This is Pumpkin. She’s a fosterino who came to live with us on Halloween (hence the name). She’s made herself at home and we’d love to keep her, but our 900 sq ft just isn’t enough house for four cats (barely enough for the three we have). I can post more later, but for now, have fun bathing in her cuteness.

We’re keeping her for the local animal adoption group AARF. She’s been a bit sick lately, so she hasn’t been able to get all of her shots, but when she does, she’ll be able to find a permanent home. She’s extremely playful, affection aggressive, and a great lap cat.

Any-who, one of our labs has us using mount and umount (did I mention that RHA030 is a basic GNU/Linux skills class with a RedHat flavor?) with a floppy drive. There are a couple of problems with this, however. One, there’s no virtual floppy disk on the virtual machine that’s been configured for class. Two, VMware Workstation 6 has this weird quirk (at least the version we have) that won’t allow you to create floppy images in the img format. It adds flp to the end of whatever you put want to name your file, and then gives this error that the file already exists, which doesn’t make a lot of sense since the Workstation just created the file and should know that.

So, here’s a (mostly) graphical tutorial that allows you to create your own floppy image and use it with VMware Workstation 6.

Step 1. Open VMware Workstation and select the virtual machine you want to add a virtual floppy drive to.

Step 2. Select “Edit Virtual Machine Settings” from that virtual machine’s “Commands” menu.

Step 3. From the “Virtual Machine Settings” dialog’s “Hardware” tab, click the “Add…” button

Step 4. On the “Hardware Wizard” dialog, select the “Floppy Drive” hardware type and then click the “Next” button.

Step 5. On the “Hardware Wizard” dialog, choose the “Create a blank floppy image” radio button and then click the “Next” button.

Step 6. On the “Hardware Wizard” dialog, click the “Bowse” button to choose a location for your floppy image.

Step 7. Type in the name of the image file you want to create. Notice I tried to input an “.img” extension which is one of the types listed in the file type select box. Don’t bother trying that because Workstation will automatically tack on a “.flp” extension regardless of what you input.

Step 8. Check your file’s path and then click “Finish”. What’s supposed to happen is, Workstation creates an image file with the name in the text box.

Step 9. What happens is Workstation adds the “.flp” extension, creates the image file, then gives you this Alert box stating: “Unable to create floppy image. File exists.” Idiotic really. Just click the “OK” button and proceed as follows.

Step 10. You’ll now see that your file name has been appended with the “.flp” extension and that and further “Finish” clicking will merely give you to opportunity to view the Alert box again. But don’t worry, because even though you’re getting error a strange and magical thing has happened. Click “Cancel” to proceed to the next step.

Step 11. Click “OK” on the “Virtual Machine Settings” dialog.

Step 12. Ok, this is less of a step than just a view of the results. Remember that “strange and magical” thing I mentioned? Well, as it turns out Workstation has added the floppy drive to your virtual hardware and created and added the floppy image to your floppy drive just fine even with those errors. Weird, weird, weird, but I’m not really complaining, now I can do my lab!

Hope this helps anyone still having problems with this.

• a file archiver – my favorite is 7-zip, but you can just as easily use any archiving program that is compatible with zip files
• a text plain text editor

For more advanced webapps, a more advanced context highlighting text editor can be helpful for coding custom style sheets or adding javascript customizations. And don’t forget icons! I use a combination of Paint.Net and @icon sushi (which covers everything but MacOS, which is because I can’t seem to find software for Linux or Windows to accommodate icons for it – recommendations anyone?).

The No “.webapp” WebApp

There are several ways to open webpages with Prism or WebRunner. The first and easiest is to install Prism, then create a link to it on your desktop. Then change that link adding the option “-uri” and the url of the page you want to open. Here are two examples:

Windows:
c:\your\path\to_prism\prism.exe -uri http://web_url_of_site c:\your\path\to_prism\prism.exe -uri c:\location\of\local_file

GNU/Linux:
/your/path/to_prism/prism -uri http://web_url_of_site /your/path/to_prism/prism -uri /location/of/local_file

This method does not require a webapp file, it just launches the website or file you specify. This means, no icons are required, but you also don’t get to add any custom themes or js files. This would be a really good method to use with applications like Wiki on a Stick (woas).

WebApp Bundles

The second method is also pretty straight forward (until you make it complex by adding more functionality). For the most basic webApp bundle you only need to create one file; the webapp.ini. Here’s the content from the example webapp.ini on the Prism wiki:

[Parameters] id=unique-app-id@unique-author-id.whatever uri=http://[the-url-what-you-want-to-connect-to]/ status=yes location=no sidebar=no navigation=no

The “id” parameter is required to be unique. I’ve been using my website’s url (as most others have done as well) preceded by the name of the site, but any unique identifier will work. The “uri” parameter is required and will accept both url of the target website as well as local file paths. Everything after that appears to be optional and the values show are the defaults. These remaining parameters are options to tell Prism whether or not to show certain GUI elements (“status” = status bar;”location” = address bar;”sidebar” = sidebar;”navigation” = well, quite frankly, I have no idea – maybe navigation buttons that haven’t been implemented yet?).

The next step after saving your changes to this document, is to use your archiving program to zip up this file creating, as an example, “your_webapp.zip”. Replace the “zip” extension with “webapp” and you’re ready to roll! Now either double click the webapp file or you can launch the webapp from the command line thusly:

Windows:
c:\your\path\to_prism\prism.exe -webapp your_webapp_bundle

GNU/Linux:
/your/path/to_prism/prism -webapp your_webapp_bundle

For more advanced webapps you can add icons, scripting and style sheet support (see the Prism page for more details).

Happy coding!

Prism
Prism/WebApp Bundle
Prism/Scripting
Prism/Styling
7-Zip
Paint.Net
@icon sushi
Wiki on a Stick

Frickin’ awesome.

Plenty of GNU/Linux resources from people all over the world on the internet. And that’s where this post comes in! IBM is dedicated to GNU/Linux, and not just by pouring millions into development and patenting! They have this huge database of how-tos, articles, download links and so forth available from their Linux developerWorks website. Like this nice little walk-through on how to use linux scripts to build your own wireless ISP. Now, you’d expect IBM to promote IBM Linux products (do they have those?), well, they don’t. This site’s instructions, recommendations and walk-throughs are all based around software that can be downloaded freely from other sources on the internet (checkout their downloads page if you don’t believe me!).

Links:
IBM developerWorks – Linux
IBM developerWorks – New to Linux
IBM developerWorks – Technical Library (be sure to checkout their LPI certification prep series!)

NPR Post: An Air of Portent That Borders on Menace
Artist: Low

NPR Post: Bloc Party’s ‘Second-Generation Blues’
Artist: Bloc Party
Comment: YEAH! Very cool! Somewhere between techno adn punk… maybe…

NPR Post: Fountains of Wayne: Long-Distance Dedication
Artist: Fountains of Wayne
Comment: Ah yes, local color, always a good way to win points.

NPR Post: An Electrified Mantra, Straight out of the ’90s
Artist: The Ponys
Comment: For some reason, I think The Cure or Blue Oyster Cult when I heard this, even though they really don’t sound like either of them…

NPR Post: Finding Comfort in Feeling Trapped
Artist: Delorean
Comment: Slightly depressing, but worth listening to.

NPR Post: Tempering Whimsy with a Sprinkling of Venom
Artist: The Bird and Bee

NPR Post: Warm and Cool, Buzzy and Insinuating
Artist: Maria Taylor

NPR Post: Grim Ingredients Form a Winsome, Pretty Package
Artist: Winterpills
Comment: The last few all had female vocals, I liked them, I’m not sure what they remind me of, but I take a trip backwards in time when I hear these.

NPR Post: Hummable Pop Gets Dark and Theatrical
Artist: The Besnard Lakes

[cpg_imagefixthumb:145]A few months ago I picked up a two pack of Great Stuff expanding foam insulation. I needed the first can when I bought it so the other can sat on a shelf in our storeroom until today. I’d decided to finally fill in the gaps around the window in our bathroom. So I got the can, shook it up and was about to put the applicator/handle on when I noticed that it wasn’t assembled. It’s supposed to come assembled. In other words – it was broken, damn – now what. I didn’t want to run out to the store to get another can just for another applicator.

That leaves just one option, trying to fix it myself. I tried gluing it using the only adhesive I had. Crazy-super-extra-hold-tight-glue-stuff (you know, the generic stuff), it didn’t work, I held it together for several minutes and it fell apart as soon as I removed pressure. So either the glue’s bad (it is an old tube) or whatever plastic they used for the applicator is some sort of polymer that resists chemical adhesion (well I guess it would be, after all Great Stuff doesn’t exactly stick to the applicator and it does a great job at sticking to my skin).

Well now what… Time to improvise! I looked around for a properly sized tube of some sort, preferably with a handy bend in it. Then I remembered, we have bendy straws in the kitchen! Woohoo – what can’t bendy straws do!

[cpg_imagefixthumb:144][cpg_imagefixthumb:143]I checked the size of the straw against the size of the threaded tube coming out of the can. The straw was just a little too small, That’s easily fixed I used a knife and a pair of scissors as augers to stretch out the end of the straw so that I could fit it on the can. Unfortunately this process twisted the straw a few times and made the straw too weak to press down onto the can’s tube without bending the straw (making the situation worse) or squirting some stuff out. I could have tried another straw (after all I had a whole pack to work with), but something told me I’d be going through quite a few straws before I got one that worked. Or worse yet, I wouldn’t get one that worked.

Hmmm… What to do? Actually, my wife had the solution. She handed me a green tube, which was very stiff and just a hundredth of an inch or so larger than the straw. My wife being sometimes the helpful sort, but more often than not the tortuous sort (she knows this, and seems to be just fine with it) told me with a smile that this tube was from a tampon.

Yikes… Well – I guess that works too…

[cpg_imagefixthumb:142]So I slid the green tube over the straw. Then, I carefully slid the straw onto the the can’s threaded tube. Carefully because Great Stuff is, well, great stuff, but it takes forever to clean off your skin and I really didn’t want it spraying out of the can while I was trying to put something that doesn’t quite fit onto it. [cpg_imagefixthumb:141]I then slid the green tube down the straw and over the can’s tube. This gave me an extra tight fit and enough rigidity to use the straw as the applicator. I then went to work on the window. I pressed on the can’s tube to start the flow, it hissed and the stuff started to flow! The tampon tube/straw combo worked! Thanks to the tampon tube it didn’t pop off right away and [cpg_imagefixthumb:146]the straw didn’t bend when I put pressure on it. The straw did pop off once when the can was nearly empty, but this was because I was pressing on the can’s tube where the straw was fitted to it, and I pushed it off – I was able to put it back on and continue.

So there you have it. If you loose the applicator or it breaks, you can always grab a tampon applicator and go.. to… town… Ahem, yeah.

After reviewing the “Fine Print” under the Super Saver Shipping information, the answer seems to be a no. But not a straight forward no:

“If you qualify for FREE Super Saver Shipping but your order also contains one or more ineligible items, you’ll be charged shipping fees for those ineligible items.”

So, unless you can find 1¢ items that qualify for the Super Saver Shipping, then I guess you’d have to pay for the shipping on those items. That could add up. Then again, if you’ve just got to have that Andy Griffith Show DVD, then I guess you wouldn’t mind!

…

Stupid cats…