I recently had cause to install FlightGear 2.4.0 on Ubuntu 10.04. It’s not packaged in the form of a deb yet, so I’ve documented the commands I used. No guarantees this’ll work for you, as I haven’t tested them rigorously; and I’m assuming some Linux and command-line knowledge.

• Install some dependencies (this may not be a complete list; it’s simply the set I was missing). If you get warnings below about missing libraries, hunt around for them in the Ubuntu archives.

  sudo apt-get install libboost-graph-dev libopenal-dev libalut-dev libopenscenegraph-dev libjpeg62-dev libplib-dev zlib1g-dev

• Get SimGear 2.4.0, unpack it into a temporary directory, and install it (checkinstall will create a deb for you as a side-effect, and install that so you can uninstall with apt if necessary). I’m using -j10on make as I have many CPU cores; you may want to tune this to match your number, although it will only affect the speed of build.

  ./configure --with-jpeg-factory ; make -j10 ; sudo checkinstall

• Get the FlightGear 2.4.0 source(at the time of writing, the file with the slightly more recent timestamp) and install it:

  ./configure ; make -j10 ; sudo checkinstall

• Get the 2.4.0 “Base” package and unpack it to /usr/share/local/flightgear. The tarball contains a data/ directory at the top level; you need to move directories around after unpacking so that the flightgear/directory contains direct subdirectories:

  ls -1 /usr/local/share/flightgear/
  AI
  Aircraft
  Airports
  Astro
  ATC
  AUTHORS
  etc...

• You’re done! Run fgfs to launch Flightgear (there’s no GUI so you’ll have to become familiar with the command-line switches).

• The OS (Android) firmware and the radio firmware are two separate things. The phone was at the latest Orange-approved firmware level before the upgrade (Android 2.2, which comes with the radio at version 5.10.05.30). I had read elsewhere that Orange network-lock the phone and that this sometimes causes problems when installing CyanogenMod; so I deliberately removed the SIM card during the upgrade process as suggested. Whether this circumvented the problem or whether it simply wasn’t an issue I can’t say, but certainly I haven’t seen any network-lock problems. I didn’t upgrade the radio at all, as this seemed risky; I simply left it at the 5.10 level and skipped over that section in the install instructions.
• After the upgrade, I was initially nervous that the 3G had stopped working, as sitting in my house I simply couldn’t cause the phone to roam onto 3G or HSDPA; however, it seems that it simply has different criteria for roaming onto 3G – it will keep a stable slower signal in preference to a poor faster one. In fact, so far I seem to get a more reliable data signal, and the phone uses 3G and HSDPA just fine when it can find a good signal.
• Update 22:30 I found I needed to apply this workaround in order to be able to install large applications such as Google Maps.

As a result of upgrading it, the phone is a lot faster and smoother. Much of the jerkiness has disappeared from the user interface – even third-party apps such as Twitter work more smoothly. The most astonishing thing is the battery life, which seems to have almost trebled – whereas previous the phone would struggle to last a day, it now lasts over two. This is quite impressive – I’m not sure what was dragging down the phone before (HTC Sense, perhaps), but kudos to the guys at CyanogenMod.

In summary, CyanogenMod seems like a way of getting a clean, modern, Android build onto your phone. Some of the menus do stuff from a plethora of options, but the defaults are fine, so it’s a great way of getting a “plain” Android phone. Recommended.

I discovered that the solution was to disable 3D graphics acceleration – in the VM’s settings, untick Display / Accelerate 3D Graphics. The VM now works smoothly.

General

• Don’t be so English (applies only, of course, if you are English to start off with). Remember you are in a foreign country. In these places, people don’t expect you to apologize when they step on your toes (an idiotic habit I have yet to wean myself off). You should ignore the plaintive pleas of the tat salesman in the market or the high street, not apologize for him and give him an excuse to come back at you. But don’t be rude, either. Learning at least ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ in the local language, even if it’s a brief stop in a place you know nothing of, is respectful.
• Don’t be a skinflint. If you’re reading this, chances are you aren’t a penniless student (if you are, well, you might not find it so useful). A holiday costs money, and you’re not paying for your business trips. Get over this mental hurdle before you leave home and you’ll have a nicer time – don’t worry over the last penny of the tip (round it off) or the last bargained rupee in the market. Take taxis liberally and public transport when it’s an experience.
• Pad your schedule and plan in advance. Yes, the airport looked quiet when you arrived at 1am, but heading back at 4pm, it might not so much. Why not avoid the worrying and leave an hour early? I’d trade boredom for worry any day.
• Try Tripit.com and Wikitravel. They’ve both made my travel easier and smoother.
• Send postcards to those who will appreciate them. Generally, the younger generation are less impressed with these – after all, you’ve probably been on constant contact on Twitter and Facebook whilst you’ve been away anyway. But elderly relatives might still appreciate a postcard. Many hotels will provide everything you need – postcard sales, stamps, and will add to the outgoing mail. You have no excuse.
• Bring stuff to watch/listen to/read during the moments of boredom. These days, a netbook and a decent pair of headphones (I recommend Bose Quietcomforts) go a long way to covering all of these points when you are stuck at yet another airport gate, in a coach or taxi, or waiting to check-in.
• Treat the city as if you lived there – more of a state of mind than a specific recommendation, but if you are good at learning layouts quickly, or you are there for several weeks, this is recommended (and you can start to violate the ‘take taxis’ rule). Becoming a partial local means you can reduce the cultural non-participation guilt – you don’t feel the need to do something out-of-the-ordinary every night, and you can fraternise the places the locals do more comfortably.
• Make sure you have plenty of ways of paying – if you are at all nervous about somewhere you’re going, make sure you have plenty of ways of paying. (Multiple) credit cards, ATM cards, and cash (in US dollars as well as the local currency), in several pockets and bags, mean that you’ll be able to bargain or negotiate yourself out of pretty much any jam.
• Bring back nice gifts, if at all – if you bring back gifts, make them nice. That means no tat, and nothing bought at the airport. Otherwise, why bother? If you have no time, just bring back stories instead.
• Pack light – the benefits are obvious. Carry-on luggage only is the ideal, but liquid and size restrictions can make this tough. The lighter and smaller the better, though – you’ll navigate round the crowds quicker, and have less hassle with the inevitable stairs. Best to put in the time to learn how to pack compact.

Hotels

• Use your Concierge. Assuming you are staying in a nice enough place, you’ll have access to one (even if there isn’t one, most decent hotels should provide some assistance from the reception desk). Don’t be afraid to approach and ask for his advice or for help to solve a problem. After all, ’it’s a hotel, not a borstal‘. Concierges typically speak excellent English and their job is to help you enjoy your stay in the city – not just the hotel. Let them do the work of arranging things – it’ll be well worth the tenner you’ll feel obligated to tip them at the end of the trip. If they or the hotel mean you leave anything less than delighted, score them down on TripAdvisor. They deserve it.
• Stay in a hotel near where you’re visiting – this means that if you’re visiting a city, stay right in the centre. More hotel points at your favorite chain out-of-town? Ignore them. The cost and time saving is more than worth it.
• If the maid has done something nice for you, do something nice for her. Cue smutty joke. But, seriously, if they’ve put some freebies in your room, and you’ve been staying for a week, a small tip left on the bed when you check out is far from out of order.
• Be careful if staying with family and friends. This can be a good thing – your holiday feels more homely and you might get some good local advice. But be careful not to outstay your welcome and overindulge the favor. Lots of time cooped up with folks you don’t normally see all day, every day, can cause emotions to flare, and can damage your memories of your trip. It’s definitely inadvisable to do this when travelling on business, as your plans are rarely likely to be flexible.

Restaurants

• Avoid the tourist traps. This cannot be said enough times, and is especially tempting to violate when it’s late and you just want to go to bed. You know the signs when you see them – pictures on menus, English menus more prominent than the local ones, waiters hanging around outside to lure you in to over-lit, unchallenging food. If you want a nice trip, try and find a nice restaurant. Yes, every night. If you don’t feel like wandering around and taking a risk, ask in the hotel where’s good. Don’t beat yourself up over your cultural participation by making it ‘as local as the locals’ all the time (after all, they eat international food too) – but do put in the effort to find a place where the food at least tastes good.
• Don’t eat in the hotel restaurant. OK, occasionally this is alright – breakfast can be an exception, as well as when you’re really tired, or when the hotel restaurant is a notable gastronomic destination in itself (rare, and generally only to be found in 5* places). But generally, the food will be boring, the service poor, and you’ll pay through the nose.

Airlines

• Fly with a proper airline. This means no RyanAir (or whatever your local ‘couldn’t give a fuck’ alternative is). You’re on holiday, which means you’re there to enjoy yourself, or you’re on business, which means your company should fork out not to waste any more of your personal life than needed. This means you shouldn’t have to endure a gauntlet before you even get to your destination. Yes, airports are naturally depressing, security theater-filled, bureaucracies, but flying itself is fun, and a decent airline will smooth some of the pain out, especially if you fly enough to become a frequent flyer.
• Pick your seat in advance. This is particularly important for comfortable travel in long-haul economy. Many ‘proper’ airlines now allow you to select your seat as soon as you book (e.g. AA, and BA on some flights). Even if they don’t, you should then check-in online as soon as possible – you can still pick up your boarding pass at the airport if you haven’t got the option to print it straight away. seatguru.com is a quick-and-easy way to find the best seat on the plane.
• Don’t obsess over airline ‘privileges’. Generally, having ‘status’ on an airline alliance can be a good thing – business class check-in and lounge access, in particular, can be worthwhile. These are also the best chance of getting upgrades and reducing hassle. However, there are no guarantees. Sod’s law often has it that the obscure foreign destination you are in has no lounge, or just one check-in counter, or your status is ignored by a Kafka-esque drone who doesn’t understand the overly complex rules as well as you do. Don’t let it get to you – treat these things as bonuses to start off with, and you’ll have a more relaxed journey.
• Get on the airplane as early as you are reasonably allowed. You get to sit down and relax, and put your hand baggage away where it’s convenient for you. Yes, this means getting to the gate before boarding is announced. In fact, this principle applies generally in an airport – check-in early, get through security early, get to the gate early. Don’t leave it till the last minute and be surprised when your three carry-on bags need to be checked in.

The only potential disadvantage I can see is that in order to get data service on T-Mobile’s network (which is GPRS only), I have to switch off the protection on my Desire that stops it using the data on a roamed network. This does have the slight danger that I might forget to turn this off when travelling to a foreign network and being charged large sums. However, I’m prepared to take this risk/inconvenience for the benefit of being able to do the roam.

In general, a great new service from Orange, assuming they keep up the same quality of service. Now, if only they’d stop piling on crappy “added value” apps via their phone, and innovate on network features (of which this is a great example).

I also recently installed µswsusp on one of my laptops, a userspace hibernation facility. I didn’t really connect the dots until one day I left the laptop running, coming back to find it hibernated. When I tried to resume, the boot process hung as the kernel complained it couldn’t resume the image. After a facepalm moment (of course this wouldn’t work – the encryption key isn’t constant across boots -  you have to use a constant key if you want to get hibernation working), I eventually figured out how to book the machine: use the noresume parameter when booting the kernel.

The only thing blocking me from using this now was getting the Grub menu to come up so I could change that kernel boot line. It appears that in the switch to Grub 2, the key to do this changed to the Shift key, from the Esc key as it had been in Grub 1. After I managed to bring up the menu, I could boot the kernel without resuming the image. I then deinstalled µswsusp.

sudo aptitude install usb-modeswitch
sudo usb_modeswitch -v 0x12d1 -p 0x1521 -M \
 55534243123456780000000000000011060000000000000000000000000000

Once the modeswitch command is executed, the USB stick will present itself as a modem and you can use the standard Ubuntu NetworkManager mechanisms to define your service provider and set up the connection. The stick should remember its state, and so you should only ever need the above utility (and command) once.

• The battery and power management needs some work. Like all smartphones, the Desire has plenty of battery-sucking components, such as GPS and WiFi. I spend more time than I should really have to turning these off and on manually to conserve power. For example, Google Maps should be able to turn the GPS on by itself, rather than rely on me to do it. Most software based solutions, such as Locale, JuiceDefender, and so on, simply don’t work reliably enough (for example, mobile data connections frequently won’t turn off or on): it’s obvious that Android isn’t exposing enough APIs and these applications therefore have to rely on hacks. Better built-in power management would be welcome.
• The volume switch is really annoying. In theory, it’s nice to have a hardware control. But I find myself hitting it accidentally when holding the phone, and reducing the ring volume down to vibrate. Sometimes I don’t even notice. I’d prefer to see a soft volume control, less easy to hit accidentally.
• The openness of the platform is in question. I can install whatever applications I want. However, I still have firmware on the phone that’s been mangled by both HTC and (in my case) Orange. The HTC modifications are fairly nice, but the pre-installed Orange applications are just irritating, and cannot be removed easily. Orange has a bad habit of mangling phones they ship; presumably they think they need to do this to ‘differentiate’ themselves.  Worse still, it turns out one can’t simply ‘reinstall’ the firmware: the closest process is to root the phone – an awkward and unsupported process I’ve yet to be brave enough to attempt.
• Many of the pre-installed widgets are far too large (witness the SMS widget, which consumes an entire screen), with a lot of unnecessary chrome.
• The Music app is a bit flaky and crashes once or twice a day.

This screenshot is from Sametime 8.5.1 on Linux, but other platforms are probably similar.

1. Install two packages if they aren’t already installed (gpointing-device-settings is the more modern version of gsynaptics and will uninstall it if it’s installed):

   sudo aptitude install xserver-xorg-input-synaptics gpointing-device-settings

2. Start gpointing-device-settings from the command line and select “Touchpad off”, as shown here:
3. Exit the tool and reboot.

Kick-Ass is definitely a comic book movie. It’s been portrayed in some circles as the anti-comic book movie, and that’s certainly the impression I had going in: the first ten minutes or so leave you in no doubt that the protagonist isn’t a professional, well, hero. But at the end – without spoiling it – you’re left in no doubt that it is a comic book and not reality. As evidence, the characterisation (for example, of Kick-Ass’s girlfriend, Katie) is pretty shallow. The violence is graphic and for me a little unpleasant at times (I can’t stand watching any kind of torture, and the whooping of the idiotic frat boys at the back of the cinema made it more unpleasant). Nevertheless, the film is definitely amusing – and I didn’t find the overtones of violence or language coming from Hit-Girl as unsettling as many have (if you don’t know, she’s 11, says “cunt” once and “fuck” plenty of times, and kills many people in a variety of gruesome ways).

Kick-Ass isn’t for the faint of heart, but there was a point in the film, where Kick-Ass is being drawn into the web, where I was totally engrossed and could have been watching Batman or Spiderman – except Kick-Ass is glossier, more colourful, and cooler. Despite the cringe-making violence, this is a cool film, albeit one that walks very very close to the moral tightrope (although, again, not entirely just because of Hit Girl). I like it. But many wouldn’t.

After 3-4 hours of research, I found the answer. Running a differencing tool between the C:\Windows\Inf folder on a colleague’s PC and mine showed that mine was missing the usb.inf and usb.PNF files from that folder. It wasn’t clear why they were missing, but having copied them over from his machine, the driver installation then worked perfectly. So that’s worth trying if you encounter a similar problem with this product (or indeed any USB HID device).

Updated 2009-12-14: Added license

#!/usr/bin/python
#
# Copyright (c) 2009, Andrew Ferrier All rights reserved.
#
# Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
# modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
#
# * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice,
# this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
#
# * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
# this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
# and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
#
# * The name of Andrew Ferrier may not be used to endorse or promote products
# derived from this software without specific prior written permission.
#
# THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS"
# AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
# IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
# ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE
# LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR
# CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
# SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
# INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
# CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
# ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
# POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 
import httplib2
import getopt
import sys
 
try:
    opts, args = getopt.getopt(sys.argv[1:], "a:d:", ["user-auth-token=", "domain="])
except getopt.GetoptError, err:
    print str(err)
    sys.exit(2)
userauthtoken = None
domain = None
for o, a in opts:
    if o in ("-a", "--user-auth-token"):
        userauthtoken = a
    elif o in ("-d", "--domain"):
        domain = a
    else:
        assert False, "unhandled option"
 
if userauthtoken == None or domain == None:
    print "You must specify both the user-auth-token and the domain"
    sys.exit(2)
 
url = "http://" + domain + ".highrisehq.com/people.xml"
 
http = httplib2.Http()
 
http.add_credentials(userauthtoken, "x")
 
offset = 0
content = ""
 
while True:
    response, newContent = http.request(url + "?n=" + str(offset))
 
    if response.status != 200:
        sys.exit(response.status)
 
    numContacts = newContent.count("<person>")
    offset += numContacts
    content += newContent
 
    if numContacts < 500:
        break
 
print content

• Large; decent selection of food.
• Looks like usual upscale Waitrose food quality.
• Pleasant, well-turned out, professional staff (Sainsbury’s Winchester, I’m looking at you here).
• Clean and well-presented store (once again, a glance in Sainsbury’s direction).

Downsides:

• It’s too far out of town. OK, it probably isn’t if you have a car, I admit. I’m in the minority by avoiding one for cost reasons (which might cause one to question why I choose to shop at Waitrose, so it probably works for most of their customers). But, for me, it is a trek. I’ll probably be trying out Waitrose Deliver to see if that might help.
• Poor range at fresh bread counter.

I particularly wanted something more meaty than my NSLU2 so I could do full-disk encryption, fully-encrypted offsite backups, so it seemed ideal. The variation I ordered has:

• Dual-Core Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU 330 (1.6GHz)
• 1GB RAM
• 1TB Western Digital “GreenPower” Hard Drive
• Intel 82945G/GZ Integrated Graphics
• Onboard audio, 6 USB 2.0 ports, a serial port, a parallel port
• Integrated 100MB Ethernet
• RaLink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI Wireless Card
• DVD-RW drive

(total approximately £370)

Very PC seem fairly reputable, and their customer service was adequate, if not outstanding (they didn’t keep me up-to-date on my order until I emailed them, at which point they interrupted me by calling, they didn’t always respond to sales enquiry emails, and were coy about their returns policy). Nevertheless, they do offer a 3-year warranty as standard, which shows confidence in their products.

Nevertheless, the PC arrived fairly promptly (~5 days), and appears to be robustly built: whilst compact, the case is very solid and feels strong. The whole machine exudes a feeling of high build quality, and is mostly constructed from metal rather than cheap plastic. Here’s what it looks like from the outside:

The machine came shipped with Ubuntu (Desktop) pre-installed, although I rapidly reinstalled it with the Ubuntu Server (a wise decision anyway, since VeryPC forgot to include information on the default username and password!). As such, every piece of hardware works well with the exception of the wi-fi card, which, using the default driver, suffered from frequent drop-outs (a problem I’ve had before with the RaLink cards under Linux). Replacing the standard driver with a ndiswrapper verison (more information here and here) resolved this. Channels 12 and 13 also don’t seem to work correctly with this driver, so the wi-fi network has to run on another channel.

The main disappointment was the noise generated by the machine. To be fair, VeryPC described it as ‘ultra quiet’, and with other noisy items on (e.g. a modern laptop with the fan spinning), you won’t hear it. However, in an otherwise silent room, you definitely will – and you don’t have to get close to it either. I haven’t done any formal tests, but if you want a completely silent machine, this is not the one for you. If you can tolerate a small amount of fan noise in very quiet environments, it should be OK.

Another minor point: the machine has an external power supply brick (like a laptop). VeryPC didn’t make this clear, but you should factor it in if you’re considering buying one.

Otherwise, though, I’m fairly satisfied. It does what it says on the tin, I’ve had no reliability problems whatsoever (save for the wi-fi card issues mentioned above), and the machine is running 24h a day and doing a solid job. So kudos to veryPC for putting together a good bit of kit.

This morning, I figured out what it was that was causing the problem. AT&T was open when I was dialling, and had the modem selected in the ‘Cellular’ tab (which I don’t normally use):

I hypothesise that it’s got a lock on the modem when this is selected (even if the ‘Cellular’ tab is not selected). Quitting the AT&T client appears to allow the connection to be created. You can then restart it and connect to the VPN in the normal way (using ‘existing internet connection’).

Hope this helps someone.

It’s a shame Vodafone themselves don’t bother making this clear. This wasted about an hour of my time when  I first got the card.

Easy-peasy connectivity. You can still track how many bytes have been uploaded/downloaded in the current session by turning on ‘Show icon in notification area when connected’ from the Connection’s Properties dialog. You’ll then see an icon in the system tray with a pop-up showing usage. Sadly, this is only for the current session, not the month as a whole – haven’t yet found a decent bit of software to do that (surprisingly).