Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Berry Creek Falls Trail

On Memorial Day we went to BigBasin for a hike. This trail was estimated for 6 hours. We did it in less than 5:30. I must admit that my feet were quite sore that evening but I was carrying my photo gear and tripod :-)

Berry Creek Waterfalls

Friday, May 26, 2006

Network card stopped working after upgrade from OpenSuSE 10.0 to 10.1

Last night I decided to update my desktop machine to SuSE 10.1. Update process crashed once during uninstallation of packages but second run was successful. Almost, when I checked in the morning it could not get updates from internet. It looks like there are problems with NIC card. I rebooted and I did not have network device. Weird, cause it has been working for months without problems.
Bug
My machine is Shuttle SN95G5 with nForce3 chipset and Marvell 8001 Gigabit Ethernet adapter. After upgrade it tries to load sk98lin module (SysKonnect???) and it fails with following message: "Csk98lin: Could not read VPD data. sk98lin: probe of ... failed with error -5"

Picasa for Linux

Picasa is a free software download from Google. Now available for Linux!

So, how does it work? Picasa for Linux runs the current Windows version of Picasa using a carefully tested version of Wine, an open-source implementation of the Windows application-programming interface (API). Wine runs on top of the X Window System and Linux or Unix. But it’s not a Windows emulator; instead, it provides a Windows API middleware layer that enables Windows programs to run on Linux without the slowing effects of OS emulation or a virtual machine.

Picasa Linux

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Ania & Greg’s Wedding

Ania & Greg's Wedding

Last saturday I went to Sonoma for a weeding of my friends, Ania and Greg. Wether was great so reception was held in nice rented house in Glen Ellen next to Benzinger Winery.

Monday, May 22, 2006

OpenLaszlo

OpenLaszlo is an open source platform for creating zero-install web applications with the user interface capabilities of desktop client software.

OpenLaszlo programs are written in XML and JavaScript and transparently compiled to Flash and soon DHTML. The OpenLaszlo APIs provide animation, layout, data binding, server communication, and declarative UI. An OpenLaszlo application can be as short as a single source file, or factored into multiple files that define reusable classes and libraries.
OpenLaszlo

Friday, May 19, 2006

TortoiseSVN

TortoiseSVN
TortoiseSVN is a really easy-to-use version control / source control client under a GPL license!

Features of TortoiseSVN/Subversion:

  • Windows Shell (Explorer) integration. Can be used without any IDE.

  • Icon overlays show immediately which files/folders need to be uploaded (committed) to the database.

  • Easy to use dialogs for version control operations.

  • The UI is available in different languages.

  • Global revision numbers. You can get old versions of your project and not just single files.

  • Atomic transactions. Interrupted operations don't affect the repository at all.
  • Wednesday, May 17, 2006

    Senate Extension of U.S. Visa Waiver Program to Poland

    Poland
    Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) today joined Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) in announcing the Senate’s unanimous passage of their amendment that would extend the U.S. Visa Waiver program to Poland. The provision was accepted today as part of the immigration legislation pending on the Senate floor.

    Google Releases AJAX Framework

    Google
    Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is a Java software development framework that makes writing AJAX applications like Google Maps and Gmail easy for developers who don't speak browser quirks as a second language. Writing dynamic web applications today is a tedious and error-prone process; you spend 90% of your time working around subtle incompatabilities between web browsers and platforms, and JavaScript's lack of modularity makes sharing, testing, and reusing AJAX components difficult and fragile.

    GWT lets you avoid many of these headaches while offering your users the same dynamic, standards-compliant experience. You write your front end in the Java programming language, and the GWT compiler converts your Java classes to browser-compliant JavaScript and HTML.

    Tuesday, May 16, 2006

    Canon vs Nikon DSLR for beginners

    CanonNikon
    Recently two people asked me about my advice on buying their first DSLR. I am Canon user for last 15 years and practically I have no experience with Nikon cameras. I think that at the entry level difference are probably not significant.

    Later I found blog article dealing with this subject: Considering an entry level camera

    Monday, May 15, 2006

    Wednesday, May 10, 2006

    Ubuntu Center

    Ubuntu Center is a web based interface for accessing all kinds of information that's being stored on your computer running Ubuntu Breezy, Kubuntu, XUbuntu, or even nUbuntu box. Ubuntu Center accomplishes all of this by integrating PHP software licensed under the GPL license in one giant package suitable for use on a Ubuntu computer. This release adds tons of new features and bug fixes and is suitable for everyday use.


    Ubuntu Center

    Tuesday, May 9, 2006

    SecureDVD

    SecureDVD is a live DVD collection featuring the 10 Best Security Live CD Distros.

    SecureDVD Linux Live

    Warner Bros. to sell movies via BitTorrent

    Warner Bros.'s video unit on Tuesday unveiled plans to sell movies and television shows to BitTorrent Inc. for legal downloads from the Web site that was once blamed for aiding the swapping of illegally copied films and programs.

    WB BitTorrent

    Spring is finally here

    Last weekend was quite busy for me I went to Capitola with friends who were showing me how to fly professional kites then on sunday with 4 other friends we climbed on Mission Peak in Fremont. Frankly I did not expect that it would be so high. Weather was perfect.

    Kites in Capitola
    Mission Peak

    Friday, May 5, 2006

    Malibu Grand Prix - my first team outing at new workplace

    It looks like I am too tall to ride this miniature F1 replicas but I still I think I looked quite funny in this car ;-)

    Malibu Grand Prix

    Electric Car Faster Than A Ferrari or Porsche

    Ian Wright has a car that blows away a Ferrari 360 Spider and a Porsche Carrera GT in drag races, and whose 0-to-60 acceleration time ranks it among the fastest production autos in the world. In fact, it's second only to the French-made Bugatti Veyron, a 1,000-horsepower, 16-cylinder beast that hits 60 mph half a second faster and goes for $1.25 million.

    X1

    Thursday, May 4, 2006

    Top 10 sci-fi films

    No. 1 appears to be my favorite :-)

    Blade Runner

    The Five Most Common Lies in Business

    Paul LaFontaine left Bertelsmann Music Group in March 1997 to advise other businesspeople about radical honesty. He has lots of work to do. "There are as many lies in business as there are people in business," he says. Here are his nominees for the five most common lies.

    FastCompany

    Wednesday, May 3, 2006

    Get Legal - Get OpenOffice.org

    After years of unofficially tolerating piracy as a means of securing market share, Microsoft is now going on the offensive to make sure copies of it's software are legitimate.


    Get legal. Get OpenOffice.org