Figured it out...

My linux box has been plagued by hard drive error messages over the last couple of months. Errors have been creeping up about nore being able to read from the hd when heavy data access goes on... I don't have the error message on me, but a quick Google search I did about two weeks ago had everyone who was experiencing that error chuck the hd out the window.

So I joined the bandwagon and jumped off the cliff too. Got a brand new "cheap-o" 80gb hard drive (sheesh, I remember when a 2gb hard drive was a couple hundred bucks and some motherboards couldn't support it). What blew me out of the water was when I did a fresh Debian install on the new hard drive, the same messages popped up.

OK... So what else coule be affecting it? The damned cable. Replaced it, and guess what? I now have 80gb more of storage on my Linux box. =)

The next rant...

The past week has been really rough. Really high highs and some really low lows (read second last entry)... Work has stabalized back into a norm and thing are returning to as normal as they can. Buts thats enough about that...

On the upswing, side jobs are picking up. I've taken on two webmaster positions with companies in the area. I'm also now the DBA of a third company that I work for part time. They all look like a decent challenge but I'm looking forward to puling through for all of them. Plus, I get some practical experience in the workplace instead of personal experience which is a great advantage...

Three days ago I was followed home, literally. Totem and I were coming home from lisalou's house, Totem was taking an odd route, and well, I had a little case of road rage. ;) We approached an intersecion with a green light, turn into the left turn lane, stopped, and then verred into the right lane and continuted going straight. So I'm fuming, but I notice a car behind me turn on his blinker to turn with us, turn it off and then follow us back on the road. I'm like WTF and I tried to figure out what was going on... Left turn, followed. Right turn followed. OK, now my paranoia has got the best of me. I let Totem drive home while I keep driving (she does not know this is happening BTW)... She turns and the person keeps following me. Left turn, followed. I did a "S" drive up and down a couple of streets and I'm still being followed. Now I'm creeped out... I manage to get a block ahead and park my car in front of a house. He/She (I couldn't tell) pulled onto the street and waited. About two minutes later, they drove off. I never saw them again. I have a feeling a punk a$$ kid was just trying to see what would happen if he keep following me. Whoever it was, they had a souped up neon with fog lights, spoiler, and decals... I didn't get the lics though. I'm just glad I figured it out and didn't lead whoever it was to my house...

I also started playing Final Fantasy XI this week. The online one. I'm not that impressed. The game is huge and very detailed, I'm not putting that down. What got to me early on was the lack of info for newbies to the game... It took me a really long time to get used to the interface and when I did, there wasn't much for me to do. Again on the expansiveness, there are a tons of things to do, but for a newbie, many of those are in areas that I couldn't survive. So, for the time being, I'm limited to local areas with low end monsters. Needless to say, I'm only level 8 and things are very, very repetitive. I don't know if I am going to renew my subscription, maybe one month more, but I don't see me going beyond two months unfortunately.

When Totem and I buy a house, I want to it be one level. Now that the computer is up, I'm spending way to much time upstairs. Totem's even said I can go and disappear now. While being on the same floor won't eliminate me using my computer, we'd be essentially togther. IE: Me sitting on my laptop in the living while we watch TV is better than me going upstairs to play a game...

Onward and upward. New project, I'm redoing my Linux box with a new kernel. It's a biggie redo b/c I tried to upgrade from 2.4 to 2.6 and was not too successful... Plus the box needs to be rebooted every couple of days to make sure it still works... I think it's because I did a hardware swap without a new install (pulled all hardware out of old 350mhz box and put it into 700mhz box with no OS reinstall). Should be fun...

Complete!!!

Looks like I was using the wrong RAID driver the other night. Once I had the right one, everything went smoothly. Got the OS up, downloaded and installed all the latest drivers. Then tackled all the updates for Windoze and BAM! All done. =)

Yup, Doom3 was first. Lets just say when things come out of the dark to bite you (literally) at 32fps, it is a little more shocking than 5-6fps. You get to see it biting. Instead of empty hallway, half a second of seeing something in the distance, and then its on you... ;) I watched it walk at me his time around. :p

Anyway, I just installed Doom3 to install it (real playing is later). So this morning I tackled some of the more "mainstream" applications that I had on my old system... An office program. Web development tools. Antivirus and security. Sound apps... Yadda yadda yadda.

Needless to say the system SCREAMS! Even with the antivirus installed. I'm very VERY pleased at the outcome. Now to just clean my office. ;)

One step closer...

I got the hard drives last night. x2 Western Digital 200gb SATA drives. Popped them in, setup the raid and closed the case. I'm kind of surprised at how quiet the system is. The loudest part is the CPU fan and there are 7 other fans in the case!!! I think this is the most time and money I have ever put into a system but I'm feeling really good about it being done (and the fact that I have a computer back).

The only stumbling point has been getting Windows on the RAID. Granted I tried this at 1AM last night so I was dead tired, but I couldn't get the setup program to see the RAID, even with the promise drivers installed. I'm going to be reading over the manual again (so don't RTFM me), to see if I missed anything nad maybe if I'm lucky, I'll be scaring the crap out of myself with Doom3 on Saturday evening. =)

It's chuggin'...

Got the memory last night. Everything booted. =) I left my Knoppix CD at work and I didn't feel like burning another one so I didn't get around to doing too much... I was able to boot off of a Gentoo Live CD. Took 15 seconds, from the last BIOS screen to command prompt. 8) Oh yeah, you know I'm drooling. I should be getting the hard drives in a week and then I'll finally have a desktop for the first time in I don't know how many months.

Another thing I'm looking forward to is that when the system is done, I've got a reason to go up to my office now. And clean it. ;) I never really moved in because right around the time when Totem and I got things organized up there, I ended up selling my desktop. Papers have been piling up and with the wireless network, I really only go up to my office if I need to work on the Linux box. Sitting in the living room, surfing the Internet is actually pretty comfortable. ;) But I do miss having my "space" to goto and vege out in...

ITS ALIVE!!! Almost...

I was able to purchase the memory for my new system yesterday (currently in transit to me) so I wanted to get the case as configured as possible before it gets here. I don't think I've ever put this much time into a system before. ;) Cables are tied down. Wiring is set for the fans. The LED's are plugged in. Temp sensors installed...

Probably the best thing was that when I powered up the system (with every piece of hardware that I have installed), I got the distinct system beep that you get when something is wrong with the motherboard. AWESOME! ??? There was no memory installed, thats why it beeped... But it beeped!!! Trust me, thats a good sign. When a computer can still function enough to tell you that something is wrong, that is MUCH better than it just not working, or the computer starts smoking (which has happened to me in the past. Fun time... =) ).

So once the memory gets here, I can boot up Knoppix to play around with the it. I can't do much more than load a Linux Live CD b/c I don't have hard drives yet... But something is better than nothing.

I'll at least be able to surf the web on my new system. ;)

Another huge project...

But this time I brought it upon myself. In a good way. ;) I recently signed up to take a training course to become Novell CLP Certified. To my surprise, the course I signed up for was a study at home training course with books and software and dvds. The one neat thing about is was that the course came with a copy of SuSE Linux Enterprise Server Version 9.

Guess who's starting over with their Linux box again? =)

Plus, it gives me an opportunity to give SuSE a shot. I've only used Red Hat, Debian, Gentoo, and Knoppix in the past...

Changes... Here and everywhere...

Things have been happening over the last couple of weeks that have made me take a step back and look around... I've been very frustrated at the economy ever since I left college. I set myself up for failure and hit a brick wall before I realized it was coming. Now, with a baby on the way, with the first christmas as my own family, and with the very first tight, and I mean do we want gifts or to pay the bills, holiday season, things have taken on different meanings. And I mean everything.

For the first time, I can honestly say I do not know what I want to do with my life, job wise. The jobs that I want I know are just not available anymore because they are either taken or are non-existent. I even tossed up the possiblity of starting my own business, but the risk is too great and I don't believe in gambling a job in exchange for a family. So, with the help of Totem, I've settled on what we have (having a job) versus what we want (a job I don't have) and I am going to change my outlook. Pending I still have this job next fall, I will be going back to school of my MBA (one of the benefit os this job is they will pay for secondary education). Plus, the Management school has what they called a PMBA program that will let me keep my job full time, attend classes at night, and get my MBA after three years. Should I finish it, not only would I actually have a Masters degree, the MBA would open the door to a completely different market of job opportunities for me that can help me move on in life and better support my family.

Totem is on the up and up as well. She got a new job recently and already the management and owners are impressed with her. So much so that they are going to help her get back into school to get her teaching lics. Something that is NOT a company benefit. Whats even better is that her job (which is at a day care) has a benefit of free child care for the first child and they have no problem at all that she is pregnant. Big plus for us not only b/c it will help out trememdously in about 6 months, but b/c she has the backing of the day care. Yeah, I know it is against the law to descriminate, but you can't tell me that when someone sees a new applicant who is pregnant, that they do everything to avoid hiring them. It happens. I've seen it.

In terms of coding, designing, website, geek type world... Dad (or Pops - what he wants to be called by his grandchildren ;))and I are trying to get a web design business off of the ground. We've got a couple of low end jobs lined up that will hopefully just get our name out there, I can only hope this balloons into a good thing. I've slowed down on doing my usual computer stuff. I'm going to let a couple of the "wishful thinking" domains that I have expire because I never got them off of the ground, even after a year has gone by... Others are just waiting to be finished (I've got a PHP site coded and almost ready for release, I just don't have time to finish it). Other sites, like this one, I think I'm leaning towards a revamp. Spam has gotten so much out of control here that I'm just going to take down all of the public tracking tools and blocks and just let everyone and anyone do what they please. Well kind of, I'll still be in the background but it will be much more transparent to the user... Basically my goal on this website is at least to trim the fat. Get rid of some of the things that are (literally) slowing down the response time. Images that aren't needed. Public stats that, while useful to me, are just being filled with spam sites. Inactive links. Stuff like that... Hopefully I'll have that done soon enough... natural male enhancement

On the homefront, the computer situation is getting slightly better. Parts have not come in yet, but planning stages have been changes. I've got a better handle on how I'm going to get my Linux box back to the way I want it, instead of just being back. My laptop has become my production machine and it is holding up pretty well. Ever since I've picked up the browser based online web gaming, the lack of video power hasn't really been an issue. Totems laptop is out on loan while her mother goes into and recovers from surgery. When we get it back, if I've got some extra cash, I plan on getting a wireless network going in the house so Totem does not have to go upstairs to get to her computer. I think she'll use her computer that much more if she can just connect to the Internet anywhere in the house...

And me. Well, I kind of liked venting a little bit so maybe I'll try to get back into the swing of things. It helps me relax a little bit... And its nice to keep track of things. Enough from me...

Busy Weekend...

Things are finally wrapping up with the box building switching thingy type project. The Linux box is back. Ended up putting Debian back on. Right now it's giving me some issues with X and other GUI type applications, but since all I really wanted to do was get the firewall and NAT back up, everything overall went smoothly. My backups are back, DHCP, DNS, SAMBA, and Seti are all back. X windows is... Meh. Not important at the moment...

Spent a couple hours with Jay at a friend's house. New brakes and rotors are a good thing. =)

We saw Stomp too. Unfortunately, we left in a slightly better mood than "Eh". Don't get me wrong. The synchronization between all the actors was great and some of the stuff they did was awesome but Totem and I just didn't have fun. I guess we have our standards set high after seeing the Blue Man Group... All in all, not a bad show, but we won't be going back if they come back to town.

Buckling...

Things aren't going as well with Gentoo as they did a while ago when I installed it on my laptop. I'm just getting errors after errors, even when I start from scratch and try a different route...

When I started to seriously consider starting using Gentoo from Stage 2, I realized, I just might as well go back to Debian. It's still minimal, and if I don't do the bootstrap, I really won't have an OS that is optimized for my system (just like any other version of Linux that you don't start from strach with). Even on that note, how optimized can you get for a 700mhz system? This isn't going to be a high availavbility internet server. Just a firewall, router, and storage system. Will I really notice a speedup or even need one???

In any event, I've got a day to work out these bugs and get my Linux box back up or I'll be usng Debian again... Totem's getting ancy without internet access. ;)

Underway...

Things are going smoothly... The "new" Linux box has been slowly bootstrapping Gentoo Linux over the last day. Once that up, kernel time, and then I should be able to get the usuals (NAT, Firewall, Samba, and DHCP) back up so Totem can use her computer again...

Once that's done, I'll start playing with the toys of the box. DVDR tools. Getting X and KDE up. Install some games. Maybe I can play Quake as a client now... ;) And then SETI. Might as well make the box do something, right???

I should be getting the new case later this evening, so now I start to work on my desktop. If I'm lucky, I'll have that done by the new year and be able to settle back down into the normal routine of things. Only things left for the new box are memory and some new SATA drives that I'm gonna mirror...

Fun stuff huh??? :)

Shameless plug...

It's amazing what a little drop shadow can do...

On the ball...

Last night was a big push. Normally, I would have just held off all the work until I had my new desktop built but Totem convinced me to work backwards. I'm now desktop-less (which is really really wierd for me), but a plus is that when I do get all the parts for my new desktop, I can focus on it and not be rushed to get everything else done.

All data has been pulled off the desktop and intiailly stored in the Linux box. Desktop was then "parted". Things I'm holding onto (video card, modem, memory, dvd burner) are now sitting on my work bench waiting to be installed. Then I took the old desktop hard drive and installed it in my Linux Box. Copied all data from Linux box to the old desktop hard drive (it was 20gb larger) and then removed the Linux storage drive. While in there, also removed x2 9.1gb scsi drives, my scsi tape drive, and an old 100mb scsi zip drive. I figured I can try and get a couple of bucks off the stuff on ebay (yeah, right, 100mb scsi zip drive... Can I have a quarter? Ok, a dime? ... Nickel? Penny? Ok, this is as low as I go. A canadian penny?).

The good news is that I got the new DVD-RAM drive in. It's pretty neat. Formatted the disc as ext2, mounted it rw, and copied data over just as if it was a hard disc. I know the discs are only good for 100k re-writes so all I did was unmount it when I was finished backing up the data. The big bonus was that I copied 4gb of data in 10 minutes verus the 2 hours+ time it took to do that on tape... Makes backing up my stuff a LOT more managable.

So the "new" makeshift linux box is back up with more memory, more hard drive space, and a faster backup method. I then switched attention to my old desktop, which is becoming Jay's new desktop. Installed Windoze and I'm getting that up and running. Once that is done in a day or two, I'll get his old video card back from his girlfriend's system in exchange for a sound card on her system (she doesn't need the video processing power, plus with a 600mhz, there's not much in terms of high end gaming that the system can do, and on the other hand, she really doesn't do high end computer gaming anyway, that what her PS2 is for :) ). So now they'll both have complete systems that they can really play with (and Jay's new computer will be faster than his old computer too).

The computer I'll be getting back from Jay will become my new Linux box. Basically, I'll just be taking the mb and cpu (750mhz versus the 35mhz it has now) out of it so I'll have a third space system sitting around. I'll probably build it up, put Seti on it and let it sit until someone needs a computer or I need a spare... On that note, when everything else is done or if I'm still waiting for parts for the new beast, I've got a 266mhz system I need to build up for my inlaws. They want a computer to be able to get online if they need... That will be more than enough speed for a computer that can do a best of 14.4 with a 56k modem (their so far away from the CO).

Finally, its nice to have stuff to do... ;)

Changing... Whats going on?

Things are kinda wierd now... My days aren't the same anymore. Maybe I'm just getting into a new pattern now... I haven't been able to keep up with my blogging. I haven't been able to keep on track with some of my website goals. Its kind of shocking because after I graduated I thought I'd have all the time to focus on getting those done, but instead I'd rather just come home and relax with Totem. My plans and ambitions for "re-doing" my computers and network has slowed, but when I get a part in/dropped off/deliverred, I'm all over it. :\ I started the project by getting rid of old data and sorting data. But that lasted a night. I didn't have a want to do it the next day, even though I kicked a$$ on progress the night before. Jay's g/f's computer was on hold for almost a month, but when I got her last part in, I had it finished in a couple of hours.

Its really really odd. When I was in school, I used to stress myself out every night about not having time to do the things I wanted to do. I'd rush home, stay up late, avoid family, avoid Totem. Now, I'm spending more time with her, doing family things, and not doing the stuff I want to do, and really don't care. We just went to a family reunion yesterday. 6 hours at a park with family that I barely even knew or didn't even know (it was her side). I had a blast. :) And you know what, I didn't do anything at all except eat and admire the wilderness. We both sat on a hill looking at the blue sky for almost an hour and just stared. You couldn't have paid me to go if this happened a couple of months ago but doing nothing was so relaxing...

Back on the tech side, Totem suggested that I shift all my computer usage to my laptop and work on selling my desktop system so I can start to get the Linux boxes up, and then eventually get all the part ready for my new desktop. When she asked this, I would have normally asked her what was wrong with her. But I caught myself, and wierd thing is that I remember thinking that way, but saying yeah, it would work. Its almost an instinct to react "NO! Don't touch my computers!!!" but it made a lot of sense. I only use my desktop for gaming at this time. I use my laptop for all my email and basically to surf the web. All I would have to do is get the data off of it (which is what my Linux box is for) and they I can start the ball rolling... up hill. Or basically leave my new desktop systems for last instead of holding everything else up on it...

The other thing that is happening is almost like procrastination, but really not. I'm putting off projects and gaming and "stuff I used to called fun" for things like walks and cleaning the house, and watching tv with Totem. I'm sure the marriage has a lot to do with it, but I think that fact that I'm done with school has shifted my frame of mind to how I deal with things in life. I'm starting to be able to push the "fun stuff" to the back to do things that need to be done, but I'm not feeling stressed about them anymore. Prime example. Dishes, vaccumming, washing the floor, garbage, and cleaning the fish tank. Chores before May 2004. Fact of life now. Plus, instead of feeling like I just cut into my gaming time, I feel like I've gotten something big done. And if its late night, I won't, usually, even go up to my computer. I'll stay downstairs and watch TV with Totem or play with molly and her toys.

Wow. I just thought of something. Is this what a family is supposed to feel like? Because I really really love it. :)

Side project...

Well, working on my blog has kind of put me into a modd to start working on a lot of other projects I've been sitting on. I started getting all the data and programs backed up or moved to get ready for the new configs that are coming. New desktop and new Linux Box. I'm figuring that if I haven't used it in a year, why hold on to it???

Wow... Talk about a pack rat... I'm reading homework that I typed on my first computer back in fourth grade... ... ...13 years ago. 8|

::shakes head::

EDIT: It feels really wierd deleting emails from two years ago too... :\

One of Four...

No, its not another incredibly hot Borg. But if it was, you'd click anyway right? ;)

Scriptoid.com

Everyone who has been here awhile knows that I've had to write a lot of custom scripts to get this place looking like it is. From user tracking to hit counters to stat generation to bot blocking to whatever. You also know that I've said that at some time I'd want to release all the code so other people can go along with what I've done. Well now I have. Scritpoid.com is where I can show off my PHP l33tne55 *cough* noob-ness *cough* so others can use and abuse what I've done.

Check it out. I'd like to know what you guys think. Whether or not you use the plentiful 2 scripts that are actually up there now... ;)

Complete...

Finished uploading all of my old pics and now I think the redesign project for my photoblog is done...

Syndication...

Pushed to finish...

You know how you keep a project on the backburner only to really, really, work on it when someone says something or does something to it??? Well, I can't say I've kicked myself enough for not keeping up my photoblog (no new pics in more than 3 months). That being said, getting 86 emails in two minutes saying that I had 86 new comments on my photoblog really pushed me. (Yeah, the ones that say"I love your site" or "How intuitive" or "Your design is great" only to be linked to porn, drug, and casino websites.)

So...

New design. New backend (the new MT, which I can use now that they've changed the license restrictions). Same pictures. MUCH smaller interface and footprint. EVEN LESS functionality. No comments, just my pictures and a way to get ahold of me if you like them.

What!?!?! Me do something simple??? Yeah, go figure. Look for yourself.

The big bonus was that I was able to figure out how to use MT for such a simple design instead of having to write my own PHP scripts to do it.

My only other goal with the site is to get more pictures up (instead of reposting them like I am doing slowly right now) and to get a syndication going on this blog. Sort of like a latest picture part of the sidebar...

Shuffled...

Plans for the new Linux box have been shuffled around a bit with others plans that I've had for the summer. Turns out Jay got screwed out of an on time bonus (its coming, just a month or two after it is supposed to) so he can't get his new system... The replacement Linux will be staying with him for a bit...

So, all the design work that I have had on the back burner is now coming up. Five sites. All different focuses (sp). One is nearing completion, one of my sites designed to promote a lot of the scripts I have written here. Mostly custom jobs of pretty popular tools out there on the Internet... Why can't I have a piece of the pie??? ;)

Who knows, hopefully some of them will work out in the end. UnknownGeek is still my flagship but it is doing nothing in terms of the financial department. :\ The other sites should be a big help b/c they will be more focussed and static than UG is... Plus, they'll actually have a purpose versus just reading about a crazy nerd... :p

Onward and upward...

With the long gap without badnwidth, I've gotten used to Gentoo. So when I booted up my linux box the other day for the first time in about 4 months, i didn't realize how much I loved the setup I have with Gentoo on my laptop...

I think when I gets Totem's old system back (a 700mhz versus my current 350 mhz box), I'm gonna give Gentoo a shot again... Last time I tried, 3 days went by and I wasn't even sure if it got anywhere...

At least now I have a MUCH better idea of the process and hopefully, even though it will be a "slower" system, it will be better optimized the what Debian has it at right now... Not that Debian is bad or anything. ;)

The last week...

The last week has been kinda hectic, but in a good way. The job is going great. My days are flying by. I'm not looking at my watch every five minutes only to see that two minutes have gone by. (Intentional play on words...)

Sorry to everyone I normally see in person. Things are finally settled down at the new apartment enough that I can arrange my office so contact to the outside world has been slim to none via phone, and virtually non-existant online. Kirk, I know you called and I'll be getting back to you soon. Smilemore, I owe you a movie with Totem sometime. Acw, I owe you a firefly night. And lisalou, I owe you a dinner once you recover from your wisdom teeth surgery.

But all things considerred, Totem and I are doing better than we have for any other move we've been through. We're actually calling the new place "home" which is a welcome change. :)

In the Linux world, the tweaks to the laptop are coming along smoothly. I've got wireless installed and since I have access to an insecure network from my house, I should be able to test it. ;) From what I can tell, there really isn't any good support for WEP yet, outside of writing the drivers yourself...

On the network side, I got my 1000ft spool of cat 5 dropped off a day or two ago. Totem's office is now networked with my office on the third floor. Once I get the cable drops put in, my Linux box will be up an running like it used to. It really only serves as a firewall and file server so it's not doing much right now. ;) The advantage of broadband though (outside of the speed) is I'll be able to let the box "do its own thing" during the day. Once I get my other computer back from Jay, I'll be starting over. Well, since I'm either going to use Debian or Gentoo, I haven't decided yet, I need a broadband connection for the box to sit on. In come advantage of cable internet...

OH! Totem and I did our pre-cana today. Not much to say on that cause I don't even wanna touch the religious stuff (way too sensitive of a subject) outside of that the big day is getting closer and closer. Thats not a problem, either, so don't get me wrong. It's just coming faster and faster... ;)

Fun fun fun...

Some of you probably noticed that I got a new laptop as a graduation present from my parents... It was only attached to my hip for the last few weeks of school... ;)

Well, anyone can probably guess what the first thing I did was... YUP! Dual boot Windoze with Linux. 8) I've managed to get Debian on there but I'm having problems with X Windows [TO PLEASE SOMUS] (it looks like driver problems with the video card on my laptop) [/TO PLEASE SOMUS]... I don't want to try RH or Fedora b/c of all the extra stuff that gets installed that I will never use...

Then I remembered an distro I tried a long time ago, but backed off from b/c of the compiling time... Gentoo. On my Linux box, running at 350 mhz, it was taking a day or two to finish compiling. That was expected, just because of the sheer amount of compiling you have to do for that distro. (It results in an uber optimized box that is almost custom to run on your hardware... That a good thing if you don't understand. ;) )

Well, now that I have a speedy little 1.3 ghz processor, I figured why not give it a shot. 8) I've got the partitions setup and I know I can dual boot b/c I was able to get that working with Windoze and Debian. Now I just need to head over to my parents house so my laptop can "sit" on the Internet for a couple of hours, downloading and compiling packages as it needs. ;)

Winding down, one last time...

I guess I should have been expecting this. It is nearing the end of the school year and everything seems to be piling on. Totem got sick and that has been a drain. Projects are due (when aren't they?)... Work is work...

But I'm getting pretty excited. I'm looking forward to 8 hour days. ;) I'm really happy that I'm going to be done with school. Every day Totem and I get closer to our wedding. We got the rings the other day. 8) Plus, that also means we're closer to our vacation in Vegas.

Besides all the normal stuff, I'm also looking forward to getting back on a normal schedule with the stuff I used to do. We will hopefully be getting our own apartment again once I start working 40 hours a week. I'll be able to get back on broadband and back to updating this site regularly. Not to mention I really really really want to keep Beregond going... I've either not had the time to upload pictures or I find the picture I want to take but don't have my camera... I also have a bunch of other projects sitting on the back burner. Three websites are waiting to be designed. On that will hopefully make just enough money to break even on my hosting fees (more if I am lucky). Another one that will be dedicated to providing a free service to anyone. And another where I will "showcase" I'll the scripts and applications that I have custom made for this site. All the referrals scripts, automatic updates, and tracking applications. I figured since so many other people have their own site to show off their simple applications that they have written for their sites, why shouldn't I? ;) Plus, I've got another one that I want to develop as a community. I have an idea for the theme, I just don't have a clue how I'm going to get it up and running and active (as in people coming to the site for something)...

Anyway, this summer is looking up. Really looking up. It has been a long time since I have looked forward to a summer. This one is definately going to be one to remember, and not just because I am getting married... ;)

Its that time again...

Well, it took me more 5 years to finally prove myself wrong...

Back when I built my current system, originally, the processor was the beefy part of the entire design. A whopping 1.4 GHz. Man that was fast back then. One thing that I kept telling myself and everyone else at the time was that "they" (software and game developers) are not going to make a program that will need much more power than was was currently out (Quake 1 at max resolution was the only program that I could find that could easily lag a system). So when people asked if 900 MHz or 1.0 GHz was fast enough, I told them yes.

For three years after that, it held. Only then did I have to upgrade my video card to keep up with some of the mind boggling graphics that games were dishing out. My 1.4 Ghz was still doing fine, though.

Not anymore. Over the weekend, X2: The Threat was just trying to control too many AI bots and my systems actually slowed down to 1-2 frames every three seconds. I ahdn;t seen that in a game since I tried Quake 1 at 1280x1024 on my 750 MHz with a 32 Meg video card. Well now I have a 128 Meg NVidia GeForce4 Ti 4600 and the processor just can't keep up.

So, its time for an upgrade. :) I've got a very nice high end system priced out and good plans for shuffling around my systems among the network. Since Totem has a laptop and does not want her desktop back, I'm probably going to make the a secondary Windoze system and make my current desktop my new Linux box. Mmmmm... 1.4 Ghz Linux box... ;)

Probably won't happen till later this summer. I need about 3-4K to get everything I "need" (AMD Athlon™ 64 FX-53 Processor, SB Audigy 2.0 Platinum, 7.1 Surround Sound Speaker System, RAID HD's, ATI RADEON™ 9800 XT, Neon Lights ;) ) But now I've got my sights set. 8)

Finished... Sorta...

I've taken the advice of JT and installed SquirrelMail with a couple of plugins... For the most part its what I was looking for. I can check all my account in one place, online... Thanks for the advice, JT!!!

I probably didn't help that I would have to reinvent the wheel for a 100% solution, whereas I could setup a solution that did 98% of what I needed in a couple of hours... ;)

More 180's...

Well along with the moving plans taking a 180, the plans for my windoze box have also taken a turn... One of the (bad) things about moving is that I will lose all access to broadband. I can get it if I really want to via 2-way satellite, but to do that I'd end up paying more than I am paying for rent right now... (Can we say uh-uh???)

So because of that, I'm going to try and push myself to redo the box within the month so I'll still have access to some decent download speed. The month should get me enought time to get all the major software (Windows included) installed and patched before I disconnect. It's either that or nothing...

Can you imagine installed Windows XP Service Pack 1 and 2 on a 14.4 modem connection??? (Yes, that is the best I can get out there...)

Filling the void...

Recently I've been looking for simple utilities that do automated, but menial, tasks on your computer. Things like joining a bunch of mpeg's together into one huge file. Or recursively scanning a directory and all subdirectories and change the names of every .whatever file sequentially. Or a batch email checker that will scan multiple email accounts and let you know which ones have new mail, then let your view and reply to them...

Usually, I get what I need accomplished by using one or two trial programs in conjunction with each other. It is like one has XX features I need and the other has YY features that I need. Usually this works... So far I've gotten decent results out of "mixing" shareware and freeware programs for multimedia and file changes...

But not for email... The closest thing that I have come to is a program called ePrompter. It's not a bad program by any means. It just doesn't do everything that I want it to, and it does things I don't want it to. Granted it is free so I can't complain...

Long story short, first it doesn't support IMAP. OK, I'll live. Then I realized that the program added a footer to EVERY email sent out asking the reader to visit their website. I got a little mad, but still couldn't really do anything about it. Then when I "patched" Windoze XP, the program stopped opening. It would tell me that there was email in the system try but I couldn't actually see any of them without logging into the webmail client for each and every account I had (which defeats the purpose of have an email checker in the first place).

So I started thinking (and yes it hurt)... I didn't develop this website for nothing. I didn't spend almost 4 years now in college for nothing. I'm a Computer Engineer. I'm a programmer. I'm just gonna build the damn thing for myself. :)

What I'm aiming at is a web based PHP site, that will use a MySQL database, to basically have one login, and then checks all the email accounts that the user has setup. A single site with a single login that will check XX email accounts without prompting for each username and password. This is exactly what the ePrompter does except it is windows based. I'm looking for something that is OS independent and will "travel" with me (IE: I can access it anywhere on the Internet).

So, cool. I've finally got a side project I can work on for a year or so (I'm not kidding, it'll probably take that long). Plus, if I can make it work, I'll finally have a single website that I can goto to check my email, instead of 6 that I do now... Long term goal might even be to released it under a license and distribute it as my first program for others to use. It has got some potential...

::feeling pretty encouraged::

Pushed Back...

Looks like I'm not going to be able to get at my Windoze box this semester... With all the stuff going on right now (moving, trying to secure a job, etc.) and with school starting back on Monday, no time once again. I guess the upside is that I've got most of my computer "sorted out" though. All my school stuff, files, game saves, and things that I've downloaded are "neatly" organized into folders. I actually managed to get rid of about 10 gigs of stuff (spelled $-H-I-T) on my system. Now for the other 8 gigs of multimedia crap I've got saved. That's a chore...

Hopefully this weekend, everything should be all set for the new apartment and we'll start moving in. So far we've managed to plan it so we'll have the month of Feb to get everything moved. This way we're going to be able to avoid renting a U-Haul truck or begging family to help us make one HUGE move in a single day. My guess would be that on Feb 1 we'll get the bed and office moved over (basically the important stuff, sleep and being able to work). After that, it is probably going to be daily trips to fill up our two vehicles and ship them back (IE: After work, we each go to our current apartment and load up, then go to the new apartment with the stuff, unload, then sleep). It should only take us about a week and if we keep on our feet, we won't have to worry about things piling up at the new place b/c we can unpack them when we get there...

New Years Resolution...

Five times today I've caught myself saying, "I wish I had my camera on me." I think my New Years Resolution is going to be keeping my camera on me at all times so I can get those pictures I want so bad... Not to mention keeping my photoblog updated more often...

Just in time I guess...

The one time I actually let Norton run until it completes, guess what it finds??? Yup, a virus. Something called "Dummy Class" and it is a trojan. I'm not too worried because my system isn't making any outbound connections. What does bother me is that Norton found it in one of the JAR files that I got when I installed Java 2... Hmmm...

Not like it matters, I'll be blowing away the partition in a day or two anyway... Maybe that is what was slowing down my system.

Things to do...

I've had to put so many things on the back burner while I've been focusing most of my time at school that I'm starting to forget most of them...

Enter stage right. Task List:
- Polish up new website.
- Install DVD-RAM drive in Linux box.
- Finish "cleaning" up desktop windoze box.
- Backup important data b/c it has been about 6 months since your last backup
- Play at least one hour of one game this week (this is a goal)
- Rearrange living room to make space for Christmas tree (Yes, believe it or not, Totem and I are going this weekend to get one. Its a family tradition.)

Next stage...

Now that I've hit 60 days of straight uptime (WOHOO!), I'm gonna tackle my linux box this weekend. If all goes well, by monday I'll have it running its own automated backups on the DVD-RAM drive and tape drive. Yeah, it seems a little paranoid, but since I can't sell the stuff, I might as well use them right???

Network Overhaul...

So far the only thing I have left to do from my original list is to redo from sctrach, my windoze box. But that's not gonna happen mid semester. It's a good two week task and I can't be down for that long. So, I've made a bunch of changes to my plans. My windoze box as it is has been stripped. I've removed all the software that I don't really use and I'm almost done sorting my data (20 gigs of text, programs, game saves, etc takes a long time to look through). Also, I got lucky with my Linux box. Let just say I got ahold on a DVD-RAM drive in the "trash". It's brand new and never been used and it's a SCSI interface. So now that I have my old tape drive back in and functioning, I'll be adding in the DVD-RAM drive. I think I'm going to settle on using the new drive for the daily and important backups. I'll keep the tape drive in for the long haul backups (like all my MP3's and multimedai stuff).

I've managed to go through all my old boxes and chuck all the old ISA cards, old memory, and 200 mb hard drives I was saving for who knows what. With Totem's help (because I'm a friggin computer pack rat), I also threw out a tons of boxes from all the old DOS software I have sitting around.

Outside of that, everything seems to be running fine. Debian is doing much better than I had hoped and I dont think I'll be switching any time soon... I'm getting close to my uptime record, too. 42 days and counting. :)

Re-working the Network at home:
- Switch slave 30 gb hard drive in Totem's computer to master and install XP
- Switch master 8 gb hard drive to slave in Totem's computer and copy data files off of it and onto the now master 30 gb drive
- Install 8 gb drive into linux box as master (alone - unplug all other drives) and install Debian Woody
- Plug in old master 40 gb drive and old slave 6 gb drive. Copy files off of 6gb drive onto 40 gb drive. Retire 6gb drive. Setup 40 gb as slave drive for storage on server
- Copy files from both external SCSI 9 gb drives onto 60 gb master drive on my Windows Desktop computer. Unplug external enclosure with the two drives and give to Dad
- Copy files from both external SCSI 4 gb drive onto 60 gb master drive on my Windows Desktop computer. Unplug external enclosure with the two drives and give to Dad
- Copy files from internal SCSI 4 gb drive onto 60 gb master drive on my Windows Desktop computer. Ask Dad if he wants the drive or retire the drive.
- Remove internal SCSI 4 gb backup tape drive, give to Dad. Install new internal SCSI 15 gb backup tape drive.
- Install two new 9 gb SCSI drives into the Linux box, if the case can handle them. Install one if only space for one, store second drive.
- On Linux box, copy multimedia files from 60 gb Windows Desktop to 40gb drive, copy all other data to either or both 9 gb SCSI drive after sorting has been completed on the 60 gb Windows desktop drive.
- On Windows Desktop, sort through 10 gb of misc files on 60gb drive. Backup necessary stuff to DVD or archive.
- Setup backup scripts on Linux box with new tape drive.
- ON HOLD -Attempt to write scripts for Totem's Desktop and my Desktop that will copy data files to Linux Box, then have the Linux Box archive them to tape.
- After archiving is complete, copy necessary files from my Windows Desktop to extra space on Totem's 30 gb drive. Blow away 60 gb drive and install XP from scratch.
- After installed, all updates applied, and required programs installed, copy back data Files from Totem's computer.
- Scandisk and defrag on all Windows drives, bad blocks and e2fsck on all Linux drives.
- After all "live" computers are configured and back to normal, sort through computer part boxes and throw out obselete hardware (IE: 8 bit ISA sound cards and network cards, VESA video cards, 50, 200, 300, and 512 mb hard drives, 30 and 72 pin memory chips, 8 and 16 bit ISA IDE controllers, etc...)
- Try to fit all remaining "good" computer parts into one box to put into storage. BetterSoft Community provides offshore software outsourcing solutions Integration Platform.

More Network Stuff...

Well I finally got back to working on the "revamping" of my office. It took on a little more than I planned. We actually moved the office too. Totem and I switched our bedroom with it. We figured that the bedroom would be a better place for the office (it was a bigger room), and since we spent almost no time in there, it just made sense... Now we have a nice big office. :)

With the Linux box, it was the power supply as I had guessed. Once I got the whole ting into it's new case everything worked as it should have. I don't know about the tape drive though. I still couldnt get the new one to work. It just was not recognized by the SCSI card. So I just stuck my old one in and I'll be returning the drive to Dad. Maybe he'll have better luck...

Now I can start to tackle my Windoze box. I just have to sort through my 10 gb+ of data I have sitting around the system... :\ Wohoo...

Almost complete...

Outside of finding out that the new tape drive I got does not work (I think it is a SCSI ID problem - something I can fix), everything is running smoothly on the home network. Totem's computer and the Linux box are up and running. So far the Linux box has been up for 16 days without crashing or having to reboot it. That's a far cry from my 57 day record when it used to run RedHat. But seeing that for the last couple of days that the box had RH on it, it couldn't stay up for more than 18 hours, it's a big improvement...

I think I narrowed it down to something on the boot sector of the bigger drive (the drive I used to have as the main drive) I have. Now, since everything system wise is on a new, smaller drive, the kernel just reinitializes it. I guess it kinda makes sense that if the kernel was stored, and operating, on that bad sector, that the computer would go nuts. But just because I found and "fixed" the problem doesn't mean I'm going back to Redhat. Debian is running so much smoother than RH did and I really like being able to install only what I want. I like being able to keep the disk usage under 2 gigs instead of more than 8... Yes I know you could install less with RedHat but when the base system is only 100 megs on Debian and then I add to that, package by package, I'm much happier because I know EXACTLY what is on the computer.

Now just to break my uptime record and I'll be really happy. :)

Re-working the Network at home:
- Switch slave 30 gb hard drive in Totem's computer to master and install XP
- Switch master 8 gb hard drive to slave in Totem's computer and copy data files off of it and onto the now master 30 gb drive
- Install 8 gb drive into linux box as master (alone - unplug all other drives) and install Debian Woody
- Plug in old master 40 gb drive and old slave 6 gb drive. Copy files off of 6gb drive onto 40 gb drive. Retire 6gb drive. Setup 40 gb as slave drive for storage on server
- Copy files from both external SCSI 9 gb drives onto 60 gb master drive on my Windows Desktop computer. Unplug external enclosure with the two drives and give to Dad
- Copy files from both external SCSI 4 gb drive onto 60 gb master drive on my Windows Desktop computer. Unplug external enclosure with the two drives and give to Dad
- Copy files from internal SCSI 4 gb drive onto 60 gb master drive on my Windows Desktop computer. Ask Dad if he wants the drive or retire the drive.
- Remove internal SCSI 4 gb backup tape drive, give to Dad. Install new internal SCSI 15 gb backup tape drive.
- Install two new 9 gb SCSI drives into the Linux box, if the case can handle them. Install one if only space for one, store second drive.
- On Linux box, copy multimedia files from 60 gb Windows Desktop to 40gb drive, copy all other data to either or both 9 gb SCSI drive after sorting has been completed on the 60 gb Windows desktop drive.
- On Windows Desktop, sort through 10 gb of misc files on 60gb drive. Backup necessary stuff to DVD or archive.
- Setup backup scripts on Linux box with new tape drive.
- Attempt to write scripts for Totem's Desktop and my Desktop that will copy data files to Linux Box, then have the Linux Box archive them to tape.
- After archiving is complete, copy necessary files from my Windows Desktop to extra space on Totem's 30 gb drive. Blow away 60 gb drive and install XP from scratch.
- After installed, all updates applied, and required programs installed, copy back data Files from Totem's computer.
- Scandisk and defrag on all Windows drives, bad blocks and e2fsck on all Linux drives.
- After all "live" computers are configured and back to normal, sort through computer part boxes and throw out obselete hardware (IE: 8 bit ISA sound cards and network cards, VESA video cards, 50, 200, 300, and 512 mb hard drives, 30 and 72 pin memory chips, 8 and 16 bit ISA IDE controllers, etc...)
- Try to fit all remaining "good" computer parts into one box to put into storage.

Updated Network Status...

I got some work in last night on the Linux box... Things are going well and the office is MUCH quieter without those external exclosures running.

Re-working the Network at home:
- Switch slave 30 gb hard drive in Totem's computer to master and install XP
- Switch master 8 gb hard drive to slave in Totem's computer and copy data files off of it and onto the now master 30 gb drive
- Install 8 gb drive into linux box as master (alone - unplug all other drives) and install Debian Woody
- Plug in old master 40 gb drive and old slave 6 gb drive. Copy files off of 6gb drive onto 40 gb drive. Retire 6gb drive. Setup 40 gb as slave drive for storage on server
- Copy files from both external SCSI 9 gb drives onto 60 gb master drive on my Windows Desktop computer. Unplug external enclosure with the two drives and give to Dad
- Copy files from both external SCSI 4 gb drive onto 60 gb master drive on my Windows Desktop computer. Unplug external enclosure with the two drives and give to Dad
- Copy files from internal SCSI 4 gb drive onto 60 gb master drive on my Windows Desktop computer. Ask Dad if he wants the drive or retire the drive.
- Remove internal SCSI 4 gb backup tape drive, give to Dad. Install new internal SCSI 15 gb backup tape drive.
- Install two new 9 gb SCSI drives into the Linux box, if the case can handle them. Install one if only space for one, store second drive.
- On Linux box, copy multimedia files from 60 gb Windows Desktop to 40gb drive, copy all other data to either or both 9 gb SCSI drive after sorting has been completed on the 60 gb Windows desktop drive.
- On Windows Desktop, sort through 10 gb of misc files on 60gb drive. Backup necessary stuff to DVD or archive.
- Setup backup scripts on Linux box with new tape drive.
- Attempt to write scripts for Totem's Desktop and my Desktop that will copy data files to Linux Box, then have the Linux Box archive them to tape.
- After archiving is complete, copy necessary files from my Windows Desktop to extra space on Totem's 30 gb drive. Blow away 60 gb drive and install XP from scratch.
- After installed, all updates applied, and required programs installed, copy back data Files from Totem's computer.
- Scandisk and defrag on all Windows drives, bad blocks and e2fsck on all Linux drives.
- After all "live" computers are configured and back to normal, sort through computer part boxes and throw out obselete hardware (IE: 8 bit ISA sound cards and network cards, VESA video cards, 50, 200, 300, and 512 mb hard drives, 30 and 72 pin memory chips, 8 and 16 bit ISA IDE controllers, etc...)
- Try to fit all remaining "good" computer parts into one box to put into storage.

Overall home network situation...

I wanted to write all this down so I have a "paper" copy somewhere...

Re-working the Network at home:
- Switch slave 30 gb hard drive in Totem's computer to master and install XP
- Switch master 8 gb hard drive to slave in Totem's computer and copy data files off of it and onto the now master 30 gb drive
- Install 8 gb drive into linux box as master (alone - unplug all other drives) and install Debian Woody
- Plug in old master 40 gb drive and old slave 6 gb drive. Copy files off of 6gb drive onto 40 gb drive. Retire 6gb drive. Setup 40 gb as slave drive for storage on server
- Copy files from both external SCSI 9 gb drives onto 60 gb master drive on my Windows Desktop computer. Unplug external enclosure with the two drives and give to Dad
- Copy files from both external SCSI 4 gb drive onto 60 gb master drive on my Windows Desktop computer. Unplug external enclosure with the two drives and give to Dad
- Copy files from internal SCSI 4 gb drive onto 60 gb master drive on my Windows Desktop computer. Ask Dad if he wants the drive or retire the drive.
- Remove internal SCSI 4 gb backup tape drive, give to Dad. Install new internal SCSI 15 gb backup tape drive.
- Install two new 9 gb SCSI drives into the Linux box, if the case can handle them. Install one if only space for one, store second drive.
- On Linux box, copy multimedia files from 60 gb Windows Desktop to 40gb drive, copy all other data to either or both 9 gb SCSI drive after sorting has been completed on the 60 gb Windows desktop drive.
- On Windows Desktop, sort through 10 gb of misc files on 60gb drive. Backup necessary stuff to DVD or archive.
- Setup backup scripts on Linux box with new tape drive.
- Attempt to write scripts for Totem's Desktop and my Desktop that will copy data files to Linux Box, then have the Linux Box archive them to tape.
- After archiving is complete, copy necessary files from my Windows Desktop to extra space on Totem's 30 gb drive. Blow away 60 gb drive and install XP from scratch.
- After installed, all updates applied, and required programs installed, copy back data Files from Totem's computer.
- Scandisk and defrag on all Windows drives, bad blocks and e2fsck on all Linux drives.
- After all "live" computers are configured and back to normal, sort through computer part boxes and throw out obselete hardware (IE: 8 bit ISA sound cards and network cards, VESA video cards, 50, 200, 300, and 512 mb hard drives, 30 and 72 pin memory chips, 8 and 16 bit ISA IDE controllers, etc...)
- Try to fit all remaining "good" computer parts into one box to put into storage.

And no, I don't have enough storage space. ;) But its stuff like this that I have the most fun doing and that's exactly why I want to be a Systems or Network Administrator after I get out of this hellhole... ermm ummm... college. :p

Webring...

Turns out that this was a lot easier than I had hoped... Not much coding or customizing to do at all on my end... Hopefully I'll have the finished product up soon...

Thanks to Robert Peake for most of the code!!!