Category: tech

android update (finally)

i updated my phone on friday last week to android 2.1.  this was a significant and long-awaited upgrade from version 1.5 i had been running for a long time.

the update went rather smoothly once i found a windows pc available to recognize my usb connection.  of course, it turns out my third-party usb cable seemed to be holding back the ability for my phone to be recognized as a shared drive, a problem i thought was to blame on either the phone or my os.  the original usb cable proved to be required for the phone to be seen.  noted for future reference.

i have to say that i really love the update.  aside from being able to run some apps that run under android 2.0 and up, the interface is much improved.  and some of my apps which did run under android 1.5 run much better under 2.1.  sprint boasted of these improvements:

  • Keypad backlight optimization
  • Bulk Bluetooth contact push
  • Various Bluetooth fixes
  • Increased speed and performance
  • Swipe to Unlock/Mute/Speakerphone
  • New camera features
  • Pandora enhancements
of course, i don’t care at all about pandora since it is lame.  the swipe to unlock feature is very nice.  the camera responds better too.

intel video driver fail

i have been browsing for a laptop replacement to the compaq i currently have since well before christmas last year.  i’ve compared, looked for new features, priced out the current options, and found none that i wanted…until the hp g26t which seemed to be something that had all the things i wanted.  intel core i5, 4 gb ram (with room for 8 gb later), non-ati video drivers, nice design.  i have specific wants with regard to keyboard and asthetics which also strongly drove my search.


hp g26t

i purchased the laptop with money from tax return, and it shipped to me.  i picked it up on friday and unboxed it immediately only to find the keyboard wasn’t what i thought it was going to b (first unmet expectation).  i took it home, ran the dvd backup software first, then shoved my fedora 12 (64-bit) dvd into the player for the reboot.  the installation went smoothly.  i ran the upgrade next (since i hadn’t previously downloaded a f12 respin image and didn’t want to wait for it).

when it rebooted, i noticed the resolution was still stuck on 1024×768.  this thing does better, i reasoned.  i copied the xorg.conf file to my home directory and rebooted.  when it restarted, i had no screen.  i rebooted again.  same deal.  i tried to ctrl+alt+f2 to a straight up text login.  nothing.  all the f-keys gave me nothing.

i tried rebooting into vesa mode, nomodeset, noacpi…all the same blank nothingness.  i set my init to 3 and booted to a command line.  checked intel hardware, looked on the google for any hope of someone posting a solution or even a sympathetic blog post of the same problem.  nothing out there about it.  this machine is too new for that.

after asking for more advice in the #fedora channel on freenode (irc), i realized i’d found an intel video driver the linux kernel didn’t support.  i decided it was best to send it back.  which i did.

now, i’m back to where i was just before i found this laptop.  my second interest laptop isn’t a strong enough want to just simply purchase it.  maybe if i wait, i’ll find something i want when they put out some new laptops.