TAB2XML awk script

This is a one level deep conversion from a tab file to xml.  So you have to manually change "catalog" and "sku" to your likings.

 

<code>

awk -F'\t' '
BEGIN { printf("<catalog>\n"); }
NR==1 {
for ( i=1 ; i<=NF ; i++ )
 name[i] = $i;
}
NR>1 {
 printf(" <sku>\n");
 for ( i=1 ; i<=NF ; i++ )
   printf("  <%s>%s</%s>\n",name[i],$i,name[i]);
   printf(" </sku>\n");
 }
END { printf("</catalog>\n"); }
' inventory.tab > inventory.xml
</code>

 

Firmware Flashing a Digi Etherlite 32

After compiling the dgrp kernel module I needed to update the firmware of an Etherlite 32:

1. Power down the Etherlite

2. # /usr/sbin/dgipserv -erase <MAC> <IPADDR_OF_ETHERLITE>

3. Power up the Etherlite.

4. Make sure the dhcpd and tftp is not running.

5. # chkconfig dhcpd off; chkconfig tftp off

6. This was what was throwing me off - I thought I had to pre-configure additional linux bootp/tftp services which you don't.  The dgipserv command serves up it's own bootp and tftp services which is convienient.. 

7. Power down the Etherlite

8. # /usr/sbin/dgipserv -tftp <IPADDR_OF_SERVER> -firmware /tftpboot/800007009_E.bin <MAC> <IPADDR_OF_ETHERLITE>

9. Power up the Etherlite.

10. You should have a "Firmware successfully uploaded."

11. Power down the Etherlite

12. Now we need to make the ip settings permanent.

13.  # /usr/sbin/dgipserv -store -gateway <IP_GATEWAY> -netmask <IP_MASK> <MAC> <IPADDR_OF_ETHERLITE>

14. Power down and back up the Etherlite to make sure the new ip address stuck this time.

 

Note: I could never get rlogin to work with my etherlite, so I can't tell what the current firmware version was/is.

Humbled by the SC440 and SAS 5/iR controller on CentOS 5.1

Why isn't Dell's SAS Raid Storage Manger clueing me into whats wrong?

Let me back up and ask this: Since, the kernel is gratiously working a controller, are there not any generic commands that query the SAS subsystem to report back overall statuses of hard drives and raids? I'm not a kernel programmer, but I just can't understand why you put all the effort into writing a driver which natively works with the kernel, and linux doesn't give you a way to inspect the most basics of information other than the spartan:

# cat /proc/scsi/mptsas/0
ioc0: LSISAS1068, FwRev=000a3300h, Ports=1, MaxQ=286

So, last ditch effort, I updated the bios and firmware on the SC440 and SAS 5/iR controller, and reinstalled Dell's SAS Raid Storage Manger v2.16-01 for RHEL5. Still no luck - "No Storage Controller Found!".

Bryan Mclellan told me I need to make sure the mptctl module was loaded - he was right.

I added "modprobe mptctl" at bootup according to these instructions:
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-4-Manual/sysadmin-guide/s1-kernel-modules-persistant.html

Now, not only does the Dell SSM (aka LSI's MSM) software sees the controller, also a nifty tool called mpt-status (http://www.drugphish.ch/~ratz/mpt-status/) works as well:

# ./mpt-status
ioc0 vol_id 0 type IM, 2 phy, 135 GB, state OPTIMAL, flags ENABLED
ioc0 phy 1 scsi_id 32 SEAGATE ST3146755SS T107, 136 GB, state ONLINE,
flags NONE
ioc0 phy 0 scsi_id 1 SEAGATE ST3146755SS T107, 136 GB, state ONLINE,
flags NONE

Now, IMHO, mpt-status is the kind of utility that should be a part of the
SAS subsytem commands and also give clues as to what drivers aren't loaded.
I'm not neccessarily looking to *control* every proprietary controller with
one utility, but at least be able to monitor the status of any controller
with on command across all manufactures. Imagine a different ls command for
Dell, HP, IBM, etc....

I won't let you save your satelite - na na na boo boo

Legal rambles I'd never imagine in the space industry. If your satelite is under orbit and needs to be corrected, you can't do it because a company might have a patent on the procedure to correct the orbit.

So, you splash the bird and milk your insurance company for a payout (rates go up), all because of a scobble with Boeing. $$Millions down the toilet.

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Boeing_Patent_Shuts_Down_AMC_14_Lunar_Flyby_Salvage_Attempt_999.html

This is like me needing a special heart surgery technique and the doctor has to stop in the middle of the operation, go make a few phone calls to make sure he can us a special widget tool, gets denied, and then I flatline.

An emergency patent revokation/suspension should happen by USPTO to save that bird! Engineers are so smart just to have their hard work get trashed by the legal system.

The Fleck browser Add-on/Extension to Firefox/IE

I wrote this review (if they accept it) on mozilla.org's for the Fleck extension here:

Upon viewing the html source, Fleck uses javascripts coming from Plexo - a company that harvests email addresses, birthdays, etc. to supposedly help you keep your email address book up-to-date. I am very suspicous of Plexo. Now I am suspicious of Fleck. I made two annotations on a testsite that I'm working on and those annotation were made public. I tried to changing them to private but it was too late. I repeatedly tried to deleted those notes but actions were ignored - even though I was the author of the note. These annotations seem to be forever persistent and no way to clean them up. I even became a register user to try and delete or modify the notes - not working. There doesn't appear to be a way to filter the annotations by a specific set of co-worker submitters - thereby weeding out the public. Even though Fleck is still in beta and they have a cheap $2.99/mo fee for 'unspecified' extra features, I just can't get past the association with what I consider a data mining company - Plexo.

Hopefully someone will make an annotation tool that will allow you to store your own info on a private server via webdav or something. Keep dreaming!

HP Officejet 6310 - Hey HP!, Vista's hurting you!

HP's tech support told me that Vista Business version was causing the
problem. Vista Home or Ultimate would work fine, they said. "Really!?,
I said."

The issue at hand is that the printer will loose communication: "HP
Solution Center cannot detect my HP printer ...". This happens when
Vista either wakes up from sleep mode or Vista somehow locks down a
long-standing TCP applications that sees no activity. Rebooting doesn't
help - odd! Only performing a Level3.bat uninstall and reinstall of the
HP drive will indeed make the printer work again. Unfortunately the
problem faithfully returns (usually the next day). Furthermore, the
printer icon sometimes disappears too. I promptly returned the 6310
for a Brother all-in-one and everything works just fine. I just can't
wait on HP waiting for Vista's service pack from Microsoft. Brother
didn't wait - they just made it work! I'm not sure what Brother is
doing right and HP is doing wrong.

There's something extremely disturbing to me when HP has a CCC directory
containing multiple levels of uninstall. Just consider the enormous
size of HP's all-on-one software. I feel sorry for those use need to
run multiple HP all-on-ones on the same computer. Good luck.