The Synology NAS products work well for backing up or sharing media files and documents in an informal home environment. However, a Synology NAS is not well suited as a general backup device for a Linux computer. The problems below can be overcome by archving your Linux files with tar or an equivalent archive manager,… Continue reading Linux backups on a Synology NAS
DeepDream images
These images were generated using Alexander Mordvintsev’s simplified implementation of his DeepDream algorithm on GitHub. This uses Google’s neural net architecture called Inception to modify images in a way that amplifies areas that vaguely resemble something that matches a known pattern.
Self-directed online education
This article describes how you can use free online resources to enrich your education in almost any subject.
Evolution: a simulation
This is a video report of a software project that created the conditions for evolution in an attempt to learn something about how evolution works in nature. This is for the programmer looking for ideas for interdisciplinary programming projects, or for anyone interested in how evolution and natural selection work. 56 mins. It’s available on… Continue reading Evolution: a simulation
Linux Mint 20/Xfce boots with no desktop icons or background
Symptom: Occasionally Linux Mint 20 with Xfce boots up with no desktop icons and no background. The operating system works, but you have to use means other than the usual desktop icons to invoke programs. Solution: On this computer, we can correct the problem if we invoke a terminal (with ctrl-alt-T or ctrl-alt-F2), delete the… Continue reading Linux Mint 20/Xfce boots with no desktop icons or background
Linux Mint 20 runs on X570 Aorus Elite motherboard
Linux Mint 20 Beta is performing surprisingly well on a Gigabyte Aorus Elite X570 motherboard.
How we got involved making word search puzzles
A colleague gave us a $100 gift certificate for Digital Ocean, provider of cloud computing and storage. The certificate was good for 60 days — use it or lose it. Our first use of the gift certificate was to set up a virtual server for some of my wife’s domains. That server has been humming… Continue reading How we got involved making word search puzzles
Triggering Alexa from TV sound
There’s a rumor on the internet that Alexa ignores commands if it hears audio that is missing frequencies between 3000 and 6000 Hertz. That’s how TV commercials can say “Alexa” without triggering the Alexa devices in the room. So I fact-checked it. I recorded my voice saying “Alexa, what is the date today?” and made… Continue reading Triggering Alexa from TV sound
Installing Xubuntu 16.04 on a Sager NP8952 laptop (Clevo P950HR)
Here are some notes for anyone attempting to install Xubuntu 16.04 on a Sager NP8952 laptop (Clevo P950HR). Most things work well enough. The initial installation onto the primary SSD along side Windows 10 was uneventful, from a live USB created with unetbootin. System components: CPU: Intel Kaby Lake i7-7700HQ GPU: GTX 1070 (8GB) MAX-Q,… Continue reading Installing Xubuntu 16.04 on a Sager NP8952 laptop (Clevo P950HR)
Announcing neural2d, a neural net optimized for image processing
Neural2d is an open-source neural net simulator with features for image processing. Links Video introduction (YouTube, 11 min.): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB43jj-wv8Q GitHub repository: https://github.com/davidrmiller/neural2d Landing page with links: http://neural2d.net Features ✔ Optimized for 2D image data — input data can be read from .bmp image files ✔ Neuron layers can be abstracted as 1D or 2D arrangements… Continue reading Announcing neural2d, a neural net optimized for image processing