Tom Fotherby’s Blog

This quality half-terrabyte Western Digital external hard drive is to replace our now broken NAS drive. Instead of using a NAS drive we have created a Samba share on our server which we find more convenient.

This 2nd drive is for backing up our files using rsync to mirror our primary hard disk.

We map the USB hard disk on our Ubuntu 8.04 machine by putting the following in /etc/fstab:

/dev/sdb1   /home/fotherby/Bitbucket    ext3    user,rw 0       0

We call our backup drive “Bitbucket” which is a name we learnt from the IC DOC labs. We do a nightly backup by putting the following script in /etc/cron.daily/ourBackup:

#!/bin/sh

rsync -a --delete /home/fotherby/OurStuff /home/fotherby/Bitbucket/CharmeleonMirror/
rsync -a --delete /var/www/tomfotherby /home/fotherby/Bitbucket/CharmeleonMirror/

• -a: Archive. This causes rsync to maintain things like file permissions and ownerships (same as -rlptgoD).
• –delete: This tells rsync to delete files that are no longer on the server from the backup. The delete is done BEFORE any of the new data is transferred.

Chloe’s company, Panasonic, have made the whole Thatcham mobile phone development site redundant and are giving the staff their PCs which I’m thinking of as a leaving present.

It is a Dell Optiplex GX270 which is a good upgrade but exactly the same form factor as the previous GX260 : CPU: Pentium 4 3GHz RAM: 1GB DDR SDRAM.

I crashed poor Lance in a nasty high speed collision. I was driving down a duel-carriageway, came round the corner and saw the road was blocked with cars from a previous accident, couldn’t stop in time, went into a skid, spun 180 and crashed going backwards into a stationary van. There were 8 cars involved but no-one was hurt.

I got a Peugeot 206 which has a smaller engine but still feels like an upgrade. It cost £4000, was registered in 2003 but has only 25000 miles on the clock.

These are the things I like about it:

1) It has a “clicky thing” (remote central locking). Magic.
2) There’s more room on the window sill to rest my elbow while driving.
3) The seat belts actually roll up into the car when you get out (rather than flopping around and getting in the way of the door)
4) You can open the boot without using the key (i.e. don’t have to turn the engine off to open the boot like I did with the Ford Ka).

I feel sad that I’ve finally replaced my old PC which my dad gave me as a 21st birthday present. It was just too sluggish, even for browsing the web.

I bought a widescreen Sony Vaio. It’s interesting to compare the specs because it shows how much technology has advanced in the last 7 years:

Kix also bought a Sony. She chose one quite a lot smaller and lighter so it wouldn’t be uncomfortable on her lap (VGN-FZ21S). It only weights 2.8Kg’s but she has a smaller screen (15.4″ instead of 17″). Hers has a Blu-ray drive, bluetooth, Wireless N, faster HDD, extra 0.2GHz CPU and a extra 128MB of Video memory.

Old PC:

New Laptop:

I was very impressed at how well Ubuntu 7.10 runs on the laptop. The webcam, memory card reader, headphone jack and hibernation doesn’t work but the wireless, battery indicator and everything else works fine.

One of the reasons for getting my Ameo instead of a normal mobile phone was so I could write my journal whilst on the coach to work. But the keyboard that comes with it turned out to be inadequate. So I got a replacement:

The HTC website for the Ameo has a link to a list of suggested accessories which includes the “Freedom Universal Bluetooth Keyboard for HTC (QWERTY)”

To get the “Freedom Universal Keyboard” working with the Ameo, follow these steps:

1. Download a file called “WM05SP.exe” from
   www.freedominput.com (The page is titled “Windows Mobile Smartphone 05″).

2. Make sure your Ameo is attached to your Windows PC and that ActiveSync is running. When you double-click “WM05SP.exe” it will install a progrm in C:\Program Files\Freedom Universal Keyboard. The install.bat file in this program didn’t work for me so I manually moved “bthkeyb.ARM.CAB” (a file that was included in the install) onto the Ameo via ActiveSync and installed the CAB directly from the Ameo.
3. After installation, a new icon will have appeared in “Programs” called “Bthkeyb”. The first time you click it, you will be given a “Device Code” and asked for a passcode.
4. To get the passcode, go to www.freedominput/unlock.html and fill in the form including the “Device code” and a 7 digit number on a sticker from the back of the instruction book that came with the keyboard. The form asked whether I was sure before continuing - Press the “Confirm” button to get a passcode which you enter using the Ameo onscreen keyboard.
5. The keyboard program shows a almost blank info screen except the bottom-right corner has a button labled “Main”. Select “Main”, then choose “General”.
6. On the keyboard, move the switch to “HID mode” so the LED flashes green, then press and hold the “B” button. On the Ameo, click the “Bluetooth keyboard” checkbox.
7. The connection is automatically made in a few seconds and a message “Keyboard was connected” pops up - it’s then safe to release the “B” button. Test the keyboard works in MS Word Mobile.

Problems:

• The connection isn’t permanent - You have to reconnect the keyboard every time you want to use it.
• The backspace key doesn’t seem to work (delete does though). The home and end keys don’t seem to work either.
• You can’t seem to hold down shift and then use the arrow keys to create a text selection area (vital for cut&paste).
• The keyboard doesn’t work in every program. It works in Word and Text Messages though.

We bought a Netgear aerial extension on Ebay because upstairs doesn’t get a reliable signal. But… It looks ridiculous:

Original Aerial	Custom Aerial

I measured the wireless signal strength on our two Squeezebox’s, one is in the room next to the router, the other is upstairs:

So it seems to have a minor decrease in signal close by but a better range. Worth the ridiculous form factor? Probably Not!

Our original Xbox (4 ½ years old now) has become too flaky, games crash and DVDs skip. We needed a DVD player and it’d be a shame to lose all our games so buying a new XBox makes sense. Halo 3 took any doubt out of the decision. I do feel suckered into the slick Microsoft marketing trap but it does it’s job as an entertainment system so I don’t feel ripped off.

The online capabilities of the Xbox is pretty impressive, I downloaded a few demo’s but I was disappointed with the fact there is no movie rentals available - certainly a wasted opportunity for Microsoft (I hear they have them in the USA - what gives?). Halo 3 online works flawlessly.

I put my original Xbox on Ebay - it got won with a bid of just £12.50!

Dahon D7 Folding bike

My company started a government sponsored scheme called “bike to work” which gives a significant discount on bicycles as long as they are used for getting to work. I chose an entry level folding bike and also a large frame mountain-bike.

I have been thinking about how to streamline my commute for a while. Having a bike->coach->bike journey instead of a walk->coach->bus journey improves things enormously. No more waiting at the coach station because the bus and coach don’t synchronise their timetables.

I estimate that it saves me about 30 minutes a day which is fantastic. It should also provide some much needed exercise. It’s takes me about a minute to fold or unfold the bike and put it in it’s carry bag (which the coach company insist on). The procedure is quite fiddly and takes a bit of practice. It’s a bit too heavy but it feels robust, even if I weigh at the maximum end of the suggested weight limit. The 7 gears give a decent range.

I actually wish I had spent more money on it and got a better model because I use it so often and the folding mechanism could be improved on.

Carrera Vulcan 2007

Because I can’t see the delicate folding bike going off-road, I got a huge (22 Inch) chunky solid bike to compensate.

This is the first time I’ve used disk-brakes and so far I’m disappointed because they don’t give any more traction than rim-brakes. Also the suspension is too soggy for my weight (I didn’t know that suspension is designed especially for a weight range).

Until now, I have never bought a mobile phone because my Criteria for buying one was pretty damn strict. But, finally (after waiting pretty much 5 years) one that meets most of my requirements was on sale and as soon as I had a chance to test it out for real I bagged it (there was no way I was going to buy it without trying it out for real).

Criteria	Pass/Fail
No more than £300	Fail but close - £330
Large color screen (minimum of 4 inches).	Pass- 5 inch screen
Can play music files in “ogg vorbis” format (using headphones). Can play videos.	Pass but needed to install better media player than the default (e.g. coreplayer rather than windows media player)
Storage space for any type of file.	Pass - 8GB hard disk + 2GB miniSD card + USB port for pendrive.
Easy to attach, full-size Qwery-Keyword.	Fail but close - Large magnetic keyboard but doesn’t allow touch typing.
Can Browse the internet for free Can send emails (in googlemail, for free). Can ssh into home machine.	Pass - T-Mobiles Web’n'walk on 3G. PocketPutty
Location can be shown on map	Pass - This has GPS and TomTom works really well
Can run my own code on it	Pass - Can do (but I haven’t tried yet). I want to be able to load my Java cocktail program to tell you what you can make given different ingredients.
Decent battery life.	Pass - The battery lasts all day, even after watching 2 hours of video on it.
Doesn’t use a Microsoft OS and doesn’t require Windows for interfacing with PC.	Fail - It runs Windows mobile 5

The screen is huge and bright, perfect for viewing movies on the coach to work. The internet connection speed is unfrustrating and the browser supports tabs. The input methods are flexible (there’s a touch-screen, mouse nub, keyboard and a mode where you tilt the device to scroll). It has SatNav. It has more than a 3 hour battery life. In short - It’s pretty magic.

The big disappointment (and something that I’m deeply ashamed of) is that it runs Windows. I get very excited about open-source software and I don’t enjoy kicking it in the teeth but my hands are up, I’m guilty this time. It is only the 2nd time I’ve paid for Windows and I hope it is my last. Please forgive me.

The Wii is physically very small and quiet and understated which demonstrates it’s philosophy - It isn’t trying to do everything, it is simply trying to be be playful. The controller is natural to use but very clever. It can detect where your pointing it, whether your tilting it and it’s real forte, it can react to acceleration (it also contains a speaker and rumble-pack). The console comes with “Wii Sports” which is sort of a tutorial for the controller and demos some of the flexibility that can be had - my favourite is tennis.

The Wii is a fun machine!

Chloe’s company, Panasonic gave away their old PC’s and she managed to bag this machine: CPU: Pentium 4 2Gz RAM: 768MB DDR SDRAM.

Inside it is very organised but not very expandable, there isn’t room for more than one harddisk and I could only just fit our TV card into a pci slot riser card. We called it “Parsley” and it will be our webServer, musicServer and TVServer.

We bought the updated model because we thought Fred would enjoy our current squeezebox as a house-warning present. The new model is almost exactly the same with a few improvements:

It can now access internet radio without having your PC on. (Connects to “SqueezeNetwork”). It can now act as a network bridge It now has better wireless speed - 802.11g (rather than 802.11b). It now has better graphical display - 320×32 pixels (rather than 280×16). It has even better sound - a “high fidelity 24-bit Burr-Brown DAC”!? It can now connect to the Pandora service.