The Seagate Dockstar is the lowest-end PogoPlug device, a tiny low-power ARM server which runs Linux. Devices like this are ubiquitous now, but when the PogoPlug came out it was extremely unusual. It also cost substantially more than it does today, when a Rev.2 PogoPlug (not the new-new one, the old new one) is only $20. The only cheaper ARM-based server I know of is the Dockstar, which can be had for as little as $14 through Amazon today. Regardless of which PogoPlug you might have, you probably want to run Debian Squeeze with a recent kernel featuring LED support, which is not that difficult — but finding all the information you need is.

The dockstar doesn't have an RTC to keep costs down. If you're running Debian Squeeze (and you probably should be) then you can make the following tweak to /etc/init.d/ntp to use ntpdate (which you should also install) to set the time before running ntp.

Various online resources say to hold down INPUT and VOL- on the remote while plugging in the TV. This doesn't work, at least on mine. Hold them down on the TV while plugging in the TV, that works. (Then you press VOL- and CHAN- on the TV, to get into the menu. Channel buttons select, volume buttons alter.

Ever since I got it, my 1992 F250 has had a bad wiper motor. The symptom, which can be caused by several different kinds of faults, is that it didn't "park". That is to say, the switch turned the wiper motor on and off, regardless of setting. High speed always worked, but park never did. I proved that the motor was the problem by taking off the cover and cleaning the contacts, and having it work for a short time. Rather than fight corrosion and continually shave switch contacts, I decided to drop the forty bucks retail on a new window motor.

Install gpm (e.g. aptitude install gpm for Debian, Ubuntu, etc.) and run the following as root (you can sudo bash first)

(where "whatever" is the device you're trying to identify.) Now press the left button or the touch screen repeatedly. Some drivers will spit out a lot of this:

Recently I decided to give XBMC Live a try as the alternative to making my own Ubuntu install. I figured they might have it worked out to go a little faster. It looks as though I was right, and it's a great install so far as I can see, but I also discovered that they left out bluetooth. As probably the best cheap option for a good remote is a used Playstation 3 remote available at a gamestop near you for thirty bucks or less, this seems like an unfortunate omission. As I want to use a Logitech MX5000 keyboard hooked up to an MX900's USB Bluetooth dongle/mouse charging cradle, it was especially annoying.

Since I got a Mixman DM2 and like to run Linux I decided to put the two together. Slight hassle, though, the kernel doesn't sit still while you're not watching. A slight tweak is needed to get the driver to work on a modern kernel; in my case, 3.0.0-14-generic on Ubuntu.

Ubuntu has set the system clock to UTC since the Intrepid Ibex (8.10.) I didn't notice because I had upgraded through several other versions. Using UTC for the system clock is cool if you don't dual-boot, but I do. The functionality exists in at least Vista and later to use UTC for the system clock, but I'm using XP and don't trust it to work even if it appears to.

For some time now I have been using ps3mediaserver to stream video to my Xbox 360. Since solutions for playing various video streams on various devices have become more convenient of late I've become less picky about what I transcode to, except that I like to achieve fairly high quality. ogmrip has become less useful of late, failing on most source video on which I try to use it, so I've gone back to Handbrake, the most competent and arrogant of DVD transcoders.