lifebsideben

Well, I finally got VNC working again after it lost its mind during the 7.04 upgrade, although with a different binary. Still not sure what’s up with tightvnc, but at this point I guess I don’t care to solve the root cause. Based on this Ubuntu bug report thread, I tried the RealVNC server build, called vnc4server. A simple sudo apt-get install vnc4server and tweaks to my start/stop scripts, and I was in business again. Whew!

Even better, I got some added functionality that is really helpful! The vnc4server package includes a ‘vnc4config’ app that, while running, allows clipboard data to be passed back and forth between the host and client. It works, and it’s nifty. I was trying to figure out how to start that up in my xstartup (it ends with “exec gnome-session” so lots of luck there) but it turns out the gnome session itself, can help. You can specify startup programs at System -> Preferences -> Sessions. Seems reasonable. It’ll probably start up when I’m at console as well, but should be harmless, I’d expect (will test that next time I actually need to use the console.)

Tags: linux, ubuntu, vnc

Why, oh why, am I compelled to click the shiny button?

I ran the Ubuntu update manager and it says a new distribution upgrade is available, to 7.04. I go read the release notes, hmm, sounds good, nothing earth-shattering but let’s go for it. Now, understand that I interact with my Ubuntu server, in order of importance:

1. via Samba to the Mac
2. via VNC for Azureus, misc. updates, etc.
3. via ssh and http (cvs, subversion, plain old ssh, web development, etc.)

These core features have never suffered problems during an update/upgrade, since my first install of Ubuntu 5. Sure, lots of other stuff has gone wrong, and the fact that I do upgrades over VNC is probably not helping things, either. But when it decided it didn’t know how to mount my RAID array, or the boot disk for that matter, or made an incompatible kernel the default, or trashed my network (or X) settings, it was never that big a deal… a little reading maybe, hook up a monitor (this server is normally headless), and tweak a bit, reboot, happiness.

But apparently, ’twas not to be the case for the 7.04 upgrade. As usual, I upgraded over VNC. It seemed to just “finish” without the normal message eventually, hmm, well, ok let’s reboot. Looks like new stuff, cool. Run upgrade manager again… claims an incomplete upgrade, run again. OK, wow, it actually started from where it “left off”, just a few more packages, and 5 minutes later, it was happy, rebooted, shiny, yay! Or so I thought.
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Roxio is the company that makes Toast, the best disc-burning software on the Mac. Which is a little like saying they make the best anti-virus software for Windows, in that it’s something the OS should really provide a pretty robust solution for. Anyhow, it is pretty good, and although I think I’ve yet to get it to transcode video into a DVD without crashing, it manages to do the basics–jamming files onto DVD-Rs, reasonably well.

The catch to all this, is that it’s a really expensive piece of software, at least for what I have successfully made it do, with a list price of $99. Now, I’m sure no one pays the list price, I mean even on their own site you can get it for $79. Still, eighty bucks is a lot for software that basically copies files. Plus, between Toast 6 and Toast 7, they removed some features at the behest of the MPAA. I don’t like my software companies taking orders from bully industry groups. But anyhow, I bought 6, and upgraded to 7, which cost me $60 as I recall. So, I’m into these guys for well over $100, and basically, just to burn backup copies of my digital photos. I mean, there’s some features about making audio CDs–oh wait, I use iTunes (free) for that, and for video editing–oh wait, I use iDVD for that (iLife came with my Mac). Still, I’ve been relatively happy with it as a product, and it makes burning the occasional .bin/.cue easier than not having it.

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Tags: bitching, dvd, email, roxio, software, spam, toast, upgrade

I ordered a copy of Gore’s Keynote-riffic movie on Earth Day from Amazon, so that Paramount would donate a copy to schools as well (it was a promo if purchased that day). Thanks to Amazon Prime, it arrived today, with three bubble-bags, an insert, a packing list, and a 12×9x4 cardboard box. Sweet!! Pretty much negated any benefit of the paper wrapper instead of a clamshell for the DVD, I guess.

Probably should have just downloaded it. Oh wait, I did bittorrent it first… this was just to make me “whole”

Tags: amazon, bitching, environment, movies