JDPFu.com 2025

This article is just for me to recall how to print envelopes.

Using LibreOffice, use the Insert —> Envelope menu.

• Addressee is the TO field.
• Set the paper to landscape.
• look at the print preview – move the location box as needed.
• Use the front feed for the Samsung printer.
• Insert the envelope with the print-side up with the normal fold opening from the center and down to the left of the printer. You will read the envelope from the right-hand side of the printer looking left.

If this helps someone else, I’d be shocked. OTOH, I don’t use paper envelopes very often, so having this written down somewhere means fewer throw way envelopes due to failed printing attempts.

Bare with me here. This is a great technique. I think you’ll thank me later after doing what this article suggests.

Homes and businesses today have lots of network devices. Using DHCP is the easiest way to get those on the network, but if you ever want those different devices to talk to each other, perhaps to transfer a file or to have a central backup server, then now your are running a network. Running a network means you probably want to know which devices are on your network or maybe that is just me. Perhaps you want each device to locate each other device too? Static IPs are possible under DHCP, sometimes called DHCP Reservations or Static Leases.

Make it easy for everyone in the house by using your router to force static IPs for the devices when they are at home, but still can connect to DHCP networks easily when roaming. This is really good for portable WiFi devices like laptops, smartphones, and for home entertainment devices that easily support DHCP.

Linux/Ubuntu (maybe others) – ssh key-based authentication made easier.

You know that you shouldn’t be using passwords to remotely connect to a different machine, but setting up key-based authentication has always been just a little too much hassle to bother. It really is simple, but there’s a tool to make it even easier. ssh-copy-id is included with Ubuntu-based distros (and probably others) to push the public key from your desktop to a server and append that public key to the end of the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file.

Yesterday, I was told that there was some issue with email here. Messages were bouncing. After a little research, it was determined that the ISP had decided to filter port 25 inbound AND outbound. That began around 1:50am on Wednesday morning. I know this because there are logs. Why did they change this after 12 years? I’ll never know.

About a month ago, an editor at a large blog website followed one of my links in a comment there back here and offered to republish the story. I was already seeing increased traffic from that link on their site – like 10x more than my normal daily traffic – and it scared me. I don’t have the bandwidth to handle that sort of traffic and my Ruby on Rails blog software … er … pretty much sucks from a scalability perspective. What did I do?

I hope you will indulge me and allow a non-technology post.

Recently I found myself with a bottle of Coconut Rum and didn’t know what to do with it. I like rum and I love coconut, so this was a good problem to have. Google to the rescue, but as much as I enjoy rum AND coconut, nothing tasted as good as a Piña Colada using the standard mix in a bottle from my local grocery. That seemed sad to me, so after trying a few recipes like

• Coconut Cola (great if you like coconut and rum and cokes)
• Coconut Orange (a little too tangy for me)
• Goombay Smash
• Rummple
• Deep-7
• A Day At The Beach
• The Bianca Pop (good to get an evening started)
  You can find more coconut rum drinks.
  I decided to try to smooth some of the bite a few of those drinks had by mixing things I liked, while not getting too complex. I call it TheFu:

TheFu Recipe

Use a Highball Glass

1. 3 oz orange juice
2. 3 oz pineapple juice
3. 1 1/2 oz coconut rum
   Fill glass with 50% crushed ice, add rum, then add both juices and stir.

Nothing too complex, but the OJ and Pineapple really complement the coconut rum. Without both juices, there’s just a little too much bite for me. I tried drinks with just 1 or the other. It was a tough day of experimentation. ;) Sure, there are other drinks that can be made with a few other ingredients, but I was
a) thirsty
b) without those other ingredients.

The Piña Colada is still very tasty, but who wants a 350 calorie drink all the time when a 200 calorie drink that is pretty easy to make, without any mess, no blender to clean up, is just slightly less tasty? I still like the coconut rum and coke just as much, but as long as there’s OJ and pineapple juice in da house, this new drink will be it.

Perhaps I need to pick up some grenadine?

7/3/11 Update: Seems there’s a very similar recipe to TheFu called Jack-is-Back

• 2 oz Coconut Rum
• 2 oz Pineapple juice
• 2 oz Orange juice

similar, but not quite.

Today I was notified by my DNS provider that someone had requested the password be reset. They sent the reset link in the email on file and told me the IP address of the requester – in this case it was from Taipei, Taiwan 112. Good thing the DNS guys have a correct email address for me, huh? I suspect they hacked the ISP email address which I haven’t used in about … 10 years. Sometimes you get lucky. DNS – Domain Name Service is the telephone book of the internet. Learn more about DNS from Wikipedia.

• I won’t be resetting that password anytime soon. It is fairly long and random.
• I will be blocking all access to this blog from that ISP, however.

Subnet Blocked

Enough said?

Almost everyone likes Facebook and Twitter. We reconnect with our friends, they connect with us. People we don’t even know want to know us – that’s pretty cool, until it isn’t.

This will be old news for some folks. Keep reading … Here’s a story about someone named Wigginbottom who tweeted just a few too many details.

Below is the email that we just received concerning the long promised Silicon Dust HD HomeRun Prime Networked QAM cable recorder with CableCARD decryption. It supports Multistream-CableCARDs (m-cards).

It appears this device will only with with Windows7 Media Center due to DRM requirements for CableCARD compatibility. That could be an issue for many Linux users.

HDHomeRun® PRIME™ News…

You signed up to receive HDHomeRun PRIME news on our website and thought we had forgotten about you? Not at all…
Today’s big news – the HDHomeRun PRIME just became available for pre-order!

HDHomeRun PRIME:

• Premium digital cable TV for your PCs
• Triple tuner – watch/record three channels at once from one or multiple computers
• CableCARD – all the digital cable channels you subscribe to, including HD and premium channels in 100% digital quality
• Windows 7 Windows Media Center – full featured DVR
• XBOX 360 – extend Windows 7 Windows Media Center to your big screen through your XBOX 360
• More information: HDHomeRun PRIME and HDHR3-CC
• Pre-ordering through NewEgg: HDHomeRun PRIME

HDHomeRun PRIME 6CC:

• Home-theater form factor – add 6 premium cable TV tuners to your home theater system
• More information: HDHomeRun PRIME and HDHR3-6CC
• Pre-ordering for the 6CC will be online in the coming week

Pre-ordering notes:
Orders will be fulfilled by NewEgg in the order in which they are received for each model. Your credit card will not be charged until near the ship date.
Both models are expected to begin shipping in volume in July, with the 6-tuner model expected to ship a little ahead of the 3-tuner model.

Ted H – CEO
Silicondust Inc. USA

Questions

There are a few questions that this email doesn’t answer:

1. Will the CableCARD decryption work with MythTV, GB-PVR, BeyondTV, SnapStream and other non-MS-Windows Media Center solutions?
2. Linux systems supported?
3. Can recordings be archived for playback by non-DRM devices?

Network Upgrade May Be Needed

The tuner does have GigE networking (1000 base-tx), which is needed to stream 3 full HD programs. If you get this device, you’ll need a GigE switch and may need a GigE router to avoid dropped packets on your network. The good news is that GigE switches are $20 and work just fine. Many WiFi routers that support 802.11n include GigE switches, but you’ll want to check yours, since 50% are still only 100base-t. Older wifi routers with 802.11g are are almost always 100base-t. If you don’t know networking, just get a GigE router and it will be easier. No switch needed.

Pricing

3 Tuner Model

I just looked at Newegg and the HDHR3-CC (3 tuner model) is $250 + $7 shipping. It also lists only Windows7 as the supported OS. No others.

6 Tuner Model

NewEgg doesn’t have a page for the 6-tuner model mentioned in the email above.