Platte die du bist im Rechner,
Geheiligt werde dein Speicher,
Deine Bits kommen,
Dein Raid geschehe,
wie im Router so im Desktop.
Unser täglich Video gib uns heute.
Und vergib uns unsere Crashs,
wie auch wir vergeben unseren Controllern.
Und führe uns nicht in ScanDisks,
sondern erlöse uns von Defrags.
Denn dein ist das Bit und das Byte
und die Error in Ewigkeit > /dev/null

OK, so why do I break the silence? I am currently setting up a linux system as base for my diploma thesis. As I like Debian but wanted to have some more comfort I installed Ubuntu in its newest version 6.10, called Edgy. Dapper Drake (6.06) still is the LTS release and Edgy is known to have some problems but overall everything worked fine for me.
I downloaded the DVD, started the Live Ubuntu version and installed Ubuntu to my harddrive just by simple clicking. Some 30 minutes later everything was ready to run. And it runs fine!

Debian’s APT/DPKG system is just superb. Combined with the nice given user interface its just plain great. You can select from a large amount of good software to install without the need to compile or configure anything. Ubuntu is currently probably the best approach for a Desktop Linux overall. And in my opinion with all its comfort and the typical Linux software features it can stand up to Windows, MacOS X etc and outperform them.
I do not know how to describe it, but I am some kind of addicted to Ubuntu now. It just gives me everything I need and more. Features I haven’t even thought about that are just there without slowing down the machine while eating up my performance. I am happy…

…until now! For development I am using Eclipse. A great and free IDE especially for Java development and more. Fast and supportive with a large amount of plug-ins to use (a post about those is coming, too ^^). Again, Eclipse 3.2.1 made absolutely no problems during its installation with Ubuntu’s own program installer/deinstaller.
As I am developing in Java I needed a JDK. JDK 1.4.2 was already configured and ready to use but is out-dated. As JDK6 is the newest installment I wanted this package. Apparently, even if final for some time now, Debian still counts it as unstable. So your only chance is to get the binary from Sun’s official homepage with an own installer given (so no problem here) or to add the unstable packages sources to your source.list and install the “unstable” package (runs fine!!!).

Everything worked, you might say. What is he complaining about, you might ask. Those were no real problems, you might state. And you are right. BUT development is nothing without code. And code is often stored in a repository, in this case a Subversion repository.
Tigris, the Subversion developer, brings an own Eclipse Plug-In called Subclipse. It offers easy access for checkout, commit, update, delete etc. By using the Eclipse Update Manager it is an ease to install it. Strictly speaking Eclipse is doing the work while you are getting another java (damn… I couldn’t withstand this joke!).
Subclipse uses the JavaHL adapter by standard, which is part of the Subversion project and used as native API (per JNI) to access Subversion. Again, it’s just package that can be installed with the synaptic package manager. I did so, installed it, installed the libapr0 as needed too and thought everything will run fine now. WRONG! Eclipse did not start anymore.

What has happened? System is clean. 5 seconds ago it was still running. Now it crashes while loading the Subclipse perspective. Why, oh why?
First of all I cleaned Eclipse from the Subclipse installation. Eclipse started again but after installing Subclipse again I had the same problems again. So I reinstalled the complete Eclipse SDK after cleaning every configuration. After updating to Subclipse Eclipse was still running and could be started. But after changing to the Subclipse perspective it crashes. Damn, I thought. What is the problem?
I asked my magical crystal ball (also known as Google) what the problem could be. And it gave me an answer straight away. It was neither Eclipse nor Subclipse but libsvn-javahl in addition to libapr0 that caused the error. Ubuntu Dapper Drake (6.06) had no problems with its JavaHL compiled package. Eclipse, Subclipse and JavaHL work fine. But since Edgy the package seems to have problems with apr. Those problems are well known but still the package was officially opened to Edgy (at least so it seems).
So long story short: After trying to figure out what the problem was, I could locate JavaHL as the root of all evil. I deinstalled it and am using the Subclipse Java SVN API. That may not be the best solution but it works. There are some “howto’s” that explain ways to compile your own JavaHL with another apr that will work with Subclipse but I am just too lazy.

So, what do we learn from this? Never trust a running system: If it’s running, it can still crash! And of course, always ask Google before complaining on a Mailing List.

I don’t want to make this very long as the new year has just started and should not be filled with that much stupidity right along but what troubled me the last weeks:
I got my Wii as the countdown suggested and I am very happy. It is a good and solid console with more good games to come. The control works great as if you have never used anything else before. The Party Games like Wii Sports and Wii Play are pretty good. Much fun with some people and some beer ^^’. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is just terrific, great, best game from Nintendo ’till this day. Most other games don’t work as they should but time will tell if Nintendo can keep up some more good games, as every console has a hard game start. Red Steel should have been the new experience in the Ego-Shooter genre but it did not quite work out. Most reviews rated it pretty bad. I tested it for 2 days and I must say: The controls could be better but are easy to adopt. After some hours you will know how to fight, how to move. From then on it is a funny and cool game with intermediate graphics and a very nice Arcade-Feeling like House of the Dead with your Lightgun. A sequel is already in the work so I hope they learn from their mistakes and will make a great next-new-gen-Ego-Shooter ^^’. And as NexGen Wars shows I am not alone with my positive thinking.
Two things could be better. First the Virtual Console. Itself is just a great idea and works great but the prices for such old games like the first Sonic, the first Legend of Zelda or R-Type are with 5€ to 10€ just by far too much. And the overall internet capability of the Wii is pretty limited. Currently no game can be played with others online, not even Red Steel and things like the WiiShop are pretty slow. Everything requires reload. I hope Nintendo will improve and focus their work on these two things.

Everything else just somehow goes and goes on. University sux as always, still no very concrete diploma thesis. Life itself is the hell of a burden ^^. Some good movies have been released. Apocalypto by Mel Gibson. Maybe controversial but I pretty much liked it. It was true and strong with great stills. The newest James Bond… long story short, best Bond movie with the second best Bond actor. Now I am looking forward to Babel and Pan’s Labyrinth, two very promising movies and I will tell you about as soon as I have seen them.

For now… the end is near… the year is over… another one just started… 2007… The End!

Lik-Sang closed down
Yep, it’s true! Our beloved Lik-Sang has closed its doors. The number one contact point for all people to get their Asia imports of Games or Consoles in Hong-Kong discontinues its work. I do not want to take positions here but probably because of Sony. Sony sued Lik-Sang to stop exporting PSPs to Great-Britain and Europe. After several months and years Sony has won the legal proceeding in Great-Britain. The court marks the import to Europe of PSPs (and probably PS3 later on) illegal. Basically private import is everybody’s right in Europe. But if the platform suddenly shuts down there is no place to buy Games that never get released in Europe or Consoles that are released about 4 Month later than in other regions. OK, Lik-Sang had their problems with copy stations and it is ok to sue for that but an import stop is paternalism. I got my Nintendo DS from Lik-Sang month before the European release and cheaper even with shipment costs. Runs fine, no problems! I did so with games too. But to say they sued Lik-Sang to protect the customer because of uncertified power supplies is far beyond common sense. So until another brand of Pacific Game Technology Limited opens its doors we’ll stay with Play-Asia.

C64 Orchestra
I am a big fan of chiptunes. I love it when some freakin’ n3Rd5 in bunny costumes make music with a GameBoy and a three line synthesizer. It’s just awesome! So what is this about? I tripped over the C64 Orchestra. The Dutch Micromusic community plays C64 chiptunes LIVE. Not really chiptunes but as an orchestra. I understand if somebody says chiptunes suck but those old tunes rearranged on classic instruments is just fabulous and can compare with nowadays game music. *Tscha* Chris Huelsbeck was a genius back then and still is. So for everyone who is as dumb as I am (at least with musical taste) here are some links you might like:

Nanozoa
Chiptunes are bound to the Demoscene. Demos had and have chiptune music. Even today with MP3s and Ogg a lot of Demos still use oldskool ModTracker sounds to give you the right feeling (and save beautiful bytes ^^). So if you know the Kewlers and the demos Protozoa or Asterozoa you may find the name Nanozoa suspicious. Nanozoa is a small game by Raist from the Marshals. The Asteroid like game sends you into a human body to fight all the germs. It combines an Asteroid like control with an R-Type weapon system. It’s nothing special but still better than playing Solitair or Minesweeper ^^. It is just fun to play! The game is about 10MB big and can be downloaded from here. The whole game is black and white so do not adjust your monitor. It’s supposed to look like that with its beautiful greytones.

That’s it for this week. Let’s see what will come next. Another week at the University, more legal proceedings, more stuff to not care about and much more nonsense from the Internet.

Source of Pictures: Nanozoa, Lik-Sang

I thought the beginning of a new semester, which probably (and hopefully) is my last, is a wonderful moment to start its own dispensable, needless and uninteresting site to spread more nonsense on the internet. And I will intensely work hard to do so!

Also I want to use this post as an announcement. Currently there is not much content, not much to read or see, but that will change very soon. Layout is in the work chain and content is permanently produced by my arcane but vivid mind.

There will be some Fun Stuff, there will be some Stuff about Software/Programs I tested (and which crashed my PC), maybe some code or tricks and there will be a lot of Letters and Words which try to describe my studying at the University.

For now I will prepare the first real posts, continue the layout and leave you with the impression that another student has its own blog to fill with more or less content nobody cares about… but you will, I promise! ^^’