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April 05, 2006

I Want A New Toy!

So, as you may have noticed, I haven't posted here in the past year. Some of that is due to having a new job, and some of that is because nothing has grabbed me and said Write about me!!. Oh, I've used a few "new" things:
  • JBidWatcher - eBay bid tracking and sniping software that is platform independant. Nifty, open source, Java based, and free. The guy who writes is updates it frequently, and earns every penny (and then some) that satisfied users send him.
  • Jabber2 and Gaim - setting up internal IM and clients to use it was interesting. Jabberd and its integration with LDAP went okay, but I never got through the directions on installing the conference server. A big problem was the version 1 vs 2 incompatibilities in add-ons and plug-ins, mostly un- or under-documented. It seems to be a rather stale project. Gain works ok, but doesn't want to talk to the enterprise version of msn messenger for a stinkin' damn. Ugh.
  • RHEL 4 64 - well, the 64 bit version of this didn't want to install via the iLO card on the HP hardware. It's the damned broadcom/tigon card and driver again. It was a PITA on RHEL 3 and Dell hardware too. I wish whoever is dealing with that driver could put out and maintain a good one - in the distro!! Then there's the issue that some 32 bit software won't run, even in 32 bit emulation mode. Nothing ticks me off more than having to run a 32 bit OS on nifty 64 bit hardware because of some critical bit of lame code.
  • HP LJ 5si - my new (used) printer at home. It's manual feed tray paper lifter is borken, but otherwise it works real nice. Finding and installing the jet direct support sofware for windoze boxes can be a PITA, but that's what you get for running Windows.
    • So, all in all, nothing exciting. I suppose I could blather on about making soap, but that's a different kind of geekery. I want new toys to play with.

    Posted by ljl at April 5, 2006 03:10 PM

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