Category: Tips & Guides

Guides or tutorials (computer related)

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IPv6 and ShowIP Mozilla Firefox extension

ShowIP Description

Hello, now I’d like to share my experience using ShowIP Mozilla extension with you today. ShowIP is a browser extension which display the IP address of the current page in the status bar.

IPv4

While this seems not to be helpful at first glance, this extenstion might be handy when you want to test the webserver you’re accessing is using IPv6 or not and test out your own IPv6 configuration.

The extension supports IPv6 address compression notation, so it’s nicer and cleaner to the eye.
ipv6

You can download the extension from : Mozilla Update website.

I guess that’s all for today folks!

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Redirect (301 Permanently) without using .htaccess

Want to redirect your website to another place but can’t create .htaccess file?

Well this might be a solution to you, if your webhost supports server site php scripting.

The codes below will tell web-client (including search bot) that your website have been Moved Permanently to a new location and redirects them to a new location

The PHP version :
header ('HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently');
header ('Location: http://newdomain.com/');

The ASP version :
Response.Status="301 Moved Permanently"
Response.AddHeader "Location",\ "http://www.newdomain.com/"

What’s wrong with META Refesh tag? Well, firstly, it isn’t supported by all web-client (including bots). Secondly, the search engine will ignore the META Refresh tag and stops indexing your webpage.

By sending server response code 301 Moved Permanently, will inform that your website have been moved to another location and search bots will note that and index the new location instead. :)

p/s: This tip is useful in an event you can’t create a .htaccess file in your webhost.

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When Microsoft write about GNU/Linux-related tutorial

I came across this official article in Microsoft Help and Support Website.

What worth mentioning about this article is, this is the first Microsoft article that explains a little bit about GNU/Linux filesystem accurately and in non-biased way against their own filesystem.

This article also feature short tutorial on how to use the GNU/Linux “fdisk” program, including “fdisk” keys to create, write, and delete partition. The Linux disk/partition terminology such as /dev/sda, /dev/hda1, etc, are also explained in this tutorial. Yeah, something that I never expected from this company, but they did it after all?

Wanna know the catch?

Read the complete article : http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314458

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Finally we bought a friendly scanner

mypapit Canon LiDE 20 Scanner

Since there are so many people at my house need to use scanner for day-to-day stuff (actually only my sister). So we decided to get a Home/SoHo scanner, and naturally i’m the one who got to choose.

Browsing through few stores and places in Alor Star, finally i came across this entry-level SoHo Canon LiDE-20 model. It priced about RM220 at one computer shop at one shopping complex, but i decided to pass it down and bought the similar model in another place which doesn’t require high-maintenance bills, and it only cost my father RM195.

For starters, the scanner’s operation is straight forward. Once you installed the required software drivers in Windows XP the scanner is hot to be use (ok, nothing special about that, it’s normal with M$ Windows). But for a small price to pay, this scanner really roxx! It’s quick, responsive and have intelligent cropping feature that automatically separate items that i scanned together (to save time of course).

The scanner is slick and slim, and it features 3 button “Scan”, “Copy” and “Email”, and those buttons are configureable in it’s accompanying software driver which I promptly modified the “Email” button to do OCR.

After having fun setting up the scanner for my sister, only then i remembered, “Oh my god, how about Linux? I haven’t check the compatibility list before buying this out!”.

Fortunately, most (and i do mean most) of the USB devices now in Linux are just plug-and-play. It’s kinda hard to find USB devices without drivers in Linux nowadays. The Canon LiDE 20 is supported in Linux as I boot them! Well, at least on FC4 and Mandriva 10.2.

The scanner driver from The Sane Project works nicely, and theres no difference at all whether you scan your documents from M$ Windows or GNU/Linux.

For those who are interested in getting new hardware for your Linux pc I think the link below would be some help. Remember choose only hardware which have Linux driver with it, talk with your pocket :

1. Scanner Database
2. Digital Camera-PTP Mode, Mass Storage is always supported.
3. Webcam
4. WiFi
5. Bluetooth
6. Sound Cards
7. Network card
8. Most of Nvidia and ATI Graphic Cards (for 3D Gaming)
9. Almost all USB Mass Storage Device (Pendrive, HDD)

If you are lazy enough to check one, by one, then i suggest you to drop by Mandriva Hardware Compatibility Database. Check whether your hardware is supported by Linux. cheers…

Note : Some of the item of this list (notably no 4,7,8,9) are outdated, please be advised. Other item are maintained by their respective driver project.

 

Recommended Product
The CanoScan LiDE 20 USB flatbed scanner is one of the world’s most compact flatbeds, yet it offers big performance and big savings. Just over an inch high, it packs all the features you need to scan images, copy documents, and e-mail your favorite photos, all with one-touch operation.

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Reasons for starting open source project

Well I dont know how to write a good english essay, let alone write an inspiring one. But the story I want to present below is quite related to start a good and decent open source project that will definitely pay off.

Take a lesson from the Matchbox project which was published on Newsforge a couple of days ago. The project only started as innocent attempt by some guy name Matthew Allum, trying to use windows manager in devices which use small display screen. The main reason he created Matchbox was that there are no windows manager that can work on small display (240×320), FYI, the KDE window manager barely works in 640×480 display.

Matchbox screenshot

He later made a practice of publicizing the project on handhelds.org; he published the project on his page there and was well-known in the Linux on handhelds community. He garnered several speaking positions at big conferences like FOSDEM, Usenix, and Python, where he worked to dispel what he called the “myth of slow X.”

Months and months passed, his work unsuspectedly got recognized by one of the phone maker giants. His work on Matchbox caught Nokia eyes which offers him funding to continue his research on producing windows manager on their handheld device. So he did accept his offer and founded OpenedHand, a company whose sole purpose was to help Nokia to build windows manager for N770 Internet Table.

Matchbox window manager

Now, the relationship between Nokia and Allum extends beyond his work on the window manager. “It got to the point where I could suggest new modules and they’d say, ‘go for it.'” Nokia has provided enough work to OpenedHand that it now employs four full-time developers, and it is hiring more.

There are other inspiring works that have been huge success, yet started at a humble open source project. Works that just first started as “scratching an itch” by developers.

For examples of other open source works which was hugely recognize is the infamous Linus Tovarlds and it’s Linux Kernel, Phil Katz with pkzip, Bram Cohen with BitTorrent and many more!

How about you? when will you start your own open source project?

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SSH with PHP 4

Tengah merayau dengan surf internet lepas tu tetiba pulak terjumpa dengan web nie : Introduction to SSH through PHP. Apa yang disampaikan oleh web nie adalah, bagaimana untuk menghasilkan web application yang menggabungkan kefungsian SSH dan PHP4 (PHP 4.3.x)


OpenSSH Logo PHP Logo

Artikel ini turut juga memberikan contoh-contoh aplikasi yang boleh dibangunkan dengan menggabungkan PHP dan SSH, sedikit aspek-aspek sekuriti (pembaca digalakkan buat homework) dan contoh implementasi script PHP untuk menggunakan SSH.

Di bahagian tengah artikel ini membincangkan cara-cara penyediaan sistem anda termasuk keperluan untuk menggunakan PHP dan SSH. Perbincangan turut meliputi ciri-ciri keselamatan minima SSH termasuk langkah-langkah untuk menghasilkan public-key authentication.

Bahagian akhir artikel ini membincangkan implementasi kelas PHP (PHP Class) untuk memudahkan pengaturcaraan web dilakukan dengan menggunakan SSH. Turut ditegaskan disini, penggunaan PHP Class akan meningkatkan tahap reusability pengaturcaraan web. Contoh yang dibincangkan di bahagian akhir artikel ini, memberikan sebuah skrip PHP mudah untuk mendapatkan proses-proses dalam GNU/Linux untuk dipaparkan di antaramuka web.

Kesimpulannya artikel ini telah sebuah idea inovatif penggunaan SSH dalam pengaturcaraan PHP dan secara tidak langsung membuka pintu untuk menghasilkan aplikasi web yang lebih kreatif pada masa hadapan.

Rujukan :
1. SSH with PHP 4
2. OpenSSH Project
3. PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor