Monthly Archives: February 2006

I bet Microsoft wishes it owned people like Intuit does!

2/28/2006 – 12:46 am

It seems useful features like online updating of your account register is disabled when Intuit decides to sunset you, whether you want to upgrade to the latest version or not. Apparently this is routine, so Intuit has everyone upgrading at least once every three years in droves. That’s just evil. As of April 25, 2006, [...]

By jasonb | Posted in Rants | Comments (1)

Recovering yaird at boot, or where’s my root?

2/26/2006 – 10:29 pm

First, boot with a kernel commandline of ydebug to attempt a recovery. In the following example, the device name for a md based RAID 1 device has shifted, resulting in a boot failure. When the underlying block device name changes, a Yaird image will fail as it hardcodes device names. First, the short version. Pass [...]

By jasonb | Posted in Quick Guides | Comments (0)

Arbitron, PPMs, and annoying Christmas music

2/25/2006 – 3:08 pm

Arbitron really sucks. Yes, that’s still true. However, six months after I posted that and to my amusement, my statement was included in a blog entry by Dave Paulus, GM of Saga in the Norfolk market, who referred to my post when blogging in support of Arbitron’s PPM device. Why do I care? Well, I [...]

By jasonb | Posted in Rants | Comments (1)

I can’t stand FedEx — just deliver it!

2/23/2006 – 8:38 pm

I really hate FedEx. That company drives me nuts. They will never just leave a package. Just leave it. No, really. Leave it. No, I don’t want to sign for it in person, I have a freaking job and no one is here to sign for it. Now I have to drive all the way [...]

By jasonb | Posted in Rants | Comments (2)

Now I know why CompUSA is oft called CrapUSA

2/17/2006 – 9:48 pm

I went to the CompUSA in Tampa, Florida, on Hillsborough Ave to find the store mostly deserted. None the less, I had to wait five minutes while the manager held up the only open line to explain the difference between DVD-R and DVD+RW to a customer. Eventually, it was turn and the sales associate has [...]

By jasonb | Posted in Rants | Comments (3)

Running VMWare Workstation v4.5.2 on Linux 2.6.16

2/13/2006 – 10:40 pm

If you’ve been trying to run VMWare v4.5 on the latest Linux release candidate kernels, you may be having trouble compiling it. Fortunately, a few quick fixes and you should be able to compile again. First, and possibly optional, you should get the latest vmware-any-any-nn.tar.gz from the usual place. Unpack it and apply as usual. [...]

By jasonb | Posted in Quick Guides | Comments (0)

Toshiba attempts to disavow my RMA

2/10/2006 – 4:52 pm

Having experienced some earlier joy from my favorite company Verizon, I wasn’t expecting to receive a call from a Toshiba confused Toshiba RMA center employee pertaining to my RMA transaction with Toshiba and their PCS, Inc. warranty department in California. Having twice failed, I had only recently received my third MK2018GAS 20GB 2.5″ laptop disk [...]

By jasonb | Posted in Rants | Comments (0)

Getting Up on Verizon DSL in Tampa

2/2/2006 – 2:22 pm

I finally, after three activation dates, managed to get online with Verizon DSL. To make things more challenging, I brought my Bellsouth Westell Wirespeed which I thought I’d repatriate to Verizon’s network. However, there are two very important items to be aware of when signing up for Verizon DSL in Tampa, Florida with respect to [...]

By jasonb | Posted in Rants | Comments (2)