Author: Jeff Phillips

Musical Tech Support – Part II

Well, I did it. I completed the firmware update for my Vetta. Now, it is software-identical to the Vetta II. I even was able to keep my preconfigured favorites. It has tons more amplifier models to chose from and some more effects. Of course, I have to re-learn a few things: the old amp models are named something else now. I will say, though, the sound is awesome.

I’ve been playing more now. I have not played in a while because life and work have kept me busy and far away. However, I make it a point now to play on the weekends when I’m home. I don’t want to lose my skills and it always makes me feel better when I play. At least I found the new feature called “half power”. I won’t blow the windows out by accident now!

Back To Work In… Hawaii?

2012-01-08 23:28:52

Well, the possibility of going to Hawaii has come up since a good friend of ours is staying there for a while and I’m trying to ‘work remotely’ for a couple of weeks after this one. Now, if it doesn’t work out, I will probably just take some vacation or something… not that I mind! Who wants to work in Hawaii? Of course, it must be approved by the boss man, but I don’t think I’ll have a problem: I’ll just say I’ll take vacation and all will be well. Things on the project are slowing down enough that there should be a break until we go to other remote sites. Then, I don’t think I’ll be travelling… but who knows? Not I.

MCSE 2003

Well, it’s that time again: the time when Microsoft has put out a new server product and made all of our Microsoft certifications obsolete. So, instead of waiting a while to take my tests, I have beaten the curve and passed the two upgrade exams for MCSE on Windows Server 2003. Now, that makes 4 MCSEs total. I have one way back from version 3.51, one for NT 4, one for Windows 2000, and now one for Server 2003. Ugh. Takes a bit to stay current.

Of course, this means that I have to find something new to study… .NET maybe? Probably. I think that’s where I’ll go next. It would be nice if I could move into development and be able to write code from anywhere.

Musical Tech Support

Well, I found out the other day that my ‘new’ amplifier [I say ‘new’ because it’s over a year old now…] is not the top of the line anymore. Line 6 has a Vetta II out. That makes mine obsolete! Not to worry, though, because there is a firmware update for the amplifier. For those that don’t know, the Vetta isn’t just another guitar amplifier – it is a digital modeling amplifier that ‘models’ or imitates other popular amplifier brands. This new update for my older Vetta [ver 1.03] will bring the digital modeling software in the amplifier up to spec with the new Vetta II [2.03]. So, in essence, I will have a brand new amplifier …

which is identical to the brand new Vetta II – except for one feature which I won’t use.

However: problems arose. When I applied the update, the knobs and switches performed everything slowly so that I couldn’t switch between presets quickly. Well, that’s a simple fix and I reloaded them from system memory. Then, there’s the matter of when I backed up my preconfigured favorite amplifier mix, “Church Funk”, I couldn’t get it to restore. Now, I’m upset because I can’t figure out which effects at precisely which configuration I put on it. So, I think “I’ll just rebuild it close to what it was.” So, I start by trying to select the amplifier model I used before. It’s not there! Well, I find out it is but now it’s been renamed something else. Okay, that’s fine. Now, the problem is when I try to select a different amplifier. I get an error message! Argh! Playing guitar is not supposed to be as difficult as IT support!

I’ve found out since that there are several parts to this update and I will have to re-do this work this weekend when I get home. In fact, I even discovered some tips on how to restore the backup that I took so I can get my original “Church Funk” back. Of course, I like the one I created in it’s place… maybe there will be a “Church Funk II”…

Where Will I Be?

That is the question. I don’t know. I do know that I will be working in California for two more weeks after this one. After that? Destination Unknown. There is a possibility that I will work from home which will be nice. I wouldn’t exactly know what to do… I’m so used to working away from home that I’d have to develop a whole new routine for working at home. I’m still hoping, though, that I get to go to Australia or Puerto Rico or some other exotic location. Who knows? It might actually happen…

New And Improved

Well, I’ve gone and done it. I have finished moving my site to a new server. Not Windows as I was attempting earlier, but the new version of Linux: Fedora Core 1. It’s running on a 1.4GHz machine with 512MB of RAM and lots more disk space. It’s a considerable improvement from the old SGI O2 I was running on before. While the old machine hasn’t failed me, I did need more space and speed was a bonus. So, now: enjoy the new site!

The Windows Project

Well, I have been attempting a platform change on my site. I had a nice, clean system running Windows Server 2003 and wanted to test the performance of the site with the PHP-based Gallery software and MovableType. Unfortunately, the project did not end well. The perfornamce was so bad, I had to give up. I could not get PHP to run quickly at all. Although, I may run one more test with a different version of the PHP script processor – instead of ISAPI, I’ll run it with CGI.

Of course, if I solve that problem there’s still the dificulty I have making MovableType work on Windows. I’d hate to have to change Blog programs mid-stream.

Well, I’ll let you know what happens.