gregoa's blog: entries from December 2010

gregoa's blog
random musings about computers, life, and everything

entries from December 2010

2010-12-26 13:34:13 +0100

desktop fun

yesterday I played a bit with my desktop machine:

changed /etc/fstab & /boot/grub/menu.lst (yes, I'm still using grub-legacy) to use LABEL=foo instead of device names after setting labels on all partitions.
interestingly root=LABEL=root doesn't work with my self-baked kernels, not sure what I'm missing there.
installed the latest Debian kernel (from experimental) & the current xserver-xorg-video-intel (from unstable): boots, gives me KMS & a working X (with my own kernels I had no KMS and just a black screen with newer versions of xserver-xorg-video-intel).
with the Debian kernel I've also entered the libata era :)
created my own linux-kbuild-2.6.37 package following the instructions (& changing the script a bit) in order to be able to use virtualbox-ose-dkms.
contrary to my laptop, DPMS doesn't make my screen faint permanently.

seems I'm about to leave the time of building my own kernels ...

permalink | tags: computer

2010-12-23 20:26:14 +0100

kernel fun

a few days ago I was quite happy with 2.6.37-rc5-686 because ath5k suddenly works. but. but then I found out that it turns off the screen so effectively (after the screensaver, so in DPMS standby/suspend/off) that it stays black. not good. ok, let's try (vanilla) 2.6.37-rc7. – no DKMS & no X. not good. let's apply a friendly patch from the Debian kernel. – DKMS & X are back. but DPMS still leaves the screen black. also when invoked manually with xset. not good. let's ask a search engine. – oh, a known bug: 22672. hm. at least the workaround (close lid / suspend to RAM) works. & turning off DPMS (in xscreensaver & laptopmode) obviously helps. but then my poor noseguy can't stop wandering around the screen ... don't we all love the blood^Wbleeding edge?

permalink | tags: computer

2010-12-20 21:05:08 +0100

wifi fun

ath5k has never worked for me – until today. I installed linux-image-2.6.37-rc5-686 from experimental & lo&behold – it works! that means I can say goodbye to good old (& non-free) madwifi. but before discovering that ath5k works I had already finished an upgrade of my private madwifi package & it seems I even managed to build a madwifi-dkms package finally. I've uploaded it to my private repository for the poor sods who still can't use ath5k :)
& maybe the madwifi-dkms package helps people who forget (how) to run m-a after installing a new kernel ...

permalink | tags: computer

2010-12-12 23:13:30 +0100

RC bugs 2010/48 - 2010/49

as pointed out by Tolimar the number of RC bugs is decreasing. here's the list of my small contributions (which includes also one bug I've caused *cough*).

~~#603036~~ – lvm2: "lvm2: fails to install due to incorrect dependencies in init.d LSB header"
update bug information, test solutions
~~#603407~~ – gearman-server: "gearman-server: Server hangs when job is submitted"
investigate, tag unreproducible, lower severity (pkg-perl)
~~#603429~~ – hylafax-server: "hylafax-server: prompting due to modified conffiles which where not modified by the user"
send new patches, later upload to DELAYED/2
~~#604221~~ – hylafax-server: "hylafax-server: installation fails"
send another patch, later upload to DELAYED/2
~~#604225~~ – mailscanner: "mailscanner: installation fails"
test for existence of /dev/tty in maintainer scripts, upload to DELAYED/2
~~#604975~~ – fractxtra,xfractint: "xfractint and fractxtra: error when trying to install together"
update bug information, later fixed by maintainer
~~#605136~~ – python-apt-common: "python-apt-common: fails to install, trying to overwrite other packages files"
add Replaces in debian/control. upload to DELAYED/2. later overridden by maintainer upload
~~#605565~~ – gnustep-base-runtime: "gnustep-base-runtime: unremovable if the daemon is not running"
sponsor maintainer upload
~~#606000~~ – libmail-spf-query-perl: "libmail-spf-query-perl: Incorrect query results with IPv6 addresses; should warn about missing IPv6 support and/or fail graciously"
investigate (pkg-perl)
~~#606802~~ – bacula-director-pgsql: "bacula-director-pgsql: make_catalog_backup is broken"
investigate and make a proposal

squeeze is getting closer :)