Life Begins at Thirty

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

X61 --- Vista & Fedora 7

Last Friday, My x61 finally arrived after a long waiting--two weeks. the pre-loaded OS is VISTA HOME BASIC with some other software. I think it is NIS 2007 that makes the whole system pretty slow or maybe some other software, as you know Lenovo like to pre-install some many useless garbage in the system. Can't put up with waiting for these software uninstall, I decided to recovery the whole system from scratch and customize software which I like to install. The recovery went pretty smoothly. After about 1 hour and 20 min, automatically reboot and configure system during the whole process, a clean system comes out.

The main thing I want to try is Fedora 7.

The first step I need to do is to partition Hard drive, recommended software is AcronicDirector suit 10.

Secondly, using usb disk to install fedora 7, pretty easy.
---remember to install grub on / not MBR

and then install BCDEDIT GUI interface, recommended software is EasyBCD free. Copy grub loader i.e the first sector of / partition to a file name fedora.sec. Using EasyBCD to edit Vista boot menu to make dual boot available.

---Doesn't work
wifi Intel 4965
audio AD1984
beryl (freeze system)

Solution:
1.update system to latest kernel and wifi-firmware

2. download alsa latest driver 15rc2
./configure --with-cards=hda-intel
make & make install

3. download latest Graphic driver i965 and compile DRM,DRI,2-D and 3-D driver, recompile kernel with agppart enable . Details see intelgraphic.org

Finally, Fedora 7 with Beryl works great on X61.

(oh hotkey doesn't work)

Thursday, August 30, 2007

My six years old Laptop -- still works fine.


Monday, August 27, 2007

The first week back to NY

On Aug. 18, I came back to New York with the desire of finding a job around the Apple area. The first week was gone, I did not do any action on it, still in relaxation.

For the first 3 days, I thought it was only two days, I tried to cancel our homeline and dsl service and switched to cable. It turned out the technicians from RCN company could not get the installation job done with their poor ladders. We are in a three stories condo house. Actually, it's only two families house, but the basement is more than half on the ground. The fact is there is no any access to the roof. the only way to the roof is using pretty big ladder. All of technicians or maybe their company are only equipped with small ladder. Probably, they have to write some kind of application if they want to settle down my business. Finally I gave it up and kept my current service. Every once in a while I thought maybe I could go with "naked dsl", after searching little bit online, I was disappointed to find that Verizon does provide dry loop dsl, but not in Queens.

Thursday,Friday, went over some basic concepts of analog circuit design. Saturday, Sunday manageed to go crabbing on Jones Beach.

Now, it goes back to Monday. Kind of hurry, it's almost the end of Aug. Things I should to this week: Sending out resumes to the few companies in new york area, replying back to several huntters and to see if they can arrange some interviews next few weeks.

JT

Aug.27 2007

Sunday, August 19, 2007

OS X 10.4.8 on T60

Finally, I got Tiger run on my T60. (Intel Core 2 duo 2.0G 1G, 100G HD, ATI x1400, SoundMax card. IPW3945 INTERL PRO 1000 )

so far, only need to find driver for IPW3945, everything works fine.


here is little work for Graphic Card and Sound card.

Graphic X1400

Edit /System/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist , add two lines

Graphics Mode
1400x1050@60
below
Boot Graphics
Yes

and edit System/Library/Extensions/ATIRadeonX1000.kext/Contents/Info.plist, adding Dev ID of your card (7145 for X1400)
IOPCIMatch
0x71451002
to enable CI/QE support

SoundMax card

Delete AppleHDA.ket
install azaliz.audio.pkg
edit /System/Library/Extensions/AppleAzaliaAudio.kext/Contents/Info.plist
change IOHDAudioCodecVendorID value to 0x11d41986
edit /System/Library/Extensions/AppleAzaliaAudio.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleAzaliaController.kext/Contents/Info.plist
change IOPCIPrimaryMatch value to 0x27d88086.

and then fix permissions, clear kext cache
sudo diskutil repairpermissions /
sudo rm /System/Library/Extensions.*
sudo kextload AppleAzaliaAudio.kext
sudo kextcache -k /System/Library/Extensions/

reboot you should got 1400*1050 resolution and sound card work.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Back to Gainesville and stay for another month or two.

On July 15, 2007, I came back to Gainesville and continued my summer course study again. The original purpose of going up to New York is trying to look for some job opportunities around New York area while visiting my lovely wife, but it turned out most of time we were thinking about where to go to have fun with friends. The job hunting trip of New York ended up with sending out several resumes which could be done anywhere and anytime.

Since this week, the new project of DSP course will be assigned on Monday and also there is already an optional project waiting for me to do. Job hunting, two projects, finals in the next twenty-seven days. Is that mission impossible? We will see.

Good lunck for me, for everyone who is gonna make any change in the next month!

Jingtao Jul.16 2007

Sunday, July 01, 2007

jUNe Day --- Westport

On Saturday,June 30,2007, we were invited by friends to join their jUNe Day activity-- hosted by the International Hospitality Committee of Westport. One small Connecticut town has warmly welcomed UN staff and their families for a day of fun and festivities every June since the mid-1960s. For the 42ND consecutive year, the celebration was held on Jun. 30.

Thanks to my friends Hongtao and Jun



We arrivaled at Westport by Metro-North train around 9:15am.




After a quick breakfast, there was a Small ceremony and exchanging gift with guests in Saugatuck Elementary School.






Visited Earthplace and had little fun there




After played an hour tennis, we went to beach.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Talking about self discipline

After staying US over two years, I found that the bad thing happened to me. I can't concentrate on doing what I need to do. Got up in early morning, went on internet looking around and spent over six hours doing nothing. The horrible thing is that it happens everyday somhow. :(((. It's time to review myself. I am still young and should find somthing more interesting to fill up my life. Here is an article. Should I buckle down and read it?

"
One of the most important skills we can develop as human beings is self discipline. No matter what our goals are, we will achieve them sooner with highly developed self discipline.

So what exactly do I mean by self discipline?

It is the ability to follow a schedule. It is also the ability to do things we need to do, when we do not want to.

The hard part is sticking to being self disciplined.

I always found that it works very well once you established a habit. When you establish a pattern of accomplishing one thing after another, it creates a sort of a flow. This momentum makes it extremely easy to be self disciplined. In my experience it is very important not to break that momentum. If we do, it becomes extremely hard getting back into the groove.

So how do we establish that habit of being self disciplined?

There are several ways of achieving great self discipline. Sports in general and martial arts specifically are a great way to develop this ability. I have done various forms of martial arts for many years and can tell you, from personal experience, how effective this method is. Self discipline within martial arts is achieved through following traditions that emphasize the reverence the disciple feels towards his master. That kind of relationship forces the disciple to follow his master without question, based solely on the respect for the teacher. This kind of relationship puts immediate personal desires of the student in the background, while the master guides him to achieve his goal. Essentially what that does is distract us from the inherit laziness we all have, and provides us with motivation to achieve our goals. When it develops into a habit, it carries over to other areas of our life, and can greatly enhance other experiences.

It is probably not healthy to be too strict when it comes to discipline. Some discipline is a must, but in all aspects of our personality we require a balance. If we are too strict it could eventually result in abandoning of the self discipline all together, as we would develop a negative association with whatever we are trying to be disciplined about. Let's take jogging in the mornings as an example. Most people do not enjoy this activity. They have to force them selves to do it, because they know that it is good for them. They have to do it until they develop a habit of jogging, and then it becomes easy. Just think about it. What would be easier to get used to? Jogging in the morning in a snow storm or jogging while enjoying a beautiful sunrise. Our mind develops habits by repetition. So the more negativity it associates with an activity, the harder it will be to develop the self discipline to perform it.

Another very important area where it is imperative to be self disciplined is financial management. This part of our life can become devastating to us if we do not bring it under control.

The best part of any form of discipline training is that it is fairly easy to accomplish if you put your mind to it. It can be compared to training a muscle. When you exercise it on a regular basis, it becomes strong and healthy. Inversely if it is left unused, it will atrophy.

To sum up, self discipline is a must in our lives. We must practice it on a regular basis, but we shouldn't forget that balance in everything we do is very important, so being over disciplined can be as bad as not having any discipline at all.
"

---Article Source: http://www.article-outlet.com/

Jun.26 2007