Kasun's Blog

Mac OS X Enable/Disable Dashboard

2011-12-10T19:54:00.000-08:00

This is a quick way to enable or disable the mac os x's shining dashboard.

Enable:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES

killall Dock

Disable:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean NO

killall Dock

C# Format string with a number to two decimal places

2011-07-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

formattedValueFrom = String.Format("{0:0.00}", decimal.Parse(row["ValueFrom"].ToString().Trim()))

row - A DataRow in a DataTable
ValueFrom - A column in the DataRow

Gamai Pansalai, Nubai Daagabai...

2011-02-14T18:13:00.000-08:00

A Bug's Life...

2011-02-13T23:48:00.000-08:00

Not so far... (The Moon)

2011-02-13T05:39:00.000-08:00

Say Cheese. Just got out of the nest.

2011-02-10T04:25:00.000-08:00

The woody wood pecker. Starting to dig in.

2011-02-09T22:44:00.000-08:00

Access Localhost Web Server (Host) through VirtualBox

2010-10-10T11:28:00.000-07:00

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.

               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)

2010-10-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-25T02:26:00.000-07:00

.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)

2010-04-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-12T04:46:00.000-07:00

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)

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)
Then make another 3 copies and rename them all to;

s60snr
s60ssb
s60tsb
S60ZDIGI

Connect the phone to the device using "Mass Storage" mode.
Copy the Fonts folder to E:\Resources\ - assuming that your memory card is taken as E:
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

2010-04-11T21:29:00.000-07:00

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

2010-02-17T10:36:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-29T11:53:00.000-08:00

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)

2010-01-27T23:32:00.000-08:00

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 -

Hosting Plan for Black Friday and Cyber Monday at almost NO COST! $97 Discount

2009-11-28T22:38:00.000-08:00

It was the Thanksgiving week and Black Friday. So now it's coming the Cyber Monday. There are lot of people who are looking for great deals out there. So here we go. Following are the web hosting plans from one of the best hosting company "DreamHost" and you can use the redemption codes upto 2 years plans. After using this code which gives $97 Discount it will be only $22.4 for one year hosting plan with two free domains.

Redemption Code: CYBERMONDAY

How to use:

Click Sign Up Here
At the payout put the above code.
Whoa... You have got a $97 discount

Enjoy!!! Happy Cyber Monday!!!

Apple Products

2009-11-17T03:11:00.000-08:00

Apple is a well-know computer manufacturer and seller among the most popular brands. Frankly Apple Inc is an American based multinational corporation which has come through its successful path in 3 decades from 1976. The most popular product from the corporation is the iPhone, which is one of the most commonly used smartphone all around the world, but especially in USA, UK and Europe.

Products of Apple:

iPhone 3G (Newest version to the date iPhone 3Gs), Price: $199 with AT&T contract
iPod products

iPod shuffle - Capacity: 2GB - 4GB, Price: $59 - $79
iPod shuffle Apple Store Exclusive - Capacity: 4GB, Price: $99
iPod nano - Capacity: 8GB - 16GB, Price: $149 - $179
iPod classic - Capacity: 160GB, Price: $249
iPod Touch - Capacity: 8GB, Price: $199
iPod Touch - Capacity: 32GB - 64GB, Price: $299 - $399

Apple Mac Computers

Notebooks

MacBook
MacBook Pro
MacBook Air

Other Models

iMac
Mac mini
Mac Pro

Operating Systems - Mac OS X - Newest version 10.6 Snow Leperd.

Every product mentioned here are widely spread and very popular among their users. Not only because of the shiny designs but also the stability and easy use interfaces with wide variety of software availability

Discounted Web Hosting

2009-10-18T14:10:00.000-07:00

DreamHost is one of the biggest web hosting companies and it provides very nice interface as well as great 24x7 support. I have bought a web hosting package from them and once when I had a problem on my side and contacted them, they replied very quickly with the relevant solution. So personally, I recommend DreamHost as a good web hosting company.

There are some promotion codes that you can use to get discounts when you buy a package from DreamHost. You can use one of below codes when you buy a plan from DreamHost

SUMMERPARTY - $50 (Forever)
SLHAOFFER - $57 (Forever)
SLMAXOFFER - $97 (30days Remaining)

Enjoy and check back. There will be some more codes.

Twitter Applications for Your Browser and Phone

2009-10-18T13:18:00.000-07:00

The Twitter is the most popular micro blogging tool in the world. Because of that there are lot of people who are searching for application for ease of use of twitter. Following are some of Twitter applications for your browser and phone.

For Browser

Twit Kit: Integrate Twitter with your Firefox browser. This plugin can work on Windows, Mac and Linux. You can also customize the look to fit your tastes.
Twitterfox: Find out the statuses of your friends on Twitter right on your Firefox browser
Shareaholic: Share webpages with your friends on Twitter. Can be integrated with your Firefox Browser
Twitbin: Receive and send tweets at the side of your Firefox browser
Firefox Search Plugin: Find out how you can post to Twitter right from your Firefox search bar
Twitterbar: Post to Twitter via the address bar
Tweetbar: A twitter sidebar for Firefox and Flock
Twippera: Twitter widget for Opera
Power Twitter: Twitter plugin for Firefox that have photo and video sharing capabilities.
Yoono: Firefox add-on that add different social networks to your browser
Twitzer: Firefox plugin that let you post more than 140 characters.
Twitterlights: Firefox addon that lets you Tweet any page you see.
Twitterbook: Post to twitter like Bookmarking
Twitterline: Displays your friend's public timeline on your toolbar
Maxthon: This is a toolbar you can download so you can tweet via your browser

For Mobile Phone

Twitterfone: Update Twitter using Voice
Twitsay: Record Voice Messages on Twitter
Twitter for iphone: Self explanatory
Itwtr: Another Twitter client for iphones
Pocket Tweets: another twitter client for your iphone
Twittai: mobile phone software with retweeting capabilities
CCtwit: windows mobile twitter client written in c# leveraging the .net compact framework.
Twapper: send updates from your 30boxes calendar to your phone via Twitter.
Twittelator: Integrate your iphone with Twitter
Twitterberry: Integrate Twitter with your blackberry
Vlingo: Another tool to integrate your blackberry with Twitter
Email Twitter: Get your Tweets on any email-enabled mobile phone
iTweet: Twitter Site for your iphone
Qik: A tool that let you share videos via your phone.
Jargong: Twitter client for your phone that has Flickr and other social network integration
MoTwit: Application for Palm OS
Widsets: Get content without sending SMS
Moby Picture: Post to your blog or sites like Twitter on your mobile phone
Twixr: allows you to share pictures on Twitter via your mobile phone
Locify: Send twitter updates on your mobile phone along with GPS location
Fring: Post to Twitter + other sites using your mobile phone
Abiro Jitter: Abiro Jitter (Java Twitter) is an easy-to-use and fully-featured Twitter client for mobile phones
Jtwitter: Java application which you can install on your phone
Twidroid: twitter client for android mobile phones
Twitteresce: Twitteresce allows you to access your twitter feed using your mobile phone.
Twobile: Twitter client for users of Windows Mobile Pocket PCs
Tiny Twitter: Client for any Java enabled device (that's a bunch & includes the CrackBerry) and any Windows Mobile Pocket PC or Smartphone
Twitter SpellCheck: Check your spelling while twittering on your mobile phone

Surf Internet In Your Own Language Through Opera Mini 5

2009-09-26T14:15:00.000-07:00

I suppose that everyone of you have already seen my earlier post about Opera Mini 5 Beta version. There I have posted that Opera can be configured to see the blogs or sites, in sinhala language. It will also show any language since the content is rendered as images. So if you configure it as I did, then you will also see your blog on your mobile in you own language (If it's written in a language other than English. Sites written in English will render as usual)

Before configuration:

How it is done is simply like this:

Open up Opera Mini 5 and type "config:" in the address bar (without quotes) and then press "Go" button.

Now go to the bottom of the screen that you get after "config:". There you will see a parameter named "Use bitmap fonts for complex scripts".

Now click it and from the menu select "Yes" instead of "No"

Now press "Save" buttom at the bottom to confirm your selection.

After configuration:

So, now it's done. Now you can surf your own blog or website through your mobile phone and check whether it works for your language. Belowing is for my blog for the same post which was shown as squares as I showed you in the very first picture of this post.

Well, now it's your turn... :) Good Luck!

Opera Mini 5 on Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

2009-09-16T15:43:00.000-07:00

Opera is not a newbie to the browser world. It has been with mobile users for a long time. It has become one of mostly used web browsers in the world of mobile users. There are various factly for this.

Based on Java - So that it can run on many platforms.
User-friendly interface.

But there was a lack during last few months in Opera since they didn't have a good version of their browser to newest symbian system 9.4v5, which is becoming one of the most popular mobile platforms.

However Opera innovative teams has been able to give the users a new version with so many new features including tab browsing. It is one of the expected items that I have been looking from a mobile browser for some time. At last, Opera has done it. There are so many other features too.

Speed Dial.
Power Scrolling.
Password Manager.
Google search box.

So I thought of showing you some of screenshots I took running Opera on Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.

Tab Browsing

Speed Dial

Google

Onscreen Keyboard

Google Web Search

Google Image Search

Read Sinhala

Main Menu

Get Opera from here

Windows XP on Linux Mint (Virtualization)

2009-09-12T22:13:00.000-07:00

Most of the time the inability to move totally on to Linux is that some softwares aren't working well even in WINE on Linux (yet). But it is really annoying to move on to Windows and back to Linux when we want to run certain softwares on both of the system. But how if it's possible to run windows inside Linux?

That is possible using the process called "Virtualization". This method is not very new but still is developing. There are bunch of virtualization softwares but some use lot of resources while others do a petty job with less resource eating.

VirtualBox is one of the nice low weight softwares used for virtualization. So I though of using it for a while on my Linux Mint machine and see how far windows can go inside Linux. Still doing some configuration stuff. So I'm leaving here showing you the first welcome note from Windows XP running inside Linux.

How To Change Root Password Of A Linux OS If You Have Forgotton It

2009-09-12T14:57:00.000-07:00

Someone can say that "Root is the god of the system", where it bears the literal meaning regarding the root user of a Linux system. Because he has the full access to each and every corner of the system and can change or modify it as he wishes. As a matter of fact, if the root user does something wrong with what he is doing, the system may stop working.

Anyway, if you have forgotten the root password, what can you do? It will make the system less operative since you need the root password to configure and change lot of things in a Linux System.

Assuming that you have access to BIOS, there is a possibility to change the password using a Linux Live CD.

Stuff Needed:

Change the first boot device to the CD Drive or to the DVD drive. You can do this from the "Boot Settings" menu under the "Boot Sequence" sub menu. These entries change according to the BIOS system you have and the above is in general.
A live CD or DVD of Ubuntu, Fedora, Linux Mint, etc (For this explanation Linux Mint Live CD has been used)

Method:

After changing the first boot device put the live CD or DVD in the drive and boot up the computer.
Now when it is finished loading the desktop, right click on the desktop and from the menu select "Open in Terminal". In the terminal you get, you have to give all the commands as shown and explained in the following figures. (Every command is without quotes)
"sudo fdisk -l" From this you can identify the disk partition in which you have installed Linux. In this case it is /dev/sda2.
Now create a new folder using the command, "sudo mkdir /media/temp". Then you will get a folder named temp in /media.
Now what you have to do is to mount the partition at temp folder. Use the command, "sudo mount /dev/sda2 /media/temp"
Then you have to tell the system to identify this partition as the root partition. Use the command, "sudo chroot /media/temp"
Now it's the final stage, where you have to change the password to a password you prefer. To do this, as in the figure, type "passwd root". It will ask you two times for the password and put the same password correctly. When it's done you will see the message "passwd: Password updated successfully".

Now restart the machine and when it comes to the login prompt, use the password you put just now. Using this method, one can change not only the root password but also the password of any existing user.

"Still waiting for the root device" problem

2009-08-28T05:45:00.000-07:00

This is an annoying message given by the startup process of linux and I got in to the same situation after installing Linux Mint.

Linux mint is a reconfiguration of ubuntu so that it make ease of use for the beginners to Linux. You have everything installed out of the box such as flash plugin for Firefox and MP3 decoding.

After sometime, I got this annoying problem when I was going to do a cold boot (starting up the computer after a shutdown) and later I figured it's not only happening even after a hot boot (reboot). I had been searching a lot about this problem and there were so many posts in forums saying to change the label of the root partition and adjust the grub->menu.lst and etc->fstab. Some had said to use the UUID of the device as the value for the root parameter for the kernel. But all of them didn't work in long term for me.

After all time I though there would be a problem with the bootloader itself. Having that thought I removed the default bootloader for Linux Mint, the grub-gfxboot bootloader and installed the legacy grub bootloader. Here we go, it has fixed the problem for me (so far).

So according to my experience with this I think the grub-gfxboot bootloader sometimes forget how to find the root device no matter how the parameter value is given. So if you also have this "still waiting for the root device" problem and couldn't figure out a solution, it's time to go back to the good old (legacy) grub bootloader.

Cheers

How to check UUID, Label & Filesystem type in Linux

2009-08-22T10:51:00.000-07:00

First there should be a little clarification what these things are.

1. UUID - Universally Unique Identifier
This is a kind of an identifier that you can give to a device. Since it is a universally unique identifier, the identification of the device is easy.

2. Label
Label is another way to identify a device but it's not unique. Like in Microsoft Windows you can have more than one device with the same label.

3. Filesystem
It is the method for storing files in a computer system. Different operating systems use different types of file systems such as,
* EXT3/4 - Linux
* HFS/HFS+ - Mac
* NTFS - Windows

In Linux there is a method how you can find these things with a single command.

* Open up a terminal and issue this command without quotes "sudo blkid"

The output will be like this,

How to mount a Mac (iAtkos - mine) dvd on Linux

2009-07-27T23:50:00.000-07:00

use the command with the specific filetype

Mount DVD: sudo mount -t hfsplus /dev/hdc /media/test
Mount ISO: sudo mount -t hfsplus /media/hdc1/iAtkos.iso /media/test

(here the strings /dev/hdc and /media/hdc1/iAtkos.iso should be replaced according to your filesystem)

if you simply mount this without -t option you will not see all the files on the DVD

Further: More

Honda Accord Commercial

2009-07-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

Honda is one of the huge brands worldwide. When that name comes to my mind I remember the great Honda motorbike that we had couple of years back, Honda CM125. Wow, I still remember the proud hum it gives when the engine screams. Hearty...

Anyway, here I'm not going to talk about Honda bikes, but a commercial for Honda Accord car.

Commercial Video

Here they have used all the main parts of the model. Pretty cool, huh?

Check out more
Official Site
Wiki

Website Designing

2009-05-22T18:58:00.000-07:00

One of the main and very popular methods of communication in the business world is web sites. So a good design of a website is very important to give customers, relevant and necessary ideas. In technical aspect, basically, a website should be compliant with most of the web browsers, which are currently being used. It should also have comparable technologies to provide customers a better and quality service to compete with the fast moving business world.

Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope

2009-03-05T13:28:00.000-08:00

Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope is still in the Alpha 5 stage. But couldn't prevent installing that because of the curiosity I had towards it. :)
So finally upgraded the system from Hardy Heron to Jaunty Jackalope. Following commands were used.
1. Alt+F2 -> gives the 'Run Application' dialog.
2. There entered 'update-manager -d'
3. After the processing it showed that a new system is there to make an upgrade.

Everything went okay except compiz as I can see for the moment. But it is a minor problem. Display problem with lower graphics went okay after removing the following lines from xorg.conf and rebooting the system,
1. Driver "fglrx"
2. Option "VideoOverlay" "on"
2. Option "OpenGLOverlay" "off"

System seems to be having smaller icons than the previous systems. But I am not 100% sure about that, but I feel like that. Have to try a little bit more to find out what's new. It's still alpha. :)

Cheers

How to remove the audio track from an AVI file (using mencorder)

2009-02-22T12:26:00.000-08:00

Issue the command from the folder in which the files are located. Change the .avi file names to the relevant ones.

Using the following command one can remove the audio track from an AVI file.
mencoder -ovc copy -nosound video.avi -o video_nosound.avi

The following command will add a new track to the AVI file.
mencoder -ovc copy -audiofile soundtrack.mp3 -oac copy video_nosound.avi -o video_new.avi

How to Rotate a Video Taken by a Camera Using Mencoder

2009-02-12T16:39:00.000-08:00

It was really essential to rotate a video before you post on to your blog or somewhere else if the video is taken in the other orientation from your camera. If you have mencoder, you can fire this command on the command line (I am considering Linux) from the place that you have your video file that you want to rotate.

mencoder -vf rotate=1 -ovc lavc -oac copy name_of_your_video_file.avi -o new_name_of_the_converted_file.avi

Change the names of the video file as described. Write the command continuously on the command line with relevant spaces.

If you don't have MPlayer or Mencoder you can download it from here.
http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html

Nautilus Scripts

2009-02-12T15:52:00.001-08:00

Nautilus scripts are scripts embedded to nautilus file manager which is the official file manager in GNOME. These scripts can be run from the menu you get by right clicking somewhere, probably on a file so that you can fire an instant command on that file.

There were lacking some scripts for linux earlier but now it is not true anymore. These two scripts will be very useful to anyone who works with images and videos frequently.

1. nautilus-image-converter
You can just run this command on the command line
sudo apt-get install nautilus-image-converter
2. nautilus video converter
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=193754
Click on the link and follow the instructions given by the author carefully.

Enjoy the scripts.

Cheers

Lynda.com Ruby on Rails Training

2009-02-11T22:31:00.001-08:00

Lynda.com provides multimedia learning experience to many computing subjects and I found that this Ruby on Rails training videos to be very interesting.

*Ruby on Rails Essential Training
*Ruby on Rails Beyond the Basics

cheers ;)

Install Ruby on Rails on Ubuntu

2009-01-31T14:14:00.000-08:00

If someone is not quite sure what he/she is doing, then installing Ruby on Rails on Linux could be tricky. I found this documentation in official Ubuntu website and it seems really useful for a Ruby on Rails beginner.

Ruby on Rails on Ubuntu

Enjoy.

Ice Skating

2009-01-24T08:20:00.000-08:00

That was an amazing experience to do ice skating for the first time in my life.

First I couldn't at least stand up on the skating field. Because I didn't have any balance. So I started to shiver on the field and always used to grab the fence. But then my friends grab me a support which is used to practice children for skating. I didn't have another choice :)

After a while I was so exhausted of using the support because it was too and my backbone started to pain. So I decided to stand up by myself. Amazing, now I can stand and walk a little bit. A little progress. But my friends said who are really good at skating, that I am not bad on the first day. :)
Hope to do it again

Cheers

BrainStore Workshop "Shaping the Siemens Employer Brand"

2009-01-21T11:05:00.000-08:00

Siemens is a huge and an international brand. BrainStore is a well organized IdeaFactory. What if someone get a chance to work for both of them? Amazing... Isn't it?
Well, I got this opportunity to be a part of the workshop called "Shaping the Siemens Employer Brand" of which the main goal was to make Siemens the most admired company.

I joined it as a FreeThinker who (all the FreeThinkers) helped to maintain the flow of the process with the generation of new, innovative and creative ideas.

People work in Siemens in 40 different counties also took part in the workshop while 10 external experts fertilized program. BrainStore technicians and the team leaders kept the flow perfectly.

It was organized very well with a smooth flow of extraction of ideas from the participants while they are offered with nice snacks. ;)

Two of great days (20.01.2009 - 21.01.2009) in my life, spent having lot of fun. I believe it is another milestone in my life.

"Be inspired and inspire the world!"

Amazing Human Body

2009-01-17T13:43:00.000-08:00

The fingers which were squeezed in last year just before the Christmas days are now getting better. It seems that I am going to loose the two nails and at the same time coming new nails. Have to be so careful when working, not to stick with anything around. Otherwise the nails will be forcefully removed making a great disaster. ;)

I am really wondering how nicely the human body works. It is wonderful and amazing.

-- cheers

500 GB External drive

2009-01-13T12:04:00.001-08:00

Hi,

It is really nice to tell you that I bought a 500 GB portable hard disk of Western Digital. It is very cheap. I think it is because of the season. So I have lot of space now. So I am going to install my favorite Linux again on my computer. :D

Cheers

How to remove NavBar from a blog (blogger.com)

2009-01-11T04:41:00.000-08:00

Go to your blog's customize page and then on the Layout tab select Edit HTML.
In that in Edit Template section just enter the following code.
paste Code as in Example.

----- Code ------



------End Code--------

------ Example ------------

Blogger Template Style
Name: Rounders 2
Designer: Douglas Bowman
URL: www.stopdesign.com
Date: 27 Feb 2004
Updated by: Blogger Team
----------------------------------------------- */



/* Variable definitions

---------- End of Example ----------------

New Year

2009-01-11T04:06:00.000-08:00

In the new year 2009 started to work after the accident I have met with.
But still working only with the computer and preparing a manual for a measuring device used with pressure sensors.
I have to calibrate all the sensors and store those data for later use.
It's fun since I love to work with electronics and computers. Already I have done a rough calibration of two sensors and have to fine tune them.
Finally have to write the manual of the process of calibration.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T03:16:00.000-08:00

A year has gone like a wind with ups and downs.
This year will be a great, happy and joyous new year for everyone.

-Cheers

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T08:15:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

Wish you a merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Ho ho ho... family time. ;)

- Cheers

Accident

2008-12-17T04:18:00.000-08:00

I met with an accident while I was working at a lab of EMPA, Switzerland.
Two of my fingers were squeezed between the cover of a kneader, accidentally loosing the grip of the cover.
So I will be out of work until 5th Jan 2009. Sad about that. Will be alone at home. :(

Projects

2008-12-03T10:04:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Currently working on 2 projects.

1. Synthesis of a materials of high strength low weight to mix with cement.
2. Synthesis of micro/nano tubes of ceramic/polymer composite for textile use.

Really interesting projects.

-cheers

An interesting night of snow...

2008-11-25T11:22:00.000-08:00

I really loved to see snow... Yes that dream became true... :)
It's cold but it's exciting...

In Switzerland

2008-11-19T12:32:00.000-08:00

Hey folks,

I am now in Switzerland doing my university internship at EMPA, Switzerland.
This is a really nice experience.

Having fun. :)

-cheers

Upgraded to Intrepid Ibex

2008-09-23T18:40:00.000-07:00

I was using Ubuntu 8.04 or Hardy Heron. Suddenly I got an enthusiasm to upgrade the system to the upcoming Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) although it not still stable. So now I'm on it (upgraded)

I love the NewHuman theme it has. Since it is still not the final release it has some shortcomings.

-cheers

Remove Wine Entries From Menu (Ubuntu)

2008-09-07T08:10:00.000-07:00

1. Locate the folder ~/.local/share/applications/wine/Programs

2. Locate the program entry you want to remove.

3. Remove the *.desktop file

Have Fun
-Cheers

Colored Gold

2008-08-23T09:26:00.000-07:00

White gold and yellow gold are the most common types of gold colors used in jewelry making. But did you know that, various other colors of gold are also available and some of these colors may surprise you.

For example, have you heard of purple gold, or black gold and even blue gold? It is quite likely that you might have never heard of these gold colors. Here are the details of the various gold colors used in gold jewelry production in recent times.

However these attractive gold colors have some disadvantages over normal carat gold alloys. Read this complete report before you make any decision on ordering colored gold jewels.

Remove Blogger Navigation Bar

2008-08-22T20:20:00.000-07:00

http://blogger-templates.blogspot.com/2005/01/remove-navbar.html

This is a great tutorial for removing the navigation bar, which appears on the top of a blog. Blogger is really great and really flexible. :-)

Ubuntu-restrcited-extra

2008-08-15T16:58:00.000-07:00

in ubuntu-restricted-extras installation I get an error from msttcorefonts.

I used "sudo dpkg --configure -a"

the problem was solved.

Pleasing Appearance for Gnome Apps on KDE 4.1

2008-08-02T09:21:00.000-07:00

1. Install gtk-qt-engine-kde4
2. Go to System-Settings -> Appearance -> GTK Styles and Fonts
3. Select Use my KDE style in GTK applications option
4. Apply, log off and log on to KDE.

Parent link:
http://tombuntu.com/index.php/2008/07/30/install-kde-41-in-ubuntu-and-make-gtk-applications-look-good/

KDE 4.1 - Add a Desired Application to the Panel

2008-08-02T07:47:00.000-07:00

There was a very very very little argument with a friend of mine (Gav) :), how to add a desired launcher to the panel. At that time as he and I felt there is no a simple way to do that. I admitted at that time. But not now. :) simply because I found a very simple way to add such a launcher to the panel. I wonder why it didn't come into my mind earlier.

How to do it...

1. Get the Menu editor (by right clicking on the application launcher)
2. Then select the desired place that you want to add the launcher. (Say -- Development)
3. Click "New Item" on menu bar and put the desired name for your launcher.
4. Then do all the configurations you want. (Name, Command, Icon, etc...)
5. Save and exit the KDE Menu Editor.
6. Now click on desktop or on panel and Unlock widgets.
7. Then click on application launcher, go to Applications then find the launcher you newly added. (in my case its under Development sub category)
8. Right click on the launcher of your desire and select "Add to Panel" to add that launcher to the Panel.

That's all...Enjoy... Hope you have any comments... :)

How to Enable Desktop Cube on KDE.

2008-08-02T07:18:00.000-07:00

Some days ago, I was discussing with Thilanka(one of my best friends), how to enable 4 desktops(or desktop cube) on KDE. because he dad a problem with compiz. only 2 desktops were working. :) cube couldn't be activated.

Then when I moved to KDE 4.1 from Gnome, I got the same problem. So I search a bit and observed that number of tools to configure compiz including the default one desktop-effects-kde, which is called Desktop Effects on the menu.

How I resolved the problem...
1. I installed simple-ccsm which is called Simple CompizConfig Settings Manager.
2. From simple-ccsm, I selected Medium Effects from profile. Then applied.
(Now compiz is working, but only 2 desktop are enabled. So then what...?)
2. Go to Desktops tab on simple-ccsm, then do following
- Appearance
Desktop cube
- Desktop columns
scroll it to 4
- Desktop rows
scroll it to 1

So now on Desktop preview you can see four desktops. Now it should finely work.

There may be other easier methods to do this. But I hope this would be helpful for someone. I prefer to know, how to do that manually. Anyone knows?

Disabling Textured Video Flickering

2008-07-31T22:09:00.000-07:00

One way I've found to resolve the "flickering 3D windows" is to enabled the "Extra WM actions" and bind "toggle redirect" (I use R). When the app starts then you can toggle redirect and it'll run fine.

Proxy configuration in Kubuntu

2008-07-28T18:17:00.001-07:00

Open up the terminal so we can edit a couple of files. Kate is just a text editor, use whatever you like, gedit, vim, whatever. This command will open apt.conf file in Kate as root.

$ sudo kate /etc/apt/apt.conf

Comment # out what is already there and add your proxy. Should look like below with your auth info:

#Acquire { http { Proxy 'false'; }; };
Acquire::http::Proxy "http://usern: passwd@proxy.domain.com:port_num";

Links

2008-07-12T09:18:00.001-07:00

http://tuxenclave.wordpress.com/2008/01/18/how-to-install-gfx-grub-in-ubuntu/

Useful Links

2008-05-15T19:26:00.000-07:00

Configure ATI open source driver

FOSS - "Free Speech, not Beer"

Creating startup scripts 1
Creating startup scripts 2

How to install Enlightenment 17 on ubuntu

tor and vidalia

Back again

2008-05-04T02:23:00.000-07:00

Hey...
I am back now after a long time...Configuring and examining features of Hardy Heron(Ubuntu) these days. And too preparing for the mentoring program in the university.

More posts with useful links will be posted here.

- have a nice day
- cheers

Nanotechnology Center In Sri Lanka

2007-04-30T09:37:00.000-07:00

A great news to the nanotechnology lovers in Sri Lanka.
A nanotechnology center has already been started by the Sri Lankan government spending around Rs. 600 million. I am searching for some more details about this center and got to know that it is situated in Hilton Place.
I will update you all with new details. So stay tuned.

Welcome All

2007-01-15T00:06:00.000-08:00

This is my first personal blog I have created. But, I have already created an another blog for Windows Standalone Installer for MPlayer project. You can check that on the mplayerlk blog. A link is in the "Interesting Links" section.

So many details related Nanotechnology, Computer, Open Source will be posted on this blog.