Category Archives: Technology

Programming, software, hardware, and electronics.

Ubuntu: Keyboard Reverts to German After Reboot

Every time I rebooted or logged out of my Ubuntu virtual machine, my keyboard layout would switch to “Germany Eliminate dead keys” (“Deu”). Removing the offending layout from the keyboard manager seemed to work, but the problem would reappear the … Continue reading

Posted in Linux, Technology | Leave a comment

db46 Checksum Error During MacPorts Upgrade

Problem When upgrading my MacPorts installation, using sudo port upgrade outdated, I ran into the following error: —> Verifying checksum(s) for db46 Error: Checksum (md5) mismatch for patch.4.6.21.1 Error: Checksum (md5) mismatch for patch.4.6.21.2 Error: Checksum (md5) mismatch for patch.4.6.21.3 … Continue reading

Posted in OS X, Technology | 1 Comment

Mac OS + MySQL-python-1.2.3: ImportError | Library not loaded | libmysqlclient.16.dylib

Attempting to get Python communicating with MySQL via MySQLdb on OS X resulted in the following error when I tried to import MySQLdb: Traceback (most recent call last): File “./dbtest.py”, line 3, in import MySQLdb File “build/bdist.macosx-10.6-universal/egg/MySQLdb/__init__.py”, line 19, in … Continue reading

Posted in Technology | 7 Comments

BluetoothAPIs.h Broken in Windows SDK

Summary The Microsoft Windows SDK versions 7.0 and 7.1 appear to have broken BluetoothAPIs.h header files. Update:  Microsoft has fixed the errors in the Bluetooth header as of SDK version 8.0 for Windows 8. Details So far, I have uncovered … Continue reading

Posted in Technology, Win32, Windows | 2 Comments

Alternate Data Streams (Metadata) on Files in NTFS

Introduction Alternate Data Streams (ADS) allow arbitrary metadata to be associated with files and directories on Windows NTFS. Alternate data streams are the Windows implementation of forks. The apparent size of the file will be unchanged, and most applications and … Continue reading

Posted in C++, Scripting, Technology, Windows | 1 Comment

VLC File and Network Cache Settings

Inevitably, by the time VLC upgrades itself and wipes its settings, I’ve forgotten where the file and network buffering settings are. Go to the VLC preferences (Tools | Preferences). Select “All” under Show settings, or “Show Advanced” in the lower, … Continue reading

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Console and Cygwin Don’t Show All Files on 64-bit Windows

Running Cygwin bash or Console under 64-bit versions of Windows, directory listings sometimes differ from results shown in Explorer or cmd.exe. For example, Defrag.exe is visible to the default command shell (CMD): C:\Windows\System32>dir Defr* 07/13/2009 05:39 PM 183,296 Defrag.exe 07/13/2009 … Continue reading

Posted in Technology, Windows | 1 Comment

Add PNG Support to WordPress Plugin “Image Shadow”

The Image Shadow plugin for WordPress works pretty well. Unfortunately, it only adds shadows to JPEG images. PNG images can be added very easily, but they will be converted to JPEG format in the image cache. This isn’t optimal for … Continue reading

Posted in Technology, Wordpress | Leave a comment

WordPress Twentyten Theme Without Header Image

The latest version of the Twentyten theme seems to have introduced a bug in the header. If you opt for no header image, you’ll end up with a large space and a broken image icon in your header: The problem … Continue reading

Posted in Technology, Wordpress | 1 Comment

Install Windows 7 from USB Thumb Drive

The Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool can copy a Windows .ISO file to a USB thumb/pen drive.

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