disable '-- More --' pager scrolling in psql

For a long time I have wanted to be able see the complete result-set of my query in psql (PostgreSQL's command-line utilty), instead of having press a key to proceed to next page, and see the result page by page!!! Went through the \? and the \help commands too, but they were of no help.

Finally, googling the string 'psql disable more scrolling' led me to this post, and all you have to do is

\pset pager

This command toggles the pager, hence psql will not prompt you to press a key to see further results.

But beware that on Windows systems, psql does not respond to Ctrl+C promptly; so if you have disables pager, and you have issued a query that returns a really huge result-set, probably your best friend would be 'Task Manager'>'End Process'!!!

IP address to website name resolution

I have been using the IP address http://203.145.184.14/ for a long time now, to check my internet connection speed. All this time I knew that it was an Airtel website, but I never knew the site's name!! As I switched from Airtel to BSNL, then from Internet Explorer to Firefox, then from Desktop PC to Laptop.... I kept migrating the bookmarks (this one in particular).

Today, I decided, "what the heck... I want the server'e name...". I had heard of a protocol called RARP, I thought it'd help. But it's define:RARP (on Google) returned 'Reverse Address Resolution Protocol is a method of mapping the physical Ethernet address to the IP address of the host'. So I stopped following that route immediately.

Then, I turned to Google again. I serached for 'IP address to site name', and the first two results turned out to be great utilities!!!

DNS Stuff
Find Ip Address - resolving IP addresses into DNS names

One of these can even give you the city the server is located in!!!

So, that IP turned out to be speed.touchtelindia.net, and it is situated in Chennai.
(update 11/Oct/2007: the server's name is now http://speed.airtelbroadband.in/ and the speed test is now java based; really nice, you should check it out. Oh, and my connection speed is still decently close to 256 that BSNL promises!)

PS: Did I mention that, except for a few exceptions, BSNL never gave a reading below 260 Kbps in these speed tests!!! (I have seen the results ranging from 300s to 400s and sometimes even in 700s!!! That's way beyond what I am paying for... 256 Kbps :) BSNL is just great...)

Keep Internet Connections Alive When Switching Users

Keep RAS Connections Alive When Switching Users


You might have noticed that when you use the "Switch User" feature of Windows XP, you will lose your RAS (Dial-up and/or certain xDSL connections) connection. You can avoid this by entering the following to your registry:
  1. Start the Registry Editor
  2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon
  3. Right-click an empty space in the right-hand pane, and from the menu select New > String value
  4. Name the new value KeepRASConnections
  5. Right-click the KeepRASConnections value, and choose Modify from the menu
  6. Enter 1 as the Value data
  7. Close the registry editor and log off from Windows for the changes to take effect
<end_paste source:http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsXP/tune-23.html>

This process also works across logoff - logon sequence of any older versions of NT based systems such as NT 4.0, Windows 2000 (my system), etc.

Well, I am here too...

Well, finally, I have also joined the blogging frenzy... I didn't feel the need till a few minutes back; until I wanted an online space where I could log my thoughts and resources that I come across on the internet. I am basically a developer, who, more often than not, run into some issues with computers, configuration, and am bothered by some nitty-gritty issues, that others often take for granted or do not wish to share the solution with others. (It seems that I have a craving for such small issues). And I do not give-up easily on solving an issue either.

Yet another use of this blog-space would be to record my RNFs. I have very less RAM up in the head (or is it the swap/page file that is shorter or missing), so I keep forgetting names, things events and quite a lot more. I don't think I am bothered about forgetting those things much, but about forgetting the ideas that keep popping up in my head. So, I will be using this space to store my RNFs too.

Now that I have found use of this great tool, I expect to put to use as much as possible. I donno who else is going to read it, but as I said, it is not for others, but for me.

singh.gurjeet@{gmail | hotmail | yahoo}.com