The link you've followed is invalid. To link to an article please use its permalink. Article still retrieved.
blog.dkj.me
About Contact RSS
The Weblog of David Johnston
 David Johnston
Fun
Trolley Return
February 2, 2008
I like the feeling of "having done right" when I return my trolley as directed. I was so lucky as this trolley return was right behind my parking space.
A shopping trolley matching the orientation of a trolley return sign - upside down
Apple
MacBook Air: more than just a seduction?
January 16, 2008
Whilst there's an immediate appeal to the MacBook Air, people should be aware of a number of facets before purchasing.
  • A glossy screen, flat keys, and a large trackpad are all anti-ergonomic. Touch typists experience difficulty with typing on flat keys (there needs to be an ever-so-slight dip in the surface of each key). And the rest increases strain on eyes, elbows and wrists.

  • Non-expandable RAM, non-accessible battery, a slow 4200 rpm drive (or a AUD$1400 flash drive that will eventually self destruct), no Firewire, ethernet via a dongle using the only USB port, outdated DDR2-667 RAM, and contrary to Apple's claims of having the "latest" Intel CPU, a low-clocked 65nm CPU. And of course the optical drive is an optional add-on.

  • And whilst I appreciate how thin the MacBook Air is, often a more important consideration is width. I still prefer the form factor of the 12-inch PowerBook. (Oh how I miss it!)
I'm glad these notebooks are designed to complement the current MacBooks, and don't replace them. One needs to consider the above and decide if the svelte MacBook Air is right for you—don't allow yourself to be seduced by it's good looks alone.
Linux
Fedora 8 Within Virtual PC
January 11, 2008
I installed Fedora 8 under Virtual PC 2007 yesterday. I know there are alternatives that are much better than VPC, but it's free, and I already have many VPC virtual machines. I found the process easier than that for Fedora 7, except for sound. Although I only managed to get sound sort-of working I don't care to make it work as I don't need it. So far I've had no trouble with the clock, and I've added less kernel arguments.
For those of you who'd like to play along at home...
  1. Within Virtual PC create a Hard Disk Image of a fixed size and a virtual machine with at least 512MB of RAM.

    I tested Fedora 8 with 256MB of RAM and it ran fine, although the installation varies slightly by formatting your drive earlier and using the swap space during the installation. The hard drive space needed will vary greatly depending on what you install. I suggest at least 10GB if you want to install office-like apps and some development tools. I set my drive to 4300MB (so as I could back it up to a DVD) and had a hard time fitting in the basic development tools, Apache, PHP and MySQL.

  2. Press [Tab] at the initial screen...

    Pressing [Tab]

    ...and add the following kernel arguments to fix the display of Anaconda's screen, the mouse and the scroll wheel respectively.

     vesa i8042.noloop psmouse.proto=imps

    Note that if you copy the text from here you can use right [Alt] + [V] to paste it into Virtual PC. Ensure you capture the leading space.

    Adding the given options

  3. On the next screen that appears you can test your DVD (or ISO image) if you like.

    Note two things here. Firstly the need for these checksums probably isn't as great as it once was, I haven't seen a failed match for years. And secondly this particular utility has a history of not working very well. Surely it's been fixed by now, but don't be surprised if it fails for you even though your disc may be fine. If the test is passed then the media is good; if the test is failed then the media may be good... but probably not.

  4. When the installation arrives at the screen dealing with the partitioning of the hard drive, check the check box labelled "Review and modify partitioning layout" and then click "Next". You'll get a "Blah, blah, are you sure?" warning, click "Yes".

    Selecting Review and modify

  5. We need to get to the custom configuration of the boot loader, so unless you're passionate about how your partitions should be laid out, just click "Next" and our needed boot loader options will appear. Check the check box labelled "Configure advanced boot loader options" and click "Next".

    Selecting Configure advanced boot loader options

  6. In the text field labelled "General kernel parameters" place the following arguments and then click "Next".

    i8042.noloop psmouse.proto=imps

    Note that we no longer need the option "vesa"

    Adding the given options

  7. Proceed through the installation until you get to the time set up. Make sure you uncheck the check box "System clock uses UTC", select your time zone and then click "Next".

    Deselecting UTC

  8. Click your way through the following screens and the install will begin.

  9. Get some food.

  10. When installation is complete, either eject or release your DVD from the "CD" menu within Virtual PC (tap the right [Alt] key to release the mouse) and then click "Reboot" back in the installer (click once within the virtual machine to recapture the mouse).

  11. Make your way through the initial set up, eventually logging-in.

  12. Then navigate the menus as follows, and enter your root password.

    System -> Administration -> Soundcard Detection

  13. A dialogue box titled "Audio Configuration" appears. Click on the "System" tab at the top, and then the button "Reload audio drivers". Sound should now be working, which you can check by returning to the "Sound test" tab and pressing the play button. Set the volume if needed and then click "OK".

    Pressing Reload audio drivers

  14. It turns out that the above setting is "forgotten" after a restart. This is fixed with a little "probe" at boot. Launch terminal...

    Applications -> System Tools -> Terminal

  15. Type su followed by [Enter], and then your root password and then [Enter].

  16. Type the following followed by [Enter].

    gedit /etc/rc.local

  17. Place the cursor at the end of the document and press [Enter] to create a new line. Then type the following and save and close the file.

    modprobe snd-sb16

  18. Now close the Terminal and wonder why the only place the sound works is in the Sound Card Test in the Audio Configuration dialogue box. If you've found a simple fix for this please contact me and I'll let the kids know in turn.

    Note that if your are serious about virtualisation you shouldn't be using Virtual PC anyway.

  19. Lastly you'll notice that your resolution is stuck at something like 800 by 600. (I fixed this by using my xorg.conf file from my Fedora 7 install.) Within Fedora start Firefox and navigate your way back to this article and download this file. By default it will download to your desktop. Close Firefox.

    If you know what you are doing at this point you can edit xorg.conf to give you your desired resolution else you'll be stuck with my setting of 1024 by 768.

  20. Next launch terminal...

    Applications -> System Tools -> Terminal

  21. Change the directory to the desktop by typing the following and then pressing [Enter].

    cd Desktop

    Note the capital "D".

  22. Type su followed by [Enter], and then your root password and then [Enter].

  23. Backup your old xorg.conf file by entering...

    mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.old

  24. Move the downloaded file to the correct place...

    mv xorg.conf /etc/X11/

  25. Switch to the X11 directory so that we can check all is well...

    cd /etc/X11/

  26. Make sure that "root" owns the file...

    chown root.root xorg.conf

  27. Ensure that the permissions are correct...

    chmod 644 xorg.conf

  28. You can see the results of your work by entering...

    ls -l

    And the permissions should be like this:

    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root FileSize DateAndTime xorg.conf

  29. Close the terminal and then select "Log Out" from the "System" menu. When the log on screen appears you'll notice that the resolution is now the larger 1024 by 768.

  30. Log back in and appease the security update pop-up bubble. It can take quite some time to download all the updates.

  31. Get some food, and on the host operating system search the web for someone who knows how to configure the sound correctly.

  32. If the update involves a new kernel, which it most certainly will, restart the virtual machine.

  33. Configure Linux to your liking.
You'll see that the text screen during shutdown is garbled, but you can see some movement, at least enough to let you know that the machine is busy shutting down. No big deal (unless of course you use the text-only consoles).
Internet
Still Waiting for IMAP in Gmail?
December 31, 2007
If you are feeling left out of the Gmail IMAP party it may be because you are a believer in the Queen's English.
It was big news when Google announced IMAP for Gmail. Most e-mail providers and ISPs charge for IMAP—and then along comes Google offering the service for free. Many journalists hailed the virtues of IMAP and I was keen to try it, but being a poor boy I never thought it was worth paying for. So when I heard the announcement I could hardly wait for my Gmail account to be upgraded.
And wait I did. We were told that it would take a few weeks for the service to become available on all accounts. After a month I began to investigate. I found IMAP mentioned on Gmail's help pages where it said that it would only take a few days for the upgrades to carried out across all servers, but no explanation as to why I was left out.
Finding no answers I began to fiddle myself. I created a new account and sure enough IMAP was available. I then began to set up the new account when IMAP disappeared. It turns out, that IMAP becomes unavailable when the language is set to UK-English. I suspect that IMAP is currently only available for US-English accounts. Here's hoping that it becomes available for all languages.
The "Language" setting is the first one under the "General" tab within "Settings". Choose "English (US)" and then click "Save Changes" at the bottom of the page. IMAP should now be available on the fifth tab across which should now read "Forwarding and POP/IMAP".
Past Articles
<< newer     older >>
 
 
<< newer     older >>