Vitriolic Humor

WTB: Dynaudio "Amp" 3C0-035-456-A or 3C0-035-456-C

epistemic — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500

If you have a DynAudio amp (Volkswagen Part Number

3C0-035-456-A (3C0035456A)

3C0-035-456-C (3C0035456C)

) for sale, please send me an e-mail at:

speed-tdi@transmit.net

Karateka

epistemic — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 22:52:00 -0500

Who knew? A Karateka is a practicioner of Karate. Also, the creator of Karateka (Jordan Mechner) was also the creator of Prince of Persia.

Remember, if you aren’t paying for a service, you aren’t the customer, you’re the...

epistemic — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 10:31:23 -0400

Remember, if you aren’t paying for a service, you aren’t the customer, you’re the product.

Migrating Movable Type blog content to tumblr with mt2tumblr

epistemic — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 08:11:05 -0400

This process was quite easy using mt2tumblr script. It took about 5 minutes total to migrate several hundred blog posts from Movable Type. It was not perfect, but a good solution for getting all the contents moved. Some manual reformatting was required on some posts.

SixApart, Movable Type, we had a good run, and thanks for the great software platform.

Men on the moon

epistemic — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:21:02 -0400

Only 12 humans have walked on the Moon between 1969-1972.
We’re coming up on 40 years since a human has walked on the Moon.
We’re just now talking about putting another person on the moon in 2022.
That’s 50 years after the last human walked on the moon.

When you absolutely have to know...

epistemic — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

now, check a news wiki (Wikinews or Wikipedia)

within a couple minutes, check a news website (Drudge Report or CNN or Fox News)

within a couple hours, listen to radio news (1440 WLWI-AM)

within a half day, check television news (BBC or ABC or CBS or NBC on TV)

within a day or two, try the newspaper (Montgomery Advertiser)

within a week, try the weekly newspaper (Prattville Progress)

Interesting Times: Things my kids will never know

epistemic — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 11:35:00 -0400

My kids won’t know what life was like without the Internet, before computers were in every home. They’ll never know what a modem is or the wonderful (yet grating) sounds it would make when you dialed a BBS. They won’t know the joy of getting online 1200bps (and all the free time you had when you waited for downloads to complete.)Even their perspective on the Internet will be different. They won’t know about Mosaic browser or text-based (only) browsing with lynx. They’ll never know Prodigy or Compuserve. AOL is just a website. They won’t know that Yahoo was a directory of links, or that Altavista, Excite, HotBot, and WebCrawler were once prosperous search engines with a large market share. They won’t know that there were years of Internet without Google at all…

They won’t know of life before the convenience of microwave ovens.

They will think (rightfully so) that everyone has a phone and they are almost exclusively cordless or completely wireless. They won’t know that at one time all phones were wired into the wall, that long distance calls were expensive and infrequently used. They will never know what a party line or a rotary dial phone was. They won’t realize that phones didn’t used to have cameras, games, music, and full QWERTY keyboards on them.

They won’t know that people used to shave with just one blade.

Lightweight 27-speed mountain bikes with disc brakes and super travel full-suspension will be mainstream and affordable. They won’t know the relatively low tech, heavy, inefficient bikes we had to ride. They won’t realize that mountain biking was started in the mid-1970s.

My kids will never know what a caboose is for. They will only see them in train museums (and so we take them.)

Film photography will be some long-forgotten technique that people used to use before digital photography. They won’t know what camera film looks like. They’ll never know the growing pains of digital photography from low resolution to slow, delay-prone cameras. Everything will be high resolution, automatic, and instantaneous. It seems normal to them that you can store thousands of photographs on a memory card smaller than your thumbnail. Digital photo frames will seem normal to them. Static real photos printed and tucked into frames will seem pointless.

They’ll think ketchup has always poured easily from a flexible, upside-down bottle.

They’ll never know what a reel-to-reel, an eight-track, a vinyl record, a Mini-disc, or a cassette tape is. Even CDs are going to the wayside as things gradually swing towards completely digital music delivery, played on the all-pervasive MP3 player. Walkman and Discman will be largely historical and unfamiliar to them. They won’t ever know about VCRs and Laserdisc players. They’ll have always known DVD, Blu-Ray, and DVR.

They’ll think televisions were always flat and thin. HDTV will be the norm for what they are used to viewing. Their music will be all-digital and all multi-channel. They will think that films were always projected off perfect digital copies with high-resolution digital projectors. They won’t know the magic of the imperfections of a real film projector.

My kids won’t know what a floppy disc was (8”, 5.25”, or 3.5”) Wow! They won’t know DOS (and I’m doing all I can to make it so they won’t have to use Windows.) They won’t know about daisy wheel printers, slow and noisy dot-matrix printers or fan-fold paper.

My kids will probably never know much measured in terms of ‘megabytes’ and will likely be more familiar with the concept of ‘terabytes’ rather than with ‘gigabytes’.

I’m excited about the rapidly changing world they’ve been born into, but I’m sad they won’t know the world as I do. I’ll try to teach them what I can and maybe if I’m lucky they’ll help me see their world through their eyes someday. Wired recently published an article titled: 100 Things Your Kids May Never Know.

What does P Av Tv M (or P A S M) mean? Understanding your digital camera's modes

epistemic — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

It can be daunting and confusing to depart from your camera’s ‘Auto’ mode and explore the capabilities of your digital camera. There is, however, a lot of power and flexibility hidden just behind these letters P Av Tv M (or P A S M depending on your brand of camera) once you learn a little and experiment with them. I had previously only dabbled with these modes on my first two digital cameras (P&S) for the first 6 years of my digital photography. Since I got my first DSLR, I’ve jumped in head-first trying to learn the finer points of my camera’s capabilities and why (and when) I might use these various modes. Experimenting with these modes and observing the results will both improve your understanding of photography and hopefully open doors into what you can capture creatively with your camera.

Full Auto - Just like it sounds: the camera will choose your shutter speed, aperture, focal points, ISO, metering mode, white balance and whether or not to use the flash without any input from you. This will result in a “correct” exposure and a decent picture most times. The modern camera is a machine with numerous sensors and intelligent brains, but it is basically responding to measurements from its sensors, not “comprehending” what it is taking a picture of or what your intended picture should look like (though more and more point-and-shoot cameras are including face recognition and even smile recognition.) It may deploy the flash when you would use a longer exposure and natural light, or it may over- or underexpose the image because of how it metered the scene instead of what you “meant” for the camera to capture. These unintended results can be controlled more accurately and creatively by learning how to control you camera in the different modes below.

P (Program AE (or Flexible Program) Mode) - I find it easiest to think of this as a semi-automatic mode that will allow you to make certain general adjustments to shutter speed and aperture. The camera calculates the shutter speed and aperture for “correct” exposure and allows you to choose from several different shutter speed/aperture combinations (with the main dial just behind your shutter release switch) that will all form a “correct” exposure. ISO, AF Mode, White Balance, Metering Mode, and Flash are all completely manual in this mode. This is a good mode to start exploring, it’s like the camera is guiding you, but still letting you make decisions to affect the outcome of the picture you are taking (you can choose a different exposure time or different aperture for a particular effect, for instance.)

A or Av (Aperture Priority AE Mode) - The camera will allow you to select an aperture (with the main dial) and it will automatically adjust the shutter speed to make a correct exposure. A wider aperture (that is a smaller f/number) will have a narrow depth-of field and a smaller aperture (a larger f/number) will have a larger depth-of-field. This allows you to control the range of objects in your photo that are in sharp focus and control the blur of the background in your photographs. Keep in mind the effect of the shutter speeds the camera is selecting in terms of freezing or blurring motion and minimizing camera shake. ISO, AF Mode, White Balance, Metering Mode, and Flash are all completely manual in this mode. As an exercise, try shooting a moderately close shot of a flower, a letter, or the back of a playing card. Shoot with a wide open aperture, a medium aperture, and a stopped down aperture. Notice the difference in effect on your resulting photograph. Here are some examples illustrating the concept of depth-of-field from my photography.

S or Tv (Shutter Priority AE Mode) - The camera will allow you to select a shutter speed (with the main dial) and will adjust the aperture automatically to make a correct exposure. Basically you’ll control the time the shutter is open and the camera will adjust the aperture setting to make a correct exposure. A faster shutter speed tends to freeze motion and reduces shake. A slower shutter speed allows photography in lower light settings, blurs motion, and may unintentionally reveal shaking of the camera operator. ISO, AF Mode, White Balance, Metering Mode, and Flash are all completely manual in this mode. Here are some examples of longer exposures from my photography.

M (Manual Exposure Mode) - ISO, AF Mode, White Balance, Metering Mode, and Flash are all completely manual in this mode. The exposure scale which usually shows your exposure compensation, acts as an exposure meter in real time. You must choose both the shutter speed and the aperture you want to take the picture with every time. If you don’t change the setting, it will use the setting from the previous picture or the previous session. Experiment with manual mode my noting what the camera is guiding you to use (especially the shutter speed and aperture settings) in Program (P), Aperture Priority (A), and Shutter Priority (S) modes and use them as a starting point. Manual mode can be very useful when shooting multi-part panoramas as it allows you to keep the exposure consistent as you pan through your shots, making the images easier to stitch together accurately and smoothly. This mode puts all the exposure/aperture decisions in your hands. The camera will indicate whether or not the exposure is correct, but won’t do anything to correct it, that’s your job (or you may be over-/under-exposing for a particular reason or to get a specific effect (silhouettes, for instance.)

Specialty Modes - Almost all cameras have a range of preset modes for Sports, Fireworks, Portrait, Landscape, Indoor, Snow, Beach, etc. Please read your owner’s manual for which modes your camera supports and how to use them. There are a large number of options on the average digital camera today, just remember that you’ll only be adjusting a handful of them at a time typically. Don’t get overwhelmed with all the choices. Take some time in a controlled environment with no time constraints to experiment with your camera. Play with shutter speeds and understand how they can freeze or blur motion. Take a series of the same shot with different apertures and notice how the depth of field changes. Experiment with Autofocus (AF) Modes and Metering Modes. Consider how and where you’d want to use the techniques you’ll discover. When it all clicks and you can understand and control this machine in your hands, it’s so much more than just hitting the shutter release and “hoping” for a good result. Please stop by and see more of my photography.

How to skip the trailers at the beginning of a DVD

epistemic — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 04:35:00 -0400

A friend’s child recently watched me fighting with FBI & Interpol warning screens, distributor logos, and trailers while trying to play a DVD when she asked me why I didn’t Press Stop-Stop-Play I looked at them funny (as I’m prone to do), tried it and now I use it every time. It will start playing the main feature without all the junk they packed in before it. Depending on the player, you may want to wait a second between presses. One player I have says “Pre-Stop” on the first Stop, “Stop” on the second Stop, then “Seq. Play” on the Play. Don’t know if this always works, but it works on almost every DVD I’ve tried.

Hot MK4

epistemic — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 23:01:21 -0400

Hot MK4

Touring Alabama's Automobile Factories (Manufactories)

epistemic — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 11:03:01 -0500

Alabama has become a growing powerhouse in automobile manufacturing in recent years, picking up a Mercedes Benz factory in Tuscaloosa, a Honda factory in Lincoln, and Hyundai built their first state-side factory just south of Montgomery a couple years ago. Without delving deep into politics, low operational costs, largely non-union labor, good river, rail, and over-the-road transportation access, low cost of living, and massive incentive packages have made Alabama (and the southern United States) a very attractive place to build a factory. Since I first wrote this article in May 2007, many things are changing in the automotive industry in the South:

Honda recently announced that it will be building an new exhaust system factory to supply it’s main Alabama plant.
Hyundai has added a second engine plant (doubling their engine assembly footprint) in Montgomery, AL.
Hyundai’s sister company Kia, has built a very large plant just across the AL-GA border in West Point, Georgia. As of 3/2011 they haven’t started tours yet, but it looks like they are planning to.
Volkswagen is building their first US factory in Chattanooga, TN where they will be producing the 2012 Passat, amongst other models.
Toyota will be operating a factory near Tupelo, Mississippi to build Corollas (3rd best selling car currently and highest selling car model of all time.)

A great feature of these factories (along with their local and regional economic impact) is that most are available for the public to tour them. I’ve gathered the relevant information about each tour for the factories in Alabama. (updated 03/2011)

	Mercedes-Benz	Hyundai	Honda
Location	Vance (Tuscaloosa)	Montgomery	Lincoln (Anniston)
Cost	$5/head	Free	Free
Reservation required	Yes, 10 day minimum lead time	Yes	Yes
Reservation Method	Phone	Online/Phone	Online
Minimum Age	12	First graders with parent Third graders with school group. minimum age: 6	12
Approximate Tour Length	1 hour 30 minutes	1 hour 30 minutes	1 hour 20 minutes
Tour Schedule	(currently on hiatus, call or check link below.)	Monday, Wednesday, Friday 9:30am, 12:30pm, 2:00pm Thursdays one tour at 6:30 pm	Tuesday and Thursday 9am and 1pm
Photography	No	No	No
Gift shop	Yes	Yes	?
Phone	(888) 286-8762 (205) 507-2252	334-387-8019	(None Provided)
Link	Tour Info	Tour Info	Tour Info

This information was gleaned from the manufacturers’ websites at the time I wrote this entry. Please verify any information by contacting the factories at their website or by phone before embarking on your trip. You should wear shoes with closed toes and heels as well as long pants (some tours don’t allow shorts, dresses, skirts.) To give you an idea the size of these operations, the Hyundai plant in Montgomery produces in excess of 1,000 vehicles per day (sometimes several hundred more per day depending on demand.) These tours are great for kids (see “Minimum Age”) and adults alike and offer a portal into modern automobile manufacturing processes. The Mercedes-Benz plant has stopped tours while they produce the first examples of they new model year vehicles. I will including relevant information for that factory when it is available.

Using a Sandisk Sansa Fuze with Ubuntu

epistemic — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 03:02:00 -0500

So you fell for Sandisk’s marketing line about “supporting Linux.” The full truth is they are Linux-tolerant and their device behaves well with Linux. Expect that you’ll be doing a lot of the leg work on your own. I’ve pulled together resources I’ve found and created to put all the pieces in one place so you can at least start where I’ve left off.

Preparing your Fuze First, update your firmware to the latest version and be sure you set your Fuze to connect in MSC mode. From Fuze menu: Settings -> System Settings -> USB Mode -> MSC (everytime you upgrade your Fuze you’ll have to re-set the USB Mode.)

Re-labeling your Fuze The VFAT label of your Fuze controls the name of the mountpoint when your Fuze is automounted at. It will be mounted in /media/VFAT_LABELNAME/ (/media/SANSA FUZE/ by default.) You can re-label the VFAT filesystem of your Fuze to eliminate the space character (an inconvenience), give your Fuze a more meaningful name, or give your Fuze a differentiating name if you use multiple Fuzes.

You need to have the ‘mtools’ package installed and configure a .mtoolsrc file in your home directory.
sudo apt-get install mtools
run ‘mount’ and note the /dev/ name of your mounted Fuze (default will look something like “/dev/sdc on /media/SANSA FUZE type vfat”) in this case “/dev/sdc” is the value to note, your device name may vary.
Create a .mtoolsrc file in your home directory: gedit .mtoolsrc with the following contents: drive f: file=”/dev/sdc” mtools_skip_check=1 (please substitute your device name from step 2 above for “/dev/sdc” above when you type it in…)
Then run the ‘mlabel’ command as root to re-label your Fuze: sudo mlabel f: You’ll be prompted to create a new label, choose one without spaces, perhaps choose a unique label for if you use multiple Fuzes.

Content Management I’ve configured scripts to replicate all (MSC) files from the Fuze (and microSD card on-board the Fuze) to my home directory on my primary computer. This creates a complete backup of all content on the Fuze (and microSD) and allows me to manage files either on the Fuze or to the local directory in my home directory. I can add songs into the directory on the computer when the Fuze is absent (left at work, etc.) and re-sync the files onto the Fuze when it is back at home… This is done using a set of simple scripts calling the Unix rsync command to mirror two sets of files. It is very efficient and only transfers files that have changed, so even a large dataset transfers quickly if you’ve only changed a couple files. I Example rsync script: script goes here in the near future

Music Not a lot to note here, the Fuze supports a wide range of music files from MP3, AAC, FLAC, OGG and seems to be fairly tolerant (I haven’t seen any “Unsupported Media Format” errors for music files.)

Podcasts Choose your favorite Podcatcher and point it at your Fuse.

FM Radio Voice Recording Slot Radio I haven’t sprung for a Slot Radio card yet (and I don’t want to displace my microSDHC card) but I’m wondering what sort of DRM has been implemented on them. The marketing materials say you get 1,000 songs, but they play in a random (or at least randomized) order, you can skip forward but not backwards. Apparently you can add more media to the Slot Radio card if it has free space remaining.

Images The Fuze will downsize your JPGs if you, but there’s not much point in putting large .JPG files on your Fuze just to eat up storage. I prefer resizing the images appropriately before putting them on the Fuze. video4fuze is the easiest option for properly resizing images for display on the Fuze. (Note this is the same tool as the “Video” section below.)

Video The Fuze is very strict about video. Deviating from the standard will result in “Unsupported Media Format”. The easiest general solution for Video currently is video4fuze which provides you a easy GUI interface to video transcoding (using mencoder). You can combine this tool with the rsync technique mentioned above to transcode videos offline, then sync onto your Fuze later.

Miscellaneous Useful Specs From the owner’s manual:

Screen resolution: 220x176

Notes: 3:2 aspect ratio = 219x146 or 171x114 4:3 aspect ratio = 220x165 or 176x132 16:9 aspect ratio = 208x117 or 176x99

Shortfalls: There doesn’t seem to be anyway to sort or arrange files using subdirectories (especially photos and videos.) You can create subdirectories, but the Fuze flattens the filespace out and sorts them all alphabetically. I’m considering some different approaches to organizing my MP3s to make them easier to browse through. Sansa has a lot of room for improvement in this area.

Cost of living: February 23, 2011

epistemic — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 08:49:11 -0500

Dow 12,194.93
S&P 500 1,314.81
Nasdaq 2,742.76

Hard drive storage: $0.04/GB
(Seagate Barracuda LP 2TB (2000GB) 5900RPM/32MB for $79.99 via TigerDirect on February 23, 2011)

Solid-state hard drive storage: $2.41/GB
(OCZ 120GB SATA II Solid State Drive for $289.99 via ZipZoomFly on February 23, 2011)

Flash memory: $2.43/GB
(Patriot 16GB Class 10 SDHC Card for $38.99 via ZipZoomFly on February 23, 2011)

Highest interest rate savings with minimal deposit requirements: 1.11%
(Zions Bank via money-rates.com on February 23, 2011)

Gallon of (regular) gas: $3.189
(US National Average, pulled from US Energy Information Administration on February 21, 2011)

Gallon of diesel: $3.573
(US National Average, pulled from US Energy Information Administration on February 21, 2011)

Compare other “Cost of Living” articles on this blog.

Hypermiling the 2010 Jetta TDI

epistemic — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 17:46:00 -0500

The Jetta went in for its courtesy 6k mile checkup today and I decided to take a healthy road trip to see what kind of highway mileage I was getting @ 6k miles (some say this is where the engine is basically broken in.) The Jetta is a stock 2010 TDI Cup Edition with a 2.0L I4 turbo diesel. I started the trip with a full tank and half a quick shot (4oz) of Stanadyne Performance Formula (cetane and lubricity enhancer.) I averaged 48.1 miles per gallon(!) over 446 miles, heading for a 750+ mile tank (15 gallon tank.) Did a giant loop, Prattville, Montgomery, Atlanta, Birmingham, Prattville. Almost kept going, but thought better of it. Got great, prompt, and efficient service for the 6k mile courtesy check at Heritage Volkswagen of South Atlanta (Union City, just outside 285), an excellent dealership. Took about 45 minutes like they estimated and they got the car right in at the appointment time. Also tried a highly-recommended Mexican restaurant in Atlanta, Bone Garden Cantina. It is located in a lumberyard converted into mixed office/commercial space just northeast of downtown Atlanta. Damn good Mexican food (don’t even compare it to Montgomery-Mex, it’s a world apart.) Many good choices, but if you go, be sure to try the Elote!

Stanadyne Lubricity Formula

epistemic — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 14:27:22 -0500

I recently purchased a 2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Edition with a 2.0L Common Rail (CR) Diesel engine. After a reading some horror stories, having discussions with diesel mechanics, and reviewing the available research, I’ve decided to begin a regimen of Stanadyne Lubricity Formula diesel fuel additive to provide some insurance (def: “equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment.” –Wikipedia, “Insurance”) or at least extended operating lifetime.

Where I got mine: Midwest Fuel Injection
Item: Case of 12 x 16 oz containers (192 oz to treat 1440 gallons)
Cost, shipped to me: $73.78
Cost per tank (@2 oz to a 15 gallon tank):~$0.77

I’ll be starting this treatment at about 5400 miles on the engine. My goals are to minimize maintenance (esp. wear and repair/replacement) costs and also increase (if slightly) fuel efficiency of this engine. Before I started, I’m averaging 34.35 mpg overall. I’ll post my fuel efficiency history online shortly as well.

Sold: Yellow 2001 Ducati 748 Superbike - roller

epistemic — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 05:05:00 -0500

This bike has found a great home with new stablemates and is getting a donor 916 engine transplant. Enjoy, Gary!

2001 Ducati 748 Superbike monoposto (single seat) in Fly Yellow Spun rod bearing. The crankshaft, bearings, piston rods, and pistons need to be replaced and the engine needs to be re-assembled. The bike is otherwise in normal operating order, light wear. Less than 10,000 miles on the bike. Bike was used as a weekend, sunny day vehicle only and is in otherwise great condition. This bike is being sold as-is with its engine disassembled. I’m interested in selling the complete bike if possible. The bike will be parted out in about a month if there are no takers for the whole package. Photos of assembled bike here. Recent photos of the disassembled bike here. One owner. Clean title. Lived in CO and AL, always garaged. (bike has been sold, no longer available.)

Chicken in a Biskit does have chicken in the biscuit!

epistemic — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 22:15:40 -0500

I watched a vegetarian come to this horrible realization after eating some. Chicken in a Biskit does have “dehydrated cooked chicken” in it. I wouldn’t have guessed it. It always seemed like fake chemical chicken flavor to me…

In Australia, Nabisco offers Vegemite in a Biskit.

Installing the Amazon MP3 downloader on Lucid Lynx (Ubuntu)

epistemic — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:13:16 -0400

Unless you’ve got the correct packages installed, you’ll likely get an error with some missing dependencies. You can find the missing packages at:

libicu38
libboost-filesystem1.34.1
libboost-regex1.34.1
libboost-thread1.34.1
libboost-iostreams1.34.1
libboost-signals1.34.1
libboost-date-time1.34.1

Click the above links, choose your architecture, choose a mirror, then download and open with GDebi.

Then install the Amazon MP3 downloader as normal.

Best Optical Illusion Ever

epistemic — Tue, 18 May 2010 01:20:02 -0400

I’m not sure what is happening exactly, but this is the most effective illusion I’ve ever seen. Stare at the green dot in the center and watch as the yellow dots sequentially disappear and reappear. The truth is the yellow dots are always there. Even if you re-size the yellow dots so they are huge (buttons on the side) this thing still works. Baffling.

World’s Best Optical Illusion

My computer history

epistemic — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 03:35:00 -0400

This is an on-going compilation of the computers I’ve owned over the years. I’m keeping this for nostalgia and to share one day with my kids. It will be updated as things change.

YearModelProcessorMemoryStorageDetailsPrice??OdysseyColeco AdamZilog Z80 3.58Mhz80KB256Kb cassette tapesBought right before the video game crash of 1983.~$300 1987IBM PS/2 Model 50Intel 286 10Mhz1MB20MB~$3,600 IBM PC ConvertibleIntel 80C88 4.7Mhz512KB2x 720KB 3.5” floppy drivesMonochrome screen, drive 1 was for OS, drive 2 for app~$800 (used) 1992Generic PCIntel 486DX 33Mhz16MB200MB Employers provided for all my computer needs for this timeframe 1997PowerSpec 6237Intel Celeron1.7Ghz (O/C to 2.0Ghz)256MB (->768MB)40GBWindows XP~$500 1998PowerSpec 6238Intel Celeron1.8Ghz (O/C to 2.1Ghz)256MB (->512MB)40GBFedora Core 2,3,4,5,6~$450 2007Dell PowerEdge 18002x Intel Xeon 2.8Ghz1GB(->5GB)1.5TB+ RAID 1Fedora Core 5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12, Ubuntu Server 11.04, 11.10
~$1150 2008Dell Inspiron 1420N LaptopIntel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2Ghz1GB (->4GB)120GB14.1” screen, Ubuntu 7.10, 8.04, 8.10, 9.04, 9.10~$1100 2010Dell Inspiron 1750 LaptopIntel Core 2 Duo P8700 @ 2.53GHz/1066 Mhz FSB4GB500GB17.3” screen, Ubuntu 9.10, 10.04, 10.10, 11.04, 11.10
~$950