I found your project listed on this blog (which is a great read for Linux users)! I will not rewrite that author’s excellent post, if you’re curious what Hamster is, go read the blog! This tool is great for anyone obsessed with data and time tracking. Essentially, it will show you what you do during the day. For those who are bad at time management (me), then this tool can help increase performance. But in using it, I found that I wanted something more. Specifically, I didn’t want to tell it what I was doing. I mean, I switched from coding my wardriver to blogging five minutes ago and I still haven’t updated. Even worse, what happens when I’m multitasking between work, programming, army, etc. I would like this application to update what is happening as I change it, rather than take the five seconds to update my current task. I know, I’m lazy.
So what do I think should happen? Well, I’ve commented on the post that I found this program that I would like it to be automated. Take a ‘picture’ every minute of active processes and then use that data to associate that program with your current activity! For example, the browser is open (you can even catch the website name) and you have a setting that associates that program/page with an activity, Hamster then updates what you are doing. You could even go so far as to use what window is in front, the next behind, the next behind, etc to rank the amount of work you are doing with that task.
With my Army project done, my wardriver being worked on at a steady pace, I think this would be a fun program. Anyone else interested in this? Let me know through your comments…
This project went together smoother than I thought it would. The source code and application are available on it’s SourceForge page. I’m still working to create a range for the networks and then use circles as points. I’m thinking if I factor in strength, I can come up with an approximate (no where near exact) range. Unfortunately, without the right antenna, it’s not likely to come up with a direction but I can get the entry and exit and create a circle around it from that. Unfortunately, to convert the minute data to feet will take some fancy math due to variations in minutes with the longitude. More on that in a future post.
For those wanting to use the application, here are the steps to get it working.
- Ensure you have iwlist, gpsbabel and Google Earth installed.
- sudo apt-get install wireless-tools gpsbabel googleearth-package
- Plug in your gps.
- Test with ‘sudo gpsbabel -T -i garmin -f /dev/ttyUSB0‘
- If that pulls data, run ‘sudo ./garminwardriver.py‘
- Open your ‘out.kml’ in Google Earth (Start Google Earth->File->Open)
And there you go, data that can be drawn on any wifi card with any GPS device (if you change the code for your device). Try it out and let me know if it works or what errors you come up with. This is just a prototype, so expect v1.01 to be out soon with updates.
Update:
I wrote this post and completely forgot to add the screen shots!
Gathering Data
Google Earth Data
gps, Linux, Python, wardriver
applications, garmin, google, google earth, gps, gpsbabel, hack, hacking, iwlist, networks, Python, sourceforge, wardriver, wifi
I’m very happy to say, this is a simple project, to get working in its most basic form. Note, I said it’s most basic form so no hate mail on the fact that this is nothing more than a quick script! There are plans to actually go deeper, make this open to more than my device, not use already existing programs, etc. But for the basic concept and starter, I’ve made this program use gpsbabel to get the gps information and iwlist to get the network information. I had started with pywifi but found this to be a problem because there was an overbound error. This bug will be reported, it seems it has a problem with converting an integer to a float on a 64bit machine.
So with no futher ado, here is the script:
#!/usr/bin/env python
import os, re, time
# DEATH FUNCTION
def die(msg):
print ' [*] ERROR: %s' % msg
exit(1)
# ENSURE WE ARE ROOT
def checkroot():
if os.getuid() != 0:
die('Run this program as root.')
return
# GET NETWORK INFO
def getessid(dev):
nets = os.popen('iwlist %s scan' % dev).read()
pat = re.compile(r'ESSID:".*"')
mess = re.findall(pat, nets)
found= []
for find in mess:
found.append(find.split('"')[1].split('"')[0])
return found
# GET GPS INFO
def getposition(dev):
pos = os.popen('gpsbabel -i garmin,get_posn -f %s' % dev).read()
pos = pos.splitlines()[1].split(' ')
return [pos[1],pos[2]]
# RUN IT
def main():
checkroot()
found = getessid('eth1')
pos = getposition('/dev/ttyUSB0')
for find in found:
print 'ESSID: %s @ %s | %s' % (find,pos[0],pos[1])
exit(0)
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
So what you see here is that I’m using os.popen() to call my programs to draw data. Unfortunately, iwlist is painfully slow, to the point there’d be a five second delay on some slower machines between the call and having the data ready. This is why I want to develop the application to not be dependent on other programs, but for the time being, this works as proof of concept in the data gathering stage. It’s now just a matter of adjusting the code to run this constantly and load data to an overlay when entering and leaving an ESSID’s area.
Any comments for improvements? Don’t forget, you can join this project any time on SourceForge!
Discussion, gps, Linux, Python, Ubuntu, wardriver
applications, gps, gpsbabel, hack, hacking, iwlist, Linux, project, Python, pywifi, script, scripting, sourceforge, wardriver
For my birthday, my wife got me a GPS (Garmin Venture HC). I have been disappointed in it’s integration with Linux, most particularly it’s ability to communicate with gpsd (usb input, not serial). I had high hopes of doing some wardriving and kismet does not gather any of the data despite it’s configuration. I can get gpsd to get some cryptic messages from the device but I found that this command: `gpsbabel -T -t garmin -f /dev/ttyUSB0` will generate the current coordinates. So instead of getting frustrated, I’ve decided to open my first SourceForge project. You can find it listed as Garmin Wardriver.
The concept seems simple enough, generate location through direct communication with the GPS device or through the gpsbabel command above and then gather a list of local ESSID’s with their strength. With this data, updated each second, one could generate a location for entering an ESSID’s area, it’s strength as you move through and when out. Output this to an overlay for a program such as Google Earth and that is a wardriver! I can see this branching to more advanced uses but for the basic proof of concept, a command line program should suffice. This will be written in Python and I’ve looked into utilizing the pygarmin and pywifi modules instead of generating information from preexisting programs.
gps, Python, wardriver
application, applications, development, garmin, gps, gpsbabel, gpsd, Linux, Python, sourceforge, wifi
It is done! The XFDL Loader is completed and it is functional. It came down to the wire, with less than an hour left in submission time to complete but it did get done. Here is a sample XFDL form and a sample CSV data file (RIGHT CLICK BOTH TO SAVE) to use. The process to use the web application is (each step is a different page):
- Load the two sample files by file type.
- Set up data to merge to the form.
- Use the drop down box on the right to select data by the header
- Write data in the middle column input boxes to have default data for all forms.
- It’ll take awhile to generate the forms, be patient. When completed, there will be a link to download a zipped archive of your forms.
And that’s it. Be aware, because the project changed from PHP to Python, we had 10 days to generate the web application. Therefore, there is no styling (it’s not pretty) and it might not work on all forms. Also, it only selects text inputs. Check boxes, more options, etc are yet to come, but this was needed to be functional by May 15th, and with only minutes to spare, it was done!
The project is due tomorrow! I have a lot of work to do, but it finally appears possible to have this all done. Thank you to my team member who contributed the code to correct the xml.dom.minidom’s output to be read correctly by PureEdge and Lotus Forms Viewer. This will enable me to save, although I’m a bit sad that I spent so much time this week working on that. At this point, I need to complete the parsing scheme, develop a function to save the data to forms per the CSV file and then send back those files in a zipped archive. All small steps, and assuming no road blocks, able to get done today. A quick bit of documentation and packaging and this barely beta, functional web application will be ready for submission. This may require an all-nighter and it’s down to the wire, but I think it will work. Keep your eyes on the XFDL Loader as it will be updated through the day!
As I dig through miles of XML, I realize I have not posted lately. I’ve been a bit busy meeting the May 15th deadline for my project. But here’s a quick update. First, don’t forget to view the update viewer. It’s not pretty, but it works to the point I’ve set it. I’ve changed from PHP to using Python CGI (a language I’m more comfortable with) and I’ve done what took two weeks in two days. Too bad this wasn’t thought of before!! Anyhow, I figured I’d pass along this bit of code from Neil Funk that shows a better method for decompression of an XFDL in Python:
#!/usr/bin/python
from base64 import *
import zlib
# OPEN FILES
inp = open('example.xfdl','rb').read()
out = open('example.xml,'wb')
# TAKE OUT THE MIME DATA
magic = inp.splitlines()[0]
data = inp.split(magic)
# THE TRICKY PART -- Look to the python manual for explanation.
wbits = 15+32
newData = zlib.decompress(b64decode(data),wbits)
out.write(newData)
out.close()
And drumroll please, for Chris Hutton contributed this PHP code for recompressing an XFDL from XML. I'm working to translate this to Python, but for the time being, an XML with an XFDL extension works.
// Export XML, gzip, and base64 encode. Append XFDL header information and output to user.
// XML is the raw data to be saved.
$newxml = $xml->asXML();
// chunk_split is new to me!
$output = chunk_split(base64_encode(gzencode($newxml)));
// Add the header!
$output = "application/vnd.xfdl;content-encoding=\"base64-gzip\"\n". $output;
header("Content-disposition: attachment; filename=\"{$filename}\"");
header("Content-type: application/vnd.xfdl");
echo $output;
So thank you all for your contributions! I'll try to keep this blog more up-to-date.
After downloading Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx, I noticed that the biggest user interface change is the title bar buttons. Unlike Windows or Mac, the buttons are located on the left side. This is not too bad if you can get used to it, but I found several complaints online. So, for those who are not used to gconf-editor, here are instructions to fixing the title bar.
- Open a terminal or use Alt+F2 and type ‘gconf-editor’.
- In the tree menu on the left side go to: apps -> metacity -> general
- On the options menu (right side of the editor) find the option midway down for ‘button_layout’.
- Editing these options can let you customize the menu, here’s how:
- The colon ‘ : ‘ sets the middle, so anything on the left of the colon is on the left of the title bar.
- Settings are comma separated values of menu, minimize, maximize, close, separator
- Duplicates and unknown values are silently ignored.
- Example #1: menu:minimize,maximize,close
- Example #2: close,minimize,maximize:
- Example #3: minimize,maximize,close:
See, one of the great things with Linux is that these configurations are available. If you take a moment to look around your gconf-editor, you’ll see how powerful this tool is to your user interface customization. Feel free to contact me or comment here with questions regarding this process.
Discussion, Linux, Ubuntu
buttons, gconf, gconf-editor, left side, Linux, right side, title, Ubuntu, Ubuntu 10.04, UI, update, wrong side
So I decided to update my laptop to Ubuntu 10.04. This process got off to a rough start because a pesky dog ran into my laptop, shutting the lid and causing a sleep halfway through the upgrade. The problem came in that the computer was not set to be able to resume and so I only had half the updates done. So when I rebooted, there was no graphical display, and for awhile, not even the ability to use a terminal. Thankful, grub had been updated and I was able to boot into the recovery counsel, compile a wireless driver, get an internet connection and download and install the rest of the updates manually rather than through ‘sudo upgrade-manager -d’. Once that was done, I was amazed at the new Ubuntu.
Improvements that I noticed:
- Better Graphical Display (Finally away from the orange/brown theme!)
- Applets, as per the past four releases, are better in bothe appearance and use.
- Ubuntu is keeping with its integration of web based applications and social networking through the Desktop.
There are many more improvements but these are the ones that I’ve noticed first. I’ve also seen through Launchpad that bugs are being addressed, which in this pre-review from last year, it would appear the the integration of fixes for the bugs in Linux has improved quite aways in the past year, and this release appears to be continuing the quality product of Ubuntu Linux!
So, after talking with the Army’s G6 (essential the IT Department), the competition I’m entering (which because I’m not an active duty Reservist, I cannot receive prize money) is focused on web applications, not desktop applications. The changes you can expect to see in my coding is that there will be quite a bit of php, perl and python that I’ll be using rather than the application side. At the same time though, I’ll take what I do in this web application and use it for developing a desktop application and a Microsoft Office plugin that can be used to batch load files. Just figured I’d acknowledge the reason for changes. On the plus side of all of this, perl has a specific Mime module and php has a great and simple interface to xml parsing, so this may end up easier as a web application.
“I’m a PC and Windows 7 was my idea.”
This has been annoying me for the past several months, and since I have a blog, I’m going to complain. First of all, Windows is proprietary and if it was your idea and they didn’t pay you for it, oh well, that’s business. Secondly, the crap in Windows 7 isn’t that great; I bought my wife a Dell Mini-10 for her birthday and it came with Windows 7. I immediately installed Ubuntu 9.10 Netbook Remix and the comparison without even numbers, just general usage, screen real estate and speed, Ubuntu is far superior. And finally, Ubuntu and Linux itself are open source which means that I can truly say, as a contributer (bug triage):
“”I’m a PC and Ubuntu truly is partly my idea.”
So for anyone reading this blog, I am still here, just have not added anything this week. I’m working and have not been able to update the blog but I will soon have links and information to my linux Cribbage game. This is near completion and I have written it using pygtk. It is using card and game modules that I had designed for a text based run of the program and figuring no one would want to use the text based, I’ve switched to a GTK interface, which is obviously, much better.
So, to start off, hello and thanks for visiting! This blog has a purpose to demonstrate code examples that refers primarily to the languages of python, c/c++ and others. Just a quick introduction, I’m a hobby programmer from Ames, Iowa. Recently, I’ve attempted to start offering computer services to the local community and have created this site: http://www.skeltonnetworks.com/ which is in it’s intial stages but is functional. My interests in programming relate mostly to computer security and linux. For any comments, please feel free to write through either this blog or the contact form on my home page.
Just a small technicality to for some recognition…
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