I updated tons of photo pages on my photo album website. I have compressed down a ton of images to save space. I have also replaced allot of the old iPhoto generated pages with a newer style I am using. I am also creating new index pages so I can update the site easier. Fireworks was bad since links would be broken since it didn’t see the dynamic updates that frontpage did. Now I can move around the structure of my site without having to manually change hundreds of links.
Web/Tech
A Server of My Own?
Jayson has been playing with Linux in VMware. He was going to make a good virtual machine and run a website off of it at him apartment. He has been having problems with it and called me up to take me up on my free computer offer. I have 2 old Dell’s P3 700’s. I got one from an old company I helped out that went out of business and the other is my dad’s old machine. Neither are good for a desktop but as a linux server they would be perfect. All we need to do is put it together (i had to cannibalize both when I was working on my Tivo, long story) and bring it over to his place.
Once built I can host my website and hopefully mail on it. I could get by with Miguel’s server, but I like to have admin access to box’s I host stuff on. I feel more in control. So if this box works, I will put my mail and website on it. this blog will remain at Typepad, but my photo site and other stuff would go on that server. I am still pissed with RCN that I cannot host the website in my apartment without paying $20 extra a month.
Lets see if this project actually gets done, or if it is just another pipe dream.
Wireless, Wireless, World
I was busy Tuesday. At work I had issues with our Wifi setup. Gus has complained about it for years, but I never find anything wrong with it. On monday I did notice that it was just not working at all. I took my old 802.11b wifi point from home into work to troubleshoot. The point I had at home is the same type we use at the office. Back in the day it was top of the line. Now, not so much. Turns out both points at work are bad. The Wifi cards are fried. We are running off of my old point for now. I want it back so I can ebay it, but I will keep it at work until we can purchase new ones.
At home I had wifi issues of my own. I wanted a new 802.11g point at my house for a while. Ever since I got my VPN firewall I have been without high speed wireless. So since work got my old B point (that I should have sold long ago) I finally went to Best Buy and got a new Linksys 802.11G point. I set that up in no time. My problems started when I tried to configure the Wireless Bridge (802.11b if you were wondering) I had lying around. After hours of messing with it, I finally got it to work correctly. Right now it is plugged into my VOIP phone so I could put the phone in my bedroom without pulling any cables. it is neat. My eventual goal is to plug the bridge into my Tivo so I don’t have a cable running from my router to my TV wall unit.
I like the bridge so much I may get another one and keep the phone where it is. I have all the components to go totally wireless. I have a 802.11g card for my desktop. The only down side of wireless is if I want to transfer large files, which I do sometimes. For now everything works!!!
Scott Math
Ask Jayson, I have a weird way of justifying buying stuff. It is a combination of impulse buying, ebay selling, and sometimes disposable income to throw around. Of course having a girlfriend that sucked down the disposable income didn’t really slow me down much. That is something to think about later.
I buy stuff, use it for a while and the sell it. By selling stuff, I can justify buying newer versions of said stuff, or different stuff. Take my computer I just got. I didn’t go out and blow a ton of money on a computer (well I did, but read on). I had half the purchase price set aside in what I like to call my Tech/Vacation slush fund. it is for impulse buys and such. I put gift money, cash earned from selling gear, etc into that account. When I want a big ticket item I go there to spend it. So I paid for half of the computer with that money. Then I decided to sell a bunch of other stuff on ebay to pay for the rest of the computer. When all is said and done, I would not have spent any money out of pocket for the computer. Jayson laugh’s at my theory. My friend rich scratches his head with confusion, but it works. All I know is that I get new gear with little or no expense out of pocket. Soon I will sell my powerbook and pick up a new one. Only having spent a few hundred dollars on the difference between the used computer sale price and the new machine.
That my friends is how you can keep up on the new technology. Of course I only do this for some items. Much of my crap is not recycled allot. I have the same 4 year old tv I have had. my stereo is not getting any newer, etc. But how good a stereo do you need in an apartment?
If you are reading this post going, "hey that makes sence, how can I do that also"? You are crazy. If you are reading this post going "man Scott is crazy". You would be correct. I am not normal. I never said I was. All I can say is eBay is addictive…
Ebay is Adictive
I finally got around to putting up on ebay a bunch of items that I need to get rid of. I put up a cell phone from Verizon that I have not used in over a year, a linksys router that I cannot use, even though I still want to keep it, and my old HP iPaq 1945. I don’t use that anymore, even though I want to. I am just too lazy to use it, so I carry my Treo. I will miss the 1945’s nice color screen.
Hopefully I will get decent amounts for all that stuff. The proceeds of these auctions will go to pay for my new desktop computer I just bought. I like to ebay stuff so I can buy or pay for other electronic stuff I buy. it is the circle of life so to speak.
Update: I shipped out the iPaq and my old router today. I am still waiting for the cell phone to sell…
PodCasting???
I am feeling like crap today. That means I don’t have strength to do much more than sit around on my laptop and browse the web. Several blog’s that I read have been mentioning PodCasting. This link describes it best. I just downloaded iPodderX Podcast Client.
Since I don’t listen to audio books (yet), and I haven’t listened to the radio regularly in years I am not sure if this is for me. I am going to check it out though. Most suggestions from the blogs I read are usually pretty good. I will let you know if I like it. Or you might not care either way, and that is cool also..
Gmail?
What is the big deal about Gmail? For many the concept of 1gb of free mail storage is a great idea. What I want to know is why tech guys are so into the Gmail invites? Is it because of the 1gig of space? Or that there are only a few invites floating around?
I am not talking about normal users who use hotmail and such now and gmail is a major upgrade. I am talking about people like myself and others I work with. Gus got a Gmail account and was so happy. I don’t know why. He has his own mail server. he has virtually unlimited mail storage as it is, but he was almost giddy when he got his gmail account. Howard also got one. He was practical in saying it was for life, so it was a good idea to have one. But your own domain with your own mail server is good also. Now most people don’t do this, they have mail through someone, but if you are a tech guy with your own custom home email address running on your own mail system do you really need gmail? Again it is a great idea, but not for me. Howard offered me a gmail invite. I turned him down. I don’t have any use for it. I don’t want something just to have it.
I guess this is an internet trend that I just don’t get. I will stick with my mail system with my own domain (or several domains to be exact)
This blog entry was written while listening to Given to fly from the album “Yield” by Pearl Jam
Got Rid Of Backups
Several months ago I read that CD-R’s and DVD-R’s won’t last as long as most people orginally thought. The personally recorded disks may only be good for 3-5 years. No one knows. I have been using CD-R’s and more recently DVD-R’s as my only form of backup of my computer data.
I keep everything on the computer now a days so those backup’s are important. Knowing these CD’s “rot” I decided to take all my backups dating back to 1998, and put them back on a hard drive. I then backed up that directory to another hard drive. Drives are cheap so I figure if I keep all my crap on 2 drives I will be safe from problems. Or so I hope. I took some of the really old backups and destroyed the CD’s. I still have my recent DVD’s of backup’s for 2002-2004, but older stuff is getting destroyed since I don’t really need the CD’s with them back on disk. I use a Lacie firewire drive with 200 gig of storage space.
I also decided to buy a new Firewire drive every year for backup’s of crap. I realized that I bought my 200-gig drive less than a year ago and I have only like 50-gig’s left. It is cheaper to buy a new drive than to worry about removing crap off the existing one when it gets filled up.
I still have some more archiving to do, but I am getting things cleaned up virtually and physically before I start packing to move!
Printing
I am (sort of) on the market for a new printer. My old (new) printer is an HP laser jet 1000 printer. it is great except it won’t work on my mac. It just wont work. I checked everywhere. I want a laser printer that will work with my mac. I bought the HP before I got into Mac’s and thought that printer would last me years. My first (and only other printer I have bought) was a HP desk-jet 300 portable printer. it lasted me like 7 years before I got a free upgrade from my dad.
I may sell the printer on ebay and buy a new one that will do what I want. Now I am thinking that I should look for a bluetooth enabled printer to work with my Mac? that way I can keep it away from my desk. Maybe hide it in my wall unit. That would be cool. I am still researching the options. I am also looking for the extra cash to pay for this:)
This blog entry was written while listening to Superman from the album “America Town” by Five for Fighting
Saturday Recovery
Saturday I took it easy. I was semi recovering from Friday, and I had stuff I wanted to do around the house.
Even though I wanted to keep my desk area clear of extra cables, I broke out the KVM so I could build a new desktop machine. I had two in the closet. I had my Dad’s old Dell Dimension XPS 600r, and my old P-4 800 that I still had lying around. The P-4 is a better box, but I had problems with it the last time I was building a computer. I couldn’t remember what was up with it, but I still cannot get an OS to build on it. I ended up using my Dad’s old dell to put Suse 9.0 on it. I want to start using Linux again at home. My website still runs on a Windows 2003 server, but I don’t feel like a real tech guy if I let Gus host my blog on his moveable type setup. I at least want to try and get the system to work. If I don’t use it, I am cool with that.
Other than that I did some quick grocery shopping. I love fresh direct, but sometimes you want small stuff that doesn’t make using the service worth while. Also they don’t have everything so I still have to goto the grocery store every so often. I do need to make another fresh direct order this week. I am running out of food at home.