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Archives for December 2009

WordPress 2.9 Changes to Post Thumbnails

The world of WordPress Development is constantly changing. As well it should. No surprise there. Several days ago, I posted an article how to add the post thumbnail feature on your themes for the upcoming WordPress 2.9, which is currently in Beta.

Previously, the code for themes was:

<?php the_post_image( ‘post-thumbnail’ ); ?>

It has changed to:

<?php the_post_thumbnail( ‘post-thumbnail’ ); ?>

The entry in functions.php is still the same. This code activates post thumbnails feature. In case you’ve forgotten, it’s:

if ( function_exists( ‘add_theme_support’ ) )
add_theme_support( ‘post-thumbnails’ );

Lastly, Technosailor talks about the changes for WordPress 2.9. Great read.

Linux Driver for the Canon MX330

Linux Driver for the Canon MX330

The Canon MX330 is your All-In-One Office Inkjet Printer. First of all, it’s an inkjet printer with a resolution of 4800 x 1200 maximum color dpi. It uses Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering or (FINE) with a patented print head, firing ink droplets as small as 2pl. This delivers superb quality and detail in both your business documents and photos. The built-in 30 sheet Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) makes it easy to copy, scan or fax multiple documents without having to load them one at a time.

Second, it’s a copier. It uses Dual Color Gamut Technology that allows you to copy with confidence as this built-in technology automatically optimizes your originals so copies stay true to it, time after time, copy after time.

Third, it’s a photo printer. It has an Auto Photo Fix which is built-in, perfect for your home photo lab as it automatically categorizes your images into one of five types – Portrait, Scenery, Night Scenery, Snapshot with Scenery, and Snapshot with Night Scenery – then applies optimal image correction.

Fourth, it’s a fax. It uses Super G3 Fax connectivity, the business fax standard for color and PC facsimiles on plain paper meets the home office workhorse with 20 coded speed dials and up to 50 incoming pages2 to meet your every communication need.

Fifth, it’s a scanner. It’s capable of scanning up to 1200 x 2400 dpi and 19,200 x 19,200 dpi interpolated.

The unit comes with Ink Cartridges: PG-210 (Black Cartridge) and CL-211 (Color Cartridge), a Power Cord and a Telephone Line Cable. It’s missing a USB 2.0 printer cable. Thankfully, I had a spare one. As far as software is concerned, the unit comes with a Setup Software & User’s Guide CD-ROM for both PC and Mac. No Linux drivers.

Well, I have to do a little digging to find one. I found this site by Barton Phillips that provides a driver link from Canon’s website. Why Canon could not include this small program in the CD is beyond me.

I ran the install.sh shell script from the Terminal. I also ran or double clicked on one of the deb packages in the folder. I’m not sure if it was necessary. Afterwards, I ran CUPS and the program was able to identify the MX330 printer that’s connected via USB. I did a test print! It works.

Lenovo Q100 Review

Lenovo Q100 Review

I had a chance to play around with the Lenovo Q100 nettop. It’s a tiny computer about the size of an average external CD player. The footprint is impressively small at 6″w X 0.8″d X 6.80″h. We are talking inches here. It’s small enough that it comes with an installation plate that can be mounted on the back of flatscreen monitor as seen here. It can also stand up vertically  on its own stand as seen here. You can place it anywhere in your house, in the bedroom, living room or in the kitchen. It weighs only 1.67 lbs, and that includes the stand.

It’s very green. It consumes only 14 watts when in idle mode and 40 watts when fully loaded. So, what’s inside? It’s comes pre-installed with Windows XP SP3 Home Edition. It’s powered by a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom 230 processor with single-core Hyper-Threading technology, Intel 64 Technology, 533Mhz system bus and 512KB L2 cache. It has 1GB PC2-5300 667 MHZ DDR2 of RAM.  The hard drive is a 160 GB SATA 5400 RPM disk.

It contains 6 USB 2.0 ports, 2 front and 4 back. It has 2 speaker outputs, 1 front and 1 back, and 1 mic input in front. The audio is a High Definition (HD) audio, RealTek ALC662 codec. The network port is a built-in Gigabit ethernet RealTek RLT811DL.  Last but not least, it comes with a VGA port powered by an integrated Nvidia ION chipset MCP7A-ION.

The system is not a speed demon considering the price and footprint, but it performs admirably. It’s ideally suited for basic computing such as email and internet. I’ve used it for streaming videos with a videocam at ustream.tv. It worked great. Fry’s currently sells the Q100 for $189 pre-tax. While at it, you can get a Canon Pixma MX330 All-In-One Printer, Copier, Fax, Scanner for $59 with a $50 dollar rebate.  Technically, only $9.95.