Nothing Important

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I just felt like noting that I installed Fedora Core 1 on my linux server in order to deal with the whole want-photos-but-can’t-have-it thing. This, in the hopes of getting the latest, shiniest version of PHP running without recompiling the kernel or Apache or something.

So, like, I burn the CDs and install the OS and do all the configuration–which sounds like it’s not a big deal, but it doing it all in my spare time means that I get it done in weekly hour-long increments. That ends up looking like this:

==

Week 1
Backup choice config files on the server
Week 2
Download images
Week 3
Ask a friend to burn images to CDs
Week 4
Install the OS

==

So, starting around Week 4 is when I have to deal without some amenities–like a print server or family intranet box or home file server. Mild irritations, all of them. What compounds the issue, though, is that the OS was not as easy an install as previous versions of RedHat Linux. I finish the install, start up the box and let it sit while I go to sleep.

A couple of nights later, I try to SSH into the box while I’m doing other stuff. It doesn’t work. Hm.

A couple of nights after that, I log in locally and try to do a sanity check: /etc/rc.d/init.d/network restart. Ah. The NIC card is crapping out. Must have fried it or something.

A few more days go by. I pop a network card from an old NAT box I had lying around and see if that works. It should–it’s a 3Com card, only the most ubiquitous brand of personal networking hardware in the 1990s. Restart the server. Same error–only for both cards this time. Hm.

Dig, dig, dig. Okay, there’s a Fedora bug with 3Com cards. Like, all of them. I try to work a suggested workaround, only to discover–sorry!–my preferred text editor isn’t available in Fedora. Not knowing any better, I tried using the echo command to recreate my modules.conf file. Copy the file to /etc and shutdown -r now. The server starts up, and the NIC cards are still bolloxed.

The other day Sarah got me talking about what it’s like to create information technology. I told her that the best analogy I could come up with is that it’s like dragging these Platonic ideals out of the atmosphere of my mind and into a grittier, substantial reality. Inevitably, compromises are made along the way and the product of these efforts often never quite as beautiful or perfect as they were in their abstraction.

This, though, is getting ridiculous. At this point, I have no love for an open source OS that neither recognizes the vast majority of desktop networking hardware, nor includes one of the most commonly-used text editors in the Unix world. Any distro suggestions would be helpful. Of utmost importance to me right now is the ability to navigate the command line quickly and easily, simple-to-use upgrading (like apt-get perhaps?), and all the file-serving, intranet hosting, print-sharing stuff I mentioned before.

18 thoughts on “Nothing Important”

  1. Dude… Computers suck! Did you see that beast I dropped off at Jode’s? I was just fed up with dealing with it and now my home feels 10 times better just not having that constant headache sitting there! Computers are evil dude!
    I wish I could help you out with this stuff though. But all that tech jargon that goes along with Linux just makes my head spin. Ever think about converting back to Windowism *grumbles… Linux Heathens….*?

    LOL, that was a joke… I have no idea why Linux is better or why Windows sucks more than Red Hat… though I could sure use a red hat to wear…

    Later bro.

  2. The trick to the whole computers are evil thing is to make the linux stuff non-critical. Make it fun to explore, instead of neccessary. By this, I mean “Get a Mac”(tm)

    This revolutionary product will allow productivity and ease of use in your home while relegating your other systems to that of “test bed” and “junk box” which can be used for “messing around” with other, lesser, systems.

    Or you could just go with a distro that isn’t fedora core 1. Such as fedora core 2. Or sourcemage, if you are feeling wacky. ;)

  3. Try White Box Enterprise Linux 3.0 [the open-source variant of RHEL], rock solid, stable, and it works. Easy to update with yum, and is really nice. I love it :)

  6. Ken:

    Sorry to hear about your troubles with 3com cards. Which model are they? There are some issues with the older isa cards from time to time. I’ve got Fedora RC 1 on 2 machines right now, both have integrated 3com cards (905′s) and they seem to work fine.

    Which test editor is lacking? (Your link doesn’t seem to be working). Both emacs and vi are there. Not sure what other editor you’d want ;-)

    Don’t hold out loving linux just because of Fedora RC1. Its only one distro out of hundreds. Linux is not the best OS out there for every task, but no OS can cover them all. For both servers and a desktop linux isn’t a bad choice (Though, it isn’t nearly as ellegant as MacOS X for desktop ;-) )

    Sean:

    A system is only as secure as the administrator makes it. If a machine can be accessed into remotely, it can be cracked. OpenBSD is no more or less secure than linux, if the time is taken to properly setup the box and updates are applied as they become avialable.

    arguably, a windows server could be made to be just as secure as linux or openBSD. though, the time/effort to do so would be considerable in comparison.

  8. Ryan, I would love to buy a Mac, I really would. But, as it is, I’m looking for dirt-cheap solutions, which is why I’m trying to install an OS published in 2004 on a machine that rolled off the assembly line in 1998. As for sourcemage, isn’t that just a touch masochistic? ;-)

  9. Instead of pico/pine, which has a ton of dependencies and is bloated, try nano. It’s free, small, works just like pico, and has some nice enhancements like syntax highlighing (!) and better large file handling. http://www.nano-editor.org/

  11. Ken – Debian is fairly straight forward.
    It will not install on its own, but follow along with the documentation and you will be fine.
    Email me directly and I can guide you through and explain some of Debians differences.

    altp – I agree on the “A system is only as secure as the administrator makes it” point.
    OpenBSD happens to focus on security as a default.
    And yes a Windows server can be very secure, but it takes a lot of work.

  12. Ken – I know. I am just teasing on the mac thing. I don’t think Mac’s are the end all solution either. Just the system du jour.

    Source Mage is AWESOME. It’s not masochistic at all. You start with a small, stable, well built base. You add only what you want. It configures most of it, and you tweak the rest. You dont have to dig from the top down to get where you want. You just build it from bottom up, using simple, automated tools. It’s the distro I run at the moment. I used to run the entire project actually, and only left because I was getting burned out. It’s worth a look. far easier to deal with than gentoo and such.

  15. Ken, you need to stop whining about computer stuff, finish the new site design, and write some real entries in your usual witty style of pseudo-narrative. There’s my two cents (I’d give you all of me to know what you were thinkin’). – Tom

  16. At this point, i’d settle for no new site design, no witty narrative style, and just an entry on anything in particular.

    Where’d ya go Ken?

  18. LOL. Touche.

    Thats the thing though – be careful of setting your bar too high. Do the bare minimum. I mean, you posted all the time.. so now I am thinking its been ages. Meanwhile, my site used to be very infrequent.. so it wasnt a big deal.

    Course, I have posted a bit more recently, so maybe I need to stop before people start thinking I have a pace like you are supposed to. ;P