Getting the most out of batteries

Having a 4 and 5 year old in the house has caused our battery consumption to grow exponentially because of all the toys and gadgets. Where out family used to remove, replace and toss old batteries, we've adjusted to a remove, replace and evaluate approach.

It seems that some devices require a battery that puts out a very high level of wattage where other devices require less wattage. Here's a rough list I've built, with the most demanding devices at the top and the most forgiving at the bottom

Electronics devices with no motors or lights
Devices with motors or lights
Remote controls
Mechanical clocks
Flash lights

So, when we pull the AA batteries from the Wii remotes, they don't go into the garbage. Instead they go into a "second chance" bin. When we have a remote control, clock, or flash light that needs new batteries, we always get them from the second chance pile.

We're gradually switching to rechargeable batteries now, so this problem will eventually become moot.

One last note. Don't combine fresh and old batteries in a device. It can lead to battery acid being released and we know that leads to extra work. And who wants to do extra work?

Thermostat location for heated tile floor

A few observations about installing a thermostat in a heated tile floor after having been through the experience.

1. Purchase and install a redundant thermostat. Run the lead and position the thermostat in a different part of the floor than the primary.

2. The tip of the thermostat is somewhat large and may impact the tile height. If the tip appears larger than the expected depth of the thinset, notch out a pocket in the underlayment into which the thermostat will rest

3. Position the thermostat away from any heat source, such as heat ducts running under the floor, or air flow from heat registers in a forced air system.

4. Label the lead of the redundant thermostat so that the next person occupying your home will know what it is. You may also consider noting the position of the thermostats in the box housing the actual thermostat.

High CPU usage by xorg and plasma in KDE 4.3.2

After weeks of playing with desktop settings and suffering from one pegged CPU in my quad-core work computers, I've figured out the problem and resolved it.

It turns out this is a known bug:

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=204070

The solution is to not uncheck any of the items that appear in your System Tray. The System Tray is the panel area that holds icons for applications that don't show in your Task Manager. Mine holds a Pidgin icon, an Amarok icon, a KOrganizer icon, a managed network icon and a volume control icon.

I simply right clicked, selected System Tray Settings, and under Icons I checked all (four) checkboxes. Pressed OK and my CPU usage immediately dropped to < 5% for xorg and plasma-desktop.

Linux radeon video problems on Dell 2007WFP on DVI

I got a new work computer and instantly installed Kubuntu 9.10 x64 on it. I then proceeded to install the ATI drivers for the video card, an ATI Radeon HD 4350. I used the 10.1 Catalyst drivers and was not impressed. Xorg.conf constantly using 50% of one CPU, bad performance resizing and dragging windows, etc. Tried to upgrade to the 10.2 Catalyst and then KDE wouldn't even start up.

So I decide to return to the open source Radeon driver and ran into some problems in doing so. First I googled purging fglrx from my system and followed those instructions.

Next, I rebooted and got cloned screens. xrandr fixed that for me pretty quickly, but then I had weird video effects on my DVI monitor, a Dell 2007WPF. xrandr -q told me that it was running at 59.9hz, which is not the native resolution; the monitor wants 60hz

Here's how I fixed it.

1. Run cvt to generate timings for the monitor.

cvt 1680 1050 60

2. Create a new mode using the resulting timings passed to xrandr

xrandr --output DVI-0 --newmode dvi-calculated 146.25 1680 1784 1960 2240 1050 1053 1059 1089 -hsync +vsync

Note - The '--output DVI-0' is apparently ignored, resulting in the need for the following line.

3. Associate the new mode to the output using xrandr

xrandr --addmode DVI-0 dvi-calculated

4. Activate the new mode on the output using xrandr

xrandr --output DVI-0 --mode dvi-native

5. For me it didn't fix the problem. I actually had to switch to a different resolution mode, then back to the new mode I had created

xrandr --output DVI-0 --mode 1024x768
xrandr --output DVI-0 --mode dvi-calculated

And my artifacts were gone. I'm not sure if these configuration items will survive a reboot or not.

Kontact + LDAP lookup + Lotus Notes

In bucking the company policy to use Lotus Notes, I find myself in a precarious situation where I run into problems and there's nobody I can ask for help. In this particular instance, even the combined knowledge of the internet failed me, mostly due to the terrible state of documentation for the Kontact project.

Herein, I provide the technique I used to get the Compose Message window to prepopulate to/cc/bcc fields with data from a Notes LDAP server.

First, be sure you know your authentication information for Notes LDAP. I'm using a concatenation of CN and O, but you may be able to get away with just using login and password.

From Kontact, select Contacts.
In the Address Books panel, select + (to add a new address book)
Name the Resource Configuration something like "Notes LDAP"
For Bind DN, use your DN. Mine is "CN=Richard C Schreiber, o=RSA
For Password, use your notes password
For Host, use the hostname or IP address for the Notes server
For Sub-Tree query, check it.
For Read-Only, check it.

You should see the list of contacts populate from the Notes server. If you don't, an alternate login token.

Make sure the newly created address book is checked.

Next, compose a new message and type a few letters into the address field and you should see the names populate from your LDAP server.

I played with this for days before it magically started working. There may be a Notes authentication problem where it appears that your configuration is not working correctly, but really that Notes is just ignoring your requests.

Bathroom progress

Today the vanity, countertop and medicine cabinets were delivered. I posted that this means that the heat is on, to which a few of my Facebook friends replied requesting photos. Here they are!

My new favorite cinnamon bun recipe.

Made these last night and they are outstanding! (If I do say so myself). Capturing the recipe in case it disappears.

http://baking.about.com/od/sweetrolls/r/ultimtecinnroll.htm

Ultimate Cinnamon Roll with Vanilla Frosting

Ingredients
•1-1/2 packages (about 3-1/4 teaspoons) dry yeast
•1/4 cup warm water
•1/2 cup shortening
•1/3 cup sugar
•1-1/2 teaspoon salt
•1 cup milk
•1 egg
•4 to 5 cups sifted flour
•melted butter
•brown sugar
•cinnamon
•raisins (optional)

Vanilla Frosting
•2 cups powdered sugar
•1 tablespoon butter, melted
•1 teaspoon vanilla
•milk or cream (2 to 4 tablespoons)

Preparation:
Add the warm water to the yeast and soak 10 minutes.
Scald milk; pour over the shortening. Add sugar and salt and cool to tepid. Add the dissolved yeast and beaten egg. Add 4 cups flour adding one at a time beating after each addition.

Dough should be soft yet firm enough to handle. Knead on floured board until elastic and smooth. Avoid too much flour. Turn dough into well oiled bowl. Let rise for 1-1/2 hours.

Press dough down and divide into workable size. Roll dough out into a rectangle. Cover with melted butter. Layer with a generous thick layer* of brown sugar. Sprinkle on cinnamon* as desired. If you like raisins, layer on a layer of raisins. Roll up jellyroll fashion.

Using a scissors or a piece of string, cut off slices about 1 to 1-1/2 inches thick. Place slices in an 8 or 9 inch round greased cake pan. Place one slice in the middle and other slices around it. Press rolls down to even out and fill pan. Let rise until rolls fill the pan generously...about another hour.

Bake in a 350 degree F oven about 15 - 20 minutes. If rolls get too brown, cover with a piece of tine foil until the end of baking. Do not over bake rolls.

Remove immediately from pan by inverting onto a plate and then tip over onto another plate to right the rolls.

For the Frosting:
In a medium bowl, place sugar, butter and vanilla. Then stir in enough milk or cream to reach a thick, hardly-able to stir consistency.

Spread over warm rolls as soon as they are placed on a plate to let the frosting melt and run into the rolls.

* I was pretty generous with both the brown sugar and cinnamon. I ended up with about a 1/2 inch layer of brown sugar completely covered with cinnamon. - Carroll