For reasons I will not go into here I am going to be using Linux for the next week. Here is a picture of my desktop (click for gigantic-sized image):

I’m running Knoppix 5.01 on an IBM T43 Laptop. The T43 is a Pentium “M” based laptop running at 2.0Ghz, with 2GB of RAM and an 80GB hard disk. The maximum screen resolution is 1280×1024, and it has built-in WiFi and a CD Burner/DVD reader.

So, as Non-Apple Intel hardware goes, it’s not too bad. I will admit to being an Apple bigot, and as I have a MacBook I have noticed a few things that drive me crazy. Let’s get those out of the way right now:

• It feels big and clunky
• The screen hinges on top of the body, making the screen very tall. So, it feels… big and clunky
• The fan runs all the time. It hardly ever shuts off. This may be partly due to the Linux distro I’m running, but it hardly ever shut off when using Windows, either. It certainly puts a lot of heat out of the exhaust port – don’t sit this on your lap
• The fan issues contribute greatly to the not-so-great battery life – about 2 hours
• The plastic feels cheap and flimsy
• The screen is a 4×3 arrangement instead of a 16×9 – I’m surprised at how much this bothers me

Ok, that’s out of the way. None of this is a manufacturing flaw; it’s just me whining because it isn’t what I would buy… but I didn’t buy this machine. So I’ll quit whining now.

On to the operating system.

The machine originally came with – of course – Microsoft Windows XP. I actually used it that way for a while. I have a license for VMWare under Windows, and at that time the only free VMWare product was VMWare Player. As I needed to be able to create and snapshot the virtual machines I had to use the pay-for product, and the only license I had for that only ran under Windows. So, Windows it was. And this worked just fine for me for about 3 months – I ran two virtual Linux machines under Windows and it only locked up twice. Not bad for 24×7 service – which simply backs up my assertion that XP was the first Windows OS that was “good enough”. (This makes me wonder what the incentive is for upgrading to Vista.)

Eventually I wanted to have a base OS that was actually useful for other Linux-oriented tasks, so I put Fedora Core 5 on the machine as a base OS. This worked fine, and although I’ve never managed to get the WiFi drivers to work, it does a very good job. Like the previous Windows install, it serves as a host for virtual machines – in this case, using Parallels Workstation for Linux instead of VMWare.

1. Yes, I am aware the VMWare server is now free. I bought Parallels before that happened. VMWare server is a very good product.
2. Yes, I am aware that we are up to Fedora Core 6. Please don’t write me about this.

So, what I have now is:

• An IBM laptop that runs Fedora Core 5 and Parallels Workstation
• It is specially configured to run my companies product in virtual machines
• It really isn’t designed – or hardened – to run on public networks
• It is the machine I have to attach to various public networks

In light of this I decided to use Knoppix on this machine. Knoppix is normally a “Live CD” based Linux distribution – you use the CD to boot the system and all of the system binaries are run off of the CD - without touching the hard drive on the computer. You can store your private files on a thumb drive, so all you really need to have a computer is an Intel-compatible machine, your thumb drive and the Knoppix boot disk. Almost any machine will do.

This gives me the best of both worlds; I can boot Fedore Core whenever I need to use that setup, but otherwise I can run Knoppix off of a read-only CD-ROM… which means the boot disk is read-only and cannot be altered no matter what happens on a public network. Add to that the ability to have a permanent, encrypted home directory and you’ve got a winning combination.

Next: Knoppix boot options and creating a portable, permanent home directory.

So, I replaced the hard drive in my MacBook

Instead of 80GB I now have 160GB. Yum.

However, I noticed a problem with my system; it seemed slow. Wait, no, that’s not correct – it was S L O W. Over a minute to boot and log in. Applications were taking a long time to start, and some just stopped working altogether. I was seriously starting to worry that my hard drive was working perfectly… but was just slow – which just means that I could not return it.

Thankfully I was totally wrong.

It turns out that Application Enhancer – “APE” – really did not play well with others. Application Enhancer is a plugin that allows you to run some very nice interface enhancements like WindowShade and FruitMenu. Sadly, turning off APE returned my MacBook to its former glory – fast boot times and nearly instantaneous logins.

Now, if my other problems could be solved this painlessly. I also got rid of a number of startup items that were slowing things down. Perhaps if I get rid of all the other software on this system I could … nah.

I have become addicted, in one short day, to Grid Wars 2.

It’s for both Mac & PC - beware if you are short on spare time. It reminds me of Robotron 2084… but with gravity wells and smarter enemies.

(Note that you need to set the input controls to Mouse unless you happen to have a couple of joysticks connected to your machine.)

Well, the era was over some time ago, but still…

I finally managed to get all of my old data off of the Macintosh Classic – one floppy disk at a time. Thank goodness for very small hard drives.

I guess, had this been impossible (dead floppy drive or some such), I would have dug up the serial cables for this machine and found a way to tranfer files via ZModem. Regardless, I did it.

I have this extra 500MB SCSI hard drive sitting here, ready to replace the now cold & dead 100MB hard drive in Ye Olde Mac Classic. I just need to figure out where to get the special tools I need in order to open the case for the Classic. It has also become obvious that the original Macintosh mouse for this machine needs replaced – the springs are so weak that they won’t hold the tracking rollers against the roller ball, making operation somewhat random. Yet another reason to abandon mechanical mice.

I did find some very interesting tidbits, including e-mail from when I was at Ball State University. Yes, I still have VAX Mail from the early 90’s, including poetry from someone whom I haven’t spoken to in years (and I doubt that will change, regardless of this discovery). Yes, NightBeast, I have some of your poetry. It’s yours – if you want a copy just write to me. I’d be happy to send it.

Once I sort through it all I may post the more interesting (to me) and non-imcriminating portions.

I’m currently in the process of pulling some old files – these date from 1994 – off of our very much unused Macintosh Classic.

The only way I really have to do this is to use a floppy disk. I’m lucky I still have one to use – that, and I have this nifty USB floppy drive.

What amazes me is that the files transfer right over to the modern-day Macintosh – labels, icons, resource forks, everything. Yay for backwards compatibility. We’ve even managed to get Pam’s original college thesis files to open up in Word after a little fiddling with the format.

It will take a while to do this at 1.44MB per transfer, but it is working. Mind you, it isn’t a lot of data – the entire system is 85MB in size. Yes, it could fit on a thumb drive many, many times over.

I pretty much have to – the disk in the Ye Olde Macintosh is failing and will soon be unable to boot. Better get it now or forget about it. Once that is done I will prepare some new operating system disks, change out the hard drive and reload it. After that… who knows? I may keep it, I may send it to a loving home.

For a trip down memory lane, here are the specs for the Macintosh Classic.