Some New Year Resolutions

The new year is just around the corner and since I have time on my hands, I decided to come up with a list of my new year's resolution. I usually don't do this but what the heck!

So here goes the list (in no particular order):

1. Remove pirated software from desktop PC and try using legit ones
• I am a software developer by profession and I have realized that using pirated versions of software I use almost everyday is unfair. This realization came to fruition when me and some officemates had casual chats about the compensation given to us not being at par with the effort we expend. Empathy is key -- imagine those software developers who aren't getting paid enough for their troubles because people pirate the software they make and sales go a bit down. I have started this initiative by buying a legit copy of Windows 7 Home Premium. Although I usually opt to use FOSS, there are some softwares in my desktop PC that are pirated (most of them are games).
2. Create something useful
• I have been wanting to create something useful for some time now. It's about time I put to use what I read in those technical books I've bought. So for 2011, I am forcing myself to create a simple but useful computer program which will hopefully help me learn new stuff and come up with something useful (and hopefully profitable). Of course, something useful isn't entirely limited to computer programs but programming is my top skill so I can't think of any other thing. But I'll keep an open mind. This will also help wean me off of wasting too much time in social networking sites.
3. Shed some pounds
• And so my dream of becoming a 200-lb stud may come to a crashing halt come 2011 because my wife keeps telling me that I'm well on my way to fatdom which I feel she abhors. And since I love my wife more than my 200-lb dream, then I need to sweat it out as soon as possible. (For the record, I am currently at 198 lbs; 2 lbs shy of my dream. Hehe.)
4. Improve my writing skills
• I admit that my writing is a bit blah so I want to improve on it. But I really don't know how. All I know is I like to write stuff but what I write turn out to be mundane. I feel that I can do better. I guess I'll start by writing more stuff in this blog and at the same time try as hard as I can to make them a little more interesting.

I'll keep it to 4 for now which I think is already a handful anyway.

Here's to 2010; Onward to 2011!

Blogger in Mobile View

At 2am in the morning I wondered if Blogger can be viewed in mobile format when using a mobile device. Fortunately it can but the blog owner has to opt-in before his/her blog can be viewed in mobile format. Here is what you do.

(1) Log in to Blogger in Draft and you will see a pop-up message telling you of Blogger Mobile Templates.

(1a) If not, then you can go to Settings » Email & Mobile and select Yes in the Mobile Template (beta) portion.

(2) Now your Blogger blog will be viewed in Mobile format once viewed on a mobile device.

That's it!

** Note that the template you are using should be convertible to the mobile template -- meaning if you skinned your blog using a customized template, then the mobile template cannot be activated.

Clean Up the GRUB2 Menu

I'm on my Christmas break and so I get to use my personal computer most of the time. I am currently using an Ubuntu run netbook and lately I did a kernel upgrade as per advice of the update manager.

I noticed that the Grub menu at the boot screen is presenting me with way too many choices of the different kernels installed and it looks messy (for me). So today, since I am on vacay and I don't have much to do, I decided to try and clean up the Grub menu. This will not only make the Grub menu look cleaner, it will also remove the unused kernels and recover some disk space.

First up, I had to make sure which is the latest kernel installed so I don't accidentally remove that one. So I went to the command line, issued an command and got a result of the latest kernel installed.

ric@ubuntu-nb:~$ uname -r
2.6.32-27-generic

Then I checked what kernels are currently installed.

ric@ubuntu-nb:~$ sudo update-grub2
[sudo] password for ric:
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-27-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-27-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-26-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-26-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-25-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-25-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-24-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-21-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /memtest86+.bin
Found Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition on /dev/sda1
Found Windows NT/2000/XP on /dev/sda3
done
ric@ubuntu-nb:~$

In my current setup, I have 5 kernels installed. I decided to keep the 2 most recent and remove the other 3.

ric@ubuntu-nb:~$ sudo apt-get remove linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic linux-image-2.6.32-24-generic linux-image-2.6.32-25-generic
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic linux-image-2.6.32-24-generic
linux-image-2.6.32-25-generic
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 3 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 295MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?

In my installation, after the removal of each image, the Grub update script is run. To be sure that the Grub menu is updated, you can run the update-grub2 command again.

ric@ubuntu-nb:~$ sudo update-grub2
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-27-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-27-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-26-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-26-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /memtest86+.bin
Found Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition on /dev/sda1
Found Windows NT/2000/XP on /dev/sda3
done
ric@ubuntu-nb:~$

Notice that the 3 other images have been removed.

GRAPHICAL WAY:

One can also use the Synaptic Package Manager to remove these images. Just go to System » Administration » Synaptic Package Manager. Do a quick search for linux-image and look for the versions you want to remove. It should look like linux-image-[version]-generic in the Package list. Simply click the green box and select "Mark for Complete Removal" from the drop-down menu.

2-day Extreme Outdoor Weekend

What's the best way to de-stress from work? Inject some extreme, adrenaline pumping activities during the weekend! Last Nov 27 - 28, 2010, some friends and I spent the weekend in Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon doing some of these activities.

Part 1: White Water River Rafting, Cagayan River, Cagayan de Oro

The best extreme outdoor activity to be done in Cagayan de Oro is the infamous White Water River Rafting (okay, it wasn’t really white water, more on the murky, brown water rafting). So we rented out some red rafts and rode off to the starting point of the adventure. There’s actually not much to say about it except that it’s wild, scary, fun, wet and cold adventure.

With several courses to choose from, we picked the Advanced course which had 21 major rapids -- the first being a Class V. Our group was lucky as no one fell overboard; I cannot say the same for our other companions as they actually managed to capsize their raft. If you're a visitor to Cagayan de Oro and have some adrenaline junkie blood in you, then you should definitely try this extreme outdoor adventure. It's offered  all year round (unlike other parts of the Philippines where rafting is offered but seasonal) so there's really no reason not to try it.

Also, don't hesitate to get the photo/video coverage offered by whatever company you decide to hire. It's really fun to look back on what you conquered in the river.