Apr 18, 20080
Feb 12, 20080
sshfs
If you don’t want the trouble of configuring NFS or Samba, then sshfs is a good option. sshfs (ssh File System) makes use of Fuse (File System in Userspace) to allow you to locally mount a directory that you have remote access to using ssh. To install sshfs in Ubuntu use:
sudo apt-get install sshfs
Once this is done, you will need to add yourself to the new group (fuse) that has been created:
sudo adduser <user> fuse
Create a local directory in which to mount your remote directory and make sure it is owned by you:
mkdir [-p] /path/to/directory
chown <user>.<group> /path/to/directory
Now you can mount your remote directory as follows:
sshfs <user>@<remote_host>:/path/to/directory/ /path/to/directory
Dec 8, 20070
Ubuntu Applets – Post To Blog
Well, it.s 01:24 and I’m not usually up at this time. Jo is working an inventory tonight and I don’t feel like going to bed yet. So instead, I’m playing with my Ubuntu installation on my laptop.
I’ve just done an “apt-cache search applet gnome” and discovered a load of new Gnome applets. I’m using one of them to write this post. It’s called gnome-blog and lets you specify a username and password for an existing Blog from a number of popular providers, e.g. Blogger, LiveJournal etc.
You can also specify a URL for a your own install of WordPress, TextPattern and many more. Then, like me, you can post to your blog from your Gnome desktop!
Nov 19, 20070
Orange… do you really want to lose my custom?
By my reckoning, my current contract is nearly up which means I should be eligible for a free phone upgrade. I phoned a week ago to find out if that was the case and was told that yes, my contract was due for renewal in a few months so I could renew it and get a free phone upgrade on 15 November.
I phoned up earlier today to try and arrange this, and was told that I would have to pay £150 for the phone I wanted (the Nokia N95) since my contract was apparently due for renewal in August of next year. Contrary to my memory and my phone bill, Orange insisted that my contract was for two years. In order to get out of this I would need to buy out the contract or go back to the shop I originally purchased the phone from and get written confirmation of my contract period.
This would be pointless. The only signed document I have was for the initial 12 month contract over three years ago. Since then all renewals and upgrades have been done through the Orange web site. Two of the three representatives I spoke to were most unhelpful and bordering on being down right rude. However, I have been a loyal Orange customer (both PAYG and contract) for over five years now and for the most part the customer service has been fine. After 40 minutes of what seemed like haggling on the phone we eventually reached a compromise.
Unfortunately this experience has left me disappointed with Orange and I shall have to seriously consider switching providers should this performance be repeated in the future.
Oct 27, 20071
New Job With Valley Technology
It’s official; on Thursday 01 November, I will start my new job with Edinburgh based Valley Technology. Unfortunately that means saying goodbye to my friends at the Crown Office but with any luck I’ll still see them now and again. And talk about jumping in at the deep end… on my first day I’ll be giving a brief five minute talk on OpenID at the EdLUG meeting that evening. As crazy as it sounds I’m doing it mainly for my self-confidence; I’ve never been a fan of public speaking but with any luck this will help me improve. I’ll post the slides up when I’m done.
Oct 2, 20070
Go Pink For October – Be Breast Cancer Aware
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Please help raise awareness by placing an image on your site. Some people are changing their whole colour schemes to pink; if I had more free time I would join in too! You can find out more at Go Pink For October. Thank You.
Sep 5, 20070
Needless Signup for Online Services
Why must so many online services insist that you sign up in order to use them? If you are trying to use a service such as finding out train or bus times, then there is no need that I can see to request that you sign up before being shown the result of your search. I would happily sign up for a service if I was expecting some sort of email feedback; making a purchase; or making use of some other user-specific service. I have often left a site when asked to sign up before finding out the results of a search, and this has a really negative effect on my experience as a user!
Sep 2, 20072
Bioshock – Succumbing to DRM
I’ve finally given in to the SecuROM DRM that ships with the PC version of Bioshock. After reading so many good things about the game, and an equal number of bad things about the DRM I had planned to boycott 2K games and resist purchasing Bioshock.
Unfortunately, I downloaded the demo version last week (complete with rookit style SecuROM) – and I have to say I was very impressed! I decided to part with £30.00 of hard earned cash and buy the game. Things aren’t as bad as they were; you can now install Bioshock up to 5 times on 5 different machines so this should give me plenty of wiggle room. It’s just a shame that DRM has become so restrictive that attempts to prevent copyright infringement result in the customer being punished.
