Igor Duarte Cardoso

New blog platform

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 11:04:00 +0000

It is official, this blog is now hosted at http://blog.igordcard.com. Besides the change of domain, the platform has also been migrated from Blogger to Jekyll, hosted in GitHub Pages. This decision will allow me to maintain the pages with more ease and flexibility, leveraging most of the benefits of using git. All comments have been migrated to Disqus and are already displayed in the new platform.

OpenWrt builds for WNDR3700v1 with Open vSwitch

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 16:39:00 +0000

This page lists OpenWrt firmware images built by me for use on the NETGEAR WNDR3700v1, with built-in Open vSwitch support (thanks to Julius Schulz-Zander and Roan Huang).

MD5 sums are present as well.

Download from Google Drive folder

Changelog

20140725 - r41825:

Image size: 5121 KiB (remaining: 2560 KiB);
Removed LuCI (install via opkg);
Uses Linux kernel 3.10.49.

20140715 - r41599:

Image size: 5377 KiB (remaining: 2304 KiB);
Bump to r41599 (omitted changelog entry from now on);
Added LuCI;
Added kmod-8021q;
Added kmod-veth.

20140713 - r41584:

Image size: 5057 KiB (remaining: 2624 KiB);
First build uploaded, based on svn revision 41584;
Just like daily snapshots, this build is very minimalistic;
No MIPS16 instructions;
Built-in Open vSwitch 2.1.2.

See also

Related topic at the OpenWrt forum;
Roan Huang's OpenvWrt.

Wrkout 2.0 for Android has been released

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 13:38:00 +0000

A new version Wrkout has been released!

This version finally unifies Wrkout, rebranding Tabata Trainer to Wrkout HIIT and the previous Wrkout to Wrkout Pro.

Major highlights for Wrkout 2.0 include:

Product/brand unification;
The ability to import and export workouts from/to several places (cloud too);
The ability to set a loop count for specific exercises, individually;
The ability to set exercise and rest times per individual exercise;
New high-res logos;
Other improvements and more help entries.

Get Wrkout HIIT:

Get Wrkout Pro:

(QR Codes at the bottom of the page.)

For the complete list of changes please analyse the changelog of each app:

Follow Wrkout on:

Wrkout apps are available in English, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese. If you are interested in translating to other language(s), please contact me.

QR Codes:

Wrkout Pro - Play Store	Wrkout Pro - Amazon Appstore

Wrkout HIIT - Play Store	Wrkout HIIT - Amazon Appstore

Wrkout 1.8.0 for Android has been released

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 22 Feb 2014 18:54:00 +0000

The new versions of Wrkout and its free counterpart, Tabata Trainer, have been released!

Major highlights for Wrkout 1.8.0 include:

The ability to import and export workouts to the external storage;
The ability to set a loop count for specific exercises, individually;
Google Analytics - to quickly detect future issues and fix them as soon as possible;
Great stability improvements.

Get Wrkout:

Get Tabata Trainer:

(QR Codes at the bottom of the page.)

For the complete list of changes please analyse the changelog of each app:

Follow Wrkout / Tabata Trainer on:

Wrkout / Tabata Trainer apps are available in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. If you are interested in translating to other language(s), please contact me.

QR Codes:

Wrkout - Play Store	Wrkout - Amazon Appstore

Tabata Trainer - Play Store	Tabata Trainer - Amazon Appstore

Changing Android Text-to-Speech (TTS) Engine (and other hints)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 19:43:00 +0000

Changing the Android Text-to-Speech (TTS) Engine step-by-step in three different Android versions, as well as pointing to some alternative TTS engines, are the objectives of this post. The main reason for creating it is to provide additional troubleshooting support for Wrkout users, who may be having issues with the speech feature present in the app.

Note: If you've reached this page from Wrkout HIIT or Wrkout Pro and are using a Kindle Fire device, I can't guarantee you that these procedures smoothly apply to your device as I have no way to test them. Also, any TTS engines presented come bundled with the device or are downloadable from Google Play Store. I can't help with Amazon Appstore -only devices.

I will present how to change the Android TTS in three different Android versions/flavors: CM7.1 Android 2.3 (Gingerbread); Samsung GALAXY Fame Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean); 2012 Nexus 7 Android 4.4 (KitKat). Then, I will also show how to download offline languages to be used in the Google Text-to-Speech engine.

Critical zones in each screenshot are marked with red brushes.

Even if don't use any of these Android versions, you will still be able to follow this guide due to the similarities (with at least one version) being very high.

You can click the images to view them in higher resolution.

Unfortunately, I've made the whole guide in English. You can try to use Google Translate at the right of the page, but not everything will be correct.

Automatically translate this guide, at the top-right corner of the page.

Available TTS engines

There are many Text-to-speech engines available. There's no need to create yet another list of these, so I invite you to look at this list made by SoftwarePreneur.

Personally, I've had some success with SpeechSynthesis and IVONA TTS HQ (which is the one Wrkout redirects to in case the user chooses to install a TTS engine). To get more unusual languages, like Portuguese, offline, you may need to spend some money on language packs for SVOX Classic and IVONA TTS HQ, or just use Google Text-to-Speech engine present in the most recent versions of Android (which can also be installed from Play Store). Most of the languages Google TTS can play are online-only, but some can be manually downloaded to be played offline as well. Portuguese from Brazil was recently made available offline. Some phone/tablet brands also seem to provide offline TTS support for many languages.

CM7.1 Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)

1. Go to your app drawer and select "Settings";
2. Select "Voice input & output";
3. Select "Text-to-speech settings";
4. Make sure the wanted engine is selected and properly configured in the "Engines" section presented;
5. Finally, select the actual engine you want to be using with your Android apps in "Default engine".

Samsung GALAXY Fame Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)

1. Go to your app drawer and select "Settings";
2. Select "Language and input";
3. Select "Text-to-speech output";
4. Select one of your TTS engines as the preferred to be used in your Android apps (don't forget to press the cog as well to configure them).

2012 Nexus 7 Android 4.4 (KitKat)

1. Go to your app drawer and select "Settings";
2. Select "Language & input";
3. Select "Text-to-speech output";
4. Select one of your TTS engines as the preferred to be used in your Android apps (don't forget to press the control in the right side as well to configure them).

Downloading offline languages for Google Text-to-Speech

This new section, added 7th March 2014, shows you how to download an offline language for Google TTS in recent versions of Android (4.x). Google recently improved its Text-to-Speech engine and added some new languages for offline download.

After getting to the "Text-to-speech output" screen in your Android settings (by following the screens above), you can download new languages, to be used offline, by going to the screens shown below (click the images to zoom):

1)2)3)4)

Loading app/web page from Android intent when app is disabled

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 16:42:00 +0000

In Android, it's pretty easy to load a page from Facebook or Twitter or a similar one, from our very own app. By passing an intent with the request, the related app will automatically show up with the desired content. If the app is not installed we can detect that scenario so that, for instance, the browser starts up and loads the link for the wanted page. With Google+ it's even simpler, as we just need to pass the web URL. Android then selects if it should use the Google+ app or a browser (taking into account users' preferences).

However, what if the app is installed but has been disabled (for example through App Quarantine)?

Let's consider Facebook as the app/website to load from our Android application.

Typical code for loading a page is something like the following:

Intent intent;
try {
    getPackageManager().getPackageInfo("com.facebook.katana", 0);
    intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("fb://profile/620681997952698"));
} catch (NameNotFoundException e) {
    intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("https://www.facebook.com/620681997952698"));
}
try {
    startActivity(intent);
} catch (ActivityNotFoundException e) {
    Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(),
            getString(R.string.facebook_error), Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}

Which works most of the time: with or without the app installed.

However, if the user has Facebook installed but disabled (for example by using App Quarantine), this method will not work. The intent for the Facebook app will be selected but it will not be able to process it as it is disabled, ultimately resulting in the Toast above.

So, a quick fix (and the whole point of this post) is to detect if the app has been disabled and then choose to use the web URL:

Instead of:

getPackageManager().getPackageInfo("com.facebook.katana", 0);
intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("fb://profile/620681997952698"));

You can use the following to decide what to do:

PackageInfo info = getPackageManager().getPackageInfo("com.facebook.katana", 0);
if(info.applicationInfo.enabled)
    intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("fb://profile/620681997952698"));
else
    intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("https://www.facebook.com/620681997952698"));

This process is similar for other apps (not required for Google+).

Some links:

GNS3 Cisco IOS Escape Sequence

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 13:25:00 +0000

If you want to use the escape sequence in IOS in order to cancel pending commands (like a ping or a traceroute), using GNS3, and you're trying to use Ctrl+Shift+6 or Ctrl+C or any other combination that is supposed to work, as far as you can tell from the web, then just try Ctrl+6, it will probably work.

JBoss ESB JMS client

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 21:10:00 +0000

In case you have followed this guide and are now wondering how to run the client, here'a a little tip to prevent you from wasting more time.

If you've created the SendJMSMessage.java inside the same project and ran it as a Java Application, then you probably got something that included this:

Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.jboss.aop.metadata.ClassMetaDataLoader

or this:

Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.jboss.aop.pointcut.PointcutStats

or even this:

Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.jboss.aop.metadata.Pointcut

You should create a new Java Project with the SendJMSMessage.java, then go to the project properties and, instead of including every jar in the Java Build Path (as explained here), add two libraries: 1) JBoss ESB Libraries and 2) Server Runtime. The server runtime will be the previously created JBoss server runtime.

Then run this project as a Java Application and it should work.

In case your wondering what software versions I've used and so on, here are they:

Eclipse Helios (3.6.2);
JBoss Tools 3.2.x installed via Eclipse Marketplace;
JBoss ESB Server 4.10;
added JBoss Server Runtime as version 5.1;

Links:

JBoss ESB tutorial
he HelloWorld in the JBoss Enterprise Service Bus

Rooting Memup SlidePad NG 808DC

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 06 Oct 2013 12:28:00 +0000

After noticing there were no known methods of rooting the tablet Memup SlidePad NG 808DC (the methods for the other models did not work with this one), I took some hours off in the past 20th of July to check how hard it could be. It seems it's actually pretty easy and, finally, I'm going to post my method. Although the first root method on the web specific for this tablet, it may work for similar devices as well, but that's on your own responsibility.

Para traduzir para português utilizar o controlo à direita da página.

Pour traduire français utiliser le commande vers la droite de la page.

The following steps assume you know how to flash a ROM to your SlidePad, as well as using ADB to get the tablet's shell.

Pre-requisites: If not already, flash the original 4.1.1 ROM provided in the french memup website: http://www.memup.net/support/fr/produit.php?id_produit=112; ADB must be installed in your computer (http://www.howtogeek.com/125769/how-to-install-and-use-abd-the-android-debug-bridge-utility/; http://pplware.sapo.pt/smartphones-tablets/android/como-usar-o-android-debug-bridge-adb/);

Step 1: Make sure /usr/xbin/su must already exists, the original 4.1.1 ROM provides it, so it's okay;

Step 2: Download http://download.clockworkmod.com/superuser/superuser.zip;

Step 3: Get the "su" binary from superuser.zip/armeabi to the SD card (/storage/sdcard0/external_sdcard);

Step 4: Enter the tablet's shell, using the command adb shell;

Step 5: Go root in the shell, using the command su;

Step 6: Backup /system/xbin/su, using cp /system/xbin/su /system/xbin/su.bak;

Step 7: Replace the system's "su" with the SD card one, using cp /storage/sdcard0/external_sdcard/su /system/xbin/su and then, chmod 6755 /system/xbin/su;

Step 8: Install Superuser APK (ClockworkMod's one) from the superuser.zip or Play Store;

Step 9: Run Superuser and let it update the "su" binary if a newer version is available;

Done!

You're welcome to ask for any clarification on the steps above.
Originally written on 20th July 2013, posted on 6th October 2013.

Wrkout - Android App

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 15:23:00 +0000

I am now releasing a new Android application, Wrkout.

For fitness and sports fans to do their exercises in a guided, automated and timed manner.

Currently, it relies in the concept of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) which allows looping around multiple exercises with fixed rest and workout times, like Tabata.

Tabata is a form of high-intensity interval training based on a study by Izumi Tabata. It initially consisted of one exercise carried out intensively during 20 seconds with 10 seconds of rest after it. This exercise was looped 8 times, giving a total of 4 minutes.

It provides the ability for users to define/plan their own (multiple) workouts by defining lists of exercises and custom timings.

Wrkout is a featureful and supported version of Tabata Trainer, a free app which you can test and see if you like, prior to purchasing Wrkout.

Unique features provided by Wrkout in comparison to Tabata Trainer:

Definition of multiple workouts for quick selection;
Free reordering of exercises in each workout;
Definition of warm-up time and round rest time;
Countdown sounds (3, 2, 1)!

Features already provided by Tabata Trainer:

HIIT timer with start/pause/stop controls;
Definition of rest time, exercise time and number of rounds;
Definition of any number of exercises, with textual descriptions, that form a custom workout;
Text-to-speech engine to read exercises' names to guide users throughout their workouts;
Sound alerts: Resting; Exercising; Darth Vader breath stimulator; Workout completed;
Supported languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and French;
No ads and no special access permissions required;
Sound, speech and the display's sleeping mode are configurable;
Horizontal layout and Tablet support;
Settings;
Customizable sounds;
Ability to disable the background gradient.

[the list of features was last updated on November 2013 and is now outdated, please check the changelog.]

You can start using Wrkout via Google Play Store for a one-time only fee.

If you just want to try Tabata Trainer for free, you can also get it via Google Play Store or Amazon Appstore.

Wrkout has been mentioned in the following websites:

AppSales Android

Facebook
Google+
Twitter

Full changelog

Android latest SDK: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:06:00 +0000

Since the latest Android SDK revision (22) it is possible to get java.lang.ClassNotFoundException or other unexpected errors with Eclipse, for instance when making use of one Android project in another Android project.

An example of failure can also be found when trying to use the Android support library:

05-22 19:49:46.240: E/AndroidRuntime(4094): Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat$Builder

To fix this, developers must now explicitly export the Android Private Libraries.

Fix:

Open the properties of your Android projects (even the ones that are included by other projects), select Java Build Path, Order and Export, and finally check Android Private Libraries.

Cloud Endpoints + JPA: failure in checking if entity exists

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 10 May 2013 00:47:00 +0000

After defining some entity classes to be used by JPA for persisting data in Google App Engine I auto-generated some Cloud Endpoint classes (for Google Cloud Endpoints), via the Google App Engine SDK, to be used in an Android application. However, it turned out to be a sad out-of-the-box experience due to new entity instances having a null ID.

Before proceeding, here's the testing entity code (excluding imports):

@Entity
public class Testo {
 @Id
 @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
 private Long ID;
 private String description;
 
 public Long getID() {
  return ID;
 }
 public void setID(Long ID) {
  this.ID = ID;
 }
 public String getDescription() {
  return description;
 }
 public void setDescription(String description) {
  this.description = description;
 }
}

A really simple one.

To test the entity and the endpoint classes, I auto-generated the Cloud Endpoint Client Library and made use of it in an Android testing application (Endpoints Backend enabled). The application would only create a new entity, set its attributes to some value, and then request to insert that entity into the datastore, using Google Cloud Endpoints in the middle.

After testing it up, though, I got a big stack trace from the Google development server due to a NullPointerException that occurred when checking if that entity existed in the datastore.

The exception referred to the fact that no entity ID was set. So, if new entities don't have an ID, how can they be checked for existence requiring a valid ID?

The point of failure
(at least in my specific case)

The endpoint class TestoEndpoint.java, auto-generated method: containsTesto(Testo testo):

private boolean containsTesto(Testo testo) {
 EntityManager mgr = getEntityManager(); 
 boolean contains = true;
 try {
  Testo item = mgr.find(Testo.class, testo.getID());
  if (item == null) {
   contains = false;
  }
 } finally {
  mgr.close();
 }
 return contains;
}

This method makes use of the Entity Manager's find() method, which in this context takes a null ID and crashes, not even being able to tell if the datastore contains or not that entity.

What I changed

To work around this annoying problem I added a null check for the entity argument:

private boolean containsTesto(Testo testo) {
 EntityManager mgr = getEntityManager(); 
 boolean contains = true;
 try {
  // If no ID was set, the entity doesn't exist yet.
  if(testo.getID() == null)
   return false;
  Testo item = mgr.find(Testo.class, testo.getID());
  if (item == null) {
   contains = false;
  }
 } finally {
  mgr.close();
 }
 return contains;
}

Some links:

Tabata Trainer - Android App

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 05 May 2013 18:13:00 +0000

Today I released my first Android application, Tabata Trainer.

Developing this app has made learning Android development a very pleasant experience, while at the same time adding something new to the mobile ecosystem.

This app aims at providing a way for Tabata practitioners and general sports fans to do their exercises in an appropriate and automated timely manner. It also provides the ability for users to define/plan their own training exercises and times. More features are planned for next releases!

Tabata is a form of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) based on a study by Izumi Tabata. It initially consisted of one exercise carried out intensively during 20 seconds with 10 seconds of rest after it. This exercise was looped 8 times, giving a total of 4 minutes.

Summary of features:

Tabata timer;
Start/pause/stop controls;
Definition of rest and exercise time;
Definition of the number of rounds;
Definition of any number of exercises, with textual descriptions, that form a custom training/workout;
Text-to-speech engine to read exercises' names to guide users throughout their workouts;
Sound alerts: Resting; Exercising; Darth Vader breath stimulator; Workout completed;
English (UK) and Portuguese (Portugal) text languages supported;
Text-to-speech in Portuguese is not available due to lack of support from Android;
No ads and no special access permissions required;
Sound, speech and display sleeping mode configurable;
Ability to share current workout;
Horizontal layout and Tablet support;
Settings;
Customizable sounds;
Ability to disable the background gradient.

[the list of features was last updated on November 2013 and is now outdated, please check the changelog.]

If you are willing to do some working out with this application, head over to the Tabata Trainer's Play Store page or Amazon Appstore and give it a try!

Tabata Trainer has been mentioned in the following websites:

Facebook
Google+
Twitter

Full changelog

Tabata Trainer - Aplicação Android

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 05 May 2013 18:10:00 +0000

Hoje lancei a minha primeira aplicação Android, Tabata Trainer.

Desenvolver esta app tornou a minha aprendizagem de desenvolvimento Android numa experiência muito agradável, ao mesmo tempo dando algo de novo ao ecossistema de aplicações móvel.

A app permite aos praticantes de Tabata e desportistas em geral fazer os seus exercícios cronometradamente, de forma apropriada e automática. Fornece ainda a possibilidade dos utilizadores definirem/planearem os seus próprios exercícios e tempos de treino. Mais funcionalidades estão previstas para esta aplicação!

Tabata é um tipo de treino de alta intensidade de intervalos de tempo fixos (HIIT) e foi baseado num estudo de Izumi Tabata. Inicialmente consistia num exercício que era executado de forma intensiva durante 20 segundos com 10 segundos de descanso após. Este exercício era repetido 8 vezes, dando um total de 4 minutos de treino.

Resumo das funcionalidades:

Temporizador para Tabata;
Controlos de começo/pausa/parar;
Definição de tempos;
Definição do número de rondas;
Definição de exercícios, com descrições textuais, que formam um treino personalizado pelo utilizador;
Motor texto-para-voz para ler os nomes dos exercícios e guiar o utilizador no seu treino;
Alertas sonoros: Descansar; Exercitar; Estimulador de respiração; Treino terminado;
Línguas suportadas em texto: Português (Portugal) e Inglês (Reino Unido);
Texto-para-voz em Português não está disponível devido à falta de suporte por parte do Android;
Sem publicidade e sem permissões especiais de acesso necessárias;
Som, voz, e permanência do ecrã configuráveis;
Capacidade de partilhar o treino atual;
Layout horizontal e suporte para Tablet;
Definições;
Sons personalizáveis;
Capacidade de desativar o gradiente de fundo.

[a lista de funcionalidades foi pela última vez alterada em novembro de 2013 e está agora desatualizada, por favor ver o registo de alterações.]

Se pretende exercitar com esta aplicação, vá até à página da Play Store do Tabata Trainer ou da Amazon Appstore e experimente!

O Tabata Trainer já foi referido nos seguintes websites:

Facebook
Google+
Twitter

Registo de alterações completo

Intel graphics extreme color saturation using HDMI and M2250D

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:42:00 +0000

When I acquired the LG M2250D display I noticed that when connecting it to my computer via HDMI, under Windows, the colors would be extremely saturated. This issue was not reproduceable in other operating systems and also not via VGA (under Windows too).

Saturated color of Windows' window

Expected color of Windows' window

My display (when via HDMI) is detected and assumed by the Intel graphics driver as a "Digital Television" instead of a "Monitor". I think that is because it is a hybrid monitor and TV. The consequence of this is that the driver will adjust the color scheme to match a TV watching scenario (and won't let us change it in a straightforward way!).

What I did to fix (workaround) this was open up "Intel(R) Graphics and Media Control Panel" (one way can be by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F12) and change a few settings. Here's how you can do it:

First:
Select "Advanced Mode" in the dropdown that, by default, is set to "Basic Mode". Then select "Custom Resolutions" inside "Display".

Changing to Advanced Mode

Second:
Fill the "Add Custom Resolution" fields with the intended screen resolution and under "Timing Standard" select "CVT-RB" (this is where the secret lies).

Changing Timing Standard for specific resolution

Finally:
If your screen doesn't flicker automatically, you may need to restart your computer. You need to add a custom resolution configuration for every different resolution you may need. The "Timing Standard" can be different from "CVT-RB", but that one I can assure works.

How it should look after everything

A working bashrc function without parameter expansion (globbing)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 22:04:00 +0000

I have noticed that the function I had under my bashrc script to simplify the syntax of the find command wasn't actually working for all cases. When I passed asterisks for the search criteria, I was left with weird findings resulting from parameter expansion (globbing). Here is the failing function (from my home .bashrc):

function findf() {
   find $1 -name "$2" 2>/dev/null
}

Which doesn't work properly for the case mentioned above.

After meddling a little bit with this I was able to have a working "findf" by using an alias just to deactivate globbing (set -f) before calling the function (which I have renamed to avoid conflicting with the alias):

alias findf='set -f; findf_func'
function findf_func() {
   find $1 -name "$2" 2>/dev/null
   set +f
}

Deactivating globbing inside the function is not enough because the parameters will be expanded before the first line is executed.

After the find command finishes, globbing can be activated again with set +f.

ADB - CPU usage and staggering mouse cursor

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 23:21:00 +0000

After tuning my system to develop an Android app, I noticed that every time ADB (Android Debug Bridge) daemon was started, the mouse cursor (and all graphics for that matter, as well as other I/O tasks like playing music) in my GNU/Linux system would start flickering, staggering, jumping, get slow, I'm not even sure what to call it. Besides that, the CPU usage was always around 2% to 7% (if seen from KSysGuard, lower using ps).

KSysGuard shows the ADB daemon consuming an average 4% CPU time

After monitoring the adb process and system I/O operations, I noticed that the problem was probably related to ADB polling the host USB devices periodically. That made me think of the disastrous xHCI controller from Fresco Logic, which I have in my computer for providing USB 3.0 connectivity, that had already given me problems before.

For now, what I do to avoid this issue when I need ADB is simply unloading the kernel module xhci_hcd:

sudo modprobe -r xhci_hcd

If I didn't want to use my USB 3.0 port I would just blacklist the module.

If you have this issue, post a comment or contact me so we can have a further chat and possibly get more insight.

The vmware-usbarbitrator binary closes itself with "Pipe unexpectedly closed."

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 13:23:00 +0000

The binary closes itself after around 5 seconds. If run directly from the terminal it shows the following:

# vmware-usbarbitrator
Pipe unexpectedly closed.

The following command only shows the following:

# vmware-usbarbitrator --info -f
VTHREAD initialize main thread 2 "usbArb" pid 7554

This is caused by an empty /etc/arch-release (owned by filesystem).

To fix it, add a version string to /etc/arch-release in the form of <year>.<month>(.<day>) (e.g. 2013.03.01).

I have added this fix to ArchWiki, the official Arch Linux Wiki where more troubleshooting information is available.

Update (2013/04/17):
I have also added the AUR package vmware-usbarbitrator, which provides a systemd service to automatically run VMware-USBArbitrator on computer startup. This systemd service has now been integrated into a single, feature-complete package: vmware-patch.

Cannot find application with Spotlight (the missing solution)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 02:12:00 +0000

As a recent user to the Apple world, I've been exploring and optimizing the OS X based on my needs. After playing with my OS X installation I ended up losing access to some applications (native ones!). I managed to restore them by copying the files from another OS X installation. However, Spotlight couldn't find the applications anymore. I searched for solutions but all I got was disappointment. So, I decided to fix it myself and share it with you.

Spotlight cannot find an application that is installed

After non-deliberately deleting some native applications I restored them by copying the files from another OS X installation. However, Spotlight couldn't find the applications anymore (but I could run them).

I tried multiple ways to rebuild the Spotlight index as suggested in the community. Nothing did it.

It turns out that the applications had a wrong set of permissions which made them invisible to Spotlight.

After observing the other native applications' files I discovered that:

The main application directory and all its contents must belong to the user root and group wheel;
The main application directory and all directories recursively inside of it must have a set of permissions equal to 755 (Traditional Unix permissions);
All files recursively inside the main application directory must have a set of permissions equal to 644;
The file inside the Contents/MacOS/ from the main directory must have the set of permissions 755 because it must be executable or the application won't run;

The most important aspect is that the file Contents/Info.plist be readable in the others class so that Spotlight can view it.

Now that we know the theoretical aspects of the issue, let's delve into some Terminal exercise:

Open up Terminal and cd to the directory containing the main directory of the application you want to fix, e.g: cd /Applications/Utilities. Let's assume the application is called MyApp and its main directory MyApp.app;
Set the right owner and group to every file and directory: sudo chown -R root:wheel MyApp.app;
Set the general permissions to every file and directory: sudo chmod -R 775 MyApp.app;
Change the permissions of only the files: find MyApp.app -type f -print0 | xargs -0 sudo chmod 644;
Change the permissions of the actual executable file, to be executable: sudo chmod 775 MyApp.app/Contents/MacOS/MyApp;

Although it doesn't need to be exactly like this, these steps get your application consistent with the other ones.

If the application still doesn't show up in Spotlight, try to force a rebuild of its database:

mdutil -E

Update: Some application files may require specific permissions. Run Disk Utility to verify and repair the disk files' permissions.

References

Traditional Unix permissions

Sudden FPS drop in F.E.A.R (Logitech hardware)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 18:54:00 +0000

Some users have noticed that they cannot play the game F.E.A.R. (or Condemned: Criminal Origins) with a high framerate, even though their machine is powerful enough for running 5 instances of the game simultaneously. Even weirder is the fact that the game will usually start with the correct framerate but will suddenly drop to 10-20 FPS, after some seconds or minutes. With such a low framerate, it gets difficult to play with pleasure.

You won't let Alma run away from you at 15 frames per second, will you?

If the user has Logitech hardware peripherals, then the source of the problem is already known among the community of players. However, the workarounds presented in every place I visited are far from being confortable to the user.

In this post I present you a simple workaround for the problem that almost feels like a fix.

According to this link, the problem lies in the fact that the game engine overpolls the USB I/O in Windows 7 when Logitech Human Interface Devices (HIDs) are connected to the computer. Some users have reported that disabling the Human Interface Device Access service is enough to fix this issue, but I could not reproduce it.

The usual workaround is to disable all HIDs that belong to Logitech devices from the Windows Device Manager. When they are disabled, special controls like keyboards' volume up/down keys will not work anymore. So, if users make use of these controls they will need to keep enabling the HIDs after playing F.E.A.R.

The transparent workaround

I have created a simple batch script that automatically disables the HIDs and runs the game. Then, when the game quits, the script automatically enables the HIDs.

There is only one requirement besides the actual script: the devcon command-line utility, though it can also be downloaded from this page.

Make it work

Download the following files:

devcon (32-bit) or devcon (64-bit);
the script;

Follow the steps:

Extract the devcon executable to the game directory (where the game executable is);
Copy the script also to the game directory;
The script is only ready for the multiplayer version of F.E.A.R., or F.E.A.R. Combat. Edit the script with a text editor and change FEARMP.EXE to the desired game executable;
Create a shortcut to the desktop and change its icon if you want... you will be playing the game using the script from now on;
Make sure you run it as an administrador and let UAC (User Account Control) proceed. Right-click the script, select Compatibility and check "Run this program as an administrator";

Troubleshooting:

You can mess with the script until it fits your system properly, in case your hardware isn't compatible with the script, though I am using the vendor ID 0x046D, which is Logitech's;
You can lose all keyboard and mouse input to your computer in case the script doesn't fit your hardware properly. If that happens, grab another mouse or keyboard, go to the Device Manager and enable all Human Interface Devices;
The mouse may stop working for one or two seconds when the script is being executed, but that's normal.

References

Aplicação: Serviços Académicos da Universidade de Aveiro

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 20:51:00 +0000

Anuncio o lançamento da aplicação SACUA ou Serviços Académicos da Universidade de Aveiro, que permite a qualquer utilizador da Universidade de Aveiro consultar os números atuais das senhas dos serviços académicos sem ter de aceder propositadamente ao PACO ou outra interface web, bastando para tal ter este programa instalado no computador pessoal.

Este software resulta de um fork de conteúdo que virá a ser integrado na próxima versão do DETI-Interact, um sistema de interação com ecrãs públicos presente no hall de entrada do Departamento de Eletrónica, Telecomunicações e Informática (DETI) melhorado por mim por forma a suportar interação através do sensor Kinect.

O SACUA pode ser descarregado no final desta página.

O SACUA é tornado possível através do Academic Playground & Innovation.

Sistemas operativos: Microsoft Windows 7/8

Downloads:

31/10/2012

SACUA versão 1.0

Colloquium of Robotics and Cybernetics

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 22:40:00 +0000

In 1998, Kevin Warwick connected his own nervous system to a computer. The deed transformed the expert in Cybernetics of the University of Reading in the world's first cyborg. The unusual and sometimes controversial English Professor is one of the presences at the Colloquium of Robotics and Cybernetics that the University of Aveiro (UA) organizes on October 13, 2012.

Para a versão portuguesa: Colóquio de Robótica e Cibernética.

The meeting will also bring to Aveiro scientists from FESTO, the German enterprise which has been surprising the world by showing the excellence of their robots. To seduce and motivate students for the scientific areas of robotics and cybernetics is the main goal of the colloquium organized by the Union of Students of Computer and Telematics Engineering (NEECT – Núcleo de Estudantes de Engenharia de Computadores e Telemática) of UA.

Another important highlight of the event is the solidarity campaign which will promote the collecting of plastic covers to aid financing a bionic hand to Rodrigo Hipólito, a boy who was born without the right-hand. The child's mother initiated months ago a help request buy a myoelectric hand (much cheaper than a bionic hand), whose price is over 8500 €. The organization is also going to deliver part of the inscriptions' income to the child.

Schedule

10:00 Opening Ceremony

      Higino Vieira, Coordinator of NEECT
      Tiago Alves, President of AAUAv
      Prof. Arnaldo Martins, Director of Department of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics
      Prof. Manuel Assunção, Rector of the University of Aveiro

11:00 The Cyborg Experiments
      Prof. Kevin Warwick, University of Reading (UK)
      The World's first cyborg!

12:00 Lunch

13:00 Joana Ferreira, GoBionic
      Responsible for the maintenance of bionic and mioelectrical limbs

14:00 Human-machine cooperation and Bionic-learning from nature
      Elias Knubben and Alexander Hildebrandt, FESTO
      Creators of SmartBirt, CognoGame, ExoHand, AirJelly, amongst others.

15:30 Coffee break

16:00 CAMBADA Project, Univ. of Aveiro

Former World Champion Team of Robotic Football

17:00 The Portuguese Society of Robotics and the Robotics in Portugal

Prof. Pedro Fonseca, Univ. of Aveiro

18:00 Workshops CAMBADA

ATLASCar

      CAMBADA Multiagent
      CAMBADA @Home
      Humanoids
      CAMBADA robotics soccer team

19:00 Closing Ceremony

Official website

Facebook

Colóquio de Robótica e Cibernética

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 22:29:00 +0000

Em 1998, Kevin Warwick ligou o próprio sistema nervoso a um computador. O feito tornou o especialista em Cibernética da Universidade de Reading no primeiro ciborgue do mundo. O invulgar e, por vezes, polémico professor universitário inglês é uma das presenças do Colóquio de Robótica e Cibernética que a Universidade de Aveiro (UA) organiza a 13 de Outubro de 2012.

For the english version: Colloquium of Robotics and Cybernetics.

O encontro vai trazer também a Aveiro cientistas da FESTO, a empresa alemã que tem deixado o mundo boquiaberto com a excelência dos seus robots. Seduzir e motivar os estudantes para as áreas científicas da robótica e cibernética é o grande objetivo do colóquio preparado pelo Núcleo de Estudantes de Engenharia de Computadores e Telemática (NEECT) da UA.

É ainda de destacar a realização de uma campanha solidária associada ao evento e que vai promover a recolha de tampas de plástico para ajudar a financiar uma mão biónica a ser entregue ao Rodrigo Hipólito, que nasceu sem a mão direita.. A mãe da criança tem em curso já há alguns meses um pedido de ajuda para comprar uma mão mioelétrica (mais barata do que uma mão biónica), cujo custo ascende os 8500 €. A organização vai entregar também à criança parte das verbas obtidas com as inscrições dos participantes no colóquio.

Programa

10:00 Cerimónia de Abertura

Higino Vieira, Coordenador do Núcleo de Estudantes de Engenharia de Computadores e Telemática (NEECT)

      Tiago Alves, Presidente da Associação Académica da Universidade de Aveiro (AAUAv)
      Prof. Arnaldo Martins, Director do Departamento de Electrónica, Telecomunicações e Informática
      Prof. Manuel Assunção, Reitor da Universidade de Aveiro

11:00 A Experiência de um Ciborgue
Prof. Kevin Warwick, Univ. Warwick (Reino Unido)

O 1º Ciborgue do Mundo!

12:00 Almoço

13:00 Joana Ferreira, GoBionic

Responsável pela manutenção de membros mioeléctricos e biónicos.

14:00 Interação humano-máquina e Aprendizagem biónica através da natureza

Elias Knubben e Dr. Alexander Hildebrandt, FESTO (empresa alemã)

      Responsáveis pela criação do SmartBirt, CognoGame, ExoHand, AirJelly, entre outros.

15:30 Coffee break

16:00 Projecto CAMBADA, Univ. Aveiro

      Equipa campeã mundial de futebol robótico

17:00 A Sociedade Portuguesa de Robótica e a Robótica em Portugal

      Prof. Pedro Fonseca, Univ. Aveiro

18:00 Workshops CAMBADA

      ATLASCar

      CAMBADA Multiagentes

      CAMBADA @Home

      Humanóides

      CAMBADA equipa de futebol robótico

19:00 Cerimónia de Encerramento

Página oficial

Facebook

Getting PrimeFaces mix of Selects, Objects and Converters to work

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 19:35:00 +0000

If you are having problems with the AJAX Select components from PrimeFaces when selecting Java objects, inside a DataTable or not, this solution might work for you.

If you have something like the following:

<p:selectOneMenu value="#{deviceBean.currentLocation}"
                 converter="locationConverter">

    <f:selectItem itemLabel="#{deviceBean.currentLocation.name}"
                     itemValue="#{deviceBean.currentLocation}" />
    <f:selectItems
        value="#{deviceBean.locations}"
        var="location"
        itemLabel="#{location.place}"
        itemValue="#{location}" />
    <f:ajax event="change" execute="@this" render="@this" />

</p:selectOneMenu>

Your managed bean is something like my DeviceBean:

@ManagedBean
@SessionScoped
public class DeviceBean implements Serializable {

    @EJB
    private Backend backend;

    private List locations;
    private Location currentLocation;

    public DeviceBean() {
        locations = backend.getLocations();
    }

    public List getCurrentLocation() {
        return currentLocation;
    }

    public Location getCurrentLocation() {
        return currentLocation;
    }
}

Your converter is something like:

@FacesConverter(forClass=Location.class,value="locationConverter")
public class LocationConverter implements Converter {

    @Override
    public Object getAsObject(FacesContext context, UIComponent component, String value) {
        Location location = new Location()
        // some operations to set the parameters of Location based on the String
        return location;
    }

    @Override
    public String getAsString(FacesContext context, UIComponent component, Object value) {
        Location location = (Location) value;
        String string;
        // some operations to save the parameters of Location into a String
        return string;
    }
}

And the object you want to change is something like my Location:

public class Location {
    private String name;

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }
}

And your Select doesn't work, e.g. it doesn't respond to the accept button nor gives any error or logging, then probably it's just discarding the new element you just selected (in my case, of type Location).

It discards it because the object returned by the converter's getAsObject method may not match any of the objects allowed in the locations list from the DeviceBean. If this is the cause, then it means Location doesn't have proper hashCode and equals methods, which are required by Java to check if two objects of the same type have different contents or not, among other things. Because the selectOneMenu requires an object that is on the list, as defined in value="#{deviceBean.currentLocation}", it just fails to do anything.

So, don't forget, get hashCode and equals to the data structures you need to check for equality, explicitily or not, like this (as generated by my NetBeans):

public class Location {
    private String name;

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object obj) {
        if(obj == null)
            return false;
        if(getClass() != obj.getClass())
            return false;
        final LocationTest other = (LocationTest)obj;
        if(!Objects.equals(this.name, other.name))
            return false;
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        int hash = 7;
        hash = 83 * hash + Objects.hashCode(this.name);
        return hash;
    }
}

Google Earth Plug-in and the ATL 10.00

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:53:00 +0000

While playing with the Google Earth Plug-in to integrate in a WebBrowser control of a WPF application I'm currently developing, I started getting this strange background text instead of the map/earth: ATL 10.00.

ATL 10.00

I needed to do ~~two things to get my page working.~~ one simple thing.

Update: It seems my previous method could still fail in some random times and even throw beautiful IE script errors, so here's what's really going on:

The WebBrowser control will by default, for compatibility reasons, render pages as in Internet Explorer 7 standards. The Google Earth plug-in seems to currently have some compatibility issues with IE7, therefore problems can arise. In this case, the ATL 10.00 stays above the map, blanking it.

The Fix
Use the most recent version of Internet Explorer. In order to do this, you must declare a meta tag in your HTML page like the following (this enables IE9 in WebBrowser when it loads the page):

<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=9"/>

First, I used a workaround which consists in delaying the creation of the Google Earth plug-in, thus avoiding a race condition as mentioned in issue 701 from the earth-api-samples:

function Init() {
    if (google.earth.isSupported()) {
        // timeout is required or google earth plugin may get into a race condition and die
        setTimeout("google.earth.createInstance('map3d', initCB, failureCB); alert('done');", 500);
    }
}

/* other functions like initCV and failureCB */

google.setOnLoadCallback(Init);
google.load("earth", "1");

Second, I made sure the #map_canvas is above everything, especially during loading.

My application initially hides the WebBrowser. If I displayed the WebBrowser before the loading timeout, I could see the map alright... but if I waited longer than the loading timeout and then displayed the map, I just got the ATL 10.00.

So I thought, maybe the map is always being rendered but the ATL 10.00 layer is above it. I set #map_canvas the style z-index: -1 and it worked properly!

#map_canvas {
  z-index: -1;
  /* etc */
}

My JS scripts are simple and small and I cannot reproduce ATL 10.00 in native Internet Explorer (in my case IE9) because, I suppose, the map is always visible with positive dimensions (instead of what happens in my WPF application).

Useful links:

Igor Duarte Cardoso

New blog platform

OpenWrt builds for WNDR3700v1 with Open vSwitch

Wrkout 2.0 for Android has been released

Wrkout 1.8.0 for Android has been released

Changing Android Text-to-Speech (TTS) Engine (and other hints)

Available TTS engines

CM7.1 Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)

1. Go to your app drawer and select "Settings";

2. Select "Voice input & output";

3. Select "Text-to-speech settings";

4. Make sure the wanted engine is selected and properly configured in the "Engines" section presented;

5. Finally, select the actual engine you want to be using with your Android apps in "Default engine".

Samsung GALAXY Fame Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)

1. Go to your app drawer and select "Settings";

2. Select "Language and input";

3. Select "Text-to-speech output";

4. Select one of your TTS engines as the preferred to be used in your Android apps (don't forget to press the cog as well to configure them).

2012 Nexus 7 Android 4.4 (KitKat)

1. Go to your app drawer and select "Settings";

2. Select "Language & input";

3. Select "Text-to-speech output";

4. Select one of your TTS engines as the preferred to be used in your Android apps (don't forget to press the control in the right side as well to configure them).

Downloading offline languages for Google Text-to-Speech

Loading app/web page from Android intent when app is disabled

GNS3 Cisco IOS Escape Sequence

JBoss ESB JMS client

Links:

Rooting Memup SlidePad NG 808DC

Wrkout - Android App

Android latest SDK: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException

Cloud Endpoints + JPA: failure in checking if entity exists

Tabata Trainer - Android App

Tabata Trainer - Aplicação Android

Intel graphics extreme color saturation using HDMI and M2250D

A working bashrc function without parameter expansion (globbing)

ADB - CPU usage and staggering mouse cursor

The vmware-usbarbitrator binary closes itself with "Pipe unexpectedly closed."

Cannot find application with Spotlight (the missing solution)

Sudden FPS drop in F.E.A.R (Logitech hardware)

Aplicação: Serviços Académicos da Universidade de Aveiro

Colloquium of Robotics and Cybernetics

Colóquio de Robótica e Cibernética

Getting PrimeFaces mix of Selects, Objects and Converters to work

Google Earth Plug-in and the ATL 10.00