L.A.M.N.K » Computer

Sometimes it’s beyond your imagination

Lamnk — Mon, 17 May 2010 16:49:52 +0000

The sheer stupidity of this registration form is unfathomable. Not only they don’t allow white spaces, they also forbid vietnamese characters ! How can I submit my name now ?!

On the other side, i really give kudos to LacViet for having an usable ecommerce site. They make online transactions quite pleasant to go through (except the atrocity above, of course)

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Interesting Windows hotkeys you should know about

Lamnk — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:51:30 +0000

Vim has shown me the power of muscle memory. That’s why i always try to learn hotkeys of any thing i use daily. Managing your desktop environment of course is one of those tasks.

Below are non-trivial and useful windows hotkeys that you probably don’t know about.

Win + Pause = System Properties

Win + D = Show Desktop

Win + M = Minimize all windows

Win + E = Launch Win Explorer (@ My Computer),

Win + R = Run Command

Win + L = Lock the screen

Win + X = Open Windows Mobility Center

Win + T = Shift through windows list in task bar (Win7)

Win + P = Change display output between Computer and Projector

Win + B = Let you select items in task bar’s tray

Ctrl + Esc = Start Menu (for those who use old keyboard)

Ctrl + Shift + Esc = Show Task Manager

Win + Shift + M = Maximize all windows

Alt + Spacebar + X = Maximize window

Alt + Spacebar + N = Minimize window

Alt + Spacebar + R = Restore

Alt + Tab = Shift between Windows (this one is trivial but do you know that Alt + Shift + Tab = Shift between Windows in reverse order ?)

Ctrl+ Shift + F10 = Shows Context Menu (Mouse Right Click Effect)

Application Specific (generally): Ctrl + S = Save, F3/Ctrl + F = Find

Desktop/Win Explorer: F2 = Rename File, F3/Win + S = Launch Search

Php-fpm error after reinstall PHP

Lamnk — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 02:51:31 +0000

Error:

lamnk@lamnk:~% sudo php-fpm start
Starting php_fpm Error in argument 1, char 1: no argument for option - Usage: php-cgi [-q] [-h] [-s] [-v] [-i] [-f ] php-cgi [args...] -a Run interactively -C Do not chdir to the script's directory -c | Look for php.ini file in this directory -n No php.ini file will be used -d foo[=bar] Define INI entry foo with value 'bar' -e Generate extended information for debugger/profiler -f Parse . Implies `-q' -h This help -i PHP information -l Syntax check only (lint) -m Show compiled in modules -q Quiet-mode. Suppress HTTP Header output. -s Display colour syntax highlighted source. -v Version number -w Display source with stripped comments and whitespace. -z Load Zend extension ................................... failed

Reason:

The old config file php-fpm.conf is located at /etc. However the new config file is moved to /usr/etc.

I don’t know why is that. I’ve used the exact same old configuration directives …

Fix:

Move or copy php-fpm.conf from /etc to /usr/etc. Problem solved.

Reset TCP/IP networking stack in Windows 7 and Vista

Lamnk — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 01:44:22 +0000

Sometimes your DHCP service is not able to pull an IP addresse, that means the network stack on Windows goes banana. To fix that, open command prompt with administrator privilege (click on Start -> type in “cmd” -> right click on the command prompt and choose “Run as Administrator”) and type these command:

netsh int ip reset C:\netsh.log.txt netsh winsock reset

… then all your network configuration is reset.

Compile rtorrent on CentOS 64bit

Lamnk — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:51:04 +0000

I always fall for this error when compile rtorrent, so … :

Error:

checking for STUFF... configure: error: Package requirements (sigc++-2.0) were not met:

No package 'sigc++-2.0' found

Consider adjusting the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable if you installed software in a non-standard prefix.

Alternatively, you may set the environment variables STUFF_CFLAGS and STUFF_LIBS to avoid the need to call pkg-config. See the pkg-config man page for more details.

Fix:

$ updatedb $ locate pkgconfig | grep sigc++-2.0.pc

You will see something like /usr/lib/pkgconfig/sigc++-2.0.pc. If it is not there, then go install libsigc++ (it’s not in official CentOS repo).
Then define the PKG_CONFIG_PATH variable as the configure script suggests:

$ export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/lib/pkgconfig/

Run configure script for libtorrent again. --prefix= should be the same for libsigc++, libtorrent and rtorrent, otherwise they will complain

./configure --prefix=/usr && make

Alternative PHP Cache – APC – impact

Lamnk — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:45:32 +0000

Picture worths thousand words …

apc cpu improvement

I have never used a PHP accelerator before. Now it is a must to install APC for every new server (if you have enough memory to throw around).

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XML-Mapping gem has permission problem

Lamnk — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:11:44 +0000

You may have this error when require ‘xml/mapping’ in your ruby script:

/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:36:in `gem_original_require': no such file to load -- xml/mapping (LoadError)

Solution: go to the gem directory of XML-Mapping (mine is /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/xml-mapping-0.8.1/lib/) and chmod all files in this directory to 644.

Who is to point finger at here ? Rubygem or XML-Mapping authors ?

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Screen: cannot find terminfo entry about rxvt-unicode

Lamnk — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 11:40:20 +0000

This error eccors if you use screen et cetera and don’t have a terminfo file for urxvt in /usr/share/terminfo/r/, especially if you are ssh’ing into another box. You just need to create a terminfo file named rxvt-unicode in this directory.

More info about terminfo and how to compile it from a source file

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Why i do not want to pay the Apple fashion premium

Lamnk — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 01:23:33 +0000

Notebookreview has a new review for Macbook Pro latest model (late 2008). Here is the spec:

Mac OS X v10.5.5 Leopard and Windows XP SP3 (Boot Camp)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz (3MB L2 cache, 1066MHz frontside bus)
2GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
250GB 5400rpm Serial ATA hard disk drive
15.4″ glossy widescreen LED backlit display (1440 x 900)
Integrated Nvidia 9400 graphics (256MB of shared memory) and Discrete Nvidia 9600M GT (256MB of shared memory)
iSight webcam
AirPort Extreme WiFi (IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n)
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
Mini Display port, 2 x USB 2.0 port (480Mbps), Audio out, mic, ExpressCard, FireWire 800
Dimensions : 0.95 x 14.35 x 9.82 inches (H x W x D)
Weight: 5.5 lbs
Integrated 50-watt-hour lithium-polymer batter
85W MagSafe power adapter with cable management system (6.5oz)
Price: $1,999 ($1,899 with education discount)

Compare to my HP 6910p:

Windows XP Prof. (i run Linux anyway, this doesn’t matter)
Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 1.8GHz (2MB L2 cache, 800MHz frontside bus): This is the biggest difference, but see the price i paid under there
2GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM
80GB 5400rpm Serial ATA hard disk drive
14.1″ matte widescreen LED display (1440 x 900)
Discrete ATI Mobility Radeon X2300 with 128MB VRAM (lame i know, but it does it’s job and i don’t play games)
Finger scanner
Intel 4965 WiFi (IEEE 802.11a/b/g)
Bluetooth 2
VGA and S-video out, 3 x USB 2.0 ports, audio out, mic, SD reader, FireWire 800
Weight: 5.0 lbs
6-cell (55 WHr) Lithium-Ion battery
Ability to dock
Price paid total: 510 Euro (eBay, but it’s brand new)

Or a better competitor Lenovo Thinkpad T500:

Windows Vista Home Basic
Intel Core 2 Duo P860
2GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM
80GB 5400rpm Serial ATA hard disk drive
15.4″ WSXGA+ CCFL Backlight (1680 x 1050)
Discrete ATI Mobility Radeon 3650HD with 256MB VRAM (with ability to instantly switch to integrated chip to save power)
Finger scanner
Intel 5100 WiFi (IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n)
VGA and S-video out, 3 x USB 2.0 ports, audio out, mic, FireWire, SD-card reader
Weight: 6.0 lbs
6-cell Lithium-Ion battery
Ability to dock
Price total: $1378

Consider that you can easily find a 10-15% discount coupon for Lenovo T series notebooks on net, what are the reasons to buy a mac except’s the OS and it’s look ? Leopard is a good OS, but does it justify the 45% price difference ? I don’t think so.

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Cisco VPN Client freezes system with dual core CPU

Lamnk — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:59:08 +0000

It’s annoying as hell ! Not only we need to patch to use Cisco client on 64 bit systems, recently i find out Cisco don’t support SMP (multi core) in its VPN client. It means after you load the cisco module, there’s a big chance you will run into a kernel panic: oops, the whole desktop freezes and the only thing you can do is a hard restart. Nice.

There’s a way out of this: turn off SMP aka turn one core of your CPU off before the module is loaded:

sudo echo 0 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/online (to turn the 2nd core off, replace cpu1 with cpu2 for 3rd core and so on)
sudo echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/online (turn it back on)

But why the hell do we have to use one core only ?? I mean, if we buy multi core CPU, we want to use it ! It’s ok if you only use VPN occasionally, however for folks like me who is forced to use VPN all day then this is just plain dumb. Good work Cisco, i will stick with vpnc afterall, ktnxbye !