So now I’m going on the hunt to find loose bearings. My local shop only sells races & cages, so I’m going to have to look further afield. Where does one buy bearings for a 25 year old hub?
The mystery continues on threespeed.wordpress.com

Let me take you on a little journey. Back in time, we had Tiger server. It was good. Then we had Leopard Server. It was also good (to a point) with iCal server and some other glitter, but wasn’t as stable or reliable as Tiger. We missed out Snow Leopard entirely as we didn’t think there was any benefit in the upgrade.

Then a Lion came along. Well… it came as standard on our new hardware.

WTF? Everything is different.
Fire up the new Server App and you’re greeted with something akin to ‘My First Server’. It’s a collection of On and Off switches and a bewildering gloss of simplicity. It’s horrible if you’ve been using server since 10.5, where everything is in essence the same. This is something totally new, and mores the point, it doesn’t work very well.

In the past, the first thing we do is configure DNS. A simple affair that doesn’t take too long to do. Once that’s done, we start Open Directory and use Workgroup Manager to set global, group and individual user preferences. We create sharepoints in Server Admin, start services we need… then start adding users into LDAP. Simple.

In this… it’s just not that simple. Two days later, and I have yet to successfully configure DNS. It just will not resolve. I’m doing nothing different to what I’ve ever done before, but it just will not work. The next issue is Kerberos is all messed up. We used cloned machines. Make an image, apply across the network to all the new hardware… but the kerberos tickets are all cloned too. Never been an issue before, but now the first machine I try to bind to the directory works fine, but every one after that will not bind, telling me that the computer record already exists. Even when the tickets are flushed out and remade, still the clients will not bind with the directory.

Very frustrating.

Gah… too much to talk about, not enough time to try and fix it.

Tiger. That’s where the answer lies. Strip out Lion, reinstall Tiger server. Forget it ever happened. You knew where you were with 10.5. It wasn’t the most exciting thing ever, but it never failed and was very robust. Tiger was a Landrover Defender. Tough as old boots, got the job done, but wasn’t very glamorous. Lion sever is a Rav4. Looks the part, but fails to deliver in anything other than easy street.

Monday morning I feel is going to be a stressful time. Shame the shops don’t open early. I think I need to buy a stress-ball, or some Tramadol.

I’m still fighting it out with Orange and Carphonewarehouse about the fuck up they’ve made, and how now I’m stuck in this blameless limbo between two multi-nationals that won’t move an inch. Still haven’t gone to OFCOM, but it’s not far off. Thankfully for them, I’ve got so much else on at the moment, it’s taken the heat off them, but I’m like an elephant. I don’t forget.

In other news, I’m saving at least £150 a month on fuel since I switched to diesel. I didn’t get an A6 in the end. I just couldn’t find one that was worth having on my budget. Maybe the next one will be an A6, but I bagged a very tidy B5 Passat TDi estate for less than a grand. You wouldn’t know it’s got 200k+ on the clock by looking at it. It looks superb, has a full service history and drives really well. Patience paid off.

Still looking for a new flat. The good ones go so quickly… but again, perseverance will win the day.

Still looking for a new place of employment. The present employer is just getting to me in ways that make going to work an unpleasant experience; strange as it seems, I like going to work. Honestly, but work should be a thing you do to please you, not to please other people – unless you’re a prostitute, and that’s what it feels like at the moment.

If ever I find myself unhappy in my work, then it’s time to work out why. Change something if needs be. If the changes are not enough, move on.

Sod company loyalty and forget the people you leave behind. Get out and go somewhere else, and if that’s not working out, move on again. You’re a long time dead, and I really don’t want to look back at any point of my life and think, ‘why did I spend five year osf my life being unhappy?‘. Anyway.

Rant over. It’s the last Sunday before all hell breaks loose. Time to relax for a while.

Fame is a Vapour.
Popularity and Accident
The only Earthly certainty is Oblivion.

Or, or put it another way; there’s only two things you can rely on in life; death and taxes.
Or another way again; you can’t beat the phone company.

This is the most poignant argument of the day, for as I’m sure you’re aware, gentle reader, I am currently having a bit of a barney with Orange and The Carphonewarehouse.

Friday 15th July: I buy a phone and a new contract from CPW, Queens Road, Bristol. I am told that I can go to an Orange shop and have the 25% Perks Discount discount applied.

Friday 22nd July: I call Orange customer service. They check my details and confirm that because of where I work, I am eligible for the discount, regardless of where I took the new contract, the contract is with Orange. Grand. Just in case, I take the guys name and extension number. Notes are placed on my account telling Orange that I can have the discount.

Saturday 23rd July: Drop into Orange Shop, Cribbs Causeway, Bristol. Perks discount? No problem. I produce my invoice from CPW and all of a sudden it’s a different matter. No, only from Orange Stores is this applicable. I tell her about the notes, and she tells me that the notes say that I should come into a store to see if I am eligible. This is not what I was told over the phone.

I say we have a problem. She doesn’t seem to think so, she wants me out of the shop so she can carry on selling phones. She tells me emphatically that I can only have the discount if I take out a new contract with them in store. I ask how I go about getting my eight day old contract terminated, so I can do that… she tells me I have to talk to CPW as they ‘set up the contract’. I asked why it mattered, the contract is with Orange, regardless of where I bought it. I want to terminate, surely I can do it in an Orange branded shop. No. She brings out a copy of the agreement for the Perks Discount. I ask to have a copy. I am refused.

CPW, Cribbs Caasuway, Bristol: I explain the situation, and the guy is sympathetic. He tries to call Orange and have the same discount applied over the phone. He tells me the guy on the other end of the phone says that  I should go to the Orange Shop with a payslip (heard that before), they will apply it. Positively, that’s how it’s going to work, and the only way it’s going to work.

Back to Orange Shop. No… that’s not how it’s going to work. Retail agreement, on the day only… blah.

Back to CPW, no, they won’t do that. I tell them that I have been mis-sold this contract and I want to terminate. I am told that Orange do not have a 14 day cooling off policy like O2 used to (and still do) have, so it’s now at the the discretion of the shop I bought it at, which is at Queens Road – city centre on a Saturday in school holidays – and the matter is now ‘out of our hands’. I ask to get the Queens Road branch on the phone. ‘They’ll probably not answer, it’s a busy day’.
I insist we try.
What do you know, they answer very quickly.

Yes, the man that served me there – acting manager – did say that I could probably get the discount but couldn’t guarantee it.
How he’s changed his tune now his sale is being called into question!

I ask to speak to Orange again from CPW, where another Orange customer service member tells me absolutley that the only way I can get the discount is by taking out a new contract with Orange, in an Orange Retail Store. Final. No more discussion. I ask him how to go about terminating the contract.

Talk to Carphone Warehouse.

Two hours, shunted pillar to post in a shopping mall on a Saturday morning. Like I didn’t have anything better to do with my day.

Orange customer service aren’t much help either. Speak to one person and they tell me that all I have to do is go to a retail outlet and have my discount applied. Speak to them again, get someone else, and they tell me that there’s no way I can have this discount, because I didn’t take out the contract at an Orange retail store.

So what next gentle reader?

Well… I have a copy of the complaints procedure for both Carphone Warehouse and Orange, and now I shall see what they have to say for themselves. I feel that both of the companies are equally to blame. CPW for eagerly selling me something that is no use to me, and Orange for telling me wildly differing information from within a single organisation.

I shall keep you updated. This is the kind of thing that BBC Watchdog and OFCOM love. I’ll be writing to them too.

For what it’s worth, for the entire length of my contract with O2, not once did I have cause to phone them. That was for years. Eight days with Orange and it’s proving a little less stress-free. Moral of the story… stay where you are because the savings don’t come as easily as you’d like to think.

Remember that mantra that you’d never have anything to do with carphone warehouse again? Yep. Should have listened to my own advice. This is turning into a damned nightmare.

Word to the wise. Never, EVER buy anything from carphone warehouse. They’re more than likely going to lie and cheat their way into your pocket. Now I’m getting OFCOM and trading standards on their arse to get out of this two year shackle.

If you want something done… do it yourself, unless it’s a phone contract, where you have to rely on others.

In one corner there’s the HTC Sensation (HTCS), and the other the Samsung Galaxy S2 (SGS2) and there’s pros and cons to both, and a fight in the contract wars.

There’s no doubt in my mind that the SGS2 is the superior device. It’s faster in benchmark testing, has a better screen, more RAM, more expansion, but, and there is a big one, it feels very plastic. The case is plastic, the back is wafer thin plastic and it all feels like it’s going to break if you’re holding it and sneeze at an inopportune moment. When you’ve got something for two years, you want to think that perhaps it’s going to make it without breakage. I’m not one for insurance. Mobile phone insurance is a con, and for £6 a month, it wipes out the savings I make with my discounts.

On the other hand, the HTCS is a much better made device. It has an aluminium shell, and the screen is protected by the protruding lip that it makes with it. It also has the Sense overlay to stock ‘droid, which adds some pretty neat features which I like. It makes the whole thing just a little more desirable. The SGS2 has ‘TouchWiz’ overlay, which is truly hateful. Then again I can get it cheaper. Cheap and cheerful, or pay more for what I really want?

It’s a tough one.

Looks a bit bland, but very refined and very well built. Can’t go wrong really.

Android, or, to give it another moniker aOS, or the one that’s not iOS from Apple.

You will all know that I’m a massive Apple fan boy. Have been for a long time, but I feel it’s time to give something new a try, rather being locked into another iPhone purchase – and I’m sure the next iPhone will be a triumph of engineering and quality – but now that my contract is up for renewal and I’m in the bi-annual good position to rinse the phone company for a better deal, I’m going to go the way of the ‘droid and the open source alternative to iOS. I have been interested in Android for a while, but never had the opportunity other than playing with a few handsets in carphonewarehouse to use one full time. Now I have this opportunity, so I’m leaving O2, going to Orange (as they offer a little known about 25% contract discount to people that work in public services, like education, like me) and getting myself an HTC Sensation.

I don’t know what to expect, but looking at the applications I use on a regular basis on the iPhone are all either directly ported to Android or have appropriate alternatives, and there’s the world of applications that I’ve been locked out of being an iPhone user for the last two years that I can now try. I will keep the iPhone and update it to iOS5 as and when it becomes available and probably swap between the two.

I’m looking forward to getting my Sensation. I’ve read very good things about it, some bad things too, but that’s the way with all things. I don’t think there’s going to be the perfect handset that does all you want. One very good and very simple example is the iPhone doesn’t have an FM radio… why not? Practically every phone I’ve had for the last 10 years has had a radio, but not in the iPhone. Why? Perhaps it’s seen as old hat. Old technology. Sometimes, when you want entertainment though, there’s no data coverage, or WiFi to stream from iPlayer… sometimes, all you want is a radio. In a world of convergence devices, not having one is an omission that some people will miss. I know I have

All I have to do now is wait for Orange to actually get some stock. I find it crazy that I can go to carphonewarehouse and buy one today, on Orange, on the contract I want, but I can only get the discount by getting one direct from an Orange shop; which, buy the way have the surliest staff I have ever experienced in a phone shop. OK, these people are not necessarily happy in their work, but bloody hell. The two bored looking 20somethings in the Mall (Cribbs Causway, Bristol, if anyone wants to take note) really were the steriotype one word answer to everything as it was obvious I wasn’t going to buy today, so no commission for you.

When will it be available?
Don’t know.
This month perhaps?
Don’t know mate.
Can I get the discount if I take out the contract at Carphonewarehouse?
No.

Enthusiastic and helpful people…

Anyway, rant over. I’ll be posting app reviews etc. as and when I get one!

So says the last response of the FAQ on the Elementary OS website. King of the Gods? Well perhaps they have a little way to go before they can boast this, but I think they’re on the right track.

Those nice chaps over at omgubuntu.co.uk were talking about Elementary OS several months ago. Now, finally, it has been released to the world to enjoy. This version, codenamed Jupiter is the first outing of a fully functioning OS that isn’t in beta, so lets lift the bonnet and have a poke about with a screwdriver to see what’s what.

Elementary is based on Ubuntu 10.10, so it uses all of the backbone and PPA’s of U10, which is a well performing and stable release. Installation of Elementary wasn’t as smooth as I’d like. I originally intended to install next to my Ubuntu 11.04 and use BURG to select the OS but the installer stopped responding. I left it running for a while before deciding that there really wasn’t anything happening. I killed the system and started again. So I didn’t install Elementary, but the process also got so far into partitioning thte disk that it also killed the installation of U11.04. Ho hum. Thankfully I was installing on a test disk, not my full time installation.
I started again doing a straight install, and it went very quickly and I was booted into the log-in screen within about 15 mins, and then into the desktop workspace.

Elementary is a very nice looking distro, and as it’s based on Ubuntu, there’s a very familular feel about it to anyone that’s been using the Gnome version of Ubuntu for the last five or so years. There are some differences, and I’ll go into those more in depth later. In all, it’s all very pretty, and more to the point, everything works out of the box, which, as readers from previous posts will know, is a bit of a rarity on my workhorse laptop.