linux

Short, short, short form: Before installing, install setfsb, then add a REG_EXPAND_SZ (named, perhaps, underclock) like this to the registry in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run:

c:\programs\setfsb\setfsb.exe -w0 -s50 -q

I recently became reinterested in pogoplug devices when they seemed to have come down to a fairly reliable ten to twenty dollars for the latest models, the kind with an SD slot. They're nice little ARM-based machines with a lovely case and pads for a 3.3 volt serial port. Now I wanted to add a little basic functionality to them when running Debian.

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Once I bought a dockstar, and was mightily annoyed by it. Eventually new Pogoplugs came out, and I invested a whopping nine bucks in a used pogoplug mobile. After having it deregistered by support, I tried installing ArchLinuxARM on it. This produced a brick with a flashing green light, so do not try to install Arch for ARM on this device. It's probably possible to make it work, but the default install instructions don't work. Further, the revert process didn't work either! Seems like their u-boot is broken for this device.

Since this site is really just my personal blog, it requires little in the way of resources as compared to any "real" site. Drupal caches most content for anonymous users, and I am generally the only person logged into the site and I'm not on it very often. As a result I've always gone for the cheapest hosting that seemed it would do the job at the time I was looking. This has sometimes had mixed results, but these days it's mostly fairly simple to change hosting, and this is what I've just done.

The Seagate Dockstar is the lowest-end PogoPlug device, a tiny low-power ARM server which runs Linux. Devices like this are ubiquitous now, but when the PogoPlug came out it was extremely unusual. It also cost substantially more than it does today, when a Rev.2 PogoPlug (not the new-new one, the old new one) is only $20. The only cheaper ARM-based server I know of is the Dockstar, which can be had for as little as $14 through Amazon today. Regardless of which PogoPlug you might have, you probably want to run Debian Squeeze with a recent kernel featuring LED support, which is not that difficult — but finding all the information you need is.

I myself probably should have looked for one of these before I made this one; it's a .desktop file for gksudo that gives you access to it from the GUI in non-incidental ways. Below the break you'll find the text, which is not very long.

Hey, nVidia, what has happened to your drivers lately? They seem to have all the quality I expect from ATI drivers. I have new problems I didn't have before my last Linux driver upgrade. What, exactly is wrong over there, and what can I do to help short of buying a $600 graphics card from you? Sincerely, formerly a rabid pro-nVidia, anti-AMD Linux user.

Every time I get comfortable with a retailer something bad happens. In this case, Newegg is doing Microsoft's work by illegallyI am not a lawyer, and this comment does not constitute legal advice. refusing warranty support to a customer who installed Linux on a computer. I submitted a letter about it to Newegg through their system; they gave me back the code #120612-001897.

Since I got a Mixman DM2 and like to run Linux I decided to put the two together. Slight hassle, though, the kernel doesn't sit still while you're not watching. A slight tweak is needed to get the driver to work on a modern kernel; in my case, 3.0.0-14-generic on Ubuntu.

I got a used Mixman DM² and here's some notes on what I've done with it on day one. This is on Windows XP; you can use the device on earlier versions of Windows, but not later ones. Works fine on OSX and Linux supposedly, but I haven't tried it in either place.