Archives mensuelles : décembre 2008

À Bicyclette, Trucs & astuces

Mes premiers 162.5 KM en vélo, l’hiver: klaxon, tempêtes, pas de bobo

2 commentaires

Si on dit que le premier million est toujours le plus dur à amasser, je crois qu’on peut aussi affirmer que le premier kilomètre sur la glace ou dans 20 cm de neige est probablement aussi le plus terrifiant. Ça fait maintenant presque 3 semaines que j’ai commencé ma saison d’hiver en vélo et j’ai déjà tellement de choses à raconter!

Si j’écris à ce sujet aujourd’hui, c’est que j’ai survécu 🙂 En vrac:

  • Un pantalon de pluie par dessus des pantalons ordinaires, accompagné de combines et des bottes d’hiver, c’est bon jusqu’à -20C (ou -35 avec facteur vent)
  • Sans les combines d’hiver (donc pantalon de pluie, bottes, pantalon ordinaire), je suis confortable jusqu’à -10C
  • Les voitures roulent effectivement les vitres montées et seul un klaxon très puissant peut attirer leur attention
  • Les piétons avec un Ipod ou autre MP3 player sont aussi dangeureux que les voitures. Par contre ceux que j’ai failli frapper sur la piste cyclable sur Maisonneuve vont se rappeler de mon klaxon toute leur vie, j’en suis certain.
  • Je n’ai pas nettoyé ni graissé mon vélo depuis 3 semaines – mea culpa. Par contre j’enlève l’excès de neige avec une petite brosse douce chez moi.
  • J’ai du acheter un tapis qui me permet de me rendre la porte jusqu’à une chambre de jeux qui est devenue mon garage de bicyclette
  • Je ne laisse jamais le vélo dehors
  • La neige n’a jamais touché (ou presque) le système BionX, même chose pour la pluie. Quand on roule, la force centrifuge évacue tout vers l’extérieur. Ou presque.
  • Sans BionX, je ne me rendrais pas loin sur la côte de l’Avenu du Parc. No way 🙂
  • Sans BionX, j’aurais pas été loin sur la route la fois qu’il venait de tomber 20cm de neige
  • Je roule souvent en plein milieu de la rue, les bosses de glace rendant certains pistes cyclables et la neige envahissant toutes les petites rues de mon trajet habituel
  • J’ai baissé mon siège pour que mes deux pieds touchent rapidment à terre en cas de dérapage. Ça m’a servi une seule fois – et ça valait la peine! Oui, j’ai seulement glissé sur une plaque de glace une fois en 3 semaines
  • Je ne roule jamais à plus de 20km/h malgré la tentation en BionX. Cependant plusieurs cyclistes visiblement plus expérimentés, ou moins peureux (ou les deux) vont plus vite que moi!
  • Été comme hiver, je fais mon trajet de ~6km sans boire une goutte d’eau. Même chose avant quand c’était 15km, j’ai découvert que je ne transpirais pratiquement pas et je me suis habitué avec le temps.
  • Je ne bois plus 2L d’eau ou Gatorade en arrivant comme il m’arrivait de le faire
  • Comme je ne transpire pratiquement pas, je ne me change pas souvent en arrivant… mmhh sauf pour la tête! Je dois me sécher. Heureusement le code vestimentaire au bureau est relax 🙂
  • En dessous de zéro, ça prends 2 paires de gants: gants d’hiver ordinaires, et petits gants en polypropylène ou en laine. J’ai aussi des gants en néoprène pour les journées de pluie (oui, il pleut en hiver des fois)
  • En dessous de -10, ça prends 2 paires de gants: gants d’hiver ordinaires, et gants extra-large « coupe-vent », ce sont des gants assez minces mais qui empêchent le vent de passer et donc gardent au chaud.
  • Les deux derniers points sont invalides après 20 minutes 🙂 Pas encore cherché de solution à ça mais j’ai gelé mes doigts deux fois, dont une qui a fait très mal. En dégelant ça pique en t**!
  • Pour le haut, les pelures d’oignon font l’affaire: un t-shirt, un chandail manche longue et un impermeable (!) suffisent jusqu’à 0. J’ajoute un petit manteau de printemps ou un chandail en laine et je peux aller jusqu’à -20 confortablement. La seule raison: je pédale constamment dont l’effort compense pour l’habillement. J’ai marché 5 minutes une fois étant habillé comme ça et j’ai gelé 🙂
  • Les passe-montagne et des lunettes de ski à 35$ dont l’affaire. Ça mérite un billet entier ces deux accessoires-là! En bas de -10C je mets 2 passe-montagne! Très confortable, jamais eu froid ou même de la buée.
  • À chaque fois que j’arrête dans la rue ou à l’intérieur (ascenseur, corridors..) on m’encourage! On me félicite, on me pose des questions, on me regarde bizarrement…c’est une sorte d’activisme silencieux. Mes collègues font presque des paris à savoir si la journée où il pleut copeiusement ou bien la journée où fait -35C avec le vent je vais venir 🙂

    • Voilà, je manque un peu de style aujourd’hui … mais je crois que l’essentiel y est.

    L’autobus, le métro, l’auto, rien de tout ça me manque et j’ai toujours hâte de prendre le vélo, matin (à 6h30) et soir (vers 16h30). Le plus gros problème que j’ai rencontré à date sont les vibrations vraiment importantes qui pourraient endommager le vélo ou le disque dur de mon laptop. J’ai un bon éclairage, je roule lentement et j’essaie de rester civilisé avec les piétons et les voitures – ça semble fonctionner car je n’ai pas eu d’incidents à ce jour! On touche du bois.

    Je ne crois pas avoir beaucoup de mérite car mon trajet est vraiment minuscule comparé à d’autres, et Montréal est une ville idéale pour le vélo d’hiver. J’ai vu les équipes de déneigement passer 2 fois par jour et les pistes sont pratiquables la plupart du temps – encore faut-il que des vélos y circulent sinon la neige finit quand même par s’y accumuler. Donc j’ai des conditions idéales pour continuer! 🙂 Le plus important comme j’ai lu qq part est de ne jamais lâcher, personellement je crois que c’est vrai et après seulement 3 semaines je crois que ma routine est établie.

    162.5KM c’est bien peu, si on calcule pour le reste de l’hiver qui devrait durer jusqu’en Mars/Avril, à 200km/mois je devrais parcourir 1000KM cet hiver. J’ai hâte!

     
Ubuntu, Ubuntu Planet, Mozilla, GNU/Linux

My Thunderbird extensions

4 commentaires

In no particular order…

  • Bugmail

    Thunderbird 2.0 – 3.0b2pre

    A bugtracker bugmail companion – provides a nice header with bug status, upstream links, etc. work nicely with Launchpad bug mail

  • Buttons!

    Thunderbird 2.0b1 – 3.0

    Adds buttons! Not sure how to explain them all…

  • Compact Menu 2

    Thunderbird 2.0 – 2.0.0.*

    Duplicates the menubar on the toolbar as a menu of menus.

  • Delete Junk Context Menu

    Thunderbird 0.5 – 3.0

    Adds ‘Delete Mail Marked as Junk’ to folders’ right click menu

  • Diccionario de Español/España

    Thunderbird 2.0 – 3.0a2pre

    Diccionario de Español/España

  • Dictionary Switcher

    Thunderbird 2.0b2 – 3.0a1

    Displays the currently selected dictionary in the status bar and allows to change it.

  • Dictionnaire MySpell en Français – part of Ubuntu

    Thunderbird 1.5 – 2.0.0.*

  • Display Mail User Agent

    Thunderbird 2.0 – 3.0a2pre

    Displays the mail program with which the selected mail was written – always useful to give some context to email – is the author using Windows, Linux, a Mac ?

  • Duplicate Contact Manager

    Thunderbird 1.5 – 2.0.0.*

    Facilitates handling of duplicate contacts in your address books. You know you have some.

  • Enigmail – provided by Ubuntu, but I install it manually

    Thunderbird 2.0 – 2.0.0.*

    OpenPGP message encryption and authentication

  • Extension List Dumper – produces this list in nice HTML

    Thunderbird 1.5 – 2.0.0.*

    Dumps a list of the installed extensions.

  • Lightning – I install this one manually too.

    Thunderbird 2.0 – 2.0.0.*

    An integrated calendar for Thunderbird (build 2008091718)

  • Mail Redirect – a must to save some « here’s this email I got but it should go to you  » intros.

    Thunderbird 0.7 – 2.0.0.*

    Allow to redirect (a.k.a. « bounce ») mail messages to other recipients

  • Provider for Google Calendar

    Thunderbird 2.0a1 – 2.0.0.*

    Allows bidirectional access to Google Calendar

  • Quicktext – great for multiple signatures and templates

    Thunderbird 1.5 – 3.0a1

    Adds a toolbar with unlimited number of text to quickly insert. It’s also possible to use varibles like [[TO=firstname]]. With settings for everything.

  • QuoteCollapse – you know, some people just looooove to quote.

    Thunderbird 0.7 – 2.0.0.*

    Collapse quotes.

  • Remember Mismatched Domains – yes I use Dreamhost and SSL.

    Thunderbird 1.5 – 2.0.0.*

    Adds a ‘don’t ask me again’ option to the Domain Name Mismatch Security Error window.

  • Remove Duplicate Messages (Alternate) – no comment!

    Thunderbird 1.5 – 3.0a1

    Locates duplicate messages in mail folders and removes them.

  • Sender Verification Extension

    Thunderbird 0.6 – 2.0.0.*

    Protects you from phishing with SPF and DomainKeys.

  • Tag Toolbar

    Thunderbird 2.0b1 – 2.0.0.*

    Add toolbar for toggling tags.

  • Xpunge

    Thunderbird 1.0 – 2.0.0.*

    Empties the Trash folder and compacts folders in multiple Thunderbird accounts.

If you have any that make your Ubuntu life easier, let me know!

 
Trucs & astuces, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Planet, GNU/Linux

The single most important thing you should know about Ubuntu…

3 commentaires

… if you’re new around or if you’re introducing someone else to Ubuntu for the first time, I think a critical read is the following link:

Painfully obvious ? Rightfully so.

Many new (and old) « converts » ask questions about how to compile applications, manually install .deb packages… those should be the last one needs to do when installing applications in Ubuntu (or any Linux for that matter), at least when you want to keep the system as close as possible to regular, supported security/feature updates and upgrades as possible.

I am still a bit surprised when I get a comment like « I’ve been trying to compile/install XYZ for a few days/hours » and there almost always is a solution using packages part of the regular repositories! For those special cases when there isn’t I have a million suggestions, but compiling is far from the top of my list.

Another friendly advice, also consider asking on the Launchpad « Answers » system or showing your new converts how to do that, many times you may find things in Ubuntu are done in a slightly different way – not always obvious, most of the time easier. Don’t take my word for it 😉 Asking where or how to get help is OK too.

Last but not least, http://www.ubuntu.com/support provides links to official docs, free community support and even commercial options. Chances are there is a Local Community Team in your area, know it, promote it, join it, use it!

There’s only one better thing than discovering Ubuntu, and that is knowing where its community is and how to tackle into it and even participate in it. I’ve found when new users are empowered to do this, they don’t have to depend on me at all for future support! Well, unless they want 24/7 immediate phone support, that is 😉

 
Ubuntu, Ubuntu Planet, GNU/Linux

Canonical jobs: Support analyst based off London, and more

3 commentaires

A new position for a support analyst based off London has just been opened at Canonical. It’s not listed on the website yet so I thought I’d give some lead to the Ubuntu Planet readers:

I am sorry this is painfully obvious but if you don’t speak excellent English don’t even think about it.

Let me know if you want to apply to any of those, it’s always best when someone has been referred.

And before anyone asks, yes, there is a referral bonus for such referrals – I guess that covers the million questions we get when we help someone apply.

Also don’t miss all the recent job postings:

  • Service Delivery Manager – posted: December 2008

    • Posting Date: December 2008
    Job Location: Taipei, Taiwan
    Job Summary: Working with key OEM and ODM customers in Taiwan, you will be responsible for the release into manufacturing of Ubuntu and Ubuntu based customized software. You will have experience in the PC industry of launching products for major brands and will be familiar with the engineering life cycles at a …

    more details

  • Integration Engineer – posted: December 2008

    • Posting Date: December 2008
    Job Location: Millbank, London
    Job Summary: The BIS team is responsible for building and supporting the internal IT systems that Canonical uses. This role on the BIS team involves deployment, support and administration of a variety of 3rd party systems, integration of those systems with other Canonical systems and migration of legacy systems.

    more details

  • Ubuntu Senior Certification Engineer – posted: November 2008

    • Posting Date: November 2008
    Job Location: Your home (given appropriate facilities including broadband Internet) in an American or European time zone.
    Job Summary: Hold responsibility for the delivery of manual and automated testing for certification and hardware enablement. Quality Assurance Team Manager

    more details

  • Web Developer BIS – posted: November 2008

    • Posting Date: November 2008
    Job Location: Home based. Some international travel may be required
    Job Summary: The BIS team is responsible for building and supporting the internal IT systems that Canonical uses. This role on the BIS team is to develop web applications and components to integrate Canonical websites and applications with other key internal and external systems.

    more details

  • Product Manager, Online Services – posted: November 2008

    • Posting Date: November 2008
    Job Location: Home based with broadband, in an American/European time zone. This job involves international travel several times a year, usually for one week.
    Job Summary: Is your head in the clouds? We have a unique opportunity for a dynamic, technically astute product manager who can demonstrate an understanding of the way web-based services change the desktop experience. We’re looking for someone thinking about the cloud, but with feet firmly planted on a product schedule. The …

    more details

  • Ubuntu Mobile Developer – posted: November 2008

    • Posting Date: November 2008
    Job Location: Your home, as long as you have broadband. North American & European time zones preferred. Some international travel will be required.
    Job Summary: Our goal is to make the best open source Linux Distribution, your job is to assist in solving issues around creating it. You need to be a jack-of-all-trades, able to quickly determine what the actual issue is and how to solve it, whatever “it” might be. Work on a broad …

    more details

  • Ubuntu Mobile/MID QA Tester – posted: November 2008

    • Posting Date: November 2008
    Job Location: Your home (given appropriate facilities including broadband Internet) in an American or European time zone.
    Job Summary: Execute testing cases and tools for the Ubuntu mobile platform.

    more details

  • Systems Software Engineer – posted: November 2008

    • Posting Date: November 2008
    Job Location: Lexington, MA; USA preferred but applicants welcome for home workers
    Job Summary: Integration of new hardware devices and technologies on mobile internet devices and subnotebooks. This engineer will have a broad scope of responsibilities to customize Ubuntu to work on mobile internet devices, netbooks and other unique hardware designs

    more details

  • Project Administrator – posted: November 2008

    • Posting Date: November 2008
    Job Location: Home based with broadband, in an American or European time zone. This job involves international travel several times a year, usually for one week.
    Job Summary: The Project Administrator role is a key role in our software development teams. As a part of the technical team, the Project Administrator defines and monitors process and progress metrics. Strong communication and a steadfast commitment to not dropping the ball are required skills for this role, as the successful …

    more details

  • Web Designer – posted: November 2008

    • Posting Date: November 2008
    Job Location: Millbank, London; UK
    Job Summary: The Web Designer will be responsible for the experience our prospective customers and our developer community have via our Canonical, Ubuntu and other web portals. These portals are critical to the success of our business and our products and our Web Designer will be expected to own this experience from …

    more details

  • Lead Concept Designer – posted: November 2008

    • Posting Date: November 2008
    Job Location: Millbank, London; UK
    Job Summary: This is a key role in the Design and Customer Experience team and across the business. Our Lead Concept Designer will be responsible for creating unique, innovative and simply amazing concepts, from customer facing products and the finite detail within, to internal facing projects to ensure the business ‘gets’, buys …

    more details

  • Ubuntu GNOME Desktop Engineer – posted: November 2008

    • Posting Date: November 2008
    Job Location: Your home, as long as you have broadband. Some international travel will be required.
    Job Summary: To maintain the GNOME packages that form the basis of the Ubuntu desktop experience.

    more details

  • Partner Marketing Manager – posted: November 2008

    • Posting Date: November 2008
    Job Location: London, UK
    Job Summary: Provide marketing expertise to support and develop business with our growing list of high-profile business partners, particularly major PC suppliers and OEM/ODMs.

    more details

  • Telco Channel Manager – posted: November 2008

    • Posting Date: November 2008
    Job Location: Europe or USA
    Job Summary: Channel Manager will be responsible for building commercial relationships with top level Telcos and related industry partners

    more details

  • Ubuntu Program Manager – posted: November 2008

    • Posting Date: November 2008
    Job Location: Preferable London, UK however other candidates home based in American or European time zones may also be considered.
    Job Summary: The PM will be managing the implementation project life cycle: requirement gathering, implementation and testing within time, quality and cost standards. Also managing project risk, as well as planning and delivering complex software integration projects; reporting of project progress and status internally, to customers and stakeholders; managing escalations, changing controls …

    more details

  • QA Engineer – posted: November 2008

    • Posting Date: November 2008
    Job Location: Taipei, Taiwan
    Job Summary: Perform automated and manual testing of custom versions of Ubuntu Desktop. Support local Field Engineering staff with SQA process development/implementation.

    more details

  • Gnome Developer – posted: October 2008

    • Posting Date: October 2008
    Job Location: At home with broadband, in an American/European time zone.
    Job Summary: As a member of the Desktop Experience Team, this role will be to design and develop new innovative elements of the Gnome platform. The candidate must have strong coding and debugging skills in C, coupled with in-depth knowledge of X11, OpenGL and GTK+ programming. This role will work closely with …

    more details

  • KDE Developer – posted: October 2008

    • Posting Date: October 2008
    Job Location: At home with broadband, in an American/European time zone
    Job Summary: We’re hiring talented engineers to develop a new, innovative desktop experience, in Ubuntu Linux. You will design and implement key elements of the KDE platform, in coordination with your peers in the community . As a member of the Desktop Experience Team, this role will be to design and develop …

    more details

  • Open GL Developer – posted: October 2008

    • Posting Date: October 2008
    Job Location: At home with broadband, in an American/European time zone
    Job Summary: As a member of the Desktop Experience Team, the Software Engineer’s role will be to design and develop new innovative elements of the Ubuntu Desktop. The candidate must have strong coding and debugging skills in C/C++, coupled with in-depth knowledge of OpenGL and experience with Linux graphical toolkits. This role …

    more details

  • OEM Channel Manager (Europe) – posted: October 2008

    • Posting Date: October 2008
    Job Location: Europe

    Job Summary: Based in Europe the OEM Channel Manager will be responsible for building relationships with top level OEM/ODM and local MNC accounts in focus region. As part of the Business Development Department, the OEM programme counts 6 Channel Managers who seek to create a network of partners across the globe with …

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  • Launchpad Bugs Application Engineer – posted: October 2008

    • Posting Date: October 2008
    Job Location: Home-based but prefer time zones from Europe to east coast USA
    Job Summary: We are looking for a software engineer that is passionate about bug tracking in open source projects. The position requires experience in both web and server-side programming. The ideal candidate has strong experience with other bug tracking systems and a desire to tackle the problem of bug management across a …

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  • Field Engineer (China) – posted: October 2008

    • Posting Date: October 2008
    Job Location: China – with regular travel engagements
    Job Summary: The application Field Engineer will support deploying Ubuntu and assist in sales opportunities. The continuous improvement and refinement of engineering and technical sales processes is a key aspect in this position. This involves building working relationships within Canonical to enhance the efficiency of collaboration between different teams.

    more details

  • Field Engineer (Taiwan) – posted: October 2008

    • Posting Date: October 2008
    Job Location: Home based position in Taiwan, with regular travel engagements
    Job Summary: Field Engineer

    more details

  • Ubuntu Mobile/MID QA Engineer – posted: October 2008

    • Posting Date: October 2008
    Job Location: Your home (given appropriate facilities including broadband Internet) in an American or European time zone
    Job Summary: Develop automated testing tools for the Ubuntu mobile platform.

    more details

  • Kernel Field Engineer – posted: September 2008

    • Posting Date: September 2008
    Job Location: Taiwan
    Job Summary: The Kernel Field Engineer will support the kernel team with hardware enablement in Ubuntu. This is achieved by working with our partners, system builders, ODMs (Original Device Manufacturers) and development teams within Canonical to assess and implement device drivers and other hardware bring up as necessary. This is a highly …

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  • System Administrator in Taiwan – posted: August 2008

    • Posting Date: August 2008
    Job Location: Taiwan
    Job Summary: Part of the systems administration team for Canonical Ltd, with specific responsibility for all on-site systems administration related tasks in Canonical’s Taiwan office.

    more details

  • Ubuntu Translations Coordinator – posted: August 2008

    • Posting Date: August 2008
    Job Location: Your home, as long as you have broadband. Some international travel will be required.
    Job Summary: The role of the Ubuntu Translations Coordinator is to oversee, represent, guide and optimise the processes and workflow of the Ubuntu translations community as well as coordinating the LoCo Teams project. Applicants should have experience of working in a translations community and with computing user groups, be knowledgeable of the …

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  • Salesforce Integration Engineer, BIS Team – posted: July 2008

    • Posting Date: July 2008
    Job Location: At home with broadband. This job involves international travel several times a year, usually for periods of one or two weeks
    Job Summary: The BIS team is responsible for building and supporting the internal IT systems that Canonical uses. This role on the BIS team involves design and implementation of custom Salesforce integrations and add-ons.

    more details

 
Ubuntu, Ubuntu Planet, Communautaire, GNU/Linux

What’s on your laptop ?

8 commentaires

I’ve been meaning to post a picture of my laptop’s « decoration » for a while, perhaps start another chain reaction…

I think what you put in your laptop tells a bit about who you are or what you do 🙂

So here’s my current laptop:

One more thing, I got a zebra-themed vinyl skin applied on the laptop, which protects the machine – the stickers are on that vinyl layer.

Clicking on the image will bring you to Flickr where I added some notes.

What’s on your laptop ?