Showing headlines posted by helios

Look...I know I chose my profession. Any wounds suffered in doing my job are largely self-inflicted... I know that. But still, there are times that I either have to vent or vaporize.

We don't go out on New Year's Eve. I personally gave up the ritual a few years back. The jostling crowds and blaring music on Sixth Street just does not have the appeal it used to. Besides that, I simply don't see any real reason to celebrate. It's just a moment in time we've chosen to note a mile marker of our passing. I do see this date on the calendar as an opportunity to look at where we've been and a tool to gauge where we want to go.

This isn't exactly fresh news but I think some of you might find this interesting. Before we get into it, a couple of things to keep in mind: 1. The Bank of America is a Silver member of The Linux Foundation. 2. Tim Golden -- Senior vice president at Bank of America Sits on the Linux Foundation Board of Directors. With that being said...

In the past 45 days, I've done a ton of installs. Of that bunch, 17 of our clients in that 45 days had chosen AT&T DSL for their provider. For good reason I think... They offer a two year contract at 14.95 a month for Internet service. Pretty good deal, huh? Not if you are a Linux User.

So starting a week from today, The Blog of helios will publish Teh Geek of Teh Week - Your Name Here... And stop it...I've already cycled through all the jokes mentally. None of them end well. If you have something insightful, interesting or moderately pertinent to say, let me know and I will submit it on the following Tuesday. That's the day for Teh Geek of Teh Week.

You cannot convince me this wasn't gang related. I've seen the final police report. 19 people were interviewed because they were either neighbors or claimed to be outside in the courtyard when it happened. I've spent a lot of time in this neighborhood and I know who runs it. 19 people refused to give any information. 19 frightened or criminally-involved people refused to give any information.

We will post more about the event as we draw sponsors, vendors and volunteers. Basically, we're just going to collect machine donations...there will be no repairs or diagnosis on site like there is during Linux Against Poverty. We'll take care of that on this end. However we could use some of our great volunteers to help staff the event. Please email me if you are interested in helping.

The door to their Northeast side apartment had been shattered, ripping the framing from the wall and thieves took everything of value in the home. There is no doubt in my mind that it was gang activity. The 200 unit low income apartment complex literally stacks people on top and next to each other. There is less than 10 feet between the outer doors. it doesn't take a sharp ear to hear what is going on beside or above you. Violently ripping a door from it's frame at 2 PM should have notified someone of something going very wrong... But then again, when you are afraid of gang members and know they did something like this...you tend to keep your mouth shut and bullet holes from appearing in your body.

So when a good friend of the Blog of helios wrote a comment in reply to a recent publication: Uncluttered Minds Do Not Care, I thought it was a good idea to supply the opinion of someone who does work in cross-platform environments. Gavin uses Linux, Mac and Windows as an IT professional. He is a TechNet Pro subscriber and has extensive experience in all platforms. I simply thought it would be interesting to see his perspective on the MS-centric business world. As always, your input is what we look for...

I played this game at 12:30 AM, in a dark room with the door closed and using high quality head phones. It scared the crap out of me. No, I mean it scared me. Not a simple sneak-up-from-behind-and-yell-boo scared. I'm talking about crescendo-swelled music and sound effects. I mean, they let you know the horror is approaching and it still frightens you when you see the threat. One thing to remember. You don't play Amnesia - The Dark Decent to win...you play it to survive. Good luck with that.

On top of the busiest time we've ever encountered, we need to move from our current digs. On September 18th, we are having a recycle day out at our shop in Lakeway. We tentatively have a Boy Scout troop coming out to help but that is not yet nailed down. If you have some time to come out and help us sort through the mountain of stuff to get recycled, I would appreciate your participation. So, as you all know, this is going to cost us some money. Instead of just posting our current needs, we've decided to open a store of sorts to raise the money we need. We have some cool and useful stuff and more will be added in the next two weeks.

.....LT Autocare is going use the space we currently inhabit within their shop to put in an alignment rack. That being the case, we need to get our stuff together and prepare to move to another facility.
The first part of that procedure is to take care of our substantial amount of E-waste we have collected.
We have a bunch of it.

As part of their Graduate work, Don and his partner in this study, Iffat Jabeen have constructed a comprehensive survey. If you are a Linux User or an IT professional using FOSS or Linux, this is a survey you might want to take. You can complete it in 10 minutes or so and it would greatly help Don and Iffat in completing their project.

While attending the 2010 Linux Against Poverty event, I was approached by Dr. Neal Scogin. Dr. Scogin resides in College Station Texas and made the trip to Austin to talk to me about one of his most important projects. Neal knows what many of us know...through the slow but steady processes already in place, Linux as a desktop will become an important part of the educational experience. The operating system has become fully functional but much of the educational software as it applies to Linux itself is lacking. What Neal sees as a critical need, is a way to teach kids about their Linux system. What better way than through a game?

The idea was to gather 20 kids, ranging from 3rd to 5th grade and teach them how a computer works. We were going to use perfectly good computers, take them apart, teach the kids how to identify the components, teach them the function of said components, put it back together and then install Linux on it. Given it would even start after said exercise.

In the past, she has used a Windows XP machine to get this done. She is painfully aware of how user-unfriendly Windows Explorer can be...especially when she is dealing with hundreds of pictures to be renamed, sorted and moved to different folders. And yeah, there are third-party apps...but that only adds to the time and expense. She used to dread getting a call for contract work. Last week, we got the XP machine files transferred to the computer and I sat down with her to show her how the Linux file system works. ***hint...if you are in a troubled or stressed relationship, this might not be the time to do this....I'm just sayin...

It sucks getting hacked or defaced on the web...especially when you haven't done anything to provoke it. Who knows...the Blog of helios has contained content that's pi$$ed some people off...some of the projects I've involved myself in have evoked less than kind remarks and accusations. Chances are though that what happened to us was due to a noted vulnerability and not any focused maliciousness. In the unlikely event that it was a purposeful act, I don't have much to say to that person except: I hope your toes fall off you...

By 11 AM, two dozen or so local geeks assembled in front of Union Park on West Sixth street, the bar that we were soon to turn into a large computer testing and repair shop. By 11:30 we had close to 50 volunteers pitching in. People took turns parking their cars and trucks out front to unload things they had brought and within 30 minutes, we had set up shop.

If I thought the last few days leading up to the 2009 event was hectic... Well, maybe not being able to see the future is in itself a gift. Preparation for an event this large and far-reaching is going to be a challenge...anyone going into it thinking otherwise is either delusional or.... Never mind...delusional will define it nicely.

No, I am not going to tell you her real name. She is a criminal now and I made her so. 86 years of lawful living, survived without so much as a speeding ticket. Her now-blemished essence is now the foulest of stain on my duplicitous hands.