Gold Flake Linux

Installing GNOME 3.2 in Ubuntu 11.10

2011-10-17T06:17:00.001+05:00

Ubuntu 11.10 comes default with Unity Shell. If you prefer GNOME/ want to try out GNOME 3.2( Released on September). you can install it from the Ubuntu repositories by installing gnome-core, gnome and gnome-shell packages.

See GNOME3.2 release notes here

Remove Mint branding in Firefox

2011-08-05T03:21:00.007+05:00

Ugly and irritating re-branding of Google search result page will surely bother you if you use Firefox in Mint. Follow the steps below to get the visual appeal back in search results.

Go to "Manage Search Engines" and delete Google. Click "get more search engines", and search for "informative Google search". After installing this search engine your search results will include suggestions, related terms, and more options for all types of searches.

To remove Mint-branding from searches done though location bar, replace "/usr/lib/firefox-addons/searchplugins/en-US/google.xm" with the following code.Now restart firefox, and get the google-branding back.

<SearchPlugin xmlns="http://www.mozilla.org/2006/browser/search/">
<ShortName>Google</ShortName>
<Description>Google Search</Description>
<InputEncoding>UTF-8</InputEncoding>
<Image width="16" height="16">data:image/x-icon;base64,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</Image>
<Url type="application/x-suggestions+json" method="GET" template="http://suggestqueries.google.com/complete/search?output=firefox&amp;client=firefox&amp;qu={searchTerms}"/>
<Url type="text/html" method="GET" template="http://www.google.com/search">
  <Param name="hl" value="en"/>
  <Param name="q" value="{searchTerms}"/>
</Url>
</SearchPlugin>

better control and monitor pulse-audio with padevchooser

2011-07-29T22:19:00.007+05:00

Here is a power-user tool for extra control of pulse-audio services than for example what Kmix might give if you are using KDE 4.x . My gripe with Kmix is that it doesn't provide a way to increase maximum volume above the 100% limit, unlike the gnome volume control.If you've tried maxing out alsa mixer, restarted pulse-audio server and still the volume is way too low than what you might have had by default in another Distribution, or in windows, it probably is a problem with pulse-audio.

padevchooser comes to the rescue. Install it along with the following controls for better control of pulse-audio. once installed, start it by choosing Applications->Multimedia->PulseAudio Device Chooser.

sudo apt-get install padevchooser pavucontrol pavumeter paman

If you want to start the system-tray widget on start-up click the widget->Preferences and choose"Start applet on session login".

Preview all cowsay ascii arts

2011-07-04T22:23:00.000+05:00

cd /usr/share/cowsay/cows;for i in *; do cow=`echo $i|grep -ioE '[a-zA-Z_\-]*'`;cowsay -f $cow ; done|more

How to remove Kubuntu

2011-01-17T01:02:00.001+05:00

Tried out KDE4.6 RC2 and found it a bit buggy still.

for i in akonadi-server akregator amarok amarok-common amarok-utils apport-kde apturl-kde ark bluedevil cdparanoia cdrdao docbook-xsl docbook-xsl-doc-html dolphin dragonplayer gdebi-core gdebi-kde gnupg-agent gnupg2 gtk2-engines-qtcurve gwenview hal hal-info ibus-qt4 icoutils jockey-kde k3b k3b-data kaddressbook kamera kate kcalc kde-config-gtk kde-config-touchpad kde-window-manager kde-zeroconf kdebase-bin kdebase-data kdebase-runtime kdebase-runtime-data kdebase-workspace kdebase-workspace-bin kdebase-workspace-data kdebase-workspace-kgreet-plugins kdegraphics-libs-data kdegraphics-strigi-plugins kdelibs-bin kdelibs5 kdelibs5-data kdelibs5-plugins kdemultimedia-kio-plugins kdepasswd kdepim-groupware kdepim-kresources kdepim-runtime kdepim-strigi-plugins kdepim-wizards kdepimlibs-kio-plugins kdesudo kdm kdoctools kfind khelpcenter4 kinfocenter klipper kmag kmail kmix kmousetool knm-runtime knotes konsole kontact kopete kopete-message-indicator korganizer kpackagekit kppp krdc krfb krosspython ksnapshot ksysguard ksysguardd ksystemlog ktimetracker ktorrent ktorrent-data kubuntu-debug-installer kubuntu-default-settings kubuntu-desktop kubuntu-docs kubuntu-firefox-installer kubuntu-konqueror-shortcuts kubuntu-netbook-default-settings kubuntu-notification-helper kvkbd kwalletmanager language-selector-qt libakonadi-contact4 libakonadi-kabc4 libakonadi-kcal4 libakonadi-kde4 libakonadi-kmime4 libakonadiprivate1 libao-common libao4 libattica0 libaudio2 libbluedevil1 libboost-program-options1.42.0 libcln6 libclucene0ldbl libdbusmenu-qt2 libdebconf-kde0 libdirectfb-1.2-9 libepub0 libflac++6 libgif4 libgpgme++2 libgps19 libhal-storage1 libhal1 libibus-qt1 libilmbase6 libindicate-qt0 libiodbc2 libk3b6 libkabc4 libkatepartinterfaces4 libkblog4 libkcal4 libkcddb4 libkdcraw8 libkde3support4 libkdecorations4 libkdecore5 libkdepim4 libkdesu5 libkdeui5 libkdewebkit5 libkdnssd4 libkephal4 libkexiv2-8 libkfile4 libkholidays4 libkhtml5 libkimap4 libkimproxy4 libkio5 libkipi7 libkjsapi4 libkjsembed4 libkldap4 libkleo4 libkmediaplayer4 libkmime4 libknewstuff2-4 libknewstuff3-4 libknotifyconfig4 libkntlm4 libkonq5 libkonq5-templates libkontactinterface4 libkopete4 libkparts4 libkpgp4 libkpimidentities4 libkpimtextedit4 libkpimutils4 libkpty4 libkresources4 libkrosscore4 libkrossui4 libksba8 libkscreensaver5 libksgrd4 libksieve4 libksignalplotter4 libktexteditor4 libktnef4 libktorrent-l10n libktorrent2 libkunitconversion4 libkutils4 libkwineffects1a libkworkspace4 libkxmlrpcclient4 liblastfm0 libloudmouth1-0 libmailtransport4 libmessagecore4 libmessagelist4 libmicroblog4 libmimelib4 libmng1 libmodplug1 libmpcdec6 libmsn0.3 libmysqlclient16 libnepomuk4 libnepomukquery4a libokularcore1 libopenexr6 libotr2 libpackagekit-glib2-14 libpackagekit-qt-14 libphonon4 libplasma-geolocation-interface4 libplasma3 libplasmaclock4b libplasmagenericshell4 libpolkit-qt-1-0 libpoppler-qt4-3 libprocesscore4a libprocessui4a libqalculate5 libqapt-runtime libqapt1 libqca2 libqca2-plugin-ossl libqgpgme1 libqimageblitz4 libqjson0 libqt4-dbus libqt4-designer libqt4-help libqt4-network libqt4-opengl libqt4-qt3support libqt4-script libqt4-scripttools libqt4-sql libqt4-sql-mysql libqt4-sql-sqlite libqt4-svg libqt4-test libqt4-xml libqt4-xmlpatterns libqtcore4 libqtgui4 libqtscript4-core libqtscript4-gui libqtscript4-network libqtscript4-sql libqtscript4-uitools libqtscript4-xml libqtwebkit4 libreadline5 libsolid4 libsolidcontrol4a libsolidcontrolifaces4 libsoprano4 libssh-4 libstreamanalyzer0 libstreams0 libsyndication4 libtag-extras1 libtaskmanager4a libtelepathy-qt4-0 libthreadweaver4 libts-0.0-0 libvirtodbc0 libvncserver0 libweather-ion4a libxcb-shape0 libxcb-xv0 libxine1 libxine1-bin libxine1-console libxine1-misc-plugins libxine1-x libzip1 mysql-client-core-5.1 mysql-common mysql-server-core-5.1 network-manager-pptp-kde odbcinst odbcinst1debian2 okular okular-extra-backends openoffice.org-kde openoffice.org-style-oxygen oxygen-cursor-theme oxygen-icon-theme oxygen-icon-theme-complete packagekit packagekit-backend-aptcc phonon phonon-backend-xine pinentry-gtk2 pinentry-qt4 plasma-dataengines-addons plasma-dataengines-workspace plasma-desktop plasma-netbook plasma-scriptengine-javascript plasma-scriptengine-python plasma-widget-facebook plasma-widget-folderview plasma-widget-kimpanel plasma-widget-kimpanel-backend-ibus plasma-widget-kubuntu-feedback plasma-widget-menubar plasma-widget-message-indicator plasma-widget-networkmanagement plasma-widget-quickaccess plasma-widgets-addons plasma-widgets-workspace plymouth-theme-kubuntu-logo plymouth-theme-kubuntu-text polkit-kde-1 printer-applet python-kde4 python-packagekit python-qt4 python-qt4-dbus python-sip qapt-batch quassel quassel-data rekonq shared-desktop-ontologies smartdimmer software-properties-kde soprano-daemon system-config-printer-kde systemsettings tsconf ttf-dejavu ttf-dejavu-extra update-manager-kde usb-creator-kde userconfig virtuoso-minimal virtuoso-opensource-6.1-bin virtuoso-opensource-6.1-common ; do sudo apt-get remove --purge -y "$i"; done

2011-01-02T12:25:00.000+05:00

sudo apt-get install xfce4-goodies
:D

Use apt-get behind a proxy

2010-12-26T14:43:00.000+05:00

/etc/apt/apt.conf:
Acquire::http::Proxy "http://x.x.x.x:port";

nautilus-script to hide files.

2010-12-03T20:39:00.001+05:00

#!/bin/bash

for i in "$NAUTILUS_SCRIPT_SELECTED_FILE_PATHS"
do
file=`echo $i|grep -oE '[^/]+$'`
path=`echo $i|grep -oE '^.+[/]'`
mv "${path}${file}" "${path}.${file}"
done

Using a proxy server for internet in the command prompt

2010-10-07T08:34:00.003+05:00

Either type into the prompt. or put at the end of .bashrc file:

export http_proxy=http://username:password@proxyserver.net:port/
export ftp_proxy=http://username:password@proxyserver.net:port/

automate taking screencaps

2010-08-28T20:19:00.004+05:00

Scenario: You want to take screen-shots of an application at regular intervals ( every 5 minutes ) and save it in a folder. The files are renamed with the current date and time.
There are many uses of this. If you want to archive graphs, or if you want to to monitor usage of the applications etc.

First you need to get the window-ID of the application window that you want to monitor:
run:

xwininfo

this will create a crosshair cursor,which when you click on the application will extract the ID.

Pass this window id into the following script. i have given 0x3a000, which is the windowID of the application i wanted to monitor.

Linux makes your life easy.

while [ 1 ]; do sleep 600;import -window 0x3a0004c -quality 40 /home/ishu/snaps/`date +%Y_%m_%d_%H_%M_%S`.jpg; done

Google and T-Mobile Introduce Phone With PC Features

2008-09-24T00:27:00.000+05:00

In the latest of a string of challenges to Apple’s popular iPhone, Google and T-Mobile on Tuesday introduced the first mobile phone powered by Google’s Android software, which they hope will bring PC-like features to millions of cellphone users.

Automounting partitions

2008-05-11T20:14:00.004+05:00

For somereason Ubuntu doesnt automount my partitions and I've to click in Places for it to be mounted.
Incase anyone else has this prob and needs help. Hope this helps.

1)First we need to find where the partitions are in the partition table and the filesystem type.
sudo blkid
or

fdisk -l
vol_id [device]

2)then for each entry create a mountpoint in /media
e.g: mkdir Movies Work
chown User :Group Movies
for Ubuntu both user and group will be your login name.

3)then edit fstab
sudo vim /etc/fstab

e.g: for /dev/sda8 we get the UUID from "blkid" comand. "/media/Movies" is the mount point we created, then filesystemtype mount options etc.

#/dev/sda8
UUID=f32ca5ac-8155-477a-9124-b1ae43ac876d /media/Movies ext3 auto,user,exec,rw,async 0 0

Wine 1.0-rc1 Released

2008-05-10T07:23:00.004+05:00

After 15+ years in development the first release candidate of Wine released. Wine is a Software application which allows Unix-like ( Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD etc ) operating systems to execute programs written for Windows. It currently runs a large collection of Windows apps . -http://appdb.winehq.org/ . The final release will be on the 16th anniversary

Ubuntu Hardy Heron Released

2008-04-24T20:46:00.002+05:00

http://www.ubuntu.com/

i386: http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/8.04/ubuntu-8. ...
amd64: http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/8.04/ubuntu-8. ...

my KDE4 desktop

2008-04-07T23:13:00.003+05:00

Looking sexy eh?. suck on this gnome.
Blue plasma theme with Analog clock, twitter and Picture plasmoids.

The KDE Plasma team is inviting everyone to participate in a contest to create Plasma themes from which a select few will be chosen to be included as a part of the upcoming KDE 4.1 release. This is a great opportunity to contribute to a very visible component of the KDE project, the Plasma desktop.
This is a good opportunity of exposure for the talented graphic desighners here in Maldives as well.

pidgin: view contacts by email

2008-04-02T05:22:00.001+05:00


#!/bin/bash
cd ~/.purple
sed -r '/<buddy/,/<\/buddy/s/(.*)<name>(.+)<\/name>/&\n\1<alias>\2<\/alias>/g' blist.xml >abclist.xml
mv abclist.xml blist.xml

How to change keyboards in Ubuntu ( How to type in Thaana )

2008-03-21T23:08:00.006+05:00

Add `keybord indicator` item to the panel.

Right click on the item and go to `Preferences`.

Click `Add` and select `Maldives`.

Now just click on the keybord indicator item to select Maldives and type away.

KDE4 on gnome

2008-03-16T18:15:00.002+05:00

This is how it looks like when I run a KDE 4.1 trunk build on gnome.

Google Android phones make debut

2008-02-11T21:26:00.000+05:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Android
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7238695.stm

he first mobile phones to be loaded with Google's Android software for mobile phones have gone on show.

About a dozen companies such as ARM, Texas Instruments and Qualcomm showed off prototype handsets at the annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The free software system was launched in November 2007 and is being developed by an alliance of more than 30 companies including Google.

The first Android-enabled phone is expected to go on sale later this year.

KDE goes cross-platform with Windows, Mac OS X support

2008-01-24T20:23:00.000+05:00

The open-source KDE desktop environment is making the jump across platforms with broad support for Windows and Mac OS X. The core KDE desktop programs, the KOffice suite, and the Amarok music player are actively being ported. Read more

Downloading minivanradio programs

2008-01-22T16:47:00.000+05:00

wget http://www.minivanradio.net -O minivan
sed -nr "/http.+\.mp3/s/.*(http.+mp3).*/\1/w files" minivan
wget -i files

random commands - ffmpeg

2008-01-13T09:52:00.000+05:00

You can download Flash Video format files used in Youtube, metacafe and other sites using the Firefox extension Video Downloadhelper.

After downloading all the videos, run this command to convert all of them to mpeg format.

for i in *.flv; do ffmpeg -i "$i" "$i".mpg;done

ffmpeg man page.

most viewed youtube clip the month.

2007-12-26T04:16:00.000+05:00

With over 7 million viewers http://youtube.com/watch?v=t-7fdt7kMqc&feature=related
and http://youtube.com/watch?v=tEdl72jIggw

Shows the popularity and interest in Ubuntu.

RSS feed reader 3rd Update

2007-12-07T06:12:00.000+05:00

Added toaster-pop-up like notification for updates . Clicking the Pop-up will open the corresponding blog entry in the browser.


from sgmllib import SGMLParser
import feedparser
from threading import Thread
from time import mktime, sleep
from re import sub
import pygtk
pygtk.require("2.0")
import gtk

class ParseDoc(SGMLParser):
        def get_vals(self):
                return self.datalist
        def parse(self, data):
                self.feed(data)
                self.close()
        def __init__(self, verbose=0):
                SGMLParser.__init__(self, verbose=0)
                self.datalist = []
        def start_outline(self, attributes):
                attrdict = {}
                for name, value in attributes:
                        attrdict[name]=value
                self.datalist.append(attrdict)


class FetchFeed(Thread):
        def __init__(self, xmlurl):
                Thread.__init__(self)
                self.xmlurl = xmlurl
                self.feedresult =  None

        def run(self):
                d = feedparser.parse(self.xmlurl)
                if d.feed.has_key('title'):
                        self.feedresult = d
def strip_html(text):
    def fixup(m):
        text = m.group(0)
        if text[:1] == "<":
            return ""
        if text[:2] == "&#":
            try:
                if text[:3] == "&#x":
                    return unichr(int(text[3:-1], 16))
                else:
                    return unichr(int(text[2:-1]))
            except ValueError:
                pass
        elif text[:1] == "&":
            import htmlentitydefs
            entity = htmlentitydefs.entitydefs.get(text[1:-1])
            if entity:
                if entity[:2] == "&#":
                    try:
                        return unichr(int(entity[2:-1]))
                    except ValueError:
                        pass
                else:
                    return unicode(entity, "iso-8859-1")
        return text
    return sub("(?s)<[^>]*>|&#?\w+;", fixup, text)


class ParseBlogs(ParseDoc):

        def __init__(self, opmldoc = None):
                ParseDoc.__init__(self, verbose=0)
                self.lastenty = None
                if opmldoc:
                        fileobj = open(opmldoc);
                        filedata = fileobj.read()
                        fileobj.close()
                        ParseDoc.parse(self, filedata)
                        self.blogsdata = ParseDoc.get_vals(self)
                        del self.blogsdata[0]
                        self.opmldocflag = 1
                        self.resultlimit = 3

                else:
                        self.blogsdata = ['http://mvblogs.org/mvblogs.xml']
                        self.opmldocflag = 0
                        self.resultlimit = None
                        self.feedresults = []

                self.threadlist = []
                self.lastparsetime = None

        def getfeeds(self, min=0, max=1):

                for i in self.blogsdata[min:max]:

                        if self.opmldocflag:
                                t = FetchFeed(i['xmlurl'])
                        else:
                                t = FetchFeed(self.blogsdata[0])
                        t.start()
                        self.threadlist.append(t)

                for tl in self.threadlist:
                        tl.join()
                        self.getfeed(tl)
                self.threadlist = []

        def getfeed(self, tl):
                results = []
                if tl.feedresult:
                        tlfeed = tl.feedresult.feed
                        tlresult = tl.feedresult.entries

                        results.append(tlfeed)
                        results.append(tlresult)
                        self.feedresults.append(results)


        def printfeeds(self, onlyupdates = 'false'):
                print "printing"
                for i in self.feedresults:#for each feed

                        #if limit not set fetch all entries
                        if not self.resultlimit:self.resultlimit = len(i[1])

                        for j in range(self.resultlimit):#for each entry

                                #if onlyupdates then ignore old entries
                                if onlyupdates == "true" and self.lastparsetime:
                                        if mktime(i[1][j].updated_parsed) <= mktime(self.lastparsetime):
                                                continue

                                if self.opmldocflag:
                                        print i[0]['author']
                                        print i[0]['title']

                                print i[1][j].date
                                print i[1][j].title
                                print i[1][j].link
                                print strip_html(i[1][j].description)
                                print "#"*100
                                #for updates display popup
                                if onlyupdates =="true" and self.lastparsetime:
                                        toasterpop = Popup(i[1][j].title, i[1][j].link)

                self.lastparsetime = self.feedresults[0][1][0].updated_parsed
                self.feedresults = []

class Popup:
        def clicky(self, widget, link=None):
                os.system("firefox "+link)
                gtk.main_quit()

        def delete_event(self, widget, event, data=None):
                return False

        def destroy(self, widget, data=None):
                gtk.main_quit()

        def __init__(self,message = "Hello World", link="http://vishah.blogspot.com"):
                self.toaster = gtk.Window(gtk.WINDOW_TOPLEVEL)
                self.toaster.set_title("New!!")
                self.toaster.connect("destroy", self.destroy)
                self.toaster.connect("delete_event", self.delete_event)
                self.button = gtk.Button(message)
                self.button.connect("clicked",self.clicky, link)
                self.toaster.add(self.button)
                self.toaster.set_gravity(gtk.gdk.GRAVITY_SOUTH_EAST)
                self.toaster.resize(150,150)
                width, height = self.toaster.get_size()
                self.toaster.move(gtk.gdk.screen_width() - width, gtk.gdk.screen_height() - height)
                self.toaster.show_all()
                self.main()


        def main(self):
                gtk.main()

#parseobj = ParseBlogs('mvblogs-export.xml')
#parseobj.getfeeds(0,3)
parseobj = ParseBlogs()
while(1):
        parseobj.getfeeds()
        parseobj.printfeeds('true')
        sleep(20)

Invitation for Linux and free software enthusiasts

2007-12-02T16:37:00.000+05:00

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2433611028

Join this facebook group for discussion and support.

Why Free/Open Source Software??
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/

Free software is a matter of freedom: people should be free to use software in all the ways that are socially useful. Software differs from material objects—such as chairs, sandwiches, and gasoline—in that it can be copied and changed much more easily. These possibilities make software as useful as it is; we believe software users should be able to make use of them.

The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

openSUSE YeaaaHH

2007-12-01T17:14:00.000+05:00

Installed the latest openSUSE version 10.3 today.In my opinion this is the distro which has the best implementation of KDE.

5:40 At the moment installing NVIDIA drivers
http://en.opensuse.org/NVIDIA
As you can see in the NVIDIA page, it's very easy to install software ..Instead of downloading the RPMs and manually installing, you can install any software in their catalog by 1-Click technology.

5:52 installing Compiz Fusion
http://en.opensuse.org/Compiz-Fusion
This is for the eye candy..Minimizing effects, fire on the screen.ripple effects etc. Some plugins increases usability also.

6:10 Installing dhivehi fonts.There is a GUI way of downloading the fonts manually and installing it..But using a script or a set of commands is also an option.

su
mkdir fonts
cd fonts
mkdir /usr/share/fonts/truetype/Dhivehi
wget http://www.haveeru.com.mv/fonts.zip
mkdir dhivehifonts
unzip -d dhivehifonts fonts.zip
rm fonts.zip
wget -P dhivehifonts "http://www.mcst.gov.mv/Downloads/New/Divehi%20xp%20fonts/Mv%20GroupX%20Avas.otf.ttf" "http://www.mcst.gov.mv/Downloads/New/Divehi%20xp%20fonts/Mv%20Iyyu%20Normal.otf.ttf" "http://www.mcst.gov.mv/Downloads/New/Divehi%20xp%20fonts/Mv%20MAG%20Round.otf.ttf" "http://www.mcst.gov.mv/Downloads/New/Divehi%20xp%20fonts/Mv%20MAG%20Round%20XBold.otf.ttf" "http://www.mcst.gov.mv/Downloads/New/Divehi%20xp%20fonts/Mv%20Sehga%20Old.otf.ttf" "http://www.mcst.gov.mv/Downloads/New/Divehi%20xp%20fonts/Mv%20Iyyu%20Nala.otf.ttf" "http://www.mcst.gov.mv/Downloads/New/Divehi%20xp%20fonts/Mv%20Lady%20Luck.otf.ttf" "http://www.mcst.gov.mv/Downloads/New/Divehi%20xp%20fonts/Mv%20MAG%20Round%20Hollow.otf.ttf" "http://www.mcst.gov.mv/Downloads/New/Divehi%20xp%20fonts/Mv%20Sehga%20FB.otf.ttf" "http://www.mcst.gov.mv/Downloads/Fonts/Mv%20Galan.ttf"
mv dhivehifonts/*.TTF dhivehifonts/*.ttf /usr/share/fonts/truetype/Dhivehi/
fc-cache -f -v

Configuring Compiz
Enable Expo

Enable Cube Gears

Suse kickoff menu has been ported to KDE 4.

1:46 Multimedia codecs
( after going out for a little birthday celebration :D )
http://opensuse-community.org/Multimedia

RSS reader update

2007-11-29T21:28:00.000+05:00

If 'onlyupdates' flag is set it will run on the background and print only the updates.


import sgmllib
import feedparser
from threading import Thread
import time
import re
import urllib

class MyParse(sgmllib.SGMLParser):
       def get_vals(self):
               return self.datalist
       def parse(self, data):
               self.feed(data)
               self.close()
       def __init__(self, verbose=0):
               sgmllib.SGMLParser.__init__(self, verbose=0)
               self.datalist = []
       def start_outline(self, attributes):
               attrdict = {}
               for name, value in attributes:
                       attrdict[name]=value
               self.datalist.append(attrdict)


class FetchFeed(Thread):
       def __init__(self, xmlurl):
               Thread.__init__(self)
               self.xmlurl = xmlurl
               self.feedresult =  None

       def run(self):
               d = feedparser.parse(self.xmlurl)
               if d.feed.has_key('title'):
                       self.feedresult = d
def strip_html(text):
   def fixup(m):
       text = m.group(0)
       if text[:1] == "<":
           return ""
       if text[:2] == "&#":
           try:
               if text[:3] == "&#x":
                   return unichr(int(text[3:-1], 16))
               else:
                   return unichr(int(text[2:-1]))
           except ValueError:
               pass
       elif text[:1] == "&":
           import htmlentitydefs
           entity = htmlentitydefs.entitydefs.get(text[1:-1])
           if entity:
               if entity[:2] == "&#":
                   try:
                       return unichr(int(entity[2:-1]))
                   except ValueError:
                       pass
               else:
                   return unicode(entity, "iso-8859-1")
       return text
   return re.sub("(?s)<[^>]*>|&#?\w+;", fixup, text)


class ParseOpml(MyParse):

       def __init__(self, opmldoc = None):
               MyParse.__init__(self, verbose=0)
               self.lastenty = None
               if opmldoc:
                       fileobj = open(opmldoc);
                       filedata = fileobj.read()
                       fileobj.close()
                       MyParse.parse(self, filedata)
                       self.blogsdata = MyParse.get_vals(self)
                       del self.blogsdata[0]
                       self.opmldocflag = 1
                       self.resultlimit = 3

               else:
                       self.blogsdata = ['http://mvblogs.org/mvblogs.xml']
                       self.opmldocflag = 0
                       self.resultlimit = None
                       self.feedresults = []

               self.threadlist = []
               self.lastentry = None

       def getfeeds(self, min=0, max=1):

               print self.blogsdata[0]
               for i in self.blogsdata[min:max]:

                       if self.opmldocflag:
                               t = FetchFeed(i['xmlurl'])
                       else:
                               t = FetchFeed(self.blogsdata[0])
                       t.start()
                       self.threadlist.append(t)

               for tl in self.threadlist:
                       tl.join()
                       self.getfeed(tl)

       def getfeed(self, tl):
               results = []
               if tl.feedresult:
                       tlfeed = tl.feedresult.feed
                       tlresult = tl.feedresult.entries

                       results.append(tlfeed)
                       results.append(tlresult)
                       self.feedresults.append(results)
                       if not self.lastentry:self.lastentry = tlresult[len(tlresult)-1]

       def printfeeds(self, onlyupdates = 'false'):
               for i in self.feedresults:

                       if not self.resultlimit:self.resultlimit = len(i[1])
                       for j in range(self.resultlimit):
                               if onlyupdates:
                                       if self.lastentry.date<i[1][j].date:
                                               continue

                               if self.opmldocflag:
                                       print i[0]['author']
                                       print i[0]['title']

                               print i[1][j].date
                               print i[1][j].title
                               print i[1][j].link
                               print strip_html(i[1][j].description)
                               print "#"*100
               if onlyupdates:
                       self.lastentry=None



#parseobj = ParseOpml('mvblogs-export.xml')
#parseobj.getfeeds(0,3)
parseobj = ParseOpml()
while(1):
       parseobj.getfeeds()
       parseobj.printfeeds('true')
       time.sleep(30)

RSS feed reader

2007-11-29T05:22:00.000+05:00

The idea is to have a pop up notification for blog updates..But was too bored to complete it.


import sgmllib
import feedparser
from threading import Thread
import time
import re
#parse the list
class myparse(sgmllib.SGMLParser):
     def get_vals(self):
             return self.datalist
     def parse(self, data):
             self.feed(data)
             self.close()
     def __init__(self, verbose=0):
             sgmllib.SGMLParser.__init__(self, verbose=0)
             self.datalist = []
     def start_outline(self, attributes):
             attrdict = {}
             for name, value in attributes:
                     attrdict[name]=value
             self.datalist.append(attrdict)


class fetchfeed(Thread):
     def __init__(self, xmlurl):
             Thread.__init__(self)
             self.xmlurl = xmlurl
             self.feedresult =  None

     def run(self):
             d = feedparser.parse(self.xmlurl)
             if d.feed.has_key('title'):
                     self.feedresult = d
def strip_html(text):
 def fixup(m):
     text = m.group(0)
     if text[:1] == "<":
         return ""
     if text[:2] == "&#":
         try:
             if text[:3] == "&#x":
                 return unichr(int(text[3:-1], 16))
             else:
                 return unichr(int(text[2:-1]))
         except ValueError:
             pass
     elif text[:1] == "&":
         import htmlentitydefs
         entity = htmlentitydefs.entitydefs.get(text[1:-1])
         if entity:
             if entity[:2] == "&#":
                 try:
                     return unichr(int(entity[2:-1]))
                 except ValueError:
                     pass
             else:
                 return unicode(entity, "iso-8859-1")
     return text
 return re.sub("(?s)<[^>]*>|&#?\w+;", fixup, text)

#parse the OPML document.
fileobj = open('mvblogs-export.xml');
filedata = fileobj.read()
fileobj.close()
parseblogs = myparse()
parseblogs.parse(filedata)

blogdata = parseblogs.get_vals()
del blogdata[0]
tlist = []
for i in blogdata[0:10]:
     t = fetchfeed(i['xmlurl'])
     t.start()
     tlist.append(t)

for tl in tlist:
     tl.join()
     if tl.feedresult:
             tlfeed = tl.feedresult.feed
             tlresult = tl.feedresult.entries
             print "author:" + tlfeed['author']
             print "title:" + tlfeed['title']
             for i in range(3):
                     print tlresult[i].date
                     print tlresult[i].title
                     print tlresult[i].link
                     print strip_html(tlresult[i].description)
                     print "#"*100

Fedora8

2007-11-09T19:39:00.000+05:00

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/8/ReleaseSummary
Werewolf" moves across the land
Router meltdowns close at hand
Sysadmins in search of blood
For those who caused this bandwidth flood
And whosoever took the risk
But failed to make an extra disc
Must face the Bastard Op from Hell
And lose his access to the shell

The best of Linux now is here
To kill the FUD and strike with fear
The hearts of those who steal your rights
And hide their code far from your sight
Closed source takes away what's yours
But you'll never shake the horror
Until you taste the freedom and
The power of FEDORA!

The Greatest Hacker In Maldives

2007-11-03T18:46:00.000+05:00

I'm proud we have such elite hackers in Maldives.Though we are a country of only 300,000 people, there are masters in every field specially computing..It fills me with joy so much that I get cramps by reading the interview with The Greatest Hacker in Maldives..

the interview: http://crymv.blogspot.com/2007/11/blog-post.html

тнє υηвσяη: am telling only u ingey abt this, so dnt tell anyone. i have stpd hackin last year dec...cus microsoft n lotsa others lookin for me..i am from The Legion..i was their leader and i led them 4 almst 1 n 1/2 yrs.its an international group of hackers n no one knws each others name or identity....only reason y we r still arnd, evn microsoft dono who we r..

Dhiraagu edirectory lister 3rd update

2007-10-28T17:06:00.000+05:00

Changes:

"Get All" will show the results in a single block instead of page by page.

So it's possible to redirect the output to a file in a single go.
For instance

vishah@vishah-desktop:~$ python edir.py >edirlog.txt

If the query gives a large set of results, the program might appear frozen, because threading is not implemented yet..give it some time and it'll hopefully complete.

Click the code.


# ____________________________________
#/ dhiraagu edirectory lister 3 rd    \
#\ version                            /
# ------------------------------------
#  \                 __ 
#   \               (oo)
#    \              (  )
#     \             /--\
#       __         / \  \ 
#      UooU\.'@@@@@@`.\  )
#      \__/(@@@@@@@@@@) /
#           (@@@@@@@@)(( 
#           `YY~~~~YY' \\
#            ||    ||   >> 
#
import pygtk
pygtk.require("2.0")
import gtk
import urllib2
import urllib
import sgmllib
import re
import cookielib

class MyParser(sgmllib.SGMLParser):
       def __init__(self, verbose=0):
               sgmllib.SGMLParser.__init__(self, verbose)
               self.numbers = []
               self.bumbers = []
               self.inside_td_element = 0
               self.inside_tdno_element = 0
               self
       def parse(self, data):
               self.feed(data)
               self.close()

       def start_td(self, attributes):
               if attributes == []:
                       self.inside_td_element = 1
               else:
                       self.inside_tdno_element = 1

       def end_td(self):
               self.inside_td_element = 0
               self.inside_tdno_element = 0

       def handle_data(self, data):
               if self.inside_td_element == 1:
                       self.numbers.append(data)
               if self.inside_tdno_element == 1:
                       self.bumbers.append(data)

       def get_numbers(self):
               return self.numbers

       def get_bumbers(self):
               return self.bumbers



       phonenumbers=""
class fuck:
       def clicky(self, widget, textbuffer, entry, next=None,first = None,listall = None):

               urlobj = None
               urlobjdata = ""
               cmpobjres = None
               cmpobj = None
               global phonenumbers

               if first != None:
                       urlobj = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.dhivehinet.net.mv/index.php', urllib.urlencode({'action':'edir', 'query':entry.get_text(), 'searchtype':'number'}))
                       for i in range(0,len(self.button)):
                               self.button[i].destroy()
                       self.button=[]

               else:
                       self.cj.load('/tmp/edircookie')
                       urlobj = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.dhivehinet.net.mv/index.php', urllib.urlencode({'action':'edir','page':next}))

               self.cj.save('/tmp/edircookie')

               urlobjdata = urlobj.read()
               if (int(self.nextpage) == int(next)) or ( first != None ):
                       cmpobj = re.compile(r'<a id=\"nextPage\" href=\".+?page=([0-9]{1,})\"', re.DOTALL)
                       cmpobjres = cmpobj.search(urlobjdata)

               if cmpobjres is not None:
                       print "sssssssssssss"
                       self.nextpage = cmpobjres.group(1)
                       buttonindex = int(self.nextpage)
                       if listall == None:
                               self.button.append(gtk.Button(self.nextpage))
                               print buttonindex
                               self.hbox.pack_start(self.button[buttonindex-1],True,True,0)
                               self.button[buttonindex-1].connect("clicked",self.clicky,textbuffer, entry, buttonindex )
                               self.button[buttonindex-1].show()
                       else:
                               self.clicky(widget, textbuffer, entry, buttonindex, None, "yes")
               else:
                       ass = "true"

               diParser = MyParser()
               cmpobj = re.compile(r"id=\"edir\".+?table>", re.DOTALL)
               feeddata = cmpobj.search(urlobjdata).group()
               diParser.feed(feeddata)
               asw = diParser.get_numbers()
               asd = diParser.get_bumbers()
               prrr = ''
               if listall == None:
                       for i, j in zip(asw, asd):
                               prrr = prrr + "\n" + j.ljust(12,' ') + i.ljust(20, ' ')
                       textbuffer.set_text(prrr)
               else:
                       for i, j in zip(asw, asd):
                               prrr = prrr + "\n" + j.ljust(12,' ') + i.ljust(20, ' ')
                       phonenumbers = phonenumbers + prrr
                       print phonenumbers
               if int(self.nextpage) != int(next):
                       textbuffer.set_text(phonenumbers)

       def closethingy(self, widget, event, data=None):
               gtk.main_quit()
       def __init__(self):
               self.button = []
               self.cj = cookielib.LWPCookieJar()
               opener = urllib2.build_opener(urllib2.HTTPCookieProcessor(self.cj))
               urllib2.install_opener(opener)
               self.nextpage=0
               self.window = gtk.Window(gtk.WINDOW_TOPLEVEL)
               self.window.set_title("Dhiraagu edirectory lister")
               self.window.connect("delete_event", self.closethingy)
               self.vbox = gtk.VBox(False, 0)
               self.hbox = gtk.HBox(True,0)
               entry = gtk.Entry(50)
               self.vbox.pack_start(entry, False, False, 0)
               button = gtk.Button("Get List")
               buttonall = gtk.Button("Get All")
               textview = gtk.TextView()
               textbuffer = textview.get_buffer()
               button.connect("clicked", self.clicky, textbuffer, entry,0,"yes")
               buttonall.connect("clicked", self.clicky, textbuffer, entry,0,"yes","yes")
               scrolledwindow = gtk.ScrolledWindow()
               scrolledwindow.set_policy(gtk.POLICY_ALWAYS,gtk.POLICY_ALWAYS)
               scrolledwindow.add_with_viewport(textview)
               self.vbox.pack_start(button, False, False, 0)
               self.vbox.pack_start(buttonall, False, False, 0)
               self.vbox.pack_start(scrolledwindow, True, True, 10)
               self.vbox.pack_start(self.hbox,False,False,0)
               self.window.add(self.vbox)
               self.window.set_border_width(3)
               self.window.resize(700, 500)
               self.window.show_all()


if __name__ == "__main__":
       fuck()
       gtk.main()

Ubuntu gets Gutsy

2007-10-19T00:43:00.000+05:00

Screen Shots
http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisubuntu/screenshots-710

Review
http://www.wired.com/software/softwarereviews/news/2007/10/ubuntu_gutsy

Tour
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/710tour

This Release by defaults enables Compiz Fusion 3D Effects :- Visual Appeal unmatched in any other OS, and has also refined its image as an OS for the average joe by including features such as easy installation of flash plugin. Installing Software is made much easier than Windows or OSX by the Synaptic package management tool which lists thousands of software and installation of any is only a few clicks away..

NO TO TERRORISM! DON'T TOUCH OUR MALDIVES!

2007-10-04T18:12:00.000+05:00

Maldivian Tuxers beware, you are in for a Wahaabee Devil Scare!!!
(Normal Wahaabees can have a stable kernel! Not DIRECTED at YOU fellas)

"We don't want terrorists and terrorism in our Maldives!

Join the cyber-protest by Maldivian bloggers."

Dhiraagu e-directory lister update.

2007-09-23T12:26:00.000+05:00


# ____________________________________
#/ dhiraagu edirectory lister 2 nd    \
#\ version                            /
# ------------------------------------
#  \                 __ 
#   \               (oo)
#    \              (  )
#     \             /--\
#       __         / \  \ 
#      UooU\.'@@@@@@`.\  )
#      \__/(@@@@@@@@@@) /
#           (@@@@@@@@)(( 
#           `YY~~~~YY' \\
#            ||    ||   >> 
#
import pygtk
pygtk.require("2.0")
import gtk
import urllib2
import urllib
import sgmllib
import re
import cookielib

class MyParser(sgmllib.SGMLParser):
  def __init__(self, verbose=0):
      sgmllib.SGMLParser.__init__(self, verbose)
      self.numbers = []
      self.bumbers = []
      self.inside_td_element = 0
      self.inside_tdno_element = 0
      self
  def parse(self, data):
      self.feed(data)
      self.close()

  def start_td(self, attributes):
      if attributes == []:
          self.inside_td_element = 1
      else:
          self.inside_tdno_element = 1

  def end_td(self):
      self.inside_td_element = 0
      self.inside_tdno_element = 0

  def handle_data(self, data):
      if self.inside_td_element == 1:
          self.numbers.append(data)
      if self.inside_tdno_element == 1:
          self.bumbers.append(data)

  def get_numbers(self):
      return self.numbers

  def get_bumbers(self):
      return self.bumbers



class fuck:
  def clicky(self, widget, textbuffer, entry, next=None,first = None):

      urlobj = None
      urlobjdata = ""
      cmpobjres = None
      cmpobj = None

      if first != None:
              urlobj = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.dhivehinet.net.mv/index.php', urllib.urlencode({'action':'edir', 'query':entry.get_text(), 'searchtype':'number'}))
              for i in range(0,len(self.button)):
                      self.button[i].destroy()
              self.button=[]

      else:

              self.cj.load('/tmp/edircookie')
              urlobj = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.dhivehinet.net.mv/index.php', urllib.urlencode({'action':'edir','page':next}))

      self.cj.save('/tmp/edircookie')

      urlobjdata = urlobj.read()
      if (int(self.nextpage) == int(next)) or ( first != None ):
              cmpobj = re.compile(r'<a id=\"nextPage\" href=\".+?page=([0-9]{1,})\"', re.DOTALL)
              cmpobjres = cmpobj.search(urlobjdata)

              if cmpobjres is not None:
                      print "sssssssssssss"
                      self.nextpage = cmpobjres.group(1)
                      self.button.append(gtk.Button(self.nextpage))
                      buttonindex = int(self.nextpage)
                      print buttonindex
                      self.hbox.pack_start(self.button[buttonindex-1],True,True,0)
                      self.button[buttonindex-1].connect("clicked",self.clicky,textbuffer, entry, buttonindex )
                      self.button[buttonindex-1].show()

      diParser = MyParser()
      cmpobj = re.compile(r"id=\"edir\".+?table>", re.DOTALL)
      feeddata = cmpobj.search(urlobjdata).group()
      diParser.feed(feeddata)
      asw = diParser.get_numbers()
      asd = diParser.get_bumbers()
      prrr = ''
      for i, j in zip(asw, asd):
          prrr = prrr + "\n" + j.ljust(12,' ') + i.ljust(20, ' ')
      textbuffer.set_text(prrr)

  def closethingy(self, widget, event, data=None):
      gtk.main_quit()
  def __init__(self):
      self.button = []
      self.cj = cookielib.LWPCookieJar()
      opener = urllib2.build_opener(urllib2.HTTPCookieProcessor(self.cj))
      urllib2.install_opener(opener)
      self.nextpage=0
      self.window = gtk.Window(gtk.WINDOW_TOPLEVEL)
      self.window.set_title("Dhiraagu edirectory lister")
      self.window.connect("delete_event", self.closethingy)
      self.vbox = gtk.VBox(False, 0)
      self.hbox = gtk.HBox(True,0)
      entry = gtk.Entry(50)
      self.vbox.pack_start(entry, False, False, 0)
      button = gtk.Button("Get List")
      textview = gtk.TextView()
      textbuffer = textview.get_buffer()
      button.connect("clicked", self.clicky, textbuffer, entry,0,"yes")
      scrolledwindow = gtk.ScrolledWindow()
      scrolledwindow.set_policy(gtk.POLICY_ALWAYS,gtk.POLICY_ALWAYS)
      scrolledwindow.add_with_viewport(textview)
      self.vbox.pack_start(button, False, False, 0)
      self.vbox.pack_start(scrolledwindow, True, True, 10)
      self.vbox.pack_start(self.hbox,False,False,0)
      self.window.add(self.vbox)
      self.window.set_border_width(3)
      self.window.resize(700, 500)
      self.window.show_all()


if __name__ == "__main__":
  fuck()
  gtk.main()

pclinface

2007-09-22T09:25:00.000+05:00


#!/bin/bash
username="your_email"
password="password"

if [[ ( $# -gt 1 ) && ( ( "$1" = "wall" ) || ( "$1" = "cmd" ) ) ]]
then
wget -O /tmp/pclinfacelogin --user-agent="Mozilla/MozVer (Platform; Security; SubPlatform; Language; rv:Revision[; Extension]*) Gecko/GeckVer [Product/ProdVer]" --save-cookies=/tmp/pclinfacecookies --load-cookies=/tmp/pclinfacecookies --keep-session-cookies --post-data="email=${username}&pass=${password}" https://login.facebook.com/login.php

case "$1" in
  "wall")
          shift
          wget -O /tmp/pclinfacewall --user-agent="Mozilla/MozVer (Platform; Security; SubPlatform; Language; rv:Revision[; Extension]*) Gecko/GeckVer [Product/ProdVer]" --save-cookies=/tmp/pclinfacecookies --load-cookies=/tmp/pclinfacecookies --keep-session-cookies --post-data="post_form_id=4bef82826c71b2d394d9013e43628399&id=4951817788&wall_text=${@}" http://www.facebook.com/wallpost.php;;

  "cmd")
          shift
          wget -O /tmp/pclinfacecmd --user-agent="Mozilla/MozVer (Platform; Security; SubPlatform; Language; rv:Revision[; Extension]*) Gecko/GeckVer [Product/ProdVer]" --save-cookies=/tmp/pclinfacecookies --load-cookies=/tmp/pclinfacecookies --keep-session-cookies --post-data="post_form_id=4bef82826c71b2d394d9013e43628399&body=${@}" "http://www.facebook.com/edittopic.php?&action=4&uid=4951817788&topic=3100&post=&reply_to=" ;;
  *)echo "Usage: `basename $0` wall|cmd data";;
esac
else
echo "Usage: `basename $0` wall|cmd data"
shift
echo "$@"
fi

Richard Stallman

2007-08-29T00:55:00.000+05:00

President of Free Software Foundation.

Why learn Regular Expressions

2007-08-13T22:52:00.000+05:00

Scenareo:A friend has been given the task by his office, to find the no of eligible voters for each of the islands. The data is in pdf files, with different files having different structures. There are headings, numbers, text in between lines etc. He had an idea of importing the files to excel and calculating the no of rows.But the headings and notes in between lines meant that there's a lot of deleting to do..Imagine doing that for an Island like Hithadhoo with over 9000 records. Instead of wasting time doing redundant work we can always make use of regular expressions.
Heres a quick script to do that.


#!/bin/bash
for i in *
do
  pdftotext -layout -nopgbrk $i out
  sed -r -f sedfile out > ${i}out
done

sedfile

/^[ ]{7}[A-Za-z]+$/d
/^[A-Za-z]+.*$/d
/^.*[A-Za-z]+[0-9]+.*$/d
/^.*Vote.*$/d
/^.*Total.*$/d
/^$/d
/^[ ]+$/d

mvblogs Firefox Search Plugin

2007-08-03T21:38:00.001+05:00

Link

7 Habits For Effective Text Editing

2007-06-11T01:54:00.001+05:00

Bram Moolenaar talks about effective ways of text editing.

Ubuntu full circle magazine issue 1.

2007-06-08T13:37:00.000+05:00

Contents:

Install Ubuntu Feisty Fawn, step by step

Howtos:

Linux Directory Structure
MythTV Intro
Scribus (desktop publishing) Part I
Add/Remove Software
Review: GRAMPS geneaology software
Interview: Deluge BitTorrent Client developer
News, “Top 5″, Letters, Desktops, and much moreDownload here

An alternative way to notify, in kopete

2007-06-06T00:46:00.000+05:00

First install X onscreen display: sudo apt-get install xosd-bin
From kopete menu goto Settings>Configure Notifications
Select "A contact has come online"
Click "Advanced" button
Deselect "show message in pop up"
Select "Execute a program"
Paste the following:


echo %s | sed -r 's/<qt><i>(.+)<\/i>(.+)<\/qt>/\1 \2/g' | osd_cat  -f -*-arial-*-r-*-*-15-*-*-*-*-*-*-* -p bottom -A right  -c yellow -s1

eyeOS 1.0

2007-06-05T18:30:00.000+05:00

eyeOS is an open source web Desktop Environment.
http://demo.eyeos.org/

Install dhivehi fonts

2007-05-31T09:06:00.000+05:00


#!/bin/bash
PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin
gksudo mkdir /usr/share/fonts/truetype/dhivehi
wget "http://dhivehiobserver.com/fonts/Faseyha%20fonts.zip"
unzip -d dhivehifonts "Faseyha fonts.zip"
wget -P dhivehifonts "http://www.mcst.gov.mv/Downloads/New/Divehi%20xp%20fonts/Mv%20GroupX%20Avas.otf.ttf" "http://www.mcst.gov.mv/Downloads/New/Divehi%20xp%20fonts/Mv%20Iyyu%20Normal.otf.ttf" "http://www.mcst.gov.mv/Downloads/New/Divehi%20xp%20fonts/Mv%20MAG%20Round.otf.ttf" "http://www.mcst.gov.mv/Downloads/New/Divehi%20xp%20fonts/Mv%20MAG%20Round%20XBold.otf.ttf" "http://www.mcst.gov.mv/Downloads/New/Divehi%20xp%20fonts/Mv%20Sehga%20Old.otf.ttf" "http://www.mcst.gov.mv/Downloads/New/Divehi%20xp%20fonts/Mv%20Iyyu%20Nala.otf.ttf" "http://www.mcst.gov.mv/Downloads/New/Divehi%20xp%20fonts/Mv%20Lady%20Luck.otf.ttf" "http://www.mcst.gov.mv/Downloads/New/Divehi%20xp%20fonts/Mv%20MAG%20Round%20Hollow.otf.ttf" "http://www.mcst.gov.mv/Downloads/New/Divehi%20xp%20fonts/Mv%20Sehga%20FB.otf.ttf" "http://www.mcst.gov.mv/Downloads/Fonts/Mv%20Galan.ttf"|zenity --progress --title "Downloading" --text "fonts"
gksudo mv dhivehifonts/*.TTF dhivehifonts/*.ttf /usr/share/fonts/truetype/dhivehi/
fc-cache -f -v

script to download pictures from fotovagu.com

2007-05-22T10:51:00.000+05:00


#!/bin/bash

echo  "Albums 1)Maldivian Girls 2)Emme Reethi Bitun.(enter 1 or 2):"
read i
#varnoof pics is the no no pics in the album
case "$i" in
    1)varnoofpics=4777;varalbum=1;;
    2)varnoofpics=530;varalbum=2;;
    *)exit
esac
echo -n "Enter username:"
read varusername
echo -n "password:"
read varpassword
wget --save-cookies=fotovagucookies --keep-session-cookies --post-data="username=${varusername}&password=${varpassword}&remember_me=checked&submitted=Login" -O pimpim http://www.fotovagu.com/gallery/login.php

varerror=`cat pimpim |grep -o "Couldn't log in"`
if [ "$varerror" == "Couldn't log in" ]
then
    echo "Invalid username/password"
    exit
else
    echo "Username and Password accepted..continuing"
fi

wget --load-cookies=fotovagucookies --keep-session-cookies -O pimpim http://www.fotovagu.com/gallery/index.php

j=0



while (( $j<$varnoofpics ))
do


 wget --load-cookies=fotovagucookies --keep-session-cookies -O pimpim "http://www.fotovagu.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=${varalbum}&pos=${j}"

 varpic=( `cat pimpim|grep -oE "albums\/userpics\/[0-9]+\/[A-Za-z0-9_-]+\.jpg"|grep -v thumb` )

 wget --load-cookies=fotovagucookies --keep-session-cookies http://www.fotovagu.com/gallery/${varpic}

 ((  j++ ))

done

Metisse Window Manager

2007-05-21T00:35:00.000+05:00

Metisse is a window manager developped by the In Situ project. Available under the GPL Licence and in exclusivity for Mandriva Linux, Metisse differs from a classic 3D desktop ("the cube") in the way that it offers innovative windows interactions, thus enforcing work efficiency

videos

Skype Communications

2007-05-03T19:42:00.000+05:00

NETGEAR’s Skype devices enable consumers to make unlimited free domestic and international calls to other Skype users over a wireless network without being tied to a computer. The WiFi phone will work anywhere in the world a user has a secured or open access to a WiFi network — in any home, office, public hot spot, or municipal wireless access point that does not require browser-based authentication.

read more about this here

Free Ubuntu Magazine

2007-04-28T23:41:00.000+05:00

"Full Circle is an e-magazine run by the Ubuntu community that covers the world of Ubuntu, open source, and technology.
Full Circle is community written and community run, so please consider contributing an article to the magazine."

The #0 edition of the magazine is available for download here.

This issue contains history of Ubuntu releases ( Warty Warthog, Hoary Hedgehog, Breezy Badger, Dapper Drake, Edgy Eft ) and Ubuntu Feisty Fawn’s new features.

The highlighted features of the current release 'Feisty Fawn' are Migration assistant, Easy codec/restricted drivers installation, Desktop effects, Easier connections to wireless networks and support for the new Intel Mac.

The next release is to be called "Gutsy Gibbon", which will include default graphical desktop effects, unattended installation, and Linspire's Click'N'Run options (GUI-based means of installing free and proprietary software.Commercial proprietary software is also available at discount rates).

Nautilus script to set an image as desktop background

2007-04-26T20:25:00.000+05:00

Download nautilus-script archive

The location of nautilus scripts is ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts

#!/bin/bash
cwd=`echo "$NAUTILUS_SCRIPT_SELECTED_URIS"|grep -oE '[/][^//].+'|sed 's/%20/ /g'`
gconftool-2 -t "str" --set /desktop/gnome/background/picture_filename "$cwd"

Top Ten Linux Distributions

2007-04-25T21:51:00.000+05:00

The following link will give an unbiased attempt to list the most widely-used distributions available today, complete with brief overviews of their history, purpose, pros and cons, available editions, and possible alternatives. The page should serve as a good starting point to those computer users looking to switch to an open source operating system or trying to find their ideal distribution.

http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major

For new users I recommend (In order)

Ubuntu ( The most popular GNU/Linux Distribution )
Freespire
PCLinuxOS
KNOPPIX ( Best Live CD )
openSUSE
CentOS ( for RedHat fans )

Summary of the article:

Ubuntu

Pros: Fixed release cycle and support period; novice-friendly; wealth of documentation, both official and user-contributed
Cons: Some of Ubuntu's own software (e.g. Launchpad, Rosetta) are proprietary; lacks compatibility with Debian
Software package management: Advanced Package Tool (APT) using DEB packages
Available editions: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Xubuntu for 32-bit (i386) and 64-bit (x86_64) processors; Ubuntu Server edition also for SPARC processors

openSUSE

Pros: Fixed release cycle and support period; novice-friendly; wealth of documentation, both official and user-contributed
Cons: Some of Ubuntu's own software (e.g. Launchpad, Rosetta) are proprietary; lacks compatibility with Debian
Software package management: Advanced Package Tool (APT) using DEB packages
Available editions: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Xubuntu for 32-bit (i386) and 64-bit (x86_64) processors; Ubuntu Server edition also for SPARC processors

fedora

Pros: Highly innovative; large number of supported packages; strict adherence to the Free Software philosophy
Cons: Less community-oriented than other major distributions; its priorities tend to lean towards enterprise features, rather than desktop usability
Software package management: YUM graphical and command line utility using RPM packages
Available editions: Fedora for 32-bit (i386), 64-bit (x86_64) and PowerPC (ppc) processors; Red Hat Enterprise Linux for i386, IA64, PowerPC, s390x and x86_64 architectures; also live CD and live DVD editions
Suggested Fedora-based alternatives: BLAG Linux And GNU (desktop, free software), Berry Linux (live CD), Yellow Dog Linux (Apple's PowerPC-based systems)
Suggested Red Hat-based alternatives: CentOS, Scientific Linux, StartCom Enterprise Linux, Lineox

Debian

Pros: Very stable; remarkable quality control; includes over 20,000 software packages; supports more processor architectures than any other Linux distribution
Cons: Conservative - due to its support for many processor architectures, newest technologies are not always included; slow release cycle (one stable release every 1 - 3 years); discussions on developer mailing lists and blogs can be uncultured at times
Software package management: Advanced Package Tool (APT) using DEB packages
Available editions: Installation CD/DVD and live CD images for 11 processor architectures, including all 32-bit and 64-bit processors from Intel, AMD, Power and others
Suggested Debian-based alternatives: Ubuntu, Damn Small Linux, KNOPPIX, sidux, Dreamlinux, Elive, Xandros, 64 Studio

Mandriva

Pros: Beginner-friendly, especially the commercial editions; excellent central configuration utility; very good out-of-the-box support for dozens of languages; installable live CD
Cons: The company's customer service has developed bad reputation over the years; complex, confusing web site infrastructure; dropping popularity due to its commercial nature and unpopular corporate decisions in the past
Software package management: URPMI with Rpmdrake (a graphical front-end for URPMI) using RPM packages. "SMART" available as an alternative method
Available editions: Freely downloadable Mandriva Free and One editions for 32-bit (i386) and 64-bit (x86_64) processors; commercial Mandriva Discovery, PowerPack and PowerPack Plus editions for 32-bit (i386) and 64-bit (x86_64); also high-end "Corporate" solutions for desktops, servers and firewalls, all with long-term support options

PCLinuxOS

Pros: Out-of-the-box support for graphics drivers, browser plugins and media codecs; fast boot times; up-to-date software
Cons: No 64-bit edition offered; no out-of-the-box support for non-English languages; lacks release planning
Software package management: Advanced Package Tool (APT) using RPM packages
Available editions: MiniMe, Junior and BigDaddy editions for 32-bit (i586) processor architectures

MEPIS

Pros: Beginner-friendly; excellent hardware auto-detection and support; intuitive, installable live CD
Cons: Software in its repositories not always up-to-date, lacks development roadmap
Software package management: Advanced Package Tool (APT) using DEB packages
Available editions: SimplyMEPIS for 32-bit (i386) and 64-bit (x86_64) processors

KNOPPIX

Pros: Unparalleled hardware auto-detection and auto-configuration; portable operating system that can be used for rescue, demonstration and testing tasks; provides a hard-disk installation script
Cons: Recent releases somewhat buggy; lack of polish and unification of menus across the different desktop environments; slow when run from DVD
Software package management: Advanced Package Tool (APT) using DEB packages
Available editions: Live CD and Live DVD editions for 32-bit (i386) processors
Suggested Debian/KNOPPIX-based alternatives: Damn Small Linux, sidux, Xandros Desktop, Elive, Dreamlinux, Parsix GNU/Linux, grml

Slackware

Pros: Highly stable, clean and bug-free, strong adherence to UNIX principles.
Cons: Limited number of officially supported applications; conservative in terms of base package selection; complex upgrade procedure; no official 64-bit edition
Software package management: "pkgtools" using TGZ (TAR.GZ) packages
Available editions: Installation CDs and DVD for 32-bit (i486) processors

gentoo

Pros: Excellent software management infrastructure, unparalleled customisation and tweaking options, superb online documentation
Cons: Occasional instability and risk of breakdown, the project suffers from lack of directions and frequent infighting between its developers
Software package management: "Portage" using source (SRC) packages
Available editions: Minimal installation CD and live CD (with GNOME) for Alpha, AMD64, HPPA, IA64, MIPS, PPC, SPARC and x86 processors; also "stages" for manual installation from command line
Suggested Gentoo-based alternatives: SabayonLinux (desktop live CD/DVD), VLOS (desktop), Ututo (desktop, free software only)
Other source-based distributions: Lunar Linux, Source Mage GNU/Linux, Sorcerer, Linux From Scratch

Overwhelming Demand For Ubuntu Linux 7.04 "Feisty Fawn"

2007-04-20T21:49:00.000+05:00

The latest version of Ubuntu Linux, which has just been released, has been downloaded so heavily that requests have backed up on Canonical's download site and its 160 mirrors. Ubuntu now includes Sun Microsystems' Java Platform, Standard Edition (JDK 6) along with a Java database system, the GlassFish Enterprise Edition 5 implementation, and the development environment NetBeans version 5.5.
read more of this story

pidgin view buddies by email

2007-04-20T20:31:00.000+05:00

In pidgin (formerly gaim), there is no way by default an option to view the contacts by email.
How To do just that:

quit pidgin
browse to ~/.purple
delete blist.xml
restart pidgin and enable/connect to all accounts
quit pidgin again
cd ~/.purple
run script here
redirect standard output to a file X, delete blist.xml and rename the file X to blist.xml
restart pidgin.


import sgmllib
import sys

class parser(sgmllib.SGMLParser):
  def __init__(self, verbose=0):
          sgmllib.SGMLParser.__init__(self, verbose)
          self.thedata = ''

          self.insideelement = 0
          self.insidename = 0

  def start_blist(self, attributes):
          self.insideelement = 1
          text = ""
          for attr, value in attributes:
                  text = text + " %s='%s'" % (attr,value)
          sys.stdout.write("<%s%s>" % ("blist", text))

  def end_blist(self):
          self.insideelement = 0
          sys.stdout.write("</blist>")

  def start_name(self, attributes):
          self.insidename = 1
          text = ""

          for attr, value in attributes:
                  text = text + " %s='%s'" % (attr,value)
          sys.stdout.write("<%s%s>" % ("name", text))

  def end_name(self):
          self.insidename = 0
          sys.stdout.write("</name>")
          sys.stdout.write("\n\t\t\t\t\t<alias>"+self.thedata+"</alias>")

  def unknown_starttag(self, tag, attributes):
          text = ""

          for attr, value in attributes:
                  text = text + " %s='%s'" % (attr, value)
          sys.stdout.write("<%s%s>" % (tag, text))

  def unknown_endtag(self,tag):
          sys.stdout.write("</%s>" % tag)

  def handle_data(self, data):
          if self.insideelement == 1:
                  if self.insidename == 1:
                          self.thedata = data
          sys.stdout.write("%s" % data)

  def returndata(self):
          return self.thedata


sys.stdout.write("<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' ?>")
pars = parser()
fileobj = open('blist.xml')
strdata = fileobj.read()
fileobj.close()
pars.feed(strdata)

xmodmap file

2007-04-19T21:07:00.001+05:00

vishah@ubuntu:~$ pwd
/home/vishah
vishah@ubuntu:~$ cat .xmodmap
pointer = 1 8 3 4 5 6 7 2 9
remove Lock = Caps_Lock
keysym Caps_Lock = Escape
keysym Escape = Caps_Lock
add Lock = Caps_Lock

vishah@ubuntu:~$

I use this to swap Escape and CapsLock keys; easier than moving way up to reach Esc while using vim.Also it substitutes middle click button == 2 to a button on the side of the mouse == 8.

firing up 'xev' in a terminal first to see keysyms and keycodes for various keys.

Colour Choices : Contrast vs Readability

2007-04-18T20:11:00.000+05:00

Yellow text on a blue background is supposed to be the easiest on the eyes.Also green on black and mild gray on black for those who prefer darker colors on their terminals. Read a study done on this here.

bill recommends ubuntu

2007-04-18T18:16:00.000+05:00

XChat script for Lauren chatterbot

2007-03-28T01:33:00.000+05:00




Works on XChat, a popular IRC client for Unix-like systems also available for Microsoft Windows.
If you want to use in instant messaging, there is BitlBee, and IRC Instant messaging gateway.
If you don't want to run your own BitlBee server, here are some of the free public servers.

im.bitlbee.org:6667
testing.bitlbee.org:6667
im.starkast.net:6667


import xchat
import os.path
import urllib2
import urllib
import cookielib
import os
import os.path
import re
from threading import Thread

__module_name__ = "LaurenBot"
__module_version__ = "0.1.1"
__module_description__ = "Lauren says"

# irc bot.


class Lauren(Thread):

      def __init__(self, strtalk, contactname , savefile=None):
              Thread.__init__(self)
              if not os.path.isdir('/tmp/LBot'):
                      os.mkdir('/tmp/LBot')
              self.cookiefile = '/tmp/LBot/'+contactname+'.lwp'
              self.cookiejar = cookielib.LWPCookieJar()
              self.opener = urllib2.build_opener(urllib2.HTTPCookieProcessor(self.cookiejar))
              urllib2.install_opener(self.opener)
              self.url = 'http://lauren.vhost.pandorabots.com/pandora/talk?botid=f6d4afd83e34564d&skin=input&speak=true'
              self.strtalk = strtalk
              self.savefile = savefile
              self.laurenreply =''


      def run(self):
              data = None
              iscookiefile = os.path.isfile(self.cookiefile)

              if iscookiefile:
                      self.cookiejar.load(self.cookiefile)
                      self.strtalk = str(self.strtalk).strip('[]').replace(',','').replace('\'','')
                      data = urllib.urlencode({'message':self.strtalk, 'botcust2':'ea5b96438fa868b7'})

              request = urllib2.Request(self.url, data)

              try:
                      urlobj = urllib2.urlopen(request)
                      self.cookiejar.save(self.cookiefile)
                      if not iscookiefile:
                              self.run()


                      message = urlobj.read()
                      if self.savefile:
                              fileobj = open('/home/vishah/Lauren.html', 'w+')
                              fileobj.write(message)
                              fileobj.close()

                      cmpobj = re.compile(r"LaurenBot:<\/b><\/i>([^>]+?)<br> <br>[\n][\n]<form", re.DOTALL|re.MULTILINE)
                      self.laurenreply = cmpobj.search(message).group(1)

              except IOError, e:
                      if hasattr(e, 'reason'):
                              xchat.prnt("Request not fullfilled by the server. Reason:"+e.reason)
                      elif hasattr(e, 'code'):
                              xchat.prnt("failed to reach server. ErrorCode:"+e.code)



print "loaded %s" % __module_name__


class fuck(Thread):
      def __init__(self, word, word_eol, userdata):
              Thread.__init__(self)
              self.word = word
              self.word_eol = word_eol
              self.userdata = userdata

      def run(self):
              he_says = self.word_eol[3][1:]
              contact_name = str(self.word_eol[0]).split('!')[0].strip(':')
              current = Lauren(he_says, contact_name)
              current.start()
              current.join()
              whatlaurensays = current.laurenreply


              if whatlaurensays:
                      xchat.command("MSG %s %s" % (contact_name, str(whatlaurensays)))
              return xchat.EAT_NONE

def priv_cb(word, word_eol, userdata):
      asshole = fuck(word, word_eol, userdata)
      asshole.start()

xchat.hook_server("PRIVMSG", priv_cb)

dhiraagu edirectory lister

2007-03-09T10:51:00.000+05:00


# ____________________________________
#/ dhiraagu edirectory lister initial \
#\ script...                          /
# ------------------------------------
#  \                 __ 
#   \               (oo)
#    \              (  )
#     \             /--\
#       __         / \  \ 
#      UooU\.'@@@@@@`.\  )
#      \__/(@@@@@@@@@@) /
#           (@@@@@@@@)(( 
#           `YY~~~~YY' \\
#            ||    ||   >> 
#
import pygtk
pygtk.require("2.0")
import gtk
import urllib2
import urllib
import sgmllib
import re

class MyParser(sgmllib.SGMLParser):
   def __init__(self, verbose=0):
       sgmllib.SGMLParser.__init__(self, verbose)
       self.numbers = []
       self.bumbers = []
       self.inside_td_element = 0
       self.inside_tdno_element = 0

   def parse(self, data):
       self.feed(data)
       self.close()

   def start_td(self, attributes):
       if attributes == []:
           self.inside_td_element = 1
       else:
           self.inside_tdno_element = 1

   def end_td(self):
       self.inside_td_element = 0
       self.inside_tdno_element = 0

   def handle_data(self, data):
       if self.inside_td_element == 1:
           self.numbers.append(data)
       if self.inside_tdno_element == 1:
           self.bumbers.append(data)

   def get_numbers(self):
       return self.numbers

   def get_bumbers(self):
       return self.bumbers


class fuck:
   def clicky(self, widget, textbuffer, entry):
       urlobj = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.dhivehinet.net.mv/index.php?action=edir', urllib.urlencode({'query':entry.get_text(), 'searchtype':'number'}))
       urlobjdata = urlobj.read()
       diParser = MyParser()
       cmpobj = re.compile(r"id=\"edir\".+?table>", re.DOTALL)
       feeddata = cmpobj.search(urlobjdata).group()
       diParser.feed(feeddata)
       asw = diParser.get_numbers()
       asd = diParser.get_bumbers()
       prrr = ''
       for i, j in zip(asw, asd):
           prrr = '%s %-80s %-10s\n' % (prrr, i ,j)
       textbuffer.set_text(prrr)

   def closethingy(self, widget, event, data=None):
       gtk.main_quit()
   def __init__(self):
       self.window = gtk.Window(gtk.WINDOW_TOPLEVEL)
       self.window.set_title("Alamaari")
       self.window.connect("delete_event", self.closethingy)
       vbox = gtk.VBox(False, 0)
       entry = gtk.Entry(50)
       vbox.pack_start(entry, False, False, 0)
       button = gtk.Button("Get List")
       textview = gtk.TextView()
       textbuffer = textview.get_buffer()
       button.connect("clicked", self.clicky, textbuffer, entry)
       scrolledwindow = gtk.ScrolledWindow()
       scrolledwindow.set_policy(gtk.POLICY_ALWAYS,gtk.POLICY_ALWAYS)
       scrolledwindow.add_with_viewport(textview)
       vbox.pack_start(button, False, False, 0)
       vbox.pack_start(scrolledwindow, True, True, 10)
       self.window.add(vbox)
       self.window.set_border_width(3)
       self.window.resize(700, 500)
       self.window.show_all()


if __name__ == "__main__":
   fuck()
   gtk.main()

add prayer times, to your website

2007-01-01T22:06:00.000+05:00

prayer times for all islands of Maldives. data provided by supreme council of Islamic affairs. web masters can use the feeds to put prayer times on their website. we provide both javascript and xml feeds

Link

developed by intox(imintox@hotmail.com)... development of website plus data converter
graphics by axlym

Script to download pictures from thebalaabodu.com

2006-12-18T10:03:00.000+05:00

chmod a+x balaabodu

User_Name = login name, User_Password = password


#!/bin/bash

wget --save-cookies=cookies --keep-session-cookies --no-check-certificate --post-data="login=login&loginusername=User_Name&loginpassword=User_Password&rememberme=checked$Submit now=Login" https://www.thebalaabodu.com/index.php?categoryid=1

j=0

while (( $j<12105 ))
do

    wget --load-cookies=cookies --keep-session-cookies --no-check-certificate -O pimpim "https://www.thebalaabodu.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2&start=${j}"

    varpics=( `cat pimpim|grep -oE '\/files\/[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+\.jpg'` )

    noofpics=$(($(echo ${#varpics[*]})-1 ))

    i=0

    while (( $i<$noofpics ))
     do
         wget --load-cookies=cookies --keep-session-cookies --no-check-certificate -nc "https://www.thebalaabodu.com/forum/${varpics[$i]}"
         (( i+=1 ))
    done

    ((  j+=15 ))

done

Suntel wOw ( Lanka ) sms script

2006-12-15T02:23:00.000+05:00

an alternative way to sms through www.wow.lk, If you ever used that website to sms, you will know why I made this script.

Your_User_Name = your login and Your_Password = password


#!/bin/bash

function buildrcpnts
{
if [ ! -f wowcontacts ]
then
 return 0
fi
varstring=""
numbers=(`cat wowcontacts|grep -A40 -E ' name="Submit"'|grep -oE 'name=[0-9]{4,}'|cut -d\= -f2`)
names=(`cat wowcontacts|grep -A40 -E ' name="Submit"'|grep -oE '<td>[a-zA-Z]+</td>'|grep -oE '[a-zA-Z]{3,}'`)

i=0
while (( $i<${#numbers[*]} ))
do
 varstring="$varstring ${numbers[$i]} ${names[$i]}"
 (( i+=1 ))
done
echo "$varstring"
dialog --menu "Select Recepient" 20 20 15 $varstring 2> /tmp/wowrcpnts
}

buildrcpnts

dialog --title "WoW Message" --ok-label "Send" --max-input 160 --inputbox "Enter Message" 10 60 2> /tmp/wowmsg
retval=$?
case "$retval" in

0)
echo "Sending..."
varmsg=`cat /tmp/wowmsg`
wget  --save-cookies=cookie --keep-session-cookies --post-data="Username=Your_User_Name&Password=Your_Password&amp;amp;amp;Action=login" http://sms.wow.lk/user/login.php
wget  --load-cookies=cookie --keep-session-cookies http://sms.wow.lk/user/sendmessages.php
if [ ! -f wowcontacts ]
then
 cp sendmessages.php wowcontacts
 buildrcpnts
fi
varwowrcpnts=`cat /tmp/wowrcpnts`
wget  --load-cookies=cookie --keep-session-cookies --post-data="message=${varmsg}&action=send&${varwowrcpnts}=${varwowrcpnts}" http://sms.wow.lk/user/sendmessages.php

varrest=`cat sendmessages.php  | grep -oE '([0-9]/5)'`
dialog --title "Information" --infobox "Messages Remaining and Sent ${varrest}" 10 20

cat sendmessages.php > wowcontacts
rm main.php*
rm sendmessages.php*
;;

1)
clear
echo "Cancelled"
exit 1;;
255)
clear
echo "Cancelled"
exit 1;;

esac

Download videos from YouTube

2006-11-19T17:45:00.000+05:00

This script downloads the given video from YouTube and converts it into mpg.


#!/bin/bash
if [ ! -f /usr/bin/zenity ]
then
`zenity --info --text="Zenity is not installed"`
exit
fi

vedio_name=`zenity --entry --title="file name" --text="name of the vedio" --entry-text="you"`

if [ ! $vedio_name ];then
`zenity --info --text="Vedio name should be given"`
exit
fi

youtube_url=`zenity --entry --title="URL" --text="Vedio URL:"`

if [ ! $youtube_url ];then
`zenity --info --text="URL should be given"`
exit
fi
tmp_file=`echo $vedio_name | sed "s/ /_/g"`

`wget "$youtube_url" -O "${tmp_file}"`
swf='http://youtube.com/get_video.php?'`grep player2.swf "$tmp_file" | cut -d? -f2 | cut -d\" -f1`
`wget "$swf" -O ${tmp_file}.flv`
`ffmpeg -ab 56 -ar 22050 -b 500 -s 320x240 -i $tmp_file.flv ~/Desktop/"${vedio_name}".mpg`


if [ $? ];then
`zenity --info --text="Successful"`
else
`zenity --info --text="Not Successful"`
fi

If you are a fan of hindi oldies, these are some of the oldies I have downloaded.
Aaja Aayee Bahaar.mpg
bahon mechale aon.mpg
Chahoonga Maein Tujhe .mpg
Dil kiya kaire.mpg
Ehsaan Tera Hoga.mpg
Ek Mein Aur Ek Tu.mpg
hamen aur jeene ki.mpg
Haseen Dilruba Kareeb Aa Zara.mpg
Kabhie Kabhie.mpg
Kya Huwa Tera Wada.mpg
Lila o Lila.mpg
Maine Tere Liye Hi.mpg
Main Na Milungi.mpg
Oh Haseena Zulfoa.mpg
roop tera mastana.mpg
Sau_Saal_Pehle.mpg
Tere Bina Zindagi Se.mpg
Tere Ghar Ke Samne.mpg
Tujhko Pukare Mera Pyar.mpg
Yahoo.mpg
Ye Ladka.mpg
Ye Sham Mastanee.mpg

gnome easter eggs

2006-11-18T22:05:00.000+05:00

Press Alt+F2 and type "free the fish", in the execute command dialog.
A fish will appear on the screen and will keep moving around.

In Alt+F2 "gegls from outer space" results in a game.

Go_Open television

2006-11-17T21:59:00.000+05:00

Go Open Source has announced a world first television show dedicated to promoting open source software. The 13 episode Go_Open airs on SABC 2 every Saturday at 17:30 from the 20th November. The programme will showcase success stories, interviews with the top local and international pioneers, and the latest products and news from the open source world.

The entire go_open series is now available to download via BitTorrent as well as Http/ftp. You can download via bittorrent from Legal Torrents (or just grab the two seed files [1 - 6][7-13]), or download the files by http/ftp from the Internet archive. These downloadable files are licensed under creative commons by-nc-sa 2.5.

Nautilus scripts archive

2006-11-09T19:03:00.000+05:00

Here is the Link to some of my nautilus scripts.

Download

extract the archive to ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts/

XGL and Beryl on Ubuntu

2006-11-09T01:19:00.001+05:00

Haveeru Comments Fix for Firefox

2006-11-07T05:40:00.000+05:00

Haveeru website doesn't properly show the user comments, in Firefox.I suppose the web master has no time to clean up his code or probably they don't care.
Some use IE Tab extension in Windows to browse the site and for Linux users theres Opera..

Anyways here is my solution for the problem, which gets rid of loading an external browser.

1) Install Greasemonkey extension for Firefox

and then

2)Install Haveeru userscript / Haveeru userscript (Windows)

2)Install Haveeru userscript / Haveeru userscript ( Linux )

Greasemonkey user script.

(thanks to bandey for the webspace)

Happy Browsing.

Play MP3s in Gmail

2006-11-01T22:21:00.000+05:00

Exerpt from Lifehacker

Eryan discovered that Gmail can play MP3s uploaded using the Firefox plug-in Gspace.

I was uploading some MP3s that I wanted to have available without carrying around a thumb drive. After I uploaded the files and the messages containing the MP3's showed up in my inbox, I saw a link next to the files that said 'play.' I clicked it and, lo and behold, a little player (similar to the one Google Video uses) popped up and started playing the file. Could be useful to people who don't want to carry music files around.

Sure enough, it works. Alas, Gmail won't play WMA files, only MP3s. Even so, great tip.

Smiley

2006-11-01T22:08:00.000+05:00

Open Cola

2006-10-26T05:46:00.000+05:00

OpenCola is a brand of cola unique in that the instructions for making it are freely available and modifiable. Anybody can make the drink, and anyone can modify and improve on the recipe as long as they, too, license their recipe under the GNU General Public License.

Although originally intended as a promotional tool to explain free software / open source software, the drink took on a life of its own and 150,000 cans were sold. The Toronto-based company Opencola founded by Grad Conn, Cory Doctorow and John Henson became better known for the drink than the software it was supposed to promote. Laird Brown, the company's senior strategist, attributes its success to a widespread mistrust of big corporations and the "proprietary nature of almost everything."

Flavouring formula

10.0 g food-grade gum arabic
3.50 mL orange oil
3.00 mL water
2.75 mL lime oil
1.25 mL cassia oil
1.00 mL lemon oil
1.00 mL nutmeg oil
0.25 mL coriander oil
0.25 mL neroli oil
0.25 mL lavender oil

Concentrated formula

2.36 kg plain granulated white table sugar
2.28 L water
30.0 mL caramel colour
3.50 tsp. 75% phosphoric acid or citric acid
2.00 tsp. flavouring formula
0.50 tsp. caffeine (optional)

RMS

2006-10-20T00:39:00.000+05:00

Richard Stallman founded the GNU Project in 1984, and the Free Software Foundation in 1985. He also originally authored a number of well known and highly used development tools, including the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), the GNU symbolic debugger (GDB) and GNU Emacs.

To better understand Richard Stallman and the GNU project, I recommend you begin by reviewing their philosophy page. On it you will find a wealth of information.

Background:
Jeremy Andrews: When did you first start working with computers?

Richard Stallman: I first read manuals and wrote programs on paper in 1962 or so. 1969 was when I first saw and used a real computer.

JA: What types of programs were you writing prior to actually seeing and using a real computer?

Richard Stallman: They were pretty trivial, like things to add up a vector of numbers. About the time I first started with a real computer I designed a computer language based on string substitution. In some ways like SNOBOL, although I'd never used SNOBOL.

And then, the first thing I started writing when I had a real computer to use--I'd seen the language PL/I and I was thrilled by how many features it had. But there was a feature it didn't have: it didn't have the summation convention used in tensor analysis. So I started to write a pre-processor for PL/I that would implement the summation convention. I didn't ever finish it, but I actually got some parts of it to work. I wrote it first in PL/I, and then we discovered that even one pass of it wouldn't fit in the machine that was available. (I had actually written a lot of parts of this in PL/I on paper by that point.) Then I started rewriting it in assembler language, but I only rewrote a few passes of it in assembler language. And then I learned about things like lists and about Lisp, and lost interest in languages like PL/I.

JA: When you graduated from Harvard in 1974 with a BA in physics, how did you intend to use your degree?

Richard Stallman: I thought I would become a theoretical physicist; however, the pleasure of programming, where I could make real progress and see results, gradually grew and overtook the pleasure of learning physics.

Life In The AI Lab:
JA: What tasks occupied your time at the AI Lab through the 1970s?

Richard Stallman: Mostly operating system development, but I did one AI research project with Professor Sussman; we developed dependency-directed backtracking.

JA: What is dependency-directed backtracking?

Richard Stallman: You make some assumptions, and with those together with some given facts you draw a conclusion. You may reach a contradiction; if so, at least one of your assumptions that led to that contradiction must be wrong. You also record which combination of assumptions actually related to the contradiction, so you can deduce that that combination of assumptions cannot all be true. Then you backtrack by changing assumptions, but you never try a set of assumptions that includes the combination that you know are contradictory. Now, this is a technique that people had used for a long time in thinking. It's also known as proof analysis. But it hadn't been used in computerized reasoning.

JA: What was the result of this research project?

Richard Stallman: We published a paper. The technique got used by other people later, so apparently it became part of AI.

Also, I learned how to understand electrical circuits better. The program that we wrote, which used this technique, was a program for understanding electrical circuits. By imitating the program, I could understand circuits better than I could before.

The GNU Project And The Free Software Foundation:
JA: The story of your encounter with non-free printer software in the early 80's is very well known. This incident ultimately resulted in your founding the GNU Project in 1984, and the Free Software Foundation in 1985. You have remained quite active in this movement ever since, as a public speaker and a prolific author of free software. Of which of your many achievements in the past two decades are you the most proud?

Richard Stallman: What I am proud of is that we have built a community where people can use computers and work together in freedom.

JA: What are the largest challenges you're facing today?

Richard Stallman: Software patents. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The broadcast flag. Cards with secret specifications. Non-free Java platforms.

In other words, organized efforts by people with power to put an end to our freedom.

JA: Is there a plan for addressing these issues?

Richard Stallman: Regarding the laws, not much of one, in the US. In other countries that do not yet have these laws, we can try to prevent them.

JA: That's a bit scary.

Richard Stallman: It is.

"Free Software" vs. "Open Source":
JA: You regularly have to explain the differences between "free software" and "open source software", and yet the media continues to confuse these terms. For our readers that may therefor be confused themselves, can you explain the differences, and why it is important to get it right?

Richard Stallman: Free software and open source are the slogans of two different movements with different philosophies. In the free software movement, our goal is to be free to share and cooperate. We say that non-free software is antisocial because it tramples the users' freedom, and we develop free software to escape from that.

The open source movement promotes what they consider a technically superior development model that usually gives technically superior results. The values they cite are the same ones Microsoft appeals to: narrowly practical values.

Free software and open source are also both criteria for software licenses. These criteria are written in very different ways but the licenses accepted are almost the same. The main difference is the difference in philosophy.

Why does the philosophy matter? Because people who don't value their freedom will lose it. If you give people freedom but don't teach them to value it, they won't hold on to it for long. So it is not enough to spread free software. We have to teach people to demand freedom, to fight for freedom. Then we may be able to overcome the problems that today I see no way to solve.

"GNU/Linux":
JA: Another frequent area of confusion is the name 'GNU/Linux'. Why is the GNU project's contribution significant enough that it should be in the name of the operating system, especially compared to other large pieces of any Linux-kernel based operating system, such as XFree86?

Richard Stallman: It's no coincidence that the code we wrote for the GNU system is the largest single contribution to the GNU/Linux system today. Many other people and projects have developed free software programs now used in the system; TeX, BSD code, X11, Linux, and Apache are noteworthy examples. But it was the GNU Project that set out to develop a complete free operating system. The combined system we use today is founded on GNU.

JA: In talking about GNU Linux...

Richard Stallman: I prefer to pronounce it GNU-slash-Linux, or GNU-plus-Linux. The reason is that when you say GNU-Linux it is very much prone to suggest a misleading interpretation. After all, we have GNU Emacs which is the version of Emacs which was developed for GNU. If you say "GNU Linux", people will think it means a version of Linux that was developed for GNU. Which is not the fact.

JA: You're trying to point out instead that it's a combination of the two.

Richard Stallman: Exactly. It's GNU plus Linux together.

JA: Which makes up the GNU+Linux operating system that everyone uses.

Richard Stallman: Exactly.

JA: What is gained by people using the term GNU/Linux?

Richard Stallman: People know that Linus Torvalds wrote his program Linux to have fun. And people know that Linus Torvalds did not say that it's wrong to stop users for sharing and changing the software they use. If they think that our system was started by him and primarily owes existence to him, they will tend to follow his philosophy, and that weakens our community.

It's an interesting anecdote to think that the whole operating system exists because an undergraduate thought that it was a fun project. But the real story is that this system exists because of people who were determined to fight for freedom and willing to work for years if that's what it took. That's a story that teaches people something worth learning.

When people forget that, they start drifting toward the practical but superficial values shared by the open source movement and Microsoft: the idea that the only thing that matters about your software is whether it gets your jobs done and what it costs.

JA: Which begins to answer my next question, what is lost when people refuse to use the term GNU/Linux?

Richard Stallman: What's lost is an opportunity to teach people. The software is equally free regardless of whatever name you call it--if, that is, the distro you're using really is free. But the only free GNU/Linux distro I know of is UTUTO. Most versions of the GNU/Linux system are not entirely free software. All the commercial distributors put in non-free software. And then there's Debian which keeps all the non-free software clearly separated, but does distribute it. And those who sell Debian GNU/Linux often add a few non-free programs as a "bonus"... They invite you to think it's a bonus you're getting that your freedom is no longer complete.

If you happen to be running a version of GNU/Linux which doesn't have the non-free software, then the situation is not materially changed by the name you use. But the situation we're likely to find ourselves in five years from now depends on what we teach each other today.

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but if you called it an onion you'd get cooks very confused.

GNU/Hurd:
JA: The GNU Hurd has been under development for over a decade. There was talk of a 1.0 release over a year ago, but this was delayed due to a couple of lacking features. What is the current status of this project?

Richard Stallman: The Hurd runs, and missing features are gradually being added. However, for practical use today, you would use a Linux-based version of GNU.

JA: Do you have any predictions as to when we're going to see a 1.0 release?

Richard Stallman: No, I'm afraid I don't, I'm sad to say. A lot of the Hurd developers seem to have decided that they should re-write it to work with a different micro-kernel (L4). I was disappointed to hear this, but now it looks like it will be some more years before the Hurd is usable.

At least we do have a free kernel that works with GNU.

JA: Will the GNU Project focus solely on a GNU system built around the GNU Hurd when it is released, or will it continue to support a widening range of free-software kernels?

Richard Stallman: We will keep supporting Linux-based versions of the GNU system for as long as they remain popular.

JA: How will we refer to a Hurd-based operating system? Is it GNU Hurd, or GNU slash Hurd?

Richard Stallman: It's the GNU operating system, and the Hurd is its kernel. But because it's so common for people to use version of GNU that are based on Linux as the kernel, it's useful to contrast the two, and talk about GNU/Linux and GNU/Hurd, which are two different versions of the GNU system with different kernels.

JA: What would the advantages of using a GNU/Hurd system be over say a GNU/Linux system?

Richard Stallman: There's probably no gigantic advantage that jumps out at the user's face if you're not writing interesting programs. The Hurd offers interesting, powerful capabilities. For instance, you can write your own filesystem, so you could implement any sort of behavior you want and package it as a file. It offers the possibility of implementing sandboxes, where you can run a program but have another program monitoring all its I/O to make sure it doesn't start writing in files it wasn't expected to.

These things may be doable with a kernel that doesn't have the Hurd's architecture, but with the Hurd it's trivial and the most natural thing in the world.

Writing Code vs. Management:
JA: How much source code do you write these days?

Richard Stallman: I myself? Only a little, on Emacs. I was involuntarily self-promoted into management.

JA: That's an interesting description. How did this happen?

Richard Stallman: The amount of management and activism that had to be done got more and more, and so I had to find other people to take over more and more of my programming responsibilities.

JA: Do you miss the programming?

Richard Stallman: Yes. It's fun.

JA: Is the management/activist role something you desire to remain in?

Richard Stallman: I wouldn't say I desire to, but it's necessary that I do so. At the moment we don't have anyone to replace me. We're actually thinking about how we we could try and develop people who could do this, so that I will not be indispensable.

JA: What is your role these days?

Richard Stallman: Partly it is being a very firm and determined leader. Partly it is being an orator. Partly it is advising other people on how to be activists or how to contribute to free software. I've learned something that a lot of people could usefully know: how to be extremely persistent and whenever one avenue was blocked find another.

I've also learned the spirit of what you do when you're fighting for freedom. When it's a fight that you can't ever give up as lost.

JA: Many of the programs you were the original author for are key components of much software development today (free and non-free alike), such as the GNU Compiler Collection (gcc), the GNU symbolic debugger (gdb), and GNU Emacs. All of these projects have remained under constant development over the years. How closely have you followed the many projects you've started, and how do you feel about the directions they've taken?

Richard Stallman: I don't follow GCC and GDB in technical detail nowadays--other people now have that responsibility. I still supervise Emacs development.

GNU Emacs:

JA: Then you are still working on Emacs at a code level?

Richard Stallman: Yes, although now with my broken arm I really have no time to program anything. I will when my arm is better and I can type for myself again.

JA: May I ask what happened to your arm?

Richard Stallman: I fell and broke my arm, and I needed surgery. It hurts, and I think it will never be normal again. But I think it will work for typing. (Later: it works fine for typing, but it tingles all the time.)

JA: I'm sorry to hear about your arm, and I wish you a speedy recovery.

I recently reread Cliff Stoll's "The Cuckoo's Egg". Are you familiar with the book?

Richard Stallman: I have a vague memory of it.

JA: A quick summary, he talks about a spy that breaks into a university computer system, initially using a security hole in GNU Emacs...

Richard Stallman: Well, whether it's really a security hole, or whether he had made a mistake by installing a certain program setuid is subject to argument.

JA: That's exactly what I was curious about, just what your reaction would have been to the book when it came out.

Richard Stallman: His book made it sound like Emacs, or actually movemail I think it was... His book made it sound like it was normal to install movemail setuid. I think some people sometimes did that, as there was a certain problem you could get around by doing that, but that wasn't the normal way to install it. So in fact, people installing Emacs the usual way would not have had that problem.

On the other hand, it certainly was useful to make Emacs more bulletproof, so that that problem couldn't happen even if you installed movemail as setuid.

That was ages ago.

Non-Free Software:
JA: What is your reaction to tools such as gcc, gdb and GNU Emacs being used for the development of non-free software?

Richard Stallman: Any development of non-free software is harmful and unfortunate, whether it uses GNU tools or other tools. Whether it is good or bad, in the long term, for the future of computer users' freedom that one can use these tools to develop non-free software is a question whose answer I could only guess at.

JA: How do you react to the opinion that non-free software is justified as a means for raising dollars that can then be put into the development of completely new software, money that otherwise may not have been available, and thus creating software that may have never been developed?

Richard Stallman: This is no justification at all. A non-free program systematically denies the users the freedom to cooperate; it is the basis of an antisocial scheme to dominate people. The program is available lawfully only to those who will surrender their freedom. That's not a contribution to society, it's a social problem. It is better to develop no software than to develop non-free software.

So if you find yourself in that situation, please don't follow that path. Please don't write the non-free program--please do something else instead. We can wait till someone else has the chance to develop a free program to do the same job.

JA: What about the programmers...

Richard Stallman: What about them? The programmers writing non-free software? They are doing something antisocial. They should get some other job.

JA: Such as?

Richard Stallman: There are thousands of different jobs people can have in society without developing non-free software. You can even be a programmer. Most paid programmers are developing custom software--only a small fraction are developing non-free software. The small fraction of proprietary software jobs are not hard to avoid.

JA: What is the distinction there?

Richard Stallman: Non-free software is meant to be distributed to the public. Custom software is meant to be used by one client. There's no ethical problem with custom software as long as you're respecting your client's freedom.

The next point is that programmers are a tiny fraction of employment in the computer field. Suppose somebody developed an AI and no programmers were needed anymore. Would this be a disaster? Would all the people who are now programmers be doomed to unemployment for the rest of their lives? Obviously not, but this doesn't stop people from exaggerating the issue.

And what if there aren't any programming jobs in the US anymore?

JA: You mean what if all the programming jobs were outsourced to foreign countries?

Richard Stallman: Yes, what if they all go? This may actually happen. When you start thinking about things like total levels of employment, you've got think about all the factors that affect it, not blame it all on one factor. The cause of unemployment is not someone or society deciding that software should be free. The cause of the problem is largely economic policies designed to benefit only the rich. Such as driving wages down.

You know, it's no coincidence that we're having all this outsourcing. That was carefully planned. International treaties were designed to make this happen so that people's wages would be reduced.

JA: Can you cite specific examples?

Richard Stallman: FTAA. The World Trade Organization. NAFTA. These treaties are designed to reduce wages by making it easy for a company to say to various countries, "which of you will let us pay people the least? That's were we're headed." And if any country starts having a somewhat increased standard of living, companies say "oh, this is a bad labor climate here. You're not making a good climate for business. All the business is going to go away. You better make sure that people get paid less. You're following a foolish policy arranging for workers of your country to be paid more. You've got to make sure that your workers are the lowest paid anywhere in the world, then we'll come back. Otherwise we're all going to run away and punish you."

Businesses very often do it, they move operations out of a country to punish that country. And I've recently come to the conclusion that frictionless international trade is inherently a harmful thing, because it makes it too easy for companies to move from one country to another. We have to make that difficult enough that each company can be stuck in some country that can regulate it.

The book No Logo explains that the Philippines have laws that protect labor standards, but these laws count for nothing any more. They decided to set up "enterprise zones" - that's the euphemism they used for "sweat shop zones" - where companies are exempt from these rules for the first two years. And as a result, no company lasts for more than two years. When their exemption runs out, the owners shut it down and they start another.

JA: How does free software address this?

Richard Stallman: Free software doesn't address this. Free software addresses the issue of how computer users can have freedom to cooperate and to control their own computers. This is the larger issue that becomes relevant when you start talking about "How are people going to have jobs that pay them decently?" The answer is: in the world of the low wage treaties, they're not going to.

It's inconsistent and future to subject millions of people to the loss of freedom that non-free software imposes, just so that a tiny segment of society will have better paying jobs, when we're ignoring all the rest of society with their lousy jobs.

If you want to start doing something about that problem, do it at the right level, which is the level of the power balance between corporations and countries. Corporations are too powerful now. We have to knock them down. I don't believe in abolishing business or even in abolishing corporations, but we've got to make sure that no corporation is powerful enough that it can say to all the countries in the world, "I'll punish any country that doesn't obey."

That is the way it works now. And it was deliberately set up by people such as Reagan, and Clinton, and Bush and Bush.

New Technologies:
JA: I have read that the free software model tends to imitate existing software, rather than blaze new trails and developing completely new technologies.

Richard Stallman: To speak of a free software "model" is somewhat misleading. The open source movement speaks of a "development model", but our concern is for the user's freedom, not how the program is developed.

Free software doesn't always imitate, but often it does. There's a good reason for this: freedom is the main goal, and innovation is secondary.

Our goal is to develop free software so that we can use computers exclusively with free software. In 1984, we started with nearly zero (we had TeX, nothing else). We had a lot of catching up to do, so we have done it. Even if GNU/Linux had no technical innovations compared with Unix, it would be completely superior because it respects your freedom as Unix does not.

JA: Do you believe that free software has caught up with non-free software?

Richard Stallman: To a large extent, but not totally.

JA: Would you say that we're going to start seeing a lot of technical innovations originating from free software as things are catching up?

Richard Stallman: We already have. We already have seen a technical innovations in free software. A lot of them help make up the world wide web.

The Internet:
JA: Does the importance of using only free software apply to the Internet?

Richard Stallman: I don't understand the question.

JA: Software not only runs on personal computers, but also the computers that comprise the Internet...

Richard Stallman: That may mean your computer. If your computer is on the Internet, then that's one of the computers you're talking about.

JA: You're correct. At this very moment my computer is part of the Internet. And my computer is comprised entirely of free software. However there are plenty of computers on the Internet that are not comprised of free software.

Richard Stallman: I think you meant to say, "not running entirely free software." There are many computers on the net that are not running free software, and that means the people who use and own those computers have lost this aspect of their freedom. That's a problem.

JA: Do you consider it proper for people who are trying to only use free software to utilize...

Richard Stallman: To connect to a server that's running non-free software?

I don't feel I need to refuse to connect to a server that is running non-free software. For that matter, I won't refuse to type on a computer that's running non-free software. If I were visiting your house for a little and you had a Windows machine, I would use it if it were important for me to use it. I wouldn't be willing to have Windows on my computer, and you shouldn't have it on yours, but I can't change that by refusing to touch the machine.

If you connect to a server that runs non-free software, you're not the one whose freedom is harmed. It's the server operator who has lost freedom to the restrictions on the software he runs. This is unfortunate, and I hope that he switches to free software; we're working to bring that about. But I don't feel you have to boycott his site until he switches. He isn't making you use the non-free software.

JA: Back to my earlier question, as a specific example do you use tools such as Google when attempting to locate online content?

Richard Stallman: I have nothing against communicating with Google's network server, but for Google's sake I hope they have the freedom to study, change and redistribute the software used on their server. Having the freedom to do so does not imply the obligation to do so; Google doesn't have to change or redistribute the software they run. But they ought to be free to do this, just as you and I should be free to do this with the software on our machines.

The Workplace:
JA: What if your job requires you to use non-free software?

Richard Stallman: I would quit that job. Would you participate in something anti-social just because somebody pays you to? What if the job involves hitting people on the head in the street and taking their wallets? What if it involves spreading the word that Democrats should vote on Wednesday instead of Tuesday? Some people seriously claim that you can't criticize what someone does if it is part of their job. From my point of view, the fact that somebody is being paid to do something wrong is not an excuse.

Embedded Applications:

JA: Embedded applications have become more and more prevalent in society. Is it possible to completely avoid non-free software and still remain in-touch with current technologies?

Richard Stallman: I don't know if it is possible, but if it is not, that is something we need to change. Once an embedded system can talk to a network, or users normally load software into it, its software needs to be free. For instance, if it uses non-free software to talk to the network, you can't trust it not to spy on you.

SCO:
JA: How do you react to SCO's recent accusations about the Linux kernel?

Richard Stallman: The vague and cagey nature of their statements, coupled with having seen that the only specific facts they produced proved to be false, suggests they have no real case.

JA: What impact do you expect this to have on free software?

Richard Stallman: I don't expect it to have a big impact because I don't think they have a case. They're trying to create FUD and they may scare some timid people off.

JA: Do you expect this to bring the GPL into the courtroom?

Richard Stallman: I don't know.

JA: Is that a concern for you?

Richard Stallman: We think the GPL will stand up in court, but no wise person is eager to get into a battle, even if he thinks he's well enough armed that he'd probably win.

The arguments that SCO have been making are so laughably absurd that they lend support to the idea that SCO has no real case, that they're only interested in creating FUD.

JA: To what end?

Richard Stallman: They hope some companies will pay them money, and Microsoft already did.

To people who know almost nothing about copyright law, anything sounds as plausible as anything else. When they hear what SCO says, they don't know how ridiculous it is. So they think, "SCO says this, IBM says that, how do I know who's right?"

JA: What's in store for the GNU General Public License (GPL)? Are there plans for a version 3?

Richard Stallman: Yes, but we are not really sure what will change. What we can say is that the changes will be details.

Getting Involved:
JA: Is there any other current event that you'd like to address?

Richard Stallman: The FCC last year decided to require digital restrictions management in all receivers of digital TV. And not only that, to require that they be made not modifiable by the user. I think they have not yet decided whether this device is software controlled. If they make it software controlled then for the first time there will be a government policy explicitly banning free software for a job that millions of people are going to want to
do.

JA: Are you optimistic about this?

Richard Stallman: I don't know. I am a pessimist by nature. Many people can only keep on fighting when they expect to win. I'm not like that, I always expect to lose. I fight anyway, and sometimes I win.

I'm not the main leader in this particular battle. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is fighting. Public Knowledge is fighting. People need to get involved politically. At this point people should go to the EFF website and the Public Knowledge website, and continue doing so over the coming weeks to see how they can get involved in this coming campaign. It's going to take a lot of people spending probably at least twenty minutes. If you care enough about your freedom to spend twenty minutes on it, if you can tear yourself away from whatever little job it is you're doing this week, and next week, and so on. Spend a little time fighting for your freedom, and we can win.

JA: Thank you.

Richard Stallman: Happy hacking!

Androids at China's Robot Expo

2006-10-15T21:58:00.000+05:00

The android is with a skin of silica gel which moves with lifelike movements,hard to tell which of these guys is which here. Renti and his clone are currently hanging out at the 2006 China Robot Expo in Beijing.

http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/14/zou-renti-gets-an-evil-android-twin-too/

Comics script 2nd version

2006-10-09T21:44:00.000+05:00

New:can accept dates


#!/bin/sh

if test $1 = 'cal'
then
  varmd=$2
else
  varmd=`date +%m%d`
fi

shtdate=`date +%y${varmd}`
lngyear=`date +%Y`
for i in $@
do
case $i in
  garfeild)`wget -nd -P comix/ http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/${lngyear}/ga${shtdate}.gif&`;;
  calvin)cvyear=`date +%Y -d "-11 year"`;cvshtdate=`date +%y${varmd} -d "-11 year"`;
         `wget -nd -P comix/ http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ch/${cvyear}/ch${cvshtdate}.gif&`;;
  dilbert)fmtdate=`date +%Y${varmd}`;
          `wget -r -l1 -nd -P comix/ -A dilbert[0-9]*\.gif,dilbert[0-9]*\.jpg http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-${fmtdate}.html&`;;
  peanuts)fmtdate=`date +%Y${varmd}`;
          `wget -r -l1 -nd -P comix/ -A peanuts[0-9]*\.gif,peanuts[0-9]*\.jpg http://www.snoopy.com/comics/peanuts/archive/peanuts-${fmtdate}.html&`;;
  bornloser)fmtdate=`date +%Y${varmd}`;
          `wget -r -l1 -nd -P comix/ -A bornloser[0-9]*\.gif,bornloser[0-9]*\.jpg http://www.comics.com/comics/bornloser/archive/bornloser-${fmtdate}.html&`;;
  archie)fmtdate=`date +%d -d "-3 day"`;
         `wget -nd -P comix/ http://www.archiecomics.com/pops_shop/dailycomics/image${fmtdate}.gif&`;;
  wizofid)fmtdate=`date +%Y${varmd}`;
         `wget -nd -r -l1 -P comix/ -A wizardofid[0-9]*\.gif,wizardofid[0-9]*\.jpg http://www.comics.com/creators/wizardofid/archive/wizardofid-${fmtdate}.html&`;;
  *)echo "you entered shit";;
esac
done

Comics script (Front end) 2nd version

2006-10-09T21:39:00.000+05:00

New: set the date


#!/bin/bash
foo=`zenity --list --title="Which Comics?" --window-icon='question' --width=200 --height=280 --checklist --separator=' ' --column='Yeh?' --column="Comic" 'FALSE' 'garfeild' 'FALSE' 'wizofid' 'FALSE' 'calvin' 'FALSE' 'dilbert' 'FALSE' 'peanuts' 'FALSE' 'bornloser' 'FALSE' 'archie'`
getdate=`zenity --calendar --title='which date' --date-format '%m%d'`

cd `dirname $0`
mv comix/*.* comix/archive
if test $getdate = `date +%m%d`
then
  (sh comics $foo)&
else
  (sh comics 'cal' $getdate $foo)&
fi

dcount=`echo $foo|wc -w`
fcount=`ls comix/|grep -E "(\.gif)$|(\.jpg)$"|wc -w`
mcount=`ls comix/|grep -E "(\.gif)$|(\.jpg)$"|wc -w`
tcount=$[ $fcount+$dcount ]
scount="0"
while [ $fcount -lt $tcount ];do fcount=`ls comix/|grep -E "(\.gif)$|(\.jpg)$"|wc -w`;sleep 1s;scount=$[ $fcount-$mcount ];echo $[ $[$scount*100]/$dcount];done|zenity --progress --percentage="0"
echo $foo

konqueror comix/

nautilus comix/

Which OS are you?

2006-10-02T18:23:00.000+05:00

my result

Which OS are You?

random desktop background in gnome

2006-10-02T16:30:00.000+05:00

#!/bin/bash
dipath="/media/Stuff/Pictures/Wallpapers"
dicount=`find "$dipath"|tr -d ' '|wc -w`
dilist=`find "$dipath" -printf "%p#"`
dinumber=`expr $RANDOM % $dicount`
difile=`echo $dilist|cut -d "#" -f $dinumber`
gconftool-2 -t "str" --set /desktop/gnome/background/picture_filename "$difile"

A link on the panel or desktop for this script, and on each click a random background..

Kopete Contacts view by email

2006-09-10T17:11:00.000+05:00

I am used to setting the msn Contact List as view by-email...there is no such option in gaim 2.0 betas, or in kopete.. Either you have to set a custom nick for each and every contact or try to satisfy your eyes with the emoticons and ascii art people put as their nicks..I want my contact list to display contacts by their email addresses.So here is what I did to enable that in kopete.

* make sure that kopete is not running.
* delete ~/.kde/share/apps/kopete/contactlist.xml
* delete ~/.kde/share/config/kopeterc
* run kopete and add a new account..don't customize anything yet
* copy contactlist.xml to the directory where the script is
* run the following python script

link to script

it will create a file 'newlist.xml'.Save this to ~/.kde/share/apps/kopete/ and rename it as contactlist.xml..Now when you run kopete it should display all the contacts by their email addresses.

Comics script

2006-09-09T18:52:00.000+05:00

file name: comics
Downloads daily comic strips.

#!/bin/sh
shtdate=`date +%y%m%d`
lngyear=`date +%Y`
for i in $@
do
case $i in
garfeild)`wget -nd -P comix/ http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/${lngyear}/ga${shtdate}.gif`;;
calvin)cvyear=`date +%Y -d "-11 year"`;cvshtdate=`date +%y%m%d -d "-11 year"`;
`wget -nd -P comix/ http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ch/${cvyear}/ch${cvshtdate}.gif`;;
dilbert)fmtdate=`date +%Y%m%d`;
`wget -r -l1 -nd -P comix/ -A dilbert[0-9]*\.gif,dilbert[0-9]*\.jpg http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-${fmtdate}.html`;;
peanuts)fmtdate=`date +%Y%m%d`;
`wget -r -l1 -nd -P comix/ -A peanuts[0-9]*\.gif,peanuts[0-9]*\.jpg http://www.snoopy.com/comics/peanuts/archive/peanuts-${fmtdate}.html`;;
bornloser)fmtdate=`date +%Y%m%d`;
`wget -r -l1 -nd -P comix/ -A bornloser[0-9]*\.gif,bornloser[0-9]*\.jpg http://www.comics.com/comics/bornloser/archive/bornloser-${fmtdate}.html`;;
archie)fmtdate=`date +%d -d "-3 day"`;
`wget -nd -P comix/ http://www.archiecomics.com/pops_shop/dailycomics/image${fmtdate}.gif`;;
*)echo "you entered shit";;
esac
done

Comics script (Front end)

2006-09-09T18:37:00.000+05:00

file name:zcomics
this is just a zenity front-end to comic script
Updates: 13/Sep (debug)

#!/bin/bash
foo=`zenity --list --title="Which Comics?" --window-icon='question' --width=200 --height=280 --checklist --separator=' ' --column='Yeh?' --column="Comic" 'FALSE' 'garfeild' 'FALSE' 'calvin' 'FALSE' 'dilbert' 'FALSE' 'peanuts' 'FALSE' 'bornloser' 'FALSE' 'archie'`

(sh comics $foo)&

dcount=`echo $foo|wc -w`
fcount=`ls comix/|grep -E "(\.gif)$|(\.jpg)$"|wc -w`
mcount=`ls comix/|grep -E "(\.gif)$|(\.jpg)$"|wc -w`
tcount=$[ $fcount+$dcount ]
scount="0"
while [ $fcount -lt $tcount ];do fcount=`ls comix/|grep -E "(\.gif)$|(\.jpg)$"|wc -w`;sleep 1s;scount=$[ $fcount-$mcount ];echo $[ $[$scount*100]/$dcount];done|zenity --progress --percentage="0"
echo $foo

nautilus comix/

Comics script (Screen Shots)

2006-09-09T18:24:00.000+05:00

Nautilus copy to and move to scripts

2006-09-05T02:51:00.000+05:00

Download nautilus script archive

Extract to ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts

#!/bin/bash
#move files to
suris=`echo $NAUTILUS_SCRIPT_SELECTED_FILE_PATHS`
foo=`zenity --file-selection --directory`
mv $suris $foo

#!/bin/bash
#copy files to
suris=`echo $NAUTILUS_SCRIPT_SELECTED_FILE_PATHS`
foo=`zenity --file-selection --directory`
cp -R $suris $foo

firefox bookmarks uploading script

2006-09-03T05:20:00.000+05:00

#!/bin/bash
#firefox bookmarks uploading script

_folder='/home/vishah/.mozilla/firefox/dzvmnj5a.default'
_server='ftp.angelfire.com'
_file='bookmarks.html'
_user='planet/vishah'
_pass='password'

cd $_folder

ftp -n $_server<<END_SCRIPT
quote user $_user
quote pass $_pass
put $_file
quit
END_SCRIPT
exit 0

open terminal here says Nautilus

2006-09-02T08:39:00.000+05:00

Download nautilus-scripts archive

Extract to ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts

#!/bin/bash
#Created by vishah
#Opens a gnome terminal with the working directory same as nautilus
cwd=`echo $NAUTILUS_SCRIPT_CURRENT_URI|grep -oE '[/][^//].+'`
gnome-terminal --working-directory=$cwd

open a terminal with the working directory as Nautilus

Opens a nautilus window as root.

2006-09-02T08:37:00.000+05:00

Download nautilus-scripts archive

# Opens a nautilus window as root.

foo=`gksudo -u root -k -m "enter your password for nautilus root access" /bin/echo "got r00t?"`
#foo=`expect /home/vishah/scripts/su.exp`
sudo nautilus --no-desktop $NAUTILUS_SCRIPT_CURRENT_URI

Use this to open a nautilus window as root.

Nautilus chown script

2006-09-02T08:33:00.000+05:00

Download nautilus-scripts archive


#!/bin/bash

# Change ownership to vishah.
suri=`echo $NAUTILUS_SCRIPT_CURRENT_URI|grep -oE '[/][^//].+'`
foo=`gksudo -u root -k -m "Enter root pass" /bin/echo "you got root?"`
`sudo chown -R vishah:vishah $suri `

Select files and change ownership with a click

Kopete DP steal

2006-09-02T08:29:00.000+05:00


#!/bin/bash
#kopete script
foo=`kdialog --getopenfilename "/home/vishah/.kde/share/apps/kopete/msnpictures/"`
dcop kopete default setGlobalPhoto $foo

this script can be run from the alias plugin of kopete and will open a dialog to select all the downloaded display pics of the buddies in contact list.and when you select one of em it will set the pic as your global DP.

A script to assign a fortune epigram to kopete nick..

2006-09-02T08:22:00.000+05:00


#!/bin/bash
foo=`fortune -s -n 50 |tr -d  "\b\n\r\t\v[:cntrl:][:punct:]"`
dcop kopete default setGlobalNickname "`echo $foo`"
`Xdialog --info "$foo" 350x100 2000`

using /exec in kopete