New Computer

Just 2 pics of my new computer.

First up, specs:

Case - Thermaltake Armor WC edition (Built in water cooling system)
HDD - 2 x 500gb SATA Western Digital
RAM - Corsair Twin2x2048 6300C3DF Dominator (2 x 1gb DDR2)
Board - DFI Lanparty P35
CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 2.66Ghz

Graphics Card (Not yet present) - ATI Radeon 2900xt

In case anyone is wondering, the metal cooling device down the bottom of the pictures is called a transpiper and helps cool the north and southbridge chips.



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Google Apps and Me

I've been using google apps for some of my personal sites for quite a while and finally got the chance to roll it out for a Business site today.

The Owners of North Coast Joinery were previously paying for a single page to be hosted along with a single email account. Changing over to involved retrieving the domain key from their old hostee, and logging into MelbourneIT to re-delegate the site. Soon as this was done, the site that I'd already prepared on my virtual host server was able to be verified with google, along with the mail system (requires you to set some MX records for your domain)

Google allows me to have 100 users on the free version and I'd say the only thing that I don't like about it at the moment is that users manually have to go in and enable pop access for their account. On the other hand, it forces them to go to the webmail page which means they know there's an alternate method of access if for any reason their computer isn't working.

Setting up email aliases is easy too, google refers to them as nicknames and email lists.
So all in all for something I'm getting for free, I just can't fault it.

the page is accessable via www.google.com./a/ go ahead.. do like me and not only save yourself money on email hosting.. but learn something while you're at it.

Not content to read.

Installed ubuntu on my laptop about 2 weeks ago now, after liking the look of it on a friends computer.. needless to say although I managed to keep the master-boot-record intact, I managed to bork something on the windows partition enough that it doesn't boot anymore.

So. I'm living with my ubuntu install (with a couple of games.. World of warcraft and Warcraft 3 still work :-D via Wine) but was getting overly pissed off with the non-ability to write to my old windows partition even thou I could easily copy files out of it.

Went searching over the numerous "edit your fstab" posts and eventually noticed there's an application available via the Package manager, well 2 to be exact, "ntfs-3g" which is the guts of it and "ntfs-config" which puts a link in the application list under system tools.

2 check boxes later and both my USB drive and internal windows partition are now writeable.

Sweet.

Perks of the Job

It started off as a regular support call, some guy asking about latency problems at the hotel he was staying at.

I was away at the time in Perth but saw the email and responded to it post haste asking for more info on his room and if he could call through. I noticed someone leeching torrents on the connection (which is against our terms of use) so I booted em for the heck of it.

Next thing you know I'm sending a couple of emails back and forth to the guy, who's happy to report his latency is great now and thanks me for my help.

I'm interested to see what he's doing (as most people don't even understand what latency is let alone how to measure it) and find out he's actually part of the team creating the game Fury ( www.unleashthefury.com ).

I decided I'd give the Beta test last weekend a shot and Enjoyed it immensely.. responded to another query from him.. and got an email about this: http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/article.asp?CIID=87936

.. and the offer of an invitation.

Normally I would be happy to share gifts around the office.. but seeing as thou its My birthday just before the party and that I only have one ticket.. looks like I'm having some time off next weekend :-D

Just the perks of the job... (see picture)

VMWare Convertor

Having a look at the VMWare converter software today, pretty nifty to find that the newest version allows me to image my still running server.

I've been talking to one of our business contacts this morning regarding shifting a number of our servers over on to their enterprise VMWare system. For those systems that are tricky to rebuild directly, the converter now allows us to do direct copies.

There are two versions, the normal one which you can download for free here, and an enterprise variant. If you have an enterprise license for VMware, you get the big one for free as well.

The downside: for the moment, only Windows Machines can be cloned.

• Windows XP Professional
• Windows 2003 Server
• Windows 2000 Professional
• Windows 2000 Server
• Windows NT SP4+ (IE5 or higher required)

Thou for something thats cost me $0 to try at the moment, I'm not really complaining.

Bonus: It also allows you to convert from other virtual machine images.

Overlord (I need more minions.)

As first primarily single player game I've played in a good while, "Overlord" has me quite impressed.

You play the role of newly resurrected evil Overlord, set to command and build up your legion of minions. These include a number of different classes, 2 of which I've accessed so far (Brown = Fighters, Red = Ranged and Fire-Immune)

Normally these types of games end up more of a challenge of navigation that tactics when trying to control such a group, but overlord has pulled it off well. A series of simple click commands allow you to send your troops to battle with you, or through puzzle type areas to activate switches (because of course no evil Overlord should do his own work)

Also, the other critical component to your evil marauding is your stronghold which starts off in ruins to be slowly upgraded with the addition of extra parts (thanks to some heavy lifting, of course again all done by minions). This allows you to unlock a Dungeon (used for fighting practice) a forge (used to make new Evil armor or just upgrade) which you can sacrifice your unused minions in to imbue your gear.

Graphics are very much like Fable IMHO, but due to my computer not really maintaining current standards I'm going to assume they could be a fair bit better with the settings maxed.

--More after I've played for a while--

My thoughts so far is that it is well worth the purchase and thats without even having looked into any multi-player action or what that brings.

l33tboots

Had some imaginings going on about the fancy footwear we may be seeing in the next couple of years.

My ideas were based mainly around a rather rugged set of uggboots I have at home. They are knee high, hold their form well, and have a very thick tread (thick enough to crush something like a small bab, a umm.. nevermind).

So, ideas:

- USB Sleeve:
just a small elastic-y sleeve on the inside of one of the uggboots to hold a USB stick of some kind, could even have a velcro bit at the top to ensure its safety.

- Wifi Sniffer:
Linksys have had a small usb wireless sniffer device out for some time now.. I'd propose a small plastic usb port and recessed plastic mould to hold it in place. Could even use a small plastic outdoorsy type zip if ya wanted to. (See pic of device)

- iPod Dock:
as much as I dislike iPods (yeah, no real reason.. just don't like em); I wouldn't pass up on the opportunity to dock an iPod into yet another unique place. Speakers and batteries could either be built into the uggboots, or just batteries, and the wireless going to a set of earbuds/headphones for the user.
Earbuds would be the prefered method, as these could also have a recharging spot on the boot, which would be charged via usb when not in use.

- Adaptors:
Finally in the heel, as well as housing the batteries and such, a small assortment of usb and firewire adapters could be contained in a rotating horizontal wheen in the heel. (hehe poetry) This would allow the user to rotate the wheel to a certain adapter and rotate back to a blank spot when not needed.

Anyway.. enough crazy talk for today. I'll leave this to someone smart to invent.. so long as I get some royalties.

WRAP and RouterOS

As someone who is frequently involved in Hotspots, VPN's, QoS, Firewalling, Queuing and Shaping; I've chosen to use a WRAP 1-2 loaded up with RouterOS to manage my home connection.

The system had to support many features and preferably all in one package which the WRAP hardware makes easily possible (as opposed to my previous methods of piecing together discarded systems and old cards)

The setup comprises of an IPSEC Tunnel through to my work network, standard routes out through the ADSL Line (soon to be dual lines with load-balancing); Mikrotik Usermanager gives everyone a monthly limit on the ADSL connection.

Having the benefit of a mini PCI slot I can use my preferred wireless card (namely the SR2) and present an open wireless hotspot connection, meaning I don't have to worry about neighbors using my internet.

P2P shaping and simple Queueing means that web pages will always load quickly even if someone else is whipping their Bittorrent client. Even World of warcraft runs better ;-)

Best of all, I don't have to worry about noise, lack of space, excess power usage or hardware failure for years to come. The WRAP system has replaced 3 computers for me for less than the price of 1.

Some stats from the www.yawarra.com.au page:

	WRAP 1-1	WRAP 1-2	WRAP 2 Indoor	WRAP 2 Outdoor	net4801
Features
Processor	AMD Geode SC1100 - 233 MHz	AMD Geode SC1100 - 233 MHz	AMD Geode SC1100 - 233 MHz	AMD Geode SC1100 - 233 MHz	AMD Geode SC1100 - 266 MHz
Onboard memory	128MB	128MB	64MB or 128MB	64MB or 128MB	128MB or 256MB
Ethernet ports (10/100)	2	3	1	1	3
Throughput (MBits/sec) *	42.8	42.8	N/A	N/A	33.6
mini-PCI slots	2	1	2	2	1
PCI slots	None	None	None	None	1 (3.3V cards only)
IDE interfaces	1 x CF type I/II	1 x CF type I/II	1 x CF type I/II	1 x CF type I/II	1 x CF type I/II 1 x 2.5" HDD
GPIO interface	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Serial ports	1	1	1	1	2 (1 internal, 1 external)
USB ports	None (1 or 2 port USB 1.1 expansion kit available)	None (1 or 2 port USB 1.1 expansion kit available)	None	None	1 (USB 1.1)
Power usage	typical 3-5W @ 12V	typical 3-5W @ 12V	typical 3-5W @ 12V	typical 3-5W @ 12V	up to 15W (with HDD)
PPOE	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Recommended)	No
Network bootable (PXE)	Yes #	Yes #	Yes #	Yes #	Yes
Case colours	red, orange, green, blue, silver, black, white, yellow ^	red, orange, green, blue, silver, black, white, yellow ^	silver	matt silver	Soekris green, Yawarra black^
Size (mm)	163W x 161D x 28H	163W x 161D x 28H	110W x 166D x 28H	210W x 180D x 53H	216W x 157D x 35H
Weight (board & case)	420g	425g	378g	1718g	770g
C-Tick compliance	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Available products	WRAP 1-1 board WRAP 1-1	WRAP 1-2 board WRAP 1-2	WRAP 2 board WRAP 2 Indoor	WRAP 2 board WRAP 2 Outdoor	net4801 board net4801

Embeded Systems

'

I've been experimenting recently with a number of embeded router/firewall OS's in the hope of finding something that can easily handle the following tasks:

a) IPSEC Tunnel into my work network, for VoIP, Email and Access to the systems there.
b) Port forwarding, NAT, UPnP (for the families computers connected on the network)
c) Load Balancing over 2 WAN connections
d) Download limiting, something with a built in user-manager.
e) Future allowance for hosting my own wireless hotspot off this. (So long as I upgrade to a SOHO or Business Internet connection)

Of the ones I've tested (M0n0wall, pfSense, RouterOS) RouterOS is the costliest, but also the most open in terms of configuration.

That and they've currently started making a built in usermanager openly available.
I'm currently testing it with a couple of monthly limits for my brother (or bothers ;-) who are using my connection at home. This way they get a limited amount for the month, and can checkup on it at any time.
For the moment, I plan on just getting the user management setup correctly so they can continue using. (Rate limiting applied of course!)

After I'm comfortable that its all working I shall start work on setting up the load balancing to here.

Redundancy

Hmm, I've gotta get me one of these.

Eber 220, 230 and the new hotspot system.

The company I work for recently won some Business at 2 major locations.

One being the a certain Uni in WA, the other a Student accommodation complex on the Sunshine coast.

This involves me getting together, installing testing and configuring relevant embedded systems, which will be used in conjunction with our newly created Hotspot backend database/system to manage the internet accounts of an estimated 1000+ students in WA and 450ish on the coast.

Currently the WA site has free but very restricted access for students, while the sunshine coast site runs a currently non-working radius based system in which students pay through the nose for data.

As it stands we intend to install 2 x Eber 220 units (made by www.yawarra.com.au) at the WA site, and are looking at possibly using an Eber 230 unit for the sunshine coast property.

I say probably as I'm not entirely sure if our router software's (www.mikrotik.com) current version supports the Realtek Gigabit ethernet chipset that comes on the 230's.

Anyway.. pictures!

The first one here is of the system open, displaying all the guts and glory.

Some stats on the device:
Name: Eber 220
Board: Manufactured by Commell (www.commell.com.tw)
CPU: 533mhz VIA Eden CPU
Ram: 256mb (can be upgraded to 512mb, uses a small form stick as its fitted in a 1U case)
Ports:

• 3 x 10/100 Mbit Intel
• 1 x 10/100/1000 Mbit Intel
• Serial Port
• 2 x USB ports
• VGA out
• 2 x PS2 Inputs (Only accessible when the case is open) - for Keyboard and Mouse

Available inside:

• Floppy disk controller and connector
• IDE connector
• Secondry serial port connector
• Parallel port

More info on the board is available at: www.yawarra.com.au

Update: Yawarra has since made a small revision to the boards.. namely replacing the front pannel to disallow access to the 5v power connector.

This was an issue as it was exactly the same size as the rear connection, which takes the standard 12v. A client of ours managed to kill 2 boards because of this. (That and they removed the rubber bung from the front port.)

This is the new faceplate they sent us for the remaining working unit (previous has a hole in the left hand side) I also de-soldered the point so there's no point there at all now.

I'm also currently investing the next model up, the Eber 230 which has a 1ghz cpu and runs 4 gigabit realtek LAN points. The investigation step is mainly checking with our yawarra contact if the current version of RouterOS will support the Realtek chipset.

And last but not least my re-designed version of the hotspot page for accessEzy.

3rd time lucky?

Well, this is actually my third attempt at cataloging some daily routines, guides, cool stuff I get to see/do and the other blog stuff .. into a blog.

I'll actually favorite this one so I don't forget where it is.

Enough about me.. time to get back to work.