Essential Apps (1 of many)

Galeon is my preferred web browser, I like to switch off between emacs
and xemacs, emacs-goodies-el looked interesting and sudo is a must
have.

apt-get install galeon xemacs21 ="http://packages.debian.org/cgi-bin/search_packages.pl?searchon=name&keywords=
emacs-goodies-el">emacs-goodies-el sudo 

which pulls in 40+M of other stuff...

Post install:

Use visudo to add my account so I can do all thing root.

Essential Email apps

• evolution -- Ximian's excellent mail app



• gnus -- My former preferred email app, just now just for reading us
  enet



• tnef -- command line to unpack those pesky attachments from misconf
  igured Microsoft Exchange gateway servers

apt-get install evolution gnusef="http://packages.debian.org/cgi-bin/search_packages.pl?searchon=name&keyword
s=tnef"> tnef

Essential Multimedia apps (1 of many)

To watch movies and listen to music...

apt-get install xine-ui xmms xmms-arts xmms-crossfade 
        xmms-infopipe xmms
-status-plugin mikmod 
        vorbis-tools zinf

Edit /etc/modules to add

soundcore

and

maestro

. Also I n
eeded to add
myself to the audio group by using 'vigr' and making the audio line
look like this:

audio:x:29:marc

Essential Palmpilot tools.

apt-get install these palm pilot related tools: jpilot ef="http://packages.debian.org/cgi-bin/search_packages.pl?searchon=name&keyword
s=jpilot-plugins">jpilot-plugins
pilot-link pilot-link-perl

debian configuration (1 of many)

• 
  This morning's install missed setting up a reasonable /etc/hosts file. Most no
  tably is the lack of localhost.
  
  Here is what mine looks like now:
  

  
    127.0.0.1     localhost
    192.168.1.101 homebrew # home server
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  Get and configure ntp-simple -- I'm using tick.mit.edu s
  ince they are
  about 60 miles and 8 hops from home.
  


• 
  Get mozilla-psm to add ssl support to mozilla/galeon
  



• 
  apt-get install wireless tools, now configure
  /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts to look something like this:



  # Lucent Wavelan IEEE (+ Orinoco, RoamAbout and ELSA)
  # Melco/Buffalo Networks WLI-PCM-L11
  # Note : wvlan_cs driver only, and version 1.0.4+ for encryption support
  *,*,*,00:60:1D:*|*,*,*,00:02:2D:*)
    INFO="Wavelan IEEE example (Lucent default settings)"
        ESSID="10wildcat"
        MODE="Managed"
        KEY="AAAA-BBBB-CC [1] key 9072-ae6a-ff [2] key aabb-ccdd-ee [3] key 777
7-7777-77 [4]"
       IWCONFIG="key [1]"
    ;;


(where AAAA-BBBB-CC is my key1)

Also configure eth1 in /etc/network/interfaces by adding this:



auto eth1
iface eth1 inet dhcp

Essential App: Nautilus

While I'm not usually a fan of file browsers, Nautilus comes in handy
sorting large number of scanned genealogy documents.

apt-get install galeon-nautilus nautilus-extra nautilus-suggested 

Recycled Spam

A person, unknown to me, by the name of "Lucas Ambe"
, sent this recycled spam to me and 44
unknown people. Interestingly most of those those other 44 folks are
from non-US domains --

To: (removed)@worldpath.net, (removed)@aq.org,
(removed)@debisschop.net, (removed)@lycos-inc.com,
(removed)@wless-rikerud.moneybin.net, (removed)@predawnia.org,
(removed)@free.fr, (removed)@udel.edu,
(removed)@klaralvdalens-datakonsult.se, postmaster@futureware.at,
(removed)@survival.pnet.pl, (removed)@atosorigin.com,
(removed)@rmki.kfki.hu, (removed)@waldherr.org, (removed)@eink.com,
(removed)@wardr23.fsnet.co.uk, (removed)@uol.com.br,
(removed)@eng.uts.edu.au, (removed)@libero.it,
(removed)@suite3220.com, (removed)@yahoo.com,
(removed)@pluto.linux.it, (removed)@yahoo.com, (removed)@pe.net,
(removed)@pobox.com, (removed)@struyve.be, (removed)@wakkanet.fi,
(removed)@fzu.cz, (removed)@mac.com, (removed)@sh.cvut.cz,
(removed)@pama.cz, (removed)@kempler.net, (removed)@io.com,
(removed)@zeus.usm.edu.ec, marc@nozell.com,
(removed)@iro.umontreal.ca, (removed)@eclipt.uni-klu.ac.at,
(removed)@scdi.com, (removed)@ces.clemson.edu, (removed)@gmx.de,
(removed)@wspse.de, (removed)@wibblific.fsnet.co.uk,
(removed)@imsb.au.dk, (removed)@libero.it,
(removed)@users.sourceforge.net

[... many forwarded headers missing ...]

Subject: Re: if u delete this u hav no heart!

In a message dated 01/06/2003 9:30:27 PM Eastern Standard Time,
LOVEABLE31011 writes:

Hello, My name is Krista Marie and I have anew born baby named Natalie. She
means the world to me, and just resently, the doctors have discovered that
my little Natalie has Brain Cancer. Unfortunatly my husband and I don't have
the money to pay for the bill. But my husband and I have worked out a deal
with AOL and they have agreed to give us 5cents to each person that recived
this e-mail. So please, forward this to everyone you know, and help out my
little Natalie and I.

-Krista Marie

This is the second christian (eagleforchrist) related spam I've gotten
recently. I hope this isn't a trend.

The first was another stranger, "Jim and Chris" ,
sending me this:

There will be a World Day of Prayer, on 3 March 2003 at 3:03 P.M.  A prayer bad
ly needed to heal this world and bring peace.
Pray you will be able to join everyone.

God Bless You

Blosxom 2.0 beta *3*

Boy, Rael is really crankin' out the releases -- href="http://www.raelity.org/apps/blosxom/download.shtml">blosxom 2.0
beta 3 is out and you're using it right now.

Installing Debian while a running Red Hat 8.0 system

I've been running a triple bootable Compaq Armada M700 laptop --
Microsoft Windows 2000, Red Hat 8.0 and Debian. On the internal disk
is W2k and RH8 a long with my /home partition. A second disk in the
multibay slot had Debian/sarge on it. I recently replaced the second
disk with a new 20G drive and thought it would be simpler to reinstall
debian on the new disk rather than try to restore it from the previous
disk. Here are my step by step instructions on on how I installed
Debian on the second drive while running Red Hat.

I'm also going to try to note all the packages/configurations needed for this d
ebian laptop which other people may find useful.

The first thing to do is read the instructions from "chroot
Debian Install From A Booted System mini-HOWTO"

Partition disk as to create a 4G partition (/dev/hdb1) and a 512M
swap disk (/dev/hdb2), the rest will be carved up later.

 mkfs.ext3 /dev/hdb1
 mkswap /dev/hdb2

Create a directory for the new partition and then mount it,

  mkdir /debian-root
  mount -t ext3 /dev/hdb1 /debian-root/

Grab the debian potato base

   http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/potato/main/disks-i386/current/base2_
2.tgz

Unpack into a free partition

 cd /debian-root
 tar zxvf ~/base2_2.tgz

chroot into the environment:

   chroot /debian-root bin/bash

create a reasonable fstab for the new partition

The debian root will be on my 2nd disk. There is also a swap disk
on the 2nd disk as well as the first (currently used by Red Hat,
more on that later)

  #
  #                  
  /dev/hdb1       /           ext3     defaults                       0 0
  /dev/hdb2       none        swap    sw                              0 0
  proc        /proc       proc    defaults                        0 0

/proc

Set timezone (the dpkg-reconfigure console-data didn't work for me.)

   tzconfig

(re)configure the debian base

Copy what in Red Hat's /etc/resolv.conf into the chroot'ed /etc/resolv.conf

  search americas.cpqcorp.net
  nameserver 16.103.131.242

Set any proxies if you need them.

  export -p http_proxy=http://proxy.compaq.com:8080
  export -p no_proxy=.hp.com

Consider editing /etc/apt/sources.list if you have a local debian
mirror that carries 'potato'

  dpkg-reconfigure base-config

At this point it will download a bunch of files from the debian mirror
site.

I get this error:

/var/lib/dpkg/info/base-config.postinst: /usr/share/base-config/stage4: No su
ch
file or directory

One thing this doesn't do is remove /sbin/unconfigured.sh

Edit /etc/network/interfaces

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

/etc/hostname put some one word in that file for your hostname, in my case
elephanttalk

While at 'stable':

    $ apt-get update
    $ apt-get dist-upgrade

Edit /etc/apt/sources.list to use 'sarge' instead and upgrade to
sarge...

    $ apt-get update
    $ apt-get dist-upgrade

    $ dpkg-reconfigure -a     # just for good measure

Install a kernel and bunch of useful tools...

$ apt-get install kernel-headers-2.4.20-686 kernel-image-2.4.20-686 aptitude ss
h emacs21

NOTE: Say no to any lilo configuration. I used grub which is on the
MBR of the first disk.

removed /sbin/unconfigured.sh

 auto lo
 iface lo inet loopback

 auto eth0
 iface eth0 inet dhcp

In /etc/grub.conf of the redhat 8.0 system, add this:

title Debian/sarge (2.4.20)
        root (hd1,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz ro vga=0f07 root=/dev/hdb1
        initrd /initrd.img

reboot

to get the network up, I needed to manually type 'insmod e100' and then '
ifup eth0'.

use tasksel and pick X window system, laptop system and install a
bunch of stuff.

Use dselect and add kdebase. This will require a bunch of other
packages, add enough that kdebase can be installed.

I like the look of kde's login manager better than xdm, apt-get
install kdm.

apt-get these essential apps: rsync, kernel-pcmcia-2.4.20-686

getting networking (wired & wireless) going:

Add to /etc/modules

     e100               # for builtin 10/100
     yenta_socket       #   pcmcia for Compaq Armada M700

Blosxom 2.0 beta 2

I bit the bullet and installed href="http://www.raelity.org/apps/blosxom/download.shtml">blosxom 2.0
beta 2 and love the href="http://www.raelity.org/apps/blosxom/plugin.shtml">new plugin
ability. So far I've added the calendar and categories to the right
side of the page.

Updated blosxom debian packages are available

blosxom_0.5i-4 closes the 'href="http://bugs.debian.org/179432">needs a manpage' and 'href="http://bugs.debian.org/176359">What about apache-ssl?' bugs.

Accepted:
blosxom_0.5i-4.diff.gz
  to pool/main/b/blosxom/blosxom_0.5i-4.diff.gz
blosxom_0.5i-4.dsc
  to pool/main/b/blosxom/blosxom_0.5i-4.dsc
blosxom_0.5i-4_all.deb
  to pool/main/b/blosxom/blosxom_0.5i-4_all.deb
Announcing to debian-devel-changes@lists.debian.org
Closing bugs: 176359 179432

Currier Art Center of Manchester, NH

For the last few semesters our oldest two children have been
attending the Currier Art
Center's Saturday morning art classes and just love it. Not
only are they learning a lot, the instructors are very nice.

Between the two of them they have taken clay work and general
drawing in various media classes. At the end of each semester
there is an art show for all the weekend classes.

If you are looking for enrichment programs for your children
(or even yourself) this is a really great resource.

man page for blosxom

For debian, I wrote a man page for blosxom. Any comments before I
check it it? Note that it refers to blosxom 0+5i...

• Text


• PDF


• PostScript

Audioscrobbler

audioscrobbler is a neat little xmms/winamp plug-in that sends your music listening habits to a centralized server and then compares your preferences with others. Cool way to find out about new music that you might like!

It appears that this morning that their webserver is a bit overloaded and have noticed that song transitions are sometimes very slow. I'm also behind a proxy, so that may add to the overhead.

emacs mode for faster blogging -- dme:blog.el

While googling on wikis and blogs, I found David Edmondson's nice
emacs hack: href="http://www.hollytree-house.co.uk/dme/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/emacs">http://ww
w.hollytree-house.co.uk/dme/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/emacs.

M-x dme:blog prompts for a blog entry name which
eventually is tied to the final filename. C-c s sets the
blog entry category (read subdirectory, perhaps nested ones) and
finally it uses the cvs check-in keystroke C-s # to 'commit'
the blog by writing it to your blog directory with the creation time
part of the filename. For example this file is saved as
200302101358_blogging-emacs-mode.txt. The editing buffer is
in HTML major mode, so all the HTML editing binding are set.

I'm not too keen on how html-mode puts all the HTML 'dressing' at the
top and bottom of the entry -- it is nice for random web pages but a
bit over kill for a href="http://www.oreillynet.com/~rael/lang/perl/blosxom/">blosxom
entry. Perhaps a hack using html-mode-hook to remove the 'dressing'
is in order.

Patch for dme:blog.el to add post-find-hook

Here is a patch I sent to href="http://www.hollytree-house.co.uk/dme">David Edmondson to let
people customize the blog buffer the way they want it.

cd ~/
diff -c /home/marc/dme\:blog.el.orig /home/marc/dme\:blog.el
*** /home/marc/dme:blog.el.orig Mon Feb 10 14:39:09 2003
--- /home/marc/dme:blog.el      Mon Feb 10 14:44:11 2003
***************
*** 32,44 ****
  ;; at:
  ;; http://www.hollytree-house.co.uk/dme/log/
  
  ;; Feedback encouraged !
  
  (require 'easy-mmode)
  
  ;;; Customisation:
  
! (defvar dme:blog-destinations '(("~/var/blog" nil nil t))
    "A alist of places where the blog entries should be published.  Each
  entry in the list has four elements:
    dir     - the directory,
--- 32,55 ----
  ;; at:
  ;; http://www.hollytree-house.co.uk/dme/log/
  
+ ;; Marc Nozell       Mon Feb 10 14:44:04 2003
+ ;; Added dme:blog-post-find-hook so he could clean up the fixup the
+ ;; buffer after html-mode put in its stuff.
+ ;;
+ ;; Example:
+ ;; (add-hook 'dme:blog-post-find-hook '(lambda () 
+ ;;                         (erase-buffer)
+ ;;                         (goto-char (point-min))))
+ 
+ 
+ 
  ;; Feedback encouraged !
  
  (require 'easy-mmode)
  
  ;;; Customisation:
  
! (defvar dme:blog-destinations '(("~/public_html/blog" nil nil t))
    "A alist of places where the blog entries should be published.  Each
  entry in the list has four elements:
    dir     - the directory,
***************
*** 61,66 ****
--- 72,80 ----
  (defvar dme:blog-pre-commit-hook nil
    "Hook run just before a blog entry is committed.")
  
+ (defvar dme:blog-post-find-hook nil
+   "Hook run just after the blog entry is created.")
+ 
  (defvar dme:blog-category nil
    "The category of the current blog item.  This is simply a directory
  below the blog directory (see the Blosxom documentation for more
***************
*** 168,173 ****
--- 182,190 ----
              (insert body)))))
    
    (html-mode)
+   ; ready to start editing
+   (run-hooks 'dme:blog-post-find-hook)
+ 
    (dme:blog-mode t))
  
  (defun dme:blog-gnus-pretty-group (group)

Diff finished at Mon Feb 10 14:44:16