Deviant Knowledge (dk)

Virtual PC vs VMare - XP Pro

So, I needed a test environment for a Windows box that was acting like a web server using Apache, MySQL, and PHP. I decided to try Microsoft’s Virtual PC since I was going to simulate XP Pro and I wanted to see if it was any good (I was using the Release Candidate 6.0.142.0). I had recently attended a small seminar on MS Products where one of instructors was saving it was “so fast” so I wanted to test it. Keep in mind I’m running a Core 2 Duo - 2.13 Ghz with 2 GB of ram.

The install for Virual PC itself was painless and quick. When installing XP Pro as a Virtual Machine I noticed it was quite a bit slower than I was used to when installing XP Pro on VMWare but just carried on. The Virtual Machine loaded up and worked fine for the most part but I did notice it seemed a bit sluggish, even with some pretty bad mouse lag at times. I first installed Xxamp but found it was a bit “overdone” for what I was doing and then tried WAMP and really liked it.

I was working with moving some SQL stuff around and had a program that does some simple queries to pull information out of a database. There is a fair amount of information but nothing staggering by far. Here’s the disappointing part…with a 60 second timeout the Virtual Machine couldn’t pull the information fast enough! I was stunned! There wasn’t much to it but it just kept dying. I made sure I didn’t have anything going rampant on my machine and tried again but no luck! It was so slow I decided just to start over with VMWare.

VMWare is really great to setup and get moving on if you ask me. I was able to create a VMX package using the fantastic online tools at EasyVMX! and had XP Pro installed about 35% faster than what it took the MS VirtualPC to do it. VMWare does get a slight knock because I had to go digging for VMWare Tools to get my NIC working if I remember correctly but that wasn’t a real big deal.

VMWare felt nearly twice as fast as Virtual PC and I had WAMP setup and running the same program without a problem. Using the same 60 second timeout VMWare had the machine running very smoothly and me very happy.

VMWare defeats Virtual PC in 2nd round knockout!

Note* - MS Has just re-released virtual PC I believe so maybe it’s faster but I really doubt it! =)

Quattro vs Fusion

So I received a couple of free razors in the mail lately as samples. The first is the Gillette Fusion. The Fusion is a pretty cool looking product and features 5 blades on the front and 1 on the top for “precision.” I happened to need a shave the same day I got it and I was happy it had arrived! The best way I can described the Fusion is like a friendly face mower.

The 5 blades aren’t very big but they shave very quickly and very well. I was able to get my shave done in about 6 minutes which is about half the normal time it takes me.  The shave is very smooth and lasts about an extra day than the normal blades I was using.  The “precision” blade is pretty gimmicky to me and I don’t really find myself using it.  3 shaves later and the Fusion is still mowing very good.

A+
The Quattro is a top quality product when holding the razor and is really just well made. The razor has 4 blades and is weighted pretty well. My first shave with the Quattro was pretty good but wasn’t quite great. I completed my shave in about the same time as I did with the Fusion but I didn’t quite have the smoothness as the fusion.  I thought it was just a bad job by me but the second time around proved the same result.

Some people are thinking “the Fusion has 5 blades so it does more,” and that could be true but the Quattro’s 4 blades are pretty much the same sizing as the Fusion’s 5.  The Quattro is definitely a nice razor but the Fusion had better performance.  The only thing I’m not sure about is if there is a price differnece in the razors and if so, how much.  Could be the Quattro’s edge but I haven’t looked yet.

B+

Fusion slices up Quattro with a late round TKO!

New Router

So, I was debating on what I was going to do about having a router at the house because I wanted something that was cheap, yet powerful and I really didn’t want another PC in the living room running all the time.  There were just some features I wanted around (like VPN) that most routers weren’t offering until you got up to the 120/150 range and that was more than I wanted to pay.  I started to look at the WRT54G’s for their ability to be updated with different firmware and found DD-WRT.

DD-WRT is a replacement firmware package that comes in different sizes and feature sets for various routers.  Reading through their Wiki I found out that the cheapest router that supported the firmware was teh Buffalo WHR-G54S.  Reading over the supported devices page I was able to see that the G54S was all that I needed at home.

The firmware upgrade was quick and painless and it’s very nice.  I only, breifly, looked at the Buffalo Factory firmware to made sure the device worked and DD-WRT is much much better.  So, for $50 (bought it at Circuit City) I have a small, noiseless, attractive looking device in my living room instead of an old, somewhat big, noisy, and ugly PC.  Hope this helps someone else =)

Apartment

Just a quick update on the apartment.  Things have gotten cleaned up and in order finally!  I still have the hallway to the attic filled with boxes and Katie has the laundry room packed with boxes but the rest of the place is good!  We made dinner for Katies parents, sister, and Katie’s sisters’ boyfriend (Dave).  It was a good time and did I mention the place is clean now?

Slight Upgrade | Reinstall

So, I ended up trying to install Windows on some free space that I had on my computer and then could no longer boot into the world of Linux or Windows.  Go figure, I knew better.  I backed up all the data I needed and decided to reinstall.  I remembered I had a 64 Bit 3400+ and Motherboard laying around I had purchased for a media PC that hasn’t been built so I decided to swap out my 2500+.  The memory matched up (DDR400) so I now have 2 GB of ram with a 3400+.

I pulled the extra drives out of the box and now just have the DVD RW, DVD ROM, 1 IDE HDD, and 1 SATA HDD.  I installed windows on 40 GB of the IDE drive and am probably going to dual boot with Vista to play around on that drive.  The whole system will probably quad boot because the SATA drive will be running Ubuntu + like a “flavor of the month.”  Right now I’m looking at trying out Dream Linux and Open Suse.  Ubuntu is still my main OS.  Windows is just around for any games that I just wanted to load up quick.  I’m not done with Linux and games but having Windows there will make things easier and I figured I probably should have an install around.

Hera File Server

So the 2500+ and the Mobo for it are going to be packed away for my future media center PC and the 1800+ w/1 GB of ram has now become a file server for the network I’m putting together at home.  We dont have internet access right now so I had to DL the 6.10 Ubuntu Server Iso images at my parents house.  The install went fine and I have a lot of software available to me through Apt just right off the CD.

I’m planning on using the server for file storage/serving, an internal web server, streaming music server, run backups to it, possibly a Kawa Wii Media Server (when I get a Wii), and some other stuff but I don’t know what yet. I’m pretty happy to finally have a server.  I have a 400 GB SATA drive that I’m going to throw into it and then probably put an additional 400 or 500 into it next time I see a deal.  Right now it’s just the 40 Gig OS drive, 1 80 gig and 1 160 GB drive.  Ideally would be 3/4 400 GB drives in RAID 5 but I don’t see that happening real soon =) Either way, I’m happy enough for now!

Router - To Build or Buy

So, I have been running my 650 Athlon as a router for quite awhile now but I’m not so sure if I want to do that much anymore.  It’s just that it’s a little loud and 3 PC’s in the living room (along with 2 laptops and 3 LCD’s) is a little much.  I’m thinking about a mini-itx setup like the iGoLogic at newegg.  But that looks like it could get kind expensive quick.  $150 for board, $xx for CPU, $xx for mem etc etc. I would want something that would be small and quiet.  I might go back to a “regular” router and buy one but who knows.  For now I’m on the lookout for decent products and suggestions.

Half-Life 2

It’s a pretty decent time for Xbox and GameCube owners because prices seemed to have dropped a lot.  Recently, while at EBGames I picked up Half-Life 2 for Xbox new for $15.  I didn’t get a chance to play the game before but man it’s a great game.  The translation to the Xbox has been executed very well and I’ve hardly noticed any slow down.  There have been a couple instances at the very begining of a level after the initial load but the game is smooth and the controls are well done.  I found, on Amazon, a Half-Life 2 : Episode One add-on (or seperate game?) for PC but didn’t see it for Xbox so I guess I’ll have to grab that when I’m done.

Dual Boot Debate

I’m debating on setting up my PC to Dual Boot again.  Why?  Mostly time issues at home.  I don’t have a ton of time at home to mess around with stuff to get it working right now or the foreseeable future.  I love having a Linux PC and most of the stuff is pretty cake but when it comes to some things, like playing games, I just want to play them and not have to find a guide in order to install something.  What’s that you say, “If you have time to play games then you have time to setup the game!”  No, not really, cause if I’m setting up the game(s) then I don’t have time to play the game!  The other thing is with Katie and I living together it might be a good idea to have a Windows install on my machine that is more than just a VMWare setup.  I dunno, just some thoughts.

Server

I’ve been wanting to build a server for at home for quite awhile but didn’t have the resources.  I still don’t quite have the resources (need hard drives) but with the idea of dual booting it’s time to start really thinking about it.  I have an Athlon 1800+ and an Athlon 64 3400+.  The 3400+ was bought (with a mobo) with the intention of setting up a MythTV box but I’m thinking that the server should come first.  A good place with central storage would really help out everything for the future.  I see my house eventually playing MP3’s instead of the radio and recording shows and having central backups etc etc.

I have been thinking an Ubuntu setup would be pretty good for this and just run Samba.  I would probably do a software RAID 5 setup and would want probably 1 TB of space.  This server could also be used as a home web server (for any dev I want to do) and/or a shoutcast server.  I’m not totally sure what all I’d do with it but I’m starting to get pretty jazzed about the idea. =)

Boxes

So I swear, all the boxes are making more boxes in our new place.  They are quite cute little boxen but we are being over run I tell you!  We didn’t exactly rush through sorting out all the stuff that we initially moved in with and it’s starting to have a bit of a toll.  I had finally cleared out the kitchen the other day just so that we could fill it back up with all of our neat new stuff from Christmas!

Hopefully we can get this stuff cleared out soon cause I would really love to be able to sit on something in the living room and not having internet at home is starting to get to me some!  We are probably going to go with Comcast for the internet with one of those 6 months/whatever type deals but I’m waiting on the landlord to see if we’re going to need to get cable TV or we can get satellite.  I really would like to have DISH network but we’ll see.  Though, I really don’t mind not having the bill right now. =)

Well, enough of this, I hope everyone has a safe and fun New Year and all that other jazz too.

Picking a Name

So I decided to use a gmail account for shit sign ups on the web that I don’t want to put any real email address into since bugmenot doesn’t have everything though they do a very good job. I just sent myself a gmail invitation and go from there. I had a couple of (what I thought were) slick names in mind but it appears that everyone else came up with the same! I didn’t start keeping track until about the 20th try but I think I remembered most of the ones I didn’t jot down right away.

You can “check availability” when creating a username but the more you do it the more you have to “enter the letters you see above.” It eventually started asking after every name I entered so I just picked a name. Without further ado..

Taken Names

• spamson
• spammy
• spambox
• sonofspam
• spamsonite
• spamtastic
• spamster
• spambag
• spammer
• spamme
• junkbox
• spambot
• spamspot
• drspam
• spamlicious
• spamter
• superspam
• spamsquared
• spamorama
• funkyjunky
• spamoramadingdong
• spamville
• spamtown
• spamcity
• spamburger
• sendspamhere
• simplyspam
• spamisretarded
• spamlover
• spamhater
• spamllama
• spamking
• spamqueen
• spamprince
• spamprincess
• spamisdumb
• ihatespam
• spamela
• spamelaanderson
• fuckspam
• spamfortehwin

Available Names

spamuniversity
uofspam
spamburg
lakespam
spamerion
spamelanderson
spamissexy

One of the above is not vailable any more but I’m not telling =P

Moving

First, finalizing things on the apartment we found in Elizabethtown, PA. Just had to sign some papers and make some payments. Electric and stuff is setup so woo hoo! We are moving in this weekend with the help of family and friends so look for some pics soon!

No check for you!

So with the above statement comes the unnecessary “stress” of finding service providers. Elizabethtown has Embarq and Comcast pretty much. I’m going to call Verizon but I really don’t think they service the area. We don’t want a home phone and don’t really have much use for one.

I have made two phone calls to Embarq and they will not give us DSL service without paying for phone service! I don’t get it! The lady on the phone offered me “blazing fast” 1.5 down/128 up DSL and phone service that “included call waiting and caller id!” for $55/month. Keep it! For 4 more dollars comcast will give us 6.0 mbps down/384 up.
When I lived in West Chester we were able to get Verizon DSL without having “real” phone service. We paid another 5 a month and they just had to make sure that the lines could receive signal (dial tone) but just used it with the DSL. I really thought Embarq would do this but apparently not. I might call back again (just seems odd they wouldn’t do this) but I’m not paying for a phone.

We are still waiting on the landlord to get back to us on the Satellite thing (for TV). They don’t want like 4 dishes on the place (4 renters) but we’ll see. I kinda have a feeling it’s gonna be a big “no” and we’ll be stuck with Comcast for everything =/ I really would like Satellite TV but who knows.

In end… Embarq is reminding me of the CD companies here — Not realizing times are changing and I bet quite a number of people don’t actually want the phone service. Guess what, they’ll get nothing in exchange =)

Engagement

First, let me just say that things have been super busy since…the engagement! I asked Katie to marry me on November 3rd and she just so happened to say yes! You can read the “write-up” that she did on our wedding site under the page called “The Proposal.” So, things were pretty busy then (my birthday was just a couple days later) and now have stepped up to more busyness!

Moving!

We went looking last weekend for apartments in Elizabethtown and managed to find a house that was converted to rentals. It’s a pretty nice place we think! The part we’ll be renting was just recently remodeled with new washer/dryer, refrigerator, lighting, and looked like the bathroom was cleaned up too! It’s pretty affordable and we like the Elizabethtown area. We are meeting with the realtor tomorrow (Wednesday the 22nd) to officially sign the lease and take measurements of the place. See, it’s pretty open and roomy but the older houses have weird layouts so we need to measure for furniture.

Wednesday will be nuts for us because we have to go and measure this place, sign a lease, and more than likely pick out a good chunk of whatever furniture we will be buying! That’ll be an expensive but worth it day! =) We aren’t looking to get all new furniture or anything like that but I think we will get a TV Stand type thing and a reclining loveseat. Most of the other stuff we are getting from other people that they don’t want or already have (fortunately!). We are looking to move in around Dec 17th.

As well, my Mother must be pretty happy this year because it looks like my sister and her boyfriend (also named Dan) will be purchasing a home on Derry street in Harrisburg! Just a big congratulations out to them! I am pretty sure they are looking to get the house kind of cheap and remodel and then move on but still very cool!

Holidays =)

So, engagement, moving, buying furniture, and … holidays! I’m pretty happy Thanksgiving is this week it’ll be nice to have some time to relax and get things sorted! Katie is coming up this year so it’ll be like all the “new families” together at my parents house this year. My Mom and Dad, Katie and I, and Dan and Anna. Pretty ironic I suppose but good times.

Christmas is like a write off I think for us this year. I told a friend he’s just getting a card envelope cause I can’t buy the card to go in it =) Ahh, good times!

Less Video More Text!

First, let me say YouTube, Break.com, eBaum’s World, and the other entertainment sites are fantastic. These sites, however, have started this trend that everything needs to be a video…NO! STOP! First of all, I haven’t seen videos with Closed Captioning so I wouldn’t be surprised to hear of a dumb lawsuit but a lot of the video is 100% wasted bandwidth.

Example: Yahoo fantasy football has updates each week with advice on who to pick up and who not to play etc. A lot of this information is done with video. WHY?! When someone is merely reading off a list of 5 people to not play then it does not merit a video taping, encoding, broadcasting, and downloading. TYPE THE DARN THING! Especially since I’m probably looking at it while I’m at work! =)

What a waste of bandwidth. I’m seeing it all over the place now too. Mostly with news sites or other sites like Yahoo! where they have so much money dedicated to being “hip” that they can’t see an appropriate use for something. YouTube, Break, all of them work because people go there wanting to look at something entertaining but not necessarily informative. A lot of information is more easily read rather than watched and listened to.

Thank You Jersey

New Jersey yesterday decided to move forward and do something crazy like allow equal rights to gay people who love each other! There isn’t an “official law” yet but it will decided within the next 180 days. Basically, the decision states that gay people must be allowed to have something like marriage, whether it is a “Civil Union” or “Marriage” is what has to be decided yet. I haven’t been to Jersey a lot but have always thought of the people as not particularly bright but that was based strictly on driving so please don’t take offense =) Thanks go out to Jersey for not living under a rock — hopefully they go the whole way an approve the marriage stamp!

Another gem from New Jersey that is fantastic.

“Yesterday, New Jersey announced that the state will not apply for federal abstinence-only sex education funding next year because of new restrictions from the federal government. Under the new rules, New Jersey teachers would not be allowed to talk about contraception in the classroom and would be required to say that sex within marriage is the “expected standard of human sexual activity.”

Thanks again, Jersey! What the F*#$ is our government thinking?! It really wasn’t that long ago that people used to get married at 14 and have a kid at 14 and 1/4. Well, kids aren’t getting married that young any more so now they should, what, completely set aside their hormones until they are married to have sex?! Sure, that’s all based on religious beliefs that aren’t even 100% accepted so, yeah, everyone do that — as I slam my head into a wall.

Lets not teach kids about AIDS, STD’s, or pregnancy but rather just avoid the issue all together and tell them to get married! This will force two situations.

1. a lot of married 16 year olds and a lot of divorced 18 year olds

and 2. More kids with STD’s and pregnancies.

WAY TO GO BUSH ADMINISTRATION!

Thank you, Jersey.