Category Archives: Featured

Set-up Ubuntu to edit Android APK’s (Apps) using Apk Manager

Posted on by
Reply

Adding the ability to edit Android apps (apk’s) in Ubuntu is fairly easy, but lacks documentation. The following steps are what worked for me on my system, but please continue at your own risk. Since every system is different, I can’t guarantee that this will work for you, but it should serve as a good basis.

Things you will need:

Setting up the Android SDK:

To start with we will set up the Android SDK as APK manager relies on it.

First download the Android-SDK for linux from here. Once downloaded extract it somewhere to your system (I chose my user folder for ease of access).

If you don’t have Java JDK installed you will need to do so by running the following:

sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jdk

Once this is done you will need to install the Andoid SDK addon “Platform-tools” as APK manager relies on it to function.

To do so navigate to the following path (be sure and replace with the actually path you extracted to):

/path-to-extracted-android-sdk/tools/

Once here, locate the file called “android.” Double click it and select run.

After the graphical interface is loaded, select “Available Packages” in the right hand column. This will open up a list of package Repos in the center column. Expand the “Android Repository” and place a check by “platform-tools.” Now click install selected and let it do it’s magic.

The SDK (with platform tools) is now set-up and ready to use.

Adding the Android SDK to your path

At this point you have the Android SDK and Platform-Tools installed. This means that you can use them, but only within the directory where they exist. This is very inconvenient, so we are going to make them accessible anywhere by running the following commands (be sure and replace with the actually path you extracted to):

export PATH=$PATH{}:/home/user/android-sdk-linux_x86/tools
export PATH=$PATH{}:/home/user/android-sdk-linux_x86/platform-tools

Installing APK Manager dependencies:

APK manager requires a few packages to run. Every system will be different, but my system was lacking optiping and 7zip. To install them run the following:

sudo apt-get install optiping p7zip-full

If you are on a 64bit system you may also need the following:

sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

Installing APK Manager

Finally, after all the prep work we are ready to install APK Manager.

First download the package from here.

Next, extract it somewhere on your system. (again, I chose my user folder)

Now open the terminal and navigate to the extracted APK manager and set the permissions of all the files in the folders to 755.

Example (in terminal):

chmod -R /home/user/apkmanager

To finish up the installation you will want to run APK Manager. This first run will create the necessary folders to place your APK to be edited ect.

Run APK Manager by executing Script.sh inside the APK manager directory.

cd /home/user/apkmanager
./Script.sh

All finished

Assuming all went well you should now be all set-up, and ready to start using APK Manager to edit your APKs.

Un-Bricking the WZR-HP-G300NH router

Posted on by
5

A while back I completely bricked my Buffalo WZR-HP G300NH router. I was trying to flash Open-WRT from DD-WRT in an effort to fix an issue with Wifi constantly dropping. Needless to say, something went wrong and I would up with a virtually lifeless router.

I tried following the guide found here, but after many failed attempts I was frustrated and quit.

Now, I can proudly say that said router has now been successfully un-bricked!

These are the steps I took using Ubuntu Linux:

  1. Download the stock firmware from Buffalo’s website found here.
  2. After downloading the .zip file extract the actual flash file to your Desktop. The version I downloaded was called “wzrhpg300nh-pro-v24sp2-14998.” The file name you get may vary, but the important part is that the file you have has no extension.
  3. Now open a terminal session and run the following commands:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install tftp-hpa
sudo /etc/init.d/networking stop
sudo ifconfig eth0 192.168.11.2
sudo ifconfig eth0 netmask 255.255.255.0
sudo arp -s 192.168.11.1 02:AA:BB:CC:DD:1A
cd /home/user/Desktop
  1. Now get your router ready to receive the file. Plug an Ethernet cable into your computer and into the LAN 1 port on the router. DO NOT PLUG THE ROUTER INTO A WALL OUTLET YET
  2. Now back in the terminal do the following.
tftp 192.168.11.1
verbose
binary
trace
rexmt 1
timeout 60
put wzrhpg300nh-pro-v24sp2-14998 <–replace with the name of the file you downloaded
  1. At this point your computer will keep attempting to send the firmware file to the router. Now QUICKLY plug your router’s power cord in.
  2. After about 10 seconds you should see the file start to transfer.
  3. After the transfer is complete the router will reboot, when the Wifi light comes on, the process is complete.
  4. Turn networking back on by running the following in the terminal:
sudo service networking start
  1. If all went well, you should be able to log into your router by navigating to http://192.168.11.1/
TIPS:
  • Do not replace the MAC address with your own, use 02:AA:BB:CC:DD:1A. Trust me, it works.
  • After running “sudo /etc/init.d/networking stop” you see “Ignoring wlan0″ run this command.
sudo ifconfig wlan0 down

WordPress Update Failed: Warning: touch() [function.touch]: Unable to create file…

Posted on by
1

 

Recently, I reconfigured on of my WordPress installations to run as WordPress MU, instead of the standard, single site platform. This was perfect for me because now every time I create a new site, I don’t have to create a new database, install plugins, ect. It really gives me a head start with a basic template for every new site.

As awesome as this new setup is, I almost immediately ran into problems. I could not install any plugins via the web interface! I also couldn’t update WordPress! I am perfectly capable of doing things manually, but it was just so much quicker for me to do things from the web interface, but everytime I tried, I ran into this error:

Warning: touch() [function.touch]: Unable to create file…because Permission denied in \[mydomain]\wp-admin\includes\file.php on line 175

This was a problem. I first dove into file.php and looked for line 175, changed some permissions around, but no luck. That’s when I asked my close friend Google.

I read everything from server incompatibilities, to my host not allowing access to my server’s temp folders. I am sitting on a VPS, so i was just about to dive in and start making some changes, when I found my solution here. It turns out I needed 2 things.

First I added the following line to the bottom of my wp-config.php file:

define(‘WP_TEMP_DIR’,ABSPATH.’wp-content/uploads/’);

And then I made my “wp-content/uploads” folder writable.

It was a simple as that, problem solved.

Burger Time Arcade Game Discovery

Posted on by
2

Yesterday was probably one of my best days all summer. The weather was perfect, not hot not cold, no rain, just a bright and sunny day. My friend Josh had arranged to go and pickup an arcade game that he had heard about on tradio (radio classified ads). We had no clue what we were in for.

To start with Josh was listening to tradio when he heard a caller say that he had a Guardian video game, more specifically “one of them games that takes quarters.” Price: FREE! Of course Josh called immediately to reserve his free Guardian arcade machine. The guy giving it away was nice enough to let him know that it wasn’t working, but that didn’t matter to Josh because he has a friend (ie Craig) that could take a look, and maybe fix it, or perhaps make it a MAME cabinet. And the adventure begins.

So after some research we mount up to go after the machine, which was conveniently located in the middle of nowhere. I am talking hillbilly country. No trespassing signs, beware of dog signs, I mean some Wrong Turn type stuff. How this game got out here was beyond me. But sure enough, when we got there it was sitting on the porch waiting for us.

On the way to pick it up we were very excited, discussing what it could be (seeing as how we had very little info). We didn’t know if it was Guardians of the Hood , the conversion kit Guardians, or the rare Guardians/Denjin Makai 2. We were really hoping for the rare version, so you could imagine our disappointment when we realized that it was the cheap, conversion game Guardians. It was also a blow when we realized that the cabinet has spent the last several years outside, was missing parts, and not in the best shape. But we had made it this far, and all of our bad luck aside, we loaded it up, and took it anyways. If nothing else we would have enjoyed destroying it.

So we got the cabinet back to Josh’s place, and started cleaning it up. We were very surprised how good all of the pcb’s, and the cabinet started to look once all of the layers of grime were removed. But we kept wondering what type of game this used to be. The cabinet had an odd shape, but we couldn’t find any markings to indicate what it may have been. We could make out some writing under the existing paint, but could only make out a big “P.” So after a few hours of cleaning, and talking, we started Googling. It wasn’t long until Josh discovered that this cabinet was an original Burger Time, that’s right, the P we were seeing was on the hat of Peter Pepper.

Burger Time Converted to Guardian

Converted Burger Time side view

Inside of cabinet before cleaning, pcb's removed for cleaning.

Tax placard found inside of power supply.

So now we are in a predicament. The cabinet is not in very good shape, and is going to take some a lot of work. Now we must decide whether or not to restore the cabinet as a Burger Time, or make it something else. Either way we go the price was right, and it was an exciting find.

WordPress Services

Posted on by
Reply

I am now offering my WordPress services here, via my website. The following are services that I regularly offer, but I can do much much more. Please contact me if you dont see what you need listed here.

Services:

  1. WordPress Installation service: $20
    • With this service you will get WordPress installed on your server, and your domain. I will install one free theme of your choice, and up to 5 plugins. This is everything you need to get your WordPress powered blog up and running.
  2. WordPress onsite SEO service: $40
    • This is a killer service and has pleased many MANY of my clients. With this service you will get your WordPress site geared for some serious rankings in the search engines. With this service you will get your sites Ping Service optimized, H-Tags corrected, META information added, Sitemaps created and submitted, and much much more. This service is extremely valuable to the serious webmaster. Please contact me for more detailed information.
  3. WordPress Page Load optimization: $40
    • Is your WordPress site running slow, and killing your server? With this service we will significantly decrease your page load times, and server strain, or your money back! We will do this by combining css, and js files, compressing your css, js, and html, caching your static content, optimizing your images, and making use of a CDN, or creating a virtual CDN.

If any of these services i