Geek with an attitude

Fedora 11: First impressions

2009-06-16T01:58:00.001+05:30

Fedora 10 (F10) was one of the best fedora release I've come to use. I liked it so much that I made it the default OS on my Mac Mini PPC. So naturally I was looking forward to the release of Fedora 11 (F11). But with a couple of release dates slipping, the wait was somewhat of a torture. This of course is to be expected with Fedora, I was told, because all good FOSS community software follow the philosophy "IT WILL BE RELEASED WHEN IT IS READY!" (oh and "RELEASE OFTEN" but thats beside the point :).

Now before I give my first impressions, I must warn that if your a die hard Fedora fanboy, then please STOP reading.

....

Even if your not please note that these impressions are based on the Fedora Live CDs (both standard and kde based) and I have yet to download the DVD release. I did not install the Live CDs but merely ran them Live and only for a short period of time (a little over an hour combined). I tested the Live CDs on both my older Acer TravelMate 4200 laptop as well as the relatively newer Macbook Aluminium Unibody.

F11 on the Acer notebook

The first thing that I noticed was that finally Kernel ModeSetting (KMS) worked on this Intel GMA 950 GPU. If I recalled correctly, with F10, the Intel drivers were broken with KMS. Unfortunately I found the KMS boot splash somewhat boring. Compared to F10, which really showed off the power of KMS with an awesome solar system animation (I saw it on an ATI GPU), F11 had a much simpler Fedora logo that filled up as the system booted. I'm sure there may have been a logical reason for simplifying the animation, but my first impression was it needed more sex appeal.

Once the system had booted and transitioned nicely to the login manager (thanks to KMS), followed by the desktop (after auto login), I found my self further disappointed esthetically, this time due to dull looking wallpaper and theme. IMHO, F11's wallpaper is several steps back when compared to the beautiful wallpapers of F10, F9 or even F8. The desktop theme plays a key part in the first impression and so perhaps they should have stuck to the wallpaper they had during the beta release.

F11 beta wallpaper wasn't so bad

One thing I did like visually over the previous releases was that of the notification popup balloon.

Beyond the look, F11 felt like a very solid distro. Before F10, with earlier releases, I felt somewhat on unstable and shaky ground. F10 changed my perception and F11 takes it a little further.

While pretty much everything worked on my Acer notebook, there were few noteworthy bad first impressions I had with the out of the box experience. First up was the touchpad tapping being turned off by default. Now while I'm aware this is the default behavior on Windows, it is nevertheless a bad idea. Why disable this feature that most find useful? Other desktop focused distros such as Ubuntu or Mint seem to have tap turned on by default. Having said that, its pretty easy to turn tap on using the Gnome mouse preferences dialog. Unfortunately the same cannot be said with KDE 4 Control Center. I was unable to find this setting on the Fedora KDE spin.

Another default setting that I didn't understand was the 3D desktop (aka Compiz) being turned off. Considering Linux very well supports composition on the Intel GPU, I don't understand why Fedora does not want to give this cool first impression feature (actually for me Compiz is beyond cool, its a necessity). The kde spin did not even have the "Turn on desktop effects" helper application and the one that is part of the kde 4 Contol Center was functional but slow.

As far as the applications went, I was thrilled to see Firefox 3.5 beta in there. Even though this was a beta release, most people have reported that it was stable and visibly faster than the previous version. Unfortunately if your on the kde spin, you wont find Firefox at all! I'm also glad to see Pidgin back as the default IM instead of the cool but not so functional Empathy IM, the default on F10. The lack of OpenOffice on the LiveCD struck me as a definite lack, and other Office suites (Gnome Office nor Kde Office) are simply not worthy of being default replacements.

A complaint most often heard from the Windows cross over crowd is the lack of basic codecs for playing multimedia formats. Given the legal nature of shipping these codecs, most desktop distros try to simplify the "finding and installation" process by providing helper software. As far as my tests went, F11 was not friendly in helping me find and install some of the basic codecs such as mp3 or xvid. In contrast Ubuntu seemed to do this reasonably well.

Nevertheless I saw improvements in terms of functionality and stability with Package kit - Fedora's answer to unifying package management in a consistent manner across distros. While its exciting to see where this project is heading, there are still some fundamental usability issues that need to be fixed. For example, a simple thing such as the lack of a proper progress indicator when updating the package database can be frustrating to watch and wait, especially with low speed broadband Internet connections. Another annoyance are the multiple dialog boxes that can appear during an install, in which all of them are waiting for the package database to be released. What would have been better was to have a single dialog which showed the task queue with the current one highlighted and progress indicated.

F11 on the Macbook

Next up was to test how F11 fared with my Linux hating Macbook. As expected I ran into many problems most of which are not unique to F11 but are seen in pretty much all current Linux distros. Two things that did not work with F11 at all but partially worked with Ubuntu/Mint was the touchpad and wireless. On F11 the mouse cursor would not move at all, while on Ubuntu it can be used as a single buttoned mouse (no tap support but click works). The wireless also worked on Ubuntu using the free Broadcom driver with the option to install the proprietary one. Not so in F11 and I had to use the wired connection to fix this. Sound did not work either, but neither did it on other distors. The lack of pommed package in the F11 repo was another frustration in trying to get the touchpad and some multimedia keys working. But this is not to say its impossible and if you google around, you should be able to find a few HOWTOs. I was a bit disappointed that even with the latest Nuova drivers that came with F11, it was still unable to boot via KMS or even auto load the driver under Xorg. Instead F11 seemed to use the vesa driver instead.

Conclusion

Overall I'd recommend F11 for anyone fond of RPM distros, those thinking of upgrading from a previous version or anyone who wants a bleeding edge but rock solid distro with the (almost) latest kernel and set of packages. Personally I prefer deb based ones but with YUM and Package Kit getting better the difference is likely to disappear. I'm definitely going to upgrade (or install from scratch), F11 on the Mac Mini PPC because Fedora supports PPC quite well. If your going the Fedora route, I really couldn't recommend the Kde spin due to the lack of some important pieces and the poor integration. I would rather install the standard Gnome based one and install kde on it.

Lights, Camera, Action!

2009-06-06T20:37:00.002+05:30

SinhalenFOSS, the audio podcast we started a little over an year ago is now available as a vidcast. A couple of months back, I got a call from Dr. Ajantha and I was thrilled to hear of UCSC.tv, the latest venture by UCSC. I was even more thrilled when Dr. Ajantha invited us to produce the SinhalenFOSS podcast on it.

Despite our enthusiasm, we soon learned how hard it was to produce the show as a vidcast. We were used to recording the audio podcast at our own time, sometimes in the car, sometimes at home or office or even on the road. We would sometimes answer phone calls from loved ones in the middle of the recording and edit that out. Our podcast was pretty much a basement operation by 3 sweaty guys :)

So I guess the most difficult task was to make us presentable on video. To that extent, the UCSC TV crew has done a good job with makingup us! The next challenge was time management. While our audio show was roughly 1 hour long, it wasn't strictly 1 hour long. Sometimes we went on and on for 1:45 hours and at times was done in 45 min. With the vidcast, we now have to be aware of time and wrap up when we see the 2 minute sign. To further complicate time management, we have to break the show up to 2 parts of 25 minutes each but make it appear to be one show on the audio podcast.

While all this might seem like a list of complaints, its actually been a blessing. We've now have the opportunity to show visuals of news sites and software screens when doing reviews as opposed to just talking about it. The sound quality has also improved vastly due to the studio setting.

Unfortunately the vidcast is still not in line with the audio podcast as the video post production
takes time and there many shows on UCSC.tv. They're also still on a pilot run and looking for a partnership to broaden the reach of the online tv channel. As a result, atleast initially, shows are likely to have a delay when they air.

In addition to Sinhalenfoss, I'm also producing another geek talk show appropriately named Geek Katha. On this show, we talk about gadgets and technology in Sinhala. Producing a gadget/tech talk show is a challenge and takes a lot of preparation, especially with the style of live recording we do. Once we start recording, its a continuous recording for 25 minutes. The PS3 show which will hopefully air next week, took a considerable amount of time to produce. But I enjoy producing both shows and so far the response for both shows have been quite good.

So finally I ask you to head on over to the ucsc.tv web site and watch the shows and provide your valuable feedback and encouragement to take this effort forward. The success of this new venture depends on you.

Birthday gift

2009-05-01T23:26:00.006+05:30

Kanchana, my wife had an old P4 machine from back in the days before we met. It was a PC House branded G-Max. Anyways, she's been wanting to fix it up and give it to her sister to use and so we'd figure it would be a good B' day gift for her. So last weekend, about this time, I was sweating it off trying to put it back together in time for April 25th, her B' day.

We'll it began a couple of days earlier, 23rd to be exact, when we picked it up from her parents place and cleaned it up and tried plugging it in. For better or worse, nothing happened - nothing worked. At least this thing wasn't going up in smoke.

I removed the casing which was slightly more difficult than usual as a result of the case design. You couldn't pull out the motherboard because the CPU fan hits the CDROM and you couldn't pull out the CDROM for exact same reason. So I removed the power supply, slid the motherboard and lifted it up once the CPU fan was in the clear.

The fun part was cleaning off the layers of dust and the few cockroach eggs that could be seen on the chassis. After blowing at the board frantically, I know I needed some sort of compressed air. Not having it, I improvised with my deodorant spray which did the trick. After letting the deodorant alcohol to dry, I went about setting up the system on top of a piece of wood. To my pleasant surprise it turned on, after shorting the jumper pins that would otherwise be connected to the power switch.

As expected the CMOS battery was dead and needed replacing, which I did. I also thought it would be good to upgrade the CDROM to a DVD ROM/Writer which I had lying around. This proved quite difficult as it was impossible to get the CDROM from the back and getting it from the front proved quite difficult. There was no straight forward way of getting the front blue panel off from the casing and I struggled for at least half an hour. A half and hour and a bucket full of sweat later I just ripped it off damaging just one revert in the middle. Fortunately this wasn't a big deal as I was able to upgrade the CDROM and reattach the panel.

Timing was good as Ubuntu Jaunty 9.04 had been released just a day earlier so I slapped that on while wiping out Windows XP and Redhat 9. Despite the machine being several years old, everything worked quite well, even with the 512MB ram it had. The machine booted in under 20 seconds thanks to the bootup optimizations found in the new Ubuntu. Unfortunately 3D (compiz) did not work even though it had a built in Intel 945 graphics.

Since she was into media, I installed inkscape, skype, elisa, audacity, sinhala stuff and various codecs needed to get by. To top it off, we bought her a 17" View Sonic flat panel display which cost only 13K - not bad IMHO.

Overall she was quite happy and has somewhat gotten used to working on Linux. A couple of days ago she commented that it was becoming easier to use - easier than Windows XP.

Pulling along ...

2009-04-18T05:58:00.001+05:30

Considering it's been exactly 1 year since my last post, I pondered a bit on a title for this post. "The comeback", "Still live and kicking" or "I'm back!" sprang to mind. But then I realized I'd be fooling my self and you, if I even remotely meant this blog was going to be regularly updated. Hence a title which better reflects the current state of my blog and to an extent my life - pulling a long a day at a time.

Now don't get the wrong impression - I'm not depressed! As some of you already know my life's gone through a few transformations. Hmm let me see, first there was the marriage, then moving to our own (rented) place, loosing my iPod touch (oh the drama), moving again to a bigger house, moving again to a new office, moving away from
Gentoo, moving back to Gentoo, buying new iPod touch 2g, getting a new macbook, buying a few ps3 titles including guitar heros 3 and buying an actual guitar and taking up lessons.

Ok so that last para covers the highlights that come to my mind at this early 1:42 sweaty AM. For the juicy details leading up to now checkout my Twitter time line. Basically I've been a geekaholic all along, you just didn't see it here.

Besides the random stuff, I've been atleast (somewhat) keeping up with the SinhalenFOSS podcast to the point we have at an average 2 shows a month, which is what we planned initially before going for a weekly format that we find difficult sticking to - pulling along.

My usual old reason for blogging less was micro blogging and it still holds true. The one thing that will replace micro blogging is telephathy and I suspect we're a couple of decades away from seeing that.

zzzzzzzzzz ....

5.45am
Looks like I fell asleep while typing on the iTouch. Anyway I conclude by asking you to watch this space while I pull my way back in to blogging.

Posted with LifeCast

24hrs Sinhala Blog Marathon Starts Today!

2008-04-18T00:16:00.004+05:30

The Sinhala Bloggers Union is organizing a 24hrs Blog Marathon starting from 8pm local time today, 18th to the 19th. There are currently over 30 participating blogs, including our sister (or brother depending on where your from :) site sinhalenfoss.org. Each blogging site will be trying to reach a crazy difficult target of 96 posts! In otherwords, we're talking about a blog post appearing from each site every 15 min! Multiply that by 30+ sites and boy I hope the net doesn't crash :P

The easiest way to catch all the fun is to constantly reload http://marathon.sinhalabloggers.com/, the official blog aggregator (syndicator) for the event. But it doesn't stop there. These guys have created a custom Face Book application for the FB junkies, a twitter channel for twitter addicts like myself, a Yahoo Pipes mash up for the web services oriented and even IM based updates.

If your interested in blogging in Sinhala Unicode, it might not be too late to enroll your self by contacting them.

Best Last place to listen to Music

2008-04-14T13:47:00.006+05:30

If your a music lover and also inclined to discover new (&old) music then last.fm is the place to be. I've signed up a couple of months back and have really been enjoying music surfing. Thats right! similar to channel surfing last.fm is about discovering music based on what you like and what others who are like you like. There is plenty of research in this field, some of which are headed by the folks at lastfm, but what it essentially means is a good trip down music lane :)

You can sign up for a free account and search based on artist or a tag such as pop, rock, jazz or female vocalist. In any case your search result becomes a virtual radio station which goes off on all sorts of tangents discovering similar artists or similar artists, tags and so on. When you hear a song you really like, you can express your pleasure by marking it as loved, or display your hate by banning it and you shall never hear it. You can also skip tracks, unlike web streaming radio but can not seek within the song, since it isn't meant to be "music on demand" sort of a service but more of a personalized radio like service.

The killer feature is scrobbling, which you can get by downloading and installing the Free/Open Source last.fm client on your computer or portable device such as an ipod touch/iphone or N800. What scrobbling essentially is tracking the music you play and uploading that information to the last.fm server against your profile to improve the kind of music you hear and to provide user listening patterns and charts.

The ipod touch/iphone client for those who've managed to jail break their device is simply awesome. I am so hooked on listening to music wirelessly while lying in bed and marking tracks I like and checking out lyrics, information on the artist using the integrated wiki lookup as well as checking artist tour dates and locations (not that I'll ever go but its fun). Unfortunately the desktop clients seems to lack some of these fine features integrated for the time being.

So if your music lover, go check it out. Its web 2.0 done for music where you can form your own little friend network and discover music together. if your really hooked on it, might even be worth dishing out a couple of extra bucks for the value added features the network provides.

Sinhalen FOSS Blogcast

2008-04-10T10:26:00.002+05:30

Recently I've been trying to start a Blog and Podcast as a means of reducing the language barrier when it comes to learning and playing around with Free and Open Source Software, aka FOSS. So a couple of months back I started the Sinhalen FOSS Blog at Wordpress.com. The idea of the blog is really to introduce various aspects of FOSS such as howto's, command line tips/tricks etc. and provide a forum for other Bloggers to contribute related articles. In this regard, I am grateful to Lakmal and Kanchana for their contributions and hope more of you will take the challenge in installing Sinhala Unicode and getting in to the habbit of remembering to write in Sinhala :). Yes it can be a pain, especially with the current state of input methods. Yes there are always complexities in writing proper Sinhala. But as far as I'm concerned writing something is better than not trying at all. In this regards, I'd have to thank my mom who is my personal Sinhala specialist (she's got a degree in it), and Dhahajaya who is an upcoming singer/song writer (not to mention our accountant).

So the next natural evolution from text is to get into audio. Actually thats not really the case, but for now about an year I've wanted to start podcasting. I've, myself am (me me me) a huge fan of podcasts and listens to over 10 podcasts while on the road on my ipod. Besides I've always had a thing for talking so finally with the help of 2 more geeks, chanux and seejay, I've managed get over the inertia of getting into podcasting.

With the launch of the podcast, I've decided to get its own domain so from now on both the Sinhalen FOSS Blog and Sinhalen FOSS podcast will live at http://sinhalenfoss.org. We'd like to call it a BlogCast because its a fusion of both those elements. Talking about the show, its going to be bi-weekly (hopefully) at first and depending on the feedback and our time availability we might go in to a weekly format. The show will roughly be an hour long, where we will talk informally about news events in the foss world, reviews, gossip and what not in sinhala.

So go check out the pilot episode and give us feedback on how to improve, what you'd like to hear more of less of.

Good bye Gentoo - Hello Leopard

2008-04-01T16:50:00.007+05:30

The following post was an April Fools Hoax :) While bits of it are true such as I did finally move away from Gentoo as my primary distro its got more to do with lack of time and laziness to reinstall gentoo. Hopefully I'll do another post on me moving to Kubuntu (Ubuntu + kubuntu-desktop package). I did find few annoyances but one should expect that running a beta software. I am happily using kubuntu with full desktop effects that is far superior that of Apple of Microsoft.

I did buy the Mighty Mouse and Apple keyboard as mentioned I wanted a good portable bluetooth device and they worked effortlessly (almost :) on the latest Ubuntu 8.04.

No Leopard's were harmed in creating this hoax as the desktop your seeing on my Acer laptop is actually a full screen screenshot sent to me by Siraj using his Mac notebook which I loaded before taking the picture.

Its been a little over 3 years since I switched from Debian to Gentoo. I still remember my blog post titled "Goodbye Debian, Hello Gentoo" like it was yesterday. Gentoo was a gr8 distro for me since my machine ran like a speeding bullet as a result of being able to optimize it to my old P4 notebook at the time. Actually before loading Gentoo on my notebook I actually ran it a on my AMD64 bare bone system as a 64 bit OS. I later install gentoo on my Mac Mini PPC as well and was loving it.

But then came the painful realization of upgrading packages and I would spend a lot of time on the PPC machine and the AMD 64 machine downloading and compiling packages. You see unfortunately in most cases downloading source code takes up more space than the compiled binary and compiling it on an old PPC system or even an old AMD 64 (2GHz equivalent) was a killer. But I must say I enjoyed it - until of course the system was still half broken and I had to do a revdep-rebuild to rebuild those packages.

Eventually I gave up running Gentoo on those systems and started running Ubuntu or Debian. Till recently my Apple PPC G4 was running Debian but when I upgraded to Leopard (aka Mac OSX 10.5) it replaced the boot loader so now its just running on that. My AMD 64 is running Ubuntu 64 with a Leopard like theme by following the instructions at Mac4Lin.

So basically till last weekend I was only running Gentoo on my main notebook and funny enough it was the same installation I did 3 years ago on my HP P4 notebook. You see when I got this new Acer, I was too lazy to re-install Gentoo so copied the files across and re-emerged everything. And thats how Gentoo is. You can rebuild the whole system and have it like a new one. But for things to work right sometimes you end up recompiling a couple of times only to find by the time your done its time to upgrade again :) But more recently I had a couple of apps which just crashed like wvdial and X with compiz.

So last weekend, I carefully backed up my data and started installing Ubuntu. Since I was already using xorg 7.3 and what not I thought I'd install Ubuntu+1 (aka 8.04 beta). Its one thing to switch from Gentoo to Ubuntu but another to also switch from Kde to Gnome. I've been a Kde user for over 6 years! So I did the apt-get install kubuntu-desktop. Oh boy is kubuntu not so ready. Compared to Ubuntu I find it buggy and not polished at all.

After spending the whole of weekend I managed to get something which sort of resembles my favorite desktop - Leopard.

But it was such a pain. When ever I rebooted the machine kubuntu would not properly start desktop effects. I spent a couple of hours trying to figure this out and even went on IRC #kubuntu but no luck. Finally I nailed it down to a some sort of a dbus error. And that was the last straw! I've had it spending time messing around with my OS. The reason I left Gentoo was to have an easier time enjoying the desktop and now the same thing with kubuntu!!!

All this happened yesterday and I was quite frustrated with Kubuntu and Linux in general. I know linux has come a long way and its still a great OS but when all you want is to "just do it" Linux tends to fail more often. So I was quite frustrated and went for a shower since by then I was feeling so sweaty and sticky. While showering it occurred to me that I was really most comfortable with the Mac OSX GUI than anything else. If you've been following my blog you would remember that I wrote several posts from even before Compiz-beryl was invented on making the desktop look more like Mac OSX. I remember a couple of years back I managed to install a hackint0sh version of OSX Tiger on one of the IBM Thinkpad, so yesterday started looking into it. I had the ISO for Tiger but wanted to install Leopard instead. Luckily I had the ISO's for Leopard also :) since I had upgraded my Mac Mini with it so after following the instructions at this site I managed to get OSX Leopard running on my Acer.

Everything pretty much works great such as Sound, 3D acceleration, Networking, Wi-Fi and even bluetooth. I recently bought an Apple Mighty Mouse since I wanted a bluetooth wireless mouse and it works great. It was so much easier to configure on OSX than on Linux.

So it looks like for the time being until I have a bit more time on my hand I am leaving the OS I spent the last 8-9 years using for an OS I've aspired all other OSes should become. Apple has always been very innovative and I think the desktop OS will be won by them at the end.

I am still a hoping to use a lot of Open Source software from within Mac OSX. When I get more time I might even look into the wonderful Darwin system which is a truly Open Source kernel based on BSD Unix. I am also very keen on getting into Apple's Objective C based CoCoa development using XCode since it will provide me with the means to develop iPhone apps using the SDK. I also hope to buy an iPhone once the 3G version is available. Wooh! can't wait!

Anyway I wrote a lot and I'm quite excited and hope to bring you guys more articles on using Mac OSX!

Wicked Shell Programming Workshop @ UCSC

2008-03-15T23:19:00.003+05:30

We had a nice couple of sessions on shell programming today at the LSF lab @ UCSC. Anuradha started off with a great introduction that set the stage for the rest of the day. I followed with my invent as I go style of presentation, which for the most part I believe (hope) made sense. Then Sapumal did the evening session on brining all of it together with an advanced session.

There was a good geek crowd that filled the small LSF room where geeks were seen on chairs, couches, on top of tables and on their feet. All of the speeches and some interludes were recorded and could go up youtube if and when someone gets around to it. Overall it was a good first day and more will follow tomorrow.

I have a session in the evening and will try to pop in and out between my usual Linux lectures at UCSC and the workshop. In the mine time, enjoy these few pics I took from day 1.

Our first IEEE paper has been published!

2008-02-24T19:00:00.002+05:30

Dr. Ajantha came back from the "International Conference on Advanced Communication Technology" after submitting what appears to be our (that is myself and Wathsala's) first paper at an IEEE conference. The subject of the paper which you can download and read here, is about a Next Generation Proxy caching system which fuses the idea of Cached content and Bandwidth utilization with web 2.0/x.0 trends.

These ideas are the result of what we learned by implementing Bassa, an Open Source Next Generation Proxy Server (NGP) at UCSC. We are very excited about continuing our research and development to expand its scope.

Just another day @ the Sri Lanka Customs Office

2008-02-23T18:40:00.000+05:30

Oh boy what a day it was! I spent a good 5 hrs at the Sri Lankan Airport cargo office on Friday trying to clear a 3" tiny piece of memory which I had ordered for my Toshiba L1 laptop.

I didn't really expect this to be held by customs in the first place, considering its size, weight, cost and the fact it was a 256MB chip (quite outdated by todays memory standards). I was also misled by FedEx's tracking comments which gave no indication of the shipment being held at customs but stated that it was on its way for delivery. It was only when the courier guy came and handed a letter I knew what happened. What was more amusing was the next update on FedEx's tracking site - Goods delivered.

I called up FedEx and they said in order for them to clear it I had to get apply for a VAT number which seemed like an unnecessary hassle. They did suggest I go to the customs and try to sort it out myself - thank you FedEx for getting me FedUp!

So I made my way to Katunayake which turned out to be a real Katu (needle) trip :) Granted you have to go through a strip search of the vehicle and get two passes, one for the person and another for the vehicle, considering the current security situation is understandable. What really ticked me off was the series of events that happened after I got in.

To be continued ...

IMPORTANT: Upgrade Linux kernel to fix possible root exploit

2008-02-15T02:36:00.003+05:30

Its rare but sometimes it *can* happen. This is an important one to fix! If your running a GNU/Linux server (or desktop), running kernels from 2.6.17 - 2.6.24.1, it is HIGHLY recommended that you update the system using what ever package management system your distro provided, IMMEDIATELY.

If not updated, your system could be at risk allowing a normal shell user to gain root access (i.e root exploit).

A technical overview of the exploit and links to POC code and source code patch can be found here.

OLPC coming to Sri Lanka

2008-02-04T01:48:00.000+05:30

Last Friday, I had the privilege to attend a workshop on "One Lap Top Per Child" or OLPC as they call it, at HNB Towers. The OLPC is a marvellous piece of technology (note, I fell short of saying hardware). For instance it has a very low power processor that was developed by AMD to only consume 2 Watts of electricity, compared to 30 - 40W on other notebooks!

The battery has a life span of 4,000 hours compared to about 2,000 on others and only costs USD 10 to replace it (costs about USD 60 - 100 on our laptops). The screen works great in both indoors and in bright sunlight where it consumes less energy and has a higher resoultion in a black & white mode. The screen's back light can be replaced easily without having to replace the whole LCD panel and it only costs 25 cents to replace!

It has a WiFi like no other! It supports mesh computing, a standard known as 802.11s (as opposed to 802.11b/g). And still normal wireless devices are welcomed to connect as p2p devices (ad-hoc mode). Wireless distance can range all the way up to even a 1km away (shhh don't tell TRC) by auto negotiating its connection speed to a lower value. All it needs is 1 laptop with an internet connection for others to have internet connection. It even triangulates and shows other OLPCs in a relatively positioned map.

Its water proof, dirt proof and shock/drop proof. Held together by 13 or odd screws, this is probably the only laptop in the world where you are encouraged to take it apart and try to fix problems before taking it for repairs with no warrenty issues.

So in other words, this is device of freedom. Total freedom! And who better to have that but the next generation. I just wish they'd come up with an OLPD too (see below :)

With all that enthusiasm, I started digging around the OLPC's shell to dig up info I could cherish about its specs (hardware & software). So for all you GNU/Linux geeks out there this bit is for you. Other (Mac & Win users) can enjoy the pics, read about the hardware and run to learn GNU/Linux ;)

/proc/cpuinfo


processor : 0
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
cpu family : 5
model  : 10
model name : Geode(TM) Integrated Processor by AMD PCS
stepping : 2
cpu MHz  : 431.222
cache size : 128 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug  : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu  : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 1
wp  : yes
flags  : fpu de pse tsc msr cx8 sep pge cmov clflush mmx mmxext 3dnowext 3dnow
bogomips : 863.54
clflush size : 32

/proc/meminfo


MemTotal:       237852 kB
MemFree:         27792 kB
Buffers:          1008 kB
Cached:          98988 kB
SwapCached:          0 kB
Active:         118936 kB
Inactive:        67584 kB
SwapTotal:           0 kB
SwapFree:            0 kB
Dirty:               4 kB
Writeback:           0 kB
AnonPages:       86544 kB
Mapped:          26180 kB
Slab:            16588 kB
SReclaimable:     5712 kB
SUnreclaim:      10876 kB
PageTables:        864 kB
NFS_Unstable:        0 kB
Bounce:              0 kB
CommitLimit:    118924 kB
Committed_AS:   163984 kB
VmallocTotal:   794604 kB
VmallocUsed:     17856 kB
VmallocChunk:   776592 kB
HugePages_Total:     0
HugePages_Free:      0
HugePages_Rsvd:      0
Hugepagesize:     4096 kB

lspci -v


00:01.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Unknown device 0028 (rev 21)
 Subsystem: National Semiconductor Corporation Unknown device 0028
 Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 248

00:01.1 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Geode LX Video (prog-if 00 [VGA])
 Subsystem: National Semiconductor Corporation Unknown device 0030
 Flags: 66MHz, medium devsel, IRQ 14
 Memory at fd000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8M]
 Memory at fe000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 Memory at fe004000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 Memory at fe008000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 Memory at  (32-bit, non-prefetchable)

00:01.2 Entertainment encryption device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Geode LX AES Security Block
 Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Geode LX AES Security Block
 Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0
 Memory at fe010000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]

00:0c.0 FLASH memory: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Unknown device 4100 (rev 10) (prog-if 01)
 Subsystem: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Unknown device 4100
 Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
 Memory at fe020000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 Capabilities: [88] Power Management version 2
 Capabilities: [9c] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-

00:0c.1 Generic system peripheral [0805]: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Unknown device 4101 (rev 10) (prog-if 01)
 Subsystem: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Unknown device 4100
 Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
 Memory at fe024000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 Capabilities: [88] Power Management version 2
 Capabilities: [9c] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-

00:0c.2 Multimedia video controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Unknown device 4102 (rev 10) (prog-if 01)
 Subsystem: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Unknown device 4100
 Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
 Memory at fe028000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 Capabilities: [88] Power Management version 2
 Capabilities: [9c] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-

00:0f.0 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] ISA (rev 03)
 Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] ISA
 Flags: 66MHz, medium devsel
 I/O ports at 18b0 [size=8]
 I/O ports at 1000 [size=256]
 I/O ports at 1800 [size=64]
 I/O ports at 1880 [size=32]
 I/O ports at 1400 [size=128]
 I/O ports at 1840 [size=64]

00:0f.3 Multimedia audio controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] Audio (rev 01)
 Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] Audio
 Flags: 66MHz, medium devsel, IRQ 5
 I/O ports at 1480 [size=128]

00:0f.4 USB Controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] OHC (rev 02) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
 Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] OHC
 Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 10
 Memory at fe01a000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
 Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2

00:0f.5 USB Controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] EHC (rev 02) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
 Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] EHC
 Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 10
 Memory at fe01b000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
 Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2

lsmod


Module                  Size  Used by
nls_utf8                1888  2 
vfat                   12064  2 
fat                    48124  1 vfat
sg                     33276  0 
i2c_dev                 7268  0 
usb8xxx                18084  0 
libertas              183324  1 usb8xxx
ieee80211              32232  1 libertas
ieee80211_crypt         5664  1 ieee80211
cs5535_gpio             4740  0 
mousedev               11192  0

xorg.conf


# Xorg configuration file for OLPC

Section "ServerLayout"
 Identifier     "Default Layout"
 Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
 InputDevice    "fake" "CorePointer" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

# Fool 1.4 autoconf into seeing a mouse and keyboard so it won't
# try to synthetize them
Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier  "fake"
 Driver      "void"
EndSection

Section "Module"
 SubSection "extmod"
  Option "omit XFree86-DGA"
  #Option "omit XFree86-Misc" # needed by 'xset m'
  Option "omit MIT-SUNDRY-NONSTANDARD"
  Option "omit TOG-CUP"
  Option "omit Extended-Visual-Information"
 EndSubSection
 Load  "freetype"
 Load  "evdev"
 # Load "record" # Mostly a debugging tool
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
 Option  "XTEST" "Disable" # Mostly a debugging tool
 #Option  "SECURITY" "Disable" # CRASH!
 Option  "XC-APPGROUP" "Disable"
 Option  "XINERAMA" "Disable"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
 Identifier  "DCON"
 HorizSync   30-67
 VertRefresh 48-52 
 DisplaySize 152 114
 Mode "1200x900"
  DotClock 57.275
  HTimings 1200 1208 1216 1240
  VTimings 900 905 908 912
  Flags    "-HSync" "-VSync"
 EndMode
EndSection

Section "Device"
 Identifier  "Geode"
 Driver      "amd"
 VendorName  "Advanced Micro Devices, Inc."
 BoardName   "AMD Geode GX/LX"

 # Disable VGA for the OLPC board
 Option      "NoVGA"  "true"
 
 Option     "AccelMethod" "EXA"
 Option     "NoCompression" "true"
 Option     "CustomMode" "true"
 Option     "DconPanel" "true"
 Option     "PanelGeometry" "1200x900"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Screen0"
 Device     "Geode"
 Monitor    "DCON"
 DefaultDepth 16

 SubSection "Display"
  Depth   16
  Modes   "1200x900"
 EndSubSection
EndSection

iwconfig


lo        no wireless extensions.

msh0      IEEE 802.11b/g  Nickname:"Mesh"
          Mode:Repeater  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Bit Rate:2 Mb/s   Tx-Power=18 dBm   
          Retry limit:8   RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr=2346 B   
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=90/100  Signal level=-46 dBm  Noise level=-86 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:15504
          Tx excessive retries:424  Invalid misc:781   Missed beacon:0

eth0      IEEE 802.11b/g  ESSID:"olpc-mesh"  Nickname:"MRVL-USB8388"
          Mode:Ad-Hoc  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Cell: 02:24:14:95:01:57   
          Bit Rate:2 Mb/s   Tx-Power=18 dBm   
          Retry limit:8   RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr=2346 B   
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=54/100  Signal level=-59 dBm  Noise level=-78 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:15878
          Tx excessive retries:432  Invalid misc:794   Missed beacon:0

ps aux


USER      PID %CPU %MEM    VSZ   RSS TTY      STAT START   TIME COMMAND
root        1  0.0  1.7   4968  4152 ?        Ss   05:51   0:02 oatc               /init
root        2  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S>  05:51   0:00 [kthreadd]
root        3  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        SN   05:51   0:00 [ksoftirqd/0]
root        4  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S>   05:51   0:00 [watchdog/0]
root        5  0.1  0.0      0     0 ?        S>   05:51   0:03 [events/0]
root        6  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S>   05:51   0:00 [khelper]
root       47  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S>   05:51   0:00 [kblockd/0]
root       48  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S>   05:51   0:00 [ksuspend_usbd]
root       51  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S>   05:51   0:00 [khubd]
root       53  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S>   05:51   0:00 [kseriod]
root      114  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S    05:51   0:00 [pdflush]
root      115  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S    05:51   0:00 [pdflush]
root      116  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S>   05:51   0:00 [kswapd0]
root      118  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S>   05:51   0:00 [aio/0]
root      518  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S>   05:51   0:00 [kpsmoused]
root      560  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S>   05:51   0:00 [kmmcd]
root      616  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        Z    05:51   0:00 [init] 
root      642  1.3  0.0      0     0 ?        SN   05:51   0:39 [jffs2_gcd_mtd0]
root      645  0.0  0.2   2136   664 ?        Ss   05:51   0:00 init [5]         
root      734  0.0  0.2   2260   600 ?        S>s  05:51   0:00 /sbin/udevd -d
root      863  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S>   05:51   0:00 [libertas_main]
root      864  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S>   05:51   0:00 [libertas_worker]
root     1231  0.0  0.2   1804   600 ?        Ss   05:52   0:00 syslogd -m 0
root     1234  0.0  0.1   1740   396 ?        Ss   05:52   0:00 klogd -x
dbus     1257  0.0  0.4   2956  1040 ?        Ss   05:52   0:01 dbus-daemon --system
root     1279  0.0  2.8  15700  6704 ?        Ss   05:52   0:00 /usr/bin/python /usr/sbin/rainbow-daemon --daemon
root     1294  0.0  0.3   5392   936 ?        Ss   05:52   0:00 /usr/sbin/sshd
root     1306  0.0  0.9   7564  2188 ?        Ssl  05:52   0:00 console-kit-daemon
root     1339  0.0  0.4   5336  1108 ?        Ss   05:52   0:00 crond
root     1383  0.0  0.2   1740   624 ?        SNs  05:52   0:00 anacron -s
68       1416  0.1  1.1   4696  2828 ?        Ss   05:52   0:03 hald
root     1417  0.0  0.4   3080   992 ?        S    05:52   0:00 hald-runner
root     1441  0.0  0.9  28740  2152 ?        Ssl  05:52   0:00 NetworkManager --pid-file=/var/run/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.pid
root     1451  0.0  0.4   3172  1072 ?        S    05:52   0:00 hald-addon-input: Listening on /dev/input/event0 /dev/input/event1 /dev/input/event2 /dev/input/event3
avahi    1480  0.0  0.6   2788  1504 ?        Ss   05:52   0:02 avahi-daemon: running [xo-05-26-00.local]
root     1481  0.0  1.4   9140  3372 ?        S    05:52   0:00 /usr/bin/python /usr/bin/olpc-hardware-manager
avahi    1482  0.0  0.1   2656   432 ?        Ss   05:52   0:00 avahi-daemon: chroot helper
root     1507  0.0  0.1   1728   464 tty1     Ss+  05:52   0:00 /sbin/mingetty --noclear tty1
root     1511  0.0  0.1   1728   460 tty2     Ss+  05:52   0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty2
root     1512  0.0  0.2   1740   508 ttyS0    Ss+  05:52   0:00 /sbin/agetty ttyS0 115200 vt100
root     1513  0.0  0.5   2884  1196 ?        Ss   05:52   0:00 /usr/sbin/olpc-dm
olpc     1538  0.0  0.4   2556  1068 tty8     Ss+  05:52   0:00 /bin/sh /usr/bin/startx /usr/bin/olpc-session -- -fp built-ins -wr
olpc     1555  0.0  0.3   3072   928 tty8     S+   05:52   0:00 xinit /usr/bin/olpc-session -- /usr/bin/X -fp built-ins -wr -auth /home/olpc/.serverauth.1538
root     1556  2.5  3.0  12540  7284 tty3     Ss+  05:52   1:11 /usr/bin/X :0 -fp built-ins -wr -auth /home/olpc/.serverauth.1538
olpc     1566  1.9 13.1  53660 31184 ?        Ss   05:52   0:56 python /usr/bin/sugar-shell
olpc     1574  0.0  0.2   2836   612 ?        S    05:52   0:00 dbus-launch --exit-with-session sugar-shell
olpc     1575  0.0  0.4   3076  1176 ?        Ss   05:52   0:02 /bin/dbus-daemon --fork --print-pid 4 --print-address 6 --session
olpc     1586  0.0  1.8   8008  4484 ?        S    05:52   0:01 matchbox-window-manager -use_titlebar no -theme sugar -kbdconfig /usr/share/sugar/shell/kbdconfig
olpc     1588  0.2  4.6  15368 10948 ?        S    05:52   0:06 python /usr/bin/sugar-presence-service
olpc     1590  0.0  1.2   8200  2920 ?        S    05:52   0:00 /usr/libexec/telepathy-salut
olpc     1592  0.0  3.7  13272  8820 ?        S    05:52   0:01 python /usr/bin/sugar-shell-service
olpc     1594  0.3  5.8  46412 14012 ?        Sl   05:52   0:09 python /usr/bin/datastore-service
olpc     1603  0.0  0.1   1728   380 ?        S    05:52   0:00 /bin/cat
olpc     1605  0.8  9.7  35768 23244 ?        S    05:52   0:24 python /usr/bin/sugar-activity journalactivity.JournalActivity -b org.laptop.JournalActivity -a 5b61a1f8af585a3b41fd3bb974a9289ac4695e81
499      1670  0.0  0.2   1824   708 ?        S    05:54   0:00 avahi-autoipd: [msh0] bound 169.254.2.71                                                  
root     1671  0.0  0.1   1776   356 ?        Ss   05:54   0:00 avahi-autoipd: [msh0] callout dispatcher                                                  
root     1749  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S>   05:58   0:00 [scsi_eh_0]
olpc     1802  0.0  0.1   1732   384 ?        S    05:58   0:00 /bin/cat
olpc     1827  0.0  0.6   3440  1636 ?        S    06:01   0:00 /usr/libexec/gconfd-2
olpc     1843  0.5 10.3  49576 24560 ?        Sl   06:04   0:11 python /usr/bin/sugar-activity terminal.TerminalActivity -s -b org.laptop.Terminal -a a33cc298fb40442a4de34be74e637289c40777e6
olpc     1844  0.0  0.2   2424   628 ?        S    06:04   0:00 gnome-pty-helper
olpc     1845  0.0  0.6   4688  1528 pts/0    Ss   06:04   0:00 /bin/bash
root     1966  0.0  0.4   2872  1092 pts/0    S    06:11   0:00 su -
root     1977  0.0  0.6   4684  1536 pts/0    S    06:11   0:00 -bash
root     2144  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S>   06:39   0:00 [scsi_eh_2]
root     2145  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S>   06:39   0:00 [usb-storage]
root     2182  0.1  0.4   3176   980 ?        S    06:39   0:00 hald-addon-storage: polling /dev/sdb (every 2 sec)
root     2191  6.0  0.3   4516   944 pts/0    R+   06:39   0:00 ps aux

What is OLPD you ask? "One Laptop Per Dad" of course! Sorry mom, you can borrow mine.

RMS events in Sri Lanka

2008-01-18T22:33:00.000+05:30

I've just come back from UCSC's roof top, where RMS came to say hi to the many geeks, students and staff as the last event before he heads back tomorrow noon.

The last couple days had been quite hectic, balancing between home, work and organizing RMS events. From before his arrival on the 14th to the present day, its been a juggling act of trying to stay on top of things. It was challenging and non trivial considering the nature and importance of the visitor (after all RMS started it all) and the fact we wanted to get so many different groups involved. There was ICTA, FOSS.lk (which in itself is a bunch of groups), SLIIT, UCSC, UoM, UoP, IIT, NIMB, APIT, PC House, Cannonical, Redhat, WSO2 and probably more. And looks like we pulled this one off quit well, phew!

RMS arrived in Sri Lanka on the 14th of Jan and I ended up tagging along with Himira of ICTA/LKLUG to the airport. The flight was supposed to be at 11:45am and we were doing the whole CIP (Commercially Important People as opposed to VIP) thing. But it so happens the new CIP doesn't have a lounge and so we ended up staying at the VIP lounge. Besides getting up close but not personal with CBK, JRaj and SarathA as well as me reading RMS's book, we were pretty much waiting, waiting and waiting, for 4 hours! RMS was on a Sri Lankan UL flight from India, which was only supposed to be an hour flight. When asked as to the reason of the delay from one of the airport staff, he humorously explained it was due to UL flights being Usually Late. There was nothing we could do anyways since we were pretty much in house arrest with no way of even going out for a bite.

He finally did come at about 2:30 pm. We greeted him at the terminal and proceeded to immigration after taking few pictures (I'll post them as soon as I get them). RMS started reading and replying to his mail, which I presume he had downloaded before getting on the plane, using Emacs, on his rather bulky Thinkpad, using vt text console. He also offered a stack of CDs and challenged us to pick a CD to listen to. I picked the first one, not knowing exactly which was better. It turned out to be some pretty nice Vietnamese music, which we listened to on our way back to Colombo. There were a few little nice things that happened such as getting my book autographed and him offering us delicious New Zealand cheese but I'm too lazy to blog about details. Your just gonna have to read my twitter if you wanna catch that, or better yet follow me so you don't miss it next time :)

Anyway I didn't see him again till today at the Malabe SLIIT event where he delivered a speech which can only be described as one of the best speeches I've heard of his filled with humor, ridicule, inspiration and wisdom. Somehow he managed to create a perfect fusion of speeches he is known to give into one spectacular speech. The auditorium, known to support about 800 people was full with a few people even standing at the back. And yet the place was silent, if not for RMS's voice. Ven. Mettavihari and Chamath managed to clear the Ubuntu CDs that Cannonical had couriered from customs and bring it to SLIIT just in time, before the event ended. Those CDs vanished fast - 600 CDs gone in 600 seconds!

Now if you knew and admired RMS and still missed the events, may be because you didn't know or just couldn't make it, well you have my apologies (for not doing enough advocacy) and sympathies (might have been a once in a life time chance if he never comes back, though you never know). If you don't know him, well then you probably think your not missing much, but boy were you wrong! In any case we do hope to encode and upload video of his speech on to one or more of the popular video uploading servers. So come back to this post and you might just find a link to it.

Links related

My photo blog (sorry not many)

Suchetha's Photo blog

Deep's photo Blog

Dassa's Photo blog

Siraj's photo blog

Suchetha's Blog post

Laktek's Blog post

Chanuk's Blog post

Laknath's Blog post

Imesh's Blog post

Sahana guy's post hanging out with RMS

Dhammika's Blog post

Article on the Nations

Article on News.lk

Article on Lanka Newspapers

ICTA, the host of this event

FOSS.lk(an organizer's) event page

Hacking the iPod Touch / iPhone - Part 3

2007-12-25T01:18:00.000+05:30

Right! so you had plenty of time to purchase the touch or the iphone and Steve had enough time to cut me a check for the previous 2 articles. But since the later didn't happen, lets just concentrate on the former - but this time in combination with GNU/Linux.

Once the new line of ipods were released, it was soon obvious that third party media players, such as gtkpod/amarok/winamp, were no longer able to sync with them. Whether this was intentional or just a consequence of Apple improving things will depend on who you ask :) Fortunately though, (ipod Linux?) hackers managed to figure out a way to get syncing working again - in just a couple of days, might I add!

Unfortunately the ipod touch/iphone is another beast altogether! Neither support the USB mass storage modes and instead rely on a proprietary message passing method that is yet to be deciphered.So AFAIK, neither of the two devices can sync over USB as far as gtkpod is concerned. Hopefully someone will figure it out or we may not need it after all if as rumored, Apple adds USB mass storage using a firmware update. But rather than languishing on what may or may not happen, lets see how it can be done at the moment.

Before you begin, make sure you have a Jail broken iTouch/iPhone with OpenSSH server installed and running.

Mounting the iPod Touch

While we may not be able to mount the iTouch as a USB mass storage device, we can mount it over the network - provided it has been Jail broken. The easiest method, which I'll discuss involves mounting the device over SSH with the help of sshfs fuse driver, a user space kernel driver. Other methods you might want to look into are the Apple File Share (AFP) and Samba which are installable on the Touch.

Before you can mount over sshfs, you need to install fuse and the sshfs driver. On Ubuntu, this would go something like:


  # apt-get install sshfs

You might also want to load the fuse driver manually if you get an error in the next step.


  # modprobe fuse

Create a mount point (in your home directory) to mount the iTouch and mount it using its ip address.


  $ mkdir ~/mnt_itouch
  # sshfs -o allow_other root@<ip_of_itouch>:Media mnt_itouch

You should now be able to see the content of your itouch on mnt_itouch directory.

Compiling GTKPod

At the time of writing, you needed the svn version of libgtkpod and gtkpod in order to support the hack explained earlier w.r.t the new ipods. Hopefully by the time you read this, you might be able to use the stock version that come with your distro of choice. If not, there is a good howto. These are basically the steps involved.


  $ mkdir gtkpod
  $ svn co https://gtkpod.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/gtkpod/gtkpod/trunk gtkpod
  $ svn co https://gtkpod.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/gtkpod/libgpod/trunk libgpod
  $ mkdir ~/local
  $ cd libgpod
  $ ./autogen.sh --prefix=/home/<user>/local
  $ make && make install
  $ cd ../gtkpod
  $ PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home//local/lib/pkgconfig ./autogen.sh --prefix=/home/<user>/local
  $ make && make install

Create a small launch script for gtkpod as follows


  $ cd ~/local/bin
  $ echo 'LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/home/<user>/local/lib /home/<user>/local/bin/gtkpod' > gtkpod.sh

New hack: Getting the Firewire GUID and setting it in libgpod

The hack for the new ipods require something called a firewire GUID to be taken (I think its used as a salt in the hash algorithm) and written so libgpod can use it. For this, you need to plug in the iTouch over USB and wait a couple of seconds for things to settle before executing:


   # lsusb -v | grep -i iSerial | head -n 1 | sed -e "s/.\+3[ ]//"|cut -c1-16
   a12b3c1a35c7ba56

   $ echo 'FirewireGuid: 0xa12b3c1a35c7ba56' >  ~/mnt_itouch/iTunesControl/Device/SysInfo

Now if you launch gtkpod via gtkpod.sh it should recognize your iTouch automatically (since its mounted on your home directory). Before you sync any files, it would be a good idea to select the ipod touch / iphone model from the list available on gtkpod.

There are still some issues with this method (at the time of writing):

Album art doesn't seem to work.

Only preliminary support for Photo management. I could only view and download photos. Not upload new ones.

Podcast playlist not supported. AFAIK this isn't quite supported with old ipods with gtkpod. But it does work with old ipods on amarok - not sure why.

Slow, very slow syncing large files. I think this is a result of mounting over ssh. The encryption must be stressing the iTouch processor. May be the Samba or AFS is faster here.

Another tip if you plan on using iTunes and gtkpod is to use the SwapTunes.app on the iTouch to keep two copies of the iTunes database - one for iTunes and the other for gtkpod. This way you risk less, corrupting the iTunes database.

Thats it for now. As always, do check out the comments for additional things I may find after writing this. In the next article, I'm hoping to write a little about the productivity apps as well as some other cool apps focusing once again on desktop integration (spelled GNU/Linux desktop integration). Till then, enjoy your technology! (sorry Cali)

Christmas came early for me this year...

2007-12-18T20:37:00.000+05:30

My command center went through a major overhaul this year a couple of weeks ahead of Christmas as I upgraded my 19" LCD monitor for 32" LCD TV. This was good because I now no longer need to juggle swap A/V cables when ever I want to switch between watching Dialog TV, Playing the wii and ps2.

The BIG screen was fabulous but I was and still am a bit disappointed when viewing non HD content. Even though this Samsung TV is not that bad, its not so high end to have an upscaler needed to convert the image from 480i to 720p. Unfortunately as far as DialogTV goes, I'm going to have to be stuck with SVideo at best (actually Composite seems to have better quality where). On the Wii and the PS2 end, I'll have to try and get a component cable, which I could not find in
SL. But still those two don't support full HD.

On the otherhand, once you plug in the Mac mini via VGA, things looked great. Playing DVDs also works well because a computer can upscale video. Unfortunately my Mac mini is an old G4 based one, and chokes under HD video. I'm also running out of desktop space to my full desktop PC. Size matters, and I miss my old barebone form factor.

Anyway so I dropped a big one and bought a PS3! Yes it was heavy to carry out of the shop and heavier on the wallet but hey, now I've got HD through HDMI. Its all courtesy of "Buy now, suffer later" also known as Credit Cards :) Buy hey, atleast I'll have a ton of fun this Christmas while I keep the economy moving, right?

Upgraded my command center :D. Showing 32" Samsung, PS3, Wii. The Wii is shown in picture-in-picture while I'm playing NFS Prostreet demo. Also visible - Mac mini, Dialog TV

Why KDE4 (might) suck!

2007-11-24T20:35:00.000+05:30

I've been a kde user for very long time, since from before version 3.0. I vaguely remember being excited with version 3.0 to the point I was using the beta releases on a daily basis.

Similarly I have been anticipating kde 4.0, the next major release since 3.0 I suppose. But it seems that is just its problem! Its too much of a major release to be pushing out in such a hurry. I have been following kde 4 from time to time by reading some of the discussions on the panel-devel list, trying out the alpha releases via the SUSE live cd and of course discussing with Siraj, our local kde developer, on the internals (technology and community wise).

While things have improved a bit, with each release of kde 4, its far from ready. We are now at RC1 and the announcement says its ready for prime time testing.

Building on this, the majority of applications included in KDE 4.0 are now usable for day to day use. The KDE Release Team has recently underlined this by calling on the community to participate in reporting bugs during the time remaining before the release of KDE 4.0 in December.

Meanwhile, preparations for the KDE 4.0 release event is taking place, with the main event taking place in Mountain View, California in the USA in January 2008. Make sure you don't miss it!

Well from what I saw on the Debian based LiveCD, its far from being usable on a daily basis. I sincerely hope this is because the Debian guys didn't compile or package it correctly, even though thats very highly unlikely.

And while I don't want to ruin the January release party at Google, which by the way, goes up to Jan 19, which happens to be my B' day (Whooo!), my feeling is kde 4 should have been pushed back to June/July to make give that polish.

Anyway rather than just rant on and on, let me put forward my main issues with it, coming from a kde 3.x background. My testing procedure involved booting up kde 4-rc1 debian live cd and taking notes on the iTouch. To get a bit more background to the issues I was facing, I mailed those comments off to Siraj and I have included his comments and my replies to his comments :) Even he seems a bit frustrated with some aspects of the current state of kde. I'm sorry I don't have screenshots. All this was tested in 30-40 minutes, which only goes to show that its too easy to be annoyed with kde 4.

Legend: My initial comment, Siraj's comment, My response to his comment :)

Bugs like

* I see a floating klipper with black background

> Not a bug, plasma is yet to find a way to using XEmbed windows
inside a QGV , so till that is ready clipper will float.

>>Well its a bug! I get this from time to time even on kde 3.5.x after compiling with library versions used with beryl/compiz. But that happens randomly on 3.5.x and is predictable on 4.0. This should be fixed before final release

* I can't adjust time using clock applet. How do I change time format from 12/24

> you can't ;) it's a known issue :P

* I can't remove some applets like Lancelot. Why not have a remove applet functionality inside add applets dialog

> I don't think the IPC (dbus call) to remove an applet is not ready yet

* I can't resize plasma applets!

> hehe, the clock you can! others u can't ;)

>>Thanks for adding that feature. But its still crude (you need to type in a value under configure menu). Resizing should part of (inherited in )all applet

* Its not clear how I add stuff to kde menu's quick access tab.Would've been easy if I could drag and drop from app tab

* Plugging in my iPod, USB disk didint fireup the what should I do pop up. Neither did it show anything on my desktop.

> I don't thing solid supports all that, but do u have the solid applet loaded ?

>>No didn't have this loaded. I think such applets, if there are any needs to be loaded by default.

* I can drag a file from file browser to desktop but it only shows icon not file name and I can't move its position

> I think the applet lock is on, unclicking unlock should let you move it
around.

>>I'd really like to believe that, except there is nothing that shows its the case. There was no indication in the icon (via an emblem of a padlock for example) and I don't recall an unlock option in the context menu or even a context menu :) Its also bad you don't see the file name. Imagine having 10 files on the desktop all having just the same icon!

* How do I get multiple desktops. Used to be more intuitive

> there is an applet for virtual desktops.

>>If there is, this should be on by default.

* Launching the pager applet crashed the desktop and upon reload all the applets I had added were gone.

> Kwin and plasma is having lot of problems, this is just one of those. Yeap, no history support implemented yet ;)

>>A critical must fix bug, since kde4 seems to depend so much on these applets to provide core functionality previously supported natively (via kicker, konqueror)

Usability issues (and sometimes bug like)

* On the top right seetings widget has zoom in/out. Zoom out shrinks the desktop to a point of no return. Why not have a zoom default. Also this should be implemeted better esthetically.

> this is a pre plan for ZUI, which mean the default should be keep to zoom out. ZUI is not ready so it's a feature not a bug ;)

>>:) its a bug, because its a missing feature ;)

* Lots of missing icons so defaults to ugly icon.

> Oxygen is doing some major rework, when done should be ok!

* Default clock in systray looks ugly

> Agreed, argued no use, users are stuck with that! Aaron likes it

* In add applet dialog its not clear what the star does. If to rate then why 1 star.

> hehehe, maybe for the looks!

* Kde menu based on kicker looks unpolished and ugly

> :( life!

* Would be nice if I can clear recently used histry on that tab itself

> you will just have to wait :)

>>I can wait. Just wish kde can too instead of being released in Jan without all these

* Left and right click has the same effect on k menu button. How do I
add a custom item to menu?

> you can't for now :)

* I can't right click on taskbar. What happened those functionality.

> not implemented yet !

* Right click on desktop and I can't create new file, folder, launcher icon. WTF. Bettr to offer this along with option to hide icons from desktop. Dont cripple it

> not ready :)

* Where is trash icon? Should be in desktop or dock. Its not even an applet. It should be there by default.

> trash widget should be there but not ready yet :)

These are just some of the issues I found after playing with it for 45 min or so using the debian live cd. Definitely not RC1 quality. More like beta 1 or alpha 3!

So in conclusion, kde 4, IMHO doesn't offer much that isn't already available via other add-ons but as a result as compromised on usability and most of all flexibility which differentiates it from say GNOME. Worse yet, it seems to be missing a lot of the things we currently have with kde 3.5.x and earlier.

As a result, I think kde 4 has diverted from what its current users love and expect of kde. Its as if it has tried to be something its not. So my main complaint is that it needs a lot of work to get the same polish which we currently enjoy with kde 3.5.x series and should take the time needed before releasing prematurely. There is a saying in FOSS - It will be released when its ready!

In the mine time lets continue making kde 3.y.x incrementally better :)

Hacking the iPod Touch / iPhone - Part 2

2007-11-20T00:13:00.000+05:30

Previously on Part 1 ...

Just kidding! Scroll down and read it your self.

Its been a while, and I think I'm falling into the "Oh twittering is so much more easier than blogging" trap. So if you've been following my twitter, then you'd know that I've been discovering quite a few uses for the iTouch.Unfortunately its late and I think you'll have to wait for another post before I get into all that :( So instead, lets first cover some of the basics.

Freeing up some space for 3^rd party Apps

I'm assuming you have already setup the openssh package as well as the BSD Subsystem, there by enabling you to remotely login or copy files (scp). If not, use the Installer app to install those two packages.

One of the problems you'll quickly realize as you begin to install more and more apps, is a pop up message notifying you that your running out of disk space! This is due to the root partition (/) which also happens to hold /Applications, being only 300MB. Most of this 300MB was already taken up by the Darwin (OS) itself as can be seen by doing a df -h, while sshed into the iTouch.


# df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/disk0s1          300M  268M   30M  91% /
devfs                  15K   15K     0 100% /dev
/dev/disk0s2           15G  6.0G  8.9G  41% /private/var

Therefor what you want to do is to move /Applications directory over to the /private/var directory, as it has the rest of the free space and create a symbolic link (aka shortcut), to the root (/). The following command should do it:


cp -a /Applications /private/var
rm -fr /Applications
ln -s /private/var/Applications /Applications

Once your done, just logout and restart the iTouch, just to be on the safe side. You should now be able to install all the apps to your hearts content. Similarly, I also moved the /opt to /private/var to free up a bit more space.

Turning an iPod into an iPhone

The ipod touch is a crippled version of the iphone, in terms of missing applications (notes, google maps, mail) and missing hardware (bluetooth,speaker, mic) . While the missing hardware can't be compensated, you can install most of the iphone apps to the touch and get the PDA experience of the iPhone on the iTouch.

In order to do this, you do need to get a hold of the iphone apps. If you know someone with an unlocked iphone, then you can copy it from that person or else you might be able to download it off the net. Try here. Once you grab the files, its mostly a matter of copying the app_name.app directory to the /Applications directory (using scp for example).

Most other 3rd party Free & Open Source or otherwise free-ware apps can be installed using the Installer application itself.

Finally here is an ipod touch compatibility list of iphone apps that also work on the touch. Stay tuned for part 3.

Hacking the iPod Touch - Part 1

2007-11-04T01:07:00.001+05:30

So now that I had a little time to play around with this cool gadget, I think its time that I shared some of fun in hacking the iPod Touch. But first a friendly government warning :

<disclaimer>
WARNING: Hacking gadgets is known to cause bricking and in some instances may even void your warranty. As a general rule assume you won't be able to upgrade your firmware in the future. If your doing this, do it AT YOUR OWN RISK!
</disclaimer>

Don't worry in reality its almost impossible to brick the device since you can restore it using iTunes. So if you're still with me then "welcome to a brave new world of hacking!". First let me explain how the iphone/ipod touch hack works in layman's terms.

TIFF Exploit

The key ingredient for performing the hack is around a bug discovered in libtiff, a library used widely to provide tiff image handling capabilities. This bug can be used to cause a buffer overflow, allowing arbitrary code to be executed. Such exploits can aid (in a good sense) to unlock a device which has been locked, limiting its functionality to what ever the device manufacturer wants it to do.

Before the iPhone, the PSP firmware 2.0 was also hacked using a similar TIFF exploit allowing third party home brew apps to be executed.

In the case of the iTouch, you would visit a site containing a specially crafted TIFF image vis the Safari mobile browser. This would crash the browser and execute the payload. What that code does is simply to remount the root file system with full read/write permission, enabling the browser to break out of the chrooted jail its running under - jailbreak. This is possible thanks to Apple running the browser as root (admin), something any one with a little sense of security would not do.

You can read more about the TIFF exploit here.

Jail breaking the Touch

Jail breaking the touch has been made so easy that even a 5 year old could do it. The easiest method which was released less than a week ago, requires you to just visit www.jailbreakme.com and click on a link. It will display a TIFF which will jailbreak the device, making it suitable for running third party apps, install a user friendly App installer app and finally patch the TIFF exploit so you won't be compromised in the future! If your a GNU/Linux user, this also means you no longer need to goto a Mac or Windows to Jail break.

There are also a GUI tools which can be run inside MacOSX (iJailbreak) and Windows (Touchfree).

But I used the almost manual method since I thought it would be more fun going through the steps. I used my Mac Mini (PPC) but there is also a how to for Windows (sorry not for GNU/Linux).

If everything went ok, you will now be able to install apps by launching the Installer.app ifrom the SpringBoard interface. All you need is to be connected to the net.

What ever you install, you'll definitely want to install OpenSSH server (and even client), BSD Subsystem, DNS tools, SummerBoard.

In part 2 I will talk about some of the productivity apps and some other interesting apps that you can run. I'll also try to touch up on getting the Touch to work on GNU/Linux so that you can transfer music, videos and may be even photos (still trying to figure this out) without using iTunes.

If you can't wait... subscribe to my twitter blog for a near real-time update of what I'm upto.

Its been 3 years...

2007-10-31T23:15:00.000+05:30

And I'm still here! That's right, its been exactly 3 years as of today (31st) since I got into the world of blogging. For the curious here is my first blog post which I made out of UCSC's MSc computer lab, under not so good circumstances :)

Anyway thats history. Now lets talk about the future. From today onwards, I'm hoping to start micro-blogging on twitter in addition to current blog. Sometimes I find little things or interesting bits that I never get around to blog about because its either too little information or I just don't get the time.

Well hopefully (no promises), I'll try to do that in the form of a micro-blog using of my mobile devices.

So I hope to see you at twitter!. I'm off to configuring my mobile clients.

iPod Touch turned out to be the one!

2007-10-29T03:17:00.000+05:30

so I had my reservations about the iphone mainly due to the lack of 3G but also other reasons. Instead what wanted was really a good PDA device thats flexible and not too limiting - some thing like the upcoming N810.

But all that changed when I walked in to BTOptions hoping to checkout an FM Transmitter for my ipod. That's when I saw they had the latest iPod touch 16GB. What happened next was unbelievable in that I remember handing my credit card before blacking out. Ok so may be I'm being a bit too dramatic. The touch was a device which had already been under my radar but I did't think I'd actually buy this first-gen device.

But I did and here is why:
* it was staring me in the face
* price was close to getting from the US
* runs on UNIX aka BSD though would have prefered Gnu/Linux
* Ultra portable, scratch proof surface
* Nice UI and input method
* BUT ABOVE MOST - It can be hacked!

So here I am after having installed two dozens of nice home brew apps lying in bed writing this blog on my new shiney iPod Touch.

P.S: Photos uploaded and included later using a notebook.

This could be the one...

2007-10-19T19:05:00.000+05:30

So I've been thinking of getting Nokia's Linux tablet PC ever since the 770 was released a couple of years ago. When the N800 came that was a major improvement over the 770 and I was hoping to buy that.

Well now, Nokia has released a further updated version, the N810 and this just might be the one. Due to release in Novement, the N810 has a nice touch sensitive screen of 800x480, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS (YES!), FM-Radio, FM-Transmitter!(Awesome), QWERTY slide keyboard (and virtual keyboard), VGA camera, up to 8GB SD, 14 days standby and 5 days being always online.

The only thing missing is Wi-Max which is to be released sometime later next year.

Check it out.

http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS3669465936.html

Tired of Vista? well then downgrade to XP

2007-10-11T00:25:00.000+05:30

Microsoft's biggest enemy is probably itself. Getting users to upgrade to Vista hasn't received the kind of welcome many thought. Microsoft has tried hard to get users to switch using the "Wow starts Now!" campaign and even taking desperate measures such as launching a "Get the facts campaign against itself", similar to the discontinued "Gets the fact on Linux" but stating that XP's flaws.With all that failing, recently they started providing Vista Business and Ultimate users (aka users who paid BIG $$$) an option to downgrade to XP.

Many vendors including IBM, Dell, Fujitsu and HP are offering this downgrade option or providing XP as an option.

Given all this, who can blame users that have been stuck with XP for so long. Asking them to upgrade is like asking them to move from the home they grew up in, even if its supposedly a better and more secure home. At the end of the day M$ is to blame for dumbing down the majority of users to a point where they get nervous the second the desktop wallpaper isn't a blue sky with green hills!

This is probably where the Free/Open Source desktop users are better off. We have a desktop that gradually, but rapidly improves. Software packages update pretty much on a daily basis and most GNU/Linux distros have at least a bi annual (6 month) release cycle. Our users are always upgrading and looking forward to the next version. And why shouldn't they be?

We have a lot of things to be excited about such as the best 3D desktop, exciting kernel improvements with each release (check out the latest 2.6.23), best 64 bit computing support (make better use of Core2 Duo/AMD64), hottest Virtualization Technologies and support for an insane amount of hardware devices. To top it off, we have a bunch of "kick ass" FOSS licenses to tie it all together and provide the user with total control! What more can users ask for?

At the end of it all, I feel that though M$'s gamble to treat users as a bunch of noobs has paid off in getting them to buy into computers by the masses it is now faced with how to go about lifting off those XP couch potatoes and moving them to another couch. Till they figure out a way...long live EXPee!

Hotplugging a Secondary Display on Linux

2007-09-24T00:22:00.000+05:30

GNU/Linux has been ready for the desktop for quite some time. And yet, when trying to tell the world about how ready Desktop Linux is, using a well prepared Open Office presentation, I am often faced with having to smile and say, oops looks like I need to restart X windows before my computer [Linux] can detect the LCD projector.

Lets face it, there are still some glitches here and there but the FOSS community is working hard at solving those problems, one by one. One such problem has been the inability to plug in an external display such as an external monitor or LCD projector and get it to "just work" without having to restart X Windows. That was until Xorg 7.3 came along!

Ever since I heard of Xorg 7.3 a couple of months earlier, I waited eagerly. Xorg 7.3 was finally released earlier this month. Unfortunately I was too busy to install it (i wanted to update other gentoo packages before I did this). Finally this weekend, I managed to upgrade my system (emerge -avuDN world) and get xorg 7.3 working!

Before I get to the monitor plugging, I'd like to make few comments on my experience doing this on Gentoo. First off, after emerging X org 7.3, X didn't start at all! Turned out that the upgrade process didn't recompile some dependency packages because their version hadn't changed. These are pretty much Gentoo specific issues and your not going to have to worry about it on binary based distros.

The other problem I had was with my synaptic touch pad not working. While trying to figure that out, I remembered that xorg 7.3 is supposed to have INPUT hotplugging and work even without an xorg.conf configuration file. So I renamed /etc/X11/xorg.conf and restarted zapped X (Ctrl+Alt+BS), and everything worked beautifully -- sort of. The synaptic touchpad worked and everything seemed fine, except I was having problems with compiz-fusion, the 3D stuff. I could get the 3D cube to rotate and see the wobbly effect but was unable to see what I was typing in the terminal. I could also not see any icons on certain windows such as of ccsm. It took me about an hour to figure out this was actually a problem with using an auto detected xorg.conf. So in the end, I reverted back to the old xorg.conf and found how to get synaptic working on it (thanks to google of course). Here is how my synaptic configuration on xorg.conf now looks like:


Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "X.org Configured"
        Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0

        #InputDevice    "TouchPad" "AlwaysCore"  # Old setting
        #InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"   # Old setting
        InputDevice    "TouchPad" "CorePointer"  # New for xorg 7.3
        InputDevice    "Mouse0" "SendCoreEvents"

        InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
        Option         "AIGLX" "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
   Driver      "synaptics"
   Identifier  "TouchPad"
   Option      "SendCoreEvents"
   Option      "Protocol" "auto-dev"
   Option      "SHMConfig" "on"
EndSection

Anyway, so now for the good stuff! I plugged in my 17" monitor to the VGA out of the notebook and waited. The signal not detected sign went away and the screen was pitch black. It was on indefinitely on standby. I zapped X again to restart it and this time got a display on the monitor. Hmmm not the hotplug I had in mind. A bit disappointed I wanted to get to the bottom of this - I mean hotplugging was supposed to be the main feature.

Turns out you can turn on a secondary display without restarting (zapping) X and here is how:

Meet the updated version of xrandr. You should have xrandr 1.2 for this to work.


# xrandr -v
Server reports RandR version 1.2

To get a list of displays available along with its status issue:


# xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1280 x 800, maximum 2432 x 864
VGA connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
   1152x864       74.8
   1024x768       84.9     75.1     70.1     60.0
   832x624        74.6
   800x600        99.7     84.9     72.2     75.0     60.3
   640x480        99.8     84.6     75.0     72.8     60.0
   720x400        70.1
   640x350        70.1
LVDS connected 1280x800+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 331mm x 207mm
   1280x800       60.0*+
   1024x768       60.0
   800x600        60.3
   640x480        59.9
TV disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

The output of xrandr -q shows two devices, VGA which represents my VGA out and is also shown to be connected to the monitor and LVDS, my LCD display. A third TV out is shown but is unfortunately not physically available on my notebook model :(

To enable my VGA out display and show an exact copy of whats on my LCD:


xrandr --output VGA --auto

This should automatically pick out the preferred resolution for the monitor and enable it. Alternatively if you want to specify the resolution from one of the modes supported (as given by xrandr -q):


xrandr --output VGA --mode 1024x768

You can turn off the external display by issuing


xrandr --output VGA --off

If you want you can create a VGA out toggle script and assign it to a keyboard short cut.


# vi ~/toggle-vga.sh
#!/bin/bash
XRANDR_OUT=`xrandr -q`
if echo "$XRANDR_OUT"|grep -q 'VGA connected'; then
        echo 'Detected VGA connected';
        if [ `echo "$XRANDR_OUT"|grep '*'|wc -l` -gt 1 ];then
                echo 'Turning off VGA';
                xrandr --output VGA --off
        else
                echo 'Turning on VGA';
                xrandr --output VGA --auto
        fi
else
        echo 'No VGA connected!';
fi

Ok now for some fun stuff with xrandr! RandR was built to rotate the screen so lets try a rotation on the second screen:


# xrandr --output VGA --rotate left
# xrandr --output VGA --rotate right
# xrandr --output VGA --rotate normal

That last line will restore all rotations. Feeling dizzy? If not try these cool tricks:


# xrandr --output VGA --reflect x
# xrandr --output VGA --reflect y
# xrandr --output VGA --reflect xy
# xrandr --output VGA --reflect normal

Finally, wouldn't it be nice to extend your desktop to two displays. Well its now possible without having special dual head monitor settings in xorg.conf and even on an intel card! (with two vga outs of course).

There is a catch - you need to predefine the maximum combined resolution so that X server will pre-allocate that memory. Currently on intel cards, this means not enough memory for AIGLX/Compiz /3D. So I recommend creating a separate xorg.conf file for this purpose.


# vi /etc/xorg.conf
Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Monitor    "Monitor0"
        Device     "Card0"
        DefaultDepth 24
        
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
                Virtual  2432 864
        EndSubSection
EndSection


# xrandr --output VGA --left-of LVDS

Depending on your monitor being to the left, right, above or below of your LCD screen you should use the proper option (see man xrandr).

Thats it for now.

SFD 2007 was HUGE & Hot!

2007-09-19T00:34:00.000+05:30

Software Freedom Day concluded on the 15th with several events happening around Sri Lanka and the world ofcourse.

The Excel World event, which I helped organize, turned out pretty well. It could ofcourse, have been a lot better if not for the matches that kept people @ home. But hey, who's complaining? Not me!

We had a lot of fun setting up the place. No one was in any particular hurry and we took our time. I got up about 8:30am or so and took another hour to get ready. Then grabbed a bunch of stuff like power strips, wireless dongles, power cords, mice, keyboard -- basically what ever I could lay my eyes on, and stuffed it in a luggage bag. I also picked up my desktop, my x-monitor (now dad's), and the mac mini (which I forgot to take) and headed off to TLC to pick up the APITT guys.

By the time we got to Excel it was close to 11AM. We then went to APITT to pick up rest of the stuff and it was probably around 12PM we actually started to set the place up. But help was on the way, as more friends showed up. The rest as they say it was history. The event went well in to the night and finished just minutes away from midnight.

Ofcourse, I am leaving out some of the drama we had to face @ Excel World, except to say it all worked out for the better in the end and that freedom shouldn't be taken for granted - "Even on SFD, you still have to fight for your Freedom, to have an event the way you want to have it". If some of you might remember we had a really bad experience last year.

me putting on the organizer hat:
All in all I felt that this year's SFD was bigger and a lot better as a whole. This couldn't have been possible if not for the FOSS community that came in at the right time and (magically) made things happen!

Special thanks to all the sponsors, Hardware Partner Digital House (Pvt) for giving out good looking machines that traveled around the country, Suntel for sponsoring the WiFi (with upgraded bandwidth mind you!) and doing too many radio spots in soo many channels :). Other thanks go out to ICTA for encouraging and supporting us, Excel World for a gr8 venue and support, APITT for giving us storage to store all the items and anyone else I might have forgotten because I drank too much coffee. Yes I'm sure it was coffee!

Enjoy the pics

My SFD pics @ Excel

Nazly's SFD pics @ Excel

Kandy SFD pics

Mifan's SFD pics from Kandy

Suchetha's SFD pics from many SFD locations

Gayal's SFD pics from APITT

Waruna's SFD pics from Ruwanpura

Anyone other pics I'm missing? Leave a comment with link and I'll add it.