Tech Debug

Here is a quick way to show the current git branch when you are in a repository directory. Place this in your .bashrc or .bash_profile: I’ve also customised the PS1 to show user/host/path. You should probably setup git bash completion as well. This can be done by sourcing the bash completion script that is available in the git source code as shown (change path to where you place script): Have fun.

Worksheet names in Excel Cells If you are working in Excel, and you want to show the worksheet name in a Cell on that worksheet, you can use the CELL function to do so. By default the CELL function will return the current document name, if used with the filename info_type: =CELL("filename") This provides a full path to the spreadsheet, with the worksheet of the current Cell at the end, e.

If you use Unix, and need to migrate your Business objects CMS from one database to another database, you will probably use the cmsdbsetup.sh script. This script migrates and manages your database connection in a Unix environment using Business Objects Enterprise (BOE). In my case I am Using Solaris 9, and have Oracle 10g databases and client files for use by BOE. When running the cmsdbsetup.sh script you get the following error pertaining to clntsh:

Apple released Bootcamp 2.1 with OS 10.5, which allows you to dual boot to Windows XP/Vista on your Mac. Subsequenet to that release, there was a driver update for the Multitouch trackpad which was suppose to improve souble tapping, etc. However it caused a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) the moment you double tapped, courtesy of applemtp.sys. Many people sent suggestions to Apple to fix this, but it seemed to be falling on deaf ears.

This is the same issue I’ve posted on a couple of forums. It’s seemed detailed enough to be a blog post, so here it is. Under 10.5.8 (Leopard) I was successfully using my Merlin XU870 ExpressCard (supplied by ISP) with Three Broadband (3) in Australia. I did not use the 3 drivers, but used the Leopard WWAN built-in to connect. There was never an issue as Leopard detected the card as a “Novatel Wireless HSDPA Modem”, and I configured the Network Advanced settings for 3 postpaid services as:

This is a cheat sheet on getting PHP5 on OpenBSD to have zip support. I needed this to get CiviCRM to work with Joomla. First off install some require packages, including the zziplib package: <br /> export PKG_PATH=http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/OpenBSD/4.5/packages/i386/<br /> pkg_add -v zziplib<br /> pkg_add -v autoconf-2.62<br /> Now download and extract the PECL zip package: <br /> mkdir /usr/local/src/<br /> cd /usr/local/src/<br /> wget http://pecl.php.net/get/zip<br /> tar zxvf zip<br /> cd zip-1.

Todays post is a 2009 midyear round up of the status of the Google Mobile applications: Latitude, Voice, Docs, Mail, Maps and Reader. My focus is on the iPhone mobile platform. Google Latitude Google Latitude is their location and status message product. The application up until now has been available on other phone platforms such as Android, but lacking on iPhone. In the mean time, iPhone users have had to look elsewhere.

I’ve uploaded the initial public release, v1.2, of my simple Tweet plugin to the WordPress Plugin Repository. You can install the plugin by: downloading it from http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tweet/ ; or On a recent version of wordpress, v2.7 or above, follow these steps: Login to your wordpress dashboard Select the Plugins/Add New menu item as shown Search for Author lantrix as shown Click on the Install link for the Tweet plugin If you need any assistance, you can leave a comment over on the dedicated page for the Tweet WordPress plugin for Twitter.

I bought the iPhone 3G in July 2008 on a 24 month contract with Telstra. At the time they refused to allow iPhone users to utilise their “Cap Plans”, and as such became the only carrier in Australia to offer iPhones without Cap plans. I signed up to the $80 per month “iPhone plan” and that includes $70 worth of calls. As of June 26th 2009, the iPhone 3GS was released.

An update for Skype on the iPhone has been released. Version 1.1 of the update offers some additional fixes and localisations, but the major addition is ability to send SMS. This update is compatible with the iPhone 3.0 Firmware, so many people were hoping that Push notification would be included. It has not been, so the functionality of Skype on the iPhone is limited. Apple does not allow Applications to run in the background, so one can’t receive calls or message notifications in Skype without the app continuously running.

Tweetdeck, one of the better Twitter desktop clients, has now been release for the iPhone. I used to use Tweetdeck, until Tweetie came out for the Mac (a native client). However on any other non-apple platform I recommend Tweetdeck or DestroyTwitter (both Adobe Air apps) to my friends. In the last 24 hours Kevin Rose, of Digg fame, blogged about getting hold of the Tweetdeck beta. Since then the blogosphere has gone mad about it.

The world health organisation has today raised the Influenza alert level to 6, the highest level, indicating a pandemic is underway. They rate the 2009 flu pandemic as currently moderate, with most people recovering, and I quote: Read more details in the World Health Organisation press release. This is also a timely reminder to people who work in office spaces about coughing/sneezing not into your hands, but the best cloth at hand.

The new iPhone 3GS was announced yesterday at WWDC. The main changes are in the hardware. The differences are now: 32GB Option 3 Megapixel camera with autofocus Video Recording capabilities with upload to Youtube function Voice Control Compass The other new features coming to the iPhone such as: Cut, Copy & Paste (about time!) MMS and contact send/receive via SMS Bluetooth transfer and A2DP support Data tethering to your laptop (USB or Bluetooth) Spotlight Search Landscape keyboard across all apps Voice Memos will be available on the current iPhone 3G, the iPhone 2G and included oin the new 3GS.

I just read on Brandon Sanderson’s blog that David Eddings, the author of some fantastic fantasy books, has recently passed away. I started reading fantasy novels early on in high school. After reading the Lord of the Rings, the Belgariad series by David Eddings were instrumental in forming my enjoyment of this genre of books. Unfortunately I lent my Belgariad series to someone and never got them back. I also never finished the Mallorean.

Downloading MySQL and installing on Leopard is a breeze with the native package. I migrated my database (dump/restore) and recreated my wordpress user, but still kept getting this error: Error establishing a database connection The user could log into the database from the console as shown: ` lantrix@lexx:~ $ mysql -u wordpress -p Enter password: Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g. Your MySQL connection id is 19 Server version: 5.

Thanks for your patience whilst I’ve been offline, and stick around! I’ve moved off a vm infrastructure back to a real server that I’m in control of.

A mega geeky awk one-liner today. Tested on Solaris under bash, so [YMMV][1]. Have you ever found that a filesystem is filling up fast, and dont know what is causing it? This one liner (which can be placed in a cron job if you like) is best run as a super user. It will: Search for all files in the current dir and subdirs that are modified in the last 3 days; list them, filtering just the filesize and name/path; sort/order by the largest file; and Email you a copy of the report.

I’ve been having a conversation on a Skype bug reporting forum, and it came to a conclusion that the Philips VOIP321 Skype Phone is just not worth purchasing. I’m an owner of a Philips VOIP321 phone, and until December 2008 it worked fine. However the latest Skype update has put an end to product useability. Since Skype Version 3.8.0.188 (Release date: November 19, 2008) and all later versions (including Skype 4 Betas as at Jan.