Scott Wallace

Pulling a file out a bag

2011-10-30T11:55:00.000Z

I have been playing with Chef recently in order to replace the hand-crafted automatic deployment system that we've created over the last few years. There are plenty of cookbooks, recipes and examples available on the Internet but I wasn't able to find a recipe that would build a multi-line file from the contents of a data bag. So using a little bit of Ruby I was able to build an array of strings in memory before writing the whole thing out to a file.

Here's my example which builds the /root/.ssh/authorized_keys file from a data bag within Chef:

key_list = Array.new
ssh_users = data_bag("ssh-authorized_keys")
ssh_users.each do |id|
    ssh_user = data_bag_item("ssh-authorized_keys", id)
    key_list.push(ssh_user["key"])
end

file "/root/.ssh/authorized_keys" do
    content key_list.join("\n")
end

Cloudified

2010-01-28T07:34:00.000Z

With the recent advancement of HD content, storage requirements are becoming aggressive and require higher networking bandwidth than ever before. Disks are getting larger and cheaper but most modern consumer computer devices don't have enough internal storage to handle all of our requirements when it comes to photos, music, video, documents, etc.; and, to make matters worse, on a daily basis I use three to four different computers, all of which require backing up in case anything should go wrong.

Right now reliable, safe, long-term data storage means having multiple, redundant disks on the network - which can be a considerable cost. Our home requires somewhere in the vicinity of 2-4TB of storage to handle everything comfortably, with some room for growth. Whilst this is not a lot of storage in today's terms, any future-proof device would still be quite large, noisy, hot and have a low spouse acceptance factor.

So, what's the answer?

Cloud computing and storage has always appealed to me and have reached the point where they're just as good, if not better, than local alternatives.

The home network will always require some local storage. Home broadband hasn't yet reached the level where everything can be streamed from the Internet as an on-demand service - not in the UK at any rate (and certainly not in the US or Australia). So, a local 1-2TB, low-power NAS for transient video data is still required and, because of the nature of the content, backups aren't required.

Music is roughly in the same camp. Since most of the music is synchronised with a portable music player, in the event of an disaster, a simple re-sync should be sufficient.

Photos are a tricky call and one that I've had to take quite a firm stance on. Typically, when taking a bunch of photo only a few are ever really any good and worth showing to people. What do we do with the rest of them? They usually languish in a folder somewhere getting pushed from computer to computer, medium to medium without ever being accessed again. So, I say, get rid of 'em. The rest should be put into the cloud for sharing with the rest of humanity. Flickr, PhotoBucket, Picasa... take your pick. Let them worry about the storage and bandwidth.

Documents are fairly easy. There are plenty of services out there that will do simple, cloud-based file storage sitting on top of Amazon's S3 or Rackspace. Again, take your pick and get them off your local disk.

If you take this approach it becomes fairly obvious that your local PC, laptop or tablet (hello, iPad!) becomes a commodity device as it simply consists of an OS and a bunch of applications that allow you to access the cloud and your content. Nothing of consequence is ever stored locally. It also means that you become free and untethered to a particular machine or environment.

So, what happens if the cloud disappears?

First of all, all of The Cloud would have to disappear at once, which is unlikely. Secondly, you can always backup your data. There are services that offer backups of your cloud-based content. Backupify are an example of such an organisation. Their restore and export procedures are not yet complete but their experts will help you out should the worst happen.

As a geek I also tend to have a slightly above-average set of requirements when it comes to the Internet; all of the above as well as running a blog, a micro-blog, having several domains, source code repositories, etc. all of which have to be hosted somewhere. Previously the sensible option was to host these myself. However, recently I've come to the conclusion that out-of-the-box software (such as Wordpress & Google Mail) do a pretty good job as they come and no longer require me to install, configure, upgrade and maintain software -- leaving me with more time to do other things.

Not only have I save myself some effort but I've also saved quite a bit of money, as a majority of the cost before was running a server. The cloud now provides a plethora of services for free (usually subsidised by advertising) that have relatively low-cost upgrade paths also providing scalability, should you need it.

The following table is a simple side-by-side cost comparison for the content that I was hosting myself previously versus the cost, today, of utilising cloud technologies:

Function	Hosted solution	Yearly cost	Cloud Solution	Yearly cost
Server	1and1.co.uk	£720	N/A	£0
Email	Exim, Dovecot, Horde & Imp	£0	Google Apps Mail	£0
Calendar	Horde & Kronolith	£0	Google Apps Calendar	£0
Contacts	Horde & Turba	£0	Google Apps Contacts	£0
Docs and spreadsheets	Microsoft Office	£160 (£320 over 2 years)	Google Apps Docs	£0
Blog	Wordpress software	£0	Wordpress hosting	£7 domain mapping £16 custom CSS
Online filesystem	SSH FS	£0	Dropbox	£0
Photos	Gallery 2	£0	Flickr Pro	£16
Encryption	SSL certificates	£35	(included)	£0
Backups	Custom script	£0	Backupify	£0
Total		£915		£39

Not bad, eh?

I still, however, have some concerns about turning all my data over to the cloud. Will these companies disappear one day, without a trace - taking my data with them? Possibly. Will the data be backed up somewhere? Maybe. Will I be able to access it? Probably not.

These questions are unanswerable right now and only time will tell - but I really can't think of a better way of doing it, today, without having a vast, "expensive" storage array at home. Hopefully, someday soon, there will be a breakthrough in storage technology and I can store my ever-growing digital life safely and locally, somewhere that I trust. But, if that does happen, you can be sure that content generators will find a way to use it -- resulting in an arms race again, pushing the limits of storage technology ever forward.

I do, however, feel lighter for having made the move.

Built-in Wi-Fi scanner in Mac OS X

2010-01-04T00:40:00.000Z

After having another wireless network stomp all over mine, it was time to look for a less crowded channel. With Snow Leopard a lot of the third-party scanner tools don't seem to work.

Apparently, Apple modified the Airport Extreme drivers and removed the API. However, for a simple scan, the one built into Mac OS X is sufficient.

To perform a scan, use the '-s' option. A GUI wrapper can be found here.

$ /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport -s

Bulk uploading email into Gmail

2009-12-06T20:13:00.000Z

Recently I joined the hoards of people who use Gmail as their primary mail service. It has all the bells and whistles and provides virtually unlimited space for storing email. I won't go into all the cool features but let's just say, it rocks.

The question is, how do we get all our old email into our shiny new Gmail account?

The answer is fairly straight forward but my method requires a bit of know-how and a *NIX mail client.

First, the overview: Basically I used Alpine (the mail client formally known as 'Pine') and Gmail's IMAP abilities to bulk save the messages from the local folders to Gmail. Primarily I was concerned with my 'Sent' items from the past decade but this will work with any folder(s):

Enable IMAP in Gmail.
Install Alpine on your *NIX workstation or server.
Configure Alpine to see to your existing email folders.
Configure Alpine to talk via IMAP to Gmail:
- Inbox: {imap.gmail.com/ssl/user=username@gmail.com}inbox
- Collection List:
  - Server: imap.gmail.com/ssl/user=username@gmail.com
Go to the folder you wish to bulk upload to Gmail.
Select all messages (shortcut keys: ';' followed by 'A').
Save all messages (shortcut keys: 'A' followed by 'S').
Select the destination folder (shortcut keys: CTRL-T)
Choose your Gmail collection and then the destination folder.
Hit Enter to bulk save the messages into Gmail.
Rinse and repeat for any other folders.

Using this method, I was able to bulk upload approx. 10,000 messages from the past decade of my Sent messages in approx. 1 hour (this will depend on your bandwidth, of course!).

Enabling SNMP in Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)

2009-12-05T00:48:00.000Z

Under Snow Leopard there is a slight change to the way services are enabled.

-w       Overrides the Disabled key and sets it to false. In previous versions, this
         option would modify the configuration file. Now the state of the Disabled key
         is stored elsewhere on-disk.

So, to enable the SNMP daemon correctly:

$ sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.net-snmp.snmpd.plist

The correct way to automount a Samba/CIFS share in Mac OS X

2009-12-04T22:49:00.000Z

From: http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/switcher-hangout/42164-automatically-mount-samba-share.html

Visit the share in question so that Mac OS X mounts it.
Run “Sytem Preferences”.
Select “Accounts”.
Select the User you want to change by double clicking.
Click on “Login Items”.
Click the + button.
Select the Samba/CIFS share you want to mount. It should now show as a new "Volume item".
Close “System Preferences”.
Beer.

Facebook updates in your Twitter stream

2009-11-29T18:47:00.000Z

If you're like me you'll find it difficult to keep a track of everyone's status - especially when they're across multiple networks. Most people tend to use Facebook but I prefer Twitter. So, what to do? Merge them, of course!

First, you will need to install the RSS News Feed reader application in Facebook.
Once installed, take note of the RSS feed URL.
Create yourself a new Twitter account. This account will be used to hold all your Facebok friends' updates.
Create an account on Twitter Feed.
Add your Facebook RSS feed URL (from step 2) to your Twitter Feed account (from step 4) and have it post to the new Twitter account you created in step 3.
In your usual Twitter account simply follow the new Twitter account that should now contain all your friends' Facebook status updates.
Make yourself a cup of tea. Go on. You've earned it. You tech-wizard, you.

Update: To eliminate the annoying  s, you could pass it through a simple PHP filter, if you're lucky enough to have a server connected to the Interwebs on a 24x7 basis:

<?php print str_replace("&nbsp;", " ", file_get_contents("http://www.gencolee.com/fb/newsfeedrss.php?u=user_id&s=feed_id")); ?>

From the Archive: Turnham Green frustrations

2009-11-17T23:58:00.000Z

In the summer of 2001, I used to commute to Richmond in London via Turnham Green on the District Line. I was frustrated that the Picadilly Line trains didn't stop there during the day -- when I really wanted them to. So, to find out why, I asked London Underground Limited.

I had thought that their answer had been lost in the sands of time -- but, as it turns out, it was sitting in my email archive all along. So, for posterity's sake, here it is:

Is there a reason why the Picadilly line doesnt stop at Turnham Green during normal hours?

Dear Mr Wallace

Thank you for your recent email enquiry.

The level of service provided at individual Underground stations is subject to regular review, taking into account substantial changes in demand, be they actual or perceived. Passenger opinion, including responses to origin and destination surveys, forms an essential part of the review process, as does the potential increase in passenger numbers created by expansion of residential or commercial development in the vicinity of stations.

In determining whether additional stops can be justified within an existing route, consideration has to be given to the effect on overall journey times and the availability of resources to maintain required frequencies. Since September 1996 the Piccadilly Line timetable has offered by far the most intensive service anywhere on the London Underground network. Trains are scheduled at two or three minute intervals between Arnos Grove and Acton Town for the greater part of the day, which, due to present constraints in track and signalling system capacity, can only be achieved by running non-stop between Hammersmith and Acton Town, six minutes being allowed in the schedule for this.

During early morning and late night periods, when trains on both the District and Piccadilly Lines run less frequently, Piccadilly Line trains are able to call at Turnham Green, adding one minute to the scheduled journey time between Hammersmith and Acton Town. Between 0645 and 2230 on Mondays to Fridays some three hundred and seventy Piccadilly Line trains in each direction pass through Turnham Green without a scheduled stop. Were all these trains revised to call at Turnham Green, the cumulative effect on the timetable would be an increase in the total running time equivalent to a return journey between Cockfosters and Heathrow. Unless there was a reduction in the existing frequency, two further trains and at least six extra drivers would thus be needed if Turnham Green is to be served by Piccadilly Line trains all day. On the basis of survey results to date, the marginal increase in revenue generated is unlikely to be sufficient to fund these additional resources in the foreseeable future.

Meantime, the District Line daytime service has been enhanced to provide a train about every four to six minutes between Hammersmith, Ravenscourt Park, Stamford Brook and Turnham Green, with Ealing Broadway services linking Turnham Green, Chiswick Park and Acton Town at intervals of eight to thirteen minutes. Cross platform interchange between the Piccadilly and District Lines is available at Barons Court, Hammersmith and Acton Town; since Hammersmith is a busy station in its own right, many passengers prefer to make westbound connections at Barons Court.

In exceptional circumstances, arising perhaps from a signalling or train equipment failure, Piccadilly Line trains may be diverted to run via the District Line tracks. Since there is a need to interlace with District Line trains in so doing, the number of Piccadilly Line trains in service might need to be reduced accordingly. The Line Controllers, in consultation with their District Line colleagues, can arrange for Piccadilly Line trains to call at the intermediate stations between Hammersmith and Acton Town on these occasions, if the disruption is likely to last some time. More commonly, individual Piccadilly Line trains will call at these stations to compensate for prolonged gaps in the District Line service. Piccadilly Line drivers have also been instructed to open the train doors at Turnham Green if the train has stopped in the platform because the signal ahead is displaying a red aspect.

I hope that this is of assistance.

Yours sincerely

Andrew Summers
Customer Service Centre
London Underground Limited

Book: The 4-hour Workweek

2009-07-15T04:06:00.000+01:00

My copy of "The 4-hour Workweek" arrived today -- a book by my new hero, Tim Ferriss.

I'm only 50 pages into it but, so far, it's a very interesting read. I'm inspired but really trying to resist doing anything until I've finished reading it. Tough.

I'll let you know how it goes when I get to the end...

5 minute chocolate cake recipe

2009-07-10T23:44:00.000+01:00

Ingredients

4 tablespoons self-raising flour
2-4 tablepoons sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
a small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug

Steps

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes on high.
The cake will rise over the top of the mug -- dont be alarmed!
Allow to cool for 2 minutes.
Eat with ice cream.

Update: Corrected recipe to use tablespoons instead of teaspoons and added the use of self-raising flour from numerous recommendations on the net.

Weekly cooking routine

2009-05-11T02:52:00.000+01:00

You know how it is: you get home from work, it's dinner time, no one knows what they want to have for dinner and any recipes you can be bothered to cook are missing a vital ingredient or two. A quick trip to the shop is needed... or maybe takeaway would be easier?

Sound familiar?

Until recently, this was true for us. Until we came up with a plan. Many people have said they're impressed with the plan, which I find surprising. It's mainly common sense and most people, I'm sure, would say, "Duh!" -- but here it is anyway:

Find seven recipes for the next seven evening meals. Write the meals down and stick them on the fridge (or somewhere else convenient).
Add the ingredients you'll need for those recipes to your weekly shopping list.
Buy the ingredients from the supermarket, or wherever.
When you've unpacked the shopping, check the meat and set a rough order for the meals using the expiry date as a guide.

I told you it was simple. Now when you get home in the evenings it should be very simple to decide what to have for dinner and all the ingredients should be at hand.

Tips:

If you make more than you need for the odd meal or two, you could save yourself a night or two of cooking.

Pros:

It's a simple decision when it's time to eat. Just take a look at the fridge and pick a meal. Hey, it's like a menu at a restaurant!
You can try out exotic and interesting recipes instead of eating the same meals week after week. I really enjoy using our cookbooks every day instead of just for dinner parties.
Shopping trips become quicker and more purposeful. No more wandering the aisles aimlessly looking for inspiration.
You'll find that your culinary skills will improve. Practise makes perfect!

Cons:

It's not much fun coming up with seven meals in a single sitting. You could try splitting it out across the week so when shopping day comes you don't have to do it all at once.

Integrating Mail.app and Things

2009-03-08T04:14:00.000Z

Things, by Cultured Code, is a great task management application that runs on the Mac and iPhone and is really helping me keep a track of all the things I need to get done, at home and at work.

What would be handy is if I could easily turn an email into a new to-do inside Things.

Of course, Google to the rescue and I discovered a couple of scripts that utilise Mail.app's bundle (plugin) functionality and SIMBL that do just that.

Quit both Mail.app and Things
Download and unzip this file to ~/Library/Mail/Bundles (you may need to create this directory if it doesn't exist)
Download and unzip this file to ~/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins (you may also need to create this directory if it doesn't already exist)

Open Terminal and execute the following command:

$ defaults write com.apple.mail EnableBundles -bool YES

Start mail.app and Things. (Things needs to be running to accept the incoming messages)

Whilst in mail.app, pressing CTRL-CMD-S (^⌘S) will add an new item into the Things inbox with the subject of the highlighted message as the title and a link in the notes area to the email itself.

Thanks go to "fedex" for his scripts and, of course, Cultured Code for their awesome software.

Synchronising multiple 1password keychains without MobileMe

2009-03-08T02:47:00.000Z

Agile Web Solutions, the authors of 1password, don't recommend that you use MobileMe (the-service-formally-known-as .Mac) for synchronising the keychain.

The instructions I followed uses iDisk to synchronise the keychain but I used my recently added SSH filesystem.

This is the same system I use for keeping Things synchronised across multiple Macs.

Automatic synchronisation of OS X Addressbook without enabling Yahoo!

2009-03-05T06:56:00.000Z

Update: Snow Leopard (10.6) has this built-in so there's no need for these instructions unless you're running Leopard (10.5) or lower. The following command will ensure this runs periodically:

$ /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/GoogleContactSync.framework/Versions/A/Resources/gconsync --sync com.google.ContactSync --periodic

I am using Google Sync Services exclusively to synchronise between two MacBook Pros and an iPhone.

The one caveat is that to enable Addressbook synchronisation you have to enable, say, Yahoo! synchronising before the iSync client will allow synchronisations to occur.

Oh, and it's a manual process to launch iSync client.

This is an ugly hack to an otherwise elegant solution. I don't like it.

So I went trawling the Internet to see if I could solve it.

I found an extremely informative post that outlines a lot of the work required. Then, a sprinkle of launchd to make it all work.

Here's how it's done:

Add a new "google" device in your devices list:

$ defaults write ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iPod Devices -dict-add google '{ "Device Class" = iPod; "Family ID" = 10001; }'

Launch Address Book and open the Preference pane. The Google contact sync option should appear.

$ /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/GoogleContactSync.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/gconsync --register 1

Create the file, ~/Library/Preferences/com.google.GoogleContactSync.plist:
```
{user = "username@gmail.com";}
```
Add a password item to your keychain with the following values:
Keychain Item Name:GoogleContactSyncService
Account Name: username@gmail.com
Password: password

Create a Launch Agent. I have set the interval time to 300 seconds (5 mins). Obviously, it can be changed to something different. eg: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.example.gsync.plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.example.gsync</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
      <string>/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/GoogleContactSync.framework/Versions/A/Resources/gconsync</string>
      <string>--sync</string>
      <string>com.google.ContactSync</string>
      <string>--report</string>
      <string>1</string>
      <string>--entitynames</string>
      <string>"com.apple.contacts.Contact,com.apple.contacts.Email Address,com.apple.contacts.IM,com.apple.contacts.Phone Number,com.apple.contacts.Street Address"</string>
    </array>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/gsync.error</string>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/gsync.log</string>
    <key>LowPriorityIO</key>
    <true/>
    <key>Nice</key>
    <integer>1</integer>
    <key>StartInterval</key>
    <integer>300</integer>
  </dict>
</plist>

Add the agent:

$ launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.example.gsync.plist

Reboot. (Yes, it's required. The program, when launched from launchd, won't find the password until you've rebooted. I'm sure there's a way to do it without, but I don't know what that is.)
You can kick off a sync run manually by running:
```
$ launchctl start com.example.gsync
```
... or you can wait the interval period for the next run.

Automatic mounting of SSH filesystems in OS X

2009-02-26T08:18:00.000Z

Getting your MacFUSE SSH filesystem to mount automatically on login isn't Voodoo, but it is Magick.

Here's how it's done using launchd:

Create a Properties List file under, ~/Library/LaunchAgents:

eg: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.example.sshfs.plist

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.example.sshfs</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
      <string>/opt/local/bin/sshfs</string>
      <string>user@example.com:path/to/share</string>
      <string>/path/to/mountpoint</string>
      <string>-f</string>
      <string>-o</string>
      <string>auto_cache,reconnect,volname=friendly_name</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
  </dict>
</plist>

We can now load this into launchd by running,

$ cd ~/Library/LaunchAgents 
$ launchctl load com.example.sshfs.plist

Your SSH filesystem should now be mounted.

$ mount
    .
    .
    .
user@example.com:path/to/share on /path/to/mountpoint (fusefs, nodev, nosuid, synchronous, mounted by user)

Postbox

2009-02-18T04:44:00.000Z

Firefox is to the web as Postbox is to ... email. I won't go into any details, there are plenty of reviews out on the Internet already, but here's a little nugget I discovered:

To increase the sanity of threaded conversations so that the originating message is at the top:

Tools → Options → Advanced → Config Editor
Search for: mail.conversation_display.reverse
Toggle value
Restart

Yammer as a colaboration tool

2009-02-05T06:22:00.000Z

Yammer is a new tool that we're playing with at work.

It's like a mash-up of a micro-blogger (eg: Twitter) and an instant messenger (eg: MSN) but more organisation orientated.

To avoid having to run another program to keep a track of the posts, you can integrate with your favourite IM client.

Just visit, https://www.yammer.com/account/im and follow the instructions.

We are planning to take an RSS feed of the posts and, using hash tags, produce time lines of product launch sequences, etc.

CLI tweets

2009-02-05T01:16:00.000Z

Another quicky - Twittering from the command line:

$ curl --basic --user "username:password" --data-ascii "status=Twittering from the commandline" "http://twitter.com/statuses/update.json"

Wrapped in a very simple script:

#!/bin/bash

if [ ${#} -gt 0 ]; then
   STATUS="${*}"
else
   STATUS="$(cat -)"
fi

curl --basic --user "username:password" --data-ascii "status=${STATUS}" "http://twitter.com/statuses/update.json"

Flushing DNS cache on Mac OS X

2009-02-04T19:19:00.000Z

This is quick post to capture a command that I sometimes need but always have to look up.

It flushes the DNS cache on the local OS X instance.

$ dscacheutil -flushcache

Izzard - in the bag!

2009-01-31T19:23:00.000Z

Ha!! We finally got real tickets for Eddie Izzard's Stripped tour. The tickets are for December 3rd 2009 at the 02 Arena.

Man, that's going to be a long wait.

Adding a shortcut key for Mail.app in OS X

2009-01-29T22:25:00.000Z

At work I am forced to live with Microsoft Exchange and, consequently, Entourage on the Mac.

It's not the worst piece of software but I have now been trained to use CMD-Enter* as a shortcut for sending a composed message.

This only becomes a problem when I go to send a personal email using Mail.app. Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts to the rescue!

System preferences -> Keyboard & mouse.
Keyboard shortcuts.
Add application -> Mail.
Enter "Send" (without the quotes) as the menu item.
Enter your preferred shortcut. (CMD-Enter* in this case).

On the next restart of Mail.app it will use the new shortcut.

*Where CMD is the ⌘ key.

British rail... problem solved!

2009-01-22T16:00:00.000Z

I reckon I've just solved the biggest problem that plagues British Rail* today.

It's a very simple solution and it costs next to nothing.

Are you ready?

... Change the timetables.

The trains obviously can't keep up with the current one.

The biggest problem commuters have is missing connections. If the timetables were scheduled better, commuters would be able to calculate their journeys more reliably. An added side effect is that, all of a sudden, rail company reliability statistics would be up and cancellations down. The trains are already overcrowded (this solution doesn't resolve that, but British Rail* aren't doing anything about it either) and already running on a delayed schedule.

Nothing actually changes -- except the advertised times. People would be less frustrated with the system when faced with a realistic timetable. I don't think this is a unique idea. I certainly don't think solves all the problems. But it is a cheap, easy solution to rail customer satisfaction levels.

*There's no single entity running all the trains any more. This should really be addressed to all the individual train companies that make up "British Rail".

Flyback and TimeVault. Time Machine for Linux.

2008-11-09T18:50:00.000Z

Whilst I was looking at Apple's Airport Extreme to see if it would replace my current Netgear DG834N (which isn't playing very nicely at all), I stumbled across a few projects that provide something akin to Leopard's Time Machine functionality for Linux.

The first is Flyback, a Google Code project based on rsync. It has a Python GUI interface to administer the backups and is extremely simple on the backend.

The next is TimeVault, an Ubuntu project. It integrates with Nautilus seamlessly to provide easy restore functionality. It works by watching directories for any changes and then keeping a backup copy of the files and directories that have changed. SQLite is used to keep a database of the backups and uses file hashing and an internal directory structure to store the actual file backups. Disk usage is reduced by using hardlinks to files that haven't changed.

All of these solutions lack the whizzy 3D interface that Time Machine provides but at the end of the day it's about the resilience and not the graphics. If you're running Linux, chances are that you don't need a 3D interface for your backup and restores anyway.

Dopplr shift

2008-11-07T22:36:00.000Z

Dopplr is a great social-networking based tool for keeping a track of your travel plans.

The idea is that you input your travel details and it will find other people going to the same location (or nearby) at the same time.

If your social network members keep their details up-to-date then you might just find yourself engaged in an impromptu party in a foreign city instead of watching TV in a language you don't understand whilst slowly emptying the mini-bar and your wallet.

Another feature of Dopplr, if you're interested, is the ability to calculate your carbon footprint.

Dopplr even provides webcal links so that you can subscribe to your travel calendar. Using this functionality, Google Calendar and BusySync, the details on from my Dopplr account appear on my iPhone, automagically. Handy!

Another weapon in my online arsenal of useless rubbish. ;)

Bye bye Drupal. Hello Wordpress!

2008-11-01T18:52:00.000Z

As you can probably see, I have moved this site from Drupal to Wordpress.

Why?

The themes are nicer, the modules are better and it seems to be a much more professional project overall.

I've run a basic conversion script over the database for now and, as a consequence, there will be a whole lot of clean-up required.

Being new to Wordpress means that this might take a little time.

I'm going to use Flickr for photo management and have the Flickr module installed, but I will obviously need to get all my photos online before they'll be available.

I also hope to blog more from the iPhone - and Wordpress should make that easier.

Oh, and here's that script:

# Taken from, http://mcdevzone.com/files/drupal_to_wordpress.sql

# this assumes that both wordpress and drupal are in separate databases.
# The wordpress database is called "wordpress" and the Drupal database 
# is called "drupalmigration"
 
# based on scripts from:
# http://www.darcynorman.net/2007/05/15/how-to-migrate-from-drupal-5-to-wordpress-2
# http://spindrop.us/2006/05/19/migrating-from-drupal-47-to-wordpress
# http://www.brendanloy.com/2007/02/wordpress-21-upgrade-problems.html
 
# first, nuke previous content in wordpress database
use wordpress;
delete from wp_terms;
delete from wp_term_taxonomy;
delete from wp_term_relationships;
delete from wp_posts;
delete from wp_postmeta;
delete from wp_comments;
 
# categories
INSERT INTO wp_terms (term_id, name, slug) SELECT term_data.tid, name, name FROM drupalmigration.term_data where term_data.vid = 2;
 
INSERT INTO wp_term_taxonomy (term_taxonomy_id, term_id, parent) select term_data.tid, term_data.tid, parent from drupalmigration.term_data, drupalmigration.term_hierarchy where (term_data.tid = term_hierarchy.tid) AND (term_data.vid=2);

# posts
INSERT INTO wp_posts (id, post_date, post_content, post_title, post_excerpt, post_name, post_modified, post_author) SELECT DISTINCT n.nid, FROM_UNIXTIME(created), body, n.title, teaser, REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(LOWER(n.title),' ', '_'),'.', '_'),',', '_'),'+', '_'), FROM_UNIXTIME(changed),n.uid FROM drupalmigration.node n, drupalmigration.node_revisions r WHERE n.vid = r.vid;

# category --> post relationships
INSERT INTO wp_term_relationships (object_id,term_taxonomy_id) SELECT nid,tid FROM drupalmigration.term_node ;
UPDATE wp_term_taxonomy SET taxonomy='category';
 
# category count updating
UPDATE wp_term_taxonomy SET count = (SELECT COUNT(object_id) FROM wp_term_relationships WHERE wp_term_taxonomy.term_id = wp_term_relationships.term_taxonomy_id);
 
# comments
INSERT INTO wp_comments (comment_post_ID, comment_date, comment_content, comment_parent, comment_author, comment_author_email, comment_author_url) SELECT nid FROM_UNIXTIME(timestamp), comment, thread, name, mail, homepage FROM drupalmigration.comments;
 
# users
INSERT INTO wp_users (ID, user_login, user_pass, user_nicename, user_email, user_registered, display_name) SELECT uid, name, pass, name, mail, FROM_UNIXTIME(created), name FROM drupalmigration.users WHERE uid>1;
 
# update comments count on wp_posts table
UPDATE wp_posts SET comment_count = (SELECT COUNT(comment_post_id) FROM wp_comments WHERE wp_posts.id = wp_comments.comment_post_id);
 
# fix post slugs. first we have to remove the duplicate _____ chars, then replace that with a single - char
UPDATE wp_posts set post_name = REPLACE(post_name, '__', '_');
UPDATE wp_posts set post_name = REPLACE(post_name, '__', '_');
UPDATE wp_posts set post_name = REPLACE(post_name, '__', '_');
UPDATE wp_posts set post_name = REPLACE(post_name, '__', '_');
UPDATE wp_posts set post_name = REPLACE(post_name, '_', '-');

iPhone home

2008-10-25T04:53:00.000+01:00

It's a week and a half now living with the iPhone. It truly is a great device. Not perfect but, by far, the best hand held device I've owned.

One major advantage is not having to lug my Macbook Pro around everywhere. I can read my email, RSS feeds and eBooks anywhere, anytime.

Another major plus is having my full iTunes collection and podcasts with me.

A lot of the built-in apps work really well and provide the right level of functionality for those of us on the go.

The ringtones are well thought out and pleasant -- you can, of course, with the right software, use any song as the ringtone.

Here are a few of the pluses and minuses:

Pros

Fantastic integration
Wireless, automatic calendar and contact synchronisation
Great selection of applications (see favourites below)

Cons

No cut'n'paste
No background apps (yes, I could JailBreak the phone)
Rubbish camera

Favourite apps

Stanza
NetNewsWire (syncs perfectly with the desktop app)
Currencies
iBlogger
Twitterific
Wikipanion
1password
Things

Eddie's back in town!

2008-10-04T07:40:00.000+01:00

Eddie Izzard is back in London doing his 2008 tour, Stripped.

He's playing at the Lyric Theatre in the West End from November 17th to December 12th.

I can't wait!

We've just contacted the North London Crew to get a date organised.

Next step, find a baby sitter. Send your resume to... ;)

Update: Sold out everywhere. Have 4 tickets on "order". Not sure what that actually means... /me crosses fingers.

Update: The mob I bought the tickets from, paperticket.co.uk, were shutdown for fraud by the Metropolitan Police. That's definitely no Eddie tickets, then. :(

Icon A5

2008-10-01T01:17:00.000+01:00

Kevin Rose recently mentioned the Icon A5 on Digg Nation. It looks like a really cool sports aircraft with quite a low level of entry.

Some of it's features include:

Fully deployable parachute if things go wrong.
Amphibian
On-board GPS and MP3 player
Foldable wings - tow behind the car
Take off or land within 750ft
120mph from 100hp engine that runs on either petrol or aviation fuel

Camber Sands

2008-09-29T05:11:00.000+01:00

We discovered Camber Sands when trying to find a beach near London so we could enjoy the last throws of summer.

Camber Sands is a proper beach with real sand and dunes down on the south coast of Kent. It is about 20 miles east of Hastings.

Whilst we were there we decided to have lunch at a restaurant and B&B called, The Place. The food was really good but the service was atrocious -- it took over 3 hours to have our meals served. When we complained the manager explained that in her 19 years in catering she hadn't had so many complaints and that we didn't have to pay for the food. We decided to pay for half of the meals since only the service was the problem.

By the time we got to the beach the wind had picked up and it was becoming overcast - but Daisy enjoyed the water and was only slightly weirded out by the sand.

We will definitely be visiting Camber Sands when the weather is good again.

The amazing walking Daisy...

2008-09-28T07:53:00.000+01:00

Our little Daisy has decided that crawling is for suckers and everything must be done on two feet now.

We took a quick video of her new found independence.

When she gets to the end of the room and discovers that the trolley can't be pushed any further because a wall is in the way, she starts to throw a bit of a wobbly.

Also, sharing the said walker is a bit of an issue. Poor young Eddie found out the hard way.

Sushi

2008-07-21T01:36:00.000+01:00

"What shall we have for lunch?"

"I don't know, look in the fridge."

"Salmon and something...?"

"... and what?"

"I don't know... Ryvita?"

"Ooo, yes, with cream cheese!"

"Ok."

"There's no cream cheese."

"Bugger."

"... I could make Sushi...?"

"Really!?"

"Sure, why not? How hard can it be?"

... and, as it turns out, it's not that difficult. It helps to have the right ingredients. Which we didn't... but it didn't dampen my spirits and I still gave it a go. The real ingredients are:

Japanese rice
Rice wine vinegar
Sugar
Salt
Seafood (smoked salmon, butterflied cooked prawns and fresh tuna are perfect)
Wasabi

Unfortunately we only had regular, white vinegar and normal Bismati rice. Oh well, it can't be that different, can it?

First, "wash" the rice by rinsing it out with cold water several times until the water is clear.

Then cook the rice in a little water (about the same amount as the rice) until it's nearly boiled away, cover and steam for a further 10-15 minutes.

Whilst this is going on, prepare the rice seasoning by measuring out some vinegar (about 25% of the amount of rice) and stirring in the sugar (about 1 tablespoon for every 50ml of vinegar).

Add a little salt.

You can use some heat to help dissolve the sugar. (just don't let it boil)

Once the rice is done, gently mix in the seasoning.

Let the rice cool and you're done!

Nigiri Sushi are the little handmade blocks of rice with a portion of seafood on top. Making it with the substituted ingredients turned out much better than expected and we enjoyed home-made Sushi for lunch.

Of course, next time we'll get the proper Japanese short-grain rice and some proper rice wine vinegar. We'll also pick up some Wasabi paste. ;)

European Directories

2008-07-20T19:05:00.000+01:00

This week was my first week at European Directories, located in Chiswick Park, London. Here are a couple of photos of the business park, taken on my first day.

(It sure beats Fortress Wapping)

The first week was quite busy and I was in Amsterdam on the second day. (after a slight hiccup with the outbound flight) The people are very friendly and everyone is trusted to get on with the tasks in hand. (another nice change!) Things will be even better when a couple of colleagues I've worked with in the past, join us.

Next week will see me in Amsterdam again and then Copenhagen straight afterwards for a project kick-off meeting. Whilst in Copenhagen we'll be going to the Brondby vs. Juventis football match for a bit of bonding. (I'm hoping the words "corporate box" feature at some point)

Proud father

2007-12-25T02:20:00.000Z

Well, our little girl is finally here. Daisy Lilla came kicking and screaming into the world at 18h45 on December 13th, 2007.

Weighing in at 3.5kg (7lbs. 11oz.) and measuring 55cm (21.68") long, she's even more beautiful than we could have ever imagined.

It's been 11 days now and I still can't get over how gorgeous she is. Everytime I see her, even when she's grumpy, I beam with pride.

My biggest fear is that someone will come knocking on our door one day and say, "Your time is up and it's time to hand her back." Fortunately she's ours forever.

There are plenty of pictures of her over at her own website, http://daisy.wallace.sh/.

Forward to the past

2007-11-24T21:33:00.000Z

So, you've got Leopard. You've got Time Machine. But alas, no external drive.

Not to worry - here's how you can backup your Mac over the network to your existing Linux server without mucking about with HFS+ or any other filesystem.

First, install netatalk and avahi on the Linux box.

Once you have those installed, configure netatalk using the following as a guide.

Turn off atalkd and papd in netatalk.conf:

# Set which daemons to run (papd is dependent upon atalkd): 
ATALKD_RUN=no 
PAPD_RUN=no 
CNID_METAD_RUN=yes 
AFPD_RUN=yes 
TIMELORD_RUN=no 
A2BOOT_RUN=no

Then, get atalk to use TCP only by editing afpd.conf:

- -noddp -advertise_ssh

Cool. Now, edit AppleVolumes.default and add the path to where you'd like to store the Time Machine backup(s):

/path/to/backup/dir "NAME OF VOLUME"

Restart atalk using something like:

# /etc/init.d/atalk restart

Great, that's atalk taken care of.

Configure avahi so that the Mac will automatically pickup the atalk share.

You only need to add an XML config file, netatalk.xml, in the avahi/services directory:

<?xml version="1.0" standalone="no"?>
<!--*-nxml-*-->
<!DOCTYPE service-group SYSTEM "avahi-service.dtd">
<service-group>
  <name replace-wildcards="yes">%h</name>
  <service>
    <type>_afpovertcp._tcp</type>
    <port>548</port>
  </service>
</service-group>

Restart avahi using something like:

# /etc/init.d/avahi-daemon restart

Nearly there!!

Now your server is ready to go, we just need the Mac to connect up.

On your Mac, using Finder, click Go -> Connect to Server and put in the IP address of your server.

Click Connect.

This should prompt you for a username and password.

Once authenticated the Mac should now have this share mounted. ... and, finally, to allow Time Machine to recognise the network share: (thanks, Mike!)

$ defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

You should now be able to point Time Machine at your Linux share and backup your Mac over the network!

A new phone already...?

2007-09-30T01:32:00.000+01:00

It's that time of the year again, although this year it came much quicker than in previous years.

The N73 hadn't dated anywhere nearly as quickly as previous phones - a testament to its operating system and functionality. So, this time around it made sense to stick with the same phone, but just tweak it in the right places.

The Nokia N95 is exactly that... an N73. With wings.

For me, the two big drawcards were WiFi and a faster processor. The N73 was a little sluggish, but useable. The N95 sports a 330MHz CPU and a dedicated GPU which makes it very responsive.

Evil Vodafone cripples the phone out-of-the-box with their awful menu systems and no VOIP.

A quick search on the web reveals a simple guide for installing an un-branded firmware. Essentially, you need to update the internal product code of the phone, which allows it to download the factory firmware instead of the knobbled Vodafone versions.

Compatibility with the Mac is excellent too after you download the iSync driver and the iTunes/iPhotos transfer software.

The N95 has been out for a relatively long time now which means that the initial bugs have been flushed out, saving me some hassle. The latest firmware introduced Assisted-GPS too which is a God-send apparently, supplementing the GPS information with data from the Internet.

Woeful tales of small battery capacity should be tempered with the phone's functionality and size. The N73 had a brilliant battery but it didn't have GPS, WiFi or two processors to contend with. I think I'll be okay as I'm never too far away from a mains power source (or even a USB power supply, for that matter).

I'm not too bothered with the video functionality, but it's nice to know it's there.

All-in-all, a pretty cool phone. I'm trying to unlock the N73 but it's proving a little difficult. Apparently Vodafone will provide the code after you've had the phone for 12 months - so I might have to wait.

Update: It turns out that the Nemesis Software Suite resets the N73's SIM lock code too. ;)

Seam carving

2007-09-01T03:09:00.000+01:00

Seam Carving is an ingenious method for dynamically resizing images without stretching, compressing or cropping.

It's one of those great marriages of mathematics and real-world application. Work like this is what drives the Web forward and allows for clean, flexible page design - without messing with the agreed standards.

It's a girl!

2007-08-09T03:16:00.000+01:00

After lots of waiting, full bladders, ultrasound gel, grainy images and careful measurements it was announced that our rapidly growing baby is, in fact, a girl -- and not a boy, despite all the predictions from family and friends.

Both Katie and I had been secretly hoping for a girl and it seems that our wish has come true.

This also, of course, narrows down the search for baby names but doesn't make it any easier... any suggestions are welcome!

The ultrasound machine, in the capable hands of the hospital staff, quickly compiled all the data and produced her profile in an instant. Everything is within "normal range" and points to a completely healthy baby, much to our relief.

Amazingly, the brilliant machine even calculated her weight of 311g. (it's started already!)

7 spies at the casino

2007-07-12T03:56:00.000+01:00

Shameless plug for an Edinburgh Fringe Festival production... by none other than, James, Kate and Rick!

7 spies at the casino is "... The unbelievably true story of the 1967 James Bond film, Casino Royale."

You can also read Rick's article in The Guardian about the financial woes of producing a play for the festival.

Macalicious

2007-07-08T16:18:00.000+01:00

I've taken the plunge and bought an Apple MacBook Pro.

After buying a MacBook for Katie at Christmas and having the odd little play here and there, I had become strangely addicted.

My initial thoughts were to get the hardware and then install Linux on it... but now that I've got it and had a proper look at Mac OS X, I don't think that's going to happen.

For a start, the default email program is almost perfect. It stores everything on the server, including sent, draft, junk and deleted messages. It uses the folder names that I want, not that it wants and it can show a merged inbox for multiple accounts.

iSync worked flawlessly and it synchronised with the Nokia N73 without any modifications. Unlike Evolution, it even sync'ed the alarms.

The OS is brilliant, the hardware is gorgeous and everything integrates like something that Bill could only dream of. When people say, "It just works"... you better believe it.

Here's the juicy hardware details:

15" LCD
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
2GB RAM
256MB Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT

Tagadelic patch

2007-06-11T16:14:00.000+01:00

We've noticed that there's a small bug in the Tagadelic module for Drupal.

It doesn't pay attention to the status of nodes. ie: it uses unpublished content for its calculations.

Here's a patch to remedy that:

--- tagadelic.module.old        2007-06-10 17:55:54.980771815 +0100 
+++ tagadelic.module    2007-06-10 18:03:32.950326194 +0100 
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@
    if (!is_array($vids) || count($vids) == 0) {
      return array();
    }
-  $result = db_query_range('SELECT COUNT(*) AS count, d.tid, d.name, d.vid FROM {term_data} d INNER JOIN {term_node} n ON d.tid = n.tid WHERE d.vid IN ('. substr(str_repeat('%d,', count($vids)), 0, -1) .') GROUP BY d.tid, d.name, d.vid ORDER BY count DESC', $vids, 0, $size); 
+  $result = db_query_range('SELECT COUNT(*) AS count, d.tid, d.name, d.vid FROM {term_data} d INNER JOIN {term_node} n ON d.tid = n.tid INNER JOIN {node} nod ON n.nid = nod.nid WHERE d.vid IN ('. substr(str_repeat('%d,', count($vids)), 0, -1) .') AND nod.status = 1 GROUP BY d.tid, d.name, d.vid ORDER BY count DESC', $vids, 0, $size);
     return tagadelic_build_weighted_tags($result, $steps);  
}

Who's the daddy?

2007-06-10T04:40:00.000+01:00

The 12 weeks are finally up and the world can now officially know... Katie and I are expecting a baby!

So far the due date is around 28th December which will be another day to add to growing list of birthdays, celebrations, etc. around that time of the year. We should get a more accurate date in the near future as we're going for our first ultrasound scan on the 27th June (after our Hungarian wedding on the 23rd).

Apart from feeling exhausted all the time, Katie's doing well (if not a little nervous about the entire prospect). Watching childbirth on TV or DVD doesn't help inspire any confidence - despite my reassurances.

Of course, we're both thrilled, as are our parents. ... and, when the time arrives, we'll definitely be ordering some tiny, little shoes from Lucky Little Elephant. </plug> ;)

Converting RAID1 to RAID5 with no data loss

2007-04-14T17:01:00.000+01:00

When you record and download lots of TV, movies, music, etc. it can chew up the disk space pretty quickly. If you don't keep on top of your DVD burning you will end up running out of disk space, like me.

That's okay, I have two 200GB drives mirrored in a RAID1 array. If I break the mirror and concatenate the drives I could use all 400GB of space available to me... but if one drive died, I would lose everything that was not backed up.

Buying two more drives isn't the answer as I only have one more PATA drive connection available.

Perhaps I could back everything up, buy two bigger drives, install a new RAID1 array and copy everything back over. That means giving up two perfectly servicable 200GB drives.

If only I could add a third drive and convert the RAID1 array to a RAID5 array. Then I would get the full 400GB of space, and still retain the redundancy. Yeah, right...

Then I stumbled across this blog entry in which a guy creates some experimental loopback devices, creates a RAID1 array and then converts it to a RAID5 array with no data loss.

I was intrigued.

The theory says that the RAID5 algorithm, when applied to 2 disks only, ends up looking like a RAID1 array except for the RAID metadata. If you overwrite the RAID1 metadata with the RAID5 metadata, mdadm should recognise the 2 disk RAID5 array and not mess with the contents.

Once the metadata is updated, you can then add a third partition to the array and grow the RAID5 array to utilise it. All that remains is to then resize the filesystem to fill the new space.

The main question is, am I brave enough to try it?

You bet I am!

Of course, everything is caveated with the usual "back everything up before you attempt this procedure" and, like a good boy, I borrowed a 400GB external drive from work and rsync'd all the important stuff across... and, with heart in mouth, followed the procedure...

Boot from a Fedora Core 6 rescue CDROM and get to a command prompt.

You must ensure you have a recent kernel (> 2.6.17) and that you have a recent version of the mdadm software:

# uname -a Linux localhost.localdomain 2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 #1 SMP Mon Oct 16 14:54:20 EDT 2006 i686 unknown  # mdadm --version mdadm - v2.5.4 - 13 Ocotober 2006

Stop the array:

# mdadm --stop /dev/md0

Overwrite the RAID1 metadata with the RAID5 metadata:

# mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=5 -n 2 /dev/hda1 /dev/hdb1 
mdadm: /dev/hda1 appears to contain an ext2fs file system
     size=1946592K  mtime=Sat Apr 14 07:18:32 2007 
mdadm: /dev/hda1 appears to be part of a raid array:
     level=1 devices=2 ctime=Sat Sep 17 16:17:45 2005 
mdadm: /dev/hdb1 appears to contain an ext2fs file system
     size=1946592K  mtime=Sat Apr 17 07:18:32 2007 
mdadm: /dev/hdb1 appears to be part of a raid array:
     level=1 devices=2 ctime=Sat Sep 17 16:17:45 2005 
Continue creating array? y 
mdadm: array /dev/md0 started.

At this point the RAID software decided it wanted to rebuild the array. Uh-oh, there goes my data...

I quickly mounted /dev/md0 and had a look... all my data is still intact! Oh well, let the software do it's thing. Who am I to argue?

Add in the third, new partition:

# mdadm --add /dev/md0 /dev/hdd1

So far, so good. Once the rebuild is complete, grow the RAID5 onto the new partition: (NB: use the --backup-file option in case the grow is interrupted. It will allow a safe recovery.)

# mdadm --grow /dev/md0 --raid-disks=3 --backup-file=/mnt/tmp/raid1-5.backup.file 
mdadm: Need to backup 128K of critical section .. 
mdadm: ... critical section passed.

I'm impressed that I've had no problems so far.

The reshaping of the RAID5 from a 2 disk to a 3 disk array takes quite a while (about 6.5 hours for around 200GB of raw data) but the filesystem resize shouldn't take anywhere near as long:

# e2fsck -f /dev/md0  # resize2fs -p /dev/md0

Apart from the modification of the RAID metadata, the whole operation can be done "online". I chose to do it from single-user/rescue mode as I wanted to make sure there was no data loss. If you're not too bothered then you could leave the whole thing up and running.

Thanks to Neil Brown for his wonderful software RAID drivers, Nathan Gray for his cunning RAID1/RAID5 conversion technique and, of course, everyone who makes Linux the great OS it is.

I want to be a janitor

2007-03-19T15:16:00.000Z

I just read a great article entitled, "Myths, Lies, and Truths about the Linux kernel". I found it quite inspirational and it taught me a couple of things - always good.

For a start, I was unaware of the kernel janitors project.

It seems a good way to get involved in some kernel development and give back to the community that I've mostly taken for granted. I'll probably have to learn git, ketchup, cscope and quilt -- and I'll certainly have to brush up on my C skills but, again, all feathers in the cap.

One question remains. Where will I be able to work on this kernel?

I can't have my main PC up-and-down. Oh wait, thank god for VMWare.

Drop Gear?

2007-03-14T04:08:00.000Z

The unthinkable has happened.

Jeremy Clarkson has said Top Gear won't be back in the summer.

What!? How the... what the... but I was watching that!

It seems to be the usual problems for this kind of show. Contracts, budgets, government lobby groups, green activists, etc. Poor Top Gear takes a lot of heat for glorifying the car and its lack of regard for the environment.

We all know the state of the public transport system is really to blame. Crap trains, expensive buses, cramped tubes and abysmal cycling conditions. That and the big green push at the moment all adds up to a well-timed cancellation.

Top Gear is a one-of-a-kind and the world will be a sadder place without it. They've tried to come up with similar whacky shows that attempt crazy stunts, but none of them match the cinematic quality and hyperbole that the BBC has provided. They've proved it by winning an International Emmy and being nominated for several other awards.

Please, BBC. Don't drop this one.

Fujifilm remote capture stream.c diff

2007-03-12T01:07:00.000Z

[See also, Time Lapse Photography, Part 1]

stream.c

--- stream.c    2007-03-11 18:00:53.000000000 +0000
+++ stream.c.new        2007-03-11 18:01:22.000000000 +0000
@@ -30,7 +30,8 @@
        for (dev = bus->devices; dev; dev = dev->next) {
            if (dev->descriptor.idVendor == 0x04cb) {
                // OK, it's a FUJI
-               if (dev->descriptor.idProduct == 0x0125) {
+               if (dev->descriptor.idProduct == 0x0125
+                   || dev->descriptor.idProduct == 0x010b) {
                    printf("Found it on bus %d(%s), dev %s.n",
                           bus->location, bus->dirname, dev->filename);
                    // our product
@@ -50,8 +51,14 @@
 #define BULK_WRITE_ENDPOINT   0x02
 #define INTR_ENDPOINT         0x03

+#define        DEBUG_OUTPUT                    0
+
+#if DEBUG_OUTPUT
 #define DEBUG(txt, ...) 
   fprintf(stderr, "DEBUG[%s:%d]: " txt "n", __FUNCTION__, __LINE__, ##__VA_ARGS__);
+#else
+#define DEBUG(txt, ...) fprintf(stderr,"");
+#endif

 #define VERIFY(code) 
   code; 
@@ -242,8 +249,6 @@
        DEBUG("Frame [2]");
        len = usb_bulk_read(udev, BULK_READ_ENDPOINT, buf, 0x2000, 3000);
        if (len < 0) {
-           fprintf(stderr, "Failed to get bulk frame datan");
-           return frame;
            frame_free(frame);
            return NULL;
        }
@@ -260,6 +265,7 @@
     int res;
     int i;
     struct usb_interface_descriptor *intf;
+    struct frame *frame;

     usb_init();
     usb_find_busses();
@@ -267,7 +273,7 @@

     dev = find_our_black_sheep();
     if (!dev) {
-       fprintf(stderr, "No FUJI FinePix A310 found.n");
+       fprintf(stderr, "No FUJI FinePix found.n");
        goto end;
     }

@@ -311,19 +317,19 @@
        if (argc > 1)
            count = atol(argv[1]);

-       for (i = 0; count-- > 0; ++i) {
+       for (i = 0; i < count; i++) {
            char filename[32];
-           struct frame *frame = get_frame();
-           if (!frame) {
-               fprintf(stderr, "Can't get framen");
-               break;
-           }
+           frame = get_frame();
+           if (frame) {
                sprintf(filename, "out/frame%05d.jpg", i);
                FILE *f = fopen(filename, "wb");
                fwrite(frame->data, frame->length, 1, f);
-               frame_free(frame);
                fflush(f);
                fclose(f);
+           } else {
+               fprintf(stderr,
+                       "Problem with frame %05d.  Trying again.n", i--);
+           }
        }
     }

Time lapse photography. Part 1.

2007-03-12T01:03:00.000Z

Time lapse photography is something I've wanted to try for a while.

But how exactly would I do it?

I've got an old digital camera lying about, a Fujifilm S602 zoom, that I could use. Of course I'd have to hook it up to the PC and get it to capture the images at regular intervals.

Again, how exactly would I do that?

A quick scour of Google revealed a couple of projects.

Finepix uses it's own kernel driver and it plugs into Video4Linux. I didn't get this to work initially.

I then found Mishoo's personal project to get his A310 capturing images.

This second one is much simpler and uses libusb to control the camera and it's a single binary.

Once I'd switched the camera into PC-Cam mode, it worked straight away. It had a few problems so I tidied it up a little and it now does something close to what I want.

Next steps... get it capturing decent images on a regular basis and then turning the photos into an AVI.

PS: It turns out that the power supply for my old Creative Zen MP3 player also works as DC-in for the S602 zoom.

Minority Report style screens aren't as far away as you might think.

2007-02-25T01:48:00.000Z

I was replying to a friend's email today and remembered an extraordinary video clip that I saw just over a month ago.

I sent it over to him but I thought I'd share it with the rest of the world too.

It's been quite a while since I've seen some gadgetry that makes my jaw drop, but this is something that definitely falls into that category.

The Google Earth stuff is kinda cool but when he starts playing with the photos and flinging them around the desktop is when it really starts to become a replacement for the real world.

If you can't picture what I'm talking about, check the video out and you'll see what I mean.

All work and no play...

2007-02-24T20:59:00.000Z

There's not been much activity on the blogging front since I got back from skiing as I've been working my arse off in the sweat shop that the office has now become.

If you've not heard already, my employer had decided to engage a large, well-known consultancy company to manage and construct the new versions of our websites.

That company outsources its development to India.

Without getting into the details, the code sucks and we've had nothing but trouble since.

They use the Agile programming methodology which effectively means we've been thrown right into the middle of the development cycle - much to the detriment of the day-to-day support of the rest of the business.

Many late nights and little sleep have resulted in us having to mitigate the amount of load going through to the backend by caching the the site more than should have been necessary.

This has resulted in reasonable response times but it means the dynamics of the new site has suffered.

Oh well, maybe the business will engage IT when it comes to spec'ing these things in the future... ha!

Borovets ski break

2007-02-03T20:11:00.000Z

A joint sojourn to Bulgaria with the Allens proved a big success as we got our first taste of downhill skiing.

Our original flight was cancelled and we got bumped to a later flight and we arrived at Borovets ski resort in the small hours of Sunday morning.

Hotel Olymp wasn't our first choice but as we booked late that's all that was available at the time.

Our first shock was the state of the room. I'm sure the last time these rooms received any TLC was back in the 80's - simply proved by the fact that not a single door in the place was hung straight.

The next morning, in the light of day, things weren't as bad as they first seemed and we promptly headed down to Hotel Rila to meet with the Balkan Holiday reps to pick up our ski passes, etc.

As we arrived late the previous night and we had to meet the reps early, we weren't in the mood for skiing straight away and needed a day to unwind. This wasn't met with great approval and we were reprimanded several times over the next two days. So much for it being OUR holiday!

Borovets turned out to be quite a nice little town with some colourful characters about the place trying to tempt us into their cosy restaurants. We resisted for a while but once lunch time approached it was all too much and we succumbed to the pressures of a large bloke called Danny.

Danny was to become our friend over the next few days and we sampled his traditional Bulgarian meals on more than a few occasions.

Day 2 was our first day of real skiing and we were introduced to our ski instructor, George.

George was a really nice guy and we quickly formed a good rapport with him.

After a lesson in the absolute basics we went for lunch. Over lunch George introduced us to the Ambrosia that is hot chocolate with brandy. This was to become my staple for the next week.

The afternoon saw us learning the rest of the basics and after a couple of tumbles it was time to call it quits.

The next morning was bright and sunny and the weather continued to melt much of the dwindling snow cover.

As the beginner slopes were getting too crowded to do any decent skiing, George took us up one of the smaller chair lifts to a blue run. When we got to the top and saw the gradient of the slope and the condition of the ice snow, our nerves wavered just a little. A few reassuring words from George was enough and we headed down.

Surprisingly, this was exactly what was needed and our skills quickly improved with each turn on the slope. After a couple of brandy hot chocolates for lunch, our courage was strengthened and we tackled the slopes with vigour before heading wearily back to the hotel.

Each of the next couple of days were greeted with bad news. No snow and the main gondola was shut due to high winds. It turns out that a ski resort isn't so much fun without the snow.

By Thursday evening we were going stir-crazy but luckily for us our prayers were answered and the heavens opened up and unleashed a dump of unparalleled proportions.

On Friday morning we were up and dressed and ready to jump on the gondola at 9am. We spent the rest of the day skiing back down to the gondola station from the top - an effort that took us about 5 hours. We encountered blue, red and even some black runs on the way down. Certainly a crash course, if ever I had one.

By the time we reached the bottom we were all sore and ready to go to bed, but at least on our final day we finally got some real skiing in.

On Saturday we found ourselves back at Sofia airport and boarding our flight home.

All-in-all a great week off from the stresses of work and a great introduction to skiing. Now we only need to save up for our next skiing trip!

You can find photos from the trip in the gallery.

Back on the bike!

2006-12-16T17:09:00.000Z

The insurance company finally got back to me after 3 months.

Their excuse is that they closed that particular claims office and they're still making all the callbacks.

Anyway, they promptly transferred the money to our back account and I went down to Halfords and bought a new one. This one is a 20" Saracen Rufftrax 2 2007. One thing that I like about it is that it doesn't make the characteristic clicking noise when free-wheeling -- stealth mode!

Just after I bought it I discovered that there was a problem with the rear tyre as it was constantly deflating.

I took it back and they replaced the inner-tube free of charge in under 10 minutes and I'm now back on the road!

Beryl and Metacity working in harmony

2006-12-16T16:42:00.000Z

Here's a script I've thrown together to have Beryl manage the main display and still allow metacity to manage the second, TV Out, display -- until the Beryl Project get it to manage the second display correctly:

#!/bin/bash

# Start Beryl on main display only 
beryl --screen 0 &  

# Metacity on TV out 
metacity --display :0.1 --replace &

# Beryl manager 
beryl-manager &

Creative journalism

2006-11-30T16:06:00.000Z

Oops, an example of creative journalism was caught red-handed this week.

How much of this goes on, unchecked?

"Look! We made an accurate, silicon model of an elephant's foetus. We used a mixture of ultrascans and computer graphics to simulate how it might look for real."

"Wow, real ultrasounds of an elephant foetus!"

"Cool, the first, close ups of an elephant in the womb! Amazing. Tiny cameras, you say... inserted into the rectum?"

"Stunning! Live animal foetuses from cameras mounted in the womb. Crazy... people are going to love this!"

Patch for mythframes

2006-11-09T03:28:00.000Z

This patch modifies mythframes to handle big files.

--- mythframes.c.orig   2006-11-08 19:13:59.000000000 +0000 
+++ mythframes.c        2006-11-08 19:03:44.000000000 +0000 
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@
   typedef struct seektable_entry
  { 
-   long long file_offset; 
+   double long file_offset;
     int keyframe_number;
  } seektable_entry;

Patch for mkmovie

2006-11-09T03:24:00.000Z

The following patch removes aspect ratio options from mencoder which causes it to bomb out.

These were some modifications that were needed to get things running on my setup.

--- /usr/bin/mkmovie    2006-11-08 19:00:23.000000000 +0000
+++ mkmovie     2006-11-06 21:15:32.000000000 +0000
@@ -329,7 +329,7 @@
        } while (($retval != 0) and not($stoprun));
        $command = "mencoder -idx " . $files . " -ovc lavc " .
                " -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vhq:vbitrate=" . $vbr . ":keyint=" .
-               $keyint . ":aspect=" . $aspect .
+               $keyint .
                " -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:cbr=" . $abr .
                ":padding=0 -o " . $currfile .
                " -noskip";
@@ -398,7 +398,7 @@
                        $currfile = "seg" . $segcounter . "-" . $$ . ".avi";
                        $command = "mencoder -idx " . $input . " -ovc lavc " .
                                " -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vhq:vbitrate=" . $vbr . ":keyint=" .
-                               $keyint . ":aspect=" . $aspect .
+                               $keyint .
                                " -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:cbr=" . $abr .
                                ":padding=0 -o " . $currfile .
                                " -ss " . $startpos ." -endpos " . $endpos . " -noskip";
@@ -679,7 +679,7 @@

        $command = "mencoder -mf w=" . $width . ":h=" . $height .
                ":fps=" . $fps . " -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vhq:vbitrate=" . $vbr .
-               ":keyint=" . $keyint . ":aspect=" . $aspect .
+               ":keyint=" . $keyint .
                " -o " . $single . " mf://" . $png;
        do {
                unlink $single;

Sun's Project Blackbox

2006-11-06T02:39:00.000Z

Recently Sun announced a new Project called, "Blackbox".

Basically it's a rapid deployment datacentre - a black, Sun branded, shipping container full of racks and servers that will take up to 8Gs of impact shock. They'll even paint it in camouflage colours in case you need to hide it. ;)

I wonder what the local council would think If I had one of these taking up a parking spot or two in front of the flat.

Firefox 2.0

2006-10-26T00:44:00.000+01:00

I know... every man and his dog are writing about how Firefox 2.0 is out. At least I'm not having a Firefox 2.0 party.

Speaking of parties, even Microsoft were nice enough to send cake...

USB recharging without the USB

2006-10-23T23:46:00.000+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I ordered a couple of universal USB chargers.

In combination with a 4-way, mini USB hub it makes a fairly compact, portable multi-device charger. They're perfect for travelling as they're 110-240V and come with a bunch of click-in power socket adaptors for different countries.

For the new Nokia-N73 I'll need a power/data cable combo.

Ooo, shiny!

2006-10-23T20:05:00.000+01:00

A new phone upgrade and the promise of new beginnings!

This phone is it. The panacea. The gadget to end all gadgets.

Probably.

Maybe not.

Anyway, it's the Nokia N73 smartphone and it's pretty cool on first impressions. The Symbian OS is a little slow but considering the features it packs, it's a small price to pay.

An auto keylock application needed to be installed as the functionality is missing from the default OS and, of course, Google Maps had to go on there too.

All appointments from Autoping have been transferred over and I suspect a rewrite of Autoping will occur now to make it more generic - now that I no longer need it for personal stuff. Things to play with next are:

Syncing with Linux
Instant Messaging
Push Email over SyncML

Enjoy the Sun

2006-10-19T01:07:00.000+01:00

Nexenta is a new distribution which has an Open Solaris kernel, GNU tools and Debian-like package management.

All the crunchy, yummy goodness of Zones, DTrace and ZFS with a GNU userland filling.

Apt is simply the icing on the cake!

Spamalot!

2006-10-18T23:50:00.000+01:00

(No, not the musical)

In the last 2 days our SpamAssassin has caught a much greater amount of spam than normal.

Interestingly, the statistics from spamhaus.org, spamcop.net and messagelabs.com actually show a downward global trend in spam.

This could mean that the quarantined messages have a lower-than-normal score and are being delivered locally instead of being immediately rejected or they're simply delayed, grey-list messages from the usual weekend spam run.

New look

2006-10-13T05:22:00.000+01:00

I had received some complaints about the previous theme.

I agree it wasn't exactly easy on the eye but it was the best I could do at short notice.

Since I had to stay back at work late to baby-sit a site launch, I had some time to kill. So I went for a surf and found a fairly pleasent Drupal theme which I decided wasn't quite up to scratch.

What you currently see is a widened version of the Andreas03 theme.

There is also some other CSS hacks to personalise it.

The awful "Matrix" Gallery theme has been replaced with a heavily modified version of Carbon. Nice and clean.

There was some work to get rid of all the extra garbage but I think you'll agree it looks nice enough.

Bye-bye bikes.

2006-09-24T22:14:00.000+01:00

A quick trip to Sainsburys yesterday to pick up some essentials turned into a nightmare.

Both our bikes were locked to a steel post buried in the concrete and then, within 40 minutes, were stolen. No lock, bikes or witnesses.

Sainsburys have CCTV cameras for that area, so hopefully the bastards will get caught but we don't expect to ever see the bikes again. :(

We tried to report the incident at Islington Police Station but the front counter was unattended.

Some other people had been waiting for more than 30 minutes with no one there to help. We could see staff in the station, behind the scenes, but no one wanted to come out and help any of us.

Do we still wonder why no one respects the police anymore?

Now, where's my Oyster Card...?

Tirade to PlusNet

2006-09-15T20:40:00.000+01:00

To whom it may concern,

First of all I would like to apologise for emailing all and sundry about this but as I find it extremely difficult to get a hold of a human at PlusNet – this is my last resort.

I would like to register with you my level of rage with PlusNet’s customer service.

I originally signed up with PlusNet in April 2006 and was happy with everything. My

Internet usage is extremely heavy and I quickly exceeded my package limits. So I decided to switch ISPs and find someone with a package that would better suit my needs.

I informed PlusNet of my cancellation and paid the required cancellation fee promptly. I then requested a MAC Key so I could transfer to the new ISP seamlessly. PlusNet informed me that they were unable to provide a MAC Key as I wasn’t with BT and MAC Keys are only required when transferring within BT Wholesale.

After some back and forth with the new ISP and BT it was confirmed that a MAC Key should be provided by PlusNet. I logged a new support call for a MAC Key and I was informed that a request for the MAC Key was put through to “the provider”. (ticket #19835421)

Some weeks passed with no response from PlusNet, despite my requests for some kind of reply on how the situation was progressing. One month after the call was logged, the call was closed by PlusNet. I was unable to open this closed call as there is currently a problem retrieving previously closed calls on my account. So, I logged another call with Customer Service to either email me the response from the closed call or to paste the response into this new call.

The response turned out to be another question. This process of retrieving a MAC Key can take up to 7 days, I’m told, but in my particular case it took about month – and then I only ended up with yet another question for my new ISP.

At this point I have simply given up with trying to deal with PlusNet’s customer service team. I registered my grievances with OFCOM and have logged a new support call with PlusNet requesting that my cancellation goes through completely so that the line is clear of any ADSL service so there will be no problem signing up with the new ISP.

This means I will be devoid of any Internet access for probably about 2-3 weeks as the cancellation goes through (up to 5 working days, I’m told) and then my new ISP can submit the new connection request which will take up to 15 days to process — all because of PlusNet’s general level of incompetence at dealing with my request for a MAC Key.

This says nothing of the number of connection issues that have continued to plague

PlusNet in recent months. I realise that some things are outside of PlusNet’s control – such has power outages in Telehouse in London’s Docklands, but PlusNet should have had contingencies in place. PlusNet’s RADIUS and DNS servers should have been geographically disperse so that they could failover to a DR location in the case of such an event.

As a consequence of all this, my saga with PlusNet is now a source of amusement amongst my family, friends and work colleagues. Almost every day my tales about either the lack of response to my service calls or lack of Internet connectivity leaves them rolling in the aisles. Almost everyone I know is now wary of dealing with PlusNet as are many others. adslguide.org.uk’s forums are littered with people complaining about the same problems that I’m experiencing. Whilst this is a small comfort to myself – I am sure PlusNet’s investors must be (or, at least, SHOULD be) very worried.

I am almost certain that my complaint(s) will fall upon deaf ears but I wanted to at

least try to make someone of influence aware of the issues within PlusNet.

Yours respectfully,

Scott Wallace.

(PlusNet user ID: ********)

PlusNet are dead! Long live Demon!

2006-09-15T20:36:00.000+01:00

After writing a long email to PlusNet's board of directors and complaining about their lack of competence and support, they phoned me and tried to sort out my problems.

They offered to cancel my cancellation and attempt to work with me and my new ISP to get me transferred, seamlessly, using MAC Keys.

Unfortunately the cancellation had gone in to their provider, Tiscali, ahead of schedule and I had already been disconnected.

So I let Demon know that the phone line should be clear of any ADSL and that they could proceed with their installation. They quickly confirmed that the line was clean and that my installation request had been put through to BT.

Within 2 days I was online.

Demon are prompt, their support is brilliant, the connectivity is fast and extremely reliable. If anyone is using PlusNet and reading this - I urge you to switch ISPs.

PlusNet are truly hopeless.

Entertainment

2006-09-15T19:39:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since my last blog.

Nothing too exciting has happened but I will let you know about some quality entertainment that passed my way recently.

First, for Craig's birthday, we went out to see Blue Man Group. One word: fantastic. The whole show from start to finish was really good and when the end came I was left wanting more. From what I saw, each show would be slightly different but I won't say too much more just in case I spoil it for someone. Awesome music - a bit like Simple Minds meets Mike Oldfield. There are some great special effects too.

The second is Severance. An extremely good mix of thriller/horror and comedy. It was filmed in Hungary and probably on a low budget but I think that's what made the movie so good. Definitely one for the boys.

Tonight, Katie and I are off to see Right at your door. It hasn't had great reviews but I've always found myself at odds with reviewers' opinions anyway. We'll see!

Update: It wasn't very good.

Medically fit!

2006-08-23T23:37:00.000+01:00

I had my BUPA Wellness full medical checkup this morning and it turns out that I'm in excellent health. Always a bonus considering my 30th birthday is just around the corner. Highlights include:

9.6% body fat
Low bad cholesterol
High good cholesterol
110% lung efficiency

Hearing and vision also 100% - which is weird considering I spend most of my day in front of the computer screen.

PlusNet suck

2006-08-18T15:42:00.000+01:00

Well, PlusNet still haven't been able to provide me with a MAC Key.

They finally replied to my repeated queries for an update stating it takes 7 days to provide a MAC Key. Considering the request went in on the 24th of July, I'd say it has been long enough.

Demon patiently await my MAC Key so I can move to their cheaper, non-capped service. The icing on the cake, of course, is that PlusNet were down again yesterday for most of the day due to a power outage in London's Telehouse in the Docklands.

Puh-lease. Have these people not heard of DR? Geographically disperse DNS, RADIUS servers, etc?

If we tried to run a nation-wide ISP without DR and something like this happened, heads would roll.

Corn Fritters

2006-08-13T00:23:00.000+01:00

2 cups plain flour
1 tspn baking powder
2 tbsp sugar
3 eggs
1 cup milk
½ tspn salt
½ tspn paprika
2 cups sweetcorn

Mix everything together, except the corn, into a mixing bowl and whisk to a batter.

Add the corn and mix.

Heat a frying pan with a little oil and fry tablespoons of the batter mix.

Ouch

2006-08-09T17:25:00.000+01:00

Whilst cycling into work this morning, I swerved to avoid a van changing lanes when my backpack got caught on the back of a stationary truck.

The bike kept going, but I stayed where I was.

My ankles somehow dragged over the gears on the bike and I've got a few cuts. :(

F-Spot + Gallery2 = Photos!

2006-08-07T02:06:00.000+01:00

I've installed f-spot on FC5 and installed Gallery2 on the site.

G2 integrates nicely with Drupal and f-spot has a plugin which allows seamless uploads and album management. Good combo.

Previously, I tried Digikam with the Kipi plugin pack which worked but wasn't nice as f-spot.

Bulk image uploader

2006-08-02T21:44:00.000+01:00

I've added a bulk image uploader (Drupal's image_import module).

So expect to see the photos from the original site to slowly make their way onto the Drupal version.

Update: This didn't really work too well with Digikam as it wouldn't allow nested albums.

UTS

2006-08-02T00:41:00.000+01:00

This basic program simply prints out the current UTS (Universal Time Stamp).

If given an argument, it is assumed that is is a valid UTS value. It will convert that value into a human readable format.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
   time_t uts;
   if (argc < 1) {
     /* Arugument supplied.  Convert it to a human-readable time and date */
     uts = atol(argv[1]);
     printf("%s", ctime(&uts));
   } else {
     /* No arugument supplied.  Print the number of seconds since Epoch. */
     time(&uts);
     printf("%d", uts);
   }

   return 0;
}

Multiseek

2006-08-02T00:21:00.000+01:00

MultiSeek was my first (and only) multi-threaded program.

It stemmed from a competition set by a close friend of mine.

I was living away from home back in '97 and was trying to understand multi-threaded applications. He bet me that I couldn't write something by the end of week. I couldn't and failed. But I did eventually get something out.

The hardest part was having something to write.

[Additional note: this is before markup progressed to the likes of XML and web-APIs were only in their infancy.]

Eventually this mess that looks kinda like code, below, will be commented and cleaned up. It's mainly here because I wrote it ages ago and seems like such a waste to throw away.

Update: This code has been taken, cleaned-up and been made real pretty. See it on: http://multiseek.sourceforge.net/.

Ricotta pancakes with warm sugared strawberries

2006-08-02T00:15:00.000+01:00

Sugared strawberries

500g strawberries, halved
75g sugar

Pancakes

250g ricotta
15g sugar
nutmeg
3 eggs, separated
50g plain flour
pinch of salt
30g butter

Heat the strawberries and sugar together in a saucepan over a low heat. Stir occassionally. The strawberries should release their juice. Let cool whilst preparing the rest.

Whisk ricotta, nutmeg, egg yolks, and 15g sugar in a large bowl. Then whisk in the flour with the pinch of salt.

Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until they form stiff peaks. Fold into the ricotta mixture using a cutting motion with a metal spoon.

Heat 10g of butter in a frying pan over a medium-low heat (30-40%). Drop three large spoonfuls of the mixture in the frying pan. Cook for about 2 mins per side. (or until golden brown). Repeat for the remaining mixture.

Quickly reheat the strawberries and serve warm over the pancakes.

Szilvas Gomboc / Hungarian Plum Dumplings

2006-08-02T00:06:00.000+01:00

2½ dozen Italian plums split & pitted
4 or 5 medium potatoes
1 egg beaten
4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
buttered breadcrumbs
sugar
cinnamon

Peel potatoes and cook in salted water till soft. Drain.

Mash potatoes and add warm to sifted flour and salt on a kneading surface.

Make a well and add egg and knead gently till all is blended.

On a clean floured surface, roll dough out to ½ inch thick. Cut dough into 4 inch squares and put a plum into center of each square. Place ½ tsp. sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon in the hole of the plum.

Fold corners to the middle and roll the dumpling in your hands till round.

Cook a few dumplings at a time in salted water for about 10 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon.

Place in a pan in which bread crumbs have been toasted in butter (one cup crumbs to ¼ cup butter) and mixed with ½ cup of sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon.

Keep warm. When all the dumplings have been cooked and are in the pan, gently spoon the breadcrumbs, butter, sugar and cinnamon mix over all.

Serve warm with bread crumb topping and a dollop of sour cream if desired.

Chocolate Pudding

2006-08-02T00:05:00.000+01:00

Pudding

¾ cup self raising flour (3oz/85g)
2 tbsp cocoa
1½ tspn instant coffee
pinch of salt
4oz butter/marg (115g)
⅔ cup caster sugar (4oz/115g)
2 eggs (slightly beaten)
1 tspn vanilla essence
1-2 tbsp milk

Sift the flour, cocoa, coffee and salt together into a large mixing bowl.

Cream the butter and sugar and gradually add eggs and vanilla along with a little of the dry mixture.

Fold in the rest of the dry mixture and milk and stir until it is at a fairly soft consistancy.

Pour into an oven dish.

Sauce:

⅔ cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
1 tbsp cocoa
1 cup hot water

Mix the cocoa and brown sugar into a bowl and stir in the hot water and mix until smooth.

Pour onto the sponge mix over the back of a spoon (so as not to create a hole in the middle of the sponge mixture).

Bake for 40 minutes at 190°C.

Pasta a la Kata

2006-08-02T00:01:00.000+01:00

Spaghetti/Fettucini - al dente
Avacado & Yoghurt - blended
Sunblush tomatoes
Lemon juice
Roast courgettes - sliced
Roast garlic - whole cloves (not bulbs!)

Bookclub Salad

2006-08-01T21:19:00.000+01:00

Mixed salad/lettuce
Cous-cous - pre-cooked
Sunblushed tomatoes
Feta cheese - cubed
Avacado - sliced
Lemon juice
Balsamic vinegar - a light drizzle
Red wine vinegar - a light drizzle
Olive Oil
Sesame seeds

Drupal

2006-08-01T21:14:00.000+01:00

So I've decided to try and get Drupal up and running and into live.

Just read the Drupal basics to familiarise myself with it all and, well, here it is.

I'll add some more modules and things to try and re-create what I already have in the existing site.

Once done, I'll be making it fully live.