FTTC coming to Sittingbourne this year!

I’ve just noticed that the FTTC rollout is coming to Sittingbourne, expected to be available by the end of the summer.
This is great news as we struggle to get 2Mbit where we live currently!

It’s a nice surprise that they have chosen Sittingbourne so early in the rollout as we were one of the last places to even get the 21CN. They’ve obviously realised how many of us live in new houses almost on the distance limit for ADSL, well done BT :)

A list of the exchanges that will get FTTC in the current rollout phase can be found here:


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Ubuntu 10.04 Server, so far so good!

I upgraded one of my Karmic servers to Ubuntu 10.04 RC the other day.

The last upgrade from Jaunty to Karmic was a rather traumatic process, but thankfully this time round all went smoothly. Not really any overly noticeable changes this time round other than a few more things have moved into upstart (MySQL for example) and when I boot via KVM the new Plymouth boot screen is present, although not sure why this is even included in a server release.

It’s about as updated a LAMP setup as is possible including Apache 2.2.14, MySQL 5.1.41 and especially pleased they put in PHP 5.3.2 after the code freeze. On this server I’m actually running Zend Server CE (which already had PHP 5.3.2) as Zend are quicker to push out the updates, but on others I will stick with the default Ubuntu release.

What else can be said about a server OS? Well, it just works :)

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Fix for missing boot screen with Ubuntu 10.04 betas/RC

Here is a quick fix for the missing boot screen:

echo FRAMEBUFFER=y > /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/splash
update-initramfs -u

Note that this fix does marginally slow down boot, but only by a few seconds.

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How to print from your iPad!

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Testing your website on the iPad

Here is a great site for iPad site testing!


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Installing your Windows fonts on Ubuntu (via Wubi)

Here is a quick way to copy your Windows fonts over to an Ubuntu Wubi installation:

mkdir ~/.fonts
cp /host/WINDOWS/Fonts/*.tt* ~/.fonts/
cp /host/WINDOWS/Fonts/*.otf ~/.fonts/

Applications should then pick up all your Windows fonts :)

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YouTube is down!

Tried to visit YouTube this morning?

For about an hour now it’s been down, initially there was a “Http/1.1 Service Unavailable” message, which has now turned into a standard Apache “Internal Server Error”.

Update:

Now there is a Google error page:

Update (12.30pm):

Normal service is resumed!

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Ubuntu 10.04 Preview (Desktop using VirtualBox)

Setup

Setting up the desktop edition of Lucid with Virtualbox was a little problematic at first. Install went fine and I rebooted to find myself in a very small desktop which was rather sluggish.

I opened up a terminal and installed the guest additions software:

sudo ./VBoxLinuxAdditions-amd64.run

(or use the x86 version for 32 bit).

After a reboot there is a lot of screen flashing and eventually a message comes up about low graphics mode.

To fix this login and perform the following:

gksudo gedit /usr/src/vboxvideo-3.1.4/vboxvideo_drm.c

Go to line 90:

.ioctl = drm_ioctl,

Replace it with:

#if defined(DRM_UNLOCKED) || LINUX_VERSION_CODE >= KERNEL_VERSION (2, 6, 33)
.unlocked_ioctl = drm_ioctl,
#else
.ioctl = drm_ioctl,
#endif

Then run:

sudo /etc/init.d/vboxadd setup

This solution came from this blog:


After rebooting following this fix the mouse pointer is invisible, so another fix is needed:

Edit:

/etc/X11/xorg.conf

Add:

Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “Configured Mouse”
Driver “vboxmouse”
Option “CorePointer”
EndSection

Reboot and everything should run nicely, including Compiz.

This solution came from here:


Checking for updates, there are 245 updates just a few days after the release of the beta, the dev team have obviously been busy! Unfortunately the updates broke the VBox addons again so I had to run the setup command above again to fix this and reboot.

I had a minor issue with resizing the VBox window to fit my screen, it messed up the panels and I had to unlock/reorganise them to fix this.

What’s new?

The most obvious change is the new UI, it’s almost exactly like I have Karmic skinned now so a nice change. It’s much more like OSX than the previous Human skin. The only thing I’m not a fan of is the decision to move the minimise/maximise/close buttons to the left hand side of the window.

It’s also quite noticeable that Google has disappeared and been replaced by Yahoo. I can’t help wonder how many people won’t change their default search provider right back to Google as the first thing they do with Firefox!

The next thing I noticed was that the ‘status’ button on the top panel had been given a bit of a rework, it now includes the ability to add ‘broadcast channels’ which are simply social network integration for Facebook, Twitter etc.

This pretty much sums up the noticeable changes, under the scenes there are obviously numerous package updates, what difference this makes to the OS will yet to be determined.

First Impressions

Overall the new design looks nice albeit a little too OSX-ish for my liking, the new colour screme is great though. The social networking integration is nice, the replacement of Google with Yahoo, not so much.
I had a few issues with slowness, crashes of plymouthd and occasional other errors but while this is a beta version these are to be expected.

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One of the best eBay ads!

The item listing (as long as it remains on eBay) is here: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230451057921

At first glance looks like a normal eBay listing:

A closer look at the pictures reveals stripes and blacked out windows:

The best bit is the description:

Attention Teenage Drug Dealers/Low Life & Oxygen Thieves

If you think you’ve saved enough benefit from your 4 children before your 20, this could be the answer to your prayers.

A proper bastardised, chaved up Skippy mobile if ever there was. Enhance your street cred at the local drive thru burger joint or council estate shop front no end with this utterly tacky converted little Renault Clio. Not your Gran’s idea of a lift to town, granted, but a fantastic opportunity to increase 3 fold your class A drug selling ability. This is the car you need boys. The punters will flock to the window for your home grown skunk and other illegal substances. you just ain’t gonna look out of place in this little beauty! Now I’ve made sure the tax ran out last November, so there is a big pat on your scrawny little backs already.

Dig out yer favourite unwashed “Umbro” hoodie and come cast your shifty little eyes on this. Ideal for the “Street Pharmacist” and other suitably attired twats. Your gonna need a baseball cap with this beauty, ideally one that comes with no fitting instructions. Heaven forbid you should put it on the right way. What better way to compliment your stolen Nike Air Max trainers than to be seen dangling a foot outta this pocket rocket.
Worried about the Babylon spotting ya, no need. Car comes fully equipped with proper blacked out gangster glass on the side windows. Hell, you could even fill the back up with yer ugly chav kids and knowone’d see ‘em. doesn’t get much better boys. Ah, but it does. It does. To show your complete and utter lack of taste and knowledge of the motor car you’ll also find the ridiculous rock hard lowered suspension to your taste as well. Why not get a step closer to Gran’s inheritance by offering her a lift in ya new “wheels” then taking her down the post Office flat out over the speed humps round your estate and hopefully knocking the spine out of her? Might need 2 laps but god damn them single teenage mums smoking Marlboro Lights outside the chippy will be impressed fella’s. You know that they like a ride like this. Turn up the Alpine Head Unit, stick in your favourite and incomprehensible “Drum & Bass” Cd and the throbbing out the 6×9 parcel shelf will have them pregnant in no time.

To complete the proper drug dealer look, a tasteless stripe has been fitted from the front to the rear. Finished in “Air Max” white it really doesn’t complement the car in any shape or form. Rather like you and your Brethren spitting on the floor constantly. Completely needless but you think it makes a statement about you. You’ll also enjoy the totally pointless but ridiculously noisy after market air filter. About as helpful as a fart in an astronaut suit, but hell, you didn’t get where you are today by being helpful, did you?
I’m quite sad to see the thing go really. There is nothing more pleasurable to me at 41 than to drive round in this bit of shit and look a complete prick. I’d much rather hand the opportunity to you work shy crack head council tenants any day. This little set of wheels is gonna let the other hoodies know you’ve made it. cocaine and skunk selling is never gonna get any easier for the lucky buyer of this car. I might have a deal on a couple of gram’s of smack or coke, but ideally I’d need to get a serious drug habit before hand. Perhaps someone could help? You can pay in cash or wraps, I’m easy really. Bring along your mums credit card or one that your mate has cloned down the petrol station. If it is going to be hard cash, please ensure it is discretely hidden in a used Tesco carrier bag, and you have folded one £20 note around 4 others. Makes counting so much easier.

For any female buyer I’m offering a free Tatoo of something utterly meaninless to go in the middle of your lower back. If you haven’t already got your “Tramp Stamp” that is.

If your an under-age drink driver, or under-age driver for that matter, this little beauty really isn’t going to attract the attention of the local constabulary at all. you’ll drift pass any patrol car effortlessly. Make sure there is at least 6 of you in the car though, Splif in hand. If your driving, have another swig from your 2 litre plastic “LIDL” brand cider as you nonchalantly flip the bird to the passing police patrol. Head off for the nearest estate for some tyre screeching fun. They ain’t never gonna take you alive in this.

The car does like a good rev in the morning at any unsocial hour. Neighbours will love it and feel proud to live in the same road. don’t forget to rev the pants off of it at all junctions and roundabouts as well. This really will increase the length of your manhood no end. your virginity is gonna be a thing of the past when the babes see you in this “fanny magnet”. You can almost bet your last eighth of puff your gonna get laid. Hell, might even get a few STD’s as well. your gonna get a proper bird with this motor.

For the disqualified driver I’ll even offer to recover it from outside the local Magistrates or police station. What better way to impress the local Judicial system in one final act of defiance before collecting your ASBO?

Don’t let the frivolous matter of actually holding a current, valid drivers licence and insurance put you off this bargain. A visit to your local crack house should procure some documentation from as little as fifty quid.

Nuff said, innit.

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Ubuntu 10.04 – Looks like it will ship with PHP 5.3

I took a look on Launchpad today to see if there was any indication as to which version of PHP Ubuntu had decided to ship with the next release. As it’s an LTS release there is always the possibility that they may go for the slightly more stable options than the slightly more experimental options as they will have to support this edition for the next 3 years.

It appears from a package search that 2 days ago PHP 5.3.1 packages were added to Lucid. It’s quite a big step, and will be interesting if they also include a 5.2.x release along side it as so many applications are not ready for 5.3 yet.

More information can be found on Launchpad:


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