Now that the Fedora 12 beta has been released into the wild I thought that I would put it on my system and see how it compares to the latest release of Kubuntu. I know this may not be a fair comparison because I am comparing Kubuntu to Fedora and not Ubuntu, but that is what I was running last.

Install

The initial screen is the standard options screen. You have the options to do an upgrade or install, install with basic video driver, rescue installed system, or boot from local drive. This has become standard fair on most distrobutions, and it is nothing new to see any of these options. I chose the Standard Install/Upgrade, and we are off to the races.

Next pops up the standard check your media screen. As I use multiple hard drives in my machine, and am not worried about the install failing, I skip this and go onto what is next. At this point Anaconda starts running, and the GUI installer kicks in.

The installer does detect my Fedora 11 installation in /dev/sdb, but as I like a clean environment to work with , I am going to choose “Install Fedora.” After selecting this, you are presented with the standard location and hostname questions. One thing to note is that Fedora still creates a root account. This is a variation from the way that Ubuntu does it. Personally, I like having the root account to fall back on without having to login as a regular user and then sudoing to root. There are occasions where only root is able to log in, and not having a password on the account it a real hindrance. On this front, I am glad the Fedora has not gotten rid of the root account setup.

The disk selection section for me is a real show stopper. As I use multiple drives with various operating systems it is vital that I can choose which device to install onto. Not six months ago while trying to install one Linux distro, I was forced to disconnect all but the drive that I wanted to install from. Fedora gives you the flexibility to use a single drive or multiple drives, and then the chance to change it all manually. Kudos.

The package selection area is always a sticky subject. On Beta installs, I have chosen packages that have broken the entire installer, but as I like the ability to customize before my system is installed I always choose to change the packages. On that note, it is still a positive that Fedora offers this chance to the end user. To many distros these days choose to take options away from the user until the machine is up and running. Using the options I add some developer and admin goodies as well as the KDE desktop.

And with that the installer runs for a while, and I proceed to work on other items. I was not paying attention to the total install time, but it was under 30 minutes. The next step is to reboot. I encountered a bug on the automatic reboot. For some reason the reboot failed and I was forced to manually poweroff, and poweron the machine. This will hopefully not be present in the final release.

Initial Reboot

On the initial boot of the machine, after performing the installation, you are presented with a welcome screen, and then a couple of screens that allow you to accept the license, create a user, and set the date and time.

After answering a couple of questions you are brought to the login screen. While all this is fine, I really do wish that there was a bit more customization available when adding users. I use consistent group and user ID numbers across machines, and having to change it afterward can be annoying. For the average user I hardly think that this is an issue however.

Working with the System

On initial boot of the machine you are prompted with a typical Fedora screen that has you create a user account and set the date and time. This is fine, and it then brings you to a typical log in page. Time to start kicking the tires now.

Gnome is the default desktop for this install, and my initial opinion is that it is very similar to the last release. Gnome is gnome, and all is well. I am not sure which version it is, but the default look and feel are fine. For the background a nice blue background is the choice, and it is a nice change from Ubuntu brown.

Getting into the applications, Fedora 12 comes with a bunch of standard apps. Firefox, rythmbox, f-spot, and a bunch more. To me the default install has all you might need. The only problem that I had was with Empathy as a replacement for pidgin is that it does not work with OTR and with my works IM service. After some research it turns out the problem is with TLS/SSL implementation on the side of my job’s IM system, but then again there is a problem with the way empathy falls back to support old SSL/TLS standards.

I added rpmfusion in order to get some additional software that does not come with Fedora by default. There was a glitch in the gui package add tool. I had not imported the key for the repository and while I chose to install the package it would not install. This was fixed by changing an entry in the yum.repos.d directory. This was annoying, but was not a show stopper.  I then installed vlc cause it is nice to have.

VirtualBox installed without a problem, and the package tool was able to successfully add all of the rpm dependencies without my having to do it by hand. This has almost become a standard, but it was nice to see it work without a hitch. Ten minutes later, my vm was back up and running and unlike with Kubuntu, sound was working as well. Fedora does have its own virtualization platform, but as of yet I have not had a chance to try it out. To be honest, I do not have much knowledge of KVM.

Overall I am happy with the speed and performance of the new Fedora 12. I am still in the process of tweaking it to my likings, but so far it has been good. Oh, one additional note is that Liberation fonts are installed by default. From me, I give it two thumbs up. Would I give it to my mom? no. However, anyone that is a bit computer savvy should not have a problem with any tuning or tweaks that you want.

To bad after the install it would not boot off of the disk.  Bummer.

I was really looking forward to it. Especially giving both the new KDE and Gnome a try. Tis a shame.

Maybe I will give it another chance when the beta comes out. That or I find a spare physical machine to put it on.

The first decision that had to be reached was whether or not to even apply to graduate school. I cannot begin fathom the various reasons that other people choose to go back to school, but for me it was a about learning and future possibilities. Sure I can learn on my own, most anyone can, but sometimes having others around helps stimulate the mental process. In addition, going to school requires time to be set aside. So as for me, I always new that I wanted to go to graduate school, but the question was always when and for what.

At one point I had been accepted to a graduate program, but with kids and such decided that the time was not right. Also, I was not in love with the program or even sure that a straight up computer science degree was what I wanted to do. That leads me to a discussion that I had with a co-worker about wanting to go to graduate school, but that there were no programs nearby that really fit what I wanted to do. We pulled up a local school (left out for now), and lo and behold, there was a new program listed. Not only was it a program that I was interested in, but it was exactly what I wanted to study.

After flip-flopping back and forth for a while, the decisi0n was finalized that I was going to apply. That is where I am now. This is where the fun begins. My checklist is as follows:

• GRE — Have to ensure my almost 5 year old scores are still valid.
• Letters of recommendation ( need 3 )
• Online application.
• 4000 character essay about experience and such
• 4000 character essay about why I want to be in the program
• Transcripts

Those essays are the hard parts, not to mention figuring which 3 people to ask for letters of recommendation. Now back to the list.

It was an ugly crash. After waiting a moment, I checked myself and seemed to be ok. I climbed up the side and back up onto the trail. My neck was a bit sore from the spill, and I hurt in numerous spots, but I was determined to keep going. You can keep calling me an idiot at this point. Instead of stopping, I got back on and road another 7 miles. It was one of the most painful rides that I have ever done. This got me about 2 miles from the halfway point. At this point, I got off to take a breather, and was barely able to walk. Luckily for me, one of the spectators of the race saw the condition that I was in and drove me back to the race start area. It took more will power to bite down my pride and stop than I would ever like to admit. Almost brought tears to my eyes, but I shut up and let him drive me back out.

Back at the truck is when I finally to good stock of all the damage that I had done to myself. I had cracked my helmet, strained some muscles in my neck, bruised some muscles in my back, numerous scratches and bruises on my legs, and random scratches from the brambles. Needless to say, as my endorphins waned the pain kicked in. Not fun, but I managed until the race was over. I congratulated the fellows that I went to race with, and they were bummed to find I had wrecked.

After getting home and getting checked out by the wife, I made an agreement that I would not ride with my glasses ever again. I would wait till my eye got better, and I could were my contacts. Turns out my eye infection got worse, and it ended up being another 2 weeks before my eye was well enough to put contacts in again. Same day I was able to wear contacts again, was the first day that I went riding again. That just happened to be 2 days before this post. Part of the reason to write this now is to write while I have the thoughts fresh in my mind.

At this point, my eye is better. My bike, unlike me, is fine and is in great working condition. Physically, I am feeling good, other than some soreness in my neck which I have been told could last for a few more weeks. Mentally, I am mostly ok, but there are some issues. The wreck shook me that I would care to admit.

My first ride was good and bad. The biggest issue was getting back into the swing of things. Climbs and flats were not a problem. In that regard, it felt good to be back on my bike. In fact, it felt like I had been away much to long. It was some of the faster downhill sections where I was getting a little wary. This is to be expected after a major wreck, but I was surprised at how affected I was. After 2o minutes I felt better, but even after a 45 minute ride, I can say that I still have some confidence to regain. Hopefully I will get back up to par soon, but it is just a matter of time and riding.

One of the hardest parts of mountain biking or of any sport can be getting back into it after an accident. While this is not as big of an issue in some sports, it is especially true of mountain biking, road biking, and almost any type of racing that is tied to a vehicle of some sort. The problem is that it is not just getting over the physical aspects of a crash, but also then getting over the sensation that it is going to happen again.

There are countless movies about the hero that suffers some sort of accident and has to overcome adversity to win the day. In movies, it seems to be that the person that is facing adversity is unable to overcome the mental or psychological barrier until it is some key race or event. That is just rubbish. Reality is a harsh mistress, and she has no intentions of letting you overcome all the mental road blocks in one triumphant moment.  More often than not, it is a gradual recovery with moments of jumps in behaviour and performance.

On a side note I rode for 45 minutes. Felt good physically, legs that is, kept up a 9.35 mph pace, and put in 6.7 or 7.6 miles. That is on my 29er single speed.

The initial plan was to get the 2009 Reba SL 29er fork. After speaking to a local bike shop however, I ended up getting the 2010 model for the same price. Let me start by saying that if you check out the SRAM website and look at the pictures they have posted, you will see the pictures of the 2009 models. Yup, it is so new, that they don’t have the marketing information out on the new models yet, or if they do, it is for the 26ers.

The RockShox Reba has a great look. While looks don’t mean much, it is nice to have a good looking fork on the front of the bike. In addition to the way it looks, RockShox has extended the lowers down to cover the negative air and rebound adjust. While I myself have never had an issue with hitting these when riding, I am sure someone has. Extending the lowers to cover this is a nice design addition in my opinion.

The Reba SL weighs in at just under 4lbs. For me that is perfect. The next step down, the Tora Race weighs in at 5 lbs, and costs approximately $60 less. It is also only single air, while the entire Reba line is dual air. The shock also comes with an air pump, which will save you from having to fork over another $30 to $50. The pump works fine, but remember to always fill the positive air chamber first. Not doing so may cause damage to the internals.

So how does it ride? That is the question that everyone wants to know. The fork that I received was set to 80mm travel, adjustable to 100mm by taking out some spacers. The fork rides great. After a few minutes of adjusting the air pressure to my weight, I took it for a quick 8 mile ride. The fork is has good lateral stiffness. I was able to nail corners and stick to a line without fault. In the rough stuff the fork shined. The fork absorbed the roots and ruts that were punishing me days before on the rigid fork.

Hands down it is one of the best forks I have ever owned so far. I am going to be working with the rebound on it, but I only expect my opinion to get better. Rock Shox has done a great job with the Reba lin.

To be fair, this is not a situation that is specific to just the Information Technology field. In fact, this can  arise for most any situation where a decision has to be made. Decision on which college to go to, whether or not to buy a car, which router to buy, or what programming language to use for a given project. All of these are examples of when  a person can be confronted with options that seem overwhelming. The question is, how do you make a decision and move forward.

A former co-worker of mine told me of a book that he once read that covered this very topic. I am not sure of the entire contents of the book, but the gist of it was that you must draw a date in the sand, so to say, and at that point make a decision. It may not be the right choice, but the idea was to do something, to do anything. Because, while a person sits there waiting to make a decision, that person is not able to work on other issues or continue the project it is that has the decision that must be made. I wish I could remember the name of the book, as I am at a point where I would like to read it, and see what it has to say.

So how do you come up with that line in the sand that you cannot cross? That would depend on the situation. If you have a task or item that is bound to a certain date then that should be easy. What is the most limiting deadline? Use that as your point where you must make a decision. It become more difficult however, when there is no set date present to help make a date when you must decide. A great example of this would be deciding what programming language you want to use for a personal project. It is for your own personal use so time is not an issue, but at the same time, if a decision is never made, then the project will never get started, let alone finished.

For people that are bound to a single technology when it comes to programming this will not be an issue. The automatic response from them will be to use language X, Y, or Z. This is fine for those that are bound to this paradigm, and I wish them well. Unfortunately, not everyone is bound to a single technology stream. Sure the die-hard Microsoft and Apple people will have their lines drawn before they ever come to the table, but for some of us those lines are blurry or non-existent. I for example use 3+ platforms on a normal basis. This means that if I was to write an application for personal use, then I would want it to be portable for all my work environments. Therefore, a cross platform option must be chosen.

These types of decisions can be overwhelming. There are a myriad number of solutions, all with their positive and negative points. Bamm, and now you are stuck with a case of analysis paralysis. But what decision do you make? When have you gone to far to turn back? Will the benefits of the choice outweigh the negatives? Am I just going to be wasting my time? …. The list goes on. The fact of the matter is that you must act. One quote that comes to mind is from the movie  Karate Kid when Mr. Miyagi says, “Walk on left side of road or right side of road, walk in middle, get squished, just like grape.” Don’t be the grape.

Sure you may want to take a reasonable amount of time to consider various possibilities, but make a decision and move on it. Just expect someone to counter argue any decision that you have made. This is because people have their biases, and you will never be able to appease everyone. The hard part will be ignoring them and sticking to your decision. That is not to say that you should never listen to what someone has to say, but unless they provide a clear alternative or items you had not considered, then stick to your guns. Believe it or not, under most situations you can get to a point where you can say this will or will not work. But until you begin working you will never know.

To sum things up, ACT. Make a decision and move on it. The best idea that never gets started will never get finished. You can always change your mind later.

Step 1. Install CentOS onto your server. You can download the CD images or DVD images from their site. CentOS is pretty much Redhat Linux without the licensing and corporate support.

Step 2. Update your server. Once your machine is up and running do the following steps to prepare for the installation of VirtualBox onto the server. Depending on which options you chose during install, you may not need to perform some of these steps.

1. yum update
2. yum install  SDL
3. yum install kernel-devel
4. yum install gcc g++

Step 3. Downlaod VirtualBox from their website. This is to get the non-OSS version, which in my opinion has better features/options. Choose the one for RedHat, and place it on the server.

Step 4. Install VirtualBox.

rpm -ivh VirtualBox-2.1.4_42893_rhel5-1.x86_64.rpm

This is technically all you have to do to run VirtualBox on your server. The next question is whether you want to run it as root or as a nonpriveleged user. Out of general good practices, it is important

Step 5. Add your user to the vbox group. This will allow you to run VirtualBox as a user without the potential for Virtual box to destroy your machine. Not likely, but possible.

Step 6. Run virtual box. Provided that the executable is in your path all you should have to do is run the VirtualBox command. This will bring forth the gui.

VirtualBox

Enjoy!

About 3 weeks ago I started having problems with my battery running down quickly, and then about 2 weeks ago it would not take a charge. Being busy, I did not end up calling Dell support until yesterday. Getting through to support was quick and easy, and it was a pleasure getting to talk to someone from the Philippines. To bad all the news/information that she had for me was just horrid.

Turns out the battery that comes with the Dell e1505 has a working life of approximately 1 year. Does not matter if you charge it and run it down all the time, leave it plugged in, or just use it every now and then. The life of the battery is 1 year. That is just stupid.

I have had other laptops, and at about the 3 year mark I would start to have issues with the battery. I can accept that, and if the laptop is still working OK, then I might invest in a new battery over a new laptop. But to find out that I will have to replace the battery every year is just outrageous. Oh, and the cost of the battery? The 9 cell is $155 and the 6 cell was $135. For the price I would have to pay every year, I would have been better off paying the Apple tax.

Just to compare, my no name laptop went 3 years before the battery started to fail, old macbook pro went 4 years, and numerous work laptops went 2+ years. Now at 1 year 3 or 4 months I have a battery that has to be replaced. WHAT A RIP-OFF!

Not sure what I am going to do now, but I do not want to give Dell any more money, and I will never buy a product from Dell again that is for personal use.

The day before race day people on the forum were stating that the trail was a bit dusty, and that it could use a bit of rain to help it out. Well, that night it rained buckets. I live 20 minutes away, and it came down for a good couple of hours where I live. Needless to say, while Yargo drains well, none of the parks around here drain that well. The forecast for race day was 40% chance of showers in the afternoon. Only time would tell.

This was my third race, and I tried to prepare for it as well as possible. In retrospect, I still think that I need to refine this process. I am sure that it is just something that is going to take time to get down. First off, get a good bag. One that does not flop on itself when it is not full, and one that has a number of pockets. I think this is one of the things that probably caused me the most grief, rummaging through my bag looking for things.

Another way to prepare is to set all your stuff aside, and pack it the night before the race. For this I would recommend a checklist. Seems like I always forget something on race day. Organization is the way to go. Get any tools you need together. Determine what you are going to take on the course with you, and set it all up. If you are riding with a camel back or similar, load it up with spare tube, chain links, multi-tool, etc. This will make life easier on race day. Don’t forget to make sure you have done any work on your bike that you need to, and that you have test road it.

On race day I got up early, had my coffee and breakfast. Looked like a beautiful day for a race. The weather was great. Loaded up the vehicle and headed over to Ft. Yargo. Got there around 7:30, checked in, and then found where the rest of the Gwinnett Area Trail Riders (GATR) had set up. I started to carry my stuff up to the tent that Trunk Monkey had setup the night before. It was then I realized I forgot my chair, and that my duffel bag needs to be replaced. Also realized that I had not loaded up my camel back with all the essentials. (When will I ever learn).

Pre-race was fun. Hung out with the GATRs. Got to meet a few more that I had not met before, and just enjoyed the mood. Bathrooms were flooded with people. Two stalls and two urinals is just not enough. It would also be nice if people could figure out how to drop a load without stopping up a toilet. Maybe their parents didn’t teach them, or they just have out houses at home. It was then time for the mandatory meeting, which covered the general rules.

Starting line. I am still working on my stamina and speed, and as a result I took a place in the latter half of the starting line-up. To be honest, I think that I picked a good position. Could have moved up just a bit, but anymore than that and I would have been kicked in the arse for going too slow. The parade lap gave a slight indication as to how muddy some of the trail was going to be, but it looked like things might be ok if the weather held. I also think that I should have done a warm up lap. My muscles take a moment to get going.

The first lap was not to bad. After the crowd thinned out I managed to pass a few people, and thought that my pacing was not bad. I knew that there was no way I was going to get on a podium, but I just wanted to improve upon my last performance. My bike was responding great, and I was feeling good. Finished the first lap in about 1:30. I pitted to stock up on fluids (at this point I was already not drinking enough) and to eat a pickle.

With that I headed out on my second lap. Shortly into my second lap, I noticed that my seat seemed to be slipping. I have had this problem before with this seatpost, so I tried to tighten it down just a bit. On mile marker 5 I tried to tighten it down, and managed to break my seatpost clamp. The next 7 miles were ridden with my knees in my chest. On the hill climb I cramped pretty bad, probably from not drinking enough water. Finished out the lap in under 2 hours. It was also on this lap that the skys decided to open up and we had a deluge of rain, thunder, and lighting. The trail looked like a creek in some spots.

Neutral support was great. The tried to fix the clamp, and when that failed, found a clamp off of another bike and put it on mine for $5. Could not go wrong with that. I also realized that my seatpost was bent. That is what I get for riding a hardtail and weighing 205lbs. It was then that I knew I was not going to be able to finish 4 laps. So my goal changed to 3.

My legs were already tired from the saddle position the lap before, but I still wanted to get in three laps, so I headed out. From the beginning I could tell that my heart was not in it. My legs were spent, and I could not force myself to get moving. At one road crossing I stopped for a few minutes and seriously thought about calling it quits for the day. Bob came by and yelled something about needing to be moving. I decided I was going to finish it and got up.

Somehow I got to the last 3 miles when I realized that I had under 20 minutes to spare to finish the lap. The trail was so bad that my front derailleur was not working, and the rear was so-so. Calling a line from “The Blood of Heroes” I summoned the resolve to finish in time. Trunk Monkey passed me, and about 1/2 mile later my leg started to cramp again. I fought it off, got back on my bike and kept riding.

When I crossed the last road to the last 1/4 to 1/2 power-line run to the finish line I asked the guy how much time we had left. He said it was 4:00 pm by his watch. No way, that is when the race is supposed to end for the 6 hour riders. I said we should have at least 2 minutes. He said he wasn’t sure.

The guy in front of me heard it and headed out, and I followed suit. Nearly clipped a tree getting to the mud pit open grass track to the finish, but kept it upright. I gave all I had coming into the finish. It felt great to see people up there cheering you on to the end. I crossed the line to find that I had 1:30 left on the clock. Felt like I was going to puke, but great all the same.

That last lap took almost 2:30 minutes, but was well worth it. I would have liked to stayed and cheered on the rest of the riders, but I had to head on out to my daughter’s ballet recital. Props to all the riders that passed me, include the rest of the GATRs.

Next year, 4 laps.

I am 6′ 4″ and ordered an 20″ for my testing/use. From my research, it looks as if the bike has very similar geometry to that of the Specialized StumpJumper with the sizes of the Stumpjumper being 1 inch smaller than that of the Reken. Most bike shop owners recommend that I ride an XL bike, but years of BMX have me never wanting to set foot on an XL bike again. This frame was to be used as my primary bike frame as I was replacing my 2008 Gary Fisher Marlin with the Sette Reken. I purchased the bike through Pricepoint just like any other customer, and did not recieve any special discount or promotions for doing this review. (Just wanted to state this because I sometimes wonder about people that demo “free or loner” bikes.)

Initial opinion. The Reken frame showed up 3 – 4 days after ordering it from Pricepoint. The box was big and had a stamp on it that said made in china, if I remember correctly. Inside the box was the frame, which was packed quite nicely, and the deraileur hanger and cable clips were in a secondary bag. Pulling it out and holding it up I was not sure if it would last one ride. The frame felt light. To be honest though, it is not as if I have a ton of experience looking at frames without all the parts put on them. The paint job was fine and I did not see any cosmetic blemishes or construction issues. The tubes on the Sette Reken are straight, and not hydroformed, but other than that, I was happy with what I had gotten for the price.

The build out. I took the frame to a local bike shop to have the headset, bottom bracket, and crank installed. They chased the threads (helps to ensure proper install of bottom bracket) and installed the components without issue. In fact, the shop guy was impressed with the frame, and mentioned purchasing one for a hardtail he was considering building out. The rest of the components I moved over from my old ride when possible, and new parts where needed. It was my first time running cables, and it took me 2 days and about 4 hours to get it right. Once it was done though, it looked sweet and I could not wait to take it for a spin.

At one point, I had posted my initial thoughts on this frame, and now that I have had the Reken for a few months and have several rides on it under my belt, I am ready to give a full review of how the bike rides. To ensure that I was getting the test out of the frame I rode the bike with the fork locked out and with the fork set regular. Also, I rode trails that I am familar with, and that I know how they have handled for me in the past. Based on this my findings are as follows.

For a sub $100 frame, the Sette Reken rocks. I have read reviews on MTBR.com about the Reken, and was not sure if it was hype from people at Sette or Pricepoint. After riding on this frame, I have to say that those reviews are from real people. I said earlier that the Reken frame has similar geomety to that of the Specialized Stumpjumper. To that note, it acts like it is a Stumpjumper. The handling in turns is nimble and responsive. The “flickability” of the bike cannot be beat. At high speeds the bike remains stable, and it is not jittery at low speeds. When it comes to climbing the Sette Reken is as solid is you could hope for. The Reken climbs like a billy goat on crack. (Not the best comparison, but apt) Best of all, the bike just feels good under you.

My overall opinion is that you cannot go wrong with the Sette Reken frame. It has a 5 year manufacturers warranty, but even if it only lasted a single year, it would still be worth every penny that it cost to purchase it. You may not be supporting your LBS (local bike shop) when you buy this frame, but on the other hand, you are not doling out $600 or more on a name brand frame. That means that you can put your money into other upgrades like your fork, wheel set, or cranks. This frame gets 5 stars from me, and is one that I will recommend to other riders that are looking at doing a custom build or just moving parts off of an old or broken frame.