Binary Inspirations is a blog devoted to the latest and greatest tech items in the form of computers, gadgets, and hacks. Also featured are miscellaneous programs I've written, tips, informal hardware/software reviews, rants, tutorials, and more.
BINARY INSPIRATIONS is maintained purely out of my spare time. If you found something particularly helpful, or would just like to see more interesting content and programs, please kindly consider donating an amount of your choosing (minimum $1 requested).
lrc2srt.py is a Python 3 script intended to convert .lrc lyric files into SubRip-format .srt files.
This kind of conversion may be useful, for example, when adding lyrics to a music video file. lrc2srt requires Python 3.x and is licensed under the GPLv3.
To download lrc2srt.py along with a detailed readme file, please visit:
http://www.box.net/shared/5xz9om2ips
My new Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB hard drive finally arrived yesterday, and without delay I proceeded to pop it in. I couldn’t have asked for a smoother install – the drive’s power and SATA connectors were hooked up in the span of a few minutes. Powering on the machine, I start thinking about how I’m going to move my data over when BAM! the computer/motherboard suddenly starts emitting a buzzing/continuous beeping sound from the system speaker. I quickly shut the machine down. Thinking it might be the new hard drive, I fully disconnect it and restart the system. Bzzzzz….at this point I was getting pretty worried as the computer was now in its original configuration yet still making that incessant buzzing noise. My next thought is that the power supply might be slightly overloaded; I disconnect a couple of case fans and turn the rig back on. No luck. I then go into the BIOS and start fiddling around, thinking it might be some random setting that needs to be flipped. Only after visiting the “PC Health” section, which shows all the temperature readouts, do I see the issue. I had the CPU temperature warning enabled. The alarm was sounding for good reason - my processor was running in excess of 70C! Clearly, something was wrong with my CPU cooling. I’m running a Corsair H50, so that means the pump must not be working. I connect the pump to another 3-pin connector on my PSU, and upon rebooting the beeping magically stopped. It seems that the old connector that the pump was connected to must have died.
Moral of the story? If your computer starts buzzing non-stop, take a look at your CPU temps. Your computer is trying to tell you that it’s dying…
Here’s another BIOS mod, this time for the Gigabyte MA78LM-S2H. The version is F10 and is current as of this post. Tested successfully on a revision 1.3 board, and should work on all earlier revisions.
Disclaimer: BIOS flashing is, of course, a potentially risky operation. All the mods below have been flashed and tested successfully, but I am not responsible for anything that happens due to the use of these mods.
Board model: Gigabyte MA78LM-S2H
BIOS type: Award
BIOS version: F10
SLIC OEM: Acer[ACRSYSACRPRDCT-ANNI]2.1.BIN
Mod method: SSV3
Download: http://www.box.net/shared/vs2sf00y81
As detailed in my previous article on NX technology, being able to remote into your machine and get a remote desktop is becoming a capability that’s more and more useful these days. Unfortunately, the latest 10.04 LTS release of Ubuntu requires a slightly more involved procedure to get an NX running (at least until most of its supporting software packages are brought up to date). Basically, NeatX (another FOSS Linux NX server) will be used instead of FreeNX. Here’s the basic steps required for installation on a 64-bit Ubuntu 10.04 LTS system:
You might also want to have the SSH server up and running (sudo apt-get install openssh-server), just in case you need to troubleshoot anything or just need a console-only session for the time being.
After the package installation completes your NX client should be up and running. Test and use your newly minted NX setup with any NX client, e.g. the NoMachine Windows NX Client.
