After straightening out the issues I was having with booting from the last entry, I was able to get everything configured just how I liked it. The next day a new version of Ubuntu comes out, and I'm tempted to start over again.
The new version is an LTS, which means something like Long Term Service. I've had good experience with LTS editions before, downy, the previous server, still runs on the last LTS release ( 8.04 Hardy Heron ). This release, 10.04 Lucid Lynx, will hopefully be just as good.
My impressions so far, the new eye candy is nice. Previously I installed the server version of Ubuntu, which starts with a very bare system and lets you install only the packages you want to install. I liked this for the server, mainly because of the limited horsepower and memory I was working with. Eventually I did install a desktop interface on it, just to make early administration easier.
This time I decided to start with the desktop release. One of the factors was location, this server ( at least for now ), will live in the bedroom, next to Squirrel. This effectively makes it a desktop. I even have my older Dell 1701 17" LCD hooked up to it. I figured it would be nice to have access to a linux desktop, if nothing more than to have a secure workstation to do our banking on.
The new theme is more purple than orange. The change that seems to have polarized the community is the moving of the windows controls from the right ( default in windows) to the left ( default in OSX). This has been called everything from a revolutionary leap forward in HID ( Human Interface Design) to an affront to all things good about Ubuntu and Linux in general. Personally? I haven't decided if I like it on that side or not. A good thing about Ubuntu, it can be moved back if you don't like it.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Frisket + Ubuntu 9.10 + 2x2TB Drives Adventures
So, I recently I installed Ubuntu 9.10 on Frisket, on an old 500GB PATA HD I had. This was in preparation for creating a new, bigger server. Ubuntu installed fine and I was able to configure it.
Jump start to today, where I'm trying to install the 2 TB Hitachi hard drives I bought last week. First of all, Frisket seems to have a weird quirk where it always lists SATA drives before PATA drives. This thoroughly confused GRUB for Ubuntu, it kept trying to boot one of the blank 2TB HDs. I tried messing with grub to save the install but that wasn't working either. Finally I decided to just get a fresh start and reinstall.
The reinstall seemed to work fine until I tried to reboot. Upon reboot it seems to hang with "GRUB" and just sit there. Googling was a big useless, mainly because the keywords are very common.
Update:
Mysteriously... I reinstalled grub, it had no effect. Turning off the computer and leaving it for an hour some how lets it boot. I'm now creating the RAID1 out of the 2x2TB drives. When I get the 3rd 2TB drive, I'll convert the RAID1 to a RAID5, which I've heard is completely possible.
Update2:
Resyncing the raid1 ( so named.. raidy) is going at 70MB/s, so it should be done in about 6 hours for the whole 2TB. Compare this to the 4MB/s that downy was capable of. That took over a week to resync. Its pretty amazing. Frisket is now toping out at 109 MB/s, which drops the time to about 4.5 hours. Crazy.
Update3:
After setting up the MDADM RAID1, I can no longer boot again. Same "GRUB" problem after POST. I created a ubuntu forum post because I'm out of ideas about what's happening.
Jump start to today, where I'm trying to install the 2 TB Hitachi hard drives I bought last week. First of all, Frisket seems to have a weird quirk where it always lists SATA drives before PATA drives. This thoroughly confused GRUB for Ubuntu, it kept trying to boot one of the blank 2TB HDs. I tried messing with grub to save the install but that wasn't working either. Finally I decided to just get a fresh start and reinstall.
The reinstall seemed to work fine until I tried to reboot. Upon reboot it seems to hang with "GRUB" and just sit there. Googling was a big useless, mainly because the keywords are very common.
Update:
Mysteriously... I reinstalled grub, it had no effect. Turning off the computer and leaving it for an hour some how lets it boot. I'm now creating the RAID1 out of the 2x2TB drives. When I get the 3rd 2TB drive, I'll convert the RAID1 to a RAID5, which I've heard is completely possible.
Update2:
Resyncing the raid1 ( so named.. raidy) is going at 70MB/s, so it should be done in about 6 hours for the whole 2TB. Compare this to the 4MB/s that downy was capable of. That took over a week to resync. Its pretty amazing. Frisket is now toping out at 109 MB/s, which drops the time to about 4.5 hours. Crazy.
Update3:
After setting up the MDADM RAID1, I can no longer boot again. Same "GRUB" problem after POST. I created a ubuntu forum post because I'm out of ideas about what's happening.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Wow Hiatus
If you couldn't tell from the lack of updates, I have canceled my World of Warcraft subscription.
Why?
Because I wasn't having much fun anymore. I'm far from a type-a personality. I can meander around on my own for extended periods of time. But at the same time, I do like working towards some goal, lofty or far-reaching it may be. After getting my level 80's geared up in triumph gear, I reached a point where, without raiding, I didn't really have anything to work for. I could grind for weeks for slightly better ilvl triumph or frost emblem gear, but I had no place to actually USE it. That realization really cut to the heart of why I was playing. I was preparing for a time that wouldn't/couldn't happen. I don't have the time to devote to seriously raid, even at the casual friendly style that Wrath is known for. I barely have time to sleep. It really took the wind out of my sails.
Leveling Onaara helped a bit, the excitement of new abilities, and a new playstyle kept me very occupied for a while. But at around level 46-48, the only thing I could look forward to was getting into Outland... for the 5th time. Once that was over it would be Northrend, then it would be back to heroics. It just didn't feel like something great to look forward to.
Also, work and paddling have really taken a huge chunk of time. I now have basically an hour or two on friday and possibly 3-4 hours on Saturday to play WoW. Thats just not enough time for me. Add to the fact that I have a stack of PS3 games that are collecting dust.
Maybe its time to change the name of the blog yet again?
Why?
Because I wasn't having much fun anymore. I'm far from a type-a personality. I can meander around on my own for extended periods of time. But at the same time, I do like working towards some goal, lofty or far-reaching it may be. After getting my level 80's geared up in triumph gear, I reached a point where, without raiding, I didn't really have anything to work for. I could grind for weeks for slightly better ilvl triumph or frost emblem gear, but I had no place to actually USE it. That realization really cut to the heart of why I was playing. I was preparing for a time that wouldn't/couldn't happen. I don't have the time to devote to seriously raid, even at the casual friendly style that Wrath is known for. I barely have time to sleep. It really took the wind out of my sails.
Leveling Onaara helped a bit, the excitement of new abilities, and a new playstyle kept me very occupied for a while. But at around level 46-48, the only thing I could look forward to was getting into Outland... for the 5th time. Once that was over it would be Northrend, then it would be back to heroics. It just didn't feel like something great to look forward to.
Also, work and paddling have really taken a huge chunk of time. I now have basically an hour or two on friday and possibly 3-4 hours on Saturday to play WoW. Thats just not enough time for me. Add to the fact that I have a stack of PS3 games that are collecting dust.
Maybe its time to change the name of the blog yet again?
Monday, April 05, 2010
WoW Break?
This weekend was a bit strange in that I had a few hours on Saturday that I could play WoW but I didn't. Part of me rationalized it by saying that my forearms were very sore from paddling so a few hours of using the mouse would not be a good idea.
The strange thing was that I didn't miss playing it. My shaman has hit the dulldrums of levels (48-58). Neither starting a new toon or powering through it sound particularly appealing. A lot of what made WoW so much fun was the social aspects of the game. Now that I'm effectvely solo questing all the time has really diminished the game for me. One can only level and get better gear for so long until you start to question why your working so hard in the first place. Assuming I get Onaara to 80, gear her up in restoration as well as enhancement sets. What's the point? I don't have the time to seriously commit to a true raiding guild.
Maybe it's time to cancel the suscription, check back in before Cataclysim starts.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
The strange thing was that I didn't miss playing it. My shaman has hit the dulldrums of levels (48-58). Neither starting a new toon or powering through it sound particularly appealing. A lot of what made WoW so much fun was the social aspects of the game. Now that I'm effectvely solo questing all the time has really diminished the game for me. One can only level and get better gear for so long until you start to question why your working so hard in the first place. Assuming I get Onaara to 80, gear her up in restoration as well as enhancement sets. What's the point? I don't have the time to seriously commit to a true raiding guild.
Maybe it's time to cancel the suscription, check back in before Cataclysim starts.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Overwhelmed
Things have just been steadily getting more and more busy. With everything going on at work, home and paddling, today really overwhelmed me. I started down the dark path I used to frequent.
I had to take 30 mins, even though it was really late and just quest. I only did 1 quest but it was enough to give me just a little breathing room before bed. It's amazing how necessary hobbies are. Specially when other activities that you used to think of as hobbies suddenly feel like another Job.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I had to take 30 mins, even though it was really late and just quest. I only did 1 quest but it was enough to give me just a little breathing room before bed. It's amazing how necessary hobbies are. Specially when other activities that you used to think of as hobbies suddenly feel like another Job.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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