SSH on Inspiron 910

Just received my Dell mini running Ubuntu Linux 8.04 about a week ago. Everything has been working great except for SSH over wireless. I found a description of the problem, as well as a fix here:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-restricted-modules/+bug/259816

Essentially, this command fixes the problem:

sudo iwpriv eth1 set_vlanmode 0

Apparently, a patch has been checked into the kernel upstream :)

More on the HVR-950

Starting with Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex, support for the Hauppauge HVR-950 is included directly in the Linux kernel. This means that the lengthy procedure spelled out in my previous post are no longer needed to enjoy HD OTA television on your desktop. Unfortunately, the firmware is not included, so you must follow these instructions to download it, extract it, and move it to the correct directory:

http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Xceive_XC3028/XC2028#How_to_Obtain_the_Firmware

Much thanks to this post for steering me in the right direction:

http://www.mail-archive.com/em28xx@mcentral.de/msg01522.html

With this fix, I can now use the tuner on my backend MythTV setup!

McCain's Tax "Decrease" compared to Obama's

One of them looks more like millionaire charity to me. Can you tell which one? Thanks to the Washington Post for putting together this graphic :)

Don't forget the fudge!

To set up a local NTP server, these two lines are very important:

server 127.127.1.1
fudge 127.127.1.1 stratum 8 refid NIST

US Airways Sucks

After spending 1 hour on the plane waiting to take off because there were thunderstorms in the area 4 hours prior, I thought my red-eye flight home couldn't be worse. However, with 15 minutes remaining before boarding the flight home, I heard an announcement that the "first officer" was still waiting to board his flight from PHOENIX to LAS VEGAS, so we would be waiting for at least an hour. Apparently the flight from the adjacent gate had most of its crew aboard that flight as well, so they were also delayed an hour. Thanks US Airways for wasting 400 man hours of time!

saving bandwidth

Installed a new tool today called apt-cacher. This tool acts as a proxy for apt and related tools, caching all Debian packages downloaded. Thus, when multiple clients download the same package, it is only downloaded from the internet once, speeding up the process and keeping the internet fast.

DVD Issues

Well, I just purchased a Philips DVP5990 DVD player last weekend. It has some nice features, including the ability to play DIVX movies from an external USB drive.

I spent the past 2 hours trying to connect the player to my TV through HDMI. I tried 3 different cables, all of which gave me a horrible picture that looked like something out of an old four color CGA monitor from the 1980s. I tried upgrading the firmware, jiggling the wires and changing settings all to no avail. Finally, one step away from returning the player for a replacement, I tried unplugging the unit for a few minutes. After turning it back on, all of the color problems have disappeared. The player appears to be functioning normally. Apparently, not even a reboot after upgrading the firmware was sufficient to fix this bug...