[the] Code Girl (aka UnrulyGrrl)

using the mplayer plugin for netscape/mozilla you can view streaming Micro$oft media that is embedded in a webpage

Also works from the command line, but you will need to know the path to the stream. This not too hard to find:

1. View the source of the page with the embedded stream and look for something like this:

   <param name="FileName" value="webcam3.asx">

2. Pull up the .asx file in your web browser; it will be in XML.
3. Look for an ything starting with “mms://”, and you’ve found your feed url
4. run

   mplayer <feed url>

For Mac OSX users, there is a port of mplayer available, just for you!

One more thing I can cross of the list of stuff I thought I could only do with M$ WIndoze

Gentoo linux has just released a new version, “2005.0″. Check it out

Well that was WAY easier than I thought. Coming to you live from my laptop, over 802.11g with WPA-PSK for the encryption scheme. Now I get a new encryption key every time, auto-negotiated with the AP. It’s all seamless to me.

To get it working:

1. Emerged ‘wpa_supplicant‘ (already in Gentoo portage tree)
2. Added a passphrase to my AP
3. Configured

   /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

   like so:

   network={
        ssid=<my ESSID goes here>
        psk=<my passphrase goes here>
        priority=1
   }
   

   All other settings were left at the default

   To make sure the system would use it when I insert my DWLG650, I created

   /etc/init.d/net.ath0

   with the following contents:

   #!/bin/bash
   wpa_supplicant -B -K -t -Dmadwifi -iath0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
   sleep 3
   dhcpcd -d ath0
   

I give the system 3-4 seconds to associate with the AP and negotiate the encryption keys before I attempt to request an IP address (hence the ’sleep 3′).

This isn’t the best solution, WPA with a RADIUS server would be, but it will do for now. At least I feel a little better about keeping out my nosy neighbors. At last count, I could see 8 other access points from my laptop. So far I’m the only one who is using a form of WPA.

Edit:

Ok, scratch this. I just noticed that my speed is stuck at 5MBps. I want my 54MBps back. :-/ I don’t feel like troubleshooting. Going back to WEP. Hopefully the problem is just the version of the madwifi I’m using

I have a decent sized setup of X10 devices around the house. It all started with the desire to have the light out front on when I got home from work. I had experience with X10 already, as my dad had used it for years to turn lights on and off at dusk and dawn, and to control the xmas lights around the house (old style Radio shack modules).

I changed out the wall switch with this. That was about it. I used HeyU to upload a macro to the CM11A with instructions to turn the light on at dawn and off at ‘bedtime’. As of right now I have 2 wall switch modules, three lamp modules, 2 appliance modules, a wireless wall switch and a few motion sensors.

I have lights on the outside and the inside of the house turn on at dusk/off at dawn [ determined by heyU, based on my lat/long]. When I really should be getting to bed, one of the living room lights turns off and the other dims down to give me just enough light to see so that I wont trip over something. That’s my cue. I ignore it half the time and use a little web interface [to heyu] that I wrote to brighten the light enough so I can still see the keyboard on my laptop :-D

I also have an XCam2, with a receiver that is connected to a linux server. I’m thinking of setting this up so that the front motion sensor being triggered will make the server turn on the xcam and record until motion is no longer sensed.

After having my laptop for a week or two, I decided I really should be taking advantage of the 54Mbps potential of the internal wireless. I got a Linksys WRT54G off eBay because I also thought I could use it for this.

I had one heck of a time getting it to work with my integrated wireless in my laptop. Primarily I had issues with the signal level dropping continually. My laptop just refused to associate with the AP most of the time. I made the mistake of choosing the Linksys based solely on its use of Linux. Once I started reading reviews of it, they were almost all negative, mentioning mostly the terrible signal level. Further research turned up the DLink DI624

I’ve had only good luck with DLink products, so I felt good about buying that one. Picked up one from the local Best Buy. It was ridiculously easy to configure, and it was featureful enough that I used it to totally replace my firewall. 5 hours i messed with trying to get the damn Intel 2200 to connect to it, but it just wouldnt. A few days later I popped into Best Buy again and got the DLink DWLG650, so I could see if the problem with the laptop really was the internal wireless.

I chose the DWLG650 because it uses the Atheros chipset, which I found to be one of the best supported 802.11g chipsets under linux. Oddly enough the driver is called “madwifi”. I ‘emerged’ it with Gentoo, and I haven’t looked back since. I loaded the driver, it associated with my AP, got an IP via DHCP and off I went. The speed seems to fluctuate from 54 to 24 to 36 and back. Mostly it stays at 54 though. I really, really, really wish Dell had chosen an Atheros chipset. Since they didn’t, I have given up my 1 and only pcmcia slot. Oh well, I have wireless that works, and that is all
that really matters.

I got a nice bonus for last year and decided I needed a
new laptop. Wish I had remembered that the amount
was *pre*tax. I spent it all on a refurb Dell Latitude
D600 1.6Ghz CeleronM, 32mb ATI Radeon 9000,
integrated 10/100/1000 ethernet, 802.11g, 14″ SXGA
(max res 1400×1050 — XGA does only 1024×768), two
USB 2.0 slots, svideo out, combo CDRW/DVD-ROM
and winmodem.

I think I’vefound linux drivers for nearly everything.
The integrated wireless (Intel 2200bg) doesnt work
well at 54Mbs under Linux. Got tired of fussing with it,
so I bought a DLink DWLG650 and its been rock solid.
The display is very, very nice. Glad I went with the
separate video with its own ram; most laptops
nowadays use ’shared’ memory and steal ram for its
own use.

Finally! I don’t have to mess with the timestamps on the search plugin files to get them to display in the order I want. I found
some config variables that do it:

browser.search.order.#

where ‘#’ is the order number. “1″ should already be set to “Google”. You can add as many new variables as you like (rt mouse button –> New –>String).

Edit your config variables easily with

about:config

NOTE: You must restart Firefox for the change to take effect