Life, The Universe and Stuff

To have the tube syncronized...

2011-01-28T10:23:00.001Z

I am proud to notice that Lisbon's tube/subway/underground (your pick...) is syncronized.
But, can anyone tell the guys from the control tower that syncronized shouldn't mean that two different lines arrive at the station at EXACTLY the same time????!!!!
Either I am the Flash or I miss the connection to the red line... btw, stats on these events are 20-80%.
Lovely.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-23T21:02:00.004Z

If I was really really geeky, I would put this music

together with these images :)

and geolocate them here

Since I'm not... Feliz Natal! :)

Top 3 :)

2010-12-21T16:49:00.002Z

Lisbon scores again! :)

Read all about it here

Rainy weather or Cold weather?

2010-12-20T17:44:00.002Z

Personally, I prefer the cold, for so many reasons... For starters,

and

and these....

The rain, well, it's wet, it's uncomfortable, it increases the traffic on the streets... AND it's a ROYAL PAIN ....

Long story short...

But.... I do like the rain.... as long as it bring the company of the cold... and then we end up with....

From Villanueva de la Cañada Vol. I - Nieve

SNOWWWWW :)

It's booked!!

2010-12-14T22:44:00.001Z

Lisbon Tube...

2010-12-07T13:03:00.001Z

I really think something has been lost in translation.... :)

Groovy sound

2010-11-08T20:28:00.002Z

Great song by a Portuguese band...! :)

La dama y la Muerte

2010-11-08T20:25:00.002Z

The other night there was a tv show with short animations. This one was absolutely FANTASTIC!

OpenOffice goes Spanish

2010-10-01T11:44:00.001+01:00

Well, that's a way to put things...

In fact, OpenOffice.org has been forked into LibreOffice held by Document Foundation and is now available for download and usage.

If you already have OpenOffice in your Ubuntu and you want to try LibreOffice, just get the tgz from here, unzip it and then install it with

sudo dpkg -i $WHERE_YOU_UNZIPED/en-US/DEBS/*.deb

sudo dpkg -i $WHERE_YOU_UNZIPED//en-US/DEBS/desktop-integration/libreoffice3.3-debian-menus_3.3-9526_all.deb

Remove old kernels

2010-09-30T16:12:00.003+01:00

When you boot your computer and have 10E10 kernels to choose from in the bootloader, it is annoying... Usually you just have to boot the first one on the list, but if you have a Window$ OS installed, well, you have to go though the kernel list until you find the Window$ loader.

The option is to remove old kernels :)

Here's the trick:

1. Find out what is the version you are currently using with

uname -r

2. Check what kernels are installed in your machine

ls /boot | grep vmlinuz | cut -d'-' -f2,3

that will give you the KERNEL_IDs

2.6.28-23
2.6.28-24
2.6.28-25

3. Find the stuff associated with the kernels you don't want with

dpkg -l | grep ^ii | grep KERNEL_ID | awk -F' ' '{ print $2 }'

that should give you the UNWANTED_STUFF_LIST

linux-headers-2.6.28-23

linux-headers-2.6.28-24-generic

linux-image-2.6.28-25-generic

linux-restricted-modules-2.6.28-25-generic

4. Finally, remove the items in UNWANTED_STUFF_LIST with

sudo aptitude remove UNWANTED_STUFF_LIST[N=1, ..., N]

Personally, I always keep the version I am using, (duh!) plus the previous one... You never know ....

In Orbit Commissioning Phase Photos

2010-09-14T16:55:00.002+01:00

These are some shots I collected during the six months I stayed at ESAC.

In-Orbit Commissioning Phase Photos

I'll try to bring the blog back to life....

Or not.. :)

Rita **

It REALLY snows!!! :)

2009-12-21T23:03:00.002Z

From Villanueva de la Cañada Vol. I - Nieve

It snows!!! :D

2009-12-14T08:32:00.003Z

Madrid

2009-12-03T20:59:00.005Z

This is actually the first post about... LIFE!!! :)

Here are some shots taken this weekend in Madrid :)

From Madrid Vol. 1

Well, to be honest, this could have been taken anywhere :P

From Madrid Vol. 1

This one is the Bear in Plaza Sol... Or is it a self-portrait? ;)

From Madrid Vol. 1

Just Plaza Mayor... They have this X-mas Fair there... You can buy lots of decorations!!!

From Madrid Vol. 1

Zeh flag!

And that's it for now :)

Google Wave

2009-11-28T22:13:00.002Z

I think I will enjoy this a lot :)

How to tell if a cat is plotting to kill you

2009-11-10T23:51:00.001Z

Instaling new Ubuntu

2009-10-21T11:59:00.002+01:00

When you install a new version of Ubuntu there is a cool way to keep track of your installed applications :)

dpkg --get-selections > apps.txt

This will list your installed applications. Then on a new and fresh instalation, do

$ dpkg --get-selections < apps.txt
$ dselect update
$ apt-get dselect-upgrade show


And there you go! :)

How to make your /home in a different partition than the OS

2009-10-13T12:32:00.003+01:00

It says it all :)

http://embraceubuntu.com/2006/01/29/move-home-to-its-own-partition/

Comparing stuff

2009-08-28T14:31:00.005+01:00

To compare files I used to be very blunt and use

diff $file1 $file2

but then my front-desk mate said "Add | vimdiff - ". He has shared some ideas on how to compare stuff with another colleague of ours.

In the meantime, my boss introduced me to tkdiff and I absolutely loved it.
As a good open source software ;) works on Linux, Mac and M$ Window$ :)

So enjoy!

Changing your Console Prompt

2009-08-20T11:59:00.003+01:00

I've been looking for a while on a good post on how to change it, and finally, a good reference came up.

*This* site is a good guide! Really... ;)

Personalized Icons in Gnome-Do

2009-07-31T15:45:00.001+01:00

I really like Gnome-Do, but a thing that bugged me was the inability to create an button with a personalized icon.

However, a ... erm... simple/clever/idiot/what-the-hell workaround to do it is:

Remove the item from your dock if its already on there
Add your costumized icon to the Menus (right click on Applications Menu, Edit Menus)
Drag the launcher into the desktop
Restart gnome-do
Ops, the icon is not set properly! Remove it from docky
Drag the icon from the Applications Menu to docky
Restart gnome-do
Celebrate your brand new personalized icon! :)

I followed him but had to improve a bit ;)

Enjoy :

ATI Mobility Radeon X1700 and FPS Games

2009-07-21T23:27:00.000+01:00

I have to use my personal laptop with Vista for a while... It happens... and one thing that never worked properly was the graphic card, an ATI’s Mobility Radeon™ X1700 .

To get it working properly with my FPS games (Enemy Territory and Quake Wars), I had to follow this tutorial.

New Punkbuster

2009-07-13T22:03:00.000+01:00

After like 100years without updates, last month Punkbuster released an update.

To sort it out with Ubuntu, just do:

cd [et-install-directory]/pb
wget http://www.evenbalance.com/downloads/et/pbsec.htm
wget http://www.evenbalance.com/downloads/et/pbsecsv.htm
chmod u+x pbweb.x86
./pbweb.x86
cp pbweb.x86 ~/.etwolf/pb/
cd ~/.etwolf/pb/
./pbweb.x86

My personal hate...

2009-06-18T15:29:00.000+01:00

At work, it is convenient to lock your screen when you are afk for a while. Thank God, for gnome-screensaver with the lock option....

But it just had to be buggy in Ubunty 9.04..... There was no way to unlock the screen... The solution was simple and stupid and took 3 people to find it out ... And some more bugs in gnome-screensaver... :(

Here I found the solution ...

sigh....

Amarok and Jaunty

2009-06-15T14:24:00.000+01:00

Yeah... my new laptop at work has Ubuntu 9.04... and it doesn't seem to like a lot of stuff, including the new Amarok 2.0.# (Which is very fancy, btw)

Amarok returned no sound and after googling a bit and trying the solutions in the Ubuntu Forums, I decided to try the previous version of Amarok, 1.4.n. And guess what, it works! :)

So cute, but wroooong!

2009-06-09T18:16:00.000+01:00

New lappy at work, 64bits machine and BAM! Ubuntu 9.04 64bit installed here...
First (of many problems to come....)

Skype doesnt allow avatar changing...
Solution here

*sigh*

2009-05-22T18:54:00.000+01:00

I have been using Matlab at work for some time now.

However only know I am starting to do GUIs (aka, Graphical User Interfaces). You can start using a kane, i.e., use guide from Matlab to assist you designing your GUI. But there will come a time when you'll need more.

In this blog I have found a good way to start a GUI from square one and this gentlemen provides a good example.

Have fun guiing :p

More on Ubuntu 9.04 - If you have an ATI card

2009-05-16T15:25:00.000+01:00

.... then you are in troubles :(

This post from Ubuntu Forums was referenced to me and summons up the problems that surround ATI drivers and the new and likeable Jaunty release from Ubuntu.

Fitting Toolbox for Matlab

2009-05-15T19:26:00.000+01:00

Matlab has a fitting toolbox of its own, but it is payed.

Here you can find a very simple, practical and FUNCTIONAL replacement :)

Enemy Territory - To Do's for Ubuntu

2009-05-13T23:10:00.001+01:00

My favourite site to download ET stuff :) It has the executables, the patches and some hints and tips :)

Plus you should download etpatch 2.60b and follow the instructions :)

In Ubuntu there are a couple of things that you might have to do.

If you don't have sound when launching the game, do:

echo "et.x86 0 0 direct" > /proc/asound/card0/pcm0p/oss

If PB kicks you "by game violation integrity" then go to $INSTALATION_PATH_FOR_ET/pb/ and run pbweb.x86. Then go to your $HOME and do rm -fr .etwolf/pb (to clean previous pb files). Recreate it (mkdir .etwolf/pb) and copy your files from $INSTALATION_PATH_FOR_ET/pb/ to that directory. Then run pbweb.x86 again there.

Some ATI cards have some issues with Quake games. If you get flashes when running ET, then you have to disable compiz before running the game. Do metacity --replace & before running ET and after it, do compiz --replace &. I don't know how NVIDIA cards behave regarding to this.

You can always patch these things together in a small script, like:

#!bin/bash
# Bugz in ET:

# solve flashes
metacity --replace &

# solve sounds
sudo echo "et.x86 0 0 direct" > /proc/asound/card0/pcm0p/oss

# run et
et

# recover graphics
compiz --replace &

Subway Maps From The World

2009-05-13T22:35:00.000+01:00

Have been looking for this site for a while now... :)

After Installing Ubuntu

2009-05-13T21:47:00.000+01:00

Recently a new version of Ubuntu has been released here.

Usually there are some things you should do after a fresh instalation of Ubuntu. Here I have found an extensive list of things to do and from them I've compiled my own list. Here goes:

1. Tools for compiling from sources
sudo aptitude install build-essential checkinstall cdbs devscripts dh-make fakeroot libxml-parser-perl check avahi-daemon

2. Java
sudo aptitude install sun-java6-fonts sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin equivs ttf-sazanami-gothic ttf-sazanami-mincho

3. Control Pannels to manage Compiz
sudo aptitude install ubuntu-tweak

sudo aptitude install simple-ccsm

4. Codecs and related programs
sudo aptitude install vlc mplayer

sudo aptitude install non-free-codecs libxine1-ffmpeg gxine mencoder mpeg2dec vorbis-tools id3v2 mpg321 mpg123 libflac++6 ffmpeg toolame libmp4v2-0 totem-mozilla icedax tagtool easytag id3tool lame nautilus-script-audio-convert mozilla-helix-player helix-player libmad0 libjpeg-progs libmpcdec3 libquicktime1 flac faac faad sox toolame ffmpeg2theora libmpeg2-4 uudeview flac libmpeg3-1 mpeg3-utils mpegdemux liba52-dev

sudo aptitude install gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3 gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mpegdemux gstreamer0.10-gnonlin gstreamer0.10-pitfdll gstreamer0.10-sdl gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse gstreamer0.10-schroedinger gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse totem-gstreamer

sudo aptitude install gstreamer-dbus-media-service gstreamer-tools ubuntu-restricted-extras

sudo aptitude install libdvdcss2 && sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/./install-css.sh

sudo aptitude install gsfonts gsfonts-x11 flashplugin-nonfree

5. Wine. Seriouslly, there are a couple of apps that are worth it.
sudo aptitude install wine

6. (De)Compressing
sudo aptitude install unace rar unrar zip unzip p7zip-full p7zip-rar sharutils aish uudeview mpack lha arj cabextract file-roller

7. Music player. If you don't like VLC to manage your music library, I found that Amarok is the best program to use. I've also tried Exaile and Rythmbox, but Amarok presented the best case :)
sudo aptitude install amarok amarok-engine-xine amarok-engine-yauap amarok-engines amarok-common

8. Partition tools
sudo aptitude install gparted ntfsprogs

9. Some plugings for your text editor
sudo aptitude install gedit gedit-plugins

10. Filezilla..
sudo aptitude install filezilla filezilla-common

11. Gnome Do. Been using it for over a year now, but with the Jaunty I discovered the Docky-Gnome-Do. Goodbye cairo-dock and AWN and hello docky :)
sudo aptitude install gnome-do

I add to the list the following apps:

12. Geany. A very powerfull program. I recommend it for coding.
sudo aptitude install geany

13. Skype
you can either add the repositoires to
/etc/apt/sources.list
or get it from here

14. Picasa
The perfect program for newbies to keep our photo galeries updated and do some corrections on our shots.
Get Picasa from here

So far, that's it.

2009-05-12T23:31:00.000+01:00

It starts.

Life, The Universe and Stuff

To have the tube syncronized...

Merry Christmas

Top 3 :)

Rainy weather or Cold weather?

It's booked!!

Lisbon Tube...

Groovy sound

La dama y la Muerte

OpenOffice goes Spanish

Remove old kernels

In Orbit Commissioning Phase Photos

It *REALLY* snows!!! :)

It snows!!! :D

Madrid

Google Wave

How to tell if a cat is plotting to kill you

Instaling new Ubuntu

How to make your /home in a different partition than the OS

Comparing stuff

Changing your Console Prompt

Personalized Icons in Gnome-Do

ATI Mobility Radeon X1700 and FPS Games

New Punkbuster

My personal hate...

Amarok and Jaunty

So cute, but wroooong!

More on Ubuntu 9.04 - If you have an ATI card

Fitting Toolbox for Matlab

Enemy Territory - To Do's for Ubuntu

Subway Maps From The World

After Installing Ubuntu

It REALLY snows!!! :)