First Time to the West Coast

Published by kyleabaker on March 30, 2012 in Entertainment, Multimedia and Picture. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

I went on a business trip recently to Reno, NV. While I was out that way I decided to make a quick trip to Los Angeles, CA and see the West Coast for the first time.

It was a fun trip and I took a lot of pictures. Unfortunately it rained most of the time I was in LA and the pictures I took didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped. I do however have some pretty fantastic pictures from my trip that I wanted to share.

IMG 0515 300x225 First Time to the West Coast

Me at North Lake Tahoe in Nevada.

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Room 1191 view from the Grand Sierra Hotel & Resort.

This was a pretty interesting view with the clouds and the mountains surrounding everything. There was basically a 360 degree view of these mountains.

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The Casino in the Grand Sierra Hotel. It went on and on and...

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I only gambled $20, but left with 39 extra bucks!

I’m not really into gambling, but I had to give it a shot since I was there. I played Black Jack with $20 with $5 minimum bets and walked away with $59. Naturally I had to keep a few chips as souvenirs.

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Oh how I love this view...

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Coming in for a landing in Los Angeles, CA at LAX.

I thought this view was pretty amazing the way everything is so flat and all of a sudden these huge mountains just jet up, lol.

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Hotel view in Los Angeles. It was cheap. That is all.

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Hollywood Park Casino

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Hollywood Park...interesting place.

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Why don't the cabs just do this in Raleigh instead of calling?

I had to take a picture of this. Don’t you dare laugh at my phone. icon razz First Time to the West Coast I don’t understand why cabs back home try to call to let you know they are on their way rather than just automating a simple text like this.

IMG 0622 300x225 First Time to the West Coast

View from 189 The Grove Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90036 (The Grove La)

While I was in LA, I managed to meetup with a friend of mine and went to see a band that he knew. The area where they played was very festive and neat, but you’d never know that you were in the city until you saw the view above.

Overall it was a really fun trip. I’ve been all up and down the East Coast, but this was a first for me. Previously I’d only ever been as far west as Kentucky. Eventually, though, I had to return home…

IMG 0626 300x225 First Time to the West Coast

Leaving Los Angeles, another stunning view.

It’s funny when you’re leaving LAX to go back to the East Coast, because you flight in the wrong direction out over the Pacific for a solid 5-10 minutes before turning around back over land.

The ocean from this altitude was amazing. The waves that you see in the bottom right corner of the image above appeared to be as motionless then as they are in the picture. It was like the ocean had suddenly frozen solid. Crazy cool.

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Not exactly sure where this was, but it looked cool.

One thing that I couldn’t get used to was just how brown everything was. I’m used to the green mountains of Western North Carolina, but it’s always interesting to see how different each new place can be.

IMG 0636 300x225 First Time to the West Coast

Finally a view that wasn't completely foreign to me.

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Create a Bootable Windows 7 x64 Install Flash Drive from 32-bit Windows

Published by kyleabaker on December 29, 2011 in Applications, How-To, Microsoft, Operating Systems and Windows. 3 Comments Tags: , , .

Creating a bootable Windows 7 x64 flash drive from within a 32-bit install of Windows is not as straight forward as it may seem. I recently had to go through this process myself, so I’ll document the steps below.

Things you’ll need

  1. Windows 7 x64 disc image
  2. Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool
  3. 32-bit bootsect.exe

Create the installer

  1. Install the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool.
  2. Extract the 32-bit bootsect.exe file to the directory that the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool was installed to. This is usually something like “C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Apps\Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool“.
  3. Run the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool and select your Windows 7 disc image. Follow the remaining steps in this tool and your image should be created successfully!

If you’ve followed these steps and your flash installer was created successfully then your next step is to, of course, install Windows 7! Don’t forget to change your boot options to load from USB!

This information is scattered on the web and slightly detailed on the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool page, but I was not able to find a guide laid out as simplified as the one I’ve provided above. In most tutorials they suggest that you download the entire 32-bit iso in order to get the 32-bit bootsect.exe application, but I’ve made that step a lot less troublesome. Hopefully this has helped you!

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Nvidia patches a bug I’ve waited 9 months for…

Published by kyleabaker on December 22, 2011 in How-To, Linux, Multimedia, News, Operating Systems, Picture, Ubuntu and Video. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

I’ve been following an Nvidia bug that’s been affecting me for a while now and am happy to say that its apparently been fixed! I say apparently, because I’ve not been around my Linux box for several days (due to the holidays) and haven’t had a chance to confirm for myself.

If you have an Nvidia card, especially the 7300le model like I have, and have had difficulties using Unity 3D with the proprietary drivers, then you may have experienced this bug: [nvidia, 7300, 7400] display freeze when using unity desktop

Nvidia has just released an update which resolves this issue and it can easily be installed right away!

Release highlights since 275.36:

  • Fixed a bug that would cause Firefox to abort on pages with Flash when layers acceleration was force-enabled on Linux and Solaris.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause display devices on a secondary GPU to get swapped between X screens when restarting the X server.
  • Fixed a regression that caused blank/white windows when exhausting video memory on GeForce 6 and 7 series GPUs while using composited desktops.
  • Fixed a bug that caused a crash when glDrawArrays was used with a non-VBO vertex attribute array to draw on a Xinerama screen other than screen 0 using an indirect GLX context.

The 275.43 NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Graphics Driver Set for Linux/x86 is available for download via FTP.

The 275.43 NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Graphics Driver Set for Linux/x86_64 is available for download via FTP.

 

Please see the README (x86 / x86_64) for more information about this release.

 

Please note: This NVIDIA Linux graphics driver release supports GeForce 6xxx and newer NVIDIA GPUs, GeForce4 and older GPUs are supported through the 96.43.xx and 71.86.xx NVIDIA legacy graphics drivers. GeForce FX GPUs are supported through the 173.14.xx NVIDIA legacy graphics drivers.

 

Please also note: If you encounter any problems with the 275.43 NVIDIA Linux graphics driver release, please start a new thread and include a detailed description of the problem, reproduction steps and generate/attach an nvidia-bug-report.log.gz file (please see http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=46678 for details).

If you’re seeing the same problem and would like to test the update, there are a few specific instructions that you may (or may not) need to follow, posted here.

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What do you install in your Ubuntu?

Published by kyleabaker on November 3, 2011 in Applications, Google Chrome, Linux, Open Source, Opera, Operating Systems, Ubuntu and Web Browsers. 7 Comments Tags: , .

I’ve been keeping lists for a few years of the applications that I install every time I do a fresh install of Ubuntu. I recently made a new list for Ubuntu 11.10…

  • Cheese
  • Chromium Web Browser
  • CompizConfig Settings Manager
  • Dropbox
  • EasyTAG
  • Enable Commercial DVD Playback
  • FileZilla
  • Geany
  • Opera Web Browser
  • RapidSVN
  • Spotify
  • The GIMP
  • Ubuntu Restricted Extras
  • VLC
  • Wakoopa

The applications that I install haven’t changed a whole lot over the years, but it leaves me wondering what applications make the cut for others!

 

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Submitting Anonymous Usage Statistics

Published by kyleabaker on August 27, 2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments
Banshee Media Player Usage Statistics

Being a software developer myself, I tend to pay attention to application functionality and options a little more than the average end user. I’ve noticed that over the last few years when I encounter an option to ‘submit anonymous usage statistics’ I gladly and immediately enable it.

Knowing that you can gain valuable information about the way your end users are using your product, it makes sense for a software developer to include this option and frankly I’m baffled that its not available in most all applications.

I’d like to use this post for two reasons:

  1. To encourage you and others to consider enabling this option in order for developers to get the accurate information that they need to make their product even better!
  2. To maintain a list of these options in various applications that I stumble upon so others are aware.

As I gradually increase the number of applications, feel free to point out applications that I’ve missed and I’ll add them to the list!

Application List:

 

Adium

adium usage 300x297 Submitting Anonymous Usage Statistics

 

Banshee Media Player

banshee media player usage 276x300 Submitting Anonymous Usage Statistics

 

Eclipse

eclipse usage statistics 300x234 Submitting Anonymous Usage Statistics

 

Google Chrome

google chrome usage 300x262 Submitting Anonymous Usage Statistics

 

Google Music Manager

google music manager usage statistics 300x281 Submitting Anonymous Usage Statistics

 

Opera

opera usage 300x209 Submitting Anonymous Usage Statistics

 

Ubuntu Software Sources

ubuntu software sources usage 300x243 Submitting Anonymous Usage Statistics

 

Google Music Manager

vmware player 4 usage statistics 300x230 Submitting Anonymous Usage Statistics

 

 

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Using Synergy with Mac and Ubuntu

Published by kyleabaker on May 30, 2011 in Apple, Applications, How-To, Linux, Mac, Multimedia, Open Source, Operating Systems, Picture and Ubuntu. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .
Ubuntu Linux Hostname from Terminal

This is just a quick guide for those of you who also use both Mac and Ubuntu (or really any flavor of Linux) side by side. If you’re not already familiar with Synergy, it’s a small application that connects your mouse and keyboard to one or more machines for a more continuous experience.

Mac and Linux use a graphical front-end for Synergy known as QuickSynergy. Here’s how to get it configured for use between Mac and Ubuntu…

Hostnames

You can find the hostnames to use simply by opening a Terminal window, or if you’re unsure still, simply type hostname and press enter. icon wink Using Synergy with Mac and Ubuntu

hostname ubuntu Using Synergy with Mac and Ubuntu

hostname mac Using Synergy with Mac and Ubuntu

If you used the hostname command in Ubuntu, you probably noticed that the “.local” part is not printed out, but it is necessary when dealing with Mac OS X.

Connecting the Two

After selecting the system you’d like to share, configure the Use or Share tab as necessary similar to the examples below:

quicksynergy ubuntu share Using Synergy with Mac and Ubuntu

quicksynergy ubuntu use Using Synergy with Mac and Ubuntu

quicksynergy mac share Using Synergy with Mac and Ubuntu

quicksynergy mac use Using Synergy with Mac and Ubuntu

After configuring Synergy/QuickSynergy you’re all set to start making your life easier!

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Unity Opera!

Published by kyleabaker on May 7, 2011 in Applications, How-To, Linux, Multimedia, Open Source, Opera, Operating Systems, Picture, Ubuntu and Web Browsers. 32 Comments Tags: , , , , .
Unity Opera Tab Count

With Unity in the recent spot light and a little free time on my hands, I decided it was time to dabble with the Launcher API. What better combination that my two favorite pieces of software: Unity in Ubuntu and Opera!

With my Unity Opera script, you’ll be able to get extra functionality for Opera by simply downloading a script and adding it to your Startup Applications list. No technical modifications necessary!

The Launcher API provides four features at the moment: Count, Progress, Urgency, Quicklists.

At the moment I’m only able to implement functionality for three of these, with the exception being Progress. In its current implementation, Unity Opera has the following features:

Count

The total number of tabs you have open appears on the Launcher icon and is updated in real time as you open and close tabs.

unity opera tab count Unity Opera!

One item to note here is that Opera’s Private tabs are not included in this tab count. Since information about these tabs and their contents are not stored anywhere on your computer, Unity Opera has no way of discovering them.

Progress

At this point in time, the progress functionality for this script is not available. Until I find a way to programmatically determine download progress in Opera, I will not be able to implement this.

If you have any information regarding a way to implement this feature then please let me know!

Urgency

When browsing the net, not every link you click on is from inside the web browser. Sometimes you click a link from an instant message, mail client, Gwibber, etc. This is where urgency comes into play.

Typically clicking these links automatically opens the tab in your browser, but it doesn’t always pull you’re browser into focus. When this happens, you may not know which browser the link opened in or if clicking it was even successful.

unity opera urgency notification Unity Opera!

When Opera is not in focus and a new tab is opened, the Opera icon in the Launcher now enters urgency mode and wiggles onces. An urgency highlight is also applied to the icon and a small attention reminder in the upper left corner until you focus Opera again (this clears the urgency setting).

Quicklists

Previously I shared a tip on how to customize your Quicklists for Opera. That method meant that you had to manually open and edit the desktop file.

This is no longer the case, as these features are already built into Unity Opera.

On top of that, your Speed Dial items are also appended to the Quicklist, making your life that much easier! icon wink Unity Opera!

unity opera quicklists speed dial 201x300 Unity Opera!

If you use Opera’s built in Mail client, also known as M2, then you will see an Opera for Mail, which is intended to open M2 directly. At the moment, this feature doesn’t work as intended, but hopefully in due time it will.

Download Unity Opera

Unity Opera is written in python and can easily be updated and maintained. I suggest you save and extract it to your Home directory and use it there, but you are free to place it anywhere you wish.

Download

Running Unity Opera

You can run Unity Opera in one of two ways:

1. The easiest way in my opinion is to simply add it to your Startup Applications.

unity opera startup applications 300x242 Unity Opera!

To do this simply open your dash and search for ‘Startup Applications‘. Once there, click ‘Add‘ and fill in the blanks!

To run Unity Opera on startup, I place the script in my home folder. You can place it where ever you wish, but if you pick a place other than your home folder then you will need to provide a full path the script in your startup command.

An example of what I use is as follows:

python unity-opera.py

2. The other option is to open a terminal when you want to use this script and run the command above.

Options

This script has several options. For help and more information type:

python unity-opera.py –help

This script accepts two optional args:

1. Opera Channel: This is used for setting Unity Opera to run against regular Opera and the new Opera Next channel. By default, if you exclude this arg, Opera is set as the browser to run against. Examples of this command include:

python unity-opera.py opera

python unity-opera.py opera-next

2. Enable features: This is used to enable specific features. You can enable only basic quicklists [q], quicklists with Speed Dial entries [qs], tab count [c], urgency notification [u], and progress [p].

As mentioned before, progress is not functional at the moment, but I’ve built the script with this feature ready to include as soon as I find a way. icon wink Unity Opera!

This second argument requires the use of the first argument. Examples of this command include:

python unity-opera.py opera -qs

python unity-opera.py opera-next -qsu

Troubleshooting

If you experience trouble with this script, please try running it from a terminal to see if there are any errors output to the console. If so, copy and paste these in the comments below and I will take a look at them.

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Quicklists for Opera in Unity

Published by kyleabaker on April 2, 2011 in Applications, How-To, Linux, Multimedia, News, Open Source, Opera, Operating Systems, Picture, Ubuntu and Web Browsers. 4 Comments Tags: , , , .
Opera Extended Unity Menu

Thanks goes to Jorge Castro and a recent post of his about Quicklists in Unity.

After reading his post and seeing how easy it was to add new Quicklist entries, I decided to give it a go with Opera.

opera extended unity menu 2 Quicklists for Opera in Unity

As you can see, my efforts were successful, but there are many more list items you could add to customize Opera’s Quicklist to suit your needs.

opera extended unity menu 1 300x240 Quicklists for Opera in Unity

Get It for Yourself

If you’re using Ubuntu 11.04 with Unity and want to customize this menu for yourself then just follow follow these simple steps.

1. Open a terminal and type the following (and enter your password when prompted):
sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/opera-browser.desktop

2. Scroll down to the bottom of this open file and paste the following:
X-Ayatana-Desktop-Shortcuts=NewTab;NewPrivateTab;NewWindow;Mail;

[NewTab Shortcut Group]
Name=New Tab
Exec=opera -newtab
TargetEnvironment=Unity

[NewPrivateTab Shortcut Group]
Name=New Private Tab
Exec=opera -newprivatetab
TargetEnvironment=Unity

[NewWindow Shortcut Group]
Name=New Window
Exec=opera -newwindow
TargetEnvironment=Unity

[Mail Shortcut Group]
Name=Mail
Exec=opera -mail
TargetEnvironment=Unity

3. Save and close the text editor. You may need to restart Unity or your computer before changes take effect.

Customize your Quicklist

If you’d like to add more items to the Quicklist, simply add a shortcut name for it in “X-Ayatana-Desktop-Shortcuts" and create a "Shortcut Group" for it.

A couple of things that I considered adding were Gmail and Google Reader so that they simply open in new tabs. I’m sure you can find other useful shortcuts to add or maybe even more Opera command line options!

Remove your Changes

If you don’t like the Quicklist items that you’ve added, all you need to do is open the opera-browser.desktop file and remove the lines that were added. Save, close and voila.

Conclusion

Quicklists are great, but they would be more useful with Opera if we were able to select from a list of open or recent tabs.

The new tab and window shortcuts that I’ve added are enough for me at the moment, but I would really love to see them added by default in the near future!

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Boston

Published by kyleabaker on March 6, 2011 in News. 0 Comments Tags: , , .
Cheers Bar in Boston

I’m leaving for Boston later this afternoon to explorer the city a little with Jasmine for a few days. I’m hoping the weather won’t be as its forecast to be (rain all but two days I’m there).

cheers bar boston 225x300 Boston

One place that is high on my priority list to visit is the Cheers Bar from the television show. While most of the show was actually filmed in a replica bar, it was indeed modeled and based on this actual bar in Boston. I’m sure this is a popular tourist attraction, but its even more important for me to visit since I’ve been watching the show for the past couple months from Netflix. icon biggrin Boston

Other than that I guess we are just planning to visit the typical tourist attractions of Boston, but since we don’t know much about the area and have never been there before, we will likely just follow a top list of places to visit.

I’m planning to make use of my blog while traveling and posting a few pictures here and there, so stay tune. icon smile Boston

Also, if you’ve got any suggestions as to interesting or cool places to visit then please let me know! I’d be glad to hear a few suggestions so we know where to start!

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