Adnans Sysadmin/Scripting Blog

Update: Just wanted to note how refreshing it is to see an internet company actually work to extend/improve the internet, instead of introducing a service that locks you in to their platform.

EcmaScript 5: Changes to JavaScript

2009-05-20T12:35:00.001-05:00

via Ajaxian

Google Tech Talk: State of the X Window

2009-05-16T14:19:00.001-05:00

via youtube

My first search on Wolfram Alpha

2009-05-15T22:14:00.001-05:00

I recently did a search on Google for “terminator 4 release date”. Doing the same search on Wolfram Alpha had results displayed far better than I expected!

Friendfeed is down

2009-05-08T18:38:00.001-05:00

Update: FriendFeed co-founder Paul Buchheit lets everyone know (appropriately on Twitter), “The entire svcolo datacenter lost power. They expect to have it restored in 10min, but it will take at bit to bring up all systems.”

via techcrunch

I love friendfeed, its fast and it barely ever goes down. So I was surprised when I couldn’t reach it today. This downtime is not like twitters, where twitter has issues with its own code, or database or scale or what have you. Twitter is able to show the fail whale because their servers are generally still up.

In this case, it seems friendfeeds datacenter has lost power. The datacenter should have had a primary and secondary power source. The datacenter should also have had backup generators. Since they have been down for a while, I guess those all failed. If not, friendfeed servers take an awful long time to boot up!

Since no servers are running, no fail whale from friendfeed. Its hard when everything fails at the same time, but that's generally what happens. Its a good idea to distribute your servers in different data centers, preferably across the country. If you can afford it, that is.

Update: For those worried about Scoble, I noticed him logging in and out of skype… so he should be ok! :)

Update: Friendfeed servers are up but showing an Internal Server Error… uhoh!

Google Teck Talk: Erlang

2009-05-08T09:33:00.001-05:00

via youtube

Windows 7 RC on a netbook, my experience

2009-05-06T19:04:00.001-05:00

I have a Dell Mini 12 netbook. It has a 1.66 Ghz Atom processor, 1 GB RAM, Intel GMA 500 Graphics and a 60 GB (4200 rpm) pata hard drive. Its a slow netbook.

Windows 7 with Aero is slow on the machine. I find that the system gets more usable if you disable Aero, and the theme engine.

I bought this netbook with Ubuntu, which turned out to be the Ubuntu netbook remix. I wanted Ubuntu, which resulted in me trying to install Ubuntu (8.04, 8.10, and 9.04). I couldn’t get X to give me the 1280x800 resolution. The system has an Intel GMA 500 (like the Dell Mini 10) which has an X driver, but its broken.

Until that gets fixed, I’m stuck with Windows, and its almost usable with Aero turned off.

WhiteKnightTwo video

2009-05-02T20:43:00.001-05:00

via engadget

GTAC 2008 Keynote Address: The Future of Testing

2009-04-26T20:41:00.001-05:00

via youtube

Scobleizer interviews Kevin Marks on open social

2009-03-29T20:12:00.001-05:00

via gillmorgang (heard it on this weeks show)

link to original

Google Tech Talk: Compiling and Optimizing Scripting Languages

2009-03-28T10:39:00.001-05:00

via Youtube

New Macheist bundle

2009-03-24T21:31:00.001-05:00

I think I bought the first bundle (whichever bundle had textmate) which had quite a bit of interesting applications. Their is a new bundle their today that someone might find interesting. I keep checking it out to see if their are any interesting applications their. I might get the bundle if they include any one of the following:

BBedit
Yojimbo
Snapz Pro X
Omnigraffle
Omnifocus
Omniplan.

Oh well, maybe the next bundle.

2009-03-21T12:37:00.001-05:00

Computer skills I have vs what friends and family think about : programming

via reddit

Your Printer is a brat

2009-03-15T08:32:00.001-05:00

Watch Your Printer is a Brat and more funny videos on CollegeHumor

via geeksaresexy.net

Twitter or bankrupt?!

2009-03-03T20:59:00.001-06:00

Funny that techmeme thinks the twitter story is bigger than the one about the economy.

Introduction to Bespin Python Backend

2009-03-01T11:54:00.001-06:00

Bespin Python Backend Overview from Kevin Dangoor on Vimeo.

via blue sky on mars

Safari4 Beta experience

2009-02-24T10:10:00.003-06:00

Safari4 Beta is out and I just installed it on an old Windows XP box. The interface has changed, the tabs are placed right at the top just like they are in Google Chrome. The browser is fast, and fun to use.

With that being said, I'm right back to using Firefox. I cannot use any browser that doesn't have the following functionality: when I press 'v' in Google Reader, I need the article to open in a new tab in the background. This lack of functionality leaves Google Chrome/Safari as unusable for me.

Now if only Mozilla would speed up firefox!

IE8 and webslices

2009-02-23T19:55:00.001-06:00

Their is a new feature in IE8 called web slices that I found through this channel9 video.

I tried to get the delicious links on this blog to show up in a web slice. All you need is the following:

<div class="hslice" id="item123">
<p class="entry-title">Recent Links</p>
<div class="entry-content">

Content goes here …
</div>
</div>

I got the above code from here. Also their is an msdn page here.

Unfortunately, the javascript does some funky stuff that doesn’t get rendered in the web slice. So its just an empty web slice right now. I wonder if other browsers are going to support this in the future?

Using time machine to restore dot files

2009-02-21T00:44:00.001-06:00

I needed to replace some dot files, however the finder in time machine doesn't show dot files (.emacs for instance).

The following enables viewing dotfiles (ran this in terminal):
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
killall Finder

Now you should be able to see your all dotfiles and folders in finder.

KVM and Windows XP - Howtoforge

2009-02-15T13:02:00.001-06:00

Installing Windows XP As A KVM Guest On Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop | HowtoForge - Linux Howtos and Tutorials

There's a bug in virt-install and virt-manager on Ubuntu 8.10 that does not let you run Windows XP as a guest under KVM. During the Windows installation, the guest needs to be rebooted, and then you get the following error, and Windows XP refuses to boot: "A disk read error occured. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart". This guide shows how you can solve the problem and install Windows XP as a KVM guest on Ubuntu 8.10.

via techfuga.com

cmdline stuff...

2009-02-14T23:06:00.001-06:00

Show device drivers and their properties (Windows XP) | Command-line Fu:

driverquery /si /fo table

Tried this on my windows 7 beta netbook, works fine.

developerworks article on using screen

2009-02-14T09:39:00.001-06:00

Speaking UNIX: Stayin' alive with Screen

The command line is a powerful tool, but it has a fatal weakness: If the shell perishes, so does your work. To keep your shell and your work alive—even across multiple sessions and dropped connections—use GNU Screen, a windowing system for your console.