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      Thursday, March 03, 2022

geekstuff 07:11 AM - 03/03/2022 The topic: And the weather page is back up ---------------------------------------------- The little refurbed PC got here yesterday morning and I was ready. Unpacked it, climbed on a stool and started plugging stuff in. Unfortunately, the little bluetooth keyboard I had wasn't working. And if I didn't have a working keyboard, I couldn't finish setting up the PC. Because Windows wants a name. I ended up unplugging the one I use all the time (I like not having wires, but I've had so many problems with wireless keyboards and mice in the past, I just went to wired - maybe the problem was too many things and interference caused the problems; with the NAS and the weather systems I don't access them enough to be a bother). So, with the wired setup, I got it up and running. Except now I couldn't use my big system. Well, last year Brian complained about his keyboard and I ordered one for him like mine. Wired. He never did anything with it. I found the box and plugged it in to my system and that made life much easier. (After I was finished with the setup, I did attach the keyboard to his computer and he's real happy with it.) The first thing I did was to install Firefox. Once I had that synched to my Firefox account, I added Piriform's software. I've been using CCleaner (originally known as Crap Cleaner) for decades to keep junk off of my system. Last year, I got a super deal that included five computers and the other software they sell, Speccy (which gives you details about your system), Recuva (file recovery), and Defraggler (which organizes the files on your hard drive, which makes it run more smoothly; Windows breaks up data when it installs, Defraggler puts the fragments back where they belong). I used the ccleaner to get rid of the programs I absolutely had zero interest in. I tried setting up the little bluetooth keyboard,only to find out this little computer did NOT have bluetooth capability. Nice, right? I never paid attention on the other Optiflex and checked it out. It doesn't have bluetooth. I actually went over to eBay and checked out the specs of what I purchased. Bluetooth was not listed. So, I got what I paid for. I hit Amazon and ordered a bluetooth dongle for ten bucks and choose the option to pay three dollars more to get it the same day. I hoped it would be the last thing I had to do. I installed Blue Iris (the software that  I use to position the weathercam and send the image to the weather page every fifteen seconds). Since I'd let the license lapse last December, I had to renew it, which I found out when I was working with the laptop last weekend. And here's another case where I made work for myself - I keep telling myself I won't do that again, but I do. Before I had the new license installed, I exported my settings. Settings which knew where the camera was, where to send the images, and how often to send them. And, which I found out yesterday, the license key. Which was no longer valid. I had not exported the settings after installing the new license. And that took me more time that it should have to get the software running without a big ass watermark across the image. I don't know how I did it, but the program finally came up with all settings and correct license key. Yay! Then on to the weather station. That went pretty quickly because I'd just done it last weekend. Moved from the laptop to the Plex pc. I figured I'd just copy the data file and transfer that over. Yeah. There were problems. The data wasn't rendering properly on the Daily Data page of the weather station. I thought it was when I shut down, but last night, when I checked it using my Fire tablet, it was absolutely wrong. Before I'd shut down in the office, I finally figured out how to get the weather pc files to be seen on the other systems. And I was able to edit from the laptop in the other room. Took me a little time to realize my mistake, but it looks like it should now. Once the only two programs that would be running 24/7 were setup, I ran the defraggler. Making for a clean system from the start. The bluetooth dongle got here, I plugged it in and the little keyboard works nicely. It is absolutely so much quieter here in the office now. The laptop itself was loud, the external fans adding to the noise. They are no longer needed. It's nice. I was made aware of a free software that will stream to online platforms, like Youtube. I tried doing this last year with a paid service, but had zero luck. I just may try this again. But not this week. I'm done with geekstuff for this week.  Oh, and if you're interested?  The Weather Page. weather station    geekstuff    computer    | Permalink

      Wednesday, March 16, 2022

geekstuff 10:59 AM - 03/16/2022 The topic: Okay, I’ve been busy ---------------------------------------------- I did get the little cat hangings done. I will share those this afternoon. My past week has been stuck in the burning movies to my hard drive mode. Remember my little outdoor theater? And remember that I bought a DVD/Blu-Ray player for outside?  Well...yanno...I started to wonder if instead of using that player, I could somehow burn the disks I own to a hard drive and run them using Plex. And I found out I CAN! I had to get some different software than I have, trial and error to find which software(s) did the best job of ripping and converting. The first one I found was Winxdvd. It did a great job of ripping the disks. And they were okay for viewing, but they weren't high definition. You need a converter for that. But I was okay with it. I bought it before I'd tried out other software. But in my defense, the trial versions had limitations on them. I could probably get a refund, but eh...I mean, I did get a fair amount of use from them. One that I ripped was Cleopatra.  A two disk version. I didn't watch what had been ripped, since all of the other movies seemed to be okay.  I ripped each one then had to find a software that I could join the two parts together. I used a software I've had for ages (Movavi) and the words weren't in synch with the lips. (This hadn't happened with the other movies, just this one. So far.)  Four hours. I re-ripped the first part with WinxDVD using different settings and it was the same problem. I downloaded the trial of WinxDVD's converter software, but it had a limitation of five minutes. The movie has over five minutes of music before the movie starts. You know, how movies used to be in the old days? Music that gives you a chance to get comfortable in your seat before you actually see something on the screen? I had to purchase it to convert more than five minutes.  It was a bust. The lips were still out of sync. Back to my search. That's when I discovered Wonderfox software.  I downloaded the trial for the converter software first. I converted the first part of Cleopatra that I'd ripped using WinxDVD. Lips were still out of sync. So, it wasn't the converter.  At the completion of the conversion, I got a popup with a great price on Wonderfox's ripper software. I didn't buy it right away, but I did download the trial and, boy howdy! I was impressed. Because it converted at the same time it ripped! It wouldn't be a two step process. So, I bought it. For fifteen dollars!  Super good price. I ripped Clepatra again, this time with Wonderfox. Converting to 1080p from 720p at the same time.  I started the movie. The lips were in sync! I bought the software! (Make sure to do a google search for promo codes.) Then I used Movavi (I've had this for a long time, so many softwares to do different things) to join the two parts and they look great. And I converted one of the twenty movies I'd ripped the previous couple of days. Anyway, I re-ripped all of the movies I'd done with WinxDVD with Wonderfox, converting them at the same time. They look great.  I actually got three of the ripping softwares, one for the Plex machine, one for my big PC and one for the laptop. Because I have a lot of movies. Now for blu ray. I got an external blu ray player/burner, which came with Cyberlink software. Too confusing and it wouldn't work right. I looked for something else, I had tried MKV and Handbrake and I just didn't want to spend that much time trying to figure out the different options. Certainly not frustration free. I ended up trying Leawo blu-ray software to play the blu ray and it seemed to work. So, I figured I'd try their blu ray ripper. It worked, too. But they didn't work this morning. Frustrated, I did a google search for the error I was getting. And this time the fix was pretty simple. Running as adminstrator fixed the start up problems. I'm ripping the first disk of the Lord of the Rings right now. (And this really sucks because I'd had the trilogy set since 2011 or 2012, never paid attention to it until last year.  Included in the set were download codes for everything in the box, that expired in June 2012 - I wasn't in the streaming mode back then, so I never did anything with them. I tried pleading my case with the Warner Brothers folks, but it was a case of you snooze, you lose. Geez. They were only eleven years since the expire date, come on, guys...lol...at least I tried) The first part of the Two Towers just finished and it looks awesome! Five more to go! (I'm only doing the movies, not the extras.) Next up, the Harry Potter set. And that was my past week. Geeky, fun stuff. I drink this stuff up. plex    movies    | Permalink

craftstuff 01:34 PM - 03/16/2022 The topic: Yay, me. ---------------------------------------------- I just spent some time raking up the murder balls that fall from the Liquid Amber tree. Holy crap, those things hurt when you step on them barefoot. We seem to have an incredible harvest of them this year. It's hot, though, so I quit. I worked on the areas where I'd be most likely to walk, barefoot (which I try really hard not to do anymore, always have an old pair of slip on Skechers nearby). So, the little cat crafts turned out nicely. I found a similar set from a different designer on thingiverse. I was sharing this link with facebook when I noticed the files are no longer available because they were supposed to be for non-commercial use, you know, don't sell them. But people would make and sell them so the designer took the files down. Luckily, I saved them last summer! They'll go nicely with the ones I just finished. You can see them here. Anyway, here they are. I did have a hard time trying to figure out the background. I tried coloring the areas I wanted different on a white sheet of paper and thought I could just place the 3D print over that, but it wasn't very easy. I couldn't seem to get the holes in the print to line up with the colors on the sheet. I did the next best thing. I colored sheets of paper and cut them to fit behind the holes in the print and glued them in place. Then I cut a piece of cardstock to the size of the print and glued that onto the back of the print. I like how they came out. I think they look good in that spot. Now I'll have to figure out where to put the other three, once I get those done. photos    craftstuff    catstuff    3d printing    | Permalink

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lisaviolet is seventy something, married with no kids, takes care of lots of cats, likes taking photographs, loves Southern California weather and spends altogether too much time avoiding her responsibilities. In her spare time, she makes pretty things to sell in her store.

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