Eblog...

Weird Java Time problem

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:36:39 -0500

I guess Java has a problem with /etc/localtime in Ubuntu.

Unless the /etc/localtime file is a symlink, Java doesn't want to read it. Check out this bug report.

Lotus Notes Sametime with Pidgin (or gaim)

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:43:43 -0500

If you are one of those who use Sametime under Linux with Meanwhile protocol, and since your Lotus Notes guys upgraded to the 7.X version of Lotus Notes, you probably are having hard time using the meanwhile protocol, because it wouldn't show user status correctly. (Check out the discussion on pidgin ticket #58)

There is a fix for pidgin under Windows. (and for Adium for Mac OS X) But for the longest time there was no fix for Linux users because the Meanwhile protocol development stopped (or extremely slowed down) since 2006.

Fortunately, the developer of meanwhile, taliesein, decided to patch the protocol library to fix this issue. (But an official version is not released yet...) The patch is in the 1.1.0 branch of the CVS. Here is what I did to patch my meanwhile protocol until an official version is released.

Download the 1.0.2 version of libmeanwhile.
Also download the new versions of the files: cipher.c, mw_cipher.h, mw_st_list.h, common.c, mw_common.h, srvc_conf.c from the 1.1.0 CVS branch:
Replace the same files under src/
Then: ./configure; make
The library ends up in the directory src/.libs/ all you have to do is now to copy that library to the original location. (/usr/lib under ubuntu) (libmeanwhile.so.1.0.2)

Quick and dirty, not the most elegant solution, but until an "official" version is out, that's the best I can do

Happy Sametime :P

Earth Hour on 2008

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 13:33:17 -0500

I will be turning off my lights on the March 29th 2008 for one hour at 7:30 pm. Please join me, and many others on this symbolic event to create awareness for global warming. Try to spread the news in your community.

Here is a video about EARTH HOUR 2008. Let's help Sydney, Australia to make Earth Hour a global event.

python and resolving ips from a csv file.

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:48:12 -0500

Problem: I have a CSV file where I have source and destination IPs. I want to resolve only destination IPs.

Format of my CSV file: (let's call it test.csv) (it's tab separated...)

99.88.77.66

11.22.33.44

118340.86

187

The solution is pretty simple with python:

#!/usr/bin/env python
import csv
import socket

reader = csv.reader(open("./test.csv", "rb"), delimiter="\t")
    for row in reader:
    host, aliases, ips = socket.gethostbyaddr(row[1])
    print row[0] + "\t" + host + "\t" + row[2] + "\t" + row[3]

First we import the necessary libs. (socket and csv)

Then we open the file to read with as a csv object. (Careful because our delimiter is not comma, but TAB)

for each row we get the second row (row[1]), convert it to host, alias and ip by gethostbyaddr method.

The last line is to create the new tab separated format. (Just pipe it to a file and you have your new CSV file. [tab separated... but oh well..])

Done!

RIP Arthur C Clarke

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:09:53 -0500

Rest in Peace Sir Arthur C. Clarke.

Today Sir Arthur C Clarke passed away at the age of 90 at Sri Lanka...

24 inch iMac

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:23:09 -0500

I pulled the trigger on this 24 inch iMac. So far so good. I was expecting harsh battles with Leopard... But it looks like things are going very good so far. After some 8 hours of usage, I'm still happy with OS X.

I have some projects in the future. But first i need to get used to "über user friendly" interface...

Happy pi day!

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:46:41 -0500

Happy pi day everyone. And happy birthday Einstein!

Simple merging two files with paste command

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:54:45 -0500

Today I learned something new!

I had two files one with a list of domain names, the other with corresponding IPs. I needed to merge these two files to display domain names next to their corresponding IPs.

It looks like it's the simplest task with the command paste.

All I had to do is: paste /tmp/domain_names /tmp/IPs

Thanks Igor for the tip

Security vs Privacy.

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:50:43 -0500

Here is a great explanation of Security vs Privacy. (I had to copy this image to my blog since I didn't want it to disappear in the future)

ssh delays on trixbox

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:56:09 -0500

I had some ssh problems on my trixbox installations. Each time I try to connect to the trixbox using ssh I had some delay. The classical solution for this is to disable the reverse DNS lookups by changing the line in /etc/ssh/sshd_config to:

UseDNS no

But in this case, this didn't solve my problem. I ran my connection wth verbosity.

ssh -vvv some.host.com

I had a delay in this step:

debug1: Next authentication method: gssapi-with-mic
debug1: Unspecified GSS failure. Minor code may provide more information
No credentials cache found
debug1: Unspecified GSS failure. Minor code may provide more information
No credentials cache found
debug1: Unspecified GSS failure. Minor code may provide more information

AFAIK, this is related to openssh kerberos authentication. This is something that I really really don't need. So I disabled in /etc/ssh/sshd_config the lines:

# GSSAPI options
#GSSAPIAuthentication no
#GSSAPIAuthentication yes
#GSSAPICleanupCredentials yes
#GSSAPICleanupCredentials yes

After the restart, there was no delay. Even with the "UseDNS yes".

This is my birthday Pearls Before Swine.

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:43:56 -0500

Stop drawing me as Andy th dog! This was on my birthday damn it!

Pastis draw me again!

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:35:12 -0500

It's me: Andy the dog...

Please give one laptop.

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:41:34 -0500

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is a project that I've been eyeballing for some time now. The concept is very powerful. Provide a laptop to help the developing countries' children. Give them a tool to discover.

First I was skeptical about this. I would say, first lets feed them and then give them a laptop. But then my thoughts changed a bit. When you think about the greatest programmers, computer geniuses of this century, all of them had something in common. They had a computer.

Now let's think about how many children in this world have access to computer, and how many don't. To give us an idea, in the least developed countries the number of people who has internet access is 11 per 1000 person. roughly 1%. (WB/UN data) Out of that many who never had a computer, maybe one will use this computer and after X years, (s)he'll develop an algorithm to make extensive data mining for health projects run twice faster. Maybe another one will develop an idea that will help his/her society... This laptop could be their first step. Technology is an enabler, even if we this is a shot in dark, we need to start somewhere.

This what you can do in the next 7 days. The laptop costs ~$200. You can buy one for your child and pay roughly $400.00 and a second laptop heads to a child in a developing country. It's called Give one Get one. Give one Get one campaign ends on November 26th. For US citizens and tax payers this campaign is tax deductible.

You can get more information about this laptop built for learning and designed specifically the children in mind by visiting their FAQ section, Vision and Mission sections.

You the security enthusiast, if you want to know how you can secure a ten year old kid's computer without using usernames, passwords, classic file permission structures, etc... please take a look at their Bitfrost Architecture. Very very good reading

Cellphone usage on airplanes.

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:28:28 -0500

It looks like soon we will be able to use cellphones on airplane travels. (At least over Europe) This article talks about new developments on regulations and technology.

Is there any place on earth where I can chill without a stupid person screaming his lungs out on a cellphone conversation around me?! The air travel has already became chaotic lately, and now I will have to deal with an idiot next to me talking all the flight... *sigh*

Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) is out!

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 07:39:05 -0500

Go download or upgrade! Los of new cool stuff in it!