40+ kids that can draw better than me

Friend Nikhil linked me to Doodle 4 Google. I was absolutely stunned at the artistic ability of these kids. You can check out the 40 Regional Winners, or the US Map of Finalists. I would love to hear people's thoughts :-)

-Suzanne

Eliza

"How my Program Passed the Turing Test" - Mark Humphyrs

Read and enjoy.

Somewhat drunk right now, but fairly happy and pleased.

Hope everyone has a happy 4th of July.

Sick Day

My stomach is acting up again... so I'm spending my spare time learning Python and gluing captions to cats.

Summer's going slow but ok so far. Miss everyone at RPI...

Installing Sun's Java JRE and JDK on Fedora 5

So for the last couple of days, I've been trying to get Hadoop working on my computer at work, which runs Fedora. Monday (yesterday), I found out that the source of my troubles had to do with the fact that Hadoop requires Sun's Java. Fedora, by default, comes with Gnu's Java.This would be, in most cases, ok, as Gnu's Java mimics Sun's Java and has most of the same functionality. However, certain projects (like Hadoop) requires Sun's Java, so it's a good idea to try and have both on the system.

Installing Java on Fedora is a pain. No one guide online helped me successfully install the damn thing onto my work machine, which led to quite a bit of frustration. However, since things seem to be working correctly (finally!), I thought I would share my procedure with all of you who may have to do this at some point. Even though the majority of my code posts concern Ubuntu, I think this is a worthwhile diversion.

To install Java properly (for the coders out there), there are two steps: i.) The Java Run Time Environment (JRE) and ii.) The Java Developer's Kit (JDK). Most of the instructions I'm putting here is an amalgamation of instructions found on two sites, both of which had some instructions that worked for me, and others that did not.

----

Before we begin, Make sure your System is Completely Up to Date This is CRUCIAL. All the following instructions probably will not work properly if your Fedora install is not properly updated. One thing that slowed me down quite a bit is that I initially did not do this step.

INSTALLING THE JAVA RUNTIME ENVIRONMENT (JRE)

1. Enter root mode by typing in
su

While I imagine it is possible to install this stuff locally, having root access is ideal.

2. Make sure that your system has rpmdevtools and jpackage-utils. You can install these by typing:

yum -y install rpmdevtools
yum -y install jpackage-utils

3. Next grab the jpackage key and set up the jpackage repositories for yum

rpm --import http://jpackage.org/jpackage.asc
cd /etc/yum.repos.d
wget http://www.jpackage.org/jpackage17.repo

If SUCCESS, go to step 4.
If FAIL, check to make sure that you have wget installed. Install it using:
yum -install wget

4. Get the latest Jpackage java-x-sun-xjpp.nosrc.rpm package from the non-free branch at jpackage. The package I used was this one.
Install this file by typing something akin to the following (yours may be different based on version numbers)
./java-1.6.0-sun-1.6.0.6-1jpp.nosrc.rpm

If this works, you will see it installed under /usr/src/redhat/

If SUCCESS: go to step 5.
If FAIL: Check permissions. You may have to change permissions as follows:

chmod 755 java-1.6.0-sun-1.6.0.6-1jpp.nosrc.rpm

If SUCCESS, go to step 5.
If FAIL, I cannot help you. Sorry!

5. Get the latest binary. I got mine from here. It should look something like jre-6u6-linux-i586.bin.
Move this file to the SOURCES directory. So something like,

mv jre-6u6-linux-i586.bin /usr/src/redhat/SOURCES/.

Next, rebuild the java rpm using

rpmbuild -ba java-1.x.0-sun.spec

If SUCCESS, you should now be able to see the binary in /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i586/ . Go to step 6.
If FAIL, make sure that you are running this command in the /usr/src/redhat/SPEC/ directory. If you do not have a spec file, you did something wrong in the previous steps, or I can't help you.

6. Install the binaries in /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i586/ by using the following command:
yum --nogpgcheck localinstall java*.rpm

If SUCCESS, go on to part 2.
IF FAIL, the most likely reason for failure is some sort of message like --nogpgcheck not a valid command for yum. Omit it then. Alternatively, you can manually go into the /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i586/ folder and install all the rpms by double clicking on them.


INSTALLING JDK

1. Make sure you have the following packages: rpm-build and fedora-rpmdevetools. If not, install using
yum install fedora-rpmdevtools
yum install rpm-build

2. Grab the sun jdk rpm file. I got mine from here. The file should look something like: jdk-6u6-linux-i586-rpm.bin

Run the rpm by doing the following:
chmod 755 jdk-6u2-linux-i586-rpm.bin
./jdk-6u2-linux-i586-rpm.bin

If SUCCESS, you should be able to see a whole bunch of RPMs located in /usr/java/jdk1.6.0_02 and a new directory in /opt/sun . Move to step 3

3. Next, install the RPM. You'll also need a compat file from Jpackages. I got mine here. It should look something like java-1.6.0-sun-compat-1.6.0.06-1jpp.src.rpm.

Do the following:
yum --enablerepo=jpackage-generic-nonfree install java-1.6.0-sun-compat-1.6.0.06-1jpp.src.rpm

Say yes when prompted. This should complete installation of JDK.

4. Keep in mind that the default Java may still not be Sun Java. To fix this, we need one last step:

/usr/sbin/alternatives --config java

This should show two options: GIJ (the older java) and Sun's Java. On my machine it was option 2. Enter the number that corresponds to the Sun Java install and press enter.

Now, if you type in:

java -version

It should print out something like:

java version "1.6.0_06"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_06)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.6.0_06, mixed mode, sharing)


You're done!

Additionally, you'll probably want to install the mozilla plugin. Do something akin to the following
ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-sun-1.6.0/jre/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so


And that should fix everything. Hope this post will eventually be helpful to someone. Comments welcome.

Entracte - Texas

"Stuck on you
I've got this feeling deep down in my soul that I just can't lose
Guess I'm on my way
Needed a friend
And the way I feel about you I guess I'll be with you 'til the end
Guess I'm on my way
Mighty glad you stayed"

"Oh, the North country winters keep a gettin' me now
Lost my money playin' poker so I had to up and leave
But I ain't a turnin' back
To livin' that old life no more..."

"Suddenly I see this is what I wanna be
Suddely I see why the hell it means so much to me
'Cause this is what I wanna be
Suddenly I see why the hell it means so much to me..."


Finally in Texas. A few more days before I officially start my position as an R.A. Also the first day of a new long distance relationship. What will the future hold? Who knows? All I know is, all I can do is look forward...and some how, it will all turn out just fine.

Done.

Now I'm just exhausted.

Got my M.S. this semester. Now to rest, celebrate, and re-organize my life. Kevin and I escaped to Rochester for this weekend, so this should be good.

Getting encrypted DVDs to work in Ubuntu - Gutsy

Whoa, this took a freakin' long time to fix! Here was my problem: VLC wouldn't play encrypted DVDs, which was really aggravating. After installing a whole slew of codecs, I think it's only right to finally share what ended up working. First, I should mention it -still- doesn't work in VLC. In fact, the only way I got it to work was to use a different player altogether, gxine. So here is the work around, which I got from this link.

1.) Add the following lines to /etc/apt/sources.list
##Medibuntu-Ubuntu 7.10 gutsy gibbon
##Please report any bug on https://launchpad.net/products/medibuntu/+bugs
deb http://medibuntu.sos-sts.com/repo/ gutsy free non-free
deb-src http://medibuntu.sos-sts.com/repo/ gutsy free non-free

2.) from the command line, run: sudo apt-get upgrade

3.) sudo apt-get install libdvdread3 libdvdcss2 gstreamer xine-ui libxine1-ffmpeg gxine regionset

4.) Make sure your region is set using regionset (set region to 1) -- I suspect most people won't need to do this

5.) from the command line, run: sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/examples/install-css.sh, or simply: sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/install-css.sh

6.) Go to System --> Preferences --> Removable Drives and Media

7.) Click on the "multimedia" tab. Under "Video DVD discs" Click "play video DVD discs when inserted" and enter the following for the command:
gxine -S dvd:/

Pop in a DVD and it should work!

---------------------------------
UPDATE: ok... so it -does- also work with VLC now. Win?
UPDATE 2: It works with xine as well :-) Sick. Ok, I declare update this from "bandaid"ed, to fixed!

It's Official

Friends,

I have just been notified that I've been accepted into the PhD Program in Computer Science at Texas A&M University. I will be working with one of the most stellar advisors that a girl could ever hope for in a field that is cutting edge.

So I guess this is it then... I am leaving RPI after this semester (hopefully with a Masters).

It's official.

-Suzanne

New Laptop fun

Got a new laptop: a Lenovo IdeaPad Y410 from Newegg. Excellent stats:

14.1" Widescreen (1280 x 800)
Intel Core 2 Duo 1.66 Ghz
250 GB HD (5400 rpm, SDA)
2 GB (DDR-2, 2 1-GB DIMMs)
2 MB L2 cache
etc..

Only problems:
1.) Preloaded with Windows Vista (I'm getting used to it)
2.) Sound in Linux (Ubuntu) doesn't work

Kevin and I spent some quality time today trying to fix 2.), and, as KT Tunstall plays successfully on my linux partition, I would say that we have success. Here are our steps:

Using instructions found here, we did the following (to summarize)

-sudo apt-get install po-debconf debhelper quilt alsa-base libc6-dev

-get latest alsa driver --> unpack this
./configure
make
sudo make install

::eat a cookie::
::look at pretty kitten pictures::

edit /etc/modprode.d/alsa-base:
-add line:
options snd-hda-intel index=0 model=fujitsu

edit /etc/modules:
-add:
snd-hwdep
snd-hda-intel

Also, do the following:
rm /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/ubuntu/media/snd-hda-intel/snd-hda-intel.ko
ln -s /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/kernel/sound/pci/hda/snd-hda-intel.ko /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/ubuntu/media/snd-hda-intel/snd-hda-intel.ko

Restart, and sound works! Overall, great laptop.

At least Wireless worked off the bat....

Surreal

Sometimes it feels like I'm moving so fast that I'm simply standing still. The days are starting to blur; I am on a train. I am in a cocoon. If I glance outside my window, an endless stream of people rush past, the days and nights rise and fall in a ridiculous cycle. It's like watching a segment of a movie on endless repeat. It's all very dream-like... is this reality? So I stare back at my computer, trying to accomplish a fraction of what I feel like I should be accomplishing, letting my fingers curl onto my keyboard. They long to type:

When does this end?


All I ever wanted was to feel the way you'd feel
All I ever wanted was a chance to make it real

I'm in love with you
And I can pull it through

All I ever wanted is a place out by the sun
To watch the world go by and take each day as it comes
All I ever wanted was a chance to catch my breath
To see the world go by and lay my ghosts to rest

Give me a chance to catch my breath
So I can lay my ghosts to rest

So ask me tomorrow what I thought of yesterday
There's so many things that I could not explain

I'm in love with you
And I can pull it through

All I ever wanted is a place out by the sun
To watch the world go by and take each day as it comes
All I ever wanted was a chance to catch my breath
To see the world go by and lay my ghosts to rest

Give me a chance to catch my breath
So I can lay my ghosts to rest

All I ever wanted was a chance to catch my breath
All that I ever wanted was to lay my ghosts to rest

All I ever wanted was a chance to catch my breath
All I ever wanted was to lay my ghosts to rest

- Ghosts, Dirty Vegas

Happy Valentine's Day!

Remembered this video today... what a great song...

Why do people become computer science majors?

Thought of this comic today. I miss Project Y.

Life is heading into transition again soon. Will talk about more later.

-Suzanne

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, everyone.

I'll probably have an update post today, but we just got back from midnight mass (and yes, it's almost 2 am!), and I absolutely had to post the most astounding revelation I had while I was sitting in mass tonight:

Love is Empathy.

Isn't that beautiful? Love is Empathy. It all makes sense now.

Have a wonderful night (or morning). Dad and I are waiting for Mom to go to bed so we can surprise her by setting up her gift for her so it's ready in the morning. For safety's sake, I'll tell you what it is later today ;-)

G'night!

Top 10 Viral Videos of 2007

So time has this interesting piece listing (and providing links to) the Top 10 Viral Videos of 2007. It's really worth taking a look at. I was shocked to see actually 5 videos that I hadn't seen before.. hmm; seems like grad school is actually affecting how well I waste my time on the internets. How many did you fail to recognize?

Of note is "Iran so Far", another SNL short starring one of the Narnia cupcake guys. Hilarious, but I can see why the president of Iran hates us so much.

Other Time top 10 lists you may be interested in are:
Top 10 T-Shirt Worthy Slogans
This video from the Top 10 Animal Stories (nothing else is really worth it)

It's the afternoon of Christmas Eve, and I'm busy programming. I'm actually taking a break right now; I may get back to the coding.. but then again I may not. It -is- Christmas Eve, after all. Status report: if I can get one more component fixed, life will be good, and maybe I'll switch gears for a while. If not... meh. Not sure if I care right now. I do need to rest; that is of paramount importance.

Anyways, wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas eve.

Graph Theory + Kitties

My favorite kind of combination.

Check out Chat Noir, a really game that is applicable to some problem within Graph Theory, I dare-say something associated with pursuit and evasion, though I am hesitant to use that label here.

Freakin' Hilarious

9 Most Badass Bible Verses

Read now.

Ubuntu 7.10 - Gutsy Gibbon (VPN running)

Back in linux, I follow the link and download the file. After unzipping the tar.bz2 file, I cd in and run ./vpn_install. Magic happens. Next, to start the thing. In the future, I hopefully don't have to do this, since it should be done automatically:

sudo /etc/init.d/vpnclient_init start

Ok, next, I need profiles. Before, when love was on the side of vpnc, I would have to enter the gateway info, and two passwords. This was doable, and ok. Now I need profiles. With a touch of chagrin, I realize that this probably the program that the help desk wanted me to run all along, though the tar file I downloaded was different. Going back to the RPI helpdesk site, I download the necessary .pcf files and put them in /etc/opt/cisco-vpnclient/Profiles/

The following command is then used:
sudo vpnclient connect RPI_External_VPN

Magic happens: user names and passwords are entered, information is exchanged. Sparkles and rainbows shoot out of my terminal. And suddenly..!

Negotiating security policies.
Securing communication channel.

Your VPN connection is secure.


To check, I try to connect to my server. No problems! Hooray! VPN now works!

Ugh. It's been fun, I think. I haven't checked RPI Wireless yet, but something tells me it will work (before it didn't). So overall, a productive and good use of time.

I -am- hungry. Maybe food is in order? That's a good idea. Food, and a hot shower.

Till next time...
-Suzanne

Ubuntu 7.10 - Gutsy Gibbon (Fixing VPN)

Now in Windows, I test out my Cisco external VPN connection. After successfully being able to connect to my server (which is now behind the firewall -- another rant), I knew there wasn't anything wrong with External VPN. So one of two things must have happened.

By some hidden magic, External VPN no longer supports vpnc, or by some other hidden magic, vpnc changed somehow from Ubuntu 7.04, to 7.10, in an unproductive manner for me.

I head over the help-desk site and see the package that they have for linux. I shudder I -really- don't want to deal with their shit if I can get things working on my own. Back to ubuntu forums. Sure enough, other people seemed to be having a similar problem.

I now have the following instructions:

You can find the client here:
http://linux-support.hiwi.rz.uni-kon...1.0640.tar.bz2
Extract the file. Make sure, that you have installed the kernel headers and then run
sudo ./vpn_install
Link

h'okay, then, let's see what we get. Reboot into linux.

Ubuntu 7.10 - Gutsy Gibbon

So I developed a nasty head cold last night, and as of this morning, am still feeling pretty terrible. I think among the things necessary for a cure are food and fluids, neither of which I've had since my meager bowl of oatmeal last night.

Because I wasn't feeling well, I played on my DS, but eventually got bored. So I decided to upgrade my current system, which ran Ubuntu Fiesty 7.4 to Ubuntu Gutsy 7.10. Flipped open system upgrade, and told it to upgrade to 7.10.

I immediately began having doubts. Usually, when a new OS comes out, there are bugs here and there, and I winced remembering my wireless adventure dealing with my network stuff. Things were working perfectly now, after all.. why change things?

To test how well the upgrade will actually upgrade my system, rather than downgrade it, I authorized the go ahead.

The upgrade was relatively painless; it took about an hour to download the upgrades, and another hour to install all the updates, which was pretty reasonable, especially since I don't have the best of wireless connections here at the apartment. So, I restarted the system to see what it all looked like.

Things were ... mostly the same. Gaim had disappeared, since now Pidgin is exclusively supported. I added the Pidgin Icon to the panel, rearranged it some, and my panel looked as good as normal, save for this weird purple pigeon icon being where my simple, yet elegant yellow man icon used to be. Ah well, I'll get over it. The biggest change was that wireless was no longer working. At all.

SHIT, I thought. This could be for several reasons. 1.) Something different is going on that it was in Fiesty 2.) Something different is going on and it's going on worse because I TOLD ubuntu during the upgrade process to keep the modified blacklist file. SHIT, I thought, shit, shit, shit shit.. Worst of all, at that point in time, I had forgotten that the blacklist file was called "blacklist", so I didn't know where to look.

Rebooted into windows. Came to my blog, saw the notes I made last time about blacklisting goodness. Went back into linux. Located and went into this file:
/etc/modeprob.d/blacklist

After looking at the tail of the list, sure enough, my original changes were there. shit, I thought. So it' s no longer hostap that's the problem... wait, but what if hostap has control, and orinoco is the trouble? A few quick changes to the blacklist file yielded the tail of blacklist to look like this:

#buggy network-manager causes ornico to fight with it for wireless card
#blacklist hostap
#blacklist hostap_pci
blacklist hermes
blacklist p80211
blacklist prism2_pci
blacklist orinoco
blacklist orinoco_pci

With my fingers crossed, I restarted the system. Ubuntu came back up, and lo and behold! Wireless was working! Hooray! Scanning is re-enabled, and things looked like it was full of win. I was pleased to see that vpnc was part of the default install, and that all my previous settings were saved. Let's see if I can connect to the external VPN. A button click and two passwords yielded:

VPN Connect Failure

Could not start the VPN connection 'External VPN' due to a connection error.

The VPN login failed because the VPN program could not connect to the VPN server.


Shit, I thought. Not good. I checked configuration file. No problems seem to be there, since indeed, it was my previous settings. I was able to connect via external VPN no problem since I last checked, which was two days ago. Could something actually be wrong with External VPN connection at RPI? or is it VPNc? Let's check.

System reboot into Windows.

Some fun

For all of those who think that "Codex Carnivorous" may be experiencing a revival, surely you're imagining things...