Bobby Dickson

Busted Laptop

admin — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 12:56:14 +0000

I think hanging around the Apple Store while looking at Apple TV and being enticed by the shiny world of Apple must have got back to my old PC laptop and it has decided to throw a huge strop. I must admit that I can see why people end up going down the Apple route – I am not including the traditional Apple Mac user community where applications like publishing and music production on the Mac were best of breed (at the time anyway) – since the way Apple have marketed there products as “lifestyle” items making them all bright and shiny and “simple to use”. The simple to use fits well with the phenomenal success of the Dummies series of books and there ilk. People tend to not have the time, nor the patience, to find out how things work but tend to just want to pick something up and use it. Passing the responsibility of making things work to someone else is not really anything new or revolutionary but in the world of personal computing there has, up until recently, been a level of knowledge required to really get the best out of it. I think that is still the case but you can get by without much knowledge of the system at all today.

The thing that got me though, was the neat package and the slick design. Since Gail has decided that the HP that I bought during the Christmas holiday last year is her machine, I have been on the lookout for a new laptop for me. The whole laptop in the living room thing has really taken hold in our home and as the capability of laptops has increased as the price has come down they really start to make sense as a main home machine. The statistics back this up since home laptop sales now out strip desktops but I still think for real power applications you need a desktop. The new MacBook Pro got my attention especially since it is now possible to run Windows on the machine thanks to the efforts of some determined guys to come up with http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp which is actually being included in the next version of the Apple OS. This had a major appeal since there was now a system capable of doing all the good stuff that Apple still do while running on a stable UNIX underpinning while also now providing the versatility of Windows for those things that are just not available elsewhere. Sounds too good to be true, fantastic. So how much? Took another trip down to http://www.magnummac.co.nz/Branches/Branches.html#Auckland with a few questions. They had been quite helpful when I had been looking for a Kiwi style power connection for my iPod power adapter. They answered the questions with a why would you need to know or even care about that sort of attitude but the one that really got me when asking about the soon to be released upgrade to the operating system and whether there was any incentive such as a discount to the upgrade if buying a new laptop now. Apparently not! But it is much cheaper than Microsoft Vista, so there! I am not really into bartering but I have learned since getting here, that it is normal practice and some things are priced with a view to being reduced by at least 10%. You need to ask but it is usually never an issue and in the case of not asking you are pretty much paying too much. I could get this stuff from the local electrical retailers and get at least some discount but I thought I would try the official dealer. There is also the option of the parallel import shops (they don’t call them grey imports over here) as well but the risks are obviously increased if something goes wrong!

I took away the information I had gleaned from the helpful people at Magnum Mac and did a bit of research. It turns out that the “new release” is more like a service pack than a major release and they are pretty regular in the release cycle. At $240 it is not bad for a reasonably feature some OS and it is indeed cheaper than a full (or even an upgrade for that matter) licensed copy of Vista, even at entry level. What they failed to factor in to the comparison is that these “upgrades” are not really more than a service pack and a few add-ons. With a release pretty much each year these $240 service packs add up over the years to pretty well outstrip the cost of Vista by some way. If you want to run Windows on the machine as well you would need to add the cost of a Vista licence anyway so it all adds up. Then there are the “killer” applications. MS Office seems to be one of them! I was beginning to have my doubts about this. It did not help that the laptop itself was top dollar (I guess I can say that now) for comparable hardware (since Apple now use the same Intel processor as the PC community these days) and though it looked good to the eye, I was beginning to see a few issues with the way things are locked into the Apple format. They appear to be a few steps behind the PC community on a number of fronts hardware wise but it all seems to befit the simple to use mime. Time for a rethink!

I have always done the usual stereotypical thing when trying to use Linux as a replacement for Windows in the past but have always run up against some barrier that made the switch back inevitable. It was just not mature enough, but that was then. I thought about the fact that Apple was using essentially a highly customised version UNIX (BSD ish) and that the Linux desktop has come a long way since the mid 90’s when I started playing with around with fips and LILO to get Linux installed on a PC so I decided it was time to give it another go.

I dug out an old machine that I had thrown in the container and tried installing the latest ubuntu distro that had been included on a magazine cover disk. In the UK I would normally have downloaded these things at will but when you are on a metered broadband service as is almost universally the case in NZ (Wellington being the exception) you consider the traffic before committing to multi gigabyte downloads. I had used ubuntu a few times before and have been keeping an eye on them over the past few months in particular. This was release 7.04 and has been appearing on a number of magazine covers recently. The idea of there Long Term Support (LTS) with release versions stable and supported for long enough for larger companies to take notice since one of the issues with Linux in the Enterprise has been long term support. Some companies have managed this well in the past such as Red Hat but it is good to see others stepping up to the plate with this. It seems to be paying off for them since Dell have now decided that ubuntu is the Linux of choice for there Open OS http://www.dell.com/open which may or not be a good thing in the long term but for now it has got to be for the good. I wish them well for having the guts to try this. I know it has been greatly anticipated but I hope people will actually buy the product and support this initiative but I fear it may be doomed to fail once again for a number of reasons. I hope I am wrong.

The difference between my experience with this install and some of my previous efforts has been that this time the ability to get the job done and fix any problems have been relatively easy and quick to sort. I will admit though that there are still issues to be dealt with and had I not been determined to sort this as I went, I may have given up and switched back to Windows. So far so good and I will keep a note of how this turns out. My main issue so far has been getting wireless to work with Linux and the kludge I am using is not ideal but it is working. When I get a new Laptop I think it may be a Dell. (they are not yet selling this option outside the US)

Sick Computers (and sick children)

admin — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 12:50:45 +0000

It has been rather hectic around here for the past few weeks what with new jobs, new routine and the small matter of buying a house and all that entails! And now we have been thrown a small challenge of not one but two sick children into the mix. I have been also suffering from technology breakdown with my laptop slowly disintegrating around me and the web host being rather less than reliable. The mail server being unavailable for a couple of days during the purchase of the house was particularly irritating especially considering the speed that things happened over the past week. A day missed could have been quite important but luckily Gail had the foresight to include a work email address as well so we weren’t affected too much. But that is so not the point. This means that not only do I need to find a solution to my broken laptop issue, I now need to find a more suitable web host as well. And to think I was looking into media players and home entertainment systems a couple of weeks ago. Huh! I need to sort the basics before even thinking about that now.

Apples and Other Fruity Solutions

admin — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 12:47:19 +0000

I have been looking at media server stuff from a distance for some time but have never been convinced that it was worth the effort in setting up if I ever had enough time to set the thing up in any case. Here in NZ things are a little different and some things are now pushing the desire for some audio and video distribution into a more than just an idea. Back in the UK we had Sky+ for a number reasons that are too numerous to remember but the upshot was that there was no real need for any other devices in the house with similar functionality. There was enough content (and lots of worthless content to go with it) and variety of content coupled with the record and live pause function that anything else added to would be of limited value.

They have a similar (practically the same) system to Sky+ in NZ called MySky. The real issue with MySky for me though is the lack of content from Sky in NZ coupled with the cost of the service. In $ per use it just did not make sense for us. The ability to record one channel while watching another only really works when there is actually something worth watching on more than one channel at the same time. We had no intention of getting Sky when we got here anyway until we found that they have a monopoly on the coverage of F1 plus Kyle was missing some of his favourite cartoons. We now know why Video Rental is still such a big thing here. In fact even Sky admit that there content is limited and point you to an internet DVD rental service to bolster the lack of actual content.

DVD is great compared to video tape for lots of reasons but they are still not damage resistant and they can be rendered useless very easily if not treated properly. Kyle is very good at handling the disks now but they can still be a pain if they get scratched.

I have never really gone with the flow easily and resisted most trends that were happening preferring to find an alternative that is more “open” and flexible. This included things like the iPod, preferring to try more generic mp3 player instead but as time moved along and capacity became available to store more than a handful of tunes I had another look at what was available. It was actually when Gail was going on a business trip to Athens and wanted to take some music on the plane that I began to look more closely at the market again. Gail just wanted something that would work and was not prepared to put up with as many compromises that I would so I bought her a G5 30Gb Video iPod. The build quality was just so much better than most of the alternatives and sometimes it is hard to swim against the tide when the reason is not so clear. I was impressed enough with what I saw that Gail ended up buying me one as well. (duty free of course)

I had never imagined loading up so many tunes onto any portable device before but is does become addictive. Random play and play lists are things I never really thought about much until I started using them but the real feature was just having the stuff available to listen to without the need to dig out a CD. The idea of having a similar capability for watching movies “on demand” without the need to search for the DVD does have a certain appeal. As I said before, the media server solutions is something that I have been keeping an eye on for some time but like the mp3 player market was before the iPod really took hold, this is a very immature and unstable market. The idea of an open source based device that can do it all is a wonderful idea but the support around these devices is rather sparse especially here in NZ. I have found a number of suitable candidates http://www.tvix.co.kr/Eng/products/5100sh.aspx and http://www.tomacro.com/english/index.htm but there is always a niggling doubt that by the time you get it all set up it will be out of support or there will be problems that are just not going to go away. If there were local suppliers of these devices then I would not be so reluctant to take the plunge but I have spent too many hours trying to make things work that were just plain broke! The http://www.apple.com/nz/appletv may have a limited subset of the capabilities of these media server devices but it does have a more robust support model and it may just do the job.

The trial is still under way but the proximity of an Apple Shop a 5 minute walk from the office is not really helping to keep it a fair trial.

First Week Done at SC

admin — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 12:45:22 +0000

Quite a short work week but it did is now the weekend and it is most welcome. We have now had a few days of the new routine which is quite a tight schedule with staggered drop off and pick up at Kindercare and relatively long working day (including the commute) we are rather tired now. The week at Southern Cross has been a lesson in acclimatising to the difference in scale between NZ and the UK. Things are a little different down here in many ways but like most things those differences are for a reason. I was surprised earlier in the week at the scale of the operation compared to the environment I have been working in and to be honest I was slightly disappointed at the time. I have since had time to look at how the available infrastructure is used and it all makes sense in an efficient sort of way. They tend to use things for the purpose they are intended rather than over engineering everything for the sake of it. I like that! I am feeling much better about things from this perspective than I may have been when I first saw the server room yesterday! The commute was even better than yesterday and I think things may balance out with this - some good days and some not so good days - and flexibility in job looks like this will work out OK. Our decision to look at automatic transmission cars because of the traffic conditions here was I think a wise one (though Gail is beginning to get bored with unexciting cars already) as sitting on the clutch for as long as you would need to could turn out rather expensive in clutch replacement costs never mind the frustration factor. I have found an Apple store fairly close to the office and I managed to get a NZ spec power connector for our USB charger. I was very impressed with the service and knowledge of the guys so may take a trip back for some other gadget purchase. I have been interested in a media server particularly since Kyle can be a little harsh on DVDs and we have also been a little spoiled by using iPods for music recently. The idea of an iPod style TV does have an appeal and the fact that someone at Apple thinks it was a good idea as well and actually produced one means I will be giving it serious consideration. There is always a catch with these solutions and I need to weigh up the pros and cons of each option.

Birthday Girl

admin — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 12:42:54 +0000

Today was Gail’s birthday so we had a card and present ceremony this morning before we departed for work/nursery/pre school2. I had managed to get some birthday cards for Gail but they just don’t seem to do “cards” like in the UK here so the selection is rather limited. Last night I got Kyle to write his mum’s cards and draw some pictures in them but he just wouldn’t settle down afterwards until I suggested he look after the cards and present until the morning and then he could give them to mum. He decided he had to stash them under his mattress to keep them safe so we managed to wedge then down the side into a safe place. He fell asleep quickly afterwards which was good because it was a little later then he should have been up. I wondered how we would get him up in the morning (he takes after me on that) but needn’t have worried. I mentioned the cards and he remembered right away and jumped up pulling his bed apart to get at the cards. We retrieved them and he headed to find Gail who was feeding Regan at the time and he actually remembered to say “happy birthday mummy” when he handed them over which is great progress as he usually plays all coy and pretends to be shy at these times. I reminded him that there was a present as well and left them to it as I went to get dressed. On returning I could find no present but he had brought the pen I gave him to write the card the night before to show his mum. She was only allowed to look at it though. It was a charity pen I bought which I did not realise lit up a heart on the end as you wrote. I gave the pen to Kyle and he has guarded it venomously since. I think it is hidden somewhere in his room now! I eventually persuaded him that that was not really what I meant when I said present and that he should go and get the “big stick thing” for mum. He eventually managed to present Gail with a Manfrotto 690b monopod. It took some searching to find in downtown Auckland but I think it has gone down well. The Nikon D200 is a fantastic camera but sometimes it needs just a little extra stability to get the best from it. On our visit to Orakeikorako, Gail was bemoaning the lack of suitable resting places to take good shots and that she really needed a monopod, tripod being to fiddly and time consuming to set up for all but exceptional circumstances. She has one now so I hope it will help next time. The journey into Auckland after drop off was almost the complete contrast to yesterday. There were no hold ups to speak of and even though I never dropped Kyle and Regan off until 7:40 (10 minutes later than I could have) I was parked up and ready to start work by 8:15. If only it was like that every day! I listened to the news on the radio to hear that there was going to be some industrial action regarding bus companies and decided that I would stick to driving in for now! It reminded me of the times either the train or bus staff decided to take industrial action in Edinburgh and the mayhem that caused (plus of course some of the super human efforts that some people took to get to work - I even took the bus on some occasions) The work day itself began to feel familiar even after only a couple of days. It got me thinking about how we work in an office and how office etiquette is so well established, as I filled up the printer with paper. Here I was doing the same thing I would be doing anywhere on the globe (well within reason of course) knowing exactly what needs done to keep the office moving. The rules are there and are mostly common sense but it made me realise why things were gelling so quickly. I have been getting some real work to do as well which is probably assisting here since I am seeing familiar issues and problems. Wouldn’t be much of a job without issues and problems though and it is not a complaint. My coffee did not taste quite so good today and I think it is probably just the fact that I am still not quite into the routine yet of getting up so early and was not feeling 100% anyway. It may also explain why the NZ spec keyboard layout was driving me nuts. Gail is having similar issues and it does not help that we come home to UK keyboard layouts. The main issue is not the lack of £ key but the swapping of the ” and @ keys. Gail is a very good (and quick) typist and I can see why she is having issues (she rarely looks at either screen or keyboard as she types, it is quite a trick) I also had a visit to the data centre today which even though I was not expecting much I was still shocked at the size or rather lack of size. I have built bigger test environments for a single project than the entire production infrastructure. It is going to be different here but I do not think it is a bad thing. There is most definitely more efficient use of resources going on here which I actually support. I guess it is all about making the most of what is available. Time will tell. My calender is beginning to fill up rapidly now as well so I think my ease in time is coming to an abrupt end and I never even got to log into my play pc!!! We were all too fried tonight to do anything really special for Gail so we will take some time out at the weekend to do something nice. For various reasons we have not really had much time to ourselves over the past few weeks with new jobs and cars etc. so we are all looking forward to doing something different.

Better Late Than Never!

admin — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 12:34:26 +0000

I decided it was about time I actually put some content on the site since I spent so long getting it going before we headed out to NZ. We have been rather busy with life and getting things set up over here and as Gail has been doing the general updates about what we have been up to it is time I started doing my own stuff.

We have been here for 2 month now and it feels like we have been here for a long time but on looking back I think we have actually done quite a lot of stuff. Some of the things were not pleasant and we could have done without them such as the issues we had with the first house but overall the experience has been a very good one. We have taken the positives out of the experience and are at least familiar with what is involved in moving house here so should help with the next move to our own house when we find it!

Another reason that I needed to get this up and running is that I now have a job. Gail managed to sail into a contract job at Vodafone pretty much as soon as she started looking for work. My path to employment however, has been a little more drawn out but it is now almost time to start now and looking back I don’t think it has really taken us too long to get on our feet here.