Updates
Jun 24th
I finally got around to updating this blog / site. WordPress is now fully updated, along with the theme and plugins. I also took the time to update my (outdated) Projects page. I’m working on a couple of other pages that I would like to add here. Hopefully, I will have time to do that this weekend.
My little world is looking a bit better after last weeks scare. I apologize for ranting on here, but it does a body/mind good to vent now and then.
My World…Updated
Jun 20th
It’s been awhile since my last post, so I thought I would let everyone know what is going on in my little world. So, here we go…
I recently visited Denver, Colorado to check out a couple of job options. I used to live in Denver (well okay, Aurora) and have been trying to get back there for years. I miss the mountains. Friends here will tell me that we have mountains here. They are mistaken. We have hills here. I tell them to head out west if they want to see a “real” mountain. Anyways, the job options turned out to be BS, so I’m still stuck here. Upon returning, I find that someone broke into my crappy apartment and walked off with my desktop PC (the beast), my PS3, stereo, HD TV, and a few other things. Strangely, they left my daughter’s MAC. I’m waiting on the police report to file my insurance claim, which will take no telling how long. The only good news is that they didn’t take my server…it’s well hidden. So, none of my personal files, dev work, etc. is gone. All they got was a fresh install of Dreamlinux 4.0 that I was messing with before I left. So, it may be a bit before I get back to full dev work.
In other news, I’ve started working on Dreamstep again. I am going back to my roots on this one and once again will use AfterStep for the desktop. I also did a total rebuild of the Dreamstep site. Work has also started on the second Alpha release of HEKA OS. Hopefully, there will be more interest then. In the beginning, it seemed like there was a lot of interest in HEKA. But, when the first ISO was finally released…interest was lost. I’m not sure what happened.
I’m working on a few web apps (one with Ch@d) and hope to get those rolling along soon. I turned over my digitalorb.com site to friend to help her out. I’ve had that domain for years, but no longer have the time for it. If my friend gives up on it, then it will most likely die off…unless someone wants to buy it. 
I let her use a couple of my sites for samples, so hopefully she will get things rolling.
The temp job I was working at has ended. So, now I am jobless again (another reason to head to Denver!). I can’t get anymore unemployment right now because the idiots in Washington won’t pass the extension bill! I’m not looking for handouts here…and I hate how some put us unemployed people into the same pool as welfare recipients and even want to drug test us! Technically it’s our money that we (and our employer) paid into, and the government is just the middleman! For those that cry out saying the unemployed are lazy, drug addicts…I say, walk a mile in my shoes! I’ve worked since I was 14. I spent many years in the military defending this country…just so the idiots in D.C. can flush it all down to toilet. I’ve been a single dad since 1993, raising three kids on my own. Two of which are in college now, and the third will be next year. Sometimes I worked two or three jobs, just to make sure my kids had what they needed. Trying to get a good job again, at my age is hard enough. But, now I’m seeing companies not wanting to hire the unemployed!? That sounds like government logic! I mean, if I’m employed I don’t need a job! I think the best thing for Amerika right now is another revolution! And I don’t mean marching in the streets, holding signs! I mean a “real” revolution that would make our Founding Fathers proud, and the Queen nervous. 
Okay, enough ranting…time to go enjoy Father’s Day. Oh, and a happy Father’s Day to all the other dads out there!
The Scroll Wheel
May 5th
I never really paid attention to how vital the scroll wheel on my mouse is, until this morning. I got up this morning, ready to start re-building my HEKA OS distro. With coffee in hand, I wobbled over to the beast that is my PC and prepared to get started. That’s when it hit me…the scroll wheel on my mouse was not working. Normally, this would not be a big deal. However, I am on Window Maker with about 12 workspaces. I use multiple workspaces that are divided into categories. For example; Network, Development, Office, Games, etc. I use the scroll wheel to flip through the various workspaces. While I do have other methods of switching workspaces available to me, the scroll wheel was fast and simple. In addition to changing workspaces, I have grown accustom to using it while web browsing. And let’s not forget changing weapons in UrbanTerror!
It’s hard to believe that once upon a time there was no scroll wheel. How did we ever survive? Anyways, I spent about an hour this morning doing some surgery on my mouse. It was a partial success. I can now scroll up, but not down. After opening up the little rodent, I thought I had found the problem. Lots of goo, dog hair, some fig newton crumbs, etc. I was wrong. It appears that the best solution is to lay the little critter to rest and move on to a new and improved rodent. So, after a brief memorial service, it’s off to Wally World I go for a new wired pet. In the end, I blame UrbanTerror! That game is hard on mice and keyboards!
The Job Market
May 4th
As many of you may know, I am searching for a new job after being laid off from my last one. I do odd jobs here and there just to keep my head above water, and I’ve started my own business. It will be awhile before my business is profitable enough to pay the bills, so I need something to fill in the void until then. This is where the fun begins…
I went old-school at first and looked in the local paper. Not much there for us educated, old farts. If I was 16 then maybe. So, I decided to embrace technology and went online. I visited many sites, from Craigslist to Yahoo Jobs. What I discovered was that about 85% of the jobs listed on these sites are either scams, military, or just plain crap. Now, I have nothing against the military, as I am a Veteran. But, I have no desire to go back to it at my age.
So, after sorting through various listings I might find one or two that look promising. Out of those, one is asking for my life history of personal details to be emailed to them for consideration. However, their ad does not name the company or a contact person. No phone number is listed either, and the reply email address is usually a gmail account. Not going to happen! I might as well hand them my bank account and credit cards too! I’ve been a victim of ID theft…once, as a result of my ex-fiance…and I’m still dealing with it. Of course, if someone did steal my ID again they would give it back the next day!
I guess my next step is to go old, old-school and start going door to door at the local businesses. Or…maybe trade the car in for a small RV, find a spot by the lake, and call it a day.
I’m not sure how bad it is in other countries, but in my neck of the woods the lights are getting dim. Sure, the President keeps saying it’s getting better and new jobs are being created. But, the new jobs are either temporary or minimum wage. Neither of which will support my family. So, I guess it’s time to get creative…
Latest Projects News
Apr 24th
Recently, I made some changes to some of the projects I am working on. So, here’s the latest update to my projects list, with details concerning the changes.
My DreamStep project is on an indefinite hold. Mostly, because of the off and on status of Dreamlinux. I had moved DreamStep to a pure Debian base, and then back to Dreamlinux, and then back to Debian, and so on. It just got to be too much for me to deal with. The Debian version of DreamStep was basically what I was working on with my HEKA OS project. So, I don’t feel the need for two of the same. As a result, DreamStep is stalled and may not continue. I will make the final decision at a later time.
My MoonROX project is no more. Development has stopped. There were too many issues for one person to deal with, and there didn’t seem to be much interest in the project. So, for the sake of my other projects this one was stopped. Thanks to all those that did help and participate.
The HEKA OS project is still a go. There have been a few delays, for various reasons. I flipped-flopped back and forth on what desktop to use, what kernel, etc. I am still sorting out the final details of all this and will post the results here when I have them.
My MoonONE PC project is on hold. I did finally get all the parts needed to complete the project, but I am in between homes at the moment and have no suitable place to work on it. Once I am settled in the new location I will get back at it.
I also have a couple of new web based projects on the drawing board. Nothing carved in stone, so no details yet. I can say that one is game based and the other is education based. I will post more details as they become available.
The Dream Is Over…
Apr 7th
Well, it appears that Dreamlinux has stalled again. This causes DreamStep to stall as well. I am officially done with Dreamlinux as a base for DreamStep! I’m tired of the roller coaster ride. So, DreamStep is going back to a pure Debian base. I may change the name…then again, I may not. I still plan to use Window Maker as the desktop. I hope to get back to work on it in about two weeks.
My HEKA OS distro will also undergo some changes. First, I will be using a Real Time (RT) Kernel. I will drop Window Maker as the desktop and switch to something a little more user friendly. The goal of HEKA OS is to allow the user to create while being creative. It will look elegant and be fast. I’m still piecing together all the details.
My Moon-ROX distro is on an indefinite hold. It was crashing a lot and had numerous issues. I will try to sort it out when I have more time. DreamStep and HEKA OS have priority. If it gets to be too much, I may end up pulling the plug on Moon-ROX. Time will tell…
I am currently away from home. I only have my netbook with me so I won’t be getting much work done. I should be back at my desktop in about two weeks. I hope to get back to work on all my projects then…
The Beast Lives!
Mar 11th
I spent about five hours repairing and rebuilding my main PC (the beast) today. I had to replace the top fans and because three stupid screws I had to remove the motherboard. Which also meant removing all the crap attached to it and in the way. I didn’t put those three screws back in. After I got it all pieced back together I flashed the BIOS and the firmware for my optical drive. The system finally booted normally and all worked well. My keyboard and mouse were once again behaving. My optical drive now reads all discs again. It also is now able to burn discs again as well.
I’ve learned my lesson. I will go back to reading the forums before testing a new OS. I will stay away from PC-BSD for a long time. The only remaining issue is that I broke the power switch taking off the top cover, so now I have to start my PC by touching the two wires together. lol No worries though, a new power switch in on order.
Hopefully, my troubles with PCs are finally over…
The Fun Continues…
Mar 10th
As I posted in the comments to my “Fun Weekend” post. I was too quick to praise PC-BSD! Thanks to PC-BSD, my main system is FUBAR! Everything was great until I tried to burn a CD with k3b. The k3b app started out fine, recognized my drive and started to burn the disc. Then it started kicking out some input / output errors and eventually crashed. The whole system locked up and my only option was a reboot. Upon rebooting, my optical drive was no longer recognized and my keyboard, mouse, and hard drives were acting strange. Further investigation revealed that my BIOS settings had changed completely. I was not a happy camper! I was up till 3am fighting with it and finally had to sleep. I had to get up early this morning to meet with a client and now I am back home attempting to revive the beast that is my PC. I’ve got the optical drive reading discs now, but it still refuses to burn discs of any type / brand. My BIOS is still acting funny as well.
It’s one thing for an OS to screw and wipe out your partitions, but to more or less alter hardware is too much! I read some posts on the PC-BSD forums and other places on the ‘net and found I am not the only one to have experienced this. This wasn’t a Alpha, Beta, or even a RC release. This was 8.0 final, the supposedly stable and ready for prime time use release! Normally, I will browse the forums of any new Linux distro before I even download it, much less install it. However, I had used BSD in the past (not PC-BSD) and it was rock solid so I just installed it. I will not make that mistake again!
So, today I will most likely have to put Windows back on my system (only for a brief moment) so that I can flash the firmware for my optical drive and flash my BIOS. Hopefully, that will fix things. If not, I will expect a check in the mail from PC-BSD for a new motherboard and optical drive! My new fans came today, so I needed to strip the machine down anyways. So, I should get to that. I will update my progress later.
Bottom line, for now I would avoid PC-BSD at all costs!!! I’m a fan of BSD, but after this I won’t be messing with it for a long time. All these problems lately (not just BSD, but Linux and other OS’s as well) have got me thinking it would be better for me to just go back to pen and paper! I mean, I thought the computer was supposed to make our lives better and easier? So, what happened with that?
Fun Weekend
Mar 9th
I couldn’t think of a better title, so Fun Weekend it is. Yes, there is a hint of sarcasm in there. So, what does it take to make a “Fun Weekend?” Read on and find out.
This past Friday, I was planning to release my HEKA OS. However, the build sizes were changing by 200-ish mb at random just by adding or removing a couple of 20k scripts. I was also experiencing random lock-ups after a recent update, and some really strange config issues. I’ll assume it’s a Debian Squeeze thing…again! So, HEKA OS is on hold until things get sorted. I also moved the HEKA OS build to a new dev PC I pieced together. I needed my main PC back, for paid work. Well, as luck would have it, the new dev PC motherboard blew a cap on Saturday. Not a problem as I have spares. I repaired the motherboard and got it working again, but later that night the hard drive started making the click of death sound. Again, not too much of a problem as I have extra drives and the HEKA stuff is backed up elsewhere. Just need to set it all up again.
On Sunday, my main PC started having a noisy fan issue. It sounded like a small turbo-prop plane taking off. So, I disassembled said fan and lubed the bearings. That lasted about three hours, then the fan died a horrible death. I just unplugged it and decided not to worry about it, as I still have seven more fans in the case. This was one of the fans on the top part of the case (there are two). Well, about two hours later the other fan on top started making a noise. I guess it had to work harder? It’s not near as loud as the one that died, but still annoying! So, yesterday I ordered a bunch of new fans (I figure there will be more failures soon). I guess I can’t complain. The fans have been spinning nearly 24/7 for about a year now.
I also had planned on building my custom PC over the weekend. But no….the new case I had ordered came in the wrong size. The size was clearly stated on the invoice that was in the box! So, I am waiting on the replacement. Also, the slot loading DVD drive I ordered showed up as a regular DVD drive (tray type, not slot). So, I am also waiting on the correct drive. Maybe the dark cloud over me will lift and I can get started on this project this coming weekend? Time will tell.
I was using my HEKA OS as my main and only OS on my main PC. Sometime over the weekend (I forget which day as it’s was all a blur) I updated a thing or two on my personal HEKA, and it trashed almost everything. Sound stopped working, couldn’t start X, etc. I was not happy! All my data is backed up, so it’s just a matter of a re-install. But, I’m getting sick of it all. Debian is really starting to make me question a thing or two these days. So, I decided to just install a different distro on my main PC and keep my development distros on the dev PC. The new Ubuntu seems to be all the fuss lately, so I tried it. I will admit it’s better than it used to be, but still sucks IMHO. Sure, it sets up my hardware painlessly, but that’s where the fun ends. Constant lock ups, sound randomly stops working, Debian packages modified by Ubuntu..removing features (for example HPLIP…they removed the fax feature for my printer…WHY? It works great under Debian!), and it’s slow / sluggish…still! So, in all fairness I rolled it back to Ubuntu 9.10. I also selected ext3 instead of the forced (*ahem* default) ext4. Fewer lock ups, but everything else the same. So I decided to try Linux Mint 8 and got basically the same results. I finally decided to visit DistroWatch and just go down the list. It seemed like just about every distro had some quirk that struck a nerve with me. Personally, I think Linux in general is in the toilet these days. The devs can’t seem to get there acts together. The past year or two has seen many changes that have basically broke things instead of making them better. It seems that Linux is trying to dumb down for those migrating from Windows or OS X, and for that I blame Ubuntu! I don’t want my OS dumbed down! One of the many reasons I switched to Linux is because I had freedom of choice. I could use my computer how I wanted to, not how some OS maker wants me to. I was in control. These days it seems that, we as devoted Linux users, have less control over things. It seems that the Linux devs are more concerned with making Windows users happy instead of the Linux users that have kept them going all these years! So, where does that leave me? Well, before anyone starts rumors…I am NOT dumping my Linux projects! However, Linux is no longer on my main PC. After trying several distros over the past couple of days it is clear to see that there is a lot of breakage out there. In the past, it wasn’t this bad! So, for now I’ve gone back to my Unix roots, more or less. My main PC now runs BSD, PC-BSD to be more precise. I’m running version 8.0 and it is freakin’ sweet! I have all the apps I normally use on a daily basis, and all the games I like to play are there as well. It recognizes all of my hardware and sets it up OOTB. It’s fairly quick too. But, the best part is that it’s stable! For now…I am happy!
Well, there is my Fun Weekend! My Linux projects are still on…just waiting for some stuff to get sorted and then they’ll be back on track.
DreamStep and Life
Feb 8th
I keep forgetting that I have this blog here and as a result, I don’t update it often enough. I am trying to get better at it though. Working on several projects, in addition to working for myself, and running several sites and forums leaves me with little free time these days. I decided to stop working on weekends and spend more time with my family and my personal projects. So, I should be able to make a post here at least once a week now.
It has been a very long time since my last post here and a lot has happened since then. I won’t go on about the Dreamlinux events (you can read about it on their forums), but for a short time we were not sure what would happen. As a result, I started to prepare for moving DreamStep to a new base…pure Debian. Then, it seemed as though Dreamlinux would live on. So, DreamStep is back on as well. It was a roller-coaster rider for a bit, and although we are still stuck in the coaster there seems to be fewer hills.
I also joined up with some friends from DLF / LxH to help make a killer new distro for Conky and Window Manager hackers out there. It’s called TOTALinux. Details are here. I mostly just helped out with the Window Maker setup and with a few wallpapers here and there. It’s really a nice, lean and mean distro.
The DreamStep site was changed, due to a few that had trouble using the old portal. DreamStep itself is getting an overhaul as well. I almost brought the Dreamlinux KDE4 MOD back, but realized I just don’t have the time. I might be able to work something out in the spring, if nobody takes it over by then. I’m working on a custom Linux based PC, called MoonONE PC. My goal is to use MoonROX as the default OS and offer DreamStep, Dreamlinux, and TOTALinux as alternatives. I just got all the case parts in this past week and I’m only waiting for the new motherboard to build the prototype. It should be here next week. I will post pics and specs at that time.
