I love my HP dv6915nr. It’s not the fastest or prettiest notebook around but it does most of what I want it to and does it quite well. However, one of the things that I hate is the bundled HP Quickplay software, which like the name suggests allows you to access your media very quickly. Versions 1.x to 2.3 of QuickPlay were based on Linux or Windows XP and had their own partition. As a result, it started up real fast and was battery friendly (kind of).
Version 3.x,which comes with my notebook, is different creature altogether.

HP QuickPlay

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Around 4am this morning, I finally decided to take the plunge and upgrade my Ubuntu installation to Jaunty.(Yes, I know the release date is tomorrow but I just can’t wait anymore). The simplest way to go about that is to hit Alt-F2 and then run:
update-manager -d
That will add the necessary repositories and perform the upgrade. I’m still downloading packages so check back in a few hours for updates.

Update: About a 2/3rds of the way through downloading packages. I hate Ghana Telecom. With a passion.

Update: Finally done! The upgrade process itself went through without a hitch. However, I had a problem with the driver for my Nvidia card not being detected. That was fixed in a jiffy using this guide. So now, I’m rocking the Jaunty release candidate. The only noticeable difference, for me so far, are the notifications. Anyways, let me play with it a little and see what more I can find.

I can’t wait for the final release so I can full upgrade.

I’m on a quest for a mythical object; an aesthetically pleasing desktop that is not too distracting and lets me keep track of my tasks. This is the result of my search so far.

[singlepic=32,320,200,,center] (more…)

I wanted to try out the GlassyBleu theme that gets bundled with HP’s version of Ubuntu(MIE) for netbooks. However, after applying the theme, I noticed something was off:
[singlepic=29,320,240,,center]
I had been using the Mac4Lin theme previously and as you have probably noticed, OSX’s window decoration layout is a bit unique. To restore the settings back to normal, we need to fire up Gnome Configuration Editor, gconf-editor:
Alt-F2 > gconf-editor > Enter
Now waltz over to the /apps/metacity/general and look for the button_layout key. You need to make sure it’s value is “menu:minimize,maximize,close”. Right click on it and select Edit Key.
[singlepic=30,320,240,,center]
That’s it. Your settings should be back to normal.
[singlepic=31,320,240,,center]

When you’re working with limited system resources, every bit that can be freed up counts. And if you have do your web development on machine with only 384mb of RAM, you start to be become a bit, um, mercenary about your resources. Running an Apache+PHP+MySQL stack alongside a GNOME desktop (xfce or fluxbox would be better but we all like our little luxuries) , Firefox and a text editor is not my idea of an efficient workspace. When you take the fact that I’ll be working on a wordpress install with about 19k entries, you start getting a sour taste in your mouth. (more…)

I just realized something; computers take up a lot of my time. A couple of friends showed up around noon and I just got back from seeing them off. What happened in the intervening 11 or so odd hours? I have no idea. We just talked about games, played around with Ubuntu a little ( they’re just coming out of the noob stage) and made idiotic jokes. That’s it. For twelve hours.

It made me realize that as much as I love computers, my time is not being used well. I could probably acheive more in less time.Things are not really balanced at the moment so I’m going to have to throttle things a bit (Digg & Cracked especially). Anyway, I’m going to bed. Will post some more when my brain stops making these grinding and rattling sounds.

It’s hard being the “IT” guy or the “computer” guy in Ghana.  Why? Where do I start?

• First of all, people expect you to drop whatever it is you are doing and solve their problem for them (never mind that it’s really important to you). They need their computer/ software working now.
• We really really don’t like the users that ask us to help solve a problem then start making idiotic suggestions (more…)

This post was originally meant to be a review of the HP Pavilion dv6915nr, which I had gotten about two weeks ago to use at school. Unfortunately, that is not meant to be. A couple of days after I got to school, a very enterprising burglar broke into the house where my friends and I were staying were staying and made away with my laptop & phone, my roomates phone and another housemate’s PS2. (more…)

If you are a member of that special group of computer users, the tinkerers, you are going to wonder where Samurize has been all your life. I’d seen it mentioned a few times on Lifehacker but never really paid attention. Well, my mistake. “What is Samurize?”, you ask. Well, Samurize is “an advanced system monitoring and desktop enhancement engine for Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista”. Translation: lots of stats and very cool ways to play with and display them. (more…)

Last updates: 21-Jun-2009

Warning: This hack will not just void your warranty. It will drop-kick it to the floor, stomp it in the gonads five or six times, shoot it in the head, douse the body in petrol and set it ablaze THEN spit on the remains for good measure. And that doesn’t take into consideration what it could do to you or your equipment . You have been warned. Don’t try this unless you’re comfortable with multimeters and soldering irons.
Now, on to the good stuff. Suppose you have a Linksys WRT54G router & antenna that you want to mount somewhere, say on your roof. So, one fine Saturday morining, you grab a few tools and get to work. About 35 minutes into your little project, it hits you: How exactly do you get power for your router? The roof has no power outlets and you need to keep the antenna cable as short as possible to minimize signal losses. (more…)