I sat down today to do some scanning and found that my new laptop wouldn't recognize my Epson 1670 scanner. When I started up X-Sane, I could see the printer on the list of scanners to choose but actually attempting to open it threw:

Failed to open device 'snapscan:libusb:003:006': Invalid argument.

A search of the Ubuntu forums found the the scanner firmware comes in a file called ESFW30.BIN, which apparently is only available if you install the software on the CD-ROM provided with the scanner. Of course, that would be under Windows. I found the steps for setting in in Linux:

$ wget http://leroybrown.glassmelter.com/binaries/ESFW30.BIN
$ sudo cp ESFW30.BIN /etc/sane.d

Edit /etc/saned.d/snapscan.conf and change the line...

firmware /path/to/your/firmware/file.bin

...to point to /etc/sane.d/ESFW30.BIN

$ scanimage -L

And I was off and running.

I have solved my problem with DVDs not playing properly with VLC and Ogle by installing vlc-plugin-esd, mozilla-plugin-vlc and ubuntu-restriced-extras from the package manager and libdvdcss2 from the Medibuntu repository. I had found most of that by browsing the Ubuntu Forums but had missed a vital step.

Next, is to solve the video issues I have with Google Earth and Second Life.

 

I tested a DVD in my new laptop. It has Dell PowerDVD already installed and when I launched the DVD, it came up saying:

"Unable to play this DVD because it does not match the region code of your disk player. Please insert a disk for your region or change the region code of your disk player"

Selecting to change the region code indicates that the unit is currently set to be Region-Free and that I must change it to Region 1 for it to play. First off, that is the exact opposite of Region-Free. Second, the software says that I only get to change my regions 5 times before the system locks me into a specific region.

Dell hates region-free hardware. No surprise there.

So, rather than that, I'll be installing VLC or Ogle. (I had Ogle previously, but have heard VLC is very good.)

I have good enough wireless connectivity to blog but not enough for package manager to install. I'll have to wait for when I get home.

 

There are, outside of my office, a large number of wireless ports showing. I cannot connect to the one calld "Free WiFi." The one called "Free Public WiFi" asks for a WEP password, which doesn't sound very free to me. I can connect to the one called "WiFiPittsburgh," which is supposed to be downtown's free wireless access, but I cannot actually connect to the Internet. Five bar signal strength, no surfing.

I was finally able to connect to one called "FSN," which is apparently new because I wasn't able to surf the web when I worked down here two years ago.

I'm blogging during lunch!

Google Earth Screenshot

I attempted to install Google Earth and had a problem with the graphics. I suspect that I may be able to solve it with drivers and that, in so doing, I may be able to solve a similar graphic problem I'm having with Second Life. On the other hand, I had problems with my previous laptop running anything higher than Google Earth version 3. The current version is 5. I was able to try 4 to the same result. It could be that I will need to roll back to 3 but I haven't been able to find a downloadable file online yet. I may have a copy on my backup drive. I'll have to look once I get home.

Next time, I'll have to remember not to leave my mouse on the desk. I don't like the touchpad. What would work better is if I could have differing sensitivities. Using the mouse, the pointer moves just fine but that setting is too slow for the mouse pad. Change the setting so that the pointer moves OK using the touchpad and it is far to fast when using the mouse.

Hey. . . I just saw the wireless antenna hidden in a tree. At least, I assume that's the one I'm connected to.

The bright, glossy widescreen display on the Dell 15n isn't too bad outside. Not sure how it would do in direct sunlight but sitting in the shade I can see it just fine. It's a wider screen than I had before. My desktop display is 1440x900, which is a 1:16 ratio. My previous laptop was slightly smaller but had the same ratio so all of my wallpapers were compatible. This display is 1366x768, which is a wider widescreen  than the other machines. Almost 1:18. That means my wallpapers are either cut off at the top and bottom or have extra blank space on either side. I'll have to recreate a number of them to have them look right.

*sigh* Well, I suppose I should go back inside to work.

 

The wireless manual switch is the F2 key. When I was first not having the wireless connection enabled, I had pressed that and thought it had no effect. I was apparently mistaken because going through it yet again, and this time paying attention to each step, I now have my wireless connection.

Yay.

I've got some more installation things to work through and the Second Life video thing to investigate. If I can't get Second Life to work, well, it's no great loss.

 

I received my replacement laptop today.

Dell Inspiron 15n
Intel® Pentium® Dual Core T4200 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache)
Ubuntu Desktop Edition version 8.10
Glossy, widescreen 15.6 inch display (1366x768)
8X CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz
250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD
High Definition Audio 2.0
Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g (rev 01)
Integrated 1.3 MP Webcam
9-Cell Battery

Good things: It booted. No errors so far.

Bad things: Second Life is having problems with video card compatibility and the wireless card is not active.

I looked on-line and found a lot of very involved installation procedures that did not make me happy. The first Ubuntu/Dell I got had wireless working out of the box. I contacted Dell Support and the only suggestion their on-line chat guy had was "check the BIOS and call Dell-Ubuntu support."

I haven't called yet.

I also notice that my Firefox is set to check the spelling as I type and everything is misspelled. Apparently, there is no default dictionary. I'll have to look into that as well.

I hadn't realized that FedEx doesn't deliver on Mondays. I'll have to wait another day for my laptop.

 

My replacement laptop was ordered a week and a half ago. The initial estimate of its delivery was next Thursday but it was then updated to be on Tuseday. amg04  is away housesitting for the week so I gave her a call and asked if she could be around here on Tuesday to sign for my laptop when it arrived. She could.

When I left to go to gaming and a movie yesterday evening, I saw a FedEX sticker on the garage door informing me that they had been by, couldn't find anyone, and would try again. The time stamp on the note was 12:55. I am pretty sure I was home at that time and the door bell didn't ring. It's possible that I was out of the house at that time but, even if I was, when I came back there was no tag on the door. In either case, FedEX lied. They weren't here at 12:55 and I'm not even sure they came to the front door.

amg04  will be able to be here on Monday and I'll leave a note on the garage door in full view to ensure that FedEX knows to come to the front door.

I could have had my laptop yesterday. Instead, I'll have to wait until tomorrow.

 

Yesterday morning, I was checking my email, webcomics, blogs and such and say that the sci-fi club website that I maintain was down. I went to the IPOWER Control Panel signon and it would not accept my password.

Last week, I had received an email that my annual bill was coming and, unless I took some other specific action, my account would be automatically charged on Thursday and my account renewed for another year. Fine. I ignored it. I balanced my checkbook and paid some bills of Friday and saw that my checking account had, in fact, been debited, so everything should be good.

Except that the website was down. So, I got on the Live Chat site and talked to a tech. He changed my password and after a minute I was allowed to signon to the Control Panel:

IPOWER Tech: "Is there anything else I can assist you with today?"

Geis: "Well, yes. My website is down. I received an email saying that my bill was due and that my account would be charged automatically. That appears to have been done as my bank shows the money has been debited from my account and yet my website is down and my password no longer worked."

IPOWER Tech: "I have noticed that your account is paid and up-to-date. The name servers of your domain is pointing to our old servers. Please contact current registrar of the domain and point the name servers of the domain to the new addresses."

Geis: "Wait, what? I changed my domain provider over a month ago and suddenly it doesn't work just after my IPOWER account expiration date? I don't see how that is GoDaddy's fault."

IPOWER Tech: "Your account is up-to-date. Please contact GoDaddy.com and update the name servers of the domain properly."

Geis: "Unless you updated your name servers overnight, the information that GoDaddy has had for the past month should continue to function. I received no emails concerning any changes to nameservers. My bill came due this week and today I notice that my website is down and my password doesn't work. The proximity of those events suggest a correlation, don't you think?"

IPOWER Tech: "I have just noticed we are experiencing issue with our servers. I apologize for providing inaccurate information earlier."

Geis: "I see. Well, that's what I've been saying."

IPOWER Tech: "Please check after 1 hour."

The website came up a few minutes later. Did the tech just trying to cover himself? I know that when servers go down at The Bank, we at the Help Desk are the first to find find out that something is wrong. That this tech had to monkey around and shift the blame to GoDaddy does not speak well of the situation. I went to GoDaddy and changed the nameservers anyway and everything is fine.

WTF? Every Google search I perform returns that "This site may harm your computer." It's not something with my computer because I'm having the issue on multiple machines. It's not the browser because the same thing happens in both Firefox and Internet Explorer. It must be something wrong with Google.

Or does Google think that the entire Internet is suspect?