Flock: Photobucket Edition 2.0.3

Perhaps its just me, but I like to keep several browsers handy in the course of what I do. One of the interesting browsers aside from Mozilla Firefox is Flock ... in particular the Photobucket version which was how I had discovered it more than a year before.

For some reason the Check for Updates .. menu item seems to be broken on the 1.x.y version and only by some focused attention did I finally find the 2.x.y version.

So here it is, Flock 2.0.3 with a version for the Mac working well at this point. No less, I upgraded to the Photobucket sponsored version. It feels faster and with a tweak page more perhaps to mitigate incompatible plug-ins and add-ons which were one of the pains in using prior versions. Simply, I hated those script lock up screens.

Xbox 360: Arcade Storage Offer

For a limited time, Microsoft has been kind enough to offer refurbished 20GB hard drives. 

All you need is your Serial Number and Console ID. 

You'll find this information in the System Info tab under Settings Settings under the My Xbox menu.

Game Gems: Rainbow Six 2 - Vegas (PS3)

Done.

Game Gems: Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare (PS3)

Done.

Ubuntu Tricks: No Special Characters Here

The limited capabilities of FAT16 and FAT32 has to do with file names. Not so in Linux where almost any character is accepted and files are treated executable by their attributes and not file extension. You could say that Linux runs by true file type.

The rename command in combination with find is one of the best ways to go through all files in a directory and fix naming problems before moving files onto a Windows File Share.

Best line so far:
find . -iname "*" -exec rename -v 's/\:|\*|\%|\&|\?|\\|\^|\=|\"//g' "{}" \;

winmail.dat makes you Fentun

The unfortunate thing about another operating system platform is compatibility. In particular, emails at work (or play). Another thing is the use of standards.

If you get an attachment thats called winmail.dat, thats not the actual attachment but a wrapped up version. It probably is a Microsoft Word Document or some other.

A tool called Fentun is available that can help unwrap this shell and help extract the contents. Instructions are here.

Ubuntu Tricks: Disk Space Usage and Mount

Disk Usage and Size

Its simple, and I got it even working via ssh onto one of my work servers to check how much space was being used by a mounted USB drive. Just type the shell command: df

Of course this is going to give you the default output in bytes. This is more human readable using the switch -h provides the output in megabytes, while uppercase as -H shows the output in gigabytes.

Example #1: $ df -h
Output:
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/foo--bar-root
3.2T 2.5T 604G 81% /
tmpfs 1012M 0 1012M 0% /lib/init/rw
varrun 1012M 408K 1011M 1% /var/run
varlock 1012M 0 1012M 0% /var/lock
udev 1012M 2.9M 1009M 1% /dev
tmpfs 1012M 0 1012M 0% /dev/shm
lrm 1012M 2.0M 1010M 1% /lib/modules/2.6.27-9-generic/volatile
/dev/sda1 236M 52M 172M 24% /boot
//192.168.0.1/usbdrive
2.7T 2.3T 430G 85% /home/foo/storage

Example #2: $df -H
Output:
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/foo--bar-root
3.5T 2.7T 648G 81% /
tmpfs 1.1G 0 1.1G 0% /lib/init/rw
varrun 1.1G 418k 1.1G 1% /var/run
varlock 1.1G 0 1.1G 0% /var/lock
udev 1.1G 3.0M 1.1G 1% /dev
tmpfs 1.1G 0 1.1G 0% /dev/shm
lrm 1.1G 2.1M 1.1G 1% /lib/modules/2.6.27-9-generic/volatile
/dev/sda1 247M 55M 181M 24% /boot
//192.168.0.1/usbdrive
3.0T 2.6T 461G 85% /home/foo/storage

Subdirectory Size

What if you just wanted to see the size of a particular directory and subdirectories underneath it in the tree? Simply use the the command: du

Naturally, similar to df its going to default to bytes so just use the -h switch and you'll be fine.

Mount Shares
There are also several ways to mount a network share. Whats important is that the share needs to be configured for the permissions you need whether read/write/both/etc. Make sure that you've installed smbfs as using smbclient is rather the old way to do this:

mount -t smbfs //ip_address/path1/path2/... -o username=yourusername,password=yourpassword

Example: mount -t smbfs //192.168.0.2/foo/bar -o username=foo,password=bar

If you're trying to mount an external USB drive, then there's no better way than as explained here.

Of course, what comes on should be easy to come off. Enter umount:

umount -lfr /mount_point/samba_share

Example: umount -lfr /dev/sda1

The above syntax switches lets you remove the drive or whatever share no matter if its "busy" or if a network share that's "requiring administrative privilege" aka offline.

Have fun!

D-Link DIR-655: Static Routes to LAN ... not WAN!

When trying to manage a complicated SOHO, for security reasons its great to be able to control the flow of traffic between your various routers and devices. Now this feature is usually seen in today's devices but not a feature for the faint of heart ... you may just end up looping your traffic and marooning yourself ... which would be bad.

On the D-Link DIR-655's latest firmware this feature seems to have been disabled. I tried calling for support and after more than an hour of talking through my specific setup the response was "we'll looking into the feature request". Duh!

I say that because firmware v1.03 actually had this and it got lost after silly new "features" were added later.

If you know what you're doing with static routes, then by all means read the link and downgrade the firmware.

Xbox 360: 3RL, 2RL, 4RL ... Go!

About a week ago I mentioned that my feeling was "victorious". To me there ought to be a 1 in 4 chance (25%) of actually getting one of the consoles fully functional ... even better there were actually 2 out of 4 working!

The Other Two, were reporting the dreaded 3RL (three red lights) or 3RRoD (three red rings of death). What a bummer...

No problem, checking the serial on Microsoft's page show that the units are still under warranty. But hold on, looking closer at the cases showed that they'd actually been opened!? So much for shipping it back to the manufacturer for a fix. Curses!

Local fixes for this problem on Craigslist average prices are from $30 ~ 90. If I brought them back to Greenhills next month it would cost me some PHP-2.5k (roughly $50). There is no way I'm going to pony up that much cash given how much I'd originally paid for each system computed individually.

So what does an ambidextrous, good looking, smart, technologically advanced, knowledgeable person do? He looks to the world's largest library (the Internet) and starts to read up on a fix. Thanks Google.

Lo, and behold! There are several tutorials online and a few communities that sprung up due to this well known dilemma.

According to this link, we'll need a shopping list of items from Home Depot, Lowe's, OSH, or Fry's, and even New Egg:

Home Depot
8-pcs. Machine Screw Pan - Phillips 5 x 10mm (UPC - 030699 801282)
16-pcs. Flat Washer Nylon #10 (UPC - 030699 869381)
16-pcs. Flat Washer Steel / ZINC Plated 5mm (UPC - 030699 363087)

Lowe's

8-pcs. M5-.80 x 10 Machine Screws #138433
16-pcs. #10 Flat Washers – Nylon #139065
16-pcs. 5mm Flat Washers – Metal #138319

New Egg
Artic Silver 5 Thermal Compound

Lucky's/Albertsons

100% Isopropyl Alcohol

Cotton swabs

I started working on this last night around 10-PM and stopped at 4AM for lack of parts. For everything I used LawDawg0931's document as a general guide for xclamping. To open up the Xbox 360 internals I used Aweirdguy's visual instructions. For the meaning of the 3RL codes I used K1lltacular's impressive notes, also mentioned by Aetius.

Victim #1: Casing good, slots touched, seams scratched

I did some internal cleaning on this unit with alcohol and cotton. Noticed some light tarnishing which I cleaned up. After plugging in to check I suddenly got 4RL's meaning a video problem. After connecting the cable the damn thing just started up. Woohoo! No need to xclamp. Patch and updated.

Victim #2: Casing bad since half part is the wrong one covering the AV slot, seams scratched

Once again did some internal cleaning and this unit looks to have been blog gunned with hot air -- one of the recommended fixes. What's more this unit has already been xclamped but using inferior parts. Hex bolts and split washers of the wrong size used. Who ever did this is a moron. You simply don't compromise when fixing electronics. Idiot. At this point I had to run around to three-(3) Home Depot stores and the OSH nearby to complete my parts list. Why? Because everyone seems to be xclamping and short of ordering online this was the fun way. I was once more disgusted after removing the heat sinks on the CPU and GPU since it was a mess. He (how many women electronics enthusiasts do you know?) didn't even take the time to clean-out the original gray compound before dropping in a glop of white "something". I hate this nit-wit. So after cleaning up the goo with alcohol and adding a grain of Arctic I noticed that the machine screws were flat-heads and not pan-heads ... nuts another trip to HD this morning. With luck all parts were just available for one shot, which is all I needed. Putting everything together and doing the baking trick was no use. Why? Simply because the Xbox 360 and battery cuts-off power after a 2RL. I tried it once more and even used the fridge so I could re-start earlier and cool the processing units on-board. Still no luck so I went back to the worldwide library and tried Llama's other tip on baking, which still didn't work.

After thinking a few minutes and trolling the boards I read something about the towel trick. There's enough commentaries that say it doesn't work but given this was my last resort before calling a professional, why not try? To me it sounded crazy looking at my new baby Xbox 360 in swaddling clothes, LOL, but thats what I did. Instead of 20-mins I left it at around 35-mins while I earned my keep at work. I left it to cool for some 15mins and made sure that it was upright for ventilation. Woohoo! It really f* worked?!! Patched and updated. Now all I need is to get a new case for it and we're good to go.

At the same time thanks to YouTube, found one of my favorite songs from high school. Enjoy!

After Christmas, some New Year Gifts, too!

That is what usually happens when you wait around for a package, it doesn't show up until you relax and take few drag from your fag .... suddenly boom!

Hi Mr. UPS Guy, thanks for finally getting here.

Apple iPhone: Personal Ringtones, How To?

Amazon has recently started to sell digital music on their site, and I must say at very competitive prices. Katy Perry's 12-song album for just $5.00 and no damn tax required? I'll take it.

At the same time Apple went off to sell ringtones for its own iPhone, naturally.

But wait a minute, this is MY phone and I've ALWAYS been able to personalize MY phone no matter what make, brand, and model. On the Nokia Communicators (have own the whole genre from the 9110, 9210i, and 9500) it was super easy to make your own. For the O2 Xphone (manufactured by HTC running Windows Mobile) my callers came up not just as tones but VIDEOS.

My instructions are for the MacBook version of iTunes but you should have no problem doing it on Windows or however. The most important thing is that file encoding should be AAC and none other.

Creation Steps:
1. Choose the track of your liking and choose Get Info with shortcut keys Control-Mouse click
2. Go to the Options tab and pick your Start Time and Stop Time that corresponds to 30-seconds of your favorite song segment; click on OK
3. Back in the song selection screen once more shortcut keys Control-Mouse click and choose Create AAC Version
4. One more in the song selection screen once more shortcut keys Control-Mouse click and choose Show in Finder
5. Rename the file extension (turn on this feature in your View Properties if you don't see it) from .m4a to .m4r

In the same open folder you can simply drag the file into the Ringtones section of iTunes, sync your iPhone, and you're done.

Optionally for cleanup you can go ahead and delete the library record for the old .m4a file (which as you remember doesn't exist anymore since it was renamed).

Have fun.

SP3 ... Finally ...

More than three-(3) months, a whole quarter, a fourth of the year -- thats how long before I finally got Windows Service Pack 3 installed on one of my Windows XP machines running on an HP Compaq.

Why?

Installing in administrative mode, or any user for that matter, kept spitting out upgrade errors due to running processes.

Is it just me or could Microsoft have made it more obvious that you would have had a better time at it if you would have just booted into Safe Mode (F8 while Windows boots).

Harrumph!!!

Canon EOS 50D: I love this camera!

Merry Christmas to me !!! Woohoo!!!

Well finally $20 paid-off and its finally here. Observe the unboxing of this beauty. :-)

The first thing I did was remove both the body and lens caps and deftly join both ends at the white dot. Odd, I seem to remember using the red dot as the aligning factor on the 40D. I swear some dust particles came through there as I breathlessly did this procedure. Ah, the perfectionist in me lingers.

Took a few test shots and the high end LCD definitely does a better job at bringing out the colors. Sorry, can't really compare this to a Nikon where users say they've been having a colorful experience much longer.

This is the 18-200mm IS non-USM model, but so far I didn't notice much noise (what noise?) difference than with the 25-135mm previously connected on my prior 40D. The lens still drops slowly when I take downard shots (bug or feature?).

Time to recharge the grip and extra batteries. Next up, the UV filter and external flash!

Xbox 360: Halo 3 Special Edition

That is not my bed. Far from it and I posted some time ago what it was. Beds for me are like the epitome of charging up and the better the best.

Snagged these pix off a posting to underline that these units have stopped production around 2007-08-24. Whats worse is that anything prior to that date do not have the new 65nm chip (Falcon).

To find out if you do have the new chip then its a matter of checking the box bar code if it says Team FDOU and LOT 734 or above.

Another way is to check the power brick if it says 175W instead of the old 203W -- only Falcon power supplies will take both versions but not vice versa.

My playmate Tophs actually got himself a new Premium edition from Best Buy for Christmas. Valued at some USD $299 less discounts for membership. That unit is probably using the Jasper chip that is fully 65nm even for the GPU. But more importantly the difference being not a collector item :-)

As it stands, my version is Lot 732 with the standard 20GB drive at a cost of USD $250 with shipping. Bummer.

But there's hope. I was able to find a NEW and sealed box just recently and it DOES have the Falcon chip. So what we'll do is snap that up if we can and list this other one, hehe. :-)

UPDATE: 2009-01-12 @ 4PM PST

Xbox 360: Crisis of Cores

After holding off getting an Xbox 360 for more than a year, I finally relented -- Big Time.

Ended up getting a lot of four-(4) of dubious state that am hoping have at least 25% success rate. The rest can probably go to the spare parts scrap heap.

The downside of the Core Units are of course the lack of the proprietary HDD that sit on top of the unit. I found Best Buy selling kits from some USD 70~120 plus tax. Disk sizes from 20~60GB.

Ooof! I'll update on which of these units work this week when hopefully they arrive at my doorstep.

UPDATE: 2009-01-12 @ 4PM PST