Spanish Hippy. Usually seen playing the flute, and usually accompanied by a dog.
Spanish Word of the Day: Perroflauta
September 21st, 2010Running gvim in the background by default
September 21st, 2010I am constantly running gvim from the bash prompt within Cygwin, and loosing control of my session. I’d have to quit gvim, and restart it in the background.
Finally got around to fixing that. Put this in your .bashrc:
function gvimBackground() {
/cygdrive/C/Program\ Files/Vim/vim72/gvim.exe $@ &
}
alias gvim=gvimBackground
alias vi=gvim
alias vim=gvim
Using Squid as a centralised Proxy
September 16th, 2010Many programs do not use the built in XP proxy configuration. Firefox, Dropbox, Google Translate Client to name a few.
Moving between networks is a pain, and I had previously tried to automate the task of changing the proxy settings, with mixed results.
Enter Squid.
This article explains how to configure it to connect to an parent proxy that requires authentication.
Make sure you change the http_port parameter to only bind to 127.0.0.1, unless you’re doing something sneaky with your iPad, which cannot use the parent proxy….
Update:
A few more usefull tidbits:
- Install Squid as a service with the -i command line option
- Start and Stop with the
net start|stopcommands - You should modify the ACLs from those in the article linked above. Here are mine:
acl localhost src 127.0.0.1/255.255.255.255
acl all src 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0
acl INTERNAL src 172.28.0.0/255.255.252.0
acl NAUGHTY_STUFF dstdom_regex →
-i "etc/domain_blacklist"http_access deny NAUGHTY_STUFF
http_access allow manager localhost
http_access deny managerhttp_access allow localhost
# http_access allow all
http_access deny all
Mysterious hidden proxy settings
September 7th, 2010Well OK, not mysterious, and not really hidden. And I did cause it, but since I had forgotten what I did, I had a hard time finding it.
Normally, to configure a proxy, you go into Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN settings. At least that’s how you do it on XP; Windows 7 is different.
These settings are stored in the registry thus:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings] "MigrateProxy"=dword:00000001 "ProxyEnable"=dword:00000001 "ProxyHttp1.1"=dword:00000000 "ProxyServer"="http://ProxyServername:80" "ProxyOverride"="<local>"http://support.microsoft.com/kb/819961
I was trying to find a way to modify these settings from the command line, and include it as part of my “fix_routing” script (which needs a write-up). So I tried some stuff, and it didn’t work, and I gave up and moved on.
This weekend, we set up a SlingBox at a friend’s place, and I found that I couldn’t connect to it. TCPVIEW showed the program trying to connect to a bogus proxy, and I couldn’t find this anywhere in the configuration file. Then I remembered my previous attempts, and had to search around for that information again. Luckily, I found it.
There is another set of settings, stored in the WinHttpSettings key. These settings do not show up anywhere. If TCPVIEW is showing that an application is trying to connect to a proxy, and you can’t find where that is configured, try here.
Note: It appears that the REGEDIT search tool will not search inside a REG_BINARY key, which I suppose makes sense. This was why a search of the registry for the proxy address resulted in no matches.
The only way to modify these settings, is via the PROXYCFG tool in the system32 directory.
C:\Documents and Settings\aujaha>proxycfg Microsoft (R) WinHTTP Default Proxy Configuration Tool Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Current WinHTTP proxy settings under: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections\ WinHttpSettings : Proxy Server(s) : 10.10.0.229:8080 Bypass List : *.local;*.big.corp;10.10.*;<local>
I zeroed out this key, and things seem to be working again.
First post from the new iPad
September 2nd, 2010Pretty cool so far. Although I did have to do the “error code 9808″ dance
Blocking content by country is SO LAME
July 8th, 2010
Sony blocks video on youtube due to copyright
LAME.
I wanted to see the original clip of “Hitler reacts…” and was … BA BOWN … denied. Even when there are like 102789 parodies out there.
Lotus Notes and the case of the hovering Mouse cursor
July 7th, 2010Tell me that isn’t annoying.
Ella has been accepted at the local Kindergarten
June 28th, 2010Ella has been accepted at the Kindergarten in our Neighborhood! This is fantastic news, because it has been a long process.
First, we found out late that we all kindergartens are managed by the State, and as such, require a detailed application form. This, however, turned out to be easy for us; you could say we are professional form submitters at this point. In fact, we were complemented on having the form filled in so completely, and on time (most people are late, or submit incomplete forms, and the system is designed such that they get feedback on what is missing, and a chance to correct mistakes.)
The admission is based on points; you get points for various things, such as your marital status, your family status and so on. Points are also awarded based on where you live, which is good, since that is the only thing we got points for.
Then, all the submissions are collated, and The List is posted. The List tells you where you are in descending points order on the waiting list. There are only so many positions in each school.
We missed out by 6 places.
We were very disappointed, but made sure to keep in contact with the Principal of the kindergarten. She is a very nice lady, known to all the parents in the complex, and she helped us through the entire process.
She informed us that what would happen next is a round of appeal, and then a final version of The List is released. Then, the accepted children have a week or so to pay the fee, and after that, one more final version of The List is released, as well as another list which tells you where else you may apply to send your child.
The Principle told us to not panic, and that “Things may still go in your favour”.
Well, we found out late last week that they have indeed gone in our favour. A couple days after we attended the End of Year Concert for the Kindergarten (which was fun, funny and sureal) the Principal called and said that she would create an extra place for us.
So now we can relax until September, which is when school starts.
Hacking ticketmaster
June 16th, 2010IEEE Spectrum:
On March 1, four guys behind a Nevada-based start-up, Wiseguy Tickets, were indicted in New Jersey on 43 counts for fraudulently buying and selling over 1.5 million tickets online
To achieve this goal, Wiseguys deployed a nationwide computer network that opened thousands of simultaneous Internet connections from across the United States; impersonated thousands of individual ticket buyers; and defeated online ticket vendors’ security mechanisms.
That may be why their websites suck so badly.
Bobby Tables
June 16th, 2010
xkcd: Exploits of a Mom