In the past month I've noticed that I lose 3G data service in lots of places, and more importantly in places where I used to have plenty of coverage. I decided to google "is sprint coverage getting worse" and learned that I am not alone. In the past couple of months there have been lots of similar discussion threads, e.g.
howardforums.com/showthread.php/1717175-Just-me-or-is-4G-coverage-getting-worse
sprintusers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=218830
The really significant one seems to be this detailed post on the Sprint Community forum,
community.sprint.com/baw/thread/66975
My initial suspicion had been that Sprint was preparing to announce their "new 4G service" here in San Diego, and that they were re-purposing existing 3G towers for the effort. Now I'm not so sure. Even in areas with existing 4G service, the coverage map has dramatically shrunk recently. The discussion on Sprint Community is too long for me to read right now but the gist seems to be that Sprint never really had full 3G coverage -- instead they were paying for 'seamless' roaming on other networks (cough*Verizon*cough) and now they're not.
I was already thinking of switching to T-Mobile for their better selection of Android phones and existing '4G' coverage. This is now yet another reason to do so.
_____________________
Friday, May 27, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Considering NAS and DLNA servers
SWITCH TO NAS BASED FILE-SHARES?
My current network consists of a 24/7 Ubuntu workstation (with a dual 1 TB RAID) and Win7 HTPC (also with dual 1 TB). I am also seeding a bunch of torrents (mostly Ubuntu distros) and hosting the Squeezebox server for the Logitech Radio in our kitchen.
I am considering scrapping the Ubuntu workstation and reinstalling it with Win7 and an SSD. I would like to save on our electricity bill and improve the file-sharing and backup. So I am investigating Network Attached Storage (NAS) options. So far the Netgear ReadyNAS seems like the best option as it's a Linux-based OS with add-ons for all the major services. Right off the bat it has Tivo and DLNA support, and there are also plug-ins for the Transmission bittorrent app as well as for the Squeezebox server. The ReadyNAS Ultra 2 has a single-core Intel Atom while the Ultra 2 Plus has dual-core.
The one thing the ReadyNAS wouldn't be able to do is host my new weather station (really just a Oregon Scientific RMS300A three-source temperature and humidity monitor).
_________
SWITCH TO DLNA BASED VIDEO-STREAMING?
I am also debating the usefulness of DLNA. One of my friends has a new Samsung plasma HDTV with DLNA support and such a thing should -- in theory -- negate the need for an HTPC (and XBMC). The problem seems to be the limited codec and encoding support in DLNA. I assume this was on purpose, to prevent people from downloading ripped content and directly playing it on DLNA players.
Fortunately there's a workaround -- a DLNA server with transcoding! Windows 7 includes Windows Media Center which already includes a DLNA server, but unless the original files are already in DLNA-compatible formats you won't be able to play them on something like the Samsung TV. I also already own the Nero 9 Suite which includes the Nero Home DLNA server, but again I don't think that includes transcoding.
Instead, I have found the following two options for DLNA transcoding:
Mezzmo, $30
www.conceiva.com
iSedora, $17 (single-device) / $48 (multi-device)
www.isedora.com
At this point the whole investigation is moot since I'm not about to scrap my primary workstation! Since it's running Ubuntu 10.10, though, it'll eventually lose support/updates and that will certainly force my hand.
_________
My current network consists of a 24/7 Ubuntu workstation (with a dual 1 TB RAID) and Win7 HTPC (also with dual 1 TB). I am also seeding a bunch of torrents (mostly Ubuntu distros) and hosting the Squeezebox server for the Logitech Radio in our kitchen.
I am considering scrapping the Ubuntu workstation and reinstalling it with Win7 and an SSD. I would like to save on our electricity bill and improve the file-sharing and backup. So I am investigating Network Attached Storage (NAS) options. So far the Netgear ReadyNAS seems like the best option as it's a Linux-based OS with add-ons for all the major services. Right off the bat it has Tivo and DLNA support, and there are also plug-ins for the Transmission bittorrent app as well as for the Squeezebox server. The ReadyNAS Ultra 2 has a single-core Intel Atom while the Ultra 2 Plus has dual-core.
The one thing the ReadyNAS wouldn't be able to do is host my new weather station (really just a Oregon Scientific RMS300A three-source temperature and humidity monitor).
_________
SWITCH TO DLNA BASED VIDEO-STREAMING?
I am also debating the usefulness of DLNA. One of my friends has a new Samsung plasma HDTV with DLNA support and such a thing should -- in theory -- negate the need for an HTPC (and XBMC). The problem seems to be the limited codec and encoding support in DLNA. I assume this was on purpose, to prevent people from downloading ripped content and directly playing it on DLNA players.
Fortunately there's a workaround -- a DLNA server with transcoding! Windows 7 includes Windows Media Center which already includes a DLNA server, but unless the original files are already in DLNA-compatible formats you won't be able to play them on something like the Samsung TV. I also already own the Nero 9 Suite which includes the Nero Home DLNA server, but again I don't think that includes transcoding.
Instead, I have found the following two options for DLNA transcoding:
Mezzmo, $30
www.conceiva.com
iSedora, $17 (single-device) / $48 (multi-device)
www.isedora.com
At this point the whole investigation is moot since I'm not about to scrap my primary workstation! Since it's running Ubuntu 10.10, though, it'll eventually lose support/updates and that will certainly force my hand.
_________
Saturday, April 16, 2011
How to make ATI 785G (4200) pass DD and DTS through HDMI
I just replaced my WinXP-based HTPC with a new Windows 7 Premium system. The new PC has an ATI 785G motherboard with the 4200 IGP video card. I have the HDMI output connected to my Denon receiver and everything seemed to be working ok.
When I tried playing a movie in XBMC, however, all I could get was stereo. I went into the System > System > Audio settings and set Output=HDMI and enabled both 'Dolby Digital capable' and 'DTS capable'. But then the movie went silent and stuttered badly. I tried the same test with Media Player Classic - Homecinema and got the same result. What did I have to do to get surround-sound?!
After much research I finally determined the following:
______________
UPDATE 9/14/11 - I started having problems where the audio-link wouldn't sync-up (i.e., no sound) even though the Windows volume-control said it was working. So I uninstalled the Realtek HDMI driver, then updated to the latest ATI Catalyst 11.08 driver. Everything seems to be working now, and without the 'unofficial' fix!
When I tried playing a movie in XBMC, however, all I could get was stereo. I went into the System > System > Audio settings and set Output=HDMI and enabled both 'Dolby Digital capable' and 'DTS capable'. But then the movie went silent and stuttered badly. I tried the same test with Media Player Classic - Homecinema and got the same result. What did I have to do to get surround-sound?!
After much research I finally determined the following:
- The ATI 785G chipset supports DD and DTS passthrough on HDMI but not with the standard ATI drivers! (It does not ever, however, support HD audio-passthrough, e.g. from Bluray)
- The standard ATI drivers create both an "ATI HDMI" audio device and a virtual Realtek SPDIF device. Deleting the latter doesn't help, nor is it recreated.
- The audio chip on the motherboard is from Realtek and they provide their own alternate (better!) driver, www.realtek.com.tw/downloads
- You can download the improved driver at their web-site under High Definition > ATI HDMI Audio Device
______________
UPDATE 9/14/11 - I started having problems where the audio-link wouldn't sync-up (i.e., no sound) even though the Windows volume-control said it was working. So I uninstalled the Realtek HDMI driver, then updated to the latest ATI Catalyst 11.08 driver. Everything seems to be working now, and without the 'unofficial' fix!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
New recommendation re printers for Ubuntu
I just heard that the forthcoming Ubuntu 11.04 will included automatic support for Epson printers! This is very exciting. Epson now joins HP and Brother in having good Linux/Ubuntu support. I have had too many problems with HP, however, to ever recommend their scanners or inkjets to people. I currently have a Brother fax/laser setup and it's working fine, if slow. (Not sure if there's a software problem or not, i.e., it might be trying to print at an overly-high resolution?)
As for recommending Ubuntu itself, I'm still on the fence. I continue to love Ubuntu and prefer it over Windows 7 for my personal work. But I continue to have weird hardware compatibility problems which come-and-go with different kernel updates, and my sound and fast-user-switch continue to fail. So I'm no longer so enthusiastic in my Ubuntu recommendations.
I've also been using Windows 7 a lot and haven't had any problems with it. Which is good, since you have to pay for it!
___________
As for recommending Ubuntu itself, I'm still on the fence. I continue to love Ubuntu and prefer it over Windows 7 for my personal work. But I continue to have weird hardware compatibility problems which come-and-go with different kernel updates, and my sound and fast-user-switch continue to fail. So I'm no longer so enthusiastic in my Ubuntu recommendations.
I've also been using Windows 7 a lot and haven't had any problems with it. Which is good, since you have to pay for it!
___________
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Configure XBMC 10 to use Media Player Classic
I use XBMC on a regular basis for my home-theatre PC and in general I love it. Some of it's only limitations revolve around hardware acceleration. First of all, on my current Windows XP setup there is none! I have a new Windows 7 based machine in the works, however, and even then I find it limited. Specifically, there is no deinterlacing of my Sony camcorder recordings which are 1080i AVCHD. So I set about configuring XBMC to selectively use Media Player Classic - Home Cinema edition (MPC-HC) for only those video files which required it.
MPC-HC is a DirectX-based video player which has both it's own built-in 'MPC' decoder as well as access to any installed DirectX codec, e.g. Windows 7's DTV decoder.
Along the way I found a lot of gotchas in XBMC's support for external players, so I decided to write it up as this new post.
________
NOTES
'<players>' section (edit the .exe path as necessary)
FINAL NOTE - Make sure it's inserted before the final </rules> and </playercorefactory> commands!
___________
UPDATE: I found that I had to specify <hidexbmc>True else it interfered with MPC-HC. I've updated the example to use this setting.
___________
MPC-HC is a DirectX-based video player which has both it's own built-in 'MPC' decoder as well as access to any installed DirectX codec, e.g. Windows 7's DTV decoder.
Along the way I found a lot of gotchas in XBMC's support for external players, so I decided to write it up as this new post.
________
NOTES
- You can't simply edit the original configuration file in-place
- If not done correctly the configuration file will make MPC-HC the default player
- I haven't been able to make this work on Windows XP without MPC-HC becoming the default player -- regardless of the rules I specify.
- The 'rule name' check also applies to the folder name, i.e., a 1080p mkv located in a folder called 'converted from 1080i' will still playback with MPC-HC!
- The formatting is completely unforgiving (and arbitrary)! For instance, you MUST MUST MUST include the extra / character at the end of each new rule you add.
- Locate the 'playercorefactory.xml' in the folder,
<programs>\XBMC\system - Copy it to your personal folder,
<users>\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\Userdata - Edit the new .xml to add the 2 sections below
<player name="MPC-HC" type="ExternalPlayer" audio="true" video="true">*** Add this to the '<rules>' section
<filename>C:\Program Files\Media Player Classic - Home Cinema\mpc-hc.exe</filename>
<args>"{1}" /fullscreen /close</args>
<hidexbmc>true</hidexbmc>
<hideconsole>true</hideconsole>
<warpcursor>none</warpcursor>
</player>
<!-- Play "1080i" and *.m2ts with MPC-HC --> <rules action="prepend">
<rule filetypes="m2ts" player="MPC-HC"/>
<rule name="1080i" player="MPC-HC"/>
FINAL NOTE - Make sure it's inserted before the final </rules> and </playercorefactory> commands!
___________
UPDATE: I found that I had to specify <hidexbmc>True else it interfered with MPC-HC. I've updated the example to use this setting.
___________
Sunday, February 13, 2011
How I went about moving and updating my ‘trapped’ Wordpress site
As the volunteer web-editor for a local non-profit, I decided to replace our old-style SHTML site with a new Wordpress CMS-based site. I didn't want to replace the current/live site, however, until I had a complete replacement (and the approval of the management). So I created the new Wordpress site as a temporary sub-site of our existing site. Unfortunately, because of the provider, Aplus.net’s, stupid install script the new site was ‘trapped’ – I could neither update the Wordpress software nor could I reconfigure any plugins. The primary reason for this was that Aplus.net had set it up as a (partly) shared install, i.e., some of the system files were in a shared read-only folder somewhere (not in my personal folders).
In order to remedy this I had to do the following:
MY FIRST UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT
I initially tried installing an up-to-date copy of Wordpress as a new install, and confirmed that it worked properly by installing all the same plugins and theme as before. I also restored the ‘wp-content’ files from my original site. I then used the Tools > Import function to restore the “WXR” (.XML) file I’d exported from the original site. Unfortunately, this only restored the Pages but none of the theme or widget settings. As a last attempt I dumped the new site's MySQL database and restored it from a tweaked copy of the original DB (where I’d done a search-and-replace for all the URLs). For whatever reason this caused the whole setup to reset to defaults. Fail.
HOW I SUCCEEDED
In order to remedy this I had to do the following:
- make a backup of the new Wordpress sub-site
- create a new properly-working copy in the new location
- merge the two copies into a proper replacement site
- confirm that I could update and configure everything properly
MY FIRST UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT
I initially tried installing an up-to-date copy of Wordpress as a new install, and confirmed that it worked properly by installing all the same plugins and theme as before. I also restored the ‘wp-content’ files from my original site. I then used the Tools > Import function to restore the “WXR” (.XML) file I’d exported from the original site. Unfortunately, this only restored the Pages but none of the theme or widget settings. As a last attempt I dumped the new site's MySQL database and restored it from a tweaked copy of the original DB (where I’d done a search-and-replace for all the URLs). For whatever reason this caused the whole setup to reset to defaults. Fail.
HOW I SUCCEEDED
- Deleted all the files in the new location and started over.
- Copied all the install files from a matched version of WordPress (v3.0.1 downloaded from their Release Archive).
- Manually updated only the wp-config.php.
- Copied all the files from the old site. I had to rename the script-created folder, 'wordpress-content', to match the standard folder-name, 'wp-content'
- Used the phpMyAdmin technique to download the SQL DB from the initial site in uncompressed text format.
- Manually fixed all the URL and folder references using search-and-replace:
kobsd.org/wp >> kobsd.com
kobsd.org >> kobsd.com
wp/wordpress-content >> wp-content
wordpress-content >> wp-content - Went into phpMyAdmin on the new site, dumped all the tables and restored the edited SQL file.
- Finally, I tested the Wordpress auto-update as well as installing/configuring new plugins, and it all works properly!
My struggles with Wordpress and Aplus.net
I am the volunteer web-master for a local non-profit. The web-site I inherited was a mess of hand-coded HTML and SHTML and was a nightmare to update. For the past 3 years I’ve limited myself to correcting and updating the text, and I’ve made copious notes about which HTML editors work or don’t work.
Now I’ve decided to re-do the site using a modern CMS and in particular I’ve chosen Wordpress. I thought this would be an easy process since Wordpress is extremely popular and our hosting provider, Aplus.net, includes an auto-install script in their Control Panel. Boy was I wrong about that ‘easy’ part! Yes, I was able to get the initial site setup in minutes but then I quickly started running into roadblocks – of the arbitrary kind put up by Aplus.net!
First, their install script only installed Wordpress 3.0.1 circa July 2010. I tried to update to the latest v3.0.5 using the built-in updater but I got an error message about access-rights. I asked Aplus.net about this and they said they didn’t support updates by users. Period. No other explanation, support ticket = Closed. I had to submit another request to ask if they were taking responsibility for installing Wordpress security updates and they said yes. (And then closed that ticket, too.) Needless to say, they haven’t updated anything.
Since I was still just experimenting with the software I decided to give the security updates a pass, for the moment. But then I discovered that I could not install new plugins either?! This time I picked-up the phone and called Aplus.net, and this time they were able to modify my installation to allow new plugins. So far, so good? No, because they also broke the site admin login! Yet another call to Aplus.net and finally everything seemed to be working.
THEN I realized that I couldn’t configure the plugins?! The 'wp-plugins' folder was apparently marked read-only even though it was in my personal site, not a shared folder. As if to stress the absurdity of the situation Aplus.net now said they could not ‘support’ third-party software. At this point I resolved to do a manual installation (and to find us another hosting provider).
Well... Yes, Wordpress is renowned for its ease of installation. Unfortunately, that’s dependent on your hosting provider providing accurate and up-to-date information about your account configuration. I tried to use Aplus.net's online knowledgebase but their article re MySQL configuration had the wrong server-host information. Again, I was forced to call Aplus.net and – to their credit – they were immediately able to point me to the Control Panel > MySQL Database Manager which listed the correct server-host. They also clarified that they use a custom MySQL port (3306). Finally, I was able to get a new manual install of WordPress to complete successfully.
________________
Now I’ve decided to re-do the site using a modern CMS and in particular I’ve chosen Wordpress. I thought this would be an easy process since Wordpress is extremely popular and our hosting provider, Aplus.net, includes an auto-install script in their Control Panel. Boy was I wrong about that ‘easy’ part! Yes, I was able to get the initial site setup in minutes but then I quickly started running into roadblocks – of the arbitrary kind put up by Aplus.net!
First, their install script only installed Wordpress 3.0.1 circa July 2010. I tried to update to the latest v3.0.5 using the built-in updater but I got an error message about access-rights. I asked Aplus.net about this and they said they didn’t support updates by users. Period. No other explanation, support ticket = Closed. I had to submit another request to ask if they were taking responsibility for installing Wordpress security updates and they said yes. (And then closed that ticket, too.) Needless to say, they haven’t updated anything.
Since I was still just experimenting with the software I decided to give the security updates a pass, for the moment. But then I discovered that I could not install new plugins either?! This time I picked-up the phone and called Aplus.net, and this time they were able to modify my installation to allow new plugins. So far, so good? No, because they also broke the site admin login! Yet another call to Aplus.net and finally everything seemed to be working.
THEN I realized that I couldn’t configure the plugins?! The 'wp-plugins' folder was apparently marked read-only even though it was in my personal site, not a shared folder. As if to stress the absurdity of the situation Aplus.net now said they could not ‘support’ third-party software. At this point I resolved to do a manual installation (and to find us another hosting provider).
Well... Yes, Wordpress is renowned for its ease of installation. Unfortunately, that’s dependent on your hosting provider providing accurate and up-to-date information about your account configuration. I tried to use Aplus.net's online knowledgebase but their article re MySQL configuration had the wrong server-host information. Again, I was forced to call Aplus.net and – to their credit – they were immediately able to point me to the Control Panel > MySQL Database Manager which listed the correct server-host. They also clarified that they use a custom MySQL port (3306). Finally, I was able to get a new manual install of WordPress to complete successfully.
________________
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