nixternal

Three…Five…Seven!

That’s right people, KDE 3.5.7 is released! Oh, and if you are currently running Feisty, you can upgrade by using the information on the Kubuntu Announcement.

So what is the big deal you ask? Bug fixes, and plenty of them! This time around KDEPIM (Kontact, KMail, KAddressbook, KOrganizer, and KAlarm) all received a healthy dose of fixes, and I have even heard of some added functionality slipping in there as well. Rumor has it IMAP is getting much better now with KMail as well.

To read all about the changes with this new release, please check out the KDE Announcement for 3.5.7. If you run into any problems, please don’t hesitate to join us on IRC in #kubuntu to work out any issues that may arise. I have been running it for a day now without any problems. And they even fixed a couple of Akregator annoyances while they were at it

I highly agree and support both Jono Bacon and Melissa Draper with their recent posts concerning discrimination in the community.

I left a comment on Melissa’s blog today and I very much mean everything I said. I had my eyes closed, I will admit it at the blatent discrimination that has gone in the community. I know the one form I constantly see is the use of the terms noob and newb which references a beginner at anything as a newbie. I myself find that a little disrespective and it reminds me of the days a lot of us use to tell others to RTFM.

As a community we need to rise against this, we don’t need separation, we need equality. The greater the standards and the greater the collaboration between everyone will only result in better application, and most importantly, a greater way of life in the Open Source community. We can all come together to say Microsoft this, DRM that, yet some of us tend to voice ignorance and disrespect to our own members. Age, race, religion, sex, or amount of knowledge, we are all one in this community. If you can’t live with it, I suggest you either 1) grow up, or 2) get on with life and leave the open source community, there is no room for you here!

I have recently decided to concentrate more on the development side of Linux, more importantly Ubuntu, KDE, and now Debian. The first stage I will cover in my endeavors will be packaging. Packaging consists of taking the upstream tarballs (programname-version.tar.gz or .tar.bz2) and converting them into packages that can easily be installed in Ubuntu as well as Debian without you having to compile (configure, make, make install) or worrying about dependencies. A successful package that a majority of you are used to in Ubuntu and Debian look like programname_version.deb. Some of you have even done a successfull dpkg -i programname_version.deb for an application that either is not in the repositories or was updated and packaged somewhere else. Well this post is to cover the necessities before you jump in and go nuts trying to figure out how to correctly create a package.
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It seems Microsoft is up to their old bag of tricks again. This time stating Linux is violating more than 200 patents. Since Microsoft can’t beat Open Source in a popularity or software battle, they do what they do best, SUE! But who are they going to sue? It seems the kernel violates a ton of patents, as well as OpenOffice.org. I think I am going to just start suing as it seems easy as all hell these days to do so. I need to patent something, and do it quickly, how about the butterfly? Can I patent that and then tell Microsoft to kiss of and start using a grasshopper or something. Plus, don’t they know the penguin would kick the butterfly’s arse (does a butterfly even have one?).

On another note, I found out what it is like to not be 16 today. For Mother’s Day we went over to my brother’s house where he just got some big time basketball setup. Well I still suck at it, but it was fun, when I wasn’t laying down trying to catch my breath. Then we lifted some weights and right now my body feels like hell. Back, chest, arms, shoulders, legs, thighs and arse are all killing me. If you don’t hear from me in the next couple of days, you will know my body gave up and won’t let me crawl out of bed, or off the floor, whichever one I fall to first.

/me goes for the Advil!

OK, maybe not…

Today while watching Microsoft after Microsoft commercial on ABC and ESPN, there was the most important day in motorsports here in the USA, except for the running of the 500, it was Pole Position day. And the Linux car…WTF WAS IT?

I sure hope this isn’t turning into a joke, but I am sorry, why don’t you attempt to qualify for the pole? You do realize the amount of people who watch pole day are just over half that watch race day. Oh well, why should I care, nobody else seems to.

So pole position goes to Castroneves, wish it were Kanaan, at 225.817 MPH. And ending the first 11 in the field comes the man! Michael Andretti, granted he can’t win, but still turned out a solid 222.789 MPH. These cars are smoking!

I am sorry if I upset some of you backing Tux500 hardcore, but what I have seen thus far is blasphemy. If you don’t believe me, read the stats, they stink, huge media day today, they aren’t there, go near the garage for a picture, IT WAS CLOSED! My old man tried twice for me. I was really hoping you all would prove me wrong, get all of the money you needed to get the sponsor ship rolling, but with just 9 days left, you haven’t even met half of what it takes for the lowest amount of sponsorship you have put on your website. From the looks of it, you might have made enough to buy that Linux server or laptop for one lucky person, some VIP love for a couple of people and some Tux500 swag. I respect what you tried to do, but I said it from the get go you went about it the wrong way. Sponsorships are not purchased within the final 2 months prior to the race, so I hope you all learn from this. Granted race day isn’t here yet and you still have a chance to prove me wrong, but I think I will call the race right now, the winner, Tony Kanaan. The only thing to save Tux from last place is either a 34th car shows up and knocks Tux out of qualifying, or AJ Foyt Jr. does his typical stuff and crashes leaving the outhouses before the race begins. Good luck, but I and many others are laughing in disappointment right now.

Flame on! I know it is coming.

please enjoy the ride…

There are a couple of KDE extra packages in Debian that haven’t been touched in a while and I was interested in helping maintain them. StevenK from IRC, a super cool DD (Debian Developer), told me how to go about getting it done. So I emailed the current maintainer who seems to be on a hiatus for about the past year and a half. Next thing I know I am told to check out pkg-kde on Alioth, Debian’s version of Sourceforge or Launchpad. While there I noticed some names looked familiar in the development area (tonio, toma, Hobbsee, Riddell). So upon further research I said the heck with it and signed up! A couple of emails from ana on IRC (#debian-qt-kde on irc.debian.org or OFTC), I was a member. I was then told to go ahead and start a bug up and go that route and to attempt to bring the package into the pkg-kde/kde-extras area. So now that is rocking and I am working with Debian KDE people.

Also this week I was able to locate a Debian Developer, actually two, in Chicago and have agreed to meet up and get my GPG key signed. This is just the first step in many, but I am totally stoked to get the chance to help out big daddy Debian! So maybe one day I can be cool like StevenK and become an official DD.</daydream>. Overall I am super impressed on just how easy it is to become involved in 3 of the greatest projects ever! KDE, Ubuntu, and now Debian. In the words of Jonathan Riddell, “GROOVY!”