Cyril's Blog Site

MrPau.com online!

2009-03-26T10:23:00.000-07:00

http://blog.mrpau.com/ - the official weblog of Cyril Pauya is now online! Head over there for new contents.

This blog site will be preserved for archive purposes only coz I am already active on the new site.

See you there!

Asus P5GC-MX/1333 Network Not Working in Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron)

2008-10-22T21:35:00.001-07:00

The onboard network adapter of Asus P5GC-MX/1333 motherboard does not work out-of-the-box in Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron).

So as usual, I went to UbuntuForums, googled, and read a lot. Practically consumed 4 hours looking for a fix.

Then with a "silly" grin (for not doing it in the first place), I used Ubuntu's Synaptic Package Manager and searched for "Atheros". Voila! The driver is listed there. I immediately installed it and restarted the machine. It's fixed! ;)

Here are the steps for those who needs to have this darned problem fixed:

Install a separate network card in the computer. I put an Accton - old network card on the PCI slot knowing that Ubuntu would already recognize it.
Connect to the Internet using this secondary network interface.
Use Synaptic to install Atheros driver.
Restart your computer.

Hope this helps the others who, like me, consumed a lot of time searching the web for a solution.

Laptop CPU slows down to 40%!

2008-10-07T20:25:00.000-07:00

I play games on my laptop, a Dell D610 1.86GHz, 1.5GB memory, an ATI X300 with 64MB dedicated graphics card and Windows XP Professional with SP2. Nowadays I'm into Defense of the Ancients (dota), a custom map of World of Warcraft III.

For a long time now I have always wondered why my laptop would sometimes slowdown after around 30 minutes of gameplay. I didn't mind at first because it was not that intermittent. Lately though it's becoming an annoyance. I even installed a new Windows XP on another partition and tried it but with the same problem.

Frustrated, I fired up my system monitoring tools. What I diagnosed was that the CPU drops down to 751MHz as I play the game, that's a staggering 40% drop! Now I am a computer programmer, I know about Intel SpeedStep, I have always set my Power Scheme to Always On, and sometimes used SpeedSwitchXP just to prove a point. But after alloting 3 hours looking at Dell forums, there were no solutions to my problem.

Somebody in the forums mentioned that the CPU will underclock automatically if it is overheated. Now I don't have aircondition in my room. Although it is well ventilated, the laptop gets really hot at the left side of the keyboard where the CPU and graphics card is. So hoping-for-the-best and crossing-my-fingers, I tried putting a stand fan next to my laptop to supplement the CPU fan. I then played DOTA to test my theory and sure enough, no lag was experienced, CPU is at 100% 1.86GHz speed, and I had a lot of triple kills. ;)

After all of the hassles I've been through, it's all a matter of overheating issue.

Is it hot in here?

Django Editor

2008-09-14T07:19:00.000-07:00

2008-09-14:

UliPad 3.9
* tried UliPad 3.9 tonight, and so far liking it! (for my Django projects that is)
* http://code.google.com/p/ulipad/

UliPad 3.9 Good So Far:
* syntax highlighting specially for Django templates
* auto-completion
* folding
* zoom-in or zoom-out editor window
* lightweight on memory
* cross-platform
* code snippets
* directory browser (sort of project browser)
* multi-view support

UliPad 3.9 Bad So Far:
* error opening "error log" when in Windows XP limited user account (which was easily fixed by installing UliPad to a directory where the limited user has read-write privileges)

EasyEclipse for Python 1.3.1

* I have been using EasyEclipse for Python as my Django editor for the past 4 months now. (but will be replaced by UliPad nowadays)
* http://www.easyeclipse.org/site/home/

EasyEclipse for Python 1.3.1 Good So Far:
* support for projects (creation, opening, closing)
* syntax highlighting for python, html, css
* auto-indent
* auto-completion (some)
* creation of python projects and files

EasyEclipse for Python 1.3.1 Bad So Far:
* no zoom-in or zoom-out of editor window (you can't make the texts larger or smaller)
* no syntax highlighting for django templates
* very minimal support for auto-completion
* heavyweight on memory
* haven't found the code snippets tool

Btw, I have tried using Notepad++ but since it is not cross-platform, I went back to EasyEclipse for Python. I occasionaly use it as text editor though.

Mindanaw.net now online!

2008-08-11T03:32:00.000-07:00

Visit Mindanaw.net for news and articles regarding Mindanao.

You may register so that you can post articles of your own subject to approval of the Webmaster or Editor-In-Chief.

Httrack CSS in binary form

2008-08-05T02:16:00.000-07:00

I've been using WinHttrack to make an offline copy of a website so that I could browse it while am offline. When I browsed the copy, I found out it does not correctly render the site. The css is not propagated. I looked at the page source and looked at the css file. To my surprise, it is in binary form.

I again tried to update my copy. But then again the same problem.

After much browsing, I stumbled upon this topic in the httrack's forum site at http://forum.httrack.com/readmsg/12734/10506/index.html.

I followed the instructions and sure enough, my copy already rendered correctly.

Kudos to the solution provider.

Django 0.96 and 1.0 alpha

2008-07-31T04:16:00.000-07:00

The web framework for perfectionists with deadlines.
Django makes it easier to build better Web apps more quickly and with less code.

These notes refer to Django version 0.96 and 1.0 alpha:

2008-08-26:
GREAT so far:
* model-db-tables creation
* template inheritance
* great documentation
* fixtures

PROBLEMS so far:
* creating CRUD forms
* upgrading models sometimes requires going to the rdbms admin software to alter or drop the table
* console commands to administer, validate, reset, etc

2008-08-25:
* generic views:
* edit urls.py
* (r'^incomes/list/$', 'imbr.incomes.views.income_list'),
* edit views.py:
* return an object_list()
* edit models.py:
* create a ModelForm for your models

* django generic wrapper howto: http://www.b-list.org/weblog/2006/nov/16/django-tips-get-most-out-generic-views/
* django.views.generic.list_detail.object_list has "object_list" as the name of the variable for use on your templates. This is overridable.
* django.views.generic.list_detail.object_detail has "object" as the name of the variable for use on your templates. This is overridable.

2008-08-13:
* use babel, http://babel.edgewall.org, a Python library for I18N and L10N - use BabelDjango for your django projects
* to round-off decimals at django templates use the floatformat filter (ie 34.23234 --> {{ value|floatformat:3 }} --> 34.232)

2008-06-16:
* to use alternating rows, use CYCLE, make sure not to put spaces between the values, only commas.

2008-06-11:
* iif() equivalent == (c and (a,) or (b,))[0] from http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2001-June/090770.html

2008-06-04:
* in postgresql, an error in adding data will occur if database is prepopulated by data from fixtures. Use "python manage.py sqlsequencereset catalog | psql -U postgres -d lms" after loading your fixtures. Issue Ticket is http://groups.google.com/group/django-users/msg/7df2011a3700c3d0

2008-06-02:
* fixtures as json are much easier to maintain: add, edit, and remove records
* to save data as fixtures: python manage.py dumpdata --format=json --indent=4 catalog > catalog/initial_data.json
* to load data as fixtures: python manage.py loaddata catalog/initial_data.json
* use fixtures to add initial data to your database
* use unittest as unit tests for your models

2008-05-30:
* http://www.stonemind.net/blog/2007/01/12/small-django-tips-from-one-newbie-to-another/

2008-05-28 (chapter 7):
* redirect after POST to prevent saving duplicate record

2008-05-26 (chapter 7):
* escape variables in your templates to prevent XSS

2008-05-26 (chapter 5):
* for "python manage.py dbshell" to work under sqlite3 db, download the sqlite3.exe executable from www.sqlite.org and put it somewhere in your path
* put __str__() method to all model classes for a string representation of the class
* use PIL (python imaging library) for ImageFields in your model at http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/
* django requires single column primary key
* django uses the MTV (model-template-view) framework. In MVC framework, Model = django.model, View = django.views and django.templates, Controller = django.URLconfs

2008-05-25: (chapter 4)
* Template inheritance can be nested to whatever level
* Templates are the Views in MVC model
* Templates have their own language but just enough for "presentation" level, if you want to add logic, use a View
*

TurboGears 1.0.4.4

2008-05-15T04:04:00.000-07:00

The rapid web development megaframework you've been looking for.

These notes refer to TurboGears 1.0.4.4

2008-04-16:
* storm as orm

2008-04-10:
* easy_install tgcrud == for basic crud forms
* tgcrud steps:
* Use the tg-admin crud command to generate the crud package.
* Customize the form field in /controllers folder.
* Import the package to your controllers.py
* Add a sub-controller to your Root controller class.

2008-04-09:
* if you create initial data when declaring your SQLObject classes, at the bottom of your model.py, create a temporary SQLObject class and issue dropTable() and createTable() to unlock the database
* to create unicode strings (for internationalization) prepend the string with the letter u (ie u'Name')
* use datetime.date(yyyy, mm, dd) to encode date values in SQLObject DateCol
* use lower case for all SQLObject class properties
* use underscore not uppercase for all SQLObject class properties
* use single noun when naming your SQLObject classes
* [tg-admin toolbox] automatically creates the database based on your model.py

Problems I have encountered so far:

2008-05-15:
* always changing modules, TG1 uses SQLObject while the not-yet-released TG2 now uses SQLAlchemy
* crud forms without coding, authentication without coding

2008-04-14:
* creating master-detail forms

2008-04-10:
* creating master templates

2008-04-09:
* create database schema from classes
* modify existing database with new classes

Useful Widgets:

2008-04-15:
* http://pythonisito.blogspot.com/2006/02/django-like-automated-admin-interface.html - todo

2008-04-14:
* FancyFlash - todo
* TGFastData == iconized crud forms
* DataGrid

2008-04-10:
* tgcrud == for basic crud forms

Overall, TurboGears is a very promising web development framework using Python.

Tersus Visual Programming Platform

2008-05-05T03:49:00.000-07:00

100% Visual - No Coding, No Scripting

Tersus is a Visual Programming Platform for creating rich web applications.
Simply draw flow diagrams and Tersus will bring your application to life.
Tersus is open source.

These notes refer to Tersus version 1.0.36.

2008-05-04
* put the Display/Row inside a Display/Grid to align the display elements inside the row to columns.

2008-04-26:
* use trigger to [Find] template to sort found records
* put a database row inside a table row for referenced records for easy retrieval of referenced record (i.e. person database row for person id column)

2008-04-21:
* drop an Advance Table Display and Management template for CRUD of database-based data with paging, sorting and filter
* you must restart the application to create the tables from the template
* Table Row
* Table Row/Data Row
* Database
* Filter Group/Fiilter Row
* Filter Group/Extract Filter Row
* New/Details Grid
* New/Save/Save
* Populate Table/Convert Record to Row
* Update/Init
* Update/Save/Save

2008-04-19
2008-04-18
2008-04-17

And here are a few of my questions/issues to which I havent found the answers at their forum:

2008-05-02:
* how to migrate the database?
* how to do unit testing?
* how to create beautiful reports?

2008-04-22:
* how to have default sort for advanced table column?
* how to hide advanced table column?

As a programmer, I am amazed at the effort to create a really rapid application development platform. But on the sidenote, it still lacks the degree of customization that I need. I would recommend this to those who needs a quick way of putting your own web application without having to learn the major web programming technologies like AJAX.

My Windows XP Must-Have Software! (Basics)

2007-12-14T20:50:00.000-08:00

In my Windows XP box, the following must be present for my day-to-day activities. This list applies only to generic use of computers like desktop applications, burning of CDs and DVDs, multimedia playback and recordings, internet browsing, and communications.

I also have a different list for my basic computer software utilities for networking, tracing, malware removal, etc. When doing software development, I have additional tools which I will also publish later ;-)

Here goes:

Open Office for desktop applications

http://www.openoffice.org/
OpenOffice.Org Writer - word processor (equivalent of MS Word)
OpenOffice.Org Calc - spreadsheet (equivalent of MS Excel)
OpenOffice.Org Impress - presentation (equivalent of MS Powerpoint)
OpenOffice.Org Base - database (equivalent of MS Access)
OpenOffice.Org Math - scientific formulas and equations (equivalent of MS formula editor)
OpenOffice.Org Draw - logo-making, drawing, flowcharts (almost equivalent to MS Visio)
Works on Windows, Linux and Mac.
FREE!

Avast Antivirus

http://www.avast.com/
A must have for any computer user specially those using Microsoft Windows.
It has automatic updates for its virus database so new strain of viruses and malwares could be detected and removed.
Works on Windows and Linux.
FREE for personal use!

Opera web Browser
- http://www.opera.com/
- A fast, feature-rich web browser.
- Tabbed browsing, customizable interface, kiosk-mode support, widgets, sessions.
- It has built-in feeds reader(rss, atom), email client, irc client.
- A lot more to list here.
- I prefer this over Firefox because most features are already available to use out-of-the-box unlike Firefox where you need to install plugins. But both are free and I also install Firefox as needed.
- Works on Windows, Linux and Mac.
- FREE!
Foxit Reader
- http://www.foxitsoftware.com/
- PDF Reader that is fast, lightweight, and has small memory consumption.
- Windows only.
- FREE!
PDFCreator

http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/
Installs a printer device that lets you convert/print any document as PDF files.
Windows only.
FREE!

K-Lite Codec Pack

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_Lite_Codec_Pack.htm
Complete codecs for your audio/video needs!
Includes Media Player Classic player.
Windows only.
FREE!

CD Burner XP Pro

http://cdburnerxp.se/
Burns CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs.
Also can burn and create ISOs.
Windows only.
FREE!

GIMP

http://www.gimp.org/
GNU Image Manipulation Program.
Picture editting software.
Works on Windows, Linux and Mac.
FREE!

Audacity

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
A free, open-source software for recording and editting sounds.
Works on Windows, Linux and Mac.
FREE!

Pidgin

http://www.pidgin.im/
Pidgin is a multi-protocol Instant Messaging client that allows you to use all of your IM accounts at once. Use yahoo messenger, msn, icq, google talk and many more accounts.
Works on Windows and Linux.
FREE!

Skype

http://www.skype.com/
Internet calls, call and receive calls to and from mobile and landline phones, Instant messenger, sms, video calls, and many more features.
Works on Windows, Linux, Mac and some mobile phones.
FREE!

Chikka

http://www.chikka.com/
Send text messages (SMS) and MMS images to mobile phones from your computer!
Works on major mobile networks in the Philippines: Smart, Globe, and Sun Cellular.
Also supports sending SMS to other mobile networks from other countries.
Now supports Google Talk users.
Works on Windows, Linux, Mac and Solaris.
FREE!

There you have it! You may have noticed that all of the above are free. Well, I am a software developer and I love to support projects that are either open source or free. Who could turn down an offer of quality, working software without a cost?

Hope you could pick some to use for yourself.

For now.

Rar in Ubuntu... uhh... UnRar... oh no! It's not free!

2007-12-11T02:50:00.000-08:00

Just today, at work, I needed to extract files form a Rar archive under Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon. So the typical me right-clicked on the file and selected Extract Here, then an error message box popped-up and told me the file archive is not recognized or whatsoever. In short, am stumped that I cannot extract Rar files.

Am from a Windows environment and WinRar is my favorite archive tool coz aside from good compression, it also allows me to append datetime stamp (e.g. yyyy-mm-dd@hh-mm) to the filename. Now, after a dedicated 10 minutes asking Mr. Google, I found out that I could use Rar and UnRar that are sharewares from rarlabs.com or choose P7zip that is an open-source project.

Well, I don't want sharewares on my Ubuntu box. So I installed 7-zip instead, did an extract of my Rar file, and forgot about Rar yet. Next time I want to archive files, am gonna use 7z.

The only thing left is how to append datetime stamp to my 7z archive files. Am gonna update this when I figure that out.

For now.

Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon

2007-10-29T09:40:00.000-07:00

Today I finally found the time to install Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon on my desktop machine. Here's the specs for my desktop babe: Core2Duo E6320, 1GB memory, 160 GB Sata (2x80gb), Nvidia GeForce 7100 GS 256MB, and 2 Samsung 940bw 19" lcd monitors for dual-monitor setup.

I have Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn installed on dual boot with Windows XP Prof on it. I therefore have an option to either upgrade it or install a new one . I decided for the latter because it seems the easiest thing to do.

For those of you who are interested in Ubuntu, you may download a FREE installer at http://www.ubuntu.com.

Installation is a breeze and straight-forward. I have partitioned my disks in Feisty this way: 15gb for // (root), 10gb for home, 2gb for swap, so installing Gutsy is easy as I just remapped the mount points to my desire.

It took nearly 15 minutes for the whole installation. I was excited to configure dual-monitor as it is very hard in Feisty. I am surprised to find it was not that easy with Gutsy either. True, they have upgraded that with Gnome 2.2. Gutsy has Screen and Graphics option now at System - Administration menu but it wasn't as easy as I anticipated. I installed restricted drivers hoping it will work but to no avail. I installed Envy, and it did its job well of detecting and installing my graphics card but no dual-monitor still on Gutsy. Frustrated, I went looking at Ubuntu forums and haven't found anything of help.

It seems that I am left to tinkering my xorg.conf again as I did on my Dell D610 with Feisty.

Am I missing something else?

Java on SUSE 10.1

2006-05-22T23:32:00.000-07:00

We're now downloading SUSE 10.1 so we can port our website from Classic ASP to Sun JSP. Let's make use of OpenSource technology to teach our students!!!