A bit closer to normal, at least for now!
3 years ago
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
The long weekend has given me the chance to do some stuff on my computer at home. Here are some of the things I have learned.
I spent some time looking for color profiles to use with the likes of GIMP. I went looking to see if I could find any for my digital camera. Turns out that my camera is so old that it is a museum piece. I spent a couple of hours with Google and could not find an icc or icm file anywhere.
I managed to find some profiles for my monitor by looking in the cab files that contain the software on the driver disc. I have them extracted now.
My monitor also has a non-standard aspect ratio. I tried to set up a new screen resolution but gave up. I did find that I actually have a clearer picture if I set the resolution to the optimum resolution and set the font size larger so I can read everything. I still end up using the compiz zoom feature a lot.
I spent so Christmas money on a new keyboard. The actual keyboard is really nice to use. The extra multimedia keys around the keyboard do not. Actually some of them do, but the one I would like to work does not. That is the zoom toggle on the left hand side. I cannot seem to get anything to register the key press. Even xev does not register it. I suspect there is a low-level something that is missing. Hopefully it will start working as new versions of kernels and other software are available. I am also hoping I can make it scroll, or compiz zoom. The original intention of the keyboard is to increase font sizes.
This keyboard also has an "F-lock" button. Took me ages to work out why the function keys did not work. I have no idea what useful purpose the "f-lock" key serves. If anyone knows, then pass it on.
The keyboard also has a wireless mouse with it too. I must say that I am not very impressed with it. The biggest annoyance has to be the flakiness of the middle button. The middle mouse button gets used a lot, and it is fast becoming annoying. I may end up ditching the mouse in favor of another.
I spent some time looking for color profiles to use with the likes of GIMP. I went looking to see if I could find any for my digital camera. Turns out that my camera is so old that it is a museum piece. I spent a couple of hours with Google and could not find an icc or icm file anywhere.
I managed to find some profiles for my monitor by looking in the cab files that contain the software on the driver disc. I have them extracted now.
My monitor also has a non-standard aspect ratio. I tried to set up a new screen resolution but gave up. I did find that I actually have a clearer picture if I set the resolution to the optimum resolution and set the font size larger so I can read everything. I still end up using the compiz zoom feature a lot.
I spent so Christmas money on a new keyboard. The actual keyboard is really nice to use. The extra multimedia keys around the keyboard do not. Actually some of them do, but the one I would like to work does not. That is the zoom toggle on the left hand side. I cannot seem to get anything to register the key press. Even xev does not register it. I suspect there is a low-level something that is missing. Hopefully it will start working as new versions of kernels and other software are available. I am also hoping I can make it scroll, or compiz zoom. The original intention of the keyboard is to increase font sizes.
This keyboard also has an "F-lock" button. Took me ages to work out why the function keys did not work. I have no idea what useful purpose the "f-lock" key serves. If anyone knows, then pass it on.
The keyboard also has a wireless mouse with it too. I must say that I am not very impressed with it. The biggest annoyance has to be the flakiness of the middle button. The middle mouse button gets used a lot, and it is fast becoming annoying. I may end up ditching the mouse in favor of another.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
cold and colder
Today was a record breaker here in Bismarck. It was the coldest January 15th on record. This is from the NWS website. I'm going to quote it because I am not sure if the site has a permalink.
At work we were discussing whether it was cold enough to spit and the saliva to freeze before it hit the ground. Unfortunately none of us thought to do it at that time. However, one of my colleagues did show me this.
Throwing hot coffee looks like more fun than spitting.
RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
737 AM CST THU JAN 15 2009
...RECORD DAILY MINIMUM TEMPERATURE BROKEN AT BISMARCK ND...
AT 734 AM CST THIS THURSDAY MORNING THE TEMPERATURE AT THE BISMARCK
AIRPORT DROPPED TO -44 DEGREES. THIS BREAKS THE RECORD LOW FOR JAN
15TH OF -36 PREVIOUSLY SET IN 1971.
At work we were discussing whether it was cold enough to spit and the saliva to freeze before it hit the ground. Unfortunately none of us thought to do it at that time. However, one of my colleagues did show me this.
Throwing hot coffee looks like more fun than spitting.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
CentOS Security
Over at Planet CentOS there has been a rash of posts about security, here, here and here. Wise words, check them out.
Reading this got me thinking about using the non-standard packages and compiling from source. I think one of the reasons why sys-admins do this is because they are more comfortable with the package they want to use. This may be personal preference, and the preference may be because it is what they know. As a sys-admin, you rarely get to run the software you want. You have to make do with what you have or what others want. The business wnats you to load this software, and thhis software needs this specific app server which is not your favorite, or one you know well.
Like it or not, that is part of the job. On the plus side, learning new softaer gives more knowledge and experience which is only a good thing.
Reading this got me thinking about using the non-standard packages and compiling from source. I think one of the reasons why sys-admins do this is because they are more comfortable with the package they want to use. This may be personal preference, and the preference may be because it is what they know. As a sys-admin, you rarely get to run the software you want. You have to make do with what you have or what others want. The business wnats you to load this software, and thhis software needs this specific app server which is not your favorite, or one you know well.
Like it or not, that is part of the job. On the plus side, learning new softaer gives more knowledge and experience which is only a good thing.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
New look for Suzuki
One of the things I do on the side is support the Bismarck Suzuki School of Music by doing stuff on their web site.
When I inherited it, it was a static website. It meant that updating content was time consuming and, quite honestly, I would have made it look a lot worse.
So I installed Wordpress. It made adding content a lot simpler. Last summer Cheryl, the president of the school, spent hours putting up lots of content. It means that she does not need to know any HTML to add all this content.
When I originally set it up, I used roughly the same style as the previous site. Now I have a new theme up there. It was designed by my brother, and then Douglas Tschetter was kind enough to turn it in to a theme for me.
I think it looks pretty good. So thanks Ade and Doug.
When I inherited it, it was a static website. It meant that updating content was time consuming and, quite honestly, I would have made it look a lot worse.
So I installed Wordpress. It made adding content a lot simpler. Last summer Cheryl, the president of the school, spent hours putting up lots of content. It means that she does not need to know any HTML to add all this content.
When I originally set it up, I used roughly the same style as the previous site. Now I have a new theme up there. It was designed by my brother, and then Douglas Tschetter was kind enough to turn it in to a theme for me.
I think it looks pretty good. So thanks Ade and Doug.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Not again!
Not content with serving us more snow this last month than we had the whole of last winter, the weather may have more in store for us....
Past experience has shown that such messages are not always wholly accurate. Suffice to say somewhere in the state somebody is going to get snow this weekend.URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
421 PM CST THU DEC 18 2008
...SIGNIFICANT WINTER STORM POSSIBLE THIS WEEKEND...
.A SIGNIFICANT WINTER STORM MAY IMPACT WEST AND CENTRAL NORTH
DAKOTA BEGINNING LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND CONTINUING THROUGH LATE
SATURDAY NIGHT. SNOW WILL DEVELOP ACROSS WESTERN NORTH DAKOTA
FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT...AND MAY BECOME HEAVY BY SATURDAY. SNOW
AMOUNTS OF 6 TO 10 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE FROM THE TURTLE MOUNTAINS
IN THE NORTH CENTRAL...THROUGH JAMESTOWN AND SOUTH TO THE SOUTH
DAKOTA BORDER BY SUNDAY MORNING. FOUR TO SEVEN INCHES OF SNOW IS
POSSIBLE FROM MINOT TO BISMARCK...WITH 2 TO 4 INCHES OF SNOW
POSSIBLE ACROSS THE WEST. ALTHOUGH THE WEST WILL SEE LESS OF THE
SNOW...WIND CHILLS TO 50 BELOW AND STRONG WINDS WILL CAUSE VERY
HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS BY LATE SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT. NEAR
BLIZZARD CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS PORTIONS OF CENTRAL NORTH
DAKOTA SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND SATURDAY NIGHT WHERE THE HEAVIER
SNOW AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED
Monday, December 15, 2008
yet more snow
It looks like we will be measuring snow accumulations in feet and not inches this winter. I do not know what the running total is so far, but I now have a bank of snow beside my driveway that is as tall as I am. I do not think my boulevards can take much more snow. In fact the section of driveway between the side walk and the road is getting narrower because there is nowhere else to put the snow.
And it is cold! I wore so many clothes walking (more like wading) to work that my cube is full of outerwear.
And then to make matters worse, Kim has posted some photos of her modeling her latest shawls. While they are nice garments, I was more struck by the fact that they were taken outside in December and she is not wearing a coat. I wish I could stand outside like that without pulling on hats scarves, coats, etc.
And it is cold! I wore so many clothes walking (more like wading) to work that my cube is full of outerwear.
And then to make matters worse, Kim has posted some photos of her modeling her latest shawls. While they are nice garments, I was more struck by the fact that they were taken outside in December and she is not wearing a coat. I wish I could stand outside like that without pulling on hats scarves, coats, etc.
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