Lawrence "The Dreamer" Chen's Blog

I got the new-ish computer out and started looking at what I could change in it....while digging into it, I discovered it has a SATA drive. So, that meant no moving the old 'box' harddrive into the new 'box' hardware. So, that narrowed the return options to one.

I transplanted the CD burner in the old 'box' into the new 'box' and then set out to get ubuntu-9.04-server-i386.iso. First tried downloading via OSL....that was going slowly. Noticed there was a .torrent file available, so I decided to get it that way. That went much faster.

But, then I got distracted...ferret, supper...but eventually got around to burning the image and starting the install process.

After remembering the desired sequence of answers that would result in something that I would like (and having it set itself up with out DHCP)...I had ubuntu server with DNS-server, SSH-server, and Mail-server. I set out to work on being able to access the old drive on the 'box', after some thought, I decided to load on 'ubuntu-desktop' I like have lots of windows, and which a much faster system there's other things I'll probably be doing on here now/in future. 'box' started as a Pentium-75, and is now a Pentium 4 3.2Ghz w/HT. I also discovered that the machine has a GigE NIC (it didn't mention this on the website....)

I let 'ubuntu-desktop' install overnight, and found it didn't work in the morning. Had to introduce another 'sudo apt-get update' to get things along. I threw some other stuff I was starting to find that I wanted/needed like, binutils, ncftp, ntp, boinc... and then bounced the box.

Got a USB adapter for the old drive, but 'box' wouldn't see it automatically. It doesn't seem to load usb stuff on boot, looked around but decided that might be a good thing....for now. Doing 'lsusb' would make the drive appear....

I continued to setup the environment, decided to leave it using bash...even though my other home linux servers use tcsh. I also installed GKrellm and worked on getting postfix to talk to relay through my outbound.mailhop.org account. Found that I had to use smtp_tls_CAfile=/etc/ssl/certs/Equ....pem instead of smtp_tls_CApath=/etc/ssl/certs. And, then I messed up resolv.conf (I had installed and tested vpnc, its not quite working right...but its probably a K-State thing than the client....I knew it was working on my other ubuntu systems and I used the same config file, but didn't check if it still worked on those other systems). Then I discovered that my local DNS was kind of confused. Because 'box' was back on the network, but not configured as the master or knowing of my local domain....it was getting things wrong. Using my dyndns domain name is internal and external probably compounded things.

So, that moved up getting DNS configured. Continuing my environment setup, I remembered that I hadn't updated my border routers for IVS without 'box'.....since 'box' has cron jobs to check that I'm my IVS is working....so I went off and did that...and while I was on the computer that I also do my boinc managing from...I worked on getting BOINC running on 'box'.

I opted to use the apt-get install of it, and let it run a system service (instead of out of my local account and the keep it current to the latest stable version...which is newer than the ubuntu one?) Attached to a bunch of projects, discovered new 'box' is much noisier with its CPU running full tilt all the time....though P4-3.2GHz CPUs run hot...I forget what I had now in 'box'....Cele2.2??? Got all the usual projects attached, except Spinhenge...maybe it won't be bad if its not. Not all boxes run all projects that are available, aside from some projects not support Linux. There are differences based the resources of the minion. New 'box' being faster and doing HT, I have it doing more than what old 'box' did.

Now off to do morning stuff and run some errands before diving back into finishing new 'box'.

I think when I return, I'm going to work on dhcp server peering. So that should I ever lose 'box' again, I won't be with out DHCP.....though 'orac' is not the kind of box I hope to ever have to rebuild (another 'lhaven' )

This morning while I was at home waiting for the building owner to show up to see about some noises inside the wall behind kitchen sink/washer&dryer. UPS showed up with a box from TigerDirect.

That should be the off-lease IBM ThinkCenter S51 that I snapped up thinking I'd rebuild 'box' on a new machine.

The condo's quarterly pest control was going to be at 1:30pm today, so he was thinking of setting off some kind of pest control spray bomb in the utility room...which may or may not reach into the wet wall space of my condo. Or consult with the pest control company on what else to try. Later as I was listening closer to the noise, I wondered if it sounded like a feret...because there's a "Lost Ferret" sign out by the mailboxes. Turns out the "Lost Ferret" is from the unit above me.

I popped in to work for a bit, and then returned around 1:30pm for the pest control visit. I arrived to find that FedEx ground had been by and there was a box sitting by my front door. Meanwhile, the building owner said the neighbor upstairs wanted to take a look and see if he can get the ferret out, otherwise the ferret owner would pay to have an exterminator deal with it. There's no openings in the wall that I knew of, but I let him. Pest control guy later showed up to do some spraying.

Well, the box was the pulled/untested power supply that I had snagged off of ebay. All the power supplies that matched the part number online were of this 'untested/as-is' condition...or more than what I had original paid for the computer (and more than what the off-lease computer I just got). Alas, it didn't make 'box' work again. Either I got another dead power supply or there something else wrong with the system that is making the powersupply not turn on. Not have an ATX P/S tester handy, I can't tell if this is the case or not.

Anyways...that eliminates one option for getting 'box' back online.

I'm pretty much leaning towards installing the latest Ubuntu server....since it looks like the main things I'd require on the system are DNS (master), DHCP (wonder about setting up peering), NTP, ddclient x 2, and email relay to my outbound.mailhop.org account, vpnc. The ivs-status-sniff stuff will just go away. And, I'll gradually remove all evidence of it and simplify the configurations on my border routers (been close to running out of nvram on them).

Hmmm, just realized that I never changed the configs on the routers to account for the lack of the internal router 'box' to reach my ReplayTVs for IVS...not just they were (date) confused because they were doing NTP off of 'box'...and first DNS in the search list was 'box'....

Also not sure vpnc is needed now, since it won't be functioning as an internal router anymore. Someday I'll upgrade to a computer where it'll be safe to install a vpn client again. My windows boxes are both pretty dorked in the network config department. The W2K box is completely dorked...when 'lhaven' died...it became pretty usuable because I couldn't get into the configs to change my DNS server. I haven't found the install disk, so risking a repair install hasn't been an option. The other computer is also somewhat messed up, though not as bad.

Both messed up networking are connected to previous attempts to install VPN software (SecureRemote). It was largely flawed because they didn't support users with their own routers doing NAT. Largely because every IANA non-routeable ranges were being used somewhere within the worldwide network of the company, which was all NAT'd behind a single IP in Canada. Made location based (or restricted) services fun to use from work...because they would mistakenly set Canadian preferences or deny access because only US IPs were allowed.

It was particularly bad with Yahoo..which kept bouncing us over to yahoo.ca and then defaulting to only searching Canadian sites.

Anyways....wonder when I'll get cracking on trying to build the new 'box'. The off lease machine came with a 40G drive, but do I use it...or see if I have any other IDE drives around (probably too late to buy one).

The linux server known as 'box' died from the rain storm on Monday....well, the powersupply had been iffy for a while, and guess it toasted when things came back.

Sounds familiar....since its predecessor died in a similar manner....transformer blew....but that was fine, I was protected. And, then its UPS ran down...and all was quiet. It was also like 100 degrees that day....so it was pretty miserable. But, when power came back...it resumed like a good server, but the fans in it didn't. So it burned up.

Something like that probably happened to 'box'. Actually the predecessor was before 'lhaven'. The problem was I later learned that the replacement's BIOS had no disposition on what to do when power is cycled (no stay off, turn on or last state option). It always stayed off. The old 'lhaven' was a PC-AT system, while the new 'lhaven' is ATX. (post icepocalyse this problem was fixed).

So, after losing core services due to a power outage leaving 'lhaven' off....I decided I needed a new server to run these services on (DNS, DHCP, NTP). I didn't have to be much, so my then employer was having an auction of old computers....and I picked up a Pentium 75.

Wow, that's slower than the first PC I ever owned (before PC I was a Commodore person). I had acquired it with the plan to run ShareTheNet or some other Linux router thing...this was before Sveasoft and the other options became available for the WRT54GS....which is what I do now.

But, I installed SuSE on this P75 and was in business. Over the years, the hardware has changed. Actually it might have initially been RedHat, I did have a harddrive fail (they were 40G drives from ReplayTV upgrades). But, the current incarnation is SuSE 9.3 based.

Along the way there was a newer off-lease Dell that I acquired from eBay....move drive, let it rediscover hardware and make it go. Then that computer failed. So, I got an off-lease IBM NetVista from TigerDirect. Drive transplant, make it go.

By this time I was getting fancy with the stuff I was doing on it. At first it was be an internal router for my ReplayTVs, so I can sniff the progress of IVS transfers. Later it was run pulsed so that my Sprint 8703e could be bluetooth tethered. (something that I had taken for granted with my T-Mobile 7200....used tethering a lot during the first month I moved to Manhattan, KS...because I was having trouble getting Cox....missing the a few feet of coax between the pole and the box outside).

There are/were other things on here...aside the obvious of BOINC, there was ddclient and it was also the Linux box with a CD burner (for when I don't want to walk to my Windows computer and use the CD or DVD burner in there). 'orac' has a DVD burner, but I haven't used it yet.

Anyways...the question is will I get 'box' working again (either by fixing its hardware, or move the harddisk to a new machine and make it go again)....or make a new 'box' and recreate the core services. I no longer need pulsed (even though I don't have tethering ability with my iPhone, and I don't plan to pay for it....tethering is something I only do in a pinch, so I don't want to pay for something I hope to never need. At least with voice minutes those rollover, even though I hardly use them still.)

There's a certain temptation to load ubuntu and run these services, and then be able to keep the box current (more easily, it was fun building bind a couple of times....) Or hacking the system to support the new Daylight Saving Time.

OTOH, I kind of liked that the machine rather changed for something that was supposed to just be like an appliance.

Hmmm.... There is Ubuntu 8.04LTS, this is what 'orac' is running....ya, that's what I might do. Doesn't matter about the other versions of Ubuntu that I also run here and there. Having them all the same isn't an issue.

I guess it largely depends on whether I go with a different computer or fix the old computer. Both options are on the table now...since I have another IBM off lease computer on order (a ThinkCenter S51, IIRC and a powersupply [pull, untested] from eBay.) I think the 'new' computer will arrive first though. Though it'll probably be sometime before I get a new system up to the same level that 'box' was.

Oh yeah, 'box' was also an SMTP server....had moved that from 'lhaven' during its downtime following the icepocalyse. That reminds me....need to see which mail server 'tardis' and 'lunatic' are pointed at....'orac' was pointed at 'lhaven'....had found this morning that 'gumby' was stuck trying to send mail. (wallwatcher output to DShield)

Hmmm.....

That brings the number of units in my condo to 3.

I go this one to replace the UPS (a CyberPowerSystems 1500AVR-HO) that was backing up 'lhaven' and the 8 port switch.

After getting it set up, I moved my wireless access point (Belkin F5D7130) over to this. It had gotten left behind when I moved my DSL modem and router. So it was in a place that didn't really make sense anymore. Though originally it wasn't my wireless access point, it was one of a pair for NDS bridging. But, now that I strung a cable to the remote point...I did it to solve the apparent heavy shielding of the walls in the condo.

If I do a WiFi scan around this computer, I can only hear like 4 other APs. Move to the other end of the condo...and there are dozens of APs.

The UPS plan calls for at least one more UPS....still leaning towards another SmartUPS for that one...though who knows, might go with another PowerSource 400....

Last night I experienced another Kansas Weather Event. Starting to wonder if I had known about these things, would I have called Manhattan, Kansas home?

Last night it was rain, and lots of it. I may as well have been a solid water coming down everywhere....almost the instant it started....I could hear water pouring into my living room. I had towel handy, and the put empty trash containers along the patio door and that kept most of the water at bay.

Carpet was dry by morning.

But, then the inevitable next happened. The power flickered and then went away. I was watching TV at the time (L&O: Criminal Intent). Guess I'll have to pick up the ending later. Things were humming on the UPS. Though somethings bounced...I turned off the TV and the V880N. Seems my HDVI5 switcher isn't on a UPS. So, there was no using things while the UPSs beeped. I thought I had disabled the beeper in the UPS, but maybe it only disables if it knows there's a computer attached....there isn't so...hmmm.

The UPS handling 'lhaven' died immediately. So, no IRC. So, even though the cable modem was still working and lasted more than half an hour. And, the DSL modem never went down. I was quickly without Internet, as computers ran down. And, my wireless access points are connected to desktop UPSs. I think I should move the access point to the PowerSource 400 that was backing up my phone/VoIP/router/dsl.

I went around shutting down some other computers to help stretch the UPSs....

Seems the Lasko floor fan and the Kenmore Envirosense air purifier didn't like being on the UPS...probably the TRIAC to make low speed fan and the simulated sine wave of the UPS output not getting along. I turned these things off. And, then after pacing around for a while, and checking various light sources. And, finding it getting warm and stuffy indoors. I went out and listened on my HT to the weather spotters, and checked out the area.

Pages: 1 · 2

Link: http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/06/11/microsoft_money_cancelled/

Its personal finance and small business software package.

The software will no longer be available to buy after 30 June and anyone who has bought MS Money needs to activate it before 31 January 2011.

My copy expires in March 2010. Hopefully Intuit will have a painless way for us to migrate to the Mac version

Though there are other reasons to still run Windows at home....Money was always on the top of the list for reasons why I was hesitant to make the full leap to running something other than Windows as my main desktop system. I have been playing with some of the stuff that needs windows with XP installed in VirtualBox. Like while EncoreViewer will run in the VM, it can take up to 5 tries to successfully read the smartcard. While I've almost never had trouble reading the card into my circa 1993 Windows XP Desktop.

Wonder when I'll get serious about making the switch. I suppose one option would be to start new in 2010. But, there have been many times that I've searched all the way back to 1998 when I first started using Money.

Read more »

Link: http://sellout.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=8227

A Vison 21.6” Widescreen LCD via sellout.woot.com

I had been thinking of getting a ~22" Widescreen LCD monitor for some time....I had a variety of rules of what it needed to be or should have. And, what price I would snap one up at.

Then I saw this monitor on sellout.woot.com, and most of the criteria went out....it was the right price, it had DVI input, it was about the right size and dimension. So, I snapped it up.

Then there was a seemingly long wait...considering that there were other items that I had acquired by Woot, before and after the monitor...and all those items have already arrived.

But, today I came home from work, and the monitor was sitting on my door step.

Hooking it up, I found that the supplied cables were rather short, which limited where I could place it. Then I discovered that my memory of my PC was flawed. The video card only has one DVI and one VGA output, I thought it a pair of DVI-I's....but I guess it was a DVI-I and a VGA. So, buying that DVI cable from TigerDirect was unnecessary....though I'm sure I'll find a use for DVI cable down the road. I remember thinking it was odd that I didn't have one already laying, which prompted me to order it (since reading the description, I noted that while it had DVI input...it didn't provide a DVI cable).

Then came trying to figure out the steps to get computer to detect new monitor, use new monitor and output 1680x1050 to it. I took a gamble and updated the video driver. Computer came back, so guess it worked.

Years ago, I had updated through Windows Update...and had to rollback in order to be able to boot. There had been other occasions where recovery was messier....so I was worried about doing that again. And, actually I probably didn't need to....

The new monitor doesn't look quite as good as the old Dell 1800FP, but that's probably the difference of DVI versus VGA...though some of it is also color tuning....and some might be aging.

But, I've started to customize things and now I'm going to stay with how things are.....

....at least until I decide what the next computer upgrade will be. Don't know if it'll be a new machine pre-installed with Windows 7 or a Mac....either way with an XP VM

Read more »

Now the reason I was on TigerDirect in the first place. I was ordering upgrade memory to take the Lenovo 3000 v200 that I had gotten from them from its stock 2GB to 4GB (max).

It had said that the 32-bit Vista on the machine wasn't going to see it all, but I blew that away immediately...so I didn't care.

I probably should've shutdown down (turned off) laptop before I swapped the memory...instead of doing it while it was in its suspended state. But, I had a brain fart.

Booting up, I saw that it was 4GB in the BIOS...but then only 3GB in Ubuntu. After a quick search, I found that the desktop kernel is config'd that way. And, the solution was to install the server kernel.

I did that, and now it sees all 4GB. I had gone 32-bit because of certain repos...namely Boxee....didn't support 64-bit.

After booting up, I tested a few key apps to make sure there wasn't any issue in the installing the server kernel. Namely, VirtualBox (booting my XP VM), Boxee (clicked the wrong shortcut), Skype+Webcam (sudo modprobe gspca_m5602 and then starting skype with the v4lcompat1.so PRELOAD). And, then confirm that it'll suspend when I close the lid, and resume when I open it.

Now off to stir up some other trouble....

Link: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4538464&CatId=2289

While I was at Penguicon 7.0, I only took my Netbook. (as I had done on a couple other previous trips) Which was adequate for simple things, but I found it hard to use for doing heavy work stuff or blogging. Largely due to the small keyboard and my big fingers.

So, I decided that I should look at getting a cheap 12" notebook. While I was surfing at Penguicon, I came across the above notebook at TigerDirect.

I pulled the trigger and ordered it. It arrived today.

The plan is to immediately blow away the OS and install Ubuntu, not even bother with booting to see what Vista Business is like. I did a quick poking around in the BIOS and plugged it into to charge before leaving for work.

I noticed that it reported the CPU as a Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz....instead of the advertised 1.83GHz. No complaint there. Though it is listed as a new laptop on the TigerDirect site, and there seems to be finger smudges on the lid under the plastic protection sheet. Makes me wonder.

Anyways...staying with the plan to install ubuntu...and then use VirtualBox to run XP. Since there are some things that I do need windows for occasionally...which was one thing I was missing in not having a Windows laptop. Hopefully all the things, including the necessary hardware support will work that way. Don't really want to do dual booting.

Hmmm.....

I didn't really plan on getting this UPS, but I was planning to get a UPS.

I had been eyeballing the CyberPowerSystems CP1000AVRLCD. The university computer store had one in for $145. While Amazon.com has it for ~$109. Though wasn't quite sure how to work delivery of the Amazon.com around my work schedule.

If the difference hadn't been so wide, I might have taken the plunge and grabbed the UPS from the university computer store. One factor over other (smaller) choices was that it had 5 battery backed outlets. Which means I could put all of 'gumby' and its external drives on it, and one for temporarily placing 'box'.

But, then today I was out eating lunch with some co-workers...and my quest for a new UPS came up....so not in a hurry to get back to work after lunch, we popped into Wal-Mart. Which oddly doesn't seem to sell UPSs? Couldn't confirm, because nobody would help me as I stood around in the electronics department....

So, then we popped over to Best Buy. Of the choices....it came down to the Geek Squad 1285VA and an APC 1300VA. The APC was ~$3 cheaper, and had a hair more capacity. Though the capacity isn't really a big deal for what I'm using. But, that one choice was APC and it was slightly cheaper...I went with that one.

Plus the APC has 6 battery protected outlets, while the Geek Squad (which I already have one of) only has 4 (I also have the CyberPowerSystems version). This means I could put all the things I wanted directly onto the UPS, plus I threw the LCD monitor onto it as well.

Amazon.com sold a BR1300LCD, which from what I've read the difference is the BR model can trim over-voltage conditions in its AVR, while the BX can only boost under-voltage conditions. I don't know of a situation here where I've seen overvoltage, so I think I can get away without it. I know this was a problem back when I was living in Ohio though.

Meanwhile, there's a new 500GB SATA drive sitting on a desk waiting to be installed into 'orac'.