Thursday, March 01, 2007

維多利亞河


今天突然發現,原來政府曾經想將維多利亞港變成一條河。看那多麼公整而又平行的河岸!這是政府高效率的表現,絕不浪費寸金尺土。

或者這件事早兩三年已被談論過,但我當時實在太漠不關心了。

Monday, January 29, 2007

中毒

近來聽到有個朋友電腦常常中毒,令到上網等也變得很慢,問我怎解決。我也不知怎好,雖然我讀計算機科學,但我讀的東西真的是幾科學,而不是一般應用的層面。要修理電腦,還是街邊的電腦鋪專業一點。

尤其中毒這問題,還是重裝Windows是最易解決的方去。當然,要是我的電腦中毒,我並不會即刻重裝,而要先試其他方法。但好幾年來,我好像也未試過中毒。或許因為我懂得小心使用我的電腦,這包括:
  1. 要經常更新Windows。
  2. 不要亂開其他人傳來可執行的檔案,即通常是.exe尾的。
  3. 使用Firefox來瀏覽網頁。IE與Windows太緊密連繫,容易受攻擊。有時甚至用舊版本的IE來瀏覽某些網站亦會中招。
其實我建議了我朋友使用GNU/Linux。這個作業系統較Windows安全,不容易受到攻擊。不過我又怕他有什麼問題也會來找我,因為相信他的朋友一般也不使用這個免費兼自由的作業系統(OS)。但如果Windows 突然有事,但又想上網的話,或者可以試用一下這個OS。Ubuntu提供了Live CD讓人在不影響現有的OS下仍可一試使用它的感覺。方法如下:
  1. Ubuntu 下載網站找一個近自己的mirror,再下載供PC用的CD Image,如這裏
  2. 用這個CD Image 燒錄到一個光碟上。(不是將這檔案抄到CD上)
  3. 將這CD放入電腦,再重新開機。如果你的電腦容許用CD開機的話,你便會看到Ubuntu了。可以用Firefox 來瀏覽網頁,Gaim來MSN/ICQ,OpenOffice來修改MS Office的文件。但小心,修改了的文件要儲進自己的硬碟或傳到自己的電郵。
如果堅持要使用正版的朋友更加要試用一下這系統。因為它是完全免費的,用了後可省回數百至數千元的軟件費用!

Linux on FreeBSD 6.2

As I mentioned before, I love FreeBSD, without any particular reason. I want to migrate from Ubuntu to FreeBSD, but two Linux applications are holding me back. They are Flash 9 and Gnucash2.

The Flash 9 is required to see some NBA highlights video clips on ESPN.com, but Adobe haven't released version 9 for FreeBSD. It released one for Linux but I heard that (and found that) it crashes often on FreeBSD even it is available in the "port".

Another application is Gnucash. Gnucash 2 is a significant upgrade from version 1.8, since it uses version 2 of Gtk/Gnome instead of version 1. I think it is more user-friendly than the old version and I have been using it for some time on Ubuntu. However, I didn't find Gnucash 2 in the port. There is a unofficial port in the mailing list, as noted by the Wiki on Gnucash site, but I couldn't get it to run.

So I tried to use run the Linux version of Gnucash 2 on FreeBSD. The Linux base availabe on FreeBSD is Fedora Core 4. I have installed it for some time, since it is needed for the acroread7. So I downloaded the Gnucash2 RPM from the Fedora Core 6 site. When I installed using RPM, it failed, saying that the dependencies failed. However, I did find those depended files under /compat/linux (e.g. /bin/sh was reported as missing but I could find it at /compat/linux/bin/sh). After trying for some time, I found that there is a nodeps option for RPM. And later, I found that when the linux_base-fc4 installs the Fedora Core 4 on my FreeBSD, it just extracted the files to /compat/linux using rpm2cpio, but didn't register the installed RPM on the RPM database under /compat/linux/var/lib/rpm. So I tried to install the RPM for the Fedora Core again. But it was tedious due to the dependencies, and I needed to download many other RPM like glibc2, ORBit, etc. finally, when I tried to install the glibc2 or something similar on the system, it says it requires a Linux 2.6 kernel! But I read that FreeBSD is only compatible for the kernel 2.4. So the whole RPM experiment failed. Nevertheless, I have learned how to use the RPM system, and here are some tips for using it on FreeBSD:
  • It is better to set an alias for rpm with a root option to /compat/linux, so that it won't accidentally modified the files on the FreeBSD system. It can be set in .cshrc as
    alias rpm rpm --root /compat/linux
I once didn't set it and accidentally modified a system lib. So I have to go to "make installworld" to restore it.
  • I tried to install the RPM for the FC4 base system. But I think it is better to just register the RPM without modifying the file system. There is a --justdb option which modifies only the DB without touching the file system. So something like this can be used (with the --root /compat/linux set as alias already):
    rpm -Uhv --justdb --nodeps /usr/ports/distfiles/rpm/i386/fedora/4/*.rpm

Friday, December 22, 2006

openoffice + fglrx + scim Problem Solved

When I first upgraded to Ubuntu Edgy, as written in this post, I tried the ATI proprietary driver fglrx. However, when I started openoffice, it failed with this error:

Unknown error forking main binary / abnormal early exit

(Update for openoffice-2.0.4-ubuntu4: it just hangs when I start it.)

After several weeks, I finally found a solution to this problem, due to this post in Ubuntu forum by cnbiz850. The problem was due to incompatibility of scim + fglrx + openoffice. The solution suggested is to use "scim-bridge" instead of "scim" for the GTK_IM_MODULE. So what I did to solve it is:
  1. Install scim-bridge
  2. Modify /etc/X11/Xsession.d/95xinput and changed it to something like: GTK_IM_MODULE="scim-bridge"
According to the README for scim-bridge found on my computer at /usr/share/doc/scim-bridge/README, this scim-bridge tries to solve a "C++ ABI problem", which happens sometimes when using scim with proprietary software, e.g. acroread.

Monday, December 18, 2006

社會運動

今天從電視中看到兩件事,令我有點反省。第一是又看到我的中學同學上新聞。昨天才見到他在天星碼頭被警方帶走,今天又見到他回應為何鐘樓被折後仍要繼續抗議。第二是新閒透視講及一些關於梁家傑先生競選特首的事。在我看來,出來競選並不輕鬆,時常要出來站台,或到街上宣傳。更重要的是,明顯地他能夠當選特首的機會是極低,他及那些為他助選的人,明知作用不大,仍為了民主路打開缺口而努力。

我和鐘樓沒有什麼感情,而其實我對很多事也沒什麼感情。但從政府隱瞞反對的報告,孫明揚的回應,及政府急於折毁鐘樓,我確是有點反感。再者,現在的城巿重建又像有點問題。什麼舊的也折掉,我們的回憶,我們的根也沒有了。我的中學同學是一個很獨特(奇怪)的人,他奮勇走上街頭,我欣賞他的付出。為了這個城巿,為了他的理念,他努力地爭取。而梁家傑先生所付出過的時間的機會成本一定不少。為了民主,一班人周圍爭取別人的支持,犧牲了很多的寶貴時間。就像曾經有的講法,我會想,將來香港有民主,巿民有自己應有的權利的時候,我為這些事有否出過什麼力呢?

對這個社會,現在的政制,我也有很多不滿。不知怎去解決這些社會問題,也不知應做些甚麼事,也不慣走上街頭去爭取。但其實我的中學同學離我不遠,很多走上街頭抗議的,並不是一些無理取鬧的流民,其中一個更是曾經和我共同生活了數載,與我背景也相似的人。自己也應該反省一下,可以為維護公義社會及在世上建設天國做些什麼。
所以,你們應當這樣祈禱:我們在天的父!!願你的名被為聖,願你的國來臨,願你的旨意承行於地,如在天上一樣!
(瑪6:9-10)

Monday, December 11, 2006

「綜援BB」

自從審計處指醫管局追討內地產婦拖欠醫療費用不力後 ,開始聽到有些人對這些內地產婦不滿,大致原因有三:一是認為她們生完仔不付錢,二是她們佔用了太多資源,令本地人的醫療服務降低,三是她們的兒子有居留權及能擁有香港社會所提供的福利。漸漸地,人開始將責任放在這些孕婦,並看不起她們不用付出,兒女便能奪得香港福利。

讓我先說今天的經歷。今日去哈迪斯吃晚飯,我原叫了一個白汁雜菌之類的飯。當我回到座位時,發現櫃位的姐姐拿錯了一個狀似免治牛肉飯的給我。這時我在猶豫應否換回原要的雜菌飯。我知道我交回這個牛肉飯,他們一定會就此掉了這個飯;但對著這個我時時也能在科大用$13.5買得的免治牛肉飯,我又真的覺得不值及不想食。結果我選擇了要求更換,而最後那牛肉飯也是報銷了。

牛肉飯之死,究竟誰是兇手,誰應為這浪費負責呢?是我這個嘴刁又麻煩的人嗎?最快捷方便的解釋當然是這樣。但我不會願意承擔這全部的責任。要不是那櫃位的姐姐拿錯了,我便不用要轉換。當然我付錢時不對清楚是有點責任,但我堅持我不應負最大的責任。而責任在於哈迪斯的員工。

同樣對於內地孕婦及本地出世的嬰兒問題,最方便的便是讓我們一齊白眼這些孕婦,要是他們不來,什麼問題都解決了。但如果我是他們的話,我一定會來香港生仔!我絕不想我的小孩在一個人權不太受重視,以及沒有宗教自由的國家中終老。我可能始終會在大陸教育他們,但如果當我沒有錢養我的孩子,或者他受到迫害時,起碼我還可選擇讓他來香港碰運氣。這些孕婦來港產子,絕對是合情理的。

然而,我們的醫療資源減少了,那麼責任何在?早幾日看明報的論壇,有一論者指出,他們付了二萬多元到公立醫院產子,她們是有資格去享用那些設施。我認同這對法,所以應想的問題是,是否香港沒有足夠的醫療設施?是否這二萬多元還不夠維持一個產婦住院的成本呢?為何收了人家錢不去雇用更多的人手,或加建產房來維持現有的服務水平呢?這是醫管局管理的問題,而不是那些付了正價的來港產子的孕婦的問題。

至於居港權問題,我相信是人口政策的問題。早前特首才叫我們一家最好生三個子孩,為什麼現在多了孩子出世又不歡迎呢?究竟應否拒絕孕婦入境,為免太多外地人移民到香港呢?如果沒有清楚答案,為何不去作研究或諮詢,或交由交法會討論立法,或像今日明報的評論所提出去修改基本法,而只是眼見不對路便將矛頭指向內地孕婦呢?

最後對於走數的問題,其實這問題像被誇大了。據今日(2006/12/10)明報的評論指出,去年的拖欠宗數有2138宗,而內地孕婦去年有過萬人,即拖欠比率只有大約兩成。所以就算我們能成功阻止這兩成不付錢的人來港,始終仍有八成的人來港產子,所以醫療服務下降和人口上升的問題依然存在。如果只將視線放在這少數的惡霸身上,實在解決不了問題。

由於自己知識不足,對於應否接受這些雙親也不是港人的孩子到香港來,我沒有什麼立場。但去敵視這些合法並付足錢來為孩子取得居港權的內地孕婦,我便絕對反對。而有時這些正是政府的招數,分化巿民,來換取支持去進行一些不合理的做法(如人大釋法)。

Saturday, December 09, 2006

假如我加入了選委會...

明天是負責推選行政長官的選舉委員會選舉。將有20萬人有資格投票,從800候選人中選出400多人。雖然今次的選舉沒有我的份,但其實加入選委會的機會曾與我擦身而過。

事緣是天主教教區在選委會中是有7個位。而教區為了只想被動配合這個不公平的小圈子選舉,所以只會負責提名候選人,然後由民政事務署抽籤決定誰能當選。而要教區提名,只需要有領洗紙及證明與教區有密切聯繫。原曾想過參加,但最終不了了之之下便沒有申請。最後由19名報名人中抽出7人,有超過三成的機會當選。好過要拉票才能在明天當選。沒報名真可惜,錯過搵着數的機會!

如果我能成為選委,哈,便能有政治特權。不知曾特首或者梁大狀會否約我這個廿來歲的黃毛小子食飯,向我推銷他們的政綱。如果我向他們發表意見,不知他們會否接納。

但有樣肯定的是,如果我是選委,我會提名梁大狀。我不清楚他有理想,也不知道他能否勝任特首的工作,也不一定認同他,但我確切知道的是,有選擇好過沒有選擇,起碼競選者之間會有多些討論的機會。

而我始終不明白的是,為何我沒有權選特首!

Monday, November 20, 2006

FreeBSD Love

Don't know why, I have installed FreeBSD on many machines. I am a primarily GNU/Linux user. I use mainly Ubuntu GNU/Linux on my laptop. But still, I hope one day, I would find FreeBSD better and switch to it, while I haven't noticed any performance differences between them, nor I have understood the architecture/design/implementation differences between them.

One noticeable difference is, that the arguments accepted by FreeBSD commands are less flexible. For example, "ls * -l" is acceptable on GNU/Linux, but not on FreeBSD, which only allows argument before the file names such as "ls -l *". But perhaps due to this, I think FreeBSD is more Unix like. It is more traditional, and maybe more powerful. Perhaps this is due to its image - "The Power to Serve". Its advertisement may have won my heart. It is often said that Yahoo uses FreeBSD for its web servers. It shows that it is very powerful. And perhaps I have fallen in love with FreeBSD, so I have installed it on three desktop machines other than my laptop.

Same to some other products. I have started to believe that:
  1. I wanted a Core 2 Duo from Intel.
  2. Apple Mac OS X is 'younger', more energetic, and more innovative than Windows from that 'fat' old guy Bill.
Well, marketing is important!

街頭騙案?

今日行經旺角,遇到一個年約三十的男士。他劈頭第一句就問我能否聽懂普通話,我以為他只是問路,於是勉勉強強答了他一句,我懂一點點。於是他用流利的普通話跟我說了什麼賓館,什麼幫忙幫忙。我以為他想找什麼什麼賓館,於是我發揮政府廣告教落的好客之道,耐心地問他想去哪間賓館。

說了一陣,我又聽到他說什麼食飯。噢,他原來想問我借錢,並向一位不知從那裏走來的女士指了一指,說他只是想帶愛人去吃一頓飯,但沒有帶錢。她的愛人無夸地走了過來一點,站在約兩三步處,聽着我們對話。我於是直接了當問他想要多少錢。他說幾十塊錢。我第一個反應在想,如果他是來行騙的,我給他錢,便會助長更多的人來到香港行騙。但第二個想法是,就算他是來行騙,也許他有什麼原因需要點錢周轉。我看一看他,樣貌端莊,穿了恤衫西褲,額上有點汗,像是奔跑過一輪。想了想,算了,或他真的有什麼急需。於是我從錢包取了五十蚊,說應該夠給他們兩人吃飯。

這時他說要拿我的電話號碼,說要還錢給我。我扮好人,說沒關係,隨便還給其他人就行。(我原想說給個乞丐便行,但我不懂說乞丐二字!)但是他還不心息,再用他流利的普通話跟我說要找賓館,並沒有錢住,什麼明天就有錢還給我。我想他應說了有什麼原因沒有錢,但我聽不到,亦沒有問。之後他又說什麼大家也是年青人,什麼他在北京一晚也花費三五千,但越講我就越覺得他是個老千。也在想他說得這麼流利,就是想我聽不懂!結果我沒有理會他的請求,說他若再說我就要拿回我的五十大元。他唯有說了句謝謝,並握握我的手走了。

遇到這情況,究竟應否幫助呢?到現在我亦不清楚。

福音有句說話,相信很多人也聽過,就是如果別人打你右面,你就讓他打埋你的左面。耶穌說這話後,另有一句說話,不知應否用在這處了。

後記:
  1. 今日一連貼了三篇文,而三篇文也是用「今日」作開頭。
  2. 看了這文章不要以為我是善心人,我想我有十幾年沒有施捨錢給乞丐了。
  3. 朋友如果你看到這篇文,不用想你若問我借錢我必會借給你。因為我根本沒有錢可以借。哈!
  4. 我發現科大周圍也聽到人講普通話,而我的老闆及我的同學亦都是大陸人。但我真不長進,如終仍未學懂錯通話。唉!

你們一向聽說過:『以眼還眼,以牙還牙。』我卻對你們說:不要抵抗惡人;而且,若有人掌擊你的右頰,你把另一面也轉給他。那願與你爭訟,拿你的內衣的,你連外衣也讓給他。若有人強迫你走一千步,你就同他走兩千步。求你的,就給他;願向你借貸的,你不要拒絕。
(瑪5:38-42)

食評

今日逛書局看到梁文道先生的一本書。書的名字不記得了,是關於他對讀了的書的一些感受。在引言/前言中作者提到,現在的旅遊特輯只注重吃喝玩樂。

我在想,一些的網誌也是如此。有些網誌常常寫一些食評,說到那裏那裏可以吃到一些美味的東西。我看了總是有點不舒服。可能心裏羨慕人家為何這樣有錢,可以享受各種美味的東西。看了後,令到我也想掙多點錢,好好享受我的人生。哈,但我確是一個騎呢人!另一邊廂,我又會去想,為什麼我會有好東西吃,而其他人沒有呢。貧窮似是我的終生伴侶;這一生,我也注定沒好日子過。

對不起,未來的老婆仔女,你們跟着我,也是注定沒「好日子」過!

Sunday, November 19, 2006

「學卷制」

今日讀明報見到一篇關於李國章局長的報道,標題是:

李國章否認要脅幼園
「接受或收回?」
學券制獲業界一致接納

看到這報道,真的有點氣憤。似乎教統局常常都用一點利益去誘惑其他團體去受到他的監管。說這是學券制,表面上是尊重自由市場,實際上是想更多的私立稚幼園轉為受政府監管。明明說要做「大市場小政府」,但卻又什麼都要管。空氣污染這些問題又不去管,有否公平競爭又不去管,每間學校怎去辦學卻又要管!

早陣子的什麼「校本條例」亦是如此。說什麼多些讓家長參與,什麼民主化,但其中一個結果就是要分化/分折辦學團體,讓大的辦學團體不再容易辦學。

有些人說,為什麼07年要有普選,反正都一定是由曾特首連任。我也不十分反對他連任,但我最怕的是,要是07年沒普選,2012年也沒有普選,我怎知李教授會否走出來選特首時。到時我連投反對票的權利也沒有,而只能無夸接受,我就真的不順氣!

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Samba over SSH

Last night I tried to connect a Windows XP machine to a Samba server on FreeBSD. I follow a nicely written webpage by Edwin Olson but failed for many trials. At last, I found that I missed out some important steps from that webpage and after I followed also those steps, it succeeded! A lesson for reading instructions carefully.

There are two reasons for using Samba over SSH:
  1. The port 139 is blocked for the outside connection to Samba server machine.
  2. SSH can encrypt the packets transferred, so that it gives better security for Windows file sharing.
Here is a summary of the configuration steps for the Windows machine.
  • Install a loopback network adapter for SSH port fowarding (or follow the steps from Microsoft):
    1. Go to Control Panel -> Classic View -> Add Hardware
    2. Choose "Yes, I have already connected the hardware"
    3. Choose "Add hardware device" from the bottom of the list
    4. Choose "Install the hardware that I manually select from a list"
    5. Choose "Network adapters"
    6. Choose Microsoft -> Microsoft Loopback Adapter
  • Configure the loopback adapter:
    1. Go to Control Panel -> Classic View -> Network connections
    2. The new loopback adapter should be called Local Area Connection 2
    3. Right click on it and choose Properties.
    4. Enable "Client for Microsoft Networks"
    5. Disable "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks"
    6. Click Properties of Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
    7. Enter an IP address such as 10.0.0.1, subnet mask 255.255.255.0
    8. Click Advanced -> WINS
    9. "Enable LMHOSTS lookup" and "Disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP"
  • Connect to the Samba machine through SSH:
    1. Download and install PuTTY from PuTTY webpage.
    2. Start PuTTY.
    3. Go to Connection -> SSH -> Tunnels.
    4. In source port, enter 10.0.0.1:139
    5. In destination, enter 127.0.0.1:139
    6. Click Add
    7. Then enter your host name as usual for SSH connection and click Open
    8. After you have connected successfully to the Samba machine through SSH, the port forwarding should be OK.
  • The connection should be ready and you can access the files on Samba machine by:
    1. Click Start -> Run
    2. Enter \\10.0.0.1
    3. You should see the files shared by the Samba machine
Notes:
  • You may need to enable port forwarding of SSH on the server machine.
References: