Wandering by

I was reading an excellent blog today and remembered that I still had this thing open.

It would behoove me to try again. :)

altinity.org: Lessons in ... RSS

altinity.org: Lessons in ... RSS

Very cool, and just what I was looking for. Thanks, guys!


....


Only I couldn't get it to work. It LOOKED like it might work. If I set the environment variables by hand and ran it, it generated the RSS.

But nothing I could do convinced nagios to set the variables (or rss-multiuser to see them)...

And frankly I've about had it with Nagios. Wish half the crap it was supposed to do would just work, without fiddling with a damn script for days on end.

The Continuing Saga

Well, using gparted running on sysrescd.org's System Rescue CD (we're old friends) did a GREAT job of not only resizing my partition, but recovering around 40gb of unused space that was probablyh a result of my last Windows migration fiasco.

It's likely I saw that the drive was really 149gb but that Windows thought it was only 89gb and decided that if it was working, I would live with it.

Thanks, gparted, for giving me that space back! :)

Now, if only I could get a DVD burning software or command in Vista that would work, or at least not just hang indefinitely!

UPDATE: Bad blank DVD makes Vista hang, film at 11.

Of course, bad blank DVD probably makes any sane OS hang currently. I'll have to try it in K3b and see what happens. :)

Vista Killer

I have a brand new PC. It's lovely. The hardware is sweet, and everything is the way I like it.

However, I only managed to procure a legal Windows license of Vista.

I imagined that Vista would give me some difficulties. It's still new, and I'm not as new as I used to be. But I chose to give it a shot, anyway. I assumed that I would have to learn it for the workplace, so it would not be time lost.

So after some trouble, I managed to get it installed and working.

Well working is certainly a relative term. I find Vista to be the most infuriating release from Microsoft yet.

Very few things work as you expect them to, and the cutting edge features that Vista supposedly brings to the table do not make up for it's brokenness elsewhere.

The number one problem? Lack of framerate in World of Warcraft.

That's right! I know many people have reported that WoW is unaffected in Vista, but I have not found this to be the case. Maybe they have a more appropriate amount of RAM than I do (I only have 1gb). Maybe they have far superior video cards. Maybe they can fly and shoot milk from their armpits - it doesn't matter to me.

What matters to me is that I spend most of the time on my home PC surfing the web, and playing WoW. And Vista is not satisfying that need.

At the writing of this post I'm using Torrent for one of it's more legitimate purposes. I'm downloading the AMD64 and x386 DVD versions of Ubuntu 7.

I'm going to see if WINE runs WoW better than Vista.

Bet you five bucks!

...

Yeah, it does run WoW better than Vista.

Unfortunately, the punks at Ventrilo are rooster-blocking a Linux native client of Vent, and Vent doesn't work all that well in Wine despite reports (aoss does not allow multi-access to sound card, etc).

Wishing the guild used Teamspeak. Rapidly becoming a non-fan of Ventrilo. Forced to play on Windows "Good luck with that" Vista.

Hello Joomla, Goodbye Plone

Our network has begun the upgrades from Sarge to Etch.

Last week, I spent a good deal of time fighting with Proftpd on a couple of servers after the upgrade, and this week it looks like I will be spending time on a lot of other packages.

However, I do not needlessly blamed Debian for these failures to upgrade. I blame the package developers, and sometimes the software itself.

Take Plone, for example. Supposedly a powerful and robust CMS based on Zope, which is a python web application server famework.

At the end of the day all the text above translated into "Some crap you don't understand, have no time to fully comprehend, and will crash miserably on upgrade".

Don't get my wrong, I've hacked a bit of python in my day - but Plone/Zope are just too complex for our needs.

So hello, migration to Joomla!

We started by installing the software, obviously enough. The LAMP model of installaiton is usually pretty easy, and Joomla's web-based configurator (hehe) makes it even easier.

After reviewing the security best-practices and putting a couple of them into play (.htaccess in root, http-auth on ldap directory, php-globals off, etc), it was time to find a template!

The guys over at www.joomlashack.com have an AWESOME set of templates that make great use of the Extended Menu module for Joomla. I purchased (that's right, actually paid for) the template my WoW guild's website uses from them, and thought I'd check out what they had to offer.

As it turns out, they have an excellent free template for education and goverment web sites.

Awesome! :)

Let the web fiddling begin!

New Hotness has arrived!

Fedex reports that my new PC is sitting in boxes at my home.

I can't wait!

How to recover from a stupid Sysadmin

So there I was, in a hurry to install wowroster's new software right before a raid with my World of Warcraft guild.

And one bit of it required php4-curl.

So I bravely attempted to install it (real quick. hah!).

It required a whole slew of updates. That's what I get for not keeping on track of needed packages.

So i figure, 'what the hell' and start the process.

And the raid draws closer. And someone is sending me screenshots with DKP expenditures in them. And someone wants to know if there's room for them. And someone needs me to go and look at their new outfit.

And the updates are getting there... getting there...

It's 10 minutes until the raid and the updates are almost done. There are some prompts "Are you sure? Are you sure? WARNING!". But I'm in a hurry. So Yes. Yes.

BANG. Broken glibc.


Argh!

So here's what you do in this situation.

Step One: Go to your raid and One-Shot Moroes. Get teh epix for your friend the rogue, and take a strong stab at Romulo and Juilienne.

Step Two: Duck out early (9pm or so).

Step Three: Call the server's caretaker (or get them in a Vent channel) and walk them through these steps.

1. Download and burn a copy of the System Rescue CD. sysresccd.org
2. Boot from it, and at the prompt

   ifconfig eth0 [IP ADDRESS]

3. next,

   ip route add default via [GATEWAY IP]

4. next,

   passwd

   And change the root password to something
5. next

   /etc/init.d/ssh start

And then the idiot sysadmin that broke it in the first place can fix it!

Like so:

1. Log in via ssh w/password set by generous and kind custodian you do not deserve to lick the boots of
2. Mount the root partition (and /usr, /lib, whatever else you need for the system to run) in /mnt/temp1
3. On another, working Debian box, download and use dpkg -x to extract a version of glibc from packages.debian.org. Pick either the version you HAD or the version you WANT. One will work, and one won't, it's sort of up to you which disappointment you want first. ;)
4. scp -r the files into your mounted FS
5. chroot into your mounted file system and begin reinstalling packages using apt-get until things either break or work better.

MSI - please get out the software business

I spent a wonderful, hairy, preposterous 3 hours tonight.

Why? MSI's "LiveF***date".

I mean, FUpdate. Of course.

Scenario: Strange things are afoot with brand new hardware. Strange latency on screen updates in 3D games, odd pauses during web browsing and the occasional random 0x00000009c blue screen.

These things encouraged me to make sure all of the hardware drivers were up to date. So I visit MSI's website (who make the mainboard).

Much to my surprise certain files are only available via their "LiveUpdate" services.

And I use the word "services" losely.

I install the web version of the software, and it tells me there is a much more recent BIOS for the board. I nervously click the "Update" button thinking 'Hey, it's probably OK. You've updated the BIOS in Windows on lots of computers.'

After a looooonnnngggg wait, the "Winflash" utility spits out a "checksum verify failed!" and I am left 'holding the cursor' - as it were.

So I do what any slightly manic person would do at this point and try it again, and again. And again.

I'm fairly certain that if I reboot the machine at this point - it will fail to boot.

I was correct. And it did. Fail, that is.

Now, what I really should have done at this point was bust-out with a floppy drive ("G!") and plug it in to another computer (which has an identical board), make the DOS image, and flash the BIOS that way.

Instead I got all clever-like and booted the other computer, removed the CMOS and threw it in the broken machine. After that booted, I swapped the chips back and attempted to flash again. And again. And again.

My god, how stupid can one person get?!

In the end, I did what I should have done in the first place, and flashed via floppy.

MSI, please remove BIOS updates from LiveUpdate. Or, better yet, just get rid of LiveUpdate and let us get our drivers via good-ol-reliable ftp.

Oh, and those wierd problems? They went away. I'm guessing they may have been caused by a lose and dangling 12v + wire that was meant to panel the case front-panel light display.

Oy.

Penny Arcade! - The Broodax Imperiate

Penny Arcade! - The Broodax Imperiate

This comic has placed Penny Arcade into the "pure freaking genius" category for me.

I have laughed loudly at many a Penny Arcade, as have trillions, or perhaps sesquiquintillions of other internet waifs, but this morning the last line of this strip almost caused my head to explode (literally - because I was holding it in so my co-worker wouldn't ask me what was so funny) with mirth.

GG, guys. GG

New Hotness!

I ordered my new computer this morning!

I'm rather excited!

MSI K8N NEO3 mainboard, 450W power supply, Athlon 64 3000+, and many other interesting toys.

This shall be the best PC I've ever owned. Pretty spiff.

Of course, our finances are exactly up to the burden (around $232 all told, thank you geeks.com!) but it shouldn't be catastrophic.

And it will cause a lot less drama than me and the child sharing a PC for another month!

I'll go ahead and review the components here when they arrive. With Google's help, it might help someone else make a decision when they're looking to buy any of this stuff.

The Number

The recent controversy over "The Number" used to decrypt HD-DVD on digg.com really illuminates some interesting gaps in the 'public's mindset.

The hundreds of folks who spammed 'the number' over and over again on digg's site may or may not have been consciously aware of their belief, but it was acted out and illustrated in an undeniable way.

Information wants to be free. Ideas cannot be owned, and a government enforced monopoly on thought is doomed to the same corruption and failure as any other outmoded archaic system of oppression.

Try to cage an idea; it will slip out through the bars. You cannot put a fence around it, you cannot hang a sign on it and you cannot leash it in.

Ideas are not owned. Not yet, anyway.

I'm sure there are some technology moguls and privileged politicians out there who would be more than happy to hardwire everyones' brains with DRM, given the opportunity.

I'm Going Out For a Walk. I may be... some time.

Day two of sharing my daughter's computer. Mine will be replaced in a week or two, and my child is kind enough to allow me to use hers for 5 out of seven days each week.

Sometimes I wonder how such a kind and selfless child could be born to, and raised by two very selfish and oblivious people.

Obviously, I do not have all the data, but my current perception is that neither nature nor nurture have shaped the Midget into what she is - she has shaped herself.

Or perhaps reincarnation is fact, and Ghandi's spirit lives in her. Regardless, she is certainly a joy to be around, and I don't expect that to change for at least another year (when Middle School syndrome will set in, and her snottiness will know no bounds, from all accounts).

Thinking Wide and Filthy

I've been something of an introvert most of my life. I've always considered it a gift and a curse. But I've noticed that as I get older, my thoughts and emotions begin to spread outward from my mental fortifications.

I find myself more willing to share my thoughts with others, and I find it easier to dismiss introspection when I feel like it's getting in the way of a goal or activity.

I can't remember exactly when this started, but I feel like it was a moment of adversity. Something happened to me that forced me to deal with the outside at least as much as what went on behind the thick bone in my skull; and I enjoyed the feeling of success when that had results for me different my usual internal diatribe.

It could have been my first real job. The one I was excited to visit, not some boring wage task. It may have been a particularly painful dental procedure, or an awkward social situation when I was in vocational school. I truly don't remember the epiphany, but it must have happened. There must have been a 'tipping point' when I realized how this worked.

This blog is an attempt to recapture at least part of the intense self criticism and mulling that I always enjoyed in my childhood.