Quick fix to read the very small names in steam buddy list running Ubuntu 9.10 and Wine wine-1.1.33 (should work with other versions of Linux and Wine)

Before: After:

1. Gnome:
   gedit ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/Steam/resource/steamscheme.res
   KDE:
   kate ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/Steam/resource/steamscheme.res
   
   
2. Find the section called "FriendsSmall"
   Change
   "tall" "12"
   to
   "tall" "13"
   
   
3. Find the section called "FriendsVerySmall"
   Change
   "tall "12"
   to
   "tall" "13"
   
   
4. Save the file and restart steam.
   

Posted in 0 comments Posted by FatButtLarry at 12:08 PM

1. Open Control Panel. Click "Printers and Faxes"
   
   
   
2. Click "Add Printer"
   
   
   
3. Click "Next" at the welcome screen.
   
   
   
4. Click "Local printer attached to this computer" and deselect "Automatically detect and install...". Click "Next".
   
   
   
5. Click "Create New Port" and from the drop-down select "Standard TCP/IP" port.
   
   
   
6. At the Port Wizard Welcome screen click "Next"
   
   
   
7. For Printer Name or IP Address, put the hostname or IP of your printer and click "Next"
   
   
   
8. If prompted for a Device Type, select "Generic Network Card". Click "Next".
   
   
   
9. A summary page will display with your port information. Click "Finish".
   
   
   
10. The Printer Wizard will continue. When prompted for Manufacturer, click "Generic". For printer, select "Generic/Text Only". Click "Next".
    
    
    
11. If prompted to keep the driver, click "Keep the existing driver". Click "Next".
    
    
    
12. Type the printer name you'd like to use. For example, "zebra". It will ask to use this printer as the default printer. Click "No". Click "Next".
    
    
    
13. When prompted to share the printer, click "Do not share this printer". This setting can be changed later if needed.
    
    
    
14. You will be prompted to print a test page. Click "No" and click "Next".
    
    
    
15. The wizard summary page will appear. Click "Finish"
    
    
    
16. Your printer will now list under "Printers and Faxes"
    
    
    
17. Troubleshooting: (If problems exist) Make sure the new port (under the new printer properties --> ports --> find your new port --> configure port) is set to "RAW" under protocol. If printing to a non-standard port (other than 9100) adjust the port settings correctly.
    
    
18. End of Steps

-Tres

Posted in 0 comments Posted by FatButtLarry at 9:59 AM

1. From the desktop, click "System --> Administration --> Printing"
   
   
   
2. Click "New" (Printer)
   
   
   
3. Be patient while Ubuntu searches for printers...
   
   
   
4. Select "Network Printer --> AppSocket/HP JetDirect". For host, put the IP address or hostname of your printer. Port is usually default of 9100. Click "Forward"
   
   
   
5. Select printer make "Generic". Click "Forward".
   
   
   
6. Click model "Raw", Drivers "Generic Raw Queue [en]". Click "Forward".
   
   
   
7. Name the printer appropriately such as "zebra". Click "Apply".
   
   
   
8. Your new printer "zebra" should now list. You can now use this as a raw print queue.
   
   
   
9. End of Steps

-Tres

Posted in 0 comments Posted by FatButtLarry at 12:49 AM

Here's a set of screenshots for setting up raw printing through OS X. This was especially useful for using the jZebra application for printing to a raw printer from a web page running on an OS X workstation. Tested Nov 6, 2009 on OS X 10.5 running CUPS 1.3.8.

1. Load Safari or Firefox to http://localhost:631 and click The "Administration" tab, then "Add Printer"
   
   
   
2. Type the name of your printer and click "Continue"
   
   
   
3. Be patient as the CUPS server responds to the new printer request
   
   
   
4. For device, leave default "AppSocket/HP JetDirect" and click "Continue"
   
   
   
5. For URI put the address of the network printer in format "socket://address:port". Port can be left blank if default (9100). Click "Continue"
   
   
   
6. For Make/Manufacturer, select "Raw" from the list of manufacturers and click "Continue"
   
   
   
7. For "Model" click "Raw Queue (en)" which should be the only option in the drop-down menu. Click "Add Printer". Note: If prompted for a password, enter a username and password with administrative access on the Mac. You may be prompted twice.
   
   
   
8. Your printer has been added. You will see a message confirming this. Ignore Banners and Policies prompt. In the next steps, you will add a Printer Class for your new printer to show in OS X's Print Manager.
   
   
   
9. Click the "Administration" tab and click the "Add Class" button.
   
   
   
10. Fill out "Name". This must not conflict with the printer name from Step 2. Fill out the "Description" with what you would like the printer listed as in OS X.
    
    
    
11. Your printer class has been added. You will see a message confirming this.
    
    
    
12. Navigate to "System Preferences" --> "Print and Fax", and your new raw printer should appear.
    
    
    
13. Your applications should now be able to print to the Zebra printer as a raw printing device.
    
    
    
14. End of Steps

-Tres

Posted in 0 comments Posted by FatButtLarry at 11:54 AM

Posted in 0 comments Posted by FatButtLarry at 10:18 PM

Update: 8/20/09 - SIPE 1.6.0 seems to be available, so I've updated this article with some 1.6.0 comments in red below.

On Windows (an Linux), there's a -- slightly buggy -- plug-in called "SIPE" or "Microsoft LCS/OCS" that can be installed separately to connect Pidgin instant messenger client to Microsoft Office Communicator. And... by "buggy", I mean mostly on initial setup. See "buggy" section below for details.

I had three main problems getting mine working:

Finding a version of it pre-compiled for my platform [link]


Keeping it from crashing when I saved settings

Getting the settings correct so I wouldn't get the message "Unable to Connect" [link]

In this example, the version of Pidgin I'm using is Pidgin 2.5.8 (portable) and the plugin is Pidgin SIPE 1.5.0 (1.6.0 binaries are now listed under this mirror. Use them, they're better!), compiled for Windows XP 32-bit. (Called pidgin-sipe-1.5.0-win32-bin.zip. Linux users should be able to find RPM and DEB installers if you search around).

Non-windows users, here are the site instructions for Ubuntu from sipe.sourceforge.net: [link]:

Ubuntu repository (Jaunty) unofficial

Add this in your /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/aavelar/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/aavelar/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

*Note: I highly suggest using Add/Remove Packages before manually editing your sources.list file -Tres

**Note: This works fine for x86_64 systems as well with one minor tweak. By default, the installer puts the sipe files in /usr/lib/pidgin, but they should be in /usr/lib64/pidgin, so it's just a matter of copying them (or linking them) to the right location -Frank

If you continue with the Windows install, follow the install instructions included in your SIPE readme by copying the folders to their appropriate locations (this varies by system, but should be near the pidgin install or plug-ins directory). I used the zipped version because Portable Pidgin is in a non-standard location. The msi installer will likely work just fine for "vanilla" Pidgin installs. If you can't figure it out, feel free to email me fatbuttlarry$gmail$com.

You'll know the plugin installed correctly if you have a new Protocol listed under your Pidgin Account Types. To check, open Pidgin and click Accounts --> Manage Accounts --> Add. Try adapting the settings below to work in your environment (thanks to this slightly out-dated Ubuntu thread):

Protocol: Microsoft LCS/OCS
Username: tfino@my-fake-company.com
Login: SOMETHING\tfino
Password: ******
Local Alias: Tres (LCS)

Use proxy: Yes *removed in version 1.6.0
Proxy Server: fake-company-pool1.something.my-fake-company.com *renamed to "server" in version 1.6.0
Use non-standard port: No
Connection Type: SSL/TLS
User Agent: [leave default]
Use Kerberos: No
Use Single Sign-On: No
Proxy type: No proxy

I have to admit, we were quite stumped with the "Use proxy" and "Proxy Server" fields. Initially we thought they were part of an internet proxy address. They were definitely needed to get the plug-in working correctly, so ignore the names used and put your Microsoft Communicator Pool address there instead. Note: Proxy has been renamed to "server" in version 1.6.0.

If the plug-in seems to cause Pidgin to continually crash, make sure to fill in both "Username" and "Login" in the correct format. My Pidgin kept crashing until I had them both filled in, and when it crashes, it WON'T save your settings.

I've provided some screenshots of my setup:

*Note: Usernames, server names, etc have been made "anonymous" for security reasons.


*Note: Usernames, server names, etc have been made "anonymous" for security reasons.

Hope this helps some frustrated users. I now have Microsoft Communicator working in Pidgin.

Buggy:

These items have been buggy for me with version 1.5.0 of SIPE:

• On first run, my default buddy group did not show, so each buddy authorization request also asked what group to put it in. Restarting Pidign fixed this. Still exists in version 1.6.0
• Buddy authorizations come through multiple times if not answered. I'd get the same invite from "John Smith" 5 times in a row. I just kept clicking accept. Still exists in version 1.6.0
• Buddy names showed with the phrase "_DisplayName" after them. For example: John Smith would be "John Smith_DisplayName" Getting mixed results in version 1.6.0. Most names now come through with Quotes surrounding them, such as '"John Smith"'
  

-Tres

Posted in Labels: adium, Anibal Avelar, fixxxer, live messenger, microsoft communicator, msn messenger, pidgin, SIPE 12 comments Posted by FatButtLarry at 2:53 PM

I set up a Centos 5.2 server with PHP 5.1.6 and wanted to allow access to a AS/400 DB2 database.

First thing I did was download the iSeriesAccess driver called "iSeriesAccess-5.4.0-1.6.i386.rpm". This is also used to run a 5250/Terminal session to an AS/400, but for the purposes of this, it installs an odbc driver in "/opt/ibm/iSeriesAccess/lib/" using "libcwbodbc.so" and "libcwbodbcs.so".

Then I created a php test page to connect to the AS/400. After a days worth of trial and failure, the best advice I could find on the internet was from the phpbuilder site here.

Here's my final working example (php code):

< ? php $driver = '{iSeries Access ODBC Driver}';
$system = 'as400.company.com';
$dsn = "DRIVER=$driver;SYSTEM=$system";
$name = 'user';
$pw = 'passw0rd';

echo "Connecting to AS/400...";
$con = odbc_connect($dsn,$name,$pw);
if (!$con)
{
echo 'Error connecting: ' . odbc_error() . odbc_errormsg();
die();
}

else
{
echo "Successfully connected to $system as $name!";
odbc_close($con);
}

?>

I tried using "/etc/odbc.ini" to set up a ODBC DSN, but IBM's Redbook seemed to overcomplicate it a bit. If you need to use a DSN connection, look for IBM's Redbook "Linux Integration with IBM i5/OS" section 3.1.2.

08/06/2009 - Update - For those who have an exit point program installed on their iSeries, "SELECT" statements must be in capital letters! If you use lowercase "select" it may not work!

-Tres

Posted in 0 comments Posted by FatButtLarry at 6:00 AM