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Archive for November, 2008
Make a bootable USB flash drive
This is probably the easiest way of creating a bootable Linux USB flash drive I’ve used so far and takes only a couple of minutes to complete. All you’ll need is a small executable for either Windows or Linux and a Linux distribution.
UNetbootin is an open source development that is optimized to install Linux or BSD operating systems to a partition on a conventional USB drive. To get going, you’ll need a FAT32 formatted USB flash drive, the 4MB UNetbootin executable and some or other Linux or BSD ISO image. Two great things about UNetbootin: no installation and a lot of flexibility when it comes to selecting how the Linux image will be created. The application consists of one screen: plug the target USB drive in, make sure you know where the Linux source is and click Ok.
Here, I’m using an ISO image of the i386 Ubuntu 8.10 release. My target is a 4GB USB flash drive on E:. Files are extracted from the ISO and copied appropriately, then the bootloader is installed.
That’s it. There’s no need to reboot unless the same machine that was used to prepare the flash drive is to be rebooted with it’s new payload.
To boot from the USB flash drive, insert it into the target machine and enter the BIOS at boot time. Change the boot device priority or actual boot device to the flash drive and restart.
A portable OS on a keyring, the easy way!
My first try used the 2009.0 Mandriva One ISO. Somehow, that Live CD image doesn’t load the correct modules in the correct sequence. I ended up with this rather frightening error in a terminal:
bio too big device loop0 (2 > 0)
SQUASHFS error:sb_bread failed reading block 0×0
SQUASHFS error: unable to read superblock
There is a workaround for this error, but fortunately another distro was at hand.
Quantum of Solace review
Quantum of Solace stars Daniel Craig as agent 007 and continues the story of Bond‘s quest to discover Mr. White‘s affiliations. At the end of Casino Royale, Bond has tracked White down and is ready to bring him in for questioning.
Solace begins with a crazy car chase through the Italian countryside, ending up in the city of Siena. Here, White‘s interrogation starts, and ends in seconds: a traitorous MI6 agent aids his escape. In Royale, the movie got underway with a spectacular chase scene on a construction site in Madagascar. In Solace, it’s a similar chase, this time taking place on the rooftops of Siena. It’s one of many similar set pieces, and it makes the movie appear less fresh and less interesting than Craig‘s debut in Casino Royale. The British Secret Service never seems to get to grips with White‘s affiliation with the mysterious Quantum organization, whose main player is Dominic Greene.
As a Bond villain, Greene is decidedly pedestrian. He poses as an environmentalist to gain access to water supplies in key geographical locations by destabilizing governments. In an interesting reflection on current events, the US aids his cause in return for access to oil supplies.
In stark contrast to the exotic locations, 007 spends most of his time in decidedly backwater places: Haiti and Bolivia. Thankfully, we are spared the barrage of Sony product placements that we saw in Royale. Ford gets a fair bit of showtime, including showing off an electric version of the Ka. The producers were obviously impressed with the digital tabletop seen in Minority Report – MI6 agents seem to use this technology all the time…
Bond gets to investigate Greene‘s plan to set up a military government in Bolivia that will transfer ownership of certain land to the Quantum organization. He has enlisted the CIA to assist in getting rid of Bond, something that Felix Leiter is not too happy about. That’s about it. The story doesn’t really go anywhere interesting and, though the pace is frenetic, there is nothing really new about this Bond adventure.
Coincidentally, Bond-girl Camille is intent on revenging the death of her parents. The new Bolivian military dictator is her target. That’s similar to the story in For Your Eyes Only. The fight on the theatre’s roof in Bregenz ends with Bond holding his quarry by his tie before letting him fall a couple of stories to the ground below. That’s a scene from Octopussy. Field agent Fields is killed in the hotel room and her naked body covered in oil, left on the bed. That’s Goldfinger. Camille and Bond jump out of an aeroplane and share a single parachute: that’s similar to the stunt in Moonraker. Whether intended or not, these copies of previous Bond exploits do little to make Solace compelling. On the contrary, it’s almost a bit too bland and nowhere close to the enjoyable adventure we saw in Casino Royale.
If you’re a Bond fan, you’ll see it and want to own it on DVD just to complete your collection. But somehow I doubt Quantum of Solace will be remembered as one of the better Bond adventures…
Quantum of Solace
It’s that time again! The follow-up to Casino Royale opens in cinemas across the country tonight. In eager preparation, we watched Casino Royale to get into the Bond mood and have the story refreshed in our minds. This is the final scene in Casino Royale: Bond towering over Mr. White after planting a single shot in his leg
Craig‘s portrayal of Bond is spot-on, in my opinion. The action in Casino Royale never lets up, though the story can at times seem disjointed and pasted together.
Quantum of Solace picks up where the last 007 movie left off.
Check back later for a brief review.
CF WTF?
3 years ago
by manfred
in Life in South Africa
Ordinarily, my kalahari.net orders are processed and dispatched promptly and without any drama. For the upcoming December holiday, I wanted to stock up on some extra storage for the camera, so I checked out various stores, both online and offline for the best price. kalahari‘s prices for the 4GB SanDisk Extreme III Compact Flash cards are not bad. I ordered two, knowing that these would be on backorder.
Twice, I’ve had a call from kalahari.net to determine what I’ll be using the CF cards for. They are concerned that I’m not certain what the storage card is for and may be uncertain that the target devices won’t accept them. At first, I was patient in explaining that I fully understand what the CF card will be used for and that I’ll be using it in a variety of devices, primarily digital cameras. The second call went less well, and I indicated my displeasure that my order still had not been fulfilled. I refused to once again tell them what devices I’ll be using the CF cards in.
I appreciate that less tech-savvy customers may be confused by various formats and form factors. I also understand that retailers and distributors cannot accept incorrect purchases that have already been opened for refunds or exchange. There’s a simple solution: a tick box on the page for payment that indicates I have read and understood that any storage media bought will only be accepted for return for the same item if it is DOA. The same applies to PC games that may have higher requirements than my desktop is capable of providing.
I’m seriously considering cancelling my order and buying at a brick and mortar store where I will not be harassed needlessly for purchasing an item I need. Bad show, kalahari!
USB 3.0
3 years ago
by manfred
in Connectivity
While the Interwebs are still dallying with components between versions 1.0 and 2.0, the USB Implementers Forum is boldly marching on to USB 3.0. I haven’t seen many devices sporting the latest wireless USB standard, but the USB 3.0 specifications are rather impressive, if cable-bound. Devices conforming to the new 3.0 specification will sport this logo:
Existing devices will be compatible with the new USB hubs that will appear in desktop and notebook computers, though an adapter will be required. The new, super speed USB connector has a different shape and contains a number of additional connectors.
Performance for copying files should be quite remarkable: 4.8Gbits per second, or thereabouts. With those kinds of speeds, it’s unlikely Firewire will survive much longer. Already, Apple has decided not to fit the lower end MacBooks with Firewire ports. Though video cameras are increasingly relying on removable storage, the transfer speeds promised by the new USB standard makes downloading video over USB a reality. USB 3.0 should be available in devices from the second half of 2009.
MPH Live Motor Show 2009
3 years ago
by manfred
in Life in South Africa
I skipped Clarkson‘s MPH show for 2008 as I wasn’t all that impressed with their first showing on South African soil. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, though, and plan to see their 2009 show, schedule for the end of January.
Once again, the Hamster, Clarkson and our local petrolhead Martinengo will bring all sorts of four-wheeled mayem to the Coca-Cola Dome in Northgate.
The official website doesn’t provide much information as to what we can expect to see. A static display of various vehicles, no doubt and the 90 minute show. Tickets are being sold and range in price from R200 to R300.
Lego Digital Designer
The Lego Digital Designer is a great way to pass the time when all you have at hand is your Mac or PC and have left your Lego bricks at home. The new version features components and plans from the Mindstorms series, as well as offering a number of quick start models that provide the basics and let the user continue the build.
The brick palette is rather extensive, though certain pieces may be missed by the more experienced builder. For the lucky users who are located in one of the zones that are serviced by the online Lego store, a completed model that has been built up in the Digital Designer can be ordered as a packaged, boxed set ready for real-world construction. This service is unfortunately not available to anyone outside of a select set of European countries and the USA.
Starting off with the LDD is simple enough. After downloading and installing the application, either on Windows or Mac OS, the startup wizard allows selection of the type of building to be done. As mentioned, certain quick-start models are available in the library.
A great addition is the Mindstorms line:
The free build option can be a lot of fun. Simply get creative and start putting bits and pieces together:
And once completed…
…why not generate and print out the building plan for future construction?
The Lego Digital Designer is a free download and highly recommended for young and old!
The Adgator’s comin’
Advertising was not the idea when I started this blog. The idea of monetizing my drivel didn’t occur to me until I received a rather interesting mail from the team behind Afrigator a few days ago. Their new initiative is named Adgator and is a means of serving advertisements to participating web sites.
This blog has been accepted into the Adgator network as have, without doubt, tons of others. For the next two weeks or so, nothing much will change. There is some tracking code in here that indicates hit rates and the like to the Adgator team. Based on that information, I will dedicate certain areas on the page to adverts. Seamlessly, they shall appear, hopefully not to annoy.
My decision is based on a very interesting paradigm that I have known about but have never considered applicable: virtually all visits to this site originate from a search. The number of visits that land here directly are in the absolute minority. I’m thankful for those, of course. You are the die-hards. But the fact of the matter is that everyone else lands here searching for GRUB Error 17 or Alien Lego. The library of content I’ve been building up is starting to pay off in the increase in daily unique and overall visits. At present, those numbers are starting to exceed 600, which is not too bad.
In that respect, FEEDJIT has also been an eye-opener. It displays visits to the site in real time. Proof of the search paradigm that rules the web couldn’t be any clearer.
The Adgator offer is attractive: instead of relying on the visitor to click on an advert or link, payments are made based on page impressions. If the numbers work out, this blog could be returning some decent pocketmoney and pay for itself without any problem.
As regular visitors, you may be irked by the ads. I apologize. If you’re a Firefox user, try this.
City Navigator NT Australia 2009
Shipped from Johnny Appleseed GPS in Brisbane at the end of October, my City Navigator NT Australia 2009 CD arrived in the mail today. Getting at the latest mapset for my Garmin unit has been an ongoing saga for some time. My previously preferred GPS shop can take a hike: the cost to the customer for this map set is just under R5000.
I was able to import a single copy by individual order for just under R1200. Add in the R169 the South African revenue service wants for customs and excise and the same product cost about R1369. A high, but fairer price considering local maps for Garmin units cost upwards of R800. You’d think someone with the ability to import larger quantities in a single shipment would be able to offer reasonable prices in the same range. Obviously greed is a factor here, as is the ability to suck cash out of paranoid South Africans wanting to head over to the large island close to the Barrier Reef. Needless to say, TechShop has lost me as a customer for anything GPS related…
Not that ordering the media was a simple affair. After searching high and low for a source of the City Navigator NT Australia, I settled for an online order from the oddly-named Johnny Appleseed. By coincidence the 2009 version had just appeared, which made the purchase a no-brainer at the price of AUD 189. I placed the order and received a confirmation by email. Then? I waited. No further mails indicating the usual e-commerce-style feedback. I was unsure what the story was, but assumed that things were being organized. After a short time, I started wondering whether the order had been received, so I sent an email in the ether. And that’s where it stayed. No response. A Skype call in the early hours of the morning to the call centre yielded the first feedback: the stock had not yet arrived. Could I be informed when the stock had arrived, to ensure the CD wouldn’t end up in South Africa when we’d already left for Australia? No worries, mate!
Obviously, communication is not Johnny‘s strength. I became edgy three days ago and once again skyped the call centre. The order had shipped at the end of October. Today, I collected the package at the post office. Great pricing, Johnny Appleseed. Not so great in the communications department. In any case, the 710 has been loaded with Australia’s mapping data.
It is a rather large island. Better not get lost.
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