Rizie.com has been my VPS host for the last year. A pretty reliable host for something I picked up off lowendbox.
They notified they’re customers last week that they’re closing up shop.
On the off chance they do find this post I’d like to say thank you for hosting my site. Thank you for prompt support and even responding on weekends and thank you most of all for giving me advanced notice of your eminent shutdown. I wish more folks ran their services like yours.
Getting the wireless to work on a Dell Latitude D600 under ubuntu or debian is a pain.
Problem:
The network manager under gnome says ‘firmware missing or not installed’.
and “sudo dmesg | grep ERROR” returns a message like
b43legacy-phy3 ERROR: Firmware file "b43legacy/ucode4.fw" not found or load failed.
b43legacy-phy3 ERROR: You must go to http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware and download the correct firmware (version 3).
Solution:
Go here:
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#Ubuntu.2FDebian and download the ‘b43legacy’
sudo su
cd ~
wget http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o
Install the b43-fwcutter utility.
apt-get install b43-fwcutter
Use the utility to extract the firmware.
b43-fwcutter ./wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o
This will create a directory in the current directory with the firmware files. It will be called “b43legacy”.
Move the folder into your /lib/firmware directory and reboot and you should find the firmware needed by your wireless card.
mv ./b43legacy /lib/firmware/
reboot
And enjoy wifi goodness on your linux powered laptop.
xrdp.org hosts an open-source implementation of Microsoft’s remote desktop protocol server. This is a great tool long overdue on GNU/Linux.
Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is a proprietary protocol developed by Microsoft, which provides a user with a graphical interface to another computer. Unlike VNC which simply forwards screen shots and keyboard input from another computer, A RDP session is a virtual terminal creating a separate instance of X.org server running a desktop separate from other logged in users. No users need to be logged in to create a new RDP session.
This means the session can be configured by the client so the screen is displayed in the native resolution of the client. Using a RDP client at full screen feels like your using a native operating system. Its also more efficient in terms of bandwidth needed to communicate video and keyboard data.
Installing in ubuntu 11.10 is easy. Its a package which can be installed with apt-get.
sudo apt-get install xrdp
Great, but I encountered a couple of minor issues.
For one after connecting with a client, I was only able to see the desktop. I did not get tool bars or any way to interact with the terminal.
Turns out its an easy fix.
cd /home/youruser
echo "gnome-session --session=ubuntu-2d" > .xsession
sudo /etc/init.d/xrdp restart
This tells xrdp to use ubuntu-2d for your remote session.
This is all I needed to get my menus to show up. Note that restarting xrdp will disconnect your session.
The next issue is pressing the ‘d’ key causes all active windows to be hidden. This can be corrected from the GUI.
Once these easy tweaks are done, you’ll have your self a very usable remote desktop server.
Google charts is a wonderful tool for generating all kinds of graphs and charts. It provides two methods for supplying data, either in the URL or via POST.
The URL version is limited to 2048 characters and the POST version is limited to 16K characters. I wish the FAQ explained a little more about why the limitation exists.
I’ve run into two problems using it in my applications. SSL applications complain if any non-ssl content is pulled into the page and occasionally, I have tables too large for the URL api but that really is the only way to retrieve the image in my application.
I’ve got a simple php-curl based proxy which solves both issues. https://github.com/derak-kilgo/google-chart-proxy Its a drop in replacement for the google’s chart URL.
http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?chs=350x225&cht=p3&chd=s:Mx&chdl=Charts+Users|Should+Use+Charts&chl=Users|Don't+Use&chtt=Google+Charts&chts=676767,20
becomes
http://your-domain.com/proxy.php?chs=350x225&cht=p3&chd=s:Mx&chdl=Charts+Users|Should+Use+Charts&chl=Users|Don't+Use&chtt=Google+Charts&chts=676767,20
Its just that simple.
I owe meet-up a lot. It connected me to a community of developers, introduced me to my current employer and has been a monthly ritual for the last 7 years.
I wasn’t aware that meet-up was a product of 9-11 though.
This was a very interesting e-mail sent out to all meetup members from the founder, Scott Heiferman.
Fellow Meetuppers,
I don’t write to our whole community often, but this week is
special because it’s the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and many
people don’t know that Meetup is a 9/11 baby.Let me tell you the Meetup story. I was living a couple miles
from the Twin Towers, and I was the kind of person who thought
local community doesn’t matter much if we’ve got the internet
and tv. The only time I thought about my neighbors was when I
hoped they wouldn’t bother me.When the towers fell, I found myself talking to more neighbors
in the days after 9/11 than ever before. People said hello to
neighbors (next-door and across the city) who they’d normally
ignore. People were looking after each other, helping each
other, and meeting up with each other. You know, being
neighborly.A lot of people were thinking that maybe 9/11 could bring
people together in a lasting way. So the idea for Meetup was
born: Could we use the internet to get off the internet — and
grow local communities?We didn’t know if it would work. Most people thought it was a
crazy idea — especially because terrorism is designed to make
people distrust one another.A small team came together, and we launched Meetup 9 months
after 9/11.Today, almost 10 years and 10 million Meetuppers later, it’s
working. Every day, thousands of Meetups happen. Moms Meetups,
Small Business Meetups, Fitness Meetups… a wild variety of
100,000 Meetup Groups with not much in common — except one
thing.Every Meetup starts with people simply saying hello to
neighbors. And what often happens next is still amazing to me.
They grow businesses and bands together, they teach and
motivate each other, they babysit each other’s kids and find
other ways to work together. They have fun and find solace
together. They make friends and form powerful community. It’s
powerful stuff.It’s a wonderful revolution in local community, and it’s thanks
to everyone who shows up.Meetups aren’t about 9/11, but they may not be happening if it
weren’t for 9/11.9/11 didn’t make us too scared to go outside or talk to
strangers. 9/11 didn’t rip us apart. No, we’re building new
community together!!!!The towers fell, but we rise up. And we’re just getting started
with these Meetups.Scott Heiferman (on behalf of 80 people at Meetup HQ)
Co-Founder & CEO, Meetup
New York City
September 2011
Thanks Scott.
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