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Computing / Just touching base.
« on: June 18, 2014, 12:30:21 pm »
Just thought I'd kick around and remember some of the stuff we did. Been a while. Here's hoping everybody is in a good place.
David
David
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2
Computing / Garage Sale Network
« on: August 07, 2010, 03:32:52 pm »
I've been busy. I thought I'd post up what I am referring to as my "Garage Sale Network". This haul was a good one.
one Fortinet - Fortigate 200A
two Cisco VPN 3000 Concentrators
one Cisco Catalyst 2950 Switch
one Nortel BayStack 450-24T Switch
one Cisco SRW224 Switch
one MPC 1u server with Intel SE 7520 JR2 Server Board
I love picking/collecting geek crap up.
David
one Fortinet - Fortigate 200A
two Cisco VPN 3000 Concentrators
one Cisco Catalyst 2950 Switch
one Nortel BayStack 450-24T Switch
one Cisco SRW224 Switch
one MPC 1u server with Intel SE 7520 JR2 Server Board
I love picking/collecting geek crap up.
David
3
Music / Vinyl Conversion
« on: May 05, 2010, 04:40:33 pm »
Awhile back I posted that Bev had gifted me a USB turntable for xmas. I have played with it off and on, grabbing must haves first and flipping through the pile of LP's. Lately I have been on a tear.
Idle observation .... Colombia Records produced by far some of the best vinyl in it's time. Best in the fact that a lot of the stuff I am converting is over 30 years old with various amounts of play time under the stylus. The Columbia vinyl has converted with the least amount of hiss/pop or general mayhem.
One thing I was thinking about is that the older player technology (record player, carseette, 8-track) was of a physical nature. There were belts, rollers, motors, etc. involved. I remember the strobe discs you could use on a turntable to calibrate the turntable speed. Now all that is taken care of using the CPU clock. There was also a physical layer involved whether it was the stylus or the recorder heads. Weird how things have evolved. I can't help but think our grandkids are going to be amazed that we use hard drives with mechanical spinning parts. Weird how things have/are evolved/evolving.
Listening to Canned Heat "Living the Blues' at the moment. Ripped off of vinyl. This record was release in 1968 as a double album and in fact was the first double LP produced that placed well on album charts. I can see the store I walked into to buy this sucker. Remember record stores? LOL
David
Idle observation .... Colombia Records produced by far some of the best vinyl in it's time. Best in the fact that a lot of the stuff I am converting is over 30 years old with various amounts of play time under the stylus. The Columbia vinyl has converted with the least amount of hiss/pop or general mayhem.
One thing I was thinking about is that the older player technology (record player, carseette, 8-track) was of a physical nature. There were belts, rollers, motors, etc. involved. I remember the strobe discs you could use on a turntable to calibrate the turntable speed. Now all that is taken care of using the CPU clock. There was also a physical layer involved whether it was the stylus or the recorder heads. Weird how things have evolved. I can't help but think our grandkids are going to be amazed that we use hard drives with mechanical spinning parts. Weird how things have/are evolved/evolving.
Listening to Canned Heat "Living the Blues' at the moment. Ripped off of vinyl. This record was release in 1968 as a double album and in fact was the first double LP produced that placed well on album charts. I can see the store I walked into to buy this sucker. Remember record stores? LOL
David
4
Computing / On-line Scanners
« on: March 13, 2010, 05:14:33 pm »
I signed into the ARRL website and started diving into the members only sections. Found an interesting series of articles on internet radio stuff. There was a link to this site ...
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/
Pick your state and county and there is a good chance they are live streaming the police/fire bands. They have mine which I thought was cool. I started looking around then for a portable app that might do the same thing. I found 5-0 Radio Pro at the app store.
http://smartestapple.com/
You can check the feeds available but it pretty much streams radioreference,com (see above) and also does some music (haven't tried yet) and a few repeaters. Interesting little app.
David
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/
Pick your state and county and there is a good chance they are live streaming the police/fire bands. They have mine which I thought was cool. I started looking around then for a portable app that might do the same thing. I found 5-0 Radio Pro at the app store.
http://smartestapple.com/
You can check the feeds available but it pretty much streams radioreference,com (see above) and also does some music (haven't tried yet) and a few repeaters. Interesting little app.
David
5
Computing / Pa$$ed my Ham Technician License Exam
« on: March 01, 2010, 09:34:04 pm »
So I took the Ham Technician level exam the other week and parseed. Got my paper from the FCC last Friday and hooked into Echolink since I have no rig at the moment. Having lots of fun with it and attempting to 'connect' to some friends the next town over via Echolink repeaters (Echolink to RF). Unfortunately we are on the hunt since repeaters in this neck of the woods are plentiful but not with Echolink capability. I'm not sure if anyone here has a license but if you do give a shout out sometime for KB1TTG. Sal, I was looking through the Echolink repeater directory and see one in Harlingen, TX. That's down where you are isn't it?
I pulled the trigger on the licensing because I have always thought it would be cool to explore radio and the hospital got a rig via Homeland Security (our tax dollars at work) and the hospital was looking for people to test out for emergency usage. I figured now was a good time to go the whole way and take the test. Radios are not cheap so for now I delve into the Echolink capabilities and see how far I can stretch it.
David
I pulled the trigger on the licensing because I have always thought it would be cool to explore radio and the hospital got a rig via Homeland Security (our tax dollars at work) and the hospital was looking for people to test out for emergency usage. I figured now was a good time to go the whole way and take the test. Radios are not cheap so for now I delve into the Echolink capabilities and see how far I can stretch it.
David
6
Computing / Windows Media Server
« on: January 09, 2010, 12:49:37 pm »
I was given the task of rippping Management Training DVD's down to a format that we could stream on our internal intranet. I set up a Windows Media Server and using Windows Media Encoder got a streaming server installed that feeds the ripped videos as streaming content. Slammed about 10 boxes simultaneously into the content and it never even burped.
Now management staff can view the content and learn to manage from anywhere they can connect to our network. Hope it helps. This was a fun side project for me and not all that hard. Just set the server role and away you go.
David
Now management staff can view the content and learn to manage from anywhere they can connect to our network. Hope it helps. This was a fun side project for me and not all that hard. Just set the server role and away you go.
David
7
Computing / Greetings from Windows XP via VMware ESX Server 3i
« on: December 20, 2009, 07:20:42 pm »
I inherited a Dell PowerEdge 6450 (four P3 Xeon processors 4GB RAM - RAID 5) from an equipment retirement at work. It was headed to the dump so it came home with me. I set up the box and got VMware installed. Loaded up Windows XP and here I am. Next install is a Linux distro.
I am looking to get as many installs on the VMware box as possible and start the hack lab.
David
I am looking to get as many installs on the VMware box as possible and start the hack lab.
David
8
Computing / Greetings from BackTrack 4 beta HD Install
« on: June 03, 2009, 10:09:04 am »
I have been running this for a bit on a stick and decided to go the whole sheebang and do the HD install on a Lenovo X60 Tablet sitting in my office unused - benefits of being the hardware guy. I've been working the Command Line Kung Fu lately in windows and feel the need to do some Linux Fu. I am loving WMIC on the windows side (an unknown source for me until recently) of Fu goodness. I am working almost exclusively in the command line lately when I can. Sometimes on remote process I have to cheat and use PsTools.
The install was not a harsh process to do just had to do some tweeking to get the wireless up and running. All is well though.
David
The install was not a harsh process to do just had to do some tweeking to get the wireless up and running. All is well though.
David
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Yatta Yatta Yatta / 2600
« on: May 15, 2009, 09:54:27 pm »
Milestone as I pulled into the driveway tonight. We had just got back from our hospital employee recognition night and the odometer ticked to the magic number.
David
David
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Yatta Yatta Yatta / There will be no mercy here.
« on: February 06, 2009, 06:59:52 pm »
I picked up my new ride yesterday. Like I said in the title I know there will be no Ford mercy here but just had to share.
David
David
11
Music / Wolfgangs's Vault
« on: February 06, 2009, 05:25:04 pm »
They now have a player app available at the iTunes store.
http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/
This place is way cool and free streaming. The app will only play if it is open so listen and nothing else but this mobilizes one of my favorite sites.
David
http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/
This place is way cool and free streaming. The app will only play if it is open so listen and nothing else but this mobilizes one of my favorite sites.
David
12
Yatta Yatta Yatta / Cold Enough For You?
« on: January 16, 2009, 08:39:32 pm »
Hell yeah! -39 degrees this AM.
My car would not start. The battery just could not handle it. We got Bev's started but the power steering was totally stiff. I let it warm up a bit before fighting the steering to get it closer to mine for the jump. The jump never worked and in the process of backing it up I noticed what looked like someone had tossed a chocolate shake on the ground under Bev's car. The hose blew out on the rack and pinion and spewed the contents. Too much pressure and the thickness of the frozen contents didn't jive.
Yeah, it's officially cold enough. People up here are jonesing for -20 degrees.
PS Posted from touch.
David
My car would not start. The battery just could not handle it. We got Bev's started but the power steering was totally stiff. I let it warm up a bit before fighting the steering to get it closer to mine for the jump. The jump never worked and in the process of backing it up I noticed what looked like someone had tossed a chocolate shake on the ground under Bev's car. The hose blew out on the rack and pinion and spewed the contents. Too much pressure and the thickness of the frozen contents didn't jive.
Yeah, it's officially cold enough. People up here are jonesing for -20 degrees.
PS Posted from touch.
David
13
Computing / Heavy Geek Week
« on: October 08, 2008, 06:20:55 pm »
Bev and I took last week off to rest up. Just day trips and the usual "winterize" the house deal. I had ordered two batts for the Tungsten E's we have. One of them used to be Tim's. Anyway, we had not used them in awhile because the batts were old and never held the charge long. I got the new one's in and soldered them onto the boards so we are now reacquainted with Tungsten E land.
One of the day trips was to Small Dog Electronics in Waitsfield VT. Bev gets me a gift certificate there every year for Christmas or Birthday so I had that burning a hole for a while now. I picked up a 100gig HD to replace the 30gig the iBook G4 came with and a firewire enclosure for the 30gigger I was pulling. Dropped the cash for a 1gig RAM stick and had a great afternoon in Waitsfield. The 30gig drive I had was way too small and I could not upgrade to 10.5 without some head room. The guy at the store asked me if I realized what was involved in replacing the HD on an iBook and I said yeah. Steve Jobs had his head up his arse when he designed the thing. You basically have to strip down the entire laptop to get to the HD. About 30 screws later the HD was in. I loaded the 30 gigger into the firewire enclosure and did a fresh install of 10.4 and used the migration tool to carry over all my old apps, network settings, and personal files. Worked like a charm. Then I checked the 1Gig stick I put in and saw it was only seeing half the stick. I rebooted a couple of times and was able to get it to see the whole stick but then 2 min. later the system would crash. Called the store and got an RMA. The new stick came in yesterday and the iBook screams now.
I noticed a small magnet on the underside of the keyboard that I had to pull to get at a screw. The magnet is on the upper part of the keyboard near the hinge for the monitor. I was wondering what the hell it was for and today found out that the monitor goes out when you close the lid via a reed valve in the monitor lid. The magnet opens the reed when the lid comes down near it. Neat.
David
One of the day trips was to Small Dog Electronics in Waitsfield VT. Bev gets me a gift certificate there every year for Christmas or Birthday so I had that burning a hole for a while now. I picked up a 100gig HD to replace the 30gig the iBook G4 came with and a firewire enclosure for the 30gigger I was pulling. Dropped the cash for a 1gig RAM stick and had a great afternoon in Waitsfield. The 30gig drive I had was way too small and I could not upgrade to 10.5 without some head room. The guy at the store asked me if I realized what was involved in replacing the HD on an iBook and I said yeah. Steve Jobs had his head up his arse when he designed the thing. You basically have to strip down the entire laptop to get to the HD. About 30 screws later the HD was in. I loaded the 30 gigger into the firewire enclosure and did a fresh install of 10.4 and used the migration tool to carry over all my old apps, network settings, and personal files. Worked like a charm. Then I checked the 1Gig stick I put in and saw it was only seeing half the stick. I rebooted a couple of times and was able to get it to see the whole stick but then 2 min. later the system would crash. Called the store and got an RMA. The new stick came in yesterday and the iBook screams now.
I noticed a small magnet on the underside of the keyboard that I had to pull to get at a screw. The magnet is on the upper part of the keyboard near the hinge for the monitor. I was wondering what the hell it was for and today found out that the monitor goes out when you close the lid via a reed valve in the monitor lid. The magnet opens the reed when the lid comes down near it. Neat.
David
14
Computing / Would you like Silverlight with your fries.
« on: September 06, 2008, 09:37:31 pm »
I had a great rant going in the car on the way home from work the other day. Then I calmed down but the after taste is still with me.
I started an ADAM server setup on friday. Loaded it up on a VMware ESX (this is way cool schite - snap shotted the deal when I got it done). The ADAM server was a long command line drawn out thing but ended nicely. I only had to delete the instance once. I kicked myself in the butt hard when I realized I misspelled the instance partition. Anyways, I am loading a GuardianEdge platform to deploy a full hard disc encryption schema deployed via Group Policy. We finally pulled the trigger and I got 50 licenses to encrypt a store of laptops.
I was feelin' kinda good as I started the platform business end. I had to download gpmc. It is beyond me why they don't include this with a Server 2003 install but no worries I've done it before and it won't be the last. I hit the MS site and planted it on the desktop. Cool. The next thing I know they are rendering a transparent window on top of the "Thank You for using MS" page and it wants to know if I want to download Silverlight. I'm thinking at what point did MS think that Silverlight compliments gpmc? I would let it roll off but every time I turn around these days it's Silverlight, Silverlight, Silverlight. If I need Silverlight I know where to get it but every time I touch MS they are shoving it down the throat.
It reminds me of the drive up at Mickie D's. I want a cheese burger and a coke. Then I have to turn down the "Do you want fries with that?" question which invariably leads to "Then you certainly want a pie?". You know what, if I wanted all those calories I would have frickin' ordered them. I have but one wish now. I want MS to add a button to the response screen of "Would you like Silverlight?" I want a button I can press that says "Blow me!".
David
I started an ADAM server setup on friday. Loaded it up on a VMware ESX (this is way cool schite - snap shotted the deal when I got it done). The ADAM server was a long command line drawn out thing but ended nicely. I only had to delete the instance once. I kicked myself in the butt hard when I realized I misspelled the instance partition. Anyways, I am loading a GuardianEdge platform to deploy a full hard disc encryption schema deployed via Group Policy. We finally pulled the trigger and I got 50 licenses to encrypt a store of laptops.
I was feelin' kinda good as I started the platform business end. I had to download gpmc. It is beyond me why they don't include this with a Server 2003 install but no worries I've done it before and it won't be the last. I hit the MS site and planted it on the desktop. Cool. The next thing I know they are rendering a transparent window on top of the "Thank You for using MS" page and it wants to know if I want to download Silverlight. I'm thinking at what point did MS think that Silverlight compliments gpmc? I would let it roll off but every time I turn around these days it's Silverlight, Silverlight, Silverlight. If I need Silverlight I know where to get it but every time I touch MS they are shoving it down the throat.
It reminds me of the drive up at Mickie D's. I want a cheese burger and a coke. Then I have to turn down the "Do you want fries with that?" question which invariably leads to "Then you certainly want a pie?". You know what, if I wanted all those calories I would have frickin' ordered them. I have but one wish now. I want MS to add a button to the response screen of "Would you like Silverlight?" I want a button I can press that says "Blow me!".
David
15
Computing / Is that an OS in your pocket?
« on: August 14, 2008, 09:20:02 pm »
I started playing with USB bootable OS's. Staples had a five pack of PNY 1 giggers for about $40 with $10 off. I picked up a pack and started to play. So far I have settled on ...
1. BackTrack 3
2. Ubuntu - Hardy Heron (with bootable mt86plus)
3. BartPE (my imaging tool)
4. Ophcrack (Why? Cause it rocks to play!)
Still trying to decide on the fifth stick. I got addicted to Hardy Heron so I did a complete install on an IBM X41 tablet. I got it joined to the domain at work and trying to see what I can do with Linux on the job. So far I am having a great time with it.
Anybody else playing with bootable USB. I'm still hunting down a fifth one to occupy the last USB. I'm toying with loading FreeDOS. Any suggestions?
David
1. BackTrack 3
2. Ubuntu - Hardy Heron (with bootable mt86plus)
3. BartPE (my imaging tool)
4. Ophcrack (Why? Cause it rocks to play!)
Still trying to decide on the fifth stick. I got addicted to Hardy Heron so I did a complete install on an IBM X41 tablet. I got it joined to the domain at work and trying to see what I can do with Linux on the job. So far I am having a great time with it.
Anybody else playing with bootable USB. I'm still hunting down a fifth one to occupy the last USB. I'm toying with loading FreeDOS. Any suggestions?
David
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