http://www.digitalsimulacra.com/ The latest news from Digitalsimulacra.com http://www.digitalsimulacra.com/index.php?newsItem=12 eric Tue, 15 Aug 2006 12:35:54 GMT -0600 This new laptop issmokin' hot! Do you have a Dell Laptop? If so, look at the model number (it might be on the bottom) and compare it to this list of models with recalled batteries. These batteries can overheat and catch on fire. There have been several articles over the past several weeks about laptop batteries catching on fire, after a Dell burst into flames at a conference in Japan. This is the largest computer recall in history, affecting over 4 million laptops. Dell previously announced a smaller battery recall in December 2005. Dell has set up a new web site just to help you find out if your battery might explode. If so, they recommend you remove the battery from your laptop immediately and use your laptop only with the AC adapter until your replacement battery arrives. http://www.digitalsimulacra.com/index.php?newsItem=11 eric Tue, 09 May 2006 17:25:31 GMT -0600 The System... Is Down Digg was down for a few minutes this morning, and I thought this was the best "system down" page I've seen since the 404 Doodoo Error from homestarrunner.com. (Click the image to view a larger version.) I'm trying out Flickr for image hosting, since I have limited space on this site. If it works well, I'll probably use it for all the images on this site. I think it might be bandwidth-limited though, so that might be a problem if enough people view it. http://www.digitalsimulacra.com/index.php?newsItem=10 eric Mon, 20 Mar 2006 17:01:50 GMT -0700 I've been trying out Sage lately, and it does a great job of turning Firefox into an RSS/Atom reader. You get a list of all your feeds in a sidebar, and clicking on one brings up a nicely-formatted view of the latest news. It's a surprisingly nice way to read new mail from your Gmail inbox, because it loads a lot faster than the regular interface. Of course, it's also a great way to keep up with news and podcasts. It's also pretty easy to create your own stylesheets for Sage. Here's one based on the style of this site. Just extract the zip file somewhere and point Sage at the CSS file. http://www.digitalsimulacra.com/index.php?newsItem=9 eric Mon, 20 Mar 2006 15:57:55 GMT -0700 I have posted a new article describing how to repair a dead hard drive by replacing its controller circuit board. I had to do this after my main drive was killed by a faulty power supply. The process is really pretty intuitive if you're used to dealing with drives and circuit boards, but if not, this article might help. ... BTW, the articles page is up. http://www.digitalsimulacra.com/index.php?newsItem=8 eric Thu, 15 Dec 2005 11:01:09 GMT -0700 Google has released two new extensions for Firefox (in addition to the Google Toolbar for Firefox that already exists): The Blogger Web Comments for Firefox extension, which allows you to blog sites and see what other bloggers have said about a site -- without leaving the page -- and probably more importantly, the Google Safe Browsing for Firefox extension. This alerts users if the site they are browsing is a suspected phishing site. If you're the person your friends and family rely on for computer support and/or advice, I suggest you recommend they install this extension (since you've already got them using Firefox, right?). http://www.digitalsimulacra.com/index.php?newsItem=7 eric Fri, 23 Sep 2005 11:20:35 GMT -0600 I've gotten Samba working on my network, using mostly just the default SUSE 9.3 configuration (more detail to come later...). What was strange, however, was that I had to disable "filter IDENT (port 113)" on my Linksys router for the wireless clients to see the server. Clients on the router's 10/100 switch worked fine and could ping the wireless clients, but the wireless clients couldn't ping anything on the wired side of the network (and couldn't see the Samba server, even when given its IP address). I still don't know why, because from the tiny amount of documentation I've been able to find, the IDENT filter applies to the WAN side, not the LAN side. Maybe wireless counts as WAN now? http://www.digitalsimulacra.com/index.php?newsItem=6 eric Tue, 13 Sep 2005 16:02:28 GMT -0600 Here's some information if you (like me) would like to use a linux box as a file server for your windows machines: Setting Up A Samba Server with Windows XP Clients from the University of Kentucky CS Dept. Windows XP Login to Linux/Unix Samba Networking from duxcw.com. Using Samba, 2nd Edition from FAQS.org How To Samba With Suse 9.3 And Windows XP from TweakHound.com Hope these are helpful for you (and me)! If I get it working, I'll post another article explaining how. http://www.digitalsimulacra.com/index.php?newsItem=5 eric Tue, 23 Aug 2005 13:20:10 GMT -0600 (...as if you needed another one.) The BBC has a report on an identity theft ring that used a bug in Internet Explorer to cause users to automatically download spyware which would read personal information from IE's "autocomplete" form-filling feature, including names, addresses, email, and credit card numbers, which can then be used to steal your money or obtain new credit in your name. OK, so it's the same old reason, but it's still scary... http://www.digitalsimulacra.com/index.php?newsItem=4 eric Thu, 18 Aug 2005 10:18:41 GMT -0600 Testing testing 1 2 3... http://www.digitalsimulacra.com/index.php?newsItem=3 eric Thu, 18 Aug 2005 10:18:08 GMT -0600 This is a news story... Here is some news. http://www.digitalsimulacra.com/index.php?newsItem=2 eric Wed, 17 Aug 2005 17:37:03 GMT -0600 Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, aenean potenti. Vitae felis wisi, magna fusce mus in nulla pellentesque, luctus dolor posuere nulla elit scelerisque mi. Suspendisse et eget curae massa, ullamcorper aliquam, faucibus leo arcu quis in wisi, curabitur egestas. Quia ut consectetuer porttitor, eget lacinia dictum urna nullam, tortor sit sed ridiculus sed, enim ipsum tincidunt rutrum cras mauris vehicula. Nam lobortis lectus turpis malesuada ut velit, sit dolor diam orci ligula. Sodales non elit posuere, phasellus natoque odio inceptos lorem, commodo vivamus ipsum varius arcu elit eleifend. Aenean in dictum integer risus. Ac amet sit morbi donec sodales, vivamus faucibus. Et dolor eiusmod. Donec iaculis quis, morbi turpis ut quam pharetra, orci gravida. Ut semper nonummy morbi risus, aperiam libero praesent aliquet eget vel, arcu felis id, morbi integer amet molestie lacinia suspendisse natoque. Sit suscipit urna arcu pellentesque cursus non, scelerisque posuere, cras donec mi ultricies fringilla, ac penatibus vestibulum erat. Consectetuer vivamus elit earum enim id quis, at urna neque enim pede mattis varius, nunc nulla mollis ultricies varius, wisi pede risus mauris et donec nulla. Sodales sodales pulvinar fringilla integer augue. Ut vestibulum, dis a at curabitur, porttitor nisl adipiscing suspendisse rutrum, malesuada vehicula accumsan fermentum nunc diam. Nam nisl et, pellentesque vitae vitae blandit orci nec. Nunc vestibulum, cursus laoreet posuere malesuada, commodo ut morbi, vestibulum tellus mi et sit. Vehicula urna id vitae vitae, velit pellentesque, dui sed justo ut quisque, lectus mauris fermentum senectus nonummy pede. Eleifend nec euismod tincidunt, fusce quis amet fusce, non odio feugiat ut, fermentum parturient wisi eu. Quis donec nunc donec et. Amet malesuada nec nec elementum augue, luctus posuere. Ante nullam neque, arcu pulvinar ac, phasellus consectetuer lorem integer massa pharetra duis. Pellentesque volutpat nunc volutpat egestas senectus lectus, eleifend proin. Conubia eget proin, nunc dictum porta, imperdiet diam euismod. Habitant ante sed, ac viverra lorem, parturient suspendisse nam, tempus tristique in vitae in nulla id, massa tempor ut ullamcorper in. In imperdiet volutpat ultrices amet, eros ultrices sed non id et ac, elit augue integer urna. Ligula faucibus mauris vitae commodo auctor sunt. Consequat commodo suscipit, magna vivamus libero at eget wisi, nulla nunc ornare conubia a risus, ullamcorper a lacus lectus varius ut, amet maecenas exercitationem quis etiam leo maecenas. Augue suspendisse vestibulum ipsum vivamus nulla euismod. Habitasse cursus libero tempus egestas ac. Turpis sodales nec tempus volutpat, vivamus pellentesque molestie possimus doloremque quis. Dolor mattis vel, dolor nunc iaculis feugiat, in vivamus luctus placerat et sodales sollicitudin. Sed donec accumsan amet sit rhoncus exercitation, et et et nec, semper vel vitae morbi, dignissim rhoncus wisi risus. Sodales nunc eu. Pede porttitor, vehicula id volutpat sit facilisis eget vehicula, molestie suscipit nisl adipiscing, vitae enim aliqua hendrerit non donec, praesent turpis id eleifend. In euismod elementum lobortis venenatis, excepteur sit praesent in magna mauris maecenas, elementum vehicula, tellus vitae nunc, eleifend amet sit nec imperdiet. Vel tortor quisquam duis, aliquam pede perferendis nisl elementum nulla mattis, in vivamus aliquam sit, turpis turpis vel dolor tincidunt dolor sed. Porttitor vehicula vestibulum sed, dictum nulla commodo. http://www.digitalsimulacra.com/index.php?newsItem=1 eric Wed, 17 Aug 2005 17:31:12 GMT -0600 Testing...