computoman

i Just some thoughts or suggestions I have put together. Just a few. more coming. For more details see: http://www.instructables.com/id/Computing-hints-or-ideas/

What? You can not run a hosted computer in your browser. Actually you can now the virtual machines have advanced so much that instead of the output of the virtual machine just going to a window on your computer, it can be re-directed to a web browser.  So if you have software for your older obsolete machines, you can in a lot of cases still run that software. This is especially important for those old games you still can not put down.  One the web based machines we like to run is the good old Commodore 64. So when the better half wants you to move onto new equipment, just let her know you need a web server for biz reasons. She does not have to know. Older computers are nice, but it would be even nicer if you could run multiple operating systems and be able to get to them from anywhere. Done. There are now several emulators that can run pc software such as Linux, BSD, and some of the proprietary operating systems.  A good example would be say at a kiosk where you ...

It seems amazing how hosting companies can have sites so cheap sometimes. Not knowing what goes on behind the scenes, you might think you have a whole computer just for your web site. It could be that way for more premium site rates. Amazon and all the major sites do two things. What they do is two fold. They use one set of hardware to set up what is known as virtual machines. One computer can emulate one or more additional machines. You do not have to purchase additional hardware to have another computer to set up a web site.  Almost like getting a computer for free. The second thing they can do is have what is known as virtual hosts. That is you can run many websites with only one computer. So every time a hosting company signs up someone to use their equipment for having a web site, it is almost like free money as it does not cost them any additional money to host your site (unless their equipment is at full capacity). For example, we love to have virtual web hosting. You c...

Does Apple no longer want to support your good old Apple Macintosh? The machine is still good, but it pretty much sits in the corner?  Well if you are open to new options, you can put that old system back to work with more up to date software than the old OS/X. Enter Mint PPC which is a linux distribution. Linux is a cousin to the BSD operating system that OS/X is based on. You can get native BSD for the ppc mac also.  Very user friendly, though you might have to learn at least a little bit new. You can even update the desktop so it looks like the traditional desktop. Had some old Macs myself that have since gone to a better place. I ran Ubuntu and Debian Linux on G3's quite well. In fact, you can get what is known as a live cd and try Linux without even installing it. Check it out! For more information see: http://mintppc.org/ http://www.debian.org/ports/powerpc/ https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Architectures/PowerPC https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPC

Once in a while I sort of come up with a neat idea. At least it is to me. Just because you have an old system, does not mean you can not teach it new tricks. Done a lot of page scraping to get weather details, but it would be nice to use radar screens from the command line. So details in this case are not so necessary. The overall view of the weather to see what kinds of weather fronts are approaching is. Here we go. We need to collect some historical data (i.e. radar screens). You can get these from the radar.weather.gov using the 3 letter designation for the area you are interested in. For example, I believe the Dallas Fort Worth area is supposed to be FWS. You do not have to collect data just for your area. Collect data for several areas and get an overview of the weather all around. (http://www.leonardsguide.com/us-airport-codes.shtml) You need to collect data. Cron is the perfect tool for the job. We need to create a batch file that will collect the pictures usin...

After the Megaupload incident ( https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/04/court-orders-megaupload-parties-come-plan ), it makes me wonder whether I want to use the cloud. Innocent users with their files not available is making that a real mess. You can easily set up a server on a system such as an old computer for your home network or you can get some of the turnkey nas'es (networked addressed storage or network hard drive that have a server built in). Some of them even support what is know as the (M/L/W)amp stack. If you have one of these units there are a few starter programs that can make access to your personal media very easy. For  pictures, you might use Gallery2 ( gallery2.org ). Some network hardrives come with this software now.  It is what we use to store pictures and makes it real easy to access them with just a web browser. If you want to easily access your media then try xbmc ( xbmc.org ) which is available for the major platforms and does not need a we...

Traditionally, neighborhood intranet was called guerilla networking (not to be confused with guerilla marketing). Known people that have done this for years. My personal feeling is that you not connect it to the real internet. If you want to connect to the internet, have a separate network. All of it is easy to set up, but there is a minefield of legal issues. Caveat Emptor. http://www.ehow.com/how_2070419_start-neighborhood-intranet.html  http://www.meetdageeks.com/2012/02/your-own-intranet.html

If you were lucky enough to get the free coupons for the free dtv converters, you could still use your analog TV for watching television. In fact, we use the dtv converter with a dvd player in the man-cave. ( http://www.instructables.com/id/Extra-TV-setup/ ) We get about sixty stations, but only use about twenty of them. You will get the traditional major TV networks for free. Ironically, more and more cable is coming back to over the air TV in one form or another. See your favorite Food TV chefs on "The Chew". Also cut the cord, but we went in a different direction. We use OTA (Over-the-air) HDTV. (Works best in large metropolitan areas). Actually, most television stations still transmit the old fashion way. You can not use the old fashion tv tuner, but again you can use the dtv converter with an old fashion TV antenna. You do not need to use a special HDTV antenna. Marketing hype for an existing TV antenna. You can also make your own for almost free. You can find s...

As services such as Netflix and Hulu plus get better and better will more and more people cut the cable cord and save money? It is starting... Cord Cutting is Real: 1 Million TV Subscribers Lost to Streaming Services . I am really tired of paying close to $50 a month for cable. If I can use a local HD antenna and see my other favorite shows on Netflix and Hulu plus for about $20 a month instead of $50... that's a $360 a year I am saving. The technology and bandwidth are in place to get your favorite shows via your network connection. It is only a matter of time until the cable company monopoly is broken. Blockbusters had its business plan ripped out from under them by advancing technology. The result: Bankruptcy. Actually driving somewhere to get a DVD? Redbox? You've got to be kidding. The cable companies are facing the same specter in the face. DirectTV, you REALLY expect me to pay you $4.99 to watch a movie on demand when Amazon has it for less? Competition is...

Drew Curtis, founder of fark.com: Drew Curtis: How I beat a patent troll Best quote: "Don't negotiate with terrorists." If you have 6 minutes, watch this video....

Odds and ends: #Date and time $ date +"Date: %m/%d/%y Time: %H:%M:%S" Date: 09/17/14 Time: 08:34:28 Format a usb stick: $ sudo umount /dev/sdb1 $ sudo mkdosfs -F 32 -I /dev/sdb1 #Quick way to stop a misbehaving program. format: pkill progname $ pkill firefox #Get a file from youtube: format youtube-dl url -flv $ youtube-dl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UenUUP2GM4g&list=UUa88-y7odLz96HGE4bI41Lg #Extract a file directly to a web directory from another host. $ sudo tar username@host::/home/username/diroffile/filename.tar From HPR: #Strip the audio of a video. $ ffmpeg -i glue.flv glue.mp3 # Possible pretty output file, but takes up extra space. $ ffmpeg -i glue.flv -target ntsc-dvd output.mpg # original install ls -l /var/log/installer # uptime uptime # Quicknote cat > filename <<EOF # Quick append cat >> filename <<EOF #Gif to avi convert test.gif old%02d.jpg ffmpeg -r 25 -i old%02d.jpg -y -an new.avi # St...

Decided I wanted to play good old Zork. Went looking for where to get the games. Whoopie, they are free now! Used to be you would have a install a program for each version of the story. They now have what is called a zmachine, so that all you have to do is load in the stories for each of the games as you want to play them.    So I downloaded several games including hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy.  Mmm goodness! http://www.instructables.com/id/Play-Zork-and-other-zmachine-files-on-Linux/ Having been a system administrator for many years installing client/server applications, "What else can I do?", came to mind. Then I thought about it, Do I need to download a zmachine for all the systems. Is there a better way especially for touchpads? And there is. Found Zplet for use on a web server. Installed it, some stories, and a little html to put it all together. Even more goodness. http://www.instructables.com/id...

www.instructables.com/member/computothought General instructables. Hacking Geeks.

Some links to instructables: ( www.instructables.com/member/computothought) Web related: http://www.instructables.com/id/Web-related/ Coathangers: http://www.instructables.com/id/Coathanger-projects/ Data-mining: http://www.instructables.com/id/Data-mining/ Electronic Guides: http://www.instructables.com/id/Electronic-Guides/ M$ http://www.instructables.com/id/Microsoft-themed-instructables/ Linux http://www.instructables.com/id/Linux-themed-instructables/ Antennas: http://www.instructables.com/id/Antennas-TV-Wifi-and-etc/ Food:  http://www.instructables.com/id/Our-food-instructables/

Play pretend here for a second. You are a new accountant for a company and you  need to make a consolidated financial report of many units. (This example is way over simplified, but I think you will get the idea.) You need to get a report out, but you do not have time to re-enter figures, because all the units send their data in ascii or what is known as text files. How can we get the computer to compile the data so it can be easily entered into the spreadsheet?  Heres how! A good prerequisite for this post is at:  http://www.linuxintheshell.org/ Units one two and three send their data in, but they are in an ascii file. We want to convert them  so they can be easily converted for use in a spreadsheet. From Unit 1 in unit1:                        Unit 1 Income:        5000 Expenses    2000 Data from Unit  2 in unit2:             ...

Had to stay at my brother's house last summer while the AC was being replaced. While there, he was kind enough to let me access his wifi. It was real easy. You just log in and your on-line. The neat part of it was you are blocked out of using the local area network. He uses a wireless router from that company in Cupertino, California. I wanted to have the same thing but did not want to spend one hundred plus dollars on a new router like he did. Recently I purchased a used Cisco Linksys wrt-54g from the local Goodwill store specializing in computer stuff real cheap. Knew that you could upgrade the firmware with dd-wrt, openwrt, and a host of others. In fact, I think I had installed dd-wrt. Wanted more like what my brother has. After doing some research, I found some firmware. Known as CoovaAP, it is known is what is called a Wisp (wifi inTERnet service provider. Well I wanted it for our intranet (local area full service network without internet access). We have sort of our own mi...