A quote from this CNN article:

a romantic sleigh ride interrupted by a flatulent horse

Is Bess moonlighting by acting in beer commercials?

Well, to keep you up to date: I got a WD 80GB drive for our server, and a NEC DVD+/-RW drive, from Advanced 2000, a local (to DC) computer store. It turns out the WD 80GB drive is the same as the one in my main home workstation (WD800BB). So, I'm comfortable that it will work fine. And I did manage to restore almost all files from the old drive.

The NEC DVD drive works with the Linux dvdrecord command. However, so far, I haven't been able to read the discs I created with DVD-RW media on either of the two other computers I use which have DVD-ROM drives. I'll try DVD+RW, and if that does not work, DVD-R and then DVD+R...

Not sure who (if anybody) knows to look here, but here's the scoop:

Due to a failing hard disk, I've had to shutdown suffolk.steeds.com until I can get home, run fsck, install new hard disk, and try recovering as much data as possible. Suffolk is the main server (mail and web) for the following domains:

• steeds.com
• ncaug.org
• staubly.net
• thesingz.com
• theaquinos.com
• expectingchanges.com

I apologize for the inconvenience, but I'd been pretty broke and was putting off buying a new HD for as long as possible.

So, expect a mini-review of Fedora here soon.

Well, I'm not sure if I gave Fedora a fair trial. Maybe I'll try it again, when I have more free time. I did like the graphical startup screen (when it switches to runlevel 5 during startup, a GUI pops up with a progress bar, and a button on which you can click to see the detailed startup messages).

I didn't like the problems I had getting logged into X/Gnome when I had my left-over home directory (with left-over .gnome directories and other stuff which dates back to RedHat 7.3). In some cases, X would lock up, to the point where I couldn't even switch to a virtual console. I had to ssh in from another machine, and run "shutdown".

I suspect that wasn't all Fedora's fault, as when I switched back to RedHat 9, I had some of the same problems. I really only got running again after mv'ing my home directory, and creating a new one from skeleton files.

Who is to blame? I dunno. Gnome? Metacity? Not sure... But I think the problem is that some stored setting (in a config file in my home directory) specifies something that no longer makes sense (non-existant window manager, background image that moved or no longer exists, etc.). Software should be robust enough to substitute some default setting for one that is (now) incorrect.

So, like many RedHat users, I use the RedHat Network (and it's associated little taskbar applet) to keep my home Linux workstation updated for security and bugs. This past week, an update came out for glibc.

This is basically the main C run-time library on a Linux machine. So, just about all programs depend on it. I updated my workstation and my home server (see previous journal entry). However, that evening, I noticed my machine was back at the login screen (gdm). The machine hadn't crashed, but X had reset (logged me out).

Ok, I think, some programs may be having trouble since I swapped glibc versions out from under them. I'll reboot. I logged in again, and went off to do other stuff. I came back later: same problem. Grrr.

A day or so later, RedHat comes out with an updated version of that errata, although it says it's only for people running "non-RedHat kernels". Well, can't hurt to try, right? At the least, it didn't help.

So, I think, I'll just revert to the old glibc. I don't remember any other updates coming out, so I should be safe going back to what's on the RH9 CDs. I copy off the glibc RPMs, and reinstall them (using "--force" so it won't complain about going to earlier versions). Oh, good, now X won't even start (let alone let me log in and stay logged in).

Well, I'd downloaded the Fedora Core 1 ISO files a while ago. I'll just try that out. Looks very similar to RH9. But it didn't give me the option to install individual packages (at least not from the text-mode install).

Well, the install ran smoothly. But when it first starts, X won't run. I didn't expect their install to find and configure both graphics cards. But apparently, having 2 cards confused it enough so it couldn't get either working. When I get home tonight, I'll reinstall my XF86Config which I had before with RH9, and see how it looks. So, expect a mini-review of Fedora here soon.

Well, The Server That Lived was replaced anyway. Something about kernel panics, causing the loss of the /var/log directory (after getting it running again, I did find most of the files in /var/lost+found). I decided I wanted an upgrade to the OS (RedHat 7.1 was a particularly unstable version of Linux, and I think was the last to not offer ext3 filesystem). Trying to upgrade the OS was not very successful either, as I kept getting read errors from the CD-ROM device. Time for new hardware.

So, I go to one of those computer shows, and buy an old used IBM 300PL machine. Again, being from IBM, it's built like a tank. It needs more RAM, and disk space (well, I solved the disk space problem by moving the disk drive over from the old server).

But buying the basic machine for $85 I thought was quite a coup (for a P2-450 machine).

Important tip: If you accidently spill cranjuice next to your laptop, and the juice leaks in through the docking port in the back (the internal arrangement may be specific to IBM Thinkpads), your laptop can be saved: pour a little rubbing alcohol (isopropyl) into the docking port; let it sit for a minute (to dissolve the juice); then stand on edge to let everything drain out.

Presto! Laptop is saved!

Also, I can't recommend Thinkpads highly enough. They're very compatible with Linux (I'm running RedHat 9 on mine). And they're some of the most solidly built laptops out there. Like a tank.

Thought people might enjoy seeing the surge suppressor that gave its life that my home server might live. :-)

Here it is.

Ok, Comcast got us up and running, took back the fried cable modem (and as a bonus, we'll no longer be paying "modem rental").

In other news, we'd replaced the fried ethernet switch with an old 10Mbps hub which I happened to have lying around. While I was out shopping for a cable modem I decided to pick up a new ethernet switch (occasionally I back up tons of data, or copy ISO images over from one machine to another, so 100 Mbps is nice).

I got it home, and tried hooking it up. First, I hooked up my old Suns to it (they're 10Mbps only, so I won't have to worry about them trying to renegotiate 10/100, full/half-duplex, straight-through/crossover, etc.). They could ping each other. So, I thought, I'll connect the hub to the switch, and see if they can ping the rest of the network... so far so good. I start moving other cables from the hub to the switch. Eventually, I have all the cables moved from the hub to the switch.

Can you spot the problem?

It stopped working. Why? Was one of my machines' NICs misbehaving and swamping the switch? Could the switch not handle all 8 ports being full? Wait a minute. I only have 4 machines in this room, plus 2 lines to other rooms. Where did the extra 2 cables come from. Oh, yeah, the cable to the hub would count as one. Except no more cables run to the hub. And all 8 lights on on. Um, yes.

That's right, I had a cable from the switch to the hub, and I'd taken the hub end of the cable, not realizing what it was connected to (the switch), and moved it to the last free port on... the switch!

Boy did I feel dumb. Disconnected both ends of the "loop-back" cable, and everything on the switch was happy again. :-)

It wasn't bad enough that (Hurricane) Isabel interrupted our power for about 24 hours (11pm Thursday to 11pm Friday), but now it's making our power flicker (are they working on the lines somewhere?) and that may have something to do with why our cable modem service is out (and has been since sometime during the night). And Comcast really ought to make it easier to contact them. They seem to take perverse pleasure in removing all phone numbers from their webpage.

So, at the moment, our whole network (steeds.com) is down, to protect the computers from power fluctuations. Grrr....

Update: We lost 1 cable modem, 1 ethernet switch, 1 television, 1 VCR, 1 old computer, and possibly an old VGA monitor. I've replaced the cable modem, but so far Comcast hasn't enabled it. And a melted powerstrip.

Recently, I've accomplished two things which will make my life better:

1. Installed a 2nd graphics card and monitor to run my main home machine (RH9) in dual-head mode. It works amazingly well, even though it isn't a perfect rectangle (1600x1200 side-by-side with 1280x1024). One tip for you Linux users out there: don't try to setup a multi-head machine using a Voodoo card. The documentation I used, which was very helpful was this page
2. Got DNS running on one of my more stable machines. My ISP does a good job of making any changes I request, but there are times I want to make changes in the middle of the night, over the weekend, etc. If you try this at home, make sure you pick the latest in whatever branch of BIND you choose to use (e.g. 9.2.2).

This past Sunday, my grandfather (mother's father) died. He would have been 90 in September, so he had a full life. He'd been having more and more health problems, especially the last year, so it's probably for the best.

Of all my grandparents, I think my brother and I were both closest to him. But, when I went to the viewing, it didn't really seem like it was him lying there. It was nice for other reasons, like seeing lots of people I hadn't seen in decades (my elementary school principal, the organist from our church when I was growing up, etc.).

Anyway, that's all I can really say at the moment. I'm sad, but life goes on.

But, this time at least, it isn't my fault. It looks like my whole ISP is down. From work, I can't get to their DNS servers. From home, I can dial in to my remote POP, but it doesn't give me an IP address (I assume because the POP can't talk to their RADIUS servers). My guess is a power outage (when I try calling their switchboard, I don't get any answer, not even the automated menu).

Not sure how long this will take to resolve.

Update: Looks like it came back again about 9:48pm, total downtime of about 3 hours.

Tickets arrived about a week after I ordered them. Not as quick as I'd have liked, but not bad. So, I'm really going to get to see:

• Dio
• Iron Maiden
• Motorhead

on July 29th. Yay!!

In other news, I'm looking at my mother-in-law's PC (apparently, she let the "magic smoke" out). So far I've determined it isn't a power supply problem, so I have more work to do.

Life goes on...

Ok, so I was at work until 12:30am last night, didn't get home until nearly 2am (stopped for gas, groceries) and was all keyed up. Also suffered the usual spouse-induced sleep deprivation (no, not that). And tried getting up somewhat early in order to stop by JiffyLube on the way to work (failed at that). The end result is less than 5 hours of non-continuous sleep. God, I'm sleepy.

At work, I started listening to the collection of rock instrumentals I'd collected (from Dee by Randy Rhodes, to Mammagamma by Alan Parsons Project). By 5pm (prime time for my work day), I was ready to crawl under my desk and go to sleep. I held on until about 6pm. Then, I decided to look for something new. I picked out a "best of" by Motorhead called "Motorhead Today", which I like because it has Civil War on it. I cranked Civil War on my headphones, and within minutes I was as awake as I ever get, and certainly more awake than I had any right to be. And, in theory, I have been mailed my tickets (from Ticket Mistress) for Iron Maiden, Dio, and ... Motorhead!!! Whoowweee!!

You know, for someone so ugly, Lemmy is incredibly sexy. :-)

Beavis and Butthead, quoted in the Washington Post:

Beavis: Hey! That's Lemmy. What's he doing in this video?
Butthead: Lemmy can be in any damn video he wants.