Server re-install

I completely forgot to write about my latest problems converting my trusted Linux box into a Windows box. I've managed to actually get XP up and running, and it's fairly stable. The problems began after I had installed everything. Everything being XP, Skype and iTunes. iTunes is running okay, and I can access my Airport Express to stream music directly to the stereo. The problem is Skype. Before I installed windows, I checked to see that the old hardware would be able to run this huge system, and according to Microsoft, there shouldn't be any problems. I failed to check with skype, and assumed that a 500MHz K6-2 sould be enough. Boy was I wrong! The first few skype calls disconnected after a few minutes, and when I finnaly managed to keep one going long enough to start the taskmanager I saw that the CPU was under full load all the time. No wonder it couldn't keep up with skype. The temporary sollution is that I've hooked up my older laptop. It's a P3 1GHz, which seems to do fine. When talking over Skype, the CPU load is about 45-60% which is okay, because it doesn't need to do anything else. On a longer run, I need to find a sollution where I can get Skype back on the old server, without spending too much money. If I want to upgrade, I need a new motherboard, CPU, RAM and CPU cooler. The CPU cooler that's in use now, is one of those middle priced low noise ones, and I would like to keep the noise level steady even if I upgrade. I have a feeling that would make an upgrade about as expensive as a brand new computer. So much for reusing perfectly working hardware... The current plan is to figure out how fast a processor the motherboard can handle, and see if I can get hold of a used one.

Gadget-addiction?

Why is it that us men are completely addicted to gadgets? It might be different kind of gadgets (cars, tools, computers, kichenequipment etc.) but we always want the best and the newest type of gadget in the field that interest us. Take this projector for instance, when I saw that I thought: "I want one of those! they look sooo nice and stylish!". As allways though, I probably can't afford it, and I really have no use for it since we haven't got the space for it to be used to it's full potentiel....but still...they do look nice :)

DVD Problems Part II

I've finally managed to burn a working DVD! Whoohoo! :) Having gotten Windows XP up and running on my old Linux box, without a crash (yet), I tried again to burn some backup data onto a DVD. I tried 8x speed, 4x speed and both times it created a nice coaster. I then started to look for some sort of explenation, and a reason for why I just couldn't get anything to work. Firstly I found a few recommendations of the media we've bought (Legacy 8x speed 50 spindle) and they all said that they have had no problems what so ever with that brand. Then I checked the drive, to see if anything bad had been written about it. Not a word I could find. I did find a new firmware version though, and decided to upgrade. Having done that, I wanted to test the drive agian, but just to be on the safe side, i chose a disk from the second spindle we bought. Either the firmware helped or the entire first spindle is ready for the trash, but I managed to fill the whole DVD with readable data :)

What. A. Load. Of. Bat. Droppings!

I got hold of Windows Server 2003 (no, I didn't buy it, because I wasn't sure that was what I wanted for my server, and didn't want to waste money on it) deleted one of the harddrives from my RAID, and installed it on that. First it seemed to go fine. Windows was installed, I managed to find out how to enable remote desktop access and how to share folders. Being windows, there were naturally a load of security patches and the like, and windows popped up to ask me if I wanted to install the lot. "Why, naturally my dear James" I thought, and proceeded with the download and the install. After the traditional reboot, it went wrong. I booted almost into the graphic shell, but then crashed and rebooted!? I tried a few different things, but ended up reinstalling the whole thing, thinking I might have done something wrong e.g. installing iTunes. Having finally gotten through the second install, having updated and patched, I crossed all that could be crossed, and commenced the obligatory reboot. Lo and behold! The blo*** "#%"#&¤"§!§ crashed again!! and it keeps crashing the same place over and over again! The only thing that frigthens me a bit is; I wasn't really that suprised. I didn't think "Oh my god, I must have messed something up pretty bad", because I knew that I didn't do anything except follow the directions of the mothership. When I get the time, I'll try and install a regular XP on it...if that fails I'm not sure what I'll do. Perhaps use Linux with VMWare on top. I think it was Linus Torvalds who once said: "It's not that I think Microsoft is the root of all evil, they just make crappy software" :)

Check list part II

Check List Pro didn't last long. What annoyed me enough to try another program, was the fact that you can't hide tasks that has been done. I don't know why, but they seem to think that it's vital to see all items at once. Especially when you can't sort other ways then alphabetically. Wierd. Besides, I couldn't have several lists open at once, and when I closed a list on the PDA, the app closed too. I then had to start it again, choose a list, and then look at it. I missed a generel overview or something. What I'm trying out now, is something called ListPro by Ilium software. It too has a desktop and a PDA version (buth Windows Mobile and Palm), and "synchronizes" the same way as Check List Pro. So far, I haven't worked with it long, but it does have a few plusses already; it can hide done items(!), it has categories, I can choose which columns i would like to have for a list, and I can have several lists open at the same time. They can't be displayed at the same time, but there is a left side list with the lists I have in that file. That also enables me to keep a file with work related lists, and a file with personal lists. I know it's not the true GTD way, but I get a bit confused having my private projects merged into my work projects, and I don't want to do (too much) private stuff when I should be working ;) Hopefully this app serves my purposes, because it's a bit of a pain to keep copying my lists from one app to another :) the only thing is, that it'll cost me $30 instead of just $16....

Quote of the day

"In related news, millions of stupid people still use Windows and marvel every day at yet another reason why it sucks." (found in a comment on a blog by a friend of mine). Makes me remember the stability of windows, and makes me wonder if I'm doing the right thing :)

GTD vs. Mobile Phone

I've given up trying to get some lists onto my phone, and have settled for the PDA in stead. That didn't solve all my problems though. Because I don't use outlook, I can't synchronise the tasks with a desktop application. Active Sync will only sync tasks with outlook for some strange reason. I therefore had to find an application that would let me work with tasks on both the desktop and the PDA. Luckily that isn't a hard as finding that kind of application for a mobile phone, and I found a few potential. The one I'm testing at the moment is called Check List Pro, and seem to be what I need for the list part. It doesn't actually synchronise between the desktop and the PDA, but there is a version for each platform, and I can let active sync synchronise the files i've created. It just means that I can't work on both platforms at once, but that doesn't really matter since I mostly need an easy way to carry the lists with me. Now I just need to figure out what i'll do with the tickler file and my reference library...

Drastic changes

I'm about to do something I never though i'd do. I'm about to reinstall my linux server with windows! The thing is, since I moved my mail and webserver to Textdrive, my own server hasn't been used for anything important. I've used it as an ssh jump station, and as a local file server, but since the hub it's connected to isn't always that stable, it hasn't always been available. Now that I don't work at TDC anymore, I have no need for a jump station, and the file sharing isn't important enough for the server to be on all the time. I do have other services that need to be available all the time, and that is Skype and my iTunes library. Granted, I could install a daapd service on linux that could share my music as an iTunes library, but the Dual phone that my mother-in-law needs to use Skype, won’t work on linux. My plan so far is to install some kind of windows on the same hardware, and see how many services it can manage. It's not exactly a monster computer, so i'm curious as to what i'll be able to install. Since it's going to be a windows server, I need to move it out of the attic, so i'm hoping i'll also be able to install my new DVD-burner in it, so I can finally make DVD backups of my pictures and music. The story will continue, when I actually get windows on the computer...

Mobile Master

Kimblim suggested I had a look at Mobile Manager to solve my synchronization problems. It does have potential, but somehow it's still not quite right. I can't seem to have Sunbird open when I start the mobile manager, and it doesn't sync data back to sunbird. I've tried to create a task in sunbird, sync it to the mobile and that part works. The problem arises when i e.g. tick the task off as done, and try to sync it back. Mobile manager sees the change, and markes the task as completed, but it soesn't seem to sync back to sunbird. Sunbird still thinks the task is active. It might just be a setting in mobile manager, but I can't seem to get it to work. Maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way around. I'm looking for something that can help me implement the GTD system, and make sure that I have my lists with me all the time. At the moment, the lists I do have, is on my work laptop which I don't allways have near me. I've thought about just using my filofax, but it's still a fairly bulky thing to have with me all the time, and I would prefer to have it all on my phone (as I've said before). It just seems as if the phone really isn't the place to have that kind of information, or that the phone I chose just isn't capable of dealing with my lists. I'm still looking at my PDA (a Dell Axim X30) for a sollution, but I'm not sure I want to be lugging it around with me, since I already have the phone, and sometimes also my filofax....it's one of those dead ends, that seem impossible to get out of, untill you notice the small door in the side of the building :) So far I'm still looking for that door...maybe it's a hole in the fence or a trap door...or maybe i'm just rambling ;)

Still missing

It’s amazing. I can’t’ find any software that lets me synchronize the tasks on my phone with anything else but Outlook. Since I use Thunderbird as my e-mail client, and haven’t even got Outlook installed as part of my Office package, I have no interest in synchronizing with Outlook what so ever. How come you can’t get anything else? Sony Ericsson supplied a few small programs with the phone, but that was only a filemanager, something for handling photos and a few other thingies that I had no use for. How come you get something to handle photos and files on a mobile phone? Yes, it has a camera, and yes, it has 40MB of storage, but what about all those other functions on the phone? How about something that can edit the address book, view and write text messages, and last but not least, update the darn tasks?!? What if I don’t need the use of the camera (I have a “normal” camera that works just fine, and has a better lens than the phone) the radio (I have my iPod) and all that other stuff, but just the small things that has been on every phone the last 3-4 years? All phones I’ve had the last few year have had a calendar, but no way of working with them, except through Outlook. The same goes for text messages and tasks. It really can’t be that difficult to write a small PIM application that can manage all the PIM functions in your phone. If you want to synchronize with Outlook, there can be an app for that, but please: just give me access to the bare basics! There is one program that has 90% of what I want, which is FMA. It lets me view and write text messages, work with whatever files I feel I need on my mobile (which can’t by the way do anything with them, unless it’s mp3s) and it lets me edit my address book. It lets me view my calendar, but I can’t add or change anything. I can see my notes, alarms and bookmarks, and some of them I can change, but the tasks are nowhere?!?! Doesn’t anyone but me need to have a todo/list of tasks on their mobile phone? I know, I can just write the stupid app instead of complaining about it being missing, but it takes less effort to complain than the code ;)

Treehugger

I stumbled over this blog a while ago, and I've come to like it quite a bit. They have loads of news about living or acting "green", and one of the things I just found, I find really interesting. I've never liked the idea of "air fresheners" or whatever they call those gastly things that fill a house with a false sent of pine forrest - when the house is in the middle of a big city. Just plain stupid, and senseless. Anyway, Treehugger has a small notice about which flowers can be used to actually clean the inside air - not just stench it up. Apparently they're even easy to keep. Perhaps I should ask my boss to buy some new plants :) Oh, and one more thing, they also mentioned wood burning hot tubs. Now what happens if you fire it up too much? ;) Now I'm on the bath subject, this bath seems like a good way to save water. I always end up freezing if i try to turn off the water while i soap up.

Sounds too good to be true

I found this via SlashDot this morning. While it sounds amazing, I'm not sure I'm convinced before I actually see this device in action. I remember seeing a similar article at some point, about a storage device that could work as a harddrive, but functioned as a flashdrive. They claimed a lot of different things, and it all seemed really promissing, but like most other stuff like this, it seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth. New technology rocks, but it's always a good idea to have a healthy scepticism, and not trust in everything blindly :)

Solution to my trafic problems?

Prehaps I should just get one of these :) It's probably cold, and landing in the middle of copenhagen might also be a problem, but I'm pretty sure it's faster than the car! ;)

Damned if you do, damned if you don't

I know I've been complaining about my few days with public transport, but I've come to realise that taking the car isn't any better. On an avarage day, it takes about 45-50 minutes to get to work by car, and about 40-45 by train. About the same time, if you include various train delays, which aren't that uncommon on the strech from Roskilde to Copenhagen. There doesn't seem to be any way of getting to work faster, unless I get into the office around 7 or after 9.30, which is either too soon or too late... We've been talking about moving back to the city, but then we would loose the option of having a garden and patio to use (when the weather allows it), since that would be way too expensive, and the traveling time probably wouldn't be much better. If we want something that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, we've got the choice of either a tiny appartment (probably with no light) or something reasonably sized, but further out. It doesn't need to be that far away from the center of copenhagen, before it'll take me 20+ min. to get to work. Even if I choose to ride a bike, which is probably the fastest way to get through Copenhagen, if you don't happen to live near the metro. And since appartments near a metro station has gone up in price, it probably wouldn't be afordable.. My conclusion is, that we might as well stay in Roskilde, and just take the train instead. It might be more expensive for the two of us, and we're bound to be hit by delays, but at least it's possible to read a book or sleep on the way, and on a good day it will be faster than taking the car.