The Nerd Lifestyle

Something we recently encountered at the office was getting Windows 7 clients to install the older Crystal Reports ActiveX plugin. We run Crystal Reports Server XI which we have tightly intergrated with our CRM system (SageCRM) due to the lumbering nature of our CRM, we do not update components of it without extensive testing. Thus we are using a slightly older Crystal Server.

Problem: We encountered on some Windows 7 systems during deployment that the Crystal Report Plugin for IE would not install. It’d prompt then present a red x. Searching shows us that IE8/IE9 are not exactly supported. Anyways searching for about 3 hours and trying numerous things here is the work around we found.

• Downgrade to IE8
• Create a local account. Assign that account admin rights.
• Reboot into the created local account
• Enable full UAC
• Browse to the site that wants to present the ActiveX plugin. You should get prompted by UAC.
• Return UAC to the previous level

After that you can reboot and it should now work for all accounts on the workstation (including domain users).

Last Thoughts: I don’t know if downgrading to IE8 is necessary. Something I have noticed with IE and some of the newer features in Vista/Windows 7 that when you disable something that would reside fairly low-level in the program (pop-up blocker in IE) a lot of times even if it is off, it still trips up. I think in this case even though we gave full ActiveX unsigned rights and had UAC off, it still passed that request through that layer and got tripped up. Enabling UAC allows the trip up to be brought up.

We have had luck upgrading to IE9 after the plugin install and having it still work.

So take this as you will.  It is a work around.

I ended up with a snazzy new Dell XPS for my birthday. A dream laptop for me, it even included a fancy 2 gig video card.

It came with Windows 7 (which I don’t have a direct problem with) but my preference when I compute at home is to use linux. I partitioned part of it off and loaded up the new lubuntu. Install went fine but the sucker ran hot, loud, sucked the battery and the gpu seemed to be on but not in use. Something definitely seemed off.

This lead me on a search which explained about the nvidia Optimus GPU and people struggling with this on linux.

What is Optimus?

This is a technology created by Nvidia to switch off the power hungry GPU when not needed. On my laptop it switchs from the beefy 2 gig Nvidia GPU to the onboard Intel GPU. So when not gaming or doing graphic intense work, the system is running on less power (thus longer battery, less fan noise, heat, etc).

The problem?

Nvidia did not produce any Optimus drivers for linux and has stated that there are no plans to support it on linux. Typically in the past Nvidia has supplied some closed source drivers for their nvidia cards.

The solution?

The Bumblebee Project! After digging around on the ubuntu forums, I was ready to give up. Many people stated that nvidia would not be writing this driver and there is no current solution. Then murmurs of the Bumblebee project came about. A bit buggy at first, it has really started to gain steam. I’ve been using it error free for a while and really am happy to have my laptop running somewhat smooth.

And it just got easier to install if you are using debian/ubuntu. Bumblebee has now been packaged into a PPA @ Launchpad.

First thing you’ll want to do is add the repository:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:mj-casalogic/bumblebee

Then update and install:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install bumblebee

It’ll take you through the installer which will ask you which profile you want to use. At this point from what I understand these are successful profiles submitted. All of the ones for my laptop have worked just fine.

After the install you can launch a program using the command optirun

Example: optirun java -jar ~/Downloads/minecraft.jar

This will launch minecraft using the nvidia card.

At the time of writing there is also:
Arch, OpenSuSE, Fedora, Mint support.

Links:

Github page lots of info for all the newest

Link to the bumblebee launchpad site

Author’s blog which has bumblebee info also

This is the path I took in getting squeezeslave to run on my hacked Dockstar (Should work on Pogoplug or Sheeva/Guruplug). Squeezeslave is a software implementation of a squeezebox. It is command line driven and so far fits great on my little marvel devices. I now have one in my daughters room for streaming her children’s audiobooks from our squeezecenter (which is running on another Dockstar).

First thing I did was grab the tarball:

#wget http://squeezeslave.googlecode.com/files/squeezeslave-marvell6281-lnx26.tar.gz

Unpack it

#tar xzfv squeezeslave-marvell6281-lnx26.tar.gz

Which will give you the license file and a executable named squeezeslave. At this point if I attempt to run squeezeslave I get the following.

# ./squeezeslave
PortAudio error4: Host error. Could not open any audio devices.

From my brief understanding (and I mean brief) and light research we need the AOSS wrapper files in order to play with my USB sound device. I grab the following packages:

# apt-get install alsa-oss

Next go into the directory you unpacked squeezeslave in. You should now be able to execute with the following.

#aoss ./squeezeslave -L
Output devices:
* 0: /dev/dsp
#aoss ./squeezeslave IP_of_squeezeboxserver

And that is it. Just run it and point it to the squeezeboxserver.

Thanks to the folks at the squeezebox forums and the authors of squeezeslave.
Current release forum: here

Any questions or more likely corrections, leave a comment.
Edit:
Some people are having issues with it quitting out. I have had luck by running it with ‘-R’

#aoss ./squeezeslave IP_of_squeezeboxserver -R


I have taken the playhouse off the grid.  This weekend I installed a series of 15W PV Panels.  The panels feed 60W into a 7amp charge controller which at this time charges a 55AH deep cycle battery which allows a 110v 200watt inverter to pull power from it.

60W from the sun feeding a 55AH battery

Currently I am using this to power on the coop lights at night to lure the chickens into the coop.  I’ll also wire up a switch in the playhouse for the kids to turn on/off the lights, a fan to exhaust some of the heat in the playhouse and a series of garden lights.

On mothers day I picked up 4 baby chicks for Sara as a gift.  We raised them in the office in a old pack and play from craigslist.  We recently left for a week trip to Sonoma.  When we came back the chicks became chickens and one a Rooster.  Since we cannot keep a rooster in Portland, we sent him off to a Feed Store off of Foster.

I finished up the coop that day.  So now the nasty beasts are outside and the office is reclaimed from the livestock.

I finished my first race this last weekend. I did the Shamrock Run 8k. It was pouring rain, wind from every direction and crowded. It was fun but I am looking forward to doing a smaller and better weather race. I think I heard the estimate of 20,000 people attended this Shamrock run. So many people in my 8k that from gun time until when I crossed the start line was 3 minutes. Which meant that actually running took a while, it was a lot of slowing then passing then slowing behind someone and passing again. Next time, I’ll make sure I have a better position at the starting line.

Next up is the Bridge to Brews which I’ll either do the 8k or 10k for this.

Last night was my speed work night.  I set out for a little over a 5k (3.51 miles) and surprised myself with another personal best.  8:40 average mile.  I wasn’t even pushing it that hard.  While this isn’t anything crazy, I’ve been running for a bit over a month now and it was just last week that I was excited that I broke under the 10 minute mark for a sustained run.  I’m sure I could shave off time if I ran in the daylight (can’t see much at night so I’m always slowing down at intersections or tripping over things) and didn’t play car dodge.

Date: 02/18/2009
Start Time: 18:41:05
End Time: 19:11:26
Time Taken: 00:30:21
Total Distance: 3.50 mi.
Pace: 08:40 (avg)
Speed: 6.92 (mi/hr) (avg)

This is the guide I’ve been following.  I’m currently on week 4.  Only problem I have with this are the repeats and only because I don’t have a good way to track distance without constantly taking out my iphone and looking at my current distance.  I got this guide from here

Week 1

• Monday - Rest. Rest is an important part of any training program.
• Tuesday - Run 2 miles easy. Run at an easy “conversational” pace.
• Wednesday - Warm up with 10 to 15 minutes of easy jogging. Run 4 x Hill repeats. Run up a hill of moderate grade. Run at a pace that feels like 5K pace. Your pace will be slower, but will feel 5K pace because of the added difficulty of the hill. Run up the hill for about 100 meters. Jog down the hill and repeat.
• Thursday - Rest or cross train. Rest or engage in a non-running activity.
• Friday - Run 2.5 miles easy.
• Saturday - Run 2 miles easy.
• Sunday - Run 3 miles easy.

Week 2

• Monday - Rest. This program uses Monday as a rest day, because Sunday is your longest run of the week. You can adjust this to meet your needs, but take off the day after your longest weekly run.
• Tuesday - Run 3 miles easy.
• Wednesday - Warm up with 10 to 15 minutes of easy jogging. Run 4 x 800 meter repeats at around your 5K pace or about 15 seconds per mile faster than your 10K pace. Jog easily for 400 meters between repeats. Cool down with 800 meters of jogging.
• Thursday - Rest or cross train.
• Friday - Run 3 miles easy.
• Saturday - Run 2 miles easy.
• Sunday - Run 3.5 miles easy. You move up to 3.5 miles here. Try to keep your pace easy, but consistent. You are now running over half of a 10K. A 10K is 6.2 miles.

Week 3

• Monday - Rest
• Tuesday - Run 3.5 miles easy.
• Wednesday - Warm up with 10 to 15 minutes of easy jogging. Run 6 x 400 meter repeats at 10 seconds per mile faster than your 5K pace or about 25 seconds faster than your 10K pace. Jog for 400 meters between repeats. Cool down with 800 meters of jogging.
• Thursday - Rest or cross train.
• Friday - Run 3.5 miles easy.
• Saturday - Run 2 miles easy.
• Sunday - Run 4 miles easy. You make another increase in mileage here. Remember to keep you pace easy.

Week 4

• Monday - Rest
• Tuesday - Run 4 miles easy.
• Wednesday - Warm up with 10 to 15 minutes of easy jogging. Run 6 x 800 meter repeats at around your 5K pace or 15 seconds per mile faster than your 10K pace. Jog for 400 meters between repeats. Cool down with 800 meters of jogging.
• Thursday – Rest or cross train.
• Friday – Run 4 miles easy.
• Saturday - Run 2 miles easy.
• Sunday - Run 4.5 miles easy.

Week 5

• Monday - Rest
• Tuesday - Run 4.5 miles easy.
• Wednesday – Warm up and run 2 x 1600 meter repeats at your 10K pace. Jog for 800 meters between repeats. Cool down with 800 meters of jogging.
• Thursday - Rest or cross train.
• Friday - Run 4.5 miles easy.
• Saturday - Run 2 miles easy.
• Sunday - Run 5 miles easy.

Week 6

• Monday - Rest
• Tuesday - Run 5 miles easy.
• Wednesday - Warm up with 10 to 15 minutes of easy jogging. Run 8 x 800 meter repeats at around your 5K pace or 15 seconds per mile faster than your 10K pace. Jog for 400 meters between repeats. Cool down with 800 meters of jogging.
• Thursday - Rest or cross train.
• Friday - Run 5 miles easy.
• Saturday - Run 2 miles easy.
• Sunday - Run 5.5 miles easy.

Week 7

• Monday – Rest
• Tuesday – Run 5.5 miles easy.
• Wednesday – Warm up with 10 to 15 minutes of easy jogging. Run 3 x 1600 meter repeats at 10K pace. Jog for 800 meters between repeats. Cool down with 800 meters of jogging.
• Thursday – Rest or cross train.
• Friday – Run 5.5 miles easy.
• Saturday – Run 2 miles easy.
• Sunday – Run 6 miles easy. You are now running almost a full 10K. This will be your longest training run. The fitness level you have built up will easily carry you the last .2 miles of the race.

Week 8

• Monday – Rest
• Tuesday – Run 6 miles easy.
• Wednesday – Warm up with 10 to 15 minutes of easy jogging. Run 8 x 400 meter repeats at 10 seconds per mile faster than your 5K pace or 25 seconds per mile faster than your 10K pace. Jog for 400 meters between repeats. Cool down with 800 meters of jogging.
• Thursday – Run 2 miles easy. You are starting to taper, or decrease the volume of your training today. This will keep your legs strong and fresh for the race.
• Friday – Run 2 miles easy.
• Saturday – Rest
• Sunday – RACE DAY!! Have Fun!

So I started running again after a day at the park with my daugther and wife.  I asked the lady if she’d mind if I tried just running around the park track once (.5 mile).  I’d been mentally a little stressed (work, family, economy, etc). and wanted to try the distraction.  I pulled it off no problem.   I ran some in the past but never really tracked the runs.

With my iphone I am able to GPS track my run.  I love crunching stats and tracking progress.  This got me out the door the next day so that I could begin to log some data.  Then the next day and the next.  I needed data points!

In addition to data points, I need a goal. I signed up for a 8k in march and a 10k in april. I’ve been following a pretty ridged 10k training plan. I also committed to the 100 pushups and 200 sit-up challenges. Both are 6 week programs and again more data points to plot. Though I almost feel like I should do one of those photo a day things to track changes in my physical stature.

Last sunday I set my personal best which was a 4.01 mile run with an average (9:40 mile).

Date: 02/08/2009
Start Time: 15:36:31
End Time: 16:15:42
Time Taken: 00:39:12
Total Distance: 4.01 mi.
Pace: 09:46 (avg)
Speed: 6.13 (mi/hr) (avg)