My mother is a music teacher. In 2003, looking for educational software we came across GCompris, and she liked it a lot. At the time she tested it thoroughly, and spotted a typo. We submitted a patch, and were having fun when it was applied upstream.

Recently she asked me how she could "give GCompris to a friend". I gave this problem some thought, and came to the conclusion that the best way might be to use a USB stick with some live distro with GCompris.

I bought a 2 GB USB stick with the latest Knoppix pre-installed for less than 10 Euro. With the included package manager I installed GCompris. I noticed that its optional dependencies (tuxpaint, gnucap and gnuchess) didn't get pulled in, and installed them as well.

Voilà, GCompris on a USB stick. Works perfectly. :)

If we bundle books on mathematics, physics, chemistry, English and so on with various Linux
distributions could we then help the world population to educate themselves?

With standard common books there are various possibilities for social interactions like emerging
forums. So if the user gets stuck on page nine he could probably get the help from others in any time of the day.

One neat feature of an electronic book is the possibility to link information. Here we could have
approved informative comments for those boring math books.

Further, the use of a creative commons type license could mean that the books improves over time.

If we do this we will forever change the way we look at an operating system.

I've done some tinkering of some embedded laptop wireless adapters and uncovered some interesting things. Of course, the process is still tricky, however with a little common sense, this process can actually be made simple.

I performed these tests using the ubuntu 10.10 liveCD. There is a benefit to using this for testing. Whatever you do on the liveCD is never saved, and I like this very much. Well this is how testing should be done. You have a way to resort back to default settings without performing extra steps. Speed, again, is my life force. The more speed, the more you can get done, and the less you have to do.

I've used a Toshiba Satellite notebook with an AMD dual core processor 64bit. One of the special features of this system is that you do not need to download the wireless driver b34 broadcom. The connection the my companies wi-fi was seamless. Even after dis-connecting and re-connecting, the process was still simple. This was compared to my home wireless router.

At home, of course, security is the all time priority. Not just the internet. The security settings I come to like are the WPA/WPA2 personal encryption. Connecting required a password and SSID. Once connected, system functions. However, re-connecting became a problem. The router physically was fine, yet I noticed some flaws in the security settings.

As I said before, I'm using the WPA/WPA2 authentication method. In addition, WEP was being used. One was authentication and the other was for encryption. Interesting enough, WPA/WPA2 was also an option for encryption. I set both authentication and encryption modes to WPA/WPA2 personal and changed my password. After re-connecting several times, everything worked.

Here is my conclusion, when connecting wireless to a secured router, all authentication settings must be coherent, meaning properly configured. Linux does not like to guess what you want to use. Using one particular authentication method should be the primary. In other words, use one authentication mode. 

For Wi-Fi, this is not much of a problem. Public Wi-Fi are usually configured correctly. All it takes a few mouse clicks to achieve service. This also means agreeing to the terms policy.

To sum it up, when setting up a secured infrastructure router, use one authentication method. The same applies to Wi-Fi setup. Sticking to these standards, you should not have much trouble being mobile.

it’s high time that all environmentalists (from big organizations to single people) start to realize, better and on a much larger scale than we’ve seen so far, how important it is to have a real understanding of ICT issues (and to use FOSS/open formats) if you really want to protect the environment. Dear Green Activists, please start to take FOSS and file formats seriously.

What's the right answer to a programmer that tells you "I don’t even care much for people who use Open Source Software that they didn’t pay and then demand to be treated as those who paid something"? Here's mine.

I am a long time Nokia sufferer...  I love the N series.

First a N770 found it's way into my daily life, then a N810 for a few years..., which is now mounted in my car and tethers to my... N900 in my pocket & with me everywhere.

You might say that I like the N series Nokia device alot....it's a full blown Linux computer in my pocket.

At the same time, I think that Nokia sends a strong message that they hate us Nseries users but.....

Now, they are proving it...trying to imagine what is going to happen to Maemo and  Meego... after the Microsoft Nokia deal.

Maybe an Android is in my future?  Maybe even a 7" tablet..I can use Google Voice and Skype....

I will NEVER carry a Win-mo device... Never Ever.....not even for free...not even for a large monthly payment made directly to my Swiss bank account....

Someone said it best...   2 Chickens do not make an Eagle......

:-(

After few comments on my previous blog related on how to manually clone a Virtual Machine from the shell I've decided to write a simple script to do everything automatically. Maybe this could be useful for newbies but basically it reproduces all the information reported on my latest blog.

There's no rocket science here and I've tried to keep the script simple and hackable for anyone, it required me some time (less than 1h) due to my poor sed knowledge, I've taken it as an exercise to improve my sed capabilities.

As in open source feel free to improve or modify it as you wish, send me an updated copy so I can publish your best version as well, error checking it's quite simple now. You may input absolute or relative paths but there're few limitations around.

Basic Usage:

VMCopy <old name> <new name>
oldname is the name of the directory with original VMWare files
newname is the name of the directory with newly created VMWare files

simple, isn't it ?

Here's the script:

#!/bin/bash
#
# @name    VMCopy - Copy/Clone a VMWARE Virtual machine with a new name
#
# @author  Andrea Benini (Ben)
# @since   2011-02
# @website http://www.linux.com
# @email   andrea benini (at domain name) gmail [DoT] com
# @package Use it to get a physical copy of an existing machine,  no snapshots or
#          VMWare tools involved in this operation, it's a plain text bash script
# @require This tool should be portable to many UNIX platforms, it just requires:
#          sed, dirname, basename, md5sum, $RANDOM (shell variable)  and few more
#          shell builtins commands
#
# @license GPL v2  AND  The Beer-ware License
#          See GPL details from http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html
#          "THE BEER-WARE LICENSE" (Revision 43)
#          Andrea Benini wrote this file.  As long as you retain this notice you
#          can do whatever you want with this stuff. If you make modification on
#          the file please leave author notes on it, if you improve/alter/modify
#          it please send me an updated copy by email.  If we meet some day, and
#          you think this stuff is worth it, you can buy me a beer in return.
#                                                                  Andrea Benini
#
SOURCEPATH=$(dirname "$1")
TARGETPATH=$(dirname "$2")
SOURCEMACHINE=$(basename "$1")
TARGETMACHINE=$(basename "$2")

if [[ $# -ne 2 ]]; then
    echo -e "$0  "
    echo -e "    Copies a VMWare virtual machine"
    echo "     and  are names"
    echo "    of the machine you'd like to copy and the new destination name"
    echo ""
    exit
fi

exec 2> /dev/null
echo "VMCopy - VMWare Virtual Machines cloner"
echo "       - Copying source machine '$SOURCEMACHINE' with the new name '$TARGETMACHINE'..."
rm -rf "$TARGETPATH/$TARGETMACHINE"
cp -R "$SOURCEPATH/$SOURCEMACHINE" "$TARGETPATH/$TARGETMACHINE"

echo "       - Removing unnecessary files for '$TARGETMACHINE'"
rm -f "$TARGETPATH/$TARGETMACHINE"/*.log

echo "       - Renaming files for '$TARGETMACHINE'"
for OLDNAME in "$TARGETPATH/$TARGETMACHINE"/*; do
    NEWNAME=${OLDNAME/$SOURCEMACHINE/$TARGETMACHINE}
    mv -f "$OLDNAME" "$NEWNAME"
done

echo "       - Remapping Hard Disks for the new machine"
ls "$TARGETPATH/$TARGETMACHINE"/*.vmdk | grep -v -e "-s....vmdk" | while read DISKNAME; do
    sed -i "s/$SOURCEMACHINE/$TARGETMACHINE/g" "${DISKNAME}"
done

echo "       - Changing resource files (if any)"
if [[ -f "$TARGETPATH/$TARGETMACHINE/$TARGETMACHINE.vmxf" ]]; then
    sed -i "s/$SOURCEMACHINE/$TARGETMACHINE/g" "$TARGETPATH/$TARGETMACHINE/$TARGETMACHINE.vmxf"
fi

echo "       - Changing $TARGETMACHINE.vmx file"
# Massive character substitutions
sed -i "s/$SOURCEMACHINE/$TARGETMACHINE/g" "$TARGETPATH/$TARGETMACHINE/$TARGETMACHINE.vmx"
# Change ethernet mac addresses
MACADDRESSES=`cat "$TARGETPATH/$TARGETMACHINE/$TARGETMACHINE.vmx"|grep "generatedAddress ="| sed -e "s/.*=."//" -e "s/"//"`
REGEXP="[0-9 A-Z a-z][0-9 A-Z a-z]"
for OLDMAC in $MACADDRESSES; do
    NEWMAC=$(echo $RANDOM$RANDOM |md5sum| sed -r 's/(..)/1:/g; s/^(.{17}).*$/1/;')
    sed -i "s/$OLDMAC/$NEWMAC/" "$TARGETPATH/$TARGETMACHINE/$TARGETMACHINE.vmx"
done

echo -e "       - Operation Complete, '$TARGETMACHINE' cloned successfully"

Share your ideas

If you find errors or you'd like to change some parts let me know, share your ideas to improve the script, I'll always post here the improved version

In January 2011 Italian newspaper Repubblica published an article that, from its very title, sends the message hacker = computer criminal, and hints that every online download is piracy, be it music or software (quoting, of course, the Business Software Alliance...) The truth is that a lot of illegal installations of proprietary software in families, schools and small businesses only happen because they are forced to do so by lack of laws imposing open standards.

As all Linux enthusiast Software Developers , since graduation we have been studying and working with QT Library and Framework. to Develop under Linux and deploy on Windows and Mac. 

We were waiting for one thing from Nokia, it's to have there own Desktop Distribution of Linux, they can Call it QTOS and Embedded OS. as Red Hat has Fedora, and Novell has SUSE, even if they call it Nokia Linux. that will get all Linux crowds interested in them.

 But after the news about the deal between Nokia and Microsoft, which makes us afraid to go farther with QT as Nokia have to put out what are there planes for QT Library.

 It was nice to see QT grow up with us, and now it dose look as one of strongest Development platform, the right step should be more security for QT Software Developers, and Advertise it in Universities, and the CEO of Nokia should mark safety for Developers.

 One time Steve Ballmer CEO of Microsoft, in one of his conferences was repeating "Developers , Developers, Developers " for almost several minutes setting the important position developers play . investing on Developers it's what made Microsoft be number one and the fastest option for business solutions and Development.

Most Software Developers will come throw Visual Studio in some way or another throw there study or work , so it's easy for them to start developing for Mobiles from day one, as they are familiar with the SDK Development platform.

 But it will take Developers some time to learn how to use the new OS, GUI , and Development and Deployment. as if we look at what is happening on IPhone, Android .. We hope that Nokia keeps the best support for Developers and not made the mistake of leaving what they have been investing on, the only things they need is to advertise there QT Creator, and they will be number one on Desktop and Mobiles, and all other mobile companies will follow them into having there OS or QT Development, instead of having software invading the Nokia hardware.

An update for Pinguy OS 10.04 LTS was released today: 10.04.2. For those who are not familiar with Pinguy OS: it's an Ubuntu remaster with a lot of useful default applications "built to have eye candy (Gloobus Preview, GNOME Do, Docky, Nautilus Elementary) and for every part of it to be user-friendly". It comes with a lot of applications we've featured on WebUpd8 so if you want a ready-to-use Linux distro, you should really try Pinguy OS. I like to call it "Ubuntu after a week of customization" but lately it's getting way past "a week".

Pinguy OS 10.04.2 comes with some of the features from 10.10 that were missing in 10.04 like the Sound Menu applet or the new Ubuntu Software Center. Pinguy OS also comes with a new default application: TeamViewer 6, a popular application for remote control, desktop sharing and file transfer between computers.

Full story: Pinguy OS LTS Update: 10.04.2 [Ubuntu Remaster]