First, I am in process of getting everything migrated over to a new server.  Yes, I am dumping GoDaddy and Squarespace for a self run Linode.

Pertaining to the first point, I have been working on getting Teamspeak and Minecraft working on there first, then the others.  In my escapades here I have run into a few issues I had to overcome, and with that comes the third point.

Third, and lastly, I am going to be doing a video series on running, adminning, and tricks to RHEL (and its clones) servers.  I will eventually get to desktop orientated tasks (GNOME 3 has a bundle of hidden gems).  The idea is to use the RHEL docs as a guide, and step thru the commands with commentary.  GNOME3 (and Cinnamon for that matter) have screencasting software built in, so this will be rather easy. 

My first few videos will be getting RHEL6.2 installed and prepped.  There are steps to locking down your setup that should be obvious, but from what I have been seeing around -- rarely implemented.  Another will be on creating custom daemons.  Another is on Red Hat's new SPICE protocol for VMs.  This is going to be a good one :D  If you haven't tried SPICE, you are missing on alot of power there.  Think warp drive for thin client, or remote VM shares.  I was blown away a few months back when I first tried it out.

Any other ideas are welcome, but for starting out, the first dozen or so are pretty much in stone, so don't fret if your idea isn't done immediately.  My time lately has been short, so I am limited to a few videos a week tops once I get the Linode done (first priority, I a pissing alot of cash away by not using it).

• Kernel
• Pulse
• Pulse Plugin

I noted that the kernel could see all my devices, as lsusb and lspci showed them properly.

When I tried to load pulse, thats when the fireworks began.  A yum reinstall and downgrade proved not worthwhile.  After a bit more digging around, I noticed that one trick can kill a few birds with barely a pebble -- vaping the .pulse config folder.

Well that problem has been neutralized, and I figure that I see alot of nifty sound hacks that can easily run you down this path, and alot of people that say PA worked fine for a while, now its broke.  Perhaps this is/was the solution.

That said, here we go!

Unlocking:

1. Read over the following links, as they are handy and will have useful info for the remainder of this whole process -- General Atrix 4G Modding info    Unlock procedure that I followed
2. Backup your data folder on the Atrix itself.  This will go bye-bye when you are unlocking.
3. Download and install the Windows Motorola Drivers
4. Download the unlock tool
5. Unzip the archive.  Open the file that was enclosed called MAIN.BAT
6. Follow the instructions.
7. Note -- there may be a part in which you will error out with a missing/unbootable OS 'ERROR 0x1000' message.  Thats normal.  Get back into FASTBOOT mode as instructed earlier in the procedure.  You may continue along then just fine.  I did run into this, and had no issues.  There are some allusions to other errors that can crop up that can be alleviated by just continuing.

Some Notes to keep in mind:

1. If you rooted your device, when complete, re-root.
2. If you installed CWM recovery, you may need to reinstall to fix things.  CWM recovery requires an unlocked and rooted device to properly install and function.  The ROMManager utility did the trick for me, and did not need to go hunting for other recovery ROMs.  That said, I don't have nandroid support, which most others tout as a main feature.  So, perhaps I should :P
3. And a forewarning, any use of CWM recovery to do backups or restores will require the unit to be plugged into a charger -- not a PC.

On to the rooting!

1. On your Atrix running Android 2.3.4, goto Settings -> Applications -> Development -> USB Debugging and tick that box.
2. Download and extract the following tools.
3. Naviagate in a terminal or in the GUI to that location.
4. Run 'run_to_root_your_droid3.sh' (yes it says Droid3, but works for the Atrix 4G too)
5. Follow the instructions that the prompt gives you.  This is in a terminal window.
6. For me, I had to set the USB mode to Windows Media Sync for the process to kick in.
7. The Atrix 4G will reboot several times, if the process doesn't proceed, unlock the phone.  It will automatically continue.
8. If you are uncertain as to the success of the rooting procedure, install and run 'Root Checker Basic' from JOEYKRIM off the App Store and it will say either way the result of your rooting.
9. Done!

 Furter reading:

CyanogenMod Atrix Page

Original Instructions I followed

Beats the long and hard way of transcode or faad on the terminal :D

So what exactly did I do? 

1) Gather supplies.  You want a laptop or netbook with storage, bluetooth, and a spare power brick if need be.  I use mine at work for metal and podcast consuption, so I need ~7 Hrs of charge which means have a brick handy.  You will also need an A2DP compatible bluetooth headset.  In the future I am looking to utilize one's mobilie phone to tap in via a shoutcast stream, but thats another project nearly.

2) Wipe system.  Drop a GNU/Linux distro on it.  I found that Fedora 15 is great, but CentOS 6 and Scientific Linux 6 are great too.  My two systems are actually on SL6.  I had to see if an EL6 distro could hack it.  Actually in many ways its better.  But to each their own.  I can see SuSE doing splendid too.  Go minimal with the install.  You won't need much.  Codecs, players and a desktop are all you need.  Hence why I kind of prefer an EL distro -- they tend to be much more lightweight than the more bleeding edge flavors. 

3) Install your media player of choice.  I found that in all its faults, Rhythmbox actually is pretty damn nice.  Exaile, and Clementine are good choices too for the GTK fanboys.  Amarok is a sweet choice for the KDE crowd. 

4) Enhace with codecs.  Grab all the codecs you need.  I tend to go ape here, just in case I have a video that I feel like pulling up, I can.  The one perk is, if you want, you can make this a portable DVD player too rather easily.  I find that although it sounds obvious, few actually put that feature to use.  Why not?  You paid for it.

5) Streamline your services.  You don't need a mail server most likely, so kill that.  Kill off all daemons that are not helpful to music, video, or podcast playback.  I do leave the cron stuff there though, since the cleanup runs are worth it.

6) Tweak the power management.  Allow for lid closure.  Dont have power down when you slap the lid down.  This allows for you to tuck it away somewhat and keep it out of danger while you work or whatever it is you do while entertaining yourself.

As stated, I plan to have more to this when I am all done.  A kickstart file for Fedora and EL6 are in the works.  And shoutcast capabilities are shortly thereafter.  I see no reason not to put the old machines to good use :D

I was able to using simple Google search terms such as, "red plum opt out", the removal pages.  But for convenience I shall share them.  I have also found a direct marketing group that has an online management form, and a physical mail stop for those (like me) who are going to be damned if they get an email and telephone number in order to satisfy their online tactics.

Red Plum Opt Out

Clipper Magazine Opt Out

DMA Choice Web Form & Information

FTC FAQ

Consumerist Article which has a wealth of things to do

OptOutPreScreen.com

Happy computing! (And happy mailbox contents :P )

Andrew.

More to come!

For those curious, I'm running Scientific Linux on my two other laptops, and F14 still on my gamer's laptop.  SL6 is great, and works like a champ for doing PC repair duties (AV, spinrite, data backups, etc).  I am debating on keeping the other that way or not.  I am going to get into netcast production soon with it, and I am not sure if EL6 is ready for doing that quite yet.  Most of the EL6 repos are quite barren, with word that as soon as CentOS 6 releases, the missing packages will reappear in EL6 form (many are there for EL5).

That said, I am sofar loving GNOME 3.  Love the changes to workflow sofar, and the new NetworkManager is just downright awesome.  Finally one can set up the unit to connect over the mobile data device when a preferred wireless network is not present automatically.  This will make my life simpler, even if by a small amount.  These small amounts add up :P

Any rags on F15 will follow once I have been hammering this netbook for a week or so.  Also, any tips or tricks will be noted in their own posts, and have a section on the Fedora Resources section.  There is a thread on FedoraForum.org that has GNOME 3 tweaks, and there is a PowerTool that someone has over on Sourceforge that I need to start playing with.  Results will be also posted upon, and if worthy of further notes, again will be put into the Fedora Resources section.

Happy Hacking with F15 :P