25January2007
Posted by Christopher under: Linux & Open Source.
Found this great little video on Digg on trusted computing. No technical jargon, it just explains the philosophical concept behind the concept of trust and how this initiative is yet again spinning the term. Certainly it seems the first step in saying “We trust the computer more than the user and therefore the computer should make the decision.” Whilst it is easy to see the logic behind this given the state of many computer users today, not all of us want to place that much trust with a machine. I know I don’t. Wikipedia also has a good article on it with more information.
25January2007
Posted by Christopher under: Music.
Yes. Yes. Yesyesyesyesyes.
24January2007
Posted by Christopher under: Linux & Open Source.
Hah! So the first bit of system instability in my lovely Fedora Core 6 install is caused by a dirty proprietary Adobe flash plugin. Still, it looks like it has been fixed. The SVG format is soon being updated to include animation - bring it on I say. Open Standards are what created the web and I’ve never been a big fan of flash, even though I do use it on some of the websites I have designed. Still, it looks like some steps might be being taken with the development of an open source interface which appears to be some kind of shim for the numerous distributions to interact with.
23January2007
Posted by Christopher under: Travel & Leisure.
Yes, I went sailing at the weekend. I booked the start sailing course with Boss, took Friday off but did some work on the south coast before heading for the Hamble around 4pm. Spent Saturday morning feeling sicker than a freshly-condemned man but after lunch donned the sea-bands and had a great time. The Solent is protected by the Isle of Wight from severe winds however we had Force 6’s and 7’s to contend with for much of the time. I fumbled around like an eejit for most of the time but it was good to get away and feel like I’ve done something with my weekend. So I’m taking this Friday off and have booked a second weekend. One more and I get my competent crew certificate. Avast, a bilge rat! Scurvy dog I’ll make him walk the plank me hearties!
23January2007
Posted by Christopher under: Linux & Open Source.
Ah, so it’s another case of green on green in the open source community. The more I read of Mr. Shuttleworth’s views, the more disconcerted I become. Whilst its delightful to think that all software should be free to absolutely everyone who chooses to run it, there comes a point where SME’s need support that they can rely on and this is where Red Hat and numerous other vendors come in. I have always viewed software as a service rather than a commodity product and as such it is one that should be paid for like any other. This can be done in house or contracted out. SABDFL’s comments regarding Red Hat are wholly unfair, especially when you consider how successful they have been in their business model and how much they contribute back to the community. On the other hand, Canonical produce a Ubuntu, a wonderfully easy to use and polished O.S. but one that is nevertheless a re-badged version of Debian Unstable loaded with proprietary drivers that promote instability. I’m a big fan of distro competition and Ubuntu has certainly encouraged this. I hate it when cat-fighting means we’re not attacking the common enemy and closing the now famous Bug 1. If Mark really has that much of a problem with Red Hat, perhaps he should remove all the projects they contribute to. Come on, as fellow Fedorite Greg DeKoenigsberg said “You’re better than that, aren’t you?”
12January2007
Posted by Christopher under: Linux & Open Source.
My next task as web developer this week was a couple of hours work setting up the BHCLUG website. Once again the template was copied from Open Source Web Design which is great for free templates to get a basic website started. I originally attempted to get another Joomla installation working however the hosting for LUG websites is either inexplicably complicated or downright shoddy. The apache user isn’t the same owner as the ftp user so it didn’t have write permissions to the directories Joomla uses. I imagine this is probably by design as the whole LUG network appears to be sitting on a Xen guest somewhere, all 40-odd of them. I could have chmodded the directories 777 however that would be begging for trouble and the ssh welcome notice indicates that any world-writeable directories are instantly trashed anyway. I was tempted for a moment to apply for DNS re-direction instead and host it myself but that, of course, would require commitment. So it just aint gonna happen.
9January2007
Posted by Christopher under: Linux & Open Source; Music.
For those that may not have noticed I pick some of the titles for these posts from songs that I’m enjoying at the moment. The current one is a Killer’s track off their latest album, Sam’s Town. It’s pretty clear its the stand out track (it is allegedly the band’s favourite) and although its in my opinion a weaker offering than the original, at least they had the guts to try something different and I respect that.
Last night was WYLUG and the presentation was on Asterisk, a PBX open source telephone system. I’ve been toying with the idea of setting up a telephone network at home for a while now but found the terminology the hardest part to understand. It’s here where the WYLUG talks come into themselves. The speaker worked for a local VOIP provider and spoke intelligently yet simply. Essentially, I discovered that the only piece of kit needed (on top of a standard computer) is an ethernet to RJ11 adapter. Okay it does a lot more and even this isn’t needed if you wanted to use a software-based phone but nevertheless I have ordered one on ebay and asterisk is already installed and running on the server at home. Said server already runs MythTV and Gnump3d so I’m certainly getting my investment back! More on this to follow no doubt.
4January2007
Posted by Christopher under: Family & Friends.
Its been quite a Christmas break. The day itself was spent playing Resident Evil 4 which was great fun. The cocktails were bloody marys in the morning and snowballs in the afternoon. The latter went down a treat.
So to the wedding. Clifton and Sarah were nervous as hell leading up to it but for all the right reasons and none of the wrong. The registrars were late causing a last minute panic however once the £3.50 had been handed over for the license we were good to go and everything went off without a hitch afterwards. Thankfully my best man’s speech was well received and I will publish it here when I get a moment. It was a great night and one of the best days I’ve had in a long time. Again, probably a bit too much alcohol but its rare that I let myself go.
New Year’s was more of the same and the first few minutes of the 2007 saw me and the Chief Usher from C&S’s wedding shouting insults at fireworks being launched down the road. The extended family of both sides are an eclectic mix and I enjoyed their company very much. Torquay is a lovely spot and if you are ever in the area I cannot recommend the Acorn Lodge Hotel strongly enough! Happy New Year!
