Solved: Garbled text in Putty

Putty is a popular and free Linux terminal/shell client for Windows. It allows one to connect to a Linux server using SSH (Secure Shell) or Telnet. I have been using it for as long as I can recall. But this issue of garbled text in Putty is what I have been ignoring, until yesterday.

Yesterday, I had setup Paradox database using DOSEMU on Linux, for a client. On Putty, the Paradox interface showed garbled making it unusable for the client. My instant suspect was DOSEMU. A quick check revealed that it’s happening with other apps too - those with a ncurses or text based user interface. Read the rest of this entry »

Twitter Updates for 2010-03-16

• @mkathuria09 usual stuff – cold. Thanks in reply to mkathuria09 #
• A wave of confidence surges through you as the Moon enters you… More for Leo http://twittascope.com/twittascope/?sign=5 #
• Back to old days, today. Ran Paradox for DOS http://tinyurl.com/yh2s79b using Dosemu on CentOS Linux for a client with @kbharagava #
• @kbhargava Dosemu was ur suggestion & idea. I just enjoyed it in reply to kbhargava #
• RT: @androinica: Android Market now has 30,000 to 35,000 apps http://goo.gl/fb/kzFJ #android #
• @pankaj_shukla does ZumoDrive work on Linux? in reply to pankaj_shukla #

Web Scraping with Firefox and PHP, using XPath

Last year, I faced two projects which required automated Web scrapping – to aggregate content from web pages. I evaluated different methods for Web scraping with varied level of success. Thanks to the changing structure of Web pages, non well-formed pages and URL redirects.

Amongst using regular expressions and DOM (Document Object Model) parsing, I used XPath too. XPath works great for well-formed Web pages. Read the rest of this entry »

FTP Backups made easy

I do not recall backing up data over FTP (File Transfer Protocol) in the near past. Thanks to the SSH (Secure SHell) suite of programs like SCP (Secure Copy) and SFTP (Secure FTP), and RSync. But recently I had to setup a scheduled and unattended backup of data lying on a shared hosted server using FTP – the only available option at my disposal.

Wget is a popular and obvious choice to try out for FTP backups. But it didn’t work for me and threw an error saying cannot find .listing file. While I was about to dwell more into wget, I spotted the forgotten hero – lftp. Read the rest of this entry »

Twitter Updates for 2009-09-03

• #RedHat Enterprise Linux 5.4 is out. Shall wait for the following #CentOS 5.4 release. #RHEL #
• Perhaps the coolest (longest & heavy) rainfall in west #Delhi (and NCR?). YAHOO! (not affiliated to Yahoo!) #rain #weather #
• Open the #Windows and let the #Linux come in #

Twitter Updates for 2009-08-25

• For those using #CentOS 4 (not for CentOS 5 installations), CentOS 4.8 is out. "yum update" #Linux #
• Please join me in wishing @kbhargava a very happy birthday! TREAT!!! #
• @kbhargava arre @pankaj_shukla has been saying "Kishore's sir bday treat is on me. I want to show my respect for the gr8 man" in reply to kbhargava #
• @juhib indus valley civilization is also called ….? in reply to juhib #
• @juhib right! While u are on the subject, I recalled it from my ratto-fication. No google or bing search, I swear. in reply to juhib #
• #Google #Suggest is a killer app for developers. Have been using it extensively to pin point the #Drupal API functions #
• #Linux #Fail Can't afford data curruption. No way. RT @aseemsood #Ubuntu 64bit with kernel 2.6.28.11 causes data corruption #

Twitter Updates for 2009-08-01

• @vinodunny u r admitting – #FOSS (USSR) is a threat to #Microsoft (USA), till it breaks. Now I can understand ur desperate moves in reply to vinodunny #
• @vinodunny reg. #CentOS. It was a mistake in mgmt and not methodology. We know that #FOSS is always against 1 person/company having control in reply to vinodunny #
• @vinodunny I agree when such mishap happens, its worrying. But note it also got solved via the community way. That gives me confidence. in reply to vinodunny #
• @vinodunny in #FOSS I have typically seen "fork" when such things happen. Here it got resolved without getting to that stage. Its good news #
• @vinodunny all is well that end well. Chal chor. Aur bata kya haal hai? Btw #LoveAajKal movie is a let down in reply to vinodunny #
• @vinodunny the plot has been layed out under ur nose and u r not aware in reply to vinodunny #
• Stumbled upon #Microsoft 's #Twitter alternative – The Microsoft Vine http://www.vine.net/ #
• In #Wordpress 2.8+ #OpenWebAnalytics plugin dashboard http://tinyurl.com/2s84qu works after disabling TwitterTools http://tinyurl.com/2wgmtt #
• #Goggle #Chrome browser (native #Linux build) running on my #Fedora 11 laptop http://twitpic.com/cdh1c Speed & functionality is ok so far. #
• #Google #Chrome browser (native #Linux build) running on my #Fedora 11 laptop http://twitpic.com/cdh1c Speed & functionality is ok so far. #
• Delhi kids top list of internet, cell users http://bit.ly/SHRJP #
• @achitnis Hey, its all for fun. All @vinodunny tweets is his opinion, like we do. No other motivations. U cant be serious about this! in reply to achitnis #
• @vinodunny u still havnt understood, have u? #FOSS is not about 1-10000 person/company. Linus Torvalds (ref. MS haters) is also a part of it in reply to vinodunny #
• @vinodunny #CentOS incident was outspoken (call it transparent) in media. But it ended ok and the mistakes were ammended. What's more? #
• In my earlier tweet I meant Linus Torvalds (ref. his views about MS haters) #
• RT @VineetBhatnagar Work done on the hair. Work done on the nose. Work done on vocal chords. Its easy to see the similarities here #Himesh # #
• RT @VineetBhatnagar Work done on hair. Work done on nose. Work done on vocal chords. Its easy to see similarities #HimeshReshammiya #MJ #

Twitter Updates for 2009-07-09

• @vinodunny I agree that one of the issues with Linux is drivers. In windows even if drivers are not bundled in, u can shove in a driver CD #
• @vinoduuny in 2004 winxp required driver CD for B44 nw card which worked out of box in Lin: that's just one of few positive exp. w.r.t. drv #
• @vinodunny but today at a client's place a #Reliance support eng. failed to setup the USB modem on #Linux. Instead tried to fire IE on Linux #
• @vinodunny ppl trying to fire IE on Linux tell the real success of #microsoft which will remain and can continue for a very long time in reply to vinodunny #
• @vinodunny as you correctly said #Google #Chrome OS #OEM http://bit.ly/nwLSi #
• @vinodunny reg mogo mouse. a graphical way like this: http://bit.ly/23D28C
  may also work in reply to vinodunny #
• @vinodunny KDE also has a gui bluetooth manager. Chrome may have but can't say. But I admit that driver status in linux is weak in reply to vinodunny #
• #Ubuntu on laptop & #RedHat / #CentOS on servers. That's my issue with switching to Ubuntu frm #Fedora, which is more like latter. @sharat_j #
• #Google #Chrome leaked screenshots. Dont know fake or real http://tinyurl.com/nyxscy #
• #Adobe is with #Google #Chrome and others: http://bit.ly/wTX7Q #
• @vinodunny this answers ur #OEM queries http://bit.ly/wTX7Q #
• RT @kbhargava HDD performance: #Ubuntu using #ext3 wins over #microsoft #win7 and #winxp – http://bit.ly/dqQHw #
• @vinodunny oh nice #office2010, so finally no need to buy #msoffice suite, just like the #Google #Docs in reply to vinodunny #
• @vinodunny Vampire Unny in reply to vinodunny #

Twitter Updates for 2009-07-07

• @deliriumlabs no installation error during the #Dropbox install on #Fedora 11. The error I get is explained here: http://tinyurl.com/nzbel7 in reply to deliriumlabs #
• #Qik http://qik.com/, a cool app, for live video streaming from phone, is now available for #Android, from the Android Market #
• RT @kbhargava: So the #India #Budget 2009 does not make it as a trending topic! While #HannahMontana does. #
• #Adobe #Air installation on #Fedora 11: This http://bit.ly/rGMx9 worked for me #
• @deliriumlabs yea have the bug-buddy installed Pls do keep sharing ideas as and when they occur. #Fedora 11 #Dropbox in reply to deliriumlabs #
• @deliriumlabs Installed Fedora 10 RPM of #Dropbox on #Fedora 11. Few guys at Dropbox forum claim it to be working. A few have error like min in reply to deliriumlabs #
• @deliriumlabs tried GTK_MODULES="". Same error "BadIDChoice" as I reported on the #Dropbox forum for #Fedora 11 http://tinyurl.com/nzbel7 in reply to deliriumlabs #
• @deliriumlabs ppl have reported #BadIDChoice error against #Firefox on #Linux distros. But I'm not facing this error only with #Dropbox in reply to deliriumlabs #
• @deliriumlabs hey I'm "shutdown -h now". That is, I'm going to sleep Pls do keep the ideas coming in, as and when. Thanks a ton in reply to deliriumlabs #
• #Transformers 2 at #PVR #Cinemas. So called a paid preview (?) http://twitpic.com/9j1bg #
• Break in on #CentOS #Linux website http://lwn.net/Articles/340130/ #
• @vinodunny ref. #CentOS break in, http://bit.ly/hudJP : I see notification, prevention and honesty. in reply to vinodunny #
• RT: @bineshkutty: How to analyze your mobile phone usage to save on bill amount http://bit.ly/Zf7gl in reply to bineshkutty #
• @vinodunny what are the diff. #tax heads? in reply to vinodunny #
• @vinodunny yes paid service #tax. Besides these are there more tax heads for us? in reply to vinodunny #
• @achitnis My Lord, have u ever lost (or admitted to lose) an argument ? in reply to achitnis #
• @vinodunny buddy, I found it for you, at risk of offending @achitnis. Atul is resistant to futile marketing. Try something else. good luck #
• 19 reasons why kids need parental control http://bit.ly/oyI6L #
• RT: @mvaze: @vinodunny @shekharg Arthakranti proposes exactly same – single taxation, but there is LOT more : http://tinyurl.com/dgvxv9 #
• @vinodunny rt who but u will want to change ur plan from freedom in reply to vinodunny #
• #Gmail etc. are no longer a #beta of any father – http://tinyurl.com/lmf4r8 Must read is the last para "Back to Beta" #
• #Microsoft #Win7 #Ultimate – seems to be not so ultimate http://bit.ly/Zcuwg #

Postfix: Log E-mails’ Subject

In Linux, you can view the statistics of incoming and outgoing E-mails by peeking into a log file called maillog (typically found in /var/log directory). Maillog provides the general information about the mails, for example, the sender and recipient(s), status – sent, rejected, bounced etc. I typically use maillog to check the destiny of mails. At times, it becomes difficult to spot a particular mail due to the sheer volume of mails being logged – especially on a production mail server.

For example: what if we need to check whether a particular mail sent by Person A has been delivered to Person B. Note that Person A might be sending lots of mails to Person B but we need to spot that one particular mail – say the one, which was sent by Person A but did not reach Person B. The only identifier, to identify a particular mail, in the maillog is the cryptic message ID. A better and more readable identifier would be the subject of an E-mail.Unfortunately, the subject of the mails is not logged, by default, in the maillog. But we can configure a mail server like Postfix to log the subject line. Read the rest of this entry »