Blog of Ginn Chen

Playback local H.264 file by using flashplayer plugin

Flashplayer 9 Update 3 has H.264 support.

Here's a simple example to play local H.264 media file by using flashplayer plugin in your favorite browser.
Download (43KB)
Usage: Untar it and open flashmediaplayer.html in a browser window.

I used FLV Media Player.
Because of the security restriction of Flash, I can't use Javascript to interact the playback. I believe you can work out a better solution.

The FLV Media Player is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
It allows you to use, modify and redistribute the script for free for noncommercial purposes.

Upgrading to Movable Type 4.1

Sorry for long time silence.
I'm too lazy to manage my site.

This is a test post for the new system.
Good luck!

Don't save chat history in my Gmail account

I've no idea Gmail saves all my chatting log with Gtalk until I tried to search something in my Gmail.

I was shocked, since actually I don't use Gtalk client but Adium, and I can't remember if there's a checkbox or notice somewhere before I signed up gtalk. Actually I thought gtalk service is tightly bundled with gmail service.

I don't want to keep the log, so I "googled" a solution. The solution said, there's a "Chat history:" setting in "Chat" tab of "Gmail Settings". Well, I spent 10 mins to find such tab, but I didn't see it because I was using Safari 2.

Poor me.

Google Notifier dies on Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

Google Notifier will crash after a few times of checking mails if you have proxy setting in system preferences.

An interesting bug. But I've no idea why Google still couldn't give a fix, Leopard is already out more than 2 weeks.

Porting code from GCC to Sun Studio

Some problems you may not know.

1) Avoid using multi-character character constant
Code sample:



#include 

int main()

{

  const int a = 'ABCD';

  printf("%x\n", a);

  return 0;

}

You will get different result on Solaris x86 and SPARC if it is compiled with Sun Studio.
It's an endian issue.
On x86, result is "44434241"
On SPARC, result is "41424344"

If it is compiled with gcc, result is "41424344" for both platform.

gcc gives you a warning for this code, but Sun Studio doesn't.
Interesting.

You can use 'A' << 24 | 'B' << 16 | 'C' << 8 | 'D'

2) Avoid doing *x++ = foo(*x);
Code sample:



#include 

int main()

{

  char x[11] = "ABCDEFGHIJ";

  char *ptr = x;

  int i;

  for (i = 0; i < 9; i++) {

    *(ptr++) = *ptr + 1;

  }

  printf("%s\n", x);

  return 0;

}

If it is compiled with gcc, g++, or cc (Sun Studio C compiler), the result is
BCDEFGHIJJ
But if it is compiled with CC (Sun Studio compiler), the result is
CDEFGHIJKJ

All code tested with Sun Studio 11 on OpenSolaris.

Set a breakpoint at GNOME warning information

Just want to log here in case I forgot the function name again.
The function is g_logv().

HOWTO: Backup your Mac OS X to nfs

First, you need to set up a nfs sharing.
I'm using a Solaris server.
Here're my steps.
Create a user with uid 501 (it's the default uid for first user on Mac OS X).
Create /export/home/mac, chmod 777 /export/home/mac
You can figure out how to give a proper mod/owner for /export/home/mac.
Since I'm restricting nfs access from certain machine, I don't care.

su
sharemgr create mygroup
sharemgr add-share -s /export/home/mac/ -r MAC mygroup
sharemgr set -P nfs -S sys -p root=macbookpro -p rw=macbookpro mygroup
sharemgr show
svcadm enable svc:/network/nfs/server:default

macbookpro is hostname of the Mac OS X client.

Then, try to mount it on Mac OS X
create /private/mnt/

sudo mount_nfs -o -P your_Solaris_machine:/export/home/mac /private/mnt/

create MBP_BACKUP directory in /private/mnt for a test.

Now, use rsync to backup your Mac OS X.
I assuming you're using Mac OS X 10.4, your rsync supports -E.

Create backup_excludes.txt to exclude some files.
Here's my version: (may not need to be that long)

automount/*
proc/*
dev/*
.Spotlight-V100/*
.Spotlight-V100/.*
.Trash/*
.Trashes/*/*
.hotfiles.btree
.journal
.journal_info_block
.vol
Desktop DB
Desktop DF
Library/Caches
System/Library/Caches
System/Library/Extensions.kextcache
Temporary Items
Users/*/Library/Caches/*
Volumes/*
cores/*
mach
mach.sym
private/Network/*
private/_Network_/*
private/automount/*
private/var/automount/*
private/var/db/BootCache.playlist
private/var/db/NetworkInterfaces.xml
private/var/db/volinfo.database
private/var/run
private/var/tmp/*
private/tmp/*
private/var/run/*
private/var/spool/postfix/*
private/var/vm/*
private/mnt/*

Here we go!

sudo rsync -E -a -x -S --delete --progress --exclude-from=backup_excludes.txt / /private/mnt/MBP_BACKUP/

You may want add "-u" for update.
Check rsync manpage for details.
It took my several hours for the first time sync.

Good luck!

BTW: How to sync back?

Update: It crashed to 4 Languages (system hang, kernel panic) when I tried to re-sync my disk. Might be a bug of rsync or nfs? I don't know how to solve it yet. Don't use -E and don't sync large files (>2G) seems fine.

OpenSuse 10.2 with Sun w1100z

A typical issue with OpenSuse 10.2 on Sun w1100z is you can't use your USB keyboard and mouse after upgrading linux-kernel.
Add "acpi=off" to your boot option can solve it.

If you want to use nvidia driver instead open source nv. Try NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7184.

Another thing is if you want to use Firefox accessibility feature, you need to export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/gnome/lib or /opt/gnome/lib/gtk-2.0/modules
I've no idea why OpenSuse don't install gnome to /usr

Install Ubuntu 7.04 on Parallels Desktop

There's a discuss about Ubuntu 7.04 Live CD won't start in Parallels Desktop.
At http://forums.parallels.com/thread10308.html

The simple workaround works for me.
Create a Guest OS with type Solaris, and change it to Linux after installation.

Another issue I have with Ubuntu 7.04 and PD is it can't shutdown gracefully.
I'm not a great Ubuntu fun now, I can live with it.

Maybe I should try VMWare Fusion. Hmm...

Debug ppc program with gdb on Macbook Pro

First, open a Terminal, and export OAH_GDB=YES (for bash)
Start your ppc program, if it's universal binary, use /usr/libexec/oah/translate
Now you will see "Starting Unix GDB Session\n Listening"

Then you can start gdb with "gdb -oah" in another Terminal.
And attach the process of your program.

Can't it be simpler?

More information at
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/MacOSX/Conceptual/universal_binary/universal_binary_exec_a/chapter_950_section_8.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40002217-CH210-235927
i.e.
ADC Home > Reference Library > Guides > Mac OS X > Universal Binary Programming Guidelines, Second Edition > Appendix A: Rosetta > Troubleshooting

It's hard to find, isn't it?

Tips for debugging opera plugins

export OPERA_PLUGINWRAPPER_DEBUG=10
export OPERA_KEEP_BLOCKED_PLUGIN=1

opera -debugplugin

It gives me some helps, but still not as good as debugging plugins with Firefox.
OPERA_PLUGINWRAPPER_DEBUG really give a lot of information. That's fine.

Tips of QTerm on Mac OS X

1) Browse link in Safari
Change the HTTP Browser in Option->Preference to "open".
It's tricky, isn't it.

2) Show IP location
Download QQWry.dat from somewhere and put it to $HOME/Library/Qterm
Then you can move mouse on IP, and get the physical location.

Installing Solaris (snv_53) on MacBook Pro under Parallels

First, I'm using Parallels build 1970 on my new MacBook Pro (Core 2 Duo 2.33GHz).
Here're some tips about the installation. (Most of them are from http://www.inf.furb.br/~javito/?p=39 , thanks!)
1) You need to add atapi-cd-dma-enabled=0 to grub kernel command.
For installation DVD, press 'e' to edit it, make it looks like
kernel … -B install_media=cdrom,atapi-cd-dma-enabled=0
Press enter and then b to boot.

After installation, you also need to edit the grub command, add
-B atapi-cd-dma-enabled=0
After that, you should edit /etc/boot/menu.lst for default and safemode boot menu ASAP.
It's really hard to spell atapi-cd-dma-enabled correctly, and it won't warn you if you misspelled, you just can't boot and get a lot of errors.

2) Use text mode install, option 4. Otherwise, you may have trouble to click some where, the screen is 1600x1200, too big for MacBook Pro's 1440x900.

3) To fix the screen resolution, you can run /usr/X11/bin/xorgconfig
Select PS2 mouse, 101 keyboard, answer 'n' for additional XKB options, choose 'Non-interlaced SVGA 1024x768', '50-90 vertical sync rate', answer 'y' for you'd like to look at the card database, choose 'Generic VESA', choose '4096K' for video memory, choose '4' for the modes are OK, choose '16bits', say 'y' to write to /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Now press ctrl+alt+delete to restart X.
You should get a reasonable resolution now.
If you like native 1440x900, you can hack /etc/X11/xorg.conf by yourself.
These numbers work for me.
Moniter section:
HorizSync 31.5 - 100
VertRefresh 59.0 - 75.0
Modeline "1440x900_60.0" 106.47 1440 1520 1672 1904 900 901 904 932 -HSync +Vsync

Screen section:
DefaultDepth 24
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1440x900"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection

UPDATE: You can just rename /etc/X11/.xorg.conf to /etc/X11/xorg.conf and add these lines, you don't need to run xorgconfig, and middle button and scroll ball of your mouse will be fine.

4) Install network adapter driver
In Parallels menu, Devices-CD/DVD-ROM1-Connect Image, choose /Library/Parallels/Tools/vmtools.iso
If nautilus ask you audio or data, choose data.
Run network.sh on the CD somewhere.
Choose dhcp and reboot.

5) Install sound driver
Go to http://www.tools.de/solaris/audio/
Download the x86 driver.
pkgadd -d audio-1.8-i86pc.pkg
Choose the framework first, and run pkgadd again to install audioi810.
Reboot, everything should be fine now.

UPDATE: You may not need to add atapi-cd-dma-enabled=0 for newer Solaris and newer Parallels Desktop.

Technorati Tags: MacBookPro, OpenSolaris, Parallels

Some tips of making Ferrari 4000 laptop work with Ubuntu

1) Wireless card
Ferrari 4000 uses BCM4318 AirForce card.
You can follow the guideline here.

Here're my steps.
a) sudo vi /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
add a line:
blacklist bcm43xx
then reboot
b) install ndiswrapper-utils from apt
If you're using Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy), my experience is you have to install ndiswrapper-utils-1.8 instead.
c) download the wireless driver for Windows from acer
Here's the link for 32Bit. (I didn't try 64Bit Ubuntu on this laptop)
Unzip it somewhere find bcmw15.inf, go to the directory and,
sudo ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf
sudo ndiswrapper -m
sudo modprobe ndiswrapper
d) Install some helper application to set wireless connection
My favorite is wifi-radar, someone suggests network-manager-gnome.
Or you can just use System > Administration > Networking, it should work.

z) Sometimes wireless connection is very weird, the red light blinks but cannot connect to any station, my solution is to reset the driver.
sudo modprobe -r ndiswrapper
sudo modprobe -i ndiswrapper
You can also use iwlist, iwconfig, etc. to diagnose your problem.

2) Install Ubuntu 6.10 on Ferrari 4000
I suggest you choose safe graphic mode while booting live cd.
If your screen is black during installation, use Ctrl+Alt+F1 switch to tty1, (bless you can see the cursor, if not use safe graphic mode and try again),
sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Add the "MonitorLayout" line under

 Section "Device"
        Identifier      "ATI Technologies, Inc. Radeon Mobility X700 (RV410 PCIE)"

        Option          "MonitorLayout"         "LVDS, AUTO"

Press Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to restart Xorg.

3) If you see corrupt screen for tty after installation, add vga=791 option in /boot/grub/menu.lst.

4) How to disable tapping of touchpad?
I'm a Mac fan, I used to click the button not tapping the touchpad.
To do this, you need to set "Synapatics Touchpad".
sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Add Load "synaptics" after the "Load" lines.
Remove line Option "CorePointer" from InputDevice Section.
Add another InputDevice Section,

 Section "InputDevice"
       Identifier      "Synaptics Touchpad"
       Driver          "synaptics"
       Option          "Device"                "/dev/psaux"
       Option          "Protocol"              "PS/2"
       Option          "HorizScrollDelta"      "0"
       Option          "SHMConfig"             "on"
 EndSection

Change InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
to InputDevice "Configured Mouse" "SendCoreEvents"
add a line after, InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad" "CorePointer"

Now you're install gsynaptic to help to make settings for your touchpad.

5) If you have to trouble with grub
For ubuntu, boot the live cd, mount your linux partition somewhere, and
sudo grub-install --root-directory= /dev/hda

For Solaris, boot installation DVD and enter the single user shell, your Solaris is recognized and mounted read-write on /a
cd /a/boot
installgrub -m stage1 stage2 /dev/rdsk/c1d0s0
It will ask you whether you want to install grub to MBA or just to Solaris partition.

HOWTO: Build Qterm on Mac OS X 10.4.7 (ppc)

QTerm is a BBS client in Linux, written in Qt.
Here's the steps to build it on Mac OS X 10.4.7.

1) Download QT source code from http://www.trolltech.com/download/qt/mac.html
I used the tar ball for their ftp, qt-mac-free-3.3.6.tar.bz2.

2) In terminal, untar the file.
tar jxvf qt-mac-free-3.3.6.tar.bz2

3) Follow the steps of the INSTALL file in qt source.
REMEMBER to use "./configure -thread", it may takes several hours to build.

4) Create symbolic links
ln -sf $QTDIR/lib/libqt-mt.3.dylib /usr/lib
ln -sf $QTDIR/lib/libqui.1.dylib /usr/lib

5) Download qterm source code from http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/qterm/qterm-0.4.0.tar.bz2
Untar, and patch the qterm subdirectory by this file.
The command is,
patch -p0 < patch
Overwrite the qterm.icns file with this one.

6) Go to the qterm subdirectory.
qmake qterm.prj
make
make install

7) Try qterm.app/Contents/MacOS/qterm
If it works, you can move to directory to /Application.
If the directory doesn't have the qterm icon for preview, you select it and press cmd+i, select the small icon at top left, press delete. It should work now.

It should also works on Intel based Mac OS X, but I didn't verify it.
Let me know if you succeed or have any trouble.

Technorati Tags: mac, qterm