Tag Archives: linux

Linux `cal` utility in landscape mode

The cal utility in Linux does not, unfortunately allow one to output the calendar in landscape mode (4 columns or more). The default cal -y output mode will display 3 columns. Here’s a hack-around:

  • Download the latest release of util-linux
  • Extract and edit the misc-utils/cal.c file.
  • Find the yearly function.
  • Add a cal_month m4 variable, which will hold the fourth column.
  • A little lower find m3.next = NULL and change it to m3.next = m4;, add m4.next = NULL;.
  • Inside the for loop change the 3 to a 4 in the month += ... clause.
  • And make
  • If all went well the output of ./cal -y should yield four columns instead of three.

You can probably make cal output 2, 5 or 6 columns in a similar fashion. Crazy hack, eh?

Update 4th September, 2014: I have sent in a patch to the `util-linux` library with a new feature – landscape mode. `-l` and `–landscape` flags will stretch the year output as much as two times. Pull request can be accessed on their GitHub upstream mirror: https://github.com/karelzak/util-linux/pull/117



Port Forwarding an Android Local Port

There don’t seem to be many reasons to want to forward a local Android port (listening for connections from localhost only) to a port that can be accessed externally (via LAN, etc.). There are some applications around that allow to forward an Android local port to another one but they offer a lot of overhead, are confusing and some even require root access.

Port Forwarding Android Ports With netcat

Compiling netcat for Android was the way I decided to go, it’s only known to be the “swiss-army knife” of networking. The Android source code contains a limited version of nc which can be compiled by the simple make nc (after having setup the build environment of course). This version of netcat does not offer port forwarding functionality.

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ELM327 to RS232 in Linux

I have been having car problems recently. However, these inspired me to dig a little into the car ECU. ECUs (engine control units) are able to give out a myriad of information, like systems’ fault codes, real-time RPM, air-flow, fuel consumption, voltage, exhaust state, and lots more. Most modern cars tap into this information and display it on the dashboard via on-board computers.

OBD2 ELM327 to RS232 Linux

I finally received the long-awaited OBD II (OBD 2) (on-board diagnostics) interpreter based on the ELM327 chip yesterday and all I can say is that it’s been a long night.

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