Linux Busybox prompt after restart

If you find yourself with a possible missing "/".

Solution:

1. Boot from an Ubuntu Live CD

2. Open Terminal

3. Type: sudo fdisk -l then press ENTER
Make note of the "Boot" indicator "*" for the correct device.

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 30238 242886703+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 30239 30401 1309297+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 30239 30401 1309266 82 Linux swap / Solaris

4. Type: sudo fsck /dev/sda1 then press ENTER

5. Restart the system and boot normally.

Mysterious Mexico Lights...

So I came upon this site today from a Popular Science rss feed I follow.
http://conphotography.com/2012/12/nasas-black-marble/
I saw this light form in what I thought was ocean. I used Google Maps to verify the location of the mysterious lights and Google doesn't show anything but a different colored blue ocean.

XBMC There is no soundcard error

I upgraded my HTPC to Ubuntu 12.04 and it broke my XBMC from being able to run.
I searched high and low for the answer and never found one.  I fought with this to get my sound over HDMI when I first installed my HTPC.  My frustration was that the HTPC could play sounds via the default settings with this upgrade but XBMC would fail to start with the following error:
"There is no soundcard".

After much searching and two very late nights I was able to get it working by doing the following:

I'm posting this here and hope that this will either help me out in the future or will help some other Googler out there.

# aptitude install libcurl4-gnutls-dev
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  comerr-dev{a} krb5-multidev{a} libcurl4-gnutls-dev libgcrypt11-dev{a}
  libgnutls-dev{a} libgnutls-openssl27{a} libgnutlsxx27{a}
  libgpg-error-dev{a} libgssrpc4{a} libidn11-dev{a} libkadm5clnt-mit8{a}
  libkadm5srv-mit8{a} libkdb5-6{a} libkrb5-dev{a} libldap2-dev{a}
  libp11-kit-dev{a} librtmp-dev{ab} libtasn1-3-dev{a}
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  libutouch-evemu1{u} libutouch-frame1{u} libutouch-geis1{u}
  libutouch-grail1{u}
0 packages upgraded, 18 newly installed, 4 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 3,974 kB of archives. After unpacking 10.4 MB will be used.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 librtmp-dev : Depends: librtmp0 (= 2.4~20110711.gitc28f1bab-1) but 2.4~20110711.gitc28f1bab-1ubuntu0~ppa4~lucid is installed.
The following actions will resolve these dependencies:

     Keep the following packages at their current version:
1)     libcurl4-gnutls-dev [Not Installed]               
2)     librtmp-dev [Not Installed]                       



Accept this solution? [Y/n/q/?] n
The following actions will resolve these dependencies:

     Downgrade the following packages:                                         
1)     librtmp0 [2.4~20110711.gitc28f1bab-1ubuntu0~ppa4~lucid (now) -> 2.4~20110



Accept this solution? [Y/n/q/?] Y
The following packages will be DOWNGRADED:
librtmp0

Arduino + Wave Shield DoorTunes Update

I have had our Doorbell switched out with an Arduino + Wave Shield for a few months now.

It hasn't been working like I had hoped.  There was one problem at first where I was missing a pull-up resistor.  So I installed that it worked so much better.

Now the problem was that for some reason every morning or almost every morning around 8:00am it would trip.  It would trip every so often throughout the day as well.

I increased the resistor on the pull-up resistor and that helped but, it would still trip every so often.  Then I decided to search good ol' YouTube for help with the Arduino and pull-up resistors.  That's when I learned that every digital I/O pin on the Arduino has a built in pull-up resistor. ( DigitalWrite(doorbellPin, HIGH); )

So tonight I downloaded the newest version of the Arduino software 1.0.1 and decided to give it a try.

After making the change to the code I tried to upload my Sketch to the Arduino.  And now there were a bunch of errors.  Such as "error: 'FatReader' was not declared in this scope".  I thought "Oh great, the new version is going to keep me from using this same code."  Back to Google and the forums and then it hit me... "Libraries!"...  Arghh...  I hate it when I forget these sort of things.

So I copied over my WaveHC libraries into the new version and uploaded successfully.

Now it's time to plug the doorbell back in and see if this on-board pull-up resistor is the key to getting this doorbell to be fixed.  I will for sure let you know if it doesn't work.  Otherwise if you don't hear back from me, consider it fixed!

Masonism

Yesterday evening after dinner we received a phone call from our neighbor telling us that there was a fire truck and ambulance down the street.

So I put Ali in the stroller and Mason was going to ride his scooter.

Mason was taking a long time to get ready so Ali and I started walking around the block in the direction of the trucks.

As soon as Mason started down the driveway and turned onto the sidewalk he said "Look Dad, Look!  What happened?".  To which I replied, "I don't know.  That's what we are going to find out."  By this time he had caught up to Ali and I and he then says, "Am I in trouble?", I start to laugh and tell him "No you're far from being in trouble."

2012 Salt Lake City Mini Maker Faire

2012 Salt Lake City Mini Maker Faire
Oct 6, 2012

Crystal Reports Error

If you try to insert a subreport and you get the following error:
"com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.report.lib.ReportSDKException: Unexpected database connector error---- Error code:-2147467259 Error code name:failed"
It means that you need to rename your "Subreport Name".

To do this go to your main report and right click on the subreport, select "Format Subreport...", select the Subreport tab at the top, update the "Subreport Name:" to match your java PojoDataset tablename.

I sure wish that would have been somewhere that I could have read.