I accidentally started a flame war in the Lynx mailing list by mentioning that it would be nice to have a public source code repository (I mentioned using Git). Some highly opinionated characters on the list started howling that Git is terrible, version control system n is absolutely the best there is, etc. As fun as that bike-shedding is, almost everyone missed the point of the original post - I just wanted easier access to the development source code.

I was tasked to build a .deb package recently (the software package for Debian-alike systems such as Debian and Ubuntu). As I was inexperienced in the matter, I frequently consulted the documentation. Unfortunately, the more I worked on building the .deb package, the more I saw how slapdash the documentation and the build-tools are.

I just had a bit of an issue on my Slackware laptop where my USB flash drive wouldn’t mount as a user. In KDE, plugging in the USB drive would have the notification pop-up come up, but it wouldn’t let me mount the device.

When I find a neat new trick to put into my Vim settings file, it’s a pain to have to install it across my various machines. It’s especially a pain when I reinstall a machine. The solution came to me - use Git to version control and distribute my settings.

Some of the most intriguing bits of math can come from the simplest little patterns. Take for instance the Floyd’s Triangle.

I had to deal with a situation in the C language which required reading the stdout from the child process, which was running exec. Since running exec means that the command effectively takes over the process, I needed to make sure whatever it outputted was going back to the parent (as well as still getting the exit value of the exec’d process).

Working on a recent puzzle, I had to find out the number of paths from opposite corners on a grid. So, for example, on a 57 by 35 square grid, to get to the opposite corner of the grid there are 29702210220359396517113784 possible paths.

Ever since Shaw (and other Canadian ISP’s) decided to charge its customers crazy amounts for bandwidth overages, I’ve been conscious of how much I download per month. As I watch a lot of Youtube and listen to a lot of internet radio, 100 gigabytes gets chewed up quickly, and even though Shaw has a tool for looking at bandwidth usage, it runs 48 hours behind, which makes squeezing out the last bits of the monthly bandwidth a lot harder.

If you’re a Linux or Mac user, you’ve probably stumbled upon the /etc/services/ file, which is a listing of the registered protocols and ports made by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (this file can also be viewed here). The port numbers 0 through 1023 are considered “well-known” ports, and use is restricted of those ports is restricted to protocols registered with IANA. However, while checking the IANA file, I noticed several interesting ports that I had never noticed before.

Most people only know a few operating systems - Microsoft Windows and Apple’s Mac OS X (and sometimes Linux). However, there’s a whole slew of other operating systems that bubble underneath the surface. One newcomer isn’t looking for world domination, but it will kick your ass. It’s the size of a floppy disk, has more speed than a trucker, and is, simply put, pretty. It’s MenuetOS. It would like to meet you.

This month in NGLG, I’m taking a look at a couple of 3D games that don’t require too much horsepower, but are still fun diversions.

Lightcycle games should seem familiar to anyone who has played the ‘snake’ type games that are common on cell phones. The goal is to box in your opponents with your trail, all the while making sure you don’t slam into their trails (as well as your own!). Often, the games mimic the look and feel from the 1982 film Tron, and require quick reflexes and a mind for strategy.

Many people have made the switch to Linux, and the question that has continued since the kernel hit 0.01 is “where are the games?”

While the WINE project has done a great job at getting quite a few mainstream games working, there are also many Linux-native gems that are fantastic at whittling away the time. No longer content with Solitaire clones, the community is responding with a wide array of fun games.

The Linux User Group (also known as a LUG) has been one of the cornerstones of Linux advocacy ever since its first inception. Bringing together local Linux lovers, it is the grassroots of Linux - where neighbours and other townfolks can sit around a table and discuss the best way to compile the kernel for their machines, or how to get their Slackware network devices going again. It is also a high bandwidth way to share knowledge - if you’ve ever heard of the sneaker-net, you’ll appreciate the advantages of being in a room full of real people who share your interest in open-source software.