Yearly Archives: 2010


16
One of my favorite movie lines is from the 2001 movie Bandits, starring Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton. Billy Bob plays a neurotic genius who, at one point in the movie, states “You know the hardest thing about being smart? I always pretty much know what’s going to happen next. […]

ecobee Mothership Won’t Let My Thermostat Phone Home






39
Installing the VNC server in Fedora 14 is a little bit different than I described it for Fedora 12, so here are some updated instructions for setting up VNC in Fedora 14 and connecting to it via Windows over the Internet.

How to Set Up VNC from Windows to Fedora 14 ...


27
As the owner of a couple of vacation homes in climates more extreme than Seattle’s, I’ve had plans for a while now to eventually install thermostats in those houses which I could control remotely. In the winter, I could turn on the heat at my Utah house the day before […]

Product Review: ecobee Smart Thermostat



1
If you’re using an AT&T 3G MicroCell to help boost your cell phone range, and you have your 3G MicroCell set up behind a firewall, you should set up the Quality of Service settings (more commonly referred to as QoS settings) on your router to give your voice calls the […]

Set Up QoS in Tomato or DD-WRT for AT&T 3G ...


15
UPDATE: If you’d like to run the newer OMSA 6.4, please read this updated blog post. If you’d rather install OMSA 6.3, then please continue! If you’re running a 64bit version of RHEL 5.5 or CentOS 5.5 on a slightly older Dell PowerEdge server with a PERC 4 or earlier […]

“No controllers found” fix: set up Dell OMSA 6.3 32-bit ...


I’ve been using my Drobo for a couple of years now, but not for anything “industrial strength.” I’ve had it connected to my desktop as  a storage location for music, video, and archiving old website data that I no longer need. But mostly, I just enjoyed looking at the cool […]

I have 3TB (and you don’t!) thanks to my Drobo!



With the later DRACs, like the DRAC III or DRAC 4, configuration can be a nightmare. I’ve even written a couple blog posts on the later dracs because of their complexity. You have to install software, manage dependencies, edit repository information, etc. It’s not easy, but it’s managable. But I […]

How to Configure or Reset a DRAC II Easily with ...


4
The current (as of this writing) versions of Dell’s OpenManage Server Administration software (OMSA) isn’t backward compatible with older hardware like the Dell PowerEdge 2650. However, if you want to install OMSA on a PE2650, you’re in luck. Using the Dell Linux Repository, you can have OpenManage 5.5 (which is plenty […]

How to Install Dell OMSA 5.5 on a Dell PowerEdge ...


3
If you’ve ever tried to reset the password on a Dell Remote Access Card III (DRAC3), then you probably already know that trying to manage a DRAC III in a Linux environment can be frustrating – especially since current (as of this writing) versions of Dell’s OpenManage Server Administration software (OMSA) […]

Reset a DRAC III using racadm on a Dell 2650 ...




1
Since the default version of ImageMagick installed by yum on CentOS 5.5 is  6.2.something, and you want to be able to do all the cool stuff that ImageMagick 6.5.* and 6.6.* can do, you’re gonna have to compile it from source yourself. Don’t worry – it’s easy, and it works.

How to Get ImageMagick 6.5.x or 6.6.x Working on CentOS ...


Linux Uptime 180
Update! RPMs and Yum now available. I build and maintain the RPM packages of OpenDKIM for RHEL/CentOS and Fedora, which are available with Yum. For a much quicker and easier way to install OpenDKIM, read this. Of course, if you still prefer to go old-skool and compile your own binaries […]

How to get DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) working with Postfix ...




11
I ignored the early warning signs: the slow boots, the strange noises, the polite requests to insert the install DVD and run the disk utility. My main problem was that I’d lost my install DVD a long time ago. I had purchased my Mac Mini G4 1.5Ghz brand new in 2005, […]

Mac Mini G4 1.5Ghz Hard Drive and RAM Upgrade






If you’re having trouble activating your new AT&T iPhone 4, or if you got an error message when you tried to activate your AT&T iPhone using iTunes or on the AT&T website, don’t worry. Here are some easy instructions to activate it by phone.

How to Activate Your AT&T iPhone 4



17
One of my web servers sent me this email this morning: Subject: The certificate for ServerName.com has expired ################# SSL Certificate Warning ################ Certificate for hostname 'ServerName.com', in file (or by nickname): /etc/pki/tls/certs/server.crt The certificate needs to be renewed; this can be done using the 'genkey' program. Browsers will not […]

Renewing a Self-Signed SSL Certificate on Fedora/CentOS


If you own an Ariel Atom and are looking for an Ariel Atom discussion forum to talk about your car, then check out ArielAtomChat. It’s a discussion forum dedicated to Ariel Atoms, but unlike some other Ariel Atom forums, it’s not affiliated with the Ariel Atom Club or the Ariel Motor Company. […]

Ariel Atom Forum


5
My wife often notes that I wear a lot of T-shirts. She’s right. 100% cotton T-shirts are comfortable, stylish, and they allow me to express myself; whether it’s my devotion to a certain Italian racing team or making such bold statements as “I’m gonna come at you like a Spider Monkey,” […]

Getting Rid of Old T-Shirts