Andy's Blog

Ready for Tiger

I finally took the plunge last week, and bought more RAM for my PowerBook:

And the performance gain that I have gotten from it has been tremendous! I really knew that my computer was swapping a lot when I started playing with Netbeans, but I didn't know how bad until I boosted the ram. Now I have realized that many common operations, like starting a new app after I have been running for awhile, firing up a new Terminal, or even spawning a new tab in Safari were all causing my computer to swap. Things were being so snappy and great, that I was having trouble remembering why I hadn't put a crowbar in the wallet and upgraded earlier.

And then, of course, my beloved mac crashed hard. The mouse pointer froze in place, the clock stopped updating, and the thing wasn't pingable from my FreeBSD machine. Dead.

Many rounds of the Apple Hardware Tester later, I am not able to pinpoint the problem. I am, of course, able to pinpoint why I didn't upgrade my memory earlier -- because I didn't want my main machine to become at all unstable. But now it is, and as loath as I am to admit it, my newfound instability must be due to this new RAM (which I love so much!). Luckily, I spent a few extra bucks and bought the memory from a company that appears to be on the up-and-up, OWC. So, I think I will be calling them soon, to see if there is any way that I can have my cake and eat it too.

-Andy.

"Lost"

It should be no secret that I was of the mind to give up on TV (with the exception of the excellent Daily Show) after Angel was cancelled. Out of a morbid curiosity (and the fact that I have a PVR now), however, I decided to check out a few new shows this season. Based upon the Internet buzz that I was reading, "Lost" looked like it was worth a shot. So, I queue'd up the series premier, and gave it a watchin'.

I was not disappointed. The pilot was one of the most stunning hours of scripted TV that I have ever seen. I mean, it wasn't like I was watching a TV show -- it was more like I was watching a movie. A very tight, suspenseful, and totally amazing movie. Apparently, the "Lost" pilot was one of the most expensive ever made -- but it definitely showed, and it was definitely worth it.

So yes, I am quite hooked on this show. I have had to check some of my higher brain functions at the door (one little portable walkie-talkie is the only radio that they have? Puh-leeze), but once checked, the show has been a real treat (so far). I am having a bit of hard time visualizing how this show will be extended season after season, without it devolving into some sort of Gilligan's Island farce. But, hopefully, the creative forces behind this show won't let that happen.

Oh, and hopefully people will actually watch it, so that it is allowed to stay on the air.

-Andy.

The New iMac G5

I went to brunch in Palo Alto this morning with Rushabh & co. Of course, since I was all the way over in Palo Alto, I had to walk over to the Apple store and drool over a new iMac G5. And let's get one thing straight -- this machine is quite drool-worthy. I mean, it is amazing how Apple has been able to cram so much computer in such a tiny space. Well, I guess next to a laptop it isn't so amazing -- but they are using a desktop processor, desktop RAM, and a desktop HD (3.5") for pete's sake. The action on the screen pivot is quite smooth, and the 20" model is much heavier than I expected. I ran several apps, and tried to flex the CPU. The machine was generating some heat out of the vent in the back, but it didn't seem to be too bad.

One odd thing is that I could also feel heat coming out the front of the machine, through the display. My gut tells me that one of the assumptions made in the design of this machine is that the CPU isn't going to be running at 100% for extended periods of time. I wonder would happen if someone were to run SETI@home on an iMac G5 for an extended period of time. It could shorten the life of the machine, and like that whole IBM 75GXP HD fiasco, it might not be covered by the warranty because the consumer is "using the product in a way for which it wasn't designed". Or, maybe not. I'm just speculating here.

One real that did disappoint me, however, is that the demo iMac that Apple had setup in the store had 512Mb of RAM. Apple only ships the iMac with 256Mb of RAM, which is a little low for MacOS X. I think that one of the reasons why the iMac was so snappy was because of the extra RAM. I haven't use 10.3 on a machine with less than 512Mb, but I bet the performance is pretty terrible, especially in something like Photoshop. I think it is quite misleading of Apple to feature more memory in the demo machines than what they ship -- it makes it much harder to evaluate the true performance of what a customer is actually going to take home. And without going into the "About this Mac" screen (or System Profiler), there is no way to know how much RAM the machine has in it. The cards next to the computer talked about the stock configurations that it ships with, not how it is actually configured in the store.

Shame on you, Apple.

(But of course, I still really want one...)

-Andy.

Frou Frou - "Details"

After seeing Garden State, I was totally hooked on the song that they used to great effect at the end of the film. This song has also been used in commercials promoting the film, and I also heard it on a promo for "the Gilmore Girls". What song is this, you ask? The title is "Let Go", by a band called "Frou Frou". So, I determined that it was on their album "Details", and managed to track down a copy of his disc at Rasputin music in Berkeley over a month ago.

I've had time to digest this album, and unfortunately the rest of the disc isn't as strong as "Let Go". While there are some decent songs, taken as a whole, the album is only average -- not terrible, but not super-awesome-fantastic-great either. I think that if you are really into bands like Everything But The Girl, Esthero, or possibly even Dido -- then Frou Frou should be right up your alley. But if not, you might just want to buy "Let Go" off of iTunes and move on.

-Andy.

Linux Tivo Update

So, I have finally gotten the remote control that came with my TV capture card working in MythTV. It turns out it was pilot error on my part -- I missed a step during the install. This should be pretty nice, because up until this point, I have been using Sara's old USB keyboard from her Blue & White G3 to control the thing. It works, but I have to sit kindof close to the TV, and the keyboard is a wee bit bulkier than a remote control.

So, in general, I've been pretty happy with the MythTV & Linux combo. I can't really compare how this stacks up against Tivo, since I have never owned a Tivo, but having watched Chris drive his Tivo, my guess is that Tivo provides a better user experience than MythTV. But MythTV has the extra features that I want -- a fantastic web UI, and the ability to easily export recorded video in a highly compressed format. Read on for the mind-numbing details of where I plan to go with this project next.

But first, a tangent: I figured out how to do this a week ago, because Sara had a taping snafu, and missed the second episode of "Veronica Mars". I used the "nuvexport" program in order to select a show that was on disk, choose my encoding settings, and after waiting 2 hours, get a nice XviD file as a result. Sara was able to download this from me, and everything was great. I think that it's possible to do this sort of thing with a Tivo, but from what I've read it is not as easy. And don't even get me started on doing this with a Windows Media Center PC.

So anyway, at this point, I'm convinced that MythTV is good enough to satisfy my needs, and so it's time to buy some hardware that I can dedicate to this task. I've been using my windows machine as a prototype for this effort, and so what I have now is bulky, loud, and a little bit under-powered. So, what sort of PC am I going to buy for this task? I have been leaning towards getting one of those sweet Cube PCs, specifically the Shuttle SN95G5. Of course, going with the "latest and greatest" means that you're going to end up paying a little bit more, but I want the PC that I get to look nice in my entertainment center, so I'm willing to pay to get that. Not that this should be a great shock to anyone -- since I am an Apple customer, after all...

So, what's holding me back from buying one of these things is that all of the Cube PCs tend to only have a maximum of one free PCI slot. When I started this project, I didn't think that would be much of an issue, but Sara is really leaning on me to get something that can take more than one tuner. And I see her point -- if I had a 2nd tuner in my current box, I would be using it at least twice a week. I just found out about a dual-tuner PCI card from Hauppauge, WinTV PVR-500, which has dual NTSC tuners on one PCI board. At this point, it doesn't look like it is in the channel yet, so I'm not sure if it works with Linux. But if it does, then I think that the whole cube thing could most-definitely be on.

Given that the flexibility of having many PCI slots could be useful, what other case options do I have? Well, Antec makes one called the Overture which is pretty cheap, and easily obtainable (I've seen it at Fry's). But this case really doesn't look sharp enough for my Apple-loving tastes. So, I've also been checking out Ahanix cases, in particular the D.Vine 5 and the D.Vine 3. The neat thing about these cases is that they look really nice, and also have room for a VFD display, which I have checked out and appears to work with Linux. That definitely stokes my hacker-geek lust. The only problem with these cases is that they are rather expensive, and then only a few retailers sell them. So, there is no way for me to see one in person before buying. But, the advantage is that they'll take a commodity (read: cheap) motherboard, so I can definitely save some cost there.

So, this is my dilemma. I'm going to try and come to some sort of decision over the next couple of weeks, because I'm itchin' to spend some money here! :)

-Andy.

Gone Campin'

So, last weekend I was somehow convinced to shed my surburban roots and go camping in Sequoia National Forest with some friends:

On Saturday, we hiked a little under 6 miles to Jennie Lake. We spent the night there, and then hiked back out on Sunday. The hike in was more arduous -- it had more uphill parts, our packs were heavier (with food and water), and we got some nice rain/hail/sleet action about two-thirds of the way in. The camping itself was pretty good, although it would be fair to say that due to a "sleeping bag malfunction" (similar to a wardrobe malfunction), I was pretty cold. The ground wasn't that comfortable either, so it is suffice to say that I didn't sleep very well, and was dog tired by the time I got home. But all-in-all it was a fun trip, and I may do it again... Some day.

I have posted all of my pictures from the trip in a gallery that I have setup on redefine. So now they will be a permanent part of the digital life (until my next hard drive failure, anyway).

-Andy.

Case represent!

So, my alma mater, Case Western Reserve University, played host to the vice presidential debate last night. It looks like things went off without a hitch, although watching the debate on TV, it could have been taking place on the moon as easily as it could have been at Case -- you really can't tell where the debate is being held. The stage and everything is totally generic.

Anyways, the Linux gods were with me, and my PVR didn't crash so I was able to watch the whole thing. I think that Cheney represented the Republican side well, and while I'm not as down on Edwards as Mark or Kevin is, that could be because I wasn't paying 100% attention (the joys of multi-tasking). I did notice some contradictions in what Cheney said (that he had never met John Edwards before the debate, that he had never suggested a link between Saddam and Al Qaeda), which NBC news pointed out today. I'm sure that tonight's edition of "The Daily Show" will have a field day as well.

Speaking of which, I just managed to get caught up on several past episodes of the Daily Show today. Did anybody else catch Jon Stewart's interview with Seymour Hersh? It's on the Daily Show's website (here is a direct link). The whole thing is rather shocking, in that it made me feel like we're living in a modern day Nazi Germany. By this I mean, the classic refrain "How did the German people let Hitler take power?". After watching this interview, I'm wondering how the American people let Bush take power, and hijack our country's good name in the process.

-Andy.

Iraq: Truly Terrible

I saw some truly horrific footage from Iraq today on the NBC nightly news. I literally stopped what I was doing, and was taken aback by what I saw. They were covering the triple car bombings, that killed 34 children. Back when Bush sent our troops to war, I think that everyone kindof knew that there would come the part after the major fighting, when attacks were made on US troops. I thought that at its worst, it would be 1 or 2 US deaths per day. And so far, that has pretty much come true (I'm not sure what the daily death toll is).

But what I didn't expect, were Iraqi's attacking Iraqi's. Sure, some of the insurgents may be from other countries, but that alone doesn't explain the violence that I saw on my TV today. If you're purposefully killing children in order to promote your agenda -- I don't care what it is, but it isn't right. I don't understand how anyone in Iraq can support these insurgents. And my only hope is that days like today will jar the country away from the violence, on to the path towards peace and stability.

-Andy.

A Clarification

When I said in a previous post that I was "training my replacements" at work, I didn't mean that I was being let go by EDS. Instead, the support function of my job is going to a new team, and I am going to be moved into a full-time development role. So far, the training is going pretty well. I have been working like a Japanese beaver every night, cranking out PowerPoint slides and other training materials. Yesterday, I talked for over 8 hours. I'm surprised that the new team can still stand to be in the same room with me...

-Andy.