Author Archives: Jeff Fitzsimons
Cushion Treemaps
Today, I learned that the technique used to create visualizations like those used in WinDirStat and KDirStat is called a cushion treemap. This page has examples of treemaps used in a variety of software, and links to treemap algorithms in … Continue reading
Posted in Algorithms, Technology
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Ubuntu: Keyboard Reverts to German After Reboot
Every time I rebooted or logged out of my Ubuntu virtual machine, my keyboard layout would switch to “Germany Eliminate dead keys” (“Deu”). Removing the offending layout from the keyboard manager seemed to work, but the problem would reappear the … Continue reading
Posted in Linux, Technology
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db46 Checksum Error During MacPorts Upgrade
Problem When upgrading my MacPorts installation, using sudo port upgrade outdated, I ran into the following error: —> Verifying checksum(s) for db46 Error: Checksum (md5) mismatch for patch.4.6.21.1 Error: Checksum (md5) mismatch for patch.4.6.21.2 Error: Checksum (md5) mismatch for patch.4.6.21.3 … Continue reading
Posted in OS X, Technology
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Mac OS + MySQL-python-1.2.3: ImportError | Library not loaded | libmysqlclient.16.dylib
Attempting to get Python communicating with MySQL via MySQLdb on OS X resulted in the following error when I tried to import MySQLdb: Traceback (most recent call last): File “./dbtest.py”, line 3, in import MySQLdb File “build/bdist.macosx-10.6-universal/egg/MySQLdb/__init__.py”, line 19, in … Continue reading
Posted in Technology
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BluetoothAPIs.h Broken in Windows SDK
Summary The Microsoft Windows SDK versions 7.0 and 7.1 appear to have broken BluetoothAPIs.h header files. Update: Microsoft has fixed the errors in the Bluetooth header as of SDK version 8.0 for Windows 8. Details So far, I have uncovered … Continue reading
Posted in Technology, Win32, Windows
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Alternate Data Streams (Metadata) on Files in NTFS
Introduction Alternate Data Streams (ADS) allow arbitrary metadata to be associated with files and directories on Windows NTFS. Alternate data streams are the Windows implementation of forks. The apparent size of the file will be unchanged, and most applications and … Continue reading
Posted in C++, Scripting, Technology, Windows
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VLC File and Network Cache Settings
Inevitably, by the time VLC upgrades itself and wipes its settings, I’ve forgotten where the file and network buffering settings are. Go to the VLC preferences (Tools | Preferences). Select “All” under Show settings, or “Show Advanced” in the lower, … Continue reading
Posted in Technology
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Converting Yodlee’s CSV Financial Data to OFX
I was attempting to use csv2ofx to convert Yodlee MoneyCenter’s exported comma separated value data into an OFX file, for use in GnuCash. I repeatedly got an error when exporting: KeyError: ‘Split Type’ This turned out to be due to … Continue reading
Posted in Finance
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Console and Cygwin Don’t Show All Files on 64-bit Windows
Running Cygwin bash or Console under 64-bit versions of Windows, directory listings sometimes differ from results shown in Explorer or cmd.exe. For example, Defrag.exe is visible to the default command shell (CMD): C:\Windows\System32>dir Defr* 07/13/2009 05:39 PM 183,296 Defrag.exe 07/13/2009 … Continue reading
Posted in Technology, Windows
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Add PNG Support to WordPress Plugin “Image Shadow”
The Image Shadow plugin for WordPress works pretty well. Unfortunately, it only adds shadows to JPEG images. PNG images can be added very easily, but they will be converted to JPEG format in the image cache. This isn’t optimal for … Continue reading
Posted in Technology, Wordpress
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