Category Archives: Linux

Linux

Daily Work Log 2006-07-21

I arrived at work this morning to find the AC off. There was a scheduled shutdown last night, which I knew about, but I neglected to apply that knowledge and stay at home this morning.

I’ve spent a little time this morning trying to install Ubuntu Linux on an external drive attached to my PowerBook 17″ (G4). I had some difficulty getting the advanced install CD to do what I want, so now I’m downloading the LiveCD to try that.

…

The LiveCD wouldn’t install a bootloader either. I don’t have time to mess with it today.

We spent some time meeting the the IB/VRE people, and they’re off to lunch with Rob and Umar for the moment. Therefore, I’m going to do my weekly review, because it’s that day.

…

Finished the weekly review. I’m really feeling tired today, and there’s a lot of the day left. I’m taking care of my end-of-week activities, and the next one is to windex my desk (it’s glass). Therefore, I think that’s enough for the day.

Today has not been very productive. This week has not been very productive. I’ve done a lot of things, most of which really needed to be done, but my projects have not moved forward satisfactorily. Blah.

Almost time to write

I have four papers and several abstracts left to read. I’m losing my motivation to read because I feel like I can already answer the questions posed. However, I acquired these papers because they are relevant, and so they must be read.

Soon, the writing will begin.

Also, I’m antsy because our new server came in. We need it badly, and I want to set it up, but I have to do a bunch of other stuff, including the qualifier, first.

Grar.

SGI Files for Bankruptcy – No Surprise

I was a strong advocate of moving our lab away from SGI, which was expensive and slow for our purposes, and on to Linux.

WSJ.com – Silicon Graphics Files For Chapter 11 Protection

Silicon Graphics Inc., a long-struggling maker of high-performance computers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

A group of bondholders agreed to trade their debt for a stake in the company, which filed for Chapter 11 protection Monday morning in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.

Silicon Graphics is known for desktop workstations and larger server systems that are favored by engineers and others who demand sophisticated graphics, including Hollywood studios. But the company has suffered a long slide, partly due to competition from machines based on standard components used in personal computers.

I’m on Ducky… and I hate AIX

I finally got access to our new supercomputer, “ducky”, but it’s running AIX which is a total pain in the ass. Now I remember why UNIX kind of went away for a little while — all of these proprietary unixes, none of which are quite compatible with each other. I’m spoiled by Linux / BSD which are pretty much standard across the board, modulo some differences in filesystems.

ADDENDUM 2006-04-24 @ 11:11 CDT: Apparently some of my problems are because LONI (the Louisiana supercomputing network) is not allowed to carry Internet-1 traffic, only Internet-2. Probably because of the DoE, but they didn’t tell me exactly which party was concerned with it. *sigh*

Happiness is a Warm Cluster

JOBID USER STAT JOB_NAME SUBMIT_TIME
11058 btice RUN *g_1mm.par Apr 16 09:24
11059 btice RUN *g_2mm.par Apr 16 09:27
11060 btice RUN *g_4mm.par Apr 16 09:27
11061 btice RUN *g_6mm.par Apr 16 09:28
11062 btice RUN *g_8mm.par Apr 16 09:29

The queue’s not too full on easter. The cluster has been very busy for the last few months, which makes it hard to set up new simulations because you can’t interactively test the job scripts. Today things were open enough that I could do so.