One handy feature of yum is that you can specify the file you want installed and it will install any package that it is in. I installed /lib/ld-linux.so.2 and ran snx again only to have some other files missing. In the end I installed everything I needed with the following command.

yum install /lib/ld-linux.so.2 libX11.so.6 libpam.so.0 libstdc++.so.5

Well that’s it (until the next upgrade).

I have been trying to learn inkscape so that I could have a vector based version of the HPR logo. This would be useful for printing out large posters for use at the Linux Festivals that we attend. I had been following the excellent tutorials over at screencasters.heathenx.org, and while their site is brilliant, my progress has been very slow. So slow that a new year festival season is upon us and I had made no progress. Finally I just gave up and asked them for help. Not only did they say yes but they asked if they could “tweak it slightly”. You can see the results of that here.

Spurred on by that success, I’m putting the call out for some help with a new version of the scheduling system for HPR. I’ve been working on it for some time now and it’s also going nowhere. I’d like to release it so that it can be used by anyone who wants to setup a syndicated community podcast network like ours. I’ve put some thoughts into the design and would like to get involvement from people with experience in doing this type of thing.

[root@laptop checkpoint]# ldd /usr/bin/snx | grep "not found"
        libstdc++.so.5 => not found

This can be solved easily enough using the command

yum install compat-libstdc++-33.i686

You should now be able to type snx without errors. You only now need to accept the VPN Certificate by loging in via the command line and press “Y”.

user@pc:~$ snx -s my-checkpoint-server -u username
Check Point's Linux SNX
build XXXXXXXXXXXX
Please enter your password:
SNX authentication:
Please confirm the connection to gateway: my-checkpoint-server VPN Certificate
Root CA fingerprint: AAAA BBB CCCC DDD EEEE FFF GGGG HHH IIII JJJ KKKK
Do you accept? [y]es/[N]o:

Finally you should be able to use the client and login.

I’m not making this exception because it was “better”, I would find it impossible to make such a call. The HPR community produces a massive amount of content and I have listened to every single one at least once. There has not been a single HPR show that I have not enjoyed and learned from.

Nor is it that it was submitted by Klaatu as given that he has submitted 12 ½% of all shows, I would have written this long before now. Sure today’s ‘topic’ was special – a interview with Patrick Volkerding the man behind SlackWare, the longest continually developed Linux distribution – but we’ve had other interviews with people of note before.

The reason for this deviation is simply because it embodies the qualities that I feel define Hacker Public Radio.

It’s about taking a topic and exploring it, looking at all sides, exposing otherwise hidden and unknown facts, it’s about events, it’s about community, it’s about people, it’s about technology, it’s about music, it’s about history, it’a about life, it’s about questioning - everything - our very existence – space time – ancient cultures. In short it’s about “Any topic that is of interest to Hackers”

If you have never listened to a HPR then this is surely the best sample of what you are likely to find. Sure it arrived just in time to fill an otherwise empty slot, the audio isn’t perfect, it might not follow a script, random people wander in and out, there may be tangents from the topic at hand but if you can open your ears to listen you’ll hear the passion of the community, our community. Then maybe, just maybe, you too will be inspired to share your unique point of view with us.

readlink -f

cat /usr/local/bin/syncclock
#!/bin/bash
/usr/sbin/ntpdate -s nl.pool.ntp.org
/sbin/hwclock --adjust
/sbin/hwclock --systohc

If you are running a Linux Client on a windows network where there is no access to a NTP server, you might want to use the samba command net time to get the time and net time set to set it. Adding the following command to the roots crontab file will set the time on your linux bot against the windows primary domain controller each afternoon.

* 12 * * * net time set > /dev/null 2>&1

If you want to play hear them regardless of your device, here are the direct links to the audio streams:

• rtsp://live1.rte.ie/redundant/radio1.ra
• rtsp://live2.rte.ie/redundant/2fm.ra
• rtsp://live2.rte.ie/redundant/lyric.ra
• rtsp://live2.rte.ie/redundant/rnag.ra

Smplayer (a windows version of mplayer) or VLC (a cross platform media player) will have no problems playing the streams.

Enjoy.

SSL Network Extender is a browser plug-in that provides clientless remote access, while delivering full network connectivity for any IP-based application.

It works based on java so the first thing you will need to install is sun’s java runtime client. You will need the partner repository installed and your system updated.

sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin sun-java6-fonts

Once that is done you can restart Firefox and browse over to java.com to make sure that you have java working.

You should see a message like this:

Verified Java Version
Congratulations!
You have the recommended Java installed (Version 6 Update 24).

Once java is working you can go to the snx website. If you don’t know the url ask your network administrator. You may be notified about popups so just allow them for your site.

Once you have accepted and reloaded the page you will be prompted to enter your username and password.

After this you will be asked to install an update to the software. This installs the snx software in the background. One thing to note is that it is looking for the root password and not the sudo password. Ubuntu ships without this set so you’ll need to set a root password using the following command.

sudo passwd

You can confirm it’s set correctly using the command

su -

and if you see the prompt change to “#” then you know it’s working. Switch back to the snx_install.sh window and enter the password.

Once you do that you should very briefly see a message saying that the install was successful. At this point the standard snx software is installed but you will probably see the error

Failed to initialize

When you run the snx client on the command line you will see:

user@pc:~$ snx
snx: error while loading shared libraries: libstdc++.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

The solution is to install libstdc++5

sudo aptitude install libstdc++5

Once that is done typing snx should be error free and give you something like this:

user@pc:~$ snx
failed to open file: /home/username/.snxrc
Valid attributes are:
- server          SNX server to connet to
- sslport         The SNX SSL port (if not default)
- username        the user name
- certificate     certificate file to use
- calist          directory containing CA files
- reauth          enable automatic reauthentication. Valid values { yes, no }
- debug           enable debug output. Valid values { yes, 1-5 }
- cipher          encryption algorithm to use. Valid values { RC4 / 3DES }
- proxy_name      proxy hostname
- proxy_port      proxy port
- proxy_user      username for proxy authentication
user@pc:~$

You’re still not home and dry because you may need to accept the VPN Certificate. To get around this you need to login via the command line and press “Y”.

user@pc:~$ snx -s my-checkpoint-server -u username
Check Point's Linux SNX
build XXXXXXXXXXXX
Please enter your password:
SNX authentication:
Please confirm the connection to gateway: my-checkpoint-server VPN Certificate
Root CA fingerprint: AAAA BBB CCCC DDD EEEE FFF GGGG HHH IIII JJJ KKKK
Do you accept? [y]es/[N]o:

Finally you should be able to use the client and login.

I would like to have some mini-business cards made. The idea been to give them out at shows, to people interested in recording a show or to potential interviewees. I’ve also seen them used to add a touch of professionalism to recorded dvd’s and cd’s. Despite watching the entire http://screencasters.heathenx.org/ series I’m still lacking anything approaching artistic flair.  So I’m putting out the call for help to design the business cards.

The back

Let’s talk about the back first. It should have a QR code to the Hacker Public Radio About page and the rest can be anything. At the moment I have the list of contact information but  feel free to do what you like. We’ll need to pick the “best” one as there can only be one version of the back.

The Front

We have a lot more freedom with the front as there can be up to 100 different versions in a print run. So if you send in a version it’s very likely that it will get printed. Let your imagination run wild but keep in mind that the design should embody what HPR is about (good luck with that !)

The site moo.com where I’m going to get them printed has design guidelines and the size you are working to is 874 x 378 pixels @ 300dpi.

The Prize ?

My eternal gratitude, gratitude of everyone on the planet for not inflicting my attempt at art on them. Seriously I’ll add your name to the contributers page on HPR and will also mail you 10 cards with your design. And if you’re willing to pick it up or pay the postage you can have one of these computer books.