My date with Destiny

WORDS OF WISDOM

2007-03-09T21:02:00.000+05:30

Steve Jobs' Commencement Speech at Stanford Graduation Ceremony

Blogspot unblocked

2007-03-09T02:11:00.001+05:30

It seems that the ban on blogspot.com has been lifted.
I was surfing, and found a blogspot link, so I followed the chore that I have been following till date:
1.Right click the blogspot link and open it in new tab
2.Press ESC to stop loading the webpage, as it is fruitless
3.Then change xyz.blogspot.com to inblogs.net/xyz and press ENTER

Since I usually open a lot of tabs, so I continued doing my work , and then after some time switched to newly opened tab to do STEPS 2 and 3.
But to my utter surprise , I found that the page was loaded.
So now no more hassles to read your favourite blogs.

This is a screeenshot of labnol.blogspot.com taken at 02:10 am on March 9th 2007 IST

Download accelerator for Linux

2007-03-08T23:29:00.000+05:30

In my quest to find a download accelerator for Linux, I stumbled upon a lot of download managers and accelerators , like prozilla,prozgui,wxdfast,mget,axel etc etc.
But I couldn't find something at par with IDM or DAP for windows.
Some were refusing to install while others were too slow to be called as download accelerators.

A few days back , one of my friends gave me this amazing tool , called as McURL , which is a shell script to download files in multiple parts via cURL.

To have an idea about the raw power of this script , you can write
$./mcurl -p 100 url_of_file_to_download &

and it will open up 100 threads to download that file

You can also
$./mcurl --help
to see other options

If you are unable to download the file , then please save the following script in a file mcurl and hopefully everything will be ok.

#######################SCRIPT STARTS HERE############################
#!/bin/bash
#
################################################################################
# #
# McURL - A shell script to download files in multiple parts via cURL #
# Copyright (C) 2002 Sven Wegener #
# #
# URL: http://www.GoForLinux.de/scripts/mcurl/ #
# eMail: Sven.Wegener@Stealer.de #
# #
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- #
# #
# McURL is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify #
# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by #
# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or #
# (at your option) any later version. #
# #
# McURL is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, #
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of #
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the #
# GNU General Public License for more details. #
# #
# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License #
# along with McURL; if not, write to the Free Software #
# Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA #
# #
################################################################################

# Some constants
Version="0.1.1b"

# Some defaults which can be overwritten via command-line arguments
DefaultNumberOfParts="10"

# Function to get filesize
function FileSize ()
{
if [ -f "$1" ] ; then
SIZE=`ls -ld "$1" | awk '{print $5}'`
echo $SIZE
else
echo 0
fi
}

# Function to output a warning message
function WarningMessage ()
{
echo -e "Warning: $1"
}

# Function to output an error message and terminate
function ErrorMessage ()
{
echo -e "Error: $1"

exit 1
}

# Output usage information
function OutputUsage ()
{
echo "McURL - Multiple cURL"
echo "Usage: `basename $0` [options...] [URL]"
echo "Options:"
echo " -p/--parts Set number of download parts (Default: $DefaultNumberOfParts)"
echo " -o/--output Set output file (Default: extracted from URL)"
echo " -r/--resume Resume local file (needs \"file.settings\" file)"
echo " -f/--force Force overwriting local file"
echo " -k/--keep Don't delete logfile after download"
echo " -v/--verbose Be verbose (not implemented yet)"
echo " -h/--help Output this message"
echo " -l/--license Output license McURL comes under"
echo " -V/--version Output version number"
echo
echo "If you don't have cURL installed, download it at http://curl.haxx.se/"

exit 1
}

# Parse the command-line arguments
while [ "$#" -gt "0" ]; do
case "$1" in
-p|--parts)
# User wants to set the number of download parts
NumberOfParts="$2"
shift 2
;;
-o|--output)
# User wants to specify a local filename
FileName="$2"
shift 2
;;
-r|--resume)
# User wants to resume a download, so check for it and source the old settings
if [ -e "$2.settings" ] ; then
. "$2.settings"
elif [ -e "$2" ] ; then
. "$2"
else
ErrorMessage "No download to resume"
fi

URL="$OldURL"
shift 2
;;
-k|--keep)
# Keep logfile after download
KeepLogFile="yes"
shift 1
;;
-f|--force)
# Force overwriting local file
Force="yes"
shift 1
;;
-h|--help)
# Output usage information
OutputUsage
;;
-l|--license)
# Show license McURL comes under
echo
echo "McURL - A shell script to download files in multiple parts via cURL"
echo "Copyright (C) 2002 Sven Wegener"
echo
echo "McURL is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify"
echo "it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by"
echo "the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or"
echo "(at your option) any later version."
echo
echo "McURL is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,"
echo "but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of"
echo "MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the"
echo "GNU General Public License for more details."
echo
echo "You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License"
echo "along with McURL; if not, write to the Free Software"
echo "Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA"
echo

exit 0
;;
-V|--version)
# Output version information
echo "McURL v$Version"

exit 0
;;
-v|--verbose)
# Enable verbose mode
WarningMessage "Verbose mode not implemented yet."

BeVerbose="yes"
shift 1
;;
-*|--*)
# Unknown option found
ErrorMessage "Unknown option $1."

exit 1
;;
*)
# Seems this is the URL
URL="$1"
break
;;
esac
done

if [ -z "$URL" ] ; then
ErrorMessage "No URL specified. Try --help for help."
fi

# User did not specify NumberOfParts so use the default
if [ -z "$NumberOfParts" ] ; then
NumberOfParts="$DefaultNumberOfParts"
fi

# If FileName is not set extract it from URL
if [ -z "$FileName" ] ; then
FileName="`echo \"$URL\" | sed "s%.*/$[^\/?]*$$?.*$\?$%\1%i"`"
fi

# Still no FileName? -> Seems were retrieveing a directory, so set FileName to "index.html"
if [ -z "$FileName" ] ; then
FileName="index.html"
fi

# Check if file is already there
if [ -e "$FileName" -a "yes" != "$Force" ] ; then
ErrorMessage "File $FileName is already there."
fi

# Fetch header to file
curl --head "$URL" 2> /dev/null | sed -e "s/.$//" > "$FileName.header"

# Check, if header was succesfully retrieved
if [ "$?" -ne "0" ] ; then
rm -f "$FileName.header"

ErrorMessage "Error while retrieving header (cURL return value was $?)."
fi

# Get FileSize from header
FileSize="`grep -i '^$Content-Length: $\?[0-9]\+' "$FileName.header" | sed 's/^$Content-Length: $\?$[0-9]\+$/\2/i'`"

# Remove header file since it is not needed anymore
rm -f "$FileName.header"

# If we couldn't get a FileSize, downloading in multiple parts is not possible
if [ -z "$FileSize" ] ; then
ErrorMessage "Failed getting filesize -> File is not downloadable in multiple parts."
fi

# If file was downloaded before, source the old settings
if [ -e "$FileName.settings" ] ; then
. "$FileName.settings"

if [ "$FileSize" -ne "$LocalFileSize" ] ; then
ErrorMessage "Local file has different size as on server -> Resuming is not supported."
fi
else
# Save settings to file

echo "OldURL=\"$URL\"" >> "$FileName.settings"
echo "NumberOfParts=\"$NumberOfParts\"" >> "$FileName.settings"
echo "LocalFileSize=\"$FileSize\"" >> "$FileName.settings"
echo "Force=\"$Force\"" >> "$FileName.settings"
fi

# Calculate RemainingSize & SizePerPart
RemainingSize="$(($FileSize % $NumberOfParts))"
SizePerPart="$((($FileSize - $RemainingSize) / $NumberOfParts))"

# Set Start & End for first part (incl. RemainingSize)
Start="0"
End="$(($SizePerPart + $RemainingSize - 1))"

for i in `seq 1 $NumberOfParts` ; do
echo "Starting cURL #$i for $FileName..."

PartFileSize="$(($End - $Start + 1))"

# Start cURL in sub-shell
(
TempFileSize="`FileSize "$FileName.$i"`"

while [ "$PartFileSize" -gt "$TempFileSize" ] ; do
curl --silent --show-error --range "$(($Start + $TempFileSize))-$End" "$URL" >> "$FileName.$i" 2>> ""$FileName.$i.log""

TempFileSize="`FileSize "$FileName.$i"`"
done

echo "cURL #$i finished..."
) &

# Set Start & End for next part
Start="$(($End + 1))"
End="$(($Start + $SizePerPart - 1))"
done

echo "Waiting for cURLs to finish..."
wait

echo
echo -n "Assembling $FileName... "

# Remove existing file, if Force is set
if [ "yes" = "$Force" ] ; then
rm -f "$FileName"
fi

for i in `seq 1 $NumberOfParts` ; do
cat "$FileName.$i" >> "$FileName" && rm "$FileName.$i"

if [ "yes" = "$KeepLogFile" ] ; then
echo -e "\nLog for cURL #$i:\n" >> "$FileName.log"
cat -n "$FileName.$i.log" >> "$FileName.log" && rm "$FileName.$i.log"
else
rm "$FileName.$i.log"
fi
done

rm -f "$FileName.settings"

echo "Done..."

How to access blocked websites or blogs

2007-02-24T20:59:00.001+05:30

If you would like to open a blog xyz.blogspot.com , in all probability, you will get a connection timed out response.The reason behind this is that blogspot domain is blocked.
So what to do????????
1.) type inblogs.net/xyz ,
2.) pkblogs.com/xyz , OR
3.) you can go to a url rediretion site such as x28.org 3xa.org www.m32.org www.thecamelclub.org etc.(it might be possible that the common proxies are already blocked such as anonymizer) and just enter the name of the site that you want to open.
These sites are not common, so if you are lucky you might be able to open them.

Many of you must be orkut fans
But now days colleges,companies etc. have started blocking such social sites
(In our college cyberoam software restricts access to orkut)

But here lies the trick, you can use the IP address of the website instead.
How to determine the IP address , very simple, go to shell (command prompt for windows)
and type ping www.site_you_want_to_open.com
This will give you the IP address of the site.
So use http://72.14.209.85 instead of orkut.com in your browser
If orkut opens , then congrats else it seems that blocking software is smart enough
A further trick is to use decimal representation of the IP address
so instead of http://72.14.209.85 you can type http://1208930645
You can easily convert an IP address(octet notation) into decimal notation by visiting
http://www.csgnetwork.com/ipaddconv.html

But I was unable to open labnol.blogspot.com by method #1 and method #2
A message "Sorry, this is a banned blog!" comes instead
So I opened labnol.blogspot.com using m32.org, thank god it opened atlast.
But the problem with visiting url redirecting sites is that they make the surfing experience very slow.
So I decided to subscribe to labnol.blogspot.com via Google Reader
You can uses your gmail account to subscribe.
If anyone has any better idea then plz tell me.

Bbye

2007-02-19T02:07:00.000+05:30

After reading tons of blogs , I was influenced to have my own space on the internet.
So here I am.
I am a carefree person , having no regard/disregard for what people do/think or whatever..
Whatever I do , I do it in binary format, either I do it completely or I leave it.
This is the last semester(hurdle) after which I will be awarded a B.Tech in CSE degree from NIT Rourkela.
I am a strong believer of "Learning by doing" ,and I just hate to cram things up and spew them out during exams.
I love to surf the INTERNET OCEAN.
So why I read blogs, coz I like to know those hidden secrets that were hitherto concealed in the minds of those brilliant people(intelligent,geeks,photographers ,programmers, and the list goes on and on). Another reason I would like to cite is that blogs teach you about life/society/computers/... in a way that is totally new to you.You get to appreciate/criticize others' perspective , their ways of doing things.
As a matter of fact, I end up spending atleast 5-6 hrs daily on the internet.
Besides it, I love to watch cricket (but only when Sachin is batting).
Bye the way I am into TT as well.

Oh ,by the way I forgot to tell you about the latest fad in the town, LINUX.
I started using Linux as my primary OS , since my Windows XP refused to connect to internet due to lack of drivers or whatever(I don't know and even care and thank god that he gave me a reason to migrate).
So I called my friend Anant Aneja and he did some ifconfig stuff on my mandrake linux and , voila, I am seeing www.google.co.in for the first time on my desktop.
I can still remember my ecstasy,as after days of frustration, I could surf and that too on my own comp.Well ,that I think was a blessing in disguise, as I am not scared of LINUX anymore.
As a matter of fact, a few weeks back I used to download and install a new linux everyday.But now I have slowed down a bit.

Now mid semesters starting from 22nd feb, I think I should start preparing 3 days in advance.

Bye
Aman Jain