Alec the Geek

I have recently been setting up an old PC as a backup system for my office enviroment. However 10 year old hardware does have it’s limitations so I had to go through a few hoops to get it to my liking.

1. Install latest Debian as Ubuntu got a little upset with the old BIOS and disk drives
2. Make sure that the system has sshd installed, i.e. apt-get install ssh
3. Stop the graphical login running by executing update-rc.d -f gdm remove
4. Install xfce4 (it uses less resources than KDE or GNOME), apt-get install xfce4
5. Make xfce4 the X window manager by creating a file ~/.Xsession with the line ‘exec xfce4-seesion‘

Now you can log onto the Linux console and type startx or use a remote X server display, e.g. X11 on OS/X using ssh X tunnelling.

e.g. ssh -X -l <userName> <machineName>

When using a remote X server there can be problems if you do not start some programs in an X term displayed by the X server and for which you started your X tunnel. e.g. xclock does not care, GNUCash crashes the X server. So make sure your X server displays an X term of some description.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Web creator rejects net tracking

a warning for young people about putting personal data on these sites.

“Imagine that everything you are typing is being read by the person you are applying to for your first job. Imagine that it’s all going to be seen by your parents and your grandparents and your grandchildren as well.”

I’m putting this here mainly for the benefit of my son, although he is very responsible online. Hopefully it will be a useful reminder for everyone else as well, including me.

Thanks to my father for sending me the link.

A proper desktop

Originally uploaded by alecclews

How I wish my desktop looked all the time

Three terminal sessions (one to a remote Debian system) and an xclock

No GUI pollution

Macworld | Is Time Machine all you need?

Is Time Machine all you need

After buying some new notebook journals and starting GSD again it occurs to me that the time based interface to backups may make sense. I will think about this some more…