Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by Cyrus2k

Evaluating Characters in PHP

Cyrus2k — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 03:21:31 +0800

I'm in the process of revamping my blog; I'm trying to create a column where it will holds the recent tracks that had been played with iTunes.

Using simpleXML, I had managed to retrieve the feed from last.fm and output the artist name and tracks. Everything looks good, but I will like to assign a specific thumbnail image to each artist and display it nicely in the column.

Part of my code:

CODE

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file('http://ws.audioscrobbler.com/1.0/user/jamesliew/recenttracks.rss');

foreach ($xml->channel->item as $tracks) {
echo $tracks->title . "<br />"; }
?>

I was able to get an output like "Artist Name - Track Name" (eg. シド – 光).

First Question - Apparently the hyphen (" – ") in the last.fm feed is not exactly the normal hyphen that I could type out regularly; what is the best way to detect this special character? (so that I could use explode() to separate out the Artist Name and Track Name)
In the Unicode chart I found that the hyphen is similar to the EN DASH, but keying the '& #8211;' into the explode() function does not work.

Second Question - Since some of the Artists/Tracks name are in Japanese/Chinese, is there a way evaluate these strings of characters correctly so I could assign a specific thumbnail image to them? (I tried using iconv() to convert them to SJIS but I only getting gibberish values).

NOTE: All page are encoded in UTF-8; actually I suspect this has something to do with character encoding, but I just couldn't dig out the correct solution

Any help from you guys are very much appreciated

Need recommendations on new rig

Cyrus2k — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:01:54 +0800

As topic says, need some help with the a new rig...

Previuosly, done some homework and got a base setting here:

QUOTE

AMD Athlon II X2 250 235
MSI 770 C45 260
Sapphire 4850HD 365
500GB Seagate 16MB Sata 170
Xigmatek 500W Bronze 240
LITEON DVDRW SATA 80
4GB DDR3 PC1333 Kingston RAM 290
Total 1640

So, I need help from all of you to further refine this setup, and if possible, will like to add one monitor as well... although its not necessary since I'm using a 17" monitor now...

Solaris 10 Question

Cyrus2k — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:10:29 +0800

Been working on a server (Sun M4000) lately, and just reinstall Solaris 10 in the server.
Since it lacks of its own display output, so I need to use Xbrowser to login the Solaris CDE.

There are 3 NICs on the server: 2 are used for communication links with other nodes while 1 is used for local access (Xbrowser).

Then I need to permanently change the IP address of 2 NICs (communications), so I modify the IP entries in the following file

CODE

/etc/hosts

then I reboot the server using

CODE

shutdown -y -g0 -i6

After I reboot it, I am unable to login via Xbrowser anymore. I can monitor the domain using the XSCF shell, but just that no idea what is causing this problem... By right, I should be able to login since I didnt make any changes to the NIC that I am using for local access..

Any experienced user mind to enlighten me?

Embedding Video in website

Cyrus2k — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:19:34 +0800

Now, I have embedded a quicktime player to play one of my videos (call it v1). And, there are several videos in my directory: v2, v3, v4.
What I wanted to do is; how to make a playlist on the same page so when I click on "v2" my player will stop playing "v1" and change to "v2"? (without reloading the whole page)

Is it possible to do so? (with quicktime player)

Our Secret

Cyrus2k — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:30:31 +0800

Blog Title : Our Secret
Blog Address : http://himitsu.us/

Description : Himitsu is the personal website of James Liew, a not-so-well-known web designer that has a deep passion in web development, food, games and chicks.

Alright, done with the necessary stuff from the sticky thread Anyway, I just noticed that I haven't posted my blog here, so there you go.

Done some renovations, anyone that had visited my site previously should know what I had changed
Comments/Opinions are welcome; just throw it all to my face (awaits for goldie and etsuko attacks)

Shameless plug...

Cyrus2k — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 13:53:27 +0800

Well, if you guys don't mind, please take a look at my personal site. Just finished a new design for it and still tweaking around, will need you guys to help me test it with different browsers and looks for any funky behaviour on the site.

http://himitsu.us

Again, I'm not promoting my site freely, I'm just asking opinion on the layout itself All comments and criticism are welcome!

I forgot to take screenshots of my old design, but you could take a glimpse of it at here.

EDIT: btw, in case you didnt noticed, there is one section still not yet available

Uknown Hardware device

Cyrus2k — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 16:24:12 +0800

Just did a format couple of days ago, and now notice that there is still a single unknown hardware device sitting in my Device Manager list.

Is there any method to find out what it is?

Any nice messenger?

Cyrus2k — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 18:24:55 +0800

Well, as topic says; anyone know any good skinnable messenger out there? (except Trillian..)

Will prefer small minimal messenger

Just removed a few malwares..

Cyrus2k — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 19:05:24 +0800

Well, few days ago my comp acting funky and AVG keep popping with "1630.exe, 1631.exe, etc" malwares detected in the Local Setting/Temp folder. After searching through the net, managed to removed it under safe mode but is my computer still safe?

btw, just ran ComboFix once... will post log with HJT log as well

Applying UK visa

Cyrus2k — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 23:23:53 +0800

Going to UK on June to continue my study...

Anyway, basically now I could prepare most of the stuff that are necessary for the application but there is one part making me headache: offer letter.

Now I only got the conditional offer letter and I'm wondering if I should go ahead and apply for the visa now. I will only get my unconditional offer letter in the mid of May (around 10th~20th) coz I still got one last subject to resit..

I'm quite scared if they reject my application (with the conditional letter)... will I be able to apply again? I heard my friends said that if they rejected my application then my passport will have a black mark (some sort of 'blacklisted'?)... Is it true?

Anyway, any experts here to clear up the mist above my head now..?

EDIT: One more question, will I be able to make it in time if I apply for the visa at the mid of May before my flight on the 2nd of June?

Thanks in advance...

Not enough power?

Cyrus2k — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 02:01:59 +0800

ermm, I;m not sure if my comp is not getting enough power, so will need some help to identify it.

My specs are :

AMD64 3000+ @ 1.8GHz
2x512MB Kingston DDR400 RAM
Sapphire ATI Radeon X1600XT 256MB DDR3
2xHDD (120GB and 80GB)
2xCD/DVD (CD-RW and DVD-RW)
1xFloppy Drive
17" Benq LCD

The problem is whenever I boot up my comp, the moment I get into the login screen, the screen will flick a few times then only the login screen appear. And also, whenever I try to play games (FEAR, Halflife2, etc) the screen will also flicks when entering the game.

My PSU True power is 300W.. so I'm wondering are my computer not getting enough power?

The screen back to normal after the flicks... but just dunno why the LCD need to flicks before continuing the process..