tatey.com

In late December of 2006 I switched from GNOME to Openbox, a lightweight and extensible Window Manager (WM). I wasn’t satisfied with many of the existing themes for Openbox, and created my own. I’ve been using it for about one month now, and I feel it’s time to share it with the rest of the world.

You’ll need to grab two theme files, one is for Openbox and the other for GTK. In addition, you’ll also require the Murrine-GTK-Engine. If you’re using Arch Linux, a package is already available in the community repository under “gtk-engines-murrine”. Other distribution users should look here for more information.

Darkness for Openbox
MurrinaDarkness for GTK2

If you’re seeking a greyish GTK theme for the GNOME/Xfce desktop, also consider MurrinaDarkness.

You may also consider browsing my Openbox configuration files such as menu.xml and rc.xml, which you can locate here.

In an attempt to add a complete touch to my MythTV setup I searched for high resolution logo’s of each TV network in Australia. Furthermore, I have created a “HD” emblem which has been applied to each network logo. This enables the person viewing TV to distinguish easily between standard and high definition channels.

They’re now located in my gallery and for use with a MythTV box. Please be aware that these logo’s are the property of their respective networks and copyright laws apply.

Installation:
Download these logo’s on to your system. I place mine in ~/.mythtv/logos. With mythtv-setup select “5. Channel Editor” and change the icon path for each channel to point to the location of the logo. Enjoy!

UPDATE: I’ve created an entirely new icon set, check it out here.

The individuals unaware of Zingers may mistake a computer that sits in the cupboard of my bedroom for a tasty KFC burger. Not to be confused with Ashley’s server appropriately named Cupboard because of it’s [previous] similar location. Previously, tatey.com and its various other sites humbly resided on Popcorn (formally Shoebox) a HTPC in my lounge room. Eventually, a new task was assigned to Popcorn and Zingers was born. I purposely purchased a cheap PC from a local computer retailer and loaded Gentoo on. For many months I was satisfied with the progress of Zingers until I decided that it became too much of a hassle to maintain a Gentoo server. I felt that I was no longer prepared to commit the extra time required in maintaining a Gentoo-based server relative to a Debian one. As a result, I migrated from Gentoo to Debian. An appropriate choice you would think for a “production” server. Certainly after all the web server administrators rave on about Debian. Undoubtedly, Sarge is great – stable and mature packages coupled with a strong focus on security. Unfortunately for Debian, I found it rather incompatible with my Macintosh keyboard that I use on my PC (That’s whole story in itself) and iBook. After poking around Google and various other websites for 2322131 hours, I decided it was impossible. I opted to put up with misbehaving keys until Ubuntu 6.06 was scheduled to be released.

Ubuntu is a Debian-based distribution and enjoys the same benefits that all Debian administrators do. It is my honest opinion that Ubuntu 6.06 server is an up-to-date Debian. That is, MySQL5 and PHP5 are fully supported under Ubuntu 6.06 but not Debian Sarge. More importantly, Ubuntu 6.06 includes LTS which ensures that I’ll have security updates for at least the next 5 years if I choose to not upgrade any time before then. Furthermore, I’m wrapped that my Mac keyboards now function correctly and the key’s that I push correspond with their symbols. While I understand that some people will be quick to criticise Ubuntu as an immature distribution, I think they’re denying the credit that it deserves. It even includes a LAMP stack that automatically sets up Apache, MySQL and PHP. You’re still able to further configure these packages to your hearts content and they’re up to date. Overall, I feel that I’ve made the right choice and I’m certainly satisfied with my Ubuntu server. It is my intention that I will not have to touch this box for a very long time. Let’s hope that I can keep to my word.

The long anticipated release of Dapper Drake has arrived. Debuting a few hours ago, mirrors serving the new iso’s are already experiencing high loads. Primarily, the major difference [and delay] between Dapper Drake and previous releases of Ubuntu is Long Term Support (LTS). LTS offers guaranteed security updates for five years – an attractive option for server administrators and large [corporate] networks.

Ubuntu is freely available, including security updates for five years on servers, with no restrictions on usage and no requirement to purchase support contracts or subscriptions per deployment.

In addition, the Ubuntu website has undergone a minor facelift in an attempt to provide a more corporate feel. Essentially, Canonical is pushing hard to get Ubuntu out on as many computers as possible, and why wouldn’t they? They’re a business and Canonical would attempt to close as many support contracts as possible. They’ve invested in a large-scale Open Source project where thousands of developers and users concentrate their efforts on creating the most easy-to-use desktop operating system. Regardless if Canonical benefits financially from offering support, they’re undoubtedly the catalyst that has introduced linux to people who wouldn’t otherwise bother.

Amongst many of the new features, one particularly stands out above the rest for me. That is, the implementation of a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) meta-package for the server flavour of Ubuntu. This is the first of many meta-packages (or “stacks”) to come.

The Server Edition of Ubuntu 6.06 LTS includes a unique mechanism to set up a standardized, certified, and supported LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) server with a single command. The feature greatly reduces the setup time for companies providing hosted LAMP services, as well as making it easier for organizations to set up and maintain their own LAMP-standardized servers. Canonical Ltd. Also provides technical support for the full suite of components in the LAMP stack.

For most users interested in using Ubuntu as a desktop, a webpage exists explaining the features of Dapper Drake. If you’re new to linux or tired of MS Windows I strongly encourage you to head over to the Ubuntu website, grab the torrent and start downloading.

People often recognise me as the guy who uses Gentoo. Yes, I’m a strong advocate for Gentoo and support everything that it stands for. Gentoo empowers the user with complete control over their system. It’s almost like a LFS install except with package management. Portage is one powerful piece of software, and with it’s respective use flags, the possibilities are endless. Everything about Gentoo is customizable, you can configure, alter, change and edit practically anything you want. Other distributions include support for Xinerama in their applications, DE’s and WM’s. What if the user only has a single monitor? Why would they require Xinerama support? Obviously, the user wouldn’t. Therefore with a correctly configured Gentoo box, one may ultimately end up with a much leaner OS. This is probably where the perception that Gentoo is “faster” is derived from.

I’ve learnt a great deal of my linux knowledge from Gentoo, and I’m thankful to the distribution for that. However, as I progress through University and other social aspects in my life, I am finding less and less free time. Gentoo’s configurability is ultimately it’s demise (In relation to myself). I require a distribution that works “out of the box”. The problem with this, is a lot of “out of the box” distributions are limited by their flexibilty. Fedora, SuSe and Mandriva are all victims of this.

In recent years, a new distribution sprouted from practically nowhere and has received much attention as of late. I could never understand why as I was under the impression it was simply a newbie’s distribution based on Debian. I guess, in a nutshell that’s true. However, my curiosity for Ubuntu eventually drove me to give it a try. The current release at the time was 4.10 codenamed “Warty Warthog”. Rather bias towards Gentoo and close minded, I installed Ubuntu and was ultimately unimpressed. I didn’t feel comfortable because I didn’t understand the inner-workings of the distribution. More importantly, the lack of root account threw me completely off. I understood sudo and it’s principles but I loved root too much. Typing sudo before each command was rather annoying.

Eventually, my mother bought a computer. It came with MS Windows 98se and she said that it needed to be formatted. My first thought was to format it anyway, since there is no knowing what the previous user(s) had done with the box. I had every intention of purchasing MS Windows XP and installing it on her computer. However, the hefty licence fee made me reconsider my options. It then occurred to me why not use Linux? Realistically, my mother purchased the computer to send emails and browser the web. Why does she need Windows for this? Why does *anyone* need Windows for this? Rather than take the MS Proprietary route, I opted for Fedora Core 4. Ashley Kyd suggested that Ubuntu may be more appropriate. This time round, I had Ubuntu 5.10 codenamed “Breezy Badger”. The experience for my mother was a success. She quickly picked up everything and now uses a completely Free OS on her computer that she can copy pictures to, listen to music, chat on MSN and most importantly send emails. More importantly, I don’t have to worry about virii or spyware and those applications slowing her already slow computer down (P3 866, 256MB Ram)

At the same time, I was currently using MS Windows XP on my desktop. I’m a PC gamer, and I don’t have the time to configure Gentoo as much as I liked. However, after a few months of having the install on my computer it’s starting to degrade. Just as all Windows install eventually do. Seriously reconsidering my options I thought I’d give Ubuntu a try. In my honest opinion, Ubuntu is a cross between a user-friendly newbie distribution that is still flexible enough for power users such as myself to tweak. I’m not afraid of the CLI and I’m quite competent using it. I don’t mind compiling packages from source, since I’ve been doing it with Gentoo for years. Gnome dual-monitors support is fantastic and Adobe Photoshop 7 is running beautifully under WINE. The desktop is feels so stable, and fast. In addition, the fonts are rendered perfectly. I don’t understand why Gentoo fonts are poor when compared to Ubuntu. I assume that Ubuntu dev’s are using a significant amount of tweaks. I’m a fan of the MS Cleartype technology and Ubuntu fonts are *so* close I can barely tell the difference. Of course, I still keep Windows XP installed on a separate HDD for gaming and a big FAT32 partition in the event that I ever need to swap files between both Operating Systems.

Ultimately, my Ubuntu experience has been a positive one and I have no trouble recommending it to my mates and people I come across in day-to-day life. In contrast, this page is still being served off Zingers, my Gentoo powered Web Server and that is unlikely to change. I still *love* Gentoo too much to just completely be away with it. Everything is setup nicely and why break something that works? That said, the HTPC has been having issues lately and I’m seriously considering installing Ubuntu on that. Purely because of it’s great Multimedia support out of the box. I will keep you informed.

UPDATE [06-06-06]: Fujitsu (A participant and organiser of the Ubuntu-AU group) pointed out a valid contradiction in the above post. That is, I expressed that Gentoo would remain on Zingers indefinitely. Admittedly, I took the opportunity to explore alternative flavours of linux, specifically Arch and Ubuntu over the previous Summer holidays. In my most recent post, I have stated that Zingers is now powered by Ubuntu in addition to my justification for switching distributions in the first place. Please understand that after gaining experience and understand of several other distributions that I feel Ubuntu has been the appropriate [and good] choice for Zingers, at least for the next five years. In contrast, I’ve settled for Arch linux on my desktop. Arch would not make an ideal server for the same reasons that Gentoo doesn’t. I hope that this small update will correct any misconceptions.

Yay, a new gentoo version? Really, who cares? The nature of Gentoo is that your operating system is always up-to-date, regardless of how old the install disc is. However, this version is significant because it marks the official introduction of the GUI Installer.

Major highlights in the release include KDE 3.4.3, GNOME 2.12.2, XFCE 4.2.2, GCC 3.4.4 and a 2.6.15 kernel. This is also the first release with the Gentoo Linux Installer officially debuting on the x86 LiveCD, which will fully replace the Universal and PackageCD set. The LiveCD also features a fully-fledged Gnome environment. Later releases will include KDE support as well as a new LiveDVD.

I’m familiar with the Gentoo CLI install, infact I’m capable of performing the install without the assistance of the handbook. In contrast, this CLI install has made many people reluctant to use Gentoo. Now that stage3 has now become the “recommended” install method, I really see no advantage using a CLI over the GUI. Infact, it’ll probably speed up the process of installing. That said, I know the CLI method and I’m comfortable with it.

At an added bonus, you can boot into a Live GNOME environment and perform a CLI install from a terminal. Now, you might say this is rather pointless, but isn’t it rather boring when you can’t use your computer for a few hours because you’re busy compiling? Sure, you can use IRSSI, but what about graphical web browsing? Since you’re in a fully fledged GNOME environment you have access to all these applications. Even better, if you’re in the middle of your CLI install and want to clarify something with the handboook, just open the web browser. Too easy.

The next time I install Gentoo on a machine, I’ll be sure to give the GUI method an attempt. Thanks to all the devs and maintainers as well as the community who help make Gentoo, well, Gentoo :). Enjoy folks.

UPDATE: Here are some screenshots of the step-by-step GUI installer.

For a rather long time, Ashley and I have always discussed the possibility of purchasing Gentoo T-shirts. In particular, we had our eyes set on the Gentoo golf shirt. Unfortunately, after calculating the final cost, it was in excess of $40! Determined to promote our favourite flavour of linux, we set out to produce our own, custom shirts. A few iron-on transfers and two shirts later, we had done it! Consistent with the style of the original golf shirt, Ashley and I also incorporated a little bit of our own humour ;).

In total, the iron-on transfers were $25 for ten sheets; $15 for the polo shirt and a single dollar for the ink ;). Actually, it costed a little more than that since we messed up the shirts first-time round. In the end, I’d managed to grab a $7 polo from lowes which nice and comfy :). Cheers.

A school network admin by the name of Mike has recently converted all of the boxes in the classroom to Gentoo Linux. The report received media attention and an interview was conducted with the Network Admin.

This may seem like a “shameless plug”, but I thought you might be interested in seeing a piece our local CBS news affiliate did on our school’s recent switch to Gentoo Linux (I’m the network administrator they interviewed).

You can view the forum thread here which contains links to view the short 5mb video clip. Yay for Gentoo!