Take 2

The Lions went 3-13 this year.  I was a little off on the 4-12 prediction…

I just finished off adding a chat app to the supersled.net site.   This was done using the pretty-good x7chat application.  The phpbb authentication integration of the app works great.  I only had to modify one file to point it to the location of phpbb’s config file.

I never knew why projects like zope existed until now.  It really makes sense to have a web site, expecially a community based one, built atop of a common framework.  With a common framework, things like chat can be added fairly easily and without worry of the parent application changing and breaking something.

I am planning on upgrading to phpbb3 when it comes out or shortly after.   With drupal, phpbb, and x7chat on the same site, things may get a little hairy.

I finally put up my last computer (version 4) up on ebay. It had been replaced by the core2 box (version 5). Here’s the listing. Twas a sweet box. The best I’ve ever worked on till I built core2. It’s weird to feel a little bit of attachment to a computer, but I sure spent a lot of time working on the thing. It’s hard to put so much effort into picking out just the right setup and then just ship it off two years later. Such is the nature of technology.
I will have to write a page on the evolution of my desktop systems someday. I wouldn’t like to forget where I’ve come from and accomplished with them.

I finished off the Linux + DVD article.  It will be in the April edition of the magazine.  Their web site is http://www.lpmagazine.org/.

The easiest way to refute someone else’s point is to say that they are bias and therefore, their point is screwed and moot. It’s a variation of the poisoning the well fallacy. I was actually labeled a mac fanboy today and it really made me think about what I posted. It’s very difficult to stay in the middle ground. What I mean by middle ground is by stating a fact or opinion in a way that makes you seem balanced. This is a must.

I think of myself agnostic when it comes to technology. I do my best to be balanced. Using the best tool for the job is half the battle. Achieving the task is the other half. I like to think that I excel at both.

I really like watching football. I really don’t like to watch comercials. The amount of comercials during a football game is hideous. I decided to watch the BCS selection show that is after the game today on FOX. That stupid thing is worse. They throw out the “who is going to play in the national championship game” teaser and then put us through 40 minutes where only 5 games are revield. These games come complete with in-game-name advertising too. There is an ad after every game is revieled. So far, there’s been an equal amount of advertising time and content time. Advertising is killing football.

As is the trend with my server box, a hardware failure brought her down.  On Sunday the ups started to complain that the battery was going bad.  I finally caved in and shut the server down a couple days ago.  It was nice to have a silent room for a while, so I left it off till today.

The last time I had to shut the box down was due to the ‘failure’ of a hard disk.   I was going on about 200 days of uptime before that.  It’s amazing that a server at home can have the uptime that I’ve been getting.  Without really trying, I’m capable of 99.9%.

I’m running CentOS 4 BTW.  Thanks for the great product guys.

I’ve been working with an Intel core duo based laptop for the last couple of days. It’s 99% great. The intel based graphics run AIGLX wonderfully. The style and build are awesome, it’s supprisingly quiet. So what’s wrong then???? One word heat. It is just not possible to set it on your lap for more than 10 minutes without that fun burning sensation in your legs. Bottom line: just can’t buy it.

Just fixed my spacebar allow me to elaborate now.

Things I like alot:

• Slot-loading cd
• Eject for the cd is on the keyboard
• The keyboard is great
• The touchpad is big and doesn’t have the scroll on the right side that is only nice for right-handed people.  They instead promot two-finger scrolling in their OS which is _much_ nicer.
• The shell is sturdy
• The intel video and atheros wifi are great with linux
• Overall style is awesome
• Use of magnets with the power cord and case latch
• No dopey button on the case to sence when it’s closed

Things I like:

• Battery life is good, not great
• Bootcamp worked well

Only thing I didn’t like:

• Heat

I just got FC6 installed.  It looks like NetworkManager is working with the bcm43xx better than before.  The update from 5 to 6 took over an hour which was a little dissapointing.  It looks like the updates are still pulling from the FC5 repos.  My desktop looked the same as before the update so that’s a good sign.

I just got word from ZipZoomFly that one of the motherboards that I RMA’d had a bent pin on the motherboard.  This is about the worst news possible becuse it means that there is physical damage on the board.  Of course, they are blaming me for the issue.  I think it’s the only choice they have.  I recommend that people take pictures of their hardware before an RMA.  The guilt is mine unless I can prove my innocence in this situation.  We’ll see if they help me out with this situation or not.