Back in my Yoper days, I spent hours using virtual machines to run test installs and fiddle with buggy stuff etc.
I ran all the available VMs on and off but the most useful was generally the VirtualBox. Yes, its not "free" as in open source, but it is easier to use than the others and the features which it has by default make it so much easier than the hours of tweaking which some VMs need.
Anyway, I have just installed VirtualBox on my laptop to play around with some distros - and today I am installing Crunchbang Waldorf.
I was well impressed with this minimalistic distro when I installed it on the wifes EeePC a week or so ago, so a VM seems the perfect opportunity for me to have some time with it!
Installation of CB seems to be straight forward enough - I went with the defaults for the VM with regards to memory and virtual hard drive space. I didn't touch any of the other settings at all.
I went with the Debian choice from the VirtualBox menu - CB is a Debian system with a few tweaks.
The dvd with my CB installed was spotted and I selected to Install.
No problems - all went as expected, chose to install Grub to the virtual hard drive and everything went fine.
Rebooted the VM, removing the dvd and I am now looking at my Crunchbang virtual machine!
Awesome - and really really easy. Off to play now!
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Three and tethering
Three, who provide my mobile connection, allow new customers to use their phones as "hotspots" - i.e tethering - up to a gig or two per month.
Customers on their older (i.e around a year or so ago) contracts have to
purchase an "add-on" for a fiver to get a gig of tethering.
Back at Christmas, I was in Nottingham for a couple of days and could have done with this ability - but I am no way paying extra!
There is a - technically not allowed option I have available to me using an app on my jailbroken iPhone - but I decided to be fair and ask Three about it.
The reasonable response I got basically said that tethering wasn't allowed on my contract but Three listen and may change this soon.
Fair enough - it is now 9 months later, so I head over to the Three website to check if things are different.
Still the same - my contract requires me to pay if I want to use a pathetic gig or so of my unlimited download ability as a hotspot.
I fired off another email to Three.....
Today they have offered me the option to move to one of the new contracts - with unlimited data, unlimited texts and an extra 100 minutes talk time per month - plus free 0800 numbers (which mobiles usually charge for) and of course 2Gb of tethering - all for an extra £2 per month - and my contract period isn't affected.
Sounds quite tempting, but the tethering would only be a very very rare thing and is it worth paying out more for what I don't actually use now?
Never got even within half of my talk time - I usually manage to use 30 minutes if lucky!
Likewise the texts - probably half a dozen, thanks to WhatsApp etc.
Shall I go for it? Maybe... may be not....
Will decide soon!
Customers on their older (i.e around a year or so ago) contracts have to
purchase an "add-on" for a fiver to get a gig of tethering.
Back at Christmas, I was in Nottingham for a couple of days and could have done with this ability - but I am no way paying extra!
There is a - technically not allowed option I have available to me using an app on my jailbroken iPhone - but I decided to be fair and ask Three about it.
The reasonable response I got basically said that tethering wasn't allowed on my contract but Three listen and may change this soon.
Fair enough - it is now 9 months later, so I head over to the Three website to check if things are different.
Still the same - my contract requires me to pay if I want to use a pathetic gig or so of my unlimited download ability as a hotspot.
I fired off another email to Three.....
Today they have offered me the option to move to one of the new contracts - with unlimited data, unlimited texts and an extra 100 minutes talk time per month - plus free 0800 numbers (which mobiles usually charge for) and of course 2Gb of tethering - all for an extra £2 per month - and my contract period isn't affected.
Sounds quite tempting, but the tethering would only be a very very rare thing and is it worth paying out more for what I don't actually use now?
Never got even within half of my talk time - I usually manage to use 30 minutes if lucky!
Likewise the texts - probably half a dozen, thanks to WhatsApp etc.
Shall I go for it? Maybe... may be not....
Will decide soon!
Bee Tee yet again!
I seem to bang on about the crap service from BT on a regular basis looking back through my blog!
Anyway, this week they have dropped me a letter to ask me to consider taking a 12 month contract out with them. Normally, I would have thrown it straight into the bin, but they are offering UNLIMITED downloads (although our speed limits us anyway!), plus the usual free calls evenings and weekends etc for half what I pay now....
Interested, but BT have screwed me over so much that I really don't feel I can take any more of them.
Got a while to decide anyway - and, bearing in mind their price increases looming, I am pretty reluctant.
Anyway, this week they have dropped me a letter to ask me to consider taking a 12 month contract out with them. Normally, I would have thrown it straight into the bin, but they are offering UNLIMITED downloads (although our speed limits us anyway!), plus the usual free calls evenings and weekends etc for half what I pay now....
Interested, but BT have screwed me over so much that I really don't feel I can take any more of them.
Got a while to decide anyway - and, bearing in mind their price increases looming, I am pretty reluctant.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Interesting distro!
Whilst looking for a suitable distro to install on my wife's EeePC 701, I came across Crunchbang. Not a distro I have looked at before but I was very impressed. Minimalistic, yet really useable. Some minimal distros are simply too cut down and make your life a misery, yet CB contains most of the stuff you need to run a modern compter system, but with a lean mean Openbox front.
Had trouble getting it to run from a USB key (and even from a DVD) on my laptop (ended up fiddling for hours!) but on the EeePC - once I realised it would just install once I corrected a Debian bug with the installer - it installed beautifully onto an SD card, leaving the original Xandros OS installed on the SSD (the wife likes the speed of that).
Will doubtless be reporting more on this distro later
Had trouble getting it to run from a USB key (and even from a DVD) on my laptop (ended up fiddling for hours!) but on the EeePC - once I realised it would just install once I corrected a Debian bug with the installer - it installed beautifully onto an SD card, leaving the original Xandros OS installed on the SSD (the wife likes the speed of that).
Will doubtless be reporting more on this distro later
Monday, September 01, 2014
F--- BT
Seriously? I was away from home for a couple of days - so the internet goes down and I can't check things are all OK at home?
Then, after a rather stressful day, having a tumour removed, I spend an evening trying to get the shitty HomeHub to reconnect....
Sorry but I pay a load of cash each month for this crap - and you intend to increase the price?
Just spent a couple of days aways - as mentioned - at my daughters' flat - with 50 meg internet - no way am I getting a decent service here. BT - you will be dumped come December (or earlier if I have my way!)
Totally unacceptable
Then, after a rather stressful day, having a tumour removed, I spend an evening trying to get the shitty HomeHub to reconnect....
Sorry but I pay a load of cash each month for this crap - and you intend to increase the price?
Just spent a couple of days aways - as mentioned - at my daughters' flat - with 50 meg internet - no way am I getting a decent service here. BT - you will be dumped come December (or earlier if I have my way!)
Totally unacceptable
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