Updating Linux hardware... ACAICC2 live

ACAICC2 == “As Close As I Can Come To” but fits into the Title.

Plugging in extra RAM was a no-brainer... except that this laptop has a dodgey socket which allows the RAM to sit right — but not quite right. Sorted that out by removing/replugging & all was then fine.

PS, if anyone in Perth wants a 0.5GB SODIMM, give us a whistle via email (forename @ cyberknights domain).

I put a new 250GB hard drive into a caddy, plugged it into USB2 socket, was then able to cp across the live system (plus another 10Gb of data files via another USB2 caddy, which seemed to go faster, perhaps because it was coming from a new 200GB drive rather than an older 60GB), reconfigure grub for the new drive, fauxed as internal (sda not sdb), then I shut down services, cp’ed only changed files again (logs, etc: a few seconds), remounted all oft-modified partitions (/home, /var) on the new drive, brought up services. Now running effectively on new drive via USB2 with maybe 1 minute downtime.

At liberty... shut down, swap drives, power up, now running from 250GB drive internally, 60GB drive is removable, i.e., backup.

Didn’t bother making XP happy again, only ever used it for writing articles & WINE seems to run what I need now.

Semi-randomness so you recognise me posting: “I used to be indecisive, but now I wouldn’t be so sure.”

Pharmacist was in, with student/apprentice, fast-talked her way on ’phone into enough holiday+sick time to do what she wanted — a month off, plus half an hour — an art to behold. (-:

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new life for an old (FTX) PSU, improved life for one human

the LEDs on this 5m strip happen to emit light centred on a red that does unexpectedly helpful things to (and surprisingly deeply within) a human routinely exposed to it. it has been soldered to a Molex connector, plugged into a TFX power supply from a (retired: the MoBo is cactus) Small Form Factor PC, the assorted PSU connectors (and loose end from the strip) have been taped over. the LED strip cost $10.24 including postage, the rest cost $0, the PSU is running at 12½% of capacity, consumes less power than a laptop plug-pack despite running a fan. trial runs begin today.

every-application-is-part-of-a-toolkit at work

I have a LibreOffice Impress slideshow that I wish to turn into a narrated video. 1. export the slideshow as PNG images (if that is partially broken — as at now — at higher resolutions, Export Directly as PDF then use ‘pdftoppm’ (from the poppler-utils package) to do the same). 2. write a small C program (63 lines including comments) to display those images one at a time, writing a config file entry for Imagination (default transition: ‘cross fade’) based on when the image-viewer application (‘display,’ from the GraphicsMagick suite) is closed on each one; run that, read each image aloud, then close each image in turn. 3. run ‘Imagination’ over the config file to produce a silent MP4 video with the correct timings. 4. run ‘Audacity’ to record speech while using ‘SMPlayer’ to display the silent video, then export that recording as a WAV file. 4a. optionally, use ‘TiMIDIty’ to convert a non-copyright-encumbered MIDI tune to WAV, then import that and blend it with the speech (as a quiet b...

boundaries

pushing the actual boundaries of the physical (not extremes, the boundaries themselves) can often remove barriers not otherwise perceived. one can then often resolve an issue itself, rather than merely stonewalling at the physical consequences of the issue.

Plantagenet Penguinista

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