Planet Ubuntu-US-WA

I’m happy to announce that after the filing of an Intent to Package and nearly 2 years of work, IronRuby 0.9, IronPython 2.6b2, and the DLR are now in Debian. To my knowledge, this is the first package in Debian with direct and active upstream support from Microsoft.

Kudos for this release go to Jo Sheilds (package sponsorship & mentoring), Mirco Bauer (package sponsorship & mentoring), Matthias Klose (IronPython package review), Ivan Porto Carrero (IronRuby build/test support), Jim Deville (IronRuby build/test support), Jimmy Schementi (upstream point of contact @ Microsoft), Dino Viehland (IronPython build/test support), Michael Foord (IronPython build/test support), Marek Safar (mono c# compiler support), Ankit Jain (xbuild support), the folks on OFTC’s #debian-cli, Freenode’s #ironruby and GimpNet’s #mono, and the folks on the IronRuby and IronPython mailing lists.

This is my first package in Debian, too. I’m pretty ecstatic ;)

I was reminded this morning after a bit of chatter on #debian-cli that my previous write-up on setting one’s locale on Ubuntu is out-of-date. Instead of running dpkg-reconfigure locales and selecting your locale, the new incantation is as follows:

Magic

$ sudo locale-gen en_US.UTF-8

Environment Variables

You’ll also want to set some environment variables. Put something like the following in your ~/.bashrc:

LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8

export LANG LANGUAGE LC_CTYPE LC_MESSAGES LC_ALL

You would of course replace en_US.UTF-8 with whichever locale you want to generate.

We had a visitor on #mono today who needed help with his homework. It seems that Reggie is happy to have forgotten everything about using ODBC to connect to MySQL. I was curious and feeling helpful, so I figured it out.

Install the MySQL ODBC driver

$ sudo apt-get install libmyodbc

You can also grab the package directly from MySQL

Configure the MySQL ODBC driver

ODBC looks in /etc/odbcinst.ini for driver configuration. In order to let it know about the MySQL ODBC libraries, append the following to your /etc/odbcinst.ini file:

[MySQL]
Description	= MySQL driver
Driver	= /usr/lib/odbc/libmyodbc.so
Setup		= /usr/lib/odbc/libodbcmyS.so
CPTimeout	=
CPReuse	=

Configure your DSN

If you expect that you will be using this database connection often, you may want to create a short name for it, so you don’t have to enter all of the parameters every time you want to connect. ODBC uses something called DSNs (Data Source Names, if I recall correctly) to make it easier on the user.

If you want to create a DSN, append something like the following to your /etc/odbc.ini file:

[myodbc3]
Driver       = MySQL
Description  = MySQL ODBC 3.51 Driver DSN
Server       = mysql
Port         =
User         = testuser
Password     = password
Database     = test
Option       = 3
Socket       =

You will also need to update the ODBC Data Sources list near the top of the file to mention the new DSN:

[ODBC Data Sources]
myodbc3     = MySQL ODBC 3.51 Driver DSN

C♯ ODBC connection example

Here is some example code to get you connected:

using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.Odbc;

class ODBCTest {
  public static void Main(String[] args) {
    // Connection string using explicit parameters
    string ConStr = String.Format(
      "DRIVER={0};SERVER={1};DATABASE={2};UID={3};PWD={4}",
      "{MySQL}","mysql","test","testuser","password" );

    // Connection string using DSN
//  string ConStr = String.Format("DRIVER={0};DSN={1}",
//                                "{MySQL}","myodbc3");                       

    //Create the connection object
    var OdbcCon = new OdbcConnection( ConStr );

    try {
      Console.Write("Opening connection... ");

      //open the database connection
      if (OdbcCon.State == ConnectionState.Closed)
        OdbcCon.Open();

      Console.WriteLine("connection opened!");
    } catch (OdbcException Ex) {
      Console.WriteLine(Ex.Message);
    } finally {
      //close the database connection
      OdbcCon.Close();
    }
  }
}

I don’t know how long add-apt-repository has been around, but I’ve found it very useful for installing some of the bleeding edge stuff I want to test:

$ for ppa in do-core team-xbmc nvidia-vdpau chromium-daily directhex/monoxide
do
  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:$ppa
done
$ apt-get update
$ apt-get install chromium-browser nvidia-glx-195 gnome-do xbmc monodevelop

Is there anything like this for debian proper, I wonder?

With the help of a couple of friends, we’ve put a 4.5T RAID-5 machine on our network and I’m trying to figure out how to share the storage with the rest of the hosts. In the past, I have used NFS and CIFS/Samba to provide access to remote hosts. This has generally worked okay so long as the server stays online.

I don’t know if the results are going to be much different, but I am now trying a different approach. I plan to run an iSCSI server, and I’ve already configured AoE (ATA over Ethernet). I’ve exported a block device on the network segment and mounted it on a remote host. This was pretty easy to configure. There is a bit of documentation on the internet already, but I’ll give another quick overview.

I gave the storage server the unoriginal name ’san0′. This host is running debian lenny. I am testing the configuration from my debian sid development host, which has the similarly unoriginal name ‘dev0′. So, think server when you see ’san0′ and client when you see ‘dev0′.

I assume that you’ve already got an LVM volume group set up. Mine is called ‘vg0′. Correct the following examples to account for any differences. You can use disk partitions instead of LVM logical volumes.

---

Create a logical volume to be exported:

cjac@san0:~$ sudo lvcreate /dev/vg0 -n e0.1 -L 5G

Load the AoE kernel module:

cjac@san0:~$ sudo modprobe aoe

Install the package containing the vblade block device export server:

cjac@san0:~$ sudo apt-get install vblade

Export the block device. Note that the ethernet bridge on which I export the device is called ‘loc’:

cjac@san0:~$ sudo vbladed 0 1 loc /dev/vg0/e0.1

Install the AoE discovery tools on the client:

cjac@dev0:~$ sudo apt-get install aoetools

Load the AoE kernel module:

cjac@dev0:~$ sudo modprobe aoe

Probe for exported AoE devices:

cjac@dev0:~$ sudo aoe-discover

Verify that our exported device was discovered:

cjac@dev0:~$ test -e /dev/etherd/e0.1 && echo "yep"
yep

---

You can now treat /dev/etherd/e0.1 as you would any other block device. You can format it directly, or partition it and format a partition, use it as a device in your software RAID array, use it as swap space (ha), or something completely different.

Now to figure out this iSCSI stuff…

At the ubuntu booth at linux fest NorthWest this year, we gave out around 450 cds, many of them 8.04 cds. We had quite a good time helping out and seeng the interest. i think overall, we did quite well this year.

I got to see Matthew Craig again this year, who visited from the East coast saying that people at other such conferences “just dont get it” and commented on their iPhone toating ability.

I also got to meet the author of Hackett and Bankwell, a comic that introduces people to Linux, GNU, and ubuntu, and explains how to do some basic things. I highly recomend it to anyone who is trying to get family members on board. you can order it at http://hackettandbankwell.com/ .

p.s. Im going to post my slides from both toorcon seattle and LFNW in the coming weeks when i get some extra time.

Hello, google. I would like to introduce you to our planet. Planet, google. Google, Planet.

Hello, google. I would like to introduce you to our chat logs. Chat logs, google. Google, chat logs.

We will discuss things here such as Mono, GNOME and Debian. We may even use it to talk about work on the DLR project stuff.

Welcome to the Ubuntu Washington teams website! Here we will be conspiring to rule the world with Ubuntu!

Currently a lot of our discussions is held on our mail list so please subscribe and join in on it!

10 Things a new Linux user needs to unlearn: http://mostly-linux.blogspot.com/2006/06/10-things-new-linux-user-needs-to.htmlNorwegian Minister: Proprietary Formats No Longer Acceptable in Communication with Government: http://www.andwest.com/blojsom/blog/tatle/agenda/2005/06/27/Norwegian_Minister_Proprietary_Standards_No_Longer_Acceptable_in_Communication_with_Government.htmlWhat your choice of

Well.. Its been quite a while since i posted. Recently i have been working through a number of books including The Promise by Chaim Potok, and The Turning Point By Malcolm Gladwell. There has been plenty of extra time in the last while.

I got back from Atlanta a couple weeks ago, and came home with 3rd place in Cyber Security at the National FBLA competition. (basically a security+ type exam.)

Im leaving soon for greece, and ill be blogging about the books i read on here. I recently remembered the book “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” If you have not read it, I encourage you to. It is a great coming of age novel, and i found quite a few things I could relate to.

Since im going to be away for so long, I am going to keep posting to my blog, to let you stalkers/friends/foes know what im up to, and mostly because ill probably be bored out of my mind.

Linux Fest North West looms closer and closer. It will be the 26th and 27th of April, thats the weekend after this coming one. I will be at the ubuntu PNW booth as well as giving a talk about Using FOSS in Public libraries, with a focus on open-ils.

Ill put slides online afterward.For more information about linux fest northwest, go to http://www.linuxfestnorthwest.org/ .

Pablos, a friend of friends, has found how to “hack a RFID credit card for $9″… Very interesting on boing boing…

Seeing an in person demo blew me away to the possibilites. I hope this causes the credit card companies to actually think about what they are doing.
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/19/bbtv-how-to-hack-an.html

Well… As some of you may know, Ill be going to Ontario, CA for the Greek Orthodox Folk dance Festival in a bit… Im still getting used to all the practices…

On another note, Bob has been sick for a bit, and had a hurt hind leg. The Vet says he is going to need to go under the knife so that the thing can heal.

Anyway… on to boreing life…

On a tech nerd thing, a couple weeks ago, i had some fun at the PNA trying to freeze water with an electric field… it appears that it didnt work, but we were getting a lot of arcing.

I just upgraded to Hardy Heron Alpha today, and cant see much of a difference, it was painless.

Well… i have had the new design up for a while now. It was created by Andreas Viklund.

I recomend anyone looking for a website template to look at his designs first, and then go to opendesign.org, openwebdesign.org, and oswd.org in that order. (the later being a bit outdated and not getting all the new designs).

Life has been sorta busy after christmas break, with everything takeing up time. One of my new years resolutions was to blog more, so here i am. There should be a lot more philosopical stuff on this blog, so if that makes you mad, dont read it. Plain and simple. Also i would like to point out the blogroll that should be up in a few min.

Well. This morning I saw my cat in a standoff with another white cat. Bob, being orange and white, doesn’t blend into his surroundings.

http://paulbartell.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/dsc_0429.JPG

http://paulbartell.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/dsc_0428.JPG

http://paulbartell.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/p1010012.JPG

After watching the movie Romero, we were asked to refelct on it in an artistic way. This was my response.

http://paulbartell.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/dsc_01212.JPG

Well. I got my laptop back from repair, it smells like burger king wrappers (shipping label says texas, so it makes sense) And i am now installing ubuntu 7.10. it was quite hard to figure out how to partition and keep windows on there along with ubuntu, but heres a guide that explained it.

http://users.piuha.net/martti/comp/ubuntu/en/cryptolvm.html