If you haven’t already done it, you have to set up the EPEL repository.

For 32bit:

rpm -Uvh http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/epel/6/i386/epel-release-6-5.noarch.rpm

For 64bit:

rpm -Uvh http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/epel/6/x86_64/epel-release-6-5.noarch.rpm

Next install Nginx and spawn-fcgi, I assume you have already installed PHP and all the modules you need.

yum install nginx spawn-fcgi

Now it’s time for the spawn-fcgi configuration. The config should be at /etc/sysconfig/spawn-fcgi.

vim /etc/sysconfig/spawn-fcgi

# You must set some working options before the "spawn-fcgi" service will work.
# If SOCKET points to a file, then this file is cleaned up by the init script.
#
# See spawn-fcgi(1) for all possible options.
#
# Example :
#SOCKET=/var/run/php-fcgi.sock
OPTIONS="-a 127.0.0.1 -p 9000 -u nginx -g nginx -C 32 -F 1 -P /var/run/spawn-fcgi.pid -- /usr/bin/php-cgi"

It’s very important that you remember the port, you’ll have to set the same in the nginx configuration. You should also use the same username and group as nginx.
To play it safe, make sure the following line is not commented in the file /etc/init.d/spawn-fcgi:

config="/etc/sysconfig/spawn-fcgi"

Now let’s make sure that spawn-fcgi and nginx automatically start after a reboot.

chkconfig --level 2345 nginx on
chkconfig --level 2345 spawn-fcgi on

For more information about chkconfig check this site: http://www.centos.org/docs/5/html/Deployment_Guide-en-US/s1-services-chkconfig.html

Next up we have to fix a folder permission. The group of the session cookies folder, the address can be found in the php.ini (session.save_path = “/var/lib/php/session”). The folder group has to be changed from apache to whatever you use, e. g. nginx. You should check this after every php update.

As a last step, just add the following line to the /etc/nginx.conf and/or your custom domain configuration in /etc/nginx/conf.d/yourdomain.conf.

location ~ \.php$ {
                include        fastcgi_params;
                fastcgi_pass   localhost:9000;
                fastcgi_param  SCRIPT_FILENAME  $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        }

You should also make some additional changes in your configuration. I’m going to make another post about some of the settings.

The official wiki is always a good source for help: http://wiki.nginx.org/Configuration

The app has been developed by Mark Powell who works at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASA.

When you start the app, you may have to wait a while until the first pictures have been loaded. If you get an error message, just close the app and start it again.

Now you can see a lot of images, named after the related camera. (Hazcam and Pancam)

The newest images appear on the top. If you want to load older ones, just scroll down. Below the name of the image, you can see when the picture was taken. The date is displayed in Sols.

Once you’ve selected an image, you’ll get a little preview on the right. Select it to see the picture. You can zoom in, share the picture and there is also a 3D mode. You will need 3D red cyan glasses to see them in 3D.

This is how everything looks like:

The official  homepage is: http://www.powellware.com/Mars_Images/Mars_Images_Home.html

Android market: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.powellware.marsimages

So the first thing you have to do is to flash the GPU with a BIOS that has no such lock.

Warning: This can damage your GPU and render it useless.

You will need a way to boot into a DOS. I’ve already posted a tutorial on how to set up a bootable pen drive with FreeDOS. You can find it here.

To flash you GPU you need a tool called ATI Flash:

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2040/ATIFlash%203.89.html

Put the atiflash.exe onto your pen drive.

As already mentioned before, you’ll also need an appropriate BIOS. This Asus BIOS worked well for me:

http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/58225/Asus.HD5850.1024.090925.html

Choose a shorter name for the file (you’ll have to type it in later) and then also put it onto the pen drive.

The last thing you need on your pen drive is a backup of your current BIOS. You can create one with GPU-Z.

Now with all three files on your pen drive, reboot your PC and set the BIOS to boot from your pen drive.

One thing that will help you a lot in case of a failure is to note down every step you have to make to flash the BIOS so you can do it blindly if you graphics card won’t work after the flashing. This way you can reflash you backup easily.

So once you’ve booted into freeDOS, type atiflash -f -p 0 thenameyouchose.bin

This will flash your graphics card with the selected BIOS.

Now reboot and if your graphics card still works you can start overclocking. You will notice that you can set all the values in MSI Afterburner freely now.

You can download QTTabBar from the official homepage:  http://qttabbar.sourceforge.net/

After installing it, your Explorer window should look like this:

If you right-click your Tab, you can see some extra functions:

Most of the things here should be self explanatory. Groups are very nice. You can create groups and add folders to them. Now you can click on the star on the left and select one of your groups, this will open all of the groups folders in separate tabs.

You will also notice a little arrow pointing down when you move your mouse over a folder, if you click on that, a drop down menu will show you all the folders and files located inside of it and you can then jump directly to where you want.

You can also just move any folder to your tab bar and it will appear as a new tab.

Like I’ve already said, there are lot’s of feature you can discover, just play a little around with it.

You can download it from http://www.dexpot.de/index.php?lang=en.

First of all, one thing I really appreciate about this program is that it allows you to copy windows to every workspace, so for example if you are using two monitors like me and want to have a video on one of the monitors all the time, you can simple “copy” it to every virtual desktop.

Dexpot has a lot of functions and as far as I see it, it can do everything the workspaces in Linux do and maybe even more. I’ll just quote some stuff from the homepage and add some screenshots so you can see how it looks.

Dexgrid

Activate in ‘Settings • Plugins and Extras’.

This plugin adds a grid layout to your desktops.

• Animation during desktop switching
• Switch left, right, up or down in the grid
• Copy or move a window left, right, up or down in the grid

Screens:

2 Monitors

1 Monitor

Taskbar Pager

Activate in ‘Settings • Plugins and Extras’.

This plugin integrates a pager similar to the “Desktop Preview” directly into the Windows taskbar.

• Switch desktops with a single click
• Drag & Drop a window to another desktop
• To copy a window, drag it while holding the Ctrl key

Dexcube

Activate in ‘Settings • Plugins and Extras’.

Dexcube offers 3D transition effects.
In order to use Dexcube, you need DirectX 9 (pre-installed since Windows XP).

Possible transition effects:

• Cube
• Breakfast plate
• Wall
• Filmstrip

Change the zoom settings in order to get more effect variations.

Tip:

Press Ctrl+Alt and Up-arrow. Keep Ctrl+Alt pressed, additionally press Right-arrow or Left-arrow to rotate the cube.

Official Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSQiYmzU_QA

And there is a lot more!  http://www.dexpot.de/index.php?id=produkt

I hope you like it as much as I do. If you have questions or want me to test something or just want to tell your opinion, feel free to write a comment.

First of all you have to download Sandboxie. The free version should be enough.

http://www.sandboxie.com/

Your first step in Sandboxie is to create a new sandbox (I called it origin).

Next, select Configure from the menu and click on Edit Configuration.

In the now opened Sandbox.ini add at the bottom of the file under the [origin] category:

OpenFilePath=C:\
OpenFilePath=C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin\
OpenFilePath=C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\
OpenFilePath=C:\Users\Username\Documents\Battlefield 3\
OpenFilePath=C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Origin
OpenFilePath=C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Origin
OpenFilePath=C:\Program Files (x86)\SRWare Iron\

The paths might differ from your installation so you have to check them. In this case I am using SRWare Iron as Browser for BF3, you have to run the Browser you want to use for the Battlelog in a sandbox, else the BF3.exe might crash.
Underneath this, you can add all the folders you want Origin to not access.
For example:

ClosedFilePath=Z:\
ClosedFilePath=X:\
ClosedFilePath=G:\
ClosedFilePath=C:\foobar2000\
ClosedFilePath=C:\LaTeX\
ClosedFilePath=C:\MinGW\
ClosedFilePath=C:\Python27\
ClosedFilePath=C:\ProgramData\Adobe\
ClosedFilePath=C:\ProgramData\BOINC\
ClosedFilePath=C:\ProgramData\MiKTeX\

etc.

A fast way to do this is to go to the Folder (for example C:\Program Files (x86)) and click on the icon before the folder path:

Next replace it with cmd and press enter:

Now a console window is open, type dir /d and press enter.

Now you will see all the folders, you just have to copy them and replace the brackets.

Attention!
Do not Close the File Path for folders you opened at the beginning, in this case:

C:\
C:\Program Files (x86)
C:\Users\Username\Documents\
C:\Users\Username\AppData\

Attention 64bit Users! To prevent random crashes, block access to the IGO32.dll

ClosedFilePath=C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin\IGO32.dll

Remember that you have to start the Browser and Origin in the Sandbox. You can let them always start in a Sandbox by adding this to the Sandbox.ini file:

This only works for the purchased version of Sandboxie.

ForceProcess=bf3.exe
ForceProcess=origin.exe
ForceFolder=C:\Program Files (x86)\SRWare Iron

Here are two links that helped me:

http://www.sandboxie.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=11767

http://bf3blog.com/forum/topic/how-to-make-origin-stay-away-from-the-rest-of-your-computer

If you have questions or problems, feel free to write a comment, I’m  happy to help you.

To fix this, first open /etc/default/grub with your favourite editor.

sudo vim /etc/default/grub

Find the line

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

and change it to

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="i8042.nopnp"

Now update grub and reboot.

sudo update-grub

sudo shutdown -r now

First of all you have to download the Windows Live Calendar Gadget. Next go to the settings of your Google calendar.

Now click on your calendar and select the private ICAL address.

Copy the shown address and paste it into the settings of the Windows Live Calendar Gadget.

That’s it.

TmpFS

This is how you mount a tmpfs volume with 128MB space:

# mkdir -p /mnt/tmp
# mount -t tmpfs -o size=128m tmpfs /mnt/tmp

If you don’t set the size, it will use 50% of the available memory. You can set the size as a normal value (size=128[k,m,g]) or as a percentage value (size=20%).

If you want to see if it worked or how much of the device is used, use the command df -k.

In my opinion, this is the best method to set up a ram device. There is also ramfs, on which tmpfs is based on, but I don’t recommend it.

Don’t forget that you will loose all the data on the ram device if the computer reboots or crashes, so make sure you do regular backups.

For more information, check out this link:

• http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2008/11/overview-of-ramfs-and-tmpfs-on-linux/

Since Linux Kernel 2.4 ramdisk support is built-in.

To see the names of the ramdisk devices:

# ls -l /dev/ram*
brw-rw----. 1 root disk 1,  0 Sep 16 20:40 /dev/ram0
brw-rw----. 1 root disk 1,  1 Sep 16 20:36 /dev/ram1
brw-rw----. 1 root disk 1, 10 Sep 16 20:36 /dev/ram10
brw-rw----. 1 root disk 1, 11 Sep 16 20:36 /dev/ram11
brw-rw----. 1 root disk 1, 12 Sep 16 20:36 /dev/ram12
brw-rw----. 1 root disk 1, 13 Sep 16 20:36 /dev/ram13
brw-rw----. 1 root disk 1, 14 Sep 16 20:36 /dev/ram14
brw-rw----. 1 root disk 1, 15 Sep 16 20:36 /dev/ram15
brw-rw----. 1 root disk 1,  2 Sep 16 20:36 /dev/ram2
brw-rw----. 1 root disk 1,  3 Sep 16 20:36 /dev/ram3
brw-rw----. 1 root disk 1,  4 Sep 16 20:36 /dev/ram4
brw-rw----. 1 root disk 1,  5 Sep 16 20:36 /dev/ram5
brw-rw----. 1 root disk 1,  6 Sep 16 20:36 /dev/ram6
brw-rw----. 1 root disk 1,  7 Sep 16 20:36 /dev/ram7
brw-rw----. 1 root disk 1,  8 Sep 16 20:36 /dev/ram8
brw-rw----. 1 root disk 1,  9 Sep 16 20:36 /dev/ram9

The standard ramdisk size is very low ( < 20MB) so you may need to increase it.
To increase it, in my case to 128MB, you have to edit the /etc/grub.conf and add ramdisk_size=131072 at the end of the kernel line:

 kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-71.29.1.el6.x86_64 ro root=/dev/md2 ramdisk_size=131072 

Now reboot so the changes take effect.

Once rebooted, format one of the ramdisk devices:

mke2fs -m 0 /dev/ram0

Now create a folder, mount the device and set the appropriate owner.

mkdir /home/user/ramdisk 

mount /dev/ram0 /home/user/ramdisk 

chown user:user /home/user/ramdisk

That’s it. Remember that everything you put onto the ramdisk is lost after rebooting. So back it up before you reboot the server or better set up a cron job to do regular backups for you.

If you want the ramdisk to be set up automatically after a reboot add the following to your /etc/rc.local file:

mke2fs -m 0 /dev/ram0 

mount /dev/ram0 /home/user/ramdisk 

chown user:user /home/user/ramdisk 

# Example for copying the backup back on the ramdisk 

# cp -R /home/user/backup/* /home/user/ramdisk/