Adobe AIR Linux Troubleshooting: Application not Installing

Scenario: You try to install an application, say TweetDeck, and it fails.

1. Make sure that you have the latest runtime installed on your system. If not, use the following link

http://get.adobe.com/air

2. Are you installing the application from browser (using AIR’s seamless installation feature)? If yes,  then please first remove the .macromedia folder from your home directory and then try again.

3.  Make sure that  Keyring (for GNOME) or Kwallet (for KDE) daemon is running on your system. Run the following commands to achieve the same:

* For GNOME:      ps -ax | grep gnome-keyring

* For KDE:             ps -ax | grep kwallet

If the above commands do not show the daemon running, please start it.

4. If nothing works till now, then generate the installation log and send it to me (romilATadobeDOT.com). Use the following steps to generate the log:

a) Open a shell

b) Run:   touch .airappinstall.log

c) Run: Adobe AIR Application Installer  <complete path to AIR Application>

d) After it fails, read the contents of .airappinstall.log file and send it to me.

Hope this helps. Thanks.

Adobe AIR 1.5.1 Released

Adobe released its latest version (1.5.1) of AIR Runtime a couple of days back. It is a relatively minor update that includes a number of bug fixes. The new builds are available for Windows, Mac and Linux on the Adobe AIR download center.

You can find more details here:

http://blogs.adobe.com/air/2009/02/adobe_air_151_released.html

As a part of the development team of AIR Linux, it was an amazing experience. For the first time, AIR Runtime was release simultaneously on all the three platforms – Win, Mac and Linux. I will keep posting about troubleshooting issues and other tips/tricks revolving around AIR.

Happy AIRing!!

Landing in Bengal?

Oh, by the way, I came across this really nice post talking about land reforms in West Bengal. It clearly shows the manner in which how easily media and politics can overpower your mind if you are not aware of the facts and figures.

http://www.pragoti.org/node/1883

A small excerpt from the above link:

Such is the power of the media, that in recent months, the very names of Singur and Nandigram in West Bengal have become synonymous with forcible land acquisition by the state all over India. This is truly remarkable, because in fact no land was ever actually acquired for industrialisation in Nandigram after the violent protests against it. And it is widely acknowledged that the terms of acquisition of the 1000 acres required for the Tata automobile factory in Singur were the most favourable for the peasantry, of any such acquisition across India. Indeed, the Singur model ought to be viewed far more favourably, if only because it is the first time that not just owners of land but also tenant farmers were sought to be given some compensation…

Which phone is Smarter?

The smartphone market is growing by leaps and bounds as people start to realise what is possible with an internet connection and a powerful operating system in the palm of their hand. But despite the fact that Symbian’s operating system is used by 60 per ent of the world’s smartphones — most of which were sold by Nokia — upstarts like Apple and Google have pushed the established smartphone industry to evolve their software with the times.

Following are the smartphone efforts being carried out by different companies/foundations:

Symbian is going open source after seeing competition from Limo and Android which are already open-source. There are two predominant User Interface (UI’s) SDKs for the Symbian OS, namely S60 and UIQ. The predominant feature of both User Interfaces is that the installation of third party applications is permitted. S60 is developed and owned by Nokia and UIQ is developed by UIQ Technologies which was recently acquired by Sony Ericsson. Recently, Nokia acquired the remaining share of development company Symbian Ltd. that it did not already own. Now it is in process of fusing together its three disparate user interface layers – UIQ, DoCoMo’s MOAP, and its own S60 — into a common framework. Symbian has the largest share in most markets worldwide.

Windows CE operating system along with Windows Mobile middleware are widely spread in Asia. The two improved variants of this operating system, Windows Mobile 6 Professional (for touch screen devices) and Windows Mobile 6 Standard were unveiled in February 2007. Windows Mobile is enjoying great popularity because of the low barrier to entry for third-party developers to write new applications for the platform.

Limo Foundation is the first working on Linux platform and was established by Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic, Samsung and Vodafone at the beginning of 2007, with the goal of delivering an open, Linux-based platform for mobile devices. Some of the commercial devices running LiMo include the Motorola Razr2 V8 and Motorokr Z6.

Then there’s the Google-led Open Handset Alliance that draws together dozens of companies to work on an operating system called Android. “The first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices” is how Andy Rubin, director of mobile platforms at Google, described the effort, unveiled in November 2007.

Apple and RIM are special in the sense that they are following a slightly different track because they provide both the hardware and software themselves.

Mergers & Acquisitions: There are lot of discussions going around regarding the issues related to all these technologies working together. One of them could be found here:

http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/64033.html

In this platform game, the winner is going to be the one that can attract the most developers.

Penguin Profits

Some people compare open source and free software to oxygen and water. These resources are all around us, and most of us are used to getting them for free. But there are still opportunities for people to make money by selling oxygen or water: Purify it, bottle it and deliver it, and it becomes a cash cow.

There are a couple of very nice articles which discuss about the ways in which you can make money with Linux. Instead of duplicating the information, I would prefer pointing you to the links (thanks to their authors):

http://www.heritage-tech.net/430/can-you-make-money-from-linux/

http://www.crn.com/it-channel/18804283

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/21161.html

We are at the top! Woohoooo!

Oh by the way, I came across this list which shows that we are the world-leaders! Yes, we topped the chart! If you are still guessing, unfortunately it is the list of most densely populated cities (persons per sq km) of the world

1	Mumbai	India	29,650
2	Kolkata	India	23,900
3	Karachi	Pakistan	18,900
5	Shenzhen	China	17,150
6	Seoul	SouthKorea	16,700
7	Taipei	Taiwan	15,200
8	Chennai	India	14,350
9	Bogota	Colombia	13,500
10	Shanghai	China	13,400
12	Beijing	China	11,500
13	Delhi	India	11,050
19	Bangalore	India	10,100
24	Hyderabad	India	9,100
25	SaoPaulo	Brazil	9,000
26	StPetersburg	Russia	8,550
27	MexicoCity	Mexico	8,400
29	Singapore	Singapore	8,350
38	Kyoto	Japan	6,400
43	London	UK	5,100
90	LosAngeles	USA	4,320
107	SanJose	USA	2,300
114	NewYork	USA	2,050

Though this is no new information and we all are vaguely aware of this, I did not know the exact numbers. It was surprising to know that the most densely populated city of US of A accommodates just one person in the same area in which our nation accommodates more than 15 people! I am not against the drive of controlling population, but this fact anyway needs to be appreciated.

And after knowing these numbers, you might sympathize with the blatantly criticized issues like unmanageable traffic, housing issues, infrastructure, education, resources, funds etc etc.

Mystery behind the doors!

Oh by the way, I could not write for so long.. I would not say that I didn’t get time, but would skip accepting the fact of getting lazy online! Anyway, instead of starting with a political or sports related topic, I would rather discuss the famous Monty Hall problem:

I give you three doors out of which only one has got a car behind it. Now you choose one of the doors. Out of the remaining two doors, I open the one that definitely does not contain the car. So now the car is behind the door that you chose, or it is behind the second one. Which one has a higher probability of having the car?

It took me quite some time to understand the answer to this puzzle! And in fact, following was the argument that convinced me that it helps if you switch your choice:

1. The contestant first chooses the door with the car behind it. She is then shown either door A or door B, which reveals a goat. If she changes her choice of doors, she loses. If she stays with her original choice, she wins.
2. The contestant first chooses door A. She is then shown door B, which has a goat behind it. If she switches to the remaining door, she wins the car. Otherwise, she loses.
3. The contestant first chooses door B. She is then is shown door A, which has a goat behind it. If she switches to the remaining door, she wins the car. Otherwise, she loses.

Each of the above three options has a 1/3 probability of occurring, because the contestant is equally likely to begin by choosing any one of the three doors. In two of the above options, the contestant wins the car if she switches doors; in only one of the options does she win if she does not switch doors. When she switches, she wins the car twice (the number of favorable outcomes) out of three possible options (the sample space). Thus the probability of winning the car is 2/3 if she switches doors, which means that she should always switch doors

Antibiotics Basics

Oh, by the way – I caught up an infection in my leg this week and, as expected, the doctor prescribed me an antibiotic (along with a pain killer) – it was Ciprofloxacin. “Why Ciprofloxacin and how is it different from other antibiotics?” – if you too have such questions in your mind, then following text could provide answers to some such basic questions:

1. What is an antibiotic? An antibiotic is a drug that kills or slows the growth of bacteria. Antibiotics are one class of antimicrobials, a larger group which also includes anti-viral, anti-fungal, and anti-parasitic drugs. Antibiotics are chemicals produced by or derived from microorganisms (i.e. bugs or germs such as bacteria and fungi). The first antibiotic was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928 in a significant breakthrough for medical science.
2. Types of Antibiotics? There are many different kinds of antibiotics. The type of antibiotics you take depends on the type of infection you have and what kind of antibiotics are known to be effective. The main classes of antibiotics:
   1. Aminoglycosides – They are used to treat infections caused by gram-negative bacteria. They are drugs which stop bacteria from making proteins. Since they are broken down easily in the stomach, they can’t be given by mouth and must be injected.The most commonly-prescribed aminoglycosides: amikacin, gentamicin, kanamycin, neomycin, streptomycin, tobramycin.

Rover Landing in India

Oh, by the way, we have been hearing that Tata Motors is working hard on taking up the ‘Land Rover’ – but you would be surprised to know that this is not something new for Land Rover. It has gone into and out of a lot of hands and the following timeline gives a brief idea about the same:

• 1948: Land Rover is designed by the Wilks Brothers and is manufactured by the Rover Car Company
• 1967: Rover becomes part of British Leyland (BL)
• 1975: BL collapses and Land Rover is split from Rover and treated as a separate company within BL
• 1976: One millionth Land Rover leaves the production line.
• 1986: BL plc becomes Rover Group plc
• 1988: Rover Group is privatised and becomes part of British Aerospace, and is now known simply as Rover.
• 1987: Range Rover is introduced to the U.S market
• 1994: Rover Group is taken over by BMW.
• 2000: BMW breaks up the Rover Group and sells Land Rover to Ford for £1.8 billion
• 2005: Land Rover ‘founder’ Rover, collapses under the ownership of MG Rover Group.
• 2006: Ford acquires the Rover trademark from BMW, who previously licensed its use to MG Rover Group.
• 2007: 4,000,000th Land Rover rolls off the production line,
• 2007: Announcement from the Ford Motor Company that it plans to sell Land Rover and also Jaguar Cars. This dissolves the Premier Automotive Group (PAG) which previously included Aston Martin
• 2007: August India’s Tata Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra expressed their interest in purchasing Jaguar Cars and Land Rover from the Ford.

F&B Brands in India

Oh, by the way – I came across this quite exhaustive list of various F&B (food and beverages) brands in India:

           http://www.foolonahill.com/adfandbmarket.html

Yes, this is a small post, with not-so-small list!   [In case you know of other such lists, please let me know. I would be more than happy to list them here]