Archive for February, 2010

Ubuntu Lucid Lynx Alpha3

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

Well I've previously posted about some issues I was having with Lucid whilst still in the Alpha2 stage of development, well now that Alpha3 has been pushed out there has been a number of updates come through.  For a little over a week I've been having an issue where the system will just freeze (hard lockup) I've still not quite pinpointed what is the cause or the events that lead to the system going AWAL on me!

The one thing I have noticed though that has me wondering what is so different between installs, I have two servers the first one is my Web/E-mail/DCHP/DNS this was setup originally with Ubuntu Intrepid (8.10) back in late 2008, since that time it has been updated with using the do-release-update to bing it up to current versions as they have been released. When this server is rebooted after POST has completed and Plymouth is doing its thing I'm getting a three tone bar along the bottom of the scree that is dark blue/light blue/white and these continue until the white covers the blue. At this point you still need to ALT+TAB+F2 (tty2) to get a login prompt (bug #506297) but the text on the screen is a bright with colour, not the usual grey! it's not until about 2-3 minutes later the text will change to the grey and all services become available. This behavior is most strange and again I've yet to find a reason to it.

On the second server, this was installed from Ubuntu Jaunty (9.04) and this only seems to suffer from bug #506297 that I can notice. However this server is only running a few services and is no where nearly as loaded as my main server!

So I just find that the display difference between these two most bizarre! I've been using Ubuntu now for a few years and this is the first time I seen anything quite like it. However until I can pinpoint the issue/s it makes it very difficult to submit any bug reports!

UPDATE: I've since discovered that there is a theme selection for Plymouth

plymouth-set-default-theme –help
Plymouth theme chooser
usage: plymouth-set-default-theme { –list | –reset | <theme-name> [ –rebuild-initrd ] | –help }

-h, –help             Show this help message
-l, –list             Show available themes
-r. –reset            Reset to default theme
-R, –rebuild-initrd   Rebuild initrd (necessary after changing theme)
<theme-name>           Name of new theme to use (see –list for available themes)

Also it appears that Plymouth must have a minimum specification for themes because one server that has an Intel 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE VGA chip and displays the themes without an issue. However, my main server has a S3 Inc. Savage 4 VGA and doesn't display these themes. So I think my issue be solved as to why I don't get the themes on one server as opposed to the other…  😐

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What's in a name?

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

I've been part of the Icinga team now since October 2009. The Icinga project is a fork from the well known network monitoring suite Nagios. Now I have to admit that I'm not up with all the politics of the reason for the fork and why there is so much dislike for the Icinga project (mainly by Nagios developers that are loyal to Ethan?) but the name Nagios & Nagios Enterprises are causing a divide within the Nagios community too.

So what's in a name?

Nagios Enterprises is a new "commercial" venture from the Nagios project. So for developers that had contributed many hours of time to assist with coding their work is now being sold without any renumeration. This has clearly got many off side within the Nagios community.

So regardless, the fork that has become Icinga, should be allowed to grow and develop further. This is what drives FOSS, the ability to adapt/alter code to suite. You only have to do a search and you will find many discussions around this (both positive and negative)

Where's the problem in that?

A commercial interest will never work within a FOSS community, it's a conflict that will only result in failure…

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What's in a name?

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

I've been part of the Icinga team now since October 2009. The Icinga project is a fork from the well known network monitoring suite Nagios. Now I have to admit that I'm not up with all the politics of the reason for the fork and why there is so much dislike for the Icinga project (mainly by Nagios developers that are loyal to Ethan?) but the name Nagios & Nagios Enterprises are causing a divide within the Nagios community too.

So what's in a name?

Nagios Enterprises is a new "commercial" venture from the Nagios project. So for developers that had contributed many hours of time to assist with coding their work is now being sold without any renumeration. This has clearly got many off side within the Nagios community.

So regardless, the fork that has become Icinga, should be allowed to grow and develop further. This is what drives FOSS, the ability to adapt/alter code to suite. You only have to do a search and you will find many discussions around this (both positive and negative)

Where's the problem in that?

A commercial interest will never work within a FOSS community, it's a conflict that will only result in failure…

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Google Adsense… are they checking content?

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

I've run Google Adsense ads on my blog for some time, but recently I noticed a lot of "get rich quick schemes" and "weight loss products" along with questionable "Software Remedies" flowing through. This leads me to believe that there isn't any quality check being done on ad content. For now I've disabled them,and I'll await to see what Googles reply will be (I have sent a query about content) As I certainly wouldn't want anyone to click a link that took them to a phishing site or similar…

I know that some will say why bother with those ads anyway! but I did see it as a remote possibility of funding some server upgrades! I'll be waiting forever as most of us use FireFox with the ad-block plugin so they wouldn't be seen anyway!  😉

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Lucid Lynx a little unstable?

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

Ok after some hair pulling (not that I have much !) I've managed to get Lucid installed on my desktop! 🙂  I struck all the issue that were mentioned in the "Known Issues" but I did manage to circumnavigate a workaround to get me going…

All was going just fine until the Alternative Installer wanted to setup GRUB2, this is where I was getting an warning claiming that had not selected a drive to install GRUB2 onto! I was never prompted to do so…  So if you simply attempt to re-run that section, you just end up in a continuous loop! The solution… install LILO (Yuk I know!) but at least this will give you a way to boot into your fresh install of the Lucid Lynx.

Once I had this shinny new install starring back at me, I promptly went about bringing the Alpa2 base to the current available…  in theory this should have just been a simple task, but no again I was left with a very broken system! So in disgust I simply called it a night.

The following morning, I started the PC and booted into the recovery console, from here I then managed to bring the system up to date from packages that had been updated whilst I slumbered… and yes… yes… WHOHOO!!! it booted as one expected! err… well until I ran the next lot of updates and was left in a broken state (again!) but I simply repeated what I had done the night before and well here I am… now using Lucid Lynx 🙂

Although my efforts where not that difficult to overcome, it did make me realise that I was maybe just a little too keen to get there and maybe I should have just awaited the release of Alpha3 ??? Oh and yes I did manage to get grub2 installed once the system was booted into Lucid  😉

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Update to Lucid Lynx Alpha2

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

Well I know that it's a little early to be doing this (if I'm to be concerned about maintaining a stable system!) However I have decided to update my Desktop and two servers to Lucid. both the servers have updated painlessly without any hiccups! however my desktop has been a different story…

Due to having only 2x 160Gb IDE drives, I've choesen to set these up in software RAID0 so I get the advantage of quicker read/write to the drives and also to span the two drive as one. I'm aware of the dangers should one drive fail I'm left with a broken system! but that's a risk I'm prepared to take.

I'm attempting to install Lucid from the Alternative Install ISO, but twice it has given me an error when it comes to installing GRUB2. From what I can tell the issue seems to be that the installer is either attempting to install GRUB2 on the RAID array as the separate partition I have setup for /boot (using Ext2) was ignored thus no "/boot" partition to install to!

So I'm now attempting (for the 3rd time!) things just a little differently, and I'm still awaiting the result…  Arghh… this has FAILED too… Ok time to look into this a little more deeper and try to ascertain what isn't working and why!

Hmm… Sidux is starting to look like a nice alternate at this stage!  😐

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Game Over!

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

Well today the Cambridge IMT closed for business after all crews were cleard from the fireground and had returned home.

The Wayatinah Fire has been contained for nearly a week and with some rain falling in the area overnight (and expected agian during the weekend) this should pretty much douse any remaining fire in the area. Although the IMT has closed this does not mean that the fire has been abandoned! as the assets that were under threat belonged to multiple agencies they now take on the roving patrols of the area to ensure that there is no recurrence.

During this time I have got to meet some really nice people from the Tasmanian Fire Service, Forestry Tasmania and Parks & Wildlife…  So the next time we meet, lets hope its not for the same reason…  😉

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An end in sight?

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

Well I've yet to hear the official word, but I believe that the Cambridge IMT will wind up tomorrow evening. If this is to be the case, then this will end a fortnight of work as a volunteer radio operator!

So as you can see from the image above, I was deep in concentration! (OK this is a pose) but receiving and send messages was the main roll and this also included recording weather reports from the field. I've not done an exact count of hours I've spent, but lets say I'm starting to feel the results of long hours … on the plus side during this time my insomnia has not been as bad! 😀

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First the Ady Gil… now the MV Bob Barker ???

Monday, February 8th, 2010

Back in early January the Ady Gil was damaged and sunk by the Shonan Maru 2 in the Souther Ocean off Antarctica during protest action by the organisation Seashepherd and now the MV Bob Barker has suffered damage at the hands of the Japanese Illegal Whaling crew from the Yushin Maru 3. It is time that the international community takes action to put a stop to Japanese "Scientific Research" (AKA Whaling) and end this ruthless act…

Bob Barker Rammed by Illegal Whaler

At 1209 PM Fremantle, Australia time, the Yushin Maru 3 intentionally rammed the Sea Shepherd ship Bob Barker, penetrating it's hull and endangering the lives of it¹s crew. The collision occurred at 65 degrees 21 South, 67 degrees 58 East, about 180 miles off Cape Darnley in the Australian Antarctic Territory.

The Bob Barker had been actively blocking the slipway of the Nisshin Maru, the Japanese whaling fleet’s factory ship when the collision occurred. Four harpoon ships, the Yushin Maru 1, 2, and 3 and Shonan Maru 2, were circling and making near passes to the stern and bow of the Sea Shepherd vessel. The Bob Barker did not move from its position. At which point, the Yushin Maru 3 intentionally rammed the Bob Barker, creating a 3-foot long 4-inch deep gash in the mid starboard side of the Sea Shepherd vessel above the waterline.

No crew was injured during the collision. The Bob Barker continues to block the slipway of the Nisshin Maru, preventing the transfer of slaughtered whales and effectively shutting down illegal whaling operations.

The incident demonstrates a continued escalation of violence by the illegal whalers in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

Said Captain Paul Watson from the bridge of the Steve Irwin, currently en route to join the action, “Because the whalers got away basically scot-free with the outrageous sinking of the Ady Gil, they now apparently think they can do whatever they want and they appear to have no qualms about endangering Sea Shepherd crew. What we really need is for the governments of Australia and New Zealand to step up and start enforcing maritime laws in these waters, or who know what the whalers will do next. Australian and New Zealand lives are at risk every day in these waters."

The crew of the Bob Barker noticed that the Yushin Maru 3 stopped moving in the water shortly after the impact, and appeared to be falling behind as the Bob Barker maintained its position on the stern of the Nisshin Maru. It’s possible the Yushin Maru 3 damaged itself in the collision.

The Japanese whalers are far more aggressive this year than in past campaigns.

Sourced from www.seashepherd.org

The Australian Government has let not only the people of Australia down by not sending a Naval Vessel to the area to ensure that no further aggression from the Japanese Whalers, but also that of the international community as well. What will it take to end this pointless practice? and should the scientific community be requesting proof of "Research" as claimed by the Japanese as their primary reason for such need to "cull" whales in the Southern Ocean.

In my opinion the only thing scientific here is the weight in tonnes of whale meat ending up on the tables of Japanese restaurants! see the following article from NewScientist Although this article is a little old, it still raises many valid questions into the practice.

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Wayatinah Fires

Sunday, February 7th, 2010

On January 31 a fire was reported in central Tasmania. This fire is is located in some rather inaccessible terrain and also has some logging coups that if they go up in flames will make controlling the fire all the more difficult. So why am I mentioning this? well, there is a group of enthusiastic amateur radio operators that have assisted with helping the Tasmanian Fire Service (TFS) by providing their time to operate with the Incident Management Team (IMT) as radio operators. This is a job that not only requires great attention to detail, but also the ability to ensure that the information from the fire ground (where the fire is burning) to the relevant person in the IMT.

So far this fire has been burning for 8 days and I've been assisting with radio operations for 7 of these days! and as such I just wanted to make you aware of some of the on-line resources that the TFS have.

For a listing of all current bush fires you can get a summery from www.fire.tas.gov.au this listing is updated frequently from information received from the units attending the fires etc.  There is also RSS feeds that you can subscribe to as well thus keeping the page requests to a minimum! for example… when the smoke from the Wayatinah fire drifted over Hobart the TFS website did suffer from a lot of requests for current information as to where the smoke was coming from!

There are also KML Google Map Feeds for use with Google Earth to get a birds eye view of the area affected!

The current information for the Wayatinah fire is available from here

The current map showing the fire size & burnt out area is available from here

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