More hay, and Alpha bits, now with added Meme

[altivo]

Another (hopefully the last load for this year) of hay arrived late yesterday. So we have another 160 bales to find space for. That's another 4+ tons to be moved off the wagon and into somewhere to keep it.

At work I connected up the other Alpha, a DS10 that was the former production server, and booted it up. Unlike the test server I now have at home, the old production server took right off and booted because I could still tell which drives to connect to it. As I expected it came up with Digital's Tru64 UNIX. Unfortunately, I have no console passwords to get into it. Technically I can't keep and run the system as it stands anyway, because we are no longer licensed for either the OS or the applications that reside on there. Still, it might make reformatting the drives easier if I could get in there long enough to see the LVM setup they currently have. I've inquired to see whether I can get the old password from anyone, but I suspect it's unlikely.

We will be wiping those disks one way or another and loading Linux onto this machine. Apparently the choices are CentOS 4.2 (not quite current, the Intel version is up to 4.5 now, but it does have a 2.6.x kernel and various extra security packages integrated,) an older version of Debian (again the most recent ones are 80x86 only,) or something called "Core 2" which is apparently a port of Fedora Core 5 and I think I want nothing to do with that one. So it's CentOS or Debian. I will be putting Apache and scripting languages on the machine to support a web site that may include such things as book discussion forums (NOT phpbb, I'll have to find something else) and a blog-style setup for the libraries to announce their current events schedules.

Twenty questions stolen from aerofox:
Have you ever...
1. ...drawn adult art? (Or if you're not an artist, do you have any adult art on your hard drive?) Yes to both

2. ...downloaded an MP3 or movie illegally? No, never

3. ...tried ANY illicit substances? (Legal ones like booze and cigs don't count.) LSD twice in 1977 and 1978, marijuana twice in 1979. Never figured out the point of either one though.

4. ...had sex? (By sex I mean, y'know, intercourse.) XD Are you kiddin'? Who'd want to do such a nasty thing? [Of course, silly]

5. ...voted in an election? Yes. Generally any candidate I vote for is doomed.

6. ...gotten beat up in a fight? Long ago, yes. Not that I was fighting, but getting beaten up, yes.

7. ...been off your home continent? Nope.

8. ...been to summer camp as a kid? I worked as a counselor one summer when I was in college, but no, never went as a kid myself.

9. ...shot a live firearm? No desire to do so.

10. ...been arrested or cited for anything by a cop? (Just being stopped and/or lectured doesn't count.) Once. For riding a motorcycle over 35 mph without goggles. It was in 1971.

11. ...thought about running away from home when you were a kid? Threatened once or twice, never did it.

12. ...stolen anything? (Petty 'borrowing' of office supplies doesn't count.) "Salvaged" stuff that was being thrown out, mostly, but without asking permission.

13. ...been in a situation where you were afraid for your life? Only in retrospect. The actual situations always happened too fast to think about it while they were in progress.

14. ...had a pet? (Virtual pets don't count.) Many, many... In fact, I have many, many right now.

15. ...owned a video game system? Nope. Several microcomputers capable of playing games, but never an actual dedicated game console or system.

16. ...had a piercing? My left earlobe, that's the only one.

17. ...had a tattoo? (Temporary/henna tattoos don't count.) Nope.

18. ...felt angry enough at someone to wish them bodily harm? Oh, probably once or twice.

19. ...lied about something important to your parent(s)? Probably, but I can't recall the specifics, so I got away with it.

20. ...had a crush on a fictional character? Oh dear. Too many times. It's so dumb, but it still happens.

Comments

[duskwuff.livejournal.com]

Between those two, Debian. CentOS is a RHEL clone without Red Hat support - the one thing that makes RHEL bearable.

(Yes, I have a lot of HatRed for RedHat.)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I don't care for RedHat either. But... I've used the old 5.x and 6.x versions quite a lot and can live with that and not need their support. The last available Debian version for Alpha looks pretty stale. Getting a 2.6 kernel seems desirable and no, again, given that this is an Alpha, I don't want to build my own.

Nothing really complicated is needed, thank goodness. Basic OS with network support, Apache, perl, python, and php will just about do it. Oh, with whatever security features I can implement, of course. Unneeded network features, such as Samba, named, smtp, and rpc will be stripped from the system. Not just turned off, but uninstalled or deleted wherever possible. Linux plus Alpha probably confers a little safety edge anyway. Most hacks are created to run on an 80x86 in some way.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Correction. I was wrong, apparently I got some bad information. It seems that the current Debian is available for the Alpha after all, so I'll be evaluating it as well as Cent)S. At least, as soon as I can get control of the RAID tower. It's a Compaq RA3000 hardware RAID, and seems to need to be reconfigured using software that runs on Windows but is no longer available. So far I haven't found the answer to that. The RAID system did have driver and console support in OpenVMS and DEC Unix, but that software is no longer available either. It looks like quite a decent piece of hardware, but this sort of thing may turn it into a large and heavy paperweight.

[keeganfox.livejournal.com]

Have you ever...
1. ...drawn adult art? (Or if you're not an artist, do you have any adult art on your hard drive?) Nope.
2. ...downloaded an MP3 or movie illegally? Yarrr! The .mp stands for Music Pirate!
3. ...tried ANY illicit substances? (Legal ones like booze and cigs don't count.) Not intentionally.
4. ...had sex? (By sex I mean, y'know, intercourse.) Yes.
5. ...voted in an election? Yes.
6. ...gotten beat up in a fight? Too many times...
7. ...been off your home continent? Of course. I'm waiting for the question "Have you ever been off the planet?"
8. ...been to summer camp as a kid? Boy Scouts, so quite a few times.
9. ...shot a live firearm? Happiness is belt fed!
10. ...been arrested or cited for anything by a cop? (Just being stopped and/or lectured doesn't count.) Speeding usually.
11. ...thought about running away from home when you were a kid? Nope, never really thought about it.
12. ...stolen anything? (Petty 'borrowing' of office supplies doesn't count.) "Recycled" things from the dumpster.
13. ...been in a situation where you were afraid for your life? Yeah, but I'm okay with that, let's me know I'm still alive. Sorta like "Fight Club" but with less explaining.
14. ...had a pet? (Virtual pets don't count.) Yes.
15. ...owned a video game system? Actually no. Computers with games, yes, but a game console, no.
16. ...had a piercing? Not intentionally.
17. ...had a tattoo? (Temporary/henna tattoos don't count.) Ouchie! No!
18. ...felt angry enough at someone to wish them bodily harm? Oh, yeah...
19. ...lied about something important to your parent(s)? I don't think so, not anything that I would consider "important" anyways.
20. ...had a crush on a fictional character? Too many times... *sigh*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Except for number 9, about which we already knew, that's a pretty darn close agreement.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I want to post my replies to these questions, but I am concerned that "attempted murder" in answer to question 10 might unduly worry you.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

LOL. Hmm, being British means you can't plead the 5th amendment doesn't it? I suppose there must be things I might say that would worry you too, but this quiz didn't stumble upon them. Post away. ;p

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

No fifth amendment. No constitution or bill of rights to amend in the first place (a bone of contention for me).

We DO have the right to silence (not to self incriminate), however it can "harm your denfence if you do not mention when questioned, something which you later rely on in court."

And in this case I was arrested for basically trying to kill a school bully after he pushed me over the edge. My parent's solicitor informed them that after years of psychological bullying by this person I would have "got off" with manslaughter through diminished responsibility. However there was no need to worry in the end as the kids parents did not press charges, and he made a full recovery.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Have you ever...
1. ...drawn adult art? (Or if you're not an artist, do you have any adult art on your hard drive?) Yes.

2. ...downloaded an MP3 or movie illegally? Yes.

3. ...tried ANY illicit substances? (Legal ones like booze and cigs don't count.) No.

4. ...had sex? (By sex I mean, y'know, intercourse.) Yes. No where never enough though. :D

5. ...voted in an election? Yes. In every one called since I was able to vote.

6. ...gotten beat up in a fight? No, but I have given someone else a good beating in a fight. The school bully. By the time I finished with him he never bullied anyone again. Not something I am proud of, but I suppose violence DOES solve problems sometimes.

7. ...been off your home continent? Yes. North America.

8. ...been to summer camp as a kid? No. We don't really have them here.

9. ...shot a live firearm? Yes.

10. ...been arrested or cited for anything by a cop? (Just being stopped and/or lectured doesn't count.) Yes. Attempted murder. See my answer to question 6. His parents did not press charges; claiming that "someone was going to teach him a lesson sooner or later". I was released without charge.

11. ...thought about running away from home when you were a kid? I actually did once.

12. ...stolen anything? (Petty 'borrowing' of office supplies doesn't count.) No.

13. ...been in a situation where you were afraid for your life? No.

14. ...had a pet? (Virtual pets don't count.) Sadly not.

15. ...owned a video game system? I've got a second hand Gamecube.

16. ...had a piercing? None.

17. ...had a tattoo? Nope.

18. ...felt angry enough at someone to wish them bodily harm? Many times. Actually inflicted it once. See my answer to question 6.

19. ...lied about something important to your parent(s)? Who hasn't?

20. ...had a crush on a fictional character? Too many to list.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, far from being worried, I can respect you for that. It's something even I should have done once or twice, though the occasions of physical bullying were rare thank goodness. Mostly I was subjected to verbal taunting (daily occurrence) and petty theft and vandalism (frequent.)

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Thanks *nuzzle*. I remember nothing of the actual incident though. Just remember being held down, covered in blood.

Funny how under the thin veneer of civilisation human beings have instincts just like every other animal. I used to tell myself I did the right thing, as it taught that guy not to pick on people, and indeed he never upset anyone else again in the final three years of school.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

You may have given a valuable lesson then. A couple of my tormentors are dead today because they never learned that.