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September 24, 2006

Reloading Linux - How hard could it be?

God didn't want me to reload the OS on a customer server, though it wasn't apparent right away that this was going to be such an involved process. This was to be a routine reloading of Fedora Core 5 - how hard could it be?

Scenarios: customer's office working late (by myself), a stack of 5 Dell PowerEdge servers that were quite old but still entirely functional. All were purchased in 2000, were no longer under warranty (Dell apparently won't sell extended warranty coverage for servers past 5 years). One machine simply needed an upgrade from Red Hat 9 to something newer, so I was to wipe and reload. Did a quick network backup of the data, rebooted the machine and pushed the eject button on the CD-ROM to load the first disc.

Or not. Heard a small buzzing sound for about the right amount of time, but no ejectage was seen. Hmmm. Used the paperclip eject method, and one end of a rubber drive belt popped out. Guess that belt reached end of life - it happens, I'll just swap one of the other units in.

Or not. All five units had the same failure - not a working CD-ROM in the stack. Well that's sure a nasty turn, but no matter: I had just bought a new USB CD-ROM drive and had it in my car.

Or not. This "new" unit purchased from Fry's was in fact a customer return, and it had a sticker on the side noting the condition of the product: "Missing USB cable". How about that! I'll just scrounge around the office for a USB cable and get cracking.

Or not. Scoured the IT supply cabinet and all over the office - not a spare USB cable in the place. Not a lot of choices at the office supply store, but found one suitable. Returned ready to reload.

Or not. These old PowerEdge units simply do not support USB booting - Dell added that a generation or two later. Well ok, so we'll just replace the drives: cheap CD-ROM drives suitable for OS loading couldn't be more than $40-$50, right? And they can be picked up at the office supply place.

Or not. These are SCSI units, not IDE, and are more expensive and harder to find. At this point I decided that God won this round, so I headed home.

I had a few old SCSI CD-ROM drives on my shelf, and was able to return another day to complete the job, but the string of hurdles (especially all five NEC CD-ROM units failing the same way) was something I'd certainly not have been able to plan for.

Posted by steve at 08:15 AM | Comments (2)

September 03, 2006

What is "stopfaxnow.com"?

My fax machine gets one interesting/useful fax for every 20 or 30 ones it actually receives (the rest are spam), and today I got a curious one:

Help us put an end to junk faxes once and for all. It's time to get paid back for the paper and wasted supplies that junk faxes have cost you. Did you know that you oculd get $25 to $100 for each junk fax advertisement sent to your fax machine?

This is a public announcement from StopFaxNow.com, a group dedicated to informing people about the recent changes taking place in the law. Our goal is to help people like you put a STOP to the companies behind unsolicited faxes.

If you were sent COMMERCIAL FAX ADVERTISING, like a product of some kind, a hot stock or travel offering, or some locak service, without your prior consent, the advertiser's behind those faxes may be liable and you could be receiving a settlement for each fax.

As of August 1, 2006, we have completed our new national database of collection organizations that will legally persue junk fax offenders and send you a portion of the money they receive. All you do is mail them your unwanted junk faxes, up to four years old, and they do the rest. These companies are starting to make a real difference and their hard work is paying off.

We offer this list free of charge so take advantage of it. Now join the crusade to stop junk faxes and help make it un profitable for them to continue business!

Log on to our website at www.stopfaxnow.com and register today. Our site also contains free resources, articles, tools and tips that will help you stop fax spammers. And while you are there, be sure to sign up for our quarterly newslatter designed to keep you informed of all the latest news and events as they happen.

WWW.STOPFAXNOW.COM

OK, so what's this about? Google shows nothing, and the website itself is kinda thin on details, but my overall impression is that this borders on a scam, but is not quite one (though this is subject to change).

The law in some areas provide for damages if one gets unsoliciated faxes - and I get at least a dozen a week: grrr - and this looks to me like a front for collection agencies or attorneys who plan to make a business out of going after the senders.

By getting people to send in their fax spam, they crank up the damages, then share a portion of the fine/penalty with those who were part of the "class" (term not used in the legal sense).

Superficially this has some minor appeal - sue the spammers! - but the fact that the fax itself had no header or removal information seems to put it in the same category as the objectional material.

The website itself contains very thin information, and their "resources" are really just a few links to the common places (the FTC, the FCC). It looks contrived to me, not a real "resource center".

We do see some hint about what they have in mind:

In the month of October, we will focus on retiring your old fax machine and show you how to receive all your fax documents over the internet, or by using a fax modem right inside your computer. This will give you the ability to print only the documents you want, delete the ones you don't and minimize the use of your supplies, saving you money!

Hmmm, so they'll offer some kind of e-fax service perhaps? I think we have those already, and the other proprietors don't resort to spamming to push their business.

Looking into stopfaxnow.com domain, we find it registered in Hong Kong:

Registrant:
Ling Corporation
35 Central Plaza
18 Harbour Road
Hong Kong, Hong Kong 142587

The webservers are located there too, and this all just looks really suspicious considering they're shooting for targets in the United States.

Until I get more information, I'm giving this a thumbs down. Anybody else know anything about these guys?

Posted by steve at 01:10 PM | Comments (13)