Maxtor Personal Storage 3100
Having recently graduated from the University of Waterloo's Rhetoric & Professional Writing major (Honours B.A.) I decided to go out and splurge a little. I bought myself the second most-expensive school ring, and a Maxtor Personal Storage 3100 80GB USB hard drive. I asked the Best Buy guy if he knew anyone that had used Linux with it. He didn't have a clue, but he did mention I could bring it back within 14 days with receipt. The response was less than I was expecting. Normally I don't like to promote big box stores. Best Buy was across from work, the only reason I bought there. I am going to mention the Staples off Ottawa Street because the last time I was there the person I was talking to actually had a clue about Linux. He didn't say he ran Linux, but stated that the USB wireless mouse I was going to buy should work if I'm using the 2.6 kernel.
The PS3100 has behaved quite well. I packed it up the other day, along with my notebook. No data loss because of transportation. While transporting the drive I couldn't help but think back in horror about the first hard drive I ever bought, a MFM hard drive. If you're not familiar with MFM drives, they had to be "parked" before transportation. Under the belly of the drive there was usually a little knob you pushed up to park the drive heads. Being relatively green to PC's I didn't know this and got home with a useless hard drive - and no refunds.
With the rise of large USB keys, iPods, you might ask "why buy an external hard drive, let alone one that cannot be removed and inserted into something else?" Stability. While this drive may go, it's so inexpensive that replacing it won't be a big chore. And it's really handy for hosting Linux isos, or using as a base for a Linux install fest.
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Considering reinventing the New Linux User blog.
I started this web log with the hope that it would be useful to people, but from what I can see, very few people are actually reading this blog. I've been toying around with some ideas and I've latched on to something that I think would be fun to do, and useful. Now that I'm using blogging software, it should be easier to post more regularly. As some of you may know, I'm still on dialup, so I tend to post less often. I can hear a few snickers, but hey, I was once the guy who said I'd never take down my BBS (Bulletin Board System) to join the Internet revolution.
I started this web log with the hope that it would be useful to people, but from what I can see, very few people are actually reading this blog. I've been toying around with some ideas and I've latched on to something that I think would be fun to do, and useful. Now that I'm using blogging software, it should be easier to post more regularly. As some of you may know, I'm still on dialup, so I tend to post less often. I can hear a few snickers, but hey, I was once the guy who said I'd never take down my BBS (Bulletin Board System) to join the Internet revolution.
SuSE to Mandriva to SuSE & Chronicle Lite
I suppose I understand some of the frustration people use to Windows feel when moving to Linux, after all, old habits really do die hard. But if you don't try new things you never know when you might be missing out on something terrific.
So last night I wiped off SuSE 9.2 and installed Mandriva 10.2. I spent much of the night learning about urpmi, and urpmf, the apt and apt-cache like software for Mandriva. Unfortunately Mandrake/Mandriva just doesn't have the software that comes with the SuSE 9.2 DVD, and while 10.2 is probably one of the best versions of Mandrake in a long time for stability, at least on my systems, I tossed it after a few hours of trying to get different blogging software to compile and run under it.
Which leads me to mentioning Chronicle Lite, blogging software I'm using to create this post. The blogger.com interface is fine for posts, but by using an interface to blogger.com I can compose posts offline. Over the next few days I'm planning on trying a few interfaces until I find something that works right. I like Chronicle Lite, it works, and the web/java-based installer made installation a snap, but it seems to lack some basic features, such as the ability to post a title.
So last night I wiped off SuSE 9.2 and installed Mandriva 10.2. I spent much of the night learning about urpmi, and urpmf, the apt and apt-cache like software for Mandriva. Unfortunately Mandrake/Mandriva just doesn't have the software that comes with the SuSE 9.2 DVD, and while 10.2 is probably one of the best versions of Mandrake in a long time for stability, at least on my systems, I tossed it after a few hours of trying to get different blogging software to compile and run under it.
Which leads me to mentioning Chronicle Lite, blogging software I'm using to create this post. The blogger.com interface is fine for posts, but by using an interface to blogger.com I can compose posts offline. Over the next few days I'm planning on trying a few interfaces until I find something that works right. I like Chronicle Lite, it works, and the web/java-based installer made installation a snap, but it seems to lack some basic features, such as the ability to post a title.
Friday, June 24, 2005
SCO's Openserver 6
As everyone in the Linux world knows, SCO has become something of an anti-Christ in the open source community, this despite their recent protestations that they don't have a problem with the open source community - like Microsoft claiming the same thing.
I ran across an interesting post to the Slashdot article "SCO Includes OS Products in OpenServer 6." The response, by Slashdot user WindBourne (631190), was as follows:
MySql has the abilty to deliver a death knell to them. They are under a dual license (GPL and Commercial). SCO has to accept the GPL for it to be valid. Since they clearly do not do so, then the only license available to them is the commercial one. Therefore they MUST start paying mysql the approiate money. It will probably run in the millions.
Now some users have pointed out that SCO doesn't have to accept the GPL as valid, however, WindBourne does seem to have a point about the dual license. SCO should be paying to include MySQL as a part of its server offering.
SCO is very likely on its last legs anyway, but this most recent development could be the last nail in the SCO coffin.
I ran across an interesting post to the Slashdot article "SCO Includes OS Products in OpenServer 6." The response, by Slashdot user WindBourne (631190), was as follows:
MySql has the abilty to deliver a death knell to them. They are under a dual license (GPL and Commercial). SCO has to accept the GPL for it to be valid. Since they clearly do not do so, then the only license available to them is the commercial one. Therefore they MUST start paying mysql the approiate money. It will probably run in the millions.
Now some users have pointed out that SCO doesn't have to accept the GPL as valid, however, WindBourne does seem to have a point about the dual license. SCO should be paying to include MySQL as a part of its server offering.
SCO is very likely on its last legs anyway, but this most recent development could be the last nail in the SCO coffin.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Inventory :: One geek's dream
Some people covet the latest technology, whether it's the latest computer driven by an Intel or AMD chip, screaming HOT video card, or mega-RAM capable motheboard. Not me. I've been strangely afflicted with a desire to explore some of the antiques of technology. It probably first started years ago when I first happened across the Espressigo, an espresso machine built inside a SGI Indigo. I ended up checking out the SGI Indy and it looked like an intriguing machine.
For a couple of years I had heard about a mysterious computer sale that went on at my local university. I'd heard of some incredible deals, but never managed to get more information out of people other than the sale existed. Thankfully "glenn" from kwlug posted information about the University of Waterloo Surplus Sale. The first time I went there were a few *NIX machines, mostly Sun IPC's and IPX's. I managed to grab one of the Sun IPC's, but someone else swooped in and took the whole lot of other Sun-based machines. The IPC ended up going to my brother. The machine powered on, but likely had a dead NVRAM chip, which meant he probably would have had to really work at it to get an OS on it.
Many visits later I picked up a HP 700/RX Terminal. This baby had a big 19" monitor. I paid way too much for it. Again, it went to my younger brother who managed to dispose of it at a garage sale.
Many more visits and I finally spotted a SGI Indy R3000! Unfortunately, the only thing left of the Indy was the backplane and the basic graphics board, there was no processor, no hard drive, not even a power supply. I gutted the machine and it now serves as a stand for one of my speakers. I still intend on putting a Pentium II inside this box, so it may see life yet.
Having gone through the snatch and grab circus that occurs at these sales, I knew that if you want something at these sales, you have to grab it when you can. Even if you have some doubts about using the box, grab it and worry about putting it down after you have your hands on it first. So it was with my Sun Sparcstation 5. I bought 3 Sparcstation 5's at the sale, all non-functional. Two had hard drives, but both drives had holes physically drilled through them. Over time I acquired enough parts to slap together one Sparcstation 5 I've dubbed heller. Though the name is derived from L. Ron Hubbard's, no I am not a scientologist, science fiction deckology Mission Earth, it seems quite appropriate for this machine which has been hell putting together.
The last machine I picked up at the surplus sale was another terminal, a Thin Client actually. I had my hands on both of the available NCD ThinStar 400's when I heard a groan from behind me. I actually wasn't going for the ThinStar's, but I couldn't get someone ahead of me to move out of the way so I could grab the only Sparcstation 20. The person who did grab the Sparc is someone I've seen at the sale often, and I know they have quite a collection of Sun boxes, having collected just about every Sun box that shows up. I decided not to be like this person and handed the second ThinStar to the guy behind me that had groaned. Amid the drone of the crowd I could hear the person explaining in an excited voice to someone else how they had managed to get the ThinStar, it felt good.
My last acquisition was not from the University surplus sale, but from a garage sale that local French school had put on. Though I'll probably never boot this machine, it's very close to the first computer I ever really wanted (a Timex Sinclair). The baby I bought is a TI-99, which went for a whopping $1.00.
I have other machines, ones that actually work, but the above machines are my darling Frankenstein boxes that, someday, will breathe life!
For a couple of years I had heard about a mysterious computer sale that went on at my local university. I'd heard of some incredible deals, but never managed to get more information out of people other than the sale existed. Thankfully "glenn" from kwlug posted information about the University of Waterloo Surplus Sale. The first time I went there were a few *NIX machines, mostly Sun IPC's and IPX's. I managed to grab one of the Sun IPC's, but someone else swooped in and took the whole lot of other Sun-based machines. The IPC ended up going to my brother. The machine powered on, but likely had a dead NVRAM chip, which meant he probably would have had to really work at it to get an OS on it.
Many visits later I picked up a HP 700/RX Terminal. This baby had a big 19" monitor. I paid way too much for it. Again, it went to my younger brother who managed to dispose of it at a garage sale.
Many more visits and I finally spotted a SGI Indy R3000! Unfortunately, the only thing left of the Indy was the backplane and the basic graphics board, there was no processor, no hard drive, not even a power supply. I gutted the machine and it now serves as a stand for one of my speakers. I still intend on putting a Pentium II inside this box, so it may see life yet.
Having gone through the snatch and grab circus that occurs at these sales, I knew that if you want something at these sales, you have to grab it when you can. Even if you have some doubts about using the box, grab it and worry about putting it down after you have your hands on it first. So it was with my Sun Sparcstation 5. I bought 3 Sparcstation 5's at the sale, all non-functional. Two had hard drives, but both drives had holes physically drilled through them. Over time I acquired enough parts to slap together one Sparcstation 5 I've dubbed heller. Though the name is derived from L. Ron Hubbard's, no I am not a scientologist, science fiction deckology Mission Earth, it seems quite appropriate for this machine which has been hell putting together.The last machine I picked up at the surplus sale was another terminal, a Thin Client actually. I had my hands on both of the available NCD ThinStar 400's when I heard a groan from behind me. I actually wasn't going for the ThinStar's, but I couldn't get someone ahead of me to move out of the way so I could grab the only Sparcstation 20. The person who did grab the Sparc is someone I've seen at the sale often, and I know they have quite a collection of Sun boxes, having collected just about every Sun box that shows up. I decided not to be like this person and handed the second ThinStar to the guy behind me that had groaned. Amid the drone of the crowd I could hear the person explaining in an excited voice to someone else how they had managed to get the ThinStar, it felt good.
My last acquisition was not from the University surplus sale, but from a garage sale that local French school had put on. Though I'll probably never boot this machine, it's very close to the first computer I ever really wanted (a Timex Sinclair). The baby I bought is a TI-99, which went for a whopping $1.00.I have other machines, ones that actually work, but the above machines are my darling Frankenstein boxes that, someday, will breathe life!
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Mac OS/X Docker under Linux
Shortly after SuSE 9.3 came out I decided to install it. In my experience operating system upgrades are often painful, they usually result in a number of things breaking, so I decided to wipe out my old SuSE 9.2 installation and install 9.3 from scratch. I really liked the new bubble help in 9.3, but after a couple of weeks of use I found it to be too unstable to be useful on my main machine. After mourning the loss of what looked like I great gui improvement I decided to give kxdocker a try, the result is what you see in the screen shot above, a very Mac OS/X-ish dock, complete with parabolic spin!
You can download kxdocker from: XIA Projects
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Marcel Gagne helps me switch to Mandriva 10.2
Marcel Gagne, Linux Chef, author of Moving to Linux Kiss The Blue Screen of Death Goodbye, Moving to the Linux Business Desktop, and Linux System Administration, and award-winning columnist for Linux Journal, helped me transition from SuSE 9.2 to Mandrake/Mandriva 10.2. I managed to set up most of Mandrake on my own, including getting my Microsoft MN-720 wifi card working, but Marcel provided me with the howto knowledge to get the wifi running on startup /etc/rc.local, how to do updates, and pointed me to NetGo, software that simplifies wifi connections.
Monday, June 06, 2005
The Mana World
I gave an impromptu presentation at KWLUG tonight on an open source game currently in active development called The Mana World. Being a Linux guy, I completely forgot to mention that the game also runs on MacOS and Windows.
I posted a html version of the slides at: http://members.porchlight.ca/charm/tmw/themanaworld.html
Finally I found a few web sites that definitively state that you cannot install/use a Sun SparcStation 5 without the keyboard. This has been a bit of a thorn in my side, trying to determine whether I need a new NVRAM, or whether it's just the fact that I need a keyboard to get my Sparc going. I'm still going through the stew of Sparc 5 links, but I'll probably add a few (blogs) to the sidebars here.
While I'm on the topic of unusual hardware, I picked up a NCD ThinStar 400 Windows CE thin client the other day for some pocket change. I'm missing the power adapter, but everything else appears to be in good order. Perhaps one day I might see if I can get the Linux Terminal Server Project running on it. The box is suppose to be capable of 1600x1200, pretty impressive resolution.
I posted a html version of the slides at: http://members.porchlight.ca/charm/tmw/themanaworld.html
Finally I found a few web sites that definitively state that you cannot install/use a Sun SparcStation 5 without the keyboard. This has been a bit of a thorn in my side, trying to determine whether I need a new NVRAM, or whether it's just the fact that I need a keyboard to get my Sparc going. I'm still going through the stew of Sparc 5 links, but I'll probably add a few (blogs) to the sidebars here.
While I'm on the topic of unusual hardware, I picked up a NCD ThinStar 400 Windows CE thin client the other day for some pocket change. I'm missing the power adapter, but everything else appears to be in good order. Perhaps one day I might see if I can get the Linux Terminal Server Project running on it. The box is suppose to be capable of 1600x1200, pretty impressive resolution.
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