• Preserve file permissions 664 under subdirectories in linux with ACLs

    Have you ever wanted to give several users permission to work on files within a directory, but then struggled with what permissions and user:group ownership to set them to so users can always edit the files? You might think the solution is to make the parent directory owned by a common group, lets say dev,…

  • FreeCAD

    Hack A Day has a great article introducing FreeCAD. FreeCAD is a parametric 3D modeler. Parametric modeling allows you to easily modify your design by going back into your model history and changing its parameters. FreeCAD is open source (LGPL license) and completely modular, allowing for very advanced extension and customization. There are several great things about…

  • typing mathematical symbols into emacs using the TeX input method

    typing mathematical symbols into emacs using the TeX input method

    You can type mathematical symbols into emacs using the TeX input method. C-\ TeX <enter> \ohm \therefore \pi C-\ will toggle the input method on and off. Note the \ indicator in the bottom left of the status bar.

  • LED down light comparison website – www.ledbenchmark.com

    LED down light comparison website – www.ledbenchmark.com

    I’ve wanted a reliable source of information on LED light bulbs for a long time. Well apparently it does exist. ledbenchmark.com have brief reviews and comparisons of many blubs and it seems to be done in a nice scientific way.   Image By Mcapdevila [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

  • Windows 7 Visual FoxPro ODBC Driver

    Microsoft have made it virtually impossible to find out how to get this driver for Windows 7. If you are getting the error “You must first install the current version of the Visual FoxPro ODBC Driver”, you need to download this driver and install it. Tthe file you are after is called VFPODBC.msi and can be downloaded directly from Microsoft…

  • Top 3 tips for migrating a server to a virtual machine

    I recently migrated a server to a virtual machine, and while it was mostly a smooth process, I did encounter a couple of problems. Ensure that any licensing services will run on the new virtual hardware. Our accounting system’s license server wouldn’t run until it was set up with new licenses. Check date and time…

  • Anacron run-parts: /etc/cron.daily/amavisd-new exited with return code 1

    Anacron run-parts: /etc/cron.daily/amavisd-new exited with return code 1

  • How to make a bootable usb stick in Windows 7 of a debian iso

    Every so often I need to make a bootable USB stick in Windows 7 (64 bit) of a debian installer iso. For some reason my googling usually does not reveal a simple solution for this. I asked on #debian on the OFTC network and got various suggestions. The first suggestions were to use win32 compiled…

  • Programmatic CAD, OpenSCAD alternatives

    There are quite a few programatic CAD, OpenSCAD alternatives out there. I am collecting a list of them and providing links to them here. The requirements to be included in this list are: Free and libre. They are a programming language as opposed to a GUI. OpenSCAD: The most well known programmatic CAD program. Probably…

  • Emacs: yank a line multiple times from the kill ring

    Emacs: yank a line multiple times from the kill ring

    Today I needed to copy a line multiple times in emacs. I needed 8 copies, but how to do that in emacs short of pressing C-y to yank 8 times? My initial guess was to try C-u 8 C-y but that yanks the 8th item from the kill ring. Fuco on #emacs supplied the awesome…

Got any book recommendations?