I know this is old news (even though I'd never heard about it) but:
THE FABULOUS FURRY FREAK BROTHERS ARE MAKING A MOVIE!!!!!!!
Official site
Bolex Brothers (the animators behind the film)
Fabulous Furry 3D Freak Brothers
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
Grass Roots
I know this is old news (even though I'd never heard about it) but:
THE FABULOUS FURRY FREAK BROTHERS ARE MAKING A MOVIE!!!!!!!
Official site
Bolex Brothers (the animators behind the film)
Fabulous Furry 3D Freak Brothers
Clone Wars - The Movie
Wow! I didn't know that this was coming until I saw the trailer on TV today!
The Clone Wars TV series was one of the few high-points in the series of Star Wars prequels, and the movie version looks like it might be out to raise the bar further.
Check out the trailer here
And here are some pics to whet your appetite. Enjoy!
The Clone Wars TV series was one of the few high-points in the series of Star Wars prequels, and the movie version looks like it might be out to raise the bar further.
Check out the trailer here
And here are some pics to whet your appetite. Enjoy!
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
On the road again
I've finally given in to peer pressure at work and invested in a bike. For the past eight years I've either walked to and from work (which takes around 25 minutes each way) or when I'm feeling really lazy caught the bus, which takes between five and ten minutes, but you end up waiting up to quarter of an hour for the damn thing to turn up anyway.
Quite a few of my colleagues (some who live further away than I do) swear by using the old two-wheeled contraption: "You'll be home before you know it" they say. "It's faster in town than using the car."
I've been considering buying a bike for a while anyway. The shifts that I work involve me heading home sometimes at eleven at night, which is a time that you don't really want to be hanging around outside if you can help it.
Last night after spending an entertaining walk home drunk-dodging I'd finally had enough of using "shanks pony" and decided that a bike would be in order.
I'd had a look at some of the shops to see what was on sale, but nothing had really caught my eye until this morning in Woolworths where they were selling 26" Gents Bikes for £69.99. I was tempted, but was still planning on buying one mail-order.
That was before I checked out the specifications on the bike. Woolworths provide DVD cases with the details and price of some of their bulkier items which you take to the counter for payment. This particular one told me the height, number of gears, the fact that it had two wheels and so forth.
There was one important difference from the details that I was looking at and the bike at the front of the shop - and that was the price. The price at the bottom of the DVD case was £50 - a whole £19.99 cheaper.
The other "take this slip to the counter" tokens all said £69.99 too. At this point I managed to collar one of the assistants to get her to double-check the price. "Yes", she informed me, "the bike is £50 and we've got two still in stock. Do you want it?"
"Yes please!"
Ka-Ching! I'm now the proud owner of a "Universal Thaw 26" Gents Mountain Bike."
Buying a bike is one thing. Getting the bugger home is something else.
As my office was just round the corner I decided to drop it off there, as I wasn't due to start work until later in the afternoon. I also invested in front and rear lights for the bike, a puncture repair kit, bike pump, some rather natty cycling gloves, bike lock and other assorted goodies.
I did take a certain amount of ribbing at work about it, for example: "Have you got your shiny helmet?", "does it have tassles on the handlebars?", "it says from age 14 on the box, so you should be safe" and so forth the general opinion was positive, especially when someone noticed the price on the box: £139 reduced to £69.99 - and I'd only paid £50 for it.
The last time I'd had a new bike was back in the 1980s when I got a BMX for Christmas (I was 12 I think). I still have fond memories of my black and red Raleigh Night-Burner, so later on in the afternoon when I set-to constructing my new 18 gear steed there was a certain nostalgic feel about it.
As a parent I'm quite used to building things for my kids, so constructing a bike holds no fears for me, although putting the front brakes back together after the cables sprung out did give me fifteen minutes of extreme fun, but at the end of it all I was left with a shiny new red and silver mountain bike.
Since I was going to be riding back in the dark, I also set up the lights - safety first and all that jazz.
And that was that. Close of play at work couldn't come soon enough and I was looking forward to the journey home, and to being back nice and early with none of the usual hassles.
Finally the time had come to take the plunge, put the foot to the peddle and ride like the wind, pausing only briefly to switch the lights on.
There are two things that I'd not considered:
One, as I'd stated earlier, was that my last bike was a BMX, and the thing about BMXs is that they don't have gears. In fact, I've never ridden a push-bike with gears in before. Number two was the bloody great hill half-way between work and my house.
Blissfully oblivious to these two key facts I set off for home.
I was a blur of beard and peddles as I left the ring road, sailed past the theatre and headed towards the hill. Walking up the hill it doesn't seem that steep. Tackling it on a bike is a different matter entirely.
I'd gone quite fast for the first quarter of a mile, and was happily playing around changing gears and seeing what sort of speed I could get up to. Then I reached the hill. The hill itself starts off with a gentle climb, before rising steeply, at which point I discovered exactly what gears are for, and why changing into a lower gear BEFORE you reach your pain threshold is probably a good idea.
Once up the hill the rest of the ride home was uneventful, that is until I reached home and dismounted.
This is where I discovered the awful truth. When I was a teenager I would spend the best part of the day racing around on two wheels without breaking a sweat.
Now however my 34 year old legs were about as steady as a new-born lambs. Checking the time I found I had made the trip back in around ten minutes. On the other hand I could hardly walk. I must have lost around two pints of liquid just through sweating.
The mirror confirmed exactly what I had feared - a sweaty, unfit, wobbly-legged, crimson cheeked 34 year old reflection wheezed back at me.
Half-an-hour later after having a short lie down with only the shattered memories of my youth to comfort me I actually started to feel much better about things. The trip to work should be a piece of cake tomorrow, as it is mostly downhill.
I'll have to pace myself better on the way back, and hopefully won't have spent most of the night running up and down three flights of stairs.
So what have I learnt?
Well, apart from the need to pace myself better, and the need for practice at using the gears, I've also learnt that the bike seat, although padded, is still damn hard if you aren't used to it.
Providing I survive the experience I'll write more on this after a couple of weeks to see if the journey really does get any easier.
Quite a few of my colleagues (some who live further away than I do) swear by using the old two-wheeled contraption: "You'll be home before you know it" they say. "It's faster in town than using the car."
I've been considering buying a bike for a while anyway. The shifts that I work involve me heading home sometimes at eleven at night, which is a time that you don't really want to be hanging around outside if you can help it.
Last night after spending an entertaining walk home drunk-dodging I'd finally had enough of using "shanks pony" and decided that a bike would be in order.
I'd had a look at some of the shops to see what was on sale, but nothing had really caught my eye until this morning in Woolworths where they were selling 26" Gents Bikes for £69.99. I was tempted, but was still planning on buying one mail-order.
That was before I checked out the specifications on the bike. Woolworths provide DVD cases with the details and price of some of their bulkier items which you take to the counter for payment. This particular one told me the height, number of gears, the fact that it had two wheels and so forth.
There was one important difference from the details that I was looking at and the bike at the front of the shop - and that was the price. The price at the bottom of the DVD case was £50 - a whole £19.99 cheaper.
The other "take this slip to the counter" tokens all said £69.99 too. At this point I managed to collar one of the assistants to get her to double-check the price. "Yes", she informed me, "the bike is £50 and we've got two still in stock. Do you want it?"
"Yes please!"
Ka-Ching! I'm now the proud owner of a "Universal Thaw 26" Gents Mountain Bike."
Buying a bike is one thing. Getting the bugger home is something else.
As my office was just round the corner I decided to drop it off there, as I wasn't due to start work until later in the afternoon. I also invested in front and rear lights for the bike, a puncture repair kit, bike pump, some rather natty cycling gloves, bike lock and other assorted goodies.
I did take a certain amount of ribbing at work about it, for example: "Have you got your shiny helmet?", "does it have tassles on the handlebars?", "it says from age 14 on the box, so you should be safe" and so forth the general opinion was positive, especially when someone noticed the price on the box: £139 reduced to £69.99 - and I'd only paid £50 for it.
The last time I'd had a new bike was back in the 1980s when I got a BMX for Christmas (I was 12 I think). I still have fond memories of my black and red Raleigh Night-Burner, so later on in the afternoon when I set-to constructing my new 18 gear steed there was a certain nostalgic feel about it.
As a parent I'm quite used to building things for my kids, so constructing a bike holds no fears for me, although putting the front brakes back together after the cables sprung out did give me fifteen minutes of extreme fun, but at the end of it all I was left with a shiny new red and silver mountain bike.
Since I was going to be riding back in the dark, I also set up the lights - safety first and all that jazz.
And that was that. Close of play at work couldn't come soon enough and I was looking forward to the journey home, and to being back nice and early with none of the usual hassles.
Finally the time had come to take the plunge, put the foot to the peddle and ride like the wind, pausing only briefly to switch the lights on.
There are two things that I'd not considered:
One, as I'd stated earlier, was that my last bike was a BMX, and the thing about BMXs is that they don't have gears. In fact, I've never ridden a push-bike with gears in before. Number two was the bloody great hill half-way between work and my house.
Blissfully oblivious to these two key facts I set off for home.
I was a blur of beard and peddles as I left the ring road, sailed past the theatre and headed towards the hill. Walking up the hill it doesn't seem that steep. Tackling it on a bike is a different matter entirely.
I'd gone quite fast for the first quarter of a mile, and was happily playing around changing gears and seeing what sort of speed I could get up to. Then I reached the hill. The hill itself starts off with a gentle climb, before rising steeply, at which point I discovered exactly what gears are for, and why changing into a lower gear BEFORE you reach your pain threshold is probably a good idea.
Once up the hill the rest of the ride home was uneventful, that is until I reached home and dismounted.
This is where I discovered the awful truth. When I was a teenager I would spend the best part of the day racing around on two wheels without breaking a sweat.
Now however my 34 year old legs were about as steady as a new-born lambs. Checking the time I found I had made the trip back in around ten minutes. On the other hand I could hardly walk. I must have lost around two pints of liquid just through sweating.
The mirror confirmed exactly what I had feared - a sweaty, unfit, wobbly-legged, crimson cheeked 34 year old reflection wheezed back at me.
Half-an-hour later after having a short lie down with only the shattered memories of my youth to comfort me I actually started to feel much better about things. The trip to work should be a piece of cake tomorrow, as it is mostly downhill.
I'll have to pace myself better on the way back, and hopefully won't have spent most of the night running up and down three flights of stairs.
So what have I learnt?
Well, apart from the need to pace myself better, and the need for practice at using the gears, I've also learnt that the bike seat, although padded, is still damn hard if you aren't used to it.
Providing I survive the experience I'll write more on this after a couple of weeks to see if the journey really does get any easier.
DRM Free Downloads Part 2 - We7
After my post on legal sources of DRM free music in the UK, Steve Purdham, CEO of We7 posted the following:
At We7, All the content we sell is DRM free and will work on linux. Unfortunately thats not the front line content at the moment but that will change in the coming months. The streaming will work on any computer with flash installed.
hope this helps,
Steve Purdham
CEO - We7
This is a music download service with a difference. For starters you can listen to streaming versions of all the songs for free (albeit with a short advert at the start of each track). The fun starts when you sign up (which is free too).
At this point you can choose to either buy the song via ITunes, buy the song as an MP3 direct from them (costing 70p), save to your streaming playlist, or download a free advert supported MP3 (encoded at 192khz).
Listening to your playlist is certainly no worse than listening to music on the radio (remember doing that back in the day?) and the short adverts aren't too obtrusive at the moment, not to mention that this station is playing only the songs that you choose.
As if that wasn't enough, there is a big bonus for all the cheapskates out there.
All downloaded advert supported tracks will also be listed on your "Available Soon" page. After 28 days you get the option to spend some of your We7 credits (of which you get 20 free ones each month) to buy ad-free versions at either a discount, or in some cases entirely free! You can buy extra credits as you want.
The site itself is very clean, it is very easy to find the music, and the playlist features of the site work well.
At the moment the content is a bit hit-and-miss, with some stuff only available via links to ITunes, but in all fairness even though the site is still in beta there is a good selection of stuff avilable for us Linux users.
I've been browsing their site today and I've got to admit I think it's a great way to sample new music, especially the unsigned bands section. Hopefully this will take off in a big way, especially as this should work on any platform that supports flash player.
Why not head on over to www.we7.com and give it a shot?
Update 1: I've had more of a hunt through their site and found some more cool stuff.
They have a pop-up player application to play your streaming playlists (which is a really nice idea), plus they allow you to embed the streaming media in your blog / website
Nice or what?
At We7, All the content we sell is DRM free and will work on linux. Unfortunately thats not the front line content at the moment but that will change in the coming months. The streaming will work on any computer with flash installed.
hope this helps,
Steve Purdham
CEO - We7
This is a music download service with a difference. For starters you can listen to streaming versions of all the songs for free (albeit with a short advert at the start of each track). The fun starts when you sign up (which is free too).
At this point you can choose to either buy the song via ITunes, buy the song as an MP3 direct from them (costing 70p), save to your streaming playlist, or download a free advert supported MP3 (encoded at 192khz).
Listening to your playlist is certainly no worse than listening to music on the radio (remember doing that back in the day?) and the short adverts aren't too obtrusive at the moment, not to mention that this station is playing only the songs that you choose.
As if that wasn't enough, there is a big bonus for all the cheapskates out there.
All downloaded advert supported tracks will also be listed on your "Available Soon" page. After 28 days you get the option to spend some of your We7 credits (of which you get 20 free ones each month) to buy ad-free versions at either a discount, or in some cases entirely free! You can buy extra credits as you want.
The site itself is very clean, it is very easy to find the music, and the playlist features of the site work well.
At the moment the content is a bit hit-and-miss, with some stuff only available via links to ITunes, but in all fairness even though the site is still in beta there is a good selection of stuff avilable for us Linux users.
I've been browsing their site today and I've got to admit I think it's a great way to sample new music, especially the unsigned bands section. Hopefully this will take off in a big way, especially as this should work on any platform that supports flash player.
Why not head on over to www.we7.com and give it a shot?
Update 1: I've had more of a hunt through their site and found some more cool stuff.
They have a pop-up player application to play your streaming playlists (which is a really nice idea), plus they allow you to embed the streaming media in your blog / website
Nice or what?
Monday, 21 July 2008
Windows 2000 shares: "You were not connected because a duplicate name exists on the network"
One of our elderly Windows 2000 servers had a strange problem. Even though WINS and DNS were set up correctly for the machine, trying to connect to the shares on it only worked if you connected directly to its IP address, for example:
\\127.0.0.1\randomshare
If you tried to connect directly to its name (like so):
\\ourserver\randomshare
you get the message "You were not connected because a duplicate name exists on the network. Go to System in Control Panel to change the computer name and try again." From some PCs you could browse to
\\ourserver\
but you couldn't see any shares.
The solution in this case was to patch the registry for the server in the following section:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters
Create a new REG_DWORD key "DisableStrictNameChecking" and set its value to "1", then reboot.
Once the server is back up and running you should be able to browse to the shares without the error.
See http://support.microsoft.com/?id=281308 for more detail.
\\127.0.0.1\randomshare
If you tried to connect directly to its name (like so):
\\ourserver\randomshare
you get the message "You were not connected because a duplicate name exists on the network. Go to System in Control Panel to change the computer name and try again." From some PCs you could browse to
\\ourserver\
but you couldn't see any shares.
The solution in this case was to patch the registry for the server in the following section:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters
Create a new REG_DWORD key "DisableStrictNameChecking" and set its value to "1", then reboot.
Once the server is back up and running you should be able to browse to the shares without the error.
See http://support.microsoft.com/?id=281308 for more detail.
Sunday, 20 July 2008
Where to buy legal DRM-free music in the UK?
During an in-depth discussion with a work colleague last week (basically he was trolling the "Linux users want everything for free" point of view) the discussion moved round to digital music downloads, and how people should support ITunes (he's a Mac user).
My point was that the DRM used for ITunes rules it out for me (the DRM isn't supported on Linux). Even for Apple's DRM free stuff the necessity to run the ITunes player to access the ITunes shop rules Linux out unless you are willing to try and run it through Wine.
The main alternative if you are running Linux is to buy the CD and rip it to MP3 or OGG yourself. Amazon was suggested as an alternative source of legal MP3s.
So I checked. Amazon do sell DRM free MP3s which is great. . . . . . if you live in America. That's right - they don't sell to Europe yet.
So what other options do we have in the UK for this?
HMV also sell regular MP3s, alongside the DRM'd WMA files, but as their site says if you try and access it from FireFox:
Unfortunately at the moment, hmv downloads is not compatible with Firefox, Safari or Opera browsers.
If you can see this message, please access the service using Internet Explorer.
Bugger. Another route blocked.
That leaves us with Play.com. Their service supports MP3s, and works through any browser. They've also got a fairly decent range of music to choose from, and they are cheaper than the competition.
To quote the Play.com site:
Works with all MP3 players, including IPods. DRM free MP3s. No software to install.
Nice one! Track prices range from around 60p to 70p each (this varies from album to album but appears to be cheaper than the competition) and are encoded as 192khz and 320khz MP3s, again this varies from album to album, but most new ones seem to be 320khz.
So for commercial DRM free music downloads on Linux it looks like it is a one horse race at the moment, with Play.com being the only runner.
So do any of you know of any legal DRM free download services that run on native Linux and are available to those of us in the UK?
My point was that the DRM used for ITunes rules it out for me (the DRM isn't supported on Linux). Even for Apple's DRM free stuff the necessity to run the ITunes player to access the ITunes shop rules Linux out unless you are willing to try and run it through Wine.
The main alternative if you are running Linux is to buy the CD and rip it to MP3 or OGG yourself. Amazon was suggested as an alternative source of legal MP3s.
So I checked. Amazon do sell DRM free MP3s which is great. . . . . . if you live in America. That's right - they don't sell to Europe yet.
So what other options do we have in the UK for this?
HMV also sell regular MP3s, alongside the DRM'd WMA files, but as their site says if you try and access it from FireFox:
Unfortunately at the moment, hmv downloads is not compatible with Firefox, Safari or Opera browsers.
If you can see this message, please access the service using Internet Explorer.
Bugger. Another route blocked.
That leaves us with Play.com. Their service supports MP3s, and works through any browser. They've also got a fairly decent range of music to choose from, and they are cheaper than the competition.
To quote the Play.com site:
Works with all MP3 players, including IPods. DRM free MP3s. No software to install.
Nice one! Track prices range from around 60p to 70p each (this varies from album to album but appears to be cheaper than the competition) and are encoded as 192khz and 320khz MP3s, again this varies from album to album, but most new ones seem to be 320khz.
So for commercial DRM free music downloads on Linux it looks like it is a one horse race at the moment, with Play.com being the only runner.
So do any of you know of any legal DRM free download services that run on native Linux and are available to those of us in the UK?
Saturday, 19 July 2008
Hot Leg - The Return of Justin Hawkins
A couple of years ago The Darkness were big. I mean REALLY big. Their tongue-in-cheek spandex clad rock antics combined with some damn catchy songs took them from unknowns to megastars almost overnight. Their meteoric rise to fame was only matched by the speed that it all fell apart.
Most of the original band (sans Justin Hawkins) have reformed as "The Stone Gods", but what of Justin - the original front man?
Well, after a couple of years of sobriety, a short lived solo project (British Whale) and an attempt to represent England in the Eurovision Song Contest (honestly! I'm not making this up!) he is back with a new band Hot Leg.
So how do they sound? Why not find out for yourself by heading here and downloading their new song "Heroes". That's right folks - a legit, legal and free mp3 download.
Better still for those of you into file sharing is that they are providing a .WMA version of the track for you to share with your friends.
What are you waiting for?
Rock on!
Most of the original band (sans Justin Hawkins) have reformed as "The Stone Gods", but what of Justin - the original front man?
Well, after a couple of years of sobriety, a short lived solo project (British Whale) and an attempt to represent England in the Eurovision Song Contest (honestly! I'm not making this up!) he is back with a new band Hot Leg.
So how do they sound? Why not find out for yourself by heading here and downloading their new song "Heroes". That's right folks - a legit, legal and free mp3 download.
Better still for those of you into file sharing is that they are providing a .WMA version of the track for you to share with your friends.
What are you waiting for?
Rock on!
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
Ubuntu DVD Writing Lockups
I switched to Ubuntu from Slackware a couple of weeks ago now, and most of my hardware worked off the bat (it is worth noting that it all worked OK in Slackware).
There were two casualties, one was my onboard network card, the other was my DVD Writer. Luckily I don't burn DVDs all the time, but this weekend when I tried (after installing K3B) I found that the computer locked solid part way into the burn. Everything was frozen: mouse, keyboard, network, the lot.
On testing I found that my CD Writer (I've got a CD Writer and a DVD writer installed - don't ask) worked fine, but the DVD burner locked the PC solid every time, even when doing a simulated burn.
So what is going wrong? Windows XP can burn DVDs without problems. Slackware Linux can also burn DVDs without breaking a sweat. Ubuntu 8.04 - nope.
A bit of research courtesy of Google revealed that a lot of people have had this problem - and there is a solution to it.
Chances are if you are having this issue then your motherboard has either a VIA or AMD based chipset (mine is a VIA). Ubuntu have changed the way that IDE drives are accessed, switching to new pata_via and pata_amd modules from the original via82cxxx and amd74xx ones.
There is a problem with these modules, and that is that for some reason if you have a 40-wire IDE cable (the old fashioned black and grey one) attached to your burner it will fail to work reliably. Switching to a new 80-wire one (blue, grey and black) fixes the problem.
I've got to admit, I'm not keen on this as a solution. If the module doesn't detect the hardware configuration properly but other operating systems do then that suggests an inherent problem with the modules.
A bit more research revealed this to be a likely cause.
So, while we look for an 80-wire IDE cable to test this with, can we get the burning working again?
Yes we can.
A forum post here (which also includes the info on the 80-wire cable) gives the following advice (tweaked for the 2.6.24-19 kernel).
BIG FAT WARNING - You are responsible for any changes you make to your system - back up anything important before continuing. . . . .
A big hint for this is to take advantage of the partition UUID when mapping your partitions.
You should see that Ubuntu has already mapped your root and swap partitions using UUID strings.
To convert your own fstab to UUIDs do the following (don't forget to take a copy of your existing fstab just-in-case):
1 - run the following command against the partition you want to change (change hdd7 to whatever your partition is), eg:
sudo vol_id /dev/hdd7
This will return the UUID of the partition.
c90cc868-2b06-4f77-9ddc-d0a7e16f200b
2 - Next, open your fstab and amend the parition line to include your UUID
sudo gedit /etc/fstab
Change the line as follows:
/dev/hdd7 /mnt/linstor1 reiserfs defaults,noatime,nodiratime,data=writeback 0 0
to
UUID=c90cc868-2b06-4f77-9ddc-d0a7e16f200b /mnt/linstor1 reiserfs defaults,noatime,nodiratime,data=writeback 0 0
The UUID is constant regardless of whether the partition is recognised as hd?? or sd??.
Update 1: I've managed to get hold of a spare 80 wire IDE cable, so once I get the chance to strip my PC down I'll put things back so I'm using the pata_via module and test burning again.
Update 2: Strange but true, I've already got an 80 wire IDE cable installed, but just to show willing I swapped it for the new one, removed the replacement modules, basically undid everything I'd done to fix the problem and rebooted.
And. . . . . . . . .
It still freezes when burning DVDs. So at the moment my only choice is to use the replacment modules (and next kernel upgrade I might have to re-compile them myself).
Not fun. Not fun at all.
There were two casualties, one was my onboard network card, the other was my DVD Writer. Luckily I don't burn DVDs all the time, but this weekend when I tried (after installing K3B) I found that the computer locked solid part way into the burn. Everything was frozen: mouse, keyboard, network, the lot.
On testing I found that my CD Writer (I've got a CD Writer and a DVD writer installed - don't ask) worked fine, but the DVD burner locked the PC solid every time, even when doing a simulated burn.
So what is going wrong? Windows XP can burn DVDs without problems. Slackware Linux can also burn DVDs without breaking a sweat. Ubuntu 8.04 - nope.
A bit of research courtesy of Google revealed that a lot of people have had this problem - and there is a solution to it.
Chances are if you are having this issue then your motherboard has either a VIA or AMD based chipset (mine is a VIA). Ubuntu have changed the way that IDE drives are accessed, switching to new pata_via and pata_amd modules from the original via82cxxx and amd74xx ones.
There is a problem with these modules, and that is that for some reason if you have a 40-wire IDE cable (the old fashioned black and grey one) attached to your burner it will fail to work reliably. Switching to a new 80-wire one (blue, grey and black) fixes the problem.
I've got to admit, I'm not keen on this as a solution. If the module doesn't detect the hardware configuration properly but other operating systems do then that suggests an inherent problem with the modules.
A bit more research revealed this to be a likely cause.
So, while we look for an 80-wire IDE cable to test this with, can we get the burning working again?
Yes we can.
A forum post here (which also includes the info on the 80-wire cable) gives the following advice (tweaked for the 2.6.24-19 kernel).
BIG FAT WARNING - You are responsible for any changes you make to your system - back up anything important before continuing. . . . .
0. download and unzip ide-modules.zip
1. sudo cp via82cxxx.ko amd74xx.ko /lib/modules/
2. sudo depmod -a
3. sudo vi /etc/modprobe.
4. add 2 following lines:
blacklist pata_via
blacklist pata_amd
5. sudo update-initramfs -u
6. sudo reboot
You may also want to check your /etc/fstab if you have any custom drive mappings in here - as it will change your /dev/sd?? devices back to /dev/hd?? ones.A big hint for this is to take advantage of the partition UUID when mapping your partitions.
You should see that Ubuntu has already mapped your root and swap partitions using UUID strings.
To convert your own fstab to UUIDs do the following (don't forget to take a copy of your existing fstab just-in-case):
1 - run the following command against the partition you want to change (change hdd7 to whatever your partition is), eg:
sudo vol_id /dev/hdd7
This will return the UUID of the partition.
c90cc868-2b06-4f77-9ddc-d0a7e16f200b
2 - Next, open your fstab and amend the parition line to include your UUID
sudo gedit /etc/fstab
Change the line as follows:
/dev/hdd7 /mnt/linstor1 reiserfs defaults,noatime,nodiratime,data=writeback 0 0
to
UUID=c90cc868-2b06-4f77-9ddc-d0a7e16f200b /mnt/linstor1 reiserfs defaults,noatime,nodiratime,data=writeback 0 0
The UUID is constant regardless of whether the partition is recognised as hd?? or sd??.
Update 1: I've managed to get hold of a spare 80 wire IDE cable, so once I get the chance to strip my PC down I'll put things back so I'm using the pata_via module and test burning again.
Update 2: Strange but true, I've already got an 80 wire IDE cable installed, but just to show willing I swapped it for the new one, removed the replacement modules, basically undid everything I'd done to fix the problem and rebooted.
And. . . . . . . . .
It still freezes when burning DVDs. So at the moment my only choice is to use the replacment modules (and next kernel upgrade I might have to re-compile them myself).
Not fun. Not fun at all.
Monday, 14 July 2008
A common XP fault
Windows XP. Love it or hate it, you can't avoid it. Even though it is on the way out, it'll still be with us for a couple of years yet.
A common problem is Windows XP refusing to boot - either blue-screening or just freezing at the boot screen. Safe-mode often does the same.
One thing worth trying is to get hold of a Windows XP installation CD (you DID remember to request one when you bought your PC didn't you?) and boot from it. You'll get the option to run the recovery console by pressing "C" (it will take a few minutes before you get this option - be patient).
You may need to select your windows installation (usually this will be something like 1: C:\WINDOWS).
You may also get asked for the administrator password. If you haven't set a password, just press ENTER.
When you get to the command prompt run the following command:
CHKDSK /P
Let it finish, then type EXIT
I've lost count the number of times this has revived a seemingly dead windows install, and is definitely worth a try before re-installing from scratch.
A common problem is Windows XP refusing to boot - either blue-screening or just freezing at the boot screen. Safe-mode often does the same.
One thing worth trying is to get hold of a Windows XP installation CD (you DID remember to request one when you bought your PC didn't you?) and boot from it. You'll get the option to run the recovery console by pressing "C" (it will take a few minutes before you get this option - be patient).
You may need to select your windows installation (usually this will be something like 1: C:\WINDOWS).
You may also get asked for the administrator password. If you haven't set a password, just press ENTER.
When you get to the command prompt run the following command:
CHKDSK /P
Let it finish, then type EXIT
I've lost count the number of times this has revived a seemingly dead windows install, and is definitely worth a try before re-installing from scratch.
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
Linspire for sale? Sold!
Here's a surprise. Linspire (including Freespire and Click 'N Run) has been sold to Xandros. Some share-holders are less than impressed about this.
Kevin Carmony, ex-CEO of Linspire writes on his blog:
In classic Michael Robertson form, he has once again completely disregarded the 100 some-odd shareholders of Linspire by pulling off this deal without a shareholder meeting.
And follows up with:
Why would Linspire pull off a midnight, back-room sell-off without a shareholders meeting? I'd ask them myself, but they haven't returned emails from me in the last ten months, and since they didn't hold a shareholders meeting in this matter, one is only left to speculate.
Does this mean that Linspire / Freespire / CNR is dead? Maybe. Things haven't been that rosy of late in the Linspire garden. My own dealings with them have been less than fruitful.
I signed up with CNR as a publisher a couple of months ago. Sort of. You see, I received a couple of welcome emails after signing up, but no instructions on how to submit my software onto CNR. Multiple (polite) emails were left unanswered. Pity really as CNR looked like a promising way of providing software to multiple distros.
Regular readers (hello mum!) will remember my positive review of the latest Freespire release, I just hope that Xandros hasn't bought Linspire to bury what was a polished alternative to Ubuntu and a decent distro in its own right.
Kevin Carmony, ex-CEO of Linspire writes on his blog:
In classic Michael Robertson form, he has once again completely disregarded the 100 some-odd shareholders of Linspire by pulling off this deal without a shareholder meeting.
And follows up with:
Why would Linspire pull off a midnight, back-room sell-off without a shareholders meeting? I'd ask them myself, but they haven't returned emails from me in the last ten months, and since they didn't hold a shareholders meeting in this matter, one is only left to speculate.
Does this mean that Linspire / Freespire / CNR is dead? Maybe. Things haven't been that rosy of late in the Linspire garden. My own dealings with them have been less than fruitful.
I signed up with CNR as a publisher a couple of months ago. Sort of. You see, I received a couple of welcome emails after signing up, but no instructions on how to submit my software onto CNR. Multiple (polite) emails were left unanswered. Pity really as CNR looked like a promising way of providing software to multiple distros.
Regular readers (hello mum!) will remember my positive review of the latest Freespire release, I just hope that Xandros hasn't bought Linspire to bury what was a polished alternative to Ubuntu and a decent distro in its own right.
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