Geek tips, linux, programming, hacks

Ubuntu single paste to install lamp with phpmyadmin

2011-11-12T22:09:00.000-08:00

sudo apt-get install apache2 libapache2-mod-php5 php5 php5-common php5-curl php5-dev php5-gd php5-imagick php5-mcrypt php5-memcache php5-mhash php5-mysql php5-pspell php5-snmp mysql-server mysql-client
phpmyadmin

mysql.m compile 64 bit ubuntu linux

2011-11-07T21:22:00.000-08:00

So I downloaded the awesome file exchange mysql.cpp file to link Matlab.

http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/8663-mysql-database-connector

Then I installed the mysql and the extra libraries I thought I needed.

Then in Matlab I ran:

mex -I/usr/include/mysql -L/usr/lib/mysql -lmysqlclient mysql.cpp

and I got this error:

Warning: You are using gcc version "4.5.2-8ubuntu4)". The version
currently supported with MEX is "4.3.4".
For a list of currently supported compilers see:
http://www.mathworks.com/support/compilers/current_release/

/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.5.2/cc1plus: /home/snow/matlab2011/sys/os/glnxa64/libstdc++.so.6: version `GLIBCXX_3.4.14' not found (required by /usr/lib/libppl_c.so.2)
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.5.2/cc1plus: /home/snow/matlab2011/sys/os/glnxa64/libstdc++.so.6: version `GLIBCXX_3.4.11' not found (required by /usr/lib/libppl_c.so.2)
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.5.2/cc1plus: /home/snow/matlab2011/sys/os/glnxa64/libstdc++.so.6: version `GLIBCXX_3.4.14' not found (required by /usr/lib/libppl.so.7)
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.5.2/cc1plus: /home/snow/matlab2011/sys/os/glnxa64/libstdc++.so.6: version `GLIBCXX_3.4.11' not found (required by /usr/lib/libppl.so.7)
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.5.2/cc1plus: /home/snow/matlab2011/sys/os/glnxa64/libstdc++.so.6: version `GLIBCXX_3.4.11' not found (required by /usr/lib/libgmpxx.so.4)

mex: compile of ' "mysql.cpp"' failed.

After digging around on the Internet I finally found the solution, and it was very simple:

Navigate to here:

$MATLAB_ROOT/sys/os/glnxa64/

(first make a backup of that folder just in case). and run these two commands:

mv libstdc++.so.6 libstdc++.so.6.orig
mv libgcc_s.so.1 libgcc_s.so.1.orig

Then I didn't even need to restart my Matlab session, I just reran the mex compile command it it worked! Yay!

How to 3 monitors 2 graphics cards ubuntu xorg.conf

2011-11-06T00:40:00.001-07:00

What a pain! After three days of frustration I finally was able to setup my three monitors to work on ubuntu.

Here is my xorg.conf:

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings: version 285.05.09 (buildmeister@swio-display-x86-rhel47-02.nvidia.com) Fri Sep 23 17:55:42 PDT 2011

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout0"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
Screen 1 "Screen1" Absolute 1600 900 #Location of first screen
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
Option "Xinerama" "1" #Use this to stich monitors together so windows can be moved
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
# HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "HP S2031"
HorizSync 24.0 - 83.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 76.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
# HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
Identifier "Monitor1"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "HP S2031"
HorizSync 24.0 - 83.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 76.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce GTX 480"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Option "RandRRotation" "on"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device1"
Driver "radeon"
VendorName "ATI Technologies"
BoardName "AMD Radeon HD 6500"
BusID "PCI:2:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "1"
Option "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0"
Option "metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0, DFP-2: nvidia-auto-select +0+900"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen1"
Device "Device1"
Monitor "Monitor1"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "1"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Important points:
Make sure binary drivers are installed for your graphics cards.
Use nvidia-settings to create and test your xorg.conf files. I noticed it was a lot easier to start with one screen, get each one working individually and then combine.

Backup, backup, backup your working xorg.conf. I screwed this up >10xs and it was nice to have a backup. Also alt-ctrl-backspace came in very handy so I could quickly retest my xorg.conf by restarting.

Option "Xinerama" "1" was needed so I could pass windows between my screens. I had issues using this if compiz effects were enabled, so I just turned off all, looks like it is an issue specific to 11.04, not older versions.

Also lspci |grep VGA was helpful to see my card info, this was needed in the xorg.conf file. I had issues with the relative screen positioning so I used absolute positioning which I would recommend.

Please post comments with any questions or feedback.

Ubuntu Mint Install Nividia GTX 480 Drivers

2011-11-05T10:40:00.001-07:00

First I went to the Nividia website:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux-display-amd64-285.05.09-driver.html

And found the right driver for my system. Downloaded the ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-285.05.09.run file.
Change the permissions so I could execute:

chmod 777 ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-285.05.09.run
Then I executed it:
./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-285.05.09.run

But it gives me a warning and says I have to kill my xserver. I Do this (I am using gnome):
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop

After I kill it I run the same command I tried above and follow the directions and it worked fine.

"You have not chosen to rust "Entrust.net"" ubuntu ica fix

2011-02-03T20:42:00.001-08:00

So I installed the new citrix ica client so I could remote into work on my ubuntu netbook but I get this error when trying to open up the application:

"You have not chosen to rust "Entrust.net"... blah blah blah SSL error...

To fix this you need to copy the Entrust.net certificates to your ICAClient/keysyore/cacerts/ directory.

Mine was located here:
/usr/lib/ICAClient/keystore/cacerts/

To get the Entrust.net certificates you can download them directly here:
wget https://www.entrust.net/downloads/binary/entrust_ssl_ca.cer

Or go to the www.entrust.net/downloads and find the root certificates. Then answer a few stupid questions and download it.

Once you downloaded it you have to change the file extension from .cer to .crt. Once you have copied that file into the folder above you are DONE! I didn't have to close my browser or even login again, I just clicked on the application and it worked perfectly!

ubuntu how to copy all file types to a single folder

2011-01-18T19:37:00.000-08:00

So I wanted to figure out an easy way to search my computer and my servers for a specific file type, in my case .eps figure files and copy them all to a single folder for me to review.

So first I need to make a folder to copy them do so I did this:

First I made the directory
mkdir figall

Move to the root folder
cd /

Now copy all files with extension .eps to my folder
sudo find -name "*.eps" -exec cp \{\} ~/Desktop/figall/ \;

Now I could repeat this for any file extension:
sudo find -name "*.jpg" -exec cp \{\} ~/Desktop/jpgall/ \;
sudo find -name "*.doc" -exec cp \{\} ~/Desktop/docall/ \;
sudo find -name "*.tex" -exec cp \{\} ~/Desktop/texall/ \;

make ubuntu gnome look like windows XP

2011-01-17T20:42:00.000-08:00

This was great, I downloaded it and within minutes my entire desktop looked just like windows. Don't get me wrong, I hate windows and I can't wait for it to go out of business but this is funny and now people that use my computer will be clueless that it is not windows.

http://ubuntu.online02.com/node/14

Here is the direct link:
http://ubuntu.online02.com/files/XpGnome.tar.gz

Just:

tar -xvf XpGnome.tar.gz
cd XpGnome
sudo ./InstallXpGnome.sh

stream logitech alert camera through rtsp ubuntu linux

2011-01-14T23:44:00.001-08:00

You can use VLC to do this here is an example:

vlc rtsp://192.168.2.137:554/HighResolutionVideo

or

vlc rtsp://192.168.2.137:554/LowResolutionVideo

Funniest crashthesuperbowl 2011 commerical finger lick

2011-01-03T23:59:00.001-08:00

Just saw this:

You can vote for here it.
http://www.crashthesuperbowl.com/?%2F%3Ffinalist=1264#/?finalist=1264

Loved this commerical!
-Ben

How to show octave line by line output in real time

2010-12-27T16:13:00.000-08:00

So octave will output everything from your script once it ends by default. This can be frustrating if you are trying to troubleshoot a lot of looping. To get the real time line by line output like Matlab you need to include:

more off;

At the beginning of your script. If you like you can put this in your octaverc startup file so you don't have to do this for each script. Hope that saves someone some time.

How to install google chrome browser behind firewall, download standalone

2010-11-30T10:25:00.001-08:00

I had issues installing google chrome since I was behind a firewall and it would fail. You can install google chrome by downloadingthe alternative standalone install which is larger but saves you the issue of installing behind a firewall or proxy:
Here is the link:http://www.google.com/chrome/eula.html?standalone=1&hl=en&brand=CHMA

BYU Utah 2010 field goal block photo

2010-11-27T21:35:00.001-08:00

Here is a little salt:

Python max index numpy.argmax(asarray(

2010-11-04T21:39:00.000-07:00

So in Matlab I loved how I could do:

[A I]=max(Array)

And get I the index of the maximum value. To do this in sage (python) I finally ended up with this command:

I=numpy.argmax(asarray(Array))

Where Array is my python list, I have to use asarray() to convert it to a numpy array. Then the argmax returns the first occurrence of the maximum.

apache2 and sagemath both on port 80 using mod_proxy etc..

2010-10-20T21:52:00.000-07:00

I want to run sage and apache2 both on port 80, but I can't do that. So a work around is to do port forwarding so it looks like like the user is on a regular website and they can't see the port numbers. I tried for too long just using mod rewrite but kept getting 403 and 500 errors. The final solution was really easy:

Put this in your HTTP.conf

DocumentRoot /var/www/sage/
ServerName sage.mysite.com
ServerAlias www.sage.mysite.com
ProxyRequests Off

Order deny,allow
Allow from all

ProxyPass / http://mysite.com:8000/
ProxyPassReverse / http://mysite.com:8000/

Ubuntu server send SMS text messages to cell phone

2010-10-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

Not sure if anyone else has wondered this, but I had a ubuntu email server and I wanted to set it up to send SMS message automatically so users on cell phones could get updates. Well, that is easy, just poin the email to:
10-digit wireless number@mms.att.net

For example
If my area code was 775 and my phone number was 111-3333 I would do:

7751113333@mms.att.net

So if I was using PHP my code would be:

$phoneNumber=7751113333
$to = $phoneNumber."@mms.att.net"; //combine phone number to send message
$subject = "Hi!";
$body = "Hi,\n\nHow are you?";
if (mail($to, $subject, $body)) {
echo("

Message successfully sent!

");
} else {
echo("

Message delivery failed...

");
}

Running sage math on android OS / phone

2010-10-13T19:53:00.000-07:00

So I dug around on the internet and I found someone who was patient enough to actually compile and install sage on their android G1.

Here is a photo:





The build took 14.5 days and the conlcusion was for now you are much better off having a sage notebook
server. Maybe as stats continue to improve you can run one locally.

The original post can be read here:

I have compiled and run Sage 3.2.3 on my T-Mobile G1 cell phone, and
large portions of it actually work.

300 files had failing doctests; this means that all doctests passed in
864 files. A lot of the failing doctests are with pexpect (maxima,
gap, etc.); I don't know why these fail. When I try simple things
with gap and maxima, they do work. Many more tests fail due to
timeouts; the 300-second timeout is far too short for the G1.
(Doctesting any file with doctests takes >50 seconds; doctesting a
file with no doctests takes >4 seconds. The entire doctest run took
270724 seconds, or a little over 3 days.)

Unfortunately, it's far too slow to be useful for anything (just
starting Sage takes about a minute, if there's enough free memory; but
since Android likes to keep the memory full all the time, there never
is enough free memory, and it takes much longer to start). So I don't
plan to do anything further with the project.

Of course, the sensible way to do this is to find some nice fast
computer and set up a cross-compiler. I didn't do this the sensible
way; I actually did the build on the cell phone. And of course, the
build would stop every once in a while due to a bug, which I would
then patch around. So, adding up the 14 chunks of compilation
involved, the entire compile took 20943 minutes of real time (about
14.5 days) and 9438 minutes (about 6.5 days) of CPU time. You'll note
that the CPU time adds up to less than half of the real time; most of
the rest of the time was spent swapping. The G1 has about 100MB of
RAM; I set up a swap file on my micro-SD card, to allow the build to
proceed at all. On several files, the compiler uses more than 300MB.
While compiling those files, the CPU is typically less than 1% active;
I'm pretty sure that there were files that took more than a day to
compile. The phone was essentially unusable for smartphone activities
(web browsing, etc.) while the build was running. In fact, the whole
smartphone UI crashed and restarted on a fairly regular basis during
the build (I'm guessing it has some sort of watchdog timer and reboots
itself if it detects that some operation is taking an unreasonably
long time), but the build just continued anyway (running inside a
screen session).

The ATLAS tuning process took about 3.2 days (with almost as much CPU
time as real time; that didn't swap much). Skimming through the logs,
I see reports of numbers like 3 to 6 MFLOPs.

The build was performed inside a Debian armel testing chroot; it's
pretty nice being able to run real Debian on my cell phone.
(Everything works; I can ssh in and out, etc., although when it's on
the cell phone network, inbound connections are problematic because
it's behind a NAT.)

To make the whole project even more pointless, since the phone is
running real Debian (inside the chroot), I can probably just wait a
few weeks or months for Tim Abbott to get all the portability issues
fixed in the sagemath Debian package, and then install Sage on the
phone with apt-get.

Here's the processor:

cwitty@localhost:/tmp$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
Processor : ARMv6-compatible processor rev 2 (v6l)
BogoMIPS : 383.38
Features : swp half thumb fastmult edsp java
CPU implementer : 0x41
CPU architecture: 6TEJ
CPU variant : 0x1
CPU part : 0xb36
CPU revision : 2
Cache type : write-back
Cache clean : cp15 c7 ops
Cache lockdown : format C
Cache format : Harvard
I size : 32768
I assoc : 4
I line length : 32
I sets : 256
D size : 32768
D assoc : 4
D line length : 32
D sets : 256

Hardware : trout
Revision : 0080
Serial : 0000000000000000

Carl



http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel/browse_thread/thread/243dfd4ab25a2779/ea5b45f313b46460

javascript replace all character occurances in one line

2010-10-06T10:57:00.000-07:00

So if I have a string:

var myOldString = "x%=
%%%%0.4218%%%%0.7922
%%%%0.9157%%%%0.9595
";

And I want to replace all of the % with space I can use javascript and use the '/g' modifier to replace all:

temp = myOldString.replace(/%/g,' ');

If I had done:

temp = myOldString.replace('%',' ');

It would have only replaced the first occurance which was not what I wanted.

matlab eval 2 string linebreak to eval2str.m

2010-10-05T23:21:00.000-07:00

So I wanted my Matlab eval input to be made into a string I could post on a website.
The evalc() Matlab function returns a character array, but I wanted a string I could send through a socket to a website.

I had an issue with finding the exact line break, I tried char(10) and '\n' but that did not work so I cheated. Here is my cheat:

function STR2=eval2str(msg)
STR=evalc(msg) %eval input
A=evalc('X=2') %eval to get character? char(10) and \n did not work for me?
STR=strrep(STR,' ','%') %I justed used this to temporarily replace the spaces
STR2=strrep(STR,A(4),'
') %ln2br

So if I input eval2str('X=rand(2,2)') I get a string like this:

x%=
%%%%0.4218%%%%0.7922
%%%%0.9157%%%%0.9595

Which is a string I can pass through my socket and then replace the % with ' ' on the otherside. So I can use Matlab to eval to a string output and send over a socket for a matlab server :).

Create great latex PDF figs using Open Office Draw

2010-08-24T20:17:00.001-07:00

I found out that I can use open office Draw to make great vector graphic presentations and then import that into my latex articles and latex beamer presentations. Here is what you do:

1: Export your as PDF from OpenOffice Draw

If I saved my file as CoolFigure.pdf then I would do:

2. pdftops -eps CoolFigure.pdf
3. cat CoolFigure.eps | ps2eps > CoolFigure.eps && epstopdf CoolFigure.eps

Then to include it in my Latex document I just do:

4. \begin{figure}
\includegraphics[width=4in]{CoolFigure}
\end{figure}

How to install Matlab on ubuntu server 10.04 via command line

2010-07-31T15:32:00.000-07:00

So I did not have x-server install on the server and it was not allowing me to do the GUI install. So instead I tried:

./install -t

for the text install but I got an error after the license agreement:
update/bin/glnxa64/xsetup: error while loading shared libraries: libXp.so.6 cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

I did this:

apt-get install libxp6

and then it worked just fine using ./install -t
Hopefully this saves somebody some time, and stops them from doing a ubuntu-desktop install on a server just to install Matlab

True multithreading in PHP! Spawn new threads in webpage

2010-07-08T19:38:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I searched around for this and I was disappointed, I could not find true multithreading in PHP. Well here is my solution. You know how you can call php from the command line in linux/unix? Well you can do a system call to a php function, hide the output and break off of it and come back to the website and your php script will continue executing in the background.

Here is an example:

So from the command line I can do:

php -r 'PUT_YOUR_PHP_CODE_HERE_WITHOUT_ESCAPES;'

well there is no reason you can't call the a system call from your website, so I am doing something like this:

$exec_string="php -r 'PUT_YOUR_PHP_CODE_HERE_WITHOUT_ESCAPES' > /dev/null 2>&1 &";
exec($exec_string,$output);

The command: 2>&1 & at the end is what I am using the escape the string rather than waiting for it to finish.

$exec_string="php -r 'mail(\"".$_POST['user']."\",\"".$string1."\",\"".$bericht."\",\"".$string2."\");' > /dev/null 2>&1 &";
exec($exec_string,$output);

How to install SAPPHIRE HD5770 on ubuntu 9.10 and get it working

2010-01-11T06:26:00.001-08:00

First go to ATI's website and download:
ati-driver-installer-9-12-x86.x86_64.run

Now run:
ati-driver-installer-9-12-x86.x86_64.run

Then:
sudo aticonfig --initial -f

Then reboot and settings worked just fine allowing me to configure advanced desktop settings

IP addresses you should hack and not feel bad about

2010-01-06T10:32:00.001-08:00

Here is a list of banned IP addresses you can try hacking and not feel bad. These IPs spammed one of my websites so I was able to grab them.

Edit Delete 1 213.79.93.188
Edit Delete 2 193.63.181.11
Edit Delete 3 69.32.139.171
Edit Delete 4 72.3.139.247
Edit Delete 5 85.140.185.219
Edit Delete 6 157.138.204.166
Edit Delete 7 128.243.21.224
Edit Delete 8 129.194.8.73
Edit Delete 9 68.68.104.34
Edit Delete 10 85.140.65.67
Edit Delete 11 147.156.98.148
Edit Delete 12 66.147.136.40
Edit Delete 13 194.82.16.252

Let me help you get started:
Using the UNIX command NMAP you can do:

nmap -A -T4 147.156.98.148 to find out what services are running. The ouput for this IP is:

SCRIPT ENGINE: Aborting script scan.
Interesting ports on open9.irobot.uv.es (147.156.98.148):
Not shown: 1708 filtered ports
PORT STATE SERVICE VERSION
22/tcp open ssh (protocol 2.0)
80/tcp open http Apache httpd 2.2.11 ((Ubuntu) PHP/5.2.6-3ubuntu4.2 with Suhosin-Patch)
443/tcp closed https
5900/tcp closed vnc
5901/tcp closed vnc-1
5902/tcp closed vnc-2
5903/tcp closed vnc-3
1 service unrecognized despite returning data. If you know the service/version, please submit the following fingerprint at http://www.insecure.org/cgi-bin/servicefp-submit.cgi :
SF-Port22-TCP:V=4.62%I=7%D=1/6%Time=4B44D19C%P=i686-pc-linux-gnu%r(NULL,27
SF:,"SSH-2\.0-OpenSSH_5\.1p1\x20Debian-5ubuntu1\r\n");

Some areas to start would be trying to do a brute force on the SSH server, or VNC server incase the password was simple, or find vulnerabilities in the webserver, the kernel may have a security hole since it is older... etc.. etc..

You have not chosen to trust "Thawte Premium Server CA", the issuer of the server's security certificate (SSL error 61) ubuntu citrix ICA client FIX

2010-01-01T21:46:00.000-08:00

You have not chosen to trust "Thawte Premium Server CA", the issuer of the server's security certificate (SSL error 61) ubuntu citrix ICA client FIX.

I use a citrix ICA client to remote into work and I began to get the error:
You have not chosen to trust "Thawte Premium Server CA", the issuer of the server's security certificate (SSL error 61)

To fix this I downloaded the new root certificates:
wget https://www.verisign.com/support/thawte-roots.zip
unzip thawte-roots.zip

Now we need to find were we need to put the new cert file, I found this by searching doing this:
find -name *cacert*

I copied the new file using this command:
sudo cp -v Thawte\ Roots/Thawte\ SSLWeb\ Server\ Roots/Thawte\ Premium\ Server\ CA.cer ~/./ICAClient/linuxx86/keystore/cacerts/ThawtePremiumServerCA.crt

Then I retried the citrix ICA client, did not even need to restart my browser, and it worked!

How to remove Security Tool virus using ubuntu live CD

2009-12-24T18:34:00.000-08:00

I got a computer with the Security tool virus infection. I could not access my task manager, or run antivirus software since the program would keep shutting it down.

I booted a ubuntu live cd and opened up the terminal command line

sudo fdisk -l
mkdir disk1/
sudo mount /dev/sda3/ disk1/

Then I went to disk1/ProgramData/ and I saw a random number folder:
15567630 and inside was 15567630.exe which after reading around online I suspected to be the executable. So I deleted it.

rm 15567630/ -R
Then I rebooted the computer into windows (NOT RESUME, new reboot). This allowed me to install mbam-setup.exe (walwareby Anti Malware) to scan and do a complete removal). I did not see any signs of the virus before hand and I may have been good but I wanted to do a full scan anyway.

I also noticed that a desktop shortcut to security tools was broken (cause I deleted it :) ).

Post questions and I'll do my best to answer

how to install octave with image package in windows XP without Cygwin

2009-06-06T02:20:00.001-07:00

Install octave 3.0.5 using the windows installer.

Then go to:

http://www.tatsuromatsuoka.com/octave/Eng/Win/

Download the zip file, follow the read me on where to put the files. Then open octave and type:

> pkg rebuild image
> pkg load image

Then use

> pkg list

To confirm that it is installed. Now you can use imread and all of those other great functions like you do in Matlab!

I had a heck of a time finding this out, tried compiling with Cygwin on windows but found this out using google and it was much easier.

Found new website www.GlobalWarmingScientist.com to track daily sea ice changes

2009-05-30T01:50:00.001-07:00

Found a new website: http://www.globalwarmingscientist.com/ which updates northern and southern hemisphere sea ice coverage plots giving users the most up to date idea of how the earth is reacting.

This site also updates static images I noticed, so to get the latest image for the northern hemisphere you can use:

http://www.globalwarmingscientist.com/work/matrixN.matnew.jpg

or

http://www.globalwarmingscientist.com/work/matrixS.matnew.jpg

Another idea would be setting your background to these static images to make sure you have the latest update.

Ubuntu wireless manager is gone in panel

2009-05-18T22:40:00.000-07:00

I just update ubuntu and now my wireless is not in the panel?

To fix this I went to a terminal and typed:

nm-applet

If that doesn't work type:

nm

And hit the tab key and see what options there are. That started my wireless network manager.

How to recover Intel D945GCLF2 BIOS using USB

2009-05-18T19:45:00.000-07:00

My D945GCLF2 BIOS was corrupted and I was able to recover the BIOS. This is what I did:

1. I got a USB flash drive and made sure it was formatted FAT. Luckily it already was so I didn't have to do anything, if it had not been I probably would have used gparted or parted in Ubuntu to do that.

2. Next I went to Intel's website and got the recovery BIOS file for this motherboard:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/confirm.aspx?httpDown=http://downloadmirror.intel.com/17249/eng/LF0140P.BIO&agr=N&ProductID=2926&DwnldId=17249&strOSs=All&OSFullName=All%20Operating%20Systems&lang=eng

The file is called: lf0140p.bio
You can also get it from:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?ProductID=2926&DwnldID=17249&lang=eng

3. Next place that file on your USB drive.
4. Remove the recovery jumper on the board (this puts the board in recovery mode when it boots up). See the documents in this thread for more info: http://communities.intel.com/thread/3191

5. Next I inserted by USB and booted with my jumper on the board removed. Waited 10 minutes to be extra safe. Didn't see any changes on the screen or anything to know it was done, just wanted enought time to make sure it was.
6. Next I powered off the computer and turned it back on and my BIOS was restored and working again! :)

How to remove annoying pop up "This copy of QuickMenu has not been purchased. (www.opencube.com)" javascript

2009-05-09T15:10:00.000-07:00

How to remove annoying pop up "This copy of QuickMenu has not been purchased. (www.opencube.com)" javascript

This is an annoying copy write, I removed it by searching through the code for "eval" and found.

eval("ig(xiodpw/sioxHflq&'!xiodpw/qnu'&)wjneox.modauipn,\"#)/tpLpwfrDate))/iodfxPf)\"itup;\"*+2)blfru(#Tiit doqy!og RujclMfnv iat oou cefn!pvrdhbsfd/ )wxw/oqeocvbf.don)#)<".replace(/./g,qa));;

Removed it and no issues since. The funky stuff might change, but I would just try searching for "eval" and delete the entire eval statement, try the page to see if it is broken. May be one of this in each module.

How to fix an ACER ASPIRE ONE that won't boot due to corrupted bios.

2009-02-22T20:29:00.000-08:00

So my wonderful ASPIRE ONE stopped booting after doing a boot from a USB flash drive to test to see if I had setup Ubuntu correctly on it. I would only get a black screen and I could hear the fan cycling up and down but it would never boot. Fortunately I found an article on google by Macles, the problem was fixed within 3 minutes start to finish.

Using a mac I opened the terminal and used:
openssl md5 ZG5*
To verify the checksum, then I just formated my USB to FAT using windows. Followed the instructions below exactly and it worked out fine.

http://sites.google.com/site/maclesblogspotcom/

Acer Aspire One BIOS Recovery

The AA1 has a built-in BIOS recovery routine, making it possible to flash the BIOS even if the system doesn't boot anymore. It's only meant for emergencies and may void your warranty, so use at your own risk.

Follow every step carefully!

First format an USB stick with FAT.

Download the latest BIOS, and put both FLASHIT.EXE and the BIOS file in the root directory of the stick. Rename the BIOS file to ZG5IA32.FD, that's important. Do not remove the USB stick.

Turn the AA1 off, make sure both battery and AC adapter are connected. Press Fn+Esc, keep it pressed and press the power button to turn the AA1 on. Release Fn+Esc after a few seconds, the power button will be blinking. Press the power button once. The AA1 will now initiate the BIOS flash, do not interrupt it under any circumstances. After a while the power button will stop blinking, and the AA1 will reboot shortly after. Wait patiently, this took me about 1 minute and then my computer rebooted just fine.

The BIOS has been flashed and all settings reset to default.

If for some reason you made a mistake during the procedure and it doesn't reboot by itself wait 5 minutes before turning it off, just to be safe that it isn't still flashing the BIOS.

How to remove YOUTUBE "Videos being watched right now" Unwanted porno

2009-02-07T19:26:00.000-08:00

I have been very disappointed with YouTube and the videos being watched right now, I see screen shots from videos that are not family friendly and borderline pornographic.

Now there is a fix! If you are using firefox, install the firefox adblock plus ad-on
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865

Now you can add the filter, right click, block image (another image), no select the custom button and add:
*active_sharing.swf*

The * are used as wild cards to block any url with that flash script. Now when I load YouTube I don't have to see the videos being watched right now :)

-Ben

Install SSHFS (SSH filesystem) in ubuntu via command line

2008-11-08T14:54:00.000-08:00

Install sshfs by doing:
$sudo apt-get install sshfs %This install sshfs and all dependents
$sudo mkdir /media/my-ssh-server-name %This creates the folder to mount
$sudo chown your-username /media/dir-name %This gives you permissions
$sudo modprobe fuse %This loads the fuse module
$sudo adduser your-username fuse %This gives you permissions to run fuse

Now reboot your computer and use the command:
sshfs usr@host.com: /media/my-ssh-server-name

For example, if I had a hosted account at netfirms.com, and my login name was JOEBOB and I had a website in a folder www/website2/ and a folder I made in /media called website2 I would do:
sshfs JOEBOB@ssh.netfirms.com:www/website2/ /media/website2

Now to unmount do:
$fusermount -u /media/my-ssh-server-name %Use this to unmount

Apache MOD rewrite for oscommerce (CHEMO contribution)

2008-11-08T14:44:00.000-08:00

To optimize your site for GOOGLE, and increase your page rank you need to convert your product IDs it the dynamic URL to static url's with keywords. There are packages out there to do this, that cost money, a great free SEO package can be found here by the oscommerce user CHEMO:

http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,2823

I have downloaded 2.1d ORIGINAL updated since I didn't want to get anything too complicated until I understood the code better.

Follow the read me and upload the two files to the necessary folders.

Point your domain to your home server

2008-10-14T10:33:00.001-07:00

Just bought a domain name and want to host it at home? When people type in www.yourdomain.com how are they going to find you if you have a dynamic IP address? If your IP was static you could just use that and point the domain there.

Mine is not, so I use www.DNSexit.com they are free and it was very easy to setup and manage my domains.... AND they have a client that runs on linux that will update them if your IP address ever changes making your setup maintain itself.

So enter your domain in www.yourdomain.com into DNS, I believe they will automatically decect what your IP is, but if you want to find out yourself you can do www.whatismyip.com and paste that in.

Now login into godaddy.com, whoever your registrar was for your site and point your DNS servers to:

ns1.dnsExit.com
ns2.dnsExit.com
ns3.dnsExit.com
ns4.dnsExit.com

The 1, 2, 3, 4, etc... is for redundancy. Two should be fine.

Sometimes it takes awhile, up to 4-6 hrs, but once it is set up and your domain is pointed to the DNSexit DNS servers then you are all set and when you type in www.yourdomain.com it will come up with your website (Only if you have ports open on your router directing them to the right machine that is running a webserver).

Now to stop you from having to login and update your IP whenever it changes which usually only happens after a power outage really (at least for me). You can down the Dynamic Client from DNSexit.

Then run (if running debian/ubuntu):
dpkg -i ipUpdate-1.6-2.deb

Trouble shooting:
To make sure your server is running get on the machine and type "localhost".

Now lets see if the world can see it, type www.whatismyip.com and paste the IP into your browser. If you see your website great! If not then your ports on your router are not forwarding to the right machine.

Next, register with DNSexit and type in your domain name after 4-6 hrs, give them time to update their system. If you see your website you are done, if not they have not updated their system yet, or your domain name is not pointed to the DNS servers. You can do a WHOIS lookup on your domain to see what the current DNS servers are on it.

Good luck, enjoy,

How to restart you apache2 webserver (Ubuntu intrepid)

2008-10-14T06:57:00.000-07:00

This is how you can restart your apache2 server:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

How to set up virtual servers in apache2 (using Ubuntu Intrepid)

2008-10-14T06:49:00.001-07:00

Assuming you have apache2 installed.

Go to /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

Open it with your favorite text editor and at the very end add:

NameVirtualHost 192.168.1.102

DocumentRoot /var/www/website1
ServerName website1.com
ServerAlias www.website1.com

DocumentRoot /var/www/website2
ServerName website2.com
ServerAlias www.website2.com

Ok now lets analyze what we just did.

This is the static IP address on my LAN. Whatever you pick you must open port 80 to redirect to this static IP address.

DocumentRoot /var/www/ben/website1 This is where I keep the material for my first website.

ServerName website1.com
ServerAlias www.website1.com

This will allow website1.com AND www.website1.com to work on the webserver, otherwise website1.com might return a site not found (401) error.

Close my virtual site.

You can have as many of these as you like as long as you don't exceed RAM, bandwidth, etc...

How to install a APACHE-PHP-MYSQL-PHPMYADMIN server on Ubuntu Intrepid

2008-10-14T06:24:00.000-07:00

First I install the webserver
sudo apt-get install apache2

Then I install PHP5 with all the add ons:
sudo apt-get -f install libapache2-mod-php5 php5 php5-common php5-curl php5-dev php5-gd php5-imagick php5-mcrypt php5-memcache php5-mhash php5-mysql php5-pspell php5-snmp

Then I install MySQL database
sudo apt-get -f install mysql-server mysql-client

And finally phpMyadmin to manage your database from a GUI.
sudo apt-get -f install phpmyadmin

NOW TO TEST EVERYTHING

TESTING APACHE2
To test if apache is working open your browser and type:
localhost

If you see the text "It works!" Apache2 is running.

TESTING PHP5
Navigate to /var/www/
and create a text file named test.php which contains:

Now type in your browser:
localhost/test.php

You should see a large table of values that tell information about your server and php setup.

TESTING PHPMYADMIN
Open up your browser and type:
localhost/phpmyadmin

If you are taken to a login screen you can now login and create databased for your sites.