Posted by jamba on July 29, 2010
So, my interest was peaked in BSD for some reason…I think maybe I saw a release (GhostBSD perhaps), and I realized that I don’t really know much about it. I have briefly used PC-BSD (which is based on FreeBSD) before while I was distro-hopping, but I did not get very extensive use out of it.
I started searching for information about BSD and how it relates to (GNU/)Linux, which basically led me to this post: http://www.over-yonder.net/~fullermd/rants/bsd4linux/bsd4linux1.php — This is a very good read, although it does not go into minute detail or anything, it covers some of the general aspects of how the two relate.
As such, this has peaked my distro-hopping interest again…So I think I am going to give FreeBSD a go on my spare laptop. I love ArchLinux, and FreeBSD seems similarly constructed/philosophied. To a point.
I also would like to check out the new Sabayon Linux release–I really liked the past releases, and it appears recently they have made very good improvements. Maybe I will do this in parallel with the BSD…
Posted in distro, linux | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jamba on July 22, 2010
A while back, I had made my own webserver. Recently as there had been a LOT of downtime with my (free) host…again…I decided I was just going to leave them and delete my account. Didn’t I set up Apache at home? So I figured I would give it a go. I set up the site, forwarded my ports, and had everything working. Then, I started reading about how this can be dangerous, DOS/DDOS attacks and other things of the like. I didn’t really like that at all, so I started looking around for hosts. My site is really simple with very little traffic, so if I’m paying for a host I don’t want to be paying out the wazoo here.
Then I came across nearlyFreeSpeech.net … the home of “only pay for what you use” hosting. So far, so good. I haven’t had very much experience with them, but it looks like it is a small outfit focusing on quality rather than …whatever x10 focused on. If it works out, I may end up moving this site over there as well.
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Posted by jamba on July 19, 2010
So I had started this a long time ago, and forgotten all about it as I really didn’t have a use for it. Now that I have the ability to tether, and I have my eeePC working again, combined with attending LUGs–now I have the use for a secure tunnel.
In case you aren’t aware (I wasn’t), passwords and logins are sent in PLAIN TEXT–yes, I said plain text. Nuts, huh? Anyway, so when you are not on a known or somewhat secure network, this could be dangerous.
Setting up SSH is very easy to do, and it comes in very handy. ArchLinux has a terrific wiki entry, as usual, which speedifies things quite a bit. It is very straightforward, and I can certainly not do better here.
There is also a section for creating an encrypted SOCKS tunnel. Once the SSH on the client and SSHd on the host have been configured, creating the tunnel is a breeze. You just run a command:
$ ssh -ND 4711 user@host
and then configure your web browser:
- For Firefox: Edit → Preferences → Advanced → Network → Connection → Setting:
- Check the “Manual proxy configuration” radio button, and enter “localhost” in the “SOCKS host” text field, and then enter your port number in the next text field (I used 4711 above).
- Make sure you select SOCKS4 as the protocol to use. This procedure will not work for SOCKS5.
I created a bash alias “sshtunnel” as menoned in the wiki so I have less to type.
Also worth mentioning, is that since my IP is dynamic, and my ssh host computer is behind a router, I have to have some kind of way to broadcast my REAL ip externally. So, I wen on over to DynDNS.com and set up a free account for a subdmain. Then I just configured my router to forward my ssh port, as well as tell it to update DynDNS with my real IP address when it changes (It has been a built-in feature with my current Netgear as well as my past LinkSys routers).
Very simple, over all. And it can definitely come in handy. I have @NYBill to thank again, he reminded me I needed to finish setting this up.
Posted in linux | Tagged: linux, arch, tether, ssh, tunnel, encrypted | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jamba on July 16, 2010
After an argument broke out on twitter between wordpress co-founder Matt Mullenweg and Chris Pearson who created the popular wordpress theme Thesis, an interview was put in place by Mixergy to talk to both of these guys and get their views on the matter.
Matt feels that since WordPress is licensed th the GPL, all themes would be considered derivative works, and therefore should also be licensed under the GPL
Chris feels that the GPL doesn’t apply to him, and since he does not feel like it is what is best for him, then he should not have to comply.
I’m not a lawyer, I don’t know. I am inclined to side with Matt/Wordpress on the matter, but it is certainly complicated. It seems as though all Chris would have to do if he does not want his work to be under the GPL, he would just have to develop for some other platform that would allow whatever license that he chooses for his work. That is my opinion.
Anyhow, here is the interview: http://mixergy.com/chris-pearson-matt-mullenweg/
Here is a blog post on the subject that says Thesis may contain some WordPress code. Assuming this is the case, then the whole argument that it should/should not be GPL’d just because of using functions and whatnot like a plugin would be moot– and only those portions of the code which are “derivative” would need to be GPL’d (I think), which could mean the rest of his code could be whatever license he wishes.
Hopefully these guys will realize that and come to some kind of happy(ish) medium.
Posted in FOSS, tech | Tagged: drama, gpl, pearson, thesis, wordpress | 1 Comment »
Posted by jamba on July 15, 2010
I did have Jolicloud on my eeePC (900A), and it was fine for a while. Actually, it was a pretty neat distro. However when you try to install things using apt-get like a normal distro instead of through the “app cloud”, some things stop working and it goes downhil. This, combined with me itching to hop a couple of distros let me to switch.
So I started out using UNetBootin to create a Live USB stick for Fedora 13 (LXDE), and installed on the EEE. The eee is actually pretty well supported with Fedora, including the wireless (on the 900 model that I have, the 1100+ may be a different story). This was okay, except that it was not optimized for the small screen, and some of the GUI prompts actually hung off of the screen. Not to mention I was missing some “tap and click” functionality of the trackpad thing. Total time installed…. about 4 hours.
From this point on…I had a bit of trouble.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in distro, linux | Tagged: linux, distrohop, distro, fedora, crunchbang | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jamba on July 14, 2010
This is really great, and extremely easy. I have NYBill to thank for finding out about this.
There is a tutorial from here, However, in case that goes away I will list the steps here (in the very likely event I forget how to connect).
EasyTether is in the Android Market (as well as an EasyTether Lite, which can’t connect to https, among other things).
Once you install and run the app, it can download the driver file which is a .deb package. There are also windows drivers, but I don’t know anything about those…
Anyway, connect to usb, and enable the usb so that the phone is mountable. copy or install the .deb from the phone.
After installation, UnMount the phone (leaving the USB connected) and start EasyTether on the Droid.
On the PC, open a terminal and type
easytether enumerate
This returns an ID of the device. Capture this ID and paste it into the ##### in the command below:
easytether connect #####
This will connect the droid, as well as give you a command which you need to type into another terminal to configure the connection. This command needs to be entered into a separate terminal window, which can be closed after this command is executed. *The first window needs to stay open!
sudo dhclient easytether0
The second terminal window can now be closed. The first window needs to be left open for the entire session, and when you wish to disconnect, this can be done by pressing CTRL-C in that first terminal window to exit.
easytether connect ################
e
Posted in linux, tech | Tagged: android, droid, easytether, tether | 1 Comment »
Posted by jamba on July 12, 2010
Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FOSS, or FLOSS, or F/LOSS) should be “liberally licensed to grant the right of users to use, study, change, and improve its design through the availability of its source code” (Wikipedia). Here is another description from the Linux Outlaws page.
The whole idea behind this, I believe, is the availablility and portability of the source code, as well as the freedom for users to modify and distribute the code as they see fit. All well and good, I think–definitely not a bad thing, and this is something I can support.
The conundrum that I have is that for the past 4 or so years I have been programming almost exclusively in MS Visual Basic (classic, 6), with just a touch in C for micro controllers. Only recently have we started the conversion to PureBasic, which allows for us to compile cross-platform. So what I am wondering is this: if I create some project using this language and free the source code with something like a GPLv3 license, would this even be valid since the compiler itself is not FOSS which could restrict distribution or other end-user freedoms and things of that sort? Would that be like the Mono projects?
If that would not “count”, or in the more likely case, if it would be shunned by the FOSS community I would rather not even waste my time. In that event, I would much rather get out all of my old C++ books and browse some source code to brush up/re-learn what I have forgotten. Or maybe learn Java, or Python, or…
This would be a much slower process, but if it is the “right way” then that is what I would have to do. It isn’t like I even have a very good idea for a project anyway, just some passing thoughts as arguments against going back to school– So there is plenty of time for me to caught up, I am just impatient.
What is the consensus here? Is it wrong by the FOSS standards to use a non-open source compiler, for an otherwise open and free project? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in code, linux | 1 Comment »
Posted by jamba on July 10, 2010
I’ve installed and been using HeyBuddy as a client for identi.ca. If you don’t know what identi.ca is…it’s basically an open source Twitter, with more/better features.
This thing is great, keeps me from having to use mustard on my droid, or from keeping the webpage open. Status.net also has a desktop client, but I do not like it as well. Besides Heybuddy is “supposedly lightweight,” which is always great.
Check it out if you get the chance.
Heybuddy exists on launchpad (which provides .deb and .tar.gz packages) as well as in the ArchLinux AUR. Psquid has an RPM available also.
Posted in linux | Tagged: heybuddy, identica | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jamba on July 7, 2010
Sometime back I made a post about how I backup my data. A recent thread on the crunchbang forums brought this back to mind, so I figured I should probably document my update here as well.
Nn my desktop I have 2 HDDs that are in a softRAID array (only /home is on the array). and then I have a daiyly cron script which does an rsync to backup my /home to an external eSATA HDD.
This is very simple script and just mirrors a directory (or specific directorys) in a specified location. Use at your own risk!
I mirror some directories from my /home onto an external eSATA drive.
here it is:
#!/bin/bash
#simple_home_backup_script.sh
DESTDIR=/media/backup/home #this is the path to the drive to backup TO
#simple, but works:
rsync -avzutmo --delete ~/Docs ~/Photos ~/vbox ~/wallpaper $DESTDIR
and my crontab entry:
#run incremental backup daily
0 1 * * * /home/me/scripts/simple_home_backup_script.sh
I could actually make the backup run more often, since it is pretty fast, but it's not that important. the RAID should catch most of everything, the rsync is just a backup for the backup 
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Posted by jamba on July 7, 2010
So The old host is back up. I am not really hosting any files there anymore, so it more or less just points here.
I host a few things on there that warrant keeping it, but nothing high priority so it does not really matter if it goes down again. Oh, and the MySQL db’s are all broken, so I had to disable anything that tried to connect. Lame!
http://jrob.co.cc
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