Dark's Code Dump

Possibly useful

Disable touchpad acceleration on Debian Stretch (libinput, KDE Plasma)

For some unknown reason, there is no option exposed to disable acceleration when using a laptop touchpad with libinput. [insert gamer-oriented argument about how mouse acceleration is incompatible with muscle memory]

Thankfully it isn’t too difficult to remove it in the source code and recompile libinput.

  1. cd to a suitable empty folder
  2. apt-get source libinput10
    sudo apt build-dep libinput10
  3. cd to the downloaded folder (e.g. cd libinput-1.6.3)
  4. Edit the file src/filter.c, find:
    #defined TOUCHPAD_ACCELERATION 9.0
    And replace with:
    #defined TOUCHPAD_ACCELERATION 1.0
  5. debuild -b -uc -us
  6. Glance over the output to make sure build has succeeded
  7. cd ..
    sudo dpkg -i libinput10_1.6.3-1_amd64.deb
    sudo dpkg -i libinput-bin_1.6.3-1_amd64.deb
     (update version number as necessary)
  8. Reboot

24th May 2018 Add Comment

Slow upload on Kimsufi server

Recently I spent far too long diagnosing a slow upload speed on a low-end Kimsufi 2G server with an old SiS900 ethernet adapter. The download speed was full 100mbit, but upload was less than 0.1mbit. The issue did not persist into rescue mode, which led me to assume a software issue.

The symptoms matched an issue with TCP windows, or with half duplex vs full duplex, but neither of those turned out to be the case.

The issue turned out to be IRQ related. Simply blacklisting a few unnecessary modules (parallel port, sound) and disabling acpi solved the issue

2018 update:
The exact steps you should take:

Create /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf, containing:

blacklist snd_intel8x0
blacklist ppdev
blacklist parport
blacklist parport_pc

In /etc/default/grub, add acpi=off to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT and rebuild your grub config.

27th December 2016 Add Comment

Fix for Gigabyte motherboard boot loop on resume from sleep

From what I’ve read, this seems to affect a large percentage of Gigabyte motherboards since S3 sleep became a ‘thing’.

The issue is as follows: on a significantly overclocked Gigabyte motherboard (high end or low end), when resuming from S3 sleep the screen never wakes up and after about 15-20 seconds, the system repeatedly turns off and on again every few seconds. The only way to break this loop is to completely remove power from the PSU for several seconds.

The issue is connected with PCIe power, as evidenced by the various reported fixes of disabling onboard NIC power saving and reverting from Intel/AMD AHCI drivers to the Microsoft default ones.

The real fix is very simple: Use Balanced power mode in windows and check that PCI Express Link State Power Management is set to ‘Moderate Power Savings’ and not ‘Off’. The fact that the default setting of moderate does not have the issue explains why it is not more widely reported.

23rd May 2015 Add Comment

Fix for last.fm scrobbler not working on Windows 8

Since the 2.1.30 update, if your media player is running as admin (this may only apply to Winamp), the scrobbler needs to run with admin privileges too.

18th January 2013 Add Comment

Fix for Samsung 750 and 950 series monitors 120Hz “Not Optimum Mode”

2018 Update: The below advice applies to non-standard resolutions (i.e. anything but 120hz 1080p), which can drop to Not Optimum Mode after 60 seconds consistently. This is not the same as the roughly once per few days Not Optimum Mode which is a fact of life with these monitors.

Use 120.8Hz custom refresh rate. Both Windows and the monitor’s OSD will show 121Hz. Actual 121.0Hz will cause the error without fail, it must be a tiny bit below. I guess there is something weird going on with the tolerances in the monitor – I’ve noticed things like mains current spikes contribute to the problem.

This may apply more to HDMI 1440×1080 or 1280×720 than to DisplayPort 1080p.

My exact settings for 1440x1080x120Hz over HDMI are as follows:

15th January 2013 2 Comments

How to fix issue where you can only type in the address bar of Internet Explorer 9

Had a weird issue where every input field on webpages in IE9 would redirect focus to the address bar.

Turning off Protected Mode fixed it, probably not a great fix but whatever

3rd January 2013 Add Comment

Far Cry 3 registry error after copying files from another PC

If you get the error “cannot find essential information in the registry” and Uplay will not accept your Steam key, do the following:

Transfer the registry key HLKM\Software\Wow6432Node (if 64-bit)\Ubisoft\Far Cry 3

Update value of ‘InstallDir’ as necessary

31st December 2012 Add Comment

DarkELEC Release 3

Just an interim release for now as I don’t have my proper dev environment (TV, Pi-compatible internet connection, etc.). Once I figure out a way of getting networking to my Pi, I’ll throw in the promised features such as USB audio support.

No idea at all if this works (I can’t do much more than play about in the menu with no networking), but it certainly seems a lot smoother and more responsive than r2.

There’s been no significant changes on my part, but likely a very significant amount from upstream (namely the extra codecs, 512mb support, etc.).

 

Download: http://shit.weeaboo.com/darkelec3.zip
Sauce: https://github.com/darkimmortal/DarkELEC
More details: http://darkimmortal.com/2012/05/darkelec-raspberry-pi-optimised-openelec-fork/

2nd November 2012 30 Comments

DarkElec Release 2

NEW VERSION! http://darkimmortal.com/2012/11/darkelec-release-3/

Finally got DarkELEC to compile successfully with the latest upstream changes from OpenELEC along with a few tweaks that I’ve since forgotten 😛

Observations for this build:

  • Fairly high idle CPU usage (70%+) sadly
  • libCEC works on LG and Sony TVs now, however all input stops working once you begin playing a video (a complete deal-breaker for me personally 🙁 )
  • Built in streaming services still work
  • Overall smoother UI
  • More reliable Wifi
  • Thumbnails aren’t missing/oddly coloured

Download: http://shit.weeaboo.com/darkelec2.zip
Sauce: https://github.com/darkimmortal/DarkELEC
More details: http://darkimmortal.com/2012/05/darkelec-raspberry-pi-optimised-openelec-fork/

4th August 2012 39 Comments

DarkELEC – Raspberry Pi optimised OpenELEC fork

NEW VERSION! http://darkimmortal.com/2012/08/darkelec-release-2/

None of the currently available solutions do a perfect job with running XBMC on the Pi, however OpenELEC comes by far the closest, in spite of its locked down nature.

This fork aims to remedy the very few flaws in its implementation and to focus 100% on the Pi, while also sticking to the upstream and incorporating its updates.

Features:

  • Low idle CPU usage (< 15%)
  • Smoother and more responsive
  • Built in XBMC addons: iPlayer, custom fixed version of Demand 5, various unofficial repos
  • iPlayer, 4oD, Demand 5, ITV Player, SportsDevil all fully tested+working
  • Improved wifi connectivity
  • Added test-connman scripts for easy wifi setup (see here)
  • Added wireless_tools (iwconfig etc.)
  • Added rndis_wlan wifi driver (broadcom 4320 chipset)
  • Easy SD card installation script for building from source (./install [block device])

Download pre-built SD Card image: darkelec1.zip (~75MB)
(Fixed partition size at just under 2GB total, you can expand manually with GParted if necessary)

Source: https://github.com/darkimmortal/DarkELEC
(Refer to Building and Installing OpenELEC for Raspberry Pi – expect build issues on anything but a stock debian squeeze i686 install)

31st May 2012 102 Comments