Sign the petition to protect Rimsha

My blog doesn't receive much traffic nowadays because I don't have much useful stuff to say (and that's the truth, isn't it :)) but occasionally something comes along that I feel I need to post on my blog. The story of Rimsha in Pakistan is just one of these things.

This little girl has Down syndrome and she is to be burned alive on blasphemy charges. On so many levels this story affects and touches me; I consider how inhumane this whole situation is, and then I try to emphathise with the family. I just can't accept oppression on grounds of religious beliefs and when it comes to a mentally handicapped person - a child! - this sort of evil reaction is totally unjust. I have often considered what I would have done had I lived in a time or place where my daughter would have been taken away from us (and possibly murdered) because of a condition she had no choice about.

Not sure how much impact this petition will have but if you don't sign it, you're just allowing it to happen without putting up a fight.

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the socialists, 
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.


SIGN THE PETITION NOW!
http://www.avaaz.org/en/pakistan_save_my_daughter/?bCiCibb&v=17431

"Invalid Argument" when trying to delete files - VMware

Recently I tried to delete some files in the VMware shell and I got an "Invalid Argument" error...

In order to resolve this, I tried chmod 755 * and it didn't work. Individual file deletions, not working. Short of a reboot (which would have been a drastic step given that this is a production host) I instead tried to overwrite the file contents with new data to see if it would somehow unlock the file locks (which seemed to be the issue here).

This is what worked for me from the working directory with the files (this command will write the "a" character into each file as a new file, so all previous data will be lost - make sure you are in the proper working directory!!):

echo "a" > *


The files were then unlocked and I could do my usual rm * and it was done. Hope this helps someone else out there!

FREE PC GAME: UFO - Aftermath

Grab this beauty from Green Man Gaming!

http://www.greenmangaming.com/s/za/en/pc/games/strategy/ufo-aftermath/

Ends in 3 hours' time!

FREEBIE: Hacker Evolution for PC

Keen on another free game? Go to Green Man Gaming and grab Hacker Evolution while it's still available at 100% discount!

http://www.greenmangaming.com/s/za/en/pc/games/simulation/hacker-evolution/

Chrome Remote Desktop BETA

Many people I know use remote support tools like Teamviewer to get their remote support tasks done quickly and with very little hassle. I have used Teamviewer before and I am very impressed with what it can do - the only problem is, if you have a conscience worth its salt, you won't use Teamviewer FREE for commercial use (as the usage terms forbid it). It's great to help grandma in Alaska get her printer working again but if you want to charge someone for support, you can't do it with Teamviewer FREE.

The "fairly recent" addition of Google Chrome to my PC arsenal has grown into a blossoming relationship as I find myself taking advantage of the Google Sync functionality (largely because Google decided 'not to be evil' and remove support for Firefox and not even release the Google Sync code as open source either). One of the latest add-on's that I've included in my Google Chrome toolbox is a little BETA application called "Chrome Remote Desktop BETA". This app functions almost identically to Teamviewer and best of all, it's absolutely FREE.

Since more users are slowly migrating to Chrome (and in my case, I recommend all my clients to use Chrome because of its wonderful integration with Google), Chrome Remote Desktop BETA is a must-have support tool.

MSExchangeIS service not starting in Exchange 2010 on VM

Recently we had to reboot an Exchange 2010 box to remove an agent and upon restart the MSExchangeIS service refused to start. The error message spat out in the Application Windows Log was -

Unable to initialize the Information Store service because  the clocks on the client and server are skewed.   This may be caused by a time change either in the client or the server,  and may require a reboot of that computer.   Verify that your domain is properly configured and  is currently online. 


The first thing I tried was a command line "net time \\dc-name.domain /set" to resync the times but this didn't make a difference, even though it did a resync.

After some more digging I came across this site that suggested the problem of time synchronisation is not with the VM itself but rather with the VMware host. To set up time sync in VMware it's these simple steps:

• Select the VMware host
• Configuration
• Under Software select Time Configuration
• Click on Properties (top right)
• Do the necessary
• Done!

Once we had synchronised the VMware host with the DC time everything worked again and the MSExchangeIS service would start.

Joy in the land.

FREEBIES: Worlds of Ultima

GOG.com is giving you the opportunity to be the happy owner of the Worlds of Ultima games: Savage Empire and Martian Dreams.

Just head on over to gog.com and claim your freebies!

Mymemory.com 60% off vouchers special ends midnight

If you're keen on high-quality photobooks with free international delivery then head over to mymemory.com before midnight tonight (UK time) and get yourself some vouchers at 60% off - these vouchers can be redeemed at a later stage and at this price you will be securing a phenomenal bargain.

I've used Mymemory.com several times before and their service and quality are both great!

60% off vouchers is a bargain because you are under no time pressure (or at least, a lot less time pressure) and you can give them away as gifts if needs be!

Go on! Do it! Do it now!

PS - first time buyers will also get a 5GBP discount on their first order

Free online backup service ZOVO is FREE

... for one year, in celebration of the HRH The Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

What is Zovo? Zovo is an online unlimited backup facility - here's what they have to say:

Safely backup your files online

zovo safely and securely backs up all of your files online, from multiple computers. It works automatically in the background so that you don't worry about losing your precious files. You can restore files, even deleted ones, quickly and easily. It's totally secure, easy to use, and quick to setup. Best of all, you get truly unlimited storage space, so that you can back up all of your computers. No more excuses for not being "backed up".

Added features include streaming from your backed up data to your iPad or iPhone:

Stream your music & movies to your iPhone or iPad

zovo will change the way you use your iPhone & iPad. Using our free app and you can instantly stream all of the music and videos that you have backed up. You can also access your documents, presentations and photos too. Any data you have backed up is now instantly available to you, from anywhere.

What have you got to lose?

Sign up here for your free year: http://zovo.co/jubi/?lrRef=L0ALV

Telkom upgrade due 4th of June

UPDATE: According to a MyBroadband post, the upgrades will now only start in August...

I've just phoned Telkom and confirmed that 4 June 2012 marks the day Telkom upgrades their 384kbps lines to 1Mbps. Can you dig it? Finally, after HOW MANY YEARS do we get entry-level ADSL being 1Mbps?

At least the overall cost of ADSL is dropping but still, 2012 and we finally hit 1Mbps? This is a bit ridiculous. Thankfully things seem to be improving at a more rapid pace nowadays!

Inserting Landscape and Portrait pages into the same Document

Maybe I'm alone here, and if that is the case then I am highly humbled, but I've been using MS Word and other word processing software since the late 80's or early 90's and I've never known how to insert a portrait-oriented page into a landscape-oriented document, or vice versa.

Finally plucking up the courage to find out how to do this, I found one page (no doubt of many) that tells you how to achieve this -

http://www.castlejb.com/webdesign/landscape/landscape.html

It's actually pretty easy - just define new section breaks and format those sections the way you want them! In MS Word 2010 it's a bit different to the instructions listed here;

• Select the beginning of the section to format
• Page Layout
• Breaks => Next Page
• Go to the end of the section to format
• Page Layout
• Breaks => Next Page
• Then select the section and go to Orientation => Landscape / Portrait

Voila!

Happy 35th birthday, Star Wars!

Friday, 25 May, marks the 35th birthday for Star Wars!

How will you be celebrating this auspicious occasion that marks the birth of the greatest sci-fi saga a long time ago?

Disciples II: Gold Edition FREE for a limited time

If you want a free game, or love RTS, or enjoy Disciples, then grab it now by visiting this URL!

http://www.greenmangaming.com/s/za/en/pc/games/strategy/disciples-ii-gold-edition/

Free SMS in Gmail comes to South Africa

Finally, it's here! Free SMS in Gmail to South African mobile networks.

If you are a Gmail user (if not, WHY not?) you can now send SMS'es free from your web-based Gmail client to (currently, as of 2012/03/16) MTN and 8ta networks.

I am hopeful that the networks supported will grow over time, so keep an eye on this link and scroll down to South Africa to know when you can hit Cell C, Virgin and Vodacom. A useful guide is located here which has prominent logo's displayed of the currently supported South African cellular networks and also explains how to use the facility.

I already had the SMS lab application running on my Gmail client (for US and Canada numbers) so one day I noticed this pop up on the side:

New! Free SMS in Gmail Send free SMS directly from Gmail - just enter a phone number and click Enter. SMS replies are sent right to your Gmail inbox.

and realised it was letting me target South African numbers too. In order to use this feature you have to enable the SMS (text messaging) in Chat lab.

Added information on the feature is located here. The basics are as follows:

• Use the Send SMS box above the chat window and enter a number to send an SMS (or if you have Google Voice credits, to call the number) or select Send SMS from the box of options that appears to the right of your contact's name. If you already have a chat window option select Options and Send SMS.
• Sending an SMS is free and any replies you receive are treated in your standard Chat Window, and are billed at normal cellular rates.
• You start with 50 credits and even if you send an SMS to an unsupported number it bills you for one credit. When you hit 0 credits you will be entitled to one free SMS a day. If you receive SMS replies your credits will grow again by five per received SMS, so if you hit 0 credits just wait 24 hours and then send yourself an SMS and you'll be back in business with five credits! The maximum credit at any time is fifty.

For extensive information on this service go here.

Hints and Tips:

• Save the incoming Gmail SMS number associated from your account because this is linked to your unique Google Account! Any time you send an SMS to this number it appears as a Chat message in the Gmail account. 
• If you'd like a higher message credit, send yourself an SMS from Google to your phone, and then reply. Every reply earns you five SMS credits. Effectively you are paying your service provider (e.g. MTN) one SMS in return for being able to send another five. If you do this once a day you can get five SMS messages for the price of one.

Clonezilla SE stuck at loading TFTP

I've recently begun trying out Clonezilla SE on a DRBL-live CD and it works great.

The one problem I've experienced is that clients receiving the DHCP broadcast freeze while loading the TFTP menu prior to loading Clonezilla Client.

It sits at the boot screen for PXE boot menu after it's received an IP from the DHCP server and is about to load the TFTP, with the word "TFTP" and then progress dots ". . ." going on indefinitely.

The solution that works for me is to set the Clonezilla SE IP address to another subnet to the clients; for example the default IP for the clients is 192.168.100.* and I've set the Clonezilla SE IP to a static 192.168.72.44 and it works fine.

Of course, you must agree to set the local ethernet IP to an alias for both IP ranges, if you're using one ethernet card.

Hope this helps someone out there :)