“Touching the Face of iPod…”

In the world of Nokia Internet Tablets, Nokia designed two very similar products.  The Nokia N800 and N810 both sport the same OS, 802.11g WiFi, the same processor, similar memory configurations, but made it such that the N810 had a slideout keyboard and integrated GPS. With the N810 WiMAX Edition, Nokia took the same N810 and added a Fujitsu WiMAX chipset.

Like Nokia, Apple used the same playbook in the hardware design of the iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPod Touch.  All three ran iPhoneOS 1.12 through 1.15.  All three can run iPhoneOS 2.0 now.  The only differences between the first-gen iPhone and the iPhone 3G is the move from a cellular-assisted “faux” GPS and 2G/EDGE to a true A-GPS with 3G.  Underneath the hood, they both run the core hardware and OS.  Likewise, the difference between the iPhone 3G and the iPod Touch is the lack of a GPRS/EDGE/3G chipset, camera, and vibration motor. They both run the same hardware and the same OS.

I say all this because I’ve had people IM and email me telling me the two are very different.  They’re not.  Application developers and hardware engineers are using the same underlying code so that the OS and apps don’t need to be written depending on model.  If you write something for one, it should work on the other.  WiFi performance on the iPod Touch is identical to WiFi performance on the iPhone 3G.  iPhoneOS 2.0 on the iPod Touch is the same as iPhoneOS on the iPhone 3G.

While I don’t have a 3G/GPRS connection on my iPod Touch, I do have a persistant WiFi connection due to the number of 802.11g APs I run at home, the office, and on the road. The instructions, notes, and reviews you see in this blog will apply to any current Apple device running iPhoneOS 2.0.

At some point, I’m going to need to make some time to document all of this…

In short, (Type 6) errors reported from iTunes when trying to update the iPhone or iPod Touch with a newer firmware means that the iPhone or iPod Touch is in Recovery mode but not DRU mode.  To fix this error and update your device, with the USB cable connected and iTunes running, press-and-hold the power button and the home button for 10 seconds. Release the power button and continue to hold the home button for another 10 seconds. The screen will remain blank but iTunes will notify you that it is in Recovery mode (actually DRU mode). The iPhone will now be in DRU mode, and can be reflashed with a newer image (.IPSW) from iTunes.  I used Pwnage Tool 2.0.1 to create a custom image and then flashed mine with that image.

4 pages of Apps on my 32GB iPod Touch as of 07/25/2008 12:17 AM EDT

On this Page:
Safari, Byline, Mail, Twitterrific Premium, Google, New York Times, WeatherBug, Starmap, Calendar, Contacts, Sketchs, Notes, Roman Catholic Calendar, Universalis, Maps, Settings

In the Dock:
Music, Videos, App Store, Cydia

According to the internal messages, I now have over 7006 entries in the database.  It’s not surprising me anymore that App Store sometimes lags as it tries to download and install.  I’m not sure whether iPhoneOS 2.0 does database cleanup or compression under the hood.  If it’s similar to Mac OS X, it probably does.  Cydia is running much faster downloading/installing/cleaning than AppStore is.

Twitterrific Premium, TwitterVision, and Byline are all very impressive apps.  I’ll look more at Pandora Radio tomorrow.  Hopefully the database will perform cleanup overnight as it remains connected, charging, in-sync, and backed up with iTunes?

UPDATE:
It appears that it might not have been database performance as my issue, but SpringBoard (the iPhoneOS UI/Launcher).  Both Cydia and AppStore read/write to the app database, but Cydia was running much faster than AppStore was.  Upon restarting SpringBoard via iReboot, performance and app behavior was tremendously improved.

 Thanks, Mike… I owe you one (bigtime)!

Since Mike moved to another datacenter, I was able to exchange my old Dell Optiplex GX for his “new” Optiplex 745.  With 4GB DDR2 RAM, 120GB HDD, and dual monitors (1×20″, 1×19″), it’s a significant step up from my old PC.

I’m now running Windows Vista Home Premium (Service Pack 1), andLinux with KDE 3.58, Microsoft Office 2003 (Service Pack 3), Apple iTunes 7.7, and I finally got all my apps/data/bookmarks/etc copied over.  Since it has better specs than both my HP Tablet PC and Apple PowerBook G4, I’m using it as my workhorse with everything kept in sync via MobileMe.

For all the pics of my new workhorse, see:
 flickr: My New Office PC (24 Jul 2008).

“BEHOLD THE FACE OF IPOD” (click to enlarge):
NOTE: No sacrilege is meant by the title, it was only the first thing to pop in my head at 1:30am last night as I was rebuilding my Apple 32GB iPod Touch with Linux (Pwnage Tool 2.0.1) and iPhone 2.0.

With 4GB on the root partition and 28GB for music, videos, and apps, it truly is a beast of a touchscreen iPod. With gcc, iPhoneOS toolchains, the iPhone SDK, python, and source, much of what I had running on my Nokia N810 is now running (and better!) on my iPod Touch! …It truly is one godly iPod Touch!

In case you’re curious, I am running Universalis and the Roman Catholic Calendar on my new iPod Touch. =) …I’m not a total heathen nor do I intend to be sacrilegous, I just thought it to be one very cool name (with pun intended).

MORE IMAGES (click to enlarge):

CURRENT APPS (07/23/2008 3:03 PM EDT):
page 1 of 3: Google Mobile, Safari, Mail, Starmap, Calendar, Universalis, Roman Catholic Calendar, Notes, Maps, WeatherBug, AIM, TouchFS, Calculator, Terminal, Settings
page 2 of 3: MotionX Poker, Aki Mahjong, Scrabble, 2 Across (crosswords), NES Emulator, Texas Hold’em, Solitaire, YouTube, Stocks, Weather
page 3 of 3: Clock, VNC, Cydia, App Store, iReboot
pending: TwitterVision, Pidgin

EVERYTHING INSTALLED (Underneath the hood):

mobile@iGodTouch(Ken):~ $ uname -a
Darwin iGodTouch(Ken) 9.3.1 Darwin Kernel Version 9.3.1: Sun Jun 15 21:37:01 PDT 2008; root:xnu-1228.6.76~45/RELEASE_ARM_S5L8900X iPod1,1 arm N45AP Darwin

mobile@iGodTouch(Ken):~ $ df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/disk0s1 3.3G 474M 2.8G 15% /
devfs 17K 17K 0 100% /dev
/dev/disk0s2 28G 18G 10G 64% /private/var

mobile@iGodTouch(Ken):~ $ ls /usr/bin
822-date* git-ls-files@ ncftp*
[* git-ls-remote@ ncftpbatch*
apt-cache* git-ls-tree@ ncftpget*
apt-cdrom* git-mailinfo@ ncftpls*
apt-config* git-mailsplit@ ncftpput*
apt-extracttemplates* git-merge* ncftpspooler*
apt-ftparchive* git-merge-base@ ncurses5-config*
apt-get* git-merge-file@ ncursesw5-config*
apt-key* git-merge-index* ndp*
apt-sortpkgs* git-merge-octopus* netstat*
arp* git-merge-one-file* ngettext*
autopoint* git-merge-ours@ ngrep*
autossh* git-merge-recursive@ nice*
awk@ git-merge-resolve* nl*
base64* git-merge-stupid* nmap*
basename* git-merge-subtree@ nohup*
bashbug* git-merge-tree* od*
c_rehash* git-mergetool* openssl*
captoinfo@ git-mktag* passwd*
chown* git-mktree* paste*
cksum* git-mv@ pathchk*
clear* git-name-rev@ pcre-config*
cmp* git-pack-objects@ pcregrep*
comm* git-pack-redundant* pcretest*
csplit* git-pack-refs@ ping*
curl* git-parse-remote* ping6*
curl-config* git-patch-id* pinky*
cut* git-peek-remote@ pr*
db_archive* git-prune@ printenv*
db_checkpoint* git-prune-packed@ printf*
db_codegen* git-pull* ptx*
db_deadlock* git-push@ pydoc*
db_dump* git-quiltimport* python@
db_hotbackup* git-read-tree@ python-config@
db_load* git-rebase* python2.5*
db_printlog* git-rebase–interactive* python2.5-config*
db_recover* git-receive-pack* quota*
db_stat* git-reflog@ rcp*
db_upgrade* git-relink* rdesktop*
db_verify* git-remote@ recode-sr-latin*
diff* git-repack* red*
diff3* git-repo-config@ renice*
dircolors* git-request-pull* reset@
dirname* git-rerere@ rlogin*
dpkg* git-reset@ rnano@
dpkg-architecture* git-rev-list@ route*
dpkg-buildpackage* git-rev-parse@ routed*
dpkg-checkbuilddeps* git-revert@ rsh*
dpkg-deb* git-rm@ rsync*
dpkg-distaddfile* git-send-email* rtadvd*
dpkg-genchanges* git-send-pack@ rtsol*
dpkg-gencontrol* git-sh-setup* rview@
dpkg-name* git-shell* rvim@
dpkg-parsechangelog* git-shortlog@ scp*
dpkg-query* git-show@ screen@
dpkg-scanpackages* git-show-branch@ screen-4.0.2*
dpkg-scansources* git-show-index* script*
dpkg-shlibdeps* git-show-ref@ sdiff*
dpkg-source* git-stash* seq*
dpkg-split* git-status@ sftp*
dselect* git-stripspace@ sha1sum*
du* git-submodule* sha224sum*
ed* git-svn* sha256sum*
env* git-symbolic-ref@ sha384sum*
envsubst* git-tag@ sha512sum*
ex@ git-tar-tree@ shred*
expand* git-unpack-file* shuf*
expr* git-unpack-objects@ simulatecrash*
factor* git-update-index@ slattach*
file* git-update-ref@ slogin@
find* git-update-server-info* smtpd.py*
finger* git-upload-archive@ sort*
flite* git-upload-pack* spawn-fcgi*
flite_time* git-var* split*
fmt* git-verify-pack@ sqlite3*
fold* git-verify-tag@ ssh*
ftp* git-web–browse* ssh-add*
funzip* git-whatchanged@ ssh-agent*
gawk* git-write-tree@ ssh-keygen*
getconf* glib-genmarshal* ssh-keyscan*
gettext* glib-gettextize* startupfiletool*
gettext.sh* glib-mkenums* stat*
gettextize* gobject-query* sudo*
getty* gpg* sudoedit*
git* gpg-zip* sum*
git-add@ gpgsplit* sw_vers*
git-add–interactive* gpgv* tac*
git-am* groups* tack*
git-annotate@ head* tail*
git-apply@ hostid* tar@
git-archimport* hostinfo* tee*
git-archive@ id* telnet*
git-bisect* idle* test*
git-blame@ ifconfig* tftp*
git-branch@ igawk* tic*
git-bundle@ infocmp* time*
git-cat-file@ infotocap@ toe*
git-check-attr@ install* top*
git-check-ref-format@ ip6conf* tput*
git-checkout@ ip6fw* tr*
git-checkout-index@ ipfw* traceroute*
git-cherry@ join* traceroute6*
git-cherry-pick@ kdumpd* trpt*
git-clean@ killall* tset*
git-clone@ last* tsort*
git-commit@ less* tty*
git-commit-tree@ lessecho* unexpand*
git-config@ lesskey* uniq*
git-count-objects@ link* unlink*
git-cvsexportcommit* locate* unzip*
git-cvsimport* logger* unzipsfx*
git-cvsserver* login* updatedb*
git-daemon* logname* uptime*
git-describe@ lsvfs* users*
git-diff@ lynx* uudecode*
git-diff-files@ mail@ uuencode*
git-diff-index@ mailx* vi*
git-diff-tree@ makestrs* view@
git-fast-export@ mc* vim*
git-fast-import* mcedit@ vimdiff@
git-fetch@ mcmfmt* vimtutor*
git-fetch–tool@ mcview@ wc*
git-fetch-pack@ md* wget*
git-filter-branch* md5sum* which*
git-fmt-merge-msg@ mesg* who*
git-for-each-ref@ mkfifo* whoami*
git-format-patch@ msgattrib* write*
git-fsck@ msgcat* xargs*
git-fsck-objects@ msgcmp* xgettext*
git-gc@ msgcomm* xml2-config*
git-get-tar-commit-id@ msgconv* xmlcatalog*
git-grep@ msgen* xmllint*
git-hash-object* msgexec* xmlwf*
git-http-fetch@ msgfilter* xxd*
git-http-push* msgfmt* yes*
git-imap-send* msggrep* zip*
git-index-pack* msginit* zipcloak*
git-init@ msgmerge* zipnote*
git-init-db@ msgunfmt* zipsplit*
git-instaweb* msguniq* zprint*
git-log@ nano*
git-lost-found* natd*

UPDATE:

zdnet: Apple wants Psystar to recall all OpenMac clones sold

…does that surprise anyone?  I only wondered why Apple didn’t do it sooner.

and More News from Apple about MobileMe:

MobileMe Services are now available.

We have recently completed the transition from .Mac to MobileMe.  Unfortunately, it was a lot rockier than we had hoped.

Although core services such as Mail, iDisk, Sync, Back to My Mac, and Gallery went relatively smoothly, the new MobileMe web applications had lots of problems initially. Fortunately we have worked through those problems and the web apps are now up and running.

Another snag we have run into is our use of the word “push” in describing everything under the MobileMe umbrella. While all email, contact or calendar changes on the iPhone and the web apps are immediately synced to and from the MobileMe “cloud,” changes made on a PC or Mac take up to 15 minutes to sync with the cloud and your other devices. So even though things are indeed instantly pushed to and from your iPhone and the web apps today, we are going to stop using the word “push” until it is near-instant on PCs and Macs, too.

We want to apologize to our loyal customers and express our appreciation for their patience by giving all current subscribers an automatic 30-day extension to their MobileMe subscription free of charge. Your extension will be reflected in your account settings within the next few weeks.

We hope you enjoy your new suite of web applications at me.com, in addition to keeping your iPhone and iPod touch wirelessly in sync with these new web applications and your Mac or PC.

Thank you,

The MobileMe Team

…

MobileMe is another large reason why I’m returning to the Apple fold.  Being able to publish to iWeb, keep all my email, calendar, contacts in sync, surfing the web, watching videos and more all from my iPod Touch were key for me.

In other news, I saw APPLE COMPUTER (17.102.95.*) in Austin, TX, surfed my website today for 22 minutes (Jul 16 2008 12:12:10 pm - Jul 16 2008 12:33:38pm EDT) reading my pages about the Nokia N810 and the iPhone.  It’s interesting to see that Apple employees are doing their homework about the competition? …It’s OK, Apple, I still love you!

Lathe of Dreams is now averaging 100-130 readers per day (unique IPs) for the last two weeks. I’m up from the 20-40 this time last year.

Images: Apple PowerMac G5, Apple PowerBook G4, Sony PSP Slim, and Nokia N800

I have been an Mac owner and user since the Mac SE II back in the late 1980’s, when I learned AppleScript and HyperCard under MacOS System 7.  Since then, I’ve owned a number of Macintoshes while in the US Air Force (Motorola 68K and G3 processors), PowerBooks, and now the PowerMac G5 and the PowerBook G4.  I haven’t yet migrated to the Intel-based Macs, and I was honestly hurt/surprised when Apple abandoned the PowerPC chipset.

Like my Apple Mac experience, I’ve owned nearly every generation of iPod: from the first-gen iPod through the iPod 5.5g with video.  The iPhone with GPRS/EDGE, iPhone 3G, and iPod Touch all looked like beautiful products to me, but I had already invested too much in the Nokia N810 and iPod 5.5g.

As people around me migrated to the iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPod Touch, I’ve been living vicariously through them. I enjoy seeing iFuntastic, twitterific, iPint (thanks, Aubrey!), and other great apps on the iPhone/iPod Touch.  The accelerometer, interface, and general aesthetics have all proven that Apple did a truly incredible job… but I watched from the sidelines.

Like most technologies in my life (RSS, social networking, etc), I watched it from afar, and then jump in whole-heartedly.  Life with the iPod Touch should be the same.  I’m already looking at how to get SSH/Terminal on it.

Expect to see alot more about my blogging, hacking, and using the 32GB iPod Touch!  I’m already planning on using Handbreak 0.9.2 this evening & weekend to rip my DVD collection to MP4s to play on my newest device!  ’Appleseed’, ‘Hero’, ‘House of Flying Daggers’, ‘Ghost in the Shell’, ‘Final Fantasy: Spirits Within’ and ‘Final Fantasy: Advent Children’ will be the first 6 videos to go on my iPod Touch!

More fun with an HP TabletPC and Nokia N810:

…all tethered to AT&T Wireless (3G) via Bluetooth 2.0. ☺

Recent PhotoSets on Flickr:

• HP TabletPC and Nokia N810
• Darkness and Angelus (Top Cow)
• Witchblade (Top Cow)
• Life as a UNIX Systems Engineer

PowerMac G5 Screenshot

With Apple releasing MobileMe for the iPhone and .Mac users, I’m trying to implement the same functionality on my Nokia N810, PowerMac G5, PowerBook G4, and HP Tablet PC.  You’ll see changes in the coming weeks as I implement these changes on LatheOfDreams.com

The new themes and scripts should now be “browser agnostic”.  I’m revising my website to display on any browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari) and any device (Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Nokia N810). If you notice bugs in how this site displays or works on your browser, try to take a screenshot if you can, and either email me at ken.foreman@mac.com or leave me a comment on that post. The more detail you provide (screenshot or description), the easier I can fix it. ☺

Thousands of Apple fans began lining up at Apple and AT&T stores this last Friday to buy the latest version of the Apple iPhone.  Upgrading from the lackluster GPRS/EDGE network to the GPRS/3G network, iPhone 3G users can now enjoy faster cellular data wireless speeds on their devices.

Reading the reviews and watching them lineup for the latest “must have” device from Apple, I’m reminded why I’ll be well-rewarded in waiting for the Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition later this year.  With Sprint/Clearwire rolling out WiMAX to Baltimore, MD, in a few months’ time, and with Washington, DC, shortly behind, I’ll be enjoying wireless data speeds on my Nokia N810 WiMax Edition that will make even the most fervent Apple fanboy weep.

Running OS2008 Diablo, I’m able to write, compile or install any UNIX application under a Debian linux variant without resorting to the jailbreaks or kludges that the Apple fanboys know so well.  With a slideout keyboard, I have a dedicated hardware keyboard that doesn’t obscure the screen or take away from “screen real estate” so that I can type a URL, type an email, or debug my latest server script.

The Nokia N810 already makes my life at home, at work, and on the road so much better when using 802.11g (WiFi) or tethered to my AT&T Wireless (GPRS/EDGE).  Going to WiMAX will make my travels even better. Having a real keyboard to type on, a higher resolution transreflective screen, and an OS that doesn’t dictate how I use it will make WiMAX all the more enjoyable & useful.  You can keep your iPhone 3G.  I’m not interested.

No list of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds to one’s heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth is in grief and ashes. So, he whispered to the sleeping boy. I have you.

– Cormac McCarthy, “The Road” (Sony Reader, pg 65 of 346)

I first read about Cormac McCarthy’s novel in “The Pop of King”, which Stephen King writes periodically for Entertainment Weekly. It was mentioned again as the “number 1 book” in their recent “Best of…” issue under “Books”. Wanting something to read next on my Sony Reader, I downloaded it.

Like reading Dan Simmons’ “The Horror” before it, it quickly drew me in and became my world. I identified with the father, trying to do the best he could, both for himself and his young son. The cause and nature of the apocalypse isn’t told, except that years have past and that he finds himself losing track of the time and the years. His son was born soon after the holocaust. His wife committed suicide out of despair of living in a world bereft of people and loved ones. Despite how easy it might be to lose hope, he carries on out of love and desire for his son. Together, “they carry the flame.”

The novel is simply written. No large words. No big ideas writ large. There are no quotes to distinguish when the father is talking, when the son is replying, whether it exists as a thought, or only a memory only in his head. The lack of quotes and simple writing give the novel a surreal tone, which makes it even easier to identify with the father and the disorientation of life after a cataclysm.

Throughout reading the novel, I realized just how fragile human society is. Take away electricity, take away the comforts and the luxuries we take for granted, and people revert to their most base instinct. How easily could you kill another person if there were no laws? How easily could steal from another person if you were starving? How easily could you kill another human being and eat their flesh if you were at your wit’s end, starved and going mad?

The man is never named aside from being called “Papa” by his son. The boy is never named, only loved and revered by his father, who would do whatever it takes to protect him. Together, they’re wary of the “bad guys” (people who would kill you to take your food, molest you for lack of sex). They speak of the “good guys” (and believe themselves to be good), but are so cautious of other people that it is never certain who’s good and who’s bad.

I have read other reviews that believe that the father strayed. In his fear of “bad guys”, he became one himself. Having read the novel from end-to-end, I don’t believe that’s true. The father acted as most noble fathers would: primarily out of love and protection for their son. Whether or not his actions led to the death of others goes unanalyzed. He may have withheld food from other starving survivors, but it was to feed his son. He may have allowed other survivors to freeze, but it was for the warmth and survival of his child.

It’s never said what caused the end of the world. The man walks past blasted forests and slags of melted glass from skyscrapers. As the novel progresses, he’s coughing up blood. There are no deer, no cows, no other living animals or plants. All life on earth is made possible only by eating what dried remains are buried under the ash or in the pantries of abandoned houses.

The behaviour of the survivors is not unlike what we’ve read about life in New Orleans after Katrina, or life in Iraq after the toppling of a government and a power vacuum among various beliefs and cultures. Take away the support system, take away the civilization due to natural disaster or war, and what becomes of us as human beings?

There are no answers in “The Road”, but there are some truly interesting questions.

Some of the servers and workstations I see daily:

LINK:

• flickr: Life as a UNIX Systems Engineer

PICTURED:
* SunFire V880 Server
* SunFire V440 Servers
* Sun E250 Servers
* Sun SunBlade100 Workstations
* Sun Ultra 20 Workstations
* Apple MacBook Pro
* HP TabletPC (Compaq tc4400)
* Buffalo AirStation WHR-G54S/125
* Nokia N810 Internet Tablet

UNPICTURED:
* Hitachi UPSV Storage Area Network (SAN)
* Brocade 40000 4Gbit/sec fiber switch

Who knew there was a flickr group just for bag contents?? …not I!

LINK:

• flickr: What’s In Your Bag?

Watching the network traffic and server logs for Lathe of Dreams (now averaging 80-120 unique IPs per day!), I saw some traffic coming in about my laptop messenger bag.  One woman on Flickr marked a photo as her favorite, so I decided to check out where she was coming from and why.

Who knew there was a flickr photo group devoted solely to “What’s in your Bag?“  …very cool!  I joined the group and added my bag.

Having used ReiserFS and having fond memories of it on my SUSE Linux servers and on my Linspire workstations, I was shocked when I first read about the 44-year-old Hans Reiser murdering his 31-year-old wife, Nina.  I didn’t really follow the case, but apparently Hans led police to his wife’s body in exchange for 15 years inprisonment.

LINKS:

Wikipedia: ReiserFS
Wikipedia: Hans Thomas Reiser
Ars Technica: ReiserFS Fades Into Obscurity…
Slashdot: Hans Reiser Leads Police to Wife’s Body

COMMENTS AT WORK and ONLINE:

“UNIX engineers are real badasses… we murder anyone we don’t get along with.”

“UNIX engineers don’t say ‘fuck you.’  We say ‘fsck you!’”

“His wife was cute.”

“Don’t eff with your sysadmin… he’ll kill you!”

Screen Rotation using xrandr, rotate-sb-plugin, sliderotate with OS2008 Diablo kernel:

Realtime GPS tracking with WayFinder Navigator:

Using the steps below, I have a /media/mmc2/Repository/Packages (symlinked to /Repository/Packages) folder that keeps all my installed packages, allowing for easier rebuilds or distribution to others.  Here’s the step-by-step on how I updated my Nokia N810 to use the latest OS2008 Diablo kernel, install xrandr, rotate-sb-plugin, and sliderotate:

sudo su -
cd /Repository/Packages
unzip Rotate.zip
cd Rotate
dpkg -i libxrandr2_1.2.1-1_armel.deb
dpkg -i xserver-xomap_1.3.99.0~git20070321-0osso20074202_armel.modfied.deb
dpkg -i rotate-sb-plugin_0.1-1_armel.deb
dpkg -i kernel-diablo-flasher_2.6.21-200823maemo3_all.modfied.deb
flash-and-reboot

…after rebooting:

sudo su -
cd /Repository/Packages
dpkg -i xrandr_1.2.2-0_armel.deb
dpkg -i xmodmap_1.0.2-0ubuntu1mg1_armel.deb
dpkg -i sliderotate-0.0.19.modified.deb

…and now my Nokia N810 is running the latest kernel, has the rotate icon in the system tray, but will auto-toggle Portrait/Landscape (using SlideRotate) when I open/close the keyboard.  Many thanks to qwerty12, jott, Benson, and the members of Internet Tablet Talk for the how-to and packages!

qwerty12 Senior Member

Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: London, UK Posts: 1,607 Thanks: 1,173 Thanked 592 Times in 334 Posts

Re: How to rotate screen on os2008

These past few weeks meant a return to carrying pounds of books as I carried Mo Yan’s Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out and the Osbourne Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) Linux Study Guide (Third Edition, Hardbound).   On days that I carried my laptop as well, it felt like my messenger bag was going to tear my shoulder off.

Thankfully, much of what I was reading as hardbounds I’ve been able to find on the Sony eBookStore or by searching for PDFs on the web.  My Sony Reader (PRS-505) is seeing heavy use again as I copy & carry all my Redhat, Solaris, fiction, and manga on it.  I’m currently reading Cormac McCarthy’s The Road on my Reader when I’m not using it to study for my RHCE.

Classes, labs, and efforts to my Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) are actually going very well.  I’m running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 (RHEL) AS and RHEL4 ES on my HP Proliant DL385G1s at work. While I’m using Fedora Core 9 at home, I’m thinking about install RHEL4 or RHEL5 on my Dell PowerEdge.  I’m doing fairly well in my labs and quizzes.  I’m enrolled and paid for the entire RHCE series, completed the first course, and have 3 more to go.  All going well, I’ll test in Aug/Sep.

We’re continuing to use Solaris 9-10 and RHEL4-5 on our SunFire V240s, V440s, V880, T2000, and HP Proliant DL385s at work.  I’m continuing to specialize in general server administration, web services, and databases. We’ve lost our server security/hardening expert, so I’m interviewing potential candidates last week and this week.  We’re looking for a sysadmin or engineer with Solaris, Redhat, or UNIX experience.  Ideally, someone with more experience than I have, to be paid commensurate salary for their experience.

My efforts with Dash Express under the National Road Test (NRT) program is coming to a close.  I’ll remain bound by a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) to give details, but I’ll be able to keep the gray Dash Express (Kokopelli) and “chocolate” Dash Express (Jezebel) that I received as a beta tester.  Kokopelli went to Vicky for use in her car, while Jezebel will be used in mine.

With all the advances in internet connectivity in personal navigation devices (PND), I’m not sure where Dash Navigation will be in a few years’ time. I’ve compared them to Danger, Inc (”Hiptop”, “Sidekick”) when I worked for Danger as a beta tester and consultant.  While Danger flourished and eventually got bought by Microsoft, I can only hope for similar success for Dash Navigation.

The Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition continues to linger just over the horizon.  I’m currently using my Nokia N810 tethered to the AT&T 3G network.  Connectivity continues to impress me with AT&T 3G efforts, enough that the iPhone 3G should do extremely well (even if people will complain about battery life if they don’t throttle their use or recharge often).  My only restraint from upgrading my current AT&T Wireless contract to an iPhone 3G on July 11th is knowing that WiMAX on the N810 will be significantly faster than 3G on the iPhone.  There is nothing that the iPhone 3G offers than the N810W doesn’t also have or do better (slideout keyboard, WiMAX/802.11g, 2GB internal, 8GB SDHC, OS2008 Diablo Linux). …and so I wait for the N810W and Sprint/Clearwire WiMAX rollouts in Sept/Oct.

My chocolate Dash Express is currently under RMA to Dash for the last reworking before the beta program ends. My gray Dash Express is being used by Vicky in her car. So I’m using WayFinder Navigator on my Nokia N810 for travels in northern Virginia and Washington, DC.  Again, I can’t go into much detail about my Dash Express experience, but the Nokia N810 seems to match it.  Only Dash’s growing realtime traffic data network, Send2Car, and GeoRSS apps are areas where the N810 can’t beat it.

And so it goes…  In the midst of beta-testing, classes, work, and interviewing candidates, Vicky and I went to see Kung Fu Panda a few weeks ago. We saw Wall-E the other week.  We saw Hancock this last weekend. I would probably rank all 3 movies in that order.  There’s the most depth and story to Kung Fu Panda.  The visual effects were beautiful in Wall-E, but the characters and brow-beating eco-lesson were a tad heavy.  Hancock seemed like too many stories crammed in two hours.  They were all good movies, but we’d still rank the 3 movies in that order.

We have very high hopes for Hellboy 2: The Golden Army this week.  Guillermo Del Toro is one of our favorite visionary directors.

I’d like to give you better news about one of our other endeavors.  Vicky & I were heart-stricken the other week, got some very bad news. So we’ll dust ourselves off, search God and ourselves for answers, and try again.  As I had told Pat, I never knew trying could hurt so much.  What comes so easily to other people doesn’t come so easily to Vicky & I.  Please pray for us.