Formosa Monkey on Tech

picasa on linux cannot gmail

2012-02-07T14:45:00.000-08:00

first of all, I don't know why Google doesn't offer picasa linux version download anymore! it's really annoying. Good that I kept a .deb file downloaded somewhere from the past. With picasa installed on Ubuntu 11.10, I had problems sending out pictures through my gmail!

looking at the logs, it doesn't tell you much...
[173601742] id 1: Attempting connection type 0 (attempt 0)
[173601765] InternetQueryOption failed (87)
[173601775] Proxy information for connection: LAN Connection
Using direct connection
[173601777] InternetQueryOption failed (87)
[173601779] Proxy information for default connection:
Using direct connection
[173601786] id 1: Stream summary:
POST request: https://www.google.com/accounts/ClientAuth (0)
Modified request headers:
Added header: Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=utf-8
Added header: Accept-Encoding: gzip

BindStatus messages received: 70,
Request made via proxy
Post data size: 112
[173601788] id 1: Error: HttpOpenRequest failed (12157)
[173601789] id 1: Failed to establish connection. will retry if possible
[173601791] id 1: Attempting connection type 1 (attempt 1)
[173601796] id 1: Stream summary:
POST request: https://www.google.com/accounts/ClientAuth (0)

It turns out on my Ubuntu11 it's got libssl1.0.0 installed, but picasa is looking for
libssl0.9.8, so just install it picasa would work again through gmail!

apt-get install libssl0.9.8

IBM Installation Manager record & silent install

2012-02-03T07:26:00.000-08:00

to record:
./IBMIM -record was8-install.xml

to install:

./IBMIM --launcher.ini silent-install.ini -input ./was8-install.xml -acceptLicense

VNC on SuSE and openSuSE

2011-12-24T10:30:00.000-08:00

wanted to have VNC server installed on SUSE10 and openSUSE12
but it looks like both vino and Xvnc doesn't support copy & paste between local and remote...
found x11vnc works out of the box with copy & paste, to have to up running by default after server boots up:

cat /etc/SuSE-release

openSUSE 12.1 (x86_64)

VERSION = 12.1

CODENAME = Asparagus

- x11vnc is in the repo of openSUSE12

zypper install x11vnc

x11vnc -storepasswd /etc/x11vnc.passwd

- get rclocal running under /etc/rc.d/rclocal

- add the following line to rclocal:

/usr/bin/x11vnc -sleepin 30 -o /var/log/x11vnc.log -forever -noncache -noxfixes -noxdamage -rfbauth /etc/x11vnc.passwd -display :0 -auth `ps -eaf | grep Xorg | awk {'print $15'}` &

cat /etc/SuSE-release

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 (x86_64)

VERSION = 10

- find x11vnc-0.9.2-1.guru.suse101.x86_64.rpm and install it

- get rclocal running under /etc/rc.d/rclocal

- add the following line to rclocal:

/usr/bin/x11vnc -sleepin 30 -o /var/log/x11vnc.log -forever -noncache -noxfixes -noxdamage -rfbauth /etc/x11vnc.passwd -display :0 -auth /var/lib/gdm/:0.Xauth &

rc.local on SuSE and openSuSE

2011-12-20T15:11:00.000-08:00

create a file under:
/etc/rc.d/rclocal

--- USE the following header in the file content ---

#! /bin/sh

# Author: Felix Wu

# /etc/init.d/rclocal

### BEGIN INIT INFO

# Provides: rclocal

# Required-Start: $network $remote_fs

# Required-Stop: $network $remote_fs

# Default-Start: 5

# Default-Stop: 0 1 2 3 6

# Description: Felix's rclocal

### END INIT INFO

--- EOF ---

to make it effective:

chmod 755 rclocal
chkconfig rclocal on

# of threads in a process under Linux

2011-12-08T08:53:00.001-08:00

How to check number of threads in a process under Linux? top doesn't show it, but option "m" in ps will.
I put a space in front and after PID so it doesn't grep longer PID that contains the shorter PID in same sequence.

ps -elm | grep " $PID " | grep -v grep | wc -l
e.g.

ps -elm | grep " 9919 " | grep -v grep | wc -l

speed up Notes under Linux

2011-12-07T10:37:00.001-08:00

This is only tested undre an eclipse based Notes under Linux.

I changed the following, adjust the memory size to fit your system:

/opt/ibm/lotus/notes/framework/rcp/deploy/jvm.properties

vmarg.Xmx=-Xmx768m

vmarg.Xms=-Xms512m

I see the following files for sametime and Symphony, so probably the same jvm parameters for those but I have not tested them:

/opt/ibm/lotus/Sametime/rcp/deploy/jvm.properties

/opt/ibm/lotus/Symphony/framework/rcp/deploy/jvm.properties

meego 1.2 syslinux hang after boot

2011-12-01T19:44:00.001-08:00

installed meego-netbook-ia32-chrome-1.2.0 on my very first AspireOne A110L
it randomly hangs when boot up, quite annoying that I need to power on and off several times to get pass by this...
the screen would show a SYSLINUX message then everything just frozen!

looks like some boot loader timing issue to me, the following change seems to do the trick:
/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf
prompt 1

timeout 10

unlock desktop under openSUSE12

2011-11-30T17:20:00.000-08:00

Not sure if this is just an openSUSE default gnome setting or a new gnome setting, but after you installed openSUSE12 with gnome desktop, the desktop is locked! cannot right click, cannot see any files/directories under your desktop, it is just weird. To unlock it, run gnome-tweak-tool from terminal:

gnome-tweak-tool
Desktop -> Have file manager handle the desktop

Back to normal again :-)

Windows Server 2008R2 CTRL-ALT-DEL doesn't work for VNC

2011-11-29T17:12:00.001-08:00

So MS decided to disable software emulation of CTRL-ALT-DEL in Windows Server 2008R2, guess it propose some more vulnerability to Windows.. it caused some grief when using VNC viewer..

1. run -> gpedit.msc

2. Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows components -> Windows Logon Options -> "Disable or enable software Secure Attention Sequence".

3. Change the following:
Enabled
Services and Ease of Access applications

Reference:
http://forum.ultravnc.info/viewtopic.php?t=17476&sid=c4d9c14d4d7ef4884d4d92984577bb6d

python web login script

2011-11-24T07:11:00.001-08:00

this script assumes the login website first return a page with session ID, second page would present the login and password field associated with the session ID.

on redhat, make sure you have python installed and also install mechanize:
yum install python-mechanize.noarch

#!/usr/bin/python
import mechanize
from urllib2 import urlopen
from ClientForm import ParseResponse

res1 = mechanize.urlopen("http://login.domain.com/")
#print res1.read()
forms = ParseResponse(res1, backwards_compat=False)
form1 = forms[0]

print "sessionID "
print form1["sessionID"]

res2 = mechanize.urlopen(form1.click())
#print res2.read()
forms = ParseResponse(res2, backwards_compat=False)
form2 = forms[0]

print form2

form2["username"] = "myusername"
form2["password"] = "mypassword"
urlopen(form2.click())
print urlopen(form2.click()).read()

java default sizes

2011-11-17T06:15:00.001-08:00

to see the default stack, heap sizes in IBM JRE/JDK, run this command:
java -verbose:sizes -version

Ubuntu chkconfig equivalent

2011-11-08T09:47:00.000-08:00

what's the command line service config tool in ubuntu for different runlevel?

apt-get install sysv-rc-conf

Empathy logs in Ubuntu

2011-07-27T17:52:00.000-07:00

Empathy logs your conversation by default and it seems to store its log in different locations between different releases? on ubuntuforum thread people found it under:
~/.gnome2/Empathy/logs
~/.local/share/Empathy/logs
~/.local/share/empathy

On my Ubuntu 10.10 I found them here:

~/.local/share/TpLogger/logs

Reference: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1163726

Ubuntu 10.10 on Acer AspireOne 522

2011-07-08T20:54:00.001-07:00

quite a few issues with Ubuntu 10.10 on AOD522

Problem #1 - it keeps hanging after login:
disable the atl1c driver and update the initramfs image:
add in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf this line
blacklist atl1c
update-initramfs -u

Problem #2 - getting AMD video driver to work:

sh ati-driver-installer-11-6-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/maverick
apt-get install -y debhelper dh-modaliases libqtgui4 execstack
sh ati-driver-installer-11-6-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/lucid
aticonfig --initial
aticonfig --resolution=0,1280x720

Problem #3 - speaker doesn't turn off after headset plugged in:

apt-get install pavucontrol
/etc/modprobe.d/options.conf
options snd-hda-intel model=laptop,dell-vostro position_fix=0,1

If you don't like the new interface with mutter, you can get the old netbook-launcher back:
apt-get install netbook-launcher-efl

USVN with Active Directory

2011-07-05T11:22:00.000-07:00

to make USVN's LDAP working with Active Directory was tricky, use the following in config.ini

alwaysUseDatabaseForLogin = "admin"

authAdapterMethod = "ldap"

ldap.options.host = "domain.com"

ldap.options.port = "389"

ldap.options.username = "CN=username,CN=users,DC=domain,DC=com"

ldap.options.password = "password"

ldap.options.useStartTls = "0"

ldap.options.useSsl = "0"

ldap.options.bindDnFormat = "%s"

ldap.options.bindRequiresDn = "1"

ldap.options.baseDn = "DC=domain,DC=com"

ldap.options.accountCanonicalForm = "0"

ldap.options.allowEmptyPassword = "0"

ldap.options.optReferrals = "0"

ldap.options.accountDomainName = ""

ldap.options.accountDomainNameShort = ""

ldap.options.accountFilterFormat = "(&(objectClass=user)(sAMAccountName=%s))"

ldap.createGroupForUserInDB = "1"

ldap.createUserInDBOnLogin = "1"

JIRA instance restarter

2011-04-07T12:10:00.000-07:00

Just a simple script I use to watch for JIRA process, in case if it dies the script would restart it automatically. This can be used for whatever process. Note: it's using ps awwx under Solaris.

#!/bin/sh

jira=$1
pid=`/usr/ucb/ps awwx | grep java | grep "$jira" | awk {'print $1'}`

if [ "$pid" = "" ]
then
   pid=0
fi
if [ $pid -gt 1 ]
then
   echo $jira" - JIRA is running fine"
else
   echo $jira" - JIRA is not running, trying to restart... "
   echo $jira"bin/restart.sh"
   $jira"bin/restart.sh"
fi

----------------------------------------------------------------
few more JIRA house keeping daily scripts:

## lock-cleanup.sh

#!/bin/sh
JIRA_HOME=/opt/global/jira
if [ -f $JIRA_HOME/index/comments/write.lock ];
then
   rm $JIRA_HOME/index/comments/write.lock
fi
if [ -f $JIRA_HOME/index/issues/write.lock ];
then
   rm $JIRA_HOME/index/issues/write.lock
fi

----------------------------------------------------------------
## backup-cleanup.sh
#!/bin/sh
JIRA_HOME=/opt/global/jira
DAYS=30
find $JIRA_HOME/backup/ -name "*.zip" -ctime +$DAYS -exec rm {} \;

concrete5 add-ons install in FreeBSD

2011-04-01T13:14:00.000-07:00

concrete5.org provides lots cool add-ons that can be installed by GUI in your concrete5 site. The add-on is a archive zip file where it needs to be unzipped to your concrete5 web directory on the server. If you try to install it by GUI with one click and your backend is running on FreeBSD, you going to see an install failed message without further details. The root cause is that concrete5 hardcoded the path of unzip under /usr/bin/unzip

fix:
install unzip from FreeBSD ports, it will be located in /usr/loca/bin/unzip
cd /usr/ports/archivers/unzip
make ; make install ; make clean

make a symbolic link to it:
cd /usr/bin/
ln -s /usr/local/bin/unzip unzip

now you are done, enjoy one click install!

converting decimals to binary & hex

2011-03-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

Trying to keep brain from getting rusty... coded some simple functions in C that takes a decimal and spits out binary and hex. Thought I might share it, enjoy!

#include

void dec2bin(int dec);

void dec2hex(int dec);

int main(char *argv[])

{

int i,j,num,tmp;

scanf("%d",&num);

printf("dec: %d\n",num);

printf("bin: ");

dec2bin(num);

printf("\nhex: ");

dec2hex(num);

}

void dec2bin(int dec)

{

if (dec>0)

{

dec2bin(dec>>1);

if (dec&1>=1)

printf("1");

else

printf("0");

}

void dec2hex(int dec)

{

if (dec>0)

{

if (dec<10)

printf("%d",dec);

else if (dec>15)

{

dec2hex(dec/16);

dec2hex(dec%16);

}

else

printf("%c",dec-10+'A');

}

else

printf("0");

}

using ipod shuffle under linux

2011-03-07T05:58:00.000-08:00

I've been using gtkpod with my ipod shuffle. A while ago, not sure what I have done when loading new songs into it, seems everything is corrupted, in gtkpod and hipo both shows the old songs, but when I play it there were only a few new songs available on the device and old ones were not in there. Tried both gtkpod and hipo to delete the songs to start from fresh but had no luck. At the end, command line tools does th trick, install gnupod-tools

gnupod_INIT -m /media/IPOD
gnucheck_--fixit -m /media/IPOD

Ubuntu netbook SD card reader issue in Acer AspireOne

2010-12-10T04:51:00.000-08:00

Recently I got a new netbook Acer AspireOne D255

Installed Ubuntu 10.10, unfortunately the new clutter windows manager - mutter was a big disappointment, it has an obvious performance issue when comparing without mutter even on a slower atom processor! this made me go back to 10.04.

The new model seem to be using a different brand of SD card reader which has no driver support from linux...
lsusb shows the following:

ENE Flash

UB6250

606569746801

After google around, several of suggested grub and modprobe config changes doesn't work at all, finally found the driver has just been recently added to the kernel from version 2.6.36, which 10.04 came with 2.6.32 obviously wouldn't work.

The new kernel isn't available in the standard repository, but to add it, just follow these simple steps:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kernel-ppa/ppa

sudo apt-get update

apt-get install linux-image-2.6.37-8-generic

reboot with the new 2.6.37-8 kernel then you'll see the SD card!

Reference:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/633852

capture images from avi using ffmpeg

2010-07-19T09:28:00.000-07:00

this script would use ffmpeg to split a video into series of images on the second provided.

#!/bin/bash

for i in `seq -w 1 1 100`

do
ffmpeg -itsoffset -00:02:03.$i -i video.avi -vcodec png -vframes 1 -an -f rawvideo pix-$i.png
done

Issues with installing DB2 8.1 Development Client on Linux

2010-05-31T18:17:00.000-07:00

When running the most obvious command db2setup, it shows the following then nothing happens:

DBI1190I db2setup is preparing the DB2 Setup wizard which will guide you through the program setup process. Please wait.

Perhaps it is because I am not running X as GUI, but strange it didn't complain about the DISPLAY message.

It can be installed by using db2_install

Post-install is unusual compare to other database installs, you need to run this to create an "instance" with an userid already exist on the system.
However, I get the following error on Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5.4 (Tikanga)

/opt/IBM/db2/V8.1/instance/db2iutil/db2icrt -a SERVER -s client appuser
DBI1069E Unexpected error. Function = chk_fsystype, Return code =
22.

It seems to be the version of tail issue, you need to change this script:
/opt/IBM/db2/V8.1/instance/db2iutil/db2iutil
global search for "tail +2", change it to "tail -n +2"

[root@hostname]# ./db2icrt -a SERVER -s client appuser
DBI1070I Program db2icrt completed successfully.

Reference
http://oss.sgi.com/LDP/HOWTO/DB2-HOWTO/db2instance.html

Subversion userid case-sensitivie validation for Active Directory

2010-02-06T10:31:00.000-08:00

Subversion's user authentication is case sensitive for both userid and password. While this is the standard in the *nix world, unfortunately Windows users tend to put their userid in whatever case they feel like. I couldn't find a configuration option for this in Subversion, also no luck from the net... So I went into the source code and did a quick & dirty workaround since all our users are validating their accounts against Windows Active Directory which is case-insensitive for their userid.

replace strcmp with strcasecmp in the following two lines. This is for Subverison 1.4.0. Just search for strcmp in the same file for newer version.

./subversion/libsvn_repos/authz.c

line 156: else if (strcasecmp(user, group_user) == 0)
line 189: else if (strcasecmp(name, b->user) != 0)

compiling tesseract for Linux 32-bit

2010-01-18T17:55:00.000-08:00

compiling tesseract for Linux 32-bit under a 64-bit Linux environment wasn't the most straight forward thing... even with -m32 flag set for gcc flags,it failed during linking:

ld -r -o libtesseract_full.o tesseractfull.o \
    libtesseract_main.a \
    ../textord/libtesseract_textord.a \
    ../pageseg/libtesseract_pageseg.a \
    ../wordrec/libtesseract_wordrec.a \
    ../classify/libtesseract_classify.a \
    ../dict/libtesseract_dict.a \
    ../viewer/libtesseract_viewer.a \
    ../image/libtesseract_image.a \
    ../cutil/libtesseract_cutil.a \
    ../ccstruct/libtesseract_ccstruct.a \
    ../ccutil/libtesseract_ccutil.a
ld: Relocatable linking with relocations from format elf32-i386 (tesseractfull.o) to format elf64-x86-64 (libtesseract_full.o) is not supported
make[3]: *** [libtesseract_full.o] Error 1

setting -m32 for LDFLAGS didn't do the trick, ld likes this flag better "-melf_i386", but setting this in LDFLAGS would cause tesseract fail when running configure
I had to manually go under ccmain do the following with -melf_i386:
tesseract-2.03]$ cd ccmain
ccmain]$ ld -r -o libtesseract_full.o tesseractfull.o \
     libtesseract_main.a \
     ../textord/libtesseract_textord.a \
     ../pageseg/libtesseract_pageseg.a \
     ../wordrec/libtesseract_wordrec.a \
     ../classify/libtesseract_classify.a \
     ../dict/libtesseract_dict.a \
     ../viewer/libtesseract_viewer.a \
     ../image/libtesseract_image.a \
     ../cutil/libtesseract_cutil.a \
     ../ccstruct/libtesseract_ccstruct.a \
     ../ccutil/libtesseract_ccutil.a -melf_i386

after that go back one level up and run make ; make install again.

cd ..

make

Hudson config for SVN credentials

2009-10-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

I've been integrating Hudson into our build process, interesting enough that I couldn't find where to set the subversion credentials from Hudson's config menus. Found the solution from web, simply go to URL to config:
http://${HUDSON_HOST:PORT}/scm/SubversionSCM/enterCredential

the file on the server is under:
${HOME}/.hudson/hudson.scm.SubversionSCM.xml

Not sure if it supports multiple repositories with different credentials.

Reference:
http://www.testearly.com/2007/06/12/subversion-authentication-in-hudson/