Image via Wikipedia

Virtualization is great!  I can run a full native linux stack on my windows PC.

I want to share this image with others using bittorrent.  To speed up downloads, I want to make the exported files as small as possible. I don't necessarily need to shrink the images files on my host computer, just the exported files.

So the plan is to export it as an ovf (open virtualization format) and vmdk format, and then create a bittorrent.

I accomplished this in three steps:

Creating an Ubuntu 9.04 virtual machine in Virtualbox is easy.  Creating one small enough to share through bittorrent is a bit more of a challenge. 

I created a script below to slim down a fresh Ubuntu 9.04 install from 2.2gb down to 1.1gb. 

I didn't find an easy way to do it besides spending alot of time in the package managers.  Here's a couple of interesting things I found:

To create a list of installed packages sorted by size try this:

The CCK Link to Map module allows users to type in an address and have it "automagically" converted to a map link. 

The link opens in a new tab/browser pointing to a Google Map. Short and sweet :-)

Used by the calendar at www.YogicBuddhism.org

YogicBuddhism.org

The YogicBuddhism.org project started in June of 2008 to create a new website for Mahasiddha Buddhism (Mahasiddhas.org). 

They wanted to create a new website that would be a portal for people in their religious community to get current information and access to member only content.

The website was the effort of a team of about 8 people.  I managed the project and implemented the website in Drupal 5.x.

Some goals were:

Similar to CIPSAT and DIBSAS, we created a quick proof of concept to do self assessments for transportation carriers. 

All trucking companies must comply with *lots* of federal and state regulations. 

We created DOTSAS with the intent of off-setting the burden of these regulations.  This was to be another product in our line of online Self-Assessment Services.

Secorix.com

As part of my work at Secorix, I converted their existing HTML website to a Drupal CMS site. 

This allowed the people writing marketing copy to make and view changes without needing a programmer intermediary. 

This cut costs and made alot of people happy. 

Nobody should have to wait to edit their website!

This module creates a block that:

Waala.com!

Waala! wanted to setup a simple landing page for their site.

From a powerpoint and a PDF, I created this simple website using JQuery and the Lightbox Extension. 

Simple, short, and sweet.

FreeYourCravings.com

This site is under development for a friend who is studying the science of food cravings. 

Indian, Chinese, and Western medicines all hold that food  has different tastes.  These tastes have different effects on our physical, emotional, and mental states.  Understanding what foods we crave can help us understand deep imbalances. 

 The site takes a food, searches a database for descriptions of that food, and offers advice on why the craving is happening, what is out of balance, and how to bring it back in balance