IBM RAD/RSA 7 installation on Ubuntu 10.04 Linux

IBM Rational Application Developer 7 or Rational Software Architect 7.0 installation on Linux can be annoying at times. Here are the steps I followed to get this working and this time around it felt quite simple.
1. IBM Installation Manager 1.4.1: It will be best to get the latest version of the installation manager, so download and install it first. Choose the agent.installer.linux.gtk.x86_1.4.1.
2. Download and install the libstdc++5 lib from Debian site. I had saved libstdc++5_3.3.6-18_amd64.deb locally and used this one. I am not sure but it seems I needed the 64 bit version.
3. Replace the default shell sh from dash to bash; as described here. The command to use is 'sudo dpkg-reconfigure dash' and select 'no'.
This did it for me!

Update Jun 23, 12: I am now running Ubuntu 12.04 64bit version, trying to install the 1.5.2 version of the IM. However, I kept on getting this bash error - bash ./install: No such file or directory
The issue was not having 32bit lib files described here. So install 32 bit library files using
sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

It all works now!

Disclaimer: Again this is the assimilation of all the wisdom that is available over the net, with some of own tweaks

Apple Mac OS X Screen Sharing

Apple Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard comes with an amazing VNC server/client called "Screen Sharing". Once it's enabled from the System Preferences > Sharing > Screen Sharing, Mac OS X magically (Bonjour/Zero Config) looks up any Mac computers on the same network and brings them up on the Finder side bar. Clicking "Share Screen" & after entering the user login/password, brings up the remote desktop view of the other machine.

Screen sharing is nothing new and it has been around for as long as Mac OS X Leopard has been, and Linux guys would immediately quib about VNC being around much longer. However, this isn't about VNC client/server.

This blog is about a eureka moment when I was using my old powerless 2005 Apple PowerBook and working on my 2007 24" Aluminum iMac. I have been using my PowerBook as a very fancy remote for the iMac, but I could never practically use this VNC feature. My iMac is setup on my desk, and the PowerBook is lying around the bed. The reason for this is my 24" iMac native resolution being 1920x1200 and the PowerBook being 1280x854. My PowerBook runs Leopard and the iMac runs the new Snow Leopard (BTW an amazing upgrade).

Due to the huge difference in the PowerBook and iMac resolutions, I could barely read or for heavens type anything on the iMac using the Screen Sharing from my PowerBook. So the silly eureka moment was to just bring down the iMac resolution as close as to the PowerBook's native resolution.

Well there you have it now! I was able to write this entire blog over this Screen Sharing from my PowerBook onto the iMac. Well this may not be so thrilling, but the real advantage of this setup is to run heavy duty applications like eclipse/mysql db server and other development tools over the iMac and then use the PowerBook, which is at a crawling speed even running Safari 5.0 browsing the net, as a very cool laptop chugging at all the J2EE development I can remotely do. Exciting and Sad :|

P.S: Last week, I spent some time googling for ssh -X and the X11 forwarding on a mac, and it all worked. This is a nice tool, if the only applications we need to use are X11 based; which is not the case. Something of an alternative to the VNC and screen sharing where X11 forwarding runs the application on the remote machine, but brings the screen to the local m/c and uses the local keyboard and mouse to interact with this app. It was exciting to get this to work, but this excitement quickly disappeared when I realized X11 forwarding will only work for X11 based apps. One cannot be excited about xeyes for too long!

 

MySQL WorkBench 5.2.29 CE - Windows MSI Installer Error

When installing MySQL WorkBench 5.2.29 CE using the Windows MSI installer (mysql-workbench-gpl-5.2.29-win32.msi), I got an error "Error: 25580 - cannot connect to windows firewall".  

I followed the instructions from MySQL Forums, and it fixed the installation error. The solution is to start the "Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing" from windows services (Run>services.msc). If the service is disabled, right click and make the start type manual/automatic and then start it.

Disclaimer: I often run into issues either configuring/installing applications on Windows/Ubuntu Linux/Mac OS X. I will hence forth put all the solutions on this blog, so I can use these whenever I need them. I must humbly acknowledge that the credit to most or even all of them would go to all the developers who post their solutions on the net. I will obviously put a link to the original resource.

MySQL 5.5.6 on Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 PreferencePane

PreferencePane for MySQL 5.5.6. seems to have broken "again" in mysql-5.5.6-rc-osx10.6-x86_6.

If you try to start MySQL server using the preference pane it fails. I tried to start it using '/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld start' and it still failed.

Here is the fix for the preference pane start and stop.
Edit '/usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server'
Find line 'basedir=.' and replace it with 'basedir=/usr/local/mysql'
Here is the screenshot after the change:
After this, I was able to successfully execute the following commands:

sudo /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server start|stop 

SystemPreferences > PreferencePane > MySQL Start|Stop Server

This fix came from: http://bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=53232

Google Books

The entire legal definition of "copyrights" gets thrown out of the window, if you allow anybody to "copy your work" and "make it available" to other people. Unless, of course, the copyright owner expressly allows this or gets a share of the dough.

In the light of Google Books, I humbly pose a few questions:
1. What if I use copyrighted material and gain revenue by not selling the material itself, but by advertisement?
2. Does the copyright owner get any money? And how does the copyright law addresses this situation.

If Google allows authors/publishers to get money generated through such advertisement it might actually benefit these copyright owners. Consumers, might be benefited too, having access to some sample chapters and perhaps the advertisements themselves offering either the sell of such material or anything relevant to the subject.

Currently business's seem to take advantage of this is sad modern day truth, "Your rights are proportional to your affordability of a lawyer!" This is the modern day Capitalism, but I digress.

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My "thank you" out-polites your "thank you"!

Today as ever, social etiquette demands politeness. By definition , it's being mindful of your company & conformity to the accepted social behaviors. An often sought after effect of politeness is being perceived as elegant. And where the prior definition offers kindness to others, the ulterior motive demands an acknowledgment of ones elegance.

In my surroundings, lately, I seem to hear a lot of conversations ending in "Thank you", and surprisingly from both the involved parties. Sometimes it seems fair, and sometimes completely unnecessary. In todays competitive world people seem too afraid of accepting generosity. Isn't it more polite to actually accept and acknowledge one's generosity than a quick dismissal with a vane "Thank you". On top of that, this ping-pong of "thank-you" is completely unnecessary & rude.

My "thank you" out-polites your "thank you"! You may be grateful to me, but I am too shallow to owe you, so I refuse your thank you.