I've recently revived my RaspBMC installation and on of the things I wanted to do was setup my HTC One X to act as remote...simple or so I thought.
Unfortunately, after installing the app I was prompted that no hosts were configured and I'd need to add them via the the menu button. The HTC One X has no physical buttons to act as a menu button and various suggestions around the internet did not help. FYI, some Samsung Galaxy users are able to long press the app switcher key to bring up the menu.
Others said that pressing and holding the home button should do the trick, unfortunately for me this kept bringing up Google Now. Disabling this in the settings menu did not resolve this.
In the end, I think I found a solution that should work for any* android phone. All you need to do, is go to: Settings > Buttons > Home Button. Then set either long press action or double tap action to be open/close menu.
Simple in the end.
* I have only tested it on my HTC One X.
Monday, 3 November 2014
Tuesday, 27 May 2014
Alpkit Airlok Xtra
Having had my first canoeing experience on the last bank holiday weekend, two things became immediately apparent. Firstly, I loved it (even in the pouring rain!) and secondly, I needed more dry bags. The two 1 litre dry bags are great but a little limited in terms of what they can carry.
So even though I haven't planned my next trip, I have started looking at gear! Since dry bags come in many sizes the only real criteria is that it keeps everything dry...obviously.
I'm a big fan of Alpkit's range of kit (and a varied range it is to!), they often put a great deal of thought into their design and the materials used. They currently offer 3 ranges; the Airlok, the Airlok Xtra and Gourdon. Since it was my money on the line, I wanted to make sure that what I bought was perfect...there was only one thing for it, visit their newly opened showroom!
Airlok; a standard dry bag with a roll top, the material (30D siliconised cordura) is different to most dry bags (such as the LifeVenture or TrekMates) but having handled it, whilst it seems lighter I have no reason to doubt that the material is strong and durable.
Airlok Xtra; a standard dry bag with a roll top, but the key difference is that it comes with additional attachment points at the bottom, top and sides. There is also a dual version that opens at each end.
Gourdon; a dry bag will proper rucksack straps, they have also released an updated model with a mesh pocket on the side and front mesh panel made up of elasticated cord.
Regardless of your requirements, you should be able to find a bag that matches. My choice came down to either the Airlok Xtra or new Gourdon. Handling them in the shop revealed both to be well made, I'd have little doubt in recommending either product.
The Gourdon's straps seem thick enough as not to provide discomfort during prolonged periods of use, but not too big to bulky and in the way when not in use.
My primary use for this bag is going to be canoeing or camping, I opted for the Airlok Xtra 35 Litre in Chili (Red). Whilst the rucksack straps of the Gourdon would be useful I won't be using this as a main bag, it will be chucked in my tent or in the bottom of the boat. In the case of the later, I don't want to worry about the straps soaking up the bilge water. The Airlok Xtra does come with a single simple strap that is removable. The extra attachment points will make securing it to the boat or anywhere else simple. Whilst the elasticated mesh on the front would be useful for stowing things like a jacket my concern would be it catching on branches etc during use.
Expect a more detailed review when I've taken it outside!
So even though I haven't planned my next trip, I have started looking at gear! Since dry bags come in many sizes the only real criteria is that it keeps everything dry...obviously.
I'm a big fan of Alpkit's range of kit (and a varied range it is to!), they often put a great deal of thought into their design and the materials used. They currently offer 3 ranges; the Airlok, the Airlok Xtra and Gourdon. Since it was my money on the line, I wanted to make sure that what I bought was perfect...there was only one thing for it, visit their newly opened showroom!
Airlok; a standard dry bag with a roll top, the material (30D siliconised cordura) is different to most dry bags (such as the LifeVenture or TrekMates) but having handled it, whilst it seems lighter I have no reason to doubt that the material is strong and durable.
Airlok Xtra; a standard dry bag with a roll top, but the key difference is that it comes with additional attachment points at the bottom, top and sides. There is also a dual version that opens at each end.
Gourdon; a dry bag will proper rucksack straps, they have also released an updated model with a mesh pocket on the side and front mesh panel made up of elasticated cord.
Regardless of your requirements, you should be able to find a bag that matches. My choice came down to either the Airlok Xtra or new Gourdon. Handling them in the shop revealed both to be well made, I'd have little doubt in recommending either product.
The Gourdon's straps seem thick enough as not to provide discomfort during prolonged periods of use, but not too big to bulky and in the way when not in use.
My primary use for this bag is going to be canoeing or camping, I opted for the Airlok Xtra 35 Litre in Chili (Red). Whilst the rucksack straps of the Gourdon would be useful I won't be using this as a main bag, it will be chucked in my tent or in the bottom of the boat. In the case of the later, I don't want to worry about the straps soaking up the bilge water. The Airlok Xtra does come with a single simple strap that is removable. The extra attachment points will make securing it to the boat or anywhere else simple. Whilst the elasticated mesh on the front would be useful for stowing things like a jacket my concern would be it catching on branches etc during use.
Expect a more detailed review when I've taken it outside!
Monday, 7 April 2014
Moving Thin Provisioned VMDK's
Since I purchased a new and improved HP ProLiant MicroServer (the N54L), I decided to move my ESXi host to this new hardware and repurpose the old N40L for something else (yet to be decided).
Whilst doing this, I also decided to move around where my VMs are stored in order to free up some hard drives and make use of the 250GB S-ATA drive that came with the server.
Unfortunately this created an interesting problem, without the full on vCenter Server I'm unable to move a VM or VMDK without inflating the disk from thin provisioned to thick provisioned. Since most of my disks are thin provisioned at 50GB there would be a huge increase in the amount of storage used.
Although I haven't over provisioned my storage, I wasn't comfortable filling the drive just yet. So I set about finding a solution...
My first thought was to use VMware Converter to convert from the source datastore to the destination datastore on the same host. However, it appears that this didn't work and the disk was still inflated. I am willing to accept that I setup the job in a rush and missed an option to keep the disk thin provisioned, I'm going to go back and check this again later.
In the mean time, I came across this article How to thin provision an exsiting VMWare disk on ESXi without virtual center on Slashzero.
It appears that you can use the VMKFSTOOLS to convert disks from thin provision to thick provision. By running the command, (Handy Hint: you can use tab to autocomplete file paths etc when using PuTTY connected to a ESXi host) I was able to clone a disk and turn it into a thin provisioned disk.
However, this left me with a VM named V122SRV01 but a VMDK named V122SRV01-thin.vmdk - this nags at me (call me OCD if you wish!).
So unsure as to what would happen, I ran the command again to effectively rename the disk. It worked!
After powering the VM on, it performed a disk check and booted up fine.
So give it a go, just because you've got ESXi doesn't mean you need to miss out on your thin provisioned disks!
Whilst doing this, I also decided to move around where my VMs are stored in order to free up some hard drives and make use of the 250GB S-ATA drive that came with the server.
Unfortunately this created an interesting problem, without the full on vCenter Server I'm unable to move a VM or VMDK without inflating the disk from thin provisioned to thick provisioned. Since most of my disks are thin provisioned at 50GB there would be a huge increase in the amount of storage used.
Although I haven't over provisioned my storage, I wasn't comfortable filling the drive just yet. So I set about finding a solution...
My first thought was to use VMware Converter to convert from the source datastore to the destination datastore on the same host. However, it appears that this didn't work and the disk was still inflated. I am willing to accept that I setup the job in a rush and missed an option to keep the disk thin provisioned, I'm going to go back and check this again later.
In the mean time, I came across this article How to thin provision an exsiting VMWare disk on ESXi without virtual center on Slashzero.
It appears that you can use the VMKFSTOOLS to convert disks from thin provision to thick provision. By running the command, (Handy Hint: you can use tab to autocomplete file paths etc when using PuTTY connected to a ESXi host) I was able to clone a disk and turn it into a thin provisioned disk.
However, this left me with a VM named V122SRV01 but a VMDK named V122SRV01-thin.vmdk - this nags at me (call me OCD if you wish!).
So unsure as to what would happen, I ran the command again to effectively rename the disk. It worked!
After powering the VM on, it performed a disk check and booted up fine.
So give it a go, just because you've got ESXi doesn't mean you need to miss out on your thin provisioned disks!
Sunday, 16 February 2014
Think you're downloading that useful piece of software...?
And what about all the additional software they want to you download?
Scott Hanselman produced the following blog post regarding download wrappers and unwanted software. Take time to read it, and if possible pass on.
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/DownloadWrappersAndUnwantedSoftwareArePureEvil.aspx
Scott Hanselman produced the following blog post regarding download wrappers and unwanted software. Take time to read it, and if possible pass on.
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/DownloadWrappersAndUnwantedSoftwareArePureEvil.aspx
Thursday, 6 February 2014
So you can't install the ESX hypervisor...
...because you receive the error:
""
Well it appears that VMware upped the minimum required RAM to 4GB for v5.5 (in v5.1 and below it was only 2GB).
Fortunately, fixing it is a relatively painless and simple process...well for someone considering running an ESX server it's a simple process!
Rather than recreate the steps, I'll simply direct you to...Simon Simonnæs Tech Blog or more specifically Installing ESXi 5 on less than 2GB RAM.
Although, the instructions are based on systems running on 2GB the principle is exactly the same and following the instructions worked for me!
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