sudo find . -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
sudo find . -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
sudo chgrp -R www-data .
sudo chmod -R g+w .

mencoder -oac copy -ovc copy file1.avi file2.avi file3.avi -o full_movie.avi

I come across Graphviz. Open source and available on near enough all platforms–Mac, Linux and Windows. Using a very simple syntax, you create dot files and then using the dot tool, you can generate PNG images of your diagrams.

Here is an example dot script:

digraph my_fsm {
    label = "ab*(cd)+|b";
    rankdir = LR;
    node [shape = doublecircle]; 3 4;
    node [shape = circle];
    0 -> 1 [label = "a"];
    1 -> 1 [label = "b"];
    1 -> 2 [label = "c"];
    2 -> 3 [label = "d"];
    3 -> 2 [label = "c"];
    0 -> 4 [label = "b"];
}

Following is an explanation of the above script:

1. I’m declaring the graph as a directed graph with digraph.
2. my_fsm is just the name I’ve given the graph. This can be anything.
3. I add a label to the graph which holds the regular expression that I’m drawing. This isn’t required, but just helps by giving it a title.
4. rankdir specifies the direction of the diagram. I’m specifying ‘left to right’ with LR.
5. So that I can differentiate between accepting states and normal states, I’m declaring that nodes 3 and 4 will have a double circle around them.
6. For all other nodes, I just want to use the normal circle shape.
7. Lastly, I declare the nodes and their edges. Also, I add a label to each edge.

Once you save the file, you can run it through the dot program using the following command:

dot my_file.dot -Tpng -o my_fsm.png

You’ll need to check where dot was installed. With the Mac installer package it is installed to /usr/local/graphviz-2.12/bin/dot, so you’ll need to modify the above command to reflect the correct location.

The outputted file, my_fsm.png in this example, should result in something that looks like the one below.

A very handy tool indeed. There is a PDF guide on all the commands available. Of which, I’m next going to look for how to space the graph out a bit more as it’s a little squashed at the moment.

Hope this helps.

du -sh *

This will show the total size of files and directories in your current working directory. The s flag means to show a summary–which basically just shows the top level directory only, instead of the contents of each and every folder down the file system hierarchy. The h flag shows a human readable file size.

For my home directory, I get the following output:

404M    Desktop
 30G    Documents
6.0G    Library
 32G    Movies
 18G    Music
 11G    Pictures
2.7G    Projects
 16K    Public
166M    Sites

I’m using zsh currently, but this will also work for a bash shell (default with Mac OS X). I’m using TextMate to edit my files, but if you’re on Linux (Ubuntu, right?), then just substitute the mate command for nano or your favourite editor.

Just to make sure that you’re in your home directory:

cd ~

Now open your shell profile. If you’re using zsh:

mate .zprofile

Or if you’re using bash:

mate .bashrc

Now add the following line:

export PS1=">: "

Save and close the file.

Now, make sure you have the right colour scheme going on.

1. ‘Terminal’ from the main menu.
2. Select ‘Window Settings’
3. Select ‘Color’ in the drop down
4. Select ‘Green on Black’ from the ‘Standard Color Selections’
5. Click the big ‘Use Settings as Defaults’
6. Close the window, and you’re done

Open a new Terminal window and you should get a nice Lost ‘style’ for your prompt. Nothing too fancy–just something nice and simple.

Now, you only have 108 minutes to enter the code… so don’t waste time!

Damn. I can’t wait until the next episode.