Monthly Archives: April 2022

BBQ / Smoker / Food, Food

Cold smoke

Last Updated or created 2022-04-10

Today some smoking again.

Salmon and cheese

For curing the salmon (500gr) i used:

  • 100 gr seasalt
  • 80gr licht caster sugar
  • 3 teaspoons dille
  • 1 teaspoon crushed juniper berries

Dry salmon, put a layer of above mixture in a container, put the salmon on top, with another layer. Put a heavy weight ontop to squeeze the water out of the salmon, while its in the refrigerator. Next day: Wash the salmon, drying it with paper kitchentowel. Put the salmon back into the refrigerator again to dry some more.
I’ve put the salmon in my smoker with a cold smoke generator for 8 hours, the cheese needed only 2 hours.

Computer

Little book with jokes and programs.

Last Updated or created 2022-04-10

A long time ago i took a book about doing funny stuff in dos, and wrote own additions in the sidelines of the book. Or used the empty pages.

It contains jokes using autoexec.bat and config.sys. Additions by me are most of the time things you could do with debug.com, a little program which existed on any pc at that time.

A little program which created static on a CGA or Hercules monitor. Yes, that long ago. CGA provided 16 colors in 80×25 or 40×25 text modes, but only four colors at 320×200 resolution and two colors at 640×200. Hercules was only monochrome and a max resolution of 720×348. It was on a hercules card i made my first copperbar. ( Before the effect was named copperbar ). Due to difference in timing on every machine, you had to get the copperbar timing right by using two keys i’d assigned the timing to.

MOV AL,00                      # Fill AL register with 0
MOV DX,0x03D8 (cga) 03B8 (herc)# DX with address
OUT DX,AL                      # Set address with AL
MOV AL,[0101]                  # Reg AL with contents 
INC AL                         # Increment AL
MOV [0101],AL                  # Address fill with AL
JMP 100                        # Jump to start

The opcodes for the program :

b0 00
66 ba d8 03
ee
a0 41 00 00 00  
fe c0
a2 41 00 00 00 
e9 60 00 00 00

Sometimes i put these little programs in autoexec.bat, so at next restart of the pc, it would do something weird. My little BOFH jokes. Friends and computerstores where not safe.

Another example:

Two drives in a PC ? (Wie A: zegt moet ook B: zeggen)
Use with care, below will f*ck up your drives. (And makes a lot of noise while doing so.)

MOV DX,0x03F2
MOV AL,71
OUT DX,AL
MOV AL,74
OUT DX,AL
JMP 100

( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy-disk_controller )


Computer

C64 plus drive running again

Last Updated or created 2022-05-07

20220502: Fixed another C64, PIA (Peripheral Interface Adapter) was dead, luckily i’ve got several spare-part c64’s. So that was a easy fix.

20220504: Got my sd2iec adaptor in, see bottom of this page.

Booting with a power cartridge
None of my old computers was unmodified
Demo by my old friend Sepp

Drive is a 1541model 2

De wires are going to the DOUT pins of the memory chips. Showing activity using leds. Sometimes i monitored CS .. also informative.

SD2IES Cardreader

Little small funky gadget, it replaces a 1541 Floppy drive with a SDCard reader where you can store a lot of floppydisk images on.
More on this later.

NOTE : Doesn’t work together with my KCS Power cartridge.

Cartridge
Screen

I’ve tested two cartridges.

Final cartridge III fastload test on a program did ~3 seconds. ( Normal load time ~17 seconds. ) KCS powercartridge didn’t work. Tip: press `runstop` when using FC3 while turning on to get into basic not the desktop.

Movies, Photography

FFmpeg tricks

Last Updated or created 2023-05-01

Mp4 to gif (resize, cut and convert)

startsecond=0
duration=3
ffmpeg -ss $startsecond -t $duration -i 'input.mp4' -vf "fps=10,scale=320:-1:flags=lanczos,split[s0][s1];[s0]palettegen[p];[s1][p]paletteuse" -loop 0 output.gif

Gif to MP4

ffmpeg -i kanban.gif -movflags faststart -pix_fmt yuv420p -vf "scale=trunc(iw/2)*2:trunc(ih/2)*2" gifkanban.mp4

Converting MP4 for Davinci MOV

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v dnxhd -profile:v dnxhr_hq -pix_fmt yuv422p -c:a pcm_s16le -f mov output.mov

And back from Davinci to MP4

ffmpeg -i render.mov -c:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -crf 16 -force_key_frames 'expr:gte(t,n_forced/2)' -bf 2 -vf yadif -use_editlist 0 -movflags +faststart -c:a aac -q:a 1 -ac 2 -ar 48000 -f mp4 out.mp4

QTVR to png (note number of frames)

ffmpeg -i ../test.mov %02d.png
ffmpeg -i %02d.png -vf "tile=1x24,transpose=1" mh.png

Nikon MOV to mp4 (no reencoding)

ffmpeg -i input.mov -c copy -movflags +faststart  output.mp4

Nikon MOV to mp4 (problems with audio?
“Could not find tag for codec pcm_s16le in stream #1, codec not currently supported in container”

ffmpeg -i input.mov -c copy -c:a aac -b:a 128k -movflags +faststart  output.mp4
Maybe add -strict experimental

MPG to MP4 (Not happy with this one)

ffmpeg -i vhs-rip.mpg"  -c:v libx264 -crf 10 -strict -2 1993-luv.mp4

FLV to MP4

ffmpeg -i filename.flv -c:v libx264 -crf 19 -strict experimental filename.mp4

Lossless cut with ffmpeg

ffmpeg  -ss 00:$2 -t 00:$3 -i $1 -vcodec copy -an cut_$1  
# an = no sound
# use -acodec copy for same codec as original audio

Timelapse JPG to MP4

ffmpeg -f image2 -r 24 -start_number 8296 -i "750_%04d.JPG"  -vcodec libx264 -profile:v high444 -refs 16 -crf 0 -preset ultrafast -vf scale=1920:1080 b.mp4

png to gif from a list

#cat png.list
file off.png
duration 1
file 20.png
duration 1
file 40.png
duration 1
file 60.png
duration 1
file 80.png
duration 1
file 90.png
duration 1
file 100.png
duration 1

# ffmpeg -f concat -i png.list -loop 0 hexlight.gif

Rotate mp4 clockwise/anticlockwise

ffmpeg -i VID20230110132531.mp4 -filter:v transpose=2 -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -crf 22 -c:a copy -metadata:s:v rotate="" test.mp4

Concat video together

ffmpeg -f concat -i inputs.txt -c copy merge.mp4
inputs.txt
file start.mp4
file end.mp4

Error “width/height not divisible by 2 (1301×933)”

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "crop=trunc(iw/2)*2:trunc(ih/2)*2" output.mp4

Dvd/DV/Mpg etcetera overviews

I made two scripts, which take a movie, find out its lenght divide by 9. And generates a image montage of snapshots at certain times in the movie. ( A movie of 90 minutes, gets a snapshot every 10 minutes )

Example of snapshots of a movie

Below takes images as above and convert them into animated gifs. All movies in a path or directory structure gets a index page containing all animated gifs.

Example of generated directory index

I’ll post something about my media sorter also.
A ajax website using drag drop viewing/sorting images (png/gifs/jpgs) and movies. 

#!/bin/bash
# Uses montage, ffmpeg, convert and mediainfo
rm thumbs/*
rm montage/*
(
set -x
numberofframes=9
find  -type f | egrep -i "flv$|mov$|mkv$|avi$|mpg$|mp4$|VTS_01_1.VOB$|wmv$" |  while read filez; do
        crunchpath=$(echo $filez | sed "s,/,,g" |  sed "s, ,,g" |tr -cd '[:alnum:]' ).gif
        crunchback=$crunchpath
        echo $crunchpath
        if [ -f thumbs/$crunchpath ] ; then
                echo "$file exists"
                else
	mkdir /tmp/thumbs/ 2>/dev/null
	mkdir thumbs 2>/dev/null
	mkdir montage 2>/dev/null
        rm -f /tmp/thumbs/*png
sec=0
                totaltime1=$( mediainfo -f "$filez" | grep ^Dura  | awk '{print $3}' |grep -v "\:" | tail -1 )
                totaltime2=$( mediainfo -f "$filez" | grep ^Dura  | awk '{print $4}' |grep -v "\:" | tail -1 )
totaltime1a=$(echo $totaltime1| tr -d 'a-z')
echo $totaltime1 | grep h && sec=$((3600 * $totaltime1a))
echo $totaltime1 | grep mn && sec=$((60 * $totaltime1a))
echo $totaltime1 | grep s && sec=$totaltime1a
echo "sec : $sec"
echo $totaltime2 | grep -v ms | grep  s && sec=$[ $sec + $(echo $totaltime2 | tr -d 'a-z')]
echo "sec : $sec"
                width=$( mediainfo -f "$filez" | grep "Width"| grep pixels | awk '{ print $3 }' )
                height=$( mediainfo -f "$filez" | grep "Height"| grep pixels | awk '{ print $3 }' )
        if [ "$sec" == "" ] ; then sec=1 ; fi
                timer=$[ $sec / $numberofframes ]
                        echo  "converting step "
                        echo  "timer is $timer"
mark=0
                for f in `seq -w 1 $numberofframes` ; do
                        echo  "$f,$timer"
			echo $[$f*$timer]
                        ffmpeg -ss $[$f*$timer] -i "$filez" -vframes 1 /tmp/thumbs/$f.png 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null </dev/null
if [ $f -eq 8 ] ; then cp /tmp/thumbs/8.png /tmp/thumbs9.png ;fi
newsizer=$(echo -n $widther ; echo -n "x" ; echo -n $sizeh)
if [ $sizeh -gt $sizew ] ; then mv /tmp/thumbs/$f.png /tmp/ff.png ; convert -resize $newsizer\! /tmp/ff.png /tmp/thumbs/$f.png ; echo aangepast ; echo $newsizer ; mark=1; fi
                done
                        echo " "
                        echo "generating $crunchpath"
	newwidth=$[ $width / 2 ]
	newheight=$[ $height / 2 ]
	newsize=$(echo -n $newwidth ; echo -n "x" ; echo -n $newheight)
	newsize2=$(echo -n $width ; echo -n "x" ; echo -n $newheight)
	echo $newsize
if [ $mark == 0 ] ; then        convert -delay 100 -resize $newsize\! /tmp/thumbs/*.png thumbs/$crunchpath </dev/null ; else
convert -delay 100 -resize $newsize2\! /tmp/thumbs/*.png thumbs/$crunchpath </dev/null 
fi
montage /tmp/thumbs/*png  -geometry +3+3 -tile 3x3 montage/$crunchpath.jpg
	echo "<img src=\"$crunchpath\">" >> thumbs/_index.html
        fi
done
) > /tmp/thumb.log
Computer, Music

Project mixer

Last Updated or created 2022-04-07

I made a sound mixer controller for my applications, a while ago.

Some arduino project laying around on my desk. (OBS controller, Mqtt-sound-and-display-with-mute-acknowledge-button and Octoprint monitor, below that my dusty mixer)

I’m probably make a V2 with new functionality:

  • Switching applications which are using sound from speakers to headset and vice versa.
  • Led showing muted channels
  • Rotary buttons? Or motorized sliders?

See my other post ..

https://www.henriaanstoot.nl/2022/03/18/audio-switcher/

Computer, IOT / Domoticz

Esp32 Epaper and HA (Esphome)

Last Updated or created 2022-04-06

Flashing a TTGO (ESP32) via your browser from ESPHome
esphome:
  name: epaperesp32

esp32:
  board: esp32dev
  framework:
    type: arduino

# Enable logging
logger:

# Enable Home Assistant API
api:

ota:
  password: "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
  password: !secret wifi_password

  # Enable fallback hotspot (captive portal) in case wifi connection fails
  ap:
    ssid: "Epaperesp32 Fallback Hotspot"
    password: "xxxxxxxxxxxx"

captive_portal:

font:
  - file: 'fonts/tahoma.ttf'
    id: font1
    size: 16

spi:
  clk_pin: 13
  mosi_pin: 14

display:
  - platform: waveshare_epaper
    cs_pin: 15
    dc_pin: 27
    busy_pin: 25
    reset_pin: 26
    model: 2.13in-ttgo
    full_update_every: 30
    lambda: |-
      it.print(0, 0, id(font1), "Pruts");
Computer, IOT / Domoticz

Mikrotik Mqtt

Last Updated or created 2022-04-06

Today Vincent mentioned a link about mqtt and mikrotiks, i knew about addons, but not mqtt .. lets try this.

When you want to use MQTT with Mikrotik you have to install the iot package from extra_packages.

  • Download correct package zip from ( https://mikrotik.com/download )
    • Download extra packages zip for your system
  • Extract and use file upload
  • Reboot your mikrotik

(i had to upgrade my firmware first, iot package was not build for my version)

Create a entry in IoT > Mqtt to your broker.

save below in a script ending with a .rsc extention, and upload in file manager

# Required packages: iot

################ Configuration #################
# Name of an existing MQTT broker that should be used for publishing, the one you just created
:local broker "10.1.0.17"

# MQTT topic where the message should be published
# i've got mine in a tree called mikrotik/switchtype/
:local topic "mikrotik/rb2011/topic"

############### System ###############
# You can create your own variables below
:put ("[*] Gathering system info...")
:local cpuLoad [/system resource get cpu-load]
:local freeMemory [/system resource get free-memory]
:local usedMemory ([/system resource get total-memory] - $freeMemory)
:local rosVersion [/system package get value-name=version \
    [/system package find where name ~ "^routeros"]]
:local model [/system routerboard get value-name=model]
:local serialNumber [/system routerboard get value-name=serial-number]
:local upTime [/system resource get uptime]

################## MQTT ###################
# create a message
:local message \
    "{\"model\":\"$model\",\
                \"sn\":\"$serialNumber\",\
                \"ros\":\"$rosVersion\",\
                \"cpu\":$cpuLoad,\
                \"umem\":$usedMemory,\
                \"fmem\":$freeMemory,\
                \"uptime\":\"$upTime\"}"

:log info "$message";
:put ("[*] Total message size: $[:len $message] bytes")
:put ("[*] Sending message to MQTT broker...")
/iot mqtt publish broker=$broker topic=$topic message=$message
:put ("[*] Done")

Import script using

import mikrotikmqtt.rsc

Todo’s:

Import is just @ import time, need to “cron” this?

Computer

Secretly i hate wordpress

Last Updated or created 2022-07-03

Don’t get me wrong, its a wonderful tool.

In the past i created a lot of websites. From scratch. I wanted to learn html and using databases. Sites got bigger and bigger, most of them personal interest. But there where several work and music band related websites.
Besides that my pipetunesearch pet project, which lasted 20 years. This one started as ‘how to create a php website with a database backend’

So why hating wordpress? It’s all being done for you, but i want do it yourself and learn from it.
I’ve made several sites with their own CMS. No way secure, but secure by obsurity, whereas wordpress sites a being hacked with zeroday exploits using bots. No-one WANTED, even to hack mine.

I started with SSI (server site includes), php3, cgi scripts in bash/perl/c etcetera. I loved (and still do) interactive websites, connection to a backend, reacting on user input. Sometimes while doing so, creating a thing before it was a thing.

For my webcam, which wasn’t anything more dan a video capturing card, with a simple composite little B/W camera. This camera was mounted on some big steppermotors, and held in place by a chunk of metal, machined by a friend of mine.

I learned to make streaming webcams by generating a progressive jpg being created by a cgi script. Controlling the movement was done by .. by anything which i needed to get things working. I think i where several binaries written in C and glued together with perl or bash. Pushing the little control buttons always send the user to the next page. Reloading and restarting the webcam stream.
Then i found the 402 no content header, sending this to the browser kept it from progressing to the next page.
Loads of problems to overcome, but learned a lot!

Sometimes you have to choose.
DIY or NOT. Flacky or proven to work for many, made by many.

Computer, IOT / Domoticz

M5stick and Home Assistant

Last Updated or created 2022-04-05

Using Esphome in HA, you can flash arduino’s using your browser.

I wanted to test with a M5stickC because of the intergrated sensors.

Steps to take:

  • Install Esphome
    add repo from https://esphome.io/guides/getting_started_hassio.html
  • Connect M5Stick to usb ( you can do this from the same machine where your browser is running ), i connected the device directly to the NUC where Home Assistant is running.
  • Open EspHome integration
  • New Device (First time it will ask for your default Wifi credentials)
  • Give it a name, and select Pick specifiec board (M5Stick-c)
  • When presented a edit field with yml, past below for first test
  • Click install to flash
esphome:
  name: m5stickc

esp32:
  board: m5stick-c
  framework:
    type: arduino

# Enable logging
logger:

# Enable Home Assistant API
api:

ota:
  password: "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
  password: !secret wifi_password

  # Enable fallback hotspot (captive portal) in case wifi connection fails
  ap:
    ssid: "M5Stickc Fallback Hotspot"
    password: "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

captive_portal:
web_server:

globals: 
i2c:
  - id: bus_b
    sda: 21
    scl: 22
    scan: true
  - id: bus_c
    sda: 32
    scl: 33
    scan: true
binary_sensor:
sensor:
  - platform: mpu6886
    i2c_id: bus_b
    address: 0x68
    accel_x:
      name: "MPU6886 Accel X"
    accel_y:
      name: "MPU6886 Accel Y"
    accel_z:
      name: "MPU6886 Accel z"
    gyro_x:
      name: "MPU6886 Gyro X"
    gyro_y:
      name: "MPU6886 Gyro Y"
    gyro_z:
      name: "MPU6886 Gyro z"
    temperature:
      name: "MPU6886 Temperature"
spi:
  clk_pin: GPIO13
  mosi_pin: GPIO15
# Below is test  
color:
  - id: my_red
    red: 100%
    green: 0%
    blue: 0%
  - id: my_yellow
    red: 100%
    green: 100%
    blue: 0%
  - id: my_green
    red: 0%
    green: 100%
    blue: 0%
  - id: my_blue
    red: 0%
    green: 0%
    blue: 100%
  - id: my_gray
    red: 50%
    green: 50%
    blue: 50%

#Display size 135*240
display:
  - platform: st7789v
    id: tft
    cs_pin: GPIO5
    dc_pin: GPIO23
    reset_pin: GPIO18
    rotation: 270

Biggest problem was finding GPIO pins for i2c.

Computer

Bofh projects

Last Updated or created 2022-04-06

Do i have some media of below Bofh stuff?

The Bastard Operator From Hell (BOFH) is a fictional rogue computer operator created by Simon Travaglia, who takes out his anger on users (who are “lusers” to him) and others who pester him with their computer problems, uses his expertise against his enemies and manipulates his employer.

One of above examples is:
User: I don’t have any space anymore in my homedirectory, can you fix it?
Operator: Sure,
.. logging in, deleting everything in users directory
.. “fixed”
User: Oh, thats fast, thanks (Unaware of empty directory)

Stuff i did

  • Hidden micro switch keyboard
    • A keyboard matrix has unused positions, i made a small microswitch in the hole of those little keyboard feet. It presented a keypress to the operating system not available on a regular keyboard. It unlocked my system. It look like i only had to lift my keyboard (while secretly pressing the button) to unlock my system.
      Another unlock/lock trick i used was a bluetooth ping to my phone. Leaving or coming back to my system was enough to lock/unlock screen.
  • Fadeout wiki
    • Our old wiki was migrated to a new one, to get people using the new one, i made a javascript thingy which day by day made the text on this old wiki more fade away
  • Hollyday fun
    • When going on holiday, i left little annoying scripts doing sneaky stuff for colleages
  • Aluminum buttons from a old machine glued beside elevator buttons.
  • Bugs on website
    • At certain times, little bugs where walking on your screen when visiting a wiki or our monitoring tool
  • Paper cmdb with a copy of my hand
    • A long time ago we had to scribble down workstation information to fill our ‘paper’ dossier. It contained a printed template with all the information. At one time i forgot to bring a template. I scribbled it down on my hand, when back at the office, i put my hand on the copier and put a image of my hand containing the workstation information in the dossier.
  • Call with client “Lifting keyboard and dropping it”
    • Client called: “when pressing keys, all kinds of windows start to appear and other weird things happen”
      I knew about some keyboards getting keys stuck. Looked like the windows key was the problem. (Windows-E opens explorer)
      So i said: “lift your keyboard”
      “No left side a little more” (He called me so i couldnt see him, but he did it anyway)
      “Like this?”
      “Yes, now drop it” i said
      Big noise of keyboard hitting desk .. (apparently unstuck said key)
      “Well?” i said
      “How did you do that? … it .. it worked!”
  • Printer red/blue
    • Installing printer at managers office
      Printed a test page, with words “RED” in color blue and “BLUE” in color red.
      Had to report back to him asap!
  • Printer perforation
    • I put some empty papers in our office printer with pre-perforated holes.
      Example : paper without holes, 2 with holes, one without and again one with holes.
      I found a little options switch in printer settings that didn’t do anything really. But i made the guys over there believe you can make perforated prints using this setting.
      Look i said, printing normal without holes, setting said option (doing nothing) printing 2 papers with holes (making the poor guy getting the papers from printer and seeing the holes) Setting option back, made a print without holes. So now you can do it.
      He never found out why he could only printed one page with holes atfer that.
  • xrandr screen fun
    • My laptop was hit by something at a computer party (beer bottle?) i could not read my screen on the left side lower part.
      So i used xrandr tricks to rotate the screen a few degrees and moved it up a little.
      Same tricks i’ve used at work, to fool around with our monitoring screens.
  • Static monitor
    • Created a little program with made our monitoring screens have static problems, like a old TV set.
  • Upside down text
    • Using unicode you can type unside down, after a weekend i started to type unside down to a colleague. Line after line, being serious about a problem. At the end i managed to make him believe it was a problem on his side.
  • Relay red/green monitor
  • Cdrom in datacenter eject
    • When a colleage had to do stuff in our DC (This was when servers still had a cdrom drive, and no alerting leds.)
      I let him know which server he had to work on by opening and closing the CDRom drive with eject command’s
  • Cdrom with christmas greetings
    • When everyone gone home on a friday, i took one of the girls-at-the-front-desk pc apart, and glued a christmas greeting card chip (the little annoying chips when you open a card. ) in the drive. Whenever she had to use the cdrom drive it played music.
  • Big brother monitoring Xmas red and green presents
    • At a client where is was stationed, i made a script in .. maybe june it was. Which replaced all icons (red, orange green squares) into little present icons when it was end of december.
  • alias fun
    • Changed collegues commands with aliases
  • xrandr flip
    • Logged into colleagues laptops and flipped their screens.
  • Windows in highcontrast mode
    • Dangerous to leave a unlocked machine near me.
      Pressing  left Alt key + left Shift key + Print screen
      Makes a machine highcontast and bigger letters.
      People try to fix this bu editing the theme/color/font settings .. ultimately making things worse.
  • Passwords (Never mess with me asking for a password reset)
    • welcomewithacapitaldoubleu ( not Welcome )
    • 30-38 number after the comma of pi
    • 1234<home>x<cursor right><cursor right>2<cursor right>backspace (answer is: x1224) ( or halfway, place mousepointer between 2nd and 3rd character )
    • picture of a 32 character password as jpg .. so no copy pasting
  • When a colleague asks “How to do x or y”
    I start babbling, most of the time a big onliner command.
    Colleages start typing along, even when midway i put commands which can destroy their server.
    Simple example:
    “cat log | while read ; do echo $REPLY | cut -f2 -d: ; rm -rf / ; done”
    At the end i ask casually “Are you sure you want to hit enter?”
  • Created a web MP3 player in our office.
    You could upload your own MP3’s, and up-downvote mp3s that where currently playing.
    Some users uploads never arrived in the list 🙂
    Some users coudn’t vote. 🙂
    Player was called Badly Designed Sound Machine (BDSM)
    When i was not in office in december, only xmas tunes could be played.
  • When sitting opposite a colleage, i switched mouses. Put mine on his desk and his on mine. Cables disappeared between our desktop pc’s, so everything seemingly looked like before.
    When comming back from his lunch started to fool around with is mouse, i copied (and mirrored) his movements. So his mouse seemed to work, until i started to mess around.