Vista(32bit) drivers for AMD-8111 AC97 Sound card and I/O core

This was a pain to find and install. It doesn't seem to be supported by Microsoft (though some people report seeing the driver in their distribution). I'm running Vista Business on an (old) Sun W1100z. Basically I managed to install it by getting hold of the Windows® 2000/ME/XP AC’97 Audio Driver Version 1.8.7 or getting the X_1_8_7.zip package (and unzipping it) then going to Device Manager and right-clicking the duff audio device entry and select 'Update driver software...' - choose 'Browse my computer for driver software' and selecting the location where you unzipped the driver package to - making sure that search sub directories is clicked. It should find the driver there.

AMD also have a driver pack that contains all the drivers for the whole AMD-8000™ Series Core Logic - which provides for a variety of functions (USB, HPET, AC'97, etc) - rather like Intel's 'SouthBridge'.

Google Sketchup install problem on OSX

A friend tried to install Google's latest Sktetchup 6 and despite the fact he's running Mac OSX 10.4.11 it failed to install and complained that "Google SketchUp requires Mac OS X 10.4 or above"?? So I thought I'd take a look...

It turns out that the installer does a check for the OS version which apparently fails - I'm not quite sure why as it looks like an ok check - anyway if you want to install it then you can tweak things to get it going. Basically you can eliminate the check:
1) Download and mount the GoogleSketchUpMEN.dmg image
2) Copy the install package (named something like: FM101326ENA.mpkg) to your desktop
3) Locate the package on your desktop and open it using the Control-click (or right-click) menu 'Show Package contents' - open the 'Contents' folder and locate the info.plist file.
4) Edit the info.plist file - using a text editor (or plist editor), or just use the command line : vi ~/Desktop/FM101326ENA.mpkg/Contents/info.plist and remove the lines starting here:
<key><IFRequirementDicts</key>
<array>
<dict>
........
And finishing here:(about 22 lines)
</array>
5) Locate the installer on your desktop and run it - and it should just work!

Vista (install and UAC) problems

• On installation: Windows could not determine if this computer contains a valid system volume This can occur if you have a USB drive in your machine on installation - see here for details.
• Turn off Windows needs your permission to continue (known as UAC) - Basically it can be done in a variety of ways (see this handy blog) - like using the user account control panel, msconfig or TweakUAC.
  

Ubuntu upgrading

Using graphical interface:
gksu "update-manager -c"

Or on the command line:

sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

On Ubuntu server:

sudo aptitude install update-manager-core
sudo do-release-upgrade

For more info see the Ubuntu Guide.

What Linux (Ubuntu) version am I running?

To display the version of the Ubuntu you're running - run this on the command/cmd line (Or check the contents of /etc/lsb-release):
lsb_release -a

An example response should look like:
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 7.04
Release: 7.04
Codename: feisty

In theory it should work on any LSB (Linux Standard Base) distro...

TheMobileOutlet suck

If you're looking for a review or rating of the mobile outlet then I would recommend that you do NOT touch these guys with a barge pole - they try every way possible to get out of paying cashback. I read and reread their T&C's and sent them all they asked for but they tried to bullshit me at the first hurdle - they ask you include the 'original' cover note with your first cashback claim (original bills included) - They tried to claim the one I'd sent 'em wasn't the original - how do they prove that?? I got some great help from the excellent Reestit Mutton site and things happened - for a while. They've now stalled again after sending only a couple out of the 5 cheques....

Never use them again (they are too good to be true). There are plenty more out there - see this handy Motley Fool article.

oprofile on Ubuntu problem

I tried to run oprofile 0.9.2 on gutsy and it comes up with and error:

sudo opcontrol --event=default
the following lines occur:

/usr/bin/opcontrol: 1: arith: syntax error: "NR_CHOSEN - 1"
/usr/bin/opcontrol: 1: arith: syntax error: "NR_CHOSEN - 1"
No events given.

ophelp --get-default-event gives the following
CPU_CLK_UNHALTED:100000:0:1:1

According to this bug report - Here's how to fix it: Replace /bin/sh with /bin/bash in the first line of /usr/bin/opcontrol

Found Big bug in Firefox - Helper apps inherit ALL open file descriptors

After some more investigations I've concluded that the Evince problem I've been seeing is actually due to a bug in Firefox - basically it does not close all file descriptors (as it should) when launching external helper apps hence evince inherits the open sound device and hangs onto it after firefox is closed. I've reported the bug on Ubuntu's launchpad - it could also be a nasty security vulnerability.

News flash: It seems that this bug was reported a while ago on the Firefox bugzilla but it _still_ hasn't been fixed??!!