Fedora 7 package-less without the Internet?

Ok so I decided to install Fedora 7 on my desktop after receiving an email regarding my post on getting the SMC 2862W-G wireless USB dongle working on Ubuntu. Go through the installation and setup, and everything seems pretty polished and from what I’ve heard of Fedora (previously Fedora Core) product line. During the installation I purposely stupidly left out some packages thinking that I would try to install them later to see how package installation is without an Internet connection. Besides if I don’t have my wireless driver compiled and loaded how can I get online right? (the router is upstairs and I am NOT lugging my desktop upstairs)

System installed and booted up first thing I did click the “Applications” menu, and I see the “Add/Remove Software” so thats where I go. It prompts me for my password and then I see the application starting and then a nice error message informing me that it is “Unable to retrieve software information”. Fair enough, I’m not online so it can’t connect to the repositories. There is a “Details” section which displays the nice message of “None”. So I click on the “Ok” button of this error dialogue box and *poof* the whole application just closes. So how am I supposed to install packages?

I see “Software updater” in the “System Tools” menu and I try that. Same problem. Search online and I get this post. Currently I am reading through trying to familiarize myself with this different side of Linux that I had yet to venture into. I could just use rpm to install some stuff but dependency hell just like dpkg in Debian based distros arise. But fact of the matter is why can’t they just enable installation of files from the CD by default? There is 2.7GB worth of packages in the DVD which is useless to those trying to learn how to use Linux and all.

Found this post that enabled me to update via the GUI installer, pirut, but not via the command line yum. Being curious I got on IRC and join #fedora and asked them about it. One guy asked if I could use rpm and after a bit of dependency annoyances (as with any manual package installer e.g. dpkg) I managed to install one of the dependencies for gcc. So I tried using pirut again and got the same exception as I got for yum. Man this is bad. Yes there are some working fixes that I’ve read, such as copying the packages from the DVD to the hard drive but I want to use the DVD which has shown that it could work with pirut.

I think David said it best in the post from the 1st link above:

Prominent Linux distributions have greatly improved that software installation and update process over the last decade. Both Debian-derived and RPM-based distributions now have good support for accessing large repositories of packages over the internet. If you have good internet access, then you don’t really need the distribution CDs or DVD after the initial install. But I wonder if the emphasis on installation over the internet has seems to have reached the point that distributions are neglecting installation of packages from CD/DVD. I hope that ability doesn’t disappear. Although fast internet connections are widely available now, it’s still quite possible to find yourself without one. And many DSL providers set monthly data limits, so it’s sometimes preferable not to download packages that you already have sitting on a CD or DVD.

Is that too much to ask for?

Application of the Day?: SUPER

SUPER: © Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer. In other words an application that lets you convert videos from 1 format to another. After being mentioned on DL.TV episode 177 I did some searching on it and found a complaint saying that it is in violation of the GPL and LGPL. Despite an odd complaint of this software installs spyware and doesn’t cleanly uninstall. Initially I was wary of the program but after seeing it on Softpedia with the 100% free award which states the following:

Softpedia guarantees that SUPER 2007 build 22 is 100% FREE, which means it is a freeware product (both for personal and commercial use) that does not contain any form of malware, including but not limited to: spyware, viruses, trojans and backdoors.

So that calmed me until now. I should do some testing on the software, I will try do so if I have the time and if I’m using Windows. But despite the controversy I have to say that it does work flawlessly. Simple drag and drop, select output format, click encode (leaving the defaults on) and it starts encoding the file.
Use with caution

Application of the Day: Winmerge

Winmerge: a sweet application with great keyboard shortcuts to let you compare and file differences and merge them. Allows merging into existing file but is only for Windows (well I guess you could guess that from the name). KDiff3 is a good alternative with cross platform support (Windows, Linux, Mac, Un*x) but when saving the merged file it prompted to save as a new file not an existing file. I had over 50 files to merge today so I didn’t want to manually file each file and save them individually.

A reason for keyboard users to hate Macs

Have been playing around with a Macbook the past few days as my dear got one for a pretty great deal and I as a very keyboard-centric user am finding it frustrating. When I use any laptop I usually never have an external mouse attached as I feel it breaks my flow and I rather use the touchpad or the Pointing Stick (strange enought I prefer the pointing stick as my fingers never leave the keyboard) despite that I may be slower (but I will use an external mouse for extended works that require a mouse, e.g. graphics editing and gaming). Understandably some keyboard shortcuts are changed to use the Apple command key (or whatever it’s called) but it gets plain annoying. One of the biggest annoyances is here.
Basically in the file manager application, Finder, when you highlight a file or application and press Enter, thinking it would open or execute the program like it does in Windows and Linux (well from my experience of typical Linux file managers, i.e. Konqueror, Nautilus, Krusader, Xfce File Manager), you are in for a rude awakening. Finder thinks that you want to rename the file. Great, so how do you open the file? Command-O or Command-Down. Like what the heck, why do you need to press 2 keys to open something. Okay maybe it’s to prevent accidentally opening something, but at the expense of having to press 2 keys to open something ALL the time? Please, come on Apple. Other commands like copy and paste use the command key instead of the control (Ctrl) key and since the command key is just left of the space bar it makes your fingers do some unfamiliar gymnastics that you would rather avoid.
Apparently this guy gave up his Mac Mini over 2 years ago just because of issues like this on a Mac. A good read for anybody going over to the Mac side. I still can’t get over the single mouse button and sometimes for a right like I have to press command click or Ctrl click. Perhaps I was mistaken but I think it was in Finder when I have to press Ctrl-click to bring up the Right click menu but in Word for Mac it was Command-click. Aaaahhh enough of the rant, and back to work I go….

BAICT – Brunei Awareness of Information and Communication Technology

Another technology centric event another technology (which means computer) fair at the Mall in Gadong.
Take a look at the schedule (thanks Brunei Daily Diary)

Thursday, June 7
9.30am: Registration & arrival of invited guests & media.
10.00am: Arrival of guest of honour Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Dewa Major General (R) Dato Seri Pahlawan Haji Awang Mohammad bin haji Daud, Minister of Culture, Youth & Sports.
10.00am: Recital of Doa
10.45am: Opening Speech by BAICT 2007 Event Manager / Official launch & Traditional performances
11.00am: End of opening ceremony
8.00pm to 10pm: The Mall Treasure Hunt

Friday, June 8
3.30pm to 5.30pm: Colouring Contest for Kids
8.00pm to 10.00pm: Fineworks Studio Local Artiste Performances

Saturday, June 9
1.30pm to 5.30pm: Fineworks Studio Local Artiste Performances
8.00pm to 10.00pm: Musical Shows by Students & Teachers from PJC Virtuoso Music School

Sunday, June 10
3.30pm to 5.30pm: Musical Shows by Students from Expression Music School
8.00pm to 8.30pm: Lucky Draw for all Customers
8.30pm to 10.00pm: Musical Shows by Students & Teachers from Expression Music School

Now tell me how the events such as Musical Shows fit in with being aware of ICT. From what I saw just now (them bringing in the equipment) it was just a normal musical performance not some Gameboy wielding music making guy. I went there looking for a couple of SD cards, but not the typical cheap generic slow SD cards but the type with faster read and write speeds. They didn’t have any at all. They are just selling the cheapest stuff to attract people and get some cash. I want to see something different. I want to see something different like how to have proper document standards that are interoperable. Speaking about interoperability I ran into an issue today. A logo was sent from to my dear today and it was in an Excel file. She opens it with Excel for Mac (not sure which version) and it displays nothing, just a blank spreadsheet. Another person tried it and couldn’t view it either (not sure what OS or application used, but I think it would be safe to say some version of Excel on Windows). So I try Open Office Calc on my Linux box and viola, there the logo is in all it’s glory. So on she goes to create the handbook and when all is done she saves it as a Word document. She asks me to keep a backup so I do and try opening it in Word 2003 on Windows XP and in place of all the images (except 1) is the text “QuickTime and a TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture. In Open Office it just shows a black block.

If Microsoft has problems trying to get it’s own applications to view the file properly how can you ever be sure that any document you pass around can be viewed by the receiving party?

  • What happens if you can’t get QuickTime and the TIFF decompressor?
  • What if you don’t know what the heck QuickTime or a TIFF decompressor is?
  • What if you don’t have Microsoft Office?
  • What if you don’t have that particular version of Microsoft Office which the document works with?
  • What if I don’t have the money to buy the software needed to open the document? (okay honestly in places like Brunei where software piracy is all too common, this is a non-issue for those who don’t think it’s wrong to go down to the local pirate store and pick up a copy not caring whether the proper people are getting the cash)

Why can’t I just have a single document format that I can read with an I don’t have to worry about?
Well you can with the OpenDocument format. OpenOffice.org is a free office suite that supports ODF as well as Microsoft Office formats. Though it may not be perfect for viewing documents created in Microsoft Office, it is a tool that should be more widely adopted. In steps to bridge the digital divide this should be one of the first taken so as not to make technology only for those who can afford to buy an office suite that costs more than an operating system. That’s another reason to love projects like the OLPC.

Start living a Free and Open Source Software life with Open Standards today (ok that sounds corny but I’m too tired to think of something else right now). Well at least its not as weird as the host of Go_Open (those who have seen it will know, and if you havent go download a few episodes, though a bit old it’s interesting and informative). Think I should go find some of those episodes on the CD/DVDs that I burnt it on and be a little nostalgic remembering my University days….

Word of the week: “Coopertition”

  • Derived from: cooperation and competition
  • Source: The Linux Action Show! – Episode 46 (I have to say that this is my favourite podcast/netcast for now. Great personalities, great content, great music too =p)

They used coopertition is the sense of Linux distros saying that they are better than the other distro and forgetting the fact that the more they purely compete with other distros, the ultimate competition (ie. Microsoft Windows, Mac OS) will win. After the cell group session on Thursday, this hit a string with what I believe Stephen mention on how some churches fight for the ‘membership’ of people from other churches when they should be looking to those outside the church. Don’t lose sight of the bigger picture. The ambition, not the work.

On a side note, the church is coming up pretty nicely. Woohoo!

Busy busy days

Been very busy with UAT (user acceptance tests) at ACB (Anti-Corruption Bureau) this week and will continue till the 24th. I would just like to thank God for sustaining me and seeing me through. Despite the same kind of hectic life I had last week, this week has been more bearable. Though today was practically a breaking point for me. The Business Objects (BO – yeah it does stink) server was acting very PMS life giving errors that I never encountered before and for some reason I reverted some modified files to the original so I had to re-edit those files. I did have a copy of the modified files though, but one thing I don’t get about Tomcat server is that if I copy a file over an existing one and reload the page it does NOT reflect the changes. I have to open the file, save it then it shows. It’s probably some issue with cache or something. If anybody knows do tell, cause the place we have in ACB has no Internet connection so troubleshooting anything is a pain: goes to show how much we depend on the web (especially Google search :p).

Anyway in the next few days I need to get reacquainted with Business Objects XI (BOXI), WEBI reports, Crystal reports, metrics and analytics. After dealing with BOXI and Livelink (version 9.6) from OpenText I’m very surprised to see how pathetic their migration support is. For BOXI (the XI stands for 11 in roman numerals) it cannot export the data the analytics are linked to thus if you have a system set up and you want to migrate it to an existing system you have to recreate the analytics all over again. For Livelink workflow maps when you export from one system to another, some data can be lost. There is no easy migration tool for either of them…. probably just a business ploy to seek and pay for support.

So its the weekend, so you guys enjoy it. I’ll be in ACB yet again cause I need to show something to boss on Monday and I need the smelling BO server for it and I can’t be bother to bring the server home: it’s not small and it’s noisy. But probably afraid I’ll drop it and make a big mess of the project :p. Night people and happy weekend

Busy few weeks behind me

Yup very busy weeks have past. 4 hours of sleep today yesterday. Was up doing the camp booklet design. Just came back from the meeting and supper which was actually dinner. It’s been tiring days and I’m sure I’m not the only one. Despite the little support that I got, I continue trodding on, because I know what I do is not for me, it’s not for my company, it’s for His glory just as the camp t-shirt design states. We all have our parts to play in life. We have been put in our places for a reason. Make the most out of it. Even when nobody understands. Even when nobody offers some support. For there are times when there are none for you, none but Jesus. Just thanksgiving to God for pulling me this week. I know there’s more to come but I’m sure it won’t be as bad as last week.

One of the best thing’s I’ve seen as of late as I was lookng for images to put in the booklet was a wallpaper that says “Life is short, pray hard”. Yes it is and yes we should. Night all, the lack of sleep is taking over… bed here I come…..