slackula

Slackware 12.2 (a recent upgrade from Slackware 11) on a laptop

So far:

Fluxbox as my DE because I farking hate KDE and the irritating naming conventions they use

OO.org for work stuff

CUPS for printing

Transmission for sharing the slackware goodness

Xine & VLC for watching stuff

Amarok and XMMS for hearing stuff

skype for IM and calling

firefox for web stuff

Gkrellm (running in the slit and also viewable via ssh -X on the iMac when I get home)

Seamonkey for updating and editing webpages

CLI:

vi because I am stubborn

ssh because I actually have done most of my configuration by logging in from the iMac

whois because I am curious too

fbsetbg -l in a config file becaeue I am lazy

I did install wicd from the /extra folder but it didn't work well so after removing it I messed with a few config files and got connected.

As much as I wish Opalhort and indeed our beloved moderator Donna a very happy birthday today I am wondering why this is in the computer forum.

Your first mistake was that you didn't call them BEFORE order about that product is available or not!

Yeah, the customer is always wrong

On the other hand JIB is an company with an very good service!

Well, except in this case

Hopefully you learn from this to check first before buy. I never would buy a "Cat in an sack"!

So caveat emptor is the order of the day as always, especially when dealing with this company?

I hope this hasn't been posted before, but as I was googling around to make a few more interesting sounds come out of my wife's iPhone I came across this guide which has worked flawlessly so far:

Disclaimer: this guide is only for non-DRM stuff in iTunes. Stealing music is naughty and shall not be discussed in these hallowed cyber-halls!

This method has been tested and works with iTunes 7.7.1 and iPhone 2.0.1 firmware.

To create custom ringtones using only iTunes:

1. Right click on the song you are going to make into a ringer and select “Get Info.”

2. Go to the options tab and go down to the “Start Time” and “Stop Time” check boxes. Check both boxes and input the time you want your ringer to start/stop. The ringer has to be 30 seconds or less. Click OK when you’re done.

3. Right click on your newly “clipped” song and select “Convert Selection to AAC.” The song will be re-encoded using the start and stop times determined (If your menu item does not read “Convert Selection to AAC” and reads “Convert Slection to MP3″ (or some other format) please go to iTunes > Preferences > Advanced > Importing and change the “Import Using” drop down menu to “AAC Encoder”).

4. After the song is done encoding navigate to your iTunes Music folder, locate your song, and drag it to your desktop. After the song is on your desktop go back to iTunes and delete the clipped version from you iTunes library (It won’t delete it from your desktop, it will only remove it from iTunes).

5. Go back the song on your desktop and right click on your song and chose “Get info.” Go to the name and extension section and change the extension from .m4a to .m4r (or you can just change the extension right from your desktop)

6. After the extension is changed simply double click on the file to add it to your iTunes library under the ringtones section. Sync your phone with iTunes and you’re done!

Remember to go back into iTunes and uncheck your custom start and stop times for the original version of your song.

Three things: it has been tested and works with our iTunes 8.0.2 and iPhone 3G 16GB 2.2, the option "Convert Selection to AAC" is now called "Create AAC Version", and the last line is important if you still want your original song to play full length in iTunes.

The situation is so confusing.

I promised my Mrs an iPhone a year ago with the proviso that it would have to be an official and not cracked or jailbroken one because I didn't want her to accidentally brick it with a soft- (or firm) ware upgrade.

After waiting for ages as her old XDA slowly gave up the ghost and seeing that the only option for an 'official' iPhone was finally available, but only via True which is expensive and useless for us, I shelled out and bought a "Apple unlocked' phone from the basement of Big C here in Phuket, it was ~30,000 THB.

We brought it home, upgraded the firmware and software via iTunes on her MBP and yesterday we checked the warranty on it (just for fun) at this site and it politely informed us that the phone (although actually from Italy) was registered as being bought in Thailand and was under warranty for a year at any Apple store here.

Weird.

If it is still within warranty it might be worth while firing an email off to Apple. A quick google showed that it seemed to be a common(ish) and expensive problem back in 2007 with the 17" iMacs in particular . What is the serial number? The ones failing seemed to fall into the W860****U2N range indicating they were made at particular factory in Shanghai.

Also, do you have another monitor you can hook up to check if the problem is with the screen itself or with the graphics card (or even memory). Resetting the PRAM and NVRAM has been suggested and is probably worth a try.

Regarding the keyboard and mouse problem, I had a similar issue. I took the keyboard back to the shop twice and it always worked fine when paired with their computers so I removed and unpaired it from my computer, hooked up the old wired keyboard and rebooted a couple of times before re-installing the wireless one and since then it has worked fine.

What version of Firefox? I have 3.0.5 currently and have no problem with RSS feeds (although I don't use TV RSS feed).

Is there any info in the system logs or crash log?

i witnessed a lot of road rage in Phuket

So did I, especially when riding in a car with Donna and a Tuk -tuk cuts her off!

Locks no help to me with a top down car.

Get a better car

Wish I could tell you, but, I've been slapped down by humourless mods.

Heavens to Betsy!

Humourless mods? On TV?? Unpossible!

//Reported

I like to go to a friendly, bungalow resort in Rawai to down a few drinks at sun-down. I don't mind the high prices as the service is good and the location fantastic.

I don't usually eat there, but, decided to order that great culinary icon of British cuisine; Bangers & Mash.

What arrived at my table was a sad excuse for this most simple dish.

Firstly, there was a mere dab of mashed potato the consistency of baby-poo. Are potatoes that expensive?

Secondly, the onion gravy was from a packet. Someone didn't read the instructions as it had a concentrated taste and was of the consistency of wall-paper glue.

The final insult was the sausage. Yes......in the singular. A single, solitary, small chipolata size sausage.

Now.......the menu clearly says "Bangers & Mash". That S on the end of the first word clearly denotes the plural. ie. more than one.

Have I been cheated?

I reckon I have been for the sum of 220 Baht.

Nobody gives a shiat about that; how are your hibiscuses?

Mine are blossoming beautifully although the rhododendrons are tapping into their roots and our gardening fellow seems to have no clue. It is a travesty which I will not take lying down

I like Rush but I'm not a retard.

Only 50% of this statement can be true.

My wife called the electricity company last night to ask what was going on and was told that there was a technical problem at Rajaprabba (sp?) dam that caused it.

I bought a WD Studio Edition 500 GB drive to use for back up on the iMac (and Mrs MacBook Pro over our LAN). It was running over FireWire 800 and died within 3 months. Replacement (under warranty) died after 2 months, replacement of the replacement died after 2 months.

Bought a Time Capsule and it is chugging along fine after ~4 months. I'll never buy another WD external drive again. YMMV

Gerd, are you writing these reviews freely and of your own volition, and paying the full price, or are you invited by the interested party to have the meal and write the review?

My trusty old brush is getting a little thin on top (like me :-/ ) and needs replacing. I tried the mens section of the department store at Central Festival but they didn't have any.

Does anybody know where a nice badger or natural brush with a solid (not plastic/wood) base is available here?

TIA

Did you try telling the modem to disconnect before shutting down the Mac? I have a CCU 650 and if I put the MacBook to sleep without disconnecting it needs a reboot with the dongle unplugged before plugging it in again to connect, after that things are usually OK.

I am guessing that something is writing rules that get saved at shutdown and then become invalid at the next start-up, or else the modem is trying to use a lease that expires when the machine shuts down and isn't able to get a new lease without being restarted.

Mac software is so-so, it seems to work OK but it put that big fat 3G connectivity symbol on my menu bar, which I don't appreciate very much. So far I didn't find a way to remove that menu bar item...

System Preferences>Network>Click on the connection>uncheck "Show modem status in menu bar" (lower centre, left of the 'Advanced...' button) if you are using Leopard.

How much retail space do you need? If not much it might be worth looking at renting space in Trisara or Amanpuri or some such place, or Boat Lagoon/Royal Phuket Marina; all have well heeled visitors but not much 'foot traffic'.

LO farking L

Go F/OSS route.

Boot any old LiveCD and open a terminal. Issue the command

dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/hda && dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda && dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/hda && dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda

Guaranteed that with the exception of those with an electronic scanning microscope NOBODY will be able to read your disk. Of course it will take a while....

What if it's a SATA drive?

If you want to erase everything on the disk then Darik's Boot and Nuke ( DBAN ) is free and very effective.

It will boot the computer from a CD or floppy disk and delete everything on every hard drive it finds to a level that meets Canadian government agency standards.

Assuming that your computer has a firewire port (most PCs don't, all Macs do) the best advice is to google for 'Canon XX231sdwty linux' or whatever the model name is and see what turns up.

Where To Go For Traditional American X'mas Dinner?

Texas. Everything you need and want will be there in abundance. Or Utah. Your call.

I always found configuring iptables to be a pain in the azz. Firestarter is a great front end that is simple to set up and can even be used to share your wired connection over a laptop's wireless quite easily. I did that for a long time before I shelled out for an access point.