WebEx Error

I have been struggling to get WebEx to work now that I have upgraded to Ubuntu 9.04.  I get the error below, and it failes to continue loading.  If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.  I did just upgrade to Firefox 3.5, but that didn’t fix the problem.  I also did a search on Google, and that didn’t turn up anything.

java.io.EOFException
at java.io.DataInputStream.readInt(DataInputStream.java:375)
at sun.security.provider.JavaKeyStore.engineLoad(JavaKeyStore.java:628)
at sun.security.provider.JavaKeyStore$JKS.engineLoad(JavaKeyStore.java:38)
at java.security.KeyStore.load(KeyStore.java:1185)
at com.sun.deploy.security.DeploySigningCertStore$1.run(DeploySigningCertStore.java:154)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at com.sun.deploy.security.DeploySigningCertStore.loadCertStore(DeploySigningCertStore.java:137)
at com.sun.deploy.security.DeploySigningCertStore.load(DeploySigningCertStore.java:107)
at com.sun.deploy.security.DeploySigningCertStore.load(DeploySigningCertStore.java:92)
at com.sun.deploy.security.ImmutableCertStore.load(ImmutableCertStore.java:43)
at com.sun.deploy.security.TrustDecider.isAllPermissionGranted(TrustDecider.java:245)
at com.sun.deploy.security.TrustDecider.isAllPermissionGranted(TrustDecider.java:218)
at com.sun.deploy.security.TrustDecider.isAllPermissionGranted(TrustDecider.java:208)
at sun.plugin.security.PluginClassLoader.getPermissions(PluginClassLoader.java:150)
at java.security.SecureClassLoader.getProtectionDomain(SecureClassLoader.java:192)
at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:124)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:260)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$000(URLClassLoader.java:56)
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:195)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:188)
at sun.applet.AppletClassLoader.findClass(AppletClassLoader.java:171)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:307)
at sun.applet.AppletClassLoader.loadClass(AppletClassLoader.java:143)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:252)
at sun.applet.AppletClassLoader.loadCode(AppletClassLoader.java:682)
at sun.applet.AppletPanel.createApplet(AppletPanel.java:785)
at sun.plugin.AppletViewer.createApplet(AppletViewer.java:2315)
at sun.applet.AppletPanel.runLoader(AppletPanel.java:714)
at sun.applet.AppletPanel.run(AppletPanel.java:368)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)

I did check to make sure I had the ubuntu-restricted-extras and the libstdc++5 installed from this earlier post.

Open Office Updated

An update came across for me for Open Office.  It updated from 3.0

Here is what the about dialog was:

And, here is what it is now:

I found a link to the features: OpenOffice.org 3.1 New Features

Sprinkler Project

We are planning to put some sprinklers in, and I wanted to try to use my computer as the controller rather than buy one.  But, I need some help.  Please comment if you have any expertise in this area or any tips.

This article is very similar to what I want to do:

Acacia Projects — Sprinkler Controller

First of all, I am not exactly sure how the “24 VAC Plug Pack” comes into play.  I am assuming that the valve needs more power than what the card produces, and the plug pack gives it that boost, but where do you purchase one?  I am assuming that you need one for each station.

I think I found where they were talking about buying the board from: Elexol.com

One of the problems that I might have is that my computer is on the opposite side of the house from where I might want to place the valves.  I thought about using Ethernet to get the signal closer to the valves and place the card nearer to the valves.  This product looked helpful:

Ether I/O 24R

I found a couple of other examples, but they didn’t have quite enough detail for me:

Embedded Linux Router Hacked for Sprinkler Controller

This link does seem to have more detail:

Sprinkler control with embedded…

They mention using the USB Bit Whacker board.  I think I found where I could buy it: SparkFun Electronics.

Skype Problems on Ubuntu 8.10

I have been having trouble getting Skype to work.  If anyone has any ideas, please post a comment.  I at least have it working, but the microphone is quiet.  Also, at this point, I only get output on the left speaker.

One thing that helped was going into the System > Preferences > Sessions and changing the Skype command from “skype” to “padsp skype”.

Here are some articles that I have looked at and tried:

• Sound prob after Ubuntu 8.10 upgrade. Need help FAST!
• Audio problem on Dell Inspiron 1720, running Ubuntu 8.10 beta
• Configuring Audio for Skype Dell Inspiron 1525 Ubuntu 8
• PulseAudio: The Perfect Setup
• Skype Microphone problem and complete pulse audio setup in Ubuntu
• Skype + 8.10
• Default ALSA device must use PulseAudio, otherwise ALSA applications may fail
• PulseAudio: FAQ

Blog Entry Poster

I think I tried this Blog Entry Poster program in the Ubuntu repository in the past and it wouldn’t work with my WordPress.com blog. Well, I don’t know what changed or if I was doing it wrong, but it works now assuming you can see this post.

There are a few features I would like though. 1) Support for multiple blog settings. It has a drop down for multiple blogs, but only one Base Blog URL. 2) Support to add images on other sites. 3) Support to edit the HTML 4) More formatting options such as adding bullet points and headings. 5) Save a draft rather than post the entry.

Resources:

XML-RPC Support

Mail Notifier

I found this nifty device on Engadget.  My question is does it work with Linux?  Also, can I have it notify only certain labels in GMail or mail from certain recipients?  I don’t need to be notified when I have newsletters.

Vista Virtual Machine

I finally had enough of trying to run Word 2007 on Wine.  It worked several times, but every time I really needed to use it, it would fail to start.  It would just hang on the splash screen.  Even more annoying was that the splash screen stayed on top obstructing my view of other windows.

So, I installed Vista as a virtual machine.  It works relatively well.  Here are a few links I found helpful in the process.

• Make it automatically log in.
• Enable Remote Desktop
• Remote Desktop for Vista Home Edition
• Discussion

Convert Youtube Videos

I found this command that successfully strips the audio into a wav file:

ffmpeg -i Blessed_Be_Your_Name.flv -vn -acodec pcm_s16le \
   -ar 44100 -ac 2 Blessed_Be_Your_Name.wav

Here is the same command that includes the video that will play in Window’s Media Player:

ffmpeg -i Blessed_Be_Your_Name.flv -vcodec msmpeg4v2 -acodec pcm_s16le \
   -ar 44100 -ac 2 Blessed_Be_Your_Name.avi

I was able to use this command to convert an flv file from a downloaded Google Tech talk to an mp4 file that I could play with mplayer in Linux:

ffmpeg -i Using_bluemail_to_renew_the_design_and_study_of_enterprise_email.flv \
    -vcodec xvid -acodec pcm_s16le -ar 44100 -ac 2 \
    Using_bluemail_to_renew_the_design_and_study_of_enterprise_email.mp4

Resources

• ffmpeg howto
• Capturing Google and Youtube videos with one command

Thunderbird

Well, work demands are forcing me to begin to use a fat client for my mail.  Up until now, I have been using GMail successfully.  So, I am choosing Thunderbird.

Here is what I like about GMail:

• I can access GMail from any computer (I used to work on multiple computers depending on the client/day of the week)
• I can manage multiple email addresses (Each client was giving me an email address with their domain name)
• I like the GMail interface
  • threads instead of messages
  • labels
  • Ability to type the name of a person in the to box

But, there were a few features that I needed that forced me to switch to Thunderbird:

• HTML Signatures (or at least formatting)
• Different signature for each email account
• Use a third party SMTP server — sending through GMail leaves an “on behalf of” message even if you choose to send with another email address.

I have started with two extensions that I thought were helpful:

• Zindus
• Lightning
• Provider for Google Calendar

One of the frustrations that I found was that when I replied to a message, it would put the quoted message above my reply.  Most email programs place the original programs below the new message.  I found a thread that explains you can change this in the Account Settings, Composition and Addressing settings.

The signature is in the Account Settings as well.  It is on the main page for each account.  I created an HTML file in my home directory and attached it to account.

Zindus was easy to configure.  You can access the setings in Tools > Zindus.  I just entered my GMail account information and I was off.  I did have an issue with duplicate contacts because I had already sent a couple of emails to people already in my GMail contact list.  Thunderbird automatically adds to your contact list people to whom you send an email.  I just deleted those contacts, and everything synced fine.

The Lightning settings were in the Preferences — that is in the Edit menu for Linux and Tools menu for Windows.

The Provider for Google Calendar was a little more difficult to figure out.  I finally found some instructions on the wiki.  I had to open the Google Calendar web interface.  Then, if you click settings on the calendar list, you get your list of calendars.  Next, click on the link for your specific calendar that you want in Thunderbird.  At the bottom of the settings list, you will find the XML links.  I right clicked on the XML button for the Calendar address and selected Copy Link Location.  Once I had the link copied, I went to Thunderbird.  First, I had to click on the Calendar button on the lower left hand corner of the screen.  Then, I could choose File > New > Calendar.  I chose a calendar on the Network.  Next, I chose a Google calendar and pasted the XML link into the Location.  Then, it asked me to log into the Google account.  Finally, it asked for a name/description for the calendar.