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Why i do not want to pay the Apple fashion premium

Notebookreview has a new review for Macbook Pro latest model (late 2008). Here is the spec:

  • Mac OS X v10.5.5 Leopard and Windows XP SP3 (Boot Camp)
  • Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz (3MB L2 cache, 1066MHz frontside bus)
  • 2GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
  • 250GB 5400rpm Serial ATA hard disk drive
  • 15.4″ glossy widescreen LED backlit display (1440 x 900)
  • Integrated Nvidia 9400 graphics (256MB of shared memory) and Discrete Nvidia 9600M GT (256MB of shared memory)
  • iSight webcam
  • AirPort Extreme WiFi (IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n)
  • Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
  • Mini Display port, 2 x USB 2.0 port (480Mbps), Audio out, mic, ExpressCard, FireWire 800
  • Dimensions : 0.95 x 14.35 x 9.82 inches (H x W x D)
  • Weight: 5.5 lbs
  • Integrated 50-watt-hour lithium-polymer batter
  • 85W MagSafe power adapter with cable management system (6.5oz)
  • Price: $1,999 ($1,899 with education discount)

Compare to my HP 6910p:

  • Windows XP Prof. (i run Linux anyway, this doesn’t matter)
  • Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 1.8GHz (2MB L2 cache, 800MHz frontside bus): This is the biggest difference, but see the price i paid under there
  • 2GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM
  • 80GB 5400rpm Serial ATA hard disk drive
  • 14.1″ matte widescreen LED display (1440 x 900)
  • Discrete ATI Mobility Radeon X2300 with 128MB VRAM (lame i know, but it does it’s job and i don’t play games)
  • Finger scanner
  • Intel 4965 WiFi (IEEE 802.11a/b/g)
  • Bluetooth 2
  • VGA and S-video out, 3 x USB 2.0 ports, audio out, mic, SD reader, FireWire 800
  • Weight: 5.0 lbs
  • 6-cell (55 WHr) Lithium-Ion battery
  • Ability to dock
  • Price paid total: 510 Euro (eBay, but it’s brand new)

Or a better competitor Lenovo Thinkpad T500:

  • Windows Vista Home Basic
  • Intel Core 2 Duo P860
  • 2GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM
  • 80GB 5400rpm Serial ATA hard disk drive
  • 15.4″ WSXGA+ CCFL Backlight (1680 x 1050)
  • Discrete ATI Mobility Radeon 3650HD with 256MB VRAM (with ability to instantly switch to integrated chip to save power)
  • Finger scanner
  • Intel 5100 WiFi (IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n)
  • VGA and S-video out, 3 x USB 2.0 ports, audio out, mic, FireWire, SD-card reader
  • Weight: 6.0 lbs
  • 6-cell Lithium-Ion battery
  • Ability to dock
  • Price total: $1378

Consider that you can easily find a 10-15% discount coupon for Lenovo T series notebooks on net, what are the reasons to buy a mac except’s the OS and it’s look ? Leopard is a good OS, but does it justify the 45% price difference ? I don’t think so.

Posted 09 November 2008 § Computer ‡ Comments (0) °

Cisco VPN Client freezes system with dual core CPU

It’s annoying as hell ! Not only we need to patch to use Cisco client on 64 bit systems, recently i find out Cisco don’t support SMP (multi core) in its VPN client. It means after you load the cisco module, there’s a big chance you will run into a kernel panic: oops, the whole desktop freezes and the only thing you can do is a hard restart. Nice.

There’s a way out of this: turn off SMP aka turn one core of your CPU off before the module is loaded:

  • sudo  echo 0 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/online (to turn the 2nd core off, replace cpu1 with cpu2 for 3rd core and so on)
  • sudo  echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/online (turn it back on)

But why the hell do we have to use one core only ?? I mean, if we buy multi core CPU, we want to use it ! It’s ok if you only use VPN occasionally, however for folks like me who is forced to use VPN all day then this is just plain dumb. Good work Cisco, i will stick with vpnc afterall, ktnxbye !

Posted 02 November 2008 § Computer ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,

2.6.26+ Kernel, fglrx, compiz fusion and the annoying small pauses when using those 3

Man, these freezes really bugs me off … After setting up this 6910p i realized that everytime i turn compiz on, the system would hang for 1-2 second then continue working as normal. The time interval between two freezes is random. This problem persisted with both closed and open source drivers (for an ATI Mobility x2300 ).

It’s hard to google about a general problem like this, so i posted question on various forums. Luckily, i am not the only one is affected. This post explains the reason:

It seems that PAT support that is included in linux kernel 2.6.26 has some problems. If you are using a recent ATI Catalst (fglrx) driver (at the time of this writting, the lattest was 8.8) with 2.6.26 kernel with PAT support you may have problems.

Problems may include freezes every couple of seconds when playing videos or full-screen 3D apps/games.

To solve this problem you will have to disable PAT support in kernel. Fortunately there is a kernel boot parameter that does with without requiring recompilation. Just add “nopat” to kernel boot parameters and you should be OK. Debian users should not worry since PAT is disabled in the default kernel.

My /boot/grub/menu.lst:

title  Arch Linux
root   (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda1 ro nopat
initrd /boot/kernel26.img

Posted 31 October 2008 § Computer ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Wordpress Blank Screen of Death

I’ve just encountered this problem when moving to a new host: the database was ok, php was working, htaccess ok, wp-config ok but my website always showed me a numb blank face. The problem drove me crazy since every other Wordpress-powered sites on the same host worked. A fresh version of Wordpress with the old database helped no further. So i thought it could be a database problem and tried to re-export and -import the databse again, change the encoding of the new database, convert the password of Mysql user to the old one … every method i could think of or google out.

After two hours i turned to the webserver’s log just to find this one:

2008-09-24 23:32:51.681 [NOTICE] [xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:64358-0#lamnk.com] [STDERR] PHP Parse error:  syntax error, unexpected T_STRING, expecting T_OLD_FUNCTION or
T_FUNCTION or T_VAR or ‘}’ in /xxx/blog/wp-content/plugins/last.fm/last.fm.php on line 17

What a relief ! To think last.fm caused this problem is beyond me. Why one plugin that worked on one host suddenly doesn’t work anymore on another host when other plugins do ???

Posted 25 September 2008 § Computer ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

How to fix error 1601 1604 when unlock iPhone with Winpwn

Phew … i feel much better now. After almost 2 hours toying around with Winpwn, worrying my phone ends up a brick, i finally can bypass the 1601 error when restoring the custom firmware. FYI i followed the guide on theiphoneproject and used winpwn 2.0.0.3.

If you can create the firmware but have trouble installing it, try to:

  1. Restore your phone to normal mode
  2. Turned it off (hold the sleep/wake button for about 3-5 seconds)
  3. Connect it to your computer then press and hold the home button immediately when the cable is plugged in
  4. The phone is now in restoration mode (you will have a iTunes icon and a cable on your phone’s display)
  5. Try to install the new firmware. If it doesn’t work follow step 6
  6. With the phone is still in restoration mode and connected, turn it to DFU mode
  7. Try to install the new firmware again. If it works, then congratulation, you will only need to wait about 10 minutes for restoring the new firmware. Otherwise goodluck on your google quest :-)
Posted 27 July 2008 § Computer ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: ,

Men’s rules

I’ve just stumpled upon a very interesting post about men’s rules for wives. Under are just some highlights :-)

  • Breasts are for looking at and that is why we do it. Don’t try to change that.
  • If you think you’re fat, you probably are. Don’t ask us.
  • Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.
  • Crying is blackmail.
  • “Yes” and “No” are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.
  • Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 days.
  • If we ask what is wrong and you say “nothing,” we will act like nothing’s wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.
  • You have enough clothes.
  • You have too many shoes.
Posted 11 July 2008 § Shine on you crazy diamond ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

How to install Cisco VPN client on Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 64 bit

UPDATE: A new client for linux (4.8.02.0030) is out. You no longer need the patch for 2.6.24+ kernel (vpnclient-linux-2.6.24-final.diff). However a patch for 64 bit systems is still required and the CFLAGS variable in Makefile must be changed to EXTRA_CFLAGS.

I assume that you have the latest version 4.8.01.0640 and the required packages for compiling.

If you install the original Cisco VPN client on Hardy you will receive the following error:

make -C /lib/modules/2.6.24-16-generic/build SUBDIRS=/home/lamnk/src/vpn/vpnclient modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.24-16-generic’
scripts/Makefile.build:46: *** CFLAGS was changed in “/home/lamnk/src/vpn/vpnclient/Makefile”. Fix it to use EXTRA_CFLAGS. Stop.
make[1]: *** [_module_/home/lamnk/src/vpn/vpnclient] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.24-16-generic’
make: *** [default] Error 2

As those lines point out, you need to edit the Makefile file in the vpnclient folder and change CFLAGS to EXTRA_CFLAGS: Change the following line in Makefile

CFLAGS += -mcmodel=kernel -mno-red-zone

to

EXTRA_CFLAGS += -mcmodel=kernel -mno-red-zone

then apply the 2 patches for kernel 2.6.24 and for 64 bit:

vpnclient_folder$ wget lamnk.com/vpnclient-linux-2.6.24-final.diff

vpnclient_folder$ wget lamnk.com/cisco_skbuff_offset.patch

vpnclient_folder$ patch < ./vpnclient-linux-2.6.24-final.diff

vpnclient_folder$ patch < ./cisco_skbuff_offset.patch

vpnclient_folder$ ./vpn_install

If your system is 32 bit then you only need to patch the vpnclient-linux-2.6.24-final.diff file.

The patch for 64 bit system is from Stephen Frost and the patch for kernel 2.6.24 is from Alexander Griesser. Seriously Cisco should pay those guys some money … If these patches help you then please consider donate them.

Posted 17 May 2008 § Domain § VPN ‡ Comments (8) ° Tagged: , , ,

Die eBay, die … They has no limit to their greed ?

A recent attemp of Ebay to improve their system (i only know for Ebay Germany, but those policies would be applied worldwide IMO ):

  • Items ranking in search result will depend on your feedback and shipping cost rating, who has better feedback will have better item ranking: Kudos to Ebay for this. I personally hate the people who charge 8€ for an item costs 10€. When I sell something I set my shipping cost 1€ over the price logistic companies charge me only to cover the package and handling cost.
  • Seller who has negative feedback will be considered to restrict selling activities. This is absolutely a grayzone, as bogus buyers can threaten sellers with negative feedback or fun bidders can use this to revenge against sellers.
  • Who want to be a “standard” seller is now forced to use paypal ! And the paypal fee applies ! WTF ! I see paypal is a convenient way to pay but the transaction fee really scare me off: 30 cent + 2.95% ( paypal ) + 8% ( ebay ) item value !!! The sum can be as high as 15% for small value items !
Posted 29 April 2008 § Computer ‡ Comments (0) °

Wordpress installation - Error establishing a database connection

I just spent 3 hours just to look at this error of wordpress, trying to figure out why the hell wordpress can’t connect to mysql. Because i created the mysql user myself, there is definitely no reason i entered the wrong password. And the mysqld daemon did run fine as i could create user and databases from the command line.

Then i went to a conclusion that Wordpress may hate my box for some reason. Yes it’s a stupid idea but you never know … So i get another blogging script that i tempted to try for a long time: Chyrp. Chyrp is designed to be lightweight, the author states he aims to make as least mysql queries as possible. And it saved my day when the installation script throwed out a error that it cannot connect to the mysql.sock at /tmp .

From there it’s easy. Once you have the clue you can find the solution: a hardlink from /tmp to /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock and bam! Wordpress fully loaded …

Really, i am starting to believe that Wordpress is going to be a “Windows” for blogging. Starting as an ubiquitous platform: everybody uses it and there is even a big ecosystem around. Then it grows so big that its core becomes a mess. Let see who will overcome Wordpress and be “Linux” on blogging software.

Posted 28 April 2008 § Computer ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,

Error compiling PHP on CentOS 64 bit

In order to compile PHP successfully on 64 bit you need to use the option
--with-libdir=lib64
otherwise you will stay forever with the error
checking for MySQL support... yes
checking for specified location of the MySQL UNIX socket... no
checking for MySQL UNIX socket location... no
checking for mysql_close in -lmysqlclient... no
checking for mysql_error in -lmysqlclient... no
configure: error: mysql configure failed. Please check config.log for more information.

Posted 03 April 2008 § Computer ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,