This is a quick little post to show off some of the capabilities of an ssh tunnel. So, the back story. Earlier today, i was having a problem. There is a server on lcsd2.org that i needed gui (Apple Remote Desktop) access to. In the past, there is an ipsec based vpn i could use that was as simple as a single mouse click. Unfortunately, UW has decided, for whatever reason, that outbound ipsec tunnels shouldn’t be allowed. I can’t connect. However, i do have ssh access to a server on the inside of the network, and thats how this works. Read the rest of this entry »
28
Dec
iPhone Ringtones
I got an iPhone! Wheeeeeee!!!
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Sorry. So, i got me an iPhone for christmas. Its great. Its an iPod, its a phone, its a pda, its the best internet appliance there is, and its a great game platform too. Really, it beats my old phone out of the water in just about every way. But, there is one shortcoming it shares with all phones. Ringtones. Stupid little 5-30 second clips that should $!%@ing be free cost up to $3.00 on other platforms and cost an additional $.99 in addition to the cost of the song for the iPhone. Its wrong. Well, i’m Jesse. I don’t pay a full freaking dollar for 20-30 seconds of music. I also don’t rebuy the music for the privilege of paying that full dollar. You shouldn’t either. You have the music, you want the clip, and i’m going to tell you how to do it. Read the rest of this entry »
Recently, i noticed my once massive 500 GB hard drive had been reduced to nothing more than 3-4 gigs of free space. I decided i wanted more. I also decided, i didn’t like the idea of one hard drive dying and taking every byte of data i’ve collected with it. This meant redundancy. Now, there are a lot of solutions out there for making storage redundant. But, I decided I had a price range of only $200-$300 total. There was now only one solution. Linux software raid. Read the rest of this entry »
30
Jul
My Gear
There is a new page in the about section titled “My Gear” with a list of my computer setup at home complete with pictures. So check it out, and, let me know in the comments what you’ve got. Send me a link. If i get several good ones i may post them.
Have you ever needed to get into a mac but didn’t know the password. Maybe you forgot it. Maybe your roommate changed it and headed off for christmas break. Maybe you stole it in an airport and now want to use it. Whatever the situation, you need in but don’t have the credentials. I’m here to help.
In Mac OS X there are at least two methods for resetting a password. And it does require resetting. This isn’t windows, you can’t just boot off a cd and automatically crack the password. Apple decided to used modern encryption techniques 10 years ago that were probably 10 years old then to protect your passwords. Microsoft still hasn’t.
Method number 1: Follow the instructions here to boot off a disc and reset your password the apple way.
Method number 2: Follow my instructions below and reset it the “cool” way.
13
Jun
Dropdown Menu’s
As anyone who follows me on twitter knows, I have added drop down menu’s to this site. Its nice, check it out, hover over the “About Me” link up there. Yeah, not bad. Also known by twitter users is the fact that i did not come up with the css, etc. that goes into this. All credit, copyright, whatever goes to @bradkovach (bradkovach.com). I have access to the themes he made for the lcsd2.org sites and i just copied and pasted from there without permission. So i’d like to thank him for his generous lack of anger/suing me.
Now the reason i wanted drop down menu’s in the first place is for semantic organization. Hover over about me and you get contact info, etc., stuff that belongs under about. It also allows me to have more static content while still using this theme. I rather like this theme/don’t feel like looking for another and would prefer to keep it. Now i can.
Sometime in the future i will be adding things like contact info and actual content. If you have any suggestions/hate, please use the contact page to let me know.
5
May
A kitten prank.
Earlier today, i was sitting down, watching tv with my brother. We were both on laptops doing other things at the same time. He started watching an episode of loaded featuring 50 cent. I do not like 50 cent. After several minutes of the god-awful, talentless, garbage, i got sick of it. Did I go the pansy route and ask him to change it? No! I took the high road and made a few changed to my dns server causing all sites he tried to go to, to instead, go to kittenwar.com. I’ll show you how i did it.
2
Apr
Google apps, jabber.
As very few of you know, (maybe i should actually put something in the about me section) i started this little website as a project to learn linux better and to learn to manage a webserver. Since then, this little project has turned into something i actually care about and take a measure of pride in. This is due in no small part to the miracle that is google apps for your domain.
I like managing a webserver. I like manually managing bind and apache from the command line. I like the sense of control i feel when i am able to make any changes i want any time i want. What i don’t like though, is email. Email is evil. Go ahead, take a look at the configuration files for sendmail sometime. Try postfix, not much better. I don’t want to do email but i want to get email. So what did i do? I went with google apps for your domain.
31
Mar
99.13% uptime
I’ve been using host-tracker for a while now to monitor my uptime. Today they sent me my quarterly report and i’m pleased to report, to you, that my uptime is better than many for pay shared hosting providers. My little server that i put together myself, running directly on the grid with no UPS, running off a little tiny slow home dsl connection, and connected to that connection via an old wireless bridge is better than some datacenters. That is just awesome. Below i have included the report they sent me, whitespace and all.
Quarterly report 2008-01 http://www.jessecole.org Total uptime:99.13% Downtime:6 hour(s) 13 min(s) Quarterly uptime:99.13% Downtime:6 hour(s) 13 min(s) Month 2008-03 Uptime:99.13% Downtime:6 hour(s) 13 min(s)
*Update*So, wordpress helpfully stripped the white space. Yay!
So finally, 3 weeks after the scheduled date, wordpress version 2.5 has been released. WordPress is the software i use to power this site and the new version gives me some nice new featured to help with that. That doesn’t mean you will see any better content nor will it come any more often. It just means that the new version is out and i’m using it.
