My PPA Repository for Filthy Pants (HandBrake Repository)

After much more time and effort than I care to admit, I finally got Canonical's build servers to successfully build deb binaries for HandBrake in my PPA repository.

From here on out, I will no longer distribute packages through Rapidshare, which some people didn't like, and will exclusively use the PPA repository. I will regularly build development packages of HandBrake with both the GTK and QT4 GUIs (the CLI version will also be included with the GTK package).

To access my PPA repository through apt (so updates happen properly and so forth), hop on a terminal and type:

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

and add these lines at the bottom:

#Filthy Pants PPA
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/hunter-kaller/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/hunter-kaller/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

Save and close, then type:

sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 0x065fda2d23cfea71e753d04703e1fe8b2796dec2

After that, type:

sudo aptitude update

and you're all set.

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Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope on Acer Aspire One

If you use Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala, please read this first (thanks Pjotr!):

In 9.10 Karmic Koala, there's the same problem with acer_wmi as in 9.04.

However, your 9.04 fix causes instability in the kernel, in 9.10. That's because the blacklisting should be done by editing the existing /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf. And not by creating a new file named blacklist.

Blacklist.conf by default already contains a list of blacklisted kernel modules. You can simply add the following lines for acer_wmi:

# switch the wireless chipset on
blacklist acer_wmi

Original Post:
The new kernel in the beta release of Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope provides better support for netbook hardware including that of my Acer Aspire One, but it still has a few wrinkles that are fairly simple to iron out.

The first thing you're likely to notice is that the wireless connection doesn't work correctly out of the box. It should automatically load the open source ath5k driver and give you the option of using the proprietary madwifi driver (unnecessary in my experience), but you will get no signal and network-manager will have all of the options grayed-out/disabled.

To fix this, hop onto a terminal and type:

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

and add the line

blacklist acer_wmi

This should fix your wifi access (and possibly fix your wireless indicator LEDs[!]) in one fell swoop, once you restart.

Next, there is a known issue with the SD card readers stemming from Jaunty's version of the Linux kernel that causes the left reader to fail with this error:

mmc0: error -84 whilst initialising SD card

The left-side SD reader is otherwise not acknowledged, i.e. it doesn't create a /dev/ entry when cards are inserted and hotplug doesn't mount the disk (this problem also exists on the Dell Mini 9, so you guys can benefit from this too). To correct the situation, type into a terminal:

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/options

and add (be wary of line breaks; I recommend copy/pasting instead of manually typing):

options sdhci debug_quirks=1

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
Package: linux-image-2.6.28-6-generic 2.6.28-6.17
ProcCmdLine: User Name=UUID=e309fb14-05db-4e9a-b137-c6bf63eeb6a4 ro quiet splash elevator=noop
ProcEnviron:
SHELL=/bin/bash
LANG=it_IT.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.28-6.17-generic
SourcePackage: linux

Reboot and most everything should work properly, hotplugging and all. Also to be aware of, the right-side reader does not work properly if there is not a card in it at boot. In this case, it won't show any trace anywhere that you even have a right-side reader.

For both of these fixes, all we've done is created a text file that the system loads as it boots. If you wish to undo these fixes, you can just delete the text files and it'll go back to normal.

Finally, ctrl+alt+backspace doesn't kill the xserver anymore in Jaunty because people were apparently pressing it accidentally...? You can supposedly re-enable it (if you like) by installing a program called dontzap:

sudo aptitude install dontzap

and then typing into a terminal:

sudo dontzap --disable

Unfortunately, this did absolutely nothing on my system. Maybe you'll have better luck. In the meantime, you can either restart your entire system, or hit ctrl+alt+F1 to drop down to a console and type:

sudo /etc/inti.d/gdm restart

A scary blue and red error screen will pop up notifying you that there's already an xserver running, to which you can just hit OK and it will restart with the new one.

I've been using the netbook remix, which is really attractive and easy to use. Its launcher menu is incompatible with Compiz-fusion, but it looks nice enough that I don't even miss compositing.

Also of note, suspend actually seems to work now instead of totally borking my system, and the integrated mic/webcam seem to work much more reliably now.

Let me know if you have any issues and I'll try to help resolve them.

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New Directions for Building HandBrake SVN

Update (5/15/09): I have working binaries available in my PPA repository. Directions for adding it to your package manager are available here.

A couple of months ago, the HandBrake devs implemented some major changes to the build procedure for HandBrake from the project's SVN repository. I'm not really sure why they did this, but it seems to have cut a couple of dependencies, which is nice*. Here's the new method that worked for me on Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex and 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope (adapted from their build instructions in the readme).

Step 1: download the dependencies
In a terminal, type:

sudo aptitude install subversion build-essential m4 wget autotools-dev yasm autoconf intltool libtool libbz2-dev zlib1g-dev libglib2.0-dev libdbus-glib-1-dev libgtk2.0-dev libhal-dev libhal-storage-dev libgstreamer0.10-dev libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-dev automake1.9 libnotify-dev libwebkit-dev

Update (6/18/09): as of svn 2550, libgtkhtml-3.14-dev was replaced by libwebkit-dev.
Users of OpenSuSE may need to download the additional dependencies zypper and in to build the CLI, as well as gtkhml2 and gtkhtml2-devel to build the GUI. Users of Red Hat/Fedora or derivatives may need to install the package groups "Development Tools," "Development Libraries," "X Software Development," and "GNOME Software Development," as well as zlib-devel, bzip2-devel, dbus-glib-devel, hal-devel, gtkhtml3-devel, gstreamer-devel, and gstreamer-plugins-base-devel.

Step 2: download the source from HandBrake's SVN repository
in a terminal, type:

svn checkout svn://svn.handbrake.fr/HandBrake/trunk hb-trunk

This will download a bunch of stuff and finish by telling you which revision you have checked out.

Step 3: switch to your newly created directory
in a terminal, type:

cd hb-trunk

Step 4: prepare the source for building
in a terminal, type:

./configure --launch

This command should take care of most of the remaining steps, i.e. making a scratch directory and compiling the source for both the CLI and GUI interfaces.

Step 5: install the GTK GUI
in a terminal, type:

cd build/gtk ; sudo make install

In you experienced any errors during Steps 4 or 5, you can attempt to run through the build functions manually:
In a terminal, type:

rm -rf build ; mkdir build ; cd build

then:

../configure ; make

and finally:

cd gtk ; make ; sudo make install

*Interestingly, the build process no longer invokes/requires jam, which had always been a vestigial requirement left over from HandBrake's roots in the venerable BeOS.

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Bacon Weaving

My wife has been a busy bee blogging all of our exciting meals, my favorite of which has been our sexy bacon-wrapped food ball. In the process of making this meaty abomination, we employed a bacon-weaving technique that was popularized online through the 'bacon explosion.' For the benefit of the uninitiated, I thought I'd explain a little about the weaving technique in this quick post.

First off, we made our bacon easier to work with by freezing it. Just open the pack of bacon and lay the strips out on wax paper, then throw them in the freezer. This is the way restaurants often order their bacon, but us civilians are supposed to deal with it the hard way.

Once it's frozen, just lay the strips out and weave them together, over/under-style. Here are some pics of my manly hands working their magic.


And this is what you're left with. I want a shirt made out of it...

Once that's all done, pop it in the oven on an oiled baking sheet, but don't use too much oil because this bacon fabric is going to make plenty of grease on its own; you just want to keep it from sticking before it gets started.

When it's half-cooked, you can wrap it around other foods, or you can lay it over a mold--such as a metal bowl--to finish cooking and end up with an awesome all-bacon bowl.

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HandBrake Qt4-native GUI Updated

Update (5/15/09): the code has improved a lot lately and you can download updated binaries from my PPA repository. Directions for adding the repo to your package manager are available here.

Gonza, a developer from the HandBrake forums, added some updates to his native Qt4 HandBrake GUI, known as qtHB, to bring it a little closer to the current code state. I haven't had a chance to do any extensive testing with it, but I wanted to go ahead and post some deb binaries so any KDE/Kubuntu users can give it a shot.

32-bit qtHB (built on a Core2Quad Kentsfield)

These binaries are more up-to-date, but wouldn't package properly, so you'll have to download the qt4-core dependency (and maybe others) manually (sudo aptitude install qt4-core). Run it by double-clicking or by navigating to its directory and typing ./qtHB into a terminal.
32-bit qtHB binary
64-bit qtHB still to come

Leave me a comment if you run into any issues with any of it, or if you have any requests (rpm packages, etc).

If you're looking for CLI or GTK GUI builds of the latest code, check out my post here.

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Fujifilm s1000 fd Camera Doesn't Work Right on Mac

Short version: my wife's camera didn't work right with her Mac using the bundled software, but it worked fine with iPhoto.

Long version: My wife just bought a Fujifilm s1000 fd superzoom camera so she can start working on her food blog, eatlikeapig.blogspot.com, and she ran into an issue getting it to communicate with her Macbook. She followed the directions outlined in the manual, which included installing the company's lackluster FinePix software. The instructions say to hook up the USB cable and to hold the 'play' button for a few seconds until the computer recognizes the camera and opens the software automatically. This did not work.

Instead, open Apple's own iPhoto software and then hold the 'play' button while connected via USB. iPhoto should import the pictures automatically, unlike Fujifilm's own crummy software.

Since we figured this out, we've been taking all sorts of pictures, which look absolutely stunning. You can check them out at her blog.

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List of Known Cheaters on Mario Kart Wii Online

Here is a list of users that have been reported as using the infinite item cheat on Mario Kart Wii Online. I made this page so people could report more brazen offenders and others could know to avoid them, since the only recourse for us non-cheaters is to simply not play with them anymore.

*To the cheaters themselves: care to let us know how you do it? Is the USB Gecko still the way to go, or can you do it through a softmod/homebrew channel these days? Update 6/21/09: It looks like you can use the Ocarina homebrew program to load cheats on a softmodded console (i.e., one with the homebrew channel installed; some directions are available here).

Mario Kart Wii Online Cheaters Wall of Shame

Update 6/21/09: From an anonymous comment on my other Mario Kart page:

"I would just like to say, none of your hacker stories compare to mine. I got stuck playing in a race with 5 hackers who could change their points from 1 to 35001. During the race they ALL ganged up on me by throwing non-stop green turtle shells at me, bombing me repeatedly, then all cornering me and using big mushrooms and stars simultaneously to hit me, and run me over for about 5 minutes straight. It was officially a Mario Kart gang rape. They are:
[J]Hacker.
System(star)King
Potatohead
InanenBaby"

1. ihack@u - this guy deserves at least a little cred since he actually figured the whole infinite items thing out (to my knowledge, at least). I don't know anything else about him, e.g. his Mii.

2. Speedy - no other information.

3. Alwin - no other information.

4. Kenny - Mii looks like Kenny from South Park, probably something like this:

5. Upsidedown - Mii's face is upside down.

6. SoSerious? - His Mii looks like the Joker from The Dark Knight, but its hair is black instead of green or whatever...

7. Death - no description of the Mii, but this one is especially troubling because of the claim that he/she actually *disconnected* another user after pelting them continuously with green shells. Hopefully the disconnection was just a coincidence and not another hacking capability...

8. AIM:Voth24 - s/he seems pretty proud of his cheatiness, based on his/her youtube videos. S/he also seems to target players with high VRs, so watch out if you care a lot about your score.

9 Alien - doesn't use his hacking to win, apparently and always loses on purpose. That in mind, you don't have to disconnect from this guy just to protect your precious points--assuming the cheating itself doesn't piss you off enough anyway.

If you have more to add, leave a comment with their name, a brief description of their Mii, and anything else that could be helpful in identifying them and I'll them to the list.

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