New server. working

after a slight issues with the DNS (or my ability to update it correctly) the site is back up and working correctly

New server \o/

This site will be offline this weekend as I move it to it’s new server. All going well it’ll be back up by monday

Toshiba NB100 factory restore

I’ve seen a number of people trying to find out how to restore this netbook back to factory defaults. As I had to do that mine the other day I thought it would be a good idea to note down the steps and put them here for people to follow.

My netbook was shipped with Ubuntu Netbook Remix version 8.04 (hardy) and has a factory restore DVD. Extra to this you will also need an external USB DVD drive.

The steps below are what I used to restore the NB100 to factory defaults, I don’t know if different versions of the restore disk are available or if different hardware configurations exist that may give different options.

0. TAKE BACKUP OF EVERYTHING YOU NEED, and most stuff you don’t

1. Connect usb external optical

2. Power on and press f12 at the splash screen to get boot menu

3. Select CD/DVD

4. Select language

5. READ and accept warning about data loss

6. Select recovery of factory default software option

7. READ final warning about data loss – last chance to cancell

8. Watch progress bar

9. Watch another progress bar

10. Laptop will power off, turn back on. follow steps for new setup

11. ???

12. profit!

I hope these steps help, please feel free to leave comments/ask questions if there is something I have missed

Toshiba NB100 Review

I’ve just bought myself a new Toshiba NB100 netbook, the idea being that I can use it at work and while at customer sites to keep track of everything that I normally fail to keep in my head.

It’s a got a fairly good spec for it’s £200 price tag. Toshiba have managed to fit an Intel Atom N270 chip, 512MB of RAM and an 80GB HDD into it. They have shipped the netbook installed with Ubuntu netbook remix which is ubuntu but optimized for small screens. I was expecting it to either be too basic so that i’d end up installing something else or that it would struggle with the low ammount of RAM. I’m glad to say that neither of these are the case, as you can turn off the netbook desktop and get a classic desktop. I have had it playing mkv movie files at a watchable rate, this was probably the biggest suprise so far.

With 3 USB ports, you can plug in just about anything you need, also there are the standard ports for VGA and ethernet, along with an SD card reader. The trackpad although small, is easy to get used to, and precise enough that you can move the cursor from one side of the screen to the other in a single movement. There is a manual fan control on the keyboard for those really trying to make the battery strech, although without the fan it does get fairly warm. At first i struggled with the keyboard, but i am quickly getting used to it, and can almost type at my normal speed.

As i have said the netbook comes shipped with Ubuntu netbook remix and therefore uses the Gnome UI. My previous experiance with Linux has been with the KDE UI in Kubuntu. I decided i’d see if i could get it working. so fired up a terminal and started installing kubuntu-desktop through apt, expecting at anytime for the netbook to throw it toys out of the pram, leaving me with only a factory restore as a way to fix it. Apt completed it’s download and install without complaint. I restarted (mainly through habit, being a windows user) and was pleased to see the kubuntu loading screen and login menu. I chose my session type and selected KDE, I was amazed to find that it all worked.

After some more testing I admit that the default KDE is not as well suited to the small screen as Gnome’s netbook remix, and does run a little slower. But it is definatley useable should any die hard KDE fans decide to give it a try.

Wolverines, Ghosts and Raptors

It’s been a busy week, but an insightful one. I’ve learned that X-men origins is well worth watching. I’ve learned that dispite what symantec say, ghost does not copy linux partitions correctly. I also made the worrying discovery that velociraptors have their own logistics team!

I’m not going to say too much about x-men, except that you should go see it.

Symantec ghost claims that it can copy linux partitions, however when i tried to clone my laptop accross to a new disk i found that it would not boot, upon closer inspection by a friend of mine we found that the journal had not been copied, after running a check on the file system to recreate the journal, the partitions were there but empty. so we tried to re-install linux  and found that even the partition table was broken. Well done Symantec. I was able to get the laptop fixed the next day by using a different cloning tool and then rebuilding the bootloader (in also installed the latest version of linux, becuase it’s new). It’s not fully working yet, I’ve still got problems with sound, but it has detected my bluetooth adapter which windows doesn’t seem to know about.

Sunderland Sucks

I don’t care who reads this, but it’s true.

working in London and living just outside of it has got me used to shops being open all hours and having no real need to carry cash. Arriving in sunderland after a 5hour drive has made me realise that things are indeed grim up north. It seems that everywhere that isn’t a pub or club closes at 5:30pm. Even the Tesco here closed at 6PM which is almost unheard of outside the 3rd world.

The hotel I’m staying in is right next to a club, so all i have heard for the last 2 hours is the bass vibrating through the paper thin walls. I feel as though i should be locking my laptop down, but can’t find anything to loop the cable lock around, Also there is a random door in my room that is locked and has no indication of what is lurking behind it.

Hopefully tomorrow morning (assuming I’ve not been eaten by whatever is hiding behind the locked door) I’ll be able to find a cash machine, as with limited cash and the only food in the hotel coming from a vending machine it currently looks like crisps for breakfast.