Area536

Those who upgraded to FreeBSD 9.0 RELEASE this weekend were in for an interesting surprise setting up IPv6. The settings for IPv6 changed so much in the new version of FreeBSD that an older configuration -most likely- simply will not work. Here's how my IPv6 got back online on FreeBSD 9.

To my dismay the NetBSD project apparently stopped providing binary packages for their sgimips port. As a result my SGI O2 has been dutifully building NetBSD 5.1 binary packages over the holidays. With some much-needed help from my Intel Core i5 laptop, a cross compiler and distcc I'm now up to a fully functioning accelerated X11 desktop. When all is done I'll post the binaries here so all O2 users out there can enjoy their legacy hardware while running a modern UNIX.

This site has been running on Drupal for quite some time. I received quite a few surprised responses to this move initially. Those who know me, also know I spend my day job working on/with TYPO3 almost exclusively. This site was an experiment for me to explore how Drupal would feel to me. After months of using it, I can conclude that Drupal just doesn't fit my way of thinking about CMS'es and I'll be rebuilding this place in TYPO3 sometime soon.
UPDATE: Due to a job change I won't have the time to finish my new site any time soon. Drupal gets a second chance for now.

Geeky websites around the world are ablaze with Microsoft's new policy concerning the mandatory use of UEFI SecureBoot. A move that will lock millions of tinkering hacker enthusiasts out of their hobby -including the hardware they bought and paid for- and will effectively bar the way for any kind of new grass-roots operating system on the ubiquitous PC platform. The next Linux may never see the light of day. Personally this development saddens me greatly as Ben Franklin's words on security and privacy keep popping into my mind.

Whether or not there's any substance to Anonymous' threats (or lack thereof) to 'destroy Facebook', I'd like to give you my take on the world's biggest anti-social network ever and it is a great danger to both its members as well as the open and free (as in freedom) internet as a whole. The sooner it (and its brethren) go away entirely, the better it'll be for all of humanity.

Apple wouldn't be Apple if it didn't have its very own quirky take on the mundane task of backing up your files. It's called Time Machine and what it does, essentially, is store a bazillion incremental backups on a disk until it fills up. From then on it prunes off old backups in favor of new ones. The bigger your drive, the longer the retention. The GUI it uses for this is -while corny- very effective. Sadly though, Apple itself doesn't have anything at all on offer that would allow a self-respecting geek to sleep soundly at night. Sure, the Time Capsule is about as elegant as external storage comes but it's not even capable of RAID1. Savages!

The 20th century dawned upon mankind with Henry Ford pumping out a barrage of cheap yet sturdy many-coloured black cars. The 21st century hit with Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim building YouTube. That good old American entrepeneurial spirit just won't quit. But can you spot the big difference? Hint: consider the concept of value.

As part of a new hobby project involving real live mice, a couple of webcams and a laptop, I got to spend some time setting up a more or less robust live streaming service. You can view the end result here. This blog is mainly about the technical aspect of this setup.

Computer hardware has always had the tendency to get smaller (and faster) over time. Most people would call this a good thing, and I would wholeheartedly agree with them. However, along with this tendency to shrink comes a tendency for hardware manufacturers to become more and more secretive about their gear. There isn't a single cell phone you can buy over the counter today that would allow users to install their own homebrew OS without voiding every warranty under the sun. This tendency, I think, is evil.

There's a lot of fluff going around in all kinds of media. Even some really mainstream media with absolutely no focus on technology seem to know that the world will come to and end ten days from now. And no, it won't be some large space rock that kills civilisation. It'll be the end of IP as we know it. All IPv4 addresses will be allocated, therefore the world will most certainly end.