August 22, 2005
Quake III Arena open sourced
In the usual support of the open source community, id releases Quake III Arena under GPL licensing and weighing it in at a whopping 5+ megabytes.
Posted by darkmoon at 11:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 17, 2005
Oregon governments lead nation in welcoming open source
Between Oregon State University's Open Source Lab, and the hosting of latest GOSCON (Governmental Open Source Conference), things couldn't be better for the state of Oregon. But it does get better.
Apparently the State has recently published a white paper documenting how they use Asterisk to run 500 conference calls a week. The join Portland's regional area government, Metro, in governmental institutions that use Asterisks.
Will our local or regional government(s) actually hear the call and come a-running? I doubt it but one can always hope.
Via Slashdot
Posted by darkmoon at 09:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 09, 2005
Firefox UndoCloseTab extension
If you haven't installed SessionSaver, then this extension can do the same for accidental closing of tabs. While this could be very useful, just note that this is already built into SessionSaver also in the SnapBack feature.
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 04, 2005
Paul Graham on Open Source
Paul Graham, one of my favorite essay writers and author of Hackers and Painters, has written another wonderful essay on open-source and why corporations should take heed on why it's worthwhile to use it:
A recent survey found 52% of companies are replacing Windows servers with Linux servers.
More significant, I think, is which 52% they are. At this point, anyone proposing to run Windows on servers should be prepared to explain what they know about servers that Google, Yahoo, and Amazon don't.
Exactly. What I've been bitching about for years. Anyone care to explain their actions? Only knowing a GUI interface doesn't cut it.
Posted by darkmoon at 12:28 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 01, 2005
How to change text size with Firefox
LifeHacker:
If you find yourself squinting to read a web site with very small text on it (all the rage with the kids these days, that small text), don’t forget: hold down Control and hit the + key to enlarge or the - key to reduce the size of text on many sites using Firefox, including Lifehacker. (Command key for Mac users.)
What LifeHacker forgot to mention is that you can also hold Control and use the mouse to scroll up or down for text change. Scrolling up will shrink the text while scrolling down will enlarge the text.
Neat trick eh?
Via LifeHacker
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 30, 2005
Jahshaka: realtime editing and effects
Having been more interested in media-driven opensource tools ever since heading the ConvergeSouth media team, I found this doozy a while back but never got a good look at it.
Jahshaka is really a great piece of work. It already supports linux, MacOSX, Windows, Irix. It is a realtime editing and effects system that seems to me runs straight and true to the a lot of the older school tools that I've used in the past.
It allows you to run scrubs on clips, and maneuver transition effects and other modules into place to create a more professional looking movie clip.
And guess what. It's open-source! Have at it!
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 27, 2005
Movie industry uses open-source? Wait one second...
Troubled he is. This is most puzzling.
Most of the major studios use Linux -- such as DreamWorks with more than 1,500 Linux desktops and 3,500 Linux servers.So you ask why, I would be troubled by the mere fact that Slashdot is reporting that major studios are using linux? To me, after all of the copyright infringement cases and trying squash Bram Cohen's reputation (BitTorrent), they have the nerve of exploiting the uses of open-source? The nerve.
So they're trying to make billions, making the users pay, making the innovators of technology that THEY USE face punishment and wrath. Somehow, this is not fitting. Let us view this in another analogy. This is like yelling at manufacturers for creating guns and then going out and buying that brand of gun.
Don't get me wrong here. I am an avid open-source pusher, and my employer along with my business partners are all for supporting open-source. But then again, we don't go exploit the goods of open-source after bashing it to hell.
So I have one little plea for the movie industry. Please tell us which team you're playing on since you can't be on both. Either help the movement, or face the Rebellion.
Aye. Young Master.
Via Slashdot
Posted by darkmoon at 05:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 20, 2005
Scribe: Mozilla Firefox extension
Word processing got you down? Pissed that you lost that "world changing" entry? If so, then Scribe is for you. This little extension allows you to hit "Ctrl-S" and save forms locally. This way, even if the ever-annoying Internet connection croaks, the post is still around!
Who need Notepad. Get with the age!
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 17, 2005
WindizUpdate
Ever wanted to do your Windows Update but hated the fact that your FireFox doesn't work with it? Windiz Update will! This is a non-Microsoft supported site and what they do is download the updates and allows the certain non-Internet Explorer browsers to run from it.
Currently supporting Mozilla FireFox, Netscape, Firebird, Opera, and K-meleon.
ThisWeekInTech(Podcast13) < 62nds
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 12, 2005
Poor man's Film Production Suite
For those that are looking to work on films but cannot afford it, here is a list of GPL applications that will make your life a lot easier.
Don’t be fooled, just because the software is free doesn’t mean that it isn’t of professional grade.
The list includes Cinepaint, Blender, and Jahshaka.
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 07, 2005
Rip DVDs with Linux
Using transcode and mplayer, you too can rip DVDs with this in-depth tutorial.
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 05, 2005
Open Source UAVs
There is nothing more fun that building your own robotics and flying it around. UAVs are Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Here are a couple of UAV projects on Ian Stalling's blog.
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 22, 2005
Drag and drog URLs in Firefox text areas
LifeHacker:
If you want to put an url that’s in your bookmarks into [a blog or forum post or new email message], simply drag the bookmark into the text area.
http://url homepage name
will appear. You can also make a temp folder in your bookmark toolbar to save all your links for latter ‘dragging.’ This works in almost all text areas you can drag to.
Via LifeHacker
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 16, 2005
WASTE - anonymouse, secure, encrypted
is an anonymous, secure, and encrypted collaboration tool which allows users to both share ideas through the chat interface and share data through the download system. WASTE is RSA secured, and has been hearalded as the most secure P2P connection protocol currently in development. For technical information please see "information", but for more information on download and installation, please see "downloads". Looking for other WASTE projects? Please choose "projects", or if you are interested in the main WASTE sourceforge project, see "sourceforge". Or, if you just need some help with WASTE, see "documentation".
For Windows, Mac, Linux.
Via WASTE
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 11, 2005
LinuxISOtorrent.com
Sick of looking for linux isos via a torrent file? Here is a Linux torrent repository that has everything from A to Z.
It is pretty much updated with the latest and greatest also!
Via LinuxIsoTorrent
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 31, 2005
Synergy: Soft KM switch
Synergy is a software keyboard-mouse switch. This is for those people that have multiple boxes, multiple monitors, but do not feel the need for multiple keyboards and mice. Since this can be configured for MacOSX, Windows, and linux, it is very compatible to be used with all of the above. Simply install the software, make all of the machines that you want are configured correctly on the network, and prepare to be amazed.
All you have to do is drag your mouse over to the edge of one window, and it appears on the other machine's opposite window. You can cut and paste text across screens.
Definitely very useful if you do not own a KVM switch or only need a KM switch.
Via Synergy
UPDATE: Link fixed. Thanks anonbob!
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
May 27, 2005
Detroit High school saves $100,000 in 2-year OpenOffice Study
A Detroit high school just completed a 2 year OpenOffice study. Savings? $100,000. Now 100% of the faculty and students use OpenOffice. Open-source obviously has some added value doesn't it.
Personal note: Must be a sign. I complain and Slashdot posts a nice study. Thank you Slashdot!
Posted by darkmoon at 04:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
No one gives one damn about efficient money use in IT
Having personally had my fun times with GCS IT on the issue of open-source, a meeting that was planned and scheduled by my friends at the Greensboro Linux User Group between RedHat and the City of Greensboro that ended nowhere, and my latest e-mail transactions between my wonderful City Councilwoman that represents myself....
I've decided:
No one in this city gives one damn about efficiency when it comes to money being used for Information Technology.
Why the hard stance? It's been a long year. I have personally fought some very ugly battles to help break Weaver Academy out of the bureacracy of Microsoft driven wanna-be geeks. I had the support of the Business Council, the support of the school, the support of the students. Even so, that was not enough.
Everywhere else in the world, people are opening their eyes to uses of linux and how it could save some money if their IT staff used their brains a bit and hunkered down to get things working. The British government posted a study that a savings of up to 25% for software and hardware happens when using open-source.
My friends at Greensboro Linux User Group and other such are still going at it and trying to help any business willing to look into integrating open-source technologies.
Open your eyes, fair city of Greensboro. Embrace open-source and see the powers of academia bind with do-gooders, hobbyists, hackers and programmers around the world. Instead of throwing money at problems and hoping that they go away, why not actually solve the problem itself with the help of the masses of nerds and geeks.
Posted by darkmoon at 10:07 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 24, 2005
Firefox: Web Developer extension
From live CSS editing to multiple validation schemes, this is a web developer's dream tool for quick and dirty editing of websites via Mozilla's Firefox browser.
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 23, 2005
Firefox tab tricks
If you're looking for keyboard shortcuts, or mouse shortcuts, here are all the one's that Mozilla has provided for you.
Via LifeHacker
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 20, 2005
Flashblock: Flash blocker for Mozilla
BoingBoing:
Many sites have turned to Flash as a means of circumventing popup-blockers and selective ad-blockers, relying on the fact that most browsers don't have the ability to turn off Flash on a per-site basis. If you've got a popup blocker installed but still see popups, that's why.
Flashblock is a Firefox/Mozilla extension that provides easy and free Flash blocking on a per-site basis so that you can keep Flash switched on in Flickr, but turn it off for sites that use it to spawn popups.
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 14, 2005
The real roadblocks to Linux in education
ZDNet has a great article on how open-source applications and Linux has had its troubles trying to get into the educational realm and OSIA (Open Source Industry Australia) has lashed out at their country's refusal to use open-source in schools. Why? They're scared of switching over because they might lose out on the "savings" that Microsoft provides them.
Personal note: I wish the same was true with our local schools (Guilford County Schools). In actuality, they don't WANT open-source because they refuse to learn it. Maybe the learning curve is too high for them. In any case, they would rather throw taxpayer money at a problem to try to make it go away instead of figuring out ways to reap the maximum benefits for the students/teachers and taxpayers. Whatever happened to DUE DILLIGENCE.
Posted by darkmoon at 10:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 13, 2005
Firefox version 1.0.4 released
In case you didn't hear about the release, the latest and greatest FireFox that fixes the latest onslaught of security holes has been released. So take the time to either click the update button, or download the new version from Mozilla.
This will fix the following:
MFSA 2005-44 Privilege escalation via non-DOM property overrides
MFSA 2005-43 "Wrapped" javascript: urls bypass security checks
MFSA 2005-42 Code execution via javascript: IconURL
Personal note: Check out the turnaround time on the security updates again. Mozilla isn't bugproof, but they are definitely more on top of the security patching than Microsoft ever was.
Posted by darkmoon at 09:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
AIMSniff
AIM Sniff is a utility for monitoring and archiving AOL Instant Messenger messages across a network. You can either do a live dump (actively sniff the network) or read a PCAP file and parse the file for IM messages. You also have the option of dumping the information to a MySQL database, a flat file, STDOUT, or any combination of the three. AIM Sniff allows administrators to see how often users are chatting to monitor for abuse and you can also use AIM Sniff to monitor for cases of harassment or pirated software trading. It has been tested on FreeBSD, Linux, and OS X.
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 11, 2005
Lickr with Flickr
Lickr is a hack of the current Flash interface on Flickr, replacing the Flash with some HTML and Javascript. Unfortunately, this is an end-user hack, but definitely worthwhile for those systems that cannot use Flash or load slowly with Flash. This is also a strictly FireFox hack.
Requirements of Flickr, GreaseMonkey, and Ajax.
ForeverGeek < Lickr
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 09, 2005
UK Schools told to dump Microsoft
In TES, the British Educational Communications and Technology Association carried out an analysis of using open-source in primary and secondary education and found:
Average costs, including software, hardware and support costs, were 24 percent less per computer in secondaries using open source.
Was there even an inkling of doubt?
Personal note: Now I just wish that a certain local county school district, wait. Why am I trying to help mask their name? Guilford County School District refused the CTP IT Business Council's help in trying an open-source alternative that had the potential of saving them a lot of money and fixing an ongoing issue that has not been solved yet (even with the increased funding that have been thrown at the problem).
Waste of taxpayer money? Definitely. I hope people begin to realize that GCS is just spending their money like it was water out of a faucet instead of maximizing their return per child by using something top-level universities have been using for ages.
Posted by darkmoon at 03:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 08, 2005
CherryOS is dead!
Arben Kryeziu posted that he has finally pulled the plug in CherryOS. Teaches the kid to rip off an open-source project (PearPC) and for trying to sell it without giving credit where it was due. Shame. Good for the PearPC folks to win out in the legal field.
For those that haven't followed the legal issues, CherryOS was a Apple emulator for x86 computers that was caught copying code from the PearPC open-source project.
Posted by darkmoon at 03:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 26, 2005
PC-BSD
With the latest rise in easy installation linux distributions, PC-BSD aims to do the same as a FreeBSD derivative. With the KDE automatically installed, there should be the ability to use the desktop right after installation.
This will definitely give users a better feel for FreeBSD, which has been the operating system of choice in the past for geeky people.
Posted by darkmoon at 04:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 16, 2005
Mozilla FireFox 1.0.3
The Mozilla Foundation has released Mozilla FireFox 1.0.3. Either download the new version, or update by clicking the update button (green arrow pointing upward in the upper right corner. If you do not see this update button:
1) Goto Tools:Options:Advanced
2) Scroll to Software Updates
3) Click Check Now
Update. Enjoy the new security patch. Amazing how the turnaround is so much quicker than Internet Explorer, eh?
Posted by darkmoon at 12:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 14, 2005
GCS: Is saving $50k a year not enough for you to try new IT methods?
I would imagine that $50,000US could hire another teacher, staff member, or give a scholarship grant.
Are parents and teachers concerned if their children have the best resources in schools? I would imagine so. While I am not a parent, nor a teacher (although some may say that I am), I try to help educate by applying whatever means necessary to bring the school's maximum potential to play for minimal cost.
In other words, I try to save them money through alternative means in information technology.
All schools should have people that are looking for alternative ways to save money and maximize budget. Interestingly enough, Weaver Academy has a solution to solve an ongoing Internet issue that Guilford County Schools has been battling for the last couple of years, and has offered to be the test site of this solution.
Answer from Guilford County Schools IT? Silence. Not a word.
In fact, as of the last School Board meeting, the meeting notes have GCS IT asking for more money for bandwidth issues. Let me be the first to say that there is no "BANDWIDTH ISSUE". It's a bottleneck in the network on how content filtering is implemented. For the people that do not understand techie, content filtering is what makes it so the kids cannot view porn sites and other non-educational sites.
Problem: Guilford County Schools IT has had network issues as of late due to students having more and more online interactive coursework. Two major factors to this bog-down of the network which is easily fixed if someone bothered to just go and re-think the network.
1) The network runs on VPNs. Virtual Private Networks bog down a network since it creates a tunnel inside the current network. Think of fitting a smaller pipe in a larger pipe. No matter how you try, you will never get as much water through the smaller pipe as the bigger, but that's what you pay for when you want the security of the VPN.
2) They run ALL 100+ schools in the county to ONE point, the facility on Prescott. Any middle schooler can tell you that if you have all the cars from all the freeways ending up in one single point, there will be traffic and congestion. The current content filtering system footprint is at this location. This system also costs the school system $60,000 a year to run for all 100+ schools. One box, 100+ schools. You do the math.
Solution:
Myself and another of the CTP Business Council met with the Guilford County School IT at Weaver a couple months ago. The way I saw it, I proposed breaking out the school's Internet access so that the filtering was done at the school. In this fashion, the issue with the bad network design would slowly resolve itself as each school filtered its own content. GCS IT said sure. Give us $60,000 a year to run another box. Obviously they never learned from the second point above. Then the complaints went to there not being enough staff members to support and they were bogged down by current projects. In any case, I proposed we look into a linux box running a content filtering system solution. Price of savings for the school district? $50,000 with brand new equipment. We proposed that this system was to be installed by GCS IT during Spring Break of 2005, and tested at Weaver. Thus, GCS IT would have total control of the box itself, although my services were offered to do the install if they were not able.
Current scenario: It's been a week after Spring Break. One of the IT kids that keeps me informed on Weaver's standings told me the Monday after that nothing was done. You cannot believe the outrage for myself. I offer to do this on my off time, and I do take personal vacation to actually help these kids (yes, folks... gape in awe that I use parts of my 2+ weeks of vacation for a good cause). I even offered to do it, and to contact anyone from the IT Business Council for help if they needed it.
Silence.
Today (Apr. 14th), I was informed by Adam Wenner (brilliant IT extraordinaire of Weaver) that our backup linux box was finished building. The credentials on this kid are amazing (won state in computer applications and is going to the national competition). We had spoke of having a backup plan in effect when nothing was done this Monday.
So now we have the box ready to roll, no money out for the schools, and to disband the current content management system would save a magnitude of $50,000+ dollars a year. I think $50k is enough to hire another IT employee. Word from GCS IT?
Silence.
Synopsis: SO all of this leads me to voice out to the parents and teachers that are interested in their children's computer resources at school. The world is evolving, everything uses technology to drive home the education.
Why won't GCS IT look to open-source products to maximize monetary efficiency? It seems that the IT kids at Weaver certainly understand this concept.
Posted by darkmoon at 02:06 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
April 11, 2005
Biometrics in Linux fills a long overdue void
Open Source has long been out of commission when it came to the technology of biometrics. With Europe's fast adoptation of gadgets that make use of this tech and current growing market in the United States, LinuxBiometrics brings to the table the software and hardware site that could make linux a formidable player.
Posted by darkmoon at 08:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 08, 2005
Microsoft writes Open Source Child Porn Buster... so where is it?
Microsoft Canada has written a supposedly open-source software that is called Child Exploitation Tracking System. This system is to help authorities track down the baddies perpetuating child pornography.
Personal note: All great and good, but a quick search for CETS on Microsoft Canada revealed nothing. Open source? Hello? That means available for download, with source code. Talk about trying to play off the marketing term without anything to show.
Posted by darkmoon at 09:23 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 05, 2005
Mozilla Firefox with new popup blocker!
Recently been annoyed that there are popups that you cannot get rid of? Annoyed that there were functionalities of FireFox that were built-in but turned off? Well now here's your answer! The developers of Mozilla obviously were annoyed also, and built a popup blocker that kills all.
ForeverGeek < TomsHardware < Mozilla
Posted by darkmoon at 10:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 29, 2005
Feedspring - feed generation software
If you've been looking for some free RSS creation software, here it is. Feedspring is created by UsableLabs and is licensed under GPL. It is supported under Microsoft Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003.
Not only does this have a pretty decent graphical interface, it also can create unlimited RSS feeds and because of the license, there is source code packaged for downloading.
Current version is 0.92b.
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 25, 2005
Remove Google Ads and others from Firefox
Just follow the steps:
1) Install Chrome edit and
2) Restart Firefox
3) Open Tools>Edit User Files
4) Click the tab: UserContent.css
5) Copy and Paste the contents in the bottom of the UserContent.css tab
6) Restart Firefox
Via Highat
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 24, 2005
IE unsafe for 98% of 2004
"Global security consultancy ScanIT shows Microsoft's Internet Explorer was "unsafe" for 98% of 2004, while rival browser Mozilla was "unsafe" for only 15%... "
Also amusing is the fact that security experts are more likely to report the bugs to Mozilla because of better public disclosures of vulnerabilities and better attitudes towards security researchers. Surely the $500 per critical bug (Mozilla Bug Bounty) program helps a little also.
Posted by darkmoon at 05:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Mozilla Firefox 1.0.2 security update
Mozilla FireFox 1.0.2 security update released.
WARNING: This will restart your browser, so be sure to save anything you need to before updating.
Go through this procedure:
1) Go to Tools, Select Options
2) Go to Advanced
3) Scroll down to Software Update
4) Make sure FireFox is checked and click "Check Now"
5) Follow directions for update.
Have at it with the new Mozilla FireFox 1.0.2!
Posted by darkmoon at 01:41 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 20, 2005
Facial recognition to open a pet door
Oreilly's Make:blog had a very interesting comment on webcam uses. Interestingly enough, I have toyed with exactly the same uses but not to the scale that this project has started.
The Flo Control project uses a webcam to do facial recognition of the family cat. If there is a comparison match of the kitty and kitty isn't bringing her dinner into the house, then the door unlatches and the kitty is let through. If there is no match, then the door remains locked.
If you have some time, a spare computer and looking to build a fun project for the family pet, this would allow a more sanitary environment for your family without having your pet's friends party down in your house also.
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 19, 2005
Create your own PBX with Asterisk@Home
With some old computer parts, and some modem cards that are supported by Asterisks, you can create your own VoIP PBX system. Coupled with ATA, you can create a whole phone system on the cheap for your business.
Kerry Garrison has provided a very good step-by-step tutorial in how to build such a VoIP PBX system with Asterisk@Home.
The beauty of using Asterisk@Home, is the GUI interface that allows easier administration and users interfacing with the system to retrieve voicemails, create conference bridges and other PBX options.
Via Slashdot
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 17, 2005
iTunes server on Linux
Via daapd, you can set up a linux server to feed to iTunes. There is a list of packages you need that might need manual compilation:
There are a couple quirky pieces but should be fairly straight forward for anyone that has dabbled in linux compilation. Just follow the instructions and listen to great music from a stable server instead of wasting harddrive space on your local system!SDL 1.2.8
FAAC 1.24
lame 3.96.1
libid3tag 0.15.1b
libmad 0.15.1b
mpeg4ip
howl 0.9.10
Apple's mDNSResponder-58.8
daapd 0.2.4a
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 15, 2005
Companies at CeBIT receive warning letter regarding their alleged GPL incompliance
Some thirteen different vendors including Motorola, Acer, AOpen, Micronet, Buffalo Technology, and Trendware were served warning letters of their GPL license incompliance. This was done by the GPL-Violations Project.
Posted by darkmoon at 05:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 05, 2005
FireFox can block annoying popup Flash ads
FireFox is has it built-in to block annoying Flash pop-up ads, but it is turned off by default because of concerns of legitimate uses.
To turn it off:
To block pop-ups from plugins, open your Firefox 1.0 or 1.0.1 browser, type about:config in the address field. Right-click in the resulting config page somewhere and select New -> Interger.Type privacy.popups.disable_from_plugins in the resulting dialog, hit OK, type 2 in the next dialog and you're all set.
This pref can actually take three values:
0: open allowed
1: the opened windows are treated as popups, but they're allowed to open (we limit the number of these types of popups)
2: the window is a popup, block it
Via ForeverGeek
Posted by darkmoon at 01:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 02, 2005
Project Looking Glass LiveCD
Code-named Project Looking Glass, was a proof-of-concept project by the Advanced Software Technology Team of Sun Microsystems a while back.
PLG3D (Java based development) is a desktop environment written for Linux, similar to the ones that are currently available, except it implements 3D spatialization allowing a whole new feel for desktops.
Open-source development on PGL3D is happening here, with a LiveCD!
Via Slashdot
Posted by darkmoon at 05:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Translate : A Mozilla Firefox extension
Translate is a wonderful extension for those of you that use Mozilla FireFox and read multi-language sites.
Take a look here at Ctomer!
Current version is 0.6.0.6.
Posted by darkmoon at 05:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Adobe joins open-source realm
Adobe Systems, famous for their PDF generation, Adobe Acrobat, has started opensource.adobe.com and released two libraries that take on complex GUI issues in applications.
Via Slashdot
Posted by darkmoon at 03:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Gmail Wireless
If you don't have Gmail account, find one. It should be easy to get an invite now.
Based on Sourceforge's Gmail-Mobile project, this service allows you to access your Gmail account via a WAP browser. Not sure on legitimacy of this project since it's not associated with Google or Gmail, but ForeverGeek has used and tested it, it seems. By Cintero Systems out of India.
Via ForeverGeek
Posted by darkmoon at 03:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
If you haven't already, update to Mozilla FireFox 1.0.1
Security corporation Secunia, posted today 8 more vulnerabilities attached to Firefox and Mozilla. These exploits range from:
If you have downloaded the Firefox 1.0.1 update, you have nothing to worry about. The Mozilla 1.7.6 and Thunderbird 1.0.1 released should be out this week as well. The exploits "could be used by criminals to spoof, or fake, various aspects of a Web site, ranging from its SSL secure site icon to the contents of an inactive tab."
Apparently Mozilla is also working on automatic updates that are pushed to the user. YAH for Mozilla!
Via ForeverGeek
Posted by darkmoon at 03:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 25, 2005
Microsoft targeting WINE with WGA
Microsoft's latest target is WINE. With the Windows Genuine Advantage, they are targeting the one way that Linux users have been accessing Microsoft products without using the operating system.
Codeweaver's president, Jeremy White:
"The reason we love this is because this shows that Microsoft is aware of Wine at very high levels," said White. "For us it's exciting -- it is an acknowledgement of us as a threat."
Personal note: Hah. Microsoft is scared of Wine of all things. Must actually be cutting into their profit margin. Again, open-source shows that it can make a difference in the world and proprietary software corporations are scared.
Posted by darkmoon at 01:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 24, 2005
Linux Test Project
This is a linux test suite that basically hashes out everything that could go wrong with Linux. What's great is that this is supported by some major corporations in testing.
The Linux™ Test Project is a joint project with SGI™, IBM®, OSDL™, Bull®, and Wipro Technologies with a goal to deliver test suites to the open source community that validate the reliability, robustness, and stability of Linux. The Linux Test Project is a collection of tools for testing the Linux kernel and related features. Our goal is to improve the Linux kernel by bringing test automation to the kernel testing effort. Interested open source contributors are encouraged to join the project.
Definitely something to look at if you are looking to use Linux but are concerned about instability issues (nonexistent when compared to Windows) or testing reliability. I wonder if this test suite implements Six Sigma?
Posted by darkmoon at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 16, 2005
FireFox now the most used Windows application
Scoble writes:
In just a few months your app has become one of the most used Windows applications in the world. My hat's off to you!
Battelle comments:
Note the use of "Windows application." Winning by moving the goalposts, is what I think that's called.
Posted by darkmoon at 05:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 12, 2005
FireFoxIE
If you're having troubles shifting over to FireFox, but you are sick of the popup ads and the other security holes of Internet Explorer, FireFox now has a new extension! FireFoxIE, an extension to FireFox that makes it look and feel like Internet Explorer without the problematic issues.
For most users using FireFox, there is not really a need for this extension. For converting current Internet Explorer users, please take some time to read ALL of the tutorial. There is quite a bit that needs to be done to make everything feel the same. Estimated time: 5-15 minutes.
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February 11, 2005
FlightGear Flight Simulator
Open-source provides another great piece of work. If you have ever wondered about OSS flight simulators, this one definitely takes the cake.
From flying an Airbus A380, to a B52-F Stratofortress, FlightGear has it all. This piece of ingenius design work grew out of many flight sim fans dissatisfaction with current commercial flight simulators.
View the screenshots here and pee your pants in envy. Then approach the downloads here and get to taking off into the wild blue yonder.
FlightGear Flight Simulator is open-source, and is supported in linux, Windows, Solaris, SGI, MacOSX and FreeBSD.
Posted by darkmoon at 12:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 08, 2005
12 hours later, Mozilla is patched
12 hours later, the IDN exploit has been patched by Mozilla dev team. Microsoft? where are your 12 hour turn-arounds?
Via BoingBoing and ForeverGeek
Posted by darkmoon at 10:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 04, 2005
Access your home server remotely!
Anyone that has been in the corporate arena has probably heard of Symantec's PCAnywhere, a program that let's you take control of computers at work, or home just as you would logging into the computer itself (except in a window).
Opensource provides a couple of great solutions. The easiest would probably be RealVNC. VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing. This is how it works.
The second to try would be TightVNC. There are a number of features that make it superior to the original VNC, but that is up to you to decide.
The last would be FreeNX. FreeNX is a bit more difficult to install, but has vastly better networking abilities. What does this mean? You can remote-control your computer over a 56k modem. Original based on NoMachine's proprietary NX where the core was open-sourced. A howto is here to help those that are interested in pursuing a server/client system based on FreeNX.
All of these solutions allow the user to be mobile, but access the power wherever it may be without bringing it along. Useful? Definitely.
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February 03, 2005
Curious as to how much traffic your server puts out? MRTG is your friend
I saw and used MRTG back when it was released in 1995. It has come a long way since then. MRTG (Multi Router Traffic Grapher) basically shows you a graph of how much you are outputting via your network, and how much traffic is accessing your server. Yes, INPUT/OUTPUT. Banded together with a statistics package (Webalizer or AWSTATS), this can be a very formidable tool in the weaponchest of a server administrator.
Screenshots of MRTG here.
MRTG-eth.pl is a perl script that can setup MRTG without setting up an SNMP daemon. Too much information? Just go take a look.
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February 01, 2005
Software Freedom Law Center
From the two JDs that fight for open-source software, Lawrence Lessig and Eben Moglig. The Software Freedom Law Center is a place that will provide legal advice and issues for free for open-source projects. Another huge score for OSS, thanks to some great champions of OSS.
Posted by darkmoon at 02:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Want to optimize your bootup in Linux?
There are a couple ways to optimize a linux bootup.
You can:
1) Optimize your kernel - recompile your kernel so that all the essential things boot straight from kernel, maximizing speed.
2) Optimize your current boot configuration (services)
3) Run stage 2 processes in parallel
First you must diagnose your kernel. I suggest to use BootChart. Bootchart is a wonderful program that documents what services are proceeding at what time during the bootup and gives you a timeline and CPU usage outlook. This helps clean up some services and re-time bootup sequences.
You can do the first by following step-by-step on The Linux Documentation Project's website here. For specific distributions, there are easier ways to do this.
The second step is simple. Take a look at your init.d and turn off any services that you do not need to use at bootup. For a laptop, this may include ftp server services, ssh server services, etc.
The third step, I would suggest to take a look at runit. Simply, runit takes your stage 2 and processes services in parallel instead of one at a time. This will maximize your processor load and decrease bootup time.
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January 26, 2005
How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity
Lawrence Lessig, Professor at Stanford Law School and founder of the Center of Internet and Society. He brings us a new book called Free Culture, distributed under the Creative Commons license.
Lawrence Lessig shows us that while new technologies always lead to new laws, never before have the big cultural monopolists used the fear created by new technologies, specifically the Internet, to shrink the public domain of ideas, even as the same corporations use the same technologies to control more and more what we can and can’t do with culture.
Download the pdf here. Or if you like audio, go here for the free audiobook.
Posted by darkmoon at 11:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 25, 2005
NY based teachers move to Open-Source
NY based United Federation of Teachers, a 150,000 member teachers union, has moved to open-source. They support 1,300 schools in the New York City area and have migrated from a Windows and AS/400 solution to a RHEL solution. Reason? "Past iterations were based on proprietary technology and everything had to go through the consultant—that turned us off."
Posted by darkmoon at 07:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 22, 2005
Free Software Magazine
Just like it sounds. They talk about everything from XML to formats. Probably an interesting read for any geek or wanna-be. In any case, subscription to print is $10.00 (since it costs money to print on paper) and the PDF downloads are free here.
Posted by darkmoon at 09:41 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 20, 2005
Need antivirus? Here are a couple of solutions
Most people know the names of Norton Antivirus and Mcafee AntiVirus. There's also Panda Antivirus, and Trendmicro, and a few others that are on the market.
What you probably don't know are the couple of FREE antivirus utilities that are either freeware for personal use, or open-source.
Trendmicro has a great utility called HOUSECALL. Java applet that scans your system. I usually use this on computers I have no clue about and happen to not bring my rescue utility USB keydrive. Very useful to find what's wrong with a unknown Windows computer.
Grisoft has a suite called AVG Free Edition. This is provided for free to home users. Very useful, and as good as Norton or Symantec in use, although not as pretty. Works fine on the couple of Windows machines that I do administrate.
Running linux or Windows? Open-source has you covered. ClamAV is an antivirus suite that was written by open-source developers for servers and workstations. There is also a Windows port called ClamWin.
As you can see, there are many solutions without breaking the bank, thanks to different licensing schemes and open-source. Support those software developers!
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