Arthur's Blog

Here is how to completely remove mySQL from Linux Mint and Ubuntu.  Might also apply to Debian:

1. Start mysql, if you can't then try sudo mysqld --skip-grant-tables
2. Exit mysql
3. sudo rm -rf /var/lib/mysql
4. Find which packages are installed by running sudo dpkg -S etc/mysql
5. Remove each of these packages with a sudo apt-get remove.  For example sudo apt-get remove mysql-common mysql-server-5.1
6. Remove the mysql user:  sudo userdel mysql

To always show the file path in the Ubuntu file manager which is called Nautilus, do the following:

1. Open gconf-editor.  You can do this by opening a terminal and typing gconf-editor
2. Navigate to apps/metacity/nautilus/prefernces
3. Find the entry 'always_use_location_entry' and check the box next to it
4. Open your home directory or some other file manager (Nautilus) window and you should now be able to see the full location path
5. Close gconf-editor

That should now work

Americhip produce promotional material that includes an embedded video.  That is, an embedded video inside a paper leaflet that is handed out at trade conventions and the like.  If you pull this paper leaflet apart, you will find a good quality LCD screen, with a processer and memory all in one unit.  I haven't pulled this apart as I'm worried that I'll remove some of the chips as it is very well glued down.  There is also a usb socket, speaker and four buttons that let you select a video.

If you plug this leaflet/video player into a computer the screen lights up and starts showing the battery charging.  At this point you need to enter a password so that you can access the file system.  The password for mine was three buttons from top to bottom being pressed one after the other.  I guess this could be different for different promotions, so you should probably just try different combinations; there aren't that many combinations so you should find it in the end.  When you correctly enter the password, the screen changes to some zzzs and a monitor graphic.  You can now mount your USB drive on your PC.

Open the USB drive, that should now appear on your computer.  Inside the root there is a 0.avi, this is the video that starts up at the beginning when the leaflet switches on.  There is a VIDEO directory, open this up.  Inside here there are four videos labelled 1.avi, 2.avi,...

Unfortunately you can't just drop any old video into here and replace the videos that used to exist.  Instead you must transcode your videos so that they are 320x240 in resolution and are using the XVID codec for the video.  To do this, I ran the following command in a terminal:

mencoder -oac lavc -ovc lavc -vf scale=320:240 -o 1.avi -ffourcc XVID myVideo.avi

This should then transcode to 320x240 and use XVID.  If you don't have mencoder installed, then run the following first:

sudo apt-get install mencoder

Just successfully moved blerg.net to use this server, that was previously only running carzoo.org.  For now they will both show the same website.  Managed to get Postfix installed and setup so that I'm also receiving email correctly.

This code has been scraped together from various sources around the web when I tried to figure out how to stop validation of the SSL certificate when using HttpURLConnection in Android.  The following code disables SSL certificate checking for any new instances of HttpsUrlConnection;

    /**
     * Disables the SSL certificate checking for new instances of {@link HttpsURLConnection} This has been created to
     * aid testing on a local box, not for use on production.
     */
    private static void disableSSLCertificateChecking() {
        TrustManager[] trustAllCerts = new TrustManager[] { new X509TrustManager() {
            public X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() {
                return null;
            }

            @Override
            public void checkClientTrusted(X509Certificate[] arg0, String arg1) throws CertificateException {
                // Not implemented
            }

            @Override
            public void checkServerTrusted(X509Certificate[] arg0, String arg1) throws CertificateException {
                // Not implemented
            }
        } };

        try {
            SSLContext sc = SSLContext.getInstance("TLS");

            sc.init(null, trustAllCerts, new java.security.SecureRandom());

            HttpsURLConnection.setDefaultSSLSocketFactory(sc.getSocketFactory());
        } catch (KeyManagementException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

HttpsUrlConnection extends HttpUrlConnection so you should be able to call all of the same methods that you were previously using.  Now, call the above method, and then create a new instance of HttpsUrlConnection and use that in exactly the same way as you were using the HttpUrlConnection.

This morning a colleague got the error screen titled: Running Processes Detected when trying to install VMWare Player.

The fix for this was to rename the installer from vmware.exe to something else.  VMWare player must do a simple grep for vmware and found this .exe running, which of course was itself.

I have just uploaded a new version of Brewing Calculator.  This new version adds the ability to switch units from Metric (Litres, Centigrade and Kilograms) to US Units (Gallons, Fahrenheit and Pounds).  To do this just go to Menu > Units and then choose which one you want to use.  By default it is using Centigrade, but your preferences are saved.

QR Code:

If you need to tighten the torx bolt that is used on the top hinge of a Renault Clio Mk2 door then you need a T40 Torx screwdriver.

I couldn't find that information on the net or in the Haynes manual so I've left it here for anyone who needs to know.