A simple matter of…

I’ve blogged about last.fm before, but it’s so good it’s worth mentioning again. It’s changed a fair bit since I last used it, the client has got better (it’s also as simple as “apt-get install lastfm” in Ubuntu and Debian for us Linux users).

A recap - you run last.fm, type in an artist you like and it streams music by artists it thinks you might like to you. For free. I really like it and have found several artists from it - in particular there are many I’ve never heard of. One thing I’d like is the ability to listen to a particular artist. You can love/skip/ban tracks.

The client now has information about the artists. I just wish lyrics were there too as I have a (bad) habit of singing along but my memory fails me way too often.

Well it looks like it’s time to plan a replacement server. My trusty Ideq Biostar which I’ve had since 2004/2005 is still fine, however there are some bugs for which I need to upgrade the kernel and it’s stuck at 2.6.18 since Xen hasn’t been ported to a newer kernel. I’ve backported a few fixes, but really it’s getting a drag. Furthermore the fan in the PSU has been dodgy for ages and I’m sure it chews a fair amount of power.

New server will be small and support KVM virtualisation. Current contenders are:

• Atom CPU based machine - 1.6GHz but not that fast
• [Intel Core 2 duo http://www.mini-itx.com/2008/03/06/intels-eaglelake-mini-itx-boards] DQ45EK or DG45FC with E8200 (£90)
  

The Atom is much lower power (4W), but also lower performance - the E8200 is about 40-50% faster than my current E6300 desktop. On PC Mark 2005 we have:

• current desktop: 4794
• E8200: 6833
• Atom230@1.5GHz: 1406
  

I think the Atom may well be too slow unfortunately. It’d be nice to have the laptop T9300/T9500 processor - 2.5/2.6GHz rather than the 2.67GHz of the E8200, but the TDP is 35W rather than 65W (although mostly it’ll be idle). In fact the T8100/T8300 would do nicely - not as quick, but cheaper. As usual wikipedia is the best source of information.

There also seems to be confusion as to which Atom CPUs have VT (virtualisation extensions).

I’ll also need a new case for the current two IDE disks (and no doubt a slimline DVD drive).

Update: Jetway Mini-ITX look tempting too. Case suggstions welcome.

Gosh. I’m almost in shock - a company whose support was helpful. In fact, two!

It’s about time to renew my domain name and although the whois records say easyspace.co.uk, it’s another company I’ve actually registered though. I phoned up easyspace and (once I’d got past the queue) they told me within about 20 seconds “ah, you need to speak to 34sp.com”. “Ah, that’s the one” I replied.

I couldn’t remember by details, so I tried the “resend to my email address” but received nothing (old address). I submitted a request and they resent it (told me what address) and said that otherwise the last four digits of my credit card. Once I sent them the numbers, they sent me the details (but blanked out the middle bit of the password which was _good_ since it was enough to remind me what it was without it going over the internet in plain text.

Now I was logged in and I corrected my account details. However I couldn’t see how to renew the domain, so I replied to their last email “any problems let me know” and they said that it was a .uk registry restriction and that I should receive an email shortly.

So, thanks Stuart - you got an “excellent” feedback

That’s how much power my house uses “at idle”.

Mostly from:

• server downstairs
• desktop upstairs (monitor powersaved)
• humax PVR
• misc items (oven, microwave, fridge/freezer)
  

Switching one monitor on jumps it to 317W, switching a light on 362W.

I’m now going to have to keep track of how much each appliance uses.

I can’t quite bring myself to switch off either PC yet though

Update: switched kitchen lights on, 750W (9×50W halogens).

So Windows XP (due to go out of support in 2008) has had its support extended to 2010 for mini-laptops. Odd given that service pack 3 has only just come out for it. Now they announce it will also be extended for desktops.

I have this picture in my mind of Microsoft adding a railway piece by piece just in front of the expiry date like in the fantastic Wallace and Gromit film “The wrong trousers”.

16:27 <blueGremlin> Any company that has an employee 'pizza preferences' page
                    on their wiki is off to a good start.

However did I survive without a nice coffee machine I just don’t know. I’m sure that it’s the freshly ground coffee that makes the biggest difference. I can hardly stomach regular coffee now!

Steve from HasBean is amazing as ever - for example I ordered five lots of coffee on Wednesday at 2pm. They arrived at midday the day after - that’s less than 24 hours - and that includes roasting the beans!

Obviously you can’t drink coffee all day long - my normal amount is two doubles in the morning, one in the afternoon (except at the weekends where I generally just have one in the morning and one in the afternoon).

This is where peppermint tea comes in. It’s very refreshing and has none of the aftertaste of normal tea (or green tea) that I don’t particularly like. It’s also caffeine free which could be helpful.

I’ve decided to play around with asterisk a bit more, partly for interest, partly as we could do with cheaper conferencing at work - we spend a fair amount of money on it. I’ve started making notes on my setup but they are very rough ATM.

Things I’ve discovered so far:

• xen DomU’s can’t run ztdummy timing module
  
  • however the “callweaver” fork of asterisk can as it the normal kernel timing sources
    
• how to partially fix the microphone on Dell D630
• dialplan syntax is like some bastardised version of regexp using non-standard characters (I understand that the asterisk character itself exists on phones, but still)
• I need to find a SIP provider so that we can have an 0800 number for work (and possibly a local rate call number too). Looks like gradwell or magrathea
  

I may well swap to callweaver later (it’s fairly easy to convert - only dialplans need some tweaking), however for now I can use a precompiled asterisk installation. I’ve had a go at updating sipx to 3.10 for Debian (currently only 3.8 is available) but I’ve hit a fair few compile issues so I’ve put that on hold for the time being.

I now have a Hi-Fi in the lounge. And what a Hi-Fi

Due to house moves etc (and to cut a long story short), I am currently looking after Rob’s brother’s Quad setup. You can see Rob assembling it and the final setup. The TV is 42″ BTW - it doesn’t look so big any more.

Techie bit: the speakers are Quad ESL-63s with a Quad44 pre-amp and a Quad-405 “Current Dumping Amplifier”. Hmm, just love the way that sounds. And the way the setup sounds too I’m using my trustworthy Denon CD player through it (leaving my old amp and speakers upstairs for when I’m sat in front of the computer listening to music).

The library enters the 21st century. I went to reserve The Dice Man as it had been recommended and was told that I could do it all over the web - as well a renewing books. How fabulous! 50p to reserve a book is no problem and it means that I can collect books from Chineham library which is very convenient for me as I go shopping there. Well, at Tescos…

Now I’m sat at home, I don’t have to struggle to remember what is on my booklist - so Oliver Sacks’ “The man who mistook his wife for a hat has now also been requested.

Cultured - that’s me, that is.