Microsoft Visio in LibreOffice 3.5

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I like that LibreOffice seems to be experiencing rapid innovation and bloat removal since The Document Foundation was formed, and the software was forked from OpenOffice.

While I won’t write at length about all the changes I’ve noticed, I did want to show one of the new features coming to a stable release due soon.

The ability to open and display Visio files… more reading about it:

 

Thunderbird Attachments Missing

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I ran into an interesting issue today after a co-worker reported that he had been receiving emails from someone who claimed there were attachments, however they were not being displayed within the email.

After viewing the message source and seeing a base64 encoded block within the email, I wondered if it was Thunderbird doing something I didn’t expect. I checked it in Roundcube and other locations… worked fine elsewhere…

And then I downloaded: Show All Body Parts. Problem worked around for now. :-)

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Android on VirtualBox

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This was fun. A bit of a test drive of Android-x86 3.2 using VirtualBox. I had a hard time getting the internet to work on it, just like I would have if I was at the store playing with it. :-)

There are how-tos at: http://www.android-x86.org/

Changes to Exch

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While Exch still continues to function properly, during Mozilla’s review process for the latest update, it was stalled (for good reason). For any future versions to be approved, code changes will be required.

The first issue has to do with respecting the global JavasSript namespace (which I didn’t when it was created, as was common practice at the time), and the other with features being deprecated (in favor of better approaches). From the email:

This version didn’t pass full review because of the following issues:

  1. In order to prevent conflicts with other add-ons that may be installed by users, you need to wrap your “loose” variables and functions within a JavaScript object. You can see examples on how to do this at the JavaScript Object Management tutorial.
  2. The codebase_principal_support preference and enablePrivilege function are considered unsafe to use and support for them will be removed from Firefox very soon: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=546866.

Exch was and still is a pretty cool extension, but its task is better served via sites like Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance, or Bing Finance. Plus, with all of the cool things you can do with Google Search (as I have posted about before), or Yahoo having a slick currency conversion tool on their site, I feel I have run out of reasons to maintain it.

With all of that said, here’s the latest update: exch-1.5.0-fx. While it -should- work with Firefox 4 and 5, let’s call it “beta”. A beta perpetually stuck at version 1.5.0. ;-)

Budget Wireless Distribution

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Working for a non-profit organization requires a special type of ingenuity at times. In this case it was due to the requirement of setting up easy to use systems that are sustainable, yet affordable. Below are some pictures that show a wireless distribution system that I helped setup that serves the needs of 10 families, 4 guest apartments, and 2 work shops.

The Internet access is being provided via a business DSL modem in the lower level of the building with a red star on it. From there, a multi-purpose wireless router (RT-N16) is configured with DD-WRT and acts as the LAN’s gateway and firewall. Other common services it provides to the LAN include ones like local DNS, static DHCP, DynDNS client, SSH client/server, and OpenVPN client/server. It also has real time traffic monitoring, traffic graphs over time, QOS capabilities, and other exciting features. Nobody actually uses the wireless from the RT-N16 though, as it is being used only as a powerful, yet inexpensive wired appliance.

From there the only wired client connected is the main AP, a Bullet M2 HP. This little piece of equipment is quite exciting. A tough 600 mW self contained outdoor router built on Linux. It has already survived through the year long seasonal variations and is rated to operate at temperatures between -40C to 80C. Along with a 9dBi outdoor omnidirectional antenna mounted to it, they provide over 600,000 square ft. of network coverage through trees, hills and buildings with users reliably connecting in their homes over 250 feet away (though with the right antenna and conditions, the Bullet M2 HP is rated to perform at distances of over 50km away).

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