ANDREW PENG » News http://andrewpeng.net I live to eat Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:14:06 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Going from hex to binary in Linux http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2010/03/19534-going-from-hex-to-binary-in-linux.html http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2010/03/19534-going-from-hex-to-binary-in-linux.html#comments Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:51:42 +0000 andrew http://andrewpeng.net/?p=534 If you find yourself with a block of \x encoded hex that you need converted back to it’s binary equivalent – in my particular case, an image encoded as a hex block back to it’s native JPEG file, you can use this short code snippit:

cat <input file> | sed -e ‘s/\\x//g’ -e ‘s/”//g’ -e ‘s/^[ \t]*//’ | xxd -p -r – <output file>

Adjust the sed arguments as needed to produce the trimming that you need to feed into xxd - when you pass -p to xxd you instruct it to take input as hexadecimal plaintext, and -r tells xxd to go from the hexadecimal string back it’s binary equivalent.

In this case, I used this to extract the images from the icons.c file for Minidlna.

Thanks to this LinuxJournal article for how to do a reverse hex dump.

]]> http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2010/03/19534-going-from-hex-to-binary-in-linux.html/feed 0 Changing the default resolution of a Logitech webcam http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2009/12/08359-changing-the-default-resultion-of-a-logitech-webcam.html http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2009/12/08359-changing-the-default-resultion-of-a-logitech-webcam.html#comments Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:04:12 +0000 andrew http://andrewpeng.net/?p=359 I found myself needing to take some photos with my webcam because it was a simple setup and had excellent image quality when given enough light. However, when using the default webcam application in Windows XP/Vista/7, it will only capture images in 320×240; hugely disappointing when the webcam will do up to 2MP. Enter the DefResCh tool – which I found in this thread on the Logitech developer forums. Of note, you will need to install the Logitech webcam drivers to make this tool work; the default drivers that Windows installs does not work with this tool.

]]> http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2009/12/08359-changing-the-default-resultion-of-a-logitech-webcam.html/feed 0 1Mbit BroadBand Internet Access a Legal Right in Finland http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2009/10/14339-1mbit-broadband-internet-access-a-legal-right-in-finland.html http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2009/10/14339-1mbit-broadband-internet-access-a-legal-right-in-finland.html#comments Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:17:05 +0000 andrew http://andrewpeng.net/?p=339 Signs of a culture moving forward, or just frivolous waste of government money? Finland has announced that by next July, 1mbit broandband internet access, which is roughly 20 times quicker than dial up (assuming a generous 50kbps assumption for dial-up) is now a legal human right. While it’s certainly a step towards the future, Finland still plans to blast us away by promising 100mbit internet connections by 2015. With this announcement, Finland joins the ranks of Estonia, France, and Greece where internet access is considered a human right.

[Source: cnet news]

]]> http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2009/10/14339-1mbit-broadband-internet-access-a-legal-right-in-finland.html/feed 0 Wee new dev box http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2009/05/06271-wee-new-dev-box.html http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2009/05/06271-wee-new-dev-box.html#comments Wed, 06 May 2009 19:22:16 +0000 andrew http://andrewpeng.net/?p=271 Recently ordered up a pair of Opteron 280‘s to stick in my GT24 – looking forward to having a dev box. Too bad it doesn’t support hardware virtualization – otherwise it’d be an ESX box.

Additionally, here’s a picture of the live network traffic on my box – it is generated with MRTG and cron and shows the rate of network traffic on my internet interface on my home router. You can see it on my “Network Usage Graph” on the right ->

]]> http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2009/05/06271-wee-new-dev-box.html/feed 0 Conficker Toolage http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2009/04/01238-conficker-toolage.html http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2009/04/01238-conficker-toolage.html#comments Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:09:08 +0000 andrew http://andrewpeng.net/?p=238 For those of you paranoid about the talk of the Conficker work poking around the interwebnets, you can scan computers for signs of it very easily now with a beta version of nmap – details here. The best thing about nmap? You can script it so it automatically scans every node on the subnet. Easy!

]]> http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2009/04/01238-conficker-toolage.html/feed 0 Over-Boost Is My Rush http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2009/03/19211-over-boost-is-my-rush.html http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2009/03/19211-over-boost-is-my-rush.html#comments Fri, 20 Mar 2009 06:26:47 +0000 andrew http://andrewpeng.net/?p=211 You know you want it – a blog dedicated to boosted cars, and here it is – http://over-boost.net - recent things we’ve posted include a 500+whp turbo Galant, a freshly turboed V6 Tiburon, as well as a fair share of video debauchery. Head on over and check it out!

]]> http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2009/03/19211-over-boost-is-my-rush.html/feed 0 Crisis of Credit Explained http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2009/03/02146-crisis-of-credit-explained.html http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2009/03/02146-crisis-of-credit-explained.html#comments Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:42:37 +0000 andrew http://andrewpeng.net/?p=146  
The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Came upon a great website the other day that explained the credit crunch very well. The video was done by Jonathan Jarvis – a media designer and animator. His video was done with stunning animation and a great narration that explains the problem with the economy today, and how we got here. Highly recommended video – you can see the video on the website he created to explain it all, here.

The goal of giving form to a complex situation like the credit crisis is to quickly supply the essence of the situation to those unfamiliar and uninitiated. This project was completed as part of my thesis work in theMedia Design Program, a graduate studio at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

]]> http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2009/03/02146-crisis-of-credit-explained.html/feed 0 Obama to back return to Moon – Horray! http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2009/02/27107-obama-to-back-return-to-moon-horray.html http://andrewpeng.net/posts/2009/02/27107-obama-to-back-return-to-moon-horray.html#comments Fri, 27 Feb 2009 17:38:18 +0000 andrew http://andrewpeng.net/?p=107 Looks like the US Space program is going to get a healthy boost in budget to fund further “human exploration” activities. This is good, for a while I was worried Obama was going to cut the space program to save money.

But on Wednesday, the US House of Representatives passed an omnibus bill to fund NASA for 2009. It calls for a $360 million increase in the agency’s human exploration budget, which includes $2.9 billion for the Constellation programme. NASA’s science budget would decline $200 million from 2008 levels. The US Senate is now considering the bill.

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