With multitouch gestures and swype, my faith in smartphones is restored. I'll probably going to try one.
Tiny physical keyboards are out, so it's really iOS (iphone) vs Android. I'm sorry to say that Apple is going in the way of the PC market. Android has taken over, huge, but Apple will remain profitable, trend setter, and cute.
Screen
The first thing to look at is the screen resolution, not the size. iPhone 4 and 4S has 960x640 pixels. At 326 ppi (pixels/inch), Apple call it retina display. If you are old enough, it should look like those light boxes for viewing films for slides. Anyway, you should not be able to see pixels.
But density and resolution isn't that crucial. It's image problem, yours. You may not want to see all of a web page in a 3+ inch screen. At that super density, it will be sharp but there's other coloring and lighting problems. I won't and can't go into that but really it's your image problem.
iPhone 3 is worthless at 1/4 of the resolution and about 1/4 of the density. There are plenty of Android devices at the same resolution and size - even cheaper.
There is the new Android phone, Galaxy Nexus, that has HD display 1280x720p. The screen is slightly larger at 4+", but that's pretty standard in Android phones. There are the odd one or two Android phones with screens slightly denser than the iPhone 4, but they don't really sell, and hard to find.
The most common Android phone has screen resolution 800x480, about 4"+. It doesn't look that much compared to iPhone 4. But imagine that the best netbook, like the MacAir, with it's screen height squeezed into less than 4 inches. You need good justification to have a higher ppi screen, other than my phone is sharper and smaller than yours.
The screen has something to do with playing back HD videos. Piping out the data via the Himi connection to the TV is easy. Decoding, resizing and filtering to display on a smaller phone screen takes more processing power. So expect jitters if you don't have HD screen, and a powerful processor.
Next criteria - carrier and network.
You still want a phone right? In US, the network is still split between AT&T and Verizon/Sprint, the same old GSM vs CDMA network. Now that GSM becomes WCDMA/3G/UMTS, it would be rather confusing.
You can't go wrong with AT&T and it's resellers. Phones will be compatible worldwide, and most phones are quad band, not limited to USA or rest of the world. Either you have to get an expansive, unlock phone without contract, or you unlock the phone yourselves if possible. In past experience, you can unlock your phone via your carrier after a few months, saying that you need to travel.
Data
Carriers find three different ways to charge you - voice, text, and data. It is ridiculous as not so long ago, text is only popular in countries such as Czech, for younger people to save money on phone bills. Now text cost more than voice, and voice is worthless. You can have free text, via data, but you need a smartphone with apps to go with it. Another justification for a smart phone.
Data speed is a major differentiator for networks. Verizon/Sprint got there first and call it 4G. The similar thing in AT&T is HSDPA for the rest of the world. These are normally included other than the most basic data package. However, unless you have a lot to upload and download in a rush, like HD video, 3G speed are decent.
High data speed is particularly relevant to WiFi tethering, where you use your phone as a WiFi router like you do at home, so all your WiFi capable devices can access the internet via your phone, anywhere where there is reception. All smartphones have WiFi and most are tethering capable, thought some cheap carrier resellers hide it. But the problem is that carriers charge an arm and a leg for it.
So I don't think data speed is relevant to average smartphone users. 3G speed is decent. Download videos you made via the SD card. And go to McDonalds if your computer need free WiFi.
iOS 5 vs Android 2.3
iOS is on the iphone 4S, not the 4, unless you hack it. Latest Android on phones is 2.3, mostly come with 2.2. Android 4 is only available on the latest Galaxy Nexus. Android 4 unifies the tablet version with the smartphone version of Androids.
The killer app for iOS 5 is Siri, the voice assistance that allows you to do very sophisticated things, according to Apple. Actually if you hack it, you can get it on iphone 4 too, and it's available to any OS soon, provided Apple don't crack down on it as in WiFi tethering. I think for average smartphones, most will be satisfied with voice to text, saving you a lot of typing.
Android has multitouch, while still hidden in iOS 5. I won't buy a smartphone without multitouch, the same that I won't get a portable without it. Considering it's cheaper than apple, it's a no brainer.
Many Android has swype out of the box, or you can install it yourself free. iPhone has it on app stores, but not as smooth and integrated. There are similar things on the Android market place with varying degree of intelligence. You can touch type without lifting your finger, by just sliding your finger on screen.
Android has better integration with Facebook, Twitter, and of course Google everything, if you like that sort of things.
Cam and Video
This are unrelated to playback on the screen. Later phones has HD video capture at 720p. The resolution is still less than 1 megapixels. At CAM mode the resolution is usually a bit higher like 3mp to 7mp. It's all about the len. There's no point to use the phone as a SLR camera. For HD video capture, it's worthwhile to get a cheap and small camcorder so you don't lost your expensive phone easily.
Most phones come with a decent len at the back, and many with an additional pinhole cam at the front for video conferencing, suitable on the go, with sufficient burring to compensate for the lack of makeup.
Plan
AT&T has the fashion accessory plan for the iPhone 4S, if you use the phone as fashion accessory only. It's $40 plus mandatory $15 data plan for the 4S. Text extra, if you don't know how to text via data. With this plan, you can't do much for the data, and hence you can't be smart much.
In contrast, it's reseller, Simple Mobile, has the $40 unlimited everything plan, up to 3G speed, upgradeable to 4G. It's BYO, bring your own phone. For iPhone 4S without contract, it can be just under $700!
Sprint reseller Virgin, has the $35 for unlimited data (4G?). It's Android lineup is pretty update and cheap too. But it's only for US and then some.
Recommendations
To maintain your international geek image without paying an arm and a leg, I recommend to get an Android direct from China, plus a Simple mobile plan.
Almost of the phones are made in China anyway. It's sort of open source hardware plus open source software Android. The display and chips are fairly standard. The best ones, 800x480, are over $200. It's International and 4G.
If you don't want that state of the art, $100 gets you a pretty smartphone and pretty display too.
Online marketplace sites like dhgate are ebay killers. There are numerous scan artists like eBay in the beginning but there are good protections in place. For standard electronics, you can get full refund if they don't ship you the numerous functions on the list.
Unlike eBay, they allows review too but people are't that talkative as in Amazon. Don't like the idea that the Chinese mafia has your name and card number in their record?
Anyway, there are plenty of reliable merchants and the units they sold worldwide is staggering.
Other reasons you need a smartphone
GPS - smartphones use network information, internet, wi-fi, in additional to satellites to provide accurate information fast. Some have turn to turn instructions and for me, a google map anywhere in the world is super for me.
Free text, free phone call via internet. But you pay the data package. A device good for HD porn will do your stuff justice.
Show your merchandise and portfolio any time. I still remember a non-story about a traveling sale person showing his next seat passenger in his brief case, electrical extension sockets with extension wire. Is that really still necessary?
A pair for grandma's and grand kids? It's so easy and so cheap with video, apart from the plans.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric shared network printing
Shared printers over the network used to be so simple in Linux, as long as your printer is connected to any computer. Even Windows is doing quite well.
Not anymore. In Oneiric, you can't set the printer via the system settings any more. You have to go through your own internet. Browse to http://localhost:631, the standard CUPS interface.
And then what? Who cares? Can I print now?
First go to your server, the computer to which the printer is connected. Check the printer tab if you see your printer. Then go to the admin tab to enable most if not everything on the server list.
Then go to, say, your netbook. Browse to the same interface. Check the printer appears in the printer tab. Then you also have to enable most if not everything on the server list, while your netbook is obviously the client.
If I know that I would have pay a few dollars more for a wireless printer.
Not anymore. In Oneiric, you can't set the printer via the system settings any more. You have to go through your own internet. Browse to http://localhost:631, the standard CUPS interface.
And then what? Who cares? Can I print now?
First go to your server, the computer to which the printer is connected. Check the printer tab if you see your printer. Then go to the admin tab to enable most if not everything on the server list.
Then go to, say, your netbook. Browse to the same interface. Check the printer appears in the printer tab. Then you also have to enable most if not everything on the server list, while your netbook is obviously the client.
If I know that I would have pay a few dollars more for a wireless printer.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Reinstalled Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric 3rd time
It was killing me for the AO722 as I have to do extra things each time.
First, the wired vs wireless conflict. Since the 2nd time, it wasn't a fresh install and the USB OS starts to be "intelligent". So much so that I can't even boot without an Ethernet cable connected. All the known methods do not work. Actually it can't even run on the USB drive, but can re-install itself on the hard drive.
For the resolution, recall that you need to blacklist atl1c in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf. Then you need to
#rmmod atl1c
#update-initramfs -u
Without update, the kernel will always load the atl1c it remembered.
Then disable the beep by alsamixer. Find the conexant sound card by F5. Actually muting the beep doesn't even work. You have to turn the beep volume down to zero.
The 1st reinstall, it was because of Unity / Compiz. The system menu bar disappeared and unity won't come out. I can't launch anything. I spent a few times more than the time taken to reinstall. It wasn't that I mess up the settings. I didn't even do anything. I'm certain that many things that go wrong may lead to the self disabling of unity. It may not even be hardware or desktop GUI related.
It was because all users are affected, while settings to unity and compiz are individualized. Sometimes a crippled unity2D may work. But you don't really want to keep that for long. You can always launch something via terminal - ctrl-alt-t, or bring up an independent terminal session - ctrl-alt-F1.
The 2nd reinstall was due to messing up Grub, the boot loader. All I wanted to do was to set the delay to 2 or 3 second before I can determine which OS to boot. Basically you have nothing to do that. All the docs are confusing as the new install will be Grub2, while if you have an old install, you will have Grub legacy. The recommended startup manager don't work for Grub 2. There is the Grub-customizer that can do it but it wasn't in a trusted repository.
I could have triggered a downgrade to Grub1, or I did that accidentally, or I never have Grub1. I tried to reinstall Grub2, but probably on the wrong partition as root. I have at least 7 partitions. 3 comes with windows. 1 linux swap. 1 for the OS. 1 for users. 1 unused, to grow at demand. Once that was the crippled OS with users file for temporary backup. I ended up with the Grub> prompt at boot. It is easier to reinstall than looking up the command documentary.
Even with Grub working, there was a lot of blank screens in between the so called splash screens - giving some feedback for the users that the OS is loading. It takes oneiric 30 secs to get to the login screen (only a few more seconds for Windows 7). There is 5 sec of blank screen after the bios screen, and after the Grub screen, the rest of time will be mostly blank, until the brief splash screen at the end. That would be really bad. My wife thinks it was dead.
When I accidentally have grub legacy installed, there is always a text message telling you that it's booting.
The grub-customizer can add you own image to replace the blank screen. But without animations you would think that the machine is hanged.
Its really a good idea to make a separate partition for the users, so you just overwrite the OS without copying the user files around.
First, don't encrypt your home directories or any partition containing them. Because all the user config files will be encrypted. You can't even reconfigure for them as the superuser.
The idea is simple. Install gparted to resize, create the partitions. You need one for root, the OS, and one for /home, which contains all the users. You have to run Ubuntu on the USB for example, as the partitions must be unmounted in order to modify them. You cannot unmount the OS, root partition. You just need to mount the new partition using disk utilities and copy over the old user files to the user partition.
If you are keeping the current OS, you need to remove all the old user files on /home, and make empty dummy user directory in it. You have to modify /etc/fstab and add the user partition to be mounted at /home. When you reboot everything will be the same as before, except the users will be on a different partition.
When you reinstall the OS, it's simpler. The live USB Ubuntu have all the options if you choose the custom option. You will be asked which partition for root and which one for /home etc.
Sometimes the old users will not be recognized or have errors. Sometimes it's due to file ownership. If all else fails, rename the user directory. Delete the user. Add the same user. Copy over the user files to the same place. Without a separate partition, you or the installer may accidentally erase everything. And for a clean install, you want to erase the old configurations on the OS.
There is something wrong over at Ubuntu. It looks very nice and good for a fresh install. All the geeky things are hidden or not even bundled. You may win some but if anything happens, nobody will be able to help. You don't throw the 1% existing users under the bus go get a few new recruits. The forums are not working. You have ubuntu forums and then ask ubuntu. Most of info are outdated.
Whenever you make a decision, you should consider the CIA interrogation manual, classified or unclassified. One main technique is confusion. Ubuntu is good at it now. You will pay whatever price for constant confusion to go away - buy a powerful notebook and pay up for the windows anti-virus scams, or buy a more expensive apple.
And then there is the physical abuse that don't register. In the ubuntu forums you can't search for more than once every few sec. In ask ubuntu many proxy servers or potential servers are banned.
And then there is the non-violence abuse. Posting a link to point to somewhere else is both abuse and confusion. May be really 1% should be using Ubuntu, but if there is no increase for long, there will not be a Ubuntu. On the other hand, throwing everything old under the bus will be a disaster. But if you don't develop something cool, there won't be developers left.
So, when in doubt of where to go, what to do next, consult the CIA manual.
First, the wired vs wireless conflict. Since the 2nd time, it wasn't a fresh install and the USB OS starts to be "intelligent". So much so that I can't even boot without an Ethernet cable connected. All the known methods do not work. Actually it can't even run on the USB drive, but can re-install itself on the hard drive.
For the resolution, recall that you need to blacklist atl1c in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf. Then you need to
#rmmod atl1c
#update-initramfs -u
Without update, the kernel will always load the atl1c it remembered.
Then disable the beep by alsamixer. Find the conexant sound card by F5. Actually muting the beep doesn't even work. You have to turn the beep volume down to zero.
The 1st reinstall, it was because of Unity / Compiz. The system menu bar disappeared and unity won't come out. I can't launch anything. I spent a few times more than the time taken to reinstall. It wasn't that I mess up the settings. I didn't even do anything. I'm certain that many things that go wrong may lead to the self disabling of unity. It may not even be hardware or desktop GUI related.
It was because all users are affected, while settings to unity and compiz are individualized. Sometimes a crippled unity2D may work. But you don't really want to keep that for long. You can always launch something via terminal - ctrl-alt-t, or bring up an independent terminal session - ctrl-alt-F1.
The 2nd reinstall was due to messing up Grub, the boot loader. All I wanted to do was to set the delay to 2 or 3 second before I can determine which OS to boot. Basically you have nothing to do that. All the docs are confusing as the new install will be Grub2, while if you have an old install, you will have Grub legacy. The recommended startup manager don't work for Grub 2. There is the Grub-customizer that can do it but it wasn't in a trusted repository.
I could have triggered a downgrade to Grub1, or I did that accidentally, or I never have Grub1. I tried to reinstall Grub2, but probably on the wrong partition as root. I have at least 7 partitions. 3 comes with windows. 1 linux swap. 1 for the OS. 1 for users. 1 unused, to grow at demand. Once that was the crippled OS with users file for temporary backup. I ended up with the Grub> prompt at boot. It is easier to reinstall than looking up the command documentary.
Even with Grub working, there was a lot of blank screens in between the so called splash screens - giving some feedback for the users that the OS is loading. It takes oneiric 30 secs to get to the login screen (only a few more seconds for Windows 7). There is 5 sec of blank screen after the bios screen, and after the Grub screen, the rest of time will be mostly blank, until the brief splash screen at the end. That would be really bad. My wife thinks it was dead.
When I accidentally have grub legacy installed, there is always a text message telling you that it's booting.
The grub-customizer can add you own image to replace the blank screen. But without animations you would think that the machine is hanged.
Its really a good idea to make a separate partition for the users, so you just overwrite the OS without copying the user files around.
First, don't encrypt your home directories or any partition containing them. Because all the user config files will be encrypted. You can't even reconfigure for them as the superuser.
The idea is simple. Install gparted to resize, create the partitions. You need one for root, the OS, and one for /home, which contains all the users. You have to run Ubuntu on the USB for example, as the partitions must be unmounted in order to modify them. You cannot unmount the OS, root partition. You just need to mount the new partition using disk utilities and copy over the old user files to the user partition.
If you are keeping the current OS, you need to remove all the old user files on /home, and make empty dummy user directory in it. You have to modify /etc/fstab and add the user partition to be mounted at /home. When you reboot everything will be the same as before, except the users will be on a different partition.
When you reinstall the OS, it's simpler. The live USB Ubuntu have all the options if you choose the custom option. You will be asked which partition for root and which one for /home etc.
Sometimes the old users will not be recognized or have errors. Sometimes it's due to file ownership. If all else fails, rename the user directory. Delete the user. Add the same user. Copy over the user files to the same place. Without a separate partition, you or the installer may accidentally erase everything. And for a clean install, you want to erase the old configurations on the OS.
There is something wrong over at Ubuntu. It looks very nice and good for a fresh install. All the geeky things are hidden or not even bundled. You may win some but if anything happens, nobody will be able to help. You don't throw the 1% existing users under the bus go get a few new recruits. The forums are not working. You have ubuntu forums and then ask ubuntu. Most of info are outdated.
Whenever you make a decision, you should consider the CIA interrogation manual, classified or unclassified. One main technique is confusion. Ubuntu is good at it now. You will pay whatever price for constant confusion to go away - buy a powerful notebook and pay up for the windows anti-virus scams, or buy a more expensive apple.
And then there is the physical abuse that don't register. In the ubuntu forums you can't search for more than once every few sec. In ask ubuntu many proxy servers or potential servers are banned.
And then there is the non-violence abuse. Posting a link to point to somewhere else is both abuse and confusion. May be really 1% should be using Ubuntu, but if there is no increase for long, there will not be a Ubuntu. On the other hand, throwing everything old under the bus will be a disaster. But if you don't develop something cool, there won't be developers left.
So, when in doubt of where to go, what to do next, consult the CIA manual.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Disable AC adaptor beep in portables in Ubuntu 11.10
This is the answer to the million dollar question: disable the AC adapter / power cord beep in Acer Aspire One AO722 netbook in Ubuntu 11.10.
It is easy in Windows and perhaps earlier versions of Ubuntu.
In U11.10, you need the command line. First bring up the terminal, e.g., use ctrl-alt-t.
Then use the utility
#alsamixer
For portables there are no separate system speakers for the system beep, therefore the desktop methods won't work. For some portables, there are two devices, one for the digital HDMI and one for the analog speaker and headphones. You have to pick the correct one for the volume settings.
For the AO722, use F6 to pick the conexant sound card, rather than the first HDMI sound card.
Then use the arrow keys to get to the beep column. Type m to toggle the muting status.
The heart attack beep will be off when the power cord is attached or removed. But the beep is not altogether muted. The beep volume seemed to be coupled to the master volume or the alert volume.
It is easy in Windows and perhaps earlier versions of Ubuntu.
In U11.10, you need the command line. First bring up the terminal, e.g., use ctrl-alt-t.
Then use the utility
#alsamixer
For portables there are no separate system speakers for the system beep, therefore the desktop methods won't work. For some portables, there are two devices, one for the digital HDMI and one for the analog speaker and headphones. You have to pick the correct one for the volume settings.
For the AO722, use F6 to pick the conexant sound card, rather than the first HDMI sound card.
Then use the arrow keys to get to the beep column. Type m to toggle the muting status.
The heart attack beep will be off when the power cord is attached or removed. But the beep is not altogether muted. The beep volume seemed to be coupled to the master volume or the alert volume.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Installing Ubuntu 11.10 on Acer netbook AO722
Update: Ubuntu 14.04
Yeah, it has been a while. I didn't know when the wifi stopped working. But the kernel has long solved the Qualcomm (ethernet driver) vs Broadcom (wifi driver) conflict. I think Ubuntu even used and loaded a different driver. You don't need to do anything, just to undo the changes like I made. There's no need for blacklisting. You must not blacklist those drivers listed below. Delete the preferred driver version if you did that, not that it may matter. You don't need to do net boot first, just boot normally into harddisk or usb. I didn't change driver nor it's version because I think they use another one now.
Other than using the method to silence the annoying the speaker, you can also blacklist the speaker instead.
I tried the different video drivers again via system settings, software updates. All are about the same. 1080 HD on youtube is watchable. 1080 HD on local drive is watchable, but sound will be lost after a sec or two because sync cannot be maintained. FHD video seems to be in slow motion but watchable. But for lower bitrate 1080p videos, it could play normally except for wrong lip sync, such as animated movies. There's no suspend issues. It's a pity that the screen is better than the cheap acer chromebooks but they are much faster and play HD without a flinch.
Update: wifi problems in 12.04
Firstly, the new broadcom wifi driver doesn't work. You need to remove and reinstall the old version.
Now for the AO722, you need to resolve the driver conflict with the Ethernet controller. This method disable the Ethernet wired connection!
#gksu gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
and add the following lines at the end of the file:
#ethernet
atl1c
#incompatible wireles, just in case
bcma
brcmsmac
#video, for an unrelated problem
fglrx
Then you update the kernel before reboot.
#update-initramfs -u
If for any reason you need the Ethernet again, comment out atl1c in the above file, update kernel and reboot.
End of update
_____________________________________________________________________
The AO722 came with full Windows 7 64-bit, clumsy IE, loaded with advertising demos. It would be a great performance upgrade to switch to Ubuntu.
But you won't be able to watch Netflix. And because of open source video driver or flash plug-in, 720p HD on youtube will be stuttering.
I suggest to install via a USB flash drive. It will also be the "recovery disk" when all else fails. The alternative is to boot up Windows and install something to read the Linux disk formats.
For a fail safe install, plug in the Ethernet cable to your wireless router. At least get a cable ready. The wired driver has conflicts with the wireless Broadcom driver!
When installation is completed, the OS will suggest proprietary wireless and video drivers to install, as opposed to the bundled open source drive. Don't.
The proprietary video driver will freeze after suspend. It will not wake up. So don't do it. The default drivers are OK. But either the driver or the flash plug-in isn't good enough. You cannot not play 720p HD on youtube smoothly. Playing local files or over the local network is OK, but I haven't tried HD and other codecs.
Other than that, the screen flickers a little during boot.
If the wireless driver works, connect automatically and ask you the encryption password, savour it. Once it is working, it will not work again once you reboot it. It will then be conflicting with the Ethernet driver.
There is no other way out but to disable the Ethernet driver. Add the line:
blacklist atl1c
in the file /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf. Then run:
#update-initramfs -u
And remember to sudo. If you don't update, rebooting do not update for you. You can check with lsmod.
You can check by lsmod first. If you see atl1c and wl in the output, you are most likely using the conflicting drivers. They are the latest drivers.
A common fix is to change the boot order to network before the system disk drive. This will give time for the Ethernet driver to settle before the wireless one. But if you switch user after boot, the same thing will occur because the networking settings are per user.
If your wireless doesn't work, or you play around with the drivers until it doesn't work, it's expected. You look around the blacklist files and you will understand.
The descriptions at Broadcom are good, but some instructions do not make sense. On top of the network drivers' conflict, your wireless probably will fail changing from 11.04 to 11.10, not because of the AO722.
First check what you have by
#lshw -C network
You can see the Broadcom BM4313 hardware, and at the driver entry, wl. If you see anything else, you need to reinstall the drivers.
Then you need to see if the kernel driver is compatible:
#lsmod
You should see wl in the list. Typically, the driver will be selected for you during OS install, and will be affected by the old configurations. Typically you have to remove the bcma driver and blacklist it as above:
#rmmod bcma
The other older drivers are already blacklisted.
If there are troubles and you need to reinstall the drivers, you should install synaptic package manager first. You can search in the Ubuntu software center. You can also find the drivers in the Ubuntu software center. The problem is that after I installed it, it worked, and then I can't find the driver again in the center. Also it don't show the version numbers.
In the package manager, you search for Broadcom or bcm. What you need are two drivers:
bcmwl-kernel-source
broadcom-STA-source
You need to reboot and may need to reinstall them to get the right drivers.
Broadcom just updated their Linux wireless driver page. But I think the drivers at Ubuntu depository are almost update. But if you compile the updated Broadcom drivers on you own, you may solve the network interface conflicts.
But why you want this netbook? It fits in the glove box of my vintage. It don't cost that much if you shake it too much into disintegration. It's a fully functional computer with full 64 bit OS. At 11.6", the screen resolution of 13xx by 7xx is "bigger" than an old 17" desktop monitor. So it looks really nice if you care to sit close to it, like in the car. And you should be pleasant to read books too, and hold it like an open book if you sort out the center of gravity. It's exactly the size of a letter paper. It's so sexy that chicks finger me. Not exactly. They finger the screen as if it is an iPad, tablet, iPhone, or just point of sale check out machine.
UPDATES: upgrading kernel is a big hassle as usual. The non-compatible wireless driver came back which didn't work. I have to bring back the ethernet driver and the cable. Reinstall the working driver, and then blacklist the ethernet driver. Also, tried if the propriety driver works for new kernel. No. Reinstall.
So my new blacklist comes to:
#wireless
bcma
brcmsmac
#ethernet
atl1c
#video, just in case
fglrx
Remember to update before reboot.
For the correct driver to install, you can just search for them in Ubuntu software center
For video: xserver-xorg-video-radeon
For wireless: bcmwl-kernel-source
Via lsmod, the drivers are radeon, wl. You also have to remove the other wrong drivers first. The order is totally important.
Yeah, it has been a while. I didn't know when the wifi stopped working. But the kernel has long solved the Qualcomm (ethernet driver) vs Broadcom (wifi driver) conflict. I think Ubuntu even used and loaded a different driver. You don't need to do anything, just to undo the changes like I made. There's no need for blacklisting. You must not blacklist those drivers listed below. Delete the preferred driver version if you did that, not that it may matter. You don't need to do net boot first, just boot normally into harddisk or usb. I didn't change driver nor it's version because I think they use another one now.
Other than using the method to silence the annoying the speaker, you can also blacklist the speaker instead.
I tried the different video drivers again via system settings, software updates. All are about the same. 1080 HD on youtube is watchable. 1080 HD on local drive is watchable, but sound will be lost after a sec or two because sync cannot be maintained. FHD video seems to be in slow motion but watchable. But for lower bitrate 1080p videos, it could play normally except for wrong lip sync, such as animated movies. There's no suspend issues. It's a pity that the screen is better than the cheap acer chromebooks but they are much faster and play HD without a flinch.
Update: wifi problems in 12.04
Firstly, the new broadcom wifi driver doesn't work. You need to remove and reinstall the old version.
#sudo apt-get remove bcmwl-kernel-source#sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source=5.100.82.38+bdcom-0ubuntu6 Then you need to stop the auto update:
#gksu gedit /etc/apt/preferences.d/bcmwl-kernel-source and paste in the following lines to the file: Package: bcmwl-kernel-source
Pin: version 5.100.82.38+bdcom*
Pin-Priority: 1001 Now for the AO722, you need to resolve the driver conflict with the Ethernet controller. This method disable the Ethernet wired connection!
#gksu gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
and add the following lines at the end of the file:
#ethernet
atl1c
#incompatible wireles, just in case
bcma
brcmsmac
#video, for an unrelated problem
fglrx
Then you update the kernel before reboot.
#update-initramfs -u
If for any reason you need the Ethernet again, comment out atl1c in the above file, update kernel and reboot.
End of update
_____________________________________________________________________
The AO722 came with full Windows 7 64-bit, clumsy IE, loaded with advertising demos. It would be a great performance upgrade to switch to Ubuntu.
But you won't be able to watch Netflix. And because of open source video driver or flash plug-in, 720p HD on youtube will be stuttering.
I suggest to install via a USB flash drive. It will also be the "recovery disk" when all else fails. The alternative is to boot up Windows and install something to read the Linux disk formats.
For a fail safe install, plug in the Ethernet cable to your wireless router. At least get a cable ready. The wired driver has conflicts with the wireless Broadcom driver!
When installation is completed, the OS will suggest proprietary wireless and video drivers to install, as opposed to the bundled open source drive. Don't.
The proprietary video driver will freeze after suspend. It will not wake up. So don't do it. The default drivers are OK. But either the driver or the flash plug-in isn't good enough. You cannot not play 720p HD on youtube smoothly. Playing local files or over the local network is OK, but I haven't tried HD and other codecs.
Other than that, the screen flickers a little during boot.
If the wireless driver works, connect automatically and ask you the encryption password, savour it. Once it is working, it will not work again once you reboot it. It will then be conflicting with the Ethernet driver.
There is no other way out but to disable the Ethernet driver. Add the line:
blacklist atl1c
in the file /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf. Then run:
#update-initramfs -u
And remember to sudo. If you don't update, rebooting do not update for you. You can check with lsmod.
You can check by lsmod first. If you see atl1c and wl in the output, you are most likely using the conflicting drivers. They are the latest drivers.
A common fix is to change the boot order to network before the system disk drive. This will give time for the Ethernet driver to settle before the wireless one. But if you switch user after boot, the same thing will occur because the networking settings are per user.
If your wireless doesn't work, or you play around with the drivers until it doesn't work, it's expected. You look around the blacklist files and you will understand.
The descriptions at Broadcom are good, but some instructions do not make sense. On top of the network drivers' conflict, your wireless probably will fail changing from 11.04 to 11.10, not because of the AO722.
First check what you have by
#lshw -C network
You can see the Broadcom BM4313 hardware, and at the driver entry, wl. If you see anything else, you need to reinstall the drivers.
Then you need to see if the kernel driver is compatible:
#lsmod
You should see wl in the list. Typically, the driver will be selected for you during OS install, and will be affected by the old configurations. Typically you have to remove the bcma driver and blacklist it as above:
#rmmod bcma
The other older drivers are already blacklisted.
If there are troubles and you need to reinstall the drivers, you should install synaptic package manager first. You can search in the Ubuntu software center. You can also find the drivers in the Ubuntu software center. The problem is that after I installed it, it worked, and then I can't find the driver again in the center. Also it don't show the version numbers.
In the package manager, you search for Broadcom or bcm. What you need are two drivers:
bcmwl-kernel-source
broadcom-STA-source
You need to reboot and may need to reinstall them to get the right drivers.
Broadcom just updated their Linux wireless driver page. But I think the drivers at Ubuntu depository are almost update. But if you compile the updated Broadcom drivers on you own, you may solve the network interface conflicts.
But why you want this netbook? It fits in the glove box of my vintage. It don't cost that much if you shake it too much into disintegration. It's a fully functional computer with full 64 bit OS. At 11.6", the screen resolution of 13xx by 7xx is "bigger" than an old 17" desktop monitor. So it looks really nice if you care to sit close to it, like in the car. And you should be pleasant to read books too, and hold it like an open book if you sort out the center of gravity. It's exactly the size of a letter paper. It's so sexy that chicks finger me. Not exactly. They finger the screen as if it is an iPad, tablet, iPhone, or just point of sale check out machine.
UPDATES: upgrading kernel is a big hassle as usual. The non-compatible wireless driver came back which didn't work. I have to bring back the ethernet driver and the cable. Reinstall the working driver, and then blacklist the ethernet driver. Also, tried if the propriety driver works for new kernel. No. Reinstall.
So my new blacklist comes to:
#wireless
bcma
brcmsmac
#ethernet
atl1c
#video, just in case
fglrx
Remember to update before reboot.
For the correct driver to install, you can just search for them in Ubuntu software center
For video: xserver-xorg-video-radeon
For wireless: bcmwl-kernel-source
Via lsmod, the drivers are radeon, wl. You also have to remove the other wrong drivers first. The order is totally important.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Ubuntu 11.10 upgrade - almost a nightmare
The other day a prompt popped-up, saying that Ubntu 11.10 is ready. I just pressed the button for the upgrade, thinking it was as simple as the software updates every few days. I never had any problems since the last Ubuntu upgrade.
It happened that whatever problems others have, I also have them, and then some.
Maybe because of my non-standard (sophisicated I would say) setup, like all the partial encryptions, encrypted swap space, etc, reboot failed. I started the recovery mode. I got in, but what do I do?!
I tried to look at the boot log, no clue. And before that, the boot loader complained that all my NTFS (Windows) drives have fatal errors. That was real scary.
I tried to remove the last application that appeared at the boot log out of desperation. Then the first error message came out - that the software package manager wasn't in a proper state. I ran the suggested command and it was fixed. My computer manager to crash the software package manger at half the upgrade.
But that was fixed after wasting a lot of clueless time, swapping between the recovery mode, and normal mode a few times, and using the desktop to search for answers on the web.
Now the NTFS drives. Who haven't got one or two partitions? It's not safe to get rid of Windows altogether. I still can't see the ink levels on my printer.
It happened that they took out the fix NTFS utility from the system bundle. The system cannot find the programs to check and fix the NTFS drives, causing a fatal error. It is a valid philosophy, but stupid.
NTFS support is still there. You can mount the drive and read the data as before. Just that you cannot fix the hard disk errors. For that you have to download the newer optional NTFS package. But actually it is there and installed. But for some reason they call it another name, being new and different. You can also "fix" the disk errors from other utilities like the Disk Utilities.
I think the reason for the change is that the fix disk utilities is not as good as the Windows one. I fixed it on Ubuntu. But when I check it on Windows, it still got plenty of errors.
The proper solution is to edit the /etc/fstab file. For the NTFS disks, change the last 1 to 0, telling the system not to try checking and fixing them, using a package that didn't exist.
This is fixed after booting and fixing all the drives in Ubuntu and Linux, which is a waste of time. Like testing and fixing memory first, you should check and fix all your drives first, in Windows for NTFS, and others in Ubuntu, before you do major upgrade.
And of course you should backup your home directory first.
After successful booting, of course the default desktop environment is the new unity interface. The saving grace is that it's compatible with the classic Ubuntu gnome desktop, once again. The ridiculous fact is that 11.04 was not compatible with the earlier gnome desktop.
After I played around a bit, and maybe after some coding errors, unity disappeared. Everything seemed to be working. But I don't have the Unity to launch anything, and no system bar at the top. All I got is the bar for the "file explorer".
It happened that the desktop or whatever is called Compiz, and Unity is a plug-in. Somehow Unity is disappeared and you are left with a useless desktop, unless you have some application links on the desktop.
To reset to the default state of Compiz and Unity you need to do the following:
The tricky bit is that you can't start a terminal or anything. In recovery mode you also have to login as a normal user as the desktop settings is user specific. You can also try alt-ctrl-F1 that sort of thing to get a terminal to launch the commands.
Alt-ctrl-F1 gets you to the raw linux mode, without any GUI. It's like the recovery mode but with everything else normal, except the GUI. Alt-ctrl-t is the default hot key for bringing up a terminal.
Finally, after the hens and eggs problems, it worked. And now I can move to the new Unity because it beats Windows 7.
But I'm afraid there are problems at Ubuntu. Wrong philosophy? Many heads in all directions? Heading for the wrong path? These will be next.
ps It is recommended to install the Compiz settings manager but I advice against it until you sort out all your other troubles. It sets many other things so you can't go back to default even after you completely removes Compiz and reinstall.
It happened that whatever problems others have, I also have them, and then some.
Maybe because of my non-standard (sophisicated I would say) setup, like all the partial encryptions, encrypted swap space, etc, reboot failed. I started the recovery mode. I got in, but what do I do?!
I tried to look at the boot log, no clue. And before that, the boot loader complained that all my NTFS (Windows) drives have fatal errors. That was real scary.
I tried to remove the last application that appeared at the boot log out of desperation. Then the first error message came out - that the software package manager wasn't in a proper state. I ran the suggested command and it was fixed. My computer manager to crash the software package manger at half the upgrade.
But that was fixed after wasting a lot of clueless time, swapping between the recovery mode, and normal mode a few times, and using the desktop to search for answers on the web.
Now the NTFS drives. Who haven't got one or two partitions? It's not safe to get rid of Windows altogether. I still can't see the ink levels on my printer.
It happened that they took out the fix NTFS utility from the system bundle. The system cannot find the programs to check and fix the NTFS drives, causing a fatal error. It is a valid philosophy, but stupid.
NTFS support is still there. You can mount the drive and read the data as before. Just that you cannot fix the hard disk errors. For that you have to download the newer optional NTFS package. But actually it is there and installed. But for some reason they call it another name, being new and different. You can also "fix" the disk errors from other utilities like the Disk Utilities.
I think the reason for the change is that the fix disk utilities is not as good as the Windows one. I fixed it on Ubuntu. But when I check it on Windows, it still got plenty of errors.
The proper solution is to edit the /etc/fstab file. For the NTFS disks, change the last 1 to 0, telling the system not to try checking and fixing them, using a package that didn't exist.
This is fixed after booting and fixing all the drives in Ubuntu and Linux, which is a waste of time. Like testing and fixing memory first, you should check and fix all your drives first, in Windows for NTFS, and others in Ubuntu, before you do major upgrade.
And of course you should backup your home directory first.
After successful booting, of course the default desktop environment is the new unity interface. The saving grace is that it's compatible with the classic Ubuntu gnome desktop, once again. The ridiculous fact is that 11.04 was not compatible with the earlier gnome desktop.
After I played around a bit, and maybe after some coding errors, unity disappeared. Everything seemed to be working. But I don't have the Unity to launch anything, and no system bar at the top. All I got is the bar for the "file explorer".
It happened that the desktop or whatever is called Compiz, and Unity is a plug-in. Somehow Unity is disappeared and you are left with a useless desktop, unless you have some application links on the desktop.
To reset to the default state of Compiz and Unity you need to do the following:
#gconftool-2 --recursive-unset /apps/compiz-1
#unity --resetThe tricky bit is that you can't start a terminal or anything. In recovery mode you also have to login as a normal user as the desktop settings is user specific. You can also try alt-ctrl-F1 that sort of thing to get a terminal to launch the commands.
Alt-ctrl-F1 gets you to the raw linux mode, without any GUI. It's like the recovery mode but with everything else normal, except the GUI. Alt-ctrl-t is the default hot key for bringing up a terminal.
Finally, after the hens and eggs problems, it worked. And now I can move to the new Unity because it beats Windows 7.
But I'm afraid there are problems at Ubuntu. Wrong philosophy? Many heads in all directions? Heading for the wrong path? These will be next.
ps It is recommended to install the Compiz settings manager but I advice against it until you sort out all your other troubles. It sets many other things so you can't go back to default even after you completely removes Compiz and reinstall.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Modify encrypted swap partition in Ubuntu
If you want to resize, merge, split, move your partitions, you may have to modify your encrypted partition too.
If you haven't got it, install GParted to view and manage your partitions.
Before you do anything serious, make a rescue disk in a USB thumb flash drive, and make sure that your computer can boot from it, and you know how to. In Ubuntu a rescue/recover disk is actually a full sized Ubuntu operating system on trial. You can use it straight from the flash drive, or install Ubuntu into your hard drive for a dual boot or pure Ubuntu system. Just don't do that and keep using it directly from flash drive.
The latest Ubuntu have GParted installed, and make sure that your thumb drive have it.
I hate to say that you should back up you data before you modify your partitions. But that's not very practical for most, unless you have a new bigger hard drive, or a huge external drive. GParted is pretty safe and I lived to tell you the story.
If you didn't setup your swap, I didn't, you may find where it is in the file /etc/fstab. You will find a line with the word swap. For a swap partition it will be at /dev/sda2 etc, but identified with the partition's UUID, a global unique code. For a swap file, it will be typically be at /swapfile.
The size of the swap file or partition will be about one to two times your system RAM. If you have ample RAM and disk space, the recommended size is equal to your RAM. But the old school of twice the RAM size doesn't matter. Now disks are half to one Terrible lot of Bytes.
Especially if you encrypted your swap file, you cannot be sure that it's functional because in GPart it show up as an unknown partition and unmounted. Don't let it fool you.
First you turn off swap:
#swapoff /dev/sda2
for swap partition or if you have a swap file
#swapoff /swapfile
Edit the /etc/fstab file:
#sudo gedit /etc/fstab
and comment out the swap file entry. If your swap isn't encrypted, now it would be a normal partition (if you reboot) and you can do anything about it with GPart for example. You can delete it or your swap file.
If your swap is encrypted, you will not be able to boot again. You have to remove the mapper. You can see at /dev/mapper what the mapped partition is, eg, cryptswap1. To remove it:
#dmsetup remove cryptswap1
Without it, you OS cannot boot even in recovery mode, as the mapper is looking for the swap partition that do not exist or defunctional one way or the other.
To setup the swap partition again. Create a partition in GPart if you don't have one already. Keep it unmounted. Format it to linux-swap.
In /etc/fstab, uncomment the old swap partition line. Instead of the UUID, you can just use the device name, /dev/sda2 for example.
You may be able to do
#swapon /dev/sda2
But if you reboot you will sure have the swap partition active.
Now you can use the ecryptfs utility to encrypt the swap file again. You can see your swap at /dev/mapper and the corresponding line added at /etc/fstab.
Remember to comment out the line for the previous swap partition in /etc/fstab. The ecryptfs utility does not do it for your.
You can use the system monitor to see how much and how often your swap partition is used.
If you haven't got it, install GParted to view and manage your partitions.
Before you do anything serious, make a rescue disk in a USB thumb flash drive, and make sure that your computer can boot from it, and you know how to. In Ubuntu a rescue/recover disk is actually a full sized Ubuntu operating system on trial. You can use it straight from the flash drive, or install Ubuntu into your hard drive for a dual boot or pure Ubuntu system. Just don't do that and keep using it directly from flash drive.
The latest Ubuntu have GParted installed, and make sure that your thumb drive have it.
I hate to say that you should back up you data before you modify your partitions. But that's not very practical for most, unless you have a new bigger hard drive, or a huge external drive. GParted is pretty safe and I lived to tell you the story.
If you didn't setup your swap, I didn't, you may find where it is in the file /etc/fstab. You will find a line with the word swap. For a swap partition it will be at /dev/sda2 etc, but identified with the partition's UUID, a global unique code. For a swap file, it will be typically be at /swapfile.
The size of the swap file or partition will be about one to two times your system RAM. If you have ample RAM and disk space, the recommended size is equal to your RAM. But the old school of twice the RAM size doesn't matter. Now disks are half to one Terrible lot of Bytes.
Especially if you encrypted your swap file, you cannot be sure that it's functional because in GPart it show up as an unknown partition and unmounted. Don't let it fool you.
First you turn off swap:
#swapoff /dev/sda2
for swap partition or if you have a swap file
#swapoff /swapfile
Edit the /etc/fstab file:
#sudo gedit /etc/fstab
and comment out the swap file entry. If your swap isn't encrypted, now it would be a normal partition (if you reboot) and you can do anything about it with GPart for example. You can delete it or your swap file.
If your swap is encrypted, you will not be able to boot again. You have to remove the mapper. You can see at /dev/mapper what the mapped partition is, eg, cryptswap1. To remove it:
#dmsetup remove cryptswap1
Without it, you OS cannot boot even in recovery mode, as the mapper is looking for the swap partition that do not exist or defunctional one way or the other.
To setup the swap partition again. Create a partition in GPart if you don't have one already. Keep it unmounted. Format it to linux-swap.
In /etc/fstab, uncomment the old swap partition line. Instead of the UUID, you can just use the device name, /dev/sda2 for example.
You may be able to do
#swapon /dev/sda2
But if you reboot you will sure have the swap partition active.
Now you can use the ecryptfs utility to encrypt the swap file again. You can see your swap at /dev/mapper and the corresponding line added at /etc/fstab.
Remember to comment out the line for the previous swap partition in /etc/fstab. The ecryptfs utility does not do it for your.
You can use the system monitor to see how much and how often your swap partition is used.
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