Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Videos: The Truth about Cleveland

I'm sure people are sick of me posting about my broken computer. So here's a break. Some hastily made Cleveland Tourism Videos. The sad thing about these videos is that they're true. Brings a whole new meaning to truth in advertising. I don't know who this guy is, but these things are addicting (to me, at least). Enjoy!

The Changeover, Part 3 - The Deadening

Just when you thought the tale was over, it continues. Last Thursday marked the arrival of the SATA card. Wonderful, right? Wrong. Thursday also marked the power outage that destroyed that computer. After spending days trying to pinpoint the problem, it came down to the motherboard/CPU. Basically, the computer is dead. So now, not only can I not use the data on my TB drive, I can't use the Linux computer at all.

Not a problem, right, since I have a closet full of computer parts? Nope, sorry. The only motherboard/CPU combos that I have are all Pentium II era parts save for one AMD Socket A board with 900MHz processor. It's a step down, but should do the job. Unfortunately, I can't find a single hard drive in the apartment that will work anymore. I have a stack of almost ten defunct drives that worked at one time or another, but are no longer suitable for running an operating system. Granted, that is just an assumption, as I have no definite way of knowing if the motherboard and processor are any good, nor do I know why they were locked away in the closet. When it comes down to it, the whole thing is just a guessing game that leaves me jumping from part to part trying to get something to work for more than twenty minutes.

Just yesterday, I thought I had it, a drive that worked. It seemed promising. Xubuntu installed and booted. I left it alone for a few hours while I went out with my girlfriend. After dropping her off at home, I came back to it and installed one new package. Suddenly (though no fault of what was installed) the computer freaked out on me. I attempted a reinstall and everything was fine until after I installed a package again. Suddenly, trying to start processes yielded either nothing, or they would start and crash in seconds. I clicked on the shut down button on the top panel and suddenly the panels disappeared. I rebooted the machine and the desktop wouldn't even load. Just a light blue screen with a mouse. I couldn't even right click! Needless to say, this is endlessly frustrating and I'm still not sure the power supply is 100% good, but I have no tester to be sure.

This is the single most frustrating week of my life right now. Exams weeks don't even come close to comparing to what I've been going through, and it's still not over. I'm not even sure where to go from here. I might just smash the whole thing to bits, who knows? Whatever ends up happening, I've either got a whole mess of trouble or a whole bunch of money to spend. I'm not really to fond of either option. Maybe I'll find some miracle hard drive that will make everything work and make the computer smell like roses.

Fat chance.

The Changeover, Part 2 - Forcing it to work, and why that's a bad idea

As you may recall from last time, I was attempting to make Windows 7 read my ext3 drive. After much finagling, using bcdedit to turn on test mode to allow ext2fsd's unsigned drivers to install without Windows deleting them, I managed to get Win7 to read my ext3 drive. A miracle, right? Everybody said it couldn't be done, but here I was having done it. Well, it's not as cut and dry as that, unfortunately. Upon first glance, there were minor latency issues. Browsing the drive took just a little bit longer than it did to browse the various ntfs drives on the system. Dismissing this as negligible, I proceeded to set up streaming to my 360. At first, I decided to try out the Media Center Extender. This didn't work at all. As soon as I got past the "enter this pin into Media Center" the whole thing crashed. No big deal, I would just use Media Player 12, right? Wrong. WMP12 decided to only scan the watch folders it liked, and very few of those were on the ext3 drive. So, as anybody would do, I moved onto Plan C. This involved mapping the drive in the linux machine (which has no SATA ports, or this would all be moot), and sharing to the 360 through that. Once that was set up, it looked good... for about three seconds. Then the Win7 box BSoD'd to death. I had to test this a few more times to be sure, but basically any time an external program attempted to access the ext3 drive, the whole computer crapped itself.

My next attempt was to use colinux or andlinux to run as a Windows process, map the drive, then share it using Samba. This came to a quick halt as neither programs support x64 processors.

So, it seems that my adventures with ext3 in Win7 have come to a stopping point. There are no other viable options for making this work short of buying a SATA card for the Linux box. That's exactly what I have since done. Once said card arrives I will be moving said hard drive over and I can put this whole ordeal behind me. Still, it saddens me that this didn't work out, as for a while there when things were working and hadn't started crashing yet, I was sort of proud what many people (a few who had worked for Microsoft) said was impossible. I guess they were right in a way, at least until somebody out there throws together a stable driver.

As a final note, none of this would even have been necessary if Microsoft would support alternate file systems!

That is all.

The Changeover, Part 1 - Windows 7, Xubuntu 9.04, Synergy and ext3

Recently I decided to change the designated functions of my various computers. A few factors drove me to this: increased difficulty surfing the Internet in Linux, current inability to play PC games (due to Linux and the active desktop being four years old) and the fact that my most powerful machine was sitting in the closet playing media server. The decision to try out the Windows 7 Release Candidate came when my XP install disc kept BSoDing while starting the setup.

My primary intent was to use Synergy instead of multiple monitors, allowing my keyboard and mouse to pass seamlessly from desktop to desktop (and sometimes to laptop). I made a list of various functions and what computer they would be relegated to.

To start things off, I wasted two DVDs because the first ISO I downloaded was faulty (thanks Microsoft!). Third time was a charm, after downloading it again, and off I went (after sleeping for the night, since downloading twice took too long). So, away I go. I install Windows 7 and various programs. Then it comes down to Synergy. I set up the Win7 machine to be the Synergy server in this instance, as it's monitor is in the center (between the Xubuntu machine and my laptop). This worked great until I wanted to move the mouse back to the Windows box. Apparently there's a bug that prevents you from being able to do so without killing the Synergy client on whatever box the mouse is trapped on. This problem was simply solved by running the server on the Linux box. Simple, right? Not so. Apparently Win7 refuses to allow me to click on certain things when connected through Synergy. Namely, any window that appears in order for windows to gain user permission to execute a task. In other words, every time I went to install a program or run a program by an unknown publisher. Basically, I had to keep a mouse plugged into that box while installing any and all programs.

Next came my greatest challenge. I don't know why I'm using the past tense, as I have yet to solve this problem yet. My terabyte drive, which is 80% full, is in ext3. There are a couple programs that allow a person to mount an ext2/3 partition under a windows drive letter. Unfortunately, none of these solutions are functional under Win7. So, my 800GBs of data is currently inaccessible. I'm hoping to find a solution that doesn't require me to buy new hardware, but it's looking like I'm going to have to buy a PCI SATA card for the Linux machine and install the hard drive in there.

Another thing that's not working under Win7 is my PCI IDE card that has two hard drives plugged into it. That should just be a matter of finding working drivers, which I'm hoping can be accomplished tonight after work. Still, this changeover is proving to be a lot more work that I had hoped for. With any luck, this won't take too much more work. Unfortunately, I don't think luck plays into this equation.

To be continued...

Independence Day Weekend - Seattle

So, as many (all five) of you know, I was in Seattle for the 4th of July last weekend. I had a blast. I arrived on Thursday July 2. After being picked up from the airport, myself, BigRed, Minja, Jaiden and Catboy went to lunch at Tubs where I ate a tasty sandwich. I spent the rest of the day getting settled until dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery that night. Dinner was for 18, and I don't have the entire list of who was there. We'll just say it was a big list. I had a tasty burger while talking nerd with people I usually only see during the hectic mess that is the Penny Arcade Expo. It's nice to get a chance to actually talk with people for once. Also, Robert Khoo showed up with a couple of the PA staff in tow. He hung out for a little while, but had to take off early. Understandably, since PAX is less than two months away, he's got quite a bit on his plate. Still, it was nice for him to come out.

On Friday, we hit Wing Dome for lunch. While there I had one of the 7-Alarm wings and six 6-Alarm extra wet (of which I ate 5). They were tasty, but did a serious number on my insides. Note to anybody attempting what I did, prepare yourselves for a stomach explosion. We also hit up Boom City for fireworks which took forever thanks to ridiculous traffic. That evening, Jaiden and I made our way down to Fremont to meet some people who were doing the zombie march. Unfortunately, we became impatient after waiting an hour for them to show up and hopped a bus to Gameworks instead. After some time there, ET and Astayonix snatched us up for surprise tasty dinner. Afterwards him and I headed back to Jaiden's place.

Back at Jaiden's, we all hung out, played some We Didn't Playtest This and a few video games while drinking a Warp Core Breach (aka, a lot of rum!). We eventually settled on old school NES Wheel of Fortune as our drinking game of choice and ended up nice and drunk for it. We retired somewhat early in order to get a decent start the next day, as we were expected to show up at the party location in Tacoma a little early to help set up. Apparently I was talking in my sleep that night, though I don't remember doing so (then again, who does).

Saturday was party day. We all gathered at Nomad's parents' house near Tacoma to party in their yard, drink and hang out. Rock Band and other games were available on two projectors and fireworks were all the rage until the neighbors freaked out over them. Never mind the specially cornered off fireworks area and 300 foot of hose. HotSake (pictured below) managed to show up, get really drunk on an empty stomach and pass out by 5pm, earning him the nickname "5 o'clock Sake." Way to go Sake, I hope the rest of your time in Seattle treats you better than Saturday did.

The party was big, but not too big, and the yard was big enough for people to split into smaller groups and actually talk and hang out. The fire was nice and hot, but not too big (to my eternal disappointment, as if it were up to me, I would have set a picnic table covered in shipping pallets on fire). Out of everybody who slept over there, myself and Twinkie were the only two who actually seemed to get what amounted to a full night of sleep. I guess many of the gaming crowd aren't overly suited to camping. At least I was able to prevent people from trying to start the fire with lighter fluid again this year. I don't know why people assume that fires must be started with large amounts of flammable liquids. Also, there was a cuddle pile, which I kept a safe distance from. I remember somebody commenting about shining a flashlight on them and "hands were everywhere." All in all a successful party with fun being had by all (except HotSake who puked in a planter).

Sunday morning was another matter entirely. In my haste to go pass out in my tent the previous night, I had forgotten to grab myself a bottle of water. The result was a fierce hangover. That's me attempting to claw my way out of my tent after drinking some water. I was good after a few hours and some food in my stomach, but those first few hours were pretty bad. My flight home was a redeye, so I spent most of Sunday just hanging around with BigRed and Scoots.

The flight back was wretched, I ended up shafted into a middle seat, which made it virtually impossible to sleep. The woman next to me had no concept of personal space either, nor did she turn of her cell phone on the plane. On the upside, the flight was 35 minutes early arriving back into Cleveland, getting me home at 5:40am EDT. I went home and passed out until I had to get up for work that afternoon.

So, that was my weekend in Seattle. I'm sure I'm missing some small details. Sorry if you didn't get mentioned, but there was so much going on. Thanks to everybody for being awesome, and special thanks to those who were extra-awesome (you know who you are). I'll see all of you again at PAX. And to those of you who didn't make it to the party, I'm shaking my old man fist at you.

Airline Action

I wrote a few posts while I was in the airport/on the plane and without net access yesterday. I'm posting them now, in order. The weekend has been pretty awesome so far. Twitter has the live goings on, but more detailed postings are soon to come (probably after I get home after the weekend).

07:40 EDT, Cleveland - So, I've decided to blog the events of my flight, hoping to convey my irritation with this particular mode of travel. I arrived at the airport about fifteen minutes ago for my 8:55 departure through Chicago to Seattle. Security was surprisingly fast, mostly in part due to the fact that I beat the rush. I managed to set off the metal detector with my belt and one of the TSA agents wanted to have a second look at my laptop (I think he just turned it on). I didn't even have the usual discomfort of hauling a heavy bag across the terminal because most of my luggage is in my checked bag--which only clocked in at 34 pounds--and my flight is at terminal A1, which is literally the first terminal past security.

My first flight to Chicago is on an ERJ-145, a small, 40 passenger jet with a maximum range of about 1800 miles. These planes have three seats per row, one on the left of the aisle and two on the right. My seat number is 1A, which, if memory serves correctly (since I'm not willing to pay for airport WiFi) is the lone seat to the left of the aisle in the front of the plane. Too bad this is the short flight. I will be landing in Chicago at 09:15 CDT for a two-hour layover. For now, I conserve battery life for use on the plane. I have several movies with me, so I can ignore the crappy in-flight movie and actually spend some time entertained. Either that or I will play Age of Empires III, I guess I'll decide when I get in the air.

09:55 CDT, Chicago - The flight to Chicago was mostly uneventful. We got a late start due to there being about 30 planes in line ahead of us. Apparently, Continental planes get priority at Hopkins because we didn't take off until all of the Continental planes did. Our flight attendant was a grumpy old man. It was apparently his last day on the job, as he told one of the terminal attendants, "you won't be seeing me again, this is my last flight." I don't know if he was always that grumpy, or just because it was his last day, but he was constantly snapping at people for not properly stowing their carry-ons. We landed on time and I got some Cinnabon bites at the Cinnabon. They tasted a little stale and not very good. Next time, I'll just go right for the bar. I've got another forty-five minutes before this flight boards. Hopefully they haven't lost my luggage yet.

12:50 MDT, 30,000 over Montana/Wyoming - So far, this flight has been fairly uneventful. Unfortunately, I have been seated next to two, very annoying children. Apparently their idea of playing cards is to put them all over the seat tray and pick them up at random, then crawl all over underneath the tray to get out to go to the bathroom. Oh, and now the sister is smacking her little brother, lovely. Apparently, this plane is not equipped with music or a movie. I feel sorry for all the people on this flight who didn't bring their own movies, and I feel like laughing at all the people who don't have enough laptop battery life to run a whole movie. If estimates are to be believed, my battery will die about a half hour before the plane is scheduled to land. What fortune that I brought two batteries with me.

Also, whatever parent bought each of these kids an iPod Touch should just burn money, because giving any child under 10 an iPod Touch is like asking somebody to burn your money.

Another two hours left on this flight, I think it's about time I played Age of Empires III... except that starting the game just drained the crap out of my battery, and I now only have 30 minutes of battery left. So instead I'll be listening to music until I have to switch batteries.

Case Files: The Sherpa

Name: Unknown
Alias: The Sherpa
Height: ~6'
Weight: Unknown
Distinguishing Characteristics: Mute

One of many characters around my workplace is the Sherpa. Characterized by his ski goggles, large hat, HUGE backpack (contents unknown) and a bicycle with fur seat cover. Previously thought to be a vagrant, it was recently discovered that he was a student here when he came to the counter for services. It was also discovered that he is apparently mute, as he never speaks and has been observed writing down questions to ask people. Upon last examination, he was noted taking several dance classes. He wears the hat and ski goggles no matter the weather or time of day, but the type of coat varies depending on the weather. This is just one of many characters catalogued in the Moe Fwacky Case Files.
*cue theme music*

Back in Action

Well, it's been a while, hasn't it. Immediately after last PAX, the fall semester started and demanded all of my attention straight through spring as well. As such, I had forgotten about this blog, as well as it's original purpose. So, screw original purposes. This blog will be for whatever I feel like it being. To the right, I've added my Twitter feed so you can amuse yourselves with my goings on. If you're lucky, I might tweet another bar fight. Those are exciting (and great to watch from my third story pedestal--er balcony).

Meanwhile, I'll be going to Seattle for the 4th of July weekend. I will also be attending the Fremont Zombie Walk on Friday. This should prove to be exciting, and I'll be sure to take cheap, camera-phone pictures.

I'm also currently working on this year's Cross-Country Supertrip. Right now, we're putting together this year's handbook, which should prove to be quite insightful, and an extreme chore for me. Apparently there's no travel summary of traffic laws for various states outside of a brief list of speed limits. So I'm going to be picking through traffic code for about 30 states. Fun!

Also, right now, I'm about to guest on the Random Access Podcast with Andy and Dave, two of my CCST friends (even though Dave hasn't been with us since '07). I recently attended Andy's wedding, where he spoiled our fun by warning the DJ not to play any Rick Astley music. Too bad, I've always wanted to Rickroll a wedding.

That's all for now, see you all later (but hopefully not much later).