I’ve just send out the news to the mailing list of Ubuntu-be and the Whitespace to confirm that i’ll organise the release party for the upcoming LTS version of Ubuntu.
The event will take place Thursday the 13th of May in the Whitespace.
I’m still looking for people whom have some knowledge of something Ubuntu-related and have the guts to give a lightningtalk or a demo.
At the moment of writing, I’ve had 1 confirmation from a guy with Balls! Mandel.
He did a talk about desktopcouch at fosdem this year, and will bring an improved version of that to the Release party.
If you have questions, let me know.
I’m available at the #Ubuntu-be channel on freenode, or just PM me (mimor) or use the comment section below.

The sent mail in English:

Hello to all.
>
> I organize a RP on the 13th of May in honor of the Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid)
> release.
> This is indeed a Thursday but that’s an official holiday and lot’s of
> the people don’t have to work on Friday.
> What time it’ll take place is yet to be decided.
>
> The RP will take place in the Whitespace (Blekerijstraat 75, Gent,
> Belgium)
> For people wondering what the Whitespace is: http://0×20.be
>
> The space has: power, network, internet, drinks, snacks, beamer, couches
> and I hope we can repair the coffee-machine by then.
> People whom want something else, mention it.
>
> The program is still under construction.
> This moment, my receipt looks like this:
>
> Around 13h we’ll serve a light meet & greet to loosen up the nerves.
> Next, we’ll stimulate the senses wit a series of lightning talks
> accompanied by a spicy serving of freshly cut tips.
> As the Spécial-du-chéf, you can enjoy some trial-and-error-sauce topped
> hands-on sessions.
>
> This part is for sure, but the rest is still work in progress!
>
> This is the rest:
>
> – design of Posters, flyers and web-banners
> – do you know someone, or want to present something yourself? Go for it
> & let me know.
> – spread the word! To your friends, colleagues, your student-club, etc..
> – the pleasure to have YOU with us!
>
> Regards,
>
> Mike Morraye

Or in Dutch:

>
> Hallo iedereen.
>
> Ik organiseer Donderdag, 13 Mei 2010 een RP voor Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid).
> Dit is inderdaad een donderdag Maar het is een feestdag en vrijdag is
> voor velen dus een brug-dag.
> Van hoe laat tot hoe laat is nog te beslissen.
>
> De RP gaat door in de Whitespace (Blekerijstraat 75, Gent, Belgium)
> Voor wie wil weten wat dit is: http://0×20.be
>
> Locatie heeft: stroomvoorziening, netwerk, internet, (fris-) drank,
> versnaperingen, beamer, zetels en hopelijk kunnen we tegen dan ook de
> koffiezet herstellen.
> Wie nog iets anders wil, laat het gerust weten
>
> Het programma in nog in ontwikkeling.
> Op dit moment zit m’n recept er zo uit:
>
> Rond 13h serveren we een luchtige meet & greet om de zenuwen wat los te
> weken. Hierna prikkelen we de zintuigen met een reeks van pittige
> lightningtalks vergezeld van een portie vers gesneden tips.
> Als spécial du chéf, kunnen de fijnproevers genieten van enkele hands-on
> sessies overgoten met een sausje trial & error.
>
> Dit stuk is zeker, de rest is work in progress!
>
> Hier dus de rest:
>
> – ontwerp Poster & flyer en/of web-banners?
> – ken je iemand, of wil je zelf iets presenteren. Go for it & let me
> know.
> – Spread the word! In je vriendenkring, op het werk, in je
> studentenclub, etc…
> – het genoegen dat JIJ er ook bent!
>
> Mvg,
>
> Mike Morraye

After a few GB of images, nautilus starts to get a headache when opening the containing folder.
So I needed to split it up in different folders.
So here’s the script that does it.

There still seems to be a problem with character escaping when the filename contains a ” – ” in it’s title.
But I’m too tired to figure it out now.

Be careful, as this script might run a while before it finishes.
You can modify the script as you like.
You might want to remove the user-agent string or the -nd option or ad a -x for that last wget call, etc…

I’ll post later on how I actually remove the duplicated images
A hint for people eager to know: fdupes

fdupes -r -f . > duplicates && echo ./duplicates > duplicates && rm `cat duplicates`

This would actually throw errors when there are spaces in the filenames.

So it was a long, verry long night.
The spirit driving me was like this:

But in the end, it felt more like:

Saturday

• 11:45 to 12:30 Evil On the Internet
  

  This talk will show you live examples of these sites, explain how they work, and tell you what we currently know about the criminals who operate them.
  There’s a lot of evil things on the Internet if you know where to look for them. Phishing websites collect banking credentials; mule recruitment websites entice people into money laundering; fake escrow sites defraud the winners of online auctions; fake banks hold the cash for fake African dictators; and there are even Ponzi scheme websites where (almost) everyone knows that they’re a scam. This talk will show you live examples of these sites, explain how they work, and tell you what we currently know about the criminals who operate them.

• 13:15 to 13:45 Mozilla Europe
  

  General Introduction followed by an update on the work of Mozilla in Europe.

• 13:45 to 14:00 Mozilla Foundation
  

  Latest MoFo news and projects.

• 15:30 to 16:30 HTML5
• 17:00 to 17:15 csync: Roaming Home Directories
  

  his talk will be about a file synchronizer designed for the normal user. I will tell you how it and works and how you can use it to synchronize your music collection or set it up for Roaming Home Directories.
  csync is a lightweight utility to synchronize files between two directories on a system or between multiple systems.
  It synchronizes bidirectionally and allows the user to keep two copies of files and directories in sync. csync uses widely adopted protocols, such as smb or sftp, so that there is no need for a server component. It is a user-level program which means you don’t need to be a superuser or administrator.
  Together with a Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM), the intent is to provide Roaming Home Directories for Linux.

• 16:45 to 17:45 Mozilla Sync/Weave
  

  How Weave and in particular sync is going to integrate with Firefox through 2010 and Firefox 4.
  There will be some discussion on how add-on authors can integrate with Weave starting now, and directions being made to surface this data in the browser.

• 18:00 to 18:15 SyncEvolution: From the SyncML Protocol to Free and Open Implementations
  

  Data synchronization is still mostly a missing piece in the free desktop puzzle: solutions that are reliable and ready for the mythical Average User just aren’t available. This talk presents the SyncML protocol, introduces the Synthesis SyncML engine (developed since 2000, open sourced 2009) and outlines how SyncEvolution is used as the synchronization solution in Moblin, GNOME and other Linux desktop systems – stay tuned for more news about this.
  SyncEvolution is meant to be a cross-platform solution, therefore this talk would be suitable for the cross-desktop developer room.
  Direct synchronization with other mobile devices is the main new feature in the upcoming Moblin 1.0 release. It will be covered in this talk for the first time.
  SyncEvolution is a tool that synchronizes personal information management (PIM) data like contacts, calenders, tasks, and memos using the SyncML information synchronization standard. SyncEvolution compiled for GNOME’s Evolution supports all of these data items. Compiled for Nokia 770/800/810 Internet Tablets, Mac OS X and the iPhone (only 0.7), it supports synchronizing the system address book. The command-line tool ‘syncevolution’ (compiled separately for each of these platforms) executes the synchronization. In addition, there is the GTK “sync-UI”. The external Genesis is a graphical frontend for SyncEvolution written in PyGTK. The GUIs make SyncEvolution accessible without having to use a command line and provides graphical feedback of transaction results.
  SyncEvolution was written to have a small, reliable solution for Evolution PIM data synchronization without reinventing the wheel. SyncML is the established industry standard and Funambol has kindly provided their source code under the GPL, so there was already an existing code base for client and server development. During SyncEvolution’s development special attention was paid to automated testing and coverage of corner cases of the SyncML, vCard and iCalendar standards to ensure that no data gets lost or mangled.
  The focus right now is to deliver the best possible SyncML client for Moblin and Linux. With the switch to the Synthesis SyncML Engine it will be easier to also implement a server mode and direct device-to-device synchronization – this is already working in the 1.0 alpha release.

• 18:20 to 18:35 GeeXboX: An Introduction to Enna Media Center
  

  Enna is GeeXboX’s next generation Media Center interface, built upon Enlightenment Foundation Libraries (EFL). It allows you to listen to your music files, watch your favorite movies, TV shows and photos across your network. It relies on libplayer multimedia A/V abstraction framework to control your preferred player and libvalhalla, a fast media scanner API that will grab metadata (covers, fan arts, song lyrics and so many more) from your multimedia contents.
  GeeXboX is a free embedded Linux distribution which aims at turning your computer into a so called HTPC (Home Theater PC) or Media Center. The GeeXboX project features both a LiveCD distribution and a standalone media center application (Enna); the project developed also several libraries (libplayer, libvalhalla) to enhance the multimedia experience under GNU/Linux.

Sunday

• 11:00 to 11:45 Tor: Building, Growing, and Extending Online Anonymity
  

  A review and update on Tor, how open source solutions work well worldwide, where we’re headed, and where we need help from developers like you.
  Tor is a tool to protect your online privacy and anonymity. We rely on thousands of volunteers to run our network, review our code, and help enhance the experience for all.

I’m still not sure if I’ll make it for the Friday evening beer event.
It all depends on whether I find a place to stay for the night.
But I’ll be at the Ubuntu Dinner on Saturday evening!

Hope to see you there.

Interesting links:
Fosdem Homepage
Ubuntu @ Fosdem Wiki Page
Fosdem Mailinglist
Flickr Fosdem 2010 Pictures and foto’s
Press & Promotional material

Install ConnectBot on my HTC Hero, connect to my home ssh server to hook up with my Screen session.
‘Why?’ you ask? Because we can!

The process:

1. Create a DynDNS account
2. Configure my router to automatically update the DynDNS service
3. Set up the ssh daemon on my desktop
4. Set up the screen session and configure irssi
5. Forwarded the default ssh port (22) to my desktop PC which has a fixed IP
6. Drink a coffee.
7. Added the credentials needed to the ConnectBot’s configuration

The Result:

I turn off my phone’s WiFi so the phone switches autom. to the PROXIMUS 3G network.
I fire up the ConnectBot app and start the ssh connection to my foobar.dyndns.org location.
The phone gently points out that it’s trying to connect to the host.
After some nail-biting, it lets me know that the connection has timed-out.

So far : Fail!

So now I have to search for the cause of  this connection timeout.
First I fire up the inbound log of my router which doesn’t show ma any blocked requests from my phone’s IP.
But there are as many traces of an accepted connection , but I overlooked that as I was looking for where it was stopped.
So I started to monitor the log files on my desktop.

tail -f /var/log/messages
tail -f /var/log/auth.log

As I try to make new connections from my phone with different settings in ConnectBot (eg. optimize for slow connections), I can’t find anything in the log-files.
I start to adjust the /etc/ssh/sshd_config time-out settings and reverse DNS lookups as I suspect a too slow connection to be the problem.
To verify the settings of ConnectBot I try to log in over the WiFi and this worked just fine. Also in the log files there is nothing suspicious that shows up.

I setted up a VPN connection to the HoGent and try to create an SSL connection back. Also this one fails.
So far the options I have to test my setup from the WAN side… A phone and a VPN connection to a place I don’t even know if it lets my SSH request trough.

So I call a friend to try and make a connection to my desktop and be surprised, it worked!
Then I turn to the #Ubuntu-be channel  on Freenode to ask them if they could try to make a connection.
What seems, they can’t connect.

So some people can connect from the WAN site and some others can’t…. strange.
Then all of a sudden, someone from the IRC channel points out that Telenet (my ISP) blocks all inbound ports < 1024 from other networks (eg. non-Telenet-cliënts).
They explain so on this page (in Dutch).
I took the liberty to translate it shamelessly in google translate and post the output here:

The Internet has long not limited to surfing and e-mail. Every day new applications appear that new demands not only your computer but also to the Telenet network. The service provides Telenet is a best effort service which means that sometimes made choices which applications or not supported.

The applications which Telenet focuses its support;
- E-mail (POP / SMTP)
- Web browsing (http)
- FTP
- IRC
- Usenet

In addition, Telenet including the security of the network and a number of users? Ports? completed on the network. On the residential product range of Telenet Internet, all incoming ports closed in 1024. Outgoing port 25 (SMTP) closed. There are still some specific ports closed for security reasons. As new applications, threats, viruses, worms edm. emerging Telenet wants his policies at all times to match these new developments.

So far the freedom on the internet… when you’re connected over Telenet’s services.

Solution:

I changed the port where SSH is listening on to some bigger than 1023, adjusted my settings in ConnectBot and it fired it up.
Guess what, It worked!

Conclusion:

I’ve been spilling 4 hours on something because I didn’t  read my ISP’s conduct.

gnome-cups-manager
------------------

Once upon a time there was a printer who lived in the woods.  He was a
lonely printer, because nobody knew how to configure him.  He hoped
and hoped for someone to play with.

One day, the wind passed by the printer's cottage.  "Whoosh," said the
wind.  The printer became excited.  Maybe the wind would be his
friend!  

"Will you be my friend?" the printer asked.

"Whoosh," said the wind.

"What does that mean?" asked the printer.

"Whoosh," said the wind, and with that it was gone.

The printer was confused.  He spent the rest of the day thinking and
jamming paper (for that is what little printers do when they are
confused).

The next day a storm came.  The rain came pouring down, darkening the
morning sky and destroying the printer's garden.  The little printer
was upset.  "Why are you being so mean to me?" he asked.

"Pitter Patter, Pitter Patter," said the rain.

"Will you be my friend?" the printer asked shyly.

"Pitter Patter, Pitter Patter," said the rain, and then it left and
the sun came out.

The printer was sad.  He spent the rest of the day inside, sobbing and
blinking lights cryptically (for that is what little printers do when
they are sad).

Then one day, a little girl stumbled into the printer's clearing in
the woods.  The printer looked at this curious sight.  He didn't know
what to think.  

The little girl looked up at him.  "Will you be my friend?" she asked.

"Yes," said the printer.

"What is your name?" asked the little girl.

"HP 4100TN", replied the printer.

"My name is gnome-cups-manager" said the little girl.

The printer was happy.  He spent the rest of the day playing games and
printing documents, for that is what little printers do when they are
happy.

Source: http://git.gnome.org/cgit/gnome-cups-manager/plain/README

But wait, what’s this?

As a search page should be quick, secure and efficient I agree you should use Linux, but I never saw this one coming!
Other searches for microsoft results in different linux hosted services beneath the microsoft.com domain.

wb.dlservice.microsoft.com
search.microsoft.com
vista.gallery.microsoft.com
social.microsoft.com
fullproduct.download.microsoft.com
silverlight.dlservice.microsoft.com (This one is even hosted on Ubuntu)

I know the saying: “Keep your friends close, but your enemy’s closer” (not sure who came up with this slogan), but this is way too funny!

sudo gedit /etc/resolv.conf

and change or add the lines:

nameserver your_DNS1
nameserver your_DNS2

You can add as many lines like these, but two should be enough.
Test the used domain name servers careful!

#dns-nameserver 192.168.0.1
#dns-nameservers 192.168.0.1 192.168.0.2
#dns-search somedomain.org
#dns-domain 192.168.0.1

Edit: Serge’s comment (the first one) made me search a little bit.
After searching google it wasn’t totally clear if the DNS should be configured in resolv.cof or /etc/network/interfaces, so I took the GUI for a spin.
I’ve set up the DNS trough the GUI and checked the changes inside both locations.
The DNS servers I addes, became listed inside the /etc/resolv.conf file.
So after all, I was right.
But as the configuration file starts with the line #Generated by NetworkManager, I was wondering if these settings would get overwritten by the NetworkManager.
So I wiped all configured interfaces from my computer and let the NetworkManager try its evil.
It worked like a charm and just added the line ‘domain morraye.local’ to the file, without erasing my dns settings.
This was tested on Ubuntu 9.04 and Ubuntu 9.10.

You might also want to play with these settings in your resolv.conf file

# dns-domain 208.67.222.222
# dns-nameserver 208.67.222.222
# dns-nameservers 208.67.222.222 208.67.220.220
# dns-search wikipedia.org

Note: When you’re behind a router, you should change the dns server at your router (unless it uses pass-trough DNS lookups)

Here is how you can easily start sharing your keyboard and mouse between different computers and screens using synergy on Ubuntu:

First off, install the synergy package and the QuickSynergy packages on each machine you want to use your pointer on with the command:

sudo apt-get install quicksynergy

Note that apt will install the synergy package as it’s required to run QuickSynergy. (QuickSynergy is in fact just a gui for Synergy)
When it’s installed, you’ll find QuickSynergy under the category ‘accessories’ in the application menu.

On the server:

The server is the computer where the used keyboard and mouse are attached to.
In the Share tab fill in the names of the computers where you want your keyboard and mouse to be operational.
Do not fill in the IP address, it won’t work.

To find out the name of your computer(s), open a terminal and type:

hostname

If all the hostnames are put in the right place, start the service by clicking ‘Execute’
Note that the window becomes gray.
You can now just minimize it and let it do it’s work.

On the client:

On the Client, fire up the QuickSynergy app and go to the Use tab.
Fill in the hostname of the server.
Note that you can also enter its IP, but know that when you’re using dynamic IP adresses, you’ll have to reconfigure this each time you fire up Synergy.

Then just hit execute and minimize the window.
Now you can remove your keyboard and mouse from this computer.

When moving the mouse outside the window to the side you’ve configured the other computers position on the server, you’ll see your pointer go ‘troug’ the space between the two computers and appear on the other screen.
Als handy to know is that the clipboard is shared.
So you can actually copy something on machine 1 and paste it on machine 2. (text that is, don’t try this with data)

Note:
Synergy uses an unencrypted TCP/IP stream on port 24800. So if you’re on a network you can’t entirely trust, don’t use it unless you encrypt it.
I would even recommend ALL users using a wifi-network to encrypt the connection.
To Encrypt the Synergy data, you can simply follow the guide on their website.

But you could also just come by to say hi too of course.

If you feel like helping us out a bit, visit our wiki page here to find out what we still need or how you could help.