Five words I learned by watching Flashforward
Posted by Luis Gallardo in Off-Topic on 09/03/2010
Imagine the whole world black out for 2 minutes. What might be the consequences? Now image you know what is going to happen on a specific day six month on. Would you change your present to avoid or achieve that future? Is our fate written? This TV series, based on Robert J. Sawyer’s sci-fi novel of the same name, focuses on this matters and promises to become a breathtaking hit.
Besides of its interesting plot Flashforward can also help you to learn English. Just read these five words or phrases I learned:
- Flashforward = Transition (in literary or theatrical works or films) to a later event or scene that interrupts the normal chronological development of the story.
- Atone= To make reparation, compensation, or amends, for an offense or a crime. Example: How do I atone for something I haven’t done yet?
- To be loaded = (Slang) Drunk or intoxicated. Example: Why can’t you remember everything? Becuse I was loaded.
- Give up on = Lose faith in or stop believing in something or someone. Example: Bryce, don’t give up on me!
- Things go south = when the situation turns bad. Example: If things go south, you’re definitely gonna need to keep carrying a gun.
VirtualBox repositories on Debian
Posted by Luis Gallardo in Linux on 06/03/2010
If downloading VirtualBox’s binaries every time a new version comes up bothers you, you can automate the process by including VirtualBox’s repositories to your system. Here you go the steps to do so:
- Create a text file called /etc/apt/sources.list.d/virtualbox.list with the following content:
# VirtualBox Mirror deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian lenny non-free
- Download the public security key:
wget http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/sun_vbox.asc
- Add the key by typing:
apt-key add sun_vbox.asc
- Now update your packages list:
aptitude update
- Finally, if you want to update your VirtualBox, just type:
aptitude install virtualbox-3.1
Or if you want to upgrade to the latest version, just upgrade your system:
aptitude safe-upgrade
Reference
Firmware update 4.1.0 for GP2X F-100
Posted by Luis Gallardo in Linux on 04/03/2010
I haven’t grab my GP2X from a long time ago, and browsing some web pages I found out there have released several firmware updates (mine was 2.1.1) so I decided to upgrade it. Here you are how to do it:
Firmware 4.0.0 update
First of all you have to upgrade to firmware 4.0.0, otherwise your GP2X will end up as a brick:
- Download the firmware 4.0.0.
- Extract its content in the root of the SD.
- Insert the SD into the GP2X.
- Plug the AC cable to the GP2X.
- Turn the GP2X on and accept the upgrade.
Firmware 4.1.0 update
Now you can go on with the the latest firmware update::
- Download the firmware 4.1.0.
- Extract its content in the root of the SD (you must overwrite firmware 4.0.0’s files).
- Insert the SD into the GP2X.
- Plug the AC cable to the GP2X.
- Turn the GP2X on and accept the upgrade.
It doesn’t work
If you get stuck in the “NOW PATCHING” screen, try copying the files to another SD card.
Warning:
- ALWAYS upgrade using the AC cable, and NEVER using the batteries.
- The upgrade is safe, but keep in mind you are doing it at your own risk.
Five words I learned by watching 24 (season 6)
Posted by Luis Gallardo in Off-Topic on 01/03/2010
This is an addicted TV series with a lot of intrigues, action, conspiracies…and resources to learn English. Here you are five new words I learned by watching the sixth season:
- Reckless = Someone who is not responsible for his or her actions; Being careless. Example: Do not mistake being reckless with being strong.
- Tinted windows = Glasses with a slight coloration. Example: I have a visual on Gredenko’s SUV. Windows are tinted.
- Rendezvous = To meet somebody; meet at a particular place. Example: We will meet at the rendezvous point in 20 minutes
- Leverage = Strategic advantage. Example: Why would he need the circuit board?…It’s his only leverage with the Chinese.
- Truce = A temporary cessation of hostilities for negotiation or other purpose. Example: It’s time to declare a truce.
The lsof command
Posted by Luis Gallardo in Linux on 25/02/2010
Sometimes you want to eject a cd or dvd on Linux and you get an error as the one shown above. You can try to press the eject button or even to umount the unit, but it just won’t eject it. What can you do about it?
The lsof command
If you want to know which process has a resource busy, then you have to use the lsof command. With no arguments or options, lsof lists all files opened by active processes within the system. Passing a file path, lsof will show the process or application that has the file opened.
For instance, for the above example you can check out your cdrom by typing in a terminal the following:
lgallard@moody:~$ lsof /dev/cdrom COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME amarok 4269 lgallard 78r REG 11,0 2964712 9540482 /media/cdrom0/dxr/MPEG#1.mp3
So, Amarok has my cdrom unit busy (the file was paused). By closing the application or by releasing the device will let you eject the cd or dvd again.
Reversing order of PDF files
Posted by Luis Gallardo in Linux on 18/02/2010
It happened I downloaded a study guide in PDF format that was sorted in reversed, I mean, last page first and so on. The first thing that came to my mind was to use Gimp because it does import PDF files to images (each page as a layer). Even though I didn’t like the idea of sorting ever layer one by one, I though that could work. The problem came out when I tried to save the layers back to the PDF format: Gimp does not export to PDF!
Tatica suggested me to use a plugin, but there’s not such a thing [1]. After doing a research I found a lot of people[2] that had solved the issue by saving a image as a PDF using the PDF printer. But there was another problem: Gimp prints just one layer at a time! So if you PDF files has 100 pages you have to print 100 pages one by one!
The solution
At the end I realized I didn’t need Gimp at all because “the conversion” is made by the PDF printer, so I wondered: What if I use evince and print the PDF file with the reverse order option checked?…problem solved
References
Learn English online contest
Posted by Luis Gallardo in Off-Topic on 16/02/2010
Do you want to learn English for real in 2010? Then join in to this contest that Englishtown and Aprender Inglés Online blog are running where 5 English courses online will be raffled.
Joining in is too easy, just leave a comment in the following post. You can also have more chance if you have a blog and post about it.
The course you can win lasts 3 month and will let you improve your English to the next level with grammar classes, pronunciation, essays, test preparation and much more. For further info you can check out a review about this Englishtown’ s course.
In addition, if you win this wonderful English course you can give it to anyone you want to.
Remotejoy for Linux using iRShell 5
Posted by Luis Gallardo in Linux, PSP on 15/02/2010
I’ve already explained how to build remotejoy and usbhostfs for Linux, but I have to admit it could be a little tedious because you have to download and compile the PSP’s SDK, and after all these its performance is not the best (in deed some games don’t even start). But hang up there, you still have another option: remotejoy and usbhostfs for Linux using iRShell 5
Requisites
- You must install iRShell 5 on your PSP first. If you don’t have it yet, check out the Installing iRShell 5 post
- You might need the following package to display remotejoy properly:
aptitude install libsdl-sge
Installing and usage of RemoteJoy
- Download usbhostfs18 and RemoteJoy archives.
- Unzip them on your PC, for instance, into your home directory
- Now open a terminal as root and go the folder you’ve unzipped the files, for instance your home directory. Once there type this:
./usbhostfs18
- Open another terminal as a normal user (no root) and go the folder you’ve unzipped the files, for instance your home directory.Once there, type the following:
./rj_resize_mod -c -d
- Connect your PSP to the PC’s USB port.
- On your PSP, launch iRShell and choose the Toggle USBHost option
- Enjoy !!
Converting partitions from ext3 to ext4
Posted by Luis Gallardo in Linux on 12/02/2010
The new features of ext4 over ext3 motivated me to migrate my ext3 partitions to the new file system. If you want to do the same, here’s the steps yo have to follow.
Converting from ext3 to ext4
Note: The following commands must be run on not mounted partitions. If you are planning to convert your system root’s partition, do it from a livecd or a system other than yours.
In order to convert a ext3 partition, let’s say /dev/sda5, to ext4 type the following:
tune2fs -O extents,uninit_bg,dir_index /dev/sda5
After doing the above, run e2fsck on the new ext4 file system to fix any inconsistency:
e2fsck -fD /dev/sda5
The /etc/fstab file
Don’t forget to edit the /etc/fstab file by changing the partitions that will be mounted as ext4 instead of ext3:
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass> proc /proc proc defaults 0 0 /dev/sda6 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1 /dev/sda5 /home ext4 defaults 0 2 /dev/sda7 none swap sw 0 0 /dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
Ext4’s features
But the way, if you want to know what those new features are, check out the following table:
| Feature | Description |
| Large file system | Support for volumes up to 1 Exbibyte and files up to 16 tebibytes. |
| Extents | An extent is a range of contiguous physical blocks, improving large file performance and reducing fragmentation |
| Backward compatibility | The ext4 filesystem is backward compatible with ext3 and ext2, making it possible to mount ext3 and ext2 filesystems as ext4 |
| Persistent pre-allocation | The space allocated for files would be guaranteed and would likely be contiguous. The full of 0’s method is deprecated. |
| Delayed allocation | Ext4 delays block allocation until the data is going to be written to the disk.This improves performance and reduces fragmentation by improving block allocation decisions based on the actual file size. |
| Higher subdirectory limit | The number of subdirectories that a directory can contain was raised to 64,000. |
| Journal checksumming | Checksums in the journal to improve reliability is used, since the journal is one of the most used files of the disk. |
| Faster file system checking | In ext4, unallocated block groups and sections of the inode table are marked as such. This enables e2fsck to skip them entirely on a check and greatly reduces the time it takes to check a file system of the size ext4 is built to support. |
| Multiblock allocator | Ext4 allocates multiple blocks for a file in a single operation, which reduces fragmentation by attempting to choose contiguous blocks on the disk. |
| Improved timestamps | As computers become faster in general and as Linux becomes used more for mission critical applications, the granularity of second-based timestamps becomes insufficient. To solve this, ext4 provides timestamps measured in nanoseconds. |
References
- How To Upgrade From Ext3 To Ext4 Without Formatting The Hard Disk
- ext4 – Wikipedia
- man tune2fs
- man e2fsck
- Todo Linux N°103 , pages 21-24
Volume control on Xfce
Posted by Luis Gallardo in Linux on 10/02/2010
Volume control for Xfce
Xfce doesn’t come with volume control shortcuts enabled by default. In fact, in order to make it work you have to install the following package:
aptitude install xfce4-volumed
After this this every time you log in on Xfce, volume control will be enabled.
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