Disable IPv6 globally:

sudo vi /etc/default/grub

then find

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

and replace it with

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”ipv6.disable=1 quiet splash”

Then update grub from the command line

sudo update-grub

Tell Firefox not to load Pango:

vi ~/.bashrc

and add

MOZ_DISABLE_PANGO=1

at the end

Tweak Firefox’s about:config settings:

network.http.pipelining -> True
- network.http.pipelining.maxrequests -> 8 or 10
- network.http.proxy.pipelining -> True
- network.dns.disableIPv6 -> True

Enjoy

Enjoy

Microsoft’s licensing scheme for downloadable content is, IMHO, very good. Each game is linked to the gamertag and the console that first downloaded it. So if you download a game on your home console any account installed on that console can play it, and you can play that game on any console as long as you’re logged in with your gamertag.

Now lets say you got a new console and you’re using it with multiple gamertags (Family, friends, …etc). Your gamertag will play it fine but the other gamertags won’t. The solution is simple. Just head to https://live.xbox.com/signup/UIPStartPage.aspx?appid=ConsoleLicenseTransfer and migrate your licenses to the new console. This will enable all gamertags installed on that console to play those games.

Be warned though; The tool migrates ALL your licenses to the new console, so if you bought something for a friend on a different console he/she won’t be able to play it any more. And you won’t be able to migrate to a different console for at least a year.

Happy gaming everybody

At first I used to uninstall the old kernels manually but being lazy I think it’s too much work. When you get the error with update-manager or Synaptic try this:

sudo aptitude search linux -w 160 | egrep '(image|headers|restricted)' | egrep '^i' | grep -v 'KERNEL_VERSION' | grep -v -P '[^\d]-generic' | grep -v linux-restricted-modules-common | sed 's/i A/i  /' | awk '{print $2}' | xargs sudo aptitude remove

Replace “KERNEL_VERSION” with your currently running kernel.

This might break your grub configuration but update-manager will fix that for you so no need to worry. Just make sure you run this BEFORE update-manager does the update.

To be honest I didn’t try this without “grep -v ‘KERNEL_VERSION’” so I’m not sure if removing it would break something. Just leave it there to be safe.

The Motorola CPEs act as network gateways, they connect to the Wimax network and do NATing for you. That’s nice for a home network, less stuff to configure and less clutter.

The indoor CPE worked well when it had coverage, but when I switched to the CPEo 400 I started running into all sorts of problems; DHCP and DNS stopped working, Connection drops, signal losses, and CPE restarts for no apparent reason.

Calling customer care for a week didn’t help, as you know it’s useless if your problem is a bit different. Oh believe me, Orange’s customer care is much worse, at least with Zain they tell you if they’re experiencing technical issues, with Orange it’s always your indoor wiring.

Turns out there are some bugs in the OS running on the CPE, I’m assuming it’s some sort of Linux distribution gone horribly wrong (Software version 02.01.90-02/11/2009). If you turn on UPnP all Hell breaks loose. I thought I should share this because of the lack of documentation and support for this particular unit.

You have 2 solutions, choose whichever fits your technical skills and/or your time.

Solution 1 (simple): This was the first one I went with, just connect the CPE to the WAN port of your aDSL router. Configure a static IP address and DNS on the router so it won’t use the CPE and use that IP as the DMZ. This will have the CPE forward all traffic to the router and have the router handle all the UPnP issues. This, however, you’d end up with double NATing, something not everybody likes.

Solution 2 (A bit technical): Install dd-wrt on your aDSL router and have it take of DHCP and DNS, then configure the default gateway as your CPE. You won’t have UPnP here but you can set up port forwarding on the CPE which should work fine.

Since we didn’t want to see an RRoD on Bander’s precious Xbox, we decided to take it apart and fix the heat sink. Midway we decided to document the endeavor. Here you go

And the result, you ask? Drum rolls please.

I’m not a big fan of Wimax, actually I’m not really a fan of wireless; My PC and Xbox are both connected “wirefully” to my router. The wireless network I have at home is for the benefit of my father. For months I held on switching to Wimax in the hope for the Exchange my land line was connected to to be updated or fixed or whatever, but to no avail.

Anyways, I had heard Zain will be offering their own Wimax service. Being a fan of their GSM service and their customer support I thought I should wait for them. The minute a sales representative called me and said I could visit and get the device I went to their HQ and got a 2.4Mbps account.

I had a few issues with coverage at first, but after I saw how the Zain people dealt with the issue I loved the service even more. I’ve been loving the service ever since. Fast, stable, almost no issues after the initial coverage problem, everything consistent during the past 6 months. Now that I’m re-reading this I have to admit I had an issue with one of the employees I dealt with. She was very rude and disrespectful. She’s the exception in this case. Also, after reporting her to her superior I was switched to a different employee and had smooth sailing afterwards.

Today when I got home from work my father told me browsing was excruciatingly slow. After doing the usual troubleshooting steps I called customer care. After giving them my user information they told me that I had exceeded my download quota and if I wanted to get extra download I needed to send an SMS which would restore my speed in about 15 minutes. Fair enough, even though I think 10GB is a low limit for a 2.4Mbps connection it’s still much better than Orange’s 3, or 7 if you choose the go to the new plans. I was impressed to hear it took 15 minutes to restore the speed, because with Orange you have to wait about 24 hours.

During my phone conversation with tech support I was browsing and I got this:

Isn’t this just brilliant? I loved the fact they tell you about the speed reduction so you won’t have to call tech support. My father told me he had seen that page earlier today and forgot about it.

So I decided to buy the extra GB, thinking that in 15 minutes I’d have to restart my CPE. 30 seconds later I got a confirmation message that 1GB was added to my account. A few seconds later browsing felt faster. After checking I was surprised to find out my account has been restored to it’s original speed and I didn’t need to do anything from here. Now this is what I call good service.

Don’t get me wrong, Zain isn’t perfect, nobody is. Zain, If you are reading this please reconsider you download quota. In this day and age digitally distributed media is the way to go. Either increase the quota or at least allow for un-metered download during the night or something. Keep up the great work and hope you can provide us with something even better soon.

Good luck man, keep up the good work.