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EMAIL - I publish email sometimes. If you send me an email and you want privacy or anonymity, please say so, I'll pay attention to your wishes.
Good morning. Sorry in advance to be so brief - I've spent about 20 minutes tracking down the correct address to report some spam - I open the full headers for the message, and send to "abuse" and "postmaster" accounts for every listed server. In this case the domain didn't have those two accounts. Hmmm. So I tracked down a parent domain, and sent it to their support address. We'll see what happens.
On the network diagram front, it turns out that I can do a pretty good one using qCAD, which is stock with Mandrake 7.2, although I've used it off and on for more than a year now. Once again, the problem is portability. It prints well. But the DXF output files are not easily convertable (I have to get a bunch of libraries and tools together to use a program called vec2web. I tried opening the "standard" DXF output file in AutoCAD LT - that fails too. I got the following mail from Matt Beland:
From: Matt Beland <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Linux drawing/diagramming tool
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2000 14:46:51 -0700
X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.2]
*This message was transferred with a trial version of CommuniGate(tm) Pro*
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
I spend a few days every couple of months (every time I get ticked off at
Windows, mainly) looking for a decent Visio replacement on Linux. So far, I
haven't found one - Dia is not it. It may be the UI, but whatever the problem
is, I haven't even been able to stick with it long enough to finish one
diagram. One major drawback is the limited number of shapes; I can't
differentiate between laptops, desktops, and servers for example - there's
just one "computer" icon. Not real useful.
The best so far is a KDE program, Kivio. It's not been officially released
yet, only the .9.1 beta release, but it feels pretty solid. A few features
still missing, most notably printing. The interesting part is that it's
another free-software business model; the base software is GPL'd, but it only
comes with a basic flowcharting stencil set; new sets will be sold
commercially for about $5 each. They'll offer a networking set, electronics
set, etc., and they also include (under the GPL'd portion of the program) the
format for creating custom stencil sets, too. Looks interesting. Maybe by the
next time I get ticked off with Windows, it'll be ready for use... until
then, I still need Visio.
Later,
Matt
My difficulty with this is that I need to do just a little more network diagramming than your common garden-variety gecko. I've got it all in my head. The issue is making pretty pictures to explain what I've got in my head to others, explicitly the network people at Speakeasy. But I don't have Visio, and am not bloody likely to get it for the once every year or so network re-org. I might try to do something fairly cool with Gimp, though. And we know there's no dearth of output formats there, eh?
And Kivio... Hmmm, I'll have to check that out. Thanks, Matt! Now to work with me. Have an interesting day, people. Maybe we'll have a President-Elect yet! Snurf. Later.
21:10 - Evening update. In a span of less than one hour, Alan Cox released 2.2.18, and Linus announced 2.4.0-test12. A key event in the 2.2.18 series is the backporting of much of the 2.4 USB code. I think I'll try to patch the Mandrake 2.2.17MDK kernel, then build me a proper Gryphon kernel (at least until 2.4 Final is out).
Other news: I've fetched down and installed a copy of Kivio - I have some good news and some bad news. It is much as Matt describes it - 0.9.1 is still beta, although it didn't crash on me (and it had every opportunity to, as we shall see shortly). First, it lacks documentation entirely, so far as I can see. That's a difficulty - I like being able to flip through a doc file and get an overview of the capabilities, and be able to return to it with the fill-in-the-blank question, "How the hell do I ... ?" None of that, though.
I dove into their scripted objects format, and with a little experimentation, was able to build a new object with connector points and a meaningful outline. All it takes is a text editor, and a little patience to puzzle out the XML format that's used. I wonder if there are restrictions on generating your own libraries and distributing them. I can see building a little tool for auto-generation of scripts from a basis DXF file... Mmmm. Success there, anyway - I can design any shape I want, add connector points and text fields. The good news here is that the program ate the bad XML I wrote while learning to do this, displayed what it could and discarded the rest. That makes a lot of sense, doesn't it. Only thing I can see doing different is a warning that bad data has indeed been pitched out with the baby and the bathwater.
On the gripping hand, there's two major flaws - While there's gridwork, objects cannot snap to the grids, and worst of all, no output. That is, it has it's own format, .flw, and doesn't export to any other, and the program doesn't PRINT!?! I mean really, duh! All the other K apps print, it *is* a drop-in module, is it not? Well, maybe I don't understand. Certainly, this is one of the few arenas where I can't replace my Windows tools with something else GPL'd. There are commercial packages, and perhaps I should give them a look.
OK. Good night. See ya tomorrow.
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Hey. Glad to see you. Now we're going to experience the true evening update troubles: When I update late in the evening the night before, I have very little to say the next morning before my first cuppa. Not just that, but as email flows into the PBI account I now have to perform triage - do I wish to keep receiving mail from this source at my new account? So I look, and decide. If no, then the answer is easy. Do nothing. The account will be gone in a month or so, and the mail with it.
If, on the other hand, I wish to keep receiving the messages, like Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, David Strom's Web Informant, and others like that, I have to figure out how to unsubscribe from the old address, and resubscribe to the new address. Most of these are list managers, and have instructions for both things at the bottom of each message. But I have to send the unsub from the PBI account, and the resub from the Speakeasy account. Other times, I need to go to a website and change my information. PITA, if you ask me. That means I make the effort only for the stuff I actually read, every time. In this way it's like moving. A properly done move should end up with half the stuff in the dumpster, and the other half at Goodwill or St. Vincent de Paul or a shelter or some such. (Gosh, Marcia hates it when I talk about throwing out stuff <g>)
Repeat Info from last weekend...
EMAIL ADDRESS UPDATE INFORMATION: If you have me in any address books under [email protected], please change it. The current official address is [email protected], and I get mail that way quickest (barring connectivity problems, sigh). The official backup email address is now [email protected]. NEW NEW NEW - Marcia's main address is still [email protected], but her backup address (used if our server is down) is [email protected]. Thanks for your patience.
Now to work ... the roads are wet, and I need to be careful. See y'all later.
An hour later... OK. The main connection back at the hovel appears to be down once again. Sorry for the trouble. This is why I am changing service providers. This change done using Vi at the orb.syroidmanor.com mirror only. Maybe I'll even remember to copy this version down to the main site this evening. Done! (1.5 hours later still... I hate computers some days) My appaloggies. Later.
17:53 - Evenin'. After a really bad morning of connectivity, the DSL line came up and stayed up until about... now. Clearly the behaviour has been consistently worse since the Critical Need detector kicked into high gear Monday a week ago when we were finishing the last bits of book, and I couldn't get out to the 'Net to save my life. Feh.
Mailman is just rolling in now - I may have fun at their expense from time to time, but the postal worker at the sharp end of the stick during the holiday shipping (that's shipping, with an "i", Shelley!) frenzy doesn't have a job I envy. Whee-hoo. Twice or more in count, many times in volume to deliver, and weather that sucks in the bargain. My hat's off to youse guys and gals... really.
Speaking of Shelley (and guilty by association, Dan), keep thinking those good thoughts - Mr. Bowman appears to have come through his glowing tests with flying colors... but we'd like to keep him that way. Glad it's good news, though, Dan! On a slight topic skip, Shelley makes note of the ornaments that Marcia made for them... Have you seen Marcia's Christmas 2000 page??? Really, you should. <G>
I've gotten my notice from Progeny Linux - I am in the official Beta program, now. More news as it unfolds, but I am expecting a pilot retail box shipment shortly, this should be fun. I think I have a bit of space over on the back 15 I can clear up. Evidently the book is "done", as we've heard nothing more from our editors, so I think I am going to take the final ISO of all the backup files, burn it to a couple more disks, and call it history. Then I can dump Windows off this box as a primary boot. (I'll keep a VMWare install in the wings for the odd emergency. Maybe I'll try an install of WinNT in VMware, just for fun... I know, sick, ain't I.
OK. Time's up. You may not know, but when I sit down to write an update, I put down the update time (as noted at the entry link for each day), setting that as the time to stop writing and go on to the next thing. I think I've achieved that pretty well, much of the time. Have a nice evening - see y'all tomorrow.
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Good Morning. The weather has cleared, which (of course) means it's much colder out... the good news here is that colder, California-style means having to wear long sleeves and Levis instead of a tank top and shorts. Heh. Not attire for Saskatoon at this time of year, certainly. DSL Networking Update: Speakeasy reports that the local loop cutover for Covad will be in on the 19th (next Tuesday). There are some really nice touches in this whole process. There's a tracking page attached to our account, up at Speakeasy, that carries (among other data) copies of all the correspondence between Speakeasy and Covad. I checked it yesterday, and there was an email from Speakeasy to Covad, "... it's been more than 48 hours since you accepted this order - where's the install date, please?" Cool. Of course it'll probably end up hosing our phones and our connectivity before all is said and done, but at least it'll be documented here... Then I can just send a link to the CPUC.
Other than that, there's not a lot to report at this time. Had a nice conversation with Tom last evening. Also checked (and was gratified to find) that my suit still fits. The Setiathome servers appear to be "not responding" at this time, at least when data sets are being sent ... aha, update here too - it took 10 minutes, but the data's been sent. Maybe a new unit will wing its way down here in the next few hours. That makes 682 units completed for me, and still no E.T., and no Nobel (or Ig Noble) prize. Ah, well.
I have a start page re-design percolating in the back of my head, and the update of Gryphon the Acer Travelmate to Linux kernel 2.2.18, as well as wide variety projects for work. Oh, right, work. I suppose I'd better head that way. Two PCB re-designs to complete today, along with convincing Jack that there are too many different High Priority items on my list, and he'd better take a couple back. So, to it. Later, people.
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Morning, friends. The unasked question from yesterday was "Why is it important that the suit still fits?" Marcia's $FIRM has their Solstice Party on Saturday pending, and even though they know (now, as opposed to last year, when Marcia had only been there for two weeks) that I'm a geek, I still am not allowed to wear jeans, tennies and a T-shirt to the shindig, according to my beloved. Ah, well.
Yesterday, at Speakeasy, notice came in that Pacbell will be connecting the loop at the CO to the Covad cage next Tuesday. Once that is confirmed, then Covad is going to set up their install. We'll see what we see. The current connectivity continues to be really annoyingly intermittent - I think we've made a good decision here, even without the added bonus of possibly 3X the upstream speed, which should help data transfers from me to you, as well as any possible future collaborations.
Also this weekend, my brother Peter and his daughter Danielle will be up from San Diego for a holiday visit - we'll be brunching with them on Sunday. It's into the busy social season - my favorite ... really (heh, right). Anyway, I may pop up here from work, as the roads are wet and I want to get a head start on the commute. Take care. Later.
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Sunny today, according to the weather-thing on the box last night... Hmmm. Wonder what all that wet stuff is. Feh. I just want to hear this announcement, "Before we close this edition of the evening news, we'll let Spencer Christian lie to you just one more time. Spencer?"
Good morning anyway, I think. At this moment the DSL line is up. I have no illusions regarding this any more - somewhere there's a bunk piece of equipment, and PBI has never had an interest in helping me resolve the problem. I am looking for more personal service from Speakeasy - maybe we'll get it, it does cost more, which is a good thing (don't expect a Mercedes at Yugo prices, Bilbrey).
Today, I have some preventative maintenance to do on the building alarm system, a Cat5E Patch Panel PCB redesign to contend with, a company shareholders meeting to attend, plus the weekly web stats and a variety of other things. Should be a busy day - keeps me out of trouble and off the streets, that's for sure.
Again, I am sorry about the recent connectivity difficulties. I know it's a pain in the rear, and I am working on bringing a new connection online, and we're planning on more reliable service. Thanks for your patience, and do please keep coming back. If this site is down because the DSL line is hosed, then the mirror is found at orb.syroidmanor.com/bpages/current.html, gratiously provided by Mr. Syroid. We'll get there yet. Sierra magilla. Later.
OK. It's now officially later. Lots to do, lots to do. I've done my Holiday shopping and wrapping. You see, if I shop properly for Marcia, she takes care of everything else. It's just like one of Baldrick's cunning plans, except this one works. Heheheh. Now for mail call:
From: "HARTMAN, JOE (JSC-DA)" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Linux on a cd
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 12:50:55 -0600
Brian,
I really enjoy your site and was hoping you could help me with a work
related Linux question since most of my experience is in the windows world.
I work at the Johnson Space Center and we are trying to get the shuttle and
station air to ground loops to the flight controllers desk using streaming
audio and multicast. We are using 24 hardware boxes (24 separate voice
loops) from AudioActive to convert the audio to the streaming format at
which point we need to encrypt it and send it out using multicast to the
users where they will use a custom built player that will decrypt the
streams (up to 8 of the 24) and play it for the users.
This server will be running in Mission Control and we therefore will have
very limited day to day access to it so for stability and price reasons, we
are planning to use Linux. We do have some people with significant
Linux/Unix experience so setting it up normally would be no problem but a
fate would have it, they are all busy or on travel. The problem is our Nasa
manager yesterday asked if it was possible to run Linux from a cd similar to
the Linux on a floppy projects. This would allow us to burn a couple of cds
and if anything goes wrong with the primary server just move the cd to the
backup server (identical hardware) and reboot it. I have approached him
with the Linux on a floppy solution but he prefers the cd approach because
cds are less susceptible to problems than floppies are. I was wondering if
you had heard of any such implementations or had suggestions of where to
look (I looked at hundred of pages using google yesterday with no luck).
Thanks for the time,
Joe Hartman
Thanks for the kind words. The short answer to your question is yes. The long answer will have to wait until tomorrow, when I can get some serious uptime on the 'Net. I've heard of two or three different things like this... Things to think about. Linux will work fine from mostly ro workspace, but there almost certainly needs to be a temporary file workspace (corresponding to /var and /tmp). Depending on the action of your custom software, this might be small-ish, or need to be a big honking thing. If you're working with a RAM-disk (the usual solution), then that's a fair amount of $$$. There are many possibilities... Hmmm. More on this later. I've saved the message, and forwarded to myself for re-perusal tomorrow. It's actually a good idea for a firewall box too, as long as you don't want to change things too often...
Thanks for the response. Having a hard drive for temp files and configuration files will not be a problem. The application we wrote for encoding the streams is under 48k and runs just fine with 10 audio streams on a Pentium 100. The application only reads the streams from one NIC, encodes them and ship them out another NIC. Thanks again for the response. Joe
I've seen hide and hair of such things, but been very busy at work, as well as not having any connectivity to speak of this week at home. I'll be returning to this both for Joe and for myself, since a read-only system is much harder to hack. I'd put OpenSSH on it, and start all of my services during boot. This is for an un-attended server situation. Any Ideas?
Also, I had an exchange with Doc Searls today. When I went to his site using Konqueror, there was a reference (from Wednesday, December 13) to a quote, only I can't see the quote. It follows the "Here it is:" and is from a book called Machine Beauty... So I wrote Doc, and told him that while I could see it in Netscrape, I couldn't in Konqueror, and it appeared to be a <ul> ... </ul> without any items in it, just text. It makes Konqueror barf. Personally, I'd rather have it display the data badly, then decline to display it at all, but then, until I get back to coding, there's little I can do there. I concluded by noting that I use the <blockquote> ... <blockquote> construction to indent text.
Anyway, Doc wrote back, and said that he tried <blockquote>, and it resolved fine for him in NS and IE, so he'll use it, but how did it (and the other list items) look in Konqueror. I went, I looked (at today's blog), I was ... confused. I find untagged list items I can see, untagged list items I can't see... very annoying. So I created an Indenting test page to see what I could see, which is very little, actually. Maybe it's behaviour mandated by the various DTD standards? I don't know. More and more to learn. Heh. And what I want for Christmas is an extra 4 hours in each and every day. Is that too much to ask?
Now, I have two Samba books to read, Using Samba and Samba Server Administration, dinner to build and consume, and who knows what all else. See y'all later.
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Good Morning. I told you that you wouldn't like me in the holiday season. The real good is that the avalanche in the background means yet another little dog gets a sawn-off antler stapled to it's head (yes, stapled - Those mambies at the network showed my TYING the antler on... WIMPS!!!). Here's a picture from a couple of days ago, the glow has started and the change begins. For those of you that didn't believe, I am glad.
Heh. Anyway, I did get a bit of a post up yesterday evening, so here's my day, going forward: Pick up package at post office??? Don't know what, and I missed the postman by about 5 minutes yesterday. Samba work. Get ready for (sneer) holiday party put on by Marcia's $FIRM. I *love* holiday parties. Really. The first one lets me fill a sack with appetizers and desserts - then I eat like a king for the rest of the season. If someone asks what I'm doing, I'll simply tell them I'm taking them back to my shop, for repair...
Back later, probably. TTFN.
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Once again, "Back later..." didn't happen. Life in the fast lane, and all that. Sorry. I've been working with the leading edge of Samba, and initially, it seems pretty stable. I've not been working with the development snapshot (bleeding edge), but rather the 2.2.0alpha1, out of the CVS tree. It's built, it works, and I was hopeful of smbwrapper and smbsh for just a moment... they compiled without complaint. But in use, real_open64 is an unresolved symbol in the smbwrapper.o shared library.
Why is this significant? smbsh and smbwrapper could provide an effective embedded filesystem for SMB shares from the Domain/Workgroup. In operation, once you've logged into the domain (or workgroup) via smbsh, you can browse the local network in the /smb subtree, and the smbwrapper.o library intercepts calls that are destined for that subtree, and returns the correct data - making SMB access transparent - a very good thing. Well, that's the plan, anyway. I think that this is waiting for glibc 2.2 and kernel 2.4, for the 64 bit filesystem stuff, to work properly.
This isn't a problem for the Samba server, only the client portion. Personally, I have no problem with defining Samba shares to be mounted using /etc/fstab, then bringing them up in /etc/rc.d/rc.local (in RH parlance), or via a late init script (in Debian terms, though I could do that for RH, too). The real key there is not to auto mount the share at bootup (put "noauto" in the mount string in /etc/fstab), because the share can't mount 'til the network's up, and that doesn't happen until later in the boot process. So, for example, at work:
//JERRYHALL/USERS /mnt/jh smbfs \ user,noauto,rw,username=brian,password=XXXXXXXX,workgroup=ETS_NET,uid=502,gid=505 0 0
That's in my /etc/fstab file on my workstation. Then in rc.local, a line near the end of the file says mount /mnt/jh. I access the directories I need most with symbolic links from my home directory into the USER share off the NT server JERRYHALL. The reasoning behind all this gibberish here is that I am going to take NT off of that machine called JerryHall, and put it up again with Linux and Samba. As a straight file server, it'll work just great! I need to do this, rather than stay on the NT upgrade cycle.
In other news, good morning. The party last night was not unacceptably cheery, and there is certainly some amusement to be had in being a non-drinker watching a bunch of people head from refinement to inanity as the evening progressed. No, not nearly all of them, but just enough to provide me with entertainment... Now I need to start getting ready for today's late brunch with the family. After that, we're off to spend the evening trimming a tree with Pat and Nathan at their place. I think I'll bring the 24" bar chainsaw, just in case I need to do a LOT of trimming. So y'all have a lovely day. Later... (heh)!
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