Technical Articles
This blog consists of articles collected from various sources or supplied by well-wishers. Articles posted are those which I found interesting and would like to share. Though I can and sometimes do claim credit for few being my own.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Setting up OpenJDK source code
Get the source
The OpenJDK web page lists a few alternative ways of getting the source code, for example using mercurial repos, or directly downloading the compressed source bundle. I did try to user mercurial, but I got build errors while using make. Also, the link to the compressed source bundle on the OpenJDK webpage links to an old revision of the source for java 7. Instead I used the following to get the source for java 7. An advantage of this is that this bypasses running into silly build errors that would otherwise crop up if you used the old java 7 source. The link I recommend using is https://jdk7.java.net/source.html.
Building the source
Extract the source bundle, and navigate to the root directory. The root directory should have a Makefile. There are a lot of options that can be passed to make to configure many individual parameters, however I will ignore talking about those for now. Just execute
make ALLOW_DOWNLOADS=true debug_build
This should build your compiler successfully. You are done.
Friday, December 03, 2010
My Guide to Synchronize Bookmarks Across Browsers
Currently, I am using IE 9, FF4, Chrome 9 and Opera 11 on both Windows and Linux platforms. So, now you know that I am game for any cross-browser sync solution. I have tried quite a few products, xmarks, bookmark bridge, bookmark sync, transmute, etc. Here's what I experienced.
I have used xmarks for quite some time now and was initially a big fan with their concept and product. I was really quite sad to hear that xmarks was going to go down. I even pledged support. But recently I have to admit that my opinion is changing a bit. I have been frequently running into problems with xmarks. You might ask, "What problems, Sir?". Well, first of all, bookmarks get duplicated after a few syncs. Also, the sort order of the bookmarks would get mixed up. Here, I would like to point out that I am an end-user and am in no position to judge why this happens. These bugs may be related to the browser or xmarks, and I really don't care.
I had contacted xmarks support team quite a few teams, but unfortunately, they did not respond excepting the initial thank you response. For an avid Internet surfer (daily average is round about 10 hours, I hope you get the idea!), this becomes really irritating.
So, this is now what I do. I am now using Chrome's default option to sync my bookmarks. Then, I am using Transmute to copy the updated set of bookmarks to FF, IE and Opera. This is a bit more work, but it is free and more importantly, there's no bugs to bug you!
I really loved Xmarks and had recommended the software to many friends. I am not sure whether they are facing the same problems that I faced.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Simultaneously Running Multiple Versions of Firefox
1) Select your FF shortcuts and right-click and click properties. In the Target box, add the following options: -profilemanager -no-remote. So your full path now looks like
"XXX\firefox.exe" -profilemanager -no-remote.
Do this for all the installed versions of FF.
2) Start FF. The profile manager will start automatically. The default profile is the one which was already existing and will contain all the customizations that you have for your old FF installation (say 3.6.x). So, create a new profile for your new FF version (say FF 4b4). Choose between profiles depending your use.
This workaround has been around for quite some time now, and you will find many posts on the net. I have been using this feature since 2005, when a friend of mine, Indradeep, showed it to me. Still, thought of noting it down. I don't know why Mozilla doesn't have the Profile Manager enabled by default.
Friday, June 04, 2010
Benchmarking My Browsers!
The race for the fastest can be gauged by the fact that a new version is released almost every week. Just for a second, let us ignore all the heaps of data and published results. What really matters to one is how a browser is expected to perform on his/her system. So, if you are really crazy about pace, which in reality should not matter much, the best is to execute a benchmark on your own-used browsers and then analyze the results yourself. That's how it should always be, judge and choose for yourself.
Ubuntu: And now for the results from Ubuntu. Note that at the of composing this post, Peacekeeper does not support a Linux system scan. The browsers that I tested on Ubuntu are FF3.6.3, Google Chrome 6.0.422 dev, and Opera 10.60 build 6347. The below figures shows the results obtained.
My Conclusion:
Added on 6th July, 2010:
Results with FF4b1
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
What does "h" indicate in computer benchmarks?
However, my intention of blogging this post is not to talk or explain these different benchmarks. During our discussion, a friend Bhanu suddenly asked "Sir, what is the significance of "h" in these names"? Hmm...this apparently innocuous question got all of us thinking. Sir tried to explain the significance of the word "stone" embedded in these names. He said that just as some stones are used to determine the purity of gold, may be that has influenced the names.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Command Prompt - Anywhere!!!
- Goto to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell.
- Create a new key named say Command Prompt.
- Create another new key named say Command within Command Prompt.
- Modify the default string value of Command to the following: c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe %1
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
GMail Notifier: “Cannot connect to your mailbox. Service temporarily unavailable.”
I have recently upgraded my desktop and hence had to reload all the necessary and unnecessary softwares. That is when I ran into this small problem. I had faced it before, but somehow couldn’t seem to remember the solution right away. The fact is GMail Notifier just could not seem to connect to my GMail account. I thought the error might be with my proxy settings, but it was not so.
The error surfaces when once tends to opt for the https connection option provided in GMail settings. The notifier fails to login if the “always use https” option is checked. Not surprisingly, I do have it enabled.
To get around this, you can search for patch files available on the net. The suggested changes can just be imported into your registry and things should work fine. The following is the change suggested in the .reg file:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Gmail\Flags]
"url"=https://mail.google.com/mail/
The change can be undone by resetting the key, as shown below.
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Gmail\Flags]
"url"=-
Not difficult, right? I still wanted to post for ease of lookup.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Pidgin - Invisible Mode in Google Talk
One of the most glaring drawback with Google Talk is probably the lack of proper updates and new releases being integrated into the software. I do not use the chat option inside Google Mail. Therefore, one aspect I find particularly irritating with Google Talk is not to be able to appear as invisible. As I mentioned in my last post I use Pidgin for IM. Here’s how you can appear invisible in Google Talk using Pidgin.
- Go to Tools-> Plugins. Scroll down the list of available plugins. Install the plugin called XMPP Console.
- Now go to Tools->XMPP Console->XMPP Console.
- Type the following in the console and send the message.
<presence type="unavailable">
<priority>5</priority>
</presence>
- Now you will appear as invisible to all your friends. Remember you need to resend the message every time you relogin to Google Talk, i.e., this is a per-session notification.
- In case you need to appear available to specific friends, you can sent them custom notifications about your availability using the above plugin. Open XMPP Console as above and click on <presence/>. In the following pop-up dialog box, fill in the necessary details and send.
Seems troublesome, eh? Then why bother with all this crap. Add the Google Talk invisible plugin to Pidgin. Go to http://fahhem.com/pidgin/ and follow the instructions.
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Configuring Pidgin for Google Talk and MSN Accounts
I have many accounts which I frequently use for chatting purposes, Google Talk, Yahoo and MSN to be exact. To refrain from using separate messengers for each of them, I recently installed Pidgin as an integrated medium supporting all the above three (and many more Chat Protocols). My desktop is behind an organization proxy and I myself also have a firewall installed. So I faced a few issues during the configuration. In this post, I would like to present the steps which I followed for configuring Pidgin.
Google Talk: The following are the settings which worked for me.
- Protocol: XMPP
- Domain: gmail.com
- Resource: ……….Anything…….
- Require SSL/TLS: Unchecked
- Force old (port 5223) SSL: Checked
- Connect port: 443
- Connect server: Use any nslookup service and provide the ip for talk.google.com. I used http://www.kloth.net/services/nslookup.php. The ip I got is 209.85.137.125.
- File transfer proxies: proxy.jabber.com
- Proxy type: Depends on your proxy settings.
The below picture shows the Settings for the Advanced Tab.
MSN: The following are the settings which worked for me.
- Server: Use any nslookup service and provide the ip for messenger.hotmail.com. I used http://www.kloth.net/services/nslookup.php. The ip I got is 65.54.239.20.
- Port: 1863
- Use HTTP Method: Checked
- HTTP Method Server: Use any nslookup service and provide the ip for gateway.messenger.hotmail.com. I used http://www.kloth.net/services/nslookup.php. The ip I got is 65.54.239.81.
Yahoo: I have not been able to get Pidgin connect to Yahoo as of now. Alas!
I hope this simple steps will help people who are facing issues configuring Pidgin behind a proxy.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
LaTeX Tricks
-
LaTeX Distribution: a complete setup of MikTeX 2.7 release. This is free and its frequently updated as well. So no hassles. -
LaTeX Editor: I personally prefer LEd (http://www.latexeditor.org) over TeXnicCenter (http://www.texniccenter.org/). LEd's toolbar offering is more varied and is more easily accessible. LEd also provides a very good help lookup on LaTeX commands which is extremely handy at times of crisis. The only blip that I find in LEd is the look and feel. Both are free but updates are pretty infrequent. WinEdt is another good LaTeX editor but is a shareware. -
Diagrams: For diagrams, I use XFIG on Windows (http://www.cs.usask.ca/~wew036/latex/xfig.html). The link provides detailed instructions on how to go about setting up the required environment for using XFIG. However, the interface and usage of XFIG might prove to be cumbersome for some users. You could also try out commercial Windows applications like SmartDraw which is, unsurprisingly, more user-friendly.
2) Referencing of Figures
Sometimes a small oversight can lead to wrong referencing and bring a lot of trouble and hassle. To avoid this, make sure you follow the following two rules:
- Always define the label after the caption unless the style file says otherwise.
- Never use numbers in your label name, e.g., sdg1. This can lead to wrong reference numbers being generated for the remaining figures.
Thursday, August 07, 2008
SVCHOST.EXE
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/what-is-svchostexe-and-why-is-it-running/
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/what-is-ctfmonexe-and-why-is-it-running/
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/what-is-rundll32exe-and-why-is-it-running/
Friday, March 30, 2007
IE 7.0 Easter Egg
Open Internet Explorer 7.0 and type in res://shdoclc.dll/wcee.htm then click Go.
When it loads, a black page appears. Right click and select View Source - it opens in Notepad.
Find in this text: gurjPRR. This will find 2 lines of text including If and DecodeStr. Highlight and delete them.
Now save this text file as: wcee[1].html
Open the HTML file you saved and it will show fast scrolling credits about the staff and developers who made IE 7.[1]
Source - Wikipedia
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
A few good URLs to go through
They themselves are articles from various sources.
http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/rich-tehrani/wireless/teleflip.html
http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/rich-tehrani/ip-communications/the-real-unified-communications-relationship-between-microsoft-and-nor.html
http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/rich-tehrani/wireless/teleflip.html
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Windows Media Player 11 Beta
Its creating quite a few problems for me. Especially when the CPU usage is high, the sound streaming is getting broken. Otherwise the interface is good, but it is very memory consuming.
KDiff3
Well this is my current target. I have now become more of a software reviewer. And I do a hell good job at that. My focus now is to try out KDiff3 and compare it with WinMerge. I was using WinMerge till now. So keep your hands crossed till I come out with my own report.
Windows Live Writer Beta
First of all I would like to mention that I am posting this through writer only. And the most important thing is its damn good.
It does support a lot of blog services and you can add a number of accounts and also switch between those accounts to post articles.
The interface is nice as well. Haven't come across any bugs as of yet. I have just started using it. And I implore all you bloggers out there to give it a try. Its free after all.
Python Editors
Two python editors which I use and do like them personally are PyScripter and Stani's Python Editor. I have just started using SPE and so won't be able to compare it with PyScripter. But you people can try out PyScripter, its good. And its always fun developing in Python. Right guys.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Interested in Windows code names?
http://www.phm.lu/Documentation/Windows/Codenames.asp
A few headliners coming through
Google has begun alerting users whenever they click on a search result that may take them to a dangerous Web site. The new feature, which had been spotted earlier this week, goes live officially Friday, according to an announcement from The Stop Badware Coalition, which is collaborating with Google on this effort. The Stop Badware Coalition is a nonprofit organization led by Harvard University and the University of Oxford and backed by Google, Lenovo Group, and Sun Microsystems.
Source of this piece of info is http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/08/04/HNgoogleflags_1.html
AOL to Offer 5GB of Online Storage
AOL on Thursday(3rd August, 2006) announced it would begin offering all Web users 5GB of online storage through its Xdrive product, part of the company's new initiative to make its services available without cost. Through Xdrive, individuals can back up files like photos, documents, music, videos, and more. Users can even share files with others, as well as automatically upload e-mail attachments. A premium offering with 50GB of storage will be available to those needing more space for a fee that has yet to be announced.
Google has begun alerting users whenever they click on a search result that may take them to a dangerous Web site. The new feature, which had been spotted earlier this week, goes live officially Friday, according to an announcement from The Stop Badware Coalition, which is collaborating with Google on this effort. The Stop Badware Coalition is a nonprofit organization led by Harvard University and the University of Oxford and backed by Google, Lenovo Group, and Sun Microsystems.
Source of this piece of info is
http://www.betanews.com/article/AOL_to_Offer_5GB_of_Online_Storage/1154632737
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Launchy is a more than useful tool
Then those of you are still interested and have carried on reading , try out lauchy, an open source key stroke launcher for windows.
Version 0.9.6 is available now. I have using Launchy for the past few months and am very fond of it. By default, Launchy indexes applications present in your start menu and provides easy access to it. You can also request it to index folders where you have kept your, say, .lnk, .exe files. You can also index .mp3, .doc files. And launch your favourite song , right here, right now!
Launchy is pretty lightweight (3 mb or so) and is very easy to use. Beautiful skins are also avaiable for Launchy. So feel tempted to give it a try. For more info, visit www.launchy.net.