Archos 5

I said last week I would be posting an mp3 of that week’s sermon if I could get my Archos 5 device working correctly. The result surpassed my best expectations of what I thought the FM radio accessory was capable of. The microphone is so good that it was able to pick up Pastor Latham’s preaching even though he walked several feet away from the pulpit. The only fault in the recording was when the pastor stood directly behind the pulpit with the mic turned up too hot. In parts, at the beginning and the end there is a lot of distortion.

ebrake@scanner ~ $ emerge -pvuDN world

These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating world dependencies... done!
[ebuild     U ] sys-apps/findutils-4.4.0 [4.3.13] USE="nls (-selinux) -static" 1,983 kB
[ebuild     U ] sys-fs/e2fsprogs-1.41.2 [1.40.9] USE="nls (-static%)" 4,263 kB
[ebuild  N    ] sys-libs/e2fsprogs-libs-1.41.2  USE="nls" 479 kB
[ebuild     U ] net-fs/nfs-utils-1.1.3 [1.1.0-r1] USE="tcpd -kerberos -nonfsv4" 793 kB
[blocks B     ] sys-libs/ss (is blocking sys-libs/e2fsprogs-libs-1.41.2)
[blocks B     ] <sys-fs/e2fsprogs-1.41 (is blocking sys-libs/e2fsprogs-libs-1.41.2)
[blocks B     ] sys-libs/com_err (is blocking sys-libs/e2fsprogs-libs-1.41.2)
[blocks B     ] sys-libs/e2fsprogs-libs (is blocking sys-libs/ss-1.40.9, sys-libs/com_err-1.40.9)

Total: 4 packages (3 upgrades, 1 new, 4 blocks), Size of downloads: 7,516 kB

The next time you update =sys-fs/e2fsprogs-1.41.2 and sys-libs/e2fsprogs-libs will be installed.

On the spur of the moment I bought a subscription to lwn.net. I think I’m going to be very happy with it. Reading through this week’s LWN I was pleased with the twenty bucks I spent. I was so inspired that I went to work creating a LWN badge to display on my website. Go steal it for your own use I don’t care. If you make a better one let me know.

#!/bin/bash
/bin/mount /mnt/nfsbackup
/usr/bin/rsync -a --numeric-ids /mnt/nfsbackup/ /home/backup/bkup.0/
/bin/umount /mnt/nfsbackup

The –numeric-ids option is handy because the UID/GIDs are different between the server and my laptop. I looked at different methods of doing backups. What I decided was to rsync new files to the Shuttle PC but not to delete anything. I’ll decide how I want to “prune” deleted files later. Rsync runs every six hours and now I have everything mirrored. The next step in centralizing my data is to setup icecast and stream all my music from the server. I archive all my music in FLAC already. Once I start streaming I’ll be able to remove my MP3s from the laptop.

00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR/GH (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller (rev 01)

The pertinent option in menuconfig was to enable “Intel ESB, ICH, PIIX3, PIIX4 PATA/SATA Support” in the SATA drivers section. Important! In order for the kernel to boot, this driver must be built in or you won’t be able to mount your filesystems.

Networking is another critical component since I do nearly all of my work over SSH.

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8056 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 12)

The driver is called sky2. The entry in menuconfig is “SysKonnect Yukon2 support”. You have the choice to either build the driver in or modularize it. I should say that when I’m building a new config I execute “make defconfig” to create a base config that I edit later. So there might be other critical options that I don’t mention because they are enabled by default in defconfig.

Oh, how the hardware hates me. My poor Gentoo development box and primary desktop workstation has been suffering a long string of random lockups lately.[...]

Today I cleaned out the machine, getting rid of a fair amount of dust. I had to remove the graphics card to get at its cooling fins, and ever since reinstalling it and rebooting, there are minor graphical glitches covering the screen at bootup, at least until the initrd is loaded. Everything’s fine once fbsplash and X kick in. Maybe I shoulda wiped off the PCIe contacts or something?

Though Josh Saddler seems to be having the opposite problem. His video clears up when graphics load but mine got worse after the splash image loaded.

Contents of /etc/sensors.conf

chip “it8718-isa-*”

label in0 “DDR2″
label in1 “-12v”
label in2 “+3.3v”
label in3 “+12v”
label in4 “+5 VSB”
label in5 “Chipset”
label in6 “CPU”
label in8 “MB Batt”
label fan1 “CPU Fan”
label temp1 “Case Temp”
label temp2 “CPU Temp”
label vid “CPU volt”

compute in1  (1+232/56)*@ – 4.096*232/56 , (@ + 4.096*232/56)/(1+232/56)
compute in3 ((30/10)+1)*@ , @/((30/10)+1)
compute in4 ((6.8/10)+1)*@ , @/((6.8/10)+1)

set in0_min 1.8 * 0.95
set in0_max 1.8 * 1.05
set in1_max  -12 * 0.95
set in1_min  -12 * 1.05
set in2_min 3.3 * 0.95
set in2_max 3.3 * 1.05
set in3_min 12 * 0.95
set in3_max 12 * 1.05
set in4_min 5 * 0.95
set in4_max 5 * 1.05
set in5_min 1.5 * 0.95
set in5_max 1.5 * 1.05
set in6_min 1.2 * 0.95
set in6_max 1.2 * 1.05
set temp1_low 40
set temp1_over 70
set temp2_low 40
set temp2_over 70
set fan1_min 1400

ignore fan2
ignore fan3
ignore temp3
ignore in7

Output of “sensors”

ebrake@scanner ~ $ sensors
it8718-isa-0290
Adapter: ISA adapter
DDR2:      +1.82 V  (min =  +1.71 V, max =  +1.89 V)
-12v:     -12.03 V  (min = -12.61 V, max = -11.37 V)
+3.3v:     +3.28 V  (min =  +3.14 V, max =  +3.47 V)
+12v:     +11.84 V  (min = +11.39 V, max = +12.61 V)
+5 VSB:    +5.16 V  (min =  +4.76 V, max =  +5.24 V)
Chipset:   +1.52 V  (min =  +1.42 V, max =  +1.57 V)
CPU:       +1.25 V  (min =  +1.14 V, max =  +1.26 V)
MB Batt:   +3.26 V
CPU Fan:  1638 RPM  (min = 1400 RPM)
Case Temp:   +57 C  (low  =   +40 C, high =   +70 C)   sensor = thermistor
CPU Temp:    +52 C  (low  =   +40 C, high =   +70 C)   sensor = diode
CPU volt: +2.050 V

Just for fun here is the SMBus version from lspci

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 01)

LS120
Hard Disk
CD-ROM
ZIP100
USB-FDD
USB-ZIP
USB-CDROM
LAN

None these options worked, however. The correct option was found buried deeper in the BIOS options.

1. Boot the Shuttle PC with the thumb drive plugged in and press delete during POST to enter setup.
2. Select Integrated Peripherals
3. Select USB Device Setting
4. Under the “USB Mass Storage Device Boot Setting” section there will be an entry for the USB thumb drive.

For my thumb drive I had three choices “auto”, “FDD only”, and “HDD only”. Choosing “HDD only” causes my thumb drive to show up as a standard hard disk in my boot options.

Shuttle PC K4500

Today, I ordered a new toy for me. It’s a Shuttle PC model K4500 from Newegg. Actually, I want it to have a dual purpose. It’s primary purpose will be to operate the flatbed scanner when Mom wants to copy something. Right now, she depends on me to operate it for her but I plan to automate the process so she only has to type a few simple commands such as “scan” or “copy”. The second purpose will be a platform for my self-education. The various computers I have owned have all eventually become unusuable due to age. After, the previous computer’s video started to give out and it later died. I was in search of a replacement but I didn’t want to spend $500 to a $1000 on a normal tower PC. The K4500 model does not include a internal CD-ROM but for Mom’s use it isn’t neccessary to have one. I did confirm that the Shuttle PCs can boot from an external USB disk like a flash thumb drive. Which is all I need to install Gentoo.