Rants of a recent college grad

Fire Congress

2011-08-19T06:35:00.000-07:00

Why can't the republicans get it? Giving tax breaks to people and companies that make over six figures doesn't help the economy. It's been shown that they only put the extra cash in their pockets. I say this next election vote anyone who is an incumbent, congress approval rating has never been lower, they only listen to the corporate lobbyists and whoever puts the most money in their campaign funds.

Please don't listen to the right or tea party caucus, it is their fault that the economy is as bad as it is now. Stand up and do the right thing by voting out everyone in congress. They didn't listen to you so why should you listen to them. Congress goes on vacation when the economy is at its' worse in a century. In the last ten years the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. Is this the America you want? I'm not a socialist or any other -ist but trying to get by now is next to impossible. If you're not already "in" then forget it, you will never be "in" and will struggle your whole life just to make ends meet. Education costs have doubled, health care costs have doubled what they were. Funny my pay hasn't increased, I haven't seen a raise since leaving the military in 2003

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/97971-obama-signs-law-blocking-congress-pay-raise

I should be grateful to even have a job? This is what I've been told, "at least you have a job". Puhleeze! I can't afford health insurance, have no savings, no retirement fund; and I should feel grateful?

We really need to fire everyone in D.C. Maybe if they are on the street looking for a job they'll finally get the message.

ChromeOS and Google

2009-12-02T18:32:00.001-08:00

Google is going to help push linux further, people will realize that Microsoft isn't the only game in town.

in reference to: Chromium OS Builds by Hexxeh (view on Google Sidewiki)

Year of the linux, again

2009-11-25T10:59:00.000-08:00

As was posted somewhere else, every year someone proclaims "this is the year linux....." blah blah insert expletive. The way I see it every year this century has been "the year of linux", especially since 2003 when Fedora came to light. The masses of linux distros has every year pushed the boundaries of open source computing and desktop use. It's not the leaps and bounds that windows users experience but incremental. Small steps is the way to go, easing your way into some new or innovative to do something. Ubuntu and Canonical push out two versions every year with better under the hood and visual mechanics, Fedora pushes it further with bleeding edge software twice a year. Mandriva keeps it simple and has in my opinion the best control center bar none, again with major updates twice a year. Instead of waiting three years and getting a ton of changes, risking breakage and driver issues; linux distros keep the tap open at a small trickle.

Finally got a job

2009-11-25T10:49:00.000-08:00

Last year this time I finally started a job that required my degree, whew!

This job (I won't say where, not important) uses a mix of operating systems and other hardware. Thank goodness my supervisor is a fan of linux and likes to push for it when he can.

No new reviews

2009-11-09T13:25:00.001-08:00

So that's it PCMag? Give up on linux?

in reference to: Linux - Reviews and Price Comparisons from PC Magazine (view on Google Sidewiki)

Best Free of 2009?

2009-11-09T13:22:00.001-08:00

You're kidding right? Three linux distros and you're done? So you just put them here to say "see we covered linux". Even for Ubuntu you didn't even have anything from 2009 and the link is for a review of 8.04?

in reference to: The Best Free Software of 2009 - Operating Systems - Features by PC Magazine (view on Google Sidewiki)

Sidewiki

2009-10-29T06:58:00.001-07:00

I'm going to try Sidewiki on my home system as well

in reference to: Google Sidewiki (view on Google Sidewiki)

Teasing PC users

2008-10-27T02:20:00.001-07:00

You know, I just love the fact that my wife had to run a defrag on her PC running Windows XP Home and it still didn't complete defrag the drive. Why is that? I have never had to or intend to defrag a linux install. There is no need because the filesystem is just that well created. It is by default a much more security OS as well.

Fat, fatter, fattest

2008-07-03T20:52:00.003-07:00

This is an excellent article on the mentality of Microsoft. As hardware gets faster and better, Windows/Office has gobbled up every bit of it and keeps asking for more. If the stories of Windows 7 are true ( and I hope they are ) it might be enough to turn things around. In the meantime Linux and MacOSX have continued to optimize, improve and fill the holes. If the programmers and users of Linux can get together and create an interface that is both easy to use and advanced with automated features; combining the light resource load of XFC, advanced features of GNOME and easy to use interface of KDE; that would be the knockout punch.

Judging by this article the tipping point was Office XP with Windows XP SP1, after that the scales really started tipping down. Adding more code for security to patch holes that should not have existed to begin with. More code added to Office, bigger memory requirements. When Vista was released the hardware requirements were drastically increased by 25% more that previous versions. Seven years is a long time to update an OS. Windows is incredibly bloated. In seven years KDE has updated itself to KDE3 and release five major update, GNOME has pushed itself up to 2.18 and the kernel itself has put out a major update 2.6 and release 20 updates. Mandriva has gone from Mandrake 10 to Mandriva 2008.1 with 7 updates inbetween. Even Debian with it's long dev/testing cycle has managed to release two versions, Sarge and Etch.

What Microsoft added to Vista? DRM, Aero, security, search? Not all that much when you look at it seriously. Apple has consistently evolved their OS. OSX 10 through 10.4; four major updates, increased security, better features; all without increasing the load on the computer itself. I can't say much about it since I don't use a Mac. Linux is releasing new/update version on a more or less six month release schedule. New features added since 2001: udev, compiz, journalling file systems, virtualization, easy to use package management, security features; innovation is coming from the opensource community at an ever increasing pace. Looking at distros from 2001 and today are like night and day.

"Sulphur" smells sweet

2008-07-03T20:52:00.001-07:00

I recently upgraded to the latest Fedora, "Sulphur". This version/distro of linux really shines. It's worth the download to get the "Everything" edition which is three DVDs. This way you can create a local repository that has everything you could need that isn't bolted down by liscences. The list of features include the latest KDE 4.0.3 and Gnome 2.22 desktops. Improvements have been made to a host of other features including a surprising newcomer the system-config-dhcp. A GUI tool for configuring the dhcp server. Openoffice upgraded to version 2.4, the latest XServer 1.5 beta and Firefox 3 beta 5. This is as cutting edge as you can find. Some might say too close to the edge, I say if the graphic card vendors would provide open-source drivers we wouldn't have a problem. Another welcome sight is the inclusion on Ruby-on-Rails in the package rubygems-rails. Some of the other inclusions include drupal, turbogears, eclipse, gcc 4.3.

As long as Fedora keeps going in this direction I will keep using it.

Fat, fatter, fattest

2008-04-15T16:52:00.001-07:00

2008-04-13T01:08:00.000-07:00

Website Resume or Job Search Engine

Anyone have any recommendations to either creating a website that has my resume such as: My Resume or keeping my online resumes up to date. Both are good ideas of course and you should always keep up your Monster, Career Builder and Dice resumes up, but is there any real benefit to maintaining another website? What I see as help is on your personal website you build links to projects you have completed, post your transcripts and other documents useful to prospective employers.

Hm...I guess I answered my own question, do both and keep them all up.

2008-04-13T00:54:00.000-07:00

Fedora 8

I am so liking linux ever more each day. Vista and XP just can't compare with the the amount of software, the ease of installing and the visual effects. I know eye candy doesn't add to the functionality but if you have never used transparent windows to type and look stuff up then you don't know what you're missing.

I downloaded and installed the Fedora 8 Everything DVDs and have thousands of packages to choose from: blender 3d modeling, scribus desktop publishing, openoffice.org office suite, inkscape, compiz, multiple im clients and browsers. The best part is that it is all free!

Low cost PCs and Linux

2008-04-06T00:08:00.001-07:00

So, I'm scanning the headlines on Google and I see:

Inexpensive computers may give Linux operating system a big lift

Interesting, I read the article and it's what I've known for quite a while, Linux absolutely runs circles around any version of Windows. Secure, stable, plenty of software and all the eyecandy you could want. I click the link to see all the articles expecting to see more of the same and guess what, the only one about Linux is the first one. All of the other two hundred and some were about Microsoft extending XP. WTF! I want to know more about Linux and low-end PCs and what other news carrier is looking into this.

Progressive Metal

2008-02-29T00:52:00.001-08:00

Check it out Progressive Metal, just want to spread the word of a growing musical genre.

Looking for better work

2008-02-29T00:44:00.001-08:00

I am a hungry IT professional looking for an employer that is willing to ~~take a chance~~ hire a professional who will be loyal to the first that hires them as a professional.

Been away

2008-02-29T00:42:00.001-08:00

I haven't been around lately, mostly living life and struggling to make ends meet.
Mind if I bash a few subjects, no, good!

The president or el dictator. How can he possibly suggest that we are not heading into a recession. I have been working the same job for four years and have yet to get a raise, even a cost of living raise would be sufficient. No one in my workgroup has received a raised either so I know it's not just me. The price of everything has gone up except wages, jobs are lost and people are losing their houses. Illegal aliens are taking away low paying jobs and some people even have to get two jobs just to afford health care. Do we need dust bowls to make a point.
It's been over 18 months since I graduated and I'm still working the same job for the last four years. Everyone wants five years experience in this that and the other and no one wants to give me chance. What do I need to do? Lie?
Most of you computer users out there need to grab your head and pull it out of your rear and stop taking the slop that MS feeds you about computers. Take some time and do the research about other operating systems and software out there. Linux and BSD are free, stable, secure and have some of the greatest software available.

Thank you and have nice day.

Linux vs Windows, 2007 is the year

2007-04-19T01:26:00.000-07:00

Mandriva 2007.1 Spring edition is out, Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn is out, Debian 4.0 Etch is out, Fedora Core 6 Zod has been out, and OpenSuse 10.3 is working it's way out the door; KDE 4 is getting closer; this is biggest year for linux yet. I can tell you from personal experience that Mandriva and Ubuntu are the distros to watch this year. After having to reinstall for the nth time Windows XP that I will will be trying harder than ever to finally kick that crap out the door. If I can get wine to work with all the games the kids play then I might be able to get my wife to try linux finally.

Mandriva's integration of the Metisse desktop and of course compiz/beryl and it's awesome control center has finally brought itself back from the ashes of 2006. Mandriva has always had a place on my system because of it's polished look and feel. The addition of the One live CD that included the video drivers tipped the scales in its favor. Feisty is another rock solid distro from Ubuntu. The tipping point for it will be the windows migration assistant, media codec installer and proprietary driver wizard. The server edition includes support for virtualization.

Time for you Windows users to take another look at alternates.

Save Internet Radio!

More to follow...

Mounts, folders and partitions

2007-04-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

One of the better features of the Unix filesystem is the way in which it is designed. There are no drives such as in Windows "C:, D:, G: etc." but rather it is designed with a lot more flexibility. The base filesystem is your "/" or root directory is where everything else goes, it is similar to a tree's roots. From the root you can navigate to other places. /boot is where the files necessary to start the system are kept, your kernel images, initial ram disks and boot menu. /usr is similar to the "Program Files" directory in windows. /home relates to the "Documents and Settings" directory in windows. What's the point? the point is that these filesystems: /boot /usr /home, don't have to be in the same partition. This makes maintenance a breeze, add in logical volumes and NFS mounts and resizing filesystems becomes quite easy. It would even be possible to boot an entire system without a hard drive. "Big deal, live CDs don't use the hard drive either!" the big deal is that you can't save anything on a CD and it runs slower, NFS mounts are real hard drives that reside on a different server. Place the /home filesystem on an NFS mount and everything in a users home directory follows them without having to copy it across the network everytime they log in. Using network booting with PXE you are guaranteed that all workstations in your network have the same software installed everywhere without having to image a ton of hard drives. You could have just the root filesystem: /{root} /boot /bin and /sbin, reside on the workstation and have everything else as an NFS mount. This would ensure that if all the workstations were not the same hardware they would have specific drivers for each machine while still maintaining the same base applications.

Flexibility is increased when you use logical volumes. A logical volume is a group of physical drives treated as a single drive. It can be partitioned just like a physical drive, with the exception that physical drives can be added or removed (space permitting). It does slow down access slightly but the benefit of adding space when needed is worth the extra overhead.

Windows just recently added the ability to mount partitions onto empty folders. This is still pale when compared to the unix filesystem. You can't mount a separate partition for Documents and Settings or Program Files. If your Windows system goes down, gets a virus, or becomes unstable or unusable in any way and you end up having to reformat your C:\ drive everything on the partition is lost. You can avoid that in unix by having your /home mounted elsewhere.

Just another reason to drop windows.

More to follow....

Unix, pipes, scripts, oh my!

2007-03-26T21:09:00.000-07:00

Let me show the power of the shell! There some things that you just can't do clicking a mouse or pecking on the keyboard stretching your fingers between letters and the alt or ctrl keys. Cron and at are you friends along with pipes. I work a lot on remote terminals at the command line and have become quite competent, even writing a few short scripts that do quite a lot. I'm not familiar with the latest version of Windows shell Monad so I won't compare it and just stick to what I know.

Let's try this, say you want a directory listing of everything in your home folder. Well in Windows you would open up your My Documents . But that doesn't save it in file, it just shows it to you. What about the command prompt, Start->Run->cmd enter in "dir" and there it is. But that still isn't in a file; okay copy, open notepad, paste it in. Now you have your home folder listing in a file. Bash or csh or ksh is much easier!

cd ; ls -l >> myhome.txt

That's it. cd changes directory to your home, ls -l gives a directory listing in long format, >> is the redirect command. Redirect takes the output from a command and sends it somewhere else. Usually it's used to create log files, here it takes the output and saves it in a file. Sometimes output is sent to the null device /dev/null; this will just send it nowhere. Redirect can also work the other way as in sending an input file to a command for processing.

Here is a common command I use:
ps -ef | grep db2
Here I use the pipe. Pipes are used usually in a chain of commands, the output of one command is used as the input for the next command. In the example I take the output of the ps command, process, and send to grep, pattern searching, looking for anything containing db2. You can add any number of commands to chain as long as it makes sense:
tail -f `ls -tr *backup* | tail -1`
This chain will get the most recently modified file that has backup in the name. The back ticks will return the commands between them. In effect tail -f will wait for ls -tr *backup* | tail -1 to execute and use the results in the command. tail -1 returns the last line of ls -tr *backup*. Adding it up the command will continously display the contents of the latest backup file.

Normally ps returns process sorted by their id, suppose we want the only db2 process sorted by name saved in a file:
ps -ef | grep db2 | sort >> db2process.txt

Let's find out who has an account
cat /etc/passwd | cut -f 1 -d : | sort
cat just spills out the contents of a file, sends the output to cut field 1 delimited by ":" and then sends it sort.

Command chains can become quite cryptic and long:
cd dba ; tail `ls -tr *backup* | tail -1` | (grep Finished && ls -ltr *backup*) || (tail -f `ls -tr *backup* | tail -1`)
My favorite, because I wrote it, change to the dba directory and tail the most recent backup file looking for "Finished" then show the listing otherwise keep tailing the file.

More to follow...

Job search

2007-03-20T22:04:00.000-07:00

It's now six months since graduation and still no closer to getting a
better job. Health insurance is over $300/mnth and students, which
payments start in May, are almost $200. Every month we barely make it
from month to month so either I need a another deferment or someone
needs to offer me a job. My wife stays sick with worry all the time,
she's under the belief that we'll end up dropping the health insurance.
At first I was sure I would have found a better job before 2007, now I'm
not sure if anything will come our way. If anyone has a lead for either
a programmer (.NET or Java ), web developer or something similar in the
Lexington, KY or eastern KY area, leave me comment.

:-\

Soapbox time

2007-03-18T19:14:00.001-07:00

It's time to step onto my soapbox and address a couple of issues

1. *Linux vs Windows vs OSX*: Anyone who thinks Vista is the best OS
out there is just plain blind. I haven't used Vista except an
early beta in 2003 so I really can't comment too much about it but
judging by the spec and min requirements it just doesn't bode
well. OSX has received nothing but praise since 10.1 ( 10.0 was
crappy, this I know because my wife's iMac came with it ). Apple
has kept it under close quarters to maintain its' quality and has
done a good job. Microsoft has bent to the will of the big
corporations and ignored the home market, the DRM built into the
system and the laughable User Access Control have added to the
bloat of an already bloated system. Now for Linux! It is the up
and coming player. The linux distros have consistently improved
over the last few years. Desktop enviroments, security and
hardware support continue to improve. What other OS has builtin
support for virtualization? Not only can you keep the kernel and
drivers up-to-date but most software as well.
2. *Music, RIAA and WebRadio*: The music industry has shot itself in
the foot. Instead of embracing the new technology of the internet
and digital music they chose to fight it in the name of profits.
CD sales have dropped while downloads from the likes of iTunes and
others have risen. They are attempting to kill any young upstart
from stealing the pennies from their jars by having unfair rate
imposed on online stores and internet radio stations.
3. *Corporate America*: Two newscaster have become my favorite
spokesman: Lou Dobbs and Keith Olbermann. They have spoken up in
favor of the little guy, pointing out every time that big
companies try to squeeze the common working class. Insurance
companies, pharmaceuticals and others who revere profits at all
costs. Why is it mandatory to have auto insurance and not medical
insurance? I would think medical coverage is more important, why
doesn't the government regulate it?
4. *Security and freedom*: Which is more important? Is there a
balance? Should the administration be allowed to do anything in
the name of security? Hell no! This country was built on the
foundations of freedom and to do any less is unamerican. That is
the price we pay to have freedom of speech. /We/, as a population,
have an unspoken duty to report anything suspicious to the proper
authority, /we/ are honor bound to watch each other's back and to
protect our rights from outside influences.
5. *Dictator*: /A ruler who is not restricted by a constitution,
laws or any opposition.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&start=4&amp;oi=define&q=http://www.saburchill.com/history/hist003.html&usg=__-R9IOQoxOY7qLRkIZnSwfbv3z2w=

/This is our president, he expects everyone to just follow along
with his judgement. It's been proven that he prefers loyalty to
competence; Iraq, Katrina, CIA leak. If you show that you'll go
along with him he'll reward you. He refuses to listen to anyone
else's opinion.

Prospective employers please read this!

2007-03-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

This is my cover letter/intro in a more informal setting. I am currently
working as a level 2 support tech supporting both Windows and Unix
servers. I have been working on remote systems using Remote Desktop and
command line/shell commands. I have written a couple of scripts to save
time and allow me to watch other monitors. I have written a program to
consolidate notes for various accounts. This program also stores the
many passwords we have to have for the accounts we monitor. It also
makes automatic backups of notes and passwords with a time/date stamp.
There is an option to paste either as plain text or formatted. Using the
scripts/programs I wrote I have cut down the time to do repetitive task
by over half. This is the sort of employee you need, looking for ways to
save time and money.

I have proven leadership skills. Eight years in the U.S. Army, the last
four years in a leadership position. I graduated in the top 20% of a
class of over 500 students in the Primary Leadership Development Course.
I was chosen above my pears for a position designated for a higher rank
than what I held as Training NCO. The position covered training
schedules, files, records, making phone calls/appointments for the Unit
Command and First Sergeant, physical security and Information/Automated
System security, ensuring all clerks were properly trained. While
deployed to Kuwait in 2002 I was chosen to lead a team at the Forward
Deployed Headquarters. We were in charge of monitoring several long
range RADAR and satellite images and reporting anything to the Forward
Commander.

Before being in the Army I was a shift manager for a family restaurant.
I worked there for ten years, working my up from busboy to shift
manager. I was in charge of thirty employees, scheduling, food costs,
ordering and inventory and of course customer service.

I am ready for any challenges.

The scourge of software

2007-03-17T16:55:00.000-07:00

Here's another stick in my craw: the fact that you can't buy a pc without having freakin' MS all over it! Why not? wouldn't it be cheaper? Someone is getting paid or is so afraid of losing sales and getting on the wrong side of Microsoft.

First post

2007-03-17T15:15:00.000-07:00

So here I am, starting my first blog. I needed a release for the frustrations that have been plaguing me lately. For starters there is the fact that I am still working the same blue-collar IT job for the last three years even though I have ten years as a shift manager in a family restaurant, over eight years in the Army ( the last three as a non-commissioned officer ), a degree in IT and three years doing level 2 support for a global tech company ( I won't mention their name but they are beating the crap out of SCO ). It's been six months and still nothing. What the hell is going on? Does anyone think I'm not qualified? Visit my online resume, and tell me what you think. I visit all of the job sites; Monster, Dice, America's Job Bank, Careerbuilder, and Craig's List. Is there something I'm missing? My student loans are coming up and guess what, I don't qualify for economic hardship. WTF!!! I'll have to drop our health insurance to make the payments. Where are all the jobs? I'll tell you, pick up the phone and call tech support and see who answers the phone. Outsourcing is killing the job market. I don't mind it if it's a global company and they use workers from that country; I'm all for that.