Jun 02
HP-Mini-110-1125NR
Why Grassman? Well, my preferred method of computer naming is to use
Cryptids. You guessed it. That means I got a new (to me at least) computer. I did a little side work in exchange for a 10″ netbook and another
Western Digital 1TB MyBook World Edition. I left the choice of netbook open and got a really nice refurbished
HP Mini 110-1125NR.
This thing is a sweet little netbook! I was a little hesitant at first because, as you’ll notice in the picture, the trackpad buttons are on the sides, much like my Acer Aspire One. I really really hate that “feature” on the Acer and suspected much the same here as well. Much to my delight, these buttons feel way nicer and are quite comfortable to use. The computer/netbook itself came with 1gb of ram, a 140gb hdd and Windows 7 (somethingorother) pre-installed. Well, that didn’t last long. In fact, it never got booted. I immediately slapped in my USB stick with Linux Mint 9 that had been put on there with unetbootin. I am sure you have all ready reviews about Mint 9 by now, but if you haven’t actually *tried* it, you are surely missing out. In a few minutes, I had Mint 9 on the HP and the only thing I really had to adjust was getting wireless networking working. This is not as difficult as you may think. I clicked the icon on the task bar for restricted drivers and told the machine to install and use the STA driver (yes, I had to initially connect it via ethernet). A quick reboot later and wireless was working perfectly. This machine runs very well, feels quite quick, it feels solid and of good quality unlike some netbooks which are very toyish (?) feeling. It is very sleek and pretty and, in my opinion, the difference between 10 inch and 9 inch display in a netbook is enormous. The only thing I believe i will change about this netbook is to upgrade the ram to the full 2gb. Not insomuch as it needs it, because it runs very well on 1gb, but just because I can and because it is very likely that I will use this computer as a lot more than just a “netbook”.
An odd funny story here is that 1 year ago when Allan and I were at the South East Linux Fest, we went to BestBuy to waste a little time. There I bought a neoprene netbook sleeve for my Acer Aspire One. The only decent one they had was this black one with some designs on the outside for a 10 inch HP netbook. Imagine my surprise when it occurred to me that that netbook sleeve is the one that actually matches my new refurbed 10 inch HP netbook. 
Reunited at last!
May 19
Linux Mint
Linux Mint 9 Isadora has been released.
http://www.linuxmint.com/blog/?p=1403
Once again the Mint team has done well. On my test hardware, Isadora runs strikingly well. It’s fast, faster than 8, and of course, beautiful to look at. Read the release notes for updates and changes, there are some good ones in there. In the mean time, start your downloads. You are going to want this one!
May 15
CentOS
CentOS 5.5 Released!
http://wiki.centos.org/Manuals/ReleaseNotes/CentOS5.5
I am personally updating now but the mirrors are still a bit on the sluggish side.
May 11
It has certainly been a while since I last posted, so I thought I would find something either interesting or funny to get things going here again. This happens to be funny (I think). I came across this tidbit of information I wrote at work some time ago and thought I would share.
Retired Server Names
Much like sports jersey numbers, some server names are never to be used again… Mostly because they appear to be secretly cursed.
Trinity
I am not sure if there is some sort of bad mojo associated with naming a server with some kind of Godly connotation, but this VMWare GSX server would crash violently almost once an hour at its peak. As far as I know, nobody ever found out what the problem was, and after the name was changed it started working admirably.
Kashmir (pronounced “Cash-mere”)
This was an old RHEL 3.9 or AS 2.1 server that would crash almost as fast as you could start it back up again. We called this server “Crashmere”. The reason I am not sure of the OS level is it was hard to keep it running long enough to check. In it’s defense, I believe it had bad HDD’s before it was finally decommissioned, however, we were too paranoid to try reusing the hardware whether or not we attempted to fix it first.
Odessa
Odessa was, for the most part, our entire early implementation of an Identity Management System. It was based on an out of date and buggy Opensource LDAP and some poorly written custom code from some interns. Consequently it quickly became widely used and relied upon, and never updated as a result. Literally, this was the *beast* the infrastructure team worked to keep fed and happy. Eventually, we moved to a different IDM environment and Odessa was retired, the name never to be used again because we never want to see another single machine gain that much power over anyone again. Odessa is surely the precursor to Skynet.
Guarulhos
This is obvious – Just try and say the name. This is the reason one member of our team is never EVER allowed to pick server names again. We spent over a month trying to pronounce this in conversation until we finally gave up and changed the name outright.
Those are all the good ones I have right now but I am eager to hear any that any of you may have to contribute. Perhaps we could start some master list somewhere and save ourselves and others the tragedy of stumbling upon the reuse of one of these cursed names.
Apr 28
It’s getting that time again folks. I don’t see any offers at FLB, so let’s get together and spread the word. Help out your Linux challenged neighbors around the world by giving the gift of technology. Spread the word, donate your old laptop and make someone happy and if it helps you justify buying a new one for yourself, so be it
Money
Did you know that some places actually CHARGE you to recycle your old computer equipment? You can recycle your old working Pentium + or Mac G4 + class laptop FOR FREE just by visiting
FreeLinuxBox.Org.
Recycle
Help SAVE the Environment! Did you know that there are landfills around the world full of unused and unloved computer equipment, some of it even leeching toxic chemicals into the ground and none of it biodegrading?! You can recycle your old working Pentium + or Mac G4 + class laptop and KEEP IT FROM THE LANDFILL just by visiting
FreeLinuxBox.Org.
Smile
There are lots and lots of people around your neighborhood, around your town/city, around your country and around the world that would LOVE to have YOUR OLD COMPUTER to use. It may be old and slow for you, but fantastic, brilliant and magical for another, less fortunate person. This is where you can make a difference today! You can recycle your old working Pentium + or Mac G4 + class laptop and MAKE SOMEONE REALLY HAPPY just by visiting
FreeLinuxBox.Org.
Even if you don’t have the time or inclination to securely dispose of / reload your old machine with Linux, you can still participate. Contact us and we will do our best to find someone to take care of that for you! Just visit FreeLinuxBox.Org and let us know how we can help!
Apr 15
outlook
Whats the real difference between Linux and Windows? Well, this morning I watched a guy, a typical suit, wait 2 minutes for his email to open *OPEN* on his slick new Lenovo laptop (Windows 7 btw). I, on the otherhand, about have a stroke when it takes me more than 5 seconds (and I feel that is slow). Now you guys can say what you want in Windows defense. Say that maybe the guy has other stuff running in the background (I do too). Say that his computer is virus laden (thats what you get). Insist that his machine is underpowered (bologna, I saw it). I am sure there are other things I am missing as well. The point is, I think using Windows is a lot like hammering in a nail with a gilded monkey wrench. You *can* get the job done, and it might even look pretty while you are doing it, but it’s just not the most efficient or most times the correct tool for the job.
I actually have work to do. I’ll stick with Linux. ‘Nuff said.
Apr 11
Jimmys BBQ
How do you know that Linux is becoming main stream? You start running into it in the strangest places.
I just took my kid out to get some food at a BBQ place that I have passed several times. The place is called Jimmy’s BBQ in Malvern, PA. Man oh man, this place has got some good BBQ and the Mac-n-Cheese is to die for! While I was placing my order at the counter, the proprietor looked at my Official TLLTS T Shirt (buy one now) and says, “Hey, do you know Eric Raymond?” I said that in fact, I have met him before and he says that Eric likes to frequent the place as well. Well, after having some of the BBQ there I can see why (yummy).
Unfortunately, Eric didn’t show up while I was there or I would have bought him a sandwich, but my daughter and I enjoyed ourselves anyway. Perhaps sometime Eric will take me up on that sandwich offer (Whatcha think Eric?). Until then I will continue to go to Jimmy’s for some good BBQ, and continue to be impressed that not only did those guys know something about Linux, but were even familiar with Eric too (although I suspect he may have had something to do with the former)
Apr 10
WD 1Tb MyBook World Edition
Wow! Long time no post! I didn’t realize it had been so long. Lots of things have happened since I last wrote here. I had a little vacation time where I did pretty much nothing, I had a great belated birthday party that many of my friends attended, and I finally got my new NAS.
I really needed a new NAS. I keep running out of room on my old 500Gb NAS, which holds all my backups and media files and such. I have been putting off getting a new one for a long long time (I am a great procrastinator). Finally I broke down and picked up a Western Digital 1TB MyBook World Edition. I quite like it!
This NAS, priced around $170 depending on where you buy it, is actually pretty featureful. It offers cifs, afs and nfs filesharing, has optional ssh login ability and serves an itunes share and streaming media share. This NAS uses green technology, so not only does it automatically go into powersaving mode when not in use, but it uses a low power drive as well, so very little heat, no fan noise, and very low power draw. The gigabit ethernet affords decent speed on data transfers and the built in software is easy to setup and use and will let you get things like individual user accounts running quickly.
All in all, not a bad NAS for the price. In fact, this is probably the most inexpensive NAS I looked at with the featureset I needed. I have never yet been disappointed by Western Digital and that holds true on this purchase as well.
Mar 17
updates
i just love cssh. This is the way updates should be run.
Mar 16
Belkin-G
A while back I was talking about wireless problems with my wife’s Compaq laptop. That laptop’s wireless card has never worked well and I mentioned that I was now in the market for a USB wireless dongle for it as I couldn’t find a replacement mini pci-e wireless card that would work.
This weekend while laptop shopping I ran across a Belkin Wireless G USB Dongle at a Target store. I decided to bring it home and try it and it works perfectly. The only issue I had is I needed to remove the old wireless pci-e card because network manager kept switching between the two randomly.
If you are looking for a wireless USB dongle that works, at least, on Mint 8, this is it and it was only $30 at Target. Honestly, I should have just went this route long ago and forgone the hassle of trying different mini pci-e cards.
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