I've recently released my script for generating multiple Shoreline Firewall configurations from a single repository.

I have just read and signed the online petition: "Linux/Open Source Against US-AU FTA Intellectual Property Clauses" petition at PetitionOnline.com.  This is just my way of saying, "Dear George, we don't want your DMCA, we don't want your software patents, and we don't want our innovation stifled."  What would the world become if only patent holders could develop software?  Read more at http://www.linux.org.au/fta/.

What is it with people who post screenshots in JPEG format?  It makes my eyes hurt!  An equivalent PNG only takes a few more bytes, and is a true representation of the screen, since it's non-lossy.  (It's yet another reason to use Linux and the GNOME desktop - it takes screenshots in this format by default when you press Alt-PrintScreen. ;-)

P.S., Sun Apr 25 22:30:17 EST 2004: I've just found out that there is some patent action surrounding JPEG.  Read more in the Slashdot thread.

I've recently released a new version of my check-packages script, which has better (i.e. quieter) yum support, along with a new build of isag, which addresses a security vulnerability in temporary file handling and adds some new features.

Having been a long-term¹ Red Hat Linux supporter, i read Bruce Perens' latest whitepaper with interest.  I am still a Red Hat Linux 9 user (since i can't get my ITE IT8212F RAID controller to work with Fedora Core 1), but Bruce's arguments about the "Enterprise Linux" movement are poignant.  I'm downloading the ISO now.  :-)

1.  For the record, i've been using Linux since kernel version 0.97 (sometime in 1994?), and Red Hat Linux since version 4.2.  My first Linux distribution was SLS (Soft Landing System), followed by Slackware (3.2, i think), and then to Red Hat, with whom i've been to this day.

I couldn't have put it better myself!

Here's an interesting article on how modern airport security measures have proven ineffective.

Ivan Gyurdiev: Why do gentoo users make such a huge deal out of [recompiling applications]?
Alan Cox: Because their systems are so busy building open office 24 hours a day they don't do serious benchmarking ?

I couldn't have put it better myself...  :-)

After archiving my 2001-2002 pages, i realised that the DLLotRS (Didn't Like "Lord of the Rings" Society) needed a little impetus.  "The Two Towers" was for me exactly what "The Fellowship of the King" was: a lot of potential, a lot of good, and a lot of disappointment.  First the good:

• The "Smeagol talking to Gollum" scene was simply superb.  It gave great insight into his tortured character and was exquisitely timed.
• The battle scenes were well-crafted and compelling.
• The ents looked good and were fairly close to their character in the book.

Now the bad: one mistake exemplifies my attitude towards the film, and that was Gimli as comic relief.  It made me grind my teeth in agony.  My concerns about Gimli in the first film found their worst nightmare in the second.  Tolkien's Gimli was the embodiment of integrity, friendship, dependability, and perseverence - in short, everything good about Middle Earth.  In the film, he was the short, grumpy guy who cracks jokes.  This demeaning of his character (made possible by their failure to build it in the first film) is the Two Towers' worst error.

Here's a suggestion for Red Hat in relation to their recent announcements.

I use AMD Athlon XP CPUs in my systems whenever possible.  The reason for this is not what you might expect.  Many people believe AMD CPUs are fast - i am no exception.  Many people buy them because they are good value for money - i fully agree.  But neither of these are the reason i buy them.  I buy AMD CPUs because they are not Intel CPUs, or, more accurately, i buy CPUs from AMD because they are not the dominant CPU manufacturer in the PC market.

This may seem an odd reason for buying a particular brand of CPU, but consider this: during the 10 years that i have been involved in the Unix industry, the commercial market has changed dramatically (largely due to the influence of Linux):

• Sun (Solaris): SPARC processors lost their edge over Intel, embraced Linux on Intel at the low end
• IBM (AIX): Similar story to Sun, but embraced Linux more widely
• HP (HP-UX): Co-developed Itanium with Intel, migrating server line from PA-RISC to Itanium, embraced Linux on Intel at the low end
• Compaq/Digital (Tru64/OSF1): discontinued OS after the merger with HP, Alpha CPU division assets sold to Intel
• SGI (IRIX): (mostly) migrated from MIPS processors to Intel, market presence fading
• Pyramid: bought by Siemens, market presence fading
• NCR (MP-RAS): was already Intel-based, changed to a services company
• Unisys: same story as NCR
• Data General (DG/UX): migrated from Motorola 88000 to Intel, bought by EMC, OS discontinued
• Sequent (Dynix): already Intel-based, bought by IBM, integrated into their existing product lines
• SCO (SCO Unix): already Intel-based, now concentrating on suing people (badly :-) rather than developing software
• Apple (Mac OS X): concentrating on making systems and interfaces that look nice, but aren't any easier to use than their previous systems.  (That is not to say that Mac OS X isn't a great improvement in stability over previous versions, but this fact isn't helping them to take back market share.)

Intel is a good company.  It has good engineering, and its marketing division has done a great job in making its name synonymous with computing.   Linux runs really well on its CPUs.  I've also read Intel's white papers on the Itanium architecture, and i believe it to be fundamentally superior to its competitors, including AMD.  And this is the problem: Intel will win, and that is bad for consumers - just look at what happened with Microsoft's monopoly.  

The same thing that happened to the above vendors with the advent of Linux will happen to other CPU manufacturers if a wide choice of CPUs is not maintained in the marketplace.  So promote freedom of choice and buy your next CPU from AMD, Transmeta, VIA, or another vendor who isn't Intel.

In the last couple of weeks i've added Red Hat Linux 9 builds of jikes 1.18 and jpilot 0.99.6.  You can find copies of these on rpmfind.net in the Red Hat contrib section, or look for my packages.

WARNING! This site may offend some viewers.  The side-by-side comparison of premature-born babies and aborted babies at http://abortionismurder.org serves to illustrate rather graphically that the difference between 'babies' and 'fetuses' is whether they are wanted or not.  It is claimed the 9/11 terrorists are viscious and inhuman when they killed 3000+ people, yet Americans kill more of their own children every day.  Which is more terrifying?

More grist for my tautology mill.  This is going to turn into a syndrome before long...

This has got to be one of the funniest web pages i have ever read.  I'm a grown adult (i think) and i still almost wet myself!

I've created a build of ISAG (Interactive System Activity Grapher), from the sysstat-4.1.1 distribution, for Red Hat 8.0 systems.  See my Linux software page for downloads.

• I'm a Christian - i consider my relationship with Jesus Christ the most important thing in my life.
  • If you'd like to know what it means to be a Christian, or if you're a new Christian and would like some basic information about your new life, Salvation Communication is a good place to start.
  • To see a basic summary of what i and many other Christians believe, check out the Lausanne Covenant.
  • Or if you'd just like someone to talk to, feel free to contact me.
• I'm married to Angela, and we have two boys, Joseph and Daniel.  Being a husband and father is an amazing and challenging thing!
• We live in Brisbane, Australia.
• I've recently made the (somewhat scary) move into IT management, and am working for Redlands College as their Manager IT Operations.  Previously i was a Unix system programmer, for CITEC, Queensland Police Service, and IBM at various stages of my career.  Feel free to check out my collection of Linux packages if you're so inclined.
• In my spare time (yeah, right!) i like to develop free software for Linux (that's 'Lee-nooks' for those of you without a Swedish Finnish acent), listen to music, play guitar, and take photos (see the photo gallery for some of my favourites).
• I admit it.  I am a geek.  Plug the following into the Geek Code Decoder for a translation.

  -----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GCS/O d@ s:+ a(?) C++> UL++++$ P+++(---) L+++>++++ E(---)- W++(--) N+ o? K? w--(---) O(-) M-(--) V(-) PS-(---) PE- Y++(-) PGP+++(--) t 5? X-() R-(--) !tv b+(++)>+++ DI++++ D-- G(-) e++>+++ h---- r+++ y++++
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

• Due to dissatisfaction with Bigfoot.com's mail forwarding service, i have terminated my account there.  Please use the address paul@REMOVE_THIS_OBVIOUS_WRONG_PARTgear.dyndns.org to contact me.  (The email addresses in this page are obscured to prevent spam harvesters from using my address.)  If you are a spam harvester, feel free to email paulgear@bigfoot.com all you please!
• Here's my PGP key for secure email communication.  It's recently been updated to extend its validity - please download a new copy or get it from your local PGP key server.
• Angela has her own email address, angela@gearREMOVE_THIS_OBVIOUS_WRONG_PART.dyndns.org, which is separate from mine.  If you want to send something to both of us, use the address thegears@gear.REMOVE_THIS_OBVIOUS_WRONG_PARTdyndns.org.
• Angela's web page (which is usually far better than mine :-) is offline at the moment while it undergoes a revamp.

There are several fortune files:

christian	Quotes about various aspects of the faith, mostly from Christian literature i've read.  Many of my sources for the quotes (all of them at present) are listed in the file 'references'.
computing	Quotes relating to my computing interests, mostly free software and Unix.
misc	Some bits and pieces about life in general.
scripture	Some of my favourite passages.

If you want to use a particular file, just use that filename instead of the directory name on the fortune command line.