February 15, 2006
by dhoytt
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Still Making Changes On Site

I’m still making sweeping changes on the site as you can see. One of the things I’m doing is trying to find out how I want to present my photos on the site.
I tried a regular blog setting (http://www.dhoytt.com/photo-blog/ ) and then uploaded photos that way.
I have also discovered another plugin to the Movabletype blog system I began working on last week called Photo Gallery by Stop Design http://stopdesign.com/templates/photos/ and I’m leaning towards that over the regular blog settings (http://www.dhoytt.com/gallery/).
I have one other software I may try as well called Gallery (http://gallery.menalto.com/) which I downloaded but haven’t started fully configuring yet.
Check back and view the many changes as some of you know this is a project that helps me, I think, stay in touch with some IT skills and plus its fun. The reason I mention that is that the things I do on my site are done on a system I built in my home in my room and I have to configure every aspect of it so its not just slapping software on the system and it works. So if the changes take a while since this is not a site hosted on an external web server where mostly everything is setup for you. I am doing more than just changing a few web pages.
I also get caught up in other projects that need to be taken care of and other matters of life fun, dreary and everything in between.
Just keep checking back while doing research for some of the things I’m doing I saw lots of items I want to include on the site.
It’s late and I’m out!

February 10, 2006
by dhoytt
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Blog & Site Up On New Server With New Pages

Lunch time! I just finished putting up my new web site (http://www.dhoytt.com/) on my new server last night. I had it up for a brief while earlier this week and last week but during my testing I ended up replacing the motherboard.
Apparently I had bent the CPU socket pins during initial installation several weeks age but it decide to fail at that time (better now than later). Possibly too much heat resistance, load now or something but that was weird. I tossed in another motherboard of the same type to avoid having to totally redo the Operating system and rebuild all the kernel drivers etc… The only thing I saw being a possible issue was it noticed the MAC address of the NIC was different while I watched for errors and message on shutdown. The warning message says it ignored it anyway but I will be editing the networking file for that interface and placing in the correct MAC address.
For all the techies I’m using Linux Fedora 4 X86_64,the 64 bit OS distribution for the Intel 64 bit chips which is ported differently I suppose than the 64 bit version for AMD since there were different distributions on the ftp site.
I also screwed up some html code doing a few things so even after replacing the motherboard I had to figure out why my blog posts weren’t working. I had to basically remove the blogs and the files on the system and then start over on the blogs from scratch. I usually point to everything via ip.address when testing so I had to remember to change all those pointers before going live as well.
Anyway take a look around the various pages and the blogs. I hope to soon also make this a game server for several multi-player games as well such as Quake4 (http://www.planetquake.com/quake4/).
The main reason I wanted to do some things was to put it on a more powerful system and also to start setting up a place to advertise items I wanted to sell with the pictures I wanted. I will be doing this on my “Darryl’s Sale Items Blog” (http://www.dhoytt.com/forsale/) soon. Nothing is listed now but the site is there and since I’m already running “Sixapart’s” MovableType blog software (http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/) on this system I figured that’s a great way to add items I want to sell. Using the MovableType blog software I can add new items quickly and remove the sold items from view just as quick!
Anyway take a look at the site. Thanks!

January 23, 2006
by dhoytt
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X11 Hogging CPU on Login Another Update

Well it wasn’t the fact that I had reset the permissions to be more permissive that solved the X11 issue. The issue came roaring right back for some reason that I haven’t pinpointed.
I’m back to my original thoughts of possible video card issue but that may not fly either since all was well for so long although I rarely have been doing anything significant on my web server the past several months so I haven’t really exercised the X11 desktop on my web server.
That’s the thing trying to pinpoint if this was a recent issue or something that has been lurking waiting for me to really get in and do something. Looking back I have been doing things remotely logging in from other systems on the LAN to ftp files around and look at things so I wouldn’t have to mess with the KVM switch that was in an inconvenient location.
I tried using the new Nvidia Linux driver (http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_display_ia32_1.0-8174.html ) and that looked cool but produced the same type of behavior. I’m not getting a lot of clues in the XFree86.log.
I’m moving the Web Server over to another system I’m building anyway but I will troubleshoot this still but the urgency will not be there. Actually I can still always get in via my other tools remotely and other systems so there is no real reason to dive in too deep right now with all my other projects percolating

January 23, 2006
by dhoytt
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X11 Hogging CPU on Login Update

Well as I was doing my therapeutic updating of my issue I had with X11 I remembered what last actions I had done on my system before having this issue. I had created a new blog but also in that process had to create a new directory in the folder I share out my html content in. I also had to chmod my new directory to enable the blog application to be able to write to the directory.
I simply changed he permissions back to my original settings when I created my directory I presume with my umask settings, rebooted and logged back in and presto X11 is not using 98% of the CPU
At this point this makes no sense to me! Why would this directory having open permissions cause my Linux desktop to freeze and X11 to grab 99% of my CPU when I logged in? I did see this new Java file pop into my directory after I had created the blog with the application software, mt-site.js. I looked in this file briefly but didn’t spot anything. This will be the first new blog I create with the newly updated blog software MT version 3.2, at this point just scratching the head and really tired.
I have top running on the system now with the X11 desk top up and several terminal sessions going and accessed several X11 apps and X occasionally goes to the top of the list but with barely more than 1% of CPU and now this system is 95% -98% idle most of the time as it usually is.
To top this off the program I was looking for, GnuCash doesn’t even exist on this system!
Oh well, that’s enough for now I will isolate this when I have time. I need to get maybe a couple of hours sleep on my new bed and mattress.

January 23, 2006
by dhoytt
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X11 Hogging CPU on Login

I’m not sure what’s going on with my web server but when I login as any user using any desktop, Gnome or KDE it hangs and goes to about 100% CPU. This system has been up and running with this configuration for the past few years without any issues. My web server is still serving up pages and my blog is working fine with Mysqld but the simple act of logging in as any user in X11 mode sends X11 into CPU hogging mode.
I discovered this trying to see how GnuCash works to track my finances since I want to start my business in some fashion again this year and this time keep track of things a little better. I turned my KVM the wrong way since I was going to try on my backup web server first but since I went to the main web server and was just going to see if the GnuCash program was there and how it looked and felt I didn’t think it would be a big deal. Boy was I surprised when my desktop froze on me. I never even got to open the program it just hung as I browsed to the program and the whole desktop became unresponsive except being able to move the mouse pointer around.
The first thing I did was check my web page and everything there worked just fine. Next I logged in using ssh from my other Linux system (backup web server) and confirmed the issues I was having. I tried various ways of stopping and starting the X11 engine and none gave any better results.
I even rebooted and also tried removing my soundcard blew the system out with canned air etc… Nothing worked. I was totally unprepared for going into troubleshooting mode on this system since I was just going to check out GnuCash and go to bed but several hours later here I am!
For now I will keep X11 off of that system and login from my other Linux system. I am going to upgrade my web server’s hardware anyway but didn’t want to do it this soon. I think this may be a good time to update it anyway since I will be putting a new blog out on my site for items I will be selling. I will start selling items to finish clearing room in my house first and then fine tune everything.
Now that I’m thinking about it the only new thing I did was create a new blog for my site and for sale items, but doubting if that has anything to do with XFree86 grabbing CPU but hey something to check for later.
I will update on the progress of this issue later.

January 8, 2006
by dhoytt
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Seafood Gumbo

My dad decided to cook some seafood gumbo Saturday. Anyone who has cooked seafood gumbo know this is quite the endeavor and expensive as a car payment for a large amount of people! We all usually pitch in to help offset the cost but he still bears the brunt of the cost with some not really contributing as much as they consume but that’s how it rolls sometimes. I also always try to get over and help with preparation. I make gumbo sometimes myself and I know how it can go and I like picking up additional tips.
There are a lot of us in my family and my dad makes his gumbo fully stocked so each bowlful has plenty of all ingredients. This was one of his best efforts with pieces of King crab almost as wide as a small child’s wrist, lots of shrimp, oysters, chicken, sausage etc…
Three huge pots of gumbo you can bet I’m going back over there to make sure I have my fill. I brought some home already but that’s going to go pretty quick.
My mother said he started banging around about 4am so I missed how he starts his roux the most important part but I remember a few things from previous times, plus he gave a brief overview Friday when I was helping cut up some veggies.
I may do my part and make some gumbo this winter myself and have people over and I keep my pots fully stocked just like my dad.

November 29, 2005
by dhoytt
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Kitchen Floors Done, Multi-Color Peacock Slate

Ok finally finished my floors. Had to do the floors in fits and starts around other projects that had more of a immediate need such as major pool maintenance so I would not have to deal with a pool full of algae garage sale, several computer issues etc… I also was really sick in there as well.
As I have stated earlier on this blog I also had to do the floors in modules not only for technique testing but because the kitchen is right between my den where I watch TV listen to music and relax and the garage where I have tools materials etc..
I did a lot of clean up especially after I put in the mortar between the tiles. I thought also that if I could scrub the tiles as much as possible before putting down the wet seal that would give it more outstanding final luster & sheen.
Well I could get no shine before the wet seal but tested a few pieces of extra tile from previous cuts by applying the wet sealant and they came out looking just ok. I was a bit skeptical about taking that final conclusive step at this point, but could find nothing else to scrub off of the tiles so started on one corner of the floor and it looked really good after the initial application of the wet sealant!
I proceeded to do one half of the floor so I still had a passage to the den and garage from the other part of the house and wow. It looked great! Tonight I finished the rest of the floor after returning from a nice run at the local Junior college and I’m done!
Believe it the floor is done and looking excellent!
I have already been studying up and researching for my next two projects, what color to painting the kitchen and redoing the cabinets and putting in another sink and possibly getting new kitchen appliances.

Some pictures:
HPIM0194-a.jpg
Here I am after completion of putting down sealant on floors and after evening run still dressed from run.
HPIM0181.JPG
Tiles still wet from tonight’s application of the sealant.
HPIM0189.jpg
Showing last night’s application with half the floor not done to allow passage from one part of the house to the other portion of the house.

Here I am after completion of putting down sealant on floors and after evening run still dressed from run.
Tiles still wet from tonight’s application of the sealant.
Showing last night’s application with half the floor not done to allow passage from one part of the house to the other portion of the house.

November 27, 2005
by dhoytt
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Cool Thanksgiving Weekend

We had Thanksgiving at one of my nieces place with her family. I started my Thanksgiving Day preparation of my usual smoked turkey Wednesday. I used a larger than normal turkey and it turned out well.
My dad fixed lamb and prime rib and one of my other sisters cooked a standard roasted turkey.
We all filled in with additional side dishes that have turned out well. I worked the day after Thanksgiving, from home as usual of course, and the day was mildly busy.
The rest of the weekend was uneventful I purchased some items for my computer room mainly a couple of more heavy duty UPS’ and another older rack mounted case. The rack is now populated with a dual processor Pentium 2 system. I will of course have no use for those items and uninstall them and build a more powerful system into this rack case which has a lot more space for drive space than all but one of my other 19” rack mount computer cases.
I also had another decent weekends of runs and even on back to back runs of decent distance my time is improving showing my overall fitness is improving since I’m able to handle back to back 7.5 and 6 miles runs improving by times in both.

November 16, 2005
by dhoytt
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Runs are Improving

My normal 6 mile run felt pretty good today I just kept it nice and loose without really pushing it and took my time down about 30 seconds from my last 6 mile run a few days ago even though I didn’t feel comfortable. Down 2 minutes from my first run of the beginning last week
Yesterday I was a bit out of it and the previous day I had to tone it down a few miles. Soon I will feel comfortable to lengthen the stride and push the pace. After that point its time to work on speed an intervals and hitting the hills from time to time. Then maybe I will be able to hit some of the “all comer track meets” next year.