ITworks

New trends in Linux desktop UIs

As I see there is a solid movement to reform the user interfaces that are in use in our computers. After all the menu bars with a start menu are on the mainstream desktops since the win95/OS2 era. And the programs can be started using icons on the desktop and the start menu. For the ones who know what they are looking for there is also a command line. And there is a task bar to switch your running applications. But things ought to change with time, shouldn’t they?

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Creating for a bot for MafiaWars

I started playing MafiaWars on my last job, where I had time to spare. As it has happened in the past with me playing on a mud, when the game got repetitive I start writing tools to speed things up.When I was on the mud I used macro-enabled clients, like tintin++ to perform simple tasks for me. Since MafiaWars is a Web 2.0 application, one must emulate a web client, so things are a bit trickier than what one can achieve using a simple wget or shell-script based bot.
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Starting VirtualBox on boot

After setting up VirtalBox based virtualization on our server, I needed a way to have it automatically started and stopped whenever the host is restarted.

Also it would be for the better if the system was not simply started and stopped, but rather saved and restored when possible. I love scripting, but prefer the easy way, and since it’s a problem many have probably already tackled I sniffed around for a while.

There it was, new and shiny tool to make my day!

Starting DB2 instances on boot

After migrating our hosted application to a virtual server I realized, that as usual the system is a “maintenance free” Linux, meaning we set it up as it were and left it running for ages without touching it. On the occasion of power failure the applications were started manually.

As I don’t want to restart everything by hand, whenever our system is restarted I decided to iron these glitches out. OK, the system is only restarted about twice a year, but I tend to forget to restart things manually, so that’s the real reason.

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Migrating from physical to virtual server with pain and tears

We host the server for a legacy application in our office. Since it’s more like a favor than a real assignment we don’t care much about the server. However we had a few network issues lately, so we decided to migrate it to a virtual server running on our hosted server. Also the machine produces lot’s of heat and noise, so we’d better had it switched off.

This seemed like such an easy task to do, what could be hard in creating a disk image with CloneZilla, copy it to a server, set up a virtual machine there with kvm, restore the image and redirect all traffic to this computer instead of the one in our office. We estimated it could be done in two to three hours tops, and we get home around 7PM.

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We’ve been hacked

What could make one’s Saturday morning better, than a slight hangover? Well idling through a few mail folders, reading a few log messages and discovering that your server has been hacked for over three days is not the thing, for sure.

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Linux on Compaq Contura Aero 4/25

My dad found this puppy on the street. Someone decided to get rid of it, and put it out for grabs. Since it’s a nice compact looking machine we decided to give it a spin.

Originally the computer ran DOS, and judging from the software I found on it, it was used by someone visually challenged, for reading out text through the speaker.

Looking at the configuration I found that even though originally it is supposed to contain 4 to 8 Megs of RAM, and 84 to 250Mb HDD. It’s expanded to the last limits possible for the computer. I have 20Mb RAM with a blasting 1,3Gb HDD! Unfortunately the board only has a 486 SLC, running on a staggering 25Mhz, a 4 bit grayscale VGA adapter and a grayscale LCD with 640×480 resolution.

I HAD TO put Linux on this, no matter how slow it is to start with!

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DB2 Express-C 9.5 on Debian

For our current pet project we’ve decided to use DB2 Express-C as a database back-end. The choice is made, so our junior developers could practice their art on databases that resemble enterprise databases more than MySQL or Postgres. (We have already ruled out SAPDB/MaxDB on previous occasions.)

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