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.

My Eken Android Bootloop Fix

I want to keep this a little brief.  My Eken W70 was suffering from a bootloop issue after factory resetting the tablet.  This tablet had gone through a previous update to Jellybean although I suspected that the update was an unofficial one.  So, noting that if I don't fix this, I might as well toss this to the bin, I was emboldened into tinkering it in an attempt to fix it.

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.

Sketchbook Random Thoughts

I don't do this as frequently as I should be, but ever since I picked up the ASUS Zenfone 2, I've been slipping in some time to practice a bit.  Nothing serious and they are pretty terrible works, but I like that I'm not using up paper on this.  So, on to some of my random thoughts while doing this latest piece...

Logitech Quick Cam Pro 5000 on Windows 7

Well, I had a little bit of a bout with the Logitech Quick Cam Pro 5000 on Windows 7 where Windows 7 didn't seem to have any drivers to load.  What I did was download this from the Logitech FTP site.  I used Wine on Linux to run to exe and find its working directory and copy the Drivers folder.  Then on Windows 7 (64-bit), I plugged the webcam and let it search for drivers.  Open the Device Manager and right click on the unknown device to update the driver software.  I navigated to the x64 folder and used Pro464 folder and let it install that driver.  Voila, Logitech Quick Cam Pro 5000 running just fine on Windows 7.

New story, Dark Age Chronicles: The Awakening

I so forgot to post this so I'm going to quickly post links to the next chapter in the series.  The Awakening itself is split into two stories.

• Shadows of the Dead
• Lifting the Shadows

Enjoy!

Asus ZenFone 2's Battery Life

I bought the Asus ZenFone 2 (ZE500CL) purely because I was drawn by its Intel Atom processor and it seemed like a decent device.  The one thing that really got to me was the woeful battery life.  I had the choice of getting the ZE550ML one which had a bigger battery (2500mAh vs 3000mAh). However, it has a bigger screen and houses a quad core processor.  I don't need a quad core phone and the 5" screen can barely fit in my palm so a 5.5" screen is way worse!

I've shut down a lot of services but I could barely get half a day out of my phone without needing a charge.  It got to the point where I was bringing my charger where ever I go.  Sometimes, a USB power bank as well.  Then, I discovered that I had GPS and location turned on.

I had not realized how much this thing sucks the life out of my phone battery.  Turning it off makes the phone last quite a bit!  What an amazing discovery and also a massive face palm on my part.