# installing Wine, IEs4Linux
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install wine
wget http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/downloads/ies4linux-latest.tar.gz
tar zxvf ies4linux-latest.tar.gz
cd ies4linux-*
./ies4linux

# removing games
sudo apt-get remove gnome-games
sudo apt-get autoremove

# clearing command history
history -c

svnadmin dump old_svn_repos --deltas > svnrepos.dmp
svnadmin create new_svn_repos
svnadmin load new_svn_repos < svnrepos.dmp

The verbiage indicates that Oracle is starting up (or down), but waiting a bit doesn’t cause the error to go away. Time for Google-ing.

$ sqlplus sys/xxxxxxx as sysdba

Replace the ‘xxxxxxx’ part with the actual password, of course. If the ’sqlplus’ command is not recognized, it’s probably a problem with your envvars, but that’s a whole can of worms altogether. But I digress. Let’s see whether the db can be mounted:

SQL> alter database mount;
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01100: database already mounted

OK, that’s a start. How about open-ing?

SQL> alter database open;
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01113: file 1 needs media recovery

OK let’s do recovery:

ORA-01110: data file 1: '/usr/lib/oracle/xe/oradata/XE/system.dbf'
SQL> recover datafile '/usr/lib/oracle/xe/oradata/XE/system.dbf'
Media recovery complete.
SQL> alter database open;
Database altered.
SQL> quit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 10g Express Edition Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production

Hope this helps somebody.

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of ‘97:

Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts. Don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else’s.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they’ll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They’re your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you’ll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you’ll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your hair or by the time you’re 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

The install completed successfully, and then I realized that some kind of subscription plan is required to issue ‘yum’ commands.

So there I was, stuck with an outdated RHEL5 system (circa September 2009, the box tells me), and no RHN login in sight. Great.

Some Google-ing uncovered this article, which pretty much works, except I had to make a few edits here and there.

I thought to repost here instead, in case I ever have to convert RHEL to CentOS again.

It’s an excerpt of root’s commands:

# remove cached packages
yum clean all

# create /root/centos/
mkdir ~/centos
cd ~/centos

# import CentOS's GPG key
wget http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5.4/os/i386/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-5
rpm --import RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-5

# web get base packages
wget http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5.4/os/i386/CentOS/centos-release-5-4.el5.centos.1.i386.rpm
wget http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5.4/os/i386/CentOS/centos-release-notes-5.4-4.i386.rpm
wget http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5.4/os/i386/CentOS/yum-3.2.22-20.el5.centos.noarch.rpm
wget http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5.4/os/i386/CentOS/yum-fastestmirror-1.1.16-13.el5.centos.noarch.rpm
wget http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5.4/os/i386/CentOS/yum-updatesd-0.9-2.el5.noarch.rpm

# install using 'rpm'
rpm -Uvh centos*.rpm
rpm -Uvh yum*.rpm

# clear RHN stuff
rpm -e --nodeps redhat-release
rpm -e --nodeps yum-rhn-plugin

# upgrade to heart's content
yum upgrade

At this moment, the update is buzzing along quite well, thanks to NUS’s mirror.

Now, on to the good stuff. You can duplicate “Open Resource” by creating a project and defining a shortcut for Komodo’s equivalent:

File -> New -> New Project

Save the file in the root of your project directory. This allows the entire file listing to show up in:

File -> Open -> Go to File…

Finally, you need to define the Ctrl+Shift+R shortcut for it:

Edit -> Preferences -> Key Binding Schemes -> New…

I call mine “Eclipse”.

In the “Commands:” input box, type “go to”, and then select “Fast Open: Go to File…”.

Restart Komodo Edit, open the project you just created, and then hit Ctrl+Shift+R. Voila.

Goodbye, Eclipse.

CPU/Mobo    Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 + Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P        474
Memory      Corsair PC2-6400 DDR2-800 (2x2GB)                     128
Chassis     3R System K400                                         59
PSU         Vantec 500N ION2+500W                                  75
Graphics    Gainward 4850 512MB                                   244
Storage     WD Caviar Black 640GB                                 138

The damage tallied up to $1118, excluding an optical drive, monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers. I didn’t purchase it in the end, and I didn’t find the time to play much of anything, so it turned out to be a good decision. Now, a year later, I’ve gotten into the mood to compile an updated list, mostly driven by the release of new cheaper, better and faster (CBF) parts. So here we go again:

CPU/Mobo    AMD Phenom II X2 550 BE + Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-UD2H    309
Memory      Team Xtreem Dark PC2-8500 (2x2GB)                     155
Chassis     Gigabyte GZ-X2 w/420W PSU                             109
PSU         Ditto                                                   -
Graphics    ?                                                       -
Storage     WD Caviar Black 1TB                                   155

The cost for the base (CPU, Mobo, Memory, Chassis and PSU) system has dropped significantly, and I’m undecided on whether I actually need new Graphics/Storage parts. Anyway if I do purchase this system sometime soon, Fallout 3 will play really well. Or I might just wait a year for something even more CBF.

• MEPIS 8; KDE 3, based on Debian 5;
• Ubuntu 9.04;  GNOME 2, based on Debian 5;
• Linux Mint 7: GNOME 2, based on Ubuntu 9.04;
• Kubuntu 8.04; KDE 3, based on on Ubuntu 8.04.

I’ve compared MEPIS 8 and Ubuntu 9.04, in what was called an unfair comparison by some. I think some of the commenters even indicated that Ubuntu 9.04 would’ve come up tops, but I begged (and still do) to differ.

Since then, I’ve used Mint 7 and Kubuntu 8.04, which one may realize are using GNOME 2 and KDE 3 as well. So I guess a more appropriate comparison would’ve been:

• MEPIS 8 versus Kubuntu 8.04;
• Ubuntu 9.04 versus Linux Mint 7.

All of packages I use (e.g. php-pear, imagemagick, mysql-server) have the same names across the four distributions (but that’s probably due to Debian).

All four distributions work fine w/ Oracle Express Edition, which is a great way to try out Oracle database if you don’t happen to work for a large corporation that uses its (probably too-)expensive licenses.

I must say that it wasn’t so much the particular distribution, source distribution or version number that affected the speed of the interface, but rather, the window manager.

GNOME 2 just seems… slow. KDE 3 is well… snappy.

To me, there is no discernable difference between MEPIS and Kubuntu — both use KDE 3, except perhaps Kubuntu uses Adept whilst MEPIS sticks to good old Synaptic. Both are great applications nonetheless.

I’ll gripe about the loss of Dropbox, which is available both Ubuntu and Mint due to GNOME. Apparently there is command-line instructions available. But I digress.

On the upside, I can’t seem to (easily) setup a network printer in either MEPIS or Kubuntu. I followed the instructions on the Ubuntu website, and voila, I could print. Likewise for Mint, which is basically Ubuntu nicely themed. Or maybe I’m just scratching the surface.

Kdesvn and Meld are almost interchangeable, unless you want to view svn logs of course (use the former).

So there you have it. If you’ve got a high-performance, dual- (or quad-) core laptop, Ubuntu or Mint will do fine. But if you’ve got a 2- to 3- year old laptop, consider Kubuntu 8.04 or MEPIS 8. Unfortunately, I can’t access mepis.org anymore — the site is down, why? — and Canonical maintains fast servers, so I’ll be using Kubuntu for the forseeable future.

Basically I use SWFUpload to post files to a CakePHP controller. It was working beautifully, until I inadvertently removed 1 (yes, just one) line of code in beforeFilter():

$this->Auth->allow("swfupload");

I was using the Auth component, and without the line above to allow “not logged in” access to the controller action, then we have a problem.

Hope this helps somebody.

I first tweeted about Ubutu 9.04 a week ago. Now I know I’m not exactly comparing apples with apples, since MEPIS 8 is based on Debian 5.0 and uses KDE 3.5, whilst Ubuntu 9.04 uses GNOME 2. I might be better off evaluating Kubuntu, the 9.04 release uses KDE 4, which I’d used previously, and disliked due to its (apparent) gradual reduction in speed.

But back to Ubuntu versus MEPIS. Since 10th June, I’ve been using it as a web developer machine on a Compaq nc8230. This machine is better-speced that the IBM R52 I use for MEPIS, so I’m giving Ubuntu the benefit of faster machine here. We’ll see if that pans out in Ubuntu’s favour later on.

Package Management

I develop in PHP, so I use Apache, MySQL and Oracle (remote server) on a daily basis. From my point of view as a developer, all of the .deb packages I use have the same name as in MEPIS. Synaptic, used in both MEPIS and Ubuntu, handles packages very well, so it is a tie here.

MEPIS 1, Ubuntu 1.

Applications

For applications however, I still felt that, overall KDE’s were more suitable for me, even though I was able to find GNOME-based replacements for the applications I used in MEPIS:

• Kate to Gedit. Kate can syntax highlight my .ctp files, while Gedit has no such configuration option. Kate has sessions so I can quickly switch between projects, Gedit does not.
• Konsole to Terminal. Konsole remembers my tabs, Terminal does not.
• Katapult to Do. I prefer the default Alt+Space shortcut for Katapult, Do does it like Win+Space, because Alt+Space is used by GNOME. I also prefer if a calculator is built into Do, so I press Win+Space+32*5 and I get the result (160) onscreen.
• Kdesvn,Kdiff3 Kompare to Meld. Meld is MUCH better than either of the 3 applications, as I can do 3-way file/directory comparison easily. It can even open a Subversion-ed directory and handle it correctly)
• No Dropbox client in MEPIS, versus official Dropbox client in Ubuntu. Dropbox works very well, as it is the official release from the Dropbox guys. I’m still waiting (hoping) for a KDE-based one, but maybe they are reluctant to write one in KDE 3.5, then later rewrite for KDE4?

MEPIS 1, Ubuntu 0.5 (due to Meld, Dropbox).

Speed/Stability

I feel that Ubuntu 9.04 has some way to go, as I’d to POWER OFF the laptop as Ubuntu does the dreaded “window goes dark” thing, and I see/hear alot of hard drive activity, and then I have to (painfully) switch to Terminal, and then type killall <process>. Usually, the culprit is Firefox 3.0.11.

Previously I’d written about how unstable 9.04 was. After some reading on the forums, I figured it might be a graphics issue. Setting System -> Preferences -> Appearance -> Visual Effects to “None”, seem to have resolved my stability problems. How strange, yet comforting. Ubuntu is now as stable as MEPIS (or probably most Linux distros, anyways) is.

MEPIS 8, on the IBM R52, meanwhile is fast and stable, albeit with less special effects. I must admit, I was wowed by the special effects, but not at the expense of speed, and particularly stability.

MEPIS 1, Ubuntu 0. MEPIS 1, Ubuntu 1.

Conclusion

I’ve no issues with Synaptic, as it is used to manage packages in both MEPIS and Ubuntu.

I loved to use Dropbox and Meld in Ubuntu, so much that I was probably willing to accept the differences between kate/gedit, konsole/terminal, katapult/do. What was frustrating to me was to develop halfway, and then have to wait for the system to return control of the UI to me, and if not reboot.

The overall score is MEPIS 3, Ubuntu 1.5. This scoreline is obviously subjective, but you’ve heard all the good things about Ubuntu, have a slow(er) laptop, please do consider MEPIS. The overall score is MEPIS 3, Ubuntu 2.5. I still prefer KDE 3’s apps, but it wouldn’t be a huge leap to jump to Ubuntu’s GNOME Desktop, or for users that still prefer KDE, Kubuntu 8.04 (KDE 3.x) or Kubuntu 9.04 (KDE 4.x).

Both MEPIS and Ubuntu support audio/wireless networking flawlessly, unlike (cough, cough) Debian. At this point, I really don’t see the benefits of using Ubuntu (mostly due to its speed/stability issues) over MEPIS, so yeah, I’m a fan.

References

Debian, MEPIS and Ubuntu from en.wikipedia.org