Firefox plugins

• Adblock Plus – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865
• BetterPrivacy – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6623
• DownThemAll – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/201
• Firebug – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1843

7-zip – file compression/decompression library
http://7-zip.org

CutePDF – virtual printer: print to a PDF
http://www.cutepdf.com

Avast – antivirus
http://www.avast.com

Picasa – picture and video organizer
http://picasa.google.com/

The following function takes in a System.Collections.Generic.List<T> and returns a System.Data.DataTable with the properties (via reflection) of T as columns.

public static System.Data.DataTable ListToDataTable<T>(
    System.Collections.Generic.IList<T> elements)
{
    System.Reflection.PropertyInfo[] arrPropInfo = typeof(T).GetProperties();
    System.Data.DataTable dt = new DataTable();
    System.Data.DataRow dr;

    foreach (System.Reflection.PropertyInfo pInfo in arrPropInfo)
    {
        dt.Columns.Add(pInfo.Name, pInfo.PropertyType);
    }
    foreach(object elem in elements)
    {
        dr = dt.NewRow();
        foreach (System.Reflection.PropertyInfo pInfo in arrPropInfo)
        {
            dr[pInfo.Name] = pInfo.GetValue(elem, null);
        }
        dt.Rows.Add(dr);
    }

    return dt;
}

Xml Serialization and Binary Serialization to a Base64 string

Xml Serialization

Snippit: Take a serializable object and serialize it into an xml string, stored in a System.Text.StringBuilder

System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer serializer = 
    new System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer(typeof(ObjectToSerialize));
System.Text.StringBuilder sb = new System.Text.StringBuilder();
using (System.IO.StringWriter stringWriter = new System.IO.StringWriter(sb))
{
    serializer.Serialize(stringWriter,  myObject);
    stringWriter.Close();
}

Binary Serialization to Base64 string

Snippit: Take a serializable object and serialize it into a Base64 string

byte[] bResult;
System.Runtime.Serialization.IFormatter formatter =
    new System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryFormatter();
using (System.IO.MemoryStream s = new System.IO.MemoryStream())
{
    formatter.Serialize(s, myObject);
    bResult = s.ToArray();
    s.Close();
}
string s = Convert.ToBase64String(bResult);

Snippit: Deserialize

ObjectToSerialize myObject = null;
byte[] b = Convert.FromBase64String(str);
System.Runtime.Serialization.IFormatter formatter =
    new System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryFormatter();
using (System.IO.MemoryStream ms = System.IO.new MemoryStream(b))
{
    myObject = (ObjectToSerialize)formatter.Deserialize(ms);
    ms.Close();
}

VirtualBox 3.1 significantly changed the way that harddisks, dvd/cd drives and floppies are mounted. The following steps are to install Windows XP as a guest on an Ubuntu 9.04 host with a IntelAhci SATA controller.

Make sure you download the Windows XP Intel SATA Drivers and unzip to extract “F32.IMA”.

sudo -i

To begin the install process, do the following steps:

• Create a new VirtualMachine.
• Add three controllers (sata, ide, floppy).
• Attach the Intel SATA floppy and the Windows XP dvd iso.
• Set the memory, boot order and bridged network connection.

VBoxManage createhd --filename /srv/virtualbox/harddisks/CHANGEME.vdi --size 20480 \
    --variant Standard
VBoxManage createvm --name CHANGEME --ostype "WindowsXP" --register \
    --basefolder /srv/virtualbox/machines
VBoxManage storagectl CHANGEME --name "SATA Controller" --add sata \
    --controller IntelAhci
VBoxManage storageattach CHANGEME --storagectl "SATA Controller" \
    --port 0 --device 0 --type hdd \
    --medium /srv/virtualbox/harddisks/CHANGEME.vdi
VBoxManage storagectl CHANGEME --name "IDE Controller" --add ide
VBoxManage storagectl CHANGEME --name "Floppy Controller" --add floppy
VBoxManage storageattach CHANGEME --storagectl "IDE Controller" \
    --port 0 --device 0 --type dvddrive \
    --medium "/srv/virtualbox/isos/WindowsXP_sp3.iso"
VBoxManage storageattach CHANGEME --storagectl "Floppy Controller" \
    --port 0 --device 0 --type fdd --medium /srv/virtualbox/floppy/F32.IMA
VBoxManage modifyvm CHANGEME --memory 1024 --nic1 bridged --bridgeadapter1 eth0 \
    --boot1 dvd --boot2 disk --boot3 none --boot4 none

Start the VM using a specified port (8888) for VRDP. You will then be able to attach via RDP to the Host IP on the specified port.

VBoxHeadless --startvm CHANGEME --vrdpport 8888 --vrdp on &

When the Windows XP installation begins, Hit F6 during setup and select the Intel(R) 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Controller (Mobile ICH8M-E/M) driver. Proceed with the Windows XP install until reboot is required.

At some point, post install, you may optionally take the following steps:

• Eject the Windows XP dvd iso.
• Attach (and then install) the VirtualBox Guest Additions dvd iso.
• Eject the Intel SATA floppy. Note: it can only be ejected while the machine is powered off; it should be ejected because it will otherwise be locked, such that other VM’s cannot use it.
• Change the boot order.

VBoxManage storageattach CHANGEME --storagectl "IDE Controller" \
    --port 0 --device 0 --medium none
VBoxManage storageattach CHANGEME --storagectl "IDE Controller" \
    --port 0 --device 0 --type dvddrive \
    --medium /usr/share/virtualbox/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso 
VBoxManage storageattach CHANGEME --storagectl "FLOPPY Controller" \
    --port 0 --device 0 --type fdd --medium none
VBoxManage modifyvm CHANGEME --boot1 disk --boot2 none

Don’t forget to run windows updates!

http://code.google.com/p/bubbletip/downloads/list

Demo page

http://uhleeka.com/demo/bubbletip/

Features

• multiple tips on a page
• multiple tips per jQuery element
• tips open outward in four directions:
  • up
  • down
  • left
  • right
• tips can be:
  • anchored to the triggering jQuery element
  • absolutely positioned
  • opened at the current mouse coordinates
  • anchored to a specified jQuery element
• IE png transparency is handled via filters

Tested (lightly)

• IE 6 on XP
• IE 7 and 8 on Vista
• Firefox 3.5 on Vista
• Chrome 3.0 on Vista
• Safari 3.2 on Vista

Examples

MOUSEOVER to open a tooltip above, below, to the left or to the right of any element.

MOUSEOVER a trigger element to open a tooltip above and below a target element.

{ deltaDirection: 'up' }

{
    deltaDirection: 'down',
    deltaPosition: 100,
    offsetTop: 10
}

{
    deltaDirection: 'left',
    animationDuration: 100,
    offsetLeft: -20
}

{
    deltaDirection: 'up',
    positionAtElement: $('#a1_target')
}

{
    deltaDirection: 'down',
    positionAtElement: $('#a1_target')
}

Using it?

If you enjoy using it, I’d love to hear about it. Drop a comment with a link!

Credit

bubbletip was inspired by http://jqueryfordesigners.com/coda-popup-bubbles/.

After converting a physical machine to .vmdk via VMWare Converter, I got a BSOD indicating that there was a problem with p3.sys when trying to boot. The Windows XP system was running on a PII 600mHz Dell Optiplex from the year 2000.

To fix, boot in Safe Mode and run the following at a command prompt:

sc config p3 start= disabled

• Download the Windows XP Intel SATA Drivers and unzip to extract F32.IMA
• Hit F6 during setup to select the Intel(R) 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Controller (Mobile ICH8M-E/M)

sudo -i

VBoxManage createhd --filename /srv/virtualbox/harddisks/CHANGEME.vdi --size 20480 \
    --variant Standard
VBoxManage createvm --name CHANGEME --ostype "WindowsXP" --register \
    --basefolder /srv/virtualbox/machines
VBoxManage modifyvm CHANGEME --memory 1024 \
    --boot1 dvd --boot2 disk --boot3 none --boot4 none \
    --sata on --sataportcount 1 \
    --sataport1 /srv/virtualbox/harddisks/CHANGEME.vdi \
    --dvd /srv/virtualbox/iso/WindowsXP_sp3.iso \
    --floppy /srv/virtualbox/floppy/F32.IMA \
    --nic1 bridged --bridgeadapter1 eth0

Start the VM without a gui (note: the ampersand executes the command and returns you to the prompt)

VBoxHeadless --startvm CHANGEME &

Start the VM without a gui and without VRDP (after you have loaded the os and configured remote desktop accessability).

VBoxHeadless --startvm CHANGEME --vrdp off &

Stop the VM in a saved state

VBoxManage controlvm CHANGEME savestate

Power off the VM (like pulling the plug)

VBoxManage controlvm CHANGEME poweroff

Transferring from Windows to Ubuntu 9.04, I first mounted the windows share:

sudo mkdir /mnt/winshare
sudo mount -t smbfs -o username=user,password=pass //winserver/share /mnt/winshare

Next, run rsync with a specified bwlimit. Optionally, unmount the share

sudo rsync -vrR --delete --delete-excluded --bwlimit=6144 /mnt/winshare/* /destination/
sudo umount /mnt/winshare

Note that the bwlimit is in kilobytes not kilobits — 6144 KB ~= 48 Mbps. Also note that the bwlimit is limiting the I/O bandwidth…whatever that means.

    --bwlimit=KBPS          limit I/O bandwidth; KBytes per second

NTop (http://www.ntop.org) is great for tracking bandwidth usage:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ntop

Set the administrative account password for ntop to run under:

sudo ntop -A

Start the service:

sudo /etc/init.d/ntop start

Browse the reports on the default port, 3000. http://yourserver:3000/

For the sake of reliability and flexability, I wanted to install Ubuntu 9.04 Server on a Dell PowerEdge using Software RAID1 (reliability) and LVM (flexability). Software RAID1 was also considerably cheaper (except for the time it took to figure this out) than adding in the $200 Dell SATA RAID contoller.

I consider myself to be a novice Linux/Ubuntu user, so feel free to blindly follow my actions.

Hardware

Dell PowerEdge T100
2 SATA Hard drives @ 160GB; No RAID Controller
8GB RAM

From the factory, the T100 comes with 2 primary partitions on the primary hard drive for utility/diagnostics purposes. I decided to keep the two partitions as they only use approximately 2GB space.

Installation

The Partition Disks section occurs after booting from the CD, setting up the keyboard, network, clock, etc.

Upon selecting a Partitioning Method of Manual, the following configuration is presented.

SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) - 160.0 GB ATA WDC WD1602ABKS-1
    #1 primary    41.1 MB        fat16
    #2 primary     1.5 GB        fat32
       pri/log   158.5 GB        FREE SPACE
SCSI2 (0,0,0) (sdb) - 160.0 GB ATA WDC WD1602ABKS-1
       pri/log   160.0 GB        FREE SPACE

The space needs to be split into two additional partitions on each physical disk. One partition will be for SWAP, the other for LVM. I have seen differing recommendations for SWAP sizes from 1.5 to 2.0 times the RAM.

For symmetry sake–I wanted to keep the partition IDs symmetric between drives–I added and removed some partitions to end up with the following.

SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) - 160.0 GB ATA WDC WD1602ABKS-1
    #1 primary    41.1 MB        fat16
    #2 primary     1.5 GB        fat32
       unusable  452.4 MB        unusable
    #3 primary   142.0 GB  B  K  raid
    #4 primary    16.0 GB     K  raid
SCSI2 (0,0,0) (sdb) - 160.0 GB ATA WDC WD1602ABKS-1
       pri/log   2.0 GB          FREE SPACE
    #3 primary   142.0 GB  B  K  raid
    #4 primary    16.0 GB     K  raid

When creating #3, specify:

Use as: physical volume for RAID
Bootable flag: on

When creating #4, specify

Use as: physical volume for RAID

The next step is to bind the partition pairs in a RAID1 configuration. To do this, select the Configure software RAID menu item, located above the disk partition information. You should get a dialog saying:

Before RAID can be configured, the changes...

When RAID is configured, no additional changes...

The partition tables of the following devices...

Write the changes to the storage devices and configure RAID?

Select Yes.

For each of the two partition pairs:
Select Create MD device
Multidisk device type: RAID1
Number of active devices for the RAID1 array: 2
Number of spare devices for the RAID1 array: 0
Active devices for the RAID1 multidisk device: /dev/sda3, /dev/sdb3 and /dev/sda4, /dev/sdb4 respectively

Select Finish to exit the multidisk config menu. The partition config should now include the following:

RAID1 device #0 - 142.0 GB Software RAID device
     #1            142.0 GB
RAID1 device #1 - 16.0 GB Software RAID device
     #1            16.0 GB

Change the properties of device #0 to:

Use as: physical volume for LVM

Change the properties of device #1 to:

Use as: swap

Next step is to Configure the Logical Volume Manager located at the top of the config. A dialog pops up with the following:

Before the Logical Volume Manager can...

After the Logical Volume Manager is...

The partition tables of the following devices are...

The following partitions are...

Write the changes to disks and configure LVM?

Select Yes.

LVM configuration action: Create volume group
Volume group name: vg
Devices for the new group: /dev/md0 (142001MB)

Now that the volume group has been created, we need to create the associated logical volumes.

For each partition you wish to create (/, /usr, /home, /opt, /var, /tmp, /srv) do the following steps:
LVM configuration action: Create logical volume
Volume group: vg (141998MB)
Logical volume name: root
Logical volume size: 5GB

Specify the volume sizes as you see fit. LVM how-to’s generally recommend that smaller sizes are better, as it is much easier to increase the size than decrease it.

After creating all the logical volumes, select Display configuration details:

Unallocated physical volumes:
  * none

Volume groups:
  * vg                                         (141998MB)
    - Uses physical volume:       /dev/md0     (141998MB)
    - Provides logical volume:    home         (4999MB)
    - Provides logical volume:    opt          (4999MB)
    - Provides logical volume:    root         (4999MB)
    - Provides logical volume:    srv          (49996MB)
    - Provides logical volume:    tmp          (4999MB)
    - Provides logical volume:    usr          (4999MB)
    - Provides logical volume:    var          (9999MB)

Select Finish to get back to the main partition config menu.

For each logical volume created, there is now an entry in the config:

LVM VG vg, LV home - 5.0 GB Linux device-mapper (linear)
     #1              5.0 GB

Select the #1 5.0 GB line and specify the following:

Use as: Ext3 journaling file system
Mount point: /home (respectively)
Label: home (respectively)

After all logical volumes have been configured, select Finish partitioning and write changes to disk. You will see a dialog:

If you continue, the changes listed below will...

WARNING:  This will destroy all data...

The partition tables of the following devices are...

The following partitions are...

Write the changes to disk?

Select Yes, and your install should continue as normal until you reach a screen titled, “Install the LILO boot loader on a hard disk.”

LILO installation target: /dev/md0: software RAID array

Another dialog occurs, titled “Configuring lilo.” Select Yes… or No. Was that helpful?

Another dialog:

It was detected that it's necessary to run /sbin/lilo in order to...

WARNING: This procedure will write data in your MBR...

Do you want to run /sbin/lilo now?

Select Yes and the install should complete.

References

https://help.ubuntu.com/9.04/serverguide/C/advanced-installation.html
http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Software-RAID-HOWTO.html
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/RAID1%2BLVM

C:\Inetpub\AdminScripts>cscript adsutil.vbs set w3svc/1/securebindings ":444:"

Return:

Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.7
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

securebindings                  : (LIST) ":444:"

You can verify the new setting by opening IIS Manager and clicking the “Advanced…” IP Address button on the properties page of the default website.

You can also verify using the following netstat command to view all TCP ports:

C:\Inetpub\AdminScripts>netstat -an -p tcp

Return:

Active Connections

  Proto  Local Address          Foreign Address        State
  TCP    0.0.0.0:25             0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
  TCP    0.0.0.0:80             0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
  TCP    0.0.0.0:135            0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
  TCP    0.0.0.0:444            0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
  ...