Using Host-Interfacing and Bridging on VirtualBox

NAT interface on guest OS gives limitation so we may need to add a new virtual interface to it. This is called 'HIF' (Host Interface).

Steps:

1. Install bridge-utils, if not yet installed:

   sudo yast -i bridge-utils

   
   
2. edit /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-br0 and write:



BOOTPROTO='dhcp'
NETMASK='255.255.255.0'
STARTMODE='auto'
USERCONTROL='no'
DHCLIENT_TIMEOUT=30
BRIDGE_PORTS='eth0'



3. Edit /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth0 and change the content to:
   

   BOOTPROTO='static'
   IPADDR='0.0.0.0'
   

   
   


4. Create a new permanent interface:

   VBoxAddIF tap0  br0



5. Configure the guest to have the second Virtual Network Interace and assign 'tap0' as its name
   

My BlackJack is dead!

Today my 3-months-old Samsung Blackjack II has died for no reason. I've charged the battery for hours but still no luck to turn it on. No sign of life on the cute gadget. Darn, seems I have to bring it to closest store for fix.

Using Xwindow client-server

Before starting, make sure both client and server (remote machine) have port 6000 open for Xserver (on SuSE, file /etc/sysconfig/displaymanager should contain DISPLAYMANAGER_XSERVER_TCP_PORT_6000_OPEN="yes"). Once you have changed it, restart Xwindow (or refresh it by pressing CTL-SHFT-BKSPACE).

1. From local shell, type "xhost +". This will allow this client to connect to all hosts
2. ssh to remote machine as: "ssh -Y -o ForwardX11Trusted=yes ". If after following steps it does not work, try "ssh -X -o ForwardX11=yes " (although this is less secure)
3. Once we're in remote machine, type "xhost +" as well.
4. if we just want to redirect a single X application, we can pass -display directly to the application. For example, to bring remote xterm window to our local screen, just type "xterm -display address:0", e.g.: xterm -display 192.168.1.4:0
5. If we want to redirect all new X applications to our local screen, modify environment variable DISPLAY. For example: export DISPLAY=192.168.1.4:0 and then type any GUI applications.
   

Google IMAP Settings

Incoming Mail (IMAP) Server - requires SSL:	imap.gmail.com Use SSL: Yes Port: 993
Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Server - requires TLS:	smtp.gmail.com (use authentication) Use Authentication: Yes Use STARTTLS: Yes (some clients call this SSL) Port: 465 or 587
Account Name:	your full email address (including @gmail.com) Google Apps users, please enter username@your_domain.com
Email Address:	your full Gmail email address (username@gmail.com) Google Apps users, please enter username@your_domain.com
Password:	your Gmail password

Mount NTFS disk to Mac OS X

All portable/external had disks currently support legacy FAT (or VFAT as Linux so calls it) from DOS era. The file system is ugly in a sense that it is a 'greedy FS which consumes more space than many other file systems. We can easily use up all the space in our harddisk just by putting many video files into this FAT-formatted harddisk.

Started in NT, a new format was introduced: NTFS (Next-Technology File System). It is quite decent FS, except it seems doesn't fully support journaling (I heard it does, but not sure about that since it is a proprietary format from Microsoft).

Anyway, I don't want to talk too long about the FS, but I just want to talk more about how could the harddisk possibly be mounted to a OS-X based Mac machines? The answer is: use MacFUSE and NTFS-3g!
These opensources were originally targetting the development for Linux, but some folks have ported them to OS-X.

To install, first you need to install MacFUSE (search google to find the location), and after it is successfuly installed, install the OSX version of NTFS-3g. It may require you to reboot. After reboot, try to connect an NTFS-formatted external hard disk to Mac's available USB port. If the system can recognize and mount it, you're done.

I have a 2.5" "WD Passport" 250 GB external hard disk which was I reformatted in NTFS after I bought it. In the beginning, out of curiousity I attached it to my Linux machine running OpenSUSE 10.3. Out of my suprise, It could recognized and mounted it with no issues. I then found out that on my Linux has NTFS-3g in it installed by default. After googling, I found the ported Mac version. Now, all my machines (OSX, Linux, XP) are able to read/write files into this small-but-nice device.

Most influencing Technology

Sometimes, I ask myself about what is the most influencing breakthrough technology in human life? The criteria I ask first that it must be substantial, it must be ubiquotus and found in most every tool, device or anything people use.

My first answer is Transistor. Why? First, it is one of the tremendous invention in 21st century. Secondly, it can be found almost in any household's equipment. Don't believe me? Look at cellphones, TVs, radios, video consoles, computers, cars, airplanes, spacecrafts, security systems, weapons, medical equipments, kitchen appliances, network devices (router, switches, PSTN), satellites, even in our body (pacemaker), ..., and the list would go on and on. Currently, there is almost nobody can live without it.

The second place is taken by LASER. The invention is so great that it has advanced many other sciences and technologies and used in many applications. It is used in medical equipments (e.g, laser surgeries), in telecommunications, industries, military, mining and oil industries or energy in general, basic science research (Cyclotron, etc.), instruments, biotech industries, entertainment (in discotiques, in all cd/dvd players) and even toys!

The inventors should've got double nobel laurates (yes, I know, they all got nobel laurates in the past, but seems it is not enough considering how much their invention has changed our life forever).

The third one is for the invention of computer or the Internet.