I’ve been battling PPTP stuff for about a month now, taking some time every few days to fiddle around with the configuration, trying to get it working. The basic problem, I think, was that I was trying to use a silly Linux port on BSD. The setup didn’t make sense, the configuration files were all in the wrong places. While I was struggling with yet another cryptic error message, I stumbled upon this really wonderful HOWTO. Half an hour later, I successfully tested it through dialup. The big tests will be tonight, when I connect from home, and get the Windows people to connect and see how that goes.

I wish I could remember where I found this information so that I could give appropriate credit. I saw it on some website somewhere and it’s been a clipping on my Desktop ever since. I finally got off my butt and ordered some DVD-R media, so that I can finally burn a DVD image that I’ve got into a DVD, via Nero on a Windows machine at work.

I found this out a while ago when looking for info on reading .DMG files on Windows or Linux boxes. I found out it was not possible, and I wasn’t too happy. You see, my iMac has no CD-R drive, just a CD-ROM. This tip creates ISO images from DMG images, so they can be burned elsewhere. To convert the file to an ISO image, type the following command at your terminal window

hdiutil convert /path/to/filename.dmg -format UDTO -o /path/to/savefile.iso

Replace /path/to/filename.dmg with the path and name of the existing .DMG file, and replace/path/to/savefile.iso with the desired path and name for the converted image.

This then creates an ISO image burnable in Nero on Windows, or pretty much anything on Windows that will burn ISOs and same with Linux. I just converted a DMG image as a test, and it took a while—it only converted at about 1MByte per secoond, but I only have a 333Mhz imac G3, so speed wise, it may be good

I’m about to convert a DVD-sized file on my teeny G3 iBook. This ought to take a good while.

Apparently, Michael Stipe (of REM) nearly got run over by an electric car because he didn’t hear it coming. Fair enough, since they don’t have engines, they’re much quieter than petrol-powered cars. This led to a brilliant idea that’s almost as good as some of the ones I have: make electric cars have mobile phone-like ringtones! Yeah!

El Reg, as always, has the skinny.

Whenever you think the world’s getting just a bit boring, Sir Richard Branson goes and does something funny, cool, clever and ballsy. Aside from the fact that that the URL looks like “Virging Alactic”, this is absolutely brilliant:

By the end of the decade, Virgin Galactic LLC – the most exciting development in the story of modern space history – is planning to make it possible for almost anyone to visit the final frontier at an affordable price.

This was made possible through SpaceShipOne, originally financed by Paul Allen, the only good thing to come out of Microsoft. It’s about time two of the world’s most interesting rich entrepreneurs got together.

Cool. Cool. Sir Richard, I shake your hand.

Confucius say: Small man with hand in pocket is feeling a little cocky.

_(Just dirty enough to get this site banned from public libraries in Glen Eira again)_

This is insane. Sure, his music might be a bit offensive to those with taste, but for the US to deport Cat Stevens because they think he’s a terrorist? Come on.

A better solution would be to force them all to live in ghettos, then cart them off in box cars to central prison camps, where they will all be gassed. It worked real well for the Nazis.

For the over-sensitive and humour impaired, this entry was written with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Get a life.

Okay. Microsoft is doing something clever. Their new “get the facts” Linux-is-evil campaign will target big companies, rather than Linux as a whole.

This is clever because, while geeks trust and like Linux, geeks trust and like IBM and Novell somewhat less. Even RedHat the pioneer has been facing a certain amount of backlash lately.

Thus, geeks won’t leap to the defence of Microsoft’s targets in their new offensive. If Microsoft had targeted Linux in general, they would face a huge amount of grassroots resistance. However, geeks who download their source and enjoy recompiling their kernal daily aren’t as interested in the fate of IBM or Novell as they are in Linux in general.

Microsoft also knows how to fight big companies and win. They battled IBM and won, and they whipped Novell to within a byte of its life. Fighting other companies is what Microsoft is good at. Fighting a strangely-defined bunch of geeks doesn’t work very well – Microsoft doesn’t understand the enemy there. Their operation using SCO as a front was a dismal failure (for them – the rest of us are still laughing).

Linux is also a bit of a media darling right now. It’s new, exciting, and (according to the media) trouble-free; while all Windows news has to do with security, viruses, massive large-scale crashes and general unhappiness. Microsoft attacking Linux directly leaves little room for spin, and will vilify Microsoft even more than before.

Microsoft is playing this game very well. I’m interested to see what both sides come up with in the next few months, and how the geek army responds…

Me? BSD, thank you very much.

Guinness is lower in alcohol, calories and carbohydrates than almost every major-brand beer not classified as light or low-carb. It has fewer calories and carbohydrates than low-fat milk and orange juice, too.

Guinness is the new health food, and here’s some more experts saying what I already know: two pints a day keep the doctor away.

Quite spontaneously, I was invited to come to a taping of the Australian Price is Right, which is filmed in Richmond, a suburb of Melbn. I had a blast! However cheesy the show is on television, it’s even better in real life. The audience and set is smaller and tackier than it looks on television.

I felt like a moron screaming at the top of my lungs for two hours (they film two shows in series), but that’s part of the fun: release your inner moron. For the second show, they moved us around, and I got a seat where I couldn’t see half of the stuff that was going on up on stage. I was still supposed to yell out suggestions and hints to the players. I yelled things like “the other one” and “pick the right one”, since I couldn’t see whatever was going on. Hey, at least I was encouraging.

It’s great fun for a very cheap evening out. I must do that again.

‘Nuff said.