Gutsy Ghastliness

I brought home my old Thinkpad T41p from work for a few days; I had wiped out its disk in preparation for giving it to someone else, and so I had to install a new OS. My first plan was just to install Windows XP, but I didn’t have an OEM disk nearby, so I couldn’t use the license key which came with the machine.

So I decided to go the Ubuntu route. I had a 7.04 CD on hand, which installed with no problems, and then I upgraded to 7.10. That was all in the office, connected to a wired Ethernet.

But I wanted to be able to use the machine on my wireless LAN at home (and elsewhere). Using Network Manager and typing in my preshared WPA key didn’t work. And I tried it many, many times.

Eventually, I found wieman01’s OWTO: Wireless Security – WPA1, WPA2, LEAP, etc., which worked wonderfully well — I am up and running on my wireless right now.

I don’t know how easy it’ll be to set things up to connect to an old WEP network, which was my real goal in bringing this beast home for a few days, but I’m sure it can be done.

I do wish I knew why Network Manager didn’t do the job, though. Suggestions welcome.

That was…interesting

Last night, I wanted to write a posting titled “Break in Line: Internet Cut Off”, but I was too busy talking with my ISP trying to get the situation fixed — and blogging on the iPhone is a pain, anyway. I was too busy at work today to post, and by the time I got home, we had service again…the trouble ticket said that there was a problem on the local loop about half-way between here and the central office, so I guess someone fixed it.

This evening, I was minding my own business when I thought I heard the garage door open. But the noise continued. And then things started to shake. And kept shaking.

It felt like a long time, but it was probably only about 20 seconds before things calmed down. I turned on the radio went to KCBS to listen, and soon learned that the quake was a 5.6 on the east side of San Jose, maybe 20 km away.

According to the USGS, there have been a number of aftershocks, but I haven’t felt any. And I’ll be perfectly happy if it stays that way.