Acer A500 Flashing

I had issues with the stock ICS rom until the point where Google Drive apps became virtually useless.  I couldn't edit spreadsheets and Hangouts was crashing crazy.  This post here is to list down resources from my attempted Linux only experience to getting from stock OTA ICS to TegraOwners Lollipop ROM.  A lot of the credit is from the hard-working folks at TO.  There's a huge amount of resources already in that forum so all you need is to search.  (They'll tell you the same thing!)  Since I don't dive in blind with these things, there was a tremendous amount of readings to be done just to get started.

Random Thoughts

It's been a while since I've posted so this is an amalgamation of things that have been happening.  First of all, I now have a MacBook Air and the adjustment has been minimal.  All my Linux desktops have sort of been modified to have a quasi-OSX like setup with the arrangement of the close, minimize, maximize buttons.  At worst case, the terminal gives me back that Linux touch and gives me a lot of power back when OSX's UI fails me.

I love the touchpad gestures.  It's probably the most unique aspect of OSX.  Taking the cool computing ideas from Linux and giving it that Apple take on things gives me a good perspective on what can be done to make desktop computing more efficient.  That being said, I just really don't like the regressions that happened.

Getting my PS/2 keyboard with the USB converter to get recognized in OSX is mindbogglingly difficult.  I scoured multiple websites screaming at me the words: "No, it doesn't work." But I refused to believe.  It turns out that the solution is to turn off my MacBook and plug the keyboard in while the device is turned off.  Why?  I don't know.  If the keyboard is supported, why on earth would you want to make it harder to support such devices?

The USB ports are way too few and the Mini DisplayPort (Thunderbolt) really blows here.  Suddenly, I can't use the extra monitor sitting here and I have to buy some fangled adapter to get it going (It's on the way...).  Lastly, the SSD drive is way too small, but that's to be expected.

Despite all of this, I am at peace with the Mac.  It's a nice device and gives me more experience as far as using other computing environments.  All that being said though, my next laptop will definitely go back to Linux.

Next stop, I reformatted my HP laptop that was running Linux Mint.  To be honest, I had been very disappointed with Linux Mint's performance here.  By the time I reformatted it, it had slowed down to a crawl on boot and on GDM login.  It has never ever happened before in any Linux desktop I've used and I have gone through quite a bit.  I tried to analyze the boot sequence and the GDM login process but to no avail.  It was just pitiful to see Linux perform this bad.

I installed Linux Mint 17.3 and that was a mindboggling choice.  The boot was as bad as when I had the bloated Linux Mint 17.1 install.  I was willing to forego that to see what the desktop had in favour.  Secretly, I hoped it would just simply disappear.  When I setup fglrx, I noticed that running amdconfig wouldn't detect any proper supported GPU (Mine is Radeon HD 7670M) which prompted me to look for the xorg version.

Linux Mint 17.3 runs on xorg 1.17.1 which seems to be .1 version above the latest fglrx version from AMD's site.  So I figured I should just ditch this.  I went back and reinstalled Linux Mint 17.1 on the HP Laptop.  I also installed fglrx and not fglrx-updates (which didn't work the last time I tried it).  After running amdconfig, I am treated with the same error which boggled my mind.  I checked xorg and the version was 1.15.  So, NOW, I'm really confused!

I rebooted anyway and fglrx seemed to load right.  I installed cairo-dock and the rest of my usual setup and everything seems set.  For some reason, Linux Mint 17.1 boots up faster than Linux Mint 17.3.  As long as it doesn't bog down, I can live with this.

Speaking of fglrx, I was also reading up if amdgpu and amdgpu-pro will have support on my Radeon GPU.  I think 7670M is still Southern Islands and that support 'should' be coming in the future.  Cross fingers!

Missing Caption and Dialog Box Messages on Cairo-Dock

I've been using Linux Mint 17.1 for quite a bit and its configured to using the fglrx driver.  When I first installed Cairo-Dock as a way to emulate Ubuntu's Unity, there had been missing text and captions on several items in my menu.  It's bothered me but I've tolerated it for a long while till I had had enough and did some research on it.

This thread gave me a hint that this is a known issue and that setting the font may fix it.  The suggested font to use was Ubuntu Mono 12 but that didn't work in my case.

By right clicking the cairo-dock, you can configure the Dialogue Boxes and Captions.   You can set the custom fonts to use for both.  For my Linux Mint, the font that worked was Andale Mono 12.  Now all the text appears.

Linux Messaging Commands

It's embarrassing but I keep forgetting commands to communicate with other users logged inside the Linux server. So, I'm writing it all here for me.

• wall - broadcast to all logged in users.  This is the only one I always remember.
• write - sends a message to the specific user.
• tty - displays the ttyname of the users among other things.
• When writing a message, input, Ctrl+C, or Ctrl+D sends the message.

Flashplayer and Linux Mint

So a vulnerability was found on Flash that made Firefox disable the Flashplayer until people updated their plugin.  Adobe released an updated version of the last non-Chrome version of Flashplugin for the update but I seemed to be running into some issues with the browser not picking up the latest version.  So, what I did was re-download the latest version of Adobe flashplayer.  Then, I copied libflashplayer.so into /usr/lib/adobe-flashplugin/libflashplayer.so and /var/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so.  Then, restarted Firefox and checked the add-ons.  Finally the latest version was recognized.  Back to regular programming.

Mass Effect 3, Origin Cloud and Wine

So, I had installed Mass Effect 3 on my Windows Vista laptop and also on my Wine Linux box and I decided to use Origin cloud to sync up everything so I could play on the go on the laptop and at the Linux box when I'm around.  On Vista, it picked up my Mass Effect 3 saves from Wine, no problem.  Apparently, I had issues when I was syncing my saves back to the Wine box.  At first, I simply chalked it up to Wine's own deficiencies and moved on.  When I went around to copying my saves from the Vista laptop to my Wine box however, I noticed that all the files touched by Origin's cloud save on Wine had 000 file permissions.  I also checked that the files were of the same size as the Vista files I copied.

I infer that this means the cloud sync actually worked but only the file permissions were goofed up.  Next time, I will try to simply chmod this.  As an additional side note, cloud syncing on Wine only works when launching Mass Effect 3 since Origin in Wine cannot detect when the game is finished running to sync back the progress.  The only way around this is to exit Origin, then restart again.

Origin on Wine and the Preparing Download

Well, I've gotten stuck on Wine and Origin's Preparing Download and had forgotten to patch Qt5Network.dll that had been overwritten by several Origin updates.  I'm fortunate that the patch is still in my Origin install folder so I backed up the new dll and re-ran the patch to fix it.  Details on this issue are on this Wine Bug thread.

Mass Effect 1 was pretty good and I finished it entirely in Wine/Linux.  Awesome!

Update on PulseAudio v ALSA

So, here I go again, diving into this PulseCrap and so, I've found that Ubuntu does come with the Pulse plugins for ALSA.  It's tucked inside libasound2-plugins but I'm starting to think this is the cause for my audio disappearing.  This reminds me of my OSS/ALSA days where sound contention causes the audio to just disappear.  Time to dive into the Launchpad bugs.

According to the archlinux blog, Trine 2 uses OpenAL, but I'm not certain if Natural Selection 2 uses that.  Still need to keep digging, though here's one interesting link I found.

Losing sound on select games...

I've noticed that on some games, I lose sound not only on the game, but also on the entire desktop. It's an odd issue, but I believe I have finally found a possible cause. I have tried playing Natural Selection 2 and although I am happy that it comes with a Linux client, along with Trine 1 and 2, as well as Red Orchestra, the sound goes away until I reboot.

I decided to run ldd on it to see if there were clues. I noticed that when I compare it with games that don't exhibit this behaviour that NS2 has a link to libasound.so which I think is a sure sign that this is another one of those ALSA vs Pulse Audio conflicts.  I will do more research, but this is a theory that is making a lot of sense at the moment.

Random Thoughts: Linux stuff

I've had to deal with some Oracle apps I've downloaded the other day and I needed JDK which I normally do not like to install.  I ended up installing openjdk7-jdk (don't use jre), and I needed to figure out where the Java path is.  It's in /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-xxx/.

The linux command pstree -p is good at showing a list of commands running.  I had a problem with apt-get updating packages when it got stuck on flash.  Killing package-data-do got it sorted.

Finally, I loved Mass Effect 3.  Great game!

Revisiting fglrx and multi-monitor setup on Ubuntu 13.04

I really hate that multi-monitor is broken for muxless AMD/Intel hybrid laptops on 13.04.  I've gotten all the way to the latest 13.11 beta and the problems remain.  However, I did uncover some interesting things.

The desktop display options have always been conspicuously absent on amdcccle.  It seems to have been caused by the RandR 1.2 extensions being enabled.  According to this link and this link, it seems I have to disable RandR from xorg and amd's own config file.  One day, I will get to try it on my own.

1. Edit /etc/ati/amdpcsdb and add EnableRandR12=Sfalse on the [AMDPCSROOT/SYSTEM/DDX] section.
2. Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and add Option "EnableRandR12" "false" on "Device" section.

Brütal...

These past few days, I've been playing more and more of Brütal Legend and while I have enjoyed the action bits immensely, I am starting to see more and more flaws on this game.  When the game focuses on Eddie alone, things are fine.  When I got those idiot hair bangers, things get a bit more management heavy and overbearing with the constant use of guitar solos and troop management while being there in the battlefield with them.  After some failures, I got a bit of experience and pressed on.  Then... stage battles.

Boy, these blasted stage battles.  Now, instead of being an action game, I have resource management, commanding hordes of idiots, use the guitar solos and then figure out which of those fan geysers to get.  I absolutely did not enjoy them.  I thought they were a chore.  Guess what?  I play to have fun.  When it becomes an absolute drudgery to play?  I quit.  That Tim Schafer has to write an open letter to explain how this game is supposed to be played just underscores how out of place it is in this game.

Shame because the soundtrack is awesome.  The writing is silly and awesome as well.  I cannot tolerate the stage battles.  I just can't.  Uninstalled.

Public Service Announcement: Do not upgrade FGLRX to 13.9 STABLE

I've been on the fence on upgrading to 13.9 after reading that it's possibly based on an older driver.  Right now, there seems to be a clear sign that that is indeed the case.  Hang on till October, 2013 for the new driver release.  I hope they actually FIX the dual screen issues though managing code for 2 different graphics manufacturers (muxless hybrids) is quite a tall order.

Brütal Legend and Steam

So, after going through some really disappointing Indie games, I get to Brütal Legend which was a great surprise.  It works on Linux and it plays really well.  I had minor problems figuring out the controller support but this Steam thread should be helpful.  First thing is first though, you should configure the gamepad on Big Picture.  The shell script needs some Linux reworking to get rid of the dos \r stuff, but once you've cleaned it up, it will grab the SDL configuration for you.  The script is modified for Costume Quest (which funnily enough is modified from The Cave), but it's easy to change the paths for your install of Brütal Legend.

Good luck and save that SDL config file!

Random Thoughts: Linux, and Dragon Age

First thing is the important part.  I don't normally do message sending on Linux, but lately, having to maintain servers, it's been a critical way of communicating with another user logged in so both of you can coordinate while on that server.  So, I will just leave this note.

Use the wall command which broadcasts messages to everyone logged in.  It's an extension of the mesg command (use man pages, mate!).  Type wall, then hit enter.  Then write your message (20 lines maximum).  EOF (typically CTRL+D) ends and transmits the message.

Second point.  Dragon Age Origins: Awakening which so far has been a cruel drag to play.  Something about the writing is absolutely uninteresting and the game really gets a bit more fun to play for me when I'm not having to deal with the main plot quests.  Ugh.  Plus, why is BioWare so keen on stripping my Warden of his gear to make me lose inventory items?  This happened twice now.  First with the damned Sacred Ashes quest and then on the Silverite Mines.  Bah!  Dragon Age Origins is great.  Awakening is teetering on the not-so-good area.

Progress on the fglrx dual monitor issue

Here's a nice little progress.  I think the root cause of my dual screen woes is the solution to get fglrx working in the first place!!!  This is some spectacular failure on AMD's part, but what else is new with AMD with Linux?

AMD did put out 13.8 beta drivers.  Hopefully, I can ditch the stupid solution and get my 2 screens back!

Worth looking into is the seemingly "Official" bug on launchpad.  Someone posted a possible workaround by disabling SNA acceleration.  Certainly worth a try.  I hate apt-marking outdated packages.

Section "Device"
      Identifier "intel"
      Driver "intel"
      Option "AccelMethod" "uxa"
EndSection

Using chmod

Just bumped into an issue with chmod.  I tried to put setuid permissions in a file by doing chmod g+s but instead of giving me the small 's' permission.  It was giving me a capital 'S' permission.

Turns out, capital 'S' means the underlying 'x' permission is not set.  So, doing chmod g+x fixes this so the capital 'S' turns into a small 's'.

Uninstalling Adobe Reader 9 Linux (SH installer)

I found out a tad bit late that Adobe didn't package 64-bit versions of the Reader so my 64-bit Firefox machine couldn't pick up the plugin.  I went ahead and dug up how to uninstall this dumb plugin.  Most of it is in /opt/Adobe/Reader9 which contains most of the stuff, but you might discover that you still have shortcut icons on it especially if you use the Dash Home search.

Check /usr/local/share/applications and your desktop for the AdobeReader.desktop file and purge them.  Then, look for the nppdf.so plugin install paths in /usr/lib/firefox-addons/plugins and /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins.

I didn't find anymore traces after that so you should be fine after.

Linux as a Gaming Platform?

I'd like to think more and more companies are looking into Linux as a viable platform.  Ubuntu is making a significant push for this and Valve is on their side as of the moment.  If Ubuntu is pushing for a Gaming Platform, I think it makes sense to make an edition that uses a rolling release system.  This ensures that there is only 1 configuration that publishers and developers aim for, and all the rest is just upgrading versions instead of major overhauls that has been happening with every major Linux distro release.  This also makes it easier for maintainers because all of this is just open source software, so they'll figure out just what a game needs to work for their system.  Lastly, this helps gamers who just want to bump up the packages they need to get something to work.  Doing the distribution upgrades takes a lot of time to do and is very risky as well.

If a manufacturer targets a single Linux platform, everyone in the open source community can pick up the slack and figure out how to make it work elsewhere.  This is the open source community at its best and brightest.  Adding a rolling release on top of it, in my opinion, just makes the entire process easier for everyone, gamers and developers alike.

Firefox and 64-bit Flash

Just a teeny tiny note here.  I realized when I download Firefox from the official website, my 64-bit flash player plugin stop working.  As it turns out, Firefox is giving me 32-bit versions of the browser.

To get the 64-bit versions, check here:

http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/latest/linux-x86_64/en-US/

Another note is that Flashplayer 11.2 has a bug where nvidia users get inverted colours.  Seems to be related to the hardware acceleration.  Just decided to downgrade instead.