Tiernan's Comms Closet

In yesterday’s Budget, the Irish government added a EUR15 per tonn of CO2 tax to companies… Some quick maths!

burning a Liter of Petrol produces 2.39KG of CO2 Per Liter burned. diesel = 2.62KG / L

that means for Petrol, you would need to burn 418.4 L to produce a Tonn of CO2 (381.6 for Diesel).

so, EUR15 / 418 = 3.5c (Diesel = EUR15 / 381 = 3.93).

Now, thats based on Metric toness and the the government are obviously screwing us a little more…

This maths can also be used to figure out your CO2 emissions from your car…

If your car does 25 MPG (on average) this works out at 11.3L per 100km. this works out that for every 100k you would create 27Kg of CO2. divide that by 100 and you get 270g of CO2 / KM… that’s a LOT!

the opposite is also possible to work out.. My car produces 245g of CO2 per KM…

KG of co2 produces per 100k = (245 * 100) / 1000 = 24.5KG

24.5KG / 2.39 Kg = 10.25L per 100k.

which is about 27.5MPG… change 2.39 for 2.62 for diesel, where appropriate… your millage may vary (sorry, pun intended…)

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So, i have been busy working on code for Torrent Helper (still looking for a proper name and URL) and one of the things i wanted to add was a version number footer… ust for the laugh, just cause i could… But how? So, this is how you do it…

First, you need to modify the AssemblyInfo.cs file in your project (I have 2 projects, my website and my backend service). In here i set the AssemblyVersion and AssemblyFileVersion to 0.1.*. The * tells the compiler to magically build the number…

Next, how do you get it back out programatically? (click to see the larger version)

As you can see, i have 2 functions here. one (PrintBuild()) is called by the web site where i want to put the data (I know this is not pretty, but its working… maybe some dat i will changed it… the second functions only job is to get the information about the assembly and work out the date and time it was built… Any questions, leave a comment.

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Today i would like to announce the release of Torrent Helper, a website i started coding about 19 hours ago (as of time of writing this post at 6pm on Satrday). The coding of this project started at 11PM on Friday, and took a short break at 6am for some sleep… It was officially released (with a pop up on Twitter) at 5.29pm…

Anyway, what does it do? You give it a Torrent file (Legal of course), either the URL or an existing torrent you have somewhere, and it will find extra trackers for that given torrent, add them to the file and send it back to you… Thats pretty much it!

Any questions, drop me a mail (tierno [at] lotas-smartman [dot] net) or leave a comment.

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A Few days ago on the Jungle Disk blog, it was announced they would be releasing a BETA of their new product: Jungle Disk Server. This sounded very interesting, and one of the more interesting features that was added was De-Duplication…. let me try explain with a bit of detail…

I am backing up my SVN server. I have 2 scheduled tasks: every 15 min, take the latest revesions that where not previously backed up and dump them to a file… then weekly, take a full backup. i ran this on a folder with 13 full backups (about 730mb a piece, totaling about 9Gb) and 31 smaller backups, averaging about a meg and a half… there is a LOT of duplicated data here: every full backup is the equivilant of the last weeks full backup and the smaller 15min backups… and it goes on. De-Duplication looks at all the blocks, and figures out of they have already been backed up… If so, it wont back it up again, put puts a pointer to that block in the backup db…

So, we say the last full backup is 750mb… that shold be all that is needed… Jungle Disks first backup of this server found 8.45Gb and uploaded 149mb! Thats it! there is compression going on there also, but that is pretty impressive! A Full backup has been run since then, and it brough the total file size to 9.17Gb, and the upload was 4.47mb! Very, VERY Cool!

So, at the moment, i have it backing up my SQL server, my Ubuntu server (where the blogs live, both the WordPress dirs and the MySQL server itself) and also my SVN Box. So far so good! Check if out.

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So, it has been a couple of weeks since i last posted the status of the upgrade… In those weeks, i have finilized the parts list, started ordering stuff, and stuff has started arriving! But first, some news about the Mac Pro… you all though it was dead… I though it was dead… then i cleaned the graphics card, and, well, its working again…. but, and this is a big but, the graphics card is still over heating… pain in the arse… going to try replace the Graphics card and use it as a server… more on that later.

So, Final parts list:

1. Mobo and Chips – Went with the Intel S5520SC and E5520 processors. Ordered them and they arrived a few weeks ago. Unboxing photos here.
2. Coolers: Went with non Watercooling… kind of chickened out at the idea of water flowing around a couple of grands worth of computer… Went with the Noctua NH-U12 DX. Photos and Unboxing here.
3. Case: Antec P193
4. HDDs: Boot: 2 x WD Velociraptor 300Gbs Data: Currently 2 1Tb WD Black Editions
5. Graphics: Asus GeForce 275 with 896Mb Ram
6. Powe Supply: Corsair HX-1000w
7. Memory: 12Gb Kingston (Still waiting on this…)

Photos of the first part of the build are up here, Once the memory arrives, i will fill in the HDDs, grab a DVDR from somewhere and stick that in and hook up some monitors. We can then start testing this bad boy!

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Right… So, my blog is currently living on an Ubuntu box here in the house and is running 3 of my blogs (this one, The Angry Viking and Tiernans Photography Blog). With all the news about WordPress being under attack, i though i better share some of my scripts i use for Backing up the sites…

1. i am using S3Sync for the Upload to S3…
2. The code for the Script is available on this Gist. It was slightly modified (Removing my DB username and passwords, and only backing up one DB and Directory).
3. I want this to run every night, but at the moment it is kicked off manually…
4. There should be a clean up part at the end deleting the uploaded file… Ideally the uploader should check if the upload file was finished before deleting also…

If there is anything anyone can see that could be changed, please leave a comment.

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So, i have been thinking about building a ZFS powered SAN, and today i started thinking about using USB keys and drives… Why? SATA controllers with more than 4 ports are not cheap!

So, the way i was thinking was as follows (If anyone knows about ZFS and SANs, tell me if this is completely off the wall!)

• Buy a basic Board and Chip, some RAM and a couple of PCI Express or PCI USB controllers
• Stick in 2 Western Digital Raptors (i have 2 Spare 74Gb 10k drives here) and use them for ZIL storage. Or split them so one is for ZIL, the other for Cache
• attach some USB Drives to the machine. I was thinking 16 x 32Gb USB Keys, but realized i can get a 500Gb external drive that takes no external power for about the same price…

In theory, when writing and reading, the external drives would be slower than expected, but with the ZIL and Cache Drives, things should (in theory…) be faster… Any thoughs?

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So, i have been wanting to talk about this for a couple of weeks, but never actually got around to it. In September, some time, i will be heading back to college, part time. I am going back to get my Degree, which i have wanted to do since i left Clown College and now this will happen!

Its going to take 4 years. So, since i start in a few weeks (not got the final date just yet) i though i better write up some of my plans to help me though college…

1. Laptop: So, at the moment i have my MacBook Pro. its fully loaded with 4Gb ram, and i was thinking of replacing the HDD, which is currently a 320Gb 5200RPM drive with a 500Gb 7200RPM drive. i would love to go for SSD, but the price is not right yet…
2. NetBook: I have the MSI Wind at the moment, and its about a year old. it does have 2gb of ram, but its not the fastest in the world. Mind you, speed is not that important: Battery is. So, Nokia are releasing a their Booklet 3G, which has 12 hour battery life! that sounds more like it!
3. Source Control: this is probably the most important thing. Since there will be code and assignments to be written up and submitted, i think i should bring some of my learning’s from the work place into the college. In work, we use a Team Foundation Server, with Team Suite, with all the fixings (including the for Database Professionals edition) and use it religiously for code and DB changes. i am going to do the same with my code and documents for College. At the moment at home i have a VisualSVN Server sitting on a VM. there is a scheduled task to backup the latest revisions of the code to a SVN dump every 15 min, and i use JungleDisk to backup that folder to Amazon S3 every 15 min. the problem i would have is if i cant connect to the house (more on connectivity below). i don’t like the idea of having code or docs checked out locally and not stored centrally… So, i have been looking at the idea of using sometime like GitHub or Unfuddle… Currently testing both, and will post something when i have a decision…
4. Connectivity: At the moment, i have 2 3G modems: an old Vodafone Branded and Locked Huawei E220 and a Three Branded, but fully unlocked Huawei E169. I use the E169 more since its smaller, and faster (7.2mb/s compared to 3.6 on the E220), but i have been thinking of changing to a Novatel MiFi 2352. i am liking this idea because it is tiny, fast, has a 4 hour battery life, can be charged via USB and can share my 3G/HSDPA signal with all my devices (NetBook, MacBook Pro, what ever mobile i have at the time and iPod touch). I will also be using a VPN connection to connect to the house. this will allow me access to my file shares in house and also remote desktop to my workstation and servers.
5. Music: This is a big one for me. When coding or writing docs, i need to listen to music. So, my iPod touch is a must. Thing is, over the last few weeks, i haven’t used it as much for music. that is because i use Spotify. Well, today it was confirmed that Apple has approved The Spotify app for the iPod Touch and iPhone which will mean i can download my music and listen to it on my iPod anywhere! I will be upgrading to an iPod Touch 2nd Gen or 3rd Gen (still unannounced, but we all know its coming) because of its extra capacity (my 1st gen has 16gb, but more is always handy) and Bluetooth support.. very important since i want a pair of these: The Nokia BH-905 Bluetooth headset. These are not cheap (About 300EUR) but they are suppose to be the best headphones ever made… they are on my birthday list and i have been dropping hints (like saying to the sister “I want these for my birthday!”) and hope to get my hands on these soon!
6. Bags: I need a new bag. I have had the laptop bag i use at the moment for a couple of years now… at least 5… its a bit grubby, shabby and ragged… Don’t get me wrong: it works, its just old. So, i want a new bag… Not sure what just yet but it should be waterproof (it rains a lot in Ireland, and travelling to college via the LUAS will involve some walking… and its bound to rain. It should also have enough capacity to carry both laptops, accessories, and maybe a change of cloths, just in case… the search will start tomorrow!
7. “Dorm Room”: Finally, or at least i think its finally, the “Dorm Room” or my bedroom. I want to set my bedroom up correctly: TV, Sound system, and gaming consoles on one side. big desk and computers on the other. Bed somewhere and a sofa in front of the TV… it might be a tight squeeze, but i think i can do it… Just a matter of getting the room organized correctly…

So, there we have it. Any comments, please leave them below…

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So, i am now in the process of finding the bits so i can order the machine… Waiting for money to clear in to my bank account (hopefully by Thursday) and then into the Credit Card (Friday). Then i can start ordering!

Some things i have been looking into since the last update:

The case has changed 3 times… Originally i was looking at the SilverStone TJ07, but cant seem to get my hands on it anywhere… Then I was looking at their Raven RV01… Then this morning i found the Antec P193… and now i am thinking The Thermaltake Kandalf VD4000BWS… and its water cooled!!! This thing looks like a bit of a beast… It has:

• 360×120mm radiator in the front
• 500l/hr pump
• all the stuff needed to water cool the machine (need to get a second cooler for the CPU… and might have to change the first one also… no mention of the Socket 1366 support)
• 9 5.25” drive bays
• 2 external 3.5” and 6 internal 3.5” drive bays (total of 17 drive bays!!!)
• 120mm and 90mm rear and a 90mm top mounted exhaust fans
• and some other pretty impressive stuff

Next thing to change was the hard drives. I did not mention them the last time around, but the idea is now that i will have 2 Western Digital VelociRaptor 300Gb drives and 4 1Tb Drives (not sure make just yet). The VelociRaptors will be in RAID 0 (for SPEED!) and the 1Tb drives will be mixed (2 in RAID 1 and 2 in RAID 0). i will have a home server backing up the raptors incase anything goes wrong, and all my important stuff will be stored on the RAID 1 array. The Board has onboard RAID 0, 1 and 10 support, so its all hardware raid.

Finally, and a decision has not been 100% made on this, is the graphics card… I am leaning towards a NVidia GTX 275 card (Cuda is a tempting option). but the ATI Cards (the 4850 and 4890s) are quite tempting also… The board only supports CrossFire, so i know i cant get 2 NVida cards working together, but if i add a second card, i only want it for extra monitor support… SLI and CrossFire are not much use to me… Any Recommendations?

So, i am currently talking with a computer shop and they are working on getting the parts… Hopefully if all goes well, i could have this in the next week or so!

[Update] So the guys on the OverClockers.co.uk forums are not impressed with this case… they are strongly advising i stay away from it… Maybe we are back to the P193… leaning back to water cooling again too…

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In yesterday’s post, i mentioned that i was thinking about Water Cooling the Workstation V.Next… Well, after some “research” i have come to the conclusion that maybe water cooling is not for me… or at least not at the moment.

The reason i am thinking of not water cooling the box at the moment is, well, im lazy. after reading up a bit about it, it seems there is a lot more maintance with water cooling that with air cooling… You need to change water every now and again, clean pipes, sometimes you may even need to clean the blocks, pump and RAD… It all sounds like too much hard work! As you know, i am a lazy git…

So, a quick trip to OverClockers.co.uk has found me 3 posible coolers:

The Nocta NH-U12P SE1366

The Scythe Mini Ninja (wondering where the bigger brother is…, if this is mini, it shouldent be hard to find…)

The Xigmatek Thor’s Hammer (With a name like that… what else can i say!)

Of the 3, i think the NH-U12P is going to be the winner… OverClockersClub.com has a review and its a very nice looking setup. there are 2 120mm fans on this thing! only thing that worries me… the heatsync with 2 fans weighs in at… wait for it… 940G!!! thats a little under a kilo! Christ! 2 of these could pull the board apart! Now to do some maths and see if it will 1) fit, and 2) not break the board…

Update: Seems that there is a Version called the NH-U12DX for Daul Xeon processors…

Looks like a bit of a monster, right? should do the trick!

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