Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

Installing a Connects2 USB Interface CTARNUSB003 in a Renault Clio

Published on September 17, 2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Having recently bought an 07 plated Renault Clio, I wanted to install an Aux cable to connect our mp3 players (all non-apple).

The Connects2 USB Interface CTARNUSB003 not only has an Aux input where you can plug in your mp3 player, but it also has an SD card and USB key slot. Using the appropriate structure on the memory cards, you can simulate a 6 CD changer, and control all track selections etc from the steering stalk controls.

This is how I installed it on our Clio.

Step 1 – Remove the Radio.

I accomplished this by using 4 small jewellers screwdrivers (small Allen keys etc will also work) which you push into the 4 holes in the front of the radio. The screwdrivers push retetion clips (which you can’t see) to the side, allowing you to pull out the radio.

Step 2 – Insert the Connects2 cable through the Glovebox hole.

Open the glovebox, and have a look at the top RHS (see Image 2 underneath).  There is a hole which opens into the radio/CD player compartment.

Take the end of the cable with the blue connector and poke this through the hole with one hand, and with your other hand, have a feel behind the radio.  Grab the cable and pull through (see Image 1 below).

Step 3 – Connect the blue connector to the CD changer socket

Take the blue connector at the end of the cable and connect it into the CD changer socket on t he back of the radio.

Make sure it is inserted securely.

Step 4 – Reinsert radio.

Push the radio back into it’s compartment, making sure you don’t snag the cable.

Step 5 – mount the Connects2 unit in the glovebox.

Using double-sided adhesive foam (or velcro pads), mount the unit on the RHS of the glovebox, ensuring that it’s far enough back that you can insert a USB key into the unit without it preventing the glovebox closing.

Connect the aux cable into the unit, and check that you can close the glovebox (see image 5).

Power up your radio unit – you should be able to use the source selector to find the CD changer.

(TO BE UPDATED RE: ADDING AUDIO TO SD CARDS SOON).

 

 

SOLVED: installing ies4linux under Maverick

Published on March 10, 2011 in Uncategorized. 7 Comments

Installing ies4linux on Ubuntu Maverick, using this command:

./ies4linux --no-gui

and I had the following message:

"Your wine does not have wineprefixcreate installed."

On Ubuntu Maverick, I fixed this message by editing:

vi lib/install.sh

and replace

wineprefixcreate &> /dev/null

with

wineboot &> /dev/null

and also edit:

vi lib/functions.sh

and replace:

if which wineprefixcreate &> /dev/null; then
( wineprefixcreate 2>&1 ) | debugPipe

with

if which wineboot &> /dev/null; then
( wineboot 2>&1 ) | debugPipe

Re-run ies4linux and it runs to completion, and installs ie6 in your ~/bin directory.

This gave me a functioning ie6 under Maverick/Ubuntu 10.10

HP Pavilion dm3 wifi card stopped working – SOLVED

Published on January 2, 2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Today my HP Pavilion DM3 running Ubuntu 10.10 lost internet connectivity. It soon became clear that the system didn’t even think I had wifi capability as the Network manager had “Enable Wireless” grayed out.

Trying to enable using ifconfig

ifconfig wlan0 up

gave me this:

SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not possible due to RF-kill

Seems that something has killed the wifi radio, and the switch on the RHS of the machine made no difference.

Found this post:

https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-nettool/+question/132854

Let’s see what the system thinks ….

% rfkill list
0: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: yes
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: yes
2: hp-bluetooth: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: yes

Which probably explained the lack of any wifi access!

I tried the recommended command:

rfkill unblock all

which gave me:

0: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: yes
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: yes
2: hp-bluetooth: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: yes

Next up – try the help command:

% rfkill -h
Usage: rfkill [options] command
Options:
--version show version (0.4)
Commands:
help
event
list [IDENTIFIER]
block IDENTIFIER
unblock IDENTIFIER
where IDENTIFIER is the index no. of an rfkill switch or one of:
all wifi wlan bluetooth uwb ultrawideband wimax wwan gps fm

So I tried this:

rfkill unblock wifi

which worked:

0: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
2: hp-bluetooth: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no

Phew. For a while I thought that my wifi card was knackered and I’d have to ship my 2 month old laptop back to HP.

RSA Animate – Drive

Published on June 6, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Brilliant and fascinating 10 minute youtube video. Not heard of Daniel Pink before but very interesting discourse on motivation.

org-mode, GTD, and the advantages of merged lists (i.e., context)

Published on July 1, 2009 in Emacs org-mode, GTD and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

David Allen (DA) in Getting Things Done (GTD) talks about the necessity of the separation of projects and next actions.

It’s a good point well made. In the past I have struggled with project pages in a Dayrunner which had merged project plans, meeting notes and next actions. To understand what next action I had to do for that project meant looking in the pages for that project and picking out the NA. Even if coded with an NA in the margin, picking out the appropriate next action from dozens of projects was difficult.

The downside of doing this is that when you have performed your next action, you may want/need to look at the project to determine the next action. Separate project lists and action lists mean that you have to switch contexts – for example between a list of projects in a computer database and a PDA, or a project folder and a Hipster card.

One of the advantages of emacs org-mode is therefore that you *can* merge your projects and actions in one place, but you can also pull out the next actions easily.

In org-mode, all of my projects are a three-star heading:


----------------------------------------------------------
* Projects
** A
** B
........
** S
*** Standards Committee XXX
**** notes of meeting held on March 1st 2009
Present: Mike, Pete, Jim
Agreed xxx xxxx
Blah blah blah.
***** WAITING Mike to review
***** NEXT organise next meeting of committee :Laptop:
Send email from committee site to members asking for availability for meeting.
----------------------------------------------------------

The advantage of this is that when I go to deal with a next action, there is *context* available to me relating to that action – I can see what I’ve done, with whom, etc, and take that into consideration.

It also means that when I complete the action, I am in the right location to decide the next ‘next action’ – again – I have context available to me to help me make an informed decision.

In my view, this still meets DA’s requirements of separation – org-mode can easily produce lists of Next Actions I need to do at my laptop, or all of my ‘WAITING for’ items, but because managing separate lists means switching contexts, it is a smoother, more fluid, process.

Now I do understand that what I am creating here is a data silo in my laptop, which I am unlikely to have with me when I am out and about. I haven’t clarified my thinking on that yet – I also use a Nokia N810 which may be the solution. However, my requirement for context specific lists for things I need to to when away from my laptop (:DIY:, :Shopping: etc) is small enough that I usually generate the list on the laptop before I leave the house and write it down or print out the buffer.

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