Archive for February, 2009

Utilities and tools I can’t live without
Friday, February 20th, 2009

After reading an article from TechRepublic, entitled “10+ IT pros share the utilities and tools they can’t live without“. I told myself that I too should have one:

As a full-time web developer, part-time designer, and sometimes system administrator, here’s a list the tools, utilities and multimedia application packed in my box:

Linux

  • Development:
    • Eclipse + Aptana - PHP development platform.
    • Eclipse + PyDev - Excellent Python development platform.
    • Bluefish - A lightweight yet powerful IDE. I personaly use it for XHTML and CSS development.
    • SSH and SCP - Secure shell and secure copy. Securely access your remote server and safely copy file from server to your local and vice versa.
    • gFTP - Gnome’s File transfer client.

  • Utilities/Multimedia:
    • VirtualBox - An Open Source virtualization software. Here is where I stuffed my Windows OS and other Unix-like OS.
    • Evolution - Gnome’s mail client application.
    • Mozilla Sunbird - A full-featured and easy to use calendar application. Compatible with Apple’s iCal application. Keeps me on track and organized.
    • Banshee - Music and video player that supports Podcast, Last.fm, and can Sync with iPod, G1, or other devices.
    • Terminal Server Client - Much like “Remote Desktop Connection” for Windows but more manageable
    • Brasero - Disc-burning application.
    • MPlayer - Movie and music player that plays most video and audio format.

Windows

  • Development and Design:
    • Zend Studio - This IDE rocks!
    • Dreamweaver - One of the reason I cannot dump Windows completely.
    • Photoshop - This is where I do most of my web and print designs and another reason why I cannot dump Windows (yet).
    • WinSCP - Free FTP, SFTP, and SCP application.
    • Putty (SSH) - Free telnet and SSH client.

  • Utilities/Multimedia:

Now it’s your turn! Share what utilities and tools you have on your sleeves that you probably can’t live without.

Tags: ,
Posted in Linux, Windows | No Comments »

Fixed that bar at the bottom like Facebook!
Sunday, February 15th, 2009

Since I’ve started an account on Facebook, I was always fascinated with the bottom fixed application bar. And now I got a chance to hack one for my own and share it, with you guys.

Check out the sample I’ve made: http://ryan.rawswift.com/sandbox/fixed-bottom-bar/

I’ve put some comments on the HTML and CSS code. So, I hope you’ll understand it clearly.

Save and modify it, to fit your need!

Hope this helps!

Update!

Bug Fix:
1. Overlapping scrollbar (vertical and horizontal) on IE7.
2. Page wouldn’t scroll down when the mouse pointer is in a white/blank space on IE7.

The sample page are optimized for 960×600 and higher resolutions. Tested on FF3, IE6, IE7, and IE8.

Download: http://ryan.rawswift.com/sandbox/fixed-bottom-bar/fixed-bar-0.2.tgz

UPDATE - Dec. 15, 2009

Thanks guys! For all the comments and suggestions. Sorry if I couldn’t reply to each and every comments below. Been busy for the past couple of months.

Anyway, I’ve just recently created a new project called jixedbar. It’s a jQuery plugin and has the same effect as seen in the above demo but with some added features like mouse hover effect, rounded corners, text tooltip, and customizable style (partly). It is still under development and currently in beta stage.

You can download the beta version at http://code.google.com/p/jixedbar/downloads/list.

Please try it and send me your comments or suggestions.

*** Compatible in IE6, IE7, IE8, Firefox, and Chrome. (Haven’t yet tested on a Safari browser)

Demo page: http://ryan.rawswift.com/sandbox/jixedbar-0.0.2/demo/

UPDATE - June 24, 2010

Here’s the latest update:

Demo page: http://ryan.rawswift.com/sandbox/jixedbar-0.0.3/demo/

*** Development version 0.0.3

Cheers!

Donation

Support the jixedbar project by donating any amount through PayPal or by simply linking back to jixedbar’s page over Google Code.


Tags: , , , ,
Posted in CSS, HTML, How-To | 59 Comments »

Unix epoch time will hit 1234567890
Saturday, February 14th, 2009

A few hours from now a milestone will happen for Unix world as the Unix time (Unix Epoch) will hit “1234567890″ at Friday, February 13, 2009, 11:31:30 pm UTC (since it started counting on January 1, 1970).

To find out what time it will be in your local time:

perl -e 'print scalar localtime(1234567890),"n";'

or

date -d@1234567890

Mine is ‘Saturday, February 14, 2009 07:31:30 PHT’ (Philippine Time).

Don’t have *NIX? Check out http://coolepochcountdown.com/

So! Grab your party hat and grab some beer or whatever you can grab on and party like it’s 1234567890!
If you happen to miss the celebration, then we’ll see you December 22, 2282 at 3:13:30PM ET.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in How-To, Linux | No Comments »

Bandwidth monitoring with Network Top (ntop)
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

Want to know your bandwidth usage? Or who among your network peers are using most it. Then install network top (ntop), with it you can monitor your network bandwidth usage using pretty graphs (rrdtool). Ntop installs out-of-the-box through YaST (I’m assuming you have SUSE). Enough talking!

Here’s how to install it:

  1. Install ‘ntop’ using YaST. So dependencies will be included.
  2. After installation, time to set the admin’s password and the user ntop should run after it initializes. 
    rawswift:~ # ntop -A -u wwwrun

    If you want to access ntop’s interface from any computer in your network then edit the ntop’s configuration file and change the localhost IP (127.0.0.1) to the host’s local network IP.

    • Open ntop configuration file (as root): 
      rawswift:~ # vi /etc/sysconfig/ntop
    • Change ‘NTOPD_PORT’ value:
      • From: NTOPD_PORT=”127.0.0.1:3000″
      • To (host network IP): NTOPD_PORT=”xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:3000″
    • Then save it!
  3. Now start ntop script 
    rawswift:~ # /etc/init.d/ntop start

If you want ntop to start on boot time then enable it in the init process:

rawswift:~ # chkconfig ntop on

Open you web browser and in the address box put the ntop’s host address and port (3000). You’ll now be able to see the bandwidth monitoring:

rawswift:~ # links 127.0.0.1:3000

What I like about ntop is that is uses rrdtool to graph the bandwidth usage. Really useful in tracking who uses the most bandwidth.

And if you want to go extreme, install ettercap and use ARP poison to sniff all data frames on your local area network (LAN). But be careful with playing man-in-the-middle attack in a low end computers. It’ll definitely bog down you network.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in How-To, Linux | No Comments »

  • Photostream

Powered by WordPress and Hostnine
Theme design by Ryan Yonzon
Feeds: Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS).