Back It Up

Backup is important. Having used computers for over a decade (man I’m getting old) one of the biggest lessons I have learned is that harddrives are a real softspot. You’r computer is nothing more then a calculator (a really nice and shiny one) that does cool stuff to you’r data. If you loose you’r computer but have you’r data, you are fine. If you loose you’r data (screw the computer) you are screwed. I use google docs and gmail to back up most of my important documents and schoolwork, but I still need some real backup for a couple of important things:

• Digital music collection
• Digital photos
• Assorted files and school projects (code and the like)
• This server

The first 3 are safe with external usbs and TimeMachine, this server is not that easy (not hard, but try to beat TimeMachine) to back up. It’s not a fancy server, but I want a nice set-up that would allow the following:

• Hourly (or say every 6 hours) backup
• Full system restore in 1-3 hours
• Reboot restore (a dream where the backup is a backup system that the computer boots from if the other disk dies)

With TimeMachine I experienced full system restore in about 1-2 hours (from the time I started to recover the backup, not the time it took to get Apple to give me a new hdd for my MacBook). It was painless and when I booted up it was as if I had just turned my computer off for a really long time, genius. With my Ubuntu I’m thinking a second drive that mirrors the original, this should be possible, but I’m no genius with Linux (yet at least) and it may be impossible to get a another hdd that is the excact same that is in there now, this can get hairy. Anyways the backup of this server/site is important and I will post as I work something out. In the meantime, always remember to back it up!

My serverpark that hosts this singel blog (is joke yes)

6 Ways to Tweet from my Mac

So lately I have been using Twitter more and more. It’s a fun way to get updates and to publish small updates from time to time, microbloggin has it’s uses as it turns out. I have been tweeting from OS X and I have been using several different clients because I always get fed up with the one I’m using and then I search for something better. Just today I got ahold at Tweetie. This client is the shizzle (as I have heard) on iPhone and now it’s supposedly the shizzle on Mac also.

But I don’t agree. Here is a rundown of several clients I have used over the past few months, why they are good and why they are bad. Let the microreviews begin!

So many tweetapps to tweet my tweets with

BASH Shell, I Love You

It’s 2 in the morning and I’m tinkering with my Ubuntu server from my terminal at home. I wonder what my network load is so i start bwm-ng. Wondering if I could output this to my apache (the program that makes this site possible) i type: man bwm-ng. A couple of minutes later and I have a dashboard wigdet that tells me the load every ten seconds. This is one of many reasons I love linux, ubuntu, and the all powerfull Bourne Again SHell. Here is a quick explaination.

The role of my computer(s)

My daily life activites more or less now revolve around the usage of my computer(s). I wake up to my iTunes music library when a small program on my iMac wakes it up from it’s sleep (kinda that I put my pc to sleep before I go to sleep) and starts to play something from My Favourites playlist. I then check mail (checking mail for me is just looking at the Mail icon), download my daily dose of tv series and check for any IM’s (instant messages) or highlights on IRC (internet relay chat).

This usage continues trough the day, I use my MacBook when I’m not at home (hence the “(s)” in the computer(s), also this blog is hosted on my computer server at school). At school the usage continues with mail and communications and also adds checking of news trough RSS feeds and news sites. At lectures I take notes with Google Docs and use Wikipedia to append the information I get during the lectures. Using Google Docs the notes are stored online and therefore synchronized with all my other computers as long as they have net access. Also I use the computer to write assignments and code.

At home the iMac is my stereo (ca 11000 songs) my TV and my workbench. I have my pictures on it (with backup every hour thanks to the simple and genius TimeMachine) and many other personal files (resumes, cvs, etc.).

All in all my life is in many ways dependent on the use of the computer as a communication tool and information centre for almost everything. I also offcourse pay the bills, order concert tickets, order travels, change my regular doctor, trough the internet. Facebook is also a part as I check up on social events (parties, concerts), birthays and generic social information from my network of friends and facebook-friends.