E73 Tunnels

By GarfPosted on 2022-05-072022-05-10Cat Journal, Linux, VideoLeave a comment

This is a remake of an earlier video, driving through the Hungarian M6 / E73 Mecsek Tunnels. Only this time it has a new soundtrack written by Rob Weller. I always liked Rob' s work. So I jumped at the chance of using one of his tracks for this. In fact, he wrote it specially.… Read More »

TV versus on-line video sites such as Youtube

By GarfPosted on 2022-04-162022-05-06Cat Journal, Linux, Technology, VideoLeave a comment

Some interesting questions arose recently on a forum to which I belong. Members were comparing conventional broadcast TV with on-line video sites such as Youtube, and asking... What are people watching on YouTube? Are they watching new material ? Or are they watching old repeats that are be being shown in breach of copyright? Are… Read More »

Image processing using FOSS

By GarfPosted on 2022-03-062022-04-14Cat Journal, Linux, Photography, TechnologyLeave a comment

I belong to several online photography fora. One of the questions that repeatedly pops up is "what image editing software do you use?" and "what alternatives are there to Adobe Photoshop/Lightroom?" In this article, I hope to demonstrate the advantages of image processing using FOSS (free open source software). At time of writing, I am… Read More »

Fixing Flatpak public key error

By GarfPosted on 2022-02-012022-02-23Cat Journal, Linux, TechnologyLeave a comment

I recently had a dreadful time trying to fix a Flatpak public key error. I had been attempting a "user" mode installation of an application via Flatpak with no success. I installed Flatpak in the normal way. I opened a standard UNIX terminal application e.g. Konsole and typed... sudo apt install flatpak This appeared to… Read More »

My shiny new 20 TB Ultrastar hard disk

By GarfPosted on 2022-01-282022-05-18Cat Journal, Linux, TechnologyLeave a comment

I recently purchased a new 20 TB Ultrastar hard disk that UK supplier Scan Computers has on special offer. The Ultrastar range is descended from IBM/Hitachi's DeskStar series, has a five year warranty and it is considered a high-end high-spec product, intended for heavy server and NAS use. It is a helium filled disk and… Read More »

GNU’s not Unix? If not then why not?

By GarfPosted on 2021-03-112021-03-11Cat FAQ, Journal, Linux, Technology, Windows1 Comment

The GNU/Linux family of operating systems (e.g. Debian, Fedora, KDE Neon, Kubuntu, LinuxMint, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Xubuntu et al) are not permitted to use the UNIX trademark. Instead, they are described as "unix-like". In fact, the "GNU" in GNU/Linux (c/w the "G" in GIMP) is a recursive acronym meaning GNU's not Unix. In a nutshell,… Read More »

Another update: Raspberry π4 for Zoneminder part 3

By GarfPosted on 2021-02-012021-02-09Cat Electronics, Journal, Linux, Photography, Technology, ZoneminderLeave a comment

Raspberry π4 for ZoneMinder Part 1 - Raspberry π4 8GB for Zoneminder Part 2 - Update: Raspberry π4 8GB for Zoneminder Part 3 - Another update: Raspberry π4 for Zoneminder (you are here) My π4 Zoneminder has been running for just over two months. Overall I'm pretty happy with it. The main issue I had… Read More »

Update: Raspberry π4 8GB for Zoneminder part 2

By GarfPosted on 2020-11-302021-02-07Cat Electronics, Journal, Linux, Photography, Technology, ZoneminderLeave a comment

Following on from my last article, this is Raspberry π4 8GB for Zoneminder part 2. Now I have had time to set it up and test it for a while. Firstly, I decided to abandon the ARM64 version of Ubuntu on π because it seems slow and clunky. Basically it seems the current beta ARM64… Read More »

Raspberry π4 8GB for Zoneminder

By GarfPosted on 2020-11-242021-02-07Cat Electronics, Journal, Linux, Photography, Technology, ZoneminderLeave a comment

This is a overview of my adventures experimenting with a tiny Raspberry π4 8GB for Zoneminder GNU/Linux-based security system. Raspberry π4 for ZoneMinder Part 1 - Raspberry π4 8GB for Zoneminder (you are here) Part 2 - Update: Raspberry π4 8GB for Zoneminder Part 3 - Another update: Raspberry π4 for Zoneminder Background I have… Read More »

Remote shooting using “IP Webcam” software.

By GarfPosted on 2020-11-032020-11-14Cat Journal, Linux, Photography, Technology1 Comment

Folks considering remote shooting via smartphone may wish to experiment with Pavel Khlebovich's "IP Webcam". Basically it's an amazingly clever and full-featured app that allows you to control the camera(s) on your smartphone with a remote computer, using standard internet protocols. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pas.webcam I initially got into it because it plays nicely with Zoneminder. Thus any… Read More »

Ulefone 3w ruggedised smartphone

By GarfPosted on 2020-07-012021-01-01Cat Electronics, Journal, Linux, Photography, Radio, Technology3 Comments

I recently purchased an unlocked Chinese Ulefone Armor 3W. - c/w Mediatek chipset, 8-core 64-bit CPU, dual unlocked SIM slots, 256GiB TF slot and 10700mAH battery. I have quite a soft-spot for cheap generic Chinese phones. Of course, one has to choose the product quite carefully. You need to ensure your preferred device is not… Read More »

Backups: NAS vs external hard disk

By GarfPosted on 2020-05-042021-03-06Cat Journal, Linux, TechnologyLeave a comment

Discussion came up on a forum to which I belong whether it is better to use NAS (network attached storage) or external hard drives for backup. My answer is why not use both? Effectively I have three NAS servers. One is a media server. The others are purely backup - though they can quickly be… Read More »

Virtual backdrops and wallpapers

By GarfPosted on 2020-04-162020-05-06Cat Freebie, Journal, Linux, Photography, Technology, Virtual backdrop, WallpaperLeave a comment

Freebies to beat those lockdown blues This is a collection of virtual backdrops and wallpapers that you may download, manipulate and enjoy, for free. These images were created by capturing and saving a large number snap-shots of an open source music visualisation application for GNU/Linux called ProjectM - not to be confused with a 2008… Read More »

What is a WebP image file, and how do I open one?

By GarfPosted on 2019-02-112019-02-11Cat Journal, Linux, Photography, Technology, WindowsLeave a comment

Seems there is quite a lot of buzz about a "new" image format called "WebP" that is seeing increasing use on-line recently. Although it is attributed to Google, WebP was not strictly a Google invention. It was originally developed by On2 of New York as part of its VP* series "Truemotion" video codecs. Google acquired… Read More »

Joomla closedown

By GarfPosted on 2019-01-092022-04-02Cat About GarfNet, FAQ, Journal, Linux, Site Blog2 Comments

As you may have noticed, quite a lot has changed here on Garfnet over the last few weeks. Biggest change of all is the decision to dump Joomla as our main CMS in favour of Wordpress. I will go into more detail about the decision in another post. Suffice it to say that Wordpress is… Read More »

Novatech X16 Pro | Clevo W76TUN review

By GarfPosted on 2010-01-092019-01-09Cat Journal, Linux, Making an x16 Pro work on Linux, Technology

My first introduction to the Novatech *16 Series was in the Beginning of October 2009 when I bought one for my mum & put Ubuntu 9.10 64 bit c/w Medibuntu multimedia thus saving eighty-five quid (or more) Microsoft Tax. My mum is in her seventies and she really does not like computers at all. Interestingly, she… Read More »

Novatech/Clevo E16 & X16 Wireless Networking under Ubuntu Linux

By GarfPosted on 2009-12-092019-01-09Cat Journal, Linux, Making an x16 Pro work on Linux, Technology

This was actually rather annoying. These days one rather expects wireless networking to work "out of the box". Anyway, seems the fix is reasonably simple. These instructions are very specific and therefore need to be followed exactly. They assume you are using the 64 bit version of (K)Ubuntu. I'm also assuming you are using Firefox… Read More »

Trying to buy a PC without Windows part 6 – Lenovo

By GarfPosted on 2009-11-272019-01-09Cat Journal, Linux, Microsoft Windows Tax Scam, Technology

IBM is not one of Microsoft's biggest fans, particularly after it was well-and -truly shafted in the OS/2 fiasco. So it seems very surprising that its subsidiary Lenovo refuses absolutely to provide any refunds for unwanted Microsoft Licenses, thus completely ignoring the Microsoft EULA. 2009-11-26 12:57 Good afternoon Garfield Unfortunately we are unable to advise… Read More »

Trying to buy a PC without Windows part 5 – Acer, the most shameful response so far

By GarfPosted on 2009-11-262019-01-09Cat Journal, Linux, Microsoft Windows Tax Scam, Technology

On 2009-11-26, I wrote to Acer UK to establish what its policy was regarding the Microsoft Tax. This was its response:- Hello, Thank you for contacting Acer. Regarding your enquiry, The value would be £33.95 for vista home premium. This can only be refunded within 30 days of purchase and to get it refunded you… Read More »

Struggling to make Ubuntu look good

By GarfPosted on 2009-10-232019-01-09Cat Journal, Linux, Technology

Editor's note: This article is old and outdated. Blubuntu was eventually fixed in 2010. KDE4 also went on to be really rather good too. That was until they messed it up again with KDE5, but that is showing signs of being rather good now (2018-12-27) too. Seems that Canonical has woken up to the fact… Read More »