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Free Memes

By Rich Johnson on Published: September 10, 2009 at 11:30 am

I did this a long time ago when I first learned of the vrms package, which stands for Virtual Richard M. Stallman. What it does is it looks through the install packages on your system and tests to see if they are in fact free software or not. If they aren’t, well Richard lets you know and lists them out for you. I ran it just a few minutes ago, and like the others I have seen thus far, I had a bunch of garbage for ATI and NVIDIA graphics cards, of which neither I use. So I promptly removed those as well as unrar and linux-restricted-modules. I don’t use, let alone have use, for these packages, so I think I made Richard a bit happier. Here is what my output currently looks like:

<<< nixternal@ShakaDoobie :: ~ :: 11:15.03 Thu Sep 10 2009
>>> [1004] vrms
            Non-free packages installed on ShakaDoobie
 
opera                     The Opera Web Browser
sun-java6-bin             Sun Java(TM) Runtime Environment (JRE) 6 (architecture
sun-java6-jdk             Sun Java(TM) Development Kit (JDK) 6
sun-java6-jre             Sun Java(TM) Runtime Environment (JRE) 6 (architecture
sun-java6-plugin          The Java(TM) Plug-in, Java SE 6
 
             Contrib packages installed on ShakaDoobie
 
flashplugin-installer     Adobe Flash Player plugin installer
flashplugin-nonfree       Adobe Flash Player plugin installer (transitional pack
ttf-mscorefonts-installer Installer for Microsoft TrueType core fonts
 
  5 non-free packages, 0.3% of 1854 installed packages.
  3 contrib packages, 0.2% of 1854 installed packages.

So, for Richard’s sake, let me explain my flaws. I have Opera installed because…Well I really have no clue, but since they released a Qt4 based version, I had to give it a try. It isn’t to shabby, but I get varrying results with it. I do think it is a really great browser, and do at times test web sites I am working on with it. The Java stuff, well I did, and still do at times, work on Java code, plus for everything Java I do, it works, whereas Icedtea doesn’t. Flash, I cannot live without my YouTube and other video sites that require Flash. The MS Fonts, well I think that is installed with the kubuntu-restricted-extras package, and really don’t have a use for them at all. Though it does make looking at some sites better than if I didn’t have them installed.

Of course I could use the free alternatives, and I do. However I need stuff that “works for me™”. I used to be a free software nut and still am to an extent, however I realize that right now our free software alternatives aren’t yet where they need to be, and in the mean time I will use stuff that works.

Posted in Application | Tagged | 2 Responses

Ubuntu Chicago Global Jam

By Rich Johnson on Published: September 9, 2009 at 8:37 pm

Hey there you Chicagoans! It is that time where we gather our little Mafia of Linux hackers and brand new users and jam out. We were just discussing this on IRC and had a few ideas that I would like to run past the rest of you, and maybe get some input from you as well. One thing we have learned over the past 4 years is that it is tough running any type of event in Chicago on a Friday or Sunday, unless of course there is free beer available. And even in some cases, the free beer didn’t even help out. Another thing we realized is that when we do an event, we typically pick a 4 to 6 hour time frame, which works well for some cases. Now for the Global Bug Jam last year, or this year, can’t remember but I do remember it was snowing, we hacked all day long and into the night and people loved it. We even got Nathan Handler out of his hacker shell to come hang out for a bit. We are thinking maybe we should do the same. Run it one day, most likely Saturday, and run it all day long. This way here we can get people in and out at different times, hoping to accommodate as many people as possible.

So with that said, we are looking for a venue, in which I hope my homeskillet Kevin hooks us up with some space, as he does have the bomb office space. It would rock if we could get a sponsor or two to maybe cater a bit of food or snacks and some drinks, preferably of the caffenated variety, though some beer wouldn’t hurt. We think maybe a 10am to 6pm or later deal would be cool. Maybe a Noon to whenever we leave type deal. What kind of ideas would you have about the event?

As for what we would like to do, if we could get enough people, the options are endless. There will be a core developer, some MOTU members, documentation team members, bug triagers, new users, old user, young people, old people…You get the idea. With this type of group we could do some packaging how-to, bug triaging, documentation stuff, general Ubuntu/Linux use, and then some. Though seeing as it is getting close to the freeze point for Karmic, it would be nice to fix some bugs, do some hacking. The real idea is just to get everyone to hang out and be geeks for an entire day. If you just want to show up to see how silly Jim Campbell really looks in real life, that is cool, though be warned, he is a rockstar!

Let us know what you think. Respond in the comments, talk to us on IRC in #ubuntu-chicago on Freenode, send an email to our mailing list (ubuntu dash us dash chicago at lists period ubuntu period com). Thanks!

Posted in Linux | Tagged , , , , | 2 Responses

Take off and land safely with KDE

By Rich Johnson on Published: August 24, 2009 at 3:54 pm

Oh lord that was corny. Any ways, it isn’t about taking off and landing safely, but it is about saving some of that important Lithium Ion juice while you are in flight. That’s right, I have hacked together a little system tray applet that will allow you to enable or disable the power of your wireless devices such as WiFi and Bluetooth. In the future 3G support will (hopefully) be included as well as function key support, but since we are approaching a Feature Freeze with Karmic, we had to get something in right away, and then work out the kinks before release. At first it was designed to be used with the Kubuntu Netbook Edition which we are planning on providing a preview release for Karmic. Then after working on it, it seemed to work fine for laptops just as well. D’uh, it uses Wireless Tools and BlueZ, so of course it would work.

Right now it has only been tested with Dell hardware. I know for a fact it will not work with the Asus eeePC due to their silly wireless drivers. Because of that, I will probably end up either borrowing code from eee-controls or eee-applet or just using those and porting them for use in this applet.

As this project goes on, and updates are added, I will keep you informed. It will be put in the repos just as soon as it passes its packaging review.

And now for some pics:

kairmode_tooltip_no_devices
KDE Airplane Mode with no devices (Tooltip)

kairmode_tooltip_with_devices
KDE Aiplane Mode with devices (Tooltip)

kairmode_menu_with_devices
KDE Airplane Mode with devices (Menu)

kairmode_airmode_popup
KDE Airplane Mode popup to enable/disable airplane mode

Note that this application is buggy and has been known to eat 2 children and the neighbors cat. What you see might not be what you get. There will definitely be some more changes and updates coming to the application as well as the GUI.

Posted in Application | Tagged , | 13 Responses

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