Arch Linux is an independently developed, i686-optimised Linux distribution targeted at competent Linux users. It uses ‘pacman’, its home-grown package manager, to provide updates to the latest software applications with full dependency tracking. Operating on a rolling release system, Arch can be installed from a CD image or via an FTP server. The default install provides a solid base that enables users to create a custom installation. In addition, the Arch Build System (ABS) provides a way to easily build new packages, modify the configuration of stock packages, and share these packages with other users via the Arch Linux User Repository.
Yesterday the EVN guy gave my house the ‘Pink’ notice. Normally you get a pink notice after you have missed the deadline of the ‘green’ notice. You get a green notice when you have missed the deadline of the previous month’s electricity bill.
I never got my electricity bill nor green notice because, well, the EVN guy never delivered them to my house. Even more strange, the pink notice was dated July 1st by this same guy who filled out of the notice in front of my house late yesterday afternoon.
The July 1st dated pink notice which I received late afternoon on July 2nd stated I had two days to pay my entire electricity bill in full or I would incur a late fine. Really!
So I paid my electricity bill today without incurring a late fee.
Can you guess why the EVN guy stopped bringing my electricity bill and green notice this month?
Last week my Web Content Editor, Vi Truong, celebrated her 21st birthday with her friends and I at Gloria Jean’s Coffee in District 1 of Saigon. It was an interesting party, Two of her high school friends joined us. Mario Behling from FOSS-Bridge was in town so he also joined us for this party. Her birthday cake was very delicious.
Vi joined Vscapeone last January helping me with some content editing for two website projects I am working on for the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation. Vi will also translate the Vscapeone website in Vietnamese for me. Some may also be surprised to find out that Vi is helping translate Truveo’s video search website into Vietnamese as well. Truveo is a well known IT company in the US that was bought out by AOL several years ago. I introduced Vi to one of the founders of Truveo, Adam Beguelin, who had lived in Saigon at the time.
Anyway, here are a couple pictures from Vi’s party:
I just finisihed designing the new Vscapeone website (English version) last night and uploaded it online. A friend is still proofreading it and Vi, my web content editor, will begin to translate the site into Vietnamese this weekend. We are currently finishing up a project with our client and hope to start a couple more by the end of the summer.
About Vscapeone
Vscapeone is a new innovative company located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, specializing in open source business and web application solutions on all platforms (Apple, BSD, Linux, Windows) for small to medium businesses, government agencies, non-governmental organizations and new private venture IT start-ups.
Our primary services include customization and deployment of open source business information systems (ERP, CRM, POS, etc.), development of web 2.0/3.0 web applications, Vietnamese localization of open source software (openGREEN), IT services, and bottom-up IT training.
Our mission is to provide our clients with affordable, high quality, open source technology business solutions that will help them become more competitive in the local and global markets.
We also want to be the leader in promoting open source technology from the bottom-up by giving the Vietnamese youth the technological know-how to help Vietnam become a leader in IT globally.
I dropped by the Yamaha Service Center and noticed some new color scheme Nouvos. Sure enough, Yamaha Vietnam just released the Nouvo RC (I ride a 2003 Nouvo RC). I was a bit surprised since the RCs are normally released about a month or two before Tet due to their popularity (probably because the Nouvo LX offered some horrible color schemes).
Since two people have offered to buy my old Nouvo, I am considering upgrading to the 2008 Nouvo RC. It meets EURO2 emission standards, gets better gas mileage, and goes a lot faster on it’s 135cc engine (previous Nouvos are 115cc).
The Nouvo RC is clearly the competitor for the Honda Air Blade. Fortunately, the Nouvo, with higher ground clearance, it a more suited motorbike for Vietnam with those high street curbs.
The Nouvo RC sells for about 29,500,000 VND ($1745 US).
Today I finally realized the culprit to my broken Linux systems. My Samsung SATA2 hard drive acted up again last night. This time I knew it was not related to an Arch Linux update, it was my hard drive. /dev/sda2 partition blocks came up with many similar errors I saw three weeks ago when Gentoo went down. In fact, each time my Gentoo system broke down, it turns out it was due to the faulty hard drive, I just did not know it at the time.
Luckily I was able to backup all my data from the hard drive, just the beginning blocks had errors. Arch Linux would not reboot. It was actually in the Arch Forum where I realized my hard drive was having problems though I suspected it a month ago already. It worked fine for three weeks so I forgot about it.
I removed my Samsung SATA2 and replaced it with a Western Digital SATA2 drive. Installing Arch on it was easy. No errors as I normally had in the past (I used work arounds to get Arch running three weeks ago). I will exchange my Samsung hard drive for a new one since it is still under warranty.
Arch Linux is currently being installed from scratch on my desktop. Can’t wait to get back to work again.
Edit: Will play around with Gentoo 2008 Beta first then I will go back to Arch. openSUSE 11 will go back on my Thinkpad this week
I decided to test out the video camera in my HTC Touch Cruise last night. I was surprised at the quality of the picture when I replayed it on my mobile phone. The frame rate is not bad though I can tell it jumps occassionaly but I think that may have more to do with YouTube than my phone’s video camera.
This is a shot from District 2 (An Phu) next to the Saigon River. This is my first unedited video that I uploaded to YouTube.
I am a big fan of Tux Typing. I have been using it in the classroom here in Saigon for about three years now. It is a great open source program to get students interested in learning how to type. This summer, my Vietnamese Immersion Students at the American International School will spend about three weeks learning how to touch type in my computer class.
As an incentive, I told my students that whoever reaches Level (Wave) 100 (Ace level medium words) will get an automatic 100 percent on all ten of their keyboarding quizzes. One student got to level 94 yesterday! :-) I think 1/3 of the class will eventually rreach this level!
(My student using Tux Typing on my computer)
(My students are interested in each other’s progress)
(This student reached level 94!)
A great stength of Tux Typing is that it forces students to type properly. The students who looked at the keyboard while they typed tended to get a lower score than the students who typed “correctly”!
I had a great meal on Nguyen Du street across from the Ho Chi Minh City post office last night. I had a great chicken dish but unfortunately, I forgot the name of it :-( I did get some photos! A good place to visit if you like chicken.
Okay, I tried to make my first blog entry from my HTC Touch Cruise pda tonight at the Nice Cafe in District 1. Well, I failed thanks to the horrible Windows Mobile 6 operating system. Ever since I bought my HTC Touch Cruise a couple months ago, I have not been happy. It is so slow, I have to reboot it once every couple of days. When I was trying to post the entry from Nice Cafe today, my phone froze. It has been a long time since I had anything like this happen to me.
I am not going to switch phones though. I actually like the HTC Touch Cruise itself. There is an active community porting Android to this phone as we speak. I will wait a couple months to make sure it is more stable. Once Android is fully functioning on the Touch Cruise with the GPS working, I can see myself using this phone for a couple of years. For me, the interface is much nicer than the iPhone.
In the meantime, I plan to test Android on my Nokia N800 internet tablet. Android runs as a virtual machine so it will not do any harm to my N800, I hope
I still got my iPhone, decided I did not really want to part with it just yet. My Motorola e6 Rokr Linux phone is still being used. I can never part with this phone either
Kevin Miller, Jr. - Japanese Amerasian, Former U.S. Marine, Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Kazakhstan), Computer Science Teacher, Consultant, Entrepreneur, BSD/Linux Enthusiast, and Web Designer. I currently reside in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.
