Too Far Afield

If you use Linux and you use CD or DVD media, you are probably familiar with this error message: Unable to unmount device. Device still in use.. It occurs, if you want to unmount or eject a CD or DVD and some application is still using it. This could be an open bash promt or a Nautilus window. Or a video player. But what can you do, if you checked every application that is currently running and you’re still unable to eject the CD? Terminal powers to the rescue! Open a new terminal window and type:

1. sudo lsof | grep cdrom

The output should be similar to this:

1. esd 12957 nachtarbeiter 25r REG 22,0 324153344 1418 /media/cdrom0/badewanne.avi

In this case you can see, that a program called esd (it is a sound deamon) still uses a file called badewanne.avi on the CD medium. You need to kill that program before you can eject your CD. All you need is the number shown after the programs name. It is the process id of the programm.

1. kill 12957

That’s all folks.

About a week ago the output of the central whois server for COM and NET domains changed. Since then yourWhois.de had been unable to obtain the appropriate whois server for a domain in that TLDs. This is fixed now.

Firefox Flicks is online now. Check out the 3 featured ones.

In not-so-related news: The start of this week was so busy, that I didn’t even manage to read email. Today is a bit more settled, but Easter will be rough again with three huge projects to be completed by April 18.

Hansenet will upgrade our ADSL line from 6 MBit to 16 MBit downstream in about 3 to 4 weeks. We’ll also get the PingExpress option (aka fastpath) at no extra cost, which means better pings. Yay!

When we switched from the originally government-owned, so-called pink giant Telekom to Hansenet, it was still a subsidary of HEW, our local power trading company. Together with its electricity system, HEW had built its own telephone system in and around Hamburg. After the liberalisation of the telephone market, Hansenet was one of the first telephone operators that had its own telephone network and did not rely on leased lines from the Telekom (Telekom was forced to lease lines to the competition by the European Commission). They were able to operate at low cost and quickly got many customers in Hamburg due to the good price model and the fact that they don’t charge you for calling someone in their own network.
Over time, Hansenet upgraded our internet connectivity from originally 2 MBit to 3 MBit, 4 MBit and 6 MBit. Today, Hansenet is owned by Telecom Italia and HEW is a Vattenfall company. Hansenet does not only sell internet connectivity in Hamburg, but nationwide. And they do not forget their first customers. They upgrade us again. We even get new hardware and cheaper prices. And a nationwide telephone flatrate. All at no extra cost.

Today in the Abendblatt:

Congrats, Ferdi. I didn’t expect to see your face smiling at me from a newspaper anytime soon.