There is a natural tension between staying with "old" tested versions with known bugs and limitations and moving on to "new" versions with different bugs and new horizons to probe. There is a further bifurcation in that we use Ubuntu both on our workstations and our servers. Another is the choice to backup and do a fresh install or upgrade the existing installation. We have moved on from our former "bleeding edge syndrome" where we would try out "beta" versions routinely. Now we wait for "released" versions unless pushed by an acute condition. So we upgrade workstations first and test for a few days. Then we upgrade the backup server and watch for another few days. Finally the time comes to upgrade the front line servers. That may happen this week.

I dutifully burned "Karmic" install CDs and inserted the appropriate desktop version. The amd64 version works for most recent AMD machines, the i386 version works for the rest but if you have installed the amd64 version you must upgrade with the amd64 version. Loading the CD on a "Jaunty" machine loads the "package-manager". A smarter choice would be the "upgrade-manager". I ran "upgrade-manager -d" and it seemed to register the CD as a package source but when I clicked "Upgrade", it did it all over the Internet. The moral is don't do that over dialup.

The installation went smoothly with a few nagging "options" where the default was always the best choice. Even on a fast connection, it took a couple of hours to finish the upgrade. LSNet dialup users are welcome to bring in their box and borrow ours.

Most applcations behaved well enough with two notable exceptions. The default audio mixer does not  know how to manage external sources (line in). That can be fixed by installing "gnome-alsamixer".  Gnumeric crashes on print to file. I fixed this problem with 13 "deb" files from Debian Sid.

You can pick up free CDs at the office. Desktop CDs have a "live" option so you can take a drive without wiping out your hard disk. Neat thing about Ubuntu and Open Source Software is that you can give it away to your friends.

When I was introduced to directed graphs by "dot" in the package GraphViz, I knew I had touched something transcendant. When I delved into FreeMind, I found something transformative.

A new MindMap starts with a root node. From there you "insert" a child, after which you can "enter" a sibling or "insert" a child. The rest is commentary.

I am exploring Firewall Builder with FreeMind. Firewalls are a heady topic and conceptual clarity is a must. I'm making headway in a space I have resisted for years.

Several examples around but the Human Mind Map scratches neurons idle for some time. Some of it is a bit much for a skeptic like me but the memes in context are welcome. While working on a "white paper" on Christian Economics, I spent three days getting from the "beginning" to "property" and stalled completely on "money". We take most things for granted with hugh gaps in the map. While filling things in, we realize the fragility of common assumptions.

There is an export function to HTML. When I get a little further along, I'll post some here. If you get started on FreeMind, I'll share the source with you.

http://www.google.com/search?q="i+hate+flash"

This is the second time in two days that I have found a gem in Google Code.

Flash is one more layer to penetrate to get the stuff I am after.

There are several Firefox add-ons to bypass Flash but I found one command line script that does the job flawlessly. I can even schedule it for the 3:00AM-6:00 window  when Hughes gives me a break from the FAP.

http://webupd8.blogspot.com/2009/07/download-videos-from-various-flash.html

You can use this in Windows but it is so much easier in Ubuntu. If you do get it running in Windows left me know and I will refer you as an ubergeek to anyone needing Windows help.

tarvid@venus:~$ sudo apt-get install libwww-mechanize-perl libxml-simple-perl
tarvid@venus:~$ wget http://get-flash-videos.googlecode.com/files/get-flash-videos_1.14-1_all...
tarvid@venus:~$ sudo dpkg -i get-flash-videos_1.14-1_all.deb
tarvid@venus:~/Religion/Taize$ get_flash_videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQZgOLSiVjY

That is a really nice video for anyone but avowed fanatic atheists.

Simply the best CD DVD burning application for Windows. And it's free! Download ImgBurn from FileHippo.com

Every few weeks, we update a collection of "free" downloads for Windows. Most are available from http://filehippo.com, a few from Microsoft and a few from other sources. The current contents are:

7z904.exe                             jre-6u14-windows-i586.exe
AdbeRdr90_en_US.exe                   KompoZer 0.7.10
AdobeAIRInstaller.exe                 kompozer-0.7.10-win32.zip
adobe-svg-viewer.exe                  Miro_Installer.exe
audacity-win-unicode-1.3.8.exe        mysql-essential-5.1.36-win32.msi
autorunsc.exe                         npp.5.4.5.Installer.exe
autoruns.chm                          Opera_1000_en_b2_Setup.exe
autoruns.exe                          pidgin-2.5.8.exe
Autoruns.zip                          pidgin-microblog-0.2.0.exe
ccsetup221.exe                        RealPlayer11GOLD.exe
FileZilla_3.2.6.1_win32-setup.exe     SetupImgBurn_2.4.4.0.exe
Firefox Setup 3.5.1.exe               SkypeSetupFull.exe
gnumeric-1.9.1-win32-20080625.exe     vcredist_x86.exe
IE8-WindowsXP-x86-ENU.exe             vlc-0.9.9-win32.exe
install_flash_player_10_active_x.exe  WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe
install_flash_player_10.exe           wlsetup-custom.exe
irfanview_plugins_425_setup.exe       wmp11-windowsxp-x86-enu.exe
iview425_setup.exe                    xiphos-3.0.1-win32.exe

You can pick up a copy free at our offices in downtown Galax. We will mail one by USPS for $5. Several observations need to me made and observed.

• the entire collection or any of its components come with no warranty and fitness of use for any purpose is expressly denied.
• many different licenses apply. In no case is payment required to install and use the software. In some cases a valid Microsoft licensed installation is required.
• important programs are missing from the collection including Spybot and Avira. We will fix that for the next compilation. We may have to go to DVD instead of CD
• assuredly, some of the programs are out-of-date. I noticed Flash 11 this morning.
• intellectual investment is required. If you need help, use Google. If that isn't enough, you can request help through the contact link on the left. Your experience with any of the programs is welcome. Individual paid support is available.

We grew up struggling to form letters in Latin script. Some of us are still struggling with handwriting and, even with computers, putting a coherent sentence together. In spite of this obvious human limitation, we sustain a level of hubris and even talk about Truth (and for some - inerrancy).

I hit the wall of a different language (Spanish with fleeting attempts at Russian and French and no insignificant struggle with English) and was truly amazed when communication actually seemed possible. But dealing with Cyrillic restored modesty.

We are reminded of our hubris and vanity by the 40th Anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's walk on the moon. The camera present at the moon walk was capable of better resolution than television sets at the time (NTSC)  (with all due respect for Phil T. Farnsworth). But only recently have we appreciated that what we see is only an approximation of what is "really" there. The screen I am looking at renders text in a 1650x1050 matrix. My eyes are sufficiently tired that I am painfully aware that what I see is only a clumsy approximation of what I think.

Getting back to Rodon, I found myself there because they have a collection of Taize in mp3 format. After downloading, the fingerprints generated by Picard match those at Taize.  This is how the boys at RIAA know what you and I are downloading.

Obviously, getting from thought to the page (codex) and from reality to the image depends on sophisticated intellectual (and cultural) activity. Getting there efficiently is a matter of semiotics. Almost makes me with I had paid more attention in Psychology class.

I am indebted to Henry S. Hsiao for this juicy morsel of wisdom, "The secret is in the codec."

It is time to restore the pillory for technical malfeasance.

This was a mistake, Several mistakes, Egregious mistakes. And ,,, fatal mistakes.

1. In any control system of consequence, changes in state should be logged. The DC Metro system divided the routes into blocks and placed sensors in each block to detect the presence of a car. When 6 sensors were examined after the fact, 5 appeared to work and one failed.

Trains do not disappear. If one sensor records, say 40 trains a day and adjacent sensors record 45, something is wrong and speed should be reduced and control returned to the engineer. No train should be permitted to enter a suspect block.

This is not a programming error although any programmer involved should have had compassion for the people involved and should have complained loudly about the architecture of the system. Every programmer ever connected with the system should be pilloried for rush hours for a week. Instead of acting on their responsibility for the safety of the end users of their work, they cashed their paychecks and participated in a system that forbid trains to crash. That is, they accepted the system goal of collision prevention.

Not that avoiding collisions is not a worthy goal. Automobiles that could sense objects in their path and apply brakes would undoubtedly save lives. But consider a system that would take your foot off the gas when the highway segment in front of you is congested. Put another way, consider a system that permits you to drive when you are demonstrably sober vs. one that forbids you to drive when you are perceptibly impaired. In the first case you are inconvenienced when the system fails to detect you as sober but in the second case failure implies mortal peril.

The architects chose chose the paradigm, "what is not forbidden is permitted' and had the gall to call it "fail safe". Fail safe systems follow the rule, "what is not permitted is forbidden". I propose the pillory for a week.

But where were the system managers? We know where they are now - they are looking for someone to blame, scouring the cell phone records of the young engineer who lost her life in the accident. For them, I would move the pillory into the lead car. Maybe with a stock of rotten potatoes.

In some cases user "1" had to be changed to perform the updates. Most users have a separate administrative username and password. If you have problems logging in please use the Contact link on the left.

The first problem is that CDs and DVDs don't have a unique volume ID. Often one will have more than one CD with the same volume name, either because they made two or more copies or because the volume name is the default made by the CD writing program. There is an ISO like time stamp in the first part of every data CD and DVD (which are data cds, audio cds are raw and do not have the header).

I started the search by copying the first 100 "blocks" from a CD.

dd if=/dev/cdrom1 of=cdpart count=10

Next I dumped cdpart using "hexdump".

hexdump -C cdpart | less

Examing the output I found

00000000  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*
00008000  01 43 44 30 30 31 01 00  4c 49 4e 55 58 20 20 20  |.CD001..LINUX   |
00008010  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  |                |
00008020  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  56 65 6e 75 73 2d 32 30  |        Venus-20|
00008030  30 37 31 31 32 37 20 20  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  |071127          |
00008040  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |        ........|
00008050  d5 a0 02 00 00 02 a0 d5  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00008060  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00008070  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  01 00 00 01 01 00 00 01  |................|
00008080  00 08 08 00 08 04 00 00  00 00 04 08 14 00 00 00  |................|
00008090  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 16  00 00 00 00 22 00 1c 00  |............"...|
000080a0  00 00 00 00 00 1c 00 38  00 00 00 00 38 00 45 0c  |.......8....8.E.|
000080b0  1f 13 00 00 ec 02 00 00  01 00 00 01 01 00 20 20  |..............  |
000080c0  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  |                |
*
00008230  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  20 20 20 20 20 20 47 45  |              GE|
00008240  4e 49 53 4f 49 4d 41 47  45 20 49 53 4f 20 39 36  |NISOIMAGE ISO 96|
00008250  36 30 2f 48 46 53 20 46  49 4c 45 53 59 53 54 45  |60/HFS FILESYSTE|
00008260  4d 20 43 52 45 41 54 4f  52 20 28 43 29 20 31 39  |M CREATOR (C) 19|
00008270  39 33 20 45 2e 59 4f 55  4e 47 44 41 4c 45 20 28  |93 E.YOUNGDALE (|
00008280  43 29 20 31 39 39 37 2d  32 30 30 36 20 4a 2e 50  |C) 1997-2006 J.P|
00008290  45 41 52 53 4f 4e 2f 4a  2e 53 43 48 49 4c 4c 49  |EARSON/J.SCHILLI|
000082a0  4e 47 20 28 43 29 20 32  30 30 36 2d 32 30 30 37  |NG (C) 2006-2007|
000082b0  20 43 44 52 4b 49 54 20  54 45 41 4d 20 20 20 20  | CDRKIT TEAM    |
000082c0  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  |                |
*
00008320  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  20 20 20 20 20 32 30 30  |             200|
00008330  37 31 31 32 37 31 30 35  31 34 32 30 30 ec 32 30  |7112710514200.20|
00008340  30 37 31 31 32 37 31 30  35 31 34 32 30 30 ec 30  |07112710514200.0|
00008350  30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30  30 30 30 30 30 30 30 00  |000000000000000.|
00008360  32 30 30 37 31 31 32 37  31 30 35 31 34 32 30 30  |2007112710514200|
00008370  ec 01 00 20 20 20 20 20  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  |...             |
00008380  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  |                |
*
00008570  20 20 20 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |   .............|
00008580  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*

The string beginning in line 00008020 is the volume name. That is useful too, but there is an easy way to get it. The 16 character string beginning on line 00008320 is the ISO date the CD was created. The format is yyyymmddhhmmssxx where xx is fractions of a second and usually 00.

There exists a Linux command volname which will extract the volume name.

Armed with this information I can write a simple "bash" (Bourne Again Shell) script to output the ISO timestamp and volume name.

#/bin/bash
echo -e `dd if=/dev/cdrom1 bs=1 skip=33581 count=16 2>/dev/null`'\t'`volname /dev/cdrom1` |tee -a cds.tdf

We start with a "comment" which tells which "interpreter" to use when executing the script.

"echo" prints the stuff produced by the script.

"-e" says we are going to embed special print formatting characters in the command (e.g. '\t').

The subcommands are enclosed in back ticks (quote marks that slope the other way. That is the key above the tab key on most keyboards.

The first subcommand is "dd" - dump data. The input file is /dev/cdrom1 - actually the cd/dvdrw drive in my system.The output is going to be fed to "echo". Our block size is one byte (default is 512). The isodate is 33,581 characters into the CD/DVD. I confess I did a little "hunting" to find the correct decimal equivalent to the address in the hexdump. The iso timestamp is 16 bytes long. The command will output some other info and "2>?dev/null" sends that to the bit bucket. Now we have the reason for the "-e", I want to print a tab character next. T^ab delimited files import nicely into most programs like spreadsheets where I intend to elaborate the entries in some cases.

Next we invoke the second subcommand "volname" which prints the volume name. I run this through "tee" with the -a option so this script both prints on the screen and appends to the file "cds.txt".

Now I can put a CD in cdrom drive #1, wait for the little green light to go out and run the script which I have named "whatis". Eject that disk and repeat with as many as I have tolerance for at the moment. The result looks like this:

2009042120022100	Ubuntu 9.04 i386 
2007010401573900	KNOPPIX 
2009033009330400	GLOBAL_ONENESS_PROJECT_VOL_2 
2008061111275600	UBCD4Windows 
2007112710514200	Venus-20071127 
2009033009330400	GLOBAL_ONENESS_PROJECT_VOL_2 
2009033009330400	GLOBAL_ONENESS_PROJECT_VOL_2 
2008112621292500	tosh_m30 
1998121414022900	SPSS90CD 
2009013016044700	NB65_DVD_0109 

I can open that file directly in Gnumeric, Excel and OpenOffice are clumsy, and add the additional information such as where I am going to put the CDs and a quick note when the volume name is not adequate.

If you made it this far, you should have learned a little "geek speak" and maybe even a reason to exp[lore Linux.

I backed up my desktop at home (mostly), took it out to the shop and blew out all the accumulated crud with an air compressor and packed it my car along with a few other projects.

At work I downloaded the latest version, placed a new DVD blank in the DVD-RW drive, chose the "iso" and clicked "write to disk". Nothing. Often a reboot helps, so I restart the machine and ... nothing. I pull the plug, wait for a few seconds and power up. Nothing. Finally I remove the blank DVD, power up and try again. Same story. This machine will not boot with a blank DVD in the drive. I repeat the exercise a few more times and finally resign myself to replacing the DVD drive.

This time it works and I start burning the "iso". This is going to take a few minutes so I surf the web for installation stories. Even the ones that reported eventual success indicated this might be a bad idea. But "fools rush in".

The base installation goes much better than the horror stories so I start the updates. There is a new kernel so I reboot after the updates and ... ugly video and no sound. Even worse, the little widget that downloads and installs the proprietary drivers disappeared.

I want some drivers and codecs which are not in the base installation so I go through the usual process of downloading and installing the stuff that plays DVDs, decodes AVIs and DIVxs. I also want to do some development work so I download and install build-essential and devscripts.

It is time to go home (the promise of ribs keeps me on schedule). I hook up the machine to the big LCD and ... nothing. I hook up the little LCD and their are a few encouraging flickers and flashes. I can even log in but ... still no sound and ugly video.

I reread the installation stories and while avoiding much of their gloom, I realize I must install the proprietary drivers for the NVIDIA chipset. But I can't see anything. Fortunately, Ubuntu lets you drop into a command line window and I install "nvidia-glx-180". There are several others but the numbers are smaller than 180. A reboot and the little LCD works. Remove the little LCD and finally everything works, video, sound, everything.

But it is slow. I tweak the desktop a bit and it is slower.

I realilze I now have a machine that is running the latest real time kernel, has an ugly desktop and is excruciatingly slow. I'll reload Gnome today.

If you get the same urge, be very quiet and maybe you'll hear tarvid whisper in your ear "Don't do it. Please."