Internet usage using vnstat

My internet bill gave the first surprise yesterday. I got amazed after seeing my usage for the last one month. Unfortunately i do not have any option to check my usage from my provider. I decided to look for a good montoring tool in my opensource world itself. I came across nearly 15 good tools for monitoring the bandwidth usage, all are good but lacks some of the modules/functions i require. My search got ended up after seeing the cool small application vnstat. All the information i require is available at a single command. Just amazed to see such a wonderful command. But one thing which clearly lacks is a wonderful gui which alerts me whenever i exceed my daily usage, hmmm quiet an annoying requirement, but yes i need that. Finally i decided to come up with an interface for this cute command line in which I can incorporate my requirement also. I will be starting the work tomorrow. As a java developer, i need to find a real base for creating java desktop apps for Linux. I was evaluating some of projects for the past couple of days. One project which strikes me is the java-gnome project. But for developing an interface for vnstat i do not really require api's from this particular project. I believe core java api's can provide me the stuff what i was looking for.

Java development in Linux

Lot many folks have issues while getting start development in Linux 64bit. Here are some of the workarounds i did in my Fedora Core 9 for the favorite editor eclipse to start showing up it clumsy interface. The default java package coupled with FC9 is Open JDK 1.6.0-b09 (Nice to see Open JDK appearing when i type java --version). Hiccups starts straight away with your default eclipse installation, this does not contain any plugins required for web application. As a web application developer I need my editor equipped with all cool plugins to explore my potential. Okay for a second thought i must download one of the much respected eclipse ide from JBoss community which contain all the wtp plugins. Download the ide from jboss.org. Untar it in one of your specified location (I put it under /usr/local/). When you start eclipse, you suddenly see error in your console, eclipse will complain about the Gtk nodoka theme not found error. Even if you install the gtk-nodoka theme this error won't go off. For eclipse to run its requires gtk+-nodoka-engine.i386 package is required for an x86 architecture. Don't worry yum comes in handy here also, yum repository can install this package for you. yum install gtk-nodoka-engine.i386 After installing this package also eclipse may not startup, it sometimes can complain about about a linkage error which is related to libXtst not found. This package also you can install it from yum repository. Be careful this package also you need to install the i386 arch. yum install libXtst.i386 All the error logs while starting the eclipse can be found in the /workspace/.metadata/.log file. Its is pretty easy to rectify the problem once you understood the problem correctly. After installing all the required packages I was able to see finally the cute JBoss IDE splash. Happy coding

My Fedora box with compiz & xfce4

Okay its time to share my eyecandy desktop. I should explain some past history before going to touch up on. Xfce is the first window manager which impressed me a lot in my college days. Such a cool desktop with hell lot options and too runs with memory less than 100MB. When i joined my first company i was so lucky to work in the environment I admire a lot, but the real issue i faced there is the memory. I faced issues even with my eyecandy xfce also. (Real culprit java + eclipse), as a java developer i can live with out these bread and butter. When ever i run eclipse and starts my Jboss, my desktop starts drags me like a donkey carrying 1000 pounds in her :) back and climbing mount everest. I forced back to use twm.. hmmm not much eyecandy but still memory wise yes, i was able to find memory to my eclipse and JBoss. Yes now i installed FC (Fedora Core 9) kde as my window manager. But kde4 disappointed me totally, yes is should not expect much, its still getting matured. And i decided i must go back to my good old friend my Xfce. Woila the real yum, the updater yummy for fedora systems, installed xfce4 in just a matter of minutes. Yes i'm done I installed xfce4 in my desktop. Just for a second I thought xfce4 is not much updated coz i can still see the old looks for xfce4 also. Then i thougt I'll go my 3d windowing system compiz which can enhance my xfce4 like anything. yum helped more to install compiz from livna repository in just a matter of second. Okay its enough letmme copy couple of snapshots of my eyecandy desktop. A picture can convey more.

Got wonder with the woobly menu bar. Yes folks its not mac, its my linux box with xfce. Okay breaking the suspense, its is the application cairo which will give you this eyecandy feature. This too my yum repository picked it up for me. No more hickups in installing apps. No more lib dependencies and no more sleepless nights. Hats off to folks maintaining yum repository and the yum mmy updater tool. See couple more enhancements of my compiz managed desktop

Folks don't you really want something like this on your desktop too. Wait is over now, install Linux. Come to the opensource world.

Yes I too started blogging

Blogging - I was thinking this for the last one year, but my mind was not prepared at all for start blogging. And at last i decided, yes i should start blogging. Yes its time to start something really special, yes i need to change my daily routines, and yes i need to be more focused on my future. And i was wondering at this moment why i took this much time to make up my mind. I don't have an answer, but i'm trying to find something out of my bad day today. Yes its them who are the real motivators, yes its them who kicked my head, and who are they... folks whom they feel are really the masters in all, yes i want to do much much more, I'm want to crap off my aggressiveness and start listening, and yes i want to prove myself and to them that you can't learn all things in world in our small life time, and what they doing is not a kick ass science. I tried to find lot many answers from my side to my y mind keep up the pace. But... :( I felt really bad today... why.. why..why.. Yes I found the answer at last, prove yourself, you can do it. and i need to do it. and i will do it, i swear. I am taking the oath of continuous improvement today. I swear i will spend hours in improving my abilities, i swear i won't stop doing this until i recognized by the same folks. I m going to keep this pace and keep the darker side as an unforgettable black day in my life for ever.