Annoyed

Blogging from work great huh? Well more like ranting from work. Spent this week in training learning how to use a system to be integrated in our solution. So everything seems fine and dandy until I start playing with it and finding that my Portable Firefox and IE6 crashes at times. Opera seemed to work okay but had an issue that didn’t allow me to click the “Ok” button on a Java applet that was launched using Javascript that was processing a button press. It only seemed to work nicely on IE7 on the server. The system also required Adobe SVG to display some graphical charts and stuff. Saw that it could display these graphics using Flash so me and my bright ideas was to try download the latest Flash and Java plugins and try switching to Flash as perhaps it was a plugin issue with SVG that cause the crashed. So after updating to the latest Java runtime I find that some of the Java applets are now broken in Opera, FF and IE6 on my computer. Switching to Flash required an Active X control to be run on the server’s IE7. Problem is that IE7 ‘nicely’ informs me that the current IE7 configuration does not allow me to run Active X. Okay so I think to myself just to change the configuration and it’ll be ok. For some reason even on setting to “Low” security and making sure that all the Active X settings are set to enable to run, I still get the Information bar saying that IE7 is restricting me from running Active X control. Man… Gave up after a few tries, so if anybody knows please enlighten me. End rant, back to finding a workaround…..

Sitting outside my office

Right now I’m sitting in my car. Outside the office. Using my laptop. Doing what you may ask, doing work is what I answer. Thank God for wireless that I can still connect to the office router and communicate with the server we are using. They ought to set up a VPN connection or something so I can connect from home. Makes things much easier. Anyway I came back here after church and I saw lights in the office which was a good sign. Try the door and it was locked.

Ok now I’m in the office my colleague was remoting the server and didnt see my message haha. So no more blogging, back to work

Burdens of the heart

A new section im devoting to just myself reminding me of burdens I feel God has placed in my heart for the moment in time. Feel free to pray along with me

  • Maids / Amahs

    • : They leave their comfort zones of their country to work in foreign lands, sometimes getting in way over their heads. They are mistreated, undervalued and underpaid in my opinion. I think it hurts most when you realise that you are the cause of most of their problems. You make life difficult for them, you treat them as less of a human being.

  • The homeless

    • : From the previous post it just something I thank God for that in Brunei you don’t see many (if any) suffering with the problem of homelessness, but there are many out there being discriminated against and suffering in physical and spiritual poverty.

Booted from Starbucks

The headline of this article.

The 70-year-old Lisle woman was kicked out of the Starbucks in downtown Glen Ellyn a few weeks ago. She claims it was because employees mistook her as a homeless person, part of a purge the store waged to mollify customers who complained that the coffee shop was overrun with the homeless.
…
When Kilborn refused to leave, police officers responded to make sure she left.

By the time it was over, Kilborn recalls standing outside the Starbucks – fuming.

“I had my coffee in my hand,” she said. “It’s still too hot to drink – that’s how little time passed.”
…
Kilborn says the public needs to learn a little more tolerance.

“People shouldn’t be told to leave after buying a cup of coffee,” she said. “No one should be humiliated like that.”

“Homelessness isn’t just restricted to one county,” said Debbie DeGraw, director of marketing and development for McHenry County PADS.

“It’s an issue for everyone to deal with,” she said. “Yet people are like, ‘not in my backyard.’ Nobody wants it in their communities.”

That’s just human nature.

Legal experts say a public business ordinarily can’t refuse service to anyone. But if a customer is making others uncomfortable, a merchant can ask that person to leave.

However, advocates note, the homeless have rights, too.

When I read the article I just felt compelled to say something about it. Tolerance, our rights and our neighbours. All of us are selfish: we want our space, our rights, our way. It’s human nature. We are taught to share our toys not keep them to ourselves. I’ve heard the phrase “sharing is caring” and in the most part it is true. In a sense optimal benefit is obtained when we share. But our inner most being wants things our way, forgetting that the things or people preventing us from getting our own way are not much different that we are. They are just another human being on this Earth, just like you.

Differences are easy to point out and easy to be used as excuses to not like another person, to ostracize them. Why can’t we all just get along. “Love your neighbour as yourself“: That was what I was reminded as I read the article. Even though you don’t see homeless people in Brunei (which I thank God for, not because that I don’t want to see them, but at least it means there are not that many, if any, suffering with the problem here) the article just reminded me of what am I doing to help out another fellow man. No matter how much you do it can never be enough. Just like the story of a man on a beach full of starfish washed ashore and throwing some back in. It makes a difference to those thrown back in. And in the story, parallels will life can be drawn: some of those starfish will just die out there without anybody to help them. Lost and alone without anybody being there for them.

So as I leave this thought for myself and hopefully anybody else:
Love your neighbour as yourself

Matthew 22:36 – 39
36Master, which is the great commandment in the Law? 37 Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Mp3 Support with Amarok in Kubuntu Edgy

Just a few moments ago I was granted with the following popup message as I tried to play a few podcasts I downloaded
Amarok cannot play Mp3s

I know Kubuntu doesn’t support MP3 playback by default due to copyright/licensing/patent/legal issues, as seen from this part of the ubuntu documentation

Ubuntu strives to make every piece of software available under the licensing terms laid out in the Ubuntu License Policy. Patent and copyright restrictions complicate free operating systems distributing software to support proprietary formats.

Ubuntu’s commitment to only include completely free software by default means that proprietary media formats are not configured ‘out of the box’.

It’s cool that they’ve automated it though: click the install button, supply your password, wait for the package to download and install, restart amarok and it’s all good.
Adept downloading Mp3 support
Kudo’s to programmers, and bleh to non-free standards

SMC 2862W-G on Linux!

To be exact the SMC 2862W-G EZ Connect g 802.11g Wireless USB 2.0 Adapter which I got a year or two ago finally works in Linux (Kubuntu Edgy). Details below for those whoever run into the same problem. Now I have 2 Linux compatible USB dongles, sweet! So now I can finally set up my other Linux box right beside me thats been here for months haha.

lsusb output

Bus 005 Device 014: ID 0707:ee13 Standard Microsystems Corp. EZ-Connect 802.11g Adapter

Requirements: curl and git-core package. Code below only for Debian based distros.

apt-get install curl git-core

Building the driver

git clone http://islsm.org/~jb/islsm/islsm.git softmac
cd softmac
make
make load

Kudos to vlsoft for posting it here. Having late nights like this reminds me of the times I was up trying to configure X11 for my old Toshiba laptop. Ahhhh the memories. I was in my cluster kitchen when I finally got it to work if I remember correctly. Hehe.

Edit. Revisited this on my newest and oldest comp in my room: an old Pentium 233 with 32MB of RAM. Found out I left out 1 part which is copying the firmware as stated here

If you have a second-generation device, please use this firmware: 2.5.8.0 firmware and copy it to /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware/isl3887usb_bare.

And yes I should sleep as I have training at 9am. Man but I want to play with my Linux….

Edit2. Last night I tried to compile this on a fresh install of Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn (kernel: 2.6.20-16-generic) and found compile errors. The worse part was the site seemed to be down thus I couldnt search the forums for any help. Thus I did what I could do, actually read the errors and try to fix them. And viola! After a few minutes I managed to get it to compile! Now thats what Open Source is about. Something’s wrong so go ahead and fix it! Anyway changelog below

================================================================================
Changelog
========================================
Modified by Timothy Lim Sheng Hwee
on 1st July 2007
========================================
Tested on Ubuntu 7.04, Feisty Fawn (uname -r output: 2.6.20-16-generic)

File changes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
islsm_netdev.c
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
line 30:
#include <linux/config.h>
changed to
#include <linux/version.h>
#if LINUX_VERSION_CODE < KERNEL_VERSION(2,6,19)
#include <linux/config.h>
#endif
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
islsm_dev.c
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
line 27:
#include <linux/config.h>
changed to
#include <linux/version.h>
#if LINUX_VERSION_CODE < KERNEL_VERSION(2,6,19)
#include <linux/config.h>
#endif
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
islusb_transport.c
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
line 23:
#include <linux/config.h>
moved to line 28 and changed to
#if LINUX_VERSION_CODE < KERNEL_VERSION(2,6,19)
#include <linux/config.h>
#endif
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
islusb_init.c
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
line 23:
#include <linux/config.h>
changed to
#include <linux/version.h>
#if LINUX_VERSION_CODE < KERNEL_VERSION(2,6,19)
#include <linux/config.h>
#endif
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
islsm_uart.c
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
line 29:
add
#include <linux/poll.h>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
islpci_dev.c
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
line 1254:
INIT_WORK(&priv->reset_task, islpci_do_reset_and_wake, priv);
changed to
#if LINUX_VERSION_CODE >= KERNEL_VERSION(2,6,20)
INIT_WORK(&priv->reset_task, islpci_do_reset_and_wake);
#else
INIT_WORK(&priv->reset_task, islpci_do_reset_and_wake, priv);
#endif
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
islusb_net2280.c
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
line 284:
INIT_WORK(&p54u->int_bh, p54u_new_int_bh, islsm);
changed to
#if LINUX_VERSION_CODE >= KERNEL_VERSION(2,6,20)
INIT_WORK(&p54u->int_bh, p54u_new_int_bh);
#else
INIT_WORK(&p54u->int_bh, p54u_new_int_bh, islsm);
#endif

Update (2009/12/3): It seems that the cold is no longer working and no longer available. Managed to get the USB dongle working in Debian with 2.6.26-2-686 kernel via the instructions here (basically just need to copy the firmware over to /lib/firmware and it worked)

Links

An article in the papers today

UBD to hold information week
By James Kon

Bandar Seri Begawan – Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) Library will be organising its 4`h Information Week, from February 5 to 10, at its premises. –
…

Now I’m just wondering if they are referring to February NEXT year or possibly April next month. Anyway… a cool pantomime video below paying tribute to some classic games. Entertaining but I didn’t really get the last reference which is supposed to be Gears of War as I haven’t played it. Perhaps when it comes for the PC I may give it a go. The only console I’ll likely play is the Wii

But the Nintendo acapella below is still my favourite as it was the first one I watched.

If anybody is wondering how to get Youtube video’s on a wordpress blog, use the following code replacing the url with the url of the video. Just found out as these are my first references to Youtube videos. Learning something new today. Cool =P

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtETUlsbI18]

Imagini VisualDNA: Get a quick profile of yourself by clicking a few images (around 10). I was bored

open source as alternative: A nice place that provides open source applications to more familiar commercial ones. I wasn’t too sure why they included the commercial applications on the site but after reading one of the comments on the article’s digg page I noticed that once you click on the link for the commercial application it will provide you open source alternatives below, which is cool.

Happy and Blessed Chinese New Year

Yup, first and foremost Happy and Blessed Chinese New Year to all. As I sleepily type this I came across this article. The first thing that came to my mind was how it is ‘likening’ us humans to computers with varying amounts of RAM. Nothing much to say right now I guess I’m just too sleepy to think.