Quick start to Mozilla Firefox OS 1.x

For those of you who were looking for a new smart phone, it might be good to also look at Firefox OS. This is being developed by Mozilla and will be a game changer.

Quick notes:

1. Initially known as B2G (Boot to Gecko) in the Mozilla Project and initially demonstrated in 2012
2. Has a Linux based operating system
3. Target for smart phones, tablets and smart TV.
4. Among the first adopter was ZTE Open phone
5. Its has 4 software layers. I.e. Gonk (Linux kernel), Gecko (application services), XUL Runner (Application run-time) and Gaia (User interface system)
6. Supports HTML5
7. Website at https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox_OS
8. Apps can be found at the Firefox marketplace.

Current development is at Firefox OS 1.3 (Stable) and Firefox OS 2.1 (Unstable)  and you can try it out via a simulator.

Following are steps to install and run a simulator:
Requirements: Firefox version 30+

Step 1. Install the simulator.

Open Mozilla Firefox web browser and access "App Manager add-ons" by typing in the URL
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/labs/fxos-simulator/

Click "Install Firefox OS 1.3 Simulator (Stable)" or which ever version pleases you.

When the Pop-up appears, Click "Allow" then wait till the download starts (There isn't any indicator onscreen) and when the Software Installation box appears, click "Install Now".

Click "Firefox OS 1.3 Simulator has been installed successfully."

Step 2:  Check installation

To determine if its installed, open Mozilla Firefox web browser and enter URL as
about:addon

You should see "Firefox OS 1.3 Simulator ...."

Step 3: Start up the App Manager

In Mozilla Firefox web browser enter URL as
about:app-manager

At bottom of the  App Manager click "Start Simulator"
The Firefox OS Simulator will appear as a new Firefox Window.

Congratulations...you now have access to the latest Smartphone OS.

Howto Turn On Menu and Back Button Lights on Samsung S3

The Samsung S3 is a clever device to conserve energy, but to some users who keep forgetting where is the frequently invisible "Menu" and "Back" buttons, they should have it lit all the time (and off when screen is off).

These buttons are on the left (Menu) and right (Back) of the Home button. By default, each time either keys are pressed, the lights will stay lit for about 1.5 seconds only.

Here are step to have "Menu" and "Back" buttons lit all the time (and off when screen is off).

Step 1. At the Home screen, go to settings.
Simple? For the unacquainted, just touch the Apps button (usually the centre circle at bottom of the screen) and choose settings.

Step 2. Choose "My device", scroll down and touch "Display". 

Step 3. Scroll down to touch "Touch key light duration".

 Step 4. Choose "Always on".

Press "Home" and you will notice the lights are lit next to the "Home" key. If the screen if off, these lights will also go off.

Howto Turn Off Samsung S3 keyboard sound

For some reason, the keyboard on Samsung S3 (GT-I9300) started to beep with each press and this gets annoying after having to type lots. Instructions can be applied for most Android 4, but here the screenshot are for Android 4.3 kernel version 3.0.31-2429075 dpi@HP20 #1.

To turn off/on the sound in 3 simple steps;

Step 1. At the Home screen, go to settings.
Simple? For the unacquainted, just touch the Apps button (usually the centre circle at bottom of the screen) and choose settings.

Step 2. Choose "My device", scroll down and touch "Language and input"

Step 3. Scroll down and find Key-tap feedback "Sound". To turn keyboard sounds off, uncheck the "Sound" box.

Press the "Home" key and you can test out keyboard sound, off or on as you have  selected.

Writing Equations in Moodle - Part 2

This is a follow up post on enabling users to write equations in Moodle. In the previous post, the required tools were installed on Linux (Centos Linux) and we resume from there.

Step 1:

Login as administrator in Moodle. In the Administration menu, click on Plugins-> Filters-> Manage filters
Choose Filter for Tex notation and change Active? to On. If you click Settings it will bring you to the same screen as in the next step below.

In the Administration menu, click on Plugins-> Filters-> Tex notation
Verify that Path of Latex, dvips and convert binary all contain the linux tools that was created in Part 1 of this tutorial.

Latex = /usr/bin/latex
dvips = /usr/bin/dvips
convert = /usr/bin/convert

Change the convert output format to PNG.

Step 2:

Within a course, create a content and notice that the Insert equation button is visible in TinyMCE editor.

OSS Meetup in Kuala Lumpur

Those who are keen to meet fellow OSS in Kuala Lumpur should register for the Malaysia Open Source Community Meetup Q2 2014.

Date: 31 May 2014
Time: 9Am to 2PM
Registration: Required

Please go to the above link for further details.

Writing Equations in Moodle - Part 1

Moodle leverages on MathML for users to enter Math equations. Moodle 2 comes with DragMath and this reduces the need for complicated installation of libraries. On Linux, equations can be displayed with Latex through the use of MimeTex (http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/support/mimetex) and the newer MathTex.

Examples on the use of MathText can be found at http://www.forkosh.com/mimetex.html#examples

Inserting math equation on a Moodle require certain filters to be enabled but before doing this, the related linux tools need to be installed. End users will need to ensure Java's JRE is installed and enabled in their web browser.

The required Linux (Referring to Centos Linux) tools to be installed include packages mimetex, texlive, texlive-dvips, texlive-latex, ImageMagick and their dependencies. The important tools that should be working and that is needed by Moodle later includes;
/usr/bin/latex
/usr/bin/dvips
/usr/bin/convert

A good tip on enabling Java in web browsers can be found at the Java site. (https://www.java.com/en/download/help/java_blocked.xml)

Managing PostgreSQL with pgsql and pgAdmin3

The command line interface (CLI) tool that comes with Postgres server is known as pgsql. Alternatively, pgAdmin3 and phpPgAdmin can be installed.

The pgsql

Among some of the commands for pgsql can be shown as below;

Example of common commands

Login to the Postgres prompt

$ psql -U postgres -h 127.0.0.1

Create a role to create database

postgres=# CREATE ROLE dbadmin CREATEDB;

Create a role as administrator

postgres=# CREATE ROLE admin SUPERUSER;

Create a role to create group roles

postgres=# CREATE ROLE dbadmin CREATEROLE;

Add a user to any of above role groups

postgres=# GRANT dbadmin to userone;

Assign role to a database and allow to login

GRANT all privileges on database dbname TO dbadmin;

ALTER ROLE "dbadmin" WITH LOGIN; 

Remove a user from a role group

postgres=# REVOKE dbadmin from userone;

A user can change their roles if they are assigned to several roles. 

postgres=# SET ROLE admin;

A user can restore to default role group 

postgres=# RESET ROLE;

Remove a role

postgres=# DROP ROLE admin;

List available users and roles

postgres=# \du

                               List of roles

   Role name   |                   Attributes                   | Member of 

---------------+------------------------------------------------+-----------

 admin         | Create DB, Cannot login                        | {}

 dbmsuser      | Superuser                                      | {admin}

 dbmsuserlogin | Superuser, Cannot login                        | {}

 postgres      | Superuser, Create role, Create DB, Replication | {}

Change privileges of a role
postgres=# ALTER ROLE admin WITH LOGIN CREATEDB;

Create a database and assign to a role

postgres=# CREATE DATABASE mycms WITH admin;

Delete a database

postgres=# DROP DATABASE mycms;

Done

The Window pgAdmin3

Try out SQL statements within these tools. I found one nice reference at http://www.itl.nist.gov/div897/ctg/dm/sql_examples.htm

Installing PostgreSQL on Centos 6

PostgreSQL being an OSS licensed database is very different compared to MySQL. PostgreSQL (or Postges) maintains a repository for Linux systems like Centos to install the database. This repository is known as pgdg and is maintained at yum.postgresql.org or yum.pgrpms.org

Installation of the Postgres comes with psql, this is a CLI to manage Postgres.

Installation of PostgreSQL 9.3 on Centos 6.4 is as follows;

Step 1:
Open a CLI as root user and retrieve the pgdg repo RPM, then install it. This will allow the Centos to find for software from the pgdg.

wget http://yum.postgresql.org/9.3/redhat/rhel-6-x86_64/pgdg-centos93-9.3-1.noarch.rpm
rpm -ivh pgdg-centos93-9.3-1.noarch.rpm

wget http://yum.pgrpms.org/9.3/redhat/rhel-6-x86_64/pgdg-centos93-9.3-1.noarch.rpm
rpm -ivh pgdg-centos93-9.3-1.noarch.rpm

Step 2:
Install the client and server.

yum groupinstall "PostgreSQL Database Server 9.3 PGDG"

yum install postgresql93 postgresql93-server

(-)

Step 3:
Initialise database and tables, and start. This creates the default user postgres.

service postgresql-9.3 initdb

service postgresql-9.3 start

You can now login with the default user to the Postgres terminal as follows;

[root]# su postgres

bash$ cd
bash$ psql -d postgres

If you get the error "psql: could not connect to server: No such file or directory...." Ensure the postgresql server service is running.

Step 4:

As the postgres user, create an administrative user, then log out from the psql (use \q), then the shell (Control-d).

CREATE ROLE dbmsuser LOGIN PASSWORD 'password' SUPERUSER;

As reference, here is summary of the syntax:
CREATE ROLE name [ [WITH] option [ . . . ] ]

 where option includes:
SUPERUSER | NOSUPERUSER
LOGIN | NOLOGIN

Step 5:

Edit Postgres configuration file;

vi /var/lib/pgsql/9.3/data/postgresql.conf

Uncomment the line and save.

#listen_addresses = ‘localhost’ and change it to listen_addresses = ‘*’

vi /var/lib/pgsql/9.3/data/pg_hba.conf

Add a line at bottom of the file to allow non-local connections, e.g.

host    all             dbmsuser        10.0.0.1/32            md5

Post installation

chkconfig postgresql-9.3 on

Ref: 

How to Install PostgreSQL 9.2 on CentOS 6.3/RedHat EL6/Fedora

Italian God Fathers May Run Open Source

In the current economic challenges, many countries are looking at saving cost via ICT and Italy is not an exception. Umbria, a region in the centre of Italy that produces cheese, lentils, truffles and have a relatively large number of small industries. This 900,000 strong population region is home to an active GNU/Linux User Group Perugia.

In 2012, Umbria saw the start of a revolution to switch to LibreOffice, which is LGPL or open source software (OSS) licensed. LibreOffice provides office productivity tools that include a word processor (like MS Word), presentation (like MS Powerpoint), spreadsheet (like MS Excel) and more. Advantages of this software is that it is free to download and install for almost all computers as it supports MS Windows, Linux and Mac platforms. Most popular editable document formats can be open and edited and its interface is rather intuitive and easy to use. It comes with a portable version where users can install it on a USB drive and carry it around to run LibreOffice any where. A built in PDF converter allows any edited file to be frozen and to be distributed with read only access and consistent format.

MS Office have been introducing its OOXML format through the docx formats which will eventually required every organisation to purchase an upgrade license for MS Office and this will incur la high upgrade cost. LibreOffice by default save files in Open Document Format or ODF (International document standards ISO/IEC 26300:2006) and it also supports past versions of MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

Through LibreUmbria, schools were introduced to use LibreOffice as their primary document editing applications before it was expanded further further to other organisations. This also received the government's top innovation award for Italian Government Projects in 2012/2013. Will the rest of the Italian Government and private organisations follow suit?

Read up news on the region of Umbria to switch over from MS Office to LibreOffice.

Jan 16, 2014 from ZDNet
Sep 26, 2013 from LibreOffice
Jun 5, 2013 from Document Foundation Blog

List of open standards can be found at ISO Public site

Passwordless root SSH Public Key Authentication on CentOS 6

Need to remote login to linux servers?

Create a public key and store it in the remote server. By default it is recognised as authorized_keys but this is fully configurable. The ssh-keygen generated the public key with RSA that is by default called id_rsa.pub

A well written article to do this can be found at Passwordless root SSH Public Key Authentication on CentOS 6

An alternative sshpass command as mentioned in January 31, 2014 Linuxpromagazine seems to force users to make the password visible. Good that this is no available in a default Centos 6, as this will help to maintain good password practices. I.e. do not have password kept where anyone can read it.

Top 10 Database Engines based on appearance in Internet

Ever wonder how to justify choice of database engines? Some have opted on comparison of specifications and limitation of the system. Now through manual use of ahem.."big data" we can see a list of top 10 database engines.

Among some of its criteria includes appearance in Google and Bing search engine. Frequency in technical discussion in Stack Overflow and DBA Stack Exchange. Then there are LinkedIn, Indeed and Simply Hired.

Information and table above above is from DB-Engines.com.

Backup Samsung S3 with KIES

Time to send the Samsung Galaxy S3 to the workshop as its difficult to charge despite changing several chargers. Problem: Need to wriggle the USB connection to charge.

Attempting to use KIES from Samsung.

A) Install KIES

Step 1. Download and install from http://www.samsung.com/my/support/model/GT-I9300RWDXME-downloads?downloadName=SW

Step 2. Update the KIES for PC (Final part of the installation above for 18 Nov 2013, version 2.6.1.13105_6_1 (See diagram below)

B) Run Backup

Step 1. Start Samsung KIES (not the LITE)

Step 2. Click the tab "Back up/Restore". Yes, they put a space between Back and up.

Step 3. Click "Select all items".

Step 4. Select which directory to store the backup. Click "Tools" ->Preferences ->Browse

Step 5. Click "Backup". Now they decided there is NO space between in this word.

Moodle support for Tin Can and SCORM 2004

If anyone have been said to implement SCORM 2004 engine, its never been highly compliant and Moodle is no exception. On Oct 2004, Moodle has officially abandoned further development of its SCORM 2004 engine. Details of its SCORM module can be found at
http://docs.moodle.org/24/en/SCORM_module

Surely lots of users will be in the lost or may drop SCORM development. Moodle News suggest the use of Tin Can SCORM for future development of learning objects. Moodle site suggest use of the SCORM cloud from Rustici Software where the SCORM Cloud plugin is free, but not the account.

The SCORM Cloud free trial account provides 100MB and 10 active registration (what does that mean?) at https://cloud.scorm.com/sc/user/PostSignUp

Following are helpful links to setup the SCORM Cloud

1. Getting the Moodle package
http://scorm.com/scorm-solved/scorm-cloud-features/app-integrations/moodle-integration/
2. Integrate with Moodle
http://support.scorm.com/entries/21366321-Installing-the-SCORM-Cloud-Moodle-Module

Manage log files from getting too big

Log files in Linux can be managed via the logrotate command (See man pages). If the log files start growing too big, it can be difficult to audit these log files.

Here is an example to create a new log file each week as the weekly cron (See man pages) service runs.

Following is an example where the cakephp application is installed. It will create a new file each week for 52 times before deleting the oldest file. Each file will be appended with a running number starting with "1". If the log file is missing, no errors will be printed/emailed and nothing will be done if the log file is empty.

Step 1: Create the configuration file

Create the file /etc/logrotate.d/cakephp with permission 644 (owned by root) and following contents;

/var/www/html/mymesyuarat/*/tmp/logs/*.log {
    weekly
    missingok
    rotate 52
    compress
    dateext
    delaycompress
    notifempty
    create 640 root root
    sharedscripts
}

Step 2: Ensure that the logrotate service is running.

The above configuration can be tested with the following command;

logrotate -s /tmp/logrotatestatus /etc/logrotate/cakephp

Maxis site not supporting Mozilla or Chrome

A sudden change in policy at Maxis, one of the main telco in Malaysia or is it just my network problem?

Either way, last Aug 2013, Maxis customer support just informed me to use Internet Explorer (IE) or they can help email my bills. They tried, but the bill never arrived.

Now in September, I still can't login to get my bills using Chrome or Firefox. But wait, I see an additional notice at their portal....interesting. I added a text bubble.

I guess they are expecting me to call them for help on my bills.

2 Sept. Just spoke to customer service. Seems their Firefox is able to login and the Firefox version 23.0.1 that I am using not current enough. Huh? Is there a newer version since as of today?

On Firefox version 23.0.1, have disabled pop-up blocker, block reported attack sites/web forgeries, nothing happens when I click the "login" button. Ran IE (finally) and the login button works. Still not working on Google Chrome and Firefox.

Anyone else with this problem?

Sony Tablet S

Sony finally released update for Sony Tablet S?

It says for US but am looking forward for its arrival.

https://blog.sony.com/2013/04/jelly-bean-for-xperia-tablet/

User Identities in Thunderbird

Thunderbird have see lots of changes but the basic features for email have been retained. One of this, is being able to choose different ways to compose a message before it is sent out.

Example case 1; I have different signatures for friends, customers, special clients and for the general use. Switching signatures is so easy.

Example case 2; Some sent emails must be save to my SPECIAL folder.

Example case 3: Some emails must contain a CC or BCC to specific persons.

Example case 4: When I replay some quote of previous email is at the top and some at the bottom.

We can get this done is a few simple steps (I list the general steps here);

Step 1: In TB, click Tools ->Account settings...
Select the Email account and set the default email settings for

Your name:
Email Address:
Reply-to Address:
Organization:
Signature Text:

Step 2: Strongly suggest to create a text file and place the signature and name. 
Use the option for
Attach the signature from a file instead (text, HTML, or image)

Step 3: Configure following settings;
Copies and folders
Composition & Addressing
Security

Step 4: Click the Email account (selected in step 1)
Click button Manage Identities...
Click Add...

Enter the alternative email configuration. E.g. The alternative email signature.

Click OK, Close. You can continue to create as many identities as you like.
Click OK

DONE!
Try to send an email, click Write button.

Notice the "From" have a drop down list of all the different styles and configuration that you have created.

Using Handlerbars and JQuery in PhoneGap

Here is the very basic steps to use a template model in a PhoneGap application. I won't be going in details in this note.
"Those attending the PhoneGap class should incorporate the database as a practice. Thank you"

Ensure that the following steps have already been taken

1. Creating Android App with PhoneGap
2. Using Alert Pop-up

Step 1: Install the Handlebars and JQuery scripts

Download

1. Handlerbars from http://handlebarsjs.com
2. JQuery 1 from http://jquery.com/download/

Extract and copy the .js files to the Project's assets/www/lib folder

Step 2: Update the index.html

Replace the the contents within the body tags with the following;

 <h1>Hello PhoneGap</h1>  
  <script id="a-comment" type="text/x-handlebars-template">  
   <p><b>{{name}}</b> on {{date}}</p>  
   <ul>  
   {{#each comment}}  
   <li>{{description}}  
   {{/each}}  
   </ul>  
 </script>  
 <script src="lib/handlebars.js"></script>  
 <script src="lib/jquery-1.10.2.min.js"></script>  
 <script src="js/main.js"></script>  

Step 3: Update the js/main.js
Remove the initialize: function() and add following codes;

      renderHomeView: function() {  
      var today = new Date();  
      var dateTxt = today.getDate() +   
      "." + (today.getMonth()+1) +  
      "." + today.getFullYear();        
      var data = {  
      name: "I am the One",   
      date: dateTxt,  
      comment: [  
           { description: "walking with you."  
           },   
           { description: "eating together."  
           },  
           { description: "driving around town."  
           },  
      ] };  
   $('body').html(this.homeTemplate(data));       
   },  
   initialize: function() {  
        var self = this;  
        var source = $("#a-comment").html();  
     self.showAlert('This is how its done','Info');  
     this.homeTemplate = Handlebars.compile(source);  
     this.renderHomeView();  
   }  

Alert Pop-up in PhoneGap

Using the native notification or browser alert pop-up

This is a continuation from the Previous notes: Creating an Android App with PhoneGap and Eclipse
Purpose: Display the Alert pop-up before the application display its contents.

Step 1: Create the main.js
In the project's assets/www create js folder, then create a new text file and name it as main.js
Place the following contents in assets/www/js/main.js

 var app = {  
      showAlert: function (message, title) {  
    if (navigator.notification) {  
     navigator.notification.alert(message, null, title, 'OK');  
    } else {  
     alert(title ? (title + ": " + message) : message);  
    }  
      },  
   initialize: function() {  
        var self = this;  
     self.showAlert('This is how its done','Info');  
   }  
 };  
 app.initialize();  

Step 2: Load main.js from index.html
Edit index.html. Immediately after the body tag place the following 1 line.

 <script src="js/main.js"></script>  

Step 3: Test the application.
See previous posting on how to do this.

Creating an Android App with PhoneGap and Eclipse

This is the basics on creating a HelloWorld using PhoneGap, Cordova and Eclipse (provided by ADT).

I have downloaded and extracted:

1. Android Development Toolkit (ADT): adt-bundle-windows-x86_64-20130729.zip
2. Phonegap kit: phonegap-2.9.0.zip

Note: ADT provides the Eclipse IDE.

In order to start development, an Android project is created in Eclipse.

Step 1: Create an Android Project
Open Eclipse (Its in the ADT/eclipse folder) and choose File ->New ->Android Application Project

Application Name: Hello World (This is the name that will appear in the Play Store)
Project Name: HelloWorld (This is the name used by Eclipse to separate each project)
Package Name: com.example.HelloWorld

Select the default option for the remainder screens.

Step 2: Insert the Android/PhoneGap Libraries
In the project, left click on assets and create a new folder: www

Open the extracted PhoneGap/lib/android folder and do the following;

1. Copy PhoneGap/lib/android/cordova.js to Project's assets/www folder
2. Copy PhoneGap/lib/android/cordova-2.9.0.jar to Project's libs folder
3. Copy PhoneGap/lib/android/xml folder to Project's res folder

In the Project's lib/cordova-2.9.0.jar right click and choose Build Path ->Add to Build Path

Step 3: Create the starting page

In assets/www folder, create the text file index.html with following contents

 <!DOCTYPE HTML>  
 <html>  
 <head>  
 <title>PhoneGap</title>  
  <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="cordova.js">  
  </script>  
  </head>  
  <body>  
  <h1>Hello PhoneGap</h1>  
  </body>  
  </html>  

Step 4: Configure to load the index.html

Edit the Project's src/com.example.HelloWorld/MainActivity.java

Before the first import statement, add

import org.apache.cordova.*;

Change extends Activity 

to extends DroidGap

or to extends PhoneGap

Change setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

to

super.loadUrl("file:///android_asset/www/index.html");

Step 5: Configure Android specific configurations
Edit the AndroidManifest.xml (if unsure where, just place it before the Activity Application tag)

 <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE" />  
 <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />  
 <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_CONTACTS" />  
 <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_CONTACTS" />  

Edit the Activity tag by adding configChanges

 <activity  
  android:name="com.tboxmy.simpledisplay.MainActivity"  
  android:label="@string/app_name"   
  android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden|screenSize" >  

Step 6: Test the application
Right click the project name and choose Run As ->Android Application

Unless you have a fast machine with huge RAM, some waiting time is required for the Application to start, after the Android Emulator starts.

Cordova basic usage

Time to compile Phonegap using Cordova.
Basic commands;

1. Create an Android project called com.example.hello in folder hello.

cordova create hello com.example.hello 

2. Include Android platform for cordova. In the project folder, type;

cordova platform add android

3. Compile the project (some call this build). In the project folder, type;

cordova build

2. Start the android emulator with the compiled cordova project. In the project folder, type;

cordova emulate android

Install Android Emulator on Centos 6

Why would I want to have the Android Emulator? Well, I needed to test several custom Android  Packages and also develop apps for Android. This meant, I could keep testing the Android Packages without having to install on a physical Android phone such as the Sony Ericsson X10 or Samsung S3.

I have written on this topic for Centos 64bits, before and seems like it still depends on 32bit libraries:

• http://tboxmy.blogspot.com/2012/04/installing-java-on-centos-6.html
• http://tboxmy.blogspot.com/2012/07/develop-android-apps-with-eclipse-on.html

A good reference for everything Android is at http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html

Here are steps for Centos 6.4 (64bits), open up a terminal as root;

Step 1: Install Java development kit (JDK)
# yum update
# yum install java-1.7.0-openjdk-devel.x86_64

Verify installation with following command:
# javac -version

Step 2a: Install library for 32bits 
yum install glibc.i686 ncurses-libs.i686 libstdc libstdc++.i686 libzip.i686 SDL.i686 gegl.i686  mesa-libGL.i686

Note: Optional package to install: 
libX11.i686 libXrandr.i686

Step 2: Install the Android SDK and ADT
Get the latest Android ADT from the Android Developer site or use following:
wget http://dl.google.com/android/adt/adt-bundle-linux-x86_64-20130729.zip

This will provide us with (Size if 440MB):

1. Eclipse + ADT plugin
2. Android SDK Tools
3. Android Platform-tools
4. The latest Android platform
5. The latest Android system image for the emulator

Note: If you are in Malaysia and cant download because of Internet problem (Some day this will improve) and really have no other way of getting the ADT and JDK for Centos 6 64bits, just email me your contact details (e.g. address) and we can work something out.

Allow groups named devel to access development. Create the directory /opt/android and extract adt-bundle-linux-x86_64-20130729.zip

# mkdir /opt/android
# useradd -m devel
# chown devel.devel /opt/android
# chmod g+rwsx,+t /opt/android
# unzip -d /opt/android/ adt-bundle-linux-x86_64-20130729.zip

Step 3: Post installation.
What can we do after installation? Well, you can run the Eclipse IDE to develop application and there is also the Android Emulator (to test APK). Info on the Android Emulator can be found at http://developer.android.com/tools/devices/emulator.html

I suggest that you login as the devel user or a user with that group access to continue (Represented as $ in steps below).

Start Eclipse with
$ /opt/adt-bundle-linux-x86_64/eclipse/eclipse

Starting with the emulator
1. Listing the available emulators
$ cd /opt/android/adt-bundle-linux-x86_64/sdk/tools
$ ./android list targets

Available Android targets:
----------
id: 1 or "android-18"
     Name: Android 4.3
     Type: Platform
     API level: 18
     Revision: 1
     Skins: WSVGA, WVGA800 (default), WVGA854, WQVGA432, WQVGA400, WXGA800, QVGA, WXGA720, HVGA, WXGA800-7in
     ABIs : armeabi-v7a

2. Creating an instance of the emulator
Here it is called practiceandroid4.3 with the target id 1 (as above). Items in RED are optional. For further details see http://developer.android.com/tools/devices/managing-avds-cmdline.html
$ android create avd -n practiceandroid4.3 -t 1 --skin WVGA800
$ emulator -avd practiceandroid4.3


APK can be installed into the Android emulator
$ adb install bin/MyFirstApp-debug.apk


Trouble shooting:

• If there is a problem running Eclipse or the Emulator, try the Step 2a above.
• For error "./emulator: /lib/ld-linux.so.2: bad ELF interpreter: No such file or directory", ensure the step 2a is done.
• When upgrade Centos 6.3 to Centos 6.4 on Virtualbox, it hangs at the boot progress bar. Fix is at http://bugs.centos.org/view.php?id=6306

Install MCRYPT for Centos 6.3

MCRYPT is used to encrypt data. For example, user login passwords.

The EPEL repository provides for the mcrypt package.

Step 1: Download and install the files to support EPEL repository
wget http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/6/i386/epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm
wget  http://ftp.riken.jp/Linux/fedora/epel/RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-6
rpm --import RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-6
rpm -i epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm

Step 2: Install mcrypt package

yum install php-mcrypt

Autoconfiguration ipv4 address

A funny thing happen on a newly installed MS Windows 8. After setting the fixed IP on the network interface (cable), it kept getting a an IANA ip of 196.254.x.x.

Although, the fixed IP was entered correctly, 10.x.x.x, the command ipconfig showed that it was still using the 196.254.x.x. Driving me mad, this don't happen on Linux as far as I know.

Resolve this by disabling the interface that is causing the problem.

At the command prompt as Admin follow the steps given below;

Step 1: Identify the interface name (Idx)
> netsh interface ipv4 show inter

Step 2: Disable the interface, replaceing the XXX below with the Idx found in Step 1.

> netsh interface ipv4 set interface XXX dadtransmit=0 store=persistent

Thanks to Lyngtinh

Install Clamav antivirus on Centos

Clamav is a much misunderstood software, at least from the response of people I know.

This is a follow up of previous posting http://tboxmy.blogspot.com/2011/06/open-source-software-antivirus-called.html

A simple to read manual can be found at
http://www.clamav.net/doc/latest/clamdoc.pdf

However, here are steps I took for the installation on Centos 6.3 and Centos 5.6

Step 1: Install required repository for clamav
http://tboxmy.blogspot.com/2013/06/install-yum-repo-for-centos.html

Step 2: Install the clamav software
yum install clamd clamav clamav-db

Step 3: Edit the configuration files with your own preferences
/etc/clamd.conf
/etc/freshclam.conf

Step 4: Test the scan with an example directory [/tmp/samples] and save the results in [output.scan]
clamscan -r -l output.scan /tmp/samples

You should notice a warning that the virus database is outdated.

Step 5: Update the virus database. Make sure the server has internet access, then type
freshclam

By default update is done daily, but can be changed by moving the /etc/cron.daily/freshclam to another cron folder.

Step 6: Schedule the scan with crontab
Use the command in step 4 as an example

Step 7: Manage how files detected as virus are handled

e.g. use perl-File-Scan-ClamAV

Install Yum repo for Centos

Adding additional source of packages (software) for Centos will greatly reduce the need to recompile OSS packages. Epel provides open source software that is free for use. This includes clamav, atop, cacti,

Here are step to add a common repository.

Centos 5

Step 1: install and enable epel repo
rpm -Uvh http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/5/i386/epel-release-5-4.noarch.rpm

Centos 6

Step 1: install and enable epel repo
rpm -Uvh http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/6/i386/epel-release-6-5.noarch.rpm

Step 2: Enable priorities
yum install yum-priorities

Edit /etc/yum.repos.d/epel.repo
add under [epel]
priority=10

TinyMCE

One of the widely used WYSWIG for web forms is called TinyMCE. Currently it is at version 3.5.8 and version 4.0 is in Beta. Licensed as LGPL, it is available for download freely from tinymce.com website.

I like its highly configurable options. Some of these are listed at http://www.tinymce.com/wiki.php/TinyMCE3x:Buttons/controls

Here is how it looks like from the demo site.

Backup selected rows from MyMSQL database

Just needed a few rows of data, after confirmed its existence with

> select count (*) from `attendances` where `meeting_id`=82;

Using mysqldump

mysqldump --opt -uroot -p development attendances --where='meeting_id'=19700 > outputrows.sql

Reviewed the extensive contents then inserted back into the db.

OpenOffice.org templates to plan/schedule work

A great spreadsheet template to do planning for shift work. Its flexible and can be modified to suit different environments.

See http://templates.openoffice.org/en/node/9485

Should work for LibreOffice.

SCAM using Fedex and Coca-cola names

Be careful of scams on the internet such as the one that says you have won some money through a lucky draw. Extract of the contents, I have seen, is shown below.

Header contents of that email

Read an article on this at Ripoffreport.

Tables in Moodle appear without border lines.

Tables in Moodle 2 will tend to have this issue where users just can't get the grid lines to appear. Another description for this, is the border lines appear during editing, but is not displayed when it is saved and viewed as a normal content page.

The misleading choice was to right click and edit using "Table properties". Did not work in what ever combination that was made.

Following are steps that can be taken when creating a standard table from scratch in Moodle.

Step 1: Right click on the existing table. Choose Cell ->Table cell properties.
It does look like we are changing one cell, but bear with me to get this applied to the whole table.

Step 2: Choose the Advanced tab. Click on the Border color's colour selection box.

Step 3: Choose a colour. Better still click on Palette or Named tabs to choose a standard colour. Click Apply. In this example, Black or #000000 is choosen as the border line colour.

Step 4: At the dropdown box choose "Update all cells in table", click "Update".

Step 5: Save changes to the page where the table is added and view the table with the border lines.

Samsung S3's Android update March 2013

Just did an OTA update from Jan 2013 to Mar 2013.

Among changes known at this moment;

Lock screen security patch. Previously there is a 5 step hack to by pass the login for the lock screen.

Camera. The menu at sides now have transparent borders. Now missing 3 scene modes, which include the fireworks, backlit.

Faces of Clouds

Cloud is a big thing these last few months. Just to clear some terms that is of interest and where even so called IT experts are not able to agree on. This means, that its my personal view based on resources published by industry experts.

3 items are of interest. The first, is naming of a cloud based on its deployment. Second, clouds can further be classified based on services it provide to users. And lastly, a case study. Think of your plan to build a cloud and how it would be shaped.

A) A cloud is named based on its location or deployment.

1. Public - Applications, storage and services made available to the general public for free or for a fee.
2. Private - For a single organisation and decisions made centrally on resources.
3. Community - Shared infrastructure having several organisation with specific interest that is managed internally or by a 3rd party.
4. Hybrid - Combination of either Public, Private or Community, or all three.

B) A cloud can then be named based on its services.

1. IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service)
1. Users install own operating system and maintain its own patches, IP addresses. - Rackspace, Amazon EC2.
2. Users can leverage resources to sell as a service provider to their clients.
2. PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service)
1. Run your own application on a provider's platform
2. Develop on a provider's platform - Google AppEngine, Oracle Cloud Platform, OpenShift.
3. SaaS (Software-as-a-Service)
1. Full web application - E.g. Googledocs, SalesForce, Gmail
2. Web services (consumed by other web application) - GoogleMaps API, PayPal

C) A case study

How would you shape a cloud based on above (A) and (B) for following situation?

Lets say a government wants to setup a TeleHealth cloud. It allows any application for hospitals, clinics and government. Some of these applications are built and some bought. Geographically users are very dispersed throughout the country. 

A) Community

Why? Organisations apart from the Ministry of Health, clinics and hospitals would also include 3rd party resources for pharmaceutical, research, assets, payments.

B) PaaS

1. By providing one or two standard platforms, all development can be better managed. Deployed applications can be made to meet security and other standards set.
2. Many new applications/web services can be introduced by users. 

Yahoo on scheduled maintenance

Did you get any notification for this scheduled maintenance?

Dangers in copy and paste to CLI

A reminder for those who are trying to be smart and copy commands found on the internet or via unknown emails, the PASTE may contain dangerous commands.

See http://thejh.net/misc/website-terminal-copy-paste

WARNING, do not try the following if you do not understand dangers of hidden codes. Here below is an attempt to simulate that line to be copied.

Just copy the 1 line below and paste to the CLI, watch what happens.

/dev/null; clear; echo -n "Hello ";whoami|tr -d '\n';echo -e '!\nThat was a bad idea. Don'"'"'t copy code from websites you don'"'"'t trust!
Here'"'"'s the first line of your /etc/passwd: ';head -n1 /etc/passwd
git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/kup/kup.git

Howto troubleshoot Virtualisation with RHEVM

In the event to do troubleshooting, some of these were carried out for a recent RHEVM;

1. In the RHEVM Administration Portal, check out the events.
2. The command rhevm-log-collector collect download logs including from hypervisors to the /tmp folder. 
3. Collect only RHEVM logs rhevm-log-collector collect --no-hypervisors
4. Look at logs in /var/log/rhevm 
5. Need to check the RHEVM database? Try  pg_dump engine -U postgres -W -f /tmp/cu_rhevm.dump -F t
6. Check the multipath
7. Check configuration with rhevm-config --list

 Only item I do not see is the %TEMP%/manager_hostname/log as mentioned from the RHEV website.

Additional references: http://www.howtoforge.com/virtualization-with-kvm-on-a-centos-6.2-server

Installing JDBC on MS Windows 7

Basics on getting data from remote MySQL database requires installation of a Java driver.

The JDBC drivers is provided through the current Connector/J 5.1. This is a type 4 driver and works for MySQL 4.1, 5.0, 5.1, 5.5. MySQL reference for the driver can be found at http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19957-01/mysql-refman-6.0/connectors-apis.html#connector-j-versions

Step 1. Ensure JDK 1.6 or 1.7 is already installed.
At the command prompt check the version, see below example where it was installed in C:\Program Files\Java\jre7


> java -version
java version "1.7.0_03"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_03-b05)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 22.1-b02, mixed mode, sharing)



Step 2. Download the driver from Maven2 project.
Download from http://mirrors.ibiblio.org/maven2/mysql/mysql-connector-java/5.1.19/
the file mysql-connector-java-5.1.19.jar

And save to C:\Program Files\Java\jre7\

Step 3. Tell Java where to find the driver
Click on Start ->Control Panel ->System
On the left menu choose, Advanced system setting
Choose Environment variables, in the System variables box click on CLASSPATH and choose Edit.
At the end of the text box, append a semi colon followed by location and the name of the drivers, e.g.

;C:\Program Files\Java\jre7\lib\mysql-connector-java-5.1.19.jar

Choose Ok until all boxes are closed.
If you have any command prompt or Java application, they need to be restarted.

Useful information in order to use the driver;

1. The classname: com.mysql.jdbc.Driver
2. The connection string: jdbc:mysql://server-name:server-port/database-name
3. Username and password to the database
4. Default port 3306

OpenOffice / LibreOffice Base

Step 1. Add the classpath
Open Writer and in the menu choose
Tools ->Option ->Java
Click on the JRE installed; Click Classpath ->Add Archive
Choose location of the driver (In this case C:\Program Files\Java\jre7\lib\mysql-connector-java-5.1.19.jar), click OK until all windows are closed.

Step 2. Close all OpenOffice / LibreOffice applications.

Test using the OpenOffice / LibreOffice Base

Android 4.1.2 on Samsung S3

Update from Android 4.1.1 to 4.1.2 on Samsung S3 was straight forward. There were not many noticeable changes so I am listing what were the initial encounters;

1. Pull down Notification bar have 2 new buttons
1. AllShare cast - to share the screen with other S3 devices. Yet to get a chance to test it.
2. Multi window - Allow a menu on the left side of the screen to appear with a list of apps. Two of these apps can be dragged to the screen and viewed at the same time. One app appears at top half and the other at bottom half. Click the horizontal bar at the centre and there are options to switch both app locations or to use the full screen.
2. Pull down Notification bar doesn't have the Sync button - Looks like have to sync emails and calendars manually from the settings as the "Auto Sync" button is lost. If you really have the battery and want to leave the sync on, try editing Notification bar or follow this; Left button, choose "System settings" ->"Data Usage". Left button, choose "Auto sync data".
3. Edit buttons on Notification bar - Default install have omitted the Sync button, but it can be added back to the Notification bar. To add or remove buttons, Click the Menu button (Left button), Choose "System settings" ->"Display" ->"Notification Panel". Drag additional buttons from the Available Buttons bar into empty spaces in the Notification panel bar.
4. Keyboard includes a predictive feature that I could only disable when it appeared the first time I tried to use the keyboard. This include words from all the Facebook, ChatOn, social networking tools. I do not see the option to change the settings anywhere.
5. Chrome web browser is included. If you use Chrome on your desktop, and signed in, the same apps open and saved bookmarks can be seen on the S3.
6. The Gallery app provides 3 different views to show photos in an Album. In Gallery, choose the top right corner button to switch views.
7. Coming soon...

Getting started with Symfony2 - Part 1

After installing Symfony 2.1 and going through the documentations, everything seems simple enough. To start developing an application from scratch, first create a project, next create a Bundle and start adding codes.

Several assumptions;

1. Installation was done as in my previous posting, including creating the project called mysymfony.
2. The Bundle is called HelloBundle in Sample. All Bundle names must end with the word Bundle.
3. All Bundles will be under the vendor named "Sample".

Here are steps to create and delete a Bundle.

A. Create a Bundle
Step 1: Generate the Bundle

cd mysymfony

php app/console generate:bundle --namespace=Sample/HelloBundle --format=yml

Respond to the wizard's questions;

1. [Enter]
2. HelloBundle
3. [Enter]
4. [Enter]
5. [Enter]
6. [Enter]
7. [Enter]
8. [Enter]

Step 2: Create the routing.
Still in the symfony directory, edit the file src/Sample/HelloBundle/Resources/config/routing.yml

hello:
    pattern:  /hello/{name}
    defaults: { _controller: SampleHelloBundle:Hello:index }

Step 3: Create the controller file.

vi src/Sample/HelloBundle/Controller/HelloController.php

namespace Sample\HelloBundle\Controller;

use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Controller\Controller;

class HelloController extends Controller
{
    public function indexAction($name)
    {
        return $this->render('SampleHelloBundle:Hello:index.html.twig', array('name' => $name));
    }
}
Step 4: Create a view template

vi src/Sample/HelloBundle/Resources/views/Hello/index.html.twig

{% extends '::base.html.twig' %}
{% block body %}
Hello {{ name }}!
{% endblock %}

Step 5: Access the final application

In a web browser, enter the location or URL as

http://localhost/mysymfony/web/app.php/hello/malaysia

---

B. Delete a Bundle
Step 1: Delete the Bundle directory
rm -rf src/Sample/HelloBundle/

Step 2: Remove Bundle routing in /app/config/routing.yml
Example, delete

sample_hello:
    resource: "@SampleHelloBundle/Resources/config/routing.yml"
    prefix:   /

Step 3: Remove Bundle from app/AppKernel.php
Example, delete

new Sample\HelloBundle\SampleHelloBundle(),

Step 4: Clear Symfony cache

php app/console cache:clear 

or

php app/console cache:clear --env=prod --no-debug


Note to self: No promises when Part 2 will be published.

Installing Symfony2 on Centos 6

Symfony2 framework looks like it provide many useful development tools.

All following codes require access to internet to download the respective files.

Pre installation check list for Symfony2.1.

1. Installed and running Apache httpd
2. Installed php 5.3 or higher
3. Installed GIT 1.7 or higher

Install PHP
Lots of resources available online.

Ensure additional php packages are installed, including

• php-cli
• php-intl
• php-mysql (if you use MySQL database)
• php-gd
• php-pecl-apc
• php-mbstring

Check that /etc/php/ini timezone is edited.
Example;
date.timezone = "Asia/Kuala_Lumpur"

Install GIT

sudo yum install git-core

Install Composer for PHP

cd /var/www/html

curl -s https://getcomposer.org/installer | php


Install Symfony2.1
Step 1: Download from http://symfony.com/download and extract


tar xvzf Symfony_Standard_Vendors_2.1.6.tgz

Read the text file Symfony/README.md

cp composer.phar Symfony

Step 2: Basic configuration



Step 3: Create your first Symfony2 project

cd /var/www/html/Symfony

php composer.phar create-project symfony/framework-standard-edition /var/www/html/mysymfony 2.1.6

Where

• create-project is the command to create a project with 3 arguments
• symfony/framework-standard-edition is the framework to be installed
• /var/www/html/mysymfony is the new directory or project name to be created and installed with base project files
• 2.1.6 is the version

Use a web browser to check installed project at

http://localhost/mysymfony/web/config.php

If there is an error, please fix before continuing. I received 2 errors to fix the directory permission for app/cache and app/logs

chown -Rf apache.apache app/logs app/cache


Note: I found following discussion useful

http://forum.symfony-project.org/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=45892

What you should not do for your online portal

At any time if you have launched a portal accessed publicly, its a bad idea to have links showing Minta Maaf.

Just found this on the Malaysian Road Transport Department Portal on  5 Jan 2013.

If its not ready, no need to put it online, right? Just my Opinion.

The link kept directing to http://www.jpj.gov.my/mintamaaf for most of the options I picked.

Statistics on OSS

From time to time, the use of OSS needs justification. What better then information based on open source development model. This includes;

1. Large number of contributors
2. Frequency of updates (commits)
3. Lines of codes

I found such info from Ohloh.net. Example for HTTP Server from Apache is at http://www.ohloh.net/p/apache

Upgrade Sony Tablet S to Android 4.0.3 rel5

Just received notice of an upgrade. Current Android is 4.0.3 rel 1.

Info on updates is at http://www.sony-asia.com/support/faq/528949

Speedtest via Digi

Speedtest.net results for Digi on SE Xperia X10i with Android 2.3.3

Subscribed to Digi unlimited
[1st round] on 6 Dec 2012
Download: 558kbps, Upload: 377kbps
Ping 99ms

[2nd round] on 6 Dec 2012

Download: 1658kbps, Upload: 372kbps
Ping 90ms


Hmmm...