Douglas' Blog

KDE 3.5.5 was released this morning. I had been eagerly anticipating it’s release for a week now as there are some good fixes and updates in this release. I am writing this using KDE 3.5.5 as I built the latest KDE triumph last night while the source files were still being pushed out to the mirrors.

I don’t normally build KDE until a few days after release as I’m usually too busy to grab the 150MB+ of source files and then wait 12 hours while my machine builds it. But last night I couldn’t sleep so I figured I’d surf over to KDE’s main FTP site to see if the files were available yet. But the site was non-responsive which I found strange, so I checked out another mirror and was delighted to see the 3.5.5 source code tar files available. So I grabbed the files and started the build. And knowing that I would wake up to a new version of KDE, I was able to fall back asleep.

A quick check of Gentoo’s stable Portage tree shows that the latest version of KDE available to those who don’t want to live ‘close to the edge’ is still KDE 3.5.2. As I said before, I’ve always found KDE to be very stable on Gentoo and I had zero issues with KDE 3.5.4 over the past two months so I’m not anticipating any issues with KDE 3.5.5. So, that said, once again my suggestion is to update your /etc/portage/package.keywords file and use the latest KDE; I doubt you’ll regret it.

My new job requires that I use Windows. Sorta. Realistically, there isn’t all that much in terms of software that is forcing me to use Windows per se as for the most part everything I need to use is also available on Linux. The exception to this is Microsoft Outlook. And although I could use Thunderbird, and I haven’t ruled that out, I decided to explore the use of VMware.

I’d used VMware Workstation 3.2 way back when but hadn’t used it since. And since that time, I’ve switched from a supported Linux distro (Red Hat) to an unsupported distro (Gentoo); you can view the list of supported distros in the system requirements page linked off the Workstation 5.x release notes. Luckily, like most software vendors these days, VMware has a ‘try before you buy’ evaluation licence which is good for 30 days.

Thus far, Gentoo and VMware Workstation have worked perfectly together. I was able to install Windows XP using Workstation 5.5 running on my Gentoo laptop and encountered no issues with respect to Gentoo. The only issue I did encounter was with the Windows XP install; I had to call in my registration as I used my Dell Windows XP CD and Windows XP was smart enough to realize that my product key was for a Dell machine not the “VMware machine” I installed it on. In any case, my guest operating system is running perfectly and I can now test my web apps and such using IE without the need to use a separate machine altogether. If you haven’t yet checked out VMware, I highly recommend it.

It’s been two weeks since my last entry. And the entries have been sparse for the past couple months. I think that’s a testament to how busy my life has been. To sum up things in brief: I’ve left one job, started another, learned the in an outs of ATG, rediscovered VMWare, and last, but certainly not least, there is a new addition to our family. More details about everything this weekend when I will try to get caught up.

And if the weather holds out, I will be doing a night flying convoy to Edmonton City Centre (CYXD) on Saturday night with two of Ali’s cousins who recently moved to Calgary from Manitoba. So I’ll have that to blog about also.

Last week Zymeta and I parted ways. Actually we parted back in early August when the company was bought by the Edmonton-based manufacturer. But then the new owner decided after all that he needed Mike and I to help with transition training so the two of us spent the better part of three weeks in Edmonton on contract showing the ‘new guys’ everything we know.

And last Friday, I showed them the co-locate facility where the servers are hosted, gave them remote access via ssh and handed over the keys. And with that my tenure at Zymeta was done.

I spent the long weekend in Fairmont Hot Springs. Unfortunately we drove but it was a great weekend nonetheless. And although I didn’t do anything on my laptop per se, I did have the laptop turned on for most of the weekend, recompiling everything with the new release of GCC, version 4.1.1. As with most things Gentoo, the upgrade was seamless, though due to the age of my laptop, the upgrade was a two day affair. But all is good, with the exception of three packages, which seem to still work as is so I’ve ignored the fact that the recompiled failed for them.

I’ve since started the GCC 4.1.1 upgrade on my two servers, though I’m doing them one at a time. I’m sure all will be well there also. So if you’ve been hesitating on doing the GCC 4.1.1 upgrade under Gentoo, I don’t see why you’d wait anymore.

KDE 3.5.4 was released a couple weeks ago. As per my normal routine, I had my machine compiling it the night of it’s release and had the latest version KDE running by morning. But then I flew out to Prince George for my brother’s wedding the next day and forgot to blog about my success with KDE 3.5.4 like I normally do.

Gentoo’s stable Portage tree is still stuck back at KDE 3.5.2 but in the past two weeks since building KDE 3.5.4 I’ve experienced no problems whatsoever. So, if you’re impatient like me when it comes to your X Windows environment, my suggestion is to update your /etc/portage/package.keywords file and use the latest KDE because I suspect it will work just fine for you also.

I don’t know why it took me so long but I finally got around to properly installing junk (SpamAssassin) and virus (ClamAV) filters on my mail server. Although most of the junk was getting caught by Thunderbird, I was getting far too much junk mail and when I was accessing mail through the SquirrelMail web interface, which isn’t set up to filter junk, it was practically impossible to read mail.

I’d actually tried to set things up about a year ago, but at the time I was too busy to give it a proper try. But this time, I managed to find a wiki page with some instructions on setting SpamAssassin and ClamAV up using AMaVIS under a similar server setup (Gentoo, postfix, etc) and had things functioning within an hour or so. And most importantly, the setup is a huge success.

In the past two weeks, my server has quarantined roughly 4900 emails and 100 viruses. And instead of Thunderbird catching 80+ junk emails per day, it’s now only required to catch the six or seven that make it through. And that makes it easy for me to look for any false positives.

SpamAssassin assigns a score to every incoming email, and by default (at least under Gentoo) it quarantines anything with a score of 6.32 or greater. I found that this was a little loose and was still getting more junk emails than I should so I lowered the score to 5.26 which has given me my current results of an average of 6 junk emails per day. I been watching the incoming junk mails that get through and most of them have a score of 3.5 or less which I think is too low to change to and may end up classifying actual emails as junk. But I’ll likely play with the number slightly over time. In the meantime, I’m extremely pleased with the results. Cutting the junk down 90% is success in my mind.

I’m not sure where, but I seem to recall reading an article or blog about improper use of the aviation frequency 126.7. Maybe it was TC’s Aviation Safety Letter or COPA’s Flight. I actually thought it was one of Michael Oxner’s entries on his Controller’s Corner blog but I couldn’t find anything there or on any of the archives of my regularly read blogs either.

Not that it matters. The gist of the article was about improper use of the 126.7 frequency, which is commonly known as the enroute frequency, and is used to both contact FSS and to blindly broadcast position reports as you cruise towards your destination. My policy is to broadcast as often as possible and when nearby another airport of some sorts, to broadcast on that frequency also. And, at the same time, unless flying IFR or under flight following, I will listen to both frequencies at all times for fear of missing someone’s transmission while on the other frequency. And if only every had a similar policy, it may be that accidents such as the one near Brandon may not have happened.

The interesting thing for me about the article I mentioned at the start is that the article talked about how the frequency shouldn’t be used for idle chit-chat or anything other than position reports. I found it rather odd that such an article would exist. I had never in all my cross country flying time heard anything on 126.7 other than position reports or updates from FSS. And due to my military background, where we never spent more than a few seconds talking on the radio if at all, I would never think of having a ‘conversation’ using the radio on a frequency that is clearly to be used otherwise.

But that changed on my recent trip from Springbank (CYBW) to Prince George (CYXS). On the return flight just south east of Grande Prairie, I switched from monitoring the mandatory frequency (MF) to monitoring 126.7. Actually, I switched the talk frequency to 126.7 while maintaining a listening watch still on the Grande Prairie MF just in case. I quickly broadcast a position report and waited for any replies. There was nothing on the frequency until I was approaching Smokey River. I didn’t actually notice the river but there was a position report given for the Grande Prairie area as ”over the Smokey river” so I grabbed my VFR map off the dash and scanned for the river. As it happens, V301 crosses over that river on it’s way to Whitecourt and since I wasn’t clear as to where the reporting traffic was, I figured I’d give an updated report of my own and hopefully figure out where the other traffic was.

That plan, however, was short lived as someone immediately came over the radio with ”Is that you, John? What are you up to today?” or words to that effect. It was bizarre to hear two people talking as if they were in a neighbourhood pub about how thing were going. But what was unnerving was the fact that as they blabbered on, leaving me unable to get my position report in, I was rapidly approaching the Smokey River area. And as by the time these two jokers were done their conversation, I was past the Smokey River and hadn’t been able to pick either of the two aircraft. While the sky is big and open, the chance of mid-air collisions does exist and I think in this case, my choice of following a Victor airway at a proper eastern altitude of 7500 feet (5000 feet above the ground) probably avoided any potential conflicts. For me, it was just another reason to ensure that (a) I fly high enough to avoid the laisez-faire pilots; (b) I get flight following; or (c) I fly under IFR (which I soon hope to have).

Another intersting side note; I had always thought that everyone was familiar with Victor airways. Last year when I flew to Dauphin, MB, I followed airways most of the trip and at one point actually flew 1000 under another VFR aircraft flying the same airway in the opposite direction. But on this trip to Prince George, I actually had someone ask me over the radio what ’Victor 301’ was as he wasn’t familiar with this landmark. Perhaps the pilot was a rotory pilot and they aren’t taught the same things? I dunno. But regardless, between that and the clowns chit-chats, I was appreciative the good training given to me a decade ago when I was doing my private licence and my good sense to follow most of it.

When I started using Linux back in the mid-1990s, Macintosh computers were crap. The machines were expensive, the OS was unstable and there weren’t much in the way of applications outside of some stuff for publishers and artists. Windows wasn’t much better but at least the hardware was cheaper and people were building applications like they were going out of style.

I chose Linux because for me, it was the best tool for the job at the time. And as a programmer it was exciting to be a part of this growing, viral movement called open source. And it was even more exciting to help out, whether it was actual coding or tracking down bugs or in the case of the more complex stuff, simply reporting bugs and feeding other developers more information. Sure, at times it was a struggle but the world needs people willing to dig in an help out. The problem with today’s world, no matter what the realm? Everyone wants to take the easy route.

Linux is the near-perfect operating system for me. Everything I need works. Yes, there have been hiccups, issues, and various other struggles. And if I hadn’t been using this particular laptop, Linux would be THE perfect operating system. But I like the portability of a laptop and it’s nice to be able to work on various projects no matter where you are, rather than working on business stuff on a business computer and personal stuff on a home computer. But since I was using a laptop for it’s portability not for it’s suspend/resume, the fact that ACPI-driven sleep modes didn’t work really didn’t matter; it was simply a ’nice to have’. So did I mind? No. Was I able to build a 10 employee business on top of Linux and then sell it? Yes. Was I able to build a handful of personal and side projects on top of Linux? Yes. Do I regret my choice of Linux? Not for a second.

And why would I switch to OSX now? Because some stuff works? I’m sure some of it does, but not everything, as I wrote last year. Every product, whether it’s a car, an aeroplane, a MP3 player or an operating system has it’s good side and it’s bad side. The grass is always greener somewhere else and in the case of Macintosh, that grass looks like every neighbourhood dog has done it’s business on it. No that’s okay, I’ll stick with what’s best for me, not what some Jehovah’s Witness like evangelist tells me I should switch to.

Now, ten years later after starting out with Linux, what’s changed? Well, Macintosh machines are still more expensive. The operating system is more stable, though that’s only because Apple built their OSX ontop of BSD. And although some people are quick to critisize open source software, Linux and BSD are basically fancy kernels with open source software built around them. In fact, Safari is built using KDE’s KHTML code. And the biggest change of all is that under Apple’s executives “great” leadership, Apple has seen it’s Macintosh market share eroded down to a handful of people who buy machines because they’re pretty looking and because Apple makes them. Instead of buying something that suits their needs, they buy something because the product name starts with a styled, italic letter ’i’.

But I won’t tell you to switch to a different OS. What you decide to use should be a personal choice and/or an informed decision based on various factors. And how presumptuous of me to know what you, the reader, might want? That said however, personally, I can’t wait to see all those suckers lay down their money for iCrap.

Since owning this Dell Latitude C840, I’ve been in a constant struggle with various aspects of it’s use. I’ve had nvidia driver issues, wireless issues, modem issues, fan issues, docking station issues and external monitor issues. But no issue has driven me crazy more than the fact that I couldn’t suspend the laptop. At one point when I first got the laptop and was running Red Hat Linux I think it would suspend using APM but that’s so long ago I no longer remember if that is truth or fantasy.

But recently this year I started mucking around with suspend again. It was the first time I’d really tried since I last wrote about my troubles. The problem with trouble shooting suspend problems is that it’s very disruptive to doing actual work; if things go bad (which they inevitably did) you end up rebooting and trying again. I spent a few hours trying in early July while on holiday at North Buck Lake without success and given the age of the laptop decided that it was simply time to give up. The machine would suspend and resume just fine now, but on resume the LCD backlight would fail to come back on. And without that backlight, reading the LCD is next to impossible.

But I absolutely hate unsolved problems; it’s a curse for me. If something doesn’t work, I think about it until it gets solved. So this morning, I tried again. I did a bunch of research with Google and discovered that various people had been successful, using xset or vbetool or combination thereof. So I wrote a shell script to run on suspend, which was a mish-mash of various things people had tried, but again no backlight.

That is until, I tried using those tools to first turn off the backlight (via dpms) before the suspend. And, that did the trick. As such, my three year struggle with suspend/resume on my Dell Latitude C840 is over.

Here’s the script I use to suspend the laptop:

#!/bin/sh

#------------------------------------------------------------
# ACPI - suspend script
#  - enhanced by Douglas Robertson
#
# To Do:
#  - track what networks were brought down and bring back up
#  - track what modules were loaded and reload on resume
#  - ???
#------------------------------------------------------------

if which fgconsole > /dev/null 2>&1 ; then
    XHACKS_ORIGINAL_VT=`fgconsole`
else
    XHACKS_ORIGINAL_VT=1
fi

chvt 1
VBEMODE=`vbetool vbemode get`
vbetool dpms suspend


# down with the network!
ifconfig eth0 down
ifconfig eth1 down
ifconfig eth2 down
ifconfig wlan0 down

# remove usb modules
rmmod uhci_hcd
rmmod ehci_hcd

# remove any other modules that are known to wreak havoc
rmmod tg3
rmmod ide-cd
# ???

sync

echo mem > /sys/power/state

sleep 1

modprobe uhci_hcd
modprobe ehci_hcd
modprobe tg3
modprobe ide-cd
modprobe ndiswrapper

chvt $XHACKS_ORIGINAL_VT

vbetool dpms on
vbetool vbemode set $VBEMODE
xset dpms force on

# up with the network!
ifconfig wlan0 up
#ifconfig eth2 up
ifconfig eth1 up
ifconfig eth0 up

It works for me; hopefully it helps those who have also struggled in the quest to suspend/resume with a working backlight. If you have issues you can try contacting me, but I’ll warn you that I’m no expert. Not at all. Though after thre years you think I would be.