2010 Workshop Notes BarnCamp

Workshop Notes 2010 Barn Camp

Command line interface

thanks to Chickpea for taking notes and to Julian Assange for the "an" anagram generator

see also the workshop promo blurb

<pwd> - tells you where you are, directory-wise

<ls> - list stuff - lists specifications (list contents of directory you're in)

<ls -l> - long list format (shows you more information about your file paths (NOTE: other stuff listed stands for: permissions, who owns it, number of characters/bytes, last time it was altered)

<ls -a> - list ALL stuff, including hidden stuff

<man ls> - manual for 'ls' and gives you all different options for using this program (NOTE: you can use <man xx> where xx is the program, you can get the manual)

<more xx> - where 'xx' is the file name, to see the context of the file

<cd> - change directory

<cd ..> - go back a directory

<an> - create an anagram

<typing "ctrl+c"> stops whatever is happening in the terminal (NOTE: because the anagram thing keeps printing the results whatever...you can stick the results of the program into a file...)

<an burners >anagram> - run anagram program with the word 'burners' and stick results into a file called 'anagram'

(started playing around with 'an' program)

<XX |less> where XX is the program that spits out lots of information, putting '|less' paginates the output, allows you to search throughout navigate

<XX |more> just spits it out, you can't really navigate throughout

<nano> - the text editor usable via a shell

<nano XX> where XX is the file name, tells nano to open the file to edit

<XX |cowsay> XX being a text file - HAHA - a cow just appeared in the shell!

<ping XX> where XX is a web address, pings that address, useful for many things............

<sl -F> CHOO CHOO! (note: try <sl -a> and <sl -l> too)

aggregation

Some tools

Yahoo Pipes - does feedscraping Deri pipes - free version of yahoo pipes

vision on tv Feed informer - rss aggregator to output other mixed rss feeds

Example of sites using aggregation

Indymedia Two platforms in use 1. indymedia.org.uk - the national site 2. local sites - different collectives use different systems so not all of the content gets pulled into the national site. Was decided that all sites should be able to be pulled into the national site, and also potentially feeds from other sites. One idea is to use Mir - this has already started. Also idea to use another system. Technical and political challenges (e.g. of political - if somebody clicks on a link from the aggregator, should the link stay on the national site, or should it go to the local site. Makes a big difference for when people post comments on one site but not the other.)

Loops could be a problem - two sites pulling in each others feeds.

How to moderate feeds - picking out the stories that are relevant. Using 'trusted feeds' with higher prioirity. Using filters similar to spam filters which learn over time what content you like. Using Feed informer to create new metadata

True Anthum Commercial product that pulls in content and displays them on one page. Not clear how it works - the makers don't tell people. Thought that there's open source products that do the same - but not one product that does all of it.

Dual Boot and Virtualisation

Tips

Have a look at what is on your computer with a live start up like Ubuntu or Debian and use the application 'gparted'

We talked about what

For Windows and Linux dual boot - Install Windows first and the

If you want to change Grub options or get the master boot record to be Grub rather than linux then there is a utility called Super Grub Disk

Virtualisation

Virtualisation allows operating systems to run within other operating systems.

This is very useful especially doing testing.

Oracle make a machine to do virtualisation - Virtual Box This emulates a computer so you can have a lot of virtual computers running at the same time.