We’ve been big fans of the PC Weasel for a long time. We wrote up an article about them back in 2001. At that time, though, you couldn’t purchase their product easily, and they hadn’t finished their PCI version. Well, it looks like you can purchase the PCI version online now. The PC Weasel lets […]
VirtualCPU – 8048 Homebrew Simulation
I beeen working on 8048 Homebrew Simulation. Originally, it was a Z-80 simulation. I wrote this in 1997 as a way for people to experience programming a computer with toggle switches. The Coprolite Z-80 Homebrew Computer was a bit steep to get running for most people. In 2001 I got a bunch of surplus 8048s […]
Toolbox Essentials – Memtest86
In our experience, littered as it is with broken hardware, memory modules are second only to hard drives (with their anachronistic moving parts) in frequency of failure. Unlike the unmistakable i/o errors, bus timeouts, and eventual spin cessation of the disk failure, bad memory’s symptoms can be elusive and sporadic. The system acts flaky. Applications […]
Recycling PCs, and the E-Waste Problem
[update April 6:see this article] I have assumed, for most of my adult life, that one very cool thing about information technology was that it was better for the environment than industrial economic activity. This is not true. Further, the resources and environmental impact of a single PC is much worse than I ever imagined. […]
Linux Kernel Support for the HE460A USB 2.0 PCI Expansion Card
Speaking of PC accessories, we recently purchased a 6 port USB 2.0 card off of Ebay for $10. The board came with two USB cables and a box that was intended to be placed in a drive bay for front-panel access to 2 of the ports; however, it works equally well if you run the […]
Adding Serial Support on the Fly to the Linux Kernel
Most of our lab machine consoles are on serial ports, and controlled via minicom on Agatha’s workstation using this device. Well, somehow during Agatha’s recent kernel upgrade to 2.6.8.1, serial support was missed: root@srv-1 usr-1 # minicom minicom: cannot open /dev/ttyS0: No such file or directory To add serial support quickly, we just added 8250/16550 […]
Transferring Data Between Two PCs via the Serial or Parallel Ports
If you are trying to transfer data between two workstations, and want to avoid wider contact with your internal network, the Direct Cable Connection networking option works well to connect two Windows PCs if they don’t have a network interface card. The odds are your machine already has a NIC and you can use a […]
Connecting a Mac and a GNU/Linux Box with FireWire
With a 2.6 Linux kernel, particularly on a modern distribution with udev, it is quite easy to get FireWire to act as the physical network interface between a GNU/Linux box and a Mac. FireWire does have some advantages over USB in some areas, although support for FireWire is dwindling. For more information on FireWire see […]
Converting Disk Images
VBoxManage convertdd knop7.2vm.img knop7.2vm.vmdk –format VMDK Converting from raw image file=”knop7.2vm.img” to file=”knop7.2vm.vmdk”… Creating dynamic image with size 31439454208 bytes (29983MB)…
RMS Painting Released GNU Style
Jin Wicked painted a portrait of Richard Stallman: To make it more interesting, she released it with the terms: “In the spirit of the subject of this painting and the GNU Free Documentation License (which is a bit over my head) , I am granting permission for anyone to copy, redistribute, alter or publish this […]
Free Windows Server 2003 Evaluation Kit Available
If you would like to try out Windows Server 2003, Microsoft will send you a free evaluation kit. Here is the link. They even pay for shipping. Oh, and for the first time I remember, Mozilla works when ordering. You don’t have to use IE.
Put Your Old Computer Cases to Good Use
Check out this article on coprolite that shows how to make a pumpkin head out of a computer case: The left over parts become Lobstora: Read the article here on coprolite.com.
The Network Administrator (.com)
Check out TheNetworkAdministrator for some good reads. We have some strange stuff on NetAdminTools, but a full tab just called Conspiracy Theory. Very enjoyable. Visit the site and realize that you aren’t the only Monkey Life-Partner out there.
Transform dot com Schwag Into Something Useful
I have a cap from hardware.com. [I actually turned down a job offer from these folks in the fall of ’99. They only lasted a year or so after that. They intended to be a place where people could order tools, wheelbarrows, etc. on the Internet.] I also like to read at night. I happen […]
Virtualization Between the Platform and the Application With Java
What if Java is it. Java has virtualized the world between the platform and the application to the point, really, that all of the knowledge you are building to run the OS of your server is becoming somewhat trivial. True, you can install a new version of glibc, and know how to solve dependencies with […]
Click-Free Web App And Mouse Movement Fingerprinting
Check out DONTCLICK.IT for a very cool concept site that shows an example of navigation without mouse clicks. One interesting implication is the biometric fingerprinting possibilities. One area of the site allows you to see the movements of previous visitors to the site. It seems possible to us that tracking the movements of a mouse, […]
HP and the Business Domain
I was thinking about HP and their decision to get out of the PC market and purchase Autonomy. It makes sense to me. HP can do well in the business information domain. Domain… information… There are three main domains for information: personal, business, and public. The Internet was primarily used as public after the burst […]
Using DJGPP and other UNIX-like tools to manage NT servers
What is it? DJGPP is a collection of UNIX-like tools for DOS/Windows that has been ported from the GNU project. For a better understanding of what we mean by UNIX-like, see gnu.org. We’ve found DJGPP indespensible for tweaking files for automated installs from the command prompt. With this version you can run the utilities from […]
Compiling Opensource programs on NT/95/98
Windows users are at a disadvantage in the open source environment becase they are not used to compiling programs. The idea of recompiling the NT kernel just simply doesn’t cross the mind of a typical MCSE. Programs are usually shipped precompiled. In the *nix world it is routine to download the source code for a […]
Creating an NT Server Test Lab Using VMware
One thing we do quite often here at netadmintools.com is install and reinstall NT Server and friends over and over again. This article describes how to setup, configure, backup to tape, and restore an NT Server installation on Vmware. We installed Vmware using the simple directions that came with the distribution, and then ran a […]
