Craig Laughlin

Great Lakes Science Center

2010-10-31T12:09:00.002-04:00

Yesterday my Wife, Mackenzie and I went to the Great Lakes Science Center. We arrived in Cleveland a little after 1:00pm and ate at Flannery's Pub. Their food was excellent, and their service great too. Afterwards, finally made our way to the science center.

I was a little upset that a lot of the demonstration pieces were non functional to visitor abuse, but that didnt discourage me from having a good time. I even got a glmpse of katie getting her "geek" on. My daughter even seemed to have a great time experiencing different noises and colors. I hope to go back soon, and maybe when mackenzie is a little older.

Birth Status

2010-06-27T16:28:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone. I would like to thank everybody for their kind words over this last week. For those of you who my not know, My wife gave birth to a little girl on Tuesday, June 22. Her name is Mackenzie Julia Laughlin. There we some complications though. It appears that Mackenzie was born with a bowel obstruction (where is connects from the large and small intestine. On friday, she went in for surgery and had the obstruction removed. She is doing fine now. She is not allowed to feed yet, but they do have her hooked to an IV. She is completely off of pain medication, and antibiotics, and we hope she can start feeding soon. Currently we are also waiting to remove a tube that is being ran down into her stomach that siphons off clear bile (which use to be pesto green.) We are hoping to get her home soon so badly, but health is the number on factor here. Once again everybody, Thank you. I was both scared and devastated when i found out there was something not quite right, but it was my family and friends that helped Katie and I get through this. From the bottom of our hearts (and Mackenzie's little one :) we thank you so much!

So I am going to be a dad.

2010-02-23T08:34:00.002-05:00

More importantly, I am going to be a dad for a healthy baby girl.

Katie and I went to her doctor for our "mid-way" update and checkup. We had another sonogram done, and the pictures were much clearer and active since we last had our first sonogram.

My wife did very well with the check up. Of course, I am sure no one wants a gooey sonar probe shoved into their belly, but I guess its worth it.

I am totally excited for the next few months. I have plenty of stuff to do including painting the baby's room, building baby furniture, and etc.

I will have pics posted soon of the sonogram through my photo album through google, but I already have photos thrown up on the my facebook if you are eager to look.

Happy times everybody!

So I am active on facebook once again..

2009-03-12T07:40:00.001-04:00

Over the past year, I have decided to remove myself from just about every social networking site. Call it a “social cleansing”, if you will. Pretty much, the only reason why I left myspace and facebook for so long was because, life got busier, and I didn’t have the time to manage them.

Security issues were also a main result of me leaving. Spam, Pop-ups, were leaving me annoyed and frustrated. The other thing I didn’t like so much is, there was little privacy. Now, I like to show my friends and family the fun things I do, or post pictures up for viewing. Sometimes I felt like people knew too much about me, and perhaps that was my fault.

The times have changed, at least, for me anyways. I can barely meet a new person anymore who doesn’t have a Facebook account. So… with that said, I am using Facebook to keep in contact with family and friends, and hopefully have just keep it that way. I am not really into Zombie attacks, or being bitten by a Vampire. I just want to keep things simple. I will keep my blog posts syndicated on my Facebook account as well. Which, (in due time) will give my viewers some access to not only boring reading content, but possibly some of my personal video content, and podcasts as well.

For now, I am back to Facebook, and will try to keep it updated as best as possible.

Thanks for reading!

Why my blog is black

2008-04-29T00:08:00.002-04:00

Is my blog black because I am depressed and I always think of deep and dark thoughts? Is my blog black because I was concerned about my readers’ eyes and wanted to give comfort? Is it black because I really have no imagination and just thought it looked cool, or I really didn't care what other people thought? The answer could be the last one, but you may be surprised to know why making your web page, blog, or anything on your computer (screen wise) black would actually help make an impact on your power consumption.

Thankfully a lot of us (including myself) today are concerned about our environment and roles of using sustainable/eco-friendly goods and conserving power in the attempt to make as little of an impact on our earth as much as possible. My wife and I recently (and I am sorry not doing this sooner) became rather concerned with our environmental footprint. We would clean our living spaces with (what I thought were safe) cleaning products that get rid of pesky germs and other microbial life forms. I got to thinking, bacteria, viruses, germs, and other microscopic items are built up of cells/living tissue.
What are we made out of?

I started reading some interesting articles pertaining to the safety of regular household cleaners, and I really never imagined that what we were using to clean could actually be making things worse. Basically, what we were doing was creating breeding grounds for super germs. Super germs are germs that (over time), can build up a tolerance to anti-bacterial cleansers. I also read that these cleansers could actually make you sick just being around them, because some products’ “off gas” hazardous fumes that could be potentially lethal. No wonder so many people these days are coming up with instances of cancer. Our immune systems can't cope with so many enemies.

Not to mention the fact that we are flushing these products down the drains. These products are going into our rivers and streams which is altering wildlife and creating psycho squirrels! Okay, maybe not psycho squirrels, but where do you think these animals get their drinking water. There are warning labels on the containers of these products saying they are harmful for the consumption by humans... what about the animals?

Energy is another issue that has been bothering me as of late. Our “oh-so-precious” gasoline that we buy for our vehicles is costing us (at the time of this writing) nearly $4.00/gallon. This may seem strange to some of you when I say this, but, I hope the prices keep climbing...

Why do I say that? It is simple. We need to make people realize that there is a need to switch from petroleum based fuels all together to something else. Now would be an excellent time for investors to start looking at renewable energy, or at least some type of energy that wouldn't have people depending on foreign fuels. Not only is petroleum bad for the environment when burned, but it’s also making an environmental impact just to ship it.

I am not saying we should all switch to “Biodiesol” or “Ethanol” because there is another economical and environmental impact that those fuel sources created. Ethanol and other vegetable-based fuels don't really burn as clean as some experts suggest. It is even known to cause deterioration of our cars internal parts. It actually requires more energy to create these bio-fuels than the fuels themselves actually produce. Also, with creating these bio-fuels, we are actually putting a strain on the worlds hunger problem, and that’s not cool.

We need to look at electric cars, solar powered cars, or even hybrids of both. With most electric cars, they are limited to a short driving time. Solar powered cars can power a car quite well... only if the sun is bright and shining. If they could make a car that would not only be rechargeable from the home, but also have the availability to use solar power this would enable us to go farther distances and still have a clean running car.

I really don't care if electric cars can't go fast. We really don't need high speed limits to begin with anyways. We don't need high speed limits even now… It's killing our gas mileage. I drive a truck that consumes gasoline, but after thinking about things as of late, and I don't drive very fast. I try to take routes that involve very little stopping, so I am not constantly slowing down and speeding up. If I have to run errands, I make sure that I also do my grocery shopping and other stuff all on that same trip. I try not to go out on special runs. Anything I can do to maximizing my gas mileage, I’m all for it. Maybe the gas price going up is a sign for change. I know what that sign is...

STOP DRIVING SUV'S, BUY SOMETHING SMALLER AND ECONOMICAL, OR RIDE A BIKE!

I know this website is about a year old but I want you to draw your eyes to it:

http://www.blackle.com – The black version of the popular Google Search Engine.

This little website brings me to question of why my blog is black. Basically, you can thank me. Maybe even send me money in payment for trying to help you save money (I had to try). Apparently, it takes quite a bit more power to display a white page rather than a black page on your computer. If you think about a web site in terms of light, this would highly make sense: White web page – Super bright bulb to show that color. Black web page - very little light used to display that color. Do I get my message across? I hope so.

I want this to be a very open discussion piece. I ask that any of my readers to please comment on this blog. Share your ideas and concerns with the world today. If you have a great suggestion, POST IT! If you have a question, post a comment as well. If you want to complain, send it to my complaint department at http://www.whitehouse.gov.

Thank you for reading.

A relaxing tune I created

2008-03-19T12:57:00.002-04:00

I have recently started using Mixcraft, A garageband-software for windows. Its pretty sweet, and I have only used it for a few minutes.

Honeymoon Photos are up

2008-03-18T12:27:00.004-04:00

You can view these and more photos at My Gallery

Katie and I had a great time on our honeymoon. We took a cruise out of Miami, FL and went on an eastern Caribbean trip. There will be a blog soon with details explaining the trip.

Wedding photos are up

2008-03-18T12:22:00.003-04:00

By the way:

2007-08-02T15:38:00.000-04:00

As some of you may notice, i have a poll on the right side of the page. Basically, I will ask random questions concerning important matters in the world today (unlike the current one). I am asking "Do you shock the monkey" only because Dont know what the act of shocking a monkey is. If any of you people know what shocking the monkey is... please let me know in a comment. you can also email me your opinion at: craiglaughlin at gmail dot com (spelled out for spam purposes).

Facebook Gender

2007-08-02T15:01:00.000-04:00

Alas!

Thanks to Dom, I have been alerted about my gender on Facebook. It seems that I am lazy with internet social groups, and I neglected to change my gender to Male, instead of Female. So every time I would change something, it would say "She did this" or "She did that". But we all know that Dominic is truly the girly-man. Sure, he could (at any moment) make a comment about how he is not a girly-man-woman-lady, but I have the upper hand.... I can delete his comments. I win. Anywho, thanks to Dom, I now know what my gender on facebook is.

Final Midterms

2007-08-01T19:34:00.001-04:00

/Head Explodes!

A Digital Life with Google

2007-07-30T08:55:00.000-04:00

Over the past few months I have been looking at opportunities to making my life easier and taking advantage of a rich digital experience. Being envious of Apple Corp. “.Mac” service, I wanted something similar for the PC, but for free. What I was looking for was something with simple webpage for myself that I could have a blog on, reliable email, an online photo gallery, functionality to do video casts, and have the availability to do online storage.

For a while now I have been using google’s services. I have used Gmail, Google’s free email service since it has been available. They offer 2GB of space, and excellent way to archive emails, and its also very easy to find old email’s with built in search functions. With Gmail, on my own personal laptop, I use Mozilla Thunderbird. I really like to use Thunderbird for its unique junk filtering, and it makes it easy for me to save emails into nice little folders. Plus, I hate web-based email. So I downloaded Mozilla Thunderbird, and being that it already had a simple setup for gmail built in, I was already to go.

Google also offers a service called Blogger. It’s very basic, but its all I need. It allows me to blog with very little hassle, and makes it very easy for syndication. They also offer multiple templates with which, you can customize to your own liking.

Picasa is another service offered by google. It sorts all my photos and organizes them for me. I can also quickly export my photo albums to the web, and it also allows me to implement them right into my blog. Its very simple, and organized, and that makes me happy.

With video casting, I just use Google Videos. Being that Youtube.com is now owned by Google, they make it very simple as well to upload my videos, I can also keep videos private, or allow them to be in the public searches.

Another thing I forgot to mention was a function to do Calendars. Guess what, Google offers that too! I can also share my calendar with friends, and even designate certain people to add or change my calendar. With the added functionality of Mozilla Sunbird with the “Provider for Google Calendar” extension, it makes Google calendar a true 100% collaboration tool.

If I also wanted to have group discussions, Google has that as well.

As for the online storage… that was a bit tricky, but I found a way for google to take care of that as well. I originally tried using “Box.net” for my online storage, but they disabled webdav support, and being that I wanted to just drag and drop files to a drive in my drive list, Box.net wasn’t working anymore. I also tried XDrive, which they offered free space, but their desktop software, in my own opinion, was quirky, and didn’t connect all the time. I had heard originally at one time when Gmail first came on to the scene, they were going to offer online storage. So far google has failed to come up with something with their own brand name. I am still trying to get a hold of somebody at Google for an interview to see if and when they are planning to have this online drive going, but I am having very little luck. I did however find a 3^rd party solution allowing me to use Google’s online storage space to hold my files. I did a search for GMailFS which I found a shell extension that would allow a drive to show up in my drive list. A WORD OF WARNING!!! I would setup a second GMail account for this if you are planning on using them for online storage. It has been reported that people have had their accounts suspended for indefinite amounts of time because they have misused their service. So, create a second account similar to the original and you should be safe. I don’t see any problems if you are loading just documents (and other small files) to your Gmail Drive, I wouldn’t use it as a full-blown method to store all your data. Just as a nice backup tool, that’s all.

Well, that’s my little tidbit on how to make your life a little more digital and organized. Thanks to Google.

Congratulations to........ Microsoft?

2007-07-30T08:54:00.000-04:00

Yep, that’s right! Microsoft has (un-thought of)taken a step into the open source community and made public.

http://www.microsoft.com/opensource

I’m very excited to see what comes of this. I think Microsoft needs the open source community. If they want reliability, they need a different approach, and open source, in my own opinion is the way to do it.

Anyways, Congratulations Microsoft.

Review of Dell Inspiron 1520

2007-07-21T14:45:00.000-04:00

Well, its been about a week since I've had my new Dell Inspiron 1520 Notebook Computers.

Here are the Hardware stats:

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo, 1.5GHz 667MHz 2MB L2 Cache
Memory: 1GB, DDR2, 667MHz
Hard Drive: 160GB 5400RPM SATA
OS: Microsoft Windows Vista (soon to have ubuntu dual boot)
Network:
Integrated 10/100 Lan
Wireless
Bluetooth
Modem
Optical Media: Dvd +/- RW dual layer drive
Integrated 2M pixel Webcam

Laptop Picture Gallery

So far, i have been really happy. I have used it in several places and I usually have no problems connecting into wireless hotspots. I have come to the realization that I dont like Vista all that much. I need vista though because my professors require me to use certain Items of software, so I am stuck with it for the time being. Its relatively fast for my taste. I just thought i would write this little blurb so y'all can see it. later.

New Laptop

2007-07-17T10:37:00.001-04:00

Hello my fellow blog readers.

Well, things have been very busy recently. Classes have been going well at BGSU and wedding plans are coming along just fine.

I have recently purchased a new dell inspiron 1520 notebook for personal and school use. Im pretty happy with it so far, and intend on writing a review on it once I've had more time with it.

I did make a short little webcam clip, that I hope you will enjoy. I was just fooling around with the webcam and windows movie maker.

Anywho, I will have pics up soon, with a review! later all

Run free you little feisty fawn!

2007-04-24T19:33:00.001-04:00

Well, it's been a while since ive last blogged, but I wanted to get one up in time for the new site launch.

Ive recently installed ubuntu's new edition of linux dubbed; Feisty Fawn ver. 7.04. I really like it a lot. Plenty of great software, eye-candy, security, and ease of use.

Im still testing a lot of different features. I recently started up an apache web server with apache, with no problems at all. I wanted to mess around with my own web servers because i wanted to do more web development, but without fuss of web host with rules. I can set my own terms.

Im also planning on installing ubuntu feisty on my mythtv unit. I have been using knoppmyth for a while, but i just feel at home with ubuntu. I have a feeling that it will be my main distribution for a long time.

I also installed beryl to give some extra added eye-candy, and I am quite impressed. Once again, Ubuntu has done a fine job as far as incorporating a 3d desktop.

for my web server, as i mentioned that I installed apache, as well as php5, mysql, and im also experimenting with drupal for the web interface. My next project will be to run my own mail server. So ill have to read up on all that jazz, but Im sure Ubuntu will have all the software I need to get started on that project.

well, thats all Im writing for now. thanks for visiting the new site, and keep posted for new and exciting updates! :)

Review: Ubuntu Edgy Eft 6.10:

2006-11-16T09:12:00.000-05:00

Well, after getting my new lovely cable connection has been set up, i recently took the time, to download Ubuntu's new Linux Version, its code-named Edgy Eft.

I have used dapper for quite some time. I was happy with it. When I downloaded Edgy, I was disappointed.. not because there were any performance issues, or, program choices.. but actually i was upset about bugs, or should i say bug.

Basically the only bug so far that i can find was a slight problem with firefox. It would crash on me, on every other website.. but luckily, i went on to ubuntuforums.org, and did a search for "firefox 2.0 crashes" and found my answer. If there was one thing i could say bad about Ubuntu, it would be how their community support DOES NOT SUCK!

The system boots relatively quickly, with the new update of "upstart" which replaces the old "initd" start up. Beryl, which was an easy switch from compiz, gave my slow desktop machine with an integrated video card some groovy effects, flawlessly.

Even though i just started using Edgy, i haven't tested out everything just yet.. but im working on it. I just wanted to give my first appearance of it. I give it an "A-OK" grade, and will continue to test it.

Announcement for the webpage:

2006-11-03T23:14:00.000-05:00

Sorry everyone. Phpnet.us has been down for a little while. looks like they have been updating the servers, which can't be all that bad. For now, I should be up and running, and should have some new stuff up really soon. thanks, and check back more.

.Mac like option for ubuntu users:

2006-08-05T16:11:00.000-04:00

Recently, I have been looking for a way to store my files remotely. I've always taken a liking to Apple's .Mac online file storage. The problem is.. there is no such service for ubuntu users, unless you want to actually purchase a .Mac subscription... AND WHO WANTS TO ACTUALLY PAY FOR SOMETHING LIKE THAT? lol. Anyways. I have recently come across a free online file storage website, that allows you to upload files to through your browser. I was unsatisfied with this option, for the simple fact, that i wanted to actually have a mounted drive onto my computer. I know there may people saying; "why dont you just get a gmail account and set up a gmail drive?" The problem there is, is that you have to download software to get it to work. Im looking at a more easier alternative than having to install and configure software.

Ubuntu Dapper Drake 6.06 already comes with an option to connect to certain servers for instance: FTP (Public), FTP (Secure), etc. There is even a WebDav option which can be used for .Mac accounts.

I decided to see if I could proceed to use my Box.net account with the WebDav option so i could have a mounted drive on my desktop, so i could drag and drop files. So... here is my HowTo on how to set up a ".Ubuntu Drive":

Step 1: Go to: http://www.box.net and set up an account, either for for free (1gb file storage) or for $4.99 /Month (5gb file storage).

Step 2: Once you have set up the account, what you want to do, on the main Gnome Panel, you will go to "Places" and click "Connect to Server."

Step 3: Set the option for "Service Type" to "WebDav (HTTP)"

Step 4: In the text box for "Server:" type "www.box.net" (without quotations!)

Step 5: In the text box for "User Name:" type the email address that you use to log in to "www.box.net" so for example: "username@domain.com" (without quotations)

Step 6: In the text box for "Name to use for connection:" type any name that you want to give for your drive; for example is used "craig.ubuntu"

Step 7: You need to click "Connect" and a mounted drive icon will show up on your desktop.

Step 8: Click on the mounted drive icon that was just created on your desktop, this will bring a password dialog box. Type in the password that you use to log into www.box.net. once you have logged in, a new file manager window should show up and you should have total access to your free online storage.

sidenote*: you may need to download davfs2.. for some reason, i didn't need to download this, being that it may have been downloaded with other sources in my search for an online drive. if you have to do this, open up a terminal window and type:

# sudo apt-get install davfs2

have fun with this kids!

Server Woes...

2006-07-26T10:59:00.000-04:00

The other day, I turned my system on because i was going to access the server remotely using XDMCP. I noticed that when i did a scan of the any systems that had XDMCP running, that my sever was not showing up. i didn't think any thing of it. So i brought up my terminal and decided to ping my local server. The ping results were showing up, that it couldn't find the requested host. Knowing that i have backups of my server i wasn't too worried. I walked over to the server, turned it off, and restarted it again. Once again, i couldn't't get the server to ping. I walked over to the server again, and hooked up a monitor, mouse, and keyboard; because i run my server headless (no monitor/keyboard/mouse, so anybody walking by cant touch buttons and screw anything up). On the screen there was the typical login screen, I decided to log in with one of my basic level entry accounts (I do not like using powerful user acounts just to check settings).

There was an error message that came up saying:

"GDM could not write to your authorization file. This could mean your
out of disk space or that your directory could not be opened for
writing. In any case, it is not possible to login. Please contact
your systems administrator."

I was a little "confused" at this point, being that, I know that i have two hard drives. The installation drive being a 20Gb, and the Sharing/Backup drive is an 80Gb. How could i run out of space. I restarted the system (in recovery mode), and logged in that way through the root prompt. at the prompt, i typed "startx" and it allowed me to access gnome using full root privileges. I brought up Nautilus (Gnome's File manager), and looked at the bottom of the window. The status bar said i only had 209Mb FREE!. I was amazed!!! I hadn't touched my server in weeks. I hadn't't installed any software on it. I quickly checked the second "serving" drive, and I received an error saying that the disk wasn't accessible or something and that it may be bad... Great, all my server data is on that hard drive, and i may have to install a new one and reload the backup data, but something really bothered me.. why was the main "installation" drive full? First thing i wanted to make sure before i go into any other diagnostics, is to get the "serving" drive to were it is accessible again. I rebooted the system once more, and luckily, i was able to access that drive. I'm probably thinking that there might be some read errors with that drive, so while i still had access to that drive, I figured, I'd better get that data off there and move it over to a new drive.

I downloaded a program called partimage, and was able to make an image file of the second hard drive. I installed a new 80Gb hard drive, and seamlessly transferred the data over with no problems what so ever. I was relieved, now I had to make sure what was taking up all my space on the main hard drive.

I had heard of a program called "FileLight," so i typed in the terminal:

(i didn't have to type sudo because i was already logged in as root)
apt-get install filelight

It downloaded pretty quickly, and I clicked on "Applications" > "Accessories" > "FileLight". Even though this program was designed for KDE, it still worked under Gnome because it also downloaded some KDE libraries with it. The program displayed all of my disk's and their usage. I clicked on /dev/hda1 drive, and it showed that there was a huge section being taken up under /var/lib/backuppc.. apparently, i was testing different backup software programs originally, when i first set the server up, and forgot to remove the old programs that i wasn't using. I brought up my synaptic package manager, and did a search of "backuppc" and found that it wasn't uninstalled. I removed the package, and any unneeded packages that it depended on. Then, I removed the folder out of /var/lib. I then did a rescan with "FileLight" and it showed that i now had something around the figure of 15Gb free on the "Installation" drive. I shut down the system, and rebooted it normally. I was then able to type in a basic level entry user account and password, and it allowed me to log in. I was so relieved!

I looked at the backup processes on the "server" drive, and noticed that i was only a day behind in backups, so i know that the hard drive hasn't been dead for incapacitated for long. So, i ran another backup process just to be safe.

I wasn't too fond of backuppc because you had to go through so many hoops to just get it to work. I'm still using sbackup which is working great for what i need. The new hard drive is working just fine, and I have had no problems since. With all of these tools accessible (FOR FREE, even) i don't know what i would do. My problems only consisted of "user neglect", and hardware failure. Why backuppc libraries took up so much space, i will never know, but I do know one thing... I will not be installing it back on the server anytime soon.

The Joy's, of open source (Part 2)

2006-07-22T10:30:00.000-04:00

Since that little trip to Russelville, Arkansas, I have been using Linux on my own systems. I have made open source software a pillar in my business. The tools that I use from day to day are all open source and/or free.

This very webpage was created completely with opensource software. I use a program called NVu to do all my web-editing and publishing. Its just as good as Dreamweaver. Just about every peice of software out there that is closed source, there is an open source replica/version waiting for me to use. My total cost of ownership is very low. I can now afford to build big beefed up systems, without having to worry about a great expense for software.

I use Openoffice.org to do all my wordprocessing /spreadsheet /presention /database work. Instead of using an expensive program like Photoshop, I use Gimp (Gnu Image Manipulation Program), which is just as good, with the proper understanding of the program.

Hardware recognition for most opensource software is getting more and more expansive everyday. The quality of software that we will see in the future will just be phenomenal! With a community (group) effort like the opensource community has, im confident that we can accomplish any task.

I use to run Windows for managing servers for customers. I always had to tell them how to use the darn thing as well. With Linux based systems, i can make everything automated with ease, and much quicker than windows, without having the worry of restarting the system and something doesnt come up right.

I dont have to worry about spyware. I know that its just a matter of time before someone will make spyware and viruses for linux... but im not to worried. Most Linux distributions come with a firewall built into the O.S.

I can easily manage servers remotely due to so many opensource programs, and keep them up-to-date, and secure.

My friends, the future of opensource software will be great. It has already made so many leaps and bounds over the years. Im glad i can say that im one of the people who can delcare themselves as free, and not bound to some End User License agreement.

Because of opensource software, my knowlege in computers, and software has increased so much over the years. I just keep wanting more.

The Joy's, of open source (Part 1)

2006-07-16T17:07:00.000-04:00

Have you ever wanted to live in a fantasy world were you could buy a bag of potato chips, or get a free bag from a friend, and along with it, came an instruction sheet on how they made those potato chips?

Have you ever lived in a fantasy world that if, you wanted to build a bridge that connects two cities separated by a body of water, but you wanted to get input on how to make that bridge better and stronger than any other bridge in the world? Knowing that you have the assurance of having other skilled engineers to help you solve problems and make that goal achievable?

What if we lived in a world were software didn't have to come from some big shot corporation that kept all their source code behind closed doors? What if we wanted to have the ability to make that software free, and maybe not in the sense of free, as in not paying for anything which you could) but free as in freedom, the freedom to use that source code, edit it, modify it, make it better, and add your 2 cents...

Some people out there think that we live in a world were none of this happens. Fantasy has actually come to reality. Sure, we don't have Lays Potato chips providing the recipe's for their potato chips, but there is software that we can have for free.

For years, I have worked with Microsoft Windows. I like to think I can troubleshoot a lot of the problems that Windows has. I like to think that the software I purchase, I can make any kind of modifications to without having to worry about violating some End User License Agreement. The truth is, I cant do a damn thing with that software. If a customer calls me up, with a problem, and maybe that problem consists of some type of error that was caused by a programmers lack of commitment. What am I suppose to do?

Some people might say, "durr, call Microsoft, they will fix the problems!" It may seem logical that, if the problem is caused by the manufacturer of the software, is to call the manufacturer. BUT HAS ANYBODY EVER TRIED TO CALL THESE COMPANIES FOR HELP??? I don't speak Indian, Chinese, Japanese, or Arabic!!! The people you call are not programmers, and before you even start the "problem solving," you usually have to give them a credit card number and even then it might end up with inconclusive results.

In 1997, I started my business. The market was great, and there were so many possibilities. I was in the lookout for computer parts suppliers. I had some very reliable sources, and I still do. I was on a trip visiting some relatives in Arkansas in the summer of 1997, and being a new, and young entrepreneur, I wanted some advice on how I could run my business, and maybe implement new ways of thinking. My uncle took me to a local computer store in Russelville, and told me the owner was a very good friend of his. I met up with the owner, and He, like me was also very young. He took me back in the shop area and gave me the tour of everything. It was amazing to see that, everything that they were doing, I was doing pretty much the same. Everything was the same, except, the companies local server. At the time, they were an ISP as well (I was not), and the young man took me into the wiring closet to show me their server. He moved the mouse around, it pulled the system out of screensaver mode, and brought up and interesting interface. It was an interface called Gnome. I asked him, what version of windows are you using? He replied (with a laugh) and said, this isn't windows, we use Linux. I'm thinking Linux... I've heard of it, I've never used it, and yet, it sounds a lot like Unix or something. I gave him a lost look.

He told me, that it was kind of like Unix, but with a graphical interface. I was so intrigued, I wanted to know more. I asked him were I could buy this Linux. He said, oh, Ill just burn you a copy and you can install it on an old system and try it out. I was kind of set back, and then all of a sudden the mad rush of fear set in. I'm thinking to myself... "Oh no, the guy is a software pirate, id better not get involved with this... I could go to jail or be fined if I were caught with this. " He told me it would be fine, and I kindly, declined from the offer and asked if I could buy a copy. He still looked at me with uncertainty, and sighed and said, well, we do have retail copies of Mandrake Linux 6.0. I smiled and said, I will buy a copy then.

I took the copy of Mandrake Linux back to my Uncle's house, and formatted his system (sorry Gerald), and Installed it. I was amazed! There was so much software with it. Games, Text Editors, Spreadsheet programs... And all of this for about $30. I searched the CD's to see what else I could find out about this Linux. I noticed that the last CD was labeled source code disc. On that CD was also a copy of what is known as a GPL (GNU Public License) I read it, and with a smile, my mind was now opened. Then I thought... Crap!!!! I DIDN'T HAVE TO PAY FOR THIS!

I now realized that I was able to take the source code of the whole O.S. and recompile it, modify it, and make it my own. I was in heaven.

End of Part 1

The Little Server That Could

2006-07-15T15:12:00.000-04:00

I run a small company, and even though i may not put a lot of data on my systems that get me through the day... the data on the systems is still, very important. With that small company, i run a small network of about 10 computers. The majority of them are windows 98/xp systems. 2 of them are Linux systems. I also have a server that runs Linux as well. Here is my hardware setup for my business. I don't require that much for a server... just enough to do nightly backups and to share folders across the network to each system:

AMD Athlon 900MHz
256MB RAM
20GB Hard Drive - For Linux Installation and Updates
80GB Hard Drive - For File Sharing and Backups
10/100 Ethernet Card
a Small ATI Graphics card.

Like i said, I don't require that much, and I could probably run on a lot less if i wanted to. This system suits me just fine though.

Here are some of the things i need my server to do.

1.) Share files
Whether this would be database files, images, music (grr), Documents, spreadsheets.

2.) Make Backups
And not only backups on the server, but remotely backup files on individual computers, because some people are Idiots and wont listen to me teach them how to use the server for those purposes.

3.) Remote Configuration
More on this later

I now run Ubuntu Dapper Drake 6.06 LTS on my server. It has absolutely all the applications that i need to get me through my daily life. It also has all the necessary tools i need to keep my server and network secure and to keep intruders and other scary stuff out.

Being that the majority of the computers on my network are MS Windows based, i decided to install "Samba" on the server. I made a few shares with the tool under "System" > "Administration" > "Shared Folders" easily. So that's great, all my users can now access their shares and do what they want with them. the next and probably most tricky part was the backup.

It wasn't that tricky really, I just downloaded a program called "sbackup" Its a great little utility that allows you to not only backup local system files, but also, I can remotely backup systems (if i already mounted the remote computers hard drive through /etc/fstab). It was a piece of cake! I now have it so, every night at 2:00am it will backup directories over the network and store them to the backup hard drive. and then i come in, in the morning, take the compressed folder, and burn it onto CD, and store it in the safe. I kind of get hairy when it comes to important data, so i usually take extra precaution.

As for the Remotely configuring the server, I use XDMCP. I only have a network patch cable and a power cable hooked up to the server, i do not have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse hooked up. because i don't want anybody messing around with it. I also have it set up so, if the power goes out, it will restore its session automatically. So, i need to remotely configure the server if I'm going to edit anything, or i could always keep re-hooking up a keyboard, mouse and monitor, to operated it. With XDMCP, i have full control of the system almost as if i were right there in front of it. It runs a little slow sometimes, but i have no complaints. I'm not really spending a whole lot of time configuring.. only if someone wants another shared directory or if there are updates to be made.

I'm proud of this server. I wish all businesses could take the opportunity to use some type of Linux for there networks. instead, they insist on spending ridiculous amounts of money for software that breaks down all the time.

If my server goes down, I have backups. its also the reason why i have a separate hard drive for file sharing and backups. Its so I can take that hard drive and put it into another system quickly to get the data up and going again.

links for used programs:
SAMBA
sBacup
XDMCP

My review of Ubuntu Dapper Drake 6.06 LTS (Part Two)

2006-07-13T09:34:00.000-04:00

After i brought back my system, i downloaded several applications.

XGL & compiz - for a totally cool desktop effect

Nvu – for web page authoring

Thunderbird – Email, i don't like to use Evolution because I feel the junk mail filters don't work as well

and many other applications.

I found it so nice to update with Ubuntu, compared to Red Hat / Fedora.. It doesn't bog down my Internet connection like YUM does. And it is so easy to add and remove programs, just by clicking (get this) “Add and Remove...” on the Applications Menu on the main gnome panel.

As far as network support... I found that to be one of the best items of all time. I can just go to “Places” > “Network Servers” and I can browse my local network of 10 computers with ease. If i need to connect to remote servers, i can just click on “Connect to Servers” and it will allow me to connect to my FTP connection with no problems, and it will allow me to just drag and drop files just like the remote computer was on my own network.

I wanted to put Ubuntu Dapper Drake to its ultimate test and installed on my small file server (keep posted because i will soon have a blog about my experiences with using Ubuntu Dapper Drake 6.06 for server purposes) that I use for file serving and backup purposes, and had a full operation server running in less than an hour with very little to download.

All in all, I am very satisfied with Ubuntu Linux. It will probably be my one and only Linux distribution for a while. The only downfall to the whole installation that i find is that Gnome has horrible redrawing problems, and can be quite slow, if I hadn't downloaded XGL and Compiz, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. But for the most part, its a solid little operating system. I give kudos to Ubuntu for not installing so much crap at the initial installation. I like a clean desktop, but i also like to have options for other software which they have given me that flawlessly.

My review of Ubuntu Dapper Drake 6.06 LTS (Part One)

2006-07-11T09:19:00.000-04:00

Over the years, I have used a lot of Linux distributions to fit my needs (something that wont lock up and that i can play with and use for just about any situation). For the past 3 years, i have used mostly Linux OS's that have been strictly based on Red hat Recently (within the last year) i was browsing www.gnome-look.com trying to find themes for gnome, and noticed that there was an abundance of themes dedicated to Ubuntu Linux I wasn't really familiar with this distribution, but i thought i would try it out, since so many people were using it these days. Since i operate pretty much over a satellite connection, I'm limited on how much i can download due to Direcway's Fair Access Policy. I couldn't download ISO's from the Ubuntu mirrors, and I had begun to search around to see if i could find pre-burned cd's with Ubuntu Linux. I didn't have to look far, for there was a link on Ubuntu's main page for Shipit. The shipit site will allow you to order free cd's with free shipping if you are willing to wait about 4 to 6 weeks. At the time of just finding out about Ubuntu, I ordered 5 cd's of Ubuntu Breezy Badger 5.10. When the cd's arrived at my workplace, i quickly scrambled to my computer, and installed it. Little did i know that i would fall so deeply in-love with a Debian based Linux Distribution.

A few months went by, and I noticed a little pop up caption near the time on my main gnome panel saying there was a new version of Ubuntu Linux. Since i still couldn't download it, i, once again, went to shipit.ubuntu.com and ordered 5 cd's of Ubuntu Linux 6.06 codenamed - Dapper Drake. The new cd's arrived and I installed them. Here is my review of the new installation, and my experience:

I put the CD into my drive, rebooted my system. The system booted back up asking me of what boot options i would like to select. I just chose the first option, which was the default option. It booted up to the live CD version quite quickly, and I was looking at the desktop of a new version Ubuntu. I clicked the Install icon and went through the setup procedure. Apparently from the forums, there has been a lot of complaints as far as the partitioning program is concerned. That it was too hard to use. I found it very easy to use, and found it to be a very quick installation. it took about 15 minutes over all. finally after the installation it asked me to reboot and remove the CD, which I did.

After the system restarted, it came up to a nice tan colored login screen requesting me to enter my user name and password. I logged in and it loaded the Gnome Desktop 2.14 environment. I downloaded the updates which came to approximately 95mb. After all the updates were finished downloading and installing, it asked me to restart (mainly because there was a kernel update for my hardware). I restarted and it came back up again.

This ends Part I. keep posted for Part II