Category: Free Software

Articles about Free Software.

Still Migrating

Db0

The migration process on my workplace is continuing. I am still writing down things as I go here. I’m still not doing much so it doesn’t have much activity but there are some worthwhile things to check out, mainly the guides.

As I said, I write things as I go and when I set-up something new from the ground up, I take the time to create a step-by-step guide of how I did it. This way for log may actually be useful to anyone who cares to read it. Until now I’ve written two guides, one to set up a [tag]jabber[/tag] server on SuSe ES with AD authentication and an related one on how to set up conferencing on that server.
After being asked permission, by the guys of ejabbber, to copy the text of the second guide on their servers, I decided to release all of them under a creative commons license.
This is a great way to save time for anyone who wants to copy and modify them. They won’t need to contact me to get permission anymore.

Suse

Db0

I finally found a system I could work with. I took another m/b from work and installed it on my system. I will return the older one tomorrow. This P4 m/b fortunately has DDR slots. Unfortunately it has only 2 and my 512 ram is fubar 🙁 It recognizes it as 512 but it kills the system in DT time.

I decided to discard the fedora installation to try something new and my original thought was Debian. Completely open and volunteer powered. Unfortunately, even though the original set up was done and I managed to find what to install with aptitude I was stuck at configuring the Xfree window system.
Until now I’ve been using x.org and xfree was kind of different and thus I couldn’t find the configs and even after I found them I coudln’t figure out why the system wouldn’t boot. After a few tries I gave up and tried OpenSuse 10.

Installation went flawlessly (although I would like a DVD version so as not to change installation mediums all the time) and I booted into my new system with all the bells and whistles on (even amarok 1.3.1, I was impressed at the cutting edge) with only one problem. The network would not work. At this point I had to leave to go and play board games with a few friends so I left it for the night.

At about 3am that I returned home, I tried setting up the ips, gateways and dns but nothing seemed to work. I tried disabling firewalls, switching cables, rebooting dsl routers but nothing. I knew that I was missing something because of fatigue so I left it for the other day. Fortunately amarok worked off the box (and finally without crashes) and I could hear some of my own music.

Today I found out what the problem is, it seems I had confused the default gateway with the DNS. I need to put the firewall as a default gateway (duh) and the dsl router as DNS. I can’t think why I didn’t try this before.

So anyway, now I’m in Suse and letting things work by themselves for a while. I’m tired of tweaking and prodding things to work and not know how to fix them so I’m taking a break from Gentoo (that still refuses to boot the kernel). Maybe when I have enough time to waste on my computer I’ll return again.
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Limping Back

Db0

I’ve managed to get a system running for now.
Yesterday I took an old P4 apart while at work and installed it on my box. Unfortunately too late did I notice that the old-crap p4 motherboard used SDRAM dimms and DDR, that means of course that not only do I work at 1700 MHz but I also lost 133 MHz from memory.
Of course yesterday I did not have SDRAM chips available so I had to make do with Knoppix as best as I could (and It wasn’t much let me tell you). So today I borrowed some dimms as well (2×256 to be exact) that I plan to return when I gather the money for a new system and took them home to install.
Luckily that went fine.

Gentoo, as expected, will not start, it’s got the march=”athlon” flag and until I find how to override that I’m stuck at Fedora, which is not bad now that I see it again. I’ve forgotten of that GTK look. Anyway, some settings are not working correctly over here and I need to do some more tweaking.

If only I had enough money 🙁

Still off

Db0

Computer @ Home is still dead. After some testing I have decided that the CPU has died and there’s not much I can do about it. What I tried is, I unplugged everything and left the MB only with CPU and Power and it won’t start (even the PSU fan), however the power led on the MB starts which means it is still getting power. I then removed the CPU and booted it again, the led still lighted which is the same effect as before. Ergo the CPU’s dead.

I’ve been using Knoppix on the Smoothwall Firewall to have at least basic internet access but it is dead slow. I mean KDE is unusable and icewm is only marginally better. How could we even work on these thing 6 years ago? Has our OS bloated so much? Anyway, problem is that my optical mouse is USB and that antique does not support that, so I settled for keyboard manipulation, which is fine if you know the shortcuts. Unfortunately I didn’t and it was hell…

At work now, I have taken an MB from work to test it. I hope it works without too much hassle because I do not have money for upgrades even at this time.
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Browser Games

Db0

Well, I’ve started playing two games on the net. The Kingdom of Loathing is an excellent humorous MORPG that anyone should play at least once. Loads of fun and a complete waste of time to boot.
As I was looking to find one on the same style only a bit more serious and maybe with better gameplay I stumbled onto Strive for power which is very nice. However the fact that you can’t really play if you are not a subscriber (20 ap per hour is not enough to even move around) and that I can’t shell out the kind of money a subscription costs (it is only slightly less than a MMORPG) makes me search around for something else.

Now, I’m at work again and boredom is creeping slowly but steadily in. I have to check our network for virii and the tools never seem to work right. It seems one of them snuck into an unprotected win98 machine and started flooding the network with packets. The routers held but the accelerator puked and started doing whatever it wanted. A technician from it’s mother company had to connect to locate problem and trace it back to the original machine. Needless to say this was blamed (mildly) on me and I had to recheck all the machines for correct definitions and scan engines. bleh.
Now I have to send 4 laserjets to stores around Greece and I hate carrying.

My Linux enthusiasm has waned as well, I just can’t get off my lazy butt and find out why gkrellm2 segfaults all the time. At least Amarok seems to have stabilized since I started using the xine engine. It seems it was something to do with the alsa driver but the steps I took didn’t trace the problem.

Relationship is a mixed deal as well. I’m still hanging out with my new friend but it isn’t going to happen. There were some close encounters but unfortunately nothing special. At least an older acquaintance showed up and may be available for coffee soon.

Feeling good

Db0

Ever had one of those days where everything looks great? Well it’s such a day for me. I had a pretty nice night out yesterday, I’ve got a pretty nice day ahead of me, I feel like the king of the world! I am also without sleep and run on caffeine 🙂
So I’m at work, solving TNS listener problems, giving my debriefing, setting up Gentoo (which is currently stuck at emerge) and surfind the web. Nothing special.

I just found out that Anorimoi have a new web page. There are one of the greatest and funniest greek metal parody bands around. Manowar should phear these guys, what with albums like Farting the world 🙂
They are pretty decent music-wise as well so any metalheads should definitely check them out (and try to find a translation as well).

I still can’t make Gentoo at home to behave. amaroK keeps crashing for no obvious reason, when I use Alsa as well as OSS. Gkrellm also segfaulted constantly but it stopped doing it now, I think it may have been a specific plugin but I haven’t really changed anything. STFW didn’t help much 🙁

On the music note, it seems Audioscrobbler has stopped receiving submissions for some reason. It seems their server problems are harder than they make it seem but their front page wants to imply that there isn’t much to worry about. If anyone cared to check their status however it would seem that they don’t accept any submissions at all. Not much of a problem for me other than a bit annoying.

So, yeah I’m energetic!

Fluxin'

Db0

Finally set Fluxbox up and running, learned about slits, dockapps, and some other stuff. Now the thing is starting to look cool!
I also set up my Smoothwall and I can finally feel secure enough. I can see a whole lot of portscanning going on but hopefully it doesn’t get past my smoothie. I was afraid its setup was going to be hard but it was a breeze.

Yesterday I also went with my sister to my cousin’s village to “celebrate” easter. It wasn’t as boring as I thought but it wasn’t very great either. Greek Ethnic tends to annoy me.

The last few days have seen a great deal of late night drinking and dancing/headbanging. I spend too much money and I don’t get any hot nekkid chickz…*sigh*

Now I’ve also heard who’s coming for this Summer. Megadeth, Dio, Dream Theater, Iron Maiden and a whole lot of others. I’m going to turn into a ping-pong ball to manage to see all those and I also will need to save a lot of money as well. The Rockwave prices are preposterous as well, I mean WTF 60€ for black sabbath and 45€ for the rest? What do they think we are? We should go to Bulgaria with 15 euros…

I also need to go out today and must still find some company to do it…grr

Better but not so well

Db0

Yesterday was Ok I guess, I finally played a game of [tag]Chronopia[/tag] and managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. I mean I had only 3 models left on the board in the end while the others had half their army. The game was “Capture the Hill” 3 players ffa with a 5 turn limit. Whoever controlled the hill at the end gained extra points. After we decided who captured the hill and calculated the other guys points, just for the record, I asked them to calculate my points as well. Imagine our surprise when the other guy announced “Shit, you’ve won” Much laughter ensued 🙂

On other news, I decided not to write about the sentimental stuff on the public log. I just don’t feel comfortable.

Today I’ve been trying to set up Gentoo at a pc at work and I left it compiling the whole kde. I expect it running till monday and then some. I like it though. All this compiling and system-optimization is sweet. If it works well I think I’ll put it at my own system (I’ve already made room)

I’ve fixes the buggy partition as well…by the rough method. Delete/Format/Restore. Mp3z are back in place and amaroK is rocking 🙂

Tomorrow I expect to get [tag]WoW[/tag]. I was lucky to get a preorder. Everything was booked and I found a store with 10 preorder copies left for Saturday. Lucky me 🙂 I hope it will take my mind off the relationship hardships at least although I fear I may grow bored of it as I did Eve online. I bought the collector’s edition too, I wanted something from the WC universe to remind me of my past.

Need to finish tidying up the room sometime.

Hah! As I was writing, Kensha/Tasos showed up on ICQ. I haven’t seen that soul for MANY years…