One Geek

grub-install –root-directory=/mnt/hdc1 –nofloppy /dev/hdc

Geekspeak

So the last few days I have been working pretty solidly on a SerialServer. I inherited it from a previous employee at my work. Basically it enables serial devices to be connected to a network. It’s written in C and uses lots of threads.

This week I have fixed about a dozen defects in the code. Interesting ones included setting file descpitors to 0 and checking for -1 as the un-init value. When it is 0 and you write to it under Linux it outputs to stdio (i.e the screen). Other problems selective use of MUTEX’s a lot of them had been commented out. Lots of system calls weren’t checked for errors to.

Ended up adding the select system call before the LAN reads to make it more robust. However on my faster laptop this caused the system to have MUTEX problems. Turns out adding a usleep(1) when no data is found by select works quite nicely.

Using three usbserial (FTDI chips using ftdi_sio.c ) devices under 2.4.28-lck1 was causing the data to stop on one or more devices. However often no error was reported. Sometimes I got race errors and other input errors.

I decided to try a 2.6 series kernel. I decided on 2.6.10 (which I already had on my laptop) and it worked fine. Fixing the USB Serial issues. However I then had to update some of the startup scripts.

However the sound was still not working. The motherboard was a Cyrix MediaGX board. I couldn’t get it recognised. I needed to recompile the kernel using modules for the audio componenets. This meant I also had to update the mod-utils (I used the ubuntu ones). All but lsmod worked fine with the old libc on the target board. So that was fine. I tried compiling a geode-alsa driver I had found. However it wouldn’t compile with the 2.6 kernel. Eventually I tried using the sb module from oss with the irq=5 io=0×220 dma=1 and that worked!

Then I tried playing an mp3. The board was too slow for that and they played with a stuter. However .wav files played fine.

That’s all the issues I know of solved. Now I just need to get the control box working.

Geekspeak

Oh dear, I think I am going to be dreaming about bytes, characters, mutexes, file desciptors and arrays tonight.

Geekspeak

I have just purchased a domain name. I think it’s a clear sign of my obsession.

No site yet. That will have to wait a week or two. Very fun though.

Maybe I’ll have a dosaclub email service for members.. Maybe I’ll have a Dosa wiki. hmmm.. Posibilities…

Dosas, Geekspeak

Mac is moving to Intel x86 processors. I wonder how this will go. Does this mean that I can run Mac OS X on my laptop? I guess time will tell.

Geekspeak

I am testing my theory using a keep alive webpage. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Geekspeak

During this lecture I was able to work out how to fix wlan problem. Quit IPSEC client. Disable and re-enable the wlan card. Then logout of the wireless network. Start IPSEC client and login. Simple.. I think the disconnections are caused by a timeout.

Geekspeak

http://sfbayarea.craigsli…o/66795671.html

My friend sent me this list. I quite enjoyed it.

Geekspeak

My computer is fixed… It was just file corruption in a very bad place. The steps that were required to fix it are as follows.

1) Find a real XP CD, not one of those system restore disks Big Computer companies give you.

2) Boot from CD.

3) Wait 5 minutes whilst the CD loads all the drivers you don’t need. Then enter the recovery console.

4) Type CHKDSK

5) Type EXIT

6) Reboot.

7) All fixed.

Geekspeak

My computer just died… Well kind of. My Windows is screwed at the momment. My computer had a blue screen of death and now Windows doesn’t boot. I think my filesystem is screwed.

Thankfully I have been able to boot my linux partition, and actually recover some of my Documents.. So handy haing a dual boot system.. I was able to sneek my way onto the windows partition and grab some of my important docs off. Including an 8 page document I have been working on and my email. Although I couldn’t view the root of my windows partition, I was able to enter directories under it. Very weird. Now the important stuff is all safely on CD.

Geekspeak

I Don’t like them!

Geekspeak, Uni

I installed google desktop search. It is such fun. I can instantly find the strangest old email’s and documents. So much better at searching then Windows, or even any mail clients I have. It’s like having gmail on your desktop. Beautiful!

Geekspeak

Finally got wireless to work at Uni. It is so buggy, the UTS IPSEC client hates my computer. But I finally worked out how to get it to work. Disable IPSEC policy and quit IPSECclient, repair wlan network, open webbrowser, Assign IPSEC policy, start IPSEC client.

Geekspeak

Hours today of my time has been wasted because of dodgy connectors. GRRRR!! AHHHHHH!!!!! I am so annoyed. But at least this means the control and local radios work.

Geekspeak

I finally finished bounce. What am I going to do when I am bored now?

Geekspeak