Fred's Notes » Tech http://blog.marques.cx Comments, notebook, links and all the talk Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:25:39 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Apple iPad http://blog.marques.cx/2010/01/27/apple-ipad/ http://blog.marques.cx/2010/01/27/apple-ipad/#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:28:58 +0000 Fred http://blog.marques.cx/?p=1351 appletabletb564

After much speculation, Steve Jobs finally announced the Apple iPad. I love it, but there is one thing missing: no built-in camera. I was expecting to use Skype on the sofa with this nifty device. Should I wait for 2nd generation? Good coverage of the announcement here (Gizmodo).

]]> http://blog.marques.cx/2010/01/27/apple-ipad/feed/ 0 All Things Virtual http://blog.marques.cx/2009/11/15/all-things-virtual/ http://blog.marques.cx/2009/11/15/all-things-virtual/#comments Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:59:27 +0000 Fred http://blog.marques.cx/?p=1342 I’ve been working as a Technical Support Engineer for VMware since July 2009 and my work life is virtualization, storage and solving stuff everyday. I felt the need to document information and new things that I’m learning, so instead of using a notepad, why not put it on a blog? Let’s get virtual with All Things Virtual. Cheers.

]]> http://blog.marques.cx/2009/11/15/all-things-virtual/feed/ 0 AWS Import/Export http://blog.marques.cx/2009/05/21/aws-importexport/ http://blog.marques.cx/2009/05/21/aws-importexport/#comments Thu, 21 May 2009 08:44:08 +0000 Fred http://blog.marques.cx/?p=1289 Remember this? Now you can send a disk to Amazon and they will put it on S3. Talk about opportunity…

]]> http://blog.marques.cx/2009/05/21/aws-importexport/feed/ 0 Migrating MT 3.x to 4.x and preserving BASENAME http://blog.marques.cx/2009/05/05/migrating-mt-3x-to-4x-and-basename/ http://blog.marques.cx/2009/05/05/migrating-mt-3x-to-4x-and-basename/#comments Tue, 05 May 2009 12:39:00 +0000 Fred http://blog.marques.cx/?p=1272 I’m a big fan of WordPress but I still use MovableType for some blogs. Recently I had to upgrade an old MT 3.25 to the newest 4.25 and decided to that cleanly. Created a new blog on 4.25 with all the required configurations. Then I’ve tried to export all the entries on 3.25 and imported everything back on 4.25. Everything went well except for the minor glitch of MT 3.25 doesn’t export the BASENAME information for each entry (that’s useful if you want to preserve the old links). So, here’s what I did. On your old MT 3.25 edit your lib/MT/ImportExport.pm and just add the BASENAME for the template text on the export sub, just before the DATE:

BASENAME: < $MTEntryBasename$>
DATE: < $MTEntryDate format="%m/%d/%Y %I:%M:%S %p"$>

Now, you’ll export a .txt wit all the entries, including the basename. MT 4.x will import this. All you have to do is press the Publish button.

]]> http://blog.marques.cx/2009/05/05/migrating-mt-3x-to-4x-and-basename/feed/ 4 Hell freezes over http://blog.marques.cx/2009/04/20/hell-freezes-over/ http://blog.marques.cx/2009/04/20/hell-freezes-over/#comments Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:17:57 +0000 Fred http://blog.marques.cx/?p=1257 Oracle now owns Sun. And also MySQL.

]]> http://blog.marques.cx/2009/04/20/hell-freezes-over/feed/ 1 Google Servers http://blog.marques.cx/2009/04/15/google-servers/ http://blog.marques.cx/2009/04/15/google-servers/#comments Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:46:52 +0000 Fred http://blog.marques.cx/?p=1243 I always wanted to know more about the customized Google servers. The cool part is that they have implemented a distributed UPS (each server has his own battery and charge controller):

  • Instead of having a centralized UPS, Google integrated a battery into every server with a charge controller and test circuit. The battery is sealed lead-acid. Basically, it is a car battery. The goal is to keep the server running for “about a minute” until the generator turns on or the A/C power source is switched.
  • The power supply ONLY provides 12VDC (notice the yellow 12V wires coming out of the power supply), and the power only goes to the motherboard. The motherboard then directly supplies power to the disks (at 5VDC) and no other voltage conversions occur (with the exception of 1.2-1.8V for the processor). As such, the AC feed of either 208VAC or 230VAC flow directly to the server with no UPS in the middle. The battery backup directly supplies 12VDC during power outages, so no more inverters.
  • The power supply is about 92% efficient according to Google.
  • The “distributed UPS” solution is estimated by Google to be “99.9%” efficient since there’s no power distribution losses by operating directly at the DC voltage of the server.

    • Pictures and more info here. A great video (and pics) describing a Google Datacenter (servers, cooling, etc).

    ]]>     http://blog.marques.cx/2009/04/15/google-servers/feed/ 0     Uma indústria em colapso http://blog.marques.cx/2009/04/09/uma-industria-em-colapso/ http://blog.marques.cx/2009/04/09/uma-industria-em-colapso/#comments Thu, 09 Apr 2009 20:35:53 +0000 Fred http://blog.marques.cx/?p=1237 Ah pois é Tózé. Não sou nenhum anti-DRM zealot mas desde que ouvi esta alma na Antena3 a dizer que o download “ilegal” de mp3 servia para financiar o crescimento do terrorismo mundial (presumo que para comprar AK-47′s para gajos barbudos no Afeganistão) começo a ter pena de cromos como este que vêm o tapete a ser-lhes puxado e daqui a uns anos ninguém se vai lembrar deles. Não foi por falta de aviso.

    ]]>     http://blog.marques.cx/2009/04/09/uma-industria-em-colapso/feed/ 0     Storage Analytics with DTrace http://blog.marques.cx/2009/03/13/storage-analytics-with-dtrace/ http://blog.marques.cx/2009/03/13/storage-analytics-with-dtrace/#comments Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:59:33 +0000 Fred http://blog.marques.cx/?p=1216 There are two things that makes me coming back to Solaris: ZFS and DTrace. Have a look at Fishworks, a dream for every admin out there. Sun’s storage appliance offer is based on this.

    ]]>     http://blog.marques.cx/2009/03/13/storage-analytics-with-dtrace/feed/ 0     Microsoft to acquire Dell? http://blog.marques.cx/2009/03/12/microsoft-to-acquire-dell/ http://blog.marques.cx/2009/03/12/microsoft-to-acquire-dell/#comments Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:53:18 +0000 Fred http://blog.marques.cx/?p=1214 But, why on earth would Microsoft want to buy Dell? What is the deal here? According to this article, the idea is to become the Apple of PCs. Is this for real?

    Is there a hidden agenda, an underlying reason for this momentous movement? Well, some have suggested that Ballmer and Dell have seen the flaws in their ongoing plans for the traditional hardware and software split. And that the only way to ensure their mutual survival is to reach out and embrace the methods and ideals of their rival in this space, the one who manages to maintain year-on-year growth by the clever provision of a totally unified platform of hardware, OS and world-class applications wrapped together in a singular vision.

    Thus, the visionary new name for the combination of Microsoft and Dell that pays homage to their inspiration: welcome to Pair.

    Now, I will not laugh about the “Pair” name, but seriously, first it was Yahoo and now Dell? Microsoft has clearly a taste for troubled companies.

    ]]>     http://blog.marques.cx/2009/03/12/microsoft-to-acquire-dell/feed/ 1     3D Online Video Camera Voodoo http://blog.marques.cx/2009/03/06/3d-online-video-camera-voodoo/ http://blog.marques.cx/2009/03/06/3d-online-video-camera-voodoo/#comments Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:54:00 +0000 Fred http://blog.marques.cx/?p=1206 This is absolutely amazing. Great idea, GE.

    ]]>     http://blog.marques.cx/2009/03/06/3d-online-video-camera-voodoo/feed/ 0