Bernardo's Tech Blog

A green computer … and a matching font

Eldon Martin — Sun, 02 May 2010 01:57:57 +0000

Gone are the days when you could save a bundle of money building a computer from parts. However, there are still a few situations when it can make sense to do so.

I recently had the privilege of building a computer at my place of employment, using the following parts:

http://www.mini-box.com/M350-enclosure-with-picoPSU-80-and-60W-adapter
http://www.mini-box.com/D510MO-mini-ITX-Intel
http://www.mini-box.com/2GB-DDR2-Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136387

The result is an inexpensive, fan-less computer that can be mounted on a wall or on the back of an LCD. The power usage of this computer ranges from 15 to 21 watts depending on its load, so I stand to save $30-$40 a year in electricity when compared with a more typical computer that consumes 50 to 80 watts (I leave my computer running 24/7).

There are prebuilt computers that are similar in price, such as the Zotac MAG, but they use proprietary parts. That means if something breaks outside of warranty, you may find it difficult or impossible to find replacement parts. With a standard mini-itx system like this one, parts availability should not be a problem for several years.

Speaking of “green”: did you know that you can save money on ink simply by using a different font when composing documents for printing? According to this article on Yahoo! News, a font with thin lines such as Century Gothic can use up to 30% less ink than popular fonts such as Arial. If you’re using Linux instead of Windows, you may not find either one of these in the list of fonts available to you. However, the concept still applies; just look for a font with thin lines.

Bernardotech moves to a new server

Eldon Martin — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 02:45:36 +0000

Bernardo’s Tech Blog has been successfully migrated from the server in my basement to a Ubuntu 8.04 virtual server at RackSpaceCloud. All of the content was brought over from the old server, but you’ll notice that the theme has changed. I may be doing some additional remodeling in the days ahead.

Having the blog hosted in the cloud will allow me to make some needed upgrades and changes to my on-site server, which in turn will hopefully allow me to speed up the development of Hunting Adventures, my second facebook application. For those who have a Facebook account, you can check it out by clicking here. It is fully playable already, but there will be many more features added before it is complete.

Install and use a LAMP Server on Ubuntu

Bryce — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:11:28 +0000

If you’ve been wishing that you could install a web server on your Ubuntu PC, you will be pleased to find out that you can install one very easily. All you will need is an Internet connection, and a bit of time. I hope this guide is helpful.

Here’s how to install: Open Synaptic Package Manager. Choose Edit > Mark Packages by Task. Scroll down and check the box beside “LAMP Server.” This will mark apache2, PHP, and MySQL for installation. Apply the changes. You will be prompted for some configuration information. That’s it! Punch http://localhost into your browser’s address box to test your installation.

Now I suppose you want to add some files. The server’s root directory is /var/www. If you navigate there with your file browser you will see the files, and even be able to open them with gedit, but you will not be able to edit them. This is because the directory is owned by root. There are multiple ways to work with this. You can run Nautilus from a terminal (sudo nautilus /var/www), or even create a launcher on your desktop (for this command: gksudo nautilus /var/www). However, you will probably find it more convenient to change the permissions of the /var/www folder. To do this, run Nautilus as root (sudo nautilus), navigate to the /var folder and right-click on the www folder. Give yourself access under the permissions tab. Now you can create and delete files without running your file browser as root.

Feedback welcome!

Oh by the way, you can access the server from another computer on the network as well, provided that your firewall allows incoming traffic on port 80. Just enter http://your-ip, where your-ip is the ip address of the computer that hosts the server.

How to turn your child into a computer geek

Eldon Martin — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 02:38:31 +0000

My almost-three-year-old has gotten quite proficient at the game of memory. You know, the one where you compete to find matching cards. Not only is he good at remembering the location of the cards, but he can usually name the object or character on each of the cards. So he now can correctly identify Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, and more. While developing memory skills is a good thing, knowing who Goofy and Mickey Mouse are is not exactly a valuable skill.

I figure if he can learn to identify useless characters, he can probably learn to identify useful objects such as computer components. So I hunted down some sheets of blank 3.5″ diskette labels that had been in the cupboard for years, snapped a few pictures of computer components, and then designed and printed them using OpenOffice Writer. Then I applied the labels to cardboard I salvaged from an empty cereal box.

Eskimo Technology

Eldon Martin — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 21:31:31 +0000

Although usually I’m content to be on the cutting edge of technology, occasionally I like to do things the old way. This week, after getting hammered by the second blizzard in that many weeks, I decided to build a house out of snow.

This was my first igloo, and now that I know the amount of work required to build one, it will likely be my last.

Some pictures are posted below for your enjoyment:

CreativeTechs >> Training

Bryce — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:26:35 +0000

I have attended a number of classes at creativetechs training and in general, have been quite impressed at their business model. They have classes on Lightroom, Photoshop, Photography, Dreamweaver and more. I recently finished the iPhone web apps course and today I attended the first class in the Android Java Apps course. They also have ongoing events like Retouch Live, and the John Greengo Photography Show. Now, I was not in Seatle, WA in person, but rather I was in the worldwide classroom on the internet. The live events are free, and they make money off the paid downloads. Rather than explaining it further, I’ll just send you there: creativetechs.com/training

P.S.
CreativeTechs also offers Seatle Mac support. creativetechs.com

10 special-purpose Linux distributions

Eldon Martin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 02:39:13 +0000

One of the strengths of Linux and open-source in general is that it is infinitely customizable, allowing it to be used to power anything from a phone to a mainframe. In addition, there are a wide variety of distributions available, some of which are targeted at specific tasks. Ken Hess has compiled a valuable list of 10 special-purpose Linux distributions. You can find his list at:

http://www.daniweb.com/news/story239006.html

Is walking taboo?

Bryce — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 22:53:54 +0000

This video shows Honda’s motorized, self-balancing unicycle. I would much rather use my legs and burn some calories.

The wacky human mind

Eldon Martin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:54:18 +0000

As wacky as the following paragraph looks, you will likely have no trouble reading it – go on, give it a try!

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the first and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a aotl mses and you can still raed it wouthit a porbelm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

Open Source Firewalls

Eldon Martin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:03:59 +0000

I’ve been on the look-out for open source firewall software recently. For your benefit, here’s a list of what I’ve found so far:

pfSense – http://www.pfsense.com/

m0n0wall – http://m0n0.ch/wall/

IPCop – http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/ipcop/wiki

Untangle – http://www.untangle.com/

Zeroshell – http://www.zeroshell.net/eng/

I also ran across a very interesting web-based SSL VPN:

OpenVPN ALS (a.k.a as Adito) – http://sourceforge.net/projects/openvpn-als/