Today I (again) tripped over a problem that comes up if you try to install VMWare Server on a Debian Etch AMD64 system. The problem is that vmware-ping returns a "command not found" error, even if the executable is there. That happens because vmware-ping is linked against 32-bit libraries that are usually not installed on a 64-bit system.

To install all necessary libraries execute the following command:

  apt-get install \
    ia32-libs x11-common libext6 libx11-6 \
    libx11-data libxtst6 libxslt1.1 libice6 libxrender1 \
    libsm6 lib32asound2 lib32ncurses5 lib32stdc++6 \
    lib32z1 lib32gcc1 linux32

If you need to compile the VMWare kernel modules, you can use module-assistant to install all necessary software (e.g. C compiler, kernel headers and so on):

  apt-get install module-assistant make
  m-a prepare

Back in the days, when flat shading models, phong shading, gouraud shading and memory extenders actually meant something to people and you had to reboot your computer to get rid of a system driver that hooked your A20-gate, so that some guy from halfway round the world could trick your CPU to let him address your whopping 4MB of RAM as a linear space... that was about the time that I started getting real about learning something about computers.

So in the 90s, I learned about the MOD format, the S3M format, made a few tunes with S3MTracker, learned about vector math, sound mixing, particle systems, raytracing and that the difference between two consecutive notes in a well-tempered scale is the 12^th root of 2. All because of one program whose output I watched in awe, about a year or two after it won 1^st place at the geek-gathering that is known as the Assembly. In 1993.

That program was "Second Reality" by a few guys calling themselves the Future Crew and of course it's on YouTube now.

2^nd reality

I have no idea if that means anything to you. But this is pure genius:

Real reality

Back in those days, I could have written one kick-ass computer game and everyone would have worshiped me to this day :-). Well, I didn't and you don't.

Portal cut-out paper pattern. This is really cool. Of course, you should get the game first, if you haven't already.

If you have the game, however, check out the Portal easter-egg.