20090328

This Weekend

Today was the first day that I was able to see Jules since I left Montreal for Kiel, 2 weeks ago - it seems like an eternity already. Erin, Jules, & I were able to use Skype to have a video converstation. He's getting bigger every day! Kids are so great... particularly Jules :) I can't wait until meine kleine Familie is here in May. I think that I won't be able to put Jules down for a whole day. I'm practising keeping my weekends free and packed with fun things, so that when Erin & Jules are here we can own the weekends and do nothing but fun stuff !!

I know that it might seem like little, but my aim is to only work 4 or 5 hours per evening, and do all of my studying during the day - that's about 1/2 to 3/4 of my full-time work schedule. Also, I'm sure that the university lecture schedule will have an afternoon or morning open at least once a week too, which I aim to spend with Jules.

I just changed the background photo on my Desktop to a big smiley picture of Jules too - I'm hooked - I miss my little dude!


In spite of my obvious bias, I really do think I have the cutest little dude in the whole world, wouldn't you agree?

Today, part of my fun-weekend was having a hay-day at the Markt in Exerzierplatz. I believe that stands are set up every Saturday and there are all sorts of bio-food stands (fruits/veges, bread), and some slightly more expensive places ou on peut acheter du fromage. There are, of course, lots of places to get seafood as well. Today, I picked up some rauchte Mackerel a slightly older, harder (Italian?) Gouda called Leonardo, and a sheep's cheese (which will always remind me of Quebec). I also bought some Kürbiskern-brotchen (pumpkin-seed bread) and some Chianti. We bought loads of bio-veges for dinner tomorrow, and I also scored some very kräftig bio / fair-trade Kaffee from Tanzania, which might even overtake Ethiopia or Mexico as my favourite! On the way back, we were walking through a bit of an artsy area, where there are lots of shops and an exhibit or two. There is a very chill cafe/lounge called Sternstunde very close to Schrevenpark, which I'm sure will be a target to go with Erin & Jules after playing in the park all day, this summer.

20090325

CeGCC / MingW32CE Ebuild for Gentoo Linux

It's probably safe to say that there are not many Gentoo Linux users out there who are actively developing WinCE applications. However, today I compiled my first "Hello, WinCE World!" app, messagebox and all, using the compiler from the CeGCC project. CeGCC-0.51.0 is based on fairly recent tools (e.g. gcc-4.1.0), which is a big bonus.

Although seeing a "Hello, World!" dialog in Windows CE surely made my day, the CeGCC compiler is really only a means to get Linux running on  a certain unnameable portable computing device for work. I'm using the HaRET bootloader which has shown promise for many others who have ported Linux to mobile or embedded devices that run WinCE. 

Just in case there are any Gentoo users out there who would also like to install the compiler using Portage, I have included Ebuilds for CeGCC and MingW32CE that install the i686/Linux toolchain components. Just to clarify, for those who are compiling applications for Win32, or people who want to hack HaRET, use the MingW32CE toolchain. For those who are interested in porting GNU software to ARM/Win32, use CeGCC.

You can download the overlay in tarball format here, but I would suggest using layman, just like for my other overlays.

The ultimate goal of my current project is to have an industrial handheld compuer / scanner that runs Android, and so far its been coming along very well.

20090320

TomTom Fires Back! (Or Did They Shoot First?)

Recently TomTom, the GPS device manufacturer, cross-filed a lawsuit against Microsoft for patent infringement, in spite of already being in Microsoft's crosshairs for violating the much-antiquated FAT-filesystem series of patents.

I thought I would put a link to the rather funny comment I made on /.

20090319

Linux.com To Re-launch Under New Ownership

If you don't already know, Linux.com was purchased recently by the Linux Foundation, and it's in preparation stages for a grand re-launch.

I'm guessing that this will tie in somehow with the best of the We're Linux Video Contest, which aims to make yet another spoof on the I'm a Mac ads. Incidentally, I really thought that the BSD spoof was the best, because it's so close to how BSD geeks actually react.

I'm going tangential again, sorry. Back to Linux.com.

So what makes the re-launch incredible is that the site will be, just like the Linux kernel, community-driven. The IdeaForge is currently accepting content proposals (registration required). Some examples include, your_name@linux.com email addresses with blogging service, and my own personal idea - a Linux porting guide for the ARM architecture (think Android) !

Make your voice heard within the community and sign up!

20090309

Gnome-2.24 on the EEE 701

If you're interested in upgrading your version of Gnome to 2.24 and you're a Gentooer, then the following entries in /etc/portage/package.keywords should help you get past all of the ACCEPT_KEYWORDS errors.  You can find binary packages at http://virtb.visibleassets.com/geeentoo/packages/All , as usual. 

=gnome-extra/gconf-editor-2.24.1
=gnome-base/gnome-control-center-2.24.0.1
=gnome-extra/deskbar-applet-2.24.3
=x11-libs/vte-0.17.4-r3
=x11-themes/gnome-backgrounds-2.24.0
=x11-terms/gnome-terminal-2.24.2-r1
=x11-themes/gnome-icon-theme-2.24.0
=net-libs/libsoup-2.24.3
=gnome-base/libgnome-2.24.1
=gnome-base/gnome-settings-daemon-2.24.1-r1
=x11-themes/gnome-themes-2.24.3
=gnome-extra/zenity-2.24.1
=app-editors/gedit-2.24.3
=gnome-base/gnome-keyring-2.22.3-r1
=gnome-extra/gnome-system-monitor-2.24.4
=gnome-base/gnome-session-2.22.3-r1
=gnome-base/nautilus-2.24.2
=media-video/totem-2.24.3
=media-sound/sound-juicer-2.24.0
=media-gfx/eog-2.24.3.1
=gnome-extra/bug-buddy-2.24.2
=x11-libs/pango-1.22.4
=gnome-extra/gnome-utils-2.24.1
=app-admin/pessulus-2.24.0
=net-analyzer/gnome-nettool-2.22.1
=x11-libs/libwnck-2.24.2
=gnome-extra/fast-user-switch-applet-2.24.0
=x11-libs/gtksourceview-2.4.2
=gnome-base/gnome-desktop-2.24.3
=app-text/evince-2.24.2
=www-client/epiphany-2.24.3-r10
=net-misc/vino-2.24.1
=net-analyzer/gnome-netstatus-2.12.2
=dev-libs/atk-1.24.0
=gnome-base/eel-2.24.1
=gnome-extra/yelp-2.24.0-r10
=gnome-base/libbonoboui-2.24.0
=x11-wm/metacity-2.24.0-r2
=gnome-extra/gcalctool-5.24.3.1
=gnome-extra/gnome-user-docs-2.24.2-r1
=gnome-extra/gnome-screensaver-2.24.1-r1
=gnome-extra/gnome-games-2.24.3
=gnome-base/gnome-menus-2.24.2
=gnome-base/libgnomekbd-2.24.0
=gnome-extra/gtkhtml-3.24.5
=dev-libs/totem-pl-parser-2.24.4
=x11-themes/gtk-engines-2.16.1
=gnome-extra/gnome-media-2.24.0.1-r1
=dev-python/gnome-python-desktop-2.24.1
=gnome-base/librsvg-2.22.3
=gnome-extra/nautilus-cd-burner-2.24.0
=gnome-base/gvfs-1.0.3-r1
=gnome-base/libgtop-2.24.4
=x11-libs/gtk+-2.14.7-r2
=net-misc/vinagre-2.24.2-r1
=gnome-extra/swfdec-gnome-2.24.0
=gnome-base/gnome-volume-manager-2.24.1
=gnome-base/libgnomeprint-2.18.5
=media-libs/swfdec-0.8.4
=net-wireless/bluez-libs-3.36
=dev-util/intltool-0.40.5
=dev-python/nautilus-cd-burner-python-2.24.1
=dev-python/gnome-keyring-python-2.24.1
=dev-python/metacity-python-2.24.1
=dev-python/gnome-media-python-2.24.1
=dev-python/gtksourceview-python-2.24.1
=dev-python/libgtop-python-2.24.1
~dev-python/libwnck-python-2.24.1
~dev-python/libgnomeprint-python-2.24.1
~dev-python/librsvg-python-2.24.1
~dev-python/totem-python-2.24.1
~dev-python/bug-buddy-python-2.24.1
~dev-python/gnome-desktop-python-2.24.1
~dev-python/gnome-applets-python-2.24.1
~dev-python/evolution-python-2.24.1
~dev-python/gnome-python-desktop-base-2.24.1
=dev-python/libbonobo-python-2.22.3
=dev-python/libgnomecanvas-python-2.22.3
~dev-python/gnome-python-base-2.22.3
=dev-python/gnome-vfs-python-2.22.3
=dev-python/gconf-python-2.22.3
=dev-python/libgnome-python-2.22.3
=media-libs/libcanberra-0.11
=media-sound/pulseaudio-0.9.14
=net-wireless/bluez-utils-3.36
=x11-libs/cairo-1.8.6-r1
=media-plugins/gst-plugins-gio-0.10.21-r1
=dev-python/pygobject-2.16.1
=x11-misc/icon-naming-utils-0.8.7
=x11-themes/sound-theme-freedesktop-0.2
=x11-libs/libxklavier-3.8
=gnome-base/gdm-2.20.9-r1
=dev-libs/libxml2-2.7.3
=gnome-extra/gnome-user-docs-2.24.1
=gnome-extra/gtkhtml-3.24.4
=x11-misc/alacarte-0.11.8
=x11-libs/gtk+-2.14.7-r1
=media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.19
=media-libs/speex-1.2_rc1
=app-text/poppler-bindings-0.10.3
=app-text/poppler-0.10.3
=media-libs/openjpeg-1.3-r2
=x11-libs/cairo-1.8.2
=dev-python/gnome-python-base-2.22.3
=dev-python/gnome-python-2.22.3
=dev-python/pygtk-2.14.0