Author: phil

Complex Systems Scientist.

Computer Spring Clean and Updates

Every now and then you have to take things in hand and sort out computers. Its like spring cleaning, its also about as interesting as spring cleaning. I have recently got a new work computer. Long time overdue, but it was worth the wait. Should prove things massively. So, time for a computer inventory and some sorting out.

Retiring the old work machine means that I have an excellent case for my home server. It also has a much better power supply. The old PSU was having trouble starting all the HD up at boot and I wanted to add another 2TB. The new PSU and case is better, quieter and has enough power.

Possible upgrade to the server is on the cards. I think it would benefit from a new m’board and CPU/Ram. I am thinking a low power Celeron (35W). This would have a two fold effect on power consumption, as it would remove the need for it having a GPU (as it does currently), and the CPU would be less. Its main jobs are backup and music server, so its not over taxed. In the future I think it I will move some database tasks to it.

Current machines:

  • Work: Intel i7 3930K, 64GB, 120GB SSD, 2TB HD.
  • Home WS: 4x Opteron 8360SE, 32GB Ram, 150GB HD, 750HD.
  • Home Desktop: AMD Phenom II 1090T, 8GB Ram, 30GB SSD, 500GB HD.
  • Server: AMD Athlon 4050 (45W), 4GB Ram, 150GB Sys. 4TB Storage.
  • Windows Box: AMD Athlon 6000+, 4GB Ram, 320GB HD.

Possible upgrades. I have 3 500GB HD that I think I will add to the Home WS, I also have an ATI 6850 GPU that could go in that. The Home Desktop could do with a CPU boost, perhaps an AMD FX 8350. The Windows box is long overdue for an upgrade really. I just don’t use it very much at all. I am thinking of moving the GPU out of the WS into it. If I get back into music production then I might upgrade. That or I might save up for a Mac Mini. 😛

Pushed Code to GitHub – Non Exact String Matching

I published my first project to GitHub! Up till now I have been a user of SVN but I have long wanted to publish some useful bits of code. I have done my first one! Its a non exact string matching program. Its pretty rough round the edges and in need of some updating but now all updates will be to the benefit of anyone that has an interest in them.

ObscurusCode is now an organization on GitHub too!

Mount linux partition in OS X 10.8

I have recently needed to mount an ext3 formatted partition on my MacBook Pro laptop. Silly me thought all I would need to do is plug it in and at most mount it with the command line. Not so…

First you need to install the new fork of the ext2-fuse module called OSXFUSE. Download and run the install. Make sure you tick the box to install the MacFUSE compatibility layer otherwise you will have problems later.

Next install Fuse-ext2, once done if you plug in a ext2/3 drive it should just mount automatically. Currently it is read only. I restarted my computer after installation but this might not be required. I was due a restart anyway.

Why they can’t include native support for a few more formats I don’t know. Seems very silly not too.

SSH Alive 2

Perhaps this is an even better way of keeping things alive.

Use the following options either on the command line or in your /etc/ssh/ssh_config file (thats the path for Opensuse).

Host *
ServerAliveInterval 15
ServerAliveCountMax 4

I think this method might be more reliable.

SSH Keep Alive

Something that annoys me is when after a period of a couple of mins a firewall kills your ssh connection! Then you have a dead terminal that can take ages to timeout. So this is a solution, keeping it alive…

ssh -o TCPKeepAlive=yes user@some.host.com

Dead easy. I also have an alias in my .bashrc file in my home directory.

alias shortname=’ssh -C -o TCPKeepAlive=yes user@some.host.com’

So all have to do is type ‘shortname’ in the terminal and it would connect me to some.host.com. Much better. The big ‘C’ btw is for compression.

Slow day parametrising a simulation

Parametrising models is really dull sometimes. Its not so bad if the model runs quickly so that you can crank through it but this one is a bit of a slow one. I just need one more bit of data and then I can do a big run and it should be all done… slow day.

Facebook IPO Tanked

Yes, it did. The Facebook IPO valued the company at approximately $100 billion! Are they mad? What were they thinking? Easy to say that now but I think I have ranted at length to friends about insane valuations on Web 2.0 companies. These companies haven’t really proved that they can make all the much money off the many millions of users that they have. I for one can’t remember that last time that I clicked on a Facebook advert. I would like to say I never have but sometimes stray mouse clicks occur (I remember this causing accidental friend requests which is awkward and annoying). I can’t say I even notice them there much. I have definitely not bought any Facebook tokens/credits or whatever they call their attempt at a digital currency.

So what was the route of that crazy valuation? Web 2.0 companies burn cash at alarming rates. They have all that server hardware to keep running and must constantly innovate to remain relevant. Its likely that the venture capitalists behind building Facebook into what it is today wanted some of there money back. Not only that I assume that they too where taken in by that headline figure of 900million users or whatever it is. So based on promises of untold access to millions of people and pressure from venture capitalists the valuation had to be sky high. They didn’t have any other choice. Not to value highly would be to admit that the whole business plan wasn’t what they lead us all to believe. The problem is that it doesn’t matter how many users you have if all they do is turn cash into heat via looking at some pictures of their mates.

New use for post boxes…

I read on The Register that Spectrum Interactive are putting wifi hot spots into old phone boxes. Neat idea, not sure how useful it is unless you can sit somewhere nearby but it might work. However I had another idea. I’m currently sat in Starbucks where for the cost of a cup of coffee I am charging up my phone and laptop. So… why not public use power points in old phone boxes? You could sit squashed into a phone box doing some surfing while all the gadgets that you need to run your life get juiced up for another 8ish hours of 21st century life.

BT Infinity

I moved house to somewhere that has BT infinity. That sounds a bit like I didn’t it deliberately, I didn’t. Although, it was a contributing factor. It was finally installed today. Seems pretty good. I don’t know if its true that it it takes a week or so to ‘settle’ down to a stable speed but it does seem a little all over the place. First impressions are that the speed over the wireless network isn’t that impressive. I’m only getting around 10MB ish, up and down. Although the speed testing services didn’t seem to be very consistent. Plug the cable in and things get much quicker, to the point where it seems that the testing services can’t really keep up. I tried a more ‘real’ world test and got 3.5MB per second downloading Ubuntu from the mirrorservice.org.uk. So that suggests that my wireless devices can’t make a good enough connection to get the maximum speed.

Another real world test I tried was BBC iPlayer. In my old place this would constantly pause and need to rebuffer etc. Now I can click around in the play back position bar and the program starts straight away. This is the same regardless of whether I am using wireless or a cable. So where doesn’t that leave me. With a very good internet connections I guess. As long as it doesn’t ‘settle’ down to a speed that I could get without paying for Infinity its all good.

Journey

I’m one of those people who’s mind drifts off to thinking about things almost on its own (Maybe all people are like this, I have only been inside my own head after all). I’m either thinking about the task in hand or my thoughts drift off to analyse something else. Perhaps the people or situation around me, some event in the recent past, a new idea (new ideas come when washing up). As I write this I am on a train heading between Durham and York. My mind started mulling over how adaptable humans are to new and different situations. Its true that many people do not like change, but it is also true that many people are able to adapt to huge changes in their lives both very successfully and relatively quickly. I see this in myself and many of the people that are around me.

Recently something happened in my life that while it was happening it occupied most of my mental capacity. Almost my every waking thought and some of my dreams were focused on one particular event. Unpicking it, analysing it and the part that I may or may not have played. At the time it was difficult to see how this could ever be different. We have all been there. Not much time needs to pass however and things change. I still think about it a lot but by no means all the time. It might be triggered back into my conscious thought by something specific, but sometimes it just pops back up without a trigger that I am aware of. This is what happened on this train journey, and the trigger is an association of a place that I will pass by. A place I once loved to visit but now I doubt I will ever go back. The closest I will get is skimming its event horizon on my way up and down the East Coast main line.