Carol Rutz’s Annexe

The 2003 Server, the Vista lappy, and now the classroom Vista box has issues with their hardware.

Last week, the on-board Ethernet card on the server was not detected and we looked for the drivers. We had the disk that came with the motherboard. Upon using the disk, the dialog box told us that the disk will only work with ME, XP or Vista…but not Windows Server 2003. Then, we could not find the drivers for the other Ethernet card that was installed. Eventually, someone removed the extra Ethernet card and then the onboard card was recognized. It turned out that the installed card caused a conflict.

My lappy has experienced 4 kernel dumps before I installed SP1. It is unknown whether I would get another BSOD. But I know this: it’s time for a RAM upgrade. It only has 1 gig. But the challenge is whether the lappy can tolerate the new RAM.

Yesterday, I spent 3 hours at the classroom with moving around the equipment and configuring the Smart Technologies’ Sympodium with the Vista machine. It worked great with the XP, and according to recent articles, the driver works with Vista. I installed the drivers on Vista and…nothing. The screen is on, but the stylus did not respond. I did see that it was detected as an “unknown device”. Hopefully, there must be a way to get the stylus configured.

First off, congratulations to Mr and Mrs Uvulapie on the birth of their daughter on Father’s Day. Blessings and let me suggest bubble wrap so she can be safe and sound on the way to the baptismal font.

And now…here is my plan for the next several weeks of internship: I’ll be writing my journal entries on the Annexe and share what I’ve been doing so far. That way, I have a paper trail and I can use these entries for notes.

Last night, I found my disc with Ubuntu’s earlier distro and I was so happy about that. The disc was from this British mag called Linux Format, and I paid $19.99 for my Ubuntu magazine guide and discs over a year ago. This distro was much more stable than its later versions. Feisty Fawn worked great, but Gutsy was buggy with occasional reboots.

I ended up reinstalling Dapper Drake (6.06 LTS) and would recommend others to stick with Dapper. As for Hardy/Heroic/Hardly Working Heron (whatever H word Ubuntu cooks up), I found that other people had problems with the freezing up. Is it the video drivers? Is it the new kernel? Even after 15 pages on Ubuntu Forums, there is not a clear answer. I’m hoping that the Intrepid Ibex release in July would resolve this. Until then, I’m staying put with Dapper.

I was fed up with rebooting everyday, when the desktop freezes in the middle of a project. I tried various fixes, but I felt that it is time to try something different, either with Fedora 9 or Mandriva One. I’m trying Mandriva first, as it’s Live CD and has KDE. Wish me luck.

I enjoyed Ubuntu, but the newest distro has been too glitchy for my desktop. If I upgrade, I’ll return.

Still ironing out the kinks to Vista, and am working on my Indiana GOP convention article. Been using the registry hacks I found online and decided not to take advantage of the shiny Aero interface due to the RAM hogging. If that is not enough, the dang Ubuntu box glitches and freezes, forcing me to reboot…and I think that’s due to the new distro I installed. If I cannot find a solution, I may have to switch to another Linux distro, like Simply MEPIS or Damn Small Linux.

In the meantime, here is Blondie for your enjoyment.

Been away from my computer and now, I can breathe a bit easier and write about what I have been doing the last month.

First off, I got my internship, working at Ivy Tech–Fort Wayne. It’s a 16-20 hr a week job, and I’m taking summer classes. It is a busy summer for me.

Second, I was State Delegate for the Indiana Republican State Convention and I’m writing up an account regarding what happened there.

And finally…I thought I won’t do that to my lappy, but I did: Due to Windows XP’s ending support lifecycle, I migrated to Vista Business last night. Some bugs to be ironed out, but it will be all right. The desktop is still on Ubuntu Heroic Heron. Stay tuned for further developments.

Spring Break came and went…and I spent it on Dreamweaver and Notepad.

Let’s see…Within the last 30 days, I’ve made changes TWICE, added and edited blog categories, and I still have more work ahead. I goofed around the Alice Project for Java class, and prelim sketches may include a Benny Hill-style sequence sans bikini chicks but plenty of Yakety Sax.

This week, I’m whipping up a Dreamweaver 9 template for my class project. The time is spent nesting containers within containers…and wondering when things will work together and look decent when the dust is settled.

The Annexe blog will not be perching on the main page, but will be under a subsection. Will be keeping the blog format, though.

Stay tuned.

All these months of preparations and studying and it paid off yesterday. The Prediger was extremely happy and proud of me. At least that part is over…Now I have a Java assignment, and a Web Admin paper to finish.

I remember watching Mi Vida Loca with the sibs…and one thing I remember is just-sprung-out-of-prison Giggles telling her friends that “Computers are the key to our future.” Her friends were gobsmacked at their fellow homegirl wanting to get out of her Echo Park subculture…to be a geek. Here is a clip of that scene. (Has very strong language. What? Do you expect that cholas from Echo Park speak the Queen’s Language?!)

I’ve wondered what Giggles would do in her life if she left her subculture behind. Would she do some IT work? Or how about Java programming? I bet that she would feel sweet triumph when she gets her CCNA.