How do I get the Modern UI of Firefox in Windows 8?

Mozilla mentions

Elm is the experimental repository where most of our Metro development work has been happening.

Now, I grabbed the latest nightly from the Elm repo, installed it & then despite starting it from the start screen, I was still provided the desktop version.

Is there a way I can get the Metro Modern UI of Firefox in Windows 8? Do I need to add some extra command line arguments or something?

Answer

Ok, firstly, there seems to be a quirk in Windows 8: only the default browser can be launched with Modern UI. I have tested with IE, FF and Chrome on the Enterprise Evaluation and they will all launch the Desktop version unless set as default. Additionally, as soon as a browser is set as the default handler for HTTP/HTTPS, any other running Modern UI is instantly closed. More information is available at this question.

So, I have it running fine. There were a few things I did, any of which may be responsible:

• 
  

  Installed an older Firefox build (FF 18), specifically the installer executable

  
  


• 
  

  Set as default for all via Control Panel => Programs => Default Programs => Set Default Programs => Nightly

  
  

  
  ^{Click for full size}

  
  


• 
  

  When the Modern UI version launched, but hung with a blank screen, I closed it via Task Manager, set IE back to default, and set Nightly to default again. At this point, the Modern UI version of FF worked.

  
  


• 
  

  Installed the latest elm build (FF 19, 24-Oct-2012 06:06), again from the installer executable. Restarted.

  
  

So, now I have Nightly running with Modern UI:

^{Click for full size}

^{Click for full size}

video - How to use VLC to watch a file (while it is being modified) on a SSH server (using sftp or smth else)?

I'm using my ssh server to record videos and I'd like to be able to watch them (on a PC using Windows 7 or 8) during the recording. I can of course transfer the file when I'm done and watch it, but I want to watch it during the recording, that can last 2 hours.

I don't want to use a VLC server because it encodes the video and my SSH Server is on an Odroid C1 (not powerful enough for that I think), and I would loose some quality.

I saw here some ideas VLC: Can I stream over SSH? but that's not enough.

I've thought about 2 angles here:

• Finding a way to download the file "indefinitely": meaning that as long as the file is getting bigger, the download would continue. But I don't know if that's possible, I've tried WinSCP but the download ends even thought the file is constantly updating.


• Streaming the file with something like this in VLC "sftp:///" but I don't know how to configure the connection with VLC (my SSH connection is not on port 22 and I use public/private keys).

Does someone have any ideas?

Answer

Since all my attempts to stream directly with VLC with a "sftp://" link failed, I managed to write a little java program that would do exactly what I needed by downloading the file and by always checking if the size of the remote file has changed to resume the download if needed.

The key here is that piece of code:

    sftpChannel.get(remotePath, outstream, monitor, ChannelSftp.OVERWRITE, 0);
    long localSize;
    Thread.sleep(1000);
    while(sftpChannel.lstat(remotePath).getSize() > (localSize = new File(localPath).length())){
        sftpChannel.get(remotePath, outstream, monitor, ChannelSftp.RESUME, localSize);
        Thread.sleep(timeToWaitBeforeUpdatingFile);

    }
    System.out.println("The download is finished.");

I'm also posting the whole code for the program if someone is interested:

package streamer;

import java.io.Console;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.InputMismatchException;
import java.util.Scanner;
import java.util.Vector;

import com.jcraft.jsch.ChannelSftp;
import com.jcraft.jsch.JSch;
import com.jcraft.jsch.JSchException;
import com.jcraft.jsch.Session;
import com.jcraft.jsch.SftpException;
import com.jcraft.jsch.SftpProgressMonitor;

public class Streamer {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException, IOException {
        JSch jsch = new JSch();

        if(args.length != 7){
            System.out.println("Incorrect parameters:");
            System.out.println("Streamer user host port privateKeyPath remotePath localPath vlcPath");
            System.exit(-1);
        }

        String user = args[0];
        String host = args[1];
        int port = -1;
        try {
            port = Integer.parseInt(args[2]);
        } catch (NumberFormatException e3) {
            System.out.println("Port must be an integer");
            System.exit(-1);
        }
        String privateKeyPath = args[3];

        String remotePath = args[4];
        String localPath = args[5];
        String vlcPath = args[6];

        int timeToWaitBeforeUpdatingFile = 5000;
        String password = "";

        Console console = System.console();
        if (console == null) {
            System.out.println("Couldn't get Console instance");
            //password = "";
            System.exit(-1);
        }else{
            char passwordArray[] = console.readPassword("Enter your password: ");
            password = new String(passwordArray);
            Arrays.fill(passwordArray, ' ');
        }

        try {
            jsch.addIdentity(privateKeyPath, password);
        } catch (JSchException e) {
            System.out.println(e.getMessage());
            System.out.println("Invalid private key file");
            System.exit(-1);
        }

        Session session;
        try {
            session = jsch.getSession(user, host, port);
            java.util.Properties config = new java.util.Properties();
            config.put("StrictHostKeyChecking", "no");
            session.setConfig(config);

            System.out.println("Establishing connection...");
            session.connect();
            System.out.println("Connection established.");
            System.out.println("Creating SFTP Channel...");
            ChannelSftp sftpChannel = (ChannelSftp) session.openChannel("sftp");
            sftpChannel.connect();
            System.out.println("SFTP Channel created.");

            try {
                @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
                Vector recordings = sftpChannel.ls(remotePath + "*.mpeg");
                if(recordings.isEmpty()){
                    System.out.println("There are no recordings to watch.");
                    System.exit(0);
                }
                int choice = 1;
                System.out.println("Chose the recording to watch:");
                for (ChannelSftp.LsEntry e : recordings){
                    System.out.println("[" + choice++ + "] " + e.getFilename());
                }
                Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
                try {
                    String fileName = recordings.get(sc.nextInt() - 1).getFilename();
                    remotePath += fileName;
                    localPath += fileName;
                } catch (InputMismatchException e) {
                    System.out.println("Incorrect choice");
                    System.exit(-1);
                }
                System.out.println("You chose : " + remotePath);
                sc.close();
            } catch (SftpException e2) {
                System.out.println("Error during 'ls': the remote path might be wrong:");
                System.out.println(e2.getMessage());
                System.exit(-1);
            }

            OutputStream outstream = null;
            try {
                outstream = new FileOutputStream(new File(localPath));
            } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
                System.out.println("The creation of the file" + localPath + " failed. Local path is incorrect or writing permission is denied.");
                System.exit(-1);
            }

            try {
                SftpProgressMonitor monitor = null;
                System.out.println("The download has started.");
                System.out.println("Opening the file in VLC...");
                try {
                    Runtime.getRuntime().exec(vlcPath + " " + localPath);
                } catch (Exception ex) {
                    System.out.println("The file couldn't be opened in VLC");
                    System.out.println("Check your VLC path.");
                    System.out.println(ex);
                }
                sftpChannel.get(remotePath, outstream, monitor, ChannelSftp.OVERWRITE, 0);
                long localSize;
                Thread.sleep(1000);
                while(sftpChannel.lstat(remotePath).getSize() > (localSize = new File(localPath).length())){
                    sftpChannel.get(remotePath, outstream, monitor, ChannelSftp.RESUME, localSize);
                    Thread.sleep(timeToWaitBeforeUpdatingFile);

                }
                System.out.println("The download is finished.");
                outstream.close();
                System.exit(0);
            } catch (SftpException e1) {
                System.out.println("Error during the download:");
                System.out.println(e1.getMessage());
                System.exit(-1);
            }
        } catch (JSchException e) {
            System.out.println("Connection has failed (check the user, host, port...)");
            System.exit(-1);
        }
    }
}

Can't install Windows 7 SDK

I'm interesting in Windows Performance Analysis application. I've downloaded Windows 7 SDK which contains it.

After I run the setup the following message appears (for both winsdk_web.exe and DVD ISO's setup.exe): "Another running instance of this application was detected. Only one instance of this application may be running at any time."

There is no other setup.exe or msiexec running on my system (Windows 7 Enterprise x64).

Did anyone get such issue? How can I install it?

UPDATE: I don't have serious problems with installing Win7 SDK on Windows 7 Enterprise x32.

Upgrading Ubuntu to 9.04 breaks ATI video card driver, VESA and ati/radeon drivers

I upgraded my Ubuntu 8.10 to 9.04, and it not only broke the ATI proprietary fglrx driver, but also the ability to use the VESA or open-source ati or radeon drivers.

I have an ATI RV610 which is an ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT.

I have Linux Kernel 2.6.27-14-generic and 2.6.28-13-generic.

With fglrx, vesa, ati and radeon, the Xserver hangs the machine as soon as it starts by invoking X or startx, which is seen by observing that caps lock doesn't work. There's nothing useful in /var/log/Xorg.0.log, no errors at all. This is with either kernel.

When I download a new proprietary driver from ATI, I install it successfully on kernel 2.6.27, and it doesn't hang when X starts up, but it just shows a blank screen and does nothing. I also can't CTRL+ALT+Backspace out of X at this point.

In all the years I've used ATI's Linux drivers, this has happened almost every time I've upgraded my kernel, but it's been fixable with much effort. This time I'm really stuck.

Does anyone know how to fix these problems?

Answer

The built-in support for ATI cards in ubuntu 9.04 is better. You shouldn't need the fglrx.

I would suggest doing some kind of test clean-install, though perhaps the Live CD would be sufficient to verify that ubuntu default ATI drivers will work for your system.

The reason I suggest clean install is that customizations for Video (e.g., directly using fglrx rather than using "hardware drivers" menu) and customizations for network (e.g., using ndiswrapper) mess with the upgrade process.

After banging my head against strange video problems (and network problems) after an upgrade, I solved my problems with a back-up of my data, including .mozilla directory, a list of installed packages, a clean install, and a manual restoration of my desired environment.

osx lion - Firefox- How to change font size of right-click context menu?

Using Firefox v9.0.1 on OS X Lion v10.7.2

In userChrome.css, how do I adjust the font size that appears in the context menu when you right-click on something (like a link) on a web page?

I tried DOM inspector but cannot decipher what I am looking for.

Related to this thread: Firefox- How to change font size of items in folder on bookmarks toolbar?

Answer

The CSS selector for the Right-click context menu is:

#contentAreaContextMenu * {
    property: value !important;
}

Example:

Any more userChrome.css tweaks? :)

How to get headphones and speakers working at the same time?

I have a Gigabyte P55-UD3 motherboard which comes with a Realtek sound card and audio header for the front panel. My headset is permanently connected to the front panel (mic in, headphones in) and I also have speakers connected at the rear of the computer. What I want to achieve is that both the headphones and the speakers work at the same time.

On my old PC with Realtek, I was able to do this by clicking "Device advanced settings" in the Realtek HD Audio Manager and then clicking "Make front and rear output devices playback two different audio streams simultaneously" and then doing some reassigning of front/rear settings in the Realtek Audio Manager (can't remember the details).

But that doesn't seem to be working now - either the speakers play sounds or the headphones, not both at the same time.

To pose the question differently, Windows plays the sounds on the "default device". I'd like to make both headphones and the speakers kind of like the default devices.

Answer

You need to disable "Front panel jack detection". This will make the front and rear jacks play the same stream.

Source: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/243915-49-realtek-audio-manager-sound-signal-simultaneously-front-rear

windows - Why can I move the executable of a service but not delete it?

I am learning about privilege escalation and dangerous service configurations on Windows.

Here is the thing:

• A service has a world writeable executable myservice.exe (baaaad idea).


• The service is running with system privileges


• When you try to copy/replace myservice.exe while it is running, that will not work. (Permission Denied)


• However when you first move the executable and then copy a second (evil) myservice.exe into the folder, windows will not complain


• Next time the service is restarted, the evil service.exe is executed

My question: What process keeps a handle on the myservice.exe to prevent me from deleting it? How can that same process allow me to move the file and continue functioning?

I tried to answer those question myself using procmon.exe from the Sysinternals Suite, but so far I found nothing.

Disable compressed memory in Mac OS 10.9 Mavericks?

Is there any way to disable memory compression in Mavericks? Ever since I upgraded, my Minecraft server has been using ludicrous amounts of CPU time and choking. I'd like to test without compressed memory to see if that might be the culprit.

Answer

vm/vm_pageout.h defines the modes for the vm_compressor boot argument, which defaults to VM_PAGER_COMPRESSOR_WITH_SWAP (per vm/vm_compressor.c). For OS X 10.9, 10.10, and 10.11, you can disable compression by changing the vm_compressor_mode argument to 1 (VM_PAGER_DEFAULT). That is:

sudo nvram boot-args="vm_compressor=1"

Then reboot. You can verify the change was successful by running:

sysctl -a vm.compressor_mode

Starting with macOS 10.12 Sierra, the old VM_PAGER_DEFAULT is no longer supported and vm_compressor=1 is converted to vm_compressor=4 inside the kernel.

command line - Where is the Official list of Windows Environment Variables?

I'm working on some .bat stuff created in a legacy application, which uses many environment variables. I need to know exactly what is every one of them (%windir%, %os%, etc.).

So I need the official Microsoft Documentation about the System Environment Variables of Windows (at least from the NT version).

I've reading some sites with partial information (there are variables absent, such as %os%), so I really want to look at the Official info.

Searching with Google, Bing and inside the MSDN site give just reports about one or other variable, but no a comprehensive and centralized list of all.

Anybody knows where is that documentation available?

windows 7 - How do I identify the process that owns a spurious dialog box?

A spurious dialog box (informative, no?) keeps popping up on reboot.

What's an easy way to figure out what clearly-very-well-coded-piece-of-software threw it up there? I've reduced the startup list to a minimal list to no avail.

Answer

Sysinternals Process Explorer has this feature in the form of a crosshair that you drag over any window or widget. Click the "crosshair button" and drag to the window, then release.

windows - Determine own domain group memberships XP Professional

This seems like it would be a simple question, but my Google skills have failed me.

When logged into a domain (as a domain user without any admin rights), how can I determine what groups my user account belongs to?

Answer

You can also do it using the following:

gpresult

which will also show any GPO objects applied

internet explorer 7 - Why I can't visit http://localhost via IE?

But it's fine when I'm using firefox,

and in IE I can also open the page via 127.0.0.1

Anyone knows how to fix it for IE?

hard drive - Why does HDD activity slow the whole System down (on Windows 7)?

If I copy a large amount of data from on drive to another (physical) drive my whole system is running slow.

I am using Windows 7 64bit version on an Intel Core 2 Duo 3 GHz.

This is the situation:

• Very fast copying between two SATA disks.


• Resource Monitor shows 80MB/s read, 70MB/s writes and 150MB/s total


• The total CPU load is about 3%


• There is plenty (>2GB) of free physical RAM left


• All partitions have enough (>10gb, >10%) of free space left and show low fragmentation


• Anti-Virus software is not active

This is the problem: No matter what I want to do while copying, it takes forever. Even tasks that do not need a lot of disk access (as they should work from RAM only), are extremely slow. The moment I stop the copying process, all the unfinished tasks finish at once. For example trying to open a new browser windows or explorer window will not work. If the copying is stopped 5 explorer windows popup at once.

My question is: why? What resource is exhausted, if CPU and memory are idle? And what part of my computer hardware I need to upgrade to get better behavior? Also read Psycogeek's comment for further questions in this direction.

If your answer is, that everything needs HDD Access, which is blocked by such an activity, then my question is: Is there a way to copy something on your system without rendering it unusable until its done? (which can be hours, if >500g have to be copied).

Answer

If you're using multiple resources on the same hard drive, then this is normal behaviour. Hard drives are big, mechanical devices which are good at one thing - only doing one thing at a time. You can only read/write to a single sector at a time, so attempts to use the hard drive simultaneously usually result in thrashing. This isn't a side effect of anything other than the hardware working as designed.

If you're doing multiple things on a mechanical hard drive at once, you might find better results by performing these actions one at a time. If you're talking about file transfers, considering replacing the Explorer file copy handler with another program which supports transfer queuing (such as TeraCopy, which will also allow you to pause the transfer if you need fast disk access temporarily).

You can also help to mitigate these effects with the use of a solid-state drive, but it is no guarantee - it only helps because of the drastically reduced random access time. You can still have thrashing with an SSD, and an SSD still has the same limitation - it can only read or write to a single sector at a time.

If an SSD isn't the route you want to go, consider using a RAM disk, performing any data processing in-place in memory, add additional drives (not partitions) for each task, or performing I/O intensive tasks on non-OS drives.

Error 0x80073cf9 when installing or updating apps from windows store

On my Windows 8 desktop I keep getting error 0x80073cf9 when I try to install or update an app from the windows store.

In the installings apps pane it just says "This app wasn't installed -- view details" and when I select that it says "Something happened and this app couldn't be installed. Please try again. Error code: 0x80073cf9"

I am using the built-in windows firewall and antivirus. And my laptop is able to install updates when it is on the same network.

This is what winstore.log shows when I try to update the maps app:

2012-10-18 15:31:47.328, _Info_                WS   [00015160:00011628] ***********************************************************************
2012-10-18 15:31:47.328, _Info_                WS   [00015160:00011628] Process name: C:\Windows\system32\taskhost.exe
2012-10-18 15:31:47.328, _Info_                WS   [00015160:00011628] User name: Desktop\User
2012-10-18 15:31:47.328, _Info_                WS   [00015160:00011628] Computer name: desktop
2012-10-18 15:31:47.328, _Info_                WS   [00015160:00011628] Windows build: 9200.16424.amd64fre.win8_gdr.120926-1855
2012-10-18 15:31:47.328, _Info_                WS   [00015160:00011628] Client version: 615
2012-10-18 15:31:47.328, _Info_                WS   [00015160:00011428] CWSTileUpdateHandler::Worker: Broker is handling badge updates.
2012-10-18 15:31:47.554, _Info_                WS   [00002572:00008200] CProgressDispatcher::OnProgress: AppId = 97a2179c-38be-45a3-933e-0d2dbf14a142, PFN = Microsoft.BingMaps_8wekyb3d8bbwe, InstallPhase = 1, PhasePercent = 0, TotalPercent = 0
2012-10-18 15:31:47.558, _Warning_             WS   [00002572:00008200] CDownloadProgress::IDownloadCompletedCallback::Invoke: Download complete result 0x80073cf9 for Microsoft.BingMaps_8wekyb3d8bbwe
2012-10-18 15:31:47.559, _Error_               WS   [00002572:00008200] CActionItem::_DoDownload: Download failed for 97a2179c-38be-45a3-933e-0d2dbf14a142, hr=0x80073cf9
2012-10-18 15:31:47.560, _Info_                WS   [00002572:00008200] CActionItem::_DoDownload: Notifying progress handlers of download failure for 97a2179c-38be-45a3-933e-0d2dbf14a142, hr=0x80073cf9
2012-10-18 15:31:47.560, _Error_               WS   [00002572:00008200] CProgressDispatcher::OnError: PFN = Microsoft.BingMaps_8wekyb3d8bbwe, InstallPhase = 1, hrError = 0x80073cf9

Answer

Not sure how it could have happened, but this seems to be a possible solution:

The problem is that the folder AUInstallAgent is missing from the Windows folder. I had this problem, recreated the folder and low and behold all is working fine. Now what I want to know is why the folder disappeared in the first place, because I didn't delete it, and looking around the web I'm not alone....

python - Need help to recover files from .besub file extension

I trying to learn python coding and i found a file extension (.besub) has change the python files as in figure attached and can not open.Please help to recover it.

Windows 10 Bluetooth device won't connect after windows reset

So, after two years with a single windows installation it began to give me some troubles, so I thought it might be time to reset is back clean install. On this installation I had my Sony WH-1000MX2 working perfectly.

After the wipe and installing all my software again, I thought OK, just the headphones and i'm done. That's where the problems begin.

I set the headset in pairing mode, go though the standard Bluetooth paring. It finds it, connects to it. Says connected for like 5 seconds and go's in to "Paired" when manually connecting it will just say "That didn't work. Make sure your Bluetooth device is still discoverable, then try again".

I have removed it from the list, and turning on/off Bluetooth it sometimes show back up again, so I used registry editor to remove the Device from Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BTHPORT\Parameters\Devices

I have uninstalled the Bluetooth module from Device management, I have tried to uninstall the driver from device manager. I can't seem to find anything strange in the Windows event log.

After about 2 days of trying, no success.

I know it might be strange, but it feels like the windows reset kept the connection to the headphones and the old security code used to connect to it some where, but I can't seem to make windows forget it. When i connect an different Bluetooth dongle, it works almost instantly, so am i missing some registry entry somewhere to make it work with the internal module again?

Is it possible/How to boot an XP VHD in Windows 7

In windows 7 it is pretty simple to boot directly to a VHD, given that it also contains (or you are going to install) Windows 7 (or Vista/Server 2008).

This installation is made possible I believe by the fact that from Vista on, Microsoft is using WIM (Windows Imaging Format) for OS installation.

Is there a way to install XP to a VHD on Windows 7? Or is there a way to create a WIM image of the XP installer?

Some have claimed to be able to do it in different blog posts, but there are no explanations of how to achieve it.

Answer

No, only Windows 7 / Server 2008 R2 can boot from vhd as far as I can tell. It makes some sense that the operating system itself has to be aware of how to boot off and live on a vhd without any other virtualization going on hiding that fact for it.

Installing XP on a vhd as a virtual machine is another matter and very easy - but you won't boot the bare-metal hardware from it.

After some searching an interesting approach (though not what you asked for in any way) is installing the Windows 7 boot loader on a Windows XP system - and then booting Windows 7 from vhd, having XP installed as normal.

windows 7 - Should I create an EFI Partition In The Debian Installer?

In the Debian Installer after you are done partitioning I was asked if I wanted to create an EFI partition. I do have Windows 7 already installed in EFI mode apparently (that was a mess up on my part) so I guess I am asking weather or not I should create a new one for Debian and how exactly I would install Debian in EFI mode (I've always used BIOS).

My current partition table (from Windows):

ubuntu update went wrong, pc doesnt boot, how can I repair it?

I let the PC install lots of updates at once and after restart, I got a console screen with an error message saying something about udevadm. Google told me it's a known bug caused by the system prompting for restart before configuring is over. I tried the solution suggested there, which was to boot from a live cd, chroot into the normal install and run

dpkg --configure -a 

I got lots of errors, and now trying to boot results in a different error message:

Kernel panic - not syncing: No init found. Try passing init= option to kernel.

-.-.-

Update: Using Darth Android's suggestion, I was able to run dpkg --configure -a without error messages. However, booting into 2.6.23.25 still produces the Kernel not syncing error message, booting into 2.6.32.24 (the kernel from which the first update started) still produces the udevadm error message, and only booting into 2.6.32.23 works. I haven't tried booting into older kernel versions.

-.-.-

Any suggestions how to repair the PC? Right now, I cannot get Internet while booting from the live cd, so I'd prefer options which don't need it.

The OS is Ubuntu 10.04 64 bit. The details of the configuring bug are here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/devmapper/+bug/358654/comments/0

The error message from dpkg is:

root@ubuntu:/# dpkg --configure -a Setting up samba-common (2:3.4.7~dfsg-1ubuntu3.2) ... sh: cannot create /dev/null: Permission denied sh: cannot create /dev/null: Permission denied Can't open /dev/null: Permission denied dpkg: error processing samba-common (--configure): subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 13 Setting up linux-headers-2.6.32-25-generic (2.6.32-25.44) ... Examining /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d. run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d/dkms 2.6.32-25-generic /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-25-generic /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d/dkms: line 7: /dev/null: Permission denied run-parts: /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d/dkms exited with return code 1 Failed to process /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d at /var/lib/dpkg/info/linux-headers-2.6.32-25-generic.postinst line 110. dpkg: error processing linux-headers-2.6.32-25-generic (--configure): subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2 dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of smbclient: smbclient depends on samba-common (= 2:3.4.7~dfsg-1ubuntu3.2); however: Package samba-common is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing smbclient (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured Setting up linux-headers-2.6.32-24-generic (2.6.32-24.43) ... Examining /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d. run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d/dkms 2.6.32-24-generic /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d/dkms: line 7: /dev/null: Permission denied run-parts: /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d/dkms exited with return code 1 Failed to process /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d at /var/lib/dpkg/info/linux-headers-2.6.32-24-generic.postinst line 110. dpkg: error processing linux-headers-2.6.32-24-generic (--configure): subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2 Setting up gnome-terminal-data (2.30.2-0ubuntu1) ... Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/sbin/gconf-schemas", line 107, in fd = os.open("/dev/null",os.O_WRONLY) OSError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/dev/null' dpkg: error processing gnome-terminal-data (--configure): subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1 dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of samba-common-bin: samba-common-bin depends on samba-common (>= 2:3.4.0~pre1-2); however: Package samba-common is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing samba-common-bin (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-headers-generic: linux-headers-generic depends on linux-headers-2.6.32-25-generic; however: Package linux-headers-2.6.32-25-generic is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing linux-headers-generic (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of gnome-terminal: gnome-terminal depends on gnome-terminal-data (>= 2.30); however: Package gnome-terminal-data is not configured yet. gnome-terminal depends on gnome-terminal-data (<< 2.31); however: Package gnome-terminal-data is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing gnome-terminal (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured Errors were encountered while processing: samba-common linux-headers-2.6.32-25-generic smbclient linux-headers-2.6.32-24-generic gnome-terminal-data samba-common-bin linux-headers-generic gnome-terminal

Sorry for the lack of formatting, posting from the phone and repairing it on this keyboard is next to impossible.

Answer

Follow that guide again, but after the chroot command, try the following before running dpkg -a --configure:

mount -t proc proc /proc
mount -t devtmpfs none /dev

And before running exit, remember to umount:

umount /proc
umount /dev

Working bootable CD now suddenly freezes at starting point

I have a strange problem with a bootable CD I created that uses floppy disk 1.44MB emulation. The PC originally worked with it just fine and booted from the CD several times from the prior occasions I used it. Now for some strange reason it decides to freeze at the point where it displays the following text on the screen and does not proceed further:

Boot from ATAPI CD-ROM
1. FD 1.44MB System Type-(00)

If I put in a Linux bootable installation CD, it boots that without any issues. Every time I stick this custom made bootable CD in it pulls this freezing act. Has anyone experienced this or knows how to correct the problem?

windows xp - usb headphones only playing certain audio

I've got some usb headphones with mic (Logitech clear chat USB (http://www.logitech.com/en-us/webcam-communications/internet-headsets-phones/devices/3621 actually, the version before this one, but basically the same thing)) that I use for teleconferencing. A few days ago certain audio stopped coming through, notably my teleconferencing.

As an example, there's a video of a muppet singing karaoke (Sam the eagle singing american woman, about as worksafe as a muppet can be) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV4F46N21PA I can hear the music that the Sam is singing to, but not Sam himself.

If I use normal headphones it works fine. If I put these headphones on a different computer it works fine. I've rebooted several times. I've uninstalled the USB audio driver, rebooted, and let windows reinstall it (Logitech doesn't use it's own drivers, they use the generic windows drivers). No go.

I've played with the volume control that has (speaker, wave, sw synth, cd player, microphone), and not gotten anywhere. I've tried different USB ports.

Even so I'm guessing that there's something weird like mp3 audio is set to normal volume, but wmp audio is muted or something, but if so, I have no idea how to fix it...

I'm running XP, SP3, and I just now got all of the windows updates that I was behind on, and that hasn't helped either...

Help! Please! Thank you very much.

windows 7 - "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered" after computer is idle

Often when I leave my computer for a while (more than about 3 or 4 minutes, at a guess) the graphics driver will crash when I come back to it. The screen goes black for several seconds then comes back with a little popup in the bottom right saying "Display driver has stopped responding and has recovered". Sometimes it also freezes on the black screen and I have to reset the power.

I've tried reinstalling the drivers, rolling them back several versions (and I've had this problem for months, so it's not one specific version), replacing the card and modifying the "Timeout detection and recovery" registry value as detailed here.

Searching reveals that several other people have this problem or variants of it, and some have suggested that Windows 7 doesn't restore power to the graphics card properly when it resumes from idling. What do you think? Is there a solution?

Some more details:

• My GPU is an Nvidia GTX 560 Ti, but I was using a GTX 275 before and had the same problem.


• It doesn't make a difference if the computer or monitor is asleep or the screensaver is running (It often crashes when I move the mouse after watching a 3+ minute Youtube video, or if I leave a game paused for too long).


• 
  

  The applications on my startup list (and therefore usually running when I leave the computer) are:

  
  
  
  
  • Microsoft security client
  
  
  • BOINC Client (Distributed computing program that performs heavy calculations when the screensaver is on)
  
  
  • Skype
  
  
  • Dropbox
  
  
  • Steam
  
  
  
  

Answer

My computer has been out of action for a month or so (PSU exploded, eBuyer sent me a broken one twice), but I found the problem shortly after getting it up and running again the other day.

The crashes were caused by BOINC, which I had set to run when the computer was idle. I turned it off and now it's not happening any more.

bittorrent - How do torrent clients reassemble and store pieces?

I was wondering, how are pieces downloaded by torrent clients stored and reassembled? Do they use metadata? It seems this is not the case since one is able to play them if they're half formed files? I have no clue how this is done? So basically I'm asking how are the pieces in the downloaded file organized? Is it just from first to last, or are there buffer spaces in between?

Answer

Welcome to the wonderful world of Torrents! There are a few pieces that comprise the Bittorrent protocol: you have your file, legalthing.iso and you want to distribute it to as many people as possible. So you create a "torrent" file, which describes legalthing.iso, and you distribute the torrent file through a website, or any other way you like. The torrent file can either point directly to your computer (and you'd be acting as the seed) or the torrent file can point to a "tracker", which is a server that connects "seeds" (users with the whole legalthing.iso file already) and "peers" (users who are actively downloading the file).

Getting closer to your question now. The file itself, legalthing.iso, is cryptographically hashed so that each person who reads the torrent file and begins downloading legalthing.iso can check each piece against the hash, and ensure they're not downloading a piece that's been modified from the original. Pieces that fail hash checks are discarded.

Now pretend you're a computer downloading a file, using Bittorrent. The protocol can work one of two ways, either you'll download random pieces of the file, or you'll be downloading the rarest pieces first. This latter approach is to increase the overall "health" (availability) of the torrent.

So what's in the actual torrent file? It varies based on the client used to make it, but generally it contains an "announce" section which is the address of the tracker you're using, and a big huge list of all the pieces of the file you wanna download. Each piece is of a uniform size (32 kb, 512kb, 4mb, really any size you like) and each piece has a hash associated with it. Every time a peer gets a piece it compares the hash for that piece (using the SHA-1 hash code) with the hash listed in the torrent file. That's how it figures out the pieces are good.

Since the torrent file lists each piece of the file you're downloading, every time your client successfully downloads a piece and hashes it, it writes the piece to the correct position on the hard disk within the file. That's why if you download a 1gb file, the client will set aside an empty block of space on your disk that's 1gb in size, to accommodate the torrent pieces you'll be downloading.

Now some video players and other file viewers can deal with "corrupted" files. of course, a half-downloaded torrent is not corrupted, but it is missing pieces and to a program like VLC, it just looks broken. So VLC will do the best it can to play whatever data it can find and that's why they can play while partially downloaded.

There are lots more complicated aspects (google DHT, torrent write buffering, all that fun stuff) but that's the basics of how Bittorrent works.

windows 7 - Creating a bootable CD to install all tablet drivers

I've got a strange question here. I'm currently installing a special version of Windows 7 on a tablet, and upon install, I obviously lose all tablet functionality such as the touch screen. I'm also hitting a second problem, I have one USB port, and when I get to the login screen, my peripherals fail to work so I can't use either a mouse or keyboard. They work just fine in the bios.

So my only thought on how to make this work would be to somehow create a bootable CD that will install all the Windows 7 drivers. Is this possible? can anyone think of an alternative route? I can't install a different image.

Thanks!

usb flash drive - chkdsk /r issue for my pendrive - Insufficient disk space to recover lost data after agreeing to recover lost chains

today when I used my pendrive on my laptop I got this error -> "The files or directory is corrupted and unreadable" for all the files in a specific folder (about 2.5 gb of data)

googled the problem and followed the instructions online to use chkdsk to recover my data.

chkdsk /r command on cmd to recover the lost data. It ran for a while and found some inconsistencies. Then it asked me if I wanted to convert lost chains to files. I typed in yes and it gave me an error saying there is insufficient disk space to recover lost data. Here is the output :

C:\Users\Abhinav>chkdsk /r f:
The type of the file system is FAT32.
Volume Serial Number is 7A75-F6C6
Windows is verifying files and folders...
File and folder verification is complete.
Convert lost chains to files (Y/N)? y
Insufficient disk space to recover lost data.
2070416 KB in 513300 recovered files.
Windows is verifying free space...
Free space verification is complete.

Windows found problems with the file system that could not be corrected.
    7,953,572 KB total disk space.
          480 KB in 82 hidden files.
        1,172 KB in 191 folders.
      428,832 KB in 20,925 files.
    5,492,908 KB are available.

        4,096 bytes in each allocation unit.
    1,988,393 total allocation units on disk.
    1,373,227 allocation units available on disk.

Now my pendrive has a new folder named FOUND.000 that has .CHK files I used Recuva afterwards to recover my files but it could not recover the files. Please help!

Windows 10 Mail program never syncs automatically

I installed Windows 10 late Tuesday night and I've configured several e-mail accounts in Mail. Three of them are Microsoft Outlook accounts and two are Gmail accounts. For each account I've set Mail to:

(a) Fetch new messages as they arrive

(b) Download messages from all time

There is no other special setting.

However, Mail never seems to fetch anything automatically as they arrive. In fact, I always receive my e-mail on my phone long before they show up in my inbox. As a test, for most of yesterday and today I waited about an hour after messages arrived in my phone, and each time I found that until I had manually synced the account, the messages did not appear in Mail.

I am certain that my Internet connection is working, because I get Skype messages in real time. I am sure my computer has the correct drivers, because not only did I install everything from the manufacturer's site, I even ensured that there were no errors in Device Manager. My computer has plenty of RAM and CPU horsepower. There is no reason for Mail not to sync except if it has a bug.

Does anyone have either a solution or a workaround?

Thank you in advance.

video - Install Windows without a graphic card

I am trying to check if it's possible to install Windows (no matter which version at the moment) without any graphic card in the hardware. So the question is not "how do I install Windows without a monitor".

If I create an unattended version, will it run correctly also if it doesn't detect any video card in the hardware?

Of course I cannot change the hardware-configuration so I cannot add a video card.

Obviously, in the unattended version, I will start the RDP service.

Thank you!

security - How to hide Browser Plugin Details in firefox for more privacy?

I'm trying to trick the results in this page to have more privacy/anonymity: https://panopticlick.eff.org/index.php?action=log&js=yes

So far the best I could do is change the user agent, with the "User Agent Switcher" plugin.

Any ideas on how to change the other values? Like the plugin details and the system fonts.

Answer

There isn't a way to do this yet in Firefox. This is necessary so that the server you are connecting to can know what form to send the content back to you in. The closest analogy I can draw is how SSL sends all of the acceptable connection types (SSL1, TSL, etc.) and the server can pick what it wants to use to communicate. When we are sending all this information to the server we are letting it know that we have these plugins and it can send us content we will be able to use.

If you're concerned about security on your browser, you could use NoScript to block unnecessary scripts from running on your browser. That's means it'll more likely make your browser less "unique".

windows 7 - Switch playback device using Logitech G key

I have speakers and a USB headset (G35). I want to easily switch between thous two playback devices without having to go to Playback devices and change the default playback device manually. Preferredly using the G-keys.

Office Deployment Tool won't recognise downloaded install files and tries to re-download

I'm trying to install Office 2016 (business subscription) using the Office Deployment Tool 2016 (ODT) from a pre-downloaded install package.

Microsoft Support have supplied me with the 1.06GB installation package, which I have downloaded and placed in a directory C:\odt\Office so that the paths to the data files look like this: C:\odt\Office\Data\16.0.4229.1029\stream.x86.x-none.dat and C:\odt\Office\Data\16.0.4229.1029\stream.x86.en-us.dat

I have the ODT setup.exe file in C:\odt\Office and a Configuration.xml file with the appropriate settings, for example:

I've confirmed that O365BusinessRetail is one of the supported Product IDs for the ODT and that it is the appropriate ID for my subscription. The files Microsoft Support gave me were named Office 365 Business 2016 which appears to correspond.

---

My problem is, when I run setup.exe as an administrator using a command like this...

...it ignores the existing files and tries to download the bundle again. I'm in a country with poor quality internet connections and the MS downloader is both extremely sensitive to momentary losses in connection and unable to resume downloads that are interrupted: re-downloading the files is not an option.

It gives this error, which indicates that it is trying to download a file. From research it seems the "required file" it vaguely alludes to is the 1.06GB installation bundle, which it is (seemingly needlessly) trying to re-download:

Couldn't install

We're sorry, we can't continue because we weren't able to download a required file. Please make sure you're connected to the internet or connect to a difference network, then try again.

Error Code: 30182-1011 (3)

I've established that it is finding the correct XML file, and that the XML is valid, because if I give a deliberately incorrect config path or deliberately borked XML file it gives a different error code (Error Code: 0-1008 (0)).

The error code I get is also identical to the one I get if I rename the Office folder or add a non-existant path to SourcePath (e.g. )

I get the same result if I add the correct SourcePath (SourcePath="C:\odt\Office") as no SourePath, which is the expected result because according to the config XML documentation, with no source path added it looks for "Office" in the directory it's in.

I've also tried adding the version number from the package files to the XML as a fixed version, in case MS support gave me a version that is not the latest and it's rejecting it for that reason. I've also tried switching Branch to Business which I see is an allowed value in the reference. Neither helped. For example:

I've also tried using the setup.exe /packager command, specifying a valid config file and an output folder, in case the package I have needs to be re-packaged somehow, but it has the exact same problem and error.

---

I figured out how to access log files for ODT. Here are the first few lines of a sample log file. I believe this is the relevant segment, because everything after this (around 350 lines) appears related to trying to get network access and it appears to have already concluded that it needs to run .ExecuteDownloadFile. I believe "Network cost manager" is whatever checks if there's a metered connection in use; and the cab file it refers to (v32_16.0.4229.1029.cab) does exist - C:\odt\Office\Data\v32_16.0.4229.1029.cab - it's not clear to me from this log if it succeeds or fails to find this file, which appears to be the crucial step:

Timestamp   Process TID Area    Category    EventID Level   Message Correlation
11/20/2015 13:25:15.407 SETUP (0xbdc)   0xad8       Click-To-Run    aoh85   Medium  AdminConfigure::HandleStateAction: Configuring an install/crosssell scenario.   
11/20/2015 13:25:15.422 SETUP (0xbdc)   0xad8       Click-To-Run    aqdco   Monitorable TryCheckNetworkCost::HandleStateAction: Failed to initialize NetworkCostManager for http://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/492350f6-3a01-4f97-b9c0-c7c6ddf67d60. Assuming low cost and proceeding.   
11/20/2015 13:25:15.422 SETUP (0xbdc)   0xad8       Click-To-Run    aon8k   Medium  CabManager::DetermineCabName: Type:0, Platform:x86, Version:16.0.4229.1029, Culture: -> v32_16.0.4229.1029.cab  
11/20/2015 13:25:15.422 SETUP (0xbdc)   0xad8       Click-To-Run    aoh9i   Medium  TryGetVersionDescriptor::HandleStateAction: Getting Cab: v32_16.0.4229.1029.cab 
11/20/2015 13:25:15.422 SETUP (0xbdc)   0xad8       Scope   a6pk5   Medium  {"ScopeAction": "Start", "ScopeName": "ClickToRun.TransportRetry.ExecuteDownloadFile", "ScopeInstance": 3, "ScopeParentInstance": 0}    F6A9F7B0-FE40-4FD4-A41A-CC60C5768E09
11/20/2015 13:25:15.438 SETUP (0xbdc)   0xad8       Identity Http Client    axieo   Medium  [CWinHttpHelperBase] AutomaticProxyConfiguration {"Message": "InitSession detected proxy auto detect."} F6A9F7B0-FE40-4FD4-A41A-CC60C5768E09
11/20/2015 13:25:15.469 SETUP (0xbdc)   0xad8       Identity Http Client    a9ido   Medium  [HttpUtil] IsKnownProxyError {"SH_ErrorCode": 12007, "Message": "Detected a proxy failure"} F6A9F7B0-FE40-4FD4-A41A-CC60C5768E09

This is with a version specified in the config file, if there isn't one, line 4 instead ends TryGetVersionDescriptor::HandleStateAction: Getting Cab: v32.ca, which also exists in the same folder. If I specify a version that doesn't exist, everything looks exactly the same as if I specify a version that does exist - which is maybe a clue that it's failing to find the cab file.

However, if I give it a non-existent SourcePath, I get an error further down with no equivalent without a false source path:

failed to open file 'C:\\odt\\fakefolder\\Office\\Data\\v32_16.0.4229.1030.cab

---

I'm completely stumped, and MS support are struggling to help because I've followed all their standard steps.

How can I find out why ODT might be rejecting or not seeing these pre-downloaded installable files? What ODT is actually doing at any time appears to be completely opaque - until it fails, it just gives an unhelpful orange box that says "We're getting things ready".

---

If it's relevant, I'm attempting to install on a Windows 8.1 machine.

Answer

I FINALLY cracked it with the help of the ODT log files.

Basically, unlike what the docs say, manually setting a SourcePath is mandatory if you want a local/offline install, and the source path should exclude the top level directory name of the install bundle (so should not end with Office unless you've got a folder named Office inside another folder named Office).

---

My problem was caused by two misleading / out-of-date points in Microsoft's Configuration file reference page, coupled with the complete lack of feedback in the installer UI. Specifically:

• MS give this as an example of a typical SourcePath entry: C:\Preload\Office - so I had entered my source paths similarly: C:\odt\Office, including "Office", the name of the top level bundle folder. This was causing the installer to fail to find my downloaded files - it should exclude the folder name of the bundle. My source path should have been SourcePath="C:\odt" and Microsoft's example should have been C:\Preload (or, they should have a note saying this only works for paths like C:\Preload\Office\Office\Data\etc...


• MS say the following:

If you don’t specify SourcePath in configure mode, Setup will look in the current folder for the Office source files. If the Office source files aren’t found in the current folder, Setup will look on Office 365 for them.

Maybe that was true for Office 2013, I don't know, but based on my hours of trial and error, the inverse appears to be true for Office 2016.

When I ran the setup.exe with no SourcePath in the config file, it looked online before checking for a local copy, and began a download instead of using a local copy in the default position in the same directory.

I guess such a change would be consistent with Microsoft's changing attitudes to updates, which were roughly "Use the latest version cautiously, it might break things" in 2012 and are roughly "If in doubt, update update update" today?

---

My settings which worked looked like this:

I don't believe the version number is essential (and I'm not re-installing to find out!); if anyone with similar problems discovers they do need theirs, I took mine from the folder name under Office\Data.

---

If anyone knows how I can report the issues with the documentation to Microsoft, please drop me a comment.

How to make Notepad++ open each file in new window?

There is -multiInst launch parameter that lets you open more than one instance of Notepad++, but how to make it launch a new window every time when I click on "Edit with Notepad++" or "Open With..." shell context menu?

Answer

create a totally empty file called 'asNotepad.xml' and put it in the Notepad++ directory at the same level as the notepad++.exe file

audio recording - how to hide sound recorder in windows 7

I want to record sound on a Windows 7 computer using software called Sound recorder.

My question Is there any way to hide it

even i did that : Open windows Task Manager (Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete) and do a right click on the Sound Recorder task name and then select Minimize!

still not hidden

Thanks any help would be appreciated

Answer

EDIT: forget what I wrote before. After some more investigation I found out that Soundrecorder natively supports this.

Either create a shortcut or batchfile or run directly from the commandline and specify the file and duration and it will silently run without window. It will be visible in the taskmanager under processes for that user but the old solution can even hide that upto a certain degree.

In the shortcut write the following:

soundrecorder /FILE  /DURATION 

for example:

soundrecorder /FILE c:\temp\output.wav /DURATION 0:0:10

Here's a step by step instruction on to creating something that will start sound recorder when windows starts.

1. Press the start orb to open the start menu.


2. Press All Programs to show all programs.


3. Scroll down to where it says Startup.


4. Right click the item Startup and select open

5. Rightclick on an empty area.


6. From the popup menu, go to the menu New, then select Shortcut

7. copy the text I've written above for the shortcut and paste it in the location field.


8. Change the duration time to your liking.

8. Press Next


9. Press Finish

And you're done. Do note that this will overwrite the wave file each time this is started. It can be changed so that everytime its run it will create a new file, but that will quickly create large files on the computer.

To output to a random file, you can set the file to c:\temp\output_%random%%random%.wav or perhaps even better, do this: c:\temp\output_%date%_%random%.wav

The new like will look like this:

soundrecorder /FILE c:\temp\output_%date%_%random%.wav /DURATION 0:0:10

---[ old solution ]------

Start the program as a different user without desktop interaction will completely hide it from windows. In the task manager you can only see it if you choose "show processes from all users".

In order to do this, create a 2nd account on the computer if it doesn't have at least 2 accounts, then use the runas /user:[username] /savecred "%SystemRoot%\system32\SoundRecorder.exe /file c:\output.wav /duration 1:00:00"

The first time you have to enter a password, but then it will store the password and a next time this password is used. You can remove this from the Credential Manager at a later stage if you desire so.

It will then record to c:\output.wav for a duration of 1 hour.

macos - ls -la symbolics... what does that last symbol mean?

Possible Duplicate:
what does the @ mean on the output of ls on os x terminal?

when I type ls -la I get this familiar output...

drwxr-xr-x+  38 kent  staff       1292 Nov  6 11:09 .
drwxr-xr-x    5 root  admin        170 Aug 14 14:11 ..
-rw-r--r--@   1 kent  staff         16 Jun 18 14:13 .AB64CF89
-rw-------    1 kent  staff          3 May  5  2009 .CFUserTextEncoding
-rw-r--r--@   1 kent  staff      15364 Nov  6 11:11 .DS_Store

my question is about the file settings on the far left eg:

drwxr-xr-x+

I know that the first char 'd' means directory. and the next 9 chars I understand as well (permissions) but what is the final char in this field? (empty or + or @ )

permissions - How to allow apache access to a file but prevent others from viewing it?

I have several folders with Magento installations.

e.g.

www/magento1 www/magento2

All of the files/folders inside of those are owned by root:magento1 and root:magento2 respectively.

I have 3755 perms for all folders, 644 for all directories to start with. That prevents anyone but root from writing to any folder or file.

Then I add in group write permissions for folders/files devs should be able to write to. E.g. they cannot write to core files, but they can write to module/skins that are non core.

That's all fine. The only thing that's not fine is that I don't want them to be able to read the mysql database username/password from magento1/app/etc/local.xml. I don't want them to have access to the database, where sensitive information is stored. I also don't want a rogue programmer to delete a bunch of tables or what have you.

But apache needs to have read access to that same file.

Here's a "solution" that doesn't work: Remove read permissions from group but leave them for others. Why? Because that prevents devs from reading from their app/etc/local.xml, but allows them to read all the others.

What do I do?

---

EDIT: Yes, devs = developers and they will have SSH and FTP access.

Answer

Assuming that, like under Debian, the apache runs as user www-data and group www-data, the solution is

chown www-data:www-data www/magento1/app/etc/local.xml
chmod 440 www/magento1/app/etc/local.xml

The root user can always read and write all files.

hard drive - GParted moving partition from beginning of disk to the end of a disk?

Straight forward, as the title says but, I've never moved a partition with GParted and I'm concerned that I will damage the drive. I have a screen shot.

I'm trying to get the sda2 partition to use the unallocated space. I believe that I have to move sda2 to the end of the hard drive but, I'm not sure and I don't know how.

Any help would be appreciated!

Answer

Partitions must be contiguous (you cannot use two separate disk areas for a single /dev/sda2), so you will first need to move sda3 to the end of the disk, using GParted's "Move/resize" function.

|1|------sda2------|           free space           |-----------sda3-----------|

Afterwards, use the same function to expand sda2 into the free space in the middle:

|1|----------------------sda2-----------------------|-----------sda3-----------|

However, since sda3 is your system partition, you cannot move or resize it from the same system. You will have to boot from the Ubuntu CD instead.

Moving (or, in rare cases, resizing) partitions can cause all files to be lost – for example, if the power goes out during moving (it takes a long time to move a partition). It never causes physical damage, however.

Good Text-to-Speech solution for Windows

I am running Windows 7 and I know it has the ability to read me text in my applications, but I am looking for a good utility to save chunks of text as a wav file or mp3. It may already be built into the OS, but cleverly disguised. I know I can write a program to call the API, which is my next step if there isn't a good solution already.

I really like the quality of the AT&T system, but it has some pretty steep restrictions on using the produced MP3. I'd like to use them in my podcast.

Web based is OK too, as long as it easily produces a fairly unencumbered (Public domain or Creative Commons) Wav, MP3 or some other standard audio file. Naturally I prefer free or open source over commercial, but that isn't a requirement.

Answer

I've tried espeak, festival, and MaryTTS. They all generate understandable voices for the most part but they are not very natural. Even with additional voice downloads for these systems (e.g. Mbrola, CMU Arctic) the voices are not that great.

IVONA voices are the best I've heard so far. They give you a 30 day free demo which is enough if you have a one-off task to do. After that they are like $45/voice. Amazon just bought the company so you know it's solid (http://www.ivona.com/us/news/amazoncom-announces-acquisition-of-ivona-software/).

They work with Microsoft's SAPI interface which means the voices are available to any program that supports that (e.g. Adobe Reader). I've been using them with Text To Wav program which is nice for bulk conversion of text files into wave files.

Edit

Actually just re-read your question and I think for non-personal use (e.g. podcasts) the price is probably a lot higher for IVONA. In that case I'd say check out MaryTTS.

windows 7 - How to place SuperFetch cache on an SSD?

I'm thinking of adding a solid state drive (SSD) to my existing Windows 7 installation.

I know I can (and should) move my paging file to the SSD:

Should the pagefile be placed on SSDs?

Yes. Most pagefile operations are small random reads or larger sequential writes, both of which are types of operations that SSDs handle well.

In looking at telemetry data from thousands of traces and focusing on pagefile reads and writes, we find that

• Pagefile.sys reads outnumber pagefile.sys writes by about 40 to 1,


• Pagefile.sys read sizes are typically quite small, with 67% less than or equal to 4 KB, and 88% less than 16 KB.


• Pagefile.sys writes are relatively large, with 62% greater than or equal to 128 KB and 45% being exactly 1 MB in size.

In fact, given typical pagefile reference patterns and the favorable performance characteristics SSDs have on those patterns, there are few files better than the pagefile to place on an SSD.

What I don't know is if I even can put a SuperFetch cache (i.e. ReadyBoost cache) on the solid state drive.

I want to get the benefit of Windows being able to cache gigabytes of frequently accessed data on a relativly small (e.g. 30GB) solid state drive. This is exactly what SuperFetch+ReadyBoost (or SuperFetch+ReadyDrive) was designed for.

Will Windows offer (or let) me place a ReadyBoost cache on a solid state flash drive connected via SATA?

A problem with the ReadyBoost cache over the ReadyDrive cache is that the ReadyBoost cache does not survive between reboots. The cache is encrypted with a per-session key, making its existing contents unusable during boot and SuperFetch pre-fetching during login.

---

Update One

I know that Windows Vista limited you to only one ReadyBoost.sfcache file (I do not know if Windows 7 removed that limitation):

Q: Can use use multiple devices for EMDs? A: Nope. We've limited Vista to one ReadyBoost per machine

Q: Why just one device? A: Time and quality. Since this is the first revision of the feature, we decided to focus on making the single device exceptional, without the difficulties of managing multiple caches. We like the idea, though, and it's under consideration for future versions.

I also know that the 4GB limit on the cache file was a limitation of the FAT filesystem used on most USB sticks - an SSD drive would be formatted with NTFS:

Q: What's the largest amount of flash that I can use for ReadyBoost?
A: You can use up to 4GB of flash for ReadyBoost (which turns out to be 8GB of cache w/ the compression)

Q: Why can't I use more than 4GB of flash? A: The FAT32 filesystem limits our ReadyBoost.sfcache file to 4GB

Can a ReadyBoost cache on an NTFS volume be larger than 4GB?

Update Two

The ReadyBoost cache is encrypted with a per-boot session key. This means that the cache has to be re-built after each boot, and cannot be used to help speed boot times, or latency from login to usable.

Windows ReadyDrive technology takes advantage of non-volatile (NV) memory (i.e. flash) that is incorporated with some hybrid hard drives. This flash cache can be used to help Windows boot, or resume from hibernate faster.

• Will Windows 7 use an internal SSD drive as a ReadyBoost/ReadyDrive/SuperFetch cache?


• Is it possible to make Windows store a SuperFetch cache (i.e. ReadyBoost) on a non-removable SSD?


• Is it possible to not encrypt the ReadyBoost cache, and if so will Windows 7 use the cache at boot time?

See also

Answer

Turns out you cannot put a ReadyBoost cache on an SSD.

When you initially format the drive, and assign it a drive letter, you are given the option to place a ReadyBoost cache on the drive.

But on subsequent reboot, the ReadyBoost driver reports in the event log:

The device (Unknown Unknown) will not be used for a ReadyBoost cache because the ReadyBoost driver is attached to its volume stack.

Full log entry:

Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-ReadyBoost/Operational
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-ReadyBoost
Date:          3/2/2011 10:55:28 ᴩᴍ
Event ID:      1022
Task Category: ReadyBoost
Level:         Information
Keywords:      (16384)
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      Harpax
Description:   The device (Unknown Unknown) will not be used for a ReadyBoost cache because the ReadyBoost driver is attached to its volume stack.

Even though a ReadyBoost would be useful for a computer running on spinning platters, ReadyBoost seems to limit itself to storage devices connected to the slow USB port.

networking - How To: Desktop as Server, Laptop as "Thin Client"?

I am a Computer Science undergraduate student. I have a self-built desktop with more than enough CPU time and Memory to share. I use this for daily computing, coding, and other homework.

I also have a circa early 2000's dell laptop with an old intel celeron and 512MB of RAM. (My cell phone is more powerful than this thing)

The idea is that I want to be able to use my desktop as a "Server" for the laptop and only use the laptop almost as a remote control of sorts for the desktop.

I have used VNC in the past to achieve this kind of capability but was always very slow over the network and cumbersome to use.

What I would like would be an efficient way to either access the host OS from the laptop or give it some way to use the host's resources to drive its OS hosted as virtual machine or something.

Does anyone know of a creative solution or software that does something like this?

bash - Execute a command if Linux is idle for 5 minutes

I would like to execute a command such as

 notify-send 'a'

if my Linux machine has been idle for 5 minutes.

By idle, I mean the same thing a screen saver that gets activated would use to define "idle".

vlc media player - Play two videos in sync as well as having seek in sync

I have two different videos. Now here's the thing, they have the same lengths, and they are related to each other. Is there a way that I can play these videos on at the same time using VLC and also have a unified seek bar, so that the times are the same for both, since one video is dependent on the other.

bash - Are my Linux symbolic links acting correctly?

I've been using Linux on and off for the last 15 years and today I came across something in bash that surprised me.

Setup the following directory structure:

$ cd /tmp
$ mkdir /tmp/symlinktest
$ mkdir /tmp/symlinktest/dir
$ mkdir /tmp/symlinktarget

Now create two sym links in symlinktest pointing to symlinktarget:

$ cd /tmp/symlinktest
$ ln -s ../symlinktarget Asym
$ ln -s ../symlinktarget Bsym

Now, in bash, the following tab completion does strange things. Type the following:

$ cd dir
$ cd ../A[TAB]

Pressing the tab key above completes the line to:

$ cd ../Asym/

as I expected. Now press enter to change into Asym and type:

$ cd ../B[TAB]

This time pressing the tab key completes the link to:

$ cd ../Bsym[space]

Note that there is now a space after the Bsym and there is no trailing slash.

My question is, why when changing from the physical directory "dir" to Asym it recognises that Asym is a link to a directory, but when changing from one sym link to another, it doesn't recognise that it's a link to a directory?

In addition, if I try to create a new file within Asym, I get an error message:

$ cd /tmp/symlinktest/Asym
$ cat hello > ../Bsym/file.txt
-bash: ../Bsym/file.txt: No such file or directory

I always thought that symlinks were mostly transparent except to programs that need to manipulate them. Is this normal behaviour?

Many thanks,

Andy

Answer

bash's cd builtin does a bit of magic with ...

When you do:

cd ../Bsym

It looks at $PWD, removes the last component, adds the Bsym component. This is what cd and cd -L do, as opposed to cd -P. Also see pwd -L and pwd -P.

When you do:

cat hello > ../Bsym/file.txt

This magic doesn't take place. $PWD isn't used, /proc/self/cwd is used instead. The cwd is an inode, and .. is just the parent inode, which happens to be /tmp.

windows 8.1 preview - Not receiving Toast Notifications. How to troubleshoot?

It's been about two weeks since upgrading to the Windows 8.1 Preview, and I haven't gotten a single toast from an app. There have been many restarts, and everything is up to date as far as Windows Update and the Store are concerned.

I used to get toasts from email, calendar, messaging, Skype, Xbox Live, etc. but I never get anything now, and I'm not sure how to troubleshoot.

I've tested email by making sure the program was running in the background and sending myself an email from a different address via webmail. I was never notified.

How can I troubleshoot this?

Answer

Just go to Settings charm / Change PC settings / Search & apps / Notifications and enable toast notifications for the relevant apps (toggle the setting if already enabled):

Windows Remote Desktop Connection for just a single window (or a single program)

Is it possible to have just one program running on the remote Windows machine appear in the local monitor, rather than the whole remote desktop?

I heard SeamlessRDP provides something like that but only for connecting from Linux to Windows. What should I use in the case of connecting from Windows to Windows?

Answer

This is a feature offered by Terminal Services RemoteApp on Windows Server 2008 and greater. However, your system administrator needs to set this up and publish the app for you.

A poor man's implementation of this would be to run a remote desktop session in a smaller-than-fullscreen window, then maximize the app you want inside that.

Is it possible to determine which version of windows XP goes with a licence key?

Is it possible to determine which version of windows XP goes with a licence key?

If so, how?

Full story. I got a windows xp licence key from MSDNAA while in college. I also got a Windows7 at the same time. I've only every used the Windows 7 and but now I'd like to use my XP key on a second box. I installed the box with a windows xp pro SP2 disk I had lying around, but it won't take the key.

Do I need an MSDNAA specific disk?
Should I try with XP Home?

I have some old OEM windows xp disks and keys but I've been told they will only work on Dell MoBo's (the computer is actually using a DELL HDD, DVD drive, and case, but the rest is new).

Is there software to tell what kind of hardware I have so I can find drivers for it?

Maybe I'm just lazy, but I really don't want to open this computer up and look. I'd like to know the type of wireless network card I have, but CPU-Z doesn't tell me. I need drivers for my wireless network card so the Device Manager just files it under Other Devices -> Network Controller.

Answer

You can use Device Manager to get the vendor and device IDs for the various PCI and USB devices on your system, and then a quick Google search will help you find the make and model.

How can I copy text from Exceed?

How can I copy text from an open X window (XTerm, Gvim, etc) in Hummingbird Exceed running on Windows XP?

Upgrading laptop keyboard to backlit one

I have a Dell Vostro 3450 laptop, which supports backlit keyboards. My laptop was bought with a simple, non-backlit keyboard. If I buy a backlit replacement keyboard, will it work right away, or is such upgrade difficult/not possible?

Thanks in advance.

Answer

The backlit replacement keyboard is an optional component to the Dell Vostro 3450 laptop. It will work right away.

To use the backlit feature, press FN + →

You may need to install or update to the latest QuickSet application from Dell to have windows properly recognize the hardware.

---

Useful:

YouTube - How Do I Enable the Backlit Keyboard?

YouTube - Laptop Keyboard Replacement

Laptop gets hot when using Linux Mint

My laptop gets very hot when using Linux Mint. It stays ok when I'm just browsing or using terminal, but when I'm watching a stream the laptop gets very hot. I know the fan is working correctly. When I'm using Windows 7, the laptop also stays very cool.

Command sensors gives me the following data:

acpitz-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1:        +78.0°C  

coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Physical id 0:  +74.0°C  (high = +86.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 0:         +72.0°C  (high = +86.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 1:         +74.0°C  (high = +86.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)

radeon-pci-0100
Adapter: PCI adapter
temp1:        +73.0°C  

How can I configure Linux Mint to cool it down a bit?

Can I make a normal (no voip) call with chromebook

Can I make a normal (no voip) call with chromebook?

All I need is there sim card, mic and speakers, the only thing missing (or at least I was not able to find it) is the caller app.

Where can I find it (activate) or is there any app on the market providing this functionality?

Is there a way to get iTunes to automatically play all items in a podcast?

iTunes always stops at the end of each track in a podcast, forcing you to manually queue up the next one by hand. This is all well and good for longer podcasts like the stackoverflow one, but for the NPR podcasts, which are generally ~5 minutes long, it would be nice if it could play through them like a normal playlist.

Is this possible to do? I haven't found any configuration option anywhere allowing this?

Answer

Create a New Smart Playlist. "Match all the following rules": "Podcast is true", then hit the plus sign to add another rule: "Play Count is 0." Make sure "Live Updating" is checked, then click OK. Name it something appropriate like "Unplayed Podcasts." Using this method will play one podcast after another without user intervention. I hope this helps.

How install older OpenJDK 1.6 in Fedora 17?

I want to install OpenJDK 1.6 in Fedora 17 however I only see OpenJDK 1.7 as an install option when I run yum search openjdk. How can I get OpenJDK 1.6 in Fedora 17?

Answer

As scriptmonster stated, 1.6 rpm package is not supplied for fedora core 17. I had to download the rpm and install it that way.

display - Getting proper resolution with Windows 7 and older monitor

I'm trying to connect an older monitor (Starlogic M17ANA) to a newer system with Windows 7, but the only resolutions shown are 1024x768 and 800x600. I know the monitor is capable of 1280x1024, and was running this resolution on an older Windows XP system just fine. The 1024x768 setting has some timing problems and is nearly unusable, while the 800x600 setting is far too small to be useful. I really need to get this setup to the proper resolution.

I tried changing the monitor driver from "Generic PnP Monitor" to "Digital Flat Panel (1280x1024)" but it does not change the settings available. Even the "List All Modes" button doesn't show anything larger than "1024 by 768".

The video driver listed is "Intel Q45/Q43 Express Chipset" if that makes a difference. I had the PC connected to a different monitor earlier, and I'm quite sure it was running a higher resolution just fine.

---

Argh! For one glorious moment tonight I was able to get the resolution properly configured by selecting the "Generic Non-PnP Monitor" driver and choosing the proper resolution. When the system went into low-power mode after a period of inactivity it switched back to the lower resolution. Now it seems no matter which monitor I select I still only get the two choices - 800x600 and 1024x768. I've rebooted a dozen times and nothing changes. I've loaded all the latest Windows updates, including the driver for the Q45/Q43 chipset and still nothing changes. Why is Windows locking me out of choices that the hardware and drivers are perfectly capable of handling?

---

Conclusion: I should have pointed out that this was an LCD monitor, I think some people assumed when I said "older" that it was a CRT. I now believe that the problem is specific to this model; it appears to deliver the wrong EDID information to the driver, and Windows 7 treats it as gospel. Downloading the latest driver from Intel rather than Microsoft included an extra utility that was able to extend the profile with a custom setting, which works perfectly.

Answer

After doing a quick search, there are some other people with the same issue, most of which didn't solve it. I also found a blog post explaining how to solve the problem in Windows 2000, which basically involved doing the steps you probably did back when using Windows XP, albeit without success in Windows 7.

Monitor

I couldn't find much information at all. This is what I collected from an old DriverGuide thread:

17" StarLogic LCD Monitor (11004988)

Model M17ANA
Resolution 1280 x 1024
Display colors 16.7 million colors
Pixel Pitch 0.264 mm
Brightness 260 cd/m²
Contrast ratio 400:1
Viewing angle 140 x 125 degree
Response time 12 ms
Sync. frequency Horizontal 31.5kHz - 79.9kHz, Vertical 70Hz - 75Hz
Input Connector RGB
Weight 8.14 lbs.

This at least confirms the monitor is actually capable of displaying a 1280x1024 resolution. Still, the proper resolution isn't applied, and isn't even listed in the available modes.

Graphic card

In this case the graphic card model is an Intel Q45/Q43 Express Chipset, which is integrated in the motherboard. According to the technical product specifications:

Supports digital and analog displays up to 2048 x 1536 at 75 Hz refresh (QXGA); also supports 1920 x 1080 resolution for full High Definition video playback quality.

The video modes supported by this board are based on the Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) modes of the monitor to which the system is connected. Standard monitors are assumed.

The graphic card doesn't seem a limiting factor. These are the specific hardware IDs:

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2E12&SUBSYS_3036103C&REV_03
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2E12&SUBSYS_3036103C
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2E12&CC_030000
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2E12&CC_0300

The generic hardware IDs actually is PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2E12. In fact, apparently there are only generic drivers available for such cards. The installed driver version was 8.15.10.1749, which dates back to 2009, and probably was the one bundled with Windows 7. The latest version available from Intel official support page is 8.15.10.2869, released about three years later.

On a side note, looking for an updated version through Windows Update can be misleading: the system will happily assume the driver is "up to date" even when no entry was found in Microsoft database.

Extended Display Identification Data

All monitors, analog or digital, must support EDID, which contains info such as the monitor identifier, manufacturer data, hardware identifier, timing info, and so on. This data is stored in the monitor’s EEPROM in a format that is specified by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA).

_{Source: Overriding Monitor EDIDs with an INF}

While the EDID data structure is not exactly human-friendly, we can use Monitor Asset Manager to examine it:

Monitor
  Manufacturer............. NUL
  Plug and Play ID......... NUL0001
  Serial number............ 1
  Manufacture date......... 2001, ISO week 1
  Filter driver............ None
  -------------------------
  EDID revision............ 1.3
  Input signal type........ Analog 0.700,0.300 (1.0V p-p)
  Sync input support....... Separate
  Display type............. RGB color
  Screen size.............. 310 x 230 mm (15.2 in)
  Power management......... Standby, Suspend
  Extension blocs.......... None
  -------------------------
  DDC/CI................... Not supported

Color characteristics
  Default color space...... Non-sRGB
  Display gamma............ 1.00
  Red chromaticity......... Rx 0.597 - Ry 0.343
  Green chromaticity....... Gx 0.316 - Gy 0.566
  Blue chromaticity........ Bx 0.153 - By 0.131
  White point (default).... Wx 0.310 - Wy 0.328
  Additional descriptors... None

Timing characteristics
  Range limits............. Not available
  GTF standard............. Not supported
  Additional descriptors... None
  Preferred timing......... Yes
  Native/preferred timing.. 1024x768p at 68Hz (4:3)
    Modeline............... "1024x768" 65.000 1024 1048 1184 1184 768 771 777 806 -hsync -vsync

Standard timings supported
     720 x  400p at  70Hz - IBM VGA
     640 x  480p at  60Hz - IBM VGA
     800 x  600p at  60Hz - VESA
    1024 x  768p at  60Hz - VESA

Report information
  Date generated........... 2/12/2014
  Software revision........ 2.70.0.989
  Data source.............. Real-time 0x0011
  Operating system......... 6.1.7601.2.Service Pack 1

Raw data
  00,FF,FF,FF,FF,FF,FF,00,3A,AC,01,00,01,00,00,00,01,0B,01,03,08,1F,17,00,CA,F0,64,98,57,51,91,27,
  21,4F,54,A1,08,00,01,01,01,01,01,01,01,01,01,01,01,01,01,01,01,01,64,19,00,A0,40,00,26,30,18,88,
  36,00,30,E4,10,00,00,18,00,00,00,FE,00,0A,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,00,00,00,FE,00,0A,
  20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,00,00,00,FC,00,0A,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,00,E

Windows stores the EDID in the registry after querying the monitor. The problem is the system thinks you have a 15.2" monitor with a maximum supported resolution of 1024x768 pixels and 68 Hz refresh rate. This is just plain wrong, and the monitor is to blame here.

The monitor won't report the correct information, so we have to manually fix that. There are a few ways to do it, and I'll briefly describe them referring you to the links below for additional information. It's better to have more options just in case something doesn't work properly or isn't applicable.

Intel Graphics Control Panel

While updating the old, bare-bone graphic driver which comes with Windows you'll also get the Intel Graphics Control Panel (GfxUI.exe). Among other things, it can be used to change the screen resolution.

Custom resolution

Some (but not all) Intel graphic cards can support up to five extra Detailed Timing Descriptors (DTDs) through custom registry entries named DTD_x which can be found in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-‌​08002BE10318}\0000. Each DTD value includes information such as screen resolution, refresh rates, and so on. The TotalDTDCount value controls the amount of DTD supported. When it's set to 0, the feature is disabled.

The DTD is actually a section of the full EDID, and it's just as cryptic. In order to easily change the data you can use DTDCalculator.

Correcting the EDID

There are two approaches to correcting EDIDs:

• The standard solution is to have the customer send the monitor back to the manufacturer, who reflashes the EEPROM with the correct EDID and returns the monitor to the customer.


• A better solution, described here, is for the manufacturer to implement an INF file that contains the correct EDID info, and have the customer download it to the computer that's connected to the monitor. Windows extracts the updated EDID info from the INF and provides it to components instead of the info from the EEPROM EDID, effectively overriding the EEPROM EDID.

_{Source: Overriding Monitor EDIDs with an INF}

Using Phoenix EDID designer you can extract the EDID stored in the registry, and change the settings to reflect the monitor true capabilities. When done you save the modified EDID data, and open it using Monitor Asset Manager to validate it. Then you create an INF file, and update the monitor driver in the Device Manager using the file you just created. A restart is required to apply the changes.