Category Archives: OSS

Open Source related

Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty – muted sound on login solved.

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I have a fresh install of Ubuntu 9.04, Jaunty on a Lenovo T60 and since the beginning sound was muted after login.  The drum roll happen at the GDM login screen but no login sound.  Yesterday I eventually found a solution for it.

The solution was comment out line 372 in /etc/init.d/alsa-utils.  The line in question was ‘mute_and_zero_levels “$TARGET_CARD” || EXITSTATUS=1’. Just this small change has solved the issue for me. 

Now to be honest, I have no idea what the purpose of this line is and whether any other issues might crop up by commenting out this line.  Well, sofar I have found no regressions by commenting out the line.

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Why UbuntuOne if I have Dropbox?

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There is a lot of talk going on about UbuntuOne.  All I have to say is that the Ubuntu trademark belongs to Canonical and they can do with it what they want to.  Also they are a business and surely they have the right to make money, and if that is by using their own trademark, why not.

However today I want to ask why I should use UbuntuOne instead of DropBox.  I have not used UbuntuOne yet, still waiting on my invite, so this is based on what I have read.  UbuntuOne only support Linux and to be more specific Ubuntu.  Also I could not gather how seamless it is integrated into Nautiuls.  I have been using Dropbox now for a while and has just worked perfectly.  I can share files with Windows and/or Mac users.  When I run out of my free space on Dropbox I can upgrade and it seems to be cheaper than what UbuntuOne offers.

Dropbox is not perfect.  I would like to see better KDE support .. yes one can get it working but it is not nicely integrated.  Also I would like to see the possibility to sync more than one folder.

So for the time being I am a happy Dropbox user.

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RSS Feed update – 4 November 2007

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It is Sunday evening and it is raining cats and dogs here in Cape Town. Not that I complain about the rain but I had enough.  Summer where are you?

Some things a busy changing on the work front.  More about it later when things are finalized.  Suffice to say that I am currently doing 2 jobs.

Onto tidbits from my RSS reader:

What the new Greenpoint stadium will look like:
Sky View of the Stadium

RWC DDay-1 and Ubuntu 7.10

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One day to go to the Rugby World Cup final between South Africa and England.  What can I say that has not been said before?  I, just like each and every South African out there, say that we will win the cup.  However what worries me is this over optimism. Is this a good thing?  It is good to be optimistic and patriotic, but we need to be realistic also.  This is not just another test match.  There is much more riding on this game.  For the next 4 years the team that win this will be known as the World Champions, does not matter how bad they are or how many games they loose after this one.  We also know what happened in the previous World Cup.  Emotions and big match temperament play such a big role in this.

Yesterday Ubuntu 7.10 was let loose on the public.  It is a great release and if you have not tried Linux then give this a spin.  It is worthwhile and at the same time you can say you moving away from the buggy Microsoft software.  Read here and here all about the features and some about the community that build it.  Congrats to the whole Ubuntu team and community that got a great release out the door again.

Something about this great city I live and work in.  Here is an aerial photo of Cape Town when the building of the new Greenpoint stadium was started.
Wow!!!

RSS Feed update – 4 October 2007

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Just returned from a business trip to Johannesburg and I have to wade through more than 4700 RSS items in my feedreader.  As you can imagine, I am just going to mark a lot as read and skip over them.

Here is some that I did not skip over.

Today’s photo is an amazing eruption of a volcano:

Credit & Copyright: Patrick Taschler

Traffic Jam and RSS feed update – 26 September 2007

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Sir Lowry Traffic

The photo on the left was a traffic jam we ran into coming down Sir Lowrypass just before Somerset West.  Luckily I was not in a hurry and I must say that I was impressed with the behavior of the other drivers.  Actually thinking about it, all the way from Plett, all the drivers were courteous and most sticked to the speed limit.

 

Image: Marius Bock taken with Nokia N80

Onto tidbit from my RSS Feed reader:

Sunrise over the Hottentot Mountains:
Sunrise from home
Image:  Marius Bock taken with Nokia N80 

Wikimania, Rugby World Cup 2007, Twenty20 and RSS update

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Currently there is a bid on the go to host Wikimania 2008 in Cape Town and it is driven by Ian.  Ian needs all the support he can get so please contact him if you can help in any way.  Ian, please contact me should you need any assistance.

How good was it to see the Boks kick the Poms ass on Friday evening.  I am sure that today the same will happen in the Twenty20.

A while ago I commented about the spy saga in F1.  This past week McLaren was found guilty and stripped of all their constructors points and fined $100 million dollars.  Why Alonso was not punished, I do not know since I believe he had a hand in all this?

Onto my RSS feed update:

Today, instead of a picture I am including the famous Youtube video shot in Kruger Park of the Buffalos, Lions and crocodile.

RSS Feed update – 13 September 2007

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I am trying out the latest beta of Windows Live Writer and so far it seems to be good.  One little annoying thing is that the window for inserting Tags is a modal-window which means you cannot have it open to add tags while writing the blog.

While trying to recover from flu/cold and having time going through my RSS Feeds, here are some tidbits:

Space Shuttle Endeavour cuts a bright swath through the dark sky during this night-time launch in January 1998. Nearly six years earlier on Sept. 12, 1992, Endeavour blasted off, carrying Dr. Mae Jamison, the first African-American woman to fly in space, and Mamoru Mohri, the first Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut on a shuttle mission.

Image Credit: NASA

RWC – South Africa, Namibia and RSS Update for 9 September 2007

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So South Africa had their first game. All in all, it was not bad at all.  Samoa played a very spoiling game and I think South Africa probably played as well as they were allowed to play.

I just finished watching the Namibia, Ireland game and how impressed was I with the Namibians.  They made a lot of friends tonight.  The score flattered Ireland.  If one take away the penalty try and the last try from Ireland, which was not a try, then there was nothing in the score.  And it was nice to see a Bock playing in the World Cup.  The wing for Namibia is Heini Bock, no not family.

Onto my feed items for today.

South Pole Lunar Eclipse

Credit & Copyright: Robert Schwarz(South Pole Station)

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