Monday - 9 October 2000
Caldera OpenLinux eDesktop 2.4 By now, the radiation cloud should have passed over your location so it should be safe to come outside (except for the hole in the ozone layer of course).
The good news is that I have Internet access going. You remember, the one at work using Linux and the Olicom token-ring card. One of the problems I had in getting the Olicom to work is the installation instructions from Olicom. Said instructions for the driver patch is wrong. It tells you to use:
gzip -d -c /tmp/oltr2213.gz | patch -s
-p1
The part that is wrong, at least under eDesktop 2.4, is the
last parameter. It should be
p0, not P1
(by the way, that's a zero, not an upper case Oh). That
small change allowed me to patch what needed to be patched.
From there it was compile the kernel and that part of the
story was done. Too bad there wasn't any error message
saying something was wrong. That would have helped to fix
this.
The next part was that DNS services were not working. From that I deduced that the DHCP daemon was not working either since all the parameters, including DNS servers, should automatically load from the DHCP server. In reading the 'Help' file for the the Olicom card it notes that the DHCP client that comes with most Linux distributions (except RedHat 6.x and above) do NOT work with token-ring cards. It does not explain why. But it does tell you where to get a patched version of a client (ftp.olicom.dk/sw/releases/Unix-Driver/Linux/unsupported/dhcp).
So I downloaded the file, compiled it and installed it. That sort of cleared up one problem. I had Internet access (which I did not have before), but I still did not have DNS resolution. Hmmm. So I opened up Webmin (this is a web-based setup utility included with Caldera OpenLinux) and took a look at the DNS section. It had three boxes for inserting DNS IP addresses. One was already filled with an address which was close to what we have, but not exactly. Where that address came from I do not know. I tried changing that address but it wouldn't take. That it is, I could delete the old and type in the new and save it. But when I re-opened the screen, the old address was back. Don't ask me why. I don't know.
So I used one of the other boxes and typed in the correct address. Save the change. And that worked. So now I have DNS resolution. But again, an error message would have helped point out the problem.
Based on this experience. And the lack of support from Caldera, I can not recommend OpenLinux eDesktop 2.4 in token-ring environments at this time. In Ethernet ones, no problem. In token-ring, I don't think so. There's just too many gotchas. And too little accurate, up-to-date information available and diagnostics to find out what's going on. On the other hand, I don't know if there's any other distribution out there that is any better (I've even looked at some of the other Unix variations such as - Open/Free/BSD/etc. and have not found token-ring support). YMMV. Sigh.
Next up, figuring out how to get access to the Netware servers and cc:Mail. Stay tuned.
Aloha!
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Tuesday - 10 October 2000
DNS Unresolved. Well, I spoke too soon about solving the DNS problem. When I booted into Linux yesterday morning the DNS problem resurfaced. No matter if I edit resolv.conf directly, or use webmin, or COAS the incorrect DNS address keeps coming back every time I reboot. At this point, the only thing I can think of is to do yet another install of Linux. Something I don't want to do, but this newbie can't think of any other way of getting rid of this phantom address. Hawk, spit.
Shifting Winds. The focus lately has been on the presidential race. But while that is happening, the race for control of Congress is heating up. It now appears that the Democrats have a legitimate chance of re-taking control. A long-shot perhaps, but a chance nonetheless. See the story from the New York Times here.
Stupid Patent Tricks. Have a hankering for
a free t-shirt? Outraged about Amazon's patenting of 'one
click' shopping? Even more frustrated about the
fools misguided hard working people at the US Patent
Office? Well then, Slashdot (see the story
here) has a contest for you!
We've all read about some of the dumber patents issued recently by the United States Patent and Trademark Office [USPTO]. The Slashdot community is full of talent and creativity, so why not come up with our own stupid patent ideas instead of waiting for Amazon or Priceline or some other company to come up with something amusing? First prize is a $50 ThinkGeek Gift Certificate that I am paying for out of my own pocket, and will personally sign. The winner will be chosen on the basis of originality, believability, and humor value. To start things off, I will describe my own personal contribution to the Stupid Patent Pool: Zero Click Shopping.
The Sky is Falling. Discover.com is listing 20 ways the world could end. The usual suspects include natural disasters (asteroid impact, black holes, solar flares, reversal of the magnetic field...what? reversal of the magnetic field?), man-made ones (global warning, biotech), and willful self-destruction (war, robots, mass insanity, alien invasion). I'm not making any of this up. See the list here.
Lots to do today (and for class tonight) so I am outta here - Aloha!
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Hump Day Wednesday - 11 October 2000
DNS Still Unresolved. So, I did a complete re-install. Patched the kernel for Olicom token-ring support. Patched the the DHCP client to work with token-ring. And lo and behold, the same problem comes back. Sigh. I knew this was a possibility because the phantom address was actually the address of the DHCP server. For whatever reason, Linux is taking the DHCP address and inserting it as the DNS. I assume it's a problem with the DHCP client (as opposed to the DHCP server). But then, who knows? But I'm not going to spend any more time on trying to figure this out. I'm now working at seeing how to get access to the Netware servers. This part will not be as easy as I thought it would be [wise and insightful words - Ed]. It appears you must hold your mouth just right, face to the East, and utter incantations that only the criminally insane would understand.
Highway Safety. Sometimes, it just doesn't pay to get out of bed in the morning. The morning paper talks about a 53-year-old man, working on the landscaping of a local freeway off-ramp. Along comes a van, hitting him and throwing his body 25 ft. [he died the next day due to the injuries] And of course, the van kept on going. Well, as bad as that seems, that's not the whole story.
The rest of the story [tm] is that while the off-ramp was temporarily closed, because an ambulance crew was tending to the needs of the man, another car came barreling through and hit the parked ambulance, injuring yet another man. What was that about one being born every minute?
This story reminds me of a situation that occurred over this past weekend. A van flipped over on its side about 20-ft. from the front of our house. The driver alleges that the wheel locked up causing the van to go out of control. He was apparently not hurt and refused to go the hospital or to even let the ambulance crew to take a look at him (a highly suspicious event if you ask me). But that's not the whole story either.
Because the van was blocking one lane of the street, the
police closed the street to traffic by placing a police car
at the intersections above and below the accident. They
also placed road flares at each intersection.
Notwithstanding all those precautions, a woman, driving a
small compact car, drove on to the sidewalk, around the
police car blocking the intersection, around the flares
(making it look like a slalom course), and then tried to
drive around the over-tuned van itself. Fortunately, the
police read her the riot act and had her turn around. What
kind of stupid/idiot/no brains/f*?#@* driver would
do this? Is she from another country? Is she blind? Does
she not understand the meaning of a police car and road
flares blocking an intersection? I've seen this kind of
thing too often (and once is too often). There must be a
way of getting these people off of the streets. But how to
legislate common sense?
New York in the Fall. One of the Daynoters is looking to go to New Yawk city and is asking for help in finding a hotel room, in Manhattan, for no more than $150/day USD. Blimey. I did some quick checking and the only room he'll be able to get at that rate is one at JFK airport. Rooms less than $350/day in the city are rarer than a virg..., ahem, well you get the idea. Of course, there are special rates for certain days. Even the Waldorf Astoria has a special going in November of $179/day. But only for three specific days around the 20th or so. All I can say is good luck bruddah. Perhaps a tent in Central Park?
And finally, this. Thank you to Dan Bowman for the link to an article about the long and winding road the remains of one 2nd Lt. Richard Vandegeer took.
On Oct. 27, Air Force helicopter pilot 2nd Lt. Richard Vandegeer - the last name on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington - will be buried in a solemn, private ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, capping a decade-long recovery and identification operation by the Army Central Identification Laboratory, based here [in Honolulu].
Please read the article to not only marvel at the resources used to identify the remains, but to also honor the sacrifice of Lt. Vandegeer. And to remember all of those who gave that "last full measure of devotion." Lest we forget.
Aloha!
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Thursday - 12 October 2000
My Aching Back. My back is acting up again. Since it pains me to sit up for any length of time, I won't be posting very much today.
In fact, it will be a lot briefer than I had planned. I started yet another install of Linux. This after removing the Olicom card and re-installing the IBM. I wanted to try one last time to get the IBM going since it's supposed to work. But after bashing my head against a Linux wall of badly written How-Tos, and bugs in Caldera's installation program and applications bundled with Linux, I've just about given-up on this round. I think I will put this back on hold and wait to see how the next generation of Linux looks like when the 2.4 kernel ships. As I've said before, right now, Linux is at the Windows 3.X stage of development. When it gets to the Win95 stage, then things will really take off. But for now, it's not ready yet. YMMV.
Aloha!
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Aloha Friday - 13 October 2000
It's a full moon. It's the thirteenth. Its....FRIDAY!
Back to Back. I went home early yesterday due to my back hurting so much. I may do the same today. It hasn't gotten any better. Hopefully, a good weekend's worth of rest will do the trick.
Peace Prize. If only peace could be given as a prize. I would give it to all of the areas around the world that are in anything except peace. Whether it's Yemen, Israel, or where ever people use terrorism as a means to an end, peace be unto you. And to South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. May he be able to bridge the gap between the two Koreas.
Maybe it is that kind of week (tm - Dan Bowman). A quick scan of the news can't find anything positive to talk about. And I think I've had enough of the negative stuff. So I am out of here. Have a great weekend everyone! - Aloha!
© 2000 Daniel K. Seto. All rights reserved.