f-log

just another web log
30 Jan 2004 16:36 -- no distributed network project statistics for the mo
I did expect the rsync script to be shorter but after a number of trials I could not get the --exclude-from setting to work as I planned.
Anyway now I know exactly what is being backed up, speaking of which I have now completed backing up my old Toshiba laptop ready to dual boot with debian linux read for my sv-3
I have finally started playing "the legend of Zelda , ocarina of time" as I have TV to connect it to. Strange how all the music and sounds are the same (slightly less quality) than the "Wind Waker" (which I have completed) then graphics and play are also VERY similar only with less detail and more sharp edges,

30 Jan 2004 16:29 -- no distributed network project statistics for the mo
I have been busy being ill, but I fell like typing something here anyway.
Watched an interesting Anime DVD called "Excel Saga" (Vol 1). It is a piss take of as many anime films and series as it can and parodies anime / ,manga games and then takes the piss out of Hollywood movie genres. Some may find this a little to much especially if they do not get all the puns. I will look out for future DVDs of this series :)
The website is in dire need of repair and maintenance especially the emails links, I got some 300 emails in the last few days and most were to non existent address or ones people are every likely to use from the web pages.
I have been trying to get a back up solution for my Linux system after a number of trials I have settled on a shell script based system using rsync (2.6.0)

# created 29/01/2004 rednuht
# creates incremental backs on my bluenuht system
# run as root
# basically just backs everything up except /proc, /dev and my mount points
rm -fr /hdd1/sys.bak.5
mv /hdd1/sys.bak.4 /hdd1/sys.bak.5
mv /hdd1/sys.bak.3 /hdd1/sys.bak.4
mv /hdd1/sys.bak.2 /hdd1/sys.bak.3
mv /hdd1/sys.bak.1 /hdd1/sys.bak.2
mv /hdd1/sys.bak.0 /hdd1/sys.bak.1
/usr/bin/rsync -a --link-dest=/hdd1/sys.bak.1 /bin /hdd1/sys.bak.0/
/usr/bin/rsync -a --link-dest=/hdd1/sys.bak.1 /boot /hdd1/sys.bak.0/
/usr/bin/rsync -a --link-dest=/hdd1/sys.bak.1 /etc /hdd1/sys.bak.0/
/usr/bin/rsync -a --link-dest=/hdd1/sys.bak.1 /home /hdd1/sys.bak.0/
/usr/bin/rsync -a --link-dest=/hdd1/sys.bak.1 /initrd /hdd1/sys.bak.0/
/usr/bin/rsync -a --link-dest=/hdd1/sys.bak.1 /lib /hdd1/sys.bak.0/
/usr/bin/rsync -a --link-dest=/hdd1/sys.bak.1 /lost+found /hdd1/sys.bak.0/
/usr/bin/rsync -a --link-dest=/hdd1/sys.bak.1 /opt /hdd1/sys.bak.0/
/usr/bin/rsync -a --link-dest=/hdd1/sys.bak.1 /root /hdd1/sys.bak.0/
/usr/bin/rsync -a --link-dest=/hdd1/sys.bak.1 /sbin /hdd1/sys.bak.0/
/usr/bin/rsync -a --link-dest=/hdd1/sys.bak.1 /tmp /hdd1/sys.bak.0/
/usr/bin/rsync -a --link-dest=/hdd1/sys.bak.1 /usr /hdd1/sys.bak.0/
/usr/bin/rsync -a --link-dest=/hdd1/sys.bak.1 /var /hdd1/sys.bak.0/
/usr/bin/rsync -a --link-dest=/hdd1/sys.bak.1 /System.map /hdd1/sys.bak.0/
/usr/bin/rsync -a --link-dest=/hdd1/sys.bak.1 /System.old /hdd1/sys.bak.0/
/usr/bin/rsync -a --link-dest=/hdd1/sys.bak.1 /vmlinuz /hdd1/sys.bak.0/
/usr/bin/rsync -a --link-dest=/hdd1/sys.bak.1 /vmlinuz.old /hdd1/sys.bak.0/

the lines beginning with hashes are just comments and this script is expected to be called by root.
The 5 mv commands move the previous backup one up in the list erasing the last one with the first rm call.
Because rsync is being called with the -a option as much as possible about the file will be retained including user date time etc.
The --link-dest setting is the clever bit through as each backup is built on top of the previous incrementally. For instance when I first ran the script as root it took some hours as it backup up everything (as the /hdd1/sys.bak.1 folder was empty) but the second time I ran it the backup was based on the previously system backup and as very little had changed very little had to be backed up. And when I look in the newly populated /hdd1/sys.bak.0 folder any files/folders that had not changed are simply links to the /hdd1/sys.bak.1 folder. Note these are hard links so if I delete any file from /hdd1/sys.bak.? where the question mark is any of the completed backups 0-5 the link in each backup folder is also deleted, this means I do not have to have the disk space for 6 copies of my system , only one plus changes.

26 Jan 2004 20:49 -- no distributed network project statistics for the mo
I have spent an unfortunate amount of time arguing with my car insurance ppl and try to trace a missing xmas present.
But I finished another book, "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho, neither of which I had heard of before. The story reads like a bible tale and the name of the lead character is never revealed, always referred to as "the boy". The story follows "the boy" on he adventure of self discovery and treasure from Spahn to the pyramids of Egypt. Entertaining but maybe only for a younger generation, nice break from the norm.
The kittens have started to become hell cats, skittering around madly and playing with anything not nailed down, but they are so cute you can not be forgive them.

25 Jan 2004 22:24 -- no distributed network project statistics for the mo
Still holding out for a new NVidia driver for the 2.6 before I switch.
I have not been using any full screen openGL stuffs until today when I thought I would just try 'lattice' hack and it hung the system in seconds, thing was the screen saver kept running at 20fps even thought the processor was maxing out, and I could do nothing other than telnet in and kill X
I was having fun trying to build a morphix CD, after 4 coasters I gave up :( and used a prebuilt DamnSmallLinux which worked very well.
I have ordered my SV-3 and I expect to document how that turns out, lead time for delivery is two weeks.

21 Jan 2004 21:39 -- no distributed network project statistics for the mo
Finally the http://www.jumpstation.co.uk/flog/archives/year2003.html summerary is ready.
Another book read and this is what I thought of "Parasite Rex" by Carl Zimmer.
Quintisential ! this book is like a bible, a font of knowledge that is outstanding.
Not with standing, it is well written, easy to read and very interesting.
Starting off with the horror stories of what parasites are and their history but quickly turning to case studies that show parasites rule the world , were the cause of sex and will out number non parasites with a healthy ratio.
And the scary things is we do not want to get rid of parasites, they balance the world and were the reason for evolution. and and human fetuses act like parasites and the mother as host during pregnancy.
You have to read this book, failure to do so will leave a large hole in your knowledge about the world around us, past history and future.

19 Jan 2004 20:39 -- no distributed network project statistics for the mo
better late than never here is the LED anim once again, animated LED demo
I will put up its own project page when I get the time but for now I have plenty to do.
Finished reading "How long is a piece of string" the follow up to "why do buses come in threes", deffinatly falls into the role of 'more of the same' although I found some of the subjects less interesting than before. Some of the scientific investigations were eye opening, but I wanted something meatier, wait and see what I am reading currently.
I have come up with yet another project code named B.E.D. (nothing to do with beds or my brother) it requires a vector based editor and I have been trying out http://www.sodipodi.org which is a very caperble cross platform SVG editor and well worth looking out.
One of the reasons I have not been updating for the last week or so is because the system crashed, no not a boring NVidia hang but a full blown nothing responds even to telnet crash while I was using Mozilla. Problem was when I rebooted the machine the screen went blank and the hard drive stayed on ages until I rebooted. Three times I did this until I tried an old kernel and found the blank screen was hiding a fsck and I had reboot in the middle of this 3 times !!!
A few fsck/e2fsck later and all was back to normal.
I have been reading the NVidia linux forum since I got my card and it is very tempting to write a small javascript page that has a path for error messages, install problems etc as so many people have the same sorts of issues.
But I still have not start openGL coding which is what I was about to start doing before the system crashed.
Oh, I never mentioned b4 but I got a simpsons water cooler (does not actually cool) that looks like a 1/3 scale office water cooler, but it is yellow with SNPP (Springfield Nuclear Power Plant) stickers on and the best thing is it has the blinky the tree eyed fish floating in it !!


8 Jan 2004 21:42 -- no distributed network project statistics for the mo
myhb.c is now released at version 1.0 this means the program runs and the LEDs show in sequence at a speed determined by the CPU usage as well as the trend LEDs offering a CPU trend report.
However there is a lot that is missing here is the todo list.
should take 8 integers as a mapping to the 8 data pins as (like me) they maybe wired a bit oddly from a ~/.led.map file
accept from cmd line port
read config file
accept from cmd line port or config file
delay form cmd or config file
trend delay " "
debug runtime option
kernel module
work out timings to be more more sensible (i.e. seconds for the trends and 100ths of seconds for the LEDs)
tidy up code etc
Still it runs and looks cool, what more could I ask, code is here http://www.jumpstation.co.uk/source/myhb.c

8 Jan 2004 20:59 -- no distributed network project statistics for the mo
Another book bites the dust, this time it was "Karin Slaughter, A Faint Cold Fear" by wait that was her name Karin Slaughter, which would have made a great name for this book :)
Its murder thriller with some great characters and even better story line that keeps you on tender hooks all the way through the last paragraph 10 out of 10

7 Jan 2004 22:00 -- no distributed network project statistics for the mo
My Space Invaders VMU style live again !
http://www.bullandfish.net/

7 Jan 2004 21:47 -- no distributed network project statistics for the mo
Been coding the CPU heart beat LED thingy and I can get it to do most of what I want but the averaging needs to be rewritten before I release it. The annoying thing is if I cause the system to go under heavy load where the hard disk or CDROM is involved the program itself is slowed down enough to counter acted the movement of the LEDs ! Maybe I need to write it as kernel module ...

5 Jan 2004 22:18 -- no distributed network project statistics for the mo
I have been playing Splinter Cell on the xBox for a while now and it is truly worth the continued praise it has received. The first thing that you notice is the shadows, just to give you an idea two scenes come to mind. The first is a fan with a light behind it, and secondly a large enclosed space (underground car park) with shadows becoming huge over th large distances in perfect detail.
The next thing you will find with SC is the environments and game play, both these are spot on, really immersive world that you can not help felling part of whether you sneak around and grab people or run madly firing at anything that moves.
But I have finally become slightly bored with SC and so I bought Futurama (cheap), the first level is the planet express HQ and is very well done lots to see and do but I gave up on the second level very quickly as it lacked anything other than dodgy controls and camera. Still there is hope ....


4 Jan 2004 18:18 -- no distributed network project statistics for the mo
Hmmm well my excuse is still the kittens ;)
Have been writing the heartbeat LED thing, but still needs to be tweaked.
Read "biography of a germ" by Arno Karlen that was surprisingly interesting, concentrating on one family of germ a great tale is spun about the history, life cycle, and integration with other species , including man. Well written easy to read and interesting to boot.
I am seriously thinking of redoing the website, concentrating more on the linux side of things as I do more of that than Java programming.But as with all things it will take time.
hope you all had a good new year !!
and watch out for my customary year synopsis.

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