I have an old PC at home which acts as a general-purpose server: local DNS caching, a web development environment (Apache, MySQL and PostgreSQL) and general file store. Prior to obtaining a new router, it was also the firewll, gateway and DHCP server. Its spec (Pentium-II 333MHz with 96MB RAM and an 8GB hard drive)… (read more)
After a heads-up from Aq, I followed his lead and wrote to my MP. Basically, there is an Early Day Motion which raises concern that schools are being hugely restricted in the ways that they can use their IT budgets, meaning that they are effectively unable to make use of free and open source software,… (read more)
Recently, I bought my first laptop: a Thinkpad T60 from LinuxEmporium – it came with Ubuntu 6.06 (“Dapper”) pre-installed. I decided to buy from them because the fact that they were selling them with Ubuntu pre-installed indicated good Linux hardware support for the system and, although the cost was a little more than might have… (read more)
Back in March, my PC at work packed up and I got a replacement. I used the opportunity to kick off my Desktop Revolution: these changes have ‘stuck’ and I think I’m managing my time much better. However, when I ordered that new PC, I ordered two monitors for it: two identical 19″ TFT screens…. (read more)
I was recently asked to be a Special Guest Presenter for Hashlugradio, which is the fortnightly “podcast about the podcast” about LUG-Radio. This recording is now available for download at the hashlugradio site. Go get it and listen! It was quite interesting doing the recording and also a lot of fun, mainly because the others… (read more)
I’ve been using the Akismet plugin for comment-spam control for a while now, and it seems that it is very good at identifying spammy comments. Which is good. However, so many inconsiderate, low-life @~$&%!-ers have been spamming my site recently that on Saturday/Sunday, the virtual machine on which this site was hosted was overloaded. That’s… (read more)
I don’t normally post family stuff on here, but for this I’ll make an exception. My eldest daughter, Heather started school this week. And she’s loving every minute of it. Long may that continue! She is in a class of about 25 and knew almost all of the other children already; and she’s already made… (read more)
Exactly 67 years ago, World War II began. Although there had already been a fair degree of conflict leading up to this date (both in Europe and the Pacific) it was the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 that officially got the ball rolling. Two days later, Britain and France declared war on… (read more)
It’s been a while since I’ve written here: busy, again, unsurprisingly. Neuromancer I finally got around to reading “Neuromancer”, the famous ‘cyberpunk’ novel by William Gibson, which has the reputation of having spawned a lot of ‘net culture and the movie The Matrix. My opinion? It’s not a very good book at all. It’s certainly… (read more)
So, the police and security services have foiled a major terrorist attack, have they? I read yesterday that John Reid (that’s the Home Secretary, people) was saying that “we may have to modify some of our freedoms in the short-term” in order to counter the threat from terrorists. This sounds almost too convenient. Given that… (read more)
