STOTBIG

This is a page for "feeding Google." Every so often, I search for something and discover that (gasp!) the information isn't in Google! But Google ought to know everything!

Hence, this page of 'Stuff That Ought To Be In Google'. These are some small nuggets of information that I have found out myself, and which were not (at the time) available on the web. Hopefully, they will be useful...

Rio Carbon works with Linux

The Rio Carbon (mp3 player) works with Linux. It is a USB Mass-storage device (as /dev/sdX). In Mandrake 10.1, it "just works".

Rio Karma and .m3u playlists refer to parent directory

The Rio Karma (Ogg/mp3 player) handles .m3u (playlist) files badly. The lines in the .m3u file have to point one directory higher than you would expect. Eg a directory called Mozart/ containing files Allegro.ogg, Andante.ogg, Vivace.ogg, and Concerto.m3u would have the following entries in Concerto.m3u:
   Mozart/Allegro.ogg
   Mozart/Andante.ogg
   Mozart/Vivace.ogg
This applies to the Rio Music Manager Lite (Java) applet.
[Yes, this behaviour is wrong, and the resulting .m3u file won't work in any other program.]

I wrote a script to convert the playlists. Note: you must also have at least version 2004-09-28 of rmmlite.jar; the version (2004-01-15) included on the player will NOT work.
Other than that, the Karma is a fantastic player, with excellent sound quality and interface.

Setting the encryption password for a HomePlug Turbo with Linux

The HomePlug Turbo Powerline Ethernet (Fla85) devices work fine with Linux. However, the supplied configuration utility only runs under MSWindows (not even under wine). Thus, we cannot set the DES-56 encryption password... ...But they have the same chipset as the more-expensive devolo dLAN devices. So we can use devolo's Linux driver :-)

Download it from here, then: untar; ./configure (needs libpcap0-devel); make; make install-cfgtool. Then, for each device, run dlanconfig eth0 (as root), and choose option 1 to set local password.

dlanconfig is actually rather a good tool. You can even monitor network throughput of remote devices with it. It has a well written man page too. On my network, I have measured an average transfer rate of 4 Mbyte/sec for scp (which is respectable, but not nearly the expected 85 Mbit/sec); note that this is significantly reduced by extension leads.

Note: ./dlanconfig won't run directly from the source directory; it has to be installed.

IBM/Lenovo external USB keyboard with Ultranav: disabling page-left/right buttons

I'm a great fan of the IBM trackpoints, to the extent that I use an UltraNav USB keyboard on my main desktop PC, in order to have a trackpoint. (This means I can use the mouse without moving my hands from typing position). BUT, above the arrow keys (in the gap that would normally be present above the "inverted-T"), IBM have fitted page-left and page-right buttons. These map to back/forward in a web-browser, so striking these by accident when trying to scroll can lead to data loss!

On an actual thinkpad, these keys emit unique keycodes, so it's very easy to configure them to be simply ignored. But on the USB UltraNav keyboard, these keys have no unique keycode, but are mapped in hardware to be equivalent to (Left_Alt + Left_Arrow)  or  (Left_Alt + Right_Arrow). This is insane.

The solution is simple. Firstly, lift the key-cap off the keyboard. The easiest way to do this is to hook the fingernails of the left and right index fingers under each side, and pull. This won't break the key. You'll then see a plastic "bubble" which sticks up. This is what transfers the force from the key to the switch. Tear it off. Warning: this will permanently de-activate that switch. Then, press the key-cap back into place: place it in position, aligning the lower side (the one nearest the typist) of the key first. Then a gentle press on the key will click it back. Enjoy your new, typo-proof keyboard.

How to (forcibly) Un-install DriveSentry under Vista

Drive Sentry is, in my view, even more annoying than UAC. A friend's Vista-laptop has become almost unusable as a result, and the nagging is incessant. It's almost impossible to uninstall it. None of the following methods work:

   * Regular uninstallation from the GUI (Add/Remove programs)
   * Deleting DriveSentry.exe from the command-prompt (whether or not this is run as administrator)
   * Deleting DriveSentry.exe from Windows Explorer (whether or not this is run as administrator)
   * Use Ctrl-Alt-Del to bring up Task Manager, kill the Drive Sentry process, then try to repeat the above.

In most cases, Drive Sentry detects you're trying to delete it, and blocks this; otherwise Vista's UAC is responsible. So, what does work? Here's how I did it:

   * Download an Ubuntu live CD. Any modern Linux distribution will do (as long as it has NTFS-write support).
   * Burn the ISO image, then boot the CD.
   * Open a console (gnome-terminal).
   * Become root: sudo su
   * Mount the windows partition: mkdir /tmp/vista; mount /dev/sda1 /tmp/vista (Note: the value of sda1 may vary)
   * Delete DriveSentry.exe: rm "/tmp/vista/Program Files/DriveSentry/DriveSentry.exe" (This deletes the executable)
   * Unmount the windows partition: umount /tmp/vista
   * Shutdown the Ubuntu Live CD, and enjoy slightly less nagging.

Of course, Linux beats Windows any day, but if you really are stuck with Vista, the above makes life a little more bearable.