I recently saw this picture on Facebook – amazing 3D printing results from the Creality Ender 3 using the Ultimaker Cura slicer with the “Creawesome Mod”:

This photo shows a “regular” Cura 4.0 print on the left and a Creawesome one on the right. Image courtesy of Thirl Thompson from the Creality Ender-3 3d printer user group on Facebook. Awesome indeed. Naturally I’d like to see the same results from my prints, but there were no Linux instructions yet, so I set out to figure out how to do this.Continue reading

With all new Apple i-devices moving to the lightning connector, I’ve found my alarm clock with it’s 30-pin dock connector has reverted to it’s 20th century radio-only state of use. I suppose I could use an adapter, but it seems like a great way to break something (by adding a longer lever).

Then I remembered I have a 6th generation iPod nano sitting in a drawer. You know, the one that looks like this:

Image courtesy PC Mag

But with older iPods that exist outside of the “App” and jailbreak realm, there a beast to contend with: iTunes. Continue reading

I was given a Raspberry Pi for my birthday last week, and I’ve already got it up and running, doing what I intended it to do: be an audio sink for iPhone and my laptop – which has terrible speakers.

I knew it would be a PulseAudio sink for my laptop. There’s also neat piece of software called shairport that will act as an AirPlay sink – and people are using it on Raspberry Pi’s.

By default, the common Linux Distribution “Raspbian” for this tiny computer uses ALSA for sound. This is fine for basic stuff, but I was reminded that when two things ever try to play sound at the same time, contention issues arise. It reminded me of a earlier day in Linux history, before the advent of PulseAudio and the magic it imparts.
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tl;dr? Like the Boy Scouts: Be Prepared

be_preparedThe Nerdery’s Overnight Website Challenge is coming up again. I will be participating for my 5th year. I’ve had some good years and some bad. I’ve used software that I love and software that I’ve hated. I’ve been on teams that were finalists, one that won the event, and others that weren’t close to the podium but had a great time.

By now, I think most of the webchallenge web pros are seasoned veterans, but none-the-less I’d like to share some of my pro tips – if only for self-documentation. You should first take care of yourself before, during, and after the event. But when it comes to your team, the short story is: Be Prepared. The long story? Do as much as you can ahead of time, not the day of the event.

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The last time I marched drum corps if I wanted to call someone, I had to wait in line for a payphone. Payphone?!? What’s that? And remember calling cards? They were all just part of the 90’s. Back then I tried to modernize my Drum Corps experience by bringing a laptop on tour, sending emails through a modem (wha?!?).

So I thought I should try to enhance my current drum corps experience with some newfangled geekery.
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