Last night I read a story about how our favorite company (Network Solutions) which controls the US Domain Name system (and the costs associated to it) has decided to raise the price... again. So I hopped onto registrar account and checked out the status of my domains and nearly missed renewing a domain! Since I have only a few domains that im using for personal (and work purposes now!) I'm renewing them for a few years before the "man" decides to raise prices again and again each year. And I though yearly raises in apartment rents were bad :(
For the past month and half I've been trying to use Ubuntu 7.10 exclusively. However, the same old story happened to me as it's happened to others. Here's the recap of some of the issues I ran into:
- Exchange client: I tried the thunderbird exchange client, didn't work and webmail is no substitute for the full client
- IRC: X-Chat is awesome, however I use BNC's that require both a password and a different port on connection; something X-Chat doesn't like
- Flash: It's "supported" but not fully since some flash movies work (ie> most of youtubes) and others do not (ie> just about all of yahoo.com's)
- Java: Hit and miss for websites (ie> SmugMug). I trialed SmugMug and generally like the service but I wasn't able to fool with the easy to upload features during the trial.
- Nvidia 8800GT: It's not new but yet the drivers are considered beta and need to be MANUALLY installed (and reinstalled for every kernel upgrade/recompile)
- Creative X-Fi: Not supported at all and I had to install a SB Live! card to get sound! This card is not very new so I'm not understanding the hold up here.
- Dell Webcam: I got spoiled by this little puppy for the first month I had this monitor before I switched to Ubuntu but it's not supported in any way in Linux right now
- Games: I had WoW running under emulation
Things I will miss
- (Good) Virtual Desktop: Windows has it but it's not as good as Ubuntu implementation. I really liked the ability to use the scroll button to switch between 2 Virtual Desktops
- Overall Unix Desktop feel: The only way I'm getting this back is if I switch to a Mac... and if OS X ever supports (not via hacks) my XPS 720, I just might pull the trigger on that.
- Compiz: The wobbly effect is an immediate disable in my mind but I do like this engine after all
- 4GB memory usage: The most I used was 3.2GB but having all 4GB available was nice!
As I thought before, Linux on the Desktop is a good idea but won't be fully realized outside of nitches and devices like the Asus EeePC. I still think the ultimate (Open Source) OS will be something based around a design like BeOS.... now if Haiku can only get to beta stage I can start considering a switch to it!
Gesh, time just flew by since I last updated this blog! Short version is: I got married to a wonderful woman, went on a great cruise and am now on a beast of a computer running Ubuntu.
More to come after I sort a few things out now that I've moved it... again.
I've come up with a plan to reduce my footprint but it's going to cost me a few bucks to get it done to really cut down on my power usage.
If I create a small EPIA computer to take over Wireless Access Point and Firewall/VPN duties and keep the power consumption under 12W that will reduce the footprint for those two items from 50W to <12W. (Power Saved: 38W)
Next up is the computer situation. My laptop isn't going anywhere. However the systems I use can be tweaked. I can't remove the gaming system, but I can stop using it and shift watching anime, listening to music and some basic gaming stuff to the Ubuntu box. As for the Ubuntu Box, I want to lower it's footprint complete. If I get a LCD monitor that will lower the footprint some. Then if I build a new'ish mini-ITX system I should be able to do everything I am now and then some with a much lower power consumption. How much? I don't know just yet, time to research parts + prices :) (Power Saved: 180w+?)
As for my file server, I think I'm going to leave it shut off most of the time and use it to back up files to. I'll keep all my mp3s on my Ubuntu box and install a bit torrent client on the Ubuntu box so I can download to it in the background. (Power Saved: 50W)
Crazy plan? (268w+ power saved!) Yeah possibly, but the power savings could be huge if I have a 50W server off all the time, a 180W gaming rig off most of the time and reduce my Ubuntu box's powah footprint.
I see this as the first necessary step to reducing what I use for when I have a house and I can have a solar + wind power solution in place. I should really see a difference in how much power I use through my monthly bill.
The more I think about this power reducing idea, I should really consider reducing my computer footprint as well. It will actually help my electric bill/consumption indirectly! Most of my equipment does give off a good amount of heat. Heck, my bedroom closet is typically warm in the morning because of the door is closed over night and the fileserver warms the temp up to ~80F.
So, for the past few weeks now I've been trying to figure out how lower my power footprint in the world. To do so, I've been writing down the power consumption of nearly every device in my apartment. I also have switched my web hosting from a dedicated server to a VPS host (which hisyn.com resides on now) since my usage of the server had dropped considerably.
I've come to the conclusion that while I can do something to lower my "powah print", I'm not able to touch the big 4 because I live in an apartment.
"The Big 4"
1.> HVAC
2.> Washer/Drier combo
3.> Refridgerator
4.> Water Heater
While I can't touch those right now in the apartment, I can make a dent by targeting the following areas + devices.
Home Theater Area - (Total: 49W "off"/280W "on")
- Onkyo Receiver
- Comcast DVR
- Panasonic Plasma TV
- Sony DVD Player
- Subwoofer
Computers
- RCA Cable Modem [24/7] (~10W)
- Netgear Gigabit Switch (GS-108) [24/7] (~10W)
- Netgear Wireless AP [24/7] (~10W)
- m0n0wall Firewall/VPN [24/7] (40W)
- Gaming Rig + 19" Monitor (~180W)
- FileServer [24/7] (40-50W)
- Ubuntu Workstation + 17" Monitor (~120W)
- IBM T41 Thinkpad (30-40W)
Lighting
- Bedroom
- Nightstand (40W)
- Dresser Light (60W)
- Closet Light (60W)
- Hallway Light
- Bathroom
- Ceiling Light (1 x 60W)
- Bath Tub Light (1 x 60W)
- Mirror Lights (4 x 75W)
- Living Room
- Standup Light (60W)
- TV backlight (75W?)
- Porch Light (40W?)
- Kitchen
- ceiling
- Recessed Lights
While I haven't cataloged everything on this list, I know I can both lower their power consumption and I know they're part of the problem. In fact, it amazes me to think that my home theater when the power is *OFF*consumes 49W for nothing. I need to rearrange my setup so the power strip is easily turned off. It's the summer, so nothing new is really on except Dr Who on Friday's so I can easily have my DVR off 90% of the time. :) As it stands now, when I turn off all the lights and have my typical 'work' machine on, the laptop, I am consuming 199W. When I boot up my gaming rig, which I do often to watch Anime or work on some of my gaming related tasks for work, I just raised the profile to 380W. Then, if I have my TV on to watch something (or listen) while I work, now I'm up to 660W!
Next post... my plan and after that last paragraph I have a plan :]