ReneKMueller.com: Computer Diary *

Here my little rant and praise place, where the daily experiences of my programming work are expressed. I publish them with the idea that others might find it useful and benefit from it.

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{ http://www.interweb.in/attachments/dell/9200d1210603635-dell-latitude-c600-laptop-dell-latitude-c600-laptop.jpg|Dell Latitude C600 Laptop|local} I got an older *Dell Latitude C600* (2003), with 1440x1050 pixels large 14.1" LCD screen, still functional, but 256MB RAM only (upgraded to 384MB). Kubuntu 9.04 didn't work on it, the screen was unreadable, the drivers for the _ATI Mobility M3 Video Accelerator_ seem not working for the rather odd resolution (update: found [http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=828588|HOW TO: Fix video problem on the Dell Latitude C600/C500]). In order to still use the machine, I installed Windows XP SP2 - for me as Open Source evangelist a difficult task compromising my life long attitude to avoid Windows by Microsoft. Here are the most useful packages to make Windows XP useable: -[Cygwin.org], most UNIX commands natively compiled like useful programs: screen, ssh, scp, tar etc. -*Terminator*, descent terminal emulator, requires python and ruby from Cygwin (dropped its use and rather run sshd and use putty) -[http://virtuawin.sourceforge.net/|VirtualWin], virtual screens for Windows XP (alternatively also [Dexpot.de], or parts of [http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx|XP Power Tools]) -[VirtualBox.org], virtual machine, installing Ubuntu Mini distribution on it to have a pure UNIX -and the usual programs: [http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/|Mozilla Firefox], [http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/|Mozilla Thunderbird], [Opera.com], [OpenOffice.org], [GIMP,org], [Inkscape.org] -*SMplayer*, plays DVDs and most video formats -*Putty*, ssh client -[Skype.com], to voice/video chat -Flash Plugin, to view streamed video in webpages { Pics/WinXP-Dell-C600.jpg |Windows XP on a Dell Latitude C600 (1440x1050)|width=450} ==Upgrades== Since this laptop has only USB 1.1, the 1TB USB HD _My Book Essential_ (CHF 100, MediaMarkt.ch 2009/9) is slow, about 200-500KB/s transfer rate. The USB webcam _Genius Eye 312_ (CHF 20, MediaMarkt.ch 2009/9) works, but the USB wireless adapter _Netgear WG111v3_ (CHF 30, MediaMarkt.ch 2009/9) isn't working properly, every 30Min I'm cut off, even the access point is close by and good signal strength is indicated - the typical low quality of network drivers from all the "cheap" adapters like Netgear. Anyway, I try to make the best out of the situation to use Windows XP with this machine: -1GHz Pentium III -384MB RAM (256MB+128MB) -IDE 20GB local disk -USB 1TB external disk -USB 54Mbps wifi adapter -USB Webcam 640x480/30fps total cost CHF 150 (apprx. Euro 100), plus a laptop bag (CHF 30, MediaMarkt.ch 2009/9) ==What I like== I have to say, there are a few things which please me to use XP: -USB devices can be plugged in, and icons show up, and I can explore the content, like for USB sticks and other devices, hassle free. -Webcam works right away with Skype -GUI is responsive, basic features are intuitive -Easy to change fonts to be antialiasing -Widerange of apps available, but I'm rather reluctant to download from unknown companies or individuals ==What I don't like== -Rebooting the machine, and often low resolution of 1024x768 shows up, all desktop icons are rearranged - and have to change resolution again to 1440x1050 and arrange the desktop icons again -Annoying "Auto Play" feature for new USB devices, even I turned it off it's ignored -Unstable wireless, very annoying -I tried to NAT between the wifi and the ethernet LAN, followed the tutorials but still didn't work, little debugging information (no /var/log/*) -External USB disk turns off when machine goes into sleep/hibernation (which is good), when it awakes, the USB disk is considered newly plugged in ==Filling 1TB== { http://www.4-betterdeals.com/an/components/com_virtuemart/shop_image/product/WD_My_Book_Essen_492d76731a05a.jpg|Western Digital 1TB My Book Essential|local} I use the laptop for an off-grid setting where I will have limited electricity, like from a small solar panel, and therefore an older laptop is just right for this application. The 1TB _My Book Essential_ from Western Digital for just roughly CHF 100 / Euro 68 was a good option to carry my data of the past 20 years with me, formated under XP with NTFS (r/w also under Linux and MacOS-X) - but there was no way to copy all my data via USB 1.1 and 200-500KB/s only. So I attached it to a desktop with Kubuntu 9.04 with USB 2.0 ports, and it worked right away (ntfsprogs was already installed), after plugin in the /dev/sdb was listed, and I mounted it via :*mkdir /mnt/mybook1tb/; mount /dev/sdb1/ /mnt/mybook1tb/* and then I started to copy all my data from the server which exports all data to the desktop via NFS, on the USB disk using piped tar like this :*tar cf - dir1 dir2 ... | (cd /mnt/mybook1tb/; tar xfv -)* and this copy session I started within a screen session. The transfer rate is about 10GB/h or 2.7MB/s, which is about 4-10x faster than with USB 1.1; so the transfer of 900GB takes 90hrs or 3.75 days. ==Advanced Usage== Since I still do pretty much web development, and switched from Apache to Lighttpd I was pleased to see lighttpd ported to Cygwin as well. Now I needed a small dns server to resolve my local web-sites like http://test.local, and [MaraDNS.org] compiled just fine. *Note:* the loopback device 127.0.0.1 isn't up by default, you actually need to install it as a device; e.g. when you are off-line without any network connection this might be needed so your local DNS is considered, as there is no way to define a default DNS lookup at Windows XP like at UNIX with /etc/resolv.conf - when you have a network connection, then the DNS entries of that network is considered. I run my own little CMS as a Perl CGI and it required a module Image::Size, which I installed like this :*perl -MCPAN -e 'install Image::Size'* the first attempt failed, as it was quite memory hungry to fetch and compile it, and the 'child_fork' emulation using longjmp failed; after quitting some other apps it worked, and the module was in. Impressive to see Perl install compiled modules on a Non-UNIX system like Windows XP with Cygwin; needless to say this is also due the GCC which is so widerange supported. ==X11== X11 is also ported, and in order to use X11 apps mixed with native XP apps, start :*X -multiwindow &* and *export DISPLAY=:0.0* so other apps know which display to use. ==Result== -Most UNIX commands using Cygwin incl. xterm -Local DNS using [MaraDNS.org], locally compiled -Lightweight webserver using [Lighttpd.net], precompiled in Cygwin Install the init.d structure from the Cygwin package, and adding in /etc/rc.d/rc.local a few lines to start up DNS, HTTPD and X11. ==Reconsidering== Chicken Egg problem caught me, I was using a bare laptop, and tried to get Kubuntu on it, failed at the first attempt; installed XP and installed the stuff I need, and discovered there is a solution for the X11 config. After a few hours I concluded following: -X11 with 1400x1050 works, dedicated xorg.conf required (probing doesn't work) -Webcam works under Linux with a new driver and dedicated compiling -Netgear Wifi works under Linux with a new driver and dedicated compiling ([http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=732827|see solution]) which is the "usual" additional work to get peripherie working, also something I'm not willing to invest anymore. I tried Kubuntu 9.04 on various systems, and I'm rather disappointed of the unfinished piece of software, and I'm tired to configure simple networking by editing 2-3 files, instead by a handy one page GUI. So, I wait til Kubuntu 9.x has matured, and give it a try with a Live System, and then if I get full resolution, and decent GUI for network administration incl. WPA Wifi settings, I gonna switch again to Linux. ==Interesting Findings== While trying to resolve the annoying wifi connectivity loss, I discovered that it did matter a lot of the orientation of the USB wifi adapter: I attached the stick with "klett" on the back of the laptop screen, first vertically, and then turned it horizontally and the signal strength of the access point increased significantly. I also discovered my older Netgear WG602v2 AP was much better than the brand new D-Link DIR-301, very odd - but what remained was occasionally wifi network drops and reconnection, definitely Netgear WG111v3 network driver issue.
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