I know from a Cruiser group I am involved with that this is a problem everywhere. Why don’t the ACC start campaigning motorists to watch out for motorcycles. Oh yeah, ACC is in financial strife. But the “Intersection” campaign still seems to be running. So why not one aimed at motorists to watch for motorcycles. I recall a campaign not long ago for cyclists. Which was pretty short lived in it self and I’m sure they have the same problems.

I highly recommend you Watch this Video. It’s a classic case.

Come on New Zealand, Keep our roads safe for everyone. Not just in your own little world.

Well, I have a licence for Windows XP professional, and while I am not one to generally endorse Microsoft. I find myself having installed Windows XP on my Acer Aspire 4315. I’m going to dual boot it with Ubuntu 8.10 when it is released.

My decision to install Windows came from the small hardware issues I was having with Ubuntu 8.04. I was having intermittent wireless problems with the Atheros wireless drivers, Printing issues and various other little things under Linux. I am pleased to say that I have no such problems under Windows XP. I do hope Intrepid (Ubuntu 8.10) will solve many if not all the issues I was having. But for now, Windows XP is working like a dream. I guess I am hoping Linux will have no hardware issues once Windows XP becomes completely unsupported as I will not upgrade from Windows XP to any other Windows version.

I almost hate to say I am running Windows XP on it. but, like I said while I am not generally one to endorse Microsoft products. We live in a world where hardware is designed for Windows and is generally better supported under Windows.

I have got everything working like a dream, Sound, Modem, Network, Wireless, Dual View/TV out, Webcam etc…. I have even found Windows Live Writer to be an excellent desktop blogging package.

For those of you looking for Windows XP drivers for Acer Aspire 4315 Notebook. Google search the following drivers. All implement well and so far have given me no cause for concern

AHCI_Intel_v7.5.0.1017_XP
Audio_Realtek_v6.0.1.5413_R167_XP_Vista
Chipset_Intel_v8.3.0.1013_XP32
Lan_Marvell_v10.15.4.3
Modem_Lite-on_v.2.1.77.9
TouchPad_Synaptics_v9.1.11.0_XP32
VGA_Intel_v6.14.10.4847win2k_xp
Wireless_Atheros_V5.3.0.67_XP_XB63_XB62(WHQL)

If you know of better drivers please leave a comment. These work for me but I can’t guarantee they will work for everyone else..

For this you simply need the Windows 9x/XP drivers for your specific adapter. On my system I was installing for the Acer (??) WarpLink 802.11b Adapter. you can use lsusb or lspci to find out the name of your adapter and search for drivers online if you need to.

First you need to install NDISWrapper, I found it easier to install this from the Livna repository with a simple

yum install ndiswrapper

Once ndiswrapper is installed you can simply apply the following commands. Be sure to change eu3nic.inf to the correct .inf file for your adapters driver.

sudo ndiswrapper -i eu3nic.inf

next:
check that the driver got installed by executing:

sudo ndiswrapper -l

next make sure ndiswrapper is loaded at bootup:

sudo ndiswrapper -m

next configure your Wlan card: Replace essid with your networks ESSID and enc with your networks key

sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid
sudo iwconfig wlan0 enc

Use DHCP to "get" an IP address assigned to your card:

sudo dhclient wlan0

NOTE: if you don’t get an IP address for some reason you may have to click on SYSTEM then ADMINISTRATION then NETWORK and deselect and then reselect the check box to the left of your wireless entry, then run the above dhclient command again. Also if you are running in a shell as root you can omit the sudo in the front of the commands.

You also need to be aware that any updates of the systems kernel will mean the NDISWrapper kernel module will need to be reinstalled on the new kernel

Am I wrong on this. I don’t really want to test it. But today we had someone do just that.

We were sitting at a red light with a car next to us turning right who was also stopped, or so we thought. It was as though the driver had fallen asleep with an automatic car and their foot had come off the break. Before we knew it. This car was half way through the bloody intersection. Stunned all Sarah & I could do was look at each other shaking our heads laughing. I don’t know what the people in the car behind them thought.

Now, It is fortunate that there was no traffic coming from the opposite direction or this could have been a serious accident. Do people not take their lives seriously. Hell, we’ve even had a TV advertising campaign about taking risks at intersections. I just don’t get the mentallity of some drivers. As it was we were there for a good minute before the lights turned green.