sandip's blog

Here is a tip/hint that could hopefully help others having some difficulty with cameras that support "PTP".

PTP is the acronym for the "Picture Transfer Protocol". That protocol has a strong standards basis, in ISO and in terms of the USB Still Imaging class specification. Many upcoming digital cameras should support it.

The vision is that there will be enough new PTP-enabled cameras that it'll be much easier for you to just use them. You won't need to install new software and deal with its quirks each time you borrow or buy a new camera. Instead, you will be able to acquire images (and other media objects), reprocess them, (cropping, turning them right side up, signing them, applying steganograpy or other image transforms, etc.) and share them (printing, web publishing, etc) using whatever tools you prefer.

Enough with the PTP jabber... and here is how:

1. Install gPhoto, a free ready to use set of digital camera software applications.
2. Plug in your camera which supports PTP via USB.
3. Change to PTP mode instead of normal usb data transfer.
4. Run the command, `gphoto2 --get-all-files` to download your images.
5. It's as easy as that !!

Here are some notes on installing Firefox and plugins for Flash, Java and Mplayerplug-in:

Installing Firefox:

1. Download the latest Firefox installer via http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
2. untar the archive, `tar -xvzf firefox-x.x.x-x-linux-gtk2+xft-installer.tar.gz`
3. `cd firefox-installer`
4. Login as root before doing the install, `su`
5. Run the installer, `./firefox-installer`
6. Change the destination install directory to be "/usr/lib/firefox"
7. Create a Launcher on your desktop after installation.

Note: All of the .so plugin files go to the "/usr/lib/firefox/plugins" folder...

Port knocking is a method of establishing a connection to a networked computer that has no open ports.

Before a connection is established, ports are opened using a port knock sequence, which is a series of connection attempts to closed ports. A remote host generates and sends an authentic knock sequence in order to manipulate the server's firewall rules to open one or more specific ports. These manipulations are mediated by a port knock daemon, running on the server, which monitors the firewall log file for connection attempts which can be translated into authentic knock sequences.

Once the desired ports are opened, the remote host can establish a connection and begin a session. Another knock sequence may used to trigger the closing of the port.

Read more about it at PortKnocking.org and give it a whirl.

Interested in building a linux web hosting service? HostingHacks.net has some excellent documentation and an easy to follow step by step process to do so. Currently only Redhat and Fedora write-ups is available, but others are to follow...

RUST is both a drag & drop RPM creation GUI and a "sandboxing" toolkit that allows you to do software installations within a chrooted environment and automatically generate RPMs from arbitrary source code, without ever seeing a spec file.

Icecast is a streaming media server which currently supports Ogg Vorbis and MP3 audio streams. It can be used to create an Internet radio station or a privately running jukebox and many things in between. It is very versatile in that new formats can be added relatively easily and supports open standards for commuincation and interaction.

It comes well documented, however I would suggest the The Unofficial Icecast How To.

Listen in on my broadcast at: http://icecast.linuxweblog.com:8000/sandip.ogg.m3u

This document describes a method for generating automatic rotating "snapshot"-style backups on a Unix-based system, with specific examples drawn from the author's GNU/Linux experience. Snapshot backups are a feature of some high-end industrial file servers; they create the illusion of multiple, full backups per day without the space or processing overhead. All of the snapshots are read-only, and are accessible directly by users as special system directories.

Creating an Image

If you are working on servers that don't have a console attached, "mkisofs" and "cdrecord" utilities make working with ISO images very easy!

An ISO is a slang for an image of an ISO9660 filesystem, which is the common format of data CD-ROMs.

To make an ISO image to prepare for burning in a CD burner, use "mkisofs":

$ mkisofs -r /path/to/direcory/ > /tmp/directory.iso

or

$ mkisofs -r -o /tmp/directory.iso /path/to/direcory/

or for DVD video

$ mkisofs -dvd-video -r -V VolumeLabel -o /tmp/directory.iso /path/to/direcory/

The option '-r' sets the permissions of all files to be public readable on the CD and enables RockRidge-extensions. Long filenames and file permissions are preserved when mounted on systems that support Rock Ridge.

I was having difficulty connecting to the broadband cable modem through ethernet using the Motorola SB5100 and switching between desktops. Here is what I found for troubleshooting the connection:

1. Put the cable modem in stand-by mode
2. This will enable the internal DHCP Server of the modem when the Cable Modem is disconnected from the Internet. You will then be assigned a dynamically assigned IP Addresses by the Cable Modem DHCP Server which keeps trying to refresh after 10 seconds. These addresses are assigned from an address pool which begins with 192.168.100.11 and ends with 192.168.100.42.
3. Bring up the SURFboard Configuration Manager located at http://192.168.100.1
4. Go to the "Configuration" page and "Restart Cable Modem".
5. Turn on the Modem from it's Stand-by mode.
6. The cable modem should now pick up your latest MAC Address and you will be assigned the IP address provided by your ISP in the next refresh.

Happy Surfing !!

My Handspring Visor Deluxe finally died after a long spiel of 3 years getting trashed around. I also used it as my cell phone with the Springboard module, Sprint Wireless Digital Link attached to it. So, I was cut off from the World without my Wireless swiss army knife!! I had to act fast... Got a sweet deal on eBay and upgraded myself to a brand new "Visor Neo"! The seller aparently found it after a year in hiding, when the wife bought it, opened it up... read through the manual and decided that it was too dificult to set it up and use it, so put it aside. Lucky Me!!