Monthly Archives: February 2008

Joyent Accelerator Migration

I just completed migrating this site across to a Joyent accelerator. It was a smooth and seamless migration. All I had to do was check out the site from my subversion repository on the new server, dump the database on the old server and import the data into the database on the new server. Then update the DNS server entries on my domain name registry website. Enable PowerDNS on the new server, then disable PowerDNS on the old server. Wait a couple of minutes for the change to propagate and refresh the browser to see the site running on the new server. I verified this by adding a simple HTML page on the new server to view in my browser. All in all it took a couple of hours.

Another Kiva loan

I just made another loan through Kiva. One of my previous loans were paid back in full, so I just reissued the funds as another Kiva loan to a small farming business in Vietnam. The business only has 49% of the requested funds, so if you are feeling generous then you too can help out these people in Vietnam by following the link below.

You find where mp3 music download for mp3 player, You need download mp3 music on perssonal computer

Or choose another business from the Kiva site.

iBurst on Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon

I got my iBurst card working on Ubuntu 7.10 (aka Gutsy Gibbon). You need to download the latest iBurst driver called ibdriver, then build and install it. Configure some pcmcia files, run pppoeconf and you should be able to connect to the Internet. The following describes what I did to get my iBurst working on Gutsy Gibbon.

1. Make sure you have libc6-dev installed.

$ sudo apt-get install libc6-dev

2. Download ibdriver 1.3.2 from Sourceforge.

3. Move the tarball to a temporary build folder and untar it.

$ mv ~/Desktop/ibdriver-1.3.2-linux-2.6.20.tar.gz ~/src/build
$ tar zxvf ibdriver-1.3.2-linux-2.6.20.tar.gz

4. Make and install the driver.

$ cd ~/src/build/ibdriver-1.3.2-linux-2.6.20
$ make
$ sudo make install

5. Configure the PCMCIA files.

$ gksudo gedit /etc/pcmcia/config.opts

Add the following at the end of the config file.

# iBurst card
device "iburst_cs" 
   class "network" module "ib-pcmcia"

card "ArrayComm ut02"
    manfid 0x02e3, 0x0001
    bind "iburst_cs"

card "ArrayComm ut02"
    manfid 0x02e3, 0x0002
    bind "iburst_cs"

Create the /etc/modprobe.d/iburst file.

$ gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/iburst

Add the following text to the file, save and close the file.

options ib-net ifname="eth%d"

6. It is a good idea to restart your laptop at this point. Plug in your PCMCIA iBurst card and use pccardctl to check that the card was detected by the driver.

$ pccardctl status

You should see that the device is bound to the “iburst_cs” driver.

7. Run pppoeconf to connect to your iBurst provider.

$ sudo pppoeconf

A text-based menu program will guide you through the next steps, which are:

  • Confirm that your Ethernet card is detected.
  • Enter your username.
  • Enter your password.
  • If you already have a PPPoE Connection configured, you will be asked if it may be modified.
  • Popular options: you are asked if you want the “noauth” and “defaultroute” options and to remove “nodetach” – choose Yes.
  • Use peer DNS – choose Yes.
  • Limited MSS problem – choose Yes.
  • When you are asked if you want to connect at start up, you will probably want to say yes.
  • Finally you are asked if you want to establish the connection immediately.

Once you have finished these steps, your connection should be working.

8. Starting the connection.

$ sudo pon dsl-provider

9. Stopping the connection.

$ sudo poff dsl-provider

Ruby on Rails Development with Gedit

Goodbye Windows, and welcome back Ubuntu my long lost friend. Finally after a year of working with Windows I managed to find some time to get rid of it and install Ubuntu on my work laptop instead. I can’t tell you how much I missed not having apt-get! I am absolutely thrilled to be using Ubuntu again, and with Compiz now a part of Gutsy Gibbon I no longer have OS X envy anymore. Really I don’t, I haven’t touched my eMac in days, mostly due to wasting so much time tweaking Gnome with eye candy that my eyes hurt.

Furthermore, I made the switch because developing Ruby on Rails applications on Windows is such a pain, and most developers know this, so they go out and buy Macs. Well my friends, you can save your dosh and turn your stock standard Dell into a kick arse development environment for Rails. Just check out the screenshot of my desktop below.

Ruby on Rails development with Gedit


I am using Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon with Compiz and Emerald. I also have AWN installed for the dock functionality. For Ruby on Rails development I am using a tweaked version of Gedit with plugins that provide much of the functionality of Textmate and more. You can also get Gedit to recognise rhtml files, and provide a real terminal for handy access to command line functionality in the bottom pane.

Sadly I have to keep my Windows partition around for Lotus Notes, but for not much longer. The next release of Lotus Notes will provide support for Ubuntu, and is due out around the middle of this year. Only a few more months until I can completely blow away my Windows partition!