Network file sharing with Windows 11 machine and a SAMBA device

 OMG it took me about 2 hours to determine that (I think) SAMBA is NOT enabled by default on windows 11 machines!  Here is the scenario:  I purchased a new windows 11 machine and wanted to have it see the share I have on my GL-SFT1200. I tried everything under the sun to see the GL-SFT1200 and nothing would work....all my other machines could see it fine.  Finally this was the solution to the problem.  Do the following on your windows 11 machine that can not see the network share:

RIP HOOTOO nanorouter, Hello GL-SFT1200 for creating your own NAS

RIP to my HOOTOO nanorouter. It has been acting up, so I have decide to retire it.  In its place I purchased this guy:

GL.iNet GL-SFT1200 (Opal) Secure Travel WiFi Router – AC1200 Dual Band Gigabit Ethernet Wireless Internet | IPv6 USB 2.0 MU-MIMO DDR3 |128MB Ram 

GL-SFT1200 on Amazon for $34

It has quite a few options (e.g. Luci interface to Openwrt, a bunch of apps), router, extender, access point modes.

The goal is to use this as a NAS (thumbdrive plugged into usb port) as I did for the HOOTOO.  After much consternation, I was able to get it to work, but only when hard-wired.  It is pretty easy to get it working hard-wired.  It doesn't even need to be on the same subnet as the main router (e.g. it can stay on its 192.128.8.1).  

WARNING: THE NAS FUNCTIONALITY HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM THE FIRMWARE IN 4.X IN ORDER TO RETAIN NAS FUNCTIONALITY YOU MUST DOWNGRADE TO 3.X e.g. 3.215.  Please see this link for more info on how to downgrade: https://docs.gl-inet.com/router/en/3/tutorials/debrick/

To get it to work, you follow all of the standard directions for router set up (connect ethernet cable to router, etc). Then plug the thumbdrive into the USB port. I connected it to both my hardwired WAN and my wireless network for good measure.  In order to access the user interface, you need to connect to its wireless network e.g. GL-SFT1200-16d-5G.  Then type its subnet address into a browser (e.g. 192.168.8.1).

Once into the UI, upgrade the firmware (I use auto Upgrade). Once upgraded, go back into the UI.  Go to applications, then click "File Sharing." Turn on:

Share via LAN

Share via WAN

Writable (if you want this)

I also turned on Multimedia Sharing. Finally, hopefully, it will show up under "Network" in windows file manager.  If not, you can try typing the following into the file manager address bar:

\\GL-SFT1200

You can then map it as a network drive.  

The white light on the router is a bit annoying, so you can actually turn it off, once it has booted up. Now this is for the more advanced user!  You can seriously mess things up if you don't do this correctly (of course you can just hold the reset button for more than 10 seconds to reset the entire router).  References telling you how to do it are here:

https://forum.gl-inet.com/t/gl-sft1200-opal-deactivate-led/29139

https://docs.gl-inet.com/router/en/3/tutorials/file_sharing/

https://docs.gl-inet.com/router/en/3/tutorials/ssh/

You essentially ssh into the router, use vi to edit the file /etc/rc.local, add the following lines:

/etc/init.d/led disable

/etc/init.d/led stop

save the file and reboot the router.  Depending on where you put these lines, is when the light goes out.  I put them sort of lower in the file and the light goes out after it boots up.

HAPPY SAILING

How exclude terms in facebook market place search

 Enter term you want to see, then enter the "exclude" before the terms you don't want to see.

E.g. honda accord exclude rebuilt title

My Odyssey with my 2007 Honda Odyssey flashing "D" with a check engine light

 My 2007 Honda Odyssey has had a battery draining issue for about 3 months.  At first I ignored it by just driving the car everyday.  More recently it has become annoying.  I went through all of the fuses and determined that my battery draining issue was being caused by (I think) a nonfunctioning microswitch on my right sliding door....rather than confront this issue, I decided to just to make a "switch" to enable and disable fuse #7 "BACK UP". By effectively "pulling" fuse 7 the draining issue goes away. So I took an old micro fuse cut it in half and soldered wires to the blades.  On one blade I soldered a wire to a 7.5A fuse. On the other end of the 7.5A fuse, I connected one side of a single pole double throw switch.  The other side of the switch I connected a wire to the other blade.   I then plugged the two "blades" into fuse #7 position (acting as a fuse). This set up allows me to turn off the "fuse" with a switch.  When I don't want the battery draining, I turn off the "fuse." When I want to drive the car, I turn on the fuse. It works great!

Now I must tell you that in my debugging the fuses, I did something really stupid, in that I placed fuse 31 in the wrong place ( I put it into fuse 29 position).  This caused a MAJOR headache....not realizing I had done this, the van now had a flashing "D", check engine light and would not shift into reverse!  Luckily with all of this happening, I decided to check my fuses once again to make sure none had blown.  It is at this point that I realized my error in putting the fuse in the wrong place....moving the 15A fuse from position 29 back to position 31 fixed my flashing "D"!  Putting a ODB reader and erasing the check engine codes P0974 and P0983...everything was fixed!

So if you have a flashing "D" and a check engine light...check out fuse 31..it might be blown, leading to  potentially EXPENSIVE and WRONG set of fixes... like replacing the shift solenoid, and even  a "Faulty transmission."

Good luck,

Dr.

Link to Microsoft Outlook to see your alias email addresses

 https://account.live.com/names%2FManage?noteid=Note_AssociatedIdAddedWL&notelevel=1&alias=53jDD5baGwvDUNBdjp2ZeoPETum2IZESOrGt0zcDyJA%2FyYD8p3iTYpNpAgdABfXAsmpLCCfLpciDOHUHE3ToCEIItVdLmUhLym3gKiSKqxVtY1QoWlD%2FySBWtR4Msnj7g7UahSHnzQy9wmCCXQfUgw%3D%3D%3A2%3A3&uaid=79710fac38d7465f9a517045fc1fde7a

Getting rid of email addresses in Microsoft Outlook autocomplete/autofill!

 For months I have been trying to determine a way of removing unwanted, or mistyped email address from Microsoft Outlook autofill or autocomplete for email addresses.  There seems to be no option in outlook.com....but there is!!!!  You have to go into "Rules" (gear icon in upper right, then view all outlook settings at bottom of window that pops up) and then start making a rule that includes the email address you want to get rid of...almost magically, an "X" will appear next to all the addresses, and you can click it!

Fix external hard drive dropping offline on a Lenovo computer

 I have a Lenovo 8th Gen i3 that i have been having trouble with.  I backup one external drive to another and one of the drives keeps dropping offline.  I have finally found a fix.  It seems like a hardware problem that when more than one drive is connected to the same usb port (like through a usb hub), both can not stay online.  The fix is to simply move the "main" hard drives (that everything syncs to) to another usb port and all of the other external drives are on the hub.  In other words, never have drives running on the hub simultaneously.

Installing 240v underground line

I just finished installing an underground 240v main going to my back shed.  It was quite a bit of work (4 weekends).  I rented a 24” deep trencher, installed 2” PVC conduit, pulled conductors (with the help of my electrician), repaired all the sprinkler feeds and sprinkler control wiring that I had to cut.  I added soil, yellow caution tape, a waterline tapped off of my sprinkler live water, more soil, metal tape (can find the wiring with a metal detector) and the final layer of soil.  It passed inspection!

One word of caution with the Ditch Witch trencher I used.  You only have one pass to make the trench.  You can not go over the hole twice, because the 3 wheeled device will get stuck in the trench you have dug! The trencher also didn’t do a great job taking out all the soil.  Even though it went down 24” (soil is loose), the hole was only 18-20” deep.  I started digging the extra by hand, but it was taking too long, so I bought a high powered wide-mouth shop vac and vacuumed the dirt out.  I had to empty the vacuum about 24 times, but it was MUCH easier than using a shovel!  Mind you though, I think the vacuum was successful because my soil is very sandy.  If it were more clay-like I think the vacuum would have clogged up more. I went a little overboard getting down to 24" because the top of the electrical conduit only had to be at or below 18" for code.  I wanted to make sure that when I dropped the conduit in, I didn't have any need to re-dig due to variations in the hole height.

 

 

How to stop Throttlestop process on windows shutdown

If you use Throttlestop to control your cpu speed, windows can give you an annoying message that says Throttlestop is preventing windows from shutting down. Well, here is a (bit involved) way of killing Throttlestop automatically before windows shuts down, so you don't get the message. First though, if you are to use this procedure, make sure the "taskbar" option is disabled in Throttlestop.

1) You need to install group policy editor in windows. Please see this PC insider procedure
https://www.thepcinsider.com/install-group-policy-editor-gpedit-windows-10-home/

2) Once that is installed, you need to make two files. One is a batch file, the other a short cut to the batch file.

a) Open an editor to edit a file named "killTS.bat" and put the following into it and save
taskkill /IM ThrottleStop.exe /f

b) Since you can't set the batch file to run as administrator in the properties, you now need to make a shortcut to the batch file and have it run the bat file as an administrator. So create a shortcut to the killTS.bat file named killTS_as_admin.bat, open properties, click advanced and select the checkbox to run as administrator

c) Now that the two files have been setup, we just need to add the killTS_as_admin.bat shortcut to run before we shutdown. We do this by starting the gpedit.msc, go into Computer configuration -> windows settings -> scripts (startup/shutdown) ->shutdown. Click shutdown, and add the path to the killTS_as_admin.bat file

d) Close gpedit ...it should now kill Throttlestop before windows shutdown so you no longer have the annoying windows warning
-The Dr.

Restore advanced power options if they are removed with a windows update

If after a windows update, you lose some processor power settings, a way to get them back is to do the following:

Use Regedit and change the below:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power
Change the value of the key CsEnabled from 1 to 0 and reboot.

1 means connected standby enabled and 0 disabled. Eg. power settings will come back if you set to 0.

One warning though, when I did this, everytime I closed my laptop, it would hang...so I first made this change (allowed me to edit power settings).  I then turned off the option (e.g. set it back to 1), so that my laptop would not hang when I closed it...

https://www.techidiots.net/notes/windows-10/enable-missing-power-profiles-power-saver-high-performance

-The Dr.

Install gpedit in windows 10 to control running programs on startup and shutdown

https://www.thepcinsider.com/install-group-policy-editor-gpedit-windows-10-home/

Make your own simple liquid hand soap for cheap

Here is a simple way to make liquid hand soap from a bar of Dial soap

1) Take bar of soap and cheese grater.  Grate soap into small "flakes"

2) Add about 4-5 quarts of water to a large pot

3) Bring water to a boil

4) Turn off the heat and slowly drop in flakes while stirring

5) Continue to stir and drop in flakes until all the flakes are gone

6) Let cool for 30 minutes

7) Stir vigorously...it is going to start thickening

8) Let set for a few hours, stir, sit for a few more hours, stir, etc. until uniformly cool

9) It will continue to thicken over a day......

That's it.  You should be able to pour it into a hand soap dispenser and enjoy!

The reason I said 4-5 quarts is that I originally used too little water (2 quarts) and then 

added another 5 quarts (too much)...I boiled off some of the water until I think it was about

4 -5 quarts and the viscosity was just about right.

-Dr.

Python 3.7 on Windows using Anaconda

Install Anaconda individual edition from here (on windows):

https://www.anaconda.com/distribution/

This has a quick intro:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/python/beginners


Start the anaconda navigator
use the spider ide

Scrape product info using python
https://www.scrapehero.com/tutorial-how-to-scrape-amazon-product-details-using-python-and-selectorlib/

https://pypi.org/project/selectorlib/

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/selectorlib/llgknofgmghejanicfcjdibnhpofaefd?hl=en

Dual boot of windows 10 and Chrome OS/ make your own high end chromebook

I wanted to dual boot chrome os and windows 10, but didn't want to go through the hassle of re-partitioning, re-installing, etc.  So, here is my alternative: Once you have followed my procedure, you will be able to boot into windows or chrome os. When a microsd is ejected, you can boot windows normally.  When a microsd card is inserted (and microsd is selected as the first boot device in the UEFI e.g. BIOS), you will be able to boot into chromeos.

I start out with a high-end Dell 7390 because I wanted a chromebook that was fast and had a 4k display without paying $800+ for a pixelbook (I got the 7390 on closeout at bestbuy for $590).  The machine came with windows 10 installed - you won't have to touch this installation.
Now the procedure:

1) This assumes you have a machine that uses UEFI (supports secure boot) instead of BIOS..most machines use UEFI now.  My procedure may work for BIOS and MBR, but I'm not sure since I don't have an old machine to test it.

2) You will need a usb drive, a very fast microsd card (This will be the boot drive, I used sandisk Extreme Pro SDXC), and a machine you can disconnect the main hard drive from. This system is just used to perform the software install onto the usb and microsd drives - it will need to boot from the usb drive and then install something to the microsd with no other hard drives available, or that can be seen.  The installer system will need to have either two usb ports (one of the ports will need a microsd card reader) or a usb port and a microsd card reader.

3) Ok, so here we go:  Download onto the "installer system", the cloudready usb maker located here:

https://www.neverware.com/freedownload

4) Insert the usb drive and run the usb maker..this will install the cloudready installer onto the usb

5) Once done, disconnect the normal hard drive from the "installer system", insert the usb drive and the microsd card into the "installer system". 

6) Boot off of the usb cloudready installer, enter all the usual info to get to the chromeos desktop

7) Click the clock on the right hand side..then click an option named "install os".  This will start the cloud ready install onto the microsd card.

8) It will take several minutes to partition, format and install the os onto the microsd card.

9) Remove the microsd card from the installer system, insert it into the machine you want to be the new chromebook, set UEFI to boot from the microsd card, and boot.

10) You should be all set to start using your new chromebook

By the way, for some reason after booting from the microsd card, and then shutting down, my computer wouldn't turn back on....this has to do something with booting off the microsd card latching up...the fix is pretty easy.  I just have to hold the power button for about 15-20 seconds until a charge drains from the card? and then it will reboot.  I'll have to read more about the cause of this....

How to calibrate/power cycle a chromebook

To do a power cycle, just follow these steps:

Completely drain the battery of the current charge

After it’s drained, press and hold the power button for a few seconds to make sure it doesn’t power on

Plug the Chromebook charger into the laptop, and charge it to 100%. Don’t use it during this time.

After it’s fully charged, use it until it completely drains.

Repeat the process 3 times.

To see battery info type: ctrl,alt,t all at the same time - this starts a new crosh window in chrome

then you can try:

battery_firmware info

or run a battery test:

battery_test 60

Install octave on a Acer spin 13 under chrome linux (crostini)

This gives instructions on how to install the flatpak utility:https://flatpak.org/setup/Chrome%20OS/

sudo flatpak install flathub org.octave.Octave

then run it from the icon located in the chrome app icons

To get the graphics to work correctly, I had to set the graphicspackage to gnuplot by typing into the octave command window:graphics_toolkit('gnuplot');

I edited a file named "startup.m" and added this command in this file.Now everytime octave starts, it runs this graphics toolkit command and sets the graphics to gnuplot

The Principle of Achievable Consumption

1/24/2020 At 5'7" tall, weighing 215lbs, with high blood pressure, I needed to make a change.  I have always hated the idea of restricting what I eat, but based upon health concerns, I determined it was time.

The doctor had the usual "healthy" suggestions, which I didn't find acceptable. So instead, I merged a few ideas that were floating around, downloaded the "Lose It" Android app, and made my own plan.

The plan is simple, I entered my information into the "Lose It" app (things like how tall, how much do I weigh, what is my ideal weight, how fast do I want to lose it, how much exercise do I do, etc.), and the app told me how many calories per day I can eat to hit my goal.  The app also has a great feature that it can scan just about any food with a UPC to determine calories.

The spin I put on it is this: I mostly eat anything I want, and I stay under 2088 calories, to weigh 185lbs. I always have a large salad at every meal (this helps to make me feel full) and at the end of the day I eat 3 or 4 cups of popcorn with no salt or butter. Again, this helps to make me feel full. Finally, I do not eat after 8pm or before 11am and do very, very little exercise (other than using stairs at work).

In the morning I am a bit hungry, but I allow myself a large cup of coffee with cream (100 calories) and sweet&low. I drive to work and park in the far garage to get my little bit of exercise (takes 7 minutes to walk in, 7 minutes to walk out). When I get to work, I'm so busy that I don't miss not eating until lunch.  I think the long period of time between 8pm and 11am is important because it gives my body time to completely burn the calories from the night before and start burning additional body fat calories.  Also, the absolute time of day when I delay eating is important.  At the end of the day, I get my full load of calories, satisfying me for bed.

In just about 2 weeks I have dropped to 206 lbs and my pants fit much better!

Here are a few things I eat:
Once a week I buy a few pounds of chicken, use Newman's own organic oil and vinegar (it has really low salt) to marinate it, and cook it on the grill.  Once done, I throw it in a freezer bag and take out pieces during the week to put on lettuce, along with garden croutons and Newman's own organic oil and vinegar dressing. Ahh lettuce and popcorn.  Lettuce and popcorn are those really "cheap" foods (lettuce is 25 calories for 5 cups!).  Other things I have eaten include almonds, salami, ham, pizza, peanuts, rice crispy treats, Outshine fruit bars (fantastic and low in calories), Good and Plenty licorice, Moose munch.  I have always stayed below the required 2088 calories.

8/23/2020 A quick update

Over the last few months, I haven't been able to stay on my strict calorie-counting regime, but I have continued to avoid eating breakfast each morning ( I still have coffee with creamer).  I also have tried to stay mostly away from carbohydrates do a little more exercise (yard work) on the weekends .   I have determined eating carbs puts me into a viscous circle where I want more and more/gain weight!!  I have also been successful eliminating night-time snacking. If I do have a craving to eat carbs, I reach for nuts instead.  I have continued to lose weight!  I am down to 198lbs...not bad for about 7 months.  Only 13 more pounds to go.

So to sum it up, I avoid carbs and emphasize protein, nuts, and fiber (lettuce).  I stay under 2088 calories for whatever else I eat and don't eat between 8pm and 11am.
Finally, this is what I have done.  Beware and consult a physician.

How to check amazon gift card balance/what you spent it on

1) Log into your amazon account through the web
2) On the upper-right click on "Account and Lists", then "Your Account"

3) Next, click the gift cards link

4) It should bring up a page that lists what was bought under each gift card

Fix octave graphics problems on chromebook crostini

If you can't get X11 or Wayland GUI Linux apps to start anymore on Chrome OS, try the following.

In the Terminal app, this will show the status of your systemd user services/units:

systemctl --user

If sommelier@0.service and sommelier-x@0.service show a failed status, the following worked for me:

sudo ln -s /opt/google/cros-containers/bin/sommelier.elf /usr/bin/
systemctl --user restart sommelier@0.service
systemctl --user restart sommelier-x@0.service
export DISPLAY=:0

Check again to see if those services are started now:

systemctl --user

Hopefully now X/Wayland apps work again.

xclock

by the way, the following is a good treatise on how to install linux within crostini

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Chrome_OS_devices/Crostini

Way around "please disconnect the secondary hdmi output before playing video" error on comcast, spectrum

The typical way one would expect to cast from the spectrum app to your tv would simply be to click the cast button in the spectrum app.  Unfortunately, there is no cast button.  From within the spectrum app, you can only select your set top boxes to (cast) stream.  With other stream players like fire tv, nvidia shield, you can not stream to your tv from outside your home network...it says "please remove the secondary hdmi"

A way around this is to log into spectrum using the Chrome browser and a chromecast device (nvidia sheild, chromecast, etc.) connected to your tv.

In this example I will explain how to stream to your tv from your tablet for Spectrum cable.
First login to the spectrum webpage with your spectrum login info.  Then click "watch live tv."
This brings up a window with the live tv and options for guide, on demand, etc.  Once you see this on your tablet, simply click the three dots in the upper right hand corner of the chrome browser and click the word "cast".  It will ask which chromecast to cast to, select the one you want and voila, you are streaming (casting) from the spectrum web page to your tv - you are able to watch live tv and on demand (though some channels are blocked if you are outside your home network).  You control what you are watching with your tablet and the TV acts as a secondary, main display.