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Last Week Next Week Insights Index Daynotes.com Email: tom@syroidmanor.com
The Bear and the Dragon, Tom Clancy (GP Putnam). Recommended. It's a BIG title (1000+ pages), but it's one of Clancy's better tales. I'm just over half-way, and as noted yesterday, the plot thickens with every turn of the page. Guess I don't have to explain what I've been doing this evening ;-) Now if you'll excuse me, Ryan's got a crisis unfolding in the PRC...
Oh yeah... JEdit does appear to have tag completion of sorts -- it just doesn't work the way I anticipated. And I have no idea how I managed to "turn it on". But that's fodder for tomorrow. See you then.
A picture-perfect day. Not a cloud in the sky (well, until late afternoon that is), about 70 degrees, and a bit of a breeze. We spent most of the day in the yard, cutting the grass, weeding the flower beds, and generally enjoying the weather.
I installed Red Hat Limbo three times tonight. Twice to test various configuration options, and once to correct for my lack of RH package knowledge. After the second install, I decided to press on, compile a couple apps, and tinker with the results. So I collected the latest Quanta source (3.0 pre1) and fired up GCC. No joy: Libraries missing. Bleh. After scratching my kaposta for a bit, I realized I had installed the "development tools" package set, and the "kernel development" package set, but had neglected to install the stuff for KDE/Gnome development. Hence the error message. GCC couldn't find the correct libraries, cuz they weren't on the system. Rather than try to figure out which packages I needed, I simply started over and did a reinstall and added the aforementioned "package groups".
Can your Grandmother install RH 8.0 (I have a feeling Limbo is going to end up being 8.0 in order to keep RH's latest release number in the same ballpark as Mandrake, Slackware, and SuSE)? If her network is DHCP-enabled, yes -- simply point, click, and accept all the defaults, and you'll end up with a fully functional Linux installation. If her network connection uses static IPs, she'll need to know her IP, netmask, hostname, gateway, and name server. Beyond this, it's a no-brainer. I'm really impressed with the advancements in Linux installers over the last two years. They're getting better and more refined with each incarnation. So much so, engineers are now working on "prettiness" issues (consistently named radio buttons, etc.) now rather than core functionality. Kudos. There are a few minor "breakages" deep in the customization end of Anaconda, but they're relatively minor; nothing I uncovered caused the installation routine to out-and-out fail. I suspect these issues will be addressed in the final release.
Yes, I did eventually get Quanta 3.0-pre1 to successfully compile after I installed the requisite libraries. I'm typing this in JEdit (4.1 pre2), however. Like so many other Linux apps I've looked at over the course of the last year, Quanta is "close but no cigar". The developers have done a major make-over of the interface and added a great deal of new functionality, but they still have some serious work to do regarding document display. I opened my current week in Quanta, set several typical display options (word wrap=on, cursor wrap=yes, etc.), corrected a couple typos, and saved the page. When I opened the file again a few minutes later, the document format was hopelessly borked. The text had hard carriage returns inserted every 20 characters or so, and in some places, three or four returns. I didn't loose any content, but it took me over an hour to clean things up again -- suffice to say I was not amused. Unfortunately, I didn't think to make a backup of the file, so I can't bitch too loud or long. Overall, I like the direction Quanta is heading in, and I'll certainly revisit the product down the road, but Caveat Emptor... Do NOT use Quanta 3-pre without making a backup copy of your file(s) first. On a parallel note, JEdit 4.1 pre appears to be stable and well-mannered. Too bad JEdit doesn't have tag autocompletion. It's a feature I've become very accustomed to lately; it saves me a ton of time and dramatically cuts down on parser errors (all the IBM stuff I write is composed in XML and subsequently parsed to HTML/PDF). In short, tag completion is a must-have for any editor I use on a daily basis. Also, JEdit is written in Java, and as such, suffers from some annoying "lags" between key-presses and on-screen results. As a result, I often over-backspace using JEdit. Yeah, I know... pickey, pickey.
Despite the above minor setbacks, I like Red Hat 8. As noted yesterday, it's got the latest-greatest stable program versions (which for me translates into very few updates beyond the base install), and once you get beyond initial personal customizations, it -- so far -- appears to be a stable, reliable distribution. And the eye-candy is superb ;-) I'm currently working under KDE 3.0.2, with Keramik window decoration, using the Crystal Icon highcolor icon theme, reflecting with appreciation at the incredible digital artwork of Ryan Bliss I've got configured as a background image (Gotham Garden; see www.digitalblasphemy.com). Life is good. Linux is quietly, subtlely, advancing in both sophistication and functionality -- Desktop functionality, that is; it's been a superb server OS for some time now. For the first time since I started using Linux on a daily basis, I can look to the horizon with confidence and see the day when I can banish the XP partition from my notebook for good. Yes, I know there are people out there who have been using Linux exclusively -- every day, all day -- for years. But they don't have to deal with the variety of document formats and tasks I do. It won't be long though. All I need now is a good, professional quality HTML/XML editor. Then I'll be "good to go", and so will Windoz ;-)
I think I'll go immerse myself in an hour of Clancy's The Bear and the Dragon before I hit the pillow. The book's getting better with each passing chapter. Bart Manusco is back; this time around, he's advanced all the way to CINCPAC. And the Rainbox Team's just joined the plot (John Clarke, Ding Chavez, Allistar Stanley, and the rest of the Men in Black). Sometime Clancy takes a while to get all the characters in place and explained, and the plot fully developed, but when he does, his story-telling is second to none. Time to escape reality for a bit...
OK, I'm suitably impressed. I spent the evening scratching the underbelly of Red Hat's latest beta, Limbo (beta release 2, dated July 26th I believe). For my daily working environment, it would take a lot to sway me away from Gentoo, but I have a need for a quick-n-dirty development distro I can quickly install with a minimum of muss and fuss, and ideally end up with an installation that not only works, but works with the program versions I use on a routine basis. So far, I've used Red Hat 7.3 for such purposes; I suspect 7.3 will be supplanted by 8.0 (?) when it'sreleased.
What I like best about Limbo is that I don't have to do a lot of package updating to bring it up to what I consider to be my "working standard". Limbo ships with all the latest shell utilities, PHP 4.2.2, Perl 5.8.0, GCC 3.2.0, Samba 2.2.5, SSH 3.4p1, KDE 3.0.2, Gnome 2.0.1, and -- surprise, surprise -- Apache 2.0.36 (the first distro, to be best of my knowledge, shipping with Apache 2.0). About the only thing I'd immediately address is the kernel. Much to my chagrin, Red Hat Limbo still uses the 2.4.18 kernel; I prefer the 2.4.19 kernel. I've been running '19' under Gentoo for 2+ months now, and not only is it noticeably faster than '18', but my experiences show it to be rock solid. Personally, I wouldn't hestitate for a minute to run '19' on a production server. And speaking of "kernel stuff", Limbo is the first RH distribution I've ever used that installs the kernel source by default during setup (I selected the kernel development package, which I suspect is the "trigger"). Up to now, this has entailed a separate step after the initial install. Red Hat have also done a nice job revamping their graphical setup routine. It's clean, and available options are clearly laid out. Much cleaner than 7.3.
Tomorrow I plan to rebuild the kernel, and give the installer a serious workout (er, not necessarily in that order ;-). I'm also curious as to just how many apps have actually been compiled with GCC 3.2, and if I can unearth any significant library "breakages". More as I learn more.
Evenin'... It rained cats and dogs all day. Remarkable. Three-quarters of the US is suffering through a heat wave, some parts in drought conditions, and here in Saskatchewan it's been unseasonably cool and wet for two weeks now. Did anyone tell the weather Gods that we're the ones that usually get the heat this time of year? Of course, you know what's going to come of all this unseasonal weather, don't you? Next week the farmers are going to start bitching that unless we get some sun pretty soon, their crops are going to start suffering (spelled, government subsidy time). Yep, the same farmers that just two weeks ago were bitching about drought conditions... Interesting times indeed.
As promised, here's a bunch of interesting links I've been accumulating on my desktop:
First up, one of the best, most comprehensive Apache Comile HOWTOs I've stumbled across. It covers the basics, compiling in a standard set of modules, and adding modules at a later date using Apache's APXS utility. Later in the HOWTO the author gives detailed instructions for compiling MySQL and PHP to work with Apache. Recommened.
The next link is for all you Gentooers out there. One resourceful developer hacked the emerge codebase to allow background downloads while the program merrily continues to compile apps in the foreground. From what I've read on Gentoo-Dev, he's added some pretty sophisticated functionality. IIRC, the revised code handles unfetchable source and builds that crap out like so: If a dependency cannot be downloaded, the program moves to the next emerge request, if there is one; if a build fails for whatever reason, the program moves to the next full package request waiting to be compiled. I haven't tried the modified code yet, but I intend to soon. If someone gets there before me, shoot me an email with your experiences.
Speaking of Gentoo, the folks at TelemetryBox have put together what they've dubbed LiveCD. There's several variants (check the page for details), but the premise is a Gentoo-based CD that auto-boots and lets you play around with Gentoo without having to physically install anything; that is, a distro that -- for the most part -- runs off the CD. There's also a source CD available that allows you to build a Gentoo system without the need to a 24/7 Internet connection. Later, when everything is built and installed, you can then do an 'emerge -up world' and pick up any necessary updates to the base install.
Finally, for anyone out there with an interest in LDAP here's an excellent implementation HOWTO. No idea how I overlooked this before (I'm a regular patron of the Linux Documentation Project), but I did. The HOWTO is a first class overview of compiling and installing LDAP, security configurations, implementing Radius with LDAP, using LDAP to authenticate Samba users, using LDAP with DNS, and a ton of other useful material. I haven't been through all the material yet, but what I've seen is comprehensive and well put together.
There. That should keep everyone busy for a day or three ;-). Be good, and smile -- tomorrow's Friday...
I do apologize. I've been doing my best to put up a post every day -- even if just a paragraph or two about daily going-ons -- but tonight I'm afraid I ain't gonna make it. We went to a BBQ tonight, and arrived home later than I anticipated. In short, I'm bagged.
Tomorrow I'll do a "Syroid Manor" links of the week day. I stumbled across some gooders this morning... see you then.
I'm exhausted. I have no idea way, as I didn't do much today -- 8 hours or so of studying cryptic documentation, 2+ hours of writing, and hour on the phone discussing a future proposal with my boss... I guess I must be getting old. It's the only explanation I can come up with right off the top of my head :-(
It would appear the new SSL "incarnations" I spoke of yesterday are nowhere to be found. The OpenSSL site is showing the current release to be 0.9.6e. There are mutterings afoot, however. It would seem that both IE and Konq are vulnerable to attack via SSL/Certs. I haven't found much of substance on the whole issue, so I'll let it rest until I have time to waddle through the mess and reach some kind of substantive conclusions/course of action. In the meantime, here's a link to a Register article that has a few bits and pieces of the puzzle. The current round of black humor over M$'s "Secure Computing Initiative" hardly phases me anymore. I work in Gentoo for the most part, and when I need to drop in XP, for whatever reason, I use Mozilla 1.1 beta for surfing (continues to be rock solid, BTW).
I found the Deal of the Summer yesterday. Strolled into our brand new London Drugs store for a look around (a Canadian chain, similar to many large US "Drug" stores that really sell every but the kitchen sink...), and stumbled upon a remaindered computer book section -- Exchange 5.5 tombs, Office 97 stuff, etc. There I picked up a title, Linux: The Advanced Reference, published by the Walnut Creek CDROM group. It's 2000 pages (!?!) of Linux HOWTOs, plus the Linux System Administrators Manual, the Linux Network Administrators Guide, and a whole lot more. Yeah, most of the material is dated (how to compile a Linux 1.3 kernel ;-), but like so many things *NIX, there's a ton of stuff that works today just like it did 15 years ago. All in all, a great reference for my bookshelf. I paid a whole $9.99. Canadian.
I really, REALLY need to get my notebook in for repair. The screen is still @#%$@ing up (yeah, I know... first reported about six weeks ago, but I haven't had three days clear to part with it, and I can usually fix it by squeezing hard on the outer edges of the case), and today my 't' key starting typing duplicates for every keypress. AARRGH. I'm a touch-typist, and I never truly realized how often I type the letter 't' in the course of 10 minutes until now. I think I've spent more time backspacing today than I have moving forward. As Pooh would say, Bother. [mutter, mutter] Yep, have to add that to my TODO list for next week...
Other than the usual daily chaos and pandemonium around here, things are well. I'm busy and gainfully employed. Family's busy and enjoying the summer. As the saying goes, "The beat goes on...". Be well. I'm off to read some more Clancy.
It rained, steadily, all day yesterday. Today dawned bright and sunny, without a cloud in the sky. Strange weather. Our vegie garden appears delighted, however. After a weekend of rain, the result this morning was almost beyond belief. Our cilantro hasn't grown more than 1/2" since we planted it two months ago. It grew an inch over the weekend and developed all kinds of new leaves. Same with our lone celery plant -- it grew a good three inches. And our green pepper plants have three or four new peppers taking shape. Remarkable.
Lots of interesting news today... for a change ;-)
There might be a revision of Outlook in a Nutshell in the wings.
My knowledge of WSP (IBM WebSphere Portal) is slowly deepening. Complex as it is, it's also quite a unique product. Not only in the compartmental way it's assembled, but in some of it's capabilities. It won't be a cakewalk to get it installed and configured, but the process will no doubt generate some interesting notes, and potentially, a ton of "sellable" material.
My "Deep Cleaning" from the weekend spilled over into today. All my systems got a vacuum, a careful scan of all logs, and a general spring cleaning (what the heck... an August cleaning).
There appears to be "something up" with the OpenSSL code-base. Last week, 0.9.6e was released due to a relatively serious vulnerability. This weekend, 0.9.6f appeared. Today, 0.9.6g arrived. Frankly, I have no idea what's up, or what the developers are so busy fixing, but I intend to find out. Any attempt on my part to get to the OpenSSL Web site either timed out, or resulted in SLLLLOOOOWWWW response times (something -- ahem -- I don't tolerate all that well ;-). I'll see what I can dig up tomorrow. More as I know more.
Finally, I updated my BIND installation on Hydras today. Figured it was time. I was at 9.1.2 and a quick check of the BIND site showed the current stable code-base to be 9.2.1. So I DL'd the source, configured, built, and installed. Not a nit of trouble with any step of the process. Boy, has compiling "front line" programs on AIX ever improved. There was a day not so long ago that getting BIND to compile on Hydras took a minimum of three days and many, many contortions. Today, it took all of twenty minutes, and that included reading all the pertinent documentation. Over the years, I've gained a very healthy respect for my RS/6000 and AIX. Now that I know how to build a stable system, and the IBM engineers have most of the quirks worked out of AIX, everything simply works as advertised. The last time the system was down was when I had to physically unplug it to move in late April. It hasn't skipped a beat since. Not one. In the meantime, AIX has become foreign to me. I had to look up the command to restart the SRC (System Resource Controller) this morning. That's bad. No, actually, that's good. In a strange kinda way...
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