Progress, or more adventures with linux

So. Today I came a few inches closer to understanding the linux verb “to mount”. Somewhat obscene but apparently I’ve been working with mount points the past 17 years without even knowing it. It seems somewhat along the lines of the ethereal “pointer” which is so natural to c programmers, but having had to teach myself c with no help from the outside it has been really slow going.

Things I learned today:

2 ways to hack through the firewall at work (probably incorrect usage, since I haven’t a clue what a firewall could be). In any case I discovered that at work there is one computer (unix) and one only that can be connected to with the ssh command, after which I can ssh over to the actual workstation sitting on my desk. Apparently ssh is a verb too. It is a means to connect securely from one computer to the other without the possibility of some nefarious individual picking off your password on the way through. So ssh’ing to the magic computer gets me in and that is method number one, which I sort of knew, but got confused because I can ssh if I’m on the wireless network outside the firewall, but not if I’m on a hardwired connection inside the firewall. In that case I just get a blank stare. I learned that last week and that’s likely what had me so confused since I “knew” it was impossible to ssh to this particular computer from my office when in fact it was just wireless vs. wired.

Method number 2. Another new verb, “to vpn”. Where vpn stands for virtual private network. It was pretty funny because yesterday I stumbled upon the right combinations of commands to get vpn going, but then remained clueless as to what to do next, or what it meant “to have vpn’ed”. Apparently there is another machine, this time a windows machine, through which one can “start vpn” running on say my laptop. But then what? What does it _mean_?? The magical thing I guess is that then I can ssh to anything I want inside the firewall without going through the magical unix gateway.

So, six of one half dozen of the other you might think. An xterm is an xterm and if I can use ls, cd, cp, more, cat, emacs etc. big whoop. But the rather interesting thing I discovered was that after successfully jumping throught the vpn hoops, there is a little program called sshfs, which gives the illusion of having mounted a remote file system locally, on my laptop. In windows vernacular, I can have a folder on my desktop that when double clicked shows the contents of my stuff at work, even if I’m sitting in timbuktu. I’ve had the it group set this up on my windows laptops for some time, but if I wanted it on linux, it’s a do it yourself type deal. So as far as I know I’m the first one of all those linux gurus at work to have pulled this off. With some critical help along the way of course. It helps to know what vpn is for, which I’ve never known – only what the acronym stands for, which is of no practical help whatsoever.

So I’m rather pleased with myself, having done something almost useful. I still have to get this vpn business running on my little xubuntu desktop here at home. Yes I’m easily amused…. GD

070828 2136 CDT

In the dark of night

All alone, nearly lonely, once upon a time

I sit and think and think and think and

wonder what it’s all about. Three cheers for

master quark, a new day is at hand. Listening in

to the noise that passes for silence, the cacaphony of humanity.

So far away, under the same full moon, sit two people in the

twilight of their years. Wondering what the future holds, hoping

for the energy to survive yet another tomorrow. An ear of corn, a

pickup truck, some canned peach jam. Things to while away the time,

good food, good wishes from those so far away that likely ought not

to be. Another day comes to an end, so much to do, with not enough

interest of late, but it pays the bills and there it remains. GD

Linux build number 2

Well this isn’t on my list of interests from the first post, but I am somewhat proud having managed to successfully wipe the hard drive from my windows pig laptop at work and install something I hope will actually be useful. In comparison to build number one using an old desktop (hp pavillion 7845 with 128 MB ram), this time it required only two complete installs with straight ubuntu linux. Build 1 was xubuntu, a lightweight ubuntu. This laptop is a dell inspiron 8200 1.7 GHz with 256 MB of ram and a plugin cisco wireless card. Considering that I know nothing about wireless, I’m amazed that I got hooked into my home network (set up by my daughter) with very little hassle.

So I’m most proud about being able to find the package containing the graphics card driver for this laptop. Google earth set me looking for the right thing and only after about an hour I was able to get that set up.. This makes me wonder if most of my grief using windows had to do with having a bad display driver. The perennial hourglass really was the last straw, that plus lugging the thing to italy only to find that it was patently impossible to get wireless going, turning the laptop into a boat anchor that I had the privilege of lugging through airports hither and yon.

So I typed the two earlier posts on linux xubuntu build number 1 and am now typing this with my new little laptop. Actually it’s about as big as a laptop can be. I’ve got two batteries loaded which is nice except that they weight a ton. My boss quit last friday so I inherited his genuinely little laptop, 12 inch vs. 15 inch screen. It’s fast enough to slog through the nightmare that is windows xp. I wouldn’t use windows at all except that when I travel and want to exchange files and what not, everybody else has windows machines.

GD

070826 0846 CDT

(I need to figure out how to make this blog software enter time stamps – I’m using alphabetizeable format such that the unix ls command will time order things properly)

Interesting places

Go to youtube and search on trebuchet. Play the flaming piano.

GD
070823 20:38 CDT

Hi there

I have no idea whether anything I have to say may interest anyone, but I have a lot of interests so thought I’d kick a few out there. First, a little background. This blog is named gdgd only because wordpress.com insists on at least four letters. My initials are gd, in addition to the fact that gdgd when pronounced sounds disturbingly like things my daughter used to say when she was a baby. I toyed around with various thematic flowery sounding names, but prefer the abrupt bluntness of simply gd, which is also how I’ve signed every email I ever sent since around 1990.

So. What to expect. Main topics that may likely appear in this blog are, in no particular order:

Amateur astronomy

The electromagnetic field

Rock Climbing, traditional, i.e. no fair using active camming devices

Motorcycles, particularly bmw

Religion, in particular fundamentalist christianity. Note capitalization.

Mental health

gd