Coredump

Fix for Picasa 3 Linux login problem

Ian Dexter — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 04:50:58 +0000

(Update: Just realized that this isn’t a fix but a workaround. The fix would be for Google to bundle the working Wine binaries. (Then again, they most likely use the stable release, while Fedora uses the current development one. Oh well…))

Picasa 3 for Linux has this niggling* problem: you can’t log on to Picasa Web. It appears that a Wine static binary bundled with it does not work well with Fedora.

* “Niggling”, that is, if you consider not being able to sync your photos with Picasa a minor one.

The solution was to overwrite the offending binary with one from the “blessed” Wine package for Fedora. It presupposes that you have Wine already installed, which I don’t.

So, I went through it in a run-about way: get the binary file and replace the bundled one.

Fedora’s package manager, yum, doesn’t let you just download a package without installing it. Good thing there’s this little plugin called yum-downloadonly that let’s you do just that.

Install the plugin, then grab the Wine package.

# yum install yum-downloadonly
# yum install wine --download-only

The package (specifically, wine-core, is placed in /var/cache/yum/updates/packages/. Use rpm2cpio to extract the file.

# mkdir /tmp/wine && cd /tmp/wine
# cp /var/cache/yum/updates/packages/wine-core-1.1.29-1.fc11.i586.rpm .
# rpm2cpio wine-core-1.1.29-1.fc11.i586.rpm | cpio -idmv
# find . -name 'wininet*'

Install Picasa from Google’s test repository. Replace the bundled binary.

# yum install picasa
# cd /opt/google/picasa/3.0/
# find . -name 'wininet*' 
# cp ./wine/lib/wine/wininet.dll.so ~/.
# cp /tmp/wine/usr/lib/wine/wininet.dll.so wine/lib/wine/wininet.dll.so

Picasa for Linux will now be able to log you in.

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Fix for Picasa 3 Linux login problem by Ian Dexter R Marquez

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Get Twitter timeline from the CLI

Ian Dexter — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:58:11 +0000

We already know how to update Twitter from the command line. To get your and your friends’ timeline from the CLI, use the following one-liner:

curl -u username --silent "https://twitter.com/statuses/friends_timeline.rss" | perl -ne 'print "$2\n" if /< (description)>(.*)< \/\1>/;'

Using the same method, you can also get unread Gmail inbox messages (via commandlinefu.com).

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Get Twitter timeline from the CLI by Ian Dexter R Marquez

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Chromium on Fedora

Ian Dexter — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:44:15 +0000

I finally have Chromium on Fedora 11, thanks to Fedora developer, Tom “spot” Callaway’s dev repo.

In /etc/yum.repos.d/chromium.repo:

[chromium]
name=Chromium Test Packages
baseurl=http://spot.fedorapeople.org/chromium/F$releasever/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0

And it was just a matter of doing:

yum install chromium

I CAN HAZ CHROMIUM!

My launcher specifies the following:

--enable-plugins --enable-user-scripts --enable-extensions

so this build now supports plugins (it adopted the Mozilla Firefox plugins, like Flash and the Citrix ICA client – YouTube works!), and extensions (I installed AdSweep). I haven’t tried Greasemonkey user scripts yet.

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Chromium on Fedora by Ian Dexter R Marquez

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Best workstation setup, evar

Ian Dexter — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:31:04 +0000

Part of the STS-128 mission day 7 highlights aboard the International Space Station.

I want one!

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Best workstation setup, evar by Ian Dexter R Marquez

Book on random digits

Ian Dexter — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:01:29 +0000

At this point, things are moving with so much momentum that nothing short of slamming the book shut could stop this epic expectation-confounding march. … This book is a memorable read. It defies anticipation.

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Book on random digits by Ian Dexter R Marquez

Multiple (Firefox) personalities

Ian Dexter — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 01:43:52 +0000

Er… profiles, I mean.

I use Firefox add-ons for the occasional web development tasks. (Too bad, not all my favorite extensions are available in the workplace’s “blessed” add-ons repository, but I can live with what’s in there.) Sometimes, though, having too many add-ons slows down the browsing experience, specially for times when you just need to browse stuff and not much else.

The solution: create separate profiles for “normal” browsing and for web development (”debug” mode). Using Profile Manager, I created two profiles: “normal” and “debug”.

Any Firefox instance can be launched by using the -ProfileManager switch. I also use -no-remote so a new instance — not a new window — is opened every time.

I load up the “debug” instance with all the add-ons I require: among them, Web Developer, Firebug and Greasemonkey are the most important.

To differentiate debug mode from the normal-browsing instance, I would have to change the window title. For this, I loaded the Nightly Tester Tools add-on, which allows me to tweak the window title, among other things.

(I used the following string for the window title:

${DefaultTitle} ${Version} (Build ${AppBuildID}) - ${Profile}

Other variables are available in Menu > Tools > Nightly Tester Tools > Options.)

I can then open both modes side by side:

Update: Now that Personas are available, I’ve opted to use different ones for my normal (Firefox Robot) and debug (Carbon Fox) modes.

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Multiple (Firefox) personalities by Ian Dexter R Marquez

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SSH on the Nokia E63

Ian Dexter — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 01:41:00 +0000

I just got a Nokia E63, a long-awaited replacement for a support phone from work. It’s not as advanced as, say, a Nokia E71 or a Blackberry in terms of business-related features, but it would do quite well for my purposes.

(My philosophy in mobile phones is that so long as I can connect — through voice, SMS or WiFi — I’m cool with it. )

The QWERTY pad is a sweet spot for the E63: soft enough so you won’t develop calluses, yet with enough toughness for tactile feedback. I’m more interested in the apps I can place in the phone, though.

The apps I loaded on the E63

For starters, I downloaded Opera Mini — the WebKit-based Nokia Mini Map Browser bundled with the phone just wasn’t up to size with what I planned for it.

I then downloaded Google mobile apps. The E series comes with email integration, but I’ve grown to love the Gmail mobile client.

The kicker, though, is S2 puTTY, the S60 port for the nifty puTTY secure shell client. Hey, I’m a command-line zealot: I’d much rather get things done on the CLI, if tools exist; and accessing a shell through a mobile phone is a geek’s dream.

Just like its desktop equivalent, S2 puTTY worked as advertised. Setting it up is similar to what we’re accustomed to. I opted not to add my SSH private key so I don’t have to worry about adding weak link in the security chain.

screen session using the S2 puTTY client

I was able to log in to my Linux boxes, even going as far as accessing the screen sessions. As expected, scroll-back sucked, then again, nothing’s sweeter than using mutt from a phone. Heh.

Geek dream: Using mutt on the E63

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SSH on the Nokia E63 by Ian Dexter R Marquez

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‘Sa Aking mga Kababata’

Ian Dexter — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:07:30 +0000

Peng called me a few days ago to tell me that kuya Gab has decided on what he would do for a class recitation. The teacher wanted them to show their talent, so Gab said he wanted to show his classmates origami.

That’s right, he wanted to demonstrate how to fold paper.

Well, there’s nothing wrong about that — our son’s got talent, and he’s shown genuine interest in origami ever since I bought a pack of origami paper for him and Julian. But folding paper in front of the class doesn’t sound much of a talent. (So much for being encouraging parents.)

Anyway, I told Peng that we should just “suggest” other alternatives to Gab: he can sing, dance, even do a speech, or demo a Taekwondo form. But, no, he had made up his mind. We supported him all the way, of course.

Tonight, however, was the turning point. As he sat in front of the PC searching for origami patterns, we broached the idea of reciting a poem. He was adamant. He would rather not show anything in class, he said.

“Okay, how about this?” I asked. “You can recite Jose Rizal’s ‘Sa Aking mga Kababata’.”

“Rizal wrote it when he was eight years old!” I added.

*ding* Something lit up in Gab’s head. He loved the idea. (He’s turning eight in a month, by the way.) A quick Google search led us to the poem, which he read and loved right away. What can I say, our son has taste.

“I like to write poems like him,” he mused. Great kid.

Jose Rizal at 11 years old. (Public domain photo, Credit: joserizal.ph)

Rizal’s poem, which he wrote it in 1869, when he was eight years old, shows the martyr’s astute sensitivity and ingrained love for the motherland at such a young age.

Kapagka ang baya’y sadyang umiibig
Sa kanyang salitang kaloob ng langit,
Sanglang kalayaan nasa ring masapit
Katulad ng ibong nasa himpapawid.

Pagka’t ang salita’y isang kahatulan
Sa bayan, sa nayo’t mga kaharian,
At ang isang tao’y katulad, kabagay
Ng alin mang likha noong kalayaan.

Ang hindi magmahal sa kanyang salita
Mahigit sa hayop at malansang isda,
Kaya ang marapat pagyamaning kusa
Na tulad sa inang tunay na nagpala.

Ang wikang Tagalog tulad din sa Latin
Sa Ingles, Kastila at salitang anghel,
Sapagka’t ang Poong maalam tumingin
Ang siyang naggawad, nagbigay sa atin.

Ang salita nati’y huwad din sa iba
Na may alfabeto at sariling letra,
Na kaya nawala’y dinatnan ng sigwa
Ang lunday sa lawa noong dakong una.

Text from Rizal: Sa Ispatlayt

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‘Sa Aking mga Kababata’ by Ian Dexter R Marquez

Report complaints to the TXTPOWER Action Center

Ian Dexter — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:18:10 +0000

(Spread the message. Get the banner here.)

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Report complaints to the TXTPOWER Action Center by Ian Dexter R Marquez

Redirect subdirectory to subdomain

Ian Dexter — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:15:47 +0000

Just a quick note, lest I forget this. To redirect a subdirectory to a subdomain using .htaccess, use the following:

<ifmodule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^subdirectory(.*)$ http://subdomain.domain.tld$1 [R=301,L]
ifmodule>

(Note the 301 permanent redirect.) The regular expression is greedy, but it takes care of the trailing slashes — just in case. *shrugs*

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Redirect subdirectory to subdomain by Ian Dexter R Marquez