(first post in 2 years. Hello new decade! Prepare for incoming activity).

I'm setting up a new file server / simulation workstation at home. This is the first real server I have ever set up so I'm really taking my time. I am teaching myself how RAID-5 works (it is actually incredibly simple!) and using mdadm to create a software RAID array. I created the RAID array using an Ubuntu 9.04 LiveCD. Now that the array is set up, I am ready to install Ubuntu 9.10 onto the array. I have to use the Alternate CD that has raid tools built into the installer. This lets me install the root file system onto a built raid array instead of onto regular partitions.

My System:


The Problem
First I booted into the Alternate CD ncurses installer. I set up the RAID partitions for /, /home/ and /media, formatted them, and continued. At the next installer screen, the installer froze up around 77% with the error message "Ubuntu 9.10 _Karmic Koala_ - Release amd64 (20091027)' in the drive '/cdrom' and press enter". The problem is that this is exactly what CD I have in the drive which is already mounted to /cdrom/. Pressing Enter doesn't do anything except re-load the error message.

The Solution
The problem, as it turns out, is a bug in the Sony NEC DVD Driver that has been around for a couple years. It may be connected to using a 64-bit processor. You also have to be using the alternate CD and a Sony NEC DVD-ROM, apparently. There are currently two known workarounds:

1. Remove the Sony DVD-ROM and use something else, like an old CD-ROM or a USB-DVD/CDROM. (since I am using a CD not a DVD this would have worked)
2. Put the .iso image on a USB Flash Drive and do a "switcheroo" during the installation process. This is what I ended up doing.

So here's what I had to do.

1. First, copy the ubuntu .iso (ubuntu-9.10-alternate-amd64.iso) image over to a usb flash drive. My flash drive is a Kingston 4GB flash drive, formatted FAT32 style so it can be read in OS X, Linux, and Windows.
2. When you run the Ubuntu installer from the CD-ROM drive, you will go through several setup pages. Language, Keyboard, etc. Eventually you will get to the Disk Setup where you can do partitioning etc. For me, this is where I set up the raid array and mount points. It is important that you do the switcheroo at this screen because 1) The installer is paused and not reading from the CD-ROM and 2) If you continue past this page, you will start "installing the base system" which will hang if you still are using the CD-ROM.
3. Switch to the Virtual Console by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F2. Press Enter to drop into a root shell
4. Unmount the CD-ROM, ejecting the disk and physically removing the CD works just fine:
   # eject /dev/cdrom
5. Plug in and mount the USB flash device:
   # mkdir /usbflash/
   # mount -t vfat /dev/sdd1 /usbflash
6. Mount the .iso image to /cdrom/
   # mount -o loop -t iso9660 /usbflash/ubuntu-9.10-alternate-amd64.iso /cdrom/
7. At this point the installation packages are in /cdrom/ and the ubuntu installer can read from the directory without encountering the CD-ROM driver bug. Woot.

Thats it. Check out the Launchpad Bug @ Ubuntu Bug Tracker

My Raid Setup
I might as well add a little information about how I set up my RAID array. I used mdadm to configure a RAID-5 array using 3x750 Western Digital Caviar Black drives. Unfortunately they are all from the same batch (bought at same time from NewEgg during a special) so I could be at risk for a simultaneous drive failure. I am switching one of my drives out with a friend who had an identical 750GB WD Drive which will add some protection from simultaneous failure and also give me a chance to see how the RAID-5 re-building process works.

For those unfamiliar, a RAID-5 basically lets me use 2 more disks as one contiguous file system that provides redundancy for safety. The contiguous file system using N drives each with partitions of size SIZE will have the drive capacity of (N-1)*SIZE. If I had used a single partition on each of my 750GB drives instead of breaking them up, I would have a 1.5TB filesystem.

If a single disk in my array fails, I can pull it out and the array will function with only two of the disks. I will then replace the broken disk, the array will re-sync, and I will have redundancy again. If two disks fail at the same time I am screwed. This is why it is important to try and get disks from different batches (ie: made at different times). For extra protection, I may eventually buy a 1.5TB external drive to backup (or do a RAID-1 mirroring array with my RAID-5 array) for additional data safety in the event that the RAID array dies. As it currently stands, I am still vulnerable in the event that a power surge or something similar takes out two drives; all data would be lost. In other words, RAID-5 provides safety but not backup.

I have partitioned each drive into 4 pieces:


I waited for each array to rebuild itself before starting on the next one. The first two arrays took about 5 minutes each to build because they are so small, the third array took about 2 hours. The nice thing about mdadm is that the rebuild happens in the background. If I wasn't using a Live CD I could reboot in the middle and apparently even install linux onto the devices and not affect the rebuild.

I can watch the rebuilding process like this:


When it is all said and done, I have three new devices that are free to be formatted, installed on, mounted, or whatever:


I had some help from this great tutorial

Its been awhile since a worthwhile update so I figured what best to break the silence than a post about Mustache March! I am freshly shaven with a clean slate for the coming 4 weeks.

Mustache March starts today. The rules are simple. Follow the schedule (below), take before and after picture (to submit for awards), and don't be afraid to show it off! Its not too late to jump into the "competition" (See below - this is really a cultural movement...). It operates on a loosely structured schedule which can be outlined as follows:

• March 1 - Shave all facial hair
• March 15 - Shave all facial hair except mustache
• March 31 - End of Mustache March. If you are in the Milwaukee, WI area there is a chili-off to end the occasion.

Mustache March is not a competition, it is a TCMBC, or Temporary Cultural Movement for the Benefit of Charity. Competitors who 'officially register' are invited to raise and donate pledges throughout the month and at the chili get together to the supported charity, the MACC Fund (Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer). If you are really into the competition (like me) but for some reason decide that you don't have the kahunas to finish the month out and you drop early, there is an honor system $20 "drop out fee" which you donate to the charity as well. Unfortunately most of the money generation seems to be focused around the local Milwuakee area. The same goes for registration - even though MustacheMarch.com says there is no need for registration (since it is a cultural movement, of course)

The best part about the entire competition (besides the money raised for the MACC) are the awards. There are several awards available at the end of the month - includig 'Best of Show', 'Dirtlip', and 'Most Fitting'. We also can't forget about the 'Pre-existing class' for those men who "proudly wear their mustaches year 'round"!

Need another reason to grow a mustache this month? I have had many a conversation with random men who have mustaches when I had mine last spring that never would have taken place. Example:
Me: "I'd like to mail this letter"
Man at Post Office: "Sure. One moment"
Me: "... I like your mustache"
Man at Post Office: "Thanks! Been growing it for 35 years! You know when I lived in Chicago..."
This is funny for 3 reasons - and both of these are always true if the man is older than 35. 1 - if you call out someone for having a mustache, they will always tell you how long they have been growing it for. 2 - Everyone who grew up in the midwest (especially Chicago?) at one point had a mustache. Those that still do are holding true to their tradition. 3 - If you don't have a mustache, people think you are making fun of them. So in other words, a mustache is a great way to expand your cultural horizon, and meet new and interesting people!

For more info - see the homepage, the manifesto, and the rules. Also check the The Mustache Championships

Alright - So this is getting ridiculous. My scratchpad is getting hammered by spam bots again. This doesn't make sense unless someone is exploiting a specific hole in my CMS engine. I'm working on it..

In other news: I will be downgrading my hosting plan to outsource things like pictures, music, etc. This means nothing for most people - but if you are hosted by me you likely will not be for very much longer, unless you are taking up very very little space. Contact me for more info.

I got serato scratch live this week, and I've been having a blast with it. More updates to come.

I got a new macbook since my old macbook was pretty much a lemon. Apple hooked me up with a brand new *upgraded* macbook. They made me a happy customer :)

I haven't updated for a month or two now, and I figured its time to let everyone know I'm still alive. I've been taking serious thought to redesigning frikk.tk to be more in line with what I've come to want my website to be about. I'm thinking of streamlining frikk.tk again, and removing a lot of the 'clutter'. I find myself more and more realizing that I am keeping the website up just so that I have a place to keep all of my projects and source code, etc. The problem is that I am still using a lot of bandwidth (10GB or so a month), mostly from side projects that spam bots hit very hard, or because of my gallery. I would also like to start uploading mixes that I make for people to download.
Anyway, point of the story is I'll probably outsource all of the bandwidth intensive things (gallery, dj mixes, etc.) to things like flickr and a music storage service. That way I pay less $$ in hosting costs, but still have all of the bandwidth intensive things that I can tie into frikk.tk

Side note: I am still getting around 3000 hits a day. I'm not sure what to think about that. Maybe some investigation will unveil that its not just the spambots still trying to post comments - not sure.

Word.
Blaine

I am in Brazil this week with my father, Dr. Gregory Booher (DACBO), who is speaking at the World Chiropractic Conference in Curitiba, Brazil. I am the 'technical assistant'. Essentially I do the powerpoint etc. We have had a very crazy week, and instead of resummarizing, I will just post the email I sent my mother, girlfriend, ans sister. The short summery is this: Having a great time. Successful.


This has been a very crazy last few days. This is seriously the first time I have been able to sit down and relax in front of my computer. I am exhausted and will hopefully fill in details later. Dad's classes went very well. He had, of course, way too much information. He rewrote the presentation last night and did it differently y today. We still (in 8 hours*) did not complete the course, but there was so much information that it was probably a good thing since he was able to spend more time adjusting students and doing practical applications. Both nights he stayed way later than the class was supposed to and actually got 'kicked out' of the room. He moved into the hall way and continued to adjust patients. Tonight we left at I think 8:30 - three hours after his class was supposed to get out. The reason for all of this is because:
* 8 hours scheduled time = 6 hours after Brazilian time. IE we start half hour late from every break. How can you start when your entire class is still talking outside?
6 hours - 5 hours when you are trying to find a translator
5 hours = 2.5 hours when you wait while the translator repeats each sentence in portuguese

The first day dad had around 70 students, the second day he had around 40. I think he made a very good impression. The students were overwhelmed since most of them are in their first few years, but the doctors and older students were very impressed with the amount of new information in the presentation. One doctor suggested he turn what he had into an entire seminar and travel south america where the research he has done does not exist. He said "oh. really? hmm... good idea!"

The powerpoint went well. The first night we realized that 100 slides were out of order, so we ended up trashing the entire middle part. It was all anatomy instead of actual information though. This turned out to be good since the presentation had to be miniaturized so much. I'd say dad actually read off 35% of what he wrote down on paper for the slides.

I'll go through a brief (I am so tired as you'll see) synnopsis of our trip thus far:

Monday:
2:00 - we arrive in Curitiba
3:30 - we are in our hotel room
3:33 - Antonion phones our room. "I will be there at 6:00 for us to go Wine Tasting!"
3:35 - "oh shit. the presentation is all wrong"
3:45 - 6:00 we work on the presentation like there is no tomorrow. We get room service which is extremely good for dinner
6:00 - 10:00 we go Wine Tasting. This was very cool, and we really did just wine taste, not wine drink :)
10:00 - 1:30 - We work on the finishing touches of the presentation

Tuesday:
6:30 - we wake up and shower, get ready

7:30 - Breakfast in the hotel is amazing. I have pictures.
8:25 - we arrive in mass confusion at the conference where we are supposed to start in 5 minutes. Computer situation was confusing but worked out
8:55 - we finally start 25 minutes late since NO ONE starts on time here, as well as we had to get set up
9:00 - 8:00 we do the presentation. I think I paid more attention than anyone else since I had to make sure the slides were set up right. We had lunch in the conference center, which is attached to a ridiculously huge mall and several restaurants.
8:00 - I leave to go out with some students I met at the conference (a few americans who live in brazil now). Dad goes home and *rewrites* the presentation
2:30 - I've come home, helped with the rest of the presentation, and we go to bed

Wednesday:
6:30 - 7:30 - we both sleep through an hour of wake up calls. We don't quite remember anything during this time, only how confusing it was to keep hearing the phone ring.
8:30 - we arrive after breakfast at the conference center (note - this is the time we're supposed to start. Of course no one is here yet either). We discover we do not have a translator. The guy who was supposed to had a hang over and was not coming (marcelos)
9:15 - after some confusion, dad starts in portuguese by himself
9:25 - Ian finally is able to come help us and he translates for the morning
12:00 - we are ahead of schedule, but still behind. we eat lunch at the hotel and it is extremely good.
2:00 - 8:30 - we go through two more student translators. Dad cuts presentation short and does a lot of practical work. Everyone loved it.
9:00 - we walk in the door. I am not kidding when I say this: We do not even set down bookbags when the phone rings. Antonio: "Can you be ready in 10 minutes? No rush! We're going to dinner!"
9:15 - we leave for dinner. We go to a Japanese restaurant and it is really really good. We meet Luis at the restaurant.
11:45 - we are home and can relax for the first time. I now have internet for the first time. Dad is already asleep.

tomorrow we don't have anything going on. dad may go to class in the morning i may sleep in. I think we are going to Antonio's house to meet Guta and Lais etc for lunch. Is it already thursday?


So far everything has been very good. It sucks that we're leaving already in three days. Dad's portuguese is as usual very good, and I've found myself becoming very confident in speaking. I wandered around the mall for about an hour when dad was adjusting patients and I talked to several people just fine. Its a good feeling. There are also an extremely large amount of the chiropractic students who are able to speak english.


Last thing, funny story. So when dad was writing his presentation on monday night, I was very tired but could not use my computer so I decided to check out the weight room. I went down and wanted to do a light workout. I put '40' on a bench press and did 12 reps 3 times. This should have been very easy. I think it was jetlag, but for some reason I figured since there was no 'kg' or 'lbs', it just was 'lbs'. I also said 'well if it is kilo, then thats still like 60 pounds. I can do that fine'. I wanted to do a very light workout and since I never lift weights, I did not know what a light workout was supposed to feel like (i can't tell 50 pounds from 120 pounds). I also ran my first 5K since high school, it was a good feeling. I ran a very good time, too - something like 23:25. Well I woke up the next morning in excruciating pain. I did some quick calculations and realized I actually benched 110 pounds 36 times. Thats more than I've ever benched before 12 reps, let alone 36. I still cannot move my arms or pec muscles hardly at all. Now I know why I thought that '50 pounds' seemed harder than it should have!

I'm spent. Good night!
Blaine

I finally wrote up some documentation for the source code to frikk.tk. Read on to find out more!

Its almost that time again - time to go back to school for the fall. I just created my class schedule, so should you. I'm thinking of a few ways to update the scheduler, but I may not get around to it. I actuall designed a v2.0 using CSS and DIVS instead of tables, but I couldn't get them to align with the time slots accurately with all the browsers. I imagine a SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) solution would be ideal, or maybe just a JPEG or GIF image which would be generated on the fly. Hmm.

I finally fixed the commenting system and scratchpad to inform the user about the correct way to use the captcha system. This means that there is now no excuses for not posting comments! :) This new way is type only the white text, not the red text. Its a surefire way to not get spam, as well as confuse the crap out of everyone else. If you're a logged in user, you don't have to worry about the captcha on comments, just the scratchpad.

Here are some videos if you're looking to kill some time.

Video 1: Lady goes nuts (and make some points) on islamic radical terrorists
Check it out on Google Video

Video 2: Alex Jones at the American Scholars Symposium
This video is about the conspiracy behind the 911 attacks. Before you get skeptical, watch this video and also the free documentary Loose Change (Wikipedia entry - includes detailed criticism of the documentary). If nothing else, it makes for a very interesting and thought-provoking event.
I haven't watched these yet, but here are some more independent videos on government conspiracies: Disbelief and The Assasination of Russia
Check it out on Google Video