Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Helpful Safety Tip

If you're on a Linux/UNIX system, and you want to extract a CPIO archive, don't do the following as root:

cpio -idv < archive.cpio


Because if the CPIO archive happens to have absolute pathnames and contains files like /lib/libc.so.0, you will render your computer inoperable.

Here ends another lesson in the category I call, "Duh, I already knew that but managed to do it anyway".

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Busy busy busy with the new job....

Figured it might be worthwhile to talk about the new job for a bit. For those who didn't know, I started working at Hauppauge Computer Works about six weeks ago. The product I work on is called the MediaMVP-HD:

http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_mediamvp-hd.html

It's a pretty neat little box. Linux based, supports HD playback, and only sucks up 5 watts. Has lots of potential as a frontend for a certain home theater solution. They even let me write the start of a "Developer's FAQ" which is publicly posted on their support site.

As a result though, I've been *really* busy. Hence why there haven't been any recent LinuxTV contributions, nor have I been lurking in the #linuxtv or #v4l IRC channels. I still watch the linux-media mailing list, but generally speaking I've been pretty quiet.

If it's any consolation though, I'm not just ignoring LinuxTV: I haven't read Gizmodo, Engadget, or Slashdot in weeks, and my Google Reader has 1000+ articles in it.

But don't think that my going to work for Hauppauge means I'm abandoning LinuxTV. On the contrary - having another Linux evangelist working for a major tuner manufacturer is definitely a good thing for the community. Just wait and see what I've got up my sleeve... ;-)

But yeah, doing a wedding, a honeymoon, a job change, and a move in the same six week period turned up to be quite a challenge.