Archive for the ‘ Tech ’ Category
Codes Ciphers and Secret Writings by Marlin Gardner. So, I have a riddle for you.
The numbers are two by two but not two or four. Side by side they are many more but back to back they hide. The answer does not lie with me but with my progeny.
KFACYBJVLAZMYAJZWEYIQLL
This looks like it could be awesome. I can’t wait.
http://www.flynnlives.com/media/video/0xendgame.aspx
I got Open SuSE 11.1 in a magazine. I tried it. It sucked. It is broken from the start and has been that way for many versions. I felt compelled to try it. SuSE was one of the first distro’s I ever used and it helped me to get into Linux when I first started. Occasionally I get the urge to try it and see how it works. It has a good reputation and every couple of years I cant help myself and I give it a shot. The sad fact of the matter (besides their evil alliance with MSFT) if that this distro is terrible. As soon as I started the install, I received errors that the repositories could not be authenticated and that if I proceeded that I was doing so at some chance of peril. I continued, then towards the end some package could not be downloaded and the installation failed to finish. Ridiculous. This is the current version and there is just no excuse for that. This basically sums up my experience with SuSE for every version since the early 7s. Additionally. any SuSE user I have encountered personally in the last 5 years has had some technical issues that could not be solved due to the fact that SuSE’s management tools are defective, they have been the type of issues that the Debian based distros just don’t have. So, as far as picking distro’s go the the only thing I recommend besides using a Debian based version is that you dont even bother with SuSE. Its likely that no matter what you try you will eventually end up with Debian anyway. Save yourself the waste of time.
I just got an email requesting that I review this product that I purchased from them back in the fall of ’08, and it occurred to me that I should make a post about it here since it is something I have thoroughly enjoyed. There are few things that I buy for myself that I end up truly happy with and this has been one. It’s really the perfect jacket for any gadget carrying freak, geek or nerd. It is well made and fits great. The website tells more about it than I can so look there for all the details. I can say it has been worth every penny. I got mine during a promotional and I think I paid around $250.00 for the combo set.
There is a pattern here. One is evidence of an UPS failure.
19:29:57 up 137 days, 4:01, 2 users, load average: 1.08, 1.05, 1.01
19:30:38 up 232 days, 20:35, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
19:31:05 up 57 days, 13:23, 1 user, load average: 1.00, 1.01, 1.00
19:31:23 up 138 days, 6:13, 1 user, load average: 1.00, 1.00, 1.00
19:31:58 up 78 days, 15:54, 1 user, load average: 5.36, 5.44, 5.49
19:32:37 up 79 days, 1:31, 3 users, load average: 6.18, 6.45, 6.52
7:32pm up 15 days, 6:33, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
18:50:11 up 232 days, 19:52, 2 users, load average: 1.00, 1.00, 1.00
04:30:26 up 38 days, 4:59, 1 user, load average: 1.00, 1.00, 1.00
This is what I call the “ricrack”. It is our rack at work that runs the IT stuff for our business, this blog, a LUG meeting server and some other stuff. Below is a listing of the hardware I have in there.
1 XO 1.1Mb DSL line with 32 IP addresses.
1 Broadvoice T1 line with 6 IP addresses.
1 24 Port Cisco 3800XL managed switch with POE.
1 52 Port Netgear FSM7352S managed layer 3 switch running 4 vlans.
1 Sonic Wall SOHO 50 firewall.
1 SOEKRIS 4501 running Monowall as a firewall.
1 Dlink 8port KVM
1 1U Cobalt Raq3 as a web and mail server.
1 Cisco CSU/DSU/IAD Router
1 USR V.Everything serial modem for the Hylafax server.
1 Dell SC400 as an outgoing mail server, fax server and smap/virus scanner.
1 Dell 15in flat panel monitor
1 2U Supermicro SuperServer w/ 2x Quad Core 1.6Ghz Xeon’s with 4GB ram and U320 SCSI drives.
1 2U Supermicro SuperServer w/ 2x Quad Core 2.33Ghz Xeon’s with 8GB ram and SAS/SATA drives.
1 1U Dell 1420 server as a SMB/CIFS and secondary DNS server.
1 2U custom built Duron based server as an Asterisk PBX for Roebling Investment Company.
1 1U Tripp Lite UPS.
1 1U IBM NetFinity dual Xeon server for the LUG.
1 custom built 4way AMD tower running BSD as a DNS primary… (hosted for MO)
1 2U Tripp Lite UPS.
Behind the rack is a backup backup server in hot-stand-by mode in case of a primary failure.
This is a culmination over the last 6 years or so. There is no proprietary software at all running on any of these devices that I installed (the Cisco, Sonic Wall and I presume the Netgear devices run proprietary firmwares).
I have been using Linux since sometime in 1998-99. It all started after learning about Linux on a TV Network called ZDTV. There was a show on there called “The Screen Savers” that was for a time a great source of information on the current state of technology and how-to segments on using new technology. I got pretty excited at the prospect of an alternate OS. I had used Macintosh machines in college and was never impressed. They were particularly frustrating in their inability to multi task effectively. I was using Windows exclusively and acting as the IT admin at our small business and I knew the shortcomings involved in an all MSFT based network and server. So, anyhow, after the episode on Linux I ran out to the local CompUSA and picked up a boxed copy of Red Hat 5.2. My experience at that time with using Linux was not unlike many others; It was often difficult and not at all intuitive. My experience for the next couple years was hot and cold but I remained intrigued. One thing that kept me going was my acquisition of the Cobalt Qube, a wondrous little cube of a computer that ran Linux and performed a myriad of services and which for many years following, served the mail and web site for www.hx4.com, and it did it flawlessly.
Jumping forward to 2009… Currently the same small business now runs entirely on Linux at the server level and 2 of the 5 desktop users are on Linux full time with the remaining 3 to be converted over this year. We even run our entire phone system from a modest $400.00 computer running Linux and Asterisk, an open source PBX software. I’ll never look back. We do not get infected with viruses. We do not have spy-ware infestations and we do not reinstall the OS every six months because it “starts getting sluggish”. Actually these machines regularly run without reboot for far longer than 6 months at a time. At one point we had machines with well over 500 days of up-time until a power outage outlasted our UPS and the machines shut down. One of the Linux desktop users now has 98 days on the up-time clock, that’s 98 days without a reboot, or even an application crash. It goes without saying, I am a fan.
So give Linux a try. There are almost endless resources available on the inter-web to get you started. I’m for the most part and Ubuntu user, but any of the major distro’s out there will do a good job. If your interested you can try it out risk free by just popping a CD of a “Live Version” in your CD drive and booting from the it. Linux will run and you will be able to use it right from the CD without affecting your current setup. It’s worth the experience.
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