My first spec file commit

Took me long enough :-)
It builds, so I'm happy, not that much of a contribution, but still a contribution!

$ svn ci --username XXX patches/dynamips-01-makefile.diff copyright/SF>
Authentication realm: SourceForge Subversion area
Password for 'XXX':
Adding SFEdynamips.spec
Adding copyright/SFEdynamips.copyright
Adding patches/dynamips-01-makefile.diff
Transmitting file data ...
Committed revision 1528.

snv_98 on the EEE 701

I don't have any huge drives to perform a pkg image-update so I took the easy route and just performed a backup of my data popped in a USB DVD drive and booted OpenSolaris current (snv_98).

After installation I still got some errors:

• Still have to add -v to boot options
  
• Power status reports problems about an old battery
• Stumped into a problem while trying to perform a search which went away after performing a package remove:
  $ pkg search NVIDIA
  Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/pkg", line 1958, in ?
  ret = main_func()
  File "/usr/bin/pkg", line 1930, in main_func
  return search(img, pargs)
  File "/usr/bin/pkg", line 916, in search
  searches.append(img.local_search(pargs, case_sensitive))
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/vendor-packages/pkg/client/image.py", line 1738, in local_search
  res = qe.search(query, self.gen_installed_pkg_names())
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/vendor-packages/pkg/client/query_engine.py", line 59, in search
  matched_ids, res = self.search_internal(query)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/vendor-packages/pkg/query_engine.py", line 158, in search_internal
  assert ((term == tok) or
  AssertionError
  pkg: This is an internal error. Please let the developers know about this
  problem by filing a bug at http://defect.opensolaris.org and including the
  above traceback and this message. The version of pkg(5) is '1b1547cb8655'.
  

The disk was quite full (4GB) after installation, so I started to remove some software drivers I would never use, note that removing some of these don't add up to much space:
$ pfexec pkg uninstall NVDAgraphics pkg:/slim_install pkg:/babel_install
$ pfexec pkg uninstall pkg:/SUNWatigfx
$ pfexec pkg uninstall pkg:/BRCMbnx pkg:/SUNWbge pkg:/SUNWvia823x pkg:/SUNWnvsata pkg:/SUNWmegasas pkg:/SUNWnge pkg:/SUNWiwk pkg:/SUNWwpi pkg:/SUNWnxge pkg:/SUNWpcwl pkg:/SUNWrge
$ pkg search wireless| sed -e '1d' | awk '{ print $4 }'| xargs pfexec pkg uninstall

To get audio working you need audiohd from here

A new atheros driver is needed, download it from here:
$ pfexec /usr/sbin/pkgadd -d ~/Download/driver/SUNWatheros

One particular network returned:
Oct 3 20:22:59 nargothrond nwamd[717]: [ID 134467 daemon.error] failed to read zenity output

So I had to do a:
$ pfexec svcadm disable -t nwam
$ pfexec svcadm enable -t physical:default
$ pfexec dladm connect-wifi -e LAB-UBP
$ pfexec ifconfig ath0 auto-dhcp

Back to removing unnecessary software, I don't use thunderbird so:
$ ls /var/pkg/pkg/|grep thund|xargs pfexec pkg uninstall

The screen is too small for desklets:
$ pfexec pkg uninstall SUNWgnome-desklets

No need for accessibility for me (yet):
$ pfexec pkg uninstall pkg:/SUNWgnome-a11y-dasher
$ pfexec pkg uninstall pkg:/SUNWgnome-a11y-gok
$ pfexec pkg uninstall pkg:/SUNWgnome-a11y-reader

No need for i18n:
$ pfexec pkg uninstall pkg:/SUNWiiimf

Removing the package manager gui:
$ pfexec pkg uninstall pkg:/SUNWipkg-gui

Destroying the @install pools adds up into more space:
$ pfexec zfs destroy rpool/ROOT/opensolaris@install
$ pfexec zfs destroy rpool/ROOT@install
$ pfexec zfs destroy rpool@install

Suspend to ram is working fine with this configuration.

puppet ebook and digital reading

I've been playing with puppet... well, it may actually go into production (lab production that is) so playing might not be that accurate. As usual I found myself fooling around the web and ran into this which I yet haven't listened to. Anyhow in the comments I saw someone talk about a book he wrote published on Apress. I followed the link, and as an impulse and because I never bought an ebook before, I decided to purchase it and check it out. The book in question is titled "Pulling Strings with Puppet: Configuration Management Made Easy".

I thought I didn't like to read ebooks, but somehow the feeling is quite different when the actual artifact was a purchased one. The value one inadvertently gives to such things astonishes me.

I'm also subscribed to the IEEE and rather read what is provided over digital media, but constantly look over what I get in print. I guess it is more related to the feeling and ease when skipping pages and going back and forth. I value that a lot, too bad it doesn't feel so good when you think about the trees at stake...

Having to learn Solaris on a platform different than Solaris

During the JRSL08 I attended a lecture sponsored by Sun. The lecturer handed out, together with an opensolaris CD, some brochures or sheets of paper as I like to call them with some info to access Sun's Academic Initiative (SAI), in other words, access to the courseware in order to learn Solaris to get certified or just learn (link).

I created my account a few days ago, added some courses to my learning plan and moved on to my usual work. Today I decided to try out a course in my plan only to see that accessing a random course brings Firefox down, after two other attempts and figuring out it wasn't some random thing I went on to the technical support section to find out that my patform wasn't supported.

So my computer is reported as a SunOS, more precisely:

$ uname -a
SunOS nargothrond 5.11 snv_93 i86pc i386 i86pc Solaris

So these are the platforms that skillsoft supports:

Microsoft

SkillSoft e-Learning solutions are supported on the following Microsoft Operating Systems.

• Microsoft Windows NT 4.0
• Microsoft Windows 2000
• Microsoft Windows XP
• Microsoft Windows Vista

Apple Macintosh OSX

SkillSoft has only tested using Mac OS X version 10.4. While you may be able to play SkillSoft content with later versions, to ensure full compatibility, SkillSoft recommends this version.

Linux

SkillSoft has only tested the KDE and GNOME desktops using SuSe Linux version 9.0, 9.1 and 10.0. While you may be able to play SkillSoft content with other versions, to ensure full compatibility, SkillSoft recommends one of these versions.

That sucks big time, no Solaris and look at what it says about Apple and Linux... I'm going to try and update flash and then Firefox to three dot o and see if that does the trick....

Jornadas Regionales de Software Libre

So here I am quite alone at the JRSL in Buenos Aires. I've met some interesting people. On the first day I probably listened to all of Dag Wieers' talks and looked for him in between to talk some more.
I also chit chatted with Christoph Hellwig and commented about Intel being in Cordoba, he sounded quite interested until I mentioned that we work on services there.
One of the greatest talks was on Thursday, by maddog, it was quite impressive, there was live streaming, so I guess there'll be a video out any time, anyone who couldn't see it should check it out.
I also go my picture taken with maddog :-)

Well I'm off to maddog's next talk...