Finally I was banned !!! :D

Words fail me to describe you how glad and happy I am that finally, for the first time in my life I was banned from a tech forum…

After almost 15 years on the Net, with hundreds of bug reports, bug fixes, community contributions and community members help behind my back and no actual problems with any of the numerous *nix communities out there…. the miracle happened … I was banned by someone from the PCLinuxOS forums
Here is the explanation:
Sorry Guest, you are banned from using this forum!
Rudeness on forum -- inappropriate posting

I really should thank those guys ’cause up till now i have not experienced the feelings of being banned And that adds a valuable experience to my life Thanks guys… Really….

Now beside these facts, I cannot restrain from writing some comments on this anyway…

It all started with a simple and very innocent bug report about a misbehaving gdb and cmake packages… It was properly written and having some suggestions for fixing them… This was followed by comments of two members on how i am wrong and how i should read the docs of the distro… That was a good suggestion if those docs were easily accessible
Anyway i tried to explain again the issue and i used a link to my PlexyDesk RPM spec file just as reference. Of course i was angry that the people answering did not at all read carefully what i have explained… Then i was accused of a bad attitude, rudeness etc etc sins…
Yeah i may have a different attitude but who has not? Do they expected me kissing their as*es and begging them? Nah.. they cannot be so blindfolded…
Anyway someone with a nickname Neal (and thousands of posts) decided to do an “analysis” of my spec, though no one asked him for that… Nothing wrong with that since i am very opened to constructive critics… Anyway when we cut out the obvious superficial read of the specs by Neal.. and his obvious nagging notes on “problems” with the spec…. The only actual problem was that in the comments inside the spec file i had a typo PCLinux and not PCLinuxOS … That is great isn’t it…
Next some member started to explain me how i cannot enter any house (implying theirs) and start rearranging without any permission …. LOL… this is what i call relevance … This person obviously forgets that “their house” is actually a COMMUNITY HOUSE with a lot of members…. but i guess that is part of this distro’s fanbois attitude…

Anyway all this only shows how things even in the *nix world can be mangled to a state that has nothing to do with the original ideas about freedom and stuff…

So here is what i want to tell those guys… I do not plan wasting my time emailing them or anything like that… so i post here in order other users to be able to read it and draw their conclusions for themselves…

1. Banning someone from a tech support forum for whatever reason(except spamming of course) is not right. It is not right because it shows weakness in the first place. It shows that one cannot handle other people’s opinion or suggestions… that one has problems with himself … It shows narrow mind also… And not to mention the total uselessness of this action… Do you guys think i cannot come back with another fresh email account and through the million proxies that Tor or any other anon service offers? What about my dynamic IP that my ISP has? Hmm nah.. this is stupid and immature…
2. Banning someone is not like turning the light off You cannot pretend your problems are non existent… I already told you about the ostrich that pushes its head into the sand and thinks its perfectly safe… but we all know where its bottom is … You cannot run away your distro’s problems by banning… on the contrary… you can just help your distro to fade out eventually… ’cause even fanbois have versatile interests especially when something starts to behave abnormally…
3. God does not speak through you, neighter the world starts and ends with you….(Same goes for anyone else incl. me)… And… Welcome to the real world and get real… get a life… Anyway…
….. I could write a lot more… but i do not see any use in that…

So a couple of notes on the distro….:
1. Total Mandriva clone… They claim it is not like Mandriva… but actually they use almost every good code of it… the problem is that they do amend it inappropriately and this creates problems… not for the ordinary user of course…
2. Nothing special about this distro… It offers KDE and xfce as a whole… i.e. something you can get from all other distros out there..
3. The distro configuration manager is totally one to one with the Mandriva Config centre
4. The packaging system is so much amended that it gives quite a heck for an outside dev to be sure his spec will work as expected on the next distro’s version… i.e. very inconvenient for developers…
5. Very low popularity of the distro meaning bad support and a lot of problems… You may find this post useful too, though it is outdated, but almost everything in it counts nowadays too…
6. Creepy attitude by the developers and by most of the community members…
7. Since i tested it on a real PC i do not find any difference in speed or whatever compared to the other more popular distros like Gentoo, Mandriva, Ubuntu etc… There are plenty of reviews on the net about this… Here is one.. and if you read its comments you will get much better picture of its community attitude

So because all of these I dropped building/testing support of PlexyDesk for this distro…

Not that it will be of any lost to us or to them… but I really do not intend to waste my time doing any fanbois’ job

There is more tech info here.

Feel free to comment

Ubuntu Linux and the ACS ACR38DT DualKey smart card reader

Recently I bought the ACS ACR38DT DualKey smart card reader (ID 072f:90cc Advanced Card Systems, Ltd ACR38 SmartCard Reader).
Since I work only on a Linux box, I needed a support driver for this device.
The PC/SC light project offers a CCID common driver that works with this device – the libccid package on Ubuntu.
But my problem was that I also have a OMNIKEY CardMan 6121 smart card reader that refuses to work properly with the PC/SC CCID driver, so i needed the official driver supplied by HID Global (see the Download link on the product page). Ubuntu offers an official driver for CardMan 6121 – pcsc-omnikey package. Unfortunately this package conflicts with the libccid package and the last cannot be installed together with the pcsc-omnikey. Another problem of the CardMan 6121 is that the pcsc-omnikey package is outdated, so i needed to download and prepare a new package for Ubuntu with the updated official driver version. It is now in my Ubuntu PPA repository for all those that will need it.

So in order to use my ACS ACR38DT DualKey smart card reader with the native PC/SC CCID driver i needed to remove the pcsc-omnikey package… I.e. I had to chose between using one of my readers at a time… A situation that was unacceptable for me…

I solved this problem by downloading the Linux driver from Advanced Card Systems and preparing a new CCID ACR package. BTW Ubuntu has a non-CCID driver package in the repositories and it’s named libacr38u. Sadly it does not support the listed smart card reader above.
So the new prepared package named: pcsc-acsccid, is ready and in my PPA repository. The difference from PC/SC native CCID driver is that it is standalone and does not need any additional packages except the official pcscd package from Ubuntu’s repos…
It works ok and that solved my two card readers problem…

So now I can use both my smart card reader devices (the OMNIKEY CardMan 6121 and the ACS ACR38DT DualKey) at the same time.
If you have the same problem I hope my solution helps you.

The wonder of one-in-a-million love…

If I should die this very moment
I wouldn’t fear
For I’ve never known completeness
Like being here
Wrapped in the warmth of you
Loving every breath of you
Still my heart this moment
Or it might burst
Could we stay right here
Until the end of time until the earth stops turning
Wanna love you until the seas run dry
I’ve found the one I’ve waited for

All this time I’ve loved you
And never known your face
All this time I’ve missed you
And searched this human race
Here is true peace
Here my heart knows calm
Safe in your soul
Bathed in your sighs
Wanna stay right here
Until the end of time
‘Til the earth stops turning
Gonna love you until the seas run dry
I’ve found the one I’ve waited for

The one I’ve waited for

All I’ve known
All I’ve done
All I’ve felt was leading to this
All I’ve known
All I’ve done
All I’ve felt was leading to this
Wanna stay right here
‘Til the end of time ’till the earth stops turning
I’m gonna love you till the seas run dry
I’ve found the one I’ve waited for
The one I’ve waited for
The one I’ve waited for

Wanna stay right here
‘Til the end of time ’till the earth stops turning
I’m gonna love you till the seas run dry
I’ve found the one I’ve waited for
The one I’ve waited for
The one I’ve waited for

My sense of humor…

You will like my sense of humor
You will be addicted to my smile
Laughing all the while
And I will end each conversation
I will leave the room with upper hand
And you will understand

You will find my scent attractive
You will like my real, engaging eyes
And playful, childlike smile
You will find my style appealing
I will overpower you with wits
And I will be a hit

If only you’d run to me…
If only you’d come to me…
If only you’d relax upon your rules…
And dare to be love’s fool…
If only you’d come for me
If only you’d run to me
If only you’d relax upon those rules
And dare to be love’s fool

Waking up from a coma (tossing, turning)
Sweat has covered my body (my mouth felt dry)
My life flashing before me (nothing much to say)
Still it was so boring (did you hear me sing?)
Only I could adore you (the wind through the trees)
Silently barking orders (rushing up to me)
This is only beginning (don’t anger the sea)
Oh, the wave’s crashing higher and higher on me

Crash, crash, crash, crash

If only you’d relax upon your rules
And dare to be love’s fool
If only you’d run to me
All the blinking lights, noise of eternity (if only you’d come to me)
All the sentences swirling inside of me (you will like my sense of humor)
Inside of me (and dare to be love’s fool)
(If only you’d come to me)
I have censored my eyes, I get drawn through my ears (if only you’d run to me)
Redirected desire now
It comes out as tears (you will like my sense of humor)
You know, it comes out as tears (and dare to be love’s fool)

You will like my sense of humor
You will like my sense of humor

About Amarok and KDE4…

(posted on http://amarok.kde.org/en/releases/2.0 )

It is a pity that Amarok from the best Linux music player (v1.x) turns into one of the many music players out there for Linux…

But I understand it is not entirely by your fault… It was inevitable when you follow the KDE development and since the crap named KDE4 all this is going totally messed up and wrong, and finally will end up in oblivion.

What i do not understand is why should one start something almost from scratch in order to make some “nice” looking GUI and buggy not fully functional code, as he still has not fixed all the bugs and functionality in the old working version (this counts both for Amarok and KDE4). Is the reason for this to show the world that one may code or that one is a great developer? And where are the users’ opinion and ideas? You always say this or that new feature is better and usability is much better… OK, all this is better, but to whom it is better? To your users or to you the developers?

Because once you used to listen to your users… I still remember a version of Amarok that suddenly changed the GUI and because the users were totally disappointed, this version didn’t make it at all. What is now going on…. You find every reason to say how great you cope with the “new” development…. but we all know that there will be at least an year time to fix all bugs and introduce all old features to this new code…. Who do you lie infact …?

According to me one should do big steps when he is ready for that, and he should do it in small stages…. And you are not ready, neighter KDE is ready…

Sorry if my opinion sounds to you too rude or inappropriate but I am really disappointed by Amarok2 and KDE4 as a whole… which makes me switch to GNOME (no matter how much i do not like it)…

HOWTO easy compile SubDownloader on Windows for free

I hope this post will help all the Windows users of SubDownloader that are dissatisfied with the new silly and insipid “Dual-Licensing” policy of the application concerning Windows OS binaries.

I wrote this HOWTO for the users that want to have SubDownloader packed and independent of any Python on the machine… like in situations when you put it on another MS computer, or you uninstall the Python and it’s modules etc.

The steps to follow for the building of SubDownloader on Windows are:

1. Depending on your Windows version, install

Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Package (x86) from here
or
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (x86) from here.

2. Download and install the Windows 2.6.(x) version of Python from here:

http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.6.1/python-2.6.1.msi
As an install folder use something simple (for convenience) like:
C:\python26

3. Download and install the PyQt4 for Windows (it should match the Python version you have downloaded in step 1 i.e. PyQt-Py2.6-gpl…) from here:

http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/static/Downloads/PyQt4/PyQt-Py2.6-gpl-4.4.4-2.exe

4. Download and install the py2exe binary (it should match the Python version you have downloaded in step 1 i.e. …win32-py2.6.exe ) from here:

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/py2exe/py2exe-0.6.9.win32-py2.6.exe?modtime=1226789831&big_mirror=0

5. Download the latest sources of SubDownloader from here:

http://code.launchpad.net/subdownloader/trunk/2.0.9/+download/SubDownloader-2.0.9.tar.gz

6. Create the folder “PROJECTS” in the install folder of Python from step 1 (C:\python26\PROJECTS)

7. Extract the SubDownloader-2.0.9.tar.gz into C:\python26\PROJECTS.

You may use any archive program for that like IZArc (it is a very good and free application).
After the extraction of the archive you should have this directory containing all the files of SubDownloader:
C:\python26\PROJECTS\subdownloader

8. Download and put in the C:\python26\PROJECTS\subdownloader folder these two files:

“setup.py”
“installer.nsi”

9. Download and install the NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System) from here:

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/nsis/nsis-2.42-setup.exe?modtime=1229784695&big_mirror=0

10. Open Windows command shell (Command Prompt) window and issue these commands in it (copy/paste them one line at a time):

Code:

cd C:\python26\PROJECTS\subdownloader ..\..\python -OO setup.py py2exe

11. You are ready with the build. The result is in the “dist” directory – C:\python26\PROJECTS\subdownloader\dist.

Test if the build works by starting the C:\python26\PROJECTS\subdownloader\dist\SubDownloader.exe file.
If it works you may proceed to next step and use the “dist” folder without making an install package
OR
you may go directly to step 14 to prepare the install package of SubDownloader.

12. Uninstall any previous versions of SubDownloader, copy the “dist” directory to your “Program Files” folder, rename it to: “SubDownloader” and create a shortcut to the “SubDownloader.exe” file.

13. Start the SubDownloader.exe and you will have a working, no time limit and open source, free application for Windows.

Below are the steps to prepare an install package of the already built SubDownloader.exe.

14. Open Windows command shell (Command Prompt) window and issue these commands in it (copy/paste them one line at a time):

Code:

cd C:\python26\PROJECTS\subdownloader “C:\Program Files\NSIS\makensis.exe” installer.nsi

15. You are ready with the install package. You may find it in the C:\python26\PROJECTS\subdownloader folder as:

C:\python26\PROJECTS\subdownloader\SubDownloader_2.0.9-Installer.exe.
Now you have a python independent and free SubDownloader Windows installer that will uninstall the shareware version you have and install the free version.

If you have any questions i will be glad to help you.

NOTE: In case the above steps produce errors on your OS or something is not working, please try to use the Python 2.5.2 version and all the other versions of the programs listed above for that python version. Links are as follow:
1. Python – http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.5.2/python-2.5.2.msi
2. PyQt4 – http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/static/Downloads/PyQt4/PyQt-Py2.5-gpl-4.4.3-1.exe
3. py2exe – http://downloads.sourceforge.net/py2exe/py2exe-0.6.9.win32-py2.5.exe?use_mirror=kent

Your feedback on this is very welcome because probably some tweaking of this HOWTO is needed for the different Windows versions, but for this to happen you should share your experience in the building and packaging. To do this please answer the following questions no matter if building works or not:

1. What version of Windows you are using (98, XP, Vista)?
2. What version of Python/PyQt4/py2exe did you use?
3. Did you need to install some additional stuff from MS like Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Package (x86) etc.?
4. Did you need to do anything else not described in the HOWTO to make all work?

Thanks in advance…

For getting more info read the following thread here.

WARNING: Distributing the installer or the binaries that you get from this HOWTO breaks the EULAs with Microsoft and this makes their distribution ILLEGAL. BTW the same issue is with the official SubDownloader installer/binaries…

Because I choose to…

Why, Mr. Anderson? Why?
Why??
Why do you do it?
Why?
Why get up?
Why keep fighting?
Do you believe you’re fighting for something, for more than your survival?
Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know?
Is it freedom, or truth, perhaps peace. Or could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson, vagaries of perception.
Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose!
And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love.
You must be able to see it Mr. Anderson, you must know it by now. You can’t win, it’s pointless to keep fighting!
Why, Mr. Anderson, why? Why do you persist?

Because I choose to !

When you love someone…

Very often I cannot find the right words to tell you how much I love you.
Today I found something that may help me…

You: Do I ever cross your mind?
Me: No
You: Do you like me?
Me: Not really
You: Would you hug me?
Me: No
You: Do you want me?
Me: No
You: Would you cry if I left?
Me: No
You: Would you live for me?
Me: No
You: Would you do anything for me?
Me: No
You: Will you choose me or your life?
Me: My life

Then you ran away in shock and pain…
And you never heard the truth…
And the truth is that…

…The reason you never cross my mind is because you’re always on my mind…
…The reason why I don’t like you is because I LOVE YOU…
…The reason I won’t hug you is because I want to hold you in my arms and NEVER let go…
…The reason I don’t want you is because I NEED YOU…
…The reason I wouldn’t cry if you left is because I WOULD DIE IF YOU LEFT...

…The reason I wouldn’t live for you is because I WOULD DIE FOR YOU…
…The reason why I’m not willing to do anything for you is because I WOULD DO EVERYTHING FOR YOU…
…The reason I chose my life is because YOU ARE MY LIFE…

I really do love you deeply…