TCP Tools: TCPing and Advanced IP Scanner

tcping.exe – ping over a tcp connection

tcping.exe is a small console application that operates similarly to ‘ping’, however it works over a tcp port. Not a terribly interesting concept, but I had trouble finding a windows utility to do this that I was happy with. There are now several different implementions of this floating around, written independently by different people. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

Update: tcping now also speaks http. If the ‘-h’ flag is used, tcping will connect and attempt to download the given url over http in addition to opening the port.

→Download Here←

 

Advanced IP Scanner (Free Network Scanning Tool)

Advanced IP Scanner is a free, fast and easy-to-use network scanner for Windows. In a matter of seconds, this utility finds all the computers on your network and provides easy access to their various resources, whether HTTP, HTTPS, FTP or shared folders. With Advanced IP Scanner, you can wake up and shut down remote groups of Windows machines. If you use Radmin remote access software, you will also enjoy the improved Radmin Server detection and integration capabilities, which allow you to connect to any scanned machine with Radmin Server. →Download Here←

Disabling a Dell PointStick (TrackStick) in CrunchBang Linux

I recently discovered CrunchBang Linux, an awesome Debian based distro, and have been testing it as an alternative to Windows 8.

I installed it on a spare Dell D630 notebook at work and found out the the little pointstick caused the pointer to randomly wander around the screen.  Since I never use the PointStick I wanted to disable it.  In Windows, there is a nice little Dell utility that allows you to customize the behavior of the PointStick and TouchPad.

However, in Linux, it’s a little different (command line), but almost as easy.

The key tool is xinput (thanks to this post on ceder’s blog)

You can disable the device via a couple simple commands:

"xinput list"
# xinput list
⎡ Virtual core pointer                        id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                  id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Microsoft Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse® 1.0A    id=10    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ DualPoint Stick                             id=12    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ AlpsPS/2 ALPS DualPoint TouchPad            id=13    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Macintosh mouse button emulation            id=14    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                       id=3    [master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard                 id=5    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus                                   id=6    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus                                   id=7    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                                id=8    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Sleep Button                                id=9    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard                id=11    [slave  keyboard (3)]

to find the “DualPoint Stick” device

# xinput -set-prop "DualPoint Stick" "Device Enabled" 0
to disable it