Wagonlicious

So, in my last post, I mentioned that I’m running out of inodes with Maildir.  I’ve decided to try out dbmail to see if I can get decent performance putting my email into MySQL, then.  Hopefully it’ll work. :)

I built dbmail pretty normally:

./configure --prefix=/opt/dbmail/2.2.11 --sysconfdir=/etc/dbmail \
  --mandir=/usr/local/man/ --with-mysql --with-sieve

and, after creating the database + setting grants and whatnot, created the tables.

[root@myhost dbmail-2.2.11]# mysql dbmail < sql/mysql/create_tables.mysql

Then, tried to create myself:

[root@myhost dbmail-2.2.11]# dbmail-users -a sauer -P
Jul 23 15:46:43 myhost dbmail-users[24347]: Error:[sql] dbmysql.c,db_mysql_check_collations(+138): collation mismatch, your MySQL configuration specifies a different charset than the data currently in your DBMail database.
Failed. Could not connect to database (check log)
Command failed.

Well, that sucks.  After some investigation, I found that the default collation on the dbmail database was latin-1, but the tables were being created in utf8-general.  So, I had to change the default collation on the database to match the tables for the command to work (which is weird, but whatever).  This is where I admit that I’m not sure how to do it with the mysql command line.  It’d be easy to find with Google, but I just fired up PHPMyAdmin, went to the dbmail database, clicked on “operations”, and changed the default collation to match the one the tables were using.  Sometimes the pointie-clickie thing is actually useful. :)

[root@myhost dbmail-2.2.11]# dbmail-users -a sauer -P
Adding INBOX for new user... ok.
Done
sauer:x:4:0:0.00:0.00:

Hooray!  On to further configuration.

So, I’ve got hosting by the overly-restrictive Gate.com people, and one of the problems I have is that I’m constantly running out of Unix sockets (running out of inodes is the other problem: medium-volume Maildir + limited inode ext2 filesystem = problems). The limit is a ridiculously low 360 sockets. Running Postfix, with all those sub processes that communicate with each other, I’ve had to cut the maximum number of processes down from the default of 100 to 15, which is still hitting problems under periods of high load.

Anyway, I thought this command would be handy to share. It lists all of the processes on your system using Unix sockets, and counts how many there are for each process.

lsof -U | awk '$0=$1' | sort | uniq -c | sort -k1n

Here’s the top 15 on my machine:

[root@themachine ~]# lsof -U | awk '$0=$1' | sort | uniq -c | sort -k1n | tail -n15
      2 qmgr
      4 dovecot
      5 proxymap
      5 verify
      8 perl
      8 spawn
     11 dovecot-a
     13 tlsmgr
     15 mysqld
     16 trivial-r
     18 anvil
     18 imap
     23 imap-logi
     74 smtpd
     76 master

Note that dovecot (the green ones) and MySQL take up several, but most are taken up by Postfix and friends (the blue ones).  Sigh.  This is really a good architecture, but just not something Gate.com is set up to handle on their VPS plans.  I guess that’s a fair tradeoff for unlimited bandwidth, but it sure is inconvenient.

So, over the weekend I pulled out some bushes with the wagon. It worked just fine – apparently the relatively torquey engine and 3.42 posi is adequate for yanking stuff around. Beth got some video recorded, so I’ll add that up here sometime in the real near future. :)

So, driving in to work this morning, I thought I’d open the Chevelle up a little.  I added some transmission fluid a few days ago to see if maybe that’s why it was slipping (apparently, I cut the dipstick off just a little long, so “full” isn’t really full).  I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a fluke – and I just like quickly accelerating.  About the time I hit third gear, I noticed that there was suddenly a lot of white smoke behind me.  At least the shifts were firm.

I pulled to the side of the road, and verified that there was apparently about a four inch split in the upper heater hose.  I cut the other hose down and used it as a bypass for the heater.  So, I don’t have a heater – but I do have a not-leaking coolant system.  A friendly person stopped and got me two gallons of well water to fill the system back up.  I’ll have to flush and drain the system soon, therefore, since the mixture’s all wrong for cold weather.  I’ll be getting some high-pressure line and using AN fittings for the new setup, though.  My bulkhead fitting was leaking a little anyway, which has caused some carpet discoloration, so this’ll be an opportune time to rectify that situation.  I’m thkining about using push-lok fittings or similar this time; we’ll see how things go as far as affordability… :)

So, using most any Debian-based distro (Ubuntu’s my flavor of choice right now), there’s a pretty easy way to free up some diskspace wasted by a bunch of extra localization files for languages you probably don’t speak. Install the localepurge package, and just pick the language(s) you care about from the menu that comes up. I just picked en_US and en_US.UTF8 (or whatever the two us English packages were) on mine, since that’s all that’s spoken by anyone who uses my machines.

So, installing’s pretty straightforward:

sauer@hotrod:~$ sudo apt-get install localepurge

Then you’ve gotta actually run it. As root.

sauer@hotrod:~$ sudo localepurge
localepurge: Disk space freed in /usr/share/locale: 42101K
localepurge: Disk space freed in /usr/share/man: 3313K

Total disk space freed by localepurge: 45414K

Whee. There’s 45MB I can waste on something else now! :)

Yesterday, UPS delivered my order from Summit Racing.  It included header and collector gaskets from Earl’s (the Pressure Master line) for the Chevelle – which will be discussed in a future post.  The other main thing in the box was a shiny new electric exhaust cutout.  So, I went out and wired up the cutout as soon as I was done with supper.  It took about three hours in total to hook the valve up (I had already included a cutout in the exhaust when I built it) and run the wire into the car.  The hardest part was running the wire, honestly – it’s a pain to route wires from the exhaust all the way around from the passenger side, up along the firewall, and back into the passenger compartment.

I’m honestly not real excited about the switch it came with.  It’s nice that it’s lighted, but I’m pretty sure it’s really just a cheap power window kit switch with an even cheaper sticker over the top.  I’ll  be using a different switch when I do the final install.  Not only because the switch that came with the cutout is huge (over an inch by about a half inch), but also because I also need to put the remote start disable switch somewhere as well, so it’d be nice if they matched.  Off to the nearest Digikey catalog for me, I guess.

Anyway, the electric cutout is probaby the most fun thing I’ve done to a car in a while.  It’s great – it takes about 5-10 seconds to get to full open, but the noise level goes up almost instantly.  So, I can open it up, nail the gas, make a lot of noice, and then close it back up quickly.  The Grand Marquis isn’t really quit with the 3″ Magnaflow Ultraflow installed, but a 3″ straight pipe is significantly louder.  I’m particularly happy that it doesn’t sound like total garbage either way, though.  It’s a good loud, and a good “even louder” sound.  The 2 valve 4.6 doesn’t sound the same as the 3- or 4-valve versions, but it’s pretty similar.

I’ll get some video soon and post it up here – or, more likely, post it on You Tube and link to it.  I have to use the real camera, though – the mic on my phone is just no good for exhaust sounds.  Here’s an example of that:

Grand Marquis through first gear, on cell phone

So, over the weekend (last weekend) a friend came by and helped me install the rest of the remote starter.  Not that I needed help, but help’s generally appreciated.  Anyway, it’s all wired up and almost all works.  “Almost” because the Ford security key thingie (Securilock? PATS?  Whatever) bypass module I got doesn’t appear to work.  It lights up, but it never programs as a new key like it’s supposed to do.  So, I’ve got an appointment at the local Ziebart on Wed to talk to their installer about it.  I’m quite confident that it’s wired up correctly, so I’m hoping it’s just a matter of trading out this one for another one – but I figure it’s worth talking to someone who’s installed more than two remote start systems to see if there’s some undocumented trick that I messed up.  On a positive note, everything else works fine.  The lock and unlock works, and remote start takeover (car’s running, push the button to have remote take over so I can remove the key and lock the doors while leaving the car running) is working.  The alarm all works properly, too and the impact sensitivity sensor is dull enough to not be set off by passing Harleys and similar. :)

So, tonight I started on the remote start for the Wagon, which needs that to bypass the broken key switch.  I’ll write more about that later, though…

Well, it rained today, but I rode in to work anyway.  I was getting tired of waiting. :)  The scooter handles reasonably well in the rain (it’s wind that’s not much fun – and that’s true rain or not).  My rain gear also works well (Joe Rocket stuff; though I don’t have a link), and I’m confident it would do well even without the fairing that’s integral to the bike.

However, my summer gloves are no fun in the rain.  The leather soaked through, and it was in the lower 50’s today, so my fingers were cold once I finished the roughly 20 mile ride in.  At about 65 MPH for most of the way.  I didn’t switch to my winter gloves, since they’re just too bulky (though they do have a nice rain-proof pull-over mitten cover thingie).  One of the trips tomorrow will hopefully be to tyhe local Motorcycle shops to see about finding some between-winter-and-summer gloves.  I’ll start at Sportland (the metric bike shop) and then probably go next door to the Harley dealership.

I don’t usually like Harley riding gear, since it’s often more about form than function.  This is largely from just visual inspection, though I do have first-hand experience with their cold-weather gloves.  All of them that I’ve tried absolutely suck in truly cold weather; my poor frozen fingers and I got sick of returning them after the second attempt, andI ran through al of the options the local dealer had (which were quite a few – including the ones which were reviewed as being Harley’s “best”).  They probably do have a decent mid-weight glove, though, and they do a pretty good job of getting the “looks cool” part right.  :)  The cold weather gloves they had probably just sucked because a big portion of the Harley crowd just like to look cool when it’s warm out; it’s not so much about riding.  And the hard-core guys must just already have warm gloves. ;)

Or maybe I should just get the miniature hand grip fairings and some heated handgrips, and forget about needing so many kinds of gloves…

I’ve finally changed the oil and filter on the Burgman, and verified the tire pressure + overall appearance.  It all looked good, and handled properly on a short 60 MPH run down the highway.  I warmed it up before draining the oil, which actually made it drain out a lot better.  I’ll have to start doing that more often.

Anyway, the Royal Purple 10w40 Motorcycle oil is in, so hopefully the weather will allow me to ride tomrrow afternoon.  Oh, and the remote start in the Grand Marquis is *almost* done… :)

Tonight I got the locks wired up, the trunk trigger, and the trunk release.  It’s an incredible pain to route wires through the door duct to get to the driver’s door module (which controls the windows, locks, and trunk release), but it’s done now.

Well, it *would* be done now, but the “second unlock” feature on this alarm doesn’t work as I expected.  I thought it’d allow a delayed unlock of teh remaning doors, with driver’s lock priority – but it’s really just another lock output. :)  So, the wiring I did with the extra relay and stuff was not required – I just need to set it to unlock all of the doors at once.

I guess that isn’t really a big deal, since I can’t think of a time when I really only want to unlock the driver’s door.  If there are that many scary people around that I’m concerned someone may get in with me, I just won’t get into my car at all. :)  Or maybe I’ll assign an auxilary output to unlocking the other doors.  I haven’t decided yet.