A Meeting Of East And West In Tampines.

[RimBlock 0]

Hi RB,

Oh my, it does sound like a really painful experience even tho I don't understand most of what you are describing... hope everything is fixed and working fine. 20TB is a LOT of storage huh?

Oh it is and still ongoing but now I have my 3yo to attend too as well due to my wife continuing her confinement at my MiLs with the other two kids.

After a clean rebuild last night I have got the disk to disk speeds up to 80-90MB/s internal transfer, copying to the 4 disk raid is the same but copying from the raid to a single disk hit 122MB/s which is very nice. Only problem is that network speeds are still only maxing around 40MB/s for both Windows copies via a mapped drive (Samba) and FTP so it looks like there really is an issue with the network card and motherboard and Linux at the moment. At least it is usable now but just not at an optimum speed.

Ever onwards .... .

RB

[RimBlock 0]

Ok, I have raised a bug ot the makers of Fedora as it seems the Linux kernel cannot handle the new Intel H67 chipset and my Inter GT 1000/Pro netowrk card and are disabling the IRQ for the nic resulting in very slow network speeds.

I am currently going to try out Windows Home Server 2011.

Wish me luck .

RB

[ngunadi 2]

Wow ... what if you try unraid?

the cost might be the same.

[RimBlock 0]

Wow ... what if you try unraid?

the cost might be the same.

It is the Linux kernel that is the issue which should be fairly common on all flavours of Linux so I doubt it would work .

RB

[Kobelala 8]

Hi RB, can I check how did you clean up your supreme floor when you move in, did you use any cleaning chemicals ? I intend to clean up my place next week for my furnitures to be deliver... and the supreme floor is full of reno debris (u know what I mean) TIA buddy

[RimBlock 0]

Hi RB, can I check how did you clean up your supreme floor when you move in, did you use any cleaning chemicals ? I intend to clean up my place next week for my furnitures to be deliver... and the supreme floor is full of reno debris (u know what I mean) TIA buddy

For first time cleaning we generally use a soft broom to brush debris up and then dust the floor with a microfibre cloth broom thing . For a washing we use a sponge mop with a little soap but make sure the mop is just wet so you get wet strokes but not puddles. If there is too much water the just use a cloth to dry. It is advisable to dry the floor rather than letting it dry naturally but.... if there is not that much water then it will probably do no harm letting it air dry.

For maintenance, the lady who cleans for us once a week uses the vacuum cleaner on the floor and uses the sponge mop if needed but knows to use with very little water in the sponge. Cloth mops would not be recommended as they can tend to hold a lot more water.

RB

[Kobelala 8]

For first time cleaning we generally use a soft broom to brush debris up and then dust the floor with a microfibre cloth broom thing . For a washing we use a sponge mop with a little soap but make sure the mop is just wet so you get wet strokes but not puddles. If there is too much water the just use a cloth to dry. It is advisable to dry the floor rather than letting it dry naturally but.... if there is not that much water then it will probably do no harm letting it air dry.

For maintenance, the lady who cleans for us once a week uses the vacuum cleaner on the floor and uses the sponge mop if needed but knows to use with very little water in the sponge. Cloth mops would not be recommended as they can tend to hold a lot more water.

RB

Thanks RB !

I will get a sponge mob later.... appreciate your sharing of tips buddy

[RimBlock 0]

Thanks RB !

I will get a sponge mob later.... appreciate your sharing of tips buddy

No problem. Still need your email for the Babies first month invite. Can email me at Rim_Block@hotmail.com if you prefer as you seem to be having PM issues.

RB

[RimBlock 0]

Ok, for today I think I will put in 3 updates....

Firstly for those of a technical disposition, the continuing saga of the Nas box....

Secondly, for those of a non technical disposition and who are still awake.... the promised sofa cushion washing experience...

Lastly, for those who can stop laughing after the previous two... My wish list as of now. What with a couple of people asking about what we would find useful for the Babies first month gifts, it got me thinking "What would I like for us/myself" as you have to have a goal right to work towards. Due to this I am going to list my wants as something to work towards for now. These will obviously change as time goes on.

So without further ado...

[RimBlock 0]

The Nas tale continues...

I had a brief flirt with Windows Home Server 2011 but have been seduced by Windows Small Business Server.

Like all good succubus it offers so much and drains you dry.

Windows Home Server (WHS) 2011 allows you to set up a basic sharing service to your PCs and media players and allows add-ons which give a bit more functionality although these are pretty limited at this time.

Windows Small Business Server Standard 2011 (SBS) gives you a cut down version of the big bad Windows Server 2008 r2 plus Exchange 2010, Sharepoint Foundation 2010, Windows Server Updating Services 3 and Windows Fax Services.

So what does all that mean....

Well SBS 2011 will setup and allow you to have you own 'Company' website on the internet (limited by your ISPs bandwidth), an internal network 'Company' website, Shared collaborative documents, an email server so coupled with a domain name you can have as many email accounts as you want whilst having it collect all your email from all the other email web accounts (like gmail/hotmail/yahoomail) and give them all to you in one place. It allows you to login to your website and access your webmail / calendar. You can even do remote access so you can login to your home PC from anywhere with an internet connection and control it as if you were sitting in front of it. The Server update services also downloads all the updated for the PCs and the server and applies them for you rather than each PC having to go and update themselves. Having a local copy of the updates makes them quicker to apply and you only have to download them once.

Although a lot of the features are very over the top for a home network I do like a few of the features. The ability to share a calendar with my wife and kids that is accessible on the internet but which is password protected. Accessing my email from one point from home or over the internet. Having profiles on our 3 machines so if my wife logs in to the laptop and saves some camera photos, when she then logs in to the second PC with her account the photos are already accessible for her without her needing to save them anywhere special like a shared drive. Not being able to do this is a big source of frustration for my wife and therefore she becomes a big source of frustration for me. As you can see, SBS 2011 is tempting me like a scarlet woman flashing a hit of her stocking tops but just like that scarlet women, some work has to be put in to see the benefits.....and some initial outlay.

The down side. WHS 2011 costs around US$110, SBS Standard 2011 costs around US$815 + you have to buy seats if more than 5 machines / users connect to it. One seat extra is around US70.

So I downloaded the trial for SBS 2011 and installed it, patched it and now have it running...... very slowly. Again the scarlet woman has you in her boudoir but is showing you the sleepy eyes and need a little something to get things going...a drink perhaps of in the case of my server, more memory.

So I have another 8GB memory on the way from the US which will take the machine up to 12GB. The price is about half of what Sim Lim are asking. Hopefully this will make the system easier to administer as it is so slow from the server. Streaming my media is fine though. I still have the explore under the petticoats to get the user shared pictures and desktops sorted out and then I can work on website. I have bought another domain name which I will let out after I have configured it and got it working.

Luckily like a sailor on holiday, the first 30 days are free...after that I will have to pay for the software. There is a way to get it legally, sort of, though for a much cheaper price. Technet is a Microsoft scheme which allows subscribers to try new and old Microsoft products in a non-production environment. This means you can use the software for testing and learning at a fraction of the price of buying the software. A standard subscription is S$278/year and gives access to most of the Microsoft catalogue. For only SBS 2011 it would take 3 years to get up to the purchase cost but that is not including the Windows 7 Pro software on the three home PCs which are also available. It is more like a rental of the software but with restrictions on its use. Just like ditching the scarlet lady from being a mistress with a big present every now and then for a wife with little gifts of love and very limited choices of what you can try when you want to play around with the fun stuff.... .

So we will see how it goes after the new memory arrives...

I cant wait to get my hands dirty again .... on the Nas boxes insides you dirty minded people .

RB

Edited June 20, 2011 by RimBlock

[RimBlock 0]

...and so, there I am sitting there watching TV when my wife turns to me....

"You know that seat you sit at on the sofa is a bit stinky."

Well she couldn't have hit me harder if she had been holding a baseball bat.. The fact is that I am a fairly big guy and not being born in this climate I tend to perspire. We have fans downstairs so I am not dripping everyday but my shorts may be a little damp when I get off the sofa. As our sofa is cloth, the cloth cover is also a little damp (not wet, just damp).

"Well my little rosebud", admittedly I didn't use quite those words, " I shall jump up like the loving obedient husband you have always wanted and wash them forthwith especially as my parents are arriving soon and we have the babies celebration.", yes I didn't use those words wither but I am sure you can imagine the sort of conversation that ensued.

The result was that I pulled off the cover from the seat and back cushions where I usually sit and put them in the washing machine and turned it on. Without exploring with my nose, I was fairly sure I would need to give the foam cushion a bit of a wash.

Now being the analytical logical genius I am.... I decided the best way to clean it was with clothes washing liquid after all, if it gets stinky sweat smells from clothes it should work with other things too right.... right ?

So now I had the plan but needed to formulate a method to put it in to action. Where could I possibly apply clothes washing liquid to a thick foam pad (actually multiple layers of foam glued together) with lots of water to wash it all. The answer was staring me in the face, literally as I was standing next to the washing machine. I would use the downstairs toilet. With a good spray to clear any dust away first I then proceeded to lay the foam on the downstairs toilet floor. This idea was pure genius as it just about fitted perfectly and it would be much easier to get the cushion outside to the corridor when I can have it dry. A cap full of clothes washing liquid later dribbled over the foam and with water spray in hand I proceeded the do my finest impression of an Italian wine grape treader trying to get the juice from the grapes. Unfortunately it quickly became apparent that even with my size 12 feet, I would have to do a lot of treading to get the soap absorbed in the whole cushion so I set about my work with a determination.

Thirty minutes later I had decided that that would be good enough and it was time to rinse out the foam. It did not take long for another issue with my super genius plan came to light. Firstly, there is a lot of soap bubbles coming out of the foam no mater how much water I was spraying on to it. Secondly the drain hole is partly blocked by the foam and so any bubbles coming out with a squeeze was being sucked back up again when the pressure was taken off. Thirdly and finally, when I tried to lift the foam on to its side in order to better squeeze it and let the water drain away it was very heavy as.... yes you guessed it, it was full of soapy water. So there is me, with a bog heavy water and soap logged lump of foam on a soapy slippery floor in a confined toilet trying to bend the foam in half by squeezing it between my thighs like a female wrestler trying to suffocate their opponent. Water and soap poured out with each choking thigh squeeze, sloshing all over the floor as a slippery mixture then going down the drain with the bubbles hanging back threatening to never go away. My thighs got a good work out that day.....

I finally dragged out the large chunk of foam on to the balcony and on to our bamboo poles and spent the next week squeezing the bottom edge where the water was pooling every time I went past. After about a week I felt it was finally dry enough to redress it in the covers and put it on the sofa. It was try to touch everywhere and so on went the covers and back on the sofa it sent. I sat on it carefully just in case of any nasty surprises. Nothing.. it was all good.

A little later my wife, who was trying out that seat now it was cleaned and fresh smelling, even better than her side , asked me to come over to the sofa. "Honey, I think it is not totally dry yet." she motions to me as she gets up. The cushion has a big wet patch where she was sitting and on lifting it up there is a big wet patch on the wooden sofa. "oh." is just about all I could manage. Back outside the foam went.

What had happened is that the water got stuck inside the foam blocked by the glue and different foam layers so only sitting on it for a while would push the water between the layers. We have since proceeded to walk up and down (me and the kids) with it on the kitchen tiled floor so as to push the water to the surface layer and then put it back outside to dry again. My kids love the excuse to jump all over the cushions and I think, three weeks later, we are more or less at the dry point, which is funnily enough about the time my mother-in-law stated it would take as she saw it and tutted .

RB

[JCase 0]

Try Fabrice next time and let it dry out. Saves a lot of hassles.

[potatoes 0]

Thx RB for invitation to your beautiful place. Great to be able to celebrate ur baby's 1st mth.

My wife is most impressed with ur living hall and the toilets. I manage to get a few tips on how the kitchen layout maybe and also your staircase opening.

[RimBlock 0]

Thx RB for invitation to your beautiful place. Great to be able to celebrate ur baby's 1st mth.

My wife is most impressed with ur living hall and the toilets. I manage to get a few tips on how the kitchen layout maybe and also your staircase opening.

Thanks for coming.

It was great to meet you and your family. Thank you very much for your generous gift for Jonathan.

Thanks also to everyone else for coming and your gifts both old friends and new.

RB

[Kobelala 8]

Hi RB, oops, I just realised I missed your baby's full month celebration... very sorry buddy, I've been busy but will be there for the next gathering

RB, I realised that a small part my supreme floor is stained with epoxy resin paint.... I believe that the workers accidentally drip on the supreme floor when they are painting the epoxy floor.... do you have any good solution on how to remove the stain to the best result.... the workers had already removed the paint but the satined area are roughed and without the supreme floor shine.... also notice that the floor are very slightly discoloured....