Change your ubuntu computer name

This is an incredibly easy (trivial even) task - but it involves two steps. Which means I always forget one of them. So this might stop me from doing it in future...

Say you want to change your computer name to be: bender.example.org

1. Edit the /etc/hostname file
       sudo nano /etc/hostname
   There's only one line in this file, change it to the desired computer name.
   In this case: "bender".
   
2. Edit the /etc/hosts file
       sudo nano /etc/hosts
   Leave the first loopback (127.0.0.1) line alone, but change the second one to list both your computer name, and the fully qualified domain name (if it has one).
   In this case: "127.0.0.1    bender.example.org    bender"

Now you're changes will stick after a reboot, and you can still SSH into your machine. 'cause it's always embarrassing when you can't connect to the computer you just renamed...

Microsoft, please wipe my phone. I don't need it anymore...

While trying out a ROM based on stock 4.0.1 (Ice Cream Sandwich); I noticed a scary warning when setting up Exchange ActiveSync to my work account:

So I'm thinking: would I really like someone else to be able to:

• change the way passwords work on my phone?
• change the lock screen settings on my phone?
• change the encryption on my phone?
• remotely wipe all data on my phone without warning?

I could easily imagine our daughter playing with the unlock screen, and triggering a remote wipe. Which would be fun for the first 1 to 2 seconds. Then pain for the subsequent 1 to 2 days.

How would one combat this (to me) potentially draconian IT policy?

Turns out (like most things with android); it's relatively easy - provided you invest a few minutes. The exchange sync provider,  like most things, is shipped independently as an APK file. The source code for the the provider is freely available, and if you don't like how it works -- well change it damnit...

Better yet - someone has already compiled it and packaged up the APK file. So all you really need to do is install it. xda-developers has all the goodies... To be clear:

1. Download the APK from the link
2. Delete the stock Email.apk file
3. Copy the patched version in it's place
4. Setup an exchange account as you normally would.
   Instead of the scary Exchange policy - you get a nice message that it will be ignored and a disclaimer that you are on your own.

Easy peasy. Kids can now draw pretty pictures with the lock screen without fear of triggering a remote wipe.

android 2.3.5 + htc sense 3.5 + facebook do not play nice...

I finally tracked down the incredibly annoying problem of incoming calls crashing com.android.phone (ie: the process that actually handles the incoming call!) Turns out something was attempting to draw absolutely nothing onto the canvas of the dialler (thanks android logs!). It was in fact a Facebook linked contact (with no image).

While there are a few documented work arounds. The simplest (albeit brutal), is to stop Facebook from synchronising contacts. More details are on the google group. In short:

Load Facebook app:

• Settings -> Syncronize -> None
• Logout

Android Settings:

• Accounts and sync
• Remove Facebook
• Remove Facebook for HTC sense

Start answering incoming calls :-/

rip aopen red thingy

Circa 2004, AOpen EZ65, With the delightful opening engrish passage in the user manual: "fun your life".
A subtle shade of bright red too.

8+ years of 24/7 use. Firstly as a (at the time) pretty reasonable Windows desktop; then as a no-hdd, usb bootin' webbrowser/kiosk machine; then a general purpose linux/samba/ssh/lamp/dns/virtualbox/general-shit-kicker server. I think I paid about $400 for it. So that's pretty good mileage.

I briefly considered looking harder into the reason it failed, maybe reanimating it Frankenstein-style (since I can't buy any new parts that would actually fit). But I figured it deserved some peace and quite after all these years of service without hiccup (until now).

I guess it's time to see if it's old duties can be services by a virtual machine now...

At 64KB/s, there's only one choice for search...

Sad days over the weekend, we where were capped at 64KB/s on the home ADSL connection.

I'd hardly call myself a fanboy, but Google still trumped Bing by a long margin.

Results for searching for a pretty popular term:
Google loaded the first and second results pages. I even had time to click on a search result and have the site load up before Bing even bothered to show me a home page and textbox to type anything! Good thing I wasn't in a hurry (64KB/s teaches patience if nothing else).

Regardless, 64KB/s is a pain I don't want to relive...

The Scrum Guide 2011... snap!

During a 30 minute spike today on UI blocks, the discussion wound around to...

Couldn't the "developers" implement some of the BDD steps?

Well the "testers" do that.

Oh... Well we're accruing quite a bit of debt from the rough UI we have at the moment. Couldn't the "developers" work on the UI/UX?

Well the "business analysts" and "UI experts" do that. 

It seems very, very odd when you think about it. It also seems to run counter to some pretty basic scrum principals. I was going to let it slide, but then I saw there's been an update to The Scrum Guide (2011).There have been a few refinements made to the document, they are listed in the summary page. Have a read, it's very easy to follow. There's a few gem's on page 6 (some paragraphs removed)...

The Development Team
Development Teams are structured and empowered by the organization to organize and manage their own work. The resulting synergy optimizes the Development Team’s overall efficiency and effectiveness. Development Teams have the following characteristics:

• They are self-organizing. No one (not even the Scrum Master) tells the Development Team how to turn Product Backlog into Increments of potentially releasable functionality; 
• Development Teams are cross-functional, with all of the skills as a team necessary to create a product Increment; 
• Scrum recognizes no titles for Development Team members other than Developer. Regardless of the work being performed by the person, there are no exceptions to this rule;
• Individual Development Team members may have specialized skills and areas of focus, but accountability belongs to the Development Team as a whole; and,
• Development Teams do not contain sub-teams dedicated to particular domains like testing or business analysis.

At the risk of getting all high and mighty, shouting "you're doing it all wrong!" or "the book says you're not allowed to do that!"; which obviously achieves nothing, and irritates a lot. I've been trying the gentler "as part of improvements for next sprint, what could we do to become a more cross functional team?" approach in our sprint retro.

We shall see...

He said: "What do you think of my manifesto?"

Agile Manifesto

I said:

"I like your manifesto, I'll put it to the testo"

Alas, the room fell silent when I said that. There might have also been a tumble weed, I'm not sure.

Apparently agile project management frameworks are a little more popular than old Irish punk bands. Oh well...

Sultans of Ping FC