Geek Stuff category archive

I recently purchased a new desktop computer to replace my Dell Dimension 4700, which I purchased at Second Source, the only outfit I ever trusted to repair an out-of-warranty laptop, oh, seven or eight years ago.

I purchased it from Zareason because they let you pick the distro of your choice. Natch, I picked Slackware, the distro that doesn’t hold your hand, the distro of iron, the distro that always works and never breaks.

I have spent the last few days configuring it to my liking. Today, I expect to get Mutt working.

There was one problem: the optical drive did not work; the tray would not even open. (I have an old Memorex external that I have used for years; it worked fine with the Zareason, so I was able to access optical disks, so the thing was workable.)

I called Zareason, where a real live human being whose menu options have not recently changed answers the telly phone. In a few days, I received a new optical drive in the mail; I swapped it in yesterday morning and it works like a charm.

This is the third Zareason device I’ve purchased. If you want a box with the Linux distro of your choice, I recommend Zareason wholeheartedly. They build good boxes, and they stand behind them.

I started my career working in a complaint department. I learned to judge a business not on whether something never goes wrong–that is an impossible standard–but on how it responds when something goes wrong, because something can always go wrong. Zareason passes the test, and passes it big time.

Oh, the Dell? I gave it to a fellow TWUUG member. May he have as much fun with it as I did.

Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. Learn how to use computers to do what you want, not what someone else wants you to do.

It’s not hard; it’s just different.

What: Monthly TWUUG Meeting.

Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.

Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk Training Room. See directions below. (Wireless and wired internet connection available.) Turn right upon entering, then left at the last corridor and look for the open meeting room.

When: 7:30 PM till whenever (usually 9:30ish) on Thursday, April 2.

Directions:
Lake Taylor Hospital
1309 Kempsville Road
Norfolk, Va. 23502 (Map)

Pre-Meeting Dinner at 6:00 PM (separate checks)
Uno Chicago Grill
Virginia Beach Blvd. & Military Highway (Janaf Shopping Center). (Map)

Neil de Grasse Tyson discusses science, epistomology, and “arguing from ignorance.”

Via Raw Story.

The geeks were biting that day, and the anglers reeled in a big haul. (Details at the link.)

The administrators of a top deep-web marketplace have disappeared with over $12m worth of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, it emerged last night, in what appears to have been an “exit scam”.

Bit-coin is little more than three-card monte with added electrons.

What might have caused this?

Hint: The answer involves two computers. (Answer below the fold.)

Read more »

My new computer, which I intend to use as my home file server, is due to arrive today. I told the vendor to put Slackware Linux on it. Slackware is the distro of iron: It always works and never breaks.

I shall retire my Dell Dimension 4700, which is ten years old (I got it from Second Source about seven years ago–if you are in Upper Delaware, Second Source is the place to go for used computers and computer repairs), wipe the HDD, and donate it to my local DAV thrift store.

Addendum:

It arrived, exactly as promised. And it rocks.

Zareason makes good boxes.

Learn how to do it from my latest podcast at Hacker Public Radio.

Then record your own podcast for HPR.

You too can have the new, improved Tell-All Barbie.

Numbers don’t always mean what they appear to mean.

You might remember that a few years back, Raleigh (North Carolina–ed.) was rated one of the free world’s manliest cities. Among the performance prongs in the analysis was the number of pickup trucks registered in the city.

It had a gazillion of them per capita, but they weren’t the manly-man kind with gun racks in the cab and dead deer piled atop the hood. Turned out the state highways department registered all its pickups cast unto 100 counties at its headquarters in Raleigh, skewing results.

More numerical nonsense at the link.

“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” works only if you find a way to get to know someone.

I am always fascinated by rational, kind, sane persons who call themselves “Libertarians” and who are unable to see that Libertarianism is little more than an elaborate rationale for “I’ve got mine and to hell with you.” I know a few folks like that.

I stumbled over a Mother Jones interview with Jeopardy champion Arthur Chu which was a more interesting read than I expected. I was particularly taken with this nugget, in a series of questions about Gamergate and related issues.

They discussed why some internet users insist on threatening and harassing those with whom they disagree from behind a curtain of anonymity, then become upset when called out about it and defend themselves by contending that harassment, misogyny, and sexism in the world of computer games is somehow not real because it’s done from behind avatars. It was in that context that Libertarianism appeared:

Being a nerd meant being good with computers, book knowledge, and data, and being bad with people. So the idea was that if you got really good at working with things and manipulating objects, you’d reach a point in life where you wouldn’t need people to like you. You’d win purely by merit. There’s nowhere on Earth where this is actually true, but there’s people who believe that.

That’s why so much of nerd culture involves these power fantasies full of magic—literally reshaping the world through thinking about it—and superheroes with super abilities. It’s also why a lot of the people in geeky subcultures gravitate towards libertarianism. There’s a strong ideological belief in wiping out “politics,” because politics means having to interact with people, and negotiating with people who have different interests.

I commend the rest of the interview to your attention.

Jamesetta Walker writes in my local rag that the idea of the Apple watch leaves her unimpressed. (Follow the link for the full tail of her travails.)

Despite the loud buzz, I’m not pining for another device, given the successive weekends this month that were consumed by data transfer problems during phone and tablet upgrades.

One of my friends has an Android watch. It enables him to talk to his phone. When I watch him use it, I am flooded with feelings of “why bother?”

Frankly, “because you can” is not ipso facto a sufficient reason for doing something.

Heh.

A US federal judge said Facebook Inc must face a nationwide class-action lawsuit seeking to force the social media company to provide refunds when children spend their parents’ money on its website without permission.

Daniel Ruth points out that Florida’s public school testing program does not compute.

If states put the same effort into teaching that they are putting into testi–oh, never mind.

Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. Learn how to use computers to do what you want, not what someone else wants you to do.

It’s not hard; it’s just different.

What: Monthly TWUUG Meeting. (If can’t attend, you can always join the forums.)

Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.

Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk Training Room. See directions below. (Wireless and wired internet connection available.) Turn right upon entering, then left at the last corridor and look for the open meeting room.

When: 7:30 PM till whenever (usually 9:30ish) on Thursday, March 5.

Directions:
Lake Taylor Hospital
1309 Kempsville Road
Norfolk, Va. 23502 (Map)

Pre-Meeting Dinner at 6:00 PM (separate checks)
Uno Chicago Grill
Virginia Beach Blvd. & Military Highway (Janaf Shopping Center). (Map)