Jan

3

Recaptcha is back on my blog

Filed Under Announcements | Leave a Comment

The problem i had with recaptcha plugin is solved and it is back for second trial.

Dec

24

Print envelope with OpenOffice.org

Filed Under Howto, Linux, Windows | Leave a Comment

In the era of e-mail and internet less and less people use regular mail, but sometimes you need to send a letter to someone.

Typing the address can be annoying and sometimes unclear so let’s put your computer to work.

To print your and recipient address on an envelope you can use manual formatting on a page, but if you follow the instructions here the process will be more automated.

So what we need:

Printer - you want to print with something
Envelopes - and something to print on
OpenOffice.org (OO) - and some tools

Note: If you have MS Office you can use it too. See at the end…

1. Start OO and create empty document in writer

2. Go to Insert -> Envelope

You will see similar window:

Add your address (if it is not already filled in) and Recipient address.

3. Select envelope format

Next click on Format tab

Choose your envelope format and addresses positioning

4. Setup your printer

It is not done you need also to setup your printer. Click on Printer tab:

Select correct envelope orientation and setup your printer to use envelope as paper and correct paper source (usually manual feed).

6. Ready to Print?!

When you are ready click on New Doc.:

Here you can add your logo and preview how the envelope will look like.

When you are sure it is OK just print it.

First few times you will be on trial and error, until you correctly print, but after will be straightforward.

For Microsoft Office users:

If you have Office it is not obligatory to download ind install OpenOffice.org.

The procedure is similar, but on step 2 you go (at least in MS Office 2003) to Tools -> Letters and Mailings -> Envelopes and Mailings…

Dec

17

GPU acceleration in Acrobat - Take 2

Filed Under Howto, Windows | Leave a Comment

Or the benefits of upgrade…

As already mentioned in my previous post Adobe added 2D acceleration in Acrobat reader in version 8. Unfortunately for me that feature was not available for the card in my laptop.

Today I’ve decided to upgrade to v 9 and for my surprise 2d acceleration was available and turned on by default.

Dec

12

Fixing vim/vi arrow keys behavior

Filed Under Fix, Linux | Leave a Comment

In case your arrow keys do not work as usual when you enter in “insert” mode try this:

:set nocompatible

And if this fixes the problem add:

set nocompatible

to your ~/.vimrc file.

I had this problem in FreeBSD 7.0 and this fixed it.

Found here.

Nov

29

How to send e-mail to SMS

Filed Under Howto, fun | Leave a Comment

Even more and more people have Mobile phones capable to use e-mail still majority of mobile users have ordinary mobile phone.

After long search on internet I found a list explaining how to send SMS from e-mail.

Do not forget that SMS is limited to 160 characters so be short.

Here is the list:

Austria

MaxMobil xxxxxxxxxx@max.mail.at
One Connect xxxxxxxxx@onemail.at
T-Mobile xxxxxxxxx@sms.t-mobile.at

Australia

Blue Sky Frog xxxxxxxxx@blueskyfrog.com
Optus Mobile xxxxxxxxx@optusmobile.com.au

Belgium

Mobistar xxxxxxxxx@mobistar.be

Bermuda

Mobility xxxxxxxxx@ml.bm

Brazil

Claro (Brasil) xxxxxxx@clarotorpedo.com.br
Nextel xxxxxxxxx@nextel.com.br

Canada

Bell Mobility xxxxxxxxx@txt.bell.ca
Bell Mobility xxxxxxxxx@txt.bellmobility.ca
Fido xxxxxxxxx@fido.ca
Microcell xxxxxxxxx@fido.ca
Manitoba Telecom Systems xxxxxxxxx@text.mtsmobility.com
NBTel xxxxxxxxx@wirefree.informe.ca
PageMart xxxxxxxxx@pmcl.net
PageNet xxxxxxxxx@pagegate.pagenet.ca
Rogers xxxxxxxxx@pcs.rogers.com
Telus xxxxxxxxx@msg.telus.com

Chile

Bell South xxxxxxxxx@bellsouth.cl

Czech Republic

Eurotel +ccaaxxxxxxx@sms.eurotel.cz
Oskar xxxxxxxxx@mujoskar.cz

Denmark

Sonofon xxxxxxxx@note.sonofon.dk
Tele Danmark Mobil xxxxxxxx@sms.tdk.dk
Telia Denmark xxxxxxxxx@gsm1800.telia.dk

Estonia

EMT xxxxxxxxx@sms.emt.ee

France

SFR xxxxxxxxx@sfr.fr

Germany

T-Mobile +49xxxxxxx@t-d1-sms.de
Mannesmann Mobilefunk xxxxxxx@d2-message.de
E-Plus 0177xxxxxxx.sms@eplus.de

Hungary

PGSM 3620xxxxxxx@sms.pgsm.hu

India

BPL mobile xxxxxxxxx@bplmobile.com
Chennai RPG Cellular xxxxxxxxx@rpgmail.net
Chennai Skycell / Airtel xxxxxxxxx@airtelchennai.com
Delhi Aritel xxxxxxxxx@airtelmail.com
Delhi Hutch xxxxxxxxx@delhi.hutch.co.in
Idea Cellular xxxxxxxxx@ideacellular.net
Orange xxxxxxxxx@orangemail.co.in

Ireland

Meteor xxxxxxxxx@sms.mymeteor.ie

Italy

Telecom Italia Mobile 33xxxxxxxx@posta.tim.it
Vodafone Omnitel 34xxxxxxxx@vizzavi.it
Vodafone xxxxxxxxx@sms.vodafone.it

Japan

Vodafone Japan xxxxxxxxx@c.vodafone.ne.jp
Vodafone Japan xxxxxxxxx@h.vodafone.ne.jp
Vodafone Japan xxxxxxxxx@t.vodafone.ne.jp

Latvia

Kyivstar xxxxxxxxx@smsmail.lmt.lv
LMT 9xxxxxx@smsmail.lmt.lv
Tele2 xxxxxxxxx@sms.tele2.lv

Lebanon

Cellis / LibanCell 9613xxxxxx@ens.jinny.com.lb

Luxembourg

P&T Luxembourg xxxxxxxxx@sms.luxgsm.lu

Malaysia

Celcom 019xxxxxxx@sms.celcom.com.my

Mexico

Nextel xxxxxxxxx@mmsnextel.com.mx

The Netherlands

Dutchtone / Orange-NL xxxxxxxxx@sms.orange.nl

Norway

Netcom xxxxxxxxx@sms.netcom.no
Telenor xxxxxxxxx@mobilpost.no

Panama

Cable and Wireless xxxxxxxxx@cwmovil.com

Poland

Plus GSM +4860xxxxxxx@text.plusgsm.pl

Portugal

Telcel 91xxxxxxx@sms.telecel.pt
Optimus 93xxxxxxx@sms.optimus.pt
TMN 96xxxxxxx@mail.tmn.pt

Russia

BeeLine GSM xxxxxxxxx@sms.beemail.ru
MTS 7xxxxxxxxxx@sms.mts.ru
Personal Communication sms@pcom.ru (number in subject line)
Primtel xxxxxxxxx@sms.primtel.ru
SCS-900 xxxxxxxxx@scs-900.ru
Uraltel xxxxxxxxx@sms.uraltel.ru
Vessotel xxxxxxxxx@pager.irkutsk.ru

Serbia and Montenegro (Former Yugoslavia)

Mobtel Srbija xxxxxxxxx@mobtel.co.yu

Singapore

MiWorld xxxxxxxxx@m1.com.sg
Mobileone xxxxxxxxx@m1.com.sg

Slovenia

Mobitel xxxxxx@linux.mobitel.si
Si Mobil xxxxxx@simobil.net

Spain

Movistar xxxxxxxxx@correo.movistar.net
Vodafone xxxxxxxxx@vodafone.es

Sweden

Comviq GSM 467xxxxxxxx@sms.comviq.se
Europolitan 4670xxxxxxx@europolitan.se

Switzerland

Sunrise Mobile xxxxxxxxx@freesurf.ch
Sunrise Mobile xxxxxxxxx@mysunrise.ch
Swisscom xxxxxxxxx@bluewin.ch

Tanzania

Mobitel xxxxxxxxx@sms.co.tz

Ukraine

Golden Telecom xxxxxxxxx@sms.goldentele.com
Kyivstar xxxxxxxxxx@2sms.kyivstar.net
UMC xxxxxxxxx@sms.umc.com.ua

United Kingdom

Orange 0973xxxxxx@omail.net
Orange xxxxxxxxx@orange.net
O2 name@o2.co.uk
O2 (M-mail) xxxxxxxxx@mmail.co.uk
T-Mobile UK xxxxxxxxx@t-mobile.uk.net
Vodafone UK xxxxxxxxx@vodafone.net

United States

Alltel xxxxxxxx @message.alltel.com
AT&T (formerly Cingular) xxxxxxxx@txt.att.net; xxxxxxxxx@mms.att.net (MMS); xxxxxxxx@cingularme.com
Boost Mobile xxxxxxxx@myboostmobile.com
Nextel (now Sprint Nextel) xxxxxxxx@messaging.nextel.com
Sprint PCS (now Sprint Nextel) xxxxxxxx@messaging.sprintpcs.com; xxxxxxxx@pm.sprint.com (MMS)
T-Mobile xxxxxxxx@tmomail.net
US Cellular xxxxxxxx@email.uscc.net (SMS); xxxxxxxxx@mms.uscc.net (MMS)
Verizon xxxxxxxxx@vtext.com; xxxxxxxxxx@vzwpix.com (MMS)
Virgin Mobile USA xxxxxxxxxx@vmobl.com

Any updates and notes are welcome in the comments.

Remember, before you start “spamming” your friends ask them if they want to receive e-mail to SMS/MMS. Most of the plans do not include unlimited SMS and the user usually pays incoming SMS-es.

And for the “victims” if you do not want to receive e-mail to SMS ask your provider to stop that service as I did with my cell phone after a “friend” started to use e-mail to SMS (even it was not an emergency) instead simply sending me an e-mail.

Nov

27

How to repair Linux(CentOS) software RAID

Filed Under Fix, Howto, news | Leave a Comment

Sooner or later hard drives fail…

That’s why we use RAID arrays. The best solution is to use hardware RAID - one assisted with specialized processor on the board. In that category I do not include cheap (called Fake RAID) solutions integrated on the motherboard.

But unfortunately sometimes real RAID controllers are too pricey - here on help comes software RAID.

The good news is that it is included in most of the recent OS. Linux does not make an exception and the software included is really well optimized and even recommended to achieve better performance over Fake RAID.

…

Now in case of failure we are protected, but RAID 1 and 5 will protect the data in case of one drive failure so it is better to replace the failed drive as soon as possible, but on other side you do not want to stop the machine right now.

NOTE: If you have IDE HDD do not use following procedure. IDE drives are NOT HOTSWAPPABLE and removing it may cause MORE DAMAGE.

This is valid also for ordinary s-ATA and SCSI drives.

In case that you have hotswappable drive SCA or similar you can replace the drive when the machine is working.

If you are not sure check the documentation that come with your hardware.

And now after all this precautions let’s start:

Determine the failed drive

To check what array and what drive have problem simply type:

cat /proc/mdstat

Here is sample output:

md2 : active raid5 sdd2[4](F) sda2[0] sdc1[2] sdb2[1]

106221312 blocks level 5, 256k chunk, algorithm 2 [4/3] [UUU_]

In this case the problem is sdd.

Check drive size and type

For the size type:

fdisk -l

And look for sdd in the output.

To check exact drive model type:

dmesg|less

and again look just before SCSI device sdd:

Next step is to obtain replacement drive

(ideally the same model)

Dump the partition table from the drive, if it is still readable:

sfdisk -d /dev/sdd > partitions.sdd

Remove the drive to replace from the array:

mdadm /dev/md2 -r /dev/sdd2

Look up the Host, Channel, ID and Lun of the drive to replace,

by looking in

cat /proc/scsi/scsi

Remove the drive from the bus

echo "scsi remove-single-device 1 0 3 0" > /proc/scsi/scsi

Verify that the drive has been correctly removed

by looking in

cat /proc/scsi/scsi

Physically replace the drive

Unplug the drive from your SCA bay, and insert a new drive
Add the new drive to the bus:

echo "scsi add-single-device 1 0 3 0" > /proc/scsi/scsi

(this should spin up the drive as well)

Recreate the layout

Re-partition the drive using the previously dumped partition table:

sfdisk /dev/sdd < partitions.sdd

If failed drive was unreadable here you need to create new partitions

Add the drive to your array

mdadm /dev/md2 -a /dev/sdd2

You can check if the operation was successful by issuing

cat /proc/mdstat

Inspired with modifications from

Nov

21

GPU acceleration in Acrobat

Filed Under Fix, Windows | 1 Comment

I did not notice right away, but since version 8 of acrobat there is GPU hardware acceleration. For now only 2d and no CUDA or AVIVO, but still a step in right direction.

Unfortunately Adobe did not enable it by default so you need to do it.

Here are the steps to follow:

Start Acrobat

Go to Edit -> Preferences -> Page Display

If your video card is supported in the rendering section you will find “Use 2D GPU Acceleration”. Just check it as shown below and enjoy.

Nov

18

Upgrade HP/Compaq Presario 1950NX

Filed Under Fix, Windows | Leave a Comment

My PC is HP/Compaq Presario 1950NX and it come with integrated Video Card (Nvidia 6150) and 1G RAM.

Even it has good CPU (Athlon XP 3800) lack of memory and slow video card did not allow me to use high detail settings even on older games.

To improve the performance of the system I’ve added 1G of RAM (~$50) for total of 2G (4×512M).

And added PCI expressx16 video card from DiamondMultimedia Viper HD 2600 XT 512M (~$65).

As usual the upgrade was not flawless.

I’ve disabled the driver of NVIDIA card as noted in installation document that come with the card (always read those documents they contain important instructions) and set from BIOS PCI express as primary video controller.

After that I’ve installed the card and then the drivers from the CD.

Up to here no problems…

But after I started video player I noticed that simply there is no sound. As usual I verified the cables - so many times I simply did not plug them, but everything was OK.

Then I opened control panel -> sound and audio devices to see for my surprise that the sound card was set to none.

Next step was to check Device manager - only one adapter was listed - ATI Function Driver for High Definition Audio…

After seeing this It light up - The Video card has HDMI output and is capable to transmit audio via that connection. This was counted as sound device and since in BIOS onboard audio was set to AUTO it was disabled.

Simply setting it to Enabled bring back my sound.

Nov

13

First 45-nm CPUs from AMD

Filed Under news | Leave a Comment

AMD officially announced first Quad Core 45-nm Opteron CPUs code name “Shanghai”.

They are not only up to 35% faster than previous line but also consume 35% less power. In addition improvements in virtualization can increase performance up to 40%.

They use improved Direct Connect Architecture in conjunction with HyperTransport 3.0 and AMD-V including new Rapid Virtualization Indexing feature.

New 45-nm process allowed to increase L3 cache size up to 6M.

Nov

11

newegg comes in Canada…