Brian's Blog

Not that anyone will really notice, but I decided to reorganize how I had the directory structure of my photo gallery. Before I was sticking all gallery's into a gallery directory and using a name like 2004-hunting or whatever to differentiate between years. Now I have separate directories for each year. As in 2004/hunting. The only problem is this broke the up one node link in jgal but I modified the jgal template to deal with it. Oh the terribly exciting things I do for fun.

Normally I like snow, but today it kind of sucks because it's preventing me from getting my new car. Well, it's not really 100% new, it's a 2004 Impala (see picture). It's about time I finally got a newer car though, my old Shadow is falling apart. The hatch doesn't stay up anymore, the paint is pealing, and it's starting to leak oil slowly. Not bad after about 11 years of use though.

The Impala set us back a bit though, so no big purchases for a while. Well, except for repairs on the wife's car, which is probably going to be expensive, but still less than buying two new cars at once.

Time to get back to reading HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide. I'm looking forward to the chapter on CSS.

It's been a while since I figured out something new to me on Linux and it's been kind of bothering me. So I decided to take a crack at udev. I'm running Slackware-current, which at the moment is essentially Slackware 10.1 plus an updated x.org. I figure by now most other Linux distro's are already using it, but since Slackware favors stability over the latest and the greatest we still are on traditional /dev files. But, rumor on the street is that Slack 10.1 is the last to use the 2.4.x kernel and that Slack 11 will use 2.6.x by default. So it stands to reason that it will also use udev since udev requires Linux kernel 2.6.x. Slackware 10.1 comes with a precompiled 2.6.10 kernel in /testing on CD 2 but since I've been using 2.6.10 for a bit already I just grabbed the udev packages with swaret. But for some reason my home grown kernel caused udev to act strange. Strange as in su would not work, and I couldn't open up an aterm or xterm. Also, for some reason, my cdrom just would not be detected by udev. All these odd things and everything worked 100% before trying udev out. As far as I could tell all you need for udev to run is hotplug and sysfs which I already had in there. So, just to make sure, I grabbed the config file from the stock Slack 2.6.10 kernel and compiled to that which got everything working. So, all my woes came down to me missing something in the kernel. I'm not sure what yet and I'm not sure if I'll ever figure it out, but the point for the moment is to learn something about udev.

Oh, the default 2.6.10 kernel in Slackware has reiserfs as a module. I'm glad I saw this and compiled it into the kernel or I would not have been able to boot since I use reiserfs for my root file system. There is a readme in the /testing/packages/linux-2.6.10 directory about using initrd to overcome this but it seems more complex than just compiling reiserfs right in.

Anyway, so after that everything seems to work correctly but in a standard way. Except for my external USB hard drive, which for some reason wanted to be called /dev/uba instead of /dev/sda. After a bit of googling I found that this is because of something called "Low Performance USB Block driver" in the kernel which claims to cripple the usb-storage driver when enabled. This sounded silly so I disabled it and now my drive is back to /dev/sda. I'm not sure why this was even enabled in the first place but I'm sure there is some reason. At this point then I wanted to learn more about udev rules. It turns out all I really needed was this article, which covers creating consistent names for things that can change, like USB drives, or systems with multiple printers and udev rules in general. Makes rules wasn't as hard as I though.

One thing though that seems to be not covered much is changing permissions. You can chmod a device but it will revert to it's default permission on reboot. I wanted to change my dvd-rw on /dev/hdc to allow writing. So I took a look at the file udev.permissions in /etc/udev/permissions.d and saw this section:

# disk devices
hd*:root:disk:660
sd*:root:disk:660
dasd*:root:disk:660
ataraid*:root:disk:660
loop*:root:disk:660
md*:root:disk:660
ide/*/*/*/*/*:root:disk:660
discs/*/*:root:disk:660
loop/*:root:disk:660
md/*:root:disk:660

I thought this was exactly what I needed and added a line to it to make it look like this:

# disk devices
hd*:root:disk:660
hdc:root:cdrom:666
sd*:root:disk:660
dasd*:root:disk:660
ataraid*:root:disk:660
loop*:root:disk:660
md*:root:disk:660
ide/*/*/*/*/*:root:disk:660
discs/*/*:root:disk:660
loop/*:root:disk:660
md/*:root:disk:660

Even so it flat refused to change /dev/hdc to mode 666. Linuxquestions.org and Google weren't much help. But then I took a look at udev.rules in /etc/udev/rules.d and saw this line at the top:

BUS="ide", KERNEL="*[!0-9]", PROGRAM="/bin/cat /proc/ide/%k/media", RESULT="cdrom*", NAME="%k", GROUP="cdrom", MODE="0660"

What struck me was the MODE="0660" part. So I changed it to read MODE="0666" and the permissions change as I wanted on the next reboot. I haven't found it documented anywhere yet but it seems that a MODE setting in the udev.rules file takes precedence over anything in the udev.permissions file. I took some time to plug in and move around my USB drives to see how it handles it and it worked well, keeping all the symlinks I created in my custom rules pointing to the correct device regardless of what it was. Now my /dev directory is small enough to fit on one screen vs scrolling many screens.

I really didn't need to get udev up an running, but now that I see it in action it's nice. I think I'll keep it.

Yet more Hitchhiker's Guide goodness has appeared today on the front page of Amazon.com in the form of a new trailer. Looks good and we get a nice look at what Marvin looks like too.

Update

It looks like Amazon took it off their front page already. It's now here.

The past couple of weeks have been "interesting". Interesting in that I've spent so much time shaking my head in disbelief. I've mentioned that I think my work has been reduced to cleaning Viruses and Spyware from Windows PC's. I think that's true to some degree but these idiots who keep bringing in their PC's without any Antivirus software on it for me to fix are driving me insane. I mean, if you choose to run that giant petri dish that Microsoft passes off for an OS and not run Antivirus you are just asking for it. To me its kind of like spending a week at a brothel without a box of condoms, then wondering why it burns when you pee. Really, there is no excuse. Especially when you can grab Norton Antivirus 2005 for something like $50 or download AVG from Grisoft which is free for home use. Today was a particularly bad one. I had to disinfect a PC and found 6318 instances of just Netsky. Then, I was asked, "Is it bad to not have Antivirus"? Then there was spyware on top of that too. Sometimes I wonder why people don't show more interest in Linux or Mac.

I made an attempt to learn something about udev last night. I'm running Slackware Linux 10.1 which doesn't have udev by default yet. My 2.6.10 kernel is home grown and should be setup correctly so I grabbed the udev slackpack with swaret. I didn't even get as far as learning the rules or setting custom permissions because, for some reason, it just decided to not see my DVD/CD-RW which is on hdc. There was also other very odd weirdness that I can't explain, such as su stopped working, and I couldn't open an xterm or aterm. I'm guessing it's because the tty devices weren't setup right. Which tells me I'm missing something in my home grown kernel. Perhaps I'll just use the stock 2.6.10 kernel which should hopefully work. I can't say I really need udev since things work 100% on my system now, but I'd like to at least know something about it.

Not that I need any more computer books, but I decided to order up a copy of Knoppix Hacks which looks like a good book and has gotten killer reviews on Amazon. I took a look at the table of contents at Borders this weekend and it looks chock full of ways to use Knoppix to bail out Windows. Which is my primary use of Knoppix anyway. Maybe one of these days I'll actually read a novel or something instead of a technical manual.

Jhigdon on the LVLUG mailing list sent a link on how to install Linux on a Mac Mini. I'd go grab one of these and try it out but money is a little tight these days. Time to start saving I guess.

I keep my old WinXP partition around just for games since Windows still beats out Linux on game support. But, lately Linux is getting more games. The big ones that I know of being the Unreal Tournament Series and Doom 3. I've been playing Doom 3 a bunch lately and it's fairly enjoyable. I say fairly because, while it's very high on the creepy factor, it still seems to be lacking in story line, which is really what makes me stay up late playing a game. In all fairness though all the Doom games are known more for mindlessly blowing the bejesus out of everything that twitches vs storyline, so I'd say it lives up to it's namesake. Even so, there are elements that remind me very much of System Shock 2 such as PDAs with the audio logs and E-mails laying around. In System Shock 2 these were used very heavily to fill out the story and kept me on the edge of my seat but this isn't done in Doom 3. Even so, I don't like to play late at night with the lights off. It wigs me out just a little to much. Really though, I probably shouldn't compare it to System Shock 2 since since both are games with different goals. It's not really an apple to apples comparison. Still, Doom 3 is good. I need to make a little more time to play.

As a side note, since I'm blabbing about Linux and games I saw here on Linux Gazette about a two retro style adventure games called The Labyrinth of Time and Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb released by Wyrmkeep Entertainment. I played the demos of them a little and they look to be fun. Plus the price is nice at $20. They both play on Windows, Linux and Mac.

Besides these I've heard of netPanzer, Frozen Bubble, and BZFlag for Linux.

What other good games exist that are native to Linux? It would be nice to reclaim my WinXP partition.

Cindy and I don't go out to dinner often, and when we do it's usually no fancier than Perkins or Friendly's. Also, we would normally scoff at dinner at a place like the Apollo Grill since it is far from cheap. But, we had a $60 gift certificate that was close to expiring so we went and lived the high life for a short while last night. The menu actually had mostly normal food, not the type of stuff that I'd expect from a fancier place, you could get burgers, Potato Skins, steak and the like which is good. But, I was in the mood for something I don't normally get. I went with Black & White Sesame Crusted Grilled Salmon with a Soy Glaze which was quite a treat for me even if it was on the expensive side. My wife had the Crab Cakes with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce and Lemon Aioli. We thought both meals were very well done, they looked good and tasted great on top of it. Both came with mashed potatoes that were well seasoned and tasty. I don't recall exactly what was in them but I remember they had roasted red peppers in them which gave them kind of a yam like color. It also came with mixed veggies but they weren't the typical style of mixed. Each type of veggie was cut in a different way, some cut big, some small, some at angles, etc so it was pleasing to the eye.

After all that I was pretty darn full, but we don't do it up to often so we decided to force in some desert. Cindy had a slice of warm Banana cake with a scoop of Peanut Butter Ice Cream. And I had the Mexican Chocolate Cake layered with Peanut Butter Mousse and Ganache. Both deserts were huge and I couldn't finish mine. They even had what looked like a hand poured chocolate heart as a garnish presumably for Valentines Day.

What impressed me most though was that on the way out everyone we passed that worked there took a moment to smile at us and thank us for coming. Also the waitress was probably the most attentive one I've ever seen. As in, the bread dish never was empty and she asked me if I wanted more to drink before I actually ran out. I'm not used to that type of treatment. To bad you have to pay out the nose to get it.

For quite some time I've been turned off my the main stream media. I can't tell you the last time I sat down in front of any newscast and felt like I was informed of anything useful. That being said, I've taken to independent media as of late. Main stream media to me just seems so fake and focused more on political correctness and entertainment value versus truth. And, I guess to some degree this feeling is felt by a not insignificant portion of the rest of the population. My friend Chris mentioned to me a documentary called Orwell Rolls in his Grave which was about this exact subject. Interestingly enough it's full of interview of former journalist/media people who left the business because they didn't like the direction is was going. I found it informative, interesting, and more than a little upsetting.

While poking around on Indymedia.org I found this interview with Danny Schechter who has produced a movie called WDM: Weapons of Mass Desception which looks to be along the same lines. I haven't seen it since it just came out, is showing only in NY for now, and the DVD isn't out yet but the Flash trailer for the movie makes me think it may have promise. I'm going to keep an eye out for it. Maybe I'll get lucky and it will play locally.

Danny Schechter, who himself is supposed to be a disillusioned journalist, started mediachannel.org to be a source of uninfluenced news kind of like Democracy Now. I'll have to keep an eye on mediachannel.org when I can. I don't know how often that will be since I can't seem to find an XML feed for it. You'd think a journalist would be all over syndication feeds.

Oh, while searching for mediachannel on bloglines I found Democracy Now mentioned WMD back on December 8th with a video interview I'll have to check out.

Since I'm stuck running Windows on my laptop for work I decided to at least make it look like I was running a sensible OS. A few years ago I bought a program called Altdesk that add desktop switching to Windows. It only took M$ till XP at that, and only as a powertoy and a crappy powertoy at that. Even so Altdesk is better. Altdesk is actually a companion program for a substitute shell for Windows called Astonshell. Anyway, since I had bought both Aston and Altdesk as a package deal and never used Aston I took a hunk of time out of my work day to fiddle with it and take a screen shot.

It's nice not having to look at the same old, same old. The plugin's are nice, but few. Though it looks like it could be very configurable if you wanted to make your own skins. It's no windowmaker, but it's better than the stock shell in Windows and seems to be a tad faster.

I also just heard about Blackbox for Windows today which I may check out if the spirit moves me in the future. For now I have my different looking desktop and can fantasize about running Linux at work.

As a total side note, the boss blindsided me today. I over heard him actually suggesting to one of our residential customers to not use Internet Explorer and try out Firefox! I had the pleasure of "disabling" IE on this guys laptop and installing Firefox. It looks like a little bit of my preaching is finally sinking in.

I've been reading Mastering Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 off and on for quite a long while. I can say that learning Exchange hasn't been high on the priority list but I'd been instructed to learn something about it for work so Brian went and learned about it for work.

Anyway, I have to say that I wasn't terribly impressed with this book. It does cover everything you would ever need to know and then some. But it seems to cover it in to much detail. Detail normally isn't a bad thing, but the kind of detail that it seems to center on are basic things that anyone who has worked with Windows long enough to consider setting up an Exchange Server would already know in their sleep anyway. For instance, it goes into a great explanation on how to manage services under Windows 2000/XP. Why do we need that kind of into in a book about Exchange? Additionally, it tells you all you need to know to setup a POP3 account from the point of view of a complete mail newbie. Let's consider that if someone doesn't know how to setup POP3 on the client that they probably shouldn't be setting up a mail server of any sort.

I could probably go on and on with these kinds of examples. I'd be willing to bet that the book could be cut in half if the extra unneeded "this is how you use Windows" stuff were removed. Don't get me wrong, the material on Exchange itself is informative, but the long explanations of basic Windows administration put me to sleep.

I'd say this would be a OK reference book if I ever need to actually apply it at work, but I think I should have looked around for a better book on Exchange. At least I can finally shelf this one and move on to reading something else. Perhaps a good book on qmail.

A Public Service Announcement regarding the crisis that is known as Service Support Termination Trauma (SSTT) can be found here.

Please, don't let SSTT happen to you.

I just wrote up a quick article on how I managed to change from Windows to Linux successfully and put it in the articles section here. I know, just what the world needs is yet another one of these but I just couldn't resist.

Just for giggles here's a screen shot of me writing it using vim and jamming to some tunes in xmms.

There's not much to say about our little home brew project. Most of the important stuff has already been said. The beer has been in the bottle fermenting and carbonating for about a week, then spent two days in the fridge chilling. Tonight Bob stopped by and we tried it out. Much to our surprise, it actually tastes good! Really, we were kind of shocked. The beer itself, called as I think I've said before, West Coast Pale Ale, is comparable to an average American beer I guess. I'd describe it as a light bodied beer, with very little after taste that was very easy to drink. It wasn't as carbonated as commercial beers. I'm guessing that's because this stuff is naturally carbonated where I'd assume that commercial beers are artificially carbonated in addition to whatever occurs naturally. Even so, it was definitely carbonated and I think I actually like it better that way.

Since this worked out well I think I'll be ordering another set of bottles so I can have two batches going at once. The next one to try is called Ginger's Castaway Ale and has brown sugar and fresh ground ginger in it. Should be good stuff.

Today, much to my surprise, I was greeted with a package containing the Grease Double LP that I won on eBay. It only took a month to get it. Not that it took that long to get from TX to here though, it was postmarked Jan 28th. So, he sat on it for nearly a month before it went out the door. Even that wouldn't have been so bad if he had actually replied to any of my multiple attempts to get a status on it.

On the plus side though, it is in good condition and plays 99.9% perfect. There is one ever so slight skip in one song, but what can one expect from an LP? If I wanted perfection I would have bought the CD.

I couldn't bring myself to adjust the negative feedback at all. His lack of communication just doesn't warrant it. I did cancel my Paypal complaint since I did actually get the item. I sent him an E-mail explaining my feelings in a professional way on why he still gets negative feedback.

I don't expect an answer.

The previous two entries related to this are here and here.

A couple of day ago Slashdot pointed out an article entitled Freedom of What? in which High school students were questioned about The Bill of Rights. I found the results totally shocking so I thought I'd just stick my 2 cents here.

I almost fell out of my chair in disbelief when I read that one in three students said the 1st amendment went to far. Equally disheartening is that only about half of them claimed that the press should be able to publish freely without government approval.

Just so we are clear, here is the exact text of the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

What the hell is going on in schools? When did they stop teaching basic history? And when did so much of our youth decide to become little pre-communists? Even worse, when did we let them become pre-communists? I mean, this is the The Bill of Rights here. It does not go "to far" in anything. This document is what sets us apart from other countries and defines our identity as a nation. To undermine it or not care about it is ludicrous and invites disaster.

And what is this garbage about government regulating the press? When I went to school we were taught that the press is there to help balance government by keeping the people informed of what the government was up to. If the government starts controlling the press then it will hide all the things that it doesn't want the people to see. It's called self preservation and the freedom of the press is supposed to avoid that situation.

Another one to think about is that only 83% of the kids interviewed said that people should be allowed to express unpopular views. That's lower than the 97% of teachers and 99% of principals. OK, so we shouldn't be allowed to express our beliefs? Hello Big Brother. Or, what if the popular belief wrong? At one point it was believed the world was flat which it clearly is not. It took someone to express an unpopular view to eventually discover the truth.

I've learned one small thing with this subject though. I'm going to be sure to take an active part in educating my daughters about the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights. I won't let them fall to a level of apathy that causes them to take their rights for granted or make them treat the founding principles of our nation with indifference.

I feel so ashamed! I can't believe I totally forgot to mention The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie on my list of anticipated things. It's to be released May 6Th, only 3 months or so away!

Oddly enough I was reminded of this when I ordered a hoagie for lunch and saw my order number was 42. I wonder how many towels I'll see at the theater on opening night?