March 2007 Archives

It's approaching that time of year again. BSDCan 2007 is looking to be even better than the previous year. I like the different tracks they've done with the schedule, and I'm really excited about some of the presentations I'll be attending. I've scheduled a week off of work, bought my plane tickets, and paid my registration. I'll be rooming with a friend at the University apartments there, so everything is taken care of. I can't wait!

Also, Hans Selasky pointed me at his new USB stack for FreeBSD [perforce]. I'll be playing with it in the days to come, but you might want to give a poke at it and send him your feedback.

I had my yearly focal this week - which is kind of amusing, considering I started November 13th. Even so, I got a raise. Nice to see all those 20 hour days I'm putting in are paying off. :)

This is prior to bedazzling it.

[ sektie@daemonesque ] [ ~ ]
$ ping 192.168.1.1
PING 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=4.238 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=9.014 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=3.888 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=1.290 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=3.029 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=13 ttl=64 time=4.713 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=13 ttl=64 time=42.647 ms (DUP!)
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=14 ttl=64 time=4.613 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=17 ttl=64 time=6.300 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=21 ttl=64 time=8.999 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=21 ttl=64 time=21.546 ms (DUP!)
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=22 ttl=64 time=1.885 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=26 ttl=64 time=15.772 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=26 ttl=64 time=40.732 ms (DUP!)
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=28 ttl=64 time=9.952 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=29 ttl=64 time=12.267 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=30 ttl=64 time=5.100 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=30 ttl=64 time=40.102 ms (DUP!)
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=37 ttl=64 time=5.622 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=38 ttl=64 time=3.117 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=41 ttl=64 time=2.477 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=43 ttl=64 time=9.528 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=45 ttl=64 time=4.120 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=46 ttl=64 time=16.481 ms
^C
--- 192.168.1.1 ping statistics ---
49 packets transmitted, 20 packets received, +4 duplicates, 59% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 1.290/11.560/42.647/12.226 ms
[ sektie@daemonesque ] [ ~ ]
$

After poking at the Samsung BlackJack and other various models, I picked up the Cingular 8525 last week. It's the first Windows Mobile phone I've ever owned. Normally I lean towards phones running Symbian, like my old Nokia E62, but I was getting tired of the 5+ second delays anytime I tried to open an application. I loved having a free port of PuTTY, and the Symbian Developer Network was totally fabulous, but I felt it was time to try something new.

The Blackjack was very shiny - nice form factor, etc. The battery doesn't usually last very long though, especially not when you're pushing the Bluetooth and 3G at the same time. I'm not too big on cell phone cameras, but the 8525 scored another point with it's 2.0 megapixel camera versus the Blackjack's 1.1 megapixel. The 8525's keyboard is a lot easier to type on, as well. I wanted more of a business class phone, and the 8525 definitely falls into that category. The Blackjack seems more consumer level.

What almost killed the 8525 for me was the lack of support for PAN. A friend confirmed that the latest firmware update added support. MacOSX's latest update, 10.4.9, finally added PAN support as well. This makes setting up an internet connection over your phone super easy. I found that after the update, you have to delete and re-pair your phone to make the 'Connect to...' option display in the Bluetooth menu.

Totally loving this phone so far. More info later.

This weekend, I am going to find a Bedazzler. Maybe target has one. I'm going to bedazzle the hell out of my network equipment. The Cisco 1100, Netgear RangeMax Next, and both Netgear gigabit switches. It will be hot. Pics to come.

Due to popular request, here's how I did it. These guidelines assume you've got an nvidia video card. If you don't... well, I can't help you. ;)

FreeBSD tart.freebsdgirl.com 6.2-RELEASE-p2 FreeBSD 6.2-RELEASE-p2 #4: Sun Mar 11 03:36:58 PDT 2007 root@tart.freebsdgirl.com:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/DESKTOP i386

esound 0.2.37_1
nvidia-driver 1.0.9746
wine-0.9.33,1
xorg-clients 6.9.0_3
xorg-libraries 6.9.0_1
xorg-server 6.9.0_6

Enable glx under the Module section of your xorg,conf, and run xdpyinfo from an xterm to verify your configuration. You should see both GLX and NV-GLX in the list of enabled extensions.

After installing wine, run winecfg to bring up the graphical configuration editor. Click to see a screenshot of my Applications Tab, Audio Tab, and Graphics Tab. The audio tab won't display a checkbox for esound unless the daemon is running. It's not required that you use esound, but that was the method I decided on. Use what works for you.

The only way I could install WoW was by copying over the directory from my old windows installation. I had a lot of issues with the installer from the CD, but your mileage may vary. Unless you've got a non-standard wine directory configuration, you'll want to copy/install to ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/World of Warcraft.

Using your favorite text editor, open WTF/Config.WTF inside the World of Warcraft directory. This file contains most of the general audio/video configuration options. See WoWWiki: Config.wtf Defaults for more information.

Add/change these variables.

SET gxApi "opengl"
SET gxWindow "1"

Here's some Config.wtf tips from WoWWiKi: Linux/Wine.

If you experience poor performance, graphical glitches, or the game doesn't run at all, then add the following options as well:

SET ffxDeath "0"
SET ffxGlow "0"

If you experience stuttering, bad sound or no sound what so ever, then add the following options as well:

SET SoundOutputSystem "1"
SET SoundBufferSize "150"

Download the Apply to Forehead Addon, and unzip it to Interface/Addons in your World of Warcraft directory. Make sure you keep this addon enabled, as it's unlikely you'll be able to change your Video Options without the game crashing without it.

From the author's page:

This add on makes it possible for Linux users to change the Video Options in-game (except resolution). This is done by killing off the following functions:
    * SetMultisampleFormat
    * SetScreenResolution
    * RestartGx

Ready to play? Cross your fingers, and run:

wine "c:\program files\world of warcraft\wow.exe"

I spent last night in SF, drinkin' it up at a bar I've been to a few times so far. There's a cute bartender chick there, and well... you know how it goes. Bonus: I put my friends drinks on my tab, and it still only came out to $24. Free drinks make me a happy Randi.

The night had it's annoying moments, like how I had to keep ducking these drunk guys. Prior to my friends arriving, I was sitting at a booth next to the bar, laptop out, getting some work done. There's a nearby hotel I'd stayed at before, so I knew there was open wireless. Two extremely drunk guys walk up, and start staring at me. I tell them that it's "fucking rude to stare" with my usual kindness and charm, and one of them actually had the nerve to sit down next to me. I closed my laptop and put it in my backpack, as it only narrowly escaped drunk guy #1 spilling my drink on it when he pushed his way into the booth. His friend disappeared, and he proceeds to feed me lines like how I'm the hottest chick in the place. Uh, yeah. I'm wearing my Talk Nerdy to Me tshirt and some dirty jeans. I'm so sure. So I feed him a line in return - "I'm sorry, I like girls." - expecting him to take the hint and go away. I was not in any way prepared for his response. "I think I like guys, and I'm really attracted to my friend, and I want to tell him tonight." (although when he said it, there was a great deal more slurring involved, and he wasn't quite so concise.)

I fucking love SF.

Also, I got to meet Scott Long Friday, albeit for 3 seconds. He seemed nice. Yahoo! is like FreeBSD's version of Hollywood.

Screen Caps

...despite the rumors to the contrary. I've been working ~20 hour days lately, so I haven't had much time for anything other than catching up on sleep. Hopefully things will be calming down at work soon, so I'll have time for life again.

I did manage to get some time to myself this weekend, despite the DST changes. I used this time to get WoW working under wine in FreeBSD - working well, even. It outperforms my windows install. Bye bye, windows. Getting *anything* working under wine in FreeBSD is a hassle, so I'm quite proud. I ran into some stickiness when trying to get glx to behave nicely (using nvidia xorg driver), so I had to do some fiddling with that and direct3d sound emulation. However, I still hate wine. tlp, fix cedega!

I'll have some screenshots up of said WoW installation as soon as I uh... get time to play it. Hm.