Verizon FiOS: Router not getting an IP address

February 18th, 2009

Poor you. All you want to do is switch out your home router. But you’ve got Verizon FiOS, so there’s a good chance that the replacement router isn’t going to get an external IP address.

Here’s the deal.

You should have manually released the DHCP lease (on the outgoing router) and hoped that the little shit would communicate its success of doing so thereby allowing you to quickly unplug the power…all before the router renews the lease on you

Yeah…lovely.

There’s a good chance you’re going to need to call Verizon (hopefully you’ve planned the router swap during off peak hours) and tell them to “break the lease on the backend”…but don’t actually tell them that. Be dumb.

Also, don’t mention that you’re not using their “wonderful” ActionTec router. That’s a no-no.

Video: “Amazing Bird Fishes Like A Human”

February 7th, 2009

Toggle Full Screen in Terminal Services Client (GNOME)

November 12th, 2008

Wondering how to minimize your full screen instance of Terminal Services Client (under GNOME) without disconnecting?

Ctrl+Alt+Enter

Yeah…I’ve been wondering for a while too. Don’t feel bad.

Parsing HTML in PHP

November 11th, 2008

If you’re looking to scrape a Web page in PHP give Simple HTML DOM Parser a try.

Network Manager Applet (nm-applet) does not start after upgrading to Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid) on systems with KDE installed

October 18th, 2008

Did you just upgrade to Ubuntu 8.10 (pre-release)? Are you wondering why the Network Manager Applet is looking all KDE-like?

Yeah…

It looks like GNOME will start the KDE version of nm-applet after upgrading to Intrepid on systems where KDE is installed.

Bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/network-manager-applet/+bug/270376

Yeah…but can it get me a beer from the fridge?

September 5th, 2008

When a book can be bad for your mental well-being

September 2nd, 2008

More often than not, the simplest solution is the best solution (think: Occam’s razor).

So, when your computer “randomly” starts translating every press of the keyboard into WinKey+[key] don’t:

  • …assume StickyKeys is on, even though the check box in Accessibility options is clearly unchecked
  • …suspect the latest driver update
  • …blame Logitech/Microsoft/[insert-keyboard-manufacturer-here] for making such a shitty piece of hardware
  • …assume Windows “just needs to be rebooted like it always does”
  • …suspect Chinese hackers

Instead, have you non-computer oriented friend come over. Have him look under your desk and declare that it’d be pretty funny if that keyboard on the floor with a book on top of it was plugged in and causing all the problems. Chuckle at your friend…then awkwardly realize that said keyboard is plugged in.

Hyper-V: Error: Setup cannot upgrade the HAL in this virtual machine

August 18th, 2008

If you get this:

Setup cannot upgrade the HAL in this virtual machine. Hyper-V integration services can be installed only on virtual machines with an ACPI-compatible HAL.

Setup cannot upgrade the HAL in this virtual machine. Hyper-V integration services can be installed only on virtual machines with an ACPI-compatible HAL.

Do this:

  • Open Device Manager
  • Under the Computer node remove Standard PC
    "Standard PC" in Device Manager

    "Standard PC" in Device Manager

  • Reboot
  • Eject and reinsert the Integration Services ISO (or rerun the setup directly)

“Reef Ready”

August 7th, 2008

Image courtesy of Hi-Mu Mania.

Configuring a Xen / QEMU Guest / Dom / VM to Boot Off of an *.iso Disc Image Using Redhat Virtual Machine Manager

July 28th, 2008

Assuming:

  • Redhat Enterprise Linux 5.x
  • Virtual Machine Manager

Do it now:

  • Open Virtual Machine Manager
  • Select the VM
  • Select Details
  • Select the Hardware tab
  • Select Add
  • Select select select…say CLICK damn it!
  • Choose Storage
  • Select File-based
  • Browse to or enter the path of the *.iso disc image
  • Hit the rest of the buttons in the wizard…you’ll make it on your own; I promise*.

<Intermission>

Continue on:

  • Open the VM’s configuration file (usually in: /etc/xen/) in your text editor of choice
  • Change the ‘boot=’ line to ‘boot=”d”‘
  • Edit the portion of config file that specifies the new storage device. Change “hdx” to “ioemu:hdx:cdrom”.

*You may suck. Promise not legally binding.