I have been running the box for over 2 and a half months now. (Notice that Linux machines are always called Boxes for some reason) Things were really shaky at first and it continues to be a struggle when I try to do new things for the first time. If this were my only computer, I think I could manage to find the programs and resources I need to become as proficient with the operating system and applications as I am on my windows machine, but at this time I do not see the need to spend the time doing so. Other than the fact that it is all supposed to be free (as I learned the things I REALLY want aren't so "free") I see no valid reason to switch from the windows environment to the Linux world.
For the benefit of anyone that doesn't want to read through everything I have posted, the following 9 posts are the ones I have deemed most noteworthy. They are in reverse order so that they can be read by going through the blog from top to bottom. (or thanks to a suggestion by Jennifer L, you may click the links)
1. Memory Fun
2. Network Folders
3. Becoming a Linux Geek
4. I commited a CRIME
5. A Little R&R
6. Something Cool
7. Zip ping along
8. A Noble Thought A Royal Pain
9. Hardware / Drive Tests
To my loyal reader, (I only had 1) I hope you have enjoyed my blog as much as I have enjoyed creating it. There are no guarantees as to the next time I will post here or how long this information will remain so enjoy it while you can.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Faster Boot Time
I put a new CD Drive in the computer to see if it would work. Two things happened. The first is that my computer loads much much faster now. It boots in under 2 minutes instead of taking well over 5 minutes. Also, the CD drive works again. Not sure what was wrong with the other drive or why it was slowing the whole boot process down, but since it works, I don't REALLY need to know.
Also, while I was going through the process of swapping out CD drives, on one of my boots I got a display that informed me that the computer was checking my Hard Drive since it had been mounted 30 times without being checked.
Also, while I was going through the process of swapping out CD drives, on one of my boots I got a display that informed me that the computer was checking my Hard Drive since it had been mounted 30 times without being checked.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Back to Blogging
So it's not that I haven't used the UNIX machine in the last 16 days... I have used it the couple of days that I was actually in my office. There was a Holiday for Good Friday on the 6th, Then I was out of work the 12th-16th. The rest of the days were the same boring stuff it has been for a while now. There were more updates and I did some web design. I printed a few handouts from the mapped drive. Other than that there was nothing exciting (or abnormal) until today.
I brought in some CDs to listen to while at work and it turns out that my CD drive is no longer mounted. The disks don't even spin in the drive. It still appears in the PLACES->Computer window, but when I click on it is says it can't mount it because no media was found. I even tried rebooting. O'well... I'll let you know if I find a solution.
I brought in some CDs to listen to while at work and it turns out that my CD drive is no longer mounted. The disks don't even spin in the drive. It still appears in the PLACES->Computer window, but when I click on it is says it can't mount it because no media was found. I even tried rebooting. O'well... I'll let you know if I find a solution.
Monday, April 2, 2007
A few things
Four updates this morning. 2 security, 1 recommended, and 1 back port.
gFTP was giving me problems. Turns out it is not a DRAG and DROP interface like SSH. In any case, every time I go Drag and Drop it generates error messages.
Going back to playing with the memory (see previous post) after using the computer for 5 hours, I did a FREE command. It is using 17620 of the Swap memory. The only thing I have open that I am using is Firefox to type in the blog. I closed everything else.
Looking at the System Monitor, Firefox is taking up 40.9 MG there are 18 applications taking up between 1 and 10 and 9 applications taking up less than 1.
gFTP was giving me problems. Turns out it is not a DRAG and DROP interface like SSH. In any case, every time I go Drag and Drop it generates error messages.
Going back to playing with the memory (see previous post) after using the computer for 5 hours, I did a FREE command. It is using 17620 of the Swap memory. The only thing I have open that I am using is Firefox to type in the blog. I closed everything else.
Looking at the System Monitor, Firefox is taking up 40.9 MG there are 18 applications taking up between 1 and 10 and 9 applications taking up less than 1.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Memory Fun
I saw the article http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-linux-memory.html? which discusses how to reduce your memory footprint in Linux. I decided to check it out and play around. I booted my computer and issued the free command.
I had 385876 available, 266060 used and I had 851404 in my swap and 0 being used
I then launched GAIM, Firefox, and Evolution. My used jumped to 343732 but still nothing in the swap.
I then launched a streaming radio station, gFTP, and Text Editor. These are the things I typically run when I edit webpages (the majority of what I do on the computer) My used memory jumped to 374880 and there still was nothing in the swap, but I was getting close.
Based on the article, I use the biggest memory hogs... Firefox, OpenOffice, and Gaim, but they don't seem to be a problem. My system doesn't go REALLY fast, but it isn't unbearably slow either.
I checked out the system monitor and it showed only a few items using over 1 mg. Firefox was the worst at almost 20mg. The other thing was that the applications still took up memory, but they were "sleeping" after I closed them.
So I didn't get anything really useful out of the article, but maybe someone reading this will.
I had 385876 available, 266060 used and I had 851404 in my swap and 0 being used
I then launched GAIM, Firefox, and Evolution. My used jumped to 343732 but still nothing in the swap.
I then launched a streaming radio station, gFTP, and Text Editor. These are the things I typically run when I edit webpages (the majority of what I do on the computer) My used memory jumped to 374880 and there still was nothing in the swap, but I was getting close.
Based on the article, I use the biggest memory hogs... Firefox, OpenOffice, and Gaim, but they don't seem to be a problem. My system doesn't go REALLY fast, but it isn't unbearably slow either.
I checked out the system monitor and it showed only a few items using over 1 mg. Firefox was the worst at almost 20mg. The other thing was that the applications still took up memory, but they were "sleeping" after I closed them.
So I didn't get anything really useful out of the article, but maybe someone reading this will.
Today the Gnome can Kiss my ###
Okay, so I thought we still had to do the class assignment where we play with the Mapping Tools. I tried to use the two programs (other than inspiration) that we had in class. These things just don't work in Linux. I could not get CMAP tools because the retarded thing would not get past the registration page. FreeMind has two installs. Being familiar with Debian I clicked on that one and was taken to a page where I would have to download and figure out 5 different files. So I said screw it to both of them and went into the Synaptic Package Manager. I did a search for Freemind and it returned a package called Kdissert. I installed it and checked it out.
Kdissert was not very intuitive, but after a quick look into the help file things started to roll along. I got the things added that I had on the map that I created in class and used the program to "create documents" I told it to create a single page HTML which I posted at http://web.utk.edu/~jrieger/cookies Check it out, it looks like crap!
So I wanted the picture... this thing only exports PNG files... I can create a PNG, take it into GIMP, make a jpg, and share that... sounds like a waste of effort to me so I made a JAVA applet. That was a big mistake. I created the files, read the readme file, compiled the applet and opened the main.html in Firefox. Apparently Firefox did not have the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) and it refused to install it. I tried a manual install, but got lost when the directions told me to go to the folder with mozilla plugins and make a symbolic link from there to the JRE folder. Why in the world can't they just make the %*^&ing thing work in the first place?
Undaunted but saying things that would make a sailor blush, I returned to the Synaptic Package Manager and performed a search for JAVA. From there I installed all the JAVA Environments I could find (like 20 files 186 Meg...) and then tried my file in firefox...
I got the message HOSTILE APPLETS WILL STEAL AND/OR DESTROY YOUR DATA!! I thought what the hell, if it breaks then at least I will have an excuse not to finish figuring this out so I added it to my White list. There it was, my pretty picture.
I uploaded it to my Unix account with several problems which I'm not going to detail here because I really have no idea what the problem was. It involved me getting disconnect several times and having to reconnect before things just worked. You can TRY to view it at http://web.utk.edu/~jrieger/cookies2 but I tried it in I.E. on my Windows machine and it decided not to work.
While I am at it, I might as well also mention that the idiot that programmed the Kdissert to make main.html the default file name for the webpage files needs to be tarred and feathered. I know... It is open source, if I had the time and knowledge I could just re-write the program and fix it, but I don't have the time or the knowledge.
So, something that would not have been a problem and would have worked in less than 15 minutes in a Windows environment took me almost 2 hours in Linux and is still not right.
Kdissert was not very intuitive, but after a quick look into the help file things started to roll along. I got the things added that I had on the map that I created in class and used the program to "create documents" I told it to create a single page HTML which I posted at http://web.utk.edu/~jrieger/cookies Check it out, it looks like crap!
So I wanted the picture... this thing only exports PNG files... I can create a PNG, take it into GIMP, make a jpg, and share that... sounds like a waste of effort to me so I made a JAVA applet. That was a big mistake. I created the files, read the readme file, compiled the applet and opened the main.html in Firefox. Apparently Firefox did not have the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) and it refused to install it. I tried a manual install, but got lost when the directions told me to go to the folder with mozilla plugins and make a symbolic link from there to the JRE folder. Why in the world can't they just make the %*^&ing thing work in the first place?
Undaunted but saying things that would make a sailor blush, I returned to the Synaptic Package Manager and performed a search for JAVA. From there I installed all the JAVA Environments I could find (like 20 files 186 Meg...) and then tried my file in firefox...
I got the message HOSTILE APPLETS WILL STEAL AND/OR DESTROY YOUR DATA!! I thought what the hell, if it breaks then at least I will have an excuse not to finish figuring this out so I added it to my White list. There it was, my pretty picture.
I uploaded it to my Unix account with several problems which I'm not going to detail here because I really have no idea what the problem was. It involved me getting disconnect several times and having to reconnect before things just worked. You can TRY to view it at http://web.utk.edu/~jrieger/cookies2 but I tried it in I.E. on my Windows machine and it decided not to work.
While I am at it, I might as well also mention that the idiot that programmed the Kdissert to make main.html the default file name for the webpage files needs to be tarred and feathered. I know... It is open source, if I had the time and knowledge I could just re-write the program and fix it, but I don't have the time or the knowledge.
So, something that would not have been a problem and would have worked in less than 15 minutes in a Windows environment took me almost 2 hours in Linux and is still not right.
UGGG Updates
So I must admit I have neglected my computer since Friday. I wasn't at work Monday and I attended and taught class on Tuesday. Today there were 40 updates waiting!!! 87.6MB... 24 security updates and 16 recommended updates. One of the "Recommended" updates was for a thing called "Popularity Contest" which "Votes for your favourite packages automatically" This was an UPDATE so someone decided to put the stupid thing on there without my knowledge. Next task... turn it off!!
I'm getting a little tired of all the updates. I know they are supposed to keep me safe and secure, but all I ever do anymore is perform updates!
I'm getting a little tired of all the updates. I know they are supposed to keep me safe and secure, but all I ever do anymore is perform updates!
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