Yann's Blog - Software and hardware

I’ve loaded a part of my back-catalog of software to github. Included into the transfer is:

• an old Python application server (Cymbeline)
• an audio player library (PyAudioPlay)
• a project which combines the two (Shallot)
• and even a very minimal NTP replacement (SNTS)

Note that this software is from the 2004 vintage, which reflects a previous era (before Git, before the end of college, etc). It was languishing on the StackFoundry website prior to its overhaul; I also couldn’t simply throw it away.

Also loaded onto github are slightly newer projects, such as:

• the static site generator qsgen
• a movie file browser (quick movie)
• the ptee process/subshell tee augmentation
• and finally an X11 keyboard wedge program for barcode readers (softwedge).

Most of the previous pages at StackFoundry now redirect to the appropriate github page.

Enjoy!

As a statistic for the internet, I would like to report that my Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter works just fine. I purchased it from new stock at an Apple store on April 2nd, and am using it with a 2009 Mac Mini base model (+ putty knife upgraded RAM). The monitor is an NEC LCD3090WQXi, running happily at 2560×1600.

Which brings up two main complaints:

I know this is an active adapter, with a full DisplayPort to DVI protocol converter (and high bandwidth DVI for that matter). But why is it $99? That is 1/6th of the value of a new Mini.

And why does the new Mini still ship with the same gargantuan power brick that the original Mini shipped with? Its nearly 1/3rd the size of the computer! I know Apple has worked hard to miniaturize power adapters – every other adapter is much smaller! Even the Time Capsule has a built-in power supply…

Just a quick little update not related to any ongoing projects (more on the projects later).

I’ve created a profile on Ohloh.net and imported several projects into it. I’m still trying to hunt down my old subversion repositories for Cymbeline and PyAudioPlay, but I’ve done something with them and can’t seem to find them. But on the flipside, Ohloh seems to think IRM is worth $2million dollars, or about $2.50 Canadian.

So, long story short. I have a ThinkPad T60P, non-widescreen edition. I run Ubuntu 7.10 Gustry on it (after Windows did a suicide on its self).

It features a Mobility Radeon FireGL V5200 (the Widescreen models may use a V5250 – you’ve been warned) . Out of the box, the last fglrx driver to support this card is 8.35. Yes, the FireGL driver doesn’t support FireGL cards anymore, so says the top-notch driver division at ATI.

The 8.35 driver has some important breakages:

- Can’t suspend or resume (on Kernels with a SLUB allocator, like Ubuntu)

- Can’t hibernate (ditto)

- Weird things happen when you’re dual monitored and start X without a monitor connected.

-

But, perhaps the 8.42.3 driver, hot off the presses, fixes some of that right?  I sought to find out.

The biggest hurdle is 8.42.3 doesn’t support FireGL cards. Ooops. But thanks to these forum posts and mini-patch, it is possible to use the card. For the record, I’m using the provided defaults for CARDIDs.

 http://www.phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5203

Next up, you have to grab a 8.35 installer packet, extract it (–extract), and then copy common/ati/control over /etc/ati/control, or you’re forever running around with a fantastic watermark in the right corner (whoever thought that was a great idea at ATI deserves to get shot).

So, after mucking with it for an hour, I’ve concluded

- Suspend works, but resume does not, when in multiple monitor mode (wtf)

- Ditto for hibernate

- Compiz runs, but doesn’t really work well at all.

This is in stark contrast to the NVidia-GLX driver, which I use on my desktop, and is a fantastic piece of work, never breaks, and delivers outstanding performance.

Maybe 8.42.4… Or RadeonHD. Or just buy a new laptop with n Nvidia card.

atphttpd is another old software application from the my software archives. Its a very simplistic, memory caching web server, back when it was all the rage to develop web servers, especially for performance It achieved quite some good benchmarks on a dual Pentium 166 running FreeBSD 3.0 – which should give you some idea of the age of the source.

Software license is BSD based. Feel free to mess with it, but word of warning, its not very good (this was a high-school-era programming project – design is not part of the picture).

atphttpd-04btar.gz

Hoax maybe, but it is funny. I present you with a good example of how not to ask a question.

http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=499980&start=0&tstart=0

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The random musings of Yann for those that wish to see it.