Blogging tryout
Let's get this started
Well, after a long time of being a computer geek, I finally decided to start a
blog. The reasons for this and everything you need to know about me can be
found in the about section of this page.
The engine of this page is using django. I decided to use a web framework
since I never ever wanted to write pure HTML again after I left school. Django
is written in my favorite language python and therefore allows me fast
expansion of functionality. Occasionally, I might write some clues for working
with it on this very site.
There is still a lot missing on this site. No comments, no search, no tagcloud.
I might add some of this stuff, but the site is now in a state where it can
help me to dump my brain. I will invest more time into it, if it shows that I
really use it.
Alright, the basics are done, the engine is ready. Let's see where this
blogging stuff leads us...
GMX SMS Sending script
The Woes of SMS
So GMX decided they wanted to become more secure. For whatever reasons, this is
always good thinking. But in the process of changing their Email login, they
also seem to have turned off the old SMS service that I was happily using for
years to pump my SMS out.
So with this option lost, I started looking for alternatives. There is no
official support from GMX for SMS outside windows. I found GSMS which seemed
like something I wanted, but not quite (no encryption and quite slow to send,
need the user to set the GMX skin to the old style, otherwise it won't work). I
also found a Perl script in a forum, but I lost the address. Both tools use the
same technique: Pretending to be a browser and clicking through the site.
I did my own version. It uses the same technique, but is threaded so crawling
can happen in the background. Here is the feature list:
- Comes with address book plugin for Mac OS X
- Crawling happens in the background, so you can start entering your SMS right
away
- SSL encrypted transport. We're not in the nineties anymore...
- Written in python
Code
You'll find all code here: /code/GMXSmsSend. This is also a
bazaar repository, so you can get the latest version or branch from it:
$ git clone https://github.com/SirVer/GMXSmsSend.git
The program needs pyqt as a GUI and obviously BeautifulSoup as a HTML parser. That's it.
Getting it to run
Edit Sms.py and add your username and your login. You can then directly run the script:
$ ./GMXSmsSend.py
Installing it as a AddressBook Plugin
Copy the file Send GMX SMS.scpt to the folder ~/Library/Address Book
Plug-Ins/. Create the folder if it doesn't exist. Restart AddressBook. You
might want to edit the script in case the path to python is not correct, which
is quite likely the case. That should be it. If you now click on a mobile
number in AddressBook, you can choose to send a GMX SMS. You will then asked
for the path to the program SendGMXSMS. Point this to your created application.
From now on, this should work automatically.
If you have any problems, feel free to contact me.
