Author: Tommy

OpenWRT installed

linux : by Tommy — April 3rd 2006, 03:21PM
linuxThis has to be the hands-down easiest mod I've undertaken. I read last year about the OpenWRT team playing with linux on the Linksys WRT54G router. Cool, but not much use to me (especially since I had a wireless router at the time and didn't even need wireless!).

Well, as many of you know, last holiday season, Jennifer and I got a laptop. It has wireless built in, so, obviously the next step is to get a wireless router. I bought a cheap router from a goon on SA-Mart for next to nothing. (It had a few problems, so it didn't really do the job.)

After looking around at several stores for a good router, I finally found a pre-5.0 serial number WRT54G at Office Depot. They price matched WalMart, so I bought it and took it home. I downloaded the proper .bin image for the 4.0 model that I bought. I hooked up the router, connected the laptop, uploaded the new image and voila! OpenWRT was installed.

Package management is very straight forward and the system is layed out the same as any other linux system - so it was easy to get around.
So far, all I have installed is the WakeOnLAN, NTP client(which checks time at midnight) and I have MAC cloning setup on the WAN.

New Computer Time

hardware : by Tommy — March 24th 2006, 09:32AM
hardwareWell, it's that time again. That time when I've been wanting to upgrade, but was putting it off until I both needed and absolutely had to, and until I had the money to go for an all-out new system. (Something I haven't done in years.)

With the Athlon64s on the market at very reasonable prices, I'm pretty sure I'm going to go that route, this will require a new motherboard and RAM - and probably a power supply as well. Heck, might as well throw in a new video card and case while I'm at it. A new HD wouldn't hurt (I'm only on 80Gb right now - and the campus network has plenty more goods that I want).

Why do I have to upgrade? Well, my power supply is the culprit. I've been having issues playing any game for the past month or so. The system seems to "hiccup" (the fans slow then speed back up) and the system never recovers. I believe this is the system requiring more power than the PS can provide. It could be just a single back component drawing too much current, but I've swapped processors, RAM and video cards.
I haven't swapped motherboard or power supplies, simply because I haven't had a spare...

I recently found this price guide from digg, and it really got me thinking about a new system. Then last night the machine hiccuped again, but I wasn't in game. My birthday is in a few weeks, tax return should be in by that time, and I think it's about time* I got a new system. (*Nothing's changed in this system in almost 2 years - and that was because I worked at AMD!)

Any specific hardware suggestions or packaged deals you know of?

Grendel sez: Besides, now that I know what newegg looks like on the inside, I can envision my parts coming down the conveyor belt and getting the peanut gun treatment.

AIM SDK Released

programming : by Tommy — March 6th 2006, 07:50AM
programmingPrepare the the onslaught of new web-clients, new client releases/updates, plugins, website AIM widgets, and countless computer magazine articles on how to write your own AIM client. AOL has released the AOL Instant Messenger SDK for public use. This is just one of thousands of articles hailing its release. It's been a long time coming, several years that I've been watching for it. When IM clients decided to use one protocol last year sometime, I thought the released of the SDK would be right along side the protocol decision.
I haven't looked at it yet, but I'll probably wait til someone else reads the documentation and comes up with a more friendly HOWTO. (Besides, I really don't care to write my own IM client anyways.)

Oliver North

news : by Tommy — March 2nd 2006, 08:47PM
newsOliver NorthThis evening Col. Oliver North came to LeTourneau University to speak on behalf of East Texans Against Lawsuit Abuse. (I hadn't heard of them either) Tickets to the event were $40 per person! (Free if you're a LeTourneau student)

Colonel North spoke of the misrepresentation of the current state of Iraq in the mainstream media and other misrepresentations put on by the highly sensational media. He shared some of his experiences as an embedded reporter in Iraq, his thoughts on the current state of affairs here in the US, the importance of the military and the honor our troops deserve. He joked about his employment with Fox News, made sly references to CNN and the liberal press, as well as gave candid wisdom gathered from his experiences. The talk was entertaining and enlightening. Plus I got a picture with him!

C is for Cookies

neodux : by Tommy — February 9th 2006, 07:03PM
neoduxThat's right sports fans, Neodux now supports cookies. No longer will you need to login on each visit. Login once, and you're good for a month.

I'll probably rework it in the future, but for now it seems to work decently. Hope you like it. Remember, any other ideas and/or problems you have with neodux, post in the Neodux Sux forum. Enjoy!

Update: Just added the search box. It's very crude and simple, but it'll help if you're trying to find an old post. Just don't try anything fancy.

Update #2: For anyone that has logged in and is using cookies, currently; or if you see "Bad password" in the upper left-hand corner... You need to relogin, which you may have realized if you're reading this. I just encrypted the password stored in your cookie. (Should be a little more secure.)