Mike Southby

At this stage I am assuming that you already have Sun VirtualBox installed and that you have gone through the process of installing a new virtual machine and installed the latest Ubuntu release.  It’s at this stage once you have started Ubuntu that you’ll be greeted with a low resolution screen, when you go to the display options you’ll find that you only get options to choose 800×600 or 640×400 which let’s face it, is not very helpful with modern screens.  Personally, I am running a 1920×1200 resolution so found the default virtual Ubuntu almost unworkable.

Fortunately, there is a simple way to overcome this; all you need to do is follow the following steps:

• Start your virtual box and log into Ubuntu in the normal way
• Hit the right ctrl key so that you can get you mouse pointer outside of the virtual box as you’ll now need to work with the host machine
• Go to the top of the virtual window, click on Devices and then select Install Guest Additions.  You’ll now see the virtual CDROM installed within Ubuntu and a new icon will appear on the desktop
• Click back inside the virtual box again and go to Applications, Accessories and then Terminal
• Type cd /media/cdrom0 and then hit enter
• Type sudo sh ./VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run and then hit enter.  You should then see the following:

• You now need to reboot the virtual machine
• Log back into Ubuntu and go to System, Preferences then Display.  You should now have more options than the original low resolution options you had.

Depending on your specific hardware, you may still find that you’d like a different combination or higher resolution than the new ones which are listed; again, there is a solution:

• Open Terminal again by going to Applications, Accessories and Terminal
• Type sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and then hit enter.  You will be asked for your password, type this and hit enter again
• The text editor will now load, before changing anything make a backup by going to the file menu and choose save as, changing the file name to xorgbak.conf
• Now to make the changes.  Unlike previous versions you will not see a long list of configuration options, 9.10 creates these settings dynamically.  However you can still add specific combinations so add your desired settings here (Caveat: Working with xorg.conf is a topic in itself so do not add code here unless you are sure what you are doing, you WILL break the installation and either have to fix it from the command line or reinstall the virtual machine), this will vary depending on your hardware and the resolution you are trying to achieve.
• You must now do a save as but ensure you change the filename back to the original xorg.conf otherwise you will overwrite the backup you have just created.
• Restart the virtual box and you should now have the new screen resolutions!

Enjoy!

From time to time I check through my Spam folder just to ensure that my filters are working properly and that nothing is being wrongly filtered.  Tonight whilst doing this I came across one of the old fashioned scam emails; you know the ones, where someone in an African country desperately needs your help to transfer a large amount of money and in return, you’ll be paid handsomely.  I needed a laugh so thought I’d read through it, I wasn’t disappointed, how funny!

It makes me laugh that the people behind these scams really believe someone is going to fall for it when the language they use is so poor – surely if you are trying to pull one over on a English person you would either learn the language properly first, or at least use the spelling and grammar check on Word!

Needless to say I hit the delete button but before, I thought I’d share the content with you; it made me laugh.

Enjoy!

From Nelson Daniel
Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire.
West Africa.
Avenue 12 Rue Reine Abla Poku,
12 Bp 7854 Abj 12, Cote D’Ivoire.

Dearest in the lord,

It is my pleasure to write you after consideration,  since I can not be able to see you face to face.  please I need your help.  I am Nelson Daniel the only son of late Mr & Mrs Joseph Daniel, from  Cote D’Ivoire. (I am 20years of age.)

My father was a liability Cocoa and Gold merchant in Abidjan Cote D’Ivoire before his untimely death After business trip to Tunisia to nagociate on a cocoa and gold business he wanted to invest there.  A week after he came back  from Tunisia, he got an accident with my mother of which my mother died instantly but he died five days after in a private hospital.. On that faithful afternoon, I didn t know that my father was going to leave me after I had earlier lost my mother,  but before he gave up the ghost, it was as if he knew he was going to die, (MAY HIS SOUL REST IN PERFECT PEACE)  he called me to his bed side and told me that he deposited the sum of ($6,500,000.00) Six Million Five Hundred Thousand US Dollars in one of the prime bank here in  Cote D’Ivoire.

That the money was meant for his cocoa and Gold business he wanted to establish in Tunisia.  according to my father he deposited the money in a fixed suspense account using my name as the next of kin, He instructed me to seek  for a reliable and trust worthy business partner for my life time investment abroad.  Now I have succeeded in locating the deposit documents and the bank where this money is here in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire. I have also discuss this with the bank manager and he agreed. But  due to the fact that am still younger and inexperienced, I am now seeking for your assistance to help me transfer this money out from my country Cote D’Ivoire to your account abroad so that we should invest it in any meaningful and lucrative business in your country because this is my only hope in life.

I am willing to offer you 15% of the total fund if only you can help me out of my present predicament.I seek your assistance in the follwing ways:

(1.) To provide a bank account where this money can be transfered into..
(2.) To make arrangements for me to come over to your country after the successful transfer of this money into your account,and also to help to further my education under your care.
(3.) To help invest this money in a profitable business since I am only 20yrs of age and do not know much about business.
(4) To sponsor me transfer this money into your account,
(5). I want you to promise me that you are not going to betray me after the money gets into your account.

Contact me on this phone number:  +225 4566 3710.The worst part of it is that my uncle is trying to kill me over this money because I refused to hand him over the documents covering this money, He has sold all my father’s land properties including his cars which rightful belong to me and now he want me to hand over the banking document of my father in my possesion which I refused. Now he said that he will have this money by all means even if it means killing me, so because of this I ran away from home and hide in a hotel,pending when this money will be transfered so that I can leave the country for my safety.

Thank’s and God bless you.
Yours sincerely,
Nelson Daniel

Yeah, thanks Nelson.  Something tells me we won’t be doing business anytime soon

Sadly I have never owned an IBM ThinkPad.  I say that because since Lenovo took over the ThinkPad brand a lot of reviews and industry insiders will tell you that the quality and experience of owning a ThinkPad has suffered.  Well, I own a Lenovo ThinkPad; a T61p in fact which a year ago was one of the high-end models in the range.

Previously I have owned a fair few laptops, goes with the territory, ranging from HP, Dell and Acer models right back to my very first laptop, an Olivetti!  So, what do I think about my Lenovo?  Truth is its fantastic, by far the best laptop I have owned!

My ThinkPad has the following specs:

• Intel Core Duo T7700 2.4Ghz processor
• 3Gb DDR2 PC2-5300 RAM
• NVidia FX 570M GPU with 256Mb dedicated memory
• 15.4” 1920×1200 WUXGA (175nit) LCD
• Seagate Momentus 7200.1 ST910021AS 100Gb 7200RPM HDD
• Intel Pro 3945 A/B/G WLAN
• Bluetooth
• 4-in-1 card reader
• Fingerprint reader
• DVD-RW

When you first look at a ThinkPad, you’ll notice that it is a big rectangular piece of black plastic.  When you consider the price premium which usually goes with a ThinkPad you’d be forgiven for thinking that it doesn’t look anything special.   Personally, I like the looks, very businesslike and more durable than say a Sony Vaio or a MacBook; but I know many would disagree.  What a lot of people don’t know is that hidden beneath this bland exterior lays a very sophisticated magnesium roll cage.  The I/O on the outside consists of Firewire, three USB slots, VGA out, Ethernet, modem, a 4-in1 card reader and a card slot; I’d have liked to have seen a serial port too but these are a dying breed amongst the latest offering, which I find very frustrating as we (IT professionals) still have a real need for them.  There is also a radio on/off switch on the front and audio jacks on the side.

When you first pick up a ThinkPad, it feels very solid with no flex in the body and is relatively light without the battery.  Lenovo have put a magnesium roll cage around the entire laptop for protection which – importantly – for a laptop which spends a lot of its time on the road, reduces the chances of the LCD screen being cracked or otherwise damaged.  The black plastic on the top cover also has a slightly rubbery texture which personally I really like, helps ensure you have a good hold when you pick it up, minimising the chances of it slipping out of your hand which has happened to me previously with a nice shiny Dell x1.

The keyboard is the standard ThinkPad keyboard; full-size, stiff and with a great tactile response when typing.  It’s by far the best keyboard I have used on any laptop, certainly leagues ahead of the rubbish Dell seem to spec these days.  Another great feature although of course not unique to the ThinkPad, is the drain holes at the base of the laptop and a ‘containment reservoir’ underneath the keyboard in case you should accidently spill any liquids (because we all follow the rule of not putting out coffee next to our laptops on the desk right..?).  Fortunately I have never had to test this feature – yet – but it’s good to know that it’s there.  One of the key features for me when choosing the ThinkPad was the TrackPoint, it resembles an eraser on the top of a pencil, making it possible to navigate without having to move your hands hardly, if at all.   Of course it also comes with a conventional touchpad for those who are not able to get along with the TrackPoint; which is kind of like Marmite; you either love it, or hate it.  The ThinkPad also had a small LED mounted to the bezel above the screen aptly named the ThinkLight; it’s an ingenious idea which allows you to illuminate the keyboard in dark conditions so you can work in comfort, genius.

I choose the largest screen option, which is a whooping 1920×1200.  The screen itself is great quality and reproduces colour and contrast exceptionally well.   My only criticism is that the screen is not quite as bright as others I have used, such as the latest HP models.  I’m glad to see as well that Lenovo resisted the urge to go for the latest craze of horrible glossy screens.  There is a tiny bit of light leakage from the top and bottom of the screen which you can see if the screen is completely black, but I’m being critical here, it’s minimal.  The GPU is an NVidia FX 570M which has 256Mb of dedicated memory so runs graphics superbly.  In hindsight, I would have preferred an onboard shared video GPU but that’s only because I don’t play any games so don’t need such a powerful chip; the NVidia chip also eats more battery than an onboard chip, another reason I would have gone down that route if I were specifying this machine again.  Having a 1920×1200 screen resolution on a laptop is amazing and makes multitasking much easier, but there are tradeoffs, you’ll need good eyesight!   One strange thing about the ThinkPad screen is that it is not housed centrally in the LCD cover, this isn’t a problem though and most people will not even notice unless it is pointed out to them.

I’ve had cause to use a few of the battery options, originally starting off with the standard 6-cell arrangement which worked quite well.  I can’t remember exactly how long I was getting between charges as I used to be more office based and use a docking station but from memory, I was getting on average around 3 hours which I didn’t think was too bad.  Unfortunately for me, I lost my charger over the summer and rather stupidly, ordered a ‘compatible’ replacement from one of the ever present online battery specialists.  Needless to say it was unbranded and made in China! Aside from the bulk of it, everything appeared to work fine until recently when I noticed I was getting what appeared to be static shocks from my laptop, I had a niggle that it was the charger so bought an original Lenovo replacement – as I should have done the first time round – but it would seem the damage was already done and my battery soon gave up the ghost, only lasting around 10 minutes on ‘full’ charge.

I now have an original Lenovo 9-cell battery and with a little experimentation, can almost get through a day without needling a power socket.  The only downside of the larger battery is that it is a bit on the large size and protrudes from the back of the machine, although I don’t really find this an issue.  I plan on keeping an eye open on eBay for a second battery which sits in the modular drive bay, that way I should be able to easily work away from a power socket all day without worrying. Good stuff.

I’ve had Windows XP, Windows Vista and now Windows 7 installed on the machine and so far, the only problems I have had are a few random lockups whilst using Windows Vista.  Both Windows XP and Windows 7 have been perfect.  Even though the laptop is now a good year old, it is perfectly matched for Windows 7, all of the hardware is recognised during the initial installation and they work together very well.

ThinkPad’s also come with ThinkVantage software to help manage the computer and for me it was another key feature in choosing the ThinkPad.   I’ve always liked the idea of ThinkVantage software because it makes dealing with minor but annoying Windows shortcomings much easier to handle.  Lenovo have done an excellent job in developing the ThinkVantage software and unlike other manufacturers have provided the end user with genuinely useful enhancements instead of the usual crapware.  It seems that one of the trends in the industry over the past 5 years has been the rise of this bundled software on new machines.  Crapware; no one wants it, most of it is about as good as the name suggests, and as a rule it does nothing more than slow the boot times of what would otherwise be decent computers.  But crapware is on new machines for a reason – it helps to subsidise the cost of new machines and helps to keep costs down.

I’m just pleased that Lenovo have bucked this trend and developed its suite of genuinely useful enhancements.  In terms of Windows 7, Lenovo were also the first manufacturer to work with Microsoft to develop the ‘Windows 7 Enhanced Experience’ program.  I’m yet to experience this as it is more geared towards Lenovo’s latest offerings but if my experience of Windows 7 and my T61p is anything to go by, I look forward to the new features when it’s time to trade up next.

As I mentioned before, I also use the ThinkPad advanced dock mated to a Lenovo 24” widescreen monitor when I am at my desk.  I think this is the perfect solution for me, gives me real desktop performance when I’m sat at my desk.  The dock itself offers full port replication with the addition of DVI and VGA connectors, parallel and serial ports, Firewire and USB ports, the usual audio jacks and an extra modular drive bay.  Perfect setup, what more can I say.

The only thing I would like to do with my T61p is replace the hard drive with a SSD offering, although I’m planning to wait a while until the cost comes down a little.  Other than that, there is nothing I think my laptop needs; it really is a great machine.

I started this post saying that I was sad not to have ever owned an IBM ThinkPad but when I think about it, actually I don’t think it really matters.  The IBM ThinkPad’s may have been better than the latest Lenovo’s, they may not have been but I don’t think it really matters.   I don’t think it really matters because the Lenovo ThinkPad is a great machine in its own right and me for one, I am very happy with mine thanks very much.

Lenovo, keep up the good work!

Mozilla has now released the beta of the soon to be released Firefox 3.6 release which has optimisations across the board, a new theme feature as well as a whole load of minor tweaks and updated platform technologies.  It’s been over 2 months since Mozilla unveiled Firefox 3.6 alpha and whilst work is a long way off being finished, they are now pushing forward with the public beta.  It’s been code named ‘Namoroka’ after a national park on the island of Madagascar.

The beta is built on the Gecko 1.9.2 rendering engine and is said to contain many improvements for web developers as well as end users.  The beta will feature a built-in theme engine which has been called ‘Personas’.  The Personas feature allows you to dress up your browser in colours using various user interface themes which will not require a restart to install.  Personas will be available initially as a Mozilla Labs experimental extension so officially, may not feature in the final release.  Another notable feature is a new dialog that will let you know when any of your installed plug-ins expire, ensuring that you are kept up-to-date and safe.

The beta supports the WOFF font format and new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies.  It will be able to display open video in full screen and supports poster frames.  Needless to say the final release will have even more features.  The full list of features and changes can be found here [Link].

If you want to give the beta a try yourselves, here are the installers:

Windows |  Mac |  Linux

Caveat:  I have provided the installers for your convenience, please only download and install them if you understand the concept of a beta release.  I will not be held responsible for any problems you have, nor will I be able to offer any support.  Please ensure you backup any personal data before using beta software!

If you do decide to give the beta a try, let me know how you get on and your thoughts.

There have been a lot of reports recently by numerous people around the internet, that there seems to be ongoing problems with people syncing their iPhone to iTunes in a Windows 7 environment.  The official Apple forums [Link] have got a number of threads related to the issue so it does appear that this is definitely a problem and this is not just a bunch of die hard Apple fans trying to add a negative taste to what has been otherwise, a successful launch for Microsoft’s latest operating system.

Now, looking at the problems people are facing, there does seem to be some common similarities; most people who are reporting the problem are using a motherboard with an Intel P55 chipset and the problem seems to be affecting more people using Windows 7 x64.  Both of these are not conclusive though, as it is also affecting people using other chipsets and Windows 7 x86, although certainly, less so.

The official advice – as always – seems to be a workaround, suggesting that you should use a USB hub or PCI USB card for connecting your iPhone, and disabling Power Management for each of the USB root hubs on your machine, but none of these seem to work universally for everyone which to me would suggest that neither Apple or Microsoft still really understand what the problem is and that there isn’t an imminent fix.

Fortunately, I don’t have an iPhone so am not affected by this, how about you?  Have you had problems with iPhone/iTunes syncing with Windows 7?  If so, have you been able to fix it or come up with a workaround?  Share your thoughts!