Bluetooth Phones and Debian: A simple, Utilitarian Approach.

My approach to using bluetooth apps in Debian really came from a desire to transfer media Pc –>Phone. To be clear here, I really didn’t have much need for Phone–>PC transfers. That being said, here’s what I’ve done.

I installed the Debian Package openobex-apps. Contained in the app is a tool called obexftp. After discovering my phone’s MAC for the bluetooth interface, I saved it to an environment variable ( ie. $MYPHONE) and created the following script.

  

    #!/bin/bash

    for arg

      do

        obexftp -b $MYPHONE -p "$arg"

    done

 

Since I use Gnome, I simply put this in my ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts directory. Since then, I’ve been able to select multiple files via the mouse and send them to my phone (multiselect capable).

I don’t contest the opinion that this is pretty limited and the script could probably be reworked so that it doesn’t make separate calls to obexftp for each argument. However, it works and I’ve sent over 14 items at a time to my phone (Sony Z-520a) from my PC no problem using the above script. It was really just a quick solution to my need to send media to my phone.

There are undoubtedly other packages available. I just became aware of the fact that Ed Dumbill’s bluez-gnome package has made it into Debian Testing. This is a package that has point and click functionality as well as a panel applet to monitor incoming calls and text messages. I had trouble getting this to install properly… it couldn’t copy a file to /etc/xdg/autostart.

Debian Swirl Theme for Sony Ericsson z520/z525 Models

I’ve just recently attained a Bluetooth Dongle for my PC and couldn’t resist creating a theme for my SE z520a. Below are some screenshots, and the theme can be found here.

As the title suggests, this theme is based on the Debian swirl and you might have guessed that’s the system I created theme on. Sony Ericsson’s Theme Creator is only available for Mac OS and M$2000/XP, so I knew I had to look into things on my own.

I discovered pretty quickly after inspecting an existing .thm file on my z520, that these are just tar archives by another name. So I untarred it and found everything I needed to know to create a theme of my own ( ie, dimensions of all the necessary images and the XML file that dictates the configuration).

From there on out, I created images with GIMP and Emacs (my Text editor of choice) was used to edit the XML file for the theme.

Without further ado, let there be images. These are three of the main images you’ll find in this theme.

Above is the Main Wallpaper for the theme and the default standby wallpaper as well as the external wall paper.

Just below you’ll see the desktop image for the main menu.

And the following image is the image for lists. All the necessary images are, of course, available in the Deb.thm itself.

Creative attacks Apple, Apple Attacks China

According to BBC news, Apple’s iPod is “fac[ing] a patent probe”.

Apple just made news in their attacks on China to enforce worker’s rights in the factories where iPods are made.

Coincidence???

Again on China

China, China, China! China's behaviour, as a country, has become as notorious as Tsunamis and Hurricanes as far as News is concerned. It's everywhere on the Internet, Yahoo yelped, Google gave in, MSN well…

Anyhow, let's not forget that there are still issues that bear more immediate attention. The fact that China censors information is nothing new, and I'm not saying it's a non-issue, but take a look at what's being reported the Human Rights Watch and it soon becomes clear that we have alot more to worry about.

What's really sad is that 1 man is imprisoned in China and the RSS feeds explode!!! Women are beaten in Iran for a peaceful protest and it's in one ear and out the other.

China is the tip of the Iceberg.

Apple ‘Stands Up’ to China?

As noted in this article, it seems that an American Company has finally stood up to China.

But is this just another news bite to boost Apple-pride? You think they might have considered the labor conditions before choosing China as a factory location. China is not exactly a shining example of human rights much less worker’s rights :X

Either way, let the wave of retaliation begin! It’s time China checked their head.

Global Censorship Map: enlightening

I recently viewed OpenNet Initiative's Internet Filtering Map, which gives an interesting global view of what kind of censorship is in effect in the form of a Global Map (flash-based).

 

News of China's censorship makes it into the news frequently, clearly they are not the only one.

More info on Uwe Hermann's Blog.

And Here.

To paraphrase Arthur C. Clarke: It's hard to believe this will continue after we've unified globally under the realization that this is "one globe against the stars."

Throwing Stones

Yesterday, I saw my son and daughter (5 and 4 respectively) actively throwing rocks and clumps of dirt at a Daddy-Long-Leg spider that had worked his way halfway up the side of some playground equipment. The spider was pretty large — about a 4" leg span. Despite his size, he was completely harmless.

As soon as I saw what was happening, I walked over to the scene and stepped between the spider and my children before either were able to squash him with a projectile. I urged them to "put down their weapons" and take a closer look at what they were trying to kill. When they approached the spider, they became very interested in what he was like. I picked up the Daddy-Long-Leg gently and let them get a closer look, attempting to find all the parts common to all spiders and noting the complexity of his protective coloration. The children were actually amazed. My son was eager to actually hold him to get an even closer look. Although my daughter was actually afraid to hold him, she was just as amazed as my son was by the complexity of this odd little creature.

It is completely clear, in retrospect, that it was not raw fear that drove them to throw stones. It almost seems that they were naturally driven to attack. Once they were able to get a closer view and gain appreciation for the little creature, they didn't even consider harming it.

In many ways, I think we (people) never really outgrow this reaction to things we don't recognize. It's possible it's deeply rooted in our tribal nature. I'm not an expert on where it comes from at all, but it doesn't take an expert to see that the "grown-ups" have outgrown stones (now: media, hand-grenades, dirty-bombs, the list goes on), but what about our awareness???

Landscaping with Bush

Yesterday, my neighbor's landscaper spent about 3 hours edging, blowing and mowing my next-door neighbors yard to perfection. She must be paying him well, because it should have taken half that amount of time. I guess the guy wanted to do a great job. No harm in that right?

Well, he even went to the extreme of mowing a small strip of land on my side of the property line and edging one side of my driveway. Neither needed it as we just tended to our yard earlier this week, but he did it anyway. Should I have a problem with it? Well that's not it.

But he left all the clippings on my driveway! And while he was blowing, somehow managed to get a few hundred Magnolia leaves (large enough to use as steno paper) under my truck in the carport! I didn't notice most of this until he was already packing up to leave. What does one say?

He had no intention of cleaning it up! Really! I guess he thought he was doing us a favor by trimming up our yard, which was obviously unkempt by his standards, but freshly trimmed

I personally put my best foot forward in making sure my freedoms end where someone else's begins, a practice that I think works pretty well in most situations. Maybe this man's motives were genuine but the mess he left behind was nonetheless offensive.

ON a less superficial level, this is a nice example of what humans typically do with their environment.

With even the greatest of intentions, we drop stones render ripples and after hundreds of decisions are made and carried out, we look back toward the shore and wonder why it has receded beyond our view.

If you've made it this far and haven't thought about the title, well. 

Gnome-Blog (Useful)

Linux and a note on Freedom

There is alot of freedom that comes with running a GNU/Linux system, but with alot of freedom comes alot of decisions, which, like all decisions, come with patience, diligence, and a willingness to understand the parameters of the situation.

I've noted quite a bit of folks complaining about installing Linux and I can relate in many ways to being frustrated at times, but at some point it always occurs to me that I still have it alot better than I ever did using proprietarty OSes and Software.

I've been an avid Debian user for almost 2 years. It took me 1 install to get a functional system. I ended up changing my mind about which filesystem I wanted to use (settled on XFS and LVM) so I experimented a bit and after a total of 3 installs, I finally had the system I really wanted. I've been running that same testing system for 2 years without a crash — with extremely long uptimes I might add.

Throughout the last 2 years I've struggled with some hardware compatabilities, CD burning, sound, playing/viewing proprietary media formats, and in general the learning curve that had to be overcome for me to tweak my system to my finicky standards. Overall, I can say that every challenge that I had to overcome, was worth it. After a while you get the hang of how things are done in the Open Source world.