Stabeler.com

Installing a Python package locally on a linux box

Posted: Thu 10th Mar 2011@11:01

I recently needed to install a python module on server for which I don't have Admin privileges. It took a while, but by reading the python guide, and a forum post about creating linux environment variables, I managed to get it to work. (In this case, Ubuntu Server 10.?

Step 1.

Get the package you want to install - in my case, matplotlib.

wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/matplotlib/matplotlib/matplotlib-1.0.1/matplotlib-1.0.1.tar.gz

Unzip/tar/gz it:

gunzip -c matplotlib-1.0.1.tar.gz | tar xf -

Step 2.

CD into the directory, and install it to the directory of your choice. tilde (~) will install it into your home directoty, uder /home/{username}/lib/python/{modulename}

cd {unzipped directory}
python setup.py --home=~

Step 3.
Set environmental variable for PYTHONPATH so that python searches this location for packages.

I chose to use the .bash_profile method as follows.
In your home directory, open the .bash_profile file, if it does not exist, you can create it.
Add the following:

PYTHONPATH=~/lib/python/
export PYTHONPATH

Where ~/lib/python/ is the path you set above. Save it, and logout and back in again.

You should now be able to see that it variable is set, simply by typing $PYTHONPATH

How to Download BBC iPlayer content without a proxy

Posted: Fri 11th Feb 2011@10:54

In my previous post, I explained how to watch BBC iPlayer abroad and how to get BBC iPlayer Desktop working abroad.



This guide will shows you how to get the content on your desktop without the need to download it through a proxy service. However, you will still need to initiate a connection through a proxy.

I recommend using BigBadWeb's SSH service.

Goodbye to galleries, stuff, test and gaping holes

Posted: Mon 8th Nov 2010@15:46

When I started this website back in 2001, inspired by a friend, trading under Systar Systems, who had just started a web hosting enterprse, I really didn't have a clue what I was doing. You could say, that despite spending the best part of the last 10 years learning more about the art of 'making websites', I still don't!

The big change came when I started on the Internet Computing course at Scarborough, and was inspired to start hacking together (in the tinkering sense), something a bit more sensible. Two of housemates and friends in year 2 onwards, Tom and Geffy suggested I write (as in code up) a blog, and another one, Chris, via OpenHosting, provided the means.

I was recently clearing out the drawers as it were, and found some terrible code back hiding away in obscure locations, and a huge amount of images, which, google analytics tells me, no-one looks at (apart from a few galleries of my brother's wedding photos). I decided that all of the 'test' code should exist somewhere less visible to the world, and have cleared it all out. And it is with a little sadness that I have also decided to remove the galleries from the site, they serve no real purpose, and will be better preserved somewhere like Flickr, or PicasaWeb, or Dropbox. I haven't quite decided how to do it, but I think I will reseve Flickr for the more professional type of photos, Picasa for personal snaps, and Dropbox for private photos to share between freinds.

As I was clearing I also came across some throwbacks from earlier incarnations, which got me thinking about some of the great ideas Nick and I had come up with in the past, which through the power of the wayback machine you can re-live!:

• The life story of JefferyDagoblin


• Jeffery Dagoblins Esoteric Auction Site


• Stabeler's amazing inventions and here - comedy products to buy from the Stabeler bros.


• Dave Morgan's Drinking Guide


• Dr. Nick's Problem Page


• Le Bird - A terrible idea to create a life sized lady out of chicken wire and plaster

So, what is next for the 'legendary' stabeler.com? Well, I think that I will move the blogging aspects to my other domain, and keep the stabeler.com domain just for emails for family, perhaps even a mostly-private family archive.

But for now, you can still get your stabeler gibberish blogposts from here!

How to get BBC iPlayer Desktop working abroad

Posted: Fri 12th Feb 2010@16:17

A while back I posted a guide showing how to get the BBC iPlayer to work abroad, but recently, I wanted to try to get the desktop application to work, so that I could watch things offline. However, I soon realised that the BBC's terms and conditions forbids the downloading of programs outside of the UK.

I did however manage to get this to work, without breaching the terms and conditions. This is how:

Follow the guide mentioned above to get the BBC iPlayer website to work. Then head over to the iPlayer Desktop download page, this will only allow you to download the application if you are in the UK, or according to the BBC T&Cs, your IP address must be located in the UK, which, thanks to our SSH Tunnel, is.

Install the app (needs Adobe Air installed), which, if you are not using the SSH tunnel using IE, will fail to let you download things! Doh!

However, as you might have guessed, if you alter your internet options in Internet Explorer to use localhost and port 1080 (using ONLY the Socks proxy), in turn, Adobe Air will use these settings, and in turn, so will the BBC iPlayer desktop app. And of course, as the app is tunnelling to your UK proxy, you are downloading the stuff in the UK. :)



This works for Internet Explorer, Chrome and any other application that uses Windows default settings (Internet Options), including Adobe AIR.

If you want to get a UK SSH account (at a reasonable rate) please See here.

Hope this helps! :) if you found this helpful, you can contribute £1 to me!

Lenovo Thinkvantage Password Manager - Patch for Firefox 3.5+ on Windows 7 (64bit)

Posted: Fri 22nd Jan 2010@09:25

Some error in the Password Manger add-on for Firefox means that everytime the browser opens, it gives the annoying message that the add-on cannot be registered with Chrome.

The solution is to edit one of the files in the add-on, to support this higher version of Firefox.

I have done this fix, and have provided the file to download here, as although there was an abundance of instructions on how to fix it, no-one seems to have provided the file anywhere!

Hope this helps someone out.

iPhone 3G, OS 3.1.2 Jailbreak and Tethering with Ubuntu 9.10 (UNR) and Windows 7 on Three Ireland

Posted: Fri 4th Dec 2009@17:16

I recently had the opportunity to test out an iPhone 3G, I wanted to see if I could get it to perform the same functions as my current phone - Nokia N95:

• Work with Three Ireland SIM card


• MMS/SMS/Email Messages Etc.


• Internet/Broadband/3G connection/tethering

The answer:YES, but I had to jailbreak it and unlock it in the following way.

Step 1 - Jailbreak

Using the instructions from this site I used the blackra1n application to jailbreak the iPhone, this was surprisingly easy. The reason the phone needs to be jailbroken, is so that it can install an application that allows the SIM lock to be removed (SIM Unlock). I also installed Cydia and Rock, however I don't think I needed to install both.

Step 2 - Unlock

Using the instructions from this site I used the blacksn0w application to unlock the phone. again very simple.

This allowed me to use my Three Ireland SIM card in the iPhone. The settings were automatically detected, and I was able to use the phone, internet, MMS etc. without a problem.

Step 3 - Tethering

The only niggle left, was to be able to share the phone's internet connection with my netbook, which I was able to do very easily with my N95. After a bit of searching, I found this site which carries the tethering settings for most operators, however, Three Ireland is not listed, so using their Mobile Config Generator, I inserted the settings for Three Ireland as shown below, and the iPhone installed the tethering options.

APN	Username	Password
3ireland.ie	none	none

note that 'none' above means you type in 'none', NOT leave it blank

After this, I enabled tethering on the iPhone and it showed up on my Windows 7 PC as a new network connection when plugged in via USB. However, using my Ubuntu 9.10 (UNR) Netbook (EEEPC 901) I was unable to see the iPhone when plugged into USB, however, it worked perfectly well when creating a new bluetooth pairing, and selecting the checkbox 'use mobile devices internet connection', manifested as an option (Showing BT Mac Address) when clicking on the network icon on the taskbar.

I was also able to successfully reset the phone back to the official version of the firmware.

Hope this helps! :) if you found this helpful, you can contribute £1 to me!

Himself vs Herself

Posted: Tue 24th Nov 2009@15:24

I have noticed whilst reading numerous academic papers, blogs and articles etc., that the Authors tend towards using a the female term to refer to people of an unknown gender, whereas I always understood the default to be the male pronoun.

for example:

We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the work of several pioneers, who have worked on making it possible for an average citizen to educate Herself about the laws of the land:

source


I have often wondered to myself, why this is, I wondered whether it was that no-one would get offended at using the female term, but some might get offended if the female term was not represented. Maybe it isn't that at all, perhaps it's just lazyness, as the correct grammer would be to use both e.g.

We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the work of several pioneers, who have worked on making it possible for an average citizen to educate Himself or Herself about the laws of the land:


Suspended hyphenation may be accetable, Him- or Herself, but the nearest I could find to an appropriate shortened version would be to use Themselves (but not Themself), but I get the impression that is only acceptable in British English (En-UK?).

I think I will try to use the full terminology. Does anyone know and English expert who can tell me the correct usage? :)