The nights ramble

by

Spent some time to night to journal my thought, a brain dump if you will. To place my mind at a computational ease and to execute a back trace upon which to unravel the stack until some sense be made clear.

If I post it here for future reference, it will probably be fed through a caeser cipher with a rotation only those close to me could guess without brute forcing, just enough technological gain over LJ’s privacy controls to out-fox those who would read over my shoulder. I have a little less distinction then most others do between the public, personal, and private separation of things in so far as my life is largely an open book while I remain a skillful one at holding the secrets I have been entrusted within my life time and maintaining operational security for the things that I need secured. Wile yet remaining quite open about myself, as I have almost nothing to hide.

So the issue of posting it with what ever settings is mostly inrelivent because any harm that could be caused by allowing it to be read, would be by those that the task of decoding would be beyond their ability while no security measure available to avoid such a viewing regardless of posting options if it was not to be encoded.

And the closest of my friends generally know of what it would contain, although few among the living know from what rotations I would chose when selecting the key to a Caeser Cipher.

And I look forward to tomorrow, because I will hopefully have the time to play with upgrading the test machine in ways most definitely not supposed or intended by the systems designers hehe.

For now, I need some sleep and I suppose I can forget about the ~/brain-dump.backtrace file for now. I suspect odds are in the future I will add more to it, 

 wc brain-dump.backtrace
#    lines  words  bytes file
     225    2344   12081 brain-dump.backtrace

So close, yet so farfetched.

by

I’ve begun implementing Style 1 for NPM’s user interface but it is much less functional then style 2. I think style 1 is a lot more conventional, it’s based on an idea I had a long time ago. After I installed Qt3 bindings for Ruby I thought about writing a ports front end with that kind of layout.

I personally like style 2, it has a ‘orthodox’ file manager like style to it, since I’ve never gotten to use such a file manager a lot that might be why I like it lool. I stil need to write the loading code but that won’t be difficult in python.

It is however the most obvious thing in the world to me that as soon as my family is up and about there is not even a snow balls chance in hell of getting further work done.

Which as this case proves, means it’s time to kill some time until bed time… So I can get back to coding in piece and start work on my PC-BSD test machine.

Yet that dream still naggs at my mind….

by

I figure for today, I can probably work on updating my PC-BSD test machine to using FreeBSD 7, for updating the ports that will likely have to wait for later. With luck I can leave it running over night.

I want to spend some time working on the user-interface for NPM, I know what I want but I am not sure what value it will have. Essentially my idea is for the user to select from several implementations of the main window including the ability to use custom made modules for it.

I also want to implement an option by which each module is checked against a given list of checksums, if the module fails the checksum it won’t be allowed to load. With this method one could theroectically restrict any non-NPM supplied window layouts from being loaded but it’s probably a useless feature but one I’d like to tinker with just for the fun of it lol.

I also know if I don’t get a few things out of my head I’m going to pop.. Maybe coding will help :.

Whistling FreeBSD 7

by

Hehe, as a friend requested a screen shot of when I got FreeBSD 7 up:

[click to enlarge]
Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Well actually it is about an hour and a half to two hours after but I dunno how to take a screen shot of FreeBSDs system console without image magic, then again I could’ve always used the camera… But no one wants to stare at the command prompt but me <_<.

FreeBSD 7.0 booted incredibly fast for my exptation, even off the install CD I think it out paced PC-BSD 1.4 (which uses FreeBSD 6.3-stuff). As always I set a few of the install options before hand, low output while installing packages, debugging console on etc. Normally when I setup a FreeBSD box I do a custom installation and exact maximum control over what goes in. For this, I just chose to use the canned X-Kern-Developer installation set which is essentially FreeBSD + Kernel Sources + Xorg which is what I wanted, I’m not expecting to need any sources other then the kernels.

For the optional packages I picked out a bare minimal to get me started, zsh for my user account -> I can use any of the standard shells easy enough but I ‘like’ the zsh hehe. Also portupgrade to ease any installation issues and a desktop environment, I chose to go the gnome2 meta-route.

The install went very fast as usual and the whole time was basically spent installing X and associated crap. It did however bomb out on LibIDL not being found on disk 2 fragging the gnome install so it would seem and barfing at the ruby package on the disk set. I think this is rather /strange/ for having downloaded all 3 ISO’s to avoid things like that… But hey, I don’t mind. Usually when I install FreeBSD I only take off the CD-ROM’s what I’ll need to get the machine connected to the internet, usually nothing as far as whats in ports goes.

However despite the lack of a desktop and portupgrade utility I booted into an other wise fully functional system. Mounted my existing install on /mnt and merged my network config into the FreeBSD 7.0-RELEASE one and copied over the xorg.conf file, volia we have working internet and X.Org ! No need to even load kernel modules, although sound didn’t work because I never added the line to /boot/loader.conf for it: no problem on a test install. Whether or not sysinstall has gained the ability to handle WPA Encryption over the years I didn’t bother because setting up my well supported PCMCIA card is a breeze as long as you can use a text editor.

I then set the gdm_enable variable in /etc/rc.conf then I had to change the site to fetch packages from because ftp.FreeBSD.org was still shouting about to many connected users so I set PACKAGEROOT to ftp://ftp13.us.FreeBSD.org/ in roots .login file, logged in & out and proceeded to pkg_add portupgrade and gnome2.

That took about an hour !!!! A little toying with pkg_info and wc, and I would say that gnome depends on about 365+ things… Glad I got a working X.Org install off the CD-ROM… It took ****for freaking ever**** to download all of the packages for gnome but one console command and a single line added to the config file and it just /works/ out of the box after a reboot, although of course I already had the xorg.conf file hehe.

I’m a KDE user by taste not a Gnome one but I decided to install Gnome and while I don’t care much for Gnome I am glad to see that aside from the long wait that installing and setting up Gnome on FreeBSD is as painless as it gets thanks to the hard work of those maintaining the port. Now, customizing Gnome to do your evil bidding is some times problematic hehe. I only like two things about Gnome, that it looks nice (usually) and that it gets well the **** out of your way.

If that is worth the horrendous inefficient user interface they have for file open/save dialogs I dunno… But KDE is the best in that regard that I’ve ever seen.

There was just one small problem, since the FreeBSD 7.0-RELEASE install was going into a partition previously housing a linux distro I was testing a few months ago, it also took with it the GRUB configuration as was planned. So I had my GAG install CD ready before I started with FreeBSD because I knew I was going to be removing the boot loader I was using for PC-BSD (GRUB).

The problem, 2 OSes setup for booting in GAG but only the first would boot (FreeBSD 7). I even used the install disk to overwrite GAG with BSDs normal boot manager but no luck, it wouldn’t boot ad0s2a ! When ever I chose to boot off the second partition in GAG it would boot off the first, FreeBSDs boot manager would just beep at the second partition.

There is always more then one way to screw with a boot procedure, man I love thinking ^_^. Loaded up my trusty never wanta leave home without it Knoppix Linux LiveCD and used QTParted to unmark ad0s1a (FreeBSD 7) as active and to make extra sure I did the same to ad0s2a (PC-BSD 1.4) and set ad0s2a active again before commiting my changes.

Reboot and reinstall of GAG, PC-BSD boots fine and so does FreeBSD !

I know you’re only supposed to have one partition marked active and GOD and IBM only know what could happen if more then one ended up set active :. I figured that either GAG had to be goofing it up or there was some thing slagged. Sure enough QTParted told me both partitions were marked active..

I ain’t gonna ask how, not even if it is possible, so long as nothing explodes and my laptop works fully I am a happy spider hehe.

In my personal opinion, aside from my booting mixup I think any one able to read & understand English (I’ve never tried installing in another language) could get a working desktop in less then 2 hours if they sought after the suitable level of knowledge to configure there systems internet connection, for most wired users that is a cake walk during the install. And to setup an X.Org config file which is not a very hard task, when the proper values work that is lol.

PC-BSD on the other hand, 30-45 minutes time spent installing (mostly installing the files while you relax) and you have a fully functional KDE Desktop. That’s why I have PC-BSD on my laptop, because other wise I would have to install KDE manually… in which case I would probably skip it and just install amarok and friends 😉

With the increased performance in FreeBSD 7, I can’t wait to see PC-BSD 2.0 when they finally switch over. It should sure as heck boot faster for them then Ubuntu on a first date 😉

One thing I personally find weird, when I do have a problem 90% of the time if it makes sense I can figure out the problem eventually. The other 10% of the time, what makes sense doesn’t work 8=) so the only solution is to ‘fsck with it a bit.

What dreams come

by

I can’t help but wonder if my dreams begin to haunt me or to comfort me..

To see the things I long so hard for come forth only to have them torn away. I look to and fro, and wonder if I be in heaven or hell. As the scene continues, oh so sweet a scene.. It seems as if life may finally be on the upward course. I see my desires fulfilled, my hopes grow at the sight of my dreams. The things that ebb away at my mind are put to a rest… My life finally has peace and a promise of prosperity to come. A stoll through the woods, in search of nothing but communication without eave dropping ears as it seems the torments of my life are set right in this era of happiness but it is only a short time before business must part me from our shared path. I must leave to attend to things but will return home shortly. Yet what unfolds is only to be replaced by horror, replaced by the monster.

Nothing left but to survive and return home… Business gone astray what ever it may have been and the terrors of the jungle standing in the way.

While I’m not built like Arnold Schwarzenegger, in life or dreams the creature is infinitely more deadly then the Predator ever could have been. While Dutch was also unarmed against the monster, he was able to build weapons and utilize camouflage… The predators naked eyes being much less accuate a judge of heat sources. No such luck in this case; the creature has no weakness that I can exploit as it pursues me, like a demon in search of prey. It is fast, impossibly strong yet ever so nimble a creature and twice as deadly. Human wit however proves more then a match for its brute force even when left weaponless in the jungle. It is only my will to drive me, the will to keep going and punch through the struggle.

Now with no harm left, I stand and realize that I am trapped here. Nothing left to harm me, nothing left to fight. Yet how do I return home?

And I awoke to the world around me… To the questions that plague my mind, will I ever succeed in reaching such a life?

To be or not to be, that is the question;
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to — ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life,
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th’oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th’unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.

— Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act III, Scene I

To be, that is the answer…

Practical Fusion Power, getting closer to the real world?

by

MIT Fights for Clean Power With Holy Grail of Fusion in Reach

This article is quite interesting for me, maybe I’m an old ‘Mech head at heart but I think a practical and eventually miniaturized fusion power source is the real block on some day seeing a real ‘Mech walking about. Well, that and about 20 Billion dollars a year to develop the rest of the hardware and software environment xD.

And to top it off, there research seems to be putting the concepts used in tokamaks to work. Man I ain’t heard hide nor hair of one in ages..

Who knows, maybe in 70-150 years the power problem will be solved, if there’s still a planet left.. Either way I probably won’t live to see it but hey, a lad can dream. If a practical fusion reactor could be developed and put to propulsive uses without needing a capitol ship or any thing else huge to do it, oh baby would that open a few doors to what we could do. But what ever comes up over the next few decades, will still probably be to large to be very portable :

by

Downloading FreeBSD 7.0-RELEASE and hoping my internet connection doesn’t fuck up on me…. freaking phones !!!

I’d like to tell bellsouth where they can stick there equipment…

Currently running 334MB of 509MB (rounded) and going at 270~340KB/Sec and still going full steam a head downloading i386 Disc #1.

I’m shocked really, the main download server already popped past the max connection limit when I went to browse the files.

Seeing the situation I started looking to see which US mirror was the fastest, several seemed to be KiA when I started pinging to find the best response time. Oddly enough ftp13.us.FreeBSD.org had the best response and by a vast majority !!!

Oh baby is this gonna be a goooooooooood release xD. I started with FreeBSDs 6.0-RELEASE and look forward to seeing the things coming out of current hehe. There’s also a driver for 7.0 that I want to test out some time soon, I might have to wait awhile… I know my desktop did a kernel compile of 6.1-Release in like ~45 minutes but my laptop is not quite as powerful….

Haha, this reminds me of when my file server ran FreeBSD. Chugging away on that little 500Mhz Pentium III it used to take like 6 to 8 hours to recompile the entire operating system but always rock solid.

Even if I was sound asleep by the end <_<

Now I’ve dreamed everything

by

It’s normal for me to have a string of dreams but this last one just takes the cake. I woke up around 1030R and went back to bed…

I dreamed I was a part of a U.S. Army raid on an island to destroy a weapons cache in the middle of World War II. We stormed the house with frags, going room by room. No one there…

Heading up stairs, swapping a M3 Grease Gun with another soldiers M1 Grand we started working throuhg the upstairs.

Kicking in door by door we cleared, I walked point with the M1 rifle… Maybe 30-45seconds later we had secured 5 or 6 rooms with little more man power then that. Moving so quick we didn’t need modern conviences like flash bangs, we even checked the closets for any one hiding but still no one there !!!

And then some one saw out the window and remarked….

They ground up the guns and fed them to the birds, it was all sitting out on the roof :

CCAN YOU GET CRAZIER A DREAM THEN THAT !? Who the heck grinds up weapons and feeds the seagulls with them before the enemy arrives !?

Dissatisfied I kept looking with the captains permission, moving my fire team about determined to until I spotted two troopers loading weapons on the roof… Flung open the window and opened fire with my Grand emptying a magazine but like magic nothing hit, I must be playing to much Raven Shield these days !!

As the alarms raised, was forced to retreat… when I realized I was alone, no one else left. Kept moving through the cleared rooms to find cover as the enemy closed in, only to find an officer… Dropping an apparently useless rifle I dropped to my knees with hands on my head as the Officer shot a round over my head.. To his thanks lol.

I found out every one was captured while we were clearing, winding up in the brig with the rest of the squad we started planning how to escape from our cells and carry on the mission. But I woke up before we got beyond the underground brig :

Now I’ve dreamed just about everything loool.

by

Ahh some time to rest I hope.

Bumped the chair into the roof moving it from the living room to mybedroom… woke ma up which got me sent out to cover the car, which woke up the dogs lol.

It’s only 35 degrees Fahrenheit out (~1.6 Celsius) even with the wind chill so it’s not to bad, just breezy. Call me strange but I’m out in a T-Shirt lol –> Born in Florida I love the cold weather xD.

With a little luck maybe I can get some rest. I know Willow is pissed that it’s to cold to go outside (lucky for me). Hopefully I can catch the rest of Jumanji snd get a bit of work done before any one else wakes up…

: