Update your BIOS from Ubuntu (or really, without windows)

OK - so in the process of mucking around to see what's killing my system, I decided a BIOS update might be a good idea -  I was using A01 and they'r eup to A06 these days.  One small hitch - the update comes as - you guessed it - a EXE file.

What to do?  Virtualbox is a no-go, because of course the hardware that the guest see is *virtual* (duh).  Make a small partition for XP?  Hell no.  Simlple solution - remaster a DOS boot disk with the BIOS update.

Step 1 - download your BIOS update.  BE SURE THAT IT WILL OPERATE IN DOS.

Step 2 - download a DOS boot image:
http://www.bootdisks.us/ms-dos/5/ms-dos-bootable-cd-images.html

I chose DOS 6.22.

Step 3 - install isomaster (sudo aptitude install isomaster)

Step 4 - open the DOS iso in isomaster, add the BIOS update, do CTRL-S to save the new image.

Step 5 - burn the ISO to disk.  Don't just copy the ISO to disk - burn an image.  But you knew that already ;)

Step 6 - boot from the new CD.  At the prompt, switch to the CD (drive R: if you used DOS 6.22).  Run the BIOS updater.  Dance around on one foot while sacrificing a chicken.

All done :)  While technically you are not using Ubuntu to update the BIOS, you're not having to nstall windows either so count your blessings!

Lobotomy

OK - so I have some bad, bad RAM.  Getting some new modules ASAP, but in the meantime, the 'memmap' kernel parameter is serving me well.

I now have this line in /boot/grub/menu.lst:

# kopt=root=UUID=[some stuff] memmap=140M$580M memmap=140M$1600M ro

I've added two memmap options to the end.  The pseudo-syntax is [how much][unit]$[where][unit].  So I'm sitting on 140 megs starting at 580 megs and also 140 megs starting at 1600 megs.

run 'sudo grub-update' to apply the changes after editing menu.lst.  'free -m' will now report a missing ~280MB upon reboot.  

Now the laptop and I have something on common - holes in our memory ;)

GIMP plus Python = fun

My latest GIMP plug-in:
Palette to Image
http://registry.gimp.org/node/18629

I was looking for a quick way to dump a palette into an image - I had created a GIMP palette of Union inks (for screenprinting) and wanted a quick reference image for third parties. I could not find a built-in function, so this plugin was born: "Palette to Image".

The Python-GIMP bindings are quite good - anything found in Help->Procedure browser can be called from a plug-in. In Python, just take the procedure name, put pdb. on the front, and change dashes to underscores. For example in the browser 'gimp-image-new()' becomes 'pdb.gimp_image_new()'. Easy :)

My other python plug-ins:

Export Layers as PNG
http://registry.gimp.org/node/18440

Measure Active Path
http://registry.gimp.org/node/17235

Import Kuler (ASE) palettes
http://registry.gimp.org/node/10325

Find and Replace Text
http://registry.gimp.org/node/12212

Count tiles for a mosaic
http://registry.gimp.org/node/15080

Add Rule Of Thirds guides
http://registry.gimp.org/node/11567

Image courtesy of http://www.mahvin.com