Sequence Technology Articles

The Ritz

2009-07-10T23:17:00.002Z

OK, so when we arrived at the Ritz in Battery Park they hadn't actually heard of us... Thanks BA! But the attitude of the reception staff was incredible. It's true what they say about the service in America, it really is something else. It took them all of 8 minutes to get us sorted, and in that time we were given drinks and nibbles in the bar, on the house. Its a hard life!

So, the room: We have a 12th floor room looking out over battery Park, the Hudson, Statue of Liberty and Ellis island..... Its Amazing! When they say 5 star, they really mean it! We also have access to the "Club", which apparently means we get to drink, eat and relax as much as we like..... FOR FREE!!!! HA!

A short walk round the park and a listen to the "Battery Park Drum Jamming Session on the Hudson" (people turn up, sit on the grass and bang bongos) and we are pretty pooped... Its 19:30 local time, but our bodies don't really believe it!

Forgot to mention, we saw "Dr Fox" in Gatwick airport this morning... He was giving away thousands of pounds to holiday makers who were willing to get up and sing on stage... We missed out on a few hundred quid there as I had an "Anne" in tow which means we were late... As usual! Better make up for it in "The Club" :)

Downtown

2009-07-10T22:18:00.000Z

So we finally touched-down at about 2pm NYC time. After waiting in line for about 40 minutes at passport control I got my first glance at a New York Yellow Cab! However, we had already decided that we did not want to get a cab to the hotel, as that could run to about $75. So we spotted a Bus that apparently went to Manhattan and jumped on, being assured by the practically non-english speaking driver that her would tell us later how to get to our hotel.... During the journey we managed to establish that we would probably be dropped at Grand Central - Midtown. From there we scrambled for our bags and jumped down the nearest subway to do battle with Manhattan's public transport system. First we needed to work out what train to get on, and then how to actually buy a ticket :) We managed to jump onto a train and jumped off again on Wall St - Downtown. We then strolled down Broadway to Battery Park and with a little help from the NYPD we found our hotel.

On the Way

2009-07-10T22:16:00.001Z

Hi! I'm typing this about 3 hours into the flight, but I'm not sure when I will be able to post it. Perhaps not until we get to the hotel.

The extra leg room seats are GREAT. We did have a rather smelly old lady sitting with us, but she seems to have gone now, which is nice... The cabin crew overheard us telling her it was our Honeymoon, and gave us some Champagne! :)

The plane we are using is a Boeing 777, and it's very comfortable. This particular flight has "personal entertainment", which is basically a touch screen TV screen on an arm, where you can find and watch or listen to a whole host of movies, TV and CDs. Very nice. No Internet though... Quite why we don't have wireless net access on our planes yet I don't know.

So, at least another three hours to go... I guess I'll watch another movie...

*****************

Now less that one hour to go! We have been fed, again... The service on this BA flight has been impeccable. If I ever come over again, it will be BA I fly with for sure. Started to watch "Watchmen" but it looks pretty crud.... Ah well....

I'll try and post this from JFK, before we start our "make it up as we go along" commute to the hotel.... taxis are boring, public transport puts hairs on ya chest :)

New York here we come!

2009-07-10T10:40:00.002Z

On the plane now waiting to take off..... Surrounded by loads of American people already!
Managed to get extra leg room, so thats sweet! No window though :(

River Drive gets Softpedia thumbs up

2009-06-05T08:50:00.002Z

I recently received an email from the Softpedia team informing me that River Drive had been added to their software database and fully tested by their software labs!

Probably sad, but I'm chuffed!

Hidden GPS in Dell Mini 9 (3G Model)

2009-01-12T16:44:00.001Z

The Dell Mini 9 netbook with built-in 3G connectivity uses the Dell 5530 wireless card for connectivity. This card also has GPS functionality built right in!

To use the GPS unit in Ubuntu Linux; add an entry to your wvdial.conf that looks like this:

[Dialer gps]
Modem = /dev/ttyACM2 (or /dev/ttyUSB4 if you are using the option module)
Init1 = AT*E2GPSCTL=1,2,1
Init2 = AT*E2GPSNPD

Start the GPS unit with
# wvdial gps
then ctrl+c out.

To use the GPS, install gpsd and run it:
# sudo apt-get install gpsd
# gpsd /dev/ttyACM2

# gpspipe -r
will read raw data from gpsd and dump it to the screen, useful for debugging.

A great Free gpsd compatible mapping app is "tangoGPS", which you can grab from their site: http://www.tangogps.org.

Thanks to Barry John Williams for the AT info.

Get the built in hsdpa modem working on the Dell Mini 9 with Ubuntu 8.10

2008-12-15T15:40:00.007Z

The Dell Mini 9 is a great little netbook with the advantage of having a hsdpa modem built in. Of course, this is all supported under Windows by a whole ream of drivers and dial-up software. Ubuntu 8.10 supports the Mini 9 very well, with wireless working out of the box. The hsdpa modem needs a nudge, but will work without too much difficulty.

In order to get the built in hsdpa (3G) modem in the Dell Mini 9 working under Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) you need to perform a number of simple steps.

1. Patch the stock "option" USB serial driver to add support for the Dell hardware and build it.
2. Blacklist the kernel module which is attempting to handle the hardware by default.
3. Automatically load the newly built "option" module at boot.
4. Use wvdial to turn on the built in RF circuit (essentially enabling the modem)
5. Use wvdial to start a ppp connection.

If you are unfamiliar with Linux (or can't be bothered to do all this yourself) then I have attached an archive containing the recompiled option kernel module, a blacklist and modules list file and the wvdial scripts. There is also an install script. It is IMPORTANT to only use this archive if you are running stock 8.10 Intrepid Ibex with kernel version 2.6.27-7-generic. You can check this by typing uname -r on a terminal. If you are running a different (later) version of the kernel, you will most likely need to patch the "option" module yourself. The patch is also in the archive.

To use the archive, save it to your home directory, open a terminal and type:

# cd
# tar -zxvf mini9_hsdpa_intrepid_2.6.27-7-generic.tar.gz
# cd mini9_hsdpa_intrepid_2.6.27-7-generic
# chmod +x install.sh
# sudo ./install.sh

To enable the modem, enter:

# sudo wvdial On

and to dial:

# sudo wvdial Connect

If you wish to carry out the steps yourself, the patch can be found in the archive. The module to blacklist is cdc-acm. Check the included wvdial script for the codes to enable the hardware.

Hope this helps.

mini9_hsdpa_interpid_2.6.27-7-generic.tar.gz

Thanks to "craigmain" for this post.
Thanks to Dan Williams for the patch.

Windows Azure

2008-11-20T08:37:00.004Z

Microsoft's jump onto the cloud bandwagon is obviously following a typical Microsoft pattern...

Operating System Theme Parks

2008-09-26T14:09:00.003Z

You can tell its Friday; the team and I were discussing what theme parks would be like if they were modeled after popular operating systems.

We decided that:

In the Windows theme park the rides would be REALLY slow and the roller coaster cart would fall off half way round . . .

On the Linux / Unix / BSD roller coaster it would be really fast, very smooth and you could get the spanners out and customize your ride half way round. If you could work out how to get on in the first place that is . . .

And the Apple theme park would be just like the Linux / Unix / BSD park, but it would cost a fortune to get into and would look all shiny with a fresh lick of paint.

Hug a Developer

2008-09-12T10:21:00.004Z

I saw this, and realized how true it is! Take note all you "Business" people out there . . .

M$ Blunder

2008-08-14T12:56:00.000Z

You have GOTTA laugh:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/13/olympics_blue_screen_death/

Using a USB 3G modem with Ubuntu Linux on the MSI Wind / Advent 4112

2008-07-15T12:42:00.002Z

After purchasing the Advent 4112 / MSI Wind, the first thing I had to do was get Ubuntu up and running. This was very straight forward using the 8.04.1 iso.

Ubuntu supports the 3 Huawei E220 modem out of the box, so all I had to do was install and configure gnome-ppp to do the dial-up for me.

To install gnome-ppp, open a terminal and type:
sudo apt-get install gnome-ppp

Then run gnome-ppp from the Internet menu.

Here are the settings I use for gnome-ppp:

First Screen:

User: user
Pass: pass
Remember password: yes
Phone number: *99#

Setup Screen:
Device: /dev/ttyUSB0
Type: USB Modem
Speed: 460800
Phone Line: Tone
Volume: off
Dial Prefix:
Dial attempts: 1
Wait for dialtone: yes

Init Strings:
Init2: ATZ
init3: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0&C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0

Networking Tab:
Dynamic IP Address
Automatic DNS

Options Tab:
All unchecked except:
Dock in notification area
Abort connecting if no dialtone
Check default route
Ignore terminal strings (stupid mode)
Idle time (0) disabled

MSI Wind / Advent 4211

2008-07-13T11:04:00.004Z

I have just driven a three hour round trip to the only store in the south of England which has the Advent 4211 in stock.

The Advent 4211 is the MSI Wind, only re branded and in different colors. The specs and dimensions are exactly the same.

Weighing in at just about .2 of a kilo more than the Eee and only slightly larger its still very much a mobile PC. The keyboard however is much more usable than the Eee. Having an 80gb hard drive does give the advantage of dual-boot possibilities, however you do lose some of that "no moving parts" shock proof factor or the Eee.

The Advent comes pre-installed with Windows XP, and although I'm not a fan, XP does feel snappy enough running on the Atom processor with 1Gb of RAM (and so it should!)

I have taken some pictures of the Advent / Wind along side the Eee PC 701 and a HP pavillion tx 1000 for comparison purposes.

Installing Ubuntu Linux on the Wind was fairly straight forward, however ensure you use at least 8.04.1 (the .1 being the important bit) wireless drivers and install instructions can be found here.

In terms of practicality, the Wind's 80Gb hdd and larger keyboard probably puts it in front of the Eee, however for battery life and "Geek Chique" the Eee still has it.

Amazon Simple Storage

2008-07-03T13:04:00.004Z

I have recently been playing with Amazon's Simple Storage Solution or "S3". The service provides users with unlimited, secure and reliable storage for about 10 US dollar cents per gig per month. Which is cheap. The service is aimed at developers and does not provided would be "home" users with any front ends for uploading or downloading files. Only API's. The service supports REST and SOAP and is pretty easy to use, once you have got your head around signing your requests.

I have developed a "home user friendly" Windows and Linux compatible front end for the service which can be used to browse your storage area, upload, download and delete files. It looks similar to Windows Explorer and supports drag and drop. The software (River Drive) can be found over at www.TristanPhillips.com under the projects section. To use the software you will need to sign up to the S3 service, but you only pay for what you use, and there is no minimum charge.

Tether your iPhone and your EeePC

2008-05-19T17:34:00.005Z

If you own an iPhone in the UK, chances are that you are on an unlimited data contract with a rather large mobile service provider. Why not take advantage of that data connection from your EeePC. Unlike mobile 3G which requires a 3G datacard to use on the Eee, your iPhone and Eee can talk to each other using their built in WiFi connections. You will need to have your iPhone "Jail Broken" so you can install the required proxy software.

Start by installing TinyProxy on your iPhone, this can be found in the network section of the installer app. I think you will need the BSD subsystem too, I have.

Once you have installed TinyProxy, setup a new AdHoc wireless connection on your Eee. To do this choose "Network" from the internet panel, Press "Create", Choose "Local Area Network - Wireless", Press "Next" as the default card is the right one, Choose "Static IP Address" and press "Next". Enter "192.168.1.2", "255.255.255.0", "192.168.1.1". Press "Next". Enter "192.168.1.1", press "Next". Press "Next" again. Enter a SSID such as "EeePC", choose "Ad-hoc" and press "Next". Leave "Any" checked and press next. Tick "Enable encryption" and enter a WEP key. This will stop others stealing your (very limited) internet bandwidth. Then name your connection. I have called mine "iPhone", hit "Next". Then "Finish".

Cool, now start that wireless network by going into "Network" (you may already be there) choosing iPhone, press "Connection" > "Connect". After a dialog box, you should now be hosting a new wireless network.

On your iPhone, choose "Settings", "Wifi" > Select the "iPhone" network and press the ">". Press the "Static" tab and enter "192.168.1.1", "255.255.255.0". Press "Wireless Settings" to save your setup.

Back on your Eee, press Ctrl+alt+T and in the console enter "ping 192.168.1.1", hit return and you should see the ping replying. If not, check your settings.

Now to use the iPhone connection you need to tell Firefox to use the iPhone as its proxy server. Hit "Edit" > "Preferences" > Network tab > "Settings", choose "Manual proxy configuration" and enter "192.168.1.1" port "8080", tick "Use this proxy server for all protocols". press "OK", "Close".

Now, try google! If it does not work, make sure your ping is working, and if still no luck, reboot your iPhone, I had to a couple of times. I leave the ping pinging as a visual confirmation of the link between my toys.

You may need to leave your iPhone "awake" to use the connection, so modify the "auto lock" setting to suit you. The connection really is quite slow, but OK for emergency stuff.

I'm writing this on the train using my Eee and iPhone. Bloomin' marvelous!

Ubuntu 8.04

2008-04-21T10:48:00.001Z

Ubuntu is a community developed, Linux-based operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. It contains all the applications you need - a web browser, presentation, document and spreadsheet software, instant messaging and much more. www.ubuntu.com

The Ubuntu developers are constantly bringing you the absolute latest and most stable software that the open source and free software communities have to offer. This is their latest result: the Ubuntu 8.04 LTS release candidate, which brings a host of excellent new features.

Disable memory trimming in VMWare Server to reduce IO queues

2008-04-11T14:44:00.005Z

I was suffering from an ab-normally high %wa figure in top. Disabling memory page trimming in my VMWare guest seems to have solved the issue.

You can disable memory trimming for a guest in the virtual machine settings editor (VM > Settings > Options > Advanced). In the Settings section of the Advanced panel, select Disable memory page trimming.

Router Monitoring Script

2008-02-12T08:46:00.002Z

If you have a Netgear DG* router and wish to automatically reconnect / reboot when your connection drops, try adding this script to your cron.hourly:

#!/bin/sh

# CheckRouterStatus
# Tristan Phillips
# Checks the status of a netgear DG* router and reconnects / reboots if not connected.
# Licensed under the terms of the GNU.

# Arguments:
# $1 = Ping target, use www.google.co.uk
# $2 = Router IP, normally 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1
# $3 = The router username (admin)?
# $4 = Router password (password)?

# Check arguments are present
if [ "$1" = "" ] || [ "$2" = "" ] || [ "$3" = "" ] || [ "$4" = "" ]; then
echo usage: CheckRouterStatus.sh PingTarget RouterIP RouterUser RouterPassword
exit
fi

# Try the ping
echo Attempting to ping $1
ping -W 10 -c 8 $1 >/dev/null 2> /dev/null

# Check result
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then

# The ping failed! Get Stats and disconnect the router
echo Ping failed, dumping stats and disconnecting router . . .
echo `date` Ping failed, here are the router stats: >> /var/log/RouterReboots
wget --user $3 --password $4 "http://$2/setup.cgi?next_file=stattbl.htm"
# Execute the first router command twice as authorization tends to fail...
wget --user $3 --password $4 "http://$2/setup.cgi?next_file=stattbl.htm"
grep ttext setup.cgi?next_file=stattbl.htm >> /var/log/RouterReboots
echo `date` Disconnecting router >> /var/log/RouterReboots
wget -q --user $3 --password $4 "http://$2/setup.cgi?todo=disconnect" > /dev/null 2> /dev/null

echo Waiting . . .
sleep 10

echo Connecting router . . .
echo `date` Connecting router >> /var/log/RouterReboots
# Async call to connect incase of timeout
wget -q --user $3 --password $4 "http://$2/setup.cgi?todo=connect" > /dev/null 2> /dev/null &
echo Waiting . . .
sleep 20

# Try again
echo Attempting to ping $1
ping -W 10 -c 8 $1 > /dev/null 2> /dev/null
# Check results
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
 echo Ping failed . . .
 echo `date` Disconnect / Connect cycle did not correct the issue! Trying a reboot . . . >> /var/log/RouterReboots
 wget -q --user $3 --password $4 "http://$2/setup.cgi?todo=reboot" > /dev/null 2> /dev/null
else
 echo Ping OK, Connection issue solved!
 echo `date` connection issue solved. >> /var/log/RouterReboots
fi

# Be nice and logout
wget -q --user $3 --password $4 "http://$2/setup.cgi?todo=logout" > /dev/null 2> /dev/null

else
echo Ping OK
fi

#clean up
rm setup.cgi*

exit 0

Skype 2 Beta on the eee supports video calling

2007-12-18T14:13:00.000Z

I'm not the first to post this, but hey, the more the merrier....

If you want to try video calling on the eee, download the Xebian skype 2 package from skype.com. Install it with:

sudo dpkg -i [PackagePath]

Activate the on board camera with:

echo 1 > /proc/acpi/asus/camera

Then configure Skype to use the detected camera and you should be good to go.

Ultramobilegeek and JKOnTheRun seemed to have a few stability issues, but I have used this for hours on end with no problem at all!

3G on the Eee PC

2007-11-17T15:46:00.000Z

I just nipped down to the 3 shop and picked up a Huawei USB 3G modem. I literally popped it into the Eee and setup a new connection in "Network". No extra drivers, no complicated configuration. It even found all the "3" setting for me.

This could not have been any easier, and will work with any provider using the Huawei E220 USB modem (Most).

Can you imagine things being so easy on Windows!? I think not!

Asus Eee PC

2007-11-17T15:26:00.000Z

Its arrived!

Finally the wait is over for me... I got my new white Asus Eee PC delivered this morning. If you are reading this; you will have read loads of shining reviews about this little wonder, so I won't bore you with another one. Suffice to say I LOVE it. However, while I was waiting for this unit to arrive; I was quite frustrated at the lack of images out there showing the actual scale of this machine. So here you go:

I'm writing this on the Eee and am already used to the scale of the keyboard. Linux really does boot in about 15-20 seconds and the interface is really easy to use, so as well as geeks like myself who will no doubt have the thing in bits (metaphorically) within five minutes; this would make a great homework PC for the kids.

I think 2008 is going to be a truly great year for Linux!

www.TristanPhillips.com

2007-09-21T09:40:00.000Z

I have finally put up a page where I can post links to some of the utilities I have put together.

www.tristanphillips.com

Includes a number of useful command line applications developed by myself:

Tools for password testing, printer hacking, account enumeration, port sniffing, photo organization, event log monitoring, command line email, file expiration, hashing, SQL data exporting, automated FTP and port forwarding.

The tools are intended as proof of concept / testing utilities and should not be used for illegal / questionable purposes.

C# TCP Checksum

2007-09-21T09:20:00.000Z

Recently I have been developing some code that needed to calculate the checksum for a TCP packet before transmission.

The TCP checksum is the 16 bit one's complement of the one's complement sum of all 16 bit words in the TCP header and text. A 96 bit pseudo header is also taken into account when calculating the checksum. This pseudo header is constructed from the IP src address, dst address, protocol and TCP header length. For the purposes of calculating the checksum, the checksum word in the TCP buffer is set to 0's.

There seems to be very little information in regarding this floating about, and certainly no C# examples; so here is the working code, should you need it:


// Calculates the TCP checksum using the IP Header and TCP Header.
// Ensure the TCPHeader contains an even number of bytes before passing to this method.
// If an odd number, pad with a 0 byte just for checksumming purposes.
static ushort GetTCPChecksum(byte[] IPHeader, byte[] TCPHeader)
{
   uint sum = 0;
   // TCP Header
   for (int x = 0; x < TCPHeader.Length; x += 2)
   {
      sum += ntoh(BitConverter.ToUInt16(TCPHeader, x));
   }
   // Pseudo header - Source Address
   sum += ntoh(BitConverter.ToUInt16(IPHeader, 12));
   sum += ntoh(BitConverter.ToUInt16(IPHeader, 14));
   // Pseudo header - Dest Address
   sum += ntoh(BitConverter.ToUInt16(IPHeader, 16));
   sum += ntoh(BitConverter.ToUInt16(IPHeader, 18));
   // Pseudo header - Protocol
   sum += ntoh(BitConverter.ToUInt16(new byte[] { 0, IPHeader[9] }, 0));
   // Pseudo header - TCP Header length
   sum += (UInt16)TCPHeader.Length;
   // 16 bit 1's compliment
   while ((sum >> 16) != 0) { sum = ((sum & 0xFFFF) + (sum >> 16)); }
   sum = ~sum;
   return (ushort)ntoh((UInt16)sum);
}

private static ushort ntoh(UInt16 In)
{
   int x = IPAddress.NetworkToHostOrder(In);
   return (ushort) (x >> 16);
}

Ubuntu says no to M$

2007-06-19T15:44:00.000Z

After the recent deals made by a number of Linux vendors with M$ regarding patent threats, I am extremely glad to hear that Ubuntu (Canonical) has told M$ to shove it.

Mark Shuttleworth of Canonical blogs:

Allegations of "infringement of unspecified patents" carry no weight whatsoever. We don't think they have any legal merit, and they are no incentive for us to work with Microsoft on any of the wonderful things we could do together. A promise by Microsoft not to sue for infringement of unspecified patents has no value at all and is not worth paying for. It does not protect users from the real risk of a patent suit from a pure-IP-holder (Microsoft itself is regularly found to violate such patents and regularly settles such suits). People who pay protection money for that promise are likely living in a false sense of security.

Novell losing money after getting into bed with M$

2007-05-31T07:33:00.000Z

Novell's decision to do business with Microsoft is costing them lolly:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/31/novell_quarter_micosoft/