JO3RI

re-review Parrot PMK5800

2009-10-13T08:43:00.005+02:00

More then a year ago, I bought the Parrot PMK5800. This device is a portable Bluetooth hands-free kit, FM Stereo Transmitter. The reason I bought this device, was that I wanted to be able to listen to the music on my phone, a SE W880i, with my car's stereo.

But I actually never used it. The reason? very poor sound quality. Way too much bass and the sound was completely distorted. So the device ended up in a box. I tried a lot of things: Adjusting the equalizer, changing phones (SE Z750i), tried an other car.

Some time ago, I received a new phone, a SE Z770i, but I forgot all about the Parrot PMK5800. It's only recently, I rediscovered the kit. Watching Ergo Proxy, I fell in love with the title song "kiri", made by Monoral. I wanted to listen to this song in my car, so I thought, why not give that Parrot an other try.

This time, I was able to change the phone's equalizer and the sound was exactly what it needed to be. It worked. So conclusion: If you buy an FM transmitter and the sound quality is very poor, it might very well be your phone not using the Bluetooth Stereo A2DP profile in the correct way.

Moblin or Jolicloud

2009-08-06T09:24:00.009+02:00

It has been a while since I posted my last entry, but with the upcoming new netbook OS's it seemed to be the right time to get back into blogging.

I have tried both: Moblin and Jolicloud. Both are different OS's and have there own strengths. I will not tell you about bugs, hang ups, because both OS's haven't reached final release yet. Moblin is in Beta and Jolicloud in Alpha release.

Let's get started. Well as for Moblin, you can just download the image, put it on an usb-stick and install or test run. As for Jolicloud you'll need an invitation, which you can ask on there site. On the other hand, Moblin doesn't run on a whole lot of machines, certainly not those small screen netbooks (like EeePC701 with a 800x480 screen). That may already be a very good point, considering your choice.

Let's start with Moblin. This one, actually is a complete new Linux Distribution. It doesn't look, feel or handels like any other Linux distro (but it still is one). Claiming it is a new OS is completely wrong, as for Jolicloud, same story. Both are Linux. Moblin went for the looks. They got a completely new GUI, never seen before. clean, simple and very intuitive. Actually, I think, this is the way GUI on netbooks should look.

Moblin made a choice: simplicity. All you need on a netbook is: a browser, an instant messenger, a status reporter, PIM and media. A very smooth taskbar which gives you access to all those programs and a home screen with all your favourites summed up. No more, No less. But if you want more, you can install more.

Now Jolicloud, that is a completely different story. This Distro is based on Ubuntu NBR, even the GUI has Ubuntu NBR written all over it. But, don't get fooled. Jolicloud has it's own repositories. Now the biggest difference I could see, is that jolicloud actually runs as a program on top of the distro.

What is it? well to me it feels like a manager to install programs, but with the advantage of storing the configuration files on-line. This way you can reinstall or install it on an other netbook and keep all of your installed programs and there configs. Very handy, because you will only need to make your configurations once.

The other smart thing is, that is makes use of prism. This way, you can add internet sites to your desktop as they would be standalone programs. Combining this with maximized windows and it really feels like your using a program instead of a browser. Well and that's about it.

Now which one should you download? None of both. As stated above, they or not in final release yet. I used both, and sometimes they got buggy. Before I left for my holidays, I reinstalled ubuntu 9.04, just to be sure I wouldn't get stuck.

But let's forget for a minute that those distro's are in alpha or beta. Which one should you get your hands on. Well as for Moblin you can start downloading it right now. Jolicloud won't let you do that, you'll need an invitation code. You can ask one, on there website and then you'll have to wait, wait and wait some more. After a month or so, you'll be Jolicouded and get the download code.

But seriously which one should you go for? In my opinion? They should bring out a mix of both ditro's. Because I like the GUI Moblin (very very much), but I really love the special thing Jolicloud does (but I don't like the GUI). My guess is, that changing the GUI of Jolicloud is something that would be much easier to do, than making out of Moblin a Jolicloud alike. So for now, you'll have to go for the looks of an Italian sports car, or the "easy to use" of a Swedish car, but you can't have both for now.

links:

Jolicloud: http://www.jolicloud.com/
Moblin: http://moblin.org/

Migrating roaming profiles to new Samba PDC

2009-05-19T11:49:00.006+02:00

When the time has come to replace your existing DC (Domain Controller), you probably will use new hardware and reinstall your Linux OS next to your old DC. I decided to use an other domain name as well. And while I was reinstalling I decided to use ldap with Samba.

After the installation, I was able to join the computers to the new domain. But than I realized, I would have to recreate all user roaming profiles. This would take a lot off time because all user specific program configurations would be lost.

So On the internet I found a way to just "migrate" the existing roaming profiles to the new domain. It isn't really migrating, but more changing the "old" roaming profile's permissions to suite the new domain.

I will summary the steps to follow, but you should read Morgan Simonsen's Homepage so you can follow the exact list of actions you have to take.

1. you have to join the computer to the new domain
2. login in with your new account in the new domain, so a profile is created
3. logout, restart and login as an administrator with domain privileges
4. copy the old profile folder into the new one and reset permissions
5. logout and login with the new account

Morgan states:

These are the items in the old profile that you lose access to from the new user:
Data that is protected by the Data Protection API (DPAPI)
DPAPI helps protect the following items:
o Web page credentials (for example, passwords)
o File share credentials
o Private keys associated with EFS, S/MIME, and other certificates
o Program data that is protected by using the CryptProtectData() function

Restrict incoming and outgoing mail on #exim4 with #ldap

2009-03-28T11:16:00.003+01:00

When I first had to set up an emailserver with Exim4, it took me some time to figure out how to restrict incoming and outgoing mail. This way some accounts were allowed to send mail outside the domain and others could receive mail from the outside world and most could do both.

This turned out to be very useful. I managed to do this with a list including all names. allowed_out and allowed_in. The next step was to figure out how to setup this within the ldap database. Setting up a list, wasn't hard to manage. Finding out the router settings was a lot harder, but I finally found out.

First you'll have to make an ldap entry containing all the users allowed to send mail outside your domain. The ObjectClass for now is inetOrgPerson, better would be something like PosixGroup in combination with memberUid attribute. (I'll change this later)

dn: cn=allowed_out,dc=example,dc=com
cn: allowed_out
objectClass: inetOrgPerson
objectClass: top
o: EXAMPLE
sn: Allowed out
mail: cow@example.com
mail: horse@example.com

Now, you'll have to make a router for your Exim4 config. /etc/exim4/conf.d/router/081_local-config_check_out (whatever filename you like in that dir, but make sure, it's one of the first routers checked)

check_outgoing:
driver = redirect
#don't check local mail
domains = ! +local_domains
#if the sender doens't match the ldap list allowed_out
senders = ! : !{${sg {${lookup ldapm {ldap://127.0.0.1/cn=allowed_out,dc=example,dc=com?mail?sub?}}}{\\s+}{:}}}
# fail sending the mail
allow_fail
# giving the sender next message
data = :fail: You are not allowed the send mail outside this domain. example.com

You can do the exact same thing for incoming mail.

dn: cn=allowed_out,dc=example,dc=com
cn: allowed_in
objectClass: inetOrgPerson
objectClass: top
o: EXAMPLE
sn: Allowed out
mail: cat@example.com
mail: horse@example.com

This time you'll have put some lines in /etc/exim4/conf.d/acl/30_exim4-config_check_rcpt just above the line "acl_check_rcp"

#deny if the mail address is not in the ldap list specified
deny
# but don't check this if the sender is from within the same domain
!hosts = +relay_from_hosts
recipients = !:! {${sg {${lookup ldapm {ldap://127.0.0.1/cn=allowed_in,dc=example,dc=com?mail?sub?}}}{\\s+}{:}}}
message = This email-address isn't allowed to receive mail outside of it's own domain. example.com

That's all, now don't forget to update your Exim4 config and restart the service.

update-exim4.conf
/etc/init.d/exim4 restart

Virtualisation: firewall and webserver on ESXi

2009-03-19T13:22:00.005+01:00

In this article I'll explain howto put a firewall (IPCOP), a webserver (apache) and if you like a small PDC (Primary Domain Controller) on one Server. We will use VMware ESXi for the virtualisation. It's free, but you will need to register.

Before you start downloading, you'll have to be sure, your hardware is recognized by ESXi. Or you could just download it and test the iso image, as I did.

I used an HP Proliant DL120 G5. It is not mentioned in the hardware list as being compatable with ESXi. But I tried any way and succeeded. But There are some things you need to know.

- For any ESXi installation you'll need more than 1 GB ram(less just wont do, I found out the hard way), go for 4GB
- on the HP Proliant you can't use SATA raid (it actually is a software raid and ESXi has no drivers for RAID setup), so you'll have to disable it in the BIOS
- also you'll have to put SATA in native mode
- For this setup you'll need at last 2 nic's

Once you installed ESXi, witch is not more than downloading the iso, burning it on a cd an than booting your server with the CD. You will be able to do a minor config on the console.

You'll need the set a root password, the name, domainname, IP address (pick out the right nic. if you only connect 1 nic with a cable, you can see witch one you'll have to pick), subnetmask, gateway and DNS. When your done, you should be able to browse to the servers ip address. http://ip-address-server You might get something about wrong certificat, just add it. The site you'll see shows you a link for downloading the VMware Infrastructure Client. Go download and install this.

Once your done, you can run the cliënt and login in to your ESXi host. So, now you Host has been set up and ready to be configured. First thing you should do, is configure the netwerkcards, because we will have some real nic's and some virtual ones.

Before we continue I should explain a bit about IPCOP, the firewall we will use.

IPCop Firewall is a Linux firewall distribution geared towards home and SOHO (Small Office/Home Office) users. The IPCop interface is very user-friendly and task-based. IPCop offers the critical functionality of an expensive network appliance using stock, or even obsolete, hardware and OpenSource Software. This is what you'll find on IPCOP:

Luckly it doesn't much of computer to run: a 386 processor, 32Mb of RAM, and 300Mb hard disk. Very nice. If we want to put up a firewall we will need at last a network interface for the connection with the internet and one for the connection with our own network. Running a webserver, will give you the need to have a third. and here is the beauty of ESXi, we will use a virtual nic.

So in short this is our setup( follow this link for more info on IPCOP's nic setup):

GREEN + ORANGE + RED (ipcop interface setup)

VMNIC0 + VSWITCH2 + VMNIC1 (ESXi setup)

I'll explain a bit more about the virtual nic's and virtual switches you'll have to setup. In you your cliënt console, go to configuration > Networking. You'll see allready a virtual switch is pressent and it's connected to a nic. Click on properties of this virtual switch and add a virtual nic and call it GREEN. Next we'll have to add a new virtual switch and connect it to the other free real nic. Call this one RED.

For our webserver we will use a virtual nic and a virtual switch , that will be connected to a virtual nic (ORANGE) on our firewall, so we wont need a real nic. When you're finished adding your nic's and switches, you can now start adding virtual machines. Setting up a custom machine, other 32-bit linux system with 256 Mb ram, 1 cpu and about 500 MB disk space will do fine. Add 3 virtual nic's (GREEN + ORANGE + RED) and your ready to install ipcop. Download the ipcop iso image, you don't have to burn a cd, you can connect an iso with your cliënt as a CD. reboot you virtual machine (CTRL+ALT+Insert) when your in console mode and follow the IPCOP's installation guide

Now you can add a new virtual machine and install a webserver on it. You only have add a new virtual nic on the same switch of your IPCOP's ORANGE virtual nic. And if you want, you can even add another Virtual machine as an PDC. Just add a new virtual nic on the same switch of your IPCOP's GREEN virtual nic.

CeBIT 2009: ASUS, secrets not on the Flyers

2009-03-12T08:56:00.005+01:00

As you all know, Asus had a very big stand on CeBIT 2009. Lot's of new stuff, we already knew about, but now had the change to touch. And I really mean touch. Lot's of EeePC T91 and Eee PC T101H to try out. Very nice of ASUS.

And yes, a "new" concept: no keyboards, only 2 screens. Behold, the dual-screen-notebook.

Also the Eee keyboard, the Eeetop and the Eee box B202, B204 and B206 were there to touched, alltough the Eee keyboard was keept behind big locks. Only on demand it came out of its cave and no touchy touchy.

I could post some more video's an pictures, but make google your friend and you'll find plenty of those on the net. What I'm about to tell you, is probably not that easy to find on other places.

The first day on CeBIT, I just tried to see as mutch as possible. The second day, I started to ask questions. So on the Asus stand, I went to an Asian looking guy and started asking questions. At first that person didn't feel much in anwsering my questions. But he came along, and this is what I found out.

NO MORE LINUX on the new devices. I asked this question because I wanted to buy a Eeebox B206 (this should do HD), but no go for Linux. The Asus person even told me I wouldn't be able to put Linux on it. Why? problems with the drivers for some components. He even told me (of the record), it is not only the graphics chipset that distinguishes the B202 from its two other brothers (B204 and B206). And the drivers were the main problem to get Linux on those devices. His advices: Buy a B202 model. Is this true? Time will tell.

Now about the Eeekeyboard, no linux on it for sure, but this thing is only a prototype. I might come out, it probably will come out, but they are still developing the gadget. And for now, it won't do anything (yet?)

And what about the dual-screen-notebook? Should I still remind you: No Linux. Well The dual-screen is not more than actually 2 screens put together. There is no computer in it. It's only a showcase. Not for real. They even don't know if it will ever come out.

So what should you remember of this: No more Linux for ASUS. Damn, one of the reasons I loved ASUS is gone now. But there are enough brave souls out there, that will find there way to put linux on all Asus devices.

Cebit Hannover 2009: the overview.

2009-03-05T12:16:00.004+01:00

Before telling what I saw and how it was, let me give you some tips, if your planning to go yourself. Wear a tie, learn german and make some business cards. I do speak some German (enough to ask questions and understand the answers), I do have real business cards, but I didn't wear a tie (not our company policy) and that my friends, kept people from sharing there precious information.

So what did I expect and what did I see. Hoping to see OLED, colour e-ink and lot's of e-readers seemed to be an illusions. Found one e-reader though. Furthermore, I wanted to find out more about Document management solutions, Anti Virus Solutions and Infrastructure. Nothing new. Lot's of scanning, but no new management solutions. Same story on Anti Virus, but I did find the infromation I wanted on Infrastructure and Wireless Technologies.

But there were others things that made the trip worth going. True 3D screens, without the need of glasses., Tobii Eye Tracking system, that makes you controll a system with your eyes, and people it really workes. ART+COM shows a real surface touch table, not some little childeren surface table. We also found the Open Source Section, the Asus and Msi stand.

If you ask me, you should visit hall 6,9,19,20,21 and 25, but for the resellers part in hall 25, you'll need to disguise into a reseller, or you're not getting in. I've seen things I didn't expect and expected things I haven't seen, but I'm happy I went, though I can't feel my legs any more. Man, Hannover Messe I one big site. I forgot all about that, since I last went to EXPO2000.

I just want to thank some companies for there very helpfull and good information: ART+COM, Asus, BenQ, CBL, Foxit, OpenOffice, SAXNET, Tobii for answering all of my questions without searching for my tie. On Asus, I'll do some more later on.

How beautiful nature can be

2009-02-03T11:22:00.002+01:00

No need for words, except that the pictures were taken on 10 jan. 2009. at Hamme

Even more Eee, the Eee PC D200

2009-01-09T15:23:00.004+01:00

Well ASUS doesn't seem to stop putting Atom processors in every device they can think of. The Eee PC D200 seems to be some kind of NAS, media server, small computer kind of thing.

Facts that might be right (no official release yet):

- Atom N270
- 2GB DDR-533
- 512MB flash-rom
- 3.5-inch touch-sensitive LCD
- 6-channel HD audio out
- DVI
- SlotIn-Multidrive
- 2x 3,5″ HDD-Slots
- 4x GbE lan
- 1x GbE Wan
- 802.11n access point
- 4x USB
- 275mm X 96 mm X 206 mm

source: www.einfach-eee.de

Eee keyboard, again something new in the Eee-line

2009-01-08T13:38:00.004+01:00

ASUS introduced the world to the Eee Keyboard, a full-sized keyboard with built-in PC including WiFi (and Ethernet), wireless HDMI , speaker, mic, and 5-inch interactive display and touchscreen.

source: engadget and Gizmodo

USB gadgets are best Christmas gifts

2009-01-03T10:34:00.003+01:00

Yep, every year on Christmas Eve, we give each other lot's of gifts. Our family decided to make wish list, so you only get what you have put on your list. Very good idea.

This year(like every other year) I didn't really know what to put on my list. So I decided to go for USB gadgets. And yes here they are.

A cup heater (it has a build in usb-hub) to keep my coffee nicly warm and a windmill to cool it back down so I don't burn my tongue and a light so I can see what I'm drinking.

Best thing about USB gadgets, they work on Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Unix, BSD, ... ;-)

Mounting a cellphone through bluetooth on the EeePC

2008-12-18T09:57:00.001+01:00

Before you start following this blog entry, make sure bluetooth is working and your computer is all set for pairing your device. So this time I will explain how you can mount your cellphone, and browse your phone as if it were an internal disk. But before we start, You must know that browsing over bluetooth isn't the fastest way. Make sure your browser only shows lists and doesn't show icon's. This might speed things up. Or you could use a non graphical file browser like midnight commander or if you want a GUI without the icon's, you could try Krusader

Time to do some mounting. We do need several packages, so that we will be eable to mount a cellphone. We will be using the Obex file system, so you'll have to make sure your phone is capable of using obex. It's not that hard to find out, whether your phone can handle obex or not.

sdptool search --bdaddr AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF 0x1002

Replace the macaddress by the one of your phone. You will see a lot of services. You'll have to find the channel number for "OBEX File transfer" service.

Now you'll have to check if you have fuse-utils, libopenobex1 and obexfs installed. On the EeePC with xandros, you'll have to download the obex files, because they are not in the repositories, and install them manually.

wget http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/pool/main/libo/libopenobex/libopenobex1_1.3-3_i386.deb
wget http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/pool/main/o/obexfs/obexfs_0.10-3+b2_i386.deb

sudo dpkg -i libopenobex1_1.3-3_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i obexfs_0.10-3+b2_i386.deb

Let's mount the phone for the first time. We will have to pair both the EeePC and the phone and therefore we need the passkey-agent. Replace the pin with the one you have put in the givepin script, the mac-addr. and the channelnumber (the x in -Bx). The phone will ask you a pin number.

mdkir /home/user/phone
./passkey-agent --default 1234 &
obexfs -b AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF -Bx /home/user/phone
ls /home/user/phone
fusermount -u /home/user/phone

Rember, bluetooth is slow, so give it time while browsing the device. The next time you mount, you won't need to run the passkey-agent again (pairing has been done). Trying to put this into /etc/fstab, doesn't work. There is some bug in the obexfs, so that unmounting as user keeps failing, but you could make a script that checks if the phone has been mounted or not and than does the opposite.

Huawai E270 HSPA USB modem on EeePC

2008-12-17T16:09:00.006+01:00

When I ordered my new EeePc 901, I got price for the EeePC 901 GO, but recived the one without the GO. The pricee was OK, so I didn't want to send it back, but still the company I bought the EeePc from, wanted to correct there mistake. So they have send me an USB modem, of which I told them would work with linux. How very nice.

I had to put my sim into the modem, connected it to my Eeepc and voila. The modem was recognized and an application was fired up. I only had to change the APN to mworld.be and I was ready for some surfing.

Just for the record. I made the picture with my phone, transfered it with bluetooth to the EeePC and then went online using the modem to make this post, using my bleutooth mouse.

Connecting bluetooth mouse, keyboard and other hid devices.

2008-12-17T10:44:00.006+01:00

It isn't that hard to get a mouse, a keyboard an even some cellphones, working as an input devices through bluetooth. These are all HID devices and do work out of the box. As for your cellphone, you have to make sure it supports HID. You can check this easly, but make sure you use your phones mac-addr.

sdptool search --bdaddr AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF 0x1002

Before we can actually use HID, we have to make sure it has been turned on. So edit the file /etc/default/bluetooth and enable the hid daemon.

HIDD_ENABLED=1

Now you will have to restart bluetooth

/etc/init.d/bluetooth

Let's pair out device with our computer. This time we don't need the passkey, because hidd devices don't use pairing, or the key has been set to "0000". If you do encouter problems, use the passkey-agent. Change the mac-addr.

sudo hidd --connect AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF

That's all folks and your device will even work on reboot. Just put it "on" and press a button to make the connection. If you need the passkey-agent, use the following commands. Don't forget to replace the PIN with the one you have put in givepin and again change the mac-addr.

./passkey-agent --default 1234 &
sudo hidd --connect AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF

Pairing bleutooth devices with the EeePC

2008-12-12T11:44:00.017+01:00

In my last post, I told you how to get Bluez working. Having done that, we now want to connect devices like a mouse, keyboard and even a cellphone. Make sure Bluetooth is working, by using hcitool scan (you should see other devices, if the are discoverable)

So let's start with pairing devices and make them known by your computer. First let's get the address from the device we will be pairing. Press the connect button on your keyboard, mouse or other device.

sudo hcitool scan

You should see the address and name of all the devices that are in discovery mode. You'll have to remember them. The tricky part about bluetooth is the pairing between devices. The thing is, there is no pairing helper in Xandros on the Eeepc and that makes it almost impossible to pair. But, there is a solution. Someone compiled the passkey-agent for Xandros EeePC.

wget https://dl.getdropbox.com/u/19226/passkey-agent
chmod +x passkey-agent

You can put this application in what ever directory you like. Just don't remove it. Next we will need a small script that echo's the pin. Don't forget to replace the pin, by one your own one .

#!/bin/sh
echo "PIN:1234"

Put the code above in a script called givepin and make the script executable.

vim /etc/bluetooth/givepin
chmod +x /etc/bluetooth/givepin

We do need to change some entry's in /etc/bluetooth/hcid.conf (the Bluetooth Host Controller Interface daemon). I'll paste my code here. The bold parts are pieces that have been changed.

#
# HCI daemon configuration file.
#

# HCId options
options {
# Automatically initialize new devices
autoinit yes;

# Security Manager mode
# none - Security manager disabled
# auto - Use local PIN for incoming connections
# user - Always ask user for a PIN
#
security auto;

# Pairing mode
# none - Pairing disabled
# multi - Allow pairing with already paired devices
# once - Pair once and deny successive attempts
pairing multi;

# Default PIN code for incoming connections
pin_helper /etc/bluetooth/givepin;
# passkey "1234";
}

# Default settings for HCI devices
device {
# Local device name
# %d - device id
# %h - host name
name "%h-%d";

# Local device class
class 0x3e0100;

# Default packet type
#pkt_type DH1,DM1,HV1;

# Inquiry and Page scan
iscan enable; pscan enable;

# Default link mode
# none - no specific policy
# accept - always accept incoming connections
# master - become master on incoming connections,
# deny role switch on outgoing connections
lm accept;
discovto 0;

# Default link policy
# none - no specific policy
# rswitch - allow role switch
# hold - allow hold mode
# sniff - allow sniff mode
# park - allow park mode
lp rswitch,hold,sniff,park;

auth enable;
}

Now you only have to restart the bluetooth service and you can start pairing your devices.

/etc/init.d/dbus restart
/etc/init.d/bluetooth restart

So how do you pair? Well the only way is, by starting a service over bluetooth. This, I will explain in the next blog entry's. I'll show you how to connect a mouse, keyboard or other hidd device, how to mount your phone and how to set up a network with your phone (so you can use the phone to connect to the internet)

Bluetooth application on EeePC 901 not that solid.

2008-12-12T08:56:00.008+01:00

Not only the bigger screen, but also having a internal BT, did me decide to buy an other EeePC. BT really is my thing, we are using these a lot at the company I'm working. I have to admit, it's mostly Windows, but at home, I'm using it in combination with Mythtv and a mouse, keyboard and my cellphone as a nice and handy remote.

Testing out BT on the new EeePC, gives a very positive impression. But, it doesn't seem to be as solid as I had hoped for. It keeps losing connection and it doesn't reconnect a hid device by itself, you have to reconnect over and over again.

Didn't take me long to find out the Eeepc 901 isn't using Bluez, but something else, AzureBT. Even more, you can't set up a PAN with other devices. So, maybe it would be beter to use Bluez after all. I found some information on an other blog.

So I'll tell you very fast, hoping you know your way around linux, how to change from AzureBT to the Linux Bluez stack.

- make sure BT is active (switch with fn + F2)
- first quit the EeePC's BT application (if it's running, see blue icon in taskbar)
- remove azurebt: sudo apt-get remove azurebt
- update the dependencies: sudo depmod -a
- we need 2 deamons at boot: sudo vim /etc/fastservices
- and add: dbus bluetooth (each on one line starting with dbus)
- let's install bluez: sudo apt-get install bluez-utils
- we need to reboot, so that the modules and the deamons get loaded at boot

that's all, now you can test if bluetooth is working with:
- hciconfig dev (you will get the BT address)
- hcitool scan (now you will scan other BT devices)

If you are not able to use those two commands, something went wrong. In the next post I will explain how to get devices paired and how to connect them.

EeePC901 review in Dutch.

2008-12-11T09:06:00.005+01:00

Because I didn't feel like making a review on the new EeePC 901 I'm using nowadays, I decided to borrow it, to someone who has even made a website on these small notebooks.

Well If you want to know more about the EeePC 901, go check the review. It's in Dutch, that shouldn't stop you.

2009 will be the year of the Box's and Top's

2008-11-28T08:41:00.004+01:00

Here we still haven't seen the EeeBox nor the Eeetop, but in france they seem to get introcuced. But hey, Asus isn't the only company coming out with box's and top's. MSI have announced there new package for 2009. Guess what: a NetTop, a NetBox and a NetOne. Genius naming that is. Well let's just watch the pictures.

So first all the Eee's made by Asus

The EeeTop

The EeeBox

And then all the Wind's made by MSI

The Wind nettop 120 CS

The Wind Box

And the Netone M19

If you want to see some more picture or you want to find out the specs. And you know how to read French, then you might take a look at www.blogeee.net

From EeePC 701 to EeePC 901

2008-11-27T08:52:00.006+01:00

Yep, my new EeePC has arrived. Why, you may ask. What's wrong with the old one? Well actually, nothing really. But, I needed a very cheap computer that I could use as a lightweight server. So I decided to use an Eee PC. Logically, I will use the old EeePC as server and the new one will become my UMPC.

Well here are some pictures. I could tell you all the differences, but google might help you as well.

This time it has bluetooth build in and a nice manager goes with it. Again I had to go for the French version, because I couldn't a Dutch version with Linux. So first thing I will be doing is changing the language. Not very hard to do, following the directions on this page. So let's try out our new minicomputer.

Back to Xandros on the Eee PC

2008-11-06T09:26:00.004+01:00

Yep, after testing a lot of other distro's I changed back to the good old stock Xandros. Seems to be the best choice after all. Don't get me wrong. Things like eeebuntu and ubuntu eee do work very good and are very easy to install. Well If you know your way around in Linux they are, but still.

So why did I go back to xandros? Boot speed. And that's all I have to say to it. No, really, When using this kind of computers, you want it to boot fast, very fast. Only Xandros seems to know how to make it happen. The reason I changed to other distro's was bluetooth, but now I have been able to set it up with Xandros.

An other thing I wanted, was Firefox 3. I only had to add a repository:

deb http://updates.xepc.org/ p701 main

and I was set to install Firefox 3.

So now I'm very pleased to surf the web with the latest browser, using a bluetooth mouse and I'm doing all this within 15 seconds. Why did I want to install an other distro again?

Mobistar sells Asus Eee PC 701 SD - Linux

2008-11-03T13:15:00.008+01:00

Yep, nice price isn't it? The Asus Eee PC 701 SD seems to have the same specs as the 8G. The only difference that I could find is the 10GB free web storage, you can't have with the older models and it has only 512 MB ram (the 8GB has 1 MB ram), but you can upgrade (Elaborate Chassis Design for Memory Upgrades)

Medion mini nootbook 10' at ALDI Belgium

2008-10-28T14:20:00.002+01:00

Yep, at "den Aldi" they have an offer starting at wednesday 29/10/2008 for the medion Mini notebook 10' for the nice price of 369,00 euro.

Specs in dutch because others don't really care I guess.

* Processor Intel® Atom™ 1,6 GHz
* 1 GB werkgeheugen
* harde schijf van 160 GB
* 10' breedbeeldscherm (ca. 25 cm, 1024 x 600 pixels)
* videokaart Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
* geïntegreerde webcam en microfoon
* USB 2.0-poort
* multikaartlezer sd/mmc & ms (1)
* Wireles LAN 802.11 b/g +
* compleet softwarepakket met Windows® XP Home Edition (incl. Service Pack 3)
* keuze uit zwarte of witte behuizing
* incl. Bluetooth® dongle
* aansluitingen: multikaartlezer voor sd/mmc & ms, 3 x usb 2.0, 1 x vga out, 1 x netwerk (RJ45), 1 x microfoon, 1 x Line out
* incl. draagtas, Li-ion accu en netadapter
* afmetingen: ca. 260 x 180 x 19/31,5 mm
* gewicht: ca. 1,2 kg

3 jaar garantie
incl. 0,05 EUR Recupel
(1) geheugenkaarten niet inbegrepen

So, if you want a nettop, this might be a good choice, but I still prefer Asus Eee PC's

XMLTV no longer welcome in Belgium

2008-10-27T09:13:00.005+01:00

It might look like a strange title, but I'll explain and you'll understand. Mediacenter software like Mythtv use a script for grabbing there program guide. Most use xmltv. In Belgium it uses the tv_grab_be script, which is made to use the site www.teveblad.be.

Until a few weeks ago, there was no problem at all. But then suddenly it stopped grabbing the info. Fast enough, I found out teveblad had blocked the user agent xmltv. But there was a workaround. Make teveblad believe the user agent isn't xmltv, but IE.

This worked for a week or two. But then it stopped working again. Don't know why, but I started looking for some other solution. Teveblad added a little suffix to the listings:

The usage of software to extract data from this website for personal use or for display on other websites (screen scraping) is prohibited

Now the developer for tv_grab_be removed the teveblad part because of xmltv's general policy, which only allows the use of a script when the site allows such sort of screen scraping. So no more xmltv in the flemish part of Belgium.

So I really had to find another solution, because EPG is an importent part of Mythtv. Mc2xml seems to have that solution. This program does the trick. Downloading only takes about 15 sec. Man it really is fast.

All you need to do is run the program with your zipcode, then your are asked the listings you want ( I took Telenet analogue cable listings). When you use mythfilldatabase, it even fills out the right frequencies. How nice is that.

This very noon, I will change my cronjobs and start using mc2xml.

PS: yes I'm now using the Microsoft media Center service to keep my Linux Mythtv going. Let's hope they don't start blocking.

A Bridge (might have been too far after all)

2008-10-15T13:17:00.002+02:00

In a previous post I told you proudly how they started buidling the bridge I once have designed. Well, the company building the bridge has gone bankrupt.

It was on a Belgian News Channel on 14/10/2008 (dutch language)

Penguins Linux Ad

2008-10-15T11:49:00.001+02:00

Just for fun and because I love it. Watch it and love it too.

Asus Eee All-in-one touch screen

2008-10-14T09:02:00.003+02:00

We all knew it would come, well here it is: the third child in the Eee Family. It isn't available yet, but you can pre-order it in the UK at play.com. Note that the don't ship outside the UK. The release date is set to 20/11/2008.

Ok, so what is it? Is it a bird, is it a plane? Nope, it's an nettop pc. Aaaaaaahhhh. Well actually it looks like some of those digitaal picture frames, but on this one, you can surf the web. And oh so many more things. Well not a whole lot more, but more. Well, ok, ... it's just a small pc squized into a picture frame. And it has a touch screen.

Specifications

* Processor: Intel ATOM (1.6GHz/533MHz FSB/512K Cache)
* Chipset: Intel 945GSE + ICH7M
* Memory: 1GB (DDR2 667)
* Storage: 160GB, SATAII 5400rpm
* Graphics Card: Shared Graphics (128MB)
* Operating System: Windows XP Home SP3
* ScreenSize: 15.6" (16:10 Wide Panel)
* Touch Screen: Single Touch Panel
* Webcam: 1.3 Mega Pixel
* Microphone: Digital Array Microphone
* Audio Chips: 2 x 4W Hifi Speaker + SRS
* Communication: 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet
* WLAN: WiFi 802.11b/g/n
* IO Side Ports: Memory card slot (SD/SDHC/MS/MS Pro) / USB ports x 2
* IO Rear Ports: Audio Ports x 3 (Microphone, Line in & Line Out) / USB ports x 4 / Gigabit LAN port
* AC Power: 19Vdc, 4.74A, 65W power adaptor
* Net Weight:4.3Kg
* Software: StarOffice, Adobe Reader 8.0, Norton Internet Security (90 day trial version), Express Gate, Skype, Eee Memo, SoftStyles, Eee Cam & Eee Cinema
* Keyboard + mouse: Wired Keyborad & Mouse

EEE box on PIXMANIA

2008-10-01T11:26:00.002+02:00

For a long time now, I'm waiting for the new Asus baby to come out in Europe. Yep, I'm talking about the Eee box. They gave us a minisite, a commercial and it is even available in the US and Asia.

And what about Europe you might ask (well al least I do). Well it's coming my friends, it's coming this month to a shop near you (wherever that may be). I bought my Eee PC at pixmania and yes they sell the Eee box now too. But, they don't have it in stock.

Oh, what should I do, what should I do. It has a very nice price: € 229 + € 10 shipping = € 239,00 That's cheaper then all the dutch shops selling it. I'll wait some more, but I don't know how much longer I'll be able to resist.

And why do you need it, you ask? It is a perfect mythtvbox not for HD, but that isn't a problem. We simply don't have HD.

Ah and yes it comes with Windows XP, the Linux version doesn't seem to be available anywhere . Mmm, kind of weird.

A bridge (not too far)

2008-09-17T16:34:00.004+02:00

Once I was an architect (well strictly, I still am). In those days I had to design a bridge for the city of Ghent, when I was working for Ing. Derveaux. So I did.

This is one of my renders showing the principles for the bridge (well actually 2 bridges: 1 bikersbridge in the front and 1 for street-cars behind it):

And It seems like they are really building this. How very nice. Well here are some pictures to showoff.

He's OK

2008-09-17T16:34:00.003+02:00

Some time ago, I told you about my brother having testicular cancer. Well, he survived cancer and started teaching again on the first of september.

This is him, letting us know he's doing OK. mmm, where did all his hair go?

Dropbox launched publicly

2008-09-12T14:22:00.004+02:00

In a previous post I told you about Eeestorage and it not being available for the Eeepc 4G. Well, we don't care about that any more. Dropbox does the same thing and does it on Windows, Mac and Linux.

I already had dropbox on my computer at work (windows xp), but now finally they have a linux version available too. Go check it out on www.getdropbox.com. It works great, and above all you can share folders with other people.

For those Ubuntu 8.04 (eeebuntu) users, all you have to do, is add these lines:

deb http://www.getdropbox.com/static/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src http://www.getdropbox.com/static/ubuntu hardy main

to your /etc/apt/source.list, sudo apt-get update and sudo apt-get install nautilus-dropbox, log out and log back in.

If you want to know more about the linux install, check there linux install page.

Eeestorage not for Eeepc 701 users

2008-08-25T08:26:00.004+02:00

In an other post, I talked about the new online storage service from Asus. So, I went looking for the account activation code on my Eee PC User Manual. No code what so ever.

I mailed Asus Belgium with the question if I could get a code by email. And this is the answer (in dutch).

Geachte,

Alleen bij aankoop van de nieuwe 901 en 1000 modellen met SSD schijfen wordt dit geleverd. Het is niet mogelijk om zoiets los te verkrijgen.

Best regards / Met vriendelijke groet,

Asus TSD

Translated this means: You only get a code when you buy a 901 and 1000 model and NO you can not get a code seperate.

Mmm, no online storage for us 701 users, who started the asus hype. Nice way to go Asus.

Linpus lite better than Xandros for Eee PC?

2008-08-21T13:21:00.003+02:00

Acer has decided to use Linpus lite as there standard OS on there Aspire one.

Because I don't own an Aspire one and I'm not going to buy one, I was interested in trying Linpus on the Eee PC. It has been done and there even is a video on it.

So that gave some good hope. Now as we all know, the drivers are the thing to worry about. A good place to start looking for info is the eeeuser forum, so I did. Last post on the topic dates from 2008-04-21 11:58:42 am. Mmm, not very good.

So let's google on it ... Nothing, no one seems to have linpus on there Eee pc with all hardware working. Conclusion: Stick to your xandros or if you don't mind boot times over 60 sec. go for eeebuntu Netbook Remix

Eeestorage - online harddrive by Asus

2008-08-19T08:51:00.004+02:00

Well Asus has something new:

According to a report, the computer-maker has launched a service called Eee Storage, which provides 20GB of online storage for Eee PC users, as well as access to downloads of around 3,000 pieces of free software and games. The company hopes to expand the service -- which uses a drag and drop interface for file management -- into a full blown "store" where users can download music and "various other content."

So let's check that new thing out: http://www.eeestorage.com/

So what do they promise:
- 20GB Ultra Luxurious Storage Capacity
- Most Intuitive File Management
- groupshare
- downloadcenter
- security

Mmm, smells good, but hey what is this, I found in the Terms of Service:

eCareme Technologies, Inc. ("eCareme") will provide at least 18 months of free services, but remains the right to charge on the services in the future. Changes to charging conditions will be published on our website and made known through e-mails to "Full Account" members who provide e-mail addresses. We will then request our members to confirm the registration data and pay the charges in a specific period. If you do not pay the charges in the given time, we will assume that you give up your membership and will terminate the Service.

You acknowledge and agree that we may provide 18 months of free services, but remain the right to terminate such services after that period. If we decide to terminate the Service due to certain reasons in the future, the announcement will be made on our website 90 days prior to the termination. E-mail notifications will be sent to “Full Account” members who provide e-mail addresses. Please make sure that you backup your data frequently to protect your rights.

The "it's free for now, but we will charge you later on" policy does smell a bit burned doesn't it? But still, let's try this, you never know ... where is my Eee PC User Manual for the account activation code.

Asus Eee Box commercial

2008-08-06T10:09:00.001+02:00

Watch it, love it and then get it.

ASUS EeeBox advertisement. from Blogeee.net on Vimeo.

Asus Eee box review

2008-08-06T09:50:00.002+02:00

Well I keep searching the net for a good review on the Asus Eee box and yes I finally found one. Go have a look at the hothardware site. A very nice review indeed.

Well maybe you just want to read the synopsis, or you just want to see a video spotlight. Enjoy, they expect it to be out on august 11. Nice, Europe don't get behind.

Asus Eee pc in the toy store

2008-08-04T08:59:00.003+02:00

As you all might know, I'm really in to the Eee pc made by Asus. I has taken a while before we Belgians could buy them in our local stores, but now we can even buy them in toy stores.

Bartsmit now sells the Eee PC 4G and even has a very good price: € 249,95

Well off you go, buy the little thing and enjoy. I can't wait to buy the Eee box. But for now I'll have to do with there mini-site.

GPS keychain tested on our holiday.

2008-07-27T12:27:00.004+02:00

For our holidays, we went to Mas du Terme in France. Very nice place. The ideal trip to put the freedom bluetooth keychain gps to the test.

When I entered the address, the amAze software gave us the correct route, but we didn't want to go over Metz. So I had to put in a different city as destination, so the route would be recalculated. Onces we would be past the critical point, I would enter the correct address. So, we took a route over Brussels and followed the E19.

Before we made it to the border (Belgium - France), the amAze software made us leave the highway. This way we had to drive normal roads for a shortcut, which my wife really didn't like at all, but it saved us about 30 min.

That was the only time the software took us off the highway. The thing guided us perfectly to our destination and I must admit, a GPS is a handy thing to have. (you constantly know, how much kilometers you'll have to drive)

What really amazed me, was the speed it took up satellite signals. within 20 seconds the software was booted and the GPS had us located, while driving at the highway at about 130 km/h. Even the software was capable of downloading the maps at that speed.

Next time I will take the GPS - amAze combo for a test on foot in a city. I'll let you know, how much of mobility the combination really gives.

The eBox platform

2008-07-10T07:28:00.003+02:00

When I was looking for info on the Eeebox and on the eBox (jep, it isn't the same thing), I came across the eBox-platform. A lot of things called e and box. But he, what's in a name.

The eBox-platform seems to be some kind of administration tool, for easy setting up a server from within a webbrowser. We all know this has been done before. Have a look at webmin. So what is the difference? And why do we need another web based administrator tool? Well you can find the answer on there own site. Let's say, it is made easier for the user. All modules are auto-linked, while in webmin you have to figure out most by your self.

Let's have a look at some screenshots of the web-interface. You can find more pictures on there site.

I'm working on a new server and was looking for an easier way to configure, so this might be the ideal moment for a testcase. I'll post my findings in a new post. My testcase will be real life and has the following setup:

1 server (eBox-platform)
2 windows computers (1 windows 2000 and 1 windows XP)
2 printers (1 deskjet HP and 1 laser brother)
1 adsl internet connection

More on this in the next post.

Mobile GPS navigation

2008-07-01T12:28:00.005+02:00

I already mentioned the existence of free gps software for your java enabled cellphone called amAze in an earlier post. In that post you can read more on the great software.

So I decided to buy a freedom bluetooth keychain gps on www.gpsshop.be. Within 2 days the package has been delivered, without any problems. Here you have some pictures.

I charged the gps with the usb-cable on my laptop and after 1 hour it was ready for use. So I took it for a test drive. Paring the gps with my SE W880i was no problem at all. As a test, I didn't place the unit nearby the front window, but I placed it where you normally put your drinks. No problem, within 15 sec, I could start my trip.

The first time I used the arrows mode to save data cost. amAze does have vocal guiding in your own language on all modes. It works perfectly. No hiccups, very clear guiding, even on field routes. When I arrived, I used the full 3D mode with rotating maps to get back. It still preformed perfectly. Maps were loaded in time and even recalculating routes was done within 5-7 sec. (I changed route more than 6 times, just to see what would happen).

We will put this combination to the test, when driving to France. I post my findings as soon as possible. But for now, it seems a perfect combination.

PRO:
- low cost to buy (amAze software is even free)
- always up to date maps (works online)
- really mobile (you can use on a bike or on foot).
- does not have to lay in front of the window

CONTRA:
- you have to be online with your phone (datacost can get high with map mode).
- for a long drive, you will need a cell phone charger in the car. (I already have one)

Cost gps: 80 euro (no delivery cost)
Cost gps-software: 0 euro
Cost gsm: depends on your choice, check the amAze website for a compatible cell phone

Cancer

2008-06-24T07:42:00.003+02:00

My 3 year younger brother has Testicular cancer. He allready has had Surgery and now started Chemotherapy. Testicular cancer is curable (stage I can have a success rate of >95%), so that's the only positive thing about it.

We are supporting him the best we can. Chemotherapy is hard and makes one very sick. But Robin takes it quite well. If you feel like supporting him too, visit his blogspot. I know it is in dutch, but that doens't mather, just leave a reaction. He'll appreciate it.

ImportExportTools

2008-06-19T07:41:00.005+02:00

As you might know, at work we left outlook for Thunderbird in combo with Exim, Cyrus IMAP and LDAP. Works very good (I even have written a How to on this). Add-ons are very usefull, as the can add nice options.

Because our company works in project style, meaning all files are stored and grouped for each project, I had to make it clear to our people, they have to save important mails into there project directories. Also because all important communication needs to be kept for 10 years. Doing this within the mailbox, didn't seem to be the right solution.

ImportExportTools let's you save mails with an .eml extention and without breaking the attachments (smartsave fails on this). You can also use it to backup the complete mailbox, but our goal is only to save those important mails and classify them within the project the belong.

You can read more on this at the KAOSMOS WEBSITE

Eee BOX

2008-06-17T10:40:00.002+02:00

It seems like the mini desktop version of the Eee PC comes to a point it will see daylight soon. Base specs include the just launched 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, speedy 802.11n Wi-Fi and Gigabit Ethernet networking, four USB ports and a multi-card reader. You then choose your choice of operating system (Windows XP or Linux), DDR memory (512MB to 2GB) and hard disk (80GB to 250GB).

PDF to image converter

2008-06-12T13:30:00.003+02:00

I was looking for a way to convert pdf documents into image files. I know you can install Ghostscript and use it in combination with Gimp. But this time I wanted to use an online service.

I came across this free online document converter. Nice, easy and free. It even splits your pdf document in separate image files.

It can do more than just convert pdf to images. Upload your doc's, images and other files to convert them into pdf. Mind the 1 Mb upload limit.

Win an Artigo Builder kit

2008-05-19T07:49:00.002+02:00

The VIA EPIA PX5000EG Pico-ITX board is the latest edition to the VIA EPIA series. It's not a world-famous Mini-ITX board, nor Nano-ITX but Pico-ITX, the amazing form factor measuring just 10cm x 7.2cm (3.9" x 2.8"). The VIA EPIA PX5000EG features a 500MHz VIA Eden ULV (ultra low voltage) processor, the VIA VX700 system media processor and VIA VT1708A HD audio codec.

To demonstrate the remarkable power and thermal-efficiency of the VIA EPIA PX5000EG board, VIA welcomes you to take part in the 'Naked Pico Challenge' where we will push the one watt VIA Eden ULV processor and in fact the whole board to it's absolute limits by running a system under full load without any cooling whatsoever! Simply guess how long the VIA EPIA PX5000EG board can take the strain and win a VIA ARTiGO Builder Kit.

The VIA ARTiGO builder kit provides you with everything you need to build a Pico-ITX system including the chasis, DC-DC powerboard, VIA EPIA PX mainboard and a slew of cables and accessories. All you need to add is a 2.5" hard drive and a SO-DIM RAM module.

A voice that made me cry

2008-05-07T09:08:00.002+02:00

Last week we were in Sicily (Italy). On a dead moment I wanted to give youtube mobile a try. I allready downloaded this app., but in Belgium the connection speed failed on me. Seemed that Italy has some better cellphone networks.

So I came across some video's about "Britain's got tallent". Back home, I wanted to review some video's and than I thumbled onto this one. Plugin your earphone, sit back and ... cry, or at least get stunned.

Xnview makes converting and renaming images easy

2008-04-29T09:09:00.008+02:00

In my previous post, I explained briefly how to rename images (and resize them). My brother posted a reaction. He seems to use Xnview on Linux. Well, it's never to late to learn from your own brother, he took the plunge into linux about a year or two.

I downloaded the windows version at http://pagesperso-orange.fr/pierre.g/xnview/endownload.html installed it and started testing. Well, I have to admit, It is a lot easier to do those converions with XnView, then it is in explorer and The Gimp. Plus, you can do so much more. Just select all the pictures, choose conversion, transformation and pick the ones you need.

Let me give you a some possible converions (about 69 total):

Scale
Rotate
change resolution
cut
add text
mirror
spread
3D borders
watermark
...

But you can also select range of images and change the filenames. When doing this you can auto-add a lot of stuff:

numbers
change namepart
date
size
DPI
width
height
copyright
....

So this progrma will help me, the next time I have to convert and change filenames for about 700 pictures.

Thanks R@b!n, for pointing me in the right direction.

Changing file names

2008-04-25T08:13:00.004+02:00

I had about 700 pictures, which I used in 3 different documents. Now just importing them would crash the computer. So I had to make them smaller. This can be done with a script (you have to download) in THE GIMP. Works very well.

The document is a reference for the original pictures, but in the document they don't appear in the same order as the picture are numbered. So I had to rename the orginal pictures, within the same order as the smaller ones appear in the document.

Renaming 700 pictures would take a lot of time. I didn't find a batch script fast enough, but still google gave me the solution. Windows XP has the ability to change multiple file names. Great thing is, it can auto number too.

How to get this done? Well, in explorer you select a group of files. You change the file name of the first one and all the others will get the same name, with an increasing number.

what is the catch? Well the numbers are between brackets. So you will have something like this:

image.jpg
image (1).jpg
image (2).jpg
...

If you want the first file to have a 1, then just put (1) in the name. IMG (1).jpg Don't forget the space before the brackets. This way you can even start the numbering at any number you like:

IMG (151).jpg
IMG (152).jpg
...

People should learn from the Wii interface

2008-04-23T07:48:00.006+02:00

I couldn't resist it any longer, I got meself a Wii. I fell in love after 2 seconds and I'll tell you why. First things I did, was trying the weather and news channel. Try it, you will understand why I love it.

Using a globe (reminds me of google earth) on which you can see major cities, is the best way I have ever seen for weather casting. Grab the globe, give it a spin, zoom in or out and click on it to know more about the weather on a specific place. Same thing for the news channel, spin the globe and click the postiches to check out the news.

This kind of interface is what we need, on our all day used equipment. People don't seem to understand, the desktop interface has way to much information on it. Keep it simple, like the Wii, how cares where your file is saved, what name it has. It is saved and the Wii takes care of it.

Less is more

yep Mies van der Rohe, you are so right.

Dell PowerEdge R200

2008-04-22T09:46:00.003+02:00

A new server has been delivered. This one is not for the main company I'm working for (www.juri.be) but for an other one (www.ralco.be). Nice pice of hardware, but dvd/cd drive and harddrive are sata. Debian Etch doesn't support this OOB. So I had to google.

1,5 sec later, I found this blogentry: http://bart.noordervliet.net/archive/11 and the anwser was given by a reply on the blog. So I downloaded the ISO, burned it and booted it. All without problems.

So If you want to install debian etch on a sata system, check this site:

http://kmuto.jp/b.cgi/debian/d-i-2623-etch.htm

Eee PC 900

2008-04-21T07:58:00.003+02:00

We are still using our Eee pc 701 on a daily basis. Mainly for getting on the internet in a fast way. Well, it won't be long for the Eee PC 900 hitting the shelfs.

Improvements:
- The larger screen = 8,9 inch with 1024x600 pixels.
- Greater storage 20 MB on the linux version (12 on the windows version).
- Multi-touch wide aspect ratio trackpad.
- The left and right selector buttons have a silver finish and are easier to press.
- The webcam is now of the 1.3-megapixel variety.

Looking into Qcad

2008-04-15T10:09:00.003+02:00

The only reason why I'm not investigating the switch from windows to linux at work is: Autodesks autocad. Autodesk has no intention of creating a linux autocad version. So maybe I should start looking for something else.

Qcad professional seems to be an anwser to this. But as always, I'm being carefull. Maybe I should just buy a license for myself, use it and than decide. But then again, it seems to me, that when I'm able to adapt, few other people at our company are. (that way it went with Gantt project vs MS project)

They do have a demo version, but it stops working every 10 minutes. It gives a good look on the use, so it is a nice way to test before buying. I still need to figure out if I'm buying the windows or linux license.

E-DT = asus desktop Eee PC

2008-04-07T08:06:00.003+02:00

I'm allways looking for cheap, small computers. And my Asus Eee pc really is cheap and small. But now Asus also want from mobile (laptop) to dekstop, with the same conditions. Small and cheap. E-DT, stands for E-desktop. It's coming and as you can read on this website, it shouldn't take that long before we all can dump our fullblown desktop computers.

Mmm, makes me wonder how mythtv would do, on this small desktop. Well, there is only one way to find out, buy it and try it. Now sit and wait...

Targus mini mouse with bluetooth

2008-03-21T14:24:00.003+01:00

I finally got my mini mouse back, an nice partner for the Eee pc. I hadn't much trouble getting it working in Ubuntu on my Eee PC. You can choose at the services tab for input. There you select to find all devices, make sure your mouse is in pairing mode and voila. Just set it as trusted at the main tab. Now I can use my mouse to browse my gsm, booth bluetooth connected.

HP StorageWorks DAT 160 SCSI

2008-03-21T08:03:00.005+01:00

About 2 weeks ago, our dell powervault started eating our backuptapes. I couldn't get one backup that wasn't eaten by the drive. Oh well, time for a new tapestreamer. Besides, the DDS tapes became too small, only 40 GB compressed data.

So, I did my reading and decided to get a DAT drive 160 GB compressed. Very nice, but it took me about 1 week to figure out, this drive doesn't have hardware encryption. So the backup seemed to work, but data was not restoreable. So, now all goes well again.

Funny thing is, We now have a HP tapestreamer in a DELL server. They seem to cooperate well. And yes, it is an old server, but it still serves very good.

GPS on Mobile phones

2008-03-10T13:41:00.008+01:00

We don't have a gps. We still use maps as in the paper versions. We also use google mobile maps:

Nederlandstalige demo van google mobile maps
English demo of google mobile maps

But now I found something new: http://www.amazegps.com/welcome.php. This one is also a java application, but also uses voice directions and you can use an internal or external gps. Or you can use it without gps and jump manually to each navi-point. And you can download it for FREE. Voice support is in English, Dutch, French, ...

amAze Demo:

Ok, nice, but I need GPS. Well I found something even more interesting a keychain gps. This thing works with bluetooth to connect to your mobile phone and can be used in combination with navigation software (see amAze above). All reviews I have been reading, are very enthusiastic about this little device. Well, maybe something to put on my wishlist, but then again, it's so much more fun traveling around with your wife next to you, pointing directions (right or wrong).

Eee PC on Belgian national TV

2008-03-07T08:10:00.004+01:00

Actually it's about CEBIT 2008 in Hannover, Germany. But it seems that the Eee PC was the most important object shown. YEEEEHAaa. Oh yes, they mention it will be available shortly in Belgium. Yeah, guess what, I didn't wait for that to happen.

Mythtv in the kitchen

2008-02-29T09:06:00.003+01:00

Well, finally got it all together. Now we have a Mythtv system in the kitchen. Actually it is an Ubuntu system running the mythtv frontend. What you see is a 19" Acer lcd screen with trust speakers I mounted. The celling mount was to big, so I had to cut off about 20 cm. There was no speaker mount on the celling mount, so I had to make one myself.

All cables go trough the celling mount into the upper kitchen cupboard. There you would find a ordinary Medion PC that is about 4 years old (I got it from "den Aldi"). I do have a serial IR blaster, but I couldn't get it to work. So I decided to use bluetooth and our Sony Ericsson cell phones as a remote and that my friends does work.

Micro bluetooth on Eee PC

2008-02-26T14:16:00.003+01:00

I use my cell phone's camera a lot. I find that the most easiest way for uploading photos, is the use of bluetooth. So I needed a dongle, because Eee pc doesn't have build in bluetooth.

I got myself this kensington adapter and on ubuntu I have installed on my Eee PC, this is recognized without any special installation. Just plugged it in.

Before you can actually connect to a cell phone, more has to be done. first install gnome-vfs-obexftp. Only then you will be able to pair your phone. After pairing it, you can browse your phones memory.

Testing an Eee PC ...

2008-02-26T07:47:00.004+01:00

Curious as to how much torture your Eee PC can take? Check out this video: http://www.dailymotion.com/search/eee/video/x4dhhl_tests-resistance-chocs-chaleur-froi_tech. It is in French, but hey, you'll should be able to understand what's happening. I got this link from my brother, but you can also find it on http://www.eeeuser.com/

Third impression

2008-02-20T09:18:00.007+01:00

Not that I needed it, but just because I can, I had to change the distro on my Eee PC. I tried some things and found out that ubuntu did what I wanted. Out of the box, Ubuntu is not wel adapted to the Eee pc. So I use the Ubuntu eee script. Finally I installed the mythtv frontend, just because I always feel the need to install Mythtv on all hardware I have. I did al this on an SDHC card, so I can jump back to the standard xandros.

Later on, I will wright an howto in dutch. For now I will point out, what to do.

1. Make an ubuntu install usb-key
For this you just need to follow exactky what is written on this site:
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/2007/09/28/usb-ubuntu-710-gutsy-gibbon-install/

2. install ubuntu on a spare SDHC-card

Plug in your newly usb-key and at boot when you see the grey screen, press ESC. There you can chose your usb-key to boot from. Change your language and keyboard mapping and let it boot.

When booted, you do click on install. Fellow the gide lines, but choose for manual disk partitioning. Pick your SDHC card and only make 1 primairy partition in ext2 and give it / (root) as mountpoint. The installation will complain not having swap, we don't care.

Finally I chose to install the grub boot loader on the SDHC card and not on the SSD drive. So I clicked on advanced and made (hd0) in to (hd1) (In my case 0 = SSD, 1 = SD-card and 2 = USB-key)

When finished, close down and remove the usb-key

3. Boot the new SD-card

Make sure you have a wired network connection.

On boot, when you have the grey screen, press ESC and then when you see thegrub bootmenu, on the first entry press "e" twice, chance (hd2,0) into (hd0,0), press enter and then "b".

When you finally booted into ubuntu, first open a terminal and do:

sudo -i
vim /boot/grub/device.map #(only leave entry 1 and 2, delete the others).

vim /boot/grub/menu.lst #(go looking at the and for the menu entry's, there change (hd2,0) into (hd0,0) and change (hd0,0) into (hd1,0).

grub-install /dev/sdb (that should be your SD-card, check with fdisk -l)

Now you can do all updates, let it run , it will take a some time.

4. run the ubuntu-eee-script.

Finally, when you reboot, you will have an updated Ubuntu on yout SD card. Now you only have to execute some sripts, so all hardware drivers are in place.

Just follow all things as explained on this website:

http://ubuntu-eee.tuxfamily.org/index.php5?title=How_to_use_the_ubuntu-eee_script

Things to do, things that are done.

2008-02-19T07:44:00.004+01:00

So much to do, so little time. Some things I managed to get done, others just got forgotten.

What I did:

- finally I made the channels we don't watch, invisible. This you have to do on the myth-backend. Till now, I din't have a good solution to work on my bakcground. But then Timo gave me the solution. Just use ssh with X passthrough.

This is the line you'll need "ssh -X -l mythtv IP-adress_myth-backend". Don't forget to put on X11 forwarding in /etc/ssh/sshd.conf.

Then, when you startup mythtv-setup, it will start on your computer you're working on. When you go in the "channel editor", you will be able to select or deselect "visible" on the second page of each individual channel. So you don't delete them, you just make them invisible.

- I mounted our new LCD with the ceilling mount in the kitchen. But I'll have to make something the mount the speakers as well.

- I tried some distro's for the Eee PC, but none really got me satisfied.

Things I really need to get done:

- making some kind of speaker mount

- continue assembling my TeamXray NT1

- continue install mythbuntu on our kitchen mythtv frontend.

- making my serial IR blaster to work with mythbuntu in combination with my Origen AE remote

- and not to forget: www.blicbox.be

New ram for my Eee PC

2008-02-14T11:46:00.004+01:00

Today I received my 2 GB ram for my Eee pc. I opened up the pc (first removed the battery), took out the 512 MB and plugged in the new one. I also ordered a 4 GB SDHC card. Way do I have 2 ram dimm's? Well, one is for my brother.

As you can see, the bios states 2 GB ram, but the info in xandros only shows 1 GB, this is normal. Other distro's support the bigger ram, so it will be useful, when I try eeeXubuntu.

Mercedes Bluetooth module with SE 850i

2008-02-11T14:29:00.000+01:00

Last week, I needed to test the Mercedes Extends Bluetooth (HFP) Telephone Module with a Sony ericsson K850i. I had to do this myself, because I couldn't find anywhere if this would work. We did some tests and found out it works perfectly. (be aware, test done in Europe, Belgium)

So you CAN use the Mercedes Extends Bluetooth (HFP) Telephone Module with a Sony ericsson K850i. You can not use the sms function, because that is not supported by the HFP (hands free profile).

http://www.emercedesbenz.com/Mar07/01_Mercedes_Extends_Bluetooth_HFP_Telephone_Module_To_Include_Blackberry_Integration.htm

http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_k850-2003.php

eeeXubuntu on Eee PC with 1GB SD

2008-02-07T12:51:00.000+01:00

Well, I have The Eee pc for 2 days now and I can't resist the urge the test an other distro. So made a live eeeXubuntu SD card as described on http://wiki.eeeuser.com/ubuntu:eeexubuntu:home

I'm not going to install it on the SSD but, I'll try all kinds of things on the 4 gb SDHC card I ordered. I think it's best to wait some more, till all probs have been solved.

Trying to set locales to dutch on an Eee pc

2008-02-06T16:30:00.000+01:00

As you can see, some things are in Dutch now, but most stay in English. The thing I did was:

Open a terminal CTRL+ALT+t

sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales

I picked nl_BE.UTF-8 and made it my default choice.

This changes some things, but not all. This is because the programs only have French and English locale packages. When you check http://update.eeepc.asus.com/p701/, and dig into let's say nl. You will find the packages being empty. So no Dutch locale packages yet.

Second impression

2008-02-06T10:22:00.000+01:00

For 1 day the Eee pc is mine. I used it for pidgin (IM), firefox (browsing) and Amarok (music). At this moment, I don't feel the need to change the OS. Xandros does, what is has to do on those applications.

But, as I ordered a France Eee pc, I did feel the need to change the language. I made it English. Dutch ain't included so that's not an option, but hé, English is fine by me.

Press CTRL+ALT+T where ever you want to, so it opens a console. In the console you type:

/opt/xandros/bin/locale_dialog

This will open a dialog, where you can make your choise. After that you probably have to reboot.

There is an excellent wiki, where you can find all about the Eeepc, even how to install ubuntu en Eeebuntu. Go check it out: http://wiki.eeeuser.com/

As you can see, there is a small tag on one of the screw on the back panel

No mini-PCIe included, but you can upgrade the memory. Notice the sticker on the memory ;-)

Have fun.

First impression

2008-02-05T11:06:00.000+01:00

Well, I got my Eee pc today. Seems all turned out well after all. I made some pictures right away. Later on I will post more info. For now: leave me alone, I have to easy learn, easy work and easy play. But first, I have to charge the battery completely, for better battery life, as documented by Asus.

No Eeepc thanks to Chronopost

2008-02-04T17:04:00.000+01:00

I ordered my Eeepc at pixmania, all want well, but it doens't get deliverd thanks to Chronopost. I do have a tracknumber, so took a peek at the chronopost site. Delivery states:

ven 01/02/2008 19:31 Difficulté rencontrée

vri 01/02/2008 19:31 MASSY CHRONOPOST Incident Reason:Attente agence

Meaning: something happend, waiting agency

Doesn't look good. So just sended a mail to pixmania and received a confirmation that they will send an answer within 24 hours.

I hope I'm not facing an email battle, where pixmania will state, it is out of there hands.

Just for now, DO NOT CHOOSE CHRONOPOST FOR DELIVERY OF ANY KIND!!! BE WARNED

13:44:44

2008-02-01T13:54:00.000+01:00

That's the final hour, my EEEpc should have been delivered. Nothing yet, still waiting. We'll see what happens.

EEE PC and PIXMANIA

2008-02-01T08:30:00.000+01:00

Well, as you know I ordered my EEEpc on wensday and normally I should receive it before 13:44:44. But checking the wabsite yesterday, made me doubt. It mentioned the Item was not sended yet and on an other line it would be available on 15/02/08.

What the ...., Not good. So I went googling. Found on tweakers a lot of customers don't seem to be very happy with pixmania. Man, I was not feeling well.

But then again, who complaines, right ..., those that are not pleased. So I decided not to worry and this morning I checked the order again. And .... It states SENDED. WHOHOW. One EEEpc comming my way.

I'll let you know, when it has arrived. And when all goes well, I'll promise to make a good report on pixmania at tweakers.

Donate wool for a world record attempt!

2008-01-31T15:10:00.001+01:00

original post: Voidy's blog

In Ostend, where I live, an organization know as "De Blomme" is
attempting to break a world record. Apparently they want to create
the biggest blanket ever and wrap it around a building.

In order to do this they need as much wool and cotton as possible,
so if you have any leftovers or you feel like donating some,

PLEASE DO!!!

Contact Information:

Dienstencentrum De Blomme
8400 Oostende (Nieuwe Stad)
Chrysantenstraat 30
+32(059) 43 52 34

I'm sure you will make the residents very happy.

To many channels

2008-01-31T09:29:00.000+01:00

Well, we do have English tv, German tv, France tv, Turkish tv, Dutch tv, Belgian tv, theme channels. All very nice, but we only watch Belgian tv.

You probably know that feeling, where you really have to setup all available channels, but you don't watch them? I'm over it now. I'm going to remove them (put them to invisible mode) on the mythtv backend. This will be a relieve, only beeing able to choose from channels we actually watch.

Second thing is, it will be mutch easier to use "planning a recording" by genre, because now there will only be shown movies from the channels we watch. (yes, those that have dutch subtitles)

Quick guess gives me these channels as keepers.

één
canvas/ketnet
KA2
VT4
WIJFTV (oeps must be VIJFTV)
VTM
JIM
MTVNL
TMF
CARTOONNETWORK/NGC

An Eee pc coming my way

2008-01-30T17:06:00.000+01:00

My brother told me, he ordered an eeepc yesterday. Well I couldn't wait any longer and ordered mine today at http://www.pixmania.be

I can't wait for it to arive. My brother bought the white one and will have it on 15/02/2008, but I took the black one and guess ... I'll have mine the day after tomorrow.

Well as soon as I get my hands on it, I will post pictures and video's. Then howto's will follow.

Ain't it bedtime yet. ;-)

Eee pc chaepest on pixmania

2008-01-30T09:18:00.000+01:00

Well, we Belgians still have to wait till the official release. But it's getting more and more easy buying one on the net. It seems like http://www.pixmania.be has the best deal. €302

The white one is available on the 15 of feb.
http://www.pixmania.be/be/nl/727317/art/asus/eeepc-701-4g-blanc.html

The black one, right now.

http://www.pixmania.be/be/nl/727167/art/asus/eeepc-701-4g-noir.html

What should we do? order or wait? Mmm, beter still wait some more, on the info http://www.bechtle.be is digging up for me. They might have a beter deal.

Webshare with webdav

2008-01-25T15:03:00.002+01:00

Some time ago, a guy asked me for my howto on webdav. Because blicboc.be was offline, I posted a link to my google doc's. http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dc8xcg7f_20gqff5z

This time, it is the howto, as far as I had finished it. Yes it is in Dutch, maybe someday it will be in English.

Have fun, by the way, the old blicbox site is back online, till the new one is stable.

Compiz Fusion on EeeXubuntu on Eeepc

2008-01-22T09:10:00.000+01:00

Oh boy, Oh boy, oh oby. It gets better all the time. Watch this !!! Compiz Fusion running on an Eee pc. I WANT AN EEE PC.

Allready a lot of linux distro's are beeing adapted for the Eeepc, but I can't find mutch info on the Write cycle problems with SSD media. It get's mentioned, but none comes with a solution of not writing at all.

I would do it differently, make a casper boot, so that all is loaded in the mem. No write cycles at all. If you want changes to be stored, use the speciale moo script. It writes only ones. And you can use an other part of the disk to store documents, or use an SD card, or put it on your server.

Asus Eeepc launch on 23/01/08 in Europe

2008-01-22T08:46:00.001+01:00

Here in Europe, we are still waiting, waiting and waiting some more on the arrvial of the Eee pc. But finally we get paid for all that waiting. Tomorrow it is launch day in France and Germany, so we Belgians hope it will be launched here too.

Offcourse we can buy on ebay, but we want Azerty. Ever wondered who the heck uses Azerty, well here we are. But hé, don't blame us, the France people all started it.

I can't wait to finally get my hands on one of the new Eee pc's. I'm still wondering what colour I will chose. White or black, or should I go for pink? Nah, white will do, It has some Apple coolness.

Gimme gimme gimme.

Should this blog be in English?

2008-01-21T12:17:00.001+01:00

Well, I just had to ask it, didn't I. Now see what happend. 6 people voted and 50% wants me to blog in English. Oh, well, here we go. Don't blame me if you can't understand a word of what i'm blogging. I'll do my best, but even in dutch it wasn't error free.

Howto's will remain in Dutch, maybe people like to translate, I don't. When www.blicbox.be is back in place, howto's will be too. For now, you're stuck with what I'm typing in this blog.

MythXface theme geïnstalleerd

2008-01-21T10:55:00.001+01:00

Dit weekend heb ik het MythXface thema geïnstalleerd vanop deze site: http://www.antiscreeners.com/wiki/mythtv/themes/mythxface. Alles verliep perfect en ik moet zeggen, WOW, eindelijk een thema die het waard is om de intalleren. Dit is hoe het zou moeten zijn.

Ik heb hem nu wel op een 4:3 installatie staan en eigenlijk is bedoeld voor 16:9, maar het stoort ons niet. Op mijn laptop is het wel 16:9 en daar komt hij misschien iets beter tot zijn recht, maar zoals ik al zei, een beetje platgedrukt stoort niet.

De installatie houdt niet veel meer in dan, downloaden en uitpakken in de map /usr/share/mythtv/themes/

Nieuwe mythtv themes

2008-01-16T14:25:00.000+01:00

Op de site van mythtv zijn er een aantal nieuwe themes te vinden. Zeker de moeite om eens rond te snuisteren.

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Category:Themes#MythTV_Themes_2

Vooral MythXface bevalt me wel heel erg. De site is wel in't spaans, maar met een beetje vakantie spaans versta je wel wat er op de site staat. ;-) Olé.

De link naar de screenshots: http://www.antiscreeners.com/wiki/mythtv/themes/mythxface

McDONALD'S lokeren heeft een probleem

2008-01-16T11:13:00.000+01:00

Gisteren heeft het serieus gestormd en blijkbaar is de McDonald's in lokeren niet gespaard gebleven. Hier parkeer ik mijn auto liever niet onder.

Google Calendar in Mythtv NO GO

2008-01-15T07:43:00.001+01:00

Ik dacht dat ik gisteren de oplossing had gevonden om een lange URL door te kunnen geven aan mythbrowser, door deze in een file te plaatsen. Ik had natuurlijk 1 ding over het hoofd gezien, namelijk, dat mythbrowser voor elke link zelf http:// plaatst.

Het gevolg is, dat het commando er alsvolgt uitziet: "firefox http://mnt/links/kalender.html" en dat is natuurlijk niet de bedoeling. Terug naar af. Nog even ter herinnering: De publieke links naar gemeengde kalenders bevatten een &. Als je een copy paste doet van zo'n URL, zal je geen problemen ondervinden. Maar als je zo'n link wilt meegeven in het opstart commando, dan loopt het mis.

Ik heb mogelijks al weer een andere piste, die ik kan volgen en waarschijnlijk ook wel de laatste. Eerst had ik nog gehoopt dat de URL syntax zou helpen. Zo kan je met %26 de ampersand (&) vervangen, maar dit helpt niet. Mijn laatste poging, is het gebruik van apache. Dit maakt het misschien wel heel erg omslachtig, maar de meeste servers hebben bijna altijd een apache server draaien.

Misschien lukt het om gewoon de links in de /var/www/ van de server te zetten. (in die file zit dan een redirect met de juiste link) en hoef ik als url in de frontend enkel de link naar de file te vermelden. Dit zou dan iets zijn, in de zin van: ip-adres-server/kalender.html Het voordeel tegenover de vorige oplossing, is dat ik dan niets hoef te mounten en dat eenmaal de link aangemaakt in mythbrowser, deze op alle frontends zal werken.

Google Calendar and Mythbrowser

2008-01-14T10:46:00.001+01:00

In mijn poging om op een eenvoudig manier onze kalender weer te geven met mythbrowser, kwam ik alweer op een probleem. De link die je moet aanmaken om een kalender weer te geven, bevat een aantal ampersands ( &). Als je echter ampersands in een link heb staan, die je wil meegeven aan firefox bij het opstarten, loopt het mis. bv: firefox http://www.blicbox.be vormt geen probleem, maar de ingewikkelde links naar je google kalenders dus wel.

De manier van werken is nodig, omdat mythbrowser alsvolgt werkt. Als je een link kiest vanuit het menu in mythtvn, dan geeft mythbrowser de opdracht door aan de browser van jouw keuze, met de link erachter: /usr/bin/firefox http://www.blicbox.be. Dus moest ik naar een oplossing zoeken, om de speciale links van google toch juist te kunnen weergeven.

Ik dacht direct aan een file, met daarin de link, zodat het syntax "firefox file.html" zou zijn. In die file zet je dan de link, maar firefox geeft de file weer ipv de link te volgen. Uiteindelijk vond ik de oplossing met de opdracht redirect. De inhoud van de file ziet er dan zo uit:

<meta HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" content="0; url=http://www.blicbox.be">

Als je nu de opdracht "firefox file.html" geeft, werkt het wel. Nu moet ik enkel de file op de backend zetten en zorgen dat alle frontends eraan kunnen (bv met samba). Dan hoeven we enkel in mythbrowser als link bv het volgende op te geven /mnt/links/test.html. Die file test.html staat dan op de samba mount "links " en wordt op alle frontends automatisch gemount.

Firefox in mythbrowser

2008-01-11T16:29:00.001+01:00

Zoals je in mijn vorige post kon lezen, is mogelijk om Firefox, Iseweasel of een andere browser te gebruiken met mythbrowser. Dit geeft wel een hele hoop nadelen, maar ze zijn op te lossen. En net als ik alles zelf had gevonden op het net, kom ik toch wel op een pagina van mythtv tv zeker. link naar pagina

Op die pagina staat eigenlijk alles wat je nodig hebt: autohide (om fullscreen te starten), Tab Mix plus (om alle vensters altijd als tabs te openen) en keyconfig (om toetsen toe te kennen aan commando's)

Het enige wat je nog nodig hebt is irxevent, om die toets aanslagen te simuleren met je afstandbediening en door te geven aan firefox. Dit gebeurt met irxevent, een standaard onderdeel van Lirc, maar niet van IRtrans! Vermits ik IRtrans gebruik ipv lirc, zit er maar 1 ding op, en dat is ofwel irxevent zelf compileren ofwel lirc-x installeren, maar dan moet ik wel lirc deactiveren.

Google Calendar in mythtv not that simple

2008-01-11T09:40:00.001+01:00

De vorige posts over Collect&Go en Google Calender in Mythbrowser waren eigenlijk een beetje veronderstellingen. Het was pas giesteren avond, dat ik ook werkelijk de 2 zaken getest heb.

Collect&Go werkt perfect met mythbrowser, maar Google Calender wordt niet weergegeven met de interne browser van Mythtv. Er is echter wel een oplossing voor, maar die vraagt eigenlijk wel een hoop werk.

Mythbrowser geeft de mogelijkheid om gebruik te maken van de browser van de plugin zelf, maar je kan ook gebruik maken van een externe browser. Dus je kan zelf firefox of iceweasel of welke browser dan ook installeren en in de configuratie verwijzen naar de browser van jouw keuze.

Echter hier stopt het niet. Van het moment dat je kiest om een externe browser te gebruiken, wordt deze opgestart naast mythtv en worden alle input commands overgedragen aan het externe programma, net zoals bij mplayer of xine voor bv video's.

Dit wil dus zeggen, dat je je afstandsbediening niet meer kan gebruiken, tenzij je hem configureert in lircrc. Het is ook zo, dat je browser soms ongewild nieuwe vensters opent ipv van met tabs te werken.

Het grootste nadeel hiervan is, dat de focus iedere keer verandert naar het nieuwe venster en het dus bv goed mogelijk is dat je bv 5 vensters bovenop mythtv hebt draaien, die je dan allemaal eerst moet afsluiten, voordat je weer in mythtv komt.

Een aparte MythGoogleCalender zou wel mooi zijn, maar misschien lukt het me toch, om het gedrag van firefox aan te passen. Ik denk hierbij aan kiosk mode en iets in de zin van: "only allow one instance of firefox."

Google Calendar in mythtv

2008-01-10T09:35:00.001+01:00

Sinds enige tijd maken we thuis gebruik van Google agenda of Google calendar. Ondertussen is deze goed ingeburgerd en gedeeld met mijn vrouw. We hebben aparte kalenders voor verjaardagen, feestdagen(gelinkt ven een externe agenda) en onze eigen afspraken. Op het werk, bekijken en bewerken we deze via Lightning voor Thunderbird. Thuis meestal via google zelf.

Google Agenda biedt de mogelijkheid om een read-only versie van de kalender op een heel eenvoudige manier te bekijken vanuit een browser. Het enige wat je moet doen, is ervoor zorgen dat je kalenders door iedereen te bekijken zijn. In je agenda kan je dan een html code genereren. Zet je deze code simpel weg in een file, die je bv agenda.html noemt, dan kan je deze agenda bekijken.

Als voorbeeld geef ik even de url van feestdagen kalender mee. Normaal moet je de code die je genereert een een html bestaand zetten, maar voor dit specifieke geval lukt het ook met een link.

feestdagen

Zoals reeds eerder gezegd, kan je met mythbrowser webpagina's bekijken en dus ook de google kalender. Je moet enkel in de config de url van de pagina die zelf gemaakt hebt toevoegen: bv /home/mythtv/.mythtv/agenda.html en als je dan kiest voor deze url, kan je snel even je kalender raadplegen.

Collect&Go en Mythtv

2008-01-09T08:56:00.001+01:00

Wat heeft de colruyt nu weer te maken met mythtv zal je denken. Ik ben gestart met het plaatsen van een mythfrontend in de keuken, zoals je kan lezen in mijn vorige post. Zover niets speciaals. Maar, we zijn sinds vorige week ook gestart met Collect&Go van de colruyt. Kort uitgelegd: je kiest je boodschappen online en de dag erna kan je ze afhalen in je colruyt.

Meer info vind je op de site van Collect&Go. Je betaald wel 4,50 euro extra voor de verwerking, maar dit vind ik geen probleem in vergelijking met de tijd die je wint. Zover nog steeds geen abnormale zaken ;-)

Natuurlijk is het de bedoeling om de 2 te combineren, zodat we onze bestellingen kunnen doen vanuit mythtv. En dit is mogelijk. Hiervoor heb je op je frontend de plugin mythbrowser nodig. Met deze plugin, kan je surfen op het net en bladwijzers aanmaken.

Het enige probleem is, wanneer je iets wilt invullen met het keyboard (bv je login en paswoord), mythtv deze toetsen nog steeds ziet als afstandsbedienings toetsen. Logisch ook. Dit maakt het natuurlijk onmogelijk om iets in te vullen in velden. MAAR, op diezelfde site staat de oplossing. Je drukt op F1 en de de input wordt doorgegeven aan de browser. Nogmaals F1 en de input is weer doorgeven aan mythtv.

Het onscreen keyboard, waarbij je met je afstandbediening toetsen van een keyboard kan kiezen, is nog niet geïmplementeerd, maar het komt. Alsa dat in orde is, dan kan je gewoon shoppen met je afstandsbediening vanuit je luie zetel. Een draadloos toetsenbord en muis is in ons geval een perfecte oplossing, want ik kan nu ook mijn gmail checken en googledocs oproepen om recepten te bekijken.

Lang leve Mythtv. ;-)

Mythfrontend in de Keuken

2008-01-07T12:32:00.001+01:00

Omdat we wat rijd willen winnen, zouden we een mythfrontend in de keuken plaatsen, zodat we zouden kunnen koken en bv het nieuws bekijken tegelijkertijd.

Hiervoor ging ik eerst een laptop gebruiken, maar ik slaagde er niet in om de resolutie voor het externe breedbeeld lcd scherm op 1440x900 te krijgen. Vermits ik geen zin had om hier veel tijd aan te spenderen, heb ik dan mijn oude Aldi pc gedoopt tot TVKEUKEN. De installatie van Ubuntu 7.10 verliep vlekkeloos en zelfs mythtv-ubuntu-frontend installatie ging vanzelf.

Zonder enige instelling, logt de pc na 5 seconden automatisch in, als gebruiker mythtv en start de frontend op. Na een goeie 1,5 uur, was de installatie volledig klaar voor gebruik en werkte de resolutie 1440x900 op mijne nieuwe Acer-scherm.

Nu ben ik opzoek naar een plafond montage arm, zodat ik het scherm aan het plafond kan bevestigen. Ik heb al iets op het oog, maar ik moet nog goed uitzoeken, welke arm nu juist wat kan. Een voorwaarde is dat het scherm 180° kan draaien rond de arm. Een bijkomend voordeel zou zijn, dat de kabels in de arm kunnen verborgen worden. Later hier meer over.

mythtv installatie

2008-01-03T09:25:00.001+01:00

Gisteren is Necr0man6er langs geweest, om een installatie te doen van een mythtv systeem. Hij had een server mee, die zou dienen als backend en een computerke dat dienst kon doen als frontend.

Ik had een Hauppauge tuner-kaart over gekocht van Voidy (Timothy), omdat in zijn installatie de kaart niet goed presteerde. Dit was een gekend probleem, vermits Hauppauge niet langer gebruik maakte van de dure philips tuners, maar was overgestapt op goedkopere Samsung tuners.

Onze eerste opzet was, om de tuner kaart te testen met aller laatste drivers van ivtv en wonder boven wonder, het beeld was perfect. Daarna hebben we de installatie verder overlopen, zoals deze staat beschreven in mijn Howto. Tijdens de installatie kwamen we geen enkel probleem tegen.

De installatie van de frontend liep even vlot en op ruw weg een 5 tal uur, was heel het systeem klaar voor het eerste gebruik. Het was eerlijk gezegd tegen onze verwachtingen in, dat het zo vlot verliep.

Conclussie: volgens mij is mijn Howto sowieso al bijna helemaal klaar, enkel het deel van de frontends, daar moet ik nog wat aan werken.

Terug van skivakantie.

2007-12-27T21:20:00.001+01:00

Maar dan wel een dag vroeger dan gepland. Mathis bleef maar koorts maken en we hebben na 3 dagen koorts beslist om maar huis te komen.

Nu zijn we thuis en is de koorts eindelijk over. Morgen gaan we naar de kinderarts. Ik vermoed dat hij de 3 dagenkoorts heeft doorgemaakt.

Hij kon daarnet al weer een beetje lachen. Ik ben blij dat we toch naar huis zijn gekomen, liever geen risico's. Mathis was tenslotte nog maar net terug uit het ziekenhuis.

Aan tafel!

2007-12-27T09:35:00.001+01:00

Zoals elke avond, zitten we ook nu weer met het hele gezin aan tafel. Deze avond was het fondue en dat was al een hele tijd geleden.

Mathis heeft nog steeds koorts en hij heeft ook weer overgegeven, die arme jongen toch. Dat hij maar snel beter wordt.

File aan de lift.

2007-12-26T14:14:00.001+01:00

Soms moeten we ook eens aanschuiven aan de lift, maar dat duurt nooit lang. Meestal staat er gewoon geen kat aan de liften.

Er wordt weldegelijk geskied

2007-12-26T12:20:00.001+01:00

Je zou er aan beginnen twijfelen met al die lege pistes. Hier zie je mijn vrouw Eva, die net begonnen is met de afdaling van een zwarte piste.

Een lege piste

2007-12-26T12:10:00.001+01:00

Zo lijkt het wel, maar er zijn echt wel mensen aan het skiën. Berwang is nu eenmaal een rustig en gezellig skidorpje.

Het speelterrein van de kinderen.

2007-12-26T10:33:00.001+01:00

Hier kunnen onze kindjes zich elke dag uitleven terwijl wij op de skilatten staan.

Gisteren lukte het niet om iets door te sturen. Ik kreeg geen verbinding met het net. Vandaag lukt het weer wel.

Mathis maakt weer koorts en heeft weer overgegeven, maar we denken dat het van de slijmpjes uit zijn longen is. Nu lijkt hij weer beter, dus zijn we toch gaan skiën.

Kerstavond

2007-12-24T22:34:00.001+01:00

De Oostenrijkers zijn nog steeds zot van echte kaarsen in de kerstboom. Gelukkig ligt er genoeg sneeuw om te blussen, moest het nodig zijn.

Een vrolijk kerstfeest aan iedereen. Geniet van het diner en het feest.

Laïs in skipak.

2007-12-24T16:55:00.001+01:00

Elke dag na ons skibelevenis, steken we Laïs in haar skipak. Zo kan ze ook een keertje buiten.

Berwang van uit de lucht.

2007-12-24T13:58:00.001+01:00

Een zicht op ons dorpje Berwang vanuit de lift. Half in de zon, half in de schaduw.

Een korte pauze.

2007-12-24T11:53:00.001+01:00

Het is nog geen twaalf uur, maar we wilden toch even van de zon genieten. Zalig, het is zelfs warm genoeg om zonder pull te genieten.