Year: 2011

IT

SGS2: Removing Bol.com app

Samsung has preinstalled several applications on the Samsung Galaxy S2 that cannot be uninstalled, such as the boekenbol application from bol.com. Now this wouldn't be a problem, if only it would stay in the background. But sometimes it doesn't.

In the last few days, a new version of boekenbol was released, and Android keeps nagging to upgrade the app. I don't want to upgrade, I don't want this app to have any permissions on my phone, but I can't remove the app.

My steps to remove boekenbol

First, I upgraded my phone using Samsung Kies to be running the latest Android version currently available. After the upgrade, I was running GINGERBREAD.XWKK2 on a 2.6.35.7-i9100XWKK2-CL726411 kernel.

Then I rooted the phone, using the CF-Root 5.0 version CF-Root-SGS2_XW_XEN_KK2-v5.0-CWM5. That was actually pretty easy to do.

I installed a few tools for easy access and convenience:

SuperUserGrant and manage Superuser rights for your phone. Don't know if this is required, but I do use it.
SSHDroidSSH Server for Android. Actually a dropbear implementation.

After starting SSHDroid, I start the Wi-Fi hotspot and connect my laptop to it. I logged on using ssh -l root. Then I performed the following commands.

mount /system -o remount,rw                      # mount read-write
mkdir /system/app-disabled
 
# move the (cr)app out of sight (i'm not totally removing the file from the disk, just in case)
mv /system/app/Bol.com_version_1.0.3.3.apk /system/app-disabled  
 
mount /system -o remount,ro                      # mount read-only

Other apps I've removed, include: MMM_Smartphone_1.5.1_final.apk MusicHub_10.apk ReadersHub.apk ReadersHub.odex SamsungIM.apk SocialHub.apk SocialHub.odex

My message to Bol.com

Nobody likes to be forced to have software installed that you don't want. I understand you want to promote your webshop, and pre-installing isn't a problem. But make it removable.

Also, mister Maurice Nieuwland, pointing to Samsung for complaints is a very very childish reaction. Sure, Samsung is to blame for installing the crap. But they wouldn't have, if bol.com didn't make them, you've signed the contract.

For forcing your software upon customers and people that aren't even your customers, I'll be boycotting bol.com until this app is removable by non-root users.

© GeekLabInfo SGS2: Removing Bol.com app is a post from GeekLab.info. You are free to copy materials from GeekLab.info, but you are required to link back to http://www.geeklab.info

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IT

Firefox configuration settings

Useful Firefox settings. Change them in about:config

security.dialog_enable_delayThe delay in ms before you can click the "install plugin" button.
dom.max_script_run_timeMaximum script runtime in seconds before Firefox asks if you want to terminate the script.
© GeekLabInfo Firefox configuration settings is a post from GeekLab.info. You are free to copy materials from GeekLab.info, but you are required to link back to http://www.geeklab.info

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IT

CUPS ERROR: Unable to write raster data to driver!

On my CUPS server, I've connected a Dymo 400 labelwriter. For some reason, while printing labels perfectly, I just can't get the imagetoraster filter to stop "crashing" with the following error:
ERROR: Unable to write raster data to driver!

So I fixed this the dirty way. I downloaded the CUPS Source RPM from CentOS. I installed it to /usr/src/redhat using the command rpm -i cups-1.4.2-35.el6.src.rpm. In the directory SOURCES, I added a file named geeklab.patch containing:

--- cups-1.4.2/filter/imagetoraster.c   2009-06-05 23:38:52.000000000 +0200
+++ cups-1.4.2/filter/imagetoraster.cpatched    2011-10-21 11:18:28.427271405 +0200
@@ -1197,7 +1197,7 @@
                fputs(_("ERROR: Unable to write raster data to driver!\n"),
                      stderr);
                cupsImageClose(img);
-               exit(1);
+               exit(0);
              }
             }
          }
@@ -1293,7 +1293,7 @@
               fputs(_("ERROR: Unable to write raster data to driver!\n"),
                    stderr);
              cupsImageClose(img);
-             exit(1);
+             exit(0);
            }
 
            /*
@@ -1333,7 +1333,7 @@
                fputs(_("ERROR: Unable to write raster data to driver!\n"),
                      stderr);
                cupsImageClose(img);
-               exit(1);
+               exit(0);
              }
             }
          }

Then I added to the spec:
Patch700: geeklab.patch
after the line that starts with Patch100:
and %patch700 -p1 -b .geeklab just after the line that starts with %patch100

Now you can use the regular rpmbuild commands to build packages:
rpmbuild -bs <specname> to build a new SRPM
rpmbuild -ba <specname> to build a new SRPM and binary RPMs
I personally prefer the first, as I mostly use mock to build clean destination RPMs.

© GeekLabInfo CUPS ERROR: Unable to write raster data to driver! is a post from GeekLab.info. You are free to copy materials from GeekLab.info, but you are required to link back to http://www.geeklab.info

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IT

Turn off Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration in Windows Server 2008

  • Start Server Manager (servermanager.msc)
  • Go to the top node named "Server Manager (SERVERNAME)"
  • On the right side, under server summary>Security information, disable IE Enhanced Security Configuration (ESC) for whoever you like.
© GeekLabInfo Turn off Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration in Windows Server 2008 is a post from GeekLab.info. You are free to copy materials from GeekLab.info, but you are required to link back to http://www.geeklab.info

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IT

Unable to connect to CUPS server localhost:631 – Connection refused

On my fileserver, I have printing disabled in Samba but still I get all these messages in the logs:
[2011/12/08 10:18:26.821280, 0] printing/print_cups.c:108(cups_connect)
Unable to connect to CUPS server localhost:631 - Connection refused

I don't want Samba to offer printers. After trying some configurations, I found this made smbd stop trying:

load printers = no
printing = bsd
printcap name = /dev/null
© GeekLabInfo Unable to connect to CUPS server localhost:631 - Connection refused is a post from GeekLab.info. You are free to copy materials from GeekLab.info, but you are required to link back to http://www.geeklab.info

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IT

Using Ctrl+Alt+F1 in a VMWare Virtual Machine

When you're running Linux, pressing CTRL+ALT+F1 will bring you to console #1. If you want to go to the console of a vmware guest, this won't work, because the host will go to the console instead of the guest. Making it pretty hard to get to a console.

The correct combination for linux-in-vmware-on-linux is CTRL+ALT+SPACE, release space while holding down CTRL+ALT, then add the F1 key.

© GeekLabInfo Using Ctrl+Alt+F1 in a VMWare Virtual Machine is a post from GeekLab.info. You are free to copy materials from GeekLab.info, but you are required to link back to http://www.geeklab.info

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IT

Change Thunderbird time format

To edit the Thunderbird time format on Linux, edit /usr/bin/thunderbird. Just before the line exec $MOZ_PROGRAM "$@" add one more line:
export LC_TIME=nl_NL
(or any other language of your choice)

There are probably other/easier ways to do this, but since I want this to only affect thunderbird, I prefer this method.

© GeekLabInfo Change Thunderbird time format is a post from GeekLab.info. You are free to copy materials from GeekLab.info, but you are required to link back to http://www.geeklab.info

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