Posts
Using a Treo 700P as a USB modem on SLED
During my frequent trips to Vermont over the last four years, I’ve discovered that most airports do not offer free WiFi access (Burlington VT and JetBlue at JFK are notable exceptions). In preparation for an upcoming trip to Vermont and the need to do some telecommuting en route, I figured out how to use my Sprint Treo 700p as an EVDO modem on SLED (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop) SP2 on a ThinkPad R61. I was aided in this by a couple of blog postings: Treo 700p Tether with Linux and Dialup Networking via Treo 700p and Ubuntu. Rather than list only the things I did differently, here is a complete procedure.
September 14, 2008
SLED SP2
Today I updated my ThinkPad R61, which came with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) SP1, to SP2. I did this entirely online, using this Novell document as a guide. In particular, section 9.2.3, “Updating to a Service Pack” and “Starting with YaST Online Update” described the process I used. There were a few gotchas with the documentation. Some of the package names didn’t match what I saw on my system. But more seriously, I needed to run the Yast2 Novell Customer Center Configuration tool before anything would work. Registering one’s installation is apparently the only way to add the service pack repositories to Online Update. Otherwise, the process went smoothly, and the system appears to be running well after a reboot.
September 11, 2008
Treo 700p field test mode
I recently moved to a rural location where cell phone signal strength is weaker. The signal strength indicator (the “bars” icon) on the Treo 700p isn’t terribly useful in finding the strongest signal in and around the house. A more accurate method of determining signal strength is to put the phone into field test mode. You do this in the main phone app by dialing ##33284, or ##DEBUG, and pressing Dial. (This is for Sprint Treos; for other carriers, see this page.) This brings up a continuously updated “Debug Parameters” display. The signal string is the “RSSI Value” on the top line.
May 24, 2008
Installing Rails on SLED
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 SP 1 (or SLED), as installed on the ThinkPad R61, is based on SUSE Linux 10.1. This distro includes a somewhat old version of Ruby on Rails, a popular web development framework. I wanted to use the latest version of Rails, but before I could do that, I needed to build and install the latest stable versions of Ruby and Rubygems (Ruby’s package management system). This wasn’t too difficult, but there were a few non-obvious steps along the way. (All of the steps described here were performed while logged in as the root user.)
May 14, 2008
ThinkPad R61 and SLED
Lenovo now sells some ThinkPads that come with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 SP 1 instead of Windows. The cheapest of these is the R61. I have owned an R61 for about a month and it’s quite nice. SLED has been performing admirably, and pretty much everything Just Works, including video, sound, suspend to disk or RAM, DVD movies, and wireless. The Network Manager is especially nice, and it reliably detects and configures wireless connections, and automatically connects to networks it’s seen before. The wireless antenna in this laptop is very sensitive and picks up networks that other laptops miss.
April 5, 2008
Printing to PDF from Firefox
I recently needed to send my credit report to a landlord, and it seemed as if a PDF file would be the logical choice. So I needed a way to create a PDF file directly from Firefox, since the credit reporting agency didn’t provide an option for creating a PDF. Fortunately, there is a cups-pdf package that lets you do this. However, getting it to work in Firefox is not completely obvious. Here’s how to do it in PCLinuxOS 2007:
March 4, 2008
Fixing jerky video in DVDs
#Linux#Mepis#Pclinuxos#Software
On my ThinkPad A30p, watching a DVD with Kaffeine often results in very uneven, jerky video. This has been a problem with both PCLinuxOS 2007 and Mepis 6.5. The cause appears to be an obscure kernel bug that disables DMA on the CD-ROM drive. The fix is to run the following command as root after Kaffeine has started: hdparm -d1 /dev/cdrom It doesn’t work to enable DMA before starting Kaffeine (it’s enabled by default when the system boots). It has to be done after Kaffeine has opened the DVD and started to display its menus, and it has to be done with each new DVD. It’s not a big nuisance, but you can create an icon on the desktop to make it a little easier:
March 1, 2008
Replacing a ThinkPad A30p system board
Last year my ThinkPad A30p started failing to charge its battery, after I’d left the machine on the shelf for a few months. I thought that maybe the battery had died from neglect, but a replacement battery purchased on eBay also had the same problem. So the system board (AKA motherboard) seemed to be at fault. But at least the machine worked when it was connected to AC power. Then a month or so later, it powered off spontaneously after 15 minutes of use, and after that it was completely dead.
February 27, 2008
Free music formats
#Ipod#Linux#Music#Ruby#Software#Treo
(Update 2025: I no longer use an iPod or a Treo, or rip CDs to FLAC. Instead, I rip CDs directly to Ogg Vorbis. See my scripts source repository for more information.) Playing music directly from CDs is, like, so last millennium. I don’t even own a CD player any more, unless a laptop with a CD drive counts. I do all my listening now via a 4th-generation iPod and a Treo 700p.
February 23, 2008
Fixing DVD audio sync problem in Kaffeine
#Linux#Mepis#Pclinuxos#Software
Both PCLinuxOS 2006 and Mepis 6.5 come with a wonderful media player called Kaffeine. I especially like being able to customize the toolbars. I’ve added buttons to go backwards and forwards by 20 seconds, which is great for those times when you miss some important bit of dialog. But Kaffeine, as shipped with these two older versions of Linux, has a serious problem when viewing DVDs: the sound is not synchronized with the video, and appears to be off by as much as a quarter of a second. There is a control for adjusting the sync, but it’s difficult to get just right and it requires fiddling with each new DVD.
February 16, 2008