Source Guru

Recently, Amarok decided to change the way they store URL’s in it’s database, meaning that it’s now a PITA to try and get a song to play, as for some reason – they all now start with ./ – instead of just /.

 So now I have to go hacking away to make katapult use the proper URLs. This is going to be even more fun as it will also need to detect the version of amarok. – Yay!

 Lets just hope KURL::isRelativeURL (const QString &_url) works well enough to determine the type of path amarok is returning

For those of you who don’t know me… You may be surprised to find out that I actually have a real Job.

 I’m a dealer. No – not the drug kind, I work in a casino. Gala Casino in Birmingham in fact.

Anyway – today – I’m sitting there, dealing a game of roulette, when all of a sudden, the “winning number display” crashes. Leaving an xterm on screen.

Considering that most of our electronic gaming equipment is supplied by the same manufacturer, I’d assume that they’re all running Linux… Which means – that, at work – I’m surrounded by Linux.

I’m actually surprised by the quality of how everything is linked in together, including the “table top” display (a big table which shows a 3D rendering of the roulette wheel). These are all linked to Smart Card Cash terminals… it’s pretty amazing how linux is being used. I’m happy to see it being used in a way other than just for servers. Rock on ACE systems!

For this - just the things I’ve been wanting on the supermirror since I started using it (2 weeks ago!)

Recently Scott James Remnant blogged about his leaving of the Debian Project.

Reading this, I was sad to read how he felt that Debian’s conduct to Ubuntu Developers was wrong, and partly, I agree. But I would also like to say that although there are certain individuals within the Debian Community who are VERY anti-ubuntu, a LOT of them are not. I’ve found quite a few Debian Developers who are more than willing to help out, and although I get shot down sometimes in #debian-devel, and yes, I do ask a lot of stupid questions in a lot of stupid places, generally, the Debian community isn’t as elitist as many people think.

I also think that, although it doesnt come across a lot, the Ubuntu Community can come across as pretty elitist to. From my own experiences, I’ve seen a lot of elitism, there are people who will (no names mentioned) shoot down people for not being the “brightest” of the bunch.

The thing I ask is that everyone remembers that there are new people coming to Linux all the time. There are people from ubuntu who want to try something a little different, and want to try debian, there are people (like me) who want to contribute to both Debian and Ubuntu (but, unlike me, give up trying after their first bad experience of the “inter-distro” tension).

The Ubuntu community on the whole does a superb job in welcoming new people to the fold, as shown by Pete Savage’s latest blog. However, in some cases, it falls below par, just as a lot of other places do (as shown by a coment on Pete Savage’s blog).

I’d like to see  more people working towards helping new users get into Linux. There’s a wealth of people out there who just need a little help, and by giving them that little help, they’re more likely to contribute back in the future.

A few of you may know about the “New User Network” in ubuntu -  this is a team of “mentors” set up to help new users come to grips with Ubuntu, and Linux. Recently, it was featured on linux.com. I implore everyone reading this who wants to help increase the friendliness of the Ubuntu Community, whether you be a new user yourself, or an old hack, to join the NUN. It’s a great project, and it’s growing rapidly, and I like to think we’re making a difference.

If you’re interested in joining, feel free to talk to myself or nalioth on IRC, or join #ubuntu-nun, or make a post to the ubuntu-nun mailing list

Anyway, that’s my rambling over… now go read some more geek blogs

I know I’m a bit behind on the band wagon, but I’ve fallen in love with Technorati. Basically, I was playing around with Opera Mini on my Samsung D600… and found that it had a search feature for Technorati.

Now, knowing vaguely what Technorati is – I decided to snoop around a little, and find out what people had been blogging about Katapult… just to be nosy.

Well – after reading through a few blog posts about Katapult, (and finding we have a lot of spanish fans) I started reading some links from blogs that were writing about katapult, and well – I was browsing round the blogosphere for a while… 3 hours in fact. OK, so this bought my mobile phone bill up a little (darn high GPRS charges), but well… It was great. I fell in love with technorati.

I’ve claimed my blog, and hope to be tagging my blog posts from now on.

Web 2.0 isn’t all it’s hyped up to be, but some tools, like technorati, are just worth looking at.

Steve Irwin, the famous crocodile hunter died this morning, aged 44, off the north coast of Australia. He was stung in the left side of his chest by a Sting Ray. His wife, terry, was hiking through the southern mountains of Australia at the time, and police had to be dispatched by helicopter to inform her of her loss.
Having actually met steve, i feel this is a huge loss to the world. He will be missed, but hopefully his team at Australia Zoo will carry on his work, and his legacy