25 September 2008
For ages, I have been trying to get S-video output on my Mobility Radeon 7500 (driver radeon) in Linux with no success.
From some initial Googling, I nearly died when I found out I’d have to compile some GATOS driver to get some form of TV-out. Today, however, I stumbled across a set of three commands that worked for me with no such recompiling necessary:
xrandr --addmode S-video 800x600
xrandr --output S-video --mode 800x600
xrandr --output S-video --set tv_standard pal
Those instructions only apply to RandR 1.2–powered boxes (i.e. Ubuntu 8.04 and above) — if you have an earlier version, I have no idea what to do. Upgrade.
The above code will set your TV-out to 800⨯600. For some reason, 640⨯480 does not work for me.
Tagged: ati, hardware, Linux, Ubuntu | 12 Comments »
14 September 2008
In January, I wrote about my BlueAnt X5 Bluetooth headset, which I’ve been very happy with.
The headset comes with an “audio streamer” dongle, which comes with an audio jack you can plug into your PC or MP3 player, and it will stream the audio from the jack over Bluetooth to the headset, which means you can use your headset with devices that don’t support Bluetooth. The audio streamer dongle comes with a USB port on the side, which is used for charging the built-in battery.
Well, today, I plugged in my audio streamer into my PC to charge it as usual. However, I also accidentally held the button on the side of the dongle for a long time while plugging it in. Interestingly, the LED status light blinked quite rapidly, and a Bluetooth popup on my computer came up: “Device rillian has been made connectable.”
Excitedly, I checked lsusb, and indeed, the audio streamer was acting as an ordinary Bluetooth dongle!
jeremy@rillian:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 016: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)
When I had plugged it in other times, it had never shown up as a dongle, i.e. it was only ever in a “charging” mode with no functionality.
So, if you have a BlueAnt X5, and want a free Bluetooth dongle, here’s all you have to do:
- Make sure the audio streamer is turned off. (Remove the battery to be sure.)
- Hold down the button on the side while plugging the dongle (the audio streamer, not the actual headset) into your PC (not into the standalone wall charger).
- When the lights stop flashing, let go of the button. You should now see your Bluetooth dongle pop up on your computer. (Windows users may need drivers.)
That’s all there is! Free Bluetooth dongle!
Tagged: bluetooth, hacks, hardware | 1 Comment »
12 September 2008
Along with Efrain Valles’ new meme, I thought I’d tell you about my computer’s name.
My computer’s name is Rillian [sic], named after Prince Rilian [sic] from the Chronicles of Narnia. Rilian was a prince imprisoned by the Lady of the Green Kirtle. In the book The Silver Chair, Jill and Eustace rescue the prince from captivity and help him return to Narnia.
All the computers in our house are named after various Narnia characters. Aravis, Aslan, Caspian, Drinian, Glenstorm, Jadis, Maugrim, Octesian, Pire, Puddleglum, and Reepy (short for Reepicheep) have all been used. Also, my iPod shuffle is named Nikabrik, and my mobile phone is named Scrubb.
Tagged: meme | No Comments »
10 September 2008
I’m going to the Sydney WordPress meetup tomorrow.
If you’re in to WordPress, haven’t heard of WordCamp, and have free time between 5PM and 8PM on Thursday, come along. I’d love to meet you.
See you there.
Tagged: real life, WordPress | No Comments »
