Monthly Archives: November 2007

How to enable video in Skype for the Asus Eeepc.

Posted on Sunday, 25 November, 2007 by Jeremy

By default the Asus Eeepc comes with Skype but unfortuantely the version installed isn’t able to make use of the built in webcam. The first step towards using the webcam is to enable it in the BIOS. Strangely it is disabled from the factory, but it can be enabled by holding down the F2 key whilst the first starting screen appears. Navigate to the panel which lists integrated devices and enable the webcam. Chose save and exit to restart the machine and enter the next step. The next problem encountered is that the current version of Skype for linux doesn’t support video chat, but Skype do have a beta version available. The older 1.4 version will be installed if you try to install or update skype using apt-get, and even if you add the Skype official repository to your sources.list … Continue reading →

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A near miss

Posted on Sunday, 25 November, 2007 by Jeremy

I was impressed by the large number of people in China who despite the cheap local petrol (which was probably still expensive to someone on an average wage) had chosen an electric bicycle in order to encompass their entire transportation needs. It has to be said though that whilst it had pedals for assistance and shop owners had powerboards for people to plug their bikes into whilst they shopped – the machines didn’t seem to keep up with traffic and were used mostly as bicycles that didn’t require pedalling and were used in the bicycle lanes. When I saw my first electric bicycles and scooters I had visions of people adding batteries with higher capacities and output coupled with high efficiency brushless motors so they could tear around the streets on their eco-friendly racing machines, but in reality none of … Continue reading →

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Intel Core2Duo Mac Mini RAM upgrade.

Posted on Thursday, 22 November, 2007 by Jeremy

I thought I’d post up a quick guide to upgrading the RAM for an Intel Mac Mini. There are obviously other sites which have long standing pull apart guides, but this is my attempt through a series of photos. Insert your thin putty knife between the plastic base and the metal outer shell. Be careful to precisely fit the tool into the gap as you can damage the plastic. Slide the putty knife all the way down until you feel it press firmly against the casing then lever upwards against the plastic base. There will be a few nasty plastic noises as the clips unlatch but this is normal. Repeat on the other side. If you find the other side is too tight now one side is unlatched, press the released side back down and loosen from the other side. … Continue reading →

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MacOS on EeePC

Posted on Friday, 16 November, 2007 by Jeremy

Dan from UNEASYsilence has installed MacOS on his eeePC. I was wondering how long it would be before someone attempted this.

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I hate moving house.

Posted on Friday, 16 November, 2007 by Jeremy

And I avoid it whenever possible. One of the downsides to renting and a booming housing market where everyone wants to renovate to push the cost of renting ever higher I guess. Live in a rental long enough and it feels like your own. Your house, your castle, your place of security and privacy. It’s all shaken to the ground and taken away with a single letter from the realestate. Following the renovation they plan to ask double the rent!

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Asus Eee PC Tweak Guide

Posted on Thursday, 15 November, 2007 by Jeremy

Notebook Review.com reviewed the eeePC and has information in regard to modifying the sources.list in order to install more applications, installing XP and even photos of the machine pulled down. This is covered in an article titled the Asus Eee PC Tweak Guide.

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Enabling 2GB ram in the eeePC kernel

Posted on Thursday, 15 November, 2007 by Jeremy

eFfeM from the eeeuser.com forums claims to have an untested version of the eeePC kernel that allows users to access more than 1GB. The default eeePC Xandros kernel is restricted to 1GB but the device hardware is quite happy to access the full 2GB if another operating system is used. 2.6.21-4 kernel with 2GB support.

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Asus eeePC useful links

Posted on Wednesday, 14 November, 2007 by Jeremy

Enabling Full KDE Desktop Extra repositories for apt-get

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Toyota RAV4-EV

Posted on Tuesday, 13 November, 2007 by Jeremy

Wikipedia article Youtube videos of the RAV4-EV

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MacOS 10.5 Leopard kills TivoTool

Posted on Monday, 12 November, 2007 by Jeremy

An unfortunate casualty of my recent operating system upgrade was the Perl based Tivo extraction tool Tivotool. I have been recommended the Java tool TySuiteJ, but I don’t think it has the elegance of Tivotool. I’ll post a review after I’ve tried TySuiteJ.

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