If you are able or are willing to test sgi, landisk, sparc, or sparc64, test reports and diffs are welcome.

The beta release can be downloaded from SourceForge.

The G1 is great. It’s about as tall as the iPhone, not as wide, but almost twice as thick. The reason for its thickness is a full hardware keyboard that slides out from underneath the screen. Most phones with large screens tend to have software keyboards: they are programs running on the screen covering up part of whatever application you’re using. While I’ve never tried an iPhone, I had an iPod Touch (which I’ve since given to Holly) and tried using the SSH client on the iPhone. It was almost unusable because it covered up half the terminal window.

My old phone, a Palm Treo running PalmOS, was paid for by my previous company and so was the service. So, when I started a new job in May, I knew I needed to buy a new phone…

For my new job, I wanted a phone that was basically a mini laptop. I wanted to be able to quickly check my email with a GUI client (IMAP over SSL) and to be able to use a separate client to check work email (Exchange). Also, and most importantly, I wanted a robust SSH client so that I could connect to my SSH server and have access to my normal text-based desktop: tmux, mutt, irssi, icb, …

A friend (thanks, jturner) told me all about his T-Mobile G1 and that it seemed exactly like what I was looking for. So, a few days before leaving my old job, I went and got the phone. At first I absolutely loved it. It was freakin’ fantastic and everything I was looking for. While I know 99% of the time I would have been satisfied with an iPhone, not having a laptop-like SSH experience would have bothered me. The G1 was perfect.

But, then over time, the phone got slow. And as T-Mobile pushed out new Android updates, the phone got slower and slower. It got to the point that when I would press the Home button, it would take up to a minute to display. The G1 supports using an SD card to store some data, music, pictures, and anything else to be accessed like a USB drive on your computer. But, the phone could not use it to store downloaded applications. As I added more apps and as Android added more features, my phone started to crawl. I got to the point that I couldn’t stand it and wanted to throw it out the window.

Then, a co-worker (hi, Jonathan) told me about CyanogenMod. It’s a hacked, customized version of the 1.6 version of the Android OS. In order to get it on the phone, you have to install an older version of android that had a flaw allowing one to gain administrative access to the phone. This then allows one to overwrite the recovery ROM which allows for installing a development version of the OS and Cyanogen’s ROM.

Cyanogen’s ROM is extremely fast. It is highly customized to take advantage of the G1′s hardware and allows for running applications from the SD card, freeing up space for the system. Cyanogen, Steve Kondik, has also ported several features from Android 2.0 like Contacts, Gallery (pictures), Browser (web), Calculator, Alarm Clock, IME (on screen keyboard), and the Power Widget. It also includes superuser access.

So, besides being a phone, what makes a good smart phone is its applications. Here are my must have applications:

• ConnectBot: An SSH client that supports session keep-alive, public key authentication, and port forwarding.
• Pandora: A client to use the free Internet Radio application.
• Touchdown: An Exchange client ($25).
• K-9 Mail: A POP/IMAP email client that extends the built in mail application.
• Babbler: A Facebook client ($1.49).
• Advanced Task Manager: Allows user to kill tasks. It also kills tasks that have been running too long ($0.99).
• OpenTable: Make reservations at OpenTable.com.
• Google Maps: Has built-in turn-by-turn Navigation.

Without CyanogenMod, my G1 was unusable. Now it is an extremely useful tool. It’s a mobile web browser, mobile email client, SMS client, SSH client, Facebook client, music player, and much more. Oh, yeah, it’s also a phone.

The Android platform is a great phone platform and it shows an incredible amount of potential. As an open source system, it allows people like Steve Kondik to make a so-so system into an amazing phone. An iPhone-killer maybe. :)

cvs -d :pserver:anoncvs@yaifo.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/yaifo co -P yaifo

I’m still testing and tweaking sgi and sparc64.

So, for sites I visit frequently and trust like Gmail, I permanently allow scripts from google.com. For other sites that I do not visit often or if it’s just a one time visit, I may temporarily allow scripts. NoScript blocks JavaScript, Java, and Flash. It’s great because if websitexyz.com has some scripts in their page, but also has scripts from adsense.com, you can allow websitexyz.com, but not adsense.com.

Recently, I started having problems connecting to my locally running VMware Server using Firefox because of NoScript’s ABE feature after a NoScript update.

ABE is Application Boundaries Enforcer which protects against CSRF attacks. Apparently the VMware application was trying to talk back to the browser or something. By going into NoScript’s Options, in the Advanced tab, and in the ABE sub-tab, and editing the SYSTEM ruleset, I was able to make VMware work again. Windows didn’t know how to edit an ".abe" file, so I had to configure it to use Notepad. Then, I made the ruleset look like the one below. Be sure to use the URL that you connect to VMware server with.

# Prevent Internet sites from requesting LAN resources.
Site LOCAL
Accept from LOCAL
Accept from https://vmware_server_name:8333/
Deny

We’ve loved the Samoyed breed and really miss some common Samoyed characteristics that we’ve had in the house for 12 years. I know we’re not ever going to replace Cali, but we thought that getting another Samoyed would make us happy and give Sydney a familiar-ish playmate.

So, we started talking to breeders.

Of course, after having the “once in a lifetime” experience with Cali, Holly talked to Cali’s breeder first. And, to our dismay, she was no longer breeding and is running a Samoyed Rescue. Obviously we applaud her for rescuing these special dogs, but were hoping to possibly get another dog like Cali or even a relative of hers.

We found one about an hour away in Myersville, MD. Marge (the breeder) is awesome. She has so much information to share to make sure your doggie (Samoyed or otherwise) is a happy, healthy dog. She obviously loves her dogs and the only negative thing I have to say is that when all of her dogs get worked up, my ears start to hurt. :) One of her Samoyeds won MVP for the Animal Planet Puppy Bowl! Her little boy puppy that was so cute, we started thinking about getting him and bringing him home.

We spent some time trying to decide if we wanted a boy puppy and if now was the right time to get a new puppy. We decided that Eddie was perfect for us and we should get him before he’s gone. I mean, one of Eddie’s sisters is going to Denmark! Eddie is SO cute and so playful. And Marge really made us feel comfortable and was great to work with.

So, we arranged a time with Marge (in-between her crazy schedule) to come last Saturday (Friday, August 14) and pick up Eddie. She was due to leave on a trip that afternoon, but took the time to give us tips on Eddie’s care and even helped us bathe him (she did most of the work). We took a picture of him with her (look left) and she took a picture of us with him (see left).

Then she had to run. So, we put him in the back of the Explorer and headed home. He whined a bit, but Samoyeds are known for that. It’s not always sadness that causes the “chirping”, but talkative-ness. So, he was looking out the window and then would lay down until we hit some traffic and had to slow down, or hit a bump, or made a turn. Then, he’d move around for a minute, maybe chirp and then lay down again. We took a picture of him peering between the seats at us during the drive.

When we got home, to our surprise, he didn’t pee, poo, or throw up. Wow. For a 13 week old puppy’s first car ride and having it be over an hour, that’s amazing. We fully expected to just throw the blanket in the back of the Explorer in the wash, but no need.

To try to ease the transition, we elected to introduce Eddie to Sydney on neutral ground, so we took them to tennis courts nearby our house. Holly carried Eddie (he’s not used to a leash yet) to the tennis course while I went inside to get Sydney. I wish I had taken a picture, but Sydney was just chillin’ on the couch. When I walked in, she looked at me with, “OH HAI! Let’s watch some TV”. So, I let her out and grabbed her leash. About 90% of the way to the courts, she saw Holly and got really excited. Then, she saw Eddie and sort of got excited: WHAT IS THAT?

The two of them playing in the tennis court was hilarious. Sydney would pounce on Eddie and then run away. Eddie would chase her than try to pounce on Sydney and then start running away. This continued several times until they clearly wanted water… so we headed home.

The afternoon was pretty normal. Eddie chilled out by their water bowl (left). In the afternoon, CJ, Megan, Heather, Martha, and Glenn came by to visit (after Karen and Brandon earlier). We have pictures of CJ and Megan still to upload. CJ was a little apprehensive but Megan was very excited to meet Eddie. It was nice to have Heather, CJ, Megan, and Holly’s parents over to see him this afternoon. It was funny watching Eddie run from everyone. He did that to us too, but by the end of the day today, he was coming to us when called and was even walking inside from outside when asked to “come inside”.

My mom came over the next day to meet Eddie and thought he was so cute. I’ll post pictures soon.

The first few days with Eddie were perfection. He slept all night and didn’t have any accidents. Since then, he doesn’t sleep through the night as much. But he’s only had two accidents. And both are understandable. First, he peed and Sydney peed, then Sydney wanted to come in. But Eddie still had to go #2. But since Sydney was coming inside, so was he… I mean, he can’t go anywhere without her. :) The second accident was because he didn’t want to pee out in the pouring rain. So, he did when he came inside. :( But two accidents in a week… not bad.

We’re taking Eddie to meet Tom (my brother) and Ragnhild, Eric, Noah, and Kevin this afternoon. Pictures will follow.

Why “Eddie?” You don’t know us at all, do you?

I can’t read that without crying. Cali as a special girl and we’ll always miss her. I love you, Holly.

I miss you greeting me at the door when I get home, girl.

The archives are still available (I will try to remove the SPAM soon-ish): http://erdelynet.com/archive/ssh-l/

Check out the Holly Elbow09 section of this site. It’s probably best to start at the first post and work your way backwards.

Lucky for me, I was vetoed. Holly insisted we get a dog and we went to a breeder to look at the new puppies. That’s when we found Cali. Who knew how much happiness that beautiful fluffball would bring to Holly and I and anyone that ever came in contact with her.

A couple weeks ago Cali stopped eating. A lot was going on at our house with Holly traveling and me traveling and it’s not too uncommon for Cali to get stressed and not eat as much as normal. But she was hardly eating at all. We started to get concerned and took her to the vet.

The vet ran several tests and took some x-rays, but nothing conclusive showed up. They suggested that we try different foods to see if Cali’s tastes had changed. During another visit, the vet and Holly noticed that her four front teeth were loose and we hoped that might be causing her not to eat, so they were pulled. But she still wouldn’t eat.

Most of this happened while I was at C2K9, the general OpenBSD hackathon in Edmonton, CA. Then, I came home for our anniversary on June 7 to spend the day with Holly before she took off on the 8th to visit Jeni and her new baby, Logan. While I was gone, Holly said she was extremely stressed out worrying about Cali. When I got home, I got to experience that first hand. Cali looked pitiful. And she had no interest in eating. I would imagine she probably at two full meals in about two weeks.

Finally, on Wednesday, the 10th, Holly’s mom took Cali to the vet again. They did an ultrasound of her abdomen which showed a likely tumor on her liver. The vet wanted to open her up and take a look inside to see what was really going on. They wanted to do the surgery on Thursday and Holly was still visiting Jeni. She just grabbed the next flight and I picked her up at BWI. We headed straight for the vet’s office. Cali was so excited to see us and very anxious to go home. While the vet thought it was best to keep Cali overnight, she realized that Cali’s odds in surgery were really very low. So, she let us take Cali home.

We tried to make Cali’s probable last night with us a special one. She seemed eager to eat so we gave her some chocolate chip cookies, Frosty Paws, and other treats. We spent most of the evening petting her and telling her how much we loved her and that she’s a good girl. We took pictures of Cali and Sydney together, Cali and Holly, and Cali and I. It was a good night and Cali truly seemed happy. Because of her IV (which was capped), we couldn’t let her roughhouse, but she seemed very happy to be at home with us. It was a very emotional night for us and I’m sure for Cali (and Sydney). We knew what we were going to probably deal with the next day, so we just wanted Cali to be as happy as possible.

We had to get up reasonably early on Thursday. Both of us took the day off to be with Cali. We took her to the vet around 8 AM. She was hooked back up to her IV to hopefully build her up for surgery. Along with Holly’s mom and dad (and their cat, Thunder), we waited in a private waiting room while the vet prepared for the surgery. Then, the vet came back to get Cali and let us stay in the surgery room until she was under. Then, Holly and I waited. It wasn’t very long until the vet came back out.


Cali had two tumors. From an email Holly sent to a friend:

She actually had two tumors, one we finally detected on ultrasound and another that didn’t show up until they got in there (neither showed up on several radiographs). The first one was about 7×4 cm and was on one of the lobes of her liver. It was clearly vascularized based on u/s and her clotting profile (one level was high indicating a strong possibility of DIC), but there was a long shot that they could take it ok if it was localized to just one lobe.

The other one was much, much larger, and was adhered to the bottom part of her stomach, duodenum, pancreas, and a different lobe of her liver. Clearly malignant looking and most likely hemangiosarcoma (I haven’t biopsied). Either way, the only real option was just to not wake her up. We were able to go in with her to be induced for surgery (benefit of being a former employee :-)), so she had us there basically until the end.

I think we did always suspect the big C, but had a small glimmer of hope since we found nothing at first on radiographs and she had little symptoms other than becoming picky about food.

She was truly one of those very special dogs. We knew it would be hard when she went (she was my mom’s favorite- and my mom has her own Sammy!), and this was even harder since she was the first one (and otherwise seemed the healthiest).

The vet came out and said that she could probably take care of the tumor on top that was on one lobe of her liver. But the second tumor would have been too much. And even if she got most of it, it would come back and Cali would be dead within six months. The vet old us that going through with removing the tumors would not be doing Cali any favors. At this point, we think that Cali was just uncomfortable. The tumor was pushing against her stomach which caused her not to eat. Had Cali not stopped eating, we probably never would have known about either tumor and she would have just bled out (dying a painful death). So, we think that Cali passed without suffering and that was the best thing we could have done for her.

The last couple days have been extremely difficult for Holly and me (and Sydney). Little things seem to be hard. When we leave the house, we always give the pets treats and Holly caught herself on our way out to Chipotle Thursday night getting two dog treats. Cali sleeps on the floor on my side of the bed and I went out of my way not to step on Cali when I woke up (of course she wasn’t there). Neither Holly or I really want to do anything, but we’re trying to take care of the things we’re responsible for.

From the day we brought Cali home, she’s been such a happy dog. You could just see it in her eyes that she just loved us and loved to be around us. She loved to play (especially with Holly’s mom’s samoyed, Mandy and then, later, Sydney). Whether she played her favorite “tree game” (her own creation where she would hide behind a tree and then chase Sydney or Mandy when they got close to the tree) or playing with one of her stuffed toys (the “shag” (on the left in the picture to the right) and the hedgehog were her favorites), she loved to play. She was (almost) always eager to eat (like she was worried a litter mate would steal her food) so it was more worrying when she refused to eat.

At first when we found Sydney, Cali was annoyed that she wasn’t the primary focus of our doggie attention. And Sydney was very eager to be her best friend. Many times as a puppy, Sydney would try to lay next to Cali, but Cali would get up and move five feet away from her. That didn’t last long. It was a common sight to see Cali and Sydney laying butt to butt or back to back. They were good about sharing their toys (Sydney always wanted whatever Cali had). After getting used to Sydney and after Sydney grew out of being a crazy puppy, Cali and Sydney became best friends. They loved sitting next to each other on the floor playing with toys or sitting together on the couch while Holly and I were watching TV. Or, one dog would sit next to Holly on the couch while the other would sit next to me on the love seat while I worked on my computer. They also loved to wrestle with each other growling and barking at each other and generally making a mess in our bedroom.

Cali loved to talk to us. When we would come home from work, Cali would greet us with “woo-woo-woo-woo” (see the picture to the left). She also was very protective of us. Especially Holly. If I wasn’t in the house at night because I was out late or because I was away, Cali would be “on duty”. She would usually put herself halfway between Holly and the front door. And she growled at people that even thought about walking near our house. And when Holly or I were injured (happens a lot at our house), she would stand at the bathroom door ready to bark if we fell in the shower. Along those lines, one of my proudest moments in life was when I was ready to protect her. We were out for a walk one night, just her and I, when a rottweiler without a lease ran away from its owner towards us growling and barking like it was in kill mode. Without thinking, I choked up on Cali’s leash and put myself between Cali and the approaching dog while yelling at the owner to get control of their @#$%ing dog. Luckily, the dog responded to its owner before getting to us, but it was a scary situation.


We miss you, Cali. You’re a good girl and we love you. Woo-woo-woo! :(