/dev/weblog

I like programming and listening to music.  It helps set a pace for me to work.  This little gem just popped in my head while I was listening to AC/DC:

Yes, I know. I'm awesome.

Build 6 of the Xyster Framework has been released. Tons of new features both in core and in incubator.

Please head over to the Xyster site and grab yourself a copy.

Last night I tried to install Oracle 10g XE on my Debian-based database server for testing purposes. Tried is the key word here.

Interestingly enough, Oracle offers a deb repository for this purpose. Add the following line to your /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://oss.oracle.com/debian unstable main non-free

Then execute the following commands as root (or with sudo) to add Oracle's public signing key and then install Oracle XE:

# wget http://oss.oracle.com/el4/RPM-GPG-KEY-oracle  -O- | sudo apt-key add - 
# apt-get update
# apt-get install oracle-xe

Here's the catch: my database server is an OpenVZ VPS. The Oracle installer checks for a sufficiently large swap partition and will bomb out if one of a sufficient size is not found. OpenVZ VPSs do not have a swap partition.

OpenVZ does support swap space, and that swap space can be set with barriers and limits, but the swap space is as a whole meaning that there is one swap space for the entire system, not a user-configurable swap space per-VPS.

So now comes the task of tricking the installer to think I the VPS has a swap partition, or trying to get it on there some other way.  Stay tuned for the nuttiness.

Oracle is stupid.

Hey, this is a quick reminder.  Don't forget about Shutdown Day on May 3rd.

Be part of one of the biggest global experiments ever to take place on the Internet. The idea behind Shutdown Day is to find out how many people can go without a computer for one whole day, and what will happen if we all participate!

You might know by now that Adobe makes my blood boil sometimes.  Their needlessly expensive graphics and publishing package represents all that open source is not.  When I read news blips this morning about Open Screen, I was pleasantly surprised.

This blurb taken from a CNet article:

Wadhwani said the Open Screen project has five basic elements. Adobe will remove license restriction on the .swf file format. "It is published already, but in order to view it you have to say you will not create a competing player," said Wadhwani. "We're lifting that restriction. People have been worried about vendor lock-in. This will remove that obstacle, and concern."

Adobe will also remove licensing fees for embedding Flash Player on devices. The software has always been a free download for PC users. But Adobe has charged for embedding on devices. Those charges will disappear with the next release of the software.

Even though Adobe still rubs me the wrong way, this move is entirely in the right direction. Maybe this means I can finally get a working Flash player on my x84_64 notebook.