Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid

So, after reading a post about NTSC tuner support in 2.6.26 I decided to upgrade my HTPC to Ubuntu 8.10 which is the development release of Ubuntu. So, after a seamingly smooth upgrade, I found out that Ubuntu 8.10 comes with 2.6.27 not 2.6.26… even better.

Nvidia drivers have previously required kernel headers, but not source. The new DKMS build system tells me that they now require source. I should have known better and not listened to it, but I spent I dunno how long trying to get a compiled kernel source tree to match my running system. After complaints about not being able to run under Xen, and misaligned struct_module and various other issues, I realised that I needed to apt-get install kernel-headers-2.6.27-2-generic, not kernel-headers-2.6.27-2. This is very important. Without the -generic bit, you don’t get a configured header tree, just a stock one. After realising this, I have had no problems with the development release. Everything works at lease as good as it did before, or better. The new X+nvidia drivers are WAY FASTER than on 8.04. My ATSC tuner is at least recognised now, but still isn’t really working.

September 7, 2008 | No Comments »

Google Earth Satellites


So I have always been fascinated by satellites. So when I wokeup this morning, and was glancing at Slashdot while eating breakfast I was really excited to see an article about Every Satellite Tracked In Realtime Via Google Earth.

It took me a bit to figure out how to turn off all the Debris and Spacejunk, and track down my favorite multimedia satellites. All I can say is… bad… fucking… ass…

September 5, 2008 | Tags: , , | No Comments »

Dell Studio 1735

So my laptop has finally kicked the bucket. Wont power up, wont anything. Because I haven’t been updating my blog, you wouldn’t know that is lacks any internal fans. You also wouldn’t know that the battery wont charge and the power brick has an after market capacitor in it, because it blew up a while back. Oh and did I mention that it like to turn off randomly by itself?

In anycase, I have decided that it’s time for a new one. My choice? The Dell Studio 17″.

Dell Laptop Studio 17

  • Intel Core 2 Duo T8100, 2.1GHz, 800Mhz, 3M L2 Cache
  • 3GB DDR2 RAM
  • 17.0″ WLED 1920×1200 Display
  • ATI MOBILITY RADEON HD 3650
  • 250G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
  • 8X Slot Load Burner
  • Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Half Mini Card
  • Integrated High Definition Audio 2.0
  • Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam
  • 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
  • Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.0)
  • Dell Wireless 5720 EV-DO Revision A

They are telling me that it’s going to be 3 weeks before it gets here. A co-worker of mine just ordered a laptop from Dell a month back, and they told him like 3 weeks too but it only took a week to show up on his doorstep, so I am hoping the same happens for me.

I am concerned about driver support in Linux. From what I can tell, the video card looks to be supported by the proprietary ATI(AMD) drivers. The last time I used an ATI card in linux was back before ATI was releasing drivers and the FOSS drivers were not mature.

There isn’t much information on the chipset for the wireless card or sound card. I am guessing the soundcard is supported by the Intel HD Audio driver for Linux. The wireless card will be some sort of Broadcom black box. Hopefully the b43 driver will work.

The internal bluetooth and EV-DO radio are less pressing. I have a USB dongle I can use until I get the internal one working. From what I have read about the EV-DO Radios, they are basically a chuck of programmable ROM and a radio. You have to flash the ROM in Windows for your carrier, and then you connect to it like a dumb modem. Since I don’t even have a plan right now, I’m not concerned about it.

September 4, 2008 | Tags: , , | 1 Comment »

Coat Hanger UHF Antenna

So I have decided to add an ATSC tuner to my HTPC machine. My choice, the WinTV 1800. I have a few extra PCIe slots and aside from USB devices, this appears to be the only other device supported. In fact, it appears to be the only PCIe device supported. Only the ATSC tuner is supported at this point, though it looks like people are working on the analog tuner, which drives the Svideo in and the FM tuner as well.

So my device arrived and I realised that my rabbit ear antenna probably isn’t going to be work well. After a few scans with dvbscan, I am actually picking up everything except KIMA and FOX, according to antennaweb. Fox apparently isn’t broadcasting on ATSC yet ;/

A quick google search for HDTV antenna tells me not to waste my money on expensive internal antennas, that I should either get a good external UHF antenna or build one myself for cheap.

I looked locally for a DB4 or DB2 external antenna. I have an extra coax run from my roof, so this would have been idea. However, no one in town sells them apparently.

On to option B i guess. So I find two sites that describe how to build a custom DB2 antenna. The first describes how to make it out of coat hangers for less than $10. Upon reading, I already have everything needed except the matching transformer and spare metal coat hangers. In the comments, people talk about using romex… now that is something I have spare of. The second site describes pretty much the same design, only the demensions are a little off.. 7″ instead of 5 3/4″ between Vs and it’s build using a 2×4″ instead of a 2×1″, but is ment to include a deflector and a rotor.

Ultimately, I wind up using a spare piece of 3×1″ with 5 3/4″ spacing and romex. I got the matching transformer from Radio Shack, because I was sure they would have it. However it was $6! I found out later they have them at Bimart for $1.30.

After rescanning, I am now getting KIMA and much better signal on all the other transponders.

I’ll upload pictures when I get a chance.

September 3, 2008 | Tags: | No Comments »