Access Localhost Web Server (Host) through VirtualBox

Say that you want to install RHEL on a virtual machine in VirtualBox using the HTTP method (via network). Then you can setup a repository on your localhost using the first 4 of your 5 RHEL installation CDs and then add them to the local web server and access them through NAT in VirtualBox.

• After copying all the binaries (from first 4 CDs) to the preferred location, configure the httpd.conf located at /etc/httpd/conf/ (in Fedora 13) by assigning an alias to the copied location.
• eg:

               Alias /install "/install"
              <directory>
                   Options Indexes
                   AllowOverride None
                   Order allow,deny
                   Allow from all
              </directory>
             

• Boot the virtual machine using the first RHEL cd and at the boot screen  type "linux askmethod" (without quote) and press
  
• Select the HTTP method from the menu when asked
• Enter 10.0.2.2 as the IP address and the alias as the location ("install" in this case)
• The installation should pick up the repository and you are good to go. :)

Good Luck!

GNOME-MPlayer Error: (VDPAU backend libvdpau_nvidia.so)

Error: Failed to open VDPAU backend libvdpau_nvidia.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

The above error occurred in my gnome-mplayer in Fedora 13 (I didn't get this error in Ubuntu 10.04) and I guess the problem is that I don't have the resource that it is looking for as its output. If you have NVIDIA Video driver you may have not encountered with the problem.

However, a little setting can sort out the problem as follows;

• Open Edit -> Preferences or just press CTRL + P
• That will open up the preferences and select the "Player" tab
• Select (or enter) "xv" (without quotes) for the Video Output
• Close preferences and try to open the video file again.

Your problem should have been resolved.

Good Luck!!!

How to extract a .daa file in Ubuntu and Windows

.dda is image file type primarily used by PowerISO Inc. (As far as I know)
It cannot be read using default Ubuntu applications. Following is how you can extract a .dda image.

Hi,
I found the solution. Actually I didn't know that .dda is an old type. However, to someone doesn't know;

For Windows;

• PowerISO itself can be used for this (I don't know the method since I don't have it on my Linux box)

For Ubuntu (or Linux)

There is no official PowerISO version by the PowerISO Inc. The existing Linux version (not official according to my knowledge. Please correct me if I am wrong) of that seems to be having problems according to the sources. Instead You can use AcetoneISO in Ubuntu.

• Download acetoneiso. In Ubuntu you can use apt-get. sudo apt-get install acetoneiso. It should be there in newer repositories.
• After initial configuration, go to "Image Conversion" in the main menu.
• Select "Convert MacOs Image" and follow the instructions.

Good Luck!

Ubuntu 10.04 Release (Lucid Lynx)

Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx LTS is finally released. According to Ubuntu it is faster, fun and more easier to use than the older versions.

What's New!

Visit here to find out more. http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisubuntu/1004features

Changing Nokia 5800XM Fonts

Hey Everyone,

This is especially for the folks, who have the great 5800XM device. You can change your system fonts very easily. To make it quick, following are the steps:

(Assuming that you are on Windows)

1. First create a folder in you PC (eg: on Desktop) named "Fonts" (without quotes) and copy your favorite font from windows (Times New Roman - this has to be truetype)
2. Then make another 3 copies and rename them all to;
• s60snr
• s60ssb
• s60tsb
• S60ZDIGI
3. Connect the phone to the device using "Mass Storage" mode.
4. Copy the Fonts folder to E:\Resources\ - assuming that your memory card is taken as E:
5. Now disconnect and restart your phone.

Now I believe that you have your device decorated with your favorite font. I have installed "Times New Roman" and some screenshots are here;

So it's your turn to see what your device's got... ;)
If you have any problem or other solution related to this, please don't forget to comment

Update Your Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Firmware

As I have posted some article on 5800 earlier, this phone is a very decent gadget to have it with you. It only is not the technology it has but also the community help it gets, the softwares available, etc... 

So all in all Nokia 5800 XM gets very frequent firmware updates from Nokia so that you receive very interesting new features, which were not on it before such as kinetic scrolling. So you should or I should say, you must update your device with its latest firmware.

Some people think that updating firmware is dangerous and should be avoided doing it. I can say, "Not At All!". If you follow the procedure nothing will go wrong. Even if something happens wrong such as killing your phone in the updating process (which is very, very rare - if you unplug the phone whilst it's updating - yeah, you mustn't do that ;)), you can recover it with no problem. Also as I mentioned earlier vast knowledge about the device is available online for you for free of charge. 

So guys, study a little about your loving device. I will be back with a nice guide "how to update Nokia 5800 XM firmware"

The LKRUG or the Lanka Ruby User Group

The LKRUG is not just new for the people who have already meet up at the discussions, but for me today was the first time in LKRUG. This is the user group of Ruby for Sri Lanka. Ruby is a wonderful, highly object oriented (truly object oriented; to be exact) programming language. Even though I'm new into this language some experts say that it is the language to beat Java.

However our meet up was not to beat any of other languages but to discuss for a future plan of the things to be done as the LKRUG, where it will try to promote Ruby and help Ruby starters and enthusiasts while giving current users a huge pool of Ruby users to interact with to solve their problems. It will also create a potential for so many opportunities.

The discussion went really well and got to know few of the current users of the group and it was a really nice evening, meeting up with you all.

Playing High Quality Video on Nokia 5800

I think that the most of the owners of Nokia 5800 XpressMusic struggle to convert videos for their nice stunning mobile device, yet end up with failures. I have also struggled and researched a lot through the internet along with my own experiments. At last I was able to find the optimized conversion settings for the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. Now I can convert videos to quality nHD (640x360) videos which can be played by 5800.

Don't cross your fingers.. :) It's easy to do this conversion without any difficulties. First thing is that finding a converter for this task. Super is a pretty good converter as an all-rounder. You can download the software for free with all the integrated codecs. Therefore, the one click installer will save the day.

Conversion Settings:

 

The above picture show the settings I used on Super converter. The video bit rate can be decreased even down to 1152 (may be lower) without noticeable loss in my Nokia 5800. But higher the bitrate it's higher the quality of the video. "High Quality", "Top Quality", "44K Audio" settings will also enhance the quality according to the converter's manual but I didn't try without them. You are welcome to do it and comment here. :)

Ruby On Rails (The way to program the web)

The Ruby programming language has a long history as much as the Java has. But the popularity of Ruby has become vastly boosted by its framework called Rails that ultimately create a new way to program the web and is called Ruby on Rails.

After sometime with no touch with programing, I stated to think of polishing my programing skills with this fine and great language. So I started today with the "Got 15 minutes? Give Ruby a shot right now!" tutorial on the official Ruby site, http://tryruby.org/

Hope you all will enjoy Ruby on Rails too. For the record, this language is revolutionizing the web and will become the top of programming languages in the very near future.

- Cheers -