If you have ever done any freelancing or run your own business you have no doubt come across clients like this. For some reason they won’t pay full fare but want full service and will hound you relentlessly for not allowing them to screw you over if you try and walk away!
I have had my ipod touch (2.2.1 firmware) now for almost two months and i have found it to be a great little gadget. Although i have continually been annoyed Apple’s efforts to cripple the applications available through the itunes app store eg no last.fm scrobbling, having to sync to itunes to retrieved episodes of subscribed podcasts.
Last week i decided enough was enough and the only way around the limitations from Apple was to jail break the gadget. I found a lot of the guides on the net easy to follow but it still seems a bit of an inexact science and i ran into plenty of issues. After first trying i had to lived with a bricked ipod for a few days until i could find the time again to fix it properly. First i tried Quickpwn this technique seemed to give me an error of the #1600 variety when trying to restore my custom firmware in itunes.
Next up i went with the RedSn0w 0.3 beta, this script was pretty smooth although after running it the ipod just seemed to reset into recovery mode again with no forward progress. I then tried Voltage reading around the net people seemed to be saying good things about this one, but alas it also let me down due to a bug, so refused to find my original Apple firmware.
By this stage i had wasted a lot of time and was starting to lose hope in ever finding freedom from the itunes appstore, that was until Quick Freedom. I restored my ipod back to it’s default state for what seemed like the 100th time ready to have my hope crushed by another 1600 error. But this time it was different i glanced down at my ipod whilst itunes told me “preparing ipod for restore” only to see the pengiun wallpaper i had selected when i created the custom firmware.
Another 15 minutes later and the custom install had successfully completed offering me the “installer” and “cydia” applications after rebooting. For anyone hoping to jail break their devices i give two pieces of advice. First although most of the youtube videos are only 10 minutes long showing how to jailbreak an ipod by the time you get all of the software together and find a method that will works for you. Be prepared to spend a huge amount of time getting it done. Second if a method dosent work for you return right back to the start with the default firmware before trying again. I found trying to charge ahead and skipping this step will only lead to failure and more wasted time.
Happy jail breaking!
The Pirate Party in Sweden seems to be making waves after four men where found guilly of helping run the infamous bit torrent tracker site known as The Pirate bay.
It seems though Australian may not have to wait to long for a Pirate party of it’s very own! The domain has been registered and a basic site built to gauge support for the planned party, with the group currently working on a constition based on the Pirate manifesto which can then be submitted to the AEC.
The day has finally come and the latest release of Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) is available for download.
Sure, just press the ALT & F2 keys, in the dialog box that appears type update-manager -d.This should open up the update manager which will tell you a new release is available. To get the ball rolling simply press the upgrade button the next screen will show you the realease notes for Jaunty. Press the upgrade button down the bottom of this screen and the system will go have a look at what pakages it needs to complete the upgrade.
If no issues are found a window will eventually pop up asking you if you would like to start the upgrade. Pressing the “start upgrade” button on this dialog box will then start the upgrade in earnest downloading all the packages it needs and then installing them. Be forewarned the actual upgrade can take a long time especially if you have a slow connection or are not getting great speeds from you mirror of choice.
When the process is done you will be asked if you want to remove any obsolete packages, just click the “remove” button to continue . The next dialog box will inform you the system requests a restart, click the “restart now” button and wave goodbye to Intrepid Ibex and hello Jaunty Jackalope. Upon restart if you want to be absolutely sure you didn’t get short changed open up a terminal and type sudo lsb_release -a, you will be told what version of Ubuntu you are currently running in the output.
Links
At the moment it may not look to good for the crew behind the Pirate Bay. Although for the site its self it still seems to be business as usual since most servers reside in the Netherlands but after finding this Google custom search for torrent files i am wondering if the Pirate bay is even needed any longer.
Back a few years ago when the Pirate bay shot to fame as they where able to aggregate the large amount of torrent files out there and categorise them but i cant help thinking the present day situation for torrents mimics the mid – late ninties for web pages normally one would surf through directories etc rather than search, is the same happening for torrents?
It was announced today that the Debian distribution has added support for the FreeBSD kernel to the Debian archive with supporting both x86 and amd64 architectures. Allowing users to choose between running a normal Linux kernel or a FreeBSD based one.
Which begs the question why would you want to run a FreeBSD kernel? BSD offers some very good security features such as BSD packet filter (pf) and jails which allow the imprisonment of processes and their children to certain parts of system.
I personally can’t wait to get some free time in order to take for a test drive. I have always loved FreeBSD, but never the greatest fan of the “ports” system of application management at least this way i will be able to handle packages with convienance of apt.
Further Reading:
The man of the moment Minister for Broadband, misCommunications and the digital economy Stephen Conroy managed to get himself listed this morning for sale on Ebay by a mystery seller under the alias krudd53. The auction only lasted a few hours until Ebay pulled it around midday (either that or it got filtered?) but managed to attract quite an audience in the time it was live.
Suprisingly just before the auction was stopped the asking price was a tad over $1000, very over priced for a useless ballon of hot air i am sure many fellow Australians would agree! But never the less some of the enquiries from prospective buyers on the auction were very amusing:
Q: If I dress him in Latex and spank him, will this result in his being Refused Classification? 02-Apr-09
A: No my fellow Australian, Nothing will be censored. K Rudd.
Q: Can I pick him up and save postage? What is the quality? I don’t want to buy him and then 02-Apr-09
have him fail continuously days later.
A: Greetings Fellow Australian, Pickup is not an option on this sale. Regards K Rudd.
For those that missed the fun made at the expense of our beloved minister can find the auction here in pdf format as the auction looked at around 10am (sorry about the pdf but was at work).
You have the perfect idea for your new web based application but are disappointed to find all the domains that suit it are taken.
To find that perfect domain name in advance it may be an idea to take advantage of this service provided by Network Solutions just add the keywords you want included in your search and submit the form to get and RSS feed of expiring domain names that match your keywords.
Well it seems to have been an eventful day for the Labour Governments planned compulsory internet filter for Australians. The AMCA blacklist was said to have been leaked onto the net by Wikileaks and the news of the so called leak seems to got people wild everywhere. This SMH article reports Stephen Conroy popping out the cupbord with this rant:
The Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, said the leak and publication of the ACMA blacklist would be “grossly irresponsible” and undermine efforts to improve cyber safety.
He said ACMA was investigating the matter and considering a range of possible actions including referral to the Australian Federal Police. Australians involved in making the content available would be at “serious risk of criminal prosecution”.
But now later in the day it seems Mr Conroys office is telling the world it wasn’t their blacklist after all, as the published list has way too many URL’s, and they are super responsible and they would never just leave the list laying around to be leaked.
But then again Mr Conroy and his “Ministry of truth”, have been found acting in an underhanded manner before so how much of their story is truth could be anyones guess.
Read More:
After a long battle i finally have my vodafone branded Huawei K3715 3g modem working with my eeePC 701. Since i mainly use my eeePC for the commute to work, i missed having a internet connection. 3G has been around for ages but until recently all of the Australian telcos wanted you to sign a 24 month contract to get a resonable bandwidth quota at a price that wasnt prohibitive.
All this changed a few months ago when i found out Three was offering prepaid broadband, my mate worked in an office that had surplus Vodafone branded 3G modems so i just figured i would grab a Three sim card and i would be happily able to surf the net whilst travelling to an from work.
First pain was getting the sim activated and credit on the account Three seem to run their website and phone service in a style fashioned on “amatuer hour”. After jumping those hurdles i upgraded my version of eeebuntu to Intrepid Ibex as i knew this release had focused on mobile connections so i figured it would make it easier especially with a newer model modem than the standard Huawei E220.
Upon ugrading i booted up and was pleased to see Ubuntu acted like it knew what it was doing, it spotted the modem okay olthough it reported it in the logs as an E620. Because it knew i was located in Australia it gave me a list of telecommunications companies to chose my provider from. So i selected three and tried to connect but alas no luck, looking in /var/log/syslog i saw:
Mar 10 22:22:11 eeelap NetworkManager: <info> Activation (ttyUSB0) starting connection ‘Three’
Mar 10 22:22:11 eeelap NetworkManager: <info> (ttyUSB0): device state change: 3 -> 4
Mar 10 22:22:11 eeelap NetworkManager: <info> Activation (ttyUSB0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) scheduled…
Mar 10 22:22:11 eeelap NetworkManager: <info> Activation (ttyUSB0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) started…
Mar 10 22:22:11 eeelap NetworkManager: <debug> [1237375331.265910] nm_serial_device_open(): (ttyUSB0) opening device…
Mar 10 22:22:11 eeelap NetworkManager: <info> Activation (ttyUSB0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) complete.
Mar 10 22:22:11 eeelap NetworkManager: <info> (ttyUSB0): powering up…
Mar 10 22:22:11 eeelap NetworkManager: <info> Registered on Roaming network
Mar 10 22:22:11 eeelap NetworkManager: <info> Associated with network: +COPS: 0,2,”50501″,0
Mar 10 22:23:12 eeelap NetworkManager: <WARN> dial_done(): Dialing timed out
Mar 10 22:23:12 eeelap NetworkManager: <info> (ttyUSB0): device state change: 4 -> 9
Mar 10 22:23:12 eeelap NetworkManager: <debug> [1237375392.001454] nm_serial_device_close(): Closing device ‘ttyUSB0′
Mar 10 22:23:12 eeelap NetworkManager: <info> Marking connection ‘Three’ invalid.
Naturally i looked around the internet to try and find a solution, and learnt most people where using wvdial to connect just same as dial up connections in the good old days. So i used the settings from network manager to configure wvdial but still no luck connecting:
–> Starting pppd at Wed Mar 11 18:10:25 2009
–> Pid of pppd: 6349
–> Using interface ppp0
–> Authentication (CHAP) started
–> Authentication (CHAP) successful
–> Disconnecting at Wed Mar 18 18:10:30 2009
–> The PPP daemon has died: A modem hung up the phone (exit code = 16)
–> man pppd explains pppd error codes in more detail.
–> Try again and look into /var/log/messages and the wvdial and pppd man pages for more information.
–> Auto Reconnect will be attempted in 10 seconds
–> Cannot get information for serial port.
–> Initializing modem.
–> Sending: ATZ
ATZ
OK
Looking at the log gave more details and for awhile i thought i just didnt have enough reception but i though this couldn’t be the case when i was at work in the middle of the CBD!
The syslog entry for wvdial:
Mar 11 18:33:25 eeelap pppd[6349]: pppd 2.4.4 started by henry, uid 1000
Mar 11 18:33:25 eeelap pppd[6349]: using channel 2
Mar 11 18:33:25 eeelap pppd[6349]: Using interface ppp0
Mar 11 18:33:25 eeelap pppd[6349]: Connect: ppp0 <–> /dev/ttyUSB0
Mar 11 18:33:25 eeelap pppd[6349]: Warning – secret file /etc/ppp/pap-secrets has world and/or group access
Mar 11 18:33:25 eeelap pppd[6349]: sent [LCP ConfReq id=0x1 <asyncmap 0x0> <pcomp> <accomp>]
Mar 11 18:33:25 eeelap pppd[6349]: rcvd [LCP ConfReq id=0x3 <asyncmap 0x0> <auth chap MD5> <magic 0x7e4576> <pcomp> <accomp>]
Mar 11 18:33:25 eeelap pppd[6349]: sent [LCP ConfRej id=0x3 <magic 0x7e4576>]
Mar 11 18:33:25 eeelap pppd[6349]: rcvd [LCP ConfAck id=0x1 <asyncmap 0x0> <pcomp> <accomp>]
Mar 11 18:33:25 eeelap pppd[6349]: rcvd [LCP ConfReq id=0x4 <asyncmap 0x0> <auth chap MD5> <pcomp> <accomp>]
Mar 11 18:33:25 eeelap pppd[6349]: sent [LCP ConfAck id=0x4 <asyncmap 0x0> <auth chap MD5> <pcomp> <accomp>]
Mar 11 18:33:25 eeelap pppd[6349]: sent [LCP EchoReq id=0x0 magic=0x0]
Mar 11 18:33:25 eeelap pppd[6349]: rcvd [LCP DiscReq id=0x5 magic=0x7e4576]
Mar 11 18:33:25 eeelap pppd[6349]: rcvd [CHAP Challenge id=0x1 <52aca456ee672d55f26502182eff7245>, name = "UMTS_CHAP_SRVR"]
Mar 11 18:33:25 eeelap pppd[6349]: Warning – secret file /etc/ppp/chap-secrets has world and/or group access
Mar 11 18:33:25 eeelap pppd[6349]: sent [CHAP Response id=0x1 <1a3a1563c31a9092d75fc73d3361a8a9>, name = "a"]
Mar 11 18:33:25 eeelap pppd[6349]: rcvd [LCP EchoRep id=0x0 magic=0x7e4576 00 00 00 00]
Mar 11 18:33:25 eeelap pppd[6349]: rcvd [CHAP Success id=0x1 ""]
Mar 11 18:33:25 eeelap pppd[6349]: CHAP authentication succeeded
Mar 11 18:33:25 eeelap pppd[6349]: CHAP authentication succeeded
Mar 11 18:33:25 eeelap pppd[6349]: sent [IPCP ConfReq id=0x1 <addr 0.0.0.0> <ms-dns1 0.0.0.0> <ms-dns2 0.0.0.0>]
Mar 11 18:33:26 eeelap pppd[6349]: rcvd [IPCP ConfNak id=0x1 <ms-dns1 10.11.12.13> <ms-dns2 10.11.12.14> <ms-wins 10.11.12.13> <ms-wins 10.11.12.14>]
Mar 11 18:33:26 eeelap pppd[6349]: sent [IPCP ConfReq id=0x2 <addr 0.0.0.0> <ms-dns1 10.11.12.13> <ms-dns2 10.11.12.14> <ms-wins 10.11.12.13> <ms-wins 10.11.12.14>]
Mar 11 18:33:27 eeelap pppd[6349]: rcvd [IPCP ConfNak id=0x2 <ms-dns1 10.11.12.13> <ms-dns2 10.11.12.14> <ms-wins 10.11.12.13> <ms-wins 10.11.12.14>]
Mar 11 18:33:27 eeelap pppd[6349]: sent [IPCP ConfReq id=0x3 <addr 0.0.0.0> <ms-dns1 10.11.12.13> <ms-dns2 10.11.12.14> <ms-wins 10.11.12.13> <ms-wins 10.11.12.14>]
Mar 11 18:33:28 eeelap pppd[6349]: rcvd [IPCP ConfNak id=0x3 <ms-dns1 10.11.12.13> <ms-dns2 10.11.12.14> <ms-wins 10.11.12.13> <ms-wins 10.11.12.14>]
Mar 11 18:33:28 eeelap pppd[6349]: sent [IPCP ConfReq id=0x4 <addr 0.0.0.0> <ms-dns1 10.11.12.13> <ms-dns2 10.11.12.14> <ms-wins 10.11.12.13> <ms-wins 10.11.12.14>]
Mar 11 18:33:29 eeelap pppd[6349]: rcvd [IPCP ConfNak id=0x4 <ms-dns1 10.11.12.13> <ms-dns2 10.11.12.14> <ms-wins 10.11.12.13> <ms-wins 10.11.12.14>]
Mar 11 18:33:29 eeelap pppd[6349]: sent [IPCP ConfReq id=0x5 <addr 0.0.0.0> <ms-dns1 10.11.12.13> <ms-dns2 10.11.12.14> <ms-wins 10.11.12.13> <ms-wins 10.11.12.14>]
Mar 11 18:33:29 eeelap pppd[6349]: Modem hangup
Mar 11 18:33:29 eeelap pppd[6349]: Connection terminated.
Mar 11 18:33:29 eeelap pppd[6349]: Exit.
I thought this was weird as it kind of looked like it was connected and the modem was just hanging up with no explanation. More hours were spent googling the issue and trying many modifications to my wvdial.conf file, only to still have no luck.
Finally when i was about to throw the project in i found a forum post that referred to the Three APN in Australia being 3services rather than 3netaccess which is what it was repeated as everywhere else i had looked. I decided one more try wouldn’t kill me so i changed the APN in my wvdial.conf file and tried to connect again:
–> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.60
–> Cannot get information for serial port.
–> Initializing modem.
–> Sending: ATZ
ATZ
OK
–> Sending: ATZ
ATZ
OK
–> Sending: AT+CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”3services”;
AT+CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”3services”;
OK
–> Modem initialized.
–> Sending: ATDT*99***1#
–> Waiting for carrier.
ATDT*99***1#
CONNECT
–> Carrier detected. Starting PPP immediately.
–> Starting pppd at Wed Mar 15 20:11:06 2009
–> Pid of pppd: 6485
–> Using interface ppp0
–> Authentication (CHAP) started
–> Authentication (CHAP) successful
–> local IP address 10.173.110.201
–> remote IP address 10.64.64.64
–> primary DNS address 10.176.65.70
–> secondary DNS address 10.156.38.134
–> Script /etc/ppp/ip-up run successful
–> Default route Ok.
–> Nameserver (DNS) Ok.
–> Connected… Press Ctrl-C to disconnect
It seemed i finally had a working connection and it had nothing to do with the modem or drivers after all. So a tip to those wanting to use Three 3g internet in Australia, use the APN 3services not 3netaccess. Also you may want to check out the Vodafone Betavine site they have their own Linux client which you can use for SMS functionality, i found it a bit on the heavy side but their site is full of open source programs and info related to mobile computing so is well worth a look!
