Here's a list of mail servers ranked in popularity
http://www.securityspace.com/s_survey/data/man.200710/mxsurvey.html
postfix is not as popular as one might believe. sendmail and microsoft products are at the top.
location: Home
I just had a dreadful day. I had an x-ray of my back done at the hospital to determine if there was any damage from my car accident in 2005. My back has been quite sore since the accident. I'm not sure if there is a problem with my back or merely that I've been much more tense since the accident combined with longer periods on the computer. I've also founded an open source project which takes most of my time during this period.
If the results are negative for injury, I'll have to go get my back "cracked". (i love scary quotes)
Caryn's family had a last minute event in Lansing. We just spent 4 hours in transit or at the event. Her grandmother is building a house in PA and moving there soon. She's in Flint right now. Most of her church friends are in the Lansing and Flint areas. Their faith is very different. They don't like TV, dress extremely conservatively and think everyone else is a heathen. It is an offshoot of christianity best I can tell. They don't like churches and are not that organized. Their members have to get married twice (once legally). We stuck out like sore thumbs. We saw Caryn's aunt and uncle today. It has been a few years.
I spent 45 minutes trying to debug a problem NAT'ing the open computer lab in the CS department. I forgot to turn on the firewall. Very stupid of me. How would natd divert the traffic if it can't be diverted from anywhere... lol. Now the lab is behind an OS X server with NFS/AFP for imaging, a caching DNS server, and a very loose firewall ruleset. I'd like to improve that but triv erased my rules on the white board. I'll have to think them up again.
I spoke with Jessica a bit today. She was updating software in one of the side labs. Nothing real exciting, but it's been awhile since I chatted with her. Kirk was talking to a former student employee who now works for ICT as a security person. He was very interested in the build cluster in terms of security and that concerns me. I think we'll have to harden that.
KDE is failing to build with our 0.1.1 tagged ports tree. I'm a bit worried about that and trying to work around it as much as possible. Caryn convinced me some people will be upset.
I drew a picture recently on my new tablet. I don't think I've posted this one yet. Right now it's my desktop background.
I did this one in photoshop.
My Wacom tablet periodically "loses" it's drivers in 10.5. They're still shipping a beta driver for a seed of Leopard on the site. Often the tablet doesn't work.
I haven't tried the printer yet.
A seagate USB external hard drive works well. My emagic (now apple) external sound card that has not been updated since 10.3 still works on PPC hardware. It did not work for awhile on 10.4 so this is impressive.
There has been a lot of misinformation about the time change this year. My mother called me to tell me it was changing. ICal in Mac OS 10.5 says it happened this last weekend. That is incorrect.
My DVD had a scratch in it from shipment. The Power PC layer was fine, but the Intel build would fail during the middle of install. My G4 got it to test the DVD in another machine, but I realized it was not proof since we have only one intel mac.
I contacted Apple support at 6:05 PM as support was opened. They just had Leopard training. At 6:55 PM he told me he'd call me back with a solution. Their computer systems did not have the product id in the system yet so he couldn't order me a replacement DVD. The tech was very nice, although I was on hold for most of that call. This was the first time I've ever called apple technical support! I've been a Mac user for 7 years at home and even longer in work environments. There was an instance at work where we should have called, but did not once. Anyway, within 10 minutes he called me back asking if I'd go to the local apple store. I said OK. In fact, this was better as I could get the disc right then and fix the Mac Pro that wouldn't boot.
I went to the apple store to find some very rude help. I wish I had written the girl's name down or something. They gave me attitude about not having a receipt. Mind you I had a damaged, opened DVD... Under normal circumstances, I would have brought the receipt. Remember the Mac won't boot so I can't print a copy of my web order on that one. I also had MidnightBSD compiling so windows was out, and my other printer has been giving me issues. The box came with a PACKING SLIP that didn't have my name on it so I doubt that would help. Finally she did it and I was able to return with 10.5.
The phone support was under stress with a new release and not enough planning. I understand that. I was very angry with my store experience. I wonder if it was related to the fact I interviewed for a job there. I've never seen that behavior at any apple store before.
Now, an update on using 10.5. The transparency is disabled for the top menu bar (apple menu area) on an old Power Mac G4 Dual 867 with an nvidia geforce 4 mx. It is enabled on the Mac Pro. I don't like it and would like to turn it off on new Macs. The G4 version is white with a nice drop shadow. It is easy to read.
I bought an external seagate drive as a backup drive for time machine on Friday. Best Buy had a nice sale on them. The drive is bigger than my boot drive (which is practically required). It has to keep copies of files beyond the contents of your disk. It took about 6-7 hours to copy 149GB of data to the drive over USB 2. (i have a belkin USB 2 card) The UI is ugly on the G4. The animation does not work properly. I'm sure it's much nicer on newer Macs. Whenever you're doing a lot of file modifications, it starts syncing which cuts down on throughput. I've noticed problems copying files between Macs while it' s going. This would probably be more noticable on SATA drives as they are serial and multiple requests can be an issue. I haven't tested it though. It is very thorough, but I don't think it changes the need for .Mac or "Backup" that comes with it. I still feel the need to do separate backups for certain items.
The new version of Mail is nice. It has support for RSS feeds. The notes and todo features are great. They finally added a check box to approve SSL/TLS certs for INCOMING connections! No more hell with keychain for incoming mail. Outgoing requires MORE HOOPS though. I did get SSL/TLS support going. My sendmail + dovecot setup is happy again. Overall, I like the new Mail application.
Safari 3 is much more stable in 10.5 than the betas. It is a little slower, but it works on more websites. I prefer the stability. When the focus is off the window, it gets lighter now. I wish that color was default. The dashboard feature to save parts of web pages is great. I've got my build cluster on there. :)
10.5 does not come with most of the iLife applications like previous versions. You have to get iPhoto, iWeb and friends yourself. I'm sure they probably include them on new Macs, but if you're thinking you can save a few bucks during upgrades, think again.
Although ipfw doesn't block connections directly, by disabling connections, it does block AFP connections. It appears they tied in binding of their services with that setting instead of relying on ipfw. I'm still playing with it. I don't know how it would do blocking other apps like say limewire or azerus.
While I think there are some issues with 10.5, it's worth the upgrade price. The UI enhancements might not be your favorite, but some of my friends like them.
My copy came via Fedex. I've been a little leery of this release as I've been running a version at work. (developer seed) Apple fixed my big two complaints with the system. The menu bar at the top is not uber transparent on this old PowerMac. That was really bothering me. The dock has been fixed when it's on the side not to use the hideous floor theme.
However, there are some issues. The firewall is off by default. It is no longer located in sharing, but rather security. They got rid of the convenient check boxes for common services. Instead you have to do it manually. What's worse, when it's enabled for "deny by default", ipfw show still shows allow any .... if I turn on stealth mode it just blocks some types of ICMP! Allow is still on.
% sudo ipfw show
33300 0 0 deny icmp from any to me in icmptypes 8
65535 490 46714 allow ip from any to any
Next, software update is failing. Someone at apple forgot to put the index up on their webserver! It's launch day! Granted I got it early.
The wizard setup .Mac fresh on my system even though I had it configured previously. Spotlight has to create a fresh index which takes some time. Safari feels slow and bulky compared to betas, but it is a little more stable.
I'm not fond of the new login screen background. .Mac syncing is better and I do like spaces.
Spotlight is now reporting 7 hours for indexing! I have a 160GB ide drive in this PowerMac G4. I have 1.75 GB of RAM!
I know I have an old mac, but this is very sad.
install the nss_ldap and pam_ldap from ports
configure the conf file
vi /usr/local/etc/ldap.conf
(symlink this for nss_ldap.conf)
add the lines
#######################################################
host 192.168.0.4
base dc=ldap,dc=domain,dc=com
nss_base_passwd cn=users,dc=ldap,dc=domain,dc=com?one
nss_base_shadow cn=users,dc=ldap,dc=domain,dc=com?one
nss_base_group cn=groups,dc=ldap,dc=domain,dc=com?one
ldap_version 3
#######################################################
and make sure the file is readable by everyone or usernames will not get mapped.
modify /etc/nsswitch.conf by changing the following lines so they match below.
passwd: files ldap
shadow: files ldap
group: files ldap
A quick test at this point is to run the command getent group
to see if it is looking in ldap for users and groups. This assumes that users
and groups exist in ldap.
I've been "ill" for several weeks now. The problem is that we have a massive mold problem in our furnace room. The roof caved in from the upstairs neighbor's leak with their air conditioner. The wood and drywall have rotted. The apartment complex is finally doing something about it, but it's so bad now that it's going to be a long process. It's causing me all sorts of problems with allergies. Also with the weather changing constantly, it's much worse yet.
Anyone who knows me very well will tell you that I"m very illogical when I'm sick. It's really hurting on homework and other things. I couldn't even get to sleep last night and it's already 12:15 tonight.
Today is blog action day. This year, the topic is the environment. The idea is for bloggers to write about the environment to see what can be accomplished in one day.
My topic is Al Gore. You see, Al likes to talk about global warming and doing your part for the environment. That's all well and good, but it does not mean that you can do harm to the environment in another area because you're making a stink about global warming. There is a picture floating around of Al Gore in his office in from of 3 30 inch monitors and watching a big plasma TV. As a computer geek, I can't even phathom the need for 3 30 inch monitors, let alone a big plasma tv running as well. The cost and energy waste there are enormous not to mention the materials in monitors. One might be thinking, well luke you have a lot of computers. Very true. Many of them would have ended up in a dump instead of being used longer in my care. I have tried to donate them with little luck because they are not new enough. One can surf the net on most of them. Also, I don't make documentaries on saving the environment and then get a picture of myself running as much as 800 watts for no apparent reason. How did I compute such a high number? Well first you have 3 30 inch displays. My recent LCD at 20 inches uses 50 watts. We'll assume a 30 inch wich is treated as two monitors by the computer (probably a Mac Pro). So a conservative estimate is 75-100 watts per display. That's as much as 300 watts just in monitors. (high end) Then you have his plasma tv which appeared to be at least the size of my tv. I know my tv uses like 150 watts or more. I forget the exact number. Plasmas use more power than LCD or CRTs in many cases. We'll assume 200 watts. That brings us up to 500 watts. Finally, you'd need 3 video cards to drive 3 30 inch monitors running in dual head mode. Any gamer will tell you that a video card adds a lot of power consumption to your PC (or Mac). That means his PC might be consuming 300 watts in video, but certainly it's using 500-600 watts totay. If we're nice that's 800 watts. This does not take into account for speakers or other devices in his office. He most likely has a printer somewhere, maybe a cable box, etc. Cable boxes use 10-15 watts according to my recent reading about kill-a-watts.
location: Home
Caryn sent me this link:
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9041959&intsrc=hm_list
It discusses a conversation between Ballmer and a woman who had to go back to XP after facing many problems in Vista. Her daughter wanted it because of a friend.
What I find interesting is the parallels between Vista deployment and Windows 95. Microsoft had trouble getting people to transition to WIndows 95 and later 98. (before SE) The difference is that Microsoft used their monopoly to push Windows 95 only feautres. With Vista, we don't see that. There are two Vista titles that I know about and one is Halo 2 which has been out for the xbox forever. Microsoft is backing off on IE7, Windows Media and many of the other enhancements. Then they go so far as to backport things to XP from Vista in SP3. I think Micorosft is hurting customers who have adopted Vista at this point. What is the value for us? I feel a little more secure in vista, but it's not the cancel/allow dialog boxes that do it.
Every new innovative release of Windows (not every release) breaks hardware compatibilitiy with some devices. It's just a fact. The same is true of Mac OS X. My sound card barely works in 10.4 and apple bought that compnay. There are many constants. Internet Explorer was back ported to Windows 3.11 eventually. Microsoft had develpers release direct x games with dos modes too. It rewarded waiting. On the other hand, Microsoft released office, works and many other apps only for windows 95. This time office is backards compatibile, visual studio will be backwards compatibile, etc. There is no forced upgrade happening. With Apple's latest release looking ugly, I think microsoft won't be out to many customers if they push things. Here's what I suggest.
1. Only ship Windows x64 vista on new pcs. Standardize on one hardware platform and go for the future. THen you're not asking for 2 drivers for the OS or games for both like they do now. Push 64 bit memory addressing. We'll need it eventually and WIndows 95 started the transition to 32bit really.
2. Lower the price on vista so that it is competative. Drop the lowend home basic version. Consumers need features and xp has more features than home basic. Consumers mostly get that option and that's why they think vista sucks.
3. Advertise software and features actively in the media, on tv and radio and print. Tell people why they want windows vista. Going on the daily show did not do it.
4. Don't try to compete with apple. Apple doesn't care about computers as much and Microsoft has a chance to get back into the game. People who use alternatives are not going to like them anyway. Many switchers at school are coming from linux to mac os. Microsoft never had them anyway. There are switchers but they are following trends. A positve msft trend will fix their issue.
I've been using Vista since january. I like it better than XP and I've suggested it to my mother. She couldn't use it as it didn't support her ancient modem (56k should die). Someday I hope my mother can use MidnightBSD.
Obviously as a BSD developer, I have motivations for vista to fail. However, I have a vista/bsd desktop and a Mac running tigert. I can tell you that vista isn't that bad and i prefer the use of transparency and menus in vista better than the leopard changes i've seen at work. Neither are good, but overally i think vista is an improvement. The new start menu layout annoys me but i'm getting used to it.
Finally, if someone is happy with windows, then they need to realize they asked microsoft to do this to windows and deal with it. People whined about security and now they get vista.
I should point out that i'm a bit hostile at apple right now since I didn't get a job in one of their retail stores. :)
location: Home
The quake wars installation process is not pleasant on vista ultimate x64. I had to uninstall the demo, run with admin rights (right click on the setup on the cd) as the autorun didn't work. I had to clean the temp directory and wait forever only to find out it had a 1.1 patch ALREADY. The game just came out.
The two levels I played last night were lame. It was not as fun as the demo level. I'm quite disappointed especially after the long wait to get it from best buy.
I'm not telling people to give up on the game, just consider carefully. It looks great. I can say that.
location: Home
I pre-ordered Enemy Territory: Quake Wars from Best Buy's website. The game tag registration came in the mail quickly. They shipped the game on the 28th as it was coming out October 2. I didn't get the game until today because they chose to use the UPS to USPS service. The post office sat on it it for 3 days in allen park!!!!! Best Buy did not give me an option for faster shipping and they held me back from gaming for several days. I'm unhappy.
Refer to the following interview (page 1) for my comments
http://games.kikizo.com/features/gabenewell_valve_iv_sep07_p1.asp
Valve claims that there are no games for the Mac. However, every id game is ported to the Mac that is shipped for Windows. EA has released all of their new titles on the Mac since June or so. World of Warcraft and every other blizzard game run on the Mac. Microsoft has even allowed third parties to port their games to the Mac. Age of Empires 1 and 2 and Halo have made appearances on the Mac. Many AOE engine games were ported. (star wars for instance) On that subject, often LucasArts games are ported to the Mac.
So, the pattern here is that most people port to the Mac eventually. Some do simultaneous releases. Valve is the only gaming company with a series of popular games that has not ported to the Mac. It's just them.
If they wish to argue how great DirectX is, I could live with that. I just don't see the blame should fall upon Apple. Obviously if everyone else can do it, then it's not Apple's fault.
Have you ever noticed the old adage "when it rains, it pores" is very true in the accumulation of work. My CS professor has assigned a programming assignment, two sets of problems and as of last night a test next thursday. If his course were the only one I had to worry about, it would be no problem. However, things don't work that way. I have three other courses to worry about.
To top it off, I've got at least three tasks at work to accomplish. I'm wondering when I can start that assignment.
I guess everyone likes a challenge.