nCode's Blog

Came across a very interesting article about building and using Neural Networks in PHP.

The package included in the article also lets you interface with the neural system using an API and a Key to access a specific system that was setup.

The article can be found here.

XKCD - Devotion to duty

Source: http://xkcd.com/705/

Found an interesting presentation online that talks about Google’s Gmail service quota.

http://www.slideshare.net/kuchmuch/gmails-quota-secrets

Enjoy,

Marc

Without any warning my computer restarted by itself and upon seeing the Windows XP load screen, I saw a glimpse of a blue screen of death. Right there the boot loop started.

By starting windows in safe mode I determined that the SPTD.SYS driver was the last thing windows was loading before crashing miserably. SPTD.SYS is used by a few softwares like Alcohol 120% and Daemon Tools.

Here is what I did so that I could at least start my computer and start backing up files:

• I booted the computer using a BartPE boot cd
• Clicked on “Go” then on “Command Prompt (CMD)”
• In the black “Command Prompt” type:
  • c: <enter>
  • cd c:\windows\system32\drivers <enter>
  • rename sptd.sys sptd.bak <enter>
  • exit <enter>
• Then click on “Go” followed by “Shut down” and to finish “Shut down”

Started windows again and the boot process went all the way to a login screen. The problem is not really fixed at this point, what I did was only a patch so that I could start windows again, daemon tools is currently showing an error message upon boot saying that sptd.sys is required to start.

I then tried to install a new version of the sptd.sys driver from http://www.duplexsecure.com/downloads/ however this did not work, upon restarting the maching I was caught in the same error loop as before and had to deactivate sptd.sys again.

Still looking for a permanent solution, note that this problem started occuring “out of nowhere” without any software update or new software installation.

Wanted to experiment with a FPV / POV Camera like http://www.xheli.com/sm18gmihew2g.html

You will notice a blurry image from the onboard camera, was most probably affected by the EMI from the helicopter Alpha 400 Brushless motor.

Also I’m still learning RC Helicopter control… need to start somewhere

You probably heard it before, you have a big expensive headphone but still you heard a beep coming out of your computer box. There is a “legacy” speaker in there, it used to play tunes in the old ages, it’s only use now is probably only to grab your attention on something or for boot-time diagnostic/troubleshooting.

Here is how you can disable it on ubuntu 9.04:

Open a terminal window / console
sudo vim /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
add: blacklist pcspkr
restart the machine

disable-ipv6-ubuntu9.04Good evening,

I just installed ubuntu 9.04 on a dell optiplex gx260 and was very disapointed at the network speed I had when I tried any of the “apt-get” commands.

It seems that ubuntu has IPV6 enabled by default, this seem to be what is causing most of the lan issues. There are no easy way to disable ipv6 on ubuntu 9.04, I tried several methods advertised on various blogs, none are currently working.

A kernel patch will be made available soon for download and should allow us to disable ipv6 by typing the following: “sysctl -w net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6=1″

The link to the bug is here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux+bug/351656

Also if you are using an earlier version of ubuntu, you can disable IPv6 by doing the following:

• sudo vim /etc/modprobe.d/aliases
• locate “alias net-pf-10 ipv6″
• replace the word “ipv6″ on that line by “off”
• save the file
• reboot

You can verify if ipv6 is actually disabled using the following command: ip a | grep inet6

*** I found a solution on the web, someone provided clear instructions on how to re-compile the kernel with ipv6 as an optional (and blacklistable) module instead of being forced. The original tutorial can be found here, you can also download a pdf version that I made: disable-ipv6-ubuntu9.04. I followed the provided instructions and it worked, note that the “blacklist” file is called “blacklist.conf”. ***

Cheers,

Marc

If your ssh connection often drops because of inactivity or timeout, here is a fix that can help stabilise your connection.

On the client side using:

• PuTTY
  • Start at the PuTTY Configuration dialog
  • Click on “Connection” on the left
  • Then put a check mark on “Enable TCP keepalives”
  • You could now establish a connection or save these settings for next time
• SSH
  • Open a terminal window / session on your workstation
  • Edit /etc/ssh/ssh_config with your favorite text editor as root: sudo vim /etc/ssh/ssh_config
  • Add the following line: “ServerAliveInterval 60″
  • Restart your ssh session

On the server side:

• Open a terminal window / session on your server
• Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config with your favorite text editor as root: sudo vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config
• Add the following line: “ClientAliveInterval 60″
• Restart sshd: sudo /etc/init.d/ssh restart

Found a very nice blog entry with valuable information regarding Bugzilla installation on Ubuntu.

I had some trouble installing Bugzilla on my Ubuntu web server, with my mysql database on another server. I wanted to write these things down to help another person diagnose there install. I finally got my configuration to work. Heres what I found to figure it out.

The original link can be found here: http://codintips.blogspot.com/2008/03/ubuntu-bugzilla-install.html