machinehead

Seems like hard disks have been quite a popular topic for me recently and there are a few things I've actually learnt in the process. Things like chosing filesystem formats, disk recovery and raiding. It all started with my recent disk upgrades which forced me to start doing stuff again. Here's what I learnt. Fact 1: Hardware SATA raid on your motherboard is actually software raid on the bios. Fact 2: Disk performance can be determined by quite a few factors, the easy things to do without getting into tweaking your kernel is to ensure that you have the right cables. Check that SMART is enabled (through the BIOS) and your DMA is on. Here are some useful commands # smartctl -a /dev/hda # hdparm -d /dev/hda Fact 3: Choose the right filesystem and stick to it. Easiest to use this as a default install as well. I think most Redhat install types use EXT3. Although other filesystems might be better for different purposes, running different filesystems will add additional load to diffe...

Decided to do something funky with my linksys router. Installed milkfish. Not sure how it works yet, but was tramatic after I flashed the rom and lost my internet connection. After a while, I realised it was the modem and not the router :P Anyway, its "fixed" now. http://wiki.milkfish.org/index.php?n=Boozy.StepByStep

I have to admit, i'm relatively disorientated at this point. I didn't realise how important my ibook was. I suppose the thought that I have 2 more machines at home and that can effectively last me through the rest of the year at least. But, its all the little things you do that you dont realise is specific to machines. Like I do all my wordprocessing and spreadsheet work on my mac. I think using my PC is great, but I just dont know where to put the files and I just ended up trashing one months worth of work by accident. ARgh! I'd need to rethink my workflow and strategy all over again, before I start doing stupid things and time is running out as more work piles up. Food for thought, do you make your computers revolve around your work or do you force your work to revolve around your computers? Which one are you?