Archive for the ‘Tech’ Category

Smells Like Solder

April 9, 2008 | Rantin' 'N' Ravin', Tech | Comments [1]

It’s probably happened to you on one occasion or another… your favorite electronic gizmo, be it a laptop, a radio, or any other device powered by an adapter, stops working. Wiggling the adapter plug works for a little while, but ultimately you know time is limited for your device. This happened to me yesterday.

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Upgrade

April 4, 2008 | Rantin' 'N' Ravin', Tech | No Comments

Well, I bit the bullet and upgraded to the new version of WordPress, 2.5 to be exact.

It’s shiny and pretty. I like it.

Firefox 3.0b5 - Review in short

April 4, 2008 | Tech | No Comments

I’ve been running the beta build of Firefox 3, and it’s rather impressive. Took some getting used to, but I like how it’s going so far. My one gripe is that build 5 broke support for AdBlock Plus. I haven’t seen ads in almost a year, and it’s driving me crazy! Nevertheless, FF3 should be a killer product when finished. It’s seems like only yesterday when I was using version 0.97… how the fox has matured.

Following Up: Crash A Pentium

March 31, 2008 | Tech | Comments [1]

It works. Very well. After compiling and running the code, my computer (a Pentium running Windows 98) locked up completely. No wonder this bug was so serious.

Good thing it’s a legacy bug these days :-)

Crash A Pentium

March 30, 2008 | Tech | Comments [1]

A small C program that will lock up your computer if it’s running on an old Pentium processor. For more information, see this article about the f00f bug.

#include <stdio.h>

int main=0xc8c70ff0;

Credits: http://cypherpunks.venona.com/date/1997/11/msg00815.html

View the core dump here. (This core dump was collected after compiling and executing the code on a Pentium III running NetBSD. No processor made after the Pentium Pro suffers from this particular flaw; executing the code returned an Illegal Instruction (core dumped) message for me.)

Applications and Jobs

March 29, 2008 | Rantin' 'N' Ravin', Tech | No Comments

I just found two (yes, two) IT job postings in my area. This is a rare opportunity, but a welcome one. I haven’t been having much luck in the job field these days, but if I got a tech job, it’d be 0 to 60 in nothing flat. As grateful as I’d be to have even a job at Starbucks or some other local eatery, I’d be ecstatic to get back in the field again. I miss my technological battlegrounds.

Ooh, think I found another in the paper. I’m so putting another one in *grin*

Fedora 8

March 27, 2008 | Tech | No Comments

I’m currently downloading Fedora version 8. Hopefully, it’ll help me study for my Red Hat certification. I have the LiveCD mirrored on one of my servers, but it’s passworded to cut down on bandwidth usage. Geez, I didn’t know the install DVD was 3.2 GB.

Haven’t started on testing Darwin yet. Maybe I’ll get to it later. Or not.

New Plans

March 26, 2008 | Rantin' 'N' Ravin', Tech | No Comments

Class is long, so here I am during a down spell.

I’m going to go for some certifications. On my list are Microsoft (MCDST), Linux (RHCE) and Apple (ACSP) certs. I took a practice RHCE test, and need some work. Good thing Linux is free, so I can download Fedora Core (closest thing to RHEL I can get for free) and do some studying. Also a good thing I have a copy of Windows Server 2003 for school; I think some of the curriculum will come in handy for the exam. As far as OS X goes… I’ll have to find someone with a Mac to study on.

Haven’t wiped the laptop yet, still getting backups ready. Also been job hunting, with a few (okay, one) lead. I kinda miss the tech field, honestly. It truly was my element. Heck, reading UserFriendly actually made me pine a trifle

For the love of Darwin…

March 18, 2008 | Tech | No Comments

I’ve known that Mac OS X is based on UNIX, but I either didn’t know or didn’t care to look… you can download (for free) the core components of OS X. OK, so it’s not exactly OS X, but its what it’s based on. Darwin is its name, a platypus is its mascot, and I’m downloading it. It’s about as close as I’ll come to owning a Mac, but it might help me learn how to program for OS X.

For more information on Darwin:

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