May « 2007 « Jim's Random Notes

Replacing a Router with IPCop

By Jim, on May 30th, 2007%

For reasons that will become clear if you read further, I have three pieces of advice:

Do not expect a home cable/DSL router like the LinkSys WRT54G to work at capacity. It’s fine for a little Web surfing and some infrequent large downloads, but it’s going to fail intermittently at high duty cycles. If you’re . . . → Read More: Replacing a Router with IPCop

MySQL Server has gone away

By Jim, on May 29th, 2007%

I got an error message from MySQL last week that said, “The MySQL server has gone away.” I thought it an odd message, but since I was changing settings, configuring a driver, and experimenting with my program, I figured that my fiddling had somehow caused me to execute a query against a closed connection. So . . . → Read More: MySQL Server has gone away

Slow Buffalo LinkStation

By Jim, on May 29th, 2007%

I bought a Buffalo LinkStation last summer and installed it on the office network. David and I used it a bit for a while, but then our needs changed and it mostly sat there idle. I’d back up the odd file to it from time to time, but that was about it. Then one day . . . → Read More: Slow Buffalo LinkStation

Fast, Neat, Average

By Jim, on May 23rd, 2007%

It’s frightening sometimes what the brain retains.

One of the many make-work jobs a fourth class cadet at the Air Force Academy has to endure is filling out the Form O-96 (that’s “Form oh dash nine six”) at the end of every meal in Mitchell Hall. Ostensibly, the form is there so . . . → Read More: Fast, Neat, Average

Documentation Headaches

By Jim, on May 21st, 2007%

You’d think that published documentation would be checked for correctness.

I’m just getting started writing the code that parses files that use Microsoft’s Advanced Systems Format (ASF), and I ran across a rather confusing bit of documentation.

The Header Extension Object contains 46 bytes of header information and then a variable-length byte array of additional . . . → Read More: Documentation Headaches

What kind of music is that?

By Jim, on May 18th, 2007%

My long-term work project involves reading music and video files to extract what is called “metadata”–text information that is embedded in the file. A .MP3 music file, for example, often has a lot of information in it: the song title, artist’s name, publisher, musician credits, and even lyrics. One of the metadata tagging standards includes . . . → Read More: What kind of music is that?

Paranoid License Agreements

By Jim, on May 15th, 2007%

Part of my project involves extracting metadata from media files. .MP3 music files, for example, often contain the song title, album, artists, and other information (including lyrics, sometimes). Not all media formats allow for metadata, but the major ones do, including Microsoft’s Advanced Systems Format (ASF) that is used by the .WMA and .WMV (Windows . . . → Read More: Paranoid License Agreements

Norton AntiVirus

By Jim, on May 9th, 2007%

I’d never used anti-virus software on my personal computer until I bought this notebook two years ago. I’d never had trouble with worms, viruses, trojans, or other malware, but people I trust and respect convinced me that I was just lucky–that things could get through my Linksys firewall, Windows firewall, and infect my machine. So . . . → Read More: Norton AntiVirus

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