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Sorry

2009-11-23T10:43:00.002-06:00

I've been getting a few spam comments recently, so I guess it's time to enable the captcha option. I hope it won't be too much of a hindrance for anyone leaving real comments.

LG DR787T in the trash

2009-09-14T13:00:00.004-05:00

Update! I have upload the firmware files on FileDen (never used it before, someone suggested it though - thanks Alex!). The firmware can be found at: http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/10/26/2621437/lgdr787tupdatefile.zip. Happy downloading, and I hope your player has a longer life than mine!

For those following the LG DR787T saga, I have recently thrown my unit away. It wouldn't read anything, so I decided to go buy a $30 DVD player (which, by the way, is working wonderfully).

Yes, I still have the firmware files. For those of you who want to try to fix your units and need the files, ~~feel free to send me an email. I am thinking about uploading them to a free hosting site somewhere, but unless the demand increases it just wouldn't be worth the time to set it up.~~ I have set up an account, see the above update for a link!

It amazes me that a DVD player would work one day, and the next day stop working. Why? Poor manufacturing? Bad luck? My dog peed on it without me noticing?

I tried taking it apart to see if I could dust stuff off, clean the laser, etc. but it didn't help. Oh well.

LG DR787T Dark Knight playback issues solved

2009-02-14T10:39:00.007-06:00

Update 2:
I have uploaded a copy of the LG firmware files to fileden; they can be downloaded from http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/10/26/2621437/lgdr787tupdatefile.zip

Update:
I have thrown away my dvd player.

So if you read my last post, you would know that I was having problems playing The Dark Knight DVD on my new (used) LG DR787T DVD Recorder/Player. I would put the disc in and the player wouldn't load. After talking to tech support and hearing that they don't know what is wrong and they can't help me, I decided to try the firmware upgrade that LG had on their support website. It was listed as adding Parental Control capabilities, but I figured maybe they threw in some other fixes as well. Sure enough, after I installed the new firmware, The Dark Knight was playing perfectly!

Here is what to do:

Go to LG's support website
Enter the model number DR787T
Next to "[USA Only] Parental Update for RC797T & DR787T Video Players", download "2_Software Update for your DVD Player_Recorder.pdf" and "5_Firmware files for DR787T.zip". Note: when I downloaded the .zip file, it wasn't named correctly; it was missing the .zip extension. If you are using linux it doesn't matter (just run unzip ), but on windows it will be confused - so you might want to add the .zip extension.
Follow the directions in the pdf to update the DVD player.

If you did everything correctly, then you should have a fully-functional DVD player now, capable of playing The Dark Knight!

Agh!

2009-02-13T14:38:00.006-06:00

UPDATE: I found a solution to this problem

So I talk to an LG representative today about my new (new-to-me) LG DR787T DVD recorder. I just got it (for only $20 on ebay, what a steal!) and was going to test it out by watching The Dark Knight. Pop in the disc, and it doesn't work. Won't load. I look around, and it seems other people are having similar issues, so I decide to do my civic duty and let LG know they have a problem to deal with.

Bria: Hello Matt Kokotovich. Welcome to LG Electronics! How may I provide you with excellent service today?
Matt Kokotovich: I have the LG DR787t and it won't play The Dark Knight DVD. Are you aware of this issue and is there a fix being planned?
(long gap here)
Matt Kokotovich: Hello?
Bria: I would like to please place you on a brief hold while I research that for you, will that be alright?
Matt Kokotovich: Sure, thanks
Bria: Hello....yes one moment
Bria: Thank you for holding. Are you playing blu ray or HD in the player?

(I believe I already meantioned that it won't play the DVD. And since it is a DVD player, not a blu ray player, I would assume that most people watch DVDs on it. And what exactly do you mean by "am I playing HD in the player"? Like HD-DVD, that dead, forgotten about standard that The Dark Knight wasn't even released on?)

Bria: If so, this unit will not play either
Matt Kokotovich: I have the DVD
Matt Kokotovich: The DVD works in other DVD players
Bria: Is it blu ray? HD? Or standard?

(Um...)

Matt Kokotovich: Just a standard DVD.
Bria: Have you tried cleaning the player?
Matt Kokotovich: The player plays other disks fine
Matt Kokotovich: But no, I haven't tried
Matt Kokotovich: I've read other people online have the same issue as I do. This model DVD player seems to have troubles with the copy-protection scheme used on the Dark Knight DVD
Bria: You can purchase lens cleaner generally used for cd players.
Bria: Is the dvd a rental?
Matt Kokotovich: I was wondering if you were aware of this issue and if a fix was being prepared
Matt Kokotovich: No, I own the DVD
Matt Kokotovich: It is in great shape
Bria: Ok
Bria: One moment
Bria: This unit should not have an issue with playing copy protected dvd's and there is not a known issue with the black knight.

Goodness gracious! If you don't even know what the movie I'm trying to watch is called, how can you know if there is a known issue with it?

The convo went on a while longer, and eventually she told me she would forward my concerns to "the appropriate person(s)".

Anyone else having issues with The Dark Knight (or any other DVD, for that matter) on the LG DR787T?

US Bank flash drive hidden CDROM removal instructions

2009-01-17T13:55:00.004-06:00

So recently my girlfriend opened US Bank savings and checking accounts, and as part of the deal received a free flash drive. The representative told her it has some promotional files on it, but they can just be deleted. Not quite.

When I plugged the flash drive in, two drives appeared on my desktop (Ubuntu). One was what I expected, a USB mass storage device. The other was a CDROM drive. I looked at what was on it, and it was just a bunch of promotional files and programs.

Well obviously this cdrom popping up every time you plug in the drive isn't very nice, so I tried to remove it. Reformatting the device didn't work, it just cleared out the USB mass storage device. I ran dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb to zero out the entire drive, in case reformatting somehow missed something. This destroyed the MBR, partition table, everything. But when I plugged the device back in, the CDROM was still alive and kicking.

So this wasn't a hidden partition on the drive, this had to be some sort of extra hardware or special firmware on the device which allowed this CDROM image to exist separately from the mass storage device.

I run lsusb before and after plugging in the device, and find that the drive is manufactured by iCreate Technologies, Inc. I search around, and find a forum where someone gave a link to a windows application, claiming that it can remove the hidden CDROM image. I download the program, and reboot my girlfriend's computer into Windows. Upon plugging in the device, I learn that the CDROM has an autorun that opens a full screen application every time it is plugged in. How obnoxious! US Bank, if you are reading this, giving away a flash drive with a non-very-easy-to-remove CDROM image that pops up a full screen application every time you plug in in is *not* very cool. Just save your money and don't give away anything at all.

Luckily, the program worked as promised, and I was able to modify the device to be just a plain USB storage device, a normal flash drive. I plugged it in, and started the program. It asks to be run in either simple or complex mode, I tried both and I think that simple works fine. It recognized the device, and I clicked "Erase false" or something like that. Then I unplugged it, and plugged it back in. This time, windows didn't recognize that anything was plugged in. I started the program again, and it recognized it. I clicked "Low level reformat" or something like that, and then it set it up as a normal flash drive. Success!

Here is the program: http://rs156.rapidshare.com/files/99898386/i5128-PDx16V1.32.rar
I can vouch for the program in that it did what it is supposed to do and I didn't see any immediate negative side effects (virus, etc) but obviously use at your own risk. You need a program to unrar it, if you are in linux you can install unrar (if it isn't already installed) and then run unrar e filename. Otherwise in windows you can use 7-zip or winrar. The program comes with a dll file, which is required for the program to work. Just keep the .exe and the .dll together, and everyone will be happy.

Hopefully this will help someone turn their US Bank piece-of-crap-flash-drive-vertisement into something useful. Good luck!

Google Talk Groupchat

2007-12-12T03:31:00.000-06:00

Google talk has recently added a groupchat feature to their talk gadget. This allows multiple users to join a common channel, like IRC or a chatroom on AIM. This is a great feature, and I have personally used it a few times now for working on homework assignments with a small group.

However, it is currently only supported (AFAIK) on Google's Flash-based talk gadget. This is alright because of its compatibility with anything that can run flash, but a flash-based client can only do so much. I use Pidgin as my chat client. Formally known as Gaim, this open source program can connect to all major protocols, including the Jabber network, which is what gtalk is on.

So when I heard Google was supporting groupchats, I was eager to see if I would be able to connect to the server using pidgin, like I would be able to on any other Jabber server. Well, unfortunately, that isn't available (yet, I hope). It looked like I would be stuck using the flash client.

However, there is a way to connect to an existing groupchat, and even create a new room. Since Jabber is an open protocol, all messages are sent in plaintext, and are easy to understand. Using a tcpdump, a common packet sniffer, I was able to read a message I had sent to the room. On it was the name of the room, in the standard Jabber format: room@server/nick.

The name of the room was "private-chat" followed a string of hexadecimal characters, in the following format:
private-chat-00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
The server was groupchat.google.com.

With this data, we now know enough to connect from another client, such as Pidgin, following these easy steps:

1) Connect to your google talk account from Pidgin, iChat, or your Jabber client of choice.
2) Choose "Join a Chat", or the equivalent option to join a chat room.
3) To join an existing chat, either enter the room ID in the "Room" field. More on finding this later.
4) Use groupchat.google.com as a server
5) Use whatever nickname desired
6) Click connect!

Now, assuming the room ID was in the correct format, a new chat window should pop up. How do we find out what ID to use? There are two options that I know of currently: join the room the normal way (through an invite on Google's talk gadget) and capture an incoming/outgoing message using tcpdump, ethereal, wireshark, etc. Somewhere in the message there will be a field which specifies the room. It has to be in the above format; it isn't very hard to find. If this seems to technical, the other option is for someone else in the room to do this themselves, and post the room ID. The ID is the same for everyone in the room, and it doesn't change.

An alternative option would be to simply create a new room. If I were to create a totally random ID, say
private-chat-12345678-dead-beef-feed-fedcba987654, as long as it follows the rules it will work. If there is no one in the room already it will simply be created. Now the room ID can be sent to other members connecting from Jabber clients, or by using the "Invite" option in Pidgin, users on Google's talk gadget can be invited into the room.

So although Google has disabled convenient groupchatting (e.g. being able to connect to myroom@groupchat.google.com) they have at least left a way (intentionally?) for other clients to connect and create rooms.

xkcd

2007-12-08T01:44:00.000-06:00

I thought I would dedicate an entire post to the comic xkcd.

If you haven't checked it out already, I would strongly recommend doing so. In my humble opinion, this is the funniest comic on the internet. It describes itself as "A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language." I enjoy it because it often pulls computer science into its humor.

If you have time, check it out. The first 75 or so comics aren't that great (different style) but most of the others are worth reading.

Bonus info: each comic has a "tooltip" which appears when the mouse is held over the comic. This contains a short note from the author about the comic, often adding to the humor. I didn't realize this for a long time, and I wish I would have.

Half.com Update 3

2007-05-09T12:55:00.000-05:00

I realized I never completed the half.com saga. Well I never did get the books, but luckily half.com was nice and honest and gave me my money back. So will I buy from them again? Yes, but next time I'll pay more attention to the ratings of the sellers I buy from. No more buying from someone with only 8 feedbacks.

Finals

2007-05-09T12:44:00.000-05:00

It has been a while since I've posted here. I really don't know why I have a blog. I never post to it.

But it is now finals season, and rather than continue to study Gaussian elimination with scaled partial pivoting, I decided to make a new post.

Softball is coming up soon. I'm excited. Cari and I have been planning and working on this since February, and now it looks like it is going to pay off. We have a team, we have sponsors, we have jerseys, and we are playing a week from tomorrow. How exciting! I hope I don't perform poorly. I have a feeling I am going to be a bit rusty, but lets hope I don't make a total fool of myself. Here is my prediction, actually: I am going to start off surprisingly well (beginner's luck) for the first few games. Then I am going to get into a slump. Now here is where my path forks. Depending if I have enough time/motivation to practice over the summer, I will either work my back and become better than I was with the beginner's luck, or slump even further and begin to not enjoy myself. Needless to say, I plan on practicing softball a fair amount this summer.

You know, I sort of wish finals came around more often. I clean my desk, get caught up on finances, and re-discover all sorts of things I've started on the internet. What a great, productive time. Too bad I'm not doing what I need to be doing (studying).

Time to study...

Linux

2006-09-30T02:40:00.000-05:00

Linux is going to replace Windows. For me, at least. No more crashes, no more slow load times, no more Windows. Moving on to better things. Like Fedora Core 5 - it rocks.

Half.com Update 2

2006-09-17T17:42:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I got screwed by half.com.

Two of my books were sold to me by people who have since closed their accounts, and have not shipped books out to at least 5 or so people each (I know this by reading the feedback that started about September 1st or so, people saying "I haven't received my book yet").

Luckily, I should get my money back because half.com is owned by ebay, and they have a money back guarantee thing. Cause otherwise I would be very mad.

I'm mad as it is, cause now I need to buy them again and I won't get them for another week. I went practically a month without having books.

Stupid half.com.

Half.com Update

2006-09-07T19:51:00.000-05:00

So a followup on Half.com is necessary here. I am a little disgruntled right now, because I didn't realize until after I bought my books that the estimated shipping period is 7-21 days. I bought my books in the early 20s of August, and I still don't have half of them. School has started, I have reading assignments, and no books.

I suppose a lesson to be learned is if you are going to buy books from Half.com you should order them in early August. No later than the 7th, pretty much.

Can't beat the price, though.

The Curse that is Resnet

2006-09-04T23:28:00.000-05:00

Today I was blessed to be reminded why I am so happy I am not in the dorms. Don't get me wrong, I did like the dorms when I was there. However, today Cari (oh so foolishly) clicked on a link in a random IM sent to her. Sure enough, it wasn't really a picture of her that someone found; it was a virus! Now normally I wouldn't be too afraid, an IM virus can't be that dangerous, and sure enough, one reboot-into-safe-mode-and-scan later, as well as a system restore just for good measures, the computer showed no signs of illness. As soon as she got the virus, resnet made her try to log back in (not sure why or how it knew to make her do it) but when she did she was told her computer was 'infected' and she should fix it. Of course, they don't let you access the internet, so you need to fix it via other means.

Luckily, we were able to fix it, and so we optimistically logged back into resnet, smuggly celebrating our superiority to the virus that tried to 'infect' her dear computer. Unfortunately, resnet thought otherwise, and told us that she was still 'infected'. This caused much anger, because the computer had clearly recovered from its previous illness, and should now be allowed to access the internet. Then, strangely enough, Alyssa's computer was forced to re-log into resnet, and now it was told it had been 'infected'. This was odd, because nothing had been done to it to cause it to do so.

Thinking something was fishy, I called 1help (the U's tech help line) and told them the story. They said that Cari's computer might be better, they just needed to grant her the privilege of the internet back. Apparently, once you are told you have a virus, you don't get internet back until they say so. Alyssa, on the other hand, was in a bit of a predicament. Since resnet told her that she had a virus she must have one, even if there were no signs of one. So if I couldn't find the virus and remove it with a virus scan, the only option she had was to reformat her hard drive. Well seeing as that is more than a little harsh for a virus that has absolutely no signs of existence (and in my opinion doesn't exist at all) I think I will just tell them that I did find a virus and removed it, even though there are none on her computer. Then she will be granted internet again, and as long as they don't kick her off again, she is fine. If they do kick her off, then it is almost guaranteed they won't give her the internet back again unless she reformats.

Which is not cool.

Lets hope the virus detection scan resnet uses gives us a break... because I hate reinstalling everything after a reformat!

Last Day of Work

2006-08-24T09:27:00.000-05:00

Today is my last day of work. And to clarify, that means I will be dropping off the computer I've been using, and that is all. So I am done for the summer, which means I am very happy. Now just a week and a half and I start school, which I am actually looking forward to. It should be a good year.

Half.com

2006-08-22T11:31:00.000-05:00

I recently bought my books for school on half.com, and it was a very pleasant operation. It was very easy to find the books I needed, and the prices really were at least half off what they were listed at. Yay for books bought from anywhere BUT the university bookstore.

Burnout

2006-08-16T10:29:00.000-05:00

I had a job at United Rentals lined up for this summer. A friend of mine worked there, and it would have been a lot of fun. Then that job fell through, so I was desperate for work. That prompted me to return to my last summer's job, which I wasn't too happy about at first. Then I got a raise and started doing really interesting work, which made the job very worthwhile. I worked all of June, which was fine with me. I actually didn't mind going to work everyday. Then my boss left for the west coast to do a start-up. He was supposed to be gone a couple of weeks, but he ran into troubles and was gone for five weeks. I didn't work at all during those five weeks. It was a very nice vacation, just sitting around having fun and enjoying the summer. Now he is back, and I am working again.

I don't want to be working. That five week vacation killed my work ethic, and now I just don't want to work. I am burnt out. I want to be done! I would just quit now, but my boss said he needs me to get this stuff done before I go back to school.

So I am stuck here, working. I just have to keep telling myself, "Money is good. Money is good."

First Post...

2006-08-15T15:59:00.001-05:00

Is never very exciting, is it?