Syzygy Tech

I had some downtime today and took it upon myself to read up on the views of some of the candidates for the 2008 presidential election. In order to get a good feel for the different candidates, and since many of their own webpages lack good information, I read the Wikipedia pages on them. Of course Wikipedia has its issues, but the information on their views is factual in nature and well sourced. After reading the pages on Clinton, Obama, Thompson, Romney, and Paul, I must say that I like Ron Paul the most. His views on almost everything align with my own, such as his views on government spending, foreign policy, abortion, individual liberties, gun control and certain economic policies, just to name a few things. As much as I favor Ron Paul, it seems that he does not have the same support behind him that the other candidates do. I cannot see a Republican winning the presidency in 2008 due to their rampant unpopularity at the moment, so I think that the Republicans need someone who can easily distance himself from the Bush administration, something that Paul can easily do based on his voting record. I’m unsure if Ron Paul can win the Republican nomination, but I think that if he did, he would have the best chance against his Democrat opponent, however I don’t think that mainstream Republicans will go for someone like Paul.  Theres always a chance, however, and i will be voting in the Republican primaries this year, even if New York doesn’t matter since other states have loaded their primaries so early…

Yesterday was another opportunity to fly without presenting any ID at the airport. The man at the US Airways counter didn’t give me much trouble beyond the puzzled look and a few questions about how it’s possible to not travel with ID. Going through security was easier this time than last time as they did not frisk me, but they did give me a little bit of trouble while going through my bag.

The first item that got me a few questions was my all metal mechanical pencil (click here for a review). As you can see in the review, the pencil is quite heavy and solid, so I can understand their complaints. In the end, they did not take it away. What was more amusing, was the concern that the two security guys had over my laptop. I currently am missing 1 key off the keyboard from switching the layout to Dvorak (I still have the key, but need to modify it for it to go back on). The guard spent a minute looking at the missing key to see if there were any apparent modifications to the laptop, when he noticed that the keys were not in the right places. He had never heard of the Dvorak layout and, apparently, did not know that layouts other than qwerty existed. I guess my explanations of a more efficient layout were not good enough, and they asked me to turn the laptop on to verify that the “internals have not been modified”. I really wanted to tell them that I have modified the internals, but discretion got the better of me. So I turn the laptop on, and they get to see LILO in all its glory boot Gentoo. Although they were satisfied that the machine was operational, they were not happy that it was using software that they had never heard of. I explained what an operating system was to them and the difference between Windows and Linux, but I don’t think I cleared much in their minds. To see their reaction, I refused to login to the machine when they asked, which prompted them to bring aver their supervisor (an actual TSA agent rather than hired security). I explained the whole Dvorak and Linux thing to the supervisor, who seemed to be a little more understanding. She felt that turning the computer on was enough and let me go.

The trip through security was relatively painless despite the issues that they had with my computer. I think that this shows that there is a fundamental lack of understanding of how computers and electronics in general work. If I had told the security that I was an electrical engineering student, I’m sure that they would have given me more of a problem with the computer. If security really wants to deal with modern electronic threats, they need to start educating their guards in the matter. There are much more dangerous things than Linux that can be brought onto an airplane, not to mention things that are much less conspicuous than a laptop running totally unfamiliar software. Something that comes to mind would be a radio jamming device that could easily be concealed within an operational laptop, calculator, etc. I understand that I am in a much different position than many people who do not use such electronics everyday, but if people are going to spend billions of dollars on security, shouldn’t they actually be familiar with the kinds of threats that can occur? Or, perhaps, it is just the notion of “security” that is the aim. It is clear to me that actual security is trivial, a superficial glaze is all that is necessary to make people feel safe. Personally, I think the fear that people have in regards to air travel security is absurd, so maybe its a good thing that there still is no real security at the airports. Life is hazardous to your health. Deal.

After using Dvorak for several months now, I am quite comfortable with the layout. Far from my initial struggles, I am no longer annoyed at the layout, but rather enjoy its benefits. I am faster than my Qwerty days, but am not quite to the level of touch typing. I was never much of a typist to begin with, so perhaps being faster in not that much of an accomplishment. Currently, I cannot see myself going back to Qwerty.

On the Linux front, my total conversion over to a Linux based desktop is going along great.  All of my computers currently run Gentoo,  as I just switched one of my servers from Xubuntu to Gentoo.  I do still have my Windows install around so that I can play the occasional game and get a file or two when necessary.  To maintain as much connection to my home computers as possible, I have started to make extensive use of SSH.  Thus, even when I am stuck in the computer labs at school, I can SSH into my box and get all the functionality I would normally have.  Cone has proved to be an excellent command line mail client (with POP and IMAP support) and naim is a functional command line AIM replacement, two common programs that I like to use.  mp3blaster is also a nice program to listen to music.

With the quarter winding down, I should be able to get back to my neglected projects, and maybe start some others.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to view one of my favorite movies in a theater for the first time.  I was most impressed, as a DVD in the living room just does not give the proper justice to the movie.  I don’t think that a proper appreciation for the scope and impact of the film can be made on a TV.  The film was shown in its entirety, with the overture and intermission intact.  It was shown in 35mm format, which is to be expected since 70mm equipment is rather hard to come by.

I’m very happy that I was able to see the film in a theater, but too bad it was too cloudy to see the Perseids last night, as that would have been an excellent capping of an already momentous evening.

Last weekend I rode out to Rhode Island on the Ducati to go camping with a few friends. I realize that this was not the most intelligent thing to do for having the bike for less than 2 weeks, but the opportunity was too much to pass. Despite it not being the best of ideas, I definitely learned a lot about the bike and, all in all, am glad that I did it.

In the car, its about a 5 hour ride to the park. Since I didn’t have much experience on the bike, I felt that it would be better to avoid the Interstate for the most part, which put my trip at an estimated 7 hours total. I did start out on the Interstate, but after about 45 minutes I was bored to death and started on my planned secondary road route. Everything was good for the first 150 miles when the position on the motorcycle becomes quite uncomfortable. The total distance is about 450 miles, so I figured that gas stops every 200 miles would be good to stretch my legs, drink some water, etc. I ended up stopping 4 times, as the farther I went, the sooner my ass and knees would start to hurt. What made the ride out rather miserable was the total of 10 hours that it took, primarily because of hitting snarly traffic in New Haven, CT on I-95 and on Rt 1. By the time I finally got there, I was quite tired but glad to be there. The stiffness from being in the same position goes quite quickly and I was able to enjoy the weekend. The way back was much better, taking 7 hours, because I altered my route to avoid the issues on the way out.

The main issue that I felt on the way back, and still feel right now, is tiredness in my right hand. When I first got back, my hand was quite sore, but the fact that I can still feel a little bit of that almost a week later is rather annoying. I think that my hand will get used to this with time, but its something I need to keep in mind at the moment. I also think that a windshield, even a small one, will make the highways much better. I didn’t like the turbulence and a windscreen should reduce that when at speed. A final thing I will change before my next trip is to add some soft saddle bags. I had a friend (who left a day before me) bring most of my stuff for me, so all I had was a small backpack with food, water, and rain gear (it was supposed to rain all weekend but didn’t… just had 95% humidity). Although the bag was rather light, it starts to get heavy after 5 hours.

The best part of the ride was Rt 7 through Connecticut. It was a beautiful area and had a good number of sections that were a blast to ride. If I ever ride that way again, I’m definitely going to take Rt 7 again. Hopefully, by the time I want to do another long trip, I’ll be better prepared and not be so tired when I return.

Here are some images of my fantastic new machine.

After taking the MSF Basic Rider course a month ago and getting my license, I finally pulled up the cash for a motorcycle. My heart was set on a BMW, like the F650GS or the older Dakar model, but they seem to keep an extreme resale value. About the only ones I could afford were broken and from the 70’s. So realizing my limitations, I started to look at some Honda or Yamaha bikes to find something reasonably priced that I could comfortably afford. There are a million Honda’s around these parts, especially from the mid 80’s, but I wanted something a bit more modern and without the issues that can come up with a 20 year old machine. So when I came across a 1999 Ducati Monster, for a reasonable price, I figured it was at least worth a look. And what a look it turned out to be.The bike is in perfect condition, with 2800 miles, and an asking price of $3350. It was apparent that the bike had been stored for a number of years, which is rather obvious from the low miles. My guess was that it had only been ridden extensively recently, but the engine started without effort and the bike ran nice and strong. The seller had receipts for the battery being new this year and that seems to be the only thing that was replaced. The tires were good, but I will probably replace them next spring. A little ride down the street made me sure that this was a bike worth its price. The seller also had a center stand for the bike, which I talked him into including, so I took his asking price.
So with a down payment, the bike is mine. I should have the balance paid in full in tomorrow or Wednesday, and if I’m lucky, I’ll be able to hit the road this weekend. Pictures will surely come once I get the bike.

After several years of dabbling in Linux and a few months of server administration, I’ve decided to make the switch and use Linux, specifically Gentoo, on my primary machine.  Although I do still have my Windows XP x64 install, it will be used only when necessary.  Based on my experiences running Gentoo as a server, I think the transition will not be as harsh as some changes I’ve made recently (i.e. Dvorak, and still using it).  Since I already have a familiarity with Gentoo, the main issue will be learning alternative programs for what I used on Windows.  My current frustration is finding a music player that compares to iTunes.  Rhythmbox works, but lacks some of the features that I liked about iTunes, like automatically organizing my music library.  I’ve heard good things about Banshee but have not tried it yet.

In terms of games, two excellent games run natively in Linux: Unreal Tournament 2004 and Quake 4.  With Gentoo, installing them was easy as pie, just emerge ut2004 and emerge quake4-bin and follow the instructions.  I might try to install Counter Strike Source under WINE, but that will be a project for a later date.

One of my previous project ideas, stemmed from an article in Astronomy magazine, was to use my low cost webcam (Phillips SPC 900NC) to take high quality images of the moon and other objects.  I have recently been putting more time into this, but have been frustrated by an inability to focus properly.  I had intended to use my TeleVue Pronto refractor, however this will not be possible.  When used together, the scope is unable to focus on objects more than about 30 meters away.  Hardly far enough to focus on anything useful.  I think the problem arises because there is no lens in front of the CCD sensor to allow the correct compensation.  If my thinking is correct, a telescope with a longer focal length should be able to allow proper focus at astronomically reasonable distances.

So hopefully I’ll be able to make use of another telescope soon, so that i can at least get some images to play with.

Edit (12-27-2008): As noted below, the problem is solved by using the camera adapter that goes with this particular telescope.  I do have it, and it does work as intended, but time constraints have prevented me from following my initial plans.  Maybe after graduation I’ll have some time to spare…

After many hours of configuration and frustration, my 1TB RAID 5 file server, named felix, is now complete (but not without some assistance). To gain maximum control over the server, I choose Gentoo as the OS, but perhaps the most prominent feature of the server is the 3ware 9650SE-8LPML controller being used. The 8 ports will make adding more space a breeze (do I hear 2TB by year end?) and a quick look around the 3ware website shows the the company fully supports Linux. There is a driver built into the kernel, however I compiled the newest driver from the 3ware website as it is open source. The next steps are to add CUPS functionality to share my printer, and add FTP to give me off-LAN access to the data.
Full server specs:

• AMD Athlon FX-55 processor (overpowered, but better than sitting useless in a box)
• 3ware 9650SE-8LPML RAID controller
• Gentoo 2.6.20
• 3, 500GB Western Digital RE2 SATA II hard drives in RAID 5