My Ubuntu server at home has an LG DVD re-writer in it that's probably burnt less than two dozen discs in its lifetime, yet today I learnt that it's completely up the wahzoo.

Last Friday I thought it would be smart to upgrade the server's operating system and I foolishly didn't back it up prior. We run Sun's SunRay Server Software on top of Ubuntu, even though it's not an officially supported OS. There was a change with some X packages which screwed something else down the line and I (and more importantly, Maggie - I've got the Mac) was left with a b0rged system.

A Saturday morning trip to NetPlus scored me a 400GB disk and an external chassis (these things are really cool - I especially like the external SATA connectors, though my motherboard only has two onboard, inside). A fresh install on the new drive and we'd be up in no time.

But the install CD's would only read some of the time :(

I left the machine alone for a while and finished (started) a project proposal that is needed in about 8 hours... but I'm not one to sleep on a problem that's still unsolved. I checked around in the server room and found an old, old, old machine that used to be my brother's when he lived at home. Inside was an old CR-588, manufactured in 1998.

I threw it in the server and sure enough, it reads the discs fine... after all this time.

My Xbox Live Gamerscore has breached the 2000 mark recently, mostly due to me liberating the fictional South American country of San Esperito in Just Cause. It's a fun game, and you get to be Antonio Banderas.

Shout-outs to my main man Jimmy for his guidance and wisdom.

The firmware that my Draytek Vigor2800VG shipped with was v2.6.1_Y.1 (I think... we're going from memory here, but it was something very close) and from reading the product's website I determined that it was probably not going to handle the speeds that my ADSL2 connection offers. It was time to upgrade the firmware!

At this point I should make it clear that firmware and I have not gotten along in the past. We've had some issues. Adam too will attest to the unreliability of firmware upgrades in various brands and devices. It can be a bit hit-and-miss.

... but I'm happy to report that it all went well, and my vital signs moved from 928,000 up / 7,616,000 (1/8MBit) down to 951700 up / 17199200 down (1/17MBit), which is a 2% upload speed increase, and a massive 225% download speed increase!

To achieve this I used the standard firmware - D.57.2.14 , and not the one designated for Australia (as it's only ADSL1 from what I can tell). You enable a TFTP server from the web-administration interface, and then use an OS-specific tool to upload the desired firmware. There's a choice of two flavours of the same firmware; one keeps you current settings and the other resets the router to the factory settings. Be sure to save your configuration file before doing anything!

Tomorrow in the office I'll dazzle the team with new and improved download speeds.

Interestingly enough I managed to pull 30GB in about 30 hours. I had 20/40GB peak/offpeak to blow in the day before midnight on the 15th, which is when my quota is reset.

The internet is abuzz with rumours that there will be a GI Joe live-action film made, possibly starring Mark Wahlberg as Duke.

This is turning out to be one of the best weeks of my life.

As of around midday yesterday, The Frontier Group acquired IQIT. What makes this really interesting is that for a lot of us, PACC Software Group was our first start in the software development industry. I first worked with Peter Christie and PACC about 8 years ago, with Fitzy (and Hale) starting a few years after me.

IQIT was a joint venture with PACC (and I'm not sure who else), so we've effectively bought the business that we used to work for. As such we'll be expanding our customer base significantly, and needing extra staff, and a bigger office, and so on.

It's exciting times, again, at TFG. I seem to be saying that a lot lately.