Archive for August, 2004


Linux Nerd

8/20/2004

After reading this article, I decided last nite to try and install SuSE Linux on my “blow-up” box (an older Dell Dimension 4400). Install went great but TightVNC didn’t werk. Blah. Going to have to switch over to RedHat instead. No big deal.

I’ll tell you this: Linux has come a long, long way as far as its user-friendliness is concerned. The install went smooth as silk, did a dual boot between WinXP Pro and SuSE perfectly and detected everything (wow). Unfortunately I need the VNC to work so I couldn’t use it (that’s the reason I’m switching over to RedHat, TightVNC has an RPM which will work “out of the box” with RedHat) - but I’ll tell ya, if I didn’t have to use it I’d put my primary box on a permanent dual-boot Linux/Win setup, it’s that good. I unfortunately have to keep Windows because of certain apps I use (not to mention Counter-Strike), but the SuSE does about 99%, literally, of everything I need a computer to do.

I, like a lot of people out there, hate Windows. A lot. It’s buggy, apps crash, and it’s just plain awful. The reason I have a job in the first place is because Windows sucks. Windows costs money. Linux is free, see linuxiso.org and pick your flavor. I suggest SuSE or RedHat. If you have a separate computer you can try it on, try it. You’ll probably really like it.

The whole reason anyone says “I hate the computer” is primarily because of Windows. It’s not the computer that’s bad. It’s Windows that’s bad.

So anyway, I will format the blow-up box tonight and give RedHat a go. Haven’t used it in a few years, but if it’s anything like the SuSE install was, it will probably be really easy to install and config.

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191 is now my favorite number

8/20/2004

The big check I sent off for the car payment went through without a hitch. With a very big sigh of relief, I happily can say I now owe $191 on my car loan. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Did I mention awesome? Yeah, I think I did. (grin) I will have that title in my hands in no time.

As I write this I am installing Red Hat Linux on the Dell. Installation went just as smooth (if not smoother) than when I installed SuSE. Everything is going okay so far. If I can get the VNC to work on it, then I will be satisfied with the setup for the time being. I will need to move all my stuff off the Windows box I’m on now to the Linux box. I’ll also need to config windows networking so my windows box can “see” the drive shares on the Linux box, etc., etc., so on and so forth. Anyway I’m off to continue doing that now.

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Linux not ready for prime time (for me)

8/22/2004

I spent the better half of today and yesterday attempting to get Linux set up. Here’s what I wanted to do: I wanted something simple. Just a KDE desktop I could remote to via TightVNC on SSH. Easy enough, right? Windows does it rather easily.

I tried three (yeah, three) flavors of Linux in an attempt to get this done. I tried SuSE, RedHat and Gentoo. All three installed fine. All three worked fine. All three SUCKED at SSH remote “Xvnc”. It either worked somewhat, or not at all. Very disappointing. Granted, I know I said very nice things about Linux previously, but the one thing I needed to do was to get the remote VNC working properly. That one thing I couldn’t get working. I must’ve installed and reinstalled Linux about 12 times trying to do this.

This was all very frustrating, because in addition to all the install/reinstall crap, I read a mountain of documentation and newsgroup postings stating “Yep! Works great!” No it doesn’t. What is not mentioned is that it does work great going from Linux to Linux boxes, not Windows to Linux which is what I needed in the first place because I use a Win2000 PC at werk.

If I didn’t need to remote into the computer from werk, I would (for real) run Linux all the time with the KDE Desktop (never liked GNOME that much). Unfortunately, I gotta stick with buggy Windows to do what I gotta do (sigh).

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On a more positive note - I sent off the $191 today for the final (insert dramatic music here) payment on my car. YES! Can’t believe that payment is finally coming to an end. It will be weird not having a car payment, but I’m sure that I’ll get used to it real quick. (grin)

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If you want something done right..

8/26/2004

I’ve done some pretty drastic moves recently concerning my Counter-Strike team:

a) There is no more team
b) I changed the server over to a new CS
c) Web site is completely different now (somewhat)

There is no more team

I personally find it very disappointing how stupid and irresponsible teenagers are. Less than a month away from competition in CAL, three members just all of a sudden decided to DROP from the team. They ditched completely. No warning. At that point I just said “to hell with this” and dissolved the team entirely. Seriously speaking, why put so much effort into a Counter-Strike team if the team members do nothing but ditch? Ah well. Screw ‘em.

I changed the server over to a new CS

A bleeding-edge version of Counter-Strike was just released in beta called Counter-Strike: Source. After the whole thing with dissolving the team I said “Well I guess I’ll convert the server to Condition Zero (a newer version of Counter-Strike).” I admit, I like being a server admin. It’s fun (but the team thing sucks). But before I did that I sent off an e-mail to Recon Gamer, the provider of my game server, and asked “Hey, you guys have Counter-Strike: Source?” A day later they responded with “Yes, we do” followed by “..would you like to convert your server over to it?” Well, sure.. why not. So, my server is now CS:S. The game is amazing, even in beta version. In addition - my server now has something I’ve always wanted: lots of server traffic. It’s hardly ever empty.

This is very cool in many respects. The game is very young, and I’m probably one of the first people (if not the first) to have a CS:S server setup on Recon Gamer - because they do not publicly announce they have it.

Web site is completely different now (somewhat)

I ditched teamsbn.com and forwarded it to b3l.recongamer.com, where everything resides now. I got no team anymore, so no more team site. Just a pub site. No big deal. Got a new message board up there and so on.

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So anyway, teens are stupid and very irresponsible. Playing games is fun, and if you’re the server admin (like I am,) make sure to run your server your way. Since I’ve done that - I’m now much happier. :-)

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Muggy but content

8/28/2004

Today is a hot muggy day here in Connecticut, and I’m stuck at home with no air conditioning. Compared to other places, when it gets muggy in New England, it’s gets really muggy. Feels like you’re breathing through a sponge sometimes. Fortunately for me I have a fan pointing right at my face - so it’s not all that bad. I bought this fan 2 or 3 weeks ago. Good purchase.

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I ditched a friend today. Yep, ditched. However I had a reason: I’ve been ditched by this person many times before. He called up and asked if I wanted to go out and do something. Without thinking I said “Sure”. Dumb move. On my way down to his house I suddenly realized “Hmm.. this is the same dude who’s ditched me more times than I have fingers and toes.” So.. I just drove down to the market, bought two 2-liters of soda and drove back home. Screw it. I really didn’t feel like going out today anyway (honestly).

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I am going to try to write some more of my screenplay today.. I have been so pissed off at myself for not working on it. It’s been a few weeks now. I really, really need to get this done, if not for anything but the fact I could say to myself “I finished.” So I’m finishing this up now and going off to do that.

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Just for the record

8/30/2004

Time and time again, it never ceases to amaze me how many people simply don’t understand why I act the way I do. This post is to answer most of those nagging questions. I will be forwarding people to this post if I have to in the future.

(more…)

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Pinch

8/31/2004

Seems that my last post touched a nerve with several people who are evidently keeping tabs on me. I got contacted by a few people about it. Everyone hated it, but that was the whole point (grin). I wrote that post for two reasons. 1) I needed to rant in a constructive way, and 2) There are some people who absolutely needed to read that.

In addition, some people contacted me thinking that I was talking about one person: them. That wasn’t the case, actually. What I wrote wasn’t just for one person. If it were I would have mentioned names… so if you happened to identify with what I wrote and got angry about it - that’s just because you see things in there that you know you do on a regular basis.

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Goin’ to CZ

8/31/2004

I contacted Recon Gamer today and am going to change the server over to CZ (Condition Zero). CS:Source was fun, but it’s buggy and a little too demanding on the hardware requirements. It also (currently) doesn’t have any support from HLSW. And let’s not forget there’s only one map. Bleah.

I know all this will change in September. HL2 will be released (which by the way I have absolutely no interest in playing or buying). CS:Source will be fixed by then because right now it’s buggy as hell, more maps will come, HLSW will have support for CS:S.

But… even with all these things I know are coming, I’m still converting to CZ anyway. There are lots of maps, lots of mods, and the most important part: I know how to config a CZ server backwards and forwards. The HL2 CS:Source setup is nothing I couldn’t learn, but I just don’t want to have to relearn admin’ing a server all over again. Games are supposed to be fun.. but it ain’t fun when you have no idea how your server operates. CS:Source, currently, is like that. There is little to no documentation on it. At least with CS/CZ, tons of documentation exists all over the ‘net.

Documentation is gooood. (grin)

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