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Archive for November, 2007
Playstation store
Sony’s Playstation Store was launched last week. Surprisingly, ZA is listed as one of the countries that enjoys support. Though the ability to download PS one games was initially rumoured to function only once a PS3 had been fired up, Sony seems to have changed its mind and has provided this portal to garner some extra revenue. The low sales figures of the PS3 may be to blame – it seems that the PS2 is still outselling its new sibling.
It is unusual to be able to register for a service such as this in ZA – normally, portals like this are rolled out in the US or Europe without making their content available to those outside of those countries. There’s hardly a wealth of content here, so once again that may be a possible reason. Registration is quick and easy. Browsing the catalog is accomplished in seconds. There is not a lot of content.
As I have no interest in purchasing an old title, I decided to test the store’s functionality by downloading a demo game. A special interface application is required to transfer the download to a USB-connected PSP. Windows XP only, so Mac and Linux-heads are out of luck. The download of the 8MB Xyanide demo was completed and the PLAYSTATION Network Downloader launched after I connected the PSP to nx8220. Indignantly, the application informed me that the present firmware version on my PSP was of little use and required an update.
For the ZA PSP 1004, the latest 3.72 firmware version may be downloaded here. It goes without saying that the primary enhancement is one relating to security. Sony needs to wake up and open up its platform…
Back to the process of downloading the demo file, as the version Firefox had in its cache for a couple of days seemed to have expired.
Then transfer the file to the PSP using the PLAYSTATION Network Downloader.
The demo works. Obviously, it requires some free space on the PSP‘s memory stick. The store presents a novel concept, but is hardly worth the effort considering the tiny library of games available in it. Maybe this is only the beginning and it is possible that more games and other media may be offered in future.
Germany qualifies for European Championship
With eight wins, two draws and two unfortunate losses, the German national team has qualified to take part in next year’s European Championship tournament.
Though we require no consolation, it is pleasing to know that the team form the island off the coast of France won’t be taking part: none of that usual World War/World Cup drivel to listen to…
xplorer²
The default file explorer provided in Windows is adequate for most tasks. There are times when something a little more powerful is needed, though. If you want a utility to replace Windows Explorer and have access to more options and settings than you can shake a stick at, xplorer² may be for you. The shareware utility has recently been awarded the Epsilon award for best European shareware product of the year – not bad, considering the competition included the likes of Alcohol 120% and ISOBuster.
xplorer² is a file explorer on steroids, reminiscent of Midnight Commander but with too many features to mention. In fact, the initial screen comprising three panes all listing files and directories is possibly somewhat imposing. Getting started with the software is easy though and the usual copy and paste functions we all have to contend with are accomplished without a second thought.
As mentioned before, there are many features available: from a built-in command line interface, duplicate finder, file search feature, synchronized file viewer, file synchronization to file viewers, configurable list views, categorization and sort-orders. There is no way of even trying to list all the functionality. I suggest you download the 21 day trial version and decide whether or not the USD 29 price tag is fair. My take on it is that this is an excellent application that will propel your ordinary file management tasks to a new level.
Underwater Supermarionation
To maintain the viewing pleasure of our young audience, we are running through the complete Thunderbirds series. With the youngster’s interest piqued, why not continue the theme of Supermarionation and go on to the Stingray? Fresh from the post box, the complete series on DVD.
At least this gives us older folk a chance to watch what we love without fear of being marginalized. Of course we can watch it again 
New Pick’nPay
4 years ago
by manfred
in Life in South Africa
I noticed the new logo Pick’nPay has decided on by chance while glancing through that annoying stack of advertising gumph found in the local rag.
So the old
makes way for the new
The branding exercise is set to cost them around ZAR 110 million, so you may want to decide whether or not you’ll support their change to a different logo and store layout when next you need those household essentials. From what I’ve read elsewhere, Pick’nPay did not bear their Proudly South African affiliation in mind when selecting the company to assist them with their re-branding. Instead of relying on local talent, an overseas outfit had the opportunity to come up with a new logo and look. So much for corporate responsibility and keeping cash in the country you make it in.
Sound online – again
4 years ago
by manfred
in Linux/Unix
Without too much effort I managed to get the system sounds working again in Fedora 8. Incredibly, the solution was far simpler than I expected. Using the software installation tool, I initially removed all components that even remotely mentioned PulseAudio. Once that was done, I simply re-selected them all and installed them afresh. No editing of configuration files or anything else. One reboot and the system was up and running, humming a happy tune. I have no idea why the sound stopped working, and I don’t know exactly why it’s back again. Suffice to say that I’m pleased to have my desktop make a noise and am not too concerned about the solution. It’s certainly not PulseAudio, but there must be some interaction or dependency that PulseAudio has and possibly sets up in the background. Considering that the PulseAudio release presently available in Fedora 8 is still below the version 1.0 mark, some unintended activities on its part are not impossible.
This morning, I started an update of approximately 25 packages. I do hope the update doesn’t disrupt audio as it has in the past and wait in anticipation…
Updated NVIDIA Linux display driver
If your Linux system is running with NVIDIA graphics, you may be interested to know that a new driver is available. It may be contrary to many open source lovers to install proprietary drivers, but the performance benefits and ease of configuration should make up for that. The X86 driver has the version number 169.04 and is a 17MB download. Including support for more recent cards and chipsets, the driver also fixes a few issues that may have plagued users, such as problems in Compiz and overall stability issues.
Seeing as I’m trying to get my sound to work properly, it’s unlikely that I’ll jump at installing this one straight away. I’d prefer not to screw up my display!
Firefox 3.0 Beta
I’ve been running the latest Firefox 3.0 in its beta state for a week now. Overall, it’s stable and offers the browsing experience I’ve become accustomed to. The new features are not readily apparent, but I like the improved handling of bookmarks and the updated download manager.
One thing you should be aware of is that most of your present add-ons probably won’t work. I was caught out by that and am no longer able to rely on Google’s Browser Sync to ensure my bookmarks are transferred among my various systems. Trying to uninstall the 3.0 beta to go back to the 2.0.0.9 release works…until the Browser Sync add-on is initialized. It’s unable to run, generating an error and crashing the browser. There’s obviously some library or DLL that is changed and either not removed or not re-created by the earlier version 2 release of Firefox upon installation. No choice but to go back to the 3.0 Beta and live without themes and add-ins. It’s a strangely liberating experience
If you are not reliant on too many add-ins, or simply brave enough to discard them all and willing to wait and see whether they’ll be back for the 3.0 release, then download Firefox 3.0 Beta now.
Audio without a pulse
4 years ago
by manfred
in Linux/Unix
Or Werewolf without a howl. The standard installation or upgrade to Fedora 8 includes PulseAudio, a sound server for Linux, though it is available for Win32 systems too.
My upgrade to Fedora 8 completed without any major issues; certain problems were sorted out by the initial batch of updates. The one strange issue right off the bat was that startup and shutdown sounds that were always played on the Fedora 7 installation no longer played after the upgrade. It’s one of those things I didn’t pay attention to initially, since most other system sounds could be heard. When trying to test the startup or shutdown sound from the control panel, the sound was played, so it was not easy to determine why that sound in particular couldn’t play. By the way, all other sounds were playing, including Skype, Amarok, etc.
Then, as one does when one tinkers, I decided to check out PulseAudio in a bit more detail. In the upgraded system, all that’s running is the pulseaudio daemon. None of the applets are installed by default. The helpful wiki page gives advice on what to install. I duly yum‘ed them and got those components into the system…
After that, no more system sounds at all. Not even from within the control panel. Yet applications that play music work and various other applications that interact with the sound subsystem play sounds too. Probably ALSA, as I haven’t really changed any of the configuration files to point to PulseAudio. The most unusual behaviour is the following: plugging my Plantronics DSP-400 headset into the system to use Skype causes the system startup sound to play, even though the system has been up and running for days! The system startup sound won’t play through the motherboard sound card.
Detection of the sound card works seamlessly, and the test music plays. Testing various sound card interactions produces sounds. Just no go on the system sounds. Fiddling with volume settings is of little consequence.
Removing PulseAudio in its entirety did no good. Adding the ALSA plugin for PulseAudio does just as little. I’m convinced the issue has nothing to do with PulseAudio. It’s just a very strange thing to occur: no sound everywhere would be a better starting point than sound in limited applications. At least, I’m not alone: this seems to be a common issue, but with no distinct solution in sight. Solutions range from the possible (change permissions in the 50* file in /etc/security/console.perms.d) to the unlikely (ensure the ConsoleKit service is running).
What I’ll try to do next is to enable PulseAudio as the default sound server for the system and see whether that resolves the issue. Also, check whether the system has suddenly decided to redirect output to the USB audio device, even though it’s not really present…
Very vexing indeed, and certainly irritating: seamless functioning of the sound subsystem is taken for granted in a desktop OS.
Baked Apple
I choose Rockbox as the operating system on my 2GB nano simply because I have more control over file storage and locations. Lately, leaving the Nano in the car when it temperatures soar has the effect of indicating corrupt storage, nonsensical file lists or this:
There’s no need to plug in the USB cable: simply holding the baked Apple in front of the air vent with the aircon on restores normal operation. How long the solid state memory in my nano will survive this treatment is unknown – after two years of service it may be time to get a replacement if this behaviour becomes commonplace…
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