Linux

If you are using Ubuntu 12.04 on an older computer with a Semperon CPU, you will soon find that Flash is not working and therefore Youtube videos will not work either.

Adobe Flash built with SSE2 flag

This is because Adobe has build the recent Flash versions with the SSE2 flags enabled, yet many Semperons lack this particular flag.

$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
cpu family : 6
model : 8
model name : AMD Sempron(tm) 2600+
...

I previously wrote about reducing CPU usage for Firefox by disabling Firebug. Later, I wrote on disabling the YSlow extension also reducing CPU usage.

Now, the laptop is able to exceed 4 hours of battery time under Kubuntu Linux 12.04:

Four hours, seven minutes:

09:37:27 localhost pm-utils: Power source switched to battery, Battery: discharging, A/C adapter: off-line

This is a quick how to for installing OpenWRT custom firmware on a D-Link DIR-835 router.

Though these instructions were tested on the DIR-835, they apply to many other router models from Linksys, Netgear, ASUS, and many other brands.

Check if your hardware is supported

Update: 2017-Nov-19: See the last section for automated installation and upgrading, which is now possible.

To read my RSS feeds, I use Tiny Tiny RSS, which worked fine until 21 Feb 2014.

On 22 Feb 2014, Ubuntu pushed Firefox 27, Tiny Tiny RSS stopped working, with a Javascript error. After logging in, there would be a pop up error referring to getCookie and tracing to prototype.js.

To solve this, I went back to the ESR (Extended Support Release). This was quite a few steps, so I am documenting them here.

To have better fonts in Firefox, you need to disable anti-aliasing, and clear all font caches.

Do achieve this, run the following commands from a terminal:

Clear the cached fonts in your home directory

cd ~
rm -f .fonts.conf .fonts.cache-1 .fontconfig/*

Disable antialiasing

cd /etc/fonts/
sudo mv 10-antialias.conf disabled-10-antialias.conf 

Reconfigure the fonts

sudo dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig

Now, restart FIrefox and check if the fonts look better ...

How often do you reboot your laptop?

Well, for me, I run Linux (Kubuntu 12.04), and I usually do it when a new kernel security update is released. And put it on sleep otherwise.

This means I can go for a month and a half without rebooting.

Here is a recent example, output from the "uptime" command:

14:31:46 up 45 days, 2:10, 7 users, load average: 1.45, 1.29, 1.28

Yesterday, I took part in a panel at the local Kitchener Waterloo Linux Users Group on Earning a Living with FLOSS

Ubuntu decided several months ago to forgo its policy of sticking with Firefox 3.6, and go with the latest versions from Mozilla.

With Firefox 13 running on Ubuntu 10.04, I had good performance, and did not suffer from this problem that I am about to describe. The only issue I faced was excessive disk activity and that was fixed by disabling the FireBug extension. Other than that, Firefox was speedy and responsive.

Note: This article is Android version dependent. Before you do it, you have to upgrade your phone. Use the article on Making your Sony Xperia Arc faster using Android 2.3.4 Global Generic 4.0.2.A.0.42.

Root your phone

Root your phone using zergRush.

Remove the junk applications

$ adb shell
$ su
#

If you have a slow Sony Xperia Arc, then probably you have Timescape and carrier bloatware that makes your phone slow (e.g. Rogers in Canada). In this tutorial, I will explain the steps that I did to make the phone considerably faster.

Install PC Companion and Update Service

In order to flash a new ROM on your phone, you will need first to install Sony Ericsson's PC Companion as well as Update Service on your Windows computer. This is needed so that the required USB drivers are installed and configured.

Install Flashtool