Jun 09 19:30

New Arrivals

We just wanted to say to Nicole and Richard Moore "Congratulations!" on the birth on their new baby boy Roman James Moore who was born Sunday June 8th at approximately 8 PM. He weighs 8lb 9oz and is 21 inches long. He lucked out and got his mothers good looks :) Lots of love from all of us :)

Jun 07 12:00

This is your captain speaking....

As of this morning, I am now a licensed sport pilot, weight shift class land. After many starts and stops over the last couple of years, I was finally able to complete all my requirements and testing. Because of the weather and because I kept changing aircraft I've had a hard time getting finished.

Oct 24 15:44

Ubuntu 7.10 - Almost great.

I'm a huge fan of all things Linux / open-source. I've been a Linux user for over 10 years now, and I have to say I am very impressed at how much it has improved in usability and reliability. I was very excited to try out Ubuntu 7.10 after enjoying the earlier versions so much. I decided to try it on my laptop and on my work PC. I won't go into all the details of installing it, running it, etc. I just wanted to point out a few issues I've noticed using it. Overall, I think its a great distro and its very polished, but its not quite perfect.

Jul 29 09:00

OS X Server - Does it Fit?

When it comes to running a network with mixed OS clients, there really is no "easy" solution when it comes to serving files, printers, and other network resources. Throw in access control, user management, and network monitoring and things can get to be really tough.

The company I work for as a network engineer has used Novell for the last 15 years or so, and once its set up and running properly, it does a great job of blending everything together into a homogeneous system. Unfortunately, it works best with Windows clients, and as of late, its Linux client is catching up. Still, getting Novell to provide the same services to any OS client, at login time, via single sign-on, can be torturous, expensive and time consuming. The cost of licensing and upgrading strains the relationship. So, for us, it was time to figure out how to break with the past and step out of the comfort zone a bit.

When it comes to running a network with mixed OS clients, there really is no "easy" solution when it comes to serving files, printers, and other network resources. Throw in access control, user management, and network monitoring and things can get to be really tough.

The company I work for as a network engineer has used Novell for the last 15 years or so, and once its set up and running properly, it does a great job of blending everything together into a homogeneous system. Unfortunately, it works best with Windows clients, and as of late, its Linux client is catching up. Still, getting Novell to provide the same services to any OS client, at login time, via single sign-on, can be torturous, expensive and time consuming. The cost of licensing and upgrading strains the relationship. So, for us, it was time to figure out how to break with the past and step out of the comfort zone a bit.

Jun 15 06:27

Turn On, iTune In, Drop Out

This really is getting to be a very Apple-centric blog of mine.... I'm going to probably be writing about Xserve / OS X Server next! But for now, I thought I'd chime in about iTunes, the sometimes intelligent master of the ubiquitous iPod. I like iTunes, it makes it a breeze to organize our huge CD library into digital format that we can access around the house or even from anywhere in the world. I have iTunes set up on a 1.5Ghz Mac Mini with 1GB of RAM and plugged into that is a 500GB Buffalo LinkStation Live where all our digitized music lives. Currently we have just over 9000 songs from our CD collection imported into iTunes. This comes to about 60GB of total music data, and a 14MB iTunes library file. I also try to make sure I get all the CD art loaded into iTunes as well. Coverflow is pretty cool. So whats wrong with this situation? Speed, mostly... and the occasional network quirk.

This really is getting to be a very Apple-centric blog of mine.... I'm going to probably be writing about Xserve / OS X Server next! But for now, I thought I'd chime in about iTunes, the sometimes intelligent master of the ubiquitous iPod. I like iTunes, it makes it a breeze to organize our huge CD library into digital format that we can access around the house or even from anywhere in the world. I have iTunes set up on a 1.5Ghz Mac Mini with 1GB of RAM and plugged into that is a 500GB Buffalo LinkStation Live where all our digitized music lives. Currently we have just over 9000 songs from our CD collection imported into iTunes. This comes to about 60GB of total music data, and a 14MB iTunes library file. I also try to make sure I get all the CD art loaded into iTunes as well. Coverflow is pretty cool. So whats wrong with this situation? Speed, mostly... and the occasional network quirk.

Jun 07 05:24

Key...notes.

After a while of using Keynote for our digital sign, I've come to the conclusion that there are a few things I'd love to see in the next version, or in an update. Don't get me wrong, its been a very good product and the digital sign runs 24/7 now without so much as a hiccup. Currently it's showing off in our company break room before it debuts in the main lobby. It gets a lot of ooooh's and ahhhhh's.

I hope Apple realizes that Keynote makes for a great kiosk / digital sign platform and if they do, I recommend the following changes:

After a while of using Keynote for our digital sign, I've come to the conclusion that there are a few things I'd love to see in the next version, or in an update. Don't get me wrong, its been a very good product and the digital sign runs 24/7 now without so much as a hiccup. Currently it's showing off in our company break room before it debuts in the main lobby. It gets a lot of ooooh's and ahhhhh's.

I hope Apple realizes that Keynote makes for a great kiosk / digital sign platform and if they do, I recommend the following changes: