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During my last trip to Windsor to visit a friend we had a couple Hobgoblins and I left my power supply there. We drove back up to Toronto late at night after winning $200 at Windsor Raceway and I realized as soon as I got home that I left my PSU there, I swore a lot.

I decided to have it shipped back up here for about $15 which wasn’t so bad and my mom generously offered to pick it up and ship it instead of having to have Corvillus box it up. Well she left it in the front seat of her car (which has zipper windows) so locking doors is pretty useless. She left it there so she wouldn’t forget to ship it in the morning (I love my mom).

Well I guess some mischievous theives thought the 5 year old Mac power supply would be useful without the laptop so they decided to heist that and her brand new Chocolate phone. Well her phone was replaced which is all good unfortunately now I have to find a used 65W Mac power supply on Ebay for almost 3 times the price of shipping.

I am now stuck using Linux (Ughh) after switching to a quality Apple product I feel kind of dirty in this environment. I am no fanboy however my Powerbook made me feel happy. Anyway I am going to do some shopping now.

PS. If I ever find out who stole my PSU I will break their nose, that is a promise. Don’t f*ck with a man and his Apple.

Apple Apple, Powerbook, Theives

Radio Free Geekhut is a fun little project I have been dabbling in for almost three years but now we’re actually getting some attention.  We actually have listeners!  Our premiere show this Thursday was a huge success with a total of 7 unique visitors at one time!  Hosted by hilarious Matt Loeb and Mike Stevens, the show continued until almost 12:30 AM Friday morning when we still had about 5 listeners who just didn’t want them to sign off.  I figured this is a pretty cool idea - letting people host their own shows whenever the server is available.

We have already booked our Tuesday and Thursday prime time slots however there are still 5 days left in a week. So if you want your own radio show : send us a comment explaining why you are so interesting that people would want to listen to you for an hour.  If we like your answer - you’re in!

The show is free, the software is free and very easy to use, we will have our schedule posted at http://radio.geekhut.org within the next day or two.

Things To Do Hosting, Radio, Shoutcast

You may have noticed some downtime and broken links here at geekhut, I screwed up. First off Cogeco (my ISP) cut me off for using too much bandwidth, that was last Sunday. Then two days ago I noticed the LAMP stack was very sluggish. I figured this was because both the VM Host And web server were running gnome and a lot of unnecessary services.

So I think now we’re OK. The VM host is a minimal paranoid Debian (Lenny) build and the web server is some tiny 200mb LAMP appliance I found somewhere running a minimal Ubuntu server distro.

The worst part is, all of my permalinks are messed up, Google now hates me and has dropped a bunch of my old links I worked so hard for. I have made a snapshot of each VM and backed it up to a DVD, sorry about all the confusion.

Uncategorized Downtime, Server

I wrote this post before geekhut recently crashed so I decided to repost the google cache because of the articles popularity.

Well because it is the holidays and I have nothing better to do than drink, I decided to have a few and install OSX86 on my Toshiba Satellite. The problem is Zend Development Environment is not yet available for OSX so I would have to dual boot.

Dual booting was truly a trivial task. There are many forums (Link) with some decent information as to how dual booting any OS with OSX86 can be done. I am comfortable with most Linux flavors so I figured grub would be my best bet. Unfortunately you can’t just point to your darwin mach_kernel and intramfs in /boot/grub/menu.lst, you actually have to chainload the darwin bootloader (which still isn’t so bad). This meant that I would have to install OSX86 first to ensure I could properly tell grub to pass on the bootstrap to darwin bootloader.

So heres how I did it.

PART I - Installing OSX86

1.Get Hackintosh, just search “ToH” on any torrent site and you should be able to find the second release candidate (in ISO format)

2. Burn ISO to DVD and set BIOS to boot from CD (Duhh)

3. Open the OSX Disk Utility and create say a 20 GB Partition, leave enough room for Ubuntu (another 20 gb). Format it for HFS+ Journalized and give it a cool name, like Hard_Disk ( I named mine sda1, remember this name for the next step).

4. Follow the on screen instructions until installation completes, but don’t reboot yet! There is a good chance you’ll end up with a blinking cursor. Open a terminal under the “Utilities” Menu and type :
#/usr/misc/script.sh Hard_Disk (or whatever you named your apple formated disc). Read the scripts output, you may see errors. If so the easiest way to make sure it will work is to unmount the drive, verify it, repair it (using the disc utility) and then run the script again.

5. Once you reboot you will be greeted by a gray screen with a white apple logo (hopefully) and you can proceed to configure your new apple Hackintosh as you wish.

PART II - Installing Ubuntu and configuring grub

1. Boot Ubuntu 7.10 into the live CD environment and follow through with a standard installation. When asked for a partitioning schema, select “Manual”
- This is how your current partition table may look

/dev/sda1 EFI (I am guessing apples boot partition, usually about 200 Mb)
/dev/sda2 Where OSX86 is already installed
/dev/sda3 unformatted / raw, this is where we will install Ubuntu

- Create a swapspace on dev hda3 to a standards size (Double the amount of your RAM)

- Create a root partition with whatever is left, it should be at least 10 - 20 GB

2. Once Ubuntu is installed, we will not immediately reboot, instead lets configure grub while were in a safe environment.

- Open a terminal (alt + f2 -> gnome-terminal)
- Make a directory to hold your Ubuntu partition
$ sudo mkdir /media/ubuntu
- Mount your Ubuntu partition
$ sudo mount /dev/sda4 /media/ubuntu
(sda4 may actually be sda3 depending on how you partitioned your Ubuntu side)
- List the contents of /media/ubuntu to make sure you mounted the correct drive
$ ls /media/ubuntu

If you see :

bin cdrom etc initrd lib media opt root srv tmp var
boot dev home initrd.img lost+found mnt proc sbin sys usr vmlinuz

You are on the right track.

else, try a different partition (hda2 / 3 / 4)

3. Great we’ve mounted our fresh Ubuntu installation and now we are going to edit our boot menu, type :
$ sudo gedit /media/ubuntu/boot/grub/menu.lst
A text editor will popup
- place a # before the “hidemenu” option so you will not have to press escape to access your boot menu.
- you will then look for the section where it lists your installed kernels (usually right at the bottom), at this point it should look something like :
i. your default ubuntu system
ii. your failsafe ubuntu system
iii. your memtest (memory test)
lets add the below text after the default ubuntu block (next line after “quiet”)

title Hackintosh
root (hd0,1)
chainloader +1

If you followed my partitioning scheme, this should work beautifully for you. (NOTE you can change “Hackintosh” to whatever you prefer)

That should be it, once you reboot the livecd, grub should popup and you will have the option to boot ubuntu or “Hackintosh” Enjoy!

Troubleshooting

Problem : When I select Hackintosh from the boot menu, I get an error.
Solution : Try changing /boot/grub/menu.lst to read :
title Hackintosh
root (hd0,2)
chainloader +1
You may have partitioned things weird but youll have to play with the (hd0,1,2,3,4) until it works for you.

Problem : I am still getting an error after changing the root parameter in menu.lst

Solution : Were you actually able to boot into OSX? if yes then keep playing with grub. If no, follow this tutorial closer.

How-To hackint0sh, Ubuntu

I had an extra computer laying around and wanted to use it for something, so I decided to test out the search engine / indexing power of Shpider.  I highly doubt I will ever use this for anything but it should be a fun experiment.

Tonight I am going to begin indexing digg.com using Sphider php search engine and see just how long it takes using a Pentium 3 512 MB box running minimal Debian Lenny.  I set the indexer to parse all links so it has its work cut out for it.  We shall see how long it takes before either a) the box croaks, b) I run out of disc space (28 GB) or c) a full index is generated.

By the way it is 1:13 AM on Thursday May 22, 2008

I will keep you updated on its progress.

:: Update ::

Was just playing with the search engine and searched the word “shpider” to see if my new article would appear - found a link to diggs terms of use that state that what I am doing is bad…

I am going to proceed seeing as this is not for monetary gain and I am pretty sure no one cares too much.

// what digg says about spiders…

With the exception of accessing RSS feeds, you will not use any robot, spider, scraper or other automated means to access the Site for any purpose without our express written permission. Additionally, you agree that you will not: (i) take any action that imposes, or may impose in our sole discretion an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure; (ii) interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Site or any activities conducted on the Site; or (iii) bypass any measures we may use to prevent or restrict access to the Site; //

Things To Do Search Engine, Server, Sphider

Recently a friend gave me his untouched Powerbook G4 because it didn’t work with his proprietary software the way he wanted. I have never owned an Apple product and I must say, I have been missing out! Before owning a Mac, I had used several Ubuntu flavoured Linux dists. and became quite comfortable with them… but then came the free shiny new mac and my computing world was flipped upside-down

First Impressions

I found it difficult to get used to the fact that the menu bar at the top changes on window focus, and I absolutely despised the keyboard shortcuts. At the time it was running 10.2.1 and I thought it was a free upgrade to Leopard, but it wasn’t. So for the first time in my life I BOUGHT software! - Leopard to be exact. I was pissed tiger couldn’t play any video formats and Photoshop / Zend Studio were not supported.

After One Week

I had the keyboard shortcuts down 100%. I forced myself to learn how to use this new environment, even with a tight deadline. Though I was tempted to pick up my Linux box again to finish the job quickly, I stuck it out and in turn I have a deep respect for OS X developers.

Many people say mac is so easy to use and so intuitive however that statement is not 100% true. OS X is very easy to use and works extremely well, and can read your mind too but if you have been trained for years to use retard Windows, you no longer think logically. You expect things to break and crash and then try to find other ways to do something so that maybe it might work this time. I was conditioned to use Windows for years, then four years ago switched to Linux, now I finally have a Mac and though Tux holds a very dear place in my heart, he stays at home on my server and I bring my Mac with me to work.

Uncategorized Mac, Powerbook

A while back I wanted to configure my PBX to tell me which menu item was selected in my IVR before I answered, so I knew how to greet the caller. So I set up queues on my asterisk system and realized that people were forced to listen to hold music instead of ringing.

Recently one of my customers commented on my horrible hold music and how they had to hear the same gut wrenching tune every time they called me. [It is that bad world-beat.mp3 that comes with a stock Trixbox install]. So I decided to look for some royalty free or “open source” hold music.

A quick search on google presented about a trillion results of which required me to pay for most of the music or sign up… I refined my search and google adwords ended up spotting me exactly what I was looking for. I found this collection of 8 wav files that are wickedly hilarious for hold music and just a little more entertaining that the stock Trixbox ones, I still had to give them my email address but I am willing to take a load of spam for the sanity of my clients.

The music is still horrible but at least it is funny, I am excited to hear that customers reaction when she hears my new playlist.

Uncategorized Asterisk, Music, VoIP

This is a sweet little trick you can pull to basically never have to worry about outrageous cell phone billing again.

I personally haven’t owned a cell phone in years, I found it to be very expensive and I would usually end up being forced to pay for services I never used. Now those you have an IPhone, skip right past this article because we know you are Jesus and don’t have to worry about voice rates. But for those of you either stuck in a contract or need to call long distance, this hack is for you!

The Idea

These services used to be offered years ago (and I am sure still exist) - where you would call a number and it would hang up and call you right back with a dial tone - allowing you to make a free outbound call from a service called DISA (Direct Inward System Access)

This is a spectacular idea for cell phone plans with unlimited inbound calls, however, when using this service you’d still have to pay the DISA company for outbound termination. Now a ton of cellular companies still offer a no-catch unlimited inbound calls plan so why not exploit the service and DIY - with Asterisk!

This is something you can do from home, it will cost you as little as 9 dollars a month (for unlimited calling) and about 3 dollars extra in hydro expenses (if you pay hydro). You will be able to have as many phone numbers / extensions as you want and can use it from home / work / across the world.

So here is what you do :

• Sign up with a VoiP company you’ve done your research on - I use Voip Your Life ($25 / Month) -horrible for tech support, however they do not care how many inbound / outbound concurrent calls you make - this number is limited by your total bandwidth - plus they work great with this system.
• Visit your local recycling centre and ask to pick up an old computer - look for one with a closed case, anything should do. If they say no - come back with some garbage and heist one or two on your way out. Dumpster diving for second hand computer hardware can be a lot of green fun - I will write about this later.
• Download and install Trixbox CE and install it on your newly acquired system - if you need help, there are about half a million google results as to how to get this running. Or read Trixbox Without Tears.
• Configure your Trunk, IVR, Inbound Routes, Outbound Routes, DISA and finally your Callback.

So after some reading / playing - youll see that you can call into your system and will be presented with an IVR - interactive voice response menu. You can then program a top secret menu button that will hang up on you and call you back! Once you are called back, you will be asked for a password - the one you set in your DISA configuration. Once you have authenticated yourself you will hear a dial tone. Go ahead and make a call from your free inbound call to anywhere in the United States / Canada without tieing up your home phone

FAQ

Q. That seems like a lot of work - plus I still have to pay my cell phone bill!

A. The point is to use the $10 - $25 monthly VoiP bill for you home use too, many voip companies can port your existing number for free. You also downgrade your cell plan to the lowest rate you possibly can and simply add your home phone number to speed dial.

Q. I got the computer with Trixbox installed, but I can’t place a call.

A. Most likely a firewall issue - set the box with a static IP and forward ports 5004 - 5060 TCP (For SIP) and 10000 - 20000 UDP (for RTP) - or just DMZ the damn thing to get started - fix it later. That or you misconfigured your Trunk / Outbound Routes. The free book mentioned above can help you solve any Trixbox Issues.

Q. Why would you do all this shit when you can just buy an IPhone?

A. Because Google Adsense hasn’t bought me one yet… shutup.

How-To Cell, Savings, VoIP

This is a snippet from http://www.clientcopia.com and is extremely accurate :

• Client won’t supply content

• Client thinks you’ll magically make up content

• Client thinks you can use a competitor’s content

• Client needs the website to be done ASAP while simultaneously not supplying content or getting back to you during the design process

• Client is computer illiterate and expects you to design a wide-target audience website around their inabilities (IE, no scrolling, “CLICK HERE” on links, etc)

• Client thinks they’re a better graphic/UI designer than you are and micromanages you to ultimately creating a shitty website

• Towards the end of development, the client doesn’t understand why you can’t quickly redesign the whole site based on a sudden whim and still meet the deadline

• Client does not understand “dummy text” and “dummy images” and subsequently hates all design concepts - worse when they still won’t supply text or images

• Potential client doesn’t understand why it costs so much, and classicly always has some friend or relative who’d do it for $30 and a pack of beer

• Job postings that require redundant proficiencies, like Dreamweaver, FrontPage and GoLive

• Job postings that require 5 years expirience, a graphic design major, and proficiency in Java, JavaScript, PHP, CGI, .NET and ASP for $9.25/hr

Humor annoyances, Design, Web