The last one (in this year)

Was 2009 better than 2008? I'm not sure, but at least it wasn't noticeably worse and that's a good thing, right?

My activity in past 2 months:

• In October I released new version of Notepad++ launcher. Changes are described in NEWS file.


• Another project that came out then (along with GitHub repository) is vidma, utility for manipulating virtual disk images. It supports only fixed-size VDI images, has alpha status, but works for me. Remember, use at your own risk! Vidma has dedicated thread in VirtualBox forum.


• In November Notepad++ launcher got its own repository at GitHub.


• Later I wrote tip about preparing Ubuntu 9.10 for CUDA 2.3.


• In December I added LaTeX tip about translating definition, example and other block names without beamer translator.


• I wrote outline of my new Polish article about Linux kernel 2.6.32 the following day, but unfortunately I haven't finished it yet.


• I also created Chrome extension named GoUp and announced it at Chrome Extensions site. Being unaware of Firefox add-on with the same name (I am Uppity user), I have chosen a bad one, but it will be fixed with the next release. I think I'll call it NavigUp.


• Recenlty at last I rewrote 1page. It's alpha version and there is no configuration apart from simple query text so far. Go and see new 1page.przemoc.net.

Dissatisfied? Yeah, me too, but always look at the bright side of life, as Eric Idle sang.

So... Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Tips - bunch of updates

Vacation ended, new semester started and wiki comes to life. My beloved Qt Creator slowly reaches 1.3 point. There is a rumor about releasing final version before the end of the year. Meanwhile I trialed the latest snapshot - Qt Creator Crew definitely doesn't sit around doing nothing. They even introduced color schemes, so I had to update my dark theme. Afterward I fixed description of making SOCKS proxy transparent, because previously used transocks_ev often stalls, but its replacement, redsocks, works flawlessly. Lastly, three days ago I added MinGW gcc related tip/workaround for problem of __declspec(dllexport), __stdcall and lacking leading underscore in Export Table.

Qt Creator in the dark

Do you remember Alone in the Dark? Great game, isn't it? But it's not a good time and place for such reminiscences.

I created first version of Qt Creator dark theme few months ago, I put it on my wiki few weeks ago and today I updated it for version 1.1 RC (1.0.90). Qt Creator definitely keeps getting better with every release. Evidence? Ctrl+LMB works now and that is only one of many improvements available in current version. Go and test it, really.

Happy Easter!

Using sfdisk on VDI fixed-size image

Almost half year ago I wrote a tip how to mount VDI fixed-size image with common *nix tools. Back then I thought about writing script for automation of described steps, but it didn't come off. No, it's not that hard, rather everyone can do it. Problem is with the partition table. First block of disk is enough to get information about primary partitions. It's often sufficient knowledge, but often doesn't mean always. Information regarding logical partitions can be found in extended one. So?

Writing program/script for all this stuff would be like developing streamlined sfdisk. Possible, but not necessary. Second solution is patching sfdisk to support skipping VDI header. Easy one, but sfdisk is not a stand-alone application. It's part of util-linux-ng and intelligently removing all non-related stuff would require some time, which I don't have now. The third and the last one option is what I actually did - I made special shared library for use in conjunction with sfdisk to skip VDI header. I named it vdiwrap and the source code is accessible at my C snippets page. Of course Mounting partition from VDI fixed-size image was also updated.

Making SOCKS proxy transparent

During the last two months I probably set up more SSH tunnels than in my whole life before. At some point I was so disgusted about using FreeCap or tsocks, that I started looking for something better, i.e. unobtrusive. Making SOCKS proxy transparent is probably the best available solution. Read about it if you are interested.

Notepad++ Launcher

Today I released an improved version of Stépho's Notepad++ launcher. Proper word is rather fixed, because original was bogus. After CreateProcess() there was no waiting for process initialization/exit (WaitForInputIdle()/WaitForSingleObject()), so temporary files could be deleted before accessing them from Notepad++. If you don't know what I'm saying, then run 7-Zip and try to open some text files within an archive. All you get is an empty window... I know you can set the chosen editor in 7-Zip, but it is only local workaround.

Replace old launcher with new one and enjoy!

Mounting partition from VDI fixed-size image

Recently I was searching for VDI (Virtual Disk Image used by VirtualBox) fixed-size image resizer (expander exactly). I haven't found such a tool (creating another image and copying content between them needs more disk space), so I wrote one. Unfortunatelly it's not even ready to be published as alpha version. But this post is not about it.

Today I needed to mount partition from VDI image (without running virtual machine). With knowledge gained from above experience I was able to do it easily. Read more...

Software projects

Finally I added my software projects to wiki. Unfortunately you probably won't find anything interesting there...

Start page

I have made my simple start page, so it no longer redirect to the old site.

Troves

Yesterday I started new site with links to valuable (IMHO) texts. It's only blogger, because I don't have time for writing a specialized engine.