Apologies to anyone who may have already done this plugin. This simple Wordpress plugin allows Technorati tags within <ttag> </ttag> inside posts and comments (see previous “Wordpress” link as an example). Use <ttag word=”tag word”> to use a different tag word than what’s between the tags. This plugin will also allow adding ‘ttag’ custom values for the post for listing at the end of each post (see below for an example of what it will look like).

Right now you can grab it here.

I used to go through the trouble of building custom systems for employees at my job, but for the past year or so I’ve been buying Dells. Originally I didn’t go with Dell because one was usually forced into buying an OS and Office suite with theit desktop systems, which drove the price up considerably. Since most people I work with use some variation of Linux, getting MS Windows pre-installed was just silly. Then I discovered Dell’s desktop server line, which you can order barebones — no software installed.

These server systems were certainly cheaper, but for that you get a lackluster on-board video port and usually no AGP slot. For most people the on-board video was fine, but lately we’ve been getting people really nice 21″ LCD screens, which require a bit more horsepower behind them. With no AGP slot, I’d resort to PCI cards, which was fine for what we were doing. The latest systems, though, have a PCIe slot, which what you’ll start seeing taking over for AGP. Normally this is fantastic news for the Dell server systems, but not necessarily as in the case of the PowerEdge SC420, at least.

See the “PCIe x8″ slot in the image above? Most PCIe cards, as I’ve just learned, have only one groove in the connector. That means the connector should look something like this. Notice there’s one divider in each example? Now look at Dell’s picture above. That’s right — there are two dividers. And some systems, as I’ve seen first-hand at work, have three dividers! The worse thing of all is, beyond the second divider, there aren’t any actual metal pins. That means the dividers are really only in place to make your life miserable. In fact, the stamp on the motherboard itself says the slot is a “PCIe x16″, yet there’s no way you’re getting one of them in that slot.

I wound up finding this thread on the subject. The solution, in short, is to take a dremel and carefully cut the dividers off. I can now confirm that this worked for me, but it still sucks that I had to do so, most certainly voiding the warranty on the system in the process.

Count yourself forewarned on purchasing these cheaper Dell server systems as a desktop system if you think a snazzy PCIe x16 will work in it without a hastle.

I was having problems syncing my PDA with Fedora Core 3 and was able to quickly find a page with helpful information on the subject. However, the instructions there didn’t completely work with my Handspring Treo. I tried to post my resolution on that page but it seems to be bugged, so I’ll post it here for crawlers to grab.

I noticed that my Handspring Treo was not working with this configuration, and later figured out it was due to no “product” file existing for it! I was able to find a line that related to the device that worked, though:

# udevinfo -a -p `udevinfo -q path -n /dev/ttyUSB0`

udevinfo starts with the device the node belongs to and then walks up the
device chain, to print for every device found, all possibly useful attributes
in the udev key format.
Only attributes within one device section may be used together in one rule,
to match the device for which the node will be created.

 looking at class device '/sys/class/tty/ttyUSB0':
    SYSFS{dev}="188:0"

follow the class device's "device"
  looking at the device chain at '/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/usb1/1-2/1-2.2/1-2.2:1.0/ttyUSB0':
    BUS="usb-serial"
    ID="ttyUSB0"
    SYSFS{detach_state}="0"

  looking at the device chain at '/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/usb1/1-2/1-2.2/1-2.2:1.0':
    BUS="usb"
    ID="1-2.2:1.0"
    SYSFS{bAlternateSetting}=" 0"
    SYSFS{bInterfaceClass}="ff"
    SYSFS{bInterfaceNumber}="00"
    SYSFS{bInterfaceProtocol}="00"
    SYSFS{bInterfaceSubClass}="00"
    SYSFS{bNumEndpoints}="04"
    SYSFS{detach_state}="0"
    SYSFS{iInterface}="00"

  looking at the device chain at '/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/usb1/1-2/1-2.2':
    BUS="usb"
    ID="1-2.2"
    SYSFS{bConfigurationValue}="1"
    SYSFS{bDeviceClass}="00"
    SYSFS{bDeviceProtocol}="00"
    SYSFS{bDeviceSubClass}="00"
    SYSFS{bMaxPower}="  2mA"
    SYSFS{bNumConfigurations}="1"
    SYSFS{bNumInterfaces}=" 1"
    SYSFS{bcdDevice}="0100"
    SYSFS{bmAttributes}="a0"
    SYSFS{detach_state}="0"
    SYSFS{devnum}="14"
    SYSFS{idProduct}="0200"
    SYSFS{idVendor}="082d"
    SYSFS{maxchild}="0"
    SYSFS{speed}="12"
    SYSFS{version}=" 1.00"

  looking at the device chain at '/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/usb1/1-2':
    BUS="usb"
    ID="1-2"
    SYSFS{bConfigurationValue}="1"
    SYSFS{bDeviceClass}="09"
    SYSFS{bDeviceProtocol}="00"
    SYSFS{bDeviceSubClass}="00"
    SYSFS{bMaxPower}="100mA"
    SYSFS{bNumConfigurations}="1"
    SYSFS{bNumInterfaces}=" 1"
    SYSFS{bcdDevice}="0110"
    SYSFS{bmAttributes}="e0"
    SYSFS{detach_state}="0"
    SYSFS{devnum}="3"
    SYSFS{idProduct}="1446"
    SYSFS{idVendor}="0451"
    SYSFS{maxchild}="4"
    SYSFS{speed}="12"
    SYSFS{version}=" 1.10"

  looking at the device chain at '/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/usb1':
    BUS="usb"
    ID="usb1"
    SYSFS{bConfigurationValue}="1"
    SYSFS{bDeviceClass}="09"
    SYSFS{bDeviceProtocol}="00"
    SYSFS{bDeviceSubClass}="00"
    SYSFS{bMaxPower}="  0mA"
    SYSFS{bNumConfigurations}="1"
    SYSFS{bNumInterfaces}=" 1"
    SYSFS{bcdDevice}="0206"
    SYSFS{bmAttributes}="e0"
    SYSFS{detach_state}="0"
    SYSFS{devnum}="1"
    SYSFS{idProduct}="0000"
    SYSFS{idVendor}="0000"
    SYSFS{manufacturer}="Linux 2.6.9-1.724_FC3 ohci_hcd"
    SYSFS{maxchild}="3"
    SYSFS{product}="OHCI Host Controller"
    SYSFS{serial}="0000:00:02.0"
    SYSFS{speed}="12"
    SYSFS{version}=" 1.10"

  looking at the device chain at '/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0':
    BUS="pci"
    ID="0000:00:02.0"
    SYSFS{class}="0x0c0310"
    SYSFS{detach_state}="0"
    SYSFS{device}="0x01c2"
    SYSFS{irq}="10"
    SYSFS{subsystem_device}="0x0c11"
    SYSFS{subsystem_vendor}="0x10de"
    SYSFS{vendor}="0x10de"

  looking at the device chain at '/sys/devices/pci0000:00':
    BUS=""
    ID="pci0000:00"
    SYSFS{detach_state}="0"

You can see above there’s a field for “idVendor” of “0451″. So I just used that instead of “product”:

BUS="usb", SYSFS{idVendor}="082d", KERNEL="ttyUSB*", SYMLINK="pilot"

Once again, something you just can’t make up.

“Squeaky bum time” is so not what you want to be calling that.

Some talk about different espresso drink offerings from Starbucks over at Boing-Boing.

Maybe the “Ristretto” should be renamed Espressus Interruptus.

“I’ll be glad to talk to anyone about my hog.”

Aren’t we all, Larry?

Since having Owen around, I have a new…um…appreciation for the sheer amplitude of a baby’s backfiring capabilities. It seems Ikea has finally also realized this wonder of childhood themselves.

I go through more leather wallets than — using an old phrase my dad uses — “Carter has liver pills”. Does ex-President Carter even take these “liver pills” anymore? Did he take such an absurd amount of them that they can be used to describe a measurement of incredible amounts? Anyway, I dunno. Who knows.

Since I’m completely frustrated with leather wallets, I decided to give another material a try: duct tape. Yes, there are wallets you can actually buy that are made from duct tape. You’d think there would be all sorts of sticky edges around the wallet’s seams, but that’s not the case at all. These wallets by Ducti are made from a specially engineered “super duct tape” that prevents lifting or stickiness, which so far is holding true.

The best part about these wallets by far is the lifetime guarantee on them. If for any reason you don’t like how your wallet looks or feels, or it gets damaged in any way at all, Ducti will replace it for free forever (or at least as long as the company is in business). And you don’t need a reciept or other proof of purchase to get the replacement. So in essence, you never have to buy a new wallet again. Ever.

You can get the Ducti wallets through ThinkGeek

As seen on the underside of a new stone deep-dish pizza baker I got for Christmas. Italian, made in Taiwan. Eh?!