Installing MySQL for Python in Ubuntu

Whilst on the grind this evening, hacking on some Python code in a newly-installed Ubuntu virtual machine, I needed to install MySQL for Python. Building the package, pre-installation, requires mysql_config — which I had some difficulty locating in the repositories. After flailing about a bit, the solution is to install the libmysqlclient-dev package. $ sudo …

Installing RExcelXML from The Omega Project in R

A quick post to capture the resolution to the past 20 minutes I have spent in frustration trying to install RExcelXML from Omegahat (The Omega Project for Statistical Computing). As this is a source package, the dependencies need to be satisfied manually (which is a bit baffling, frankly — surely there is a workaround for …

Netflix "Error N8156-6013" Resolution

A seemingly pervasive problem purportedly caused by a recent update to Silverlight, the Netflix streaming player bombed-out on me this evening, whinging about “Error N8156-6013” and complaining that it had issues both with playing DRM content and — for reasons which transcend reason — the date on my (virtual) computer. The solution was simple enough. …

Virtualbox + XP + Firefox = Netflix in GNU/Linux

Having recently wrested control of my machine from Windows Vista, I’ve had to implement a workaround for Netflix streaming media. Netflix, unfortunately, has yet to see the mistake in building their streaming architecture on Microsoft’s near-dead Silverlight platform. Until they recognize the error of their ways, I need a workaround. I’ve settled on virtualizing XP, …

Superfluous fstab Entries After Upgrading to Lucid LTS

A quick post to outline a stupefying problem I encountered after upgrading one of my machines to Ubuntu Lucid (10.04) this weekend. By way of background, I am anything but an early-adopter of OS releases — especially on my production hardware. I haven’t the time to debug network-critical software on systems on which I rely …

DD-WRT on the WRT54G v8

DD-WRT is, by far, my favorite third-party firmware for the Linksys WRT54G wireless router. I, personally, have three of these on my network — one as the primary access point and router and two as bridged repeaters — on which I have used several versions of dd-wrt. (I’ve also used Sveasoft and Hyper-WRT on these …

Core Dumps in Ubuntu

I resolved this year that I would take time to pursue one of my passions — computer science. As such, I am learning how to write applications for Linux. I’ve just spent 30 frustrating minutes trying to figure out why on earth my deliberate segmentation fault in the small C program I have written is …

Broadcom 43xx Wireless Card in Linux

Today I finally resolved what has been one of the most frustrated Linux issues I have faced yet — getting my bloody Dell Truemobile 1300 wireless card (stock in my Dell Inspiron 5100 notebook) to function in Linux. The problem has been that those bastards at Broadcom — the corporation that manufactures the controller for …