Category: computing

General computing topics covering everything I deal with or am interested in.

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I’ve decided to go “old school” with some of my free time this year.  For some time, I’ve had (in storage) an Amiga A4000T computer – the top spec with Cyberstorm PPC card, CyberVision graphics card, some SCSI disks, 128MB (remember when you could run an O/S in that??) and so on.

Although the Amiga was always designed to work with analogue video standards (NTSC / PAL), the prevalence of VGA monitors in the 1990s meant that the old “miggy” had to adapt.  One of the great features of the CyberVision card was that it could redirect video from the integral AGA graphics chipset and display Workbench (or anything, it would seem) through the video card instead.  This was no small feat of engineering and, in my opinion, is partly what made computing in the 1990s so interesting; ingenuity, innovation, invention.

Above, AmigaForever© screenshot showcasing OS 3.1.

Left: The Amiga’s Kickstart, prompting for a boot disk.  

My 4000T has seen better days, granted.  Certainly as far as the operating system install and configuration is concerned – the video above shows that I can look forward to the pleasure of installing OS 3.9.  Or perhaps I might investigate OS4 which will harness my PowerPC chip, thanks to the hard work at Hyperion Entertainment.
Whichever, I am still surprised that for a 15 year old machine everything seems so, well, reliable!  The fact that the phase5/DCE CyberStorm/Vision hardware is operational, and the system starts up acceptably, is really testimony of the longevity of ancient hardware.
I’m really looking forward to exploring this machine again, and seeing what has recently been uploaded to Aminet.
Old habits die hard.  Happy New Year 🙂

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This problem has been reported for other systems – Jayway covers 64-bit Ubuntu, which is where I derived most of the info I needed (thanks guys!).

If you are developing Android apps using Eclipse, especially on 64-bit Fedora 16, then you too may have come across the error message:

Failed to get the adb version: Cannot run program "/home/[user]/[path]/android/[sdk]/tools/adb": java.io.IOException: error=2, No such file or directory

I did.

To fix it, you need to install 32-bit compatibility libraries.  On Ubuntu (and probably Debian) you can use the getlibs tools.  For Fedora users, it requires installing a few bits and pieces.  Easily accomplished with this:

su -
yum install libstdc++.i686 ncurses-libs.i686
 compat-libstdc++-33.i686

Yum will pull in the necessary dependencies.

Restart Eclipse and the error should disappear.

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ThinkPad T420.  Shiny and new.

It is with incredible reserve that I discuss my new Lenovo ThinkPad T420, such is my excitement.  As a natural born geek, software developer and sysadmin, there is something about a ThinkPad which is “just right”.

The lure of a ThinkPad is unquestionable.  It’s the promise of your best bit of code ever.  It’s the idea that it’ll be with you for years; your faithful companion.  It’s the reassurance of industry-leading build quality and top-spec engineering, using high quality components.  But it’s more than that too.  It’s an identity, a bit like that of Apple users – but thankfully in more self-respecting way.  You have a ThinkPad, you join an elite.  It’s everything you want.

You want this so badly that it comes as a bit of a surprise when all is not quite what it seems.

Branded accessories – one of those indulgences.

Better the devil?

As Lenovo only offer such spiffing hardware bundled with a throwaway operating system, you must suffer the wasted hours and ridiculous horseplay that ensues from such choices being made for you.  We are all too familiar with this scenario… so, I’ll continue!

Here is my experience, abridged:

  • Unbox, connect battery, plug in power, switch on.  It switches itself off.  And then back on – phew! 
  • Windows 7 starts up and completes its install process.  You are prompted to answer a few questions along the way:

  • Do you wish to use Norton to protect your PC?  I choose No.  
  • It prompts again: “Are you really, really sure you don’t want to use Norton???”.  I really, really confirm that yes, I don’t want to use Norton, thanks all the same.  
  • Further into the installer, you are prompted to accept the Windows EULA (end user licence agreement).  At the same point, you are also prompted to accept the Lenovo warranty terms.  You cannot proceed if you choose only one.  I imagine that this is another Microsoft “initiative”, a bit like Restricted Boot, which attempts to force people (through fear, usually) into sticking with Windows.
  • Finally, it finishes setting up Win7 and loads up the desktop.  On the offchance that there is a warranty issue, I decide to make a backup using Windows Backup.  Unbelievably, the Windows partition (C drive) contains 26.39GB of data.  WHAT??!!  This is a freshly installed operating system.  How on earth can it consist of so much… bloat?!  There is also a system partition (1.6GB, of which 900MB or so is used) and a Lenovo recovery partition (17GB, of which 9GB is used).  So, I have 36GB of disk space used up for a fresh install of Win7, plus some Lenovo utilities and Google Chrome (installed by default – the only good software choice made by Lenovo so far).   Hesitantly, I begin the backup process to Verbatim DVD+R discs.
  • 3 hours later, now on the 4th disc, the back-up process fails.  The error given is unspecific.  I now have a collection of 4 shiny new drinks coasters.
  • I dig into the Lenovo software and find that I can install “Rescue and Recovery” software, presumably from the Lenovo recovery partition into Win7.  I install it, which takes about 4-5 mins on this core i7 2640 machine.
  • Oh, wait a sec, what’s that?  Some pop-up just appeared above the clock in the right hand corner.  Something about Norton doing something, was that?  Oh, it’s gone.  So, despite being really, really clear that I did NOT want Norton installed on my machine, er, there it is.  Installed on my machine.  Poor Lenovo, poor.  And it gets better.
    • Creating recovery media fails.  Classic.
  • I fire up R and R and find the option: Create Recovery Media.  This looks more promising.  I fire it up, stick in a DVD+R (still have 6 left, hopefully that’s enough..).  It starts off, “extracting files”.  And then stops, and fails.  Apparently, in this instance, I may be able to expect Lenovo to ship me out some recovery CDs.







    • Not to be

    So far, any reasonable, sane person would not feel very confident using Win7 on this machine.  The dream probably wouldn’t be shattered, but clearly the software configuration is dysfunctional, ignoring user preferences and showing some worrying reliability issues out of the box.

    Luckily, being part of an elite means that you don’t follow the masses.  The throwaway software, bundled with the machine, is designed for people who don’t, won’t or can’t think.  It’s also designed for those who blythely accept it, probably “because it’s safer”.  Well, luckily for Windows users it must be a lot safer now that Norton is installed, regardless of your wishes!  Phew!

    To be

    Fedora 16 live CD, running on this T420.

    The alternative, as always, is to not accept what you are given.  Instead, seek a better solution that you can feel confident in.  For this ThinkPad T420, the better solution is GNU/Linux, Fedora 16 flavour.

    Here is how easy Fedora is:

    • You download a live CD, burn it to disc and restart the computer.
    • The CD boots up into a “live desktop” (this doesn’t affect any data on the hard drive).
    • From the live desktop, you run software (e.g. Firefox) as if it were installed on your computer.  On the ThinkPad, all hardware is automatically recognised and usable immediately.
    • From the live desktop, you have the option to install this software to your hard disc.  How refreshing: choice.

    But don’t take my word for it, try it yourself.

    If, that is, you have the mind to.

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    Tux, as originally drawn by Larry Ewing 
    Tux – your faithful free-software friend

    It might seem a long way off, but Saturday 5 April 2014 represents your best, last opportunity to ditch that ageing Windows XP and upgrade to a modern, capable, free and secure operating system: GNU/Linux.

    Microsoft are dropping support of Windows XP on Tuesday 8 April 2014.  After then, the numerous security issues that XP will face will go un-patched.  Anti-virus vendors, firewall software writers… basically everyone in the proprietary software world will no longer support Windows XP.

    In the meantime, Microsoft is doing its best to urge businesses to migrate to a newer version of Windows(1).  Note that the term used is “migrate”, not “upgrade”.

    It is claimed(2) that Windows 7 has overtaken XP as the most widely used Microsoft desktop operating system.  Whether this is credible or not, Microsoft is not one to pass up an opportunity to tell companies on XP not to wait for Windows 8(3).

    This is perhaps the best advice they have given:  there are so many freely available secure operating systems available right now, which will run eficiently on current PC hardware, that there really is little point waiting for anything.  There is, of course, an enormouse number of free applications to run on them too, of which here is a highlight.

    Of course, you would wait until Saturday 5 April 2014 to update your computer software but, actually, why wait at all?  You can install Linux alongside Windows to dip your toes in before committing fully.  All you need to do is visit one of these and follow the installation documentation:

    Don’t worry – Microsoft is far more afraid of you getting your feet wet than you are.   If you have any questions, there are loads of resources available to help.  Try a Linux User Group (usalug.com / lug.org.uk), or maybe start on a forum (www.linuxforums.org, www.linuxquestions.org, www.linux.com/community/forums).  Of course, as a business user you may want to opt for enterprise support.  You can find that here: Red Hat Enterprise Linux – and here: Ubuntu for Business.

    Choosing to upgrade from a proprietary operating system to a free operating system can seem hazardous, but rest assured – you are not the first to try!  Millions have gone before you, and millions will come after.  With open source software, there is strength in numbers and these numbers increase daily.

    Come and join in – and try not to have a lot of fun! 😉

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    Scammers rely on your ignorance in order to fool you into clicking on their link and typically entering your bank details.

    Don’t let them! 

    DISCLAIMER:  DO NOT TRY TO VISIT THE EXAMPLE SCAM LINK GIVEN IN THIS POST.  YOU ALONE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR ACTIONS.

    When you receive a link in an email, you should analyse that link to determine the authenticity and legitimacy of that link, before you click on it.

    I was recently forwarded a scam email to analyse.  If you have recently received a suspicious email with a link, here’s how to analyse that link.

    Firstly, hover the mouse pointer over that link.  At the bottom of your email window (commonly called the status bar), you should see a web address appear.

    In this example, a link was received purporting to be from the UK bank Cahoot.  But the link address is suspicious – so let’s analyse it…

    http://ip270-c6.gi.digl.pl:8887/securebank.cahoot.com/servlet/com.aquariussecurity.bks.security.authentication.servlet.LoginEntryServletBKS/

    … the bit in bold is what you’re interested in.  The rest is not really of interest.  However, when you come to inspect a link in the future, it’s worth knowing the following:

    How to analyse a link in Thunderbird
    (click for larger image)
    • http://

      This means the protocol that your browser will use.  A secure, encrypted browser connection begins https:// ; therefore, the link above will be unencrypted (not secure) between your computer and the server.  This is a tell-tale sign that it’s trouble.

    • ip270-c6.gl.digl.pl

      This is the domain name, like “bbc.co.uk“, “fedoraproject.org” and “google.com“.  This is the most important bit.  The best way to read this is actually from right to left.  The most right hand part, “pl“, is the top-level domain (TLD).  pl is the TLD for Poland.  tw is the TLD for Taiwan.  ru = Russia.  And so on.  For reference, you can find a list of TLDs here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_top-level_domains

      The next two bits should really indicate the organisation of the originating email.  digl is meaningless; it’s been made up by a scammer to probably infer “digital” or something like that.  Likewise, gl is also meaningless.

      A meaningful alternative would be cahoot.co.uk, as it is registered with a UK TLD and represents the claimed originator of the message.

    • :8887

      The last bit of this link is what’s called a port number.  The (optional) use of this by scammers is again a visual distraction which makes it harder to read the real web address.  Apart from the fact that no bank would ever request your details by email anyway, if they were credible they most certainly wouldn’t use a web address with a non-standard port number.

      The best thing to do when reading an address is to ignore the port number but be aware of the fact that it’s been used. 

    For more information, check out this PDF on avoiding email scams.

    And for those who were paying attention and spotted the deliberate mistake, well done! 🙂

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    Mozilla Firefox word mark. Guestimated clear s...
    Image via Wikipedia

    Stupid Firefox 7!  It doesn’t recognise my plug-ins!  But they did work in FF3.5.  What gives?!!!

    Ok, perhaps I’m overreacting.  In fact, I am.  Sorry.

    I use #CentOS for my daily work which includes the rather antiquated Firefox v3.5.  Ouch.  As a web developer, it’s good to test on legacy browsers but it’s also important to use the latest – so I updated to the latest Firefox (v7, at time of writing).

    Because my desktop machine (HP Opteron ML115) has 6GB of RAM, I typically use the x86_64 (64-bit) edition of #Firefox.  However, unlike Firefox v3.5, v7 doesn’t seem to pick up my plug-ins automatically from /usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins.

    To fix this, I had to open a shell and navigate into my home directory‘s mozilla plugins directory (I didn’t even know this existed until now!).

    cd ~/mozilla/plugins
    Then, just fix up all the missing symlinks:

    ln -s /usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins/* .

    No problemo!  They’re now all back again at about:plugins  🙂

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    I recently upgraded to Fedora 15 on my netbook (a Samsung N130).  For a while I used Ubuntu 10.04 (nice and quick, reliable wireless, good battery), then 10.10 (bit slower, still reliable, reasonable battery) and then 11.04 (sadly a bit more sappy towards the battery and – subjectively- more laggy too).

    But saying that, I like Ubuntu 11.04 in many ways.  I think Unity is good, despite much antipathy towards it elsewhere on t’internet, and the intregration of social networking, media player, messaging and so on makes for a pretty swish experience.  One problem that started plaguing it on my netbook, however, was that wireless became increasingly unreliable.  Sometimes I’d have to reboot multiple times to get a conneciton to my Access Point.  Connecting to wireless when coming out of standby never worked, period.  

    The netbook contains a Realtek RTL8192e wireless chip – a problem in Linux due to Realtek not really pushing development as proactively as possible into the Linux kernel.

    So, what to do?

    If you’re reading this then you’re probably thinking you have two options:
    1) Struggle for an eternity to get the native Linux driver working properly, or
    2) Install ndis-wrapper, download the Windows driver binaries and use that instead.

    There were the options I felt I had after reading this fedoraforum thread  (F15, RTL8192 and Staging Drivers) and this thread too (F14 RTL8192E Staging Driver).

    I almost swayed completely to option 2), but as if by magic I managed to get option 1) working.  This was mainly thanks to this ubuntu forum post.  In the post is a link to a download with the native linux RTL8192e driver files (I have taken the liberty of copying this archive and uploading here, in case that link stops working).

    Here’s what I did:

    In a terminal, type (as root)

    # yum groupinstall “Development Tools” -y

    Then, as your normal user:

    # wget http://www.dirk-hoeschen.de/temp/rtl819Xe.tar.gz
      (or my link, above)
    # tar xfz rtl819Xe.tar.gz
    # cd rtl819Xe

    Then, again as root:
    # ./install.sh
    (this step compiles the driver and loads the resultant kernel module)

    Because Linux loads drivers (modules) dynamically, the device is brought up immediately.

    My wireless card was then recognised and visible in Network Manager.  My access point was recognised and easy to connect to.  I have noticed that negotiation times are a bit longer than before, but I can confirm that after a little testing I can now put my netbook into standby, then awaken it and hey presto! my wireless reconnects automatically.  This is not a fringe use case; I for one am very glad this works as it should now.

    Unlike the ubuntu post, I didn’t download the latest sources to compile.  I just went with the files in the archive. If you have difficulties, it may be worth investigating this – YMMV.

    Although Fedora 15 was a pain to start off with, due to this issue, I found that once sorted it’s now becoming a real joy to use.  The extended battery life is really something to behold too – I’m getting a 20-30% increase in operating time now (up to 4 hours instead of 3 on Ubuntu 11.04).

    Hope this helps someone out there.  If not, you may still want to follow some ndis-wrapper instructions – this might be a better alternative for you.

    Good luck!

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    [ Originally posted here:  http://web.archive.org/web/20130918070911/http://onecool1.wordpress.com:80/2008/09/19/microsoft-outlook-2007-imap-exchange-and-moving-those-special-folders-back/ ]

    As a Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 user, I have the option of using either Microsoft Outlook for native Exchange mail server connectivity, or using another, open standard protocol such as IMAP.  So, in my finite wisdom, I decided… why not?!


    Why not indeed.  The reason for using IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) is so that I could use….. wait for it… a non-Microsoft email client with my Microsoft server.  The very notion.  Well, actually it’s not too bad.  You enable the IMAP service on the server, set up the mail account in Thunderbird, and hey presto – log in!

    Unfortunately, my client (Mozilla Thunderbird) then seemed to have done certain things which – only now – take my slightly by surprise.
    An Exchange mailbox, as standard, contains some basic top-level folders, such as Calendar, Contacts, Deleted Items, Drafts, Inbox, Outbox, Sent Items and Tasks (this is probably not an exhaustive list).  In contrast Thunderbird, by default, contains Inbox, Drafts, Sent, Deleted, Junk and Trash.  So, what’s in a name?

    Well, after using Thunderbird/Exchange via IMAP (and not actually noticing this at the time of doing so), a couple of the Exchange folders had disappeared.  I only noticed this later when using Outlook again, and couldn’t locate my Sent Items or Deleted Items folders.  I then found them lurking within my Trash folder.  Ok, so this has got very messy.

    It sadly got worse.  Now that these “Special Folders” in Microsoft parlance have been moved, they could not be moved back in Outlook.  When trying to drag “Deleted Items” to my top-level Mailbox, I would be told “Cannot move special items.  Special folders, including the Inbox, Contacts, Calendar, Notes, Tasks and Journal folders, cannot be moved.”  Oh, I see.   Although I tried various methods within Outlook to achieve the same thing, I failed miserably.

    So what is the solution?  Ironically, going back to Thunderbird and simply dragging the folder from Trash into the top-level mail account/box did it.  It re-sync’ed over IMAP and everything gets copied correctly.  How ridiculous.

    The solution is not to run scanpst.exe or scanost.exe, or to start up Outlook using the “Safe” switch, thus:
    C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeOffice12OUTLOOK.EXE” /safe

    It’s not even starting up Outlook with “Reset Folders”:
    C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeOffice12OUTLOOK.EXE” /resetfolders
    … or the combination of both.

    This is one of those annoying, inexplicable problems that you somehow just get used to.  I hope this helps someone else out there who has suffered the same issue.