Mental Blabberings

Now I am using a SPARC workstation for my thesis. Doing research left and right, on the net, on paper, and now on it blogging. It feels so much like a GHz performance 32-bit processor, but in real life it's a 64-bit 350Mhz RISC processor. And I haven't run anything that will bring it to its knees yet. Now I know how it really feels to have an UltraSPARC workstation at your disposal. And to boot, I have 5 to work with! :D When I get settled down with the setup, I should then be able to write down everything I have done to get it up and running -- as well as some problems I have encountered and have no solution to yet. As for the thesis, I am currently scrutinizing the formulae I am using, so as to lay a stable foundation for my implementation. The implementation should be a trivial process, and the implementation shouldn't be something I couldn't handle (or so i think...). Chillin'...

I've been spending a couple of hours in a very cold room with 5 Sun SPARC (Ultra 5 Workstations) machines and the fact that it runs on a 350 Mhz 64-bit RISC processor (and feels much like a 1Ghz 32-bit Athlon/Pentium) boggles my mind and enlightens my soul. Just when I thought that I've had so much fun with Linux on 32-bit machines, the feel of Linux on a 64-bit machine is just awesome. The 350Mhz 64-bit UltraSPARC-IIi breezes through the things I make it do, and seems to beg me for more. Now I'm installing Debian Woody from the internet, and I hope the download finishes before 7 so that I don't have any more reasons to stay here in ICS after 7. It's not that I mind staying here with the SPARC machines, and I might change my mind a little later, but I do also want to take a break once in a while. Now hopefully, when I get the master node running with X and a couple more of the goodies I need (OpenOffice, web browsers, and a guest user account) then setting ...

I just happened to get trapped in a 12+ hour development lock-in to finish up on the GIS software my friends and I have been developing. For more than 12 hours we were kept in the dev room, and we were hacking on code we had written a couple of months back. Every aspect of the software was being scrutinized by everybody, and fixes were coded now and then so as to maximize the time that we were there. We were fed gratituously and I cannot complain about the accomodations. Maybe we should have done this much earlier in the porject, not so that it could've been finished faster, but rather so that we could maximize the budget allowance for the food. And of course the air-conditioned workspace and well lit environment that turns night to day -- giving me the illusion that time stands still and that my body should not rest. I should really start fixing my biological clock now, because this type of lifestyle isn't making me any more productive. The software, lacking documentatio...

Just a few minutes ago, I have just finished installing Debian Woody on a UltraSPARC 5 here in UPLB. I just felt how fun it is to install Linux on a fairly powerful workstation, with a 64-bit RISC processor. It just kept me entertained as I watched the install process complete itself on the machine, downloading packaged from the repository mirrors for the stable Debian release. I should document this experience too, and it should be a worthwile read especially those who like playing with Linux and different architectures. I'm now thinking of looking into the kernel source for the 64 bit architecture and see what I can find about it. Hopefully, when I finish installing Linux on all 5 workstations and create a cluster out of it, then it should be a very rewarding (and not to mention exotic) exotic experience. And if I ever feel that I need more power, there are at least 5 more workstations I can plug into the cluster to spice it up a little more. To sir marvin, I will still be ...

It's the start of the semester, and a new beginner. But how could things be better now than they have been before? What could be so special about this semester, compared to all the other semesters? I've been spending time with a lot of people not in the usual 1 degree connection -- spending a couple of hours with acquaintances and the not so close friends. I've been enjoying learning a lot of new things about what's happening in the lives of other people besides those whom I already know. It's also nice rediscovering how making friends is, and how much I've missed out on while chasing after the people I might have never been able to get to know more. Maybe a few years ago, I was too full of myself that I want everything done my way, and that I feel the joy of being able to do things my way. But now I have learned to let go and let things be. Things may not seem what you think they are. Sometimes, things are just what they appear to be. Sometimes, what you ...

Bayanihan Computing Group A brilliant and inspiring method of harnessing the idle power of computers networked together to achieve something collectively. It is a brainchild of one of the Philippines' brilliant minds. This collective piece of work would most probably be cited in the papers I will produce regarding my thesis because literature at this site serves a great reading for distributed computing and load balancing/scheduling. Kudos to Dr. Sarmenta for his revolutionary piece of work.

Here comes a brand new semester, and what a way to start another chapter of life. But then I feel as though I would be going in the same pace that I went in the last few semesters I've been in the University. However, there are a few exceptions. In this semester, I will be dealing with the somewhat conclusion of my stay in the University. Here I will define what I want to be right after I get out of the University. In this semester, I decided to go finish things I should have finished a long time ago, and conclude whatever that's needed to be concluded. Something to do with life and love, and the lack thereof. First off, I want to be able to finish whatever I have started with Ms. Two Years. I somehow still do not know what's finally happening, and I would like it to end in one way or another. Either I talk to her about it and complicate things, or I just drop her like a filthy slew of goo and leave her where I found her. I might just want to keep silent about it, but...