:: Karate Kid ::

To begin with, while in the hell the movie had to be called The Karate Kid, if what the boy learns (in this version) is Kung Fu? I even liked the movie. Yes, it is a remake/adaptation of the original one. Now the kid doesn't learn Karate, but Kung Fu. Quite a good movie. One of those you would expect to watch on that afternoon movie session on TV (yes, not on the movies/cinema). Worth watching, not worth buying the DVD/BlueRay (unless you have serious problems like movie addiction).

Not much to say about this one. I still like the original movie better.

:: Clash of the Titans ::

Yes, I finally watched Clash of the Titans last week. I had read loads of reviews (and some other people) complaining about it. Saying it stinked, bla bla bla. Yep, it isn't the best movie made ever. But, as I say, it entertains. That said... I considered the movie to be good. The action is good, the FX are good and the story is good despite some little problems.

Only two things bothered me in this version/adaptation: The worst thing is the "shining gods". Why in the holy crappy skies the gods would need ARMORS... and why they had to shine like that? Disgusting. The second thing is that Io girl. Other than that, ok.

Yes, I watched the first Clash of the Titans when I was a kid and I loved that. I won't compare that one with this one. They are different, but of course, the new movie is a remake AND an adaptation, so... DIFFERENT should be expected. Which of them I like most? The first one. Perhaps because it is there, in my childhood, even with the stop motion FX, etc ;)

I tell you, it is worth watching. Not a DVD/BlueRay you should buy, but it is worth watching.

:: KDE-4.5Beta2 ::

Hello there! Long time I don't show up, huh?

Today I am posting about kde-4.5Beta2, which was released this week. Why posting about a beta version of KDE? Well, this might help some people understand the evolution of this version (4.5) or some people, who are trying the beta, will be able to find out that (s)he isn't the only one suffering with some bug.

First impressions:

KDE-4.5 is getting nicer. I didn't spot all the new features, but some which called my attention:

1. Now you can set the calendar to show you special dates/holidays. Just configure it to show the dates of your location (Brazil in my case) and you are done;
2. New desktop effects;
3. New window decorations;

"Bah, only that?"

No, I believe there is more. I just didn't have time to mess around more deeply ;)

Problems found:

Yes, it has problems/bugs. Remember, IT IS A BETA VERSION. It is supposed to not be ready and stable. That said... a problem I found (and many other users also) is that plasma-desktop is not enjoying keeping the configurations you will do (or have done). You set up your wallpaper, place some widgets on the desktop... and when you restart KDE (or simply plasma-desktop) the default wallpaper is back and the widgets have been moved to "another dimension". Yes, another dimension because the widgets were not removed. They are somewhere you can touch them. I even tried removing the plasma-desktop config file, to no avail.

I found out there is a bug report open about this, and as far as I read, this problem is fixed on the SVN. So you can either download and compile the SVN version, or you wait for the next Beta (or perhaps a RC version).

I had a problem with kwalletmanager on my computer at home, when I first tried kde-4.5beta2. But I didn't have that when I installed it on my work PC. It might have something to do with my '.kde/' at home. On the second time I ran kde-4.5beta2 the problem was gone.

Well, I will report more as soon as I find more insteresting news (be them good or bad).

:: ATI vs Slackware-current ::

Aqueles que como eu têm uma placa de vídeo da ATI, já notaram como tem sido um saco instalar os últimos drivers no Slackware-current (seja 32 ou 64 bits), certo?

Bom, fuça aqui e fuça ali eu consegui um SlackBuild e um driver que dão uma resolvida na questão:

fglrx-8.723.1 (é um link pro rapidshare)

Empacotei toda a tralha que eu tenho lá em casa e mandei pro RapidShare, pra facilitar a vida de outras criaturas atormentadas pela ATI ahahaha

Ah, quem estiver usando slackware-current 32bits, favor editar o arquivo fglrx.SlackBuild e mudar o ARCH. Fora isso é só rodar o script, esperar o package ser criado, instalar (com installpkg ou "upgradepkg --install-new"), reiniciar o PC e correr pra galera.

Bom, fiz minha boa ação de hoje ;)

:: Skype on Slackware64 ::

Bom, muita gente gastou um bom tempo pesquisando no google o que precisa instalar no Slackware64 pra fazer o Skype funcionar. Então como eu consegui fazer a coisa funcionar, vou colocar aqui as dicas, de forma a facilitar a vida "dos que vierem depois de mim". Claro que vai servir como referência para mim mesmo ;)

Ontem tentei fazer o skype_static-2.1.0.81, versão "static", funcionar. Pra começo de conversa ele não é mais static há um bom tempo, visto que ele precisa de um monte de libs. Então vamos ao que interessa:

1. Em primeiríssimo lugar é necessário instalar os pacotes de multilib que o alienBob disponibilizou: http://connie.slackware.com/~alien/multilib (leia com atenção o que ele diz aí)
2. Bom, se tu leste ali direitinho, vai ver que ele fala em gerar alguns outros pacotes "compat32". Isso gera em torno de 60MB de pacotes adicionais a serem instalados. Entretanto para fazer o skype funcionar, não vais precisar de todos, "apenas" os que vou listar abaixo:

alsa-lib-compat32

alsa-oss-compat32

e2fsprogs-compat32

expat-compat32

fontconfig-compat32

freetype-compat32

glib2-compat32

libICE-compat32

libSM-compat32

libX11-compat32

libXScrnSaver-compat32

libXau-compat32

libXdmcp-compat32

libXext-compat32

libXi-compat32

libXrandr-compat32

libXrender-compat32

libXv-compat32

libxcb-compat32

util-linux-ng-compat32

zlib-compat32

Feito isso é só mandar o Skype rodar. Qualquer dúvida é só me avisar, na medida do possível eu ajudo ;)

Abraço

P.S. - editei o post e coloquei a versão do skype que usei, só para que não pairem dúvidas.