an unofficial "Slackware for 64bits") I decided to do it myself. I got Robby Workman' SlackBuild scripts, did some editting and that's it. I compiled all the dependencies + the whole KDE thing, and now I have KDE 4.1 beta2 running on my Linux box.

Talking with people at #kde (irc.freenode.net) I found out there were people running k3b without problems. But then wait a minute. I had talked (over email) with one of k3b developers and he told me they still didn't have a stable release of the program which would work with QT 4.x. I had been checking www.k3b.org on the same days I was checking www.kde.org, and there were no news about that. Then the guys at #kde told me people were running the old (in fact current) version of k3b. The trick? Just keeping QT3 and kdelibs3 installed on their system. So I did the same. Kept those packages installed and tried k3b on KDE 4.1beta2 and that's it.. it works (yep, I did burn a CD and two DVDs already).

Then I tried compiling Amarok for KDE 4. Some guys told me it was crashy, with loads of bugs... and yes, it is, since it is a beta version too. But I got it to compile with minor problems (which I solved) and I have been listening to my MP3 without much problems (one crash here, another there... but it is bearable).

The really aching problems FOR ME:

1- Global shortcuts are not working, at least the ones I needed *LOL*;
2- Amarok's shortcuts don't work too. I hear this version (KDE 4.1 beta2) still has those issues, but I also hear some (if not all) those problems have been solved on the SVN version;
3- when I log out of KDE and go back to the console there are LOTS of lines printed out. Sometimes that even changes the characters on that session. Believe me, it is harder to read that than japanese or sindarin *LOL*
4- well, k3b is still not ready for it, but that's not KDE's fault;

I watched a lecture where Aaron Seigo said their plans for KDE 4 was so that the Desktop would be more usefull. He compaired what we have on our desktops nowadays (or by that time), Windows XP, KDE 3, Gnome, etc with what they (the KDE team) saw should be the future. The usual Desktop style is... HIDEN. Usually we just see our desktops when we turn on our computers and log in, right? After that we fire up our programs, start working/playing and we usually just go back to the desktop when we are about to turn the computer off. So, the desktop is really not that usefull. OK, I know there are plenty of people out there who LOOOOOVE to save their files on the Desktop. Bad, bad you! Such a nasty desktop you have *LOL*

So, how different is KDE4.1 from that description? Not that much different in my opinion. As I see, Compiz-Fusion's Desktop is more usefull. You can write stuff on the back of a window, you can do other fancy (and even usefull) stuff, etc. KDE 4.1 has some fancy stuff and that's it, as I see. Perhaps I haven't tried it that hard. Perhaps when I am more used to it I will see what Aaron promised. But so far...

However, despite all I wrote on this post, I am enjoying KDE 4. :D

Awaiting for your comments, bart.

:: Does it suck being useless? ::

Well, I don't know. But I do know that being unemployed sucks! Was I fired? No. At least NOT YET. A good friend of mine got fired today. Why? Well, most likely because of this posts's title. Was he useless? No, far from it. HIS BOSS IS USELESS.

Most people know how these things work, right? You have a job, where you "lead" some people. You know nothing (or barely nothing) about the job; when people need you, you say something like "the system is down, I can't help you right now" (when in fact the system is working perfectly); you do shit, but you blame some of those you lead. Then you realize someone on your workgroup does know a lot about the job; worse, you would like all the people on your workgroup would kiss your ass, but you realize that same person doesn't do such things.

What happens then? Well, you have someone on your workgroup who works more than you, knows more about the job than you and is not an ass kisser..... YOU FIRED THAT PERSON, right?!?

Yeah, I am not in a good mood today because of that crap. I just hope that person's boss realize the kind of employee they have on that department (the chief of the dep.).

Optimus, my friend, may the Force guide you on finding a BETTER JOB, with a decent boss (IF you won't be the boss this time :P ).

Changing the subject just a little bit...

Nova, as soon as I can I will write you telling how this "table soccer" is played and I will add some pics of people play it. Oh, perhaps I manage to make a video of it ;)