A certain abbreviation has been thrown at me by the same person time and time again, and I shudder every time I hear it. I believe he made up this abbreviation all his own, and he’s just off in his own little world when he uses it. However, I know that every group of people has their own “slang” (so to speak) and different ways of talking about something, so in an effort to gauge whether or not this term is more common than I think, I ask you;

I2S (literally spoken: eye two ess)
In the context of Computers and Technology:

(1) What does this term mean to you? What is this term an abbreviation for?
(2) What could it mean?

Comments are open for all, and I’ll follow up in a week with the actual meaning of this term (around work), and opinions based off your responses.

Not without a touch of irony, Xbox 360 Gamercard widgets SUCK.

Every, single, one of them.
And it’s all for 2 simple problems, and I have never seen these problems exist in any other Widget I’ve used.

1) Why, oh why, do they not UPDATE whenever things change?
I have multiple Gamercard widgets running in tandem, watching a few key friends’ gamercards. I noticed the other day that someone’s list of recently played games hadn’t changed. I check live.xbox.com itself, and that individual played plenty of new games over the last week.

So I click on the (i) configuration button and resubmit his gamertag, oh look, it refreshed, score, karma, and game list updated.
I touch the dashboard once a day, all my other widgets poll and update after a set period of time, why the hell can’t these widgets do it too?

2) I run multiple Gamercard widgets in tandem, and after a reboot, they all start showing the EXACT SAME GAMERCARD!
This pisses me off most of all.

I run multiple weather widgets, they all remember their respective Zip Code and Measurement Unit settings.
I used to run multiple World Clock widgets (before I found the Simple World Clock widget). They all saved their respective timezones.
I run two Gmail widgets for two different accounts. They remember their own settings.

So why the hell, do THREE DIFFERENT Gamercard widgets, suck so badly by comparison?
Not to mention that one of them doesn’t even save the gamertag! After a reboot, you have to re-input the gamer tag to see it again.

It’s an absolute joke, and it annoys me immensely.

No less than a day after the last post (yes, I know, I’m damn behind) I was asking numerous folks all over IRC that I knew that X.org experience for help.

A lot of people gave me common answers (check your logs, check your modelines, check your HorizSync/VertRefresh values, use DDC, etc.).
I found a lot of cool tools, including a perl-based ModeLine calculator up somewhere on SourceForge, as well as plenty of guides as to how to do all the raw number crunching. That last part was the most fun at all!
Crunch these numbers! vim them in xorg.conf! Restart X!
Failure D=

I managed to hang around #xorg on Freenode IRC long enough to talk to “ajax”, and the following occured:

{VxJasonxV} Would anyone here be able to help me getting a true WSXGA resolution working? Best I can get is 1400×1050, and it’s so aggravating :(.
{VxJasonxV} WSXGA, on a radeon 7000 using theopen source radeon driver
{ajax} your X log file should tell you why it’s rejecting the mode
{VxJasonxV} no mode by that name
{VxJasonxV} (1680×1050)
{ajax} which i assume is 1680×1050. OMGWTFXGA means nothing to me.
{VxJasonxV} yep
{ajax} okay, so your X server has no mode built in for that size, and for some reason it’s failing to get that mode’s timings from the monitor
{ajax} vga or dvi connection?
{VxJasonxV} vga for the time being
{VxJasonxV} know where I Can find a cheap DVI KVM?
{ajax} okay. so you need to add a modeline for that size to your Monitor section, and then adjust the sync ranges in that monitor section to be large enough to fit that mode
{ajax} you find the modeline by doing:
{ajax} $ gtf 1680 1050 60
{VxJasonxV} ummm
{VxJasonxV} damn
{VxJasonxV} that was easy.
{VxJasonxV} people were sending me to all these websites, doing the math, using xorgcfg, blah blah blah
{ajax} the first line in the gtf output includes the sync values for that mode
{ajax} the second is the modeline itself
{VxJasonxV} should I be worried that the HSync exceeds what my documentation says a valid range is?
{VxJasonxV} this says 65.22 kHz, while the manual goes from 64.674 to 64.8 kHz
{ajax} might be a problem, might not. try it first. LCDs are resilient, worst it’ll do is not sync.
{VxJasonxV} no kidding
{VxJasonxV} ok, one last question: Should I comment out my set HorizSync/VertRefresh before restarting X?
{ajax} probably not. if it’s not getting the native mode from the monitor, it’s also not getting the sync ranges; and the default sync ranges are only large enough for like 800×600
{VxJasonxV} which is why whenever I used DDC, it would always drop me to 800×600
{VxJasonxV} at least that part makes sense
{VxJasonxV} ok, writing this out and restarting X. Thanks for your help thus far

*** This is where I gave X the four finger salute, and proceeded to log back in. ***

{VxJasonxV} ummm
{VxJasonxV} HOT DAMN
{VxJasonxV} dude. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
{ajax} np

Needless to say I was just a little bit pleased that it was finally working. Not in 800×600, not in 1400×1050, but in full 1680×1050 glory.

That was shortly followed by some extra commentary that you Xorg Document Managers should probably take note of:
*JamesB192 thinks someone should hack the x timings howto to say roughly, ‘use gtf instead of all the outdated number crunching.’

Let this be a lesson to anyone with a new monitor, probably most specifically a Widescreen monitor:
gtf is the tool to use.
The usage is a very simple:

$ gtf horizonal-resolution vertical-resolution refresh-rate

You get an output similar to the following (in this case, this is what I get for my Gateway FPD2275W):

$ gtf 1680 1050 60

# 1680×1050 @ 60.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 65.22 kHz; pclk: 147.14 MHz
Modeline “1680×1050_60.00″ 147.14 1680 1784 1968 2256 1050 1051 1054 1087 -HSync +Vsync

You may then copy the Modeline line (comment line is optional), put it directly into the ‘Device “Monitor”‘ section of your xorg.conf, restart X, and away you go.

The best part of all this is I also recompiled my kernel to add in a 1680×1050@60 vesa-tng framebuffer, so not only X, but also the framebuffer virtual terminals output at my desired size/rate.
It’s beautiful.

And of course, the obligatory screenshot of my writing this post using this resolution:

“[...] and it was good…“

Dear LazyWeb,

I need massive help.
I received a BEAUTIFUL widescreen monitor (Native Resolution: 1680×1050 @ 60Hz) that is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. (Did I mention how BEAUTIFUL it was?)
But there’s a very unfortunate problem…

I can’t get it to work in Linux :(.

I’ve tried everything I can think of. Manual edits, I grabbed the HorizSync and VertRefresh from the documentation, I tried using xorgcfg and xorgconfig, and nothing I do works.

I’ve had two positive (but very ugly) results:
I’ve managed to get the monitor running in 1400×1050, or only ever 800×600.
It almost seems that when I get the configuration correct, it shows 1400×1050, but I’m obviously missing something otherwise it’d be running at a native resolution.

So, LazyWeb, I need your help!

I think this is all the pertinent info:
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RV100 QY [Radeon 7000/VE]
The Monitor is a Gateway FPD2275W
Again, I’m attempting to get it to run at 1680×1050@60Hz using the Open Source radeon Driver by the fine folks at X.org.

The relevant section(s) of my xorg.conf:

Section “Monitor”
#DisplaySize 480 300 # mm
Identifier “Monitor0″
VendorName “GWY”
ModelName “FPD2275W”
### Comment all HorizSync and VertRefresh values to use DDC:
# HorizSync 31.0 - 83.0 # It’s irrelevant whether I specify the information supplied in the manual, this and below, or comment it out and use DDC.
# VertRefresh 56.0 - 76.0 # If I specify the information from the manual, I manage to get 1400×1050, otherwise I get 800×600 or nothing.
Option “DPMS”
EndSection

Section “Screen”
Identifier “Screen0″
Device “Card0″
Monitor “Monitor0″
# I’ve had a ‘DefaultDepth 24′ here before, it ultimately makes little difference.
SubSection “Display”
Viewport 0 0
Modes “1680×1050″ “1440×900″ “1280×800″ “1024×640″ “800×500″
Depth 1
EndSubSection
SubSection “Display”
Viewport 0 0
Modes “1680×1050″ “1440×900″ “1280×800″ “1024×640″ “800×500″
Depth 4
EndSubSection
SubSection “Display”
Viewport 0 0
Modes “1680×1050″ “1440×900″ “1280×800″ “1024×640″ “800×500″
Depth 8
EndSubSection
SubSection “Display”
Viewport 0 0
Modes “1680×1050″ “1440×900″ “1280×800″ “1024×640″ “800×500″
Depth 15
EndSubSection
SubSection “Display”
Viewport 0 0
Modes “1680×1050″ “1440×900″ “1280×800″ “1024×640″ “800×500″
Depth 16
EndSubSection
SubSection “Display”
Viewport 0 0
Modes “1680×1050″ “1440×900″ “1280×800″ “1024×640″ “800×500″
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

And my DDCProbe:

VESA 2.0 detected.
OEM Name: ATI RADEON III
Memory installed = 1024 * 64k blocks = 65536kb
Supported standard modes:
800×600x16
1024×768x16
320×200x32k
320×200x64k
320×200x16m
1600×1200x256
640×400x256
640×480x256
640×480x32k
640×480x64k
640×480x16m
1600×1200x32k
800×600x256
800×600x32k
800×600x64k
800×600x16m
1600×1200x64k
1024×768x256
1024×768x32k
1024×768x64k
1024×768x16m
1280×1024x256
1280×1024x32k
1280×1024x64k
1280×1024x16m
132×25 (text)
132×43 (text)
EDID ver. 1 rev. 3.
Manufacturer: GWY
ID: 08ed
EISA ID: GWY08ed
Serial number: 00000000.
Manufactured in week 12 of 2007.
Input signal type: analog signal.
Screen size max 48 cm horizontal, 30 cm vertical.
Gamma: 2.200000.
DPMS flags: RGB, active off, no suspend, no standby.
Established timings:
720×400 @ 70 Hz (VGA 640×400, IBM)
720×400 @ 88 Hz (XGA2)
640×480 @ 60 Hz (VGA)
640×480 @ 67 Hz (Mac II, Apple)
640×480 @ 75 Hz (VESA)
800×600 @ 60 Hz (VESA)
800×600 @ 72 Hz (VESA)
800×600 @ 75 Hz (VESA)
832×624 @ 75 Hz (Mac II)
1024×768 @ 87 Hz Interlaced (8514A)
1024×768 @ 75 Hz (VESA)
1280×1024 @ 75 Hz (VESA)
Standard timing 0: 60 Hz, 1280×1024
Standard timing 1: 75 Hz, 1152×864
Standard timing 2: 60 Hz, 1400×1050
Standard timing 3: 60 Hz, 1440×1440
Standard timing 4: 75 Hz, 1440×1440
Standard timing 5: 60 Hz, 1680×1680
Standard timing 6: 75 Hz, 1680×1680
Detailed timing 0:
Pixel clock: 146250000
Horizontal active time (pixel width): 656
Horizontal blank time (pixel width): 1584
Vertical active time (pixel height): 26
Vertical blank time (pixel height): 1063
Horizontal sync offset: 104
Horizontal sync pulse width: 176
Vertical sync offset: 6
Vertical sync pulse width: 3
Dimensions: 473×296
Monitor details 1:
Name: FPD2275W
Monitor details 2:
Timing ranges: horizontal = 31 - 83, vertical = 56 - 76
Monitor details 3:
Serial number: MXL73D0C0695

And lastly, I have an Xorg.0.log file from one of the times (like now) that it rests in 800×600, an absolute eyesore…
It’s sitting as a paste at rafb.net’s pastebin.

By the way, wgetpaste (@Portage) made putting that log file up SO easy.

Sincerely,
One Anxious Nerd

[edit]
Courtesy of Wyscan in the Jyte Pibb Room, I was given the link to another site which is for all intents got the job done (upload an image -> crop, resize, whatever).
The best part of this site is that it offers the picture back in any one of 6 popular formats regardless of the original uploaded format (god bless ImageMagick).
Enough of my babble. The site I was given was SnipShot.

Thanks, Wyscan!

However, FWIW, I’d still like to find the site I originally stumbled across, because the fact that I can link users into it with a preset image size target is totally invaluable.
[/edit]
[edit2]
‘lo and behold, it was in my history at work (took a while to find, though).
The site I found described below is:
MyPictr.
Didn’t I tell you it had a trendy Web 2.0 name?
[/edit2]

Dear LazyWeb,

When at work last week, I came across a website linked from god knows where. It was a website that allowed you to upload a image, and use online tools to resize/crop said image. The kicker is that it is geared as a quick and easy avatar/userpic maker.

I can no longer find this site.

Having said that, I hope someone that comes across this blog (hello Larry the Cow viewers!) will know what I’m talking about.

More details:

• The site is a third-party work. What I mean by that is some sites (Vox, LiveJournal, WordPress too IIRC) all have image cropping tools built in when you upload a picture to use as a UserPic/Avatar.
• The site has a drop down box with a ton of types of forums, and blogging sites, which are designed to pre-select the maximum size your image can be for uploading.
  • i.e. It lists vB, IPB, phpBB, LiveJournal, etc. And when you select the LiveJournal option, for example, it pre-fills Height/Width to 100 x 100.
• There is (of course) also a “custom” option which allows you to pick whatever size you need.
• Lastly, there is a quick reference page which provides you a quick link you can use to send your visitors to the site with the width and height pre-filled for their use. (I’m sure it was just as simple as linking to www.whatever.com/?width=###&height=###)
• IIRC, this script was downloadable and embeddable, or it may only be a vB plugin. Something like that, all I know was that is was rather handy.

The sad part about all this is that I’m sure I didn’t bookmark it. But if someone can direct me to it again, I’ll be sure to put it in ma.gnolia