Natesters Blog

Move Notice

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 00:24:00 +0000

If you are looking for anything current, check out my other site here...

Test Again

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 01:54:00 +0000

Just another test post

Test

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 01:59:00 +0000

Ubuntu Sound and Power Glitches

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 01:32:00 +0000

Well, I am always singing praises about Ubuntu Linux, but recently my netbook started glitching on a few things. One I noticed is that the power manager is erroneously shutting down my netbook when I remove the power plug (thinks the battery is critically low, even though it is full). The battery monitor works fine if I start the netbook without external power. I've tried tweaking settings using "sudo gconf-editor" (under apps >> gnome-power-manager), but have not been able to stop the issue. The second problem I have found a workaround for so if you notice that your Linux sound stops working, you might try this (there is a good sound t-shooting tutorial here by the way). Use the following commands shown below and your sound should start again (I added them to a simple bash script). That is, if you have the same exact issue with Lynx. The aplay -l output shown above might be a clue. It does not show anything when sound stops working in my case...

#!/bin/bash
killall pulseaudio
sudo alsa force-reload
pulseaudio -D

Add the first line above only if you want to use it in a bash script like I did (save it using gedit with .sh extension, and make executable). Otherwise simply run the commands one at a time in a terminal window. I dug them up on one of the many Ubuntu user forums I had to google through, and give a hearty thanks to whoever posted them up.

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Lucid Lynx is...WOW!

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Sat, 22 May 2010 01:49:00 +0000

I upgraded my portables this past weekend to Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. I have an old HP tc tablet computer, and a newer netbook. Ubuntu just gets better and better. I plugged in my iPod touch, and not only was it recognised and mounted, I could play all my DRM-free tunes through Rythmbox, transfer pix automatically using F-Spot, and browse the iPod's filesystem. I did this without jailbreaking anything... Seriously, I don't understand why anyone would not want to grab this easy-to-use and full featured Linux distro! If nothing else, download and try the WUBI install version... It installs inside Windows, just like any application...

Ubuntu Running on HP TC1100 TABLET

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:51:00 +0000

At CES this year I saw one gadget I really loved and it is not new. In fact it is an old HP tablet model tc1100. Evidently Hal, our editor over at smartphonemag.com got a bunch of these for re-sell, and brought one to the show. They are old tech, and many are not in very good shape, but I have wanted one of these for a long time. Hal and Thaddeus sent me one after the show to play around with. The unit is badly scratched and wouldn’t boot up properly about half the time, and the battery is not holding a charge very well, but hey it still mostly works! I had it connected to the internet in about 5 minutes after it arrived.

The HP tc has a swivel base keyboard, but that doesn’t work at all on this unit. I tried updating and patching the default XP install that came installed, but it started hanging pretty bad after startup, and Windows update was complaining about install failures. It went from slow to snail-speeds. I finally had enough, and decided to slap Ubuntu Linux on it. I also removed the keyboard completely, so now it is not too far removed in capability from a low-res iPad. Though it’s been around the block and back, it’s running Karmic Koala now very nicely, and has stopped having boot issues. Check out some demo vids below…

Playing one of my fav free games--Scorched Earth, runs really pretty well on the tc1100, even with only 512MB of RAM. Scorched was a bear to shutdown though…

A general demo of the main apps that come with Karmic…chat, view pix, videos, handwrite notes and listen to music (that’s the excellent free magnatune service).

The latest Ubuntu full desktop release has some nice graphic enhancements (which don’t work with my netbook because of compatibility problems), but work just fine on the tc. There were mucho tweaks of course (wouldn’t be Linux without that), but this post helped alot. If you have not experienced the magic of the easiest to use (and master) Linux release freely available, then you don’t know what you are missing…Thanks, Hal, Thaddeus and especially Linux. Next on the list is to find a newer battery…

CES Coverage from Las Vegas

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:05:00 +0000

I am in sunny Las Vegas this week for the Consumer Electronics Show. You can follow my iPod/iPhone coverage on my other blog here...

BLIZZARD hitting Northern VA hard!

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 19:38:00 +0000

Man, it’s snowing like the dickens out there! Have shoveled the driveway twice now, and already looks like 4 inches are back again (probably more than 10-12 inches have fallen already)! I think we will definitely see a record-setting storm here, what with the low pressure out there off the mid-Atlantic coast, pumping moisture right over us--won’t likely run out of steam anytime soon. It’s a great weather X-Mas present, even if a little early!

Nice big old wedge of precip... Us staying on the cold side means “Plenty O’ White Stuff”!…Some vids I shot of the storm below..

Vampires Everywhere!

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:09:00 +0000

This is one of those iPhone apps that looks simple on the surface, but is potentially useful beyond what you might expect. Yes, the app store is chock full of picture manipulation apps, but Peter Facinelli’s (one of the Twilight series movie stars) Vampire Transformer (by 211me.com) provides some clever pix editing tools, a good menu system, and adds social network sharing to the mix. It was indeed fun turning my wife into a vampiress...and a hot one, too if I do say so…

This will be a pretty straight-forward write-up, because the app is pretty straight-forward itself. The premise is to select 2 pictures (one in the foreground, and one in the background). The pictures can be from your camera roll, or the included set of vampire models. You then use your finger to wipe away pixels in the forgoround (or add them back in) to blend the 2 layers together. The result can be pretty amazing, and depending on how much of an artist you are, you can really spice it up. In my case, in like 5 minutes I had transformed my wife (already hot), into a seriously sexy vampire!

After you start Vampire transformer up and start a new vampire, you can select from a gallery of model pix (or camera roll) for the top/bottom images to be overlaid. The image editor does not start in the mode for selecting/aligning the images by default (which might be a small tweak for the developers to consider). As the images likely need to be aligned and resized for facial structure and features to match up, you will want to activate this mode first (see the main left toggle soft-button with arrows above). Another good tip, of course, is to pick images that have a similar facial profile or perspective, then do much of the fine-tuning while zoomed in. You can select between the layers, crop the picture, move image position, and pinch zoom while the arrows are displayed. Once you have the front and rear images properly aligned, you can then start your transformation.

The pix editor will allow you to take a whole swath off the front image with a finger swipe (using the transform mode). It takes a little trial and error to tweak the images enough to be convincing. In my case, I started by clearing an area around the eyes and mouth, so the vampire’s features behind could show through clearly, and then changing the editor to the more subtle paintbrush mode (turn off brush strength), which will let you add a section of the front image back in gradually over an area. You can easily undo your actions by selecting the right-side curly arrow. The editor is like a mini photoshop, and you can come up with some startling imagery if your blends/changes are subtle. Check it out below…

Share your Vampires

VT let’s you share your vampirical (I made that word up) creations via e-mail or through social networking sites like twitter or facebook, and also provides an online gallery of vampire pix that you can post up to as well. You can use VT to launch an e-mail to all your friends with your vampire creations attached. See below…

Vampire Transformer, as I said, on the surface may seem like just another humorous picture tweaking app, but I can certainly see value beyond that. I for one, can use this to blend and morph images for my blog posts (totally non-vampire related). I could see field forensic or CSI people using apps similar to this to compare crime scene photos to pictures in an international database of missing persons (overlaid on each other). Or for example, medical procedures like cosmetic surgery (before and after) comparisons could be tested out on your phone before actually visiting your doctor. Of course, VT won’t do stuff like that today, but in the future we will see more advanced apps like this, I am sure. It is amazing the power represented by the iPhone. iPhone apps (even the entertainment based apps like VT) are just beginning to scratch the surface of the capability that the iPhone can bring (or the iPod) to our lives! Go check out Peter Facinelli’s Vampire Transformer (in the app store), especially if you are a fan, or even maybe just want to create a few sexy vampires of your own! Maybe in the future, people will use something very much like it to plan their next cosmetic surgery…

A Tale of 2 Upgrades

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:05:00 +0000

This weekend was a weekend for upgrades. I’ve been running Windows 7 now at work (much like every other geek), for months now. Love it!. Can’t be any clearer than that. It is the XP of Vista. Anyhoo, I figured I would make it a party and upgrade not just my dual-boot Vista laptop, but also my dual-boot Ubuntu Netbook. What I mean is that I performed 2 very different side-by-side “upgrade installs”--not fresh installs of the next version, but an actual upgrade--of VIsta to Win 7, and Ubuntu 9.04, to 9.10 “Karmic Koala” (latest version has cool features worth having, even if the name is weird). It was double the fun, of course, but why can’t MS tone down the reboots…? I didn’t think it was ever going to finish copying files and rebooting my computer (I lost count at like 4 reboots)...and it’s 2G in size! The lean and mean Ubuntu network upgrade (only a few hundred MBs) was a comparative dream and also polite enough to wait until finished upgrading to reboot.

I’m trying to keep the focus here on my Ubuntu experience, but if you want to know all the gory details on how painful the Vista to Win7 upgrade actually is, you can read about it on my other blog. I must give homage to both the excellent software designers behind Win 7 (and Vista), as well as the incredible open-source community behind Ubuntu. Both upgrades were (so far), a complete success. Success being defined by both machines working normally under the new operating systems, and my previous programs and settings being satisfactorily preserved. There are some limitations to both upgrades, meaning that not every program/executable will make the transition in either case, and I have to give the Vista-to-Win7 a slight edge in this regard for being more helpful. Suffice to say, most of the obsolete packages that didn’t make the cut in the new version (at least in my case), will not be missed. The Win 7 upgrade process has a helpful upgrade advisor, and it makes the preparation ramp-up more intuitive, IMO. Ubuntu came to 2 points where I was left scratching my head, and one of them actually caused an error, which also has me wondering. Vista had no problems at all, and other than a plethora of reboots and program removal actions required by the user, ran without a hitch. Many of the screenshots I snagged from on-line tutorials, etc. I didn’t take many during my process, but it should give you an idea of what to expect though.

Ubuntu 9.04 to 9.10 could not be simpler. You run the upgrade advisor, select any updates that might be available for your current release, and apply those first. You should see the selection that indicates that an upgrade is available. Select the upgrade (then Start Upgrade), and the rest is fully automated (for the most part). In my case, I was running the netbook remix of Jaunty under 9.04, and it began the process of preparing for the download and install of over a thousand or so packages, including the new Linux 2.6.31-14 kernel image. In the case of my netbook (which is exact opposite from the Vista config), I use grub for bootloader operations to be able to choose either XP or Linux during boot. Vista has a boot manager that makes running Linux in a dual-boot like this a turn-key proposition for practically anyone.

Naturally in both cases (Vista or Ubuntu upgrade), I was worried about this process hosing my boot sequence (neither did, actually), so before I upgraded either releases, I made sure I had good backups of my critical files, etc. and a copy of the boot config especially. In Ubuntu’s case I always keep a copy of menu.lst (look in the /boot/grub folder) somewhere on the computer in a safe place. This file (if it gets messed up), can mean the doom of booting into either XP or Ubuntu operating system, so I try to keep a back up available (of course, you can always re-install grub). If you have ever edited your menu.lst (for instance cleaned up all those old kernel boot paths), you will definitely be prompted by a confusing message toward the end of the upgrade asking you whether to keep the current version of it, or to replace with the latest version (I chose to upgrade it). The default option selected is to keep the current version. A couple of the options in the pull-down menu don’t change anything but will open a diff showing the entries that will be affected in menu.lst. There is also an “experimental” option that will allow you to meld the existing and new files together. In my case, I have a simple dual-boot configuration, and after going on-line and investigating, I decided to replace mine with the latest, and everything worked fine.

During the prep stages--I must have missed exactly when because I didn’t note it until the downloads had begun--the upgrade had singled out several packages that were deemed un-upgradeable, and a prompt had appeared to start a “Partial Upgrade” instead. I must have missed it--I was throwing darts while doing the upgrades (in between screen prompts and reboots), because watching a computer upgrade itself is about as interesting as watching the grass grow. I selected the partial upgrade confirmation which seemed to start another update process, but that quickly errored due to locking issues (makes sense if an upgrade is already running). Basically, I think the Windows process is better here. The Win 7 upgrade script prompts you to manually un-install affected programs at the very beginning (of course you can ignore this and upgrade anyway). In the case of Ubuntu, I was lucky. I don’t have many custom packages installed to worry about, so I probably won’t notice the ones that were removed. My other Ubuntu laptop is still at Intrepid however for this reason (I have many programs and even a few self-compiled ones). I would have been mad about inadvertently messing up those programs because of a missed prompt.

The whole upgrade process took approximately 60-90 minutes depending what you consider part of the upgrade. Ubuntu takes a little while starting and configuring itself the first time, so technically the actual upgrade part was probably a little over an hour, at the most, though I didn’t actually time it. Considering that Win 7 took 3-4 hours in prep work (defrag, uninstall programs, etc.), and then some 2-3 hours for just the upgrade, I would say that’s pretty darn good in comparison. The Ubuntu install is free, and I can’t really complain too much about Windows 7 at $49.99 (Home Premium upgrade price). Vista came with the Gateway laptop computer that I bought used from a co-worker, which was a pretty good deal really. In terms of overall performance though, Ubuntu 9.10 in my early impressions is getting so-so marks. Win 7 is zippy by comparison on my laptop. Of course the hardware is greatly different in performance characteristics (particularly processor), but it is obvious the newer gnome desktop and underlying additions are taking their toll over the previous very snappy Netbook remix version. Win 7 has markedly improved my laptop computer’s performance over Vista (especially the boot time), but then part of the problem may have been with Windows Live OneCare and not all Vista’s fault. I am glad to report that in both cases, my computers retained the previous configurations for network connections, files, and folders from the previous version. My Win 7 machine did not retain my shared printer, or the mapped Windows Media library I have loaded on a desktop XP machine I have in the basement. I also had to force a reconnect of most of the network-connected services between my machines.

I was mostly going to consider the install aspects in this post, but this release has this superlative new beta cloud service called Ubuntu One I couldn’t help talking a bit about. It is a surprising jump forward for Linux distros like Ubuntu. Really everything about this release is pretty amazing. The new gnome desktop is very nice, and certainly a few new, more polished apps have appeared (like the new Empathy IM client). There are a bunch more great advances underneath as well. Ubuntu One is interesting, because it’s a big bold step in both the Google and MS back yard of enterprise cloud services. The new old “thing” that’s being bandied about by everyone is any kind of “cloud-based” anything. U One adds a network drive (probably a web folder) to your places area. I had a few glitchy sort of issues with it. The file I added (through Ubuntu places folder with a simple drag and drop), would not download on other web-based clients (apache proxy errors on the web servers). After I let it sit for awhile, it then worked, so maybe they need to work on the “services” aspects of the back-end (or maybe they were just doing some maintenance). It is a beta after all. The service will also let you sync up Tomboy Notes, and Evolution Contacts. I like the new version of “Karmic”, but am a little concerned at the slight performance hit. Especially considering Ubuntu is usually faster than Windows. To learn more about upgrading Ubuntu to 9.10, go here.

New Site Layout

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:34:00 +0000

I know I don't get much action here, and don't post that often, but I like to try to keep it fresh once in a while. So, I figured I'd try out a test post and give my, ahem, 2 readers an update on the layout. I changed the sidebar to include Google search topics on computer stuff that I myself monitor. The new blog template was discovered on the bloggerbuster.com (a must for blogger types). Very useful instructions on changing your template using a test blog. The footer down below includes some feeds from my other blog, and my favorite WinMo sites. I also cleaned up the defunct links (hopefully), and refreshed links to my more serious blogs. I'll be posting some more Ubuntu related stuff in the near future, so if you were geeky enough to land here, stay tuned. If you like it or hate it, or just want to report a problem, feel free to comment.

Ubuntu Linux Jaunty running on HP Mini-Note 2133

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Sun, 24 May 2009 03:39:00 +0000

I recently acquired an HP netbook (mini-note 2133). The unit comes with XP pre-installed, which is kind of okay, but still a bit sluggish (it’s Windows after all). Of course, I had to install my other favorite operating system in a dual boot (no not Vista, though I considered it). The Jaunty remix is a quick install option for netbooks, but not nearly as turn-key as using the regular install method with Vista, and there are major issues lurking…noobs beware!

Ubuntu installer boot options…

Most netbooks lack an internal CD/DVD drive, so the usual method of download .iso file, burn .iso, and then boot to .iso file is not so easy on a netbook. Again, Ubuntu impresses with it’s lightweight requirements, and flexible install methods. One can run the Jaunty Jackelope remix from a USB stick…What do you need to install Ubuntu Netbook Remix you ask (from the DL page..see below)?

A 1GB USB flash drive (aka thumb drive)
An Intel Atom processor
At least 384MB of RAM
Learn how to install UNR for Windows and Linux users…

The remix is bundled in a .img file (a bootable/runnable Linux install package) for download, and with a simple tool (see above) can convert your USB stick to a portable OS. By tweaking and adding the img files, you can boot and run Linux in this fashion. This makes trying out Jaunty a cinch. I would check the compatibility of your model by going here first. Let’s look at the not-so-“typical” install I performed, what went wrong, and some problems for HP netbook users (some not minor).

My netbook running XP (it isn’t yet aware Linux is coming)

The first thing to know about Linux installs is that there is a good way, and an easy way. They are not usually inclusive, in most regards. Running the installer from inside Vista is probably one of the easiest. Vista, for example has the ability to adjust it’s partitions. Not so in XP, so if your model comes loaded with it, you need to be warned that there are some re-partitioning gymnastics to perform to get it running in an optimal configuration, and they could destroy your primary XP partition and data. Most likely they won’t but you should know there is a risk. So, you have a netbook (and a Linux USB stick), you rebooted it (with your stick plugged in), and adjusted some BIOS boot settings (if required) so it would boot from the USB, and up pops the installer.

Don’t get scared…simply pick your language, which if you can read this, might be in English. You have to pick language again once the full GUI starts (see the screen shot above for boot options). You could simply choose to test drive Jaunty at the bootloader window point, by selecting the first option at the top to try Ubuntu without installing it to your computer. It will simply run from the stick, however this is not optimal for long-term usage. You might want to do this anyway the first time you boot into the installer, as you will likely want to adjust, re-format existing, or format any new drives. Ubuntu does not handle this very well if you let it pick these settings for you, especially the “run Windows side-by-side” option (see the section on dual-boot below). Ubuntu will require a few more setup steps like time zone, and keyboard localization settings to be entered if you are continuing with the installer at this point (die-hard Ubuntu types, that means you).

So, the install will want some disk partitions to be configured or it will configure them for you. You could simply let Ubuntu use your whole disk for instance, which is very easy to get up and running with no fuss. If you plan on running only Ubuntu, then this becomes even easier. In my case, the unit came with XP installed, but with a single 110GB XP hard disk partition across the whole disk, which is just stupid. Why would you have a single giant hard drive, when you can do so much more with several smaller chunks of storage (like install Linux and XP)?

Luckily, the USB run-time version of Ubuntu also includes the GParted disk partition editor (shown above), so that’s why I said many XP users might want to boot into it the first time. Whether you are installing Ubuntu by itself or with another operating system, I recommend that you choose the manual method of entering partitions (advanced). It’s the bottom-most option in the “Prepare disk space” screen. This is better if you wish to tweak your disk setup for good performance and best practices. Otherwise, simply let Ubuntu use the entire disk, and away you go!

Minimal part settings for best practices:

You should create 1 10GB ext3 part for root (at least 10)
You should create a linux-swap partition at least as big as the amount of memory you have installed (2G in my case)
*You might want to create a third part for home directories if you having a lot of users and want to keep documents there and separate from the OS.

*Note: This is optional in my opinion, as I usually create a large NTFS or FAT32 part for external files somewhere else (so both Windows and Ubuntu can share access to it). Better yet, you could store your data on an external storage medium. The user profiles are still on root, but your docs and such are safe on the second drive.

After creating the parts you need, you then assign the various mounts to your new partitions (root goes in the 10GB part, swap in the smaller part, etc), continue the installer.

Complete a few remaining setup/config questions (login, etc.) and you are finished! Ubuntu should start up! If you run the installer version again (or go into synaptic and load the gparted program on your fresh install), you can see your parts there. See the screenshot above of my partition setup for reference--ignore the additional ext3/swap parts at the very end of the disk, as the automated installer stupidly created them during a previous build attempt, and I haven’t got round to cleaning them up.

Dual-Boot Configuration with XP

The easiest method for a dual-boot system (one whereby you can boot either into Linux or XP) is to install XP first. First thing is to clean up the XP part in question by doing a defrag and chkdsk /f (maybe even 2X for the chkdsk) to make sure it is clean. The GParted utility will not let you do anything to the partition until it is in a verifiably non-corrupt state. After this, you will need to boot back into the USB Linux run-time. Find the partition editor under the Administration menu. Looks like the picture of a disk…see below

By this time, you will be noticing that Ubuntu Linux (whether run from USB or local HD) is dog-poop slow. You press a button and literally wait for 2 minutes. It’s the semi-useful netboot interface you see pictured above. There is a problem with this build that majorly affects the HP mini 2133’s performance. It has been noted by the developer team. A workaround is to simply go into Preferences, scroll painfully to the bottom and run the “switch desktop mode” to turn it off. This takes you back to the typical gnome desktop, which I like better anyway, and returns your netbook back to the snappy performer that you would expect of Linux.

For dual-boot partitioning, you follow the same guidelines as described above for creating partitions except this time, we have to do some surgery on any XP parts that have been obnoxiously installed at the factory. GParted can shrink them down for you (if they are clean). Note the dev/sda1 ntfs partition below (it once took up the whole disk). I was able to shrink it to less than half it’s initial size quite easily. Then I created my root and swap (dev/sda3 and 4) and executed the Installer to use my new parts (which you can also do at any time from the USB live mode).

You probably noted the 2 tiny parts at the end of the disk above. Well initially I thought I would get cute and after shrinking my XP part, went straight back into the installer and allowed it to then “automagically” install Ubuntu along with XP for me (without first creating the proper linux parts). The result was it expanded XP to fill all but the last couple of GB of space, and then added a tiny 2.5 GB part at the end for Linux. Not only is this not optimal (performance is the worst at the very end of a disk), it means that you cannot add any programs for lack of space. It is the worst way to install Ubuntu in a dual boot configuration, in case you were wondering about simply letting Ubuntu do this on it’s own. So I went back and re-installed again using the manual method described above.

My Gnome desktop…And now I have a powerful new OS up and running on my netbook, and if I need XP, it’s only a reboot away…

This is by no means a comprehensive discussion on disk partitioning or install topics concerning Linux/XP, but a simple example. Much better versions of all that stuff is available on the internet, so go check it out and make sure to RTFM before asking a geek or posting to the forums, okay? Next time, I’ll talk some more on ways to enhance your Ubuntu netbook experience, and more issues to look out for.

Icecasting with Ubuntu and Radio Shark

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:26:00 +0000

Lately, I've really been geeking out on Ubuntu and a radio tuner device my kids bought me last year called a Radio Shark. This is the 3rd installment of a series of tutorials on how to get the Radio Shark to function in Ubuntu Linux. The device was actually designed for MAC and Windows, but some serious Linux users have found ways to make it work with Linux. In my endeavors to get Ubuntu at least as functional as Windows on my dual-boot laptop, I've included these instructions in case anyone else out there is trying to similarly get all their devices working. To learn the basics of getting RS to play and record, see my last 2 posts. This post will be a little more advanced, in that we will set up Ubuntu to stream the RS output on the web as an audio stream. Yeah, cool eh? Stream your favorite local radio station to anywhere on the net...

**Updated March 23, 2009 for iPhone/iPod player info...see below

First, check out the previous 2 posts, here and here, to get the background needed to get RS functional in Ubuntu (at least enough to play). If you just want a quick tutorial on streaming via icecast and darkice in Ubuntu, you could use this as a quick guide, but there's a ton better on the web (i.e. search for "how to use icecast").

Step 1: Open Synaptic Manager in Ubuntu and do a search for "icecast"

Select icecast2, and darkice packages and accept all supporting files when Synaptic auto-adds the required files, and then install them.

Step 2: Setup icecast.xml (/etc/icecast.xml), by opening in your favorite editor. It's important to configure all the authentication sections, especially the default passwords that are all set to "hackme". You also need to set your actual <hostname> value to your computer name. See some examples below:

<authentication>

<source-password>SomePassword</source-password>

<relay-password>SomePassword</relay-password>


<admin-user>Barney</admin-user>
<admin-password>SomePassword</admin-password>
</authentication>

Step 3: Setup darkice. Touch a file into the /etc directory called darkice.cfg, and edit the values for your configuration. I provided an example of mine below:

[general]
duration = 0
bufferSecs = 5
reconnect = yes

[input]
device = /dev/dsp1
sampleRate = 22050
bitsPerSample = 16
channel = 2

[icecast2-0]
bitrateMode = vbr
format = vorbis
bitrate = 32
quality = 0.8
server = localhost
port = 8000
password = Somepassword
mountPoint = example-complex.ogg
name = The Eagle
description = Classic Rock
url = http://home-laptop
genre = misc
public = yes

Step 4: Tune the radio shark, start icecast2 and darkice. In the terminal console enter the following commands (or add a bash script that does this):

$ sudo shark -fm 106.9
$ sudo /etc/init.d/icecast2 start
$ sudo /usr/bin/darkice -c /etc/darkice.cfg

In my case, I tweaked the earlier posted FMstart script and launcher shortcut to include the streaming commands instead. You could also simply initialize the icecast service on startup, run your script, or use cron to execute your scripts at preset times to play, stream or record when you like.

Step 5: Check that icecast/darkice is presenting your stream by navigating to your server's address using Firefox: http://localhost:8000. You can also monitor your streams/listeners here...

Step 6: Allow Clients to access your streaming server

NOTE: In this example, I provide a simple way to stream music on your home network. It could work similarly on a front-facing internet server, but I do not include the specific steps to do this. Properly configuring firewalls in Linux is well beyond the scope of this writeup, especially to protect resources on the internet. If you run the built-in Ubuntu firewall (iptables), you can use "firestarter" GUI to tweak it to allow it to allow local traffic easily, otherwise your clients will likely not see the stream.

I simply set it to allow clients on my home network (192.168.1.0 private network address), but a more involved configuration is required if you use, for instance, NAT (network address translation) to protect your internal addresses and wish the streams to be allowed across the internet. You could allow incoming connections to port 8000, for example, but you should consult security documentation thoroughly to understand the risks of exposing any home computers to outside users in this manner.

Step 7: Play back your streams. In my case, I used the excellent, free TCPMP (The Core Pocket Media Player...Windows versions of this great A/V player are also available) running on my Windows Mobile device, as I find it plays almost any type of media. In this case, the stream is formatted as ogg-vorbis--and presented as a SHOUTcast stream--not every player can natively play this kind of stream. Tuning in should be as easy as connecting to your home network via Wifi and inputting the full URL into your player...i.e. http://yourserver:8000/example-complex.ogg

Supprted players include (from the icecast homepage) below. To learn more about icecast and darkice go here and here...

foobar2000 (mp3 + ogg vorbis)	Windows 98/NT/2000/XP	http://www.foobar2000.org
winamp 2.x, 5.x (Not 3.x)(mp3 + ogg vorbis)	Windows 98/NT/2000/XP	http://www.winamp.com
XMMS(mp3 + ogg vorbis)	Unix	http://www.xmms.org
Zinf(mp3 + ogg vorbis)	Unix/Windows	http://zinf.sourceforge.net
MPlayer	Windows 98/NT/2000/XP Unix Mac OSX	http://www.mplayerhq.hu
Xine	Unix	http://www.xinehq.de
VLC	Windows 98/NT/2000/XP Unix Mac OSX	http://www.videolan.org

In an earlier post, I admitted that I didn't yet have an elegant method to time-shift the RS using Ubuntu, but using icecast/darkice to stream does allow you to control this in a similar fashion. In TCPMP, for example, you can pause the live stream for several minutes, like say during commercials, so that you lag the live radio trasmission. You could then fast forward through that section until you have again caught up to live input again. It's not as nifty as the Windows software capability that comes with the RS, but it serves. Well, that's pretty much it for Radio Shark and Ubuntu for now. Next time, I hope to have worked out an effective scripting method for doing real time-shifting, so be sure to check back again.

Actually I discovered a player for iPhone/iPod Touch that will play SHOUTcast streams, and works quite nicely with this setup called FStream. You can download and use it for free by searching for the name in iTunes or the device App store. Once installed, simply add your URL stream as a favorite, and select that stream in the main screen to play. You can tweak a setting that will allow you to time-shift when pausing just as with TCPMP mentioned above (look in the More menu). You can also record streams with this tool.

Credits:

Sources (Bibliography/credits):

How-to stream cast with RS by Javier Rodriguez: http://javier.rodriguez.org.mx/index.php/2006/06/10/griffin-radio-shark-icecast2-on-debian-gnulinux

How-to Play RS on Deb Linux by Javier Rodriguez: http://javier.rodriguez.org.mx/index.php/2007/05/20/use-the-radioshark-2-under-linux-shark2c

New RS 2 code by Hisaaki Shibata (on Javier’s site): http://javier.rodriguez.org.mx/code/shark2.c

Original RS Linux how-to and shark.c: http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Audio …code by Michael Rolig

Good example of using Linux to record, play and time-shift using RS: http://whats.all.this.brouhaha.com/2006/01/18/radioshark-in-linux/

Web-site that allows you to control a real live RS tuner over the net: http://www.radioyakima.com/index.php

Record and Play from Radio Shark in Ubuntu Update

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 00:30:00 +0000

I found that there are actually easier ways to play (and record) music from the Radio Shark 2 in Ubuntu (versus using ecasound...see the full previous post here). You can use arecord/aplay (built-in command-line sound programs in Linux). You will still have to follow the previous instructions on installing libhid. To use arecord/aplay, open a terminal as described in the previous post, and enter the following:

$ arecord -c 2 -f dat -D hw:1,0 | aplay -D hw:0,0

Record 2 channels using "dat" format from Radio Shark, and then send the recorded output to aplay via your PC sound card (so you can actually hear it).

You can also wish to simply record directly to a file for later consumption, so you can do this instead:

$ arecord -c 2 -f dat -D hw:1,0 foo.wav

This says to record as before, but to a .wav file called "foo"

Then play the file using aplay:

$ aplay foo.wav

To record to an mp3 file directly, you need to install lame (see instructions in previous post on how to install using Synaptic). Search for "lame" in the package manager to find and install. Then you can use the following command to directly record to mp3.

$ arecord -c 2 -f dat -D hw:1,0 | lame - sample.mp3

Same as above except the "|" (known in UNIX parlance as a pipe) now "pipes" the arecord output to lame, which reads from standard in (in this case the previous command's output) and converts/stores the audio stream into an mp3.

So you can replace the ecasound command in the previously posted bash script with the ones above you would like to use instead. Maybe have 2 bash scripts; one for recording and the other for simple playback.

You will notice that you can't do real-time audio shifting and simultaneous recording using only the methods I have posted here. This is a hangup if you really want to use the Shark to make your own mp3s quickly and easily. I must recommend the Windows version for that, as the time-shifting features allow you to go back to a point in the broadcast where, say, a song starts, and then start recording from there. You can also listen while recording and stop it when the song ends, but even the Windows option is not as easy as it once was. The excellent SnapTune service is no longer available, which could automatically tag and save the songs from the radio stream (into mp3s). Still, it is progress for Linux users who might have an RS 2, and don't need another paperweight on their desk. For instance, if you want to record talk radio programs (instead of songs), then you can easily set up a cron job in Unix to start/stop your scripts at preset times/days, but this is getting into more advanced topics. Stay tuned for the next post. Now that we can at least play, and record using RS and Linux, I will post on what else there might be for this cool audio gadget.

Radio Shark 2 running on Intrepid Ibex

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:46:00 +0000

Ubuntu Linux has become my current hobby shop. I finally concentrated on fixing some of the more egregious problems I’ve been having with the latest Ubuntu stable release (playing DVDs and music). So now, after much tweaking, I finally have gotten my Radio Shark 2 AM/FM tuner to play in Linux on my laptop, though it was not exactly simple to track down all the required and various information. I figured after all the rabbit holes I went down (like compiling libhid from scratch) to get this to work, it might help to have an updated one-stop for the next poor sot, so I created this “kind of” simple how-to to get your RS2 at least to play in Ubuntu Intrepid. I’ll follow it up with a second post on some more advanced things you can do, like stream radio on your home network. Some very simple compiling of source code is involved and I added basic bash scripts at the end to start up the Radio Shark application. If you follow the step-by-step, it shouldn’t be a big deal (even for a relative noob). There are some cool things I learned in the process. If you are wondering why you would want to play live radio through your computer, read this. Say you want to make decent quality CDs/mp3s of the local classic rock station? I might know someone who has a collection of several hundred songs ripped to an iPod that was recorded this way—uh not me, of course. The powers that be might decide that radio is also copyright protected, and send out the black helicopters…

It is the essence of true geekiness to be able to play and record radio through your computer. It gives your PC that final touch as a true media server, but it’s also useful to be able to stream live radio wirelessly on your home network (come back for the next post, or continue to the bibliography/credits at the bottom for those instructions). The standard Windows application/drivers for the RS allow you to listen/tune, time shift (like Tivo) and record live radio, which is still cool, no doubt (yawn), but check out this web-site to see what you could do with a radio tuner, and a computer…uh huh—geeks started their own home-grown internet radio station with a web server, some flash and a sprinkling of PHP. Now what you got to say, huh!? You can also do twisted stuff like make the shark’s lights change colors (living on the edge now, eh?) I’ll provide some links of places where you might find a Radio Shark. In this first post, I’m just going over the steps to allow you to play and change the stations, etc.

1. First, you need Ubuntu Linux on your computer. If you have Windows, it’s really quite easy to install Intrepid as a second boot option by following the install wizard. Read this for a very simple example, or do a search on-line for “Install Ubuntu”. Linux can be a pain, but it starts/runs/stops faster than Windows Vista. If you simply want to record/listen to music, the RS tuners come with Windows applications included that do this already (Windows users can stop reading now).

2. Second, you need a radio tuner device. In my case, I used the Radio Shark 2, (kids got mine at ThinkGeek.com). The RS is an external USB attached AM/FM tuner. I should think you could do this with other tuner devices, but will likely require you to customize or write new code.

3. Connect the Radio Shark with Linux running. (Open a terminal console (Under Applications >> Accessories) and type “dmesg” to view system log messages. You should see something like below indicating that the RS is connected to your computer and Linux isn’t throwing a fit:

dmesg log trace…

[ 296.877223] input: Griffin Technology, Inc. radioSHARK as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb5/5-4/5-4.2/5-4.2:1.2/input/input13
[ 296.893339] input,hidraw2: USB HID v1.00 Device [Griffin Technology, Inc. radioSHARK] on usb-0000:00:1d.7-4.2
[ 297.157074] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio

Download, Install and configure the code:

4. Open Synaptic Package Manager (System >> Administration >> Synaptic…), and make sure the “universe/multiverse “ repositories are available (see above). Enable them, if need be--the extra goodies make Linux truly excellent--under “Settings” >> “Repositories”… Go here to learn more about Synaptic, which will make Add/Remove in Windows look like a bad joke.

5. You will need the libhid development library, so do a quick search for libhid (search box is at the top of Synaptic), and the manager will reveal those packages (libhid-dev and libhid0). Don’t be intimidated just because it’s called a “library”—Synaptic does all the heavy lifting—it’s point and click just like Windows!

6. Select and install libhid packages (your source code will not compile without these). Synaptic will download and ask you to select required packages. Go have a tea…depending on you network speed.

7. You will also need the program ecasound (also search the repository and repeat as you did for the libhid). This is the actual player program that I used. Go have another tea…

8. Download shark2.c from here. When it finishes, it will probably be downloaded to your user home directory under “Downloads” by default (in Firefox). The shark program allows you to change bands/tune the RS, and control the lights on the side.

9. In the console window you previously opened, type the following (followed by the enter key after each line):

# cd ~username/Downloads

…change directory to wherever you downloaded the source. Replace “username” with your username of course…

# sudo gcc -g -o shark -lhid shark2.c

…compile shark2.c! gcc stands for gnu compiler collection… You are now only like “this” far away from being a coder yourself (if “this” was years and years of experience writing computer programs, haha…)! When some uber-geek sneers at you, just say…”Lay off dude… I’ve compiled code before”

# sudo cp shark /usr/local/bin

…copy the code to the local user executable directory. This is mainly so that you AND your dog can now run the new shark program.

# sudo /usr/local/bin/shark –blue 60

…change the color of the lights to test if the code is working.

# sudo /usr/local/bin/shark –fm 106.9

Tune the shark to a local FM station in your area (106.9 is classic rock station near me). Cool, now we want it to actually make the radio play, right?

Running ecasound to play the RS:

10. This part is a little more complicated. Like your new shark program, ecasound runs from the command line. So you could just pound in the word ecasound at your terminal console like the previous commands, but WAIT just a minute. You have to give it some extra input parameters. Oh my God! What in the seven hells are “input parameters”, you say!? Nothing big, just extra config information/instructions for the program when it starts up is all. You were already using them in the previous commands for gcc, shark, etc.

11. Type this next command instead (some tweaking may be required):

# ecasound -D -f:s16_le,2ch,48000,inter-leaved -i:/dev/dsp1 -o:/dev/dsp -B:nonrt -z:db -b:4096

This tells ecasound to run with debug on and specifies the sound IO device and buffer settings. Mainly, you want to focus on the sample rate of 48000, and tweak this for better performance or sound quality (and maybe if you have issues). I've seen that other users have successfully used 6400, 8000, and 32000 as well. The higher the sample rate, the better the audio quality that is produced. My RS made a pretty nasty sound at 8000. 48000 sounded great for FM playback.

Automating your Radio Shark in Ubuntu
12. While you could continue to run programs and control devices using old-fashioned command prompts, you might want to take advantage of the more automated capabilities of having a modern computer. So, make a script and a shortcut to easily execute your Radio Shark commands from the Gnome Application Launcher. I like to use VI editor for basic file editing, but you can use your favorite text editor (say gedit which is like notepad). First create a launcher script and then some change station scripts. Use your Terminal console again:

# cd /usr/local/bin
# sudo touch FMstart FMST1

..creates the empty script files..you can create more for fav stations like FMST2, FMST3... etc.

# sudo chmod 755 FM*

..makes them executable so users like you AND your dog can run them

Script contents:

Navigate using Gnome file browser to /usr/local/bin. Save these script contents in the files that you created earlier. Open the files with your editor:

FMstart:
#!/bin/bash
#first line says I'm a bash script
#Second sets RS with my favorite station
#Third turns on the sound and then exits when you stop it
sudo shark -fm 106.9
ecasound -D -f:s16_le,2ch,48000,inter-leaved -i:/dev/dsp1 -o:/dev/dsp -B:nonrt -z:db -b:4096
exit 0

FMSTN1 (change the freq to a local one in your area):
#!/bin/bash
shark -fm 106.9
exit

Full list of shark commands:
-fm <freqeuncy> : set FM frequency, e.g. '-fm 91.5'
-am <frequency> : set AM frequency, e.g. '-am 730'
-blue <intensity> : turn on blue LED (0-127) '-blue 127'
-red <0/1> : turn on/off red LED '-red 1'

13. Add Application shortcuts to the Gnome panel or the Programs Menu to run your new custom scripts. For instance, you can add the shortcut to the Sound and Video category under the main Applications folder. Simply right-select the Gnome launcher (see below):

Select the Add new item button, and select the “Custom Application Launcher” choice at the next dialog…

In the Launcher Property window, enter the application name you want to assign and the path to your executable script. You can also assign a suitable icon for your program.

Issues:

Make sure you go into the sound settings in Ubuntu and turn up the correct sound device to hear the radio playback. You can tweak volume levels from the main menu volume control, or by navigating again to the system settings menu. You may need to unplug and plug back in the RS, and rerun the ecasound and shark scripts if you booted with it already plugged in.

Feel free to post your comments. I added links to the source material below, and would like to hear more awesome ways you use Linux. Next post, I’ll add more RS and Ubuntu tips…

Sources (Bibliography/credits):

How-to stream cast with RS by Javier Rodriguez: http://javier.rodriguez.org.mx/index.php/2006/06/10/griffin-radio-shark-icecast2-on-debian-gnulinux

How-to Play RS on Deb Linux by Javier Rodriguez: http://javier.rodriguez.org.mx/index.php/2007/05/20/use-the-radioshark-2-under-linux-shark2c

New RS 2 code by Hisaaki Shibata (on Javier’s site): http://javier.rodriguez.org.mx/code/shark2.c

Original RS Linux how-to and shark.c: http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Audio …code by Michael Rolig

Good example of using Linux to record, play and time-shift using RS: http://whats.all.this.brouhaha.com/2006/01/18/radioshark-in-linux/

Web-site that allows you to control a real live RS tuner over the net: http://www.radioyakima.com/index.php

Ubuntu Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 23:25:00 +0000

Well, I've been trying to get Ubuntu (Hardy Heron) to properly display my desktop across monitors, and finally after upgrading to 8.10, called Intrepid Ibex, and updating a single line in the xorg.conf (/etc/X11) file...:

SubSection "Display"
Virtual 2720 768
EndSubSection

...it now works. The upgraded display config utility clued me in to the required resolution setting in the file (it prompted to add it when breaking the display mirror setting). Sigh...Linux gets a bit easier to use and configure. When I tried changing this in Heron, using either the conf file/utility, I usually ended up with a totally hosed display.

Display settings much simpler to tweak in Intrepid...

In a previous post, I described how I loaded Linux as a second operating environment to my laptop. It's a used Gateway Pentium dual-core machine that I bought from a co-worker last year (actually for my wife, but she doesn't use it much). Vista was getting bogged down in my opinion, so I decided to set up a dual-boot workstation with Linux. I posted about that initial experience with the intention of coming back and doing a part 2 on the more advanced options, but I have not been successful enough to warrant a part 2. I am happy with Ubuntu's overall performance, but some of the problems and detractors are really starting to fluster me:

Exhibit A: Can't get the synce or multisync modules functional with my handhelds, even after the upgrade. This might be attributable to my firewall in Ubuntu. Firewall (iptables) seems to continue to filter or at least log entries (according to dmesg) even when disabled.

Exhibit B: No handy blogging applications like Windows Live Writer. If you blog, you must get this tool, period. MS actually got this right, which is somewhat of a surprise. Oh and it's free...

Exhibhit C: Can't play DVD movies. Have tried a couple of tools (Mplayer, etc), but still no dice.

Exhibit D: Can't find a suitable driver/program for my FM radio tuner...

Issues Resolved:
1. The display problems noted above...finally
2. Internal WLAN adapter not connecting (this ate up some serious time to figure out). Turned out to be a driver/device issue that was fixed by an update as well--and by disabling an old, unused device. Of course, I had to connect via a wired network to get the update.

Note: Linux is like the weather off the coast of Alaska. If you don't like it, just wait a minute, and it will likely change. If you update it regularly (which can be done via an update manager as simple to use as Windows), there's a chance a fix has been included in the code base for what is ailing your build. The update manager will even let you upgrade your full release. For steps on upgrading from Hardy to Intrepid, check out this step-by-step here. Linux is free, but real pro technical support will cost you. You can get a lead on most problems at the community site chats, forums etc, here...

Flock Social Networking....browser?

I did find this browser called flock (flock.com). They have a distro for linux, and a plus is that you can run it straight from the uncompressed binaries (no need to install it). Just extract and execute the flock-browser executable, which also means you can download and run it from any linux-based PC, etc (like via a USB stick, etc). Flock is like Firefox, but for the blog/twitter-crazed and obsessed. It starts by gathering all your blog, and social site login information, favorite feeds, etc., and then tabulating it throughout the browser for 1-click access. It's blog information overload in a web browser. I'd rather just go to bloglines.com, myself.

Bloglines...the discriminating blogger's resource.

I grabbed flock because I wanted something that might compete with Live Writer, but quickly found the blogging tool portion to be sorely lacking. Flock requires use of a separate process to handle image uploads. Then you must manually link in your individual uploaded images by URL in the post, which is rather arcane. In fact it's downright lame, considering you can drag and drop images, text, etc right into Live Writer, and then dump it all to your blog when you publish your post. Flock had some kind of add-on to enhance this a bit, but still doesn't get the job done. My search for a decent blog tool, and the inability to at least sync my gadgets could keep me from using Ubuntu for little more than e-mail and casual surfing, so fixing those issues are my next major hurdles to overcome somehow.

Happy Holidays!!

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 21:27:00 +0000

Just wanted to wish my 2 readers a wonderful holiday, and a prosperous new year! Whether you are heading to Grandma's house, staying home or maybe deployed far away like the brave men and women serving in our Armed Forces, I wish you a safe and joyous holiday, and I hope 2009 brings you happiness!

SBSH Calendar Touch

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 02:13:00 +0000

Obviously, Tim beat me to the punch on reviewing this application from SBSH, but I promised the developers I would review it as well. We’ve been having some blog problems for a while now (which held me up on another review), and I apologize to our readers if this has affected your experience here (go here to send in blog feedback), but I digress. If you heavily rely on your mobile for time management capabilities, you really should check out Calendar Touch.

PocketBreeze (PB)…Today plugin can also start Calendar Touch (CT)…

Overview

CT works in concert with another product that SBSH offers called PocketBreeze (a PIM management Today Screen plug-in), so you might want to consider getting both of these products (you don’t need PB, but it is pretty cool)… I have to start with a few minor gripes about what I call old-school, PocketPC style applications (and by extension, PB/CT). It’s tough to navigate, much less read tiny menus on a 3-inch screen. Especially ones with a bunch of symbols on them, which is why many newer PIM integration products have ditched the Today screen plug-ins altogether, and opted to use their own non-WM “home” or custom UI with larger fonts and icons. Scrollbars are also practically a thing of the past. That said, it is impressive the way SBSH apps integrate the best aspects of the Windows Mobile OS on the Today screen. If you want to look for a contact, check e-mail, or peruse calendar/tasks--and don’t mind the Today screen in WM--you need to get Pocket Breeze. Calendar Touch is sort of a mixed bag in the “look-n-feel” department, especially when using the various views. The flexibility of a hoard of tweakable options--status quo for SBSH apps--makes up for a lot of the clutter and clunkiness. CT and PB integration amounts to this: Calendar and task items will be opened using CT instead of default PIM apps in WM when selected from the today screen.

Gestures can be used to quickly navigate both apps…

Gestures

CT and PB apps make use of screen gestures. In the case of PB, you can easily navigate between contacts, calendar, documents, alarms and mail by dragging left or right in the today plug-in window (sliding between screens pictured above left). In CT, gestures extend to quickly cycling through dates (a drag and hold towards the right), in addition to forward and backward moves through your calendar. The scrollbars in both apps need to go away, and be replaced by up/down gestures, in my opinion.

Installation

I installed CT via cab file since that’s how it was provided for the beta. The application is about 1.5MB, and since it doesn’t incorporate a great deal of fancy graphics (save for a few animations), it started up instantly and without issue on my iPAQ. There were a few forum entries indicating problems with it starting up. I would recommend un-installing any previous apps (from SBSH) that do calendar integration and also removing any settings that may have been stored as well. During install, CT gives you the option to embed it as the default calendar viewing application (the option I went with). I really can’t see much purpose in even giving a choice here. I mean if I’m going to buy a program that does everything the default apps do and more, wouldn’t I want it to replace them? Anyway, you can also select a left or right soft-key to assign CT to during the installation, conveniently giving you one-touch calendar/task access.

Using CT

When you first open CT, the default user interface presents a combined list of tasks, and appointments. That’s probably it’s greatest strength right there…and maybe it’s greatest weakness. Wait, I admit it’s pretty cool to have them all together, but tasks always show up on today’s date, and there’s is no simple way to show/hide tasks from the main interface (you have to dig into the settings). If you have a long list, better yank out your stylus, cuz you got some scrollin to do. The appointments will bubble to the top, so at least they aren’t in the way. SBSH has a horizontal day timeline that displays on the top left of the screen (see below). It gives a graphical representation of your schedule. Also indicated are the number of appointments and tasks, along with L/R tap symbols for moving between dates (in case you don’t like using gestures). It might be a nice enhancement to add the ability to turn on/off tasks or appointments by tapping the icons in the top menubar.

Working with Views

Task, weekly, and monthly views…

So you don’t like your calendar view, eh? Well, why don’t you change it. Like the default WM time manager apps, SBSH gives you a choice of daily, weekly, monthly views as you would expect, however, the views have interesting and useful ways of presenting a lot more data to you than you will get in the default applications built into the WM OS. You can also go to a list view of your tasks. There is a trifle that the default WM calendar has that Cal Touch does not (or maybe I just didn’t find the option for it). A yearly view, which I find is quite useful for a checking far flung dates. The monthly calendar view is especially well done when presented in horizontal mode. It combines the best of all the available views, IMHO. You can read appointment and task details for the day as well as navigate the entire monthly calendar. You can tap on a day (or navigate using the D-pad), and an expanded bubble window of that day is displayed. A subsequent tap, will drill you through to the daily view. The left soft-key will then be assigned to take you neatly back to the monthly view. Tap-n-hold on the daily view (or use the menu soft-key) to add either a new task or appointment.

Adding Appointments/Tasks

New Appt and Task., Date/Time select windows, and Field Editing Options

Adding an appointment or task is not that far removed from doing so in Windows Mobile standard apps. Several fields appear (although in an animated fashion in CT), and you either select from pre-defined text entries, or enter custom text. The date and time pickers are large button versions to allow the easy, quicker navigation of using fingers. You also have the option to insert “My Text” entries depending on the field type (Home, work, etc.), or even contacts into fields, and add or customize the list entries themselves. After entering the required data, your new appointment will show in the calendar view you have selected (see below):

New appointment added with note, is confidential in nature (the lock) and a reminder set…

Settings

Select the Menu soft-key and then Settings…

This is my very least favorite thing to review in SBSH applications, because just about everything in their applications can be tweaked. It can be both a blessing and a curse, because the tweaks are not always what I would consider to be intuitive. At any rate, you can customize just about every view I’ve mentioned in this review in some manner. You can tweak text size, colors, and turn on/off way too many features to list here, unfortunately. I think they should simplify this or simply trim down the tweakability factor a bit.

Conclusion

Anyone who has read a number of my reviews probably knows that I give no free passes. I am fair and impartial to all vendors alike. I like SBSH applications in particular, but I try to be generally positive about most vendor products I review. Constructive criticism is a good thing, after all, and helps to identify areas where a product could use a little fine-tuning. Because I point out a few minor tweaks in an application should not be construed as an overall thumbs down or up. In the case of CT, I give it a general thumbs up, but would like to see them bring the complexity down a notch, unify the gestures better, and get rid of the pesky scrollbars. The date/time picker while better than standard, could also use an automated scrolling features (I hate to say it, but much like iPhone). For the sake of brevity, I left off several more great features that this application has over using the default WM apps. Features like search and and custom filtering that are nice to have, but maybe not that important to the average calendar user. You can learn more, download and check it out for yourself here. CT is $24.95, but our VIP members know that they can get a 15% discount until 31 December 2008 on CT and similar apps. Just hit the VIP link at the top right corner of our page.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary Review

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:02:00 +0000

There are some things I like about lugging around a real dictionary: it requires no power source, and you can quickly flip to a section and scan page after page. In fact, I would argue that technology has yet to match the human hand/eye coordination and acuity for quickly scanning through written documents, but that’s another post. Actually finding the word you want in a real dictionary can be tedious and time-consuming compared to searching for the same word with an on-line tool (like dictionary.com), and well who really wants to lug around a book anyway? Why not simply install one on your iPhone or touch instead…

Noah Webster published his first English language dictionary in 1806. The Merriam-Webster revisions to his popular work followed around 1840 (started by publishers George and Charles Merriam), and the “Collegiate” series of dictionaries began in 1898. The 11th edition includes over 225,000 definitions, and over 165,000 entries (source: wikipedia.com). Of course today, dictionaries and encyclopedias of every stripe are available via CD/DVD media, web browsers and desktop widgets (go to Merriam-Webster.com, for example). So why do you need a local version eating up some 35MB of space on your iPhone or touch, eh? Good question.

You probably have noticed a lot of things in your life suddenly center around using iPhone or touch--you want info on the go and always at hand. Maybe you’re a traveling scrabble player, for example? Well, Paragon’s version of Merriam-Webster is a pretty spartan but faithful rendition of the real thing. For a price, ($24.99 in the app store), which seems a little high to me, you can ensure that you always have the right word for the occasion.

Using Merriam…

Considering the iPhone and touch capabilities, I would have expected a little slicker implementation, and more features. For instance, the on-line version (Merriam-Webster.com), like Paragon’s version, also includes the ability to tap a word in a defn, but instead produces a pop-up research bubble with results (instead of re-directing you to a new page). Another great feature in the web version is the ability to play audio clips of words (being spoken) to indicate pronunciation. However, a new version of Paragon’s “Merriam” has just been released with some added tweaks.

Using the dictionary is quite simple. You start typing in the word you wish to look up in the top search block, and word hits start appearing below as matches are resolved. Tap on a hit to view a definition. To my disappointment, I could not rotate the app to landscape in order to type more efficiently.

You can then further tap on any word in the definition result to view a subsequent definition of the new word selected. As you navigate through the dictionary, it saves a history of your searches, so you can use the arrow keys (top right) to navigate to past results. There is a history page that displays past word searches in a list view (see below), and the history is preserved even after closing the app.

The new V.2 search functions include fuzzy and wildcard search features that are similar to using a search engine. For example, if you don’t know the exact spelling of a word (probably not unusual if you are looking it up), you can use wildcards to produce search results of words with a partial match, or do a fuzzy or “similar word” search to find words that have a similar spelling structure. See below for an example of a wildcard search in action…I know, it’s riveting, is it not, but do try and control yourself…

There are some aspects of the Merriam-Webster dictionary that could use improvement, in my book (clever that, eh: ”in my book”—oh, nevermind). The search results cannot be sorted, so at the least, I would suggest a quick navigation feature be added like the one already used to navigate Contacts on the iPhone—i.e. via a letter index on the right—otherwise, I might get tired of scrolling constantly through lists. Result lists often caused jerkiness on my iPod touch, and search results for popular definition phrases appear to not be indexed, or at least in one case were not resolved (i.e. “test the waters”). I feel that this dictionary is adequate, but could use more tweaking to be truly useful over other reference tools I’ve used. Go here to learn more about Paragon’s extensive reference, and text entry software titles (available for multiple mobile device platforms), and simply do a search in the iTunes application store for “Merriam” to find the application reviewed above.

HP Magic Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 03:03:00 +0000

The most excellent gadget site bostonpocketpc.com is hosting an HP giveaway valued at some $6000 in the latest computer gear. The giveaway has a charity twist, and you must write up a little story on who you would give to and why. Go check out the post here for the full details. Several other sites are also participating, and are listed as well.

Best Software Awards 2008 Winners Announced!

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:07:00 +0000

"The Winners in Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine’s Eighth Annual Best Software Awards for Windows Mobile software have been announced at www.Smartphonemag.com/Awards. Eighty members of the Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine Board of Experts judged 936 Windows Mobile products in 194 Pocket PC and Smartphone categories. Winners are also listed in the Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine 2009 Resource Guide first seen late November."

This might be our last year for the awards, so all you Windows Mobile geeks out there should go check out the winning software titles at least. New software development is not booming in the WM world, as you may know, but neither is it dead. Many of the titles are not new products, but several returning products have added new versions and features. Feedback is welcomed (in case this isn't the final year)...

Been Awhile!

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:32:00 +0000

I haven't posted here in awhile, but felt the need to share something. How about a personal story from the annuls of my Air Force alcohol-addled past? Having played a few rounds of golf, thought I might tell a really endearing golf story. Of all my favorite golf experiences, the best course I ever played was a trailer park in Indiana at like 3AM in the morning...FORE!!!!
I had some good buds in the AF, no doubt. Probably the best of the best were Rich Haller, and Gary Hall. We were stationed together in Korea, and then all ended up in Illinois after that. To say we did some drinking together is an understatement. We were all going to the weather forecaster technical school at Chanute AFB, IL waaaayyy back in 1990. Rich was from IA, so one weekend we all piled up in someone's car and went over to his parents trailer-park vacation spot on some lake in IA. It was awesome! We water-skiied (I couldn't get up...not what you think), we drank, we barbecued, we drank, we played poker all-night, we drank, and finally at about 3 AM, when everyone else had finally passed out, someone got out the golf clubs. Uhhh yeah...we started teeing them off with Gary's authentic 1-wood right there in the middle of a small city of travel trailers around some remote lake in Indiana. It was like the hillbilly midnight drunken Masters Tournament. I never heard a smash/tinkle of broken windows, but I like to imagine there was some mysteriously dented aluminum boxes the next day....

Hardy Heron Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 22:37:00 +0000

Okay, so my posting has been pretty limited here, I know (crickets chirping...). It's because I've been screwing around with my gadgets to the extreme. One of the things eating up a huge amount of time is the build of Hardy Heron Linux on my home laptop. This has been quite an adventure. It may be "hardy" (not sure where that name comes from), but it's not that much easier to set up and configure than the old Red Hat versions I've tried in the past. One cool thing is that you can easily add it to your Windows machine as a second boot option without a lot of fuss with a partition utility.

Hardy must first be downloaded from here, and then burned as a ISO image. If your PC's existing software and OS are smart enough to recognize .iso files, you can simply double-click the almost 700Mb file (fits on a single CD), and your burner will do the rest. After burning it, I simply ran the ubuntu installer from the CD right from inside my existing Windows Vista operating system. The software will ask you which install option you would like to choose from. The smartest is probably the one that automagically sets up the dual-boot setup I mentioned (leaving your Windows partition intact), and can be easily uninstalled later (at least that's what is implied). There is still the danger that something could get screwed up, so you should back up everything first with a good ghosting or backup (level 0 disk copy) product.

After setting up a few simple config and partition options and waiting for Heron to install, you'll be asked to enter a login and password for the new OS. Shortly after, if nothing screws up, you should see a new boot menu indicating both your Windows OS and Ubuntu partitions. Windows will be first so if you don't catch it in time, will automatically boot Windows again. You can now select either one from this menu. When you first bring up Ubuntu, you will be greeted with a login/password prompt. Simply enter your credentials to officially enter the world of Linux geekdom!

There are certainly good things to be said about Linux over Windows...
1. Runs faster on my laptop than the base Vista install...no doubt about that one.
2. GUI Interface is quite simple and intuitive.
3. All free for personal use, including office applications like word processor, spreadsheets, etc.

Now the bad things:
1. Install of drivers and configuration still requires some basic knowledge of NIX command line to troubleshoot. Not easy when there are problems.
2. Mainstream applications/hardware may or may not have a working distribution for your flavor of OS. Many don't support linux at all.
3. Limited support (forums) or none at all unless you pay for it.
4. Documentation (included on the system) is practically useless. Help is not much help.

So far, I've had 2 major hardware problems with linux that would have taken seconds to tweak in Windows, and had I not had knowledge of NIX in general and especially the command line, probably would have given up on a fix. One resulted in a totally screwed up display, causing the black screen of death. Luckily, there is an X server repair boot option. I finally tweaked the problems sufficiently, and fixed one by downloading the latest updates from Ubuntu and checking all the dependencies involved with the hardware drivers, etc (almost always a consideration in linux). Windows is often much more self-healing when there are issues like this, or at least includes better troubleshooter utilities. I now have my desktop fully configured, and both wired and wireless network cards operational in linux. I also have a basic firewall (TIP--use the simple Firestarter app to configure the included iptables fw module). I downloaded and installed the free Avast anti-virus for basic virus scan protection, and am using the Evolution mail application for grabbing pop e-mail from my gmail account. I even set up the pidgin chat client and was able to log into all my favorite chat services. So, everything is humming right along now, and I notice that the resource usage for memory is at least 20-25% or less than Windows on average. The processor hardly registers any usage at all. My next task is to try to replace my Windows desktop mobile experience, and even get Linux connected and working with my Windows Mobile device. I'll post back after that leg of the Heron excursion with my experiences, of course... I added a couple of screenshots of the desktop widgets (includes weather monitor, dictionary, etc.) below:

2008 Best Software Awards Starting!

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Wed, 07 May 2008 01:14:00 +0000

The schedule and rules for the eighth annual Smartphone and Pocket PC magazine Best Software Awards 2008 have been posted.

Everything you might want to know about the 2008 awards, plus link to 2007 winners can be found at the awards home page.

If you are a vendor, make sure you submit product information (free) at our Encyclopedia of Software and Accessories.

If you have a suggestion for nomination, then use the 2008 nominations form.

My Best Friend...Max

noreply@blogger.com (Natestera) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 01:44:00 +0000

I lost my best friend this week. Yesterday, after being with me for some 11 years, my boy died of cancer. I was with him as he took his last breath, and admit I cried as he passed. He died at the vet, but at least before they could convince me to put him down, which would have been hard to do. He was in pretty bad shape though, and I petted his head, and somehow just knew when his time was up. He put his head up and moved it toward me and I just held his head as he died. He was a good boy! I love and miss him!
The truth is I wasn't always patient or nice to him, and I sure didn't spend enough time with him. Now I can't. He absolutely loved my wife and daughter both (cause they took such good care of him), and about anyone that ever met him, just adored him. He had a character and personality that was rare in a pet (or person for that matter), or at least he did to me. He was my boy after all. He rode across the U.S. in the back of my pickup truck, and he kept me from being lonely many a time in my life.

I got Max from a friend in the military who couldn't afford to take him to Hawaii. He got me to agree somehow not to give him away, and take care of him. I was not much of a "pet" person. Max was a double handful for me, because I was going through a separation/divorce myself, was a shift worker, and Max was not really house-trained in any way. He would go to the bathroom in the house or just about anywhere, and if you left food on the table untended, it would disappear. He got better over the years, but was never truly an indoor dog. We would bring him in the house, but he had to be somewhat supervised. I made a bed for him in the garage with a little heater, and he had a house in the backyard as well. My wife would tuck him in every night, which I used to complain that, "he's a dog!" I started doing it too when she wasn't home.

Max and I used to run together. Max was a Basset Hound with short legs, but he could could straight-up run when he was young. We would go out in the big field behind my house on the military base, and I would turn him loose. I would just start running at a full sprint, and his instinct to chase would overcome him, and he would chase me across the fields. It was so fun. I would try to veer left and right, and he would be right on my heels, trying to bite my pants leg to bring me down. If he caught me, he would start biting my leg even. He would chase squirrels and rabbits like crazy. In the early days, if he got away from me, he could be difficult to catch, because he would chase anything that moved. After awhile he got used to me, and stopped running away every time the front door stayed open too long. When we first came to VA from CA, he was so funny to see sliding around in the ice and snow. He made me laugh so hard sometimes. I wish he was still with us..

Goodbye, Max. You were the best and I love you very much. I hope I see you again someday...