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I bought a Garmin Etrex H for geocaching. Geocaching is the equivalent of finding buried treasure mapreading, using GPS coordinates instead of a map and directions.

I have ubuntu linux on my main computer, the other computers in the house are laptops with no serial ports.

You can purchase leads from Garmin themselves or resellers, although they tend to be prohibitively expensive.

I purchased a pfranc lead from http://pfranc.com – a great idea and it saved a lot of money compared to a Garmin lead.

Connecting it to my computer was easy – it just plugs into the serial port.

Getting it to work was anything but easy, but I finally figured out the problem today after months of arguing with my computer, stripping down leads and many sleepless nights.

The problem: Garmin etrex talks to the serial port at 9600 baud.

I tried several times to get the etrex to talk using the terminal command
[code]sudo setserial /dev/ttyS0 baud_base 9600[/code]
But that gave me no joy whatsoever.

The solution, and the reason for this post:
For some reason even though the garmin wants to talk at 9600 baud the serial port needs to be set at 115200 baud using the following command:
[code]sudo setserial /dev/ttyS0 baud_base 115200[/code]

Why I need to set the UART to 115200 baud is beyond me. It makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. I understand serial ports and have done for many years down to the hardware level.

So, to recap:
[code]sudo setserial /dev/ttyS0 baud_base 115200[/code]

I use qlandkarte GT under ubuntu for all my geocaching needs, it works great with my etrex and it is free and open source.

One day I will write a howto on here for that program as it is a very tidy bit of code when used to its full potential.

A little bird over at http://www.windows8update.com has announced that the Windows 8 release date is rumoured to be the 26th of February 2012.

I am on linux but I suppose I could put one of my old laptops to good use to review it when the time comes.

Let’s see what the future brings.

Mocality http://blog.mocality.co.ke are a company that have manually created a large database (a white pages) of Kenyan businesses to fill a gaping hole in the market.

Google Kenya http://www.google.co.ke are google. Say no more.

Google Kenya have allegedly been trawling through Mocality’s online database and cold calling the companies on the list claiming to be in partnership with Mocality and offering to sell them a website. Nothing wrong with that so far.

The problems are:
* They are not partnered with Mocality
* They have been recorded stating several mistruths to place Mocality in a negative light:
They claim that Mocality is and has been charging a fee to be included in their online directory which is a blatant falsehood that has not and according to Mocality will not happen in the future.

Google Kenya are due to release a statement shortly.

I will conclude this with my opinion upon seeing their statement as so far I have only one side of a story and to be fair and impartial I need both sides.

Just received another email from the team at Project Honeypot:

Gregory –
Regardless of how the rest of your day goes, here’s something to be happy about — today one of your donated MXs helped to identify a previously unknown email harvester (IP: 82.159.122.38). The harvester was caught a spam trap email address created with your donated MX:
mail4.labby.co.uk

You can find information about your newly identified harvester here:

http://www.projecthoneypot.org/ip_82.159.122.38

Glad to be doing my bit to help cut down the number of spammer IP addresses.

Have you visited Google lately?

I would consider it a personal favour if you did and typed in the search string “let it snow”

https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&q=let+it+snow

I love it, and it is the wrong season so we can’t call it an Easter Egg can we?

A quick tip:
When you leave it for a little while the screen frosts up completely. You can write on this frost with your mouse.

Merry Christmas everybody :)

I have a G15 gaming keyboard and a mouse plugged into the USB hub that is built in.

Every so often the G15 LCD starts flickering very fast and the only remedy is to unplug the USB lead from the PC and reconnect it.

I have permanently fixed it using the following method:

Create the file /bin/monitorusb
[code]#!/bin/bash
function strstr() {
echo $1 | grep --quiet "$2"
}

monfile="/var/log/syslog"

tail -f $monfile | while read line; do
if strstr "${line}" "can't reset device,*input0, status -32"; then
sudo /bin/usb_reset
fi
done[/code]
and set it to executable (chmod +x /bin/monitorusb)

Create the file /bin/usb_reset
[code]#!/bin/bash
# This script must be run as root to work. For desktop launcher, use command "gksudo /bin/usb_reset".

# Stop USB
modprobe -r usbhid
wait

# Start USB
modprobe usbhid

exit 0[/code]
and set it to executable (chmod +x /bin/usb_reset)

Add the following to root’s cron (sudo crontab -e)
[code]
@reboot /bin/monitorusb
[/code]

Run the program (press alt-f2, type in monitorusb). It is non-interactive and will happily sit in the background until it is needed, at which point it will silently disable the USB HID (human interface device) subsystem and immediately re-enable it, fixing the problem before you even notice it has happened.

As always, comments are always welcomed :)

In this age of governmental oversight of everything done or said (the old saying about George Orwell being 10 years off is never truer) and your right to basic liberties removed at each turn one company is going out of its way to provide a full and open internet as Tim Berners-Lee first envisioned such a long time ago.

Until now it was possible to connect to a server securely to conduct your business without the risk of electronic eavesdropping, but even the most security conscious of us still had to announce to the world where we wished to connect to because DNS queries (the “glue” that holds the internet together and turns (for example) the IP address 72.233.104.125 into hackaday.com – a great site that anyone with an electronics or tinkering mind ought to visit.

Now a hot new piece of software which is available for a number of platforms (linux, windows and mac) and completely open source redresses that balance and offers free secure DNS searches with a world class – and used worldwide – DNS server.

Please allow me to welcome the OpenDNS “DNSCrypt” – a fast and secure DNS service which builds on the strength of OpenDNS itself – a world leader in DNS systems and routinely used by schools, colleges, homes and businesses.

I use DNSCrypt on my linux ubuntu system at home and I would like to tell you a little about my experiences with it.

I am lucky enough to be one of the earliest adopters of this system as I have been a beta tester from the outset. I have in that time had chats to the OpenDNS team to report issues (I only had one which was minor and fixed immediately – the linux `man` page for DNSCrypt was missing) and have monitored it closely.

I already use OpenDNS at home and am a happy customer (in the loosest sense of the word as OpenDNS is free) so I knew what to expect when I ran their DNSCrypt package and was fully prepared to give negative feedback if I found that the software slowed down my DNS requests but I was more than pleasantly surprised to note that the service was indistinguishable from that which I was used to.

Installation was a breeze under ubuntu:
Grab the software from OpenDNS
Install the software
In a terminal run
sudo /usr/local/sbin/dnscrypt-proxy --resolver-address=208.67.220.220 --daemon
Then as root edit your /etc/resolv.conf file and before the first “nameserver” line, add:
nameserver 127.0.0.1
options edns0
Simple, straightforward and takes immediate effect.

I added the first line to my startup options which meant that it was effective as soon as my computer was active.

I am a happy user now and know that no matter how much pressure my government puts on my ISP to blocklist sites I get the freedom to choose where I go on the internet. It is a big world out there and I don’t need my nanny to look after me.

I am off now to visit OpenDNS on facebook because I can go wherever I please now.

I have just had a lovely Citizen Eco-Drive watch from my wife for a Christmas present.

Of course, as standard it came sized to fit a bull elephant.

“No problem, two minutes work and I will make it fit” I thought to myself.

“Just look for the arrow, push in the hole there.. where’s the hole?!!” I cried.

After much swearing and unfruitful searches of google I figured out how to do it.

Sheer genius on their part, if it wasn’t for the fact I have a splitting headache I would never have realised how to do it.

And, without further ado, I will explain how to remove the links.

Step 1: Remove the springy pin that connects the strap to one end of the clasp using a paperclip or sharp pointed knife (my choice!) – be careful, it will come out like a missile and is aimed straight at your face.

Step 2: Lay the watch face down on a piece of cloth on a flat surface to protect the crystal (these watches aren’t cheap!)
Step 3: Look at the little arrow next to a round hole with what looks like a little dot in it? There is the key to removing the link.

Take a sharp pointed knife or screwdriver and insert it into the gap behind the dot.

Use the knife to gently push the dot out through the side of the band (it takes a little pressure but not too much).
Step 4: Part of the side of the strap will pop out, use your knife on the right hand side of this (when viewed from above) and it has a little notch, use the notch to slide the piece of metal out completely. Be gentle, it is quite fragile.

Step 5: Slide the link out

Step 6: Repeat steps 3-5 with the link that will attach to the clasp (so you end up with one or more links for safekeeping and one link on the strap ready to attach to the clap)
Step 7: Reconnect the newly shortened strap with the link on the strap
Step 8: Push the clip back into place with gentle pressure (I turned the watch on its side and used the top of my desk to give an even pressure), keep pushing until it is flush with the watch strap.
Step 9: Reinsert the spring clip (you didn’t let it twang across the room did you??) through the link and connect it back to the clasp.
Step 10: Try your watch on and hope that it fits, if not go back to step one. Sorry.
Step 11: If you’re here, all done.. buy me a beer or something!

Let’s see how many hits I get for the term “Bupa By You”..

Let’s go and see how many hits I get for the search terms “Real Steel”..

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