Unable to load dynamic library php_ldap.dll

[Solved] PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library c:/wamp/bin/php/php5.3.8/ext/php_ldap.dll. The specific module could not be found.

If you are using WAMP server and trying to do LDAP authentication with PHP you will probably get into this issue. Do the simplest and obvious first to check (correct) php.ini (as it is shown in phpinfo output) and extension_dir path in php.ini. If nothing works and you still see this error while starting/restarting wamp server copy libsasl.dll (located inside php folder) to system32 folder. Now restart the wamp server and this error should go away.

How to enable LDAP support for PHP on WAMP.
If you are starting fresh, download and install WAMP server (http://www.wampserver.com/en/) and install it. There is hardly anything that you can do during installation. Once the installation is done, click on wamp service->php->php extensions->ldap. Now restart the WAMP services (wamp service->Restart All Services) and you might get "PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library php_ldap.dll" dialog OR look into Apache error log (wamp server->Apache->Apache error log) for this error. Simply copy libsasl.dll into system32 folder. Now restar wamp server and php_ldap should be loaded correctly without any error.

Keywords: Configuring LDAP Windows WAMP Server

How to create ISO file from CD/DVD on MAC

1. Use drutil utility to check the CD/DVD mount point after you insert the CD/DVD

drutil status
---------------------------------------------------
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-898 HC10

Type: CD-ROM Name: /dev/disk3
Sessions: 1 Tracks: 21
Overwritable: 00:00:00 blocks: 0 / 0.00MB / 0.00MiB
Space Free: 00:00:00 blocks: 0 / 0.00MB / 0.00MiB
Space Used: 75:37:25 blocks: 340300 / 696.93MB / 664.65MiB
Writability:
---------------------------------------------------

2. Now you will need to umount the disk with the following command (use the discx for unmounting the disk as you see in Name field above:

diskutil unmountDisk disk3

3. Now you can write the ISO file with the dd utility:

dd if=/dev/disk3 of=file.iso

4. When finished you will want to remount the disk:

diskutil mountDisk disk3

Google Chrome: Tabs only close after two attempts

Since few days, I realized that it is taking "command+w" press twice to close a google chrome browser tab.

This is for sure some extensions issue. I had SlideShow extension creating this problem. If you have this extension enabled, just disable and try out. Otherwise there would be some other extensions creating this problem. Troubleshoot by disabling all of them and enabling them one by one.

In some cases this could be Chrome build problem as well because of flash.

Unable to print on Canon printers with Macbook

I have really strange problem of not been able to print on one of the new Canon MF9130 printer in my office. Tried uninstalling/reinstalling the printer driver but all in vein. Thanks to my IT manager "Marek" for the tip.

Open "Disk Utility", select "Macintosh HD" and click on "Repair Disk Permissions". This fixed the printing problem..
Hope this works out for you as well!!!

Alt+Tab Windows behavior in Mac

Being a vivid Win users for decades, I am so use to switch across applications that I was looking for something similar in Mac. My friend Radek advised me to use Witch (Windows switcher for Mac). I tried this and found quite useful and experience as close to Windows user experience (not 100% to be honest) but it fits the bill quite well. Another beauty is that this is highly configurable and you can set it as per your habit.

Beginning MAC

Hello Friends,
After Windows and Linux I am all set to put my hands on using MAC as my personal choice of laptop and OS X as choice of OS. I will keep this forum uptodate with my learning and findings whatever big or small. Specially compared to a typical Windows user which anyone is most hands on (like me ;-) )

Configuring BSNL Modem with Airtel Broadband

This blog is relevant for Broadband service providers in India.

I had BSNL broadband service and in that course I also bought Huawei ADSL modem which worked perfectly fine with BSNL (as it was pre-configured to be used with BSNL). The problem arises when I moved to new apartment and BSNL did not have their broadband service to the new location. So I moved to Airtel broadband service and the plan that I selected was charging me Rs 50 per month for the Airtel ADSL (Beetel) modem. Doesn't make sense if you have some other modem and all that matters is configuration. So here are the steps to configure your Huawei modem with Airtel service provider:

Configuring PPPoA/PPPoE (Airtel) with Huawei modem
========================================
Connect to Modem directly and set the following for TCP/IP properties (I am in Hyderabad region and the default gateway might be specific to this zone. Check with the Airtel Service Engineer about this detail if you are located in some other area)
IP-192.168.1.41
Subnet- 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway- 192.168.1.1

After the LAN is connected, go to your modem configuration page (must be http://192.168.1.1 or something similar. Check your modem documentation).

Edit ATM Setting: [For BSNL it's 0/35]. For Airtel
Set VPI as 1
Set VCI as 32

-In PPP section provide your Airtel user name and password

- PPPoA/PPPoE:PPPoE

- Enable 'Use DNS'
DHCP Mode to 'DHCP Server'

Save and Reboot (from Menu)
It should now be able to connect to Airtel broadband....

Happy Surfing

Creating windows shortcut for "Stand by"

If you are a laptop user and prefer to go "Stand by" instead of "Hibernate" or "Log Off" to save time, the quickest way to do is to use the keyboard shortcuts on the laptop keyboard (for my Dell laptop its Fn+Esc) which I use very often. However if you use external keyboard (with dock station) you are deprived of the direct laptop keyboard access and hence the only way I figure out so far is to go through Start->Shut Down and then select "Stand by" option there which I found quite irritating because of the no of clicks.

You can create a desktop shortcut and even assign a keyboard shortcut to achieve the same. Here is what you need to do:

- Right click on the desktop and click on New->Shortcut

- In the "Create Shortcut" dialog, type the following and click Next:

%windir%\System32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState

- Give a name to this shortcut (ex StandBy) and click Finish.

You will see a new shortcut on the desktop which you can double click to get you laptop/system in Stand by mode. If you want to assign some keyboard shortcut, right click on the shortcut and select Property. In the "Shortcut key" text box, select the shortcut that you want to be used for ex. Ctrl + Shift + Atl + S.

Ever wondered why your .CHM file(s) does not work?

I had couple of .CHM files, specially for C# .NET related stuff and I saw some of the chm files when I open them I see "This page cannot be displayed" error. Finally I figured out that there could be two reasons for this:

[Option 1 courtesy chan.chawla from the posted comment, adding as the first option to be tried out before going any further]

1. Double click the .chm file. It will open a security dialog. Uncheck "Always ask after opening this file". Alternatively, right click on the file you want to open, click Properties and then click Unblock. This should do the trick.

2. If you chm file name or the path contains '#' character, just get rid of that and I guess you would be able to start viewing your chm files again.

3. If nothing works, try this.

Because of a Microsoft Service Pack, the chm files does not have enough permissions (by default). This case is usually when you try to open .chm files over network. The resolution for this is as follows:

• Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
• Locate and then click the following subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\ItssRestrictions [If this registry subkey does not exist, create it]
• Right-click the ItssRestrictions subkey, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
• Type MaxAllowedZone, and then press Enter.
• Right-click the MaxAllowedZone value, and then click Modify.
• In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
• Quit Registry Editor.

For more information check http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896358.

Planning to migrate from Windows to Linux

After being a avid Windows user for years, I finally decided to give a full time shot to Linux (Ubuntu flavor). Previously I did experimented with different Linux flavors like Red Hat and Ubuntu but I never allowed them to be the only choice and take over the Windows as my default OS choice. Also during my professional career in past 11 years, my major development platform has been on Windows whether its C/C++, Java or .NET (of course ;-) ). With my not so good experience on Windows Vista (I still think XP provides much better and faster user experience than Vista), I took a long shot to switch to Ubuntu as default choice of OS. As part of this move I also dived into finding equivalent solutions for the tools/applications that I am comfortable on windows so far. I will share my experience on this transition with the OS and also the replacement of tools/applications.

Preparation:

I simply downloaded Ubuntu 9.0.4 ISO file and burnt the CD. After taking the backup of my important data (don't forget to back up browser favorites, saved passwords, outlook contacts, My Documents folder, mail pst file apart from backing obvious data files). If you are Firefox user you can also export the entire Firefox settings using Firefox plugins. There are plenty of them.

Moreover I planned this to be done on Sat so that in worst to worst case I am ready with the system by Monday without affecting my official work.

Installation:

Installing OS was hassle free. Put in Ubuntu installation CD and reboot the system. Follow the steps, format the hard disk to have clean file system and voila!! You are ready to sail with the Ubuntu. It automatically detects your wireless card, network card, sound card etc etc etc and install the relevant drivers. So in all probability you would have ready setup and can connect to internet/network with the default configuration you get. I have wireless network at home and I was able to start browsing immediately. You get multiple desktop by default (which is not built-in in Windows). I bet you would like gedit 1000 times more than notepad as default text editor. I was so pissed of with notepad on windows that I bought Textpad license for myself years back.

Applications:

After the basic OS is up and ready, I started setting it up for the applications that I would need necessarily for my day to day working. Let me take it one by one.

* Office Apps: Open Office seems to be perfect choice (so far) for the office application replacement. It can open/create/edit Office 95/2003/2007 formats and no hassles at all.

* Mail client: After bumping into multiple clients I settled back with default mail client 'Evolution'. This provides nearly similar to Outlook feature and nothing that I miss.

* Skype: Need no discussion. Simply download Skype client and you are done. The downside of the Skype notification (as compared to windows) is that whenever you received new message for the first time, it does not creates new dialog instance in the task bar. It will show red color notification in the services bar which I miss quite many times. Still need to find a solution/alternate for this.

* IM Clients: I was using all gtalk, yahoo messenger and msn separately. With Ubuntu I have to settle down with pidgin. The good part is that it provides unified way to communicate for all these (and many more) IM services. The downside is that you cannot control individually. For ex. I use to be invisible on yahoo messenger and visible on gtalk. I could not find this with pidgin (so far) and also could not find another good IM client even for individual services hence I am living with this. Waiting for yahoo to provide yahoo messenger for linux.

* UI Effects: After solving my very basic necessities, I explored for some special UI effects and 'compiz' provides me all that. It provides very granular control on the type of jazziness you want and how should it behave. So you can opt out the one you don't like as opposed to "all or none". I went for aquadream theme but I believe it is more an individual choice.

* Mail client notification: I needed this both for gmail (my preferred personal mail) and Evolution (official mail). Since pidgin does not shows up nice notification in services bar, I went out searching for options. For gmail notification I really liked 'checkgmail'. It sits peacefully in my services bar and indicates whenever I have new mail. The beauty with that is without going to my gmail page in browser, I can have a short preview, 'mark as read' or even delete (junks for me) by clicking on the services bar checkgmail icon. For the evolution I used 'mail-notification'. The notification icon was not catchy hence I modified the notification icon and painted with red boundary to make it more intuitive for me. Personally I hate a pop-up and sounds for all new mail/IM notifications, they are turned off at all the places. You might face issues in getting 'mail-notification' working and I had to spend sometime searching around to get it working.

* Browser: There are ample of choices for the browser and I explored some of them. I liked chrome on windows because it was simple and fast. After some searching I got the equivalent for Ubuntu, called chromium. You will find it very similar to Google chrome as the base engine for chrome is chromium itself. As of now it is still in active development state (I get 1-2 updates per week) but its good enough for browsing requirements. Beware that it does not support flash (completely) and printing. Hence make sure you have alternate browser (ex Firefox) for the purpose of printing. I also liked Epiphany as simple and very fast browser. Its worth spending some time with that if you want to make it as default choice.

* PDF printer: I have pdf printer installed on windows which allows me to print on pdf for archival purpose and also as an mechanism to print the details while I am not connected to printed. For ex I can book tickets at home, print to pdf using pdf printer and later take hard copy whenever I want. Ubuntu also provides cups-pdf which works very nicely.

* Virtual box: Let me make an exception on the statement I made in the beginning. I have the backup plan for having Windows if something doesn't work out and I need windows in extreme case. Hence I installer VirtualBox and prepared windows xp installation along with that. It was fluent without any problems. Best part is that with my windows running in virtual environment, I can get better resolution than my hardware supports ;-). Installing guest additions provides much better experience with windows. I normally use only two desktops (not to confuse myself) and end up in running Windows in one desktop and normal Ubuntu in another. It works like a charm.

* Keepass: Using keepass to store my passwords (because of short term memory loss ;-)) and managing huge no of accounts. There is Linux version (KeePassX) of the same and the same database can be used as is.

* Media Player: I doubt if anyone still uses Windows Media Player for all the media related requirements. I have 'media player' that has approximately all the codecs that I needed. On Ubuntu I am using VLC media player and this too is capable of playing almost any media file you have.

* Misc: Have linux versions of common technical applications like putty, svn browser (Rapidsvn and kdesvn), jdownloader etc. Hard for you to miss anything.

Downside:

After talking about lot of good things, I hate to bring some bad experiences but that eventual. Life is not so perfect where everything is all good good and good. I faced problems in the following area:

* Printer: Could not get my office printer Gestetner working so far. Tried different drivers available on net but still in vein. Ended up in configuring the printer on the windows and set up samba services on Ubuntu That way if I need to take a print for a web site, I can directly open that in windows chrome ;-) and print it. Otherwise I print that in pdf and access it from windows.

* Multiple Desktops: One big problem that I see with Ubuntu (is seamless with Windows) is multiple desktop support. I use separate monitor in office and just laptop at home. Also I have need to take off my laptop for meeting in the office. Until I had windows it was able to switch between single desktop to multiple as and when it detects it. With Ubuntu its not automatic and straight forward. I tried some approaches and finally gave up. I have to keep my office monitor aside and using laptop for everything. Will update more if I get automatic and working solution.

* Desktop widgets: Another thing I miss badly is the desktop widgets. I use to have currency converter and stocks desktop widgets working perfectly. With Ubuntu there are few choices like desklets and screenlets. I tried both of them for the stock ticker but doesn't find them good (in my humble opinion). Infact I did not get the stock ticker desklet working. It was working for screenlet but I missed currency conversion widget which was not available in screenlet. I would appreciate if someone else has an alternate for this.

Its not all but I tried to capture most of my experience during the transition and I would expect this will help others too if they are planning for similar transition. I will come up with further experience on other applications. For ex I have windows mobile phone and planning to move to iPhone.

I guess this will help others to make a quick leap if they are planning to make this move and need some quick information if there is any hard limitation waiting for them to face. I would suggest Go Ahead!! Nothing stopping in making this leap. I can bet a better experience all together for core windows users.

Also the Ubuntu user groups are very active and hence whatever problem you face, in all probabilities someone has faced it and has been discussed on the forums somewhere. So finding help is just a google away. (Apologies for MS fans but no offenses.. I know how to google and find my way out) . I have not given any command or reference for any of the applications I have mentioned as it is very straight forward to find.

Enjoy!!