Resize ntfs partition to install Ubuntu 8.10

I recently tried to upgrade Ubuntu 8.04 to 8.10 on my PC but the installation failed due to insufficient disk space under the /boot partition. 8.10 needs about 120 MB free space but I had only 60 MB free under /boot.

To expand the /boot (second) partition, I had to shrink the first partition which was (unfortunately) ntfs. The gparted (disk partition tool for linux/ubuntu) installed on 8.04 wasn't of much help as it only supports deletion or formating of ntfs partitions.

I got a Ubuntu 8.10 installation CD and booted my PC using the same. The gparted utility on 8.10 supports resize of ntfs partitions :) . I successfully shrunk the ntfs partition and expanded the second (/boot) partition.

After restarting the system with the installed Ubuntu 8.04 version, the upgrade started successfully.

Note: Before attempting resize of any partition, do backup your critical data.

"Fan Error" - ThinkPad

My laptop is about 2 years old and it was working perfectly fine till today morning. While booting (after the bios loaded) it displayed "Fan Error" and the system automatically shut down. I started the system a number of times but the same error kept occurring.

There was some weird sound coming from the Fan. I guess the Fan must've got stuck due to dust or something. I tapped (quite hard) the laptop from the side a couple of times and surprisingly it started working :)

If you get a similar problem then try this at your OWN risk coz the situation might worsen. Eventually, I guess the fan will have to be replaced but if at all you get it working for once, do take backup of critical data immediately (I did).

Configuring app.yaml for static websites

In case you want to publish a static website on Google App Engine (http://appengine.google.com/) then the following configuration can be used (app.yaml):

application: appname
version: 1
api_version: 1
runtime: python

handlers:
- url: /(.*)
  static_files: static/\1
  upload: static/(.*)

This assumes the following:

1) The application name is appname (change it to your registered application name on appengine.google.com)
2) All static pages are under the static directory (appname/static)

This works fine, but any request to http://appname.appspot.com/ (or another domain in case you are using Google Apps) will not automatically be redirected to http://appname.appspot.com/index.htm (or index.html). In case you want such a behavior, create a python script (like main.py) under the application directory (appname/) with the following content:

import cgi

from google.appengine.ext import webapp
from google.appengine.ext.webapp.util import run_wsgi_app

class MainPage(webapp.RequestHandler):
  def get(self):
    self.redirect('/index.htm')

application = webapp.WSGIApplication(
                                     [('/', MainPage)],
                                     debug=True)

def main():
  run_wsgi_app(application)

if __name__ == "__main__":
  main()

and change the app.yaml to:

application: appname
version: 1
api_version: 1
runtime: python

handlers:
- url: /
  script: main.py

- url: /(.*)
  static_files: static/\1
  upload: static/(.*)