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Love for Gmail is not Immediate Thursday, March 22, 2007 12:48:36 I've been using Gmail exclusively for well over a year now and I have been promoting it since the first month of use. I think it's that first month that people need to get through before they're happy with it. I'm in the process of moving all of the email services that I've been managing for the last few years off of my server and into Google Applications for Domains services. It's a completely simple task and it makes a lot of sense for me because there's one less thing to manage at the drop of a hat. It's still going to be there, but now if it's down, it's not mission critical. Also, for those checking email from home, it takes no bandwidth from here, it's between you and your local Gmail server. Your computer could die, you could just be booted into a different operating system, but either way all of your data's stored outside of your computer and you become impermeable to system failure. No more waiting for the IT guy who is too busy to breathe to fix you up. People resist change, but once you're into Gmail, your life will be forever changed for the better. The problem is, getting to that point takes time. For most people it takes about a month. The problem with my current scenario at the office is that I'm forcing people to get in the Gmail spirit. Whether they like it or not. That's not an easy buy in, but some people are very accommodating, seeking the new knowledge, some people love to bitch and complain about it, which is not met by kind and loving ears by myself. You think I want this hassle? You think I'm doing this for fun? Fuck no! I'm doing it because this is better and it's happening because one day your computer will die or you'll be working from home and you'll want to check your mail to get that joke that your uncle Larry sent you at work, or you'll want to check your 50 calendars to confirm that you don't have any conflicts... then you'll get it and you'll regret being all pissy at me because I'm making you learn something. I could never be a teacher. I don't have the patience or the tolerance for people to teach. Some people say I'm a good teacher, but I guess those people see me on good days and don't ask questions that I haven't already answered. Oh, and for the record, I found a solution to a problem that I couldn't find earlier... To export an Outlook distribution list into a Gmail contact group is actually a quick and easy process. 1. Double click on the distribution list so it pops up in Outlook, click File -> Save As and save it as text. 2. Open your text file in Excel, and then change the top row to Name and Email Address for the first two fields. Delete the rows in between the top row and the first contact and then save the file over top of the other one. 3. Open Gmail, click Contacts, then Import in the top right. In the pop-up browse for the text file and then Import Contacts. Once imported open both your All Contacts list and in the background, your Excel with that same distribution list still open. 4. Scroll down your contact list, checking off all of the names which are to be on your Google Group using your Excel then in the drop down box at the top, add to new Group.

A Vista Tip Wednesday, March 14, 2007 15:34:45      So I've been using Windows Vista since the weekend and so far, I'm not all that impressed. It's still got quite a few bugs that should have been figured out before they released it. For example the Windows Sidebar is a CPU hog when those applications shouldn't be doing anything and today's miraculous discovery that the start menu runs incredibly slow unless you remove the check in the box for "Highlight newly installed programs". Fortunately for me, I know how to use Google so I've been able to track these issues down and fix them up. The main reason I wanted to try Vista is because of this ReadyBoost feature that I read about. Basically it allows you to throw any extra memory chip into your machine and use it as more RAM. When I'm running a bunch of memory pigs at once, it would be nice to have more RAM and $60 for 2GB of Secure Digital media to add to my 1GB of RAM sounds better than $3000 for 4GB of high-speed dual channel laptop RAM.      So psyched about St. Patrick's day! Our celebration was almost cancelled because Brianne's grandmother's birthday is on the 19th. (Un)fortunately, Brianne's uncle is under the weather and their house isn't ready to have guests in it yet so the birthday bash was bumped to the following week and our St. Patrick's day celebration is back on. We're going to have some people over and do that old partying thing.      Another one... All day long my computer's been running really slow online, so I looked it up, yet another Vista feature. I had to run "netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=disabled" from a command prompt running as Administrator to make TCP stack go away. It was running like I had an MTU issue where small sites would come through instantly but anything big would just time out. All fixed, back to the races.

MythTV Problem Solving Causes More Work Tuesday, February 20, 2007 08:50:12      Okay, this is the first techie note I'm writing on my site that will be syndicated to facebook. This happens every once in a while where I go through the process of doing something and want to record my steps for later. So for all of you facebook peoples who have clicked on this, I can assure you now that you'll have no interest in this, but happy Fat Tuesday!      And now on with the geekyness... I've been having a problem on my MythTV backends where it will record and then the ivtv driver which controls the encoder cards complains a lot that it has to drop MPEG data. Originally I chased down ivtv versions for newer ones which might fix this issue, but it appears that the whole thing is MythTV's problem. When a recording happens the database updates that need to be done are being done in the same thread as the recordings. Since my master backend isn't a $10,000 server, it takes time to return from those updates and while it's returning, it doesn't record the stream from the encoder and you end up with blocky and gross looking video for the first couple seconds of a show. (Typically you only catch the punch line of the joke before the credits, which is highly annoying.)      Fortunately a patch exists to fix all of the problems, unfortunately the MythTV developers don't think that this is a big problem so they won't roll that patch into the main distribution. That means that if you're suffering from this problem, you have to compile your own MythTV. Which sucks for those of us running more than one computer on the network because they all have to be the same version.      So, if you're hell bent on solving this issue here's the steps that worked for me. First, we update the dependencies from packages because it's quicker and easier than compiling everything... # yum update lame -y # yum install lame-devel qt-devel libXv-devel libXxf86vm-devel libXmu-devel -y Now that will bring your lame up to the latest and install the latest libraries so that you can compile against them. If you've followed Jarod Wilson's Fedora Howto you'll already have atrpms and freshrpms set up so this will just work for you. Now you need the mythtv sources and then you need to compile them which will take a while. You may find that you need to reboot after you've installed those packages. It seems the include path for qt isn't found on some systems during the mythtv compile unless I do. # cd /usr/src # svn co http://svn.mythtv.org/svn/trunk/mythtv mythtv # cd mythtv # wget -O asyncdb.12694.patch \ "http://svn.mythtv.org/trac/attachment/ticket/1660/asyncdb.12694.patch?format=raw" # patch -p0 < asyncdb.12694.patch # ./configure # make # make install Once that's all built and installed you'll have to remove the myth packages that you have installed and then run the new binaries that you've built. If these instructions are updated, they'll be available here. Sunday, February 25, 2007 09:19:34 Ian writes: Once mythtv's installed you may need to link the libraries so that everything works happily. I did that by creating /etc/ld.so.conf.d/mythtv-i386.conf and I put this in it: /usr/local/lib /usr/local/lib/mythtv/filters Then if you want mythbackend to start up automagically... # cp /usr/src/mythtv/contrib/etc.rc.d.init.d.mythbackend \ /etc/rc.d/init.d/mythbackend # cp /usr/src/mythtv/contrib/etc.sysconfig.mythbackend \ /etc/sysconfig/mythbackend # /sbin/chkconfig --add mythbackend # /sbin/chkconfig mythbackend on Sunday, February 25, 2007 10:17:39 Ian writes: Now, for mythplugins to work, you need to update some dependencies and install whatever else is missing: # yum update lirc lirc-devel lirc-lib-devel alsa-lib libgcrypt -y # yum install kdevelop libtiff-devel libmad-devel libid3tag-devel \ flac-devel libcdaudio-devel cdparanoia-devel -y Then download and compile it... # cd /usr/src # svn co http://svn.mythtv.org/svn/trunk/mythplugins mythplugins # cd mythplugins # ./configure # make # make install If you want to install the scripts so that the mythvideo metadata fetching works... # mkdir -p /usr/share/mythtv/mythvideo/scripts # rsync -av /usr/src/mythplugins/mythvideo/mythvideo/scripts/ /usr/share/mythtv/mythvideo/scripts/ Sunday, February 25, 2007 11:57:38 Ian writes: There's a problem with the video4linux kernel module for 2.6.19 and 2.6.18 and when you install the rpm from atrpms with yum it works immediately, but not on a reboot. Your PC will sit at "Starting udev: " and then after a while it will say something about going to runlevel 5 and then you'll be stuck at a login prompt which instead of saying your hostname will say "(None)". If you're already at that point, boot to your Fedora Core CD/DVD and type "linux rescue" at the prompt and then don't bring up your network interfaces. Once the system's loaded type "chroot /mnt/sysimage" as instructed and then "ifup eth0". Then you can follow the second and third steps below so that your system will boot properly again. If you weren't stuck with that already and you want to make your PVR-350 work with video out, you have to steal that saa7127 module which is missing. You could rebuild your kernel, but it's pretty quick to steal it from the atrpms package. So my work-around is as follows... Start by downloading the rpm normally, then taking all the file that we need from that archive and putting them in our kernel directory. Then we remove that package and reboot. # yum install video4linux-kmdl-`uname -r` -y # cp /lib/modules/2.6.19-1.2911.fc6/updates/drivers/media/video/saa7127.ko \ /lib/modules/2.6.19-1.2911.fc6/kernel/drivers/media/video/ # yum remove video4linux-kmdl-`uname -r` -y

Firkin's ass isn't as smart as I thought Wednesday, February 14, 2007 22:45:50      I was going to write a whole thing about how smart Firkin's feet are because I left my laptop open and went out and when I got back and turned it on, my password wouldn't work. Usually I just get back and have to press Ctrl-Z until Firkin's changes to my programs are fixed, but this time he pressed the power button which hibernated the machine. Since I thought the bastard had changed my password I could have just booted to safe mode and changed mine, but Brianne made a good point and we thought it would be cool to check to see what his ass managed to set my password to. After getting rid of all of the bogus "buy our stupid shit" software matches, I found the Ophcrack live CD. This magical little ISO is actually quite fantastic. Just pop it in your drive if you've lost your Windows password and it only takes a short amount of time (700 seconds in my case to break out 5 passwords) and you'll have your missing password. I'll have to put that little tool on my portable USB drive for just such an occasion on someone else's system. I'll likely never have to ask a customer for their password again. Now that's a tool I can use.

Saturday, February 10, 2007 16:59:54      Today is shaping up to be quite the day. Originally Brianne was working so I thought I'd just spend the day at home but then I talked to Tony and he invited me over so I went over to his place for a nice lunch, a couple rounds of pool and then we (he) played some guitar. Then I talked to Tom and he was going to replace a router so I said I'd come by and see what's up with that and then I came to the office and then I broke this system is on his desk. It had busted like three times already this week and been replaced by Dell each time. So for the last two hours we've been on hold with the turds at Dell who are completely useless. And now, they've got to be called again to replace the system. So friggin' useless. Fortunately tonight sounds like it's going to be fun. Brianne's staying over at Adrienne's and we're going to cook some good food, play some pool then we's a goin' to Failte.

Next Year's Superbowl Might Be Cooler for Rich Canadians Wednesday, February 7, 2007 16:29:16      According to this article on Digital Home's site the CRTC is putting it's foot down on HD signal substitutions. During the Superbowl on Sunday Global television substituted some of its HD feed for standard definition feed because it was theirs instead of CBS'. So the poor shmoes who are paying extra for high definition got to watch some ugly standard definition and the CRTC says no more. I think that's pretty fair. I've always wanted to be able to watch the 2.5 million dollar 30 second commercials anyway. Maybe for next year I'll get an HD subscription and an HD card for my MythTV system. Hardly seems worth it for one day, I need the broadcasters to up their ante when it comes to their shows for me to subscribe. Maybe in a couple of years...

Drop Your Weapon! It's too cold! Tuesday, February 6, 2007 14:26:42      This cold snap sucks. Word from the weather gurus is that it's going to last for at least another seven days. I think my new location at the office could have contributed to this cold that I have that just won't go away. I'm around the corner from the office so I have to go outside and then back in again to interact with co-workers, get coffee and mail and etc... I'm making a conscious effort to get more sleep this week, so hopefully that will pay off and I can be operating without this crutch before the weekend. I think it was last year that we had about the same amount of cold and it only lasted for a couple of weeks then it was all back to normal again. I can deal with that, too much cold isn't pleasant, but lots of snow is.      On a completely unrelated topic; have you been watching 24? This is the first season which I've been watching as it happens. I watched seasons 2 through 5 over the summer and fall to catch up for this one and I was way too excited for this. I think the season started off okay, but now it's been two weeks in a row with very little action and far too much drama with Jack's family. I'm hoping that it has a point to the plot and that a whole lot more action happens in the next few episodes.      And yet another completely unrelated topic; one of my customers ordered an IP camera so I've been playing with it so that I know all of the ins and outs with it, and so far I'm quite impressed. The camera's made by a company called 4XEM and they have quite the wide variety of affordable IP cameras. They're fairly plug and play too, they come with the software to run up to 16 cameras into one system and record all of their footage. Motion detection, frame rates and they even have audio. Pretty funky stuff.

Four Days of the Week Friday, February 2, 2007 10:48:28      You know, you people are obsessed. Friday is just another day of the week. It's just like the hype over Christmas or New Years. Sure, you're going to get silly, but it's just another day of the week. If it were up to me, everyone would be excited about every day. No exceptions. I guess that's not a really acceptable want because there are highs and lows and you wouldn't know what a high was if there wasn't a low. Days of the week just don't mean too much to me though. If I'm going to get something done, I'll just make time to do it, otherwise it won't ever get done. So if I want to get to the gym, I'll go at lunch because that's the best time for me. It may mean I have to spend a little longer at the office, but overall, I'll feel better because I went. There is one song about the days of the week that I like though... The Durex Hump Day Anthem Hump Day oh Hump Day you are what we seek Right smack dab there in the middle of the week Single or Married at the game or Ballet Durex offers us sex on this glorious... day. Thursdays are nice and Fridays don't suck But Wednesday's the day on which we should fuck!

Global Warming Thursday, January 18, 2007 15:29:00      I just went outside to pitch a dead UPS and I noticed that the ice from the roof of the greenhouse was melting and making a cool and massive icicle on the side of the building. I pushed on it and then looked up to see that it was coming away from the building already, so I figured I'd better stand back and get a picture of it before it falls, then I heard it creak so I switched to video mode on my camera and this is what I caught... Global Warming

Tailgate Caught on Film Thursday, January 11, 2007 23:53:37      Last night was the annual Landscape Ontario Tailgate Party and this years' theme was Landscape Ontario Idol. I recorded a couple of the fantastic performances on my camera, check 'em out... The Congrettes Tim

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