Acer Aspire One - With a real OS

I really like the Aspire One. Small. Cheap. Cheap. Small. Good keyboard. Shame the operating system sucks.

Well, it's time to change that. I recently installed Xandros onto the machine. Nice stuff, however, to get everything working well, you need to customise the kernel somewhat. A nice guy called sickboy has done all the hard work for you, so all you have to do is follow this guide :-)
The only problem that I've found with this setup is that VirtualBox doesn't work. It can't compile its happy module with sickboy's custom kernel, and without it's happy module, it just sulks.

Not to worry. A friend of mine has come up with a solution. I'll present it in a nice, number order, don't forget to do all this (except the package installing) in a shell (Terminal window to you) as root (sudo -s to get a root shell)...

Disclaimer: This guide is for advanced os tinkerers who don't mind killing their operating system on occasion in order to try things out. The install of Xandros alone is enough to erase your hard drive. You must at least understand this guide and understand the steps given before even attempting to continue - this guide will leave your computer in an unbootable state. This guide will rob your house & run off with your significant other. This is a quick hack. Your mileage may vary. Contents may have settled in transit. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

That said. On to the guide...

1. Download and install Xubuntu linux (plenty of sites on how to make a bootable usb disc)
2. Locate & download the custom kernel package from sickboy, along with the headers (try looking here)
3. Install said kernel module & headers. Reboot, possibly edit grub menu.lst, possibly not (I was drunk at this point in the install)
   
4. Download the kernel source from here (2.6.28 at the time of writing)
5. Download the latest VirtualBox package for Ubuntu here
   
6. Unpack the linux kernel source into /usr/src/ the path should now be /usr/src/linux-source-2.6.28
7. Link it to the default source tree: ln -s /usr/src/linux-2.6.28 /usr/src/linux
8. Move the header tree to stop spurious errors: mv /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.28 /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.28.sickboy
   
9. Copy the .config file from the sickboy headers to the linux source tree: cp -vR /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.28.sickboy/.config /usr/src/linux/
10. Now, change into the linux source directory (cd /usr/src/linux) and run the following command: make prepare
11. Finally you get to install that pre-downloaded virtualbox package. Off you go and have fun!

Full credit goes to that invertate os installer: Nyje for the extensive googling which went into preparing this for you...

A real phone... At last!

At long last, after many years of waiting, you can now (after jumping through many, many hoops) register yourself as an android developer (for the one-time fee of $25, of course). This gives you the option to purchase the Android Dev Phone 1.
This is a price worth paying for a phone which comes completely unlocked. No sim locking. No bootloader locking. No firmware locking. Excellent! I hear you cry. Where can I get me one of these babies?
We-eel, the answer, if you live in Greece, is you can't. Yet.
That's right. After jumping through the sort-your-credit-card-details out hoops on the website, and finally getting myself set up as a developer (like I'm going to use Java - ha!). I now have the option to buy the phone - as long as I live in the UK, or France, Switzerland and a few other European countries. This is a shame, as my beloved Nokia N95 has finally succumbed to the dubious charms of tap water, and I'm in the market for a new phone.
It looks like I'll have to ship it to my parents and get them to forwards it to me. What a pain in the arse...

Energy

There are issues abroad. Mainly regarding the use and abuse of energy.
It seems to have come to the attention of the free world™(read Americans) that energy is in short supply. Lots of proposals have come forwards regarding the replacement of petroleum-based products, however, a large portion of them are shot down as impractical.

Now. I have an issue with this. Let me explain...
The impractical camp usually come up with the explanation that renewables (as they are currently called) energy just doesn't have the energy density to compete against fossil fuels & that therefore (etc.) our glorious leader (read: The Leader Of The Free World™ Bush) is perfectly justified in raping the underdeveloped world {along with Alaska} to keep {y}our own fuel-hungry society going for a few weeks or months more.

How wrong can they be?

The issue isn't really energy density. It's really about energy efficiency. Anybody in the "impractical" camp can come to me and explain to me how I'm wrong and they're right. All I have to do is to show them that they can't build a fucking car with an engine smaller than 4 litres!

If you can do the same work (try hunting for a scientific definition of work) for less energy, then it's obvious that efficiency is your problem. Keep insisting that you run around your continent in 4 litre and higher fuel guzzlers, then bit-by-bit, the rest of the world will start finding ways to stop you.

Sorry if I offended some Americans there, but it's my experience that a little offence is a good defense!

iTunes and AppStore.

I'm not very happy with iTunes.

You see, I'd started buying apps from the Appstore for my iPod Touch™. Nothing major at the moment, just dipping my toe into the waters, as it were. Downloaded the Texas Hold-em poker game and their solitaire game, amongst a couple of others. Not bad little apps, I must say.

...However...

I decided a few days ago to reformat & reinstall my mac. Some stuff was randomly crashing and annoying me, so it was time to clean house, as it were. It would also give me the opportunity to set my machine up for multiple operating systems (another story). So, let's detail the procedure, shall we?

• Backup my iTunes folder & all the music to an external drive.
• Backup important documents.
• Create a list of apps I use.
• Pop in the OSX disc. Run disc utility to get a single partition (Bootcamp requirement).
• Do the install.

Ok. No problems so far...

• Copy iTunes folder back.
• Update iTunes.
• Sign back into iTunes, etc.
• Still got my music & playlists. Good.
  
• Reinstall relevant apps, etc.
• Pop iPod onto the charger. It syncs.
• Where the fuck's my apps?

I mean seriously. They've been removed from my iPod during the sync. Empty icons appear in iTunes/applications folder. It tells me that I've got 27 application updates available, but when I go to the applications updates section, guess what? They're not there!
Ok. I go to the iTunes Store & look at my purchase history. Maybe I can re-download them? Nope.
Allllrighty. Let's go and check out the apps in question. Maybe they remember that you've downloaded them and will allow you to just re-download the apps? Erm. Nope. You have to pay again. Apple's policy is that you are responsible for keeping backups of your own software. Now, I wouldn't have much of a problem with that if they were in an easy-to-locate place, or were quite happily ensconsed in the iTunes folder. But to have them hidden away and to tell you that it's your problem... Even when they have the download & purchase history! Nah. That's the sort of customer support I don't expect from Apple. I'm dissapointed and upset.
In fact, it's the last piece of hardware that I'll buy of you also.
Way to go Apple, you've lost another customer!


----
2008-08-29 - Updated
I appear to be in error on this issue. Even though various forum threads etc. hold you, the consumer responsible for storing your downloaded software correctly, it appears that Apple do allow you to re-download the software again. Unfortunately, you have to go all the way through the buy-it-again procedure until (after you've already volunteered to pay for it again) they pop up a dialog asking if you want to download it again for free! Hmmm. You'd think that the design guru's at Apple would actually put this option there before you have to click on the buy it button and then enter your password. They could have saved me from a ton of heartache!

Eve Universe Is Big

Let's give you an idea of how big EVE actually is:
EVE-Online is a galaxy. This galaxy has x-thousand star systems accessible to everybody via a gateway setup (each system leads to 1, 2, 3 or even 4 other systems - a web, if you like). Each star system has y-planets/space stations/moons/asteroids/etc. Each system is also given a security rating - this indicates to you how dangerous the system is (for us noobs, it means that we don't go below 0.5 sec space). The security status is set from 1.0 down to 0.0 with 0.1 graduations. This means that 1.0 to 0.5 security space is fairly secure from gankers & the like. You're not really secure, but it's expensive in ships/equipment and status for somebody to attack you there without you giving them a reason to (think stealing other peoples loot).

In Warcraft, there are a bunch of servers with various names given to them and of various types (PvP/PvE/Mixed), you join a server, and that's pretty much it. You're stuck on that server. You cannot meet people from other servers & kill them (unless you're in a world battleground, and even then, it's not really a world battleground). Yes, I know it's 8 million people play WoW™ but they are so split up on different servers that it's like 10k people to you. If you have friends on a different server, then you have to create a new character on that server to join them (yes, I know that there is paid character transfer, but that has a huge set of conditions & restrictions). With EVE, everybody is on the same server. What does that mean? Well, it means that if your friends decide to join after hearing all about it, they can join anywhere & eventually meet up with you. Also, the fact that potentially 30k people can all gather in a single system for a fight makes for some interesting gaming.

iPod Touch Freebie goodness!

I've (obviously) jailbroken my iPod Touch™, and have enjoyed immense benefits from the expanded software available.
Apple, of course, decided that they wanted a piece of that action, but they also wanted you to pay them for the privilege. So they decided to make their own version of the Installer App and called it the App Store, which you can browse on your iPod Touch™ or iPhone™ as long as they have the latest version 2.0+ firmware installed (you can also browse it in iTunes, which is much less painful, but still horrible). Note to the wise: the new version of the iPod Touch™ firmware is pay-for (allegedly, according to rumour, you can find hookey versions online, which you can then, after much juggling, install, jailbreak and use to connect to the App Store. With even more juggling, allegedly, you can get apple to download a brand new, genuine version of the firmware from within iTunes™ and then jailbreak that ;-)


On to the topic of the day. Namely the App Store®. Now, it appears to me that the App Store is just a glorified (and not so good) version of the jailbroken installer, or the even better cydia installer (which uses apt-get repositories, ftw!). However, it all appears a little jumbled. There's no searching & sorting functions, etc. Also the majority of the software in the iStore (is that trademarked, I wonder?) is pay-for. Now I'm not one to begrudge authors some cash, but I'm also of the opinion that people should pay what they think the software is worth, or at least be allowed to try it first, a-la shareware.

Anyhow, I'm rambling. Time to get to the meat of the topic. Namely, is there anything good in the App Store free software?

The answer to this is a surprising yes.

I have downloaded quite a few of the free apps to test them against the previous jailbroken software. I have come to the conclusion that there is a lot of pap in there. However, there is a few choice nuggets.
One choice nugget is Cube Runner. A free game written by a Mr. Andy Qua. Cube Runner is a 3-dimensional racing type of game. Quite simple really, you have a little ship at the bottom of the screen and you have to navigate a maze of blocks by turning your constantly moving ship. You turn the ship by tilting the iPod. That's the controls. Tilt left to go left, and tilt right to go right. Not exactly rocket science is it?
However, Cube Runner is not just a boring free couple-of-levels type of game, then pay for the rest (well, almost - it only has one level which you can go through at different speeds). Oh no, it comes with the option of uploading your own, custom levels. Already a community of Cube Runner fans have started to congregate around a particular fansite in order to post their own levels, voice tips and generally behave just like a community of like minded people generally does in situations like this.

As it happens, I have just had to go back into work do complete some pointless personality profiling test (seven hours after my shift had finished, and nine hours before my next shift started - right in the middle of my sleep. Hmm. Thank you, Casino!). This meant that I couldn't get back to sleep due to the interruptions in my sleep schedule, so I played a little Cube Runner. After getting bored of the given levels, I decided to make my own - it's surprisingly easy! a bunch of header text, then a bunch of "x" to denote the position of each box on the map. The fansite even has a level creator for you to dabble with.
I've posted my small creations here for anybody to download and play with. They're (unsurprisingly) called Insomnia1 and Insomnia2. As and when I get more, I will update my site accordingly!

That is one piece of software I would pay a few Euros for!

Enjoy & happy running!

WoW not wowing anymore

Well, after grinding my Gnome Rogue to lvl 70, and grinding my 'lock to 69, apathy and boredom with the WoW grind has seriously set in. WoW is seriously no longer wow-ing me. Whilst it's a relief to my friends and associates who've had to suffer my tales of rogueish derring-do and the like, I myself have found myself at a bit of a loose end regarding MMO's and game playing in general. I'd love to play GTA IV, but that'd necessitate the purchase of a relatively expensive games console, along with a very expensive television set. Something I'm not financially prepared to fork out for on a single game. So, I decided to look elsewhere.

A year or so back I dabbled in Eve Online, a space-combat-cum-trade game. Basically a 'do what you want' approach to MMO games. They give you a ship, a small amount of their in-game cash, called isk and a tutorial. Then they set you free in their massive (& I mean, massive) EVE Galaxy. For those of you old enough to remember the 8-bit days, think MMO Elite in terms of freedom of choice. You can be a trader, a manufacturer, mission runner, pirate, explorer, miner. The list goes on & on. What the hell, I thought. They've just sent me a free 12-day reactivation of my old characters, I'll give it a try.
So, into my old character I jumped. Now that I've been playing MMO's for a while, I've more of an idea where I'd like to go with her (Aleph Two for those wondering). So I started training her up more in the direction that I wanted to go. With EVE-online, you improve your character through training & improvements of various skills. They all take different amounts of time to learn & you can only learn one at a time. However, it is trained in realtime. That is, if you log out for a few days & then log back in, your training was still ongoing whilst you were logged out.

Anyhow, I upgraded my ship, ran a few missions & thought about the potential of this game.

Then, one day, I tried to log in & got the message "Your account has been suspended". WTF!?! No way!? What for?
So I logged into EVE's website to find that my 12-day subscription had expired. That was the final proof that I didn't want to play WoW any more, when I signed up for a 3-month subscription and also cancelled my WoW account...
So, bad pun time...

I am gno longer the Gnome you once gnew.
In fact I am now, Aleph Two!

Sorry.