Tech Collections

Recently, while trying to scan some of my coins using Canon MP287, I noticed that all the windows applications like Scan app, Windows fax and scan and even in import option of Adobe photoshop, there is no option to select a scan resolution higher than 600 dpi.
Though 600 dpi is good enough to scan photos, for some of my coins which measured few millimeters, this is not enough.
From the specification of MP287, it is clear that it supports 1200 x 2400 dpi. So, I should be able to scan at 1200 dpi. After searching a lot, I found the answer.
The 1200 dpi option will be available only from the scan dialog of the driver - ScanGear.
For this

• update the drivers to latest version from the Canon support page.
• download and install Canon MP Navigator EX(appropriate to windows version) from support page

So, do you want to summarize your results for planning or just want to know the details about someone else? Or want to find an easy way to document the results instead of reading/copy the mark list to make a summary?
Many times it is very time consuming task to go through each and every results. It becomes even difficult when we are checking the results of our friends or relatives and dose not know the exam dates or the semester.
I had to check results of my brother who is finishing his Engineering course from Cochin University(CUSAT) and all I had was his register number and not much information about when the exam was. So I made these python scripts.
There are two parts in this script. First one will read all results from CUSAT exam results page and form a dictionary with all the available results including the previous attempts and creates a pickle dump of the same. The next script will then read the pickle and generate a report.
In this script beautifulsoup4 library is used on Python 3+. Hence, it is necessary to install it first and then run.
Note: Before use, open the results page, and check whether internet connection is available and the results portal is not down.
You may download the scripts from here.

Below you may find snapshot of tool output for a random registration id.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Sem  |                   Subject                    | Marks | Results |
|------|----------------------------------------------|-------|---------|
| I&II | A101 ENGINEERING MATHEMATICS-I               |   87  | Passed  |
| I&II | A102 ENGINEERING PHYSICS                     |   82  | Passed  |
| I&II | A103 ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY                   |   79  | Passed  |
| I&II | A104 ENGINEERING MECHANICS                   |   77  | Passed  |
| I&II | A105 ENGINEERING GRAPHICS                    |   79  | Passed  |
| I&II | A106 BASIC CIVIL & MECHANICAL                |   84  | Passed  |
| I&II | A107 BASIC ELEC. ENGG. AND ELE               |   76  | Passed  |
| I&II | A108 COMPUTER PROGRAMMING                    |   90  | Passed  |
| I&II | A109 TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION                 |   88  | Passed  |
| I&II | A180 COMPUTER PROGRAMMING LAB                |   86  | Passed  |
| I&II | A190 ELE. & MECHA. WORKSHOPS                 |   80  | Passed  |
| III  | B101 ENGGN MATHEMATICS II                    |   83  | Passed  |
| III  | B102 ELECTRICAL TECHNOLOGY                   |   75  | Passed  |
| III  | B103 NETWORK THEORY                          |   62  | Failed  |
| III  | B104 DIGITAL ELECTRONICS                     |   79  | Passed  |
| III  | B105 SOLID STATE ELECTRONICS                 |   65  | Failed  |
| III  | B106 ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS - I                 |   65  | Failed  |
| III  | B180 BASIC ELECTRONICS - LAB                 |   51  | Passed  |
| III  | B190 ELECTRICAL MACHINES LAB                 |   70  | Passed  |
| IV   | C101 ENGINERING MATHEMATICS-II               |   60  | Failed  |
| IV   | C102 MICROPROCESSORS                         |   75  | Passed  |
| IV   | C103 ELECTRONICS CIRCUITS II                 |   67  | Failed  |
| IV   | C104 SIGNALS AND SYSTEMS                     |   62  | Failed  |
| IV   | C105 ANALOG COMMUNICATION                    |   64  | Failed  |
| IV   | C106 INDUSTRIAL AND POWER ELEC               |   52  | Failed  |
| IV   | C180 DIGITAL ELECTRONICS LABOR               |   50  | Passed  |
| IV   | C190 ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS LAB -               |   53  | Passed  |
| V    | D101 ENGINEERING MATHEMATICS I               |   97  | Passed  |
| V    | D102 ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY                  |   63  | Failed  |
| V    | D103 DIGITAL SYSTEM DESIGN                   |   77  | Passed  |
| V    | D104 ADVANCED MICROPROCESSORS                |   79  | Passed  |
| V    | D105 MICRO ELECTRONICS & INTEG               |   56  | Failed  |
| V    | D106 DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING               |   76  | Passed  |
| V    | D180 MICROPROCESSOR LABORATORY               |   60  | Passed  |
| V    | D190 ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS LABO                |   71  | Passed  |
| VI   | E101 DIGITAL COMMUNICATION                   |   55  | Failed  |
| VI   | E102 MICROWAVE TECHNIQUES & DE               |   62  | Failed  |
| VI   | E103 VLSI DESIGN                             |   62  | Failed  |
| VI   | E104 ELECTRONIC MEASUREMENTS                 |   86  | Passed  |
| VI   | E105 CONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERI               |   77  | Passed  |
| VI   | E106 EMBEDDED SYSTEMS                        |   78  | Passed  |
| VI   | E180 COMMUNICATION LABORATORY                |   64  | Passed  |
| VI   | E190 MINI PROJECT                            |   95  | Passed  |
| VII  | F101 INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION& MANAGEMENT     |   87  | Passed  |
| VII  | F102 RADIO COMMUNICATION                     |   77  | Passed  |
| VII  | F103 COMPUTER COMMUNICATIONAND NETWORKS      |   80  | Passed  |
| VII  | F104 ELECTRONIC PRODUCT DESIGN               |   82  | Passed  |
| VII  | F106 SIGNAL PROCESSING LABORATORY            |   71  | Passed  |
| VII  | F107 COMMUNICATION LABORATORY II             |   88  | Passed  |
| VII  | F108 SEMINAR                                 |   37  | Passed  |
| VII  | F109 PROJECT DESIGN                          |   46  | Passed  |
| VII  | F150 INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS                     |   83  | Passed  |
| VIII | G101 AUDIO AND  VIDEO ENGINEERING            |   86  | Passed  |
| VIII | G102 COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS                   |   71  | Failed  |
| VIII | G103 OPTO ELECTRONICS &COMMUNICATION;        |   66  | Failed  |
| VIII | G105 PROJECT WORK                            |  286  | Passed  |
| VIII | G106 VIVA - VOCE                             |   81  | Passed  |
| VIII | G140 DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING                |   85  | Passed  |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

                   Uncleared Subjects                   
----------------------------------------------------------
| Sem  |  Atmpt |                Subjects                |
|------|--------|----------------------------------------|
| III  |    5   | B103 NETWORK THEORY                    |
| III  |    5   | B105 SOLID STATE ELECTRONICS           |
| III  |    5   | B106 ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS - I           |
| IV   |    6   | C101 ENGINERING MATHEMATICS-II         |
| IV   |    6   | C103 ELECTRONICS CIRCUITS II           |
| IV   |    6   | C104 SIGNALS AND SYSTEMS               |
| IV   |    6   | C105 ANALOG COMMUNICATION              |
| IV   |    6   | C106 INDUSTRIAL AND POWER ELEC         |
| V    |    6   | D102 ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY            |
| V    |    6   | D105 MICRO ELECTRONICS & INTEG         |
| VI   |    6   | E101 DIGITAL COMMUNICATION             |
| VI   |    6   | E102 MICROWAVE TECHNIQUES & DE         |
| VI   |    6   | E103 VLSI DESIGN                       |
| VIII |    4   | G102 COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS             |
| VIII |    4   | G103 OPTO ELECTRONICS &COMMUNICATION;  |
----------------------------------------------------------


Semister summary
III   3
IV   5
V   2
VI   3
VIII   2
cnt   43
tot   3493

Total arriears: 15

Pass %: 54.578125

Have you tried Running Google Cloud Messaging(GCM) XMPP Cloud Connection Server (CCS) using Python and disappointed?
Some days before, I was reading about some project about using pushover service and pebble along with Raspberry Pi to notify on a doorbell project. Idea of push notifications impressed me and I decided to try it out. However, the famous pushover service used for this purpose was not a free.
While searching for alternate services to send push notifications, I stumbled upon the android developers guide about GCM. So, I thought of using it on my raspberry Pi based hobby projects.
After finishing the android application, I started with server side and chose the XMPP since the upstream messages can be used for sending commands to Pi from android application. However, the Python sample code failed to run due to missing xmpp module. I thought the module must be a part of google's python sdk for cloud. However, the xmpp module from sdk did not even had client class used in the sample.
Then I thought of trying other libraries. sleekxmpp did not work too and later the xmpppy module give me successful result. So, the point is google is using the xmpppy for xmpp in the sample but it is not documented. Maybe it is known to may programmers with good experience progroamming in Python and these kind of libraries. I am writing it here so that if anyone else who is searching could benifit.
So, go ahead install xmpppy module and successfully run the python gcm xmpp server.

Many times it is necessary to transfer files between Raspberry Pi and Windows Desktop. I use my desktop to write code for Pi because of the availability of editors which I am familiar with; also I am running Pi in headless mode(ie. without monitor). So it is necessary to pull files from Pi for editing and later push it back to Pi.
This possible by using either ftp, sftp or scp. This tool(WinSCP) is one of the easiest method which I found available to transfer files between Windows and Raspberry Pi. It also has options to sync files between both sides while we are busy coding and debugging using various editors on both sides.

Follow these steps

1. Download and install the WinSCP software from download page. You may either use the windows installer or the portable version. I prefers portable versions. So if you downloaded the portable version, extract it to a folder.
2. When it is opened, enter the details
1. File protocol: Most cases the sftp or scp or both will work. If not try ftp. If none are working, it is easy to install sshd(command: sudo apt-get install sshd) and use sftp. If you are able to connect using putty, then sshd is already installed and sftp option should work.
2. Host name: You must be knowing this already if you connect using putty/ssh. But if you do not know, please search in google for articles on same.
3. Enter username and password of pi login.
4. Save, if necessary to connect later.
3. Done! now the explorer window should be available. Explore the options. My favorite is Commands->Keep Remote Directory up to Date.

Today I was trying to use the django app django-push-notifications to work with Google cloud messaging. However, the app required .pem file as input. After some research, I found out how to get the file. Following are the steps.

1. Create new client ID from respective project in Google cloud console.
2. Choose Service account and save the .p12 file.
3. While saving it will show the password, note it down. I guess default password key is 'notasecret'.
4.  Now download openssl binary from the openssl download page.
5. Depending on your operating system the files might vary. I am using openssl on windows x64 box.
6. Extract files to a folder.
7. Now from command line navigate to the folder and run
   

   openssl pkcs12 -in path/to/key.p12 -nodes -nocerts > path/to/key.pem

8. You can find more information about authentication in this page.