The difference between FLA, SLA, VRLA, EFB, and AGM lead-acid batteries
In the olden days, you had this thing called a car battery. Lead, acid, you're done. Nowadays, there are so many different types of lead-acid batteries. Plus, everyone will give you different advice on which battery to choose. Is it for a car with Start and Stop? Can...
Installing ImageMagick from Source on Ubuntu
I like Ubuntu Server. I really like apt-get, because I don’t have to do any work at all to install stuff. It’s a piece of cake. Unfortunately, sometimes installing using apt-get doesn’t work, or maybe the version of the software I need on the Ubuntu repository isn’t the latest and greatest. In such cases, there’s only one option left: installing from source. I recently had the opportunity to install the latest version of ImageMagick on an Ubuntu server, and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be!
Activate an Invalid Copy of Windows Without Reinstalling
What happens when you discover your copy of Windows is invalid? You probably will get a Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) notification informing you that you’re illegal, and you need to purchase a legal license. If you search the net and Microsoft’s web site for a way to activate your copy with a legal key you purchased, you may find yourself in a bit of a mess. You see, it isn’t terribly obvious that you CAN in fact simply activate Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 with a new legal key – and without reinstalling anything at all. Finding the information on how to do this is rather difficult, and I’m not sure why. Not to worry though – it’s a piece of cake!
Bad RAM: Recognizing Defective Memory Problems in Your Computer
A lot of people think that defective RAM modules are easy to detect. They think that if you get a blue screen of death, the error message will reveal that the memory is bad, and that’s that. Problem is, it’s nowhere near that simple. There are two steps to diagnosing bad RAM. The first is that you are able to recognize the possible symptoms of bad memory, and the second is actually using a tool to confirm that your theory is correct. Then you just replace the bad module, and off you go. A defective memory stick can cause a LOT of different problems, some of which might surprise you. It may seem that your hard drive is corrupted or defective, when in fact it’s the RAM that’s bad! It can all get very confusing. And so, here I shall endeavor to describe what to look out for with your RAM, and what to do about it.
64-bit Printing Using a Driver for a Similar Model
Printing with 64-bit Windows can be a lot of fun if you don’t have a 64-bit driver.
As I mentioned in Windows x64: How to Print to Any Printer Even Without a 64-bit Driver, there are ways to make your printer talk, even if they are a bit involved.
There is one other trick in particular that you might want to try first, though: use a similar 64-bit driver from the same manufacturer and fool Windows into thinking that everything is working fine!
Upgrade Your Motherboard Without Reinstalling your OS
If you’re one of those people who likes to build and upgrade your own computers, or if you have just decided to make your first attempt at upgrading an older system, there is one thing you may be wondering: Do I have to reinstall my OS? Actually, no, you don’t!
Do-It-Yourself Hard Disk Drive Diagnosis
One of the most common computer problems I see people facing is a faulty or corrupted hard disk drive. In many cases, the solution to the problem is a reboot, and the OS automagically runs a utility like Windows’s chkdsk that repairs the errors. Sometimes, the problem is a bit more severe than that and more drastic measures are required. Most people I’ve encountered were unnecessarily afraid of running any kind of tool to scan and repair their hard drive. But it doesn’t have to be all horror and blood and gore: with a little knowledge and a few specialized bits of software, you too can be a genuine Disk Doctor!
How to Increase Your Laptop’s Battery Life A LOT with CrystalCPUID
Over a month ago in my post on the Intel SU2300, I promised I would create a simplified guide to installing and configuring CrystalCPUID. CrystalCPUID is a lovely little piece of free software that can allow you to really, severely underclock your processor. We’re not talking SpeedStep underclock here – we’re talking running your 1.2GHz processor at 98 MHz. Well, it took a lot longer than I had hoped, but here it is!
Avoid the Number 1 CSS Mistake: a, a:visited
I used to hate CSS. I mean, I really, really hated working with CSS at all. Then, one day, I was forced to actually learn it well to design a new web site. It was rough, but I survived. There was one little problem: the vast majority of examples I found included a little bit of code that will royally screw up all your hyperlinks. So, this post is about how to avoid the #1 CSS mistake: a, a:visited.
The Intel SU2300 does NOT have “SpeedStep” as you know it
I’m mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take it any more!! (great movie, Network was…) As if it wasn’t bad enough that Intel couldn’t write a driver that takes full advantage of the GMA500 in certain netbooks, now apparently they’ve resorted to sneakily “modifying” what “Enhanced SpeedStep” actually does. I’m talking about the Celeron dual-core SU2300 processor in those fabulous “thin and light” notebooks that are quickly replacing netbooks so that everyone (except you) can make more money. So, what’s the problem? The SU2300 does not have the “SpeedStep” that you think it does…
QuickFix: My program is running, but I can’t see the window on the desktop!
Everyone has run into this problem at least once: you are running a program, and you minimize it to the task bar. Later, you try to restore the window by clicking the program on the task bar, and nothing happens. You’re program is running, but its window has somehow moved outside the desktop area. Firefox just loves to do this to me. Since it was such an annoying problem, I managed to figure out a couple of ways to restore the “hidden” window…
Fixing the “ActionMailer: Hostname not match server certificate” Error
If you have a Rails app that sends e-mails, you are probably using ActionMailer. Unfortunately, starting with Rails 2.2.2, you may have encountered a wonderfully annoying little error that looks like this:
OpenSSL::SSL::SSLError (hostname was not match with the server certificate)
The are quite a few sites out there that give monkey patches for this problem, but those aren’t very useful because the next time you upgrade Rails, the monkey patch gets obliterated and you’re back to square 1. And then you have to remember how you monkeyed with the it last time to get it working. Ug… Instead, fix it the right way!
jQuery AJAX Form Submit for Dummies
So you’ve decided to be supercool and use jQuery. That was a wise decision you made, because jQuery totally rocks. Especially in Rails apps, jQuery makes life a LOT simpler. Yes, you have to learn some JavaScript and some quasi-new syntax, but it’s still seriously powerful and convenient. There’s only one problem: if you’re like me (i.e. JavaScript-impaired), you just couldn’t get your forms to submit via an AJAX call. And so, without further ado, I present to you jQuery Form Submission for Dummies!
Increase the Performance of Fragment Caching in Rails
If you use Rails on a high-traffic site, you know that as your number of users increases, you have three main options:
1. Add servers to handle the load
2. Optimize your queries
3. Improve your caching scheme
You may be surprised to know that most people go for Door #1. It’s a lot easier. You don’t have to really do tons of work to rewrite your code and actually make it efficient. You don’t have to ditch “the Rails Way” and start actually thinking about what the database layer is doing to slow your site down to a crawl. And you don’t have to think about how Rails’ cache expiry functions actually work. Finally – and best of all – you can just pass the costs on to your customer, right??
Of course, to achieve good performance, you can use things like Phusion Passenger. But that alone ain’t gonna cut it. You also have to optimize your queries, stop doing things The Rails Way and start thinking for yourself, and of course optimize your caching scheme.
In this episode, I’m going to tell you one very cool way to turbocharge your caching setup!
Adding JavaScript to WordPress Posts Without a Plugin
If you have installed your own WordPress blog on your server, you may want to include some JavaScript goodness from time to time. The bad news is that WordPress likes to screw around with tags when using the WYSIWYG post editor. That makes it kind of hard to, say, embed a video in one of your posts. The good news is that there is a very easy way to embed any kind of JavaScript in your posts without the need to install any plugins, or change any configuration settings. And it works beautifully with the WYSIWYG editor…
Add Your Own Program to the Windows Explorer Right Click Context Menu
One of the most handy features in Windows is the ability to right-click on a file, and select an option to edit that file in a particular program. The big problem is that sometimes, your favorite program doesn’t come with a right-click context menu option. Or, maybe it does come with such an option, but it doesn’t work for some reason. Whatever the case, you can very quickly and easily add whatever program you want to the right-click menu in about 30 seconds.