Work uses Lotus groupware. So I needed my IM client to connect to Sametime at work. Yes Pidgin and Empathy do that, but they were not showing me all my online contacts. After some browsing around it turned out that the meanwhile library had the bug in it and I had to get the source code for it and compile it to get the fix because the new packages were not released yet. I'm getting to be a geek now.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Remote desktop from Ubuntu to Windows
When I first tried to remote into my work machine, man that thing was slow. My good pal helped me figure out a set of command line options to make it usable. The main things to do were to set the command line option to have rdesktop compress the data, and to minimize the themes on my Windows machine. Now I feel like the remote experience is faster on my Ubuntu machine than it was from my Windows machines... ofcourse my Windows machines had much slower hardware.
Linux Distros
So on my new machine, I installed Ubuntu Maverick. Felt like I should go with the latest out there. Right? I also played with some other live cds and I really liked Linux Mint. The package management and system settings are better laid out and accessible.
The first few days were nice and shiny and calm. Then I started doing some real stuff on my new machine.
The first few days were nice and shiny and calm. Then I started doing some real stuff on my new machine.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Building a PC
Once I decided I wanted to build a PC, I started looking around for some deals. Tigerdirect had a AMD Phenom X4 (quad core) based system on sale at $299. I went for it. The kit didn't include a CPU fan. Weird.
When I booted up my computer after assembling it, there was a bios message that said that the CPU was not compatible with the mother board. Weird.
Once I installed Ubuntu and got it running, I checked the CPU temperatures and it was running close to 60 deg C. The spec sheet said 61 was the system critical temperature. Very weird.
A day later I got an email from Tigerdirect saying that (due to poor information from a vendor) they had included an incorrect rev of the CPU with the kit. The replaced my CPU at no extra charge (they also provided my return shipping label).
After I installed the new CPU the bios error was gone, but the temperature was still high. I reversed the case fan so it would blow inward, and that dropped the temp to about 55. Still not good.
Then I went back and read a review on the CPU from a year ago and they rated the chip as pretty good, but they warned that for sure this was going to be a hot one - a prime candidate for liquid cooling even, they said.
I have ordered a much nicer heatsink / cpu fan. Hope that helps.
When I booted up my computer after assembling it, there was a bios message that said that the CPU was not compatible with the mother board. Weird.
Once I installed Ubuntu and got it running, I checked the CPU temperatures and it was running close to 60 deg C. The spec sheet said 61 was the system critical temperature. Very weird.
A day later I got an email from Tigerdirect saying that (due to poor information from a vendor) they had included an incorrect rev of the CPU with the kit. The replaced my CPU at no extra charge (they also provided my return shipping label).
After I installed the new CPU the bios error was gone, but the temperature was still high. I reversed the case fan so it would blow inward, and that dropped the temp to about 55. Still not good.
Then I went back and read a review on the CPU from a year ago and they rated the chip as pretty good, but they warned that for sure this was going to be a hot one - a prime candidate for liquid cooling even, they said.
I have ordered a much nicer heatsink / cpu fan. Hope that helps.
Moving to Linux
Now that I have started working from home, it's become easier to choose my working OS. And I have switched to Ubuntu. I didn't really have a desktop computer so I built one! See next post...
Friday, July 30, 2010
Bubba Two
I was killing some time at Barnes and Noble the other day and ended up browsing the Linux User and Developer magazine. (Why is it that I get an impression that Linux thrives more in the UK?) Anyway I saw this article about a pretty cool home server based on Linux. Yeah, it is called the Bubba Two. But I love the looks and the specs. Anyone out there have one of these? Wonder how it measures up in useability terms.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Linux again.
I've been playing with Linux again. It all got started when I got fed up with using ghost images of test machines at work and decided to go with virtual machines. This time around, my desktop machine had sufficient specs to work nicely with virtual machines. I borrowed an OpenSuse image from a friend and gave it a go. I was surprised at how easy it was to find and install apps compared to the last time I was on a linux machine.
I then started running a copy on my Windows Home Server machine. Things weren't so bad. I was learning more about linux offerings. I was wondering if I could get rid of the ugly WHS web portal and replace it with something nicer.
But then I started seeing some weirdness on the WHS. Firstly I got periodical errors from WHS. It didn't like the fact that some of the files in my personal share were "in use". These were the VMWare image files.
Secondly the WHS stuff started getting erratic. The system status page wouldn't load. My media backups weren't going smoothly. So I ended up shutting down the virtual machine. I still couldn't get the status page to load. I rebooted. The WHS controller looked a little better. Rebooted again. Even better. Rebooted again, and finally all the panels were back to normal. Gotta love the Windows reboots.
I then started running a copy on my Windows Home Server machine. Things weren't so bad. I was learning more about linux offerings. I was wondering if I could get rid of the ugly WHS web portal and replace it with something nicer.
But then I started seeing some weirdness on the WHS. Firstly I got periodical errors from WHS. It didn't like the fact that some of the files in my personal share were "in use". These were the VMWare image files.
Secondly the WHS stuff started getting erratic. The system status page wouldn't load. My media backups weren't going smoothly. So I ended up shutting down the virtual machine. I still couldn't get the status page to load. I rebooted. The WHS controller looked a little better. Rebooted again. Even better. Rebooted again, and finally all the panels were back to normal. Gotta love the Windows reboots.
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