Yes, my patience reached the limit! The S88 still has problems. Now I can't hear the person that's speaking to me although the volume is to the max. This doesn't happen with the Bluetooth handsfree, or if I use the internal handsfree. The S88 will go!
I have another problem... Which phone to buy next. It must have Bluetooth, microSD slot (I have a card to use), it must be compatible with Linux and a usable camera will also be ok.
Any ideas?
20061023
Ongoing projects & Stuff to do
- The house is the main project. I still have to contact some construction workers for the quotes
- The NanoHeli I got as a gift still doesn't go forward and I'm still waiting an answer from the company support staff
- I'm waiting for the Palm T|X to return from the in warranty replacement
- I have to send the SD card for a replacement
I hope that's enough support requests for a while... The other project are the complete redesign of the web pages of the charity I cooperate with. We have to make them visually impaired accessible in the shortest possible time. The main server at work needs some new hard discs, the old ones are beginning to fail I already have the order signed, so it's just a matter of days. I also have to rethink the central authorization server and the whole authorization process.
And there is also the collaboration I want to start... I'll have an entry test in 2 weeks. Hope they'll give me the work.
SanDisk Ultra II 512Mb SD Card
I contacted Sandisk support on the 3rd October for a 512Mb SD Ultra II card that didn't work anymore. I tried to reformat it etc, but there were problems with the size of the media not being recognized. Sandisk asked me to do a format and gave me some hints about the data recovery (basically a link to a Windows only program for data recovery). I asked for a replacement and they gave me the addresses of their two Italian distributors as I bought the card in Italy. The store where I bought the card had closed in the meantime, so this wasn't a viable alternative.
I wrote an e-mail to one of the distributors on the 5th October and got no response, so on the 11th I wrote also to the other distributor. Until today no response from both.
I phoned them today. I was bounced through 3 departments until I reached Mr. Marco, who initially tried to redirect me to the store where I bought the card, but after a while and probably after contacting his supervisor agreed to have the card sent in for a replacement. Thank you Marco!
Mission accomplished in "just" four weeks... :-(
I wrote an e-mail to one of the distributors on the 5th October and got no response, so on the 11th I wrote also to the other distributor. Until today no response from both.
I phoned them today. I was bounced through 3 departments until I reached Mr. Marco, who initially tried to redirect me to the store where I bought the card, but after a while and probably after contacting his supervisor agreed to have the card sent in for a replacement. Thank you Marco!
Mission accomplished in "just" four weeks... :-(
20061013
Ping pong
There we are, we have not yet started with the construction works and the workers already argue with the architect. Good start isn't it?
Two days ago I was around to get some quotes, but the construction companies didn't like the way the architect wrote the list of the works to be done. So I throw away a day for nothing.
I decided to change the way the list is presented to the construction workers - a cosmetic change. Instead of a list I've created a table with the description of the works and two blanks for the price per mq and the total price, will see if I can fool them... I'm pretty confident it will work :-)
Two days ago I was around to get some quotes, but the construction companies didn't like the way the architect wrote the list of the works to be done. So I throw away a day for nothing.
I decided to change the way the list is presented to the construction workers - a cosmetic change. Instead of a list I've created a table with the description of the works and two blanks for the price per mq and the total price, will see if I can fool them... I'm pretty confident it will work :-)
How to upgrade Debian 3.1 Sarge from kernel 2.4.27-2 to 2.6.8-3
The machine for this guide was an IBM xSeries 206 with SATA. The problems arised from the different addressing of the SATA system - in the old kernel the first SATA disk was recognised as /dev/hdc, while in the newer ones it was /dev/sda
We start with a
To stay on the safe side we can also check the initrd image with
That should be it. Cross you fingers and reboot.
We start with a
aptitude install udevafter that you have to edit in /etc/mkinitrd/mkinitrd.conf the ROOT line to the root of your system and MODULES line to "most"
ROOT=/dev/sda1create /etc/mkinitrd/files with the following entries
MODULES=most
/dev/consolethe mandatory entries are /dev/console /dev/null and the lines for the disk and partition where the OS resides. After that we install the kernel image with aptitude install kernel-image-2.6.8-3-686 and check in /boot/grub/menu.lst that root= points to the correct root partitions on the right device.
/dev/null
/dev/hdc
/dev/hdc1
/dev/hdc2
/dev/sda
/dev/sda1
/dev/sda2
To stay on the safe side we can also check the initrd image with
mount -t cramfs -o loop /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8-3-686 /mntwe check in /mnt/dev for the correct devices, /mnt/loadmodules for the ata_piix module and /mnt/script for the root location.
That should be it. Cross you fingers and reboot.
20061011
SOLVED Debian 3.1 Sarge: Error 432 cannot open dev/console
Yes!!! I managed to find the solution. It was a combination of various issues The first thing there was the change from a traditional dev to udev, after that there was a change in the module that supports the SATA controller of that machine. I solved the problem editing /etc/mkinitrd/files and /etc/mkinitrd/modules in files I added the following lines:
while in modules it was crucial to add the module
After that I also had to change the / in fstab which was not hdc1 anymore but sda1.
An interesting thing happened; the first time I rebooted the machine fstab was still pointing to hdc1 for root, but the system went up without a glitch. I'm still wondering why... Any suggestions?
PS
Thanx to avij for the brainstorming session
/dev/console
/dev/null
/dev/hdc
/dev/hdc1
/dev/hdc2
/dev/sda
/dev/sda1
/dev/sda2
while in modules it was crucial to add the module
ata_piixand of course changing the kernel line in /boot/grub/menu.lst to
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8-3-686 root=/dev/sda1 ro
After that I also had to change the / in fstab which was not hdc1 anymore but sda1.
An interesting thing happened; the first time I rebooted the machine fstab was still pointing to hdc1 for root, but the system went up without a glitch. I'm still wondering why... Any suggestions?
PS
Thanx to avij for the brainstorming session
Scared of construction workers
In the afternoon I'll have a meeting with a construction company... I'm scared. I know that the price quote wont be made today, but I'm really scared about how high the cost will be.
Anyway, the house is bought and if we want to live in it there is no other way as to make it suitable for our needs. If there will be some exciting news, an update will follow in the evening.
Changing theme, the S88 seems to behave today, no hissing our loud singing... Hope it stays so.
I connected the phone to a Kubuntu machine and dmesg outputs this:
The MicroSD slot is visible. It complains about the phone internal memory. So the previous issues seem to be SuSE related.
At work I asked our director for the authorization to enroll for a 2 courses about computer security that will be held next year. Hope he approves it. It's a few years since I did something for my IT knowledge (except for the usual reading of manuals, newspapers and websites).
I have to add a few lines to my curriculum! :-)
Anyway, the house is bought and if we want to live in it there is no other way as to make it suitable for our needs. If there will be some exciting news, an update will follow in the evening.
Changing theme, the S88 seems to behave today, no hissing our loud singing... Hope it stays so.
I connected the phone to a Kubuntu machine and dmesg outputs this:
SCSI device sdb: 43008 512-byte hdwr sectors (22 MB)
[17186972.880000] sdb: Write Protect is off
[17186972.880000] sdb: Mode Sense: 01 0a 05 03
[17186972.880000] sdb: assuming drive cache: write through
[17186972.896000] sdb: Unit Not Ready, sense:
[17186972.896000] : Current: sense key: Illegal Request
[17186972.896000] Additional sense: Logical unit not supported
[17186972.900000] SCSI device sdb: 43008 512-byte hdwr sectors (22 MB)
[17186972.904000] sdb: Write Protect is off
[17186972.904000] sdb: Mode Sense: 01 0a 05 03
[17186972.904000] sdb: assuming drive cache: write through
[17186972.904000] sdb: unable to read partition table
The MicroSD slot is visible. It complains about the phone internal memory. So the previous issues seem to be SuSE related.
At work I asked our director for the authorization to enroll for a 2 courses about computer security that will be held next year. Hope he approves it. It's a few years since I did something for my IT knowledge (except for the usual reading of manuals, newspapers and websites).
I have to add a few lines to my curriculum! :-)
20061010
S88 disappointment...
I'm even more sure that the BenQ S88 was a wrong buy. Yesterday I had the phone silenced and with vibration only. My mother called me at the same time that I was calling her and taking the phone to the ear I heard a whispering tone - in fact it was my ringtone. I finished the call and removed the muting. The ringtone (a mp3 file) was heard in all it's beauty and there was no way to stop it. I tried loading another mp3 in the player to get some control over it, but the phone told me that it's an invalid file...
I had to turn it off. After I switched it on it was ok, but today when I turned it on in the morning a his could be clearly heard coming from the phone. Again I had to switch it off and on again to resume normal operation.
Anybody wants to buy a nearly new BenQ S88 with the latest software?
I guessed it...
I had to turn it off. After I switched it on it was ok, but today when I turned it on in the morning a his could be clearly heard coming from the phone. Again I had to switch it off and on again to resume normal operation.
Anybody wants to buy a nearly new BenQ S88 with the latest software?
I guessed it...
20061005
BenQ S88 update - USB troubles
After the software upgrade I noticed the first problem, there are issues with the phone being recognised as a USB mass storage device.
In fact the device hangs as soon as the USB cable is connected and comes back to life when the cable is pulled out.
The only workaround I could find was powering the device off, connecting the USB cable and powering the device on. After that the device doesn't recognise automatically the USB connection and you have to enter the Tools menu and enable it on the last line.
But unfortunately this still has no influence on SuSE Linux 10.0 where in the logs I found this:
The output of *#300# (S88 Firmware version) is:
Type:HYPB1A
HW ID:1
SW:1.28
PID:00
Date:2006/06/02
Time:17:25:31
LPV:1.28
LPID:25
MMP:1.28
FV:
PPF:HYPB1A_BenQ_DE_NSL_25120j1_111.p
13/04/06 11:03
In fact the device hangs as soon as the USB cable is connected and comes back to life when the cable is pulled out.
The only workaround I could find was powering the device off, connecting the USB cable and powering the device on. After that the device doesn't recognise automatically the USB connection and you have to enter the Tools menu and enable it on the last line.
But unfortunately this still has no influence on SuSE Linux 10.0 where in the logs I found this:
SCSI device sdc: 43008 512-byte hdwr sectors (22 MB)
sdc: Write Protect is off
sdc: Mode Sense: 01 0a 05 03
sdc: assuming drive cache: write through
sdc: unable to read partition table
sdc: Unit Not Ready, sense:
: Current: sense key: Illegal Request
Additional sense: Logical unit not supported
The output of *#300# (S88 Firmware version) is:
Type:HYPB1A
HW ID:1
SW:1.28
PID:00
Date:2006/06/02
Time:17:25:31
LPV:1.28
LPID:25
MMP:1.28
FV:
PPF:HYPB1A_BenQ_DE_NSL_25120j1_111.p
13/04/06 11:03
Construction workers & Phishing Site
Finally, on next Wednesday I scheduled a meeting with a construction company for a price quote on the works we have to do in the house. I'm excited by the idea of starting the REAL work on the house, but also a little bit afraid of the price they will ask for it.
Today I reported a phishing web site to Netcraft. By the way, if you have not yet installed their toolbar, do so. It's a great tool to stop the paypal. ebay etc. scams. The site I reported was trying to convince me (in Italian) that I haven't paid an invoice for some 290 € and to download a copy of the invoice which was in a 'strange' executable format... Of course I downloaded it... But on my SuSE Linux box and scanned it with clamav. It found the Trojan.Startpage-417
DANGER: The page is located at http://www.acquadirose.com/fatturazione/index.htm l (if you really wish to visit it remove the space in ".htm l")
Today I reported a phishing web site to Netcraft. By the way, if you have not yet installed their toolbar, do so. It's a great tool to stop the paypal. ebay etc. scams. The site I reported was trying to convince me (in Italian) that I haven't paid an invoice for some 290 € and to download a copy of the invoice which was in a 'strange' executable format... Of course I downloaded it... But on my SuSE Linux box and scanned it with clamav. It found the Trojan.Startpage-417
DANGER: The page is located at http://www.acquadirose.com/fatturazione/index.htm l (if you really wish to visit it remove the space in ".htm l")
20061002
Harvesting and celebrations
The weekend was intense, on Friday evening we celebrated the 50th birthday of a colleague. There was lots of wine and food and the colleague was very happy when he received the birthday present of all of us - a guitar.
Saturday it was a working day... We had to harvest our vineyard - in fact 3 vines - but the harvest was great. Four of us, me and Maja and our mothers, worked for 2 hours and the result was 44kg of Isabella and Baco Noir, which was later processed into juice. I thought for a while to do some wine from it, but it's not worth it... Maybe some other year.
On Saturday evening there was another celebration, my mother had her Name day and that day ended again with a dinner where lots of wine and food were served... I guess I should start with a strict diet ;-)
I didn't touch a computer the entire weekend... It was great!
Saturday it was a working day... We had to harvest our vineyard - in fact 3 vines - but the harvest was great. Four of us, me and Maja and our mothers, worked for 2 hours and the result was 44kg of Isabella and Baco Noir, which was later processed into juice. I thought for a while to do some wine from it, but it's not worth it... Maybe some other year.
On Saturday evening there was another celebration, my mother had her Name day and that day ended again with a dinner where lots of wine and food were served... I guess I should start with a strict diet ;-)
I didn't touch a computer the entire weekend... It was great!
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