Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy) + rtorrent notes

Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy) + rtorrent notes

Ok so since blogs are diaries of a sort I’m writing here my notes on my recent successful move from Centos to Ubuntu, which has been met with success in no small part due to Ubuntu’s wealth of online help and support.

What I’m doing here is compile all the info on the docs I used to a.) install and configure Ubuntu 6.10 Server aka ‘Edgy’, b.) install and configure ssh server on it, so you can access it remotely, c.) install and configure libtorrent 0.11.4 and rtorrent 0.7.4 (the latest versions as of this writing. Just change the versions as needed.) and finally d.) install and run screen, which is like, duh easy.

At the end of this you’ll have what I have, an Ubuntu computer accessed remotely via SSH (using a nice friendly SSH client like Putty) which happily downloads torrents day in and day out (for whatever nefarious reasons you may have which you will leave completely to yourself of course). Meanwhile my XP work computer, is saved from the trouble.

I’m doing this not to help world hunger or anything, rather the opposite – this doc is purely for myself – so I can remember what I did and reference to it from time to time – which means that it’ll be written in SIMPLE EASY TO UNDERSTAND ENGLISH as opposed to a great deal of linux docs out there that are either heavy on theory, heavy on trying to be cute and funny, or both, making it totally unreadable and useless. Yup you know what I’m talking about.

So off we go.

Continue reading Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy) + rtorrent notes

The Queen Movie Review

april072007_thequeen.jpg‘Duty first, self second‘ is a powerful statement that befits the (preferred) behaviour of all those seated in power across the world. In fact one would think, the higher and greater the power, the more applicable such a rule. Inasmuch as this is true, obviously the fact of the world at the moment is farthest from that statement.

Herewith then, is a reminder of that statement and the acting out of it’s meaning, served up by Stephen Rears, Michael Sheen as Tony Blair and Dame Helen Mirren as the Queen, in a performance that garnered her an Oscar Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for 2007. An amazing feat and one of many reasons to view this film, and inasmuch as her understated work is a true sight to behold for me, just another reason to view it still.

Click click click for the rest rest rest.

The Queen

april072007_thequeen.jpg‘Duty first, self second‘ is a powerful statement that befits the (preferred) behaviour of all those seated in power across the world. In fact one would think, the higher and greater the power, the more applicable such a rule. Inasmuch as this is true, obviously the fact of the world at the moment is farthest from that statement.

Herewith then, is a reminder of that statement and the acting out of it’s meaning, served up by Stephen Rears, Michael Sheen as Tony Blair and Dame Helen Mirren as the Queen, in a performance that garnered her an Oscar Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for 2007. An amazing feat and one of many reasons to view this film, and inasmuch as her understated work is a true sight to behold for me, just another reason to view it still.

Continue reading The Queen

Top Movie Geeks Part Deux (from PWIT.org)

So ok it has not escaped my attention that the top 4 movie geeks post is well – visited, with thanks perhaps to my legions of relatives and the fact I have inserted a small applet that clicks it every few minutes to make it’s ‘hits’ increase. Ehem. Anyway, so I’ve decided to make a new list, featuring some other movies I’ve left out. And so without further ado, herewith for your perusal:

Office Space

apr042007_officespace.jpgHow in the HECK could I have forgotten one of my favorite movies of all time, the classic Office Space – with pre – MTV Ron Livingston, a very early hot and sexy Jennifer Aniston and directed by Mike Judge. Aniston’s ‘Kung Fu? I love kung – fu!‘ phrase (she was talking about movies) is probably the only thing I actually remember her saying word for word even after years of ‘Friends’ and her other movies – the sexiest words a geek can ever hope to hear from someone who looks like her. At any rate, this movie brings me back to my early tie – wearing days programming stuff in VB and hating every minute of it, working, as Livingston’s character says “just enough not to get fired”.

read the rest at PWIT. C’maaan click click click.

Aaaaaaand we’re back

(with apologies to Google Talk for stealing their message when they get back online after a long wait). So anyway, am back after a 3 day stay at horrendous dial – up land. Mind you, 3 days is ok, and I’m sure you’re all thinking I’m Mr. Drama for getting all worked up about it, but I didn’t know it was gonna be gone for only 3 days, no one at PLDT knew as well (I just called them up this morning and their heldesk was again completely clueless), and the last time my connection got conked out, it lasted 3+ weeks, and that was just a few weeks ago. And before that, it was the super – slow fiasco with the Taiwan earthquake which lasted months, so don’t blame me if I say I’ve been there done that.

At any rate, I never did get to use PLDT Vibe. To the non – knowers, there’s a PLDT Vibe prepaid card and the PLDT Vibe dial up service which supposedly lets all PLDT subscribers log in via username: pldt, password: vibe and dial to 10133, and then they’ll just bill you on your next bill (which is probably expensive but it’s handy for quick cases of no dsl like above, right?).

Unfortunately when I dial 10133 (after being taught by their helpdesk 172+1+1, I get a ‘not yet in service‘ recording. So guess what? I told 172+1+1 about it, and they told me to call 171+1+2 which is their ‘technical support’ place, which after I call, instructed me to call 172+1+1 again apparently because I need to first file a report that it’s broken there before I call them so that they can do something about – something or other. Hesus kristo panginoon.

Continue reading Aaaaaaand we’re back

No Internet Again

Yesterday AM while I was happily working along, my connection got cut, but since I had to get out of the house asap, I didn’t investigate further. However, I already had that dreaded feeling in my bones, especially when I check the DSL modem’s lights, it indicated it couldn’t login (you’ll get a good idea of what’s going on just from reading modem lights. takes some practice).

I got home around 4-ish, tried to get online but couldn’t. Would have investigated further if it weren’t for the fact I was bone tired from my trip (the heat really sucks out your energy), and decided to take a nap.

Planned 30 minute nap stretched to two hours, and when I woke up, no internet still. Called 172 and my worst dreams were relived – I was greeted by a taped message apologizing for some ‘fiber optic’ idiocy, and would I please understand their situation.

Continue reading No Internet Again

Top Eleven Requirements for Becoming Pam’s Boyfriend

Ok so Pam has let it out. I am the person who knows everything relevant (and irrelevant) there is to know about her, hence I know her best, and therefore I feel I am the one most qualified to find her a mate.

Yes that’s right. And I’m serious too. Let’s go through that one more time. I know everything there is to know about her, in fact one can say too much – and for quite a long time as well. In fact, I’m so good at it, I actually know when she’s wrong. Cases in point, her statement from her blog:

Gary thinks he should be the one to find me a new guy because he says he knows me better than most people but he hasn’t come up with a single name – save for a missionary. A missionary. I am seriously not going down that road.

There are two things wrong here obviously. One, she says I ‘think’ I should be the one to find her a guy. WRONG. I AM the one to find her a guy. We’ve established this already. Two, the missionary is an upfront guy. I haven’t heard from him since, but when I do, I’ll set it up. And yeah of course we’re gonna make jokes about his favorite sexual position. How the hell can we not make jokes about his favorite sexual position?? He’s a missionary for crying out loud! The name speaks for itself.

Continue reading Top Eleven Requirements for Becoming Pam’s Boyfriend

Ok so this is one of those ‘this is what i did today in pictures’ posts – A Semi-Review of the Sony DSC-N2

Which, I’m sure, is probably not gonna win any awards, but what the heck who cares. At any rate, this scores as a techie post as well. See, I’ve two new cameras at my disposal, the bombastically blingy DSC-N2 and the fashion-y DSC-T50, which Jill has already reviewed for Kikay.

So the thing is, the PR firm always loans me Sony cams without memory sticks. This is of course very limiting since I very well can’t go out taking 10 megapixel shots at full quality. The DSC-N2 only has 25mb. internal memory, so I’d probably end up taking 2 shots at most. So instead, I decided to take as many nice pics as I can at the lowest setting (VGA) possible. See, the way I see it, if the pics still come out okay, then that means the lens and the way its processors interprets colors – two of the more important factors that make a digicam – are ok too.

Brilliant eh? So armed with this self – styled (and I wouldn’t be surprised if flawed) reasoning, plus the fact that there’s a free entrance vintage car show at the Greenhills parking lot today commemorating San Juan’s Centennial, the fact that I’m a San Juan boy through and through, PLUS the fact that Jill has 1k worth of Burgoo GCs for some reason (who asks details when someone has GCs? Just go for it!), meant we had all the elements for a nice day out with a nice hi – end cam (I just used the DSC – N2 today. I’ll use the T50 for another time).

So on with the pics!

Continue reading Ok so this is one of those ‘this is what i did today in pictures’ posts – A Semi-Review of the Sony DSC-N2

I am looking for someone who loves pets and can write about them

All sorts of pets. From dogs to cats to pigs to reptiles to birds to insects etc. etc. etc.

And then, this person should be able to write articles about them. About how it is to be a pet owner in the Philippines. The caring and feeding of pets. The trials and tribulations, joys and pain, concerns, highs and lows, tricks of the trade, people to know, places to be, every info possible about pet ownership. He should be really into this kind of stuff.

Then, if this person is really good, he or she can help look for other writers with the same passion for pets so they can all exchange content about their specific areas of pet interests. Content targetted towards the average home – owner who enjoy pets for companionship, to people involved in the trade of pets, all the way to breeding pets for competition. The whole gamut, in a Philippine setting for a Philippine audience.

Hopefully, this person resides in or around Manila and is comfortable with HTML, but if not, that’s ok, as long as they’re on the ‘net.

If you are this person, please take the time to contact me. If you know of one who fits the bill, I hope you can forward this to them. My email is ghmercado at gmail dot com. Thank you so much!

The Pursuit of Happyness Movie Review

The Pursuit of Happyness is a movie about a great part of the life of Chris Gardner, a man who went through near – unsurpassable obstacles to reach success in his life – that is, success in the sense that he makes good money by running a profitable business and providing for his family, and unsurpassable obstacles in the sense that he had to at one point – lock the door at a men’s Oakland subway station’s bathroom so he can sleep there at night.

You can imagine that this is a true inspirational, dramatic sobfest, and it is. It leaves no doubt that Chris Gardner, who made his money via the stock market, is a man made of true stern stuff. His determination and single – minded purpose is incredible, regardless of how he is interpreted by Will Smith. And I say that because Will Smith is a truly impressive character just as well, but I’ll get to that a little later on.

Yup. You know what to do. Go over to Movie Exchange to read the rest. Camaaan do it already!