Linux and Hard Drive Partitioning

I don't know if there could be a topic less sexy than partitioning a hard drive for Linux but it is still very important. He lists a couple of common schemes and then gives some extra suggestions for servers. I personally have separate partitions for /boot, /, /home, and /mp3s. That setup has served me well. If I were running a server, I'd probably add one for /var just in case some logging went haywire. Thanks Linux Today.

Amazon MP3 Downloader and Slackware 12

Amazon finally released the MP3 downloader for Linux which enables Linux users to download full albums from their site. It works out of the box if you use Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, or OpenSUSE. There isn't a stock version for Slackware. So here's what I did:

1. I downloaded the Fedora 8 RPM from the link above
2. I went to SlackBuilds and downloaded, created, and installed SlackBuilds for (in order): libsigc++, glibmm, cairomm, and gtkmm.
3. Then I downloaded and installed boost-1.34.1-i486-2gds.tgz from Linux Packages. Update 12/24/2008 I've found the hard way after I upgraded to Slackware 12.2 that the downloader will not work with a version of Boost > 1.34.1. Just do yourself a favor and use the Slackware 12.0 SlackBuild for Boost. You can thank me later.
4. Finally I went into /usr/lib and created the following symbolic links to make everything work with what the Amazon MP3 Downloader is expecting to find:

ln -s libssl.so.0 libssl.so.6
ln -s libcrypto.so.0 libcrypto.so.6
ln -s libboost_date_time.so libboost_date_time.so.3
ln -s libboost_signals.so libboost_signals.so.3
ln -s libboost_iostreams.so libboost_iostreams.so.3
ln -s libboost_thread-mt.so libboost_thread-mt.so.3

Now it works great! I downloaded and am now enjoying Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Texas Flood." I wish it was a little simpler, but it wasn't too awfully painful. When you use Linux long enough you get pretty good at jumping through hoops.

Welcome to My Olde Blog!

This blog (which I hopefully will update regularly) will contain my thoughts, hints, tips, and tricks on my many and varied hobbies. These include, but are not limited to, Linux, the Playstation 3, guitars, and homebrewing beer. You'll probably find something to entertain or annoy you. Hopefully more the former than the latter.