Jul
02
2011
0

Some notes on setting up MythTV

Adding channels from a pre-scanned channels.conf prevents reading of EIT data collection. (http://code.mythtv.org/trac/ticket/7701)

It’s very easy to make your master backend think it is a slave. (http://spyder.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/a-crash-course-in-mythtv-backend-setup/)

If you want UPNP devices to be able to play video from your setup, you must give it a real IP address. But see the previous link to ensure you don’t confuse it.

Written by theboywho | Tags:
Jan
25
2011
0

DSPAM: Single aliases for spam/ham reporting, opt-in/out-flags in the database

My mail server uses DSPAM (http://sourceforge.net/projects/dspam/) to filter incoming mail. I use the following set-up:

  • spam@xxxxx for retraining false negatives.
  • ham@xxxxx for retraining false positives.
  • Virtual users in the dspam database.
  • Opt-in/out flags from the database.
  • User IDs in the X-DSPAM-Signature header.

This set-up means that any of my mail users can forward an incorrectly classified message using any of their aliases as the ‘From’ address and DSPAM will work out the correct user from the X-DSPAM-Signature header. I was pretty sure this set-up was working, until I upgraded to version 3.9.0 and the detection efficacy dropped off.
(more…)

Written by theboywho | Tags: , , , ,
Dec
19
2010
0

Convincing nForce3 built-in sound card to playback audio

I have an old AMD64 Shuttle FN85, which has a sound card built into the motherboard. Almost every time I reinstall Linux on this machine I have trouble getting the audio working again.

Turns out that un-muting the PCM and Master channels isn’t enough, you must also un-mute the Centre, LFE and Surround channels.

Written by theboywho | Tags: ,
Nov
11
2010
0

Installing MacOS X in a VirtualBox VM

While attempting to follow some instructions on how to install Mac OS X in a VirtualBox VM, I came across a number of hurdles. This is how I overcame them. (more…)

Written by theboywho | Tags: , , , ,
Aug
07
2010
1

Sony TZ21 Webcam (VGP-VCC7) in Ubuntu

There is a kernel module for this webcam called r5u870, however a new project is producing a purely user space implementation. The website for both is: http://www.arakhne.org/ricoh/

The instructions to install the newer driver from the r5u87x () driver package’s README file:

$ sudo apt-get install libglib2.0-dev libusb-dev build-essential gcc automake mercurial
$ hg clone http://bitbucket.org/ahixon/r5u87x/
$ cd r5u87x
$ make
$ sudo make install
$ sudo r5u87x-loader --reload

If your camera appears to be playing up, you can try forcefully resetting it:
$ sudo r5u87x-loader --force-clear

Now, the loader will automatically be run on boot when it detects your webcam. Alas, there are some bugs, and my device has some kind of ghosting issue which shows two of me!

Written by theboywho | Tags: , , , , , ,
Jul
21
2010
0

Various SSL Tools

Decode CSR:
# openssl req -in mycsr.csr -noout -text

Decode Cert:
# openssl x509 -in certificate.crt -text -noout

Decrypt the key:
# openssl rsa -in www.key -out new.key

Written by theboywho | Tags: , , , ,
May
07
2010
0

Enable SSH for WordPress Auto-update

WordPress has an ‘Auto-update’ feature which gives you the option to use FTP or FTPS. There is however a third option: SSH.

I followed these instructions.
(more…)

Written by theboywho | Tags: ,
Dec
03
2008
0

Inject packages into Gentoo

Some packages in Gentoo require kernel sources to be installed. In my case it was the DRBD kernel module.

The system I wanted to install it on is actually a Linode. They provide the sources for the VPS kernels but I needed a way to pursuade Portage that it didn’t need to install gentoo-sources before drbd-kernel. I didn’t want to use –nodeps.

I found the solution in chapter 5 of part 3 of the Gentoo Handbook:

  1. Create a file called package.provided in /etc/portage/profile. You may need to create that directory:
  2. Add a line corresponding to the package you want to inject:
    sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-2.6.25-r1

Note: The package name you provide must exist in portage. You can’t inject virtual packages and you have to provide a full package name with version number. The following don’t work:

virtual/kernel-sources
sys-kernel/gentoo-sources
=sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-*
Written by theboywho | Tags: , , ,
Nov
29
2008
0

Binary Property Lists

While discovering how to get MobileMail to use multiple ‘From’ addresses, I found that the Accounts.plist file can spontaneously change format.

Well not quite spontaneously. I copied the file from my iPhone: it was plain text. I went into Settings, on the phone, and added a new Mail account, copied the file again: it was no longer text. According to the ‘file’ command it had become an ‘Apple binary property list’. (more…)

Written by theboywho | Tags: ,
Nov
29
2008
2

Multiple Addresses, One E-Mail Account In MobileMail

MobileMail’s configuration options on the iPhone don’t allow you to specify multiple addresses for a single e-mail account. I found this article which provides a long winded method – you add a new account for each address you need. Thankfully, if you have a jailbroken iPhone, there is a much easier way.
(more…)

Written by theboywho | Tags: , ,

WordPress | Aeros