March, 29, 2001 archives
i've spent the last couple of days getting my laptop into shape so i can take it on the road for apachecon next week. i reinstalled the operating systems, and have been tweaking the linux config to be more in line with my desktop. my goal was actually to start using the laptop as my desktop, since its actually a slightly faster machine (p2/300 vs. p2/266), although it also has less ram (64 vs. 128). i think the real showstopper is going to be the video problems, though -- the vaio can't handle driving the external monitor at better than 60hz when the lcd is also on, and xfree86 is unstable with just the external monitor. the video performance is also pretty mushy compared to the voodoo3 in my desktop.
it would have been nice to be able to get rid of a machine. if i just had an lcd monitor, the refresh rate wouldn't be an issue. maybe i should just ditch the external monitor. hmm. (that would also make it easier to sell the desktop, if i went that route.)
the laptop does have better sound than the desktop. there's too much bass and no bass control on the desktop's sound card.
if i were to sell the desktop, i'd likely put the proceeds towards a wireless access point and wireless card for the laptop and join the home-wireless-network crowd.
on the other hand, selling the laptop and upgrading the desktop may be a better route to go. i don't use the laptop all that often, and it won't be possible to upgrade that in the piecemeal fashion that i've been upgrading the desktop all these many years.
(decisions, decisions. before i sell either computer, i should really do something about the bass that's been sitting unused in my closet since college.)
so i ditched the monitor, and am now just using the laptop screen. it is a lot further away (well, a foot or so), and a little smaller, but i seem to be adjusting. and no more headache from the 60hz refresh rate.
i do need to figure out what it is that keeps blanking the screen. i suspect the bios doesn't notice the keyboard and mouse activity, since it is all usb.
i've also switched to using mozilla 0.8.1 as my browser. so far it seems to be behaving, and the performance is decent. i played with konqueror for a while, but the ugly toolbar got to me. (it's the little things.)
oh, and my replacement hard drive showed up this morning, so the next task is to fix up my server. i'll probably upgrade it to 2.4.2 while i'm at it.
brill's content and inside may merge. that would be interesting. i enjoy both publications immensely. (well, inside.com. haven't seen their magazine.)
the modemblaster is a winmodem. d'oh! back to fry's again. (and i think i threw away the aol cd that came with it. hopefully they won't hassle me. i doubt they'll notice.)
it turns out that zelerate didn't quite fold, but has five employees who are now working on something new, which won't be open-source. whatever. hopefully they'll have people who know how to code this time. i was completely disgusted by the allcommerce code whenever i poked around in it.
after reading this article from brill's content (well, i read it in print originally), i decided to check out united press international's web presence. after being thoroughly disgusted, i sent them an email (to the webmaster and sales addresses), which has so far garnered no response. my email is attached here (finally taking advantage of that 'article' support i added to my little homebrew weblog application).
date: thu, 22 mar 2001 21:54:52 -0800
to: sales@upi.com, webmaster@upi.com
subject: yikes, get a clue.
your website is terrible. what are the products? what do they cost? why are you linking to dotplanet.com, who is obviously using news feeds from moreover.com? why does your featured "business & finance" link go to an error page? is unitedstates.com really the best partner you can showcase? (never mind that your links to them are broken.) infospace.com is the only partner you're linking to which isn't flat-out embarrassing.
"unlimited possibilities and ideas" is a nice call-out, and the tie to the upi name is good. but why is the upi name buried in the footer? (do i need to tell you how 1998 "knowledge@work" is?)
if you have a proud and colorful history as it says online at http://www.upi.com/corp/about/, why don't you even link to that page on your site? hell, why aren't you proclaiming it on your front page?
do yourself a few favors:
- buy "the cluetrain manifesto" read it. take it seriously.
- look at how journalists like dan gillmor are really bringing journalism to the internet and the internet to journalism. or paul andrews. or glenn fleishman.
- if you don't have any worthwhile online partners to link to, build your own showcase.
you do have a proud and colorful history. you should have unlimited possibilities and ideas. i don't see evidence of the pride, or of the ideas. please fix that.
jim winstead
(ps. what is the "this site best view with microsoft internet explorer" crap? i don't see a difference. it is an uninspired design with any browser. and a scrolling text java applet? yeesh.)
after way too much battling with obtuse software (vgetty appears to be quite poorly maintained, and the debian-packaged version is quite old), it should be the case that my computer will answer the phone now. there's still some work to be done, like hacking in some better caller-id usage, and turning the voice mails into emails. i have plans to do something more interesting with it than a plain-old answering machine, but one battle at a time. now i can at least cancel the voice mail from the phone company.