I was messing around with my Mac computer tonight and discovered that my Boot Camp installation of Windows XP was not working. I was trying to boot up into my Windows XP installation and it continued to fail for me. I could get to the installation thorough Parallels, but that was it. I figured that if there was no way for me to access my Windows installation was through Parallels I might as well reinstall Windows in a Parallels Virtual Machine.

I started the installation, then realized that I did not have my Windows Product Key. Since I did not have a easy way to contact technical support I decided to do a little Google research. I found that I could retrieve the Windows Product Key from another installation of Windows XP by using RockXP 4.0 Beta .

RockXP is a cool little utility that will scan your installation and display your Microsoft Product Keys for you. In about 5 minutes I got my product key and wrote it down in a flash. I then ran over to my Mac and entered the Product Key that was given to me. With a skeptical click of the next button, I was relieved to see that the key was accepted. Thank god for the web and cool utilities like this, that has saved my another sleepless night wondering how I am going to get my computer fixed.

UPDATE: While this product did return the product key that I needed, it might have also introduced some viruses on the system in which it was installed. Be careful when using this software because of viruses. I would only use it as a last resort.

Now I know that creating a comma separated file is no big deal, and is quite trivial. I am sure that everyone, at one time or another, has written a program where they either had to read and/or write a CSV file. I know that I have had to do this on numerous occasions. I use to add quotations and comma‘s in my data to delineate the different fields. As this does work, I never took the time to create a set of utilities in a jar file that I could import into any of my projects and easy call and use.

Well instead of creating my own code utility I did a little searching on the internet. Low and behold I found the Ostermiller Java Utilities which provides everything that I ever wanted in writing and reading CSV files. Not only does the author provide you with a easy and reusable way of working with CSV file, he has incorporated a bunch of other utilities for you as well. I have found that his Java CSV utilities to be very easy to use and are well documented with nice examples. I like the way that the author has incorporated different calls for created not only regular CSV files but has incorporated all the rules necessary for creating Excel CSV formats. Using this tool, I have never had a issue with another application reading my CSV output.

His tool does not only assist you while working with CSV files, but he has also created many other useful utility that can just simply save you time. Here is a list from his site what the utility provides.

• ArrayHelper – Helpful utilities for working with arrays.
• Base64 – Encode and decode base 64.
• Browser – Open a browser from an application on Windows, Unix, or Macintosh.
• CGI Query String Parser – Libraries to to parse the query data supplied by HTTP GET or POST requests.
• Circular Buffers – Implements the circular buffer producer/consumer model for bytes.
• Command Line Parser – Handle options and arguments to Java command line programs.
• Concatenation Streams – Combine multiple streams of incoming data to create a single stream.
• Comma Separated Values (CSV) – Libraries to read and write files in Comma Separated Value (CSV) format. (Excel CSV Format also available)
• Exec Helper – Convenience methods for executing external applications that output data.
• File Helper – Methods for manipulating files.
• Iterators and Enumerations – Convert between Iterators and Enumerations or convert arrays to Iterators or Enumerations.
• Line Ends – Converts text files between various system formats.
• MD5 Sums – Classes for generating MD5 checksums on String, Byte arrays, Streams, or Files.
• NoClose Streams – Create streams that cannot be closed with the regular close() mechanism.
• Parallelizer – Runs multiple jobs in parallel, n threads at a time, and waits until all threads are complete before continuing.
• Password Dialog – A password dialog box written for Swing.
• Random Password Generator – Generate a random String using a cryptographically secure random number generator.
• Significant Figures – Handles parsing, rounding, and displaying numbers for scientific applications.
• Size Limit Input Stream – Create a substream of a specified length from an existing input stream.
• String Helper – Methods for formatting, manipulating, and querying Strings.
• String Tokenizer – A StringTokenizer replacement with enhancements.
• Straight Stream Reader – An input stream reader that does no character class translation.
• Tabs – Tab adjuster that can convert tabs to spaces and vice versa.
• Uber Properties – A replacement for the java.utils.Properties class with enhancements.
  

I am in the process of getting Shibboleth service providers setup on machines in our web environment. The newest, and one of the most urgent service provider that I have to setup is running on a Oracle Application Server. I wanted to get this setup and running in a local test environment so I can show the admins what needs to be done. I decided to get my test system setup under a Virtual Machine in Parallels on my Mac OSX running Centos 5 I had a few hurdles in getting the software installed, but this is what I did.

1. Downloaded the Centos 5 installation image from here.
2. Downloaded the Oracle Application Server Deployment Edition from here.
3. Created a Parallels Virtual machine and ran the Centos 5 DVD iso image to setup to machine. (You will need a gui environment to run the Oracle Universal Installer)
4. Ftp'd the Oracle Application Server CIPO file to the Centos 5 VM.
5. Ran this command to expand the cipo file cipo -idv <
6. Commented out the line under [Certified Versions] in the oraparam.ini file located in the install directory to make it so dependency checking is turned off.
7. Installed the following files. (I found this in the install instructions here, but I just used yum instead of getting the files from the disk)

   
   # From CentOS 5.1 – [CD #1]
   mkdir -p /media/cdrom
   mount -r /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom
   cd /media/cdrom/CentOS
   rpm –Uvh binutils-2.*
   rpm –Uvh glibc-2*
   rpm –Uvh glibc-common-2.*
   rpm –Uvh libaio-0*
   rpm –Uvh libgcc-4.*
   rpm –Uvh libstdc++-4.*
   rpm –Uvh make-3*
   rpm –Uvh setarch-2*
   cd /
   eject
   
   # From CentOS 5.1 – [CD #2]
   mount -r /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom
   cd /media/cdrom/CentOS
   rpm –Uvh glibc-devel-2.*
   rpm –Uvh gcc-4*
   rpm –Uvh gcc-c++-4.*
   rpm –Uvh libstdc++-devel-4.*
   cd /
   eject
   
   # From CentOS 5.1 – [CD #3]
   mount -r /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom
   cd /media/cdrom/CentOS
   rpm –Uvh compat-db-4*
   rpm –Uvh compat-gcc-34–3*
   rpm –Uvh compat-gcc-34-c++-3*
   rpm –Uvh compat-libstdc++-33–3*
   rpm –Uvh libaio-devel-0.*
   rpm –Uvh libXp-1*
   rpm –Uvh openmotif-2*
   rpm –Uvh sysstat-7.*
   cd /
   eject
   

8. Next I installed the following rpm becuase I was getting a libdb.so.2 library not found exception. I found the instructions to fix it here.

   1. I did a Google search on "db1-1.85-8.i386" and found man pages that had a link to the rpm I needed.
   
   
   2. I downloaded the rpm, within the centos gui, and it asked me to install the rpm.
   
   
   3. I installed the rpm, and the library was now available.
   
   

9. Now all I had to do was run the installation of ./runInstallation and everything worked great for me.

I hope that you found this helpful. Please leave comments or extra tips and I will add them to this page.

Here is a little online picture book that is great for telling people how to use the internet. Is is full of laughs.

Baby's First Internet

Soon we will be taking my daughter to Indianapolis, Indiana to spend some time with here family there. Dropping her off in Indy is always found with mixed emotions. It sucks not having her around, because I do miss the little wookie while she is gone, but it is also like a summer vacation, where we don‘t have to worry with sitters and can do as we please. Now that Maddie is getting older, sitters are becoming a thing of the past. She is now independent and is a growing teenager. She has her own cell phone, can text message like a pro, and is usually fun to have around. She always want to talk, or at least talk about what she is interested in, and is pretty easy going.

In the past our Summer break has been filled with catching up on house chores and maintenance. One year we went to Telluride, Colorado to see the Telluride Bluegrass festival. We drove all the way from North Carolina to Colorado with a bag of camping equipment strapped to the roof of my old Pontiac Grand Am and a dog chilling in the back seat. Last year Amber had a big surgery and was in a lot of pain. We did not do much, but try to get Amber feeling better, and I was trying to adjust to a new job.

Well this year we do not have many plans. One thing we are going to do on our way back home from Indy is we are going to stop and see Moe. in Cincinnati, OH. This is going to be a great show and a kick start to our short Summer Vacation. I can‘t wait to jam out to some Moe. and kick it old school. We are also going to catch Jack Johnson play at Walnut Creek in Raleigh NC. We have pit passes and will be chilling front row. I have always wanted to see Jack Johnson, and this will be my first show. Shortly after that, we will have to hit the road again and pick Maddie back up.

I have found it funny that her trips to Indy always make me appreciate having her around the house. I guess it is true that absence makes the heart grow fonder. It will be weird when she is off to college and won‘t want to hang with the parental units anymore. I guess then me and my wife will have to plan some crazy trips and get into our own adventures.

I guess her being away for about three weeks is not too long, but for some reason it will feel like forever.