Search Results: "Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo"

5 April 2009

Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: Backup your system for a desktop user

While Linux and Debian are plenty of programs for backing up your system, things change when you need a backup system for a common desktop user. In this area there is a lot of room for improvement, as programs for KDE and GNOME are years behind what programs for Windows and Mac OS X are offering.
There has been some programs intents of writing a good program, full featured and with a nice graphical interface, as Simple Backup, and its fork Not So Simple Backup, pybackpack, or TimeVault, an intent to clone Apple s TImeMachine, and it s fork TimeVaultNG written for KDE. Those are projects that start with a great impulse, even some of the mentored by Google Summer of Code, and when they reach some basic functionality, they get abandoned or not being properly maintained.
What I would like to see for a backup system for desktop user is: A lot of improvement and innovation has taken place in Linux Desktop during all these years, but backups are also important for SOHO users, and they need a well integrated program for doing that, as console based solutions usually require configuration skills which desktop users don t have.
Updated 6th April 22:26 CEST: I have been recommended in comments to try Back in Time and D j Dup. Both are in active delopment, which is a bonus. The first one works in a similar way to TimeVault, while the second one works using duplicity as backend, but has support to upload the resulting files to a remote server using SSH or to Amazon S3. I will investigate more on these apps.

19 March 2009

Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: Is ext4 unsafe?

There has been a lot of hype about ext4 lately, following an Ubuntu bug which rose a lot of concerns about ext4 security. I know these are no news, and I know also that I am not a kernel guru, but let s resume some important concepts.
Ext4 implements something called allocate-on-flush. This means that kernel will decide how to write to disk in an efficient way by batching allocations together in larger runs. It increases performance and reduces fragmentation. But if a system crash happens between metadata and data is actually written to disk a 0-size length file can be found in the filesystem. With ext3 journal had a default timeout of 5 seconds and then was flushed to disk. With ext4 this time is unknown, so appplications that want to ensure everything is on disk have to call fsync() on file and directory after every operation. To avoid this, a series of patches have been queued for 2.6.30 so when a file is going to be replaced, it is written to disk with no delay.
Another concern raised is the need for atomicity and durability of files. For achieving this applications have first to write a temporary file and then rename() it over the old file. This will ensure that new or old file will be found in the filesystem after a crash, instead of a corrupted file that can be found when it is opened with O_TRUNC.
Anyway, my opinion is that when choosing a filesystem, one have to know what the computer is going to be used for. Using binary propietary drivers is an option, which can lead your Linux installation to behave most like Vista and filesystem cannot be blamed for losing files if it is making its job as designed. Perhaps, it s better to use ext3 in this situation, but at the cost of missing performance.
If you want to learn more about this issues I recommend you to read both articles by Theodore Tso, Delayed allocation and the zero-length file problem and Don t fear the fsync! and also AlessanderAlexander Larsson s one ext4 vs fsync, my take as well as comment in all of them.

15 March 2009

Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: Upgrading my laptop to ext4

Warning: Don t upgrade root partition (/) or the partition in which /boot is placed unless you know what you are doing. More on this later.
Warning2: Make backups of your data. Last Friday I went on upgrading to ext4 my laptop. I decided to go first with /home partition, as / has also /boot and can give some problems if not handled with care. Upgrading it is quite easy, and fast, as the old data is not upgraded, only new files will be added using new features. First, I installed latest linux-image package to start using kernel version 2.6.28, which includes production ready ext4 support. After rebooting, I logged in as root so I could umount /home. The steps to upgrade are as follows:

# uname -a
Linux gimli 2.6.28-1-686 #1 SMP Mon Feb 23 03:13:24 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux
# umount /home
# tune2fs -O extents,uninit_bg,dir_index /dev/home_partition
# fsck -pfD /dev/home_partition
# mount /home

You MUST run fsck. If not, ext4 won t mount your filesystem, so don t forgive this step if you re upgrading your / partition. You will see some checksums errors appear. Don t be afraid, that s expected, and that s why -p is added to fsck command, you it is not asking which action to perform in every error. Upgrading partition containing /boot
For upgrading your / partition you have to take into account what grub and klibc version you have installed. The former is need so grub can read your kernel image from filesystem, and the second is needed due a bug that made initramfs detect ext4 filesystems as ext3, and passing incorrect option to mount, which failed. Versions in Debian known to work are libklibc >=1.5.15-1 and grub2 (packaged as grub-pc). Make sure you have these versions installed before trying to go to ext4.
Also, as you have to upgrade having your partition unmounted, you will have to get a console before root partition is mounted. You can do that by passing mount=break break=mount to your boot options in grub. ENJOY!

4 March 2009

Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: Innovation in netbooks

After the release of Asus Eee PC and the discovery of the market that was eager to buy cheap and wearable computers every laptop manufacturer has jumped into the hype and released their own versions of netbooks, with different success.
But somehow it was a cloning phase. Vendors were just cloning what Asus did, with more or less changes, but without innovating. Now, it seems that the path has opened again, from the open source and open hardware front, and it has been released AlwaysInnovating s touchbook. It is a netbook with a detachable keyboard (it is even sold separated) and built upon an ARM processor from Texas Instruments, and a 8GB microSD card. Thus they claim the battery last from 10 to 15h with the keyboard, and 3 to 5h in touchscreen mode.
As is said above, the whole machine is open source based. Software is based upon OpenEmbedded, and hardware schematics of the board are released under GPL on Beagleboard project. They say that you can also install Ubuntu, Android or even Windows CE on it. Update: Just discovered that AlwaysInnovating is a Gr goire Gentil startup. Gr gory is a Civil Engineer from cole des ponts et Chauss es. We know how to build things :-D

17 January 2009

Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: Debian on Android phone

A Debian installer and boot loader for Android based phones has been released. It uses Debian ARM packages from standard repositories, so it makes available t you the full plethora of Debian packages. Also, as a bonus, you can still your phone as it was, an Android based device, with all its functionality.

14 January 2009

Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: Speed up multiple SSH connections to same server

I am copying here the tip I read in Linux Journal so I won t need to google for it when needed. It works by multiplexing connections to the same server in the same TCP connection. For this to work, it needs a socket to track each connection. You have to add these lines to ~/.ssh/config file:
Host *
ControlMaster auto
ControlPath ~/.ssh/master-%r@%h:%p

13 January 2009

Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: Postfix+TLS+SASL in Debian HowTo recovered

Once of the most visited pages in my site was the Postfix+SASL+TLS for Debian Sid and Sarge Howto, who I wrote 3 years ago. As I hosted it in my old home server, when it broke it went offline, and though there are still some copies around the net, there are a lot of referals still directing traffic to tribulaciones.org.
Now I have recovered it and it is now available here. I will write an .htaccess file to redirect people to the new place and, with some more time, I will review it to see if there are some changes needed for Lenny.
Enjoy! UPDATED 14/01/2009: I have added promised .htaccess file, so every link to old URL (http://www.tribulaciones .org/docs/postfix-sasl-tls-howto.html) will work again.

31 December 2008

Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: Giver: little util for sharing folders

While searching for different options to share files among different computers in a local LAN I found via Planet Ubuntu giver a little util which uses avahi/zeroconf to publish shared folders or files. It is a easy tool, that works and that serve well its purpose. But its development has stopped some time ago, and that means that nobody has cared to port it to Windows, where it would be an interesting tool to avoid the need of using windows network to share folders, which in an ad-hoc network tends to work problematically. These little gems should receive more care from freedesktop.org, GNOME Foundation, Canonical, Novell, as are the utils that make a difference in desktop expecience. Having a nice visual effects is not enough to attract people to free destops, but having tools that make everyday life is.

25 December 2008

Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: git tips

Git is becoming my main utility for Debian packaging, as I am using it to keep my work on packages I maintain alone or in a team by using git.debian.org facilities. I am not still using tools like TopGit to keep patches, by I also intend to do so in a near future.
What does git give me over svn? Basically two things: branches and having the whole source code at hand. The first is obvious, I can easily create branches to experiment without having to change anything in the way the package is, so if a new upstream release occurs in the time it takes me to implement some change (and that usually happens) I can upload it straight, not affecting my undergoing changes.
Also I appreciate having the whole source code. This could have been also done using svn, but we preferred not to do so, and most packages only have debian dir in their svn repositories. This makes harder work with upstream sources, where they need to be patched. Git provides me the way to have always an upstream source code copy at hand, and the branch power can also be applied to it.
But I wanted to write about a couple of git tips that I found. Seems that they have already appeared on Planet Debian before, but I think that is not a bad idea to remember them (from damog s blog):

1. Changing into a directory that contains a repo and shows you on PS1 what branch you are standing on:

On .bashrc I have:

GITPS1='$(__git_ps1 ":%s ")'
export PS1="$ GREEN \w$ RS $ YELLOW $ GITPS1 $ RS \\$ "

But what I didn t want to lose was the code that was posted to paste.bin after in a comment someone pointed out that this trick was a bit annying if your home dir were also a git repo. This is one solution:

__maybe_git_ps1 ()
local BRANCH="$(__git_ps1 '%s')"
case "$BRANCH" in
master)
# silent
;;
'')
# not a git repo? -> silent
;;
*)
if [ -n "$1" ]; then
printf $1 $BRANCH
else
printf (%s) $BRANCH
fi
;;
esac

2. An alias I like to use on repos that are personal for quick tracking:

[alias]

log1 = log pretty=oneline abbrev-commit
Thanks damog for these tips!

14 December 2008

Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: NAS adapter

I have been always desiring to have a NAS adapter and printer server so I can easily share and use both my USB printer and a USB hard disk from every corner in the house. I was doing that when I had a home server, but when it died I losed that functionality. Once of the main reasons to buy a new one was to have this option again, but today I have discovered in Xataka a little device: Addonics NAS Adapter. This is just what I wanted: NAS adapter, little size, can power 2.5 inch. HDD directly, and USB print server. Files are shared by Samba or FTP client, and can act also as DHCP server. As a bonus it has a little bittorrent client which can track 4 torrents at a time, and download them to attached USB device. The only thing I would like to know if is using an USB hub both a printer and a HDD can be attached at the same time. If that can be done, then for only $55 we have a winner. The only last wish that it uses Linux in their core (probably).

3 December 2008

Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: Fanatics did it again

Once again, a person died today murdered by terrorists in Spain. He was a businessman, who had a construction company in his town (Azpeitia) at Basque Country region. Close his house, he was murdered by gunshots. Just because his company was a contractor in the construction of AVE infraestructure in Basque Country, which will connect it with Madrid and France. Once again, a family has been hit forever. I was going to include a black strip with the article, but it’s better to see an image.

25 October 2008

Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: Blackerry in Debian

I have uploaded barry package to Debian some hours ago. It is still waiting for NEW processing, so if you want it you will have to download sources from Debian git repo, and compile the package yourself. It has just been accepted into the archive. Barry is a GPL program that will allow you to charge your Blackberry through the USB port, to make backup copies of your device databases, manage contacts and use your BB as a modem. So if you have a BlackBerry device, you can also enjoy it in Debian. Update 26/10/2008: Barry has just been accepted into the archive, so you can get it in every Sid repository mirror. Thanks!

13 October 2008

Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: Compiz

Today my 5 years old laptop gave me some filesystem problem after running apt-get update, which resulted in some corrupted packages, among them libc6, with the result of my system becoming non-functional. So I needed a recovery CD to be able to mount read-only root partition. I had around an Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron LTS, so I used it to run its included LiveCD and recover from there. At the same time I was curious about it, as I hadn’t had chance to test it before. One of the things that surprised me most was that Compiz was enabled by default. After a second thinking that this was going to be a problem, making the system unusable (remember, a 5 years old laptop, and I had checked myself compiz some time ago with a catastrophic result), I started to meve windoes, jump from one virtual desktop to other, and minimiza and maximize windows without a problem. The work that had been made amazed me! So, some fsck and apt-get commands after, I managed to reboot on my Debian system, and I installed compiz. The result: my system goes faster using compiz, with a bunch of effects enabled than running plain metacity window manager. I have a also installed some compiz fusion plugins, and they are running without a glitch and with an incredible speed. Obviously, I have not chosen full quality, but it is enough to show effects in an efficient way. I have improved my user experience and system speed at the same time… Once again Linux shows that it can get the best of old hardware. Good work, guys!

Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: Back

Not much to say. Just that I am back, now with a mixed English-Spanish blog. I will try to keep entries written in Spanish out of syndicated feed on Planet Debian, but I won’t promise that some entry can slip. It has been long since I had no blog, so it will be a new challenge to try to update it somehow regularly. Regarding my Debian work, I have to admit that I have become mostly a ‘package and upload’ guy. I don’t have enough spare time to devote to other tasks, so I will mostly try to keep my packages as clean as I can.

Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: Back

Not much to say. Just that I am back, now with a mixed English-Spanish blog. I will try to keep entries written in Spanish out of syndicated feed on Planet Debian, but I won’t promise that some entry can slip. It has been long since I had no blog, so it will be a new challenge to try to update it somehow regularly. Regarding my Debian work, I have to admit that I have become mostly a ‘package and upload’ guy. I don’t have enough spare time to devote to other tasks, so I will mostly try to keep my packages as clean as I can.

12 August 2007

Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: SCO loses

Yes, it seems that SCO doesn't own the Unix copyrights. This means that SCO has lost the legal war against Linux that they started back in 2003, arguing that as Linux was a Unix derivative, it was using UNIX System V code in it. At the time that meant tons of articles and information to be written about this issue, as well as next year, in 2004, in which some lawsuits were filled. They even announced a lawsuit agains IBM for $1 billion. Years later, when a court rules that SCO does not own any rights over the IP, thus saying that it belongs to Novell, I have only seen this appearing in Slahsdot and some Slahsdot and some Slahsdot and some Slahsdot and some other blogs but without all the hype that should follow such a desition. For sure people reaction is quite logical, as they yet knew that this was going to happen. They knew that since the very moment that SCO was asked to point which pieces of code were under violation of their rights and they refused with vague anwers.i

5 August 2007

Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: Preparing trip to Sicily

I have spent almost the whole day preparing my next trip to Sicily, in the first of my two week holidays. I have installed Italy maps in my TomTom Go 510 and I have been reading about the island. I was thinking on printing all the guide I was reading, or buying a paper one, but I think that I will put all that info in a PocketPC and get it from there. It is a pity that my TomTom doesn't have a browser or PDF reader, as it could serve well as a GPS with PDA options (even bluetooth to connect to mobile phones and internet), like there are some PDAs with GPS out there.

29 July 2007

Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: Cyber Revolution in Chile

From two sources I have read today about the almost secret deal signed by Chile Goverment with Microsoft. The deal, in most pure Orwell style, means that all kind of computer driven activity in the administration will be held with MS software. Even, education will be only made with their software, with no posibility of teaching any other alternative. This obviously will make very child in Chile captive of MS software. Against this deal, a movement has arisen: Movimiento de Liberaci n Digital. We should ask governments only the freedom of choice. This doesn't mean that they have to support every OS out there so any citizen can interact with administration with the format he just developed some ours ago, but they should be using open standards that anyone could implement in their software. We have to teach them that using the most common used standard is not the same than using an open standard.

28 July 2007

Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: Crowdsourcing and Harry Potter translation

It is not fresh news, but I haven't had time to comment about it before. Very soon after launch of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which was only made available worldwide in its original English version, you can read a free and non-academic version in Spanish. Spanish Hallows project, built up by a bunch of Harry Potter fans have made completely ridiculous efforts of J.K. Rowling and hers publishers (Bloomsbury Publishing) to try to delay versions in other languages. Perhaps this was not made with other intention than to avoid early publishing of copies sent to translators, which, as you know yet, happened anyway. Once again we see how is not only impossible, but stupid, to try to keep information in this new environment. I am pretty sure that most of books, movies and music publishers will disappear soon. But not because of piracy: they are not being able to adapt their corporate business model to the new environment. And I am sure that there are little start-ups out there working in this new model, and some of them will succeed. But nothing new here... it is how business world has worked for years now.

22 July 2007

Steve Kemp: We're all to blame

Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: Whilst breasts are everywhere I find it highly inappropriate for people to link to videos of them on Planet Debian. I'd comment to that effect upon your post but I'm getting a 500 error from your server. In other news Joey Hess reminded me this evening that it is pretty much the 1 year anniversary of my Xen Hosting setup. In the next few days, once I've checked dates and looked to see if we can upgrade, etc, I'll be requesting payment from those people who wish to continue.

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