Entries Categorized as 'blog entries'

LMMS: Fruity Loops for Linux

Date May 7, 2008

I had a lot of fun with Linux Multi Media System.  As far as I have been able to find, it’s the closest thing to Fruity Loops that I’ve been able to find for linux.  It doesn’t take a whole lot of learning and is just an apt-get away on Ubuntu.
Here’s a little tune I [...]

Terminator: A Kick-ass Terminal

Date May 7, 2008

I thought tabs were great.  In reality, they’re useful for some things — web browsing and file managing come to mind.  But when it comes to working in a terminal, it’s really tedious to have to flip back and forth between tabs in your terminal emulator.  Things get lost, you forget which machine is which, [...]

Slow downloads with apt-get? Change repos with Select Best Server

Date May 7, 2008

Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) came out at the tail end of last month and since upgrading, any operation with apt-get or Synaptics has been excruciatingly slow.  For a time, probably the first 24 hours after having upgraded, apt-get update commands were even timing out!  At that point, I manually changed my mirrors in /etc/apt/sources.list to [...]

Slim Aluminum Apple Keyboard with Ubuntu Hardy Heron

Date April 30, 2008

I use the new Apple Slim USB Keyboard with my linux box because I love the way it feels.  The new version of Ubuntu isn’t as fond of it as I am.
Number Pad
If you press the ‘clear’ button on the Apple keyboard, it functions as the NumLock button would on a regular PC keyboard.  It [...]

Connect to Windows VPN Server (pptp) with Ubuntu Hardy Heron

Date April 29, 2008

Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 came out last week, and I thought I’d take a moment to do a new post about connecting to a workplace VPN that uses Windows Server’s built in PPTP ability.  Not a lot has changed, so you can also refer to the older article here.
The process is simple, but oftentimes discovering [...]

Quick Tip: Wordpress Theme Generator

Date March 24, 2008

I was getting a little bored with the layout of Tip o’ the Day, so I clicked around a bit on del.icio.us for articles tagged with ‘wordpress’. I came across this pretty useful Wordpress Theme Generator. Check it out!

Prevent Accidental Deletion with rm -rf *

Date March 13, 2008

Spotted this tip on the programming subreddit, and I thought it was too clever not to post.
Creating a file named -i will prevent an errant rm -rf * from wiping out the directory containing it. How? The * expands -i to your command line, and your rm -rf * becomes rm -rf [...]

Open Source Gaming: Nexuiz 2.4 Released!

Date February 29, 2008

After a long wait, the latest edition of the fast-paced free and open source FPS, Nexuiz, has been released! Major updates include a new menu system, additional maps, more efficient use of memory, updated textures and graphics, and lots more.
For screenshots, video, and download see:

The Nexuiz Homepage
The Nexuiz Media Page

Download Nexuiz 2.4

How do I [...]

Whois Spam?

Date February 15, 2008

Just ran a whois on Google.com and I notice a bit of hackerspam:

Whois Server Version 2.0
Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.
GOOGLE.COM.ZZZZZ.GET.LAID.AT.WWW.SWINGINGCOMMUNITY.COM
GOOGLE.COM.ZOMBIED.AND.HACKED.BY.WWW.WEB-HACK.COM
GOOGLE.COM.YAHOO.COM.MYSPACE.COM.YOUTUBE.COM.FACEBOOK.COM.THEYSUCK.DNSABOUT.COM
GOOGLE.COM.WORDT.DOOR.VEEL.WHTERS.GEBRUIKT.SERVERTJE.NET
GOOGLE.COM.VN
GOOGLE.COM.UA
GOOGLE.COM.TW
GOOGLE.COM.TR
GOOGLE.COM.SUCKS.FIND.CRACKZ.WITH.SEARCH.GULLI.COM
GOOGLE.COM.SPROSIUYANDEKSA.RU
GOOGLE.COM.SERVES.PR0N.FOR.ALLIYAH.NET
GOOGLE.COM.SA
GOOGLE.COM.PLZ.GIVE.A.PR8.TO.AUDIOTRACKER.NET
GOOGLE.COM.MX
GOOGLE.COM.IS.NOT.HOSTED.BY.ACTIVEDOMAINDNS.NET
GOOGLE.COM.IS.HOSTED.ON.PROFITHOSTING.NET
GOOGLE.COM.IS.APPROVED.BY.NUMEA.COM
GOOGLE.COM.HAS.LESS.FREE.PORN.IN.ITS.SEARCH.ENGINE.THAN.SECZY.COM
GOOGLE.COM.DO
GOOGLE.COM.CO
GOOGLE.COM.BR
GOOGLE.COM.BEYONDWHOIS.COM
GOOGLE.COM.AU
GOOGLE.COM.ACQUIRED.BY.CALITEC.NET
GOOGLE.COM

Seems you get similar results for queries on youtube.com, yahoo.com, etc. What’s going on here?

Bare-Bones VMs — A Little Ridiculous

Date January 25, 2008

I have a couple of VPS servers at Slicehost. I highly recommend them — simple admin interface, good prices, and good performance. We’ve only seen a tiny amount of downtime in over a year, due to a DDoS attack at their datacenter. But I digress…
Many VPS hosts are in the practice of [...]