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I've been using the democracy player under OSX and Windows for the last several versions which seemed very unstable. The Linux version just became available under beta... but seemed pretty stable on testing.

If you are using Fedora Core 5, then the installation is a breeze.

1. If you have not setup yum for downloading from livna repository, you can do so by adding the repo file -- "/etc/yum.repo.d/livna.repo":
   

   [livna]
   name=Livna for Fedora Core $releasever - $basearch - Base
   baseurl=http://rpm.livna.org/fedora/$releasever/$basearch
   failovermethod=priority
   mirrorlist=http://rpm.livna.org/mirrorlist-5
   enabled=0
   gpgcheck=1
   

   Import the gpg keys.

   # rpm --import http://rpm.livna.org/RPM-LIVNA-GPG-KEY
   

2. Install the dependencies:

   # yum --enablerepo=livna --enablerepo=extras install \
         boost xine-lib libfame gnome-python2-gtkmozembed gnome-python2-gconf Pyrex
   

3. Install the democracy player:

   # rpm -ivh http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/pculture.org/democracy/linux/fc5/Democracy-0.8.2-1.i386.fc5.rpm
   

The install will place a shortcut under "Sound & Video". ENJOY!!

Typo is a weblog application using the well known Ruby on Rails framework.

These are my notes as I remember on installation of Typo on FC2 with Ensim Control Panel...
(Ensim Pro 4.1.0-8.fc.2 )

This is the first part of a series of notes which will cover the preparation of what I need to get Typo up and running:

• Install ruby.
  
• Install gem.
  
• Install rails.
  
• Install mysql ruby binding.
  
• Install the fcgi libraries.
  
• Install mod_fcgi apache module.
  
• Install fastcgi ruby binding.
  
• Install and setup Typo.

Since I don't use PostgreSQL as often as MySQL, I tend to forget simple commands for administering the database. Hopefully these notes will help as reference when working with PostgreSQL:

rkhunter (or Rootkit Hunter) is a Unix-based tool that scans for rootkits, backdoors and local exploits. It does this by comparing MD5 hash of important files with known good ones in an online database, searching for default directories (of rootkits), wrong permissions, hidden files, suspicious strings in kernel modules. It should run on almost every Unix clone.

Installation notes:

Debian o Debian GNU/Linux es una distribución Linux, que basa sus principios y fin en el software libre.

Creada por el proyecto Debian en el año 1993, la organización responsable de la creación y mantenimiento de la misma distribución, centrado en GNU/Linux y utilidades GNU. Éste también mantiene y desarrolla sistemas GNU basados en otros núcleos.

Nace como una apuesta por separar en sus versiones el software libre del software no libre. El modelo de desarrollo es independiente a empresas, creado por los propios usuarios, sin depender de ninguna manera de necesidades comerciales. Debian no vende directamente su software, lo pone a disposición de cualquiera en Internet, aunque sí permite a personas o empresas distribuir comercialmente este software mientras se respete su licencia.

Quick notes on installing Ruby on Rails on Fedora Core 5 ( It should be similar for other linux distros as well )

1. Install ruby rpms via yum:
   

   # yum install ruby ruby-libs ruby-mode ruby-rdoc ruby-irb ruby-ri ruby-docs
   

2. Download and install rubygems from rubygems.org.
   Change to the extracted directory and run:

   # ruby setup.rb
   

3. Now use gem to install rails. It will ask about installing dependencies. Answer "Y" or just hit return.

   # gem install rails
   

4. Test it by creating a skeleton rails app in your home directory:

   $ cd ~
   $ rails testapp
   

5. Start the WEBrick server.

   $ cd ~/testapp
   $ ruby script/server
   

   The WEBrick server should now be started and listening to the default port - 3000 .
   Point your browser to:

   http://localhost:3000/
   

   You should see a welcome page with some additional getting started info.

The upgrade from fedora core 4 to fedora core 5 went fairly well ( using the upgrade method mentioned here... ) except for a hiccup with the X display using the current nVidia driver. Luckily Stanton Finley maintains an upto date FC5 installation notes with which I was able to quickly troubleshoot the nvidia display driver.

Here is a synopsis of what I did to fix it:

If you have updated to the latest FC4 kernel -- kernel-2.6.16-1.2069_FC4 and the nvidia driver will not compile with this version ( errors out while trying to compile a kernel module with NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8178-pkg1.run ) then head over to nvnews.net and apply the cumulative patch mentioned there.

I have repackaged the updated 1.0-8178 driver into a custom .run package and can be downloaded here -- NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8178-pkg0-custom.run

md5sum: 4a6afb103e18a9263df71861752133f0

Recently, I forgot the root password for MySQL and went about resetting it as below:

1. Stop mysqld and restart it with:
   

   # service mysqld stop
   # mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables --user=root
   

2. Connect to the mysqld server with this command:

   sql> mysql -u root
   

3. Issue the following statements in the mysql client:

   mysql> UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD('newpassword') WHERE User='root';
   mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
   

   Replace “newpassword

I have had a Dell Latitude D800 for over a year now and recently had the dreaded "Drifting Mouse" problem as discussed in the Dell Support Forum.

Fortunately, I also came across a linux solution which talks about disabling the "Stick Pointer" using the "Synaptics Driver" which comes default with FC4.

Here is the gist of it which worked for me: