New Switch
After almost two months, I have finally gotten around to replacing the final piece of computer equipment damaged in the lightning strike, my Gigabit switch. My new switch is a Netgear ProSafe Gigabit Ethernet Desktop Switch. Although the old switch was also a Netgear, this is something of an upgrade, being designed to run with less power (ergo, less heat, which happens to be quite important to me as things get hot in here when my machines are all running). As far as longer term stability goes, I will try to remember to report on this switch after a few...
Don't Autocheck Root
Last night I had one of those little crisises that computer users tend to run into. You know what I mean - when something breaks randomly and the computer decides that it will drop you into a repair shell and from the cryptic messages that it left during the boot process you have to somehow figure out what went wrong. (You don’t know what I mean? Aren’t you a lucky one then.) My problem occurred with Gentoo deciding that it wouldn’t boot after a crash. Intrestingly the crash itself seems to be unrelated to the fact that it wouldn’t boot,...
Upcoming Slackware Linux Install
Although I haven’t begin the installation of it yet, the first Linux distribution I intend to try out on my extra computer is Slackware Linux. Originally I had been planning to do Fedora, but with Fedora 14 coming out in October, I decided to wait another two months instead. So be ready for my reflections on the Slackware install process soon.
Podcasts Worth a Listen - Part 1
One of the easiest methods that I have found to efficently keep up with various topics is to listen to podcasts. The audio format of a podcast means that you can do tasks, like cleaning or yardwork, while still being able to catch up with news or learn about something. Being rather captivated by computers, the majority of my listening focus on Linux and general open source software. Having spent several years building up a list of podcasts, here are some of the best. Linux Outlaws - despite a very causual and humorous approach to covering the news of the...
Manual Network Configuration for Ubuntu (Command Line)
When using that desktop of yours, how often do you need to change networks? Probably not much - I hope you’ve managed to get a wired connection to that machine, but even if you haven’t, you should be on the same wireless network all the time. So why use the Network Manager to configure you network? - after all, it just uses system resources, and doesn’t always let you configure things the way you want to. Fortunately, for those intrepid Linux users who are willing to brave a little bit of command line, the solution is simple, if rarely used....