VirtualBox, SELinux, and FUDCon bracelets

VirtualBox, SELinux, and FUDCon bracelets

A couple of weeks back i deleted that spare Windows partition i had lying around. I decided that i had no regular need for it, and there was no reason to keep the bloated piece of garbage Vista is lying around. The only (dis)advantage is that i can no longer use it to play games. It never played them perfectly anyways. The advantage though, is that Microsoft can no longer install .Net plugins into my Firefox setup let my computer be infected with their shoddy business practices.

Well, i still would like to have access to a couple of programs that i just can't seem to get to work right on wine and/or other methods. Being the secular stallmanist i am, i don't mind using open source software on windows now and then, and there are a few programs i like to use. Hearing about the updated VirtualBox release that now does 3D acceleration pretty well, i decided to give it a try. Yes it works :D. Unfortunately it does not work with SELinux in enforcing mode, but i don't mind switching to Permissive for the few hours i need to do something with it.

On a completely unrelated note, the FUDCon bracelet i've been wearing for about a year now finally broke at work yesterday. I have another one, but i haven't decided if i want to start wearing that one now. Does anyone else wear them still, or even abuse them to hold doors open to overheating server rooms?

FAD At Random 2009

FAD At Random 2009

I would like to formally introduce some plans I've been putting together to hold a proper Fedora Activity Day at Hacking At Random this summer. There has been alot of discussion over the past few months to have a formal Fedora presence there, to come hang out, enjoy the lovely Dutch summer weather, have a beer or two, and just show off how crazy we can be. I've also had talks with people from FreeJ/Dyne:bolic and from CentOS about sharing space, primarily because we all shared the same space last summer at Eth-0 and it worked out great. So without further ado:

The FAD at Random 2009 will be held near Vierhouten, August 15th at Hacking at Random. The topic of the FAD will be Media and Media arts using Open Source in general and Fedora in particular. The format will be pretty free form. There will be a few tents for hacking in and a tent with a projector to do presentations. We will hold a barcamp where people can do presentations or just show off demos. Some people from the village will also be VJing sporadically during the event, although the entire thing is ad-hoc.

We will also be forming a village between these four groups for the duration of HAR, so be there or be something not round.

Green Computing?

Green Computing?

The computer i have at work is haunted. The person who had it before me was frequently getting blue screens of doom. We tried to fix that by putting Fedora on it, but today, after loading up the latest updates, i get regular crashes trying to run 3d screen savers. (Seriously, who doesn't run Molecule while working for a genetics laboratory?).

I was given the choice, to run memtest tonight and let it run all the way through or to try with random sticks of RAM tomorrow. I opted for the latter because it means not keeping the machine on all night long. But is it really more green? Those sticks of RAM have a certain environmental load too. Is it better to run energy using tests on the currently existing hardware or check every point of failure with a backup known working set? Which is more green? Should we even worry about such decisions at all?

In Berlin You Can't Have a Pony

In Berlin You Can't Have a Pony

We discovered that in Berlin, you can't have a pony. There was a sign on the subway warning us about this unfortunateness.



Flickr Link Here

Literally it means the seat is not a garbage dump, but Berlin is quite a liberal city, so i'm going to use quite a liberal translation.

BOFH

BOFH

Today i began my new job in Utrecht as a Systeembeheerder, which is just Dutch for Bastard Operator From Hell. I've been told that while we are in charge of a very wide variety of duties, the problems we have to solve tend to fall under two categories.

1) "Halp! I can't read my email!" - I'm clearly not responsible because that's handled by a central agency.

2) "The printer is broken." - I'm not a janitor, clean up your own mess.

I'm already loving this job.

My Run In with CentOS at LinuxTag

My Run In with CentOS at LinuxTag

As everyone can now see in Mo's post, my laptop cover is almost completely covered with stickers. Having no room left there, it's time to sticker up my laptop bag. I'm trying to start a new meme where i have Shadowman saying various things, and convincing people to use Fedora stickers. Hopefully there will be some pictures later, if i run into Mo.

On my quest to get some stickers, i decided that a CentOS sticker would also be appropriate. Although i was scheduled to start at the booth just then, i decided a quick jaunt over to the CentOS booth would only take a couple of minutes. The guys there were more than happy to help me sticker up my laptop bag further.

While i was there, i started talking with Didi and others about Hacking At Random. Well, the everyone there likes camping, so it seems we will have quite a bit of a CentOS presence there. They were planning on bringing a larger tent as well, so taking up the opportunity, we agreed to try to combine our tents a bit. Now it seems the FreeJ/Dyne/Fedora Village has just gotten a bit bigger.

For HAR, we're planning on starting an Event Box for EMEA and debuting it there. Hopefully if we get our hands on a projector and screen, we can do a combination of a Fedora/CentOS/FreeJ barcamp as well as VJing and running demos at night. If you want to participate in the process of putting together the Event Box, we'll be having a session at FUDCon on Saturday or Sunday to coordinate planning and hammer out a few details.

The New Treasurer of Fedora EMEA e.V.

The New Treasurer of Fedora EMEA e.V.

Three blog posts in one day. I hope this doesn't become a daily habit.

Today we had our yearly LinuxTag members meeting of Fedora EMEA. For those of you that don't know, Fedora EMEA is The Bikeshed of politics. Picture this, a bunch of computer hackers with access to a legal entity with legal bylaws and rules that run in parallel but outside of the standard Fedora processes. Put us all in one room, give us a two hour time limit, and i guarantee you we'll argue about how to vote for at least an hour. All in all, it's alot of fun.

At our meeting, Max had to unfortunately announce that he is resigning as treasurer. At the time he joined, it was wise to keep the treasurer position tied in with managing the EMEA budget in Fedora while things were being defined in EMEA over the past year. By now though, we have a bit of a rhythm set up when it comes to sponsoring and supporting events. Ultimately, this position should be entirely in the hands of the community.

I had been thinking that perhaps after a year in the Netherlands, where i can get my own routine and rhythm set up, i would run for a position on the Fedora EMEA board. As it turned out, the position opened up and there was only one other volunteer. We took a vote (with alot of debate), and the position fell to me. For now i'm accepting the position, and we'll see where it goes from there.