Crossed Wires

Vic’s Blog

Archive for category Work

Back in the saddle again…

Oct 31

Posted by Vic in Life, Travel, Work

This post comes to you from the Cathay Pacific lounge in Hong Kong airport.  Around 8 weeks have passed since my last post, and I’m pretty disgusted with myself at how little (read: not at all) I blogged when I was in the US and China.  In fact, by the looks of things the site has been down for most of the time anyway, which is also pretty disappointing.

I’d love to break my blogging drought now, as I have about five hours before I board my next flight, but I have a splitting headache which I’m sure you understand is not conducive to effective computer usage (which is a shame, as the Wi-Fi here is excellent).  Maybe later.

By the way, what brings me to Hong Kong?  I’m going to Europe for my remaining ITSO Workshop presentations.  Amsterdam on Monday, then Montpellier (France) on Tuesday.  I make some things up for a few days, then London next Monday followed by Milan on Thursday, then flying home via Rome and HK (again, three fortnights in a row).

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Doing the New York thing

Sep 7

Posted by Vic in Travel, Work

(okay, so after fixing the blog now that I discover it’s been down for two days, I might as well update it…)

I’m in Poughkeepsie for a couple of ITSO projects. For the last week I’ve been working on the development of material for the ITSO’s Workshop World Tour. I’m helping out with the “System z Virtualization” stream, and I’m lucky enough to be presenting in a half-dozen cities around the world. Only problem with that is that the first one is only a few days away, and the material probably needs a bit longer in the oven (so to speak). Still, I’m looking forward to the event as a way to help build the Linux on System z community (and to do a bit of travel to some new places).

Starting this week I’ll be doing a residency with the ITSO. The book will be “Security on z/VM” — I don’t know if it was made so open-ended on purpose, but there’s a lot that could go into a book with that title so I’m looking forward to a busy time as the project develops.

More on my US travel as I get settled (I’ve been here a week and my sleep is still all wrong).

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Time off from work

Mar 15

Posted by Vic in Life, Work

I'm taking a bit of time off. There's a few projects going on around the house, plus I've been letting a few things get to me recently and I think I need a break from work. A couple of weeks off, with a few days on the Sunshine Coast to unwind, could be a good thing.

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Short trip to Singapore

Sep 16

Posted by Vic in Travel, Work

This week I’m in Singapore, running a training course on z/VM and Linux on System z. I really enjoy coming here! This is the first time I’ve done any kind of work here, and I’m enjoying fitting into the daily commute in another city!

The weather here is, obviously, hot and humid. It’s been far from unbearable though, in fact I’d almost say it’s comfortable (which is quite something from someone who usually can’t stand hot weather). I’ve rediscovered the transport system, the excellent MRT train system with its regular services and its cheap fares, and I’m using it to go to and from work.

I’ll make some further notes as the week goes on. Wish me luck with the training!

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Motion Computing Tablet PC

Aug 13

Posted by Vic in Hardware, Work

Thanks to work, I am now the possessor of a rather cool piece of kit: a tablet PC. It’s a Mobile Computing LE1700, and I’m quite impressed with how it works. The big question though is of course… Will it run Linux?

At the moment it’s still running Windows XP Tablet Edition, but that’s only because a Hardy Heron install DVD is quite some way away from me right now.

I just trained Microsoft speech recognition and this paragraph has been dictated using speech recognition.  The recognition rate is actually quite good for the amount of training I’ve done, although I am having to go back and correct quite a few minor errors.

Back to handwriting recognition, which is outstanding: it’s only just now, as I write on the screen of this device, that I realise how poor my handwriting has become! Almost certainly this is due to lack of practice and under-use! I can tell as I’m writing that its recognition is somewhat dictionary-based, as if I pause or lift the pen it will make a guess abort what I’ve written which it will change as I complete the word.

Credit where credit is due, I think tablet Windows looks pretty good. Having used it before just putting Ubuntu on, I’ll be expecting a bit more from Linux…

On the hardware side, the machine looks quite sturdy and solid — so much so it’s a bit or the weighty side. I did install the additional battery pack though, and I’m sure that if I was adopting a proper tablet-PC posture it wouldn’t feel as heavy as it does. It has a 3G modem built-in, which works fine with my Telstra USIM (that’s how I’m posting this now), and the usual complement of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, PC-Card, SD  and infra-red. It even has a place to stow the pen-stylus.

As I said, I don’t have a Linux disc handy to start setting up properly so the big Linux question will have to wait for a while. Some early Googling shows that there is support for most of the hardware components in it (the digitiser is Wacom, the Wi-Fi is Intel 3945, I’ve even seen support for the 3G adapter. It’s the interface and application level that I’m worried about — the state of handwriting recognition, whether XRandR lives up to the promise, and so on. I’ll post more as I get used to it and see what it can do…

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USA travel!

May 13

Posted by Vic in Travel, Work

I’m in the US right now, for a work conference and some meetings. It’s been an interesting trip already: a non-eventful flight over (when I was expecting it to be really bad having not flown economy to the US before, yes I know I’m spoilt), and a fascinating and very enjoyable tour of Los Angeles yesterday with a local limo driver. The technical program of the conference starts tomorrow, and it looks like a very intensive programme. More details as they happen!

Edit: Technically I have flown economy to the United States: when Susan and I went to Hawaii we were on economy. I should have said that I haven’t flown economy to the mainland US before. Or maybe I shouldn’t have said anything… ;) Anyway, it was far-and-away the longest economy class flight I’ve ever done and I must say it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I was imagining it.

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New job

Mar 10

Posted by Vic in Work

Well it’s official now — or at least, my current boss announced it to the team, so that more-or-less makes it official. :) I will be starting a new job in about a month’s time — still at the same shop, but no longer in Services. I’ll be with the team that does technical pre-sales in the System z arena.  Lots of talking with customers, lots of designing and building and planning, a bit of travel, and lots of nerves to start with as I get used to a totally different work mindset. I’m looking forward to it!

The events leading up to it becoming official were what led to the first installment of the Fractured Fable. Now that the issues have been resolved, the mood has changed so it’ll be tough to maintain the energy for Part Two. :)

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Voodoo, CLP

Mar 2

Posted by Vic in Linux, Work

Passed the Novell Certified Linux Professional practicum (exam) yesterday.  w00t!  Scored 758 out of 800, which I’m told is a “good pass” (and to date, the highest score amongst my workmates).  The exam cops a bit of flack in the community, but I found it okay…  So now I’m certified!

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