tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21928719321504397582012-02-17T04:35:28.253Zsailing through bits and bytes...Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.comBlogger361100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-8411946112630504122011-06-17T18:54:00.001+01:002011-06-17T20:13:00.308+01:00

After years of dreaming of ridding a motorcycle, I finally got my license. But that wasn't all I needed to accomplish my dream. I also needed a bike. Off course there were always a lot of biker friends around to borrow a bike from. My favourite was my sister-in-law's 2008 black and white Triumph Bonneville T100. But eit's not the same thing. I needed MY OWN bike. Two years too late, it finally

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-83527786664339413432009-02-26T08:46:00.003Z2010-09-10T09:02:20.979+01:00

This is another post about time painfully spent trying to solve a simple bug.I'm currently migrating a lot of VBScript code to a VB.NET application. Before you email me about how I should be using C#, please take note that migrating code is already tricky enough as it is so I decided for a language that shares a lot of syntactic similarities with VBScript.Back to the bug, I was migrating this

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-81661059725668064522008-12-09T14:34:00.004Z2008-12-09T14:37:48.353Z

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-43048052369814250292008-10-25T17:45:00.006+01:002009-08-14T13:24:29.522+01:00

As Stephen Mills points out in a comment below, all this is unnecessary because there's a cmdlet that does this even better.Get-CommandSo please disregard this post :PFresh code out of the oven. I was on my Windows XP box and needed to know where I had an specific executable file stored. Some Windows boxes have a similar command called where but it wasn't availed in my box. So I just coded one in

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-3624647759272679702008-10-16T10:00:00.002+01:002009-06-17T16:45:11.595+01:00

One of my first experiments with PowerShell, besides ls and HelloWorld.ps1, was trying the object oriented features and the .Net Framework. I was at the time thinking about a problem I was having with an FTP client I was using and I asked myself: "Would it be possible to make an FTP client with PowerShell?"I knew there was a .Net class that implemented an FTP client so I googled and bit and found

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-82801139437085662302008-10-14T23:57:00.007+01:002010-04-07T12:02:23.886+01:00

A few weeks ago I had a chance to attend a workshop about PowerShell entitled "Using PowerShell" by Ed Wilson. Fantastic teacher and fantastic person to talk to about anything.This was my first time using PowerShell. I had tried one of Monad's first versions but it took so much time to load and crashed so many times I decided to wait for a final version. I ended waiting a bit more than the final

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-17787915126477441302008-05-26T19:58:00.005+01:002009-09-02T13:10:55.129+01:00

Today I spent some frustrating time debugging a VBScript looking for an authentication problem that didn't exist. I was trying to a install an MSI file on a remote server and kept getting "SWbemServicesEx: A security package specific error occurred."Googling the error only drove me further in the wrong way. Only when I decided to run the script locally on the target computer I realised it wasn't

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-65492280022531330962008-04-14T15:46:00.005+01:002008-09-17T23:41:37.385+01:00

I love the Wikipedia. It's a great place to search for any kind of information and a good place to start learning about anything. Is it trustworthy enough so you can cite it in scientific projects?Well... that's arguable and has been arguable since it was created. But arguments I have read aren't always good enough for one side or the other.Even though anyone can edit it and insert incorrections,

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-88828978265103119732008-02-07T00:50:00.000Z2008-02-07T13:23:02.963Z

I just bought a colour laser printer from Samsung. The CLP-300.Why the CLP-300?Most of my prints are text documents. From scientific papers to music tablatures and, off course, "how to" articles. I rarely print photos... and I definitely didn't want to buy a relatively good photo printer for a reasonable price and then spend the value of the printer per month in ink cartridges. I might be

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-16469376125585335472007-12-21T19:57:00.001Z2010-09-10T09:21:18.981+01:00

This time it was scary... and I'm still scarred because I'm not sure what happened and if it will happen again. I hope it's not a hard-drive problem but it sure looked like it even thou the Disk Utility didn't report any problem.I had shut down the laptop for a while and when I came back, it didn't start. There was no rEFit menu as the MacBook seemed to go directly to Mac OS X. But Mac OS X

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-10300365826961869482007-12-04T01:11:00.000Z2007-12-11T16:18:40.456Z

If you've read my previous post about the problems I've been having with my HP dv6000 laptop, you might know about the workaround I found to turn the laptop on when it refuses by removing the battery first. If you've read the comments on that post, you might also know that that workaround stopped working a few weeks ago. So the laptop is again on it's way to HP for repair.Backing up my data...

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-57067686195765833282007-10-17T10:31:00.000+01:002007-10-17T10:47:34.774+01:00

There are two operating system releases expected this month that I look forward to:Mac OS X for my MacBook and Ubuntu Linux for... all my computers... including the MacBook.Ubuntu is expected tomorrow, the 18th October. Mac OS X is expected on the 26th October. Ubuntu, as usual, can be obtained by downloading it for free. Mac OS X will probably be the first operating system I'll buy but I'm not

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-83460428895386356292007-10-16T09:33:00.003+01:002009-07-31T10:20:15.723+01:00

One of the laptops I have at home is an HP dv6000 laptop. The laptop looks great. I like it's design, characteristics and price. I was very happy with it (and specially my girlfriend as my main laptop is my MacBook) until the problems started.First problem: beepingEven though it was definitely shut down it would just start spinning the fans at maximum speed and beeping loud. The only way to stop

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-13448588090255659752007-10-10T09:19:00.001+01:002009-11-08T15:02:53.649Z

According to Official Google Blog: Reach out and message someone, Google acquired Jaiku.begin rant modeI wonder how many social networking services are out there? And how many of them will Google need? (talking about Orkut)The proliferation of these kind of services is a bit annoying. I think these services are useful to stay in touch with people. I don't really care about making new friends

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-30027482626894984552007-09-25T17:54:00.000+01:002007-09-26T08:58:47.838+01:00

I love books. I love reading books. Real books. The ones you can touch, open and go through the paper pages. Carry with you anywhere without worrying about Internet connectivity or any piece of technology whatsoever. So I buy the books I need whenever possible.A problem for me is that in Portugal, books tend to be expensive. Specially translated books. To avoid this high prices, I turn to the

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-3876698661097420182007-09-21T09:22:00.000+01:002007-12-11T11:34:28.514Z

Here is a very interesting post by Schneier on anonymity and privacy, how they are very different. I also would add that this is also a good example on how trusting something you really don't understand how it works is not a very good policy. I don't expect all Internet users to understand fully every piece of technology or software it must use (for instance, on-line shopping), but I guess

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-6447751497956851432007-08-30T15:10:00.001+01:002010-06-30T14:50:28.057+01:00

UPDATE: On Windows 7 (probably Vista and later) look for "mklink". Allows hard links and symbolic links. Today I learnt about a tool for NTFS file system that can be used to create links similar to *NIX symbolic links under Windows. I was very surprised with this discovery (thanks to Carlos Pereira btw). I use symbolic links in Linux and UNIX all the time. I guess everyone I know that has used

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-13532661474492531172007-08-10T15:05:00.000+01:002007-08-10T15:10:30.698+01:00

The Command Line has an interesting interview with Bruce Schneier about, obviously, security. It's interesting for everyone concerned about security. And everyone should be concerned about security this days. Off course, part of the interview refers to computer security but most of the interview is about security in general.

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-69534135143597708562007-08-08T13:05:00.000+01:002007-08-08T13:13:56.490+01:00

There's an article here about a survey where people where asked about login information like passwords. The conclusions are kind of interesting but definitely not new to me or anyone with some sysadmin experience and/or tech support experience.In the subtitle of the article you can read "More than 70% of people would reveal their computer password in exchange for a bar of chocolate, a survey has

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-35573253552182085972007-07-26T09:27:00.000+01:002007-07-26T14:37:20.134+01:00

This reflects part of what I think about using MS Frontpage. I remember using FrontPage when I first started learning about building websites. I rapidly gave up on FrontPage in favour of Notepad and then, when I saw the light (UNIX systems), joe and vi. :)

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-41585998150287310642007-07-19T14:24:00.000+01:002007-11-18T03:16:18.380Z

I recently purchased an EOS 400D from Canon. This was something I had in mind for a long time. To get a camera and learn about photography. I think I got this from my parents that always had good cameras and liked photography. So, I'm initiating myself in this world too.I bought a kit with the EOS 400D body and a 18-55 lens. I was in a hurry because I had planned a day out in Berlengas islands

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-4125766445427951232007-07-12T19:03:00.000+01:002007-07-12T19:04:35.260+01:00

It seems that Apple acquired CUPS, the Common UNIX Printing System.Every time I get news like this I tremble. A big commercial company acquiring a project licensed under GPL makes me wonder what will change. This is not exactly a philosophical doubt about software licenses. Ok, I think about the license but what concerns me the most is what will happen to the software package I use for free and

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-51891308064045721262007-07-06T10:36:00.000+01:002007-07-06T10:37:04.302+01:00

I purchased an Apple Mighty Mouse. I finally gave in to Apple I guess. The mouse just looked so great, goes perfectly with my MacBook and has a lot of good reviews.Ok... Now I have a very good looking mouse. But is it any good? Definitely. Something that easily gets on my nerves is a bad mouse. But this one really makes me happy.Pointing precision is just perfect. I think I never had such a good

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-40014135912722199882007-07-05T13:06:00.001+01:002007-07-05T13:22:19.873+01:00

I don't know about you but I have spent some time in the past looking for high resolution photos for using as wallpapers. I like nature pictures for instance. But that wasn't very easy. I usually didn't find that many pictures with high resolution available (most of them are 1024x768 maximum) and many of them had letters and ads super-imposed. Sometimes I had to go through sites full of pop-up

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-13083442957610173172007-07-02T14:12:00.001+01:002007-07-02T15:20:17.189+01:00

Being employed in a bank, I have gain interest in finance subjects. Being a normal personal, I also like to have money. Therefore I like to learn everything I can about how to control my finances and increase my wealth. There's an interesting post at the www.mint.com project blog about some free ebooks that can help you with this goals. I have not read any of the ebooks yet but I definitely will.

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-20928220955290773482007-06-29T18:36:00.000+01:002007-06-29T18:39:00.739+01:00

This is an interesting article I wish I had read when I bought my MacBook. Or just before that. If you have read my post about my first problem with Mac OS X you will understand...

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-58532308091674020622007-06-27T13:26:00.000+01:002007-06-28T20:09:57.464+01:00

Ok... after banging my head against the wall with my first Mac OS X problem, heres the text I was writing about my first impressions with Mac OS X.One of the reasons for me to buy a MacBook was that I wanted to try Mac OS X. I wanted to try another operating system and was specially attracted because I was told it was based in UNIX and add it's flexibility but being very easy to use at the same

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-3160392307757105552007-06-17T17:35:00.000+01:002007-06-21T02:00:38.896+01:00

I was writing a post about my good experience with Mac OS X when this happened. And I don't like how easily a user can hurt the system like this. I should have guessed by the way applications in /Applications are accessible.The generation of the problemI could not open System Preferences. All I could see was this System Preferences icon with a big question mark. No errors displayed whatsoever.

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-81966334430198658712007-06-15T10:13:00.001+01:002007-06-15T10:22:12.834+01:00

"Dock 22" is my attempt at a blog title. Let's see if I like it. I know that I sometimes choose something only to change it again a few days later. That's why I don't know if I'll stick with this title.What's with this name? This is my attempt at joining some of my interests in a single title. Traveling, the sea, computers, UNIX and security (port 22).What do you think?

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-11382375018954137652007-05-31T20:30:00.000+01:002007-05-31T20:53:08.776+01:00

Well... after a few days going around this thing (the blog), I'm starting to like it. I maintain a website that I used as a weblog even before I ever heard about weblogs. But the thing is, the interface to post new messages, edit and delete them is much better here. Maintaining the site also takes time which I don't have much at the moment. Also, I like how Google/Blogger integrate services like

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-54679781098430912682007-05-29T10:20:00.000+01:002007-06-01T12:32:56.798+01:00

KernelTrap has an interesting quote of Linus Torvalds about compiler warnings:"Please, we do NOT fix compiler warnings without understanding the code! That's a sure way to just introduce _new_ bugs, rather than fix old ones. So please, please, please, realize that the compiler is _stupid_, and fixing warnings without understanding the code is bad. "In this case, anybody who actually spends 5

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-58724684320637268932007-05-28T13:21:00.000+01:002007-06-01T12:22:26.503+01:00

Well... in my quest to make this blog a little less ugly, I searched for how to make round corners with CSS. I only knew how to make them with pictures and many of the articles I found about it, also used pictures. But not this one. That's what I'm using at the moment and seems to work just fine with Firefox 2.0.0.3 and Opera 9.20 but not with Internet Explorer 6.0... what else is new?I guess

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-73263520783916166722007-05-21T13:47:00.001+01:002007-05-31T20:46:59.579+01:00

In an attempt to make this blog look better, I've searched the Internet for third party blogger templates. I have found a few that I like but haven't been able to upload any of them. I always end with an XML parsing error. I guess I'll have to do my own template... which sucks because of my lack of talent for web design :P

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-75990751477442276642007-05-19T13:58:00.000+01:002007-05-31T20:47:32.953+01:00

I have just installed the new Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn on my MacBook. I have a tri-boot setup with Mac OS X (Tiger), Ubuntu and Windows XP. I already had an Ubuntu installation, that I managed to screw up, so this time, all I've done was install Ubuntu in the already created partition. Details on how to set up the tri-boot can be found in various websites but maybe I'll post my notes about it

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-8199949783487547312007-05-17T13:57:00.000+01:002007-05-31T20:47:54.285+01:00

I finally decided what to do with my blog. Split it in two:One written in Portuguese dedicated to my general thoughts about society and talking about technology in a way anyone can understand without being a computer geek.The other one, this one, my will be my personal geek blog. I'll try to write in English about my personal interests, geek projects and other tech related subjects. I probably

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2192871932150439758.post-65448552361307190862007-05-01T06:00:00.000+01:002007-05-19T15:08:13.507+01:00

If you don't know yet, I am employed in a company that is a major Microsoft client. Almost all systems there run some kind of Windows operating system, except off course, for a few firewall machines that run Linux and a few other main servers running Unix. Oh! And a Google Search Appliance! Most of my colleagues don't know anything about any other operating system besides Windows. Well... two

Rui Pedro Covelohttps://profiles.google.com/104862747108434412060noreply@blogger.com0