video test

Fowler's Bluff

Fowler's Bluff has a new website set up at fowlersbluff.net . Fowler's Bluff is the original rock band in which I play bass and sing. Check it out when you get the chance. We are going to make extensive use of open-source software in the technical-side of the project. Right now we are working to figure out how to create effective video backdrops all through the use of OSS.

awk -F and two different separators

We had values in the /etc/passwd file that were separate by a colon : and then some separated by a comma , . I wanted to use awk to print the values from a field that was separated by a common and then a colon.

I ended up with this to make it happen:

# awk -F : '{print $field#}' | awk -F , '{print $field#}'

The first part grabs the colon separated field number you replace the pound sign with. Then the part after the pipe grabs the comma separated field you replace the pound sign with inside of the part extracted in the first part. I don't feel like I've explained that very well, so here is another way of looking at it:

from /etc/passwd
102:108:username:group:home directory:location,phone number:start date

In order to get the phone number but tell awk to stop printing there and not also print start date, you have to tell it to:
# awk -F : '{print $6}' | awk -F , '{print $2}'

First part tells it to recognize the colon delimiter and it grabs "location,phone number" values. Then the next part tells it that you only want the "phone number" value.

Good Article Discussing Upcoming Maverick Meerkat 10.10

Click here to read a good article highlighting some of the improvements in the upcoming version 10.10, aka Maverick Meerkat.

Rooting the Android

I also just got the Android. I was a little surprised to find out that AT&T limits what apps you can install. Why limit the openness? There are some cool apps like shark and wifi tether that require root access. The HTC Aria I got from AT&T didn't come with root access. After trolling some forums i thought it might not be worth the effort... until I found this website: http://unrevoked.com/
You download the file, connect the phone, and it will put the phone in recovery mode, flash an image and viola - you have root! Once its rooted you can install all wifi tether & shark and any other root app.

Use Ubuntu to Unlock Windows XP Account, Clear Account Password

Recently I had to get back into the XP partition on my dual boot set up with XP & Ubuntu on the Samsung NC10.  I quickly realized that I'd forgotten my XP password but thanks to the fact I had Ubuntu installed on the same HDD I was able to use the Linux command line program chntpw to unlock the user account.

Just boot into the Ubuntu OS (you can also boot the live version on a DVD or USB key if you don't have it already installed in a dual boot).  For this solution we'll use a command line program called chntpw.  You'll want to install this first if it isn't already.  At the command prompt type

sudo apt-get install chntpw

then follow the prompts to complete the install.

While still in the Ubuntu OS, open a terminal window and from the command prompt navigate to the necessary directory in the Windows file system by entering the following syntax:

cd /media/path/to/disk/WINDOWS/system32/config/

cd is the command for 'change directory' and then a space then the path to the directory.  In my case since I had Ubuntu already installed on the same HDD I had to mount that partition then use its name which was 72ECE49EECE45DBB.  So my exact path was:

cd /media/72ECE49EECE45DBB/WINDOWS/system32/config.

Once I was in that directory I ran:

sudo chntpw -u username SAM SYSTEM

replacing username with the specific Windows account username.  From the output I had to first select what you will see listed at the very bottom as option 4 to unlock the account since my multiple password failures had locked it, then ran it again and chose 1 to clear the password.

*Important note: my Windows user name had a space in it so I had to enclose it in quotes like:

# sudo chntpw -u "my username" SAM SYSTEM

Anytime you write something at the command line that should be recognized as a single term but includes a space you have to enclose it in quotes so the terminal will know it is a single term.

here is the last part of the output from # sudo chntpw -u username SAM SYSTEM.
- - - - User Edit Menu:
 1 - Clear (blank) user password
 2 - Edit (set new) user password (careful with this on XP or Vista)
 3 - Promote user (make user an administrator)
 4 - Unlock and enable user account [probably locked now]
 q - Quit editing user, back to user select
Select: [q] >

Then you can restart, boot into the Windows side and your account will be unlocked.

Moving the Window Control Buttons Back to the Right Side in Ubuntu 10.04

One of the most annoying new features to some people in Ubuntu 10.04 is the decision to switch the default window control button layout to be on the left side of the window. After installing it on my girlfriends laptop yesterday (I'll also mention that she is loving Ubuntu), it was the first change I had to make at her request.

How-To Geek already has an excellent guide on how to make this change here:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/13535/move-window-buttons-back-to-the-right-in-ubuntu-10.04/

I will give you a quick rundown on how to do it.

Use Alt+F2 to bring up the Run Application window. Type gconf-editor into the field and press Run. This will bring up the Configuration Editor window. Navigate to apps>metacity>general in the left pane. In the right pane, find the button_layout key and double click it to open a window which allows you to edit its value. Change the value to "menu:maximize,minimize,close" (minus the quotes) and click OK. The change should occur immediately.