What's The Fastest Growing Linux Distro?

The battle between SuSe, RedHat and Debian. From Slashdot:

This really solid article on InternetNews.com contains interviews with the Debian Project leader, the founder of Mandrake, SuSe, Red Hat and TurboLinux to get their take on who's the biggest and who's the baddest on the distro block. Also includes some interesting insight into the next round of releases.

William Gibson on his Tech Life and Latest Novel

The Philadelphia Inquirer is running a brief article on William Gibson. In it he discusses his tech life, the bus-stop ad that inspired Neuromancer, and his latest book, Pattern Recognition. He says, "Between my wife and daughter who still lives at home, I'm always the one with the slowest computer. I don't find that being really up on all the latest tech ever does me any good."

"I remember [in the early '80s] seeing posters for the small, semi-portable version of the Apple IIc," he says. "Quite a lot of what I subsequently imagined in my early science fiction simply came from seeing that ad in a bus stop. I didn't know anything about it technologically. I just thought if it's that small and that nicely styled, everything is changing."

Author William Gibson is noted for creating the cyberpunk genre with his first novel, Neuromancer, published in 1984 and the only novel ever to win sci-fi's Triple Crown of the Hugo, Nebula and Philip K. Dick awards. His most recent, Pattern Recognition, is set in the present. A short story, Johnny Mnemonic, is his only work to be set to film, starring Keanu Reeves.

COOLEST. GADGET. EVER.

OK, this has to be the coolest thing I've ever seen, even for ThinkGeek (which has the cream of the crop as far as coolness-factor goes).

So, you need to tell the time of course, but you also need a way to carry your valuable data with you at all times (you know - your MP3 files, favorite images, your ThinkGeek shopping list). This watch can handle the mission for you and do it in style. It can store up to 256 Megs of data.

The USB Memory Watch has a built-in USB cable and can transfer files to and from most computer operating systems. The USB cable is cleverly stored in the watch band and the USB connector tucks conveniently into the band. There is also a LED indicator light at the nine o'clock position that indicates the device status. The watch is surprisingly sleek and lightweight - it is not a bulky watch. The band is comfortable and very flexible.

Resume

(Links to my resume removed since I'm actually putting this out in public. Still need to do an html version...)

It would appear there are new rumors surfacing in the workplace about the lifespan of my company, National Energy and Gas Transmission, Inc. (NEGT), formerly PG&E NEG. We've been in Chapter 11 for awhile, supposed to be emerging out of it soon. And yet, a report circulating around with coworkers gives a hypothetical Chapter 7 liquidation analysis. Essentially, is it more profitable (for the executives and shareholders, naturally) to emerge from Chapter 11 as a new company, or declare Chapter 7, or just sell everything off in an orderly fasion. This is an addendum to their most recent court filings. The key sentence appears at the very end:

"Current market indications suggest that an orderly sale may allow impaired creditors to achieve recoveries in excess of recoveries available in both a standalone reorganization and a chapter 7 liquidation."

UPDATE: Had an IT-wide meeting discussing rumors and such. I'm inclined to trust my director more than the rumors, he's always earned my trust. Even if in the worst case, the business gets sold off and nothing is left, it would take a minimum of a year to complete the transactions. 6 months is an impossibility. What will be, will be.

UPDATE 2004.03.03: So last week our glorious CEO dropped the bomb. Selling off the main money-maker in Portland. Company will close its doors by the end of the year. Yippy skippy.

Locus 2003 Recommended Reading List

Locus magazine has published its 2003 Recommended Reading List of science fiction, fantasy, and related titles.

Or, if you didn't get rich from an IPO... Here's their list from last year. Myself, I'd rather buy 4 good paperbacks than 1 hardcover.

It's sad, but as voracious a reader as I am, I still don't know most of the authors on either list. Oh, well, time to update my Amazon wish list... LOL

MUPPETOPIA

As you can see from the link in the section below, we have called our network "Muppetopia" and named each computer after muppets. So far we have:

• FozzieBear (my workstation); WinXP Home, P4 1.6GHz, 512MB RAM, 20GB HD, ATI Radeon 9000 128MB
  
• BeanBunny (family computer); Win98, PIII 800MHz, 512MB RAM, 8GB HD, ATI Rage Fury Pro 32MB
  
• Beaker (Donna's computer); Win2000, PIII 866MHz, 384MB RAM, 15GB HD, ATI Rage Fury 16MB
  
• Scooter (internal file/app server); Win2000, PIII 450MHz, 256 MB RAM, 6GB, 40GB HD
  
• Zoe (my personal laptop); ThinkPad 600E, RedHat Linux 8, PII 366 MHz, 128MB RAM, 6.4GB HD
  

And I have plans to add (as in I already have the unallocated hardware on hand):

• Gonzo (Katie's computer); Win98, PIII 500MHz, 64MB RAM, 6.4GB HD, Integrated Intel 3D Direct AGP
  
• Rizzo (Carrie's computer); Win98, PIII 500MHz, 64MB RAM, 6.4GB HD, Integrated Intel 3D Direct AGP
  
• Bobo (firewall/gateway server); IPCop Linux, i486DX2-66, 16MB RAM, 3.5GB HD
  
• Rowlf (internal mp3 server); Knoppix 3.2 (Debian Linux), P 166MHz, 96MB RAM, 4GB HD (+ big HD)
  
• Zoot (internal app/game server); Win2000, P4 1.7GHz, 512MB RAM, 20GB HD
  

If we ever have the money to buy Donna a laptop, I think we might call it Pepe. Or Robin. But if I ever got a monster gaming machine (yeah, right, in my dreams) I'd have to call it Sweetums.

Home Network Current Layout (138KB)
Home Network New House Layout (196KB)
Home Office Layout: Nihon-ma (167KB)