cupsd not starting? Try this...

My cupsd wasn't starting on boot, I'd always have to do:

sudo service cups restart

Make sure the only thing in /etc/network/interfaces is the following two lines:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

I had the definition of eth0 in there, turns out it was actually causing a problem. Eth0 also wasn't showing up in the network manager notification area from nm-applet, so I commented out the /etc/network/interfaces lines related to eth0 and set up an entry in network manager for the specific MAC address of the on-board ethernet with the same parameters that I had in /etc/network/interfaces.

Rebooted, seems to work.

Ubuntu 10.04 Update Flatlined (temporarily) my Ethernet Card

On my Biostar TH55B HD motherboard, I have on-board Ethernet connectivity. Did a kernel update on Jan 03, 2011 to the following:
 2.6.32-27-generic #49-Ubuntu SMP Thu Dec 2 00:51:09 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux
The update wanted a restart, so I did. No connectivity after that.

Hmn....

Well, let's see if it's hardware or software. This box dual-boots Windows 7 and Ubuntu 10.04 64 bit LTS. Boot Windows 7, LAN connectivity works just fine. OK, let's go back to Ubuntu and start troubleshooting.

Works fine in Ubuntu now. Go figure.

Right Angle Header for Hacked Asus Router Serial Port

Buried somewhere in the comments in the mightyohm forum is a suggestion to use right angle headers instead of straight ones for the serial port. This allows a shorter connection.

Image

If you make the adapter board for the FTDI cable as Jeff Keyzer suggests in the mightyohm.com wifi radio build instructions, keep the PCB/perfboard small. You can then still insert it over a right angle header.

0image

Alternatively, you can connect the serial port to the FTDI cable with female-to-male jumpers (available at sparkfun for example).

Formatting USB Flash Drives for ext3

Hit and Miss

Apparently, not all flash drives are created equal. Or, maybe it's my technique. I tried to format a Maxell 4GB nubbin (tiny, little bigger than the USB connector) flash drive for use in my hacked Asus WL-520GU router. This would hold the python-related files and my scripts for passing to an arduino-powered VFD.This is with Ubuntu 10.04:

       Process

  • unmount (previously mounted) drive
  • su -   ; fdisk -l to find the device, in my case /dev/sdb1
  • fdisk /dev/sdb1sdb; p = print partions      <====Corrected!
  • delete partition
  • add new primary partition, all available space, type 83 = ext3
  • write
  • mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdb1
  • remove drive from USB; insert drive into USB
  • mounts

In the case of the Maxell, issuing the mount command from terminal still identifies this as FAT32.

Tried this same thing with a PNY brand 4GB drive, also a nubbin. Worked fine. Go figure...

 

Tip: To add files to the new partition, from a terminal issue: gksudo nautilus. This will allow you to add files graphically as root. For working with OpenWRT on my hacked Asus WL-520GU, root ownership just worked.

Update 1:  DOH! You need to create the partition via fdisk /dev/sdb, NOT fdisk /dev/sdb1. What I was doing was creating a partition under a partition. Didn't know you could do that! The result was a partition named: /dev/sdb1p1.

This was from the linuxforums.org (http://tinyurl.com/23regf2):>

"You have incorrectly created a partition table *on a partition* instead of on the device. You need to run fdisk against /dev/sdb NOT /dev/sdb1.

fdisk /dev/sdb

Use option o to create a new partition table. Then use n to create new partitions. When you're done, fdisk -l will show 2 partitions on sdb, not the 1 partition you have now."

Update 2:  After creating a new partition as /dev/sdb1, tried to automount the drive and got:

wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdb1

Did an fsck -y /dev/sdb1 and got the message:

*** journal has been re-created - filesystem is now ext3 again ***

Removed/inserted the drive and got the "bad superblock" message again. No luck.


 

Create Arduino Bitmaps for Nokia 5110 3310 LCDs

Process:

Use xpaint to create a bitmap in the appropriate resolution for the LCD you are using. On the 5110, this is 84Wx48H.

Graphics1

 

Use Processing glcdbitmap.pde (included in the KS0108 library for arduino) to read the bitmap.

  •  
    • You'll need to insert the name of the bitmap into the sketch

    • The bitmap must be in the Processing folder

    • Run the sketch

    • The converted bitmap will be stored in the sketch folder (glcdbitmap_test in this example) as bitmapname.h

Graphics2

Place the bitmap information into your target sketch “.h” file. Use memcpy_P to copy the entry to the desired place in the screen layout.

To create a splash screen:

Find a grayscale (or monochrome) image of approximate size, can be slightly larger than your screen resolution depending on the image. I got a *.jpg file for the Noisey Cricket splash screen.

  • if larger, use a resizing tool to get the image to the appropriate size (say 84x48)in Ubuntu, you can do this by right-clicking the picture and choosing Resize Images

Graphics3

 

set the resize image to your screen resolution 

Graphics4

Open the image in GIMP

  • Click Image from the Menu, choose Mode\Indexed

  • Click radio button for “Use black and white (1 bit) palette”

  • Click Convert