This is why I build the KwadKades:

Seeing the cabinets being full reminds me why I do this.

I’m also working on a website for another blog. Yes another one. Still using WordPress. WordPress makes it so easy to set up a blog. I can have one setup in a few minutes. Tweaking a theme takes the longest time. Anyway, this is another Arcade themed blog. I’ll have more details in the near future.

On June 26, 2002 I registered aebates.com. It’s been 8 years since I setup this site. It’s gone several changes and upgrades, but it’s been my home in the Far Reaches of Cyberspace. I typically refer people to it via kwadroke.com, but it has always been aebates.com.

Apple & Androids

For those living in a cave, Apple has released the new iPhone 4 as well as a new update to the iPhone OS. I have an iPhone 3gs, most of the features I’ve seen so far for iOS4, I have on my jailbroken OS 3. I really have no desire to upgrade the OS or get the new iPhone. Now getting a new Android on the other hand, sounds much better to me. Only problem is AT&T’s Android selection sucks compared to Verizon’s Droids. The Droid X looks pretty sweet. HDMI out, 720P video recording, and of course runs Android. It could use a front facing camera though.

Why do I like Android so much? It’s running on top of Linux and doesn’t lock you down like the iPhone OS.
Maybe some time soon, I’ll be able to put Android OS on my iPhone.

Apparently there’s a problem the reception with iPhone 4. If you hold with your left hand, the signal plummets. Why wasn’t this tested?

Anime

I’m starting up the Central Arkansas Anime Group meetings again. This time we’re meeting the 2nd Thursday, 6PM of the month at Conway Gaming Center. We watch anime every Thursday at 8PM at CGC, so, I figured it would be a good time to start up the meetings.

ARLUG

I’ve created a ARLUG Identi.ca Group to help spread the word about Linux in Arkansas. Post your Arkansas based Linux dents to the group using !arlug.

For those who don’t have a clue what Identi.ca is, it is a Open Source implementation of Twitter. I prefer Identi.ca over Twitter due to it’s based off of Status.net, and can be run of your own server. I run Status.net server over on GameSqueak.com.

Just got done with a week of RedHat Enterprise Linux 5 Certified Engineer classes & exam today. This was alot tougher than I remember the RHEL4 RHCE class & Exam. Should hopefully know the results sometime tonight. I’ll update this post with the results. Hope I get at-least my RHCT, preferably my RHCE.

Edit: I PASSED. I’m now a RHCE for RHEL5.

I’ve upgraded the website to WordPress 3.0. It was amazingly easy. Just click the link to upgrade and it was done. I’m liking this software more & more.

Yesterday, I downloaded linux-gamers.net live Linux LiveDVD. It’s pretty slick. It has UrbanTerror, Nexuiz, Warsow, Tremulous and a bunch of other games on it.I tried it out on the PCs at Conway Gaming Center. It worked out-of-the-box. I plan on getting a 8GB USB drive today to install it on to speed it up a little. This makes me want to get the Linux LANs going again as well as getting the Flash LANs meeting up.

This year’s A-Kon seemed to be a bit slower than normal. I’m not sure if it was because we got in a day early or what. The panels we went to seemed to be a bit lacking due to some of them being pure Q&A sessions. To me, it seems that these can bring a panel to a grinding halt unless there’s a lot of questions being asked.

I did have a good time. I am sad to see that A-Kon is over with, but, now I can concentrate on my other projects. Q3TCRP, Life at North High, & ARKon can now have more attention put to them. I got some inspiration from the Con for my projects, so those should be materializing soon.

I apparently forgot to move over one of my subdomains over to the new server. The website hasn’t been updated in ages, so I loaded my new favorite website software, WordPress on it.

The website is for a project that I’ve been trying to get off the ground called the Quake 3 Total Conversion Revitalization Project, or Q3TCRP for short. You can visit it at http://q3tcrp.kwadrix.com. It’s for bringing back some of the Total Conversions for Quake III Arena. I’ve got QBall (a FPS paintball TC) mostly working. Hopefully after A-Kon I can get back to working on it. I’ve played with compiling it for Linux and got it running, but, there’s a font texture missing. I think it has been missing for a while.

Maybe after getting a release ready I’ll buy a domain name for it.

Thursday night’s MC Frontalot & The OneUps show at Maxine’s Pub in Hot Springs, Arkansas was probably the best show I’ve seen. Granted I haven’t been to many, but even the ones I’ve seen on TV pale to this one. The venue was small and the turn out was less than I hoped for, but, I had a great time. I got to hang out with my friend, TheCrow and got to chat with Frontalot and Mustin from The OneUps.

I spent probably too much on merchandise there. About $140 was spent on CD’s, T-Shirts stickers, Glasses etc. But, it was all to support Frontalot and The OneUps.

lO”$ … found the other day out what it means after a Google Search. After all these years, I never knew this shortcut existed.

Found out that MC Frontalot will be at Sticky Fingerz Rock ‘N’ Roll Chicken Shack in Little Rock, AR on Tues April 20, 2010 and in Hot Springs, AR at Maxine’s Pub with Arkansas band The OneUps on Thurs April 22, 2010. I’m of course going to both shows. They’re both going to be in Fayetteville, AR on Fri April 23, 2010, but, I won’t get to go to that show. If you like Nerdcore and Video Game Cover music, you need to attend these shows. We need to show that Arkansas can host great groups like these.

I’m hoping to get some pictures and pick up some T-Shirts & CDs from both Frontalot & The OneUps. I’m pumped to see the shows. If anyone wants to join me for the shows, let me know.

I was browsing Engadget’s overview of Apple’s iPhone/iPad OS 4, and I saw the image announcing the release stating that it will be out this fall. But that’s not what I read. Instead, I saw it as fail. Therefore, I had to fix the image to reflect what they really meant.

iFad

Is Apple the new AOL? I’m not talking about the contant busy signals I’ve heard so much about, but Apple wants the “Walled Garden” for it’s devices. I currently have an iPhone as well as a MacMini and a couple of iPods. I’m not a Apple Fanboy. Especially not now. I know I’m not part of Apple’s target audience. I love to tinker. Scripts can give you great power. I like to automate things. That’s what computers are for. Apple makes it so hard to do things like scripts, even in Mac OS X. Even Microsoft realizes that people script. That’s why DOS is still around in today’s versions of Windows. The iPhone and iPad both lock you down to what they will allow you to run. For supporting a device that’s fine. I rarely ever call a company for support, and that’s only if a service is interrupted. I never call for software support. Fine Apple, don’t give me support. Just let me do what I need to. Granted, even Google Phones are locked down. But even Google knows the power of scripting. They even allow you to run Python on their phones.
Honestly, I didn’t buy the iPhone to make telephone calls. The iPhone sucks at that. It’s a mobile computing device that happens to make phone calls. I will be getting rid of my iPhone. I need something that doesn’t hinder me from getting things done. I know that Android is not quite the answer I’m looking for. But, it’s the best thing out so far.  I want something that just works… for me, not against me.

Crapbook

What’s with Facebook and Groups? I use Groups all the time on the main website, and, I’m sure I’m not alone. If you use the iPhone App or the Lite version of the website, Groups are either extremely limited or just not working. I’d like to make a post or just find out how many members are in one of the groups that I belong to. But, no. You have to go to the main site. Ok, fine. But please Facebook, set a cookie, an entry in the database or something so I don’t have to go through so many hoops just to get to the regular site on my iPhone or other mobile device. If I wanted to go to the lite website, I’ll type the URL. At least give me a splash page or something asking me what site I want to go to instead of assuming that I want the stripped down, reduced functionality site.