There's been lots of talk in the past about Gentoo dying. I won't provide the links - they're (usually) useless and uneducated non-Gentooers trying to play fortune teller. From the "inside" perspective of a user, I still use Gentoo and it still works.
So following on from the comments on a previous post about some network control tools, a user commented on a Summer of Code project to improve Network Manager integration in Gentoo.
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Western Digital Passport - now with 50% less hackability!
I have a Western Digital My Passport here from a friend. It's been dropped, and it's making clicking noises (uh-oh). I'm trying to see if it's recoverable, so I thought I'd remove the disk and plug it directly onto the motherboard.
Saturday, 20 March 2010
NetworkManager vs wicd vs wpa_gui
Due to some idle time* a couple of weeks ago, here's a quick comparison between a few network control tools for Linux.
These tools all give you some sort of network control from the Desktop - a service traditionally provided by daemons and initialisation scripts. The problem with that is roaming - it's much more common nowadays to have a laptop travel between multiple access points (Ethernet, 802.11, wireless broadband...) and many of the tasks can be automated. So what better way to use a point-and-click approach.
The three competitors, and here's how they compare by features:
These tools all give you some sort of network control from the Desktop - a service traditionally provided by daemons and initialisation scripts. The problem with that is roaming - it's much more common nowadays to have a laptop travel between multiple access points (Ethernet, 802.11, wireless broadband...) and many of the tasks can be automated. So what better way to use a point-and-click approach.
The three competitors, and here's how they compare by features:
| Tool | 802.11 (wireless) control | ethernet control | mobile broadband control | VPN control | dbus notification |
| NetworkManager | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| wicd | yes | yes | no | planned for 2.0 | no |
| wpa_gui | yes | no | no | no | no |
Electronically, my dear Wattson
I just borrowed a Wattson Power Meter from a friend at work, and while there's nothing special about power meters, the good folks at DIY Kyoto have put a nice touch on this one. [Standard disclaimer: I don't work for them and I haven't received any incentives from them either!]
There has been a trend of wireless power meters for the home, so they can be easily adapted to the consumer market. They solve the problem of running wires around your house - you put the sensor (or current transducer or CT) in your meter box or on a specific appliance, and the display goes somewhere convenient. Wattson has the opportunity to connect 4 CTs: 3 for 3 phases and one for renewable monitoring, or in any other configuration.
But Why? Well there were numerous reasons for me, everyone is different:
There has been a trend of wireless power meters for the home, so they can be easily adapted to the consumer market. They solve the problem of running wires around your house - you put the sensor (or current transducer or CT) in your meter box or on a specific appliance, and the display goes somewhere convenient. Wattson has the opportunity to connect 4 CTs: 3 for 3 phases and one for renewable monitoring, or in any other configuration.
But Why? Well there were numerous reasons for me, everyone is different:
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