Why…

No, it’s not because I love technology or gadgets or because I’m geeky like that.  Actually, it’s mostly because I’m not living by myself anymore.  All problems associated with computer files (e.g. backup, drive crash, computer crash, blue screens, no screen, defrag, crash without saving, power fail without saving, backup, out of space, too slow, too messy, security, mobility, restore, backup, sync, transfers, sharing, duplication, backup) that I normally have is now multiplied by two.  And this translates to bad things happening twice as often.

The ideal solution

Put all files on a shared network drive which is fast and backed up.  Then have nothing on the local computer except for applications.  This has a lot of advantages and a couple disadvantages.

Advantages

• Automatically backed up for anyone on the network.
• Hard drive space efficiency.  Some people use a lot of space and some people use a little.  Having all All free drive space pooled together allowed it to be shared so in the long run, you probably save money on hard drives.
• Share files without needing to email or copy them to a flash drive.
• Centralized maintenance and enhancement.  An improvement on the network share is automatically realized by everyone using it.

Disadvantages

• If you travel a lot, then synchronizing the files to your mobile drive can be a pain.
• Potentially slower.  With the same exact hardware, a file loaded from a network drive cannot be faster than a file loaded from the local drive.

Since I do not travel a lot, the only disadvantage for me is the performance.  Which bring me back to how I started… I’ve been thinking about home networking a lot lately, mostly about what kind of speed I can expect from a NAS.

Speed

To get a rough idea of how fast I can transfer a file from a NAS to a computer, I have to understand the performance of all components on the transfer path.   Each person may have a different computer or and different usages so the transfer path will be different for each situation.  The fastest transfer speed will be determined by the slowest component (bottleneck) on the path.  I found numbers that were all normalized to megabytes (MB) per second and plotted them from slowest to fastest.

The chart above gives a pretty good idea of what really matters during a file transfer.  For example, if you were trying to copy something to a usb 1.1 device, then it doesn’t matter how fast your network, or network drive is, the usb device is going to be too slow anyways.

Ideally, if I can make my gigabit wired network the slowest component in my transfer path, that would be pretty darn good.  A single hard drive would only acheive roughly 70 MB/s which is not enough to keep up with a 125 MB/s gigabit network.  To get network saturation, it looks like a hard drive in raid 0 or raid 5 configuration may be warranted.

• 7200 rpm hard drive [~70 MB/s]
• 7200 rpm hard drives with raid 0 [~140 MB/s]
• pata UDMA/100 (ide) [~100 MB/s]
• pata UDMA/133 (ide) [~133 MB/s]
• 1.5 Gb/s sata connection [~150 MB/s]
• 3 Gb/s sata connection [~300 MB/s]
• wired 100 Mb network / 100 Mb switch [~12.5 MB/s]
• wired gigabit network/ gigabit switch [~125 MB/s]
• wireless 802.11a [~6.75 MB/s]
• wireless 802.11b [~1.4 MB/s]
• wireless 802.11g [~6.75 MB/s]
• wireless 802.11n [~37.5 MB/s]
• usb 2.0 [~60 MB/s]
• usb 3.0 [~625 MB/s]
• firewire [~98.3 MB/s]

MB = megabyte, mb = megabit, 8 megabit (mb) = 1 megabyte (MB)

Increase total throughput with link aggregation

Some motherboards and routers support IEEE 802.3ad, also known as link aggregation, dual lan and teaming.  The theory behind this is that two lan ports can be paried up on a single ip to accept connections and therefore handle more throughput than a single ethernet cable.  Think of this like a load balancer for web servers.  It won’t really increase the speed of a single request but can allow the network to handle more requests, thus increasing total throughput.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_aggregation

I have read a few forums now and it is still unclear to me whether link aggregation works in practice.   Increased transfer rate  for a single connection seems unlikely unless there is a way to over-come the overhead in dealing with out of order packets.  But even without increase transfer rate for a single connection, load balancing multiple connections should help in a multi-user environment.  For now the only thing that people appear to agree on is that it does provide network redundancy which is something I’m not interested in.

Components

My first design had used a lot more cinder blocks around the pond as walls but my wife was not too happy about that.  Considering how often she bumps into furniture, she had a valid concern.  So this is actually my second design which has a lot more wood than the first.  The frame is now entirely wood with cinder blocks only being used as the underlying foundation for the pool and dirt.  The dimensions for the pond are based around the size of the kiddie pool in the middle (which I already bought!).  The empty space around the pool will be filled with dirt and plants.

• 2 x 10 wood board
• 2 x 2 wood beams
• 54″ diameter kiddie pool
• chicken wire
• cinder blocks
• plexi-glass
• dirt
• plants (imagine foerster feather grass swaying in the breeze!  awesome!)

Features

Pond drain…

One thing I have learned in my years of experience with fish and now turtles, is that a easy way to change the water is absolutely essential.  A good filter will take you a long way but eventually the water will need to be changed either in part or in full.  Years before, I figured out that I can replace one side of my 10 gallon fish tank with plexi-glass.  This allowed me to cut a hole at the bottom and plug it with a valve (I chose an opening of a 2 liter plastic soda bottle).  It greatly increased the speed that I was able to replace the water.  Now, I hope I can apply the same concept to my pool.  I plan on cutting a hole at the bottom of the pool and attaching a valve and hose to let the water out.  The pool will be slightly raised on a layer of cinder block and gravity allow the water to be drained.

Protective fencing…

I heard that turtles can be attacked by common animals such as cats, squirrels, and birds.  Considering my turtles have always lived indoors and are most likely extremely domesticated, I doubt they have the instinct to hide if approached.  To protect them, I will need to wrap the entire pond in a protective fence, chicken wire (not pictured).

Heated pool…

This is the tricky one and will be the biggest hurdle.  I am not sure how feasible it will be to maintain my pond at a livable temperature.  If I cannot heat the pond at a reasonable cost, I may have to give up on the dream oasis completely!  Oh no!  The kiddie pool is roughly 100 gallons and I know they sell aquarium heaters that can easily handle that indoors.  It will be much colder outdoors so I am not sure if they will work.  Hopefully I can find a cost effective way to keep them warm.  Everyone has to live within their means, even my turtles.  In the worst case, I keep them in the house with a larger tank now that there is more space.  I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Sun-roof…

Well, this one is still under debate.  Does my pond really need a roof?  I think my turtles will do just fine with a bit of rain but keeping rain out will probably make heating easier.  If I do make a roof, then it would have to be glass or plexi-glass for sure.  Turtles need uv light and heat so I have to allow as much sun in as possible.

Giant Doors…

Remember the fencing?  I have to have access to the pond of course!  So the top frame of the turtle enclosure will have a set of doors bigger than my house doors!  Ok, that was an exaggeration but they will be pretty darn big.

Convertible…

So I got doors, but why stop there!  That’s right, I’m sparing no expenses** on this turtle resort.  For even more access in cases of major landscaping or pond cleaning, the entire top frame will be detachable as shown in the picture.  This will give completely 360 degree access to anything in my pond.

** Actually not true.  I will most likely be on the strictest of budgets.  Approved and audited closely by my CFO (a.k.a. my wife).

Filter…

To help conserve water, a filter is a must.  100 gallons of water is a decent amount of water so it’s important to use it for as long as possible.  I am hoping that a good filter can keep the pond clean for a couple months before a partial water change.

Cost?

I have not done a cost calculation yet but it looks like this project is going to be a few hundred bucks at the minimum.  The cost may delay this project but since I already have the kiddie pool, it’s no longer a matter of ”if” but just a matter ”when”.

Bad Company 2 has finally been released. Since I passed on Modern Warfare, I hoped that Bad Company 2 would be everything I wanted.  As reviews for the game came out, I realized that at least one aspect of the game did not meet my expectations.  But overall, it appears that the game got good reviews and most importantly it does not have any deal breakers for me.

The Bad

Before the game was released, I had see online reports that Bad Company 2 was going to support up to 40 players on the PC. But unfortunately, it seems like the game only supports 32 players now. Even though this is still better than the measly 18 players for Modern Warfare 2, I am still disappointed that it’s not 40 players.

The Good

Destruction, destruction, destruction.  Can’t really say this enough because almost everything can be destroyed in the game.  No words can do this justice so just go out and find a video where you can see this happen!

Although 32 players are not as good as my expected 40 or 64 from other Battlefield games, I will give this game credit for increasing the number of players for the PC.  The xbox and playstation versions of the game are limited to 24 players which is too bad.  But understanding that the PC can handle more and actually using that power is just a smart move on the developer and should keep the PC gamers, including me, happy.

Conclusion

I will be giving this game a go as soon as soon as I get my new graphics card.  I’ll see you on the battlefield solder!

gnome-screensaver-command --lock

or

xlock

But if you ssh into your linux machine to activate the screen lock or screen saver, you might run into this error:

** Message: Failed to connect to the D-BUS daemon: dbus-launch failed to
autolaunch D-Bus session: Autolaunch error: X11 initialization failed.

or

No protocol specified
xscreensaver: Can't open display: :0.0

You have to set the DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS environment variable in order the command to work.  You can find the current running DBUS address by first getting the process id of the running screen saver.  Then grepping for the address in the environ file.  The following script will lock your linux terminal:

#!/bin/sh

PID=`pgrep -u $USER -f "gnome-screensaver"`
DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=`grep -z DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS /proc/$PID/environ`
DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=`echo $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS | sed -e 's/DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=//'`
export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS

gnome-screensaver-command --lock

Holy remote locking Batman!

Well today Modern Warfare 2 has been released! So I decided to poke around the internet to see what the word is. And my verdict is… not recommended.  I have decided that I will not buy Modern Warfare 2 based on two main deal breakers.

Deal breaker #1: 18 player limit

Say what!  That’s right, it appears that Modern Warfare 2 is limited to 18 players.  Not 18 players on each side, but 18 players total, that’s 9v9 tops.  Personally, I love playing with a huge number of players because it just feels more like the scenes from the movie Saving Private Ryan.  And I think that’s awesome.  I love the concept of organized chaos which is what you get from 32 or 64 players duking it out while sub-dividing into miniature rambo teams.  With a maximum of 9 players on your side, half of them may be dead at any one time so that really leaves you 4 guys running around at a time.

If you’re a console guy, then you’re probably saying what’s the big deal?  And I would say it’s not a big deal to you.  For console games, this is pretty much the norm and this is what you expect.  More power to you.  But I am personally a PC guy and I am accustom to games that support up to 64 players.

Deal breaker #2: no dedicated servers

Initially I didn’t even know what this meant.  This basically means Infinity Ward, the creators of the game, will not have any game servers setup for people to play on.  The game is designed to be hosted directly on one of the client’s or player’s machines.  So yes, one lucky player in a given game will be hosting the game.  Based on my experience with FPS games and ping, this may give an unfair advantage to the player hosting the game as his ping will be virtually zero.  I have on many occassions, when my ping was super low, been able to defy death, almost in an omni-potent way, seen hoards of enemy shooting at me but always missing, as if they were targeting thin air.

Conclusion

A good summary is the title I have been seeing around the internet… Modern Warfare 2, DOA.  For those who are unfamiliar with that acronym, it stands for dead on arrival and is a common phrase seen when purchasing computer hardware.

Check out the funny ratings from GameSpot and IGN.

Ratings from GameSpot and IGN

For now, I will be waiting for Bad Company 2.  While I have read that it can support a maximum of 40 players, the game is still to a bit too far from release to know for sure.  So hopefully it won’t let me down.  If it does, well there is always Modern Warfare 1.

Finally, here are some direct quotes that made me laugh (disclaimer: quotes do not necessarily represent the author’s opinions):

• Take $60 out and burn it…least you get warm -zippythezip (GameSpot)
• it’s like mw but then crippled -ATFNeOpHyTe (GameSpot)
• Screw you consoles!!!!!!! -ZeppelinE6 (GameSpot)
• outside of consoles this game is already DOA -doorules (IGN)
• If I wanted to play 9 vrs 9 on small maps I would just reinstall my old Doom disks. -jdwksu (IGN)
• Complete and utter failure, a 10 year step back in PC gaming -Liksecken (GameSpot)

Holy bad PR, Batman!

Allow comments option

Seeing this option, it’s easy to assume this enables comments on your wordpress Pages, especially for the default theme. But unfortunately, this particular option in the admin page has no affect on the default Kubrick theme. To enable comments on your Page(s), you have to select a theme which includes them or modify your default Kubrick theme.

Default theme with page comments

To change your default theme, add the following line to /wp-content/themes/default/page.php

<?php
/**
 * @package WordPress
 * @subpackage Default_Theme
 */

get_header(); ?>

    <div id="content" class="narrowcolumn">

        <?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
        <div class="post" id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>">
        <h2><?php the_title(); ?></h2>
            <div class="entry">
                <?php the_content('<p class="serif">Read the rest of this page &raquo;</p>'); ?>

                <?php wp_link_pages(array('before' => '<p><strong>Pages:</strong> ', 'after' => '</p>', 'next_or_number' => 'number')); ?>

            </div>
        </div>
        <?php endwhile; endif; ?>
    <?php edit_post_link('Edit this entry.', '<p>', '</p>'); ?>

    <?php comments_template(); ?>
    </div>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

Additional References

http://wordpress.org/support/topic/246879

http://wordpress.org/support/topic/196788

I noticed last night that my wordpress is not generating thumbnails from uploaded images like it’s suppose to. You’ll noticed that the size options (thumbnail, medium, large) are all disabled except for the full size.

After doing a lot of searching, I finally found out that in order for wordpress to generate thumbnails “by default”, you need to have GD library support for your php. It would have been nice if wordpress had documented that better.

The only reference I found was this:

http://wordpress.org/support/topic/235625

To be clear, wordpress does not generate thumbnails by default unless your php instance has GD support.

Install php gd library

For me, installing GD library was easy:

# yum install php-gd

Check for gd

To check if you have GD loaded in php:

# php -m
[PHP Modules]
bz2
calendar
ctype
curl
date
dbase
exif
ftp
gd
gettext
gmp
hash
iconv

PHP Warning:  preg_match_all() [<a href='function.preg-match-all'>function.preg-match-all</a>]:
Compilation failed: this version of PCRE is not compiled with PCRE_UTF8 support at offset 0 in ...

I am running apache 2.2.8 and it uses the built-in version 5 of pcre.

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/new_features_2_2.html

The problem is that version 5 of pcre does not contain UTF-8 support.  So I had to recompile apache with a newer version of pcre. Luckily I have pcre 6.6 already installed on my linux box.

>> rpm -qa |grep -i pcre
pcre-devel-6.6-2.el5_0.1
pcre-6.6-2.el5_0.1
pcre-6.6-2.el5_0.1

So all I had to do is re-compile apache with the “–with-pcre” flag.

./configure --with-pcre

If you don’t know what version of pcre your php is using, create a phpinfo script and hit it with your broswer.  You should see…

Happy compiling…

Another important factor for me was the ability to customize the software.  Not only the legal ability but also the ease to understand and change the underlying software.  Not being a php guy, I’ve been pleasantly surprised how easy and straight forward to understand and modify the code base.  The bad part is that it looks very much like procedural spagehiti code resembling much of what you would see if a java web app was written completely in jsp.

Just a few weeks ago, wordpress 2.8 came out.  So I installed the new version and it seems like a lot of the buggy admin functions are now fixed.  Using wordpress 2.7, I felt a lot of the backend pages had bugs.  Luckily for me, 2.8 came out at the perfect time.

You can find my old website here: old.chiaocheng.com. It going to take me some time to move everything over.

And guess what, you just read my first ever blog post!

Happy blogging.