Solved : Suse slow / sluggish mouse

Problem : Just installed Suse and my USB mouse is jumpy / slow / sluggish.  The track pad is fine, but the mouse is balls.

Solution : Unplug the mouse and plug it into a different slot.

After I did this my mouse feels exactly as it should.

There is at least one thread at the suse forums on this issue.

HOWTO : Securely search from the address bar in Firefox (without addons)

1. browse to about:config
2. search for keyword
3. set "keyword.enabled" to true
4. set "keyword.URL" to https://encrypted.google.com/search?&q=
5. search for "browser.fixup.alternate.enabled", set to false

You are now searching from the address bar in Firefox securely over https/ssl.

(source : http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Location%20bar%20search)

ps. you can toggled from true to false (etc) by simply double clicking the entry.

I use opendns, for some reason 1 word searches = opendns search, two word searches = google.

Intel GMA 4500m blank screen / black screen / monitor off

In case you were wondering the intel driver for the GMA 4500m doesn't work with some of the 2.6.18 based kernels aka whatever comes with centos 5.5 and 5.6.  This seems to affect a lot of linux distros (suse, ubunut, etc).


The workaround I use is to boot with the option acpi=off

Symptoms : 

- run startx (using default intel drivers)
- screen flashes, gnome is visible for .5 seconds
- monitor turns *off*
- switching workspaces shows the desktop for .5 seconds
- nothing is visible. ctrl+alt+backspace = display still off

I found no solution for this problem.  Plugging in an external monitor + using the hot keys to activate it doesn't work, using a different driver failed (i810).

This isn't limited to centos.  During my google I found other distros with similar kernels with the same issue.

2.6.35 + intel driver + GMA 4500m = works perfect.

centos forum convo here

Linksys WRT54GS2 slow wifi speeds - router locks up

I've had the WRT54GS2 for some time now and absolutely hated it. Over wifi the speeds are slow, the router can sometimes be unresponsive. The only thing that seems to help (and only temporarily) is resetting it.  So I just got comcast setup and over wifi the speed was crap, barely .5 megabit down, high ping, everything was very slow. Connected directly to the router life is great, 30megabits down - very low ping, life is good. Time to google.

Luckily thanks to sandman879 this problem is now fixed - my wifi speeds are *way* faster (12megabits). The solution is really simple.

1. login to the router (192.168.1.1)
2. click on Administration
3. change "Wireless Access Web" from Disable to Enable
4. click Save Changes

That's it, this is exactly what fixed my problems. Thanks again Sandman879!

ps.  I tried updating the Firmware previously and that didn't help at all :(

Look of Disapproval Wallpaper

Click for full sized version

The new Google search layout is bad

The main problem with the new layout (seen below) is that it diminishes search result real estate to include a sidebar that adds little extra functionality.  Almost all of those features were previously just one click away, there when I need them and out of the way when I don't.  But in this new layout they are there taking up screen space, cramping the search results with no regard for what the user wants.  In fact, if I don't want it there isn't a clear way to hide it.  This is a design fail.

To make matters worse most of the sidebar stuff is redundant, the exact same links are mere inches above.

 The astute Googler will notice that the sidebar "more" link in the new layout actually contain different content than the "more" at the top of the screen.  The "more" at the top of the page is for other Google services while the "more" on the sidebar is for (drum roll) images, videos, maps, news, etc search results.  This, once again, is redundant.  The exact same features are at the very top of the page.  How this idea even made it out of the conference room is beyond me.

 For the record, here is the other layout :

My short Thunderbird 3 review

Download : This took forever, I guess all the servers were swamped because my 1megabit cable connection wasn't pulling more than 5k/second.

Install : Pretty standard stuff.

Look and feel : The new interface is pretty, I liked it.

Usage : It prompted me for my SMTP password, which is not cool because I don't remember it and don't feel like bugging my boss.

Conclusion : Re-installed Thunderbird  2.0.0.23

harhar

Ubuntu : No sound using Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller

Hats off to the Ubuntu dev team for breaking another standard feature.

When I installed from my Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron CD my Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller worked perfectly - life was good.

As usual when installing Linux there were many updates available including :

linux-generic (2.6.24.16.18) to 2.6.24.19.21
linux-headers-generic (2.6.24.16.18) to 2.6.24.19.21
linux-image-generic (2.6.24.16.18) to 2.6.24.19.21
linux-restricted-modules-generic (2.6.24.16.18) to 2.6.24.19.21

I held off on installing these because they were a bit large (over 15mb) and my poor DSL connection simply can not handle it! So last night I decided to run the update before I went to bed in hopes that it would correct a problem I'm having with apps randomly crashing (Firefox, Opera, etc).

Well upon bootup today my audio did not work at all. When I tried to open the volume controls (via the Volume Applet in Gnome) it spit out some error about no devices found, and so on.

A quick visit to Synaptic to uninstall the above packages plus a quick reboot and once again I have sound!

Short version :

These upgrades broke my support for the Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller :

linux-generic (2.6.24.16.18) to 2.6.24.19.21
linux-headers-generic (2.6.24.16.18) to 2.6.24.19.21
linux-image-generic (2.6.24.16.18) to 2.6.24.19.21
linux-restricted-modules-generic (2.6.24.16.18) to 2.6.24.19.21

By uninstalling these packages and reverting to the 2.6.24.16.18 chain I was able to get my sound working again (reboot required).

Enjoy!

XMMS2

Thank you so much for the release of XMMS2 which,

"is a redesign of the XMMS music player. It features a client-server model, allowing multiple (even simultaneous!) user interfaces, both textual and graphical." --Synaptic

XMMS1 was uber lame. I got an icon which loaded a wonderful graphical interface. It was easy to use and "just worked". This was far too simple and straight forward. I'm very pleased with your recent work. Previously XMMS was one of the few applications that I liked on Linux that "just worked". I'm very happy to report it no longer resides on that list.

Thus far I've installed over 15 packages related to XMMS2 yet I am not able to load any sort of graphical interface - this is perfect. This new system which includes no menu listing/icon, no graphical interface, no simple instructions, and requires MORE packages surely marks some sort of apex for the XMMS team.

I wait with baited breath for the next release of XMMS.

Copyscape banners not loading

For the last few days or so I've noticed my CopyScape banner hasn't been loading! The URL for my banner was something like : http://banners.copyscape.com/images/cs-wh-3d-88x31.gif

I checked the CopyScape page and noticed their images were dead also! I'm thinking that the banners might not actually be down but there may be some sort of strange network or DNS issue occurring.

If the images are also offline for you take heart, you can download the PSD file which contains every CopyScape banner! Please note that the PSD link is at the bottom of the page.

Enjoy