i think..

i think linux users are lazy ass couch potatoes. I find that the effort required to type commands on the console is much much less than it is to work the mouse.

Plus, everything can be done on that linux console. As opposed to windows, where you have to open up lots of windows to do stuff.

it works!

This weekend i laboured to bring up my old pentium 233Mhz box to be a proxy server. After a month of trial and error, I finally managed to accomplish that. The box is now running a slackware, connecting to streamyx with roaring penguin's PPPoE dialer, serving my LAN with web access through squid proxy. Whew~ .

Thats it for now. I'll add the bittorrent client next weekend.

now i'll have to check if the PPP connection will reconnect after disconnection.

I've been a bad bad boy

So i've slacked on updating the blog. I was absorbed with setting up my linux box to connect to streamyx. Sadly success evades me. I think i actually have something worthwhile to say. But I just can't recall what was it.

Anyway. Since i've got nothing better to rant about, i'll just log my almost daily routine onto this piece of html.

I start my day at around 6:30 am. I have my subuh prayers before preparing myself to go to work. Then I proceeded downstairs for breakfast.

whooops... i was so damn tired just now, i fell asleep

1st day 2nd job

Twas a good day. Seems like everybody is nice and friendly. Tiring though. After a month of doing nothing cept browsing the net, watching downloaded movies and chatting.

two nice telekom guys

I've been losing my streamyx connection since the day i started using the service. Fortunately, i've managed to identify two kind of connection loss. One type, happens whenever i set my modem to router mode and starts downloading stuff on azureus. The other happens when i use the phone (i'm sharing the ADSL line with my phone using the splitter that came with the modem). My connection will go out a few seconds after the hand piece is picked up.

The latter problem, was fixed by two nice telekom guys. They look like crooks, with one having a burly build and a shaven head (he looks like a skin head), the other looks like elvis costello with extra bushy beard. But, nonetheless, they're quite a savvy troubleshooter. Upon a first glance at how i set up the router-phone-surge protector wiring, he summarise that the problems lies in the surge protector. It seems that ADSL signal can't go through the surge protector without suffering some sort of a mojo distortion thinggy (I dunno, i'm no telco savvy dude). So the telekom guys rearranged my wiring and lo and behold, trouble is no more. It was a simple solution, but i wouldn't know the surge protector was the fault, if i didn't call them tech support guys. I would have bought another splitter, only to suffer the same problems again. And probably blame the splitter again. vicious cycle.

When the two dudes were leaving, i asked them about how we could protect our routers from power surge. And the elvis costello dude says 'we don't do that, we will replace the modem if it is shocked'. hmmm... but the marketing dudes said that in the event of damage, the client is liable for any hardware replacement. a contradiction.

Anyways, about the connection loss. The other connection problem that i said earlier was that when i set the modem to act as my router, the connection will be interrupted when i run azureus. This boggles me since during my stay in the office, i never had any connection problem when using azureus. For this one, I did a lot of surfing and researching about the problem, and finally found out that the connection got interrupted when there are too many ppl trying to connect to my pc when they're leeching the files seeded by my azureus client.

I think my router did not have enough muscle to manage the traffic volume unlike our office's big ass router. So it bellies up and reboots whenever the traffic got too big. This explains why the connection disrupts after 5-10 minutes running azureus (and whenever i run any other p2p file share). Azureus' default interval for seed polling is 5 minutes. Hence, after 5 minutes connected, the whole world's bittorrent clients might realize that my client got what they're looking for (if the whole world did not change the default polling interval that is).

So the solution is to limit the number of connection that the client could receive at any given time. But of course, thats just my hypothesis. The solution works like a charm though. But i still do not get a 80kBps download speed. :(

p/s: forgot to mention that if i set my router to modem mode, i wouldn't get disconnected when running azureus. I think it was because the traffice was not interpreted by the modem (unlike if it was set as a router), it was passed directly to my pc. So it was able to handle a bigger number of connection. I think.

pp/s: yeah, *yawn*

been doing nothing but configuring stuff

These two three days is quite educational. I've been configuring one of my pc to run slackware and also looking into my streamyx-router-bittorrent settings. I've learnt alot since getting my streamyx connection. yeay.

Here's some site worth looking at if you're a new streamyx subscriber (not necessarily in this order):
constant bitchin: ZTE ZXDSL 831 modem default password
thep2pweblog: How to configure your router to allow fast BitTorrent downloads
portforward.com: What is Port Forwarding?

and some non-technical tips:
if you subscribe to a 1M connection, you might initially get a 512k line. I dunno if its tm.net's scam or its their mismanagement, but this issue could be easily resolved by calling the tech support's 1-300-88-9515 line. Tell them about your slow speed. Oh and to check your speed, you could either check the modem/router's main firmware page (see above sites for info on how to do this) or use tm.net's own speedometer.

Enough tech stuffs.

Yesterday was my last day with my current company. Well, at least i'd like to think that it is. A couple of my colleague and I went to a client's place to conduct a user training session. The session was supposed to run well afternoon, but since the software we are using is quite simple, the session could be finished just before noon. Thank God.

Its time to move on.

real life bum

I'm doing no work now. Just sitting in front of my pc, checking my movie/tv series download progress. I love doing that. Its like working without working. You see something growing, moving to completion right before your eyes, without exerting yourself. You reap the rewards without doing anything constructive. Well, of course you'll eventually have to pay for the bandwidth. But thats for later.

I should be doing something usefull now.

Later kay. I'm gonna check my bittorrent and p2p progress. tata.

i'm living with my mom

Today, I went back to my rented house in puchong to get the stuff that I kept there. There is that pile of freash clothes, the pile of used ones, my guitar (got two of em', same brand, long story), a tall pile of books (heavy hard covered ones, the kind that lecturers love to use as the main texts), my slim mattress, two pillows, a blanket, some miscellaneous loose stuffs, pile of coins and a monitor. Lots of stuff there.

My stuff have been accumulating over the years, more so since i'm working now and got my own funds to splurch on stuff. It makes me wonder; at this rate, how could I manage it all? I still need to move my computer desk, clothes hanger thinggy and carpet from my room in puchong.

How could it become like this? where did all these stuff came from? Do ppl sneak in some of their stuff into my room on purpose, because they too don't know what to do with their stuff? There's this water treatment system box here, I'm I sure didn't buy any water treatment system. At least it makes a good makeshift nightstand.

oh and btw, i got my streamyx up. Boy, was it a chore.

and so I face the final curtain

I tendered my resignation on 25th, or was it 24th of April. It was a typical monday. At least the earlier part of it. I went to work somewhat excited that day. Wrote the letter using one of those online letter template. I finished printing it out at around 10. I felt quite nervous about handing the letter to The Man. Not that I'm afraid of him or anything. It is just the nervousness you have when you're doing something for the first time.

I have to hand it in that day, cause my new job starts one month from that day. And, I have to hand it that morning cause The Man don't usually stick around in the office lately. So there I was, sitting in my cubicle waiting for the right moment to hand in my one month's notice. Feeling quite nervous and all. Another thing, I prefered to hand that letter quietly. I felt like leaving the company as quietly as possible.

Then, heron (our accountant dude) walked past me with an alarmed look on his face. He mention to me that there's technology park technician at our lobby, waiting to cut our electricity off. It seems that the company have failed to pay its electricity bills. Well, it didn't surprise me. A few weeks back there's talk of the possibility the office being locked down by the land lord.

So, heron dude, went about telling us to save up our work and get ready for a power failure. After a 5 minutes grace, the technicians cut the power off. Everything went dark. Bleak, is the future of the company. How fitting. Then The Man came out of his room and said that the power cut will hopefull last for a couple of days, untill the management could sort it out. We think 'yeah right, every time he promises anything to be available in 2-3 days. He meant it 2-3 months'. But, The Man did allow us to pack the office computers for home. We get to do our work at home. Or not.

It was an oppertunity for me to hand in the letter. It seems so fitting. As if everything that happen in the world before this is a preparation for this very moment. As if it was The Momement where i am supposed to hand in my letter. So, I went into his office after his short speech, and handed the letter to him. He was ok with it. Maybe he was numb. With the blackout and all. My letter would've been just a passing nuisance when compared to his office going blackout. But he did asked me if i will be interested to join the company back, if ever the company is able to get back on its feet. At first i declined the offer. But, when he stressed that the company WILL be STRONG, I said that I will think about it because I do not want to throw away an option. Hey, who knows what our future have for us.

The fact that The Man was quite confident with his company (even in this situation), confirms my assumption about him and the fate of the company. Long ago, I believed that the company will go down in flames. That there is a definite end to the company. I used to say to my coleague that I will wait until the very ending before I move on to another company. But, lately, I realized that as long as The Man is living and breathing, the company will be alive. Maybe not kicking. Barely alive, but breathing still.

So I is up to us to chose wether to follow The Man where ever he goes, working on a shakey ground with undefinite future. Or, to draw a line on where it all ends. I drew that line when I got an offer from another company. But I guess Its more dramatic If i say that I drew it when the office went blackout.

Back to the blacked out office. People would have thought that an office in darkness will be moody and sad, but interestingly everybody was a bit jovial the rest of the day. Maybe because it was something new to us. Or maybe because, we get to go home early and not come to work the next day. Or perhaps it was the whole chaos of it all. But for me, I felt happy because I am closing this chapter of my life and going onto the next. These period of change always makes me feel giddy. Moreover, I felt removed from the company after handing the letter.

I was not a part of it anymore. I am merely an observer.

ok, enuff with the whole drama. The real point i'm trying to say is:
Since my office is without electricity, I can't post entries regularly. But, I'm working to put up broadband to my gombak home. So, laters aights. I'm gonna head to the nearest 'kedai telekom'. tata