I just spotted via kernelplanet that Greg Kroah-Hartman has released a new book, Linux Kernel in a Nutshell. Sounds like an interesting book, particularly as it’s freely available on-line too. I’ll probably end up buying a copy if I like the look of the on-line version, I hate reading from a computer screen. Worth checking out if you’re interested in the Linux kernel.
I can find no other way of describing the FIAs decision to use Microsoft as the sole supplier of ECUs in Formula 1 cars from 2008-2010. The very thought sends a cold shiver down my spine. I’m lucky enough to be invited by Honda to Goodwood, Festival of Speed again this year. If I get the chance to have a chat with any engineers, it’ll certainly be a subject I’ll be discussing.
Grifferz was kind enough to respond to my blog entry on the UKUUG, thanks for your comments. I’ve had a longer think about this now. A quick scan of the previous events list shows a big bias towards events in the South and I’ve not heard anything that indicates this policy will change in the near future. As this makes attending the events pretty tricky, I’ll be dropping the membership.
Are you a member of UKUUG, the UK Unix User Group?
My membership is now overdue and I’m wondering whether to renew or not. Personally, I feel the benefits, which include a quaterly newsletter, bi-annual conferences and book discounts, simply don’t offset the 40 pounds per yer fee.
The newsletters always look dated, particularly the news section, due to its quaterly publication schedule and the fact that the internet provides up to the minute news from any one of a million sites. The reviews section also seems inferior compared to the rich results provided from a quick google on any subject imagineable.
The bi-annual conferences could be of interest, but none of the events (that I’m aware of) have been anywhere near my location.
The book discounts are also rendered useless by sites such as amazon and www.compman.co.uk that usually end up working out cheaper even without the UKUUG discount.
If you’re a member (or an ex-member!) of the UKUUG, I would be interested to hear your views. As it stands, I don’t think I’ll be renewing my membership this year.. To put the annual membership cost in to perspective, I could buy an entire years subscription to Linux Magazine for less..
This is the last thing you want to see when you’re 160 miles away from home. Read on for an explaination.
As blogged previously, I had decided to make the journey over from Yorkshire to Birmingham to attend the first PHPWM meet. The journey went really well, taking just under 2 1/2 hours and unusually for me, I didn’t get lost. (Although somehow I did manage to take the scenic route on the return journey heading down the M6 in the wrong direction.) (The penny dropped when I noticed signs for Wales!)
The day took a nasty turn though shortly after I parked up after arriving in Birmingham. Noticing that it was a bit chilly, I pressed the boot release button and went to the boot (or trunk for any american readers) to get a fleece jumper. I took the jumper out, put it on and closed the boot door at which point I noticed the familiar ‘click’ and indicator lights flashing suggesting that the car was locked. And it was. Turns out the car I was driving automatically locks itself, like a lot of modern cars these days. Unfortunately though, this car wasn’t smart enough to realise the keys were still in the car. So there I was, miles away from home with a company car and the keys locked inside.
Luckily the car has RAC cover so I called home and asked them for the breakdown number which I promptly called, around 6:30pm. The first question asked was ‘What is your policy number?’ to which I replied, ‘I’m not sure as it’s locked inside the car,’ The second question asked was, ‘Is it your car?’ At this point I realised it was going to be an interesting conversation.. I replied ‘No, it’s a company car’ thinking that the registration plate combined with the name of my work place would suffice. But as it turns out, the car is not registered to my work place, it’s registered to a leasing company. Anyway, 30 minutes later they decided to send someone on the condition that the policy number was quoted as soon as the car was unlocked. Fair enough I thought. ‘It will be 75 minutes’ seemed a bit long to be, especially as I was in the centre of a big city. TWO HOURS later the guy turns up. Through a combination of embarrasement, exhaustion and annoyance I decided not to make a fuss about having to wait two hours. The guy that turned up was very polite and didn’t seem hassled by ‘another locked car.’ Turns out they attend cars with keys locked inside them several times a day, or maybe he just said that to make me feel better. 
Fifteen minutes later the car was open again and the RAC guy was off (without checking the policy number.) I had a brisk walk up to the meet but I must of just missed everyone. Gutted. Hopefully I’ll make it to the next one!
I think I’ll just have to put this episode down to ‘life experience’…
I might not live in the West Midlands, yet I’ve still found the West Midlands PHP User Group mailing list to be a useful resource. The list has covered a diverse selection of topics ranging from MVC frameworks, PHP development environments through to discussions around source control systems. I would highly recommend any PHP developers join the list. With a growing user base it was suggested that we look at a meeting and Open Advantage have stepped forward providing a venue. I’ve been toying with the idea of attending since the meeting was annonuced but the (near) 5 hours of travelling time it will involve for the round trip kept putting me off. Well, I decided today to just bite the bullet and give it a go. Thankfully work has been very supportive, providing both a car and expenses for a hotel room if the night runs on. (In the typical, technical geeky meeting ending in a pub sort of fashion.) David Goodwin from Pale Purple will be talking about Smarty. (Smarty is a templating engine that seperates content from business logic.) I’ve never used Smarty on a mission critical site before and it will be interesting to hear Davids experiences with it, both from the developer point of view and how the people who look after the templates find it. Also talking is Elliot Smith on Eclipse and Jake Stride on Enterprise Groupware Server. Should make for a superb evening, really looking forward to it.
Since 1st December 2003 it has been illegal to use a hand-held mobile phone in the UK while driving. I say ‘hand-held’ as the legislation was a bit murky to begin with but the basic rule is that you cannot pickup the phone at any point while the engine is on, even if the car is stationary. Handsfree kits are fine so long as the phone is not held by the driver.
People that drive while talking on their mobile phones has always bugged me. It usually results in the driver going slower than normal or weaving across lanes. Last night I followed one home in the former category. In a national speed limit (60mph) the driver was hovering just over 40mph while yapping away on the mobile, causing a huge tailback of traffic that was unable to overtake safely. I was about 4 cars behind the offender and you could see the drivers in the cars behind getting worked up, weaving and tailgating each other while attempting to get past. Worse still, as everybody slowed when going through a village, it became clear the car had a baby in the passenger seat too. Words escape me.. It’s not big and it’s not clever.. don’t do it, please.
I’m sure the regulars on #lugradio will of noticed my extended leave over the past few weeks (months?!). I’ve just been snowed under with work. We’ve had some major problems with a couple of our servers. Both are over 6 years old and hugely overloaded, as a result they’re bursting at the seams. We also had our first network downtime since installing Cisco kit, 3 years without issue isn’t too bad I suppose. We’re also putting in a new Lotus Domino server, training starting next week, should be fun. 
Had an interview lack week for a Linux Sysadmin post. The interview went really well and the business seemed to be going in the right direction. It was also obvious that their infrastructure had huge potential for expansion, something I would relish. Unfortunately I didn’t get the job. But then again, neither did anyone else. After interviewing they decided that they didn’t really need someone full time and have taken on an existing contractor 1 day a week to do the work. Business wise it’s a sensible choice, it was fairly obvious that it wouldn’t be a full time job managing under 10 servers. Although it would of given lots of time for research and development of their systems.. The search continues..
PS - Anyone fancy lending a hand tidying up our server room?
Finally! We now have a venue for our May 2007 wedding. We’ll be getting married at Sledmere House, a local stately home. The grounds are pretty stunning. Al was delighted to see that our tour of the venue clashed with a local hunt meet. Thankfully my recently purchased 1Gb 133x SD card came in good use. I was pretty pleased with the pictures from the S80, it was pretty dull and overcast but the pictures still have clarity. Impressive.
Windows Vista x64 To Require Signed Drivers
Very bad news for interoperability and user rights. There’s quite a few Open Source projects around providing Windows drivers, the one that immediately springs to mind is OpenVPN. Hope this isn’t the end of the line for their Windows driver.
