For more information about ACTA, and what you can do to oppose it, see this page.

Set up the Arduino IDE

Many packages required for Arduino development were recently removed from Debian’s testing repositories. At the time of writing, they are being held in sid, waiting on a some issues before being migrated.

In the mean-time, you can download pre-built binaries from the arduino.cc download page is pretty simple. I downloaded version 0022 for 64-bit Linux. You just unpack this in to a directory and run the arduino script. You’ll need to have Java installed.

Next, you have to get the Arduino device to be detected. This works ok on Wheezy. Plug it in and look in your kern.log. It should show up as a serial device (my Ardino Uno shows up as /dev/ttyACM0).

So far so good.

Get the AVR C++ compiler working

You need to get the AVR C++ compiler and C-library. Unfortunately, the newer versions of the required packages in sid don’t work (which is why they’ve not been migrated). Fortunately, the ones in squeeze work fine. Download the following packages from squeeze

• gcc-avr (the compiler)
• avr-libc (the C-library)
• binutils-avr (tools to work with AVR binaries)

And install them

This way, when they are finally migrated to wheezy, they should just get upgraded normally.

Test the set-up

1. Open up the Arduino IDE.

2. Go to Tools -> Serial Port and select the serial port your Arduino is appearing as.

   If you can’t see it, there is a problem with the device being detected. If you opened the IDE before the device was plugged in, try closing it and re-opening it.

3. Go to File -> Examples -> Basics -> Blink. Then go to Sketch -> Verify / Compile.

   If there are compiler errors, you have a problem with the set-up of the AVR C++ compiler or the C-library.

4. Finally, go to File -> Upload to I/O Board. You should see the board’s serial TX/RX LEDs flicker, and then you should see the LED next to pin 13 blinking on and off. Congratulations.

All links to the previous site should redirect properly and, even though I now have a new email address, all my previous email addresses still work fine (and always will), so no one really needs to update anything.

Additionally, I now have a new site to provide services related to the software hosted here. You can find bug trackers, wikis/documentation and support forums at:

dev.ed.am

The Redmine installation at dev.ed.am, along with several other subdomains (for example, bzr.ed.am and files.ed.am) should allow me to host projects on the waxworlds.org servers from now on. I had previously been going to use Launchpad, but I don’t feel Canonical represents my interests so well any more.

Becky is recovering well. And Isobel has come home (she had been with her Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Dan) and has met her baby brother. She seems completely enamoured with him. We’re still trying to find a new routine where we get to sleep a bit. But apart from being tired, we’re all well.

Here’s our little boy:

You can get bigger copies of these photos in Benjamin’s gallery.

Suspend (to RAM)

This didn’t work. The screen turns off (I think the laptop is wired this way), but the fan doesn’t power off and the machine doesn’t power down.

Eventually, I found this in the syslog:

The USB device referred to is the built-in webcam. After quite a bit of googling I came across a kernel bug that explained it all (and turned out not to be a kernel bug). The built-in webcam (lsusb says it is: “ID 0402:5602 ALi Corp. Video Camera Controller”) resumes immediately after being suspended, causing the suspend procedure to fail.

To fix it, I added the following script to /etc/pm/sleep.d (don’t forget to chmod +x it):

Flash

Yes, flash again. :o(

The Acer Apire 3690 is not a powerful machine, but it is easily capable of playing video. Unfortunately, the latest version of Adobe’s proprietary flash plugin at this time, 10.0.45.2, which ships with Lucid, can run away with the CPU and bring the browser to a crawl. The BBC iPlayer is the worst culprit. Sometime between 30 seconds and 5 minutes in to a video, CPU usage jumps to 98% and firefox becomes unresponsive.

I haven’t fixed this entirely, but I have managed to alleviate the problem slightly. A pre-release version of flash player 10.1 handles flash movies that have gone awry much better. Update: flash player has been updated to 10.1 in Lucid now. It pops-up a message box to let you know that some actionscript is causing the flash player to run slowly.

Obligatory tweaks

There are also the little gripes.

Despite there being an overwhelming user preference to keep the window buttons (minimise, maximise and close) on the left of the window, as they always have been in Ubuntu, it was decided that they would be moved to the right. You can move them back again by following instructions in this post.

I also removed all traces of Canonical’s little cloud facilities which are unnecessarily installed by default. The following command did the trick:

The last three weeks have been a bit of a blur! Izzy has been well behaved though and she sleeps quite well at night. Becky has recovered well and her and Izzy are getting in to a feeding routine. Neither of us are looking forward to me going back to work again tomorrow though.

Anyway, here is our beautiful little girl:

There are more pictures of our beautiful little girl in her gallery.

http://www.webtvhub.com/bankrupt-britain/

I found the programme to be quite biased. In many ways and on many levels…

He misses out large parts of the arguments against GM crops.

E.g., that companies like Monsanto (and others) are only creating them to make money. Monsanto are selling seeds that will require pesticides and fertiliser (also, conveniently, bought from Monsanto) in order to produce the yields they talk about. They really don’t care about any negative effects of GM crops and would sell them even if they were aware of any (you want to know exactly how evil Monsanto are? Check out their Wikipedia page). And there are no guarantees that those same farmers that Monsanto are “helping” will be able to afford the rising costs of the Monsanto products they become locked in to.

Another example of a point he skips over is that there is evidence showing that the contamination of non-GM plants can also spread to weeds, making them resistant to pesticides. This means we will have to use more and stronger pesticides to combat them. Just as the frivolous use of antibiotics in medicine and food is leading to new races of “super bugs” that are resistant to our medicines, so too could we end up with “super weeds”. GM public debate: Environmental damage | Greenpeace UK

He dismisses several key arguments against GM, either downplaying them, or not exploring them properly.

The exploration of how GM crops might be harmful to the environment is laughable! He ends up concluding they might be beneficial! Really!? A quick google brings up some different opinions: Number 10′s wildlife experts warn against GM damage | UK news | The Observer GM crops could damage bird populations, warns visiting Macaulay seminar speaker – The Macaulay Institute, Aberdeen Prince Charles warns GM crops risk causing the biggest-ever environmental disaster – Telegraph

The exploration of whether GM foods are harmful misses out some seriously damning studies. You can read more in the articles below, but (in summary) GM corn, canola, soy and potatoes (including some of Monsanto’s “Roundup Ready” GM product line) have been linked with “liver lesions and indications of toxicity”, “altered production of liver enzymes”, “excessive cell growth” (possible cancer) and “damaged organs and immune systems” in studies on rats. Not to mention another study that showed infertility and very high infant mortality rates in rats fed on GM soy. PCC | GM Food Crops: Consumer Health Concerns: Reproductive failures and infant mortality GM diets may cause organ damage and disease | Perspectives… To be honest though, I suspect the program avoided these issues for legal reasons. Another aspect that is not explored by the programme is how heavy-handed Monsanto (and I would imagine others) are with anyone who criticises them — see the “Legal” section on Monsanto’s Wikipedia page.

Another point he downplays is the irreversible nature of the contamination of non-GM crops by GM crops. GM public debate: Environmental damage | Greenpeace UK

Some points in the programme are downright misleading.

There are no flood-resistant or drought-resistant GM crops currently. There are some GM trials where they are experimenting with genetic manipulation to achieve this. You wouldn’t know that by watching the programme though. Peter Melchett: Who can we trust on GM food? | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

I also found the whole tone of the programme to be biased.

E.g., he continually refers to the people creating GM crops as “the scientists” (think: those clever people), rather than “the companies” (think: those greedy evil-doers). In fact, I think they are only refered to as companies about once, maybe twice, throughout the whole programme.

Another example: The conversation with the African GM scientist regarding people breaking in to the facility to steal (rather than damage) the GM crops. Bare in mine that, as with most TV, the scene is not some casual conversation, but a staged (possibly scripted) conversation. With that in mind, watch the scene again. See how Jimmy “misunderstands” that people wanted to steal, not damage, the crops (Jimmy: cue fake laugh). And if that’s not bad enough, he actually repeats the whole fake misunderstanding a second time to really spell it out and make sure the point is hammered home!

Another example: Jimmy refers to Americans “happily eating GM foods for years”. This is not entirely true – they don’t know when they’re eating them. They don’t label them over there! If they are happy as they eat them, it is only through ignorance.

I don’t mean to be picky… but there are so many “little” examples of bias that contribute to the overall tone. I found them really quite annoying.

Ok, this post’s really getting a bit long now. And it’s late! Sorry about my rant.  :o)

If you want to read another rant about this program, this article is very good: GM Food Fight breaks out  the natureheads blog

Also, if you want to read a sensible response to this TV programme then I would highly recommend reading the following article. It is up-to-date (9th December, 2008) and although it talks about a pro-GM radio programme, it could just as easily be talking about Jimmy Doherty’s Food Fight. Peter Melchett: Who can we trust on GM food? | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Update: This article is also good: Jimmy’s GM Food Fix

Update: Study finds that Monsanto GMO Corn is linked with organ failure.

What they do offer for 64-bit users (of Linux, or Windows for that matter) is a source code tar-ball and a some build instructions. The build instructions require you to first build part of Thunderbird before tackling Enigmail. Seems like a lot of effort to expect your average Joe-user to spend.

I spent that effort anyway, and here is what I did:

First, download any packages required to build Thunderbird:

Then, make a new directory somewhere, download the Thunderbird source and build it:

This will take a while. Really. Go and make a cup of tea.

When it’s done, you need to download Enigmail and unpack it in to the right place. Note that your “thunderbird-2.0.0.17+nobinonly” directory might be called something slightly different. Also note that I’m using Enigmail 0.95.7, but you should check for the latest version.

Next, you need to create a config file:

Then build Enigmail and make an XPI:

The resulting XPI file is stored in the “dist/bin” directory you’re now in. To install the extension, you have fire-up Thunderbird, go to Tools->Add-ons->Extensions, click “Install…” and go and find it.

…appear to be tampering with network packets if they detect you are using a router on your network.

…are monitoring and policing the data you send through your internet connection and have begin sending threatening letters to it’s customers on behalf of the record industry; entirely of their own volition.

…believe that net neutrality is, “a load of bollocks“.

…are participating in Phorm (see here for info about Phorm).

We should boycott them. Sadly, it’s our only option as consumers. Fortunately, it’s also the language shoddy, money-grabbing companies like Virgin Media understand.

Update: The ASA have upheld complaints that advertised claims about Virgin Media’s broadband speeds are misleading.

Update: Since BT are now also on the bandwaggon,  my advice to anyone looking for an internet conneciton would be to get a BT phone line but go with 3rd party broadband. I’m currently with Be and I can definitely recommend them.