iPad Wireless Connection Issue

I received my iPad which I ordered two weeks ago. It seems that I may be one of those small number of iPad users who are experience wireless connection issues. The wireless signal fluctuated from strong to weak, while my other laptops and iPhone showed a consistent signal at the same location. In addition, I was asked to re-type the password in order to connect to the wireless network from time to time. I found the Apple knowledge note and changed my WiFi router setting to use WPA/WPA2 security. Hopefully the rest of the connection issue can be addressed in the upcoming iOS release.

Shrinking a VirtualBox image

I followed the tutorial "How to Shrink Your VirtualBox VM" and found it's very useful to reduce the image size. Since I'm using the Oracle Enterprise Linux as the guest, I need to get the zerofree rpm package first.

1) Verify the current disk partition of the OEL guest (e.g. /dev/hda3)

2) Assign a OEL Boot into Linux rescue mode (e.g. using OEL or OVM) and mount the file system as read only.

# mount -n -o remount,ro -t ext3 /dev/hda3 /
# zerofree /dev/hda3

3) Shutdown the OEL VM.
# shutdown -h now
# poweroff

4) Shrink the VM (from the host OS)
# vboxmanage modifyhd EnterpriseLinux.vdi compact

For the guest VMs, such as Ubunutu 9.10 where ext4 file system is used, I can not get zerofree to work; but a good workaround is to CloneVDI tool.

Recover from a failed upgrade with ZFS

Working on my SPARC box, I came across some serious issues during the upgrade and must revert back to a previous boot environment (ZFS as the root file system). So I logged into ILOM service processor, sent a break to bring the system to the OK prompt, then specified the boot environment. Now I'm recovered from a failed upgrade. It's really cool!

-> set /HOST send_break_action=break
Set 'send_break_action' to 'break'

-> start /SP/console
Are you sure you want to start /SP/console (y/n)? y

Serial console started. To stop, type #.
Debugging requested; hardware watchdog suspended.
Type 'go' to resume

{0} ok boot disk -Z rpool/ROOT/snv_134

Use Serial Port from VirtualBox Linux Guest

From time to tome, I need to connect to a serial console of another computer. My laptop runs Windows XP. Unfortunately, the hyperterminal program is not installed. So I have to look for an alternative. I'm reading the blog entry (How To Use Host Serial Port From Guest In VirtualBox) and it's worth a try.

First I verified the serial port configuration in the host OS.

Then I configured the serial port setting for the Linux guest.
Once I log into the Linux guest OS, I can use the minicom or cutecom software. Here's the minicom configuration example and save it as the default value.
$ sudo minicom -s





Then I can easily connect to the serial console of a remote computer.

$ sudo minicom

Welcome to minicom 2.3

OPTIONS: I18n
Compiled on Sep 25 2009, 23:40:20.
Port /dev/ttyS0

SUNSP00144FD11817 login: root
Password:
Waiting for daemons to initialize...

Daemons ready

Sun(TM) Integrated Lights Out Manager

Version 2.0.4.0

Copyright 2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Use is subject to license terms.

->

Wireless Connection

My laptop (Dell D630) has Intel Pro/Wireless 3945ABG interface. Recently I upgraded the driver to the latest version (12.4.4.5) and had the issue of the frequent connection drop. Then I downgraded the driver to the previous version (12.4.3.9) and everything is back to normal.

See the error message when the connection was dropped.

Event Type: Information

Event Source: NETw5x32

Event Category: None

Event ID: 5005

Date: 2/17/2010

Time: 10:42:38 PM

Description:

The description for Event ID ( 5005 ) in Source ( NETw5x32 ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details. The following information is part of the event: , \DEVICE\{921C7BED-D86C-4EDB-BCDA-024961743117}.

Data:

0000: 00 00 08 00 02 00 62 00 ......b.

0008: 00 00 00 00 8d 13 00 60 ......`

0010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........

0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........

0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........

0028: 4d 4d 41 43 20 00 00 00 MMAC ...

Firefox 3.6 and Add-on Compatibility Reporter

Firefox 3.6 was out last week. I didn't upgrade the browser due to a number of incompatible add-ons, see the ones marked in the left picture. Then the Add-on Compatibility Reporter came to my attention. I gave it a try, now all the incompatible add-ons are enabled, actually they are just working fine. Really cool!

Customize Firefox and Thunderbird

It's fascinating to discover many useful extensions for Firefox and Thunderbird, which offer unparalleled user experience. Here I'd like to share some examples that I'm using. First please see a list of add-ons for Firefox.
1) Adblock Plus: the web page is much cleaner without the ads.
2) Add-on Compatibility Reporter
3) All-in-One Sidebar: It appears to be incompatible with the default theme when switching the themes, and the development build has the fix.
4) Chromin Frame: bringing the same look and feel as Google Chrome browser.
5) Chromin Tab Behavior
6) CoolPreviews
7) Coral IE Tab: Originally I was using the IE Tab which is not compatible with the new Firefox 3.6; then I switched to the Coral IE Tab. You need to check the developer's web site for the latest add-on.
8) Dafizilla ViewSourceWith
9) Disablemenu
10) Download StatusBar
11) DownloadHelper: quite handy to use when downloading videos.
12) Fission: Fission combines address bar and progress bar (Safari style). This makes the progress bar more visible and allows for a nice visual effect.
13) FoxTab
14) Google Voice Add-on for Firefox: very neat add-on to recognize the phone number on the page and you can click to dial the number via Google voice.
15) gTranslate
16) Locationbar²
17) Map with Google: Originally I was using the Map This extension, but it was no longer working after I installed gTranslate; then I switched to using Map with Google.
18) New Tab King
19) Organize Status Bar: you'll need it as the number of icons are going in the status bar.
20) PluginChecker: Check at application startup if there are plugins installed without user permission
21) Print/Print Preview
22) QuickDrag
23) Tab History
24) Toolbar Buttons
25) User Agent Switcher
26) WebMail Notifier
27) Xmarks

The theme I use for Firefox is the Strata RELOADED.












Then for Thunderbird, I'm using the following add-ons:
1) CompactHeader
2) Display Mail User Agent
3) Forward
4) Hide Menubar
5) Lightning: The Lightning 0.9 is not compatible with Thunderbird 3.0, and I have to use the nightly build.
6) Toolbar Buttons




The theme for Thunderbird is the OWN.