I’ve recently wiped the hard drive of my laptop and upgraded to Ubuntu 9.04. The Linux desktop is a perfect place to do development and surf the net, but the corporate network is a Windows world and to access mail and other enterprise applications we use Citrix servers. Getting Citrix running on the new Ubuntu is easier than ever.

sudo apt-get install libmotif3
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libXm.so.3.0.2 /usr/lib/libXm.so.4

download the most recent client from Citrix.

Let’s call it lift off… This site has been online in some form or another for 10+ years. During that time I’ve been runing a static HTML site (eventually with a few CGI’s), later on Movable Type a few years and most recently an odd mixture of Wordpress, Gallery2 and custom code. During the past months I’ve been trying to make things somewhat simpler, and what you’re looking at right now, is the first step - a new look (though a standard Wordpress theme and a drastically reduced plugin collection).

Quite awhile ago I posted a little piece of javascript, which could be used to a (very) simple webpage slide show. Someone requested a version a little more advanced for use in a kiosk mode, and sure why not - updating the script with the option to set different times on the webpages displayed was a minor change, and it’s been done now.

If you’d like an updated version of a basic webpage slideshow with an option to specify the time each page is displayed, go ahead get it from the lab.

Most developers (and certainly professional shops) working with software- or webdevelopment has understood the ideas behind sourcecode version management - no matter if they choose to use cvs, subversion, git or any of the other fine systems available. How developers use these systems, can provide an easy insight into who is the dummy, the average and the great developer.

When to commit

One of the first distinguishing signs is what they commit - is the version management system used as a backup tool or as a version tracking tool. Some seem to think, you should end the day by committing all your sourcecode (no matter which state it’s in). This is really bad sign. Others commit whenever a new file is finished and thought ready to use - which is slightly better. Others again commit once - just before a new release - and has the commit contain each and every change since last release.

It’s often the case that security is an inconvenience and gets in the way of usability and ease of use. There are exceptions though and for a number of weeks I’ve been playing with the Yubikey (thanks to Schack) from Yubico.

It’s a small device, which plugs into a USB port, and to the computer acts as a keyboard. It has some advanced security build-in with the ability to generate one-time verifiable passwords, but is incredible easy to use – plug it into the USB port and press the single button when you need to sign in to services supporting the Yubikey.