demko.ca
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How to get free TV in Winnipeg
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2012-1-1
Since December, 2011, all the over-the-air (aka OTA, aka antenna) television stations
in Winnipeg, Canada have completed their switch to digital HD broadcasting.
This means, that with an antenna you can receive free, high definition TV
with an antenna. Combined with Netflix (and say, a Boxee Box), you can easily
ditch your overpriced cable TV service.
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How to Build a Backup System
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2011-12-1
Backup is vital. Keeping your important data on finicky
spinning disk platters with reading heads held precariously
on a cushion of air or oil is a recipe for disaster. Your
hard disks will die, crash, get stolen or just break.
Data will be lost. If you don't have a backup system in place, you're
just waiting for the inevitable.
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Microsoft and Mono
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2009-3-1
The Linux Outlaws Podcast recently (in ep. #75) had an interview with
Miguel de Icaza on the topic of Mono. Since this is often a heated topic
among Linux hackers, I figured I'd chime in with my two cents.
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Qt goes LGPL!
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2009-2-1
In about a month, Nokia, owners of Troll Tech, makers of the Qt widget
library will release Qt 4.5 under the LGPL license. In a web centric
world desktop application programming may seem unhip and uninteresting
but rest assured, this is huge news, especially for desktop app
developers and potentially mobile app developers (Nokia's primary intent
here is to build a platform, after all).
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Making your own smart pointers in C++
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2008-5-1
Although C++ has no fancy, automatic dynamic memory management at the language
level (yet), it does include (through templates and the RAII principles) the ability
to make your own so-called "smart" pointers.
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How to record your Skype conversation in Linux
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2007-11-1
This note describes how to record your half of a Skype
conversation to a high quality file. This process doesn't
record the other party's voice -- it's assumed they will record
their own voice locally and you'll mix them together afterwards.
This is a standard pod-casting trick.
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The problem with "stable" Linux distributions
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2007-9-1
I like stable, long supported Linux distribution versions, like
Ubuntu 6.04 LTS. Unlike the frequent, bleeding edge releases from
Fedora and Ubuntu, these long term support releases promise a
stable platform. This platform you could hope to depend on for at least
a few years, with an assured stream of security updates.
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Why must the GPL be tested in court?
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2007-9-1
The GPL is a very interesting license, with "viral" like properties
that encourage keeping software free for users and developers. It's
unique in that it's not a very liberal (in the "do with as you please"
sense like BSD) or an exclusive, pay per use license like
commercial/bought software.
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Why the Web-of-Trust doesn't work
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2007-6-1
GPG and PGP advocate a "web of trust" model for the verification of public keys.
In this model, the user himself builds a collection of trusted keys,
who's signatures on other keys spread my trust. If I trust Bob, and
Bob trusts Sally (by signing her key), then I can probably trust Sally to.
Simple enough?
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Autoconf sucks
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2007-6-1
This is the most obscure, wacky ass build configuration system
in existence, yet is somehow the backbone of most open source projects.
That -- along with preferring C over C++, but that's another post --
is what I think provides a huge barrier to entry for many
developers to contribute to open source projects, myself included.
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GTK+, GTKmm and their wacky reference counting scheme
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2007-5-1
This document attempts to make sense of the reference counting
scheme in GTK+ and GTKmm. I've put this all in one place, since
it doesn't seem to be in any central location already.
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The Nintendo Wii, first impressions
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2007-4-1
This is a short write up on the Nintendo Wii, in particular its control
scheme and where I think this system can go. I've had the system for almost
two months now, played a variety of games (including finishing Twilight
Princess) and based on my DS ownership, I think many people have
the wrong idea on where the Wii is headed.
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Why I moved from Fedora to Ubuntu
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2007-1-1
After having been a long time Red Hat (since version 3 or 4) then
Fedora (to version 5) user, I've decided to jump ship and try
out Ubuntu. I loved Red Hat for a long time, and even enjoyed Fedora
when they were only ones on the bleeding edge of 64-bit, LVM, NPTL threads
support etc. But now, for a variety of reasons,
they've been slipping and so I've switched to Ubuntu.
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PDF Hacking
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2006-10-1
"Encrypted" PDFs produce postscript files that have little traps
in them making them only printable, and not re-distillable.
This is annoying.
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