Graftark Tech enthusiast and all around nerd/geek.

9Jul/100

Has it really been that long?

I suppose it has. Well, my twitterbot worked but is currently off-line as I have re-imaged the server and have yet to put it back on.

I'm still using that old Panasonic Toughbook as the server. It's been a good Linux learning tool. I have been playing around with some of the Turnkey Linux appliances in VirtualBox and really enjoying the fact that they've gone through the trouble of installing all sorts of software on top of Ubuntu server 8.04. I have used the LAMP, Drupal, Joomla and a couple of others. I liked the LAMP one enough to download the iso and install it on the Toughbook.

Now, some may say "but you could just install Ubuntu server yourself and get all that running." While that is true the Turnkey was just so easy that it let me get in and focus on some other things I wanted to work on.

I think this will be as far as I go tonight... I am actually testing the WordPress app for Android. Hey, it gets a post up here and that's good in my book.

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17Mar/100

TwitterBot Experiment

Thanks to my wife I have a subscription to Linux Journal which I look forward to every month. In the magazine there is a section call 'Work the Shell' by Dave Taylor. This section deals with all sorts of shell scripting goodness.

I started to follow along month to month as he showed how to interact with twitter via shell script culminating in a fully working twitter bot that can parse it's stream and send replies to queries that were sent to it. This really piqued my interest as I see potential in what a twitter bot can do in regard to my job. So I am setting out to adapt his shell script to fit my needs.

I have finally got the script running after a few edits to match my directory structure and also had to re-learn how to set up a cron job. Now begins the task of customizing the script to add the functionality that I need.

This has been a fun way to dive back into shell scripts after not really doing anything with the shell since that as I am trying to learn Linux to be able to be more than just a user.

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5Dec/070

Time is not on my side… an update

Once again it has been a couple of months since I last posted here at my blog. I suppose that a little explanation is due (for my one sometime reader, thanks for stopping by). I have been quite busy between work and school. So much of my time is being consumed by work, with all the overtime and massive quantities of servers that need to be produced, that my classes have taken a very noticable performance hit. One might ask, "Chris, if you're so busy, why aren't you doing your homework right now?" I wish it were that simple you see, I'm actually writing this post from work, having a little break. I'm actually posting from my nifty new little device a Nokia N800, which I'll talk a bit more about a little later.

Nervous Reflex, my other website, has become something of a project as of late and I find that I am finally getting it to be what I want it to be yet it remains a bit out of reach. I set up an installation of WordPress MU that will allow users to create their own blogs right inside the site. This keeps in line with the original premise of the site's mission, to seek out and exploit strange new bloggers. To be honest I envision Nervous Reflex being a community of gaming enthusiasts; developers and gamers alike. I need to get some spam issues taken care of prior to opening up the site, that and find some decent themes. Oh! And a way to get most recent blog posts to appear on the front page.

Okay, now on to my new toy... err... tool. I had bought an older Toshiba laptop which I thought would cure my ever growing need, not need really more of an insanely nagging want. I soon found out that lugging around a damn near eight pound computer was totally the opposite of what I really wanted in portability. I always had the pleasure to talk tech with a co-worker and one of the gadgets he discovered was the Nokia N800. Since then it's been at the top of my wish-list until the day I had enough of that weighty monstrosity I called a laptop. If you read the older posts about my eBay crap-fest you know the trouble I went through just to get the thing sold. Here's the deal with that, I had done some research and I discovered that I could get nearly $400 for the laptop, which I did. At the time the N800 was selling for just under that but within the time it took to sell the laptop the N800 went through it's price drop and I ended up paying $270 for it, shipped. I made a profit! That was the first sign that this was a terrific purchase.

Right now I am writing this post on the tablet and I am loving this device. I intend to do much more blogging now that I can always have great tool for it in my pocket. I really want to write more at length about my experiences with the N800 but that will be at a later date.

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10Oct/070

Can I write efficiently on my 8125

Can I write efficiently on my 8125? That's what this post is intended to find out. I am using the Transcriber functionality built into Windows Mobile. I had to go through the alphabet and show it how I write my letters. It seems to handle it alright, thought_ don't think it will replace normal Keyboard use it is kind of interesting /X see how it reads my writing which is sloppy at best. ) did sterl off by editing the post as errors Come up but Shane decided that the best thing to do is just letit go. slhatway we will see just how well this interprets my writing.

I do have to mention how well w,hdows mobile handles spelling erroos. of Course. as Iwrite that a hand. full desi -cide to show up. See ing all these mistakes makes use wonder just how usefull all this is. It is quite fun though... (onqi vs zz precursors poros slice) -> Random Squiggles

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10Oct/070

eBay crap-fest.

So, I have this laptop that I am looking to find a new home for. this is the type of thing that goes on all the time at eBay, right?

Apparently not, it seems that the hallowed halls of eBay have become a haven for scammers. I have put this laptop up for auction seven times now each time the winning bid has come in from a scammer and eBay has taken down the listing. These people put in last second bids making it damn near impossible to use the function eBay gives you to remove bidders. I grow weary of this re-occurring and am now looking to sell the thing through other means. Craigslist comes to mind as does the paper.

I wonder if all this activity has anything to do with the recent hack of eBay. I sold my X-Box smoothly and without issue a while back and was pleased with the whole operation. Now I have doubts as to whether I'll use eBay ever again. I don't like the idea of putting something up for sale so many times.

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