Submitted by drew on

 

Just because I don't want to have to look this up again. Windows 8's driver signing enforcement prevents installing GBridge's network drivers. I posted how to work around that on gbridge.net forums when I was testing the Windows 8 preview, but their forum is offline now.

Windows 8

This method works for Professional or Home versions.

  1. Using the Settings charm (swipe from the right side of the screen), select Change PC settings > General > Advanced Startup > Restart
  2. In the restart screen, select Troubleshoot > Advanced Settings > Startup Settings > Restart
  3. At the startup options screen, select item 7, disable driver enforcement (or press F7)
  4. Install GBridge!

When I upgraded one of my computers from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1, GBridge had problems starting. The first issue I had was, Windows indicated that SecureBoot wasn't working (message at bottom right corner of the desktop). My BIOS setting was set to a legacy boot mode that didn't allow SecureBoot to work. Once I disabled the legacy mode and enabled SecureBoot, I was able to restart with unsigned driver enforcement disabled.

Windows 8.1:

  1. Settings charm > Change PC settings > Update and recovery > Recovery > Advanced startup > Restart
  2. The rest is the same as for Windows 8 steps 2 through 4 above

Windows 10 Technical Preview:

Windows 10 Preview is essentially the same, as of October 31, 2014.

Edit 2015-01-25, 2015-03-20:

With build 9926 (Jan 24) of the Windows 10 Technical Preview, I had to do some messing around to get GBridge to work. (And now again with build 10041, March 20). Perhaps it's because I didn't do a full uninstall and then reinstall. At any rate, GBridge kept telling me that it couldn't find a connection, even after running the installer a couple times (and using the built-in removal the second time). Here's the fix:

  1. Reboot with signed driver enforcement disabled (as described above).
  2. If you have GBridge installed, open Device Manager and remove the unrecognized adapter device (I don't rmember exactly where it appears, but it's not under network adapters now).
  3. (You might not need to do this step... I skipped it and it worked) Run the installer and choose the removal/full install option.
  4. Start GBridge to see if it's working now. If not...
  5. Open the Windows Start menu and type 'cmd.exe'. It will find an item called "Command Prompt". Right click this and select "Run as administrator"
  6. Navigate to the GBridge Installation folder (something like C:\Program Files (x86)\GBrige LLC)
  7. Execute this command line: GbridgeInstallHelper64.exe -i
  8. The helper installs the GBridge network adapter, and I think might add something to the firewall.
  9. Start GBridge again. At this point, mine was fixed. There were some other command line options, which it lists when started without one. I have no idea what they do; I just tried the first one and it worked (-i).

 

Tags
Windows

Converting version control repositories from Bazaar to Git (bzr to git)

Submitted by drew on

Bazaar is great on Windows. Several years later, git's tools for Windows still.... (ahem) are lacking or too commercial. However, official development on it has ended and git is so much more popular now. So I think the time has come to convert all my beloved bzr repositories to git.

First we need note some prerequisites:

Adding a hardware clock to Raspberry Pi (DS3231)

Submitted by drew on

The popular clock module is uses the DS1307 real time clock chip, which is not very precise. For just a few dollars more, you can get a module with a much more precise DS3231 RTC chip. The one I got was SunFounder's module from Amazon for $9 (free shipping for Prime). It plugs right onto the Raspberry Pi's 40 pin header and doesn't even interfere with the plastic case I have. I have a Model B, but this module should also work on Model A and Model B+. The instructions refer to DS1307, but the chips use the same I2C commands, so it also works for DS3231.

How to run a PiPresents show when you don't have a Raspberry Pi

Submitted by drew on

PiPresents is some pretty cool software that will run a PowerPoint-like presentation. But with lots more flexibility. It was originally written for the Raspberry Pi.

However.... perhaps someone else has your Pi. Perhaps you don't even have one. It is possible to run a PiPresents show on  your good ol' desktop computer (Windows, Linux, or Mac). Here's how.