wetalknation.net - Blogs - Ricks937

The switch

Ricks937 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:07:10 GMT

So I've got an Asus EEE 900 20g, I love it! It fits in my pocket (coat pocket) is handy to have around and has a much more usable keyboard then the ipod touch (rolls eye) or my Sharp Zaurus SL6000 and it has a normal OS. :) (zaurus uses a funky distro thats 5+ yeas old)

However... The eee I still have xandros on it, which is pretty nice but based on etch debian which is last generation debian... I'm all about not being cutting edge, but when you have computers and security to think about "sudo aptitude upgrade" is a pretty easy decision. However... Etch has pretty much come to its EOL. And you can't just upgrade to lenny that borks the eee.

So do I switch over to ubuntu or chill with something that 'just works' for now? I'm on a decent connection now so it's not a matter of installing it, and I have a server i can backup the current state.... But it still works, ya know?

I've been on the fence about this for a few months now. Last week I switched from wep to wpa for my wireless network, and the key I used for some reason was supported by every node besides the eee. So after much fiddling I finally shortened the key down a few characters and it worked. Had it not I would be on ubuntu 9.10 now :P

The moral of the blog: Procrastination is amazing :)

A quest for a Quote Database System

Ricks937 — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 07:10:47 GMT

So it was suggest a quote database be started for all the irc/forum quotes. I hopped to looking for some software that would do this.

Simple task you would think? Not so!

For Rash:
RASH Quote Management System
http://sourceforge.net/projects/rqms

OSQDB: Open Source Quote Database:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/osqdb

and Chirpy!:
Chirpy! - A Free Quote Manager
http://chirpy.sourceforge.net/
all pretty much suck. Not easy to install, security risks, errors, bad code, etc. I wasn't able to successfully install any of those. So I put the project on hold for a few days. Today went I went to look again I came across

QdbS 1.10
http://www.qdbs.org/news.php

Which was good! Super easy to install add/remove users add quotes etc. Easy to change the pages too! All of it seems to good compared to the other software I've found...

Moral of the blog: Finding a working program is much easier than finding a solution to a program that doesn't work. Even if it does take more time.

Review: Linksys HGA7T

Ricks937 — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 06:13:18 GMT

Linksys.com - Products/Wireless/Basic Networking/Range Expanders & Antennas/HGA7T

I got this because my wireless single plain sucked. I have/had my computer behind a furnace and a few walls (in the library) and it wasn't the best wireless signal (with my pcmcia card I was getting a "0-9" and a slew of disconnects, with my internal wireless card, I wasn't able to connect most of the time). Upstairs was bad too, you could generally connect, but as my Zaurus would tell me the connection was "weak" and in the "red" (red being the worst, yellow being barely there, green being decent, and blue being excellent).
This is 7dB gain it should give me loads more range/quality... right?

Well... not exactly... it still isn't that great a signal in the library (I didn't check the number but XP said between poor and very poor.) upstairs is slightly better as well. But I'm not in the blue up there, still in the green (which is an improvement, it used to fade from green to red alot) from what I've seen its been alot happier upstairs.

But in the rooms near the router its noticeable. I used to get "good" 20 feet and 1 wall from the router. Now it's "very" good. I am getting a bit further range as well(I can get onto the road 150 feet or so) and still ping Google.

It was really simple to install as well, a matter of unscrew old bad antenna, and twist on new one. Like 1 minute operation.

Moral of the blog: I got mine for $15 shipped, if you can too, i would say its worth it. If you need to pay much more than that, a cantenna might be a cheaper and better option.

Moar bern notess plz!

Ricks937 — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 03:43:42 GMT

How annoying is it when you are expecting a tv program to air at a certain time on a certain day, only to find out it won't (after you've waited!)?

I hope anyone else hasn't suffered this, but it's somewhat akin to expecting a cool box in the mail, only to have it come a week after it was suppose too. I didn't see anything about it on Google either (I guess my googlefu is slipping). So I went into #chat and used floris' IRC bot to ??next burn.notice (actually I made a typo but it was still able to figure it out, I was impressed) only to find out I had to wait two weeks? How lame is that!? I forget who, but somebody then said 'oh yeah, its on hiatus, new season stuff is being released'. I can see that I guess, but why do they need to take off a good show to put on suck/fail? At the moment there aren't any shows I watch as faithfully as B.N. and so I need to wait until 9/12, and then in a few weeks Numb3rs will be on two! w00t!

Stupid Writers Strike...

Ricks937 — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 03:04:21 GMT

It would seem to me, TV has been less interesting/good since the strike.

I've not been half as apt to want to watch tv since then. I'm not sure if I just got out of the grove, or since I moved I haven't had a tv right next to my computer so I'm less apt to watch something, or something else... But I thought it was really annoying... they screwed up the seasons, (Heroes, Scrubs, terminator, etc)

Moral of the blog: Greed leads to bad, and less viewers which screws up your job anyway, smooth one chief.

Is there a future for Terminator - Sarah Connor Chronicles? - wetalk.tv

Will the writers strike cause a show to get cancelled? - wetalk.tv

http://wetalk.tv/shows/4239-article-...hronicles-fox/

Numb3rs is back!

Ricks937 — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 03:52:48 GMT

W00t! Fall season! Looking forward to Numb3rs, Chuck, Knight Rider in particularly. I haven't really been keeping up to see what all is new and what all is renewed... But I know those are coming back.

At the moment the only thing I really watch is Burn Notice and if I'm paying attention I catch Flash Point. Otherwise... meh... Looking forward to having more verity. Really looking forward to the stupid olympics being over... ugh what a stupid biased waste of time...

Also made the job, the TV I normally use is now using Digital! w00t w00t! got the rebate thingy from the website so it was $40 less than it was suppose to be, but still kinda pricey, then got the antenna. But now I get 12~ channels pretty clear all the time. I particularly like the special hidden channels! :P

Moral of the blog: Google better have a frickin good phone for all the announce of this goofy digital tv business...

Songs of anti piracy?

Ricks937 — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 07:51:58 GMT

MC Lars - Download This Song
Sudden Death - Take Back The Music
Weird Al Yankovic - Don't Download This Song

Any one else find these funny/enjoyable? Or know any other songs on the subject?

Trips and Storage

Ricks937 — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 09:33:26 GMT

On Feb.2.008 in Atlanta Georgia there will be a yoyo contest. One that will have in attendance of alot of my friends, pretty much the line share of my friends on the east coast. One of my friends (Luke@irc.vbulletin-chat.com) suggested I come down to GA to make the contest (I live roughly 600 miles to the north of Atlanta GA) So I looked into it... By Automobile, it will be around $200-$250ish in fuel, and 18 hours or more drive time(one way). By rail it will be roughly $300 and 48 hours travel time(one way). But the tricky bit... By Airplane, as of yesterday it looked like it would be $225 round trip and 5 hours travel time round trip. As of tonight when I was just about to book the flight, for some reason the price was going to be $420! Or as my grandfather liked to say "To much!" $200 and some odd dollars to go see good friends, be warm in 80 degree weather (tomorrow they say it will be 5 degrees F here) and compete in a contest... That I'd say is worth it, I can pretty much afford it. But 400? not so much. So now the question is, do I want to see about somehow getting the money together and going anyway, or try and drive down? If I drive, do I want to take my car, or rent/barrow somebody elses? Ugh! I'm fairly upset they up and switched it on me I even clicked accept! (I mostly sure anyway) when the price was at 224$.

Also, if I go to Georgia, there will be two people there that have stuff for me. So I could save $40 in shipping, and the time for them to get around to sending it.

Which leads into my next "grrr". About a month and a half ago, I bought 2 16GB(@$94.99 each) compact flash card for my Zaurus and for a friend. Its really nice and I like it alot. However, before it even got to my house, the price on the unit had dropped 3 or 4 bucks. I was fairly bummed, but whatever, only a few dollars, I can live with it. Then later I checked on it and it went down again. Now its $53.99! If I can't make it to GA I'm totally getting another one. But its still a drag that I lost 80$ because I didn't wait a know/wait a month and a half.

Moral of the blog: Don't eat to many complain berries. Apparently I have today and its no fun at all!

Usps = Grrrrr

Ricks937 — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 08:27:22 GMT

I was going to have some big story to say it, but Ill sum it up, I know a guy, he sent me a $450 yoyo (yes they make yoyos that expensive). It has not got here yet... everyday when 2:00pm passes by, I feel like part of my living essence is being ripped from me. I have a bad time with waiting for boxes if I know they are in route. If I know that will come at some point thats cool. I've waited 6 months or more for some stuff... its cool, I got it, or will at some point. But knowing that it _should_ take 3 days... and is taking longer (like a week or so) GRRR. So everyday I run out to the mailbox (well... I check the mail anyway) to no avail. After I get this one, there are two potential other yoyos I would be tempted at, then my collection would be complete*(yeah right!)(a YYJ Titan Gold which retailed for $1200, and an Oxygene Oxy 4 @ $140 in case you were wondering).

Moral of the blog: Pataince is a virtue, we all know that one. The USPS being slow is firmly on the _NOT!!!_ side of virtues...

Houston, we have TV

Ricks937 — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 07:43:48 GMT

Kinda been lazy, but I moved the TV back :D but I haven't really needed it until the last couple of nights since Jay and Conan have been back. {The old ones are pretty funny... but less interesting I think.} I also went on vacation to South Carolina, USA over the holidays. That was great fun! First stop was Edisto Beach. It was great, really warm (like 60+), the internet was fast, the dolphins were out when I went by, got to relax, and catch up on The Fresh Prince of Belair {theres like what, 8 episodes a night? and its funny stuff too!} Also got to see Monk, which I liked. Then went to Myrtle Beach {aka Turtle Beach} and cold chilled there for a few days, got to hangout with a friend, shot a yoyo video {link upon request, but be warned its pretty goofy} and had a pretty good time. I even did a bit of urban exploring, and got into the conference room on the 21st{ish} floor of the Hilton hotel on the beach... fantastic view! Then went to VA to cold chill with family for the holiday. Great vacation:D And when I got back, I had some yoyos waiting for me! But not just any yoyos... I moderate at another (vbulletin) forum, a yoyo forum, and the owner of the board, owns a online yoyo store (mad props to theyo!). For the holidays he likes to treat his mods to a yoyo for all the work they do. Last year I got a Buzz-on ElementX-mas (look it up :) but this year... he went all out and sent a Theyo logo YYF 888 08 . It plays amazing! I'm really glad I got it. And I still have stuff thats yet to come! {and other yoyos came to, like a Freehand 1, but they aren't have as cool! :}

Moral of the blog: You don't need to have a Christmas tree and lots of gifts under it to have a really great holiday. Hundreds of miles of beach, Family, good friends, and a good internet connection {and tv!} (but not in that order) are far better.

No tv

Ricks937 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:03:36 GMT

Since theres no new late night TV, and the tv I normally use (a 7inch portable black and white) isn't really that great for TV shows other than talkshows ...and it was moved to clear off the spot it used to live in anyway... I haven't really watched any tv. The tiny tv isnt the only tv I have, but the other one is in the other room, no where near the computer, and more importantly the internet! Kinda bummed I missed two or three episodes of chuck, and I haven't got to see any of the Thursday lineup in a while...

Moral of the blog: The writers are frickin lazy!!! Bring back conan!!!

It Came!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ricks937 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:57:32 GMT

Yoyos are all fun and good, I'm not saying that they aren't... BUT MY ZAURUS CAME TODAY!!! w00t w00t w00t!!!

It came with a the bluetooth daemons configured (a pain in the butt) so I backed up the the state in which it came, and restored my previous 6000l's backup. Now I'm chillin' like McFly. Now I have a full functional PDA again, with wifi, working dns... the works! and I LOVE it! I've wanted a sled for a 6000 for years... but there ridiculously hard to come by, and pretty expensive too. But now I have it and its great!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 Another cool thing is, I had the money to pay for it :D

I'm pretty dang happy at the moment. And another cool this is, Tonight I'm going to a meeting that has wifi there... so like 5 hours of highspeed internet! w00t!!!!

Moral of the blog: You can't always get what you want, but sometimes, you might just find, you get what you want for a really outstanding price!

It came!

Ricks937 — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 18:15:18 GMT

This morning, I was counting them up, and I'm expecting about 10 packages to come in the next not so long. (From should of already got here, to maybe a month it'll be done.) One of them came today! (its the blue one)

I've wanted these (well really a mondial, but its pretty much the same thing) since I got into yoyoing about three years ago. Now I finally have it! w00t!

Moral of the blog: Good things come to those who wait, better things come to those who get off they're butt and buy it themselfs.

Back on topic

Ricks937 — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 04:53:55 GMT

W00t, the other day my bro got a fancy battery and showed it to me, its like 6300mAH. I was so enamored by it, I picked one up myself. It can charge cell phones and usb and uh... Zaurii :P I also picked up one a them cigarette lighter to usb thingys, only this one has 2 usb ports, so its extra cool. Then I went on ebay and found a normal one port usb car charger thingy that came with a psp charger, which just so happens to work with my.... yup you guessed it! Zaurus! The later hasn't come yet, but it should maybe tomorrow. Also in recent Z news.. I'm pretty happy about this, I got my IRCd running again!!!(I've struggled with it for almost a year now) yippy! The DNS isn't quite there yet though... but meh, "We're working on it!" (/me waits for people to click in the Doug reference). So yeah, I'm pretty happy about that. Even got a few more games working!

Also in fairly recent news, I bought a new yoyo. That's not to say its a "new" yoyo, but its new to me. Really its like 10 years old, but it should be fun. I'm starting to collect the older stuff, so this will fit in nicely. Heck, I'll even take pictures when it gets here ;)

Not About PDA's

Ricks937 — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:42:56 GMT

The other day I heard something odd. Everyone knows who Ron Paul is.... Even if they don't know his name, they know he's the "get rid of the federal reserve guy" or "get rid of Social Security" or perhaps "the guy running for president who doesn't suck". Anyway, alot of people know him, and a raft of people love him, for hes the one guy who has the best chance at changing this country (America) around. So people are already getting out the "Vote Ron Paul" pins, buttons, stickers, yard signs, billboards... the works. But heres the catch, here in Michigan, people won't be able to vote for him. At the moment, there isn't even going to be a primary election (where you choose whos on the ballot). Theres only going to be some... I forget the fancy term, but its like 2000-2500 special something or others will choose who gets on. And its very possible Ron Paul won't be on the 'in crowd', and even if Michigan only has 30 delegates, they won't be able to vote for him.

Moral of the blog: If you dislike politics, crap will hit the fan, and you'll have no one to blame but yourself. But if you actually do something, write to your state rep/government official, call them, email them... whatever.. demanding you be able to vote for Ron Paul (or any other decent/good candidate)... even if he doesn't get elected, you can go all "Saint Crispin's day" on the people who didn't ; P

(long moral)

Yet another boring Zaurus blog

Ricks937 — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:02:05 GMT

So... got the wlan card working, got kismet installed (um... to make sure my network is up...) got nmap, irc clients (neic and zic [cheaply coded, no scripting... but they work]), got qazoo (yahoo client) got java installed, got vnc and vncplay installed and working (still haven't got mplayer on it... I can't find the blasted libmad ipk) [but im still looking!!!] zbedic, and a few dics, got a few bash prompts. I recovered my address book from my old zaurus. I even installed a firewall "snowfence"... However... (theres always a "but...") the frekaing DNS wont work!!! annoying the dang out of me. I got the nameservers from my admin, but to no avail. I'm tempted to just flash the rom back to out of the box state (well.. sharp rom 3.13) then confirm everything works, then reinstall everything yet again.

Yet to be installed/configured: ircd, ftpd, httpd and a few more games. (and figure out why the calander crashes...)

Moral of the blog: A backup is a backup is a backup. But a corrupted backup... well thats a whole new bag of worms...

Other Moral of the blog: (I'm getting fancy on howevers reading this ; P ) Just randomly installing stuff based on what you think 'might' be cool... is not the best plan ; )

Chuck Zaurus

Ricks937 — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 08:38:42 GMT

Well... I'm not a fan of being brain dead. So.. I went ahead and checked out ebay, after not much looking I found a very nice SL5500 (older, not as good, only has a QVGA screen and no usb or built in wlan) for 75$ shipped (almost half of what you can expect to pay) with a slew of extras (so basically I got the unit for 10$). So Now I have a brain again!!! (I almost feel like the scarecrow). It came with an older OS on it (sharp rom 2.83) so I flashed it over to Sharp Rom 3.13 (w00t @ me!) and now its rocking new school. Having my Bible(and other books), a dictionary (wikipedia as of 4/30/05, german to english, english, witionary and wikibooks) is hyper useful. Now the daunting task of finding all the dang ipks!!! (I used to have a sl5500 about 2-3 years ago, but the harddrive all my ipk's were on died... and the backups I thought I had, are only a tiny fraction of what I need.)

Moral of the blog: The rolling stones were right. "You can't always get what you want, but sometimes, you might just find... you get what you need"

R.i.p.

Ricks937 — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 02:51:23 GMT

My brain (aforementioned PDA) died Thursday. I think it might sort of still work, but Im not sure. the screen for sure is dead, and the whole unit maybe bricked... which sucks because I use it alot, so much so its known as my brain. It has/had, phone numbers, I use it for 802.11 hunting, a Bible, downloading videos (legal ones;), listening to music(had both a headphone jack and a built in speaker and mic) and a ton of other things... a stop gap, a SL5500 is in the mail... but its not half the PDA the 6000 was/is, so I need to find one, for a reasonable price (looking like $450 or so now)

Moral of the blog:
Enjoy your working Ipods/zunes/palms whatever while you can!! Because one night you will power it off to sleep, and the next day when you have lots of things you plan to do with it, it might just be bricked.

Doh

Ricks937 — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 02:44:37 GMT

So a few weeks ago, I tried to install windows on my desktop... and uh.. it borked out the boot record.. and pretty much borked out the whole thing, cant use linux (yeah yeah I'm a techno weanie) so I was using my pda (Sharp Zaurus SL6000l) with opera 7.55 moble. And I couldnt do hardly anything here, sign in, search etc. I could still browes the forums, but I like to be able to see whats new, and whats not, otherwise I tend to just check none of it.

Moral of the blog:
Don't use windows