Category: Software

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What Is SIG32 During a GDB Debug Session?

Sometimes, when debugging with GDB on Linux, the debugger may stop with the following notification:

Program received signal SIG32, Real-time event 32.

This may be a little confusing and mislead you to think something is wrong with the debugged program, as I have thought when I first saw this message.

However, this is not an error. glibc uses SIG32 to signal the cancellation of threads created using the pthread library. That’s why, if and when you need to do some operation with all signals in the system, you must start from the minimum defined by SIGRTMIN and not the real (kernel) minimum, __SIGRTMIN. SIGRTMIN is defined in /usr/include/signal.h.

To disable these notifications inside GDB, so that you won’t be bothered with thread cancellation again, type the following inside GDB:

handle SIG32 nostop

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CPU-Z – CPU Information For Windows

CPU-Z is a little application for Windows to let you get information about your computer’s CPU. Usually I recommend buyers of new PCs to use this software in order to make sure the CPU they got is what they paid for.

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LOLCODE – The Language That Wasn’t Really Supposed To Be

The author of LOLCODE didn’t intend for the language to become a real language so fast, but in a matter of weeks it now has over 10 implementations.

But what’s so special about LOLCODE? Here’s a typical code sample, which prints a file to the screen:

HAI
CAN HAS STDIO?
PLZ OPEN FILE "LOLCATS.TXT"?
  AWSUM THX
    VISIBLE FILE
  O NOES
    INVISIBLE "ERROR!"
KTHXBYE

I think it’s hilarious. Check out the contributions to the language for more funny examples.

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Bill Gates And Steve Jobs Share One Stage

It’s been many years since these two giants shared the same stage. I doubt there’s any introduction I can write that will suit the magnitude of this event. Like most reviews, I also felt the respect they have for each other, very unlike the perception of rivalry we have when we think about Microsoft vs. Apple. Gates and Jobs share a long history starting from the beginning of modern computing. This is one talk you really shouldn’t miss.

The talk has an introduction and seven parts, for a total of around an hour:
0 (introduction), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

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Google Calendar – I Use It For Birthday Reminders

Usually I don’t need birthday reminders, but it did happen before that I forgot a friend’s birthday date. Currently I use Google Calendar for birthday reminders. The best thing about Google Calendar is that you get SMS reminders to your cellphone (all major Israely cellphone service providers are supported), so you don’t have to login to get your reminders every day.

There is one small caveat, though. Initially I set birthdays to be all-day events, but then I started getting the reminders for them around 5am. So what I do now is set the birthdays as zero time calendar events around noon, therefore getting the reminders at sane hours.