John Boal's Blog

T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II

2012-01-27T11:39:15.34-05:00

I've had my SGS2 for just a month now, and have finally mastered it. The phone is now running a custom ROM from Paradox (root) and has all the software I need to make life good. Last month I figured I'd finally switch over to T-Mobile after working here for a year and a half... Got a pair of Samsungs (Galaxy S for my wife and SGS2 for me) at Costco for total cost of $179. Of course I'll have to pay the higher rate plan but it still saves money over the full retail price in the store.

I used the Skyrocket Root kit for rooting the phone on 2.3.5 (i believe it also works on 2.3.6), and downloaded the 2.3.6 Paradox ROM from http://downloadandroidrom.com/file/GalaxyS2TMobile/roms which has HUGE battery improvements:

and WiFi calling. Note: it does NOT have the Swype keyboard, but I don't use that one anyway. Been really happy with the ROM, since it is stripped of almost all of the standard bloatware. Even had to download FB, Twitter, and MyAccount but that's no big deal. I love the slick effects and UI tweaks. Can't wait til there's a new version available.

Just make sure you install Clockwork Recovery Mod before rooting.
You can get the root kit from links at the forum http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1340710
just follow the instructions, put the phone in usb debug mode and hook er up.

System Process on Acer Netbook Consuming >50% CPU in Periodic Spikes

2011-12-28T17:58:24.586625-05:00

For the last month or so, I have been noticing a bunch of CPU spikes on my netbook, which is really low-powered for a CPU anyway. So, I got the latest version of Process Explorer, did a little web searching, and had come to no solution until today when I found this blog post by one of the creators of Process Explorer, Mark Russinovich who was experiencing the same issue. So I am clearly not as smart as he is, but I read his post and since he mentioned a Broadcom network driver that ended up being his culprit, I figured I would investigate my drivers.

Sure enough, my wireless network board built into the Acer Netbook (previously blogged) has a Broadcom driver. I didn't go to the extent he did about poking around and such, I just went to the Acer website to look for the driver to see if there was an update. Turns out I had the latest version. So, just for grins I went to the control panel and uninstalled the driver for that device. It had me reboot, and since I didn't delete the software itself, the driver reinstalled automatically on boot. Once I got the network reconfigured and back on WiFi, everything has been running smoothly with no more CPU spiking.

Good to know how he tracked down the issue, however, since it may occur again in the future. Let this be known: Broadcom driver users - beware of CPU spikes...

Adding Boot Lighting in the MINI

2011-12-23T14:02:24.211-05:00

It was so dang dark in the back of the new MINI Cooper S Clubman boot, I decided that the one tiny wimpy little 194 incandescent lamp that is installed there was sadly inadequate. I proceeded to tear into the boot liner on the driver's side, and install new lighting on the ceiling. I had a flexible LED strip with 30 daylight color (5000K) LED's, so I wired it into a tiny black wire and ran the wire under the headliner rubber strip over to the wall, and tucked it inside the plastic piece that protects the airbag in the corner. I removed the tie-down latch screws (which are T40 star by the way). I removed the two plastic locks in the front of the wall cover by taking out the plastic center pin first, then using a screwdriver and pliers to lift up and pry out the two locks, releasing the wall board. I ran the wire down behind the board, and popped out the light lens and wire. I soldered the wires together to tap in to the light and voila! Next, I tacked the light strip up to the ceiling with some staples (temporarily) until I figure out the right glue to glue it down permanently. And dang if 3 of the 30 LEDs didn't just go out after I mounted it. Oh well, it's REALLY much better to be able to see in the cargo bay!

New MINI Cooper S Clubman

2011-12-15T13:37:09.008-05:00

My new MINI Cooper S Clubman arrived home tonight! Let's MOTOR!

New Netbook Acer Aspire One - AO722

2011-12-14T17:15:21.171875-05:00

Got the new netbook a few days ago from the corner Costco store for the same price as I paid for my last one a year ago, $300.

Here's a link to the Acer site for this model.

It's this year's model of the basically the same thing as last year, but with a bit larger screen, bigger hard drive, and more RAM. The resolution on this screen is 1366x768, taller than the 600 line screen on last year's model. This is very useful, because there are still many sites and apps that are set up for a minimum line resolution of 640 (VGA) so sometimes they are hard to get to work on the old model.

This model has 320GB hard drive and 2GB of ram, which can be upgraded to 4GB (recommended: $30 at Crucial). This ram is intended to be upgraded, as the bottom cover has one screw and then it slides forward (don't pry it up) to remove. Ram upgrade was completely uneventful and has been working without incident.

The screen is a little bigger (11.6" widescreen CineCrystal [whatever that means]) and it has an AMD C-Series Processor C-50 (1.0GHz, 1MB L2 cache) for a CPU. It's not a speed demon, but hey, it's a netbook. It's hyper-threaded, and mostly adequate. There have been some issues with the Windows 7 Home Premium OS where the System process suddenly jumps to 50% CPU utilization, but after flashing to the latest version of the BIOS (1.07) it seems to have lessened the issue if not eliminated it.

It has the standard webcam, multi-card reader, touchpad, N WiFi, and an Ethernet port. With a VGA, 3 USB's and an HDMI port can connect to most everything.

I have officially turned over my old large laptop, and now use this netbook for everything I do (YES including software development). My son now enjoys the use of last year's model. In short, a decent netbook and no real troubles. Biggest improvements over last year's is the larger screen size and resolution, the larger memory and hard drive, and Windows Home Premium instead of Starter. I use it both at home and at the office, and it's kept up with everything I've asked it to do. So far so good, let's see what they come up with next year...

New Headphones

2011-08-26T14:10:30.2095-04:00

Just got some new SkullCandy Ink'd ear bud headphones today. They sound pretty darn good for only costing $10 brand new (including shipping [eBay]). Nice deep bass response and crisp highs also. They are very simple, and don't have any widgets for iPhone or whatever. But, they get the job done and they are comfortable to wear all day long. They don't do as great a job at keeping outside sounds out of the ear, but it's not too bad. These guys do make a bunch of higher-end models which have more features, and for more $ of course. Strange thing is they aren't labeled Left and Right so I have no idea which is which... not that it really matters much.

Recipe: 0 Carb Pork

2011-04-10T20:19:21.749-04:00

OK well its not exactly 0 carbs, but really really low. Follow instructions to the letter

Pork roast, sliced thin
Bell Peppers, 1 red, 1 green
whole yellow onion, sliced and diced
1 medium tomato
2 carrots, sliced thin (1/8")
cliantro, parsley handful each
1 bottle white wine (375ml)
Sriracha rooster sauce 1tbsp
fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Marinate pork in white wine, enough to cover it for about an hour. Drink a glass of the white wine while this process is underway. Dice all vegetables into bite sized pieces while drinking the wine. Watch your fingers. Dump the wine from the pork into a big pan/pot and add the onions and carrots. Start the pork on medium heat, and add some water to boil- just enough to cover the pork. Stir/flip often. When the water boils off, brown them lightly. Meanwhile, boil the carrots and onions in the wine for 5 minutes then add all the rest of the veggies. Stir often. Add Sriracha while its cooking and stir in.

Pour yourself another glass of wine, and dump the rest into the veggies and a touch in the pork also. Combine the pork with the veggies. By the time you are done with the wine, pork and veggies are done. Serve hot. Also works with chicken.

What is an Agile Coach?

2011-02-02T23:23:37.053-05:00

An Agile Coach is a talented professional developer who is brought in to a team to help them raise their bar of excellence. This person is a servant-leader, an advocate, a teacher, a helper, and a technical resource as well.

A coach is there to guide the team, help them to do their best. This should be true of a coach on any team. An Agile Coach is someone who is well versed in the practices of an agile developer - XP, SCRUM, LEAN, etc. They have been around a few blocks and have some experience in various teams in various circumstances.

This person is sought out for their experience and their ability to convey their knowledge in a positive way. They are an active and participating member of the team - not someone on the outside. The Agile Coach should be developing code right along with the rest of the team. Sometimes the coach can be the team's representative to outside meetings also, where a developer is needed rather than a scrum master.

The coach should work directly with the scrum master, and be aligned in being able to protect the team from outside influence, as well as randomizations from meetings and questions from other groups. The Agile Coach should show leadership in how code should be written, and the behavior expected from the development team when it comes to coding both main-line and tests.

The coach should encourage continuous learning and growth, facilitating this wherever and whenever possible. He should encourage the team members strive to improve, while being there to assist and support them while they do, and ensure their success. The coach should set the tone for the team in modeling the attitude that will best serve the client, customers, and users.

COACH: Champion, Observer, Advocate, Cheerleader, Helper

Upgrading the RAM on Acer Aspire One D255

2011-01-11T00:55:23.016375-05:00

I ordered the new 2GB chip from Crucial (2GB, 204-pin SODIMM Upgrade DDR3) and got it today. around $28 shipped. The machine has only one slot for a single DIMM, so 2GB is the max for this netbook.

I flipped it over and looked on the bottom, to find about 9 screws. Don’t undo them – they are NOT required to be removed to replace the RAM module. Instead, on the bottom of the netbook is a large plastic panel that takes up most of the bottom of the unit. This is the only thing that needs to be removed to swap out the memory. Be sure to remove the battery of course before proceeding.

You will need a sturdy knife and a 1/8” flat blade screwdriver. Begin by prying up the plastic panel (carefully) with the screwdriver near the battery lock slide switch. Then, you will need to use the knife probably to get in under it and pop up the remaining areas, just working your way around the edge.

Note: there are three glued areas where they have put in tabs that connect the electrical shielding on the underside of the plastic plate to grounds on the internals of the system. You will need to break each of the three in order to pry the plastic plate off the back of the unit. They are pretty tough, so be careful you don’t damage the plastic as you pry it loose. There is one in particular that gave me a bit of trouble on the rear of the unit, back by the battery about an inch in from the battery slide switch on the right side of the unit. This was so tough it actually left a dimple in the plastic panel because I had to pry it so hard.

Once the plastic panel is off, just locate the ram module (directly under the FN key on the keyboard) and slide the release catch on the module (on the left side looking at the unit bottom-up) with the screwdriver and it should pop up and out. Replace it with the new 2GB module and snap it into place.

Replace the plastic cover by just pressing it back into place, and you should be good to go. Fire up the unit again and voila! You now have 2GB ram! Nothing else needs to be done on setup, configuration or anything – it will just all work!

Total costs

Costco Netbok: $299.99 +tx

Crucial RAM $28.50 including shipping

It’s a great netbook, but just needs some RAM to make it really work well Enjoy!

Trust In Tests

2011-01-11T00:00:37.93825-05:00

Unit tests (and indeed all automated tests) are meant to be a safety net and status indicator for the project. They tell us when we have a problem, or if something is behaving differently than it did before. Sometimes, tests can be written that are inconsistent, erratic, or just downright flakey. I am of the opinion that these kinds of tests are not trustworthy, and as such, should NOT be part of a build.

Sometimes, tests are written with inherent problems that cause them to be unreliable:

race conditions
incomplete test data
relying on external data
date/time calculations dependent on the current date/time
many other factors

If any of these kinds of issues are causing the tests to be inconsistent (that is pass and/or fail when run multiple times with no code changes), then these tests can’t be relied upon to give us the safety we require in a test suite. I recommend that teams immediately identify these types of tests and either exclude them or outright fix them so they can be trusted to give the right feedback.

Writing good tests is not just something we’re born with, it takes practice and skill. Skills like these are very important and very much required for developers to be successful. There are a lot of good books that we can read to acquire these skills, here are a few links which may help.

xUnit Test Patterns

http://www.amazon.com/xUnit-Test-Patterns-Refactoring-Code/dp/0131495054/ref=sr_1_1

Agile Testing

http://www.amazon.com/Agile-Testing-Practical-Guide-Testers/dp/0321534468/ref=sr_1_1

Testing Extreme Programming

http://www.amazon.com/Testing-Extreme-Programming-Lisa-Crispin/dp/0321113551/ref=sr_1_6