Strick’s Ramblings

I am excited… just got a new computer. Since my old desktop was Ancient (AMD 3400+), I had to get a new computer. I had some extra cash, so I got me an AMD Phenom™ 9750 Quad Core processor. Stuck it in an ASUS motherboard, stuck 4 gigs of Corsair ram in it, a 1 TB SATA drive, SATA DVD+/- RW. The case is beautiful… with blue LEDs lighting up the… well… underneath my desk.

Thus far, I put windows 7 on it, but will probably dual boot linux at some point. Not sure yet. I’m kind of liking windows 7. I still have a linux box (my old desktop), which I run as a file server, serving up my movies, photo’s, and other various files. I’m running Sabayon Linux as the server OS.

I'll stick a picture of it up later.

Greetings all...

Since I haven't replaced any computers in quite a while now, I figured it was time get the family a new computer or two. Picked the kids up an Compaq from Best buy. Ordered myself a barebones kit from Tiger direct and also my wife and I both got a netbook.

We're all running Windows 7 and love it. I'm turning my old Compaq into a file server. Currently threw linux on it and I'm serving some movies from a 1 Terabyte drive with some movies on it.

Fellow Readers... (Whomever that may be...)

Just some updates.  July was a busy month for me.  My little baby had to have surgery, so we were flown Hawaii where Doctors at Tripler Army Medical Center (TAMC) operated on my little girl.  The surgery went well, and we are very thankful.

It was very nice to visit Hawaii, but I was glad, as always, to get back home.  My Dad was fortunate enough to make it over to be with Audrey and I during the surgery.  This was the first time he had flown since around 1966.  Airports and aircraft have changed dramatically since then, huh?

I'm back to work now, and actually looked forward to coming to work for the first time in a long time.  The weather is raining, as usual this time in the pacific.  August is just around the corner, and school will be starting.

Sabayon Linux 3.5 was released while I was gone.  I'm downloading it now, and will install it when it's done downloading or later on this week.  Probably won't be done downloading until later on this week.  My ISP sucks over here.

As far as my website goes, I plan on redoing it once again.  It needs a new look.  I'm pretty much tired of the look.  And since I have more time now, I plan on hand coding my new site.  As soon as I come up with a color scheme, I'll get busy.

Enough for now... I'll try to post more later and include some photo's I took in Hawaii...

-ME

Another Day down, and that much closer to the baby's surgery. Audrey is scheduled for surgery on the 9^th of July. Audrey and I fly into Hawaii on the 6^th, and our appointments start the next day. Not only do I have the surgery to worry about, but I'm also concerned with the financial aspects as well. I can't really afford to send Cathy, John, Matthew & Jaymie there to be with Audrey. If the duration of stay was 1 week or less I would consider letting the kids stay here in Misawa with friends, but that is out of the question, due to the fact that we will probably be there for atleast one month. Additionally, I'm trying to buy my Dad tickets to fly from Atlanta to Hawaii so he can spend some time with the kids. He hasn't seen them in 2 years. Even though I have not promised the kids that he will be there, some reason they seem to be expecting him to be there. I keep telling them I will try, and attempted to explain to them that this is going to cost a lot of money and we have to be carefull not to spend too much.

This weekend we are planning another offroad trip to the mountains. This time there will be some new people attending. We are meeting up at the BX parking lot at 6:50 am and departing for the mountains at 7:am and meeting up with our Japanese Counterparts at 8:am at redbridge camping area. Can't wait for this, looks like it's going to be a good turnout, so we should have lots of fun.

Another thing to add... It is awesome that I don't have any school work to deal with after work! I'm taking a summer break. Depending on work, probably a fall break. I'm thinking of starting back to shool in late October.

Recently got tired of having bookmarks on my my laptop and not on my desktop, podcasts on my desktop but not on my laptop and so on and so forth. So, I decided to use rsync to sync the two. I use my laptop most, so I started with that. I didn't want to rsync my entire /home/user/ directory, so I just chose to sync the apps that I wanted to be the same on both computers. So, I just wrote a simple bash script to sync the two. First, I got rid of the passwords when I rsync or ssh to the desktop. I used the command below.

ssh-keygen -t rsa

Do not enter password when prompted. from there,

cd ~/.ssh/ && cp id_rsa.pub laptop.key

Then put that key into authorized_key file on the remote computer. I had an nfs share of my home computer, so I just did it that way. You could use FTP, Thumbdrive, etc.

cat laptop.key >> authorized_keys

Once that is complete, repeat for both machines. You should then have 2 way passwordless communication via rsync & ssh.

here's the script I wrote.

#-------------------------------
# Laptop / Desktop sync script
#
# gi_james@strickstuff.com
#-------------------------------
 
# Declare Variables
amark="/home/james/.kde3.5/share/apps/amarok/"
kopet="/home/james/.kde3.5/share/apps/kopete/"
firefx="/home/james/.mozilla/"
thunder="/home/james/.thunderbird/"
school="/home/james/school/"
 
# Begin sync ops
echo "Syncing Amarok"
rsync -arvuz $amark compaq:$amark
echo "Syncing Firefox"
rsync -arvuz $firefx compaq:$firefx
echo "Syncing Thunderbird"
rsync -arvuz $thunder compaq:$thunder
echo "Syncing Kopete"
rsync -arvuz $kopet compaq:$kopet
echo "Syncing School Folder"
rsync -arvuz $school compaq:$school
 
echo " "
echo " "
echo " "
echo "DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

This script will sync the directories in the #delare variables section. Change those around accordingly. I know there are other methods, but this method is good enough for what I want to do. Please feel free to email me with a better method. I'm certainly not the most proficient bash scripter.

Oh, one more thing, before I started, I edited /etc/hosts and added the hostname of all computers on my network. That way, all I have to do is type ssh computername instead of ssh ipaddy and no password is needed.

I think the majority of the world uses Microsoft Products. Whether it's Windows XP/Vista or Microsoft Office. Like a Southern Baptist Preacher, I feel it my responsibility to let the world know that there are free alternatives out there that not only does the same thing that Microsoft Products do, they do even more. The type of software I'm talking about is called Open Source Software. Open Source Software is software that is available for all to change, copy, distribute, etc.

Windows XP/Vista

Most households are familiar with Windows. Whether it's XP or Vista, "Windows" is in nearly every home in America and probably across the world. Most businesses use Windows. Most schools use Windows. Most people don't know that there are other Operating Systems (OS's) out there. In the past few years, since Malware, Virii, and Spam is up, I've noticed that Apple have increased their sales of Macintosh computers. Apple/Mac computers do not use "Windows," they use a Linux based OS called "OS X." Since MAC OS X isn't a Windows based OS, Viruses, Spyware and Malware are all incompatible. Now, don't get confused, OS X isn't Open Source Software. I just mentioned it because it's an alternative to Windows. OS X, still costs you money. Now, what I use is called Linux. Linux is a Unix based OS that is yet another of the many Alternatives to Windows. Check this page out: DISTRO WATCH to learn more about the different Distro's or Versions of Linux that's available. Ubuntu and PCLinuxOS is probably the best to start off with. By getting rid of Windows and getting Linux, you're saying goodbye to Spyware, Malware, and Viruses. You're also saying goodbye to the famous "Blue Screen of Death" (BSoD).

OFFICE SOFTWARE

Another Microsoft product that people think they can't live without is MS Office. You know Word, Excel, Power Point, etc. There are several alternatives to Microsoft Office products as well. The most known (I think) and the one I use is an Office Suite by Sun Microsystems called Open Office. You can check it out at OpenOffice.org. Open Office does everything that MS Office does and looks just as good. MS Office was required for my classes, but Open Office works just fine. And most importantly, it's 100% Microsoft Office Compatible. So there's no excuse for not switching NOW. Also, it's available for Windows, Mac, & Linux.

Open Source Software is a great FREE alternative to Commercial software. For everything you do in Windows or Mac, there's an alternative in Linux that's just as good or better. If you have any questions on Free Alternative Software, feel free to contact me and I'll see what I can do to help!

I was tired of using the web forms that my webhost provided to convert video to .flv format.  So, I wrote this script which works fine and dandy:

#!/bin/bash
##############################
# VIDEO CONVERTER  (FLV)                     #
# gi_james@strickstuff.com                     #
# www.strickstuff.com                           #
############################## 
 
# all files that start with .m (eg mpeg mpg mod) 
 
    # change to whatever you want... 
 
for file in ./*.mpg; 
 
# encode files and rename them to FLV 
 
do ffmpeg -i $file -ar 22050 -ab 32 -f flv -s 320x240 -aspect 16:9 -y ${file%.m*}.flv 
 
# all done! 
 
done

This makes it a little bit easier...
Now, since my camera shoots in 16:9 format, I decided to keep that aspect ratio, this can be changed to 4:3. We'll see how it looks.

In an attempt to get an MP3 player that is more compatible with Linux, I decided to get rid of my Microsoft Zune.  With the Zune, you have to use the Microsoft Zune software.  Obviously Microsoft don't support any operating system other than Windows. Since I run Linux on all of my computers, I need an MP3 player that will work seamlessly with my operating system.

At the BX there was an iAudio M5 (20 gig) mp3 player on clearance for $127, so I picked it up.  It is compatible with linux, windows, and mac.  So, if you use an Operating system other than Windows, perhaps you should consider purchasing and iAudio product.  The only downside is, this product don't play video, but, when I had the Zune, who want's to watch a video on a 2 inch screen anyway?  Not me.

A script I wrote to re-encode videos for use on the Zune.

 
    #!/bin/bash
 
    ##############################
    # ZUNE VIDEO CONVERTER       #
    # gi_james@strickstuff.com   #
    # www.strickstuff.com        #
    ##############################
 
    # all files that start with .m (eg mpeg mpg mod)
    # change to whatever you want...
    for file in ./*.m*;
 
    # encode files and rename them to wmv
      do ffmpeg -i $file -deinterlace -pix_fmt yuv420p -g 15 -qmin 3  \
-maxrate 628000 -bufsize 628k -async 50 -vcodec wmv2 -b 500000  \
-r 29.97 -s 320x240 -ar 4x3 -acodec wmav2 -ar 44100  \
-ac 2 -ab 128k ${file%.m*}.wmv;
 
    # all done!
    done

Finally got a laptop! My old laptop bit the dust and had to be thrown in the trash can -- literally!

Got me a Sony Vaio (VGN-N250E), which came with Windows Vista. Worked fine for a while, looked ok, but as usual with windows, you are limited as to how much you can configure the look and feel. Plus, in the week or so that I had the laptop explorer was constant crashing, and I had a couple of system crashes. Finally got Sabayon Linux installed and my wireless is working great. NO MORE VIRII for me.

Just thought I would share that with you!