Comments for Geek Ideas http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com {{{ ZX2C4 }}} Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:41:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 Comment on Programming Gigs in Europe by Olivier Le Thanh Duong http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/265#comment-1255 Olivier Le Thanh Duong Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:41:04 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=265#comment-1255 Some country have work + tourism visa which allow you to do just that. Don't know if that's the case for France and Italy though Some country have work + tourism visa which allow you to do just that. Don’t know if that’s the case for France and Italy though

]]> Comment on Programming Gigs in Europe by Ian Monroe http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/265#comment-1248 Ian Monroe Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:19:29 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=265#comment-1248 http://www.collabora.co.uk you can work from anywhere you want. Though I have to agree with Andre. You better hope the immigration officers can't use google. :D http://www.collabora.co.uk you can work from anywhere you want.

Though I have to agree with Andre. You better hope the immigration officers can’t use google. :D

]]> Comment on WebKit in Konqueror/KDE by Stalker http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/96#comment-1243 Stalker Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:15:00 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=96#comment-1243 Hello everybody, is it possible to turn Webkit in Konqueror as default rendering engine? Now, when I want to use Webkit I have to switch it manually on in View menu. Hello everybody,

is it possible to turn Webkit in Konqueror as default rendering engine? Now, when I want to use Webkit I have to switch it manually on in View menu.

]]> Comment on Programming Gigs in Europe by Andre http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/265#comment-1225 Andre Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:15:35 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=265#comment-1225 Not to discourage you, but... Are you sure you are *allowed* to work in Europe? I is not clear where you're from, but in a lot of places, you'll need a work permit in order to do what you want. That permit may be hard to obtain, but that also depends on your nationality. Not to discourage you, but…
Are you sure you are *allowed* to work in Europe? I is not clear where you’re from, but in a lot of places, you’ll need a work permit in order to do what you want. That permit may be hard to obtain, but that also depends on your nationality.

]]> Comment on Programming Gigs in Europe by Ana http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/265#comment-1218 Ana Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:24:12 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=265#comment-1218 You need to look at european employment websites, if you find any, because they do not really exist :) Depending on the country you will find some websites more useful than others. Also, it is *very* important to know the language of the country you are planning to stay in. While you might work in an english enviroment, it will never be 100 % everything in english and outside your job you will need knowing the local language. Finally, in Europe what you know for "gig" is not very common, most of companies here for external jobs tend to hire somebody they can later rely on, and somebody who is not going to be around later, is not usually trusted. Those are my thoughts from my experiences in Spain, France and UK. Good luck :) You need to look at european employment websites, if you find any, because they do not really exist :)
Depending on the country you will find some websites more useful than others.

Also, it is *very* important to know the language of the country you are planning to stay in. While you might work in an english enviroment, it will never be 100 % everything in english and outside your job you will need knowing the local language.

Finally, in Europe what you know for “gig” is not very common, most of companies here for external jobs tend to hire somebody they can later rely on, and somebody who is not going to be around later, is not usually trusted.

Those are my thoughts from my experiences in Spain, France and UK. Good luck :)

]]> Comment on Programming Gigs in Europe by Bart http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/265#comment-1217 Bart Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:17:01 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=265#comment-1217 Hi Jason, My company is looking for a competent Qt programmer. We are a small but stable operation with an international customers based just outside Paris, still reachable by subway. Use the email I registered under to contact me. Hi Jason,

My company is looking for a competent Qt programmer. We are a small but stable operation with an international customers based just outside Paris, still reachable by subway. Use the email I registered under to contact me.

]]> Comment on Programming Gigs in Europe by Morty http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/265#comment-1213 Morty Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:29:34 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=265#comment-1213 There are several types of job offering sites, more or less similar to CraigsList. They vary by name and country, some general and other specialized. Even some multicountry ones, like http://www.stepstone.com/. Don't know if it's any good by french or italian standards. Perhaps the simplest is to try trough some temp-acency kind of firm, like Manpower(Or some French/Italian variant better fitting your skills). There are several types of job offering sites, more or less similar to CraigsList. They vary by name and country, some general and other specialized. Even some multicountry ones, like http://www.stepstone.com/. Don’t know if it’s any good by french or italian standards.

Perhaps the simplest is to try trough some temp-acency kind of firm, like Manpower(Or some French/Italian variant better fitting your skills).

]]> Comment on Clementine: The Player I’ve Been Looking For by Clementine ένας ακόμη media player ή μήπως όχι; « elkosmas.gr http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/257#comment-1199 Clementine ένας ακόμη media player ή μήπως όχι; « elkosmas.gr Sun, 07 Mar 2010 12:02:04 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=257#comment-1199 [...] όμως υπάρχουν και άλλη περίεργοι σαν εμένα όπως ο Jason Donenfeld, ο οποίος δοκίμασε το Clementine και βολεύτηκε. Το Clementine [...] [...] όμως υπάρχουν και άλλη περίεργοι σαν εμένα όπως ο Jason Donenfeld, ο οποίος δοκίμασε το Clementine και βολεύτηκε. Το Clementine [...]

]]> Comment on Trying to Leave Catch-All E-Mail Behind by Chris http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/261#comment-1171 Chris Sat, 06 Mar 2010 04:32:16 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=261#comment-1171 You can do custom NDR mails, so if someone gets a 550 (no such user) when trying to mail you, your personalized NDR message says "This address is no good, use this other one instead". Make it look as little like a standard bounce as possible, and as much like a personal note as you can. Anyone who's an actual person that really wants to mail you should get the message, and any spambots won't care one way or the other, so you're not really exposing yourself to more spam harvesting. Since you've had your current domain for a while, you probably get a respectable amount of spam daily to begin with, so I should think you already have a method of dealing with it. As a side note, I'd probably just leave the per-site addresses alone, especially if there are too many to remember. It makes it super easy to filter for spam to those addresses (if recipient = nike@domain.com and sender does not contain nike.com, delete it), I really sort of wish I'd been doing that myself all these years. You can do custom NDR mails, so if someone gets a 550 (no such user) when trying to mail you, your personalized NDR message says “This address is no good, use this other one instead”. Make it look as little like a standard bounce as possible, and as much like a personal note as you can.

Anyone who’s an actual person that really wants to mail you should get the message, and any spambots won’t care one way or the other, so you’re not really exposing yourself to more spam harvesting.

Since you’ve had your current domain for a while, you probably get a respectable amount of spam daily to begin with, so I should think you already have a method of dealing with it. As a side note, I’d probably just leave the per-site addresses alone, especially if there are too many to remember. It makes it super easy to filter for spam to those addresses (if recipient = nike@domain.com and sender does not contain nike.com, delete it), I really sort of wish I’d been doing that myself all these years.

]]> Comment on Clementine: The Player I’ve Been Looking For by Links 4/3/2010: Korea’s “Red Star” (“붉은별”), New OOo Logo | Boycott Novell http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/257#comment-1144 Links 4/3/2010: Korea’s “Red Star” (“붉은별”), New OOo Logo | Boycott Novell Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:36:48 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=257#comment-1144 [...] Clementine: The Player I’ve Been Looking For Clementine is a half port half rewrite of Amarok 1.4, with its kdelibs dependencies stripped and all the code updated to use Qt4. Only in its 0.1 version, it works incredibly well. I’ve been looking for something like this since Juk became crusty and Amarok became too much and Exaile seemed slow and gtkish. Clementine is my new default player. [...] [...] Clementine: The Player I’ve Been Looking For Clementine is a half port half rewrite of Amarok 1.4, with its kdelibs dependencies stripped and all the code updated to use Qt4. Only in its 0.1 version, it works incredibly well. I’ve been looking for something like this since Juk became crusty and Amarok became too much and Exaile seemed slow and gtkish. Clementine is my new default player. [...]

]]> Comment on Trying to Leave Catch-All E-Mail Behind by Ryan http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/261#comment-1143 Ryan Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:10:42 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=261#comment-1143 First, fix your From: headers so that replies always go to the correct address. Since you're forwarding all this stuff to Gmail, create a filter that catches all mail sent to yourdomain.com but NOT to your_real_address@yourdomain.com. Set that filter to apply a "Catchall" label. Apply that filter to all previous messasges as well. Then at the very least you can simplify your python script to only consider this one label. In the future, every time a new mail gets the Catchall label, handle it as you please. Keep an eye on the label and eventually, the catchall emails should dwindle to nothing, at which point you can disable your catchall and delete the label and filter from Gmail. First, fix your From: headers so that replies always go to the correct address.

Since you’re forwarding all this stuff to Gmail, create a filter that catches all mail sent to yourdomain.com but NOT to your_real_address@yourdomain.com. Set that filter to apply a “Catchall” label. Apply that filter to all previous messasges as well. Then at the very least you can simplify your python script to only consider this one label.

In the future, every time a new mail gets the Catchall label, handle it as you please. Keep an eye on the label and eventually, the catchall emails should dwindle to nothing, at which point you can disable your catchall and delete the label and filter from Gmail.

]]> Comment on Trying to Leave Catch-All E-Mail Behind by Jason Donenfeld http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/261#comment-1142 Jason Donenfeld Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:08:06 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=261#comment-1142 Thanks a lot for your suggestions, Josh. Actually number 2 should be the easiest, because using the data from that python script I can more or less automate the process. It'll just be a matter of filtering out the non-human email recipients, which will take some work for sure. What I'm most worried about is number number 3. I hate to have stale accounts. Thanks a lot for your suggestions, Josh. Actually number 2 should be the easiest, because using the data from that python script I can more or less automate the process. It’ll just be a matter of filtering out the non-human email recipients, which will take some work for sure. What I’m most worried about is number number 3. I hate to have stale accounts.

]]> Comment on Trying to Leave Catch-All E-Mail Behind by Josh BA http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/261#comment-1141 Josh BA Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:54:19 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=261#comment-1141 Here's what I would do: 1)From now on, only give the single address you want to keep to new people and sites. 2)Send notifications to the actual people about the address change. (this is probably the most tedious part) 3)Change the e-mail address at the sites you care about getting more mail from or need the login for. "Need" meaning that signing up a new account if you find out you need to use the service would result is lesser service than keeping that account (something like slashdot or ebay which keeps track of reputation or which you build one like a forum). Otherwise, just create a new account when you find need to with your new address. 4)Set it so that your "from" e-mail address is always the new single one, even when replying to messages sent to a different address. This will make it easier to keep threads going as then no-one will need to manually fix the "reply to" field. 5)Every time you get a message to an address you want to get rid of (any other than your new consolidated one) from an actual person, remind the person to use the new address. It means keeping the catch-all for a while longer, but eventually the only things being sent to your non consolidated address will be things you don't care about and the work will be, for the most part, spread out so you don't have to both do everything at once, and expect others to fix their behavior immediately. Here’s what I would do:

1)From now on, only give the single address you want to keep to new people and sites.

2)Send notifications to the actual people about the address change. (this is probably the most tedious part)

3)Change the e-mail address at the sites you care about getting more mail from or need the login for. “Need” meaning that signing up a new account if you find out you need to use the service would result is lesser service than keeping that account (something like slashdot or ebay which keeps track of reputation or which you build one like a forum). Otherwise, just create a new account when you find need to with your new address.

4)Set it so that your “from” e-mail address is always the new single one, even when replying to messages sent to a different address. This will make it easier to keep threads going as then no-one will need to manually fix the “reply to” field.

5)Every time you get a message to an address you want to get rid of (any other than your new consolidated one) from an actual person, remind the person to use the new address.

It means keeping the catch-all for a while longer, but eventually the only things being sent to your non consolidated address will be things you don’t care about and the work will be, for the most part, spread out so you don’t have to both do everything at once, and expect others to fix their behavior immediately.

]]> Comment on Clementine: The Player I’ve Been Looking For by leifbk http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/257#comment-1138 leifbk Thu, 04 Mar 2010 04:41:28 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=257#comment-1138 I thought that I'd mention here that there's a bug related to last.fm scrobbling in the 0.1 version used in the Gentoo ebuild. The issue was fixed in revision #218 according to davidsansome. I thought that I’d mention here that there’s a bug related to last.fm scrobbling in the 0.1 version used in the Gentoo ebuild. The issue was fixed in revision #218 according to davidsansome.

]]> Comment on Clementine: The Player I’ve Been Looking For by nidi http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/257#comment-1137 nidi Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:06:32 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=257#comment-1137 Me switched too - goodbye boombox, we'll meet again. miss your library browser! Clementine just works as expected, well done! I'll try mainline Amarok again with the major releases... Remember: Forks are a good thing! Me switched too – goodbye boombox, we’ll meet again. miss your library browser!

Clementine just works as expected, well done! I’ll try mainline Amarok again with the major releases…

Remember: Forks are a good thing!

]]> Comment on Clementine: The Player I’ve Been Looking For by Emanuele http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/257#comment-1135 Emanuele Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:44:46 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=257#comment-1135 I have create a deb for svn version in my ppa for ubuntu karmic https://launchpad.net/~nuovodna/+archive/nuovodna-stuff I have create a deb for svn version in my ppa for ubuntu karmic

https://launchpad.net/~nuovodna/+archive/nuovodna-stuff

]]> Comment on Clementine: The Player I’ve Been Looking For by aboe http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/257#comment-1134 aboe Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:58:16 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=257#comment-1134 archlinux users, can use: clementine-svn http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=34981 archlinux users, can use:

clementine-svn

http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=34981

]]> Comment on Clementine: The Player I’ve Been Looking For by leifbk http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/257#comment-1132 leifbk Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:16:11 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=257#comment-1132 This is wonderful news. I've got Clementine up & running, and it works great! It's not quite up to par with VA compilations, though. And I miss the option to sort by album. But I guess those are wrinkles that will be straightened out soon. This is wonderful news. I’ve got Clementine up & running, and it works great! It’s not quite up to par with VA compilations, though. And I miss the option to sort by album. But I guess those are wrinkles that will be straightened out soon.

]]> Comment on Clementine: The Player I’ve Been Looking For by aron http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/257#comment-1130 aron Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:22:23 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=257#comment-1130 Thanks for the tip, will try it. Thanks for the tip, will try it.

]]> Comment on Clementine: The Player I’ve Been Looking For by Jason Donenfeld http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/257#comment-1129 Jason Donenfeld Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:12:05 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=257#comment-1129 libnotify depends on gtk, I think, but I don't think libnotify is a mandatory dependency of clementine. not sure though. libnotify depends on gtk, I think, but I don’t think libnotify is a mandatory dependency of clementine. not sure though.

]]> Comment on Clementine: The Player I’ve Been Looking For by iria http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/257#comment-1128 iria Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:09:35 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=257#comment-1128 Did in Gentoo, Clementine have dependency on gtk and python? http://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?p=149793#p149793 Did in Gentoo, Clementine have dependency on gtk and python?
http://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?p=149793#p149793

]]> Comment on Chromium Rocks by valagoghailky http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/220#comment-1125 valagoghailky Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:55:56 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=220#comment-1125 I do think this is a most incredible website for proclaiming great wonders of Our God! I do think this is a most incredible website for proclaiming great wonders of Our God!

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by Serafean http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1124 Serafean Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:24:09 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1124 Hi, just stopping by to acknowledge that wpa_gui is all I need; but I must say that when I first saw it a few years back, it scared me away (no network scan at first glance: one has to go to another tab; I've grown wiser since). It does have that power-user-ish feel to it... Thanks for bringing it up. Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but,technically speaking, could there be a network abstraction in Solid for wpa_supplicant (as there is for wicd/Networkmanager)? It seems to me that with a better GUI wpa_supplicant is all an average user needs (1 process less in the background, YAY!!) Hi, just stopping by to acknowledge that wpa_gui is all I need; but I must say that when I first saw it a few years back, it scared me away (no network scan at first glance: one has to go to another tab; I’ve grown wiser since). It does have that power-user-ish feel to it… Thanks for bringing it up. Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but,technically speaking, could there be a network abstraction in Solid for wpa_supplicant (as there is for wicd/Networkmanager)? It seems to me that with a better GUI wpa_supplicant is all an average user needs (1 process less in the background, YAY!!)

]]> Comment on Chromium Rocks by Dino Casana http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/220#comment-1114 Dino Casana Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:50:38 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=220#comment-1114 Bin schon seit langem stiller leser deines blogs und finde deine artikel wirklich gut.In den letzten Wochen ist mir aber aufgefallen, dass dein layout im chrome browser total zerschossen ist... Ich kann deinen blog nur mit dem Internet Explorer lesen. W Bin schon seit langem stiller leser deines blogs und finde deine artikel wirklich gut.In den letzten Wochen ist mir aber aufgefallen, dass dein layout im chrome browser total zerschossen ist… Ich kann deinen blog nur mit dem Internet Explorer lesen. W

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by Jason Donenfeld http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1083 Jason Donenfeld Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:58:49 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1083 dhcpcd is always running, so when wpa_supplicant marks wlan0 as up, dhcpcd sees and requests an IP. dhcpcd is always running, so when wpa_supplicant marks wlan0 as up, dhcpcd sees and requests an IP.

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by Vytautas http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1081 Vytautas Sun, 14 Feb 2010 16:45:01 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1081 How can you make wpa_supplicant request IP through dhcp ? How can you make wpa_supplicant request IP through dhcp ?

]]> Comment on Maemo 5 or Maemo 6? by Monique Androlewicz http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/202#comment-1076 Monique Androlewicz Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:10:29 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=202#comment-1076 Hands down, Apple's app store wins by a mile. It's a huge selection of all sorts of apps vs a rather sad selection of a handful for Zune. Microsoft has plans, especially in the realm of games, but I'm not sure I'd want to bet on the future if this aspect is important to you. The iPod is a much better choice in that case. Have you tried the ipad? you can get one free at FreshGiftCard.com Hands down, Apple’s app store wins by a mile. It’s a huge selection of all sorts of apps vs a rather sad selection of a handful for Zune. Microsoft has plans, especially in the realm of games, but I’m not sure I’d want to bet on the future if this aspect is important to you. The iPod is a much better choice in that case. Have you tried the ipad? you can get one free at FreshGiftCard.com

]]> Comment on Testing out Qt for Symbian by TheRohan http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/223#comment-1062 TheRohan Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:27:07 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=223#comment-1062 Hi all, Just wanted to share about this new Qt hybrid application which demonstrates how to use the QtWebKit module to display web content in Qt. check this: http://www.forum.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia.com/id/f12cce87-430e-49b0-81b1-0ec1b07cdb1c/QtWebKit_Beta_Labs_Example.html Hi all,
Just wanted to share about this new Qt hybrid application which demonstrates how to use the QtWebKit module to display web content in Qt.

check this:
http://www.forum.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia.com/id/f12cce87-430e-49b0-81b1-0ec1b07cdb1c/QtWebKit_Beta_Labs_Example.html

]]> Comment on Slow Window Resizing with KWin Compositing on FGLRX by Ythogtha http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/169#comment-1058 Ythogtha Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:00:56 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=169#comment-1058 About this bug, I have a Radeon Mobility HD 4850, and I have this problem. I'm not using KDE, but windowmaker. No Compositing effects, but AIGLX is used. 3D works really fine, videos with GL driver too. But resizing and moving windows is a pain. What I can add is that things changed with kernel 2.6.32 for me. I tried many things : different FGLRX versions, and kernel versions. Up to 2.6.31 everything is fine. From 2.6.32 it's not. With 9.12 fglrx version, it simply wouldn't compile for 2.6.32. There was a patch somewhere which allowed it to work, the problem appeared there for me for the first time. I switched back to kernel 2.6.31. Now fglrx 10.1 is there and compiles for 2.6.32, but the problem is the same ! I didn't change my Xorg version, it is X.org server 1.6.3. I've tried different options in the linux kernel, and many versions from 2.6.32-2 to 2.6.33rc6, many things in X.org conf, it's always painfully slow... I haven't tried older ATI drivers. Maybe it has something to do with the kernel ? Something which changed there ? Yth. About this bug, I have a Radeon Mobility HD 4850, and I have this problem.
I’m not using KDE, but windowmaker.
No Compositing effects, but AIGLX is used.
3D works really fine, videos with GL driver too.

But resizing and moving windows is a pain.

What I can add is that things changed with kernel 2.6.32 for me. I tried many things : different FGLRX versions, and kernel versions. Up to 2.6.31 everything is fine. From 2.6.32 it’s not.

With 9.12 fglrx version, it simply wouldn’t compile for 2.6.32. There was a patch somewhere which allowed it to work, the problem appeared there for me for the first time. I switched back to kernel 2.6.31.
Now fglrx 10.1 is there and compiles for 2.6.32, but the problem is the same !

I didn’t change my Xorg version, it is X.org server 1.6.3.

I’ve tried different options in the linux kernel, and many versions from 2.6.32-2 to 2.6.33rc6, many things in X.org conf, it’s always painfully slow…
I haven’t tried older ATI drivers.

Maybe it has something to do with the kernel ? Something which changed there ?

Yth.

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by Jason Donenfeld http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1050 Jason Donenfeld Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:10:06 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1050 Hey I'm glad it worked out well for you. I've never used wicd on my gentoo box, so I haven't had this hassle of migration, but all those steps of wpa_supplicant.conf and /etc/init.d/net.wlan0 are suggested in the networking section of the gentoo handbook, so by the time I got around to discovering wpa_gui, I was already setup. The top 3 lines of my wpa_supplicant.conf are: ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant ctrl_interface_group=wheel update_config=1 Hey I’m glad it worked out well for you. I’ve never used wicd on my gentoo box, so I haven’t had this hassle of migration, but all those steps of wpa_supplicant.conf and /etc/init.d/net.wlan0 are suggested in the networking section of the gentoo handbook, so by the time I got around to discovering wpa_gui, I was already setup.

The top 3 lines of my wpa_supplicant.conf are:

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ctrl_interface_group=wheel
update_config=1

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by Nicolas Dietrich http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1048 Nicolas Dietrich Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:32:18 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1048 Wow - I'm pretty surprised I didn't know about it - thanks for the pointer! I'm also quite surprised / shocked by reading the comments, which imply that technical simplicity is not considered elegant by a lot of people :-( Btw - it didn't work out of the box on my Gentoo system, I had to - create a wpa_supplicant.conf file first to allow all users to connect (not needed in wicd since server always runs as root and clients connect via dbus) - explicitly load the wpa_supplicant module in the network configuration file (not needed in wicd, since server starts wpa_supplicant directly) Great! One layer less! Wow – I’m pretty surprised I didn’t know about it – thanks for the pointer!

I’m also quite surprised / shocked by reading the comments, which imply that technical simplicity is not considered elegant by a lot of people :-(

Btw – it didn’t work out of the box on my Gentoo system, I had to
– create a wpa_supplicant.conf file first to allow all users to connect (not needed in wicd since server always runs as root and clients connect via dbus)
– explicitly load the wpa_supplicant module in the network configuration file (not needed in wicd, since server starts wpa_supplicant directly)

Great! One layer less!

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by Jason Donenfeld http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1047 Jason Donenfeld Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:01:49 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1047 which? in the tray? which? in the tray?

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by Jason Donenfeld http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1046 Jason Donenfeld Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:01:35 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1046 No. bloated is bloated, buggy is buggy. Simple is simple, fast is fast, good is good. No. bloated is bloated, buggy is buggy. Simple is simple, fast is fast, good is good.

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by anonymous http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1045 anonymous Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:29:33 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1045 FAIL. Not so. :) FAIL. Not so. :)

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by anonymous http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1044 anonymous Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:29:09 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1044 You mistake "good" for "technical" and "bad" for "simplistic". The line is so simple. You mistake “good” for “technical” and “bad” for “simplistic”.

The line is so simple.

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by TGM http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1043 TGM Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:25:36 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1043 Love the icon :) Love the icon :)

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by Jason Donenfeld http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1041 Jason Donenfeld Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:19:54 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1041 Good point about the popularity in guides. You're right about the n00b linux user, who *should* have the most slick and easy configuration method possible. But for any user worth his salt who wants a good interface sans bloat, wpa_gui rocks. Good point about the popularity in guides.

You’re right about the n00b linux user, who *should* have the most slick and easy configuration method possible. But for any user worth his salt who wants a good interface sans bloat, wpa_gui rocks.

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by charly http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1039 charly Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:48:16 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1039 Well, most guides about wireless networking on linux don't mention wpa_gui, i guess its a significant reason for its low popularity. Now that i gave it a try, it seems its aimed audience is not the average joe linux user, but rather the geek who want to know his mac address. I don't feel uncompfortable with that, but i don't understand why you try to make people use an ugly ui which is _just_ a wpa_supplicant gui and _not_ an integrated network management service as someone pointed out already. Well, most guides about wireless networking on linux don’t mention wpa_gui, i guess its a significant reason for its low popularity.

Now that i gave it a try, it seems its aimed audience is not the average joe linux user, but rather the geek who want to know his mac address. I don’t feel uncompfortable with that, but i don’t understand why you try to make people use an ugly ui which is _just_ a wpa_supplicant gui and _not_ an integrated network management service as someone pointed out already.

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by david http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1038 david Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:33:34 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1038 I will definitely give it a try cause nm doesn't connect to all networks or times out randomly. I will definitely give it a try cause nm doesn’t connect to all networks or times out randomly.

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by Jason Donenfeld http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1037 Jason Donenfeld Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:33:52 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1037 wicd is running in addition to wpa_supplicant, since all wireless needs wpa_suppliacant. never had any problems with it, im sure, since wicd is a good solution, but why the extra layer? more importantly, i'm interested in why wpa_gui is not very popular and why lots of people do not know about it. wicd is running in addition to wpa_supplicant, since all wireless needs wpa_suppliacant. never had any problems with it, im sure, since wicd is a good solution, but why the extra layer?

more importantly, i’m interested in why wpa_gui is not very popular and why lots of people do not know about it.

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by Jason Donenfeld http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1036 Jason Donenfeld Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:32:40 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1036 Sounds terrible. I can't believe how many people still use the NM applet from 3.5. What's wvdial like? I've never used it. Sounds terrible. I can’t believe how many people still use the NM applet from 3.5. What’s wvdial like? I’ve never used it.

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by Jason Donenfeld http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1035 Jason Donenfeld Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:32:00 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1035 So can wpa_gui/wpa_supplicant. This is a native feature of wpa_supplicant, and is configurable by the conf file, the gui, or the cli. So can wpa_gui/wpa_supplicant. This is a native feature of wpa_supplicant, and is configurable by the conf file, the gui, or the cli.

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by moltonel http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1034 moltonel Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:09:48 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1034 I think NM has the advantage of being all-in-one and well integrated by gnome and by specific distributions. If it's in the default install and does what you need, most people will not know or care about the bloat. wpa_supplicant used to be a pain to configure, but I retried it recently and I'm now as happy as can be (simple needs, though). On my netbook running Arch (all other machines using gentoo), I settled for wicd a while back, but I think I'll switch to wap_supplicant there too. I think NM has the advantage of being all-in-one and well integrated by gnome and by specific distributions. If it’s in the default install and does what you need, most people will not know or care about the bloat.

wpa_supplicant used to be a pain to configure, but I retried it recently and I’m now as happy as can be (simple needs, though).
On my netbook running Arch (all other machines using gentoo), I settled for wicd a while back, but I think I’ll switch to wap_supplicant there too.

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by maninalift http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1033 maninalift Tue, 26 Jan 2010 09:56:34 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1033 I use wicd which I have never had any problems with and which could never be described as bloated. My only qualm is that it would be nice if it were Qt. Perhaps that's a reason to try wpa_gui Had bad experiences with NM though I use wicd which I have never had any problems with and which could never be described as bloated. My only qualm is that it would be nice if it were Qt. Perhaps that’s a reason to try wpa_gui

Had bad experiences with NM though

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by jbernardo http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1032 jbernardo Tue, 26 Jan 2010 06:04:51 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1032 I use wicd, but maybe I'll switch to wpa gui. NM with its idiotic habit of scanning every minute together with the buggy ath9k drivers means that with it my network is down one minute out of every two. I use wicd, but maybe I’ll switch to wpa gui. NM with its idiotic habit of scanning every minute together with the buggy ath9k drivers means that with it my network is down one minute out of every two.

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by Marvin http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1031 Marvin Tue, 26 Jan 2010 04:55:54 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1031 I still use networkmanager from kde 3.5 on kde4. It seems to be the only kde nm which is capable using my gsm/gprs/umts device. Others either don't work or crash. wvdial works too tough. I still use networkmanager from kde 3.5 on kde4. It seems to be the only kde nm which is capable using my gsm/gprs/umts device. Others either don’t work or crash. wvdial works too tough.

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by ephemient http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1030 ephemient Tue, 26 Jan 2010 01:24:08 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1030 I use wicd because it can automatically join known networks and switch based on preference even when there's nobody logged in. I use wicd because it can automatically join known networks and switch based on preference even when there’s nobody logged in.

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by Jason Donenfeld http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1029 Jason Donenfeld Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:50:00 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1029 Aren't there other ways at querying connectivity that use standard linux interfaces? Pidgin seems to know what the deal is with my connectivity without NM. Aren’t there other ways at querying connectivity that use standard linux interfaces? Pidgin seems to know what the deal is with my connectivity without NM.

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by anonymous http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1028 anonymous Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:46:07 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1028 The reason why is because obviously network connectivity and control should be a service that your computer offers applications, and not JUST a simple commandline/GUI tool for user management. The scope of NM is much greater. WPA_gui seems great - and I've been burnt many times by bad WPA in NM, trust me - but a compelling application platform must offer developers ways to communicate and query network connectivity. In addition, NM does seem to be -very good- at integrating bluetooth and cell phones in one complete package. It's a great tool, but modern computing experiences demand more than great tools. It requires great integration. I hope that NM can be as reliable as possible though, so maybe it should learn a thing or two from WPA-gui. The reason why is because obviously network connectivity and control should be a service that your computer offers applications, and not JUST a simple commandline/GUI tool for user management. The scope of NM is much greater.

WPA_gui seems great – and I’ve been burnt many times by bad WPA in NM, trust me – but a compelling application platform must offer developers ways to communicate and query network connectivity.

In addition, NM does seem to be -very good- at integrating bluetooth and cell phones in one complete package.

It’s a great tool, but modern computing experiences demand more than great tools. It requires great integration. I hope that NM can be as reliable as possible though, so maybe it should learn a thing or two from WPA-gui.

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by Jason Donenfeld http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1027 Jason Donenfeld Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:43:55 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1027 Netplug also requires zero configuration (emerge netplug and presto). But I didn't really have to tweak anything at all. I run Gentoo so there also wasn't the additional step of getting rid of NM, since it was never there in the first place. Netplug also requires zero configuration (emerge netplug and presto). But I didn’t really have to tweak anything at all. I run Gentoo so there also wasn’t the additional step of getting rid of NM, since it was never there in the first place.

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by robo1337 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1026 robo1337 Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:37:54 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1026 Honestly, I didn't try this app before, so I just know it from manpages and your blogpost. I was refering to bluetooth and wired connections if that wasn't clear before. Your post pretty much sounded like you had to tweak quite a few config files and scripts for those two connection methods (netplug [wired], ppp [bt->nokia]). I couldn't find any hints wpagui supported these methods on the internet, so excuse me if I told anything wrong ;-) Anyway, this just looks like a nice way for configuring networks. Definitely worth a try when networkmanager decides to give up work (again... :o) :) Honestly, I didn’t try this app before, so I just know it from manpages and your blogpost. I was refering to bluetooth and wired connections if that wasn’t clear before.

Your post pretty much sounded like you had to tweak quite a few config files and scripts for those two connection methods (netplug [wired], ppp [bt->nokia]). I couldn’t find any hints wpagui supported these methods on the internet, so excuse me if I told anything wrong ;-)

Anyway, this just looks like a nice way for configuring networks. Definitely worth a try when networkmanager decides to give up work (again… :o ) :)

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by Jason Donenfeld http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1025 Jason Donenfeld Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:54:42 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1025 Actually, it requires zero configuration, since wpa_supplicant is used no matter what. All you have to do is run wpa_gui. No configuration needed. In fact, I could also click on the K menu, go to applications, and presto, there it is. My setup "just works" with no configuration necessary. Actually, it requires zero configuration, since wpa_supplicant is used no matter what. All you have to do is run wpa_gui. No configuration needed. In fact, I could also click on the K menu, go to applications, and presto, there it is.

My setup “just works” with no configuration necessary.

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by robo1337 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1024 robo1337 Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:52:30 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1024 There's a simple reason for that: Simplicity. You have to configure this before you can use it and it just doesn't sound too easy. Of course, you can do it, I can do it and most of the readers of this blog could probably do it too but it consumes more time than simply installing networkmanager and configure all settings for all devices at a central place quickly. This doesn't take any longer than a minute and I'm sure it's easier than "For wired networking, netplug calls my ethernet setup scripts when I plug in an ethernet cable. No tinkering required. For my cellphone internet via bluetooth, I run “pon nokia” and my ppp chatscript does all the rest. This could easily be tied to a little menu button in my launcher." The problem is, this "just works" with the gnome nm-applet and the KDE one still has its bugs despite KDE4.0 was released two years ago. I don't really unterstand the problem, though, the KDE Networkmanager applet seems to work quite well nowadays. This would've been the perfect blog post one year ago ;-) There’s a simple reason for that: Simplicity. You have to configure this before you can use it and it just doesn’t sound too easy. Of course, you can do it, I can do it and most of the readers of this blog could probably do it too but it consumes more time than simply installing networkmanager and configure all settings for all devices at a central place quickly. This doesn’t take any longer than a minute and I’m sure it’s easier than

“For wired networking, netplug calls my ethernet setup scripts when I plug in an ethernet cable. No tinkering required. For my cellphone internet via bluetooth, I run “pon nokia” and my ppp chatscript does all the rest. This could easily be tied to a little menu button in my launcher.”

The problem is, this “just works” with the gnome nm-applet and the KDE one still has its bugs despite KDE4.0 was released two years ago.

I don’t really unterstand the problem, though, the KDE Networkmanager applet seems to work quite well nowadays. This would’ve been the perfect blog post one year ago ;-)

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by Jason Donenfeld http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1023 Jason Donenfeld Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:52:11 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1023 It remembers all the settings and you can store the priorities or have it unprioritized. Actually, this is a feature of wpa_supplicant, which is nicely exposed by wpa_gui, wpa_cli, or the wpa_supplicant.conf file. It remembers all the settings and you can store the priorities or have it unprioritized. Actually, this is a feature of wpa_supplicant, which is nicely exposed by wpa_gui, wpa_cli, or the wpa_supplicant.conf file.

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by Jason Donenfeld http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1022 Jason Donenfeld Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:51:04 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1022 Nope -- wpa_supplicant does everything - wpa, wpa, all the interface up/down management, starting dhcpcd etc. Nope — wpa_supplicant does everything – wpa, wpa, all the interface up/down management, starting dhcpcd etc.

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by Ryan T http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1021 Ryan T Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:47:48 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1021 Does wpa_gui remember the authentication settings for every network you connect to, and then automatically reconnect to those networks when it detects them in the future? Or does it always require manual intervention to connect to a network? Does wpa_gui remember the authentication settings for every network you connect to, and then automatically reconnect to those networks when it detects them in the future? Or does it always require manual intervention to connect to a network?

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by Leo S http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1020 Leo S Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:30:13 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1020 > Why are you all using NM, wicd, etc instead of good ol’ wpa_gui? I always assumed it only did WPA, given the name. Ohwell, NM works just fine as well (for me), and lots of distros set it up automatically these days, so I don't see a reason to switch. > Why are you all using NM, wicd, etc instead of good ol’ wpa_gui?

I always assumed it only did WPA, given the name. Ohwell, NM works just fine as well (for me), and lots of distros set it up automatically these days, so I don’t see a reason to switch.

]]> Comment on Wpa_gui is Underrated by Jeff http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/248#comment-1019 Jeff Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:40:10 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=248#comment-1019 "Why are you all using NM, wicd, etc instead of good ol’ wpa_gui?" Well, because this is the first I've heard of it. I wish I had one of my laptops with me, then I could give it a spin right now. “Why are you all using NM, wicd, etc instead of good ol’ wpa_gui?”

Well, because this is the first I’ve heard of it. I wish I had one of my laptops with me, then I could give it a spin right now.

]]> Comment on Alternate Amarok 2.1 Layouts by Rikitik http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/153#comment-1018 Rikitik Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:22:19 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=153#comment-1018 Такой же человек, как и простые смертные.А Боря Моисеев СЕО не интересуется Такой же человек, как и простые смертные.А Боря Моисеев СЕО не интересуется

]]> Comment on Maemo 5 or Maemo 6? by mrityunjoy http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/202#comment-1017 mrityunjoy Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:48:15 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=202#comment-1017 VoIP on IPOD Touch 3rd Generation is my benchmark for any phone that comes in Market. I also own N73 Music Edition, so N900 is no exception. I want someone to beat Apple at what it does best, User Experience, at cheap rates. VoIP on IPOD Touch 3rd Generation is my benchmark for any phone that comes in Market. I also own N73 Music Edition, so N900 is no exception. I want someone to beat Apple at what it does best, User Experience, at cheap rates.

]]> Comment on Testing out Qt for Symbian by CoCo http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/223#comment-1016 CoCo Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:45:38 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=223#comment-1016 Hi I'm using QT 4.6 on Symbian SDK 5. and when I import the ftp example and compile it keeps popping up a wrong message "error: `setdefaultif' undeclared (first use this function)" and the function 'setdefaultif' is in grey, which means it is not defined. any idea? Hi
I’m using QT 4.6 on Symbian SDK 5. and when I import the ftp example and compile it keeps popping up a wrong message “error: `setdefaultif’ undeclared (first use this function)” and the function ’setdefaultif’ is in grey, which means it is not defined. any idea?

]]> Comment on Long Live Juk by anti-destin http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/240#comment-1008 anti-destin Fri, 08 Jan 2010 01:04:00 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=240#comment-1008 JuK is almost perfect: light, simple, streamlined. But some updates would be nice. Some issues: -Slow startup. For some reason, JuK takes longer than other applications to load. -Keyboard shortcuts don't stick. I can configure them in the shortcuts dialog, but they disappear after JuK is restarted. Nice features to have: -Automatically scroll to the current track. -Automatically clear the search box upon hitting the 'enter' key. JuK is almost perfect: light, simple, streamlined. But some updates would be nice.

Some issues:
-Slow startup. For some reason, JuK takes longer than other applications to load.
-Keyboard shortcuts don’t stick. I can configure them in the shortcuts dialog, but they disappear after JuK is restarted.

Nice features to have:
-Automatically scroll to the current track.
-Automatically clear the search box upon hitting the ‘enter’ key.

]]> Comment on Long Live Juk by Parker http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/240#comment-1007 Parker Thu, 07 Jan 2010 01:42:16 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=240#comment-1007 Just a small tip about disc numbering that I picked up somewhere. Try numbering the tracks 101, 102... for disc 1 and 201, 202, 203 for disc 2. It's pretty simple, easily identifiable and works in lots of places where disc number support is lacking. Just a small tip about disc numbering that I picked up somewhere. Try numbering the tracks 101, 102… for disc 1 and 201, 202, 203 for disc 2. It’s pretty simple, easily identifiable and works in lots of places where disc number support is lacking.

]]> Comment on Slow Window Resizing with KWin Compositing on FGLRX by Mark http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/169#comment-1006 Mark Mon, 04 Jan 2010 03:30:51 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=169#comment-1006 Hi, I have (since a few weeks) a notebook with an ATI card in it and use KDE (just now 4.4 beta 2 on kubuntu 9.10) and i have horrible resizing performance! It takes between 2 or 3 seconds till a resize is completed. Now i did a tiny test. (open the system monitor and see which progress is sucking up cpu while resizing. that one is: XOrg! not kwin! So, my initial thought is that XOrg is the one playing mean here. And since i will be using this notebook (with the same setup) for a long while i will hunt this issue down to the actual lines of code that cause this. I will go as deep as possible. I just want this fixed and since noone seems to have traced this down to the actual code lines i will do so. Note: i also have the same setup on a nvidia machine and that runs just smooth! So assuming the issue is in XOrg it either is a "special" code path for != nvidia or for == ati or the issue is within the ati driver. I will post a comment here when i know more. Hi,

I have (since a few weeks) a notebook with an ATI card in it and use KDE (just now 4.4 beta 2 on kubuntu 9.10) and i have horrible resizing performance! It takes between 2 or 3 seconds till a resize is completed. Now i did a tiny test. (open the system monitor and see which progress is sucking up cpu while resizing. that one is: XOrg! not kwin! So, my initial thought is that XOrg is the one playing mean here.

And since i will be using this notebook (with the same setup) for a long while i will hunt this issue down to the actual lines of code that cause this. I will go as deep as possible. I just want this fixed and since noone seems to have traced this down to the actual code lines i will do so.

Note: i also have the same setup on a nvidia machine and that runs just smooth! So assuming the issue is in XOrg it either is a “special” code path for != nvidia or for == ati or the issue is within the ati driver. I will post a comment here when i know more.

]]> Comment on WebKit in Konqueror/KDE by Pol http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/96#comment-999 Pol Fri, 01 Jan 2010 08:15:34 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=96#comment-999 Such closed mind people in the so called 'free software' community! So, following your logic, you should not criticize nor protest against the railway company, because you are not able to manage a railway station? Such closed mind people in the so called ‘free software’ community!
So, following your logic, you should not criticize nor protest against the railway company, because you are not able to manage a railway station?

]]> Comment on Testing out Qt for Symbian by EET http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/223#comment-994 EET Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:50:11 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=223#comment-994 Hello, nice app in the video! I'd love to develop programs with Qt for s60 3rd, but when I try to "install" the app to the phone via Qt Creator, it says: "Inferior start failed Cannot start executable "C:\sys\bin\MyFirstApp.exe" on the device: General OS-related error" After some Googling I found out that you've had the same problem, I just couldn't find out how did you manage it? So, I'd appreciate a little help. Thank You, EE Hello, nice app in the video!

I’d love to develop programs with Qt for s60 3rd, but when I try to “install” the app to the phone via Qt Creator, it says:

“Inferior start failed
Cannot start executable “C:\sys\bin\MyFirstApp.exe” on the device:
General OS-related error”

After some Googling I found out that you’ve had the same problem, I just couldn’t find out how did you manage it?

So, I’d appreciate a little help.

Thank You,
EE

]]> Comment on Long Live Juk by Dimitris http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/240#comment-990 Dimitris Sat, 26 Dec 2009 11:21:39 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=240#comment-990 in kde4 i cant be comfort with amarok and i searched an alternative application. I ve discovered Juk and i cant do with out its flexibility and simplicity. I like the feature when i type in the search bar it classifies the playlist something that i cant do with amarok Bangarang has a beautifull window but is not ergonomic as Juk in kde4 i cant be comfort with amarok and i searched an alternative application. I ve discovered Juk and i cant do with out its flexibility and simplicity. I like the feature when i type in the search bar it classifies the playlist something that i cant do with amarok

Bangarang has a beautifull window but is not ergonomic as Juk

]]> Comment on Long Live Juk by damian http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/240#comment-932 damian Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:53:37 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=240#comment-932 Long live bangarang! juk is a bit outdated and instead of re-writing things like qt3Support man-power should go to bangarang which is new uses nepomuk has a clean interface just like juk and it's a very promising project! Long live bangarang! juk is a bit outdated and instead of re-writing things like qt3Support man-power should go to bangarang which is new uses nepomuk has a clean interface just like juk and it’s a very promising project!

]]> Comment on Long Live Juk by Sam Weber http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/240#comment-931 Sam Weber Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:57:10 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=240#comment-931 You mean http://bangarangkde.wordpress.com You mean http://bangarangkde.wordpress.com

]]> Comment on Long Live Juk by halk http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/240#comment-930 halk Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:20:33 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=240#comment-930 See Bangarang (http://bangarangkde.wordpress.org). It is almost exactly what you describe. See Bangarang (http://bangarangkde.wordpress.org). It is almost exactly what you describe.

]]> Comment on Long Live Juk by Alejandro Nova http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/240#comment-929 Alejandro Nova Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:36:02 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=240#comment-929 Juk would be the perfect testing ground for a massive feature left out from Amarok that would be great. A Nepomuk media player. A music player that can retrieve its library from the Nepomuk database, tag music files from there, and feed Nepomuk with reviews, lyrics, and more contextual information. Nepomuk can do it, and Amarok 1.x tried to do it before without Nepomuk. Maybe Juk is up to the task, and the result work may be back into Amarok to have a great ecosystem. Even better, unify the media expetience and do the same with videos. Sounds interesting. I don't see Juk using anymore an outdated and separated sqlite database. Juk would be the perfect testing ground for a massive feature left out from Amarok that would be great.

A Nepomuk media player.

A music player that can retrieve its library from the Nepomuk database, tag music files from there, and feed Nepomuk with reviews, lyrics, and more contextual information. Nepomuk can do it, and Amarok 1.x tried to do it before without Nepomuk. Maybe Juk is up to the task, and the result work may be back into Amarok to have a great ecosystem.

Even better, unify the media expetience and do the same with videos.

Sounds interesting. I don’t see Juk using anymore an outdated and separated sqlite database.

]]> Comment on Long Live Juk by Ian Monroe http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/240#comment-928 Ian Monroe Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:12:46 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=240#comment-928 Basically the only reason JuK has AAC support is because Amarok devs recently worked on integrating it into Taglib. Of course the only reason Amarok has Taglib is because of JuK. :D Basically the only reason JuK has AAC support is because Amarok devs recently worked on integrating it into Taglib.

Of course the only reason Amarok has Taglib is because of JuK. :D

]]> Comment on Long Live Juk by vedranf http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/240#comment-926 vedranf Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:49:33 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=240#comment-926 I always wanted to use Juk, but for my collection it is just too slow. It takes almost 10mins to start and while using it i have >10sec latencies so i use ncurses audio player moc. :( I always wanted to use Juk, but for my collection it is just too slow. It takes almost 10mins to start and while using it i have >10sec latencies so i use ncurses audio player moc. :(

]]> Comment on Long Live Juk by mkrohn5 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/240#comment-925 mkrohn5 Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:12:13 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=240#comment-925 I love Juk, too. Musicbrainz worked for me only in KDE 3 times when I compiled from source (it never worked out of the distributions' box for me). For example, it still does not work in Kubuntu 9.10 - tested that yesterday. For tagging and renaming Juk is an extremely nice tool. However, it took a long time in the past to load a few 1000 mp3c (that might have changed in KDE 4 though). I love Juk, too. Musicbrainz worked for me only in KDE 3 times when I compiled from source (it never worked out of the distributions’ box for me). For example, it still does not work in Kubuntu 9.10 – tested that yesterday. For tagging and renaming Juk is an extremely nice tool. However, it took a long time in the past to load a few 1000 mp3c (that might have changed in KDE 4 though).

]]> Comment on Long Live Juk by Markus http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/240#comment-924 Markus Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:53:22 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=240#comment-924 Awesome to see another dev! :) I really love Juk, but it really has quirks (does MusicBrainz support work for anybody, for example?) Awesome to see another dev! :) I really love Juk, but it really has quirks (does MusicBrainz support work for anybody, for example?)

]]> Comment on Long Live Juk by Michael Pyne http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/240#comment-922 Michael Pyne Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:01:56 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=240#comment-922 Juk's not completely forgotten, but the two developers who know the codebase have been busy with other things for awhile now. Scott Wheeler is running his own company and I've been busy with the Navy and More Important Things(TM). However I'd love to introduce you to the source code if you want to look into pitching in that way JuK gets more than 1 feature per release cycle. ;) Juk’s not completely forgotten, but the two developers who know the codebase have been busy with other things for awhile now. Scott Wheeler is running his own company and I’ve been busy with the Navy and More Important Things(TM).

However I’d love to introduce you to the source code if you want to look into pitching in that way JuK gets more than 1 feature per release cycle. ;)

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by Samat Jain http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-921 Samat Jain Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:30:14 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-921 With 8 GB of RAM for a desktop machine, I'd forgo a swap partition and make a small swap file instead (512 MB or so). The Linux VM performs best if a swap partition is available, even if it is rarely used. I don't see the point in having more swap than that---I rather it OOM or just crash immediately, rather than sit thrashing for minutes. With two disks and that much RAM, I'd go with LVM and Linux RAID-10. While RAID-10 has "interesting" performance characteristics, in the end you'll get twice the disk space, and twice the throughput (in most cases). With 8 GB of RAM for a desktop machine, I’d forgo a swap partition and make a small swap file instead (512 MB or so). The Linux VM performs best if a swap partition is available, even if it is rarely used. I don’t see the point in having more swap than that—I rather it OOM or just crash immediately, rather than sit thrashing for minutes.

With two disks and that much RAM, I’d go with LVM and Linux RAID-10. While RAID-10 has “interesting” performance characteristics, in the end you’ll get twice the disk space, and twice the throughput (in most cases).

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by Ritesh Raj Sarraf http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-920 Ritesh Raj Sarraf Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:10:19 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-920 Yes, you can omit the swap if you don't plan on hibernating your laptop. Linux, lately has been very reliable at Stand-By (STR). Yes, you can omit the swap if you don’t plan on hibernating your laptop.

Linux, lately has been very reliable at Stand-By (STR).

]]> Comment on Testing out Qt for Symbian by Luigi Fulk http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/223#comment-912 Luigi Fulk Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:23:04 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=223#comment-912 Some bloggers even use their blogs as a means to advertise. Some authors advertise their books on their blogs. While other bloggers, use their blogs to shed light to currents issues, events, news and catastrophes. Some bloggers even use their blogs as a means to advertise. Some authors advertise their books on their blogs. While other bloggers, use their blogs to shed light to currents issues, events, news and catastrophes.

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by John http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-904 John Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:52:27 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-904 > How do you feel about swap? Swap partition? Swap file? No swap at all cuz 8 > gigs is a lot of ram? > I have 2 GB and I rarely swap. On those rare cases I do I restart because using swap is unbearably show. > Yeah, but compilation time is a pain. I was thinking about maybe Arch. > Or if Gentoo is aging but I like source-based, I was thinking about > Exherbo.... > You're probably right though - I've been using Gentoo for so long. > You're getting a core i7 with turbo mode up to 3.0 GHz with 8 GB of ram and you're complaining about compile time? Arch, Is nice enough. However I know you will have problems with the lack of use flags. The packages have been compiled with certain option and thus have certain dependencies. If you don't like it in most cases you can recompile it yourself and in a few you're stuck with their choices. It's a fast distro with a decent community. It offers a lot of the down to the metal, configure it yourselfness of Gentoo. But again it's still binary. You're going to fall into one of three groups. Happy with how it works. Unhappy and re compiling everything. Unhappy and not compiling anything. It does have a source build system but it's no where near the level of Gentoo's because it is an after though. Oh and all non official packages (think overlay) from AUR have to be compiled. So the time savings might be none because you have to use their lesser source build tools to build and rebuild a large number of packages. For Exherbo, Ciaran is all I have to say. You can/have your own opinion about the guy and he seems to be the one running the project. > Have you messed with VirtualBox at all? > VirtualBox is getting better every release. It makes a good desktop (run a second OS on your desktop) visualization tool. It does not even approach the level of the commercial offering from VMWare. If all you need is Windows in a Window to use a few Windows apps, it's sufficient. If you want a hypervisor with cross server replication and migration than it's the wrong product. You probably only need the former so it will do everything you need. You might also look into KVM and libvirt. > How do you feel about swap? Swap partition? Swap file? No swap at all cuz 8
> gigs is a lot of ram?
>
I have 2 GB and I rarely swap. On those rare cases I do I restart
because using swap is unbearably show.

> Yeah, but compilation time is a pain. I was thinking about maybe Arch.
> Or if Gentoo is aging but I like source-based, I was thinking about
> Exherbo….
> You’re probably right though – I’ve been using Gentoo for so long.
>
You’re getting a core i7 with turbo mode up to 3.0 GHz with 8 GB of
ram and you’re complaining about compile time?

Arch, Is nice enough. However I know you will have problems with the
lack of use flags. The packages have been compiled with certain option
and thus have certain dependencies. If you don’t like it in most cases
you can recompile it yourself and in a few you’re stuck with their
choices. It’s a fast distro with a decent community. It offers a lot
of the down to the metal, configure it yourselfness of Gentoo. But
again it’s still binary. You’re going to fall into one of three
groups. Happy with how it works. Unhappy and re compiling everything.
Unhappy and not compiling anything. It does have a source build system
but it’s no where near the level of Gentoo’s because it is an after
though. Oh and all non official packages (think overlay) from AUR have
to be compiled. So the time savings might be none because you have to
use their lesser source build tools to build and rebuild a large
number of packages.

For Exherbo, Ciaran is all I have to say. You can/have your own
opinion about the guy and he seems to be the one running the project.

> Have you messed with VirtualBox at all?
>
VirtualBox is getting better every release. It makes a good desktop
(run a second OS on your desktop) visualization tool. It does not even
approach the level of the commercial offering from VMWare. If all you
need is Windows in a Window to use a few Windows apps, it’s
sufficient. If you want a hypervisor with cross server replication and
migration than it’s the wrong product. You probably only need the
former so it will do everything you need. You might also look into KVM
and libvirt.

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by Matt http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-903 Matt Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:52:03 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-903 I am not sure about the block sizes of ext4, but what I did was set a 256 KB block size for both LVM and XFS, and it improved my throughput. Yes it means that I only have 500 GB of storage, so it acts like a halfsize RAID-0, with RAID-1 redundancy. To me, that's the best of both worlds. I have not messed with VirtualBox at all. I have just been paying for Parallels, as it runs well on my MacBook Pro, and they have an office just down the street from my office. I have used the free VMware Server on a work machine, which is an i7, w/ 6 GB of RAM, and I was able to smoothly run 3 instances of Windows Server 2003 under emulation all at the same time, all with CPU at 100% (I made my own virtual cluster of machines to test distributed stuff) I am very happy with the performance. I will probably try to get OS X running under QEMU w/ KVM hardware acceleration in the future, but I have too many other projects going on at the moment. Does anyone know if VirtualBox supports running Retail Snow Leopard? For experimentation, just use an emulator to install a bunch of different Linux flavors. Then you can mess with whatever settings and filesystems you want and do some testing and benchmarking. That's how I taught myself to set up RAID, LVM, my own initramfs, custom embedded kernel. Makes a great virtual playground, plus you can backup the virtual disk when you want to try something daring, like using dd to overwrite one of your RAID disks and then seeing if you can recover it without nuking the good half. I am not sure about the block sizes of ext4, but what I did was set a 256 KB block size for both LVM and XFS, and it improved my throughput.

Yes it means that I only have 500 GB of storage, so it acts like a halfsize RAID-0, with RAID-1 redundancy. To me, that’s the best of both worlds.

I have not messed with VirtualBox at all. I have just been paying for Parallels, as it runs well on my MacBook Pro, and they have an office just down the street from my office. I have used the free VMware Server on a work machine, which is an i7, w/ 6 GB of RAM, and I was able to smoothly run 3 instances of Windows Server 2003 under emulation all at the same time, all with CPU at 100% (I made my own virtual cluster of machines to test distributed stuff) I am very happy with the performance. I will probably try to get OS X running under QEMU w/ KVM hardware acceleration in the future, but I have too many other projects going on at the moment.

Does anyone know if VirtualBox supports running Retail Snow Leopard?

For experimentation, just use an emulator to install a bunch of different Linux flavors. Then you can mess with whatever settings and filesystems you want and do some testing and benchmarking. That’s how I taught myself to set up RAID, LVM, my own initramfs, custom embedded kernel. Makes a great virtual playground, plus you can backup the virtual disk when you want to try something daring, like using dd to overwrite one of your RAID disks and then seeing if you can recover it without nuking the good half.

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by Matt http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-902 Matt Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:50:57 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-902 While my system is not a laptop... I would advise against ext4, I have done benchmarking between xfs, ext3, and 4 and when used in my configuration (fully encrypted root) the system was unusable because every 5 seconds when it would flush the journal to disk my entire system would hang. Note that under these circumstances, all 4 cores were being used for encryption, though not all at 100%, and I was streaming writes to disk at 60 MB/sec. You can also see this issue if you install Debian using their default fully encrypted root with ext3. It is unusable. Switching to XFS, the problem went away completely. Also, when used with LVM, XFS will match the block size of the LVM, so you can get great performance. I have 2x 500 GB drives inside. I am using Gentoo Linux, and software RAID-10. Yes, mirrored and striped with 2 disks. For reading, this is like having a RAID-0 on the fastest halves of each drive, and for writing, you don't really see any improvement over a single disk. The second half of each disk is also a RAID-0, but swapped, so each disk still contains a full copy of the data. With 2x 7200.12's I see streaming reads of 240 MB/sec. Sure you won't get a full TB of storage, but you will have both speed and redundancy. Then use your external drive for backups. For the Linux side of things, I would set it up that way. See if you can use Parallels or VMware to run your Windows stuff inside of Linux, then you will benefit from the RAID-10 setup, something which Windows will not allow you to do. As far as getting OS X on there... I tried to make the system into a hackintosh, but it proved too much trouble, and I was going for reliability, so a hacked OS was out of the question. Supposedly QEMU and KVM have patches to run Retail Snow Leopard under emulation, but I haven't tried that out yet. I have been most impressed with XFS on Gentoo. While my system is not a laptop… I would advise against ext4, I have done benchmarking between xfs, ext3, and 4 and when used in my configuration (fully encrypted root) the system was unusable because every 5 seconds when it would flush the journal to disk my entire system would hang. Note that under these circumstances, all 4 cores were being used for encryption, though not all at 100%, and I was streaming writes to disk at 60 MB/sec. You can also see this issue if you install Debian using their default fully encrypted root with ext3. It is unusable.

Switching to XFS, the problem went away completely. Also, when used with LVM, XFS will match the block size of the LVM, so you can get great performance.

I have 2x 500 GB drives inside. I am using Gentoo Linux, and software RAID-10. Yes, mirrored and striped with 2 disks. For reading, this is like having a RAID-0 on the fastest halves of each drive, and for writing, you don’t really see any improvement over a single disk. The second half of each disk is also a RAID-0, but swapped, so each disk still contains a full copy of the data. With 2x 7200.12’s I see streaming reads of 240 MB/sec. Sure you won’t get a full TB of storage, but you will have both speed and redundancy. Then use your external drive for backups.

For the Linux side of things, I would set it up that way. See if you can use Parallels or VMware to run your Windows stuff inside of Linux, then you will benefit from the RAID-10 setup, something which Windows will not allow you to do.

As far as getting OS X on there… I tried to make the system into a hackintosh, but it proved too much trouble, and I was going for reliability, so a hacked OS was out of the question. Supposedly QEMU and KVM have patches to run Retail Snow Leopard under emulation, but I haven’t tried that out yet.

I have been most impressed with XFS on Gentoo.

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by John http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-901 John Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:49:50 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-901 I would go with Ext4, LVM and dedicate it all to Gentoo. Probably 20 GB (you have plenty of space) for /, 128 MB for /boot and there rest for /home. You should have all you're files backed up to other places anyway. So using both disks as a single volume will be fine. As for why Gentoo. You've been using it for years. You're happy with it. You know it. You've tried other distros and have always come back to Gentoo. Other distros aren't going to provide you with any advantages over Gentoo. Ext4 because it's stable. It's here to stay. It's modern. Well maintained. It doesn't take ages to run the file system check every 30 odd boots (5 seconds for my 100 GB drive so maybe a minute for 1 TB). Mainly, it's stable. From what I can tell you don't actually need Windows and anything you would use it for you should be fine running it in a Virtual Machine. You're not a heavy gamer and you've already said Wine plays the games you want just fine. I would go with Ext4, LVM and dedicate it all to Gentoo. Probably 20
GB (you have plenty of space) for /, 128 MB for /boot and there rest
for /home. You should have all you’re files backed up to other places
anyway. So using both disks as a single volume will be fine.

As for why Gentoo. You’ve been using it for years. You’re happy with
it. You know it. You’ve tried other distros and have always come back
to Gentoo. Other distros aren’t going to provide you with any
advantages over Gentoo.

Ext4 because it’s stable. It’s here to stay. It’s modern. Well
maintained. It doesn’t take ages to run the file system check every 30
odd boots (5 seconds for my 100 GB drive so maybe a minute for 1 TB).
Mainly, it’s stable.

From what I can tell you don’t actually need Windows and anything you
would use it for you should be fine running it in a Virtual Machine.
You’re not a heavy gamer and you’ve already said Wine plays the games
you want just fine.

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by Jason http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-900 Jason Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:48:59 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-900 Thanks a lot for the suggestions. Yeah Raid0 seems scary. I think LVM (linux volume manager) might support RAID5 or 6 without the need for a dedicated hardware controller. There's also the option of concatenation instead of striping, which is safer with no error recovery, but then I don't get the increased performance from continuous reads. Given that concatenation or some kind of safer RAID might be an option, what reason would I have to keep the partitions separate? Power management? Multi-OS? I'm not sure. I don't game much, and when I do, all the steam games I want run perfectly under wine now a days, for real. In fact, MSOffice also runs with 0 hitches on Wine with Linux now a days too: http://appdb.winehq.org/appimage.php?iId=19988 . The project has come a long way. In any case, I've been using open office exclusively on my linux box for about 5 years now, and I really do think that OpenOffice can do things as well as MSOffice, and some things even better too. The only drawback is that the docx import/export is bad, but the doc export/import is perfect, so that's not problem. Besides, I hate the ribbon in new office... I can't find anything! I guess the big reason for me to install Windows7 would be for Windows development, for my job and for making viruses (research only!). Other cross platform coding I can do from Linux via Qt. At this point I'm leaning away the multi OS idea because I have a MacBook and Dell Latitude (Win7) from work that suit my Windows/Mac experimentation/compilation purposes. Thank god for Windows 7 though... it's not perfect, it's not KDE, but at least it's a usable version of Windows with a more modern kernel than XP. Anyway, thanks for your suggestion. I'll still consider dual booting for the "just-in-case" reason. Thanks a lot for the suggestions.

Yeah Raid0 seems scary. I think LVM (linux volume manager) might support RAID5 or 6 without the need for a dedicated hardware controller. There’s also the option of concatenation instead of striping, which is safer with no error recovery, but then I don’t get the increased performance from continuous reads. Given that concatenation or some kind of safer RAID might be an option, what reason would I have to keep the partitions separate? Power management? Multi-OS? I’m not sure.

I don’t game much, and when I do, all the steam games I want run perfectly under wine now a days, for real. In fact, MSOffice also runs with 0 hitches on Wine with Linux now a days too: http://appdb.winehq.org/appimage.php?iId=19988 . The project has come a long way. In any case, I’ve been using open office exclusively on my linux box for about 5 years now, and I really do think that OpenOffice can do things as well as MSOffice, and some things even better too. The only drawback is that the docx import/export is bad, but the doc export/import is perfect, so that’s not problem. Besides, I hate the ribbon in new office… I can’t find anything!

I guess the big reason for me to install Windows7 would be for Windows development, for my job and for making viruses (research only!). Other cross platform coding I can do from Linux via Qt. At this point I’m leaning away the multi OS idea because I have a MacBook and Dell Latitude (Win7) from work that suit my Windows/Mac experimentation/compilation purposes. Thank god for Windows 7 though… it’s not perfect, it’s not KDE, but at least it’s a usable version of Windows with a more modern kernel than XP.

Anyway, thanks for your suggestion. I’ll still consider dual booting for the “just-in-case” reason.

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by Ryan http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-899 Ryan Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:48:23 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-899 Well... you could try RAID0 although it might be a bit scary with no error checking or error recovery. Personally, I would dual boot Windows 7 and Linux, but I also play games so thats probably my main reason. Actually, the other reason for me would be so that I would have Microsoft Office. Yes, I've heard the argument "OpenOffice does everything Microsoft Office does!" so many times, but in all honesty... it can do everything MS Office does but not as well. And since the majority of people use MS Office, formatting gets fucked up when going between programs. What I would probably do is this: Install operating systems to Internal1. Put music, code, pictures, etc on Internal2. Put torrents and movies on External. Ryan Well… you could try RAID0 although it might be a bit scary with no error checking or error recovery. Personally, I would dual boot Windows 7 and Linux, but I also play games so thats probably my main reason. Actually, the other reason for me would be so that I would have Microsoft Office. Yes, I’ve heard the argument “OpenOffice does everything Microsoft Office does!” so many times, but in all honesty… it can do everything MS Office does but not as well. And since the majority of people use MS Office, formatting gets fucked up when going between programs.

What I would probably do is this:

Install operating systems to Internal1. Put music, code, pictures, etc on Internal2. Put torrents and movies on External.

Ryan

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by Franck S. http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-896 Franck S. Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:31:36 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-896 I agree it is far too much. I don't remember more than a 1/5th of it ever being used, even in the most adverse conditions. I'd probably make that 8 gigs if I had to do it again. I agree it is far too much. I don’t remember more than a 1/5th of it ever being used, even in the most adverse conditions. I’d probably make that 8 gigs if I had to do it again.

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by Jason Donenfeld http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-895 Jason Donenfeld Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:55:00 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-895 This is a really interesting setup. I will definitely consider it. Why do you have 20 gigs of swap space? Seems like an awful lot. This is a really interesting setup. I will definitely consider it. Why do you have 20 gigs of swap space? Seems like an awful lot.

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by Jason Donenfeld http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-894 Jason Donenfeld Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:53:08 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-894 Ten gigs of swap is a lot... I thought the rule of thumb was half your ram. Right now on my current system with 3 gigs of ram, I have tons of apps and tabs open, and I'm only using 1 gig of ram and am not swapping at all. Apps open: 25 Chromium tabs Pidgin OpenOffice Kate QtCreator Konsole Kmix Klipper KDE4 (plasma, services...) That ebay python script Some other little things So I dunno if I really need swap with 8 gigs. Hmmm... Ten gigs of swap is a lot… I thought the rule of thumb was half your ram.

Right now on my current system with 3 gigs of ram, I have tons of apps and tabs open, and I’m only using 1 gig of ram and am not swapping at all.

Apps open:
25 Chromium tabs
Pidgin
OpenOffice
Kate
QtCreator
Konsole
Kmix
Klipper
KDE4 (plasma, services…)
That ebay python script
Some other little things

So I dunno if I really need swap with 8 gigs. Hmmm…

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by Jason Donenfeld http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-893 Jason Donenfeld Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:50:20 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-893 I thought ext4 was pretty stable now a days... I've been using it since its first release and haven't had any issues. A 3 way mirror... that's an interesting idea. Can I make it so that the external drive is mirrored only when it's plugged in? To effectively have an automatic lvm backup system on demand? I thought ext4 was pretty stable now a days… I’ve been using it since its first release and haven’t had any issues.

A 3 way mirror… that’s an interesting idea. Can I make it so that the external drive is mirrored only when it’s plugged in? To effectively have an automatic lvm backup system on demand?

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by Jason Donenfeld http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-892 Jason Donenfeld Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:48:34 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-892 Yeah they're bad, but I'm used to them and I pretty much know how the system works now. Yeah they’re bad, but I’m used to them and I pretty much know how the system works now.

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by maninalift http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-891 maninalift Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:54:04 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-891 smart man: hadn't thought of it that way before smart man: hadn’t thought of it that way before

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by Franck S. http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-890 Franck S. Mon, 14 Dec 2009 02:50:53 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-890 ( sorry, I forgot closing the bittorrent client before testing I/O speed... this should be closer to real figures, though I'm not sure I removed all I/O activity: md0: Timing buffered disk reads: 722 MB in 3.00 seconds = 240.42 MB/sec md2: Timing buffered disk reads: 358 MB in 3.00 seconds = 119.19 MB/sec) ( sorry, I forgot closing the bittorrent client before testing I/O speed…
this should be closer to real figures, though I’m not sure I removed all I/O activity:
md0: Timing buffered disk reads: 722 MB in 3.00 seconds = 240.42 MB/sec
md2: Timing buffered disk reads: 358 MB in 3.00 seconds = 119.19 MB/sec)

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by Franck S. http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-889 Franck S. Mon, 14 Dec 2009 02:31:06 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-889 on my quad core AMD system, I also have dual 500gig. I partitioned them as follow with software raid: sda: /boot:156 MB raid (->md0): 63GB raid (->md1): 9.7 GB raid (->md2): 392 GB sdb: raid (->md0): 63GB raid (->md1): 9.7 GB raid (->md2): 392 GB raid: /home: md2 (Reiser) raid 1 [swap]: md1 (Swap) raid 0 / : md0 (Reiser) raid 0 I'm really happy of this set up. It gives nice read speed and redundancy on /home, and top performance on both read/write everywhere else (at expense of security, but I don't mind losing system data.) I also set up a build directory in /usr/build so that compilation takes advantage of raid 0. # hdparm -tT /dev/md0 /dev/md0: Timing cached reads: 6314 MB in 2.00 seconds = 3157.35 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 522 MB in 3.00 seconds = 173.77 MB/sec # hdparm -tT /dev/md2 /dev/md2: Timing cached reads: 6132 MB in 2.00 seconds = 3066.72 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 310 MB in 3.02 seconds = 102.60 MB/sec (both disks are ST3500418AS barracudas) HTH. on my quad core AMD system, I also have dual 500gig.
I partitioned them as follow with software raid:

sda:
/boot:156 MB
raid (->md0): 63GB
raid (->md1): 9.7 GB
raid (->md2): 392 GB

sdb:
raid (->md0): 63GB
raid (->md1): 9.7 GB
raid (->md2): 392 GB

raid:
/home: md2 (Reiser) raid 1
[swap]: md1 (Swap) raid 0
/ : md0 (Reiser) raid 0

I’m really happy of this set up. It gives nice read speed and redundancy on /home, and top performance on both read/write everywhere else (at expense of security, but I don’t mind losing system data.)

I also set up a build directory in /usr/build so that compilation takes advantage of raid 0.
# hdparm -tT /dev/md0
/dev/md0:
Timing cached reads: 6314 MB in 2.00 seconds = 3157.35 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 522 MB in 3.00 seconds = 173.77 MB/sec
# hdparm -tT /dev/md2
/dev/md2:
Timing cached reads: 6132 MB in 2.00 seconds = 3066.72 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 310 MB in 3.02 seconds = 102.60 MB/sec

(both disks are ST3500418AS barracudas)

HTH.

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by ikkefc3 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-887 ikkefc3 Sun, 13 Dec 2009 19:54:45 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-887 Thank you! Thanks to your comment, I tried Ubuntu 9.10 on a pc with an ATi card (HD 3300, the dedicated nvidia card is currently in repair), and man, what a difference between now and when I tried it about a year ago! Everything is working smooth! Although I must say it's using the FGLRX driver. Thank you!
Thanks to your comment, I tried Ubuntu 9.10 on a pc with an ATi card (HD 3300, the dedicated nvidia card is currently in repair), and man, what a difference between now and when I tried it about a year ago! Everything is working smooth! Although I must say it’s using the FGLRX driver.

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by Andreas Nilsson http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-886 Andreas Nilsson Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:52:54 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-886 My last experience with ati wasn't very uplifting, but that was a while back. I'd go with a Lenovo Thinkpad for quality... But this machine should be nice performance wise. If you go with linux I personally recommend a swapfile(s), as it allows to vary the amount of swap. You really should have some swap, otherwise a make -j in /usr/src/linux/ will bring down the computer rather quickly :) Ext4 as a fs may cause dataloss, i'd not recommend it. Stick with something that works and ext3 is upgradeable to ext4 should it be stable in the future. You might choose something a bit more optimized for small files for /usr/portage. If you care about the data using raid1 is worth it. You might even make it a 3way mirror where the 3 drive is you external disk. Maybe using a 32gb partition for / and the rest for /data My last experience with ati wasn’t very uplifting, but that was a while back.

I’d go with a Lenovo Thinkpad for quality… But this machine should be nice performance wise. If you go with linux I personally recommend a swapfile(s), as it allows to vary the amount of swap. You really should have some swap, otherwise a make -j in /usr/src/linux/ will bring down the computer rather quickly :)

Ext4 as a fs may cause dataloss, i’d not recommend it. Stick with something that works and ext3 is upgradeable to ext4 should it be stable in the future. You might choose something a bit more optimized for small files for /usr/portage.

If you care about the data using raid1 is worth it. You might even make it a 3way mirror where the 3 drive is you external disk. Maybe using a 32gb partition for / and the rest for /data

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by Luke http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-885 Luke Sun, 13 Dec 2009 15:12:23 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-885 I picked up a Studio 1555 this summer. It's a lovely, robust piece of equipment. Quite frankly, it's the best laptop I've ever owned. No stupid hardware flaws, no problems with coming out of standby.... It just works very well. I'm getting about 6hrs 20mins on a charge with a power-saving profile at the moment. Don't blame the quality of the machine for destruction caused by UPS/FedEX/etc. They can break anything :D I picked up a Studio 1555 this summer. It’s a lovely, robust piece of equipment. Quite frankly, it’s the best laptop I’ve ever owned. No stupid hardware flaws, no problems with coming out of standby…. It just works very well.

I’m getting about 6hrs 20mins on a charge with a power-saving profile at the moment.

Don’t blame the quality of the machine for destruction caused by UPS/FedEX/etc. They can break anything :D

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by STiAT http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-884 STiAT Sun, 13 Dec 2009 14:35:48 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-884 I've a laptop with a Intel 4500 HD and I'm also satisfied with it. I think that depends on the needs you have, I don't really need a fast graphics card, and the Intel driver isn't lacking that much anymore. But yea, my next one will probably also have some radeon mobility inside. I’ve a laptop with a Intel 4500 HD and I’m also satisfied with it. I think that depends on the needs you have, I don’t really need a fast graphics card, and the Intel driver isn’t lacking that much anymore.

But yea, my next one will probably also have some radeon mobility inside.

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by z http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-883 z Sun, 13 Dec 2009 14:03:18 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-883 I forgot to mention, the Dell hotlines are the worst thing I ever had to deal with on the phone. The dell hotlines are outsourced in thirdworldia and their accent is TERRIBLE, you have to make them repeat every line they say before you can make any sense out of it, not to mention their creeping incompetence (they didn't have the serial number of my laptop registered in their database which was the cause for the delay before they could repair my laptop. What the flying fuck !) I forgot to mention, the Dell hotlines are the worst thing I ever had to deal with on the phone. The dell hotlines are outsourced in thirdworldia and their accent is TERRIBLE, you have to make them repeat every line they say before you can make any sense out of it, not to mention their creeping incompetence (they didn’t have the serial number of my laptop registered in their database which was the cause for the delay before they could repair my laptop. What the flying fuck !)

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by z http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-882 z Sun, 13 Dec 2009 13:56:34 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-882 Dell studios are crap, I bought one five months ago and it had a broken screen (in that it twisted all the colors like a film negative) on arrival. Dell told me it'd take them a week to replace it (even though I had waited for two weeks before I got the freaking laptop), I said no, asked for a refund, walked to an Apple premium reseller and bought a macbook instead. Best thing I ever did in my life, the unibody case feels much stronger and safer than the flimsy plastic of the dell studio and the laptop lasts up to five hours in continuous use (maybe up to seven hours if you tone down the screen backlights, switch the keyboard lights off and so on) Sure, the specs of the dell are better if you compare dollar-to-dollar but at the cost of service and quality. It just ain't the same. Dell studios are crap, I bought one five months ago and it had a broken screen (in that it twisted all the colors like a film negative) on arrival. Dell told me it’d take them a week to replace it (even though I had waited for two weeks before I got the freaking laptop), I said no, asked for a refund, walked to an Apple premium reseller and bought a macbook instead. Best thing I ever did in my life, the unibody case feels much stronger and safer than the flimsy plastic of the dell studio and the laptop lasts up to five hours in continuous use (maybe up to seven hours if you tone down the screen backlights, switch the keyboard lights off and so on)

Sure, the specs of the dell are better if you compare dollar-to-dollar but at the cost of service and quality. It just ain’t the same.

]]> Comment on New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 by vespas http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/230#comment-881 vespas Sun, 13 Dec 2009 13:54:52 +0000 http://blog.jasondonenfeld.com/?p=230#comment-881 I think it can, but make sure your grub/initrd et al can boot from it properly (opensuse currently can't). there is a lot of relevant info by the eee-pc guys that use swapfiles that can be turned on and off to avoid wearing out the ssd. I would definitely create a swap partition since you have so much disk space, maybe 10Gb (come on, it's 1%!) and forget about it. the kernel is smart enough to know when to use it. and if you wait for the oom killer to take care of your processes, you are asking for trouble; imo it is a last resort measure to avoid a hard reset. the "i don't have to close applications due to a lot of ram" argument isn't very sound: I said the same for my P1-200 with 64Mb ram... :) I mean it only lasts so long; imagine using digikam to index your gb's of images, strigi for 500gb of downloads, etc. ok, things aren't so tight as before but you definately have to close applications. logging out every now and then takes care of a lot of loose ends... have fun! I think it can, but make sure your grub/initrd et al can boot from it properly (opensuse currently can’t). there is a lot of relevant info by the eee-pc guys that use swapfiles that can be turned on and off to avoid wearing out the ssd.
I would definitely create a swap partition since you have so much disk space, maybe 10Gb (come on, it’s 1%!) and forget about it. the kernel is smart enough to know when to use it. and if you wait for the oom killer to take care of your processes, you are asking for trouble; imo it is a last resort measure to avoid a hard reset. the “i don’t have to close applications due to a lot of ram” argument isn’t very sound: I said the same for my P1-200 with 64Mb ram… :) I mean it only lasts so long; imagine using digikam to index your gb’s of images, strigi for 500gb of downloads, etc. ok, things aren’t so tight as before but you definately have to close applications. logging out every now and then takes care of a lot of loose ends…
have fun!

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