Random Patterns

Please note that all blog posts before 8 April 2007 were automatically imported from LiveJournal.  To see the comments and any LiveJournal-specific extras such as polls and user icons, please find the source posting at http://brianenigma.livejournal.com/2003/05/

Yesterday, Tim swapped the labels at work.

The power supply on the MP3 backup server died the other day. Instead of fixing it, I ended up getting an external firewire disk enclosure, put one of the 80 giggers in there, and plugged that into the desktop. I still have to figure out if I will do the same with the other. This proves to be a good solution because all of my rsync backup scripts still work (with a few path changes) going from Redhat Linux to OS X. If/when I upgrade the desktop, I can just unplug all the drives and plug them into the new system–and send the old one over to my parents. I have always said that what the world needs is a stable Unix operating system that is easy enough for my mom to use, and guess what? This is easy enough for my mom.

Speaking of the OS of X. It has proven very difficult to get a USB-to-Serial adaptor that is compatible with OS X. I finally had one recommended to me (from a company called Keyspan), but have yet to get one. I really want to write a protocol stack for the GPS, but being able to plug in the GPS is a pretty big first step.

Downloading Unreal 2003 demo right now. wget is good. Also: downloading Gridz, which seems to be like a virtual battlebot type of thing. Now I sound like a computer gamer. No, I generally hate computer games. Unreal always looks really good, though, so I am checking that out and will probably delete it in a few days. Grids looks to be a nifty little puzzle-type thing, so I’ll try that out.
I generally HATE the LiveJournal question thingeys that get circulated around, but this time I am making an exception. This one actually is kind of cool… (stolen from )

  1. When did you first connect (“go online”), and how?
    It was the mid 80’s on an old 4.77MHz IBM PC computer (one that originally had two single-sided 180K floppy drives, but was later upgraded to 360K drives and a 10M hard drive), with a 300 baud modem.
  2. What was your first communications program?
    I think it was Telex, but it might have been ProCom. It was all about the 80×24 (plus one line of status bar) DOS text-mode terminal.
  3. When did you first chat over the internet, and how?
    I am going to guess it was using the Unix “talk” program, but it could have been IRC. At the very least, I do know that I used “talk” more frequently. If we are going to drop “internet” from the question, then the first time I chatted on the computer was on various local chat BBSs. The absolute first one had a multi-user text-based computer game (like Zork or Adventure, but with more people). I do not remember the name of the BBS or the game, but I do remember picking up a lot of garnets and emeralds.
  4. What chat programs do you use now?
    Mostly Fire for OS X, but sometimes Trillian for the PC.
  5. Who was your first service provider?
    What? Legally? I think it might have been Kaiwan. After that, it was UC Irvine, then Exo, then Cyberverse.
  6. Did you ever use AOL?
    On a long-term basis? No. I burned through a bunch of 1-month trials when I worked at Radio Shack. Way back then, there was no real-time online credit card processing, so you could just use a program to generate a mathematically correct sequence of numbers (I wrote several such programs). That way, you could use the trial membership, without a credit card, and you would not be caught until the end of the month’s billing cycle, at which point you use a new trial membership.
  7. Do you admit using AOL in public?
    Did I not just answer this with the previous question?
  8. Who is your current ISP
    Cyberverse. They had some pretty serious outage questions recently that both and I can attest to, so they do not get a direct link. I also still have a shell account over at ExoCom.
  9. Computer that you used to access the ‘net originally?
    A 4.77 MHz IBM PC (see above), and then a Commodore Amiga, both originally at 300 bps, but later upgraded to a 1200, then a 1400.
  10. What computer do you use to access the ‘net today?
    A 1 GHz Powerbook with wireless (802.11b and Bluetooth) at 1.5Mbps. That is roughly 20,900% faster in the CPU speed (although the G4 is faster than the Intel chip, that is comparing snails to jackrabbits), and 500,000% faster in bandwidth.
  11. What was your first ‘net handle?
    Enigma
  12. Did you use any other handles for any length of time? If so, what were they?
    I used Compute for a little while, as well as Regal, but mostly I stuck with Enigma because there was not another in the 714.
  13. What ‘net handle do you normally use now?
    Because it turns out there were lots of Enigmas on the internet, once past the 714 and 310 area codes (the 949 did not yet exist), that got lengthened to Brian Enigma, then shortened to BriEnigma because a lot of systems do not like the space or the length.
  14. Are you active on any web sites other than LJ? If you’re willing to say, what ones?
    I guess “active” needs to be defined. I generally visit a number of sites, but generally do not post much. Hosted by others, Slashdot, Memepool, Joy of Tech, Penny-Arcade, Megatokyo, and Explodingdog. Hosted by me: Netninja, Diedrich’s, and various sites that are more related to fads than anything and are slowly being wound down like Am I Geek or Not?, AllYourBase, Wheel of Food, AltaVista Alumni, and various others.
Posted in: Dear Diary

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