Off-Hook

You know– No one can be expected to admin an LNP LSMS and SOA, as well as keep up with the latest SS7 tricks, AND engineer SS7 to VoIP migration without some assistance…

Here are mine:

I call them “Anakin” and “Luke” (they’re actual names are c000XXXXX and metropolis)

Anakin, the black sheep, can be a serious scream-inducer. He crashes at least once every other week, sometimes more. He goes to the “Winblows 2000″ school, so he needs constant close care and supervision. You must watch what he eats or he can choke, puke and die. He has a low tolerance for pain and tends to catch whatever is goin’ around (and stuff is ALWAYS goin’ around), so you have to innoculate him and give him boosters CONSTANTLY. Thing is– He does exactly what the company wants him to do and dresses the way the company wants him to dress, but he’s still a trouble-maker at heart and tends to keep you on your toes. Oh well… At least the company likes him alot and when he behaves, he’s a very hard worker with a lot of skill and tons of tools and toys.

Now the big tan one is Luke… He’s a “go-getter.” He gives me very little stress and is immune to almost everything that infects Anakin. He’s of the “ubuntu linux” school and is always learning something new and useful. He can do alot more than people give him credit for, including spreadsheets and artwork. He even tries to play with Anakin, even though Anakin doesn’t like playing with him. He gives me a little trouble every now and then, but it’s never anything serious and it’s usually pretty easy to fix. He doesn’t dress the way the company would like him too, but he’s a VERY good dresser… exceptionally stylish. All the same, the company doesn’t like him much. Oh, they like the work he does and how quickly and accurately he does it, but they’ll never support him. Still… I dote on him because he tries so hard to be good and get along.

Both these “boys” are very ethical in all their dealings, so neither of them is in any danger of being fired. I wish they’d get along a little better, but they do get along. Overall, they’ve both been a huge help and I take good care of them. Most of the time, they return the favor.

For at least 2 years now, probably longer (that’s as long as I’ve kept up with it), Mandrake Linux has reigned as the most popular distribution of Linux on Distrowatch (the single major source of news/updates/links for all the most popular distributions of Linux) based on info page visits. Being regarded as one of the most “user-friendly” distros of all-time, It has enjoyed this #1 spot for so long because it generates tons of page hits by easily attracting new users while retaining a club of existing users paying membership fees using distrowatch to keep up with news and updates.

Fedora retained the #2 spot for quite some time, and Red Hat (arguably the most recognizable of all Linux distros) has enjoyed a #1 spot in the past, and various top 10 spots since, though it has dropped quite a bit since moving to server-intensive status. You can expect to consistently see Suse (a Novell flavor), Debian (mother of Ubuntu) and Slackware (an old favorite in the Linux community for many years) in the top 10.

At long last, though, It appears a challenger finally poses a genuine threat to the french king of distrowatch pageloads. You’ll wanna keep an eye on this popularity chart. I predict Ubuntu, with its vast community of supporters spreading the Ubuntu dedication to open-source ideals and commitment to good, stable releases (not to mention its promise to remain FREE) will not only unseat Mandrake, but enjoy the same long term as #1 on the list!

Looks like Ubuntu has made it’s way into KDE now. There’s already isos available for a live cd and an install cd. The first final release is scheduled for April 6th. I’ve been keeping up with it at the ubuntu forums and so far, it has a very devoted following. I’ll be watching this new version closely over the next year. Who knows– It may prove to revive my interest in KDE…

Well, It’s finally arrived (after all this ranting about national backorders and alternatives research). The Pentax Optio S50 is, so far as I can tell after having it for less than 24 hours, all that it’s hyped to be and more.

It’s remarkably easy to operate, even with so many features. The manual reads easy, too (not the typical rocket blueprints we’ve become so used to). It’s extremely compact– I REALLY like that.

Look at this picture quality:

My only complaint is that it arrived just a minute too late to get a pic of all my favorite people all together. All my extended family from NYC and Little Rock, AR were here, albeit under somber circumstances. They mean so much to me and my family– Heck, they ARE family! I just wish I had nice little pic to post here for ya.

Oh well… Won’t be the last time we’re all together. Next time, it will be for more festive reasons.

Like I was saying– The camera is excellent and arrived a day early. I got a 512M SD card from newegg for about $40. Camera says that even at 5 megapixels with good quality, it will hold over 300 still pictures. I highly recommend the card– It’s well worth the $40. The one I got is a dane-elec, and it worked with the camera immediately (no formatting required).

The camera came from buydig.com. As it turns out, this online retailer not only gets a rave review from me, but no shipping AND the lowest price for this camera online? What MORE do you want?

Summary: A feature-PACKED camera for the same price as cameras twice this size with half the features and more than enough photo storage for a couple vacations! WirelessMike is satisfied (for now).

For a month or so now, I’ve been wrestling with finding a solution to the absence of sound in flash on Firefox in Ubuntu. Who knew it would be as easy as…

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libesd.so.0 /usr/lib/libesd.so.1

I mean– If it’s that easy, why isn’t it already there?

Oh well– What was really fun was testing it. I used this little site to test and sound works just great (and I can’t get that stupid song outta my head!). Any animation in which badgers, bananas and phones meet is a “must-share.”

Anyways– I’m discovering that it’s the little details that make Ubuntu so much fun!

That’s the phrase of the week. Try to buy a Pentax S40 digital camera and hear it for yourself. As you know, the NYC trip is very close now. According to the 3 vendors we tried to order this camera from, a backorder takes a minimum 2-3 weeks just to restock (minimum, because you are really at the mercy of the manufacturer).

After running into one brick wall after another, it becomes obvious that I must now find an alternative. My choices are a bit limited, too, since I took the liberty of buying a 512M SD card for the camera I THOUGHT we were gonna get.

I did extensive research to come up with that camera as the best value (“bang-for-the-buck”) on the net. I cannot find an alternative in the same price range. The only comparable cameras are an average $30 higher.

This is basically a simple case of “a dollar short and a day late.” This means that either I (1) order the camera anyway and hope it somehow comes in before I leave on vacation, borrowing someone else’s or taking traditional 35mm if it does not, or (2) pay around the same price for a camera that has almost as many features, a smaller viewing window and a larger, plastic shell.

OR… There’s option (3):

The Pentax Optio S50 is basically the same camera with higher resolution (and with MUCH wider availability). Price is, as mentioned, about $30 more than the planned purchase, but is 5 megapixel resolution instead of 4 and sports a slightly larger 1.8″ LCD display with what amounts to all the same features (which is a ton more than anything else in this price category).

So this is what we’re going to get, instead, and in the process, we’ve helped a friend get a great value on what is now an extremely rare camera. This camera better last at least as long as our last 35mm did, which would be about 5+ years. I won’t start the clock, though, until the illusive beast is actually “in-hand.”

Well– Treated myself to about $50 worth of geeky stuff for my birthday. It should all come in next Monday and Tuesday. Here’s a rundown of the shopping list:

From Newegg:
1 LiteOn 16x DVD-Rom Drive

And from Directron:

Let me tell you something about Directron–
This company is so dedicated to good customer service that not 6 hours after I finalized my order, they actually call my mobile to tell me that the colored grill I ordered (yellow) was out-of-stock, but they had it right there in red, red-orange and green. He asked me if I’d settle for a different color. I said the red-orange would be fine, which is the color I almost chose, anyways, so he said that if it was fine with me, he’d put it in my package and complete my order right then with me on the phone.

I was EXTREMELY impressed. What other online vendor gives you that kind of customer service? He didn’t try to up-sell me on the delivery, or insurance, or anything like that. Just made sure I got what I wanted without any surprises to receive my shipment on time. I will endorse them with confidence every time I’m asked about case modding supplies. That’s how it’s SUPPOSED to be done.

All that being said– My wife bought her camera today, too. I know she’ll love it, and I know she’s relieved to have finally got a new one.

Also– I got emails, calls, and even “snail-mail” from all kinds of folks, including family, friends, in-laws… you name it! I got good wishes from Louisiana to Arkansas to New York! You’ve heard of those folks who can get by a year without anyone noticing when a birthday passed by? Well I AIN’T one of those folks, and I THANK GOD that I have been so blessed.

Going to see Robots tonight as promised (to daughter). Will report on it later.

What a great birthday! I wish everyone was so blessed…

Well I’m headed to NYC. Not today, of course, but at least I finally have tickets. The wife, kid and I will be headed down to New Orleans, then up to NYC non-stop to visit our dear friends, G&G. Get this– tickets are only $500 for the three of us, round-trip!

Anyways– We’ll be getting a nice little Pentax Optio to document our holiday. I’ll be sure to post some pix after.

Be sure to check back after a while.

I’ve also got my sites set on a new cpu now. Won’t be long. I don’t want to jump right into the high-end 64-bit market without getting my feet wet, so I’m looking at a nice, modest Athlon 64 3000 (newcastle core). I can get it for about $146 from Zipzoomfly (formerly “googlegear”), so the price is definitely right, too.

I’ll have to post more info about that later… But suffice it to say that the timing is perfect, what with cpu prices being so affordable on these older athlon 64′s and Ubuntu 64-bit improving by leaps and bounds in the last month.

Well I couldn’t be more pleased at the outcome of my plea to AlbatronUSA’s RMA and sales email addys.

Here’s the last email:

From: RMA Support [tan@albatronusa.com]
Sent: 2/23/2005 12:19 PM
To: wirelessmike@gmail.com
Subject: RE: Mistakes in packaging on recent purchase of Albatron k8x800 Pro 2 mainboard

Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting AlbatronUSA Support.
We apologize for the inconvenience. Please reply to this e-mail with your mailing address, model# and serial number# of the product, and things that are missing from it.

Thank You
RMA Support
AlbatronUSA

—–Original Message—–
From: WirelessMike [mailto:wirelessmike@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2005 8:11 PM
To: sales
Subject: Mistakes in packaging on recent purchase of Albatron k8x800 Pro 2 mainboard

I just purchased an Albatron K8X800 Pro II Mainboard from Newegg. At first glance, it appeared that I received everything that was supposed to be in the package. However– The backplane that goes on the case where the back panel devices go is obviously for a different model mainboard.

How can I get the correct backplane? Everything else appears to be in order. Can you send me the correct backplane, or do I have to RMA the entire mainboard?

Also– I have 2 friends with this same mainboard. A small “Albatron” case sticker with your logo was included in their package. I have searched all through my package, including the manual, and can’t find one. Can I get one of those, too?

Later that week, a package comes in the mail with the correct I/O shield and 2 case stickers! Simple as that.

Needless to say, I’ll be proud to stick their logo on my box (already have, actually), and I can’t wait to compliment my Albatron mobo with a nice, matching 256M Albatron nVidia 5700 graphics card.