Nokia is relavent again with the N97

I've always liked Nokia phones, my first phone was a Nokia and everything about it felt polished. Everything worked, made sense and was very easy to use. For some reason though they never really branched out of the candy bar form factor and except for low end phones no one wants a candy bar phone anymore. It took Nokia years to even come out with a flip phone. However with the release of the N97 Nokia finally has a phone that shakes the candy bar form factor and it does it with style. If this can compete with Windows Mobile I may finally be able to make the switch back to Nokia.

Pop up notification of software RAID problems in Ubuntu

I finally was able to setup a software RAID in my last install of Ubuntu 8.10 and I wanted to setup monitoring so I would know about any problems immediately. Ubuntu sets up monitoring automatically when you create a MDADM arrary but by default it only sends an email to the local root account. That would be fine for a server but on a desktop system a visual notification would be better. Here are the steps I took to enable a pop up notification whenever something bad happens to my RAID array.

To make the notification bubble I used notify-send. Notify-send is part of the notification-daemon package so install it with this command:

sudo apt-get install notification-daemon

In order to make sure our notification are working we need to be able to send a test notification. MDADM has a testing mode built right in, to activate it edit /etc/default/mdadm and add " --test" to the end of the DAEMON_OPTIONS string. This will tell MDADM to send a test message every time it starts.

Now we need to configure MDADM to run a program when there's a problem as well as setting the email address of where we want the notifications sent. Edit /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf and set the MAILADDR and MAILFROM email addresses. MAILADDR is where you want the email sent, MAILFROM is what shows up in the From field in the email. You may have to add the MAILFROM line. To run our program add a PROGRAM line underneath the MAIL line with the following:

# display local notification
PROGRAM /usr/sbin/mdadm-notify.sh

This tells MDADM to run our script when there's a problem. Now we just need to create /usr/sbin/mdadm-notify.sh and add the following:

#!/bin/bash

#get dbus session
eval `dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-session`

#show alert
/usr/bin/notify-send -u critical -c device.error -i /usr/share/icons/Human/32x32/status/dialog-warning.png -t 0 "RAID Status" "<b>$2</b>: $1" -h int:x:1250 -h int:y:20

There are a couple settings you'll want to change on the last line of the script. Most of all you'll have to alter the int:x and int:y values so they work on your system. I have a triple screen setup so my settings will likely put the notification off screen if you don't change them. Also the warning icon I used should be standard for Ubuntu 8.10 but if it's not showing up you'll have to set the path to an icon on your system. Finally be sure to run "sudo set chmod +x /usr/sbin/mdadm-notify.sh" to make the script executable.

Now we are ready to test. Run "sudo /etc/init.d/mdadm restart" to restart MDADM and send the test message. Adjust the int:x and int:y values if the pop up isn't where you want it or the icon isn't showing up and test again. Once you are satisfied with the appearance of the notification go back into /etc/default/mdadm and remove the " --test" from the DAEMON_OPTIONS string so you don't keep getting the test message.

That's it! Now if something happens to the RAID array you'll get a nice visual notification of the problem.

Google Chrome doesn't need Admin rights to install

I just downloaded Google Chrome and love it. I won't be able to use it full time until there are some plugins developed for it but I'm betting I won't have to wait very long. 

One curious thing I noticed though is that the installer doesn't require Administrator rights to install. Everything is installed in the users profile folder under [profile folder]\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome. Nothing is installed in Program Files. 

This is not a bad thing per se, it's just unexpected. The only problems will be on networks where only specific applications are allowed. Once more plugins are developed it might become a bigger problem since with the right plugin you could get into a lot of trouble. I almost consider this a feature since I'll be able to use Chrome on computers I otherwise wouldn't be able to install an alternate browser. 

at&t 8925 trumps iPhone, again

I ruined my five hundred dollar 8925 by getting it wet, days before the new 3G iPhone was announced. I was waiting for it to dry out as they announced the iPhone's $200 price and GPS capabilities. I must admit, I seriously considered buying the new iPhone but in the end I shelled out another $400 for a used 8925. The iPhones software has come a long way and with the addition of 3G and GPS as well as full Exchange support it's that much closer to being a realistic alternative for me. The deciding factor though is that I really like A2DP, a real keyboard and the possibility of running Android at some point in the future. Also now that the price has dropped EVERYONE is going to have an iPhone. You thought RAZR's were common, wait till this time next year. So keep it up Apple, you're getting close but you're not there yet.

Lightweight Burning with XP

Llosgi CD
Originally uploaded by Dafad∙Ddall

Competition is usually a good thing, but sometimes it gets out of hand. The competitors can get so concentrated on one-upping each other they forget what they were supposed to be doing in the first place and ignore everything except winning the competition. Case in point, burning software for Windows. Nero's Burning Rom used to be my software of choice and many geeks used it as well. It was fast, relatively small and gave you the advanced options needed to burn your CD the "right way". Roxio's Easy CD Creator was the only other real contender and came pre-installed with many computers. It didn't really work very well but had nice easy to use interface so it was good for people who just wanted to burn a CD and didn't want to deal with the technical details of it.

Even though they both were making burning software for Windows, they really weren't in competition with each other because their software was targeted at two distinct groups. Despite this they decided that they had to beat the other guy at all costs and engaged in a feature war that has left both bloated with all sorts of stuff that no one wants in their burning program.

Ahead is now selling "Nero 8 Ultra Edition" which includes photo, video and audio editing, YouTube integration, media streaming to Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, and for some reason, DVR functionality. Roxio ups the ante with "Easy Media Creator 10 Suite". Features include the same photo, video and audio editing capabilities but adds DVD menu creation and video capture. It also sports YouTube integration, mobile content conversion, and internet radio capture.

When did my burning software become an operating system by itself? All of these functions are better served with dedicated software, I just want my software to burn CD's, everything else I will deal with as I need it. Not everyone that burns a music CD is going to edit video. Thankfully some kind hearted souls have decided they don't want to install 2 GB worth of crap to burn a CD and have release FREE software that make both Ahead's and Roxio's software irrelevant.

InfraRecorder is a very basic software that is as about as simple as it can get. It doesn't have all the options I'd like but for 90% of the CD's I make it does a great job. I discovered it when I was looking for a free program that would let my friend burn an Ubuntu ISO image. It's released under the GPL software license so I can add features if I want or even remove them if they started padding the software with useless gimmicks.

CDBurnerXP is a much more polished product and does everything Nero used to do so well. It's still very easy to use but has enough advanced options that I don't need Nero at all anymore. It's not an open source software but it has a freeware license and doesn't include any ads or maleware.

Thank you iPhone, for bringing me 3G

I just wanted to say thanks to Steve, Apple and the iPhone for finally getting at&t to do something with their 3G network. They had been dragging their feet with it for so long and I know I'd still be waiting for it if you hadn't come along and convinced them that they really needed 3G to push more iPhone sales.

Sources all over are reporting that the second generation iPhone (the black one on the right) is going to be released in early June which seems to make sense, when the first iPhone came out at&t's 3G network was very small and while everyone complained that it should have had 3G at the time it just wouldn't have made any sense. It was a great idea to launch an EDGE version early, let everyone figure out how great they are then only a year later release a 3G version once at&t has had the time to build out their network. They get to gouge the early adopters twice and since everyone signed a two year agreement they'll have to pay full price for the new 3G iPhone.

I'm just happy I get 3G on my at&t tilt, which by the way, is black.

US Bank charges $400 for a $10 overdraft

My girlfriend, who has a checking account at US Bank, overdrew her checking account by $10. No big deal, happens all the time right? Usually they'll tack on some overdraft fees which sucks but is not unexpected. Pay the fine, bring the account current and everything is cool. So that's what she does, except she's still $2 overdraft somehow. US Bank does this rediculous thing where they charge you $8 dollars a day and so the charges keep building up. They of course don't bother to tell her and now they want a total of $400 dollars to bring the account current. She's already paid $200 to bring the account current, more than enough to cover the cost of the overdraft. WTF? Does that sound reasonable to anyone?

at&t activates 3G in Madison WI, 612 kbit/sec

I was delighted to find this morning that my phone had finally switched over to 3G. I've been waiting for them to flip the switch ever since I picked my Tilt which is the first phone I've ever owned that supports 3G. I'm not sure what other cities were lit up as well but I am doing a little traveling tomorrow so I'll see how long I keep my new high speed magic carpet ride. It will also be interesting to see how this affects my battery life, it's been pretty good so far giving me at least two days of regular useage. As long as it can still give me one day I can live with that as I charge my phone every night anyways.

Does anyone make a scanner that doesn't suck?

Why is it that nobody can make a scanner that doesn't make me want to go Office Space on it's ass? I've used a ton of different scanners and every single time it's the same thing, press the scan button and pray to the scanner gods while sacrificing a virgin in the hope that this time it will finally work. Do you know how hard it is to find a good computer tech only to turn around and offer them up as a sacrifice on their first day? If I have to scan any more pictures HR is going to kill me.

It's not really the hardware that's the problem. It's the god awful driver software. I had to install an HP scanner the other day and the driver software was a 150MB download! Adobe Photoshop CS3 in it's entirety is 150MB by the way. Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. I don't need the scanner software to do image editing, cataloging, email, or make slide shows. I just need it to scan the image and send it to the computer quickly and without locking up the whole computer.

What they need to do is make scanners show up as a mass storage device. Memory is cheap these days, just scan the image to some internal memory then I can copy the files over to my computer as easy as copying a file. Have a nice user menu on the front that lets me adjust the DPI and image type and I wouldn't even have to install any software on my computer. If you're feeling fancy you could throw in a setting that could enable/disable auto-cropping and it would be the perfect scanner.

No one buys a scanner because of the software that it comes with so stop adding features, it's just making the quality of your software go down.

Paint the town with TomTheGeek.com

Just for fun I opened a shop at CafePress.com where you can buy a couple different shirts with the TomTheGeek.com logo on them. Maybe you need a fuse for your Molotov Cocktail or maybe you just want all those girls to stop hitting on you, either way the shirts are available now at the low, low price of $20 for either the always popular black tee or the confidence inducing white golf polo.