One of my favorite tools that I have used lately and in the past is xinput_calibrator. If you use Debian, Ubuntu, Backtrack or any other Debian based distro, this app will likely be the solution to your problems if you have a touchscreen that is kind of working right out of the box but with some minor problems.
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Tyranical-saurus Rex!
After a few years of wanting one of these printers they are actually very cheap. We picked ours up from Walmart for $49! After looking around online for a all-in-one printer that would work with both of our laptops over wifi we found that this one was pretty well supported. It was actually easier to setup on my Linux system than it was on our Mac running OSX!
In case I have to do this again (or if anyone else out there might find use of this) I am posting it here. These are the steps for setting the Canon Pixma MP495 on a Debian or Debian based system. I am running Debian Squeeze (kernel 2.6.32-5-686) at the moment and did not have to tweek anything.
UPDATE: After installing this on Ubuntu 11.10 (kernel 3.0.0-12-generic) I installed the drivers below on my 64 bit system and it works great.
- Download these files: cnijfilter-mp495series-3.40-1-deb.tar.gz and scangearmp-mp495series-1.60-1-deb.tar.gz
- Place these files in their own directory. Extract them (
tar -xvf *.gz) - Install your respective .deb packages found within the extracted folders, inside the packages directory (
dpkg -i *i386.deb). In all there are four packages that need to be installed. - Change the SSID of your wifi router to BJNPSETUP.
- Activate wifi on the printer by hitting the “maintenance button” 13 or 14 times… until you see a character that looks like a capital “G” without the horizontal line. Then press the color start button.
- Find out the IP of your printer by viewing the list of clients that are connected to your router. The IP address of the printer seemed to be automatically assigned by the router.
- Open your web browser and type in the IP address of the printer.
- Change the SSID to whatever SSID you want the printer to connect to. Hit “Okay” at the top.
- Change your SSID back to whatever you set the printer to look for.
- Print a test page… and if it worked you’re done!
NOTE: scangearmp (actually none of the apps) was not added to my Application menu. You’ll have to create a launcher and add it to your menu yourself, if you want.
If you want to know how to set this up on OSX, follow the instructions on the disk.
R and I went to see a play today. It was actually the most fun I’ve had at a play. Mostly because I enjoy being dumped into terribly awkward social settings.
After taking our seats in the plastic lawn chairs, we took in the view of the small stage and smell of scented candle. We also sipped on some coffee and had a donut. I was the only male audience member. Up front on the isle, a seat labeled reserved awaited the arrival of it’s occupant. She promptly arrived before the play started, however.
The play was introduced by a small town art director wearing raged jeans and a subtle vibe of gay. Then the play commenced!
The plot was based in the mid 1800′s so we were a bit put off by the amount of bright mascara two of the girls were wearing and found it a bit odd to observe one of the girls chewing gum throughout the entire play. Our favorite part of the whole play was the girl who mouthed the lines of the person she was having a dialog with but could not remember her own lines.
Despite all of this, it was actually a fun play and we were entertained, even though it was not only the story that entertained us. We won’t forget that experience and we had a good laugh afterward. Also, I really think that a couple of the girls did pretty well given their age.
This morning I spoke briefly with a man who was bald. He still retained the ol’ band-o-hair around the side and back of his head. He had the most vibrant, blue tattoo perfectly centered on his forehead. He had several other tattoos on his arms, however they proved to be less distracting.
During our brief conversation I tried not to look at the tattoo or noticeably focus on it for too long. I have always felt like I shouldn’t look at tattoos in the same way you shouldn’t look at a rash on someone’s face because you don’t want to make them uncomfortable. However, this guy wanted to put the tattoo on his forehead, so I should really be looking at it admiringly. Right?
Next time I meet someone with an obtrusive tattoo on their face, I am going to perform a test: stare at the tattoo throughout the entire conversation; perform 0% eye contact.
UPDATE: I have added this to reddit.com, please vote it up so more people will see it and possibly give us an answer. Here is the link: redd.it/f1z2y.
While driving north on highway 371 tonight, my father-in-law and I saw two pulses of light with no apparent cause. It looked like lightning had struck out of sight and all we were seeing was the light filling the entire sky. Once I looked out the windows in every direction, I could not find any clouds. There was no thunder, no more flashes of light or any evidence of anything that could have caused this. There is an airport nearby but we were miles past it. The only thing that I saw in the sky, after we had parked was the trail of an airplane. It was so hazy that I could barely see it.
We are looking forward to finding out what this was, if we ever do. If you were in the area when this happen, did you see anything that might explain this?
Lately, I have been receiving some emails that are not supposed to be mine. The email I have been using is x.abc@gmail.com (not my real email address) and I have been receiving emails for xabc@gmail.com. Mostly, I have been receiving email receipts for RedBox rentals but the more interesting ones have been the student login information and billing information of some girl who is attending a Catholic sounding school.
This is when I decided to contact the person at xabc@gmail.com by email. Unfortunately, the email I sent was also delivered to me!
After I was about to post this on the Gmail forums, I noticed a related post of someone with a similar problem. The answer to that post stated that Gmail does not allow the creation of accounts with similar usernames, that include periods. There must be another variation of characters A-Z, 0-1 and/or underscores for you to create an account. So if someone wanted my email address, the closest they could get would be something like: x.abc1@gmail.com.
My favorite part! Gmail also delivers any emails to you that contain your username, with any combination of periods in it. Here’s are a couple of examples of addresses that would be delivered to me:
x.a.bc@gmail.com
x.ab.c@gmail.com
xa.bc@gmail.com
…etc…
This has been added to the list of things I like about Gmail. My number one favorite thing is that the inbox storage space is growing each second and no one knows when (or if) it will ever stop growing. Right now it is at 7539.223993 Mega Bytes (~7.3GB), which is beyond what most of us would ever need or use. Gmail has changed email!
Another reason I like Google: wave.google.com. This project will be discontinued soon but has been made opensource and available to anyone who is interested in using it on their own server: www.waveProtocol.org. If you are into web devlopment / design by hobby or trade, this is worth looking into.
A few weeks ago, I dropped R off at work at 7AM. The lake looked amazing. Usually I go home and get some sleep after dropping her off but I had to take some pictures on this day. It was too amazing. It was -18° and the sun was just coming up. The lighting was perfect!
We have been watching Jesse Ventura’s show, Conspiracy Theory. I have set up my computer with Tor so when the revolution goes down, the government will not be able to make a hit on me. I suggest you sleep with a gun under your pillow and that you install this software.
Friday I made a journey to Minneapolis. This was something I looked forward to with great anticipation. KC and I planned on beating Les Claypool senseless so we could steal his Whamola. When we saw that a very large, friendly looking, ape entered the stage carrying the Whamola, we thought it would be easy to retrieve. This ape was a quick learner. He assessed what he had in his hand and almost immediately coordinated a heavily textured song, subduing KC and I and leaving us dancing. Primus was an amazing show!
Also, KC and I hung out on Friday, did a little GeoCaching and took it easy. After the show, we decided to go to bed… instead we stayed up later, even though I went to bed. The four room mates picked me up out of bed and forcefully put my clothes on. I felt like a life-sized Barbie, which was my favorite and last good memory of the night. They then forced me to assist them in their scheming. The things I did that night were done out of fear for my life. They made me commit minor arson, pose as a doctor and so many more terrible things. Please, forgive me. If anyone knows where Abe is, please let us know.
Abe (Last Seen 10-2-10 at 4AM)
