While installing a new computer (soon a post on my new arch-linux laptop) I’ve re-discovered a command that I don’t use frequently, but that can be really useful : lsblk
lsblk lists information about all or the specified block devices. The lsblk command reads the sysfs filesystem to gather information.
The command prints all block devices (except RAM disks) in a tree-like format by default.
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Recently a colleague of mine should run multiple parallel jobs on a server (around 20 in our specific case), every job does “an elaboration” and this can take a time longer or shorter in respect of the others, once a job finishes its task it must read from a text file the first line that indicate the ID of a new job, it removes that ID from the top of the text file and starts to elaborate it.
Problem: On a long run (a run of 50K+ jobs) it happens “frequently” that 2 jobs finish at the same time and so both take the same ID causing problems to the whole process, we tried to use a simple lock file “touched” just after the job was opening the file with the list of ID, but it seems that this operation it’s too slow and we had some case of failed concurrency again.
The solution was to use the bash function flock
Humble Indie Bundle (HIB) number eight is been released and this is the list of games that you’ll find this time: Dear Esther, Capsized, Awesomenauts, Thomas Was Alone, and Little Inferno. If you choose to pay over the average, you’ll also receive Hotline Miami and Proteus!
What’s is HIB ? in short:
The Humble Indie Bundles or Humble Bundles are a series of game bundles that are sold and distributed online at a price determined by the purchaser. The games are multi-platform, DRM-free, and independently developed, and buyers can set the revenue split between the developers, charities and humble bundle organizers.
Thanks Wikipedia.
You have time for another 9 days before this offer runs out, but let’s take a quick look at the games that you’ll get this time
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Today I propose you an interesting topic based on an article by Jacob Cook first published on https://citizenweb.is/
Over the past few years, a handful of different encrypted messaging systems have cropped up and gained prominence, notably Cryptocat and the OTR specification. Now a newcomer to the scene proposes a different way of thinking about encrypted communication, one that borrows from its more well-known older brother, BitCoin.
A project has been started that intends to recreate BitCoin’s decentralized P2P model for seamless message encryption and transmission.
BitMessage was started by Jonathan Warr en late last year and has now made it up to version 0.2.4. One of the most prominent strengths of the BitMessage system is how it enforces anonymity. Similar to how BitCoin allows one to send money to anonymous recipients without advertising metadata to others, BitMessage communicates via simple addresses generated from public keys, which need not be tied to a specific user’s identity.
Some days ago I’ve published an article about copy.com, a service similar to Dropbox where a copy of one of your folders is synchronized on the cloud, this is true for any computer where you install the copy.com/dropbox/ubuntu one applet and so you can easily share your documents among your computers and have a copy on the cloud.
But what if you don’t want to share a copy on the cloud of your documents but you need to quickly share a document among your computers ?
Usb stick is usually the best option, but there is also an alternative that use the local network to send data among computers: NitroShare
NitroShare is designed to be hassle-free in every aspect. Just install the application on any machine running Ubuntu or Windows and you’re all set. Each machine should discover all of the other machines on the local network. The application integrates with the operating system, using application indicators on Ubuntu and the system tray on Windows.