Sony-Ericsson K610i + HBH-DS970, a Linux users experience

Sony-Ericsson K610i + HBH-DS970, a Linux users experience

This isn't a full review of either the phone nor the stereo Bluetooth headset, for a detailed report with pictures and the works read: mobile-review.com k610i and bengalboy about the HBH-DS970 headset

The K610i is 3G candybar feature-phone (not smartphone) with Bluetooth 2.0 , 2 MegaPixel camera and a low-res. camera in the front for video calls.
The kind of phone I was looking for should have:

• A2DP support for using a stereo Bluetooth headset.
• camera >= 2.0 MegaPixel
• media player application (guess that comes with the A2DP)
  
• preferably a smartphone for replacing the mediaplayer if necessary.
  

The K610i was actually the cheapest phone on my list, unfortunately it's not a smartphone.
It came without headphones. I didn't bother buying a wired, and pretty expensive, Sony-Ericsson stereo headphone, but ordered the HBH-DS970 A2DP stereo Bluetooth headphones from Expansys.

A quick explanation about A2DP:
The Advance Audio Distribution Profile is a recent addition to the standardized Bluetooth profiles and is possible to implement on devices with Bluetooth 1.2 or higher. It allows CD quality stereo sound to be send from a A2DP source (the phone) to a A2DP sink (the stereo-headset). In addition to that most A2DP capable devices support the Audio/Video Remote Control Profile support (AVRCP) which allows the mediaplayer to be controlled using the headsets build in buttons.

I've been using both devices for over a month now, mostly for listening to podcasts. So far I'm very pleased with them. The headsets battery last a least a full day with about 3 hours of listening, half an hour of talking and the rest in stand-by. I wasn't expecting anything more of a small necklace like device weighing only 27 grams.
The mediaplayer application on the K610i is definitely more geared towards music and doesn't support podcasts at all, neither does the windows software that came with it. You can create playlists on the phone but those are not saved as files.

In good Sony-Ericsson style the phone is fully standard compliant, supporting the OBEX Object Exchange protocol over Bluetooth, Infrared (IrDA) and USB connections. Among the supported OBEX methods is ObexFTP, obex push and SyncML over OBEX. This is good news for us Linux users since it insures compatibility with free and opensource software.
Browsing files on the phone can be done in 2 ways, Mass-storage device mode or OBEX transfer. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

The mass-storage mode is fast, using the phone as a USB2.0 card reader for the Memory Stick Micro inside. The biggest problem with this approach is that none of the phone functions are available while in mass-storage mode, so no phone-calls or listening to music. Also, on time of writing, the USB mass-storage driver in the ubuntu 6.06 shipped kernel fails to write all blocks to the MSMicro card, resulting a data loss and preventing safe unmounting. This will probably be fixed in more recent kernels.

I use a recent version of OpenObex to transfer podcast episodes to the phone with ObexFTP over USB2.0. This allows all phone functions to be used while transfering files. It is the same method used by the File Manager that's part of the windows software suit. Transfers over OBEX are slower though, just over 1 MB per second. Meaning a 30 MB file, quite common for a podcast would take almost half a minute. This is no problem for me because I use the USB cable to charge the phone and letting it transfer the files while doing other things. But I can imagine the frustration when you would like to quickly transfer a few files before leaving.

I automated the transfer of podcasts to the phone using a Python script [link to script]. In Amarok I copy the files to a temporary folder using the generic mediadevice plugin, after which the script is used as the post-disconnect command (see screenshot). Transfered files are deleted from the tmp folder.

On my todo list is a Java 2 Mobile Edition application for playing audio files that maintains a playlist and a supporting mediadevice plugin. The idea is that played files are removed from the playlist. The Amarok plugin can then delete the old episodes from the phone and mark the as listened in the database.

If anyone want to volunteer for writing the J2ME player, the mediadevice plugin or improving the transfer script, send me a mail at bart [.] cerneels [@] gmail [.] com.

Suggestions are welcome in the comments (moderated for SPAM reasons).



souce : http://amarok.kde.org/blog/archives/263-Sony-Ericsson-K610i-+-HBH-DS970,-a-Linux-users-experience.html

Starting Mysql on Slackware 12

My first hurdle was getting mysql to start.. I kept getting a nohup error and it wasn’t allowed to connect to the mysql socket. First things first, permissions and users.. make sure the server isn’t running:

ps xa | grep mysql

You should only see your grep process in the list of processes and you’re good to move on.

sudo chown -R mysql:mysql /var/lib/mysql/
sudo chown -R mysql:mysql /var/run/mysql/

Next we need to get our config in place:

sudo mv /etc/my-small.cnf /etc/my.cnf

After that we can run the database installer:

sudo /usr/bin/mysql_install_db

Once that is complete, we can start up the server:

sudo /usr/share/mysql/mysql.server start

We’ll also want to move the mysql script to our rc.d folder so that it can be started upon boot:

sudo cp /usr/share/mysql/mysql.server /etc/rc.d/rc.mysql
sudo chmod 644 /etc/rc.d/rc.mysql

Lastly we’ll create a new password for the root user in mysql:

sudo /usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root password 'your password here'

good luck

VB Object Printing

should be stated that there are several options for printing reports through a Visual Basic program – reports can be created through a "report designer" application such as Crystal Reports, the VB Data Report Designer, the MS-Access Reports feature, and third-party products such as Active Reports; the functionality of MS-Excel and MS-Word can also be harnessed to print from VB. Still, there are times when a basic plain-text printout will do just fine, and the overhead of the aforementioned products is not necessary. The native VB Printer object can be used to produce a basic plain-text printout with low processing overhead. While the Printer object can be used to produce "fancy" printouts with various graphics, lines, boxes, and a mixture of fonts, we're having none of that here.


This sample application produces an "old school" plain text report with one font, Courier New 10 point. With a monospaced font like Courier, we can determine the number of characters that will fit on one line and the number of lines that will fit on one page. By knowing the number of characters that can fit on one line, we can plan the format of the data to be presented. By knowing the number of lines that will fit on one page, we can use logic to perform page breaks and print headings when a page fills up with data. Assuming a standard page size of 8 ½ by 11, we can fit approximately 80 characters per line (with extra characters for a left margin), and 60 lines per page (with extra lines for a top margin).


The application reads in a comma-delimited text file of customer records. Each record contains the following fields: last name, first name, address, city, state, and zip code. The determination for how these fields are to be laid out on the printed line is as follows: 19 characters for the first and last name combined, 1 space separator, 26 characters for the address, 1 space separator, 23 characters for the city, 1 space separator, 2 characters for the state, 2 space separator, 5 characters for the zip code. Main headings with date, time, and page number as well as column headings will appear at the top of each page. An excerpt of the printed report is shown below:



Print Date: 04/13/05 THE VBPROGRAMMER.COM Page: 1

Print Time: 22:32:12 CUSTOMER LIST


CUSTOMER NAME ADDRESS CITY ST ZIP

------------- ------- ---- -- ---


Dorothy Durgan 900 Fergusson Fountain Fousmarck IL 94815

Liana Donnelly 210 Chapman Way Ontamden KY 76925

Carolyn Ullrich 310 Charm Gardens Camdeven LA 80590

Lavonne Hamill 520 Carnegy Circle Champacoma RI 13211

Brandi Davis 520 Esplanade Park Long Camderden ID 02841

Rocco Emard 520 Redmond Avenue Clevernton KS 04223

Lilliana Becker 430 Carnac Drive Norfowtucket AR 14962

Jaquelin King 340 Christmas Drive Evansvivis MI 41296

Emmy Walter 440 Chapman End Norwaron WI 84848

Abril Hahn 840 Library Close Bouldegas Plains KS 79763

Ashtyn Conn 940 Semantic Avenue Bristopeka Vista RI 10534

Reba Watsica 150 Portuguese Circle Councintation TX 93872

Michel Crooks 550 Old Stage Circle Coraston NE 39978

Wilda Bogisich 460 Marine Street Cloviple MI 19259

Bethel Mosciski 660 Sunset Hill Close Roanoma LA 66311

Wyman Spencer 670 Chichester View Loracisco TX 08508

Josiah Hettinger 770 Massen Lane Santa Fullesburg AL 13986

Felicia Jacobs 870 Military Fountain Renolsom AK 24264

Gladyce Conn 580 Gravel Pit Park Comptonix ND 66546

Donnie Auer 880 New Queens Way Washinnetonka HI 07913

Tito Hirthe 980 Bastion Road West Rialtodondo AK 36004

Ulises Satterfield 190 North Williston Park St.Huntsviswell ND 80783

Bailey Sauer 290 Carnac Avenue Austircester MD 94335

Liam Bednar 890 River Cove Fountain Ogdeson LA 69744



The user interface isn't much to speak of. There are two command buttons: "Print Customer List", which causes the above report to be printed, and an "Exit" button which ends the application.











The commented code for this application is shown below. A handful of techniques are introduced here which have not been covered in the previous tutorials, but will be in later tutorials.


Option Explicit


'-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Private Sub cmdPrint_Click()

'-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


Dim intLineCtr As Integer

Dim intPageCtr As Integer

Dim intX As Integer

Dim strCustFileName As String

Dim strBackSlash As String

Dim intCustFileNbr As Integer


Dim strFirstName As String

Dim strLastName As String

Dim strAddr As String

Dim strCity As String

Dim strState As String

Dim strZip As String


Const intLINE_START_POS As Integer = 6

Const intLINES_PER_PAGE As Integer = 60


' Have the user make sure his/her printer is ready ...

If MsgBox("Make sure your printer is on-line and " _

& "loaded with paper.", vbOKCancel, "Check Printer") = vbCancel _

Then

Exit Sub

End If


' Set the printer font to Courier, if available (otherwise, we would be

' relying on the default font for the Windows printer, which may or

' may not be set to an appropriate font) ...

For intX = 0 To Printer.FontCount - 1

If Printer.Fonts(intX) Like "Courier*" Then

Printer.FontName = Printer.Fonts(intX)

Exit For

End If

Next


Printer.FontSize = 10


' initialize report variables ...

intPageCtr = 0

intLineCtr = 99 ' initialize line counter to an arbitrarily high number

' to force the first page break


' prepare file name & number

strBackSlash = IIf(Right$(App.Path, 1) = "\", "", "\")

strCustFileName = App.Path & strBackSlash & "customer.txt"

intCustFileNbr = FreeFile


' open the input file

Open strCustFileName For Input As #intCustFileNbr


' read and print all the records in the input file

Do Until EOF(intCustFileNbr)

' read a record from the input file and store the fields there into VB variables

Input #intCustFileNbr, strLastName, strFirstName, strAddr, strCity, strState, strZip

' if the number of lines printed so far exceeds the maximum number of lines

' allowed on a page, invoke the PrintHeadings subroutine to do a page break

If intLineCtr > intLINES_PER_PAGE Then

GoSub PrintHeadings

End If

' print a line of data

Printer.Print Tab(intLINE_START_POS); _

strFirstName & " " & strLastName; _

Tab(21 + intLINE_START_POS); _

strAddr; _

Tab(48 + intLINE_START_POS); _

strCity; _

Tab(72 + intLINE_START_POS); _

strState; _

Tab(76 + intLINE_START_POS); _

strZip

' increment the line count

intLineCtr = intLineCtr + 1

Loop


' close the input file

Close #intCustFileNbr


' Important! When done, the EndDoc method of the Printer object must be invoked.

' The EndDoc method terminates a print operation sent to the Printer object,

' releasing the document to the print device or spooler.

Printer.EndDoc


cmdExit.SetFocus


Exit Sub



' internal subroutine to print report headings

'------------

PrintHeadings:

'------------

' If we are about to print any page other than the first, invoke the NewPage

' method to perform a page break. The NewPage method advances to the next

' printer page and resets the print position to the upper-left corner of the

' new page.

If intPageCtr > 0 Then

Printer.NewPage

End If

' increment the page counter

intPageCtr = intPageCtr + 1


' Print 4 blank lines, which provides a for top margin. These four lines do NOT

' count toward the limit of 60 lines.

Printer.Print

Printer.Print

Printer.Print

Printer.Print


' Print the main headings

Printer.Print Tab(intLINE_START_POS); _

"Print Date: "; _

Format$(Date, "mm/dd/yy"); _

Tab(intLINE_START_POS + 31); _

"THE VBPROGRAMMER.COM"; _

Tab(intLINE_START_POS + 73); _

"Page:"; _

Format$(intPageCtr, "@@@")

Printer.Print Tab(intLINE_START_POS); _

"Print Time: "; _

Format$(Time, "hh:nn:ss"); _

Tab(intLINE_START_POS + 33); _

"CUSTOMER LIST"

Printer.Print

' Print the column headings

Printer.Print Tab(intLINE_START_POS); _

"CUSTOMER NAME"; _

Tab(21 + intLINE_START_POS); _

"ADDRESS"; _

Tab(48 + intLINE_START_POS); _

"CITY"; _

Tab(72 + intLINE_START_POS); _

"ST"; _

Tab(76 + intLINE_START_POS); _

"ZIP"

Printer.Print Tab(intLINE_START_POS); _

"-------------"; _

Tab(21 + intLINE_START_POS); _

"-------"; _

Tab(48 + intLINE_START_POS); _

"----"; _

Tab(72 + intLINE_START_POS); _

"--"; _

Tab(76 + intLINE_START_POS); _

"---"

Printer.Print

' reset the line counter to reflect the number of lines that have now

' been printed on the new page.

intLineCtr = 6

Return


End Sub


'-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Private Sub cmdExit_Click()

'-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

End

End Sub