KwadBlog

Nirvana vs Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give Your Teen Spirit up

kwadroke@gmail.com — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:38:21 PDT

Awesome mashup of "Smells like Teen Spirit" & "Never Gonna Give You Up"

Posted via web from Kwadroke of "The Wired"

Just a bunch of "HotAir"

kwadroke@gmail.com — Tue, 20 May 2008 11:26:51 PDT

I have started a new project that goes along with Kwadrix Gamers Edition. It's called HotAir. It's somewhat of a clone of Valve Software's Steam. HotAir allows you to download Free Games for Linux, and possibly Windows and/or Mac OSX in the future.
So far these games will be First Person Shooters, but I will be adding other multiplayer games to the mix.

Features (will) include:

News
Game Launcher
Game Downloader
Chat
Friends List (with game status)

You can see a screenshot of the development version GUI here: http://hotair.kwadrix.com/Screenshot-HotAir.png

Kwadrix Imager Edition

kwadroke@gmail.com — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:25:03 PDT

I've volunteered to help a new local game center Image their computers so they have the same patches, fixes, games, etc on each of their systems. This is how Kwadrix Imager Edition was born.
I wanted an easy way to run PartImage on several machines at once. I was going to use Knoppix to do this with, but we imaged the drives using clonezilla that had a newer version of partimage than what Knoppix came with. I figured there would be an easier way to do this, so after searching and not finding exactly what I was looking for, I stopped.
I took a version of Xubuntu and stripped out all of the desktop apps and added Partimage from Ubuntu 8.04 so I would have the latest version. I've added DHCP and PXEBooting to the CD and now it will boot clients from a LiveCD Server.

Of course this has delayed me on working on Kwadrix Gamers Edition, but I should be back to work on it Monday March 24th. Ubuntu 8.04 Beta comes out on the 20th so I will need to start working on upgrading KGE to the new version of Ubuntu that should come next month.

Finishing up Kwadrix Gamers Edition

kwadroke@gmail.com — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 12:10:59 PST

Kwadrix Gamers Edition Beta 2 is nearly complete. I need to put the finishing touches on a few scripts, then it will be ready for a release. I'm hoping to have this ready by Jan 25, the start of Wintereenmas. This just gives me a few more days to go.
This version has some handy features such as Game Server notification and Instant Messaging using Avahi.
Here's a list of games included on the approx. 3GB DVD ISO:

Sauerbraten
Open Arena
AssaultCube
AlienArena 2007
Nexuiz
Warsow
Advanced Armagetron
BZFlag
Warzone 2100
Tremulous
GL-117
Western Quake 3
True Combat
Quake2World
Military Forces
Q3Rally
Frets On Fire

Anyway, back to working on KGE! More details to come.

Kwadroke.com/AEBates.com website updated

kwadroke@gmail.com — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 12:45:06 PST

I have updated my website (or this website if you are reading this on Kwadroke.com or AEBates.com) and moved to a more CMS type of program. I still have the wiki, just the main page(s) have been converted. I'm using doop to update the site. doop makes it real easy to change a normal static webpage into a CMS. I modified a Website template that I found at opendesigns.org. I had to make a patch to doop to make the "tabs" work better as they use unordered lists to make them. It was easy to do that as it uses one page to handle the CMS and display functions and the contents are stored in other files.
The old Wiki-way wasn't hard to update, it just didn't have the look, or the ease of modification to the templates I wanted.

I also updated the Arkansas Laser Tag page as well

Me, a Mac user? No the world isn't coming to an end.

kwadroke@gmail.com — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 17:37:29 PST

I will be getting my MacMini in tomorrow. I'm a Linux user, so why am I getting a Apple Macintosh? Am I going to wipe the drive and put Linux on it? No. Will I put Linux on it? Yes, of course. :)
I figured I need to learn more about OSX. MacMini's are the cheapest Apple Computers out. I bought the base unit. I want to see what all of the Apple users are up too. Besides it's Unix underneath all of that GUI. The more I develop web based applications the more they need to be tested under different browsers. Kwadrix needs to be tested with different hardware. The MacMini's only have a Intel video card, but most of the games will play decently with that chip.

My trip to Austin was relaxing. I was nice to have the week off. I didn't get a chance to go to the Linux Meeting. Maybe next time. I did get to eat different kind of foods there. I had Indian, Thai, even some coffee. I normally don't drink coffee. I don't like the after-taste. For some reason I've been in the mood for a Caramel Latte since I got back home.

The North East Arkansas Frag Fest was nice. There was just 9 of us be we had fun. Sobinae and I had to practice Sauerbraten the night before. I just couldn't get in the swing of it. I haven't played it in a couple of months. Usually I'm pretty good. Luckily at the LAN I got my rhythm going for the Tournament. I came in 3rd place behind Sobinae and LGMR. I was only 3 points behind them and they tied for first. They changed their tactics towards the end of the game by staying on the outside edges where before we were all in the middle. By the time I realized what they were doing the game was over. We had to play a 3 player finishing game before because we all tied each other for the 3 maps we played before. We tied on the various levels and as each of us won a round and got second and third places. Sobinae (using the name sugarfreebawls) won the Tournament and traded his prize of $75 for a Creative Lab Fatal1ty sound card. I won $25 for 3rd. This was the Admin's first LAN party and he is hoping to have another sometime in April.

Thanksgiving is coming up this week and I'm ready for some Turkey. Christmas is not that far and I will be glad when that's over. Christmas is too hectic and commercial for me any more.

Kickin' Back

kwadroke@gmail.com — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 09:40:10 PST

As I sit relaxed here in Austin, TX, I realize that Arkansas can do so much more. Tourism can be refocused not just to the outside, but to businesses as well.
We visited a cool coffee shop called The Spider House. We were there until 11:30pm and the placed was packed on a Tuesday night. I'd hate to see it on a Friday night. I would think there would be a line a mile long going out the door just to get it. There was nothing special going on there. No DJs, no performances. Just people kicking back, talking, drinking coffee and beer. It had a nice atmosphere. Coffee shops in Arkansas can take a lesson from this place. Sure, Conway is in a dry county, so no beer there, but most coffee shops are there to serve coffee, not atmosphere. That is what keeps people coming back and staying hours on end and ordering a good amount of food and drink. I realize now that I'm writing this post, I should have taken pictures. :( The Spider House is near the University of Texas, so I'm guessing there's a lot of people there from the college. Conway has 3 colleges, so I think some place like this, in the right location would do very well. We have 3 Starbucks in Conway, and you can't throw a rock in Austin with out hitting one. I normally don't drink coffee, but I could see my self hanging out in a place like the Spider House if I lived in the Austin Area.

So far I found Austin to be a nice place. I've run across Dell, Sun, and other offices without even trying. Fry's has a store here even bigger than the one in Dallas. The shopping center that Fry's is located had a Harbor Freight. Now I see what one of my co-workers is on about for that store. Don't even get me started on the Tilted Kilt. :)

Its Wednesday as I'm posting this, and I hope to check out the local LUG tomorrow and see how big towns have their meetings. Hopefully, If i get my butt in gear, I'll have a follow up post to my vacation next week.

BTW the Linux LAN was very small, 6 of us, but there wasn't much notice ahead of time. The Arkansas LAN had 86 people and we had 14 or more playing Urban Terror, so this gives me more insentive to have another Linux LAN. I'm considering putting the Linux Fest and Linux LAN together for next year. Possibly making it a 2 day event. There's still a lot of planning to even look at doing this.
Arkansas LAN is taking a year off so we can attend other LANs as well as having some time off for ourselves. There's a lot of meetings involved in planning ARLAN. We spend at least 3 times more time meeting than we spend actually at the LAN. And that's not counting what we do to get servers, sponsors, website and other stuff prepared on our own.

How do I lothe Counter Strike. Let me count the ways.

kwadroke@gmail.com — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 10:45:50 PDT

Sauerbraten has a new release, titled "Summer Edition". There's been several patches for it. SauerMod has also came out for it. I downloaded the source and compiled it. Then they come out with the binaries. Of course. It figures.
We're playing Sauer at the Arkansas Linux LAN on September 15th here in Conway. It's going to be a smaller LAN. No where near the size of regular Arkansas LAN, which is happening on October 13th.

All of the ARLAN admins are planning on playing Counter Strike: Source at ARLAN. We have been wanting to practice with each other, so when I saw Kardnial and TheCrow on XFire playing on our server, I decided to join them. I have it installed under Cedega, so it detected my monitor as a 2048x768 screen now that I have dual monitors set up. Course that makes it want to stretch across both screens without being able to change it (#1). It uses Steam, so it takes forever to come up (#2). For some reason it doesn't like my Mic for voice chat (#3). It uses Steam (#4). The game play is too slow for my tastes (#5). It requires Steam (#6). Once you get shot even once, you will normally die unless you are extremely lucky (#7). Steam (#8). The bots use normal names, they should be called "bot1" or something (#9). Did I mention Steam (#10).
I Hate Steam, can you tell? :)

The heck happened to "once a week"?

kwadroke@gmail.com — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 19:42:53 PDT

I been wanting to update this thing for a while. I just keep putting it off for some reason.
Anyway....
A-Kon was very cool. Hopefully I'll get to go next year.
I saw OMGPanda at A-Kon. Wasn't expecting to see someone I knew there. I talked to him for a while on Saturday, but didn't see him afterword. It was a fairly big place, 3 floors.
Tons of Cosplayers there. Maybe next time I'll dressup. I am considering going as Marty McFly Jr from BTTF II:) Yeah, it's not really Anime or Manga related, even though there was an animated series. Besides, I saw Borg, Starfleet, Darth Vader and other SciFi stuff there. The quality of the Cosplay varied. There was a Vash The Stampede & Silent Bob, were every authentic looking. Some of the cosplayers, not so good. Some of them just down right scarry. There was this guy wearing a Gothic Dress. (shutter)
The Rave on Saturday nite was cool. Didn't get to dance with anyone. Yeah right, me dance. Course it wouldn't be that hard to jump to the beat. I really like the music the DJ was playing. Listening to that type of music now. I believe it's called Breakbeat. I never could get the names of genres of music straight.
Fry's Electronics was awesome. That place had darn near everything. It's a Geek's heaven. Computers, electronic parts, DVDs, software, Roombas, etc.

The CARLUG install feast had a smaller turnout than I hoped. There was a forecast for rain and it was the day before Father's Day, and a problem with the mail server. I believe that's the reasons. Plus we normally have it during the school year. I think that may help too. It wasn't a bad turnout. We covered our expenses with a very generous donations from several one of the attendees. We actually have some money to help with next years Install Fest.

Planning Arkansas LAN is coming along. October 13 will be here before I know it.
I am also working on a Arkansas Linux LAN for September 15th. Free/Open Source games, just a fun get together to play on a LAN. http://www.arlug.org/lanparty is on the ARLUG wiki for planning the event. Hopefully there'll be a good turnout, and no power problems.

I 'm using Twitter now. Kind of an instant blog "of what's happening right now". I've got a script that updates any time I start up Sauerbraten and a few other games. Now if I could just get Pidgin not to segfault when I try to update Xfire, then I'll be set.

Of Install Fests and Anime Conventions

kwadroke@gmail.com — Tue, 29 May 2007 17:03:36 PDT

Soon I'll be off to A-Kon and Geeking out in Dallas. I can't wait. 4 day weekend too. :)
Time in a real city. Hopefully I'll have enough money to go to Fry's, as it's just a little bit away from the Hotel & Convention Center. I've heard they have some good prices on Computers & parts. Not that I really need anything, except maybe a Firewire Card for transfering from my DVR. And that's full again, Doctor Who this time. Still need to get Heroes and BSG off of there.
The CARLUG Install Fest is coming up on June 16. I'm doing some presentations on Linux Gaming and Linux Media/Bit-Torrent. Usually there's not much going on, but when it rains, it pours, for me. Usually it involves Linux in some way shape or form, and I like it that way. :D

Woah, 2 days in a row

kwadroke@gmail.com — Mon, 21 May 2007 12:02:22 PDT

I'm going to try to update this at least once a week now. Hopefully with more Linux related topics. They may be short and sweet, but at least it's something.

Silicon Valley this isn't.

kwadroke@gmail.com — Sun, 20 May 2007 20:43:05 PDT

I keep getting more and more disgusted with Arkansas. I'm looking for a event or show, or something even remotely technology based, and I get nada.
I guess you can say this is going to be a part 2 of the last post.
I went browsing in Hot Springs Convention Center's and Little Rock convention's websites, trying to find something that maybe the local Linux Users Groups can have a booth at or at least give flyers out. Everything is ether artsy or outdoor based, sans the Business Expo in Hot Springs. And that is during the week. Maybe there isn't enough business here for that kind of thing. Maybe people just don't care. I do. Sure, I may not be the most normal person around, or the average demographic. But, I would think that with as much big business, heck, even small business, that there would be some kind of need for this type of event. Could be that the previous technology shows didn't get the draw they needed. Usually this is because of lack of advertising.
I've found if you don't advertise, no one knows you exist. I'm not really talking about TV, Radio, and newspapers. I'm talking about the groups, clubs, and related businesses. Flyers can say alot.

Something else that's been bugging me, Businesses really need to train their employees. I just had digital cable put in and I got a DVR. It has all kind of USB, Firewire and Ethernet jacks on it. The cable guy gave me a quick run through on how to record and otherwise use it. I saw the Ethernet jack on the back and asked what it was for, and he said he didn't know. I'm not blaming him, but at least they could have told him it was for use as cable modem or that it was disabled. A quick search on Google got me the manual for it (which the cable guy didn't bring me one).
Of course, I'm not their average customer. I wanted to see if I could transfer the recordings off of it as I knew that the disk space would fill up. Which I did in less than 3 days. :) Must be some kind of record for them. Sci-Fi channel had 6 episodes of Battlestar Galactica, as well as a marathon of Heroes. I am able to transfer them, but at real-time. I have to digitally record them over firewire, no such luck on just copying the files. Not only that, but so far I have to do that with Windoze. Hopefully I'll find the Linux equivalient to the program I'm using so I don't have to reboot everytime my DVR's hard drive fills up.

Most Un-"geek friendly" state in the Union

kwadroke@gmail.com — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 09:36:34 PDT

Arkansas has got to be one of the top most Un-"Geek Friendly" states in the U.S.A.
Why? Because there's nothing for a true geek to do here. Any places for geeks to go usually closes before, or just as geeks like me find out about it. The town where I live had a QZar Laser Tag. A friend & I played there before I moved here. Just as I got an apartment, they close.

The company I work for has to employ the largest amount of geeks in Arkansas, so you would think that this town would have several places for geeks to go. Buzzzt, Wrong. There is nothing to do here. Being a dry county doesn't help either. Sure we're only about 20-30 minutes from anywhere in Little Rock, but there's not much there either. A Dave & Busters would own Little Rock. There was Laser Tag in Little Rock about 5 or more years ago, but all of those have closed too. A sci-fi convention call Roc*Kon was held once a year in Little Rock, but it too has died.

Maybe most geeks in Arkansas are more "normal" than me. I don't want to be normal. I have a saying: "Why be normal? Normal is Boring." Perhaps growing up in Southern California has spoiled me. Plus the fact I don't hunt, fish, like football, basketball, or golf, may have something to do with it. Arkansas counts on those normal pastimes, but this leaves nothing for the geeks. Even the museums suck. Hot Springs has the Mid America Science Museum. That place has not changed in over 20 years. I went there when I was in elementary school. I went back there about 2 years ago when they had a Star Wars exhibit, besides Star Wars stuff they were showing, NOTHING has changed. They even have the same old Apple IIe setup as a demo unit that runs the exact same software that I saw over 20 years ago, in the same place it was 20 years ago.

Arkansas is a place you are born, go to school, leave the state and go to college, and move back to retire. I did it backwards. I was born here, moved to SoCal in elementry school, moved back with my parents about a year after high school and took some college classes, then got disgusted with the local colleges when I moved to the Hot Springs Area.

You maybe asking yourself, "Why don't you move, if you hate Arkansas so much?". Good question. I foresee something about to change here. Technology is finally coming to the masses. Computers are getting cheap enough for almost anyone to obtain. Internet access is starting to be required for people to communicate to people out side of the state, as everyone else has it.
Soon as the state leaders start getting a clue that tourism is not the only thing that this state can offer, geeks can start being important consumer here.

I have some plans underway to help geeks share more information with each other. Sure most of us are online, but there's not a good place to find out anything that's going on or to discuss what's coming up. I can't announce anything yet, as I don't have all of the details worked out, but it's coming. One thing I can say is "Geeks of Arkansas unite." Keep watching this blog for more details in the coming months.

Hot Springs Linux Fest

kwadroke@gmail.com — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 08:17:44 PDT

Tomorrow's the Big Day for the Hot Springs Linux Fest. We've got several topics to present. I did not get to advertise it like I wanted to, But there should be enough word of mouth to have a good turn out. We did get in the Hot Springs newspaper, so that may help as well.

Nerdcore to the core

kwadroke@gmail.com — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 20:13:49 PST

I was recently reintroduced to Nerdcore, which is basically geek hip-hop. I've heard of MC Hawking and heard the song Fett's Vett, but I really didn't get into it at the time. Somehow I stumbled upon RhymeTorrents and I got hooked. I quickly started downloading the albums, which are freely and legally available. There are currently six albums, and they are taking submissions for the 7th.
After discovering RhymeTorrents, I told a friend at work about it and got him hooked as well.
Right now all I've been listening to is Nerdcore, and I'm still looking for more.

I'm certifiable

kwadroke@gmail.com — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 20:12:48 PST

I recently passed my Red Hat Certified Engineer exam, so, now I can add 4 letters to the end of my name :)

Tag-Fest SouthEast. Arkansas Laser Tag, Represent!

kwadroke@gmail.com — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 16:30:56 PDT

Tag-Fest South East rocked! Tag-Fest is a Weekend filled with Laser Tag Games. It was heald near Dickerson TN. We played several scenario games, that The Americans (the team that I was on) won all but two games.

I have got a lot of ideas for mods, new games to play, some new equipment that I plan on building, and upcoming events. Right now there is too much stuff that I learned stuck in my head. I have got to get it all down on paper so I can start processing & distributing these ideas.

I would like to say thanks to the Alanta Roughnecks, Middle Georgia Laser Tag League, Outside Con, and others in attendence for making this weekend a great time.

I also have some stuff to give away at the next ARKLT game. What kind of stuff, you ask? Well, you will have to come & find out!

"Good Luck"

kwadroke@gmail.com — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 09:07:24 PDT

I have almost everything I need for next Saturday's Laser Tag game in Conway. Gotta get the signs put up around town, a Banner made & buy some batteries and water. I picked up some "paintball" barriers and a Pop-up tent yesterday. If you are in Central Arkansas and want to join us, come on by! Hopefully we'll have a good turn out.

Now I need to post a classifed ad in the local newspaper.

T-Minus Something and Counting

kwadroke@gmail.com — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 07:04:08 PDT

I've got the equipment setup, now all I have to do is record the dang thing. The podcast will be coming soon. Like I haven't said that before :). I'm trying to get the details worked out on the topics, and the structure of the thing. So far this is what I got...
Ubuntu Linux
Arkansas Linux Classes
Kwadrix Linux distro Update
Laser Tag updates

This can be changed/added to at any time. Hopefully soon this thing will be taking off.

Where has all the Free Nukes gone?

kwadroke@gmail.com — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 09:44:53 PDT

I used PHP-Nuke a long time ago when it was popular, just as the rash of security holes were found. You couldn't go to a website without tripping over tons of free PHP-Nuke themes. Now it's like finding a needle in a haystack. Everyone wants to charge for them. Even PHP-Nuke is charging for the newest version of their GPL'ed software. I stopped using it, and went looking for new CMS software. I have gone thru several installs and versions. Finally, I started using Wikis for my sites.
I'm currently working on a website that some of the people involved wanted to switch to PHP-Nuke. I setup a test site and installed it then went looking for new themes. Seems like the community has went down hill. The software is fine, just everyone wants to make a buck. I understand some of it, but $30 or more for a stinking theme?? Too much for my taste. I can create my own, but there used to be some awesome free themes. Oh well. I may just let the new guy handle it, if we/he desides to bring him/come onboard.

Gotta Love Ubuntu

kwadroke@gmail.com — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 13:07:39 PDT

I was having some problems wih my new TC tuner card. I couldn't get the coax tuner to reconize in Ubuntu Breezy. The new version of Ubuntu is out (Dapper). So I figured that I would upgrade to the lastest version. Low & behold after about 2 hours of downloading & upgrading packages, my tuner now works! Ubuntu Rocks!

I got a DS Lite today along with 2 games. The New Super Mario Brother & Metroid Prime Hunters. Pretty Cool so far.

Kwadrix "I'm not Dead" Edition

kwadroke@gmail.com — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 10:56:45 PDT

I am currently working on the new version of my GNU/Linux distibution - Kwadrix. I am using Ubuntu 6.06 as a base for my LiveCD. I have already created an Internal Alpha version with just a few of the programs I want to include. So far I have installed GTKPod, iPodder, and others. The next Alpha will have IDJC, Jack Apache, PHP, MySQL, and maybe Wordpress or another podcasting/blog website software. As of right now it is using Gnome, but I may switch it to XFCE or ICEWM depending on resources needed.

A new version of the Kwadrix.com website will be launched when the new CD is ready.

Birds of a Feather

kwadroke@gmail.com — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 09:15:44 PDT

SongBird

I can't wait until SongBird is released for Linux. I've played with it in Wine and It works fine. Hopefully they'll get iPod Support soon.

Flock:

"Flock is a free web browser that makes it easier than ever to share photos, stay up-to-date with news from your favorite sites, and search the Web."

Flock — The web browser for you and your friends

I'm using Flock to write this blog entry. It makes things easier to post. Although I do see some bugs. Such as un-Itatlicing (is that a word?) lines.

Blogged with Flock

Movin' On Up

kwadroke@gmail.com — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 09:28:11 PDT

I have finally moved to Conway, and will soon start the podcast. With Cable Internet this should make it very easy. I know updates have been dead lately. With trying to find a place & the drive, I haven't had nay time to update. This should hopefully change.

Edit: I forgot to publish this :(

Welcome to the Spectacle

kwadroke@gmail.com — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 20:38:48 PST

I got a battery for the car and am now driving my truck.
I finally got a Satellite Radio. Sirius to be exact. Had to get it for the long drive back & forth to work. Only problem I have with it is that "Adam Curry's Podshow" starts to early in the morning and in the evening. It's on at 5:00AM & 5:00PM CST. I don't leave the house until 6:20am, and work at around 5:15pm. I miss most of the "Daily Source Code". I still download the podcast, it's just the time to upload it to my MP3 player. I don't have an IPod (yet), so it's a manual process right now.

I'm picking up Anna Oxygen's CD tomorrow. It's not the newest one, which will be out on February 21, but I been wanting it ever since I downloaded (legally) Spectacle off of music.download.com. I love that song. I'm not a fan of RIAA music, but some CDs I just have to buy.I thinking about contacting the record label, or Anna Oxygen herself, to see if I can play it on the upcoming Podcast.