Terminally Incoherent

Holy Crap! I have bad flashback to my Knoppix install days when you had to pray to the machine spitits before typing apt-get upgrade. Knoppix is essentially house of cards, when running from CD is works like magic, but the HD installs are temperamental. Every update means pain.

Today I experience the same creeping pain after trying to upgrade my Kubuntu:


Preparing to replace mozilla-firefox 1.0.6-1ubuntu1~5.04ubp1 (using .../mozilla-firefox_1.0.7-0ubuntu0.1_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement mozilla-firefox ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/mozilla-firefox_1.0.7-0ubuntu0.1_i386.deb  (--unpack):
trying to overwrite `/var/lib/mozilla-firefox/extensions.d/00classic', which is also in package firefox
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)


What in the hell does that mean? WTF? WTF? WTF? This is stupid!

And guess what - after this error firefox doesn’t work anymore. It just refuses start.

I’m about ready to kill someone at this point.

It seems that I have two packages here: firefox and mozilla-firefox. Apparently the first somehow interrupts the second one. So I decided to remove it:


root@inuyasha:~ # apt-get remove firefox
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
mozilla-firefox
Suggested packages:
mozilla-firefox-gnome-support latex-xft-fonts xprt-xprintorg
The following packages will be REMOVED:
firefox
The following packages will be upgraded:
mozilla-firefox
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/8802kB of archives.
After unpacking 672kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y

Preconfiguring packages ...
(Reading database ... 88735 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace mozilla-firefox 1.0.6-1ubuntu1~5.04ubp1 (using .../mozilla-firefox_1.0.7-0ubuntu0.1_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement mozilla-firefox ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/mozilla-firefox_1.0.7-0ubuntu0.1_i386.deb  (--unpack):
trying to overwrite `/var/lib/mozilla-firefox/extensions.d/00classic', which is also in package firefox
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/mozilla-firefox_1.0.7-0ubuntu0.1_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)


Uh, oh! Machine Spirit of my laptop is mad at me it seems. This is not going to work. Apt for some reason wants to upgrade and then remove - which is exactly the opposite from what I want to do…

This 00classic file seems to be causing all the trouble so let’s try doing something to it:


root@inuyasha:~ # cd /var/lib/mozilla-firefox/extensions.d/
root@inuyasha:/var/lib/mozilla-firefox/extensions.d # mv 00classic 00classic.bak
root@inuyasha:/var/lib/mozilla-firefox/extensions.d # apt-get install mozilla-firefox
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Suggested packages:
mozilla-firefox-gnome-support latex-xft-fonts xprt-xprintorg
The following packages will be upgraded:
mozilla-firefox
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/8802kB of archives.
After unpacking 24.6MB of additional disk space will be used.

Preconfiguring packages ...
(Reading database ... 88735 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace mozilla-firefox 1.0.6-1ubuntu1~5.04ubp1 (using .../mozilla-firefox_1.0.7-0ubuntu0.1_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement mozilla-firefox ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/mozilla-firefox_1.0.7-0ubuntu0.1_i386.deb  (--unpack):
trying to overwrite `/var/lib/mozilla-firefox/extensions.d/00classic', which is also in package firefox
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/mozilla-firefox_1.0.7-0ubuntu0.1_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)


Same message. Damn! Removing the stupid file from extensions.d did not help either.

I’m out of ideas, so it’s time to google… But of course Firefox doesn’t work… Aaaaagh! And just look at this:


root@inuyasha:/var/lib/mozilla-firefox/extensions.d # ps -ax | grep fire
Warning: bad ps syntax, perhaps a bogus '-'? See http://procps.sf.net/faq.html
15605 ? Sl 0:01 /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox/firefox-bin -a firefox
15721 pts/2 S+ 0:00 grep fire


There is a dead firefox process hiding in the background. Yet, killing it does not do anything. Next time I try to start firefox the same process respawns and dies. Crap! Thank god KDE has a built in browser

After a quick google I discovered that I was not alone with this problem. Basically this crap hit the whole Ubuntu community. Someone in the package dept. really fucked up on the newest Firefox release.

Anyways, after browsing that discussion for a bit, I decided to risk my extensions and remove firefox completely (some people indicated that this worked for them).


root@inuyasha:/var/lib/mozilla-firefox/extensions.d # apt-get remove mozilla-firefox
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
firefox mozilla-firefox
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 2 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B of archives.
After unpacking 25.4MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
(Reading database ... 88734 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing firefox ...
Removing mozilla-firefox ...
root@inuyasha:/var/lib/mozilla-firefox/extensions.d # apt-get install mozilla-firefox
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Suggested packages:
mozilla-firefox-gnome-support latex-xft-fonts xprt-xprintorg
The following NEW packages will be installed:
mozilla-firefox
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/8802kB of archives.
After unpacking 24.7MB of additional disk space will be used.

Preconfiguring packages ...
Selecting previously deselected package mozilla-firefox.
(Reading database ... 88274 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking mozilla-firefox (from .../mozilla-firefox_1.0.7-0ubuntu0.1_i386.deb) ...
Setting up mozilla-firefox (1.0.7-0ubuntu0.1) ...
Updating mozilla-firefox chrome registry...done.


Wohoo! It works! I was also able to retain all my settings, extensions and themes! This is awesome. I feel much better now.

Now there remains only one other problem:


root@inuyasha:/var/lib/mozilla-firefox # apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
linux-image-2.6.10-5-386
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/15.6MB of archives.
After unpacking 0B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y

Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-2.6.10-5-386_2.6.10-34.5_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)


Something tells me that I will have to remove the fucking ndiswrapper package, recompile and reinstall it again. I hate this. I’m not even touching it today…

I think the music greed mongers are going a little bit to far these days. If you want to get pissed off check out the boingboing article about DigitalFileCheck or go straight to the IFPI press release.

These guys apparently decided to release a tool which will remove any P2P applications, and clean “illegal” files from your computer. It’s kinda like having Microsoft releasing “firefox removal kit” - but these guys can get away with it by pretending to uphold copyright. Personally I think this is ridiculous. I think any P2P companies on their target list should immediately sue IFPI.

If they are targeting Bit-Torrent applications I think Bram Cohen should be suing the shit out of them right now. I think people should just download this crappy mallware for kicks, name their home recording after popular songs and movies, wait for them to be indexed and deleted as illegal, and then sue these assholes for destroying their property.

I wonder how is software decides which of the shared files are legal and which are not? What if you are sharing the independent movie you made in college? What if you are sharing the video documentary from your trip? What if you share public domain or creative commons works? How can this software distinguish a fresh rip of a newly released song from the recording of your 10 year old niece singing that same song?

I think it’s time to show music industry how it feels to be on the receiving end of massive barrage of frivolous litigation. Hey, if Spyware companies can sue Spyware removal firms, P2P businesses should have no problem constructing a case against IFPI.

This makes me sick… And I just know that RIAA will be coming out with their own app shortly. After all they really do go out of their way to upkeep their image of rabid, insane, child suing hatemongers. They will not let IFPI outdo them in the “who can be a bigger asshole to his own customers and get away with it” contest.

I ordered a brand new desktop for my little brother on Monday. A brand spanking new 3 GHz of raw power, 512 MB or ram and a hefty 160 GB HD. I made sure it had a decent ATI Radeon graphics card and a nice soundblaster to play nice with his huge subwoofer he bought some time ago. Poor dude was struggling with his junky 800 MHz dumpster box for a while now. I think I’m more excited than him about this, but he does seem to be happy that he will be able to play all the new games, and have a WinXP on board. Before he was happily using win98.

The new box should be shipping in by the end of the week if we are lucky. Funny thing is that the win98 box seems to have figured out what we were doing and got jealous. Yesterday it decided to have a spectacular crash, and even more spectacular barrage of errors after rebooting. The machine spirits are not to be messed with - I tell you! They know when you are sleeping, they know when you’re awake.. Oh, wait.. No, that’s santa. But santa is a robot, so I guess this works out.

How do you apease a machine spirit btw? Do you need to sacrifice a goat? Or a virgin? Or a goat virgin? We consulted the Adeptus Mechanicus scrolls but we couldn’t find anything conclusive.

As far as I can tell, the OS is shot to shit. Multiple system files were corrupted or missing, the registry hive was clusterfucked, and most of the device drivers were gone. I was stumped. It actually looked as if something plowed right through the system. He shouldn’t be that easily pwn3d though - he was behind the NAT and had ZoneAlarm working. But then again it’s win98 and he is not one of the people who bothers downloading windows updates and such. Just in case someone else owns that box I cranked up my firewall to filter packets from the LAN also.

After much rebooting, and even more cursing I decided to just reinstall. Something is gloriously fucked at a very low level - some dll files magically vanished. Even after re-installing the network card I can’t get it to go out beyond the router. I can’t even ping the router! But I can ping my desktop from his machine, which is bizarre. I do get an IP, and the gateway and subnet seem to be correct. But win98 just doesn’t acknowledge the outside world.

He is going to salvage what he can today, and after I get home we will start the reinstalification But then again, I’m beginning to wonder if it’s worth it. The new machine should come in by Friday (hopefully). On the drive to work I got an idea. Basically all he needs to survive the day is the internet access (mainly and facebook and myspace) and some word processing capability for homeworks. He could probably survive few days just working of a Knoppix CD. His disk is a FAT32 so he could easily read and write to, and from it giving him a network enabled, un-corruptible workstation. It might be a tad slow but hey - he is used to a 800 MHz speed - reading from the CD will only be a small annoyance

I offered to give him my Knoppix CD but he has no clue how to boot it. I’m going to burn the brand spanking new version right now, and see if he likes it when I get home today. I’ll boot it up for him and just tell him not to reboot the machine (not that he would need that with linux). And I would love to expose that little ignoramus to linux on some meaningful level If I could actually have him using it for a day or two, I think he could really appreciate it’s versality and usefulness.

And I really don’t feel like installing any OS when I get home today. I’ll be there after 9pm. I don’t envision starting this thing before 11. Hunting for fucking drivers at 3am is really not my idea of fun. I’d much rather put him on Knop for one evening, and then work on it tomorrow or on Friday. Maybe he will agree to this plan. I guess it all depends how linuxo-phobic he really is.

Students for Orwellian Society is probably one of the funniest, and most brilliant politically charged satires I have seen lately. The examples they bring up are so funny, and yet so true that it chills me to the core. We already are halfway into a 1984 mentality with government recalling reference materials from libraries due to “national security” and newspapers mysteriously censoring their own online archives, and removing politically charged articles.

But they forgot to mention such excellent examples of doublespeak/doublethink as Clear Skies Initiative (which essentially relaxes the anti-pollution regulations set forth by the Clean Air Act) or the Patriot Act. I’m not sure what patriotism has to do with stripping civil liberties from law abiding citizens but hey, if you are against Patriot Act you must not be very patriotic, right? If this is not a prime example of applied doublespeak, I don’t know what is

I think I’m going to hang the “War is Peace” poster over my desk

Well, it seems that I’m back on track with the thesis work. I went from databases to distributed hyperspectral image analysis but hey, it sounds interesting.

Now I just need to figure out what to do about my PHD plans. The question is, should I be going nuts about this right now, or should I take it easy? I mean, if I miss some deadlines I can hallways take a semester/year off and then go back. I guess I’ll need to figure this out soon…

Not today though. To tired. Long day ahead tomorrow… I’m planning to take the sledgehammer to our access point at work, because it is pissing me off. Why the hell does that thing only starts dropping connection when I’m not in the office? I just love when people call me every ten minutes just to tell me the wireless is down… Or up… Or down again.

Yes Mr. Linksys Access Point, your fate is sealed. Tomorrow you will meet Mr. Garbage Can and Mr. Stomping Shoe (not necessarily in that order).

Tags: thesis, masters, ms, phd, school, msu, montclair state university, computer science, access point, linksys, linksys access point, work, work annoyances