Have you noticed that Google now provides satellite images of most of Europe?

I can even see my home down there. And I'm happy to see that Google is allowing linking to satellite locations, once again changing the world by allowing anyone to refer to pretty much any place on earth directly...

The long, sweaty, overworked spring of 2005 has finally ended and I am currently spending my summer holidays at the usual place, our family island located in the southern Finnish archipelago near Porvoo and Pernaja (very close to Kabböle).

The Midsummer party here went on quite nicely, with only a couple of cases of alcohol poisoning and one guy falling into the sea. Luckily, all of the forementioned are still alive and happy. We also made some interesting contact with the neighbours, who had brought their fully equipped car sound system and a computer loaded with mp3's to the seaside.

Now it's one week here with absolutely nothing to do. Of course, the Finnish weather is merciless to those who dare to take their vacation in June. The average air temperature so far seems to be close to 15, although sea water is still above 17. A little dip in the ocean every now and then keeps your mind and body fresh...

Have you taken the Acid2 test yet?

It's really simple. Just open the page and see if your web browser displays a happy yellow face.

If the face is okay, your browser supports HTML and CSS standards pretty well. If the face is broken, your browser has problems.

Here's a technical explanation of the test.

These little cuties cost under 99 EUR and provide you with full access to DVB-C transport streams. Should be perfect for building a multi-channel-recording PVR box based on Linux.

So, I ordered one of them and installed it on Debian unstable. Unfortunately, it didn't work out-of-the-box. The problem is related to the QAM-128 modulation used on DVB-C networks. The current 2.6.11 driver only supports QAM64 properly.

Luckily, there is already a fix. You need to download the latest LinuxTV drivers from their CVS. Also install the Debian kernel sources for 2.6.11, and follow the instructions to replace the built-in drivers with the CVS counterpart. Then compile, install and boot the new kernel, and the card should work.

I did this five minutes ago, and the Terratec card seems to be working fine now. Now to set up my PVR software to support multiple cards... We'll see if Freevo can hack it.

Another Debian problem solved. I've had a load of problems upgrading Debian systems from 2.4 to 2.6 series kernels, when the hard disks are SATA drives and using GRUB to boot. After the upgrade, Debian no longer boots but hangs with a kernel panic.

Turns out, the problem was with udev and device names. Initially udev is disabled while running a 2.4 kernel, but becomes active when booting with 2.6. At the same time, all hard disk devices are renamed from /dev/hda0 to /dev/sda0 etc.

The solution is easy: just change all references from /dev/hda0 to /dev/sda0 in /boot/grub/menu.lst. Also, make the same changes to /etc/fstab. (BUT don't do this unless you know what you're doing!)

I hope the Debian folks fix this in future releases, it's pretty nasty to end up with a kernel panic just for upgrading your kernel.

If you're in for a Tetris shirt or a Threesome hat, check out SplitReason.com.

Also carrying some Warcraft themed clothing...

Oh, and here's one more: Jinx.com. Don't know if they ship internationally though, haven't checked.

Yeah, no more time to write here. Deadlines and meetings falling from everywhere... That's how it is. Hope to check back again when things ease up.