• Tag Archives technology

  • WordPress and Piwigo? Yes please!

    Posted on by micha Comment

    So I just discovered the PiwigoPress plugin for WordPress.
    While it’s obsolete and the widget no longer works, the “short code” feature still does. Unfortunately it’s not very well documented, but it is possible to add pictures to an article which link back to not only the picture, but also the album which that picture is part of.
    Yayy.

    Trawling through the source code, it seems the following is possible:

    [PiwigoPress id=<pic> lnktype=albumpicture url='http://gallery.lemmurg.com/']
    idPiwigo picture id(s)eg.
    id=1 – picture id 1
    id=1-5 – all pictures with ids 1 through 5
    id=1,3,4 – pictures with ids 1, 3, and 4
    lnktypepicture (default, link to picture only)
    album (?)
    albumpicture (link to picture with album)    		eg lnktype=albumpicture
    urlURL of the Piwigo siteeg: url=http://gallery.lemmurg.com
    sizeSize of the picture. Possible values:
    sq – square
    th – thumbnail
    xs – extra small
    sm – small
    me – medium
    la – large (default)
    xl – extra large
    xx – extra-extra large

    		eg: size=sm
    nameAdds image name
    0 – no (default)
    1 – yes
    auto – ?    		eg: name=1
    descAdds image description.
    0 – no (default)
    1 – yes    		eg: desc=1
    class?
    style?
    lnktypepicture – link to picture only (default)
    albumpicture – link to picture with album
    album – ?    		example: lnktype=albumpicture
    opntypeWhether to open in the current tab or a new one.
    _blank – open in new tab (default)
    ordertype?
    random – random order (default)
    orderascWhether to sort pictures in ascending order.
    0 – no (default)
    1 – yes

    📂This entry was posted in Technology 📎and tagged

  • Just a shout-out to my Garmin Map Update HOWTO from last year

    Posted on by micha 2 Comments

    Saved me tons of time again this year: Garmin Map Update HOWTO

    Or so I thought… it’s never this easy, is it?  “There was an error installing the Update”.  Well, that’s bloody useful, isn’t it, Garmin? Have I mentioned before that your software SUCKS???

    Luckily I’m an experienced hand with their shite, and creating a hard link on C: drive (where they INSIST on creating a temporary area to download their 5GB onto) to my D: drive (where I actually have room for it, and where I TOLD it to install the maps to) fixed this.

    Specifically, it abuses C:\ProgramData\Garmin\CoreService\Downloads as a temporary download location.

    To create a hard-link, also called a “Junction”, in Windows:

    mklink /J Downloads D:\Garmin\Downloads

    This still requires you to have at least 6GiB free space on C: drive, as the Garmin software still checks free space requirements even after you have already downloaded the maps prior to installing on your GPS device.

    I repeat, Garmin SUCKS when it comes to software.


    📂This entry was posted in Computers Technology 📎and tagged

  • Installing Windows 10 on a Sony VAIO TZ

    Posted on by micha 8 Comments

    So I got bored and decided to see if I could get an old VAIO VGN-TZ27GN running Windows 10. The short answer is: Yes.

    UPDATE 2019-06 : Drivers download link.

    Summary

    After post-install fixes, these items are not yet working:

    • WebCam
    • Turning Bluetooth on/off via software

    And the following items have not been tested:

    • Modem

    Everything else seems to be working just fine. Not bad for a pretty old and underpowered laptop!

    Base Install

    The base install went quite easily, taking some time due to spinning disk, but nevertheless no worries. Ended up using just over 8GB of diskspace, around 9GB after a couple of updates and Skype was installed.

    Issues

    What worked?

    Almost everything. Not too shabby for an old bespoke piece of kit.

    The most surprising entry here was the fingerprint reader.

    What didn’t?

    • Three devices in the Device Manager: SD and MS card readers, and an unknown device.
    • The special hardware buttons on the front.
    • Some of the Fn keys.
    • The microphone and webcam. Nothing flagged up in Device Manager, but no go either.
    • Disabling bluetooth. Funnily enough disabling Wifi works.

    Post-install fixes

    All drivers were downloaded from the official Sony Support Site.

    Memory Stick and SD-Card reader

    Simple case of heading over to the Sony support site, downloading and installing the drivers. This sorted out the device errors in the Device Manager. A quick test showed them working now.

    Status: SUCCESS!

    Unkown Device

    The Unknown Device turned out to be the Sony Firmware Extension Parser (SFEP). A quick download from the Sony support site and it installed flawlessly.

    Status: SUCCESS!

    Microphone

    So the microphone did end up working just fine, it’s just that the TZ has both a built-in microphone as well as a microphone jack, and Windows 10 defaulted to the jack. Switching defaults in the properties and it’s all good.

    First Attempt

    • Downloaded Audio driver from Sony support site.
    • Created a restore point
    • Tried to install the driver.
    • The driver failed to install from the setup program, but installed fine when manually clicking on the various inf files in the driver package.
    • Microphone still not working, but found second device in Audio Settings now. Set other device as default, et voila, va haff a vorkink mikrofon! Now I wonder if it was always working… let’s try a System Restore!

    Status: SUCCESS!

    Camera

    As for all the other issues, Step 1 is to download the Camera driver from the Sony support site.

    Unfortunately the driver fails to install. Even forcing the install manually fails to get the camera working, as does running the installer in compatibility mode.

    For now, the webcam goes down as broken 🙁

    Status: FAIL!

     Keys

    To get the keys working, download and install the following drivers in this order, rebooting as necessary between each one:

    1. Install Sony Firmware Extension Parser (SFEP.exe)
    2. Install Sony Shared Library (Sony_Shared_Library.exe)
    3. Install Sony DLL Utils / Setting Utility Series (Setting_Utility_Series.exe)
    4. Install VAIO Event Service (VAIO _Event_Service.exe)

    And both hardware keys and Fn-keys are now armed and fully operational!

    Status: SUCCESS!

    Bluetooth

    While it works, it’s impossible to turn it off without using the hardware switch, which also turns off Wifi.

    Attempting to install the driver from the Sony support site failed with a message saying the software is incompatible with this version of windows.

    Status: FAIL!

     


    📂This entry was posted in Computers Technology Windows 📎and tagged

  • Windows 7 – RTC using UTC

    Posted on by micha Comment

    Ok, so this is more a note for my future self than anything interesting, but basically, to force Windows to keep the computer’s RTC at UTC (required if dual-booting Linux, and also just in general makes sense), adjust the following registry key:

     

    Key: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation\RealTimeIsUniversal
Type: DWORD
Value: 1 (RTC is in UTC) , 0 (RTC is in local time (default)

    Alternatively, save the following as a registry key file (.reg), and import it into your registry:

    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation]
"RealTimeIsUniversal"=dword:00000001

     


    📂This entry was posted in Computers Technology Windows 📎and tagged

  • Upgrading my Samsung Note II (N7100) to Android 4.4 “KitKat”

    Posted on by micha Comment

    A friend posted to let me know that Android 4.4 “KitKat” had just been released for the N7100.

    Install:

    So I backed up all of my data on the phone (using a combination of Titanium Backup, SMS Backup+, and LifeSaver), and downloaded and flashed the firmware the new firmware using Odin.

    Lo and behold, a (very slow) reboot later, pretty much everything worked.  All my apps and settings are still there, which is nice.

    Tweaks:

    * Reinstall a custom recovery (TWRP)

    * Re-rooted

    * Deleted startup sound (/system/media/audio/ui/PowerOn.ogg)

    Issues:

    ADWLauncherEx is quite laggy; so perhaps it needs updating for the latest Android. For now I’m using the updated TouchWiz (the Samsung launcher), but it’s still limited to a ridiculous 4×4 icons per screen.  Ridiculous, at least, on the Note 2 which has a very nice large display; might make more sense on a smaller phone. Should be configurable though.

    Impressions:

    None yet, really.  Will need to use it for a few days to see whether there’s any real differences..  So far most of the advertised differences aren’t visible, such as the camera button on lock screen, nor does it feel significantly faster than before.


    📂This entry was posted in Android Technology Uncategorized 📎and tagged