Peter's Blog

Dell Inspiron 500m is tethered to a mains socket so now I have it running 24/7. One advantage of this is that I can use iTunes for podcast downloading. Using the Apple podcast directory I found The Week In Technology (TWIT) which the laptop downloads at it's leisure. Come rowing time, I fire up the desktop pc in the rowing room and use the iTunes sharing thing to play the podcast back. And it works! Before I could not be bothered to find any podcast other than the Daily Source Code and now I am spoilt for choice thanks to the iTunes podcast directory. Ok, I'm not a great fan of iTunes but Microsoft built an empire on seductive ease of use.

Following from the tragic accident here is the progress on the fate of the Dell Inspiron 500m laptop that had coffee poured over it.

• After a day or so of drying out I took off the covers of the memory and wifi card bays and drained out the coffee which was still liquid.
• After a day or two more the laptop would actually boot but the keyboard did not work.
• Laptop would run on battery but not mains.
• Left more time for it to dry out.
• Laptop would only run from mains if battery was pulled out: can run on battery alone but cannot charge it, even with the laptop switched off. The mains adapter appears to crowbar: the green led on it fads out.
• Took laptop to bits. Keyboard very dead. Stripped it down to it's membrane, no visible coffee staining but it would not work. Probing keyboard plug with a bit of wire I established that the circuitry was ok, the membrane was dead.
• Cleaned up what I could with nail varnish remover, which appears to be acetone and water so should be safe.
• Ordered new keyboard from ebay for £45. The keyboard is type 1M723.
• Fitted new keyboard, works fine.
• Examined circuit board to try to resolve battery problems. Heavy corrosion around the battery circuitry. Cleaned it up to no avail.

Conclusion: laptop is working fine, I'm using it to type this, but I can only run it from the mains. If I unplug it from the mains then I lose my BIOS settings when I plug it back in. From a portable computer I have gone to one that cannot even be moved without typing the date in.

It's sad.

The worst of it is that now I'm tempted to get a 12" Apple iBook.

Pros:

• Smaller
• the battery lasts longer
• a totally new non-ms environment to explore.

Cons:

• Apple are going intel next year. How long would PowerPC support linger?
• Linux will support intel indefinitely. In 5 years time when this box is only useful as a server, will I be able to get any contemporary software to run on it?
• Apple appear to be corporate bully boys like microsoft. They aren't the cool guys.
• I have to find Macintosh versions of my favourite apps: Firefox, Vim, Putty.
• Paying for it
• I have to grow a pony tail.

Warning: the Dell inspiron 500m laptop reacts badly to having coffee poured over it. Must be some kind of design fault, aren't computer users coffee drinkers by definition?

Moral: don't let baby near coffee.

I use a Dell Inspiron 500m notebook. 1.5G Centrino thing, light, portable, I use it a lot more than my desktop pc.

Updated this blog to Drupal. Went smoothly enough, tried using the democratica theme as it is one of the few drupal themes that resizes horizontally to fit screen width but it had some problems:

• if main content was not long enough, there was an error whereby the background to the right side panel was not long enough and did not meet the footer.
• viewing in IE6 on my Dell inspiron 500m, the background to the page loaded horribly slowly and I had to edit the css to make it plan grey
• it's css is vastly complicated and spread over a number of css files. Does not strike me as a clean or efficient design.

so I went back to my theme although I am a little sick of it.

I have wanted to categorise my blog entries using tags for a while now but there is still no official drupal module to do it (an api for developers but no user level module). I had a google and found awTags which is exactly what I want. You can now see the nice tags block on my site.

So I had a nice tagging system and over 700 articles with no tags. asTags provides an admin page to add tags to nodes with selected existing tags but no more. Looking through the code it had a nice clean api and I was able to hack to to do a search on the database for a search term and add a tag to matching nodes. I used the mysql REGEXP operator so that I could match whole words:

   1  function awTagsAPI_AddToExistingTagSearch($search, $addTag) {
   2    $addTid = awTagsAPI_GetTagID($addTag);
   3  
   4    if ($addTid == FALSE)
   5      $addTid = awTagsAPI_AddTag($addTag);
   6  
   7      $strSearch = str_replace( "'", "''", $search);
   8    $result = db_query("SELECT nid FROM {node} WHERE body REGEXP " +
   9                       "'[[:<:]]%s[[:>:]]' OR title REGEXP '[[:<:]]%s[[:>:]]'", $strSearch, $strSearch);
  10    $nCount = 0;
  11    while ($nid = db_fetch_object($result)) {
  12      awTagsAPI_AddTagToNode($nid->nid, $addTid, TRUE);
  13      $nCount = $nCount + 1;
  14    }
  15  
  16    return $nCount; // return count to display in summary
  17  }
Toggle Line Numbers

In an ideal world I would have used drupals own search facility but the api for that is horribly mixed up with user interface code so I searched the database directly. The above allows an amount of regexp syntax to be used, e.g. search for (outlook|thunderbird|exchange|gmail) and tag with 'email'. However, the above does not search comments, only node title and body.

Still, it worked good enough for me and I've added lots of tags.

I've been giving iPodder a try. It's an application for automatically downloading podcasts for later listening with iTunes: the podcasts appear in iTunes playlists.

I've been considering using my laptop for dowdloading podcasts instead of having a server running 24/7 and launching my downloading script once a day. The dell Inspiron 500m laptop can be turned on at certain times through it's Bios and after that it can sit in standby mode until the windows scheduler tells it to download podcasts. The laptop is effectively silent so it's not a pain like the server. I don't even know if it has a fan in it.

I gave iPodder a try as a more refined way of podcasting than the script. A potted review:

• it installs as a taskbar app
• it's user interface is little more than a set of property pages
• when it is idle, waiting to download podcasts once a day, it has about 20M of memory allocated to it. Ok, so most of this is probably swapped to disk all the time but even so, HOW MUCH?

• as it is a taskbar app, someone has to be logged into windows to run it. It is not a service and the windows scheduler can log in automatically to launch a task.
• it works but it is unremarkable.

I'll probably stick with my script if I can get it to run on windows, which should not be a problem. During the 23 hours and 50 minutes of the day it is doing nothing it will consume negligible resources. Downsides are that I do have to edit the script to add new feeds and it won't integrate with iTunes.

In England at least a lemon is something that is something of a liability. It is also iPodder's icon.

Been working on a new theme for my sites, something with round corners and shadows, xhtml and css. It's a really hard process of trial and error, testing it out in available browsers:

• Firefox
• IE5
• IE6
• Mozilla 1.6
• Lynx

I've just spent a few hours on a weird problem in IE6 showing round corner bitmaps: the images were all slightly corrupted, as if they were not being displayed in the right place by a few pixels or were being partially overwritten:

I spent hours fiddling with this, making sure my gif's didn't have transparent bits, googling for IE6 bugs etc but no joy. On a hunch I checked out the Drupal site and saw that the rounded corners there were corrupted as well.

I tried my new site with IE6 on my desktop pc and it was perfect.

Problem must be something strange about the graphics drivers on my Dell Inspiron 500m laptop.

New theme coming soon: it's already XHTML validated and has earnt a little badge: unlike Drupals bluebeach

For the first time ever I had to send a personal FAX so I had to think about how to go about it.

I had a form to print, sign and Fax off to 123-Reg. I can print, sign and scan the form back in using my Canon CanoScan Lide 20 Scanner so that was not a problem. I had a large graphic file to send.

I'd decommisioned my fax/modem when I went broadband and I didn't want to fiddle around setting it up again. I looked around the internet for faxing services but these seem to be mainly commercial or email < - > Fax gateways, no services for one off graphic Faxing.

Then I realised that my Dell Inspiron 500m laptop has a built in modem. I searched the internet for fax software then, on a hunch, looked to see if Windows XP itself supports it and it does.

These are the steps to install it:

• Go into Control Panel/Add or Remove Programs
• Click on 'Add or Remove Windows Components'
• Click on 'Fax Services' and 'Next'.
• Go into Control Panel/Printers and Faxes
• Add a new Fax. This will take you through a Wizard where you put in your name, address etc.

The Fax device now acts like a printer: I opened my scanned form in Paint Shop Pro and just printed it to the Fax device. This triggerred another wizard that took the Fax number and allowed me to set up a cover sheet. Then it sent the Fax. Easy.

Lets hope someone is working at 123-reg on a Saturday and will read it.

Got around to trying Skype today for some VOIP fun and games. The main problem for me to set this up was the poor sound quality on my Dell Inspiron 500m laptop. Using windows sound recorder with a plugin external microphone the recordings were distorted and pretty poor quality. I did some searching but I could find no fixes for this. Eventually I tried downloading new drivers for the SigmaTel C-Major Audio hardware from the Dell site. This fixed the problem.

I tried dialling my home phone but I could not get through because my home phone is set up to refuse calls from phones that withhold caller ID (to stop telesales) and Skype obviously has no caller ID to give.

Ringing wife's mobile I was able to amaze her and check Skype out simultaneously. It works. It's as good as using the phone and for ringing my mum in the evenings it works out cheaper than the landline. The rate to mobiles looks pretty steep, about 30p for a 30 second call.

I didn't need to fiddle with the DI624's firewall settings to get this working. For the record, I am on a 750k down/128k up broadband connection.

Now to ponder more about bluetooth headset.

pros:

• can make phone calls with hands free

cons:

• horrible pose factor makes it embarrassing to buy

Summary: Skype is cool.

Now I realise why Google has a plug for Google Desktop Search at the bottom of their results pages: MS and Yahoo have brought out their Me Too versions (both apparently bought in).

I uninstalled my various desktop search tools (google et al) when I realised I hadn't used them for a few months.

Update: Reading more on Microsoft MSN Desktop Search it seems that it integrates with windows explorer and the desktop as well as IE so it doesn't require you to use IE or even to drop into it just to search your desktop.

I've installed it and it is looking good: it can be used from Windows Explorer (to replace to lame built in search tool) and it can search python source code with no problems. This is my main need for a search tool, as a grep. The searching features in Vim are pretty crude (have to cd to directory and run thinly disguised command line grep).

Thoughts:

• It would be nice to see an actual list of file types that it indexes, reducing the capacity for subtle ommisions.
• Can choose which folders you want indexed.
• From the search results you can right click and do explorer-type things (open, edit etc). This is just what I want and my main objection to Google Desktop Search.
• Can restrict search to a particular folder by including part of the folder name in the search, e.g.:

  *.py AND play
  

  lists python source files in my 'play' directory and subdirectories. Nice, and without having to click around to find the play directory.
• It runs nicely on my Dell Inspiron 500m laptop. It would be more useful on my pc at work but that is far more gutless: it hasn't had a defrag for about 5 years.
• Save shortcuts:

  @regedit,=c:\windows\regedit.exe
  

  in the desktop bar and it creates a shotcut. Type in 'regedit' and enter and it runs regedit. Cool, saves me popping up the 'run' box. Doesn't seem to save desktop search terms which would be useful.

So, in conclusion:

• Microsoft are shafting everyone again by building a useful enough tool into the o/s
• This one seems good enough to me, a confirmed MS cynic. Google desktop search isn't good enough for me to use just to spite MS.

Update 2: It's better than that. Type file name you want in desktop toolbar and open it. Bypass explorer completely. All those wasted hours!!

Been trying out Puppy Linux, a 50M linux distribution that can boot from a USB flash drive.

I've put it on my Billionton USB Flash key. Here are the results so far:

• Boots on main work pc if I use a floppy disk to load the USB drivers (an old PC with a BIOS that cannot boot from a USB key).
• Boots on old work pc that has an addon PCI USB card, again using floppy.
• Doesn't boot on my Dell Inspiron 500m when using the BIOS setting to boot from USB, it just says 'MISSING OPERATING SYSTEM' and locks up. The Dell doesn't have a floppy drive so no way to try that out. Puppy can boot from CD and that works just fine. The problem is either the Dell BIOS or the key's 'boot sector' not playing ball. I set the key up using the script that runs on puppy itself, I am suspicious that this is the problem.

Once booted it is cool, it has enough utilities for a good play. I launched a console and did:

mkdir /mnt/c
mount -t ntfs /dev/hda1 /mnt/c
ls /mnt/c

and I had access to my Windows 2000 C directory, no logging in, no fuss. It boots in a minute or two.

The two PC's it is working on won't boot from CD's, at least not CDR's, probably as they are >4 years old, so USB is the only option.

As puppy only uses 50M of my 512M USB key it will be a handy thing to carry around with me.

There is lots of helpful advice on the website.

Succumbed to temptation and bought a USB Flash Drive. It is a Billionton 512M, nice and small and was £50 in PC World (not always the cheapest place to buy things but very convenient). I find these drives really handy when Windows networking decides to play up: browsing the network for other computers decides to freeze explorer for a minute, access denied with no useful details to tell me why, system admin decides to alter the security policy and my account gets locked out, that kind of thing. 1.4M floppies are unreliable and too small, the future is Flash Drives.

The drive itself worked immediately in my Dell Inspiron 500m notebook, on Windows XP SP2 without even needing a reboot.

I may look into booting linux off it as that's such a cool trick. There's also Mandrake Move to investigate.

Windows XP SP2 has not fixed the flakiness of my wireless networking. A summary of my setup:

• Dell Inspiron 500m notebook with Dell Truemobile 1300 WLAN Mini PCI card.
• DLink DI624 Wireless router

Most of the time this works fine but occasionally when the laptop comes out of hibernation it fails to connect. I have to go back into hibernate and out again to get things rolling.

When it's working it gives me a 54.0Mbps connection which is ample for my 750kbps NTL Internet connection (and thanks to NTL for the free upgrade from 600k).

The networking on my Dell Inspiron 500m laptop stopped working while I was using it. Reboots etc failed to bring it back to life. I took it closer to the wireless router (DLink DI-624), reprogrammed the network keys on the router and the laptop and it started working again. Dunno if it was an XP SP2 problem.

Two of my neighbours appear to have wireless networks now. My bandwidth was down to 32Mbps right next to the access point Wonder if I can boost my signal and jam out theirs?

I wanted to upgrade to SP2 as it seems to have improved wireless support and my wireless is sometimes a little flaky when coming out of hibernation. I'm not too fussed about the security problems as I only use IE on broken web sites and I don't use outlook express, I use email clients that aren't full of back doors.

I have heard that people had problems with SP2 on Dell Inspiron Laptops including dramatic slowdowns, reboot problems etc. So here is what I did:

• went to Dell website and read what they had to say.
• didn't bother removing adware as I am pretty sure I don't have any
• flashed BIOS with latest version (July 2004)
• installed SP2
• rebooted
• altered security settings to prompt for automatic updates: I don't want it done without me knowing.

All is ok, I'm still online despite firewall, seems pretty much as before. Different status bar icon or wireless. Security centre thing tries to sell me virus software but I can ignore that (I find virus software more intrusive than viruses).

One odd thing: when I started downloading SP2 it appears then 38M of it had already been downloaded. Where did it come from, why didn't it complete? It may explain why the update thing had not hastled me for a while. I had to manually download the jpg security fix.

I feel the need for a status report on various stuff I've mentioned in this blog.

Palm Tungsten T2

I haven't used this so much recently, I only use it as a diary. This is partly because it is summer and I don't wear a coat with pockets to carry it around. It's too big for trouser pockets. I do my blogging with Python Desktop Server, I don't use DayNotez any more.

Dell Inspiron 500m

I love my notebook, I'm using it now, I'd say it was my primary PC. I sit on the sofa in front of the TV and go through RSS feeds. My main gripe with it is that sometimes when it comes out of hibernate it does not see the wireless network and I have to hibernate it and unhibernate it again to kick it into life. Oh, also the SVideo output is only black and white. The laptop is just nice, no noisy fans and it doesn't make my lap overheat. About 2 hours of battery life.

Desktop PC

Hasn't crashed recently but that may be because I don't use it very often. The only time I used it this week was as a print server. The drivers with the PC TV card might have fixed the PCI latency issues. There are a number of PCs at work, including the firewall PC, that use VIA chipsets and they randomly hang as well. I have no love for VIA.

Python Desktop Server

Use it most days. I use it at work for my engineering logs which are behind a firewall. I haven't got around to adding tools or anything, I mainly use it for RSS aggregation. Having the aggregation in the web browser makes it so convenient for following links: in firefox I middle-click and read in a new tab. As a blogging tool my main gripe is the lack of a preview facility: checking links and formatting before uploading. I have to set it to offline mode before I start composing.

Debian

My debian server is still whirring away (noisy fans this summer but it's in a room I don't go in much). It handles email and Python Desktop Server and is also useful as a squid proxy that I can access from work through an SSH tunnel. I can use this to check the work firewall, to make sure it is possible to get in through the firewall. I might change server to a desktop pc as the laptop is a bit slow (166MHz pentium). That would allow me to make it a headless X server.

Object Desktop

I got fed up with animated fish using my CPU time in DesktopX. I use windowsblinds on the laptop to make it a bit more interesting but I don't think it was worth buying.

Intellimail

Still using it at home but I am tempted to move to IMAP + thunderbird like I use at work. Awaiting a home server decision.

Thunderbird

It's ok if a bit utilitarian when compared to Intellimail. However it handles IMAP, if a little flakily (it sometimes displays Inbox(3) but doesn't show the new messages).

Firefox

Love it. I only use IE for broken websites.

ITunes

May register for it today. If I can buy just the tracks I want and blow them to an audio CD then I see no need to buy CD's that are 75% filler material.

Furl

I'm beginning to see Furl as a place to look for websites that other people find interesting. When I run out of RSS articles I now try, e.g. this.

Motorbike

Sold for the asking price to a dealer who was advertising for CBR600's.