MEPIS Linux with KDE 3.1.4

MEPIS Linux it is now with

KDE 3.1.4

Kernel 2.6.0

ALSA

Mozilla 1.5

Upgraded to Libranet 2.7

Upgraded to Libranet 2.7 with Kernel 2.4.19 While trying to upgrade to Kernel 2.6.0 from Libranet 2.0, grub broke resulting in an unbootable system. In the absence of boot floppy / Knoppix, went for 2.7 upgrade. There was no upgrade option and ended up fresh installing 2.7. Most of the things work, but I cannot upgrade to Kernel 2.6.0 yet due to dep problems. (cannot install libqt-dev).

Two reboot over the weekend ending 42 days of upti…

Two reboot over the weekend ending 42 days of uptime. The clock is one hour ahead after reboot. Later: this is because the system time in BIOS is set one hour ahead. Fixed it in BIOS and that fixed it.

Java Pluggin for Mozilla 1.5: I used to get this …

Java Pluggin for Mozilla 1.5: I used to get this error while invoking mozilla with java pluggin enabled.

nram@libra13 [~]LoadPlugin: failed to initialize shared library /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/java2/plugin/i386/ns600/libjavaplugin_oji.so [/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/java2/plugin/i386/ns600/libjavaplugin_oji.so: undefined symbol: __vt_17nsGetServiceByCID]

A google group browse pointed me to this page plugin doc. According to this, I require Java 1.4.2 & the plugin shd be for ns610 gcc 3.2.2.

about:buildconfig gave me the following:

Build platform

target

i686-pc-linux-gnu

Build tools

Compiler Version Compiler flags

gcc gcc version 3.2.3 -Wall -W -Wno-unused -Wpointer-arith -Wcast-align -Wno-long-long -pedantic -g -pthread -pipe

c++ gcc version 3.2.3 -fno-rtti -fno-exceptions -Wall -Wconversion -Wpointer-arith -Wcast-align -Woverloaded-virtual -Wsynth -Wno-ctor-dtor-privacy -Wno-long-long -pedantic -g -fshort-wchar -pthread -pipe -I/usr/X11R6/include

Configure arguments

–disable-tests –enable-extensions=default,irc –without-system-nspr –without-system-jpeg –without-system-zlib –without-system-png –without-system-mng –disable-debug –enable-optimize –disable-elf-dynstr-gc –enable-optimize=-O2 –enable-crypto

So, I softlinked /opt/java/j2sdk1.4.2_02/jre/plugin/i386/ns610-gcc32/libjavaplugin_oji.so in /opt/Mozilla-1.5/plugin and all is well now.

(Important: must be softlink)

Now timeanddate.com personal worldwatch Java applet version is running cool.

Returned the wireless keyboard and mouse. Lesson: …

Returned the wireless keyboard and mouse. Lesson: Corded optical is better than cordless trackball.

Archos with Rockbox

Archos with Rockbox: Got the rockbox firmware loaded (not flashed yet) . It is Rockbox V2 version (not recorder). Seem to have some interesting features.

* Auto playlist creation, a simple (find+print) list of mp3 files.
* Hi res vol meter
* better fonts, more fonts
* Quick split track while recording (Play/Pause)
* Seem to have better battery life (played for 6 hours now on a fully charged battery & battery is 50% down)
* Pluggins (Eg: Calendar)
* Less confusing key layouts
* Key shorcuts

Ripping with Grip

Ripping with Grip

Tried ripping Shakthi with John McLaughlin (thanks troy).

Had trouble ripping as user in Grip. The window will display the title, etc and play the tracks, but will not rip. It errors out with “cannot open /cdrom” on shell and exit.

Tried ripperX and though it did not work either, atleast gave a sensible error message “cdparanoia cannot open device /cdrom. either run as root or add user to group cdrom”

Changed /dev/cdrom -> /dev/scd0 to 666 (nram is already in group cdrom). But this did not help.

Went back to grip and changed ripper from cdparania to cdda2wav. also changed encoder from lame to other (/usr/bin/toolame with params: -b %b %w %m)

Worked ok.

Why KDE over GNOME

Why KDE over GNOME

* No feature rich Window manager in Gnome. Each of window managers for gnome have a limitation I cannot live with. sawfish cannot move windows to any workspace; no window list in metacity (atleast in my installation), uneasthetic themes in icewm.

* KOrganizer

* Klipper

* Knotes

* Calandar access from taskbark

Archos Jukebox Recorder V2

Got Archos Jukebox Recorder (20GB). ($160 after $50 MIR from Amazon)

First Impressions:

Plus:
* 20GB of USB (FAT) filesystem
* Line In & MIC recording rocks (direct to mp3)
* can spilt a line in recoding to tracks by a single key
* Good sound quality in playback
* Xfered 5G of songs form HDD thru USB 2.0 in 5 min. Very impressive

Minus:
* SLOW file access
* flimsy and unimpressive ear phones (iRiver had much better ones)
* Navigation is not for single handed operation (cannot operate while driving)

Installed Libranet 2.7

Installed Libranet 2.7. Upgraded to Debian Testing (sarge) with partial updates form sid (unstable). Things like KDE, mozilla come from unstable. I had to enable all Promise/UMDA related stuff under IDE while building the kernel (2.4.22). Network works ok with 3c59x and sound works good with i810 (OSS). Finally a working Debian. (also KDE with liquid theme looks cute!)