last games

I just finished Railroad Tycoon 3, Zelda: Twilight Princess and I'm starting Supreme Commander...

I've enjoyed each of these games and I'll give my own impression in several posts...

Also, I've been very busy with work... and with my sister's marriage.

Hiding Inside a Rainbow � Didier Stevens

Hiding Inside a Rainbow � Didier Stevens

Nice read...
(taken from here)

HD-DVD key fiasco is an example of 21st century digital revolt - Download Squad

HD-DVD key fiasco is an example of 21st century digital revolt - Download Squad

I especially like the Joe Rogan Quote: "Dude, you can't remove something from the Internet... It's like removing pee from a swimming poll"... So True...

Installing Cups on HP-UX

Important Note: Installing CUPS on HP-UX will overwrite important files. I was not aware that swremove did not restore the previous binaries. Make sure you make a backup of the lp basic back-end or are able to re-install the package from the install medium. I do not have access to an HP-UX machine and cannot help anyone with more than what is written here.

Guide to installing Cups on HP-UX
(copied here for future reference, and for anyone on the net who needs this information)
Taken from several sources on the net, with the official one being:
http://www.cups.org/doc-1.1/sam.html#BUILDING_INSTALLING

CUPS is supposed to be the "Common Unix printing system". It compiled on all the Unix platforms I ever worked on, although sometimes I thing it should be renamed CLiPS ("Common Linux printing system")

Important note: the guide does not include the Foomatic-rip filters and is therefore very limited in functionalities. To install the Foomatic filters once you have completed this guide see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foomatic and http://www.linux-foundation.org/en/OpenPrinting/Database/Foomatic

1)The Basics
We'll build from source, so you need to have the latest compiler and makefile Gnu tools. (at minimum GNU make is required) You can get those from:
http://hpux.connect.org.uk/
http://hpux.connect.org.uk/hppd/hpux/Gnu/make-3.81/
http://hpux.connect.org.uk/hppd/hpux/Gnu/gcc-4.1.2/
And the run-time dependencies (for GCC):
http://hpux.connect.org.uk/hppd/hpux/Gnu/gettext-0.16.1/
http://hpux.connect.org.uk/hppd/hpux/Development/Libraries/libiconv-1.11/

You also need some libraries from for Jpeg, tiff, png and zlib support (theses are used at CUPS compile time)
http://hpux.connect.org.uk/hppd/hpux/X11/Graphics/jpeg-6b/
http://hpux.connect.org.uk/hppd/hpux/X11/Graphics/tiff-3.8.2/
http://hpux.connect.org.uk/hppd/hpux/X11/Graphics/libpng-1.2.16/
http://hpux.connect.org.uk/hppd/hpux/Misc/zlib-1.2.3/

once copied, install using (do this for each file):

swinstall -s /tmp/filename-version-0.1.depot \*

you might want to copy all the software into a depot, and install from there:

swcopy -s /tmp/filename-version-0.1.depot \* @ hostA:/tmp/sw
swinstall -s hostA:/tmp/sw


2)EPM
You'll want to make packages for the HP software depot(or maybe another package in case you to install it on something else). We'll use EPM, the package-builder from ESP, the company behind Cups.

EPM support the following packages type (from the makefile):
aix, bsd, deb, gui, inst tardist, pkg, native, osx, portable, rpm, swintall depot
And the website says it support the following OS:
AIX, Debian GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, HP-UX, IRIX, Mac OS X, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Red Hat Linux, Slackware Linux, Solaris, and Tru64 UNIX.
http://www.easysw.com/epm/
Download the source from:
http://www.easysw.com/epm/software.php
and copy to /tmp
Extract using:
gunzip epm-4.0-source.tar.gz
tar -xvf epm-4.0-source.tar

Compile:
cd /tmp/epm-4.0
./compile
gmake swinstall depot

This will make a .depot file in the hpux-version directory. Install this software using

gunzip /tmp/epm-4.0/hpux-11.11-hppa/epm-4.0-hpux-11.11-hppa.depot.gz
swinstall -s /tmp/epm-4.0/hpux-11.11-hppa/epm-4.0-hpux-11.11-hppa.depot \*

Again, you might want to copy it first:
gunzip /tmp/epm-4.0/hpux-11.11-hppa/epm-4.0-hpux-11.11-hppa.depot.gz
swcopy -s /tmp/epm-4.0/hpux-11.11-hppa/epm-4.0-hpux-11.11-hppa.depot \* @ hostA:/tmp/sw
swinstall -s hostA:/tmp/sw

3)CUPS
Get cups
http://www.easysw.com/cups/software.php

and copy to /tmp
Extract using:
gunzip cups-1.2.8.tar.gz
tar -xvf cups-1.2.8.tar

Compile
cd /tmp/cups-1.2.8
./configure
gmake depot

If it does find the Jpeg, Zlib, Tiff or Png Librairies, see:
http://www.cups.org/doc-1.1/sam.html#BUILDING_INSTALLING

Install
gunzip /tmp/cups-1.2.8/dist/cups-1.2.8-hpux-11.11-hppa.depot.gz
swinstall -s /tmp/cups-1.2.8/dist/cups-1.2.8-hpux-11.11-hppa.depot \*

or
gunzip /tmp/cups-1.2.8/dist/cups-1.2.8-hpux-11.11-hppa.depot.gz
swcopy -s /tmp/cups-1.2.8/dist/cups-1.2.8-hpux-11.11-hppa.depot \* @ hostA:/tmp/sw
swinstall -s hostA:/tmp/sw

Congratulation, you have a basic (almost nothing included) working Cups!

4)Finishing touch
Configuration files are in:
/etc/cups
Logs are in
/var/log/cups

To add a printer:
lpadmin -p printer -E -v device -m ppd_file
To add a printer using the old system V interface files:
lpadmin -i/path_to_file/file

VT, My toughts

I was listening to Twit 95. I stopped the playback after they stopped talking about the Virgina Tech school shooting, because I feel I have to get this opinion written first.

This is a horrible tragedy. A useless lost of life and something that should not be. We all know that, and we all agree.

But the similarities mostly ends there. And no one can agree on what should be done.

I especially blame the "traditional" media on doing the wrong thing.

They are all focused on the killer, the circumstances behind the killing, the dead, and the police response...

Sorry, as much respect I have for the dead, I think they should focus their attention on what is important now that it's over:

The living. And the heroes.

The teacher who try to save his student deserve more respect than he is getting right now. He gave his life, so his students could say "I am alive... thank to him"

I know there are others, but we don't hear about them.

And please, help the students. They are going trough a hard time right now.

Some will simply get over it easily.
Some won't be able to get near the school.
Some will have nightmares for months.
Some will commit suicide.

You will probably never hear from them, but they will have to carry the burden of for the rest of their lives.

I live in Montreal. I was 9 when, in 1989, someone decide that 14 women didn't deserve to live.

And it's been seventeen years since the Polytechnique shooting, and the first thing the local journalist did when VT happened was to go down and ask the student what they thought of the shooting.
Simple math will tell you that the oldest student was probably 4 or 5 in 1989. They don't remember a thing, and they simply said: "It's horrible. Now excuse me, I got finals in 2 days, I have to work"

And I think it's good that it has come to this.

And to the students of Virginia Tech:

Please go on with your lives. DO NOT GIVE UP. DO NOT LOSE HOPE. You have been caught in a what should have not be. Please, do not let the sacrifices be in vain. You can all do it. Cry all the tears in your body if you have to, but please, do not let the killer get what he wanted.

Be firm
Be strong

Surprise us all...

Online dating, the weird and useless bunch

Well, it's been a bit more than a month since my last 'thoughts' on the concept of dating...

There's a smell of spring in the air, and I'm seeing more people taking a practical approach to the "I'm still single" paradigm.

They tried online dating.

While I haven't seen the results yet, I decided to investigate the idea myself, and do a bit of scouting of the various website first.

Well... let's just say it's a bit overwhelming... I'm up to 26 links now, and still counting...

I won't list all the sites here (they are on del.icio.us anyway: http://del.icio.us/ve2dmn/dating ), but I did notice a couple of interesting site that are out of the ordinary:

Flirting in Traffic is the most bizarre one. You make an account, and they give you an ID tag to put on your car. Anyone who finds you interesting can note the ID and try to contact you online. It's kind of a reverse online dating thing...

PodDater is another strange one. You make a video of yourself, and than people can download the video to their IPods (or any other movie-capable portable media player), like a TV dating service. You can subscribe to it, like a podcast.

On the same idea as PodDater, VerbDate is a dating site made to connect 2 people via voice chat, you can have a sort of phone date.

Than, there's Engage.com , where people vote for who should meet whom. Kind of an interesting concept.

Then there's the free sites:

OkCupid seems to be a very popular one. You can take a test that will then evaluate who you will possibly be most compatible with, based on common answers...

PlentyOfFish is another big free one. Seems basic, but has been going on for a couple of years now...


These are all probably just fine, but none of these would actually work around here, because of how English-centric they are. No French equivalent means it automatically disqualify more than half of the local resident...

Because, in the end, If there isn't a critical mass, it will simply fail...

Cellphone

So I lost my phone (A 2 1/2 year old Nokia 6820) , and I was looking for "something else" to replace it...

I'm saying "something else" but I'm not sure what type of device I'm going to buy. I'm still waiting for the magical device that will do everything my old Palm, my Mp3 player and a phone does and still have the same form factor, but this type of device have yet to materialize...

Still, there are some interesting devices out there, and so, after a bit of searching, I found three intertesting phones: 2 development platform, and 3 consumer devices.

First up, the Greenphone

The Greenphone is Trolltech's development platform for Qtopia.

It's a phone with a software stack based on a Linux kernel and the Qtopia developpement platform. It's a device targeted at software developers, and enthusiasts (which I am, kind of).

On the hardware side, it's a cross between a medium range phone with a camera and a touch screen PDA. Interesting specs includes:

• Touch-screen
• 64Meg RAM (+128Meg Flash)
• MicroSD card slot
  
• GSM Tri-Band
• Bluetooth
• Standard Mini-usb connector
• 1.3Megapixel Camera
• Based on Linux 2.6 + Qtopia
  

It's a bit pricey at 700$US, but the ability to develop my own applications for it using a platform that I am familiar with was interesting... It's a great phone, but in the end, I'll just wait and see...

Next up The Openmoko Based Neo1973

Again this one too is a development platform.

• Touch-screen
• 128Meg RAM (+64Meg Flash)
• MicroSD card slot
  
• GSM Tri-Band
• Bluetooth
• Standard Mini-usb connector
• Based on Linux + GTK

While it's a bit less cool looking, and doesn't have a camera, at 350$US it's half the price of the Greenphone. However, I'm still not sold on such a device because of the amount of work I would have to put up an Mp3 player inside. It's a great future phone platform, and I will definitely keep a eye on this one also.


The next phones I looked at is the Treo 650 and 680.

I prefer the 650 as a form factor, but the 680 has much better hardware:

The 650 has:

• 32Meg flash (23 acceissble)
• SD / MMC slot
• PalmOS 5
• Touch-Screen
• 0.3 megapixel camera
• Bluetooth

And the 680:

• 64 MB onboard NAND (+32 MB SDRAM split )
• touch-screen display
• SD / MMC Slot
• PalmOS 5.9
  
• 0.3 megapixel camera
• Bluetooth

While this phone looks nice, it's getting old. (650 date back to fall 2004). The PalmOS is slowly losing momentum and while I've been using it for years, and I am quite used to it, but It's getting harder and harder to get new applications for this platform.

Both phone also have only a 0.3 megapixel camera, which is kind of low quality compared to other offerings

On the plus side, Both phones have a qwerty keyboard as well as a full SD slot.

The price for the 680 is around 500$CAN without a contract, and 300$CAN with a 2 year contract. Not sure if I'm going to get this one...

The last phone I looked at was the Nokia E61.

This is the closest phone I could find to a Palm phone without running Windows Mobile. It runs on Symbian OS and uses S60 for the smartphone capabilities.

Features:

• Touch-screen
• 64Meg RAM
  
• MiniSD card slot
  
• GSM Tri-Band
• Bluetooth
• Standard Mini-usb connector
• Symbian OS 9.1
  

Plus 2 killer features that are removed on the north America E62 equivalent:

• WiFi
• SIP client

While it lacks a Camera, the wifi and SIP capabilities is very interesting. Also, SymbianOS is a more modern and vibrant OS with lost of third party applications.

The only real downside is the price: 600$CAN, and can only be bought as an unlocked phone.

For now it's a toss between the Nokia E61 and the Treo680.

War on Terror, the board game TM - a satirical board game from TerrorBull Games

War on Terror, the board game TM - a satirical board game from TerrorBull Games

Do the war on terror thing at home!! Be the corporate-sponsored corrupted leaders or the religious-fantic terrorist.The objective of the game is total dominiation... er.... liberation... :)

Crypto-Gram: March 15, 2007

Crypto-Gram: March 15, 2007

I hate to say this, but Schneier is right in his latest newsletter... a piece called "CYA Security"... CYA for Cover Your Ass...

A worthy read... and a depressing one if you ask me...

What Could Possibly Be Worse Than Failure?

The daily WTF "changed" name recently (or rather defined the WTF part) and the owner has posted an explanation for the new name:
What Could Possibly Be Worse Than Failure?
It is an interesting question and I think it represent the current state of much of the public sector in Quebec. In his explanation, Alex Papadimoulis (the author) explains that keeping the bad working system is actually worse than simply scrapping it and starting over. Even worse, the final perception of such an endeavor to the designed is "It works!", thus the lessons that should have been learned from the failure aren't... And thus the problem is repeated over and over again... It is the logic behind things like voting machines problems in the US: no matter how bad it is, as long as it does the minimum at the lowest price, it will be bought.

Of course, the real problem is that it will only be dealt with after it's too late...