Server 2003 on a 133

OK so i'm lying a little but i've managed to get a 133MHz computer to be a remote desktop client for a server 2003 machine. My original (and i'm working on it still) aim was to experiment using linux thin clients to remote desktop into XP machines so that a 133 ( i also have an amazingly powerful 200MHz machine) could effectively be used as a thin client to use word processing software and save some money on hardware as well as provide a few extra workstations (never a bad idea). sadly due to MS being M$ standard windows XP has constraints on the number of remote desktop connections you can have from a machine... 1! yes 1 and only 1. unless you have a hack which allows you to have the grand total of 2. Not particularly handy if you want to get 4 workstations from 1 good XP box. May i add that this concept was introduced in the old days of UNIX (in the form of 1 server and a number of dumb terminals). And in linux there are many ways of doing this. you can have as many clients connecting to the server as the server can serve and there are many ways of doing it, all free!!!! unless your mad enough to pay for it. I just wish (sometimes) that microsoft didn't give my workplace such a huge discount on their software (as an educational establishment we get Operating system, office professional and networking licenses in effect for a few pounds a computer) as this really does push down the TCO of having a windows network (i'm the only person who has a clue about *NIX systems) also when i go it will be easier to find someone proficient in windows system administration than someone in linux.

Don't Buy Harry Potter Books

Don't Buy Harry Potter Books I know one person who i can annoy with this article ;-).
Its interesting, and i have to say i side with the guy who wrote the article Richard Stallman, he is a hippy who refused to give up and has given the world more than it realises:

RTFM, Real Time Financial Management

RTFM
I'd hate to ask this company for support with something (their name says it all)

Funny computer cartoons

Funny computer cartoons click the above link. I'll have to show my girlfriend this one.

Longhorn/Vista is crap

for thoes not in the know longhorn is the developmeant name for windows. and apparently it is going to be called Vista as shown here then the view thus far is crappy.

1. Longhorn has been changed to Vista.
2. Vista means 'view'.
3. It's still a long way off - and it was called Longhorn, so we wouldn't be out of line calling it 'Long View'.
4. Long View' is a song by the band Green Day.
5. Green Day released an album called 'Dookie'.
6. Dookie is a slang term for feces (i.e. crap).

there you go (todays tenuous link)

Rockhopper

Ok just for thoes who don't know a Rockhopper is a breed of penguine. It is a small penguine that is very versatile. so guess what my 200MHz linux server is called? yep rockhopper (images comming soon).

so what does rockhopper do?

HTTP

rockhopper runs the Apache web (HTTP) server for a number of things including a multiple choice test program perfect for schools and colleges available from tesol.net that i'm planning on using a lot with work.

FTP

file transfer protocol the server being used is vsftpd

SSH

Secure SHell the server running is Open SSH

Rockhopper does not need a monitor, keyboard or mouse. it happily sits in the corner with just power and ethernet. despite being only 200Mhz and very little ram it happily runs debian sarge and hosts pages happily (at least at the moment i've not had more than 4 simultanious users on there yet). rockhopper also is capable of doing PHP and perl scripting :-). oh and guess what when i get my ADSL my website will be hosted using a similar configuration :-). which includes individual users having websites hehe with the ~amon stuff :-). woo hoo i'm loving it :-P.

When I get time i'll write a guide on setting this stuff up as it is something that is easy (with a guide) and will be benificial to schools and colleges

2-1! 2-1!

No i'm not on about the footy... I finaly have a degree and i got a 2-1. not had all the details through but my name was on the list at my old uni so whooopie! i went out to a reseraunt with some friends including the Blacksnotling and i got to meet again an even bigger Brandon.

HTML Slidy

HTML Slidy Is a funky tool. discussed here by Dave Raggett of w3c. it is a neat way of doing powerpoint presentations over the internet

Amaya Home Page

Amaya is a not so new web editor with WYSIWYG features (similar to netscape/mozilla composer). It isn't as visualy stunning as some of its counterparts. however made by the w3c people it pushes you into making standards compliant web pages (although it pushes to XHTML rather than good oldfashoned HTML.
it is available under an open source lisance. The Amaya software is written in C and is available for Windows, Unix platforms and MacOS X.
you have no excuse try it.

OpenOffice.org: Home

OpenOffice.org: Home I'm impressed. Very impressed. Microsoft should realy think of something new. The new edition of open office (although in beta and as buggy as MS office at the moment) looks promising for a fraction of the cost. The full MS office costs £hundreds especiallyy for acorporateebusinessslicensee. openoffice busines (in fact all)licensess cost £0 (they appreciate a donation). The range is good and they have a program to rival access, "base" it is impressive and is the big new addition. OpenOffice being platform independent is good for Linux or Windows I'm keeping my eye on this. may be able to replace MS in the college after all :D. but I'm impressed if you haven't looked into it look into itTry it Why pay for software when there is stuff this good around. version 1 is stable and good. version 2 is still in beta but looks verpromisingng (if buggy at the moment).

Extension Room :: BlogThis

Extension Room :: BlogThis A new thingy I'm playing with is blog this. Its an extension for firefox allowing you to start a blog entry about the webpage you are currently on. This entry is all about (and linked to) the tool (extension). And written using it :) it even has a spell checker (handy for me).

12 pack down to 6 pack

I'm aiming to turn my beer belly back into its former 6 pack. I hate that I've put weight on, fortunately my new room is up a lot of stairs and the building is halfway up a steep hill. and the college where I work has lots of steps. and already I think the bellys getting smaller. but till its gone I'm still listening to rageing speed horn "Bellies gonna get ya! Bellies gonna get ya! Bellies gonna get ya!".
I'm aiming to:

• Eat less red meat
• Drink less alcohol
• Eat more salad
• Eat more fruit and veg
• fewer fast foods
• more fresh food

If anyone has any recommendations let me know.

Landed on my feet

After years of hard work, completing a degree and other things it's finally paying off......... Sorry, would you like fries with that?


Ok so as I was saying, I've completed my GCSEs, gone on to do A levels, then a degree and now I have a job. Head of IT at Rochester Independent College and network manager. I'm in charge of sorting out GCSE and A level students and looking after 2 servers and 130 workstations.
I'm amassed about what a ride it has been and how busy I've been kept but I'm finished being educated... well formally anyway. I'm still working my way through the greatest education institute, The university of life. An old teacher commented to me that it's proof that despite people taking advantage of it if you continue to be nice to people, offer help and try hard it pays off in the end. and I think to myself with the work I have (that I enjoy) and the friends I've made I certainly did the correct thing.

New Room

I've moved all my crap from Heartfordshire to Kent where I'll be living for the next 12 months. The room I'm in at the moment is bigger than the old one, however its still hard to fit all my stuff in. Oh well, it won't take me long to make the new room look like an IT lab (and possibly a multimedia studio).

Old School

Today as part of my general running around I ended up going into the town centre where my mum lives (where I grew up). In the high-street there was some carnival event on with market stalls and a band playing which is uncharacteristic of the run down shit hole I'm from. While in the town I noticed my old school was running their annual fate to raise money for the school and publicise the school. I decided to visit and was able to talk to a number of old teachers and staff who I'd not seen in a few years. surprisingly I was recognised by some (despite the addition of hair).
I was surprised in a way about how they were impressed at my new job and how my life was going. made me realise how much I have some of the staff to thank.
this is my home town - Bruce Springsteen

An act of doing everything other than what i'm supposed to do

As this blog is apropriatly titled procrastination I figured I'd say something on the subject. my to-do list

• Sort stuff in bags in garage
• Start to write "on-line A level course"
• start to acquire links for my teaching work
• organise things for my accommodation last year
• finalise everything for last years accommodation
• look into computer hardware for when I start mky new job

and out of this list I have acheaved nothing. my actions today have covered:

• Write in my blog
• add more to a guide i'm writing about installing debian on my nx5000 laptop
• install a library on my computer as part of my developmeant of a cgi system called "Damia" that i'm working on (keep your eyes peeled).
• Tidy my room
• Listen to pink floyds "the wall"
  
• organise my wifi driver better under linux
• order a new album by Daft Punk

And thats about it. notice the crossover? yeah me to so without further ado i'll get on with my list of jobs. Oh and by the way for writing articles for a blog the best programme i've found sofar is the netscape composer as it writes all the basic HTML for you without trying to be too clever (although I think you may have to turn off some of the annoying "helpfull" stuff). and for me with my smelling pistakes it has a spell chaecker ;-).