Tech & Geekery

Getting started with Node.js is an incredibly easy process. I'm going to describe how to get set up on Ubuntu 12.04. First, go to  http://nodejs.org/ and download the source code.  If the phrase 'source code' makes the back of your neck prickly, don't worry -- this is about as simple as you can possibly get. Be sure that you have the build tools installed: sudo apt-get install build-essential Unpack the source code and launch a terminal in the directory with the source code. Then you will need to build the code: ./configure make sudo make install No de.js is built on the V8 javascript engine that's part of the Chrome browser, and that's what is building now. I'm using a very ancient laptop running the Xubuntu linux variant, and Node takes about five minutes to build.  On more powerful hardware, you'll barely notice it. Why build from source and not use a package from the Ubuntu repository?  From what I've heard, the official pack...

I really didn't think this would be possible, but I'm typing this entry on my Nexus 7 using the magic trackpad and keyboard. Holy crap that's cool!

Ah, I've been getting this error now using gpg for windows on the command line.  At first, a little googling discovered that the iconv.dll library can be downloaded from the gpg site directly and needs to be added to the same directory where I keep gpg.exe.  Simple enough. Well, having gotten my dll and navigated to the directory where gpg lives, I discovered that iconv.dll was already there!  I checked my path, then got a little suspicious... Windows search to the rescue.  I typed in gpg.exe and checked the list of results.   It turns out that the gpg.exe that was first in my path resolution was part of my git install.   Adding the dll to that folder solved the problem. Hopefully this helps somebody else save some time!