KDE 3.5

Finally, I was able to upgrade the stock KDE installed with Slackware from 3.4 to 3.5!

I just downloaded all KDE-related packages (about 190MB) from linuxpackages.net and did an updatepkg for all of them. X should not be loaded at the time. The upgrade took about 5 minutes.

There’s not much change between the two versions, except that when you look at the splash screen it shows that the version number is different. My settings are still in effect, and the menu remains as is.

What’s next? Kernel update?

Gentoo Results

I tried installing Gentoo Linux a few days ago, and this is what happened.

During install, I was adamant to do the stage 1 – or the ‘compile-everything-from-source’ — option, since I do not have the time to download everything at the moment. I settled for stage 3 — files existing within the distribution CD are the ones used to set up the system.

The files that were installed from the CD went without a hitch. However, when time came to get packages from the ‘net, I encountered an error.

Maybe it was related to a package that was being downloaded at the moment (it might have failed checksum verification), but nevertheless the installation was stopped and there was no option to recover from the error.

I’m back to slackware on my machine right now. I’ll just try the install process at some other time.

Install Notes for Extra Packages (Slackware)

1. When installing OpenOffice 2.0.3 in a Slackware Linux system, get the .tgz file from www.linuxpackages.net. The available set of install files from the OpenOffice.org site is a collection of rpms, which when I tried installing, gave an error telling me that /bin/sh was not found (though it really is present in my machine).

2. Picasa for Linux is actually the Windows version configured to run using wine. Quite ingenious feat, but I resent the fact that a Windows binary is residing in my Linux machine.

3. Audacity is created to run on a GNOME-based environment. Since Slackware 10.2 eliminated everything related to GNOME from its install tree, I have trouble making Audacity run on my machine.

4. Rosegarden (a MIDI composer application) requires that the kernel is customized for low-latency-requiring processes. Since my system uses a stock Slackware Linux kernel, a warning is displyed everytime I start Rosegarden.

5. K3b (a CD-burning frontend for KDE) requires several libraries that are not in the stock Slackware installation. I’d have to download them as well in order to make K3b run. During program start, it immediately notified me that the current user does not have root priveleges, and offered an option to run a setup program to fix the problem. However, I’m wondering why when I select the option that would run the setup program, nothing happens. I tried reinstalling the packages after encountering  problem with K3bSetup, and then things went well.

Trying out Gentoo

This morning I was able to install OpenOffice, Picasa, K3b, Rosegarden, and a slew of other libraries to further customize my Linux box.

However, in terms of getting optimized software for my computer, I could say that not all have been compiled for an i686-level processor (I have an AMD Athlon XP processor).

So here I am trying out Gentoo, a ‘metadistribution’ as the developers would call it. I can have the option to boot from the LiveCD I’ve just downloaded and install a clean Linux system by downloading the source to the packages I need and compiling everything.

I’ve booted the LiveCD (I’m using it to post this message). Shortly I’ll try compiling everything.

I hope things would go well. 

Morphing, all of a sudden…

Suddenly I’m on the process of customizing the installed apps on my Linux box. I’m not confined anymore to the stock install of Slackware 10.2.

I just finished downloading OpenOffice — all 120Mb of it! I find it far better than other office suites (KOffice comes to mind) for Linux. I already got Picasa for Linux as well. Audacity would be next (so that I could edit ringtones for my mobile phone).

I might as well be upgrading all packages to the latest release. My main target would be to upgrade to KDE 3.5 — I haven’t figured out how to do it yet, with all the applications and libraries that come with that desktop environment.

I’ll be posting notes as I go along.

Configuring eth0 in Slackware

When I was configuring my DSL connection in Linux early this morning, I stumbled on one little problem: my ethernet card is detected by Linux, but it is not configured. This was due to the fact that my internet connection is ppp-based, meaning that I need a conventional modem to be able to connect to the ‘net.

Of course I can do it the traditional way, via ifconfig, then add the necessary routes through route. However, there’s an easier way for Slackware, and that’s

netconfig

It presents a dialog-based configuration screen that would perform all the necessary settings similar to what is done with ifconfig and route.

After rebooting my system, all’s well, and I’m off to my regular ‘net activities.

DSL! Wohoo!

I did not go to work today.

Imagine my surprise when somebody called and told me that they would be installing the DSL modem in our house! I remember I told them to come either Saturday or Monday, so I wasn’t really expecting any call from PLDT by this time.

Talk about coincidence.

Now the effective rate (as tested from www.2wire.com) is around 690Kbps. Sweet!

Perl it is!

I’ve come to a decision — i’ll be doing the code using Perl!

I got the Llama book – Learning Perl to those outside the Perl world. I hope that getting myself on serious mode would let me produce the needed code at a much shorter time.

Well as they say, When there’s a will, there’s a way.

Perl, Python, Perl, Python…

I’m planning to write a script that would be most useful to my current project at work.

However, I’m at a dilemma. I’m torn between learning something to get the job easily done and learning something that could be of use to me in future projects.

Could somebody help me decide, please?

Bug!

A really simple bug was found today on a module I handled in a previous project. I really hate it when that happens — once you thought you’ve already wiped them out, then something comes out in the most inopportune moment.

Quite embarrassing really — at least I am not the only one to blame — the testing group wasn’t able to find out about the bug when the codes were being checked.

Oh well… Nothing to do but move on and do better the next time around. At least that’s what I’ve learned over the years that I’ve been with computers. I was taking them bugs personally when I first started working — now I just shrug it off and add it to my list of gotchas for the next project.

I’m getting sleepy… Time to hit the sack with my wife and son.

DSL connection in the works

Still not feeling 100%, so I decided to stay home and take an extra day of rest. I’m coughing a lot less now, but I still feel a bit feverish.

While surfing the net for the latest news (I haven’t bought any broadsheet for several years already), my wife reminded me of our plans to try out DSL. So I called up PLDT to apply for the service. Unlike the people I talked to when requesting for our phone line to be repaired, the one attending to my request sounded pleasant and seemed not to be irritated when answering my questions.

The whole process was over in less than 30 minutes. A service request number was given to me for reference purposes, and I was told that somebody would be checking our area if a DSL connection would be feasible. I was told that the whole process would take anywhere from 1-2 weeks (as if I don’t know that it took my parents almost a month to have theirs set up).

The only thing I’m worried about right now is the service after DSL has been installed. Would it be like what we’ve experienced with our phone line?

I hope not, or I’d be a lot more pissed.

Sick

I’m not feeling well today. Actually, it’s been a whole week already. Monday, my migraine made me grumpy for most of the day. Tuesday, I got a runny nose. Wednesday, I felt like I’ll be having a fever, which carried on until Friday. Then this morning, as if things aren’t worse enough, my throat started getting itchy and now I’ve got a cold and I’ve developed a knack for imitating a dog’s bark.

Today my son and I are spending most of the day together. I hope he won’t catch the virus from me.

We’ll be having sinigang for dinner. Maybe I’ll take in lots of the broth to try to loosen out the stuff building inside my nose.

48Kbps at last!

A serviceman from PLDT called up this morning and informed me that he’ll be coming over to check on our phone line. He came at about 11am and check the little box that connects our phone line to that bigger box in the street post.

Apparently it wasn’t our primary line (the wire that connects our phone unit to that little box) that caused the problem but the secondary line (which connects that little box to the street post). He switched connections in that bigger box and voila, the line was clean, my connection rate is now 48Kbps.

The one who previously fixed our line may have not done a good job at making that connection, causing the problem on our side.

All’s well that ends well, everything’s back to normal.

Now about that DSL connection…

Trying out DSL

I’m here at my parents’ place, taking my son out for a visit — it’s been almost a month since he last saw his grandparents.

I got to try out their DSL connection, and boy it’s really fast!

I’m writing this post while downloading a torrent of FreeBSD 6.1’s ISO images — 500Mb in an hour!

Must… get… DSL…

I Believe In You And Me

My wife and I spent some time last night watching The Preacher’s Wife over popcorn after our son went to sleep. We’ve had a VCD of the movie a few months back and it’s just now that we’re able to watch it. I’ve seen the movie before (while I was on business trip in Japan a few years back) and I liked the movie so much that I’d want my wife to see it as well.

It’s about a preacher whose marriage is about to fall apart mainly because he was too busy taking care of his church. He asked for help from God, and an angel came to him. Although he didn’t believe it, the angel would proceed to do everything to help him get his marriage back. Things took a twist when, during a ‘date’ he set up for the preacher and his wife, the preacher backed out and asked the angel to go and take his wife out because he was too busy taking care of other people. The angel fell in love with the preacher’s wife, and the wife appears to feel the same way. The twist got resolved when the wife’s mother sensed something is starting to develop between the angel and the wife. The angel relented with his feelings, and started to continue with his duty of helping them regain their marriage. Everything ended well, the angel was able to do his duty and the preacher and his wife became the sweet couple they used to be.

Quite an ordinary story, right? What struck me in the movie was one scene during that date (where the preacher stood up his wife) where Whitney Houston sang “I Believe In You and Me” in a small music bar, at the insistence of a musician/friend who knew that she sang the tune while she and the preacher were still going out together.

That scene stuck in my mind because I think what the wife did was so sweet — so much that I’ve dreamed of somebody doing it for me some time in my life. I haven’t recalled telling my wife about that, but it would really mean a lot if somebody really special to me did something like that.

While my wife and I were watching last night, she asked me if I’ve wacthed the movie before. I told her yes, I ‘ve seen it before and I really like that scene where Whitney sang in the bar. I also told her that aside from that bar scene, I liked the way how the movie treated marriage, that it’s something that you’re supposed to honor and protect for the rest of your life. She just replied, “Ok.”

Well she wasn’t able to finish the movie — she fell asleep on the last 30 minutes of it. I don’t know if she got bored with it or was just too tired.

I did. Even now after sleeping and waking up in the morning, I could still hear Whitney’s voice singing the song.

I believe In you and me
I believe that we will be
In love eternally
Well as far as I can see
You will always be the one
For me (Oh yes, you will)

And I believe in dreams again
I believe that love will never end
And like the river finds the sea
I was lost, now I’m free
’cause I believe In you and me

I will never leave your side
I will never hurt your pride
When all the chips are down, baby
Then I will always be around
Just to be right where you are
My love, you know I love you, boy

I will never leave you out
I will always let you in, boy (mmm, oh baby)
To places no-one’s ever been,
Deep inside, can’t you see?
That I believe in you and me

Maybe I’m a fool
To feel the way I do
I will play the fool forever
Just to be with you forever

I believe in miracles
And love is the miracle
And yes, baby you’re my dream come true
I was lost, now I’m free,
Oh, baby ’cause i believe, i do believe, in you and me
See, I was lost, now I’m free
’cause I believe in you and me.

I’m getting really annoyed…

33.2Kbps and dropping…

It’s been several days since that *put expletive of choice here* people from PLDT went to our house and ‘fixed’ our phone line. Ever since they were able to make our phone ‘work’ again (as far as voice calls are concerned), they haven’t shown up to completely fix the mess our phone line has been into.

Several calls to phone support isn’t really helping at all…

My ISP isn’t playing nice as well… Lately I’ve been playing the waiting game when connecting via dialup. I’m not really sure if they’re aware of the problem. Either they’re stupid enough not to know or stupid enough to ignore it.

I’m a bit on the unstable side right now. Better finish this post before I type in some more undesireable words.