Index
Any questions or comments can be sent to Dan Langman: mediusrete@lavabit.com
The contents of this site began their life, long ago, back on a site called None O' The Above. It was an eclectic site, stuffed with everything but the kitchen sink. It went through numerous revisions: the colours changing; content disappearing, then reappearing, then disappearing again. But through all of that, the pages that constituted, for lack of a better term, technical notes, remained relatively unscathed. Sure, they would be dismembered and pieced together to form new monstrosities of pages, but the content would remain effectively unaltered (save perhaps for some grammatical and spelling corrections). And as time passed, it became increasingly apparent that None O' The Above was actually two sites: one functional and dedicated to technology, the other massively dysfunctional and dedicated to nothing in particular.
And so, at long last, I have finally split the two sites. None O' The Above remains largely dysfunctional still, but I am pleased to say that this site is indeed functional. It has been deliberately designed in a sparse, and utilitarian manner, so as to minimise the potential for distraction on my part (given the choice of playing with page setup, or updating content, I will often go for the former, and put off the latter, which is part of None O' The Above's current problem). There are still a couple technology oriented pages to move over from None O' The Above, but beyond that, the transition is complete.
And as with None O' The Above, anything that I have written and posted on this site is licenced under a creative commons licence. If someone else wrote it, then there choice of licence applies.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 3.0 License.
While I do make use of a small amount of java script, the contents of this site are designed to be viewable with any browser available. The java script is used to gather site stats, and is courtesy of StatCounter.
Hosting is courtesy of 110mb.com.
And for those that are interested, the IP Address is: 195.242.99.91
Having updated my Seamonkey install today, I was forced to re-edit the all.js file again so as to excise Google from the address-bar search feature. This had one benefit: it allowed me to copy the Google URL and include it in the instructions on changing the default search engine. Huzzah!
So it turns out that there were several changes made to pages, way back on 27 October 2009, but they never got uploaded (or documented for that matter) due to technical difficulties. Now though---now they are up, but I have forgotten most all of the changes that were made. All I can say for certain is that dead links on the 'Centre Of The Internet' page have been marked, and that all the pages have been switched to HTML 5. That is all.
Happy New Year all! So what does the new year bring? Well, for the time being it brings instructions on changing the default address bar search engine in Seamonkey, and---well, that is about it right now. The instructions can be found on the Search Engines For Fun And Profit page. Enjoy.
The Linux How-To's page has undergone a fairly extensive face-lift to coincide with the addition of a couple new entries. Now there are instructions for enabling midi playback in Firefox, and setting up a wireless NIC. Such fun! And the duplicate OpenSUSE 11 entry---it has been removed. I'm not sure how it got there, but it hung around a little longer than was comfortable.
After a day-long bout of file archiving, deleting, and updating, I have finally added, a short how-to on adding a bitmap font to the setconsolefont list. But I went one better: I also added instructions for formatting flash devices (something else that had been on the to-do list for a few weeks now).
Once again the Linux How-To's page has been updated; this time the topic is keymaps for the console and for X, along with a short note on identifying keycodes in both environments.
On a more---generic note, it seems that I added the instructions for changing the menu-icon size in OpenSUSE 11 twice. Once on 25 April 2009, and once on 16 November 2008. And yet, I remember having to edit the file the second time... Go figure.
The Linux How-To's page has been updated. Some errors that have been hanging around for a while, growing mouldy, have been corrected, and instructions on changing the size of KDE3 menu-icons under OpenSuse 11 have been added. For the tragically myopic, avoiding the latter may be a prudent course.
The Gopher page has been updated for the first time in a while. What prompted this minor activity? The discovery of the Overbite Firefox extension. It goes above and beyond the native support the browser provides, and will likely be integral to the gopher-user of the future once support for the protocol is dropped from the Mozilla core in the not to distant future. Praise be the overbite!
Changes in my internet service have precipitated an update of the Telus-Router Setup page. Added to this fine example of e-documentation are instructions on getting a Linksys WRT54G and the Telus-branded Siemens Gigaset se567 to play nicely. May they prove as enlightening as the contents description on a box of Cheerios!
Yet another update to the Linux How-To's page. First up is instructions on formatting the Master Boot Record without having to resort to a DOS boot disk (it's positively shameful that it's taken me this long to discover this), followed by instructions on correcting the icon size for the KDE3 menu in Open SUSE 11.
A note has been added to the X & Multiple Mice section of the Linux How-To's page; most of the section is now superfluous. The only part that is still useful are the two lines relating to the scroll wheel. And progress marches on.
I've added a new page about dealing with Macrovision copy-protection on VHS cassettes, while trying to archive them to DVD: Archiving VHS Cassettes To DVD. Use it wisely.
Yesterday was the day that I put my lesson regarding patience (learned way back on 19 May 2008) to good use. Rather than hastily switch servers upon discovering the sites were down (None O' The Above was also affected), I decided to lurk in 110mb's forums for a couple minutes, and quickly discovered that a) mine was not an isolated problem, and b) the sites were not, in fact, down. What had failed was 110mb's DNS server.
Now there were only two real options that were available: wait for the DNS server to be repaired, or; switch the DNS server that I was using. I decided upon the latter. It's not that I didn't think the DNS server wouldn't be fixed in a timely fashion, I just felt that I should do something more than wait. There was also the fact that instructions had been conveniently posted in one of the forums about using GoDaddy (with whom my domains are registered) as a DNS host.
So after pinging the 110mb.com domains associated with my sites to get the IP Addresses, I toddled over to GoDaddy, made the requisite changes, applied them, and waited.
It took no more than 30 minutes for the changes to propagate far enough through the network so that I could access the sites using the registered domain names. I was pleasantly surprised. The last time I buggered with the DNS settings, it took a full 24 hours before I saw any change. Thus, I believe I shall be retaining this particular setup, and recommend it heartily to all those who can make use of it.
Full details of the operation can be found in the DNS section here: NNTP, Telnet, & The Rest.
I've also added links to locally hosted pdf documents relating to Dell's Inspiron 8200 laptop, just in case they should inopportunely disappear from Dell's website. You can find the pdf's at the end of this page: Disassembling An Inspiron 8200.
Well, there were several updates today; I started typing and I just got on a role.
To start, instructions have been added on how to enable a GUI login screen for Slackware: Enabling Graphical Login. I also managed to figure out how to get the Dogpile search plugin working under Konqueror (sort of), the details of which can be found here: Browser Plugins. And I've finally added a small section dedicated to free and open source fonts (and font-related programmes), which can be viewed at this location: Fun With Fonts.
There were also a couple minor corrections, but nothing so important that it needs to be listed here.
Brief instructions on starting a second X session have been added to the Linux How-To page bearing the inspirational, and original title: Running Multiple X Sessions. Sometimes I amaze even myself.
I finally added a link on the LILO page to instructions for creating a LILO splash screen. From the discovery of the guide, to the inclusion of the link hardly took any time at all, only a year-and-a-half. Mark one for progress.
Instead of yesterday's non-update, random post, there is actually some site news to report. At long last, after several months of indecisive pondering, the elinks configuration section of the Linux How-To page has finally been granted its own corner of the e-world here: Configuring Elinks. Praise be to text!
I found these among some old notes, and not having any particular idea what to do with them, I've decided to immortalise them here. I suppose I could have created a new page, but it would have been sparsely populated, and aside from the internet entry, I'm not really convinced that the quality of the work warrants separate presentation.
The Direct Cable Connection page has been updated to include instructions on networking two Linux boxes together. Given the ease with which this can be done, it's positively scandalous that it took so long for this information to be included.
I finally managed to mount FreeBSD partitions in Linux. Turns out it wasn't nearly as hard as it was seeming; I just wasn't paying enough attention to my /dev directory. The details for said mounting instructions are on the Linux How-to page.
On a further FreeBSD note, I upgraded from 6.2 to 7 today, and finally got it running properly. I must say I'm impressed. If you are after a stable, and fast operating system on older hardware, with a reasonable array of packages, and a package manager that handles dependencies, then you would be hard-pressed to find something better than FreeBSD. It's not the bleeding edge, but once you get a handle on pkg_add, it is exceptionally functional.
Now, on a more generic BSD note, I've dumped OS X 3.9. It has been replaced by OpenSUSE 11. Why? Because I needed OS X 4 to run Firefox 3, and there is no way in hell I'm spending $100+ for a point upgrade (that I'm pretty sure the hardware can't handle anyway). It's not the fastest setup in the world, and the X display wraps around about 1/3 of an inch on the left-hand side (which is rather irritating, though corrective efforts are underway), but at least I can run up-to-date software now.
And finally, Xubuntu is dead. It was deleted yesterday around 3:00 pm PDT, and was replaced by OpenSUSE 11, which was in turn replaced by Zenwalk. It is likely that Zenwalk will also be replaced, unless I can get Lilo to boot it, and it wows me, in which case it shall be granted a reprieve.
At long last, I've finally updated the Centre of the Internet page (if you can call grammar corrections, and the delinking of dead links an update). Sadly, nothing new has been added, primarily because I've no real desire to sift through a series of Google results that measure into the hundreds, all in an effort to expand a largely ridiculous list. Perhaps tomorrow will provide me with such impetus, but definitely not today.
A further update to the Linux How-to page about killing hanging processes. Nothing like e-murder to get the blood flowing.
I've added a short how-to on enabling DVD playback under Slackware 12.1 to the Linux How-to page. This particular guide as been languishing on a scrap of paper for the better part of 3.5 years. I can't definitively say why it has been so neglected, save perhaps for its disfiguring waddle. It is terribly hideous to observe walking.
Some fairly large changes have been made today. First off, the Alpine configuration page has been updated with a few more NNTP examples. I've also cleaned up the presentation a bit, hopefully making it a little more readable.
Next up, two new pages have been added. The first is a new page of internet protocols covering NNTP, and a little bit about Telnet (if you count a bias towards links as content). It will likely expand to include other protocols, the next likely being FTP. What won't find its way onto this page is the Gopher protocol, which already has a page, and HTTP, which is so ubiquitous, giving it a page would be a pointless endeavour in repetition.
The second page is dedicated to that internet beast of burden: the search engine. The page started off as a primer on installing browser search engine plugins, but expanded slightly to include unsolicited ads for Ixquick, Scroogle, and Exalead, as well as a short guide on submitting sites to search engines and directories for inclusion in their databases.
Finally, the links page lost about 15 lines of code, with the relevant material having been moved to the new "internet protocols" page.
The Alpine Configuration page has been updated again, in order to include instructions on how to use filters as Usenet kill files.
A further update to the Alpine page, detailing how to use multiple NNTP servers with Alpine.
Three updates in three days! Unbelievable!
This latest update sees the content in the Linux How-To page relating to the Alpine messaging system excised, and in a moment of magnanimity and graciousness, granted its very own page called (for some unfathomable reason) Configuring Alpine, where instructions for using multiple smtp servers have been added for the edification of all who pass this way.
The DI-604 router did not last long, barely a day-and-a-half. It has been replaced by a brand new Linksys WRT54G, and the DSL Router Setup page has been expanded accordingly.
Yesterday, sometime during the evening, the D-Link DI-704UP Ethernet Broadband Router that I've been using, died after more than a year-and-a-half of service. I tried all the old stand-by repair tricks: swapping cables, cycling the power, changing outlets, all to no avail. The router just was not getting any power. Thus I dismantled the device and discovered that portions of the circuit board seemingly associated with the DC power input had fatally overheated, resulting in cracking, bubbling, and bleeding.
And so, I was getting ready to go out and get a new router when I was reminded that there was a spare one hanging around: a D-Link DI-604 purchased in 2004. So I grabbed the new old router and dropped it into the network, and scant minutes later, everything was back to normal.
As a result of all of this, I've updated the DSL Router setup page: it is now written as a generic D-Link setup guide. There are a couple other changes, but I leave you to discover those.
Increased the Gopher document collection by 3-400 percent today. I was trying to find definitive answers to when each of the item types were introduced, but only met with moderate success. Other than that, the gopher documents have been separated from the Other Links category on the Gopher page, and put under their own, title Documents (who could have seen that coming?).
An error has been corrected in the Lilo VGA Modes chart, and a column has been added for the 1600 x 1200 resolution. I've also added a link to Telus' Alberta OAC login on the DSL/Router Setup page.
Some minor updates to the Diversions and Links pages, primarily adding a couple links to each, and moving around some e-letters to convey meaning better.
The host was down for about half of the day, prompting me, in my haste, to make things worse, by attempting to move hosts, even going to far as to change the dns settings for the domain name. But there was a catch: the would-be host had a file size limit of 500 kb, and there is one file on this site that is more than 600 kb. I suppose I could have split the file in two, but it would have ruined its aesthetic. And so the site remains where it is, and I've learned a valuable lessons about patience, and about reading the fine print (a lesson I seem to have trouble remembering; maybe this time it will stick).
I finally found detailed manuals for Dell's Inspiron 8200 laptop, and it only took me nine months. Links to the manuals are at the bottom of the Disassembling An Inspiron 8200 page.
Seeing as the "Site Updates & Comments" section keeps growing in length, the Contact information has been moved to the top of the page. I debated about renaming the page Contact/About to reflect the new order of things, but realised I would need to do the same for all instances of About/Contact on all the other pages (I know, I know: use PHP, or SSI's, or whatever; I have in the past on other sites, but this time I decided to strip the site down to the bare bones; also, I'm hoping to keep extraneous page propagation to a minimum here, hence the static design), and that seemed like to much work.
The Diversions page has also been updated. There's now a small index at the top, and a section dedicated to beating telemarketers (no, not literally).
The Direct Cable Connections page has been updated to include an ftp Linux/client--Mac OS X/server setup, leaving only a Linux to Windows setup to be detailed.
At long last, there is finally a table of contents on the Linux How-To page. This is something I've been meaning to do since this site first went live, but kept putting off for one crappy reason or another. Also, I've finally fixed the mangled accented character examples on the same page. Everything else is just putting a little more lipstick on the pig; nothing major.
On a personal note, I have ditched/deleted/closed all but a select few of the online accounts I used to have. I was spurred on by my initial decision to delete all but one of my gmail/google accounts (and that last one is hanging on by a thread), and it was so much fun, I decided to see what other accounts I could get rid of. I was pleased to find that most every site afforded me the opportunity to delete myself, but there were a few that were adamant that I could do no such thing, which is a bit of an irritant.
So what finally spurred me to go on this rampage of expunging? The answer: I found a free online email service that sports an infinitely better privacy policy than gmail, that also has POP3 support: lavabit
It does not have the same storage capacity as gmail, unless you are willing to pay, but since I download all my email onto local machines anyway, online storage space is not exactly that important to me.
The clutter has been stripped out of the site, and most everything that was going to be moved from None O' The Above, has been. There are likely still some grammatical errors to be corrected, but those are not going anywhere.