[Rant] Thanks HTC

Thanks for the update HTC. It made it much easier to decide whether I should buy a One XL. I am now the proud owner of a Galaxy Nexus. After using HTC devices since the Nexus One, I'm afraid to say its time to break-up. Loved my DHD for the past years - it shall now reside proudly on a plynth. Seeing how you have listened to your loyal fanbase recently, my next phones are definitely going to be Nexuses (unless Google decides to award you the contract, in which case, I shall stick with the other players in the market). Thanks for the ride though.

________________________________________________________________________________

My rant is about HTC not releasing an update to the all-so-good Desire HD after telling customers since early 2012 that the device would indeed be upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich or version 4.0 (ICS). http://blog.htc.com/2012/03/ics/

The fact remains that the device is capable of running ICS.  http://news.softpedia.com/news/HTC-Desire-HD-Gets-Android-4-0-4-ICS-Update-Unofficial-286715.shtml

So, if you are planning to buy an HTC phone; think again.  Although HTC used to be very attentive to customers, they have been very uncooperative on this matter even though a petition was sent through. They should atleast have made an ICS version available without their Sense UI or provide (power-) users with the option to choose whether they want to upgrade or not.

The minute I switched on my Galaxy Nexus, I was provided the option to upgrade to version 4.1 Jelly Bean of Android.  I could not be any happier about my decision to drop buying an HTC One XL; which is a great phone as per the reviews but with such support from HTC, the phone will be obsolete by the next update to Android. 

The Galaxy Nexus on the other hand will receive the next update of Android since even a Nexus S (predecessor to the Galaxy Nexus) obtained an upgrade to 4.1 (not just 4.0).  The Nexus S was released around the same time as the HTC Desire HD with the latter being more powerful specs-wise!!!

UPDATE:
18 Aug: XDA-devs have officially done what HTC could not! Hallelujah!

www.engadget.com/2012/08/17/custom-rom-brings-ics-to-desire-hd/

Weather codes

Melbourne: asxx0075
Sydney: asxx0112

AOL weather search seems to have the codes necessary for widgets.

My Matrix Moment

I filmed this while at ACMI on 1st May 2011.

Configuring OpenVPN on FreeBSD [Quick Guide]

[Note: This post is a work in progress.]

pkg_add -r openvpn
rehash

mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/openvpn
cd /usr/local/etc/openvpn
touch openvpn.conf

cp -R /usr/local/share/doc/openvpn/easy-rsa .

cd easy-rsa/2.0/

[Edit the vars file to reflect your details. This will save you the trouble of having to type your organisation's details every time you generate a certificate. You may also need to change your shell to sh to execute the scripts. I also had to do a chmod +x * in that directory.]

./clean-all
./vars
./build-ca

[Generate Server Key named server1]
./build-key-server server1

[Generate Keys for clients]
./build-key hpserver
./build-key acerlaptop

[Generate Diffie-Hellman keys]
./build-dh


#The following keys have been copied from /usr/local/etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/2.0/keys


ca /usr/local/etc/openvpn/keys/ca.crt
cert /usr/local/etc/openvpn/keys/server.crt
key /usr/local/etc/openvpn/keys/server.key
dh /usr/local/etc/openvpn/keys/dh1024.pem


Now, edit openvpn.conf (on the server-end) as follows. Substitute IP addresses as required.

[OpenVPN Server Config]
#Configuration of OpenVPN Server

port 1194
proto tcp
dev tun

ca keys/ca.crt
cert keys/server.crt
key keys/server.key

dh keys/dh1024.pem


server 10.0.0.0 255.255.255.0
ifconfig-pool-persist ipp.txt


client-config-dir ccd #Client specific settings, e.g. Fixed IP Addresses
client-to-client #Allow clients to communicate with each other

push "route 192.168.0.0 255.255.0.0"

keepalive 60 120

comp-lzo
persist-key
persist-tun

status open-status.log
verb 3



Copy the generated client keys to /etc/openvpn/. You will need to copy, for example, acerlaptop.crt, acerlaptop.key and ca.crt and mentioned them in openvpn.conf on the client as follows.



[OpenVPN Client Config]
#Configuration of OpenVPN Client

client
dev tun
proto tcp

remote openvpn.dyndns.org 1194 #public ip address and port of vpn server

nobind
persist-key
persist-tun

#client certificates
ca ca.crt
cert acerlaptop.crt
key acerlaptop.key
ns-cert-type server
comp-lzo
verb 3


[Auto-start openvpn]
Add the following in /etc/rc.conf on the server.

openvpn_enable="YES"

If not already present, also add the following knob in /etc/rc.conf to allow the server to route between your LAN and VPN subnets.  

gateway_enable="YES"

Note: Some documentation propose adding if_tun_load="YES" to /boot/loader.conf. I found that is not necessary. Openvpn will start the required device drivers automatically. You can try adding it, if openvpn fails to start or dynamically start it at a prompt by issuing kldload if_tun.

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The OpenVPN documentation provides more in depth explanation. It can be viewed at : http://openvpn.net/index.php/open-source/documentation/howto.html.

Using FreeNAS 8.0 as a Bridge

I have installed and tested this on FreeNAS 8.0 Beta

My FreeNAS server and one workstation are in the same room and I needed a way to connect them to the LAN to allow for fast file transfers between all computers in my network.

Since I lacked a switch, I needed to convert FreeNAS into a bridging device. It was just a matter of installing a spare NIC into the FreeNAS server and doing the following:

Make my CF card readable (you might skip this step if you installed FreeNAS on a mechanical Hard drive).

mount -t ufs -w /dev/ufs/FreeNASs1a /

Insert a FreeBSD 8.0 disk into your cd-rom drive and copy the files as shown:

mkdir /mnt/cdrom
Mount cdrom: mount -t cd9660 /dev/acd0 /mnt/cdrom/

Copy files across:

cp /mnt/cdrom/boot/kernel/if_bridge.ko /boot/kernel/
cp /mnt/cdrom/boot/kernel/bridgestp.ko /boot/kernel/

ee /boot/loader.conf

Add the following line:

if_bridge_load="YES"

Save and exit

Restart the server with "reboot"


Create the bridge and add interfaces:

ifconfig bridge create
ifconfig bridge addm em0 addm em1
ifconfig em0 up
ifconfig em1 ip

dhclient bridge0 (or ifconfig bridge0 inet 192.168.xx.xx netmask 255.255.255.0)

The name of your interfaces might vary. Check with ifconfig.

Note: You can start the bridge automatically at startup. Refer to the FreeBSD Handbook Chapter 31.5 to see how its done.


P.S. You may do this on FreeNAS 7.x as well. You just need to get FreeBSD 7.x's bridge modules for that kernel. They can obtained from http://download.altstu.ru/FreeBSD/releases/i386/7.2-RELEASE/boot/kernel/ or from a FreeBSD 7.x iso image.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Greetings All,

 

I would like to seize this opportunity to wish you all a most Merry Christmas and very Happy New Year. 

I pray that the New Year brings you bleesed joy, prosperity and success.

 

Have a wonderful celebration...

 

 

With much festive spirit,

 

Atwin.

 

Installing Compiz Fusion on Fedora

Execute the following as root in a terminal.

yum install -y ccsm emerald-themes compizconfig-backend-gconf fusion-icon-gtk
emerald compiz-fusion compiz-fusion-gnome libcompizconfig compiz-gnome compiz-bcop
compiz compizconfig-python compiz-fusion-extras compiz-fusion-extras-gnome

Entering the BIOS Screen of an HP Proliant

I recently salvaged an HP Proliant Server from the trash (I know!!). It was in a fully functioning order, sporting 1 GB of RAM and a 2.6 GHz Pentium IV processor. It also had an Adaptec RAID controller for the hot swap module.

The problem I faced with the machine was when it boots up, the Adaptec controller displays its own boot-up screen - hence closing the default screen. I have never worked on an HP machine before so I had no idea how to get into the BIOS setup to configure the boot options.

I managed to stall the computer with a bootable USB drive and found what the keys were.

So, if you are stuck in the same dilemma I faced, these keys could come in handy.

F8 - Boot Menu
F10 - Setup Menu
F12 - Network Boot
ESC - Summary and Boot Progress

I am happy to say that this machine is now a dedicated NAS for my home network. :D (I also tried pfSense on it but NAS seem to be a more valuable duty for it - too powerful for routing.)

Solving SSH problem in Fedora

I have been asked many a times why SSH does not work on Fedora. The simple answer is SSH works. You just need to "unblock" it. The SSH port (22) is blocked by default in Fedora's firewall as a security measure. Go to System -> Administration -> Firewall and sign in as root. Check the box to allow SSH connections and Enable.

SSH should now work.

Installing Essential Software for Fedora

I recently came across a very handy utility which installs a lot of small but much needed extras for Fedora.

EasyLife for Fedora allows users to setup Flash, Java and a range of codecs and tools to play just about any multimedia file. It also has options to set the sudo functionality for normal users.

The utility can be downloaded from http://easylifeproject.org/.

Install it as root and you choose what features you want to enable. Its as easy as that.

TI-83 Program to calculate Modulus (Remainder)

Insert into PRGM Editor in TI Calculator


PROGRAM:MOD
:"MODULUS"
:ClrHome
:Prompt A,B
:fPart(A/B)*B --> C
:Disp C
:Pause
:ClrHome

Google Wallpapers?

It's interesting to see Google borrowing features from Microsoft's Bing - like adding a wallpaper to the Google homepage. Check the story on Softpedia here.

Add a wallpaper to your Google homepage here.

Fedora 13 is out

Fedora 13 is finally out after 2 weeks (or so!) of delay. It looks great - feature wise. I haven't had time to try it yet, but a review will come as soon as I find some time to test it.

Download it at http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora

Fedora 13 Goddard

Fedora 13 "Goddard" is due is 14 days. After the renewed disappointment that was Ubuntu 10.04, I can't wait to get Fedora 13 up and running. Fedora 12 is running full-time on both my servers and on my laptop - uptime of more than 5 months (on the server). Hehe :D

Go for Goddard!

Removing old packages from YUM cache

Running multiple Fedora machines means that I need to update them regularly to keep them in proper running conditions. Being a user in Australia, updating each and every machine puts a load on both my bandwidth and wallet since I pay per GB downloaded.

The simple solution is to enable YUM to keep the downloaded cache and tell all the machines to download the updates from that one machine. The downside of this method is that updates get acculmulated and hence puts a strain on hard disk space as old and new packages are collected.

I needed a way to clean-up the cache and keep only current updates.

The simple way to do it is to use a wonderful utility called Tidy RPM Cache. Its a python script written to recursively scan packages and remove the old ones. For Example if you have three versions of the same package (e.g. Wireshark 1.2.01, 1.2.02 and 1.2.03), Tidy RPM Cache, will only keep the latest one, i.e. Wireshark 1.2.03.

All you have to do is execute the script by pointing it to the directory where your cache is stored. The command is illustrated below. It will scan and clean all the repositories from which you have downloaded packages. Rest assured, you will be prompted whether or not you want to clear the packages once the scan is complete.

[UpdateServer Desktop]$ ./tidy-rpm-cache.py --dir /var/cache/yum/i386/12/

Tidy RPM Cache can be downloaded from freshmeat. Just click on TAR/GZ in the Links section.

Making Latex Work on Fedora 12

Although, TeX packages can be easily installed via the Add/Remove software, I find it easier to use the command-line specially when you need to install the tex packages.

Just issue the following commands as root to get everything working. Some packages might be redundant but they do get all the aspects of compiling tex documents and their bib files working.

yum - y install tetex-latex
yum - y install texlive
yum - y install tetex-IEEEtran

After installing these packages, you can compile your documents to pdf easily using pdflatex documentname.tex and bibtex bibliography.aux and there you have it.

Have a great One... ;)

Hello All,

Hope you had a great year and looking ahead for a bright beginning on the next.


Wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year 2010.

All the best,


Atwin
 

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Windows Live: Friends get your Flickr, Yelp, and Digg updates when they e-mail you.

Ubuntu 9.10

Lo and Behold! After the great success of Ubuntu 9.04, codenamed Jaunty Jackalope, Ubuntu 9.10 is about release in 20 days time. Codenamed Karmic Koala, it features many new improvements and additions.

Can't wait? Download the BETA version here.

Check out the New Features here.

World reacts to Michael Jackson's Death

Matrix Runs on Windows XP