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Save Power - Switch Off Your Hard Disks

Nilesh — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:57:23 +0000

This is small tutorial which demonstrates how you could save your environment i.e. Save Power by Switch Off Hard Disks and other components of your system

This tutorial covers Linux and Windows 7.

On Windows 7
- Go to Start Menu->Control Panel
- Click on 'Hardware and Sound'
- On the new Window, you'll see 'Power Options', click on 'Change Power Saving Settings'
- Choose 'Power Saver' Plan
- Click change plan settings to configure it further.

Accessing blocked sites in your connection at school, workplace

Nilesh — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:02:44 +0000

Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc. are usually blocked on networks of educational institutes, offices, etc.

There's a simple trick to this.

You can either follow this one - http://www.ampercent.com/access-facebook-when-blocked-in-office-school/5011/

or a better one is to change your DNS server.

But note that many institutions may be already using OpenDNS to filter the network. So you cannot use OpenDNS.

Drupal filter RSS by content type

Nilesh — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 16:10:07 +0000

Every avid drupal user thinks of this. For sites like ours, where we don't need images and pages in the RSS feed, the RSS feed has to be filtered by content type of the node.

Yet there is no such module which makes this job easy.

But there is a way out, recently implemented by me on this site.

You need just two modules for this - Views and Views_RSS.

How to type in bold, italic and strikeout styles in Google Buzz

Arun — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 08:34:01 +0000

Google Buzz, a microblogging platform by Google, is the recent hot talk of the netizens all around the globe.

Set your google chat status as invisible in pidgin using Gtalk Invisible

Arun — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 03:49:01 +0000

The web interface of google talk always has this awesome feature called "invisibility" that lets you stay online , but appear as offline to your friends. It is really handy, when you don't want to get disturbed/distracted by someone.

Linux create PDF out of any document

Nilesh — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 04:00:20 +0000

PDF as it stands for Portable Document Format is preferred over other formats for exchanging data between two people (I won't say machines because they prefer something more simpler - ex. XML).

Suppose you're browsing some nice tutorial on the web and you would like to get the PDF of the same.

Apache2-PHP-FastCGI-SuExec

Nilesh — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:24:20 +0000

Yeah this is one of the most irritating type of thing to setup. I had a tough time with this, but ultimately got it right after a lot of researching.

Follow this tutorial and you'll successfully set the environment up - PHP running via FastCGI within an SuExec Environement in Apache 2 !

So lets start with a case study.

How to build you own computer

puneeth — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:29:38 +0000

Sure is an itch when you've decided to get your hands on a new ASSEMBLED computer, but they sure

Apple iPad

puneeth — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:58:20 +0000

Technology advances. Computers get smaller then... "Steve Jobs" founder of Apple INC. announced the call of yet another piece of mastry called the iPad. It's more like a oversized iPod touch in my view, with few extra features but priced well.

Why this fuss over FOSS and Non-Foss?

Abhishek Indoria — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:28:51 +0000

Test: Go to some company and tell them about a free product that outsmart theirs..they will fuss over the free software and free software culture. Now, go to some foss activist, and talk to them about some proprietary software or Microsoft. They will start harassing them.

Ubuntu...which edition is right for you?

Abhishek Indoria — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:32:01 +0000

Ahoy again there! Its been a long time since the last post. Many of you might’ve been wondering that which Ubuntu edition you should choose from! Well, the solution is right here!

Tweeting through pidgin !

Nilesh — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:43:35 +0000

I was looking for some offline blogging client in Arch Linux's repos+AUR (I use Arch Linux). Though haven't installed anything, but I found something very special.

A LibPurple microblogging plugin !

Microblogging is done on sites like twitter, identi.ca (one more is there, but I don't remember what it is).

Hiding Files in Linux

Nilesh — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 12:54:48 +0000

You want to hide some private data because your friend is going to use your computer and you are using Linux.

So how do I do that ??

Linux Applications in Windows !

Nilesh — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:23:52 +0000

This guide is meant for people who are forced to use Windows on their machines connected in network to a Linux server and you cannot run Linux your machine because "Applcation X" is not available for Linux.

So you want to run Linux applications on your Windows box through network eh ?

Its very easy !

A small piece on the Linux server -

Microprocessor & Microcontroller Basics

karthi — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 14:04:50 +0000

Here is a simple article about introduction of microcontrollers and microprocessors.

Microprocessor

Microsoft:Microbrain

Sameer — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 13:33:28 +0000

Microsoft has taken a plunge into the URL Shortening market with its own URL Shortener – Binged.it. The massive surge in Twitter’s popularity has bolstered the URL shortening market and it seems that every one wants to have their own short URL.

Binged.it is not yet public and is currently available only for internal use.

2010 - Big show with processor's (AMD brings us 12 cores!)

puneeth — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:50:20 +0000

Crazy computing comes with RAW power, AMD is giving it to us. on AMD's official blog John Fruehe(Director of Product Marketing for Server/Workstation products at AMD).

Microsoft Office 2007 in Linux

Nilesh — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 06:50:54 +0000

Well I don't like to say this, but OpenOffice is not so good as Microsoft Office. It lacks in many features that Microsoft Office has.

But you don't want to use Windows for that single reason cause using Windows is a big hell of a job. This tutorial is meant to solve the same problem for Linux users.

How to configure SSHD on Xinetd

Nilesh — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 16:38:36 +0000

This is small tutorial on how to configure OpenSSH daemon on Xinetd.

This is useful if your users don't login too frequently over SSH, hence it wastes memory and CPU just by running in the background.

Note that SSHD needs to generate the server key before it reponds which can take long time depending on your key size. For small keysizes, it works well.

Intel’s 10Gb NIC to ship in May

Ronak Agrawal — Mon, 05 May 2008 11:37:31 +0000

Modify the Open With list in Windows XP

Ronak Agrawal — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 12:14:17 +0000

Generally, if we want to open a certain type of file in more than one application, we usually use the Open With command. To use it we right click a file, and select Open With from the resulting shortcut menu. This displays a secondary menu containing the programs that can open this type of files. In most cases, the Open With list presents only those programs that we want to use. But sometime this list may also contain those programs that we never want to use.However we can remove them with a simple registry edit.

Extending Nautilus using Scripts

Nilesh — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:26:42 +0000

Linux is an highly extensible operating system.

Every component of the Linux OS can be tweaked to your needs be it the kernel itself.

Nautilus, a popular (and default) file manager for the GNOME desktop environment, can be extended in two ways -

Threat Level Privacy, Crime and Security Online Facebook App Maker Hit With Data-Breach Class Action

Nilesh — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:01:44 +0000

Facebook, MySpace have many third party applications created by big and small companies, websites and people.

RockYou is one of them.

But RockYou doesn't seem to have a pleasant new year this time.

It has been sued by a person from Indiana for not protected users' privacy and information. SQL Injection attacks have compromised the data of as large as 32m users !

Which is better ? Custom designed CMS or Predesigned ?

Nilesh — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:21:58 +0000

Whenever we want to make new websites, a thought always hits our mind - Which Content Management System to use ? Then we start researching on Google, asking quesitons on Forums, etc. and the thing goes on for weeks till we come to a conclusion.

Well, there are tons of predesigned Content Management Systems available on the web, open source and commercial licensed.

Building your own Content Management System is no more than re-inventing the wheel.

But many times, the predesigned ones many not meet your needs. So what to do at such times ?

If you have the taste for programming then I suggest learn some good programming language like PHP or JSP which is widely used for web applications are write your own application.

This takes time but you get the knowledge of the language and you know every part of your system how it works. There's no waiting for updates for new features, you can directly add new features.

Yeah this requires a good amount of time and effort, and the most important thing - devotion to the work. Without devotion it is not possible to build an effective content management system.

The good part about using pre-built systems is that you get a big support community in most cases with a huge database of modules which extend the features of the application like anything.

You can also get your system made by a good company offerring such services for some bucks. One such company which provides Web development services I know is Iflexion

These companies provide you quality work at nominal rates. They may also provide support services after sales.

When you get your work done from companies, your code is guaranteed to be free of bugs esp. security bugs. They have big development teams which test the code rigorously before giving you the completed application.

So our end conclusion is -

If your needs are met by pre-designed applications then use them !
If you like programming then design the application yourself as per your needs.
If you don't fit into both of the above categories, get your work done from reputed companies !

Hope you like this article.

PIKLAB - IDE for PIC microcontrollers

Aravind Narayanan — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:57:52 +0000

Everyone who works on microcontrollers knows that MPLAB is a great IDE when it comes to programming and interfacing with Microchip's PIC and dsPIC microcontrollers. But like many other softwares, it runs only on Windows and there is no official Linux port as yet(and neither does one seem to be in the offing). And the popularity of Linux has been increasing of late and more and more people are switching over from Windows to Linux. One can always try running it on Wine, but it's definitely not close to having a software that is native to the platform in which you are working. But no fear, for PIKLAB is here. :)

Piklab is an IDE for applications based on Microchip PIC and dsPIC microcontrollers similar to the MPLAB environment. It integrates with several compiler and assembler toolchains (like gputils, sdcc, c18) and with the GPSim simulator. It supports the most common programmers (serial, parallel, ICD2, Pickit2, PicStart+), the ICD2 debugger, and several bootloaders like Tiny, Pickit2 and Picdem. It can be found at http://piklab.sourceforge.net. Though the page says that it being a beta software, is prone to contain bugs, you'll surprised at how good and neat it is.

Some of the features of Piklab include:

Compiling, assembling and linking with several compilers like GNU PICUtilities, Small device C compiler, CCX, MPC, CC5X compilers etc.
Programming with ICD 1&2, Pickit 1&2, PicStart+, TinyBootloader etc.
Debugging with run, halt, step, single breakpoint and read, watch and write registers.
Several other tools and command line utilities.

ICD2 is reportedly supported on both serial and USB interfaces with options to automatically upload the firmware. With features such as this, and the BIG advantage of being an open source project, Piklab is definitely a great IDE for working with Microchip's PIC microcontrollers. There is no more any need to lament that MPLAB doesn't work on Linux! Piklab has now been added to the UBUNTU repos. So UBUNTU users can simply apt-get it using

sudo apt-get install piklab

Others can easily download it from http://piklab.sourceforge.net/download.php.
Enjoy working with PICs(yeah, they are great microcontrollers) using PIKLAB.

cheers

Aravind

Introduction to Microcontrollers

Madhavun — Sun, 10 May 2009 12:34:24 +0000

Microcontrollers

Welcome to the field of Microcontrollers. My posts will give you a complete introduction to Microcontrollers and their applications and we will slowly venture into the fascinating field of robotics. This being the first post i would like to start off with the definition and classification of microcontrollers.

Define:Microcontrollers

Microcontrollers are IC packages that can be programmed by the user to perform any kind of manipulation on the input received. It could be a simple analog-digital conversion or even a control for a high-end intelligent robot.Microcontrollers are referred to as uC(u-micro).

Classification

Microcontrollers are classified based on the number of bits of data they can manipulate with. They range from 8 to 64 bit uCs. there are two major companies that pioneer manufacturing of uCs namely Microchjp(www.microchip.com) and Atmel(www.atmel.com). visit these sites to get a feel of how different microcontrollers look and what are their specifications.Students are widely using both these brands for a variety of purposes

Facebook lite to normal settings

puneeth — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:06:36 +0000

Get to the bottom of the screen, at the bottom of the page you'll have a feedback option.

In the feedback option, you can write a feedback to facebook, recommend facebook lite to other friends of yours already on facebook or switch back.

To switch back to the old settings-

Above feedback text box, you have an option to switch back to the old settings.

Hit on that and you are back with the old facebook interface people love

ubuntu 9.04(jaunty jackalope) internet configuration for static ip

puneeth — Sun, 03 May 2009 16:55:17 +0000

The following steps wouldn't require any configuration in Network Manager, it would be best to leave Network Manager unaltered, but i wouldn't recommend removing Network Manager as well.

1)Now in terminal issue the command

sudo gedit /etc/network/interfaces

clear anything pressent in gedit and replace it in the following manner

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 1.1.1.1
gateway 2.2.2.2
netmask 3.3.3.3

considering,
1.1.1.1 as your ip address,
2.2.2.2 as your default gatway,
and 3.3.3.3 as your netmask, change them to your real addresses

2)edit your /etc/resolv.conf to declare your dns servers
and give your nameservers
command

sudo gedit /etc/resolv.conf

by declaring your nameservers like below

# Generated by NetworkManager
nameserver 208.67.222.222
nameserver 208.67.220.220

that will get your nameservers working (the two above nameservers, 208.67.220.220 & 208.67.222.222 are OpenDNS nameservers which work anywhere)

3)in terminal issue the following command
sudo gedit /etc/rc.conf

and enter the following
(NOTE THAT BY DEFAULT THIS GEDIT WILL HAVE NOTHING IN IT) after editing it should be like something below,

eth0="eth0 1.1.1.1 netmask 3.3.3.3 broadcast 121.247.75.255"
INTERFACES=(eth0)
gateway="default gw 2.2.2.2"
ROUTES=(gateway)

(considering 121.247.75.255 as your broadcast, change it if required.)

if you do not know your broadcast address, use this link http://www.tech-faq.com/calculate-broadcast-address.shtml

5) execute the command "ifup eth0" in the terminal (without quotes), to bring up the eth0 interface,

THEN issue in terminal

sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

to check configuration settings, execute the command "ifconfig eth0" in the terminal (without quotes) to see the settings declared ,

it must look like something below;

usrname@usrname-desktop:~$ ifconfig eth0
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:14:2a:9b:e9:8a
inet addr:1.1.1.1 Bcast:121.247.75.255 Mask:3.3.3.3
inet6 addr: fe80::214:2aff:fe9b:e98a/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:18240 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:15976 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:25297219 (25.2 MB) TX bytes:1237120 (1.2 MB)
Interrupt:23 Base address:0xa800

6)HAVE YOUR FINGERS CROSSED AND SEE IF YOU CAN BROWSE,

if problem persists please mail admin@itech7.com

NOTE; This is applicable to any ubuntu release(STATIC IP), and applicable to various other GNU's too.

Time Ranks Motorala Droid Above Apple iPhone

aryamaangiri — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:00:52 +0000

Time today provided a minor surprise by giving the Motorola Droid a first-place finish in its Gadget of the Year countdown. The Android phone won for including free turn-by-turn GPS through Google Maps Navigation as well as having both a large (3.7-inch) touchscreen and a hardware QWERTY keyboard. In comparison, the iPhone 3GS only reached fourth place, earning the spot for popularizing augmented reality through apps like Layar and Yelp.

Other highlights included the just-shipping Barnes & Noble Nook, whose secondary touchscreen and friends system put it at second place, and Dell's Adamo XPS earned sixth place for its extremely thin design.

The pick is a rare win for Motorola, which hasn't had a major device to carry its sales and garner attention since the RAZR in 2005. Apple has been a regular mainstay of Time's gadget and invention lists but this year was limited to just the iPhone's mid-field performance; many of its introductions this year were evolutions of existing designs rather than major overhauls or new creations.

GWGET - A GNOME2 front-end for wget

Arun — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 01:30:52 +0000

I guess most of you are aware of the linux command line downloader wget. It is an efficient and simple tool with lots of features. And since it is a command-line tool, it can be used in your scripts. To know more about wget , read this article "Mastering Wget" from Lifehacker.

For Linux beginners who are unfamiliar with the command line , here is a Graphical front-end for wget - GWGET . It provides almost all the options available in the command-line version. Take a look at the screenshots below.