How to get Flash on Google Chrome in Fedora 12 x64

I love Google Chrome.  I use Firefox's extensions in web development, but for just surfing I use Chrome.

I recently installed Fedora 12 and was at a loss to get Flash working under Chrome.  Here is how I got it to work:

1) Install Google Chrome via the RPM installer.

2) Install the flash plugin and dependencies:

(as "su")

yum install flash-plugin 

yum install nspluginwrapper.x86_64

yum install nspluginwrapper.i686 

yum install alsa-plugins-pulseaudio.i686

yum install libcurl.i686

(they can be all on one line, but I like to see each one)

(some might already be installed, just move along)

3) Make a link to the plugin for chrome: (as "su")

ln -s /usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins-wrapped/nswrapper_32_64.libflashplayer.so /opt/google/chrome/plugins

4) Change the Chrome menu item to start with "--enable-plugins" 

5) Start Chrome and go to about:plugins if you see the flash player in the list then you are done..

Windows Steady State and nostalgia

If you work in an environment where there is one computer and multiple users, and there is more than one user with admin rights to that computer, you might have seen the need for Windows Steady State ( http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/sharedaccess/default.mspx ).

It "freezes" the configuration on a Windows XP or Vista computer so if there is a change made to it a reboot will restore the computer back to the standard "frozen" state.  If you have kids who use your computer and you don't want to mess with things like admin accounts and family configuration control boards, this tool is for you.  It is free for valid (genuine) windows installations.

In the nostalgia column, did you know AngelFire was still up and running?  The good old days of free web hosts with banner ads are still here.  Who knew?  But I would not recommend going there ( http://google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=angelfire.com ) it is still a den of viruses and malware.. but it is nice to know that some things don't change.

CACLS in a Batch File

I was working with permissions in a directory and remembered the command CACLS to change permissions. I needed this in a script but it ran and prompted the user for a "Y or N". This would not be good since I inteded to run the script on a scheduled task and there would be no one to press Y or N when the script ran. There is not a "/Y" option for CACLS, which would normally automatically answer "Y". Instead you have to run the command like so: " echo y| cacls folder /g everyone:F ". The spacing is important because with a space after the Y it would cause CACLS to fail (CACLS is apperently looking for just "Y" and not "Y+(space)".

Installing Sun Java on Fedora 12 and making it work on Google Chrome

So, Google Chrome on Fedora is great, but getting Java on it is hard.

The problem is that Fedora is that they only have Open Source
installed by default, normally this is cool but not everyone uses
totally open source all the time. Sun Java programmers are some of
those people. I have a big, huge (kinda sick) love for "Flame"
(http://www.escapemotions.com/experiments/flame/#top) but it requires
Java..

So here is how I got Java to work on my Fedora 12 install:

1) Download Java from Sun..
2) Sun will give you a ".bin" file (yeah, WTF!?!)..
3) Now you have to open a console, change to the directory where you
don downloaded Java...
4) chmod a+x jre-6u18-linux-x64-rpm.bin
5) now you ./jre-6u19-linux-x64-rpm.bin
6) read the EULA and type "yes"

Java is now installed in /usr/java, the trick now is to let Google
Chome know about it.

7) in the console window as su, go to /opt/google/chrome/plugins
8) make a link to the java browser plugin library: ln -s
/usr/java/default/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so

restart Google Chrome and give it a try!

Restore ZIP File/Compressed Folder in XP after WinZIP Removal

I am not sure your opinion of WinZIP but I am done with it (I have
been since Windows XP was launched). The native "Compressed Folder"
functions of Windows XP were just better than WinZIP, even if you
could specify a higher compression with WinZIP Zip files.

No matter your opinion, many users still install WinZIP without buying
it. I am not one to violate license agreements, if you must install
some ZIP tool install 7zip at least, so I have removed a few installs
of WinZIP in my day. WinZIP just happens to burn a bridge on the way
out of the system and not restore the ZIP functionality of XP --
almost like throwing the bird to your boss as you are walked out by
security after getting fired...

To restore the native ZIP file functionality in XP (maybe Vista for
all I know) the following works for me:

1) Open a command prompt and run: REGSVR32 ZIPFLDR.DLL

2) then run: assoc .zip=CompressedFolder

3) you are done!

Script to bind/enable network clients to adapters

I had an issue where there are a bunch of machines which need to join the domain. The problem is that the "Client for Microsoft Networks" was disabled on the image for these machines.

Since there are so many and I am very lazy, I wanted a script to enable the ms_msclient..
but finding none I tried to locate how to do it in the registry..
but finding no way I changed the setting and watched the results in ProcMon..
but finding nothing I went to find a scriptable application to use..

then I found nvspbind ( nvspbind ). Now I can make a script that calls this little command line application ( the "XP" version worked for me -- I don't get the distrobution files on the web page). A BIG thank-you to Keithmanage ( keithmange )!!