April 2014

Chromebook Mouse Speed

I was having trouble with my mouse sensitivity not being high enough even when set to maximum in the Chromebook settings. After searching around there were not many answers easily apparent so I asked on the Google+ Chromebook Community. A user there (KJ Kim) had the answer. I’m going to post it below so that if someone else is searching for the answer maybe my blog post will show up.

In your Chromebook:
1.  Open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T)
2.  Type “xset m 6000” (without the quotation marks)
3.  6000 is the value that I use but you can change it to your liking

Also of note is the solution is not permanent.  You have to re-type the command when switching between different users and also when rebooting the same account. I rarely reboot my Chromebook so it is not too big of an issue.

Screenshot:

Screenshot 2014-04-27 at 8.32.03 AM

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New router with DD-WRT

belkinSo I had to reset my server a few times. With the normal stability of my server needing to restart is really unusual. I normally only need to restart when updating the kernel but I have recently had the system lock up completely. The only change being that I set up my server to act as a wireless access point in February. I think that was one task too many with all the other network intensive tasks I had it doing. So I felt it was time I just purchase a replacement router/wireless access point.

I decided this time around that I would get a router compatible with DD-WRT an open source Linux based firmware for routers and access points. There is a plethora of router firmware projects out there so you have a wide choice if you want to do a similar project. I decided to just go with DD-WRT because it’s one of the most popular and supports a wide variety of hardware. I also took a look at Tomato and OpenWrt but I have to admit I didn’t try either of them out.

As far as hardware I wanted:
1. The device needed DD-WRT support, since that is what I wanted to put on it.
2. Something inexpensive with a good hardware specs to price ratio.
3. Something that supports wireless N. Most of my devices are wireless B/G devices but I have one or two wireless N devices.

ddwrtAfter looking over several reviews I discovered the Belkin N300 Wireless Router F7D3302.The bad reviews on Amazon were all for the stock firmware. All the DD-WRT reviews on Amazon gave it five stars and I also found a post on the DD-WRT forums that spoke well of it. For $20 I figured it was worth a shot. Spec wise the router has: 64 MB of Ram, 8 MB of flash, and a Broadcom BCM4718 @ 480MHz. I downloaded the two firmware files I needed from the DD-WRT Router Database, you just search for the model number to find the correct device. After installation I changed the password and set up wireless security. So far it has been a really solid device. I’m considering connecting my printer to it next because the router has a USB port but I will see. I could also use it as a NAS with a portable HD but my home server does well in that role.

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