Al's blog

Strange little NFS problem

I came across a strange little networking problem earlier today. The client in question had needed to be rebooted earlier in the day. The server had had no changes made to it. The problem only started occurring after the reboot of the client. We had an NFS directory on the server that the client’s subnet had access to. However when we tried to mount the directory (via the automounter) it failed with a permission denied Read more

By albertw,

Leftover wine

Decided to make lasagna today. And of course my recipe requires about a third of a bottle of red wine. After quick glance at the wine in the house, I came to the same conclusion I always do when cooking – all of that is too good to cook with. Since I was going to lidl anyway for the veg I thought I’d just pick up a cheap bottle while there. At the moment there Read more

By albertw,

EU Action Alert: Urge Your MEP to Take a Stand for Internet Freedom

Just got this email from the EFF: Help stop the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) from steamrolling our rights and freedoms. Please contact your Member of Parliament (MEP) today and ask them to sign a Declaration that takes a stand against efforts to curb Internet freedom in ACTA. Parliamentarians must sign in person before July 8, during the Strasbourg plenary session. Written Declaration 12 asks EU negotiators to ensure that ACTA respects European citizens’ fundamental rights to Read more

By albertw,

Remote X displays

Another ‘damn! I keep forgetting how to do that!’ post… When you want to display something from one unix box to another there are two ways of doing it. 1. Use ssh. You need to use ‘ssh -X’ specifically which will allow X11 forwarding. ssh takes care of setting the DISPLAY variable for you. You also need to ensure that the server is configured for X forwarding: [sourcecode language=’php’]# X11 tunneling options X11Forwarding yes X11DisplayOffset Read more

By albertw,

EFI and SUN Disk Labels

Every now and again an install on a new machine fails for me and I have to google to remember how to change the label. So this time I’m writing it down! Docs.sun.com has some information on the differences between the two formats http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/817-5093/disksconcepts-47761?l=en&a=view But suffice to say that you cant install Solaris on an EFI disk, you need to change it to an SMI label. Thats done using ‘format -e’. Select the label option, Read more

By albertw,

Bye Bye eircom. A letter I sent to my local TD recently

Today eircom implemented their three strike rule. Here is a letter I sent to my local TD recently on the subject. Dear Ciaran, Thanks for your tweet regarding the judicial decision regarding the so called ‘3 strike rule’ being implemented by eircom at the request of the music and movie industries. I hope you have the time to read this reply. You mentioned that ‘false accusations are problematic’. That is true, but there are many Read more

By albertw,

Letter: Council Vandalism of Dalkey Quarry

Dear Councilors & TD’s, It was with incredulity that I read reports in the Irish Times of the destruction of parts of Dalkey Quarry. The first recorded climbs by the Irish Mountaineering Council were undertaken in the 1940’s. Today the quarry is used almost daily by climbers and the routes range from the very beginner level up to some of the hardest climbs in the country. It is the only quarry that I know of Read more

By albertw,

Sometimes you can be proud of the EU

The start of 2010 has been an interesting time in the EU. Where, in stark contrast to most places, we seem to be coming up with good legislation and ideas. February 22nd: The EU Commission proposes a ban on all commercial fishing of Atlantic bluefin tuna by 2011. Predictably the Japanese are the ones who are protesting most. But you would expect that from a nation that seems to have a policy of making marine Read more

By albertw,