The Internet Home of Kevin L. Collins
Hardware
Recent Happenings
0For the past few days, I’ve been trying to get setup to do some serious coding again. I’ve been setting up a virtual development server (thanks to VMware), trying things with NFS, implementing a Subversion version control system, setting this laptop up on Ubuntu and getting used to all of this stuff again.
I find it odd, that almost none of this brought me enjoyment though. Two years ago, when I wrote my company’s Intranet site, I was thrilled to be creating something. But it’s different this time. It feels less like hacking and more like drudgery.
But, there is some good that has come out of this. First, I’ve been using the newest Ubuntu – 11.04, the Natty Narwhal – for my laptop and I have to say, I’m impressed. The “Unity” desktop is growing on me. Overall the installation on the laptop was a breeze – drop the CD, boot and go. Bluetooth, WiFi, Webcam, Sound – everything worked without a fuss. Definitely an improvement over my last experience with a laptop and Ubuntu.
Second, I’ve been able to upgrade and consolidate my entire virtual infrastructure from a mix of various VMware softwares and 5 physical server to VMware ESXi 4.1 on three hosts.
Next, I’ve also been using Ubuntu 10.04 LTS for several new servers along the way. The NFS host for my VMware servers and my development server are just two examples. I like its clean, quick install. I’m a bit confused as to why dash has replaced bash and why the developers have chosen not to install a full vi implementation, but those issues are easily worked around.
Finally, I’ve been learning along the way. Most of this learning focused on the changes that have happened between 2009 and now, but still I’ve learned and used a few more tricks.
Upgrades
0Sometimes I wonder if they are worth it.
I’ve had my home PC for nearly 6 years. In that 6 years, I’ve added things like memory and larger hard drives. I even switched operating systems, going from Windows XP to Windows 7 a little more than 2 years ago. It’s a great computer, but it is beginning to show signs of age. I just can’t do anything else to it to make it faster other than a major surgery (as in a motherboard and CPU swap), but I’m wanting to do things like HD video authoring and 3D modeling…something this PC simply can’t keep up with.
As I look at replacement options, I began to think about what it would take for me to move into a new PC home. Outside of the obvious backup and restore of my data, there are all of the programs and utilities I use that would have to be re-installed. Lest we forget to mention all of the configurations to get things back to where I have them now.
– GAH! – My head hurts.
I know I want more speed, but I’m really wondering if it’s worth all the trouble to get it.
(This is why I hate spring cleaning too.)
Looking for a suitable shared storage unit – Openfiler
1For a couple of days, I’ve been trying to find a way to implement a shared storage unit for use with vmWare ESXi servers. I’ve been mostly looking at a free but pay for support product called “Openfiler“. From the list of features on Openfiler’s web site, it appears to be just exactly what I need. To be honest it does work as advertised and provides several ways for me to implement what I need.
But, there’s a problem. The problem may simply be caused by the way that I’ve done things to this point, but it’s something that may prevent me from deploying this setup in production. It’s performance.
Let me explain a bit. To date, I’ve always purchased servers with enough internal storage to fulfill their roles. This internal storage has been SCSI, SAS or SATA, but it’s always be directly attached to the server and has been very fast.
All of my tests, which have been non-scientific, have shown that moving data to and from the Openfiler box will take at least twice a long as the internal storage. What’s worse is that my tests don’t include the heavy load of multiple virtual machines running on the shared storage. My tests were done with a single virtual machine attached to the Openfiler box. Nor do my tests show the impact of taking volume snapshots that I would depend on for backup purposes.
Anyway, I’ve created a video of one of the simple tests that I performed this morning:
If anyone sees a problem (especially one that can eliminate the speed issue) with this setup, please provide feedback in your comments.
Acer Aspire Running OSX
0As an experiment, after the frustrations with the Ubuntu install (see Video Log 1), I goofed around and was able to OS X running on the little thing. Here is a screen shot:
I’ll try to capture some video later showing it in operation.
By the way, I’m posting this from the little Acer. Here’s a screen shot of that:
Video Log Entry No. 1 – Acer Aspire One: Great Netbook, Sucky WiFi
2I’ve broken out of my shell and decided to start recording some video blog entries. For me, this is HUGE, because I’ve never liked having my photo taken, let alone having video of me posted to where 10 trillion people on the Internet could watch it.
This is my first entry and it’s unedited. It’s taught me two things: 1). When I get new glasses, ANTI-GLARE COATING! 2). I need a better webcam. This quality is simply the best that my webcam can produce.
Anyway I hope that the information contained inside will help someone during the pursuit of netbook happiness. I plan on acquiring a Dell Truemobile 1390 mini PCI card from eBay and swap mine out soon.
Edit 05/18/2010: Upon the advice of a friend, I’ve placed my video log on Viddler and embeded it from there. Until yesterday, I only knew of Viddler through a video I had watched on the BGLUG website. While I wish the limit for the free video account was larger than 500 MB, I do like the other options available. I’ll be using this service more in the future.