The ext2, 3, and 4 filesystems by default all reserve 5% of their capacity for the root user. While this is very important for partitions that contain /var or / (the root of the operating system), it can be a waste of space in drives that are only used for file storage. After making a ext4 partition I realized that I didn’t change the default setting. Instead of having 3.6TB of usable free space on my new hard drive I only had 3.4TB. After a quick google search I found an Ubuntu forum posting with a similar issue: http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-215177.html
The command I used is very simple:
# tune2fs -m 0 /dev/md0
Where /dev/md0 is the partition you are configuring. For more help check out the manual page for tune2fs (# man tune2fs )
This is exactly why I backup as frequently as I do. During this entire process no data was lost.Yesterday my webserver starting acting very strangely. I attempted to upload some photos to my photo gallery. It would not let me create any new content, but I could still view all of my content that was already posted. I SSH’d into the server and found that my system load was at 280 (!!!) and growing by about 2 points per minute. I checked some logs and couldn’t really figure out what was going on. No process was showing a major increase in resource consumption and there were no signs of extra traffic. I tried to close out all of the terminal windows I had open, but two of them would not lose, no matter what I tried (killing processes, etc.). After 225 days of uptime, I figured I should just reboot the system.
I waited a few minutes but the system never came back online (not even enough for me to ping it). I waited untill about 10 minutes after I gave the shutdown command and then forcefully turned it off. I brought it into my room to work on it and plugged it into a monitor to see where the problem was (I usually run my servers headless). I turned on the power and… Read more…
I think the graph of my internet connection speeds over the past year speak for itself. FiOS is 10 times faster than my cable was, which was 12 times faster than my DSL, which was more than 2x the speed of dial-up. Other than the TERRIBLE instalation experience I had with FiOS, I love it. Once working properly Verizon’s fiber internet service is wonderful. I’ll be posting a writeup/rant about actually getting it working shotrly.
Side note: This site is now hosted on business FiOS on a 20×20 Mbs connection. The migration was successful.
I bought a Hanns G monitor on newegg about a month ago and I love it. There was, however, an weird glitch that would occur whenever there was a mostly gray image on the screen. If I were looking at a website or even a movie that had a significant amount gray in it, weird lines would appear on my screen. It were as if the monitor was becoming out of sync with my computer. After finding nothing on Google I decided to play around with fixing it more. It turns out that the solution was actually very simple: Read more…
I went to check on my server closet to see what would need to be reconfigured when I upgrade to fios. Keep in mind that this is the first time I have actually looked at the servers in about two weeks. Upon opening the door I noted some movement on my spare cable modem. “Oh %$@$” I thought to myself, since that is right next to my 900 watt UPS that powers my servers. Upon closer inspection I found that the cable modem was in fact full of eggs and ants. It’s amazing nothing had failed at this point. I quickly grabbed some ant posion and laid it in several inches in front of my ups as a peremeter, so hopefully they will leave the UPS alone.
I just setup a new Hanns.G 27.5″ monitor and love it. I know have 4 LCD displays connected to my primary work/gaming machine that is a custom build. On the left is a Toshiba Qosmio G-15 that is running Ubuntu. I share my mouse and keyboard from my desktop using Synergy in order to control the laptop more efficiently. The laptop acts as my communications (AIM, Skype, Mumble, etc) and server updating system. I use the primary display for websurfing, gaming, and audio/video editing. The other displays are usually showing the status of my servers or monitoring the status of the network.
I’ve recently reflashed my T-mobile G1 with a hacked firmware version. This new version of the software grants full root access to the phone and lets you do some really cool things with it. For starters the customized release of R33 comes with a multitouch enabled browser as well as automatic tilt detection. In my observations the entire OS actually seemed to respond slightly faster than the official release. The real reason I decided to get root access on the phone was for the WiFi tethering ability. Once you have root access on your phone all you have to do is install a free app from the market place and tap a button. Suddenly I can share my 3G connection with my laptop (and all of my friend’s laptops as well). The guide on Gizmodo was very helpful, as was the guide on the XDA forums.
After some fiddling around with my new IP cameras I finally figured out why my videos would only be recognized if they were at the 320×240 resolution or lower. It turns out that a significant amount of memory is required for scanning and decompressing images (go figure). What I did not know is that the amount of allocated memory can only grow to a certain point before it hits the maximum amount for a given program. The ZoneMinder FAQ was very helpful in resolving the matter. Basically you issue a simple command to up the amount of memory allowed for each program:
I thought that I should post an updated picture of my current computer setup, as it has been a while since my last one. I’ve discovered the wonders of backlighting for my screens and now find it much easier to look at my screens for long peirods of time. From left to right I usually use the screens for communications, SSH sessions, web browsing, and monitoring (CPU status, temperatures, zoneminder security system, etc).
