Archive
Posts from 2012
Installing bash on an AIX 7.1 server
I've recently started managing a number of AIX hosts, which use ksh as their default shell. I don't have anything against ksh, but I've spent a ton of time working with bash and have become extremely proficient with it. Given that, I like it to be part of all of my system builds. To make myself more at home on my AIX machines, I went ahead and installed bash on each host…
$ read more →Breaking the telnet addiction with netcat
After many years of use it's become almost second nature to type 'telnet open. Newer systems no longer install telnet by default: I can't think of a valid reason to keep telnet around (there are probably valid use cases). Since netcat and tcpdump are a billion times better for debugging TCP issues, I need to apply newer microcode to my brain to perform a 's/telnet/nc -v/g' each time I need to test if a TCP port is open: Anyone else have a telnet attachment they just can't break? :)
$ read more →Cool video on the DTrace port to Linux
This is a solid video: I can't wait until DTrace is readily available in Linux!!
$ read more →Using a low cost HDTV antenna to gain access to lots of free over the air digital TV channels
I talked previously about how I saved a bunch of money by ditching cable. When I first disconnected my cable, my HDTV's built-in scanner was only able to pick up two two stations. While this was better than nothing, I figured given the size of our city there had to be more content available. So I started doing some research, and came across the Leaf Indoor HDTV antenna…
$ read more →A couple of cool Illumos videos
I've been reading more about the Illumos project over the past few weeks. As most of my blog readers know, I'm a huge fan of Solaris and used to be quite active in the OpenSolaris community. My involvement in OpenSolaris came to an end in 2011 after the project was squashed by Oracle. I started investing my time in various Linux projects, and learning about new web technologies…
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