I installed Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook Remix on my new HP Mini 110-3000 CTO a couple of days ago. As I’d read, it was nearly seamless.

The one bit that I did struggle with a bit was the wireless networking. Many sites that I found asserted that you have to install the Broadcom STA proprietary driver to get wireless working. After discovering that the Broadcom driver wasn’t seeing any hardware, I did an lspci and discovered that the network card was not a Broadcom at all, but an RaLink RT3090. After visiting the Linux support page on RaLink’s website, getting the drivers for the RT3090, and running make install, I was in business.

The only other complaint that I’ve had so far is the lack of multitouch scrolling and gestures. Articles I’m reading make it sound as though the hardware supports it, but the kernel module only reports “left right middle” capabilities for the touchpad, but no “double” or “triple”. Hardly a deal-breaker, though.

Update:I just realized this morning that sound didn’t work out of the box either. However, after installing the linux-backports-modules-alsa-lucid-generic metapackage and rebooting, that’s resolved.

After getting a tip from a friend that Cyanogen was worth trying out, and being curious about running a more vanilla (specifically, not-tied-to-the-Sense-UI) version of Android, I finally installed it.

I found the full update guide on the CyanogenMod wiki site to be overly and unnecessarily complex. As noted in a previous post, I was running the leaked Android 2.2 w/Sense OTA update image, which meant that I already had fairly up-to-date radio firmware and the ClockworkMod recovery. Instead of backrevving to stock 2.1, I instead:

• Installed unrevoked forever, which obviates the need to use dangerous hacks like dinc_ota.zip to update radio firmware.
• Installed the latest radio firmware available on the CyanogenMod forums. (I also installed the custom splash. 🙂 )
• Downloaded the latest version of CyanogenMod and Google Apps for HDPI devices and copied them to the SD card.
• Rebooted into ClockworkMod Recovery, wiped the phone, and installed the images.

It was all very straightforward. The only snag that I ran into was the Mail app continuously crashing, which I resolved by removing the included Mail.apk and installing the Mail.apk from the CyanogenMod forums.

So far, I’m pleased. The phone is much snappier. There’s a small but noticeable lag in interface response on the Sense ROM (nowhere near what my old iPhone had) which does not exist in Cyanogen, and it makes using it less frustrating.

Staples should hire the dudes who wrote android-wifi-tether, cause, man, that was easy.

I thought this would be a fine evening to get tethering working on my Incredible. One install of android-wifi-tether 2.0.5 pre-release 8 later, I’m no longer in the situation of having to pay Verizon to use the data plan that I already pay them for. No configuration, no nothing (beyond already running 2.2, I mean); just push the big “tether” button. Bam. Off to make a donation now!

Since I finally rooted my Incredible to resolve the mysterious “Low on space: Phone storage space is getting low.” error, I decided it was time to update to Froyo (Android 2.2) as well. This proved to be fairly straightforward following the instructions in the relevant thread on XDA-Developers, though I had a few surprises on the way. I’ll share a few discoveries and clarifications:

• The PB31IMG.zip “stock” file linked in the XDA-Developers thread is an unrooted Android 2.1+Sense image.
• When you install the stock image, the phone will turn off, reboot, and then restart the loading process without any warning. This does not mean that the install has gone awry and that you’re about to have a $200 brick. Keep coolie-cool, boy.
• When you boot into the stock recovery image, what looks like an error screen will come up (an Incredible with a red exclamation point and triangle). That’s normal; you just need to hit Power+Volume Up to get to the menu. (This was a surprise to me, since I’d only seen the ClockworkMod recovery installed by unrevoked³ which boots straight into the menu.)

Also, when you start up using Froyo, you’ll notice that many applications have disappeared from the Market. This is because Market apps, both free and paid, can be marked as “protected”, which means that you have to be using a recognized version of the OS (whether this is app-specific or store-wide, I’m not sure) for the app to show up, and the fingerprint in /system/build.prop in the Incredible Froyo image isn’t recognized. To fix this, update ro.build.fingerprint to verizon/voles/sholes/sholes:2.1-update1/ESE81/29593:user/release-keys in /system/build.prop. (See this post on Android Forums if you need detailed instructions on how to update the fingerprint.) This will make your phone appear to be a Droid running Android 2.1-update 1 to the Market (I’m guessing this eliminates 2.2-specific apps; I haven’t looked yet). Go to the dialer, and enter *#*#CHECKIN#*#* to force a checkin so that your changes will take effect. (h/t Geniusdog254 on XDA-Developers for pointing out how to force a checkin.)

Finally, I re-rooted the Incredible using unrevoked³, and disabled CityID (not going to pay for it), Verizon Navigator (why would I pay for this when Google navigation is free, even if I did need voice navigation?), and the 3G Mobile Hotspot (not going to pay $20 a month to use the data plan that I already pay for, thanks!). The last phone project is getting Wireless Tether running, but that’s for another day.

P.S.: if you want to see if you like vanilla (“Senseless” 😉 ) Android 2.2 on your Incredible, check out SkyRaider’s images. I actually installed this before going to the leaked 2.2+Sense image, and it was very snappy. I ultimately decided to go with the Sense image, because I figure that it’s gone through more testing, but if you don’t want to put up with the Sense bloat, this might be an option for you as well.

I was doing a bit of figuring yesterday in the process of considering my financial situation, and I ended up deriving a couple of formulas that relate basic mortgage parameters. Inspired by Hugh Chou’s derivation, I thought I’d do one of my own that’s a bit more explicit (and of course, nicely TeXed up 🙂 ).

Mortgage term and principal amortization formulae derivation.

A bunch of Chicago-related media crossed my path last week. I thought I’d pass on the highlights:

• The Windy Pixel’s time-lapse video of a drive all over the city (including a run through Lower Wacker at the end)
• Great gigapixel panoramic photos of the city and 360-degree VR views
• Zeus Of HollYWOoD’s Vintage Chicago photoset
• Joe and Jeanette Archie’s Chicago photoset
• A brief history of the Chicago Tunnel Company, with photos

Plus, of course, two great Chicago-related photo pools:

• Gapers Block
• Chicago Transit Authority

Limited numbers of connections via terminal services. From time to time at work, I need to log in to our servers to perform tasks. The initial attempt is often followed immediately by swearing and a post to our common IM chat room begging for someone to release a connection. Unfortunately, sometimes people leave their connections open when they go home…