There is a long story behind it, but basically a few drips of water got into my server. I had left it on the bench with the lid off. A drip must have landed on the RAID card, it then dribbled down the card and into the PCI slot. This shorted the card and killed the server.
There was quite a smell of plastic and PCB as you may guess from the photo. End result, one trashed server motherboard and RAID card, and a question mark over all my files on the RAID array.
I have built a replacement box and moved my main two drives over. They are an IDE LVM Group with the OS installed, with a little reconfiguration the system came back up. I then needed to try and rescue my data RAID array. The data array is a 250gb mirror, connected to the fried card.
I took one of the drives from the array and placed it in another system. I then booted into knoppix and mounted the drive. SUCCESS! I found all my data intact. I then messed around for a while copying all the home directories back to the main server drives in the new server, all but my main documents folder (as its massive!).
I now need to get a replacement RAID card and fit it into the new server. Then rebuild the array, move files around, and mount as /home once more.
As I type, I am running a quick backup, just to be safe.
There are a number of messages working their way around social networking sites like facebook, here is an example:
“If some boy called bum_tnoo7@hotmail.com adds u don’t accept it because its a hacker!!
Tell everyone on your list because if somebody on your list adds them u get them on your list he’ll figure out Your ID computer address, so copy and paste this message to everyone even if u don’t care for them and fast cause if he hacks their email he hacks your mail too!!!”
Advice as ever is not to add people as a “friend” that you don’t know offline. That said messages like this should not just be forwarded, as with similar emails that are common place, its best to research them. These are normally Hoax or Spam messages.
If your a user of the BBC’s Web Services and you run Linux, now is the time to stand up and be counted. I use linux every day as do I use the BBC’s Website.
In a recent statement, it was said that out of the 17.1 million users, only 400 to 600 of them run linux. I can’t beleive this is true, nor can many others.
It could be any number of things, including someone getting the wrong number of zeros or a mistake when running the report. Of these 17.1 million users, 5% are Mac and 400 to 600 are Linux. I wonder, how many are windows, and how many are “other”… This could well be where some of the linux users are. The asumption is made that the rest are all Windows users, but that may not be true.
Microsoft’s latest coffee table, would like to see one of these, but expect they are rather costly!
Check out the videos on the Microsoft Surface webpage.
I have finally got around to doing some upgrades yesterday.
First off at work I upgraded my system from Kubuntu Fistey Fawn 7.04 to Gutsy Gibbon 7.10
I found the following command useful to check the version of my system “lsb_release -a”, both before and after the upgrade.
user@desktop:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 7.10
Release: 7.10
Codename: gutsy
user@desktop:~$
I followed the instructions to upgrade on the release page, and on the whole these worked. Although after the full upgrade, I did have to turn off “Recommended Updates” and “Proposed Updates”. Then I had to reboot, turn them back on and reload the update list to get the “Version Upgrade” option.
Other than that, the upgrade ran through with no problems at all!
I also did the same upgrade on the Ubuntu Fistey Install, on the laptop. That went through a dream, it installed a few updates, said it needed to reboot, then it said “Distribution Upgrade Available”, I clicked install, job done.
I upgraded from WordPress 2.2.2 to WordPress 2.3 with no problems, and in double quick time! WordPress upgrades are so straight forward. I have just seen the announcement for WordPress 2.3.1, so I also just downloaded and installed that. Great, No Problems! So I am on the latest 2.3.1.
BBC iPlayer has only been available for users of Windows to date, and currently that is still the case. However, with a number of movements since the launch of iPlayer beta, we may soon see a change. There is no promise of delivering iPlayer to non-Windows users, but according to the BBC Trust, there is a need for iPlayer “platform neutrality”.
There is are moves to offer streaming video services to mulitpul platforms. The adoption & usage of these streaming services by users running non-Windows operating systems, may well decide the future of iPlayer. Streaming serivces being available on Linux and Mac would be great, but you would have to be online and streaming at the time. For a number of people this is a great adition but not a replacement for being able to download the content and watch when ready.
All this talk from the BBC and others is great, but it all comes down to content protection. If there is no DRM system available that meets the needs of the ‘rights holders’, then the BBC will not be able to implement iPlayer on any other platforms. The need to manage what happens to content is the main priority, not access to it.
2000 – VHS Tape, record, keep, watch, Lockin? The fact its on a tape
2007 – iPlayer, download, keep for a restricted amount of time, watch then deleted within a week, Lockin? Format, OS, DRM, Player, and so on…
Who’s rights? Do content authors have the right to protect their content to this degree? Who paid for what? (Licence fees go to the BBC, the BBC make or buy content, who owns what? If your paying the bill shouldn’t you have a say?) Do you still have the right to watch the content?
If viewers lose rights at this rate, who will be allowed to see content in another 7 years? Just the company that made it??? Or maybe we will have a Set Top Box for each content author, that allows us to watch each program once, and then deletes it. Then when their ‘box’ breaks we can pay them to come and look at it, and then buy a new one from them because its beond repair. With a nice monthly fee and the box self distructing when you cancel your contract….
“Jottit makes getting a website as easy as filling out a textbox.” That’s a statement from their webpage, and its true. The simplicity of this site is just great, It makes posting content online so easy. This is really worth a look!
Developments like this open the web up to users with much less technical experience, yes you can sign up for a blog or social network with a provider, but this is different.
I have just got an old iPAQ that no longer worked. After testing it, it seemed to be running off the mains adapter ok, but died when I unplugged it, I decided to get a new battery off eBay.
I fitted the battery with out any problems, charged it, and its working great.
I just removed the four T7 Torx screws, prised the back off (With care). Then used a small flat blade to pop the battery connector off the old battery. Fitted and connected the new battery. Then clipped the case back together, and replaced the screws.
There are bits of my CD collection that have never made it to MP3. I have spent the last few evenings importing them and have opted for MP3 @ 320kbps. This is to make them match the rest of my collection which has been stuck in iTunes to date.
I have previously converted some other odd tracks, eg: WMV to MP3. This will leave me with a full MP3 collection with only a hand full of Apple ACC files. I can then continue to use my iPod, with my MP3 collection.
My Next Steps:
First, Convert the ACC files
Second, Move away from iTunes.
Third, When I have to replace my iPod, I will buy a player that supports MP3 and Ogg Vorbis.
Forth, I will then convert my collection. I want to move from MP3 to Ogg Vorbis. (As the iPod does not support Ogg I am stuck with MP3 for now)
