Shami's Blog

Sysadmin, Because Even Developers Need Heroes

Recursively Upgrade Package Dependencies With pkgng

2014-11-11

Update: I now just use pkg upgrade since I have better control over my package repo and it is a much better way to upgrade.

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Simulating Cron Runs On The Command Line

2014-10-15

Does this sound familiar?

You write a new script, start it from the command line, everything works properly, you add that script to your crontab then go home, the next day, nothing. So you end up setting up a schedule to run this script the next minute, the script fails, you change something, update the schedule, rinse and repeat.

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ADSL In Jordan

2011-08-03

I’ve heard various complaints from a few friends of mine about the status of Internet connectivity in Jordan, especially ADSL. So I’m writing this article to explain what is going on and why ADSL the way it is, but first, some history.

Back in pre-broadband times, people used dial-up modems to connect to the Internet. The name “modem” came from the fact that data was being modulated (Turned from digital to analog form) to be sent over the phone lines, and demodulated (Turned from analog to digital form) at the other end. This utilized the same frequencies used for regular phone conversations, this is why you could hear the weird sounds if you picked the phone up while being connected to the Internet. Given the relatively narrow frequency range used by phones this technology was limited to about 56Kbps, the best speed I got was back in 2003 which was about 5KB/s for my downloads, and that was considered fast at the time.

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First Thoughts of @ZainJo's HSPA+ Service

2011-04-05

Lately ISPs have been bombarding us with all sorts of Internet related ads, promising “high speeds” or “unlimited downloads”. Osama Hajjaj said it best with this comic:

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Using The @ZainJo HSPA Dongle With Ubuntu Linux

2011-04-04

After my experience with Zain’s WiMAX, I didn’t think I’d be using their service again. But Zain gave me a 21Mbps dongle (The Huawei E367) for free as to see how much better the new service is and I thought I might as well try it. I’ll be writing on my experience with the service in a separate post inshalla.

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Do You Need A Social Media Detox?

2011-03-30

To all those social media junkies out there.

Enjoy :)

Tales Of A Disgruntled @ZainJo Customer

2011-03-29

I’ve been meaning to write this for a few weeks but was very busy, I finally got the time to do so.

If you know me, you’ll probably know I’ve been struggling with my Internet connectivity since 2005. I’ve been begging Orange (Jordan Telecom Group at the time) for anything faster than 512Kbps, but I was always told that my area was not covered. I live in an area filled with students who don’t have phone lines, and the very few people who use DSL here are content with the speeds Orange was offering. So Orange did not bother upgrading my area because it wasn’t worth it.

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To All My Readers, I'm Sorry

2011-03-22

Hello everybody,

I know it’s been a while since I last wrote anything. I started a new job and it’s been crazy busy the past few months. And for some reason the blog stopped sending notification emails so I thought nobody read anything here.

I’ve upgraded the blog to the latest WordPress release, and hopefully I’ll be writing more stuff here.

Good night

The Best Use Of An iPad

2010-05-13

Best use of an iPad, ever. Well, other than blending it, maybe :D

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About Me

Dev gone Ops gone DevOps. Any views expressed on this blog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.

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