Joe’s Blog!

One of my favorite authors Augusten Burroughs and his book (also a favorite) Running with Scissors is becoming a movie! Woohoo! Check the trailer here. If you want to know what happens in the movie read the book.

IMG_1027
Originally uploaded by zeusfaber.

I finally got it. After about 24 hours with it I have to say it’s sweet. Much better than the old used IBM’s I have had in the past. The titanium lid gives it much more modern look than its predisesors. I will say this one took a little longer to get things rolling simply because this laptop has more features than my last. On the bright side most everything is supported well in linux but may take some configuring. I decided to run Ubuntu Dapper Drake and wireless card, fingerprint reader, bluetooth and SD card reader took some adjusting. All but the SD card reader were easy fixes. I used the following to set them up:

Wireless:
MadWifi Instructions for the Atheros wireless A/B/G card. Something I noticed, was that each time I need to connect to my AP I need to run “modprobe -r ath_pci” and then run “modprobe ath_pci”. After that DHCP and what not work like a charm. The only thing that doesn’t seem to work is the little wireless activity light under the screen next to the caps lock light and etc.

Fingerprint Reader:
This is was pretty easy to get integrated into PAM but I could not get it working with xscreensaver. Here’s what I followed. All I have to say is logging into your machine with a swipe of your finger is pretty sweet!

Here’s a couple pics:

IMG_1032
Originally uploaded by zeusfaber.

IMG_1031
Originally uploaded by zeusfaber.

Bluetooth:
ThinkWiki Bluetooth Instructions, this seems to work although I haven’t done much testing. Also, I didn’t need to any kernel compilation. Just enable it.

SD Card Reader:
I haven’t tried to get this working, due to custom kernel BS. The driver for the reader is supposed to be getting integrated into future mainline kernel versions.

It’s also pretty thin, about an inch:

IMG_1026
Originally uploaded by zeusfaber.

It’s IBM’s first widescreen format laptop:

IMG_1030
Originally uploaded by zeusfaber.

I also used the The Ubuntu Guide, it’s really helpfull for installing those much needed multimedia packages.

In addition here are the hardware specs (z60t – Model 2511HAU):

Pentium M 1.733GHz
512MB of PC4200 DDR2 RAM, soon to be 1GB
80GB SATA Hard drive
A/B/G Wireless Mini-PCI
DVD/CD Burner Combo drive

The lspci command gives you this:

0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:1b.0 0403: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
0000:00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03)
0000:00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 03)
0000:00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d3)
0000:00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)
0000:00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) SATA Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
0000:02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5751M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 11)
0000:13:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)
0000:14:00.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev b3)
0000:14:00.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C552 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 08)
0000:14:00.2 0805: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 17)

Good Stuff!

Well, my laptop was shipped but it looks like customs has it:

* LOUISVILLE, KY, US 08/23/2006 4:19 P.M. THE SHIPMENT IS BEING HELD BY BROKERAGE FOR REASONS BEYOND UPS’ CONTROL

* CHEK LAP KOK, HK 08/23/2006 10:32 P.M. EXPORT SCAN
08/23/2006 10:31 P.M. ORIGIN SCAN

* KOWLOON BAY, HK 08/23/2006 10:01 P.M. PICKUP SCAN
HK 08/23/2006 3:02 A.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

I called UPS regarding the ambiguous “THE SHIPMENT IS BEING HELD BY BROKERAGE FOR REASONS BEYOND UPS’ CONTROL” exception. Since it was supposed to be delivered to me today, it looks like customs thinks my laptop has SARS or something. There’s no telling. Anywho, UPS says delivery can be expected tomorrow before 10am. If so I will be a happy camper and have a new toy to play with this weekend.

Not a lot going on lately. Just the normal routine, ride in the morning, work in the afternoon and sleep.

I recently ordered one of these:

An IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad z60t. Hopefully it comes in sooner rather than later. My old IBM T23 died a few weeks back and it sucks not having a laptop. I suppose you don’t know what you got until it’s gone, because I didn’t realize how much I used it until I didn’t have it. Once I get the new one I will post a short review and any info I aquire attempting to run linux on it (Debian Etch most likely).

Once again I was able to skip out of work and get to the Tuesday Night World Champs as a part of the Get Joe Williams Back into Shape Training Series presented by Little Debbie Breakfast Pastries. This edition seemed a bit faster than usual, likely due to the fact that KGSN pro Dan Schmatz showed up. I don’t think it was fast because he was on the front drilling it, I think it had more to do with when he attacked the group followed. No one wanted him to get in a break, alone or otherwise. I felt like I raced well, I was near the front most of the race and felt strong. But with about 5 minutes to go I hit a wall it wasn’t a big one but it was enough to put me in my place. After that my race was over. I will be back at the Tuesday Nights in a couple of weeks, just before Gateway Cup. Hopefully I will be ready.