My Raspberry Pi 3 Rev B Projects: Ultimate RetroPic / OSMC build and replacement for parents WDTV Live...

The last few months, I've been on a quest to find a decent offline local media player.  My parents are in their late 70s and farmers and not very technological (well, my dad is but he won't admit it).  As a geek that loves to introduce the non-geeks to tech, I've been working on a way for them to enjoy the digital media I have but in a dead easy way.

Thus my ventures back into Raspberry Pi builds.  My main goals initially started out to just build a replacement media box that 1.  DIDN'T REQUIRE A CONSTANT INTERNET CONNECTION TO WORK (ie Fire devices and ATV were out of the question). 2. Easy to use interface/customizable.  3. Under $150 total cost  4. Ability to use usb harddrives to host media vs just streaming services (ie no plex or netflix)

2017, Tech and My Random Thoughts (ie let me take a try at this product cycle thing!)

Well. been a while since i've posted a tech related blog post.  Tonight I plan to do my usual; rant about what the big companies are doing wrong. ;)  Apple. oh shit... your in trouble....

2017... the year the companies that benefitted most by listening to core audience decided they didn't need us... and sunk deeper and deeper into innovation-LULZ.

yea.. Apple... 2 in 1 is the future.  Again, just make a really shitty prototype of a macbook air and ipad pro to the geek blogs.... your stock will rise upon that leak alone.. no really.. you are avoiding a market that will continue to grow and evolve beyond anything you can even try to offer.  going all in on the iPad was a bad idea.  Laptops still fuel the core of the computing world. I am our companies Citrix/XenApp admin/architect/creator/implementor and a VDI of Win10 vs running  a full blown OS on a device natively is still NIGHT AND DAY.  Yea, it's 2017 but there are still areas where internet coverage sucks or is non-existent.

If Apple would have announced a 2-in-1 Macbook Air and iPad Pro in the last 2 years; it's market share in the business world would not be declining as it is.  I have personally seen the use cases of iPads replacing laptops go from 10-20 a year to now... ZERO.  Our company just upgraded to Windows 10 and new hardware.  We went all out and went w/the Lenovo X1 Yoga w/Core i7, 16GB DDR4, 256GB NVMe.  Hardware-wise this X1 KILLLED EVERY MAC OUT.  Apple, iPads are a fad and that will be replaced w/a true reader based OLED tech VERY VERY SOON! All non PC based tablets have a limited life; and it's shrinking each day.   Laptops will be here for a good 10 more years.  Smartwatches are finally moving towards what i imagined 3 years ago but the patterns of evolving have slowed recently but now again are being ignited.

My true vision of what a 'smartwatch' really is will be envisioned in the next 3 years; my desktop pc will run on my wrist and i will power it by being human and moving and kinetic energy along w/a QI wireless battery pack i most likely wear as a belt. *COUCH* ANKER!! did you ever read my idea and email about a the smart belt that is really just a flexible 10,000mAh battery backup device w/QI fabric pouches you put in your pants to let you charge your devices w/QI anytime they are in your pocket?

Calling it now, called this 2 years before inception/implementation.  Seriously... any tech company want to give  a person who can give them a vision of a product from inception/prototype/pilot/beta/mass production? i think i could do it.  give me a chance on a product Google or Apple. I've been a proponent of AR for now over 6 years. Hell... i bought Google Glass and was left in the dark less than a year later....  then again what do i know... not like i blog my predictions and have been pretty spot on for the last 10 years... just saying.. DirecTV Now..   suggested that over 10 years ago. ;)

peace out/rant out: jimmy

No Man's Sky - My wiki creating script!! v8 updated for new NEXT Hub templates!

Well, today is a big day for the No Man's Sky Galactic Hub reddit community.  Our fearless leader 7101134 and the Hub council has decided on moving to a new location after the 1.30 updates due to system names not reflecting what they are and just starting a new.

Prior to the move, a Hub Council was created to help offload some of the tasks needed to move a virtual civilization of interlopers.  After my script contributions to the community, I was invited into the council and gladly took up a position as a Lead Archivist due to my work on the wiki and making a script to make entry creation easy to add to the Gamepedia No Man's Sky Wiki

So today I announce my updated script version 7.  This template is a basic dos/commandline script that uses input variables to ask questions and then outputs a notepad sourcetext file that you can copy and paste into a new gamepedia.com entry and have a nearly finished wiki entry.

The outputted sourcetext still will need to be edited to add images and other details however this will take out a lot of the work of trying to find and replace fields from an already existing entry.  Notes have been made in the template to help users know what to put where. :)

Templates included:

• Star System
• Planet
• Base
• Ship
• Fauna

Example of gamepedia outputs found here:

• Star System page
• Planet page
• Base page
• Ship page
• Fauna page

DOWNLOAD FROM MY GOOGLE DRIVE FOLDER BELOW:

NMS Template Maker v8.0 Google Drive Folder

NOTES: 

• some escapable characters may cause funkiness in formatting, the pipe command def does cause issues but i think i've fixed this in v4.0
• once variables are entered, notepad is called to open the text file that gets saved to your desktop. you should be able to then create a new gamepedia wiki page and just insert this code to have a very quick initial wiki page.  
• you will want to edit the tables for resources, planets/moons and blueprints
• images still need to be uploaded and inserted into where i've noted they should go
• text file are created on your desktop and then opened in notepad once created

Version History

 (all .cmd files are available for download and remarks added to script to explain how it works)

• Updated notes in script on updated naming systems via NMS Next updates on july 24, 2018. Other tags also updated for NEXT for wiki.
• This is just version 1.0 and i hope to add in a planet and ship template option and also a multitool one later this month.
• Updated version 2.0: added Planet template (see preview below, be sure to download v2 file)
• Updated version 3.0: added Ship template (see preview below, be sure to download v3 file)
• Updated version 4.0 (7/21/17) reworked advanced tables in the star system template for planets in system; much more readable on mobile devices and easier to edit on wiki source!
• Updated version 5.0 (7/23/17) reworked flora and fauna tables in planet template to be friendlier looking on mobile browsers. probably last update for a while unless requests/bugs in script are found. :)
• NOTE: v6.0 is up (8/6/17)!  Very minor updates to tables based on some feedback from gamepedia admins on some changes. Close as I can get to making mobile browser friendly for now. Enjoy!
• v7.0 is live and updated for the Atlas Rises 1.30+ updates and new Hub templates! 8/20/17 
• v7a has been updated w/the new gamepedia version tags to mark if atlas rising based template vs legacy/pre 1.30 (9/4/2017)

Download the .cmd file at my Google Drive Folder: NMSTemplateMaker (Google Drive)

Windows 10 Pro - Disabling Windows Updates completely (1607 build)

I'm so done w/windows updates being forced onto my system and the thought of waking up to a computer w/3TBs of personal data not booting because it installed a CU update for Win10 that wasn't fully tested (remember, Microsoft missed patch tuesday in Feb 2017; the FIRST TIME EVER SINCE Windows XP.. not a good sign!!).

Today, I'll show Windows 10 Pro users how to disable Windows Updates completely via GPEdit and local group policy.

Business Geek Rant: Microsoft updates and Windows 10, STOP FORCING THIS ONTO US!!!

So my real job is as a desktop and mobility administrator. i manage my companies desktops/laptops and also build images for them including a 'thick' hardware agnostic Windows 10 Enterprise image. I've been building images of Windows since XP (on a personal basis) and Windows 7 as my real job/task.  I know Windows very well and how each version functions and is serviced.  With Windows 10, Microsoft for some stupid fucking reason decided that THEY were superior testers of their OS and software so much as they would now start FORCING windows updates onto consumer and enterprise users machines, including corporate machines using just WSUS to manage updates.

Softmodding notes: PS Vita: Transferring PS3 PSP game to Vita w/CFW;Henkaku. Activating PS Vita via PS3.

Some notes about getting PS Vita activated after modding via Henkaku. I did do a full backup of my official firmware PS Vita 3.63 to QCMA prior to softmodding my 3.60 Vita.

PS Vita: Transferring PS3 PSP game to Vita w/CFW;Henkaku.

Current Geek projects: OS X on my work x220, handheld hacking..

so what have i been up to? well.. the usual things, console hacking/modding/softmodding and putting os x on a lenovo x220 along w/wifi upgrade and m2 sata add on for dual boot of win7/10 and macos sierra.

2017: My current setups for home and mobile and tech

Happy 2017! well, i guess it is feb already so yea, a bit late. Sorry for the lack of posts; lifes been.. busy and i really need to get up a few of my Windows 10 image creation articles since I've been successful in creating a fully customized default profile image of Windows10 for our new X1 Yoga laptops at work and finally moved to a hardware agnostic approach. ;)  however that will be coming later once we rollout Win10.  Today though I plan to just give an overview of my currrent tech setups; i like looking back 5-10yrs from now and seeing what i was rocking.