Geeky Advice and Rants from Sqeaky.
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  • I Gotta Teach These Guys Linux

    I have the goo fortune of working with a bunch of knowledgeable Technicians and IT professionals who all need to ump up their Linux Skills. So here is a typical hour of me giving them Linux pointers and advice in our chat room.

    Sometimes working with computers feels like this. BTW do not enter the Russian Roulette command

    Sometimes working with computers feels like this. BTW do not enter the Russian Roulette command

    (09:50:33 AM) Joe: http://bash.org/?14205
    (09:51:12 AM) Dan: http://bash.org/?622896
    (09:51:27 AM) Dan: http://bash.org/?877430
    (09:51:31 AM) Joe: http://bash.org/?87517
    (09:55:22 AM) Joe: I keep forgetting I am supposed to be coaxing you guys into learning about linux
    (09:55:44 AM) Joe: Please, partake in this factual accuracy about Gentoo Linux: http://bash.org/?464385
    (09:57:25 AM) Joe: http://bash.org/?673372
    (09:58:15 AM) Joe: http://bash.org/?667626
    (10:06:08 AM) Joe: http://bash.org/?233331
    (10:06:26 AM) Joe: seriously time “uptime” in a linux command prompt – http://bash.org/?741630
    (10:08:18 AM) Joe: The command prompt has a number variables it keeps track of behind the scene, they all start with $ and $ random is one of them
    (10:08:59 AM) Joe: $RANDOM will generate a random integer usually between 0 and the largest valid size of an tint on your system
    (10:09:21 AM) Joe: so on a 32 bit machine it will return a number between 0 and 2^32
    (10:10:02 AM) Joe: we can see this used with the modules “%” to return a number between 0 and 5 here: http://bash.org/?96164
    (10:10:41 AM) Joe: Yes that command works
    (10:10:50 AM) Dan: what is the -rf ?
    (10:23:41 AM) Joe: the -f means if you would ask me if I am sure instead just rm the file
    (10:24:12 AM) Joe: the -r means recursive delete everything inside of things in this folder
    (10:27:04 AM) Joe: http://bash.org/?34315
    Unknown command.
    (10:27:58 AM) Joe: /etc is where all the configuration files are stored, kind of like the registry in windows, but it can all be worked with a regular text editor
    (10:28:13 AM) Joe: /root is for root, the admin user to store files and stuff
    (10:28:45 AM) Joe: /home is the same as the vista c:\users or the xp c:\documents and settings
    (10:29:17 AM) Joe: that is proper syntax for the shutdown command
    (10:31:06 AM) Joe: http://bash.org/?253947
    Unknown command.
    (10:34:48 AM) Joe: /usr is where software the End user of a system is supposed to go
    (10:35:04 AM) Joe: /usr/src is where all the source code for the system goes
    (10:35:07 AM) Joe: http://bash.org/?7748
    (10:35:43 AM) Dan: LOL
    (10:37:00 AM) Joe: http://bash.org/?687845 – “lspci -vv” will tell this guy his answer
    (10:40:31 AM) Joe: another one of complete factual accuracy http://bash.org/?849884
    (10:40:49 AM) McD left the room.
    (10:49:13 AM) Dan: hehehe
    (10:49:21 AM) Dan: thus the creation of bash.org
    (10:50:55 AM) McD entered the room.
    (10:50:55 AM) mode (+v McD) by Dan
    (10:51:28 AM) Joe: Linux is just a kernel (drivers and stuff), GNU adds all the commands and utilities (ls, the command line a login system etc…), then there are two major desktop environments(menus and buttons and GUI stuff) KDE and Gnome, the people who made these named much of their software starting with either k o a g http://bash.org/?639564
    (10:51:37 AM) Joe: k or g

    I got paid to be part of this nonsense. I got paid well to be part of this. My life is so much better than it was a month ago.

  • I Have a Job and Viral Campaign is Over

    My first attempt at viral marketing failed miserably with not a single entry. That is OK, I have a real job now. I am working for CoSentry doing level 2 technical support. They actually needed someone with Tech Support, Windows, and Linux skills so this was a perfect fit.
     
    I am really disappointed. I honestly expected a group like Anon from /b/ to flood my upload page with trash, at the very least. If you had any trouble with the upload page, please email me at: toppij@gmail.com. I will be closing the upload page to new uploads around midnight tonight Central Standard Time.
     
    Right now I have a How-To in the works for installing windows on a machine with a recovery partition and a failing hard drive. This is a more advanced document, but it will be incredibly useful if you ever bought a machine from any major manufacturer, because most don’t provide restore discs. I will complete this soon and get back to work on my video how tos.

  • Another 3rd Round Job Interview

    Through another employment agency I have gotten to the 3rd round interviews with a company. The employment agency that helped me get this far is Express Employment Professionals, and they really seem to have their act together. They hit me hard and fast with some proficiency tests and a brief phone interview. Then an in person interview the very next morning.

    All Those Years Tinkering Pay off.

    All Those Years Tinkering Pay off.


    I aced the tests, apparently I know more about Linux than quite a few people. I still feel bad, I should have known at least 2 of the other 3 answers. For the interview I did like I said I would in my last post about interviewing. I was calm I answered all the questions truthfully, but confidently. I was dressed the best I could be. My contact at Express Employment Professionals said that was good enough for this Teir 2 Linux support position. Now, I have an interview tomorrow with Cosentry, a successful server hosting company.
     
    I usually like to do some research about any place I interview. After about 10 minutes of Googling, I could not find the current employee head count, or the current yearly revenue. I did learn that Cosentry was founded in 2001 with the help of Norm Waitt. I also learned that they have at least three locations, 1 here in Omaha, and at least 1 in Missouri and South Dakota. The average Cosentry employee adds about $100,000 to the yearly revenue as of 2006. I learned some other neat stuff too.
     
    I don’t think I will have any issues. I have practiced literally hundreds of interview questions and I everything ready to go for tomorrow. I guess that I shouldn’t get my hopes up, but honestly I have slightly, I left the last interview feeling like I had a job. This time all the paperwork is in order, (they have already given me a time-card) and I know A CEO of one of their clients. This feels really good so far. Either way I will be ready for what happens tomorrow. :)