I’m excited to announce that I’ve moved the business website for Danenberg Consulting LLC to 100% solar powered web hosting! I’ve also become a reseller and joined their affiliate program. I’m a huge fan of solar power, by the way.

As a reseller, I interface directly with my clients to handle their support needs. It helps keep their management overhead down to one simple point of contact. I’m not looking to become some big web hosting company. The profit margins are very low, and support takes more time than it’s worth unless you have full control of your costs and are willing to devote ALL of your time to it. But for clients that I am developing custom applications for, it only makes sense to extend hosting services. It simplifies application development by having a known hosting provider. Subtle server differences can waste development time debugging configuration issues. It’s simpler management on my end dealing with fewer providers, and it can’t hurt to be a valued client who brings in a lot of business to one provider.

As an affiliate, I get a teeny commission whenever anyone signs up for service with my affiliate link. I don’t have to deal with support or anything. I don’t even have to know them. Not expecting much from this. Maybe I’ll put the proceeds toward my reed fund?

I’ve got my energy consulting client on board with this move. Currently, helping them move their site over. We’ve got future development in the works that will be hosted on solar-powered application servers. Very cool.

Here’s my business blog entry about the move to solar. I’ve also set up a page describing my web hosting services as a reseller.

I’m hoping to set up a Virtual Dedicated Server in the future so that I can move all my other sites over to solar power.

I bought a Dell Latitude E6400 last September when the hard drive on my aging ThinkPad T42 started hemorrhaging sectors left and right.  I could have just replaced the hard drive and kept chugging along with the ThinkPad, but my 1024×768 really wasn’t cutting it coding in Visual Studio or Eclipse.  I wanted a notebook that not only had more portable screen real estate, but could drive a big flat panel at a pretty high resolution.  Also, LED-backlit displays were just hitting the market at the end of last summer.  My T42 CFL-backlit display was anemically dim.  Plus, as I learned by dropping by older T40 a mere 12 inches while inside a padded bad, that CFL bulb is prone to breakage if knocked just the wrong way!  (That’s why I had to buy the T42 in the first place!)

Originally, out of ThinkPad loyalty, I considered the as T400 as a replacement.  However, the LED-backlit versions were not in stock at the time, and the projected wait times were impossibly long.  I depend on my notebook for my business, so I needed an immediate replacement.  I went with Dell because the E6400 was available and seemed to fit my needs.

My E6400 was configured as follows:

• 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor (P9500)
• 2 GB DDR2-800 SRAM, 1 DIMM
• NVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M with Express Card
• 250 GB Serial ATA hard drive (7200 RPM)
• 14.1" WXGA+ (1400×900) LED display
• Intel WiFi link 5300 a/g/n
• 8x DVD +/-RW
• 9-cell battery
• Windows XP Professional SP3
• Bluetooth, Modem, Fingerprint Reader, Integrated Webcam,

I even had them plant three trees to offset the carbon footprint.  Nice option.  I would like to know where my trees are in case I want to visit them…

PROS

Anyway, among the things I really liked about this machine were:

Stylish design – Definitely a step up from the drab ThinkPad look.  Macs are pretty.  A lot of PC notebook designs I’ve seen are either over-buttoned with abominable detailing, or an ill-executed attempt to look Mac-like.  The E6400 design is quite elegant and refined in its own right.  Though, the "brushed metal" lid is just a cheesy laminate effect and hardly actual brushed metal.

Trackpad and Stick – I don’t know anyone else who likes the pointing stick, but I use it 90% of the time.  I’m used to having the stick and the trackpad from ThinkPad experience.  Unless you like steering with your thumb, the nice thing about the stick  over the pad is that it keeps your hands in typing position.  But it’s nice to have the trackpad to fall back on, because as anyone who’s dealt with repetitive strain injuries would understand, the alternative pointing device lets you keep working while avoiding overuse.

Backlit keyboard – It’s just flat out sexy.  I couldn’t go back to a ThinkLight.

LED backlit display – The screen is just beautiful, and very bright!  I can use it outdoors in direct sunlight.  Indoors, I rarely need to turn the brightness more than halfway up.  The display saves on batteries, too, which leads me to…

Battery life – When I first got it, the 9-cell battery was yielding 7-hour run times.  Battery life for me means being able to work while commuting or outside in nice weather.  It’s now lasting about 5 1/2 hours, but still a luxury not to have to worry about your next A/C fix.

Little things – 4 USB ports, SD Card reader.

CONS

Fragile keys – Within the first day, the E key popped off while I was typing.  I’ve had this happen with my ThinkPads.  The edge of my finger occasionally gets caught on the side of a key and pops it off.  Usually no big deal…just snap it back in place.  Well, in this case, the little plastic tab that holds the key on broke, so I couldn’t reattach the key properly.  Dell was helpful enough to send me an immediate keyboard replacement which I was able to replace the next day.  Haven’t had that happen since.

Ambient light sensor misplaced – I like the idea of the ambient light sensor automatically adjusting the brightness of the display according to current conditions.  However, the sensor is below the screen on the left side.  What happens is that it senses the light bouncing off your pasty white fingers.  It’s just really annoying for the screen to change brightness every time you move your hand to and from the keyboard.  They should have put the sensor above the screen.

No Break key - I know most people don’t use this, but when developing old VB applications or Microsoft Access, pressing <Ctrl><Break> interrupts your code while debugging.  I live by this key.  As a workaround, I have to open the on-screen keyboard while programming.  It’s a silly omission.  They could have made an Fn shortcut for it.  (I wonder if people think the button labeled "Break" will break their computer?)  [EDIT] Thanks to Kirk Taylor and others who’ve commented, I’ve learned that <Ctrl><Fn><F12> on the E6400 sends Break.  Tested in MS Access 2003 and it works!  I assume it will for other IDE.

Audio - See below!

PROBLEMS

It’s really a shame my experience with the Dell hasn’t been all good.  Here are some of the problems I’ve had:

1. Terrible audio – This became apparent the moment I plugged in to my sound system.  I’d been listening to my audio collection from my T42, and when at home, plugged the docking station outputs to my Mackie 1202-VLZ PRO mixer, which outputs to Behringer Truth B2030A active monitors.  Never had a problem with this setup.

However, with the Dell, I immediately noticed horrendous static.  It’s normal to hear some RF interference when you turn the silent output of a computer way up, but this was at normal listening volume.  Never mind the fact that the E6400 audio, even output through my sound system, was tinny and distorted…the RF interference made it sound like a cheap AM radio!  I expect that from a cheap AM radio ($9 USD or so), but for over $2,000 USD…not acceptable.  This notebook is useless for casual listening.  If you’re a musician, forget it.  You might as well scrape your fingernails on a chalkboard.

It’s not a driver thing.  Booting to a Ubuntu live CD yields the same joy of listening to your hard drive seek in full hi-fi audio…

(Not related, but worth mentioning…  The onboard speakers are better on your cellphone speaker phone.  Trust me.)

2. Pixel noise on DVI output - When I use my E6400 on my docking station with my 20" Samsung display via the DVI output, I get weird pixel noise on some graphics.  It looks like smatterings of hot pixels, but they are not fixed to the display.  If the noise is on a web graphic, it will move with the graphic as you scroll the page up and down.  This problem was minimal at first, but has gotten progressively worse.

To be fair, I don’t have alternate equipment that I can further diagnose the problem with.  Therefore, I don’t know whether the problem might be in the monitor or in the docking station rather than the notebook.

VGA output to same monitor works fine.  Lower resolutions via DVI work fine, also.

3. Ethernet gone bad – I didn’t have any problems with the integrated gigabit Ethernet for the first three or four months.  Then it started to randomly drop connection here and there.  Then progressively worse til it was "acquiring IP address" every couple minutes.  Finally, it just stopped working altogether.  At home.  At work.  This cable, that cable, etc.  So I limped along on WiFi only for a while.  Then WiFi started dropping more and more frequently.  (I really need a fast wired connection for database work, though…)

SUPPORT

I was able to get by the audio problems simply by not using the Dell for audio (except for mandatory YouTube excursions and occasional Skyping).  I set up a desktop at home as a media server.  However, the other problems started to interfere with business.  So I called Dell tech support…

After accidentally calling the home support number a few times, I finally got routed properly to the business support line.  I have to say that the difference was night and day.  On the business side, the first person I talked to understood when I explained that the Ethernet connection didn’t even work when booting to a Ubuntu live CD.  (The home folks, upon hearing this, would continue with their script asking me to go to my XP Control Panel or some nonsense like that…)  So business support authorized me to send my notebook in for a replacement motherboard.

(Skipping a bit…)

Okay, so after 8 days without it, my notebook came back.  I had explained in a detailed note the above problems, hoping that whatever they fixed would solve them all.

Well, audio still sounds like a trip to the dentist.

The video problem is the same.  (Maybe it is the monitor…I dunno.  I’ll test further when I can…)

Most importantly…  The Ethernet still did not work!  I know they changed the motherboard because when I reinstalled my hard drive and booted up, it didn’t not recognize some PCI devices…so apparently some newer version board than I had before…

Well, I tried the Ubuntu live CD and this time Ethernet did work.  So I booted back to XP, checked for the latest drivers, and tried again.  No dice.  Until I set the Gigabit card to 100Mbps Full-Duplex rather than auto-sensing Gigabit.  Fine.  Good enough, I guess.

NEXT

Not exactly the resolution I’d hoped for.  But I’ve lost days and days of productivity due to my problems with this Dell.  It’s probably a better idea to limp along with the E6400 until I can afford its replacement.  I’m going to experiment with virtualizing XP within Ubuntu on it for now.  Maybe I’ll get a MacBook next and see how the other half lives?

I stumbled upon this page of essential digital skills while researching drive partitioning strategies for my new 500GB hard drive in the context of server virtualization under Linux.

I don’t know whether the scoring is for skills you can do or have done, but either way, it says I’m a "Radified Warrior".  I think "Über Geek" sounds cooler.  Oh well…

The only skills I haven’t personally exercised are:

• Configure a RAID-0 stripe in Win2K
• Install and test a beta OS
• Set up dual-CPU system
• Configure IDE RAID
• Adjust CPU voltage
• Overclock CPU
• Host a LAN party

I’ve attended one LAN party.  (Yes..I brought my own computer.  I think it was a 486.)  I’ve considered tweaking the CPU settings on my old Athlon boards, simply "because it was there", but never bothered.  If you catch me testing a beta OS, shoot me – something has gone horribly wrong in my life!  The other items, just haven’t had the need to.  Though, I’ve been curious about RAID-0 lately.

If you’ll excuse me…my soprano sax needs attention before I lose my essential jazz skills!

I picked myself up a nice affordable laser printer today in the Lexmark E250dn.  It’s got the two features I wanted most: a network port and a built-in duplexing.  Since the printer can sit on the network, I can reclaim the PC I’ve been using as a print server and use it as a test platform for other projects.  Duplexing is a real nice paper saver when I need to print manuals and such.  I also appreciated that you can replace the toner and photoconductor separately, which is less wasteful.  And, unlike some others in the price range, it reportedly works "perfectly" with Linux.  (I’ll get around to testing that later…)

I haven’t printed much so far.  Installation was flawless.  There was a slight problem that the printer was faintly creasing the printed paper.  However, I was able to isolate the offending roller, and with a little "thumb maintenance", I corrected the defect.

Well, I hope it lasts a while!

I’ve had a broken Category 5e Ethernet cable lying around for a while that I finally decided to fix. Actually, the cable was fine, but the spring on one of the modular connectors was broken, so it wouldn’t stay in a network jack. Since I’ve never done this before, I figured it’d be fun to document this little project. Stuff I used:

• Package of RJ-45 CAT 5e Modular Connectors
• RJ-45 Crimping Tool
• Small Wire Clipper (optional)

(Trivial Side Note: Ethernet actually uses 8P8C connectors, but they are almost always referred to as RJ-45, technically a slightly different design. Details, details…) Step 1: There are two wiring schemes for Ethernet cables, T568A and T568B. Both ends of the cable need to follow the same scheme. Since I’m only replacing one connector, I need to check which scheme the manufacturer used on this cable. This Wikipedia article shows the diagrams for both CAT 5e wiring schemes. Despite my color-challenged vision, I can tell by looking through the clear plastic that this cable uses the T568B layout.  (Of course, both ends of the cable need to use the same layout.) Step 2: I lop off the defective connector using my RJ-45 Crimping Tool. This is pretty easy. There’s a nasty sharp wire cutter built into the tool. Step 3: The crimping tool actually has a double blade which also scores the wire housing a half-inch from the cut end. This way, you can easily peel off the leader so that the exposed wires are the perfect length to insert into the new connector. However, I found that I needed some slack. After arranging the wires in the proper order, some were too short due to having been routed in a roundabout way. Perhaps, a seasoned wirer has a magic touch I don’t, but I opted to further expose an inch and a half of wire so that I could make my connection nice and pretty. For this, I used a small wire cutter to trim away more housing. (Nibble so you don’t stab your thumb like I almost did!) Step 4: Now that I have plenty of wire exposed, I arrange them in the proper order. In this case, I’m using the T568B scheme. According to Wikipedia, this is from Pin 1 to Pin 8: White/Orange, Orange, White/Green, Blue, White/Blue, Green, White/Brown, and Brown. Step 5: I need these wires cut neatly so that they extend only a half inch from the cable housing. This way when I insert the wires into the modular connector, the cable housing will run flush into the end of the connector while the wires extend fully to the electrical contacts. I use a wire cutter to trim the excess wire so that only a half inch is exposed from the sheath. Step 6: I orient the wires to the pin positions 1 through 8 of the new modular connector. It’s easy to do this upside down by accident, so I checked the pin positions on Wikipedia again just to be sure. Looking toward the head of the connector with the spring up, pin 1 is on the left side. I slide the wires in. Once they hit their respective grooves, they retain proper alignment all the way to the electrical contacts. Make sure to get them all the way in! Step 7: Now I place the modular connector into the 8P jack of the crimping tool and give it a good squeeze. This locks down metal blades inside the connector onto each individual wire, thus establishing a circuit to each electrical contact on the plug. Crimping is my favorite step! That’s all there is to it. Now I’ve got a nice, clean, functional connector. It’s missing the snag-free collar of the original, but a lot of good that did me in the first place, huh? Only thing left to do is to make sure it works. Well, in order to do that, I plug the cable into my laptop and see if I can connect to the network. Voila!

Disclaimer: I have no idea if it is possible to fry your hardware if you mess up your pin outs, so proceed at your own risk! In fact, I’m not stopping you from purchasing an inexpensive cable tester to test your cables properly…so be smarter than me and do this instead of plugging it into your laptop.

That said, mine worked:

The other night I installed Ubuntu, a user-friendly if not the most user-friendly Linux OS distribution, on my mothballed classic Athlon 600. I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about it, so I thought I’d install it on an old machine to use as a file server.

If you’re at all curious, you should know that you can run a full demo of the operating system by booting from the Ubuntu install CD. It runs a virtual machine on your computer without touching your hard drive. I ran a demo to check it out and got thrashed at Chess, one of the many included games.

Ubuntu is free if you download the CD as an ISO image and burn it to recordable media using pretty much any CD writing software. You can also buy CD’s. They’ll even send you free CD’s if you ask, but they say it may take up to ten weeks for delivery.

When I installed Ubuntu from the CD, it was quick and painless! It was so simple. I was shocked. My previous experience had been with Slackware and Red Hat distros, and especially the older versions required a bit of technical know-how.

As you can see from the screenshot above, the default theme is quite pretty. I think so, anyway… At a glance, the top toolbar is reminiscent of Mac OS, while the bottom is similar to the the taskbar in Windows. The best of both worlds? The Chess game is open, as well as a neat app called Tomboy for taking and organizing notes.

Since I wanted to use my old Athlon as a file server on a Windows network, I had to set up Samba so that I could share folders. Setting up Samba was simple…the OS told me I didn’t have the required packages installed and asked if I wanted to install them. Click, click, done. No compiling or any funky Linux stuff. Not yet, anyway…

I tried to access the shared folder from my laptop running Windows XP SP2 but was not able to authenticate my username and password. Well, after some net-digging, I found this how-to “Setting Up Samba” on Ubuntu’s help site. The only relevant tidbit in this entire document turned out to be:

“Note: The default installation of Samba does not synchronize passwords. You may have to run “smbpasswd” for each user that needs to have access to his Ubuntu home directory from Microsoft Windows.”

Well, turns out Ubuntu is still Linux after all! I ran this command and then everything magically worked:

sudo  smbpasswd -a username

New SMB password:
Retype new SMB password:
Added user username.

To top it off, I played another round of Chess and, well, lost less badly. Actually, I was quite proud of the first half of the game.