Google Chrome Administration Cheat Sheet

 Pseudorandomosity  No Responses »
May 152012
 

Managing Google Chrome is a lot easier than Mozilla Firefox was! There are quite a few tools and they’re well documented! This is my cheat sheet. It’s based around windows xp and windows 7 since that’s what I mainly support at work.

Manual installation for all users
Chrome Offline Installer – Alternate Installer for all user accounts – .exe file
http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=126299

Install Chrome for all user accounts – Install Instructions
https://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=118663

“After you’ve installed Chrome through alternate installer, users who’ve already installed Chrome in their user accounts will be notified that the browser has updated to a system-wide version the next time they sign in and open the browser. In some cases, they may need to recreate their profile information, such as bookmarks and browsing history, if they were formerly using a more recent version of the browser.”

Silent installation for all users
Chrome Offline Installer – MSI package for all user accounts – .msi file
http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/business/browser/

Just install the MSI
msiexec /q /i “\\server\path\to\GoogleChromeStandaloneEnterprise.msi”

Issues / Gotchas
Unfortunately, nothing is perfect. I had chrome installed under my user before. When I launched chrome after installing the all user version, it removed the install under my user. It did not show a window and would not open when I clicked chrome again. Killing the processes or rebooting fixes it.

Management Templates
Even more fun! Templates for managing chrome settings!

Group Policy Templates
http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&topic=1064255&answer=187202

Available Policy List
http://www.chromium.org/administrators/policy-list-3

Automatic Silent Updates

Of course one of the reasons to love Google Chrome is security! Automatic updates for all user administrative installation doesn’t require user privilege escalation!

Installation / Automatic Update Information
http://dev.chromium.org/administrators/common-problems-and-solutions

A little more detail in how the silent updates work
http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=73176

Arduino Robotic Directional Wifi Scanning

 Pseudorandomosity  No Responses »
May 132012
 

20120513-235231.jpg

I wanted to be able to locate wifi signals, so I built a directional antenna and strapped it onto my panorama robot. The waveguide style antenna built from a used can (explains the name cantenna) looked to be the easiest to build. I bought a pigtail with an N male connector to RP-SMA male connector.  I plugged this into my Alfa Network AWUS036NH. I then fired up inSSIDer and used PuTTY to control the Arduino sketch and aim the antenna.

The signal strength was not what I expected to see at all. I assumed this antenna was directional and would be strongest when I pointed it directly at the AP. It was strongest pointing at about a 45 degree angle to the left of the access point. I’m a complete n00b when it comes to RF, so any feedback on why I’m not seeing what i expected for results would be greatly appreciated.

Advertisement:

Note: Will update post if/when I have an answer.

Update:

I am a complete n00b when it comes to build antennas. I goobered another can on there and it works a lot better. I have to give a great thanks to several redditors for pointing me in the right direction. I’m always impressed with how helpful people are. http://www.reddit.com/r/electronics/comments/tmtbi/attempting_wifi_direction_finding_with_a_cantenna/ Even better, I’ve got some reading to do now.

I’ve included links I found useful or interesting and more pictures.

Continue reading »

Windows 7 HP LaserJet 4000 TCP/IP Printing Driver

 Pseudorandomosity  No Responses »
May 112012
 

Sometimes you have to support older devices. Sometimes doing so is painful with newer equipment. My latest problem was with Windows 7 32 bit and a HP LaserJet 4000TN. I was trying to set up a TCP/IP connection, but Windows 7 did not have the drivers. If windows update works for you, press windows update and the driver will be in the list. This is clearly the easiest way to install it. Unfortunately for me, something wonky is keeping me from downloading the driver list from windows update, so I did it manually. This is also very helpful for an offline install of the printer.

Open IE and go to the microsoft windows update catalog. This is Internet Explorer 6 and later ONLY.
http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/

Search for the printer you want. In my case it was “HP LaserJet 4000″ without the quotes. Exactly what I want, at the top of the list!

Title - Microsoft driver update for HP LaserJet 4000 Series PCL 5
Products - Windows 7,Windows Driver Testing Client
Classification - Drivers (Printers)

I went through adding it to the basket, clicking view basket, and downloading. I found the folder “Microsoft driver update for HP LaserJet 4000 Series PCL 5″ with the file X86-all-4189_1228a7cf7b1aac21346b20cb6e21db409dde9e72.cab and extracted the cab file to a flash drive using my favorite compression tool, 7zip. http://www.7-zip.org/

From here i was able to use “have disk” to install the driver.

I think I’ll keep a copy of this around. It supports many more printers. I’ve extracted a list from the prnhp001.Inf and included it below.

Continue reading »

Flash drive repair

 Pseudorandomosity  1 Response »
May 032012
 

Someone at work broke a sandisk cruzer micro flash drive. It was really broken. It ripped the pads off the PCB.

Of course it had the only copy of the data on it.

The power and ground traces were pretty easy to trace and solder onto alternate pads. I didn’t bother to take pics of that. The traces from the USB plug D+ and D- went directly to the tiny chip on the top of the board, as you can see in the second picture. Solder mask is pretty tough so I figured the pins of this chip would be the easiest place to connect.

I used 30 gauge magnet wire to make the connections. It didn’t have to last long, just long enough to transfer data off, so I just held wires in place with masking tape. I didn’t have a spare USB connector, so I rigged up the broken one on a piece of perfboard.

I was able to recover all the data.

20120503-225048.jpg

Continue reading »

Toner Transfer on the Cheap

 Pseudorandomosity, Uncategorized  No Responses »
May 012012
 

I recently made my first PCB with toner transfer using an iron. It was pretty ugly.

I bought a cheap-o laminator from walmart for $25 + tax. It’s a Scotch TL901. I used masking tape to hold things in place. It worked well enough that I’m not going to complain.

I never realized what a difference a laminator makes! It’s hard to mess up now. I also tried using parchment paper.

http://hackaday.com/2012/04/30/etching-your-own-boards-really-really-fast/

http://www.instructables.com/id/Toner-transfer-no-soak-high-quality-double-sided/

The results are so much better with parchment paper and a laminator than proper transfer paper and an iron. At the end I have a pic of transfer using transfer paper. The edges are a lot more crisp, but it costs quite a bit more.

Toner transfer with parchment paper

20120501-225841.jpg

Scotch TL901 Thermal Laminator

20120501-225704.jpg Continue reading »

Arduino Shield Etching Thoughts

 Uncategorized  No Responses »
Apr 292012
 

I’ve kept a list of links I found very helpful lately. While I’m no stranger to a soldering iron and I know how to use perfboard, I have never etched a PCB before and I’ve never designed a PCB. I don’t think I would have had much luck at all without the following sites. I still use them quite regularly.

http://www.adafruit.com/tutorials

http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/category/1

http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/HomePage

http://tronixstuff.wordpress.com/tutorials/

http://www.ladyada.net/library/procure/partsdistributors.html

Continue reading »

Fixing Laser Module

 Uncategorized  No Responses »
Apr 152012
 

When I rebuilt the cat laser after the hail storm, I bought a 650nm 5mW laser module.3.2V 12x30mm on eBay from AixiZ Service and International LLC. Shipping speed was great. I would definitely recommend buying from them.

Fast forward a couple months, I broke off a wire from the laser module. This was my own fault and due to rough handling (I dropped it a couple times).

Anyway, to open the laser, the casing screws apart. If you care about not scratching it, remove cut the label and wrap it in tape before unscrewing with pliers. The inside was covered in a rubbery adhesive. I cut that out with an x-acto knife.

I have decided that my new Weller WESD51 was a good choice. Between that and the helping hands, this was one of the easiest soldering jobs I have done.

I covered the exposed wires with hot glue before closing the module back up and hot gluing the wires to the hole they pass through. All in all, a quick repair.

20120415-174207.jpg

20120415-174220.jpg Continue reading »

Panorama Thoughts

 Panorama, Pseudorandomosity  No Responses »
Apr 152012
 

I thought gigapixel panoramas (or gigapans) were the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~globalconn/gigapan.html

I wanted to make a gigapixel panorama. I’m still a bit short of this goal, but I’m having fun and learning a lot in the process.

The easiest way to make a gigapixel panorama is buying a gigapan or using a telescope mount that runs papywizard.
http://www.gigapan.com/cms/shop/store
http://www.kolor.com/buy/photo-hardware/motorized-head/kolor-panogear-motorized-panoramic-head-gigapixel-3.html
http://www.papywizard.org/

That doesn’t quite appeal to me. I want to be more involved. So of course I hit YouTube to find more information. I was not disappointed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3AoUL4t2OI – Gigapan Homemade

I’m a regular reader of hackaday.com and these posts earned a spot in my bookmarks. Especially the last post.
http://hackaday.com/2008/12/10/gigapixel-panorama/
http://hackaday.com/2010/07/14/panoramic-and-spheric-tripod-rig/
http://hackaday.com/2011/03/15/tilt-and-pivot-camera-base-uses-just-two-servos/

I have an iPhone 4 and it is stupid simple to make a panorama with the photosynth app.
Photosynth for iOS
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/photosynth/id430065256
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XYSJPbwBT4 – Mastering the Photosynth App – Episode 1: Great Indoor Panoramas

I was quite pleased to discover that Microsoft ICE (Image Composite Editor) was free for noncommercial use and stitched a lot faster than hugin. I bought a cheap tripod from wal-mart and went out to take pics of the flooding with my cheap-o Nikon S220.

I learned a thing or three about taking panoramas manually. The first is that water makes a terrible subject. In order for it to stitch you need to have something identifiable in all corners of the picture.

I’ve upgraded slightly since then, I bought a Nikon L120 and an aluminum tripod. If I were to do it over again, I would probably buy a Canon camera that can run CHDK

I’ve tried a few other panorama stitching programs, but I have the best luck with hugin or Microsoft ICE.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_photo_stitching_applications
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/ICE/
http://hugin.sourceforge.net/

After all of this, and the success with servos in the cat laser toy, I decided to build my own. I hit youtube once again for inspiration. Once again, I wasn’t disappointed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JXtnEVdu98 – DIY Gigapan testing 11/09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-aLj4TZWIw – Pan Tilt Panoramic Robot head (version 2.0)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgFEY7lAnaA – Panoramic MERLIN HEAD – Tête panoramique motorisée Merlin – Papywizard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obRiQJ27BoY – PanoBot motorized panorama pan head
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNIvJlx0E4U – Gigapan Tutorial – 1 of 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p83lZeiGc68 – GigaPan Pro Epic Quick Guide

I’ve made a few other posts about this, and I hope to make more.
http://www.ragingcomputer.com/category/panorama

I’ve got a few pictures of the panorama robot and pictures I’ve taken
http://pictures.ragingcomputer.com/index.php/Panorama

I’ve uploaded a few panoramas to photosynth.net (Requires Microsoft Silverlight)
http://photosynth.net/userprofilepage.aspx?user=RagingComputer

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