Charl van Niekerk » Blog: June 2006

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Upgrading from Breezy to Dapper

This week I upgraded a server from Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger) to 6.06 (Dapper Drake).

Although I had one or two minor issues with some config files (particularly Dovecot, and MRTG which I had to remove and reinstall for some reason), the upgrade was fairly painless.

How to update? Just replace all occurrences of "Breezy" with "Dapper" in /etc/apt/sources.list. Then execute the following two commands:

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

At the second step, you might be asked some questions, typically relating to the config files. Just be careful and note any changes being made.

If you have any problems, feel free to comment. :)

Roman Numerals in Java

I needed to work out the algorithm to convert the decimal representation of a number between 0 and 3999 to Roman Numerals. I searched for good examples but didn't find much, so I coded a little Java program just to help me get it sorted. (I didn't write it properly with validation and all or whatever since it's just a simple test.) I thought I would share it since others might benefit from it; who knows. Anyway, here goes:

class RomanNumerals {
  public static void main(String args[]) {
    char numerals[] = {'I', 'V', 'X', 'L', 'C', 'D', 'M'};
    char decimal[] = {'1', '2', '3', '4'};
    StringBuffer s = new StringBuffer();
    char c1, c2, c3;
    int j;
    for(int i = 0; i < decimal.length; i++) {
      j  = (decimal.length - i - 1) * 2;
      c1 = numerals[j];
      c2 = j + 1 < numerals.length ? numerals[j + 1] : ' ';
      c3 = j + 2 < numerals.length ? numerals[j + 2] : ' ';
      switch(decimal[i]) {
        case '1' : s = s.append(c1); break;
        case '2' : s = s.append(c1).append(c1); break;
        case '3' : s = s.append(c1).append(c1).append(c1); break;
        case '4' : s = s.append(c1).append(c2); break;
        case '5' : s = s.append(c2); break;
        case '6' : s = s.append(c2).append(c1); break;
        case '7' : s = s.append(c2).append(c1).append(c1); break;
        case '8' : s = s.append(c2).append(c1).append(c1).append(c1); break;
        case '9' : s = s.append(c1).append(c3);
      }
    }
    System.out.println(s);
  }
}

If you have any suggestions for improvement, please comment! :)

Golf

This past weekend, my mom and I played golf at Saasveld. Since we both didn't play for many months, we were a bit out of practice. Well, at least I was (and maybe a little more than a "bit").

At some point in time, my mom asked, Where is your ball? I replied, Well, it couldn't have gone very far...

A little earlier, somebody else asked, Do you need the pitcher? I said, No, I need a miracle!

Playing golf is always fun, regardless if you play good or bad. :)

Don't what? PWYP!

Yesterday evening I was watching TV just when Fear Factor started. An oke came up saying that the things they do on the show shouldn't be attempted by anyone anywhere at any time. But unless the video of the things portrayed on the show have been created using CGI, somebody at some location at some point in time must have done them, right? A good case of PWYP (or not) if you ask me...

OpenBSD Tracks

I discovered something while browsing the OpenBSD FTP mirror on mirror.ac.za the other day, wanting to download 3.9. There are a couple of tracks (available in both MP3 and Ogg Vorbis formats) made for OpenBSD (one or more for each release, starting 3.0). The one I like the most is Systemagic from the 3.1 release.

Where are we going?

Tonight they will be airing (writing "airing" here sounds ironic) an episode of Special Assignment in South Africa about SAA's customer service. Is it up to scratch?

I flew with Kulula twice (it was a return trip) and they suck so much I can hardly find words for it. SAA, comparatively, has given me quite a good experience so far. Although I have to admit I haven't flown in the last couple of months.

Nationwide still comes out on top in my personal chart. But I have read many complaints about them too. I guess it all comes down to individuals and their particular experiences.

TENET Open Source Mirrors

The mirror.ac.za project is setting up tons of open source mirrors on the TENET backbone. Really fast if you're accessing from a university on TENET, believe me!

Python

Finally, Python.org got a nice upgrade. The old site really sucked, but the new one looks very spiffy! Python is a fantastic multi-purpose scripting language, and the old site did it injustice. With this and the new Ubuntu, the world can finally see what we open source people are made of! Let's show them, people!

Ubuntu 6.06

Ubuntu Linux 6.06 (Dapper Drake) LTS has been released.

Yes, it's all about the image. It's slick, it's hip, it's new, it's cutting edge, but most importantly: it's professional and is going to be supported for your business.

Go, Ubuntu, go!

Update: This release also welcomes Xubuntu, Ubuntu with Gnome replaced with XFCE. XFCE is a very minimal desktop environment, but very fast!

(Also see the official announcement as well as the Tectonic Article.)

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