Navigating to a USB Drive that is Plugged into a Ubuntu/Linux OS PC

I use Beyond Compare daily and when they published their version for Linux I immediately bought it. (It is that awesome!).

Problem:

• I had a rather difficult time trying to figure out how [where] to select the file system on a USB drive that I plugged into my Ubuntu PC.

Steps I Took to Solve It:

• I started a new folder compare session. 
• I could navigate to the local hard drive 
• But when I select "Browse for Folder" I did not see a place to select the USB drive.
• I was expecting the USB drive to appear in the same way that the Windows file system presents them.
• I tried the BC help and online FAQ but there was no mention of how to do this. 
• I have requested that they include this tip in their help system and on-line FAQ.

• Knowing a little UNIX I looked in the /dev folder but found nothing there that mapped to the USB drive.
• Seeing that the USB drive did appear as an icon on my desktop, I knew that the drive was accessible.
• Furthermore and I could use the Ubuntu file browser/explorer to view files on the USB drive.
• I double-clicked the desktop icon that represents the USB drive
• This opens the Ubuntu file system browser/explorer.
• I right-clicked on the name of the USB drive volume
• Selected "Properties" 
• I discovered that the 'Location' property lists /media.

Solution:

• Instead of looking in /dev  look in /media

Synapsis:

• Using Beyond Compare you must navigate to the /media folder and then you have access to the USB drive's file system.

• This may seem like common sense but this information is not listed in the BC help should help the new Ubuntu user navigate devices and file systems.

Android Gallery Won't Display Updated Pictures

When I edit pictures from my Droid on my PC and add them back into the Gallery, the updated pictures do not show up, instead I get this icon of gray mountains backed by a film strip.

I can see the pictures in thumbnail view but the main picture view only shows the gray mountain icon.
It doesn't happen on every picture I edited, but it does on most of them.
 
The followng procedure definitely fixes the problem for me:

1. Connect droid to computer using USB cable. (This un-mounts the SD card).
2. Run the SDRescan app (From the Android Market, by Benjamin Rosseaux, suggested above.)  Note: Running the sdRescan app while the droid is hooked up to the computer via USB takes a little while to complete. Also, it doesn't make sense to run this app at this time because the SD card is un-mounted, but it does seem to work...
3. Disconnect droid from computer/USB cable. 
4. Open the Gallery.
5. It will take some time while the gallery is rescanned. 

Google needs to write a real gallery rescan program.
It seems like the gallery cache is not being updated very frequently.
Is there a straightforward way to clear the gallery cache?

(Droid X with OS 2.3 installed)

NFJS Update

First of all I can't believe it's been that long since my last blog... last November??? Wow!

K, so I just returned from a @NFJS weekend-long conference. Most awesome of all conferences for calibrating your 'Technology Radar' (as Neal Ford * ThoughtWorks puts it).

Of course the cat wants to type now... and it's late ...and it's been a long week that will now stretch into another.

MyBooks in the Clouds (...or 'iTunes' for Books)

OK so I bought an electronic copy of Unlocking Android from the publisher.

I put it on my virtual drive at work (not remembering that that volume doesn't travel w/ me).  So I can't read it right now while I'm at the garage getting tires.  But I do have wireless access! ...If only I could get to my e-book from the 'cloud' like a song from iTunes...

I just don't have the USB.

Would I subscribe to my books?

Would I buy a one, two or seven year subscription for access to the electronic version in the cloud?  If I get updates to the version the document will outlive the paper copy.  Would it be cheaper than buying paper?  I would probably buy all three anyway and with that it would be likely that I'd get the paper copy only with the first edition I buy. (?)

It is a technical book about a technology that changes in terms of months, sometimes radically. It is very likely that I'd do better to subscribe to the book (if the author keps it fresh, as with the MEAP 'early access' feature at Manning Publishing).

Does it make business sense?

• What additional infrastructure?
• You have the electronic editions anyway. 
• You must personalize the footers w/ the licensee name (as per the current branding of each copy on the PDF).

• Unfortunately reading PDF files online via a web browser stream is just really painful due to the performance lags as it loads.  You'd have to do better w/ the online reading experience by supporting 'reader' devices such as kindle, google reader, landru, etc.

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Boy did that really distract me from the original thing I was going to do while waiting on my car.   At least they have wireless.  Thanks to the people at Miles Auto Service in Richmond! They're really good!

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OTOH: Google "famous androids film literature 'science fiction'"

I'm seeking a moniker for an Android software development business...

I got to this result (embedded below): A serious look into the social issues brought out by Phillip K Dick in his book 'Do Andriods Dream Electronic Sheep".

Linux For Java Developers

My XP install had gotten rather old, worn and slow and I decided to take the opportunity investigate alternate OSs and dust off my Linux skills.

• Which distribution should I try?  Ubuntu? Red Hat Fedora? Gentoo? (I'm leaning toward Ubuntu.)
• Can I get Eclipse? Does Eclipse work the same?  
• There is a version of NetBeans. Should I use it?
• Can I replace my favorite tools, find better ones or find a Linux version of the same ones?
• Can XP and Linux coexist?  
• How much free space do I need 
• Where is my Partition Magic disk?
• I hope I don't destroy my Windows partition.

The short of it is that I did get Ubuntu up and running, familiarized myself with the OS and figured out how to install the JDK and Squirrel DB Client in about 6 hours.

It wasn't particularly easy to figure everything out, but after all the legwork and documenting my steps, it's relatively easy to do.  ...So that's not a deterrent. Hopefully it will be easier when it comes to setting up Eclipse (or NetBeans) and my other tools.

Part of the frustration is that (surprisingly) there isn't much good documentation out there specifically about setting up Ubuntu for Java Development.  Also, a good portion of the 'Ubuntu+Java' search results apply to setting up the JRE rather than the JDK.

The first thing to get over is the way applications are packaged into repositories (think Maven) and how they are installed on Ubuntu.  You don't have to use the repositories and the "Software Sources" tool but much of the documentation refers to it. Developers who are new to Ubuntu should review these concepts first to avert much frustration.

• How to Enable Universe and Multiverse Repositories

Creating a Self-Running PowerPoint Presentation

How to Create a Kiosk-type Self-running PowerPoint Presentation

It is easy and best of all FREE ...

1. Create a PowerPoint presentation
2. Set-up the timing of how long each slide remains in view.

• Either:
1. 'Rehearse Timings' to practice speaking  
• OR
2. Set the slide display time by:
• Select the 'View' tab 
• Select the 'Slide Sorter' item on the ribbon bar
• Select the 'Animations' tab
• Click on a slide 
• Find the area 'Advance Slide' in the upper right-hand area.
• Modify the timings labeled 'Automatically After'

To package the presentation media:

1. Select the 'Office Buttton'
2. Select 'Publish'
3. Select 'Package for CD' 
• You don't actually have to put it on a CD, a flash drive works just as well.
4. Name your presentation
• The default options will include the PowerPoint Viewer 
• This makes your presentation file a little bit larger (1.2 MB), but obviates the need to have the presentation run on a computer with the PPT viewer installed.
5. Your active presentation is included by default but you may add more PPT presentations and other content at this time.
6. Choose 'Copy to Folder'  (not 'Copy to CD')
7. Name and select a new, empty folder that will contain all the content
8. It's best select the option to have PPT include all the linked files (such as images)
9. PowerPoint packages all the required files into the new 'packaged' folder
10. Among all the others, two important files, autorun.inf and play.bat are created.
11. Copy the packaged folder to your flash drive 
12. On the presentation computer just execute play.bat

Continuous Integration Patterns (and Anti-Patterns)

I have these nagging questions about the way I've setup a few of my CI builds. (Blog-In-progress)

1. I have a very granular Hudson build where each of the major build steps are individual jobs rather than have one job that calls each of the steps.  There are pros and cons to this. One of the reasons I chose this is to get better feedback I know what part of the build broke. The other reason was that it was easier to re-order the tasks in a build. I wish Hudson allowed a) build steps to be commeted out, b) build steps to be described c) build steps to be inserted or d) build steps to be re-ordered.  The cons are that there is more to maintain and more to have to replicate when I want to add another branch to CI.

1. Is it an anti-pattern to use a task (such as a special clean) that is not part of the developer's normal workflow?  I have a groovy task just for the CI that is two lines in a groovy script.  Less code, but it sits outside of the normal use of developers so I forget about it being there and it wouldn't get changed if the main developer's clean got changed (violates DRY).
   

Burgers are burning.. gotta run.