tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42197564667962412202024-03-14T02:16:54.989-05:00Prairie Rim TechDiscussions on technology, except that which more appropriately falls under a different <a href="http://www.PrairieRim.com">Prairie Rim</a> category.Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-44189249850541131692017-07-06T20:00:00.000-05:002017-07-07T00:41:59.175-05:00Identifying... No Internet Access<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ze0qVjlAH68/WV8dhjhymCI/AAAAAAAALuI/GwijBDcush0ZjfAIRsOL8YPE0WJaDLPXwCLcBGAs/s1600/identifying_no_internet_access.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="631" data-original-width="884" height="228" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ze0qVjlAH68/WV8dhjhymCI/AAAAAAAALuI/GwijBDcush0ZjfAIRsOL8YPE0WJaDLPXwCLcBGAs/s320/identifying_no_internet_access.png" width="320"></a></div>
My Windows 7 laptop suddenly, out of the blue, started having network problems. When trying to connect to any of our several WiFi networks, it gave the error "Identifying... No Internet Access." Connecting to a wired ethernet connection worked just fine. After hours of frustratingly chasing wild geese, I finally solved the problem.<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2017/07/identifying-no-internet-access.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-79973345943636927682015-08-04T12:55:00.002-05:002015-08-04T12:55:09.083-05:00I'm not dead yetNot dead yet. Just really busy. Sorry for the moment of silence.Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-3479435269754055402014-11-07T20:00:00.000-06:002014-12-01T21:11:47.793-06:00Enlarging a live mdadm ext4 filesystem My computer runs a several RAID5 arrays on a handful of drives of various sizes. I recently replaced one of those drives with one of a larger size, which allowed me to add more space to one of my smaller RAID5 arrays. I tried to enlarge the RAID filesystem without rebooting, which should theoretically been possible, but I couldn't make it work. I eventually broke down and rebooted so I could finish the process. Here's the blow by blow steps.<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2014/11/enlarging-live-mdadm-ext4-filesystem.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-62643549383244676042014-10-01T20:00:00.000-05:002014-12-01T21:39:03.379-06:00Plex Media Server on Ubuntu Linux<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I had lunch recently with a friend who, like me, doesn't pay for TV service. All of our viewing options are over the air or off the Internet. During that discussion, he told me about the Plex Media Server that he uses to manage many of the Internet video options in his house, as well as many of the DVD movies that he owns. It sounded like a pretty slick system, so that night, I installed it myself on my Ubuntu Linux 14.04 home computer.<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2014/10/plex-media-server-on-ubuntu-linux.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-50639629933759591092014-08-30T20:00:00.000-05:002014-08-30T20:00:00.588-05:00Installing a rooted stock ROM on a Spring Galaxy Note 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3WukBkn19X8/UrXUlKj0u2I/AAAAAAAAHqw/0YVNycEeTc0/s1600/IMG_6403a_1000.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3WukBkn19X8/UrXUlKj0u2I/AAAAAAAAHqw/0YVNycEeTc0/s1600/IMG_6403a_1000.JPG" height="246" width="320"></a></div>
I've had my <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=samsung%20galaxy%20note&linkCode=ur2&tag=prairierim-20&url=search-alias%3Daps&linkId=YYWB3OZ3E4ML64Q4">Samsung Galaxy Note II</a> phone for a couple years now, and for the most part, I love it. It ran Android 4.1.2 when I first got it. Upgrading that to Android 4.3 went badly, and the custom MK4 ROM that I installed to recover from it was a constant frustration. When Samsung finally released Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) for the Note 2, it wasn't long before custom ROM's based on it were available in the wild. I chose to stick with a mostly stock setup, but rooted, and without Knox support. Details of the process follow.<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2014/08/installing-rooted-stock-rom-on-spring.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-15740452610823158712014-08-26T20:00:00.000-05:002014-08-26T20:00:01.450-05:00Rooting a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 tablet<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RY0S_esxBz0/U_0g6AQ8DJI/AAAAAAAAJXo/HbHni6hoakM/s1600/note10_white5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RY0S_esxBz0/U_0g6AQ8DJI/AAAAAAAAJXo/HbHni6hoakM/s1600/note10_white5.jpg" height="253" width="320"></a></div>
My son just bought a good used Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 edition) tablet (model SM-P600). Since it was already out of warranty, our first order of business was to root it so we could get good backups. I've rooted several Samsung devices in our family already, so the process was pretty straightforward. Here's how it works.<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2014/08/rooting-samsung-galaxy-note-101-2014.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-44246260899484527652014-05-30T20:00:00.000-05:002014-05-30T20:00:00.734-05:00Fixing a linux software RAID degraded at boot<div class="tr_bq">
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I have a lot of storage space on my Linux desktop box at home. The bulk of it is spread across two mdadm software RAID 5 partitions: one 3-disk array and one 5-disk array. Occasionally, I've found that the 5-disk array comes up in degraded mode after the machine boots. After much frustration, I think I finally found the fix for this.</div>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2014/05/fixing-linux-software-raid-degraded-at.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-39098833128986906872014-05-23T20:00:00.000-05:002014-05-24T10:25:36.345-05:00Nexus devices don't play nice with Netgear routers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My kids' Nexus 5 phone and Nexus 7 (2012) tablets have a terrible time staying connected to our Netgear N300 (WNR3500L) WiFi router. I used to think that it was just my son's imagination, because he would complain of problems while I was actively using my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 just fine on the same access point. It turns out the problem is due to the Nexus WiFi radio not playing nice with many Netgear routers. The fix, fortunately, is a simple one.<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2014/05/nexus-devices-dont-play-nice-with.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-87748793583278368322014-01-29T20:00:00.000-06:002014-05-22T12:14:57.242-05:00Ten thousand and counting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hPCgfpwlfWQ/UultC4QL9EI/AAAAAAAAIB4/2yE1A0W5j_I/s1600/apple-iic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hPCgfpwlfWQ/UultC4QL9EI/AAAAAAAAIB4/2yE1A0W5j_I/s1600/apple-iic.jpg" height="200" width="180"></a></div>
A discussion this morning at work caused me to tally up how much I've spent on computers in my life. Despite using computers for 30 years (25 of it as a professional programmer), I was somewhat surprised at how much I've spent. My co-workers, however, were surprised how little I've spent.<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2014/01/ten-thousand-and-counting.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-4694812269779292262014-01-14T20:00:00.000-06:002014-01-14T20:00:00.898-06:00Coloring a bash command prompt<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Bash, the Bourne Again SHell, is the default command shell used for most Linux distributions and MacOS. One of the nice things about it (and most Unix shells, for that matter) is the flexibility you have in configuring the command prompt. When using a color-capable terminal program, I like to make the command prompt a slightly different color than the rest of the text in that window, just so it stands out when I skim backward through miles of output. There's a couple different methods for doing that, and not all of them work well. Here's the best method I've found.<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2014/01/coloring-bash-command-prompt.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-47174001823229859312013-12-31T20:00:00.001-06:002013-12-31T20:00:00.872-06:00A tale of three Android mail readers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U-sJFXRA0vA/UrXL13yH_8I/AAAAAAAAHqY/7xCfbZoYqro/s1600/mail_apps.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U-sJFXRA0vA/UrXL13yH_8I/AAAAAAAAHqY/7xCfbZoYqro/s320/mail_apps.png" width="320"></a></div>
I recently decided to explore some options for different email clients on my Android 4.3 smart phone. I've got three different email accounts that I access regularly from my phone. Two are GMail accounts, but one is a traditional IMAP account at work. After a little online research, I limited my choices to three options: Samsung's stock Android 4.3 email app, <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fsck.k9">K-9</a>, and <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.daum.android.solmail">SolMail</a>. The short story is that after playing with them simultaneously for a few days, I settled back in with the stock app. The long story follows.<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2013/12/a-tale-of-three-android-mail-readers.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-73279861290800043102013-12-17T20:00:00.000-06:002013-12-21T12:08:25.374-06:00Android 4.3 update on a rooted Samsung Galaxy Note II<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I rooted my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 as soon as I got it. I survived the over-the-air (OTA) update from 4.1.1 to 4.1.2 easily enough, as outlined in <a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2013/04/ota-update-on-rooted-samsung-galaxy.html">an earlier post</a>. When the 4.3 update came out, I blindly assumed that it could be applied with equal ease. Not so, unfortunately. If I'd done my research before hand, I probably wouldn't have applied it at all. In order to fix the mess, I had to do a fresh install of a custom ROM. All the gory details follow.<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2013/12/android-43-update-on-rooted-samsung.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-8542449279003396092013-11-01T20:00:00.000-05:002014-01-30T09:16:24.465-06:00Free DIY soldering iron holder<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f0SxHI13q-4/UupmRyGzfmI/AAAAAAAAIFY/qzJuk4r5VCg/s1600/C7D_3195_1000.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f0SxHI13q-4/UupmRyGzfmI/AAAAAAAAIFY/qzJuk4r5VCg/s1600/C7D_3195_1000.JPG" height="320" width="258"></a></div>
I was probably in junior high when I bought my soldering iron. It's a simple, 35W pencil style iron that probably cost all of $15 at Radio Shack. For 30 years, I've used it with the tiny little support that it came with to keep the hot iron from lying on the workbench. All the while, I prayed that nobody would walk by and bump the power cord, dragging the iron onto the floor in the process. After seeing a much better holder design for sale commercially, I decided to make one of my own using some scraps I found in my garage. It only took me about 30 minutes to make (not including drying time for the stain) and didn't cost me a cent.<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2013/11/free-diy-soldering-iron-holder.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-24272067436459240432013-07-01T20:00:00.000-05:002013-07-02T12:57:01.384-05:00Why isn't rsync deleting old files?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cty7RbBymwA/Tjrlppz6JZI/AAAAAAAAAR4/66uRASqWdcY/s1000/IMG_8765a_1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cty7RbBymwA/Tjrlppz6JZI/AAAAAAAAAR4/66uRASqWdcY/s320/IMG_8765a_1000.jpg" width="320"></a></div>
For many years now, I've been using the old Unix utility <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rsync">rsync</a></span> to backup my computer to an external hard drive. As outlined in two earlier posts (<a href="http://blog.prairierimimages.com/2011/08/you-do-have-backup-right.html">here</a> and <a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2012/11/new-computer-backup-hardware.html">here</a>), it has always seemed to work quite well for me... until recently. After replacing a failed hard disk and restoring my /home filesystem, I noticed that one of my two backup drives contained many more files than did the other one. After inspecting these files, it appeared that most of the extra files should, indeed, have been deleted many months ago. I've always given the "<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">--delete</span>" option to <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">rsync</span>, and it's appeared to work, so why did these files not get removed?<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2013/07/why-isnt-rsync-deleting-old-files.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-25494762347425252272013-05-22T20:00:00.000-05:002013-05-24T09:55:49.064-05:00Upgrading the CPU in an old motherboard<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8HKaZRgRcHA/UZ13ALo37MI/AAAAAAAAF7Q/HzkvJ6h-wTo/s1600/C7D_1052_1000.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8HKaZRgRcHA/UZ13ALo37MI/AAAAAAAAF7Q/HzkvJ6h-wTo/s320/C7D_1052_1000.JPG" width="297"></a></div>
My primary desktop computer at home is now five years old... well, at least the CPU, motherboard are. It's a custom-built system that gets upgraded piece by piece. Anyway, the dual-core AMD processor has really started to show its age during all the photo editing I've been doing. I looked into replacing the CPU/mobo/RAM, but couldn't bring myself to pay the $600 it would cost to buy a new setup that I'd be happy with. It eventually occurred to me that my current motherboard could hold a much faster CPU than I had, so after an $84 eBay purchase, I had a used CPU en route that would (according to the published benchmarks) be three times faster than my old one. Of course, nothing is ever as easy as it should be, and this purchase set in motion a whole slough of problems that required many hours over nearly a week to get resolved.<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2013/05/upgrading-cpu-in-old-motherboard.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-46065881527636050592013-04-27T22:42:00.002-05:002013-12-21T12:10:06.912-06:00OTA update on a rooted Samsung Galaxy Note II<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u17w-6VWyNA/UXyZa28r3uI/AAAAAAAAFfY/DG6HxNQBoxA/s1600/C7D_9779a_1000.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u17w-6VWyNA/UXyZa28r3uI/AAAAAAAAFfY/DG6HxNQBoxA/s320/C7D_9779a_1000.JPG" width="173"></a>My <a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2013/02/settling-in-with-new-samsung-galaxy.html">Samsung Galaxy Note II</a> phablet uses the stock ROM, but is rooted. On 25 April 2013, Sprint pushed out an over-the-air (OTA) update to fix some minor problems. Android is very persistent about asking you whether to install OTA updates, so I eventually gave in and installed it. Because my phone was rooted, I <a href="http://www.clockworkmod.com/">ClockworkMod Recovery</a> presented me with several questions on how to proceed. Here's what I did...<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2013/04/ota-update-on-rooted-samsung-galaxy.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-40994498759234591422013-04-03T20:00:00.000-05:002013-04-03T20:00:01.390-05:00Cheap, DIY cell phone kickstand<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My previous smartphone (a <a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/motorola-photon-4g-sprint/4505-6454_7-34830808.html">Motorola Photon 4G</a>) had a built-in kickstand that would enable me to stand it up on edge while watching a video or listening to music. My current phone (a <a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2013/02/settling-in-with-new-samsung-galaxy.html">Samsung Galaxy Note II</a>) lacks this feature, and I kind of miss it. I started looking for aftermarket cases that had a kickstand built in, but they all were either poorly made or had other fatal flaws. I eventually gave up that search and instead made my own kickstand from a jumbo paper clip. Here's how.<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2013/04/cheap-diy-cell-phone-kickstand.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-54672503953583361812013-03-20T20:00:00.000-05:002013-03-20T20:00:01.939-05:00WiFi Tether on a Sprint Samsung Galaxy Note II<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UJpKJbXVAVM/UTq-iDzuvtI/AAAAAAAAE8A/JkDvoeMTMsA/s1600/tether.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UJpKJbXVAVM/UTq-iDzuvtI/AAAAAAAAE8A/JkDvoeMTMsA/s320/tether.jpg" width="320"></a></div>
One of the benefits of rooting your Android phone is that you can set it up to act as a WiFi hot spot, allowing nearby non-cell-enabled devices to share your 3G or 4G data connection without paying your carrier for such a service. You often have to jump through some hoops to get this working on each individual phone, and that was the case with my new <a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2013/02/settling-in-with-new-samsung-galaxy.html">Samsung Galaxy Note II</a> on the Sprint network (model SPH-L900).<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2013/03/wifi-tether-on-sprint-samsung-galaxy.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-83763297814625497372013-03-06T20:00:00.000-06:002013-03-19T17:50:38.211-05:00X Line case for my Samsung Galaxy Note II<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NbO60FsFsqQ/UTzVYtNFySI/AAAAAAAAE-o/BbxmJjoLJRw/s1600/C7D_6489_1000.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NbO60FsFsqQ/UTzVYtNFySI/AAAAAAAAE-o/BbxmJjoLJRw/s320/C7D_6489_1000.JPG" width="320"></a></div>
My biggest complaint about my <a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2013/02/settling-in-with-new-samsung-galaxy.html">Samsung Galaxy Note II phone</a> was that its smooth exterior handled like a wet bar of soap. I could have lived without any additional protection, but I desperately needed a case that could provide better traction for my hands while still allowing the phablet to easily slip in and out of my front pocket in my blue jeans. For aesthetic reasons, I really wanted a grey case. A brushed aluminum look would have been perfect, but the only option there was made of hard plastic and provided zero protection. Adding just a little bit of protection for the phone was also on my wish list.<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2013/03/x-line-case-for-my-samsung-galaxy-note.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-71925159378587597962013-02-20T20:00:00.000-06:002013-03-10T17:44:50.236-05:00Settling in with a new Samsung Galaxy Note II<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ChgbUbf9n5E/UTp_wM4O3HI/AAAAAAAAE7w/Xd6OzU85pcA/s1600/note2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ChgbUbf9n5E/UTp_wM4O3HI/AAAAAAAAE7w/Xd6OzU85pcA/s320/note2.png" width="281"></a></div>
As mentioned in <a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2013/01/upgrading-to-samsung-galaxy-note-2.html">an earlier post</a>, after my Motorola Photon 4G started flaking out on me, I upgraded my phone to a new Samsung Galaxy Note II. They call this thing a "phablet" because, with a 5.5" screen, it's a cross between a phone and a tablet. In fact, the size is exactly half way between my old Photon and my son's Nexus 7. In the process, I upgraded from Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread) to 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean). After a few weeks with the new phone, here are my thoughts on it. This post may seem a bit incoherent, so try to take each paragraph as an individual point.<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2013/02/settling-in-with-new-samsung-galaxy.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-72982687162549873502013-02-06T20:00:00.000-06:002013-03-08T23:45:04.392-06:00Fixing a crackling speaker on a Nexus 7<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6Xoy4l9wELA/UTrJ6POIYuI/AAAAAAAAE8Q/j6RMB6q22Po/s1600/C7D_5794_1000.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6Xoy4l9wELA/UTrJ6POIYuI/AAAAAAAAE8Q/j6RMB6q22Po/s320/C7D_5794_1000.JPG" width="320"></a></div>
My son bought a <a href="https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_7_16gb&feature=home-mt-0#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDcwMywiZGV2aWNlLW5leHVzXzdfMTZnYiJd">Nexus 7</a> tablet shortly after they came out in July 2012. By November, we started noticing that the external speakers (but not the headphones) were putting out lots of crackly static, especially at higher volumes (above 50%). This is a chronic problem with the Nexus 7, and one that Asus will fix under warranty if you catch it soon enough. However, if you don't want to live without your tablet for a few weeks during the warranty repair, there are some things you can do to address the problem yourself.<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2013/02/fixing-crackling-speaker-on-nexus-7.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-12099506048350100962013-01-22T20:00:00.000-06:002013-03-09T21:24:21.018-06:00Upgrading to a Samsung Galaxy Note II "Phablet"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zSxdMoqyYo4/UP7txyBMnhI/AAAAAAAAEZA/qO97gE_itOA/s1600/note2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="314" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zSxdMoqyYo4/UP7txyBMnhI/AAAAAAAAEZA/qO97gE_itOA/s320/note2.png" width="320"></a></div>
After owning my Motorola Photo 4G for about a year, it started to inexplicably slow down. Even the dialer would take 15 seconds to launch after tapping the icon. A moderate amount of diagnosis turned up no causes. Additionally, as a photographer, I've always despised the Photon's poor-quality camera. The the opportunity presented itself to upgrade, I spent some time researching options and eventually decided on the Samsung Galaxy Note II. At 5.5", it's the biggest phone out there, but is still enough smaller than a tablet that it remains pocketable.<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2013/01/upgrading-to-samsung-galaxy-note-2.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-70133079648500155052013-01-13T20:00:00.000-06:002013-03-10T18:03:49.635-05:00Resetting a Samsung Transform Ultra<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UpS6rtRdO_4/UT0OKS6VysI/AAAAAAAAFAc/YTSeiPC6uH4/s1600/m930_400x400_large1_cf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UpS6rtRdO_4/UT0OKS6VysI/AAAAAAAAFAc/YTSeiPC6uH4/s320/m930_400x400_large1_cf.jpg" width="320"></a></div>
My son's <a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/samsung-transform-ultra-sprint/4505-6452_7-35059781.html">Samsung Transform Ultra (M930)</a> cell phone was acting up. It started force-closing nearly every game he tried to run. It had gotten to the point where it was basically unusable. The "battery usage" screen under the system settings showed that "Android OS" (Gingerbread 2.3.6) was using 94% of the battery, which is a Bad Thing. Several online sources said it was time to do a factory reset. Not wanting this to be any more disruptive than necessary, I jumped through a lot of hoops to get things working again.<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2013/01/resetting-samsung-transform-ultra.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-79510782504674618422013-01-05T14:00:00.002-06:002013-01-22T09:07:47.710-06:00SNMP, DNS, DHCP and Ubuntu 12.10<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/JumpingRabbit.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/JumpingRabbit.JPG" width="259"></a></div>
I love rabbit trails... or maybe not. I just spent a couple days trying to track down a problem that first showed up as a sporadic SNMP failure after I upgraded my 32-bit Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise Pangolin) computer to 64-bit 12.10 (Quantal Quetzal). The root cause turned out to be the way the DNS resolver handled being given multiple DNS servers by DHCP. Additionally, the problem only showed up because I was trying to resolve the name of my firewall, which uses the same name but different IP addresses for the internal and external networks. Read on for more details.<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2013/01/snmp-dns-dhcp-and-ubuntu-1210.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4219756466796241220.post-59374663876811034932012-12-15T20:00:00.000-06:002013-01-27T15:22:42.658-06:00Carrying case for a dual-bay USB drive enclosure<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E7XFt_ovkZ4/UQWCzM5OEkI/AAAAAAAAEqI/P5OWX1YtUxQ/s1600/C7D_2968_1000.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="234" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E7XFt_ovkZ4/UQWCzM5OEkI/AAAAAAAAEqI/P5OWX1YtUxQ/s320/C7D_2968_1000.JPG" width="320"></a>I wrote in <a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2012/11/new-computer-backup-hardware.html">a previous post</a> about upgrading my off-site backup hard drives from a standard, single-bay enclosure to a dual-bay USB enclosure. The down side of that upgrade is that, being twice as wide, the enclosure no longer fit into the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=padded%20hard%20drive%20carrying%20case&linkCode=ur2&tag=prairierim-20&url=search-alias%3Daps">padded carrying case</a> that I used to use when transporting the drives. I searched high and low for a pre-made carrying case that would fit the new enclosure without being grossly oversized or horribly expensive, but to no avail. What I ended up doing was buying a hard-sided lunch box for $10 and padding it myself with foam packing material from an LCD monitor carton. The result works better than any pre-made option I could find.<br>
<a href="http://tech.prairierim.com/2012/12/carrying-case-for-dual-bay-usb-drive.html#more">Read more »</a>Obi-Wanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191019726892983113noreply@blogger.com0