As Xgl is included in the Dapper repositories, I thought it would be a good idea to submerse myself for once in the eye candy that is available. There are several howto's available and basically it's just adding two lines in /etc/apt/sources.list, and create the Xgl server entry in gdm.conf and the compiz-start script.


Xgl is fun to watch, but I have the same feeling when I use KDE : lots of eye candy, but in the end everything is keeping you from being productive. The 'wobbly' feature will be the first thing probably that I'm going to disable, cause it blurs the fonts on the screen when an item is moving, which wearies the eye. It also takes a second or so to stop a menu from wobbling, which is somehow annoying in the case of right-click menus.


For the rest, everything is like in the Xgl promo video : changing a workspace gives you the image of a rotating cube, and Alt-Tab displays a column with previews of available windows. What I really like in Xgl/Compiz, is the fact that inactive windows are displayed grey, which gives you a better view/attention on the focussed window.


There are still some little issues with other OpenGL programs, and the fact that the standard Xorg server is still started, which disables the 'Switch User' functionality. But that are issues to look at later.

There's no better date than 6.06.06 to install Ubuntu 6.06 on my desktop. Time to say goodbye to Debian, a last glance on the mounted partitions, and which ones to erase or to keep, and then time to insert the 32bit install CD. Why 32bit ? Cause the 64bit versions are still too much hassle. Things like OpenOffice or Java still don't play well in 64 bit environments, and creating 32bit chroots or start up a 32bit VMware Ubuntu just to check my bank accounts isn't imo worth the trouble.


But what a fast installer Ubuntu has ! The download of the install ISO took longer than the install itself (but maybe that says something about my ADSL download speed). I wished Ubuntu provided netinst iso's, but as I see how they provide the installer as a graphical program on the live CD, I don't think this is going to happen soon.


A date like 6/6/6 isn't allways a good one to perform installations or upgrades. There were some security issues with the installed Drupal version, so I thought it would be a good idea to upgrade to 4.7. Wrong guess : not only Drupal now shows the current module number from where to upgrade (instead of the version number - quite confusing), but something went horribly wrong with the upgrade of the phptemplate or xtemplate engine. The result was that I couldn't get any sideblocks to view, which is annoying cause there reside the administration and login menus. I had no other option than to revert the database and Drupal engine back to 4.6, and upgrade from there to 4.6.8.

Stupid Comics rounds up dozens of badly written, drawn and conceived comics from yesteryear.

Today marks the official release of Ubuntu 6.06, the userfriendly version of Linux. I've been test-running the (upgraded) beta since last week on my laptop, and -albeit a bit slow on this Pentium III Celeron 1GHz- I must say it's quite polished.


I've been running Debian unstable since 2000, but since the sarge release, it has ever become more and more unstable, causing grief at every dist-upgrade. Breezy has been running in VMware, so I had some time getting used to it. What strikes me is the big difference in repository content. Things like xephem aren't included in the Ubuntu repo, not even in multiverse.


Time to download the x64 version and install it on my dekstop.

On October 5, 2001, at the Technische Universität München, Donald Knuth presented a lecture entitled "All Questions Answered". The lecture drew an audience of around 350 people, and this PDF contains the transcript,and is truely worth a read.
Originally trained as a mathematician, Donald Knuth is renowned for his research in computer science, especially the analysis of algorithms. He is a prolific author, with 160 entries in MathSciNet. Knuth is also the creator of the TEX and METAFONT languages for computer typesetting, which have revolutionized the preparation and distribution of technical documents in many fields, including mathematics.

I seem to have dropped my current mobile once too often : the reception contained way too much interference to understand the one calling me. So I decided it was time to look out for a new mobile. I almost bought the Nokia 6101 as it contained an FM radio, but the counter guys at Vandenborre were so unfriendly I decided to shop elsewhere.


The same evening I stumbled onto this (Dutch) review of the Panasonic VS6 on newmobile.nl, and found it too good to be true : a clamshell phone with a 16 million color screen, a 2 megapixel camera and bluetooth support for a sub 200 Euro price was unbeatable in its category. Panasonic seems to be only available in the PhoneHouse, where they offered also a Bluetooth USB dongle for an outrageous price of 45 Euro, whereas you can find a 10 Euro specimen in every grocery shop.


The phone itself then : the screen just blows you away with its crispness and colour, and the pictures the 2mp camera takes are quite good of quality. The keypad layout could be a bit better (IMO only Nokia produces phones with nice large keypads), and the contact book can only store contacts attributes if you save them in the phone's memory instead of the SIM card, which is a bit sad.


I was a bit afraid for Bluetooth support under Debian, as gnome-bluetooth wasn't available in the default repository, but kdebluetooth is a nice solution also. Time to personalize the phone with some cool graphics and realtones !

Those of you reading this blog regularly know that I'm not an avid TV watcher. So two years ago I discarded my cable subscription, and chose for an antenna for a casual TV session. However, analogue antennas are quite susceptible for interference, which can be quite annoying. Belgian public television stations like Canvas or Een are some time now already available on DVB-T, which is digital broadcast, resulting in an excellent broadcast quality, even better than cable. In the surrounding countries (eg Germany) DVB-T is widespread and the offer of available TV channels is quite large.


Begin this week, I purchased a DVB-T setop box, and I must say : the difference with our old antenna is stunning. Only the stations Eén and Canvas are receivable by DVB-T, and I don't think this is going to change soon : other TV companies like VTM have financial interests in cable companies, which make DVB-T expansions in Belgium unlikely.

Feed your sigmonster : the Contempt page contains some fine quotes from people like Dijkstra, Pitman and Baker ventilating their opinion on computer languages. C or Perl zealots may put on their asbestos suit :


"The perl programmer who veers off the road into the forest will get out of his car and cut down each and every tree that blocks his progress, then drive a few meters and repeat the whole process. whether he gets where he wanted to go or not is immaterial - a perl programmer will happily keep moving forward and look busy.


What really pisses me off with Perl is that people work so hard doing so terribly little while they think they have worked very little doing something really nifty. Fools!"

If Wikipedia is too dry or too objective for you, then the Urban Dictionary will give you some cool slang definitions to quote around. Some examples to give you a chuckle :


* Sun : Sun Microsystems. As in Damn that stock is going down like Sun Microsystems.


* Marriage : Suicide in it's worst form.
Jerry: Dude, Ben committed marriage yesterday.
Joe: Holy shit dude. Well, so much for hanging out with ben.


* Frodo : that last bit of poo that wont drop into the toilet : an annoying little shit that wont let go of the ring. As in :
-Are you okay in there?
-Yeah, but I gotta frodo. Come back in like 10 minutes

Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mindboggingly big it is. I mean you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space.


--The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams


If you ever wondered how the Earth measures up to other planets or the Sun, this site might be something for you.