Category: technology
-
bypassing the “ssl_error_no_cypher_overlap” error in Firefox 34
Generally speaking, it’s a bad idea to override security protocols browsers have instituted as they are designed to keep you safe on the internet (in the “less likely to be hacked” sense). However, with a recent update to Firefox 34, a website I use all the time for my research that is run by my…
-
Linux – Fixing PDFs opening in GIMP in Firefox/Zotero (instead of Evince or Okular)
I’m not exactly sure why, but with the latest Firefox updates, every time I download a PDF using Firefox or try to open one using Zotero integrated with Firefox, the PDF opens in GIMP. This didn’t used to happen, but it’s really annoying. It’s doubly annoying since you can’t solve it inside Firefox. It would…
-
Linux: Using GIMP to wrap text in an image
I’m not an expert in graphic design, but I like playing around with images on occasion. I had an itching to modify a logo recently that included text wrapped in a circle. It took me a couple of hours to figure out how to wrap text like that in GIMP and the tutorials I found…
-
Linux: Creating Maps on Linux with QGIS
For my job, I occasionally need to create maps to illustrate some concept or another. For instance, it can be useful to see a the racial makeup of the US as a map color-coded to reflect the percent of the population that identifies as black in each state. It provides a quick illustration of how people…
-
Linxumint or Ubuntu: How to Install MakeMKV
If you’re extra cautious with your investments like I am and want to make sure your Blu-Ray discs are backed up just in case, you need MakeMKV. It’s a piece of software that makes it possible to back up Blu-Ray discs. Using it in conjunction with Handbrake is the perfect solution for backing up Blu-Ray…
-
LinuxMint: Run Two Instances of Firefox Simultaneously (for Zotero)
Advanced users of Zotero, the amazing, free bibliography management software, may have run into the problem that you have two separate Zotero databases and want to access them at the same time. I used to manage multiple databases simultaneously by using a really cool Firefox extension: Foxtester. Alas, that extension is no longer working with…
-
Linuxmint or Ubuntu: Crashplan backup using headless Synology NAS
If you’re using a Synology NAS box and would like to back up your files to offsite storage service Crashplan (which is relatively inexpensive), there is a relatively easy way to do this. However, you need to think about the Crashplan software as having two components. There is the backup engine, or the software that communicates…
-
LinuxMint or Ubuntu: How to Automount Synology Shares
UPDATE: As of Ubuntu 13.04, these directions no longer work. I figured out a way to get this to work, however. See the updated directions at the bottom of this post. ——————Old Directions———————————— If you’d like to share your network attached storage from a Synology file server with your Linuxmint or Ubuntu machine and have…
-
ubuntu: HP Elitebook 8540p wireless
This is primarily a note for me, but I just spent 3 hours reformatting my HP Elitebook 8540p because I couldn’t get it to connect to my new 802.11n router. Turns out all I needed to do was switching the security on the router to WPA from WEP. So, anyone searching for how to get…
-
Ubuntu: Adding Non-Repository Program to Menu and Dash
If you’ve ever downloaded a program to run in Linux from the web and not installed it from a repository, that program may not appear in your menu or dash (the activities screen activated when you hit the “super” button), making it difficult to launch, particularly with one of the new desktop managers like Gnome…