Howdy Do That ? HYDT | A series of Handy How To Dos.

Howdy Do that? (How Do you do that?) (HYDT)
Starting today, I intend on blog publishing tech anecdotes, handy snippets, how to do stuff on practically anything that I have garnered over years of IT experience. Often, it happens, that you have solved a murky lurky problem/ task in one situation only to face the same with or without some twist later on (maybe after quite some time) . So while many of us remember, and reconstruct the steps, a how to do snippet does come in handy in resolving the issue quickly and also serving as a guide to anyone else who faces the same task/ problem.
What will go in HYDT ?
Practically anything from any topic under the sun like:

• How do I truncate a file to zero bytes in Unix/ Linux ? (Useful in truncating logs)
  
• How do I take a command line DB Dump export in Oracle and import into another schema ?

and lots of other stuff like that. All such posts will be marked as : HYDT | Post Subject Here
Be tuned !

Desktopia - The Desktop Utopia

Spicing up the desktop !

One's desktop is the window to one's PC. It better be nice and juicy.
I have StarDock WindowBlinds for themes, Object Dock Plus (yes, 'Plus'; I have Genuine Star Dock products) for quick access to common place items like My Documents, My Computer, Applications shortcuts etc.
I have StarDock Fences which organize my desktop icons into appropriate areas based on classifications. The iCalendar completes my calendar events integration with the Google calendar.
Fewer clicks complete my Job now !
I am Happy !
How is your desktop doing ?

Fences for your Desk

Wow !
March Marchin On!
Been a bit busy with work.

Anyways, Here is something I would like to share for those who look to the solution of a "Swelled up" desktop.
Welcome Star Dock Fences. http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/
A unique utility tool that helps created "fences" for desktop icons, so that they can be classified easily and accessed easily. You can create custom "fence" areas like "Work" , "Entertainment" etc. And put lots of icons in the fenced areas of the desktop (even beyond what a normal "fully filled" desktop would hold). So now you know where to look and click when you want your "Fav" program to run !

It is available for download now ! Go Get It !

See (above) my desk screenshot as a sample

HYDT | List of Vendor JDBC Drivers for quick reference

If you need to access a database with Java, you need a driver. This is a list of the drivers available, and their respective JDBC connect strings (syntax only).
To Err is Human; Please feel free to email me or leave a message if you find anything not correct !

IBM DB2
jdbc:db2://:/
COM.ibm.db2.jdbc.app.DB2Driver

JDBC-ODBC Bridge
jdbc:odbc:
sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver

Microsoft SQL Server
jdbc:weblogic:mssqlserver4:@:
weblogic.jdbc.mssqlserver4.Driver

Oracle Thin
jdbc:oracle:thin:@::
oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver

PointBase Embedded Server
jdbc:pointbase://embedded[:]/
com.pointbase.jdbc.jdbcUniversalDriver

Cloudscape
jdbc:cloudscape:
COM.cloudscape.core.JDBCDriver

Cloudscape RMI
jdbc:rmi://:/jdbc:cloudscape:
RmiJdbc.RJDriver

Firebird (JCA/JDBC Driver)
jdbc:firebirdsql:[//[:]/]
org.firebirdsql.jdbc.FBDriver

IDS Server
jdbc:ids://:/conn?dsn=''
ids.sql.IDSDriver

Informix Dynamic Server
jdbc:informix-sqli://:/:INFORMIXSERVER=
com.informix.jdbc.IfxDriver

InstantDB (v3.13 and earlier)
jdbc:idb:
jdbc.idbDriver

InstantDB (v3.14 and later)
jdbc:idb:
org.enhydra.instantdb.jdbc.idbDriver

Interbase (InterClient Driver)
jdbc:interbase:///
interbase.interclient.Driver

Hypersonic SQL (v1.2 and earlier)
jdbc:HypersonicSQL:
hSql.hDriver

Hypersonic SQL (v1.3 and later)
jdbc:HypersonicSQL:
org.hsql.jdbcDriver

Microsoft SQL Server (JTurbo Driver)
jdbc:JTurbo://:/
com.ashna.jturbo.driver.Driver

Microsoft SQL Server (Sprinta Driver)
jdbc:inetdae::?database=
com.inet.tds.TdsDriver

Microsoft SQL Server 2000 (Microsoft Driver)
jdbc:microsoft:sqlserver://:[;DatabaseName=]
com.microsoft.jdbc.sqlserver.SQLServerDriver

MySQL (MM.MySQL Driver)
jdbc:mysql://:/
org.gjt.mm.mysql.Driver

Oracle OCI 8i
jdbc:oracle:oci8:@
oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver

Oracle OCI 9i
jdbc:oracle:oci:@
oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver

PostgreSQL (v6.5 and earlier)
jdbc:postgresql://:/
postgresql.Driver

PostgreSQL (v7.0 and later)
jdbc:postgresql://:/
org.postgresql.Driver

Sybase (jConnect 4.2 and earlier)
jdbc:sybase:Tds::
com.sybase.jdbc.SybDriver

Sybase (jConnect 5.2)
jdbc:sybase:Tds::
com.sybase.jdbc2.jdbc.SybDriver

Google’s (soon to be launched) ANDROID based Phones unleashes Fast 3G enabled Power of the Internet to your Mobile.

Behold !
The power of Web 2.0 has been put into the mobile by Google via the soon to be launched ANDROID based Phones, which is based on a revolutionary Open Source, and hence Open Ended Android Platform and developers can make use of Fast 3G Network to build apps which use Google Maps, Google Search and other APIs to build unique applications.
See Sergey Brin AND Steve Horowitz’s You Tube video here >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FJHYqE0RDg (which already has had a whopping 2,500,005 views. ) to have a look at what’s in store for the future of Mobile Phones, which are increasingly blurring the line between the powers of web on the PC vs. the ultra-portable power of the Web in your phone.
Maps, 3D Views, Weather, Service Queries (for Airports, Railways, etc.) Intelligent Searches, Fast Contacts Lookup, Quick IMs, and several other apps
Moreover, Android is Linux based and emphasis is on enabling all touch based apps to seamlessly integrate and provide a rich media and information experience to the end users.

Startup Cleaner Programs

Spring Up your PC Start! With Startup Inspector!
Freeware Windows App – Startup Inspector at http://www.windowsstartup.com/ quickly analyzes your machine’s startup programs list and presents you with an option to disable or remove unnecessary startup programs to reduce your machine’s startup time and any unnecessary memory hogging too! Check it out!

Tech Bow : "MULTI" Touch is the new Lingua for PC !

Look Ma. Just Hands ! No Mouse ! "Multi" Touch is the new phenomenon and the medium to "interact" with your PC for a richer internet and media experience. As is shown in the Sneak Peek MSN SoapBox video for WINDOWS 7.0, which is multi touch enabled.
Watch the Video here >> http://asia.cnet.com/crave/2008/05/28/windows-7-demo-at-d6-really-that-s-it-/

Web 2.0 Definition Start

Web 2.0 is not a new version of World Wide Web, but its a different way to utilize Internet into web platform like weblogs, social book marking, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds (and other forms of many-to-many publishing), social networking web, Web APIs, Web standards and online service provider. It is like open sourcing and genuine interactivity in which user can upload anything, download anything and can use the content according to its own wish. There is no restriction of more or less measure of content, uploading and downloading. All these are absolutely free.

According to OReilly, the inventor of Web 2.0, Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform. So Web 2.0 is a new way of business via Internet. It’s really a new business tactic that is being used on the mass level across the world. The success of YouTube, Orkut, MySpace, Flickr, Google, facebook, Wikipedia and many more websites are the biggest examples of Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 tools include Weblogging, Wikis, Social networking, Podcasts, Feeds, Social bookmarking, and Cascading Style Sheet.
Technical Overview
Web 2.0 has a complex and growing technology that includes server-software, content-syndication, messaging- protocols, standards-based browsers with plug-ins and extensions, and various client-applications. All these differ in functions and approaches but provide all the requirements beyond the expectation such as information- storage, creation, and dissemination capabilities.
A Web 2.0 website may usually feature a number of following techniques:
Rich Internet Application (RIA) techniques, optionally Ajax based
Cascading Style Sheet, CSS
Semantically valid XHTML markup and the use of Micro formats
Organization and collection of data in RSS Feeds/ Atom
Tags usage. Links to bookmarking or tagging sites.
Use of Wiki software either completely or partially
Blog publishing / Editing / Tagging
Mashups (A mix up of content and Audio using various script technologies)
REST or XML Webservice APIs.
Rendering of Downloadable content/ Viewable content in various formats (like scribd allows download of documents as PDF, TXT, DOC, XLS, PPT formats)
Optional – Podcasts
I will be covering these new and exciting technologies that enable streaming media and huge interactivity of the end user with the web pages in my future posts.
Tune in regularly

Google Desktop SideBars and Calendar Sync.

Google Inc. has come a long way in spicing and info-highwaying your Same Old Desktop (SOD !). With the Introduction of Google Desktop Sidebars wherein you can add upto (102 last count) Google created and third party created widgets. (I'd prefer google created, though. Too bad, they are lesser in number than 3rd Party widgets). You must have a decent Net speed for these widgets to work like a dream (as you add more and more - ok. get greedy. tiz normal !).
Google has also introduced Google Calendar Sync utility with MS-Outlook, but its a pity, it works only with Outlook versions 2003 and above. Else it would have been a great treat to setup all your "oh-damn-I-forgot" Birthdays and reminders in Outlook and export them in a swish to Google Calendar, which provides you two ways to remember: E-Mail Notifications before the event or better still, SMS to your google registered mobile number, if you are not in front of your machine. Link here --> http://desktop.google.com/

Check your ISP Speed ! from Speedtest !

Free ISP Speed Test website Speedtest (http://www.speedtest.net/) checks your upload and download speeds against various Geo Located ISPs based on proximity to the ISP. And it displays a nice report of upload and download speeds with URL Links to the reports so that you can share with others. I had my ISP speed checked and here are the results. http://www.speedtest.net/result/913584771.png

Organizing your TO-DO Tasks with Remember the Milk (RTM) ™ Website

Forget Often? The call that you were supposed to make this morning, the bill that you were to submit yesterday, your buddy or relative’s birthday which has gone past 2 days back ?
IT pros are busier with deadlines and often push their time in the offices. In doing this, they forget some “social” tasks, which others expect they would remember and do! I have been in all this too often!

http://www.rememberthemilk.com is a website which helps you build and organize a TO-DO task list. Its PRO version has Sync features with Google Calendar.

They have fused Mail and Tasks too. Just in case you can’t help “blackberrying” email or hitting F9 in Outlook, you can email your TO-DO task. Just signup with the RTM site and they will give a unique email id to you to which you can mail your task and it will get created in your RTM Inbox (See attached screenshot). And on the day of the task, you get reminded by SMS/ EMail.

Now, Lets not forget anymore.

Use Norton Ghost for Ghost Recall !

Once you have installed Windows (or Linux) and have got tons of Windows Updates and Security Fixes (or Linux Patches are there ? frequently ?), and installed n number of programs, it becomes crippling and a pain in the ass if one felt swoop of Virus or disk crash or malfunction wipes away all the stored data and settings. So, if you want to be SAFE and SECURE with your precious data, use Norton Ghost for a point in time recovery of your complete OS. It has options to backup your data by burning CDs (which you may require by tons if your OS and installed progs are several GB in size) or external Storage Hard Disk. Norton Ghost has an intitutive interface and you can do a "Managed Backup" (updates your systems recovery point (All OS and Data and settings etc) with a complete backup and then incremental backups at regular intervals) or a "One time backup", which will do a backup and after restoration you will xyz programs short, which you installed after the backup was done. See the attached screenshot.

Hardware Style n Substance and My LoCS

Hardware should not be behind where style and substance comes. Computer World have an article about "Concept" Notebooks, style statements which project the notebook and the user as one . Article here : http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=printArticleBasic&articleId=9070158 . Also my Five Good sites. Sites where there is neat information on utils, tips, tricks and resources for us to "feed" our tech hunger on:
[ LoCS ]
AJAXIAN [ http://www.ajaxian.com/ ] All on AJAX for the techies.
SCRIBD [ http://www.scribd.com/ ] Online Word, PDF, PPT etc rendering site. Online Office documents opening.
JOTT [ http://jott.com/ ] Jot your "Mind Notes" online by "calling" to this site. Sounds exciting ?
TECH REVIEW [ http://www.techreview.com/ ] The Authority on Technology review !
UBER NOTES [ http://www.ubernote.com/ ] Not for the Mundane ! Online Notes Taking Software !
[ /LoCS ]

Browser Wars and the way ahead.

I have been working with various Browsers and do feel that a browser will be the OS. A browser software today has become extremely powerful with various Plug-Ins letting access to content and Software too ! You name it - You have multimedia plug-ins, development plug-ins, "viewer" plug-ins, remote access control plug-ins, FTP, Powerful search plugins, etc.With the next generation of internet websites rendering software that allows user to "Edit-In-Site" and "Render-In-Site" and"View/ Download" from site, the browser will be the only thing one will need to WORK and PLAY !

I have experienced the speed of various browsers. Of late, in terms of sheer speed, the newest of the lot, Apple's Safari Browser is Blazing Fast. Mozilla Firefox comes in second. IE (even 7.0) comes after these two. Safari looks appealing with its BareBones, Sleek looks (see pics) but still is in its nascent stages in terms of plug-ins. Firefox eats and breathes JavaScript and has a wide array of plug-ins. IE7 and above (are you still on 6.x ???) have the widest variety of plug-ins for Document Viewing, Multimedia etc.

D(H)ELL - The DELL Hell. Boot.ini disappears automatically.

It is rightly said - When you least expect, the worse happens. I was happily working on my DELL Inspiron 6400/E1505 (having DELL Media Direct). Morning - I copied Picture images from my DigiCam and then shutdown the laptop. I don't remember doing anything wrong as I waited for the computer to shut off completely, But Voila ! on Next Boot I am greeted with the message.
The following file is missing
Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: Windows\System32\Hal.dll .
This is not the original error, but appears as Windows Boot Loader does not find boot.ini in C:\
I checked and yes It was NOT There ! How on earth could it get deleted one (fine *&%#) day ??
I got bamboozled. I had shutdown absolutely normally. What could have gone wrong ?
Answer: DELL had the HELL called Media Direct (I do not use it regularly) whose some button I had pushed while OS was shutting down. It simply WIPED OUT C:\boot.ini (How could DELL be so careless ! They do have good Hardware level Advanced Diagnostics Utils etc .., but software NOPE)
Repair:
I ran Windows System Recovery Console. Got to command prompt after Administrator Password. It loads a Read Only file system. (Heck) ! So how do you create a boot.ini in C:\ ?
Microsoft (as always - Had a KB Article saying boot.ini corrupt but not as to How ?) Link here --> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330184
1) Login to recovery console using XP setup CD (after boot from CD)
2) run command bootcfg /rebuild
it will try to detect existing windows installations and write a boot.ini file. After that Win XP was up and running again !
BTW: My DELL was custom built, and OS pre-partitioned by DELL. Inspite of that it got me back Win XP running normally. (Yes, at one point, I was thinking of calling DELL Technician due to non-standard Partition that DELL had installed and XP Setup CD detected and warned me about !)