Ubuntu 8.10 on Sony VGN-AR51E
After installing Ubuntu 8.10 on my Sony laptop (VGN-AR51E) this is a list of some of the configurations I’ve made: Fixes The web-cam (MotionEye – Ricoh USB r5u870) doesn’t work, I think the driver isn’t in the kernel for Ubuntu 8.10. In fact, /dev/video0 is completely missing (see bug 255678). This is how to fix: […]
New release of Ubuntu – “Intrepid Ibex”
I upgraded to the new Ubuntu 8.10 release and found it included a few improvements. These are some of my favourite: Nautilus now has tabs so you can middle-click folders to open them in a new tab. The included version of F-Spot has had a bug fixed so it now correctly imports comment metadata from […]
Fothofax v0.41 (Oct/08)
Seeing as I have needed to organise my time more than usual lately (because I have more of it!) I made an update to my calendaring software called FothoFax and released version 0.41. It now supports events that span multiple days and has the ability to colour the background of a day. Anniversaries are handled […]
Stitching Photos Together (16/Oct/08)
Hugin works like magic to stitch photos into a panoramic even without using a tripod. After doing the tutorial on the Hugin website, Kix used 3 photos to create this larger one: The funny thing is that, if you look closely, there is a man in the photo that appears twice! This is because he […]
Perfectly sized “Powered by Ubuntu” Sticker (18/Aug/08)
If you have a Laptop with a small circular power button (e.g. a Sony VGN-AR51E) the stickers in issue 110 of Linux format magazine seem to be perfectly sized to frame it if you cut a hole in the middle of the Ubuntu logo. Of course, the other thing you have to do is peel […]
Ubuntu Cola (July 2008)
In Stockholm we found a Cola drink with the same name as our favorite Operating System. It’s fair trade and tastes just as nice as the original Cocacola. Ubuntu roughly means “I am because we are”. From The Guardian: In fact, the word ubuntu is just part of the Zulu phrase “Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu”, which […]
MyBook USB External Hard Drive – 20/Mar/2007 (Birthday present from Kix)
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 […]
Change the Opera start page on the Ameo (Jan/08)
One problem with the Ameo is that the webbrowser doesn’t open at your homepage, it opens with a useless T-Mobile page. To change this do the following: Install “PHM Registry Editor” (smartphone edition). This is a free program that allows you to edit the registry values. Once installed, Run it and go to the root […]
Freedom Universal Keyboard – Dec/2007 (Christmas present from Grandpa)
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 […]
Netgear Aerial extension (Dec/2007)
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: Original Aerial Custom Aerial Downstairs signal strength: 81%-83% […]
Moved ISPs to bethere.co.uk (Dec/2007)
We Changed ISPs from “Freedom2surf” to “Be” because it is a faster and cheaper connection. The connection details that Be supply are minimal to say the least. This is because they expect you to use their pre-configured “BeBox” that they send you for free. We didn’t like the way the BeBox looked and we didn’t […]
Xbox software update – Stream video from Linux (Dec/2007)
Microsoft released a software update that expands the number of video formats that the XBox will play. This is quite exciting for me because I usually have to watch anything I download on my unimpressive 15″ computer monitor but now I can stick it on a USB key and watch it on my TV from […]
Xbox 360 – Oct/2007 (Christmas present from Kix)
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 […]
Perl Pie
“How do I change “pelican” to “pecan” in all the files in a directory?”. “Dude, use Perl Pie”! I’m pretty familiar with Perl, having used it on and off whenever there’s a string manipulation related job to be done. I like Perl despite all it’s faults. I like writing Perl (not so keen on reading […]
Finding the Median in Linear time
Here are three C++ programs to find the median of a set of numbers. The first is short and simple. The last is fiddly and fast. Simple but not linear (n*log n time): Sort using STL sort (presumably quicksort), then find the middle value: #include #include int main() { int A[7] = {23, 1, 33, […]
