Red Hat Magazine | Understanding your (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) daemons

A Unix daemon is a program that runs in the “background,� enabling you to do other work in the “foreground,� and is independent of control from a terminal. Daemons can either be started by a process, such as a system startup script, where there is no controlling terminal, or by a user at a terminal without “tying up� that terminal as the daemon runs. But which daemons can you safely play with? Which should you leave running?

A helpful explaination of these potentially confusing programs.

Linux.com | Bringing Web-based applications offline

The Web 2.0 mantra suggests that you forget desktop applications and embrace AJAXified browser-based apps that you can run from any OS, anywhere, as long as you have a speedy connection to the Internet. But what about times when you can’t get online? Firefox, Opera, and others are looking to make it possible run applications offline, anytime, anywhere.

Long overdue in my opinion. When looking at Google Apps I asked my Google contact about mobile device support and they replied that there were optimised version of the web pages for mobile devices. That wasn’t really what I had in mind. I often work on the train with no internet access, even if I was willing to pay data charges on my mobile phone.

In the meantime, this clever little app called gSyncit provides a way to take your Google Calendar with you via Outlook and ActivSync

What’s your “Linux Whine?� « Robitaille’s Blog

Recently on 43folders.com Merlin Mann asked his predomendately Mac crowd for their best Mac whines. He got 191 comments up to now, some very interesting. I thought that was great idea so I decided to expand it to Linux.

Don’t get me wrong I’m a big fan of Linux but there are still plenty of things that irritate me about it. See my comments on the Computeractive Linux forum about trying to install graphics drivers for an example. It was a good education in not relying on first impressions. The nVidia drivers require use of the command prompt but worked once the correct dependancies had been resolved. Ati was another matter. There is a graphical front end to the installation process but you still have to run a command line script at the end. That didn’t work. And neither did X afterwards. I found the xconfig script and that did get X working again but I’m no closer to a 3D desktop on that computer.

One day, one day…..

rhjr.net » Designing the Obvious available as an eBook

Designing the Obvious is now available as an eBook through the InformIT bookstore.

If you’re just too impatient to wait for a copy from Amazon, or your house is too full of books already to order a new one, give the digital version a whirl!

I think my opinions of this book are now rather clear. Another good reason to get yourself a copy.

Using Md5sums

MD5 Checksums are used to establish the code integrity of software you download. Using the md5sums grants you more security.

Ok, MD5 hashes are no longer watertight but they are at least a good way of making sure a download has not been corrupted. This is a rather good introduction to checking these safeguards for Windows users.

kaizen manifesto » home

Kaizen (pronounced “kigh-zenâ€?) is the time-honored practice of continuous, incremental improvement. In the software industry, it’s the practice of actively improving designs, code, processes, and everything else, continuously, now and forever, to create a complete customer experience. The principles are…

If you have never read Designing the Obvious and you are involved in any kind of programming or webdesign, I strongly recommend that you read this book. This manifeso is a continuation of the principles set out in the book.

Creating Passionate Users

When I teach Java, I always teach it using nothing but a simple text editor and the command-line. I do advocate tools for development, but never, never, NEVER for someone who doesn’t understand Java at a fundamental level (compiler options, packages, namespaces, access modifiers, etc.)

It amuses me that I write this post in the code view of Performancing because the WYSIWYG view doesn’t give me the results I want. A good understanding of the fundamentals of any subject is so important, whether it is computing (my job), accounting (my old, rather hated, job) or music (my passion outside of job). Still it often seems like the hard way to begin with even if it is easier in the long run. The most helpful book I ever read about programming, that actually got me started when so many had failed, had no code at all in the first chapter. Rather, it explained the concepts of what a computer is and what programming is for. Armed with that knowledge getting started was so much easier. A much better approach than the books that make people write a program without explaining what goes on behind it.

What’s Special About This Number?

0 is the additive identity.
1 is the multiplicative identity.
2 is the only even prime.

Everything you never know about numbers. I’m speechless, but I won’t be learning them for parties….

Frets on Fire is a game of musical skill and fast fingers. The aim of the game is to play guitar with the keyboard as accurately as possible.

A fun and free alternative to the Playstation version, although it’s not as much fun with a keyboard as the mock guitar. One word of warning, some slight swearing in the tutorial, nothing much by rock and roll standards but parents may want to check first.

WindowsXPUnderQemuHowTo - Community Ubuntu Documentation

QEmu can run an OS inside another OS - for example, Windows under Linux. QEmu uses kqemu, an acceleration driver included in Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn to run Windows at usable speed.
Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn also includes a new version of rdesktop that can be used to start individual desktop apps from the VM on your normal desktop.

Useful for those essential apps not yet available for Linux. Or maybe for testing web pages in IE when using Linux for development.