Primary Problems

I think I'm about due for another nerdy post,so here I go:

I was all set to create a ghost image of my partition (I even deleted 9 gigs of video that I can now stream online), only to realize one critical detail: Windows locks the hard drive that it runs from, which prevents the complete access that I would need to ghost the partition. No problem. I'll just resize this partition and install another copy of Windows. As an added perk, the image would take up less HD space, letting me backup my Ubuntu partition as well.

Nope. I never planned on creating another partition on this hard drive, so I created 3 primary partitions and an extended one, that others can fit inside. The extended partition acts like a primary partition for backwards compatibility, and the maximum number of primary partitions on an IBM PC hard drive is 4. No problem. I'll move the Ubuntu partition into the excess space from the resized Windows partition, move the extended partition into the space the Ubuntu partition took, make the extended partition take up the remainder of the drive that's now empty, and add a logical partition into the extended partition, thus allowing me to install another copy of Windows.

Nope. Partition Magic refuses to move any of the Ext3 (Linux formatted) partitions, even though it recognizes them and I have the Ext IFS driver installed under Windows. No problem. Pop in the Ubuntu CD and repartition the hard drive.

Nope. Using Windows to repartition the drive apparently made a mess of everything, leaving bits and pieces unaccounted for and just being generally inaccurate. The Ubuntu partitioning utility won't touch it because the NTFS table doesn't line up like it should and this and that. No problem. Delete all the partitions, think it through again, and start all over.

So I will. I don't really want to, but I do have some better ideas and I remember some things I hadn't thought of previously. Since I'm basically using a junk installation of Windows now, this will give me a chance to figure out how to crack all my games so I don't have to do it later. After all, sometimes a No-CD crack is really a Trojan Horse in disguise. Other times it's as simple as copying files from the CD's data folder to the HD and editing a few registry keys. Ahh, how I've missed my adventures into the deep abyss that is the Windows registry.

I also came up with a good use for my old computer. I'm going to build Linux from scratch. Basically, instead of downloading a pre-made distrobution, such as Ubuntu or Slackware, I'll be making my own from the current version of the Linux kernel and whatever I feel like putting in it. I recall a time, in my Slackware days, when I tried to compile the kernel from source (the machine code that makes the program run). I gave up after three days. Wish me luck with this. It should be a really good learning experience though.

Jason has been gone for a whole week now and I really miss him. It's more than just his warm hands on my back or his strong embrace. It's the way he looks at me and the way he makes me feel. I know he misses me too because he's said so every night since he left. I can't wait for him to get back so I can hold him all night. I still maintain my happiness that he got this opportunity though, because he really deserves it.

I wrote an article for Rich Magazine about wifi and I made some userbars, but then something happened. I put it in my signature at the forum, and I suddenly noticed a few more people had them. (I think they all added them the day after) Theirs are all so fancy, and mine are kind of plain. If you want to see them, they're here. I think I'll redesign them, but I don't know what kind of graphic to use because Rich Magazine doesn't have a logo. I guess I could do that tonight instead of lay awake, wondering why I can't sleep.

I also tried to write a little bit today. I want to make a move about a guy orphaned on our planet when he was a child. The thing is: he doesn't know it, but he's been having flashback dreams about it. I don't know how I'll make it and if I'll have actual space travel in the script, although I'd really like to use other planets as a way to ridicule some of the things happening on our own. Sort of the way Douglas Adams did in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, but not on nearly as elaborate a scale. Look forward to the blockbuster hit sometime between next year and 2035, when I think the concept of space travel will be as outdated as all those computer movies from the 80's.