Wednesday, September 30, 2015

OS cars

Linux cars come with a dual transmission (standard and automatic) while other operating systems only come with automatic.


Monday, September 28, 2015

Sunday, September 27, 2015

The message bottle.


Desktop disappearng. Why?



Many people already have or have access to desktops. The touchpad offers portability to the mix. Touchpad is not running MSWindows but us merely using a remote desktop client to connect to an MSWindows system.
You could do the same thing with other operating systems such as Linux.



Friday, September 25, 2015

Open source education.

We believe in teaching a "libre" education


Who needs Blackboard?


Home Redmond.


Microsoft Windows nein.

Prophetic?

Venturing into web pages.

If you have ever set a web server, you are probably familiar with the Apache start up web page.  You got goose bumps to know that you have a server to play/work with.





The you decide you want to do your own web page and it might look something like this.


You want some a little more splashy so tyou go to www.w3schools.com.com for some hints and then your web page becomes a bit more interesting.


You keep adding content and before long your start page may look something like this:


Quite a change! http://www.instructables.com/id/Introduction-to-installing-web-apps/

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Will the real web server please stand up?




The duck test – "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck"

Several years back I did an article about setting up a web server. One person commented to the affect that it was not a real web server (paraphrasing) since it was not part of some big server entity like Amazon. Which i responded the user not are how it was done. Then there were retorts about how you had to have this and that. Finally another reader suggested he used an old 486 computer and how he ran a web server and it it handled quite a bit of traffic similar to a commercial web server. Did not hear anymore from the dissenter.

So if you see a web page in your browser, does it matter where or how it comes from. If I told you that the picture above was generated from a web server that was using a legacy Pentium one computer would it really matter? 

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Electronics.

Get your kids to learn real electronics!

The actual multivibrator project is a replica of a project I did many many years ago. This project would have taken at the most four parts on an Arduino. A light blinker like at a railroad crossing.





Schematic: (The plan)




And you can get actual credit for it.


It's at no charge?


Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Vendors. please do not lock it down.

Today we have too much electronic waste, mostly because vendors choose to lock down equipment so that it can not be modified. When a device becomes unusable, most people only know to trash it. This creates a pollution and space problem.  Vendors please let equipment be modifiable and help save the planet.

Chumby clone before:


After modification: a usable and upgradeable Debian linux box.


What server os are we using this week?


Monday, September 21, 2015

Lest we forget our computer ancestors.

An old #x86 is the perfect electronics workstation. What you give up when you send one of these for #recycling #retrohardware #electronics
Legacy x86 ports:
15 digital lines
ground
(with game port card)
4 analog ports
True rs2132 interface
Built in time/date support
and much much more
sdl/sca interface
True +12v/+5v support




Simple rs323 temp sensor 


Fire in the hole.


If you need to run equipment in hazardous situations, would it not be preferable to use an old Pentium I computer running Linux instead of a brand new system running MSWindows 10? #MSWindows #Linux

Xbox plus.


What about the Y and the Z box?

Effective usage.



If your internet is not that fast, would it not be smarter to let an old machine transfer your files at night when the net is slower and it will not interrupt the bandwidth of your desktop system. Using a script all the file transfers can be done automatically and the the script can shut down the system when done.

Are you a..


Tuesday, September 15, 2015

MSWindows subscription payment.

Sometime next year, you may be required to pay a rental use fee for Microsoft Windows. Will Microsoft lock your machine down if you do not pay it? Be prepared.