Category Archives: Computer geek stuff

Using Suse Studio appliances

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I had tried using Suse Studio appliances a while back, and didn’t have much luck with it. That was over a year ago, and honestly, I don’t remember exactly why I didn’t like it, or couldn’t get it working. I think it may have had something to do with the fact that I could not boot one of those appliances in xen or xenserver (whatever I was running at the time)

Anyway, it seems like there may be home. I came back to visit the site today, and did a bit of digging, and it seems there may be a simple way to convert the xen appliance into a Cirtix XenServer appliance. Get the python script and read the how-to here.

I will have to give this a go.

UPDATE: So I gave it a go.
After some struggling, I can report success. I have managed to get a xen vm created by suse studio to run in Citrix’s XenServer, using the script mentioned earlier.

Once the xva file is imported into xenserver (throught xen center)  I need to add “console=ttyS0 xencons=ttyS barrier=off” to the Properties > Startup options of the VM.

Currently I’m refining the one SqueezeCenter appliance VM.

Site Hits

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Since I installed the counter on this site (Counterize II) on 26 November 2009 (just over a year ago), I got 14,141 hits (4140 of those from unique IPs, which means lots of repeat readers)

I think that’s pretty impressive (I think) for a site that is still maintained as mainly a useful tool for myself. If others find it useful also, that’s fantastic.

DNS hostname recognition on LAN

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For the longest time I couldn’t figure out why some machines on my LAN could be accessed by their server name, while others required IP address  to access.

Then I came across this post.

Mostly linux machines could not be access by their name (only IP address) because the name gets propagated using netbios. If Samba was installed and configured on the linux boxes, then it would work. But since I don’t have samba installed (nor do I want it) I have to manually configure the DNS entries in the Tomato formaware router. Adding the IP address, MAC Address and hostname to the Basic > Static DHCP setup will make the names pingable and accessible from any machine on the LAN.

Mechanical Nation : new album query

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One of the features I want to have in the Mechanical Nation site is a list of new release albums.

I currently found Muspy which will email you (or use an RSS feed) album releases for the artists that you have asked it to track. This is a nice service, and to start I will use it (just have to enter a crapload of artists in the industrial genre for it tor track). Continue reading →

New SSD install in desktop

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Buying a 64 gig SSD tonight (Kingston SSDNow SNV425-s2/64GB). Gonna keep the old 160 gig drive that’s in there now, but use it for data storage.

Partitioning the SSD:

opensuse 11.3 => 12 gig
WinXP => 10 gig
/home => remaining (about 35 gigs)

The 160 gig HD will get this treatment:

WinXP data drive => 65 gig
linux data drive => 65 gig
linux swap => 2gig
linux /tmp => remaining (about 10 gigs?)

New Android phone

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Recently got a Nexus One which I gave my wife, and then got myself a HTC Desire.

Wow, what a difference compared to my 2 year old HTC Dream. The HTC Dream was running a CyangenMod 6 rom, so was optimized as much as possible. However once I got a hold of a Nexus one, I knew I couldn’t go back. And I must admit that the Nexus one is not what I expected. I expected a minimal change in both performance and feel. To me, comparing the Dream and Nexus One (or Desire) is night and day.

There were a couple of things that bothered me about the Dream. First was the fact that I often had to wait for the device to do what I asked it. Not cool. And when you’re in a crunch, and want to know your location, or need to access an email, etc even waiting a few seconds (or more sometimes) feels like an eternity. From the brief usage, I have a feeling that with the Nexus one (or Desire) will not disappoint. Every operation is snappy, even running the Sense UI (on my Desire).

The other issue I had with the Dream was that 3G connectivity was un-usable. Because of the 911 bug thing, even with the upgraded radio, I would still loose connectivity at random intervals. Also not cool. I was stuck on 2G if I wanted a continuous reliable data connection.

Nexus one and HTC Desire batteries

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Apparently the HTC Desire and Nexus one both use the same 1400 mah battery.

source

While on the topic of batteries,instructions on how to calibrate Nexus one (I assume same for Desire) batteries:

Hi *******, I understand your concern regarding battery life on your Nexus One device. The following steps should significantly extend the battery life on your phone. Please connect the phone to the charger with the phone powered on, and allow the phone to charge until the notification LED is green, indicating the device is fully charged. Disconnect the phone from the charger, and power it off. Reconnect the phone to the charger with the phone powered off, and allow the phone to charge until the notification LED is green. Disconnect the phone from the charger and power it on. Once the phone is powered completely on, power it off again and reconnect it to the charger until the notification LED is green. Disconnect the phone, power it on, and use it. You need to use this sequence only once. If the issue of battery life on our phone persists, I recommend you contact our HTC accessory department directly.

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