Older blog entries for riggwelter (starting at number 48)

Well, time for a TODO list I think...

  • Rethink www.rubberturnip.org.uk
    Since I launched usr local bin I've not done anything to Rubber Turnip at all (save for fix my Jabber contact info). Not surprising, considering the amount of time u l b takes up in addition to my full time job. Think it might be time to retire it as a projecty type site, and make it a normal geek-personal site
  • Sort out the noise-on-line ADSL problem
    Of course, first I need to get my PC back from the repair guys. Once I do, I really need to get the problem where having my ADSL modem connected to the line (or indeed, any micro-filters connected) puts so much noise on the line as to render the phones unusable. Hopefully Pipex support will be able to help me. It has occured to me that it may have something to do with the fact that I have old cheap & nasty phones, and it may be resolved when we invest in newer phones. It would be nice if I didn't have to do that just to be able to be online 24/7 at home though - just adds to the expense.
Gosh, only two points, but they'll do for now, bet your life they'll get added to :)

Making a lasagne tonight - yummy, can't wait, really hungry...

Wow, is it really that long since I posted anything?

usr local bin is just about 2 months old now, is has served just short of 25Gig in that time! Nearly 3000 people have downloaded AbiWord 1.0.1 alone, which is great.

13st dead this morning, have revised my target weight to 12st by the end of June, which should put me right at the top of my ideal weight range for my height, reckon I can easily make it, and have got stable at it by then. After that I'll plan a steady drop to around the middle of the range, and then I'll be able to remain within the range quite nicely.

usr local bin is getting quite busy, I've put three new sets of Evolution packages up in two days, not to mention the recent AbiWord release.

Still, people seem to find it useful, so I don't mind. :)

Finally got through, and they're going to get BT to reset the card again.

Tech support person also reckoned the customer services dept would be able to sort out some kind of refund, but their line is engaged...

Wow, I'm getting to be quite slack at updating this... :)

I'm now 13st 6, and feeling quite trim already, less than a stone to go till I hit my target weight for the end of June - quite a nice thought.

ADSL link is getting to the point of me considering it useless. About a week and a half ago, the DSLAM for my line locked up. Took almost a week to get it reset by BT, after which point I managed an amazing 15 minutes (or so) of connectivity, before it locked up again - what a joke. I'm currently in a queue for Pipex's tech support line. That's an improvement from not even being able to get through, which is normally the case.

Someone on one of the Evolution lists mentioned that there seemed to be no gnome-spell packages available for SuSE 8.0, so I put some up on usr local bin

My new PC is also causing me problems. When I built it I used the AMD supplied CPU cooler. A decision I now think may have been a mistake, it keeps randomly powering down, sometimes just a matter of minutes after booting. It even does it if I just run it in the BIOS config. At first I thought it was just that the CPU was overheating because of the AMD fan, so I replaced it with a CoolerMaster, which keeps it about 40 degrees (F) cooler, but the same thing keeps happening. Wondering now if I've damaged the CPU by running it so hot for so long, which could explain why it's still powering down.

Have now been in the queue for ten minutes...

I put 4lb back on! Gyah! Still, I'm still ahead of my schedule, so that's something, plus I'm going to the gym tonight, and probably on Sunday too, so that should help.

New AbiWord packages on usr local bin - version 1.0.0 final. It's not been officially announced yet, waiting for the Win32 binaries, but it's rocking. I'm fully plugintastic, so I can edit images in documents using GIMP, use a thesaurus and read/write BZipped documents. Now the march towards 1.2 and table support begins ;-)

Going to a wedding tomorrow - I like weddings, but they do seem to creep up you. I'd totally forgotten it was this weekend, and then it's like "but I had all sorts of things to do" (well, to hack on) :-)

Replacement micro-filter has arrived, and I'll be hopefully getting the link up 24/7 RSN. Message on the Smoothwall list today suggests that dropped connections (and subsequent need to reboot smoothie box to reestablish) may be down to smoothie's latest patch, not Pipex. Intend to test this theory.

Added packages of latest GnuCash to usr local bin after people on the english language SuSE list expressed an interest.

13st 8 this morning, another 2lb lost :-) Going out tonight for a church lad's night, all you can eat at my favorite turkish restaurant, plus pub, so goodness knows how much of what I've lost I may put back on.

The thought of the US govt using MS Passport as a national ID is scary enough as a UK citizen (how long until here too, given we all know how close Tony is to Bill - remember the XP 'advert' he did as part of last year's election campaign), it would be truely frightening if I lived in the US.

How long until M$ control how we exercise what we choose to call our democratic rights? Election.NET anyone? Short step from M$ running the software to allow e-voting to them guiding the decisions people make when they e-vote.

Gyah, and it looked like being such a good day too.

17 Apr 2002 (updated 17 Apr 2002 at 11:37 UTC) »

Wow, over two weeks since I posted...

Updates
ADSL link is live, but Pipex sent me a faulty micro-filter, so when I bring the PPP link up it kills my phones, waiting on a replacement. AbiWord now at 1.0.0 Release Candidate 1, builds are of cours eon usr local bin. Really looking forward to 1.0.0 final, so that then good 'n' groovy Abi hackers can start work towars 1.2 and the much-anticipated table support. Somewhere along the line, they snuck in .doc export support - kudos to them. XFT issue solved by disabling nVidia hardware acceleration of RENDER. Also resulted in faster 3D support. /usr/bin/gears now runs at > 1400 FPS on my PIII 500, 128Mb with a PCI GeForce2MX

Other blah blah
Using SuSE 8.0 RC4 on my machine at work (which I think is basically the good-as-gold version), very nice. KDE3 is rock solid as far as I can tell (not that I used it much, mind...) and the default GNOME setup is more than a bit sexy.

Losing weight. I'm using the Palm Hacker's Diet software to help me. Started at the weekend at 14 st, and I was 13st 10 this morning. Aiming for 12st 8 by the end of June.</b>

I was right, GKrellM just took up too much desktop space! Ordered my DIY ADSL connection today, should have it within 10 working days, also ordered a cheapo, dead-old PC to be a Smoothwall box, soon be up and going! :)

Weekend work was a success, having some NTP probs today, but don't think it's related.

Installed usr local bin packages on a fresh machine (plus SuSE updates) with a fresh user, and they work lovely, plus the default SuSE setup is to have a Galeon icon on the desktop by default, which is nice, if you use Desktop icons.

Building the latest Garnome release, in the hope that XFT won't hang my machine this time ;)

Easter Saturday, and I'm at work! Gyah!

Still, Abi 0.99.4 is out, and I've put builds on usr local bin.

So far the big shutdown seems to be going well, all our machines went down nicely, and our sites are still visible to the outside world. Just got to hope it all comes back up ok (it should)

Living room is mostly done, should be finished by the time I get home today, then I'll just have to run the phone cables along the skirting boards.

Started using GKrellM, got a nifty 'invisible' theme - I'm really into transparency at the moment - but I suspect the desktop space it takes up is going to get too annoying for me...

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