The Lair of The Dark Knight

Past 3am and unable to sleep (not for the lack of trying), so I'm working on the iMac again.

Working on the iMac has made me realise what I missed about Gentoo. Sure, everything needs to be compiled, but once it is (and if configured correctly) everything runs a lot faster than in some binary distributions.

I did install Debian on it yesterday, but certain things aggravated me; how recompiling the kernel to make it custom can break a lot of programs (YMMV, this is from personal experience). Installing Gentoo on this machine hasn't given me those problems.

I've also rekindled my relationship with the command line again, even to the point where I've customised /etc/issue and /etc/motd to give ANSI logos at the login prompt and after login. Screenshots/photos will be provided soon.

My next step is to get ALSA running, then X.Org, followed by a lightweight window manager (possibly Fluxbox, Window Maker, Enlightenment, or IceWM).

At some point I may actually decide in which direction I want to take this machine, but right now it proves a much welcome distraction. ;)

It was a Bad Idea^TM for me to build primal with Debian Etch (Stable). Sure things will be stable, but it's too old for me to do what I want to with it.

So I'm going to see about slapping Gentoo on it when I replace the 12GB HDD with a 40GB one. I know it means that it's gonna take a long while for things to compile/install, but it's a lot more current and I can configure things specifically for my machine. As I'll only be installing FluxBox as the WM and a few other minimal applications for web-browsing, email, and IMs it'll be worth the hassle.

I might still try xubuntu though.

So I went to the Leeds Pagan Moot last night. It was as informal as I had expected it to be, which was reassuring, and there were some really good discussions. Unfortunately I'm still feeling none the wiser about Wicca/Paganism, so methinks it's time I started looking for books to read about the subject.

As for the personal question "Am I Wicca/Pagan?", I can't answer that yet. I still need to learn a lot more about the basic faith before I can make a full decision, right now I'm just an interested person. :)
Having said that the typical "This is me" things have been happening, like many coincidences relating to Wicca/Pagan happening in a very short space of time.

All in all this requires more study before I can make a decision, but what I have seen/read has only really whet my appetite. :9

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Due to attending the moot, however, I was unable to decomission Shodan. I'll do that tonight around the other chores I need to do (laundry, dishes, etc). What follows is a step-by-step guide to what I'll do. ( Click here to read )

More later!