Blog - /Personal

It looks like Debian Sarge has been released, after several years of preparation. The funny thing was that I received the email announcing this right after explaining to my dad that Debian has not had a major release in almost 3 years. I had just finished installing the testing version of Debian on an old computer for him to use as a webserver. Well, once the release propagates to the mirrors, I'll change it over.

I went with a debian-installer beta 3 net install CD for the webserver. I usually choose the expert install, which gives me a lot of control over the installation process, but this time I went for the normal install. I was surprised at how pleasant it was. The only real "newbie-stumper" question that came up was something about keymap configuration, but it none of the options would wreck your system. It was quite nice to be able to choose a "server" type of disk partitioning and have everything be done for me. Of course, it helps that I was allowed to give the full disk over to Debian rather than saving space for Windows.

One of the necessary steps in preparing the machine for Debian was re-branding. This involved peeling off the "Made for Windows" sticker and the Windows registration label. After doing so, a shiny new "GNU and Linux: the dynamic duo" sticker was applied. Another machine is consumed by the inevitable revolution!

I highly recommend the use of Privoxy. It is an ad-filtering proxy that works on both GNU/Linux and Windows. I plan to install it on the webserver so that they don't have to have it installed on each of their machines. When I head to Purdue on Tuesday, I plan to install it on a machine in the PLUG office as a public service. Access control for it is yet to be determined.

In order to give me some excuse for being an armchair-dweller, I need to come up with some goals for the week. Last week, the major goal was getting the 5.0.3 release of ERC prepared. The next 2 weeks, I should aim for getting the 3.01 release of Muse done with, after 6 months of stalling. Sometimes developing software can be done mainly for the reason of appeasing one's conscience. This was the case for the Perl report that I made for Bethel College last year. But I enjoy developing Muse, unlike that dreadful report.

I had a turkey sub from Subway today, marking the first time I've voluntarily consumed something with turkey in about a year. It isn't often that I actually enjoy food with turkey, but this was an exception. There is an emphasis on healthy eating at both my mom's and my dad's house, so it feels good to at least somewhat follow the trend.