Ok, here’s the quick and dirty. I have taken a new job and moved to Decatur, AL.
Knowing zero people (outside of work) and with absolutely no idea of what things to do (or are available) has made things pretty interesting.
One bright spot is I now have a high-speed internet connection which I plan to put to good use. I have several projects that I want to do and this will give me a good chance to update my sites and add some new material.
Now if I only had some furniture…
Alright everyone, I apologize for neglecting the updates that were promised, but I am in the middle of moving right now and haven’t had time to work on any of my websites. I hope to be able to do an update to Hannah’s website this weekend when I have her, and then next week I should have more “free time” to tweak these pages.
I also have started shifting this site to be almost solely “tech” related while creating a new site for my personal stuff. Arguably, most people that come looking for my Computer related material really couldn’t care less about where I am going on Spring Break. The same can be said for those that are only interested in catching up with me and maybe reading some of my personal writings.
I will post the new links when everything gets up in a decent state.
Stay tuned…
It really is almost funny. I am still trying to install Debian “Testing” on a friend of mines HP dv5000 laptop. Normally I have no problems with my installs, but for some reason this particular laptop is giving me fits.
My biggest issue is with the graphic system. Apparently there is some change with the xorg package and the current “testing” (Lenny) version is misreporting this particular display. I also checked to see if Ubuntu had any better luck with the display and it gave me the same problem.
I have included a picture of the problem I am facing:
Thankfully, the people that participate in the various newsgroups I use are helping me resolve this issue.
Most people know that I have been using Debian for several years now and in that time I have been happily “apt-getting” my software needs. To be quite honest, I couldn’t imagine using any other means of searching, installing, or removing packages from my system.
My typical routine was as follows:
1) update my database
2) see what changes were going to happen when I update my system using the –dry-run option
3) update my system
Unfortunately my old way of doing things was…flawed. See, the problem comes into apt’s inability to keep up with dependencies effectively. Couple this with apt not completely removing unnecessary files and you can see where things would start to compound.
Yes, I have used apt-get autoremove to help clean up my system and it seems much easier than using the deb-orphan, apt-rdepends, and debfoster commands (although to be honest I haven’t run a head-to-head comparison to see what differs). This program aside, the issue of removing a dependent file and accidentally breaking a program (or even the entire system) is still a very real threat. Debian is one of the best distros available and has generally staked it reputation as being very stable with an awesome package management system, so why is it now becoming so complex?
I needed to find a better way so into the newsgroups I dove. More and more the answer seemed to come back with “use Aptitude”. Unfortunately I had tried Aptitude a long while back and when it wanted to remove my entire desktop with its’ related packages I pretty much freaked. It seemed that apt-get and aptitude didn’t share the same information even though both were basically front-ends to dpkg. This was disconcerting, but possibly was my own fault for running a mixed sources system… though many others reported the same findings.
I needed to figure a way to transition to Aptitude (while keeping my system mixed) without a lot of headache. I found that I could “hold” packages to keep them from being upgraded (like apt-pinning, only easier) until their dependencies were available. My outlook brightened until I read that the easiest way to do this was probably through the curses based interface for Aptitude. I soured a bit. Learning how to get around in Aptitude seemed a lot more hassle than I wanted to deal with, especially since the command line had seemed to work well for me thus far.
A good bit later after some more research I decided that it was time for me to give it a go. I opened a terminal and, since I was a user, started Aptitude by issuing the command sudo aptitude (alternatively I found that I could have become root from the “Actions” menu). Immediately I was greeted with a nice curses interface that was still a bit unsettling for me.
I used “Ctrl+T” to get to the menu at the top of the screen. From there I arrowed over to “Options” and told Aptitude not to include recommends. Then I went down the list of packages that Aptitude wanted to remove or upgrade and set packages I wanted held by using the “=” key. After a good while, I pressed “g” to see what Aptitude wanted to do. Seeing a few things that needed my attention I pressed the “q” key to quit back to the main menu and made a couple more adjustments. Again I pressed the “g” key and after carefully checking things decided that I was ready so I sat back and watched Aptitude do its’ magic. Afterward, I fired up several programs and then restarted my system to check the most common programs I used and was surprised at how well the transition went.
After you have converted to using Aptitude you can still use terminal commands as before, albeit with a slight change. For the most part just substitute “aptitude” instead of “apt-get” and run the commands. One small caveat being that aptitude likes “safe-upgrade” instead of just “upgrade”.
The biggest difference I have found is that “aptitude search” doesn’t work as expected. For aptitude to use descriptions you have to add “~d” in front of the search term like:
aptitude search ~dgame
This seems a little odd for me since I would have thought it would be something like a “-d” option or even have a space between the “~d” and search term.
Currently I open a terminal, type:
sudo aptitude
to start the curses interface and wait a minute for aptitude to update. While in the curses interface I can also search for packages with “/” and if I find something I would like I add it with the “+” key. Once I have added or removed the programs I want I press “g”, view the results and press “g” again to commit. After that I press “q” to exit after the system has upgraded.
Outside the curses interface it is just as simple as apt-get:
*remember to preface these with “sudo” if you are running as user
aptitude update
aptitude safe-upgrade
I am very pleased with the results and encourage everyone to do the same, but your mileage might vary and remember that if you break it you can keep all the pieces. 
Tons of stuff has been keeping me busy lately so this is just a quick post to let everyone know that I am starting to get caught up and will be upping new articles soon. I have already started looking through several of the more “permanent” articles here to be sure that links and information is still correct.
I have also been doing a lot of behind the scenes stuff that (in retrospect) has been more satisfying than productive, but with what I am planning it will provide a good foundation for several future projects.
After seeing the reaction to my Firefox extension post, I have decided to follow it up with one devoted to Thunderbird. Same format as before…
Enigmail adds OpenPGP encryption and authentication to your e-mail. Worried that someone might be altering your email or other people reading your personal e-mail? This is a great tool to help stop such as that.
You will need GPG (GNU Privacy Guard) install on the system, but it is an easy thing to do. Windows people just need to head over to Gpg4win and get an easily downloadable binary to make it work. I will suggest the “lite” version since most people won’t need the German manuals nor the command line tools.
Basically adds a “Don’t warn me” feature for sites whose certificates don’t match.
Great little extension that allows me to easily track packages when only a tracking number (and no link) is provided.
This extension helps keep all your other extensions up to date. I use it in both Thunderbird and Firefox.
I hate getting broken links in e-mail. This little extension helps me out by opening links that have been broken over several lines in my browser.
I like keeping my e-mails “snipped” and clean. This extension provides a quick and easy way of streamlining things so you can keep the conversation focused and topical.
Although not something I tend to do, every now and then I will fire off a quick e-mail with no particular subject. This extension allows me to bypass the little nag that says “you don’t have a subject”.
I really think this should be a standard feature. It’s nice to know how big that file is before I carelessly forward it to everyone in my address book.
Gives you access to links and image properties. Nice way to find out where a particular image “lives” across the Internet.
Sometimes I really don’t need to have a full blown PIM, just a quick and easy reminder will do. This extension fills that gap for me.
Occasionally I e-mail some web page code to some of my friends. This little extension allows me to do it without losing the formatting.
I use different signatures in my e-mail and this extension allows me to easily switch from one to another with a click.
These are just a few of the available extensions that will allow you to customize Mozilla Thunderbird to suit your personal needs. Take a look and enjoy.
When I first setup my Toshiba laptop with Debian, I wasn’t sure how large to make my partitions. A couple of weeks ago it became blatantly obvious that I was in need of a larger root (/) partition than I had originally figured and a couple of the other “slices” could use some reshaping also.
I feel that the problem lies directly with the vast amount of awesome software available and, by consequence, I found myself installing.
After a bit of research I decided to use the GParted-Clonezilla LiveCD. Wow, I am not going to be without this disk in my toolbox. It worked flawlessly for me. I haven’t had a chance to get into the “Clonezilla” part of the LiveCD as yet, but I will be using it to backup my laptop in the next couple of weeks.
Each month several of us try to get together and take a day ride to someplace new or different. In May we went to the Florida Caverns State Park located near Marianna, FL.
Here is the original e-mail text that started it all:
Well, to promote some decent riding and other fun, we are going to start doing short day-trips to different places. Terry, Debbie, and I were talking about it and we think it would be fun to have a destination a short ride away and actually DO something when we get there. Whether it is just to picnic in someplace nice, take some pictures, or just see the sights and eat at a different restaurant.
This Sunday (May 27th) we are going to the Florida Caverns State Park.
(actual departure time not set as yet, but expected to be around 9:00am)Be advised that rides will be in a “sport touring” fashion.
Please see the Wikipedia for clarification on Sport Touring.
Farkles are optional…
Suffice to say, it seems that everyone had a good time and we are looking forward to our next trip.
Here are a couple of pictures from the ride:
Pictured from Left to Right:
Robert McElhaney, Chris Wren, Phillip McCullough, Preston Boyington, Becky Sessions, Brooke Wren, James Sessions
Not pictured:
Debbie and Terry Floyd
I check out the Silver Wing Trike. James and Chris snicker at my inability to maneuver such a beast.
Debbie shows us that she has no problems at the controls, but says that she still prefers to relax and let someone else drive.
The Mayor (Terry Floyd) strikes a pose in the caverns.
Chris, Brooke, and Becky in the caverns.
Various pictures of the formations in the caverns.
Given that some people were not able to make it to this ride, I am looking forward to our next adventure.
Alright, throngs of people are posting their “must have” extensions for Mozilla Firefox and basically I feel left out. So to remedy that I will now spew forth my picks and tell you a little about why I think that everyone should use them.
Keeping my bookmarks is important to me. I have used many different programs over the years to make sure that I don’t lose them, but having a native program that will keep all my Firefox browsers synchronized is great.
Think about it. Your bookmarks at home, on your laptop, on your USB key, and at work could all be the same. No more, “nuts, that bookmark is on my other machine!”.
Now that you have all your bookmarks synchronized, why not make sure you don’t have duplicates? Grab this extension and it will be extremely easy to do just that.
Excellent way to cut out popups and other annoying advertising that seem to flourish on most every website. Helps clean up and speed up your surfing.
Companion extension to Adblock Plus that helps fight text ads.
I like anything that can help me surf faster, and Fasterfox seems to do just that. I can even tweak my network settings to get it to do exactly what I want.
I’m not much into Shockwave or Flash animation on most sites because I don’t think it necessarily does anything more than slow down load times. The Flashblock extension works by…well…blocking the item from loading. Then IF I want to view said item, all I have to do is click the “button” where the item is located on the page and it will load and play normally.
Oh, I really like this extension. With it I can use my free Gmail account as a personal file storage drive. Very handy. It will also play songs that you upload with a built-in Gmail flash player.
I use FTP a lot to upload files to my website, and this little extension is perfect for my needs. It’s simple, quick, and secure. Be sure to check it out.
I needed to download a lot of files (pdf’s in my case) one afternoon from some websites. Knowing that it was going to take me far to long to systematically click and save each link, I looked for a better way. I found this extension and immediately put it to use. If you need to grab lots of files from links, be sure to give this a try.
An easy way to keep up to date on all your extensions. I like easy…
Well, these are my first downloads when I install Firefox. I get extensions for downloading video, or RSS feeds from time to time, but I am always sure these are installed.
Firefox and its’ community offer an amazing variety of enhancements for your Mozilla browser. So much so, that you can literally spend hours tweaking and installing extensions to get your browser to do what you want.
So what are you waiting for? In your Firefox browser go to “Tools”->”Extensions” and click on the “Get More Extensions” link (in earlier versions of Firefox), or “Tools”->”Addons” in current versions.
I also use the majority of these programs on my Linux machines. Most of the extensions will run on Iceweasel quite easily. Some others might not. As always, “Your Mileage May Vary”.
Note: I removed Adblock Filterset.G Updater from my list after reading the comment by philippK. Thanks for the information Philipp.
I have been anxiously awaiting my new USB flash drive. I picked up a 2GB unit for $16 on the Micro Center website (look here). Well, it came in yesterday and today I got a few minutes to play with it.
Since I was getting this as a replacement for my “old” 512mb Sandisk Cruzer Micro I started ICE Mirror to copy everything over to the new drive. I like using rsync or the like to do this since 1) it’s thorough and 2) it’s really easy. After all was completed and verified I unplugged my 512 and placed it in the pocket of my tankbag.
At first I thought it was maybe network issues or the possiblility that I was running some pretty intense CAD programs, but right away I noticed the slowdown. I’m not talking about a minor lag. I talking about outrunning the program while typing in a text document so bad that I was thinking, “wow, this must be what bullet-time is like”.
So, for the time being I am going to use this as a sync’d backup and larger file carrier instead of my 512 replacement. I will streamline the programs I use on my 512 (since I had creeped into overkill) and keep checking on solutions for this inconvienence.
On the upside, I did get a nice carrier.
Preston's Twitter feed
|
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « May | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ||
