The Gnoll in the Machine

3 weeks on the new machine.

2011-01-30T18:53:00.000-08:00

Over the New Years weekend I put together a new machine and loaded Ubuntu 10.10 on it.

What I learnt.

Power connectors have changed. In addition to the 24 pin EATXPWR socket, there was a 4 pin ATX12V that I'ld not seen before. It's halfway across the board too.

The current graphics card standards has changed. Installed my first PCI Express 2.0 x16 card.

My mother board came with 2 Serial ATA 6.0Gb/s cables and 2 Serial ATA 6.0Gb/s cables. This was the only place I had fun & games with. No marking of cables to say which is which.

The third point was the only one that caused a problem. Initial I built the machine with one SATA DVD drive & one SATA hard disk drive. Worked fine. I then added the drive that contained part of the /home directory from my old machine. After that the boot sequence hung. I then swapped the cable connecting the DVD with the cable on the second hard drive and it all worded fine. So speed was important to the hard drive working, but not for the DVD drive. Go figure.

Jigsaw puzzle for the New Years long weekend.

2010-12-31T16:20:00.001-08:00

Just brought assorted pieces for a new computer.

Bits purchased:

AMD Phenom II x4 965 CPU (3.4 GHz),

ASUS M4A87TD EVO motherboard,

4GB DDR3 memory (2 sticks of 2GB, shop didn't stock 4G sticks, I asked),

Antec case (Noted on the way out that it didn't have a power supply. First time I've ever borough a case that didn't come with a power supply in situ!)

500W power supply.

Hope I got a video card new enough to be backward compatible with the motherboard. That's the only potential issue I can see.

Have a 1TB SATA hard disk on the shelf already.

Going to load Ubuntu 10.10 on it.

I love this jigsaw stuff, should do it often enough.

this month in the machine...

2010-11-30T17:14:00.000-08:00

Had three events this months.

First was the regard ActionHack. I great hacking afternoon at the iLab incubator's boardroom in Toowong.

Second was a big weekend at #railscamp in Perth.

Andrew Grimm (A sysadmin at UNSW) gave in interesting presentation of using an evolutionary like randomly generated programs (mutations) to test Rubinius. He used other ruby implementations (as a group) to validate Rubinius' returns. The other implementations effectively becoming the environment appling natural selection on Rubinius, to determine its fitness.

Andrew's slides

Thirdly, Last week I went to a Linux Users Group meeting. HUMBUG's fortnightly meeting at UQ. Was just a chat & hack session. I had one problem, but solved it that morning.

I had a mial server issue on my first attempt to set up a mail server. I found that courier (I think?), when reading the authpgsqlrc file, is failing to recognize comments and thus getting the auth requests against the database wrong. The fix was to move the comments to the next line, instead on the end of the line they apply to.

Next weekend is a new month, off to ActionHack.

Diaspora releqased, add to #todo list.

2010-09-30T17:05:00.000-07:00

Better late than never. A bit over two weeks ago Diaspora got released.

It's a distributed social media network. Being distributed means you can run your own 'shard' and control all the privacy settings.

Here is where the code lives at github.

Guess what's on my #todo list for Saturday.

diaspora*: a project to watch

2010-06-30T17:14:00.000-07:00

Diaspora sounds like a real cool projects. A distributed 'seed'/shard based social network system. It's open source and allows defaults privacy settings at the 'seed' level.

It's also what four uni students are going to by up to this (northern) summer. To fund it they start a project on kickstarter. They wanted US$10,000, the got $200,642, in just over a month. Good work boys.

They're on twitter too.

Time to revisit Arduino and Ruby playing together.

2010-03-31T18:41:00.000-07:00

In the last month I've read most of Earth Garden Book's Easy Aquaponics. It's a great collection of about 20 essays on all aspects of Aquaponics, from principles and beginer's back yard systems to establishing commercial systems.

It's the automation of system, particularly commercial ones that peaked my interest. I remembers a demo given at a rails camp. The 3rd camp in Sydney, from memory. Had some Arduino hardware on a bread board and using ruby on a laptop to drive it. Cool stuff.

Time to investigate that tech again I think.

Cheers,

Gnoll110

Ganglia, worth a play.

2010-01-31T18:26:00.000-08:00

Just found a blog post call Cluster Monitoring with Ganglia & Ruby. Look like something that could be worth a play.

Might be a thing to look at next Saturday. ActionHack time :).

Been playing with Googlemaps

2009-12-31T19:06:00.000-08:00

Been playing with googlemaps and rails. The first step is geo-coding the address to Lat long coordinates.

Here is my first play code


require 'net/http'
require 'uri'
require 'rubygems'
require 'builder'

addrs = [ "1600+Amphitheatre+Parkway,+Mountain+View,+CA",
          "1159 Gympie Rd Aspley QLD 4034 ",
          "14 Morayfield Rd Caboolture QLD 4510 ",
          "521 Ipswich Rd Annerley QLD 4103 "
        ]

placemarkbase = 'List'
placemarks = Hash.new

xml = Builder::XmlMarkup.new(:target => $stdout, :indent => 4)

geocoder = "http://maps.google.com/maps/geo?q="
output = "&output=csv"
apikey = "&key=### insert your googlemaps token here ###"

counter = 0
addrs.each do |addr|
    request = geocoder + addr + output + apikey
    sleep 2.0
    url = URI.escape(request)
    resp = Net::HTTP.get_response(URI.parse(url))
    fields = resp.body.split(',')
    placemarks[placemarkbase + counter.to_s] = [addr,fields[3],fields[2]]
    counter += 1
end

kml = { 'xmlns' => 'http://earth.google.com/kml/2.2'}
xml.instruct! :xml, :version => "1.1", :encoding => "US-ASCII"
kml.each do |key,value|
    xml.kml(:xmlns => value) do
        xml.Document do
            placemarks.each do |key, array|
                xml.Placemark do
                    xml.name(array[0])
                    xml.address(array[0])
                    xml.description(placemarkbase)
                    xml.Point do
                        str = array[1].to_s + "," + array[2].to_s + "," + 0.to_s
                        xml.coordinates(str)
                    end
                end
            end
        end
    end
end

Action Hack: features research on github

2009-10-31T20:19:00.000-07:00

During Action Hack I did a quick scan of GitHub.

Was looking for ideas for laying out and grouping features. I looked at 20 projects that had features folders.

Almost all of them just had a flat structure. Simply features files named for groups of features.

The one exception had sub directories that grouped the feature files by release.

Would be interested in hearing how people layout their features.

Gnoll110

Ruby: Cloud Crowd

2009-09-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

This post is only a heads up. Seen Cloud Crowd talked about. Looks interesting, but not used it myself yet.

Gnoll110

Ruby: Playing with Colour

2009-08-31T18:31:00.000-07:00

Had an idea for a new twitter background.

I wrote it in ruby, using the rmagick API wrapper for ImageMagick.

Pretty straight forward:

make a big black background,

create a lot of random coloured squares and write the colour on them while you're at it,

write to jpeg file

Here's the code.


require 'rubygems'
require 'RMagick' 
include Magick

buffer = Magick::Image.new(1700,1040) { self.background_color = "#000000" }

x = 10
y = 10
tone = [ '0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', 
         '8', '9', 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F' ]

srand 1234
1118.times do
  puts '* '+x.to_s+' '+y.to_s
  red = rand(16)
  green = rand(16)
  blue = rand(16)
  ligthness = red+green+blue
  co = '#'+tone[red]+tone[green]+tone[blue]
  patchObj = Magick::Draw.new
  patchObj.fill = co
  patchObj.polygon(x,y,x,y+30,x+30,y+30,x+30,y)
  patchObj.matte(3,3,PaintMethod::ReplaceMethod)
  patchObj.draw(buffer)
  textObj = Magick::Draw.new
  textObj.font = './fonts/Ghoul.ttf'
  textObj.pointsize=12
  if ligthness > 25 || green > 11 
    textObj.fill = '#000'
  else
    textObj.fill = '#fff'
  end
  textObj.text(x, y+12, co)
  textObj.draw(buffer)
  x = x+40
  if x > 1690
    x = 10
    y = y+40
  end
end 

buffer.display
buffer.write("random_colour.jpg")

exit

Enjoy.

#ToDo: use a resource pool so don't have the cost of creating over 2K Draw objects.

BarCamp Brisbane

2009-07-31T10:25:00.000-07:00

I came, I saw, I had fun.

Lots of great talkfest on tech, culture & business.

Should have posted this almost two weeks ago.

BarCamp Brisbane III was in East Brisbane on the 18 July. Well worth the trip. It's part on BarCamp Queensland (yes, there is a BarCamp Gold Coast).

Gnoll110

Git & Capistrano

2009-06-30T20:57:00.000-07:00

Last month I got my first Vertial Private Server (VPS) at slicehost.

Got it setup. Used Git & Capistrano for the first time, Happy with Both.

Found a good into tutorial for them, that I can't find atm Doh!

Will post links when I do.

Cheers,

Gnoll110

Update: Found it, it's called 'the building of jetrecord episode 3 git capistrano and a test release'.

Whole Series:
the tabula rasa of doom
tell me a story
git capistrano and a test release
cucumbers and webrats

CSS background images & Rails

2009-05-31T20:41:00.000-07:00

Setting a CSS background image in Rails have one quirk, when using a relative url, the base directory is not the base directory of the project. It's the directory where the stylesheet CSS file lives. So the correct relative url is this;

#wrapper1 {
background: url(../images/background.gif) repeat left top;
}

when the image & stylesheet live in the usual places.

Gnoll110

Symfony: rails-ish PHP?

2009-03-31T13:50:00.000-07:00

A friend has asked me to help on a site he wants to develop. It's in a PHP environment. This is not a language I've worked in before. A chance to learn.

Looking around I've come across what look like a rails like framework called Symfony. Not used it yet.

I have a project directory structure like rails and is based in the Model View Controller (MVC) pattern.

Should be interesting. Anyone got any comments?

Gnoll110

Don't default the disk

2009-01-31T13:33:00.000-08:00

Playing with Mythbuntu this weekend.

First lesson, don't let it default to one partition. I had problems finding /boot (I think). After some googling, the most likely cause is partitioning?

About to repartition. Lets see how it goes.

Gnoll110

Nagios and Ruby

2008-12-30T17:58:00.000-08:00

Found these links that might interest people.

This looks like a project with some potential.
http://lusislog.blogspot.com/2008/04/nagios-and-ruby.html

Here is an example that looks like it worth pulling apart to see how it ticks.
http://blog.hungrymachine.com/2007/08/14/using-a-ruby-based-aim-notifier-in-nagios/

I've not had a chance to run either, sorry.

Enjoy.

Gnoll110

RailsCamp4: BackgrounDRb

2008-11-30T17:58:00.000-08:00

It has been two week since I got back from Railscamp4 in Adelaide. Been off the grid mainly. Took lots of notes and idea point during the weekend.

The first I'd like to note in a background processing utility. It looks interesting but I've not had a chance to use it. Hopefully I will in the next month or so.

Here is the link to BackgrounDRb.

Enjoy

Gnoll110

Ruby scripts (book)

2008-10-31T20:32:00.000-07:00

Found out about Basement Books in the Railway Square arcades near Central Station in Sydney.

One on the books I picked up was 'Practical Ruby for Systems Administration' by Andre Ben Hamou (Apress). ISBN-13 978-1-59059-821-4 ISBN-10 1-59059-821-0.

Chapter 2 has a cool beginners script. The first bit on work script in the text.

It's a script to build an empty script and open it in an editor.


#!/usr/bin/env ruby

path = ARGV[0]
fail "specify filename to create" unless path

File.open(path, "w") { |f| f.puts "#!/usr/bin/env ruby" }
File.chmod(0755, path)
system "pico", path

pico is the text editor I use. The example code used "open".

Currently I'm up to chapter 5 and have learn a few thing about Ruby and its what and how.

Gnoll110

Merb in Action

2008-09-30T05:28:00.000-07:00

This week, the newest 'Merb in Action' PDF 'arrived' in the mail.

The new version includes chapter 3.

I've been thinking about a Merb play project. I think I'll spike a blog.

There are a few things I'ld like to see in a blog, but seldom do.

One is a nice 'printable' view. You never see one with two printable views, with and without comments. Also with a nice list of footnoted links, you can't double click a print.

What other things should I have in a features list?

Gnoll110

Ads as online tip jar?

2008-08-23T16:13:00.000-07:00

Over at twitter, I just twittered this comment.

@gnoll110 Ads as online tip jar? - Seth Godin is wrong http://tinyurl.com/6fb5pg - JD is right http://tinyurl.com/3hrm27

Seth Godin has blogged a string of posts that ended with a post entitled "Ads are the new online tip jar".

I agree with JD. Just click when you have no interest and then not buying sends distorting info to the advertiser. It tell 'em there is something wrong with the ads landing page. When in fact the problem is in the embedded ad or more generally, simply offering a product no one wants.

Gnoll110

Digital Nomads

2008-08-18T21:54:00.000-07:00

During the week this great quip and blog post appeared in my RSS reader stream (Google reader).

It introduces a great new community site for those of us trying to use information and communication tech to do our jobs from where we want to do them. That is, not within the commuter zone of some big city.

Should be a great resource!

Noel Kelly
Gnoll110

Agile podcasts: Better late than never.

2008-07-30T06:26:00.000-07:00

This month, I got around to checking Rob Payne’s Agile Toolkit site for new podcasts.

Last month Rob put up six new podcasts. One from this year and the reminder from last year’s Agile2007 conference.

1/ Agile IT Experience 2008 Panel Discussion.
Direct download: AgileITx_Panel.mp3

2/ Agile2007 - Esther Derby and Diana Larsen
Direct download: Agile2007_Ester_Diana.mp3

3/ Agile2007 - Nancy Van Schooenderwoert
Direct download: Agile2007_Nancy_V.mp3

4/ Agile2007 - Deb Hartman
Direct download: Agile2007_Deb_Hartman.mp3

5/ Agile2007 - Ole Jepson
Direct download: Agile2007_Ole_Jepson.mp3

6/ Agile2007 - Rick Mugridge
Direct download: Agile2007_Rick_Mugridge.mp3

They all proved to be great listening. Thanks for the time & effort Rob.

Gnoll110

Discovery: Rubyspaces

2008-06-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

At Rail Camp, the weekend before last.

While flicking through the index of the pickaxe, I came across an entry for JavaSpaces. Went to the indicated section and found a little bit of sample code that shows the concept.

Run it, worked great. This discovery alone make the trek up to Brisbane Water all worth it.

Gnoll110

Rail sand box!

2008-05-31T04:45:00.001-07:00

While at the Canberra Ruby Crew night, on the 30th May, I was introduced to the heroku site.

An IDE (Integrated Development Environment) in a browser.

In this case it a build environment for the Ruby On Rails framework.

Looking forward to playing it.

Will keep people posted, in my copious spear time ;)

Gnoll110