Jad / Jar installation problems. Invalid Jar!

Sometimes while installing a jar/jad file to your Symbian/Java phone you may encounter problems like:
"Invalid jar file"
"Compulsory attributes missing".
One reason could be the version.
To resolve, enter your version number in Application Descriptor or Ant file as a float. Ex 3.0 instead of 3!

Sync Nokia Contacts/Calendar with Evolution on Ubuntu 10.04

My aim was to reduce the dependency on Windows and Nokia PC Suite is a great application for Windows if you wish to manage and backup your mobile phone essentials.
I tried setting up sync with opensync, but the missing opensync-plugin-syncml did not help.
Enter... sycnevolution!
Here are the steps that worked for my Nokia E51.

On your mobile:

1. Open the Sync application. You should see the default 'PC Suite'
   profile.
2. If not, then you will need to create a new profile with the name
   'PC Suite' and following details:

        Profile Name: PC Suite

        Server version: 1.2

        Server ID: PC Suite

        Host address: PC Suite

Rest all can be defaults. Note that it is very important to have the
correct name 'PC Suite' without case change.

On your Ubuntu machine:

1. Ensure that your mobile is paired to your PC via bluetooth.
2. Install syncevolution and sync-ui via synaptic.
3. Start the ui from Applications - Internet - Sync
4. Click Select sync service.
5. Under Direct sync, you should be able to see the device that you have paired.
6. Click Setup Now. From the drop down, select Nokia_7210c and click Use these settings.
7. Then click Save and replace current service. DONT CLICK Sync now yet, the configuration is not complete. You can close the syncui.
   
8. Edit the ~/.config/syncevolution/default/peers/nokia_7210c/config.ini and search for a property remoteIdentifier. (Note that .config is a hidden folder) If it is commented, then uncomment it and make sure it looks like this remoteIdentifier = PC Suite
9. For Calendar sync: Edit ~/.config/syncevolution/default/peers/nokia_7210c/sources/calendar+todo/config.ini and set type to look like this: type = virtual:text/calendar. Then edit ~/.config/syncevolution/default/peers/nokia_7210c/sources/calendar/config.ini and set type to look like this type = text/calendar
   
10. Save and exit. Now you are all set.
    
11. In a terminal window, type the sync command syncevolution nokia_7210c

Notes:

• Once you have done the sync from the command prompt, going forward, you can use the sync ui. It may complain about something wrong with the server. Ignore the error and click sync now. I prefer using the command line so that I can see the details.
• You can copy the nokia_7210c folder and rename it what ever you like ex nokia_e51. Then, to initiate a sync from the command line, you will type syncevolution nokia_e51
  
• If you are interested in looking at the logs, they are stored under ~/.cache/syncevolution
• Start Evolution Mail and Calendar to verify if you see your contacts and calendar events.
  

Where to see Java source code?

One fine day while I was programming, I wanted to see the source code for java.lang.Math class. I sSearched online but could not find any easy way. Later found that the code is already on my machine (since I had the JDK).

The source code is located in the JDK installation directory with name src.zip!
(Other option was www.docjar.com)

Next post, how the java source code helped me!

What I love about Thunderbird 3

At the time of writing, I have been using Thunderbird 3 Beta 4. It does have some bugs, but overall it has very good and important features.

1. Thunderbird has now officially replaced Opera as my RSS reader. Its easy to import existing RSS feeds using Add Account -> Blogs and News Feeds --> Finish. Account Settings -> Blogs and News Feeds --> Manage Subscriptions --> Import XML or OPML

2. While browsing a website using Firefox, you can simply ask Firefox to open the RSS in Thunderbird instead of its Live Bookmarks or Google Reader.

3. I use Thunderbird's Favorite folders option more than the Smart Folders. In this way, I get to see only the folders (Inbox@gmail1, Inbox@gmail2) that I want, across multiple gmail accounts.

4. Over a period of time, while reading RSS one tends to have several 'ToDo' tags. It is easy to create a 'Search' folder called ToDo that will show all ToDo RSS's in one place.
Right Click RSS account --> Search -> (Add rule that says 'Tags | contains | To Do' -> Search. Then Save as Search Folder. Enter the required folder and other details and you are done. I then add this search folder to my Favorite list. Note, I always use the Favorite Folders view.

5. While reading an email or RSS news item, pressing space bar takes you to the next unread item in the next folder/account. Pretty handy when your mind is in reading mode.

6. I get to share the same Thunderbird profile across my Ubuntu and Windows. No duplicate mailboxes, no waste of disk space. All settings are shared! This has to be THE best thing about mozilla (works for Firefox too)

- Message Filter function is still buggy as of Thunderbird 3 b4, but I don't use it anyways

Tip: To see and manage your existing Feed subscribtions, simply right click on any existing RSS feed in your Thunderbird and Subscribe. This will save some time. Conventionally, you would use Account Settings --> RSS account --> Manage Subscriptions.

Copy Orkut Birthdays to Google calendar and Outlook

Till date, Google has not added support to export Orkut Birthday calendar to the personal calendar (Google Calendar) and hence there is no easy way to have the same in Outlook.

Here is a manual way of copying Orkut Birthdays to Google Calendar and Outlook.
(Note, this method allows you to copy only one birthday event at a time to your google calendar)

1. (Skip this step if you already see Orkut Birthday calendar in your Google Calendar) Login to Orkut and add your orkut friend's birthdays to Google Calendar. How to?
2. In Google Calendar, click on the birthday event you wish to copy.
3. If you get a popup, select 'copy to calendar' option. If not, and you get the event details, under 'More Actions', choose the option 'Copy to yourname/emailid'. This will open the event details for editing.
4. Change the 'Repeats' option to yearly if preferred. Edit Reminder options as required.
5. Click Save. The entry will be added to your Google calendar.
6. Now sync Google calendar with Outlook, see how to.

How I upgraded the firmware on my Nokia E51 (against Nokia's wishes)

I bought a Nokia E51 in India with firmware version v200.34.36. For reasons best known only to Nokia; firmware updates are very slow to reach this part of the world. If I use Nokia software updater, it would politely tell me that my current firmware is already the latest available. However, The latest version of firmware for other regions is v400.34.011, hence I decided to give it a try.

Step 1: Backup phone and Memory card data. I backed up using two methods.
1a. (PC Suite mode) Backed up the complete phone using Nokia PC Suite backup feature. (Handy if something goes wrong while updating firmware and I want to revert back all settings and changes)
2a. (Removable drive mode) Manually copied the contents of Phone memory and Memory card to a folder on my Laptop. (Handy if I wish to restore some apps or documents manually. After all you really don't want to copy all the old settings again!)

Step 2: I downloaded the Nemesis Service Suite (NSS) Beta 1.0.38.15 from here.
I downloaded the Nokia Software Updater 1.8.10 from here.
I already had the latest version of PC Suite 7.1.30.9

Step 3: Now this is what worked for me. Disconnected Phone from PC Suite.
Uninstalled Nokia PC Suite (and Software Updater, since I already had it)
Restarted the PC.

Step 4: Install NSS using Virtual USB as the option.
Install Nokia PC Suite
Install Nokia Software Updater

Step 5: Exited out of Nokia PC Suite at this point (right clicked on tray icon and Exit).
Start NSS. Connected the phone to laptop in PC Suite mode (important to select PC suite mode on phone. Did not start PC suite at this point)

Step 6: In NSS, click on the Scan option present on top right corner of screen. Once successful, clicked on the Phone Info icon . Then under 'Production Data Edit', clicked the Read button and NSS was able to read my phone contents.

Step 7: I used this APAC product code 0552352. Clicked Enable corresponding to Product Code and entered this code. Then clicked Write. Status at the bottom left confirmed that it was successful. (no other message pops up!)
Closed NSS and started PC Suite.

Step 8: Clicked Software Updater and proceeded with firmware upgrade. This time the updater showed that a new firmware version is available. The further steps went smoothly. Followed on screen instructions.

Step 9: Restored messages, contacts, calendar, notes and user files using my backup copy. Did not restore 'Settings' since I think its unwise to restore settings.

Now, I have the shiny new firmware and with nice updates!

Nautilus - Expand/Collapse directory tree with keyboard

I use Ubuntu 9.04 and generally prefer to use the keyboard while navigating through directories in Nautilus.

Discovered a nice feature today.
Quite handy if you don't want to move away from the current view and just see the contents of current directory.

To open/expand a directory tree, use <Shift> + <Right key>
To close/collapse a directory tree, use <Shift> + <Left key>

This trick also works in the Tree pane/Side bar (F9)