64 Bit Jungle

So, the latest Linux Alpha version has been released for MySQL Workbench 5.1, with a bunch of features added, and lots of bugs fixed. Once again, 32 Bit users can install from a precompiled deb, which can be downloaded from one of the available MySQL Workbench 5.1.5 mirrors. Once downloaded, it can be installed with dpkg:

sudo dpkg -i mysql-workbench-5.1.5-1_i386.deb

64 Bit users still have to compile from source, but it’s progressed significantly since v5.1.3, and now the ctemplate-library is linked statically within the 5.1.5 code, so there’s no need to download, compile and install ctemplate any more. There are still several prerequisites that need installing before compiling 5.1.5, but they can all be obtained via apt:

sudo apt-get install build-essential autoconf automake libtool libzip-dev libxml2-dev libsigc++-2.0-dev libglade2-dev libgtkmm-2.4-dev libglu1-mesa-dev libgl1-mesa-glx mesa-common-dev libmysqlclient15-dev uuid-dev liblua5.1-dev libpixman-1-dev libpcre3-dev libgnome2-dev libgtk2.0-dev libpango1.0-dev libcairo2-dev

The rest of the compile and install instructions are the same as my MySQL Workbench 5.1.3 Alpha Linux tutorial, but for the sake of brevity are repeated here. First, grab the source from one of the MySQL Workbench 5.1.5 mirrors - as usual, I downloaded it to my now incredibly cluttered Desktop - then I made a couple of directories in my Home folder to house the source code (~/mysqlwb-src) and the compiled application (~/mysql-workbench), and finally compiled and installed:

cd ~/Desktop
mkdir ~/mysqlwb-src
mkdir ~/mysql-workbench
mv mysql-workbench-5.1.5-alpha.tar.gz ~/mysqlwb-src
cd ~/mysqlwb-src
tar -zxvf mysql-workbench-5.1.5-alpha.tar.gz
cd mysql-workbench-5.1.5-alpha
./autogen.sh
make install DESTDIR=/home/<username>/mysql-workbench

The DESTDIR option tells make to install it into the ~/mysql-workbench directory created earlier, which for now is better than a system wide installation. To run it, navigate to the install bin dir and run the executable:

cd ~/mysql-workbench/usr/local/bin
./mysql-workbench

Remember it’s Alpha, so not recommended for use in a Production environment, or on a Production DB!

written by Hodge \\ tags: MySQL, workbench

Ever acquired a .daa disk image and been unable to burn it? DAA is the proprietary format of PowerISO - I’m not really a fan of proprietary formats of anything, and would rather have the disk as an ISO image. The PowerISO download page has a conversion tool for Linux which can be used to convert that pesky DAA to ISO, and can be used via the Terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) as follows:

wget http://www.poweriso.com/poweriso-1.3.tar.gz
tar -zxvf poweriso-1.3.tar.gz
./poweriso convert /path/to/source.daa -o /path/to/target.iso -ot iso

However, there is also an Open Source version available, developed by Luigi Auriemma. The Zip file contains a precompiled Windozzze binary, along with the source code - which is what we’re interested in for Linux. Once it’s compiled:

wget http://aluigi.altervista.org/mytoolz/daa2iso.zip
unzip daa2iso.zip
cd src
make

it’s really easy to use:

./daa2iso /path/to/source.daa /path/to/target.iso

The new ISO image can be now burned with whatever application you choose.

written by Hodge \\ tags: Convert, daa, iso

I sometimes get messages in my Gmail account for which I think “I’ll open it later”, which have the same thought applied to them the next day, week, month… until they get buried deeply into the mass of read mail to be almost - but not quite - forgotten about. The (5) next to the Inbox link serves as a constant reminder of those 5 neglected mails, which would probably remain neglected, since they have as good as vanished into obscurity and would be a nightmare to find, were it not for a really cool, and painfully simple search term:

label:unread

Simply enter this into the search box, click “Search Mail”, and Gmail will list all those unread messages, no matter how old. Not a lot of people know that. However, if you think that’s far too many characters to type in one go, well, no worries - just use:

l:^u

instead, and it’ll yield the same results.

Another few milliseconds saved. What to do with them?

written by Hodge \\ tags: Gmail, Tips

Speedball, Canon Fodder, Alien Breed, Flood, Defender of the Crown, Powermonger… the list of classic Amiga games is not quite endless, but is certainly far longer than I can be bothered compiling.

A recent bout of nostalgia had me searching obsessively for Amiga games, and a way to play them. UAE and WinUAE have been around for a while, and, so it seems, as E-UAE, which is a fork of UAE and adopts features form WinUAE. Cool! The application is available in a variaety of forms, from precompiled 32 bit binaries and 64 bit binaries, to the source tarball itself. I opted for the source code, and set about compiling it myself. If you don’t have the tools to compile from source, they need installing - from a Terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) run

sudo apt-get install build-essential

To compile the source is a pretty simple procedure:

wget http://rcdrummond.net/uae/e-uae-0.8.29-WIP4/e-uae-0.8.29-WIP4.tar.bz2
tar -jxvf e-uae-0.8.29-WIP4.tar.bz2
cd e-uae-0.8.29-WIP4
./configure –with-sdl-gfx –with-sdl-sound
make

More compile options are explained in the file docs/compile.txt which can be viewed by running:

more docs/compile.txt

Once the code had compiled, it can be installed by running:

sudo make install

However, I used a rather cool tool called checkinstall, which produces a .deb file, which can be installed, and therefore tracked by dpkg. It needs installing first:

sudo apt-get install checkinstall

To create the deb package, and have checkinstall automatically install it, run it as root <This article has been interrupted by my Wife requesting I give our Daughter a bath. I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, and service will resume as soon as possible >

Anyway, where was I? Run checkinstall as root to have it auto install:

sudo checkinstall

You’ll need to answer a couple of basic questions - adding a Description and such, but the final options should look a little something like this:

0 - Maintainer: [ username@host ]
1 - Summary: [ The enhanced version of UAE, the UNIX Amiga Emulator ]
2 - Name: [ e-uae-0.8.29 ]
3 - Version: [ 0.8.29-WIP4 ]
4 - Release: [ 1 ]
5 - License: [ GPL ]
6 - Group: [ checkinstall ]
7 - Architecture: [ amd64 ]
8 - Source location: [ e-uae-0.8.29-WIP4 ]
9 - Alternate source location: [ ]
10 - Requires: [ ]
11 - Provides: [ uae ]

If you just want to build the deb package, without installing, you can run:

checkinstall --install=no

This will create .deb file in the e-uae-0.8.29-WIP4 directory (I’ve already compiled if for AMD64, so if it’s easier to download than to compile, etc. grabe it here: e-uae-0829_0829-wip4-1_amd64.deb).

If you have the .deb file, simply run:

sudo dpkg -i e-uae-0829_0829-wip4-1_amd64.deb

Either way, once it’s installed, it can be run from the Terminal:

uae

Or by creating a new menu item pointing to the uae binary.

The last thing required to run Amiga games, is a Kickstart ROM (preferably v1.3!). There a few methods for obtaining one - you can buy one from http://www.amigaforever.com; you can use an application such as TransROM or GrabKick from within Workbench/Shell on your Amiga to dump the ROM to a file, then transfer the file from your Amiga to your PC, or, you can probably acquire a ROM file via a Google search. Personally, I opted for the latter - I already own 2 A500s, but since they’re in the UK, and I’m in Thailand, it kind of makes sense…

Anyway, once I had the Kickstart ROM, I created a directory in which to keep it, and my games:

cd ~/
mkdir -p amiga/rom
mkdir amiga/games

and extracted the ROM file to ~/amiga/rom then started E-UAE:

uae

then navigated to the Memory tab, and clicked “Change” under Kickstart ROM File, selecting the ~/amiga/rom/kick.rom file. Tweak whatever settings you like - I increased the memory to a whole 1Mb (don’t laugh - a 512kb RAM upgrade was expensive in those days!), then saved the Configuration from the File menu. This creates a text file called .uaerc in your home directory, which can either be edited via the UAE GUI or directly in a Text editor such as vi, pico, gedit etc.

That’s it - once it’s set up, it’s a simple case of inserting the disks, and starting up the Emulator. Games will come as .adf files (Amiga Disk Files), so once you have an archive containing them, extract them to ~/amiga/games then in the Floppy Disks tab of E-UAE point each “drive” to the game disks:

By the way, if you’re even more Old Skool, then you might want to check out my previous post on Speccy 48k Emulation: Retro: Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k on Ubuntu 64 Bit.

written by Hodge \\ tags: Amiga, E-UAE, Emulation, Games, UAE