What does it do?

The plugin checks from time to time, (at startup or when the action is selected from the menu) the specified RSS feed, parses it and fetches the last entry. It then updates the current status with a message in the form: entry.title entry.link (yahoo format).

How to install it?

• First you need the XML::Feed package for Perl from CPAN. In ubuntu you can install the package: libxml-feed-perl.
• Make sure you have Perl support in pidgin. Check Help->About for perl:enabled.
• Download the archive. Copy the statusrss.pl to .purple/plugins. Create the plugins folder if it’s not there already.
• Restart pidgin then enable the plugin in Tools->Plugins menu.

How to use it?

• After enabling the plugin configure it by setting the RSS feed url and the refresh timeout. 0 means no refresh.
• For manual refresh go to Tools->Status RSS->Update Status

Tested with

Pidgin 2.6 – 2.7.1 on Ubuntu Lucid Lynx

License

This plugin is released under the GNU General Public License (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html)

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Required software

Make sure gphoto2 and geeqie (former gqview) is installed. An apt will do the trick:

sudo apt-get install gphoto2 geeqie

Scripts

I’ve written 2 scripts. The first one does the tethered capture and the second does the display of the image using geeqie

capture.sh:

#!/bin/bash
#capture.sh script

#the capture-tethered only works if a capture-image has been issued first
#so capture an image first
gphoto2 --capture-image 

#do the actual capture-tethered
gphoto2 --capture-tethered --hook-script $(dirname $0)/capture1.sh

capture1.sh:

#!/bin/bash
#capture1.sh script

if [ "x$ACTION" = "xdownload" ]; then
 geeqie --remote $ARGUMENT &
fi

You just need to create these 2 files in a folder of your choice and then make them executable

chmod u+x capture.sh capture1.sh

Usage

1. Plug the camera in
2. It will be detected and mounted automatically by ubuntu. Unmount it to allow gphoto2 to lock it.
3. start the script capture.sh It will save files in the form capture0001.jpg in the working directory each time you shoot a photo then display them in geeqie. Note: the photos will be downloaded and deleted from the camera.
4. press Ctrl+C to stop the process

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/*
 * mac.cpp
 *  Created on: May 25, 2010
 *      Author: len
 */

#ifdef WIN32

#include <stdio.h>
#include <Windows.h>
#include <Iphlpapi.h>
#include <Assert.h>
#pragma comment(lib, "iphlpapi.lib")

/**
 * @return the mac address of the interface with the given ip
 */
char* getMAC(const char *ip){
 PIP_ADAPTER_INFO AdapterInfo;
 DWORD dwBufLen = sizeof(AdapterInfo);
 char *mac_addr = (char*)malloc(17);

 AdapterInfo = (IP_ADAPTER_INFO *) malloc(sizeof(IP_ADAPTER_INFO));
 if (AdapterInfo == NULL) {
 printf("Error allocating memory needed to call GetAdaptersinfo\n");
 return NULL;
 }

 // Make an initial call to GetAdaptersInfo to get the necessary size into the dwBufLen variable
 if (GetAdaptersInfo(AdapterInfo, &dwBufLen) == ERROR_BUFFER_OVERFLOW) {
 FREE(AdapterInfo);
 AdapterInfo = (IP_ADAPTER_INFO *) malloc(dwBufLen);
 if (AdapterInfo == NULL) {
 printf("Error allocating memory needed to call GetAdaptersinfo\n");
 return NULL;
 }
 }

 if (GetAdaptersInfo(AdapterInfo, &dwBufLen) == NO_ERROR) {
 PIP_ADAPTER_INFO pAdapterInfo = AdapterInfo;// Contains pointer to current adapter info
 do {
 sprintf(mac_addr, "%02X:%02X:%02X:%02X:%02X:%02X",
 pAdapterInfo->Address[0], pAdapterInfo->Address[1],
 pAdapterInfo->Address[2], pAdapterInfo->Address[3],
 pAdapterInfo->Address[4], pAdapterInfo->Address[5]);
 printf("Address: %s, mac: %s", pAdapterInfo->IpAddressList.IpAddress.String, mac_addr);
 if(strcmp(ip, pAdapterInfo->IpAddressList.IpAddress.String) == 0){
 printf(" matches\n");
 free(AdapterInfo);
 return mac_addr;
 }
 printf("\n");
 pAdapterInfo = pAdapterInfo->Next;        
 }while(pAdapterInfo);                        
 }
 free(AdapterInfo);
 return NULL;
}
#endif

#ifdef linux
#include <arpa/inet.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netdb.h>
#include <ifaddrs.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <string.h>

/**
 * @return the mac address of the interface with the given ip
 */
char *getMAC(const char *ip){
 struct ifaddrs *ifaddr, *ifa;
 int family, s;
 char host[NI_MAXHOST];
 struct sockaddr *sdl;
 unsigned char *ptr;
 char *ifa_name;
 char *mac_addr = (char*)calloc(sizeof(char), 18);

 if (getifaddrs(&ifaddr) == -1) {
 perror("getifaddrs");
 return NULL;
 }

 //iterate to find interface name for given server_ip
 for (ifa = ifaddr; ifa != NULL; ifa = ifa->ifa_next) {
 if (ifa->ifa_addr != NULL){
 family = ifa->ifa_addr->sa_family;
 if(family == AF_INET){
 s = getnameinfo(ifa->ifa_addr, (family == AF_INET)?sizeof(struct sockaddr_in):sizeof(struct sockaddr_in6),
 host, NI_MAXHOST, NULL, 0, NI_NUMERICHOST);
 if (s != 0) {
 printf("getnameinfo() failed: %s\n", gai_strerror(s));
 return NULL;
 }
 printf("address: %s\n", host);
 if(strcmp(host, ip) == 0){
 ifa_name = ifa->ifa_name;
 printf("matching interface name: %s\n", ifa_name);
 }
 }
 }
 }

 //iterate to find corresponding ethernet address
 for (ifa = ifaddr; ifa != NULL; ifa = ifa->ifa_next) {
 family = ifa->ifa_addr->sa_family;
 if(family == PF_PACKET && strcmp(ifa_name, ifa->ifa_name) == 0){
 sdl = (struct sockaddr *)(ifa->ifa_addr);
 ptr = (unsigned char *)sdl->sa_data;
 ptr += 10;
 sprintf(mac_addr, "%02x:%02x:%02x:%02x:%02x:%02x", *ptr, *(ptr+1), *(ptr+2), *(ptr+3), *(ptr+4), *(ptr+5));
 printf("found mac address: %s\n", mac_addr);
 break;
 }
 }
 freeifaddrs(ifaddr);
 return mac_addr;
}
#endif

int main(int argc, char *argv[]){
 char *mac = getMAC(argv[1]);
 if(mac != NULL){
 printf("mac: %s\n", mac);
 }
 return 0;
}

This example mixes various informations found on the net. The windows version is based on this example. In order to compile this example under windows you need to disable the precompiled headers (tested in VC express 2008). The linux version just iterates interfaces and matches the name of the PF_PACKET (ethernet) with AF_INET (TCP) in order to find the mac of a given ip.

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gpsbabel -t -w  -i m241 -f /dev/ttyUSB0 -o gpx -F test.gpx

Read track via Bluetooth

Find mac:

hcitool scan
Scanning ...
 00:1B:C1:05:XX:XX    HOLUX_M-241

Bind to a serial port in /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf

rfcomm4 {
 bind yes;
 device 00:1B:C1:05:XX:XX;
 channel 1;
 comment "Serial Port";
}

Connect the serial port:

rfcomm connect 4

read track:

gpsbabel -t -w  -i m241 -f /dev/rfcomm4 -o gpx -F test.gpx

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The install

The install went smoothly, everything was detected, installed the upgrades, the nvidia drivers and some day to day packages: mozilla-thunderbird, pidgin, emacs.

Post install, migrate data

As usual the first step was to set a root password:

sudo passwd

Then I started to migrate data:

#tomboy notes
cp -r old/len/.config/tomboy/* ~/.config/tomboy
cp -r old/len/.local/share/tomboy/* ~/.local/share/tomboy
(see: http://live.gnome.org/Tomboy/Directories)
#gaim/pidgin
cp -r old/len/.purple ~/
#mozilla
cp -r old/len/.mozilla ~/
#mozilla-thunderbird
cp -r old/len/.mozilla-thunderbird ~/
#ssh keys
cp -r old/len/.ssh ~/
#skype
cp -r old/len/.Skype ~/
#hamster (time-tracker applet)
cp -r old/len/.gnome2/hamster-applet/ .gnome2

I also restored my .bash_profiles files for each account and added a HISTSIZE=10000 line in /etc/profile to insure enough history buffer for terminal commands. Update: in lucid you have to change the /etc/skel/.bashrc and the .bashrc of each user so the modification in /etc/profile was not taken into account.

Media, other packages

After adding the canonical & medibuntu package sources I started installing some needed software:

• historical reasons: emacs, gqview
• gps packages (since I am preparing for bicycle trip tomorrow): qlandkarte, gpsbabel
• work needed: skype (no longer in repositories, downloaded from skype.com), acroread (even if evince is much faster for what I need), openvpn, sun-java6-jdk, jhead, exiftags, cvs, tightvncserver, x11vnc, xtightvncviewer
• networking: traceroute meld lsof iptraf nload openvpn ssh wireshark
• graphics: gimp (not installed by default in Lucid)
• removed evolution and empathy

I’ve tested skype, sound play and recording worked fine.

Firefox plugins

Since I do some flex development lately I need some degree of control for my flash plugin so instead of installing the flashplugin-nonfree package I made the installation by hand:

cd /usr/lib/firefox-3.0.3/plugins
ln -s /work/Adobe_Flex_Builder_Linux/Player/linux/install_flash_player_9_linux/libflashplayer.so
ln -s /opt/jdk1.5.0_11/jre/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so

Some conclusion

As far as the installation is concerned everything went very fast and I had a working system in under 2h (including writting this article :) The only thing I did not liked was that the indicator applet does not work vertically. As a long time windowmaker user I prefer a vertical, right side panel with icons but the indicator applet does not know how to handle this. Lost some time with this and did not arrived to the desired result. All in all, not much to say, a new ubuntu version. The only improvement I noticed was a much faster boot. Let’s see in a week time.

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0. install packages

apt-get install cryptsetup

1. create a file (it will not be resizable)

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/tmp/encfs.dsk bs=1M count=1000

2. create a device from file

losetup /dev/loop0 /tmp/encfs.dsk

[yes, I could have encrypted the file using the -e option, eg. cryptoloop as I did in the past but this is not the point of the example]

3. if you are using a filesystem just skip above steps and replace /dev/loop0 with you block device (/dev/sdb1 for example).

4. load modules

modprobe dm-crypt
modprobe sha256
modprobe aes

5. initialize device (256 bit aes with sha256 padding)

cryptsetup --verify-passphrase luksFormat /dev/loop0 -c aes -s 256 -h sha256

6. create the mapped device

cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/loop0 encdisk

this created a /dev/mapper/encdisk device which can be used as a normal disk (format, etc.)

7. create the filesystem

mkfs -t ext3  /dev/mapper/encdisk

8. mount the filesystem

mkdir -p /media/encdisk
mount /dev/mapper/encdisk /media/encdisk

9. the filesystem is ready to use in /media/encdisk

10. unmount and detach

umount /media/encdisk
cryptsetup luksClose encdisk
losetup -d /dev/loop0

11. remount again

losetup /dev/loop0 /tmp/encfs.dsk
cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/loop0 encdisk
mount /dev/mapper/encdisk /media/encdisk

With these 11 steps you can have an encrypted file or usb-stick to put all your precious data inside :)

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If you are opening a terminal to a different server or do a su in a terminal then on logout you will be required to enter your password in order to confirm the logout action. Since the polkit-gnome-authorization does not work with the new polkit version which ships with ubuntu and the polkit-auth command does not seems to work either I’ve found after some research that the solution resides in editing the /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.freedesktop.consolekit.policy file as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE policyconfig PUBLIC
 "-//freedesktop//DTD PolicyKit Policy Configuration 1.0//EN"
 "http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/PolicyKit/1.0/policyconfig.dtd">

<policyconfig>

 <action id="org.freedesktop.consolekit.system.stop">
 <description>Stop the system</description>
 <message>System policy prevents stopping the system</message>
 <defaults>
 <allow_inactive>no</allow_inactive>
 <allow_active>yes</allow_active>
 </defaults>
 </action>

 <action id="org.freedesktop.consolekit.system.stop-multiple-users">
 <description>Stop the system when multiple users are logged in</description>
 <message>System policy prevents stopping the system when other users are logged in</message>
 <defaults>
 <allow_inactive>no</allow_inactive>
 <!--<allow_active>auth_admin_keep</allow_active>-->
 <allow_active>yes</allow_active>
 </defaults>
 </action>

 <action id="org.freedesktop.consolekit.system.restart">
 <description>Restart the system</description>
 <message>System policy prevents restarting the system</message>
 <defaults>
 <allow_inactive>no</allow_inactive>
 <allow_active>yes</allow_active>
 </defaults>
 </action>

 <action id="org.freedesktop.consolekit.system.restart-multiple-users">
 <description>Restart the system when multiple users are logged in</description>
 <message>System policy prevents restarting the system when other users are logged in</message>
 <defaults>
 <allow_inactive>no</allow_inactive>
 <!--<allow_active>auth_admin_keep</allow_active>-->
 <allow_active>yes</allow_active>
 </defaults>
 </action>

</policyconfig>

This allows the current user to perform actions related to the following policies:

• org.freedesktop.consolekit.system.restart-multiple-users
• org.freedesktop.consolekit.system.stop-multiple-user

Remove osd style popups

These popups which inform from connections success to battery status to pidgin messages can be a little annoying but they are quite easy to remove:

cd /usr/share/dbus-1/services/
sudo mv org.freedesktop.Notifications.service org.freedesktop.Notifications.service.disabled

You can revert the action to get the default behavior.

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• bluetooth – worked instantly, I was able to transfer files, it even works as a remove control for my desktop which is quite cool
• mass storage – works but I will probably never use it since it switches the phone functions off and I see no point in buying the proprietary M2 card (why not using micro SD which is more spread and I already have in my gps, camera and usb stick?)
• usb cable – also worked
• syncronization – BUMP!

I was keeping a backup copy of the contacts in my old phone using wammu (since multisync seems deprecated and I’ve tried the new version using opensync with my old phone with not much success) which is a very basic .vcf file with all contact information. I thought it will be equally simple to restore it. It was not. Apparently there are some problems with the protocol. Obex does not work with gammy (wammu) and using the AT protocol does not manage to sync the entries. Not even editing the entries on the phone does not work properly as the entries are left void in the phone and thus are duplicated.

I spent about 2-3 hours doing various changes in the .vcf files, working with the windows version of the backup which is in fact an archive with a .vcf file instead and managed finally to import the entries in a very complicated way by creating a backup in windows, editing the backup in linux and replacing the contacts.vcf in the archive with the backup I had. I then edited the .vcf to remove tags not understood by the pc suite and finally restored this modified file on the phone. I was pretty sad to see all this.

• backup – this works in wammu so I will probably be able to backup the contacts for my next phone :)

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After some digging I found out there is no way to configure the date string but the only way to change the date is to change the locale the application is using. The first step was to see the installed locales:

locale -a
C
en_AG
en_AU.utf8
en_BW.utf8
en_CA.utf8
en_DK.utf8
en_GB.utf8
en_HK.utf8
en_IE.utf8
en_IN
en_NG
en_NZ.utf8
en_PH.utf8
en_SG.utf8
en_US.utf8
en_ZA.utf8
en_ZW.utf8
POSIX

then to check each locale date format, for example:

len@black:~$ LC_ALL=en_DK.utf8 locale -k d_fmt t_fmt
d_fmt="%Y-%m-%d"
t_fmt="%T"
len@black:~$ LC_ALL=en_GB.utf8 locale -k d_fmt t_fmt
d_fmt="%d/%m/%y"
t_fmt="%T"

the remaining thing was to convince thunderbird to use this locale. I’ve done this by creating /usr/bin/mythunderbird script:

LC_ALL=en_GB.utf8 $(dirname $0)/thunderbird

now the dates are much better:

Thunderbird dates config

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1. Improve Firefox speed by disabling disk cache. Strange enough the disk cache seems to be slower than my internet connection. I just had to go to about:config and set the browser.cache.disk.enable preference to false.

2. Another improvement was to remove logging on the SSD. For this purpose the /var/log and /tmp have to be mounted as temporary filesystems. I am not worried about losing all the logs upon reboot. This is not a server machine. For that just edit /etc/fstab and add the following lines:

tmpfs      /var/log        tmpfs        defaults           0    0
tmpfs      /tmp            tmpfs        defaults           0    0
tmpfs      /var/tmp        tmpfs        defaults           0    0

Don’t forget the trailing line at the end. Note that some programs might complain about the lack of folders so they have to be created. See this blog entry about the dirs to be created by adding them to /etc/rc.local. Note that I did not modified the /etc/init.d/syslogd script as described but just created the dirs and everything worked perfectly.

3. Remove programs from memory. I did not quite felt a slowdown but just for fun I did a ps -ef and tried to remove the applications which where not needed. One place to find some of them was in System -> Startup Applications. Nevertheless nothing seemed as important as the ssh server which I installed right after the system install.

4. Since I use my netbook to read I usually was installing acroread by checking the Canonical apt source but I’ve noticed that evince (aka Document viewer) is much faster so this time I did not even installed acroread.

In conclusion I find this new release quite nice. There is no major change and even the bug which prevented the second flash disk to be seen at runtime exists. As in the previous release I have to reboot after installing the second flash memory card in order to detect it.

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