Brian commented a few times on my last Jaunty post with some helpful advice. ATIRadeon Wiki posts the driver options for your xorg.conf file. Xorg 1.5 and up can run without the xorg.conf file by automatically guessing drivers and monitors, but it doesn't selected the tuned options all the time.
After my upgrade headaches I cleared the xorg file and started fresh, but I didn't think to add in the device options. I followed the wiki and performance is better, but not stellar. Compiz is still slow and multiple windows running transparency will bring the system to its knees. But its not all bad news. Fluxbox is finally acting the way it used to (desktop switches are quick, windows move without lag)
I still need to try out the radeon HD driver to see if that adds anything. For now I'll happily use fluxbox with Brian's tweaks and be content with it getting the job done.
PS: Brian, I wanted to visit your blog but your profile is blocked. Thanks again for the help
Friday, May 1, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
how to change ktimetracker systray icon
My recent switch from gnome to fluxbox has been a happy improvement save one small detail. I had really gotten used to using the gnome-panel applets but I didn't want to muddy up fluxbox with the gnome-panel (even though you can run it as a subset). Long story short I found there was no good way to run gnome-panel applets without running gnome-panel and I started to look for new applications to fill the void.
Enter ktimetracker. ktimetracker is a handy kde application that can be run standalone. It offers a simple way to create tasks and track time against them. As an added bonus, the system tray icon for ktimetracker animates a clock moving when ktimetracker is tracking time against a task. The only downside is that the icon was small and it was hard to tell when it was animated and when it was stopped.
I found the icons used in the system tray as a bunch of xpms (active-icon-*.xpm) in /usr/share/kde4/apps/ktimetracker/pics . I figured if I changed the icons and restarted ktimetracker I'd be able to see the new system tray icon, but I was only partially right.
I replaced the icons and the system tray didn't change until I had rebooted the system a few time. I still have no idea why it switched (or why it didn't switch immediately) but at least I know where I can go to customize it.
Enter ktimetracker. ktimetracker is a handy kde application that can be run standalone. It offers a simple way to create tasks and track time against them. As an added bonus, the system tray icon for ktimetracker animates a clock moving when ktimetracker is tracking time against a task. The only downside is that the icon was small and it was hard to tell when it was animated and when it was stopped.
I found the icons used in the system tray as a bunch of xpms (active-icon-*.xpm) in /usr/share/kde4/apps/ktimetracker/pics . I figured if I changed the icons and restarted ktimetracker I'd be able to see the new system tray icon, but I was only partially right.
I replaced the icons and the system tray didn't change until I had rebooted the system a few time. I still have no idea why it switched (or why it didn't switch immediately) but at least I know where I can go to customize it.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
why you should avoid putting Ubuntu Jaunty on a t60p
I excitedly installed the newest version of Ubuntu on my t60p and found out the following unfortunate facts.
1) The t60p (and many other tSeries laptops) have the Mobility FireGL V5250 video card
2) Catalyst (ATI driver) delayed the delivery of the 9.3 driver to cram as much function into it as they could. The reason they did this was because 9.3 was the final driver to support the Mobility FireGL V5250 video card along with a plethora of other cards. (Full list of unsupported cards here)
3) Ubuntu Jaunty makes use of xorg-xserver 1.6 which only supports the 9.4+ version of the Catalyst ATI driver
All this ends up meaning that the warning Jaunty throws when you try to update with an Mobility FireGL V5250 video card means a lot more than there will be degraded graphics after the update. The only driver that will work with xorg-xserver 1.6 is the Radeon opensource driver for ATI cards.
I'm a big fan of opensource, but the Radeon driver are just not ready for primetime. There is no 2d acceleration which means all the compositing and pretty graphics are gone. Since switching to Jaunty and the Radeon drivers I've noticed a serious drop in performance doing standard things like moving windows and switching desktops.
On the upside: moving away from the Catalyst drivers (fglrx) re-enabled suspend / resume on my laptop. I've also started using fluxbox again (http://www.fluxbox.org).
The only noticeable update from Ibex to Jaunty has been the network manager and the new libnotify. The NetworkManager does a pretty good job of making sure I'm connected anyway it can connect me. The new libnotify insert message snippets into the pidgin and xchat notifications I get (which is nice).
If you are happy with Ibex, stay with Ibex until the radeon driver improves or someone backports support for the Catalyst 9.3 fglrx driver into xorg-xserver 1.6.
1) The t60p (and many other tSeries laptops) have the Mobility FireGL V5250 video card
2) Catalyst (ATI driver) delayed the delivery of the 9.3 driver to cram as much function into it as they could. The reason they did this was because 9.3 was the final driver to support the Mobility FireGL V5250 video card along with a plethora of other cards. (Full list of unsupported cards here)
3) Ubuntu Jaunty makes use of xorg-xserver 1.6 which only supports the 9.4+ version of the Catalyst ATI driver
All this ends up meaning that the warning Jaunty throws when you try to update with an Mobility FireGL V5250 video card means a lot more than there will be degraded graphics after the update. The only driver that will work with xorg-xserver 1.6 is the Radeon opensource driver for ATI cards.
I'm a big fan of opensource, but the Radeon driver are just not ready for primetime. There is no 2d acceleration which means all the compositing and pretty graphics are gone. Since switching to Jaunty and the Radeon drivers I've noticed a serious drop in performance doing standard things like moving windows and switching desktops.
On the upside: moving away from the Catalyst drivers (fglrx) re-enabled suspend / resume on my laptop. I've also started using fluxbox again (http://www.fluxbox.org).
The only noticeable update from Ibex to Jaunty has been the network manager and the new libnotify. The NetworkManager does a pretty good job of making sure I'm connected anyway it can connect me. The new libnotify insert message snippets into the pidgin and xchat notifications I get (which is nice).
If you are happy with Ibex, stay with Ibex until the radeon driver improves or someone backports support for the Catalyst 9.3 fglrx driver into xorg-xserver 1.6.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
how to stretch standard definition broadcasts on a charter digital tuner
I recently bought a nice HD tv that was without a QAM tuner. QAM tuners are what allow you to watch the free HD channels while your TV is connect to cable. You can learn more about QAM at wikipedia.
I got a digital tuner box (also known as a set top box) from charter so I could get access to the HD channels. The box worked like a charm but it displayed all standard definition programming as a 16:9 feed with black bars on the side. My TV couldn't zoom or stretch the signal since it was already in 16:9.
There were no options on the remote or in the charter menu that would set the display size. After some poking I found the User Guide for DCH6200 which is the set top box I had.
All the output options for the box are hidden in a secret menu you access by shutting off the box and hitting the menu button in rapid succession. Once the hidden menu is up you can select 480p to send standard definition as a 480p signal that the TV can stretch or display however you'd like.
Its a shame that the menu is hidden and charter didn't send the user manual with the box, but it works pretty well now that I know what I'm doing.
I got a digital tuner box (also known as a set top box) from charter so I could get access to the HD channels. The box worked like a charm but it displayed all standard definition programming as a 16:9 feed with black bars on the side. My TV couldn't zoom or stretch the signal since it was already in 16:9.
There were no options on the remote or in the charter menu that would set the display size. After some poking I found the User Guide for DCH6200 which is the set top box I had.
All the output options for the box are hidden in a secret menu you access by shutting off the box and hitting the menu button in rapid succession. Once the hidden menu is up you can select 480p to send standard definition as a 480p signal that the TV can stretch or display however you'd like.
Its a shame that the menu is hidden and charter didn't send the user manual with the box, but it works pretty well now that I know what I'm doing.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
to catch everyone up to speed
For those of you who haven't noticed the little box to the right of this entry, I've started to use twitter to post the little tidbits I see every day. I started using it because there was a way to post from an IM client. I'll be using it even more in the future (more on that later).
Its been so long since I've written anything here my firefox awesome-bar (new feature in firefox 3... if you don't have it you should) didn't even remember the url. So let me catch up a bit by posting not one, not two, but three whole things I learned today.
In no particular order:
My laptop is awesome : The moment I got home I poured myself a nice tall glass of iced tea and settled in to do some interneting. Or at least that was the intent... Instead I poured a nice tall glass of iced tea and then spent the next ten minutes trying to clean the tea off the floor and my laptop. The laptop was fine and the floor cleaned up nicely. Lets here it for ThinkPads... you can drop them, you can spill stuff on them, you can own them for years without an upgrade. (NOTE: dropping, spilling, and lack of upgrading not recommended
My car is awesome : For the last month or so my car has made the most hideous noise whenever I started it moving or went over a bump or roll in the road. I figured something in the suspension was messed up and took it in to get it checked out. One free inspection (For the record, CarX rules) later and my car was given a clean bill of health. Nothing seems wrong, there are no signs of damage, and everything else checks out. Shame the noise is still there.
Resistance is futile : This I almost hate to admit... I'm not an Apple fan. While I have nothing against their technological direction on a theoretical level, I've never been a fan of any of their products. It was sort of a, "wow thats kinda cool, but really not for me." The interface has always taken a back seat to the function and customization other technologies have presented.
That said... I've been looking for an all-in-one gadget to handle gps, social camera (you know... something point and shooty for taking snapshots of friends doing something stupid in a social setting), mp3s, and phone calls. Right now, the iphone is the best (or certainly the most popular) thing on the market. So in 10 to 21 days I'll be the some what hesitant owner of a brand new iPhone. I hope it lives up to the hype.
Thats all from here. I'll post a lessons learned once I start playing with the iphone.
Its been so long since I've written anything here my firefox awesome-bar (new feature in firefox 3... if you don't have it you should) didn't even remember the url. So let me catch up a bit by posting not one, not two, but three whole things I learned today.
In no particular order:
My laptop is awesome : The moment I got home I poured myself a nice tall glass of iced tea and settled in to do some interneting. Or at least that was the intent... Instead I poured a nice tall glass of iced tea and then spent the next ten minutes trying to clean the tea off the floor and my laptop. The laptop was fine and the floor cleaned up nicely. Lets here it for ThinkPads... you can drop them, you can spill stuff on them, you can own them for years without an upgrade. (NOTE: dropping, spilling, and lack of upgrading not recommended
My car is awesome : For the last month or so my car has made the most hideous noise whenever I started it moving or went over a bump or roll in the road. I figured something in the suspension was messed up and took it in to get it checked out. One free inspection (For the record, CarX rules) later and my car was given a clean bill of health. Nothing seems wrong, there are no signs of damage, and everything else checks out. Shame the noise is still there.
Resistance is futile : This I almost hate to admit... I'm not an Apple fan. While I have nothing against their technological direction on a theoretical level, I've never been a fan of any of their products. It was sort of a, "wow thats kinda cool, but really not for me." The interface has always taken a back seat to the function and customization other technologies have presented.
That said... I've been looking for an all-in-one gadget to handle gps, social camera (you know... something point and shooty for taking snapshots of friends doing something stupid in a social setting), mp3s, and phone calls. Right now, the iphone is the best (or certainly the most popular) thing on the market. So in 10 to 21 days I'll be the some what hesitant owner of a brand new iPhone. I hope it lives up to the hype.
Thats all from here. I'll post a lessons learned once I start playing with the iphone.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
that rock concerts aren't about the music
Some friends went to a Puddle of Mud / Saving Abel / Rev Theory concert and I tagged along. I know none of these bands are really hardcore but they are a lot heavier than the music I normally listen to.
The venue was pretty small and we had general admission tickets. The first few bands were good. They were loud (as you might expect) but ear plugs kept it manageable. Stuff started to get crazy when the headliners came out.
I managed to work my way to the front group of people that were standing near the stage. The crowd seemed to ebb and flow sporadically, so I just got used to getting pushed and pushing back. After a couple of really strong pushes from behind I turned around and discovered that I was part of the wall of the mosh pit.
I started deflecting moshers away from the group of girls that were next to me. One of the girl's boyfriends and I managed to direct most of the stuff away from our area. Two guys came barreling into me and caught me off balance. I fell into someone who promptly launched all three of us back into the mosh pit.
I was still in the air when I hit the far wall of the pit. The wall, who was really just one guy wearing a backwards baseball cap and a polo, sent me back the way I came. At this point I figured I might as well just go with the flow. I pinballed a few times (thank you middle school bullies for the practice) before someone put a death grip on my leg and I had to stop moving to make sure I didn't fall over.
Ah... good times... good times...
The rest of the concert was spent watching people be people at a rock concert. Oh! and I caught a pick from the guitarist with my elbow. "If you can't be good, be lucky"
The venue was pretty small and we had general admission tickets. The first few bands were good. They were loud (as you might expect) but ear plugs kept it manageable. Stuff started to get crazy when the headliners came out.
I managed to work my way to the front group of people that were standing near the stage. The crowd seemed to ebb and flow sporadically, so I just got used to getting pushed and pushing back. After a couple of really strong pushes from behind I turned around and discovered that I was part of the wall of the mosh pit.
I started deflecting moshers away from the group of girls that were next to me. One of the girl's boyfriends and I managed to direct most of the stuff away from our area. Two guys came barreling into me and caught me off balance. I fell into someone who promptly launched all three of us back into the mosh pit.
I was still in the air when I hit the far wall of the pit. The wall, who was really just one guy wearing a backwards baseball cap and a polo, sent me back the way I came. At this point I figured I might as well just go with the flow. I pinballed a few times (thank you middle school bullies for the practice) before someone put a death grip on my leg and I had to stop moving to make sure I didn't fall over.
Ah... good times... good times...
The rest of the concert was spent watching people be people at a rock concert. Oh! and I caught a pick from the guitarist with my elbow. "If you can't be good, be lucky"
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
its funnier in japanese
I caught wipeout on ABC.com and had some high hopes for it. I'm a huge fan of Japanese game shows and was hoping for more of the same. I think it looses something when you can understand what they are actually saying.
Did the pushups quicker than I normally do 'cause my collar bone seemed to be popping when I did them slowly. Not really sure what to make of that. On the upside, the quicker pace meant I could hit a new max. Go me!
Today's score card : 16 - 13 - 11 - 11 - 25
Current Max : 25
Total to date : 429
Did the pushups quicker than I normally do 'cause my collar bone seemed to be popping when I did them slowly. Not really sure what to make of that. On the upside, the quicker pace meant I could hit a new max. Go me!
Today's score card : 16 - 13 - 11 - 11 - 25
Current Max : 25
Total to date : 429
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