tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164742024-03-07T16:05:28.309+02:00Testing, Testing...The boring rants of a lazy nerdWolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.comBlogger623125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-26335143558304038562011-01-07T02:17:00.003+02:002011-01-07T08:26:35.358+02:00An Unexpected Package<p>Not, not in my linux distribution's package manager. That doesn't surprise me anymore. A note from the post office saying I have a package waiting for me, and would I please come pick it up. I do not remember ordering anything. I've just checked, and I don't have outstanding orders in places where I frequently shop. I note that Israel post packages carry a warning to not open unexpected packages, for security reasons. Guess I'll find out if it's a bomb in six hours, when the post office opens.</p><p><b>EDIT</b>: A Firefox 4 beta team t-shirt. With a hand-written note, in Hebrew. Thank you to the local mozilla volunteer who mailed it, I hope you used company money. I only contributed two small patches, so thanks guys!</p>Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-41190976896799992112010-10-14T00:18:00.004+02:002010-10-25T10:11:35.903+02:00Lois McMaster Bujold's Cryoburn<p>On August 12th, LMB <a href="http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=164952151&blogId=538159133">announced on her blog</a> that Simon & Schuster updated <a href="http://books.simonandschuster.com/Cryoburn/Lois-McMaster-Bujold/Miles-Vorkosigan-Series/9781439133941">their catalog</a> to say that the hardcover will be available October 19th instead of November 2nd as previously announced. She did not provide a link but it was easy to find.</p><p>The publisher Baen still <a href="http://www.baen.com/author_catalog.asp?author=lmbujold">lists</a> the book coming out November 2010. Amazon <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cryoburn-Miles-Vorkosigan-McMaster-Bujold/dp/1439133948/">says</a> they have them in stock, Oct 14th, "but may require an extra 1-2 days to process". Quoted price is $14.62 down from $25 MSRP (with free delivery in the US). Amazon.co.uk <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cryoburn-Miles-Vorkosigan-McMaster-Bujold/dp/1439133948/">will only let one pre-order</a>, for £13.29 which is (according to google) $21.05 USD, with free delivery in the UK. The Book Depository <a href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9781439133941/Cryoburn">lists</a> it as having $30 MSRP and will sell it for $22.50, free worldwide delivery. But still lists publication date as "02 November 2010". I've pre-ordered a while ago so I'm waiting for mine.</p><p>The eARC has been available at the usual copyright infringement locations since the beginning of August, when they became available on the publisher's site for $15.</p><p>LMB <a href="http://lists.herald.co.uk/pipermail/lois-bujold/2010-August/053152.html">has allowed</a> people to give out three copies in exchange for reviews. I paid for mine, so I don't feel obligated to write a review, but we'll see when I have the dead tree edition. Maybe I'll reread some of the previous books first. Does anyone want a copy? Yeah, I'm talking to myself.</p><p><b>EDIT</b>: Just got an email from TBD stating "I am pleased to let you know that we have just received notification that your pre-ordered book has been made available by the publisher".</p><p><b>EDIT 2</b>: Received, 2010-10-21.</p>Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-41715509246064548772009-06-16T04:48:00.002+03:002009-06-16T04:51:04.200+03:00Dreams<p>I had a dream, and in that dream a woman told me she wouldn't sleep with me because of my beard.</p><p>I don't know how true that is outside of my own head, but I think I'll shave off the beard and see what happens.</p>Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-26409416820670850592008-01-11T16:39:00.000+02:002008-01-11T17:24:35.824+02:00work and life musings<p>I remember when I was thirteen to fifteen I used to think I had no chance with girls because they grew up faster than boys and wanted older boyfriends. Some of them had boyfriends who were sixteen or even eighteen and you just couldn't compete with that. Last week I visited family, on the occasion of my twin cousins' fourteenth birthday. I didn't know they would have any guests and the guests didn't know non-immediate family would be there, so I found myself in a room with six fourteen year old girls, two of which were my cousins. The girls are very early stage young adults. I am a single financially solid adult guy. Short, with a full red beard and glasses. If fourteen year old me was in the room, he would think the girls would be all over themselves to be with me and would be disgusted by them, thinking I am much too old for them (which is obviously true). The thing is, they had about the same reaction to twenty three year old me as they would have (and similar girls had) to fourteen year old me. My ego may never recover.</p><p>On an unrelated note, another milestone at work, and I'm closer to pulling my own weight, though I'm not sure what to do with the life/work balance. It seems some people believe that in a startup, work <i>is</i> your life, and thus eliminate the issues entirely. You may engage in social activity or reading non-technical books as a way to "sleep on a problem", but that's about it. Other people separate their lives from their work. I find that commuting and sleep take up more hours from work than I have to spare, considering the workload and my effective work-speed, and I don't have any time available for "life", even if I had any. All I can do is talk to my mom during commutes, because she misses not seeing me all week. I started a facebook account, but that is not true substitute to real life.</p><p>What I need is a mobility solution and increasing work productivity by a factor of two. Also, it seems I still don't notice and/or understand what;s going on around me, people interacting - wise. Sometimes I think half my colleagues could be gay lovers and I wouldn't know.</p>Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-4369675418215419682008-01-04T17:41:00.000+02:002008-01-04T18:40:49.697+02:00MovieSo, yesterday the CEO rented a private showing of the Japanese horror movie "Battle Royal" for the entire company. I managed to stay detached and thus did not throw up. I avoided nightmares. But after I woke up I decided I won't be going to see any more movies he recommends, even if it's mandated company activity. I've read about it on wikipedia beforehand, but he said it was deep and all that stuff. Well, it either wasn't deep or it was too deep for me, because all I've seen is gore for the sake of gore. Maybe more psychology/narrative and less blood would've made it a great statement about the human condition, but as is, it's definitely not for general consumption.Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-10489700471178017052008-01-01T23:16:00.000+02:002008-01-01T23:28:39.168+02:00New Year<p>I have received a pay slip for New Year's. It shows I've paid more income tax than my brutto salary in the IDF.</p><p>The codebase I'm working on is completely undocumented and has gone through enough iterations in a hurry that its original design is nowhere to be seen. I am supposed to figure a lot of stuff on my own and I'm not doing it fast enough. It is discouraging.</p><p>The elephant in the china shop is "equity" - the party line is everyone is equal and the same amount of effort is expected from everyone, but if things go well some will become very rich and the rest are just employees.</p><p>The CTO is not easy to get a long with - people agree that he's living in a dream world.</p><p>Microsoft XML serialization is a piece of shit.</p><p>Really need to think about that personal mobility solution.</p>Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-30781899628562034962007-12-21T13:33:00.000+02:002007-12-21T13:43:31.941+02:00Samsung SyncMaster 226BW<p>I bought it online, had it delivered by UPS next business day (50 NIS). Knock on my door at 08:40 - no phone calls or anything. Setup was very easy, probably thanks to the nvidia settings app that comes with their drivers. It's beautiful and bright. I did not calibrate it yet and did not even check what model panel is inside. 1720 NIS (~$436) vs. <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001096">$310</a> at NewEgg before the $40 mail-in rebate.</p>Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-62255342055796575112007-12-21T12:13:00.000+02:002007-12-21T12:46:38.039+02:00Three weeks in<p>Over lunch told G. the meaning of T.'s phraze "ברחל בתך הקטנה" which is from Genesis 29:18 and means a contract so specific it cannot be misinterpreted (of course, in the story, the hero was still weaseled out of his bride and had to work for her seven more years). He listened and said "and I thought it was just like באמא שלך!". As T. would say: אלוהים אדירים! אתה מבין למה אני מתכוון?</p>Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-19300153980878036022007-12-08T19:01:00.000+02:002007-12-08T19:18:27.523+02:00Work<p>I am trying to keep this blog anonymous (as in, people I work with are not supposed to read it) so I won't mention things by name and don't link to anything, to make finding it harder.</p><p>In the end of November P. has referred me to a startup company he has interviewed at. He decided he didn't want to work there but that I might want to (I think he said he decided that because the place was hardcore, not because it sucked). Anyway they were pretty eager to hire me and after an interview process that was more of a chat than an interview I was hired. They immediately agreed to my price, so maybe I asked too little. So far I have been working there for a week.</p><p>It is a small internet startup, about half a year old. They have some very competent people working there. My boss is acting in a self contradictory manner trying to both encourage me to work faster (because we're behind schedule) and not to completely shatter my self esteem, which is obviously low enough already. I have been feeling young and stupid all week. Some is because I have never worked in Java, some because I have not been working for real for two years (my service in the IDF, though it began pretty well and taught me a great deal, past a certain point was pointless and depressing, and ended in a fucking nightmare).</p><p>I work eleven and half hour days, with an hour of commute each way. I need to sit and read/learn a lot of stuff, but I have no time. I did not accomplish anything this weekend. I think I will have to learn better time management if I am to survive this.</p>Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-82940302767150010292007-11-27T00:37:00.000+02:002007-11-27T00:38:17.556+02:00RedI just want to say: Elizabeth Kucinich.Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-33309808723870560902007-11-24T00:30:00.000+02:002007-11-24T00:31:51.227+02:00EarthquakeJust felt one, about ten minutes ago.Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-80133120600451692372007-11-23T00:03:00.000+02:002007-11-23T00:24:00.450+02:00Hmmm<p>So, influenza. Wonderful thing. Simply splendid. Spilled tea on my old Genius keyboard, had to replace it with one that has the "\" under the enter key until I buy a new one.</p><p>P. might even get me gainfully employed if I get off my lazy ass.</p><p>Reading about <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/11/18/sv_catch.xml">how Catch-22 was originally Catch-18</a> I discovered I don't know who the Jeeves fellow is, or any of P. G. Wodehouse's characters. Looked it up and what do you know? I've seen it mentioned in Hugh Laurie's short biography blurb or something, but I knew the guy playing House was known for parodying British nobility. I didn't know he was actually raised like a minor British aristocrat, but I guess they wouldn't let him parody Eton & Oxbridge graduates if he wasn't one himself. Anyway, have downloaded four seasons of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeeves_and_Wooster">Jeeves and Wooster</a>, a bit too slapsticky but the accent is worth it. And the episode sets. English subtitles help.</p>Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-50932997639793573442007-10-19T17:57:00.000+02:002007-10-19T18:05:42.408+02:00The Kindness of Strangers<p>Hm. I don't know where to start. If another person reads this, or even me several months or years down the line, I should establish quite a bit of context for anything to make sense. But I don't want to write a novel, and I don't really wish to air other people's dirty laundry.</p><p style="text-align: center;">~~~</p><p>At a young age I have decided that as an individualist I will learn things my own way, by making my own mistakes, rather than emulating my parents and making their mistakes. It wasn't the wisest decision, but it does suit my character. In the course of my life, I have made a shit load of mistakes and sometimes have independently discovered very banal truths.</p><p>One of these ideas is something I have watched happen a number of times during my military service and have tried to explain to younger people in the months preceding my discharge.</p><p>At least in the military, the regular state of everything is snafu. People in non-grunt positions*, usually commissioned officers, are replaced every two years. Most of them are average (by definition). At best, the overall situation stays the same. Because of some form of the second law of thermodynamics, things tend to decline and stagnate. People sort of follow the prescribed procedures and they sort of mostly work, and if something is important enough then a person with authority overrides things such that things get done.</p><p>Once in a while, the new person in some position is of a higher caliber. He looks around, sees that things suck and does his best to do something about it. Through more or less heroic efforts, he changes something for the better. The surrounding parts of the organization notice this and change their m.o. to reroute things through his department - suddenly a lot more things are his responsibility. Also, to deal with the higher throughput of his department, others have to raise their efficiency as well.<br/>The difference could be huge, but, most of the time, unless that person is very wise, the change is only skin deep: the prescribed work does not change, the rules and regulations do not change, and, most importantly, the HR profile for this person's replacement does not change.<br/>The way work is done is very different, but unless the new attitude manages to inspire others to do the same, in two year's time when the person who started it all gets reassigned, horrible things happen. While the change from snafu to snafu is barely noticeable, the change from the way things should be done (but very rarely do) back to snafu is hard. The amount of work to be done is large, because people piped work to this suddenly productive department. New projects were started, that depend on this irregular behavior. New people's expectations of the system are completely unrealistic. The fall is hard and painful, but thankfully short.</p><p>The thing is, I believe that unless the betterment can be made permanent, i.e. regulations, or better yet, staffing profiles changed, the short period when some department kicks ass, when considered long term, is more negative than positive for the organization as a whole.</p><p>When I was younger I admired those people and believed that the reason big incompetent organizations don't break down is that all over the place in their structure, there are people such as this that get assigned to every position every x generations and bring things back up from stagnation. And of course productivity drops when they leave, but in a number of generations another one of them will be assigned there and he will fix it again. And as long as such a person is available to fix things before they completely break down, the organization will carry on doing its job, as incompetently as ever. To me, those people were heroes.</p><p>But later I decided that it is not worth it. That the short good season is just a tease. The disappointment of its passing is not worth the joy of living it. And since bringing permanent change is beyond the limited abilities of young passionate and foolish people, it is doomed to a lot of pain.</p><p>I know it sounds like deciding to live alone because you don't want to get divorced down the line. It sounds cowardly and unreasonable. But I got burned a few times, and thought it was enough.</p><p style="text-align: center;">~~~</p><p>In February, I found out that FA's IT is in abysmal shape and it desperately needs help. I volunteered. After a short email detailing my completely unverifiable credentials as an Oracle development DBA and a dotNET and C++ persistence layer developer being interested and able to maintain a LAMP project, I was cheerfully given all the keys to the castle and told the ghosts and now my problem. Really, now that I think of it, people were very eager to give me root passwords for production servers. And when I asked about some stuff, I was told I can change whatever I want. I don't have to get permission. I don't have to consult with anyone. If I think installing a different OS, web server, database, programming language runtime, email system etc. is for the best – more power to me, etc. WTF?</p><p>There are mailing lists full of people with experience far greater than mine. People who helped build the systems. Some bounce, the rest apparently abandoned the subscribed email account or configured the list as spam. Including the list moderators. There are known severe bugs in production, unfixed for years. The database is full of junk. Things that had bugs were disabled instead of being fixed. Like deleting. There is a heavy odor of decay over everything. It is the image of science-fiction post apocalyptic return to the dark ages: ancient machines no one understands or is able to maintain are worshiped as they fail one by one.</p><p>I started fixing things, more in the order of my understanding than severity. But I fixed a lot of stuff. I have documented the need and plans for fixing other stuff. But I don't feel very welcome. People are not eager to help me. Instead, I feel like I am a nuisance. As if before I came and pronounced that something needs fixing it worked just fine. The people in charge pay lip service to what I feel is important, but I don't see any interest in what I do and I don't see any support. And now I stop and I think. What if there is a reason all those smart capable people who built the thing are gone? What if it is not by chance that I am the only techie who does any work on the fic management system?</p><p>What if it was supposed to die of neglect and close down, soon, and because of my intervention it is doomed to long suffering? What if I, in effect, put it on life support? I am against euthanasia for people, but I think I am in favor of euthanasia for software.</p><p>So now I am in a moral dilemma. Do I continue, knowing that what I do is right and important, even if others disagree? Or do I acknowledge I was mistaken and not everything should be saved? I have not created permanent change; things I have fixed will break down again, until another chump will be found to fix them. Have I only teased the users with the dream of good IT?</p>Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-11727476235601672652007-09-09T20:48:00.000+03:002007-09-09T20:59:00.597+03:00Nazis<p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6985808.stm">Context</a>. So. Back in 2002, when I was in basic training I met this guy who was into antisemitism. He was a recent immigrant from somewhere in the former USSR. He made aliyah because he thought he could get rich in Israel and he could get citizenship because he had (or said he had) some Jewish grandparent. He didn't last six months in the army. I think he was from Petach-Tiqwa, where I live. Where these guys are from. I don't think he is one of them because he's my age and the article says the oldest is 21. And I don't know anything about him. But I've met the type. Russian nationalists. They form gangs where they have nothing in common except their hate for Jews, gays and non-white people. And they go out and beat people up. For fun. Not even to mug them or anything. Three guys like that from my high school almost killed a guy they didn't know because one of them was frustrated that day because his girlfriend dumped him. Have you read "A Clockwork Orange"?</p>Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-50194165956522037712007-09-06T17:47:00.000+03:002007-09-06T18:00:53.855+03:00Discharge<p>I'm a civilian now. Not even a reservist. Most of the trouble was getting rid of my cellphone - they wanted me to schedule an appointment to return the damn thing next week, when I had to do it today to get discharged. Eventually they agreed to accept it back but not in Tel-Aviv because there are lines. ::rollseyes::</p><p>Other than that it was very painless and rather efficient, considering the inefficiency of conscripted labor in a government-run organization.</p><p>Time to send those c.v.s. I haven't written yet.</p>Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-30731224763165665242007-08-19T18:34:00.000+03:002007-08-19T18:43:41.134+03:00Hacks<p>Portage has been acting up, not showing updates when I do <code>emerge -avuDN world</code>, so I did this:
<code>emerge -pv `equery l -i | sed 's/\(.*\)-[0-9].*/\1/' | grep '/'` | grep -v '\[ebuild R'</code>
and it worked. It's ugly and inefficient, but it worked.</p><p>In completely unrelated news, <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/8088CorruptionExplained">8088 Corruption</a> is one of the most amazing things ever.</p>Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-58443912623067682682007-08-14T17:15:00.000+03:002007-08-14T17:20:01.928+03:00Grey's AnatomySo, I'm watching the first season of Grey's Anatomy because there's no House till end of September. It's like E.R. mixed with more Bridget Jones' Diary (or maybe Ally McBeal). I don't think surgical interns are actually that promiscuous, but then again, I didn't think people where fucking during programming course either…
My discharge date is September 6th.Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-62289732003318237572007-08-09T21:14:00.000+03:002007-08-09T21:27:19.579+03:00Fruit<p>My parents bought a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitaya">Pitaya</a>, not knowing that it was. It's tasty, though the cost is prohibitive. Nowhere near as awesome as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lychee">Litchi</a>, so I think I'll pass next time. My father used to cultivate cacti in Leningrad where it was difficult, and my parents tell me of a date they had in the botanic gardens the night it was announced on the radio that a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightblooming_cereus">queen of the night</a> is about to blossom. He didn't pick up the hobby here because it's not challenging in sub tropical climate.</p>Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-11675521554718088862007-08-01T10:37:00.000+03:002007-08-01T10:39:28.761+03:00Potterdammerung<a href="http://diogenes-sinope.blogspot.com/2007/07/potterdammerung-mega-spoilers.html">This</a> retelling of the DH is better than the original, despite the Americanismsm net-speak and spelling mistakes.Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-66972214278361917832007-08-01T02:09:00.000+03:002007-08-03T01:05:46.958+03:00linuxgentoo compiles fast, especially when cpu is overclocked and undervolted(!).
cflags for core 2 duo on 32bit with gcc-4.2.
lm_sensors requires 2.6.22 kernel to monitor mobo.
can't read geforce thermal monitor yet, but nvidia-settinsg can.
nvidia-settings can underclock geforce to get manageable temps.
4.1 with alsa is not so hard. testing proggy helps a lot.
beryl is complicated.
missing ubuntu's bash package missing tips.
settings up k3b.
figuring out use flags.
w375 usb is hard.
ethernet is called sky2. dunno why.
no wifi yet, no driver in mainline, maybe binary driver from manufacturer, maybe untested driver for a similar chipset.
need to check out asus' driver pack for linux.
same modeline on nv and nvidia drivers results in two different (but close) monitor modes.
ksensors dual core bug.
firefox audio settings for flash.
can't hear samsung drive and its acoustic management is off! and it's only 38C.
weird locale shit.
expand later.
dev-libs/STLport-5.1.2 has to be compiled without the boost USE flag or openoffice won't compile.
trying using hash-style=both now.
Linux 2.6.23-rc1 includes rtl8187 for my on board usb wireless lan. Too bad I don't have any other wifi thingy to test against.Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-39885173482879974682007-07-28T13:48:00.000+03:002007-07-28T14:19:03.512+03:00Too New Hardware<p>Ah, hardware so new Knoppix doesn't support it. Glorious!</p><p>BIOS that came on the motherboard if the first release version, 0201. Doesn't recognize the E6550 so complains about being unable to load microcode. Also BIOS updates are very important. So that should be addressed first.</p><p>The BIOS image is 2MB so doesn't fit 1.44 floppy (connecting the floppy drive was a bitch!). Have to flash it using either a USB mass storage device (which I don't have handy) and the BIOS built-in flasher or through Windows-based flasher (but no Windows live-cd here either) or by burning an ISO CD image with FreeDOS, the ASUS DOS flasher and the unzipped BIOS image itself to a CDRW and booting off that.</p><p>But can't burn a CD if booted from the burner, so attach the trusty old Toshiba SD-M1402 to the sole IDE port, enable JMicron IDE controller in BIOS (on by default), boot into Knoppix from the PATA drive. Find out SATA drive is not recognized by Knoppix 5.1.1 (Linux 2.6.19) when set to IDE mode in BIOS. Only when set to AHCI in BIOS will it get recognized. Ubuntu 7.04 install disk (Linux 2.6.20) does recognize the drive in IDE mode, so that is fixed already. Create proper CD image using <a href="http://www.fdos.org/bootdisks/#bootCD">fdos builder</a> template and gleaning the right <code>mkisofs</code> command line parameters from the WinNT batch files, burn image in K3B. Again, the ASUS SATA DVD drive won't boot off the CD, so boot off the PATA drive, type <code>afuflash /i0503.rom</code> in DOS, wait a while thinking "I knew I should've bought a UPS!" and voilà, new BIOS.</p><p>Still can't overclock without <code>lm-sensors</code> working, and for that need new kernel.</p><p>Still don't know how to flash the optical drive without running RedmondOS.</p>Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-21263813883947529742007-07-27T20:17:00.000+03:002007-07-27T20:32:48.330+03:00Deathly HallowsSo. The End. I was disappointed by Book 5 and disillusioned by Book 6. The Horcruxes sucked badly and the Hallows, impossibly, suck even more. I have honestly read much better fan fiction. It was childish. All of it. The plot twists (Snape/Lily!), the action (Ma Weasley vs. Bella?!), the romance (Ron learning to court Hermione from a book!!!), the morals (Jesus!Harry :O). Everything. I was cringing and imagining the flame I'd have written if I'd been reading this on FFN. I think even the twelve year olds expect more these days. I believe a population deserves whatever leader they have, and JKR's wizarding Britain deserved Tom's police state, if they needed a kid to save them, and I was half heartedly rooting for the Death Eaters for most of the book.Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-11690868774371024852007-07-27T18:06:00.000+03:002007-07-27T20:40:43.312+03:00New Computer<p>So. Now I have an almost functional computer once again. It lacks a hard drive, but while I'm waiting for someone to sell me one of <a href="http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/productmodel.do?group=computersperipherals&type=harddiskdrives&subtype=spinpointtseries&model_cd=HD321KJ&dType=G&mType=SW&tab=down&ppmi=1087">these</a>, I'm running the Ubuntu 7.04 install CD (the ASUS DRW-1814BLT won't run Knoppix 5.1.1). I'm buying a USB storage device tomorrow when a shop opens (about time). I have not yet overclocked the thing or even ran 3D graphics. I don't know whether the built-in sound device is bearable. The version of lm-sensors and the kernel that come with Ubuntu 7.04 don't support my motherboard. But the computer is damn quiet, so I'm pleased. I need to flash the BIOS and the firmware on the burner, and find out how to underclock the video card in Linux (I think nVidia's closed-source driver does that).</p><p>The usual price comparison over US prices, all except one are from newegg.com and are for today, without rebates and without shipping and handling.</p><table border="0" cellspacing="0"><thead><tr><th> </th><th align="left">Make & Model</th><th align="left">US price</th><th align="left">Israel price (NIS)</th><th align="left">US price in NIS</th><th align="left">ripoff pct</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td align="left">CPU</td><td align="left">Intel Core2Duo E6550</td><td align="right"><a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115030">184</a></td><td align="right">995</td><td align="right">772.8</td><td align="right">28.75</td></tr><tr><td align="left">MB</td><td align="left">ASUS P5K-E WiFi-AP</td><td align="right"><a href="http://www.frys.com/product/5271477">210</a></td><td align="right">970</td><td align="right">882</td><td align="right">9.98</td></tr><tr><td align="left">RAM</td><td align="left">Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4D</td><td align="right"><a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145168">179</a></td><td align="right">1242</td><td align="right">751.8</td><td align="right">65.2</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Video</td><td align="left">ASUS EN8600GT Silent</td><td align="right"><a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121076">137</a></td><td align="right">900</td><td align="right">575.4</td><td align="right">56.41</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Case</td><td align="left">Antec P150</td><td align="right"><a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129166">160</a></td><td sdval="910" align="right">910</td><td align="right">672</td><td align="right">35.42</td></tr><tr><td align="left">HDD</td><td align="left">Samsung HD321KJ</td><td align="right"><a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152054">80</a></td><td align="right">490</td><td align="right">336</td><td align="right">45.83</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Monitor</td><td align="left">Samsung 226BW</td><td align="right"><a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001096">350</a></td><td sdval="2081" align="right">2081</td><td align="right">1470</td><td align="right">41.56</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Optical</td><td align="left">ASUS DRW-1814BLT</td><td align="right"><a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135145R">34</a></td><td align="right">249</td><td sdval="142.8" align="right">142.8</td><td align="right">74.37</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Total</td><td> </td><td align="right">1334</td><td align="right">7837</td><td align="right">5602.8</td><td align="right">39.88</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" align="left"><a href="http://www.exchange-rates.org/history/ILS/USD/T">exchange rate</a></td><td align="left">4.2</td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr></tbody></table><p>Notice the 65% "tax" on performance RAM.</p><p>Except for the hard drive, for which the price comes from www.goldtop.co.il with no guarantee on my part for anything, all other parts are available at www.gibornet.co.il and except for the monitor were successfully purchased for those prices by me personally. I have personally witnessed the monitor being available and am thinking of buying it (once I'm sure I don't want to go for the <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005097">LG L226WTQ</a> which over here is $50 USD cheaper than the Samsung).</p><p>The optical drive can be bought for 200NIS, and it's so cheap anyway that I don't count it.</p>Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-64338540588042594212007-07-03T18:51:00.000+03:002007-07-03T18:58:38.421+03:00update<p>After convincing my superiors that I am completely fed up with my work (turns out not being productive and spending 21 days (actually 18) in the brig does the trick) I now have three colonels' signatures on my discharge papers. I think I need two more colonels. I was told it can take a week and then I'll have a discharge date which should be this month, maybe even immediately after all signatures are present. A small personal victory, though getting transferred to a decent place a year ago would've been much better.</p>Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3516474.post-39665202759508899872007-05-20T20:31:00.000+03:002007-05-20T20:44:14.236+03:00grandpa died<p>My aunt just called dad. He had Parkinson's for as long as I remember him. Lately he's been worse, and it's kind of expected. I don't know how I feel about it yet. I loved him, considering the 70+ years age gap, he gave good (unsolicited) advice.יהי זכרו ברוך.</p>Wolf550ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01589558437133485141noreply@blogger.com1