ICANN unanimously voted today to allow any and all top level domains to be registered. The naming standards have been completely changed to allow any combination of letters, numbers and even non-Latin characters. Historically there have been only a few top level domains including .com, .org and .edu. In the last few years ICANN has begun to release the restrictions and allowed many other top level domains including .us, .info and .biz to name a few. With this new ruling they have opened the flood gates for registering domain names, likes of which have not been seen since the tech-bubble burst.
My immediate response is how are they going to keep the squatters from going out and buying up all the domains they can think of in hopes of reselling them for ridiculous profits. Apparently ICANN also thought of this and has stated that anyone wanting to register a new top level domain will have to prove they have a reason to have it. As long as they don't get to over the top with this I don't see this as a problem.
There is one problem that I see with registering these new top level domains. ICANN has said that they should have all the paperwork and regulations finished in time for purchases to start first quarter of 2009. They also said that the fee for registering a new top level domain name could start as high as $100,000! Are they insane?
This almost seems to me like they didn't really want to ratify this proposition but rather than vote it down they are trying to kill it with prices. I can't see any reason why registering a new top level domain should cost any more than registering any other domain. Technically it is the same as adding any other domain name entry to the root domain servers. Even if the software of the domain servers needs to be updated to support these top level domains it can't be nearly $99,990 per domain.
Let the domain rush begin!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Catalyst 8.6 on Fedora 9 x86_64
For those of us with ATI video cards running Linux, ATI is supporting us with a Linux version of their Catalyst drivers. They can be downloaded by going to the ATI driver download page and selecting Linux x86_64 and the video card make and model. From there you can download the self-extracting archive which will either install the driver or build a package.
It is always a good idea to install from a package since they are easier to update and remove than by hand. Unfortunately there are a few errors in the package and it will not build correctly on Fedora 9. I was able to fix these errors and get the package to build although, I cannot use the driver since it has not been updated to work with the XOrg server contained in the Fedora 9 distro. But downgrading the XOrg server is another post.
Once you have downloaded the self-extracting archive we must extract the files so that we can patch them. To do this we use the --extract option of the archive.Now that the files are extracted we must patch the .spec file that is used to specify the package build instructions. Use ATI-fglrx.spec-tmpl.patch to patch the file fixing errors with files being included in the package but not listed as part of the installed files as well as an invalid changelog entry.Next we must patch the a script used to create the directory structure for the package. There were some issues with the directories for the x86_64 build. ati-packager.sh.patch will fix these errors allowing the package to build. Now that the files have been patched we can now build the package.If all works out as planned you should see messages about 5 different packages created. Congratulations you have successfully build the Fedora 9 package! Now you can use yum to install the packages.*Note - The ATI-fglrx-devel-8.501-1.f9.x86_64.rpm file is only required for development.
As I said at the beginning of the post even after successfully building the Fedora 9 package, it will not work on the default Fedora 9 distro. For the driver to work the XOrg server must be downgraded. I have seen a few guides that describe how to downgrade the XOrg server to the version that came with Fedora 8 but I have not yet attempted this myself.
It is always a good idea to install from a package since they are easier to update and remove than by hand. Unfortunately there are a few errors in the package and it will not build correctly on Fedora 9. I was able to fix these errors and get the package to build although, I cannot use the driver since it has not been updated to work with the XOrg server contained in the Fedora 9 distro. But downgrading the XOrg server is another post.
Once you have downloaded the self-extracting archive we must extract the files so that we can patch them. To do this we use the --extract option of the archive.
./ati-driver-installer-8-6-x86.x86_64.run --extract ati
patch ./ati/packages/Fedora/ATI-fglrx.spec-tmpl < ./ATI-fglrx.spec-tmpl.patch
patch ./ati/packages/Fedora/ati-packager.sh < ./ati-packager.sh.patch
cd ati
./ati-installer.sh 8-6 --buildpkg Fedora/F9
su
yum localinstall --nogpgcheck ATI-fglrx-8.501-1.f9.x86_64.rpm
yum localinstall --nogpgcheck ATI-fglrx-control-center-8.501-1.f9.x86_64.rpm
yum localinstall --nogpgcheck ATI-fglrx-IA32-libs-8.501-1.f9.x86_64.rpm
yum localinstall --nogpgcheck kernel-module-ATI-fglrx-2.6.25.4-30.fc9.x86_64-8.501-1.f9.x86_64.rpm
exit
As I said at the beginning of the post even after successfully building the Fedora 9 package, it will not work on the default Fedora 9 distro. For the driver to work the XOrg server must be downgraded. I have seen a few guides that describe how to downgrade the XOrg server to the version that came with Fedora 8 but I have not yet attempted this myself.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Fixing the MBR
This weekend I decided that I was going to load Fedora 9 onto my laptop and dual boot with Windows XP. First of all I have a Toshiba Satellite A305-S6843 which is a great laptop and has never given me any problems. I comes with an Intel T8100 (2.1 GHz), 4 GB RAM, 2x200 GB HD and an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470. It originally came with Windows Vista but after only a month I was fed up with it and paid the $140 for the OEM Windows XP Pro x64. I installed XP on the first 200GB HD leaving the second hard drive open. So this weekend I decided that I would load Fedora 9 onto the second hard drive.
After much frustration and searching (thats another story) I was able to get the live fedora 9 CD to boot and installed the OS that way. Apparently I wasn't paying attention and told it to install grub on the boot sector for the second drive. So when I restarted it booted directly into windows as if nothing had happened. I was able to press F12 and use the BIOS's built-in boot manager to select the second hard drive and boot into linux that way. For a while that was fine but then I decided that I would load grub into the MBR so that I could easily select which OS to boot. I did it using the grub-install command
At this point I was pretty sure that I had lost everything on the windows drive and would have to re-install Windows. I just happened to stumble across a post by a guy who had a similar problem and he described how he fixed it using the Windows 98 SE boot disk. This gave me the idea to use the Windows install CD and the recovery console.
Solution
That should allow you to use grub to boot into both Windows XP and Linux.
After much frustration and searching (thats another story) I was able to get the live fedora 9 CD to boot and installed the OS that way. Apparently I wasn't paying attention and told it to install grub on the boot sector for the second drive. So when I restarted it booted directly into windows as if nothing had happened. I was able to press F12 and use the BIOS's built-in boot manager to select the second hard drive and boot into linux that way. For a while that was fine but then I decided that I would load grub into the MBR so that I could easily select which OS to boot. I did it using the grub-install command
grub-install /dev/sda1
Oops! I just overwrote the boot sector of the windows partition. Consequently this also made it impossible to mount the ntfs partition or boot at all. When trying to boot the MBR all that was displayed was 'GRUB'.At this point I was pretty sure that I had lost everything on the windows drive and would have to re-install Windows. I just happened to stumble across a post by a guy who had a similar problem and he described how he fixed it using the Windows 98 SE boot disk. This gave me the idea to use the Windows install CD and the recovery console.
Solution
| Step 1: | Insert the Windows XP install CD and restart the computer. If your computer uses SATA with AHCI you will either need to set it to compatability mode in the BIOS or create a slipstream disk with the SATA drivers |
| Step 2: | When the setup finishes loading drivers it will ask you if you want install the Windows XP operating system or if you want to use the Recovery console. Press R to enter the recovery console. |
| Step 3: | Use the fixmbr command to fix the master boot record. fixmbr |
| Step 4: | Use the fixboot command to fix the boot sector of the drive. fixboot c: |
| Step 5: | Exit the Recover console to restart the computer. exit If you set the SATA to compatability don't forget to set it back in the BIOS. |
| Step 6: | Boot into Linux and bring up the terminal. Run the grub console. grub |
| Step 7: | Set the root linux partition using the root command. The root partition is set using the hard drive number. For my system linux was installed on the second hard drive (hd1) and the first partition on that hard drive (0). root (hd1,0) You'll know you selected the correct partition when the grub console responds telling you it found the filesystem ext2fs. |
| Step 8: | Tell grub to setup the MBR. setup (hd0) |
| Step 9: | The /etc/grub/grub.conf file will probably need to be edited to reflect the correct hard drives and paths. I am not going to get into this here because there are plenty of tutorials on the internet about how to do this. |
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Clear his own name?...C'mon Kurt
I have to say, the baseball steroid issue is really starting to get to me. Having said that let me preface this by saying that I really like baseball. It is not my life and I don't see every game (who does?) but I do enjoy watching and especially from the stands. But I think the Mitchell report has led the press and a number of people to incomplete conclusions about the use of steroids in Major League Baseball.
Today in a blog of his own Kurt Schilling blasted Roger Clements saying he should clear his name or give up his awards. Wait a minute...for just a second lets all remember that we live in America. Now as American citizens we are all afforded certain inalienable rights, one of them being innocent until proven guilty. But what amazes me are how many accusations are made in the report and the life the press has given them. Everyone seems to be so hurt and amazed that the super stars of baseball would do such a thing that they don't stop and think about who and under what conditions these accusations are being made.
The accusations about Roger Clements were made by Brian McNamee, a former strength coach for the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees. Dr. McNamee claims that he injected Roger Clements on multiple occasions with anabolic steroids and HGH (human growth hormone). All this comes after federal prosecutors found that he had written 4 checks to Kirk Radomski, a former Mets clubhouse employee who also sold steroids. So naturally I have to wonder about the validity of the accusations. Are they the truth or the desperate lies of a man trying to avoid federal charges for drug trafficing?
The main reason I started all this was because of the statements made by Kurt Schilling. I can't understand how he can expect Roger Clements to clear his own name. Not only because in America the burden of proof is on the accuser but because anyone could have been falsely named including Kurt Schilling. If we start forcing players to prove their own innocence this will only turn into the Salem witch trials.
I understand the reasoning behind the statements and I also want to see something done to clean up the rampant use of steroids in Major League Baseball, but this is not the way.
Today in a blog of his own Kurt Schilling blasted Roger Clements saying he should clear his name or give up his awards. Wait a minute...for just a second lets all remember that we live in America. Now as American citizens we are all afforded certain inalienable rights, one of them being innocent until proven guilty. But what amazes me are how many accusations are made in the report and the life the press has given them. Everyone seems to be so hurt and amazed that the super stars of baseball would do such a thing that they don't stop and think about who and under what conditions these accusations are being made.
The accusations about Roger Clements were made by Brian McNamee, a former strength coach for the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees. Dr. McNamee claims that he injected Roger Clements on multiple occasions with anabolic steroids and HGH (human growth hormone). All this comes after federal prosecutors found that he had written 4 checks to Kirk Radomski, a former Mets clubhouse employee who also sold steroids. So naturally I have to wonder about the validity of the accusations. Are they the truth or the desperate lies of a man trying to avoid federal charges for drug trafficing?
The main reason I started all this was because of the statements made by Kurt Schilling. I can't understand how he can expect Roger Clements to clear his own name. Not only because in America the burden of proof is on the accuser but because anyone could have been falsely named including Kurt Schilling. If we start forcing players to prove their own innocence this will only turn into the Salem witch trials.
I understand the reasoning behind the statements and I also want to see something done to clean up the rampant use of steroids in Major League Baseball, but this is not the way.
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