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Gentoo Linux 2008.0 Released

na641 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:55:57 +0000

It's been little less than a year since my last post, and what could be more symbolic than a long overdue release of Gentoo Linux. Although 'release' in the classic sense doesn't really apply to Gentoo, it's always exciting when a new version is released.

From the Gentoo Monthly Newsletter:

The 2008.0 final release is out! Code-named "It's got what plants crave," this release contains numerous new features including an updated installer, improved hardware support, a complete rework of profiles, and a move to Xfce instead of GNOME on the LiveCD. LiveDVDs are not available for x86 or amd64, although they may become available in the future. The 2008.0 release also includes updated versions of many packages already available in your ebuild tree.

* Updated installer:
The installer now only performs networkless installations using the packages and ebuild tree on the LiveCD. It also contains numerous fixes for extended and logical partitions.

* Improved hardware support:
Moving to the 2.6.24 kernel added many new drivers for hardware released since the 2007.0 release.

* Complete rework of profiles:
Restructuring profiles allowed significant cleanup of redundancies, reducing developer maintenance and confusion. The difference for you is that profiles now appear in /usr/portage/profiles/ under default/linux/ instead of default-linux/. See the upgrading guide for more details.

* Xfce instead of GNOME on the LiveCD:
To save space, the LiveCDs switched to the smaller Xfce environment. This means that a binary installation using the LiveCD will install Xfce, but you're still free to build GNOME or KDE from source.

* No LiveDVDs on x86 or amd64:
In the interest of getting the release out, the release engineering team decided to postpone LiveDVDs because of problems in their generation. They may show up later—if so, we'll let you know.

* Updated packages:
Highlights of the 2008.0 release include Portage 2.1.4.4, a 2.6.24 kernel, Xfce 4.4.2, gcc 4.1.2 and glibc 2.6.1.

You can find the download, as well as more information on Gentoo Linux at their homepage

Understanding the C in CSS

na641 — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 00:20:43 +0000

I stumbled across a great article on Digg earlier today, and just had to post about it. Understanding the C in CSS is a handly little reference for CSS precedence rules. Great for beginners and veterans alike. And now, to make this look like a real article, here's the summary from ThemBid.com:

If you are not fully utilizing the cascading feature of CSS, or you just need a quick brush up, then you need to review this article. These techniques will help you avoid duplication and make it easier to maintain your styles.

Check it out: Understanding the C in CSS

Backup and Restore Firefox Passwords

na641 — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 11:59:58 +0000

Password Exporter is a wonderful Firefox extension, created by Fligtar, that exports all your form username and passwords from Firefox to an XML file. This is an awesome application for synchronizing your information across systems. It also comes in handy for backup purposes. While the extension hasn't been updated since November '06, it works well enough to not warrant an update.

Straight from Fligtar's site, heres the details:

Password Exporter is an extension for Mozilla products that allows you to export and import your saved passwords and rejected sites from Password Manager. Your passwords will be exported to an XML file which you can then import on any computer. You can also encrypt the usernames and passwords from plain recognition.

Supported Applications: Mozilla Firefox 1.5 - 3.0a1, Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5 - 3.0a1, Flock, Songbird

Download: Password Exporter Add-On

Tags: mozilla, firefox, oss, backup, restore, password, xml, export, exporter

Dynamic Generation of PDFs with FPDF/FPDI

na641 — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 02:24:40 +0000

In a recent project I needed to build quite a few dynamic pdfs, with information filled from a database. This led me to two great pieces of PHP code, FPDF and FPDI. FPDF allows for building new pdf documents from scratch, while FPDI allows for manipulation of already existing pdf documents. FPDI is an extension of FPDF, so utilizing both is a minor triviality.

FPDF:
FPDF is a PHP class which allows to generate PDF files with pure PHP, that is to say without using the PDFlib library. F from FPDF stands for Free: you may use it for any kind of usage and modify it to suit your needs. FPDF requires no extension (except zlib to activate compression) and works with PHP4 and PHP5.

FPDI:
FPDI extracts and imports single pages of existing documents into FPDF. The resulting PDF created by FPDF/FPDI is a completely new document. Please don't misunderstand: with FPDI you cannot edit a PDF.

Utilizing FPDF/I I was able to build a 32 page dynamic pdf set over a couple of days. Needless to say, both FPDF and FPDI are very handy tools, and have an amazing amount of potential.

Install and Create Visual Styles for Windows Vista

na641 — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 18:16:26 +0000

You may be getting tired of the default theme in Windows Vista, and luckily for you there is now a uxtheme.dll patch for Vista. Visual styles kept XP alive for me and many others over the years, so I'm looking forward to a new generation of themes. Unfortunately there aren't too many themes for Vista currently, but in time there will be.

Are you tired of Vista's Aero theme?
A patched uxtheme.dll gave you the freedom to use un-signed custom visual style in Windows XP but in Windows Vista you have to replace three dll files to use third party visual styles.
Those three files are uxtheme.dll, shsvcs.dll and themeui.dll

Downloads and detail install instructions can be found at Lis Killer's blog

Download: Windows Vista uxtheme.dll Patch

Tags: windows, vista, uxtheme, uxtheme.dll, visual, styles, themes

Windows XP - Empty Recycle Bin From Right Click

na641 — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 22:23:36 +0000

There is only one efficient way to empty your Recycle Bin in Windows XP; by right-clicking the desktop icon and selecting Empty Recycle Bin. This method works well for those casually browsing, blogging, and otherwise having fun, however for those of us whose livelihoods depend on their computer, this method of emptying the recycle bin can be somewhat irritating. Outside of just being a hassle, some of us really loathe having icons on our desktop and choose to have no icons whatsoever.

I was quite surprised when I came across a registry edit a few months ago that adds a Empty Recycle Bin entry to Explorer right-click context menus. I expect that most people won't find this tool exceptionally useful, but for those who use explorer as much and as extensively as I do, this will come as a godsend.

How to use:

Extract the file from the zip. double click the .reg file and accept the warning that pops up

Open My Computer/Windows Explorer; right click in any white space, in any folder, in any directory. You'll see the empty recycle bin option.

Guaranteed for use with Windows XP; I haven't tested this with Vista yet, but I plan on getting around to it eventually.

Download: Empty Recycle Bin Registry Addition

Tags: windows, xp, registry, explorer, empty, recycle, bin

Wakoopa.com - Software Social Networking

na641 — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 12:15:36 +0000

You can add another tick to the checklist, as software has officially been socially networked. Wakoopa.com is a social networking site targeted to software usage and recommendations. It does this by use of a tracker program, which interestingly enough, tracks your software usage. The tracker keeps tabs on usage of active processes, while also keeping tabs on processes 'running in the background'. This all adds up to a nice overview of what applications you use, and how often you use them.

Wakoopa tracks what kind of software or games you use, and lets you create your own software profile. Ready for you to share with the world. Why? Because what you use on your desktop is who you are!

From a technical standpoint, both the site and tracker software should be considered beta. And not the Google, "this isn't beta but we're going to call it beta so as not to need support", beta... real beta. Not that the software is flawed by any means, it is simply lacking features that one would assume would come with it. For example the tracker doesn't do to well on full screen applications, leading to large discrepancies. For example I use Media Player Classic to watch video, movies, etc. My usage times for this are not accurate however as 99% of my MPC usage is fullscreen.

There are two reasons which make Wakoopa.com worthwhile to me: It allows me to see my software usage, which is good motivation to spend more time working, and less time on irc. Secondly, it's entertaining to watch trends of other users. For example, did you know that Internet Explorer uses generally use a majority of Microsoft apps? Outlook express, wordpad, notepad, calculator all see major use by IE users.

If you decide to join Wakoopa.com, don't forget to add little ole me to your friends list.

Tags: wakoopa, social+networking, software, internet, network, online, social, networking

QT TabBar - Windows Explorer Tabs

na641 — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 13:52:07 +0000

QT TabBar, a small little program created by Quizo, is an extension of sorts for Windows Explorer that allows for browser-like tab functionality. I've been using this program for a couple of weeks now and it is undoubtedly one of the finest pieces of software I've used. The program comes along with a shortcut key editor, making it a piece of cake to add or change keyboard shortcuts. It also brings tooltip functionality to Explorer, allowing users to view the contents of a file simply by mousing over it. Here's a feature list straight from the site:

Features:

Tab bar for Windows Explorer

QT TabBar allows you to operates files and folders like tab browser

folder grouping, histories, etc.

Be warned that this feature list is not very complete and does not do the program justice. Anyway, as for the program itself I'm absolutely in love with it. It's pretty transparent right out of the box, not putting another icon in my system tray. It also uses very little resources, pretty much none whatsoever. I urge you to download it and try it out for yourself. The manual is online as well.

You can see some pictures from the site below, and soon I'll have some of my own screenshots to show.

Tags: qt, tabs, windows, microsoft, quizo, explorer

First Weeks at A Small Orange

na641 — Thu, 31 May 2007 11:12:36 +0000

If you didn't know, I was recently lucky enough to be hired as the newest employee of A Small Orange. ASO is a web hosting and software development company based out of Atlanta. I am part of the admin/support team, and I work nights. It is a fantastic and refreshing environment to work in. All the other employees are very nice, and quite knowledgeable. So I'm a day away from finishing my second week here, and I could not be happier. Our customers seem to be completely satisfied by the service and support we provide, and I'm glad to be a part of that. It's great when people compliment your work. Customer testimonials are always strong and supportive. Here's a sample of what one of our customers had to say about ASO:

I've tried several hosts in the past and ASO seems to be the best I've ever bought. I've tried DreamHost, GoDaddy, 1&1, and they may have a lot of space and bandwidth (cough)OVERSELLING(cough), but I will never go back to any other webhost than ASO. The services are fully-featured, the price isn't that bad, and support seems to rock.

As for my co-workers, I must admit that it is somewhat humbling to be around them. They are all very knowledgeable in server administration and support, and I'm eager to learn as much as I can from this team. BTW, if you'd like to learn more about the owner of ASO, you can check his personal site here. Don't forget to tell him who sent you. Anyway, I plan on posting some photos of the office up here in a little while, so keep a look out for them.

Tags: ASO, small, orange

Gentoo 2007.0 Released!

na641 — Fri, 11 May 2007 06:48:17 +0000

I am happy to announce that Gentoo Linux version 2007.0 has finally been released after numerous delays. If you weren’t aware, Gentoo is my preferred flavor (distribution) of Linux. The Gentoo press release can explain much better than I:

After several delays, the Gentoo Release Engineering team is proud to announce the release of Gentoo Linux 2007.0, code named “Secret Sauce”. This release includes a completely rewritten version of the Gentoo Linux Installer on the AMD64 and x86 LiveCD and LiveDVD images. It also includes GNOME 2.16.2, KDE 3.5.5, Xfce 4.4, Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.3, OpenOffice.org 2.1.0, and the 2.6.19 Linux kernel.

The press release also mentions the major changes to the x86/amd64 platforms:

x86/amd64:

Updated hardware support is among the highlights of the x86 release. Besides the many updated office and productivity packages x86 also brings an update to GLIBC 2.5.

On amd64 you can enjoy updated 32-bit emulation libraries improving support for many closed source applications and browser plugins.

x86 and amd64 also provides both hardened and non-hardened stages in this release. Hardened stages are still using GCC 3.4.6 and GLIBC 2.3.6 but it’s possible to upgrade from hardened to non-hardened stages, if needed.

I have been awaiting this new version for a while, even though when it comes to Gentoo, releases are just formalities. Much congratulations to the dedicated teams who made this release possible.

Tags: Gentoo, linux, oss, open, source, software, internet