So, now that Hardy Heron is out, I’ve gone ahead and upgraded my server. It took a little while, but overall it went quite smoothly. Having the ability to go back and forth between the old server image and the new server image made it a much easier experience. Big thanks to Linode and virtualization.
Changes
One large change I made to my configuration is using Dovecot’s sasl authentication for Postfix rather than Cyrus. Dovecot really seems to be making headway in the mail server market. I strongly reccomend it to anyone looking for a decent IMAP server.
I’ve also upgraded to WordPress 2.5 and a later version of Roundcube for webmail. Unfortunately, Ubuntu seems to be holding Roundcube back a bit in their package repository. I’m not sure what the holdup is, but they’re at least one version behind at the time I’m writing this. For that matter, WordPress is a couple of releases behind as well. I guess that happens with an LTS release.
Todo
I’m still having a bit of trouble getting WordPress’ permalinks working correctly, so you’ll probably notice that some of the links aren’t working properly on the blog. I remember having this problem in the past, but, for the life of me, I can’t remember what I did to solve it.
Update: Got the permalink issue taken care of. Apache must be told, with the “AllowOverride” parameter, to allow .htaccess files. If this isn’t done, they will be ignored.
Brian Shacklett Technology Dovecot, Ubuntu, upgrade, Wordpress
I just installed a Buddy Club racing spec seat for my s13. The first thing I can say is that I never would have believed how much difference a racing seat can make had I not gotten a chance to sit in one myself. The first corner I took, I braced myself as usual so as not to fly out the drivers side door, and an amazing thing happened. I didn’t move at all. The second corner I hit, I realized what the difference was. The third corner all I could do was grin.
Read more…
Brian Shacklett Uncategorized
A couple of weeks ago I was able to secure a Wii from a GameStop about 4 miles away. I’ve got to say it’s the best purchase I’ve made since my Macbook Pro. Everyone in the house has been having a ton of fun with it. The cat’s even gotten in on the action by chewing up the wire to the sensor bar which was replaced by a wireless model from Nyko.One great thing about the Wii is that you’re not just limited to titles that are made specifically for the platform. Aside from the Virtual Console functionality, the Wii can handle GameCube games as well. Unfortunately, this means buying a GC controller, which is really my biggest gripe about the system.
My TV is about 10 feet back from the couch. This is not a good situation for wired controllers, and Wavebirds are overly expensive and hard to find. That basically leaves me with the option of a third party controller, which is something I always try to avoid. Rare is a third party controller that feels anything but hollow and cheap. I will admit that I haven’t gotten a chance to try many of the controllers available for the GameCube, but even in the best case scenario, I’m left with a big receiver sticking out of the side of my console for each controller I add.
Why? The Wii’s controller has an expansion port which the classic controller plugs into for an elegant wireless solution. This is perfectly suited to wireless play of GC games as well. I guess in the end, though, Nintendo just doesn’t want to deal with supporting that many peripherals.
Brian Shacklett Gaming
Well, I’ve finally done it. Last night I made the final DNS changes and I’m up and running with my very own linode. It took some time to decide on which mail servers to use and then get everything configured correctly, but it was most definitely worth it.
Hosting is costing me $20.00 a month for a full virtual colocated server running my linux distribution of choice (Ubuntu) and easy access to all of the tools that I need to manage it. I’m paying $20.00 a year for a DNS solution from DynDNS. Linode.com could do it all for me, but I have a server at my house that needs dynamic DNS updates and DynDNS was the best option for me.
So, for anyone curious, I’m running Apache2 with PHP5 and MySQL plus Apache Tomcat for Java support. On the mail side of things, I’ve got Postfix handling my SMTP needs and Dovecot serving up IMAP (POP will soon be disabled). I’m running Postgrey for spam controls which, coupled with slightly paranoid settings in Postfix, is keeping spam level at a very good level. Definitely not as low as when I was using boxtrapper, but for an automatic solution that is less vulnerable to exploits I can hardly complain. I will, however, be looking into some active blacklists soon as well. I have RoundCube installed for web access to my emails and of course WordPress which you’re reading from right now.
Please bear with me on the default WordPress theme for the time being. I’ve got some ideas for a new design, but I haven’t had the time to implement them. I’ll be working on it as soon as I’m finished with a few more pressing projects.
Brian Shacklett Technology
Sorry for the wait on this, but I didn’t want to post until everything was final. I started work on Monday at Stonefield Josephson working at the help desk as a contract-to-hire employee. Thursday I accepted an offer as a full employee. It’s a great place to work. All of the people there are very nice and the company treats its employees very well. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like I’ll get any more Mac or Linux experience there, but there’s still a lot for me to learn and I think it’s going to be a great experience.
My commute is about 5 miles, but LA traffic makes that about 30 minutes on a good day. My drive home Thursday night was an hour and 15 minutes. I still love it here, though. For what I gain living here, a slightly longer commute to work is a small price to pay.
We’ll be moving in about a month and a half into a house, hopefully. We’re currently looking around Sherman Oaks in the San Fernando Valley and around West LA. I can’t wait to get my own room. I’ll finally be able to put up all of my books on a bookshelf and take the rest of my belongings out of my car.
Brian Shacklett The Big Move
Well, there’s been a decent amount going on here, but mostly the same thing every day, so I didn’t think it would be all that interesting to write about. I’ve received requests for an update, though, so here it is.
I’ve been getting used to the area pretty well. Traffic is interesting, but it’s not really any worse than route one in Rockland in the summer; it just goes farther. I’ve been doing a lot of interviews and I’ve got a couple jobs that I should be hearing back on tomorrow. Both of them would get me earning about $40,000 a year and they both have great benefits. One is farther away, but the scenery is really beautiful, so I don’t think the drive would be that much of a problem. Either way, I should be doing pretty well fairly soon.
That’s about it for the moment. Hopefully I’ll have some good news to post about tomorrow.
Brian Shacklett The Big Move
It’s strange moving this far away. For the most part, though I expected it would take some time, I’m feeling pretty much at home here already. There are definitely things that will take some getting used to, like being so far away from many of my friends and family, but there are other friends here that I haven’t seen for a while, and it’s nice to be with them again. It’s really a mixed bag.
On the practical side, I’ve put in some applications for jobs and I’m hoping to hear back from them soon. Until I do I’ll just keep searching and sending resumes out. One annoying thing I’ve found is that many of them require a salary history along with a resume. This adds a level of difficulty for me since I’ve moved from a smaller town where the rate of pay is much lower.
We’ve also been doing some apartment searching, but it’s 2 months before we head out, so it hasn’t been very productive yet. We’re getting to know the different areas and price ranges, but that’s about all we can do for a while now.
For now, I’ll just have to take it as it comes and see what happens next.
P.S. I saw Alec Baldwin in an Apple store the other day.
Brian Shacklett The Big Move
Well, I made it here safely. I just wanted to write a little post letting everyone know. Once I’m settled in, I’ll be more in the mood to write more. I also got a bunch of photos put up on my flickr space. I ended up taking an airplane tour over the Grand Canyon. Check them out!
Brian Shacklett The Big Move
Well, today I set out from Albuquerque at about 10am. I made my first stop at the Painted Dessert. It’s an experience that I would reccommend to anyone. The view is absolutely incredible. I got a few shots with my digital, but it’s in the car, and I’m feeling lazy right now, so you’ll have to wait till tomorrow for me to make my upload. I should also have some shots of the Grand Canyon at that point, so it’ll be worth it 
. Again, though, I’ve taken most of the shots on my 35mm, so it’ll be a week or two before I get the film processed, scanned and uploaded.
Anyway, tomorrow, my path should take me, first, to the Grand Canyon, then to Needles, California. The next day I should arrive at my final destination in Los Angeles. I’m feeling mixed about it. It’s been a great trip and I really would love to see more, but I’m also really looking forward to putting down some roots and beginning the next chapter of my life. The rest of the world will just have to wait for me.
Brian Shacklett The Big Move
Things have been quite busy since my last update. I made it into Albuquerque on Friday the 13th at about 1:00 p.m. mountain time. That evening, I went with my family to the Balloon Fiesta to see a balloon blow, where a bunch of balloons are inflated and sit on the ground with the burners being run from time to time to light them up. It’s a great chance to see the balloons up close. Saturday morning we got up at 5:00 to head back down to the fiesta to see the mass ascension. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t the best, so a lot of balloons were forced to stay on the ground, but enough got up to make it a very interesting sight.
Sunday morning I left for Santa Fe, which was really great. I got to see the Loretto Chapel and its miraculous staircase. I Then I went around to different galleries, stores, etc. on the plaza. After that, I met up with Tom and Gale Albury and went to the top of Hyde Park, which is a park on a large mountain near Santa Fe.
The next day we set off about 9:00 a.m. for Bandelier National Monument. We spent about 3 hours there hiking through the trails and up to the caves. We even made it into the large ceremonial cave which is up 3 or 4 ladders about 150 feet in the air. It’s a breathtaking view from up there. I took a lot of photos, but most of them were taken on film, so it will be a little while before I get a chance to develop them and get them scanned for uploading.
Brian Shacklett The Big Move
