Posted By RichC on January 1, 2016
If you enjoy playing with inexpensive computer gadgets and perhaps getting them a LinuxOS Raspberry Pi … or maybe a PINE A64??? Check out the inexpensive Single board Super Computer … and under $100 computer set-up and top of the line smartphone might be all the tech many of us need?
PINE A64 compared with Raspberry Pi
PINE A64 compared with C.H.I.P and Arduino
Posted By RichC on January 1, 2016
Out with the old and in with the new. Happy New Year 2016!
Edit: Posting this as a Raspberry Pi home image server test from the iPad. Impressive little box!
Posted By RichC on December 31, 2015
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Posted By RichC on December 30, 2015
Digital Ocean’s cloud based servers have me debating which is best for the MyDesultoryBlog.com in a worse case scenario? Do I continue with the $1/mo automated backups 4 times per month or go with the no-charge manual “Snapshops?” The $12/yr charge in the short term is probably reasonable but would have preferred a daily image even though I’d never do that manually. Perhaps I’ll stick with the automated for a month to see just how reliable the cloud-based server is before moving to manual “Snapshots” (along with my usual sFTP backup and database “dumps)?
Scaling:Snapshots can provide an easy way to scale out a system: you can take a snapshot of a current server and spin up a new droplet from the snapshot. As soon as the process completes, you will have two identical servers to bolster your setup.
…
Backups: While automated backups make sure that is always a version of your system available in case of trouble, snapshots have the added benefit of being possible at any time. A snapshot could be taken prior to making any drastic changes to a server configuration, so that, should the changes be unsuccessful, you will have a version to revert back to.
Posted By RichC on December 29, 2015
How do you control the brightness 
on Thunderbolt connected secondary monitor without any physical controls? This took me a few minutes to figure out … so its worth archiving as a tidbit.
When your display desktop is at a premium, or you are running virtual operating systems, having a second monitor is a real plus. I added a secondhand 27″ Mac Thunderbolt display to my iMac and love the extended desktop especially for a Parallels Windows 10 virtual machine; it now sits on it’s own large monitor. The small single Thunderbolt connection and matching resolution made this a no-brainer decision … but there was a glitch: I could not control the second monitor’s brightness setting?
There is a simple solution: Plug in the pigtailed USB wire from the Thunderbolt display (as well as the Thunderbolt wire) and then you can use ctrl-F1 and ctrl-F2 to dim and brighten the second monitor just as F1 and F2 controls the primary monitor.
Posted By RichC on December 29, 2015
Posting a few photos after completing the woodstove project that I’ve been working on this past month or so. It is working great as we used it to dry a bit after the rainy and wet Knockerball fun when the kids were home for Christmas.
After spending a few hours cleaning the old stove and de-rusting, I painted the exterior with a new coat of high temperature flat black paint and am pretty happy with both the looks and heat output. The new flue and chimney draws well … even with the warmer weather we had last week. Now for a few more screws and some priming and painting the ceiling pass-thru … it will be ready for a cold weather winter test.
Posted By RichC on December 28, 2015
After making the Microsoft update from Windows 7 to Windows 10, there 
were a few items lost in the mostly automatic update (BTW, it is as painless an upgrade Microsoft has ever done). One of the add-ons for the Mozilla’s Firefox browser that I find hard to live without is FireFTP (simple FTP client). Much of the FTP an sFTP management that I do has been with this and so I’ve accumulated a few “saved” log-ins and profiles. Unfortunately it broke and all the login data was missing?
Here’s what you do if this happens:
Note on the Windows 10 desktop there is a folder called “Old Firefox Data.” Inside there is the normal looking “dot” default profile directory – normal if you ever had to access it in the past. After opening this folder you will be looking for three files: fireFTPprograms.dat, fireFTPsites.dat and key3.db. Don’t lose these, but “copy” them to the desktop while you navigate or open a new folder window containing the currently functioning Firefox install. You will find it by drilling down to something like:
C:\Users\”username”\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\”current.default-##”
(notice the items in the quotes will be unique to your Windows install)
(click for larger illustration)
After REPLACING the current Windows 10 data with the “Old Firefox Data” … be sure to close and reload Firefox. The new FireFTP add-on should now have all the FTP data that was in the previous install.
*NOTE: When you replace the Windows 10 FireFTP data with the old, you will lose whatever you may have started to use … so save any new FTP data.
Posted By RichC on December 28, 2015
Google and NASA engineers announced that tests with the D-WAVE 2X, the quantum computer developed by them, showed that it’s 100 million times faster than an ordinary computer. The impressive record was achieved in a test in which the D-WAVE 2X ran an optimization problem and found a solution much faster than a conventional computer, using a single-core processor.
Source: Interesting Engineering
Posted By RichC on December 27, 2015
Katelyn and Drew headed back home to Wayzata, MN this Sunday morning after monitoring the wave of nasty weather pushing north later today. 
It looks as if they will be in the clear by the time they get to Chicago; the ice, snow and rain should be south of Wisconsin and Minnesota … at least for most of the afternoon. Let hope the traffic keeps moving.
After sending them off with full coffee cups, I took a few moments this morning to play with Brenda’s new Apple Watch while she snoozed a few more minutes before work. I think she is going to like this gadget, at least as a “watch” … but maybe as a text reading accessory too? Time will tell if she ends up using other apps as she is not as “techy” as Katelyn.
As a whole, we couldn’t have asked for a better time together as a family. Even though the time flew by, it really was perfect. Gift giving, eating, snacking, a movie, Knockerball, board games (this year, Dominion) and even a visit from Drew’s brother Tyler and his wife Jodi on Saturday. The older I get, the more I realize how challenging coordinating schedules becomes for each family unit when it comes to time off work and coordinating schedules and travel to see each parent and sibling. When it was “our job” as a young family to be the ones negotiating the time and schedules to visit our families, it seemed easier … although it probably wasn’t?
I’m looking forward to playing with a few of “my” new presents … it almost feels like I’ve gone full circle and am back to toys as gifts again?
😊
First, it was a gift from my friend Jeff … a Raspberry Pi … something he and I have been talking about “playing” with this past year. He’s been experimenting with them and the smaller Adreno “chips” sort of as a work project (sensors for store displays and marketing purposes). I’m a little more intrigued with them as a way to add some home automation and security … 
although want to see just how powerful they might be as a tiny low powered Dropbox-like cloud storage or SSD home-based web server. It will be fun. Thank you Jeff … both for the gift and your friendship for nearly 40 years.
Of course, the micro-quad rotors (Taylor got one too) from Drew and Katelyn were a big hit. We had immediate fun flying them in our high-ceilinged family room, although Taylor was brave enough to take his outside to see how high it would go.
Brenda thankfully updated me with some new underwear and my “style conscious” son bought me a very nice pair of Clark’s low boot-shoes (Taylor likes the brand). Besides underwear and shoes, my wish list was completed with not just one pair of thinner work “shop gloves” … but 2 pairs of Mechanix Wear gloves from K & D. Ah, gloves that I can actually hold something small with! Finally a Roku Stick for my home office TV … anxious to try it later today as I’m hoping that with the Time Warner app that I’ll be able to stream most of the same channels we receive on cable over the Internet feed?
What a great Christmas!
Posted By RichC on December 26, 2015
We had a wonderful family time on Christmas day. Taylor came after work on Christmas Eve day and Katelyn and Drew drove from Minneapolis after a half day of work (long day for them), so we were all home for Christmas morning. After our morning gift exchange, which was wonderful, although too much … we went outside and enjoyed the unusually warm weather. One of the gifts to the family (from Brenda) were Knockerballs and so the afternoon was spent blowing them up and bumping each other around in the backyard. Definitely a fun time.
After dinner (steak … a tradition from the Howard family) we all went to our new local Liberty Center and watched the new 2015 Star Wars movie – The Force Awakens. The new shopping area is exceptionally nice and so well done that it is worth driving to shop there if you live in SW Ohio. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to a “normal” movie theatre after the Cobb Luxury 15. Also we were particularly pleased with the decorations and attention to the “reason for the season.” Inside the beautifully lit 50 foot (approx) simulated Christmas tree was a public nativity scene. Sure is great to live in a community that does not shy away from Christian greetings and imagery … thankfully the ACLU and government hasn’t YET been able to threaten private businesses.