Merry Christmas 2008
The Shabby Trabi. Garf Technology Christmas card 2008.
Author: Garf
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Gibbseys Christmas lights
I have a pal whose house lights up like a Christmas tree – literally. So whenever he does this, I always nip over thee with a camera…
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How do I stop Google indexing a particular page on my site?
There are several ways to stop Google and most other search engines indexing a page. The simplest is to use a “noindex” metatag on any pages you don’t want indexed. Here’s the HTML code, in context. (Obviously the text between the <title></title> tags is just there for show and is not relevant to the workings…
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Christmas tree lit by LED
Our little Christmas tree looks quite pretty this year. And we decorated it with a very long string of LED lights.
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Backing up using big, cheap hard disks and some nifty Unix tools
We all have our favourite methods of data backup. Certainly DVD is a good archiving and distribution medium. But for routine backup, I look for reliability, low cost, ease of use, high-speed, high capacity and redundancy – so I am not reliant on just one device. One of my favourite methods is a complete off-site…
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Pécs TV Torony
Another pilgrimage to the top of one of my favourite places: the observation platform on the 197 metre Pécs TV Torony. It is currently the tallest building in Hungary. Built between 1968 an 1973, It stands atop the Misina peak of the Mecsek mountain (elevation: 535 metres). Links More information:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A9cs_TV_Tower geo URI:- geo:46.0991139292,18.2201324318
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Pécs
Some Autumnal snaps of the beautiful Hungarian city of Pécs
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Langley Tavern and Lepe Beach
Went out to the New Forest to visit my mother, in the little red MX5. While we were there, I took the opportunity top gather some images of Lepe Beach and the now dilapidated Langley Tavern. I also took a few snaps of my shiny new Eton S350DL multiband radio.
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Day trip to Brighton
A day trip to the beautiful seaside town of Brighton. I actually went there to visit a new client. Fortunately the meeting did not take long so I spent the rest of the days taking pictures with a Fuju S9600 Bridge camera.
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How to upgrade to “Goosebuntu” – a fully loaded (K)ubuntu 8.xx (Hardy) system
Note this primarily applies to (K)Ubuntu 8.xx. For (K)Ubuntu 7.xx please visit earlier (and possibly outdated) article:- http://www.garfnet.org.uk/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=124&Itemid=58 This is a quickand very effective way to beef up your (K)Ubuntu installation. Basically the list below contains most of my favouirite (K)Ubuntu applications complete with their code libraries. The name "Goosebuntu" is not entirely serious –…
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How to upgrade from Ubuntu to Kubuntu (version 8.xx – Hardy)
Firstly please back up anything that is important – as you would with any major upgrade on any computer system! Then you can either use the Synaptic package manager or in this instance it is probably quicker to install from a Terminal window. First we make sure the system is fully up to date. Simply…
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Southampton Common
Another walk across Southampton Common, camera in hand
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Setting file and directory properties separately and recursively
Sometimes in GNU/Linux one needs to set file and directory permissions separately and recursively. This is a way to do it. Set file permissions:- find . -type f -print0 | xargs -0 chmod 644 ; Set directory permissions- find . -type d -exec chmod 755 \{\} \; Note these are powerful commands with which you…
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GNUCash – serious open source accounting software
Nowadays, one reads a lot about open source equivalents of proprietary software. Often these are described as poor substitutes for the real thing. However, some open source apps are starting seriously to outperform their proprietary counterparts. Mozilla Firefox is a classic example of this phenomenon. GNUCash is another. GNUCash vs Microsoft Money I was a…
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New Forest
Just taken the MX5 for a little spin across the New Forest. Naturally, we made plenty of stops for photos.
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I can’t open raw files from my digital camera
Usually the camera manufacturer will provide software that handles raw files from your camera. However, several problems can arise:– You change computer and loose the original software. You have several cameras made by different manufacturers but want to use the same application to deal with their raw files. You don’t use Micro$oft Windows. So what…
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A few snaps in the garden
Garden looks unusually pretty this year. Especially considering I have no gardening skills or inclination whatsoever. But I do quite enjoy taking photos.
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Britain’s metrication fiasco
Britain has made a complete hash of metrication whilst failing to teach its young the basic numeracy skills to deal with the ridiculous anomalies that have arisen as a result. E.g… People who think 7.5 lbs is the same as 7 lb 5 oz. People who think of 0 as freezing 0 as boiling and…
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Southampton Common Funfair
I’m far too tight-fisted ever to pay to go on a fairground ride. But I do rather enjoy photographing them. So I wandered across the common today with my Olympus C2500L to grab some snaps of the Southampton Common Funfair.
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New Forest Otter Sanctuary
Today we took a road trip to the Otter Sanctuary near Longdown in the New Forest.
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Digital pictures Electronics General Journal Photography Radio Studio Photography Vintage Radio Equipment
Radios
I had a lovely model called Onna come down from London today for a retro technology photo shoot. While she was here, she posed with some of my favourite radios, including my Icom IC-R20 and my AOR AR 8200 handheld communications receivers. Which I continued to photograph long after she had gone home. Here are…
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Road trip to Shoreham
I arranged to meet up with an on-line photographer friend in Shoreham, in Sussex. I had arrange to collect a pair of fluorescent plat-panel continuous studio lights from him. I decided to make a few stops en route and grab a few snaps. For some strange reason, large, out-of-place structures always seem to interest me….
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My camera cards keep getting corrupted. Can I prevent this?
I’ve had cheapo cards that I dropped, kicked, trod on, used a squillion times, paid the proverbial tuppence ha’penny for and they are still going. Others, even the expensive ones have failed or become flaky within a few months – or worse, clapped out just outside the warranty. Similarly hard disks can fail in the…
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Windows can’t read from my camera’s memory card
Editor’s note: since writing this article, I have had huge problems with RTools spamming me. I have asked them many times to stop, yet still they persist. My advice is do not use any RTools product. Or that if you must use RTools, do NOT register, otherwise they will pester you forever. Using the free…
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gOS – has the Google vs M$ war just “gone nuclear”?
Editors note: gOS was very shortlived. By 2011 it was gone. The new gOS operating system certainly would appear to up the ante in the ongoing war between the mighty Micro$haft and that pesky upstart Google. But is it any good and is it really Google? To find out, I just booted from the gOS…
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Marriage of minds or just a shotgun wedding
Microsoft has been in trouble for some time – but has taken its executives quite a while to realise it. Vista has been a massive flop. And M$ is becoming increasingly perceived as a company that has ruthlessly exploited its monopoly – fleecing its customers for vast sums of money whilst providing poor quality, insecure…
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How to make (K)Ubuntu play copy-protected DVD’s, and…
…and Windows Media, Skype and GoogleEarth One of the problems with (K)Ubuntu (and many other Linux distributions) is that it will not play commercial, copy-protected DVD’s and a number of other proprietary file formats, out-of-the-box. There are complex legal and ethical reasons for this. However, many users just want to play their files and watch…
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How to upgrade to “Goosebuntu” – a fully loaded (K)ubuntu 7.xx (Gutsy) system
Note this applies to Ubuntu 7.xx and may be out of date. For Ubuntu 8.xx please visit:- http://www.garfnet.org.uk/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=136&Itemid=58 These are my favourite (K)ubuntu applications. The name “Goosebuntu” is not entirely serious – it is just a name we coined in the office. However the following apps will turn a standard Kubuntu installation into something really…
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How to upgrade from Ubuntu to Kubuntu (version 7.xx – Gutsy)
Firstly please back up anything that is important – as you would with any major upgrade on any computer system! Then you can either use the Synaptic package manager or in this instance it is probably quicker to install from a Terminal window. First we make sure the system is fully up to date. Simply…
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What is the difference between Ubuntu and Kubuntu?
Ubuntu Ubuntu uses the Gnome desktop. This is a very clean, simple environment and is well suited to Linux beginners. In many respects it is much easier to use than any version of MS Windows – though its layout is a little different from Windows. For example, its application menus are at the top of…
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Coppermine “batch-add” hangs
Just occasionally one stumbles across a small but very annoying problem, that takes ages to hunt down a fix. However, when you do stumble across the solution, you find it was just one tiny mistake – that should never have been made in the first place. On our site http://www.garfnet.org.uk/coppermine we use a special Coppermine…
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A few of my favourite things
Well it’s a cold bleak miserable Southampton winter’s day outside. Decided to take a few “library” snaps of some current favourite bits of kit, including a rather nice pair of wideband communications receivers.
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Hungarian rebels against the “Microsoft Tax”
[Reproduced from DEOSS ] Seems that Micro$haft’s corporate enslavement permeates far beyond the English-speaking world. A long and complex legal battle is currently raging in the former Eastern Bloc state of Hungary. APEH (the Hungarian Tax Office) has decided that all Hungarian businesses now have to submit their tax returns on-line. This would not be…
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A few more winter snaps of Pécs
Been working on the computer and experimenting with my Icom IC-R20 radio scanner for a couple of days. So I thought it was time to get some fresh air, and perhaps take some more pictures of a snow-covered Pécs, Hungary.
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How to install CS-R20 software for Icom IC-R20 on Linux
It seems that with a little determination, the CS-R20 for the Icom IC-R20 software can be persuaded to run on Linux. I eventually made the CS-R20 software load under Kubuntu Linux using Crossover (a commercial implementation of WINE). The method in this article should work with many other Debian-derived Linuxes too, perhaps with a little…
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Icom IC-R20 radio scanner
Being a geeky type of chap, I generally find that the best way to guarantee that Santa puts a decent geek-friendly Christmas present in my stocking is to buy it myself! So this year I treated myself to an Icom IC-R20 hand-held, all-band communications receiver/scanner. I have always had a penchant for small communications receivers….
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New Years Day in Pécs
Spent Christmas with my girlfriend’s folks and it snowed quite hard. So I thought I’d get out and grab a few snaps of Pécs before it melts.
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New Years Eve in Pécs, Hungary
Just spent a very cold and snowy New Years Eve in Pécs, Hungary.
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Winter in Pécs, Hungary
Winter in Pécs, Hungary. Spent the day wandering around the town and doing a bit of shopping in Árkád – the main shopping centre. And of course, taking lots of photos.
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Christmas in Pécs
Spending Christmas and New Yerwith my girlfriend’s folks in Christmas in Pécs, Hungary. Spent most of today in the town, wading through the snow and drinking hot coffee and brandy in a café.
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Merry Christmas 2007
Wishing all our readers a very merry, peaceful Christmas And a happy, successful New Year… “Mr. Penguin and Mr. Goose, on a very frosty Hungarian day.”
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I want a really good website but I don’t want to pay for it!
Before you read any further, you need to ask yourself some questions. What do you actually want? A social networking site such as Myspace? A freebie site such as Moonfruit? A freebie to host pictures like Flickr, Photobucket or even GarfNet Pictures? Or do you want a fully functioning business website that you can edit…
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Wouldn’t it be better if there were only one Linux?
“The world doesn’t need lots of different operating systems” seems to be the prevailing wisdom of the moment. But I would question that. Why? Do we also need only one type of car, or one type of television? OK there are those who say the world would be a better place without either. But would…
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XO (one laptop per child) rolls of production line
With all the misery in the world, I think this project is actually quite heart-warming. The XO laptop (AKA the $100.00 laptop), is the brainchild of Nicholas Negroponte from MIT and former United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan. It is designed for children in the majority world. The first machines started rolling off the Changshu…
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Cannot upgrade from Feisty to Gutsy
2007-10-18 saw the release of the latest Ubuntu & Kubuntu Linux, version 7.10, also known as Gutsy. Unfortunately a number of users are having difficulties with the upgrade. Seems that either the “Version Upgrade” button doesn’t show in your package manager… https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/15370 Or if it does show then you cannot go much further. Adept users…
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Please may I have GarfNet Pictures account?
Editors note 2024-07-06: The old Coppermine gallery is closing shortly and we are no longer hosting users’ images on GarfNet. It has been replaced with a NextGen Gallery instance that is closely integrated with our WordPress based CMS, and only manages images pertaining to this site. We have a fairly large picture site over at…
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Ok so I installed Ubuntu but I hate the Gnome desktop?
If you want a version of Ubuntu that looks & feels like more like your familiar Windoze XP then try the free upgrade to Kubuntu. Kubuntu uses the KDE desktop. IMHO KDE is loads nicer and much more feature-rich than either Windoze or the Gnome desktop. As well as being highly customisable, KDE makes extensive…
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Buying tips
These days I am more concerned with bangs-per-buck rather than the latest, greatest technology. This kit is so disposable nowadays and the technology changes so quickly that I think you need to adopt a completely different purchase strategy. This is my strategy for consumer durables such as digital cameras and computers… Do some research and…
