Intel 530 Series SSD trumps Kingston V300

I have two SSDs in my Debian GNU/Linux box. One is an Intel 530 series SSD and second is the Kingston V300 SSD (both are 240GB). The experience with Intel 530 series has been great while Kingston V300 has been flaky at best.

On the Intel, I have been able to update the firmware without any issues as they provide a bootable ISO file for all operating systems [
Intel SSD Solid-State Firmware update tool page]. While Kingston is only provides an .exe file for upgrades. On reading their upgrade instructions, the details include supported operating systems as Windows 8.1, Windows 7/Vista, Windows XP only! Does Kingston think that users only use Windows operating system or are they targeting their SSDs to only Windows users?

Even though my drive came with the 520 firmware version as opposed to 506/521, I will neither buy a Kingston SSD or recommend anyone to purchase it either. It does not matter if they are switching between synchronous and asynchronous NAND, not supporting non-Windows users is just not acceptable in the times of Android/Chrome OS.

PS: I have the Kingston V300 240GB SSD was only because it was purchased for someone else (Windows user) and he didn't want it in the end.

Updating Flashplayer in Debian GNU/Linux

Check for latest version

user@localhost $> sudo update-flashplugin-nonfree --status
Flash Player version installed on this system  : 11.2.202.442
Flash Player version available on upstream site: 11.2.202.451
flash-mozilla.so - auto mode
  link currently points to /usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree/libflashplayer.so
/usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree/libflashplayer.so - priority 50
/usr/lib/gnash/libgnashplugin.so - priority 10
Current 'best' version is '/usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree/libflashplayer.so'.

So a new version is available. To upgrade, use following command:

user@localhost $> sudo update-flashplugin-nonfree --install
--2015-03-16 00:21:59--  https://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/pdc/11.2.202.451/install_flash_player_11_linux.x86_64.tar.gz
Resolving fpdownload.macromedia.com (fpdownload.macromedia.com)... 23.72.80.8
Connecting to fpdownload.macromedia.com (fpdownload.macromedia.com)|23.72.80.8|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 7244055 (6.9M) [application/x-gzip]
Saving to: ‘/tmp/flashplugin-nonfree.tsRdJVFLnj/install_flash_player_11_linux.x86_64.tar.gz’

     0K .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........  0%  674K 10s
    50K .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........  1%  561K 11s
   100K .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........  2%  687K 11s
   150K ..........
    ........ ........ snip ....... ........
   7000K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 99%  548K 0s
   7050K .......... .......... ....                            100%  917K=12s

2015-03-16 00:22:11 (613 KB/s) - ‘/tmp/flashplugin-nonfree.tsRdJVFLnj/install_flash_player_11_linux.x86_64.tar.gz’ saved [7244055/7244055]

Check version again:

user@localhost $> sudo update-flashplugin-nonfree --status
Flash Player version installed on this system  : 11.2.202.451
Flash Player version available on upstream site: 11.2.202.451
flash-mozilla.so - auto mode
  link currently points to /usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree/libflashplayer.so
/usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree/libflashplayer.so - priority 50
/usr/lib/gnash/libgnashplugin.so - priority 10
Current 'best' version is '/usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree/libflashplayer.so'.

Latest version installed.

In Mozilla Firefox, to check if it is using the latest version, open page about:plugins. If it is not the latest version, close Firefox completely and restart.

Reference & details see: FlashPlayer [wiki.debian.org]

Base64 image and how to save it

Almost 2 years since I put anything here. This post is as a reference if I need to convert base64 image data to an image.

I have seen the base64 encoded URI earlier and knew what it is essentially. For example:

data:image/png;base64,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

The browser does the job of displaying it seamlessly most of the time. However, today I got it as text in a email. The email client wrapped each line by = and newline character. So I got curious how to "view" the image.

I took the following steps (possibly unnecessary as base64 command can strip garbage from input*):

1. Saved the encoded data to a text file
2. Used sed with the following commands to strip unneeded characters (I'm nowhere a sed expert :( )

3. ~$&> sed 's/=$//' imagedata.txt > imagedata.txt

   (remove trailing = on each line)

4. ~$&> sed ':a;N;$!ba;s/\n//g' imagedata.txt > imagedata2.txt

   (remove newline character from each line)

5. ~$&> base64 -d -w 0 imagedata2.txt > imagedata.png

and the file imagedata.png is easily view-able in a image viewer e.g. Geeqie.
*: see base64 man page

Logitech M515

Picked up a Logitech M515 mouse from Bureau en Gros/Staples ($40). The mouse is sealed at the bottom, except for the On/Off switch. It has one of those "unifying" receiver for the wireless function.

Here the main points:

1. Scroll-wheel does not do the middle-click: if you do the middle click, it toggles the scroll wheel to free scroll or clickity-click wheel. The middle-click is done by the [o] button near the wheel.
2. The specs didn't indicate if it is SFF or full sized mouse. It is a SFF or laptop mouse.
3. Unifying feature cannot be setup in Linux. As indicated in the document on Logitech Unifying Receiver, Unifying software does not support Linux. You have to setup the unifying feature separately e.g. setup on Windows and then reconnect the receiver and to Linux machine. I did it on a virtual instance but lost the cursor during the setup. Restarted VM and both worked fine.
4. M515 is designed for couch (read cloth), so it might not function on glossy surfaces. Mouse pad, sofa, table top and paper worked; blue-ray player cover (black), glass, and fridge surface did not work.
   
5. Logitech says that it is active when you hold the mouse. They don't lie and it is advised that you hold it properly as I noticed that it stopped functioning when holding lightly with two fingers. You can easily test by pushing it with one finger.
6. I like the smooth scrolling wheel, but the M510's form factor suites my hand better.
7. Works even if you are 3-4 meters away just like the M510.
8. Lacks the extra buttons on the M510.
   

One important question which comes to mind is the cover at the bottom. It consists of two parts: regular grey plastic cover on the outer side (see image) and the shiny dark translucent plate covering the laser inside. Over time, the shiny central part is going to get scratchy (it is not hardened glass) which would affect the performance of the laser. Would the scratches be enough to cause scattering of the laser so that the mouse gets confused?

Still deciding if it stays or goes back.

Lucid > Firefox > Search Provider Confusion

After all the hoopla about changing search provider, Ubuntu has changed its mind and went back with Google for the Lucid release. I don't understand why this is such a big issue. Ubuntu is open source and so is Firefox. Search feature of Firefox is well known and so is the knowledge of how to change search provider or the default one. I guess Ubuntu users are getting accustomed to being spoon fed by a beautiful looking, always working, hassle free Linux distribution.

PS: This is another example of the philosophy that Apple is leading the way to make computer users dumb rather than techsavvy. I hope Ubuntu doesn't join the bandwagon.

Lucid Lynx -- Ubuntu 10.04

30.04.10 - Lucid Lynx, coming soon to a server near you. If you can't wait, you can get the beta.

Just upgraded my Karmic box to Lucid and the process was very smooth. I wish Microsoft was able to give upgrades like this ;)

Pros:

1. Fast bootup.
2. Less sluggish, faster response.
3. ......
   

Cons:

1. New theme has nice gradation and feels nice, but the color combination is a bit of an eye-sore. Solution: Change it from System > Preferences > Appearence
2. Window close, minimize, maximize buttons are on the left! Last time I checked, Ubuntu wasn't Apple's official distribution, so why is it trying to act like one? Solution: System > Preferences > Theme > Customize.
3. I had the idea that Gnome was simple, however take a look at the context menu for a USB flash disk; there are 16 options displayed and many of them are grayed out as they probably don't even apply. Unavailable options should be invisible and Format and Compress can be easily put in Properties window.
4. If that wasn't enough to cause confusion, the user gets two choices for the USB stick removal: Eject and Safely Remove Drive. Isn't Eject safe enough? Why not just have one option of Safely Remove Drive?
5. Default search engine changed to Yahoo! even though my earlier default was Google. Easy fix is to open about:config and change browser.search.defaultenginename property to Google

......will be updaed later though.

Linux Wireless Access Point - v2

After struggling with various networking issues with my older wireless card (the discontinued D-Link DWL-G520), I purchased a DWA-552 for $60+tx. I used the DWL-G520 for almost 2 years as my access point. But it never worked in WPA2 mode and always had problems with two (Windows) machines, iPod Touch and my Nokia trying to connect to it. I had to restart hostapd after either the iPod or the Nokia tried to connect as it would stop working.

I had setup madwifi with hostapd for the DWL-G520 earlier. But as madwifi was removed from Debian repos, DWA-552 was the only PCI wireless adapter supported by the linux kernel's ath9k module. That required me to update to the the newest kernel 2.6.30. ath9k works out of the box with this kernel in master mode.

Setup was easy as most of the work was already there. I had to setup my hostapd.conf to use WPA2 and changed the network interface from ath0 to wlan0. Restarting networking and hostapd gave me the wlan0 interface and both the iPod and the Nokia were able to detect the SSID.

Last but not the least, all this was accomplished with help from Robert's post. Thanks for documenting your experience with ath9k.

The next thing to do is to see if it will work in the N-mode. That is for another day, as I'm late to go to bed (...again) by an hour.

On Demand CPU Frequency Scaling

Results of setting up cpufreqd on my machine using the ondemand governor: idle temperatures dropped approximately by 10℃. Details to follow, enjoy the graphic results for now.

Its Out!

After a delay of about 5months, Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 codenamed Etch has finally been released. This release comes 22 months after Sarge was released. Other major happenings in the Debian world were the Sarge update 3.1r6 and electing of Sam as the new Debian Project Leader. Now the craziness begins as updates with new packages will fall in to unstable and testing branches.

I will be continuing my Debian party when this finishes.

"The" Butterfly

I saw this on Inkscape.org where they had a news snippet about Juan Miguel Ramirez who wrote an article in the Spanish version of Linux magazine. From the GPL stick and the 4 colored butterfly I got and idea and the result was as show above, the tux trying to save Suse from the "butterfly".

Original idea of artwork: Juan Miguel Ramirez

Dell and Linux ? Hmm...

Just a quick note: Dell seems to be moving towards the idea of offering pre-installed Linux on notebooks and desktops. They are asking users interested in having Linux pre-installed to fill up a survey so that they can prioritize what they can offer. Go submit the survey and wait for Linux to be offered as a option for the installed OS on your next purchase.

Dell and Linux seems to good to be true. But hey, sometimes dreams come true too ;)

Mac OS, SSH, Dashboad?

I can't seem to figure out which part of the process is the problem. If someone has any clues as to how to go about triaging the problem, please leave a comment.

When I am transferring something to the Macbook Pro from my Debian box using Konqueror (yep, with its wonderful fish:// protocol), if dashboard is enabled on the MBP, the ssh transfer comes to a halt. The problem goes away as soon as I get dashboard out of the way. The problem is reproducible using the above setup at will.

Linux for Everyone?

I have a strong feeling that we are getting very close to the point where Linux can be considered desktop ready for everyone. Even though I have seen things work flawlessly with Ubuntu installs on friends' laptops, my latest experience just made me WOW Linux ;)

I got a USB multimedia headset by Microsoft, the LX-3000. They are getting dirt cheap these days. I picked this one up for just $19.99+tx. Cheap, aren't they? Back on topic: although I wanted it to work with the Macbook Pro as it does not have a jack for a microphone and only a line-in, I thought why not try it with Linux too. I plugged it a USB port of my Linux box (Debian/sid) and tried playing some audio using XMMS but the sound came through the external speakers. Next thing was to check the /var/log/messages to see if Linux detected it or not. And....it did detect it. So I went into the XMMS's preferences, and I just had to select the proper device (indicated by messages in log) and it started to blast music immediately. I was pleasantly amazed when the mic also recorded sound like a normal mic. Perfect. Linux simply ROCKS!!

Grip Rocks

I had an old audio CD which wasn't playing too well, so I thought of ripping it and burning a new one. Yesterday I ripped tracks 1 to 7, and the 8th track took around 3hrs. I started ripping of the 9th track around 15hours ago, and it is 41% done. I am using Grip to rip the CD and it has been chugging along bit-by-bit literally. I won't mind waiting another 24hours to get the 9th track ripped. Grip hasn't quit on the CD yet, so all I can say for it is that simply rocks.

Update: Finally, Grip has finished ripping the track taking about 38hours in all. I have the complete .wav file. Yippeeee :)

Windows Vista

This is completely hilarious and ingenious:

My father heard about Vista coming on the news. Since he was interested in getting it, he asked me to obtain it and install it on his computer and he would give some cash in return. I told him I was going to do that, but instead I burned an Ubuntu CD and installed it.

Later, when he came home from work, I showed him his new "Vista" install, complete with the latest Office and Solitaire.

Well, it's been a few days since that and now he says Bill Gates is better than Steve Jobs and brags about how OS X on my iMac is obsolete compared to Vista on his PC.

I will continue with the prank for some weeks, after which I'll tell him the truth and give him back his money.

ref: http://www.degredo.net.

Etch: Two digit level RC Bugs

I have been checking the number of RC bugs in Etch since Nov'06 and had expected them to fall below 100 around first week of December. But then they kept hovering around 115 and never went down till the first week of January.

Hmm... it seems it was not only me who was waiting to see the RC bugs for Etch go down to two digit level i.e. <100. Sam put up the perfect picture to celebrate this. Etch seems to be a lot closer with the number of bugs falling below 100.

k9copy

I was searching for a software to convert a DVD9 to a DVD5 just like DVDShrink does. It didn't take long before I saw k9copy which does exactly what I wanted.

The idea was to backup my original DVDs which are usually DVD9 to DVD+R discs which are replaceable. I tried one of the DVD9 and the process took around half an hour or so. However, the result wasn't as fabulous as one would get with DVDShrink. The picture was all pixelated even though the camera wasn't moving during a shot. Am I doing something wrong? Do I need to change some settings before I start using it?

I hope k9copy gets better at this so as to at least give as good a quality as DVDShrink does.