Google Apps FTW

So I'm too busy to set up my own mail server on my home network. Not that it's particularly arduous, just that I have way too much to do anyway.

A good friend introduced me to Google Apps some time ago. At that time I was too busy to look into it, but recently I got tired of not seeing the output of my cronjobs at home. Thanks to Google, I now get a much better view of my home network's routine operations, with very little work, and no significant maintenance burden.

(You'll notice a theme there - I'm busy. That's why I rarely post here, I guess.)

So I've long maintained a dyndns.org account so that I can refer to my home server(s) by name. I looked into the configuration requirements of Google Apps the other day, and discovered that it's really quite simple:

1. Register with Google Apps
   
2. Add Google's mail exchangers as the MX record on my dyndns account(s)
3. Post a very small file at the root of my public-facing web server so Google knows its me.

et voila! My system logs, cronjobs, and other administrative info are reported via email in a much friendlier fashion.

Mind you, I've had my servers configured for quite some time to route mail through Google's SMTP system, since I was originally just passing it to my regular email account. I was missing a lot that way, but not anymore! I've now got accounts (and nicknames) for every system account I use (postmaster, cron, etc), and all collecting in one sensible location.

I look forward to using Google App's per-domain Docs, as well as Google Sites for this domain, to take notes on what I do for my home network.

This feels like a major improvement, and pretty light on the work-load.

ATI hardware support

So recently we got some new hardware at the office. Some Dell workstations with dual dual-head video cards. Each workstation was to have 4 monitors.

The video cards had ATI RV630 [FireGL V3600] processors/etc.

The workstations were to run Ubuntu 9.04.

Using the proprietary driver, we had no trouble setting them up for single-monitor usage. We even managed to get 4 separate desktops running on each display, but there was absolutely no way to run them in a single-desktop arrangement across all displays. The open-source driver wouldn't generate a real image.

So that really sucked. I spent a couple days fiddling with them, trying all possible combinations I could think of or could find online. Nothing worked.

We then pulled the quad-head Nvidia Quadro 440 from my boss's workstation, plugged it in, and in less than 20 minutes had exactly the configuration I was hoping for.

That was the deciding point right there. I will never buy ATI for my Linux systems again.

What cannot be accomplished on ATI in days of investigation and trial/error, can be done simply in 20 minutes on Nvidia.

Upon further investigation, it turns out the ATI drivers for Windows aren't that much better. They just barely work, from what I hear (and have experienced, though some time ago). I can't help but wonder what prevents ATI from producing quality drivers - lack of funding? lack of talent? I can only speculate.


I guess ATI/AMD doesn't want my money (or that of anyone I advise). Oh well.

Thanks Nvidia for making my life easier!

Source Control

I recently posted my kit of shell scripts to a publicly visible repository, github.com.

These scripts are mostly conveniences, wrapping more complex operations into simple commands, saving session data, automatically cleaning out old junk data, etc. They're not all fully implemented - some are just stubs for future projects - but as it is my life is made easier by them.

So far I'm quite pleased with GitHub. Its free, friendly, secure, and they have a good backup system with Amazon S3 - excellent for open-source projects. They also offer paid accounts for private repositories, which is great for contributing to friends' closed-source business projects.

I've recommended to a friend for his business, and it's turning out really well so far.

That friend isn't so much the technical type - he's certainly adept and has done his share of coding, but he's not an uber-geek like $(yours truly). He's more interested in running the business, as far as I can tell. In discussing his company's engineering needs, the value of a good source control system became apparent to me.

From a developer's point of view, it gives me a means of undoing mistakes or reviewing changes that introduce bugs, and provides a communication medium to identify and discuss parts of the code - this saves time! From a management point of view, the source control provides a means of securing and preserving intellectual property, gives some idea of a developer's productivity, and (on the basis of time saved) lowers development costs.

As always, a good backup system (such as GitHub has) also provides disaster recovery options. At the prices GitHub charges for their plans, I can't really justify not using such a service - it costs substantially less than doing it myself, and the benefits are outstanding!

I really wish they would have discussed this in my business and IS classes, and would have made more emphasis in my CS classes. Could likely have saved me some gray hairs through college too...