The Geek Brewery

Hello guys. I’m gonna talk about a free service which saved me a considerable amount from my SMS expenses, Chikka. I’ve been using this service even way back in elementary, around seven years ago.

For those of you who are already acquainted to Chikka, you know very well that the most popular way to use their free text messaging service is through their very own Chikka Text Messenger. I personally don’t prefer this method because of the following reasons:

• They don’t have a Linux version of their messenger.
• In case you’re a Windows user, you still have to install it.
• Their messenger is also quite bloated, the only functionality I want is to send text messages.
• Lastly, you need to register an account which takes a short time (but then as the famous quote goes, time is gold).

If you frequently login to a chat server that uses XMPP such as GTalk or the chat inside GMail, here’s an easier (for me, at least) way to do things. Basically, you just have to:

• add 63[9-digit-number]@chikkatalk.com as your buddy, and
• send a chat conversation to your new buddy and you’re done!

No registration needed. You may add as many friends as you want!

In some Linux distributions that uses GNOME Desktop Manager such as Ubuntu, an icon of a volume or partition appears on the Desktop whenever you mount them as seen on the screenshot on the left.

Although it was made that way for the easy access of the volume, other people just want to get of rid. At the top of the list are the people who have minimalistic desktops, those who are obsessive-compulsive about their icon arrangements, etc.

Gladly, there’s a very quick hack to do it without the use of any third-party software such as Ubuntu Tweak. To do it, press Alt+F2 to open the Run Application window. Then paste this command:

gconftool -s --type bool /apps/nautilus/desktop/volumes_visible false

That’s it. No restart required! To undo its effect, just negate the false on the command to true.

If you enjoyed this post, you might considering running into my other Linux posts.

Last Friday, we had our Globe Broadband connected at the apartment. Globe Telecom deployed a PROLiNK Hurricane 5200 as our ADSL modem. Since we wanted to share the Internet connection throughout the room, we bought a Linksys WRT54G2 wireless router.

Configuring the PROLiNK Hurricane 5200 to work with Linksys WRT54G2 wasn’t that easy. Here’s a rough guide on how to do it. This guide must work with other models (such as Hurricane 9200) and other brands, but the steps will differ. (more…)

Ubuntu 9.04 indeed was the fastest version of Ubuntu I had in my laptop. Before, boot time gradually increased as each version is released. But Jaunty Jackalope broke the trend, it was faster than it’s predecessor Intrepid Ibex.

But the release had a very noticeable annoyance, the Update Manager pops up a couple of times if you don’t have an updated system. It was unlike before when Update Manager only issues a notification on the notification area.

Fortunately, there’s a quick fix for that. Just go to your terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) or press Alt-F2 and paste this:

That quick fix just fixes the annoyance, no side-effects or whatsoever!

For more Ubuntu, Linux or tech-related news, you may subscribe to The Geek Brewery thru RSS or email.

It’s the time of the year when people enroll themselves on schools. For new registrants in a school, a birth certificate is usually required. For sure the queues at NSO (National Statistics Office) stations are getting longer and longer as the school year starts.

Good thing NSO birth certificates can now be requested thru phone. Birth certificates ordered thru phone will be delivered anywhere nationwide within 3 to 4 days. Just dial the number (02) 737-1111.

Icon from Citizen Services

Disk Knight is a beneficial virus I have encountered countless times. It’s annoying; especially its way of silent multiplication. It installs itself to the host computer; then infects every drive (usually the flash drives) the host computer gets direct contact to.

I’ve read several methods online on how to remove this nasty beneficial virus. One of the easiest method I found was to download a batch file by Islam Adel; execute it to your computer and poof, no more Disk Knight.

Here’s the file: Disk Knight Remover.

Hey guys!

Loyal visitors of this blog must have noticed the sudden decrease of my blog’s load time. No, I did not switch to a new webhost. This speed-up is attributable to a new WordPress plugin – PHP Speedy.

PHP Speedy is a plugin that joins your JavaScript and CSS files before loading it to your browser. It also removes unnecessary line breaks to your rendered PHP or HTML files to save file size thus shortening load times.

Try it now and feel the change.

Are you looking for tools to remove the Funny UST Scandal virus? Then, you are on the right track.

Early this afternoon, I was trying to compile an assembly program coded by me when it failed. I tried other assembly programs; the same thing happened. I was reconfiguring my IDE’s settings when I started to suspect my firewall of blocking the assembler. I turned off my firewall and poof, it worked.

AFTER the incident, I forgot to reactivate my firewall. I was clueless that something was happening inside our PC until…

I was conversing with a friend with Yahoo Messenger. I was horrified ’cause my mouse started to move in different directions; and it was typing something on my status bar. It was sending a message to all of my friends.

And it was the Funny UST Scandal.

If you’re looking for a fix, there’s this Visual Basic Application made by a Filipino. It reverts all the infections made by the virus; making your computer clean of traces of the nasty virus.

You can download the fix here.

Good luck.

Did your just friend introduce you to his psycho friend Peter? If you’re looking for ways to have successful telepathy with him, then you’re on the right spot!

What is Peter Answers?

For those who doesn’t have any knowledge about Peter Answers, it is a virtual tarot web application that can answer virtually any question. With the vast number of questions he receives everyday, you still have to type a petition for him to answer your question. Peter doesn’t mind if your question’s too serious, intimate or lame. Here’s a link to the web app.

What’s the trick behind it?

Obviously, Peter Answers has a trick behind it and there really is one.

Try typing a petition as instructed in the instructions and ask him a question. This way, he won’t give you a good answer. He’ll just say, “I will not answer if you doubt about me” or the likes.

Now, here’s how to let it work.

Requirements. First, you need a (1) friend to fool. Then, you need a (2) gadget (must support JavaScript, CSS and xHTML) with an (3) Internet connection. I bet by reading this, you have 2 and 3.

First, you go to PeterAnswers.com. Then, don’t type the petition right away. Ask your friend a question to ask Peter. Be sure to know the answer, or you may ask him to shout the answer to your internet-capable gadget.

Now that you know the answer to your friend’s question, you are ready to ask the petition. Ask the petition by hitting the letter ‘P’ to fool your friend that you’re typing something like “Peter, please answer:”. After that, hit the key “.” (that’s period) then type the answer. The answer will not appear on the text box but instead the textbox will be filled by a mock petition “Peter, please answer the following question:” depending on the length of the answer. After typing the answer, you have to hit the key “.” (period) to let him know that you have just finished typing the answer. Then, finish typing the entire petition. Don’t forget to end your petition with a colon (:).

Peter now knows the answer to your question. This time, you have to fill the question textbox  the question you want to ask Peter. Always remember to end a question with a question mark (?).

After hitting the question mark, Peter will show a mock-”loading bar”. Then, Peter will answer your question.

Weeee, that’s it. I hope you find it useful. It’s now time to trick your friends!

Hi.Just a while ago, I’ve confirmed my slot in the University of the Philippines. Confirming a slot is important because as we all know admission to the said University is stiff.

Now, what you’ll need is an internet connection and your UP Notice of Admission (it looks like the one below). Take note of your student number and your PIN (both fields are highlighted above). Keep your PIN as confidential as possible, someone might access your account thru that number. (more…)