Migration to full-time Linux

My migration to running Linux full-time has come one step closer. I still need a Windows box for the odd thing here and there, and so to date I've been running dual boot systems. Yesterday I came across this article detailing how to set up Windows in QEMU.

I followed it and installed Windows onto a hard drive image file. Qemu gave me network access via it's virtual network adapters that it emulates and I was able to activate Windows and am currently downloading Windows updates.

The neat thing is that once this is all complete I can take a backup copy of the hard drive image (which from what I read will weigh in at about 1.7GB) and use that to roll back to a known good state in minutes, rather than enduring hours for Windows setup, plus more hours (and bandwidth) for Windows update.

Yum yum! :p

Geek Laffs

Heh, I just found myself typing this:

bash-3.1$ cat eater.sh

I guess it's a dog?

Wedding Anniversary

On the 11th of Nov it was our wedding anniversary. We take turns about organising the event, keeping the details from the other person until the last possible moment. Thus far we've spent our anniversaries in Arrowtown, Ireland, Venice, Stewart Island and most recently (i.e. just the other day), Dunedin.

Linda arranged for us to take the Taieri Gorge Railway from Dunedin to Palmerston and back, a round trip of about 3 hours including a 45 minute stop in Palmerston itself. The views are astounding as you make you way up the coast north of Dunedin, through Waitati, Seacliff and past Karitane.

In the evening we took a harbour cruise on the Monarch, followed by a meal at the Carey's Bay Hotel. The Monarch normally takes group bookings, and our trip was no exception - we were the odd ones out in a christmas party for a local engineering firm. Several people thought we were new employees and introduced themselves eagerly.

Those of you who know me may know that I like ducks - some people like cats, some like dogs, I like ducks. When I saw at the pub that they had an imported beer called 'Kwak', I just had to get some. At 8% alc/vol it certainly got the old wings flapping!

So, now I have to work out what I'm going to organise for next year!

IE7 via Windows Update

I was disgusted today when I saw that IE7 was being offered via Windows update. This in itself wasn't a surprise, Microsoft had long said they would use Windows Update to distribute it, but what did surprise me was how it was presented.

I clicked the icon to examine updates and there were about 10 or so 'security updates' (this in itself is not unusual) and way down the bottom of the list was IE7, ticked and primed to be installed when I agreed to the other updates.

I personally don't care - it's not going to affect me as I spent most of my time nowadays running Ubuntu Linux but for most computer users I think they'd get a bit of a fright.

Chances are that if you are a regular computer user (i.e. not a geek) that you're reading this after the fact - cast your mind back, do you remember IE7 installing? Were you a willing participant?

I get the feeling that Microsoft were under pressure to get IE7 out because of the way the Open Source world was driving onwards with a great head of steam, particularly with the recent surge in popularity that Mozilla is enjoying with it's Firefox browser and Thunderbird mail client.

Microsoft is still a big company, but boy, it's slice of the pie is getting smaller and smaller....

Coastal Classic '06

For the last couple of weeks, DC has been hinting that BM and I should do the Coastal Classic Mountain Bike Race. This at first was met with a guffaw - the idea that two unfit slobs could get out and do an actual mountain bike race was humourous.

After giving it some thought, and being reassured that I hadn't been pre-entered into the 50km ride, I decided that it would be worth a look in. BM had prior arrangements (i.e. he was getting quietly drunk, most probably in combination with fireworks and costume) so he couldn't make it.

I rocked down to Taieri Mouth this morning at 8:30am, registered and then was away. DC gritted his teeth in worry when he saw the state of my bike, but a quick adjustment to the brakes was the minimum I needed to ensure that I didn't end up hanging from my heels from a barbed wire fence.

The 15km course took me 100 minutes and was a long gentle climb (although hard enough to have me pushing a couple of times) followed by a fantastic downhill scream over a few paddocks and then a long windy twisty 4WD track which had been appropriately dampened by overnight rain. The result was a wet muddy descent where speed is your friend.

Would I do it again? Sure would :)