1.0 Release

The long awaited version 1.0 of Django is set for release early in September this year (2008).  Looks like all the features that they would like to include need to be in by the August feeze date if they wish to be in the 1.0 release.

Check it out: http://www.djangoproject.com/weblog/2008/jun/16/save-the-date/

Django Software Foundation

Django also seems ready to join the ranks of Mozilla, Apache and Linux soon.  That is, they will be starting a nonprofit organization to oversee the project.  There are no real details on this yet.

Check it out: http://www.djangoproject.com/weblog/2008/jun/17/foundation/

All in all… this is great news

Well today is Firefox Download Day.  They say “…first impressions last…” and my first impressions of Firefox 3.0 are good.  You can see not only did they tackle some of the bigger things in this browser but also took care of the finer details which comes in the form of a cleaner look.

I must admit I have been a Firefox fanboy for the last while now and have no plans of changing anytime soon.  With all the fantastic add-ons, this is simply the better choice.

I hope all that pledged to download the new Firefox do today.  Everyone has till 17:00 UTC on June 18, 2008.  They are trying to obtain a World Record for the most downloaded software in one day.  So help while there is time and grab it while it’s hot

Just to explain the silence in this area… I have been moved to a project at work that requires a lot of time for two reasons.  One, I am the new guy that needs to grasp the entirety of the system and be productive almost at the same time and Two, the deadlines are crazy tight.

That being said, I have not had a lot of “personal” time to learn/share here.

There are some projects that I do want to get involved in soon which I will shed some light on when they actually start.  Some more Django and others.

Just read an article in SA Good News that makes me super proud to be an Ubuntu Fan. This also makes for good PR on the eve of the latest release… “Hardy Heron”

Here is a small excerpt:

While no computers were successfully hacked on day one of the competition, both the Mac and the Windows computers fell victim to attack on day two and three. Only the Sony laptop running Ubuntu 7.10 was intact by the end of the contest.

I’m not sure when this website was created but from the digg entry it seems pretty new (45 days old) and whoever is behind it is actually making money. I think there are slightly more worthy things I can throw my money at and with the way that interest rates and the general economy is going at the moment in South Africa I better be thrifty with my hard earned cash.

A little tradition that I started here on the 18 September 2007 is to change the template I use every 10, 000 views. Well today sees the 20, 000 mark and I have decided to go with something very simple. It is called “White As Milk” and for me it is beautifully clean and simple. It was created by Azeem Azeez.

I would like to send out my thanks to those that support me here and those that just stumble in.

Things have been busy of late as I have been moved to a new project at work. New project = new things to learn = extra input from me.

It shouldn’t be too long though before I have some time again for some more post.

Again Thanks.

After a pretty smooth install of Ubuntu Studio 8.04 (Hardy Heron) Beta on my wife’s HP Pavillion dv6000 everything seemed to work well. Everything that is, except for the Broadcom Wireless. I just could not get it to switch on.

When trying to activate the proprietary drivers, the system would tell me I needed to reboot the machine for the changes to take effect. Once booted it would still not be enabled. Both physically and in the proprietary driver screen.

To solve my problem I used the following steps:

1. First off you need to ensure that you have the build essentials package installed so that you can build the b43-fwcutter.

  sudo apt-get install build-essential

2. Once that is installed you can download and build b43-fwcutter.

  wget http://bu3sch.de/b43/fwcutter/b43-fwcutter-011.tar.bz2
tar xjf b43-fwcutter-011.tar.bz2
cd b43-fwcutter-011
make
cd ..

3. Now we need to download the Broadcom firmware and install it. Note that the “FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR” must point to the directory where your firmware directory is. The one I have used below is what it is in Ubuntu.

  export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
wget http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2
tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2
cd broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0/kmod
../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR" wl_apsta.o

4. Now simply reboot the laptop and presto… the little wireless light should be blue

Yesterday I wrote a little on my wife’s laptop and removing Microsoft Vista and replacing it with Ubuntu Studio.  It has gone really smoothly so far.  I have put Compiz Fusion on with Emerald Theme Manager as well as used some of the Mac4Lin project to change the Metacity Theme, Icons and Cursors to be more Mac like… just because I can

Avant Window Navigator is also now available through the Ubuntu repositories but it is a little old and I decided to rather add the launchpad repositories and add “awn” from there.

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/reacocard-awn/ubuntu/ hardy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/reacocard-awn/ubuntu/ hardy main

Once you have added the above two to your “etc/apt/sources.list” file and reloaded you can add “avant-window-navigator-bzr” like this:

sudo apt-get install avant-window-navigator-bzr awn-core-applets-bzr awn-manager-bzr

To run “awn” go to “Accessories -> Avant Window Navigator”.  It is definately a useful app and it helps that it makes the desktop look “complete”.

Next step is to get the Broadcom Wireless to work.  I was hoping that Hardy would have this sorted out but it still seems to be a problem.  Maybe once it’s out of Beta and is officially released this will be workig.

For now though, I have attached a screenshot of my dektop… check it out

For those that celebrate Easter as I do I would like to send out a big “Happy Easter”.

I am busy upgrading my wife’s laptop to Ubuntu Studio 8.04 Beta.  It is a HP Pavilion dv6000 that  came with Microsoft Vista Home Edition which started giving rediculous problems like freezing.  I finally convinced her that Linux was her answer and since she is the “arty” type I decided to see what Ubuntu Studio was like and took a leap downloading the new Beta.

The base install was quick and easy and it looks sweet.  I am just doing a quick update as this is a beta and there are bound to be a lot of updates as bugs get filed and fixed on Launchpad. Then I need to sort out the Wireless as it seems like it is not switched on with the manual switch.  Once I find the solution for that I will let you all know.

Other plans for this PC:

• Compiz Fusion
• Emerald Theme Manager
• Avant Window Manager

Once this is comeplete, my mission here will be done.  A laptop to show off OSS and Ubuntu

As of today I am off FaceBook. Unfortunately the powers that be in the FaceBook relm do not think it appropriate that you can delete your own account. You can deactivate it but to actually delete your account off their system you need to go to their Customer Support page and inform them that you would like them to delete your account. All I did was put “Delete my account” in the Subject and Details fields of the form.

Success, I have tried searching for myself as well as asked a friend who is on FaceBook to and it seems as though I am fully off, or at least as fully off as I’ll ever be.

I think FaceBook was cool and it had it’s place. Now though it is full of stupid applications with every “friend” in your list trying to spam your account with invites to join his/her Vampire club and bite chumps or become a pet… just stupid.