BINARY INSPIRATIONS

ffmpeg with WTV support

2010-12-18T21:00:00.001-05:00

Ah, the joys of open-source software development. A patch that adds WTV (Windows Television, the recording format of Windows 7 Media Center) demux support to ffmpeg is now in a mature state, thanks to developer Peter Ross. Gone are the days of circuitous, roundabout conversions from WTV to DVR-MS to MPEG! I’ve taken the liberty to compile a 32-bit Windows build of ffmpeg with the WTV patchset

Black Friday 2010: The Aftermath

2010-11-27T15:25:00.001-05:00

Black Friday – that special day in November when deals on everything and anything abound. My Black Friday adventure this year, of course, was computers/electronics-oriented. Here’s a list of my shopping spoils. Best Buy (believe it or not, this big box store actually does have some good deals from time to time) Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM hard drive, retail package (most likely

John The Ripper 1.7.6 jumbo for Windows x86

2010-11-14T14:08:00.001-05:00

Here’s a jumbo build of John the Ripper 1.7.6 compiled using MinGW/GCC 4.5.0. Revision 7 of the jumbo patch and OpenSSL 1.0.0 were used. http://www.box.net/shared/stct8h2ier Benchmark results on a 4GHz Phenom II X2: Benchmarking: Traditional DES [128/128 BS SSE2]... DONE Many salts: 2860K c/s Only one salt: 2378K c/s Benchmarking: BSDI DES (x725) [128/128 BS SSE2]...

transcode tools for Windows (version 1.1.5)

2010-11-14T03:53:00.001-05:00

I’ve prepared a Windows/Cygwin build of the following tools from transcode 1.1.5: avifix aviindex avimerge avisplit avisync tcmodinfo tcmp3cut tcyait Only avimerge has been tested extensively. I take no credit except for performing the compilation. http://www.box.net/shared/4z32ebp5ac

FLAC.exe for Windows x64

2010-11-13T22:50:00.001-05:00

I was messing around with the mingw-w64 cross-compilers for Fedora, and got a bit carried away. The result? a 64-bit build of FLAC for Windows. http://www.box.net/shared/aabhhqin0j This 64-bit build seems to be about 20% faster than vanilla FLAC. Of course, I take no credit other than for compilation.

SLIC 2.1 BIOS mod for Gigabyte H55M-UD2H

2010-07-28T00:18:00.001-04:00

This is the F9 release BIOS. Tested successfully on a revision 1.0 board. Disclaimer: BIOS flashing is, of course, a potentially risky operation. All the mods below have been flashed and tested successfully, but I am not responsible for anything that happens due to the use of these mods. Board model: Gigabyte H55M-UD2H BIOS type: Award BIOS version: F9 SLIC OEM: Acer[

1337 tip: Alphabetize a String in Python with a One-liner

2010-07-13T03:06:00.001-04:00

Let’s say you have a string of letters that needs to be alphabetized – a string of nucleotide bases, for example. Original string: “TA” New alphabetized string: “AT” Code: newString = ‘’.join(sorted(myString)) Enjoy!

Whip Cygwin’s vim into shape

2010-07-11T17:30:00.001-04:00

If you’re a Windows user like me but do a lot of editing/development work on Linux, chances are you rely on the Cygwin environment and its host of software. One of the staples of Linux is the editor vim. Cygwin’s vim, however, is configured by default to run in old-school vi mode. That means no nice colors, no statusbar messages, and bad arrow-key/cursor support. A far cry from how vim works in

rdesktop 1.6.0 for Windows

2010-07-01T00:12:00.001-04:00

This is a Cygwin-compiled build of the *nix rdesktop RDP client for Windows machines. Sound support is included. Depending on your needs, you may find this to be a useful alternative to the standard built-in Windows client. Requirements: X server for Windows (e.g. Xming or Cygwin X11) You must have the X server running prior to using rdesktop. Additionally, the DISPLAY environment

The College Survey Scam

2010-06-26T23:13:00.001-04:00

College students are a population that can reliably be characterized as “poor” and “constantly in need of money”; I am no exception. While this is unfortunate enough in itself, even worse are the existence of scams designed to prey off this demographic. I got an email today from a “James Scott” (very likely a fake name) from UniversitySurvey.org, claiming to offer summer part-time work for

uTorrent IPFilter Updater 1.5.8 released

2010-06-26T15:35:00.001-04:00

This is an incremental update that restores functionality with the blocklistpro.com downloads. The source code has been reworked for full Python 3.1+ compatibility, and the EXEs are now built with cx_freeze. Download the new version here: http://sites.google.com/site/whitehat2k9/Home/my-programs/utorrent-ipfilter-updater

Convert lyrics to subtitles with lrc2srt

2010-05-29T04:34:00.001-04:00

lrc2srt.py is a Python 3 script intended to convert .lrc lyric files into SubRip-format .srt files. This kind of conversion may be useful, for example, when adding lyrics to a music video file. lrc2srt requires Python 3.x and is licensed under the GPLv3. To download lrc2srt.py along with a detailed readme file, please visit: http://www.box.net/shared/5xz9om2ips

The Mystery of the Beeping Motherboard

2010-05-28T13:35:00.001-04:00

My new Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB hard drive finally arrived yesterday, and without delay I proceeded to pop it in. I couldn’t have asked for a smoother install – the drive’s power and SATA connectors were hooked up in the span of a few minutes. Powering on the machine, I start thinking about how I’m going to move my data over when BAM! the computer/motherboard suddenly starts emitting a buzzing/

SLIC 2.1 BIOS mod for Gigabyte MA78LM-S2H

2010-05-09T00:58:00.001-04:00

Here’s another BIOS mod, this time for the Gigabyte MA78LM-S2H. The version is F10 and is current as of this post. Tested successfully on a revision 1.3 board, and should work on all earlier revisions. Disclaimer: BIOS flashing is, of course, a potentially risky operation. All the mods below have been flashed and tested successfully, but I am not responsible for anything that happens due to the

Remote sessions on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS with NeatX

2010-05-03T18:14:00.001-04:00

As detailed in my previous article on NX technology, being able to remote into your machine and get a remote desktop is becoming a capability that’s more and more useful these days. Unfortunately, the latest 10.04 LTS release of Ubuntu requires a slightly more involved procedure to get an NX running (at least until most of its supporting software packages are brought up to date). Basically, NeatX

eSATA Strangeness on a Foxconn A7DA-S

2010-04-30T01:09:00.001-04:00

After all this time (more than a year since I built the rig in question), I finally got the opportunity to try out my board’s eSATA port. This particular motherboard (the AM2+ version of the Foxconn A7DA-S, equipped with the 790GX northbridge and SB750 southbridge) has no integrated eSATA port on the I/O panel; rather, a back-panel expansion bracket is supplied and is supposed to hook up to the “

mktorrent-GUI version 1.35 released

2010-04-20T16:52:00.001-04:00

Version 1.35 is a major release and supports the saving and loading of profiles. These profiles allow heavy torrenters to quickly import sets of tracker URLs. Additionally, most fields are now persistent – in other words, their content will be preserved in between application sessions. Go to the main project page for a full readme and the download link.

NX: Linux Remote Desktop Access Done Right

2010-04-07T22:58:00.001-04:00

Being able to access a computer remotely is becoming a more and more useful feature these days. This is especially true for headless servers and virtual machines, where local/direct access is often not an option. Windows machines (at least the non-home versions have the option of using Remote Desktop, which is a solid and reasonably fast solution. VNC is an option for both Windows and Linux, but

Howto: Download TurboTax state forms for free

2010-03-24T21:52:00.001-04:00

TurboTax is great for filling out those pesky tax return forms without relying too much on manual brainpower, especially if you have a complex tax situation. The federal forms are free, but TurboTax only lets you file one state return free of charge. If you need additional state forms, it’ll run you $39.95 each. Needless to say, this is a pretty ridiculous fee when you could buy another copy of

DesktopIce for Windows 7

2010-03-05T22:35:00.001-05:00

DesktopIce is a Windows 7-only applet that "freezes" your desktop and locks your computer. This is in contrast to the standard blue background that appears when the computer is locked. You need administrator privileges to run DesktopIce since the desktop image is saved to a system directory. Run the program executable. An ice cube icon will appear in the taskbar. To lock the

The Guide to Safe Torrenting: College Edition

2010-02-06T01:03:00.001-05:00

The ubiquity and ease of use of the BitTorrent P2P protocol has attracted to it a countless number of users. But as with any P2P technology, it carries with it risks, especially in the context of copyrighted content. The MPAA, RIAA, and other so-called antipiracy outfits acting as mercenaries on behalf of content owners employ a variety of controversial techniques in an attempt to catch people

Z-Alarm 2 (version 2.2) released

2010-01-29T01:43:00.001-05:00

Time for a new Z-Alarm release. Version 2.2 brings: overhauled timer management and more responsive user interface randomized alarm buzzer tones (you’ll never, ever get used to it) Spacebar shortcut to hit the snooze button (no more stumbling around drowsily trying to move the mouse) Detailed artist-title tag info display (for supported file formats) More attractive-looking snooze

mktorrent-GUI version 1.0 released

2010-01-29T01:26:00.001-05:00

mktorrent-GUI is a Windows-based GUI frontend to the console-based (Linux/UNIX native) mktorrent tool. There don’t seem to be any decent standalone torrent file creators on Windows. There is MakeTorrent, but that was last updated in 2004 and doesn’t support more modern features like private flags. My frontend aims to address these shortcomings and expose all of the functionality of mktorrent to

Corsair H50: CPU cooling, redefined

2010-01-16T02:27:00.001-05:00

Air cooling is simple and inexpensive, and for this reason it is by far the dominant method of CPU cooling. However, they aren’t flexible; overclocking will often overwhelm the cooler’s ability to regulate temperature. This was precisely the problem I ran into with my desktop rig: Case: Cooler Master Centurion 5 Blue PSU: Raidmax RX-530SS Hybrid 2 CPU: AMD Phenom X4 9850 Black Edition