CentOS 6.4 Install Issues

I've always liked to build things (especially when there's no real purpose) and that's why I knew my life would be once again more complete with a dedicated Linux box. You think I'm joking right?? Wanting a box that consumes less power, small but still with enough horse power to actually do something useful, I found a cheap Dell Optiplex FX160 on eBay.

After a bit of research, it seems the distro of choice for Linux pro wanna-bes these days is CentOS. With no CD drive on the FX160, I downloaded the Live CD version (CentOS-6.4-x86_64-LiveCD.iso) and used the provided livecd-iso-to-disk script on another Linux system to create a bootable USB install disk.

Unwanted X Window System: My first issue was how to not install X. It seems it's not possible using the LiveCD version of CentOS 6.4. So I tired the Minimal version (CentOS-6.4-x86_64-minimal.iso) which allowed me to avoid X however the equivalent livecd-iso-to-disk script isn't contained within the image so you'll have to download both images anyway.

Bad drive assignment: The next annoyance was that my newly created "Minimal" USB install disk was being assigned sda and that is kinda bad. This didn't happen with the LiveCD version. With the system disk being assigned sdb, I was greeted with a kernel panic once I tried to boot the new system without the USB install disk plugged in.

Resolution came when I swapped the USB install disk for one of those 4-in-one card readers with the Minimal image now installed on an SD card. The installer assigned the card reader something other than sda (in fact it had several drives assigned--none of which were sda) and so the system booted flawlessly after installation. Incidentally it also booted flawlessly once I plugged in the old USB install disk as it was no longer being assigned sda.

A Verizon iPhone 5S on Vodafone UK

My last rant blog post was about how my new iPhone 5S A1533 Verizon model (ME344LL/A) worked on AT&T out-of-the-box (i.e. no unlocking required). Here it is with a Vodafone UK SIM card in it connected to their 3G network. It looks like it would work on their 4G network too but I couldn't test as I'm a pay as you go customer and Vodafone do not yet support 4G for cheap bastards non-pay monthly customers.

iPhone A1533/CDMA (ME344LL/A) model on Vodafone UK

Note about Vodafone 4G: Vodafone UK operate their 4G network at the 800 MHz frequency or LTE band 20. Like the iPhone A1457 model sold in the UK, my iPhone A1533 model supports that same LTE band. Again, with Vodafone not supporting 4G for pay as you go customers, I couldn't test it out.

http://blog.vodafone.co.uk/2013/11/05/vodafone-4g-signal-and-frequencies-explained/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks

http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/

Note about Vodafone Pay as you go: If you plan an iPhone on this Vodafone Pay as you go then you'll have to update the APN settings each time you insert that Vodafone SIM (it doesn't save the settings). Within the iPhone Settings screen, select Mobile (or Cellular if your phone is set to US English), and then Mobile Data Network. Within each APN field (there are three of them), change it from wap.vodafone.co.uk to pp.vodafone.co.uk