Colombus layed an egg!

"new" razor

2009-04-20T00:46:00.003+01:00

Still trying to identify...
It's a Gillette TTO

Below it have the words:

"J" /----\ "1"
|knob|
"Gillette" \----/ "England"

well
It's a Gillette Knack 19?? or a Gillette Tech from 1964

info extracted from: http://www.geocities.com/safetyrazors/gil_ser2.htm
and http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/index.php/US_Gillette_Dating_Information

for me makes more sense that it is a tech... but I need to search a little further..

Shaving Saga - At last! the close shave.. and other items

2009-04-08T14:49:00.010+01:00

I finally manage to get the ultimate close shave...
I got the missing info from a forum... so.. here's the recipe.. after bath, one should put some hidration oil on the skin.
This oil will be absorved will one's preparing the lather and setting/stroping the blade.

After this procedures the shave gets a lot more confortable!!
I finally got the BBS (baby botton shave) feeling :D

I really shouldn't do this .. but.. here comes... I'll give the straight razor a try, so I bought this one:

It's an "eurostil professional" with changeable blades and it cost's 4.50 eur.
I should make a review in some of the next posts

And here's my supplier at downtown, Lisbon, where I got my mechanical gears (the "merkur hd" and now the straight razor):

Shaving Saga - Palmolive for men Sensitive

2009-04-05T16:41:00.004+01:00

Yesterday I bought a new shaving cream..

I haven't gave up my quest yet... I gave "Palmolive for men sensitive shaving cream" a shot

Just tried it.. and liked it :D

A review from http://www.ciao.co.uk follows:

I have always suffered with sesnitive skin around my neck area when I shave, I have tried many different gels and razors but until I started using Palmolive shave cream i never really found anything that didnt make my skin sore.
Palmolive is a traditional shave cream that comes in a tube - the cream has to be used with a shaving brush to create a thin water based lather on the face. The cream and the brush combined are what is important about getting the right shave, the circular motion of the brush helps lift the hair away from the face so it can be easily removed with one light stroke of the razor. A good tip before applying the cream is to soak your face for a while with hot water - this opens your pores and expands the size of the hair by 30% which makes it easier to shave off.

The cream is cheap about £1.90, and although it takes slightly longer to shave it is worth it as you getting a cleaner, closer shave with less irritation and it doesn't leave a oily film on your face that many gels do.

Shaving Saga - Sephora's Shaving Cream

2009-04-03T20:30:00.005+01:00

I'm not completely happy with the results I'm having .. and perhaps this is related with a bad moisture.

So.. I decided to buy a new shaving cream. This one is from Sephora's:

I tried it in the next morning!
I start doing as usual: putted a small amount on the bowl, and start to develop with the brush.

Well.. what usually takes me about a minute to create with gillette contour... it take me a lot more with this cream... But even so, it even make me more anxious to try it!
When I start to apply it... It starts to drop everywhere.. and in the face it's way too liquid to be used as good lather.

I restart all over with the gillette cream.....

After this, I noticed that this two creams combine very well: the blade slides very well on the gillette cream applyed in the face washed with sephora's cream.

Maybe Sephora's cream isn't supposed to develop with brush and bowl...

Edited #1: I tried again another day direct on the skin...and it didn't work ... once again I had to put the gillette cream over it .. :(

Edited #2: After that.. I'm using it mixing it (1/3 sephora's, 2/3 gillette's).
It's way smoother, but the Sephora's looks like it takes the consistency (thickness) of the whole lather (it looks like the brush starts drooling over me :S )

Shaving Saga - Improved shave!

2009-04-03T15:45:00.003+01:00

Hello

Latest weeks I'm been learning again how to shave....
I'm talking about the middle XX century "safety razors"

I learned about lather: how to create good lather
and finally, I learn how to shave properly.

I'm not talking about the well known instinct of an basic "clear the hair of the face" method
because "well.. here we go again.. I must do it again"
But facing the all process of shaving not like an "must do it" but an event you just don't want to miss

My gears:

Merkur Heavy Duty razor

Personna blades (from the same store I got the razor..)

Shaving Saga - Trying Blades

2009-03-25T00:06:00.000Z

Since we're all different.. I though trying a new kind of blades..

the BIC blades:

They're look sharper than the wilkinson's. Unfortunatelly, they haven't the same longevity, so on the second day shaving I could notice it ....

Shaving Saga - My first Double Edge Razor

2009-03-23T15:00:00.004Z

I got to try this new way to shave, so I searched about this kind of razor in several stores.

Unfortunately I wasn't something easy to find... Is much more easier to get a (in)famous Mach 3 /Fusin than this kind of simple tool...

But I just could find it in a local store. Its's not so elegant as I imagine... Somehow I always imagine something heavy with more adjustable options. Instead I got this "Wilkinson Sword Classic Double Edge Razor" for 4.50 Euros with 5 blades.

And it includes a set of 10 "Wilkinson Sword" blades

A lot cheaper than I expected to spent!

The First Shave

I already had the brush and the shaving cream, so I start to make the lather.
I inserted the blade into the razor and turned the knob completely.

Then I start shaving.
I wasn't unconfortable... and after the first shave (within the grain), I started a second shave, now perpendicular to the grain, After this I didn't felt confidence to shave agains't the grain... After all, I think already made a huge step just for doing this far!

Conclusions

I didn't get the shave I expected.... Is far from a close shave, but I just couldn't get the blade on my face anymore, because I should rest my skin for another day ....

I noticed I could get a closer shave just by not closing the blade completely, and leaving the blade exposed.

Shaving Saga - Learning about Lather

2009-03-19T03:36:00.002Z

I just watched on youtube a video explaining something that nobody ever explain to me: the importance of a good lather in the process of shaving.

I never cared much about this....
When I was a teenager, I didn't had much hair on my face, and shaving with hot water was enough to make an excelent close shave. At those days, lather was optional, but I was always invited to use it as it makes part of the process of shaving.

Today, my face skin is thin and my face's hair is middle/tough, so lather isn't optional anymore.

What people won't tell you about the good Lather

Today, everyone have seen those old brushes and bowls at some stores among the pen holders and other stuff, and most people won't even consider to use those stuff in our days.

We live in the time of the "instant foam cream" and the "shaving gel" and we just don't care about this old stuff.

My impressions

My razor is a gillette mach 3 turbo, and I used a gillette contour shaving cream, a brush and an ordinary bowl from the kitchen.

I takes me some minutes to make the perfect lather, because I just wasn't sure about when is it good enough! I start considering it is good enough when the brush can absorve the lather completely just by passing it by. After this, while passing the cream on my face, I can see the shape of the brush drawed in my face.

I must tell I felt some difference. The blade runs much easier on my face, and I start considering to start shaving with one of those old shaves from the middle of the XX century

worthless thoughts

2008-05-14T19:12:00.002+01:00

The uncertain is a huge cloud, the future is unknown, and time keeps running..

The important is the path and not the destination... sounds intelligence when there's a bunch of controlled destinations.

life goes on... and there's only two great truths about life: death and taxes...

more to come someday.. in a better mood I sure hope..

"the wakening".. simple ...wanna make the puzzle? ... I hope not

2007-12-19T17:11:00.001Z

some text missing.............. will it ever appear?

"Chaos is inherent in all compounded things.
Strive on with diligence."

Buddha

Slightly above the thin "0-meter-above-the-water" line

Possession feeling
The winter comes and his possessive personality is hard to handle..
We only can wait for spring and hope (hopelessly...) that the harm had been bareable...
The rise of the phoenix

A bird in Egyptian mythology lived in the desert for 500 years and then consumed itself by fire, later to rise renewed from its ashes. The Phoenix is a male bird that is a sacred symbol in Egyptian religion. The Phoenix symbolizes/represents a person or thing of unsurpassed excellence or beauty, death, resurrection, immortality, life-after-death, and the sun, “which dies each night and rises again each morning, kind of like the phoenix when it dies, it will always comes back.”

extracted from: http://www.clipartstation.com/clipart_indexer4/index/view?id=8814

Back from the Wasteland

2007-12-19T13:03:00.001Z

Preamble:
I'm been holding my silence due to a sequence of events that guided me to a state of mind that cohibes me of sharing anything ... blue state lol!
recently.. I can say .. I might had recover a bit :D so .... let's make an appointment, shall we?

briefing:
since August I'm considering to create a new company ... meanwhile ... I haven't got spare (mental) time to keep my blog up to date.... and a "dark self" seems to had emerged somehow... (some people notice that ... in a way or in another... but most were kept safe from my this shadowed state of mind)

keeping busy...
I bought my self a Rubik cube.. in middle august.. I learned to solve it (thanks, youtube ;) It was a good thing .. to give your mind a brand new problem to solve.. althought it is a old invention)

I started creating a program to write and maintain blogs (with the look and feel of ms-outlook, that offer you a easier way to post and configure). The goal here was to get acquainted with C++/wxwidgets .. the project remains frozen.. :(

Sunday hike (4 november)
Me and some friends had gathered with the purpous of take some good pictures and to enjoy a different day, for a change...
Destiny: Monsanto, Idanha-a-nova
* more pics from Monsanto here

Fair well!
misery .... I lost my cell phone :( I'm suddenly felt somehow disconnected from the world... no cell, no camera, no news,..... fortunately I had a backup of my contacts.. (I still have with me a bunch of A4 papers whith "everyone contacts").
I'm using "the old one" now.. Is a good phone, but ..... .... whatever...

now ... in less than a week for xmas... I'm counting on posting one or two posts in a short period :D

My laptop

2007-10-28T00:04:00.000+01:00

I see people saying acer 4000 is old, slow ... well ... I can't complain .... :D

running quite well :D

feel good

2007-10-19T15:19:00.000+01:00

Make games | Share | Play free online games | User Generated Games @ Pictogame

opt

2007-09-06T03:14:00.001+01:00

tyuuuu

ghghjgh

title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title

2007-09-06T03:07:00.001+01:00

body text body text

body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text ~~body text bo~~dy text body text body text body text body text body text

body text body

text body text body

text body text body text

body text body
text body text body text
body text body text body

text body text body
text body text body
text body text body
text body text body

text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text

Exploring google maps

2007-09-02T16:47:00.001+01:00

Hello!
I'm just testing the cool stuff possible using google maps embedded :D
I'm still learning..... This is a trip I've made a few weeks ago:

View Larger Map

new website found!

2007-09-01T12:34:00.000+01:00

This is about a comic strip site :D enjoy!!!

Image had been stolen from http://xkcd.com/152/

You can find more at http://xkcd.com

Company names and offers :D

2007-07-31T11:52:00.000+01:00

Hello!

I've been looking around the company names.. I've found out that all the fruit names are chosen
peach,apple, banana, manga, maracuja, maçã (apple), pera (pear), tuttifrutti, onion, cebola (onion).

at cebola site, I've find out a cool movie... that is almost a job offer.. If you're interested...

2007-07-19T16:52:00.000+01:00

O meu primeiro post em português!
Este texto foi retirado daqui. Achei curioso ver a origem de alguns dos nomes mais soantes no mercado mundial:

Internet
Quinta, 1 de setembro de 2005, 18h20
Conheça a história por trás do nome das empresas

Um dia, estando já com três meses de atraso para criar um nome para sua empresa, um certo dirigente entrou no escritório e determinou: se até às 17h ninguém propuser uma idéia melhor, a companhia terá o nome da minha fruta preferida. Parece que ninguém se apresentou... E esta é a história para o nome da Apple Computers. O dirigente, claro, era Steve Jobs. Como a Apple, outras empresas de tecnologia têm histórias divertidas, inusitadas ou até bastante simples, como a escolha particular de um dos donos, para explicar seus nomes. Com base nas informações do thekaran.com/iStuff/companyNames.html, confira aqui algumas delas:

O nome da Adobe veio do rio Adobe Creek, que corria nos fundos da casa do fundador da empresa John Warnock. Outro nome de origem singela é o da Sun Microsystems: fundada por quatro colegas da universidade de Stanford, Sun é um acrônimo para Stanford University Network", ou rede da universidade de Stanford.

Já o Yahoo tem uma historinha, ou melhor, duas versões: a palavra yahoo foi inventada por Jonathan Swift, que a usou em seu livro Viagens de Gulliver. Representa uma pessoa que tem aparência e atitudes repulsivas, e os fundadores do Yahoo, Jerry Yang e David Filo, selecionaram o nome por se considerarem exemplos de yahoos. A outra versão diz que a palavra é um acrônimo para Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle, mas Filo e Yang insistem que gostaram do nome porque lhes agradou a definição geral de um yahoo: rude, não sofisticado.

O nome Microsoft foi cunhado por Bill Gates (e por quem mais?) para representar a companhia dedicada a programas de computador (microcomputer software, em inglês). Pegando uma partícula de cada uma das palavras, o nome originalmente era escrito com um hífen (Micro-Soft), que foi removido mais tarde.

E a Xerox? A raiz grega xer significa seco. O criador, Chestor Carlson, deu ao seu produto o nome Xerox porque eram cópias "secas", marcadamente diferentes do sistema que na época prevalecia. Já o nome Lotus surgiu dos interesses orientais de seu criador. Mitch Kapor era professor de Meditação Transcendental, seguindo a escola de Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, e deu à companhia o nome de uma posição da Yoga, a padmasana, ou posição do lótus.

Outros nomes surgiram da origem de seus criadores, como a Apache. Nada a ver com os índios norte-americanos. A Apache tem esse nome porque seus fundadores começaram a trabalhar aplicando patches em códigos escrito para o NCSA (National Center for Supercomputing Applications. Apache, então, veio de "A PAtCHy' server". A SAP tem origem parecida: foi formada por quatro ex-funcionários da IBM, que trabalhavam no grupo de sistemas, aplicações e projetos (Systems, Applications and Projects), ou SAP.

E também há nomes que remontam a acontecimentos passados na vida de quem o escolheu, como a da Red Hat. Marc Ewing, quando estava na escola, ganhou o boné de capitão do time de lacrosse da universidade de Cornell do seu avô. Ewing perdeu o boné, que tinha listras vermelhas e brancas, e procurou por ele desesperadamente. E pelo jeito carregou a frustração da perda: o manual da versão beta do Red Hat Linux trazia um apelo aos leitores para que, se alguém achasse seu boné vermelho (Red Hat), ele fosse devolvido.

O nome Oracle surgiu porque Larry Ellison e Bob Oats trabalhavam como consultores num projeto da CIA. O codinome do projeto era Oracle (oráculo), porque a CIA o via como o sistema que daria respostas a todas as perguntas. O projeto nomeou a companhia fundada por eles.

Redação Terra

Greetings from Netherlands

2007-07-09T11:27:00.000+01:00

New knowledge achieved!!

A friend of mine has just pass a few days at Netherlands holly soil, and get very enthusiastic about their rituals and culture.

I must add that I had learned some cool stuff throught his latest experiences.

I just learned what's a shisha
(image extracted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Schischa.jpg)

Everyone had already seen one somewhere... even in fairy tale books like "The Book of One Thousand and One Nights"
It's a way of smoking but far less unpleasent, since the smoke is cooled in water before get into yout lungs,
*for the record: I'm anti tabagist and I can barelly stand tobacco smoke, I start cofing desperally.

I tried to get a shisha video, but in the middle of movies maybe related with gas and fun I found this one:

(If you're really interested in shisha videos, you'll find A LOT in youtube)
Link for youtube results for the word shisha

This Looks like a serious problem that requires an open mind from your colleages! :S Can't imagine that at a Portugal

I came out with this post after talking with my friend when we're making our minds about organizing a cultural event within a few weeks.

Enjoy this ilustrating movie.. (the simpsons.. They're always suitable for all ages)

Does it look like fun? huh? :D weeeee

Transformers, the movie!

2007-07-06T12:07:00.001+01:00

At last I did watched the whole movie :D

I was ansious about this movie!!! Yes, it worth it!

Is really a shame about megatron's voice..

You'll understand what I mean with this fantastic review!
Title: Transformers (2007) Movie Trailer Preview Review,
From: moviepreviewcritic (youtube user)

Maybe I'll go watch again soon! .... :-)

Transformers

2007-06-05T15:17:00.001+01:00

Transformers, the movie is coming! I hardly can wait :D
This is .. just a funny commercial

cool!

2007-05-07T14:34:00.000+01:00

Something I've just find out :D

BTW, I'm with dvorak now... I tried to move back to qwerty, but in despite I didn't loose type speed and I can type in both qwerty ol dvorak, qwerty seems very stupid (I barely need to stretch *all* my fingers in dvorak)
sometimes I have problems with *(){} ... Is normal.. I'm used to portuguese keyboard after all.

weekend

2007-04-22T16:52:00.001+01:00

Saturday, 6th day

I bought a new keyboard to attach to the laptop....
a lifetech quicknet keyboard: is USB, is the cheapest I found

When I got home I tested right away to check that everything is OK. Then I rearranged the keys to the new layout (except the "\ |" key: it has a odd shape due to keyboard design, which makes it impossible to transplant to any other location)

I quit running dvorak7min: lessons are long and fatigating.... and because I've found an alternative learning source: http://www.powertyping.com/

Sunday, 7th day

I'm starting getting a speed of 14 to 29 words per minute. Still very bad... but I'm really improving, considering the small experience on this layout!

I passed a part of my day chatting and writting some commands...
The commands part still annoying: I didn't use to look to keyboard to seek the letters :S

another day - the Fifth Day

2007-04-20T18:04:00.000+01:00

I guess this should be day 5...

I had to put some floppy disk labels to *fix* the missplaced keys...They were driving me crazy!

I'm typing in a less erratic way... maybe like a (not much) trembling old man
I start getting confused when typing again in a qwerty layout
I never felt so hard to type the word "qwerty"

Anyway, i'm improving every day - I'm at lesson 10 of dvorak7min, getting a rate of 90+ % in every exercise

Big change!

2007-04-19T18:44:00.000+01:00

My new keyboard order suffered a delay... :(
Since I'm really up to learn this layout, I've decided to rearrange the keys of the work keyboard.

Unfortunatelly, as (I hope) you can see in the video, I had some problems with J and F keys.
So I had to keep those unchanged (that affected U and H too, obviously...)

Since I'm following lessons about how to type, I bareally look to the keyboard (on despite on that, I still type too damn slow...), but it helps a lot to have where to see!

PS: Of course I have an extra keyboard.... just in case ;)

A pause is needed ......

2007-04-17T10:42:00.000+01:00

Unfortunatelly I am forced to stop training of dvorak due to work.
I leave then my first impressions.

Changing layout (qwerty-dvorak-qwerty) doesn't seems to affect the typing inprovment.
Some letters are hard to find: wsxz are "in the wrong side" of the keyboard.
Is important to keep in mind that the keyboard is really separated by vowels and consoants. That's easy to forget and get frustraded seeking the letters. If you keep that in mind, you'll start notice that u rarely move your left hand (you do it mostly for "shift" "," and "."

I've decided that i should get a new keyboard to train ... stickers in the laptop starts to get fuzzy pretty fast, specially if you start typing in an average speed, that happens when you change to qwerty layout all of a sudden.

The requirements of the new keyboard: must be usb type, so I can use it in the laptop, should be cheap, so it won't hurt too much if I want to swap keys order and it breaks.
I choosed a genius slimstar. I should get it tomorrow.
According to vendor it has the laptop kind of keys. I guess it should look like this one in the picture.
I'll keep posting creating logs for a future reference to me and for whoever gets interested.

QWERTY-PT to DVORAK-US - migration log

2007-04-15T20:42:00.000+01:00

Day 0 - Friday, April 13
Choosing the best layout. I opted for dvorak-us for standart reasons.

Day 1 - Saturday, April 14
I cut some post-it's and labeled the keyboard. Is not fancy, but it does the trick.

Is painfull to write a single word. I had to invoke qwerty at the end of the training to prevent madness and rage attacks.

I'm using dvorak7min to assimilate the layout easier, but I only can do 2 exercises in a row

Day 2 - Sunday, April 15
Today, it seems I'm somehow absorbing the layout, but sometimes the fingers start typing as the qwerty layout.
It's easier (less difficult) to write. I started typing this log today.
I type like a little child, is embarassing .....

dvorak or qwerty...

2007-04-13T16:42:00.000+01:00

Today I have re-readed some stuff about dvorak keyboards.. maybe is time to start/play around..
I've been delayed this for years now .. but I guess now I'd like to really try it :D
so here we go...
english layout:

Do penguins fly??

2007-04-12T13:33:00.000+01:00

They look fat... but the truth is...

Ten Commandments for Egoless Programming

2007-03-22T10:52:00.000Z

Just receive it... and just had to share it :D

1. Understand and accept that you will make mistakes.
The point is to find them early, before they make it into production. Fortunately, except for the few of us developing rocket guidance software at JPL, mistakes are rarely fatal in our industry, so we can, and should, learn, laugh, and move on.

2. You are not your code.
Remember that the entire point of a review is to find problems, and problems will be found. Don't take it personally when one is uncovered.

3. No matter how much "karate" you know, someone else will always know more.
Such an individual can teach you some new moves if you ask. Seek and accept input from others, especially when you think it's not needed.

4. Don't rewrite code without consultation.
There's a fine line between "fixing code" and "rewriting code." Know the difference, and pursue stylistic changes within the framework of a code review, not as a lone enforcer.

5. Treat people who know less than you with respect, deference, and patience.
Nontechnical people who deal with developers on a regular basis almost universally hold the opinion that we are prima donnas at best and crybabies at worst. Don't reinforce this stereotype with anger and impatience.

6. The only constant in the world is change.
Be open to it and accept it with a smile. Look at each change to your requirements, platform, or tool as a new challenge, not as some serious inconvenience to be fought.

7. The only true authority stems from knowledge, not from position.
Knowledge engenders authority, and authority engenders respect -- so if you want respect in an egoless environment, cultivate knowledge.

8. Fight for what you believe, but gracefully accept defeat.
Understand that sometimes your ideas will be overruled. Even if you do turn out to be right, don't take revenge or say, "I told you so" more than a few times at most, and don't make your dearly departed idea a martyr or rallying cry.

9. Don't be "the guy in the room."
Don't be the guy coding in the dark office emerging only to buy cola. The guy in the room is out of touch, out of sight, and out of control and has no place in an open, collaborative environment.

10. Critique code instead of people
Be kind to the coder, not to the code. As much as possible, make all of your comments positive and oriented to improving the code. Relate comments to local standards, program specs, increased performance, etc.

Open-ssi cluster

2007-03-15T17:53:00.000Z

I did this a few months ago, but since i got bluetooth working on my computer, now i'm able to share this little something with you :D

Pick a debian sarge, add some cool stuff to sources.list and dist-upgrade it.
Let it cook until everything is settled.
At the end prepare a initrd image with flavours of all the network cards used.
Reboot and it's ready to serve

enjoy :D

New Portuguese Magazine "Revista Linux"

2007-03-14T16:53:00.000Z

So, finally the lack of portuguese Linux magazines is now end.
"Revista Linux" has born:

Is very promissing :D let's (contribute and) wait... :D

The latest release is

You can get it at http://www.revista-linux.com

Enjoy!

Creating a debian stable repository (Step 2)

2007-03-06T10:38:00.000Z

Now that we have space for the new repository, is time to create it.
For that, I use the reprepro tool because it allow me to create new repositories for "out of the box" specific packages.

To set reprepro you'll need to prepare a directory. I created a "repository" directory, and all the repositorys will be below that.
Since I only use this once, before this time I generated a new dir "apt" below repository, so I can manage multiple configuration.

cd to the place where to generate, and create a directory named conf/ and create a file named "distributions" and fill it like this:

Origin: Debian
Label: Debian
Suite: stable
Version: 3.1r4
Codename: sarge
Architectures: i386
Components: main contrib non-free
Description: Debian 3.1r4 Released 28 October 2006
Update: sarge

For this step I only describe how to mirror a known repository, but is possible to gerante your own repository (I'll talk about that later).
Having a mirror is particulary usefull for times there's no stable internet or just is not possible to everyone to access the internet at the same time to install packages.

This tool is very flexible, so you can manage different repositorys by the input of a new entry. So have in mind that

Multiple entries are separated with an empty line.
The codename is used to determine the directory to create.

The Update line is described later. If SignWith is there, it will try to sign it. (Either use "yes" or give something gpg can use to identify the key you want to use).
The other fields are copied into the appropriate Release files generated.

So... I don't want only the sarge repository.. i'd like a etch as well! so my conf/distribution looks like this (and only the i386 part, as you can see).

Origin: Debian
Label: Debian
Suite: stable
Version: 3.1r4
Codename: sarge
Architectures: i386
Components: main contrib non-free
Description: Debian 3.1r4 Released 28 October 2006
Update: sarge

Origin: Debian
Label: Debian
Suite: testing
Codename: etch
Architectures: i386
Components: main contrib non-free
Description: Debian Testing distribution - Not Released
update: etch

Now, that I've defined what I want, I must set the update part.
Each configuration will search its updates in the destinations set at conf/updates. Mine looks just like this:

Name: sarge
Method: http://debian.ua.pt/debian
Architectures: i386
IgnoreRelease: yes

Name: etch
Method: http://debian.ua.pt/debian
Architectures: i386
IgnoreRelease: yes

Now, it's all set. reprepro command must be runned at the path before of conf/
after a ls you should see this

# ls
conf db dists lists pool

To update everything possible do:

reprepro -Vb . update

To only update some distributions do:

reprepro -Vb . update sarge

Note:You can use the VerifyRelease field also, which can be retrieved using

gpg --with-colons --list-keys

I wasn't able to manage with this command, so I just ignore it.
/**********************
* NOT COMPLETE!
**********************/

New aquisition

2007-03-05T19:33:00.000Z

Finally I post something

Today I'm glad to announce that I have purchased another gadget :D

Pretty cool :D It's canon 3000v
I hope it will borrow even more joy in my life (I hope it didn't sound gay)

Creating a debian stable repository (Step 1)

2006-11-23T16:42:00.000Z

I adquired a few months ago a external hard drive.
Recently I found usefull to create a repository of the latest stable debian distribution. It might be extremely usefull, if you usually don't have a fast internet connection and have some machines to keep up to date
Step 1: make the partitions
I had made mine recently..Inicially the hard drive have been formated in a big 300Gb NTFS partition.
Cool, apart the fact I cannot write on it using Linux.
So in order to keep portability I made more partitions in FAT32, the disk now, looks like this:

~# fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 300.0 GB, 300069052416 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 36481 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 18266 146721613+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 18267 36481 146311987+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 18267 23470 41801098+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda6 23471 29972 52227283+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda7 29973 36481 52283511 b W95 FAT32
~#

I choosed the last partition the be the target of formating. It's empty for now, and will be formated in ext3 format
I must make sure that the disk is not beeing acessed by any other application and umount it.

~#umount /dev/sda*
umount: /dev/sda: not mounted
umount: /dev/sda1: not mounted
umount: /dev/sda2: not mounted
umount: /dev/sda5: not mounted
umount: /dev/sda6: not mounted
~#

Fomat the partition

~# mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda7
mke2fs 1.40-WIP (02-Oct-2006)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
6537216 inodes, 13070877 blocks
653543 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=0
399 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
16384 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
4096000, 7962624, 11239424

Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (32768 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

This filesystem will be automatically checked every 36 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
~#

Now it must be formated.. Now I have to change the partition system ID to ext3

~# fdisk /dev/sda

Command (m for help): t
Partition number (1-7): 7
Hex code (type L to list codes): 83
Changed system type of partition 7 to 83 (Linux)

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sda: 300.0 GB, 300069052416 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 36481 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 18266 146721613+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 18267 36481 146311987+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 18267 23470 41801098+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda6 23471 29972 52227283+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda7 29973 36481 52283511 83 Linux

Now i must apply changes made

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

WARNING: If you have created or modified any DOS 6.x
partitions, please see the fdisk manual page for additional
information.
Syncing disks.
~#

checking:

~# fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 300.0 GB, 300069052416 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 36481 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 18266 146721613+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 18267 36481 146311987+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 18267 23470 41801098+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda6 23471 29972 52227283+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda7 29973 36481 52283511 83 Linux

Hooray!
Let's mount it and start building the repostory

Latest Gadget!

2006-10-24T21:36:00.000+01:00

They've passed a few months since I got the intention of let my *BIG* mobile phone Nokia 5510 (serious, it's really huge) rests and get a new gadget.
I started looking for those with colourfull screens, cameras, and then I finally start seeking those PDA + phone.

Why a PDA?
There aren't many reasons, there's some stuff I did want to support:
-> A camera (just for kicks, snapshot mostly)
-> A spreadsheet - come on .. it's always usefull and keep you up of you'r expenses. Is the sort of thing everyone eventually uses for keep track of the money but always let it loose accuracy for using it less.
-> A good schedule to keep me up to things - a computer is usefull, but it doesn't fit your pocket
-> A SSH client (might be usefull)

Why NOT a PDA
Then I thought... today with java applications I can gather all those features in a mobile, and for less money :D
Some weeks from there I noticed that theres a mobile phone that assembles all the resorts I requested: Sony Ericsson V630i
-> 3G
-> micro SD card (256MB)
-> Schedule (outlook sync)
-> bluetooth 2.0
-> Camera 2.0 MegaPixel
-> java support
-> ...and other stuff :)

Since the day I bought it I tried to personalized it the most: I downloaded a lot of themes .. and spent some money in the process.. but I don't regret it, after all I've found interesting stuff.

Let's get the applications to work!

About java in mobile phones
Theres an acronym that tells the most about the Java Virtual Machine: the MIDP. For now, it's in the mobile phones market the standarts MIDP-1.0 and MIDP-2.0
MIDP stands for Mobile Information Device Profile and the differences bettween 1.0 and 2.0 differs mostly on the support to some features of the device

from http://www.nec-mfriend.com :

The Mobile Information Device Profile, or MIDP, was established by the MIDP Expert Group (whose members include Sun Microsystems, Motorola, and Nokia) as a standard Java specification to work with CLDC* in handsets, PDAs, and other mobile devices. MIDP applications are called "MIDlets," and many of these MIDP-based wireless Java applications are being developed.

According with a wap site (twilight zone), the informations follows:

Browser: Sony EricssonV630iv/R1CE
Browser/Net-Front/3.3
Profile/MIDP-2.0
Configuration/CLDC-1.1
IP Address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

Until now I havent find a java spreadsheet... yet! but I had more luck about sshclient

The last struggle: put a ssh client on the mobile phone
The program is the midpSSH, built in java, by Karl, available in http://www.xk72.com/midpssh/ in both MIDP 1.0 and 2.0.
So, once discovered, I downloaded the full package in MIDP-2.0 and started to use it.

First Attempt
Unfortunately, i'm unable to connect, I got a connection error "Writer: Access is Denied" and the application seems to freeze.. but it's awnsome to see the shell running in the cell phone! :D

The problem is related to the use of a special socket that is required to proceed to the connection, which is denied due to security reasons.
The issues are related to permissions of the java applications in the mobile phone. Some phones let them acess completely the outside world, others, like my own, for security reasons, of course, are quite annoying in that point.

Searching a bit, I found out another release: the midpSSH-ALPHA wich provides the possibility of connection to a middle point proxy in order to get access to the specific socket. Unfortunatelly at that moment I hadn't internet available or administrator rights in the networks I use.

A not-so-short break
Meanwhile... I reported a "handicap" in my mobile phone: 2 dead pixels on screen!!
so.. It was taken from me for repair for about a week and a half.
When it came, I finally got internet at home, and with that, *some* administrator rights in the network!

Proxy server downloaded and logistic matters solved
midpSSH-ALPHA installed, and configured,
proxy server application downloaded, ports open and running!
lets give it a shot...

Proxy server downloaded and logistic matters solved
proxy seted in persistent mode
connection to the proxy, runned OK, but the connection falls few seconds later.
changing proxy parameters to transient
connection to proxy ok, authenticating, good :D I got a shell!! unfortunatelly, few minutes later the connection is lost... "Cannot connecto to the socket", it blames!
But it's suitable for now

The egg yolk

2006-10-23T16:07:00.000+01:00

Hello!!

This blog has as motivation a repository of usefull informations that came up, for future reference for me and for others that eventually face the same obstacles.

Feel free to post if you think some post is uncomplete or confuse in order to elucidate third parties.

Among with that, I intend to add *maybe* some pictures, interesting citations or even own thoughts.

Thanks for passing by!
Nuno Leitão

1rst note

2006-10-23T13:15:00.000+01:00

Welcome to my recent blog!