How to solve Pidgin Yahoo Messenger Connection Problem

pidgin logo

Lately, it seems that some people are having trouble connecting pidgin to Yahoo Messenger services. The problem seems to be associated with the Yahoo server itself.

Solving the Yahoo Messenger problem
A temporary solution for this problem is to change the Pidgin YM server setting.

Go to Accounts->Select your YM screen name->Edit Account->Advance.

Then change the original value of “scs.msg.yahoo.com” to any of these ip address:
66.163.181.183, 66.163.181.166 , 66.163.181.169, 66.163.181.170, 66.163.181.172, 66.163.181.171, 66.163.181.181, 66.163.181.182

As shown on the screenshot :

Pidgin Modify Account

Note that this is only a temporary solution and you should only use this as the last resort.

Quick and Dirty Network File sharing with Python

Ever find yourself in need to share file over the network quickly, but find yourself lacking time to setup a proper NFS or samba share? Here’s a way to do this with the good old Python CLI.

  • First, go to the directory that you want to share, for example ~/Desktop
  • Then run this command "python -m SimpleHTTPServer"
  • You may access the folder from a remote computer using any webrowser using the url – http://192.168.1.20:8000, change the ip address accordingly
Simple HTTP Server
file sharing with python

You may find this technique offers limited options to share files, but its a real time saver!

How to Generate Barcode in OpenOffice.org

I found this extension as I was searching for a great application to generate EAN-13 compatible barcode. This OpenOffice.org extension allows you to generate 5 different types of barcode generally found in the market, such as :

  • UPC-A (the most common barcode in the US)
  • EAN-13 (the most common barcode in Europe)
  • JAN (the barcode used in Japan, basically EAN-13 with the country code for Japan)
  • ISBN-13 (the barcode used in books after 2007, basically EAN-13 with a superscript)
  • ISBN-10 (the barcode used in books before 2007, basically EAN-13 with a different superscript)

Here’s how to install the extension :

  • First go to OpenOffice.org extensions website, then search for the barcode extension
  • Download the extension – barcode.oxt
  • Then start OpenOffice.org, go to Tools and select Extension Manager
  • When a dialog appears, click on Add, then find and select barcode.oxt, the extension will be installed on your OpenOffice.o
  • rg

  • To test the extension, start OpenOffice.org Draw, go to Insert, and selects Barcode, you can choose any of the barcode type to generate inside OpenOffice.org, type in the barcode value and it will be displayed on the page, with no extra effort!

Openoffice

Openoffice

Openoffice

How to add “Send To” removable USB drive in GNOME

Here’s a way to add “Send To” functionality to copy multiples files to removable drive (usually USB drive) in GNOME desktop.

Finally you can test it by selecting a file on your desktop and clicking the Send To option, you’ll be presented with a dialog similar to this.

Now you can easily copy files between your GNOME Desktop to your portable USB drive.

Send To Dialog