Unrepentantly Geek

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 05:55:48 GMT

I've offered to start up a project to get werelist back to what it SHOULD be- not just forums. I can't code, but i think i can find a few people, and get out of their way, and occationally poke as needed. Of course, it depends on if the current admins accept my offer, and i can wrangle enough enough people willing to help.

Not sure its the smartest idea i've had to be honest ;o.

Random geekery- for tailes

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 03:04:05 GMT

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 00:09:15 GMT

My mom's been nagging me about the audio course again. Dad signed up for it, related to the recording project mom wanted to do - the one which i end up setting up the hardware on my own, and there's a fair bit of it, and some help would be nice. I was asked to help cause 'dad's a little tonedeaf'. At some point it went to me doing it, as opposed to him doing it. Eventually it went to 'Its for your own good'.

It should have been done two weeks ago, but my only real motivation is nagging. I don't even get the tiny spark of excitement i feel from opening up one of my systems and fixing or adding something to it (something which, i feel i don't get to do enough. Stuff only breaks so often, and the last few pieces of hardware... My atom box was met with 'its a waste of money, why did you get it, you shouldn't spend your allowance on such things!', and... i don't think my dad liked me swapping the broken DVD drive. There's a little list of things i'd want to get, were my allowance an allowance, not all of which are things for me. I would like a spare USB keyboard and i'm thinking hard even about that!

Considering my parent's plan to get me out of the house seems to be 'lets treat him as awefully as our concience lets us' - and the whole line about 'we don't have that much money! we didn't get any business the last year' replacing the old 'we don't have space'- bro works for dad, and the room we used to share is full of his stuff - so we DO have space. I'm not asking for a job, i'm wishing the allowance i had wasn't some crazy bait and switch i can only spend when its on things that are not obvious, or i can save up to get the things i want. I .. live in the storage room and get kicked out whenever we have guests. My 'own' stuff fits in the rack, and other than my laptop, the atom box (thank you for sucking all the joy i got out of building it a few hours afters. I shouldn't have told you mundanes i did it) and the shared computer i built in slightly more... reasonable days, most of my hardware is 'dead' stuff i managed to fix, or really old.

*sigh* I wish i had room to negotiate. All this would go a lot faster if i had a little better morale. Paying me for the countless office troubleshooting trips might help too- I charge what people feel my work is work. I haven't seen a cent, even from that gig at the hospital he offered to pay me, even though i had told him initially there's no charge (oh, you flunked out, what about the money we spent on school?). At some point i might end up deciding my work is worthless and just not do it.

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 09:15:07 GMT

I booted up the computer now known as lobotomised alice. The O key sticks for some reason so any future use would involve an external keyboard and USB boot, or USB boot and headlessness. I'm not sure WHAT i want to do yet - its unsuitable for use as a second router, both cause i can't get it to work as such, and it'll need an additional network card (i have one that'll work for that.. somewhere).

Chromium is a possibilty, or a lightweight USB based distro (though i COULD run ubuntu or any other mainstream distro with unetbootin). Right now, i'm trying to do a debian minimal install and see if i can fit it in 256 mb ;p

I DO have a bigger thumbdrive but i just want to see if it'll work

Eddie Izzard is awesome ;)

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 23:19:03 GMT

I believe, this is what i'd term an act of utter and total classiness

Not to mention, the man is damn funny ;p

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 09:07:04 GMT

More networky help

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:46:50 GMT

So.. my new dynamic DNS provider has a way of manually setting IP adresses, and since the automatic way fails.. i'm wondering if there's a way to do it with a busybox environment.

I could probably use grep in some way ( ifconfig vlan1 | grep inet addr gives me a line saying
inet addr:59.189.22.43 Bcast:59.189.23.255 Mask:255.255.248.0 so i probably could find a way to remove the ip address from there. I wonder how without python or perl though) and then somehow get that into a wget command that reads something like
wget -O - --http-user=username --http-passwd=password 'http://dynamic.zoneedit.com/auth/dynamic.html?host=mail.myzone.com&dnsto=myipaddress ' and use that, but i'd need to get my ip address chomped out, and added instead of myipaddress

EDIT: I DO have a dynamic DNS client. It gets the ip address of a proxy server though and is no good. Just in case someone wants to suggest it

Dropbox MiniWiki Test

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:03:58 GMT

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1111219/test.html

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:01:06 GMT

I'm strongly considering going on strike.

I ripped a cd, and 3 cassette tape sides (45 minutes each) on mom's request. I have them all tagged properly (ID3 tags), spent about 3-4 hours babysitting the tape recorder, since for some reason, things didn't work properly when i went off to do something else (granted, my parents were given a written set of instructions on how to do this, oh... 5 years ago i think?). Mom's complaining it dosen't play in the correct order (Its all tagged with track numbers, and seperate folders, any PC, or non crappy mp3 playing device would do it perfectly) - and she didn't tell me the order.

Oh and she wanted 5 copies to give to people.

A little trust on what i do isn't so hard, is it?

EDIT: Its playing it alphabetically *facepalm* ok, fine, i need to make idiot compatable files by adding track numbers in front

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:32:00 GMT

Sometimes i wonder why i bother. Our main computer's DVD drive got stuck and was making horrible noises - and was broken, so i tell mom and dad 'i'm getting a replacement for it'.I had to get a copy of office 2007 for dad so i got my DVD drive at the same time

I come back, install office on dad's netbook, fix up the new DVD drive (my case is a pleasure to work with. Had it done in a minute), and when dad comes back, he asks if i bought anything else, and i said yeah, i got the dvd drive.. and he wasn't very happy about it

Everyone uses the main computer - which, as i have said before, mom and dad didn't help fund - my bro and i got it, and they were annoyed. I have a dvd drive in my laptop, but most of the ripping,burning and conversions i do for mom are on the main computer. I shouldn't get flak for fixing things, and spending my 'allowance' on it. I can't spend it on other techie things anyway, and i would note that i've at least once had to burn DVDs at home cause there's no DVD burner in the office - so it benefits them.

EDIT: this is the old drive http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEZAINuF1GQ

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 05:08:26 GMT

Well, i have things to do. I need to get some stuff from the supermarket at mustafa center, and a DVD reader/writer for the main box (it has borken) and a copy of MS office home and student from SLS - they are one train station apart,

However mom's decided she ABSOLUTELY needs my help to collect her dry cleaning and wants me to wait for an hour for her to go. The nearest train station is on the other line, and the nearest interchange is... the station nearest to where i live. She's getting my bro to drive her, and its just a pickup, and ...

its RAINING. I could have left before the rain! but noooo.

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 08:25:51 GMT

I'm 90% convinced the recent downtime with my server is a dodgy ethernet card.It seems to be detected, but i have a LOT of times when it randomly stops working, at least once within 5 minutes of swapping its cable. The system mostly works otherwise - the keyboard i had on it for ages was acting up as well, and seriously, the only reason i keep kitten as a server is sheer spite- Someone once told me it wouldn't last more than a week - Kitten has been running nonstop for a few years, other than minor software glitches, and a dead HDD. She's a bit of a frankenbox ;).

So, i've pulled out a ethernet card from an old, dead box (we have a little boneyard i suppose ;p) to try to get things working again. I'll also be trying switching the ethernet cables between BB (since i KNOW it works) and kitten should that not work, and trying the old network card from kitten on toaster, if everything else works, just to see.

I'll need to get my bro off the main box, kitten is hidden under it tho ;p

EDIT: two things
firstly with a CLI install, i need to look up logical names with lshw, then set it up on /etc/network/interfaces
two: cable seems at fault. however kitten now has two ethernet cards, and if one fails i should be able to manually swap over to the other ;)

EDIT X2: AND... i do have to. but it still runs. Also, Kitten was born 2/6/09 - which makes her about 10 years and a half old ;p

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:09:53 GMT

Well, from previous LJ entries, you might have worked out, i'm talking to someone new. She's.. frustrating in the entirely positive sense since she's rather intelligent, and asks well, the hard questions. I suppose i feel i worked out a lot of the very same things she asked ages ago, and well, i hate to say but, i haven't had to deal with the positively inquisitive sort (as opposed to the sort who either accept blindly, or are most interested in rotisseried newbie) in AGES, not to mention, i've had a whole load of real life shit, which meant i haven't written anything new in ages.

I think at some point, maybe once i've worked out how to keep my server up semi-permanantly (There's a few teething problems), I'll need to reread my old stuff, maybe revise them, and try to think like a bright eyed, bushy tailed newbie, and not like someone who's in the 'got the T shirt' catagory.

I'm happy with who i am, in the sense of being angel and wolf and sure of it. I've never bought into the dogma of 'doubt' certain people swear by. I believe that as long as i'm methodical, and think it through, and am clear headed, I'll find the right answers- i'm never 'wrong' but the conclusions i come to can change with the evidence i have. However, communicating answers i believe are true to me, to someone else, with the same clarity or at least as much clarity as i want, isn't easy. I'm not a guru nor do i play one on TV, but I want to be able to share what i feel, with others whom it might help.

Mini 10 Mini review

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:54:41 GMT

I've gotten the Dell mini 10 to an acceptable level of workyness - dad needed some odd hardware to work, and it was a pain till i worked out automagical driver installations were turned off (WHY??? WHYYYYYY???), and i needed to install and set up a half dozen apps with seperate accounts.. I suppose windows 7 starter, while lacking shininess(no aero), for most part works (no silly limits on simultanious apps), and it was the only option for most of the models. Hardware wise, at the moment, it feels solid- nice keys, which waste no horizontal space, a half decent touchpad which'll never be used (:)), nice solid hinges, a screen that looks decent for its size. Dell didn't pack in too many extras- a 15 month mcaffee subscription was pretty much the ONLY pre-install, and i'll give it a chance till it runs out.Battery life is about 2-3 hours on a 3 cell, and the PSU is about...2-3 times the size of a nokia - its a big beast of a wallwart, but not too bad. The built in video cam looks good enough, and well, its one less thing to carry.

I suppose the only real regret is, it isn't mine XD.
Compared to the other netbooks i've worked with, i like it a lot better than the aspireone (with its funky mousebuttons), and the HP mini my bro has (i hate chicklet keys)

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:07:11 GMT

Tommorrow.. I go hardware shopping :). Dad's decided on getting a new netbook, and i want to see if i can get a better deal than online at the dell store (He wants some extras that arn't on the dell website). I also need to pick up an external hard drive, an external DVD drive, and try to price out ms office- unless i have a spare licence handy.

still, Hopefully i can manage SLS and funan center, and ... new hardware <3

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:53:32 GMT

I've most of my IM addresses listed on werelist, and well, there's no reason really for me to remove them. A certain member of that board (i only remembered the name cause he'd been a crank) added me to AIM, and asked me to add him to MSN - My msn address is on the same page as my AIM address. Generally i either initiate contact with people who i find interesting, or get asked by people who find me so. I'm not anti social. On the other hand, i expect new people to be polite enough to introduce themselves, and such, not just "i'm not on AIM much, add me to MSN". Its just not the thing that grabs my attention and makes me go "hmm, this person is neat" ;p

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:12:47 GMT

My dad's gotten a contract - his company tends to do a good job turning lost causes into not so lost ones when it comes to ports, and its in the middle of nowhere, so the payoff should be good, especially taking into account profit margins on refurb parts and such.

This means he's getting a netbook ^^. I've suggested the dell mini 10V (the cheaper model, which uses XP instead of 7 starter - i'd have gone for 7 if it was any other version), or alternatively an ideapad 10-2 (which is smexy, but costs a fair bit more). Weightwise (and that is a big thing) they are about the same, though i'd probably need to throw in a copy of MS office 2007 (no netbook comes with it, though i think i have a spare MSDN copy) and a handful of additional tools to make it ready for use.

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 23:44:40 GMT

It'll probably take years to do anything useful with it, and there's the natural "ITS NOT NATURAL!!!!" lobby but http://io9.com/5424299/change-gender-by-turning-off-one-gene seems interesting. Though i do not identify as being transgendered, as a someone who identifies with both genders (and one more), the idea of gender as a 'state' as opposed to a hardwired cirtainty seems rather interesting

EDIT: come to think of it, this reminded me of a story called changes from one of neil gaiman's books - smoke and mirrors. Pretty much examining the implications of a society where people can change gender at will

Audiopost - ash and the ice-cream man

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 14:02:00 GMT

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1111219/Audioblog121209.WAV

Me talking about something that happened today.
yes i know the quality is terrible but i also wanted to test the cheapie mp3 player i picked up ages ago. If i do any more in future, i'll try to use better equipment ;)

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:23:11 GMT

I'm ~~considering~~ going on hiatus from most therian/otherkin forums. I'd have gone a long time ago, but its still a way to meet new people- but thats all it seems to be. Anyone who's worth talking to is on IRC, im or something else eventually, and honestly the biggest forums seem to have too much noice to signal - people who want to be special, believing in things like genetic causes and such, or RPing too much. There's a few other factors too, but none more important than those.

Considering i got to know maybe 2-3 people of any consequence to me since the end of the last hiatus i had, and probably got to know a lot more elsewhere, and seriously there's nothing worth bothering going on. Irc is far more useful with respect to things like that anyway, and anything i write can go here.

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:42:50 GMT

Hm, since i might mention this anyway, and people might get so confused again, I started talking to someone off werelist, and we seem to have fairly deep conversations. I generally don't consider people i've known a few days a friend, but in this person's case i seem to feel like its someone i've known a long time.

On the other hand, nearly everyone i know is at least a little bit geeky in some way. There's sci fi geeks, mythology geeks, computer geeks (and i am all three. I love folklore, consider sci-fi to be the modern day's equivilent of the epic story, and i need not tell you people i am all three)- and none of this has really come up in our conversations- and for some reason, other then going "'doh', she's not geeky" and need to explain. Somehow this dosen't annoy me- more that it is amusing that i forget not everyone would know the little inside jokes of the geekish tribes ;p.

So there. Thats the official version for all y'all nosy people ;p

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 02:48:21 GMT

I would like to say

y'all are nosy XD

words of sorta wisdom

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:06:34 GMT

wisdom often comes to he who peers under rocks. Pain comes to those who peer under skirts

On DNS, and public dns servers - hopefully for dummies

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 00:50:50 GMT

For all of y'all who don't know what DNS is, its basically the phone exchange system of the internet - when a user requests a URL (www.foo.bar) its a system of servers that look up where foo.bar is, based on its ipaddress, and tells your system so - which means you don't need to remember a long string of numbers to go to a site.

While most ISPs run their own DNS servers, some tend to be unreliable (in the case of my ISP, the only thing that fails), or might have other issues. I personally find that some of the alternatives are faster, or have other advantages.

Of course, you can set up and run your own server - however, you'd need a static ip address to connect to from outside, so unless you want to run it only for systems in a lan (which does mean lightning fast lookups), you'd need a static internet ip address for one accessable from the outside

OpenDNS is what i used to use. Its probably the best known public DNS service, and both its strength and weakness is that it provides additional services. If you require a network wide (or multiple networkwide) content filter, and arn't willing to run your own, opendns supports that (assuming your users arn't smart enough, or have the right priviledges to change their DNS server). On the other hand, it 'hijacks' incorrectly spelled domain names - Its improper behaviour, as far as DNS service is concerned, but keeps you from accidentally being re-directed to a nasty site.

There's quite a few publicly accessible DNS servers that are just that, with nothing on top. I've used the 4.2.2.x servers (4.2.2.1-4.2.2.6) quite routinely, they're fast, reliable, and i have no idea who runs them. I've also added the two google dns servers 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 to my list. All these are anycasting so you'll likely get a fast, reasonably local server.

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 01:37:17 GMT

Kinda related to an earlier post, but more in a general sense..

My mom was asking 'what's the advantage of the thing we had installed?' (referring to the fiber optic installation we has done). Immediately, none - none of the ISPs have fiber optic internet services at the moment. In the medium term, we had an installation that would cost upwards of 200 sgd done for free. In the long term, well we have the option of it when it comes out, and chances are some of the older internet services might be phased out anyway.

On the other hand, my moms one of those people who has her head stuck in the past. She believes indian culture is superior in every regard to everyone else, and tends to get annoyed at anyone who dosen't follow her norms, even if its someone who is of another culture. Pretty much all she does is go on and on about hinduism, and how we're superior to everyone- which after a while gets tiresome.

In a sense, to her technology is a another culture, and as such evil and inferior (granted, its *my* culture, and one i'm expected to deny). Bits of higher technology are 'wasteful'- by default, and she thinks of the internet as 'a world of illusion'- in the negative sense. Its evil, and addictive, unless she needs something looked up and printed out, and she gets annoyed when it dosen't (yanno, you CAN look up things yourself. it won't eat your brains). By extension, the fiber optic point is a frivolous, and evil- since its technology. Course this is the same person i passed alice (my old laptop to) and never used it - dad did, and it broke (again. Alice is a bit of a lemon ;p) - and she was complaining - despite the fact she never used it when she worked.

Ludditry annoys me ;p