On November 21, 2007 · Comments Off
While looking for a solution to my VMWare / USB issue, I came across a Linux.com article:
Developer crafts Linux support for Logitech Harmony remote controls.
Instead of using the Windows GUI to program the remote, you use the Logitech website (the windows gui is basically a fancy version of that). When you are done, you download a .EZHex file which you can then sync in Linux to your remote.
I haven’t tried it yet, though it is on my list of things to do. For those who have stayed away from the Logitech Harmony remotes because they required Windows, you need no longer live in the dark ages of remote controls.
On November 21, 2007 · Comments Off
While I don’t run windows on any physical hardware, I have a VMWare windows xp guest on my laptop that I use for a couple of applications. One of which is the programming software for my Logitech Harmony remote.
In my recent laptop update to Ubuntu 7.10, VMWare Server lost the ability to pass through the USB bus to the guest. Fortunately, a quick search on the VMWare forums came up with the following:
Please open the following file: /etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh by following command – gksudo gedit /etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh
Find the following lines:
#mkdir -p /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs
#domount usbfs “” /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs -obusmode=0700,devmode=0600,listmode=0644
#ln -s .usbfs/devices /dev/bus/usb/devices
#mount –rbind /dev/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb
Unmark them so that look like this:
mkdir -p /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs
domount usbfs “” /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs -obusmode=0700,devmode=0600,listmode=0644
ln -s .usbfs/devices /dev/bus/usb/devices
mount –rbind /dev/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb
Restart and your usb devices will be recognised
This worked like a champ, and now I can do the rest of my pre thanksgiving tweaks on the remote. 
On November 21, 2007 · Comments Off
About 3 weeks ago Eben gave an invited talk at IBM Research about Copyleft Capitalism, which I’m kicking myself for not driving down to see in person. Fortunately it has been posted to Google Videos:
(direct link for those whose RSS viewer doesn’t do flash)
The talk weighs in at 91 minutes, and is really worth watching the whole thing. Unfortunately the audience isn’t miked, so there are some areas of silence which are a little awkward, but that doesn’t detract much from the talk. Eben is an incredibly engaging speaker, and weaves a wonderful narative around free software, and the software commons.
While there are so many interesting points that Eben makes, I found the most fascinating one to be about how creativity can not be contained and controlled. When the industry attempts to do so you get bursts of irrational creativity, such as Perl. Perl is about getting things done, and it does so by hook or crook, based on whatever made sense to go into the language during last saturday’s hack fest. While it disgusts many of the purists in language design, it shows that sometimes “just get it done” does work. Beauty isn’t everything. (Steve Yegge’s take on perl is also hillarious and dead on.)
This is one nugget of dozens in the talk. I think I’ll need to go back and watch the thing at least once more to make sure I’ve absorbed it all.
Dague’s Rule 47: if Eben Moglen is speaking anywhere within driving distance, I must travel to the talk.
