Marc O’Morain

Don’t buy an Intel Centrino laptop. Intel have not released a Linux device-driver for the Intel® PRO/Wireless 2100 card. The Intel website claims that a device driver is under development, but Intel are being stone-faced about it. I would urge anybody who is reading this to please sign the petition for “Intel Support of Centrino Under Linux”. I would also urge you not to buy a Centrino laptop because you will not be able to use your wirless card if you choose to use Linux.

Here are some funny flash movies that made me giggle: (you will need sound))

• The end of the world (3600KB)
• Tony and George at a gay bar (7300KB)
• Mario Twins (919KB)
• Intellitoast (1200KB)
• Switch to linux (659KB)
• Get a Mac, they rock (318KB)
• Ce matin, un lapin (815KB)
• Classic AYB (1600KB)

There is a new episode of Marty the Platformer out today, SoFox has done another great job with it.

Here are some pictures that I have taken from the netsoc webcam

Aine was over for the weekend, and she flew back to Ireland last night. On Friday we went to see Thoroughly Modern Millie, which was really good (Check your personality)!. On Saturday we went to the Tate Modern to see The Weather Project which was pretty damn good too. After that we went shopping on High St. Ken and had lunch in Wagamama. On Sunday we went to see Kill Bill, which was uber-violent and mega-supar Good.

I think i will dress up like this for Hallowe’en

• Hallowe’en costume

I have found an old instant message log that someone gave me a link to years ago:

• aol.txt

Photos from last Friday night were thrown around in work today. Phil’s striking resemblance to Penfold is pretty apparent as you can see.

I have found these old pages on my matrix webspace. I have decided to archive them here. They are screenshots of some really odd introduction sequences to arcade games that I have played with the MAME arcade emulator.

• In Xexex you must help Elaine of the planet E-Square
• In Vigilante the thugs have taken Madonna hostage.

I had my three month appraisal at work today. I discussed with Jeff, my boss, the possibility of flying some people from SCEE over to talk to netsoc about some PlayStation 2 stuff. I have to discuss it further with all parties tomorrow.

I still have no television in my room. I have a PlayStation 2 sitting idle beside me. The TV in the living room has only a co-axial cable, and the PS2 only has composit or SCARTa/acronym>

We have set up a wireless LAN in the house. We have a 512k ADSL line, which we are going to upgrade to a 2mb line soon.

I got this picture in an email from Maire today. It made me smile, so I thought that I would stick it up here.

I went into HSBC about my new account today. My debit-card is not there yet. I will call back in tomorrow or the next day. The guy in HSBC didn’t know if my account was open or not, but I didn’t press him on the matter because he was being harassed by two of the rudest people I have ever met (Italians, of course). The wanted to make a complaint about HSBC. So they were given pens and a blank sheet of A4 paper each, with which to put the complaint in writting. These two women were not happy with that, because they felt that they would tear up the paper as soon as they left the bank. They wanted an official complaint form, on headed notepaper. The guy in the bank told them that HSBC headed notepaper was for letters written by HSBC. He explained to them that to make a complaint they have to put it in writting, on their own paper. So they were provided with blank paper. The two Italians looked at each other and to the sky disapprovingly alot. They sighed alot. I left because I had no more business with the bank today. When I finally get a debit card I can get a mobile phone.

I brought my Dreamcast up to the TV room tonight. David, Gerard, Martin were introduced to Ulala and the rest of the Space Channel 5 crew. Unimpressed, we stuck on Soul Caliber and stayed up until 2am. Martin took and instant shine to Seigfried, and he was almost unbeatable. It took us about twenty minutes before David managed to beat him.

Today, I Went to Lloyds TSB to change my address. I had to fill out a change of address form, which they have to post to somewhere else to process. Such a muppet bank. I then saw the manager about getting my impotent `Cash Account’ upgraded to a proper account. I was told that I had to wait 12 months. I have to wait 12 months before they will give me a statement. What a muppet bank. Afterwards, I went to HSBC to open an account. They asked for all my details, and gave me an application form. I will pop it back in tomorrow, and all should be good. I can probably open a HSBC account before Lloyds change my address.

Aine booked flights to come and see me on the 30th of October, which is a Good Thing. I booked tickets for us to go and see Thouroughly Modern Millie when she is over, which I paid through the nose for on Ticketmaster.

I went to Tesco and bought lots of food, and then cooked beans and sausages for dinner. Laziness.

Since this morning I have caught a cold. Bad. My nose is running.

I went back to work today after my week in Dublin.

As I had hoped, I have got my hosting all set up with Blacknight Solutions. I hope to get my email set up tomorrow, as I have to wait for the DNS servers to update.

I have been living on my own for 24 hours now. My room is almost unfurnished, which is slightly irritating. I have cooked Goodfella’s pizza two nights in a row for myself, I think that I need to get to Tesco tomorrow and buy some proper food.

In work we have all been given a new book called “Read Me First!”, published by Sun Microsystems. It is a ‘Style Guide for the Computer Industry’ apparently (how to write technical documents. I read the first chaper, which was all about where to capitalise words. The concepts in the book seem to make alot of sense, and it seems interesting enough.

I went into The Link today, a mobile phone shop. Hopefully tomorrow I should be able to get myself a sweet Sony phone. Orange are giving them away free. If I can get myself through the credit check, all should be ok. The deal gives almost any phone free, and 2000 free text messages.

Martin, the Spanish waiter told me that the gym he is a member of nearby is £25 per month to join, and he thinks that there is a karate class. I must find myself a capoeira class soon. I am getting so very unfit.

I sent an email to Pro-Star today about my laptop. I want to identify the DVD/CD-RW and WiFi devices in my laptop so that I can get all the drivers I need to get them working in Linux.

I flew from Dublin to London today. At check-in in the airport I was offered a €150 travel voucher to take a later flight, but they ended up not needing the extra seats, so I took my original flight. It would have been nice to get a free flight home or the chance to fly Aine over to see me.

When I arrived at the new house I found that two of the people are moving out. Maria, a Welsh girl has been replaced by a 25 year old French man, whose name escapes me. He is from Marselleil, but has been living in Paris. He has got a job in Reading working for Microsoft UK.

The other people in my house are Andy, a medical engineering student from the UK, David, from France again, who works in software, Martin from Spain who works as a waiter in the Tate Modern gallery, and Gerard, who works from a company who do SMS marketing (spam). The house which was 5 males and 3 females is now 100% male and all but one of use are techies. There is one room up for rent.

Gerard has a broadband connection paid for by his company, and he is looking into getting a faster connection, and giving a share of the bandwidth to myself and others, through a wireless link. To do this I will need to get my wireless card working in Linux.

Today was the first day of my life where I have been living with complete strangers. Everyone in the house seems very nice, although only two speak perfect englsh. Having to speak more slowly then usual is a pet hate of mine. Everything in the house is very new, I have to learn where everything is and how all the appliances work, which at the moment seems like a very daunting task.

Tomorrow I need to get a new mobile phone and sim card, because I lost my mobile phone before I went home to Dublin last week. If the worst comes to the worst i will buy a pay as you go phone, which will be expensive and I won’t get a free handset, but I need to get a phone urgently, after Virgin Mobile screwing me over all summer.

Hopefully my web hosting will be set up tomorrow, so that I can get marcomorain.com working. I want to have one email address for the rest of my life, and a place to put my CV, blog and random electronic junk such as any projects that I am working on.