"Gobhi dal" written by Tinypliny on estrip.org

Category: eating in

03/17/12 07:11 - ID#56237

Gobhi dal

After so long...

Permalink: Gobhi_dal.html
Words: 5
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/17/12 07:12

Category: linux

03/17/12 12:38 - ID#56232

Take3: Secure and easy method of sharing files between linux and android

(e:Paul)'s comments can sometimes act like insidious little nanoparticles that eat away at your trust of non-transparent pieces of software like only nanoparticles can. And if you didn't know already, the (e:Paul)-nanoparticular frequency is especially persuasive.

So I hunted around again to find an alternative solution and found this brilliant extension to the solution I found earlier for transferring files from android to linux. Turns out it can work both ways and quite securely here:

The method uses the inherent capacity of the android device (in my case, Nexus One, Nexus S and Asus TF101) to act as a wireless hotspot and be an FTP server over this self-generated wireless. Any laptop can connect to this android-device generated wireless and access all the files on the android device -or just swap files back and forth. So it's like a private wireless party! You don't need to have an internet or 3G/4G/LTE phone-data connection.

I like this method infinitely more. And I am betting (e:Paul) would approve. :)

So the steps (these are for my reference just in case the original link above vanishes for some reason):

On your android device:

Go to Settings > Wireless & Networks > Tethering & Portable hotspot

Turn on the portable Wi-Fi hotspot.

Configure this Wi-Fi hotspot (Give it a wacky name and a secure password - it's going to be visible to your building mates, why not send them a message?) If you want them to share your enthusiasm for dry PDFs or perhaps dodgy videos, you can even make it open and unsecure.

Install the Wifi FTP transfer application I talked about in (e:tinypliny,56176) and turn it on.

Now go to you linux machine, connect to the wifi spot generated by the android device

Pull up a console. Type

Route

Something like this will come up:

At this point, my laptop and android device were not connected to the internet; just to each other. So the 192.168.43.0 is the IP of my laptop and the 192.168.43.1 is the gateway of the Wifi spot generated by the transformer (or any android device).

Open up Nautilus > File > connect to server > type in the address of the server as 192.168.43.1 (the gateway) and the port (2121 in that wifi app on my android device). Input the password and username that you set up for the Wifi FTP service on the android device

et voila. The android device turns up as just another folder on your laptop. You can transfer files between your asus transformer (or any android device) and laptop just like you would between any two folder.

If I can do this, you can too. Say yes to transparency. Say no to frustrations of the USB not mounting on linux (or windows) for the asus transformer without complicated methods that may or may not work.

Permalink: Take3_Secure_and_easy_method_of_sharing_files_between_linux_and_android.html
Words: 475
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 04/14/12 05:06

Category: linux

03/16/12 02:22 - ID#56229

Take 2: Sharing files between Linux desktop and Android device

This is an easier method than setting up own server and hoping that it would work well but as (e:Paul) pointed out in the comments, it's also somewhat non-transparent. Why do you need to go to an external site ez.dropper.co and get a code? What other data does this application collect from your android device? The answers are floating in the wind and possibly in the developer's mind.

et voila EDIT

The developers frank and informative responses to these answers
are in (e:tinypliny,56245)

Here's how to use EZ Drop (File Sync) to share files between your linux laptop and android device:

Install EZ Drop (File Sync) from Google Play here:

on your android device.

Go to ez.dropper.co/ to get your code (from your linux desktop browser).

Fire up the now installed EZ Drop (File Sync) in your android device.

Input the code from ez.dropper.co/ in your android device.

An interface to transfer files appears in your browser at ez.dropper.co/ after you input the code in your android device.

You can drag and drop the files you want to share there.

The files you share get saved in the download folder in your android device.

Navigate to those files using ES Explorer - another awesome application from the Google Play Store.

That's it. No more struggles with FTP/HTTP servers on this linux machine and bemoaning that the ASUS transformer does not mount as a USB. It doesn't matter anymore.I found another method after some searching that also works very well. More in the next post: (e:tinypliny,56232)

Permalink: Take_2_Sharing_files_between_Linux_desktop_and_Android_device.html
Words: 292
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/19/12 01:25

Category: linux

03/15/12 02:41 - ID#56222

Sharing files between Linux and Android

UPDATE: Those who are stumped at this method should preferably read about a waaaay easier method to share files between the Asus transformer TF101 (or any android device) and the desktop at (e:tinypliny,56229) or (e:tinypliny,56241) (e:tinypliny,56232) or choose to struggle some more with uncertain results (on Fedora 16) by clicking on the comment bubble below. Your choice!

---
Setting up a server on linux and having your other devices access it is a supposedly simple thing but I am having a hard time with it.

Objective: To access one of my folders on my linux laptop from my android devices (specifically a tablet, which I use to read pdfs)

What I have done: Started an apache server on my laptop.

How?
Like so:

Check if httpd exists on the system

rpm -q httpd

Switch to /var/www/html directory

cd /var/www/html

Crease a symbolic link to the directory I want to share
So here I am linking to ~/pdfs and naming it pdfs

ln -s ~/pdfs pdfs

Switch to root user

Su

Enable, start and check the apache server

systemctl enable httpd.service
systemctl start httpd.service
systemctl status httpd.service

Now if I go to localhosts/pdfs or 127.0.0.1/pdfs with any browser on my laptop, I can see the directory on my server.

The question is how do I see the wretched directory from a browser on my android tablet in the same wireless network?! The IP address of the wired connection on the linux laptop is: 10.0.0.4 and the server is at port 80

So technically the address 10.0.0.4:80 should work, correct? But it is not!!

Do I need to fiddle with my Apache configuration files?
/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

Stumped for now.
---

Permalink: Sharing_files_between_Linux_and_Android.html
Words: 288
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/18/12 12:32

Category: whine

03/11/12 08:03 - ID#56207

I want my hour back.

I hate today. Hate it. Hate it.

GIVE BACK MY SIXTY MINUTES.

I hate you, whoever came up with the loony idea of robbing people of their time!
You suck.

Permalink: I_want_my_hour_back_.html
Words: 30
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/11/12 08:03

Category: the odes

03/11/12 01:00 - ID#56202

You are guessing...

TP's drawing
turn
12

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
[A][H][A][C][R][U][N]
[Z][A][O][[I][N][N][S]

Permalink: You_are_guessing_.html
Words: 19
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/11/12 01:01

Category: the odes

03/09/12 10:11 - ID#56193

Random annoyances.

My hair is very long now. And my stress levels are at an all time high. The combination is a bad one.

There is hair everywhere. In the bathtub, on the floor, inside the keyboard, everywhere! Strange little hair creatures live in corners of my flat. It's so aggravating. I really don't have time to clean now or recycle. So my flat looks abysmal and weird. The omnipresent hair makes it worse. It's like my head has transformed into a human cat/shedding machine. I reckon I must be losing at least 200-300 strands a day.

And I seem to have entered a joyless cooking phase where I just make things as fast as I can so that I can gobble them up and get back to work. On top of it, my tea consumption has gone up to nearly 30 cups a day. I am not so concerned about drinking so much tea (it's mostly water and some milk). The main problem is I am out of my favourite teas (tetley and harrod's) because I just kind of burned through my stash. I don't have the time or inclination to go to the Indian store so I am stuck with my less-liked teas.

I am finding out that I really hate Chamomile tea. Worst pathetic tea in the world.

ladycroft writes at 01:00:07 03/15/12 - Comment #67948: i want to see a photo of this long hair!!!!

tinypliny writes at 12:22:08 03/15/12 - Comment #67939: hahaha, yes, it was way better when it was short. :) I am considering a trim as soon as I get some time!

oda writes at 09:48:54 03/14/12 - Comment #67938: i would much rather lose hair than put a placenta on my head. maybe you could cut your hair shorter and you would notice it a lot less!

tinypliny writes at 08:13:57 03/13/12 - Comment #67926: maybe I should try placenta-cream? But who knows what other side-effects it comes with...

tinypliny writes at 08:12:34 03/13/12 - Comment #67925: I honestly don't know how to make it stop. Seriously, it is beyond nuts. The thing is EVERYWHERE. I scoop out hairball after hairball from tub every weekend. its very disturbing.

tinypliny writes at 08:11:02 03/13/12 - Comment #67924: Your hair stopped falling out when you were pregnant! That is so fascinating in so many ways. Pregnancy is a very high-estrogen state. I was looking at hair-product use recently. A number of women of colour use placenta-based hair products. Its very popular in conditioners and whatnots. Placenta = high source of estrogen. I wonder if estrogen has the same effect applied externally as it does when one is pregnant. If it does, what other attributes of pregnancy do these hair products simulate? You have to wonder...

ladycroft writes at 01:40:19 03/13/12 - Comment #67919: yah. my hair stopped falling out while i was pregnant. now it's starting to again and i realize just how much it drives me nuts! i can't stand hairs on things other than attached to the body in the right places.

metalpeter writes at 02:02:31 03/10/12 - Comment #67874: HA..Is this the blog of the Chinese people making macs.... Sorry had to toss that in.... The real problem is if you have rugs and not a wood floor.... Wood you can sweep but hair on a rug is tough and does bad things to a vacuum.....

Permalink: Random_annoyances_.html
Words: 219
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/09/12 10:12

Category: i-tech

03/09/12 05:01 - ID#56191

Techno'ed out

Maybe it's all a bit too much, but is it?

I currently use:

A laptop with fedora (Heavyduty (for me!) computing, coding and writing)
A laptop with an ubuntu derivative (madbox) (experimentation with linux)
A laptop with a lean modded WinXP (communicating with the non-clued in world. Read: people who don't know what LaTeX and linux are, live in the past and deal with the painful M$hit word.)

A tablet with honeycomb and considering dual boot with ubuntu LXDE. (Heavyduty PDF reading)
A smartphone with Ice cream sandwich (Camera with panorama)
A smartphone with gingerbread (Alarm Clock with fancy tunes.)

At work:
A paleolithic machine with some ancient slow version of WinXP (good for pretty much nothing really, because its so slow and terrible).

I bet (e:paul) has more devices (actually I would love to see your list, (e:paul). :)) and whatnots but what about you all?

tinypliny writes at 10:53:37 03/09/12 - Comment #67866: man! that old madbox of mine is just 512mb, its terrible. They keep saying that some linux runs on low end machines but those flavors are just awful. if you have a low end machine, you are just out of luck. that's all.

uncutsaniflush writes at 10:34:57 03/09/12 - Comment #67865: (e:tinypliny) - I do love music. When I listen to music, I listen to music. That's it. No multi-tasking or using using music as audio wallpaper. I'm old-fashioned. Other than listening to music sometimes when I'm doing computer stuff, I don't like listening to music when I am out in the real world. I find "music" in the sounds I experience as I go through my day.

As to the hex-core, I know it's overkill. But I reckon it won't be obsolete for at least 6 months . It has 6 gb of ram. The pentium 4 3.0 mhz box that (e:leetee) uses has 1.5 gb of ram.

tinypliny writes at 09:43:55 03/09/12 - Comment #67863: Why don't you use your ipod nano? Isn't it a music player?? I thought you liked music?

I have a beat up sansa. I kind of abused it so much, I first broke its clip, then I broke the headphones that came with it, then I bought and broke another pair of panasonic headphones for it, and then some of the screws that held together some other stuff on the sansa came loose and the micro-sd won't stay in anymore, its still holding on somewhat and I continue to beat it up. But yeah, its probably the most used device I have. I guess it should enter this list but it seems just so...you know commonplace and not very smart-web-like.

tinypliny writes at 09:37:29 03/09/12 - Comment #67862: What seemed kind of unbelievable to me was that (e:Paul) and I had a nexus one at the same time! That blows my mind still. Of course, he has moved on to the finest and the greatest now! :)

tinypliny writes at 09:36:06 03/09/12 - Comment #67861: Oh! And I forgot. I also have a non-smartphone Nokia phone somewhere in one of my drawers. I don't know the serial number but its not a smartphone - but you could go on some limited web browser if you had a data plan.

tinypliny writes at 09:33:45 03/09/12 - Comment #67860: you know, (e:paul), I thought you would totally have more!

tinypliny writes at 09:32:54 03/09/12 - Comment #67859: LOL Both of you have more devices than I do so there is more scope for accumulation here. heh

None of my machines is probably as powerful as some of yours (hexcore?! o_O what kind of rigors do you put it through? robotics and floating point computation? ) How much RAM do you have on your machines, (e:uncut)? I am especially curious about (e:leetee)'s box that runs PClinuxOS.

And nexus one is my alarm clock. :)

paul writes at 09:00:10 03/09/12 - Comment #67858: Oh wait I forgot the Dell 1950 server. Oh and in the tech graveyard I have the nexus one, the nokia n900 not phone, an old powerbook duo from the mid 90s and the old server.

paul writes at 08:58:37 03/09/12 - Comment #67857: I have one computer (linux fedora), one phone (android) and one tablet (ios).

uncutsaniflush writes at 06:19:50 03/09/12 - Comment #67856: Here's I was thinkin that Buddy was talkin bout techno music, what a hoser, eh?

I have:

hexcore box Fedora 16 box that also has vmware images of Win98SE and WinXP.

hp pentium 3.0 Mhz box that runs a modded PClinuxos. It's the box (e:leetee) uses.

G3 iBook with Arch PPC.

eee 900A with Bodhi linux

I also have some museum pieces: an original IMac, a Tandy, and a 900Mhz Compaq box.

I have no smart phone. I have one of the last Nokia phones built for voice, the 6030.

I was gifted a 6th gen (I think) Ipod nano that I don't really have any use for.

It's not that I don't embrace new tech. I'm just a cheap bastard.

Permalink: Techno_ed_out.html
Words: 149
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/09/12 05:08

Category: music

03/08/12 10:40 - ID#56189

Marteria

Can't complain about google new unified policy, Discovered Marteria. :)

Permalink: Marteria.html
Words: 14
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/09/12 09:24

Category: eating in

03/07/12 02:46 - ID#56183

Perfect brown paper bag popcorn from scratch

I know (e:kookcity) wrote about the perfect stovetop popcorn but this is for busy times when you want popcorn and cannot be bothered to watch over the stove.

Get a brown paper lunch bag
Put in around 4 heaped tablespoons of unpopped kernels
Set your microwave to 2-3 minutes and put the bag in
When the popping slows to 1-2 per second take it out (this is crucial, burnt results are terrible).
Empty the popped popcorn out over a big surface area (a generous bowl, perhaps).

And now is the step that no one on the net is sure about. How to make the seasoning stick to the air-popped or microwave popped popcorn:

spray the popcorn with an ultra fine spray-mist of ... water!
sprinkle on the seasoning. I love just plain salt.

That's it. Totally guilt free, perfectly seasoned popcorn without a stove, without toxic stuff, without preservatives, from kernels to perfection in under 5 minutes.