Category Archives: Free Software/Open Source

About all things Free Software and Open Source. Mostly good news :)

microsoft discovers remote attestation

Posted on October 8, 2010 by ward

Via slashdot: Microsoft’s corporate VP for trustworthy computing – Scott Charney – has published a position paper that boils down to remote attestation: let ISPs cut off internet access for computers that are not deemed free of malware. So… how … Continue reading →

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CF iPod conversion to FAT32

Posted on January 25, 2010 by ward

In order to install Rockbox on an iPod, it needs to be formatted in FAT32, not HFS+. The relevant wiki page over at the Rockbox site suggest either connecting the iPod to an iTunes install on Windows, or using one … Continue reading →

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DRAC5 source code available for download

Posted on November 17, 2009 by ward

Dell’s DRAC5 is based on free software. The source has been rumored to be available but hard to find – until today, when this helpful e-mail popped up on the linux-poweredge list. Here’s the link to an ISO with the … Continue reading →

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Jaunty’s stabilizing

Posted on June 12, 2009 by ward

A quick update on some of the bugs reported in my previous post bugs, bugs, bugs: upgrading to jaunty jackalope. The two most serious problems were atrocious Intel video performance, and ongoing sound issues. Thankfully, the Intel issues have been … Continue reading →

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bugs, bugs, bugs: upgrading to jaunty jackalope

Posted on April 28, 2009 by ward

I upgraded my laptop to Jaunty Jackalope. Here’s the list of issues (and solutions) I’ve run into: 1. Tor is not packaged anymore, apparently there is no Ubuntu maintainer. Upstream provides Ubuntu packages, but they have no jaunty package yet. … Continue reading →

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Drupal: disable caching for an entire module

Posted on April 25, 2009 by ward

I have a legacy php application that had to be integrated into a Drupal site, so I wrapped it in a simple drupal module. The code needs to run for anonymous users. The wrapping worked fine, but the Drupal cache … Continue reading →

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Asterisk vs. Telemarketer: 1 – 0

Posted on April 17, 2009 by ward

We’ve been getting telephone spam from Affiliated Mortgage Protection Affiliated Mortgage Protection 292 Terminal Ave W, Clark, NJ- 7066. (732)-499-0700 We answered five of their calls the past three weeks, and each time asked them to stop calling. Apparently, they … Continue reading →

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Dell’s GNU/Linux support leaves to be desired

Posted on October 27, 2008 by ward

So I have a poweredge 2800 with some hardware issues (voltage sensors on the riser card seeing things they should not…). The Dell support folks wanted me to run a DSET report with this tool http://support.euro.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R155882&formatcnt=2&libid=0&fileid=208066 Man – what a … Continue reading →

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25 years of GNU

Posted on September 2, 2008 by ward

The FSF has put out a 5 minute anniversary video celebrating 25 years of GNU. It’s a pleasant, concise explanation of what free software is all about, why it’s important, and how the GNU project fits in to all this. … Continue reading →

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price comparison: Dell XPS M1530 with Ubuntu vs. Windows

Posted on August 8, 2008 by ward

Dell announced that a few more models are now available pre-installed with Ubuntu: the XPS 1530n and the Studio 15n. I configured an XPS 1530n with the following specs, which are available both with Ubuntu and Windows: SYSTEM COLOR Tuxedo … Continue reading →

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