I recently ran into an issue on Windows 7 64-bit where ADSM-ISM Launcher failed to connect to my ASAs. Launching the application from a shortcut, and attempting to connect resulted in the launcher halting on “Contacting the device. Please wait…”. And waiting didn’t help. Opening the java console revealed another error which didn’t get me [...]]]>

I recently ran into an issue on Windows 7 64-bit where ADSM-ISM Launcher failed to connect to my ASAs. Launching the application from a shortcut, and attempting to connect resulted in the launcher halting on “Contacting the device. Please wait…”. And waiting didn’t help. Opening the java console revealed another error which didn’t get me any useful results on Google:

Exception in thread “AWT-EventQueue-0″ java.lang.ClassCastException: sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl cannot be cast to com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.X509ExtendedTrustManager

However, if I “re-installed” ASDM via the “dm-launcher.msi”, the first time it was spawned by the installer, everything worked fine. Subsequent launches from the application shortcuts failed. A quick check with Process Explorer revealed the issue. The dm-launcher installer launched the java app using “C:\Windows\SysWOW64\javaw.exe”, whereas the shortcut would use “C:\Windows\system32\javaw.exe”.

The ultimate fix ended up being updating all my ASDM shortcuts to use “C:\Windows\SysWOW64\javaw.exe”. Now everything is working great!

Hope this helps someone else out there.

One of the frustrations I have/had with Remote Desktop connections on multi-monitor workstations (with unique display resolutions mind you) is that there’s no way within the RDP GUI to save the position of a fullscreen RDP session. So if your RDP session opens up on display 2 each time, good luck getting it to display [...]]]>

One of the frustrations I have/had with Remote Desktop connections on multi-monitor workstations (with unique display resolutions mind you) is that there’s no way within the RDP GUI to save the position of a fullscreen RDP session. So if your RDP session opens up on display 2 each time, good luck getting it to display properly on display 1 or 3 unless you have identical resolutions on each display. Even then, it’s a hassle to restore the RDP session to windowed mode and move the the preferred display each time you connect.

Hassle no more: There is a solution. All you need is notepad an a little understanding of how display coordinates work (don’t worry, I’ll explain).

First off, save your RDP session to an RDP shortcut (ie, Acme.rdp). Open notepad and drag the RDP file into the window. Notpad should open the source of the RDP file for your perusal. You’ll see some lines similar to this buried within the file:

screen mode id:i:2
use multimon:i:0
desktopwidth:i:1920
desktopheight:i:1080
winposstr:s:0,1,50,170,250,370

Set “screen mod id” and “use multimonitor” as shown above. The settings “desktopwidth”, “desktopheight”, and “winposstr” will vary depending upon the resolution and physical position of the display you iwsh to use as the destination.

First, an explanation of the winposstr variables we are concerned with (in order):
s: Not applicable
0: Not applicable
1: Sets the RDP session to start windowed (screen mode id sets it to be fullscreen after launch)
50: Pixel distance from the left-hand edge of display 1 to the left edge of the RDP window
170: Pixel distance from the upper edge of display 1 to the upper edge of the RDP window
250: Pixel distance from the left-hand edge of display 1 to the RIGHT edge of the RDP window. Difference between this and the left edge must be >= 200! (250 – 50 = 200)
370: Pixel distance from the upper edge of display 1 to the LOWER edge of the RDP window. Difference between this and the upper edge must be >= 200! (370 – 70 = 200)

Note again that the window dimensions MUST be greater than or equal to 200×200. If it is less, RDP will completely ignore your windows placement dimensions and go with defaults, defeating the purpose of this process.

Now that you know what the numbers mean, you need to understand where to place the window (by pixel dimension) in order to get it to come up on the proper display each time. You have two options: The complex/geeky way, or the simple way.

The Complex Way
Screen coordinates are all relative to the upper left edge of display 1. This position is 1,1. So if You have a single display system with a resolution of 800×600, the lower right corner of the screen is position 800,600. If you have two displays at 800×600 positioned like this in display properties:

[1][2]

…the lower right corner of display 2 would be 1600×600

If the displays were physically reversed:

[2][1]

..the lower LEFT corner of display 2 would be -800,600

Based upon this information, and using some simple math, you should be able to estimate window position amongst your displays. Now, this will get slightly more complex if your displays are offset on the Y axis, so what you might prefer is the…

Simple Way
Download and install the free AutoHotKey Basic. It comes with a nice utility called “AutoIt3 Window Spy”. Run this utility and fire up your RDP session in windowed mode. Then, move the RDP window into your desired destination display. Try to keep the Active Window Info screen visible when you do this.
You should see something similar to this in the Active Window Info window:

>>>>>>>>>>( Active Window Position )<<<<<<<<<<
left: 434 top: 700

Now, lets use those numbers to create the winposstr settings:

winposstr:s:0,1,434,700,634,900

Note that I added 200 to the window position (634,900) creating a window size of 200×200.

Adjust the display width and height settings to match your destination screen.

Go ahead and save the RDP file and try connecting again. The RDP session should now open on the correct screen each time you use this shortcut.

When trying to connect to an MSSQL server on another domain (of which you are not a member), you’ll probably run into the issue where selecting the Windows Authentication option in the SQL Server connection dialog grays out the username and password. Here are two workarounds:

Scenario SQL Server: sqlserver.mydomain.com Domain: MYDOMAIN MYDOMAIN Username: joe.user

If when your try rooting your phone with Unrevoked, you encounter the error “process com.unrevoked.zysploit has stopped unexpectedly” during the initial rooting process, you probably have an application interfering with Zysploit, or a bad install of Zysploit itself. Try removing the following apps (from Manage Applications”) in order, and retry between apps: - Zyploit - [...]]]>

If when your try rooting your phone with Unrevoked, you encounter the error “process com.unrevoked.zysploit has stopped unexpectedly” during the initial rooting process, you probably have an application interfering with Zysploit, or a bad install of Zysploit itself. Try removing the following apps (from Manage Applications”) in order, and retry between apps:
- Zyploit
- Wireless Tether
- Comcast Xfinity

If someone out there could help confirm what app ultimately fixed this issue, I would appreciate it so I can report the confirmation here. I my case, I started with uninstalling Comcast Xfinity, then with Wireless Tether and Zysploit. Once I did that, Unrevoked worked great.

Since about November of last year, I’ve been running an HTC Evo 4G. I had to leave the WebOS platform due to ongoing (and persisting) uncertainty surrounding it’s future viability in a quickly firming iOS/Android market plurality. I’ve enjoyed a number of features from Android and it’s apps, even though I miss a large number [...]]]>

Since about November of last year, I’ve been running an HTC Evo 4G. I had to leave the WebOS platform due to ongoing (and persisting) uncertainty surrounding it’s future viability in a quickly firming iOS/Android market plurality. I’ve enjoyed a number of features from Android and it’s apps, even though I miss a large number of design features of WebOS. I’ll have to leave that comparison for a future article perhaps.

So after I got used to the features and quirks of the Evo stock ROM, I ventured into the world of ROM modding, specifically Cyanogenmod 7. The feature set of CM7 is very alluring, tweaking away many of those annoyances that come with the stock ROM. However, I notice a number of other quirks that crop up with this Gingerbread-based ROM that constantly make me wish for some of the polish of the HTC-customized Froyo stock ROM. This list is an attempt to document these pros and cons between the two sides of the modding coin.

HTC Evo Stock ROM
Pros
Clock App (integrated timer/stopwatch/alarm)
Dialer (functions just seem more intuitive)
Contacts (better contact linking, more intuitive)
Cons
Text Selection utility is lacking, missing entirely in some apps

CyanogenMod 7
Pros
Improved text selection tool
Universal LED notifications using “WiMax LED”
Better unattended 4G scanning (compared to latest stock ROM)
Notification area quick-toggles (Wifi, 4G, Torch, etc)
Cons
No text selection in email
Intermittent signal issues, connectivity loss
Poor Swype integration (conflicts with Gingerbread text selection popup menu)

I will be updating this list periodically as I recall each issue.

(Adapted from http://forums.precentral.net/web-os-development/239471-how-install-mobile-hotspot-1-4-1-1-sprint-pre.html) Disclaimer: Installing and/or using Mobile Hotspot and other tethering methods may violate your wireless contract’s terms of service, and possibly the device warranty as well. You do so at your own risk. In the highly unlikely event that you damage your phone beyond recovery, I am not responsible.

That said, the process [...]]]>

(Adapted from http://forums.precentral.net/web-os-development/239471-how-install-mobile-hotspot-1-4-1-1-sprint-pre.html)

Disclaimer: Installing and/or using Mobile Hotspot and other tethering methods may violate your wireless contract’s terms of service, and possibly the device warranty as well. You do so at your own risk. In the highly unlikely event that you damage your phone beyond recovery, I am not responsible.

That said, the process is actually pretty simple, and you don’t have a lot of reason to be afraid. If you screw your phone up, Palm provides a tool to recover it called WebOS Doctor which will reset and re-install the software on your phone back to new. Tethering really isn’t a problem either, just as long as you use it within reason and stay under the radar. Most providers don’t pay much attention to your traffic until you consume more than 5GB in a month on your 3G connection. There’s a homebrew utility for the Pre called Netstat that will help you keep an eye on this. Don’t do something stupid like download a bunch of large files as this will probably throw up red flags at your carrier. If you just use Hotspot for web browsing a few times a month for a few hours at a shot, you probably have little to nothing to be concerned about. And, if you follow these instructions, you should have no problem installing and using Hotspot, even if you’ve never done something like this before.

There are the several basic (but detailed) steps involved:

- Turn on developer mode on your Pre
From the main screen, as if you a searching for an application, type:
webos20090606
A hidden application named “Developer Mode Enabler” will show up. Tap it. When the application opens, flip the mode switch to “On”. It will then ask you to restart. Go ahead and restart.

- Obtain and Install WebOS Quick Install
Download WebOS Quick Install from the PreCentral forums. Once you’ve downloaded it, double-click on the file to run it. If in the unlikely event it doesn’t run, you may need to download and install Java. When it first runs, it will ask you to download the WebOS Doctor for your carrier and phone. Just select your option, and proceed. When it’s finished downloading, WebOS Quick Install will finish starting up. Now, with the USB cable that came with your phone, connect your phone to your computer. If windows indicates that it is installing new software, wait until it completes before proceeding. Now go to the Tools menu and select Device Management. After a pause of about 10-20 seconds, you should see a windows showing you details about your Pre. If you don’t see this window, you may need to re-install the phone driver. Only in this case, go to the File menu, select Options, and click “Attempt Novacom re-installation”. After this completes, unplug the USB cable and plug it back in to re-detect the phone.

- Install Preware
Close the Device Management window. Now that you are back on the main screen, click the blue down arrow. When the IPKG Repository Viewer opens, drop down the top combo box and select WebOS-Internals Feed (Pre). Then check the box in the list below next to Preware, and click Download. When it is finished downloading, click Close. Finally, click Install. When the installer finishes, you may proceed.

- Download and Install the FreeTetherd and and Mobile Hotspot ipk files
Download the FreeTetherd and Mobile Hostspot ipk files from the PreCentral forums. You may need to register to download, but registration is free. Once downloaded, drag the files into the WebOS Quick Install window and click Install. Congratulations! Mobile Hotspot is installed and ready to be used!

- Configure Mobile Hostspot
When you first start Mobile Hotspot, it will welcome you with the usual statement about needing a plan from your carrier to support it. Refer to the statements made above, and feel free to continue. By default, the phone will automatically name the wireless network something like “webOS Network 3F:2E:1D”. You may click on the name and rename it whatever you wish, such as “Palm Pre Hotspot”, or you can leave it be as is. Tap Change Passphrase and enter your desired wireless password. This is the password that will keep others from using your hotspot, and allow you to connect to it with your laptop or other WiFi device. When you have clicked done, you are done configuring!

- Connect to your Hotspot!
When you are ready to use your hotspot feature, simply tap the “Off” switch to flip it on. Then just connect to your wireless network with your laptop and enter the password you previously specified. Once it connects, you’re ready to surf! Note that while the Hotspot is running, you can still multitask on your Pre (Listen to music, browse the web, check email, etc.). When you are finished using the Hotspot feature, turn it back off to conserve battery and restore the normal WiFi client connectivity. I should also mention that on non-GSM carriers (such as Verizon and Sprint), when a phone call is placed or received, it will pause your internet connection until the phone call is ended.

- (Optional) Install Netstat
On your phone, you now have an application installed called Preware. This application opens up a whole world of free modifications (patches) and homebrew software for your Pre that isn’t otherwise available in the App Catalog. In this case, we’re going to install Netstat, which allows you to tally up your data usage over the period of a month. This should help you keep an eye on how hard you are on your data plan. To install, launch Preware. After it has finished starting up, just start typing “netstat” and hit enter. Tap “Netstat” and then tap Install. If it asks you to install dependencies, proceed. When it has finished installing, you will probably be asked to restart Luna. Proceed with the restart. When the Pre interface comes back, launch Netstat. You will then see 3 counters: The first is WiFi, which is irrelevant our concern, then 3G/Wireless (looks like a pole with radiating blue lines) which is what we want to watch, and lastly Bluetooth which is irrelevant. As you use your Pre on a daily basis, and as a hotspot, your 3G usages will increase. After a month has passed, you can click on this value to see your historical usage. Make sure you don’t exceed or even come too close to 5Gig or your carrier might have a fit and give you an uncomfortable call.

Lastly, if you ever wish to return your phone, or bring your phone in because of problems following this, I would highly recommend using WebOS doctor to restore your phone to factory default software first. Nobody at your local wireless store likes to hear about device problems potentially created by unsupported software.

So there you have it! Painless, eh?

I thought I’d write up a little bit on my ongoing hassles with A2DP (Bluetooth Stereo Headphones) on Windows 7. I would say it’s a hassle only on Windows 7, but in all honestly, my experiences with A2DP on WinXP weren’t much better, just different.

To start out, a little background: My first success with [...]]]>

I thought I’d write up a little bit on my ongoing hassles with A2DP (Bluetooth Stereo Headphones) on Windows 7. I would say it’s a hassle only on Windows 7, but in all honestly, my experiences with A2DP on WinXP weren’t much better, just different.

To start out, a little background: My first success with A2DP was with my Dell D820 with WinXP and the Toshiba Bluetooth stack. This was far from stable, but I could at least get it to work consistently by following a routine involving disabling and re-enabling the Bluetooth adapter and rebooting my headphones. From here, I “upgraded” to Windows 7 RC 32-bit, which worked OK with the Vista drivers for the D820. Audio connectivity was finicky, especially after rebooting, but I could usually get it working again just by removing and re-pairing my headphones. Next was my upgrade to the full release of Windows 7 (32bit). The same problems pretty much stuck around. My biggest issue was with a Windows Update driver that seemed to break A2DP, so I’d have to keep backing it out if I accidentally installed it. Unrelated instability issues with Win7 on the D820 led me to a new PC, the Latitude E6500.

So here I am, with brand-spanking new Dell Latitude E6500 with Windows 7 64-bit and a Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth mini-card inside. Aside from the topic at hand, this didn’t fix the stability issues, just FYI. The from-factory drivers for the Bluetooth adapter were version 6.2.1.100 A17, IIRC. When I look it up now, it shows up as Vista 64 driver. These drivers simply didn’t work. They would pair with my Insignia NS-BTHDP headphones, create all sorts of devices in Device Manager, but no audio device would show up in the Sound control panel. Needless to say, audio never routed out to my head.

Next I tried downgrading to the 6.2.0.9600 A01 drivers, listed on Dell’s support site as being for Win7 64bit. These would pair, work for an hour or so, then apparently crash. The Bluetooth icon would disappear from the taskbar, and audio would get re-routed to my hardwired desktop speakers. This happened multiple times, and re-installing the drivers didn’t seem to help.

Currently I’m using the v6.2.1.800_7a drivers from Gateway’s website (http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers/getFile.asp?id=24324&dscr=Broadcom%20Bluetooth%20Network%20Driver%20Version%206.2.1.800&uid=263953937). These seem to work OK, so far.I did notice today that I had to toggle the wireless switch to get the Bluetooth light to activate on my laptop. Once it lit up, it automatically re-connected to my headphones. I can live with this for now. Hopefully I don’t see any more driver crashes.

Note that when re-installing these drivers, you should follow this procedure. Failure to do so can lead to some odd results in Device Manager, and total lack of Bluetooth functionality.

- Delete any paired devices (if possible)
- Clear pairings from your BT device
- Turn off the Wifi/BT switch on your laptop
- From “Programs and Features” control panel, uninstall the WIDCOMM or Dell Bluetooth drivers
- Reboot (DON’T SKIP THIS)
- Run the install for the new Bluetooth driver (v6.2.1.800 is my recommendation)
- When asked, flip the WiFi/BT switch back on.
- Reboot (just to be sure that the new driver takes)
- Pair your headphones

If you reboot/hibernate/suspend and find that the BT light is out, toggle the WiFi/BT switch.

Good luck!

UPDATE 4/2: Grr. It’s still happening. Still looking for a solution…

I don’t know why this hasn’t already been posted all over the interwebs, so I thought I’d post it here. It’s amazing how some of the simplest answers never seem to make it into prominence in the Google search rankings.

Anyway, after cloning a VM today in Xen, I tried to start the DomU, and [...]]]>

I don’t know why this hasn’t already been posted all over the interwebs, so I thought I’d post it here. It’s amazing how some of the simplest answers never seem to make it into prominence in the Google search rankings.

Anyway, after cloning a VM today in Xen, I tried to start the DomU, and got this error:

Error: (12, 'Cannot allocate memory')

I assumed it had something to do with my Dom0 memory cache consuming nearly every last bit of free memory on my system, so I ran this to clear the cache:

echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches

I confirmed that that “free” reported that the cached memory dropped near zero. Great! Except it didn’t help. I then ran “xm info” to check the memory usage in Xen

total_memory : 16378
free_memory : 2

Odd. I checked the Dom0 status to see what’s up, and sure enough, my memory allocation on Dom0 is way high.

xm list Domain-0
Name ID Mem VCPUs State Time(s)
Domain-0 0 10482 4 r—– 3273110.4

But I still didn’t know how to shrink it. I knew it had something to do with memory ballooning. I also knew you could set the memory allocation of a DomU with “xm mem-set”, but I didn’t know anything about how to do it with the Dom0. A quick IRC message to my Xen guru, Jima, and I get this simple command (obvious really) in response:

xm mem-set Domain-0 512

This balloons the Dom0 host system (as well as any domain, really) memory usage down to 512MB. In my case, my Dom0 claimed to be using about 2 Gig already, so I ballooned down to 4G instead. Not sure if that was just due to some bad math or assumptions on my part, as I never run anything of significance in Dom0. After you run this, you should be able to start your DomU just fine.

My wife is pretty fun.

First, a little background…

The classic procedure for installing drivers to a printer shared via CUPS with a raw Samba frontend, usually is roughly something like this:

For me, this worked great, most of the time, assuming that the driver [...]]]>

First, a little background…

The classic procedure for installing drivers to a printer shared via CUPS with a raw Samba frontend, usually is roughly something like this:

1. Create printer in CUPS
2. Open shared printer properties in Windows
3. Install drivers via Advanced tab

For me, this worked great, most of the time, assuming that the driver was either PS or PCL5(e). However, PCL6 drivers rarely loaded properly. They crashed upon upload, and the driver rarely ever worked, if point ‘n print even installed the driver. As I understand it, the root of the problem is that the drivers need a valid “form” database specific to the driver to be stored on the server in order to load, but valid form data can only be created by executing the driver. On Windows servers, this isn’t a problem, but Samba servers cannot execute the windows driver code in order to generate this form. PCL6 drivers are particularly finicky about this, and often times will refuse properly copy to the server.

The solution I’ve come up with is to load the driver entirely on a Windows PC first, and tell Samba to copy the drivers and related forms, ACLs, etc over. Some of the values I use here for the printer names, etc, are very generic and only specified to match the naming standards in my environment. Feel free to change your printer setup to suit your needs.

The Procedure
On a Windows PC:

1. Install the printer as you would normally for TCP/IP printing on a windows PC.
2. Rename the printer to the share name you will be using (i.e., CopierCP5000)
3. Open the printer properties
4. Share the printer using the same name (CopierCP5000)
5. Set the printer description to the printer name (i.e., Copier CP 5000)
6. Set the printer location to the office name and city (ACME Abu Dhabi)
7. Usually under the Accessories/Options tab, update/get information from the printer
        This ensures that we obtain all the correct hardware configuration information for the device (duplexer, trays, hole punch, stapler, etc)
8. Open the Advanced tab and click the “Printing Defaults” button
9. Click on each tab and allow the tab to load
        This ensures that the form values for each tab are created.
10. Still inside the Printing Defaults, change the page orientation to Landscape, hit apply, change the page orientation to Portrait, and hit apply. Click OK.
11. Close the printer properties by clicking OK

Next, on the server:

### Set up the printer in CUPS, i.e.:
lpadmin -p CopierCP5000 -L "ACME Abu Dhabi" -D "Copier CP 5000" -v lpd://192.168.xx.xx -m raw -E
smbcontrol smbd reload-config
 
### Copy the drivers, forms, ACLs, etc from the Windows PC
net rpc printer MIGRATE ALL CopierCP5000 -S mypcname -Uusername


Finally, test the driver in Windows:

1. Open the local Printers control panel (shortcut command below for Win7 users)
        rundll32 shell32.dll,SHHelpShortcuts_RunDLL PrintersFolder
2. Delete your shared printer
3. Right-click in the control panel window and select “Server Properties”
4. Open the Drivers tab
5. Select your driver and click “Remove”.
6. Proceed with removal and close the server properties window.
7. Open \\servername\
8. Double-click your printer
9. Print a test page
        If this fails, try restarting the local PC’s Print Spooler service

So far I’ve only tested this on a few of our known-problematic printers that have PCL6 drivers available, and it’s worked perfectly in each case. However it you notice this doesn’t work for you, post a comment and I’ll see what I can do to help.