News
Washington State Worst Web Form Coding Ever!
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Aug 13, 2018 12:19 PMI have been involved with technology since the 1970s. I just experienced the worst web form coding for a "working" online form, ever! This was at the Washington State Office of the Secretary of State, Corporations & Charities Division https://ccfs.sos.wa.gov/
Upgrade OpenBSD
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Nov 23, 2018 03:59 AMAs needed, upgrading installed versions of OpenBSD in-place...
Virtual Reality (VR), Role-Playing Games (RPG), Linux, Research
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Jun 12, 2018 10:52 AMResearch updates on using VR in 2018 for RPGs, and any options for Linux use...

Can't start Libreoffice in Parrot OS after updates
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified May 23, 2018 01:43 PMNotes on how to fix java and Libreoffice in Parrot OS if start having trouble after updates...

Fiverr.com Caveat Emptor
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Dec 27, 2017 02:09 AMAt the suggestion of Ivan Van Norman, to get artwork and logos made before the January 22nd brodcast at WotC's Dragon Talk, I attempted to make use of a gig service called Fiverr.com. This has been a mixed experience...
OpenSuse 42.3 on Dell Precision 7720 Xeon
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Nov 02, 2017 03:52 PMHere are the details for getting OpenSuse 42.3 working on Dell's laptop Precision 7720 custom build with Xeon processor and AMD WX 7100 GPU...

Green Light for Phase 2 of ZOE
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Sep 11, 2017 01:33 AMThis weekend received the okay to proceed with phase 2 of Zombie Orpheus Entertainment's platform development.

The RPG Network Project Starting to Come Together
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Sep 10, 2017 03:34 PMI have had a number of ideas on the backburner for nearly 15 years, and I am finally starting to bring them to the front. The technology, and probably the market, I didn't think was ready back then, so I set it aside until I thought I saw interest growing, and the Internet use of users might be interested. Now I think my ideas for "The RPG Network" might have some interest, and I am hoping to get things launched by sometime in November, other priorities permitting of course.
Is TeamDecades.com a Scam? Or just a poor implementation of their web-face, as a startup venture?
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Aug 31, 2017 09:57 AMRecently had interactions with representatives from the organization "Team Decades" with CEO "Ron Norman". There are a LOT of red flags with this company. Is it just a start up, or an exceptionally complex scam?

Trying to get Plone working on OpenBSD (part deux) - SUCCESS! (update: well, mostly)
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Mar 14, 2018 09:55 AMYears ago I fought with trying to get Plone to work on OpenBSD, to no avail. Recently I was able to get Plone 4.3 working on OpenBSD 6.0, but not Plone 5.0.6.. I was finally able to get Plone 5.0.7 Unified Installer working on OpenBSD 6.1!

Trick to get New Skype for Linux working with alternate Microphone
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Jun 27, 2017 01:44 AMIt took several false starts before I finally figured this out. The new Skype for Linux (2017) is no longer a separate dedicated application, it is a Chromium web app. This version of Skype has no options for changing default microphone! But, here's the trick...

This is what I think of PHP
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Jun 22, 2018 08:06 AMThis Dilbert comic sums up what I think of PHP-based technologist/websites. Many years ago I had to support a lot of people that foolishly ran sites that had sadly been setup on platforms written in PHP... And I have continued to watch that insanity keep spreading. "What fools these mortals be!"..."forgive them they know not what they do!".

OpenSuse LEAP 42.2 Worst Version of Suse Yet! (on Asus ROG)
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Feb 01, 2017 01:56 PMFrom a stability perspective, this has been the worst OpenSuse Release in years! I reached a point I needed to clean up some clutter on my primary laptop (running OpenSuse 13.2), so I backed up, and wiped (while retaining the windows partitions for the few video games I play with my kids), and installed OpenSuse LEAP 42.2. Here is how it went...
pas.plugins.ldap on Plone 5.0.6
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Nov 24, 2016 12:27 PMHaving trouble getting this to work. Since pastie.org and and others limit the size, posting here so can see full process and logs in detail. Critical to get LDAP support working for Plone. Hopefully someone can help figure out what is wrong. Thanks!

Tech Talk With Hawke Talk Show Topics for Episode 150
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Nov 17, 2016 11:02 PMHere is a quick preview of the upcoming discussion topics for the next episode of Tech Talk With Hawke...
Discord With Discourse
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Dec 02, 2016 02:04 PMThe people at Discourse.org should be embarrassed, if not downright ashamed, with their product and founder. Do not use the Discourse forum product or services. I can now recommend people instead consider using NodeBB, NOT Discourse.

The NSA hack proves Apple was right to fight the FBI
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Aug 22, 2016 07:27 PMAfter the unprecedented breach of hacking tools and exploits stolen from the US National Security Agency's elite hacking unit, some privacy advocates see it as clear vindication of Apple in its fight with the FBI earlier this year.

Maybe Resuming Tech Talk With Hawke Talk Show Soon!
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Aug 19, 2016 03:40 PMLet me know if you would like me to resume the weekly talk show, "Tech Talk With Hawke", covering various technologies, and often considering the effects of technology on privacy, security, and civil rights..

Picked Up $5 Google Developer Chromebook Mario Cr-48 at Estate Sale
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Aug 01, 2016 01:10 AMOn a run to the waste transfer station near Elk-Chattaroy, on the way back I saw a sign for an Estate Yard Sale, and I picked up a Chromebook for $5, apparently a developer edition...

Google Chrome OS Developers made Critical Technology Decisions Based on my SANS Institute Research Paper.
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Oct 28, 2020 12:10 AMI stumbled across something that might indicate that Google (correctly in my view), stubbornly refused to include one of the most popular VPN (Virtual Private Network) technologies, the Point to Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), because of all the flaws published in my research paper by the SANS Institute, and in a discussion with a Google Chrome OS volunteer developer directly linked to my paper as the reason why they refuse to implement this very popular technology that is in just about every other operating system...

New attack bypasses HTTPS protection on Macs, Windows, and Linux
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Jul 26, 2016 10:10 PM"Hack can be carried out by operators of Wi-Fi hotspots, where HTTPs is needed most." - From Ars Technica, by Dan Goodin - Jul 26, 2016 5:14 pm UTC, referencing upcoming conference...

Why You Should NOT Upgrade to Windows 10
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Jul 26, 2016 10:11 PMWith the final days of the "free upgrade" to Windows 10, a lot of people are pressuring others to upgrade, and stating that you are "dumb" of you don't upgrade. Well, if care even the least bit about privacy, then you should NOT "upgrade" to Windows 10... ever... Here is why...
There's been a delay: The Federal Trade Commission requires us to obtain your consent to continue with this order
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Jun 20, 2016 02:35 AMWhat??? This was a text message (only) from Dell. No email or phone call.

Do Not Use ISPConfig
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Mar 30, 2016 02:35 PMAgainst my decades of experience and better judgement, and giving into laziness, I went ahead and installed ISPConfig about a year ago. Big mistake!

Microsoft Mandated Open Source Training
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Mar 04, 2016 09:43 AMA poster at Microsoft indicating the "Do MORE with Open Source" and "Complete required OSS training"... Apparently Hell has frozen over???
Website User Account Self-Registration Now Re-Enabled
— by admin — last modified Nov 14, 2015 05:32 PMWe had some technical issues requiring disabling of users creating new accounts. We believe those issues are now resolved. You can now create your own accounts on the website so that you can participate in the forum, comments, uploads, etc. Thank you for your patience and support!

Change Plone Logo link from Home to External URL
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Sep 21, 2015 06:43 PMI didn't get any useful responses from the Plone IRC channel this unfortunately, but after a while of digging, and a lot of trial and error, I finally figured out how to make this change easily.

Important Plone Hotfix 20150910
— by admin — last modified Nov 13, 2015 12:47 PMImportant to apply Plone Hotfix 20150910 for registration spam and other security issues.

Completely Giving Up on KDE4's Kmail2
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Oct 25, 2015 11:59 PMI have gladly used Kmail for more than a dozen years. When KDE4 started pushing Kmail2, I lived with the growing pains of transition. But enough already. It has been years and years, and Kmail2 just gets more and more broken with each release!

Harmony Assistant on OpenSuse
— by Hawke Robinson — last modified Oct 25, 2015 11:56 PMI have been using Myriad Software's Melody and Harmony Assistant since 1999 for some of my compositions as Synthetic Zen ( www.syntheticzen.com ). Recently they started supporting Linux distros in addition to the previous WIndows and Mac installs. I have used it on a few OpenSuse versions, here is information about 13.2 ...