Friday 29 May 2009

ubuntu upgrade .. phew ... nearly.

ubuntu reinstall okay now, lots of stuff reconfigured/moved over.

User accounts/passwords and groups set.
Home areas linked in.
Loats of software to install. And some to configure.
Happily the gnome logins seem nicer and user switching behaves better.
Sound when multiple users are on is better.

Ouch. Running childsplay kills the display. Can't recover session.

Thunderbird need to install enigmail add-on (gnupg) from ubuntu package as I have thunderbird from a package.
Firefox get stuff in ubuntu packages where possible ...
TODO:
digikam (new version => digikam database ownership)
kids edu games and menus to find them
photo and video areas need moving (and tidy)

Notes for digikam (in ubuntu 9.1):
User can run it using digikam db they don't have write access to.
But creating new album silently fails (could create new dir but not write to db).
Try upload to flikr. Message so something in browser. Click ok when blah.
1. no okay (it is yes or no). 2. No browser appears. 3. click yes and get seg fault.
Upload to picasa same okay/yes/no dialog.
Uploading doesn't start ... ?
In bigview mode when rating photos rated photos as 4 and photo selection would go back to start. annoying.

Unfortunately I don't have time to go and look for digikam bugs, see if these issues are already logged and write a good description of problem :( :( It could be faster to download source + fix it!!
Maybe.
But then making a beautifully nice and coherent fix and submitting it could take time too!

Thursday 28 May 2009

OHhhhhh noooooos! Here we go again :( ubuntu upgrade *KABOOM*

So.
Ubuntu version upgrade.
AND entries to boot new kernel written incorrectly to /boot/grub/menu.lst (because of long time previously described disk detection error) so restart after upgrade booted into old kernel.
After reboot the package manager assumed it was okay to continue the upgrade.
Suggestion to upgrade scripting people: sanity check kernel version before continuing with upgrade.

Adept seemed to be quite unstable and failed.
Ended up with a system which would boot but had no network, or graphics.
When I fixed graphics (X) we had no mouse or keyboard. AGH! B0rked.

Oh dear.

Right.

Download .iso for ubuntu 9.1 jaunty.
Make various backups.
Repartition.
...

Sunday 24 May 2009

palm sync jpilot - on ubuntu gutsy - needed udev and /etc/modules tweaks

Oh no! Palm worked seamlessly with linuxes for a while.
(and other usb sync just by setting device "usb:" as the thing to sync.)
Now ...
The bad old messy config days are back (hopefully momentarily - I'm briefly stuck on gutsy for a bit on home pc).

$ cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=7.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=gutsy
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 7.10"
$ uname -a
Linux xx 2.6.20-16-generic #2 SMP Tue Feb 12 05:41:34 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

To get palm sync working (with jpilot):
1. add visor to list in /etc/modules
sudo vi /etc/modules
sudo modprobe visor # to load module just for now without restarting
2. Make (or add to 10-custom.rules the below KERNEL=="ttyUSB*" entry (and rm entry from 60-symlinks.rules
BUS=="usb", SYSFS{product}=="*[vVisor]*", KERNEL=="ttyUSB[13579]", NAME="pilot",\
GROUP="dislout", MODE="0660"
2.1
sudo /etc/init.d/udev restart
3. some tests
pilot-xfer -p /dev/ttyUSB0 -l # doesn't work? works?
sudo pilot-xfer -p /dev/ttyUSB0 -l
udevinfo --query=all --name=/dev/ttyUSB0
4.And argh I ran sudo jpilot and did a sync (as root) The group setting was wrong so jpilot as normal user couldn't sync.
# fix ownerships (be careful with find ... -exec chown or chown -R in general, ...
# did I ever tell you about the time I killed a server with a recursive chown?
find /home/jamesc/.jpilot/ -user root -exec chown jamesc:jamesc {} \;
5. add group dialout for your user
sudo usermod -a -G dialout `whoami`
5.1 login again then check new group is enabled for your user
groups
6. FINALLY
jpilot
#hotsync button on palm first, then hotsync button in application



http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-418979.html j-pilot problems in Feisty
http://barnson.org/node/1556 Hotsync Palm Centro on Ubuntu Gutsy
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/has-anyone-synced-a-palm-tx-with-linux-397038/?highlight=pda+sync

Sunday 17 May 2009

house work, mirrors, ...

I got to use a soldering iron this weekend :)
One of Kate's karaoke microphones was broken.
Sure enough, unscrew connector - only one wire attached ... where is other?
Cut and dig into cable to find it.
Then solder it up and screw back together.

Paul brought mirrors and laminated glass.
(by the way, thanks loads for ordering and bringing them Paul!
http://www.palmac.ie/)
Fionnuala got mirror glue and we put up the 2 bay window mirrors (propped with big bits of wood for the day).
I fitted a frame of wood into old attic hatch.
Maeve helped paint it white.
And today we fitted in the laminated glass.
And I stood on it.
And it didn't break!
Big and little bathroom mirror are for another day/weekend.

Music rehersal for choral singing as usual Tue and Thur (competition coming close).
Playing with recording sound, editing and with .abc format linux software.

My jeans have 2 more rips in them (4 times repaired already).

Last Wed helped put up election posters for Green party.
Grand activity. I did feel it in back after a few hours climbing ladder and doing awkward things on it.
Collected Daire from scouts in middle of postering (and rescued a poster for Terence).
It was dampish by end of night but not bad at all.
On Thur backtracked and numbered posters on bike.
Maebh Cody and Adrianne Wyse running in different parts of Dubin South.
Next time: bring sweeping brush for pushing up posters/ties/reaching (umbrella is okay).
Bring gloves - poles are surprisingly dirty.
Brind indelible marker and number them BEFORE putting them up!
Someone must make a plan and a map.

book: Fly By Night - Frances hardinge

'A wonderful and wondrous novel' indeed!

Lovely fantasy. Myra oops! heh hehMosca has grown up in a small village in a world where religions and politics have evolved in weird (only marginally more weird than our own world) ways. Mosca loves books and words though they are denied to ordinary people and guarded jealously by the stationers guild. Her journey into the wider world to the city of Mandelion is great fun for a reader and nothing dismays Mosca (for too long).
Excellent! :) A fantastic new world to explore.

This is one of Daire's books.
I think someone got it for him for Christmas.
Good choice!!

http://www.franceshardinge.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Fly-Night-Frances-Hardinge/dp/0060876271




I'm trying to catch up on recording books I've read.

book: A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson

Explores how science was understood and developed by the people working in it.
What their mindset/thinking was and what were the big changes and which were the accidential(and misinterpreted) discoveries and missed opportunities.
A good meditation upon good scientific method :)

He succeds admirably with the goal of finding proper, not superficial (and hence satisfying) explainations.
Good book. Enjoyable read.

This is my Mum's book.She has a note in it about Kuala Lumpur.

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




I'm trying to catch up on recording books I've read.

smoke alarm testing and "be quiet" feature

This smoke alarm in the kitchen has been in the wars.
I think the smoke mark (new) must be from fire officer Daire testing it!

It's "be quiet" feature never worked very well and the break in the face is because the "be quiet" part of the face was always too stiff to push though the switch did engage if it was hit VERY hard.
Nowadays smoke alarms (and CO alarms) seem to very alot in expense.
(Watch out for price hikes after fire/CO stories reported in media!)
And the design seems to have disimproved over last few years.

You can't get a "be quiet" (for a little while) feature any more?
Is this because of over regulation?
Or because it doesn't pay the alarm makers to put it in?
Without a "be quiet" our kitchen smoke alarm ends up disabled (battery out or covered) for a while when we do end up with smoke. And on occasion when we make a big mess in the kitchen with smoke the same has been done to the alarm in the landing.

We have a CO alarm in Daire and Kate's rooms.
We have a smoke alarm in stairs landing, in attic room and in kitchen.





book: Ark Angel by Anthony Horowitz

I quite like Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider books though they're plainly told action.
The characters are well done.

Perfect for Daire and friends I think :)
In some of Daire's stories you can see the influence of books he reads sometimes.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark_Angel
http://www.anthonyhorowitz.com/alexrider/books/arkangel.html
http://www.amazon.com/Ark-Angel-Anthony-Horowitz/dp/0744583241





book: Touching the Void by Joe Simpson

Joe Simpson and Simon Yates climb the 6,344 metre Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.
The climb is tough (tougher than expected somewhat) and the description is gripping.
On the way down Joe falls and smashes his leg. OW.
Both climbers think Joe is almost as good as dead.

Simon stays to help Joe descend despite increased risk to himself and worsening frostbite in his hands. The descent goes well at first but ends in darkness with Simon holding onto a rope at a hold gradually giving way not able to communicate with or see what is going below with Joe who is dangling over an ice cliff unable to do anything,
Simon eventually cuts the rope.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Touching-Void-Joe-Simpson/dp/0099771012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touching_the_Void
http://www.touchingthevoid.co.uk/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siula_Grande
Google Maps: Siula_Grande area




I am actually reading this one today.
Library book.
Picked it up and half way in before it's time to go to bed (but I'm obviously not going to get to bed on time YET again!)








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Tuesday 12 May 2009

confessed user of WhereAmI (OSM gps data collecting helper app)

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WhereAmI

With v0.11 whereami (on nokia E65) crashes out sometimes, phone resets other times. The E65 has bluetooth stability problems I think. I have seen phone do this with other bluetooth and not whereami. I did not lose .gpx info with crashes. I used up all memory on phone one time and lost last .gpx trace I had done. oops! Check your kids haven't been snapping tons of photos with your phone before OSMing!

http://www.symbianos.org/admin.php?nav=bugs&n=144&oldnav=bugs

With v0.13a after an initial .gpx collect (and maybe GSM cellids) I have an issue with whereami.db :( Need to follow instructions in FAQ: http://www.symbianos.org/faq/r=projectlink%3D47 The .db is not fully corrupt though. maps load fine. When I flip into named items view whereami crashes out.

Monday 4 May 2009

The etymology of porridge

Maeve and I went shopping today.
And made a GPS trace of Ballyogan Dunnes car park for OpenStreetMap.
We got loads of stuff.
Need food.
We have used lots of staples at home and Fionn's Mum & Dad are visiting Wed+Thur this week to mind kids in afternoons while Fionn has a training course in East Point (Where I'm working in Sun).
Maeve did a really good job as usual helping especially unloading stuff from trolley onto conveyor belt while I packed.
As well as minding shopping list.

Anyway, porridge is a funny word. I was wondering about the origins of it.
Porridge is from French/Latin pottage - leek soup. And associated a little later with oatmeal in Scotland.
Ahhh, "pease porridge hot" ? maybe
Fionn is good at making leek soup.
I made it yesterday.
Lots of potato.
Quite yummy.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=porridge
http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/858168 "a type of porridge made from peas, pease pudding" and ""pease" was treated as a mass noun, similar to "oatmeal""

And yoghurt (while we're trying to remember which item of shopping I was thinking about the etymology of!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogurt#Etymology_and_spelling
From Turkish, related to word for to knead and dense/thick

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=sausage boooring meaning from salted

Interesting, on OSM after editing you can see the edits appear at further out zoom levels first.
http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=53.2593&lon=-6.1957&zoom=14&layers=B000FTF

Good weekend.
Long one with May bank holiday.
We stayed in Dub, relaxed slightly in a busy way.
Caught up on some housework.
Cycled with girls to Balawley park (trailgators).
Fionnuala did gardening work.
On Mon I added openable nest box to chicken coop.