Announcements (mytechnotesproject)

SuSE is becoming a favorite for me

posted Mar 10, 2010 8:36 PM by Paul Valentino

I've been experimenting with boot from SAN solutions using HP, IBM, RedHat, Ubuntu, and SuSE over the last year and a half and must say that so far I am happiest with SuSE 11 on HP hardware. I also prefer SuSE for the virtualized guests these days.

My ideal:

Nehalem proc on HP box - (maybe even Cisco UCS soon)

SuSE 11 Enterprise

Multipath with QLogic HBA's

I tend to avoid IBM x Series for boot from SAN because of the myriad problems encountered when trying to get it to boot on the DR side of the equation (LUN replicated with RecoverPoint was target)

Ubuntu worked nicely for the boot from SAN with a little customization and tweaking but SuSE just works out of the box without any manual intervention or special multipath configuration.

I'm really curious to see how the new IBM eX5 works in the real world too.

Kitty vs. Tech Rounds 2-4

posted Feb 28, 2010 6:42 PM by Paul Valentino [ updated Mar 1, 2010 9:41 AM ]

Ok, so I figured out better settings for VLC (rtp with 2048 Kbps and 1000 ms cache) and didn't have to use skype which made it easier for me to setup multiple cameras for monitoring different areas. One camera was setup to monitor litter box and other camera was setup to monitor food which we moved up to the Living Room area.

Outcome of Round 2

The string got caught so we missed again and the kitty hid in basement.

Took a day off

For Round 3 we added cosmic catnip to the mix; however, could not stay awake long enough to see her come out of hiding.

Working on Round 4 with the catnip again tonight....

Round 4 is finally a success, saw kitty eating food around 5:40AM purely by luck because I was sleeping pretty hard up until then. Eased my way towards the bedroom doorway with string in hand while watching the video stream. I stepped on a creaky spot and the cat started to run but not before I could pull the door shut with the string :) Now she only has 3 levels left to hide on

Kitty vs. Tech Round 1

posted Feb 25, 2010 3:58 AM by Paul Valentino

We picked out a new kitty from the shelter almost three weeks ago and she immediately discovered how to go into the basement and hide inside the walls. For nearly three weeks now we haven't seen the kitty at all; she sneaks out of the basement to come get food and use litter box in the middle of the night and immediately returns to hiding.

My brilliant plan

1) Setup a webcam to stream video for the view of the food dish and litter box using VLC.

2) Attach some heavy duty string to the basement door and run it to the master bedroom.

3) View the webcam stream from laptop in the bedroom and pull string to shut door as soon as I see kitty at dish or entering litter box.

Outcome of Round 1

VLC worked like a charm for creating and monitoring the stream; however, there was at least a 30 second delay between what was happening in real-time and when it appeared on the monitoring laptop. I saw the kitty on the screen at 5:06:38 AM and pulled the string to shut the door but when I searched there was no sign of kitty anywhere in the upper levels. FAIL on Round 1

Plans for Round 2

1) Eliminate use of VLC for stream and use Skype on both systems to establish Video Call for monitoring food dish and litterbox.

2) Skype is being connected to through the cable modem on the source side and through a broadband card on the laptop side.

3) Tested skype in preparation for round 2 and there is practically no delay in video stream using broadband card.

Lip Smacker

posted Feb 9, 2010 11:19 AM by Paul Valentino

So my 2 yo daughter Ella walks up to me with Tropical Punch flavored Lip Smacker (like chapstick) that she has been rubbing all over her face. I take it from her and rub some on my lips and it tastes very good. I decide to get it away from her before she wastes it all by distracting her while hiding the Lip Smacker behind my back. Shortly thereafter, Ella walks up to me with something else in her hand that has Lip Smacker rubbed all over it; it was non other than the pumice stone that Amy uses on her feet quite regularly, YUMMY!

Moral of the story - Don't put anything that a 2 year old brings to you anywhere near your face! :)

Marathon schedule so far

posted Jan 22, 2010 10:45 PM by Paul Valentino

Already registered for the Minneapolis Half on 10/3/2010

Planning on registering for the Garry Bjorklund Half for June again

possibly even the Maui Half 11/19/2010

Recovery of domain name

posted Jan 22, 2010 10:42 PM by Paul Valentino

Recovered my old business name finally so you may get to this site with www.sysxperts.com as well now. Held out long enough for holding company to release it :)