Category: technology

anything technology related, not fitting into other categories

Surface-like hybrid card game

This looks interesting: Taito has developed a hybrid digital-analogue cardgame which is based on similar technology which Microsoft has demoed under ‘Surface’ concept:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/17/taito-introduces-surface-like-arcade-game/ 

Game server tech challenges

The MIT Technology Review (the self-appointed “authority on the future of technology”) pays attention to the challenges game companies are facing, as some — most notably EVE Online — attempt to maintain a seamless, persistent virtual world to all of players simultaneously. See: Technology Review: The One-World Video-Game Challenge.

Google video embedding into WordPress

I had to move from using Youtube into Google Video service to share our family videos — the benefit of Google is that they do not appear to set any file size or duration limits for the video clips. YouTube is also too slow and unreliable these days (downsides of too fast growth?) Embedding Google video into a WordPress.com blog was not so simple though. The way I finally got it working is to take the Google video ID from “Mail this video > Embed HTML” code box, and insert it into code to replace “XYZ” below:

Thanks: Embed Google Video & Odeo In WordPress « Twist & Shout

Unison file sync bug?

I am facing irritating errors while using Unison in Ubuntu to do file synchronisation to my USB backup drive — and apparently I am not alone, see: Bug #118283 in Ubuntu: “can’t easily use unison-gtk to sync a local folder to my VFAT USB drive”.

Enable Remote Desktop Connection on Vista Home Premium

Edit: I have now made a patch zip file for Vista SP1 32bit available here: http://www.unet.fi/fransblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/termsrv_sp1.zip (NOTE: my file repository will be offline for some time from now on, hope you can find the file from elsewhere… hope it works for you, it did ok for my Home Premium SP1. However, note that I am not the original author of this hack, and can not offer any detailed technical help if something goes wrong; use only on your own responsibility, etc. Note that this does NOT work for the 64bit Vista.) — Note: commenting currently disabled (the thread is getting too long…)

There are many nice, but also quite many really irritating aspects to Windows Vista. Some are due to Microsoft intentionally crippling their own products. One of the most tiresome has been the disabling of Remote Desktop Connection. If you have to run down the stairs every time to check whether a particular process has ended or not, it gets old really quick, and double so when you realise that Vista Home Premium actually includes fully-featured Remote Desktop service, it is just broken by design. Here are the instructions to turn it back on — thanks a lot, guys!

Steps to Add Remote Desktop to Vista Home Premium:

1. Download termsrv.zip here
2. Extract Termsrv.zip to a temp directory
3. Start “Command Prompt” in Administrator mode (Run As Administrator)
4. Run the corresponding batch file for your Vista edition
5. Allow TCP Port 3389 on Windows Firewall or any other firewall product.
6. Done

See: TonyChan.Org Blogs – Remote Desktop on your Windows Vista Home Premium.

Full HD

Full HD
Originally uploaded by FransBadger.

Samsung M86 ‘Tulip’ 37″ television (LE37M86BDX/XEE) was our choice for our living room. A “full HD” television is also suitable for game sessions, and even for that photo editing stuff in the living room, close to your family. 1920×1080 resolution is enough for many things, but the distance from the screen to the sofa is of course different as compared to the typical PC screen use situation. I still need to learn more about fine-tuning and calibrating a HDTV screen. Here is a nice “dummies intro” into television tweaking, using THX test patterns from a commercial DVD. This screen is not perfect (is there such a thing?) but it should work for us for some time now and into the future, too.

Ubuntu troubles

I have now spent more than a week trying to sort out the various troubles I have been having with my Ubuntu linux server. I have upgraded to the most latest versions, then given up and downgraded. I even bought a new hard disk and did a totally clean, new install of the 6.06 LTS server release to get the most absolutely stable version of Ubuntu possible. Yet, I still continue to have issues with the Postfix mail server and now Samba/CUPS printer sharing is working no longer either. I just have to give up, far too much time and energy has been spent to this.

I have consulted and used most of the available how-to guides and installation manuals, including:

I suppose that in most cases most contemporary operating systems work, most of time. But I think these things are still far too fragile to really serve people reliably — each server needs couple of admins to hold its hand, rather than the other way around, having the reliability needed to serve its users.

Ubuntu, WordPress, Copyblogger

As you might see from the site, I am currently evaluating a new style for this blog. Upgraded into Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty, setting the WordPress into its most recent version 2.2.1, it became apparent that I needed either a thorough rewrite of the old theme I had been using, or find a new one that would support the new functionalities. The one that I have chosen is ‘Copyblogger‘ theme by Chris Pearson. I liked the style because it is typographically clear, simple, yet visually strong. It is also fully compatible with Worpress 2.2+, supporting widgets and opening up opportunities for more customisation. I have tweaked yet only little bit with its code, but under the hood I have several new plugins doing their work. Hope you like the style too — and please tell me if you notice anything odd. This site is even more ‘under construction’ than usual for some time now. If I’d only have a more powerful server, to speed things up a bit…
Ubuntu, WordPress, Copyblogger

Golf Plus TSI

Golf Plus TSI
Originally uploaded by FransBadger.

Yesterday we got the new car, VW Golf Plus TSI. It should have enough room for us for a while at least, and it is compact enough for city traffic and parking. TSI motor is small, yet quite powerful due to the double turbo/compressor solution. I particularly like the high seats and good views — also at nights: we ordered bi-xenon lights. This is also the first day of my (long overdue) holidays. Still some phone conferences and article writing stuff though, so “soft landing” into the unknown that way. Weather looks fine in Finland and tomorrow is the Midsummer festival: great!

Backup Ubuntu

My old (well, almost two years old at least) external hard disk stopped responding, and it looks like its the time to find another backup solution. Since I have a small, personal server running Ubuntu, regular full system mirrors on an external USB 2.0 hard disk should be enough, but I also need to learn more about the various backup procedures. Here are couple of links to pages that I should probably read with care: “Backing Up Ubuntu“, “Howto: Backup and restore your system“. Any further resources are also most welcome.