tkil

Since I couldn't find anything on Google about this, maybe they'll pick up this entry...

We got a new computer tonight: a nicely-equipped Asus CM6850-07. One of the first things it suggests is to create a set of recovery DVDs. This sounded reasonable, so I followed the directions to insert a DVD-R and reboot.

When it did boot into the "Asus System Recovery Tool", though, it wouldn't respond to any input!

It took me a long while to realize that the keyboard and mouse had to be plugged into the topmost USB ports on the back (where the old mini-DIN keyboard/mouse connectors used to live).

Anyway. Live and learn.

Ran across this link earlier: 15 Google Interview Questions That Will Make You Feel Stupid

First, my answers:

( a quick run-through )

Now to see how I did...

( their answers )

Overall, I give myself about 11/15 (with most of those being "0.5 for near miss").

Edit 2009-12-06 02:29Z: 12"/1.5" is 8, not 6...

I'm trying to install a modern Linux (Fedora 11) on my old TiBook (PowerBook G4 1GHz/DVI/GigE, from 2002 or so).

( cut for gory details... )

While I'm trawling UK history, I was chuffed to see that the BBC published a pair of articles on Unix's 40th anniversary:

40 Years of Unix

The computer world is notorious for its obsession with what is new - largely thanks to the relentless engine of Moore's Law that endlessly presents programmers with more powerful machines.

Given such permanent change, anything that survives for more than one generation of processors deserves a nod.

Think then what the Unix operating system deserves because in August 2009, it celebrates its 40th anniversary. And it has been in use every year of those four decades and today is getting more attention than ever before.

The enlightenment's operating system

In a world that is increasingly shaped by and managed through advanced computer technology, the ideologies built into applications and operating systems matter more and more because they shape the potential of the systems we are developing.

I choose Unix over anything else because I believe that the respect for the system's administrators, programmers and end-users that lies at the core of the Unix philosophy remains our best hope for creating computer systems that will promote and encourage free expression, liberalism and humanism.

Unix is the operating system that most clearly expresses the values of the liberal enlightenment that form the basis of my own personal philosophy, and I will continue to use and support it.

Noticed when I posted the silver star piece earlier tonight.

In a fine example of yak shaving, I first had to switch to Style System S2, since S1 doesn't support tags at all. Then I spent a fair bit of time trying to come up with reasonable colors; most of the preset color combinations were bletcherous one way or another. (Is this an ICEPICK IN MY FOREHEAD? Why yes, I think it is! — thank you, jwz!)

Extra annoyance points for not having an easy (or at least obvious) way to tell it "switch to S2, but use the same colors I had before, even if they were in S1...)

My OCD moment for the night came when I realized that the default text for music and mood is those words in all lower-case, while tags (which you can't currently customize the text on) has an initial cap. The inconsistency bothers me (which I could fix by adjusting music and mood to have initial capitals), but I'd really like them to all be lower-case. deliriumdreams just laughed and called me OCD. Hm...

Anyway, got that sorted, and went back and tagged my entries for 2005.

So I'm curious about a few things; if you have the time to write back:

1. What do you think of the new colors? They look fine on my big LCD in a mostly-dark room, and I'll see how they work out tomorrow on a CRT in a brighter room. I suspect there is a bit of tweaking left to be done. (It would also be fabulous if there were a darker set of "owner icons" — the ones that let you edit journals, unscreen comments and the like; the light grey is a bit much on my very dark colors.)

2. What do you think of my set of tags? These are very much first-cut, and I've already done some revision. Some of the tags are too specific, some will not get used enough to be worth their own tag, others are maybe too broad.

I already know that "diary" is going to be used quite a bit, but I would like some way to distinguish between "this is what I did today" and "here's a random link or reaction to something I read on the net". I almost called it "rambling"...

3. What do you think of how the entries are tagged? Does it seem to map well? Does it help at all, or is this just an exercise in pedantry? (Not that that would stop me, but...)

Thanks! Even if you don't want to respond, I hope that others will pick up some tagging; and if nobody else does, I'll still be able to find subsets of my entries pretty quickly. Yay. (Although the win from tagging isn't but a fraction of the win I'd see if everyone used reasonable "subject" lines in their entries; going into someone's monthly view and seeing hundreds of "(no subject)" lines is just... ouch.)

Ganked from memepool, someone has a puzzle that they intend to be solved with python. Being a geek but not python fan (I don't dislike python, just haven't found a good reason to learn it yet), I thought I'd try to solve it otherwise.

( spoilers )

Yay for drinking too much too early in the evening, so now I'm awake, with a slight headache, and feeling just blah.

The score so far this year:

Good monitor (19" NEC Multisync) died mysteriously.
TV died mysteriously. But it came back to life (sigh).
Hard drive in slinky (my server in colorado) died.
Hard drive in speedy (my home linux box) died.
Replacement hard drive for speedy died (mfg date: 2004-08-09. died: 2004-11-??. two months?)
Software update rendered my powerbook unusable earlier today.

So I'm hanging out, drinking Scotch, and re-installing OSX. (I had bought a replacement HD, meaning to put it in "eventually" ... that seems to have become "now". Oh well, it should be an upgrade -- from 4200 RPM 60GB to 5400/80.)

Now I just need to do data recovery off the respective drives.

How's everyone else's hardware karma going this year?