Last night I flattened the 8500, which was running LinuxPPC, and re-initialized the hard drive. It’s now got a fresh install of OS9 running on the 270-MB secondary drive, which used to be Beta. I’m setting it up as the scanner/printer/internet/zip station, so that Jen can work on her portfolio and hopefully start learning some Dreamweaver and HTML. The decision was a hard one, but made easier by the fact that the 7100 still runs strong and smooth with a 3-year-old install of MKLinux and Apache 3.1. At some point I’ll retire that one and get the 8500 running better (never was able to get Apache configured properly with LinuxPPC) but until then (or such time as I get OS X running smooth on the laptop) we’ll keep it like that.

The proliferation of cables and wiring under the desk is bugging me again too. Looking to clean up and clear out a lot of the junk under there, and looking forward to getting rid of a lot of hardware when I put the closet in downstairs.

Thinking about the Linksys router last night, I realized two things:

1. I have no idea how to configure Linux, let alone Win NT, for DHCP. Win NT I can figure out but Linux is a whole other animal. And considering how much I love fooling with Apache, I don’t want to lose the 7100. –> I found some limited help on the subject from this site, but it looks to be another contrived, oblique, screwed-up half-documented Linux way of screwing up your computer. I’m going to buy the router anyway, but I might have to reinstall MKLinux over again, based on what I’ve found here and there from different sources, most of which say “Use the Red Hat installer- it’s the easiest.” Thanks.
2. I’m not sure how the router and DSL modem interact- how the modem is told to get a signal. Does a machine behind the router initiate a session through the router, or is the router making the connection? –> From what the documentation says, it’s a configuration through a web page interface with the router; the router acts as the PPoet software and supplies a login and password.

I can’t figure out how they have it set up. Back to the howto today, I think. If there’s a clean clear explanation, and providing I find some easy documentation for configuring DHCP with Linux, I’ll buy that router today.

Meanwhile, OS X keeps pissing me off. I got the latest version of Apache, downloaded it, and installed it via some instructions I found on StepWise. When I started up the service, it failed, claiming it couldn’t write to the sys/log/ file. Apple decided not to make an application which would start and stop services (or at least not make it readily apparent) so I can’t tell if it’s running or not. I’m gonna try rebooting into OS X and re-starting the process today, and see if it works. If not…?

As for the house, my checklist is as follows:

1. Tear out the nasty wood covering the drain pipe
2. Finish mudding and sanding the ceilings throughout.
3. Fill the crack in the wall with foam –>Buy foam
4. Clear and vacuum the basement floor behind the stairs
5. Paint the floor behind the stairs –> Buy floor paint(Last thing for the weekend. –> Let it dry during the day with a fan pointed out the front window.)
6. Tape off all the ductwork, machinery and stuff left downstairs
7. Ready the whole thing for painting.
   • One or two coats of Kilz
   • One or two coats of Latex white.

Some poor girl in some small town got suspended from school for using sign language on the bus. The school authorities thought it was a ‘safety hazard’. Let me just ask this: What the hell is up with people in this stupid country? doesn’t anybody have a lick of common sense? I think this whole society is headed right into the toilet.

A final rant, and this is directed at Apple: You’d better hurry up and get the documentation for OS X wired tighter than a drum, and make people interested and excited about something. yeah, it’s a cool idea. Yeah, it will be fast/stable/neato. Big deal. I still have absolutely no reason to run it, I have no idea how to install simple programs for it, and any documentation written by anybody for anything close to a UNIX program is a piece of junk. Apache, one of the only reasons I would ever use UNIX, suffers from horrible documentation, an arcane and confusing download/installation/configuration process, and cryptic error messages. My suggestions:

1. Document Document Document. Make it easy, or we’re all gonna give up on it.
2. Make a simple installer for everything. be different. Think different. Come up with a way of zipping up a UNIX/LINUX install into a simple 1-file package with a clean interface and check buttons, just like InstallerVISE. Or else you’re dead in the water. And stay away from the Windows/UNIX hard-on with installing 150 files for one program. Go back to the days of 1993 when Photoshop installed with 20 files, not 200.
3. Give me a good reason to be happy it’s Mach.
4. Make it faster.
5. Make the thing less of a battery pig. OS X drains my battery in about 30 minutes.
6. If the UNIX kernel is supposed to be so much smaller, better, faster, blah blah, why is is so freakin’ huge? Why are all the buttons pulsing? Do i care about that? Why is the Dock such a big deal? I don’t give a crap about that. make the processes easier to use. Make the applications easier to find. make the interface BETTER, not prettier. OS 9.1 is great simply because it’s had 10 years to mature and grow into a clean, efficient workspace. You just threw that in the toilet. Bad move.

I just found out Triumph is making motorcycles again. Call me stupid, call me an idiot, but I would love a brand-new Bonneville.