Well my last post about the map and what its missing, is now not missing the entry for Adelaide. Although there still isn't a pin on the map.
Once we have had a few meetings under our belt, Adelaide Perl Mongers will get an official mail list, currently hosted locally. Perhaps even a pin on the Map!
All the kudos to Justin Hawkins for setting up the web site and the mail list =)
So please join the mail list over at Adelaide Perl Mongers, so we can get a meeting rolling for some time early December.
72,
Kim - VK5FNET
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Interesting rant on where programming languages should go
Has some interesting ideas. I suppose it all depends on what kind of programming you do.
Perhaps an alternative would be a tiny thin language that hides the data type to library massaging.
Having to "import os" in python, is an example of why these "modern" languages are stuck in the 70's or 80's etc.
None the less, make me think about the pre-compile vs soft-dynamic languages.
http://www.xent.com/pipermail/fork/Week-of-Mon-20091109/054578.html
Perhaps an alternative would be a tiny thin language that hides the data type to library massaging.
Having to "import os" in python, is an example of why these "modern" languages are stuck in the 70's or 80's etc.
None the less, make me think about the pre-compile vs soft-dynamic languages.
http://www.xent.com/pipermail/fork/Week-of-Mon-20091109/054578.html
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Foundation License limitations and restrictions
I have received a number of emails from concerned VK HAMs about the contents of my posts and my 'use' of homebrew transmitters.
It is well known in VK land that Foundation calls are restricted to using only commercial built transmitters with a maximum of 10 watts PEP. However, no other useful or relevant details of the Foundation license seems to be well known.
So let me make two things clear, firstly, I have explored the LCD on all the issues of transmitting and beacons as this is a topic that interests me greatly. Secondly I have not built any homebrew transmission equipment. Only two homebrew receivers and used my Kenwood HF rig and oscilloscope to check that they are not putting out noise on the bands, fundamental or harmonics.
The LCD is particularly vague about the issues around the use of beacons by Foundation license holder. Except that it precludes the use of "computer controller beacons". This does leave plenty of scope for experimentation in analog generation methods. To be honest, in this day and age I believe those most likely to advance this aspect of the hobby are those that grew up in a digital world and have been programming since they were knee high to a grasshopper. However the folks writing the LCD were no doubt born early last century and these new fangled computers will take some time to catch on... I'm not being rude, just a bit disappointed.
That said, I have the basis for a microprocessor-keyer sitting on the shelf, waiting. Waiting for when I upgrade my license.
Which brings me to upgrading from a Foundation license to a Standard or Advanced license. There is a hand book for studying for a Foundation from the WIA, but not the Standard or Advanced. Why is that?
Perhaps this is the reason that there are so many F-Calls out there now? And so many HAMs complaining about there being so many F-Calls. Apparently one more letter is too hard to deal with.
I've tried ordering materials, as advertised on the internet, but unresponsive is the nice way to summarise. Its too hard to get the materials to study to upgrade, unless you are lucky to be part of a club with materials. If you're not part of one of those few clubs, I've noticed they don't share. Why is that? There doesn't seem to be much collaboration in that space. Or I'm just not in a position to see it, because I'm only an F-Call. Its a bit of a catch-22 if you ask me. I;m sure they work hard to produce the material in the first place, but you will get more recognition and more amateurs if that material is shared around the clubs. Free or at cost or more, it doesn't matter. Get those materials out there!
I've been flamed on mail lists for asking about topics that only Advanced calls are allowed to use. So my response was how am I supposed to get my Advanced license if I don't know about these topics, their response is, you don't until you are a Advanced call. There is definitely a weird head space around learning for your upgrade. You are supposed to learn it all yourself and asking for help is cheating.
That said I want to upgrade to Advanced and to tinker with QRSS and build my own kit.
Its just a shame that there is so much attitude around being a F-Call with aspirations.
There are some local HAMs that are very helpful. They have been inspiring, but their time is quite limited. Which is why I try to make the most of my time at club meetings. There are other clubs north and south that would be beneficial, but getting to and from the meetings is a serious hassle. Perhaps I just need to get a car or motorbike of my own as public transport isn't an option, thanks to Adelaide's central hub transport model.
I know that AR wants articles on what F-Call are up to and think, but I doubt they want to hear about the plight of what F-Calls can't do. "Become a WIA member!" and "Upgrade! Upgrade!" I hear folks say...
Anyhow, I've dropped a lot of other interests and other clubs' activities so I can focus on work and amateur radio. Hopeful over the Christmas break I can finish my upgrade study and sit the exams...
It is well known in VK land that Foundation calls are restricted to using only commercial built transmitters with a maximum of 10 watts PEP. However, no other useful or relevant details of the Foundation license seems to be well known.
So let me make two things clear, firstly, I have explored the LCD on all the issues of transmitting and beacons as this is a topic that interests me greatly. Secondly I have not built any homebrew transmission equipment. Only two homebrew receivers and used my Kenwood HF rig and oscilloscope to check that they are not putting out noise on the bands, fundamental or harmonics.
The LCD is particularly vague about the issues around the use of beacons by Foundation license holder. Except that it precludes the use of "computer controller beacons". This does leave plenty of scope for experimentation in analog generation methods. To be honest, in this day and age I believe those most likely to advance this aspect of the hobby are those that grew up in a digital world and have been programming since they were knee high to a grasshopper. However the folks writing the LCD were no doubt born early last century and these new fangled computers will take some time to catch on... I'm not being rude, just a bit disappointed.
That said, I have the basis for a microprocessor-keyer sitting on the shelf, waiting. Waiting for when I upgrade my license.
Which brings me to upgrading from a Foundation license to a Standard or Advanced license. There is a hand book for studying for a Foundation from the WIA, but not the Standard or Advanced. Why is that?
Perhaps this is the reason that there are so many F-Calls out there now? And so many HAMs complaining about there being so many F-Calls. Apparently one more letter is too hard to deal with.
I've tried ordering materials, as advertised on the internet, but unresponsive is the nice way to summarise. Its too hard to get the materials to study to upgrade, unless you are lucky to be part of a club with materials. If you're not part of one of those few clubs, I've noticed they don't share. Why is that? There doesn't seem to be much collaboration in that space. Or I'm just not in a position to see it, because I'm only an F-Call. Its a bit of a catch-22 if you ask me. I;m sure they work hard to produce the material in the first place, but you will get more recognition and more amateurs if that material is shared around the clubs. Free or at cost or more, it doesn't matter. Get those materials out there!
I've been flamed on mail lists for asking about topics that only Advanced calls are allowed to use. So my response was how am I supposed to get my Advanced license if I don't know about these topics, their response is, you don't until you are a Advanced call. There is definitely a weird head space around learning for your upgrade. You are supposed to learn it all yourself and asking for help is cheating.
That said I want to upgrade to Advanced and to tinker with QRSS and build my own kit.
Its just a shame that there is so much attitude around being a F-Call with aspirations.
There are some local HAMs that are very helpful. They have been inspiring, but their time is quite limited. Which is why I try to make the most of my time at club meetings. There are other clubs north and south that would be beneficial, but getting to and from the meetings is a serious hassle. Perhaps I just need to get a car or motorbike of my own as public transport isn't an option, thanks to Adelaide's central hub transport model.
I know that AR wants articles on what F-Call are up to and think, but I doubt they want to hear about the plight of what F-Calls can't do. "Become a WIA member!" and "Upgrade! Upgrade!" I hear folks say...
Anyhow, I've dropped a lot of other interests and other clubs' activities so I can focus on work and amateur radio. Hopeful over the Christmas break I can finish my upgrade study and sit the exams...
Monday, November 16, 2009
building an oscillator
I'm built an oscillator, for 28.188MHz based on the Genesis Q5 from VK1AA. Well, I had smoke. I'm still working on the plug-in-bread-board. I think the lesson is not to use 12 volt gell cells for testing out new ideas. Can supply far too much current too quickly. Now I understand the little 9 volt battery role in life...
The little 74hc04 squealed then popped! Took only a second. I'd put the 7805 in the reverse position. Its a 50-50 chance ... Lesson there is to not turn the pluging board around all the time and loose track of the orientation of things, I think.
So with the regulator in the right way now, it gets pretty warm, so I've added a heat sink, but not tested it again. Will have another go when the 2 meter AHARS net is on this evening, in the shed.
At the end of this, I might order a G5 or two. I expect that I'll need a few for various prototypes anyway. Just want to get a couple of modular oscillators up and running for receivers =)
72's
Kim - VK5FNET
The little 74hc04 squealed then popped! Took only a second. I'd put the 7805 in the reverse position. Its a 50-50 chance ... Lesson there is to not turn the pluging board around all the time and loose track of the orientation of things, I think.
So with the regulator in the right way now, it gets pretty warm, so I've added a heat sink, but not tested it again. Will have another go when the 2 meter AHARS net is on this evening, in the shed.
At the end of this, I might order a G5 or two. I expect that I'll need a few for various prototypes anyway. Just want to get a couple of modular oscillators up and running for receivers =)
72's
Kim - VK5FNET
Sunday, November 15, 2009
new 10m dipole
Replaced the dipole this morning. Cut to length some pvc coated speaker cable that had once been an end fed long wire. Its light and grey so not so easy to see as the red 30amp power cable I was using before. Also ran coax straight up to the center of the dipole and will run a similar arangement to the QRSS Rx of Hans Summers, G0UPL. Now onto modifying the receiver =).
72's
Kim - VK5FNET
72's
Kim - VK5FNET
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Saturday works
It was pretty hot today, was forecast to be 39c. Didn't feel like it, but did slow me down running about the place getting the antenna up. None the less I have a dipole for 28.188MHz up. Its currently mounted as the third guy rope of the mast that I ran the old WiFi gear on. The router board that was running the WiFi stopped for no particular reason, so I'm suspecting the power supply section of the board, needs further investigation. I removed all the WiFi gear from the mast and reset two of the stainless steel guy ropes. Made the 10 meter antenna the third guy...
It works, probably not nearly as well as I'd like, perhaps I should build a Z-Match tuner for it instead. So, I setup the little Kenwood and tuned all around 10m. There was some fast CW but little else was heard on the band.
So, the 'ladder line' is a nasty hack. I grabbed a couple of plastic tent pegs and some cable ties. Its not so good, needs frequent adjusting. There was plenty of activity on 40 meters. This little dipole is about six meters off the ground, double the height of the previous dipole for 40m.
Actually it is the 40m dipole with the rest as the ladder line. And lots of string and a couple of eletric fence insulators. The old balun is currently in, but I'm not sure that the 4:1 is appropriate. Is a 1:1 better suited to a ladder line? Sorted out some coax and connectors too.
Dug through some boxes that I picked up at the last AHARS meet, grabbed some bits for to setup the audio into the peecee. Also found a 0C70 and a 0C71 ... I think they are germanium audio transistors.
72's
Kim - VK5FNET
It works, probably not nearly as well as I'd like, perhaps I should build a Z-Match tuner for it instead. So, I setup the little Kenwood and tuned all around 10m. There was some fast CW but little else was heard on the band.
So, the 'ladder line' is a nasty hack. I grabbed a couple of plastic tent pegs and some cable ties. Its not so good, needs frequent adjusting. There was plenty of activity on 40 meters. This little dipole is about six meters off the ground, double the height of the previous dipole for 40m.
Actually it is the 40m dipole with the rest as the ladder line. And lots of string and a couple of eletric fence insulators. The old balun is currently in, but I'm not sure that the 4:1 is appropriate. Is a 1:1 better suited to a ladder line? Sorted out some coax and connectors too.
Dug through some boxes that I picked up at the last AHARS meet, grabbed some bits for to setup the audio into the peecee. Also found a 0C70 and a 0C71 ... I think they are germanium audio transistors.
72's
Kim - VK5FNET
Thursday, November 12, 2009
QRSS receiver crystal for 10 meters
The 28.188MHz crystal arrived today from Nick, VK1AA. Have been hanging out for it to arrive and would really like to get a receiver up and running.
This weekend looks like being a scorcher, about 38c, so a bit of indoors building will be in order. Which also leads one to think about oscillator stability. With night time temperatures of 15c to day time temperatures of 35+c degrees there is plent of room for drift.
Thoughts on work to do;
So, thoughts on work to be this weekend;
Doesn't sound like much on 'paper', but on top of the domestic chores should be a busy weekend.
72's
Kim - VK5FNET
This weekend looks like being a scorcher, about 38c, so a bit of indoors building will be in order. Which also leads one to think about oscillator stability. With night time temperatures of 15c to day time temperatures of 35+c degrees there is plent of room for drift.
Thoughts on work to do;
- An antenna for 10 meters; vertical or dipole?
- If heading down the di-pole route, balanced or OCFD?
- Maybe a balun?
- A transmission line should be straight forward, I have some spare clean RG-213.
- How about a tuner, then how do I measure if its really working?
- If a vertical, what about a copper cactus or a just a 5/8 vertical?
- Should I make the local oscillator in a separate box?
- If so I could drive the Kenwood to TX test ... wonder what specs are required to drive its VFO port?
- Then modify the 'sudden tunner' style DC receiver. Based on an NE602 and LM386.
- Hook up to peecee with 96KHz sound card.
- Grab with glfer or baudline.
- Announce its ready...
- Later develop something more focused around web based delivery.
- Find a design for a non-computer 'controlled beacon'. A condition of the Foundation Licence.
- Perhaps a beacon controller as simple as a pair of NE555's and a 4017. The first NE555 at a 30 second on/30 second off interval, driving the clock line of the 4017. The first output pin of the 4017 could then drive the second NE555 with a 3 second on/3second off interval. Effectively sending a '5' every ten minutes in QRSS 3 second dots. The '5' being from the call sign of VK5. My call sign being VK5FNET. But thats a job for another time, but would be nice to know what folks think...
So, thoughts on work to be this weekend;
- Get any antenna up
- Get a length of RG-213 terminated with PL259 connectors
- Blow the dust of my 4:1 balun I made some time back and check the connectors out
- Modify the 80m DC RX to run on 10m
- Patch up some audio cable for the DCRx to peecee sound card
- Work out how to capture images or do screen dumps from glfer
- Announce it...
Doesn't sound like much on 'paper', but on top of the domestic chores should be a busy weekend.
72's
Kim - VK5FNET
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
10 meters
On the Knights QRSS mail list theres been talk of activating more HF bands. Specifically 10 and 15 meters. There issues with activating 40 meters as there are access issues for non advance licences in the US and band plan issues across Europe. Not 100% sure how 40 meters is carved up elsewhere, but in Australia, Foundation, Standard and Advance all have access from 7.000-7.300MHz.
There have been a couple of contests on 10 meters with some success. This has lead to conversations on list to start putting SDR receivers and QRSS transmitters on 10 meters. The 100Hz QRSS band is 28.188,000 - 28.188,100 MHz. Folks have used other portions of the 10 meter band, around 28.322MHz if I remember rightly. Which seems to be around the QRP and QRO un-manned beacons.
Nick, VK1AA who is shipping the G80, G40, G2030, and G5 Genesis radios, has put up an offer to send out a batch of crystals on 28.188 MHz to folks free. So long as they get a MEPT or receiver up on the air for QRSS. I shot off an email straight away and am still patiently waiting for it in the mail.
I have started mods to the W1AW NE602/LM386 direct conversion receiver I build up for 80 meters. Needs rework on the band pass filter and local oscillator. Should be fun!
72's
Kim
There have been a couple of contests on 10 meters with some success. This has lead to conversations on list to start putting SDR receivers and QRSS transmitters on 10 meters. The 100Hz QRSS band is 28.188,000 - 28.188,100 MHz. Folks have used other portions of the 10 meter band, around 28.322MHz if I remember rightly. Which seems to be around the QRP and QRO un-manned beacons.
Nick, VK1AA who is shipping the G80, G40, G2030, and G5 Genesis radios, has put up an offer to send out a batch of crystals on 28.188 MHz to folks free. So long as they get a MEPT or receiver up on the air for QRSS. I shot off an email straight away and am still patiently waiting for it in the mail.
I have started mods to the W1AW NE602/LM386 direct conversion receiver I build up for 80 meters. Needs rework on the band pass filter and local oscillator. Should be fun!
72's
Kim
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Wordpress-MU deployment at work
I'm rather happy that this project is finally coming to an end. I've moved jobs within the University of Adelaide, but I'm still working on our blog servers. It's funny how projects follow you around. Before the underlying infrastructure, now the actual blogs.
So it has an actual blog on it and we've put up a bunch of video from the Open Day we had a month back. The AV guys did a great job. So in time we'll move across other news sites from the main web site to the blog. While I've been hacking away in perl for the last few months and really enjoying that, Wordpress-MU or WPMU is in PHP. I haven't really done any serious work in PHP since I've been back in Australia, but its not hard to get updates in there =)
Kudos goes to Phil for content and plugins, and Scott for themes. Also the Open Day crew for great work organising all the speakers and video.
So it has an actual blog on it and we've put up a bunch of video from the Open Day we had a month back. The AV guys did a great job. So in time we'll move across other news sites from the main web site to the blog. While I've been hacking away in perl for the last few months and really enjoying that, Wordpress-MU or WPMU is in PHP. I haven't really done any serious work in PHP since I've been back in Australia, but its not hard to get updates in there =)
Kudos goes to Phil for content and plugins, and Scott for themes. Also the Open Day crew for great work organising all the speakers and video.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
use Getopt::Long;
This mornings very short moment of enlightenment was related to the use of Getopt::Long.
I had been messing with passing command line arguments to my server deployment script and had completely failed to get the --verbose flag to work the way I expected.
So I read the perldoc on it and found that I had been going about this the wrong way altogether.
I had this;
Then on the command line I had to specify --verbose 1 or --verbose=1, which really wasn't what I had in mind. So this morning the mist on the man page cleared and it all clicked.
If you use "verbose!" => \$VERBOSE, then you can use --noverbose to unset the flag if you have previously set it in your code above. I'm not sure why I moved to using "verbose=i" => \$VERBOSE, but "verbose" => \$VERBOSE was not working as expected.
Anyhow, I was talking to Andy about putting "!" character after the command line flag name and now --verbose sets the variable $VERBOSE and it behaves as I previously expected.
I had been messing with passing command line arguments to my server deployment script and had completely failed to get the --verbose flag to work the way I expected.
So I read the perldoc on it and found that I had been going about this the wrong way altogether.
I had this;
my $VERBOSE = 0;
GetOptions( "config=s" => \$config_file,
"verbose=i" => \$VERBOSE,
"modules" => \$INSTALL_MODULES );
print "DEBUG: message" if $VERBOSE;
Then on the command line I had to specify --verbose 1 or --verbose=1, which really wasn't what I had in mind. So this morning the mist on the man page cleared and it all clicked.
If you use "verbose!" => \$VERBOSE, then you can use --noverbose to unset the flag if you have previously set it in your code above. I'm not sure why I moved to using "verbose=i" => \$VERBOSE, but "verbose" => \$VERBOSE was not working as expected.
Anyhow, I was talking to Andy about putting "!" character after the command line flag name and now --verbose sets the variable $VERBOSE and it behaves as I previously expected.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
HF Lunchbox 1 lives again
This morning I dropped in to see Barry VK5ZBQ. We had talked about catching up to sort out one of the two Codan 6924 HF radios that I purchased at an AHARS members meeting auction.
So this morning was "the day". I had a minor ordeal to get there, including losing my bus ticket, missing the bus, then catching a lift after the car would not start. I arrived about 9am and was undoing the case screws to get down to business shortly afterwards.
Barry has a manual for the Codan 6924 Mark 1, so we looked up various sections that I was curious about. Barry set the rig up on the test bench, powered it up, connected it to the signal generator, selected the frequency for channel 1 and we heard the dual tone from the speaker on the front panel. Win number 1. Then we set about transmitting from the rig. The power meter on the signal generator shows out going power when hitting the antenna test position on the mode selector. So out with the multimeter, leading to the detection of a broken microphone lead.
The chassis can be separated by removing some screws and nuts, so you need tiny fingers or a little tool to hold the nut so you don't loose it. So Barry opted to replace the microphone lead with something a little more robust than the original lintz wire type. Apparently you can't solder it very well. So the new lead went in. Took a little while as its quite a fiddley job. We reassembled the chassis and microphone and connected up the output to the oscilliscope. Fired up the HF rig, tuned to channel 1 and tested it. Win 2. We have a nice upper side band trace on the scope and after a bit of fiddling with the HF radio antenna and dummy loads, we hear the transmitted voice from the HF rig.
At this point I'm very happy, as the radio works properly and we work out that it puts out 8-11 watts PEP. The antenna tuner varies the output power a lot. Need to sit down with it and work out how exactly the tuner works, it has a loverly wound toroid with wiper for continuously variable inductor. Now I'm ready to attack the idea of a VCO in stead of a fixed crystal oscillator.
We break for a cup of tea and Barry explains to me how the upper side band (USB) and lower side band (LSB) filters work in the 6924 and what I'll need if I change the oscillator to a 80 or 40 meter band. Apparently there were kits for this, but I've found no documentation. So I will draw everything up and go back to Barry and run it by him. I think I'll work out what crystals I need and populate the remaining empty crystal oscillator board first to get the hang of it first =)
Now that the weather is warming up, I can spend more time in the radio shed/shack. I've put together a dipole for 40 meters along with a 4:1 balun and suitable cable. Should be fun.
Kim VK5FNET
So this morning was "the day". I had a minor ordeal to get there, including losing my bus ticket, missing the bus, then catching a lift after the car would not start. I arrived about 9am and was undoing the case screws to get down to business shortly afterwards.
Barry has a manual for the Codan 6924 Mark 1, so we looked up various sections that I was curious about. Barry set the rig up on the test bench, powered it up, connected it to the signal generator, selected the frequency for channel 1 and we heard the dual tone from the speaker on the front panel. Win number 1. Then we set about transmitting from the rig. The power meter on the signal generator shows out going power when hitting the antenna test position on the mode selector. So out with the multimeter, leading to the detection of a broken microphone lead.
The chassis can be separated by removing some screws and nuts, so you need tiny fingers or a little tool to hold the nut so you don't loose it. So Barry opted to replace the microphone lead with something a little more robust than the original lintz wire type. Apparently you can't solder it very well. So the new lead went in. Took a little while as its quite a fiddley job. We reassembled the chassis and microphone and connected up the output to the oscilliscope. Fired up the HF rig, tuned to channel 1 and tested it. Win 2. We have a nice upper side band trace on the scope and after a bit of fiddling with the HF radio antenna and dummy loads, we hear the transmitted voice from the HF rig.
At this point I'm very happy, as the radio works properly and we work out that it puts out 8-11 watts PEP. The antenna tuner varies the output power a lot. Need to sit down with it and work out how exactly the tuner works, it has a loverly wound toroid with wiper for continuously variable inductor. Now I'm ready to attack the idea of a VCO in stead of a fixed crystal oscillator.
We break for a cup of tea and Barry explains to me how the upper side band (USB) and lower side band (LSB) filters work in the 6924 and what I'll need if I change the oscillator to a 80 or 40 meter band. Apparently there were kits for this, but I've found no documentation. So I will draw everything up and go back to Barry and run it by him. I think I'll work out what crystals I need and populate the remaining empty crystal oscillator board first to get the hang of it first =)
Now that the weather is warming up, I can spend more time in the radio shed/shack. I've put together a dipole for 40 meters along with a 4:1 balun and suitable cable. Should be fun.
Kim VK5FNET
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Thoughts on servers and network services
This is a post that I sent to the Melbourne Wireless mail list. Thought it might be useful for others so I am reproducing it here;
Hi Victor,
Victor wrote:
> > Thanks everyone for the replies so far. At this stage will be sticking with a Intel Atom 330.
I run a dual core atom here, low on power, not particularly fast,but thats the balance you are after if you are going atom I suppose. Always spend as much as you can on RAM! 2GB+
> > When it comes to an OS for the server, I know a little bit (read NOT a
> > lot) about linux, enough to get me through things... Should I look at
> > setting up CentOS on this or is that possibly a bit too "much" for a
> > relative "youngin" into the world of Linux per se.
The only way to learn is to do. Don't let various folks opinions put you off =) There is plenty to learn and lots of different paths to take ;) If you're new to Linux/UNIX then maybe you can head along to your local LUG, Linux User Group. I'm assuming that you are in/around Melbourne so have alook at; http://www.linux.org.au/foss_in_australia/LUGS/VIC
> > I read somewhere that CentOS isn't for the light-hearted?
Centos is geared to be a server OS. It has a few quirks and its configuration like RHEL, is a little different to other Linux distros. I have used RedHat RHEL3,4&5 a lot and Centos mirrors them in functionality, etc My only complaints revolve around; packages in the Perl and web areas are well behind the times and they still use RPM with broken meta package dependencies! If you stick to the default repositories you'll be fine, but the packages are limited. Have a look at EPEL if you need more packages/software...
Generally speaking RHEL is solid enough and stable enough to do most server tasks well. So if Centos lives up to its name of being RHEL with out the irritating license bits then its all good experience on the Resume too...
> > Other possible options is FreeBSD, Debian 4 or Ubuntu 8.x
I have run all the above at work and at home for various uses.
If you really don't have much UNIX/Linux experience then perhaps Ubuntu will give you the least troubles installing and getting around.
Ubuntu is primarily focused at the desktop. The server version has a number of buggy things that are tied to the design decisions around init/startup script and network interface management. Fine desktop. I would recommend it to anyone starting out in Linux. Then you can grow from there...
I run a number of Debian server at home. Solid, stable, but some packages are old. This may not matter in the beginning. Networking is rock solid, more packages that you can poke a stick at. Seriously lots.
FreeBSD I have not been keeping up to date with over the last four years... There was a lot of development in the desktop arena that wasn't interesting, as I primarily used it for servers. Its solid, networking was solid and fast. It was death by compile your own packages. Hopefully this has changed. They have been moving fast, hopefully the ports tree is uptodate. Was the main reason I dropped FreeBSD. Still have NetBSD boxes here for old school non-intel hardware, Alpha, Sun, VAX, etc.
Also, not on your list, but worth a mention is OpenSolaris. I installed it on my laptop. Was pretty happy with it, except no support for my WiFi.
Another thought, to get you going; virtualise! I know it was mentioned else where in this mail thread, though I'd add to it.
I have recommended to folks in our local LUG, put Ubuntu on your machine, install VirtualBox and install the other OSes in virtual machines. More doco; https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VirtualBox
Yes VirtualBox is targeted at Desktop installs with the guest OS in a window, but it gives you a feel for the guest OS with out much investment into building another real machine. You can shut it down and boot it up, tinker with it later. Some videos; http://video.google.com.au/videosearch?q=ubuntu+virtualbox
If you get real serious about virtualisation, perhaps the simplest remote managed VM server is the Oracle Xen based stack. I saw a demo of it at LCA2009 in Hobart. I was quite impressed. Managed through a web browser. Not through some heavily licensed Windows sever like VMWare =P You can play with all the iSCSI stuff and file system mirroring etc, lotsa fun =) Doco on Oravle VM; http://wiki.oracle.com/page/Oracle+VM
VMs are only good if you *really* need separation of different server apps from each other, IMHO. There is a lot of overhead in running VMs, on machines that don't have the virtualisation instructions. I don't run VMs on servers at home any more. The only reason I would is if I have to tinker with different OSes for debugging. Another reason would be snapshot file system backups. I do have a few VMs on my laptop to demo, test code, or compile code...
I'd recommend figuring out what "network services" you want to run and run them on their own interface on the server. Have a look at the 'ip' command. You can run more than on IP address on each physical ethernet interface (NIC). Then you can make the application/service listen on that IP and then tighten up your firewall rules with 'iptables'.
Doco on iptables etc; https://help.ubuntu.com/community/IptablesHowTo
More info here; http://netfilter.org/documentation/
Then once you've played with all that, theres the amazing arena of routing =)
Old school protocols;
- OSPF; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Shortest_Path_First
- BGP; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BGP
New protocols;
- OLSR; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimized_Link_State_Routing_Protocol
- B.A.T.M.A.N.; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B.A.T.M.A.N.
Download;
- quagga OSPF&BGP routing software; http://www.quagga.net/
- olsrd routing software; http://www.olsr.org/
- batman routing software; http://www.open-mesh.org/
Talks;
Thought this talk might be interesting; David Rowe presented at Linux.Conf.AU in Hobart this year on the MeshPotato about the village telco model, using B.A.T.M.A.N. as the routing protocol;
talk notes; http://lca2009.linux.org.au/programme/schedule/view_talk/46?day=all
talk slides; http://lca2009.linux.org.au/slides/46.odp
talk video; http://mirror.linux.org.au/linux.conf.au/2009/Friday/46.ogg
Anyhow, have fun with it =)
regards,
Kim
-- http://vk5fnet.blogspot.com/
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Melbwireless@wireless.org.au
http://wireless.org.au/mailman/listinfo/melbwireless
Hi Victor,
Victor wrote:
> > Thanks everyone for the replies so far. At this stage will be sticking with a Intel Atom 330.
I run a dual core atom here, low on power, not particularly fast,but thats the balance you are after if you are going atom I suppose. Always spend as much as you can on RAM! 2GB+
> > When it comes to an OS for the server, I know a little bit (read NOT a
> > lot) about linux, enough to get me through things... Should I look at
> > setting up CentOS on this or is that possibly a bit too "much" for a
> > relative "youngin" into the world of Linux per se.
The only way to learn is to do. Don't let various folks opinions put you off =) There is plenty to learn and lots of different paths to take ;) If you're new to Linux/UNIX then maybe you can head along to your local LUG, Linux User Group. I'm assuming that you are in/around Melbourne so have alook at; http://www.linux.org.au/foss_in_australia/LUGS/VIC
> > I read somewhere that CentOS isn't for the light-hearted?
Centos is geared to be a server OS. It has a few quirks and its configuration like RHEL, is a little different to other Linux distros. I have used RedHat RHEL3,4&5 a lot and Centos mirrors them in functionality, etc My only complaints revolve around; packages in the Perl and web areas are well behind the times and they still use RPM with broken meta package dependencies! If you stick to the default repositories you'll be fine, but the packages are limited. Have a look at EPEL if you need more packages/software...
Generally speaking RHEL is solid enough and stable enough to do most server tasks well. So if Centos lives up to its name of being RHEL with out the irritating license bits then its all good experience on the Resume too...
> > Other possible options is FreeBSD, Debian 4 or Ubuntu 8.x
I have run all the above at work and at home for various uses.
If you really don't have much UNIX/Linux experience then perhaps Ubuntu will give you the least troubles installing and getting around.
Ubuntu is primarily focused at the desktop. The server version has a number of buggy things that are tied to the design decisions around init/startup script and network interface management. Fine desktop. I would recommend it to anyone starting out in Linux. Then you can grow from there...
I run a number of Debian server at home. Solid, stable, but some packages are old. This may not matter in the beginning. Networking is rock solid, more packages that you can poke a stick at. Seriously lots.
FreeBSD I have not been keeping up to date with over the last four years... There was a lot of development in the desktop arena that wasn't interesting, as I primarily used it for servers. Its solid, networking was solid and fast. It was death by compile your own packages. Hopefully this has changed. They have been moving fast, hopefully the ports tree is uptodate. Was the main reason I dropped FreeBSD. Still have NetBSD boxes here for old school non-intel hardware, Alpha, Sun, VAX, etc.
Also, not on your list, but worth a mention is OpenSolaris. I installed it on my laptop. Was pretty happy with it, except no support for my WiFi.
Another thought, to get you going; virtualise! I know it was mentioned else where in this mail thread, though I'd add to it.
I have recommended to folks in our local LUG, put Ubuntu on your machine, install VirtualBox and install the other OSes in virtual machines. More doco; https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VirtualBox
Yes VirtualBox is targeted at Desktop installs with the guest OS in a window, but it gives you a feel for the guest OS with out much investment into building another real machine. You can shut it down and boot it up, tinker with it later. Some videos; http://video.google.com.au/videosearch?q=ubuntu+virtualbox
If you get real serious about virtualisation, perhaps the simplest remote managed VM server is the Oracle Xen based stack. I saw a demo of it at LCA2009 in Hobart. I was quite impressed. Managed through a web browser. Not through some heavily licensed Windows sever like VMWare =P You can play with all the iSCSI stuff and file system mirroring etc, lotsa fun =) Doco on Oravle VM; http://wiki.oracle.com/page/Oracle+VM
VMs are only good if you *really* need separation of different server apps from each other, IMHO. There is a lot of overhead in running VMs, on machines that don't have the virtualisation instructions. I don't run VMs on servers at home any more. The only reason I would is if I have to tinker with different OSes for debugging. Another reason would be snapshot file system backups. I do have a few VMs on my laptop to demo, test code, or compile code...
I'd recommend figuring out what "network services" you want to run and run them on their own interface on the server. Have a look at the 'ip' command. You can run more than on IP address on each physical ethernet interface (NIC). Then you can make the application/service listen on that IP and then tighten up your firewall rules with 'iptables'.
Doco on iptables etc; https://help.ubuntu.com/community/IptablesHowTo
More info here; http://netfilter.org/documentation/
Then once you've played with all that, theres the amazing arena of routing =)
Old school protocols;
- OSPF; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Shortest_Path_First
- BGP; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BGP
New protocols;
- OLSR; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimized_Link_State_Routing_Protocol
- B.A.T.M.A.N.; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B.A.T.M.A.N.
Download;
- quagga OSPF&BGP routing software; http://www.quagga.net/
- olsrd routing software; http://www.olsr.org/
- batman routing software; http://www.open-mesh.org/
Talks;
Thought this talk might be interesting; David Rowe presented at Linux.Conf.AU in Hobart this year on the MeshPotato about the village telco model, using B.A.T.M.A.N. as the routing protocol;
talk notes; http://lca2009.linux.org.au/programme/schedule/view_talk/46?day=all
talk slides; http://lca2009.linux.org.au/slides/46.odp
talk video; http://mirror.linux.org.au/linux.conf.au/2009/Friday/46.ogg
Anyhow, have fun with it =)
regards,
Kim
-- http://vk5fnet.blogspot.com/
_______________________________________________
Melbwireless mailing list
Melbwireless@wireless.org.au
http://wireless.org.au/mailman/listinfo/melbwireless
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