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Category Archives: Technology

Posts that relate to technology. Reviews, HOWTO’s, problems & solutions.

Encrypted home directory with Ubuntu 8.04

 My encrypted home directory worked  well with 8.04, I only had to make one change caused by the new xml format of the pam_mount.conf.xml file as follows:
<volume user="summetj" fstype="crypt" path="/dev/sda6" mountpoint="/home/summetj"         options="cipher=aes" fskeycipher="aes-256-ecb"         fskeypath="/home/summetj.key" />
After I installed 8.04 from scratch I had to mount the directory and chown the files to the [...]

MythTV / MythDVD movie ripping / playback problem (Solved!)

I have used Myth to rip a large number of my DVD's to AVI files (using either the Excellent or Good setting).  Now that I am starting to play back the movies, I have found something that is very troubling.
On many of the movies, the first 95% of the movie (e.g. 1:13 min of [...]

Connecting to non-broadcasting SSID networks with IPW2200

I have been having problems connecting to a wireless network that does not broadcast its  SSID. (A so-called "hidden" network.) I am using an Intel IPW 2200 802.11b/g mini-pci wireless card that uses the ipw2200 wireless module.
I found that reloading the ipw2200 module before attempting to connect to the network fixed my problems (but only [...]

DPMS monitor control via remote control on Myth TV

I am using an LCD monitor as the display for my MythTV box, connected via an analog RGB (a.k.a. VGA) cable. This allows me to use DPMS (Display Power Management Signaling) to turn the monitor on and off from the MythTV box.
Instructions for setting this up with MythTV are here , but I found that [...]

Fixing a missing bluetooth icon, battery charge indicator, and update notifier in Ubuntu

For the last week my battery indicator and bluetooth icons had been missing from my top panel in Ubuntu. When I did Bluetooth stuff the pop-up "speaker balloons" from the bluetooth applet would still appear at the corner of my screen, but the Bluetooth applet itself was "invisible". I finally figured out [...]

Ipod Touch (8GB) Review

An Apple iPod Touch review, with special attention paid to use with Linux and open formats:
Pros:

Very nice high resolution screen. (480×320 at 163dpi)
User interface is very slick and easy to use after a minimal learning period.
Built in WiFi (802.11b/g) with very good mobile browser (Safari).
Methods to hack (jailbreak) it and install 3rd party software are [...]

Phillips Webcam with Linux

I bought 30 Phillips SPC  900 NC webcams because they claim to support up to 90fps and I have had good luck using linux with the PWC drivers in the past.  Plugged into a generic Ubuntu 7.10 install, I found that 640×480 resolution was automatic, with 15fps. 320×240 worked at 30fps. (I tried 160×120 resolution, [...]

Hacking the iPod Touch - Jailbreak to 1.1.3 w/ extra apps

General info:
How to put an ipod touch into restore mode: Plug it into your computer, and turn on iTunes, then: hold the power and home buttons down until it resets. Release the power button, but keep the home button held until it enters recovery mode.
How to restore to a specific version of the firmware [...]

Fixing Program Guide data on MythTV after Daylight Savings Time switch

I'm running MythTV (Subversion Trunk) on a Ubuntu 7.10 box. After the daylight savings time changeover, my mythtv box had the correct time, but the Program Guide data was still off by an hour.  Manually running a mythfilldatabase didn't fix it. After checking to make sure that my timezone xmltv settings were set to Auto, [...]

Human powered generator

Lots of people have built human powered generators. I like this one for two reasons:
1. It's designed to harvest waste energy. (It helps your body stop your knee from swinging at the end of the forward swing, something your body uses energy to do anyways.)
2. The evaluation included serious medical [...]