ITworks

I had this problem already on several (debian) linux machines:
After updating sun-javaX-{bin,jre,plugin}, iceweasel/firefox still references the old (here: 1.4.2) version of java on about:plugins.

This can be solved by simply deleting the ~/.mozilla/firefox/pluginsreg.dat file while firefox is not running.
After that, firefox will re-create the file after finding the "new" java plugin.

edit:
Sometimes, there is still an old java version installed and the plugin is linked in the /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins folder (or any other plugins folder firefox looks in,
there are at least 3 on my debian machine¹ *gnarf*).
As Firefox simply tries to use the first it finds, you have to remove the link (or the old java version) before searching again using the trick described above.

¹ /usr/lib/{mozilla, mozilla-firefox, firefox}/plugins, ~/.mozilla/plugins

(via linuxquestions.org, thx craigevil!)

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Why do I love bayes filters?

When spammers try to circumvent regular spam filters using many different creative ways of spelling, I really love my spam filter...

When you have a usb multifunction printer like I do and you are trying to use the scanner in linux, you may encounter the following behaviour:

When you try to use your scanner using sane (scanimage, xsane, kooka, ...) it seems that nothing happens or you
may receive an error message "error starting printer: invalid argument".

This is normally caused by one of two things:

1. missing permission to use the usb device


2. usb device is blocked by another driver

Continue reading "Linux printing and scanning with multifunction devices"

When you have to specify an address for an WCF Endpoint using the NetTcpBinding, you have to specify a hostname:

Uri listenUri = new Uri("net.tcp://localhost:12564/");
ServiceHost sh = new ServiceHost(typeof(MyService), listenUri);
ServiceEndpoint ep = sh.AddServiceEndpoint(typeof(IMyService),
    new NetTcpBinding(SecurityMode.None),
    "MyService");
sh.Open();

As most bindings do, also the NetTcpBinding has a Property called HostNameComparisonMode.
The default value HostNameComparisonMode.StrongWildcard means that any host name (or ip) associated with
the computer described using the given hostname will match this endpoint (here: localhost)!

So in the example above, the Service will also be reachable via 192.168.23.42:12564 (given the "localhost" has this IP address).

(via msdn magazine (german))

Angestoßen von massivem Druck „der Community“ habe ich eine kleine GUI erstellt, mit der Disk-Images der Virtualisierungs-Software VirtualBox komfortabel kopiert werden können.

Das Tool wird regelmäßig weiterentwickelt (s.a. VirtualBox Community Forum Thread) und dieser Post entsprechend aktualisiert. Die aktuelle Version ist kompatibel zu VirtualBox 3.0.12 und allen vorausgehenden 3.x und 2.x Versionen (mit entsprechend eingeschränktem Funktionsumfang.)
Die VirtualBox-Version wird automatisch erkannt und in der Statuszeile angezeigt. Funktioniert die Erkennung nicht, so werden alle Optionen aktiviert und ein Warnhinweis angezeigt. Es wird dann die Syntax von VBoxManage.exe aus Version 3.0.12 verwendet.

Die aktuelle Versionsnummer und die Änderungshistorie stehen im vollständigen Artikel.

CloneVDIGUI.exe - GUI für vboxmanage.exe clonevdi (ca. 823kb)

After a request from in the forums of VirtualBox, I created a small application to ease the process of copying/cloningdisk images for Virtualbox.

The tool is updated on a regular base and when the community requests changes (see VirtualBox Community Forum Thread). The current version is compatible to VirtualBox 3.0.12 and all previous 3.x and 2.x Versions (with restricted features depending on version). The VirtualBox version is automatically detected and shown in the status line. When the detection fails, a waring is shown, all options are available and VBoxManage.exe Syntax of Version 3.0.12 will be used.

The current changelog and version number is shown in the complete article.

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Alternatives:
Virtualbox forum user "mpack" has created another tool that does not use vboxmanage.exe internally. This makes it possible to provide other features:

- Reads VDI,VHD or VMDK, writes VDI.
- A simple GUI Interface.
- Ability to discard unused blocks from the clone (no need to run SDelete first).
- Ability to enlarge the maximum size of a virtual disk.
- User choice to either keep the old UUID or generate a new one for the clone.
- Some useful diagnostics about the source VDI, such as the partition map and the internal fileystem.
- Better feedback while cloning: a progress bar and an estimated time to completion.
- It seems to be significantly faster than "VBoxManage clonehd".


There is a similar project for Linux „in the don't trust technology“ Blog by nightfighter.
Im „in the don't trust technology“ Blog von nightfighter gibt es ein ähnliches Projekt für Linux.

Choose yourself which tool is more appropriate to you. I will nevertheless update my CloneVDIGUI with the latest virtualbox versions. Continue reading "VirtualBox - CloneVDI"

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english below

„Was geht? IT geht - IT tut!“

In diesem Blog wollen wir unsere Erfahrungen, Gedanken und Ideen zu den Themen IT, Softwareentwicklung und deren Umfeld festhalten.

Wir – das sind Sebastian Dusch, Christian Fonden und Florian Harbich. Wir drei haben zusammen an der Universtität Stuttgart Softwaretechnik studiert und sind nun auf dem Weg ins Arbeitsleben.

Die Idee zu diesem Blog entstand, da wir oft Probleme haben und fast so oft Lösungen finden, die wir uns selbst erarbeitet haben oder erst mühsam aus mehreren Quellen im Internet zusammensuchen mussten. Hier wollen wir diese Ergebnisse gesammelt festhalten und anderen so die Chance geben, ihre Suche ein wenig zu verkürzen.

Jetzt aber genug zur Einführung, wir wünschen viel Spaß beim schmöckern und hoffen, dem ein oder andern eine kleine abkürzung zu bieten.
Übrigens sind wir nicht menschenscheu. Scheut euch nicht, die Kommentarfunktion des Blogs zu nutzen, wir versuchen auch zu antworten

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In this Blog, we are trying to log our personal experience, ideas and solutions about IT, software development and similar topics.

We – this is Sebastian Dusch, Christian Fonden and Florian Harbich. We all have studied software engineering at the University of Stuttgart and now are doing our first steps in the hard world of business

We started this Blog because we often face problems and nearly as often find solutions for them that we have had to find ourselves or at least merge many different website to reach the final solution. In this Blog, we are trying to summarize these efforts to give others the chance to cut a corner when the are faced with similar challenges.

Well, enough introduction for now, enjoy your visit, have fun reading and we hope you will find some helping information.
By the way, don't hesitate to use the comments to ask fr further information, we aren't afraid of people and try to answer you questions