Max Clark » tip

Set the time zone on a per user basis

Max — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:24:31 +0000

Continuing on my general rant that all computer systems should use UTC/GMT for their system clocks the question is often posed by users that want to see their own local time when they log into a remote computer.

Procedure – set the time zone on a per user basis

Open user ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile file using vi text editor and set up TZ environment variable. Append or SET TZ as follows:

export TZ=”/usr/share/zoneinfo/{TIMEZONE-DIRECTORY}/{TIMEZONE_FILE}>”

If your username is foo and you would like to set TZ to Asia/Calcutta (INDIA IST) type command:

# vi /home/foo/.bashrc

Append following:

export TZ="/usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Calcutta"

Save and close the file.

(via http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-linux-set-time-zone-per-user-basis/)

Read the Man Page

Max — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 11:58:04 +0000

For years I have been using the syntax:
$ find . -type f -exec rm {} \;
For some reason I took the time to read the man page for find today and guess what:
$ find . -type f -delete
Does the exact same thing and it is almost instant. Lesson learned, every now and again read the man page.

HOWTO Remove Emergency Dialing from Blackberry when Locked

Max — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:59:13 +0000

I have what seems to be a relatively straightforward problem. I lock my blackberry, put it in my pocket and discover that a perfect series of motions result in the phone dialing 911. I find out the phone has dialed 911 when the emergency dispatcher calls me back to ask if I have an emergency. Should I be concerned when they accept my “no Sir/Maam, we do not”?

After scouring the Internet this weekend, and waiting on hold with AT&T my fears were confirmed. There is simply no way to remove the “Emergency Call” option when the phone is locked. However I did find another option which has been working just as good if not better. By holding down the mute key the phone will go into standby mode disabling all of the keys except the mute button. Unfortunately I cannot figure out how to map the side keys to the standby function, but it is a step in the right direction.