X-Geek

Extreme geekiness

There are 700 posts filed in X-Geek (this is page 57 of 70).

And what a wonder it is

After tracking down an issue with our VoIP provider here at work, I rediscovered the wondershaper script: a tool which adds quality of service rules to Linux-based firewalls. It immediately cleared up my dropped voice packet issue at work and has worked well at home, too.

Since the script was written in 2002 and I first discovered it not long afterward, I had been under the impression that I was using it at home. It turns out I wasn’t, so its good to have put it in place again.

One of these days I’m going to come up to speed on all the quality of service minutia.

Wikiholic

I spent a few hours this evening uploading some photos I took of downtown Raleigh landmarks last month. These now illustrate many Wikipedia pages related to Raleigh.

I’ve released them to the public domain. You can view them on my Wikimedia Commons contribution page (avoid the geek-speak on the page and just click on the links).

Fold ’em! Spindle ’em! Make a million bucks with ’em. I don’t care. Just enjoy them!

Email disclaimers

Email disclaimers: is there anything more ridiculous? By sending me an email with your “legal terms” stuck to the bottom, somehow that makes me bound by law to obey them? Whose law? What jurisdiction?

And another thing: what is your “property” doing in my inbox? You sent me the email: I didn’t ask for it! Even the U.S. Postal Service (and Federal Law) says that if someone mails you something by mistake, you are legally allowed to keep it.
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Monitoring alarm panels with Asterisk

My new home has a built-in alarm system but no landline. Thus, any event will alert us, our Dobermans, and the neighbors but it won’t alert a monitoring service.

Since I don’t want to put in a landline nor subscribe to a monitoring service, and since I’m an Asterisk and Linux geek, I thought I’d see what the Internets had that might let me monitor my home with Linux and Asterisk.
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Hasta la Vista

I got a kick out of Russell Harrison’s post about the Microsoft Vista PC his wife has to use. Seems Vista has got a long way to go towards being user-friendly. Its taken over the clock in his wife’s PC and won’t give it back.

Make room for the Rooma

While the day had its challenges – we all had cabin fever, Kelly and Hallie on the mend from colds/flu – there were some highlights. We made a fresh loaf of bread this morning and then went to Durant Nature Park to shake the cabin fever stuff. The kids rode their bikes to and from the park and we hiked all the way around the lower lake, marveling at the telephone pole-sized tree trunks the beavers have been sawing through.

I was also thrilled when the Fedex guy brought us our newest addition to the family: a Roomba Discovery. A coworker had alerted me to reconditioned Roombas being sold on Woot that afternoon, so I jumped on it. A hundred bucks plus shipping later and it arrived – quickly, I might add.
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Look up, its the moon

If you’re lucky to be reading this Wednesday night around 9:45-10:45 PM, step away from your computer and look up at the moon in the eastern sky as it slips into Earth’s shadow.

This eclipse is teh roxors.