May 21

Why I hate zombie-like adherence to rigid processes.

Time Line Event
Friday (afternoon) Sent request for a conference room on Monday 3PM
Monday (morning) Sent confirmation request if a conf. room will be available.
Monday 2:50 PM Cancel meeting since no room is available.
Monday 3:20 PM Confirmation mail arrives that conference room X.1 has been allocated for my request.
Monday 3:21 PM Replied to confirmation mail stating that meeting has already been cancelled and room can be reallocated.
Tuesday 10:00 AM Confirmation reply (with apology for late processing) arrives that conference room Y.2 has been allocated for my request.
Tuesday 10:01 AM Puzzled, I slam my palm on my forehead while my brain is screaming "Aieyayayayay!"

ciao!

Category: Work | 2 Comments on Why I hate zombie-like adherence to rigid processes.
May 21

A night of interoperability

Last night was my first night of putting interoperability of Linux to a personal test. I work for a Microsoft-centric company so every time I need to do active meeting sessions with counterparts then I have to boot into Windows to ensure that nothing goes off in the middle of the meeting. This is because meetings like those entail a lot of opening of project office documents, searching mails for references, and other stuff. The project documents are also a work of their own since I think the person creating the base templates are certified MS Office template designers (if there is such a thing).

My new project requires me to handle late Tuesday night calls since we are conferencing three very distributed time zones (Manila, Madrid, California). Conference calls are done using Skype since I don’t have IDD capability at home nor am I willing to do the call on my prepaid SIM. Since I already have Skype installed yesterday on Archer, I tested a conference call using Skype’s echo123 service. I was able to hear my recorded message so that portion is not a problem. My headset has a small static sound but I think it has something to do with the connection between the headset and the speaker audio out port. The only possible stumbling block would be the mail searching portion and the documents that needs to be referenced in the call.

An hour before I have already downloaded all reference materials off the web mail interface of the company’s Exchange server. That reminds me that I have the Exchange server because it keeps on kicking my Firefox connection whenever I open a message. The sidebar is OK but the main area gets a “Connection is lost” message. IE doesn’t have this problem when I am in Windows but I wouldn’t install ie4linux just for this now that Metrobank already supports non-IE browser. If anybody knows how to make Thunderbird connect to an Exchange server then let me know although the configuration might also be painful. I couldn’t even configure Outlook in my desktop to connect to the Exchange server *even* after using the company supplied configuration utility. I might even try using Evolution during the weekend. 🙂

Anyway, I just created a new Firefox Windows and opened all possible mails that may be referenced in the call so I wouldn’t search for it. I then tried opening all Excel, Word and PowerPoint attachments using OpenOffice.org (2.4). OOo was able to open them all which is admirable enough but I have the following nitpicks:

  • For MS Word document some of the formatting especially on tables are misaligned.
  • The OO.o Writer is showing too many artifacts like ruler margins and such that could be done without.
  • Default rendering size for the spreadsheets were too tiny.
  • The comments on the Excel spreadsheet are showing far from the cell they are attached to. I have to scroll just to see them.
  • Default rendering size for the presentations are also tiny. I had to play with the zoom control for a bit until I finally hit the “Optimal” option. Why wouldn’t the Optimal option be selected as the default?

Understandably, the nitpicks above are minor and there might be some preferences that could be set to remedy them but I am not using OO.o that frequently aside from a view-only app. The resulting documents from OO.o saves require too much effort to correct to make it my mainstream application for work documentation.

Back on the topic of the call, everything went relatively smoothly although my Skype cannot connect nor message the contact from Madrid. I can see his status is online but for some reason our Skypes just couldn’t communicate. The conference call had to be initiated by the contact from California.

This whole blog post might be seen as petty since there isn’t any groundbreaking achievement but I don’t care as this is a personal achievement about Linux and Windows interoperability. While Linux cannot fully replace Windows right now, Windows’ share of the home computing time is getting smaller.

ciao!

Category: FLOSS, Work | 4 Comments on A night of interoperability
May 11

Philippine Linux User Group Zeitgeist

I just learned that German word and wanted to use it in a post. Upon Google search reveals that it meant current intellectual trend. 🙂

The current Philippine Linux User Group site is experiencing a slow renaissance of some sorts thanks to the efforts of Gabriel Mercado and company. The latest addition to the site is the aggregation F/LOSS related posts of some PLUGger bloggers. In a post to the list, Gabriel posted the FAQ of the aggregation as


- *What the heck is this?* - This is the aggregated feed of a few
gentlemen PLUGgers / Bloggers who've been kind enough to share their Linux /
FOSS or otherwise PLUG related feeds with the rest of us. Namely, they are
Messrs. Anuerin Diaz, Elijah Alcantara, Manny Amador (Phnix), Michael Cole,
Migs Paraz, Noel Bautista and Zak B. Elep.

- *What's it for?* - Several purposes. Primarily, to achieve 'zeitgest'
so that we may be able to know what things are going on in and around
PLUGgers minds, what's keeping them occupied, and so on. Secondarily, it
provides content for our website. Once syndicated, said content will also
help promote PLUG by spreading our news, info, howtos, etc., onto the
general blogosphere. It can also help us figure out who are actively doing
FOSS work out there, as well as provide a central repository of all things
PLUG related. Not to mention of course, end hunger and promote world peace.

Take note however that each post still belongs to each author and does not reflect the official stand of PLUG (the organization). If I mess up here in the capsule then the blame will all stop here.

Subscribe now! It’s a fun way to get an insight on what is currently happening on the local Linux mindsphere. Unless you have a local RSS reader, I am recommending the Google Reader since it is free and pretty nifty.

ciao!

Category: FLOSS, Garbage | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 11

We are of the borg…

Long story but the gist was that I was once in the receiving end of some insult because of my use of “ciao” as my farewell greeting.

Ciao has been my “customary” farewell for all text communication except for SMS so the insult left a stinging feeling for pegging me as an Italian-wannabe (which I am not, no disrespect meant for those of Italian descent). I just love the way ciao rolls off the mouth when I got to hear it from a foreign film more than five years ago, and it is such an informal greeting that it is meant only to be used among friends. I think that got me to use it first with email signatures since I started signing up for technical mailing lists which are informal by nature.

Lately I have seen several of the local bloggers and email list participants using ciao as their farewell greeting. I would not go as far as saying I have a trademark on that behavior but I kind of feel validated on the uptake of usage. It just produces a feeling of validation that more and more people will learn that you can break free from the typical mold of using “regards” and “best wishes” or the more formal “Until our next [insert future refence]” as farewell greetings.

We are of the borg. Resistance is futile. /lol

ciao!

Category: Garbage | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 9

Attitudes

I am so tired of this “can’t do” attitude without providing an alternative of what we “can do”. I wish they would work with us on creating a solution rather than just telling us our solution will not work or is not allowed to work.

Category: Top of my head | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 8

A typical conversation during the long drive to/from work…

(A neighbor’s car overtakes us in the highway while we were going to work)

Wife: Kapitbahay natin yan di ba? [reads plate number] Ano pangalan nya?

Me: Di ko alam. Tawagin na lang natin siyang Mario [grin].

Wife: Ayan ka na naman. Bibigyan mo na naman ng ibang pangalan.

Me: Bakit, alam mo ba pangalan nya? Hindi naman di ba? At least sa akin me pangalan siya.

Wife: E hindi naman yun ang pangalan nya. Bakit di mo na lang tanungin?

Me: [lowers voice] Pare, ano pangalan mo? Kasi inaabangan kita tuwing umaga, para masulyapan man lang kita.

Wife: Yuck. Kadiri ka talaga.

Me: E syempre gagawan mo ng konting background. Alangan namang lapitan mo bigla at tanungin mo lang ng pangalan.

[pause while I was cursing the greedy jeepney driver in the road]

Me: Sige Joseph na lang. Mukha naman siyang Joseph.

Wife: Mukhang Joseph? Bakit mo naman nasabing mukhang Joseph? Ikaw ba mukhang Erin?

Me: Yup [raises eyebrows repeatedly while still driving].

Wife: E di ba si Joseph un tatay ni…

Me: Jesus.

Wife: Ano kaya tawag ni Jesus kay Joseph?

Me: Erpats.

Wife: Bakit erpats?

Me: Bakit hindi? Sabagay, di naman nya tunay na tatay un. Baog kaya si Joseph?

[I can see from my peripheral vision that my wife is giving me the ‘EYE’]

Wife: G**o ka talaga. Bakit mo nasabing baog?

Me: Me kapatid ba si Jesus? Me alam ka bang ibang anak si Joseph?

Wife: E bakit tayo?

Me: E baog tayo.

Wife: Ikaw lang.

Me: Sabi ko nga, baog ako.

Wife: Saka Virgin Mary nga di ba?

Me: So hindi sila nagtalik kahit kailan?

I am so going to Hell if I was still a firm believer that Hell exists. 🙂

Oh, I removed the giggles in the conversation. Just imagine where they will be. 🙂

ciao!

Category: Garbage | 2 Comments on A typical conversation during the long drive to/from work…
May 7

Who’s at fault for marking NTFS partitions as dirty?

As I have mentioned before, Archer was my first Linux installation wherein I was able to get NTFS writing right from the get go. That means that I no longer have a FAT32 partition in my desktop harddisk as everything is already in NTFS. This helps in downloading those Linux DVD ISO images since I no longer have to think about freeing enough space on my NTFS drive if I want to be able to continue the download on whatever OS is booted up.

Lately Windows has been ruling the desktop since I need some Windows-specific apps for work. I was transferring some files from the desktop hard drive into the portable hard disk (backups are not paranoia). I was moving some stuff so I don’t leave outdated rubbish files in the desktop HDD then suddenly Windows gave an error that the file was in use so the move operation is being denied access and the delete operation cannot continue. I can’t track the process holding it as only Windows Explorer is touching the file so I scheduled a checkdisk execution at the next boot and then rebooted the machine. During startup, Windows checkdisk found and fixed the entries from some file which I assume is the file I was moving. Upon completion of the checkdisk execution I logged again in Windows and tried doing the move. The same thing happened. I just shrugged my shoulders and rebooted to Archer. It was about time to get the latest package updates from the repository anyway.

I boot all of my Linux systems into run level 3 (console mode). I would like to say it has something to do with the speed to get between when the BIOS screen and the login prompt but I think this has just been my force of habit as my desktop has enough processing power that I am in the prompt in less than 1 minute, and another 10 seconds to enter XFCE. This time booting in a console mode a good thing because I saw that mounting the NTFS drives were encountering errors since they are tagged as in use. I am presented with the following messages for each NTFS partition:

Failed to mount ‘/dev/sda7’: Operation not supported
Mount is denied because NTFS is marked to be in use. Choose one action:

Choice 1: If you have Windows then disconnect the external devices by clicking on the ‘Safely Remove Hardware’ icon in the Windows taskbar then shutdown Windows cleanly.

Choice 2: If you don’t have Windows then you can use the ‘force’ option for your own responsibility. For example type on the command line:

mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda7 /windows/d -o force

Or add the option to the relevant row in the /etc/fstab file:

/dev/sda7 /windows/d ntfs-3g defaults,force 0 0

Being a firm believer in Murphy’s laws, I opted to be on the safe side and just let them be and tried to mount them manually. The mount message provided an additional clue that I might be able to leverage in fixing the problem: the NTFS drive log file says it was not cleanly unmounted!

I tried searching for the answer on how to clear the partition log from Windows but I came up with nothing. Constantly rebooting Windows does not help either. The log is still being marked as in use whenever I try mounting them in Linux. After two nights I was already exasperated so I went for the force route. I mounted the partitions manually as root and specified the -o force option. The forced mount directive did the trick and cleared the NTFS partition log. I haven’t found any data loss YET but I have a nagging feeling that I might and at the worst possible time (again, Murphy’s law).

I am still at a loss on who messed up the partitions. The partitions were being utilized exclusively by Windows for the past few days but I know that there were times that I used Archer and started utorrent in wine so the partition was also being used even for only a while. I am getting frustrated with Windows since it should have been able to clear the dirty markings on the partition logs since it was able to complete its shutdown sequence properly. If I am going to defend Windows I will say Linux messed up the log which prevents it from marking it correctly after a clean shutdown. But that is hogwash since I should have been notified that something is wrong after the initial bootup, or even before it enters the shutdown sequence.

I think my finger knows which OS is the culprit but until I get more information on this problem (and how to clear the log from within Windows), I am going to be on the fence on who is really at fault. I am just crossing my fingers that I haven’t damaged any data since there are some stuff in the hard disk that I am not putting in my portable HDD and I still haven’t gotten around to putting them in DVD.

ciao!

Category: FLOSS, Technology | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 7

Preferred music player in Windows

Coming from a WinAmp background, the best mp3/ogg/wma player right now for me is XMPlay (http://www.un4seen.com/xmplay.html) which can be used without installation and provides enough features to suit somebody who likes to play some tunes in the background while working. For those not reading between the lines, it means somebody who doesnt really care about the visualization because it meant to be for listening and not for watching.

Category: Top of my head | LEAVE A COMMENT
April 30

Well worth the wait.

Iron Man the movie is a great comic book adaptation at least for me and my wife. We just came home after watching it at Rockwell Cinema. The flow of the story was never dragging; never did I feel there was a dull moment even if I have watched each new trailer several times that I know what was going next in a few screens.

The movie was full of effects which is expected because *it is about IRON MAN*. Technology was his ability. Good thing the effects never overwhelmed the story and acting. Robert Downey Jr. was a perfect fit for Tony Stark’s character. He gave a realistic flamboyant performance where needed, and made Stark’s billionaire “i don’t care about you” attitude his own.

Most of Stark’s gadgets are enough to give any geek his technorgasm. Well apart from the Dell computers which is kind of a downer given most of Stark’s equipment was very futuristic. I very much liked the design surface table which does 3D interactive rendering. I wonder if I will live to the time that it will come become feasible for the every day Juan to own one. 🙂

Right now I am considering if I like Iron Man better than Batman Begins. Is it too much to ask for both? 😉

I am watching it again once I get hold of a DVD copy. 🙂

ciao!

Category: Movies, Reviews | LEAVE A COMMENT
April 27

Constant Change

The first thing that comes into my mind when the word “change” is mentioned are the cliches “The only things constant are taxes and change.” Too obvious? Maybe.

Tomorrow I will start something new in work. It will be the first time in more than five years that I will be transferring to a new office (just an office and not company 🙂 ). When I was pirated joined the company I stayed for two weeks in the office near Glorietta but for the rest of my stint I was in the oldest company residence in Ayala Ave. I shifted projects and cubicle areas but they we all located in the 3/F of that building. Since my work affords minimal chances of going onshore, it has also been a private joke that I am being “fermented” in the building. 🙂

Since March of this year I was working on an “ever challenging” project that is not really a part of the “solutions group” that have nurtured me since I joined the company. Eventually I had to move out to the office in Mandaluyong since the resources working on the project is there. I have previously experienced packing my stuff before I go into onshore assignments but last Friday was different since I know I may not come back again on that floor. Much as I may quip at that floor looking like the insides of a barracks or bomb shelter I already have grown accustomed to its confines. I have spent many nights there, sleeping in near impossible locations like aligned movable bins or on top of conference tables much like what I would imagine a corpse would be in an embalmer’s table.

Journeys are always two-sided. I am leaving behind a significant history but I am opening new pages for new experiences. I am going out of my comfort zone to see if I can pit my almost non-existent skills in a new environment. In my old environment I have gotten a reputation and familiarity that I am able to do most of what I want due to tenure in the area wherein only 3 more people beats my longevity with the project group. In my new project I am going to start afresh with a new set of managers, and a new set of people. Thankfully two peers will hopefully join me by the second quarter of this year. By that time they would be a welcome relief since I will definitely lean on their technical skills and moral support that can only achieved when you have gone through “hell” with them.

Right now I have two bags full of stuff that I have brought home and I am not sure how long it would take for me to prepare their new home for them. But I am pretty sure that the time will be sooner that I think. 🙂

ciao!

Category: Work | 5 Comments on Constant Change