Archive for the 'it' Category

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ALT+SHIFT

Published on March 19, 2011 in English and it. 2 Comments Tags: , .

Recently I took part in an online Battle of the Brands http://thebattleofbrands.com/en

Both of the contestants are familiar to me since my childhood.

To cut the long story short, let me introduce this 2 awesome key combinations:

  • [ALT]+[SHIFT]
  • [CTRL]+[SHIFT]
As you probably guessed both of them are used to switch keyboard layout in PCs.
The heading of the topic yells my choice: [ALT]+[SHIFT]

I’ve been using CTRL+SHIFT barely for 7 years. Since I was introduced to the PC. I can recall in my memory, that second or third lesson during computer courses back in 2001 was how to set up your Windows 98 to use it smoothly. The first issue to fix in the standard Win98 installation was to change ALT+SHIFT into CTRL+SHIFT. I still can’t get it why it was done? CTRL+SHIFT was used everywhere. I can hardly find any reason for this choice nowadays.
Possibly, that’s because people use mouse a lot. This sound a bit unclear, but I’ll make a point.
What do people use to select seldom words in Word/Notepad? Yeap, a mouse! But there’s a better choice: CTRL+SHIFT+(left/right arrows). You don’t have to move your mouse around and precisely click it twice over the word. Moreover, what should you do to select 2 words in a row? double click is a waste of time here. It selects only one word per time.
How do people navigate through all the tabbed interfaces – browsers, preference windows? Again, with a mouse! Mouse is not a choice if you need to get the office job done quickly. Keyboard is much quicker. The main key combination to navigate through tabs is CTRL+TAB (forth ->) and CTRL+SHIFT+TAB (back <-). The second one intersects with our keyboard layout combination. So it was unfairly forgotten. This OS feature often is not used at all! Since I discovered it I forgot about mouse while browsing through tabs. It greatly sped up my navigating.
The crux of the matter is that barely nobody wants to use their keyboard efficiently. They dream of it, but do nothing to improve their keyboard skills. Keyboard has much to offer! So go and get over it!

 

Understanding BlackBerry EventLog

Published on March 12, 2011 in English and it. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Recently, I’ve been digging deeply into BlackBerry EventLogs.

Every row in EventLog consists of several parts.

The first element is error-level (a,d,E,..) of this log entry.

The next one is application’s name (e.g. net.rim.udp, System…)

And finally here comes the message.I was interested in this tiny letters shown at the begining of every log event:

#BlackBerry Event Log (cpt)
#PVer: 5.1.0.177
#AVer: 5.0.0.938
a net.rim.ippp - RXCd 11 - 9/23 22:31:29
a net.rim.ippp - RXCd 32 - 9/23 22:30:27 W net.rim.ippp - RXnp - 9/23 22:30:15a net.rim.ippp - RXCd 11 - 9/23 22:30:15
d net.rim.ippp - TXSt 0 - 9/23 22:30:15
a net.rim.ippp - TXca - 9/23 22:30:15


Maybe, this knowledge will be usefull for someone.

Letter API name Description
a ALWAYS_LOG Always log event, regardless of severity.
d DEBUG_INFO Debug information level event.
E ERROR Error level event.
I INFORMATION Information level event.
S SEVERE_ERROR Severe level event.
W WARNING Warning level event.

Windows 7 fail

Published on February 6, 2011 in English, it and Life. 4 Comments Tags: , , .

I’ve recently got access to MSDNAA. That’s MSDN Academic Alliance. This program for universities allows students to get Microsoft tools free of charge for personal use.

My dream was to have licensed version of Microsoft Windows. In post-soviet countries, it’s really that hard to use one. But with msdnaa my dream came true.

I’ve downloaded client application (<500kb). This one is downloading iso-image of the item, I’ve chosen on microsoft.com. Finally, it downloaded 2,3 Gb Windows 7 Professional Retail x86 iso-file. Unfortunately, I had no free dvd-r at that moment, and my dvd-drive was in such a horrible state, that it could hardly read any dvd. I don’t even mention it’s ability to write smth :/ But lightscribe works as it should :)

So, I’ve downloaded Microsoft ISO2USB tool. This one allows users to burn their iso to usb-drive, and install OS from it. Unfortunately, it failed. That one needed some extra libraries, which I couldn’t find.
I found one third-party tool, which did that for me.

I’m rebooting my system… and there it is! Windows 7 installation!
Unfortunately, right after first screen, my setup failed :) It couldn’t find any drivers for my lapton, so with the message “Insert dvd/choose location of drivers” all my dreams fainted.
I’ve been trying lot’s of solutions. But nothing could help me.
The only outcome, I’ve faced was: several new partitions on hard-drive, no OS at all.

Right at that moment, I’ve found my Ubuntu 10.10 CD. That’s the only non-brain-damaging solution! It installed from the first time. No pop-alerts! Easy as abc! Even after logging into my braid new ubuntu installation, I wasn’t satisfied enough. I had a valid Win7 Pro key! I had no Win7 Pro. That’s ridiculous.

I thought, the only place in internet, where I can find valid iso-image of Win7 can be somewhere in torrents! I’ve logged into one of the most popular torrent sites out here and quickly found Genuine Win 7 Retail.

But there where no Pro. Only Ultimate revisions. Somewhere, I’ve read, that Ultimate installation has all the versions inside: from Starter to Ultimate, except Enterprise. And yes! You just have to remove or modify
/isoimage/sources/ei.cfg file! That definitely cool :)

I’ve downloaded win 7 ultimate, changed that ei.cfg with the one from the image, which I’ve got from msdnaa. Finally I’ve got working Windows 7 Professional installation image. The only problem was, that I installed Ubuntu, and got too accustomed to it. Moreover, my dvd-drive wasn’t working correctly :) I’ve downloaded Virtual Box and installed Windows 7 Pro inside it. It completed successfully and passed validation test with the key provided.

Currently, I’m working under ubuntu, and waiting for the moment, when I’ll suddenly kill my system with “rm -rf /” :) Then, I’ll try installing Win7 once more :)

Have a nice day 😉

Firefox 4 Group Your Tabs

Published on September 16, 2010 in English and it. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Finally, I tried Firefox 4 beta.
Currently, I’m a bit frustrated, because almost all addons doesn’t work, but that’s not the point :)

Firefox 4 introduces huge amount of great new features,
among them, possible, one of the best UI improvements is:
Group Your Tabs

More info about Group Your Tabs in this video:

It’s not that comfortable to click that button on top-right part of browser, especially on netbooks, laptops, etc…

So here is the shortcut to open it:

Firefox 4.0b10

Ctrl+Shift+E

Firefox 4.0b7

Ctrl+E

Firefox 4.0b6

Ctrl+SPACE

New beta-version – new shortcut. When will they stop changing it?

Have a nice browsing day!

“Nothing to do in the university” problem?

Published on September 16, 2010 in English, it and University. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

My teacher unintentionally formatted his work flash-drive.
We tried to recover it with easyrecovery.
It was trial version.
We found full version, on torrent sites.
University is behind proxy, torrents are blocked.
Yesterday I installed rtorrent+rutorrent on my debian server.
Logged into it, downloaded that torrent file.
I can access downloaded file through ftp.
Started ftp-transaction… university proxy blocks 21 port.
Downloaded putty. Logged into web-server.
Moved downloaded file into web-server directory.
Downloaded file from browser in university.
Successfully recovered flash-drive data.
?????
PROFIT!

Backspace key in Firefox @ Ubuntu

Published on September 12, 2010 in English, it and Life. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

I really enjoy using Firefox Web browser.
I started using it it’s 2.0 release.
I love that backspace key, which brings me back to the previos page.

I was disappointed, when in my lovely Ubuntu it did not!
I tried to go back, as I usually did that, and the key didn’t work.

That was irritating for me, so, if you have the same problem, feel free to use the following fix:

  1. Type
    about:config
    in address bar.
  2. Filter properties by:
    browser.backspace_action
  3. Double-click it and set it to
    0

Have a nice day!

ubuntu on hp 6735s: common afterinstall guidelines

Published on June 18, 2010 in English and it. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Update.
I’ve been installing OSes on HP 6735s for several years already.
There’s a strange bug (or feature?): I can hardly install anything from bootable media.
Often, it just doesn’t boot.

I have never successfully installed anything from my USB sticks on this laptop. I always used CD/DVD.
The only solution which works so far is:

  1. Make bootable CD
  2. Make option “Boot from CD” first in your boot list in BIOS
  3. Start booting without CD
  4. Press ESC and then F9, Boot Options screen will open
  5. Insert your CD into tray
  6. Select “Boot from Upgrade Bay”
  7. Enjoy!

Don’t ask me, why this works. It’s just pure magic by HP.

After installing ubuntu on your hp6735s laptop it’s quite good to execute the following commands:

<

ul>

  • sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
    and add
    options snd-hda-intel model=mobile
  • sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/options
    and add
    options snd-hda-intel model=mobile

    • that’s if your sound isn’t working :)

    *will be updating this page with good stuff for ubuntu/hp6735s laptop

    hp6735s and ATI display driver in ubuntu

    Published on June 14, 2010 in English and it. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

    Situation:

    • I enjoy using Ubuntu!
    • I enjoy using Ubuntu 9.10 (cos’ I still haven’t upgraded to 10.04)
    • I have hp6735s laptop
    • I use ATI proprietary driver
    • everything is too smoothed on the screen
    • font look like shit
    • windows *** works fine

    After digging a little I found out that the problem is:

    • not with the fonts
    • Ubuntu set wrong screen resolution for me: 1280×768
    • right screen resolution 1280×800 is not in the list in System > Parameters > Screen
    • right screen resolution is not available in ATI Catalyst either

    Here’s how I fixed it:

    1. run sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf in terminal
    2. found something like Section "Monitor" ... Option "PreferredMode" "1280x768"
    3. changed 1280×768 to 1280×800
    4. everything works fine after reboot!
    5. compiz and all 3D effects work nice too!
    6. …and hey, it’s the first time I edited xorg.conf by hands!

    Enjoy using linux!
    That the OS you really need!

    Watch your webcam in console!

    Published on January 8, 2010 in Creativity, English, it and Life. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

    Wow! I really love linux! I feel that with every minute spent inside linux my love to this OS grows up! It’s so outrageous! You can do almost everything!!!

    Today, I was really shocked with the abilities of the mplayer!
    Here’s a short video of what I’ve done:

    So, here’s a list of what I was doing with it (everything is done in tty-conole->[Ctrl]+[Alt]+[F5]):

    1. I wondered if I can watch films in console. That’s real! You just have to specify the special output driver. It’s the ASCII-Art driver:
      mplayer -vo aa nameOfYourFile.avi
      You can enjoy colour video in console, just replace aa driver with the Colour ASCII-Art driver caca!
    2. I felt it’s not enough! So, I tried to watch my web-cam in console! Obviously, mplayer is able to do it! You just need to specify the tv:// protocol, instead of filename:
      mplayer tv:// -vo caca
    3. Here’s the first problem. The output is alright, but that stats information always updates, and the video is blinking:( So, it makes impossible for you to watch your wab-cam normally. I started to investigate the mplayer’s man page:
      man mplayer
      it’s so huge! (read it if you want :) )
      I quickly found the solution! Here is it: the parameter -really-quiet:
      mplayer tv:// -vo caca -really-quiet
    4. But that was not enough! I wish I can watch the web-cam, as I look at mirror! I found the parameter -flip. But it just turns everything upside-down. The real solution for that is the video-filter Mirror! Specify it & enjoy:
      mplayer tv:// -vo caca -vf mirror -really-quiet
    5. There’s one more improvement, you can do to your output. You can make it better by specifing the font. The smaller the font – the better’s the output. I usually use Uni1-VGA8:
      setfont Uni1-VGA8

    That’s all, folks! Go and watch your favourite videos in console!

    arp-attacks in our hostel

    Published on January 3, 2010 in English, it, University and Тирнет. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

    Happy New Year 2 everyone in this world!
    Let al your dreams come true in this 0x7DA year!!!

    Right after the NY celebration I wanted to crawl the web & get in touch with my friends. I was really disappointed when I saw our local gateway down…No ping queries were successful:(
    I put ping 192.168.1.123 -t and returned to celebration!
    At 02 AM ping succeeded!
    The situation repeated several times…

    But I really wanted to wish best wishes to my mates!
    So I started to investigate… The computer was overfilled with ARP-queries :( They changed the real MAC-address of the gateway, so the computer sent packets into wrong place.

    The solution is simple:

    Make your ARP table entries static!
    Under Windows You can do it in the following way:

    1. Run “cmd”; [Start->Run->type “cmd” into it]
    2. type in command line:
      arp -s Gateway.Or.Another.Computer It-s-MAC-Address
    3. For instance if computer’s ip is 192.168.1.123;
    4. It’s MAC-address is 00-11-22-33-44-55;
    5. So you should type into command-line:
      arp -s 192.168.1.123 00-11-22-33-44-55

    Best Wishes!!!

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