Seasons greetings to all. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2012 New Year.

Note: This Android 2.2 Froyo update is for unlocked HTC Aria Asia ASEAN/WWE phones (build 1.35.707.5). It checks for the base build version and will not allow the upgrade if the version is different.

• Restore the original shipped HTC Aria (Liberty) ROM (Only necessary if you have a rooted Aria and the upgrade doesn’t work)
  1. Enable USB Debugging on your phone: Menu -> Settings -> Applications -> Development -> USB Debugging (ensure this option is selected)
  2. Ensure that your laptop has all the relevant drivers. Easiest way is to install the latest HTC Sync from the HTC website.
  3. Ensure that your phone is at least 30% charged. Switch on your phone and attach to your laptop.
  4. Download the HTC Aria Asia ASEAN/WWE build 1.35.707.5 shipped ROM. For other location, you can download one of the following Shipped ROMs depending on your location and HTC Aria model if you ever want to restore to factory defaults:
     • HTC Aria Cingular US build 1.25.502.2
     • HTC Aria Cingular US build 1.25.502.12
     • HTC Aria Asia India build 1.35.720.2
     • HTC Aria Asia Hong Kong build 1.35.708.4
     • HTC Aria Asia Taiwan build 1.35.709.3
     • HTC Aria Asia ASEAN/WWE build 1.35.707.5
     • HTC Aria Optus Australia build 1.37.980.1
  5. Run the downloaded RUU executable and follow the instructions on screen
• Upgrade from HTC Aria Android 2.1 to Android 2.2 Froyo
  1. Initiate the system software update search on your phone: Menu -> Settings -> About phone -> System software updates -> Check now
  2. Follow the onscreen instructions to download the HTC Aria Android 2.2 Froyo upgrade file: OTA_Liberty_Froyo_S_hTC_Asia_WWE_2.37.707.5-1.35.707.5_release_159893iw72l79rpon47pnp.zip (78,917kb)
  3. Upon completing the download, follow the onscreen instructions to initiate the upgrade process. Your phone will reboot twice during the ROM upgrade process.
  4. After upgrading, check the version of your firmware: Menu -> Settings -> About phone -> Software information
     • Android version: 2.2
     • Baseband version: 47.54.35.20U_7.13.35.13
     • Kernel version: 2.6.32.21-gbc9b792 htc-kernel@and18-2 #1
     • Build number: 2.37.707.5 CL279279 release-keys
     • Software number: 2.37.707.5
     • Browser version: WebKit 3.1
  5. Done!

Froyo definitely feels faster than the original. Benchmarks show that it’s running faster than the original HTC Desire! However, to get to this point, I had to wipe my phone clean. The bright side is that it feels like I have a brand new phone! Having fun reinstalling stuff and reorganising my SD card to the way I want it. Aside from the speed, one cool built in feature is the ability to install to SD. Limited phone space for apps has always been a problem for the HTC Aria. With 2.2 and Apps2SD, that’s a problem of the past. Good stuff. Definitely upgrade to Froyo when it becomes available for your phone.

20% Off On All Books
This applies to all normal priced book items. It excludes items already on offers or promotions, value buys, agent controlled items, newspapers, and magazines. The offer is applicable at all MPH outlets except MPH KLIA.

A Bagful of Knowledge
Fill an MPH canvas bag with books tagged with the “MPH Bagful of Knowledge” sticker and get 70% off the total price. To qualify for the discount, you’ll have to also purchase the MPH canvas bag @ RM14.90. Offer only applicable at MPH 1-Utama, The Curve, Mid Valley, Gurney Plaza, Subang Parade, Sunway Pyramid, and Johor Bahru City Square. Good deal provided there are good books with the label. Only way to find out is to check in at the closest MPH bookstore.

Personally, this is a great time to load up on books. I started reading again in July and promised myself I wouldn’t stop. So far it’s mostly fiction. Can’t bear the drone of self help or biographies. In the three months, I’ve gone through seven books. Pretty decent I think. Latest author I’ve been reading is Karen Miller. Started reading her a couple months back and have so far gone through four of her books:

• The Innocent Mage (Kingmaker, Kingbreaker, Book 1)
• The Awakened Mage (Kingmaker, Kingbreaker)
• Empress (Godspeaker Trilogy)
• The Riven Kingdom (The Godspeaker Trilogy)

Three more to go:

• Hammer of God (Godspeaker Trilogy, Book 3)
• The Reluctant Mage (Fisherman’s Children)
• The Prodigal Mage (Fisherman’s Children)

So I’ll probably get those this weekend. That should keep me occupied for a month or so. Wonder what next to read. Any suggestions on specific authors or books?

The interface is smooth and Google Market is cool. In the process of rooting the phone. Instructions to follow shortly. All in, a nice new toy :)

The Problem
You have a secure server. You need run an X-terminal from the command line console as a user other than yourself. You only have ’sudo su’ permission to the other user but not the actual user login credentials. One common scenario where you’ll hit this problem is if you’re trying to deploy a piece of software as root via X-Terminal and you have to su over. I know I’ve hit this often enough. So what do we do?

Solution: SSH X-11 Forwarding
You’ll need:

• an SSH client (PuTTY works)
• X-Terminal client (Hummingbird Exceed works)

Steps:

1. Run Exceed
2. Open a new SSH session with PuTTY. Before creating the session, set the following options under “Connection > SSH > X11″:
   1. Check the “Enable X11 forwarding” option, and
   2. set “X display location” to “localhost:0″
3. Run the ssh session
4. To test: $ xclock &

That’s just the first step. Now that you’ve enabled X11 forwarding, clock should appear on your desktop. If not, then something’s wrong with your setting. The next step is to switch users using the “su” command. Once you’ve done this and you try to run xclock, you’ll notice something’s amiss. The clock doesn’t appear anymore. Instead, you get a string of errors on your terminal. Example:

$ sudo su - root
Password:
[root@serverX ~]# xclock
Xlib: connection to "localhost:13.0" refused by server
Xlib: PuTTY X11 proxy: wrong authentication protocol attempted
Error: Can't open display: localhost:13.0
[root@serverX ~]#

Hmm… something’s wrong. The X11 forwarding is no longer working. At this point, you’re probably scratching your head, searching the net and trying to find some logical explanation. Which was probably what brought you to this article. Don’t worry, it’s not rocket science and there’s a simple solution. The problem is really that you have permission for X11 forwarding on the original terminal that you logged into. When you su’ed, the terminal changed and it’s not tunneled across. You need to temporarily transfer the permission to the current terminal as follows:

[root@serverX ~]# exit
$ xauth list
serverX/unix:13 MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 49694fb33604c92be03c36200cc81c19
$ sudo su - root
Password:
[root@serverX ~]# xauth add serverX/unix:13 MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 49694fb33604c92be03c36200cc81c19
[root@serverX ~]# xclock
[root@serverX ~]#

And voila. Suddenly the clock’s there again. When running the xauth list command, you may see more than one entry. Locate the entry that’s relevant to your current terminal. In the example above, we get the authentication error on localhost:13.0, so we’ll want to locate and transfer the permission from terminal 13.

So the next time you’re caught in this situation with an “Xlib: PuTTY X11 proxy: wrong authentication protocol attempted” error, don’t panic. You’ve probably su’ed to another user and just need to transfer the permission so you can chug along with whatever it was you were trying to do.

Official Schedule

Netbook. Ipad. What else?

The roads were pretty lonely and dark. WL took the headlights so I was relying on the street lamps. There were a few near death experiences for me. First one was at the first major turn after flagoff where we crossed a street. As I was running across the road divider, I barely missed falling into a deep dark hole. The street lights were off, there were no marshals around the area and the grill was missing from the drainage. If my pace was a step faster, I would have dropped in and no one would have noticed. Good thing I stopped on time and skirted around the gaping 4×4 square. More than a few fellow runners were doing the same. After that first near misstep, I paid closer attention to where I was going. The streets were riddled with pot holes that would given your ankles a good mangling. Along the curb sides were drainage openings wide enough to take in a foot.

I didn’t like how they split the collection of the race pack (singlet, race bibs), the head lights (on the night itself before the race started), and the goodie bag (after the race) as well as the photo session. It was absurd that you had to queue four times on the same race. The goodie bag collection and photo session was probably the worse bits. There you are after completing the run and you’re waiting in line with 2000 other runners for a good 30 minutes to pick up the food pack and finisher medal. And then you go back into a queue for another 30 minutes to get your photo taken. The photos better be free!

On the bright side, there were plenty of stops for water and even a good spray down from the fire brigade (which unfortunately I missed since they ran out of water). The watering stops were a good distraction and I found the time and distance zipping by. Further pluses were the parking and transport arrangements. Shuttle buses were aplenty between the designated parking spots riddled across Cyberjaya’s Central Business District and the race’s start/end point behind Multimedia University. Would be great if this arrangement was adopted by other marathon organisers.

This is the first night race for me. One major downside to night race is that the air quality’s less than perfect. Unlike day runs where the nature’s had a full night to recover, the air on night races suffer from a full day of cars driving back and forth. A second difference is the road temperatures. Day races start with a cool road which gradually rises with the sun. Night races are reverse. The roads are hot to touch at the start and temperatures drop as the race progresses. While it may seem insignificant, it does have effect on your stamina and comfort as you run.

Having said all that, a 10km run is a 10km run. No matter how you cut it, that’s still 10km of distance that needs to be covered on foot. You never really appreciate the distance until you’ve walked it the old fashioned way. Energizer Night Race could do with slightly better organisers but overall, I’m pretty happy with the experience. Would I join again? Ask me again in a couple weeks after I’ve recovered.