wahlau's online hut

http://www.sesamestreet.org/

OK how many of you grew up on Sesame Street? I know I did, and now enjoying it all over again with my daughter.

There has been a lot of the classic songs uploaded to YouTube of varying quality. Now the official website has gone Web 2.0. In addition to various animated games (all educational of course), there is also a new video section with what seems to be all the classic videos and classified with tags. One great thing about Sesame Street is that, being a non-profit organization, you will get a lot of celebrity guests, some bringing their own children also to the show. And the topics aren't just numbers, a lot the classic videos deal with issues such as racism by teaching kids to be proud of themselves and their cultural heritage. Sung by? Arrested Development. Great stuff. Now to look for a song to teach kids that daddy needs to use his computer too.

Arrested Development, Pride

XSLT stand for XSL transformation, and XSL is EXtensible Stylesheet Language, it is XML-based Stylesheet Language defined by W3C. XSLT is one of the famous XML technology, XML that uses XSL needs transformation before that make sense. Some application such as firefox browser do support XSLT, with xsl source specified, it will be transform automatically.

If you have XSL, and xml that uses XSL, you can also transform by using a command call xsltproc. xsltproc is a tool from libxslt. The usage is straight forward:

xsltproc mytemp.xsl mytarget.xml

The line above will dump the transformed xml to standard output, which you can redirect it to any files.

With -o, the transformed xml will be dumped into file.

xsltproc mytemp.xsl mytarget.xml -o myresult.xml

p.s. For xsltproc, the targeted xml do not need to specified the xsl inline such as:

<?xml-stylesheet href="mytemp.xsl" type="text/xsl" ?>

To know more about XSLT check out W3C XSLT tutorial, or check out ways of transform XML with XSLT. You can also get some samples from the W3C tutorial to try out xsltproc.

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Yoon Kit wrote about being forced to pay the Microsoft tax when buying computers from computer manufacturers (eg Dell). I submitted a complaint to the Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Affairs and received an official acknowledgment from the ministry that the Penang branch office will investigate the complaint.

I strongly urge everybody who uses non-Microsoft operating systems on their computers bought from Dell or any other manufacturers to write in through the web interface and make an official complaint. Make your voices heard so that we can stop being forced to pay for software we don't use!

State Chief Enforcement Officer,
Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Affairs,
Tuanku Syed Putra Building,
Downing Lane,
10300 Penang.

(Dated: 15th August 2008)

Sir,

COMPLAINT ABOUT PURCHASING DELL COMPUTERS
DITESH KUMAR A/L SHASHIKANT

With all respect, referring to the matter noted above, be informed that this administration has received a complaint that the complainant was asked to used Microsoft Windows on computers bought from Dell Computers with extra charge.

2. For your information, the complainant does not use Microsoft Windows software and as such, does not ask for Microsoft warranty and hopes that the company in question does not add any extra charges.

3. In line with that, we would be pleased if your party could conduct the necessary investigations and inform us of any developments to this administration.

Your cooperation in this matter is much appreciated and we thank you in advance.

"SERVING THE COUNTRY"

Following orders,

Mazlan bin Haniff
for: Director

I blogged earlier about what I thought was the Right Size.

Here's an interesting quote from Kaj Arnö on MySQL founder Monty leaving Sun,

"Second, Monty’s resignation has been a possible outcome already since years before the Sun acquisition. Perhaps his resignation at some point is inevitable, given that the type of skills and qualities needed to make MySQL great are different from those needed for working productively in a larger organisation (and I am referring to the size of the MySQL team, not Sun)."

I'm curious now, as to how Google can do it.

The really big difference is that I don’t have to participate in interminable conference calls. That in itself makes a job worth quiting.

Jim Starkey

link

Here's a shout out to the Ubuntu-my folks who quickly got together online to answer a call for help to assist the Malaysian Association for the Blind in setting up Ubuntu on the new Acer Aspire 1 next weekend. While we're there, we may be able to also setup one or two PCs in their lab to dual boot Ubuntu so that we can bring computing and FOSS to the visually disabled.

A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.

I've seen far too many actions recently where people address themselves to the detriment of those around them. They will use others, abuse their position of power, lie, take credit for the work of others and have total disregard for the people and community around them.

It's good to enrich yourself and put your interests first. One however can do that while at the same time contributing to the betterment of the community around them. The actions can be simple, for example within the workplace.

• If you prepared a report in which others contributed, then give them credit or acknowledgment by mentioning their names in the report. There is no loss to oneself, and everybody gains. That recognition will be really helpful to them, and also shows leadership skills by being able to lead a team that produced a brilliant report.
• If you're in a higher position and with a younger colleague. Introduce them to your peers, especially if they are part of your team and have done a good job. It may give the young person a break, and at the same time assist your peers which gives you higher standing also.
• If you're in a higher position, never and I hope I've stressed that enough, hold back the career of a younger person for your selfish reasons. Guide them, help them, even if it may not be directly in your project/company profit interests. The higher your position, the more chances you have to possibly wreck somebody's life and career. You also have more chances to help others. If everybody is happy and doing well for themselves, then it makes for a better community.

On the way back home I got a call from the doctor about my blood test result and since I was only a few blocks away, I detoured to the clinic. The result was as I expected, the cholesterol level was recorded as high - they're underlined and printed in bold ... must've been all those nasi kandar, beriyani, fried stuffs and seafoods that I like so much. :-)

Triglyceride recorded at 1.79 and LDL Cholesterol at 4.01, the rest looks gibberish to me - so as long as they're not in bold or underlined I guess they're okay and nothing to worry about. The doctor advised a 3 months strict diet and then do another test for cholesterol. I'm going to start taking lots of fish oil after this, it worked well for Ervin and Chanduru so I guess it would work for me too.

Other than that, the day has been like any other day; raining everyday, sometimes in the afternoon while most of the time at the end of day. I kinda like it actually, it makes the city cooler and washed away the haze and pollution in the air though it worsen the traffic... but traffic's not going to get any better everyday anyway, with or without the rain. I had my camera while stuck in traffic, so this shot is one of the few that I took.

Looks like I’m the last person to write about Chrome, the latest browser from Google. This is because I do not own a Microsoft Windows machine to test Chrome early on.

I’m sure you can find a lot of great reviews floating around the internet about the latest lightweight browser, so I will not waste your time by rehashing those information here.

What actually caught my attention is the “Create Application Shortcut” found in Chrome, a functionality similar to Mozilla Prism which I’ve reviewed a while back in my blog. This would enable users to create Desktop shortcuts of their favorite Web Application without relying to external application like Prism anymore, everything can be done neatly within a single interface.

With Chrome, Javascript execution (read: ajax’ed website) felt a lot more faster while using much less memory, it looks like this new browser is going to give Mozilla a run for its money.

p/s: Eagerly waiting for Chrome to be available on GNU/Linux platforms.

Read Googlebooks Chrome Comic for more insight about Google Chrome

Please bear with me, I am trying to get chrome usable in my desktop pc (Ubuntu 8.04), using this guide. But I got stucked when trying to install winetricks.

sicksand@sicksand-desktop:~$ cd /usr/sbin
sicksand@sicksand-desktop:/usr/sbin$ winetricks
-bash: /usr/sbin/winetricks: Permission denied
sicksand@sicksand-desktop:/usr/sbin$ sudo winetricks flash
sudo: winetricks: command not found

Luckily , find the workaround

cd /where/you/downloaded/the/script
chmod +x winetricks
./winetricks

Changing the exec file from the dekstop shortcut will do the trick

Exec=env WINEPREFIX=”/home/sicksand/.wine” wine “C:\windows\profiles\sicksand\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe” —new-http —in-process-plugins

Here are the screenshots…

I’ve been wanting to use Google Gears since the first day it was released, but no luck for me as I’m using 64 bit Linux, which is currently not a supported platform for it. I kept waiting until today, that I really wish to try Wordpress, the blogging application for this blog of mine on Google Gears.

I’ve managed to find a solution for it (through Google of course), and wrote an article of it at Techrecipes. Please read and report if it doesn’t work for you, or if it just works great!

Google Chrome is the open source web browser developed from scratch by Google. Available in beta in more than 40 languages, Google Chrome is a new approach to the browser that’s based on the simplicity and power that users have come to expect from Google products.

Features of Google Chrome

At the first launch, you will notice that Google Chrome has a very simple user interface. It has no menu bar, no status bar, and no search bar. All you got is a window frame and a tab at the top of address bar.

Screenshot of Google Chrome with multiple tabs and most visited sites (click to enlarge)

What’s inside Google Chrome is the Webkit web browser engine (same as Apple Safari) and the fast javascript engine, V8. Here are some of the features of Google Chrome:

Address bar — the address bar is combined with search and history quickly takes you where they want to go in just a few keystrokes.

New tab page — when you open a new tab, you will see a page that includes thumbnails of your most visited sites, searches, recent bookmarks and closed tabs.Dynamic tabs — you can drag tabs out of the browser to create a new windows, gather multiple tabs into one window or arrange the tabs as you wish.

Crash control — In Google Chrome, every tab is an independent computer process. You can close the no responding tab and other tabs are not affected.

Incognito mode — use this mode if you want porn private browsing. In incognito mode, no track will be leave on the computer.

Safe browsing — web browsing is safe using Google Chrome. It protects you from malware (sandbox) and phishing sites. The browser continually downloading list of harmful sites from Google server to keep you protected.

Download Google Chrome

Google Chrome is available for free download here. The first beta version is for Windows Vista/XP only. Mac and Linux versions will be coming soon.

Passion/Poppy, you failure of epic proportions.

Poppy is downstairs, Passion is upstairs. Today, is Thursday, traditionally lady’s night everywhere, right? Passion is closed, Poppy is virtually empty. This alone should have alarm bells ringing in your head. But my experience there, takes the cake.

Firstly, it took a grand total of 35 minutes to find our bottle of stashed Chivas. In the end, they admitted to not being able to find the bottle (they admitted that someone has stolen it), they gave us someone else’s bottle, scratched out their details and put my name on it. We noticed that there was less alcohol than what the custody card stated, and they gave us a couple of free glasses of drinks to boot.

Service, for an empty night club, SUCKED. Getting the lethargic wait staff to do anything, was mostly a waste of time.

So after all this waiting, guess what? They refused entry for a friend of mine. He so happens to have tried to come in via the main entrance (I just walked in from the side entrance, post valet parking). The excuse? Its ladies night and men have to pay.

I call a waiter over (the same guy that fumbled for 35 minutes to get me a bottle that wasn’t mine) to talk to the staff at the door. There are about four of them. Two beefy guys, and one spectacled fool who kept on insisting that they had procedure to follow. This after the waiter saying a bottle was inside.

I start to speak. I inform them that there is no one in the night club and there is really no reason why anyone should pay. Spectacled fool, insists its procedure and there’s a cover charge. I honestly feel like going in, taking my bottle out, and smashing it on his face.

But, some sense comes over them… Because one of the beefy guys decides that we mean business. My friend, and the three girls that accompanied him, come in with no hassle now. I say, rather loudly, “You did the right thing, or else…” The bespectacled guy isn’t impressed.

We finish the bottle as soon as we can, and this marks my vow to never go there again if I can avoid it. In fact, you should never go there again, if you can avoid it too. They are apparently only popular on Friday and Saturday nights, anyway. I recommend them to close, if possible.

If you need to go somewhere, in that area, might I highly recommend Thai Club (two floors of entertainment - upstairs is heavily air-conditioned, and serves a younger crowd), or even Rum Jungle. I know, I know, I considered Rum Jungle harmful before, but that was before they were opposite Poppy. They’ve now moved to the side, and are so much more sensible. Rum Jungle and Thai Club also have got good bands… Passion/Poppy? Just a DJ. Want eye candy? Definitely skip Passion/Poppy. Besides, only Passion/Poppy have a “dress code” even - Rum Jungle have learned from their ways, and I can walk in in shorts, t-shirt, and sandals (okay, Crocs nowadays).

I finally decided to get on twitter since I’ve been rarely had the time to update my blog anymore. So for those who are interested to follow my daily updates can do so by following my twits (username: mypapit).

For the curious minds, my favorite twitter client are twim (Apache License 2.0) and twobile

Continue from yesterday's progress, I dig into detect_memory_e820() disassembly and try to understand more about the BIOS related function I discussed in one of my previous post.
First, I observe the e820 related kernel message using dmesg.
I then disassemble the object code of detect_memory_e820.
From there I obtain the real mode offset 0x2e50 where the e820 maps should be and the offset 0xc48 where the code should start. I then verify the same code image is loaded in memory.
Then, I break point at 0x90c48 (which is the beginning of detect_memory)and 0x90c70 (which is directly after the BIOS INT 0x15 returns). Next, I compare the content of the memory locations starting at 0x92e50 before and after the call to verify that it is changed by the INT 0x15 invocation. Finally, I verify that the area modified indeeds reflects the content of the e820 dmesg.

Note that the highlighted area has more bytes (4 more bytes, or 1 dword, to be exact) then the dmesg. This dword is the one that store the address type, which appear in dmesg as "(usable)". The detail of the code can be found in Ralph Brown's wonderful Interrupt List.

Here's how I installed xen on Centos. Requirement - installed xen enabled kernel and reboot. Then run virt-install virt-install What is the name of your virtual machine? s20 How much RAM should be allocated (in megabytes)? 1000 What would you like toweofije...

Email Server For 5000 Users

We are going to setup an email system for 5000 users. our selection of Open Source Software to this setup :-

(1) Operating System

CentosOS 5.2 64 bits

http://www.centos.org/

We may run it under XEN.

(2) Users management

We will used Centos Directory Server

http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/DirectoryServerSetup

or to use OpenLDAP and PHPLdapAdmin

(3) Email Backend

We want to use Dbmail for email storage and IMAP server.

http://www.dbmail.org/

(4) Database

We will used Postgresl for Dbmail and Horde IMP.

http://www.postgresql.org/

(5) Mail Tranfer Agent

Postfix will be our selection

http://www.postfix.org/

(6) Web Email

We are going to used Horde Groupware

http://www.horde.org/groupware/

many names were given/speculated since a month plus ago - but today it is live - the Dell Inspiron Mini 9. It is not only somehow found in US sites - in Germany's dell site you can already order the black one with very limited customization choices.

a colleague had been waiting for it, but he can't order it yet - he wanted an Ubuntu version of it but it is not available. Funny, in the US site (follow the link from Gizmodo) (which is somehow live now even though it is not yet 4th of September there) you can have it for USD349 with Ubuntu installed. Here in Germany it will cost you 369Euro with almost everything fixed - Windows XP, 1GB ram, 16GB SSD (a big plus that explains the price perhaps?) and webcam.

i am now considering, whether to trade the 701 for a 9" model with better battery life (hint: Eee PC 901). I noticed it is a trend to have a netbook that last 3+ hours. WHy can't manufactors exploit the possibiltites like offering 6 cells as standard? i really hope to have a netbook with at least 6 hours battery life, so that i can just go out for a whole day long, and don't really need to be bothered about having to charge it like how i need to do with my notebook all this while.

I think the best time to get yourself a netbook, is around Christmas this year - more models will be out, and some models will be reasonably priced. and til then, you will also have more test reviews and also 3rd party accesories. Perhaps i will just wait :)

My account was added at new site of the Honeynet Project. It can be found at http://newww.honeynet.org/kevin.foo. Guess I will use the blog there for publishing my research work.

Our old Hylafax external modems decided to kick the bucket over the weekend, and it was an opportunity to refresh the hardware. They lasted a good 9 years (or more!) and I dont think they make them anymore.

Additionally they had to be powered by large adaptors, which took up way too much room. So a good solution would be to use some USB modems; small, cheap, USB powered and easily replaceable.

We chose Aztech UM-3100 USB Modem. Relatively cheap at about RM70, we thought it would be a great solution. So I plugged it into the machine, and this was the dmesg output:

usb 1-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
usb 1-2: device descriptor read/64, error -71
usb 1-2: device descriptor read/64, error -71
usb 1-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 3
usb 1-2: device descriptor read/64, error -71
usb 1-2: device descriptor read/64, error -71
usb 1-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 4
usb 1-2: device not accepting address 4, error -71
usb 1-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 5
usb 1-2: configuration #1 chosen from 2 choices
drivers/usb/class/cdc-acm.c: Zero length descriptor references

cdc_acm: probe of 1-2:1.0 failed with error -22
usbcore: registered new driver cdc_acm
drivers/usb/class/cdc-acm.c: v0.25:USB Abstract Control Model driver for USB modems and ISDN adapters

So not very good news to start off the day. This usb-modem isn't supported out of the box, fortunately it isn't too much a problem, but it does require a recompilation of the cdc-acm (USB Communication Device Class definition - Abstract Control Module). Here is a brief lowdown on how to get the Aztech modem recognised in CentOS 5.0.

Prepping the system for module compilation

First, we need to bring down the linux kernel source.

# wget -c ftp://ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/linux/enterprise/5Server/en/os/SRPMS/kernel-2.6.18-8.1.8.el5.src.rpm
Length: 48176889 (46M)
8% [==> ] 4,018,200 124.1K/s eta 7m 27s

It took only about 7 minutes to download. A "rpm -hiv" extracted the sources in /usr/src/redhat. You will then need to extract the source from redhats patches by doing this:

# rpmbuild -bp --target=$(uname -m) /usr/src/redhat/SPECS/kernel-2.6.spec

which should recreate the kernel source in /usr/src/redhat/BUILD/kernel-2.6.18/linux-2.6.18.i686. Copy your config from the /boot directory to this directory

# cp /boot/config-`uname -r` ./.config

Now you are ready to compile the entire kernel ... if you want to. For me, I just want to compile the usb modem module, and not need to wait for the entire compilation process. But first, the modifications.

Adding support for the modem.

This ubuntu forum post "Shiro/Conexant (Rockwell) RD02-D400/Aztech UM3100 USB 56K Modem" provides the information to add support for the Aztech modem. First of all, we need to make sure that the ID as reported by lsusb is matches our modifications. To do so, type this:

# lsusb
Bus 001 Device 009: ID 0572:1328 Conexant Systems (Rockwell), Inc.

You will see that its 0x0572, 0x1328. This is what we will use in our modification. Modify the cdc-acm.c file:

# nano drivers/usb/class/cdc-acm.c

scroll down about 97%... put this in similar place, next to all the other devices
{ USB_DEVICE(0x0572, 0x1328), /* Aztech UM-3100 */
.driver_info = NO_UNION_NORMAL, /* has no union descriptor */
},Save, and that's all with the source code modification. No big deal.

Compiling the specific module.

Instead of having to build the kernel and all the modules, we can tell 'make' to build from specific directories. First, you will have to compile some scripts which are used for MODPOST, which is important to make the .ko module files.

# make SUBDIRS=scripts/mod/
WARNING: Symbol version dump /usr/src/redhat/BUILD/kernel-2.6.18/linux-2.6.18.i686/Module.symvers
is missing; modules will have no dependencies and modversions.

CC scripts/mod/empty.o
HOSTCC scripts/mod/mk_elfconfig
MKELF scripts/mod/elfconfig.h
HOSTCC scripts/mod/file2alias.o
HOSTCC scripts/mod/modpost.o
HOSTCC scripts/mod/sumversion.o
HOSTLD scripts/mod/modpost
Building modules, stage 2.
MODPOST

Then you can actually build the modules which are of particular interest to you, in this case "drivers/usb/class"

# make SUBDIRS=drivers/usb/class modules
WARNING: Symbol version dump /usr/src/redhat/BUILD/kernel-2.6.18/linux-2.6.18.i686/Module.symvers
is missing; modules will have no dependencies and modversions.
Building modules, stage 2.
MODPOST
CC drivers/usb/class/cdc-acm.mod.o
LD [M] drivers/usb/class/cdc-acm.ko
CC drivers/usb/class/usblp.mod.o
LD [M] drivers/usb/class/usblp.ko

The file which you need is drivers/usb/class/cdc-acm.ko so just copy this to the real modules directory of your running kernel.

# cp drivers/usb/class/cdc-acm.ko /lib/modules/2.6.18-8.el5/kernel/drivers/usb/class

Loading up the new module

Unload the module if it was loaded before:

# rmmod cdc_acm
ERROR: Module cdc_acm does not exist in /proc/modules

And load up the new one

# insmod cdc_acm

To check that its there:

# lsmod |grep cdc
cdc_acm 15136 0

And now, plug in the Aztech modem, and see what happens:

# dmesg
cdc_acm: no version for "struct_module" found: kernel tainted.
cdc_acm 1-2:1.0: ttyACM0: USB ACM device
usbcore: registered new driver cdc_acm
drivers/usb/class/cdc-acm.c: v0.25:USB Abstract Control Model driver for USB modems and ISDN adapters

Congratulations, it looks like its been recognised as ttyACM0

Testing the modem

Make sure you have the 'cu' utility installed. It usually comes in the 'uucp' package:
# yum install uucpOnce 'cu' is available, use '-l' to speak directly to the line.
# cu -l ttyACM0
Connected.You can then reset the phone, and try to call out.
atz
OK
atdt9,012xxxxxxx(9 is to get a dialtone from my PABX, and the comma is to wait).
Also test the modems ability to auto pickup after 1 ring with this command
ats0=1
However Hylafax controls the pickup process, so make sure this is not set. Reset the modem with this:
atzAnd quit from 'cu' with this tilda command:
~.
DisconnectedConclusion

Your Aztech modem should be recognised by the system even after a reboot (test it, its the only reboot you'll need to do). You can now plug in more USB modems to cater for your Fax server's needs.

yk.

Some little tricks with mutt again. By default mutt doesn't forward MIME attachments in the email, and it previously involved a laborious process of saving each file (in the current directory) and reattaching the file (from the users mail directory, which involves traversing the directory structure). So a quick google solves this issue entitled "How do I forward a message including attachments?"

In your ~/.muttrc file (create it if it isn't there already), add these two settings:
set mime_forward=yes
set mime_forward_rest=yes
Done. Less hassle.

yk.