G-Loaded Journal » Blogging http://www.g-loaded.eu An open-source software and technology related journal Fri, 11 May 2012 13:37:42 +0000 en hourly 1 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ The 1st Rule of Discussion http://www.g-loaded.eu/2012/02/09/the-1st-rule-of-discussion/ http://www.g-loaded.eu/2012/02/09/the-1st-rule-of-discussion/#comments Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:28:02 +0000 George Notaras http://www.g-loaded.eu/?p=2603 I cannot overstate how disappointed I am after having a discussion with people who tend to partially mix the various declarations of Rights and the Law in order to make a point valid enough to justify their actions. I am not really the one to tell whether such behavior derives from competence or incompetence. What i do know is that I will never again join any discussion which, at least, is not based on common sense. Ever.

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]]> http://www.g-loaded.eu/2012/02/09/the-1st-rule-of-discussion/feed/ 0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ The G-Loaded Experiment – 5 years of tech blogging http://www.g-loaded.eu/2010/09/16/the-g-loaded-experiment-5-years-of-tech-blogging/ http://www.g-loaded.eu/2010/09/16/the-g-loaded-experiment-5-years-of-tech-blogging/#comments Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:26:13 +0000 George Notaras http://www.g-loaded.eu/?p=1835 Okay. It’s been five years since I started this website and I feel I want to share with you one or two things about it. In this post I’ll try to go back in time and write about why I started it and what this web journal has accomplished so far. I also post some thoughts about the future plans.

The Past

First, let’s go back to September 2005. At that time, it had been about 5-6 months since I had begun to experiment with the Linux Desktop, more specifically with Fedora Core and later Fedora. Before that, I was a Microsoft Windows power-user. I also spent a lot of time on a spare computer powered by Red Hat Linux and later Fedora Core 1, which was used as an experimental server in my home LAN. The main reason for trying the Linux Desktop was the exploration of its features and to check how they compared to those of Windows. Although I had already noticed some shortcomings from the very first months of use, I guess it was the excitement about the new platform that kept me going and made me eventually switch to Linux for my everyday computing.

There is one thing I am 100% certain I did right. Keeping detailed notes about almost everything: my modifications in the configuration files, how to accomplish certain tasks quickly from the command line, notes about features that were not so obvious, etc. This had helped me a lot to adapt to the new environment quickly. At that time, the first tech blogs had already made their appearance in the blogosphere and several people published tips and tricks about open source software, so, being inspired by the openness of the Free Software world, I had decided to publish my own notes, hoping that others would find them useful. It happened that, at that time, my first complete server configuration, which was safe enough and moderately tested, was almost finished, so I could use it to power a website in the real world instead of using a service like Blogspot, WordPress or Livejournal.

I set up an old computer as a production server. The hardware may sound ridiculous, but that thing was powered by an Intel Pentium II 350MHz CPU overclocked at 392MHz, 128MB of RAM and a very old (even in 2005) Quantum Fireball 18GB hard disk (which I still have around for historical reasons). And the website went live. Later I upgraded RAM to 256MB and finally to 512MB. Needless to say that the server was connected to the internet through a consumer broadband line. Also, the website was powered by the WordPress personal publishing platform, which is the dynamic content engine G-Loaded uses until today. Of course, I later moved to a VPS, but I admit that the home server was pure fun…

So, that was it. I started publishing detailed guides about how to accomplish several tasks in a server or desktop environment, workarounds about various issues I had encountered, news I considered important and also some source code snippets. One of my goals from the beginning was to reach a broader audience and not just computer geeks. I rarely used geeky language in my posts and often provided detailed explanation about what was happening behind the scenes when a specific command was invoked in the shell. I never wrote about anything that I hadn’t previously tested extensively. Whenever an article was published, that meant it was complete, had accurate instructions and worked 100%. I think this made the guides even more helpful and educational, which eventually made the website more popular as more Linux newcomers visited it while looking for information about how to accomplish certain tasks.

G-Loaded evolved to something bigger than just a spot on the web where I published my notes. First of all, it made it possible for me to test my server configuration in the real world and eventually greatly improve it. To be more specific, the server configuration has been re-written 3 or 4 times since the first deployment and I have also developed some deployment scripts, which can set up the server from scratch. Moreover, G-Loaded has been a window, through which I had the opportunity to see how things work in the webmaster world, including website administration, advertising etc. Most of these things cannot be learned in a class or by reading a book. You have to check them out on the go to have a better understanding about them. This is why I call the whole thing the “G-Loaded Experiment” and not just a web journal. It might seem like a journal, but practically it’s more than just that.

Nowadays, the website has small to moderate web traffic, producing around 150k to 180k page views per month, as measured by AWStats, which is quite good for a website covering topics on open source software. The traffic could have been bigger, but I never really cared about web traffic. It was something that came naturally. I never used any “recipies” to drive traffic to the website. Had I cared about traffic, I bet you would have noticed…

And next comes another thing, which I consider quite important. This is about whether a website, which generally spoon feeds new users of open source software or carries advertisements together with the content, is accepted or not by specific audiences related to open-source software. My conclusions regarding acceptance are the following:

  • Acceptance by new Linux users: strong — The website is accepted as is with or without adverts as the visitors are generally interested about the detailed information they can find inside the guides and they never care why the guide was written or why the web site carries advertising.
  • Acceptance by hardcore FOSS users (non IT professionals): small — Adverts and spoon feeding is something geeks do not generally like. (That’s OK. Still love you guys, but this website was not made to teach you anything you do not already know.)
  • Acceptance by IT professionals: varies:
    • The website is moderately accepted by those who can handle the popularity of their profession well. They usually do not mind seeing non IT professionals blogging about things related to IT and they often correct their mistakes and generally enjoy being gurus.
    • On the other side, IT professionals who cannot handle the popularity of their profession very well or have a strict elitist approach to FOSS, generally do not accept the existence of such websites. Please allow me to believe that this is how the majority of IT professionals feel about tech blogs run by non IT professionals.

Finally, let me talk about today and the future plans regarding G-Loaded.

The Present and Future Plans

Several things have changed since the initial launch on September 9th 2005. First of all, the 5-year anniversary finds me using a Windows 7 desktop, after testing it for a full year. I’ve already spent around 400 EUR on Windows software, so I guess going back to a desktop powered by a Linux distribution won’t happen any time soon. It seems that the Linux Desktop experiment did not work out very well for me. I needed an operating system that would let me focus on things that matter to me and the Linux Desktop often distracted me from my goals, requiring a significant amount of time for maintenance every now and then. There will be a separate post about this, so I won’t go into the details here.

Apart from using a computer as a tool for work and research, I am still very interested in administering a Linux Server. During the first 3 years G-Loaded was powered by a Fedora Server, but for various reasons I had explained in an older post I have now switched to CentOS. I intend to continue to work on and improve the server configuration I’ve been developing all these years. Maybe I try to use a configuration manager this time instead of my custom shell scripts. I’ll need to check these tools out and also collect some information and experiences of others first.

So, time permitting, I intend to post some guides/tutorials about how I setup the various services in a Linux Server. Generally, my posts will mostly cover things related to servers. But, you know, since I use Windows on my desktop now, one or two posts about this OS might sneak into my blog every now and then. But, this won’t happen often for sure. I really do not care about desktops regardless of them being open-source or closed-source, embedded, customizable or not, as long as they do not get into my way. Also, during the last month I’ve been thinking about releasing my server configuration and some other software as open-source projects. Many people could possibly benefit from them by using them on their VPSes. But, this is just a thought… Before opening anything up, I’ll need some serious guarantees that some people will also work with me on the project or take it over for further development and fine-tuning. I’ll think about it during the following months and keep you updated.

Final Thoughts

I’ve always been interested in open source software. The main goal of the G-Loaded Journal is to bring you information about how to utilize FOSS more effectively. This goal has not changed and never will be.

The G-Loaded Experiment – 5 years of tech blogging, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

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]]> http://www.g-loaded.eu/2010/09/16/the-g-loaded-experiment-5-years-of-tech-blogging/feed/ 0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ Wishes for a happy 2010 http://www.g-loaded.eu/2010/01/02/happy-2010/ http://www.g-loaded.eu/2010/01/02/happy-2010/#comments Sat, 02 Jan 2010 00:10:42 +0000 George Notaras http://www.g-loaded.eu/?p=1528 I wish a happy new year to all, full of happiness, health, creativity and peace of mind.

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]]> http://www.g-loaded.eu/2010/01/02/happy-2010/feed/ 0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ When in Rome, do as the Romans do http://www.g-loaded.eu/2009/10/05/when-in-rome-do-as-the-romans-do/ http://www.g-loaded.eu/2009/10/05/when-in-rome-do-as-the-romans-do/#comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:07:39 +0000 George Notaras http://www.g-loaded.eu/?p=1216 If you are in “Rome“, the above is a golden rule to follow, if you really care about surviving there. That also means that you will most probably have to do things in different ways than you had initially planned or in ways that are against your principals or code of conduct. But, in return, your adaptation to that environment will be smoother and, at least, your presence there will be pleasant to others. On the other hand, by getting that much off your track in order to act as a “Roman“, has a tremendous negative side-effect: you practically waste a lot of time by doing things you do not approve or consider stupid. Trying to find the good balance between smooth adaptation and as little as possible waste of time is very difficult, if not impossible. In the end, it is you who decide what is more important: others or your time.

If not in “Rome“, well, it doesn’t really matter…

Note: Throughout this post, the words “Rome” and “Roman” are used metaphorically in accordance to the popular quote.

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]]> http://www.g-loaded.eu/2009/10/05/when-in-rome-do-as-the-romans-do/feed/ 0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ I have received the codes http://www.g-loaded.eu/2009/03/05/i-have-received-the-codes/ http://www.g-loaded.eu/2009/03/05/i-have-received-the-codes/#comments Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:57:07 +0000 George Notaras http://www.g-loaded.eu/?p=957 It’s official: My new ISP, after being subscribed to it for 5 whole months, has finally sent me the codes, so I can check my bill’s status online. I mean this is fantastic! No more speculation on what might have gone wrong with the ISP, the post office, the mailman, the mailbox or me not seeing it in the box or throwing it away by mistake!

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]]> http://www.g-loaded.eu/2009/03/05/i-have-received-the-codes/feed/ 1 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ Greenhorn Evangelists http://www.g-loaded.eu/2009/02/20/greenhorn-evangelists/ http://www.g-loaded.eu/2009/02/20/greenhorn-evangelists/#comments Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:49:59 +0000 George Notaras http://www.g-loaded.eu/?p=910 It took me several years to realize that I have serious issues with a particular kind of evangelists. This is not only about computer software evangelists, but a more general conclusion about evangelism in various aspects of real life, including computers and software. In general, I should clarify that I am not against evangelism. Actually, I consider it our normal response to situations that we get overexcited about various things on which we spend our free time or things we work on professionally.

As I see it, problems begin to arise when people start evangelizing for things they hardly know. Many people “spread the word” without previously having attempted to go even through the basics of those things. I believe this mostly happens because it was not those things’ technical details that had attracted them in the first place, but their involvement was due to the fact that those things happened to comply (partially or in whole) with their religious or political views or their perception of the world in general.

Regarding free software, one could easily assume that I am mostly against new users, who, right after installing a Linux distribution for the first time, they raid the forums, blogs and technology-related social sites writing dithyrambic comments about how much better free software is compared to proprietary solutions and how much they hate particular proprietary software vendors. Obviously, such behavior is rather driven by those people’s ambition to convert others to their ideas and philosophy than by their personal experience of the advantages of the actual use of free software in the everyday computing.

Evangelism is necessary. But, evangelizing for things without previously going through their technical details is useless and might become dangerous under specific circumstances. This does not imply that we should become experts on all the things we talk about, but, at least, we should have a general view of their advantages and disadvantages prior to spreading the word and trying to convert others. I cannot claim that I have never evangelized for things I had not had a good knowledge of or any knowledge at all. That would be stupid as it is very easy to make that mistake and almost everyone might have made it at some point in their lives. Nevertheless, no matter how common this mistake is, such behavior is still useless and should be avoided.

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]]> http://www.g-loaded.eu/2009/02/20/greenhorn-evangelists/feed/ 2 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ Online for good http://www.g-loaded.eu/2008/12/17/online-for-good/ http://www.g-loaded.eu/2008/12/17/online-for-good/#comments Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:24:59 +0000 George Notaras http://www.g-loaded.eu/?p=807 At least I hope so. After 2 and a half days of problems with telephony and internet services, it finally seems that everything has been sorted out! The official explanation for the outage is that the increased electrical load on an adjacent cable increased the level of the electrical noise on my line, which resulted in my line being down for good. That is what the experts say and that is what I trust. Of course, there is always the possibility that my trouble might have been caused by a clumsy technician, but I try to keep such thoughts out of my mind as they turn me into a “blood-thirsty animal”. The good thing is that despite my anger about the ~64-hour outage and the wasted day on the mobile-phone and at the local ISP shop, I happened to talk to a very polite technician (female) and fortunately not to any sleepy bastard like it had happened in the past, so the conversation took place in a very civilized and peaceful mood. Nothing can beat politeness.

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]]> http://www.g-loaded.eu/2008/12/17/online-for-good/feed/ 0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ Release Time http://www.g-loaded.eu/2008/12/12/release-time/ http://www.g-loaded.eu/2008/12/12/release-time/#comments Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:50:00 +0000 George Notaras http://www.g-loaded.eu/?p=732 I’d like to thank Simos and Nikos for adding the CodeTRAX.org feed to Planet ELLAK and Planet HELLUG respectively. This feed will contain information and announcements about the development of Project CodeTRAX, an effort to develop the necessary software in order to automate the deployment and management of a personal project hosting environment like codetrax.org. Moreover, the feed will contain release and update announcements for the open-source software I’ve written so far in my spare time.

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]]> http://www.g-loaded.eu/2008/12/12/release-time/feed/ 0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ Astonishing photography http://www.g-loaded.eu/2007/06/30/astonishing-photography/ http://www.g-loaded.eu/2007/06/30/astonishing-photography/#comments Sat, 30 Jun 2007 20:41:01 +0000 George Notaras http://www.g-loaded.eu/2007/06/30/astonishing-photography/ I was astonished by the photo sets on Dark Roasted Blend. Simply amazing! A visit is highly recommended.

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]]> http://www.g-loaded.eu/2007/06/30/astonishing-photography/feed/ 0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ New blog domain http://www.g-loaded.eu/2006/10/04/new-blog-domain/ http://www.g-loaded.eu/2006/10/04/new-blog-domain/#comments Wed, 04 Oct 2006 15:44:06 +0000 George Notaras http://www.g-loaded.eu/2006/10/04/new-blog-domain/ This is a quick notice that the website’s domain has changed. The new domain is: www.g-loaded.eu. All the old links are properly redirected to the new domain. I’d be happy if you updated your bookmarks and your links to my website. Although I have made that move with great care, some detail may have sneaked out of my attention. So, if you notice any inconsistency or any improperly redirected URL, please let me know either by leaving a comment or by email.

Thank you.

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