Today I reinstalled XP on a machine today and had to activate the Windows license prior to installing updates. At this URL (http://www.windowsitpro.com/article/john-savills-windows-faqs/how-do-i-activate-windows-xp-from-the-command-line-.aspx) I found a quick one-liner to start up the product activation GUI. Click Start, click Run and type “oobe/msoobe /a”. Be prepared to type in the 25-character activation string.
10
Mar 10
Missing “My Documents” in “My Computer”
This morning a co-worker’s “My Documents” folder was missing from their “My Computer” folder. It was still on the computer but this link had disappeared. She runs XP and could not recall having modified anything that would cause this. The fix was found at this URL: http://www.tweakxp.com/article36827.aspx and amounts to a simple registry hack. Remember to be careful when editing the registry.
The following new key was entered into the registry using regedit:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
- SOFTWARE\
- Microsoft\
- Windows\
- CurrentVersion\
- Explorer\
- DocFolderPaths\
- User Name\
with the value “C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\My Documents”.
Now the link to the folder “User Name’s Documents” is back in “My Computer”.
01
Mar 10
ISBN Web Service
I have written a Perl script to decode the Cuecat output so I could capture ISBNs and catalog my book collection. Several sites host Web services that return book information given the ISBN. Below is a GET request that requests the title of The 2007 ARRL Repeater Directory.
http://xisbn.worldcat.org/webservices/xid/isbn/9780872599901?method=getMetadata&format=txt&fl=title
By modifying the last variable in the URL, specifically the value after “fl=”, the publication date or author can be retrieved. See examples below:
http://xisbn.worldcat.org/webservices/xid/isbn/9780872599901?method=getMetadata&format=txt&fl=year
http://xisbn.worldcat.org/webservices/xid/isbn/9780872599901?method=getMetadata&format=txt&fl=author
01
Mar 10
My New Pet – the Cuecat
My friend Tom recently gave me a CueCat. He told me it would read barcodes but had never actually used it. Online I discovered the CueCat had a rich history, and a lot of pages had hardware modifications or supporting code. A few if those pages are:
17
Jan 10
What I Am Reading
One of my interests is how the electronic age is changing our lives. Some of the books I have read (or planning to) are:
- Click : What millions of people are doing online and why it matters / by Bill Tancer [ISBN 978-1-4013-2304-2].
- Total Recall : How the E-memory revolution will change everything / by Gordon Bell and Jim Gemmell [ISBN 978-0-525-95134-6 (hardcover)].
- The Numerati / by Stephen Baker [ISBN 978-0-618-78460-8].
- The Fourth Paradigm / editied by Tony Hey, Stuart Tansley, and Kristin Tolle [ISBN 978-0-9825442-0-4].
02
Jan 10
Logbook of the World – The Worst System Ever
LOTW’s design and supporting help documentation is confusing. Digitally signing logs and validation of certificate recipients are really useful in the right context. Ham radio is a hobby and not a place for this technology. Hams wanting to submit fake logs so they can decorate their walls will eventually figure out how to circumvent the system. The rest of us are stuck using a top-heavy, security-laden system that is far to complicated for the hobbyist.
03
Dec 09
Clonezilla – Burn the Live CD
Clonzilla is an open source backup and recovery software package that can be used like Norton Ghost. Clonezilla Live is downloaded as an iso file which means it is an image that must be burned to CD. This is not the same as copying a file to CD.
Sourceforge.net is an opensource software community that has lots of utility programs available for download. For burning CD images try CDRTFE.
CDRTFE Menu
The screenshot above shows the tab to select for burning CD images.
22
Nov 09
Download a Web Page with Windows PowerShell
This is an example of using Windows PowerShell to download a Web page and print it to the screen.
$url = "http://www.ke5prl.com"
$client = New-Object System.Net.WebClient
$contents = $client.DownloadString($url)
echo $contents
Now while that might be a neat use of technology it is not terribly useful. If we modify the code just a little we can get back callsign information from one of the common Web lookups. For our first modification let’s change the first line to
$url = "http://www.arrl.org/fcc/fcclook.php3?call=ke5prl" and you can substitute your callsign for mine.
Now let’s turn this into a function. By making it into a function we can easily pass different callsigns to the function without changing the code.
function callsign($call){
$url = "http://www.arrl.org/fcc/fcclook.php3?call=" + $call
$client = New-Object System.Net.WebClient
$contents = $client.DownloadString($url)
echo $contents
}
callsign("KE5PRL")
22
Nov 09
The 555 Chip
The 555 Integrated Circuit (IC) chip is one of the most common ICs and is used in electronics projects by manufacturers and hobbyists alike. If you have an electronic device that has a blinking LED then there is a good chance that a 555 is being used in astable mode. Links about the 555 IC: