Rasterbator.net
Ooh! I had the time to modernize the online version of The Rasterbator, which, sadly had been offline for over half a year.
Go here to satisfy your poster-generation needs!
The online version has, I think, quite nice user experience including lots of Ajax and drag and drop file upload. Although it is quite a small detail, I'm quite proud of the human silhouette that indicates the poster size.
Coders would probably be interested that it is based on ASP.NET MVC 4, jQuery (with some plugins) and iTextSharp.
Posted by Matias at 27.01.2013 15:52 (3 months ago) | 112 comments | 0 trackbacks
Professional Blogging
No, not here. Instead, use these links for your reading pleasure:
Posted by Matias at 11.05.2012 14:46 (1 year ago) | 199 comments | 0 trackbacks
Sony Vaio P, Windows 8 Consumer Preview and Mobile Broadband
Update: Added SFEP Driver installation. Works also with Windows 8 Release Preview.
Let's see if this long-awaited post starts a new era in updating this blog, hopefully the era won't be as nerdy as the contents of this post, though.
I have a lovely Sony Vaio P (VGN-P31ZK) ultraportable, which came with Windows 7. Unfortunately the hardware was just too flimsy for that operating system, so I have been using Ubuntu. Windows 8 Consumer Preview works even better than Ubuntu, with the exception of out-of-the-box support for mobile broadband.
After some trial and error I found the way to install the correct set of drivers that enable mobile broadband. These instructions are likely to work in other Vaio models also, at least those sold in Europe, in which the 3G modem / GPS combo device is Option Globetrotter MO40x.
Install Sony Shared Library
Go to Vaio Support and download Sony Shared Library. Extract file and run setup. It should install to Windows 8 normally.
Install Sony Firmware Extension Parser Driver
Download SFEP Driver from Vaio Support. Extract the file. Open Device Manager. You should see an unknown device. Select Update driver... from the context menu of the unknown device and point the installer to the directory where you extracted the zip file.
Continue reading "Sony Vaio P, Windows 8 Consumer Preview and Mobile Broadband"... (634 words)
Categories: Computers, Gear, Information, Programming
Posted by Matias at 22.04.2012 14:57 (1 year ago) | 259 comments | 0 trackbacks
Gothic Beet Pasta
Even with the impending threat of this site quickly turning into food journal, here is another great food recipe, one that looks and tastes great. The recipe was inspired by two other recipes (here and here).
Ingredients
Yields 6 portions.
- 1 kg fresh beets
- 300 g fresh parsnips
- 1 leek
- 1 garlic
- 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon dried ginger powder
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- salt
- 2 dl sour cream
- 150 g cream cheese with blue mold (such as Bavaria Blu)
- vegetable oil
- olive oil
- black sesame seeds
- pasta (for extra scene points, use pasta that is dyed black with squid ink)
Instructions
Wash and peel the beets and parsnips. Cut them into about 5 mm thick slices. Put the slices in a deep pan, add water until covered and boil until they are soft. This should take about 25 minutes for beets and 15 minutes for parsnips.
Wash and slice the leek. Peel and crush the garlic cloves. Put some vegetable oil, leek slices and garlic into another pan and stir them in medium heat.
When the root crops are soft, pour out the water. The beets should have dyed the parsnip, which have quite strange glowing purple color now.
Continue reading "Gothic Beet Pasta"... (356 words)
Categories: Creations, Food
Posted by Matias at 16.09.2007 16:28 (5 years ago) | 255 comments | 0 trackbacks
Melonpan
Melonpan (melon bread) is a Japanese snack food resembling little bread rolls. Western people might find them a little strange as they are a combination of sweet and non-sweet foodstuffs: bread wrapped in cookie with cream cheese filling. The name appears to originate from the fact that they resemble melons (which might not be evident from the images) - they do not necessarily contain melon.
Here are the perfected instructions on how to make melonpan, based on several recipes I found on the Internet and the iron chef -grade insight from Yakitate!! Japan. The recipe yields 16 melonpans.
Please note that this is just impression of a gaijin who is not even sure if he has ever tasted genuine melonpan. Tradition infringements are bound to exist and apologies extended if necessary.
Instructions
Bread dough
- 7 dl wheat flour (replace half of the flour with spelt for extra flavor)
- 1,5 dl water
- 1 package of dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 50 g butter or margarine
- 1 egg
Warm the water to about 45 degrees Celsius and place in a bowl. Mix in dry yeast and sugar. Wait a few minutes until the yeast has activated, which causes fine foam to appear. Add salt, melted butter and the egg. Add flour and mix thoroughly. Kneed the dough for 10 minutes. Cover the bowl and place in a warm location. Let the dough rise for an hour.
Continue reading "Melonpan"... (660 words)