Work Stuff

An occasional problem with Xiaomi Mi3 phone - Airtel sim language selection menu comes up again and again - seen for example after a change of SIM.

Solution seems to be to shut down the phone and start it again.

problem logging on to Nettigritty phpMyAdmin - likely cyberoam issue

PB reported, "I am not able to access phpMyAdmin through Nettigritty Plesk. Any specific steps I need to do to get access to it?"

hn: "What happens when you click on the databases tab on the left, and then on phpmyadmin?"

PB: "Had tried this. It does not give access to phpMyAdmin page. It takes me to the login prompt.
Tested this on Firefox 43.0.4 and Safari 9.0.3"

hn: "If you are in "incognito mode" or something like that, the authentication may not work? It is working fine for me. Or it may be some javascript problem? Maybe try after clearing cache? or is it a cyberoam caching issue?"

PB: "It worked on my home computer. So cyberoam could be the cause of this issue."

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Fisheye to Equirectangular

Jason Fletcher has a post about converting footage from Fisheye to Equirectangular in After Effects. Similar to my Photoshop conversions to fisheye, but the other way around. Would be a useful reference for my conversions - by seeing where the images appear.

Friday, January 13, 2017

free SSL certificates and more

A cost-effective option to encrypt website connections and more -
https://letsencrypt.org/about/

Wednesday, January 04, 2017

Airtel 3G speeds

To add to my Jio speed test posts, here are Airtel 3G speeds 3-4 pm at Puttaparthi - the times are visible in the top left corner. Not too shabby :) and definitely better than Jio during peak times.

And, a few days ago at 8.15 pm, with Airtel dongle,

Monday, January 02, 2017

offline fulldome option on Macbook pro - Gaia Sky

Since I had trouble compiling Stellarium360 to run on the Macbook Pro I have got as a loaner, tried out other options - Gaia Sky has a planetarium mode. But fisheye only, no support for mirror-dome. At high resolutions, my machine is unable to keep up refresh rates with Gaia Sky. But it could be used for offline rendering.

stellarium360 on Linux Mint 18.1

Linux Mint 18.1 Cinnamon works fine, dual booting with Mac OS 10.6.8 Snow Leopard, on an i7 Macbook Pro. Mageia Linux, the recommended option for Stellarium360, blanks the screen and / or crashes the system while trying to boot. So, tried compiling Stellarium360 on Linux Mint 18.1. But ran into problems.

ran the install dependencies for Ubuntu script, and ran ./configure. Configure complains that
checking for SDL2/SDL_image.h... yes
checking GL/glew.h usability... yes
checking GL/glew.h presence... yes
checking for GL/glew.h... yes
checking for ptrdiff_t... yes
checking for GraphicsMagick++-config... yes
checking for sdl2-config... yes
checking whether byte ordering is bigendian... no
checking for dirent.h that defines DIR... yes
checking for library containing opendir... no
checking for fabs in -lm... no
math library not found
checking for Mix_OpenAudio in -lSDL2_mixer... no
configure: error: *** SDL2_mixer library not found - ***

But
libsdl2-mixer-dev is already the newest version (2.0.1+dfsg1-1).

I believe this has something to do with changing
-lSDL2_mixer to -lSDL2 or something like that at some point in the configure script, because the API call MixOpenAudio has shifted from one header to another or something? Not sure, just a guess.

But meanwhile, I thought Stellarium360 would work with spherical mirror systems also. Since it won't, then I will pause and rethink my efforts :)

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

setting up SPF and DKIM with CPanel and WHM

CPanel and WHM make the process of setting up SPF and DKIM fairly straightforward.

To open the CPanel of a particular user from WHM, typing Account in the top left search box shows "List Accounts" - Home -> Account Information -> List Accounts. There, clicking on the CPanel icon opens up CPanel for that user account.

Within CPanel of the relevant domain, typing DKIM brings up the required link - Home -> Email -> Authentication

A single click on that page enables or disables DKIM and or SPF.

(Actually I had run the certificate creation etc using scripts under cpanel running as root user and so on, but most probably all that was not necessary.)

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

problem with BuTT overwriting recordings

I had entered the wildcard for index as filename%n - but then BuTT was saving a file called filename%n.mp3 and was prompting to overwrite old recordings.

The correct wildcard for index is %i - and for timestamp, it is %H%M%S - have now changed to %i as given at
http://butt.sourceforge.net/manual.html

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

raw 14-bit images with Canon 1100D

According to wikipedia, our Canon EOS 1100D camera is capable of saving to RAW 14 bit CR2 format!

To convert linearly,

http://www.mit.edu/~kimo/blog/linear.html

suggests dcraw with the following commandline -

dcraw -v -4 -H 0 -W -w -q 3 file.nef


Using this post as the basis,
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/138497/iterate-all-files-in-a-directory-using-a-for-loop

below is a command which can be saved as a batch file (filename.bat) which works on Windows XP for linear conversion to tiff, for all files in the folder. Tested working on Windows 8.1 also.

for /r %%i in (*.CR2) do dcraw -v -4 -H 0 -W -w -q 3 -T %%~nxi

A similar shell script on Linux / Mac would have the following form, adapted from
http://www.tuxradar.com/answers/484


for f in ~/path/*.CR2
do
dcraw -v -4 -H 0 -W -w -q 3 -T "$f"

done  


The -T makes dcraw output a TIFF file instead of the default Portable Pixmap PPM file.

Sunday, December 11, 2016

upgrade to live broadcast system

After five years, the live audio broadcast method at mandir has changed. There were a couple of unexplained random shutdowns of the Macbook Pro, so PB decided to upgrade hardware and software. Current setup uses physical cables instead of JackOSX, and upgraded versions of Reaper and BuTT on a Mac mini running Mac OS Yosemite. Compressor is also hardware - our trusty Behringer MDX2200. Settings were adjusted for fast attack and slow release (1.5 sec). Lots of gain to compensate the compression. Level set to +4dBu and not -10 dBV.

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Issues when using Google Docs fonts for Malayalam

When entering Malayalam text with Google docs, Firefox on Windows XP, one cannot choose the font - only one font seems to be available. This font also had issues like showing

instead of

and so on.

So, I used MS Word and the Rachana font instead, which looks good. But this has an issue - chillaksharams are automatically joined to the next letter whenever we save and re-open the document - like

മാര്‍ഗ്ഗത്തില്‍_ഗ്രഹങ്ങള്‍_സഞ്ചരിക്കുന്നതും becomes മാര്‍ഗ്ഗത്തില്‍ഗ്രഹങ്ങള്‍സഞ്ചരിക്കുന്നതും

My workaround was to add the character _ after each such letter, and finally, using the Find and Replace tool, change the font colour for this _ character to white, so that it is not visible.

This issue with web fonts seems to be well documented. Following the advice on the comments on that page, I installed Meera and other fonts given at https://smc.org.in/fonts/
After a restart, now I see പ്രകാശം - rendered as

Meera seems to have now become the default on Google Docs and Blogger on Firefox / Chrome, replacing the buggy Windows default Karthika. Now, probably, I can directly write with Google Docs instead.

Friday, November 04, 2016

How to edit a Hindi document in Google Docs

Copy-pasting from an email sent to one of our collaborators:

I assume that you are using Google docs on a desktop computer. Then, when you click on the links I sent, Google Docs will open up. In the toolbar of google docs, please choose the "Select Input" button, which may be showing a Hindi A letter, as shown in the screenshot below.

Unless you know Hindi typing, the Devanagari phonetic option is the easiest to use. If you choose that option, if you type padaarth, it will give a list of options, and just pressing the spacebar will choose the topmost option, which would be पदार्थ

In case your window is too small, you may need to click twice in order to get to the Select Input button, as shown in the screenshot below - first click on More... and then on the Select Input button.

Friday, October 28, 2016

Some speed tests and battery info

To add to my previous post on Jio 4G. The speed tests are taken at different times of the day, time can be seen at top right.

But the speed tests done with servers outside India shows that Jio's gateways are congested.

versus a server from the US,

The same test, when done with a BSNL broadband connection limited to 1 Mbps gave the following -

and

And now a trend line showed by the battery app on the Intex Aqua, when left on as a wifi hotspot, wifi sharing enabled, but without much usage -

Edit - One more post about Airtel speeds done on 4th Jan 2017.

Saturday, October 15, 2016

iOS 10 mail app problem with rendering text

Some people complained about text being displayed as overlapped. PB replied as follows:

We have implemented the suggestion here:
https://litmus.com/community/discussions/5712-ios-10-hating-on-graphic-heavy-responsive-email
https://litmus.com/community/discussions/5687-emails-rendering-off-center-ios-10-apple-mail-iphone

Apple seems to be aware of the issue that has started with iOS 10.

Friday, October 14, 2016

USB tethering Android phone using Windows XP

During my Jio trials, I wanted to try both wifi tethering, which is easy but drinks battery, as well as USB tethering. On Windows 7, simply enabling USB tethering on the phone Settings -> More -> Tethering and wifi hotspot -> USB tethering was sufficient - the OS recognised the connection and got IP addresses by DHCP etc.

On one Windows XP machine, I found that the same procedure worked, with the phone being recognised as a Windows mobile internet sharing device, since I had earlier installed drivers for an old Windows mobile phone on this computer. Full USB2 speeds listed - "Connected at 475 Mbps". Actual download speed was about 3 Mbps when I tested on Jio.

On another Windows XP computer, the windows mobile driver had not been installed, and installing the inf file as given at
https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/2812516?hl=en
did not help. Windows did not recognise the driver as being suitable for this device.

Tried installing a driver from Intex, the manufacturer of the phone, from
http://www.intex.in/Resources/Index
but that also did not help.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Reliance Jio notes - pros and cons - mini review

Since my Xiaomi phone was showing some problems due to a crack on the screen and a dunking in water, I thought I would get a backup phone. And with 4G support in order to use the Reliance Jio welcome offer of free sim + free data + free calls upto 31 December. Got the cheapest 4G phone advertised with VoLTE - Intex Aqua 4G Strong.

Got a barcode by entering my Aadhaar number into the MyJio app, got a free SIM in ten minutes from a nearby shop, got thumb-print scanner verification done there itself. Though the dealer said the network would start working in another hour, it took another 6 hours or so, until at night the data connection on the SIM started working - activated.

Incoming and outgoing calls were not happening. Tried installing Jio4GVoice app to make outgoing calls over VoLTE - outgoing calls started going through. But not incoming calls. After 4-5 days, incoming calls from other Jio numbers started to work. Perhaps incoming calls from other networks would also work after a few more days. Solution suggested by Jio dealer was to install JioChat app - not sure how that would help.

Battery life of this phone is not stellar, as the reviews suggest. But for Rs. 3500, no complaints in using this as a backup phone. Just on 4G standby, battery drains in 10 hours or so. Tethering via USB or wifi also drains battery quite fast, though USB tethering also charges the battery.

As this indiatoday post indicates, there are many issues with Jio. The reliability issues are so much that anyone who needs a phone to work all the time must have another number from another provider. Interconnect issues apart, even Jio to Jio calls have problems due to people going offline - though this is probably due to their using other network options instead of Jio. Can use it as a free toy till Dec 31, that would be my policy.

Speeds - apparently Jiofi devices have greater speeds than sims put inside mobile phones. I generally get around 5 Mbps, with speeds dropping to 1 Mbps in the evenings. Early morning peak speed of 15 Mbps. Torrents are probably throttled - we got around 2 Mbps over a half hour test run. Also, the speeds are limited after 4 GB per day (as of now) as shown in the MyJio app below.

With Jiofi device, as tested by my colleague V, has gone upto 50 Mbps also,

In general, the DNS services on Jio are bad - changing to Google public DNS immediately improved browsing responsivity. Streaming videos are generally good - HD streaming on the JioTV app and on YouTube. On Vimeo, sometimes spotty, sometimes OK.

Edit: One week post-activation also no incoming calls. So, called up customer care at 199. Spent around 20 minutes on hold before a polite agent picked up. Apologetically gave me separate complaint numbers for voice and sms not being received, giving a 48 hour resolution time. Got a truncated sms from Jio tech support during the 48 hours. Finally, around 3 days later, incoming calls started working.

Monday, October 10, 2016

email ids for a new domain

Similar to my earlier posts, copy-pasting from an email I sent:

Google Apps for domains (now called GSuite) no longer has the free option for new customers.
https://support.google.com/a/answer/2855120?hl=en
"As of December 6, 2012, Google stopped offering Free edition to new customers. If you already had the Free edition, you can continue using it for free"

Microsoft Live email has also stopped new registrations for free domain support -
http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-ends-support-for-custom-domains-in-free-email-service/

Zoho offers free for upto 10 users only,
https://www.zoho.com/mail/help/email-hosting-with-zoho.html

There are many paid options, I could discuss them with you if you are interested. And for the extremely tech savvy, you can also run your own mail server. Initially when we started with our domain's emails, we used to forward the emails to gmail from our own mail server. But that is a lot of hassle.

If you want Google GSuite free, an option would be to get the educational version, which remains free. But that has terms and conditions.
https://support.google.com/a/answer/2856827?hl=en

Sunday, September 25, 2016

formatting bold lines in MS Word table

Needed a specifically formatted table with some bold lines and some lines without bold face. Did the bold lines as per
http://superuser.com/questions/276778/how-to-adjust-the-thickness-of-some-lines-in-a-word-table

That is,
"Under Table Tools/Design menu, go to Draw Borders and adjust the line values to your preference. Then click on Draw Table and a pencil icon will appear. Click on any line and voila! The line is now set to your liking."