Tools

DevOps

What is SPDY?

http://dev.chromium.org/spdy/spdy-whitepaper

The SPDY project defines and implements an application-layer protocol for the web which greatly reduces latency. The high-level goals for SPDY are:

| * To target a 50% reduction in page load time. Our preliminary results have come close to this target (see below). | * To minimize deployment complexity. SPDY uses TCP as the underlying transport layer, so requires no changes to existing networking infrastructure. | * To avoid the need for any changes to content by website authors. The only changes required to support SPDY are in the client user agent and web server applications. | * To bring together like-minded parties interested in exploring protocols as a way of solving the latency problem. We hope to develop this new protocol in partnership with the open-source community and industry specialists.

3 min read
Productivity

Out of DiskSpace? Use Ducks | aplawrence.com

I'm always looking for better ways to find the disk hogs... there are a ton of one liners and tools but this is the first time I've heard of "ducks". Thanks A.P!


Where has the space gone?

Although time consuming, the following procedure can be used to track down where your space has been used.

cd /

du -s *

(Some folks like to use "du -cks *", which is easy to remember as "ducks".)

2 min read
Linux

Linux command to gathers up information about a Linux system

If you are developing an application for Linux desktop and would like to automatically find out more information about system, use the following commands in shell scripts to gather information about system. Recently I was involved in project where I need to collect information about running GUI, browser and other information such as disk space, running kernel etc.

Linux command to gathers up information about a Linux system.

1 min read
Programming

The Power of GIT | Innovation On The Run

| The Power of GIT | Innovation On The Run | Started working with git for the first time last week and I am really impressed at how powerful the tool is.  I’ve been interested in using a distributed version control system like git, darcs, or mercurial for a while, but I have been turned off on actually making the move because of the lack of integration with these version control systems and other software (bug tracking, automated build software, etc.).  Also, as a manager, I did not want to have to retrain a whole team of developers on a new version control system. | But enter git-svn which allows me to use git locally and Subversion for the distributed repository.  So now I get the best of both worlds, I can make my local branches and commits, but I don’t have to retrain my team or worry about integration as we still have all of the Subversion interfaces for interacting with the repository.

1 min read
Web Development

Google Web Toolkit - Google Code

| Google Web Toolkit - Google Code | Google Web Toolkit (GWT) makes it easier to write high-performance AJAX applications. You write your front end in the Java programming language and GWT compiles your source into highly optimized JavaScript. Writing web apps today is a tedious and error-prone process. You spend 90% of your time working around browser quirks, and JavaScript's lack of modularity makes sharing, testing, and reusing AJAX components difficult and fragile. It doesn't have to be that way.

2 min read
Security

Wfuzz - A Tool for Bruteforcing/Fuzzing Web Applications | Darknet - The Darkside

| Wfuzz - A Tool for Bruteforcing/Fuzzing Web Applications | Darknet - The Darkside | Wfuzz is a tool designed for bruteforcing Web Applications, it can be used for finding resources not linked directories, servlets, scripts, etc, bruteforce GET and POST parameters for checking different kind of injections SQL, XSS, LDAP,etc, bruteforce Forms parameters User/Password, Fuzzing,etc.

As heard on the pauldotcom.com podcast.

1 min read
Windows

Real Men Dont Click -- The Project

| Real Men Dont Click -- The Project | The plan was, to create a fully automated, server based, Windows 2000 setup. Fully automated in this context means two things:

| 1. | Basic tasks like, Client Installation, Server Setup, Application Deployment, Hotfix application and Account management happen without continous user intervention. | 2. | The Setup is reproducible. This means that the whole system should constructed automatically from basic components.

1 min read
macOS

Mac Mojo : How to open .docx on your Mac

| Mac Mojo : Get converted | This is a stand-alone Macintosh application that converts .docx documents - that is, documents saved by Word 2007 for Windows in the Office Open XML file format - into rich text format RTF documents so that they can be automatically opened in either Word 2004 or Word v.X for Mac OS X.

With this free converter we passionately want to get you up and reading the new documents you are receiving. We do not, however, want to see you inadvertently mess up any critical documents you are working with. For that reason, only one-way read only conversion is supported in this beta. When sending documents back to colleagues and contacts, we recommend saving to the default .doc format from Mac Word listed as "Word document" in the save dialog. Similarly, we continue to recommend that you advise friends and colleagues who use Office 2007 and collaborate regularly with Mac users to save their documents as a "Word/Excel/PowerPoint 97-2003 Document" .doc, .xls, .ppt to ensure that the files can be robustly shared across platforms while waiting for final availability of Office 2008 for Mac.

1 min read
Web Development

How to Querying the RPM database - tuxfiles.org

| Installing software from RPM packages in Linux | How to Querying the RPM database

| As you already know, the RPM database contains a list of all installed RPM packages on your system. You can query this database to get info of the packages on your Linux system. To query a single package, you use the -q option. For example, to query a package whose name is "software": | # rpm -q software

2 min read
Productivity

Zenoss Blog » Open Source Software Configuration Management

| Zenoss Blog » Open Source Software Configuration Management | If you are already familiar with open source monitoring, you might also be interested in open source software configuration management. Software Configuration Management (SCM) attempts to identify the configuration of software at discrete points in time and to systematically control changes to the configuration for the purpose of maintaining software integrity, traceability, and accountability throughout the software life cycle.

For example, say you have a cluster of Apache servers and you want to update them all with an additional mime-type, or add a virtual host to each. Rather than manually updating each configuration file on each server you could use a tool that process all the changes simultaneously. Or a tool that pools all the configuration variables into an easily readable form driven interface. The other benefit for some of these tools is the ability to have a changelog so that if your roll out a new configuration and it doesn’t work you can revert to the last good configuration easily.

1 min read
Programming

Google Web Toolkit - Build AJAX apps in the Java language

| Google Web Toolkit - Build AJAX apps in the Java language | Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is an open source Java software development framework that makes writing AJAX applications like Google Maps and Gmail easy for developers who don't speak browser quirks as a second language. Writing dynamic web applications today is a tedious and error-prone process; you spend 90% of your time working around subtle incompatibilities between web browsers and platforms, and JavaScript's lack of modularity makes sharing, testing, and reusing AJAX components difficult and fragile.

1 min read
Web Development

Illustrator CS2 crashes on Intel Mac 10.4.8

Adobe Illustrator CS2 crashes on an Intel Mac Pro running Mac OS 10.4.8 when a designer tries to use a tool on the pathfinder palette. This only happens when a circular path is involved. For example you want to Unite a round/circular path and a square path. Yo highlight both paths and select Unite from the Pathfinder palette. The program will crash.

The solution was buried in the comments of this post on Real World Illustrator.

1 min read
Web Development

Using Sun Java Studio Creator 2 on Mac OS X

Using Sun Java Studio Creator 2 on Mac OS X

Java Studio Creator is an easy-to-use visual tool for developing Web applications with Java. Designed for the corporate developer who needs to be productive and doesnt have the time to learn the details of Java technologies, the product combines the Java integrated development environment IDE with a rapid visual designer, a smart code editor, synchronized editing, and easy deployment resulting in rapid iterative development of Web applications and Portlets.

1 min read
macOS

How to - disk recovery with ddrescue on Mac 10.4

I had a dead, clicking hard drive. It would not mount so most repair utilities and Apple Disk Utility couldn't see the drive to repair it. Data Rescue II and DiskWarrior (even advanced recovery mode) would run for a while but eventually error out. dd_rescue (read third comment) is a linux utility that is very powerful and persistent but wouldn't compile for me in Mac OS 10.4. I finally had success with a similar linux tool ddrescue and this article.

4 min read
Windows

Carry a PC Repair System on a USB Drive

The Daily Cup of Tech computer help site put together a USB-drive based collection of software that'll help you resuscitate any ailing PC. All wrapped up into one convenient, 14.2MB zip file, the USB PC Repair System contains 37 fix-it utilities (via Lifehacker)

read more | digg story \<http://digg.com/software/Carry_a_PC_Repair_System_on_a_USB_Drive\>__

1 min read
Web Development

Over 160 Free Personal Information Managers

Over 160 Free Personal Information Managers - lifehack.org

<http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/over-160-free-personal-information-managers.html>`__

The best type of software for productivity is personal information manager (PIM). They are softwares which help you oraganising your personal information, such as contacts, calendars, emails, notes etc. To give you choices, find out what are available on the Internet and fits you, Listible has a huge list (over 160) of PIMs. There are Windows & Mac based software; web based, and all of them are free:

1 min read
Windows

How to Build a Cost Effective Development Environment for Windows Server

How to Build a Cost Effective Development Environment for Windows Server 200X from Enterprise Solution Providers White Papers at silicon.com

This guide was written to allow a reader to quickly understand 'How to build a cost effective Development Environment for Windows Server 200X'. A Development Environment at the most basic level refers to a source control tool and bug tracking software. The following covers application requirements, setup, basic configuration and use guides for each. Given that requirements for each application were already on a server, using the following guide as a framework will allow an environment to be built from scratch in one to two working days.

1 min read
Security

Terminal Services Setup Guide (2003)

| Learn the best way to batten down the hatches on your servers without going too far. | by Kenton Gardinier for ftponline.com | Windows Server 2003 Terminal Services in terminal server mode can be run in either the Full Security or Relaxed Security compatibility mode to meet your organization's security policy and application requirements. Full Security mode was created to help lock down the terminal server environment to reduce the risk of users mistakenly installing software or inadvertently disabling the terminal server by moving directories or deleting Registry Keys. This mode can be used for most certified terminal server applications. | Read more.

1 min read
Web Development

Intro to Open Source Scripting on Mac OS X

Introduction to Open Source Scripting on Mac OS X

One of the biggest advantages of Mac OS X's UNIX heritage is the huge range of open source scripting languages available. Scripting languages are often the ideal tool if you want to manipulate text, manage jobs, or link together disparate components without resorting to a compiled language like C or Objective-C. Scripting languages are a great tool for system administrators, application developers, and pretty much any user who needs to perform complex or repetitive tasks, because they were invented to solve these types of problems more quickly than can be done with general-purpose languages.

1 min read
Web Development

Handy CSS layout generator for web developers

Someone on IRC pointed me to this CSS generator, and the number of options and output are impressive. The ability to have verbose comments in the CSS is a nice way to learn what browser hacks are being implemented (and gives you an easy way to pull them out if you like). I can take no credit for this tool, so props to the appropriate party...

read more | digg story \<http://digg.com/design/Handy_CSS_layout_generator_for_web_developers\>__

1 min read
Web Development

Google Pack of usefull tools

Official Google Blog: Make your computer just work

So you bought a new PC for yourself or a relative during the holidays. There was the initial excitement about its speed and the nice screen %u2013 and then it came time to actually get it running. Which meant embarking on some real work -%u2013 downloading a browser, a couple of multimedia players, a PDF reader, a toolbar, and maybe something for voice and instant messaging. Don%u2019t forget the anti-spyware and anti-virus apps %u2013 you%u2019ve got to have those. Hours, maybe even days, go by. How many wizards have you clicked through, not to mention license agreements and preference pickers? And then you have to ask: did I get everything? And how am I going to keep all of this up to date? This was the experience both Sergey and Larry had a year ago. And they%u2019re computer guys, after all. Which led them to ask more of us to make it easier for everyone. So we created the Google Pack -- a one-stop software package that helps you discover, install, and maintain a wide range of essential PC programs. It%u2019s yours today %u2013 and it%u2019s something we hope you find to be painless, easy, and even fun (if computer setup can ever be called that). And it%u2019s free.

2 min read
Web Development

Software - DMS for Mac OSX

AFP548 - Document Management in the Fresh Air

Installing Alfresco to create workflows and manage your documents

Alfresco is a fun open source project that I've been playing around with lately. It's similar to EMC's Documentum, which if you've never played with allows you to create workflows for documents. It's billed as a "content management solution" but that term is very overloaded with all the web CMS systems out there. For those of you still confused, it allows you to manage all of your documents, such as MS Word files and such, and create workflows with them.

1 min read
Linux

Sysadmin toolbox

This is mainly for Linux folk but Mac Admins should be able to find equivalent tools.

"Every administrator has a set of software tools that he just can't live without. These are the utilities that you install as soon as you log into a new machine, to help make day-to-day tasks a little easier. Here are my top 10 tools."

read more | digg story \<http://digg.com/linux_unix/My_sysadmin_toolbox\>__

1 min read
Security

Mac OS X Security Advisory

| Mac OS X Security Advisory | Vulnerability: | Malicious DHCP response can grant root access

| Affected Software | Mac OS X 10.3 (all versions through at least 26-Nov-2003) | Mac OS X Server 10.3 (all versions through at least 26-Nov-2003) | Mac OS X 10.2 (all versions through at least 26-Nov-2003) | Mac OS X Server 10.2 (all versions through at least 26-Nov-2003) | Probably earlier versions of Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server | Possibly developer seeded copies of future versions of Mac OS X

1 min read