The Fabulous Arduino

If you like to tinker with electronics, you should definitely check out the Arduino website. It is an open source electronic prototyping system that is very easy to use. It is based on the Atmel ATmega microcontrollers.

I have been looking for something like this for a long time. I chose the Arduino Uno because of its low price and ease of programming (and favorable reviews). I picked up an Arduino Uno starter kit from Amazon for about the same price as just the Uno board at Radioshack. The starter kit includes the Arduino Uno R3 board, a USB cable, a small breadboard for prototyping, a tray for holding the Uno and the breadboard, and some hookup wires.

You can also get Arduino "shields", which are purpose-specific boards that plug into the Arduino. Some shield examples are for ethernet, wireless, and motor control. I haven't tried any of the shields yet.

The Arduino software is java-based and therefore cross-platform. It works well on my Linux machine. Just load up your program and click the Upload button. The program will automatically compile and upload to the Arduino, which will then run it.

Finally, here is my Arduino driving an LCD module. It only took a few minutes to modify an example program to get it to display what I wanted.

I encourage anyone looking for this sort of thing to give the Arduino a try. Happy tinkering!

Finally! CyanogenMod on the LG Vortex!

After waiting patiently for many months, I finally came across a CyanogenMod port for my LG Vortex. Over at Android Forums, bobZhome has released a CyanogenMod 7 ROM for the Vortex. There are some issues with the 12/2 release (the latest at the time I wrote this) so I recommend following the instructions in this post and installing the 11/9 release along with the listed fixes. There are a couple of things to note about the 11/9 release. First, the screen animations must be disabled in the CyanogenMod settings. Otherwise the unlock screen will be black. Also, you must enable international roaming to get data to work. So far it hasn't caused any extra charges to show up on my bill.

I have been running it for several weeks now and I am very happy with it. I am using the smartass governor, bfq scheduler, and have it overclocked to 768MHz. The kernel can be overclocked to 864MHz but my phone can't handle it. Note that using the GINM kernel requires a 3rd party app to set the governor, scheduler, and clock speed, such as Voltage Control or SetCPU.

Everything is smooth and fast and battery life is great. I have seen a couple of seemingly random reboots, but I suspect overclocking is partly responsible.

So head on over to Android Forums and grab this fantastic ROM. Of course, do a nandroid backup first and don't blame me if you brick your phone.

Some Interesting Android build.prop Parameters

The /system/build.prop file on Android devices contains parameters that control various functions and information on the device. Here are some that are of interest. Note: to make changes to this file, your phone must be rooted.

Increase the VM heap size, probably not a good idea on low end phones with limited memory:
dalvik.vm.heapsize=48m

Draw the UI using the GPU instead of the CPU
debug.sf.hw=1

Decrease dial out delay
ro.telephony.call_ring.delay=0

Increase scrolling responsiveness
windowsmgr.max_events_per_sec=180

Increase scan time for wifi APs (saves battery)
wifi.supplicant_scan_interval=120

Save battery
pm.sleep_mode=1
ro.ril.disable.power.collapse=0

Disable debugging icon on statusbar
persist.adb.notify=0

Disable boot animation for faster boot
debug.sf.nobootanimation=1

Force launcher into memory
ro.HOME_APP_ADJ=1

Prefix "3g" on lock screen
ro.ril.enable.3g.prefix=1

Some of these didn't work on my LG Vortex or had no noticeable effect. Specifically,
dalvik.vm.heapsize=48m (I have limited RAM so I didn't try it)
ro.telephony.call_ring.delay=0 (I had no need to try this one either)
ro.ril.enable.3g.prefix=1


If the parameters are not in the build.prop file, just add them. You must reboot the device for the changes to take effect. 

Playing Encrypted DVDs in Ubuntu

By default, Ubuntu doesn't install the necessary software to play encrypted DVDs for legal reasons. In order to play them, install the following software:

sudo apt-get install libdvdnav4 libdvdread4

You might also need the following if they are not already installed:

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly

After this, run:

sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

Enjoy your DVDs!!

Making Tab Completion Case Insensitive in Bash

When using the bash command line, I prefer to be able to type "cd dow" and then hit Tab and have bash fill in Downloads. By default, in order to access Downloads, I would have to type an uppercase "D" ("cd Dow") and hit Tab. Luckily, this is very easy to change.

Simply type the following at the prompt:

set completion-ignore-case on

To make it permanent, add the line to either /etc/inputrc or $HOME/.inputrc. The next time you log in this will be set automatically.

My Top 10 Android Utilities

I thought I would share some of my favorite Android utilities. All are available in the Market and all are free or have a free version. Here goes.

1. Zeam Launcher - Free: A lightweight launcher replacement with scrolling application bar. Double tapping the screen provides a quick way to select a screen.

2. ES File Explorer - Free: A fantastic file explorer. It can work with SMB shares, FTP servers, and Dropbox.

3. Dropbox - Free: Sync your files with Dropbox and use this app to access them wherever you are. Sign up using this link and get yourself (and me) an extra 250MB for free: http://db.tt/kH58cVw

4. Advanced Task Killer - Free w/ ads: Use this to end battery draining programs that run in the background. Also has an ignore list that won't kill apps you select.

5. Sparse RSS Reader - Free: Simple and lightweight RSS reader without all of the bloat.

6. OS Monitor - Free: Check CPU usage, memory usage, network connections, log files, etc.

7. KeePassDroid - Free: Access your passwords on the go. Keep it synced with Dropbox and your passwords will always be up to date. Unfortunately, it is read only for .kdbx (2.x) databases.

8. ZDBox - Free: Monitor battery usage, data usage, task killer, app lock, uninstaller, and cache cleaner.

 

9. Miren Browser - Free: Fast web browser to replace the default browser. Includes tabbed browsing, flash support and bookmark management.

10. Speedtest - Free w/ ads: Who doesn't like to check their connection speed occasionally?

Fixing Missing Icons in Ubuntu 11.04 Notification Area

Ubuntu 11.04 introduced a whitelist system for the notification area (systray). Only programs listed in the whitelist can display their icons in the notification area. Here is how to add applications so their icon will be shown.

First, install "dconf-tools" if they are not already installed.
sudo apt-get install dconf-tools

Type Alt-F2 and type "dconf-editor". Navigate to Desktop->Unity->Panel. Now you have two options: enable icons for all applications or just specific applications. To enable all applications, change the value of systray-whitelist to ['all']. For specific applications, add a comma and the application name in single quotes to the end of the list.

Finally, log out and then back in. Your icons should now show up in the notification area.