Shami's Blog

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.

Read More - Recursively Upgrade Package Dependencies With pkgng

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.

Read More - Simulating Cron Runs On The Command Line

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.

Read More - ADSL In Jordan

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:

Read More - First Thoughts of @ZainJo's HSPA+ Service

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.

Read More - Using The @ZainJo HSPA Dongle With Ubuntu Linux

To all those social media junkies out there.

Enjoy :)

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.

Read More - Tales Of A Disgruntled @ZainJo Customer

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

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

Read More - The Best Use Of An iPad

Found this today on the web and loved it :)

Read More - Resident Evil Afterlife LITERAL Trailer