Windows - The object invoked has disconnected from its client (Partial Fix)

I got this particular error message:
"The object invoked has disconnected from its client"
when trying to log into my Windows 8.1 machine locally.

This error is particularly debilitating because I cannot log in to my machine even from confirmed accounts that I used either for day to day tasks or administrative tasks. The culprit turns out to be a USB flash disk left plugged on one of the machine's USB socket. The fix is very simple, just remove the "offending" USB flashdisk and then all-is-well.
The USB flash disk in question contains a valid UEFI bootable OS along with the mandatory EFI partition to boot an UEFI-compliant OS. It seems to be some kind of check in Windows "chain of trust" detects this "irregularity" as breaking the "chain of trust" when Windows boot. Therefore, Windows decided that this is a malicious login attempt and blocks access into it. However, somehow the protection mechanism ends up with very uninformative message.


I list my analysis as "Partial Fix" because it works for my particular Windows 8.1 setup but might not work for other Windows versions.

Intel PCH (Haswell) Sound (ALSA) Problem and Fix for Arch Linux

The main problem fixed by the method explained here as follows: 

1. The kernel sound modules loaded just fine and able to recognize all sound-related chips just fine.
2. The Intel PCH platform (in my case Haswell) seems to be perfectly fine in loading modules. Moreover, checks via alsautils programs seems to work as well.
3. There's no sound coming out of the analog output. The analog output is usually the ones which a laptop speaker is connected and the one which you put earphone jack into. If you are using HDMI output from your Intel platform. You might not need this fix.

The "hint" that problem exists is usually failure when running:
$ speaker-test
with rather cryptic error message akin to "unable to open XXXX file"

This fix is focused on my Haswell Laptop but it could also work on other Intel systems with PCH as well. The basic idea comes from this post: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=180102. The only different thing is details of the hardware. The basic idea of the fix is: to force ALSA to reorder the module loading so as to make the sound chip controlling the analog output becomes the default output.
This fix ensures that the sound coming out of the default sound device is coming out of the analog output instead of the HDMI output. Anyway, you should have a sort of hint on which PCI device in your machine that controls the analog audio output. Usually, in Intel PCH platform (at least in Haswell), the ones that controls the analog output doesn't connect to the CPU directly, but rather to the PCH because the CPU (i.e. the HDMI device in the CPU chip) only connects to HDMI output. You should consult the system block diagram to ensure about this.

The fix consists of a *.conf file in /etc/modprobe.d. This file instructs the kernel module loader, i.e. the ALSA subsystem to reorder the sound modules so as to make the PCH audio device the "default" one (having index 0). In my case, I name the *.conf file: /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf. This is the contents of my /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf:

# Intel PCH
options snd-hda-intel index=0  model=auto vid=8086 pid=9c20
# Intel HDMI 
options snd-hda-intel index=1  model=auto vid=8086 pid=0a0c

The meaning of the module configuration file above is to set PCI device with Vendor IDentifier (VID) 8086 and PID 9C20, i.e. Intel PCH  as the default sound device (with index value set 0). You can find your specific vid and pid with this following command:

$ lspci -nn | grep -i audio
00:03.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT HD Audio Controller [8086:0a0c] (rev 09)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 8 Series HD Audio Controller [8086:9c20] (rev 04)

This is the output of aplay -l in my system after I applied the fix:

$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC3239 Analog [ALC3239 Analog]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: HDMI [HDA Intel HDMI], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

As you can see, the PCH audio device has become the "default" audio device (card 0). With the fix, speaker-test no longer stops with "unable to open XXXX file" but outputs noise sounds from the speaker. This is an excerpt of speaker-test log from my terminal:

$ speaker-test

speaker-test 1.0.28

Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 1 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
Buffer size range from 2048 to 16384
Period size range from 1024 to 1024
Using max buffer size 16384
Periods = 4
was set period_size = 1024
was set buffer_size = 16384
 0 - Front Left
Time per period = 2.657561
 0 - Front Left
Time per period = 2.986723
 0 - Front Left

I hope this also helps those experiencing similar problems out there. Ciao.

Zsh-Tmux Configuration for (Arch) Linux

I've been doing some testing in order to migrate to use tmux and zsh for my daily work on Linux. This post will show my configuration on both of them. First up is .zshrc:

autoload -U compinit promptinit
compinit
promptinit

# This will set the default prompt to the walters theme
prompt walters

zstyle ':completion:*' menu select
setopt completealiases
setopt HIST_IGNORE_DUPS

alias tmux='tmux -u'

# create a zkbd compatible hash;
# to add other keys to this hash, see: man 5 terminfo
typeset -A key

key[Home]=${terminfo[khome]}
key[End]=${terminfo[kend]}
key[Insert]=${terminfo[kich1]}
key[Delete]=${terminfo[kdch1]}
key[Up]=${terminfo[kcuu1]}
key[Down]=${terminfo[kcud1]}
key[Left]=${terminfo[kcub1]}
key[Right]=${terminfo[kcuf1]}
key[PageUp]=${terminfo[kpp]}
key[PageDown]=${terminfo[knp]}

# setup key accordingly
[[ -n "${key[Home]}"     ]]  && bindkey  "${key[Home]}"     beginning-of-line
[[ -n "${key[End]}"      ]]  && bindkey  "${key[End]}"      end-of-line
[[ -n "${key[Insert]}"   ]]  && bindkey  "${key[Insert]}"   overwrite-mode
[[ -n "${key[Delete]}"   ]]  && bindkey  "${key[Delete]}"   delete-char
[[ -n "${key[Up]}"       ]]  && bindkey  "${key[Up]}"       up-line-or-history
[[ -n "${key[Down]}"     ]]  && bindkey  "${key[Down]}"     down-line-or-history
[[ -n "${key[Left]}"     ]]  && bindkey  "${key[Left]}"     backward-char
[[ -n "${key[Right]}"    ]]  && bindkey  "${key[Right]}"    forward-char
[[ -n "${key[PageUp]}"   ]]  && bindkey  "${key[PageUp]}"   beginning-of-buffer-or-history
[[ -n "${key[PageDown]}" ]]  && bindkey  "${key[PageDown]}" end-of-buffer-or-history


# Finally, make sure the terminal is in application mode, when zle is
# active. Only then are the values from $terminfo valid.
if (( ${+terminfo[smkx]} )) && (( ${+terminfo[rmkx]} )); then
    function zle-line-init () {
  printf '%s' "${terminfo[smkx]}"
 }

 function zle-line-finish () {
  printf '%s' "${terminfo[rmkx]}"
 }
 zle -N zle-line-init
 zle -N zle-line-finish
fi

I lay no claims on this configuration because it's a mix-and-match result of several configuration. Mainly from Arch Linux wiki. It worked without problems though. Next up is .zshenv:

typeset -U path
path=(~/bin $path)

So. Now hopefully you get working zsh configuration. The comments in the config files are self-explanatory. Next up is my .tmux.conf:

#Prefix is Ctrl-a
set -g prefix C-a
bind C-a send-prefix
unbind C-b

# set shell
set -g default-shell /bin/zsh

set -sg escape-time 1
set -g base-index 1
setw -g pane-base-index 1

#Mouse works as expected
setw -g mode-mouse on
set -g mouse-select-pane on
set -g mouse-resize-pane on
set -g mouse-select-window on

setw -g monitor-activity on
set -g visual-activity on

set -g mode-keys vi
set -g history-limit 10000

# y and p as in vim
bind Escape copy-mode
unbind p
bind p paste-buffer
bind -t vi-copy 'v' begin-selection
bind -t vi-copy 'y' copy-selection
bind -t vi-copy 'Space' halfpage-down
bind -t vi-copy 'Bspace' halfpage-up

# extra commands for interacting with the ICCCM clipboard
bind C-c run "tmux save-buffer - | xclip -i -sel clipboard"
bind C-v run "tmux set-buffer \"$(xclip -o -sel clipboard)\"; tmux paste-buffer"

# easy-to-remember split pane commands
bind | split-window -h
bind - split-window -v
unbind '"'
unbind %

# moving between panes with vim movement keys
bind h select-pane -L
bind j select-pane -D
bind k select-pane -U
bind l select-pane -R

# moving between windows with vim movement keys
bind -r C-h select-window -t :-
bind -r C-l select-window -t :+

# resize panes with vim movement keys
bind -r H resize-pane -L 5
bind -r J resize-pane -D 5
bind -r K resize-pane -U 5
bind -r L resize-pane -R 5

Well, this one is also quite self-explanatory. At the very least this provides you with basic command completion among others and tmux that recognize zsh. Also, it remaps C-b to C-a so that it's easier to reach in QWERTY keyboard.
This is how they look like at work:

A bit of explanation on the 'tmux -u' alias. The terminal application that I'm using somehow cannot recognize the vertical line delimiter correctly in tmux unless I force it to assume that it know UTF-8 encoding. If not forced, it will use 'x' as the delimiter which was annoying.

CCSIDs a.k.a Code Pages in IBM PASE for i

It all started with iconv() function in iSeries PASE. I need to figure out how to convert strings back and forth between iSeries PASE and ILE programs. I didn't realize at first that there were TWO instead of one libiconv library installed on the iSeries I worked with. One from GNU and one from IBM (the original one). I had to specify the one I intend to use specifically in my Makefile.am as follows:

 pase_to_rpg_string_LDADD = /QOpenSys/QIBM/ProdData/OS400/PASE/lib/libiconv.a

Well, then it turned out, the code page "string" specified for ILE C didn't work out. I found out that the code page string should be as shown here. I'm puzzled as to where that guy found the code page string. Then, I finally found that it was AIX code page specification after all, as this link shows. I reproduce it below, just in case (and hopefully IBM doesn't mind ;).

Table 1. CICS Shortcodes, CCSIDs and code pages that TXSeries for Multiplatforms supports

CICS short code name	CCSID	AIX® and Windows code page	HP–UX code page name	Solaris code page name	Description
37	37	IBM-037	american_e	IBM-037	IBMLatin-1 EBCDIC
8859-1	819	ISO8859-1	iso8859_1	8859	Latin-1 ASCII (ISO)
819	819	ISO8859-1	iso8859_1	8859	Latin-1 ASCII (IBM/ISO)
850	850	IBM-850	roman8	IBM-850	Latin-1 ASCII
437	437	IBM-437	iso8859_1	IBM-437	Latin-1 (PC) ASCII
930	930	IBM-930	cp930	IBM-930	Japanese EBCDIC
931	931	IBM-931	japanese_e	IBM-931	Japanese EBCDIC
939	939	IBM-939	cp939	IBM-939	Japanese EBCDIC
932	932	IBM-932	sjis	ja_JP.pck	Japanese ASCII
EUCJP	954	IBM-eucJP	eucJP	eucJP	Japanese ASCII (ISO)
942	942	IBM-942	IBM-942	IBM-942	Japanese ASCII
943	943	IBM-943	IBM-943	IBM-943	Japanese ASCII
EUCKR	970	IBM-eucKR	eucKR	eucKR	Korean ASCII (ISO)
934	934	IBM-934	IMB-934	IBM-934	Korean ASCII
944	944	IBM-944	IBM-944	IBM-944	Korean ASCII
949	949	IBM-949	korean15	IBM-949	Korean ASCII
933	933	IBM-933	korean_e	IBM-933	Korean EBCDIC
EUCTW	964	IBM-eucTW	IBM-eucTW	eucTW	Traditional Chinese
938	938	IBM-938	IBM-938	IBM-938	Traditional Chinese ASCII
948	948	IBM-948	IBM-948	IBM-948	Traditional Chinese ASCII
937	937	IBM-937	chinese-t_e	IBM-937	Traditional Chinese EBCDIC
BIG5	950	Zh_TW.big5	big5	zh_TW.BIG5	Traditional Chinese BIG5
946	946	IBM-946	IBM-946	IBM-946	Simplified Chinese ASCII
1381	1381	IBM-1381	hp15CN	IBM-1381	Simplified Chinese ASCII
935	935	IBM-935	chinese-s_e	IBM-935	Simplified Chinese EBCDIC
EUCN	1383	IBM-eucCN	chinese-s_e	eucCN	Simplified Chinese ASCII (ISO)
GB18030	5488	GB18030	gb18030	GB18030	Simplified Chinese GB18030
864	864	IBM-864	arabic8	IBM-864	Arabic ASCII
8859-6	1089	ISO8859-6	iso8859_6	ISO8859-6	Arabic ASCII (ISO)
1089	1089	ISO8859-6	iso8859_6	ISO8859-6	Arabic ASCII (IBM/ISO)
420	420	IBM-420	arabic_e	IBM-420	Arabic EBCDIC
855	855	IBM-855	IBM-855	IBM-855	Cyrillic ASCII
866	866	IBM-866	IBM-866	IBM-866	Cyrillic ASCII
8859-5	915	ISO8859-5	iso8859_5	ISO8859-5	Cyrillic ASCII (ISO)
915	915	ISO8859-5	iso8859_5	ISO8859-5	Cyrillic ASCII (IBM/ISO)
1025	1025	IBM-1025	IBM-1025	IBM-1025	Multilingual Cyrillic EBCDIC
869	869	IBM-869	greek8	IBM-869	Greek ASCII
8859-7	813	ISO8859-7	iso8859_7	ISO8859-7	Greek ASCII (ISO)
813	813	ISO8859-7	iso8859_7	ISO8859-7	Greek ASCII (IBM/ISO)
875	875	IBM-875	greek_e	IBM-875	Greek EBCDIC
856	856	IBM-856	hebrew8	IBM-856	Hebrew ASCII
8859-8	916	ISO8859-8	iso8859_8	ISO8859-8	Hebrew ASCII (ISO)
916	916	ISO8859-8	iso8859_8	ISO8859-8	Hebrew ASCII (IBM/ISO)
424	424	IBM-424	hebrew_e	IBM-424	Hebrew EBCDIC
273	273	IBM-273	german_e	IBM-273	Austria, Germany EBCDIC
277	277	IBM-277	danish_e	IBM-277	Denmark, Norway EBCDIC
278	278	IBM-278	finnish_e	IBM-278	Finland, Sweden EBCDIC
280	280	IBM-280	italian_e	IBM-280	Italy EBCDIC
284	284	IBM-284	spanish_e	IBM-284	Spain, Latin Am.(Sp) EBCDIC
285	285	IBM-285	english_e	IBM-285	UK EBCDIC
297	297	IBM-297	french_e	IBM-297	France EBCDIC
500	500	IBM-500	IBM-500	IBM-500	International latin-1 EBCDIC
871	871	IBM-871	icelandic_e	IBM-871	Iceland EBCDIC
852	852	IBM-852	IBM-852	IBM-852	Latin-2 ASCII
8859-2	912	ISO8859-2	iso8859_2	ISO8859-2	Latin-2 ASCII (ISO)
912	912	ISO8859-2	iso8859_2	ISO8859-2	Latin-2 ASCII (IBM/ISO)
870	870	IBM-870	IBM-870	IBM-870	Latin-2 EBCDIC
857	857	IBM-857	turkish8	IBM-857	Turkey ASCII
8859-9	920	ISO8859-9	iso8859_9	ISO8859-9	Turkey ASCII (ISO)
920	920	ISO8859-9	iso8859_9	ISO8859-9	Turkey ASCII (IBM/ISO)
1026	1026	IBM-1026	turkish_e	IBM-1026	Turkey EBCDIC
UTF-8	1208	UTF-8 (only)	UTF-8	UTF-8	Unicode file code set
UCS-2	1200	UCS-2 (only)	UCS-2	UCS-2	Unicode processing code set

So, next time, you code on iSeries PASE, use "IBM-037" (EBCDIC code page) and "ISO8859-1" (ASCII 8-bit) strings to convert back and forth.

I hope this post will somehow save somebody someday.