Installing SXDE Build 64a in Parallels - Screen Resolution

The screen resolution is 1024x768 after the default installation. Need to change it to 1280x800 as the native resolution of the MacBook.

1. "cd /etc/X11"
2. "cp .xorg.conf xorg.conf"
3. "vi xorg.conf" so that

           Section "Monitor"
              ...
              UseModes "Modes0"
           EndSection
           Section "Screen"
              ...
              SubSection "Display"
                 Viewport 0 0
                 Depth 24
                 Modes "1280x800" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
              EndSubSection
           EndSection
           Section "Modes"
              Identifier "Modes0"
              Modeline "1280x800" 104.3 280 1360 1496 1712 800 801 804 834 -Hsync +Vsync
           EndSection
   

Installing SXDE Build 64a in Parallels - Memory

Zillions of people have posted how to do this. The following are the steps I took to make it work. The setup:

• MacBook, Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz, 1GB Ram
• Parallels 3.0 (Build 4128, June 9, 2007)
• Solaris Express Developer's Edition (SXDE) 5/07 Build 64a (Nevada + Sun Studio 12)

The SXDE installer quits if the memory is less than 768MB. My MacBook came with 1GB. And Parallels allows a max of only 604MB for Solaris 10 VM when I have only 1GB memory. Fortunately, in another experiment, I bought Kingston KVR667R2K2SO/2GR (1GBx2, PC5300 667MHz) which fits the specification of my MacBook. So I swapped them with the two 512MB DIMMs. Then I was able to create a VM of 1GB memory and install SXDE. The Kingston KVR667 did not work with MacBook very well and caused a panic after my installation. I swapped them out and put the old 512MBx2 in, and reset the memory of the VM to 604MB.

Make Picture Movie Like

This web site shows how to do it.

I tried it with Photoshop Elements.

How to setup VPC guest-to-host networking on a ibook G4

The environment:

• ibook G4, 12", 800MHz, 640MB RAM, AirPort Extreme
• Tiger 10.4.6
• VPC 7.0.2
• Guest: Windows XP-Pro

Goal: setup guest-to-host and host-to-guest networking with VPC on the ibook which connects to the LAN via Wifi only. The issues:

• Virtual-switching in VPC 6 is broken in Tiger. The fix is available only in VPC 7.0.2 and later.
• Guest-to-host and host-to-guest networking is not working with virtual-switching on the Airport.
• The built-in ethernet port is normally down not connected.

The solution: use virtual-switching on the ethernet port which is to be brought up manually. Steps:

1. In OSX, assign an IP address to the built-in ethernet interface, select a media and bringup the interface.

> sudo ifconfig en0 192.145.1.1
> sudo ifconfig en0 media 100baseTX
> sudo ifconfig en0 mediaopt hw-loopback

2. In VPC, use virtual-switching on the built-in ethernet interface.
3. In WinXP, assign an IP address (109.145.1.2) on the same subnet, use 192.145.1.1 as the default gateway.

Turning on the Remote Desktop on the WinXP, I am able to use Remote Desktop Client (RDC) from Microsoft to access the guest WinXP from the host OSX. The performance is pretty good (when setting the connection type to LAN in RDC), though not as good as that in the VPC whole screen mode. The performance becomes worse when I set the connection type to dial-up in RDC.

A Pleasant Surprise

An old and abandoned page I created long time ago showed up in the 3rd place in a google search on "ipaq ia-1 hack" and the 6th place on "ipaq ia-1" I did today. The page describes how to run a small Linux package on IA-1.

The Compaq Ipaq IA-1 is an Internet Appliance released in late 2000. It failed in the market, like all other IAs at that time.

• 266Mhz K6-2 VIA Processor
• 32 MB RAM
• 16 MB Sandisk as external storage
• 4 USB Ports
• 2 RJ11 Ports
• 56K V.90 Internal Winmodem
• SigmaTel STAC9744 Sound Codec
• Wireless (IR) Keyboard with Navigation Nub
• Compact Flash Slot
• Single Mono Speaker
• Single Stereo Line Out
• Cyberblade i7 graphics system
• 10.1" HPA flat panel color display (Max. 800x600 Res.)
• 120V AC Power Supply
• A modified Windows CE - MSN Companion

Pagan and Christian

A friend sent me this link to a Chinese translation of Dr. Yutang Lin's 'From Pagan to Christian'. The original book was published in 1959. It describes a Chinese scholar's spiritual voyage from a Christian to a Pagan and then back to a Christian. And I sent him this link to an audio program ("Godless America") which I heard over NPR long time ago.