Archive for September, 2004


CZ server back? Part 3

9/11/2004

As I type this I am “VNC’d” into the soon-to-be CZ server (in another window) waiting for the HLDS and CZ Dedicated Server install programs to download and complete. This takes time unfortunately; the combined download size of the two is 557MB, roughly… and even on the fastest connections you gotta wait for those to complete.

I had to spend the better part of the evening cleaning out the server box. The guy who donated it had his kid use it before I got it, so of course it was chock full of spyware, loads of games and other crap. I haven’t virus scanned it yet but will be doing that later, I just needed to get the server setup done first.

I’ve been debating whether go to CS or CZ, because I could do either. I believe I will go CZ unless it poses a problem (which it shouldn’t). Even though CS has many more players (just look at this), I still like CZ better. Better graphics, better gameplay (in my opinion) and it’s got the option to put “bots” in the server out-of-the-box. CS Bots are really, really tough to get working right. CZ bots on the other hand are really easy.

The P4 box the server is being installed to should be able to handle 14 slots, with should being the operative word there…. I simply don’t know just yet if it’s up to the job or not. If it isn’t I will remove the bots because that takes up server resources. If that doesn’t work, I will “demote” the server to 12 or 10-slot. I’m almost positive the box will do at least 10 easily.

I’ve tried in my best effort to make this XP box as barebones as possible to allocate as much memory as possible to the game. I’m using everything I know to make this work effectively. Obviously this is no Recon Gamer setup. It’s just a home-grown type of thing on a local business-DSL. I’m sure there will be a few obstacles along the way - but then again that’s half the fun. :-)

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CZ server back? Part 4

9/11/2004

Update: Done and online.

Had to go to bed last nite, was too tired to finish up the server (hehe). This morning I VNC’d back to the box and finished up the install, and now the server is up and running with Condition Zero. Kick… Ass…

I launched the server and put up 4 bots. On connection to it I get an average ping reply of 29 to 34. Good enough for me. Granted, I was the only player on the server with 4 bots.. so we’ll see what happens when more human players get on there. But the end result is: It worked. Gameplay appeared to be smooth.

Now we’ll see what happens when I start adding AMX and other plugins.

To those interested, the server IP is 69.0.103.230:27015

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CZ ditched for CS and gettin’ SuSE-ified

9/12/2004

The server has been up and running for a day now. After a few attempts with Condition Zero, the box just wasn’t up to the task. There is something about CZ which for some reason uses more server process than CS does. So… I went with a CS mod instead of CZ. Works much much better. I saw 8 people on the server today. The ping rates were a little high, but, the server did not crash. As I type this right now, there are a few people on the CS server right now. It’s running good for what the box and pipe allow which is all I could ask for. (grin)

In addition to the nerdy game server things I’ve been doing, I decided to give SuSE Linux another shot today on the blow-up box (2.4GHz P4 Dell Dimension) to see if I could get TightVNC to work on remote. As normal readers of this blog will know, my first attempt failed miserably. But guess what, I figured it out this time. IT WORKS. Kick… Ass. I will be posting screen shots in my next post so people can see what it looks like. The reason I can’t post screen shots now is because I have to reinstall SuSE to get the partitioning of the hard drives correct. I did a Windows/Linux dual-boot thing just in case the SuSE failed again.

Some of you may be wondering why I was trying so hard to get SuSE working in the first place, and why I don’t just stick with Windows. Here’s a few good reasons why:

1. Reliability.

Windows crashes. Everyone knows this. Linux does not crash. Well, that’s not entirely true, you can crash it - but - you’d have to be literally trying to crash it on purpose.

2. File integrity

Ever have a file that for some reason just got corrupted, like an MP3 that for some reason started to get little “glitches” in it? That’s Windows doing that. I notice that over time Windows will eventually start corrupting files, even by having them just sit there and do nothing. I’ve never understood that… but that’s just Windows for ya.

3. Virus free

The majority of viruses that exist on the internet are made for Windows because everyone uses Windows. I can safely say that Linux users never have this problem. Viruses are mainly gearned towards mainstream applications and operating systems.. like Windows.

So anyway, more info on that when I’m done with it.

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SuSE’ified!!

9/13/2004

Yeah I know. I keep talking about SuSE a lot. But heck this is cool shit!

Anyway,

SuSE has been running very well and has proved to be extremely stable (so far). I have installed a bunch of apps, like gAIM (AOL Messenger for Linux) and so on. Everything has been running smooth. My only complaint is that some of the icons and other menus in the system are a bit too big, but I am figuring out how to customize stuff and am getting used to it.

It is simply amazing how far X-Windows has come in the Linux operating environment. It loads much faster than I remember years ago, and apps are WAY easier to install now too. I’m finding myself actually enjoying using Linux now. I still haven’t figured out how to do Samba right (as in sharing files between Windows/Linux) but I’m sure that will come in time.

I’m hoping some other good stuph will happen in my life soon so I can stop talking about SuSE. :-)

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Guess what I’m talking about now

9/15/2004

…You guessed it, SuSE. (grin) But I’ll talk about that in a minute. This is going to be a very nerdy post, so if you’re not into SuSE Linux or couldn’t care less about it, well.. tough. Don’t read this post then. :-)

I did not go to werk today, the car did not start this morning. It has since been fixed, but it can be very trying on the nerves when the car does not start. Meh.

So.. I spent most of the day toying with my SuSE box. As a matter of fact, this is my first entry from Linux. Woo-hoo. My biggest challenge today was “Okay.. I can use TightVNC to go from Windows-to-Linux really easy (see one of my previous posts on how I did that), but is it possible to go from Linux-to-Windows, kinda like the same way you use PuTTY?” Answer: Yes, this is how:

Prerequisites:

You must be logged into Linux (duh) and be in some type of X-Windows environment, whether it’s KDE, GNOME, Blackbox or whatever.

You must have TightVNC installed with the viewer. You can also use regular VNC. You’ll know if it’s installed correctly if you can type vncviewer at a console prompt in X-Windows, and the vncviewer launches. Tip: VNC Viewer comes with RedHat preinstalled most of the time on newer installations. In SuSE, the TightVNC is located on their FTP site as a SuSE rpm that you can install with YaST. Really, really easy.

The Command Line SSH

As with a lot of things in *nix, you must connect from the command line first before launching vncviewer. It’s called ssh.

The command line to use is (assuming the remote box is set up properly):

ssh -L local-port:localhost:remoteport -l username host_ip_address

Here are some better examples.

Assume that the host is:
On public IP address 192.168.1.100, and is Windows based with cygwin and tightvnc — meaning the remote vnc port on the Windows box would be 5900 by default.

The command line would be:
ssh -L 5901:localhost:5900 -l username 192.168.1.100

Then you would launch vncviewer and put localhost:5901 and the remote Windows desktop will pop up.

But… what if you’re running tighvnc server on the linux box you’re connecting from and you get a “port in use” error? Yeah, I ran into that - and it stumped me until I found out that if you have a TightVNC server running on your *nix box, port 5900 is actually 0 where vncserver is concerned, so 5901 is actually 1. And no, you can’t do localhost:1, because as you know, that port is already in use by your tightvnc server. If this is your situation, do this command line instead (and it does work):

ssh -L 8000:localhost:5900 -l username 192.168.1.100

When logging in this way, you would connect vncviewer to localhost:2100. Confused? Don’t be. 8000 minus 5900 is 2100. Since 5900 is 0 on a *nix box with TightVNC server installed, 5900 + 2100 = 8000. Get it? Well, even if you don’t - that’s the way it works.

And yeah, connecting to a Windows box from a Linux box is darn slow. You may want to read up on vncviewer options by typing man vncviewer at the console prompt and putting in some compression/depth options.

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Back to Basics

9/16/2004

Today, by mistake, I deleted 800 e-mails I was saving. Some were eFaxes, some were from friends, some were business related and so on. This is mail accumulated over the course of year or so. Anyway - all of them are gone.

In the past I would have absolutely freaked out at losing that many e-mails, and would probably be under the desk right now sucking my thumb in fetal position over losing that much stuff. That’s not the case obviously. Instead I just shrugged my shoulders and said “Oh, well.” As a matter of fact, I’m pleased that it’s gone. Now I don’t have to keep track of that crap.

This clean-up process, whether intentional or not, has been on ongoing process for me. I remember what my computer used to be like. It had fancy wallpaper, all custom icons, RAM-enhancing utilities, lotsa games, the latest and greatest web browsers and all sorts of other useless garbage. These days I run computers mostly “stock”. I load ‘em up, patch ‘em up (no matter what operating system,) and run ‘em. The hard drives are kept clean and I only install a few apps that I have saved to CD.

Sometimes it’s just good to start back at zero, otherwise you get too wrapped up in minutia that doesn’t matter at all.

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Ya-Whore no more

9/17/2004

Due to the fact that Kopete doesn’t do Ya-Whore YahhOoooOooo messenger very well, I won’t be using Yahoo instant messaging any more. I’ll be using my mainstay messenger, AIM. Kopete does AIM nicely.

I think there was only like 2 or 3 people I knew who used Yahoo. To those people: Use AIM instead if you want to message me. If you don’t, well, um… e-mail or call me or something. (grin)

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Update

9/17/2004

Update on the yahoo thing:

I will be on Yahoo (with Trillian) whenever I am on the Windows box. When I’m on the Linux box, I won’t be.

That is all, carry on. :-)

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Drooly Cat

9/19/2004

I’ve never written a post about my cat, so here it is.

Emma is my cat. She’s 12 in human years. Her colors are gray, white and a tiny bit a tan/beige under her chin. I picked Emma from an animal shelter years ago. I picked her in particular because she was the only one who would play with me and bite my finger. It wasn’t mean biting, just play biting that cats do.

She has jade green eyes which you can see reflect in the light when she turns her head just right. Emma is also a very good mouse catcher, doesn’t destroy the furniture, always “aims” correctly in the litter box (most of the time,) and keeps herself very clean.

Emma has a lot of attitude. She will not show affection to anyone except me and my father. She absolutely does not respond to that stupid “sthk sthk sthk” noise people make whenever they meet her for the first time. If you make that noise, she will simply look at you, then walk away. To be honest, if I were a cat I wouldn’t respond to that either. It’s a dumb noise. She does however respond to my commands. If I make a mouse-like noise, she will pay attention and come to me and also responds to her name if you say it a specific way. She also doesn’t like it when other people pet her, and doesn’t like girls - period. She prefers men. I’ve known other pet owners who have pets like that who will only trust one gender for some strange reason.

Originally when Emma came home, she didn’t make a peep. Not a sound. For years she was like this. Then one day she just started mew’ing. It was small at first, now she cannot shut up. She mews the loudest whenever I have cold cuts out, like ham or bologna or any type of meat - because she wants some. I give her a small amount sometimes. It’s not good to feed people-food to a pet, so I only give her enough so it will not upset her stomach or anything like that. She has been known to eat any type of cheese (except swiss,) ham, bologna, corn muffin, bacon, pork, veal, turkey, tuna (loves the tuna,) and other stuff. Emma will not drink milk, only water.

Most people for some reason do not know that a cat’s favorite place to be pet is on the head, mainly because it’s the one place they cannot scratch easily. Emma loves her head pets. Do it long enough and she will drool. I’ve known several cats that do this. Not very lady-like.. but she’s a cat so I guess it’s ok. Fortunately it’s not gross. It’s a little drool, not a lot. Emma also likes to be pet the “wrong way” against the grain of her fur, so long as you put it back the way it was when you’re done.

Emma’s ailments have been minimal. She had minor mange around her temples a few years back, but it cleared up after a few good baths - something she cannot stand. Bathing the cat will cause her to caterwaul and growl like crazy. Yes, Emma does growl if really pissed off, almost like a dog.

Emma will pick “her spot” somewhere in the house and always stay there for anywhere between 2 weeks to 4 months. Her current spot is on the kitchen table where all my important papers are, which promptly get knocked off the table so she has room to snooze. Previously it was the living room hassock. Before that it was the edge of my bed. To this day she has never picked the same spot twice. I wonder where her next spot will be.

Periodically, Emma will bound around the house for no reason whatsoever. She will be on the edge of my bed, then gallop down the hall into the kitchen, then run down the stairs, stay there for a few minutes, then come back upstairs. She sees me in the kitchen and says hello with a “mew”, then goes to the kitchen table and sets her spot again.

Yeah, I love my cat.

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Windows Media Player 10

9/19/2004

Decided to give Windows Media Player 10 a whirl. It’s free anyway so why not.

My opinion: I like it. This is the first WMP I’ve seen that actually does what it’s supposed to do quite well.

First: Microsoft finally did something they should have done to WMP a long time ago, and that’s put it on a diet. Since version 7, WMP has been bulky, weighty and just eats up computer memory. This one is much “slimmer” in that respect.

Second: A helluva lot easier to use. Buttons now make sense, menus have been redesigned. I was able to easily figure this one out.

Third: Looks better. The last WMP was a little too over-the-top in the way it worked. This one can be put in a plain “box” and looks fine when it’s in that mode. To those people who still like those custom skins, yes you can still use them - but I always preferred WMP in stock form.

Fourth: Finally looks like the rest of Windows XP. WMP was a bit of an island unto itself. Now it actually matches the look of the XP OS a bit better.

Fifth: The Guide is actually worth looking at now. It’s clean and music is easy to get to.

It’s not often I say this (if ever,) but bravo Microsoft on this one. Well done. It’s still not as quick as WinAMP, but now it’s darn close.

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